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bhaalble · 5 months

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Back on my Wyll script doctor because I was talking about it with a friend. Specifically imagining a version of Wyll's big Character Choice that felt like it had some actual teeth.

Imagine a world where instead of a cartoon evil hot lady Mizora and Wyll's relationship actually had some complexity to it and like. some genuine push and pull which gives him temptation to stay. I just keep thinking about this 17 year old who his whole life wanted more than anything to be a hero, who got his chance to do something heroic and selfless and save the city from certain doom, and his reward is getting kicked out because he did it the "wrong way".

Imagine if instead of forcing his silence, Mizora instead comforted him. How unbelievably cruel of your father! Well...since you've nowhere else to go, why not stick with me? We make a pretty good team, as it turns out, and I can get you a whole list of monsters who need killing. Plenty of devils and demons loose in your world targetting all sorts of innocents. Our interests can keep aligning, and you get a place to sleep when you need it.

Wyll makes his peace with it, because he has nothing and no one. And Mizora's not GOOD maybe, not by Ulder Ravengard's definition. But she's fun. She delights in his growth. And she does certainly keep direct him at greater evils, devils who really do need killing. And if she spies on his every waking moment, well, she worries. If she sends him after the occasional innocent, well, she had people who she has to answer to as well. She's a devil, how much can he fault her for her nature? She's always seemed like she knew where the line was...

Karlach (and the player) express their doubts, of course, but for act one at least he's defensive. Yes, she punished him and he hates it and its miserable but....he was in breach of contract! She's NEVER gone outside its bounds, she's always stuck very closely to their agreement. Wyll, who wants so badly to trust others and believe everyone has the chance for good, can't find it in him to believe the worst even of a devil.

And Mizora is FOND of Wyll, loves him even in her way. As a cherished pet, as a trusted tool, as a best-laid plan. Never enough to choose his own well-being over her own agenda, never enough to see him as his own person. He's her little project, the long shot noble brat she gambled on when Tiamat decided to get too big for her britches. And it paid off! Wyll always pays off, currying her all the favor from Zariel she so desperately craves. And who are you, or anyone, to come between them? She's treated him well. As she's quick to remind him, she wanted him when no one else did, aided him while the rest of his city slept snug in their beds. And if Ulder Ravengard didn't want a son with a whiff of infernal, then do you REALLY think he'd want you with lovely horns and Avernus in your blood?

You discover his father's been taken. Beyond igniting a lot of old feelings, it brings up a question of succession. Of course, Florrick isnt giving up on him, but if not...there aren't currently any likely candidates to take over the Flaming Fists. Not trustworthy ones. Florrick will take the position, but everyone knows in the back of his mind Ulder never really stopped planning for it to be Wyll. With the city in chaos and a cult army on the rise, they may need an answer sooner rather than later. Wyll feels the call of the Gate, but knows just as well that Mizora wouldn't want him to return in such an official capacity.

For the first time ever the leash starts to chafe in a way he can't keep pushing through.

Act 2 rolls around. Mizora sends up the Warlock signal. After potentially some encouragement from the player, Wyll (NOT THE PLAYER. I DONT KNOW WHY ITS THE PLAYER IN THE GAME ITS WEIRD) hesitantly proposes that maybe, if he does this....they can do a renegotiation of his contract. Not break it, he assures her quickly! Just....reopen the terms, take a looks at the agreement. Maybe discuss an exit ramp? After all....I mean, neither of us truly thought I'd be doing this forever, did we?

Based on Mizora's reaction. Yeah she did.

But fine. She agrees. And Wyll's not mad that it turns out you're rescuing her, not a nameless "operative" for Zariel. He would've done that on his own had she asked. Its the fact that she apparently didn't feel like being honest, that she let him fret and worry about potentially handing Zariel back some runaway for basically no reason. Its the fact that she came here to check in on the cult that abducted his FATHER just to see if Zariel could make any use of them. And its the fact that she seems surprised and annoyed that ANY of this bothers him.

All this builds, of course, to the final confrontation. The basic elements are the same. Mizora outside the coronation (this time needling at Wyll, "I'll be at camp if you're not too high and mighty to consort with the likes of me anymore"), Ulder tadpoled and fighting it. Mizora makes her offer. I can end the contract now, and you're free to go running after daddy (who won't want you btw! not like I do!). You'll lose all your powers, all my aid, all those juicy quests to chase down the greatest monsters in the hells. Take on your father's job and settle in for a life of misery and compromise and only doing as much good as the nobles will let you. Or: pledge yourself to me, eternally. I'll give you a boatload of new powers and eternal life to boot, so long as you serve as my sword and shield.

From there I think three endings branch out, and with it three classes for Wyll. If he stays with Mizora, accepts a relationship where he will never be an equal or a free agent in exchange for the affirmation he wants so badly from his father, he remains a Warlock, with some juiced stats and extra spell slots, along with shiny new gear. If he pledges to follow in his father's footsteps, he instead becomes an Oath of Devotion paladin, pledging himself in service to Tyr, if with a sense of doomed finality. The Blade of Frontiers is officially retired, and along with it any identity he has outside of being his father's son. Or the third path, break the contract without taking his father's role. He will look for his father, yes, but whether or not you find him he's going back to his roots, travelling around to do some good in the world (as the Blade of Frontiers) or kicking ass in the Hells with Karlach (as the Blade of Avernus). In this timeline he becomes a fighter, with a default preference for Eldritch Knight.

What's important: if he breaks his contract then Mizora is NOT hanging around camp. She will leave in a fury, accidentally bound by her own word to withdraw her influence completely if he breaks his contract. She may still approach the player some night to sleep with the player, framed for high approval/romanced players and her trying to take something back from Wyll. But Wyll will have to learn how to define himself without her breathing down his neck, without keeping her happy dominating his every thought. Its nervewracking, and even lonesome at times...but its freedom. And, perhaps, that's worth a little bit of lonesomeness.

#long post #again i want to be clear because i think wyll fans are a little understandably defensive of him #this is not about wanting wyll to be a bad person #its about wanting him to have an arc that parallels the rest of the companions #and be more firmly centered on HIS feelings and choices #ive done my best to preserve wylls canon temperament here #just give the circumstances more teeeth #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #wyll ravengard #mizora #ulder ravengard

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y-rhywbeth2 · 5 months

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Gods and Clergy: Bhaal

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

I'm in a Durge and Orin mood, so we're getting the full details on Bhaal and his priesthood now. Fun fact, did you know the Dark Urge couldn't even die without Daddy's permission?

Featuring:

Intro: Do you realise this cult is basically a crime syndicate supported by the rich and powerful?

Priests: Hierarchy. Responsibilities. Murder. I rather like the ceremonial regalia, personally.

Deathstalkers: Teleporting! Killing people with your mind! Unlimited ressurections courtesy of Bhaal!! And yet more crazy shit!

Bhaal: Kitten thinks of nothing but murder all day. Also mortal backstory and the Slayer is absolutely nothing like the games depict it

Right then, "Bhaal awaits thee," and blah.

"Make all folk fear Bhaal. Let your killings be especially elegant, or grisly, or seem easy so that those observing them are awed or terrified. Tell folk that gold proffered to the church can make the Lord of Murder overlook them for today." - Bhaal's Dogma

Unsurprisingly for an ex-assassin, Bhaal is the patron god of assassins. Assassins, mercenaries, bounty hunters who aren't bringing their quarry in alive and, presumably, executioners all tend to send a prayer to Bhaal for success. Faithful were called Bhaalyn in the East and Bhaalists in the West. As BG3 takes place in Western Faerûn we'll use the latter.

Amongst these assassin worshippers we find the oh-so healthy individuals for whom killing is more than a job. These killers who regard their murders as a "pastime and a duty" join the clergy.

That said, Bhaalists do not murder indiscriminately. The taking of another life is a holy act, a lot of thought and planning goes into both the kill itself as well as what impact the death may have upon the world. Once the target is slain, they are to smear the victim's blood over their hands and draw Bhaal's symbol by the body with it. If Bhaal is pleased then the blood will vanish.

Bhaal supports and encourages his followers attaining wealth and comfort (it's a good hook to draw them in, and it makes him look good if his followers are successful), and in exchange for their worship his priest-assassins receive the priest spells and administer to the lay worshippers, who benefit second-hand. The assassins have an easier time killing people and getting rich and Bhaal profits from more prayer and death. A win for everyone (who didn't die in the process).

Bhaalist temples historically have spent their time founding and sponsoring guilds of assassins and thieves, including infamous organisations such as the Shadow Thieves of Amn. These guilds survived their patron's death, and while they were mostly businesses throughout the years of Bhaal's death many still paid homage (although there was some confusion involving his replacement, Cyric) and have presumably resumed worship. There's a massive old temple still functioning over in Thay; the Tower of Swift Death, and the assassins work closely with the Red Wizards who rule the country.

Bhaalists have no tolerance for rival guilds and organisations not following Bhaal (which would make them independent of their control) and will eliminate them. They will also root out anybody in the area that will attempt to oppose or otherwise interfere in their business and ensure they have freedom to go about their jobs/worship.

Their other job is to ensure the church has a steady income. They terrorise the commoners into paying tithes in exchange for safety from being sacrificed this tenday (a protection racket, basically) while leaving "economically and socially important individuals live unharmed." I mean, the peasantry have far less enemies to assassinate and gold to spend, so. Plus the rich and powerful are brilliant at turning a blind eye to crime when it benefits them, as well as making sure the evidence never sees the light of day - know which side your bread is buttered on, and all. Baldur's Gate has no law against the worship of Bhaal. Why do you think the original temple exists, after all? Bhaalists actively seek out and sway such potential patrons who would be... amenable to sponsoring and protecting their technically-legal church and its not so-legal activities in exchange for their services.

Urban temples of Bhaal are usually dark, subterranean affairs built under the city streets, containing countless branching tombs that are home to the bodies of the clergy's victims - said victims are usually wandering around down there as restless undead.

Bhaal's clergy can be recognised as Bhaalists by their ceremonial robes - full body robes of black or deep purple with a deep cowl. The robes will be randomly and violently streaked with flashes of violet. Their entire face is fully obscured by a black veil, to both hide their identity and make it appear as though the hood is empty for the intimidation factor.

The leader of the church in an area is the High Primate/Primistress, who can be identified by a red belt/sash they wear over their robes and the fancy curved ceremonial dagger that marks them as a high ranking priest and a specialty priest known as a Deathstalker - more about them in a moment.

High Primates spent much of their time planning the proper strategies of manipulating nearby rulers, inhabitants, and organizations into the deeds and behaviour that the Bhaalyn desired.

The High Primate is directly served by the First Deaths, who in turn can call upon a council of the nine most senior clergy; the Cowled Deaths. Below them were the regular priests, who were known collectively as the Deathdealers and are referred to by the title Slaying Hand. A Bhaalist rises in the ranks by hunting and ritually killing a target with nothing but their bare hands, which they will then report to a higher ranking priest who will confirm that they are being truthful. If they are then there's a party, and a ritual sacrifice is held to celebrate.

When on a job they dress in black - in the form that suits whatever their preferred method of killing in. Leather armour, mage robes, whatever.

Bhaalists pray to their god before sleep. In the temple the entire congregation comes together to pray in a formal ceremony called "Day's Farewell"). Bhaalists are also to pray before setting out on a murder.

Bhaalists only observe one holy day. It's the Feast of the Moon, a continent-wide holiday for honouring the dead and honouring one's ancestors. Bhaalists have their own spin on it where they remember dead Bhaalists and celebrate with stories of murder to honour them.

All Bhaalists are to commit a murder every tenday at midnight, should they be unable to fulfil this duty then they are to kill two people in place of the one who should've died that day. Before the victim dies, the murderer is to ensure that they know their killer and that they died as a sacrifice to the God of Death; "Bhaal awaits thee, Bhaal embraces thee, none escape Bhaal."

The specialty priests of Bhaal, those who dedicate their devotion and worship no god other than him, are the Deathstalkers.

One does not have to be a cleric to join the ranks, though the majority are. Rogues, rangers, barbarians and fighters are the most common, but all classes make an appearance (and most are multiclassed clerics)

To become a Deathstalker one must have murdered sixteen sapient creatures in sixteen different methods with sixteen different weapons. This presumably is also the rite of passage to becoming a member of the Brethren of the Keen Strike - an order of Bhaalist assassins to which all Deathstalkers belong.

Distressingly for people who aren't Bhaalist, Bhaal's Deathstalkers regained their Bhaalist abilities around 1372 DR, following the end of the Bhaalspawn Crisis, and resumed their duties, spreading death and terror in his name as they worked to bring him back to full power. The most popular argument for how the priests of a dead deity were getting their spells is that another god - likely Cyric, was granting them spells disguised as Bhaal. However, in the wake of the Bhaalspawn Crisis and the wave of fear felt towards Bhaal that resulted (which counts as prayer), the rumour mill became very fond of the idea that, despite how the crisis ended, Bhaal had still managed to resurrect at least some scrap of himself through that fear and the God of Murder was haunting the Realms once more.

The various abilities Bhaal gifts to his Deathstalkers include the following:

[From 3.5e] The ability to identify key weaknesses in a target by studying them for only a few moments, killing them in a single strike. They are also supernaturally good at stabbing people with their ceremonial daggers.

[3.5e] The ability to tap into the hatred of a person, stoking it into homicidal rage and direct it at another person who they will kill in a mindless bloody rage (also called the Urge to Slay, an ability Bhaal himself has)

[3.5e] Bhaal's own inability to just fucking stay dead - a Deathstalker Bhaal doesn't want dead will come back to life an hour after it is killed, with a single hit point left. During the time prior to resurrection they are an actual corpse.

[2e] They can point at a person, sending necrotic energy coursing through them and causing them significant damage, agony and possibly death.

[2e] They can inflict severe wounds on a person just by thinking it.

[2e] They can teleport! A Deathstalker can teleport themselves (and other people, if they're powerful enough) to the Throne of Blood and from there they can teleport to anywhere on Toril that isn't protected by warding magic. Bhaal won't do anything to protect Deathstalkers while they're in the Lower Planes - if you're strong enough to get yourself here, you're strong enough to get yourself out.

[2e] They can affect the emotions of those around them, reversing whatever emotions an individual is feeling towards them into its polar opposite.

[2e] They can accelerate the entropic aging process of objects.

Bhaal himself is "violent, cruel and hateful at all times." Being in the presence of the living fills him with an overwhelming urge to kill and destroy. He presents himself as either on the verge of a violent rampage or cold and ruthlessly calculating depending on which suits the occasion best. A Lawful Evil deity, his domain is the Throne of Blood in the first layer of the Lower Plane of Gehenna (Khalas), part of Bane's domain (Banehold). Hilariously, not a single Baldurs Gate game has got this right. BG2:SoA claimed it was the Hells, BG2:ToB changed to the Abyss and, for some reason, BG3 has put it in the Grey Wastes.

Bhaal served Bane, and was in turn served by Loviatar (goddess of pain) and Talona (goddess of disease).

His holy symbol is the Circle of Tears; clue in the name, it's a skull surrounded by teardrops of blood forming a circle.

Bhaal rarely manifested in avatar form. When he did, his main avatar in urban areas was the Slayer, which was not a four armed scaly monster:

"The Slayer look[s] like a corpse with a feral face, [bloodless] skin, and deep lacerations that endlessly [weep] black ichor that vanish[es] before it strikes anything."

It makes no noise at all when it moves. it can talk (its softly spoken and sounds creepy). It can levitate at will and summon floating daggers made of bone, that appeared and disappeared at will. They would cause any living flesh they hit to wither and die. Creatures slain this way would rise again as zombies under its control - or have its skeleton shattered into more bone daggers. Enough of these daggers form an area-of-effect; a wall made of a flurry of sharp shards of bone that would trap the soul of anyone they killed. Oh, yeah, and the Slayer can also inflict the overwhelming urge to murder everyone around you on the people around it.

Bhaal's other avatar was the Ravager, which was mostly an angry 30-foot tall giant with horns.

While in either avatar form, Bhaal also had the ability to create any form of undead loyal to him by touching a corpse (greater undead like vampires would be free once they'd completed whatever task he'd assigned them). He could also immediately destroy any undead, turning them to dust at a touch. Bhaal cannot be harmed by the undead.

Rather than using his avatars, Bhaal usually just manifested as a pair of flying undead hands that can shoot bone daggers at people. Or a laughing human skull trailing teardrops. Both these manifestations are capable of speech, casting darkness and driving everybody into a mindless bloodthirsty rampage - you might have noticed he really loves this trick.

He also invented his own undead monsters, the Harrla of Hate. Harrla are invisible creatures, which if you use magic to see them appear like human shaped wavering impressions. Guess what they do?? If you guessed "fill people with a sense of overpowering hatred and drive people into committing homicide" get yourself a fucking cookie!! (This isn't said anywhere in canon, but Bhaal has less imagination than a chunk of rock, I swear to god...)

According to one version of the story; in life Bhaal was a Netherese mortal wizard named Tharlagaunt Bale. He was one of a few hand picked by Jergal to bear a fragment of the god's divinity and raised from a young age to serve him (a Chosen, basically). Hilariously, one of the others was Karsus. These Chosen were promised godhood for their service as they set about performing a ritual to increase Jergal's waning power and make him one of the most powerful deities. Karsus chose to try and make himself a god instead and blew up the Weave, destroying Netheril and the plan and killing all of his coworkers except Bale.

Bale got a job as an assassin, changed the spelling to Bhaal and dropped his first name, teamed up with a bitter ex-slave with no name except the title "Bane of the Ancients" and a necromancer prince called Myrkul Bey al-Kursi.

His other backstory features him as Arabhal; the spymaster and chief assassin of the Netherese City of Rdiuz, and an ally of Bane. The two became unwitting paws of Jergal, who directed them through nightmares to do his bidding and slay various primordial divinities who threatened his plans.

Regardless of backstory, they all grabbed more divinity by killing an ancient god (also Bane's ex-master) and then he went knocking on his old boss' door for that godhood he was promised (Jergal at this point had embraced depression and just went "yeah, whatever, have it. Idgaf, I'm retiring." Or was manipulating them into becoming his divine pawns. There's more than one take on this story.) and Bhaal walked off the god of murder.

He learned of a prophecy predicting he would die when his stupid ex-travelling companions would decide to piss of Ao who would then kick all the gods out and make them mortal, and Bhaal then decided to sleep with what seems to be at least 25% of Faerûn to produce kids who would hold fragments of himself so that they could all fight to the death and he could resurrect himself afterwards. He was killed by the soon-to-be-god Cyric not far from Baldur's Gate during the Time of Troubles. Cyric proceeded to take his job, and there was a huge fight between Bhaalists who converted and those who didn't and the converts killed all the holdouts.

The rest of the backstory is basically just the original Baldur's Gate games.

#Durge is basically a crime boss #Also; Bhaal please have more than one fucking idea for once in your fucking miserable life I AM BEGGING YOU #dark urge #orin the red #long post #bg3 #durge #the dark urge #baldurs gate 3

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estinininininen · 4 months

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Varshahn:

Estinien:

Varshahn:

Estinien: . . . So, those are dragon scales.

Varshahn: yeah what about it HUH

Estinien: Did y'all . . . ?

Varshahn: . . . imprison or kill a dragon to get them like SOME countries would? No.

Estinien:

Estinien: ok cool

Varshahn: cool

Estinien: Good.

Varshahn: Good.

Estinien is then kidnapped by the Thavnair alchemists, complaining loudly the whole way, and no one knows if he's putting up with it cause Scion duties and this is just how he plays nice - he bitched all the way to Hraesvelgr, after all - or if he genuinely just forgot he could jump

Meanwhile, in the meghaduta

Vrtra: hey Ahewann cancel DEFCON 1, this guy is cool. Total softy. Also kind of a dumbass. Of course I'll be glad to help clean up, I'm not going to make the maids clean up dragon piss. Ahem. Did I ever tell you about my brother Nidhogg? Yeah, the one I've avoided answering for a thousand years. Uh, well, yeah the dramatic asshole who went off the deep end, yes. Him. Too be fair it was about our sister, Ratatoskr - yeah, oh I'm actually really glad you remember what I said about her! She was a lot like . . . No, it's fine to interrupt, I got lost in memories for a second there. Ummmm, yes, I suppose it has influenced why I . . . hestitate telling everyone I'm the satrap. But Nidhogg took it way too far, yeah. He used to be a cool big brother, I swear. Knew how to get under everyone's skin, didn't put up with bullshit, but let kids climb all over him if it made them happy. Whenever I visited he was always swarmed by his own kids and all his niblings, and teaching them how to hunt and defend themselves against morta - Oh, but that was a couple Astral eras ago, sorry. Turns out Tiamat and Hraesvelgr weren't joking - yeah my other sister, Tiamat, the one who went into battle recently with this guy against, uh, yeah, the corrupted image of another brother of ours. Bahamut, yeah - yeah. The one who almost destroyed a continent, yes. Hraesvelgr? Hraesvelgr's our other brother who lived with Nidhogg for a long time - yyyyeah yeah you heard right, last time they met Nidhogg did call his dead mortal wife a whore and tore Hrae's wing off. Anyway! Anyway they were right, this guy really is like if you sucked all the filling out of a Nidhogg donut and tried to squish it into an Elezen. Yeah, sorry, that is the closest I can get to describing dragon aether stuff. Is he . . . yeah he's the guy who technically killed Nidhogg and spent his whole life training to kill dragons but like I just said, Nidhogg smooshed the two of them together. He's all but a dragon walking around in a mortal meat suit and seems mostly just embarassed by it. Kiiiinda looking forward to messing with his head more, honestly. Let's get the curtain ready. Ahewann, why do you look so scared?

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autumnslance · 1 year

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The Unsundered and Tempering

There's apparently some kinda post going around ruffling jimmies about the Ascians versus the Ancients, with extreme assumptions about a society we see precious little of ourselves in game and mostly get informed of by people still grieving it millennia later.

Most of them antagonists, that like many other antagonists and allies, folks seem to want to take at face value for a lot of what they say, while often ignoring what they do and how, while speaking.

This is something I have noticed among fandom and roleplayers for decades, so it's nothing new, but there's a lot of times the text of any situation is making it clear that even if a character isn't outright lying--even thinks they are being "honest"--that is not necessarily the case.

It also comes back to making sure one is using all the available information--goodness knows I've made a fool of myself before by missing scenes or text that did explain someone's position on lore and characters!

Regardless of how one feels about certain plot points, storylines, or characters, they all inform each other in canon. Different characters say different things at different times in different company. A scene from two expansions ago may inform a new patch cutscene. Actions may contradict words. It all works together.

For an example, since it's come up elsewhere, I've had doubts about how Tempered the Unsundered were from the moment Emet-Selch claimed it, due to one of the last scenes in ARR, cutscene #5 in "Before the Dawn" where we see Lahabrea and Elidibus speak just before Urianger arrives in response to the Emissary's request for a meeting:

Lahabrea: The earth is fertile, and the seeds well sown. By my will, they shall reap salvation unlike any the world has known. Elidibus: By His will. Lahabrea: …By His will.

The Ascians in ARR and HW spend a lot of time telling the WoL about their One True God. Here though, in a moment of privacy before the Archon's arrival, Elidibus has to remind Lahabrea to check his ego as his actions are for Zodiark, not himself.

This is an early indication, alongside Nabriales's actions in the previous patch quests, that not everyone's on the same page in regards to the Ascian agenda. Nor is Zodiark's hold on each red mask absolute--even the ones initially at His summoning.

EDIT: Not to mention Fandaniel's actions in their entirety in Shadowbringers and Endwalker; killing one's god to usher in the end of the world is not the act of a tempered man!

Further doubt is placed on Emet-Selch's claim by Tiamat. We get more of her situation in the Shadowbringers patches, in the "Righteous Indignation" cutscene:

Tiamat: Recall, mortals, that it was I who did first summon my beloved, praying with all my being to bring him forth. You who contend with eikons cannot well be ignorant of the consequence. Alphinaud: …You too were exposed to his influence. That you are yet in possession of your own will is testament to the indomitable strength of your soul. Alphinaud: But were you to meet with Bahamut again, you fear you might succumb. Tiamat: Indeed. Ask the dragonslayer, and he will tell thee the power we of the first brood wield. Were I to lose myself to the eikon's influence, all would pay the price. Tiamat: But it is of little matter. For even had I the strength to resist, I yet lack the strength to break my shackles. This prison shall be my tomb. Alisaie: On the matter of Bahamut's influence, at least, I believe we can be of some assistance. Alisaie: If you're afraid of being enthralled, don't be─we have a cure. And while we've never tried it on one such as you, its basic principles are universal. Tiamat: Speakest thou in earnest? Alphinaud: There is no future for those bound to the past. Alphinaud: That you committed a terrible sin, I do not dispute. But if you feel remorse, you may yet make amends. We offer you that chance. Take it, or you will forever remain a prisoner, not of these cruel shackles, but of your own guilt. Tiamat: A chance to make amends… To lay Bahamut's memory to rest… Tiamat: When our own star faced annihilation, Hydaelyn granted us sanctuary. And now your foes would bring about Her destruction. This I cannot allow. For the debt I owe to Hydaelyn, and to all who have suffered for my sins…I shall fight with you, children of man.

Tiamat is a victim of the purposefully corrupted summoning magic the Ascians distributed. Yet she is not entirely enthralled by the Bahamut she summoned; she fears she would be if she were exposed further to a primal. Tiamat, as a Great Wyrm of the First Brood, is more akin in her aetheric composition to the Unsundered than most others on Hydaelyn. She knows she is influenced by the primal she summoned, and part of her remaining bound is to protect herself and the world from that consequence.

And then she chooses the cure and to move forward with her life, when given the option. As do other enthralled figures among the tribes when granted the option.

While there wasn't yet a cure when still fighting the Unsundered, entreaties to end their crusade and move forward fell on deaf ears--but I doubt very much it was due to Zodiark's influence entirely, and more their own stubborness after having clung to this course for ages.

The first cutscene of "Unto the Heavens" in Endwalker presents finally the intersection of original creation magic and modern summoning, as preparations are made to board the Ragnarok:

Livingway: You've done a fine job of readying the Ragnarok, but for it to take flight, we'll of course need the power of the Mothercrystal. Livingway: Given its immense size, however, transporting it would be an absolute logistical nightmare. Not to mention we'd need to shatter it into tiny shards for feeding to the engines. Livingway: But a brilliant idea came to me: we convert the crystal's energy into forms that can transport themselves! Urianger: Thou wouldst employ summoning…or should I say its precursor─creation magicks. Thancred: Care to explain for our benefit? Urianger: As you may have witnessed at Bestways Burrow, the Loporrits are capable of creation magicks, which they use to shape the moon's environment. Urianger: Yet simple though they make it seem, 'tis a highly advanced and exacting art. To perform it correctly requireth that the wielder holdeth the object in his mind's eye in clearest detail. Alphinaud: Hence the ancients' meticulous management of concepts. Urianger: Drawing upon this art, the Ascians conceived of summoning as we know it. Urianger: A derivative that replaceth the complexity of concepts with the simplicity of zealotry to make manifest a creation. Y'shtola: I see… By combining the Loporrits' magicks and the tribes' faith, we convert the Mothercrystal into primals of purer form and greater obedience. Y'shtola: Summoning as it was intended, one might say. Livingway: Indeed, indeed! Livingway: While Hydaelyn gave us the ability to use creation magicks, She forbade us from using it to make anything possessed of a soul─or similar. Livingway: She didn't say anything about fulfilling the desires of others, though. So! Borrowing our friends' faith, we'll create deities using the Mothercrystal's power, and send them to the Ragnarok! Alisaie: Am I the only one here concerned about the risk of being turned into a tempered minion? Livingway: Oh, right, I was getting to that… From what I've read in Sharlayan tomes, it appears the Ascians incorporated an additional nasty element into their summoning method: the fervent desire to assimilate others into one's belief. Livingway: Beings thus created are instilled with the selfsame desire, and use their powers to enthrall people─starting with the summoner. Livingway: In contrast, our creation magicks─the original and the best, accept no substitutes─don't incorporate any of that rubbish, so there's no risk of tempering. I mean, if the being was on the scale of Zodiark, you might feel a little “tug”…but I think we'll be safe enough.

From what we get here, summoning is quite obviously an offshoot of the original creation energies of the Ancients, but twisted by the thinness of the sundered mortals' aether and using faith and collected aether as a substitute. The tempering part was a later, intentional addition, possibly after the Unsundered had opportunity to examine the effect of Zodiark's summoning on themselves and extrapolating that.

Now, is some of this likely retconning to explain discrepancies in how characters acted and how tempering has been used? Probably! There was supposedly a rewrite of the main Ascian/Hydaelyn/Zodiark storyline, inherited from 1.0, which Stormblood allowed the time and consideration going forward on how they wanted to resolve this long arc. There's a lot in ARR and HW that has been recontextualized to fit, though some things still stand out a bit oddly; they did as good a job as they could, especially given the many years and writers involved.

But from the more recent writings, the intention is not to excuse the Unsundereds' actions with "they were tempered." And the final proof comes from Emet-Selch in Ultima Thule in cutscene #4 of "You Are Not Alone", having been through the preliminary wash cycle of the Lifestream long enough to have had various enchantments removed from him, while yet retaining his self before that too is washed out before reincarnation:

Alisaie: You're leaving!? Emet-Selch: Of course. The encore is finished, and I will not suffer myself to live again by Hydaelyn's magick. Emet-Selch: But more than that, the future you seek is not the past we loved. That is why we fought. And why I lost. Emet-Selch: But though you defeated me, my ideals are inviolate. Invincible. Emet-Selch: Spare me your pity. I have no use for it. If you would do something for me─save our star. Emet-Selch: See this tale to a triumphant conclusion, and with elation in your hearts, bid the final curtain fall. Emet-Selch: Only then may it rise again and a new tale begin─with new parts for all to play.

Through Shadowbringers, Emet-Selch claimed to want to cooperate with the Scions, while only giving bits and pieces of carefully considered information, and moving the goal posts whenever they did prove to him they were able to pass his tests and meet his expectations. It is not until this moment where, his duty to fight finished and the fate of his beloved world in any form at stake, that he is truly honest about what he did and why.

(I may also have an analysis WIP about comparing him and The Sandman's Morpheus and that stubborn refusal to change his mind and ideals, but it's slow going)

So while we mostly do have to go by what characters say, directly to WoL or to other characters in other scenes, each conversation cannot be taken in a vacuum; it is taken into account with their other conversations, with their actions, with other characters' input. And sometimes, the writers change direction, and new information will overwrite the old, even as it builds off of it.

The game is not consistent about Tempering and Summoning, though the double acts of Shadowbringers and Endwalker's story tries to clean that up. I just seriously doubt, from all the evidence, that the Unsundered were as entirely under Zodiark's thumb as say, one of Ifrit's over-hammered thralls and therefore not responsible for their choice and actions, the plans they made and came up with and clung to in stubborn guilt and grief and rage for so long they couldn't do anything else, even when presented proof of other options and chances to change or move forward.

Because another thing ShB and EW have shown us in both MSQ and in the Pandaemonium storyline, is who these men were, to become the Ascians we know, and how their own beliefs shaped them individually when faced with such loss--and how in each case, those past, pre-Zodiark selves would look at the eldritch beings they became by the Seventh era, and be horrified. Not because of any god's influence, but what they were capable of on their own.

...Well OK, Lahabrea already had a pretty good idea of what kind of monster he was capable of becoming. He also chose the worst way to handle it, and never seemed to learn from that. Elidibus and Emet-Selch though, while adamant in their beliefs, were also warped by what they chose to do and be, to where Elidibus even refused to remember his past to avoid the pain, tunneling into his duty with no wavering. Only Emet-Selch chose to remember, wallowing in it, acknowledging the monstrosity of his actions...and choosing to commit them anyway.

EDIT ADDITION: Relevant lore info directly from Banri Oda on Tempering and many other things.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Tempering #Ascians #Unsunderered #Emet-Selch #Lahabrea #Elidibus #Tiamat #Livingway #Banri Oda #lore #character analysis #A Realm Reborn #Shadowbringers #Endwalker

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avillanappears · 17 days

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godzilla x kong: the new empire

"For most of human civilization, we believed that life could only exist on the surface of our planet. What else were we wrong about?"

okay, I kind of fell off doing this, but we’re back! the best ever tumblr review series that’s written by avillanappears.tumblr.com! I came in not expecting much, but it turns out I really, really liked it, actually! I’m more pleasantly surprised than anyone, godzilla vs kong rubbed me very much the wrong way. godzilla and kong beating the ever-loving tar out of each other was fun, sure, but I have WORDS for the human stuff. I could fill a whole post with those, probably, but we’re not talking about that! we’re thinking good thoughts, about the one I liked!

it’s definitely a fun adventure film. hollow earth was a much more fleshed out setting this time, I loved the varieties of locales and creatures. giant, flying flamingo fish that shoot electricity? kong crossing a rickety bridge made out of the spine of a monster so massive, that it’s kaiju sized compared to him? this is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to see! it was fascinating seeing kaiju sort of “on their level”, in a whole giant sized ecosystem made for them. we got some of that in the atomic time of monsters by @tyrantisterror, and I think it’s such fertile ground to explore. godzilla’s flirted with the idea before in both its netflix animes, but this is them really committing to it. it makes my worldbuilding and specbio freak heart happy. we even got to see more hellhawks! I love those guys.

lookit that face

okay this is going pretty long, but anyhoo, I liked the character stuff too. kong was as lovable as always, you really feel for the big lug. even though he’s a living god the size of a mountain, there’s a real vulnerability to him. he’s just a sad, lonely guy who wants purpose and belonging.

he and suko had some kind of fast, but still very nice bonding. the human side was fun too, they fixed a lot about what I didn’t like from the last movie. jia had more of an arc going instead of just being “the one kong talks to”, bernie was a lot more enjoyable since they cut out the weird conspiracy theorist stuff, trapper was a fun guy. it was nice just seeing someone who loves monsters and weird nature stuff.

skar king surprised me with how personal of a threat he is, they really let him feel like a horrid, nasty piece of work. he’s more than just a big evil overlord, he’s a bullying control freak who wants everything his way, and it makes his wretchedness more tangible in a way.

shimo didn’t get all that much, but I love shimo. I love her, and I can barely even tell why, there’s just some kind of Vibe to her I resonate with. I think it’s how mythical she feels. the oldest of a line of gods, a great being of ice, controlled by a wicked devil….in fact it all felt very mythic. I appreciate that, I love it when kaiju works play out like weird mythological epics.

probably the most tangible complaint I can think of right now is that the godzilla stuff was pretty underwritten. it honestly felt like he was just….doing video game sidequests or something. like, it didn’t have Impact up until the very end when he finally meets kong and SPOILERS SPOILERS. and it feels a shame to kill scylla and tiamat off this early, I liked those two as unpredictable wildcards. with rodan and the others still mia, and two titans unceremoniously dead, it’s starting to feel like the monsterverse is sorta….flattening itself? now that kongs arc is done, I think we need to get back to a godzilla solo or two, flesh things back out a bit. but that’s for future peter to talk about, today we’re leaving things off on a high note. fun characters, dynamic locales, some great monster brawling, this one was a good’un!

godzilla cast monkeys into hell for their sins

#avillananalysis2024 #godzilla #king kong #godzilla x kong: the new empire #kaiju #long post

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laurelnose · 4 months

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Forgive my desperate urgency but you are The Person whose opinion I must have on this topic-- I don't know very much about D&D and especially not about dragonborn, I am only in the BG3 fandom for Vibes, but this came up as of course it did because I'm me--

DO DRAGONBORN HAVE GIZZARDS

please we must discuss this

A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION DESERVING OF SERIOUS CONTEMPLATION

So dragonborn are descended directly from chromatic/metallic/gem dragons in some way (the exact way is a point of theological contention). The difference between those three dragon types is, to the best of my limited knowledge, not germane to the discussion. I will consider dragons as a single category.

Dragons are definitely not reptiles. They are warm-blooded and they act like cats. I do not actually think the cat thing is relevant to them being reptiles or not, Forgotten Realms wiki, but thank you anyways. So they are not like crocodiles, but are they like birds? Probably not. Although they did evolve from proto-dragon species which were among the few survivors of the cataclysm that killed the dinosaurs. Much like birds! (Or maybe they were created by the gods. Whatever. I’m not getting into a Faerûnian creationism debate. Anyways, in this context only, por qué no los dos.)

Dragons are preferentially carnivorous, but functionally omnivorous, with an emphasis on the omni. They can eat and digest just about anything, including inorganic materials. This ability is because of their “innate elemental nature”, which kind of makes me think dragons don’t really have digestive systems as we know them. They’re more like great primordial engines. I think this precludes gizzards in the dragons themselves — how would they get stones in their gizzards if their digestive system can break down stone? What would they even use them for? So if dragonborn have gizzards, they did not get them from the dragons.

Dragonborn do not seem to usually be capable of regularly digesting rocks, so if they swallow inorganic matter it should stay where it’s put. Baby dragonborn are born toothless and are fed by a lactating parent (dragonborn → monotremes??) until they grow teeth, and then are graduated through soft foods up to regular food (consisting of much more meat than your average humanoid). They are capable of digesting non-meat foods, but it doesn’t look like they have the dentition to chew non-meat foods. Which is why birds of just about all diets have gizzards — they don’t got no teeth! I’m going to go with either dragonborn have trouble eating vegetarian meals, as they have no grinding molars, or they do have gizzards. Courtesy of whatever primeval force or deity created them, maybe.

I also considered whether, if dragonborn are normally gizzardless, the Dark Urge specifically might have been created with special dietary capabilities, but you don’t need a gizzard for, say, osteophagy. (Notably, the only primarily osteophagous bird, the bearded vulture, has lost its gizzard.) And I feel like the other things animals use gizzards to digest are not quite On Theme, as it were. However, they might possibly, like bearded vultures, have a hardened, partially keratinized digestive lining for dramatic osteophagy (involving sharp broken-off pieces of bones).

On a different hand, dragonborn manifest draconic abilities at different levels, ranging from different or multiple breath weapons, dragonfear, or abilities from Bahamut or Tiamat. I wonder if some dragonborn, maybe those with particularly strong breath weapons (since the breath weapons are formed from elemental energy produced by dragons’ unique diets), might also manifest the ability to Just Eat Fucking Rocks. Not a glamorous ability! But very fun I think! Possibly more fun for dragonborn which do not natively have gizzards, as having a sort of elemental furnace in their belly instead of a stomach would then enable them to more comfortably eat food like salads.

On another totally different hand, polymorphed dragons (or not polymorphed, if you’re not a coward) are supposed to be able to hybridize with most of the humanoids, producing children that may take after either or both parents, and aarakocra and kenku are Right There. I mean, not in BG3, but, y’know. Half-dragons and dragonborn are different, but still interesting.

Also, dragons in the Forgotten Realms taste like turkey. I don’t know what you can do with this information but I feel like you would enjoy knowing it

#asks #bomberqueen17 #i am also only in bg3 fandom for the vibes atm lmao. maybe this will change if i ever actually finish a run

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shadow-fell · 6 months

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Ulder Ravengard

have you met Ulder and gone dude why are you so mean to your son? do you want to write some fun angst for Wyll? well then do I have some meta for you.

This is a summary of the events of Murder in Baldur's Gate, the adventure that introduced Ulder + a lot of other plot points for BG3, plus some bits from his later appearances in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus and Rise of Tiamat. MiBG isn't widely run, but this is heavy spoilers, so reader beware!

Murder in Baldur's Gate is an adventure very few people have heard of and also one of the most critical to the plot of BG3 (aside from Descent into Avernus which it was introduced as a direct companion/sequel to). It was part of the D&D Next playtest for 5e, and was written so that it could be played in 3e, 4e, or with the playtest rules, and is thus a really weird but fun adventure to run.

The core concept is this: Grand Duke Abdel Adrian (AKA Gorion's Ward AKA Charname from BG1/BG2) is attacked by the last remaining Bhaalspawn. One of them kills the other, and the survivor is turned into the Slayer, who the party is introduced helping to take down. What no one knows is that this also led directly to the resurrection of Bhaal, who proceeds to lurk in the shadows, manipulating events.

The main structure of the module is that there are three characters vying to take control of the city in the upheaval - Duke Torlin Silvershield who wants to consolidate power for the patriars and himself, Rilsa Rael of the Guild who's trying to start a populist uprising, and Ulder Ravengard, who's vying for the open Duke spot and trying to get the Flaming Fist more control over the city.

They're also all three touched by Bhaal, slowly driven over the deep end to drive the city into chaos. There are 10 stages, each with a mission from one of the three. If things go off as written (either because the party, working for that antagonist, did as they were told, or if they failed to intervene) they gain a rank of 'Bhaal's Favor' - with the winner ascending as the Chosen of Bhaal and wreaking havoc on the city.

Who is Ulder Ravengard at the start?

"Ravengard is not a zealot or a fascist - not yet, anyway."

Blaze Ulder Ravengard is the fourth son of a lower city smith, who is intensely loyal to the Flaming Fist, believing them to be the backbone of the city. He's repeatedly described as being disciplined, focused, and utilitarion. He has "no interest in domestic matters" and his soldiers respect rather than love him.

However, unlike most of the Fist, his goals are for the good of the city. He "seethes over the eagerness of ill-doers to control others, steal the fruits of honest folk's labor, and otherwise misuse hardworking people" - what manifests mainly in a crusade against the Guild, but he's no fan of the patriars and their corruption either.

Specifically, he plans to "wage war" against the Guild - and is aware that "wars aren't won without casualties or collateral damage" - pointing out his blind spot that "he excuses all actions taken for the public good while simultaneously deploring identical deeds that others carry out for less altruistic reasons"

Ulder's main flaw is that he thinks the ends justify the means, and that he's willing to do anything to protect the "honest" citizens of the city against crime. He's fine with intense methods if they produce results. That is to say, he's a cop.

To be honest my whole meta on Ulder really can be summed down with "ACAB" but we'll keep going anyways.

Murder in Baldur's Gate

It's Uktar 1482, at the Founder's Day celebration, and Grand Duke Abdel Adriain is dead. Ulder was his right hand, and was there for the death - but unarmed, because the Flaming Fist don't have authority in the Upper City, only the City Watch, who due to poor planning were too far away to do anything to help.

Ulder is the only one of the three antagonists to meet with the players openly, and invites them to Wyrm Crossing where he offers temporary membership in the Flaming Fist. His plan is to regain order, investigate the death (he thinks the Guild is behind it) and put himself up as Adrian's replacement.

Most of the module occurs in "stages" where each antagonist has their own plan going, which the party can either help or hinder.

Ravengard shuts down two gambling dens run by the Guild in the lower city, boarding them up and bringing the owners in for questioning.

Ravengard sends extra Flaming Fist to patrol the docks to check on workers from the Outer City he believe to be behind recent vandalism and tax robberies - they proceed to enact some police brutality.

Several statues (including the Beloved Ranger) are vandalized by a group of patriar youths. Whoever the party turns them over to gains a rank of Bhaal's Favor

Ravengard begins campaigning for Duke. Traditionally, the spot has ties to the Lower City and the Flaming Fist, but the Parliament of Peers wants a patriar instead - Wyllyck Caldwell. Ravengard blackmails Caldwell to get him to step away.

Ravengard convinces the Harbormaster to raise tariffs on luxury items (in response to the stage 2 sumptuary laws Silvershield enacts)

The Court of the Fist is set up - an illegal military tribunal where the Flaming Fist begin capturing suspected Guild members and sympathizers,

Ravengard closes down the Baldur's Mouth under suspicion the Guild is using it to communicate.

Rioting in the city breaks out, the Flaming Fist cracks down violently if the players don't intervene

Ravengard declares martial law. Not complying with the Flaming Fist is grounds for execution.

Ravengard sets up public executions. Over a hundred are killed within the first hour.

It Ends With Blood: if Ulder Ravengard is the Chosen of Bhaal, he reigns death on the city from above using the trebuchets in the Seatower of Balduran.

Event 10 occurs for the top two of Bhaal's favor, and Event 11 for the chosen - which is canonically Silvershield. So, we know events one through nine were at least ordered, even if circumvented - martial law is the only one that can't be averted.

Given that he ends up "winning" (becoming Grand Duke) I think the executions probably didn't happen (and instead Rilsa Rael staged her prison break) but it doesn't actually break canon.

Rise of Tiamat & Descent into Avernus

Sometime around or shortly before 1485, Ulder is named Grand Duke. 1485 is the year Wyll is banished for his pact with Mizora - which means he was only the Duke's son for maximum a few years.

In 1489, Ulder represents the city on the council to deal with the threat of Tiamat, where his traits are:

Ideals: Responsibility, glory ("I am trusted with protecting thousands of lives, and I will not betray that trust no matter what my personal desires.") Interaction Traits: Honest Pledged Resources: Flaming Fist warriors and expert advisers to train conscript troops

In Descent to Avernus, he's described as having been elected "backed by idealistic commoners and enemies of the other established dukes" and that his concerns are the "stability and prosperity" of the city. He's the "voice of reason and common sense" but not egalitarianism.

The central tenet of DIA is that Ulder Ravengard is an honorable man, and without him to keep the Flaming Fist in line, they exercise their power cruelly (guided along by Vanthampur as she tries to consolidate power)

In Elturel, Ulder has taken charge of the city's defense. You meet him as he has tried to recover a relic and been caught by a psychic attack from Baphomet, that is mostly grounds for him to give a lore drop.

Okay, that's a lot of information. Summary please?

Ulder Ravengard is a cop.

He's not a bad cop. He's not interested in power, wealth, or fame. He wants what's best for the city...and he believes that the Flaming Fist, with the right motivation and guidance are it.

But, like, he's still a cop. He's inflexible, and doesn't see much nuance in situations. He's Lawful Neutral, in a genuine sense, he believes in the righteousness of Order, and can't see the nuances or the downsides.

If he's a righteous man, why hasn't he put work into reforming the very corrupt Flaming Fist? Because Good Cops don't fix anything, and I don't think he actually has a problem with most of it. Sure, the punishment is extreme, but you were committing a crime - Mercy is a virtue for a judge to hold, but it isn't a right. He's more concerned with the corruption vis a vis bribes from patriars and the Guild than the police brutality angle.

He's a good man to have running your army. He's a good man to marshal your defenses as your city goes plummeting to hell. Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate? The only thing he has going for him is that everyone else is just as bad.

Of course he exiled Wyll - if you're not guilty, you have nothing to hide. There was nothing more damning than not being able to speak (which Mizora knew; she is, in fact, good at her job). Ulder's views of patriar corruption (and status as being from the lower city) also has him uniquely positioned to be very harsh - he can't be the person who lets his son's crimes slide, not and clamp down on the patriars doing the same thing.

But once he had the context, he accepted him immediately - the ends justify the means. Ulder Ravengard is a man who would make a deal with a devil to save his city...so long as he knows the price.

(now, on the 'leaving 17yo Wyll in charge...look, this gets complicated, but the only way it works is if he's put in charge of the Flaming Fist, not as 'heir to the Duke' mostly because Ravengard doesn't trust most of the Fist to not be corrupt. Even then, I think it's likely to be a bit more of Wyll's POV (I have to step up!) and less an official chain of command, but he could easily have been an official member).

There are definitely places with Wyll that you can see how he has and hasn't taken his father's ideology. He's got some naive views (Baldur's Gate, welcoming refugees??) that suit someone who was taught the theory but never actually practiced politics, but he definitely has a leaning towards some of Ulder's views about law and order and ends and means.

And as for Grand Duke Wyll Ravengard, well....

...let's just say, with the right people pushing buttons, I could see him going down the 'declare martial law' route too.

#ulder ravengard #wyll ravengard #wyll bg3 #bg3 spoilers #bg3 meta #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 meta

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alpaca-clouds · 4 months

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BG3 and the Second Sundering

You know what? I might ramble a bit about DnD Lore, because I am recently starting to get really into the lore. And I think that the Second Sundering is super interesting in terms of how it might connect to BG3 and its characters.

Quick refresher for everyone who (like me) never really had any contact with the lore of DnD and specifically the Forgotten Realms prior to 2023.

The Forgotten Realms is more or less the main setting for DnD and describes a collection of worlds that are technically speaking connected to our world. The main world most of the lore happens is called Toril, though frankly: Toril mostly consists of Faerûn (where most plot happens) and then an assorted collection of stereotypical settings that are mostly "Fantasy-East-Asia", "Fantasy-Egypt", "Fantasy-Africa" and "Fantasy-Aztecs".

The Forgotten Realms have magic (the Weave) and a wide collection of gods. And most worldwide storylines can be best described as: Bhaal, Myrkul, Bane, and Shar do some bullshit. And: Ao (who totally is not based on YHW) has issues.

Most of the recent events within the lore are all connected to those things. To give you a quick rundown:

The laws of the Forgotten Realms were written down by Ao in the Tablets of Fate, and about a hundred years ago Myrkul and Bane stole those tablets trying to give themselves more power. This made Ao angry at all the other gods and throw them out of the Astral planes. Stuff happened. More stuff happened. The Tablets of Fate were found again and Ao decided to destroy them to prevent something like that from happening again. Which lead to the Spellplague among other things. But we are not talking about the Spellplague today. No, we are talking about the Second Sundering, which happened just a few years ago from the perspective of Baldur's Gate 3.

Because Ao decided to reforge the Tablets of Fate to properly put the worlds of the Forgotten Realms back into order. And here is a thing you need to understand about the gods in the Forgotten Realms: They all, with no exception, strive for more power. No matter how Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil they are, they strive for power. And they all knew: When the Tablets would be reforged, the gods' powers would be more pinned down compared to how free they were without the tablets. So, all the gods tried to get more powers by getting more followers. To archive this, they all got themselves more chosen, so that they could be more present on Toril, which is how this most notably affected the people on the world.

The main events of the Second Sundering happened between 1484 and 1487 DR. (BG3 takes place in 1492 DR.)

Now, I will not go into too much detail of what happened. The tl;dr is that the usual people (the dead three and Shar) did their usual bullshit, some of the chosen were kidnapped and at times killed, there were several wars, some of the effects of the Spellplague were reversed, and some dead gods came back (including Mystra, but that is a story all on its own).

Within the world not all people even learned what was going on. Like, sure, people would have known about the wars and some might have heard some rumors about the chosen running around and stuff, but they would not have learned exactly what was going on with the gods and with the tablets of fate.

Still, some of the characters in BG3 would probably have known of - and even been involved in - in the events. Most notably of course Gale, who as a chosen of Mystra would be involved into everything in one way or another. Again, Mystra is probably a topic on her own. But yeah, Gale would have been involved somehow.

Chances are that Wyll's entire thing with defending the city from the Tiamat people, was also probably somehow connected to it.

The same goes of course for Shadowheart. She might in fact not fully remember this - but she was most certainly somehow dragged into those events by Shar.

The other three origin characters would not have been that involved. I firmly believe that Astarion knew next to nothing about what the fuck was going on, due to Cazador keeping the Spawn kinda away from the outside world except for hunting. And while the Second Sundering did involve some events in the Hells and on the Astral Plane, I doubt that Lae'zel or Karlach were very involved.

Ironically, someone who might well have been deeply involved would have been the Dark Urge. Because Bhaal was fairly involved in everything going on. Heck, chances are that even Gortash and Orin were in some way involved. Not quite sure about Ketheric. But those two? Yeah, probably involved.

And, you know. I think it is kinda a funny thing to think about. With everything happening there and how the characters - and in fact the events - being connected.

#baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #dungeons & dragons #dnd #forgotten realms #faerûn #second sundering #dnd lore #wyll ravengard #gale of waterdeep

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grimmgrinningghouls · 21 days

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I'm back from GxK!! heres my thoughts

I sadly had quite a bit spoiled but nothing can compare to seeing the movie in person, it was sooo much cooler in the theatre.

I kinda knew going in there wouldn't be much Goji, but I did really like when he was on screen. and tbh I don't quite get why people are villainizing him so hard for killing Scylla?? Like she was just destroying things for funzies. She was causing unneeded destruction so Godzilla had enough of her shit and took her out. Tiamat I can kinda understand but she also could've just ran away instead of fighting him.

His evolved design grew on me HARD, like I almost prefer it to his original design. The pink was soooo cool and I loved the look of his atomic breath, I even liked him being thinner. I adored the glowing eyes too, like that was so fucking cool. I do kinda wish we saw him using his thagomizer but I liked it nevertheless, for me its not about how much we see Godzilla, its about how he's used and I feel like he was used pretty well in this movie.

And I'd also like to issue a formal apology to Kong and his fans. I wasn't familiar with his game. Godzillas still my boy but I ended up really liking Kong, his story was really heartfelt. You could really empathize and relate to Kong throughout the movie, his story, emotions, and everything about him made me really like him, I also loved his bond with Suko.

this is also the first time I've genuinely liked the human characters in a monsterverse movie, really the first time I've actively wanted more of them. Loved Bernie and Trapper, more then I expected too. I assumed Trapper was just gonna be obnoxious since he was in the trailers but I really liked him. Bernie too, liked him a lot more then in GvK. I also ended up liking Jia a lot more then I expected too, she was a cool character. I liked her bonds and connections to the titans.

I do wish we saw more Mothra, but she was great when she was on screen. Loved seeing her and Godzilla on screen together again, I'd love to learn more about Mothra lore in the MV tbh.

As for villains, Skar king was pretty cool. He kinda got shat on in all the trailers so he caught me off guard seeing how ruthless he was, I wouldn't put him above Ghidorah but he was cool. I also liked Shimo and her big ass forehead, her size caught me off guard too, girlies massive. Visibly bigger then both Godzilla and Kong. I genuinely felt bad for her and seeing her get freed + find a new life as Kongs friend made me smile a bit.

I liked (most of) the fights too! I really liked the hollow earth 0 gravity fight, especially Godzillas part in it. I am for sure someone who prefers when the kaiju feel massive and have a ton of weight behind them, but that fight was so cool, Goji was badass and I loved seeing his evolved form in action.

The only fight I didn't like was the fight with Scylla, a 900,000 ton animal cannot move like that. That was a bit too silly even for me, and don't get me wrong I love a bit of silly monster fighting but meh. The godzilla suplex was funny as hell though, for sure unrealistic but funny so it passes. I liked the comedy a lot in the movie tbh, more then the other movies.

Also rq, I don't get why yall were calling the movie ugly?? Like some scenes kinda but it didn't look bad at all. The cgi was fine with me and I don't see why people called it a ps4 game, some shots were a bit wonky but not enough for me to really give a shit.

Overall? pretty good movie, I feel like the pacing could slow down a bit but I genuinely enjoyed myself a lot and had a total blast watching the movie. There was never a dull moment and I'd give it a solid 8/10.

#monsterverse #spoilers #GxK spoilers #godzilla x kong: the new empire #godzilla x kong spoilers #spook txt #godzilla stuff

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hrodvitnon · 29 days

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Abraxasverse GxK:TNE Headcanons and Ideas - Part 2

(1) (Overarching) The events of Abraxasverse GxK:TNE and Xenilla. I think one possible way to connect Xenilla and the Scarred Ones’ arcs together could be if the Scar King, instead of being a single-arc villain, is a double-arc villain, who has his second outing during the Xenilla crisis if it occurs after Shimo is freed.

Perhaps the Abraxasverse version of GxK:TNE ends with the Scar King still losing control of Shimo, but he escapes Rio de Janeiro with his life and goes to ground (although maybe he first suffers a karmic injury for catharsis, like his arm getting excruciatingly frozen by Shimo and subsequently losing it, or something like that).

Years later, when the Xenilla crisis is underway, the Scar King turns up again, and then, well… there’s that previous headcanon of mine about him temporarily joining forces with the heroic Titans against Xenilla, only to prove to his immediate allies the moment Xenilla is down that he’ll always be the same old, irredeemable tyrant and wannabe-conqueror at heart.

I’m not sure whether the Scar King still loses control of the other Scarred Ones at the same time as Shimo like in the film and so is in a “how the mighty have fallen” state after going to ground, or if in this version, Scar losing rulership of the Scarred Ones to Kong is delayed until the Xenilla crisis. But IF the former version is so, then maybe…

(1.5) …at the time of the Xenilla crisis, the Scar King has settled down to a peaceful and secluded life. Which serves to make it all the worse when he doesn’t hesitate to throw it all away for his old ambitions.

(1.5A) Especially if, perhaps, the Scar King had found a mate and a cub unaffiliated with the Scarred Ones since his fall from grace, and he treats them better than his harem and kids in the Scarred Ones, but then he doesn’t hesitate to throw them away or even put them in harm’s way the second that his old ambitions have resumed.

(1.5B) Perhaps in this scenario, the heroes only let the Scar King join them at all against the common threat of Xenilla because Scar’s personal expertise on removing a telepathic crystal from a Titan and using it against them, like he originally did with Shimo, is now a necessity to standing a chance of defeating Xenilla - the technique behind the removal is something that Scar always kept exclusively secret from all his underlings throughout his rule and Shimo’s enslavement, for obvious reasons, plus with Xenilla on the rampage, there isn’t time or resources for Scar to teach the technique to Kong, Abraxas or any other present heroic Titan who might have opposable thumbs. ‘Cos with the Scar King’s history, he’d need something REALLY valuable to bring to the table for his former-enemies to even begin considering letting him join forces with them.

—-

(2) Godzilla’s evolution, Ozymandias, and triggering Xenilla’s coming. Maybe a major reason why Godzilla has never tried to do his pink nuclear fusion evolution with Tiamat’s or a similar Titan’s energy before, even with threats like Ghidorah almost killing him, is because: the last Zohar-infused Gojiran who underwent such an evolution was Ozymandias, a very short time by Titan standards before he disappeared, and Godzilla knows or suspects just enough about the circumstances of Ozymandias’ disappearance to deduce there was a link.

A Gojiran who’s evolved into that pink fusion state probably emits a very unique signal or frequency, which can be detected from far out in space by those who are extrasensitive enough to the signal or who know precisely how to scan the cosmos for traces of it - like Gigan, his fleet, and their creations. And Gigan and his fleet probably covet the evolved Gojiran energy, hence why they abducted Ozymandias specifically and then left Earth alone the first time they came here.

Godzilla evolving with Tiamat’s energy to defeat the Scarred Ones and Shimo is probably detected by Xenilla from out in space. Leading to him finding and making his way across space, back to Ozymandias’ home, making landfall a matter of years after the Rio de Janeiro battle.

It’s like that cosmic horror story creepypasta said: BE QUIET OR THEY WILL HEAR YOU

---

Oh, the options to play with... is AbraxasVerse Skar King a manipulative social predator who gets away from Rio and seemingly turns over a new leaf only to cast it to the wind at the nearest opportunity, or more accurate to the film? Will AbraxasVerse Evolved Godzilla a beacon for nefarious forces beyond the stars? find out on the next episode of dragon ball z

#submission #abraxasverse

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y-rhywbeth2 · 4 months

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Gods & Clergy: Bhaal #2

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Because I found some extra stuff on Bhaalists.

Briefly featuring; secret identities, how to consecrate an altar, acceptable targets for sacrifice, red rooms, mummification, do not steal a Bhaalist's knife, and maybe some other stuff.

"Murder is natural. Slaying is what all creatures in Faerûn do, daily if they can. At least daily, slay something living—and the Lord of Murder is most pleased if the victim is one of your own kind and as formidable as, or more powerful than, you. Kill with swift skill, not by torture, forced suicide, falls, or collisions. Do it personally, with ever-greater deftness and elegance, and teach others the skills and the delights of slaying. "Deathbringers are to slay with enough skill that witnesses are impressed. They are always to challenge those more powerful than themselves, the clergy of other deities being prize targets. Slay with pleasure, but never with anger. Be in exquisite control of yourself. Utter the name of Bhaal so the victim can hear it. Ideally, it should be the last word a victim hears." - more Bhaalist dogma

Deathbringer appears to be a generic term for a Bhaalist who is part of the church. Or it's an alternative term for Deathstalker, it's hard to tell. Going on context, I assume it means the former.

In the time between his death and his resurrection, Bhaal no longer spoke directly to his followers even though he seemed to be answering prayers. He contacted them only rarely, and only in the form of nightmares.

Worshipping Bhaal is legal and persecuting his followers is considered... risky. Nobody wants to offend the gods. Murder, on the other hand, is very much illegal. Due to the fact that Bhaal is worshipped by committing very illegal murders, this gets complicated.

As with all evil and disruptive faiths, Bhaalists are permitted to worship so long as they don't disrupt functioning society and follow various stipulations: keeping their religious practices out of public view; not rocking the boat and causing the public to panic; and performing agreed upon services for the government for example. If they keep their end of the agreement, the law politely turns to look away.

Bhaalists protect their ability to worship the Lord of Murder by courting the halls of power, making themselves indispensable to the local government and nobility, and infiltrating law enforcement to cover their tracks. Many of them cut out the middleman and take positions of power themselves.

To make life easier for themselves, most Bhaalists have a "daytime identity" as a regular citizen, and keep their personal shrines out of sight (part of the restriction violent and evil faiths must follow in order to be permitted to operate in the Realms). The public should not be able to identify random Bhaalists walking amongst them.

Incidentally, Bhaalist shrines are kept holy by being anointed with the followers' own blood.

Bhaalists use their daily life to observe the city and consider their target. Preferred targets include:

Adventurers and travellers nobody knows. -

Criminals and troublemakers people will be glad to be rid of. -

People who are rising in power who might cause trouble for Bhaalists with that power -

The clergy of Bhaal's enemies: (Chauntea, goddess of agriculture; Helm, god of guards and law; Lathander, god of birth and renewal; Torm, protector of the common folk; Ilmater, god of martyrs; and Lliira, goddess of joy)

Favourite hunting grounds for Bhaalists tend to be either the main streets and markets (if they're looking to draw attention to the sacrifice, perhaps to make a statement) or the slums and poorer areas.

A daily murder is preferred by Bhaal, but only once a tenday is the murder of a person mandated. When the time comes, the Bhaalist will don their religious clothing and head out on their hunt.

Once the target is dead, they will take some trophy from them (and likely strip them of their wealth and possibly ransack their house, if possible). This trophy could be a personal possession, or a body part (for example; a finger, or their heart). The "trophy" is offered up to Bhaal on the altar, with a prayer, and Bhaal permits his followers to keep whatever wealth they acquire to fund their daily life and "continue their holy work." Many Bhaalists aim for a wealthy life, both for the comfort and for the fact that power and money are great ways to avoid anybody arresting you if you fuck up.

If in a city with a larger temple, then the worshipper is to tithe 50% of all coins taken this way to the temple.

If there is no temple in the area, then every member will be assigned a higher ranking priest as a handler of sorts, and they will give that 50% to them instead.

The church couldn't care less about non-monetary gains and land deeds, you can keep those.

Temples are not open to the public and may not be placed in view of the public, hence why they are built beneath the streets. There are also remote monasteries and monastic orders beyond the reach of the cities, which presumably hunt travellers on the roads at night and put the fear of their god into the hearts of nearby villages and farmers.

Bhaalists recruit by essentially running red rooms and snuff shows in secret locations at night; often cellars, basements and also private rooms in the upper floors of more well-to-do buildings. Guests wear masks to protect their privacy (the Bhaalists will presumably be wearing their full religious veils instead of masks).

The targets chosen for the spectacle will typically be those public opinion deems deserving of death. Violent criminals, for example. These slayings will not be considered a crime by viewers, and with a reputation for vigilantism, the cult may even come to be viewed favourably by some. Joining the cult means you get to "volunteer" the next guest star.

While I don't know how widely practiced this is, Bhaalists do mummify their dead. Invading a Bhaalist tomb may backfire when the long-dead priests take issue with their visitors.

Bhaalists blades may be cursed, in case they're stolen (particularly those they bury with their dead). Once unsheathed, the blades can't be returned to their scabbard until they've been used to take a life. Attempts to remove the curse with counter-magic will cause them to explode violently in a burst of metal shrapnel and fatal poison (which will be absorbed into the body on skin contact).

#blissfully short this time #durge #the dark urge #dark urge #orin the red

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legionaberrations · 5 months

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Got any Julie headcanons to spare? From general stuff (like appearance) to more... Specific stuff (like gender identity and voice). I would love to read them mun. Plus your art is wonderful and very cute to look at (I truly mean that)

(I have quite a few Julie headcanons! As the universe of DBD is functionally a multiverse where characters can have small differences between iterations of themselves it's fun to play with those kinds of alternatives and differences.

For my Julie's appearance I draw heavily on greasy 90s aesthetics and in particular Billy Loomis - the Legion is at its core a Scream reference and I personally thought making Frank "the Billy" is a little too obvious, too easy. That's why you'll see I often draw her with short greasy brown hair lol.

Gender-wise the version of her seen on this blog is a trans woman (and Frank in parallel as a trans man). I think a lot of the "horror" in suburban horror comes from feelings of isolation or even persecution in your community and as a trans person who was once an edgy and angry teenager I think it's fun to explore the Legion from that angle.

I'd never really thought about her voice! I think the female Legion voice in the game sounds a lot more like Susie to me than Julie, though. For me I'd really look to female vocalists from the 90s like Courtney Love or Donita Sparks.

I do imagine Julie's parents would be relatively supportive if ignorant (since it Was the 90s) and that acceptance would be a bright spot in an otherwise very distant relationship. Julie hides a lot of herself from her parents, as seen in the comics, trying hard to make them think she's just a normal girl. But smothering those parts of herself is obviously very painful and isolating for her too.

I think Julie projects a strong air of confidence but actually has a lot of negative views of herself. Not in being traditionally self-hating but I think in a truly teenage way she thinks there's something wrong with her, that she's evil by nature. Obviously she's just a troubled kid who needed her emotional needs acknowledged instead of being ignored, but that's something she was never mature enough to realize (and never will be, now! It's very sad).

At the time of being in the Entity I think she strongly believes that without her push and her influence, the other members of Legion probably never would've killed anybody, but that she was always going to end up here. It's kind of a moot point because she also realizes they were all too enmeshed and were never going to split up and she was always going to corrupt them (and I think this is an anxiety she shares with Frank, who probably sees himself as a violent rot that tainted all his friends).

Other smaller headcanons: I like to imagine that Julie has an older brother, but there's a large gap between them so he was already out of the house by the time she was in elementary school. He's a successful and well-adjusted man which just makes her feel more fucked by comparison.

Her family isn't rich or anything but is relatively well-off. She has a car (in some canons?) and unlike Joey didn't need to work to buy it for herself. She gets a reasonable allowance and is kinda the "friend who rents movies" and "the friend who buys dinner" when other people don't have the money to do it.

She likes gothic metal, favoring bands like Tiamat, Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, etc.

Thank you for the compliment!! I appreciate that you like the blog. I should probably post more haha but I've been burnt out of late. Asks like this are very encouraging!)

#ooc

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naddpod-encounter-tourney · 5 months

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Option 1:

Enemy: Dragon of Gnomish Court (Jury)

Episodes: Trinyvale 21: Plaintiffs and Paramours

Time: 1:06:36-1:53:43

Finish: none, it's a skills challenge/murder mystery

Notes: They have to convince the Tiamat jury that Onyx didn't commit regicide and solve the mystery of who did. Onyx continually flashes the jury as a bribe to solidify her points. Caldwell layers in interesting facts about what happened for people to figure out what actually occurred when the Queen died. Nyack says "Ob fucking jection" when the head guard testifies. Jens proves the final point that the princes and princesses killed their mother by attempting to dispel hair dye.

Propaganda: (anonymous) the design of this is the coolest thing i've ever seen! 5 dragons and symbolize concepts that need to be impressed and each one can be done in a diff way with diff stats for every character that is in the party. jens 8th level dispel magic to wig that woman. they get to use all their weird items. i love it so much!

Option 2:

Enemy: The Ironrippers

Episode: C3 E15: Princess Shiverblight

Time: 57:19-1:53:11

Finish: Sol (Warforged Titan), no other enemy earns themself a fun finish

Notes: The introduction of Elzor and Iggy! A ton of damage is dealt in the surprise round. Calder gets to use a machine gun and then kills 5 or 6 dudes at once. The warforged titan has a cool hammer fist. There are chainsaw knights. Everyone goes down at different moments and there's a potion party. Callie is vaping, Calder tanks, Sol also gets a gun. They decide to eventually tell Shiverblight that Calder died in this battle and they clear out all the Ironrippers and get Shiverblight's lair back!

Propaganda: (anonymous) It’s a very cool encounter with a giant robot, Gatling guns, and vapes. Also one of those classic moments where they’re laughing and joking and then two of them go down and everything gets very quiet. Also 1. This is for the benefit of Princess Shiverblight, of all people 2. This is where Calder gets the Helm of Ultrus 3. First appearance of Elzor and Igneous!

#naddpod #not another dnd podcast #ba2mia #trinyvale #naddpod encounter tournament #round 2

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chatadile2 · 9 months

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Hi! Would you be willing to share anything more about your sidestep? 👀 no pressure, of course, but I’d love to hear more about them!

Hihi, yee don't mind don't mind, thank you for the ask and the interest in her!

One thing before I do tho, that this might change later on mattering from how the next 2 books will be when they come out (not like I'm gonna really remember my choices, so probably will replay and deviate from how I did originally in most things), but overall it shouldn't really, just wanna let my Sidestep actually have a happy life after what happened and be able to heal <:D

Also this is going to be long from what I have written so far, way more than I expected, but hope it's alr :D

(It probably has spoilers in there, but tried to not say too much to make sure anyone reading won't be getting the full picture, till they get there. Also edited it, so it has a cut, cause realised that it might take up more space in searches than I want it to)

-Her name is Tiaxy Draconic (based on my sona since I like to have her in any kind of interactive book story to see what can happen with her and to enjoy the story a bit more personally), a gal with white skin, longer braided blond hair and green eyes, who is a seasoned tech-savy tactician, that becomes very conflicted by the events retribution towards her own self, her villain persona, puppet, life and emotions overall making things more complicated than ever,

-Big sweet toothed telepath, favourite sweet specifically is cheescake!

-Her villain name is Tiamat, based on the goddess and looks somewhat like what they designed for her in the game Smite (Overall my sona herself is connected in a way to the goddess in her own lore outside of the books, so seemed most fitting to make it her villain self's armor), but made to fit the story a bit better, other than with the armor having an expressive face on the helmet, which can show her emotions well enough when she wants it to that can be controlled with cams inside the head aimed at her face and with through the ui. The armor itself wouldn't be exactly like the book describes, being apart, but together, like the power armor in fallout (much more to my liking for what I'm imagining an armor of hers is). It's in the terrifying category with speed, jet boost and telepathy enhancing, helping to keep the "no hit record" alive and well enough that she only got hit majorly once, she isn't planning to get hit majorly anymore even if the armor can take it,

-Main motivation as a villain is justice and truth on the other side and she is an anarchist in the 1st playthrough, mattering from which I like, might switch to another (not really into the politics, but doesn't mean I didn't like punting a guy in one of the later missions tho),

-Her base is an abandoned office building (or whatever it was, can't remember the exact name atm), she refurbished it enough to live there, making sure her armor is close enough by for easy access, old apartment wasn't bad though, she lived well enough, manipulating rich peeps to give her their money, funding her life easily, puppet stayed above the apartment after she moved though,

-As a villain, she isn't trying to kill anyone, atleast any civilians (anyone else will get punted if they are in the way), knows they aren't the problem and tries to show the truth to them and to overall everyone, trying to plant doupt where it needs to be present, even if it's naive at that time, her goals are overall heroic rather than villanious,

-She might pretend a lot, masking as she had always done in fear of being seen and recognised, she is trying/starting to be more positive and genuine towards the end, not by much, but it's way bigger difference then in rebirth with her being very antisocial, it might bite her later though, like before, but hopefully can get out of trouble in the next books,

-Says she doesn't want to keep her friends, yet does, doesn't wanna interact with them, yet does and runs into them by accident a lot, doesn't want to love anyone, yet again does and says things she says she didn't actually want and why did she even do so, for example, she agreed to get together with Herald when she didn't exactly plan to, surpising even her own self and ofc making Herald very happy (he is too much of a positive influence on her, both physical and mental, and she couldn't say no, even tho she thinks she wanted to, she didn't, she can't deny it >:]),

-She overall knows something is wrong with her, broken (literally, yknow yknow when), and instead of keeping the destructive habits, tries to get herself together proper and tries to heal, as well as her own self allows and is able of course, and even tries to accept herself somewhat even if it's very hard, she agreed to see the therapist too by Ortega's wishes and recommendation in rebirth and didn't push them away too much in retri, didn't reveal too much either, but wasn't overall hostile, so didn't really regret it that much compared to when she agreed to it and said it helped some,

-Nightmares are still plenty regardless of change (which I hope will change later and she actually can get sleep, cause my god she needs it, every sidestep needs to have a good night sleep),

-As mentioned, she is starting to accept herself, so she is starting to use her puppet a bit less after 2 years and deciding to start going by herself more to wherever she needs to be or mainly in armor rather most of the time though,

-Speaking of the puppet, his name is Jake a white skinned, green eyed, black and green wild haired guy, who got together with Ortega in rebirth and are eternally flirting in retri, which is still the case by the end,

-Puppet met Ortega while boxing, getting some emotions out, they train whenever they can,

-As herself, she became Herald's coach, which was the extent she wanted the connection be, but things took a turn for possibly better than expected,

-Became even more friendly friends by retri with Steel, Ortega, Herald (ofc, who wouldn't) and Mortum through her puppet (broke my heart through the first playthrough tho of retri when Tia gave him the gun as herself and decided it's as good as of a time to tell him something very important [I never regretted anything more in my life, physical and mental damage irl that I didn't think was possible ;-;], hoping tho that it won't bite me later and actually be agood thing),

-Since she unintentionally (def intentionally, even if she doesn't realise) got closer with most of the rangers (other than Argent, they are netrual since rebirth), they all noticed something up with her and always ask "are you okay?", which she at the 4th time was like "why is everyone keep asking me this???", which was honestly pretty funny, getting asked so many times if she is, ofc she isn't, but she won't gonna say it just yet (she did admit it a bit though, with Ortega in rebirth, he did recommend the therapist for a reason),

-Spoon is still the best thing that happened interms of animal interactions, she enjoyed her time with Steel there a ton,

-Would absolutelly be a cat person, if she didn't know better, wouldn't mind a dog either (she needs a therapy dog by the end, I swear, hoping and praying here [even if that doesn't happen, rat king might be better for that purpose for Sidestep specifically]),

-Other than the rangers and a select few, she isn't fond of people regardless of how much change she goes through, that won't change, antisocial all the wayyy babbbyyyy other than friends ofc,

-Compared to rebirth, she calmed down a lot more from the high of her villain self's deput, still that doesn't mean she isn't excited to go and be the villain whenever the time comes, that's still exciting regardless, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have her doubts about wether or not it is truly the right path she decided upon after everything,

-Likes rainy days and water overall. Likes to just watch rainfall from her room, esp likes it when it pours. It's somehow pretty terapeutic just watching and listening to the rain fall. Whenever she is able, she does go to the beach to listen to the waves,

-Likes to wear an almost fully black coat, which is just a very dark shade of blue, likes the fact it is long and almost reach the ground, under it a light blue shirt, with long dark purple pants and formal-ish shoes that are made to make sure she can walk on wet and otherwise problematic surfaces without any trouble, and she wears white gloves.

And I think that's it atm, can't remember more from the top of my head and I think this is plenty for now anyways, I wrote down a lot more than I expected to have! Hopefully this can give a bit more inside into my darling Sidestep, since I'm an artist, I might even draw them depending on if I can stick with what I'm drawing and not just put it on the shelf for later, yknow yknow gjjfj.

Again, thank you for the interest in my gal! If you have anymore questions about her that are more specific and not answered here, just lmk! I don't mind talking about it and aswering, I rather enjoy doing so :]

#Asks #fallen hero #fallen hero retribution #fallen hero rebirth #sidestep #Oc Tiaxy

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virovac · 3 months

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Complex social dynamics of kaiju for my fan timeline idea brainstorming posts

With long lived kaiju I oddly don't see tangle webs of alliances

Rodan

Inspired by Marc Cerasini novels of having the main Rodan being a mother and my own past ideas for Rodan, Rodan is a semi-social species of varied appearances but no sexual dimorphism, led by a negligent matriarch.

Rodan young are incredibly self-sufficeint, but Rodan will come to the aid of her young if they are in the area and allow them to fly with her.

(Inspired by Scott Ciencin's novels), the Rodan matriarch is a long time associate of Anguirus and will discipline her young that harass the spiny kaiju. The two have been observed to sometimes just rest in the same general area.

Relationship with Godzilla is contentious willing to fight against a common enemy, but will otherwise attack eachother on sight. Oddly, neither seem to aim for a killing blow. (This part mostly my own idea and expanding their first encounter dynamic from Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster)

Rodan are intelligent creatures that begin refine hunting strategies and prey preferences soon after hatching, having intraspecies niche partitioning. As such, some have developed a taste for humans while others have not. Individuals vary greatly in the level of danger they represent to humanity, and in what circumstances they are a threat. But few if any will attack a lone individual human once they grow enough in size.

Soran from Dark Horse comics

(Mixed partly with the Power Dragon of Hanna Barbara) My idea is a scavenger and high altitude hunter, that possibly weaves in and out of strange pocket dimensions in the clouds. The main predator of young rodan.

An ally of Godzilla that feasts from his kills, and not hostile to humans (and rarely coming down from high altitudes in their cities, so does not even cause slipstream damage very often) aside from when enraged by strange energy signatures, but also one of the mysterious Battra's few allies, coming to Battra's aid against other flying monsters.

Tiamatos

[bear with me, really took a lot of creativity with this one]

(based on monsterverse Tiamat). A monster that can be summoned by humans replicating ancient devices, Tiamatos was the adoptive mother, or at least a mentor of many ocean monsters, generally after slaying their parents.

This allows her to bring a surprising number of kaiju to her aid that she trained into hunting partners.

She culls the oceans of rivals, while gaining allies where she can.

[yeah I wanted to do something with vocal mimicry and the Mother of Monsters thing, thinking she could be Megalon's momma and makes use of him the few times she comes into conflict with humans instead of going too weird like Monsterverse comics did and giving her hydrokinesis. I like her but she has too many powers at once]

Kamerus

Few kaiju have as much a knack at making unnecessary enemies as this the turtle-like monster.

Kamerus is a crafty creature, playing dead and waiting out opponents to get what it wants. The large turtle has learned to attack fishing trawlers for an easy meal, making the beast a huge problem and spurring the sale of “kaiju detectors” of dubious functionality. It is a relentless raider of other Kaiju's nests, even shockingly climbing cliffs like a rock climber in order to snack on Rodan eggs.

Possessing a bizarre concealed stinger on its tail, Kamerus has been able to drop even Godzilla with its poison in the few times they brawled.

However, largely they have developed a strange bond with Godzilla, paralleling Godzilla's bond with the monster Anguirus on the opposite side of the globe. However the few times Anguirus and Kamerus have met Godzilla had to separate them as they quickly started fighting.

(Combination of Kamerus from the dark horse comics and the F***ng giant turtle from Godzilla the Series cartoon)

#godzilla fan timeline #godzilla au

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