#Prequel campaign lore

[kitquips]

blorbo ask time, npc edition! madame koira, the baroness, tak, and lal

Finally!! This was a super fun one, I hope you guys enjoy the lore:

Captain Lal (Hobgoblin Conquest Paladin/Fighter)

18. what dish brings back the best memories for them?

Probably anything that her mother would’ve made. They were extremely close as each other's only family. Her adoptive father was never much of a cook so Lal had to learn fast. Making things her mother would was always a comfort in hard times.

11. if they have a pet or animal companion, how do they spend time with them? if they don’t have one, what sort of animal would they be interested in raising, if any?

Lal has never had a pet because her lifestyle has never really allowed for it. If she were to ever have one, a big dog would absolutely suit her.

She’d have the sort of discipline to have them well-trained, they would give her the sort of uncomplicated affection she really needs, and having a big fuck-off dog obediently at her heel ready to maul anyone who would mess with her just suits her vibe.  

“Baroness Blackwater”(Human Warlock)

24. are they close to any family members?

Once upon a time, it would have been her cousin, who she was practically raised with. However as the Baroness has grown colder and more openly selfish, they’ve drifted apart.

In a sick sort of way the closest relationship she has, familial or otherwise, is probably her son Akrius, despite being his chief emotional abuser through most of his life. They resent the hell out of each other for different reasons, but there is also an innate connection between the two. They both have a mutual respect for the intelligence of the other, as well as having similar mannerisms and vices.

They have a twisted sort of bond where they simultaneously can’t stand each other but also feel like no one else in the world “gets” them as much as the other.

58. how often do they swear? do they mind when others swear?

The baroness has two modes: put-on refinement and her real, unfiltered, personality. The prior would never dream of swearing. Knowing barbs, backhanded remarks, and carefully alluded to blackmail are her bread and butter.

The latter, however, has no such reservations. She’ll happily stand there, sour-faced and chain smoking, enlightening you on all of the “fucking morons” she has to put up with and illustrating their ineptitude with cleverly crude and pointed insults.

Bonus:

9. when in their life were they most scared?

Probably during her first pregnancy, followed shortly by her second. She wasn’t emotionally prepared to deal with having a child and it entirely altered the plan she had laid out for herself.  She essentially only carried through with the birth and upbringing of her son Akrius because of entirely external pressures. She knew as soon as she accepted the responsibility that her life would spiral out of her control and deep down not having control terries her.  

I won’t go too much into the birth of her second child, Adaar… yet. Let’s just say though, she was a taking a risk that would result in two very powerful beings possibly having it out for her. This time though: it was her choice. For the baroness, that was enough comfort to make it slightly less scary.

Madame Koira “Koi”(locathah Wizard[?]/ brothel madame/halfway house owner)

45. what lies do they tell themselves?

“This time will be different”

Koi has the biggest heart for anyone who needs a place to stay and some motherly wisdom/love. This has unfortunately also led to her being a notorious enabler for some of the more unscrupulous people who pass through her door.

A few became revolving figures in her house, staying long enough to cause havoc and overstay their welcome only to come crawling back when they find themselves in a bad position knowing she would accept their apology. It’s well meaning but the people who genuinely want the best for her can only shake their head as she continues to allow these people to take advantage of her.

16. do they value their appearance?

Madame Koi lives and breathes fashion. It was something she would have to discover for herself as fashion wasn’t something she really grew up with among other locathah as clothing tends to weigh down swimming.

Koi is also trangender(MtF), so coming from a species where most surface dwellers can’t easily differentiate between the biological sexes is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, bad actors can’t contradict her when she states that she is in fact a woman, because they don’t know what the biological signifiers are. On the other, ignorant but completely well meaning surface dwellers routinely misgendered her(and probably still would’ve if she were AFAB) which was upsetting to her.

Her love of fashion became her affirmative therapy. She dresses lavishly, oozing femininity to the point where there is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind. She’ll also happily accessorize her ensembles with ample padding and one of her many elaborate wigs just for the effect. And no one says boo about them not being “real” because… well… she’s a fish. Of course she wouldn’t have natural boobs or hair. Plus who can hate when you rock it like she does??

Tak(Barbarian)

42. can they dance?

He’s not trained or anything but he is absolutely the sort to just sort of let himself get into it and maybe even drag someone on to the dance floor when it looks like they need it. He’s just one of those people with the confidence and energy to pull off dancing.

43. how much do they know about the world they live in?

Not a lot, really. He’s grown up in goblinoid society his whole life and knows the ins and outs of it well. He’ll be the first to admit though that he signed up for the army just because it was the best option for someone of his standing. He just sort of fell into what was expected of him without really exploring what the options were outside of the society he grew up in. Once he gets his chance to get a taste of it though, he will definitely want more!

#Captain Lal #Tak #Baroness Blackwater #Madame Koira #blorbo #Prequel campaign lore

[retrokid616]

ashton seeing f.c.g backing for the moon elder like

#ashton greymoore #moon elders #moon lore #moon npcs #cr spoilers #live blogging #bells hells #campaign 3 #critical role #just saying ashton needs a prequel one shot

[nebulonous]

THE RAVENING WAR IS EVERYTHING I’VE EVER NEEDED

I’ve spent every waking moment since I finished a Crown of Candy holding myself back from immediately rewatching it and reliving the trauma, and I’ve just been handed another reason to on a silver platter.

#I'm preparing to spiral again hehe #AND IM HERE FOR IT #Also Brennan being a PC in my favorite campaign's prequel?!?!? Life made. #Also I've heard a lot about fan cannon lore and I want to be filled in PLEASE #the ravening war #dimension 20 #dimension 20 the ravening war #d20 #a crown of candy #brennan lee mulligan #matthew mercer

[dungeonsandblorbos]

Campaign Intros: Curse of Strahd Prequel

because one campaign in this setting wasn't enough for me or my husband (the DM), we decided to pass the time between sessions of the main game with a prequel solo game! we're only about 6 sessions in, but it got off to a pretty grim start and has only gotten grimmer

which, ya know, is lowkey the goal for a gothic horror campaign, so it works!

~anyway~

the setting (and some backstory)

if you're familiar with Curse of Strahd as written (or you read my last campaign intro), you've probably got a decent understanding of the basic setting already, so i'll go into more detail here about Kire's immediate circumstances—in other words, how this mess all started

once upon a time, there lived a family; a mother named Ravena, a father named Barov, and two sons named Strahd and Sergei. they lived peacefully as the rulers of a happy little country centered in a prosperous valley. but their neighbors grew envious of their good fortune, and one day, they conspired together to attack and take the wealth for themselves. they killed the king and queen, but left the boys alive; and placed Strahd, the older of the two, on the throne as a puppet ruler

but Strahd was cunning and coy and bitter, and as he grew, he studied and practiced everything he could, and became a skilled fighter and mage. soon, he took his vengeance, slaying those responsible for his parents' murders and conquering their lands. he named his new domain Barovia, after his father, and called the castle he built there Ravenloft, for his mother

and then, unsatisfied, he kept going, conquering and devouring and leaving ruin in his wake

the rest of the continent watched his spree with apprehension, and when they could stand their fear no more, banded together to form a massive army to take him on. in time, they were able to drive him back to his castle, where they defeated him. Strahd, finally, was dead. except, well . . .

it didn't stick

through some unholy magicks, he had escaped death. all that effort, all those deaths, for naught. in order to keep him and his army from continuing their path of destruction, a curse was placed to keep him confined to his homeland, and Barovia—and everyone within it—were banished to the Shadowfell, a demi-plane of evil

it's about five years later. with no one else to conquer, Strahd has turned on his own people, and in turn, some of his own men turned on him. the war continues, now a fight for the freedom of Barovia against its own king. it is a fight for the very soul of the nation—and, unfortunately, the people of Barovia seem to be losing

the party

Kire Dalca: my PC! you know her, you met her here. a variant human eldritch knight. though she was once an idealistic young soldier, the war has taken nearly everything from her; her friends, her mentor, her idealism, her mental health, even her chance of ever seeing home again even if she does survive. wary and hyper-alert, she can be suspicious and jumpy. her sense of humor has become dark and wry. she was never much of a people-person, but she's even less of one now, alternating between distant and gruff. even so, she remains compassionate and clings to hope, willing to throw herself in harms' way to save an ally or in the name of the greater good

Carlen II: an elven NPC and an incidental companion from Valakia, stronghold of the resistance. named for his father, and hopes to pass the name down to his grandson. a kind and compassionate family man, he's studied some holy magic and uses it to help where he can

some NPCs

Carlen I: Carlen II's father. a serious man and notably strong mage, deeply involved in the resistance, serving as one of its big three alongside Andrel and a mysterious third who recently quit

Andrel: a holy man who once served as Strahd's personal pastor and healer, and was even a close "friend" of his, until their moral differences became too great. an incredibly powerful cleric. about twenty years ago, he ventured into a nearby valley in service of his god, the Morning Lord, and returned with suddenly red hair and an aura that drives away evil things. he’s one of the few people Strahd truly fears or respects—he's also an excellent baker!

Pete Durst: a physician in Barovia. he's thin and has a bit of a skullet and deep, dark eyes. not a very nice person. though a member of the Chertobog-worshipping community group, he's been acting kinda weird and suspicious lately

Gustav Durst: Pete's cousin. a hearty and robust "family man" who hasn't gone to Chertobog church meetings in about a year. may be cheating on his wife

Elisa Durst: Gustav's wife. she was pregnant about a year ago, and then she wasn't, and none of their friends have seen the baby. come to think of it, they haven't really seen her, either. may be part of a blood god cult

Harkis Wayburn: a large, jovial man with a big bushy red beard and hair. doesn't quite know his own strength. an excellent entertainer, his stores of wine are plenty and his were-boars-in-blankets are a hit with party guests. hosts the Chertobog meetings at his home. his family came to Barovia from Calatia about 50 years ago, and made their fortune through the fur trade. he's incredibly generous, sending Kire and Carlen on their way with roughly a pound of were-pigs and a fur coat each

Andrei Wayburn: one of Harkis's sons. these days, he's busy being a teenage rebel and having his own little religious meetings centered on Chertobog's evil rival, Shuderbog, a god of blood and death and violence. apparently, he's inherited his mother's charisma and converted some townspeople (cue group glare at Pete)

The Order of the Silver Dragon: a brotherhood of paladins devoted to different gods, led by the silver dragon Argynsvost. they were instrumental in the fight against Strahd, being the first to start the counterattack against him. they pushed his forces back to Barovia, giving armies like Kire's the opportunity to enter the country while Strahd was distracted. many of their dead have returned as revenants

The Order of the Feather: an order of paladins devoted to the Barovian storm god Retrut, they historically served as the von Zarovich family's personal guard. they were part of Strahd's forces when his conquests first began, but joined the resistance when he turned his violence against his own people. their initiation rituals are a closely guarded secret. many, if not all, of their members are raven masters; as such, they're a crucial part of communication networks. some have been said to also use their ravens in battle. in uniform, they're easily recognizable; matte black armor, tall shields marked with a raven, the leader's helmet winged and beaked, all carrying spears that seem to hum like lightning

Strahd: the man monster, the myth, the legend. you know him, you love to hate him, but he's younger and not quite so bored yet. ruthless, cunning, powerful, he craves revenge and control and cares very little who he has to step on to get what he wants. according to Andrel, he's been getting very creative with his experiments lately; in addition to self-experimentation and figuring out how to create vampire spawn, he's also been making awful horrible evil monsters like the skin kites

[redacted]: a horrifying eldritch family who lives in a cute little blue farmhouse surrounded by impossibly vast fields of "corn" and "scarecrows." that's right, they made an appearance in the prequel too! well, appearance is a strong word—we never actually see them here. we just know there's a father, a mother, and a child, whose disembodied voices speak in charming southern (US) drawls and teleport around you, asking you to stay for dinner. and, when you refuse, they sigh and say, oh well, at least a descendant of yours will

the plot

stationed in Barovia village with nothing much to do, Kire jumps at the chance to help investigate a strange occurrence troubling the town: from this area alone, three hundred and twenty-one people have gone missing over the past year. they suspect that it is not the vampire spawn or werewolves to blame, but humans, perhaps a cult of some kind

while out in the woods searching for evidence of cult activity, she meets Carlen II, who is out on his own investigation. apparently, someone has been attacking people on the roads to Valakia, and just leaving the bodies there. concerned the investigations could be related, they agree to work together, and make their way to Valakia to follow up on a lead

when they arrive, the city is in the midst of a siege. they barely manage to get inside in one piece, and spend a tense evening with the resistance at the temple. two of its big three members are there, but the mysterious third left some time ago. no one really wants to talk about him, but it does come up that Andril and Carlen Sr. had been working on a magical sword (named the Sunsword) for him to use against Strahd before he left

the next day, Valakia is sent into a panic when a ballista bearing Strahd's personal battle flag flies over the wall and slams into the ground. worried the fight is unwinnable, Nedrick, the new leader of the Order of the Feather, suggests Andril use the Sunsword and take Strahd out. unfortunately, the Sunsword will not be powerful enough to do that except in the hands of its intended owner

and so, Kire and Carlen hit the road again, travelling back to Barovia in the hopes that they can find the mysterious third there and convince him to take up the cause again before it's too late

#campaign intros #curse of strahd #curse of strahd prequel #curse of strahd homebrew #dnd 5e #Kire Dalca #ttrpg stories #dnd 5e oc #curse of strahd pc #fun fact: harkis is one of ireena and ismark's ancestors! #and if you're familiar with the curse of strahd lore #yes this is the same durst family from the murder house! #and there have been hints that Pete Durst and Perpetual Pete are one and the same #also yes we do call the city Valakia in the prequel and Valaki in the main campaign #call that linguistic drift lol

[cobwebcorner]

Hey there, are you new to the Resident Evil fandom and want to know more about this weird blond guy with the sunglasses? Maybe you only play Dead by Daylight and want to know what his deal is without having to comb through a 20+ game series for his appearances? Are you trying to write a fanfic and can't think of anything for him to say, outside of constantly proclaiming his right to godhood?

Then have I got the resources for you!

(don't trust the fan wikis. They do things like claim that a man with one of the most Irish surnames in the world is Italian, just because his parents have some implied organized crime connections)

Ok now that you're in here I will reveal that the real purpose of this post is to spread the good word of original flavor Wesker, who I think is a really interesting villain with more complexity than people might expect. It doesn't look like Capcom is ever going to remake code veronica, which has a significant portion of his story, and there's a ton of his lore locked in a rail shooter most people never played, so I'm here to help fill in some knowledge gaps.

To start off, here is Wesker's Report 1. This is Wesker himself summing up the first 3 games for you, with glorious footage of the original playstation graphics:

Don't panic it's actually only 22 minutes long, the rest is an untranslated interview with the game directors.

Bam boom, you know what Wesker was doing from 1998 through 2000. Now let's step back in time a little and talk RE 0, the prequel game that explains how the outbreak that started it all happened in the first place. This is the story of Wesker and his buddy Birkin's past mistakes coming back to haunt them with a zombie-leech army (the past mistake in this case is disposing of your mentor's body improperly):

Stepping even further back in time we have Wesker's Report 2, which talks about his early years at Umbrella. This was only ever released in Japan, but fans have done a translation and gotten it voice-acted. This video has both the report and a compilation of all Wesker's scenarios in Umbrella Chronicles (the rail shooter this-is-the-story-so-far game):

It's long because it includes the gameplay footage. If you just want to read the report instead, google project umbrella Wesker's Report 2. You can also find UC's cutscenes separately on youtube. Wesker's scenarios are Beginnings, Rebirth, and Dark Legacy. UC condensed a lot of stuff and made some…odd story changes (especially to RE 3. Poor, poor RE 3), but it also added fun new stuff for Wesker to do, like beating up his creepy masochistic ex-boss. Godspeed, Wesker.

Now rumor has it that we are going to get Ada's campaign added to RE 4 remake eventually, but we don't have it yet, so until then here's their interactions from the original (lovingly updated to HD by fans):

RE 5 was Wesker's last (chronologically) and probably most significant appearance in the series, not to mention the version of him that's been everywhere since, but I'm not actually going to talk about him. To my eyes, RE 5 Wesker is a fun villain in his own right, he just isn't Wesker. He feels like a completely different character to me. If you've watched these videos you might have noticed this already.

RE 5, if you wish to give the writers the benefit of the doubt, is a story of Wesker having a complete mental breakdown after finding out certain retcons truths about his past. He's not usually like that. For one thing, count how many times he mentions being a god in any of this footage. Go on. I'll wait.

Classic flavor Wesker is calm, cold, and calculating. He loves pitting enemies against each other and then running off with the spoils. He does very little grandstanding and he's not all that hammy. He's pragmatic to a fault, and a master at shifting his plans around to work on the fly. He also doesn't give a flying fuck about eugenics, or "saving the world", he's in it for power and money and building better monsters just because he can. There. I said it. I feel better for it.

#resident evil #albert wesker #I also want to note that the bit about Wesker having Sherry has since been retconned #lore dump

[thepringlesofblood]

An Attempt at Explaining Bulbian Church Theology

so I watched ACOC a year or two ago, and I watched TRW as it came out, and now I’m going back and re-watching ACOC with that context in mind, and I have many questions.

a few disclaimers

this shit rules. it’s wild how much thought and effort Brennan & Matt put into Bulbian theology and the history and inner workings of the church. at no point am I implying anything to the contrary. this is “tf, guys? (affectionate)” not “tf, guys? (derogatory)”

the order of things is fucked up bc prequel, and bc Matt necessarily did a bunch of it w/out Brennan bc he was a PC. some things have the simple Doylist explanation of “Brennan didn’t think they were ever coming back to that bit” or “it’s a metric fuckload of lore written several years before Matt came onto the project, of course some things are going to contradict.” I know and agree with these reasons. I am coming at this from as Watsonian a perspective as I can - trying to find in-world reasons for things rather than real-life reasons - because I think it’s a fun thought exercise.

at no point am I talking shit about either Brennan or Matt. ik people have a lot of feelings about Matt’s DMing in TRW, but I think he did great, and he added some fascinating new lore about the theology of Calorum which I am eager to sink my teeth into. he seems like a cool dude, he and Brennan wrote some extremely cool lore, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

so. let’s get crack-a-lackin’

Let’s define our terms.

we got our two Big Terms from ACOC - the Prophidian Heresy and the Ramsian Doctrine. The Prophidian Heresy is the only one to re-appear in TRW, as the Prophidian Theodicy. this is bc it was not declared to be heresy (aka fake/against the church’s beliefs) yet, so it was just another theory within the church

we’ve got about four big factions, very unequal in power:

Belizabeth Brassica (& the church under her rule)

the Sanctis Putris

the Archbishop Camille Colliflour (aka the Avatar of Deus Pa’Zuul)

The Few Good Individuals in The Church*

we’re mostly talking about Brassica and Sanctis Putris.

*Saint Citrina, local churches in Candia, certain Bulbians in the Dairy Islands, individual churches here and there across the continent that are mentioned as rejecting the Ramsian Doctrine in ACOC.

The Prophidian Heresy/Theodicy

What it says:

The Hungry One is just as powerful as The Bulb

Reasoning:

this is an attempt to explain the questions of “if the Bulb is good and all-powerful, why are there bad things in the world? If the Bulb is more powerful than the Hungry One, why hasn’t it beat the shit out of him yet, if it is truly a force for good?”

What it means in the world:

this is a part of Brassica’s plot to start the apocalypse, but is not the most important thing for her.

It is however important for the beliefs of the Sanctis Putris, who fight to keep the Hungry One at bay.

Questions/observations:

In ACOC Ep.13, when Brennan first mentions the Sanctis Putris, he describes them as “an order of the Church that did not subscribe to the Prophidian Heresy at all. It looks like they are not about the Ramsian Doctrine and causing the apocalypse.”

I think this is a mixing up of words, and that he meant to say “the Ramsian Doctrine” both times, since the Sanctis Putris is against the Ramsian Doctrine. at this point in the campaign the two beliefs have gotten kind of conflated bc they’re both part of the big Brassica Apocalypse Plot.

the in-world explanation could be that after the war the Sanctis Putris pivoted to a different belief - perhaps that the Hungry One is more powerful than the Bulb. very interesting...

in TRW ep 3 Colliflour says “We know the clarity of the Prophidian Theodicy and the terrible shadow that grows outside of the Bulb's light”

so we do know that before the war at least the Sanctis Putris were into it.

The Ramsian Doctrine

What it says:

The Hungry One cannot be destroyed and the final salvation of all souls cannot occur until the Hungry One devours the world

Some souls are healthy and delicious, but some are unhealthy and garbage - Junk Food (Candians)

The Junk Food souls prevent the Hungry One from devouring the world because it wants a “healthy meal” 

Reasoning:

in order to work towards this prized final salvation of all souls and destruction of the Hungry One, one must first work towards the apocalypse. Junk Food must be eradicated from the world for that to happen - whether by conversion to the Bulbian faith* or by death.

*it’s at least implied by Calroy’s letter to Brassica in ep. 13 that since he “renounced his pagan ways” and wants to be re-baptized in the Bulbian faith, he gets to live. whether this is true or not we do not find out.

What it means in the world:

This is the excuse Brassica needs to invade and destroy Candia and its magic. Fun fact: she was actually planning to launch a crusade on the Meatlands too before she got got.

Meat isn’t junk food (i don’t think??), so it’s clear that what she’s really after is destroying the rest of Calorum’s ability to access magic - making it so they have to go through the church to get “miracles” rather than using the magic of the deities in their homelands. that’s not Ramsian, it’s just Brassica being power-hungry and mean.

In regards to the Sanctis Putris, they believe they are preventing the apocalypse by bringing rot and mold into the world. they don’t want the Hungry One to devour the world, and since they believe the Hungry One is as powerful as the Bulb, they want to work to bring mold and rot into the world themselves, to give the Bulb a leg up on the opposition, so to speak.

so, the idea that the Hungry One could devour the world, and that that would be a sort of apocalypse, is shared between Brassica and the Sanctis Putris. the difference is, Brassica wants that to happen so the Bulb can finally defeat the Hungry One, and the Sanctis Putris does not want that to happen, so they bring mold and rot into the world so the Hungry One can’t devour it.

Questions/observations:

So while it sounds kind of like the Sanctis Putris are buying into the last tenant of the Ramsian Doctrine - that the Hungry One will only eat a “healthy meal” - they’re not buying into the rest of it, because their definition of “healthy” is different from the one outlined in the rest of the Ramsian Doctrine. The Sanctis Putris don’t seem to care about “Junk Food”, just rot & mold.

TRW ep. 3 Colliflour: “Through prosperity and peace, Calorum becomes ripe and pliable. It becomes the perfect meal to forever roil and burn within its belly. The hidden scripture, the Festered Tome, it holds the truth that will save us all. The Hungry One will not eat that which is spoiled...Only through death can the lands be stained and unclean. Only through rot can the world be saved and endure under the Great Bulb's light”

the Sanctis Putris depend on conflict vs peace and rot vs growth across the whole of Calorum, while the Ramsian Doctrine depends upon specific people (Candians) being eradicated

in ACOC ep. 13 Brennan says this “The correspondence between the Archbishop Oliver Onionpatch and the Sanctus Putris saying the Sanctus Putris has located the home and high temple of the Sugar-Plum Fairy, and have found the Ice Cream Temple. The date they give, they say that their expedition should arrive there the morning of Harvest Dawn the seventh”

onion boy is a Brassica lackey - a Ramsian. swapping letters with the Sanctis Putris, famously anti-Ramsian. ???

my question is this - why are the Sanctis Putris running errands for Brassica if they have fundamentally opposing beliefs? why are they sending out an expedition on the orders of someone trying to start an apocalypse that they’re trying to prevent?

3 potential reasons

blackmail - Brassica says “I am the head of the Church, this is what’s happening, put up or shut up. Do what I want or I eradicate you”

quid pro quo - a favor for a favor, Brassica is giving them something in exchange for them doing this for her

common enemy

it serves the Sanctis Putris to have the Church be more powerful since a lot of their people are in the Church, and of course it serves Brassica to empower the Church. Killing the Sugar Plum Fairy is one way to do that.

im uncertain though, as the Sanctis Putris has people from all over the place, and potentially at least one Candian who is against it.

although, if the Sanctis Putris intend to split with Brassica, if may also not serve them to have the Church be more powerful.

Compare/contrasting Brassica v Sanctis Putris

Both beliefs are Prophidian, since for the Hungry One to eat everything it would need to be at least equal in power to the Bulb (both groups believe in the Bulb’s inherent goodness, and that if it had the power it would stop the Hungry One from doing this).

Both see themselves as helping the Bulb overpower the Hungry One, Brassica by causing the Apocalypse and the Sanctis Putris by preventing it.

Both identify an aspect of the world that is preventing the Hungry One from devouring it. Brassica points to “junk food”, while the Sanctis Putris points to mold and rot.

I saw a post a while back that positioned the two terms as Belizabeth Brassica’s beliefs vs the beliefs of the Sanctis Putris. This is not the case. 

The Ramsian Doctrine [in its totality] is exclusive to Brassica, yes, but the Prophidian Heresy does not encompass the totality of the beliefs of the Sanctis Putris. It just says that the Hungry One is as powerful as the Bulb. the rest of their shit is their own. 

the Sanctis Putris do subscribe the last tenant of the Ramsian Doctrine (that the Hungry One wants a healthy meal), but interpret “healthy” as meaning something else, so I wouldn’t say their beliefs are Ramsian overall, even if one idea overlaps. 

plus, Brassica also needs the Prophidian Heresy to exist, since it offers a reason for why the Bulb doesn’t just come down and make everything better - it can’t, since it and the Hungry One are equal in power.

now where the fuck does Deus Pa’Zuul fall into this?

Brennan described the feeling of discovering Deus Pa’Zuul as “eldritch horror” and frankly I agree. A lot of the genre of eldritch horror revolves around the unknown, and specifically the unknowable, so as a result we the audience know very little about it.

What we do know

it’s a garbage disposal, and all the implications that carries, included but not limited to

the place you dispose of rotten food

the physical description - blades, tearing, ripping, whirring

it is a force of pure destruction. the things it destroys are erased from existence. there is no eternity in the Hungry One’s stomach, no salvation in the light of the Bulb, you just end.

it can interact with the world of Calorum through visions and impart magic like the Bulb and the Hungry One do, but does so very, very rarely.

The only two Calorans we know of that it ever contacted directly were Colliflour and Raphaniel.

the rest of the Sanctis Putris had no clue that this was where their leader was taking them - Gemelli straight up fights it.

Speculations

while Colliflour certainly seems to think it fits into the main cosmology of the universe, it feels very clear, to me at least, that it does not.

the Hungry One and the Bulb have next to no physical manifestations in the world of Calorum the way Deus Pa’Zuul does.

sure, a spell might sound like a stomach rumble or emit holy light, but no one ever turns into a lightbulb.

The closest thing is that the Bulb is the Sun, but it remains untouchable and unknowable (until some crazy ass pepper shaker makes a spaceship or something).

the physicality of it makes me feel like it’s a smaller, though no less deadly, force than the Bulb and Hungry One.

there’s also the specificity - we’ve seen the magic of Bulb and Hungry One alike do a million different things. Deus Pa’Zuul’s magic seems less flexible - we only really hear it described or emphasized when Raphaniel casts a more destructive spell, like Shatter, and of course in the finale when it took over Colliflour’s body and the room around them.

(this is also probably bc TRW was a way shorter campaign and thus had much less opportunity to show off new fun ways for it to wreck shop)

The Bulb and the Hungry One are balanced - creation and destruction, light and dark. Deus Pa’Zuul feels like an extraplanar monster. I’d say “demon” but that implies that it’s working for the Hungry One, as he’s the Caloran equivalent of the Devil.

but then again, is that incorrect? in-world, it certainly feels separate from Bulb and Hungry One alike. but if we think about the implications of real-life garbage disposals...people are the ones that operate and control them. if the Hungry One is a person, he would be the one controlling what (and who) the disposal grinds up.

Finally, we have the Few Good Individuals in the Church. 

Saint Citrina, in the limited scenes we have from her, 

encourages Amethar to follow his heart and not divorce Catherine Ghee if he loves her.

creates a holy relic that forces you to tell the truth

has an argument with Archmage Lazuli about the goings-on with the Order of the Spinning Star

Queen Pamelia says in TRW ep. 1 - “Citrina and myself and many others have taken quite lovingly to the Book of Leaves. We just are careful with which sects of the church wish to impose disparate law and rule upon how we worship.”

later we see her sort of disagreeing with her mom as she is steered away from Raphaniel though, and we don’t really know what’s in the Book of Leaves, except that Saint Citrina enchanted it to force truth-telling at some point before her death.

is “useful” to Calroy and his conspirators until Brassica orders her killed. So, one can assume she was anti-Ramsian in some way.

We know that Primsy and most Dairy Islanders are Bulbian, but don’t get much of their specific beliefs. 

There is the scene in the Abbey of the Shimmering Cream with Saccharina, where we basically just learn that that abbey (and potentially area in general) is extremely anti-magic and terrible. We don’t get anything about their feelings vis-a-vis the Ramsian Doctrine though.

Primsy opposes the Ramsian Doctrine & Brassica in general once she hears about it though, so one can assume that she and the people around her don’t prioritize or agree with that in their worship.

We know Caramelinda is Bulbian, and she married Archmage Lazuli, so presumably she does not have the same issues with her use of “pagan” magic as Saint Citrina may have. 

Other than that we don’t have a lot on her religious beliefs, except that she wasn’t super stoked about Saccharina as Queen, but I think that was less because of her magic and more because of how violently anti-Bulbian and generally chaotic Saccharina is.

When Brassica’s whole Ramsian Doctrine plan gets set into motion, she gets a whole bunch of letters from churches across the continent that are like “um no??? please don’t cause the apocalypse??”, mostly from Candians (who we can assume are generally anti-Ramsian because they don’t want to die) but also from all the other countries.

So. There we go. Lmk if there’s any inconsistencies or anything ^v^

#dnd #d20 #dimension 20 #d20 spoilers #dimension 20 spoilers #trw spoilers #trw #the ravening war #the ravening war spoilers #acoc spoilers #acoc #original post #theology #cw: religion #cw: religious themes #i'm having a neurodivergent 'i need to talk about this or i will die' episode #so here yall go #I lowkey forgot this post was in my drafts #or it would’ve been out while TRW was actually going on lol.

[chip-and-the-bastards]

Hey phandom!!

Do you love Danny phantom but wish there was more canon angst? More development on the fact that he's literally fucking dead? An ongoing plot rather than an episodic show? Wish the show was made by... decent people rather than bitch hartman?? Then boy do I have the suggestion for you!

Introducing:

William Wisp is one of the main characters for the dnd podcast, Just Roll With It for their superhero campaign Prime Defenders! He is a character explicitly based on danny phantom, and man does it include so much of the potential angst of dp! And honestly? He's like dp but with more social anxiety. His player, slimecicle, is a GOD at coming up with puns and one-liners on the fly so he fits perfectly.

William is a mystery investigating teen who fell off a cliff and died, but miraculously survived with the help of little blue ghosts called will o' wisps, which also give him ghost powers (including the classic walk through walls, disappear and fly of dp). Because of these powers, he was invited to join the Prime Defenders, a team of teenage superheros being trained to protect Prime (the planet they're on), and he's now a superhero called The Whisperer!

Need some more convincing? Here's an actual intro for one of the episodes in s2 (minor s2 spoilers):

And here's a (fan-made, but by one of their official artists) introduction to all of the characters (William's bit starts at 1:11):

I have some more stuff to convince you, but this is getting into spoilers so first I'll tell you where you can find prime defenders!

Now, unfortunately prime defenders is their patreon campaign, so is available for $5 a month on the Just Roll With It patreon, but the first 5 episodes (as well as the 2 prequel episodes, which give some good background but aren't really that important) are available for free! Here is the link to episode one, and if people want more info about the prequel episodes, feel free to come and ask me! They just finished season 2, and they definitely have plans for a next season (after a hiatus for the GM to get stuff together)

Now. Onto spoilers!

[PT: Now. Onto spoilers!]

So this is mostly going to be a list of William lore/stuff that happened that i enjoy as a danny phantom fan!

So William grapples a LOT with walking the line between alive and dead, one of the major parts of his lore is the fact that he keeps running from the fact that he's dead! He has a ghost form like Danny Phantom does, but William's ghost form is like. a seperate entity to himself. as in his ghost leaves his body and leaves his corpse behind. william has said that every time he does it, it feels like dying.

Also, he's canonically decomposing. and also doesn't have blood or a pulse. or need to breath. or sleep. in canon. Also he keep dying. As in his spirit keeps leaving his body. He's now died 4 times as of the s2 finale, and I think he can technically die as much as he wants now? I'm not sure his last death was literally in the finale so they haven't had much time to develop on it.

If you want a taste of William grappling with,, being dead, here's a clip from the end of one of the episodes that they got animated! It also gives a good idea of the GMing style and the acting/voice acting for William, as well as some of Will's other lore!

Do you like vivisection? Perfect! There is vivisection in Prime Defenders! It's not actually happening to William, but it is a pretty big part of his lore, and he is like. complicit in it! and if you like cryptid phantom, you'll love this arc as well! Here's some of the official art from that arc just to prove it:

Do you like Vlad? That's great! There's a Vlad type character for William as well! His name is Mallard Conway and he is equally a creep that we don't like <3

Do you like ghost king Danny? That's great as well! William isn't quite the ghost king, but he is the Whisperer, which is a similar position of power! I can't remember the exact details, but basically he's really important to preventing their version of the ghost zone from being destroyed, and so is generally a very important ghost!

Now this bit is like. end of the s2 finale spoilers and let me tell you, if you're already convinced, STOP READING RIGHT NOW, and if you aren't quite convinced GO WATCH THOSE CLIPS I ATTACHED OR GO WATCH OTHER CLIPS FROM THE SHOW, I am happy to send people some if they come ask me, but I swear the experience of this scene is so much better if you AREN'T spoiled for this so STOP READING AND GO LISTEN TO IT RIGHT NOW. ok now it should only be people who REALLY aren't convinced/really don't care about spoilers, but I mentioned that William is the Whisperer? well he's actually the successor of a previous Whisperer, who is canonically voiced by david kaufman, aka the voice actor for danny phantom. yes, for real. aka. william wisp is BOTH IN AN OUT OF CANON the succesor of danny phantom.

anddd that's about all I can think of right now, but I promise you Prime Defenders is a lot of fun so go! listen to it! and also as much as I love William, if you do end up listening to Prime Defenders, make sure to give the other characters some love as well!! Have fun!

#danny phantom #dp #i dont actually know what tags are used for dp that much i mostly just use the danny phantom tag ahah #prime defenders #jrwi prime defenders #just roll with it #william wisp #so that jrwiblr can see this if they want to teehee #anyway also prime defenders has been going for over 2 years now and NO ONE has made a danny phantom prime defenders au/crossover yet!!! #i am shocked and also potentially in the process of writing a pd x dp fic #(even the initials are the opposite!!!!! its like the were made for each other!!!!!!)

[thefantastickatinator]

I dunno why people are so concerned/salty about Matt Mercer doing a Crown of Candy prequel.

All of us spent a lot of time speculating on what he would do- would it be an original concept? A starstruck side-quest? I was really concerned because I wasn’t sure how Matt Mercer’s lore-heavy, more serious DM style would work with Dimension 20’s energy.

Honestly, when I saw the trailer for The Ravening War I was relieved. My first thought was “if I was going to have Matt Mercer DM an existing universe in the dimension 20 lexicon, Crown of Candy would be it”.

Brennan’s talked before about how much lore that season had in comparison to other seasons (he sent literally pages of it to his players). In many ways it’s unique because it doesn’t really have the kind of source material that his other universes did (Fantasy high - traditional fantasy and therefore faerun/dnd inspiration, Unsleeping City- new york, Starstruck- his own mom’s story, Neverafter - fairytales). So Brennan had to do the world building himself.

One of Matt Mercer’s strengths is his world building and detailed descriptions, which I think lends itself really well to Calorum.

I also think this is basically the one opportunity we’ll get to see another campaign in Calorum as well as a grittier, dramatic/emotional season. The Intrepid Heroes aren’t going to revisit it, for sure.

Also, it’s only 6 episodes, so chill out.

#matt mercer #the ravening war #dimension 20 #the fantastic queue

[bloodyshadow1]

for the new d20/acoc season I made a list of pros and cons

Pros

Too many to mention but I’ll try

Brennan getting to play in a world he made

Matt getting to dm for Aabria and Brennan

Lou getting to play in a game dm’d by matt, I remember him wanting to be in a campaign with him one season and now he gets too

More calorum lore

Aabria and Anjali are gorgeous as always

Mango Jessica rabbit need I say more

Lou and Zac getting to play with Brennan, it’s always cool to see the players get to play with their dm in a game

Can’t wait to guess what classes everyone are

We might get to see Amathar’s sisters

Lou was one of my favorite parts of ACoC so I’m glad he’s here in the prequel as well, kind of wish he was playing a young Amathar but that’s not really fair of a criticism

Cons

gonna be honest there being 5 players in the dome is bothering me far more than it should, there should be 4 or 6, 5 feels wrong

are they going to be fighting against Candia because that would be sad

ACOC was very stressful and I’m not sure if I can deal with that again

I was hoping that another CR person would be there, just personally.  I think it would have been neat for Matt to have a CR friend to heckle him when he’s doing a d20 prequel like Brennan had Lou his d20 friend to heckle him when he did a prequel to CR

Low magic settings at low levels kind of bother me personally, but I’m still excited for it

When Matt pulled the sword out in the trailer I had homestuck flashbacks

We might have to see Amathar’s sisters die

Other:

It seems like they might be playing a bad guy campaign, or at least anti-hero/otherside given that they’re called scrumptious scoundrels as their group name

Don’t really know where this all fits because I’m pretty sure since if I recall in the Ravening war, it was Candia, Fructerra, and the dairy isles, vs the Vegitainia, the Meat lands, and Cersia

we have 1 fruit, 2 vegetables, one meat, one cheese which wouldn’t matter much if they’re a rogue faction or something, but seems odd to be fighting on the same side

If they kill Cal in the past does that save Amathar’s hot sisters?

Is Matt capable of being as bloodthirsty as ACoC demands to give Brennan a taste of his own medicine?

#a crown of candy #dimension 20 #d20 #acoc #acoc the ravening war #the ravening war #a crown of candy the ravening war

[bara-izu]

is your descent into avernus campaign ongoing or done?

Brand new! I've only played like 4 sessions, so this is pretty much a prequel to Halion's BG3 experiences (so I may have to recon some of his lore later but I'm being kind of lenient with how much of it is canon ect)

#ask izu

[moonfruito]

Hey! I want to start jrwi, but idk where to begin. Any advice?

:D !!! oh the IMMENSE joy i felt receiving this ask !! i am about to ramble a little a lot - if anything does not make sense then feel free to ask more questions :))

the main campaign of just roll with it is riptide, a pirate campaign dmed by grizzly set in the world of mana, where the planet is nearly all water save for some scattered islands. the characters are gillion tidestrider, a triton paladin/sorcerer played by charlie slimecicle, chip, a human rogue played by bizly and jay ferin, a human ranger played by condifiction. there's a playlist with all the episodes on so it's pretty simple :)

i have found that my irl friends who have never watched dnd podcasts before have struggled to get past the first arc, around the ep11-14 mark, but i see from a peek at your bio that you're a critical role fan so you'll probably have no issue :) the earlier episodes are slower to start but they're still great! the quality does improve a lot as time goes, naturally.

there's also two prequel episodes for riptide which you don't need to watch, but they're worth noting if you want to go back to them after you catch up like i did, or you could watch them before if you want a bit of extra lore context.

that's probably all the information you need to get started, but i am going to give you some more information about the patreon campaigns as well - you don't have to pay attention to all this if you want to just keep it simple! i just feel like giving a full beginner's guide for no reason lmao

for all three of the campaigns i'm about to talk about, it is $5 a month - obviously not asking you to just jump right in and give them money but i do very highly recommend it if you find you enjoy this podcast!! it's a fairly low cost for a lot of great quality content.

prime defenders is the main patreon campaign, and it's a mutants and masterminds superhero campaign dmed by bizly. the characters are teenaged boys with superpowers, enlisted to help defend the world of prime. charlie plays william wisp, who has ghost powers, grizzly plays dakota cole, who has super strength and does martial arts, and condi plays vyncent sol, who's from another world and has people living inside his brain? i don't really know how to explain that one uhhh the first five episodes are available for free - won't link each because it'll clog up the post but here's the first one. decent place to start if you're considering getting the patreon, although similarly to riptide the beginning episodes are a little slower as they start around the same time.

this one i'd personally recommend watching after you finish the other campaigns, simply because it's the longest of the patreon campaigns, but it is very great! <33 it also has two prequel episodes which are for free - similarly not required watching but good fun nonetheless!

apotheosis is a fifteen episode-long mini-campaign where the players go around and kill all the gods, dmed by condi. peter sqloint is a human possessed by an archangel played by charlie, rumi is a changeling bard/warlock who is chasing visions played by grizzly and thanatos is a very intense and murderous war forged played by bizly. first episode is available for free, and it is essentially the compiled session zeroes of their individual characters.

this campaign is, in my personal opinion, the best place to start for patreon because of the shorter length and how easy and quick it is to get into. if this was not a patreon campaign i would recommend this as the best place to start jrwi, honestly, because the shorter length means everything's more packed in and faster-paced and it helps you get into the swing of things and get the satisfaction of watching through all of it, while also showcasing the potential of the episodes to come later in the longer campaigns.

blood in the bayou is a four episode-long call of cthulhu campaign set in galloway, louisiana in the 1980s, dmed by charlie, where three old friends reunite and discover their hometown's local horrors. kian stone, a big city rockstar, is played grizzly, timothy rand, a stoner still living with his parents, is played by bizly, and rolan deep, a lawyer, is played by condi. it is audio-only and has higher quality sound design and an original soundtrack. pretty different for the other campaigns but so well-made. good place to start with patreon as well! the first episode is available for free too <3

and that's all for the recent stuff! there were a couple other campaigns from years back that never got finished and never will get finished and some scattered oneshots but i hope that was all helpful in some way!! i hope you have a great time watching jrwi and that you'll fall in love with this podcast like i and many other people have! <33 really happy to see you interested - lot of love has been put into this show and each of the campaigns really are so good :) again, if you have any more questions then go ahead and ask!! i'm always happy to help :D

also if anyone wants to rb this for other potential jrwi watchers then feel free to ?? idk if anyone was considering that but y'know the recent influx of qsmp charlie fans might have some takers and the jrwi propaganda machine never stops

#jrwi #jrwi riptide #jrwi bitb #just roll with it #jrwi pd #jrwi prime defenders #jrwi blood in the bayou #blood in the bayou #prime defenders #my textpost #jrwi apotheosis #just roll with it apotheosis

[chooseruin]

- Anjali!!! Love this for her -- she's such a class act and so good at matching every conceivable energy at the drop of a hat, which is going to be great for this setting. (full disclosure, I'm also a big fan of her commitment to the bit of making every single character she plays, like, super fucking hot, but regardless.)

class prediction: glamour, eloquence, or whispers bard, enchantment wizard at the outside.

- there is no WAY Aabria is walking into this game with that body language unless she's planning to walk out over a pile of corpses. Karna for this campaign's Liam until proven otherwise.

class prediction: inquisitive rogue.

- Brennan absolutely DETERMINED to bring back some of that Bulbian church lore Ally nuked for him last time, I see. Good for him, good for him.

class prediction: celestial warlock or order cleric, unless they've dug out the absolutely busted theurgy wizard UA.

- it's been a MINUTE since Lou went in the young brash dumbass direction he seems to be signaling, and I might be here for it. I'm definitely here for more Carn lore -- there was a lot of interesting potential there last time.

class prediction: you know what, this is a million to one against, but ancients pally.

- god, I love it when Zac goes sleazy. That's all.

class prediction: he's been on a lot of rogue shit lately, and if this isn't more of the same I'm feeling either cavalier fighter or a second attempt at warlocking.

- ngl, I was vaguely hoping to see Travis guest (mostly because I was hoping to see Travis's reaction to the sets), and for a hot second before the end of the trailer I was hoping to see Siobhan come in with General Rococoa, but I'm extremely happy with this cast and with the decision to stay relatively clear of a direct prequel. I'm getting the vibe that this one is going to be EVEN MORE heavy on the politics and on the consequences of player decisions, and this is such a great lineup for that.

#dimension 20 #d20 spoilers #d20 #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 the ravening war

[dent-de-leon]

ive been following you for years now (since around when promare came out) and this whole time ive just assumed that mollymauk was the main character of critrole but i was talking to a sibling and they were like yeah hes only in 20eps. that cannot be true. i fully was like yeah mollymauks the main character they drive the plot right right?????

HELP THIS IS SO FUNNY ASKSLG---wait, let me explain--

In the year 2018, I started watching the Campaign 2 livestream from when the very first episode aired. I watched live right up until episode 25--26, the one where they lose Molly? That was the first episode I couldn't watch during the stream, and have never been able to bring myself to watch it since.

So 26 episodes doesn't sound like a whole lot. But each one is usually between four to four and a half hours long--there are even some that go up to six hours, and the longest one clocks in at just a little over seven hours. So you're talking about each episode being like four hours--and they were once a week every week. So by the time episode 26 rolled around, I had been getting super invested in this character over the course of several months. I just now checked a list of the runtime for episodes 1-26, so--if my math is right?? and that's a big if lmao--we're talking about a character that has over 100 and a half hours of screentime in the beginning, which is wild--

So yeah, in the grand scheme of things, it for sure doesn't seem like much. But given the nature of CR, it was definitely more than enough time for me to get attached--though honestly, Taliesin had me hooked on this tiefling from the very first episode, I didn't stand a chance. His whole personality and the little glimpses we got of his backstory just meant so much to me, and I adored that he was bi and genderfluid. He's the kind of character that really draws you into the world; I was so excited to see how he'd change over the course of the story, how his heartfelt relationships with all the other characters would unfold--

Molly's character arc isn't abandoned after 26 episodes either. In fact, he comes back as the final villain of the campaign over 100 episodes later. When the tiefling we know makes his reappearance as the major antagonist Lucien, the whole final arc of the campaign revolves around him and his past with the Mighty Nein. Very much a case of someone haunting the narrative. There's just something I love about how Molly is the one that first brings them all together, and then the entire finale of the campaign ended up leading right back to him and how much he meant to his family.

And then the arc ends with the party finally getting the chance to perform a ritual to resurrect him!! It was a very long wait, but the culmination of everything to do with Molly in the penultimate episode was definitely worth it. There's also all the secondary source materials that add to his character. He's got a prequel comic like the rest of the party. And he's the only one of all the Campaign 2 characters that gets a whole novel of "his" backstory, mainly focused on his life as Lucien. You can even buy a copy of Molly's tarot deck, which is such a fun piece of added lore and depth.

Anyway, I am so sorry I gave you the wrong idea about Molly asjslfjdfhf but he is absolutely the main character in my heart 💜 So much of his character is about how every little moment matters. And even if you don't get to have someone in your life for very long, that time you spent with them will always mean something. Acts of love and kindness are never a waste, even if it doesn't last. He's a character who was loved so much it made him whole, gave him a second chance he thought he'd never get. His story is very melancholy and tragic, but it's also just so bittersweet and cathartic and heartfelt. He is,, my blorbo--

#you: molly is the main character #me sobbing: correct :')))) #in my heart he definitely is 💜 #asdkslfh thank you for this it made me laugh :)

[ofmiceandwomen]

Today I decided it will be a good day to talk about a private RP project I’m a part of in one secret TMA server which I share with @the-symphony-of-lydia-brown, @envisionedeternity and @thistlesandstories from our irl friend group and @mersilisk as the guest star and amazing antagonist.

I don’t post much and especially not for The Magnus Archives but I admit the podcast is very important to me. My favourite thing about it is the Regency Harem™️ and the historical episodes. Intertwining the lore with the actual historical events and characters is just amazing.

My irl friends know that I have certain level of interest in military history, and therefore I decided to make a use of it and suggested a plot line for a private RP - a short prequel story for Robert Smirke and young Jonah Magnus meeting. Also, we wanted a Slaughter story because there’s way too little of those in the podcast.

And the background is… The Napoleonic Wars. My beloved @thistlesandstories is a reenactor from that era and therefore they got very excited about the project. The excitement grew contagious and turned @the-symphony-of-lydia-brown into a proper horror DM.

The plot line so far:

Europe, 1811. Napoléon Bonaparte decided to be the problem. Given his notable military accomplishments, the Slaughter just couldn’t leave him unnoticed. After all, the concept of the Total War is born. One day, the Slaughter had came to the young Napoléon and offered him that he would become the greatest warrior of all time. The First Consul of France has agreed.

The Slaughter is rising, therefore it is convinced that the time has come to attempt a ritual. But for a war ritual you sorta need to have two sides, right. There are plenty of “other sides” - and there is one talented general, very dedicated to defending his country. Honourable and skilled man - Viscount Arthur Wellesley, soon to be the Duke of Wellington. Wellington was not having a great time in the Portuguese campaign as his forces were being pushed out by the French, when the Slaughter called to him - offering a victory in exchange for his service. Wellington considered, out of loyalty, he agreed with the nightmarish pact.

The situation improved as now the British and Portuguese army set up an attrition trap with the French falling in. Then guess what - the Slaughter calls again. (The attrition war is usually not exactly Slaughter aligned thing. The soldiers die of starvation, freezing, sickness, which is inherently a corruption thing - The Slaughter wants the bloodbath). Now, the Slaughter has called for a French man again - Marshal Michel Ney, said the Bravest of the Brave, known for his extremely risky approach to the war. An ideal candidate, so it seems . When the French finally retreated and Ney successfully bought their exhausted troops some time by his rearguard actions, the Piper showed up to him, offering him the victory. However, the French marshal has none of that shit and literally tells the War itself to shut the f**k up. Obviously, the Slaughter hates him now.

But now it’s May 1811. Now, time for some historical liberties, yay! Ney lost his command after he disrespected his commanding officer, and his wife convinced him to take a break - therefore they ended up chilling in a little German spa town with their children. The resort happens to be the favourite place of one of the Würtemberger aristocrat Albrecht von Closen. This young man decided it would be nice to invite his British friend Jonah Magnus.

Jonah is very young, he just turned 18, he inherited notable amount of money from his deceased uncle and he has many admirers for his intellect and general charms. However, even now, Jonah is more of a cold academic, a silent observer, with little interest in changing the world. He only wants to know and to understand. And he is just as cold to his companion, sir Barnabas Bennet, who is not really financially stable, but somehow he managed to incite himself to go with Jonah. Barnabas is like a pure opposite of Jonah - hot headed, adventurous and painfully irresponsible.

The last guest to arrive is… nobody else than Viscount Wellesley himself. He has earned a short period of leave and he just picked the same recreational spot as his enemy, Ney. It’s not a coincidence however, the Slaughter is still feeling petty and it wants to ruin Ney for his insolence. The future victor of Waterloo seems to be a good tool for ruining the Marshal’s involuntary holiday.

Oh well. He might not be the last to arrive. There is one more man, who will go down the TMA history - a certain gifted character in his early thirties, working hard on something barely connected to the architecture. Maybe it has something to do with his paranormal obsession. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome sir Robert Smirke!

So yes. The scene is all set. So far it goes very well. Except… it is not.

The disasters are here!

Jonah Magnus seems more interested in Wellesley than in his travel mate Barnabas. Out of desperation, Barnabas decides to finally confess his feelings for Jonah. It went well in his head. He approached the armchair in the lounge, seeing those rich copper curls. He took a deep breath and finally kissed him… Only to realise that Jonah Magnus is not the only one to sport this hairstyle. Red-haired marshal Ney is not amused and his first instinct was hitting the perpetrator right in the face and showering him with list of French profanities.

Albrecht von Closen has really bad feeling about Arthur Wellesley. He is himself a very sensitive and observant man and he disapproves of Jonah’s interest in the famous British commander. It is not the first gut feeling of this kind Albrecht had and he is not exactly sure what to do with that. He meets an unlikely ally - very angry Marshal Ney who is certainly not happy about Wellesley’s presence either.

Robert Smirke found what he was looking for- the presumed Slaughter avatar, aka the Napoleon’s bravest Marshal (please consider that Smirke is a Brit and therefore the idea of future Duke of Wellington as the avatar of the Slaughter is just unimaginable to him). The architect is not exactly a good candidate for a spy and therefore he gets noticed by Ney’s children who decide to take the situation in their hands and reveal the man who keeps stalking their father.

This happened so far. But the plot shall go on because… Enter The Stranger!

The Stranger is still obviously pissed after the Slaughter’s agents ruined their ritual in 1787. So it wants a revenge. And the ideal idea of their revenge is taking the Slaughter avatars one by one and turning them into waxworks. And obviously, their victim is the Napoleons’s marshal Ney.

Jonah Magnus is getting bored of relaxing and he is ready to meet a new friend: the famous Robert Smirke. The man, who will unknowingly bring the Apocalypse two centuries later.

The reasons for posting this is the following:

It’s 255th birthday of Michel Ney! He was originally meant to be a background character, but he sort of stole the show. I might or might not be responsible since I’m the one playing the gingers.

Also, this post might or might not work as a peer pressure for @the-symphony-of-lydia-brown to turn it into a fic 👀

The special acknowledgment goes to @thistlesandstories because we have discovered that somehow we really enjoy fighting with each other after six years of being together. The prequel for Ney and Wellington in Portugal was the best part of this year’s Christmas. I’m still crying for the French officer taken by the Piper though I also love the amount of research it goes into this activity. We ended up with new books on Ney and Wellington.

Credits:

Albrecht von Closen, Aloys Ney: @the-symphony-of-lydia-brown

Robert Smirke: @envisionedeternity

Arthur Wellesley, Barnabas Bennett, Eugène Ney: @thistlesandstories

The Stranger Danger, Léon Ney: @mersilisk

Jonah Magnus, Michel Ney: Me, because I’m all the gingers

#the magnus archives #tma fic #tma rp #tma jonah magnus #barnabas bennett #robert smirke #regency harem #napoleonic era #Napoleonic fiction #arthur wellesley #michel ney

[balamist]

I always wanted to play thief but the first game looks so old and I'm worried it's clunky? have you played all of them, which one did you start with? :3

Short answer: play them all in the release order.

Long answer: there are 4 games total. The original trilogy:

Thief: The Dark Project

Thief 2: The Metal Age

Thief (3): Deadly Shadows

In which the first two games, TDP and TMA, are the ones that are considered The Classics. DS is like the least favorite child, but something something the poorest billionaire. The trilogy's lore and plot are interconnected, but each game is its own finished slice of story. Also TDP and TMA were made on the same engine (therefore look and play roughly the same), while DS is more "modern".

The fourth one is a 2014 reboot called simply "Thief".

It very vaguely references the og trilogy here and there in form of easter eggs and vague many-many-years-ago's, but otherwise is its own game that can be played without touching the other three at all.

Personally, i 100% recommend giving the og trilogy a try, and playing the games in the release order. The trilogy is indeed old and somewhat clunky, but nonetheless holds up amazingly even to this day. I first played Deadly Shadows like 15 or so years ago, then Thief'14 on its release (loved both a lot), and only got to The Dark Project and The Metal Age a couple of months ago. And honestly? I liked TDP and TMA more :^) They're just incredibly solid games in every aspect, and the amount of good they offer - level design, art direction, sound design, core gameplay loop, and whatnot - outweights the clunk by a ton.

As for Thief (2014), it's what i'd call a good stealth game, but not a good Thief game, if that makes sense? I enjoyed it a lot (the art direction and the way Garrett's hands are animated are *chef kiss*); you might as well skip straight to it if you don't feel like figuring out how to setup/play the trilogy. It's just, well, not the Thief that everyone talks about.

Here's some useful technical stuff if you decide to try the trilogy:

Thief: The Dark Project has a "definitive" version called Thief Gold. Gold features a number of alterations to original missions, as well as includes several completely new missions. So go for Gold.

There's an unofficial patch for TG called TFix, which is pretty much mandatory for installation. TG does not have built-in subtitles, there's a patch for it as well. Also the wiki and TTLG forums have pages with transcriptions for all briefings, in-game texts, dialogues, etc.

TMA has a similar patch called T2Fix, which among other things adds english subtitles directly into the game.

Upd: a good advice in the comments, TDP/TMA's default control scheme is weird, definitely re-bind the controls.

Thief: Deadly Shadows requires Sneaky Upgrade to be playable on a modern pc. Also you can edit/fix a lot of stuff by simply fiddling with .ini file in the game's folder, everything in it is neatly labeled.

Also if you end up not liking TDP/TMA's sort of clunk after all, i still recommend giving Deadly Shadows a try, since it was made on a more modern engine and you might like it still. And it features one of the best horror levels in gaming history, which even has its own wikipedia page :^)

(gif via @psychiclounge)

UPD: after playing the trilogy go play The Black Parade. It's a huge, masterfully crafted unofficial campaign for TG which acts as a prequel to the trilogy and greatly expands the City lore. Has built-in subtitles, but a patch is required to display them.

(ik it's not a fan mission recommendations post but TBP fucks)

#in fact some trilogy fans immediately turn into rabid dogs the second they hear anyone talk about T'14 #not me tho i'm not plagued by nostalgia #thief tag

[thisisnotthenerd]

very excited for the acoc prequel. matt & brennan have a thing for intense tragedy prequels when swapping seats.

also that table composition is just *chef’s kiss*. lou, aabria, & brennan for the oops all dms factor. anjali bringing a gorgeous pc with no doubt a lot of drama on the rp side(i saw that uvano reference. the noble of the party). zac playing a stinky little asshole and hopefully getting to keep him for the entire time. i want to see him really get into the meat of the intrigue.

i do think the choice to shift the focus from candia is a good one. while we obviously didn’t get to see everything there, i think the tonal shift will be good for matt’s first time dming in the dome. his style works better with a little less chaos than brennan or even aabria usually contends with. plus this feels like a party that’s not quite as heavy on the nobility. acoc definitely had a focus on the royal house of candia--this just gives a different perspective on calorum and a way to get into lore we probably have had little insight into as of yet.

this gives us the option to really get into the bulbian church lore, a way to get a good look at the meatlands that we didn’t have in acoc, the underside of comida, and maybe a look at the fructeran nobility beyond the uvanos & of course, thad.

in terms of how related it is to the main campaign i’m going to guess it’s something like pirates of leviathan as opposed to the seven. none of these characters were npcs in acoc, but we could have the potential to run into the younger versions of some characters, the way we encountered garthy, ayda, and jamina in pol.

definitely feeling pretty stealth focused/lower magic as a party. looking at what’s under the surface at the start of the ravening war. as they are the scrumptious scoundrels, i think for classes we’re looking at 2 or more rogues, a fighter, a cleric, and a maybe bard based on the art. my guesses:

lou’s being the party tank again--some kind of melee class, leaning fighter more than barb but maybe a combination. maybe a touch of paladin

aabria’s got something going on with mixed melee & magic--arcane trickster rogue, hexblade warlock, maybe a little bit of hungry one monk energy, something to that end.

brennan said i’m bringing a cleric to keep all y’all alive, and he’s really going in on the old man. he said i came to be goofy as fuck. granted his name is raphaniel charlock. maybe brennan’s pulling a lapin and really leaning into the name. maybe he’s throwing us all off with the title and playing a wizard. idk

really feeling rogue from zac. he’s settled into it a lot in his last few seasons from skip to pib. with his warlocks he tends to go sneaky/darker as well. colin provolone just seems like a con man. there’s also a lot of bottles in his background--maybe an alchemist? washed up alchemist artificer seems to fit the vibe as well.

anjali’s character looks hot and seems noble, so i’m guessing charisma caster with lots of bonuses to persuasion/deception. she’s a lady--eloquence or lore bard feels likely, maybe whispers for the politicking. granted she could do a lot of that with a rogue as well--we might specifically have an oops all rogues/rogue-adjacent party.

anyway. i’m very excited about this. based on the number of aabria outfits i think we’re looking at a 6 ep season to cool off from neverafter. granted these scenes are all likely from the first 3 or so episodes, so it might be longer, might not.

edit: i wrote this before i read the faq and it is definitively a 6 episode season. i think they’re getting into a pattern of alternation between ih seasons and sidequests: intrepid heroes run for a 17-20 episode season from late fall-spring, then a 4-6-ep sidequest for a buffer going into the summer, then a 10 ep sidequest going summer to fall, and start back up with the intrepid heroes again. i think this is likely to be a pattern going forward as they straighten out from the disruption of covid and fully shift to battleset/dome seasons.

#dimension 20 #the ravening war #trw #a crown of candy #acoc #matt mercer #brennan lee mulligan #aabria iyengar #lou wilson #zac oyama #anjali bhimani