#Steampunk Chameleon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cemeterything · 1 year

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Name: Vanessa Kregan

Pronouns: She/Her

Appearance: Steampunk!Vanessa has unruly curled chocolate brown hair, pale skin with a scattering of freckles, nicks and burn scars, and a built, slightly soft figure. Netherbound!Vanessa's appearance varies somewhat as she uses glamors (illusionary magics that alter one's appearance) and has forgotten what she truly looks like beneath them due to constant application, but her 'default' appearance is a slender, waifish woman with thick, shoulder-length straight brown hair and an impish grin. Both versions of her walk with a cane and use leg braces due to a disability that affects her lower spine, have green eyes, and wear a lot of green and brown.

Vanessa is another character I ripped off a minecraft roleplay character who became her own beast. Steampunk!Vanessa is a black market junk trader and technomancer who salvages scrap and uses it to create incredible machines and components that she will swindle you out of every coin in your pocket and more for with her expert haggling skills. It's not that her creations are worthless - far from it - but you will almost always end up paying more than their market value, and by the time you realize you've been duped she'll be long gone and spending your money. She considers herself an honest but crafty tradesman; most people consider her a petty criminal and con artist.

Netherbound!Vanessa is a human mage and exceptionally talented glamorsmith (someone who crafts illusion magic designed to alter one’s appearance, often imbuing artefacts such as jewellery with them, in order to sell). Unfortunately she suffers from Netherstrike, a terminal but slow-acting metamorphic sickness sometimes contracted by Nether inhabitants. Unable to hide the eyes ravaging her body, her sharp fanged teeth (which bloodily replaced her dull human ones) and her grayish and clawlike hands anymore, she uses a glamor to keep up appearances around most people. She cannot, however, suppress her cravings for raw flesh. Fortunately there are plenty of unusual diets in the Nether, so she doesn't particularly stand out despite her occasional carrion-eating tendencies.

Vanessa is extremely witty and charismatic, albeit a little egotistical and overconfident. She's snarky and something of a social chameleon, able to fit into a variety of social situations and settings with relative ease. She's fun-loving and more mischievous than she is dangerous, although she's proficient enough in magic and has enough life experience to hold her own and make a threatening opponent in a fight. Her strength lies in her creativity and magical skill rather than physical or pure intelligence. She's a very good liar and master of the double bluff, capable of making herself seem more or less dangerous than she actually is as suits her. She's good at charming and tricking her way out of situations, but often fails to consider the long-term consequences of her actions.

(art by @/peskypixel) (picrew credit)

#ask game #oc ask game #vanessa

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interact-if · 2 years

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And the final interview for our Pride Month Event, with Jessamine!

Jessamine, Author of The Black River

Somewhere, somehow, you lost your memories. You’re aware that–whatever it was that happened –it involved chanting cultists, and horrible serrated knives, but unfortunately none of those nice gentlemen are around to explain what’s going on to you. Oh… and also it seems that whatever they did with the aforementioned chanting and knives tore a hole in the fabric of reality and opened a gateway from the world of the living to the Underworld.

Which you fell through.

And now you’re stuck, despite your best efforts, on an antique ship from several centuries ago, with a crew of dead sailors and a motley assemblage of others from the living world. You don’t know what’s going on back in the world where you’re supposed to be, but you know that it can’t be good.

In order to get home, you’ll have to help sail the Will-o’-wisp across the length of the Black River, uncovering truths that change the entire way you view the world and fighting villains whose ambitions extend to the very act of deicide.

And you’d quite like to get your memories back, while you’re at it.

Read More about The Black River here. Play the Demo here.

[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!]

Q1 - Please, introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your project(s)!

Hi, I’m Jessamine (Jess for short, but not to be confused with Jess, the author of Fields of Asphodel and Diaspora – I’m surprised there isn’t more author name crossover, but it does happen occasionally), and you may have seen me around from time to time. I write The Black River, and I also do editing for other games (sometimes), and art (very rarely). You may also have seen pictures of my cat, Fëanor… she’s very cute.

My main project The Black River is a story chiefly about faith, which is a subject near and dear to my heart, but it’s also about resilience… being taken to the very edge of your limits and knowing that there’s no one coming to save you, that you’re on your own against a seemingly insurmountable foe. It’s fantasy, but it might not be the exact kind of fantasy that you’re particularly familiar with – it was very important to me that it not be Eurocentric, and there are steampunk and science-fantasy elements as well!

I wouldn’t say it’s romance-heavy, since some of the Relationship Options are aromantic, but it’s definitely character-focussed. All of the characters are important to the story and the plot in one way or another, and all of them have unique perspectives and information to give you, if you put the effort into spending time with them.

My secondary project is Boldly, a game that I haven’t really spoken much about (I’m trying to be good), but I’m honestly dying to, because I love it so much. It’s a Star Trek parody (hence the name), but along the lines of Galaxy Quest, with a different breakout scifi TV show hit taking the place of Star Trek in this universe. It’s divided into 16 episodes, a full season, and you get to play as a little spaceship ensign manning your duty desk and repairing lamps or calculating trajectories while the main crew save the day.

At least in theory… there may be some… complications.

Q2 - What or who are some of your biggest inspirations?

I’m a bit of a chameleon in that I’m always constantly taking some degree of inspiration from most things that I read or watch and enjoy… I don’t think I’ve ever stopped being inspired by things, to be honest. A lot of the authors that had the most definite impact on my style in particular are ones that I read a lot growing up, like David Eddings, Emily Rodda, Kate Forsyth, and Sara Douglass, but Tolkien and Terry Pratchett also had a huge impact on me in terms of storytelling inspiration. Also Dick Francis, but… I haven’t come up with an idea for a horse-racing thriller IF… yet.

For The Black River specifically, I don’t jokingly describe it as steampunk fantasy Mass Effect 2 for no reason. There’s also a bunch of other games that have given me some degree of inspiration… the various Dragon Ages, Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft are probably the most prominent. Boldly of course draws on Star Trek a lot, but also Galaxy Quest, and there’s quite a bit of Stargate, and especially my favourite TV show of all time, Stargate: Atlantis, in there, too.

Q3- What excites you most about IF? What drew you to the medium?

This is probably quite a boring answer but for me the most exciting thing about IF as a medium is the variation. That’s always my favourite part about any RPGs with choices (like Bioware games), seeing what things change based on different decisions. The ability to craft a story that is moulded to and by the player is something very special, and it really appeals to my love of storytelling in general.

As for what drew me to the medium, I was really very encouraged by a lot of the first IFs I came across, which were high quality stories told in a way that was very interesting to me, to give it a go myself. A lot of those stories are ones I’m still reading (Virtue’s End, When It Hungers, The Northern Passage, and Fields of Asphodel in particular… though sadly 3150 Dahlia Street is no longer around), and I was lucky enough to become friends with a lot of the authors! I have to admit meeting so many wonderful friends in the community was a huge factor in helping me decide to stay also.

Q4 - Are your characters influenced by your identity? How?

Yes and no. I have a very complex identity for various reasons, and to date I’ve never made a character who was really everything that I am in one person, but I do tend to use separate aspects of my identity in my characters here and there. I also generally default to all of my characters being bi or pansexual, which I suppose is the most obvious influence my identity has on my work overall.

When I first started writing The Black River, there weren’t a lot of ace characters around – there are some more now, but it was definitely more unusual when I started. Our Lady is a character that has quite a bit of me in her, in regards to her asexuality and her relationship to it, and her feelings about it and about romance.

There’s also an RO in Boldly who is intersex and nonbinary in a similar way to how I am… I’ve never been somebody who particularly looked to stories for representation, maybe because I expected to never find any characters that were really much like me, due to the aforementioned complexity. I’m enjoying writing a character that is more like me than any other I’ve read for myself, though… I hope other people will also enjoy it!

Q5 - What are you most excited about sharing related to your project?

All of it, really; I’ve always been excited, in general, by storytelling as a whole. I love when people read things I’ve written and feel emotions about it… I love when people think about my work and it leaves an impact on them. I suppose in a more specific sense I’m looking forward to unravelling some of the mysteries that have already been laid out in The Black River. Some of them probably don’t go quite where people will expect… oh, and soul-familiars. Those are coming towards the end of the next chapter.

When it comes to Boldly I’m just excited to get to the stage where I can share the game haha

Q6 - What would you like to see more of in LGBT+ fiction/IF community?

It feels somewhat trite to say “more acceptance,” but I do think there’s still a ways to go on a lot of issues. Recently some parts of the community took quite a hard stance against intersex representation, which as an intersex person was obviously quite worrying for me. I used to regularly receive hatemail from people about having ace characters, and I still get hate-filled comments about my aro and aroace characters.

The landscape of the community can change slowly sometimes, but I’ve seen nonbinary ROs change from oddities to a norm over time, and I’ve seen a slowly growing acceptance of ace-spectrum characters and binary trans ROs, so I’m hopeful that things can continue to become more accepting as time goes on.

Otherwise… maybe just more understanding that a single character doesn’t have to be universally-applicable representation. If I write a character that specifically reflects my personal relationship with my specific nonbinary gender, it probably won’t be the same as yours or a character based on you– but that won’t make them bad, or wrong. Just different threads in one large tapestry.

Q7- Lastly, what advice would you give to your creators and readers?

I’m not sure that I have much advice to give to readers, and even a lot of what I would say to other creators has probably been said before, many times. I suppose the thing I feel needs to be said the most, from my experience in the varying corners of the author community, is that creators are so often too harsh on themselves, for no real reason.

“Author” as a vocation is a full suite of interconnected skills working together, not just writing but also other things like planning, editing, time management, worldbuilding, critique, and in the case of IF authors, coding and design as well. I’ve seen too many authors, who have spent years and years writing but never edited or outlined before, be frustrated with themselves and expect to be able to perform just as well in a skill they’ve never even tried before as in one that they’ve been honing for years, and then berate themselves when they understandably fall short of that impossible expectation.

It's not odd to find editing hard if you’ve never edited before; it’s not strange to have to fumble through outlining if you’ve never outlined before. It’s normal, actually. You wouldn’t assume that someone can speak fluent German just because they can speak fluent French. They’re separate skills, that need to be worked on separately, and you’ll never metaphorically learn German if you don’t allow yourself to start with the basics and keep expecting to be able to jump straight into complex conversations.

Be gentle with yourself. You’re allowed to be still learning. We all are. And good luck!

#if: events #Pride 2022 #Pride Month #The Black River

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princess-of-the-corner · 2 years

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Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Recap: Deep Jungle

One thing I forgot to mention last time: Hercules had actually already softened up Cerberus by the time Sora and friends intervened, but he and Phil agree not to tell them, feeling this confidence boost will serve them well in the future.

Now, back to the story.

Upon arriving at the new world, Sora wants to explore it in case Riku and Kairi are there, but Donald doesn't think that the King would be in such a "backwater" place and so wants to pass on this world.

Sora tries to take the controls from Donald to force them to land, even as Goofy tries to mediate, only for the Gummi Ship to crash.

Sora wakes up in a treehouse, where he's ambushed by Sabor (Tarzan) and rescued by Tarzan (Tarzon). After the two of them fight off Sabor, Tarzan wants to know how he can help Sora. Sora almost asks if Tarzan's seen Donald and Goofy, but since he's in an argument with the two of them and can see Kairi right behind Tarzan, he instead asks if he's seen his friends Riku and Kairi.

Tarzan says he knows where they are, followed by a word Sora can't understand.

TARZAN HAS JOINED THE PARTY!

The two of them then surf on the trees back to the camp, where Sora meets Jane (Tarzan).

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy are found first by Terk (Tarzan) and then Clayton (Tarzan) who brings them back to the camp.

The trio are at first elated to be reunited, but then Sora and Donald remember that they're mad at each other and give each other the cold shoulder. Upon learning that Tarzan knows where Sora's friends are, Jane reveals that she's been teaching him English, and suggests showing him some slides to see if any of those depict where he saw Riku and Kairi.

After finding all the slides and bringing them back to Jane's tent, they show them to Tarzan. He doesn't react to any of them, but Sora does have an interesting reaction to a steampunk castle.

After that ends in failure, Clayton suggests that Tarzan is hiding Sora's friends at the gorillas' nesting grounds. He isn't, but since Kerchak (Tarzan) or Kala (Tarzan) or any of the other gorillas might have a lead, and Tarzan is the only one who can act as a translator, he agrees to take Sora, Donald, and Goofy to the nesting grounds to try and get their help finding their friends.

Kerchak is not pleased with Tarzan revealing their secret nesting grounds, and sends them away, and Clayton tries to hunt the gorillas, nearly shooting Terk at the treehouse until Donald spooks him into missing.

Back at the base camp, Jane verbally tears Clayton a new one, forbidding him from going anywhere near the gorillas, and he's cowed into submission upon realizing that literally EVERYONE is onto him, and so he storms out of the tent to vent.

In the midst of his venting, however, he's overheard.

The darkness of his heart has called the Heartless to this world, and the entire jungle is now overrun.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tarzan head out to combat the Heartless while Jane tries to protect the base camp, going out and rescuing gorillas from Clayton's new hunting party.

They're attack by Sabor again, but are able to slay the leopard, avenging Tarzan's bio parents.

Eventually, Clayton abducts Jane and Terk, using a plant infused with the powers of darkness to lock them in a cage of vines. Sora, Donald, Goofy and Tarzan bust them out, and go to confront Clayton at the cliffs.

However, Tarzan insists that the one they're fighting is no longer Clayton, repeating the word he said to Sora earlier.

The quartet do battle with the poacher, and upon defeating him, the cliffs explode, and Clayton is lifted into the air by an invisible force.

This invisible force is the actual leader of the Heartless invasion, a giant chameleon monster known as the Stealth Sneak.

Clayton and his new pet tag team Sora and his friends, but are no match, and the Stealth Sneak crushes Clayton to death in its own death throes, before releasing its captive heart.

Sora gains the power of healing! He can now cast Cure! (it recovers HP and does not heal status conditions.)

Thankful for their help, Kerchak provides his own aid, throwing Sora, Donald, and Goofy up the cliff so they can see what Tarzan has been trying to show them all along.

They scale a cave behind a waterfall, and find a swarm of butterflies resting in the back of the cave, forming the outline of a keyhole.

The Keyblade reacts, locking this keyhole as well, and the butterflies fly away, leaving behind a second Navi-G Piece, just like the one from Wonderland.

Jane realizes that the word meant heart, and Tarzan explains what he meant, Sora's friends are in his heart. Clayton had no friends. When he lost his heart, he lost his friends.

No heart, no friends.

The heroes mourn Clayton, recognizing he was a pawn of the Heartless in the end, and Sora and Donald make up.

Meanwhile, Maleficent and her underlings watch the proceedings, with the villains laughing at the irony of Clayton trying to use the Heartless for his own ambitions, only to end up becoming their prey in the end. Maleficent uses this to remind them all to be careful with the powers of darkness, lest they share Clayton's fate, as the Heartless are not a toy. However, Sora has now sealed a Keyhole, which could spell trouble for their plans.

They're not worried, however, as the Princesses are falling into their hands, one by one, just like Alice (Snow White if you haven't cleared Wonderland yet), who's shoved into the light by her abductor.

Back at the base camp, Jane and Tarzan thank Sora, Donald, and Goofy for their help, with Tarzan giving Sora the Jungle King Keychain. This changes the form of his Keyblade when equipped.

The trio set out, with Sora taking over as Gummi Ship pilot, after another brief argument with Donald.

Their next stop, Traverse Town, to solve the mystery of the Navi-G pieces.

Honestly 'being crushed by a giant lizard' should be cool, but compared to the fucked up image of Clayton's death in the movie? HOT DAMN is that an iconic villain death holy shit Disney!

#submission

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dhm-rising · 2 years

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Wish/Shopping List

Will trade for anything listed here

Key

Blue Text - NotN Items

Red Text - Coliseum

Green Text - Baldwin Items

Purple Text - Swipp Items

Food

Chameleon - 0/5

Rhinoceros Beetle - 0/5

Sand Creeper - 0/100

Materials

Black Slime - 0/5

Dusty Canvas Scraps - 6/80

Fine Alchemial Reduction - 0/4

Imbued Sulfur - 0/2

Mistral Glove - 5/15

Powerful Serthis Poison - 1/20

Reinforced Glass Beaker - 0/4

Seaside Trumpet - 0/12

Tattered Interloper Scraps - 14/165

White Slime - 0/1

Apparel

Autumnal Wreath - Swipp

Barbarian’s Banner - 17kt

Barbarian’s Kilt - 16kt

Black Breeches - 15,750t

Bronze Steampunk Goggles - 10kt

Brown Birdskull Necklace - 5kt

Brushhunter's Arctic Pants - 13kt

Boneyard Tatters - Luck

Buccaneer's Cutlass - 125g

Buccaneer’s Seaspray Overcoat - 150g

Darksteel Cuffs of Necromancy - 1.2kt

Dented Iron Belt - Coliseum

Dusk Rouge Trousers - 14kt

Dusty Pauper Rags - Swipp

Forest Rouge Footpads - 9kt

Ghost Flame Tail Jewel

Haunting Amber Clawrings

Haunting Amber Forejewels

Larkspur Flower Crown - 13kt

Lavish Dress Shirt - 5kt

Lavish Tailcoat - 10kt

Lucky Sage Sash - 15.5kt

Malign Gambeson - 10kt

Malign Hood - 8kt

Purple Birdskull Necklace - 11.5kt

Sapphire Woodbasket - Baldwin lvl 19

Sarcastic Jester’s Stockings - 100g

Sorcerer's Cloak - 20kt

Sorcerer's Cobwebs - 19kt

Sorcerer's Hat - 19kt

(Sorcerer’s Tatters - 97kt)

Spectral Fuchsia Forejewels - 150g

Spiffy Cane - 8kt

Tar-Trap Tailspine - 11kt

Unlucky Tools - 8kt

Unlucky Vial - 7kt

Woeful Vial

Familiars

Coral Carpenter

Everglade Lasher

Radioactive Slime

River Muck

Genes

Aether Blaze

Aether Candy

Aether Noxide

Aether Stinger

Aether Underbelly

Banescale Marble - 90kt

Banescale Trail - Baldwin lvl 24 + 50kt

Banescale Wraith - 500g

Gaoler Runes - 95kt

Modern Bar - 250kt

Modern Bee - 1.2kg

Modern Current - 165kt

Modern Eye Spots - 110kt

Modern Filigree - 1.2kg

Modern Flecks

Modern Jaguar - 140kt

Modern Poison - 100kt

Modern Sarcophagus - 1.2kg

Modern Stained - 1.2kg

Modern Striation - 120kt

Modern Tapir - 185kt

Modern Trail - Baldwin lvl 20 + 100kt

Modern Vipera - 235kt

Modern Wasp - 1.5kg

Veilspun Bee - 600g

Veilspun Beetle - Baldwin lvl 18 + 50kt

Veilspun Wasp - 750g

Breedchanges

Banescale Breedchange - 275kt

Coatl Breedchange - 2kg

Obelisk Breedchange - 400kt

Veilspun Breedchange - 1kg

Other

Deity Dolls (Except Plaugebringer)

Rare Eye Vial - 100kt

Silhouette Scroll - 400g

Vial of Elemental Sight - 500kt (x2)

#flight rising #fr genes #veilspun #obelisk #gaoler #Baldwin’s bubbling brew #Swipp’s swap stand #trading post #the cauldron bubbles

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