#also dragons and i wanna befriend the orcs and wolves

[andragoras-in-vanity]

isekai is such a popular genre right now, and its taken a clear shift from 'i got isekai'd and now im a fantasy hero!' to 'i got isekai'd and now i get to live a quiet and happy life in the countryside/as a librarian/pharmacist' and obviously a lot of it is just......someone wrote this to kill time and draw boobies, but Parallel World Pharmacy was so good???? i cried so many times, and i love the shift in tone the genre has gained with stuff like that

#Maybe because i wish for the same thing but only if my dog and two best friends can come too #but that one and grace of the gods is just devastatingly gentle #its not a power fantasy its just im tired and hurt anf i want to thrive instead of survive because our society doesnt make me happy #but someone or soemthing takes mercy and kindness on them #but that one was especially profound with regards to his sister while maintaining the control of 'end this disease with a physical punch' #and we lack that kind of control we want that kind of control over literally anything in this life #also it was so pretty #not unique but still very soft visually speaking and funny but not taking away from the content #and again the characters are kind #dont get me wrong id totally like reincarnated as a slime too but thats mostly for the non gendered shapeshifting #also dragons and i wanna befriend the orcs and wolves #but id probably end up a goblin in that one.... #anyway isekai when done well is so healing even when it has almost no plot #i love intense anime but god some of the gentle and beautiful ones are all i ever need #and i crave fantasy so much i adore magic and creatures and demons so much and the softness of some of these plots #but idk that one grabbed me by the throat and slammed me into the bricks #i didnt actually like ascendance of a bookworm all that much i kond of found parts of it annoying and i didnt love the artstyle #but i did absolutely love the fact she was disabled whether they called it disability illness or magic #she was for all intents and purposes disabled in the same way i am and it was heartening to see how much love they had for her #and how good her family was ngl i cried about her father and i wish mine came even a little close to that but thats a DIFFERENT topic #dont ask me about yakuzas guide to babysitting #i dont like the realizations that one gave me #but the more that come out in this genre the better it is and the more representation will drop into it hopefully in all directions #for gender and sexuality as well as disabilities #because this subgenre is so well equipped for disabilities especially because its soft and slow and so full of love #ranking of kings isn't isekai but i think it could open door for fantasy in general too because its a light genre even when its serious #its just ...pure and light and ready to welcome hardships without trauma #the characters are always kind and the setting is new and magic affords accommodations other genres dont #magical mobility aids that dont erase the disability will always be infinitely more interesting to me than heavy machinery that #that you have to strap into but that also means finding other accommodations too like having bojji read lips instead of getting an implant

[outofangband]

yeah, i kinda wanna hear - what are your general headcanons for domesticated/working/tamed animals in angband? i would be very surprised if it was just the wolves and the dragons

(In response to this post!)

Angband World Building and Aftermath of Captivity Masterlist 

The wolves are interesting. I headcanon there are about five genetically distinct species of wolves that are cultivated by Sauron. Not all these can interbreed with each other though some can. 

Two of these species can interbreed with elves though this is rare and requires massive intervention.  Most attempts still fail. 

I talked about the captives and the wolves a bit here 

These are different from wild wolves like gray and timber wolves which are actually used by some of the orcs who live apart from the fortress. 

So I have this rather bizarre headcanon that a variety of sheep is domesticated in the orcish communities especially those who don’t travel for battles and don’t live in the main part of the fortress 

The “sheep” are used for labor (this species is bulkier and stronger and significantly larger than the average farm sheep) as well as for food and materials.

Obviously this is a heavily altered species as they do not require grazing lands and instead are fed scraps as well as various fungi that grow in the caverns. I have a few alternate theories of how they came to be but I don’t think they were artificially modified much but instead are a species native to the mountains and caves of the region

These and the smaller species of wolves are the most generally domesticated (note though that the wolves are not tame) but different factions of the fortress have other animals that are used (bats, larger lizards like monitors, etc) among them

Fungi is cultivated for food and gathered along with other organic matter (I go into this a bit more in this post!). Gardens as the elves would describe them are rare but not unheard of though most of what grows in these scarce places are medicinal rather than edible, if not actively poisonous. As suicide is always a risk among the prisoners, access to these is heavily restricted to the small group of Maiar who serve Sauron. 

Pets and animal companions:

Some of the elven prisoners who have been in captivity for decades and decades and are more or less loyal (or at least effectively so, whether or not they actually feel loyal) and who are actively working against the Noldorin armies and their allies are allowed animal companions.

This is an offer that is often very effective in getting otherwise passive prisoners to take a more active role serving their captors. Indeed Mairon notes it is often more of an incentive than anything else offered.

Especially in the mines where there is less ability to supervise every prisoner at all times, many of them have transactional relationships with small animals such as bats, fire salamanders or cave lizards (a species that @aronoiiel created!)

The slave gives the creature food and in return gets tiny bits of interaction with something not interested in their oppression and misery.

In one of my verses, Maedhros befriends a small baby dragon. I haven’t written about them in awhile because they’re undergoing some changes and The exact way they are befriended I once again have like ten alternate versions though in many he uses his Fëa to nourish them whether or not he chooses to do this differs

Anyways I apologize for how rambling this got!

Also I hope it’s ok to tag you but @foxleycrow just posted an absolutely amazing piece regarding Túrin and a baby dragon that everyone should see!! (Túrin isn’t in Angband but the dragon is from there)

#the silmarillion #Mairon #Sauron #in the Iron Hell #musing and meta #subtle be my blade