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erose-this-name · 2 months

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humans are not the default race

In every scifi and fantasy setting with """races""", humans are the default.

If you're lucky, we're the short-lived, fast-reproducing pests that are all white Europeans for some mysterious reason, and also have disproportionate rates of being raised as undead because we can't be bothered to make zombie dwarf minis or animate a vampire gnome that has to jump up to bite a tall person's neck.

(We've got BOTH human AND elf skeleton warriors! Oh, hey, I just changed the scale, now it's a hobbit skeleton OR a giant skeleton! Such skeleton diversity! No, Khajiits can't be bone boys, a skeleton with a tail and a cat skull is just TOO SPOOKY)

I feel like a lot of people don't realize that we (Homo sapiens) have the longest running endurance of any land animal. Being able to run a marathon is not normal.

(It's because we evolved the very unusual hunting strategy of Slowly Chasing Gazelles Or Whatever While Throwing Sticks At Them Until The Gazelle Or Whatever Collapses From Exhaustion Then Casually Walking Up And Bashing Their Head In With A Rock™).

Even Neanderthals probably couldn't match our tenacity (they were considerably stronger and tougher though, but by no means dumber judging from the size of their brain cavities{which was bigger than ours actually})

(the evolutionary Neanderthal hunting strategy was probably something like Jumping Out And Stabbing An Ice Age Megafauna With A Stick Then Getting Punted 12 Feet Into a Tree Then Getting Up And Doing It Again Until It Dies Because You Have Superhuman Bone And Muscle Density And If You Do Break One Of Your Unbreakable Bones Your Homies Will Take Care Of You Until It Heals™ [Neanderthal skeletons are found with healed fractures surprisingly often despite said bones being much stronger and denser than ours, they just kept evolving denser bones until they couldn't even swim without sinking like a rock and they still got broken all the time])

So given that we, Homo sapiens, actually literally used to be the "species that specializes in sheer endurance, determination, and unbreakable fucking will", I want more fantasy and scifi settings where we are that way! I think the only setting where that's even remotely the case is Undertale. We're not just the "default" intelligent species!

The only reason we're good at everything is because we can make complex tools and can learn and aren't bound by instinct. Which, by definition, all fantasy races would also be able to do. Otherwise, they'd just be considered animals. Like trolls and Redditers.

The "default" species should just be really good at making tools and quickly adapting, but kinda suck in every other category. So I guess gnomes or goblins are the default d&d race.

And Humans are certainly not the Tolkien "that one race that lives short lives and reproduces faster than everyone else and is good at farming" because:

A) we actually do already live relatively long lives for mammals of our size and also GIVING BIRTH CAN KILL US, AND IF OUR PARENTS DON'T RAISE US JUST RIGHT THAT CAN ALSO KILL US, WE ARE SPECIFICALLY VERY BAD AT REPRODUCING

B) we are in no way adapted to farming, and most of our modern health and societal issues stem from the fact that we aren't meant to farm or be civilized, but do it anyways.

We only farm because it helped us survive the ecological collapse at the end of the ice age, now we're in too deep to go back.

When the ice age ended (quite abruptly) the ecosystem couldn't provide for hunters and gathers anymore, a bunch of stuff were getting heat stroke, sea levels rose, hibernation and bloom cycles and reptile gender ratios were out of wack, predators died out because herbivores died out because plants weren't doing well so weren't making as many fruits or seeds. Decomposers like vultures and worms had a field day. Until they didn't (rip condor population). It would take a while for a new equilibrium to emerge and for evolution to fix things.

But farming doesn't need any outside ecosystems except for soil and pollinators, mostly, so that still works. And farming makes more food meaning you can have more people.

But it also means you can't go back to foraging without all the extra people dying of starvation. So anarcho-primitivism would technically be the most deadly ideology if implemented and therefore is not based, unfortunately. Here's hoping for an apocalypse to do that for us! (I would not survive it)

Fun Fact: those isolated tribal societies like the Sentinelese that still do hunting and gathering only spend 15-20 hours a week doing that and another 20 doing camp chores, and the rest of their time forming meaningful relationships and not being depressed.

Notice how most of what they do as "work" (hunting, fighting, hiking, berry/mushroom/etc picking, cooking, camping, arts and crafts, oral history/story telling) are things that we need to do during our limited free time just so that our "work" doesn't drive us insane. If we were good at farming or industry or civilization, then things like math and repetitive manual labor wouldn't be work.

Sure, these foragers die young, but so did medieval peasant farmers who were even less healthy since they had much less diverse diets (a lot of carbs) and got plague more often thanks to cities and their close proximity to livestock. And our modern sedentary lifestyle is bad too.

Hobbits are suited to farming (also Entwives I guess). Hobbits are quite good at it, at the cost of not being as good at much else, they inherently enjoy it quite a bit and most* aren't haunted by the sense they should be anything else, like we are. *(The Took family got that call to adventure 'tism)

We only think that we're not special or can't be anything other than what we currently are because we no longer have anything else to compare ourselves to. The Neanderthals, Denisovans, and irl hobbits died out tens of thousands of years ago and the fucking aliens are somewhere, presumably

We are special, only we survived.

But at the cost of becoming the species equivalent of an abandoned child raised by wolves. We fantasize about these things because we all know that we shouldn't be alone. But our perceptions of ourselves are twisted by our trauma and lack of socialization.

Personally, the realization that having lost our family was probably our fault makes that hurt so much worse.

#writing #writeblr #humans are space orcs #world building #science #not space orcs #A lot of space orc content goes too far with the human are special snowflakes thing #most aliens can probably *eat* or *have microbiomes*#we're just the Jogging With Murderous Intent guys who also Have A Weird Body Plan

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kiwinatorwaffles · 3 months

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hermit species headcanons: volume… 2!

i made this post two years ago when i was fresh to the series and was just getting to know the hermits. a lot has changed since then, but a lot has also stayed the same! my headcanons are getting refined every single time i talk about them, so chances are, this list won't even be accurate to my thoughts a year later.

with that being said, let's get started! click the cut to read them all

bdubs: glare! small, hates the dark, is a feral creature, will never let go of the moss. he and pungance were born from the same tree in the same patch of moss so they are brothers LMAO

beef: vampire! but not a full one. he was bitten by a bat and gained two vampiric traits exactly: fangs and sensitive skin. beef thinks his tendency to get sunburnt easily is just something in his code or a genetic condition. he never got it checked.

cub: alien shapeshifter! his original form is this shapeless void blob, and he can only copy how other beings look like. his forms were taken from two astronauts he saw in space, an old man and a young man. his void form can be seen slightly on his inner arm, where there is just a sliver of night sky hanging out

cleo: zombie (duh) cleo was permakilled by a witch's curse but when faced with the pearly gates they were like. nah. i'd rather be down there. and just straight up left and came back as a zombie. that's how she met joe. because he was sitting on top of her tombstone eating a sandwich

doc: originally a fae, but now he's super fucked up? what can i even say. he was a fae who got super interested in the sciences and started experimenting on himself just for the hell of it. there was that whole dinnerbone cyborg arm thing but he also managed to make himself a centaur form that he uses for extra storage and height. nobody knows where the creeper came from. was it from his dad's side? did he give it to himself? not even stress, his cousin, can tell you how he came to be. what the hermits DO know however is that he can steal pronouns by asking for them

etho: redstone deity! etho was an ancient builder who was executed for witchcraft upon his discovery of redstone. he was resurrected by the universe as a second chance and to spread his knowledge to the world. you can read more from my fic here ehehehehe

false: human! yes she is 100% human. i just thought it would be funny if such an awesome and skilled fighter was just some normal ass human with a bit of social anxiety

gem: forest spirit! she has nature powers and can change parts of her body to reflect parts of nature. she's a deer? an elf? nope! only sometimes. she can mix and match whatever traits she wants on any given day. but be careful of those deer legs and horns. they Hurt

grian: red macaw avian! he has bird feathers covering his ears, parrot wings, and bird talons! he is also able to mimic voices perfectly (which he uses to play pranks and swear in other hermits’ voices) and is a Hollow Boned Menace. he carries a lot of bird tendencies, like being a piece of shit or preening his friends’ hair when it’s too messy (which is always). in start of seasons, he has x lock away usage of his wings to keep himself from an unfair advantage. he also has stolen powers from the watchers, which he can use to change his wing colors or view the entire map from afar.

npg: ????????????? he’s supposed to be a robot, but he has wings and flies sideways?????? he’s somehow even more fucked up than robot grian. not even grian is sure of what he created tbh. he just knows he did NOT give npg those conure wings to begin with.

ariana griande: galah avian! she is grian's cousin who is a pop star. she has never actually been on hermitcraft before -- that was grian cosplaying as her.

hypno: human warlock! he accidentally made a pact when he replaced his tooth with a piece of cursed gold. jokes on his patron though, his faulty human memory can't even remember how he got his powers! he has lots of inscriptions as tattoos written in galactic just all over his body that he completely forgot how to read at this point and is immortal. maybe that's a bit bad for his sense of self-preservation

impulse: demon/imp! he used to be a gargoyle that dispensed candy, but a wizard passing by granted him life and well. now he's here! demons are actually underworld spirits that punish permadead players who have been genuinely horrible to the players around them, but impulse wanted to build houses and play with redstone instead of stirring the torture soup. so when he met skizz he decided hanging out with the players was the best thing to do. he also used to have larger horns and wings but his time on the surface has made his wings very tiny and unusable without the help of an elytra. skizz always teases him for this.

iskall: cyborg! the hermits don't know if he was fully human before the cyborgification. me, personally? i think it would be funny if she was actually built to protect a village but had too much of a personality so the villages just let him go have fun with the players. not sure if i want to adhere to that though

jevin: slime! certain slimes have evolved to be more like players. jevin is from the blue variety (that's his gender)

joe hills: ???????? void-born universe being??? joe is actually the oldest living being in the universe. he was just popped out of void (even predating the void gods) and spent all this time just doing whatever fuckall was around to do. he looks like a normal human being but just Slightly to the left, like his a bit-too-many teeth or slight lean when he stands. other than that, he acts like any other human!

joel: human mage! he actually only has powers of illusion that changes only how he looks. he Really wanted to be an orc but the spell couldnt last forever (as his fae wife lizzie found out after marriage). every day he wishes he had as much swag as shrek did. more on the headcanon here

keralis: weird fucking eldritch cryptid being? except he looks exactly like a human. nothing weird about him, nope. just don't look too closely at his eyes. he promises that he blinks like a normal person and not with his pupils.

mumbo: robot! with a core heart and stretchy limbs, he runs mainly on the consumption of redstone and occasionally typical foodstuffs. he had a creator before the days of hermitcraft (who originally built him as a war machine but something went deeply sideways during construction) that taught him all there is to know about redstone and the outside world. he also inherited the british accent and mustache from his creator. his creator did want him to be free and wiped mumbo's memory of his creation before setting him off into the overworld and letting him roam free. now he's just a silly guy!

grumbot: robot! he was first built to give suggestions on what to do with the mayoral elections but then he developed actual attachments to his horribly neglectant dads </3 but it's alright! he now chills with renbob and goatman up in the hermitheus

pearl: moon spirit! she was the moon from a player's hardcore world. the player used to talk to the moon for fun, but suddenly disappeared from the world one day. now feeling lonely, pearl took a humanoid form and descended to find where her player went, but she ended up discovering the joys of being a player herself. contrary to popular belief, she had no influence on the season 8 moon.

ren: weredog! can shapeshift into a dog form, which he usually uses to either run fast or play fetch. he’s also more prone to change when the moon is larger…. except he just becomes a hyperactive dog who chases his tail all night and is deeply embarrassed by it. he also probably has rabies, but everyone whom he has bitten probably already had something deeply wrong with them to begin with anyway

renbob: human...? he's related to ren from the human side, or at least that what he tells people. but he might as well be 50% weed by now

scar: human(?) wizard! he can fly, subtly change his physical appearance, cast spells, and do all sorts of magical shenanigans! he also can read galactic fluently, which is how he learned that hypno enchanted himself with loyalty at some point. jellie is his beloved familiar. also he's a capitalist. nobody knows where that came from

skizz: angel! why are there angels in minecraft, you might ask? some people are satisfied with their lives and let themselves permadie. skizz, after being born randomly from an angel statue (i wonder if it’s related to the other statue guy) was supposed to be one of the angels who helped escort players to the pearly gates, but he met impulse while his demon clan was taking a field trip to heaven. the two immediately became besties and skizz begged the universe to let him join the players. the universe begrudgingly agreed and now he's here! he hides his many other halos as ring tattoos on his arms as well

stress: fae! she's got fairy powers, magical swag, an affinity for flowers, and will beat you up if you assume she's the resident server cleric.

tango: ex-blazeborn! he saw some yummy packed ice and ate it, which extinguished his internal flame. his blazeborn tribe felt bad for him but knew it would be dangerous if he stayed, so tango just left for the overworld instead. he tries to convince people that he is 100% a human and not suspicious at all because he's embarrassed of having to explain that he lost most of his powers due to eating some yummy ice cream. a more detailed post about my headcanon can be found here

tfc: human! the only non-human aspect of him is a prosthetic leg. contrary to popular belief, he did not lose that leg while mining. it was after fighting a horde of skeletons. (he won)

wels: human. he's just a human. nobody believes him when he tells them because they've seen him accidentally level a building while sparring before. but nope. he's just a human. and a very fucked up one at that

hels: ???? techncially has the traits of wels, beef, and etho????? is there a species for evil clones created by copying machines or

xb: guardian! he was a guardian made to guard the magical treasures of ancient builders, but he got bored of staying in the same spot for centuries and his creators never returning. hypno casted a spell of bipedelity on xb, so now he can walk on land! i wrote a fic about it here too

xisuma: voidwalker! created by the young void gods, he was made from a fucking mspaint file where the void gods dicked around with the program and made a deeply fucked up being (him) on accident. he has no mouth, his hands are as black as the void, and his voice is terrifying without a modulator, which is why he wears a helmet. more about it in my fic here

evil x: also a voidwalker, but this time the void gods pressed random on a picrew and sent him out into an alternate dimension. he grew up in super england until x fished him out of the void. this little rascal has red scleras, ram horns, and a devil tail. he doesn't need to sleep, so he gets all his energy from eating, which is convenient because his sharp teeth can crunch anything and he can digest everything. his hair acts like an enderchest with a portal to the void, where he keeps snacks and various trinkets.

zedaph: human, but he’s not sane. i mean look at this guy. look at what he’s doing. nobody knows how he became so deeply fucked up but he's truly just Like That. he gave himself sheep features once on accident though

worm man: surprisingly, human. he's lucky to have stayed human for this long with his brother's insane experiments. accurate to popular belief, he has no superpowers.

#orchard’s library #hermitcraft #hermitblr #i cant tag everyone so im just not going to LMAO #ill only be tagging the new additions from my last list so here we go #vintagebeef #smallishbeans #skizzleman #tinfoilchef #keralis #xbcrafted #grumbot #renbob #falsesymmetry #ariana griande

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anathemafiction · 1 year

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Inflation prices

Hosted Games is going to raise the price of all of their games on January 19th — it's been years, but it seems inflation has caught up with them. This won't affect newer releases much, like the Rose, but it may have a pretty substantial price increase in some of the older titles.

The Golden Rose will go up 15% percent — so if you want to buy it, now's the time to do it! Outside of Steam sales, it'll never be this low price again.

However, some old gems will have bigger price changes, and I wanted to take this opportunity to shine some light on a few of my old favorite HG games. If the summaries interest you, give the free demos a try!

(I'll be linking the COG page, where you can find the links to Steam, Google Play, the App Store, and Amazon at the bottom of the screen).

Tin Star (50% price increase) — Step into the shoes of a US marshal in the old, wild west. It's a very big game, full of hard decisions and a great cast of characters (Preston, you cocky bastard, I love you). You can be a terrible person, a saint, or anything in between.

Zombie Exodus (60% increase) — Try to survive a zombie apocalypse. There are dangerous missions to navigate, complicated power dynamics between survivors, and, of course, friends and lovers to remind you what it is you're fighting for. This is an old game, but it was one of the first IFs I read, and to this day the story and characters hold a special place in my heart.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven (40%) — This one isn't really an old game, but I want to include it since the price increase is still substantial and, if you enjoy the first ZE, you will LOVE this. The author took everything from the first game and made it better. You can see how much he has improved. From customization (it's mind-blowing), to relationships, to writing atmospheres - I was legitimately scared in some parts! Plus, the different prologues are so good and... just try it! I adore this game so much.

Way Walkers: University (40%) — Play as a student in a prestigious magic school. The magic system is super interesting, as is the world at large. But, by far, the best thing about this game and its sequel are the characters. It has one of my favorite ROs in any IF games, Semryu, and the way your friendship develops into a tentative romance is so well done. There's also mystery and tension, and I cannot wait for Book 3!

Double/Cross (60%) — Okay, I'll admit: I don't remember a lot about this game. It's been years since I read it, but I do remember, however, really liking it! You work as a bodyguard for the richest man in England, and not everything is as it seems. I like it because it subverts your expectations, and when I got my "happy ending" I... did not feel happy at all. It's really interesting and not very long, so I encourage everyone to give it a try!

So, You're Possessed! (50%) — Oh, how to explain this game? You start as a pizza delivery person, and then you meet a demon and your life is thrown upside down. It's been years since I've played it but it has always remained a special little gem. I don't want to spoil the story too much, so just give it a try!

Evertree Inn (40%) — Again, not exactly old, but I think the price increase warrants it on the list. I also think most of you are familiar with the game and its sequels, but I want to mention it anyway. Solve a mystery in a secluded tavern and watch out for the murderer! You can play as a number of fantasy races — dwarf, elf, etc— and interact with a cast of colorful characters. It's just such a fun game, and it leads to a great adventure in the sequel.

Fallen Hero: Rebirth (40%) — Okay, okay, I know. You all have the game already plus, it isn't technically "old". Well, may this serve as an announcement that Fallen Hero is about to get 40% more expensive, and if by some chance some of you haven't played it yet, you should absolutely do so now. The sequel is coming, and it's held as one of the best IFs ever published. A reputation that, in my opinion, is more than deserved.

Happy reading! I hope you find at least one game that'll bring you joy.♡

#recommendations #oof this took longer than I expected #I tried to pick games with significant price increases #there are more but they're newer #other people's games #hosted games

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shockersalvage · 3 months

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Danganronpa Kirigiri - List of Detective Library members & their monster reps

In Danganronpa Kirigiri, the Triple Zero detectives of the Detective Library were based upon/referenced four types of monsters in fiction: ghost, werewolf, vampire and doppleganger. I always thought that was a pretty cool choice for Kitayama to go down and go to thinking what other types of monsters the other detectives would represent.

Which is basically what below is - a list of every named Detective Library member and monster would best fit them, in book order. As well as who represents the four monsters I mentioned above.

Main Duo:

Kyoko Kirigiri - Angel of Death (Now for Kyoko's monster I wanted something that best represents Kyoko's relation with Death and, ultimately her benevolent nature behind her stonefaced mask. So I chose her as the metaphorical Angel of Death - someone who brings about the end of those who have Fallen by uncovering the truth behind their misdeeds. Yet, in doing so, is also saving lives of those that were in danger because of the Fallen's actions. She also attends a religious school so it ties back well with those origins.

Yui Samidare - Powers (A type of angel in Christian theology and apart of the Middle Order of angels. Her whole thing is being a detective to protect others from evil and Powers are types of angels that hold the power to dispel or defeat evil. Also calls back to Yui being from a religious school. If I had to choose something else, I'd make Yui a guardian angel to match Kyoko being an angel of death. But, for reasons below, decided to forego it to complete another set )

DRK1:

Kou Inuzuka - Hellhound (Kou surname 'Inuzaka' contains the word for dog in Japanese, and Kou himself is an arsonist. Of the reps, I think this is one of the most fitting I've come up with)

Eigo Amino - Robot (Eigo is said to have zero presence or stands out, and he's a detective that poses as a businessman AKA a cog in a machine of office life. So I figured a robot was the best thing to compare him to)

Shiita Enbi - Zombie (Based upon the whole deal with him being dead all along, and also Tadashi's deal with having no legs, so kind of shambling about, reminds me of those types of zombies in horror games or shows)

Johnny Arp - Werewolf (From DRK Vol 6 - referred to heavily with wolfish traits or personality)

Gekka Ryuzoji - Vampire (From his design & titles; he's heavily based upon Count Dracula from the titular novel)

Rei Mikagami - Ghost (Comes from his epithet of 'Ghost in the Mirror' and his own ghostly ability to seemingly disappear from the scene with ease. Honorary mention goes to 'unicorn' given that's what his alias, Licorne, means in French).

DRK2:

Taehime Uozumi - Mermaid (Made her mermaid given her surname, Uozumi, is literally 'sleeping with the fishes'...and, okay, the pun with her fake profession was too tempting to pass up)

Suisei Nanamura - Father Time (Suisei is obsessed with time and managing it, so making him Father Time seemed pretty natural

Mikado Shinsen - Doppleganger (From his epithet, the Variationist, and skills as a master of disguise. Honorary mention goes to him being referred to as a Shinigami/Reaper by Chage and the connection he does have with the dead)

DRK 3

Hajiki Yaki - Devil (His DSC card is 666 which is considered a devilish number in Abrahamic religon, and his own thing is being a detective that goes against gambling - a type of deal with the devil?)

Salvador Yadorigi Fukuro - Gorgon (Okay, now, admittedly, this one is one of my weakest, but was inspired to call him a gorgon due to his own whole thing with his special eyes, and how he stunned Keisuke from DRK4 with the look of them. Stunning? Turning people to stone? A stretch? Kind of, but I still think it also kind of works so...)

Sachi Mizuiyama - Elf (Okay, beyond her getting an elf because she's short, was also inspried to give it to her based upon elves appearing young when they're actually older - something that's been pointed out about Sachi - and how elves/fairy-ish folk tend to have skewed moralities. Something that skewed me towards Sachi and her whole deal)

Korisu Kakitsubata - Succubus (Also one of my weakest, yet this one just feels so fitting. She dresses provocatively and acts seemingly benevolent, but that's hiding a malicious front to get away with claiming a soul. Plus, another case of her being related to fire and Succubi being from Hell - it just kind makes itself work out)

Suntetsu Shirasu - Underworld Gatekeeper (Chose this after a lot of internal debating, but decided this might be the most fitting? Like Gozu & Mezu or Cerberus, Suntetsu's actions decided who remains in the living and who has to remain in the afterlife. If there was a more fitting word for this type of monster, I'll gladly hear it out)

DRK4:

Tsukiyo Nada & Nazuna Toakitsu - Dominion & Virtue (Types of Angels in Christian theology and apart of the Middle Order set of angels with the Powers. Tsukiyo is Dominion given they govern celestial bodies & Tsukiyo's name refers to the night sky itself - ok that and her domineering personality. Naz is Virtue since one of its job is to bolster faith, and Naz is the most supportive of the duo in terms of helping out Yui to Salvador to Tsukiyo as well. Plus, they round out Yui being Power and also coming from a religious school)

DRK5:

Tatsutora Oboro - Bakaneko (Ok, the weakest one out of the lot, but also didn't really want to spend too much time on a minor guy like Oboro. As such, with part of his name, 'Tora', meaning tiger the idea that came to mind was a simple monster cat!)

DRK 6:

Motosuke Suzuyari - Yeti (He's in the icy mountains, described as being kind of wild looking. It writes itself)

Ayako Saiko - Witch (@drmedicsgamesurgery holds credit for the intiial placeholder as being a 'Mad Scientist'. However, mad scientists aren't technically monsters, I decided to swap it with the mad scientist of monster: a witch)

DRK 7:

Shiroko Yukimura - Yuki-onna (I got this based upon her part of her name 'Shiro' meaning white and the fact she appeared in a snowy setting)

Senshi Kadomi - Giant (Big guy with a knack for violence to get what he wants? Yeah, Senshi was pretty much hardlocked into being a giant from early on)

Kanji Yuhain - The 1st Horseman/Conquest/Pestilence/White Rider (I went with the 1st Horseman of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, after being inspired from Yuhain riding to Sirius on top of a white horse which symbolizes conquest or pestilence in the modern age. Both fit Yuhain as a guy who seeks to conquer the detective world as the King of Detectives and given his corrupt nature, he can very much be considered a pestilence.)

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self-loving-vampire · 3 months

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Been playing a little bit of Guild Wars 2 with the girlfriend (husband joining us shortly as well).

To no one's surprise I am playing a necromancer.

I have a few thoughts about the game but also feel like I haven't seen that much of it yet despite already being level 50. Still haven't done any dungeons or anything.

You level up truly insanely fast in this for some reason. One time I even went from level 41 to 45 all in one single XP drop and I still don't even know what I did to get that.

Some positives:

1- You don't actually have that many buttons to press. In some other MMOs like this (FFXIV being the one I played most recently) you have a whole lot of cooldowns, three-part combos, mobility skills, and just stuff you're supposed to press in a specific order in order to contribute optimally. Here it's pretty simplified to just 10 buttons, half of which come from your equipped weapons and the rest having limited predefined roles.

Consequently, the buttons you do press end up feeling a lot more substantial and distinct. There isn't really an action I have seen so far that feels like strictly filler.

2- You get to make some choices about your character's backstory and motivation during character creation, and these choices seem to come up in quests as well. This is not entirely unusual in single-player RPGs but the other MMOs I have played tend to avoid that sort of thing entirely. Another rare thing is that some of the story quests also have some branching paths.

3- I really like that it's not a subscription-based game, and even seems to have a very solid free to play version. I still think the lack of a mount during that is rather evil but still way better than subscriptions.

4- You seem to have a decent amount of options for customizing your playstyle, with multiple talent lines to pursue, different weapon types giving you very different skills rather than just having different stats, and eventually also things like specializations.

This is especially nice relative to FFXIV's complete lack of anything remotely similar, with all characters of a class always having all of the abilities for said class (as long as they did their quests). According to a friend the logic there was that people would become toxic over other players having sub-optimal builds and mandating them to use only the most effective skills, which is 100% something that happens but this is still a trade-off I don't really like.

5- I like how a few of the zones are in active war, with NPC armies invading towns and attempting to capture them while players gather together to defend them.

6- My flesh golem turns into a fucked up zombie shark when I go underwater.

The negatives:

1- The game's presentation and world so far seem pretty much just "okay" in my opinion. It's not generic (haven't even seen an elf or anything yet), but it's also not particularly inspiring to me so far. Maybe when we get to see those elder dragons things are going to pick up? Zhaitan definitely looks like an awesome villain for a game to have but simply hasn't arrived yet.

2- Similarly, a lot of the zones are large enough and include so many different sub-zones that so far they haven't quite managed to have the most coherent central identity the way zones in games like WoW or OSRS do. This isn't all that bad but still affects the way I think about them. Maybe this also gets better once I get further away from the "green hills and forests"-type starting areas (although I feel like I have seen like three or four areas with that aesthetic already).

3- The materials gathering for crafting seems to be somewhat unbalanced. You level up so fast and get sent to new zones so quickly that you soon begin stockpiling crafting materials that you don't have the skill to use because the first tier of them seems to last all the way to maybe rank 75? It's as if the game used to have a slower pace that was more in line with that but now you just zoom past the stage where you're collecting tier 1 materials before you gather enough to move up to start using tier 2 materials.

That would also explain why I haven't crafted anything worth using so far. I'm getting significantly better stuff just from questing as I level.

#long post

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scurvgirl · 4 months

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I found Ansur today and had thoughts. My little cleric has also been having some feelings. I was also thinking it'd be kinda cool for clerics to have Commune in BG3.

For some context: she is half-wood elf and follows Mielikki (did I choose this goddess because of the unicorn? Yes, but that's besides the point) and Astarion is NOT ascended here but Cazador is dealt with. General Act 3 spoiler warnings!

Everyone was celebrating the dragon slaying. Everyone, that is, except Mynara.

She kept herself from the revelers, her heart and mind troubled enough to make the festivities feel...misplaced, perhaps. As quietly as she could manage, she slipped out of their rooms within the Elfsong, heading for the rooftop. The sun was just about set and with it she felt some of her energy wane. Part of being a light cleric - she rose and fell with the sun each day.

Footsteps behind her had her spinning 'round -

"Astarion, you surprised me."

"My apologies, darling, but you did leave a party celebrating one of your accomplishments." He was of course stunning in the quickly fading light, even with the downturn of his lips as he looked on her with concern. It was a look she was seeing more and more often now they were in the city.

"What's troubling you?" He asked and damn, she needed to be honest with him. What was the point of having a partner if you couldn't confide in them?

So, she spoke. "All of my training and worship before this taught me that the undead are to be reviled. That they're - you're - abominations and it is a sacred ability of ours to return you death."

Astarion quirked a brow, "Quite the plot if you're going to kill me now."

Mynara rolled her eyes but smiled, "Never, love. What I'm saying is...I think it's wrong, they're wrong. Yes, Cazador was a monster and the world is immeasurably better off without him, no question. But then there's you - who defied all odds and you've done good, Astarion, and you are healing and growing as a person. These are things that...that they said weren't possible to those who weren't truly alive and I think...I'm wondering if undeath is really just unlife."

"Unlife?"

"You're not alive but not dead but you have the ability to learn, to grow, to...live, albeit differently. I think of Thrumbo and his friends who were so wrongly turned into zombies and abused by Carrion, or the seven thousand spawn having a chance and...I think of Ansur, who we just killed."

Astarion watched her as she bit her lip and began to worry at her hands. When she spoke again, her voice was soft, "I don't know if killing him was the right thing and it terrifies me to think that. It terrifies me that I love you so much and that I don't regret freeing the spawn or helping Thrumbo. It terrifies me because...because if they were wrong about this, what else were they wrong about? I love my goddess and my faith and I believe in her but this...I see you in the sunlight and you are radiant. I see Thrumbo getting a chance of life. And I saw Ansur, still righteously fighting against what he thought to be a monster inhabiting his friend and I question."

The pain and worry and indecision mingled together in a frightful storm within her and she couldn't bear to look at Astarion. Not when she talked like this, not when she questioned the source of her power, or the only consistent sense of comfort in her life for more than a decade now.

Larger, paler hands gently took hers. She slowly looked up into her love's red eyes to find...not understanding, not quite softness, but...comfort?

"You are the one good at these pep talk things, but I suppose I will try. Darling, if you wish to break from your faith because you disagree with it, if they have harmed you - then I will stand by you the entire step of the way. But do not sever this for me, or for Thrumbo, or for Ansur - this is about you and your faith. You do not need to sacrifice yourself for me, for anyone."

Damn Astarion and his fucking voice and his words. He was always doing this, pulling her away from the self-sacrificing ledge. It had kept her alive and well, grounded.

She swallowed thickly and turned towards the fading light. There was an old ritual she saw the priest do once...perhaps she needed to not think about what mortals had taught her and commune directly with The Forest Queen herself.

Mynara undid her bracelet of wooden beads, all carved with Her holy symbols, and placed it upon the ground in front of her. She kneeled and began to pray.

A warm, glowing feeling pressed against her like a cat and she smiled. She was here.

"Forest Queen...I want to help the unliving, and I do not think they are inherently evil. I don't wish to purge them from this plane or any other. May...may I remain in your service with this thinking?"

More warmth pressed against her and a gentle breeze rustled her hair like her mother used to when she was a child to convey the feeling of course, little one.

Tears welled in Mynara's eyes, "Thank you. May I use your blessings to help them?" Pressure on her hands, like a kind mother squeezing them - yes.

One more...she had one more...the questions for her were answered but there was one more...She felt Astarion behind her and knew he was listening, knew he wouldn't exactly approve of the question, but when an opportunity presents itself....

"Thank you, my Queen, I forever walk within your Forest. I have one more question...my beloved, Astarion, is a vampire spawn. He is dearer to me than any words I could say. Is...is there way for him to safely walk in the sunlight again without Ascension?"

"Mynara -

The breeze whipped around her hair, leaving her briefly cold...only for the sun's warmth to return to her in the form of a kiss to the forehead. Perhaps there is.

With that, the warmth abated, and Mynara opened eyes she hadn't realized she'd closed. The sun had set, leaving the sky a beautiful shade of indigo. Her face was wet with tears and unmistakable joy filled her heart.

Mynara turned to Astarion, smiling brightly even as he scowled with his arms crossed.

"How many times do I have to tell you -

"There's a way, Astarion, there's a way, and I'm still a cleric and she is...happy with me. Love, for once, for fucking once - it was all good." She was up and pulling him into a tight hug in mere moments.

"Don't get your hopes up, it's probably something awful."

"I will hope enough for the both of us, love." She held onto him tight and smiled and smiled.

She had hope and more importantly she had faith.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 fanfiction #astarion #astarion x tav #tav #cleric #i would have loved more cleric specific dialogue that wasn't 'pray with me!#spawn!astarion #scurv writes #mynara

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mildlylesbian · 1 year

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Hermitcraft Headcannons

LONG POST

Since I’m apperantly writing a fanfic now I figured I might as well list my headcannons for the hermitcraft members personas + Timmy.

I have not had the time, energy, or attetion span to watch all of the hermits so quite a few of these are based solely off of other fan interpertations I have seen. There’s also some hermits I do not know what to do with who are excluded from this list.

This list starts out very Grian focused due to the fact he introduced me to the hermits as well as the fanfic I’m planning being centered around him and Timmy.

Timmy - Caridinal hybrid, was a listener but after Grians escape was taken to replace his brother. Related by blood to Grian, non-blood related to Pearl

Grian - Was born human before being taken in by the watchers and being forced to become one, after escaping he dyed/coded his wings to look like a parrots and claims to be a parrot hybrid. Related by blood to Timmy, non-blood related to Pearl.

Pearl - Moth hybrid, escaped evo alongside the others and spent a few years searching for her brothers before finding Grian in Hermitcraft and joining him, spends season 9 researching the watchers in hopes of getting Jimmy back. Adopted sister of Grian and Timmy.

Mumbo - Born a human, turned into a vampire at the beginning of season 8 and spent that season not killing in an attempt to deny his new hybrid-status. Is the person who orginally found Grian and brought him to hermitcraft.

Scar - Vex hybrid who likes to pretend they’re an elf, has unspecificed medical issues (I am not going to try and diagnose scar) that affects his walking abilities, often uses a cane or wheelchair to get around. Jellie is his emotional support animal.

Cub - Vex hybrid, big brother energy. He’s the second oldest hermit, however thanks to a de-aging experiment he’s physically one of the youngest.

Iskall - Dwarf, lost an eye while doing redstone. Is often mistaken as Impulse’s brother.

Impulse - Dwarf, had difficultlies growing a beard so he’s super upset whenever it gets cut. Often mistaken as Iskall’s brother.

Gem - Deer-fey hybrid, has a deep connection to nature, hence her tendency to build naturey things, is able to manipulate plants.

Bdubs - Everyone thinks he’s a fey, is actually just some random dude. Scared of the dark, hence the very strict sleep schedule, and wears moss because it’s very comfortable. Also for some reason everyone keeps letting him put people into positions of power.

Doc - Born a creeper hybrid, was experimented on causing him to be a spliced creeper-goat-cyborg hybrid. Wears a lab coat because it makes him feel in control of what happened to him, and despite apperance is the sweetest person you will ever meet.

Ren - Wolf hybrid, has a very large family made up of different characters he has played (renbob, the red king, etc), due to his wolf hybrid status he has seperation anxiety

Etho - Enderman hybrid, has always hid his face due to his anxiety (same) but after recieving a scar that covers 2/3 of his face he’s even less willing to remove his mask.

False - Eagle hybrid, is super sweet but will nto hesitate to fight you if you so much as look at a hermit the wrong way.

Stress - Flower fey, resident healer and grower of plants, is terrible at taking care of herself.

Cleo - Born human, became a zombie hybrid after a funky respawn that healed her bit failed to revive her. Is sensitive to the sun, though is able to stand in it for short periods of time, survives off of raw meat, is the go to for new clothes and surgerys thanks to her mastery of stitching.

Joe - Human, no one is convinced. Isn’t great at being social, but loves hanging out with cleo because he feels as though she gets him.

Jevin - Slime hybrid, is naturally green but uses dye to make himself blue in an attempt to differ himself from the hostile mob. Without the human skeleton that resides within him he is unable to maintain his shape.

Keralis - Resident eldritch horror, sweetest man alive, will trap anyone who hurts his friends in the void.

X - Voidwalker, needs his armor to breath the overworld air, really good at over working himself, does not have a shadow.

Ex - Shadow-voidwalker, used to be X’s shadow, isn’t nesscerily evil but has people issues due to be cast out by the person he used to be bound to.

Zed - Sheep hybrid, always wants to know more about the world around him

Tango - Blaze hybrid, cannot get wet, cannot withstand cold weather, cannot be burnt, his hair is made out of fire and grows or dwindles based on his current emotions, a terrible liar

Not included in list; XB, Wels, Beef, and Hypno. Tfc also isn’t included, as I’m unsure how I feel about alluding to him in fanfics following his passing, so out of respect I won’t pretend he doesn’t exist but I also won’t be including him in headcannons or fanfics. May he rest in peace.

Based on this list alone guess which hermits I have and haven’t watched. If this gains any traction I’ll follow up with my headcannons on hermitcraft as a server, as well as the fanfic idea I have at the moment - it is in the very early stages of development, but I live off of validation and feedback so I’ll probably post ideas for it regardless.

If you have questions about headcannons or wanna share some of your own, please do! I’m always excited to see what other people think about these funky lil block people.

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dragoonhooman · 2 years

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Do you guys think William and Dakota call Tide at the exact same time every night except in different locations?

Maybe William is at the driver’s seat, feet propped up against the wheel and the blue light of the phone against his face and maybe Dakota is on the roof of the Winnebago, hugging his legs close to his chest and setting his phone on the space beside him, the ringtone spiralling up, up, up into the sky, perhaps even very faintly meeting the moon.

And the phone rings. And rings. And rings. And rings. And—

“Hello! This is Tide, if you’re hearing this message then I’m probably busy cooking beef stroganoff or forgot to charge my phone again. Anyways, please leave a message after the—“

[Beep]

And they both talk, about similar yet different topics. About chaos demons and cartoon dreams and new maybe-friends and accidentally freeing all the animals in the zoo and…

“Hi Tide.” William starts, low and soft as not to wake up the sleeping half-elf in the back. “I don’t know if you’re ever seeing these messages but uh—its been a couple days since I last checked in so I might as well sum up what we’ve been doing, right? So we met this lady—“

“—Her name was Minerva.” Dakota explains, lying down on the roof. I called her ‘On my nerves Minerva’ though, cause she was super mean and super SUS. But she let us go to Vyncent’s world though. Like his home dimension. And—It’s so SICK there—no pun intended cause it was all kinda dead there but like we also got all rpg, video game-lookin outfits and things. William looked like a wizard and made zombies just disappear and—“

“—We also met Vyncent’s mom. She was pretty cool, though apparently rats were a delicacy there? Like its not just a Vynce thing literally everyone did it. Steamed rats, boiled rats, raw rats. Oh by the way, we got the Greats out of Vyncent’s head there. As in all of them, Alphonse, Ram, Min, Chungus. We left them in the fantasy world, in their home, so Vynce can’t access his power anymore but—“

“—Now he has this sick as hell sword bro! Like it can glow and has a bit of the Greats’ powers in there too! Its so cool, man. I wish you could’ve seen it. After that we went to go and kill the Lich! He’s like the Overlord of that world! He—“

“—Was already dead. All the Lich did was use living things and kill them to fuel himself. It was a power source for him, and he was planning to invade Prime. Imagine if he did—Well he kinda did actually. Not like what you might’ve been thinking though. He got brought here, and we followed him so uh—that’s how we got back. We fought him some more, chasing him down into a play theatre. Did you know Hamilton was playing there? I saw Lin Manuel Miranda! I wanted to get an autograph after but well—“

“—We met these other heroes. Lightspeed and Wordsmith and Bookworm. Lightspeed was pretty cool, she helped me get my save back after Will and Vyncent literally DELETED IT. But then I almost got to kill the Lich and they STOPPED ME. Told us the Lich should get a trial or whatever then they’ll put him in jail. I don’t—“

“—Get it. The Lich came from an entirely different dimension! It literally killed things to keep itself alive and destroyed Vyncent’s world and they’re going to put it in jail?! Like that would ever work—It—It’s stupid. Just—I miss you, Tide. I miss your terrifying school alarms and your funny apron and all the beef stroganoff you somehow cooked even though we made sure we hid them all. I wish you’d answer me. I’m just—I’m just scared. I’m—“

“—Confused. Heroes are supposed to keep people safe and without killing them, right? But—I want to kill the Lich so bad. He sucks and he should be gone so he can’t hurt anyone else but—Wordsmith and Lightspeed say I won’t be a actual hero if I do that. But I am a hero, right? I don’t really know anymore. Wish you were here…dad.”

Then both, at the same time:

“Love you.”

And the message would end. And the phone would be clicked shut.

And the world became quiet again.

#jrwi #jrwi prime defenders #jrwi william #jrwi dakota #jrwishow #jrwi pd

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verdantglow · 17 days

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Okay so @plumadot’s posting about her D&D Traffic AU has made me remember how much I love my Dungeons & Traffic AU & I Must Talk About It Now.

Basically all the characters are in a modern setting, playing a rotating cast D&D game DMed by The Watchers. (I never really decided how that works. Plan was for everything in out of game space be completely mundane except for the floating purple eye behind the DM screen lol.)

But yeah! So I picked classes & heritages that the characters would pick themselves based on play styles & preferences. &, uh, here they are!

Bdubs: Firbolg, Light Domain Cleric of Helios

Of course he’s a light cleric. Of course his god is literally the god of the Sun. This man does not fuck with the night & darkness At All. (Also he wanted to be tall lol.)

BigB: (???), (???)

Okay, gonna be honest, BigB is the last one I need to make decisions for ‘cause I feel I have too many knowledge gaps about him to figure this out. Was thinking Paladin maybe??? But I will totes take input, please help me here. Only restrictions: I’d prefer if he doesn’t double up on heritage or subclass with anyone.

Cleo: Reborn, Circle of Wildfire Druid

Cleo’s gotta be a zombie, so Reborn is perfect. & who can deny Cleo the opportunity to have a skill set based entirely around setting shit on fire?

Etho: Shadar-Kai, Way of the Shadow Monk

He’s a ninja lol. Also in this AU I was thinking he & Gem would be siblings, so having him play an emotionally flat dark elf played nicely with what Gem goes with. Which…

Gem: Eladrin, Eldritch Knight Fighter

Gem had to be a fighter, that girl is a fighter through & through, but she’s definitely not playing a boring character. Eldritch Knight adds some magical flavour that goes well with her being an Eladrin. & she had to be an elf of some kind; I think she’d like the versatility & expressiveness of Eladrin.

Grian: Changeling, Pact of the Tome Warlock of the Archfey

Okay, I know this is probs controversial but hear me out. 1) Grian being a Warlock I think is just very in character. 2) Pact of the Tome lets him cast catrips from other classes & you unknowingly he’d get a kick outta that mechanic. 3) His patron is a homebrewed version of The Traveler, half way between 5e canon & Critical Role canon. Trickster vibes are real. 4) This dude has had so many skins. Changeling energy. (Also I just love changelings & Grian made the most sense to me.)

Impulse: Hill Dwarf, Forge Domain Cleric of Tharmekhûl

Another controversial one, but I’m not a fan of demon/tiefling/horned Impulse. & he legit has been a dwarf before. Hill dwarf because they get a Wisdom buff & that makes sense for Impulse. Cleric of Tharmekhûl because forge/light vibes & also he’s the god of smiths & that feels… like something Impulse would choose. (Impulse’s character is also min-max’d to hell. This man is going to win at D&D.)

Jimmy: Human, Oath of Glory Paladin of Tyr

Jimmy got overwhelmed by all the heritages & just went human for simplicity. He takes regular human rather than variant because he doesn’t want to learn all the feats & getting +1 to all stats is pretty good, right? Oath of Glory Paladin of Tyr because he really, really plays into being Lawful Good, & being The Law of the party.

Joel: Half-orc, Path of the Berserker Barbarian

Half-orc for being the closest I could get to an ogre. Path of the Berserker because he’s all about The Rage.

Lizzie: High Elf, School of Enchantment Wizard

Idk Lizzie just has big Wizard vibes to me, but like. Not the best wizard. Like she’s powerful, but rolls shit. She couldn’t get anyone to sleep in the Secret Life campaign because her DC is kinda low & everyone kept making their saves. (Except Joel. He failed his save on purpose. <3) High Elf for Queen Lizzie.

Martyn: Tiefling, Swashbuckler Fighter

Another natural fighter choice imo, but Swashbuckler for The Performance. Tiefling because he’s a bit impish & also so he can have Thaumaturgy to constantly scare everyone with monster/mob noises.

Mumbo: Rock Gnome, School of Evocation Wizard

I need to Mumbo to be a glass canon. School of Evocation Wizard does that so well. He can blow shit up so good, but he takes one hit & he’s out. Rock gnome because he just wanted to be a little guy & so he can be a Tinker.

Pearl: Wood Elf, Beastmaster Ranger

Beastmaster Ranger so she can have Tilly as an animal companion. Also more combat than magic focused, ‘cause that feels right? Elf because that’s her vibe, wood elf because it made sense for her build.

Ren: Werewolf Shifter (Doglike), Bannerette Fighter

Ren really wanted to be a fighter, but he put all his points in charisma RIP. So yeah, he’s the fighter class that does the least actual fighting lol. Doglike werewolf because of course.

Scar: Half-elf, Wild Magic Sorcerer/School of Eloquence Bard multiclass

His first few levels were in sorcerer, to reflect his absolutely bonkers all or nothing luck. School of Eloquence because he’s the type to talk his way out of most any situation he can. Also: Scar is 100% a charisma caster. (He still uses a longbow, don’t worry; he gets proficiency with it from being a half-elf.)

Scott: Fairy, Lunar Sorceror

I have changed my mind the most about Scott. Landed on Fairy, because the Vibes. Sorcerer because I felt he’d have innate magic, Lunar because it gives him access to a wide variety of spells that make sense for him. (Like Shield. He uses Shield all the time. Can’t hit this man, no sir.)

Skizz: Protector Aassimar, Path of the Ancestral Guardians Barbarian

He attac, he protec. & most importantly, he place high value on bonds between folks. So giving him Ancestral Guardians just… yeah.

Tango: Fire Genasi, Battlesmith Artificer

I don’t think I need to explain this much. His Steel Defender is an Iron Golem.

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abutterflyobsession · 2 years

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both @elf-kid2 and @magically-strange requested a haunted house house attraction!

Bog breathed in the cool air, a grin spreading over his face. There was a crisp note in the air, the fallen leaves crunched satisfyingly underfoot. It was fall. The perfect season. Everything was pumpkin spice and Halloween was coming up. All was right with the world.

For a moment.

“Are you just going to stand there smirking all day or are you going to help your poor old mom?” Bog’s mother bellowed across the parking lot. Bog hunched up his shoulders and scowled, bellowing back, “I’m coming!” before stomping over to help her unload the car.

There was one spot on Bog’s autumn that resisted all attempts at removing and that was his family’s annual haunted house.

In theory he liked the haunted house attractions that popped up around Halloween. Cheap, tattered, and gaudily colored with orange and red, like fallen leaves blown in by the chilly wind. Bog’s family’s was no different, made up half of plywood, half of cardboard, completely ready to fall down at any moment. As a kid he adored it.

As an adult he viewed it with a heavy heart.

It meant days of chasing customers in and out, enduring screaming children, making sure that the same number of people who went in also came out, and nursing bruises from people who thought it was funny to ‘fight’ the monsters. That wasn’t even getting into the subject of drunk kids throwing up in the middle of the haunted school section.

It was with scowling melancholy that Bog stretched sticky spiderwebs across corridors and double checked that the timer on the lights flashed them on and off on cue. The setup didn’t take too long, he had a horde of helpers--Steph, Thane, Brutus, Gus--and the end result made him wistfully proud. Shame about all the mundane horrors it was about to bear witness to.

The sun set and customers rose from the depths of somewhere. Probably hell. Bog took his post at the exit, ready to deal with complaints. Being over six-foot tall with a face like a cruel joke helped him in this capacity. Customers forgot their words when he loomed over them in his dreadful costume of choice.

This year he had gone simple, too preoccupied with life and heartbreak the really put himself into it. Some makeup to emphasize his sunken eyes and bony face, an artfully made up bloody wound on his neck, some clawed gloves, a leather jacket thrown on top and he called it good. Or a zombie rocker, anyway.

“Sweetie, we got trouble,” Griselda radioed, “I think this smug jerk is trying to make a move on a girl he followed in.”

“Ugh. Got it.” Bog darted over to one of the secret exits, radioing ahead to Thane, “On my signal shut off the lights.”

“Put loft the tights . . .?” the radio crackled.

“. . . give Steph the radio.”

Slipping through the hidden door, Bog could hear the new group coming up and hid himself behind a cardboard partition. Brutus was already there, dressed as some sort of demon or goblin. “Change of plans, we got a jerk hitting on a woman. I’ll take this batch.”

“. . . hold my hand if you’re scared, darlin’,” a voice twinged with the South approached the hiding spot.

“I’m good. So let go.” A woman said, sounding as if she were on her last straw.

The light was just good enough to see the woman plowing forward, dragging the man hanging off her elbow behind her. He was trying to get handsy, reaching for her shoulder, then her hip, then her waist, each time smacked away. “Now, Steph,” Bog said into the radio, narrowed his eyes to preserve his night vision, and jumped out shining a flashlight in the group’s eyes, doing one of his trademark horror villain laughs. Across the haunted house the actors all joined in with their own sinister giggling and snickering.

The group went into chaos. Bog barely managed to catch the jerk and the woman by the arms, inserting himself between them.

The jerk caught his sleeve and held on tight, obviously blinded. “Look, honey, just cuddle up to me and we’ll make it through just fine.”

“Get off.” The woman tried to shake off Bog’s grip.

“I think that’s my hand,” another woman said, voice shaking. “Whose hands am I holding?”

“I’ve got one,” a man said, sounding pleased. Bog rolled his eyes. Young love. Yuck. But the woman must have assumed it was the other woman holding onto her arm because she stopped trying to shake Bog off.

“Sugar, I know this isn’t the best place for regrets but you’ve made it impossible for me to see you face-to-face,” the jerk persisted.

“I hope something in here eats you, Roland.” the woman hissed.

Not quite, but close enough, Bog smirked. He tapped the radio. “Floor lights.”

From experience Bog knew that light cast from below, especially eerie green and yellow, made his face gruesome enough that makeup was hardly necessary. The lights snapped on just as Bog wrenched the jerk forward so he could leer in his face.

There was a satisfying scream from the jerk.

Leaving the jerk to flounder, Bog grabbed the woman by the shoulders and ushered her out one of the secret passages and into the dim yellow parking lot.

“Get off, get off, get--oh.” The woman looked around. “You aren’t Roland.”

“Nope.”

“Are you another creep?”

“Only professionally. I work here.”

The woman looked around. “Did I just get extracted? Am I in trouble?”

“Not anymore, I hope.”

The woman was small, her hair tussled into a mess, her face painted like a zombie and a fake bite mark on her neck. Bog blinked. She was even wearing a leather jacket and had purple fingernails that must have been two inches long. She looked like a zombie rocker too.

Bog’s heart skipped a beat.

#strange magic #spread the lofe #butterfly bog #human au #the bog king #fiery warrior princess #drabble #my fanfic #possibly to be continued/

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skullchicken · 1 year

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heyyy you can help me out if you like because I have choice paralysis about which project to work on while I take a break from my other projects ;_;

More Info/Synopsis under the cut!

(Sorted from how long they've been rotated from most to least so far)

Action/fantasy webtoon about a cursed school where students turn into monsters:

The class clown turns into an actual monster-clown, the sporty girls become cheerleader-zombies, the annoying little elementary school brats turn into screaming dolls and the teachers turn into boss monsters.

The only three people seemingly unaffected are Miyako (metalhead, bff of Cally), Cally (goody two-shoes, Miyako's bff) and Achintya (nerd, unrelated). With the former two, the reasons seems because they're not quite human themselves. But what's up with that shady little nerd? And he seems to know more than he lets on...

Whatever the case may be, they must lift the curse before things escalate.

Okay, so, imagine a Shounen Manga, except the demographic is all genders and women are people. Miyako, since she's secretly a demon, takes after a typical shounen battle protagonist, while Cally is a fairy and falls more into the magical girl mold. As for Achintya... he's complicated.

Shadowrun-action-romance-novel about fixing malicious DRM on cyberware, m/f

Working title: You owe me

A story about maliciously designed cyberware, trust-issues, debt, being in your twenties, guilt and a wrestler-elf and hacker-dwarf being dumbass idiots who pine for one another and secretly think the other person is the best thing since sliced bread. Slow-ish burn.

The good news is, I have like a hundred pages already written. The bad news is, I would have to rewrite a lot of it because my writing process has changed a lot. But let me say no more, take a gander at our romantic leads, ladies, gentlemen and those that lieth betwinxt:

64.media.tumblr.com

He is wearing a gorilla mask for plot-reasons.

Webtoon fantasy/romance remake of a story where a girl marries the carrot king

There is an german fairytale written by the guy who also wrote the nutcracker which is bonkers and hilarious and I'd looove to adapt it into webtoon format. I wrote about it here: click meee

I would update the story so it takes place in modern times and deals with the issue of aesthetics versus being... (think e.g. cottagecore versus actual farming) in short "it is fine and dandy to dream, in fact it's very important... but if you're too keen to only believe what you want to be true, you're gonna get duped."

But most importantly it would give me ample reason to draw a carrot with a handsome anime-face.

Shadowrun-mystery-novel about the worship of dragons (Blackout Sequel)

I wrote a shadowrun short story about loneliness, vulnerability, yakuza and mysterious lemon cake. I have ideas for a sequel - granted they are quite nebulous as of now, but I'm confident I'm reaching the point where I can start fleshing them out. This time around the story would be longer and more involved. The theme would be the worship of dragons, not just in the literal sense, but also in how people relate to power.

We would also see how the relationship between Hanne and Amanda progresses. I personally wish friendships would receive as much attention and nuance as romantic relationships and here I would attempt such a thing.

Webtoon-action-romance about the housing market and identity, f/f

Anansi and Muu meet, one day, via the matrix, when they stumble upon each other trying to get entry into the same matrix club. The reason they're here are quite different. Muu, a corporate princess, just hit her thirtieth birthday, only received presents she didn't like and has a minor crisis about it. Anansi, who is a technomancer, is always on the run and here to meet a Mr Johnson.

While Muu's journey is, at first, internal, as she starts to try out different avatars to figure out who she even is, Anansi holds on for dear life as a squatter and, gets screwed over with the payment and sets out to find that damn Johnson to make him pay one way or another.

Their paths in life are quite different, yet they keep running into each other and, despite everything, find themselves drawn to each other.

And then it turns out their worlds are not as far apart as suspected.

I would be quite excited about this one because I've never written a f/f romance before, despite being very, very bi (granted I've also never finished writing a m/f romance, but still). Mostly I just really like the characters and I think the story would be solid and not too convoluted... as mine tend to get sometimes :,)

... but I'm equally excited to do all of these! What do you say?

#posting this AGAIN again because I am too stupid to make functioning polls hfgishfkhlfkrhfe

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tea-with-eleni · 9 months

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This time on Curse of Strahd...

A coworker (and neighbor who lives four doors down) came over to visit my cats because he was sad and needed cat cuddles.

I told him I had DnD tonight and mentioned my ongoing wish to bring in guests to play some of the more complex NPCs. He perked right up and asked if he could join in. I handed him Rahadin's stat block. "Oh," he said, "This is nasty."

"Want in?"

"....tell me when."

So that's how my players ended up going against Baba Lysaga, Baba Lysaga's House, Rahadin, and a handful of Strahd Zombies.

Also, effectively, two DMs. This particular coworker was hired because he has an eerily identical background/skillset to me and is probably about as close as our manager could get to cloning one of us. We work very well together.

Woe betide the players, who initially underestimated the situation. Or, to quote our artificer:

"You think I can't take one elf twink?!?!?!?!?!"

Rahadin got VERY close to killing our cleric and claiming the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. He got down to half health before giving Tatyana ("Tatyana, Ireena, whatever her name is") a letter and fucking off.

Then Baba Lysaga's house awoke...

My players have realized that they might have fucked up.

Just a little.

--------------------

I think what may have worked so well on our end is the repressed fury that comes from working in a job where we have to smile and be polite and understanding to people all day. We've been threatening to feed our summer campers to the museum's snapping turtles for a few weeks now. This is a lot more ethical and nearly as satisfying.

#curse of strahd #rahadin #rahadin is terrifying #baba lysaga #dnd beyond rated this combat encounter as DEADLY #Better believe I will employ this strategy again

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ndostairlyrium · 10 months

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✨ OC Tag Game ✨

I was tagged by @greypetrel to roast my OCs make Sophie's Choice kind of decisions but these are some fun decisions 👌 thank you so much dear!! Also I'm stealing the magenta and purple color scheme because I'm obsessed lol

I'm tagging here so y'all can avoid this monsterpost and go straight to the tag game lol @underneathestars @sparatus @daggerbean @bruxbea @n7viper @transprincecaspian @that-one-halfwit and those whose name starts with J.

I had to dig deep in my personal can of worms so grab a drink, a bunch of popcorns and a new pair of eyes because this is going to be one of the longest posts I've ever made. I'm not joking, I'm apologizing :'D

Favourite OC:

Ankh/Lav. I played favorites since I created this space and I have no problem exposing my horrible self lol She's the perfect person for me, always challenging herself without being afraid of failure. Even if she has some terrible flaws, she does her best to process them in a mature way. Writing her helped me a lot coming to terms with some things in my personality that I despised :'D she pesters influences the two realms of being, basically. Also she's gorgeous, isn't she? *pinches cheeks* bella de mamma 💛

Newest OC:

HER. The icon, the legend, the witch of the needle. Adra, trans-woman, city elf, much bitch, such stylist. She calls people by titles she invents on the spot based off their personality (which is a thing that cannot be transferred into the english language since titles aren't a thing ;; sigh), she's one that states what's wrong with you right in your face, and she's constantly in pain because of her job - one day is her back, the other it's the eyes, but somehow humidity is always involved. She calls herself old but she's not that old, like, she's in her 60s << anyway, she takes advantage of it a lot for her own entertainment. Coming from the Denerim alienage for then moving to Highever, she has had all the experiences one can think of so she appears a bit skeptical when it comes to big scale projects born from righteous ideals. However she seems to believe in the Inquisition. Well, she trusts its leader and her work, but she's a fereldan through and through so she's leaning more on a "I'm gonna judge the overalls when I see the results" attitude. So far, she's satisfied, but she'll never express it. Queen Anora #1 fangirl.

Oldest OC:

Rhian, daughter of Beathan ...who at the beginning was a Lord of the Rings OC but then she turned into something I'm using for a personal project with a medieval fantasy setting, so now she's running free and untied from a beloved franchise :'D weee There is some bisexual awakening going on but it's actually a story about found family, gender roles, and honesty. I'll get back to it at some point. Hopefully. She's the Mulan of my roster, pretending to be a man to join the local army and having to deal with a big menace while questioning her faith on authority. She's very brave, caustically sarcastic, an average soldier, and has loud opinions that always put her in trouble. Also she's a capricorn, she can open jars and she will let you know until she dies.

Meanest OC:

Lenore fucking Shepard WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED LMAO She's manipulative, controlling, outright nasty towards pyjaks, and would 100% push you towards the zombie horde as bait if that means she gets to save herself plus her squad. She does have a few reedeeming qualities but it's not even slightly enough to grant her a "maybe she's good on the inside" consolation prize. To be fair, she's the most emotional character of the bunch, super sensitive towards children and people that can't fight for themselves. The ones she likes, yeah, but still! Hands down my favorite store on the Citadel <3

Softest OC:

All of th--

Absolutely him. Mr. Rivelli. Wiccan, chemistry genius, chainsmoker, incapable of interfacing himself emotionally with those surrounding him. He's quite the introvert, but he daydreams like a pro and he's very passionated about his interests. He can't look at people in the eye, but he's the most loving and communicative plant dad one could think of <3 He's a soft boy, he just has a lonely nature. He's part of a project called "The Wedding Planner", it's a boy meets boy story, both of the main characters are in their thirties and there's a "what am I doing with my life" type of approach to the plot. It's a 30 years old / mid life crisis type of story, basically, with a wedding. The wedding is important. Very. It makes it cheesy. We worship cheese in this household.

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC:

Absolutely him, and it's a coping mechanism. Castor "Cass" Actius never shows emotions because he bottles all them up. And it's a long bottle - he's very tall. I was torn between soft and aloof in this case, but he's definitely one that acts like he's the calmest but in truth he's screaming internally all the time. Probably one of the characters I can relate to the most lol He's all legs and sugars, has a thing for tea, he's the fourth of four siblings and probably the most well adjusted out of them - which says a lot about the state of his family considering he's clinically depressed and an addict << He's a great leader, calm and detached, also he doesn't seem very approachable at first. At second as well, and at third, and at... But he's a cool person with big mom energy. If you're under his command, prepare to be scolded frequently, but also to be defended strenuosly in front of his superiors because you're perfect and you did nothing wrong, never in your life!! Best baker of the bunch, sorry Hawke.

Dumbest (affec-- lmao they wish!!) OC:

These three. They all trusted the apostate. On a scale from Stupid to "I trampled on my feet and now the kitchen is on fire" however, Ela is definitely the one sitting on the ambulance with a blankie on her shoulders. Here, have a banner all for yourself, dumbelina <3

Although I'm talking about that kind of stupidity that makes you look like a fool during situations that require a little bit of foresight or planning. She basically winged some of the most important decisions during the Blight, the others were taken because of her strong sense of honor and justice, but like You can't apply that all the time and then go surprised pikachu face when people call you out for being impulsive.

Smartest OC:

Him. Hands down. Serge "Twinkles" R'lyeh. He's MacGyver with the sensitivity of Tori Amos, also he's your therapist and your sugar daddy at the same time. He's an aerospace engineer turned infiltrator turned spy turned college teacher turned practical fx specialist turned distinguished officer during the war turned loving husband and best uncle... Like, there's so much to him! He lived a tons of lifetimes at once because he's talented brilliant incredible amazing showsto-- Probably the second favorite, because he seems like he's perfect but he has a problem taking responsibilities. He's also very childish, egocentric, he second guesses you as if it was a competitive sport when it comes to things he can do better, and his mouth is the envy of every sailor from here to the Attican Traverse - because he swears a lot but also for the other reason *cough* I kinda loved having to deal with someone that was on top of many skills, it made so much room for planning a big downfall <3 oh, and he fell. Hard. I'm gonna stop but know that I would keep writing about him for other 30-40 paragraphs, gushing and blabbering incoherently because he's my special self absorbed space kitty, trust me on that. I'll just say that he built a working real life deluminator when he was a fluff. he smort

OC I'd probably be friends with:

None of them, they're terrible people with a lot of problems and I made them like that so if I had to meet them they'd ki--

It's them. Ankh and Kerry. Who else? I need the extrovert friend who ignores my rain checks and comes to my doorstep with a pile of books concerning the strangest topics, and the chill friend who can cook a brilliant pasta while he listens to me complaining about the post office. Also, they're the ones I'm the least afraid of. On a more serious note, they have a huge deal of compassion and care; he's an empath, she's an active listener. Also I vibe with creative people that show a huge passion for what they're doing, plus I wouldn't mind having to bury some animal bones from time to ti-- cook and bake. I like to roam around the kitchen with my friends and talk about whatever. We talk a lot in this household <<

This was a lot and I'm sorry but y'all read the introduction of this blog, the blorbos are my Jub-Jub Bouvier and I can't help myself :'DDD

#long post #tag game #oc tag game #ankh #kerry #elanor cousland #I would tag the others but I'll ponder this task a little bit before doing so lol #I knew perfectly all the placements except for soft because they're all big softies even len #and len is the worst #but when overlord happened she became fury personified because she couldn't deal with such an injustice #also she blushes like mad when people bring up her relationship #it's been a while since I overshared about twinks and cass they're my perfect space cat children <3 #annoying as hell but immaculate #nonon no noono no ali stop ahahaha #I was so ready to make another long post via tags GDI #here have a cookie and a blankie as a sign of apology

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st-just · 2 years

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Hi I'm here to give you an excuse to write up what WoW should have been

WoW dream build

I’m glad you asked!

So, you know how the whole entire plot of Warcraft 3 was about the various non-Scourge factions finding common ground to live alongside each other and unite to stop demons from destroying the world? How Frozen Throne’s whole pseudo-Wow epilogue was about Jaina’s dad showing up with a fleet and trying to restart the race war, and Jaina sided with the Horde against him?

So, first things first, in the base game, there are no factions. If you’re a tauren or troll or orc you start in Orgrimmar, if you’re human or dwarf you start in Theremore, if you’re a Night Elf you start in whatever the night elf capital was called after Archimonde blew up the old one. Thrall, Jaina and Tyrande are political leaders and there would be some tension,, and quest-lines based around hardliners and agent provocateur from one faction or another, maybe getting to the point of creating battlegrounds in places, but officially speaking everyone is Kumbaya.

Speaking of – as of vanilla, the entire game map is Kalindor. Because one giant continent should really have enough content. The main questlines would be stuff like putting down radicals trying to restart the war, dealing with scourge agents trying to create beacheads, satyr and fel orc dead-enders trying to call the Legion back, Old God cultists corrupting/awakening ancient spirits, centaurs and quillboars, and just general fantasy adventure stuff. You’d need to make a bunch of raid bosses for endgame content, but I assume people who care more about warcraft lore than me have ideas for that.

Then, expansions! Each one would, of course, expand the map.

First, a really big one that opens the Eastern Kingdoms back up. Each sectioin is kiiiind of a complete clusterfuck, because of course it is.

-Londoner is zombie apocalypse 101, with Kelthezad’s generals fighting the Forsaken and scattered remants of living survivors (or escapees, because evil undead mad science needs fresh corpses,and that means people farms), mostly organized by the Scarlet Crusade

-The dwarf mountains in the middle are a second, unrelated clusterfuck where Ragnoros’s whole empire of enslaved dwarves and elementals fight the dwarven holdouts

-Stormwind! Which would feel the sorely missed niche of fantasy-racists with a real power base, and consider all the Kaldindoran humans/elves/dwarves basically race traitors. Just real assholes about it. Even before you add in the disguised dragon playing grand vizer to the king, who absolutely isn’t helping but also isn’t at all solely to blame.

(This is also where you’d add Forsaken as a playable race.)

The second expansion would be Outland. And really I can see two ways of going here.

First is that this is where you add faction conflict – Naga, Blood Elves, and Dreanei are all now playable races. They start in Outland, working for Kael’thas, and oh boy are their a bunch of battlegrounds and conflicting quests. The whole ‘all of us are utterly fucked, and totally reliant on the goodwill of an archdemon to not waste away and die/find a home’ is a pretty good motivation for faction cohesion, really, and who doesn’t like playing the bad guys? (the dreanei you see in WC3 to be clear, not the basically unrelated goat-angels in actual WoW)

Alternatively, they’re the main antaongists of expansion, all sympathetic anti-villain like, Outland falling apart around them. The rest of the zones would be filled up with fel orcs and demons, probably.

Aaaand that’s as much actual thinking about it as I’ve actually done.

#reply #circletofcircles #in this essay i will #warcraft

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storybookwolf · 2 years

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Here's my contribution to @jancyweek2022 day 2 - childhood

The Elder Tree Campaign

September 1979

‘On behalf of her people, the Elven Princess thanks the Party for saving the Elder Tree’s forest from the rampaging Dracolich. In recognition of their courage, she bestows gifts on all of them and pledges her unending loyalty … she also vows to do all their chores for the next week, and to quit hogging the bathroom all the time.’

‘MIKE!’ Nancy glared at her little brother. ‘Shouldn’t “the Party” be thanking the Elven Princess for helping them with their campaign?’

He rolled his eyes and sighed theatrically. ‘Fine,’ he huffed. ‘The Party refused the Princess’s gifts, saying that seeing her people safe and happy is all the reward they need, and thanked her for her loyalty and assistance.’

‘…Then the Princess replied, “You’re very welcome,” and returned to her tower,’ Nancy said. She skipped up the stairs two at a time, eager to change out of her costume, which had started to itch about two hours into the campaign. It had been fun, though, dressing up and playing with the little kids. She’d be mortified if anyone from school found out, since being in 6th grade apparently meant you couldn’t do anything remotely babyish, and were just supposed to talk about pop music and clothes and which boys you liked. Those things were fun, but so was pretending to rescue elf villagers from a zombie dragon. (Nancy could just imagine the way Carol Perkins, who actually wore makeup to school, would sneer at that.)

Just as she was thinking how glad she was no one from school could see her now, in last year’s ballet recital dress and a homemade flower crown, with little cones of paper on the top of each ear to make them pointy, the door at the top of the stairs opened and she nearly crashed into someone from her class. Not just any someone. A boy.

Jonathan Byers.

Nancy felt her face get hot, and just knew she was blushing like crazy. Then she saw that Jonathan’s face was also red. Oh god, did she look like such an idiot that he was embarrassed for her? Even though he wasn’t the cutest or most popular boy in her class, he was pretty nice, and she definitely didn’t want him to think she was a baby.

‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to walk right into you. I’m just here to pick up Will.’ Jonathan looked down at his feet, then back up at her, taking in her costume. ‘Are you … an elf?’

The burning in her cheeks intensified, and a knot formed in her stomach. ‘Yeah … I was helping the kids with their Dungeons and Dragons game.’

Jonathan smiled. ‘That’s so cool! Will’s always talking about how great your brother’s campaigns are. It sounds really fun. Maybe … maybe I could play too, sometime? With Mike and Will and you.’

The knot loosened as she took in how genuine his smile was. It started to feel more like butterflies. ‘That’d be really nice,’ she said, suddenly shy.

‘Cool,’ said Jonathan. He was still blushing, which made her butterflies flutter more intensly.

‘Cool.’

‘I should—’ Jonathan pointed past her, down the stairs, and she let him pass, noticing how the light glinted off his hair. Maybe he wasn’t the cutest boy in her class, but he was still kind of nice to look at. And he definitely wasn’t going to make fun of her for playing D and D with their little brothers.

She floated up to her room, imagining what type of campaign they might go on, and what monsters they might battle together.

#jancyweek2022 #jancy #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #jancy fic #my fics #stranger things #stranger things fanfic

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