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femmeferengi · 2 months

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would love to hear more about your ocs if you’d like to share!

I’d love to!!! gonna put it under a read more so it doesn’t clog up anything

My ocs are (mostly) from this little farming moon colony in Cardassian space that was basically abandoned to be self-sufficient after the dominion war.

so essentially you remember the Maquis storyline where it said that all of them are in prison or dead or Voyager? I’m ignoring that a little but also using that. basically in the blind terror of getting away from the dominion a marquis cell (so about a dozen/two dozen people roughly) crashed onto this moon

There are basically two sets of ocs - the merge generation, where one of the farming districts, the Taar district, starts incorporating the maquis into their community due to need and resignation, and then there’s the colony collapse generation, which is the kids from the merge generation all grown up and contact a relief mission to help them before they lose their home

As for actual ocs, ive fleshed out the kids more because that’s where i started. Carver Raju Taar and Lelli Kozett are my favourites/most formed. Carver and Lelli are also the first Maquis-Cardassian merge children to be born, so they’ve been pretty knee-deep in all the politics over the roughly 25-30 years the colony has been on its own.

Taar’s mother Priya was an ex-Starfleet human Maquis that was pregnant when they crashed and presumed dead for a while after she disappeared. She was rescued and helped by Gena Taar and eventually they formed a bond. Carver was adopted by Gena after Priya died when he was still a baby, with Priya’s consent. Gena was pretty important politically for the colony and her adoption of Carver really fucked things up lol but no one could really tell her no and by the time people found out Lelli’s parents had gotten together so it was just dealt with in stride. Carver actually ends up being the person slated to take over for the district in the end, despite having older cousins, so he gets to be stressed about responsibility and a family legacy he has been routinely estranged from that he still longs to maintain. poor guy lol

Lelli’s half betazoid, half cardassian. Jaska Kozett and Eirris Zei were assigned to work together once the cell was discovered and subsequently fell in love. The maquis kinda saw it coming (Eirris wasn’t subtle) and so this was accepted with resignation. Jaska is important to the district, not entirely sure how yet, so she was pretty brazen once their relationship was public. Lelli is kind of a rainbow baby, her siblings didn’t survive, and she spent much of her childhood being smothered by her parents whenever she wasn’t with the district doctor. As a teenager her psionic abilities developed abnormally; she projects her own emotions constantly but has no read on others. Her dad managed to convince Vossa, a Vulcan (and Maquis), to teach her how to control her emotions when controlling the projection appeared to fail. As an adult Lelli has taken over most of the district doctor duties in secret with her mentor’s secret failing health. She’s also stressed lol and still completely unqualified to do the medical stuff she’s doing. She wants to leave the colony but responsibility keeps her there.

My other guys aren’t as developed/concrete yet but im concentrating on the district and cell rn haha. timeline wise i think that in the end the colony just cannot sustain itself and the kids who have defined themselves through their roles to the community are forced to reckon with what to do when that community may no longer exist ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s a work in progress!!

#it’s been so long and yet it all still feels so half formed #but the story mostly follows Lelli and carver who btw don’t even like each other very much #they have a political alliance but they’re very much frenemies. no one else understands them but they can’t stand each other #very funny to me. what if you were besties with your work rival #anyway thank you for asking to hear more!!! i love shouting into the void so it’s nice when the void shouts back #fennels log #moon colony ocs

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nebsstories · 1 year

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The Birthday Bash

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Authors note:

I’ve conceptualized this scenario I think about a year ago, but hadn’t found the time or inspiration to write it down until now.

This story was inspired off of @cupcakeshakesnake’s Harbor Town AU, and the contents of this story is loosely based off another story I’ve read, please DM me for more details.

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Be me, I’m just right out of college and I have no idea what to do with my life; degree is utterly useless so I look at local businesses, wanted to find somewhere I can stay until I can get a better job. I happened to live 10 minutes away from the local rat casino known as, “Chuck-E-Cheese”. It’s better than nothing, I guess. Go in, do interview, really basic stuff; guy interviewing me asks, “When can you start?”

On that day I sold my soul to the Chuck-E-Cheese company. That day began one of the worst experiences of my life.

I started that following Monday, making $10 on the hour, so it’s okay, I guess. I spent most of my week up until Friday getting acquainted with my fellow coworkers. Free food’s also a plus, pizza’s alright but I’ll take it. I clock in that fateful Saturday morning, my manager greets me at the door, she tells me that Saturday’s are usually when it’s at its peak so we’ll be swamped today. Oh and, there’s a big birthday scheduled tonight, and all I can hear from the poor guy wearing the costume is a low, yet audible, “Fuck my life.”

I cannot even begin to imagine how awful it’d be to be surrounded by fifty or so grease coated crotch goblins all at once, all the while dying of heatstroke in a furry costume. At least the building was air conditioned, because I heard that the suit doesn’t have ventilation, meaning it’s hot as the devil’s asshole at times. I was tasked with setting up the party area, the decorations were already provided to us and the theme was apparent from the skull and crossbones.

Around 4 in the afternoon, the rush starts to die down and we get a momentary feeling of euphoric silence, relief washed over us, though we were fools to think it’d last forever. We watched as tired parents dragged out their sugar high children, as the kingdom they’d lorded over was lost to them. In the wake of their foul dominion, the arcade games became sticky and greasy to the touch, they’d stained the carpets with spilled sodas and slices of mediocre pizza, in that moment I foolishly thought, “This can’t get any worse than the hell on earth I’d just witnessed.”

4:30pm on the dot, a man steps in. He looks like the sort of boho rockstar you’d see thrown up from the peak of 80’s rock and roll, with as much swagger in his step and a cool demeanor as he greeted the girl that gives all the kids the ink stamps (which are “invisible” until shown under a blacklight).

“‘Ello, I’ve a birthday reservation for Jackie, party of 40.” He follows up.

My heart stopped, my blood ran cold as the number echoed in my mind. He did not just say 40, I thought he was bluffing so I poked my head out to get a glance. Standing behind him was an army. An army of fun sized pirates. This man brought in an entire grade level to this Chuck-E-Cheese and we were at the brunt of it all.

Before I could dip my head into my manager’s office to fake sick, the kids flood the place. Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war, as instantaneously, children storm the restaurant; they take to the playhouse, the arcade, the party area. The place is nearly full and bursting at the seams with them, and as we pushed on, our manager cowardly hid within the confines of the office. Meanwhile, the rest of us are panicking, chefs are stressing - their nerves pulsating and brows glistening with sweat from the amount of pizza they have to keep pumping out. It’s a madhouse, it’s anarchy!

Rockstar here isn’t doing jack shit, he’s just leaning against the wall playing guitar and waiting for it to be over. Another adult - a biker looking man, just got jumped by 20 or so children. Proudly, one boy, with a wide brimmed hat adorned by a single plumed feather and a toy monkey around his torso, holds up the poor man’s wallet. “Gents! Our hope is restored!” The other members of his crew cheer loudly, leaving the man they’d just mugged on the floor to abuse his poor aching debit card in exchange for tokens.

Outside the restaurant, I spotted Mayor Swann with his daughter in tow and a birthday present in her hand, then him taking one look at the chaos and deciding in that moment to turn around and leave. No doubt lying to his child that the restaurant had closed. Forever. No wait, take me with you, Mr. Mayor!

My train of thought was interrupted when one of the children, a boy with his hair pulled back into a ponytail asks me, “Excuse me sir, when is the show?”

Another chimes in, this one must be the birthday boy, Jack. I’d never seen a kid look this smug my entire life, “Oi, we’ve invoked the right of Parlay, we demand to see Charles Entertainment Cheese.”

I stuttered for a brief moment to regain my composure. What have I just gotten myself into? “It’s coming soon, kiddos!” Luckily, that was enough to suffice, as they’d rush back to the arcade.

Eventually the animatronic show from hell begins, the band begins playing kids songs. I don’t know what these kids were expecting, but it’s clear that the works of Scott Cawthon had done a number on their minds, as one of the children in attendance - probably the one with the slicked back ponytail, begins freaking out. One of my coworkers has to swoop in to make the kid happy. Others that were paying attention kept asking, “Where’s Freddy Fazbear?” The kids are now chanting, “Freddy! Freddy! Freddy!” I’m surprised with the pirate theme they’re not clamoring for Foxy. One chubby kid, miraculously gets up to the Chuck E animatronic, begins shaking him whilst interrogating him on the whereabouts of Freddy and his gang. He’s shaken the robot enough times where it’s god damn head FALLS OFF. Screaming ensues. I’m amazed this kid didn’t put Chuck E”s head on a pike a la Lord of the Flies, though even then I’m sure half of them will need therapy after seeing their fellow pirate brethren decapitate their beloved, cheese eating deity.

While most of the party was distracted, two of them have managed to SNEAK INTO THE KITCHEN and are stealing toppings off the pizzas. Not off the prep stations, but straight off the pizzas, I’m pretty sure half of them don’t even wash their hands. We had to remake them because we didn’t want the health department on our asses.

One of them managed to steal a whole pizza for himself and scarf it down near the ballpit. I think it was one with the wide-brimmed hat.

The birthday boy was easily the worst of the bunch; within two hours, he’d managed to hop behind the prize counter while the guy working there escaped for a bathroom break, took every miniature tote bag off the rack and used them to stuff as much prizes as he could carry. His little arms made him look like a coat rack as he waddled out from behind the corner with his treasure.

And I’ll bet you’re wondering, where was I in the chaos? Being tormented by a duo, the kid who decapitated Chuck E and another who wore an eyepatch, asking me question after question. You know, things a kid would ask like, “Whatcha doing?” Or, “What’s the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?” Actually, the one with the eyepatch kept throwing those curve balls and it made me wonder what this kid was doing in his spare time.

Then the dinner bell rang, or rather, the rockstar parent called, “Pizza’s ready!” Finally, a moment of calm as slices are distributed amongst the group. But all hell breaks loose when the sodas are passed around. Oh god no, god please no, literally give them anything but soda. It’s too late now, that bastard knew what he was doing. It was like watching the fireworks at a Fourth of July celebration, as these kids practically exploded with sugar-induced adrenaline pumping through their little bodies.

Then the final blow: the cake. Ah yes, what a cake, I remember it fondly. No expense was spared for this occasion, when most parents provided a sheet cake from their local grocery store, rockstar here provided an elaborate cake worthy of 40 or so screaming children. A treasure chest; with chocolate gold coins, the strings of pearls made from modeling chocolate and candied necklaces, precious gems made from rock candy for that nice pop of color, and a delicate map made from marzipan that read, “Happy Birthday Captain Sparrow!”

It was carried in by a man who looked to be about my age, his hair pulled back into a ponytail like that kid from earlier - though I assure you, his was messier than in comparison to the kid, and he’d be wearing a dark blue shirt. Ah, now I recognize him; James Norrington, he was an elementary school teacher but he also worked the Tortuga Arcade during Winter Break. Really nice guy. A moment of silence fell once the door opened, all the children nearly gave themselves whiplash to stare at the newcomer.

“Oh look,” they’d think, “another adult we’ve yet to wear out.”

I’m just mentally screaming at this man, “Run! Run while you still can!!”

It was in vain, as the screech of, “Cake!” Coming from the birthday boy signaled the others to descend upon him. The man struggled to keep the cake out of their grasps, holding it high up and calling, “Mr. Teague, would you please provide me with some assistance? And where is Mr. Teach?”

Mugged and still laying facedown on the floor. That cannot look comfortable, but I suppose playing dead was miles better than the alternative, which was staying awake for this mess.

Finally, rockstar does something, casually getting past the crowd to retrieve the cake with a simple, “Thanks.” Manager asks me to do a headcount, make sure the kids were all still here and not somehow sneaking out into the rooftop or something.

37…38…39…oh shit. Where’s the birthday boy?

I couldn’t just make my panic known, so I started poking around the restaurant for him, I’d even asked one of my coworkers to check the roof for the birthday boy. And Mr. Teague was beginning to notice. God, I didn’t want to tell him I’d somehow lost his kid. But, then I realized that, he wasn’t looking at me; he was looking straight at the play area. And as luck would have it, there in the ball pit, I see the kid’s head poking out with a smug grin. Thank god.

After cake and presents was when the real damage kicks in, chairs are now flying, one of our front windows gets smashed into a million pieces, and now requires repairs. I don’t even know HOW they can even find the strength to accomplish that, so I’m mildly impressed. The manager’s office is then stormed and papers flew everywhere and into the party area. Of course Mr. Sparrow nor Mr. Teach don’t end up paying for damages, not like we’d want their money anyway. We want compensation for the emotional damage we had to endure that evening. Norrington fled not long after the cake was delivered, not like I’d blame him.

Eventually, parents and guardians come around to come collect their kids, even Norrington shows back up to pick up one of them, the one with the ponytail apparently. At least Teague tips us generously, seems he knows the sort of chaos this kid and his posse can unleash.

It’s 11, closing time. During cleanup, we take survey of the property damage that had occurred in the wake of that birthday party; your usual stained carpet, but also now featuring turned over furniture, ruined play area, arcade games now so stuck, I’m pretty sure they’d have to call someone in to clean them, raided prize corner, damaged animatronics. It was as if a bomb had gone off in here. It was over, the siege of port Chuck-E-Cheese had leaned in favor of Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of miscreants.

I left, but never came back for my next shift. I spend Sunday and Monday job hunting, and luckily I was able to land a job with the East India Trading Company.

I’d thought I’d seen the last of Jack, and his vast pirate army. Life as an underling in EITC was as mundane yet stable as one could imagine an office job to be, money flow is steady with a 9 to 5, paid vacation time, they’ve even got dental. I’d moved out of my crappy apartment and moved somewhere I could enjoy the peace and quiet; I vowed to never have kids. Life was good.

Until one Monday, I saw Jack again, he was pestering my boss, Beckett, asking him question after question. One of his little friends is aggressively flossing in another room, Jack has now gotten ahold of one of the company computers. Somehow he unleashes a virus. All the of work I’d poured in the past few hours gone the drain and now I’m openly mocked by a video of badly played recorder music. The bass is boosting hard, my ears are bleeding.

I’m going to put in my request for a transfer tomorrow.

#harbor town au #all credit towards this AU goes to the original artist #Short fanfictions #Nebs narrations

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the-last-dillpickle · 1 year

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DS9 prompts under the cut from DS9agogo’s 2010 Station Log Ficathon on LJ

GEN

- Ezri Dax, prompt: sliding across a bridge of sighs

- Kira Nerys and Mora Pol: After Odo has returned to the Great Link

- Jadzia Dax, where the sky is the limit

- Quark and or Odo: not as adversarial as it may at first appear

- Kira Nerys, Julian Bashir, in the line of fire

- Nog and Jake Sisko, friends will be friends

- Three generations of Siskos. If you can work in Benjamin's sister and her family, as well as Benjamin and Kasidy's child, so much the better :D

- The reconstruction of Bajor after the Occupation and/or the reconstruction of Cardassia after the Dominion War.

- After curing a plague on Bajor, Julian is proclaimed by most Bajorans to be 'sent by the Prophets'. Then Julian has visions much like Sisko and he starts to question his sanity. Kira and Sisko play a big part, anyone else is up to you. You can pair him with whoever or no pairing at all.

- "Where's Garak?" : Insert Garak into an episode or a scene where he doesn't appear, but should have

- Dear diary, Judy Blume style.

- Kai Winn's brush with atheism.

- Keiko's experiences adjusting to the station. Make her likeable!

- Remember the "puppy" from episode 1x17: The forsaken? Considering that the whole computer system was fried at least once, whatever happened to the puppy?

- Miles O'Brien, Keiko O'Brien, and Kira Nerys. (Slashes optional.) Experiments in marriage, partnership, and parenting: sometimes painful, sometimes joyful, always difficult.

- Kai Opaka and Vedek Winn. "One must never look into the eyes of one's own gods."

- Five things Tora Ziyal didn't live to do, and one she managed just in time.

- Sisko, Jake and a cooking lesson. I'd love to see fic that highlights that awesome father-son dynamic they have, whether it turns out comical or poignant or serious or whatever. HET - Sisko/Jadzia Dax. Things happen between them. Sisko is freaked. Dax is... not so much.

- Odo/Kira, if we'd had a moment to ourselves/We'd be unstoppable

- Odo/Kira Reuniting after Odo fulfills his obligations to the Great Link/heals the founders. Bittersweet or happily ever after, whatever feels right.

- Odo/Kira. Quark POV that gives away how genuinely fond he is of both of them, and of course how happy for them if it's after they get their shit together.

- Jake/Ziyal - Will you marry me?

- O'Brien/Station Computer - "Computer... you and I need to have a little talk." (Mod put this in het because the computer has a female voice.)

- Worf/Jadzia, lighten up and you might just learn a thing or two

- Worf/Jadzia a new skill, preferably something Dax has never encountered before but has to do with Klingons. This is in exchange for Jadzia teaching him something particularly Klingon. SLASH - Weyoun/Dukat either non-con or semi-con. I rather like the idea or Dukat or Damar getting punished by Weyoun.

- Garak/Dukat Anything absolutely smutty would be amazing. No fluff or cute stuff.

- Odo/Quark I can't help myself

- Julian Bashir/Miles O'Brien; prompt: boys and their toys (can be either gen or slash)

- Garak/Bashir. An AU where Bashir is kicked out of Starfleet because of his genetic enhancements, but he is able to find a way to stay on Bajor/on the station, and this sets Garak and Bashir's relationship on a different course than in canon.

- Garak/Bashir. An AU where Bashir is kicked out of the Federation because of his genetic enhancements, and becomes an exile too.

- Garak/Bashir. An AU where they’re all on a starship and Cardassia is a new-ish member of the Federation. Garak is one of the first Cardassians to serve in Starfleet.

- Garak/Bashir. An AU where Bashir and Garak meet when they’re younger, that has a happy ending, please!

- Garak/Bashir, ensemble cast, any other pairings. A complete fantasy/magic/medieval AU. Instead of planets, Cardassia/Earth/Bajor/etc are countries, etc.

- Garak/Bashir, ensemble cast, any other pairings. An AU in which Cardassia didn’t just take over Bajor, but the entire Federation. The characters are all part of ~the resistance~, and Garak has trouble figuring out where his loyalties are. Happy (or at least bittersweet!) ending, please- no Garak betraying them all, etc.

- Garak/Bashir. Post series. Garak and Bashir are somehow reunited, but not using the trope of Bashir going to Cardassia to help with the recovery.

- Garak/Bashir. Post series. Garak and Bashir keep in contact throughout the years, while Garak helps rebuild Cardassia and Bashir is still working in Starfleet. Of course, eventually they meet again, though!

- Garak/Bashir, ensemble cast, any other pairings. Post-series. All the main "characters" are having a "reunion", but no one actually thought that Garak would show up- including Julian Bashir, who hasn't seen Garak in years.

- Garak/Bashir, ensemble cast, any other pairings. A disaster occures in the Federation and the characters are all drawn back together.

- Garak/Bashir. Garak knew about Bashir’s genetic enhancements before everyone else… but not because he “figured it out”. For some reason Bashir told him, or when they were in trouble/danger it came out.

- Garak/Bashir. Something with Bashir actually using his genetic enhancements and saving the day/etc.

- Garak/Bashir. Bashir rescues Garak. Featuring Bashir being generally awesome.

- Garak/Bashir. Somehow Bashir unexpectedly ends up with a baby/kid, courtesy of an old girlfriend, and of course he has absolutely no clue what to do. But to the surprise of everyone, Garak is surprisingly useful and enthusiastic- children are very important to Cardassians, after all. Even more surprising is the route their relationship takes as taking care of the he kid brings them closer.

- Garak/Bashir. As a reverse of the norm, Bashir muses on Garak's beauty/attractiveness.

- Garak/Bashir. Bashir knows that Garak likes to get off the station, but rarely gets to, so he invites Garak along on his vacation, not knowing that this vacation will change everything between them.

- Sisko/Bashir, something that deals with how impossibly young Julian seems at the beginning of the series and how much he changes over time.

- Sisko/Bashir - they shared an unpleasant time during the days leading up to the Bell Riots. Maybe it brings them closer once they're finally back to their own time?

- Sisko/Bashir. Kasidy ends things with Benjamin, because she's figured out that he's in love with someone else. Ironically, Benjamin hasn't worked this out for himself yet.

- Jake/Bashir during "Fascination" (Season 3). When Lwaxana's aboard the station, inadvertently messing with people's heads, it's not Kira that Jake fixates on.

- Jake/Bashir - Jake Sisko's got his heart set on Julian. Julian doesn't quite know what to do with that.

- Jake/Bashir, Sisko finds out (on purpose or otherwise).

- Dukat/Garak. They get into a fight after Garak catches Dukat in his quarters. When fighting, they begin to have rough, passionate anal and oral sex while spewing insults at each other. Dukat walks out grinning with the taste of Garak still in his mouth.

- Dukat/Sisko. Alternate scenario in which some hot-lovin' happens in the cave they're stranded in during "Waltz." THREESOMES/MULTIPLE PAIRINGS - Something canon compliant Bashir/Ezri/Garak as an actual threesome.

- Garak/Bashir, Kira/Odo. Garak, Bashir, Odo, and Kira all have to work together to Save The Day. I will have your babies if both couples get together during the story- developing relationships ftw.

- Garak/Bashir/O’Brien. Post series. Bashir and O’Brien are in a relationship, but Bashir has kept in contact/comes back into contact with Garak, and something happens to cause him to realize that he loves Garak too.

- Garak/OFC, Garak/Bashir. To rebuild & repopulate Cardassia, Garak gets married. Bashir realizes that he's lost his chance. Bashir visits Cardassia over the years, and is like, "Uncle Julian" to the kids. But Garak and Bashir do get together in the end!

- Garak/Bashir/Mirror!Garak. Garak is on Cardassia (for any reason). Feeling horny, Bashir decides to travel to the AU to try to seduce AU!Garak. When Garak returns from Cardassia early to find Bashir gone without explanation, he knows exactly where he's gone. Garak goes to the AU in a fit of jealously but ends up joining in on the fun.

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stormclawponyrises · 6 months

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My partner and I finished Star Trek: Picard Season 3 last night.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were definitely things I felt less happy with, and I've usually got some kind of gripe with the writing in the modern shows (even if it's more well done than the old shows, I'm just not a fan of the action focus of modern television I suppose?)

I probably annoyed bf constantly trying to explain context to him which he probably didn't care much about. He's only seen the modern shows and TOS so I kept getting worried that all the references and callbacks would fly over his head, but he probably didn't care much about them.

Spoilers under the cut for the entirety of Season 3 (and a bit of the previous seasons).

I felt weird at first about Jack Crusher being Picard's son. That man doesn't fuck, I'm sorry. Even if the Risa episodes of TNG imply that he does I just can't accept it. His whole arc in season 2 kind of touched on that after all. Also Jack's accent set me off but I think it was just a bit more exaggerated than I expected? To my Australian ears at least. It got pretty sad to think that Beverly could end up losing both of her sons as well as her former husband, with Jack Crusher Sr. having died, Wesley being a traveller and Jack Crusher Jr. being chased by Changelings and then becoming a Borg drone. I do think referring to the old relationship that Beverly and Picard had in TNG was nice, though my partner did point out that it made Laris and Picard getting together at the end of season 2 a bit weird, with Laris just not being referenced again once all the season 3 stuff started.

It was nice seeing the old TNG bridge crew all together again, and exciting to see them return to the bridge of the Enterprise-D. I never watched Nemesis, but I think the Borg Queen was the one from that movie? Which is awesome she looked so fucked up!!!

I don't like how the whole Changeling invasion plotline quickly turned into a Borg one. I can understand them using the Borg to fuck up humanity out of revenge, but it felt pushed aside so heavily. They should have had more of an influence over the ending of the season, instead of disappearing after Vadic died. Who was FACE? Like, was that the queen? How is she using the Great Link? Has the Great Link been assimilated in some way? Some questions going unanswered is fine, but it didn't feel particularly fulfilling in that way. I really thought this season would basically be The Dominion War II.

Worf flirting with Troi in front of Riker was hilarious and uncomfortable, and a good call back to their relationships at the end of TNG, but dude. Riker is right there

I feel bad that Data came back again, even if it was mostly for the whole bridge crew coming back. He finally got the death he wanted in season 1 and even if they explained it I still feel like it was unfair to have him come back.

Seven was characterized well. She's always been a very well put together character, even in the Voyager days and I've enjoyed watching her throughout all seasons of Picard.

Captain Shaw was a fascinating character. He was a total dickhead when they introduced him, but he was written in a way that by the end of the season I really understood him. I do think he deserved better (not storywise, I think killing him made sense, but in-universe). He was just a very scared man and that fear was reflected onto all the crew beneath him. It was wrong of him to use Seven's old name, but he did it because it was by-the-book and when you're scared shitless all the time, by-the-book is the way to go (speaking from experience).

#we're thinking of watching the best of both worlds TNG two parter next #then watching DS9 #star trek #star trek picard #just a chat

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hircines-lapdog · 10 months

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🍀 Hey!! I’m Bith and this is my sideblog for Elder Scrolls content. I write and will occasionally post it to this blog under the #my writing tag. Most of my focus is on Skyrim but I also enjoy Morrowind and Oblivion!

🍀 DNI: Bigots of any kind. You’re not welcome here and I will block you.

🍀 Asks are open! I love talking about TES and OCs so feel free to ask or tag me in stuff

OC masterlist under the cut. This list is subject to change.

Picrews used: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/254030

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1564386

All characters’ ages are how old they are at the start of their respective game events.

NAME: Dendras Elmhollow

GENDER/SEXUALITY: Genderqueer (They/Them), Asexual Demiromantic

RACE: Bosmer

OCCUPATION: Assassin, Follower of Hircine

BIRTHDAY/SIGN: 20th of Sun’s Dawn (The Lover), 4E 003 (198 yrs old)

Main Companion(s): Inigo, Khash, Auri

Born in Valenwood just after the Oblivion Crisis, Dendras grew up in the capital city of Silvenar. Their childhood was relatively peaceful as they studied the teachings of Y’ffre alongside their sister and heard only whispers amongst the adults of events happening elsewhere such as the eruption of Red Mountain and the Thalmor’s rise to power in the Summerset Isles. As they grew older, and the Thalmor eventually began their takeover of Valenwood, Dendras found themselves taking up arms more and more in an attempt to fight back. For the sake of their family, they eventually had to back down from resisting the Thalmor incursion, and returned to a somewhat normal life for a quite few years.

Dendras was forced to leave Valenwood after an unfortunate hunting trip resulted in them contracting lycanthropy. After drifting around Cyrodiil for awhile, they found themselves once more fighting a losing battle against the Thalmor. In a desperate act of survival, both to avoid death at the hands of the Aldmeri Dominion and Y’ffre’s wrath at shifting their form, they joined the Dark Brotherhood. Though they did not trust the organization, they found some safety and stability in the worship of Sithis.

As the Dark Brotherhood began to crumble across Cyrodiil, Dendras found themselves traveling the region working more as a freelance assassin. Money was tough to come by, but someone always wanted someone else dead. It was in this time that they first met Inigo. They took a liking to him, as he seemed to be able to talk for the both of them and asked few questions about Dendras’s past. After his inevitable betrayal over the bounty money, Dendras found themselves wandering the southern half of Skyrim, where they would eventually find Khash and take her under their wing.

TRIVIA:

Dendras knows the history of Valenwood well, and never had any love for the Empire. However, as the war against the Thalmor raged on, they took a “The enemy of my enemy” approach

While they were no fan of Hircine as first, Dendras eventually grew to accept their situation, and became a follower of the god of the hunt

Though it may seem heretical, Dendras does still worship Y’ffre to an extent. They still follow the Green Pact and occasionally leave offerings. Despite the punishment awaiting them back home, they still find some comfort in her worship.

Their worship of Sithis eventually faded to a simple respect for him. While they still take jobs in his name, they do not view themselves as a follower by the events of Skyrim

When Inigo attempted to murder them, they shifted out of pure survival instinct. This resulted in their ‘wandering’ to be more of a months long rampage across southern Skyrim until they eventually shifted back. Angi found them unconscious in the mountains and helped them get back on their feet.

NAME: Gar Uzgal

GENDER/SEXUALITY: Cisgender Woman (She/Her), Pansexual Aromantic

RACE: Orsimer

OCCUPATION: Dragonborn, Unwilling Champion of Hermeus Mora

BIRTHDAY/SIGN: 9th of First Seed (The Lord), 4E 154 (47 yrs old)

Main Companion(s): Lucien, Taliesin, Gore

Born of the Osh Ornim in the Dragontail Mountains, Gar spent much of her childhood in Fourth Orsinium. She lived a rather isolated life, as he parents were miners who never ventured far beyond Orsinium’s walls. As she entered her teenage years, she began to travel the mountains and their surrounding provinces. This is how she found herself in Dragonstar, where she joined the Fighters Guild in the hopes of taking on mercenary work that would have her traveling all over Tamriel. Eventually, she found herself in the Reach of Skyrim, where she had been hired in an attempt to push back the Reachmen who had taken control. She instead found herself sympathetic to their cause, as she recognized their struggle as similar to that of the Orcs’ constant attempts to establish Orsinium only for it to be sacked. By the time of the Markarth Incident, Gar found herself jaded both with the Empire for refusing to acknowledge the Reachmen’s kingdom and with Ulfric for ousting the people from their own home. Gar was forced to flee southeast where she would eventually be captured after attempting to join the ambush on Ulfric and being mistaken for the enemy.

TRIVIA:

When she was young, Gar had intentions of joining the Imperial Legion. Those intentions died rather quickly once the Great War broke out.

Due to growing up in the mountains, Gar has agoraphobia and becomes jumpy whenever she is in wide open areas.

Though her preferred weapon is a greataxe, Gar has made a name for herself by using her fists when in tight situations.

While she rarely admits it, Gar is quite attached to Wynellon and views him as a close friend.

Gar knows sign language and regularly uses it, whether it be that she is stealthinf or that she has gone nonverbal

While she was in Dragonstar, she often got remarks on the fact that her birthday was on the Day of Waiting. Some amongst the Fighters Guild jokingly gave her the nickname Dragon due to this fact.

NAME: Wynellon Gaerlaine

GENDER/SEXUALITY: Demiboy (He/They), Biromantic Greysexual

RACE: Breton

OCCUPATION: Vigilant of Stendarr

BIRTHDAY/SIGN: 18th of Midyear (The Steed), 4E 175 (26 yrs old)

Main Companion(s): Remiel, Xelzaz, Serana

Born into a minor noble family in the city of Wayrest, Wynellon spent much of his childhood living lavishly. His mother unfortunately passed in childbirth, and so his father doted on him, buying him many gifts and rarely disciplining Wynn. This caused him to have a rather entitled attitude. That is, until the Invasion of Wayrest, where Wynnellon, who was just thirteen, and his father fled from the Corsairs to the city of Evermore. It was here that Wynn became interested in the pursuit of knighthood. He often would watch as traveling warriors came and went from the city, telling their tales of adventure. As he grew older, he took on jobs as a squire, none of which lasted long. Wynellon’s upbringing and attitude made him unpopular, as did his avoidance of any real work. Often he would make others shine armor and sharpen weapons and later take credit for their work. Eventually word spread, and not be would take him on as their apprentice. As he reached his twenties, he met a pair of Vigilants of Stendarr. The two told Wynellon of their exploits hunting vampires and deadra worshippers, and, most importantly, that they rarely worked alone. Wynellon jumped at the chance for glory. After all, he could leave the actual monster hunting to his partner. Thing did not work out that way though, as for the next four years Wynellon’s cowardice was revealed and every one of his partners would either be killed or request a transfer to save their own skin. Eventually Wynellon would be sent to Stendarr’s Beacon, where the events of VIGILANT would kick off. Two years later Wynn would be sent to the Dawnguard.

TRIVIA:

Wynellon was fairly oblivious to the fact they were unpopular as a child. Many just ‘befriended’ the child in an attempt to gain status for themselves

Wynellon’s father was quite relieved when his child began work as a squire, as he was quickly running low on the funds they fled Wayrest with. He hid this well, as to this day Wynellon still believes that the Gaerlaines are fairly well off.

Out of selfishness or stupidity, Wynn would often carry much of the healing supplies on monster hunts. This proved a significant problem when he would flee from fights, leaving his partners behind.

Despite the events of VIGILANT making him a significantly better fighter, Wynn still often resorts to running away when he can. Fighting fair will never be their strong suit.

Though she sometimes scares him, Wynellon is extremely close to Gar. He enjoys being around someone who gladly does all the fighting for him.

NAME: K’harr-do Mahrani

GENDER/SEXUALITY: Trans man (He/Him), Aroace

RACE: Khajiit (Suthay-raht)

OCCUPATION: Nerevarine, Monk of the Goutfang

BIRTHDAY/SIGN: 6th of Morning Star (The Ritual), 3E 400 (27 yrs old)

Born just after the Five Year War between Valenwood and Elsweyr, K’harr-do was left at the Temple of Two-Moons Dance by his parents. Their identities were never discovered, and he was raised by the temple monks who taught him all manner of martial combat. K’harr-do took to the training well, and would eventually become a monk of the Goutfang where he would earn the honorific -do in his name. K’harr-do spent much of his early adulthood doing various jobs for the citizens of Dune, be it guardian moon sugar fields or fending off trolls and werelions of the surrounding hills. His devotion to the temple and city would eventually get him noticed, as he was selected to perform a mission from the Mane themself. K’harr-do was sent to infiltrate Cydrodiil and investigate the aftermaths of the Warp in the West, along with any plans the Empire may have been making in response. Unfortunately, K’harr-do was arrested after being caught attempting to break into a guard captain’s office and was jailed for a year before being sent by ship to Morrowind.

TRIVIA:

K’harr-do made several attempts to leave Morrowind and return home during the events of the game, but was somehow always stopped by freak occurrences

Though he joined both the Thieves Guild and Fighters Guild in a desperate attempt to make money, K’harr-do eventually left the Fighter’s Guild after learning of their involvement with the Camonna Tong.

K’harr-do never had a knack for magic, and so he struggled to maneuver many of the wizard towers. The levitation potions made him nauseous.

After the events of Tribunal, K’harr-do returned to Elsweyr, where he would keep a low profile and take part in major events from the shadows. Eventually he would take to traveling the rest of Tamriel.

NAME: Valya Korian

GENDER/SEXUALITY: Trans Woman (She/Her), Lesbian

RACE: Altmer

OCCUPATION: Hero of Kvatch, Champion of the Nine, Sheogorath

BIRTHDAY/SIGN: 27th of Hearthfire (The Serpent), 3E 379 (54 yrs old)

Born in the years just before the Imperial Simulacrum, Valya started out living a modest life. Her parents were hunters, who lived in a cabin in the woods south of Cheydinhal. Trips into the city were rare, as they were largely self sufficient, but Valya enjoyed the few trips the family would make every year. The bright colors of the market excited her, and she found herself striking a conversation with many a merchant. Those rare trips grew rarer, however, with the Imperial Simulacrum. The poor leadership of Jagar Tharn resulted in unchecked taxes and unorganized guards rarely patrolling, leaving thieves free to prowl along the roads. It was a gang of these thieves that unfortunately ended the lives of both of her parents. With little in their possession beyond what they could scavenge from the woods, Valya’s parents could not pay the toll demanded of them. In retaliation, the gang killed them as Valya hid in the crawl space beneath the cabin. At the age of fifteen, she was left to fend for herself using the skills her parents taught her. Though she became quite skilled with a bow, Valya never sought to avenge her parents. Taking another person’s life was something she didn’t think she could do. She instead carried on living the same life her parents did, hunting and gathering and traveling into the city to sell pelts and potions she learned to brew. It was on one of these trips where she was arrested, with the guards claiming she was a poacher. Eventually she would be sent to the Imperial City, where she would be jailed until the arrival of the Emperor.

TRIVIA:

Though she is aware she has relatives in Summerset, the only family Valya knew was her parents and an aunt that came to visit just after the Warp in the West.

Though she never got his name, Valya very briefly met K’harr-do when he requested to trade for supplies after stumbling upon Valya’s cabin.

Much of Valya’s means of potion making we’re self taught, and the alchemists of the Imperial City were appalled when she first described her process.

With the guilt of Martin’s sacrifice laying heavy on her shoulders, Valya sought out many means of making herself useful before she eventually grew extremely disillusioned and mantled Sheogorath.

#intro post

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grayintogreen · 2 years

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Critical Role Fanfic Masterpost December 1st- December 31st

aka THE SPECIAL CRITMAS EDITION. This was the stuff I started in November for Critmas and can finally reveal. I wrote a gift for every single participant because... I don’t know. I wanted to be nice since it was my first time participating??? I’ll never do it again because it was very difficult, but it was still fun.

from planting to harvest, from flower to frost. (G). 1618 words. Caduceus reflects at a winter solstice party.

it’s all swords and spades so cut me slowly. (T). 1071 words. Zahra/Kash. Zahra saves Kash, and the rest is history.

‘cause you’re the only one i wanna fool (T). 1608 words. Molly/Caleb. Four times Molly tried to get Caleb to notice him and one time he realized why it wasn’t working.

tested and tried in the spray and the thunder (T.) 1089 words. Kingsley is, above all things, a creature of midpoints.

ours is a song of cycles and seasons. (T) 1328 words. Dorian/Dariax. D&D share a moment before Dorian leaves for Zephrah.

born for the scythe and the thorn. (T) 840 words. When Jayne Merriweather was four years old, she witnessed her first sacrifice.

do not hunter, do not need (they grow strong on human greed). (T.) 1352 words. AU. Lucien as a Champion of Vecna.

there are heroes on both sides of a war. (T) 2231 words. AU. Expositor Beauregard seeks out a secret liaison within the Volstrucker.

you’re gonna need a lot of luck if you’re ever gonna catch the fox. (T) 2226 words. AU. Vax/Keyleth. Vaxleth Modern meet-cute at a farmer’s market.

give me a man ripe for a breakdown (and i’ll end the world for you). (T) 445 words. Jayne Merriweather and the Creation of the Angel of Irons.

you never get replacements for a broken heart. (G) 1643 words. Jester and Caduceus share an emotionally vulnerable moment in the Xhorhaus.

cups and hearts and we’re still holy (G) 1740 words. Caduceus and Calliope, some sibling bonding, and some wisdom.

i thought the wood and the world were connected. (G) 1104 words. Caduceus copes after the burning of the arboretum.

once you see the midway, you’ve already lost. (T) 1972 words. Jester/Artagan. Artagan, Jester, a Feywild carnival, and lots of feelings.

life is not a game that has a clear and present winner. (T) 2141 words. Molly realizes there are occasionally consequences to his actions.

cut my teeth on the bread of pure temptation. (T) 2017 words. The last temptation of Essek Thelyss in Eiselcross.

remember me as something bigger than i was. (T) 1882 words. Yasha tells Kingsley about Molly precisely how Molly would tell it.

we don’t need questions, so it’s better not to ask. (T) 812 words. Ashton and FCG discuss faith.

where the waves hold cool dominion, sand and stone can catch no claim. (T) 9037 words. AU. Molly meets Lucien’s twin brother when the Nein arrive on Darktow.

don’t be chosen- make the choice to choose. (T) 1954 words. Kingsley gets life advice from Orly.

these are the threads we weave on the way. (T) 1985 words. Ashton and Laudna pretend to date and cause chaos.

all actions and reactions. (T) 2879 words. Jester/Astrid. AU. Pre-law student Astrid Beck is having a bad time. A tale of school stress, loneliness, burn-out, meet-cutes, and scones.

maybe it’s madness, but what’s wrong with madness. (T) 2048 words. After the incident in the Ass Sailor, Jayne makes a decision.

we are what we are, and we will never mourn. (T) 4295 words. Evil AU. The Dark Nein gather together to stop one of their own.

give me black ravens to kindle the sun. (G) 1064 words. Kiri grows up.

all our debts have been paid and we’ve counted the cost. (T) 1745 words. Viliya sends Keyleth to the Savalirwood to help, and a friendship blossoms.

#critical role fanfic #critical role fic #critical role #fanfic masterpost #widomauk #jestrid #jayne merriweather #caduceus clay #jester lavorre #jester/artagan #essek thelyss #laudna #ashton greymoore #the mighty nein #vaxleth #kingsley tealeaf #mollymauk tealeaf #fanfic masterlist

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kokomiisawarcriminal · 2 years

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Hello my beloved buddy completely platonic friend homie pal, could you please write one of your silly little analyses on our favourite scrunkly little war criminal, Childe’s, family life and vision story (or lack thereof)? 🥺🥺👉👈

Side note, before we begin, there’s not much canon content covering a specific timeline for Childe, so a lot of the age stuff is just my speculation.

OH BOY DO I HAVE A LOT TO SAY. Okay so people are like "All of Childe's problems start with the abyss", "The abyss is what fucked him up", "he ran off to the abyss because he was bored", AND THIS IS ALL TRUE. At least, to an extent. You see, Childe is, presumably, the fourth of seven kids. Now, even as the second of three kids, parents would pay less attention to that middle child, right? So what makes people think Childe's problems didn't start with his family? Actually, I did a little timeline on this, and if we were to assume as of the events of Genshin impact, Childe Ajax Tartaglia was 21 years old, he would have run away the year Teucer was born (assuming Teucer is about seven). Coincidence? I think not. You see, Childe was around ten when Tonia was born and likely ended up having to take care of her once Anthon was born. That would be incredibly exhausting for a kid.Teucer being born would make things even more stressful and, you know, push boy over the edge. Childe indulged in escapism a lot, as shown with the way he would imagine himself in his fathers' stories. He may have thought he could prove himself worthy of his parents attention by, y'know, becoming like the hero of the stories. Escaping and becoming something greater. And thus, bonk, abyss, no more life left in this poor fourteen year old kid.

Now onto the vision. There are four possibilities:

1) Before he ran away

2) Right before he fell into the abyss

3) After un-abyssing

4) As a Fatui recruit

Possibility 1: Say you're a kid who's been considering running away from home, following the footsteps of the hero your father told you about. You receive a vision, a blessing of a god seen as a sign you’re going in the right direction. That would be one hell of a final push.

Possibility 2: Celestia gives favors to the unfortunate and depending how you perceive Celestia, it could either be a beacon to guide him back under it's dominion, or protection from the dangers of the abyss.

Possibility 3: "Hey kid, did you just get severely traumatized, have to fight for three months of your life, and now feel more like a weapon than a human being? Here's some compensation in the form of a power trip.”

Possibility 4: Visions tend to guide people in the right direction. It could serve as a sign that Childe was on the right path, or a sign that his original hesitance to join the Fatui was correct.

#genshin #genshin impact #childe #tartagila #childe genshin impact #my boyfriend edited this for me #the childe analysis nobody deserved #I have so much to say about this wreck of a man #i should make more of these

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czechforrain · 4 years

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Critical Role Episode 103: Are the Mighty Nein Gutless Cowards? The differences between them and the more Brash Vox Machina.

So we have just came off another episode where the mighty nein spent a lot of time deliberating and possibly trying to delay their fight with Vokodo. Trying to stack the deck as much as possible and get 3 tribal guardians, a few werebears and even a lesser diety to fight alongside them while also finding out if there was any weaknesses or exploitable backsides to this supposed god.

And of course this leads to the same recurring topics being brought up again.

“The mighty nein are cowards.”

“ They try to run away from fights whenever possible.”

“They underestimate the hell out of themselves.”

“They draw out conflicts as long as possible going over several plans instead of making decisive moves and sticking towards them.”

And the common reasoning for their super cautious play-style is the death of Mollymauk Tealeaf. After Fjord, Jester and Yasha got captured by the Iron Shepards, the rest of the Mighty Nein set out to ambush the party and this ended in disaster. Matt gave them several hints that this battle would be a lot tougher than they first thought but everyone was 100% in on ambush and combined with some less than stellar tactical decisions and bad rolls, we had our first campaign death 26 Chapters into the campaign.

And then again in Episode 69 we had the Mighty Nein defeat Obann but after he died, the laughing hand did a number on everybody and fjord almost died after being grabbed by the laughing hand and everyone was beat to complete crap.

Now these factors absolutely play a part on team morale and it informs their decisions to be more careful but I’d argue the real difference between the campaign so far is stakes. More specifically the consequences of running and hiding vs standing and fighting.

THE STAKES

In comparison to Vox Machina, the mighty nein are less traditional heroes. Since the start of the campaign they balanced a decent relationship with the Authorities and Power structures with being involved in illegal practices such as helping the knights of requital to elevate one of their leaders to public office, working for a crime boss, providing Vigilante Justice and later stealing a boat and becoming pirates. Then after starting their quest to save Nott’s Husband they switched that balancing act to a more traditional play both sides mentality. The only difference of course being that there endgame was altruistic. They wanted to stop a war and they had to convince each side that they wanted something mutually beneficial while not appearing too friendly to the other side.

Compare this to Vox Machina’s Four Major Arcs

K’varn

Threat: The influence of an ancient artifact is starting to get closer to reaching the surface and if unchecked could lead to major problems for the city.

Personal: Beloved NPC Allura Vysoren’s friend (at the time) has basically been taken captive and they need to save her before she dies and she won’t go back until her dream quest journey is complete.

Briarwoods

Threat: The Briarwoods sent gaseous assassins to kill their hostage chauffeur revealing that their influence could still reach the M9. King Uriel had placed them under house arrest / city arrest while under investigation and their freedom was curtailed until they remove the charm on him by presumably killing the briarwoods.

Personal: The villains killed Percy’s family and took control of is city and home. Percy’s family is hinted to be alive in some manner and the reputation of the team is tarnished.

Chroma Conclave

Threat: Four Ancient Dragons controlling the continent of Tal’dorei and crushing anyone who would dare to threaten their newly seized dominion. Their current home is in the backyard of the leader of this conclave and their friend’s newly liberated hometown is also under threat.

Personal: The head of the villains killed Vax and Vex’s parents. Tiberious was later killed by the threat and the instrumental figure in crafting the alliance betrayed and caused the death of many of the Fire Ashari.

Vecna

Threat: An old mage from the days of the age of Arcanum is planning to complete a seeding ritual to make himself a god and take over the world.

Personal: Scanlan implores them that this is a very important quest and essentially returns for this reason. Lady Briarwood is serving the Whispered one which puts all of VM at unease. Vecna personally disintegrates one of Vox Machina.

These arcs, along with Keyleth’s overall quest being something that she had to face despite her constant self doubts and idealism anxiety, were stuff that Vox Machina couldn’t run from. They couldn’t ignore the issues because the threats were present, personal and there were negative consequences to ignoring the call to action.

Now compare that to the Mighty Nein who exist in a grayer campaign where the right path isn’t always easily identifiable and every action might have negative and positive consequences.

And paralleling their journey it’s easy to see the differences.

Episodes 1-33

Episode 1-4 had them as complete strangers mainly fighting Kyrie, the devil toad to prove their innocence after the circus gets blamed for the results of the show. Then they take a job to rescue missing townsfolk from gnollish marauders. Once they arrive in Zadash, they sympathize with the Knights of Requital who desperately wants to replace High-Richter Prucine with their leader Dolan and they offer to help for some coin but the entire plan was supposed to be a series of heists, only turning violent when said the High-Richter returned and Ulog in a moment of rage killed himself and her in one go.

They then end up whilst trying to get heat off themselves for the murder working for the gentleman who gives them tasks which he promises a healthy amount of coin for that mainly involve getting rid of monsters that are getting in the way of his business and also removing a gang / providing safe passage for one of his associates. Then unexpectedly Molly dies, and the group mentions running would be the smart thing to do but because Fjord, Jester and Yasha are still enslaved the group presses on with a strong resolve to save their missing comrades and avenge molly.

Episodes 34-49

After this they take a trip to Jester’s hometown and they help her mom out by attacking and mutilating a customer of hers who is acting abusive and controlling in regards to his companionship with her. They end up stealing a boat because they’re not sure how to explain what happened to the guards because they essentially got into a fight for no reason.

They sail around on fjord’s quest with Avantika for a while despite being quite unnerved by her fanaticism and her end goal to free Uka’Toa. They try to get dirt on her in which to frame her and succeed but her companion has locate object and just before the mighty nein are exposed Caleb recognizes this is a crucial moment and launches the first attack.

They do run against a young blue dragon but it’s a situation where they all don’t have any need to beat the blue dragon and are just trying to get out. But regardless this is the first winnable encounter they actually end up running from.

Now it’s not unusual up until this point but so far most of their encounters have been quests, stuff that they are paid to get rid of, they’re told about this thing and they kill it for the most part. They’ve felt pretty generally confident about whatever springs up

Episodes 50-87

Now once we get into the Angel’s Irons section things start to change. They go into Xhorhas close up the portal and retrieve evidence to earn a favor from the bright queen before that turns into them being closely watched heroes. They smartly negotiate a truce with the giants instead of wiping them out as they were originally paid to do and free their home of the demonic incursions. They fight Obann the first time and chase after him as they try to get to the bottom of this portals business and eventually things end in heartbreaking failure.

This kicks off to the Ancient White Dragon Iceflex heist. In this situation them not running would be catastrophic and it’s completely understandable that they ran. However this episode did get some criticism because they had a long repeating running gag with Yeti’s undercover business that led to about an hour of planning and really slowed down the pace.

Then a few episodes later they scry on yasha and receive knowledge that she is going to the Lotusden Greenwood to find the heart of the inevitable end. After a stroke of luck with charm person where they take the hand out of the situation they sneak up on Obann and fail at stopping him with Nott’s mage hand. This reluctance to fight here seemed a bit off to people because they already killed Obann but it’s understandable if they didnt want to engage directly though this could be classified as a winnable fight if they played their cards right. There was a hostile tree but incite greed kind of removed it from the fight vs Obann.

We then go to the Happy Fun Ball where a Golem like entity essentially hunts them through many rooms until they get to a point where they can no longer run from it and use machinery in the workshop to help destroy the thing. They probably could have kept running but the continuance of this threat eventually got them so annoyed that they chose to fight it then and there.

Then we get the whole round 3 vs Obann where to save Yasha, there is no way that they can run away from this fight. When the fight in the cathedral ended, even if the MIX felt fine leaving him alone, Nott got charmed into following them beneath to act as a vessel to break the seal. That and obviously they wanted to give this creep who messed with Yasha what was coming to him and prevent his shenanigans from returning to cause them trouble.

Episodes 88+

The cupcake moment was brilliant and an excellent subversion of a Hag Fight. Jester bet on herself and for the time being it worked out masterfully giving Veth a free out of her curse.

Similiarly with Caduceus’ Family they couldn’t just leave the gorgon roam free and not revive his family when they had the chance so they stood their ground and fought it.

Contrast this with the Dragon Turtle encounter where it’s a threat to them sure but they’re under no obligation to defeat it. Why fight for no good reason and risk death when you can just turn it into a sea slug and bounce?

Why fight Vokodo now when they can greater restoration each other and bring more allies and possibly even the traveler himself to their side?

The main reason why the Mighty Nein have constantly ran from encounters is that there hasn’t been enough reason for them to stay and fight. When there is a reason they are pretty cautious to not go in under-prepared and thus have moments where they over plan.

A possible problem that can come from this risk averse approach though just made itself clear in this last episode though. There ship was destroyed because they didn’t defeat the turtle or keep the ship hidden away or sailing where the turtle couldn’t reach it.

Because they didn’t go straight at Vokodo, either the first time or at a later day from the jump where they had a solid plan they are gonna be down spell slots if they do indeed end up not reaching caduceus in time. If they do end up reaching him in time that might mean they have to burn even more spells and will have to try again some other time. Despite there existing some benefits to playing it safe, there are also negatives and I feel like Matt has been stressing that more and more lately

Vox Machina couldn’t afford to rest when it came to the Briarwoods or the Chroma Conclave and I think if the MIX were in a similiar situation they would also step u to the plate it’s just so far they’ve been generally fine with avoiding dangerous situations when possible but it looks like things may be changing in the future. And when people they care about or places they care about are threatened by such outside sources I think we’ll see a lot of the same gumption from the MIX as we did with Vox Machina. It’s just based on there start as a secret grungy kind of illegal group that preferred to stay out of the limelight and experiences with rushing into trouble that it’s taken them longer then Vox Machina to get to this place.

TLDR; I wouldnt say they are cowards but their experiences when combined with lower stakes if they bail out of fights means that unless they feel like they cannot run away due to personal connections or a sense of duty, they probably will run if the threat looks somewhat fierce. That has helped them some risks but it also can possibly lead to more in the future. But I do feel that the story is moving towards a place where they are gonna have reasons to stand firm and fight and become heroes in their own special way.

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nonasuch · 4 years

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how I would fix star wars

inevitably, I have been thinking about How I Would Fix Star Wars, and make the parts of TRoS that displeased me into a more coherent story.

unfortunately, to do so will require the use of a time machine and veto power over the Lucasfilm Story Group. but IF I had those things here is what I would do:

I actually would not make a lot of changes to TFA. The main ones would be:

toning down Starkiller a bit as a threat, to a one-shot-per-planet deal but with a faster recharge time

slightly more stormtrooper stuff -- establish what Finn’s leaving behind and give Phasma a little depth.

if possible, put some kind of distinguishing visual marker on the trooper who marked Finn’s helmet.

a small background detail that isn't important yet: after the village massacre at the beginning, show stormtroopers collecting the bodies, trooper and villager alike. if possible, do this after every scene with a significant body count, throughout all three movies.

either give the knights of ren some actual stuff to do or cut them out entirely

show kyle chafing at snoke’s leash, maybe demanding to know more about some of snoke’s various Secret Projects, and being dismissed

give rey a little time to settle in with the Resistance before leaving to find Luke. we don't have to show it much, just make it clear that she’s making a home there and has bonded strongly with Leia

clean up some weird pacing and make the travel times/distances between planets more consistent

honestly other than that I wouldn't change much. I genuinely like TFA a lot and its strength is in how well it establishes the new characters.

for TLJ, some bigger changes but the bones of it I'd leave alone:

make it more clear why the tracking through hyperspace is a big deal and make the solution less of a fetch quest

I really like parts of the Canto Bight plot but I would probably swap it out for something with more stormtroopers in it -- let Finn interact with other troopers and remind us that there are individuals under those helmets

(a recurring joke: Finn can always tell troopers apart when they’re in uniform, and Rose can never figure out how. he thinks it’s because he was a trooper, but no, it's because he’s Force sensitive)

maybe get close to convincing some of them to desert, but either they fail last-minute or the deserters get caught and killed

Finn and Rose escape by the skin of their teeth thanks to a trooper who helps them, letting them know that even if they aren't brave enough to leave, there are plenty of troopers who aren't all-in with the First Order

again, after any major fight show the body cleanup. troopers carrying and stacking the dead in neat rows. start hinting that there is something more ominous here than fanatical tidiness

the Snoke stuff -- make it more obvious that Snoke is orchestrating stuff other than just running the First Order. maybe have Hux ask about the cargo ships they're sending to the Unknown Regions, and get shot down

make part of Kyle’s refusal to leave w Rey due to his burning need to Know All The Secrets, and conviction that as Supreme Leader he could really clean up the joint

once Snoke is dead, show Kyle getting access to his secret files/vaults; do NOT show what he finds there

I'd also want to clean up some wonky pacing and timeline/travel distance stuff, probably, but again I really like most of the movie so it’s nothing major

also keep Phasma around for the next movie! what the fuck, she rules, why would you not

okay so that brings us to TRoS, which… would need a pretty major overhaul.

First of all, we are working under the assumption that I have a time machine, so I made Carrie Fisher go to the cardiologist on the reg starting on day 1 of TFA rehearsals, and she’s fine and able to play the part as she was meant to.

with that in place, here’s how I would restructure:

we keep the Hammer Horror opening scene, but tweak the Emperor’s reveal. he’s much more corpse-y, without the tech umbilical keeping him alive -- a wraith animated by Dark power.

lots of grandiose claims about his unstoppable army and his impending dominion over the galaxy, ultimate triumph over the Light, etc

don't show the armada yet -- just kyle’s reaction, which is genuine fear.

news of the Emperor’s return isn't a broadcast, but a whisper. a transmission from a terrified First Order cargo pilot, who’s learned the truth about his one-way trip to the Unknown Regions. passed through the lower ranks by rumor and hearsay. eventually leaked to the Resistance by an unknown First Order source

I like the idea from the beginning of the movie, that Rey’s trying to speak to dead Jedi through the Force. but it’s not working, and she shares her frustration with Leia

make it clear that she and Leia have a deep, strong bond.

give Rey a Jedi artifact to hunt for. maybe there’s a place or a thing that she thinks will let her commune with fallen Jedi, and that’s what they go looking for.

that lets us keep some of the fetch quest, but the First Order’s not as actively on their tail.

they keep crossing paths anyway, and every time there are troopers doing something worse. maybe at one point they see troopers refuse to massacre civilians, and being killed themselves instead.

also they take Rose with them, because this movie needs more Rose

still have those post-battle scenes of body cleanup. now the cleanup crews are being killed once they’re done

this could be a good use for the Knights of Ren, actually. whatever is happening, they're part of it

Leia is more active throughout: she's on the move, recruiting allies for the Resistance, trying to figure out what's happening in the Unknown Regions

she has an actual scene with Lando, and he goes to Rey on her orders

tweak Poe’s backstory with Zorii. he worked with her while undercover for the Resistance, and left them in the lurch when the General needed him back.

he’d have recruited her, if there had been time, but now he's glad he didn't: most everyone Poe recruited to the Resistance died at Crait.

when Rey crosses paths with Kyle, he’s obviously rattled. he Knows Something that he won't or can't tell her and he's even more fatalistic than usual.

lean harder on the unease/whispers of dissent in the First Order as they're told to do more and more awful things. maybe a scene where someone -- not Hux -- disagrees openly, and Kyle says something that implies that he's getting orders from someone above his head.

this gives Hux a chance to snark at Kyle -- isn't he supposed to be the Supreme Leader, now? who's telling him what to do?

off Kyle’s reaction -- someone is telling him what to do, and he's terrified of them in a way he never was of Snoke.

(keep Hux-as-informant, that was done perfectly)

Rey’s artifact hunt still takes her to the Death Star wreckage, off rumors that Palpatine hoarded Jedi artifacts.

we meet Janna &co. Finn is so relieved and happy to meet other troopers who survived defecting. Janna tells him that there used to be more, that it used to be easier to get out, but more and more troopers have been killed in the attempt, without escaping.

by now it’s clear: there is Something Wrong With The First Order, beyond the obvious.

Rey fights Kyle in the Death Star ruins. Kyle tells her the Emperor wants to turn her to the Dark Side, that he can’t be refused or stopped, that even death won’t let her escape from him.

the fight plays out similarly, but Leia’s distraction doesn't kill her.

after Rey heals him, Kyle faces his fear and talks to Leia via Force bond. He tells her what the Emperor is planning, and it’s Ben Solo who leaves the ruins.

he can give Leia files or some other concrete proof via the same trick he uses with Rey in the movie, because that’s honestly very cool and it was used really well, so we’re keeping that

when Rey talks to Luke on Ach-To, he tells her that Palpatine used the Empire to sow chaos and fear, because that made the Dark Side stronger and gave him more power to tap into.

Luke says: “I think he would have been happy to burn the whole galaxy down, as long as he could rule over the ashes.”

Rey realizes she can’t hide from the Emperor, and knows he’ll never turn her to the Dark. she goes after him.

Leia sends the Resistance to back Rey up and sets out to rally the galaxy with Lando and Chewie

finally, it’s confrontation time! Rey faces Zombie Palpatine, and he reveals his plan in all its glory:

he’s built an army of the dead. ghost ships, crewed by all those bodies we've been watching the First Order collect for three movies.

some of them we recognize, if we’re paying attention: the trooper who marked Finn’s helmet, Lor San Tekka, Hux. there are long-dead clone troopers, little more than skeletons in filthy white armor. half-functional Separatist droids. Resistance fighters and First Order officers killed on Crait. countless civilians.

they’re all dead, all animated by Palaptine’s Dark Side powers, fueled by the strife and chaos he continues to sow throughout the galaxy

he doesn’t want to blow up any more planets. he wants to kill the shit out of absolutely everyone: the end of all life, and all Light. everyone in the galaxy a soldier in his undead army

he wants Rey to strike him down and become the new Sith Empress, ruling over an empire of ashes.

but we are discarding the granddaughter shit, because frankly it is not necessary and makes no sense.

he can just be like ‘ah yes, a feral desert child, powerful in the Force, with no inconvenient ties to hold her back. I've had good luck with those, mostly.’

now, a brief side trip: what is the First Order doing, in the midst of all this?

well, the rank and file are actually not super down with the ‘join the glorious army of the dead’ plan. half of them are in open revolt; some try to run, some seize control of their ships and decide to fight for the living

Phasma leads Team Living. yeah, I kept her for a reason! Gwendoline Christie is great at this!

Ben shows up as before, fights the Knights, does the cool lightsaber trick with Rey. he fights with Leia’s saber.

when Palpatine drains their life force to restore himself, though, something happens differently:

it’s actually Leia’s life force. she gives up her life for her son and for the daughter of her heart, willingly and gladly, knowing she has rallied the galaxy to their aid. she tells them, before she goes, that help is on the way

the giant fleet that arrives to fight Palpatine has First Order ships in it. finally, everyone is on the same side. Palpatine has been playing both sides against each other since Episode 1, but it won't work anymore, now that they know what he wants. the long con is over. they're united against him.

Rey beats Palpatine the same way, Ben revives her the same way, but Leia’s sacrifice means he has enough juice left to survive it.

idk about the kiss; I am Reylo-agnostic

but he’s going to try to shepherd the First Order into something that builds and protects, instead of destroying.

people like Janna and Finn, who got out, and Rose, who lived under their heel, will show him how.

Finn is Force sensitive, and so are some of the other former troopers.

some of them want to become Jedi

Finn wants to follow Leia’s path: do the training so he understands how to use the Force, but he's not meant to be a Jedi. he's going to be a leader -- not a general, hopefully, but a leader for peacetime.

so like. they won! hooray.

Rey takes the name Skywalker, still. Ben is fine with this: he’s a Solo-Organa.

there can be a touching Force ghost reconciliation, or not, whatever

so. that is how to fix star wars. you’re welcome. if anyone out there has a time machine and an in with Lucasfilm, hit me up I guess?

#star wars #spoilers #star wars spoilers #purely notional fiction #long post

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arlenianchronicles · 3 years

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Could you please tell us more about Wilwarindil? :DD💕💕💕 If you don't mind, I'd like to know more about him! 💓💓

Hahaa alrighty then, I’ll share what I’ve come up with so far! 💕 💕 💕 Be warned, it’s quite long because I ended up taking his story all the way to the Third Age lmaoo

To start with, Wilwarindil is a Maia of Vána and Nessa. I chose these two because of a conversation I had with some fellow Tolkien fans: Vána and Nessa are kinda boring in that they don’t do much in the Silmarillion. Vána grows flowers. Nessa runs. How exciting! loll sorry Vána and Nessa I still love you

First Age

So, initially as a joke, I handed Wilwarindil over to these two Valier XDD He spent the early days of the First Age running all over the place with Nessa and trying to catch up with her; he also had to water Vána’s gardens whenever the two Valier got together for some tea (or whatever the Valar do these days). You can probably imagine how bored he got after a while loll

Eventually, Wilwarindil decided that he’d had enough and, taking a leaf out of Melian’s book, left Valinor for Middle-earth. By this time, the Sun has already risen and the Edain are settled in Dorthonion. For whatever reason, Wilwarindil ended up in a simple Edain village there, and he encounters two of my other Tolkien OCs, a grandfather and his grandson. I haven’t found proper names for them yet, so for simplicity, I’ll dub them as Grandfather and Grandson XDDD The grandmother passed naturally, and Grandson’s parents are off trading somewhere. So it’s just him and his gramps to watch the house.

Wilwarindil is very intrigued by these Edain, given that he’s never seen the Secondborn before. He’s quite an innocent and sweet Maia, and perhaps a bit fumbly loll He’s excited but shy to meet Grandfather and Grandson. On the other hand, the latter are very confused with him -- I mean, can you imagine some odd-robed Elf-like person coming out of the woods to say hi??

Well, they end up taking pity on him and teach him some life skills lmaoo Like farming and cooking and all that stuff. Wilwarindil is able to study the Edain, and grows very fond of Grandfather and Grandson; he’s not familiar with Edain aging, so he calls them both his young, sprightly saplings XDD (“I can’t even turn around without injuring myself,” Grandfather says).

He doesn’t stay there forever though. Once he’s deemed well enough, Wilwarindil goes off to travel Middle-earth! He meets Elves and other Edain, sees the beautiful mountains and lakes, and all that fun stuff. I haven’t detailed this part of his story too well hahaa There’s lots of space for him to encounter the Feanorians, or Fingolfin’s people, or whichever big-name character you’d like! But after a few years or so, he decides to return to Grandfather and Grandson for a break. He arrives just in time for Grandfather to pass away.

Wilwarindil is devastated. Very much so. Grandson’s parents are back, so introductions are made, etc. Wilwarindil ends up staying and helps around the house. He takes on weaving as his new coping mechanism hobby. He sends out animal helpers to gather nuts and fruits for the family. He forms a close bond with Grandson (cuz I like those Elf-human friendships y’all). His butterfly friends settle over Grandfather’s grave from time to time.

The Dagor Bragollach takes place when Grandson is all grown up with his own family, including a little child. Wilwarindil is able to give the villagers a chance to escape. He guides the survivors to Dor-lómin, where they merge with the House of Hador.

Second Age

Wilwarindil continues to watch over Grandson’s descendants. Fast forward, and they all go to Numenor. Most of the later descendants in Numenor go bad, falling under Tar-Mairon’s dominion, which causes some conflict between them and Wilwarindil (he’d feel guilty because he thinks he’s failing Grandfather and Grandson by not guiding their descendants well enough). When Numenor is drowned, Wilwarindil barely makes it out alive, carrying a small child descendant with him. He brings the child to Elendil’s group, and there the child flourishes.

Third Age

As the years pass, some of the descendants marry into the Eotheod, and later become part of the Rohirrim, while others stay in Gondor. Wilwarindil visits them all as much as he can. During the events of The Hobbit, he is off in the East, searching for the Blue Wizards. Maybe there could be some interactions between them! I haven’t thought that far yet loll During the War of the Ring, the newest addition to Grandson’s descendant line is a Rohirrim girl named Eafled (river beauty).

I had some things in my notes with Wilwarindil and the War of the Ring, but it’s not fully developed or finished. I keep getting the impression that he never fully came to terms with Grandfather (and Grandson’s) death, though it’s been so long ... Maybe the Valar and Maiar process grief differently than Elves and Men ^^;; So the end goal of his story would be to help him come to terms with that and maybe return to Valinor where he can have a good rest. And maybe Mandos sends him a message from Grandfather and Grandson’s fëar, which they left before departing from the World.

And that’s all I have for Wilwarindil! Thanks for reading this far, if you did loll Seriously it means a lot T_T And thanks for asking about my Tolkien OC! 💕 💕 💕

#asks #tolkien #silmarillion #tolkien ocs #my ocs #maia oc #i do have some little scripts with him loll #wilwarindil: why is your skin as gnarled as the bark of nessa's woods?#and here i hoped i'd never have to see those woods again!#grandfather: it's called age #also wilwarindil: these are my dearest saplings!#look at them grow!#grandfather: i'm already 101 #wilwarindil: oh so young and spritely!#grandfather: i can hardly turn around without injuring myself #XDDDD #mahtan

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thefogoflife · 4 years

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My favorite shows: Canceled too soon and summarized badly edition

Surviving Jack: A sitcom (minus a laugh track, thank christ) about a retired soldier that becomes a full time dad and SUCKS at it, starring Christopher Meloni. 1 season.

The Middleman: A super weird, pulpy, freak of the week/twilight zone deadpan comedy about the people that save the world from extra dimensional stuff...pretty sure the girl that plays Penny Peabody in Riverdale is in this. 1 season? Idk it was on like 12 years ago.

Sleepy Hollow: This is Lucifer before Lucifer got big, with an American history/illuminati twist. Freak of the week/buddy cop format with a time displaced Ichabod Crane and a police officer who have to delve into revolutionary history and conspiracy in order to prevent armageddon/the arrival of the four horsemen (Tom Mison plays an excellent Ichabod...like a pretentious and technologically clueless Lucifer. I would die if the two characters ever met). 4 seasons.

Imposters: Ezra Bloom gets robbed/abandoned by his whirlwind romance wife, who turns out to be a con artist. He tried to track her down and finds a couple of her other victims, and they learn to con, and con their way across the country to track her down, and it's equally hilarious and intense. Uma Thurman has a recurring role, and the lead is played by Inbar Lavi (Eve in Lucifer, Winsome in SOA), who is one of my favorite actresses. Parker Young also plays the big hearted idiot hilariously. It is FELONIOUS that this show isn't more popular. It's on par with Lucifer, Hannibal, etc. 2 seasons.

Hannibal: Fuck you. If you're on this website, you know what this is. 3 seasons.

Dominion: God disappears from heaven, and the angels blame it on humanity's depravity. Archangels Gabriel and Uriel lead an army from heaven down to yeet the humans, and Michael raises an army to protect them. Post apocalyptic fallout/mad max vibes. 2 seasons.

Revolution: Scientists create nanobots that will occupy the atmosphere and conduct electricity, thereby creating unlimited free energy all over the world. They turn it on and instead it creates a massive explosion that ends the world, and absorbs all electricity permanently. The world breaks down into factions and warlords and begin fighting for control. Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring from breaking bad, or Moff Gideon from The Mandalorian) is his typical bastard self, but as usual, is amazing. This show starts off super cheesy with the acting and then becomes legitimately great. 3 seasons.

Almost Human: Buddy cop formula with a human and an android that fight crime in a dystopian future. Ahead of it's time, it tackles issues like in Detroit: Become Human, but people weren't ready for that. Karl Urban (of the infamous "The Boys" ad) stars. 1 season.

Stan Against Evil: Indie freak of the week parody horror show, and it's basically Buffy. This town has a curse that all sheriffs will die in office, but this one guy, Stan, doesn't (played by the lovably sarcastic douche Dr. Cox from Scrubs), and learns it was because his wife was protecting him from the demons that inhabit the town. Wife get yeeted, and it's up to alcoholic and apathetic Stan, the new sheriff, Evie, and Stan's nerd daughter to fight off demons. This show is fucking hilarious, and has a lot of cameos (for example, Mike Ogg, the voice of Trevor in GTA V, cameos as a murderous horse demon). 3 seasons.

Enlisted: War hero comes home after punching a superior and ends up on Rear D (the guys that get left behind to mow the lawns and shit when soldiers are deployed) with his idiot brothers. Deals with PTSD, but is also pretty funny. Sitcom without a laugh track. Keith David has a recurring role, and Parker Young is once again the lovable idiot. 1 season.

THANKS FOR LETTING ME FORCE MY PRIVATE THOUGHTS UPON YOU

#shows that were canceled too soon #stan against evil #the middleman #revolution #giancarlo esposito #hannibal #imposters tv show #imposters bravo #inbar lavi #parker young #dominion #sleepy hollow #surviving jack #almost human #karl urban #lucifer #christopher meloni

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otvlanga · 3 years

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Ulfric being all pissed at the Thalmor is ironic because he’s literally doing the exact same racism stuff that they do.

Yeah, they're both disgustingly racist but it’s addressed in very different ways. Not to say that there’s a scale of normal racism vs the worse racism, but I’d say the Thalmor are arguably worse.

Nords hate the elves so much mainly because they absolutely manhandled the Empire in the great war. (yes, it goes back much farther than that, what with the snow elves and ysgramor and shit, but the great war is the driving force behind the Stormcloak’s supporters)

The Stormcloak “Skyrim for the Nords” gimmick is a ploy used to piggyback off the hurt feelings of racist Nords and rally up thousands of supporters for Ulfric Stormcloak. Ulfric himself is definitely a racist twat but he probably doesn’t actually give that much of a shit about other types of elves being in Skyrim. His main thing is getting the Thalmor to fuck off. He has a right to want to do that, oppressive supremacist regimes and religious persecution are not okay. He’s a politician, that’s what they do.

The Thalmor literally believe the entire Altmer race to be the closest mortal beings to gods. They want to literally Ascend back to godhood. They deadass think they’re the next best shit since sliced bread, and that any other races are cockroaches compared to them. Their main strife with Talos worship is that he was a man. He is the god of men. Also he murdered a bunch of elves. But mostly they seen to really only care about the fact that he was a simple human, for some reason. I can’t recall a moment in game where a Thalmor said “fuck talos he killed my granny” but maybe that’s my shit memory talking. Anyways

Yeah the Thalmor are sent into Skyrim to clear shit up and make things easier for the Aldmeri dominion to cruise on ahead. They’re the exterminators that clear the house of pests to the Dominion’s interior designers that go in afterwards and remodel everything. They want the Civil War to weaken the Skyrim and Empire enough so that they can be subdued easier. Then they’ll swoop in and just get rid of everyone in their way now that Skyrim and the Empire are both too weak to fight back.

Once everything is all under their control, that’s when they’ll probably start packing on the real fucked up shit. Honestly nobody really knows for sure that the Dominion’s real motive is because elder scrolls lore is a grab bag of random shit, but their name says it all imo. Aldmeri Dominion. Altmer Domination. Elenwen stepping on ur balls with prada heels type of stuff. Idk.

I just feel like on the terms of which racist is less likeable, it’s definitely the Thalmor. Ulfrick Stormcloak is a twisted, stubborn fool but at least he’s got like, somewhat of a soul I guess. Fighting for the liberation of his people and all. Still racist though

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a-stitch-in-time-and-space · 3 years

Text

In relation to an ask I got about Julian Bashir:

this ask I got has ideas about Julian essentially being forced through gender related surgery in connection with his augmentation.

So for starters, I’m not intersex, so I won’t try to go into details, just noting that this obviously brings to mind bullshit that intersex people have to go through and so that thinking will be laced through the text!

under the cut for length, no details about igm, but obviously if the idea is distressing don’t read - kind of meta that dovetails into a sort-of fic:

I wonder if the show had decided to do something like that, what would have inspired it/would they have realised that this is very much not a scifi concept even by a lot of their “this is the loosest of allegories you could allegory” standards.

The show does have a habit of doing things that makes me go “hey, wait, wha- was that… with awareness?” Ex. Soren in TNG self-identifying as a woman, everything Trill-related in the 90s, or even Quark getting easy reassignment surgery (disclaimer: always am torn on being like “yay, I guess no waiting lists for trans people ever again + the argument of “regret” clearly can’t exist any more + this a world where people… accept???” and… what it actually is. Which is a “women vs men” sexist as hell joke.)

I spoke about gender there, not because I’m equating, just because it’s stuff related to myself as an enby that I clung to. But also because if surgery isn’t a big-deal in the future then perhaps gender isn’t either? Which obviously isn’t true, because Star Trek mirrors the reality of the world it’s actually made in and makes abundantly clear that things’re still inherently gendered (moreso in some places than others).

So we ask why they might want to do something like this:

1. There are still biases against having a girl vs having a boy on an institutional level around the federation

2. They personally just can’t stop messing with Julian, maybe they had their heart set on “a boy” in the same way they wanted him to be “smarter” and “taller” etc. And they just suck (they do)

3. Julian is intersex and this is not an allegory at all even a little bit

Even if it was an allegory, it’d still be a pretty direct one, but just wanted to let you know how my brain is considering all of this, because I’ve never thought about it like that before, as my hcs about Julian were always that he chose any of the surgery he got in relation to his gender as a reclamation of his body (which he might still have made decisions about when he could, but for now gonna try and not tangent too much)

so let’s assume that you can’t just get a any kind of reassignment surgery and it’s just that ds9 is so far on the edge of the federation that general checks and balances in relation to “hey lets turn our friendly neighbourhood Ferengi into a woman” don’t exist out there like they do closer to earth.

And Julian personally is really fucking good at this surgery – why? Maybe because he’s made it part of his goal to know as much as possible about it, since it was done to him without his consent as a child.

Maybe what they did was “sort out” more obvious markers – anything on the outside of his body basically, and they left the womb, because nobody would notice that, which would make Julian saying he had one a slip-up up in that episode with Kira getting the O’Briens baby.

At the time people don’t know he’s an augment, so he probably wouldn’t be wanting to run around and have anyone ask him questions about surgeries that aren’t on his record – luckily nobody does.

In some ways this violation is the one he’s the most traumatised about to the extent that he can’t even speak about it to his parents, barring the one piece of selfhood he’s defiantly demanded: “I’m Julian, goddamit!”

They know why – of course they know. But like so much else they don’t talk about, they somehow seem to assume that not speaking makes it forgivable, invisible, erasable. It’s not.

After he’s been outed, once he has started interacting with the other augments, there’s a lot that he holds back – he’s not like them after all, not really. And to admit kinship is to open doors he’s been so afraid of opening for so long, that fear might as well be his truest expression of self.

It’s not until after the Dominion War, after deaths, imprisonment, torture, being outed and seeing others like him ostracised, mental health issues and a failed relationship with Ezri – not until after all that does he reach out to Sarina again, ask for forgiveness for trying to make her – and by extension himself – “normal.”

It’s not until then he can slowly begin to unpack everything about himself that he’s kept back, for fear it’d prove others right - - how he doesn’t feel entirely like a real person, just a collection of parts that were forced upon him, how he’s scared about what being proud of any bit of himself might be taken as, how he let down Sarina and the others - - and what his parents “threw in” to sweeten the deal.

And Sarina admits to him: she has the same fears, the same self-doubt, the same sadness. She asks Julian about preferred pronouns, about how he thinks of himself, about whether there’s anything he would want to do to own himself more…

For now, just the talking is good. And maybe they can meet up with the others again soon, this time without shame.

#julian bashir #ds9 #st: ds9 #star trek #star trek meta #julian bashir meta #ds9 meta #my writing #possibly intersex julian #i might go more into detail about things later on for now these are my first musings #tw allusions to igm

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bensiskos · 3 years

Text

Okay so. I haven’t finished my refs for my Star Trek ocs (I prommy I’ll do it soon) but like. I have a great need to talk about them so here we are ♥️ I’ve made a new oc crew cus I didn’t like my old ones </3 their mission is to rebuild after the dominion war, they fly around helping out random stations & colonies that are in need of repairs and supplies, I dont have a name for their ship yet but like. Yeah

My captain is a half Vulcan half human, her name is T’athy and she’s in her 40’s, she tries her best but is Stressed. She’s like. A coffee and wine mom even though she doesn’t drink either of those. She took this mission because after the war was over she didn’t really know what to do with herself, and was uncomfortable just retiring. She has a husband, they space Skype every night ♥️

My first officer is a bajoran lesbian in her 60’s, her name is Matos, she & T’athy fought together and are Besties, she was going to retire to a spiritual life on bajor but T’athy called them for one more mission and she was like sure why not. She’s the ships unofficial counselor, she has Major grandma vibes despite not having any children. I love them very much. She would be a horse girl if they knew what a horse was

My medical officer is a cardassian woman named Miyar, uhh she’s like kinda fucked up, she’s only doing the whole starfleet service thing to not be put in a penal colony. She thinks murder is okay and has 0 bedside manner but she is Trying. She pretends not to care and acts very cold but she cares a ton, once she trusts someone she will die for them.

My science officer is a little Vulcan dude named Solar, he’s fresh out of the academy and wants to Do Everything. He’s a botanist and he loves plants and exploring. He joined up with starfleet cus his family is very traditional and wants him to marry and be a perfect Vulcan, but he wants to do other stuff! I love him very much. He and T’athy have weekly meditation sessions.

My engineer is a human guy named David Lovell, he gets a last name because he’s special ♥️. He’s recently divorced, he’s not technically starfleet, he’s a civilian who teaches engineering, but he saw people in need and stepped up to help. He’s trying to find a new purpose in life, he’s an extremely loving person.

My dominion tech expert is a vorta named Lowver, xey stayed behind after the war because she was done with dying. Xe’re just trying to learn how to be a person now, and she’s unsure of how to start a new life. She has a lot of guilt over how the dominion affected the alpha quadrant and is trying to make up for it by helping rebuild. She’s still a bit brainwashed so xey do make mistakes but I love her

And then there’s Breba ♥️♥️ he’s a little ferengi boy who they picked up and are attempting to find a home for. Dave immediately adopted him so like. The ship is his home now. Breba bites people and is like. A rude little boy but we love him. He wants to be an Engineer and know things but he gets frustrated very easy. He loves his dad.

#Ella talks #Ella’s ocs #Star Trek ocs #god please ask me abt them

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robotnik-mun · 3 years

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Random Sonic Stuffs

Well, I been in a particular Sonic-y mood, and I started spitballing some stuff that may or may not become something more later on.

Naturally it begins with Robotropolis ID;

But eh, since it might never amount to anything, might as well share. So, here, enjoy my creative spitballing! Hopefully!

Locations

Robotropolis: Known as the ‘Land of Darkness’ by some, Robotropolis is the grand sum of territories controlled by Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Robotropolis was created in the aftermath of the Great War, comprised of territories seized from Overland, The Empire of Amun and Kingdom of Acorn, centered in what was once known as the Acorn Archipelago, on Westside Island. Robotropolis is a vast, mechanized city, the largest on all of Mobius, with territories interconnected by railways centered in the Sunset Park Zone. Robotropolis comprises of multiple zones, with the Central Citadel serving as the cold metallic heart of Robotropolis’ mechanized body.

Robotropolis is a polluted mechanical nightmare, a vast wasteland comprised of factories, refineries and foundries. The empire is divided into Zones of three categories- Machine, Habitation, and Wild. Robotic Zones are purely mechanical, inhabited only by robots and Robians. These places are industrial centers and comprise the majority of Robotropolis. Scrap Brain Zone, Metropolis Zone and The Lava Shelter are examples of Robotic Zones.

Habitation Zones are the inhabited settlements of Robotropolis, where Mobian citizens live and labor endlessly to feed the insatiable greed of Robotropolis, living under the constant threat of Roboticization (AKA “The Robotomy Treatment”), among other things. Only members of the Legion have any kind of rights, and even then they live and die at Robotnik’s whim. Starlight City Zone is one such Zone, as is the Casino Nights Zone.

Wild Zones are the least numerous. These Zones are pristine areas that Robotnik has seemingly and inexplicably overlooked in his endless quest for resources, lush oases of green in an otherwise endless sea of metal and oil. Many seek to escape the Habitation Zones in order to live free in the Wild Zones, but in truth there is no freedom there- Robotnik only allows these Zones to exist to give the inhabitants of Robotropolis false hope, so that when he conquers and destroys them those that survive will be left more disheartened than ever. The Green Hill and Emerald Hill zones are Wild Zones.

The only area that doesn’t fall within any of these categories is the Dust Desert Zone, located in the southern part of the Acorn Archipelago. The Dust Desert is a vast expanse of sand and scrublands, with ramshackle towns and cities dotting the desolate landscape. When Robotnik first took over, many refugees fled to the harsh, resource scarce deserts to the south, correctly assuming that Robotnik wouldn’t consider such a place worth his time. The Dust Desert Zone swiftly became a wild, dangerous place, a haven for criminals and bounty hunters.

Robotropolis is regarded as a rogue state by the rest of Mobius’ developed nations. It is officially designated as the Dominion of Robotropolis, informally known as The Robotnik Empire, and at times satirized as the Eggman Empire or even “Eggmanland”. Past attempts to invade and reclaim Robotropolis have met with disaster, and Robotropolis has slowly expanded since its founding, spreading over more of the planet like a cancer. Recently its progress has been stymied by the efforts of an internal rebellion/revolution (The Freedom Fighter Movement), as well as the renowned heroics of one Sonic the Hedgehog.

The Kingdom of Acorn: Also known as the Acorn Remnant, the Kingdom of Acorn is a pale shadow of its former self. A continuation of the old Kingdom of Acorn, it is comprised of minor holdings that were overlooked by Robotnik during his coup, that were later consolidated into becoming the current incarnation of the Kingdom of Acorn, with New Mobotropolis as its capitol. Ruled over by King Nigel Acorn I, the Kingdom of Acorn seeks to reclaim what it once had. Unfortunately, it has no real ability to do so. After a disastrous attempted counter-attack that left him wheelchair bound and cost him the lives of his wife and son, King Nigel has largely abandoned any overt ambitions of reclaiming his homeland, instead focusing on protecting what little he has left.

The Kingdom of Acorn’s current government is reformed from the old Kingdom- while King Acorn is still the head of state (as is the House of Acorn), his power is not absolute. He is assisted in ruling by the Council of Acorn, and all major decisions by him must be verified by the vote of council, who in turn are elected into office. The Council emerged as part of a series of compromises between the King and the local rulers of the territories that eventually became the current Kingdom of Acorn.

While the Royal Army is capable of defending the Kingdom, it lacks the ability to truly project power on the global stage. Likewise, the current Kingdom has been beset by internal problems since its inception, many of them tied to tensions with refugees from the Amun Imperium seeking an escape from Robotnik’s genocidal conquests.

King Acorn is currently estranged from his daughter, Princess Sally Acorn, whom has defied his will to lead the Freedom Fighter Movement within Robotropolis. He has publically repudiated her actions, both due to fear of Robotnik’s retaliation, and due to the greater fear of her coming to harm or even Roboticization.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Fan Fiction #Worldbuilding

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