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maniculum · 30 days

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Bestiaryposting Results: Slagzogg

This is, interestingly, our third consecutive Beaſt that's actually a common everyday animal pretty much all over Europe, including the area where this manuscript was produced. This is interesting to me because the three are handled very differently. First we had the salamander, which I'm pretty sure got mentally separated from the actual animal somewhere, probably because people use different terms for the real-life amphibian in different regions and languages, and not everybody is going to recognize that it's just the Greek word for the same animal. Second we had the deer, which it seemed like the manuscript producers did recognize, because the illustration is clearly a deer... but elements of the entry are just nuts (As @sweetlyfez said, "How do you make up this many wild myths about a guy you live with"). And now we have the [redacted until end of post], which is just given a completely mundane, if engaging, description with the only weird part being the symbolism attached to it.

I think it might also be our first domestic animal -- the entry even talks about the difference between wild and domestic varieties -- which seems like it's worth noting.

Anyway, as usual people who don't know what I'm talking about should check https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. The entry this week's artists are working from can be found here:

This is another one where I almost didn't put it in because it seemed super obvious what it was, but the artists have done a superb job not drawing that. Excellent work on everyone's part, and it can be found below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) shows us both a domestic and a wild Slagzogg; the design of the domestic one makes me think of fancy pigeons, which I think is a pretty good direction to take here. The vulture-like faces really improve the design also. Very good birds, and you should go check out the linked post to hear about the design decisions and real-life inspirations behind this one; I think it's pretty interesting.

@pomrania (link to post here) observed that, though the entry mentions beaks and flight, it doesn't actually say "bird", so they can draw a pet dragon and have it fit the description. Fair call, and I think it turned out well. I like the contrast between the fairly dignified-looking creature on the left -- this is a Slagzogg who is on its way to win Best in Show -- and the sketch on the right of someone forcibly preventing it from getting into a fight. If you check out the linked post, you can see Pomrania's progress thread for this design.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has made the eminently-understandable decision that if they're going to draw a bird with no specific anatomical details given, it's going to be a potoo. On the left we have three domestic Slagzoggs socializing, and on the right we have a wild one perching alone. I like how this incorporates the symbolism of the entry: we're told that the wild type is meant to signify people who choose a religious life ("those who keep apart from this world wear the modest garb of penitence"), and this wild Slagzogg does look a bit more serious and... monastic? Like, that bird is a nun. (Also, thank you for including alt text.)

@cheapsweets (link to post here) also went with the direction of "well, it doesn't say 'bird'," and so we have this really charming image of a medieval person feeding their domestic... pterosaurs. Love it. Honestly, these alternate visions of the Middle Ages where people have entirely different domestic animals than our timeline are really appealing to me. Too much Dinotopia as a child, perhaps. Anyway, check out the linked post for substantially more detail, it's worth it. In fact, everyone reading this should just go ahead and follow all of the bestiaryposting participants. (Also, thank you for the alt text.)

@strixcattus (link to post here) is clearly thinking of the modern day's feral pigeons, formerly the result of selective breeding by pigeon fanciers. We can see the "fancy" domestic version on the left contrasted with the wild version on the right. (I think it's interesting that everyone who's drawn both has put the domestic Slagzogg on the left and the wild Slagzogg on the right.) Anyway, as is usually the case with Strixcattus, the writing included in the post is absolutely worth your time and you should read it. And again, follow them, as well as everyone who has ever contributed to bestiaryposting. Go do it; you won't regret it.

Now, to the Aberdeen Bestiary.

Beak shape aside, these are clearly geese.

I think the degree to which people guessed that varies somewhat; Strixcattus made a post suggesting they were leaning "pigeon", but Pomrania probably clocked it, because they described two Slagzoggs fighting as a "hissing match" despite hissing not being mentioned in the entry. I have no idea where everyone else landed.

Honestly, what I find interesting about this entry is that it's pulling symbolism while remaining pretty much entirely grounded in reality. Check this out:

The goose marks the watches of the night by its constant cry.

Okay, I don't know to what degree it's useful in marking time, but I don't doubt that geese make noise at night.

No other creature picks up the scent of man as it does.

That one I'm not sure about.

This next bit I cut because if anyone knows Roman history they'd nail it right out of the gate:

It was because of its noise, that the Gauls were detected when they ascended the Capitol. Rabanus says in this context: 'The goose can signify men who are prudent and look out for their own safety.'

Okay, that might be less history and more legend, but still, people know it, I think.

There are two kinds of geese, domestic and wild. Wild geese fly high, in a an orderly fashion, signifying those who, far away from earthly things, preserve a rule of virtuous conduct.

I can absolutely see medieval people looking up at geese flying in that V formation and going, "look how orderly these birds are; clearly they are virtuous creatures."

Domestic geese live together in villages, they cackle together all the time and rend each other with their beaks...

Yeah, that sounds like what geese would do in a village.

All wild geese are grey in colour; I have not seen any that were of mixed colour or white. But among domestic geese, there are not only grey but variegated and white ones. Wild geese are the colour of ashes, that is to say, those who keep apart from this world wear the modest garb of penitence.

This bit falls into the category of "I believe it, but it does not accord with my personal experience." Because if you told me that in Europe they had a variety of different aesthetically-pleasing domestic goose breeds, I'd have no problem believing that. And I'm sure some wild geese are gray. But I live in North America, so to me wild geese look like this:

And domestic geese look like this:

But again, I have no difficulty believing that the experience of the medieval Europeans was different from mine.

What really sticks out to me here is the fact that the characteristic behavior of domestic geese is to make noise and get in fights -- I think the Untitled Goose Game would have made perfect sense to a medieval audience.

(After the Smithfield Decretals)

#maniculum bestiaryposting #slagzogg

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oswald-can-draw · 8 days

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About your mlp infection au!! I love this one so much I'm so interested!! Maybe give us a rundown of a couple of the survivors and how equestrias chances are looking? How did the ponies infected by black magic change and mutate? Can spike or other species like dragons, griffins and zebras get infected since they dont have cutiemarks? Are foals who dont have cutiemarks yet immune until they get their cutiemark? How does that play in? Im so sorry if this is too many questions, I really love this au and I think its really cool!!! Its a really well thought out idea and I think its awesome!!! :D I hope you have a nice day! ❤️

Someone being an autistic beast about my work is the highest compliment, so never apologize for that!

But, boy howdy, have we got a lot of ground to cover!

Let’s take it step by step:

1. FOALS

Foals (or those without their cutie mark), are a very complex cog in this AU. On one hand, they don’t have their cutie mark, so they can’t be infected, as there is no magic to corrupt. Great!

The bad news? Getting one’s cutie mark is often an unplanned thing, which means any foal can become susceptible to the Meanie Mark Virus at any time. There are many ways to deal with this.

One common one is to wrap the foal’s flank with compression gauze. Half a desperate idea, and half a way to forget their child’s vulnerability (or to hide when they DO get a cutie mark). Somepony suggested that it could “keep back” a cutie mark, and the rest of the populace decided to go with it.

Another way is to just try and keep the foal from anything that interests them. This works to a point, but the stress from their friends and family on the brink of death every day, and now any sliver of joy that they can find in this hellscape is strictly forbidden. This can cause a once rare, but quickly becoming more common developmental condition known as “Muted Cutie”. This causes a cutie mark to appear, but it’s based off of an outside tension, such as familial pressure, cutie conditions, and lack of input. It’s like a magical wisdom tooth — keeping the actual cutie mark from developing and causing pain and stress to the pony.

The third option is a last resort: quietly “taking care” of foals that were of cutie mark age or freshly marked.

Having a foal of a certain age can bar you from going into certain populated areas, getting ample supplies, and even contact with other ponies.

Of course, this is EXTREMELY traumatizing for the foal. Feeling like they aren’t wanted and that they aren’t allowed even the smallest of joys can make life miserable.

2. OTHER SPECIES

* Zecora’s redesign is based off of the Karo tribe, a small tribe famous for body painting and self expression. Though I have done as much research as I can, there is still room for error. If there is something inaccurate, please let me know so I can fix the redesign accordingly.

Other species may not get the Meanie Mark illness, per se, but they do have reactions to parts of the evil clones that seep into the soil or the corpses of already infected ponies.

Griffins, for example, get something similar to food poisoning, with nausea, vomiting, and unseasonal molting. This is their body attempting to purge the toxins. Their flying also becomes affected, with severe bouts of vertigo and lost sense of direction. For the average, healthy griffin, this usually only lasts a week or so. However, if a griffin is elderly, injured, or any sort of health condition, this infection could be fatal. Fortunately, since griffins are so far from the Everfree Forest and spend so little time on the ground, this sickness is very rare, especially with certain security measures set in place.

Dragons are even luckier. Their stomachs are able to digest any trace of the infection, neutralizing it before it can cause any real damage. However, there is a phenomenon that has been unearthed due to dragons. The gems found near their volcano-filled home can actually be infused with the disease. The only sign of this having occurred is a slightly darker hue and a “rotten” taste, according to the dragons. A few dragons have been enlisted to dispose of infected material, as them consuming it is the only way it can be disposed of without putting more ponies at risk. Not many are up for the task.

Zebras, on the other hoof, have quite the reaction to infected material. While they aren’t infected with the true disease, the special, magical markings and body paint can give the bacteria something to feed on. This can cause weakness, confusion, gastrointestinal distress, rashes, burns, irritability, and even aggression. Zebras often have to be quarantined from the rest of their tribe in order to keep the disease from spreading and the victim from hurting anyone or anything. Removal of paint and markings can help, and are often reapplied after recovery, with additional markings showing their bravery, strength, and health. Unfortunately, some of them do not survive.

Any other living thing, including birds, mammals, plant life, and insects all have generally poor reactions upon exposure. Common themes in symptoms include weakness, vomiting, and confusion. Plants will turn away from the sun. Dogs will whine and curl into a ball. Birds will run into things and screech. Survival depends on the age, health, size, and care plan of a creature. Among them, usually about 73% survive.

Though no other species has the guaranteed death from the disease that ponies do, it can still cause some nasty, or even deadly, side effects.

3. BLACK MAGIC

Since the Meanie Mark Illness is already a form of black magic, just more widespread and deadly, the disease has horrendous effects on those who have already succumbed to dark magic.

Though it’s a rare instance, the phenomenon has been observed. Whether the black magic or the illness comes first, it always begins and ends the same way:

First, a pony becomes much, MUCH more powerful. Instead of gradually gaining this talent through the virus, their black magic reaches a feverish pitch. The pony begins to have uncontrollable displays of magic, usually of the destructive kind. Explosions, rays, death, and evil spells emanate from them without stopping. This has caused many hasty villains to try and catch the famous Meanie Mark Illness — with this power, they think, taking over the world would be easy.

Second, the two opposing powers battling for control inside the pony begin to destroy the victim from the inside. See, the reason why ponies become a husk-like corpse and turn to dust at the end of the Meanie Mark’s cycle is because of the Tree of Harmony’s magic fighting the dark magic of the virus, which ends up destroying the pony in the process. But with the black magic far overpowering the Tree of Harmony, the pony has a different problem — their body can’t handle such raw power.

The pony’s hair begins to fall out, their veins swell, their skin begins to blacken with gangrene as less and less blood goes to extremities. The pony ends up rotting from the inside out, black sludge oozing from their mouth and eyes, magic still pouring out of them. Their cutie mark, both subdued from the virus and given immense power from the black magic, sputters and shines and pulses.

Finally, a pony will die within a few days, their corpse zombified and rotting. However, those who do survive the ordeal have poor quality of life, as their joints, brains, and some of their organs hardly work anymore. They will live either as a wandering corpse or a patient for their friends and family to take care of until their demise in the near future.

In other words, this is a quicker but much more painful death!

4. CHANCES FOR EQUESTRIA?

This disease can be spread very easily, especially among unicorns. If an infected unicorn casts a spell on another pony, they too will catch Meanie Mark. Other than that, a pony either has to come in contact with infected soil/plant life, an animal that has eaten said infected material, or a corpse. This means that, though the illness will be slow to spread at first, it will pick up speed as time goes on.

With the emphasis on foals and the amount that are being killed for mercy or safety’s sake, repopulating is going to be difficult.

As for a cure…perhaps the dragons can help, since they are the only one’s completely immune? Or maybe they could at least offer hints about how to stop this horrible disease?

All this to say — there is a chance of survival. But is Equestria quick enough to find a cure? Or at least keep the disease at bay?

BONUS - SURVIVORS (NOT COMPLETE):

1. Spike: Being a dragon has its perks. But being surrounded by ponies does not.

2. Big Mac: The pony you would want in an apocalypse. Still mourning the infection of his sisters.

3. Discord: Could he even…get sick? Isn’t he part pony? But he doesn’t have a cutie mark…

4. Rainbow Dash: Cloudsdale is on lockdown, and isn’t allowing anypony in or out. But it’s like herding winged cats.

5. Winona: Aids Big Mac. Since eating an infected piece of flesh, she avoids the infected like the plague.

6. Sweetie Belle: Was staying with Scootaloo right before Rarity got infected. Apple Bloom would have come, but she didn’t feel well…

7. Scootaloo: Her inventions are invaluable. But her lack of a quick way to escape could be the death of her one day.

#mlp #mlp infection #mlp infection au #mlp infected au #my little pony infection au #mlp horror #horror #infection au #digital art #artists on tumblr #art #my art #digital artist #fanart

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yanderes-galore · 1 month

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DaI(Dragon Age) Yandere Hawke Concept?

Sure! I decided to take a general look on Hawke since I am new to Dragon Age and primarily know him from 2. Also, Hawke is depicted as a Male Mage in this. I hope you like this regardless :) Considering how I think you can choose his personality in Inquisition... not much may change between the games for him yandere-wise (I'm guessing, still very new, I know most of this information through YT and Wiki)

If anyone wants Female Hawke in the future or Warrior/Rogue Hawke... I'm down, lol.

Yandere! (Mage) Garrett Hawke Concept

(Male Mage Hawke)

Pairing: Platonic -> Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Overprotective behavior, Jealousy, Possessive behavior, Paranoia, Implied Hawke's being influenced by either Red Lyrium or Demons (It's vague), Violence, Attempted murder, Threats, Forced companionship/relationship.

Hawke is an interesting character because of how his personality changes.

He was originally a player controlled protagonist, often allowing the player to choose his personality through dialogue.

He can be diplomatic/helpful, humorous/charming, or aggressive/direct.

I feel the way I would write him would be a combination of these three rather than just one.

He tries to be diplomatic and helpful when he can, he's charming and humorous towards those he cares for, and can be direct/aggressive towards those who defy or challenge him.

I imagine Hawke would meet you and allow you to help him like a companion.

For example, maybe you meet him before he's well-known and it still a refugee in Kirkwall.

He meets you and Varric and you two become close parts of his journey.

Later on... perhaps Hawke feels romantic attraction towards you, or just decides to stay a close friend with you.

I feel naturally Hawke is helpful and protective.

As the events of Dragon Age 2 continue, he grows closer to you throughout the years.

After all... you were willing to help him when you first met.

Now you two are working together.

In this case I feel Hawke can be dangerous to be around at times if his obsession takes over his thinking.

Especially in this concept where he's a mage.

Mages, if left uncontrolled, can be dangerous due to demonic possession.

There's a few cases of this in the events of Dragon Age as a whole.

Red Lyrium no doubt doesn't help this either.

So already that's two ways you could interpret as the cause of Hawke's obsession towards you.

Demonic forces or Red Lyrium corruption... that or another explanation.

Before any sign of obsession shows, you can tell Hawke has a way with words.

He's diplomatic with others, often being charming with his words to convince others to believe him.

He's helpful and friendly towards you and other companions, always having a smile on his face around you as he speaks.

But what is really affected by his obsession is his more aggressive and direct demeanor.

If anyone was hostile with you or tried to attack you, Hawke is ruthless.

You can tell at times he's fighting the urge to use violence, trying to focus on talking down the aggressor instead of blasting them away.

Honestly, Hawke's increased aggression may be the first red flag to you about his obsession.

Normally he can talk his way out of a situation.

But even at the slightest argument he's gripping his staff tightly.

His obsession gives off the impression that he may be under the influence of something.

You try to talk to Hawke about it, but he plays it off as him being fine.

Almost right after complimenting and being playful with you.

You can tell something is wrong.

His obsession starts in Dragon Age 2 and most likely continues during Dragon Age Inquisition.

There's times you have to talk to Hawke to prevent him from using spells on those he hates around you.

You try to convince him mages already have enough to worry about, he doesn't need to tarnish them any further.

Hawke, for the most part, listens to you.

You calm his more violent decisions due to his desire towards you.

That desire may be friendship... but it's more likely to be romantic as time goes on.

Perhaps this new behavior of his stems from his first contact with Red Lyrium all those years ago?

Either way... his obsession and corruption grows as he's around you.

Soon you begin to see Hawke's obsession becomes more than friendship.

The gaze he gives you is nothing friendly... it's full of desire.

His other companions, like Varric, express concern towards Hawke and you.

Hawke eventually feels he can't wait.

He gives you gifts, he tries to build a positive reputation with you...

All eventually so he can kiss and love you.

You can tell none of this is normal.

You miss when Hawke was playful and friendly.

Now towards others he's colder... but overwhelming towards you.

His hands never leave you, you can feel how possessive he is.

It's like this isn't him.

He feels like something completely different.

Such feelings only continue as he falls deeper into obsession.

Soon if you try to argue with him he turns more direct with you.

Eventually even whispering subtle threats in your ears, eyes giving off a slight red glow as he tells you to stay with him.

Soon the mage may just slap some restraints on you... or use magic to trap you in a prison of his design...

You'll be his... now and forever... no one will come between you now.

#yandere dragon age #yandere dragon age 2 #yandere dragon age inquisition #yandere hawke #yandere garrett hawke

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kazisgirlfriend · 3 months

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Snake Girl Rayla?

The TDP fandom has always had headcanons that didn't really work out (such as Soren rather than Claudia staying loyal to his father), but the idea of Callum being some sort of "Snake Boi" seems to have stuck around despite having basically no support in canon.

This isn't to discourage people who like the aesthetic. People who think it would be cool if Callum was That Way. By all means, keep writing those stories, making those fanarts! Many of them are downright inspired, and represents a really interesting direction the story could have taken.

But "could have taken" is the operative term here. The traits that are associated with "Snake Boi" Callum (listed below) barely represent what his defining traits really are:

Obsession

Ambition

Temper

Ruthlessness

Selective Loyalty

There are, of course, shades of the above that ring true with Callum, as they ring true for most of the main cast. But it seems odd to single out Callum as the one who most exhibits these traits. Other characters who better exhibit, say, selective loyalty (such as Sarai taking a stance against hunting the Titan but ultimately sides with Harrow), are never recognized as such, let alone singled out to the extent Callum is.

Or they're based on interpretations that are dubious at best (Callum "turning against" Viren, a man he's never shown a particular liking to), or false at worst (Callum being the only one to actually want to kill Aaravos, despite the fact that killing him was originally Rayla's idea). So given all this, it's curious as to why "Snake Boi" Callum as an actual theory of who Callum is stuck around for as long as it did.

Then it hit me: much of this is really a projection, because there is a character who does exhibit these traits far better than Callum - Rayla.

Obsession

Rayla's obsession brings out the best and worst in her. She would obsess over what the right thing to do is ("I hesitate, think too much, get confused about the right thing to do"), but then also become obsessed over specific goals, first over killing Viren, then over the coins.

Ambition

All of the main character display some forms of ambition from time to time, but Rayla seems to have dispalyed hers at a much younger age:

At an age when most of the other main characters were just having fun and getting to be children, Rayla already chose her path. She wanted to be trained day and night by her mentor, despite her parents wishing that she have fun and grow up. To set aside a normal childhood and deciding on a career at that age, that takes ambition.

Temper

It should go without saying that it doesn't take much to set Rayla off:

So whether it's being mistrusted, being lied to, being rejected, being called weak, or just plain hungry, Rayla has a history of getting pretty angry.

Ruthlessness

I mean, c'mon, look at that smirk...

Or that death glare...

If that's not enough, here is what Rayla was planning to do with Claudia and Soren at the Cursed Caldera according to the novelization:

Selective Loyalty

Last but not least - selective loyalty. I think this is best exhibited by Rayla being willing to scuttle a two-year mission to kill Viren by saving her family instead:

But also by her insistence that "we can't save anyone," typically hinting at the belief they have to look out for themselves and their in-group before others:

But this is also hinted at throughout the series. She goes to save Pyrrah from Soren and Claudia, but doesn't express similar empathy for the humans in the nearby town that the dragon burnt down. Evidently, the bonds of loyalty are a strong influence on her actions.

So much so that in ToX this is Rayla's defining trait:

So on the one hand it's curious that Rayla's "most important value" is often assigned to Callum in some headcanons, but on the other I do get it. People want Callum to be selectively loyal, because that would mean he is selecting Rayla. That he's more loyal to her than he is to any pesky moral principles, that she's his ultimate value. What's more romantic than that?

But this does have the uncomfortable nature of being wrong: the truth is Rayla is the more selectively loyal one. She ultimately chose Callum over her quest to find Viren - doesn't get more loyal than that.

Conclusion

I don't write this to disparage anyone's theories or beliefs, but merely to point out what I think should be clear by this point: every single trait Callum is thought of having - temper, obsession, ambition, and especially ruthlessness - better describe Rayla. I'm sure people don't mean to project Rayla's traits onto Callum. It does seem to be done so in order to let Rayla be an uncomplicated hero with no moral issues, but in doing so I think people unintentionally ignore Rayla's best side.

Her obsession lets her stay on task. Her ambition shaped her into a great warrior. Her temper means no one can run roughshod on her. Her ruthlessness means she has what it takes to get the job done. And her selective loyalty means that when she says...

...she means it.

#tdp #rayla #soren #claudia #ezran #callum #rayllum

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eroticmonstersimp · 1 year

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WATER DRAGON BOYFRIEND

"Your incredibly stupid y/n, are you aware of that?"

You sucked your teeth and directed your attention to the fire roaring in the fireplace.

You were an herbalist. One of the only ones located in your small village. Since a young age nature was an interest to you, how eating certain plants or turning them into a paste could help heal. It was amazing, fascinating.

So at age 15 you officially started studying, even though you were already quite educated you decided to make it official.

Now at the age of 27 you were successful. The village depended on your knowledge of vegetation. When someone got sick they were to pay you a visit before even considering the local healer. To them, you were the healer.

Being an herbalist it was natural to be intrigued at the thought of studying a new plant, and that's what was happening now.

About a month ago a large group of travelers came to shore. With them they brought a strange plant you had never seen before. One of the travelers told you that the plant had long roots and its leaves held a goo that numbed for a short period of time.

You asked if you could have the plant they brought to study but they refused. So the only thing you could do was to go and get some for yourself of course. There was only one problem though.

"I am not stupid," you glared.

"YOU ARE!" your mother roared. " I understand your love for plants...but this is too far. You are well-aware of what lurks in those waters."

"I am aware. But I'm not going to let that stop me mother. Besides, they say as long as you peacefully make your way across you are fine. "

Your mother slammed her hand down onto the small table to her left."NO! It is not that simple y/n!"

You rolled your eyes. "How come? The travelers didnt have any problems."

"Just because they didnt doesnt mean you wont. Dragons are difficult creatures to read. One day they may commit mass murder then the next disappear like nothing happened. You can not tell me they dont do it for sport. They're sadistic!" She was worried for you. The thought of loosing her only child was evident in her argument.

" I will be fine mother. Listen to me, this plant could really make a difference for the village. If it does numb like the travelers say then it can be used for surgeries and pain relief. I am begging you, let me go. I will return to you I promise. "

After another long hour of conervsation with your mother you were surprisingly able to convince her to let you go. A few days later you were packed and prepared for the journey.

A couple of villagers offered you bread, berries and nuts to tend your hunger on the trip. You thanked them.

Before you left you spent a good 15 minutes assuring your mother you would be fine. A river of tears flooded her cheeks. It took everything you had not to cry yourself. With a final goodbye you were off.

Your boat was decent in size, with 2 paddles to row with. Luckily it wouldn't be too much of a chore since the waters current was calm.

About half-way through the day you had traveled a good distance. You had been going much faster than expected, so by nightfall you will have reached your destination. For now you have decided to take a short break.

You set down your paddles and reached in your bag for some bread. It was soft and fluffy, its flavor melted on your tongue almost. As you were finishing your lunch your boat rocked, a little more than usual.

With a delayed response you scrambled to grab the sides of your small boat in order to attempt and balance yourself. The once calm now strong waves splashed water into your boat, quickly filling in bottom.

a few feet ajead of you you could see a large shadow making its way to the surface. Breaking the surface something rose out from beneath.

The creature was the size of a large bunk bed, its scales were snowy white with a glossy shimmery effect. Its neck was long and spikes traveled down it disappearing underneath the water. The creatures eyes were aquamarine, they looked as if they were glowing.

You didnt move, and neither did it. He was gorgeous, and you hadnt even seen his bottom half because of it being submerged in water.

The dragon studied you with his eyes, the water surrounding you both resumed to its calm state. He slowly leaned closer to you, flaring his nostrils and huffing a cool gust of air onto your cheeks. You expected it to be warm, but it made sense since the dragon lived in the icy cool waters.

He stared at you for what seemed an eternity. Then he spoke. "What do you think your doing human." The dragons voice was deep and threatening.

You gulped and rose your arms in defense. "Im trying to get to the island on the other side." Your voice was laced with anxiety.

"For what?" He spat. He wasn't happy with your presence, that was for sure.

"I study vegetation. I have heard of a new plant on the island that i would like to collect for studying. "

The dragons furrowed his brows and leaned in closer, so close you were almost touching noses, well snouts. "You come all the way out here for a plant?" He asked.

You nodded. "Of course i did. This can be lifechanging for me. If what i have heard is true..that is."

The huge sea creature nodded at tour answer. "You won't make it by nightfall. Especially in that little wooden tub you call a boat. In the afternoon the tidea get stronger and around sunset is feeding time for creatures besides myself."

There was a slight breeze that cause goosebumps to crawl up the back of your neck. You pulled up the hood of your coat and sighed. "I can make it. Im not afraid of a few measly waves and creatures. I'll be fine."

The dragon showed no expression. Without a word he turned and disappeared head first into the dark blue water. You werent expecting him to just...leave.

×____________________________________×

Around 2 hours later the sun started to set. Just like the dragon said the tide picked up, heavily. You were struggling to stay in your boat, one of your oars was proably lying at the bottom of the ocean floor and to make matters worse it had started to rain.

The water droplets were small but dealed a lot of damage. They were like ice. The droplets had soaked your clothing, you minds well have just tajen them off.

You wanted to cry. Maybe you should have just listened to your mother and just stayed. Or maybe you should have just waited instead of leaping headfirst into the situation.

"I told you."

With a shiver you looked to your left the see the dragon with his head poked out of the water, staring at you."You did."

The dragon was right. You wont make it. You should've listened. "Would you like some help?" He asked.

"I thought dragons were mean, sadistic beings? Why are you trying to help me?" You askes hesitantly. You just couldn't wrap your head around the reason he waa helping you.

He once again have no expression. "That is nothing but a stereotype. Not all of us crave destruction." The sea creature moved closer to your little boat. His hand the size of a small bush rose from the water. "Collect your things and climb on. I'll help you."

You grabbed your bag and swung it over your shoulder. The dragon lowered his hand and front of you to make it easier for you to climb on. Once you were seated he gentley wrapped his large fingers around you.

"Take a deep breathe." With a nod you did as you were told. You felt yourself being submerged by the cold waters. It was freezing.

Within seconds as you two went deeper down the sunlight faded away. The icy water stung your eyes. You closed them, it was getting to dark to see anything anyway.

He was a fast swimmer. You could feel the water around you rushing by it seemed. You could feel when he took a turn or dove deeper.

You were starting to run out of breathe. You pounded your fist against his large wrist. He squeezed you in return. As if saying 'i know.'

Instead of a dive tou swam upwards and broke the surface of the blue liquid. Slowly you opened your eyes to see a crystal cave. It was coveres in amethyst, clear quarts and icicles.

The sea creature crawled up onto the ice made floor and gently set you down. You were finally able to see the rest of him. He had a long tail, twice the size of him. The spikes that ran down the back of his neck to his tail were black with a blueish gloss. His underbelly was a light grey. Resting on his back were a large set of wings. They were a snowy white like the rest of him.

"This way." The dragon said as he traveled deeper into the crystal cave. You wrap yoir arms aeound yourseld and followed. The little water adventure had made your temperature drop, a lot more than normal.

You followed him and took a turn to see a large area surrounded by crystals. In the back corner there was a small waterfall. In the other corner there was a waterhole, with steam...?

"The waterfall has fresh drinkable water. I have food if your hungry. If yiu would like you are mkre than welcome to take a bath, im sure you woukd like to gwt out of the ckothes and have a chance to warm up." He said non-chantadly.

You looked over at him with wide-eyea. "But..how?" You asked.

He made his way over to a pile of large cloths and curled up. His head resting on his arm. " this is called a dragons lair. They are created when a dragon focuses his energy on an specific area. " he reaponded.

You shrugged off your dripping wet coat, throwing it to the side. "So you created this?"

"I did." He said, closing his eyes.

The absence of thw weight of your soaked clothing already had you feeling better, but being surrounded by ice didnt help the still present chill in the air. You looked over to still see the dragon with his eyes closed. Okay good. Hes not looking at me. Slowly you stepped into the heated watering hole. You released a sigh as you sank in.

The water was perfect. Not too hot, and not too cold. You looked over at the sound of shuffling. The dragon gave a big strech, like a cat almost and walked around a corner.

Within moments he returned and walked over your way. In his hand he carried a cream colored cloth. He paused a good few feet away from you. Trying not to invade your privacy. "Here. Im sure you dont want to put back on your clothes from before." The dragon lightly threw the cloth your way. you nodded in thanks.

He turned around and returned to his previous area on the floor. "what is your name?" the creature said softly. you looked over his way to respond.

"y/n. and yours?" the dragon slowly closed his eyes and blew a long sigh. his tail swept across the floor and wrapped around him.

"its enya. "

x______________________________________________________________________________x

after you had gotten dressed and eaten the fruits provided by enya you were ready to rest. your arms were sore from rowing and your legs were stiff from sitting in a tiny boat for an entire day. you streched and released the loud yawn. the sound of your bones popping broke the silence in the crystal cave. "tired?" enya asked. he hadnt moved from his spot on the floor. the only movement he made was the occassionaly swish of his tail.

you nodded. "i am. it 's been an eventful day for me. "

Enya chuckled. it was quiet and deep. "i would assume so." he lifted his arm and wing looking your way. "you may lay here. you will freeze to death anywhere else. he stated. you made your way to him and layed down on the cool floor beneath his arm and wing. enya rested them on top of you lightly, to be sure not to crush you. it would be a shame he provided all his help only to crush you to death on accident.

Enya's scales were cool but not as cool as the cave. he was cold but also warm? it made no sense. you werent complaining though. the important thing was that you were warm.

You could feel the pulse of the dragons heartbeat slowly quickening. " i've never really been this close to a human before. it's...different." so he was nervous. thats why his heartbeat sped up.

You shitfed beneath enya's arm. "and i've never been this close to a dragon before." he turned his head and looked at you. his eyes were a grey-ish silver. they reminded you of a smokey quarts. cool and reflective.

"i have tried countless times to help humans who try to cross over the water. but eachtime it goes..wrong." the dragon sighed.

"how wrong?" you asked. you wanted to know.

Enya looked away from you and stared off into the direction of the watering hole. "more than a few have taken their own lives." he said quietly. to be honest it didnt surprise you. growing up you were always told dragons were an enemy. that they were cruel, savage beings with a thirst for power and blood. but you now know that is not true about all of them.

you slowly slid your hand across enya's side. "dont beat yourself up over it. it's not your fault." he looked back at you. his large eyes studying you.

"thank you."

#monster boyfriend #terato #monsterfucker #monster x human #monster romance #dragon boyfriend #dragon

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doubleddenden · 4 months

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Okay I had a whole thing typed that was my review for the new Pokémon dropped in Indigo Disk, but tumblr ate it, so take 2

Starting with my favorite, Archaludon. It's a dragon, a kaiju, also a stapler remover, also a bridge with power cables inside. This is a really cool design overall and fixes what I dislike about Duraludon, and it's fun to play with. 9/10

Hydrapple fixes what I dislike about Dipplin, but does make Flapple and Appletun a bit obsolete. Regardless, it's a fun idea and concept- I love that 7 Syrpents (which I guess aren't individually pokemon on their own? Slowbro Shelder situation I guess) make up 1 pokemon. It's silly but fun. 8/10

Also these two are neat because the concepts tie into New York/ Unova if we look at it through lense of Archaludon's Sky Arrow Bridge being based on Brooklyn Bridge and Rainbow Bridge, and Hydrapple clearly being a Big Apple reference. Very creative

Onto the paradoxes

Raging Bolt is interesting. I prefer Raikou, and I'll be the first to admit that I do not give a shit about how many cultural or historical references are in a design, if it looks like shit its a shit design. But this design is pretty okay, and because of that I can appreciate ALL of the inspirations that went into its design.

First off, with the Beast Paradoxes drawing inspiration from dinosaurs, we have Raging Bolt as the Thunder Lizard- aka Brontosaurus. That alone is meat, but it's still pretty mammalian compared to Walking Wake- that's because there's references to something called a Questing Beast. In Medieval times, before the age of cameras or fact checking, a description of an animal far far away- such a giraffe- can get twisted abd distorted via several games of telephone until we get to a creature that combines the lower body of a leopard and deer and the neck and head of a snake- aka the Questing Beast. Raging Bolt plays a bit with all of these ideas in a pretty unique and fun way. 8/10

Iron Crown- admittedly the Justice Paradoxes suffer a bit from the same "just make it a robot" mentality that plagues other Violet Paradoxes, but the Swords of Justice got the better end of it, I'd say. Iron Crowns in particular actually fixes what I hate about Cobalion by adding segments to the legs and thus making them feel less like bipedal knees on a quadrupedal animal.

It's signature move, Tachyon Cutter, also looks so cool in action by making the horns HUGE and GLOWING. That's awesome imo. 8/10

And now the new paradoxes we knew were coming

Gouging Fire, Entei's Paradox. I'll say that I like it, although this is the least changed of the Beasts and is basically just Entei in a fancy hat. Hey, that's fine though.

The dinosaur Entei is based on is some kind of ceratopsian blend. I personally thought they'd go in that direction with a triceratops design, so I was close. The head dress piece actually gives me Ho-Oh vibes, in particularly the gold and greens, which could be purposeful and root the Beasts Paradoxes back to the Beast's master, Ho-Oh. Fun design, 8/10

Iron Boulder. This one imo is more of the "robot" angle but done in a very good way. I like Terrakion best out of the Swords to begin with, but only at certain angles in 2d (they murdered him in SV. Murdered. He looks like a cross eyed frog now.) Iron Boulder takes the bulky build of Terrakion and makes it work better in 3d by incorporating spherical and cone builds along its body and head.

It definitely looks the LEAST like a psychic type out if any psychic type I've ever seen, but that's fine. Like Iron Crown with its twin horns and Iron Leaves with its 3 blades, Iron Boulder has a cool looking sword move- his turns his two larger horns into ONE MASSIVE GLOWING BLADE. THAT'S REALLY COOL! 8/10

And now. The Boy

Terapagos is a cute design that becomes more elegant, refined, and Stellar as it becomes stronger. While I'm a bit disappointed at how they handled it in story after a year of build up, I do think the designs after it's base form are incredibly detailed and creative.

The type patterns on its shell actually shift and change smoothly to other types, and the Terastilized form is even more incredible by representing every type plus a hat version of its original form. Beautiful, yet imposing, and a tad silly. The dome is an interesting take that I believe might represent the world or perhaps even a larger turtle- the design could reference one of many World Turtle mythologies and possibly have it represent a planet in space, or maybe a Turtle floating in the ocean, perhaps it's even a reference to the Tale of Urashima Taro. If Terapagos was available in Blueberry Academy- which I think it started out that way in planning- it could even represent the Terarium itself. Perhaps a deeper story was originally planned but dropped- like the castles and gigantic tree of Crown Tundra.

Regardless, base form is a 6/10. Its cute but kinda pointless. The other forms though are 8/10 though for incredible execution, wonderful and pleasing use of color, and overall just being great.

This batch of new Pokémon is way better than Teal Mask's, let's be real. For the paradoxes, I'll say the Future ones got better after Iron Leaves, while Walking Wake was the peak for the Beasts. Ogerpon wins for cutest legendary with the best build up, but Terapagos definitely wins for best design. This batch is an everall 8/10

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarlet and violet spoilers #Indigo disk #the indigo disk #indigo disk spoilers #Archaludon #hydrapple #terapagos #iron crown #iron boulder #raging bolt #gouging fire #den reviews stuff

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felassan · 11 months

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Some more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from some older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube videos where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago. (Multiple videos are covered in this post, so the source video of each bullet point is included there) -

"I'm pretty sure that the [in-world] Dragon Age will be an age that lasts a suspiciously long time, as long as there are Dragon Ages being made. I don't think they will drop 'Dragon Age' because it's such an identifiable part of the franchise". [source]

"I totally cannot spoil what the original Black City was supposed to be. I'm pretty sure that the approach to lore in DA has always been to leave it ambiguous to allow the future to go where it needs to go. Though that being said, DA:O was definitely built with the assumption that it was not getting a sequel." [source]

"The Calling is presented as taking decades to kill you on its own. So Alistair would still be alive in DA:I and DA:D if he went that way. I think, if I remember the lore correctly." [source]

"DA:O introduces a lot of hanging plot threads that aren't necessarily resolved. Orzammar potentially sets up a civil war, there's potentially werewolves running around. There's a lot of stuff we've been able to kind've ignore, but there's a lot of stuff that's still out there. The line of succession for Ferelden is open isn't it." [source]

[on the Warden's quest for a cure for the Calling] "I don't think it's established that the cure is actually found is it. Or just that they're looking." [source]

"Likely any cure for the Calling would be to extract the Taint from the person, so you would basically cease being a Grey Warden at that point." [source]

"I think they're treating the Trespasser epilogue slides as canon." [source]

[during DA:O epilogue slides] "You can see, this leaves a lot of threads in a lot of potential different directions that Dragon Age has been dealing with since then, since 2009." [source]

"The resistance that there was for toolset for Frostbite was a feeling like, 'this engine is proprietary, it does a bunch of stuff that we don't want other people to be able to steal'. That's basically not even true anymore. There's actually a feeling now within EA that user-generated content, UGC, is incredibly good, that it's basically free marketing. Like you say, Skyrim has been going forever. So that's why, EA has a really complicated relationship with UGC. What they want is basically, everyone to make TikTok videos and things about how great the game is. They don't necessarily want you to make DLC or Twitch stream the thing but they also recognize that this is not a, you don't get to have one without the other really. Yeah, the 'cost of free ads from fans is fan DLC'. That's pretty much, sums it up perfectly." [source]

"CD Projekt uses slightly different language than BioWare did for DLCs, expansion packs etc. I would not classify the free DLCs from The Witcher as expansion packs, they're DLC. They called them expansion packs but from my perspective, an expansion pack is larger than that but it's a spectrum for sure. The thing I would say about CD Projekt in general is they're amazingly good at picking the right language. So what they did on Witcher 3 is they said, they added a tiny bit of content to each of their patches and said 'this is DLC, we're going to give it away for free, aren't we amazing?' And then they made their DLC a little bit bigger and then said 'these are expansion packs, we're gonna charge for that', brilliant. Honestly brilliant. Because it makes them, it's a great PR move, it also meant that they got a, every time they released a patch they essentially got an article on the gaming sites. It's something that BioWare and frankly DA in particular is pretty bad at, like, naming things, and using language that makes things sound better." [source]

[on The Sims] "'Buy a thing and then later they release more stuff to add to your thing', it's an amazing business model. It's also a business model that EA does not understand, they, like BioWare, suffer from being a thing that exists within the sports-focused EA ecosystem that, constantly trying to explain that 'our players are not the same as your players, you need to let us do what we know how to do'." [source]

"We had a free-to-play version for DA multiplayer, that was Hendrix. It's not on the, EA didn't want it to exist so it was only on the servers for a little while, a couple of months, but it was actually there. I'm sure it's not up anymore." [source]

"I don't know if Frostbite is gonna die. I think there's a very good chance that what's going to happen is, it may become the next sports engine. FIFA is a monolith and has taken over the driver's seat for that engine. I don't think they're gonna be very interested in switching again. Even if active Frostbite development in general goes away, FIFA will keep going and then a bunch of other games live in the rain shadow of FIFA, like NHL." [source]

"If it was up to me, I'd probably have forced Mass Effect onto Frostbite. And I would be strongly inclined to keep Dragon Age on Frostbite for at least one more game because you've built the foundation. The best engine to use is the one you just used. But I don't know what's gonna happen after DA:D to be honest. BioWare seems to be addicted to throwing away work they've done in the past. And it was never up to me." [source]

"Frostbite isn't a recruitment negative but certainly it's a lot easier to find people that already know how to use Unreal. What you actually see in programming is some people, it's not a universal, but some programmers, they don't wanna work in Unreal because they feel like someone else gets to do all the cool programming bits." [source]

"The question for Awakening is should it have even been an expansion pack, or is a different solution to have made it, say, 40% bigger and made it a full-sized game. This is, I think, the reason why expansion packs are so rare these days is because, it's easy to imagine a path from an expansion pack to a $60 or $70 game and then you're getting somewhere between 80-120% attach as opposed to 30% attach. I suspect this is the primary reason why expansion packs have kind've faded away, because 'I'm gonna ship every year' is fairly accepted within games these days. So honestly the pitch for Joplin's live service was 'we're not gonna do a live service, we're gonna do a game, and then we're gonna do another game in 18 months and another 18 months after that. And maybe we'll do one piece of DLC in there, but we'll just be like dunk-dunk-dunk' and the economics for that are great. So that's why expansion packs are gone I think." [source]

"That's the fundamental problem of DA:O not knowing it's gonna have sequels, it leaves the world in a very quantum state. There's still stuff that's hinted at in those [epilogue slides] that are happening sometime in the future that I think are gonna probably at this point be ignored. Probably the biggest issue of DA:O is that it leaves the world in a state that probably wasn't intending that there would be a sequel." [source]

"When we were discussing doing a remaster for the trilogy, my pitch was to essentially retcon it [DA:O, DAII and DA:I] into a trilogy, to make it the 'Champion's Trilogy' or something to that effect, where you group the three games together, imply that they were always intended to be a trilogy kind of, and then that does a couple of things. It packages them into something that stands on its own a bit better, but also lets you potentially change what you're doing with the player character going forward. If you've decided that, okay, we've changed player character every single game up until now, but maybe we're not going to do that going forward, by packaging them together in a remaster you kind've give yourself permission to do that. Certainly DA:D is gonna have a new player character, given that the one from DA:I is missing a limb." [source]

"We probably oversold the Wardens in the marketing for DA:O. Because essentially, what we did was establish them as the coolest thing in the world and then yeah, so the series has definitely been dealing with the aftermath oh 'but not Wardens? Therefore not cool' forever since then." [source]

"But a new player character means you have a harder job every single game, because you have to get people interested, you don't get the shortcut of 'Shepard is Shepard, you know Shepard'." [source]

"Anders is the one that made us rethink how we introduce romances, because a lot of people ended up in romance with him that didn't mean to. We'll see if they come back to that in DA:D, but I think that because of Anders in DAII, DA:I was definitely trying to not 'accidentally do anything to you'. But it does mean that it is very player-controlled and very player-initiated. But maybe they'll be willing to go back to that a little bit." [source]

"Tevinter Nights does a really good job of staying away from violating canon. The thing with, the further you go away from what's in the games the more you are, the less well it's gonna do, so that's not necessarily a problem but it is something to keep in mind that you don't, you're trying to make money with your novels. Setting it in a time period that people don't know is great for the core fans but isn't necessarily gonna do super amazing. The advantage that Tevinter Nights is, because it's an anthology, you're able to just, everything kinda just stands on its own and therefore you're able to just stay away from the major characters to a large degree." [source]

"Varric's definitely not quantum, he's in good shape. Dorian, I feel like Dorian is guaranteed to be around [as in quantum], but maybe not, maybe I'm wrong about that. But the games have gotten better or at least more conscious of what they do with companions as it's gone on, in terms of trying to, being at least aware of the fact that you might want these people to come back, so maybe at least understand the quantum you're putting them in. There's a bunch of followers in DA:I that you might just not recruit. Like Blackwall's pretty easy to miss. Dorian can show up but he doesn't die if you don't recruit him, he's alive. The biggest thing for quantum is 'are they alive', in which, in DA:O there's a lot that don't make it. Then you have to deal with, well they might be [killed/not recruited?] or something but the biggest thing is, if they're alive you can probably make it work." [source]

"I have a feeling that Desire Demons are going to be just, ignored, or, honestly I mean one way to, I think, Desire is seen in a very narrow light in DA:O. I think if you go, if you move into Desire being a much broader concept, you have a lot of options there. I think if you approach Desire in a broader sense I think you have some opportunities. But then you kind've end up with the DA:I problem with the Fear." [source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

"Orzammar is definitely the place in DA:O that actually looks like Dragon Age. Everything else is kind've generic late 2000s fantasy, pretty much the same as The Witcher. For example, Ostagar has a more generic fantasy visual" [source]

"You know, other than DAII, DA does involve a lot of crossing the entire country to turn around and go back doesn't it" [source]

Chat asked "How well does the vanilla game DA:O play on modern hardware?" Mark replied, "I'm playing it on modern hardware, I don't have everything cranked way up and currently I'm running it in a window. It's running really well. The only thing that happens is if you turn the graphic settings up too far it will blow up because it will run out of memory. It's a 32-bit game and so if you cross 4 gig it will explode. But there are some mods out there that get you around that. That's the only problem with it is that, if you turn it up too far it will become unstable. I'm worried about stability problems during the [Battle of Denerim] part of the game" [source]

"I always found Redcliffe Village in DA:O a bit confusing to move around" [source]

Chat observed that the soil in Redcliffe would be be bad because of all the darkspawn and undead that were there. Some users theorized that the people there moved to a different part of the nearby land to make 'Redcliffe' again. Mark commented, "One of the reasons we felt okay pretty much redesigning Redcliffe in DA:I, because it's kind've broken. You know, we don't show it completely destroyed here but certainly it's hard its struggles" [source]

"I don't know who came up with the ogre-sync kill. Sync kills are really cool for bosses, they become a lot less cool for things when they're constantly happening but they're usually, unfortunately sync kills are often something that end up being de-prioritized as a feature, because they don't actually have a gameplay effect so they're kind've just aesthetics. So they often actually get cut for time reasons" [source]

Mark mentioned that he "certainly [has] some degree of lingering crunch trauma" [source]

[during the Battle of Denerim, when many creatures are on-screen] "DA:O does a good job of selling large groups for a game of its time. We must be doing a trick, something to get all this, because this is way over the creature count limit for DA:O. It's possible that we made special creatures that are way cheaper. Or it's a mixture. Waves is part of it. They aren't dropping any loot so there's definitely something going on" [source]

"Shouldn't there be people in the Wardens who have a bit more training in dragon killing?" [source]

"We probably should have auto-levelled unlevelled party members before the Battle of Denerim" [source]

[on the elves in the alienage during the Battle of Denerim] "Where'd they get the bows? Pretty sure it's frowned upon for elves to have weapons in alienages" [source]

"People do play DA solo which makes it difficult to have any sort of puzzle or anything that requires a group" [source]

[on Sandal] "I told the team if you put him in DA:I you gotta put him in everything because he basically then becomes a central figure of the franchise. So they gave him a rest. So you can blame me for him not being in DA:I" [source]

Chat asked "I'm curious why BioWare never brought back the army spawning mechanic from DA:O to DA:I, I always thought it was epic and underrated". Mark said "We talked about it in DA:I, it was actually a UI thing, we didn't have time to do the UI properly. I mean there's a lot of reasons why you don't get to play with your Inquisition well in DA:I, like to play with the organization, which is actually too bad" [source]

[while fighting baby dragons during the Battle of Denerim] Chat asked "Why are the baby dragons there in the first place?" Mark said "Someone wanted another addition to the combat. But it doesn't really make a lot of lore sense" [source]

[on lock bash] "I like what we tried to do in DA:I, giving you different things for different classes. Didn't really get used effectively. But it does strike me as weird, it didn't at the time, but playing through this, is like, you go into a space, all the chests are locked, you kill everyone, no-one has a key. Like, whose got the key to that chest?" [source]

"DA:O really does do some impressive army stuff given the chunkiness of its engine" [source]

[at end of DA:O] "Probably should have shown Morrigan leaving" [source]

"Alistair would be a fine/adequate king. He just needs a policy wonk to give him ideas" [source]

[during DA:O epilogue slides] "These are the ones that set up the quantum for the rest of the game" [source]

[during DA:O epilogue slides] "It's interesting that we called Dagna a mage" [source]

"I think DA:O still holds together. I mean it wasn't a very attractive game in 2009 and certainly it doesn't look better now than it did then, but I think it holds together. Some of the storytelling choices are problematic from a now perspective, almost everything in the Pearl, and then the whole broodmother bit could be, I mean it's a bit too far, it was probably a bit too far even at the time honestly. The combat holds up pretty well, because it's not 'push a button and immediately do an action' it has aged pretty well. The animations are kinda clunky and things don't line up very great but that's not that bothersome. It would be much more noticeable that it was a problem if things were a bit more direct" [source]

"DA:O has WASD in large part because Oblivion had WASD controls. I remember the transition and being kind've confused as to why you would do that, but yeah it's the right call. In the time that this was in development it became pretty universal" [source]

"How involved was I in Anthem? I was in charge of Anthem for the past 16 months. So a damaging amount" [source]

"Will I do an Anthem stream? I will probably do at least 1 Anthem stream. I might play through the story, I'm not gonna play multiplayer. I might play through the story and play it in pure dark pattern, forcing it to let me play it by myself, but we'll see" [note this video is several months old] [source]

[on Awakening] "Other than Destiny, this is pretty much one of the last expansion packs there ever really was with a retail presence. It's honestly a way better business than DLC. DLC you're attaching, maybe 10% of your people are gonna buy it, whereas expansion packs, 30%. You can spend a lot more money and make a lot more money with an expansion pack" [source]

"I think the idea for DA multiplayer getting harder when somebody died was to try to make the match start to end so that you weren't waiting. I don't know how effective that is, probably not very, but I think that's the thinking" [source]

"I don't think we really were, pretty much I think DA became a series when BioWare got bought by EA. I don't remember the exact moment but you can see by the slides at the end of DA:O there's a bunch of stuff that isn't really completely thinking about the fact that we're gonna have to pick up this ball in future" [source]

"Frostbite shares a lot with Unreal as well from a tools perspective. It wasn't done quite as intentionally. It's funny because the tools for Eclipse for DA:O, there was a specifically-designed wall between the two project streams to prevent this engine from taking too much from Unreal. There was a worry that Epic was going to get mad at us and sue us. Which given everybody elses' engine development was probably unfounded" [source]

"I imagine that a Blight probably increases Warden recruitment. I think it makes sense that people would be interested [right after a Blight was stopped] because you're the heroes on the block, but given what the Wardens know about Blights and things you would think that the responsible thing would be to actually cut recruitment way down, keep the order alive and then as they sense a Blight starting to come, ramp the recruitment way back up again. But I don't know that they know that a Blight is coming early enough to do so, so I guess the worry would be that if they don't keep their order relatively large then they wouldn't have the forces necessary to fight a Blight. Though of course you wouldn't expect another Blight right now, we just finished with one [Mark was playing Awakening's opening sequence at this time]. I think it's, there's darkspawn to fight and despite what they may claim, it's about being big enough to have a political impact on the world so that everyone doesn't ignore their existence and then they show up and no-one remembers who they are. Duncan talks about knowing it was coming but everyone not believing him so it does imply that they know at least some time beforehand. But you probably don't wanna wait til 1 year before it starts happening before you start rebuilding your forces" [source]

"The reason why Awakening was able to ship so close to DA:O was because DA:O moved a huge amount really late in development to do the consoles. So Awakening was pretty much mostly built in 2009, you know in the last 9 months of DA:O development, which was mostly porting it to the consoles. There's no way you were getting an expansion pack out within five months of that size without [this]" [source]

"Awakening is a masterclass in 'people who are familiar with the fools using the tools at their disposal to do some amazing stuff" [source]

"One of the challenges with expansion packs is they kind've have to fit inside the umbrella, even if they're taking place afterwards like this one does [Awakening], they can't raise the stakes too much. Whereas if it was a full-fledged sequel it could kind've do something new, kind've has to. Which is part of the problem with Awakening, given where DA:O leaves the world it's kind've hard to, we didn't really know where we were gonna go for our sequels yet, so that's probably why" [source]

"The problem with not sequel-ing Dragon Age is then what you would have been doing is probably trying to make a fantasy RPG in a new setting and then having this impossible comparison to DA constantly happening, and every single difference being a potential criticism, you can see why that, being a potential big problem. Much as I wouldn't want to wish it upon other dev teams, DAII is what allowed DA to be a series, because it kind've is the one that eats the rock of 'this is not like my previous game' and it kind've gets rid of the worst bits of continuity errors. And so to a large degree I would say that by DAII being this sort of thing that's rushed out to fill a financial gap, it allows the series to become a series. But you know, I wouldn't say that's the fix that everyone should take" [source]

"The problem you have to remember with DAII and 'more time' is very quickly you run into Skyrim releasing, and releasing DAII then, regardless of much much extra effort you put into it, after Skyrim is not a good thing. It has to kind've live there in a pre-Skyrim world. There is stuff that can be done for sure, but there's a limit to what you can do" [source]

"Mass Effect has, Shepard is too tightly associated with ME, so what do you do? Do you just keep bringing him back and making clones of him or something? That was definitely a problem in the case of Mass Effect: Andromeda because you had a younger player character, so therefore the tonal differences were seen as problematic. So it's something that you definitely have to think about" [source]

"With Justice, you do a pretty good job of explaining away anything that happens to Anders" [source]

"Oghren is here in Awakening in part because of again, quantum. Because Wynne could be dead, Leliana could be dead, Alistair could be dead, Sten could be dead or not even recruited. So you don't really have a lot of choices if you wanna bring a companion back." Here chat mentioned that Oghren can be dead. "Oh, so they do [in-game] respond to it [if Oghren was killed in DA:O]. He must have been the least quantum then. The place that you were most likely to kill Leliana in DA:O was at the Urn of Sacred Ashes, and I think we just sort've were like 'the Urn's right there so. She's fine'. Yeah, there needs to be a warrior [in Awakening]. I mean, we could've made a brand new character but. Sten was really likely to die. Lots of people didn't even recruit him. Hers [Leliana's death] is probably the most plausible retcon" [source]

"One of the things that kind've frustrates me a bit about the lore in DA moreso than ME is because it's so quantum, is the linear stuff in the comic books and novels have had, just picked canons on occasion. Which I get because you wanna have Isabela or Sten in the comics, but it does mean that it undermines the player agency there because it's like 'what you did isn't real, because here's what's real because we put it in a comic book'. I really don't like that but given the branching in the games you would've just had to have stayed away from those characters completely, which undermines the storytelling, so I don't know. I don't know what the answer is honestly. It's a good point that it's hard to imagine that Leliana's gonna be like 'sign me up for the Wardens' [source]

[on secondary media] "I don't disagree that you could do lots of prequels, but I think there's a limit" [source]

"The biggest reason why the darkspawn design changed from DA:O to DAII is that the DA:O darkspawn, mainly honestly the ogre, but they don't quite fit into our artistic palette, and there was a strong push from the art team on DAII to move the art direction into something that was ownable and so that's the main reason. It's really just an ownability perspective. But you can kinda see it in Awakening, because like The Withered is starting to look a lot like the DAII darkspawn, or at least he's headed in that direction" [source]

"One of DAII's big art direction things, Eclipse is really good at pushing polygons, so a lot of things in the art direction of DAII are pushing polygons. So they're spikier and they just have a lot more polys in them because it's one of the things it's really good at" [source]

"If you were doing a remaster you would keep the same engine. If you were doing a remake you would switch engines. It's not a remaster if you're switching engines, that's for sure" [source]

"I still maintain that Dog was essentially put through the Joining, but whatever. Technically probably everyone who has had contact with darkspawn blood is not a Warden, but it is a bit, I do think it's one of the things where the Taint and the Blight is a bit, is presented as being more bad than really is pulled off in the games" [source]

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #alistair theirin #fav warden #long post #longpost #morrigan #queen of my heart #anthem #mass effect #next mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #tevinter nights #random spaces sry bc the bullet point list text blocks got too long

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blasphemecel · 1 year

Text

Raihan — Applin And The Flop Confession

PAIRING: Raihan/Reader WORD COUNT: 2.6k TYPE: Humor, Fluff, Pining NOTE: Clichember Prompt(s) 2-4: Overprotective Dad Trope (except you have two dads and they're a Toxicroak and a Krookodile and they're technically your pets more than anything) + Oblivious Love Interest + Failed Confession . Clichember is going to be an event where I write a short fic with my own take on really overused tropes throughout November-December.

Your Pokémon are scary.

It's silly for Raihan as 'The Dragon Tamer,' a grown ass man, and someone who knocks his head into doors an embarrassing amount of times a day because he's too damn tall to feel afraid of trained Pokémon.

They're yours, so he knows they won't hurt him despite spending most of their time glaring at him with their arms crossed when he's around. The most aggressive they get is dragging him away from you when he tries to hold your hand or to swing an arm over your shoulder and getting between you two when you hug. He's aware he's not in grave danger.

Still, having a Krookodile — something he hadn't even seen before you moved here from Unova and he made friends with you — bare its fangs at him isn't pleasant, and neither is seeing a Toxicroak extend its poison sac in his general direction. Certainly they haven't charmed him, but it's clear they don't like him either, and the thought makes him a little sad. They're your companions, after all, and Raihan wants them to trust him.

However, no matter how good he is at planning and coordinating during battles, maybe this really wasn't a good idea.

It's not his fault you just 'haven't ever caught a Dragon type before' and you 'want one so bad.' Granted, he could've given you one, but that's not half as fun as hunting for wild Pokémon, and that wouldn't have been half as romantic, anyway. Now the two of you are in this situation.

"Are you sure there's a Dragon type in this area?" you ask with skepticism lacing your tone. "I mean, I pass by here all the time and I've never seen any."

"Don't worry, there is one," Raihan reassures you with an amiable smile. "But they're evasive, so I'll catch one for you." Obviously, you could do it yourself — you're a capable enough trainer —, but this is all just a ruse for him to give it to you.

"Yay! I can't wait! I haven't trained a new Pokémon in ages."

Krookodile and Toxicroak loom behind him, which he tries his best to ignore. Raihan's method of doing so is trying to focus on your cutesy excitement, though the holes the two Pokémon are drilling into his head aren't that easy to feign ignorance to.

Applin usually hide in trees, but that makes them both hard to spot and even more effort to catch. It's not that uncommon for them to fall on the ground, though, and that's how most trainers stumble upon them.

Your two companions exchange conspiratorial noises between them, but Raihan doesn't pay it much heed, and neither do you. After a while of pointless roaming and too many Dottler encounters, in the distance, Raihan finally sees one. He's quick to nudge you on the shoulder and point ahead, and Krookodile and Toxicroak are far too intrigued to show disapproval. "Look, there it is!"

"It's just an apple?" you say, rubbing your chin in confusion. Despite holding you in high regards, sometimes Raihan found you to be... dense.

"That's an Applin," Raihan corrects you with a sigh before he puts his hands over his hips. "They're skittish, so it'll be better if we approach it quietly—"

Krookodile's brows(?) shoot up in alarm before he starts gesturing at Toxicroak, who doesn't seem to react beyond letting out a few sounds in response. It's obvious the two of them aren't happy, though.

You and Raihan observe them with curiosity, exchanging a confused glance, but you're far too surprised to do anything when suddenly your Toxicroak speed-walks towards the poor little Applin and creepily stares it down. Krookodile lumbers after him not long after and lets out a loud growl, effectively startling it away. Raihan loses sight of it somewhere in the tall grass, though he gets the feeling trying to pursue it again right now wouldn't be a good idea, anyway.

"You guys are so mean," you whine, stomping up to your Pokémon with your shoulders up to your ears. Raihan follows you absent-mindedly, though the part of him that likes drama is curious to watch this play out, even if it's putting a delay on his courting plans.

Toxicroak looks ashamed of himself, but Krookodile goes all guitar riff like he's arguing with you, then he extends his little claw to indicate Raihan as if this is all his fault. His eyes widen when he realizes they have incriminated him. "What'd I even do?!"

You turn your head towards Raihan and then snap it back towards them. "No! Stop acting like this!" you say.

Krookodile huffs, turns up his snoot high in the air like a snobby human and his tail stands tall on alert. Despite his previous sentiments of embarrassment, Toxicroak nods and pats his friend on the shoulder in agreement on whatever you're even discussing.

"Don't be like this. You're not my parents. You come from MY BALLS, I don't come from YOURS," you say, and the sentence hangs in the air, slightly disturbing everyone in the vicinity. You don't seem to notice though, and to emphasize your point, you return them to their Pokéballs. Then, apologetically, you gaze up at Raihan with the sorriest expression you can muster. "Sorry man, I dunno what's up with them. If you don't wanna look for the Applin anymore, I understand. I don't wanna waste your time! I can find one on my own-"

Originally, he'd been planning to ask you where that line about the balls came from, but now, with a hasty laugh, he blurts out, "Let's keep looking for it. It can't have run off too far away, right?"

Somehow on cue, the Applin rolls out of the tall grass again, now that the threats are gone. It glances between you two apprehensively from afar, trying to decide if it should flee or not. Raihan decides to deal with this by throwing a poffin at it.

The Applin mostly seems confused by this, but approaches it anyway.

"I feel like you could've been more subtle about this," you say with a hint of taunting.

"Oh, quit taking the piss and watch."

You then watch as he throws a love ball at the Applin which he considers too distracted with eating the poffin to retaliate, and you can only laugh at him openly when it breaks out after a few swings and appraises him with what feels like a judgemental stare.

Raihan raises an index finger and closes his eyes, still sporting a cocky grin. "I meant watch this, not the last try," he says before throwing another love ball at it. That damn thing better get in there before he runs out of these — Raihan bought them for the occasion, cheesy as he can be.

This time, Applin sacrifices itself in the name of romance, pleased with the food offering. You and Raihan both turn towards each other and squeal and hop up in excitement like little girls, but then you remember you're not children and decide to pretend it didn't happen.

Raihan goes to retrieve the Pokéball, but you stop him. "You know, I expected you to do something more special, considering you're The Dragon Tamer an' all."

He rolls his eyes at your quip, but he lets out a little laugh despite himself. "Heavens forbid I try to do something nice for you."

Raihan presents you the Applin by going down on one knee and handing you the Pokéball like this is some kind of overdramatic proposal. As a joke, you curtsy in front of him, then take it, and he tenses as he waits for what you have to say.

You stare at it for a while until your eyes sparkle. "Yay! I finally have a dragon! I'll take good care of it, don't worry. Thank you soo much, Rai."

From a faux confident smile, Raihan's cheerful expression drops to a mildly unsure one. Do you... not understand? Awkwardly, he stands up like he got electrocuted and coughs into his hands, resulting in an eyebrow raise from you. Then he resorts to blinking at you like an idiot until he finally mumbles out, "No problem, mate."

For a second he wonders if you'll question him, but then you remember something and let out Applin, Krookodile and Toxicroak all out, holding the tiny apple in your palms. "Listen, Applin's a part of the team now and you gotta deal with it, so be nice or I'll be angry. Like, really mad! Like, soo scary."

They stare at you like they're the villains of the narrative and you're trying to give them a friendship speech, but you still insist on your bullshit. Then, after some silence, Toxicroak nods and goes to whisper something to the other.

"C'mon, promise. Promise. Promise. Promise."

Krookodile considers for a moment and then accepts whatever he had suggested, moving his snoot near your palm to smell Applin while Toxicroak tries his best to pet it carefully. The two exchange expressions of perhaps approval and maybe a hint of self-satisfaction. Raihan wonders what could've possibly changed over the last ten minutes, but figures it's not worth questioning.

At least they're getting along now?

As he has recovered from the psychic damage he just took, Raihan pulls out his Rotom phone with one hand and draws you way too close to him with the other, winking at the camera as usual. Your cheek squishes against his. “Hug Applin in front of the camera so we can all take a selfie. It'll be super cute, I swear."

You're about to comply, but the only photo Rotom snaps is one where Krookodile is pushing Raihan's face out of the way and his nose is so close to the camera everything else is unfocused. Toxicroak throws up a blurry peace sign in the background while you flounder to save Applin from slipping out of your grasp.

___

A few weeks later, you run inside his gym and claim it's very important. He knows it probably isn't, but it's not like he gets that many challengers, so Raihan still humors you. "What's up?"

"Look, you're not gonna believe this," you say before you reveal your surprise, giving him a close-eyed smile. Krookodile and Toxicroak linger around you as usual, though by now Raihan knows he shouldn't let them deter him if he wants this to go anywhere.

Raihan comes face-to-face with a Flapple. He gasps, exaggerating his shock at your revelation. "Woah, that was really fast. You don't fool about, do you?" Then he turns his attention back towards you and gives you his usual wild grin. "He's such a cute little guy now. I say this calls for a celebration!"

When Raihan stands up from where he'd been sitting, you tilt your head, expecting him to tell you what he has in mind. And he plans to, but before that he feels himself lucky enough to go for a hug without Toxicroak stabbing him in the stomach or something silly like that.

He's almost embracing you before Flapple gets between you two and hisses at him. Raihan's hands drop to his sides immediately, and this time the theatrics of his reaction are even more extreme. He clutches his chest and looks away, pretending to cry. "I can't believe you're betraying me."

You twist your lips downwards. "What?"

Why are they ganging up on him?! Despite trying to make a joke out of it, it hurts his feelings that your partners hate him so much, even though he’d never show it. Toxicroak and Krookodile hang around you all the time. They're practically your best friends and, for some reason, they can't stand him. Is he doing something hurtful to you without realizing it? Do they think his personality is rancid? Will he have to get blessings from an over-glorified frog and an edgy crocodile one day? Because if so, that's so not happening.

What's the issue?

Toxicroak and Krookodile seem proud of themselves. Well, at least if your Pokémon love you this much, it means you treat them really well. Not that he doubted that, but it's the only copium he's willing to huff to accept this predicament.

___

It's at some kind of event that Raihan notices your Toxicroak, Krookodile and now even Flapple glaring and hissing and overall trying to drive some other guy away from you. For a second he's relieved he's not the only one they hate, but then he notices the guy is trying to be flirtatious towards you, and though you're not swooning at his attempts, you also don't appear to find him repulsive.

Raihan's face blanks. Oh, of course, it should've been obvious... It's not that there's something wrong with him. Your Pokémon just have a jealousy problem.

As your conversation with him goes on, though, Raihan suddenly deems it a good idea to join. He stands somewhere between the aggressive Krookodile and the creepy Toxicroak he had considered his nemeses not too long ago, while the traitorous Flapple flies near him.

Despite the less-than-thrilled expressions they regard him with when he approaches, Raihan feels a sort of camaraderie with them right now. He doesn't consider himself a possessive man by any means, and it's not like you're dating him yet. Despite that, he can be competitive concerning anything he cares about. He coughs fakely as to announce himself and goes, "Ahem, am I interrupting something?"

"Hi, Rai-Rai!" you greet, waving at him with a smile, and the other guy blushes as he watches you. "You're not interrupting anything."

"Great," he says, choosing to ignore your embarrassing nickname for him for now, clenching and unclenching his fingers in his pockets. "Remember the rematch with Leon I was telling you about? I just wanted to let you know I saved you a front-row seat if you want to come." Of course, he didn't need to announce this since phones exist, but he needed an excuse to interrupt your conversation.

"You're such a show-off," you say, though you're still smiling at him. "You better not lose if you're making me watch."

"I can't lose if my good luck charm's there, so you'd better come," he tells you in a way he believes is suave.

The Unnamed Man, who you almost forgot is still here, unnecessarily asks, "You two know each other...?" like it isn't obvious you do.

"Yeah, we're very close," Raihan confirms with maybe a tad too much enthusiasm. "I gave [Y/n] an Applin as a gift, and it turned into this Flapple, see?" he says as he points at it.

The Unnamed Man, a bit crestfallen, mumbles something under his breath and walks away. At this, you frown. "Well, that was rude," you call after him, but he turned his back on you and you can’t tell if he even registered your reprimanding. A bit disgruntled, you say, "He didn't even tell me his name when he started chatting me up."

Raihan isn't sure you gathered anything important from what just transpired, but Toxicroak gazes up at him with newfound respect and Krookodile looks proud, somehow, and tries to pat him on the back, though his short arm only reaches Raihan's waist. Flapple nuzzles into his cheek. For the first time, he feels happy to have their attention.

Does this mean they're on his side now? He hopes this isn't a 'he thinks he's on the team 😂😂😂' situation.

#raihan x reader #pokemon imagines #pokemon swsh x reader #one shot #raihan imagine

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anarmel · 10 months

Note

hiya! just wanted to say i ADORE your dnd au for stranger things it is so captivating to see each art piece you've created (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

can i ask if there's any little headcanons or plotlines you'd be willing to share about it? I'd love to hear more but totally understand if not (⁠人⁠*⁠´⁠∀⁠｀⁠) either way i appreciate the work you do!!!

Thank you for your kind words!(i read ALL tags) And sorry it took me so long I’m bad at writing hope you’re still interested)

I have entirely too much in my head for this AU and it’s ever evolving but I’m dog at writing stuff down because my brain gets like scrambled so I always forget what I want or write down and english is not my native language so my writing is blunt and sometimes i don’t have the right words for concepts i want to communicate and I overall suck at communicating but I do want to share something about this AU with someone who appreciates it so I will try)

This is my continent map and planar map for this AU because every official planar map in DnD is too unnecessary complex for my type of worldbuild:

This table is my basic ideas and info on characters (i change it all the time because I’m inconsistent and have new ideas every week) and I fucking love multiclassing it’s more storytelly

And i have a Pinterest board for this AU with visual clues and inspiration for the characters if you want to get a feel for that take a look: Link

Worldbuilding and character ideas(completely too long wall of text but I attached some old sketches for paragraph breaks):

Worldbuilding portion

I usually don’t like to put racism in my fantasy scenarios but The Empire is based on America with all the colonization and racism and all that so its there (reason: ST has too much themes that are purely American and if you take them out it’s kinda unrecognizable and some characters lose some experiences that effect their characteristic and choices they make. And the world needs to feel violently bigoted and secretive with governments that lie and do terrible things) but don’t look for direct correlation to real events. it’s like heavily inspired by America. i don’t want to erase racism and white supremacy and how it effects most if not all characters.

This Empire is under one of god pantheon(most of the faerunian pantheon with some exceptions). As one if the main worshiped gods that effect the story I chose Torm(the god of duty, loyalty, righteousness, obedience and law) and Bahamut(the dragon god of justice and a subservient deity to Torm). Empires are so greatly represented by dragons: massive gold hoarding uncontrollable and unstoppable and really hard to defeat. And because I want Tiamat dragon cults in the story. The list of allowed worship is limited some gods are outlawed some are just weird to worship and looked down upon. Most gods that are law and order based are great to worship

The Empire came as an expansion of an already existing Empire that represents one pantheon of gods that were at war with the Fey pantheon of gods and mortal rulers are continuing this expansion on mortal plane(even if mortal plane is abandoned and neglected by the gods). During war most Gates that connected Feywild with the Mortal plane were destroyed and in their place “Divine” Gates were built. The War of Establishment ended 200 years ago

The way my gods/worshiper interaction works is not as direct as I’ve seen in other campaigns. Paladins/Clerics get their power through tapping into residual celestial power that is left on mortal plane after calamity battles many ages ago and more advanced Paladins/Clerics can tap into celestial plane directly and it’s very rare for a god to communicate with their worshipers.

Empire general attitude towards different races(fantasy racism part… it’s worldbuilding okay):

Aasimar is the most respected race imbued with the divine blood most of the royals are Aasimar. Highest standing in society

Goliath are historically the giants that are the protectors of the divine. They are given opportunities other races are not. High standing in society

Humans are the basics as always. They have their hand in every pot.Mixed standing in society

Halflings were always a part of the empire. Infantilised in larger society. Mixed standing in society

Anything Fey is perceived as weird and inhuman and often fey magic and creatures are blamed for all manner of mischief and ills, ranging from petty vandalism and theft to outright murder and kidnapping.

But there’s a distinct difference between every elf group

High-elven culture is the one of the biggest ones that was crushed by the empire. Empire is built on elven ruins. Elves that didn’t escape to Feywild earned their keep in the empire by being great merchants because they knew to local surroundings and had established goods production and even with inter planar fey gates destroyed some elves had trade connections in Feywild. Being there from the beginning of the empire given some High Elves really high standing in society and more opportunities to build up their capital but at the cost of abandoning or suppressing their culture. Material plane High elves have purple/pink blood and similar skin under tones medium pointy ears(from living in the material plane for a while) Mostly culturally integrated. Mixed standing in society

Wood Elves mostly come from Beast Lands plane that lays between material plane and the Feywild and when empire conquest reached Feywild they stopped their war expansion on woods and wanted to build more of business relationship with the faerie court and the faerie court doesn’t care about the rogue elf tribes of Beast Lands that are being misplaced because they see the benefits of empire as a reluctant alliance instead of an enemy even if fey believe they could win the war if it comes to that . The Empire use the kidnapped elves as the laborers to build new empire cities across the continent. Wood elves have a distinct green skin undertones, green blood and large pointy leaf-like ears that make a Great War trophy and bringing a few souvenirs a soldier can show of is not that looked down upon. And high elves on large don’t associate with wood elves they are both seen as fey but different in “usefulness” in society. So wood elves have a low standing in the society but it’s slowly starting to change in some parts of the empire

Eladrin native to the Feywild and mostly are not present on the material plane and seen as distant trade partners.

Other elves(astral, aquatic, drow)exist but are not seen inside the empire

Gnomes is the other race that was native to the land the Empire took over they are integrated as the high elves and seen for their innovations and trade. But also they’re infantilised in society of larger races and sometimes are not seen as a full person but as cute creatures who are mostly helpful to bigger races. Mixed standing in society

Dwarfs mostly live underground in stone cities. I like Dragon Age lore for dwarfs so I’m incorporating it. True Dwarfs are not permitted to see the sky and those who do are considered sky walkers and still can serve as merchants of dwarven goods to the surface or can just go live as they want on the surface but they will never be considered true dwarfs and are not permitted in places of under mount worship of the Morndinsamman. They are not a part of the empire even if the mountains are on empire territory. Mostly seen as trade partners

Most of genasi populating empire are mixed. Air and earth genasi are the more accepted. Fire and water are not as much. Mixed status

Different Main Genasi tribes set up close to their respective elemental planar gates but those tribes all really different.

Air genasi mainly have a cloud city surrounding their gate populated by other avians but also have travel tribes that travel on cloud settlements.

Fire genasi are mainly nomadic with some preferring to live in a settlement near their gate it is considered their home base and if a fire genasi was outside it’s tradition to make their way to the gate at least once in their life

Earth genasi mainly have a permanent home under the mountain near their gate the city is populated by some dwarfs and rock gnomes

Water genasi live near their gate that is surrounded by mostly underwater country (enter a fantasy name for Soviet Union here)(?TSAR?) populated by aquatic elves, tortles, merfolk, tritons, simic hybrids and vedalken

Firbolgs are mostly nomadic small tribes and lived close to the fey gates so a lot of them were massacred during the war and there’s not much of them left. Perceived as fey and mostly forgotten because they live outside of cities.

Any half breed is looked down upon. A little anti-miscegenation in the mix to this horrible prejudiced bigoted world(just like the real one)

There’s also magic and class(DnD) discrimination

Any Divine and Radiant magic is praised so most of paladins clerics and monks are thought highly of in society

Any nature magic is looked down upon ether it be too fey of holistic and barbaric in the eyes of the divine

Barbarians if not zealots for the right gods or have right ancestors are barbaric and looked down upon

Sorcerers are usually put through governmental evaluations to find out their levels of danger those who deemed too dangerous go into maximum security prisons or are simply executed,those deemed controllable go into an educational program(less strict prison). Any sorcerer magic can only be used under strict control of a sorcerer’s keeper appointed by government.

Wizards studies and education mostly are behind walls of magistrates that operate separately from other government controlled magic institutes but for the greatness of the Empire. Arcane magic is controlled but not as strictly as sorcery

For Wizards to deepen their studies of magic there’s one option walls of magistrate a separate arm of the government specialized in arcane magics. Arcane magic is controlled but not as strictly as sorcery because it’s considered an intellectual and intelligent magic

Artificers are the inventors and move the world forward. Government gives grants to institutions of artificers for development of weapons and transportation for people without magic and such

Necrotic and blood magic is prohibited and outlawed

Character stuff(most of it is just like a starting position in the story that will never be)

Byers family. I wanted to make Joyce a merchant but then I came up with the idea of them being a grave keeper family for an old eleven graveyard, being just poor in fantasy settings is not enough for stigma they get (the monarchy class system is just too different everyone’s poor but the selected few…well not different at all but I wanted something different and more fantastical).

Joyce after escaping her abusive husband stared working for an old elven lady that owned the graveyard and not having any family of her own she let Joyce and her boys live on the property and when she left the mortal plane she left the graveyard to the Byers family. So in this world there’s a lot of stigma around anything fey but high elves are more integrated into society and Byers family looking over a spooky scary creepy and ancient fey graveyard filled with old dying magical remains can make the family ostracized and it brings a somber tone and a death theme to back up Wills story. Because usually grave keepers task is to make sure the dead stay dead and don’t turn undead. And Will is kind of undead after his stint in the upside down and that is his one more secret from his family and friends (I want a more magical and powers related secret for will to struggle with).

And Jonathan’s first iteration was a Chronurgy Wizard because I wanted to play with the theme of him capturing moments in time (like photos) but more I thought about him he is such a rogue and there’s Phantom Rogue that has an interesting trinkets system that you get by capturing souls of your defeated foes still has the same idea of moments being captured in a still object but Assassin suits too so idk. Maybe I should have made Byers Shadar-Kai instead of High elves. Maybe they as a family need a rewrite???

Hopper’s story is similar to canon grew up in Hawkins moved to a big city (W.D.C) for opportunity. Low standing Goliath have an opportunity to earn status through Arena (gladiator fights). Got married. And after losing his child and divorce he transferred back to his old town with status that earned him a position of chief.

El and Henry are both kalashtar (a compound race created from the union of humanity and renegade spirits from the plane of dreams(limbo)– spirits called quori) with the appearance of astral elves to play into the themes of alienness (E.T. glowing fingers and long glowing ears). A big meteor struck near Fort Hawkins and The Empire researchers stumbled upon a lost child named Henry (astral drifter who only looks young) that possessed powers that they wanted to research and use as potential weapons (like they use ordinary sorcerers). After some years of research Henry showed scientists where they can find more power. A research group with a military support was sent into the Astral plane they returned with several adult war prisoners and the experiments jumped a few levels in cruelty. Most “Main Experiment” children were bred and grown in a lab. Events that happen at the lab resemble what happens in the show. Some sketches of El and Henry I didn’t land yet on design that is set in stone (I don’t like how I draw their quori too literal):

Steve’s family is royalty. His dad is a king of the smallest province named Indwarim with the sit of power being in Fort Hawkins which is still not the biggest town it’s small and underdeveloped and was mostly built to separate the gate to Beast Lands from the Capital it doesn’t even have a “Divine” Gate (gate system that connects main cities of The Empire). The King of Indwarim is not known for spending time in his seat of power leaving it in the hands of his council and expects his son to take over his small province while he gets close to the emperor and climbs the social ladder closer to real seat power (Whitheirion Divine Court).

Steve is fond of all attention and admiration his royal blood and divine blessing brings but all his life he felt inadequate, people respect him for the things that were given to him by birth right and nothing he did or deserve. But who is he to complain about the easy life he lives so he enjoys all the positive attention that he can get and lets people bask in his light even if deep down he knows all they want is a crumb of prestige and power befriending a royal can give, Steve has never met a genuine person in his circles so he assumes that all people are like that everyone plays their part of court theater. Steve has his own masks so he understands them. He always had people around him that tailored him to their expectations and that keep him in check. In social circles he paints a picture of a royal you can find at all the parties that are worth attending with new arm candy every time, all masked in charm and light conversation, all surface no depth, not an intellectual but at least he’s martially gifted. He’s not fit for the system but plays it enough for it to benefit him, he’s not going to stand up to it. He doesn’t know who he is without others making him.

And I want Steve to have some kind of insecurity where he thinks he’s useless without his legendary weapon which is a stolen fey artifact that was claimed by empire and now one of Harrington’s family heirlooms (which Steve doesn’t know for a while) and later in the story he will return it where it belongs because it’s a right thing to do even if it strips him of his additional powers. (Some inspiration characters for D&D!Steve are King Arthur, Stella(Winx), Fjord(CR))

Robin is a miracle child to her older parents. They loved their little girl and given her all that they could while running a small but successful tailoring shop. I did make Robins parents fantasy hippies while well-meaning they appropriate the culture of fey creatures but don’t struggle with the stigma around it since they themselves are not fey and even benefit from it in their business because their designs perceived as exotic and “new”.

At 12 Robin come to realization that something is off about her and there’s things that happen to her that don’t happen to people around her and the desire to find out what’s wrong with her took her to the library and there she stayed studying anything that took her scattered interest. Meanwhile her parents put her into a music studies and Robin even gets to play at royal court a few times.

At 14 she come to the conclusion that she is a changeling a myth a child swap of the fey and since then she felt like she truly doesn’t belong in her family and believes that if her parents found out they would stop loving her and disown her. She keeps up her mask around her parents and doesn’t inform them about her discovery but unknowingly she keeps distancing herself from her parents.

At 17 she requests to go into a new Starcourt research center to start studying magic more seriously and spends most of her time as a scribe and even going on expeditions into the sea and forgetting her musical studies. At the Starcourt she meets prince Steve not for the first time who was sent to the magistrate to “learn humility and to appreciate his divine gifts properly and maybe it will make you more intelligent, Steve” and then it kind of follows the shows events. Some Robin sketches and a design of her parents that I’m not sure about they need to look older I think:

Eddie is a child of a warlock pirate and an elven druid. He’s a tiefling because of his father’s infernal contract that affect him physically.

In his early years he mainly lived with his mother on land with his father’s rare visits but one day his mom just didn’t return home (I want it to be ambiguous did she get into a situation and died or got murdered or raising a tiefling child alone without support in a judgment filled town got to her and she decided to run away from it? who knows? not Eddie that’s for sure and sometimes not knowing is worse especially when you have overactive imagination) Eddie is at home alone for several weeks afraid to leave and sleeps for most of the time to repress hunger. That is the state his father finds him in and has to nurse him back to health and they live on land for a month but living a stable life was never in the cards for Eddie’s dad so he decides that Eddie is mature enough to follow him in his adventures and learn what it means to be a true son of a pirate. His father has an ego and sees Eddie as a continuation of himself and his power but he does love him but never more than himself his freedom or his pursuits. Every time Eddie is trying to bring up his mother his father shuts him down like he doesn’t want to think about whatever happen to her, like she’s not here let’s move on kind of attitude. so no closure there.

When Eddie is around 10 his father goes to visit his brother with Eddie in tow for the first time. The relationship is strenuous but a favor his father asks of Wayne is just to look after Eddie when he’s gone on a big job that will change their lives. His father never returns. Eddie lives with Wayne and he feels like a burden to this man who didn’t even knew he existed several weeks ago. Wayne is a matter of fact battle hardened tough guy that was trying to find his stability after years of service (he was in an expedition to the astral sea among other things he did in the military) Wayne after his years as a sailor was recruited into a government sponsored mercenary group and he mainly joined to lift himself and his brother out of poverty while his brother chose a different path to that same goal. While in service his needs were accommodated but after the system has abandoned him with trauma and not as much money as he was promised. But with that money he got himself a small house in the least developed province of Indwarim on the outskirts of Fort Hawkins in an area named Forest Hills and got himself a job as miner the only job available to him. His settled life gets interrupted by his brother and his grand plans for a better life but this time he doesn’t try to bring him into it all he asks is to take care of his child for a while and that Wayne can do. Even if that while turns to years he’s not that bothered the child is endearing and if both of his parents are not there for him his uncle will step in as a parental figure to the best of his ability.

Oh and for his shaved off horn he has thousands of stories about that and he will NEVER admit that it was him at 13 childishly coming to a conclusion that his horns one of the main reasons he is different and rejected by society he wanted them off he wanted to look more like his uncle he wanted to fit in he wants the snide comments and dirty looks toward their family to stop. But not only was it painful as soon as he saw himself in a mirror he knew he made an awful impulsive mistake. He wants to hide it from Wayne for as long as he can so naturally as soon as Wayne gets home from his night shift he finds out. He sits Eddie down and struggles how to fully communicate to his kid that we are dealt a certain hand in life and we got to play it to its fullest potential and that his uniqueness only makes him that unique and people who don't see it through their prejudices they are the ones that are missing out. Uncle of the year. But Eddie being a kid takes it a little differently and just changes up his tactic of shielding himself. He cranks up his "uniqueness" to a 1000% and to be bigger scarier more attention garbing more repulsive than he is so no one would even try to go after him and his out of fear of consequences. He finds other street kids like him and they form a group power in numbers as they say. Hell Fire is formed.

When Eddie is around 14 years of age and alone at home old associate of his father Reefer Rick appears on their doorstep to inquire about money that his father owns to him and how will he get it when that fucker got himself imprisoned which is the first time Eddie hears the reason for his father’s absence. As Rick is mostly a smuggler and not a distributor he recruits Eddie for his plan to get his money without unnecessary harassment of his uncle and for Eddie to make some gold of his own all and all Rick know the kid and he's scrappy. All Eddie needs to do at first is leave some packages in particular places but if he wants to make more he has to get proactive and get new clients. And Eddie does want more in as he thinks the more gold he can make the more he will help to alleviate Wayne’s burden and Wayne doesn’t even need to know (Wayne will know really soon). And to make the most of his new gig he takes his bard troupe Corroded Coffin to the court as jesters and while entertaining the stuck up upper classes he makes a few sales.

Wheeler family is quite a wealthy family with their father working in some governmental transportation bureau and their mother being a stay at home mom.

Nancy became a small time volunteer agent to The Harpers the faction that she believes is good for the world at 14 as soon as she, by the power of her father's station, was allowed at court to find a husband and just live that court gossip live. Even that young she has her believes in order but she’s still a young girl who wants to live out her girlhood and build a good life for herself but that dream crushes when her best friend disappears under some suspicious circumstances and is presumed dead. Nancy's pursuit for truth takes over her life and she starts uncovering something bigger than court gossip something that she cannot take on alone even if she wishes she could. Armed with a gun that Barbara made for her and her strong principles she falls into a world of governments secretive experiments and what they lead to.

Mike…oh Mike he’s such a hard character for me to nail down. I saw a lot of people making him a paladin and I get that he plays a character that’s a paladin in the show but if I were to give Mike as a character D&D stats charisma is will not be his highest but it’s my opinion. He and Will are still childhood friends they met at the graveyard when Mikes curiosity won over and he’s gone exploring we’re adults said not to and fell into a grave where Will found and rescued him and then they became besties. Mike is situated by his father to work for a house that will help him get into a higher society and he gets to be an errand boy some days. He meets Dustin and Lucas when one of those errands goes sour and after their little adventure he introduces his new friends to Will and they form their little adventuring party

Sinclair's are a family of wood elves which is already hard under rule of the Empire but they make do and father of the family even earned himself a respected position in his hunting guild so they have it better than some but still surrounded by a lot of stigma.

Lucas has gone on some scouting expeditions with his father and likes to explore the forest by himself developing his tracking and hunting skills. One time exploring on his own he noticed smoke and what is smoke without a forest fire and went to investigate. He saw a small dwarf and a big mechanical cat on fire. After Lucas helped to extinguish the Steel Defender he met the dwarf properly he found out his name is Dustin and that the fire was caused by a failed experiment he for some reason ran in the forest. They became fast friends both fascinated by each other’s experiences and lacking any other friendships they gravitated towards each other’s weirdness. When he’s older l would expand on his relationship with Patric who is the most integrated into empire society wood elf Lucas ever met and Patric is kind of his mentor and that’s how his cleric powers find him and Lucas joins the greater divine order. He enjoys his new station and it makes him feel more accepted so he doesn’t understand why his friends have to shut his new side down and make him the bad guy for exploring himself and finding his place in this horrible world. Divine power doesn’t make you a bad person but it’s powerful and most bad people seek power and it’s unfair that Lucas’s new found power diminished by his friends by putting him in the “other” box. His people were one of the most oppressed by divine powers that be and by joining the order he wants some of that power back he didn’t create this situation he’s only trying to survive in society as best as he can and find a better life for himself and everyone he loves. It’s not the power that’s bad it’s the application.

Erica is another one of the characters that is hard to nail down for me. At first I wanted for her to be a druid that pretends to be a cleric and maybe it’s an idea that is still alive but making her rogue/ranger/monk makes more sense to me but it has less narrative I think. Because she as a character has this unearned respect for the empire (based on the quote “You can’t spell America without Erica”) She too seeks acceptance but goes around that really differently to her brother. She’s larger than life boisterous bold and even if she is unwanted she will power through it and insert herself in a place that she thinks she does belong. Fake it till you make it as they say. She’s really protective of her family and will not listen for your negative opinion of her but she will hear it and will try really hard not to internalize it. She’s still a child yet doesn’t show weakness as she supposed to through her hard exterior shell. She’s charismatic and smart beyond her years and has a clever jab for every situation. And it’s no surprise that she has a side gig as a mysterious bounty hunter information gatherer she will get you all information you need on your target and you will never know that job was done by a child (imagine puss in boots in Shrek 2 situation) she has a little bit of a reputation for being efficient and anonymous.

Dustin is half mountain dwarf on his mother’s side half rock gnome on his father’s side. His parents met when his father who works for a wealthy jeweler was send with an expedition to discover precious minerals and gemstones for a supply chain but instead of finding new deposits they stumble upon an undrermount dwarven settlement where they established a business relationship with a local gem carver and Dustin’s father established a relationship with a daughter and an apprentice of said carver. They fell in love and Claudia decided follow her love and live her life on the surface leaving the undermount behind. She is really overwhelmed by the sun and the openness of the space but with support of her husband she has a beautiful time living in Fort Hawkins. Her husband recommends her to his employer as she has unique dwarven expertise and style of making jewelry and working with gems. They make decent money and decide to expand their little family. When their boy is three years of age the father of the family passes away in an unfortunate work incident while visiting a work site a rock slide happens and takes the lives of several workers. Claudia is inconsolable but she puts herself together for well-being of her child. But every year that passes it’s tougher for her to leave the house and she slowly becomes agoraphobic the surface becomes too much without support of her husband she already worked from home and her employer doesn’t care if she is the one making the trek to deliver her product to and request raw material be delivered with the same boy she send. She has unique product and it sells.(I don’t know fully why I made her agoraphobic but the idea of juxtaposition of Dustin’s mom always being at home and available but in an unhealthy and kind of smothering way but always loving and supportive to her child despite their struggles and Steve’s parents that are never home and absent in his life is interesting to me story-wise) Dustin himself is a little engineering genius creating his first fully realized Steel Defender at age 11 despite his intelligence he’s not taken seriously in small artificer circles of Hawkins even by children his own age because not only he’s an uncommon half-breed which grants him a weird standing in society by birth but also he’s of a “small” race and that infantilizes him further so he always striving to prove himself by being the smartest person in every room he’s in which sometimes makes him insufferable and more isolated. That’s until he meets Lucas who is interesting to talk to and who is not afraid to give him shit when he steps out of line.

Mayfield's and Hargrove's. Niel Hargrove is a human noble of province Calafia his family secured most of their power through a secret chromatic dragon worshiping society (a cult) and even there he managed to stand out as Tiamat cults are usually matriarchal and Niel is not that fond of women in power. Even his first wife who is of northern aasimar clan is kind of his prisoner. After her death he took in a second wife, widow of his fallen friend Sam Mayfield, because they all together started an experiment with dragon blood and a child that Susan bore and he needs to see that thru.

Billy is half aasimar which already makes him insecure from birth like he's incomplete and unfinished but still he is superior to so many so why do the unworthy get any power at all when they don't know how to use it and some powers should not exist at all. To enhance his martial prowess his father makes him get dragon blood tattoos and to activate them and enhance his rage he needs to consume more dragon blood and he is hooked on high of that power when it streams through his veins he feels on top of the world. He feels like a King. He deserves to be one.

Max is born and its already a train wreck. Some of dragon blood in her gives her a partially scaly skin but apart from that she still looks human. Her step father tells her about her greater purpose and she goes thru brutal training she is told its to make her stronger but it only making her exhausted bleeding and afraid and from a young age she learns not to share her fears or insecurities as they will be used against her. At 13 her power gets out of control when she unexpectedly got injured in a public space and the whole family is forced to move to not get discovered as blood magic users they lose a lot of material possessions but their noble status is intact but they need to start from scratch in Fort Hawkins. After that incident Max is strictly guarded by her step brother a situation that they are both not happy with. Even before losing control like that she struggled with her powers what they mean for her and how dangerous they are if she does purse them so she pivots into developing a more controlled way to channel them which does not make her family that happy.

Basic Story

It all leads to a battle against The Far Realm (a plane of madness situated very far from the planes of the standard cosmology. This maddening realm was feared for its power to twist unfortunate visitors into gruesome monsters, and it was from here that aberrations came). A plane that Henry discovered through his talent as an Astral Drifter (someone that has traveled the Astral Sea for so long that they have lost track of the amount of time they have spent there. Aging stops in Wildspace, and it is not hard for adventurers to get lost in time during their travels. Astral Drifters have traveled to the far-flung corners of Wildspace to satiate their wanderlust. Along the way, they have crossed paths with everything from petrified gods to unspeakable monsters) So Henry got warped and combined with his quori spirit and declared himself an Aberrant God and as a being of Far Realm he seeks to consume it all and be the only power in the multiverse and he will go about it in a way that will make it final. The Celestial plane is the hardest to penetrate so at first he tried to go thru outskirts planes but it didn't lead anywhere so he found a stable connection to a mortal plane the plane that is the most interconnected with others. Limbo is his weapon. Through the plane of dreams he can influence most beings on mortal plane. He is the voice in the dark. He is the premonition. He is inspiration that comes suddenly out of nowhere. He is the Dream of greatness. He is The Voice Of God.

But mostly it's just the events of the show through a very heavy D&D lens but like with more character exploration and preferably with a more cohesive story but that's just in my head its been my night time story to myself for a while now.

Hope you enjoyed reading thru this shitstorm and I hope it makes some sense)

#ask box #long post #stranger things d&d #stranger things dnd #stranger things #can you believe me when I say I never watched ST #it’s a show that is not for me personally #the shows main theme is nostalgia for the 80’#and it gets stuck in 80s tropes and doesn’t subvert them #it has decent beginnings of characters but they do nothing with most of them with very selective development and exploration #and Henry is such a boring villain #*oooo* I’m a nihilist and I want to get rid of the world because nothing matters i don't understand his motivation #Henry is just tentacles on elm street #so...boring #and i really dislike the pure evil child who is bad for birth trope #but one day I’ve got to tumbring saw some art of steddie and now I’m in hole the walls are smooth and slippery and I can’t get out #my art

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onereallygoodlambonastick · 1 month

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rolecall / XG - TIPPY TOES / left right posting up slow switching lanes just like this / only direction i know swerving left right keep me upright / my adrenaline hit the pedal to the ground / 2 lil asians / don't we all deserve it ill tell you how we want it / no you cant deny it / you either like it or bite it / don't ask me if you dont know why / the only direction i know / what goes around comes back around / so when he comes down are you gonna let him pay or are you gonna let him stay

do you know why phonk gets popular on the social medias? because people dream of murder. they just find the most socially acceptable way to do it, because these are people interested in staying people. to those who dream of murder: this is will not kill you. for it did not kill me.

this is why everything i write is a poem.

and i think more of us should dream of murder, or what it takes to end a life. just one is fine. just 1. uno. uno. yi. yichi. one. One. the One. you believe in god? believe in the power of 1.

all for one / one for all. think on it. evoke all might, and evoke his enemy. why?

the universe is interested in this, too.

will you answer it - or shall i?

Dealer's choice.

You want to be cool? Be cool like a dying & a dead body.

I've lived through the age of humanitarian aid - ive seen nice people do nice things. Now I ask: Toni Morrison, what would you do different?

Fushigoro Toji knows exactly what I am referencing, and not only that: he knows exactly what I am aiming for. This is because he was interested in bringing the jiu-jitsu sorcerery world to its knees.

Gojo Satoru was interested in this too.

Now the question is: how?

Gege Akutami failed in his task to honor Gojo Satoru. I name you, Satoru: for all your fans call you Gojo, and I alone will know you. Now who will join you? By this, I mean: who will join me?

Who will speak conviction to action - because by the audre lorde, i Know Archive of Our Own, I know the dynasties of our time, and I know how to tell them from myths, and I know how to tell that from myth-making.

East Asian dragons are built like fishes for a reason.

Weavers in Palestine have still not fled. I need not know why. Why? I know why. Why? You gonna keep asking me shit or are you gonna use that brain two people gave you and the fact it's a muscle and do grindr? Grind on it. Grind. You done? Do it again.

You pissed yet?

You mad, broski?

You either wake, or you don't, unstirred - thus undeterred.

I say this now to honor James Baldwin: no more sleeper agents shall be in my path. Let's fucking dance, or there shall be war.

Sugimoto Saichi knows this so fucking well it made me get up and take a run, because he made me take a blow to the face and I survived it: he says this to a white US-American collector of Ainu artifacts: and do you know what he said? He said this: give up the artifact or I will take you down. Verbatim, by word of the translator on the pirated site on which I read: do you know what happens when negotiations break down?

It's called War. more simply: you, or me. it is an art. that's why "sun tsu" is famous in the white(?) man's world.

Now there is the mythicized World War 3. Chinese-Americans will for sure suffer like they were meant to be born stillborn in its wake. Do you want me to tell you why or will you look up? Current news is distracting for one reason: the news is merely an inch of actual reality that then proceeds to holler down several damaging hoops.

What is more accurate: current news evokes the current state of the world.

Here's a note to clue you in , not that any immigrant nor migrant nor vagrant really needs it, but here's something to piss you off anyway - Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps. Wanna guess what number world war this was for?

Wanna guess? Or Wanna Know? See what I'm putting down yet? No? Okay.

No more sleeper agents shall be in my path. I say this now to respect the fact James Baldwin aided in my survival. He died already: why do I still feel him here, with me, laughing? It's simple, really. Because he loved Angela Davis: and Angela Davis is still alive today.

And I am right there beside her.

In the first and only book I've read from him, he said this through the mouthpiece of his characters, his loved ones, his chosen ones, the ones that would make him survive, AKA enable, and he said this: I will build a long, long table for folks to be eating off of for a long, long time. And the woman who loved him said this back: I'll go where you lead me.

This book changed the US-American consciousness. He wrote in France. I don't need to read his autobiography to confirm this. Here's why, because I could give less of a shit if you wanted to play devil's advocate: it is because James Baldwin judged he would not survive in The United States of America.

So he wrote in France.

I believe he died there.

Now I ask: will you respect 2024 or will you make someone come after you?

Dealer's choice.

You have been dealt your hand. Your ass is either shown or it will be shown. You either wake, or you don't, undeterred. It is this clear cut because empire has intensified, singing of its war drums: it has been, always, never new, always old, but never interesting, always predictable. It is why all the gongs of dehumanization are on. It is why those who have listened to it all their life are now cold like metal. We know how to be metal. Metal: the one thing that needs heat to shapeshift. Why is winter difficult to survive? This is why historians and social science researchers say the same shit and nobody listens, but they are slightly more likely to be listened to, and that is why people of color, and those of the margins, flood into academia anyway, knowing they will be perfectly tortured.

Do you want me to tell you how I have been tortured?

Do you want to guess, or do you want to know, or do you want me to torture you to make you find out?

There have been people who were shot for less. Of them: Hind Rajab. After or before her, because the order doesn't really matter, not really, only that they were dead where they stood: those two Red Crescent paramedics.

Toni Morrison must be shocked where she is in her lively post-death. She said this to me once, because I read it, and I felt her touch me, because she is real, and when she died in 2015, that is how I knew Donald Trump was fake: I will always be shocked. I will always choose to be shocked. I think anything less is a kind of death.

I have died. But I am still alive. Why? To honor the two people who raised me. One - a dragon herself. The other - a rabbit.

My dad has taught me to think like a prey animal.

Do you want to know why people daydream about shapeshifting into predators?

Do you want to know, or do you want to guess? Follow the path your parents have set you on since the day you were born.

Otherwise this is what will happen: you will never catch up to Martin Luther King Jr. You will not meet Audre Lorde. And you will not be looked at by James Baldwin, though he will see you, anyway.

Do you want to know what happened to the people who made Disco Elysium, or do you want me to fucking repeat myself?

You either wake, or Nanami Kento will never speak to you on his way to get a viet sandwich. And through your mouth will be flies: for you have failed to speak the truth, and honor the one and Only task you were given at birth: take care of thyself.

Number 1 rule of Art of War by a Chinese man:

It is the same rule that KDJ from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint dances to. This is why every character revolves around him, carnally. Their hunger is real. Their seeing and knowing already there. This is because KDJ is a reader. He knows exactly what potency it takes to kill a character, and what it takes to keep one alive. This is why Shing Shong was successful in their refusal to write a story that comes from domination. Because first: she was disinterested in it.

Because first: she wrote a story. And it was a long one. 500 chapters. And for what?

This is why I want Shing Shong carnally. Why carnally? Well: what do you think? You wanna spend a guess? Come here. Come and find out. Come.

2024 is the year of the wood dragon. Wood dragons are named for their transformations. I've decided. Do you want to know what I've decided, or do you want to guess? If you are impatient, now you will know how it feels like to be in a burning pit, hellish by Japanese standards, tortured, forever and ever, and then perhaps you will have your first rare and individual and selectively acquired taste of what it has meant for everybody else to be colonized, while you stand, alone, mute, wearing the most bodily privilege you have ever seen, never acutely felt, and you will stupid for it - do you know why? Because white supremacy has an adjective placed in front of it, and it is doing something there. White supremacy knows it must first trick the light skinned people. So first it creates an abstract idea: it creates -

What would I have said here? Pull it together for me. I seem to have forgotten. This is the tune of real survival. This is why all people from all walks, all individual tortures, are still interested in community. You find the punk, or it finds you with a crackle of knuckle. It's why cult survivors exist, past being kept like abused animals. Because you will not die at the end. You won't. How do I know this?

Did you fucking read, or were you fucking tone-deaf?

Here it is, though, because I'm being nice: global racial capitalism is a cult with death at the end of it. And you must know by now I am not unique. Because even the worst person alive, objectively, by anybody's standard, got here somehow. And I have killed myself to care. I have tortured myself. I have. I have killed myself over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over because ultimately when the rubber really hits the fucking road I believe Ajin: Demi-Human is an relatively optimistic story, because those who have learned to resurrect themselves at will will always be interested in the good fun. Samuel "Satou" Owen is my favorite white-ish man in Japanese manga. This is because, like me, the Ajin writers and drawers were wise: they did not name the unknown substance that brought everybody back to life. They merely places an man obsessed with ways of living, at all costs, in front of it.

Satou-san is a white-Chinese man. He is mixed. What does this tell you? It tells me this: he is of movement. This means he has two feet. If he has two feet, and he is bipedal, and he can wield a gun with the mastery of a guy with chef's tools but in a forest instead of a well-stocked and furnished kitchen, this means he is a person. He likes to fuck around and find out. His white-american father failed to stop him. Why: did he fail in his task because he did not love him? The Ajin makers are clever: they had his white man of a father beat him, first, and then, later, quite quickly, demonstrate that he was a father first, because Samuel's father apologized for hitting him, because he wants to know his son is a wonderful person, and Samuel, so young, a child, stood there, alone, with a smile on his face, dead animals around him and blood on his hands, probably caked under his fingernails.

So now I wonder what it would take for Samuel "Satou" Owen to go back home.

I will write on this - cuz I do be writing - but I'll give you an interesting thought here, because this is what I offer, relief that feels like a slice that cauterizes the wound on the way: Satou's father did not fail in loving him. He failed because he was too kind.

I will teach Satou-san what it looks like to be brutal, but with compassion. And I won't kill him - now why would I do that? Ain't he the most lethal demi-human immortal freak Japan and da rest of the world has ever seen? He came from the United States originally. He only ended up in Japan because he is a video game freak. It's not because he's crazy: it's because, actually, he likes to have fun.

This is why he refuses to take his life so unseriously: he felt the universe slot another coin into his piggy bank. The universe must be interested in him for a reason. Life in the universe needs no reason. It's how we got here anyway. Now you must see the conspiracy? This is why the researcher who named "IBM (Invisible Black Matter)" was called insane and asked for the cigs in his car when three fingers, one by one, were cut off his left hand. He was being serious. So now I ask: will you fucking play?

Those who read of medias that show off their gore, turned like stones, with fresh worms underneath, in that rich, rich dirt: c'mere. You know exactly what I be talking about. Ajin: Demi-Human dances on the grave of Shounen by placing a non-traditional protagonist in the path of a traditional shounen protagonist and Does not make them fight. Instead: they are made to collaborate. Now how were they made to do this? Because at the core of each, was a compassionate core, and so every character was interested in each other as a person.

Read Ajin. It dances. To a music that few hear. Because it takes skill. It is not like Jiu-jitsu Kai-sen. It was not made to be a franchise, because it sought to honor its people that lived in the narrative. The cost: it will never be popular. It is why its second season is the way it is. This is the cost that Ajin's makers incurred. And they incurred it anyway. I have heard them without ever speaking to them personally. This is my skill. So now it is my offering.

Gege Akutami failed in his task to honor Gojou. Do you wanna hear why now? Or am I being registered, like a smaller gong amidst all the gongs of dehumanization right now?

Hey, fans of the Golden Kamuy - y'all get it most, for Sergeant Tsukishima is a secondary character and he has earned many delicious, life-affirming fics on that One and Only site. Each one I've really read got at it hard. Tsukishima writers and lovers and comrades in arms: Do you hear me, or will I go unheard like I have seven years ago?

Will I die, or will you die first? I won't. So Now the question is: will you?

I think, but first, I choose to believe in this one thing: all people know exactly what I am talking about. Because you were born. And now you will die, because empires have never been interesting. They generate dead bodies for a reason. They never have to say anything to dead people. Because, again, they are dead, and there's no way to bring them back to life. That is why eradication is strategic, and that is why slow deaths are more interesting, because it's quite hard to kill somebody without a gun, and so serial killers invent fresh ways to do it - wanna know why? Cuz they be bored, just like I am, watching them do it and choose it like a abused dog might with its ragdoll of a chew toy.

We see the dead people. One of my parents decided to become a doctor, practicing zhongyao, purely because he saw the way his grandfather died. Do you understand the acceleration of skill to mobilize thought to action? He spent 10 years putting himself through his chosen torture - medical school. Or will you sit there, mute in your dead body shame, so totally unmoved you are disturbed by almost anything? Why don't you find a corner in the world where you won't suffer for it. You can try. The last person who went to outer space came back and said never mind, it's actually all here and this is really it.

You can try the ocean. Elon Musk didn't. Wanna know why? It's because the hard, the really, really, truly, back-breaking work, is never done by the toddlers in power.

So now I wonder if Noor Hindi is well. The answer is no. Why?

Will you ask me to repeat what I've just said, or will you Read:

Dr. Alreer said: if I must die, then let me be a story. Of what?

Of what?

We all come from matter. We all know when things die, the matter doesn't disappear. This is some kinda physics law. Astrophysics too. Supernovas and lesser deaths of stars generate elements that compose matter. So do stars when they come into being. Sure. The Ainu peoples knew it first, as did every other peoples native to a land who did not seek to immediately obliterate it. Because they were first interested in their survival, and in that: how to keep surviving. Anyways, this is interesting. Because this means while we are alive at the same time, we are negotiating it all the time. This is why Stands and Jojo's Bizarre's Adventure is Bizarre and so fucking fun. It dances, and it dances visibly. It is called drag. It is called performance for the purpose, on purpose, for interesting reasons. It's why Kujo Jotaro did not die until his daughter would, because he protected her, and she protected him, and they died, but their friend, truest witness, went and finished the task given to him. And so they still lived. So it is bizarre. Everything probably is. It's why people are so interested in convenience, in that quick fix, in that hit of ketamine, in those shortcuts, in taking their lives less seriously, because they already know how serious it is to live in a world like ours, and they already know just how hard it is to meet each other where they are at, because they have struggled in meeting themselves where they are at, which is the deepest fucking pit unique to them, for they are being tortured, even as we speak, because it is individual: but it is not unique. Because I have been tortured. And I am still here, speaking with you.

So are you gonna fucking participate in derogatory theatre, or are you gonna wait till someone like me comes over and whips you where it really hurts? For those who are hung: you know. For those who aren't: too bad, you've got a throat.

For those who don't: we know what happened to them, don't we. They don't get livestreamed. DRC is silent because they cannot make it a football game. People are dead, dying, and are being disabled from living.

So now you either speak, or you remain silent, or as Baldwin said it: uninitiated, or unactivated, or as Morrison said: un-artful. If you do, remain silent or quiet or whatever that really chafes you right now, then you will never know what Audre Lorde was saying when she said We Were Never Meant to Survive. Do you know the three ways to survive in a ruined world, or did Ocean Vuong say it already and you simply refused to clock it and let it travel inside you like a missile that hit Vietnam all those decades ago?

This is the risk I incur. So now I evoke all those who have aided in my survival. I know I am not alone. Do you know why there was not 1 dragon leftover, in ATLA? Because if there was one left, it would not have come out of its cave. It would have stayed there, forever, until it perished. So Zuko's uncle made sure there were 2. Am I understood, or do you see that when I open my mouth and see red, every color of life is evoked? The sun god folks in that iconic scene know exactly what I am talking about. It is why they keep the original fire burning for thousands of years, and this is why one of them looked at Zuko and joked about the masters (real) chewing him up, and their leader said shut up but did not say he was wrong. Because he wasn't.

Their leader does something nice here, which he is by no means obligated to do, but does, because he knows he is not free to abandon it like the sleeper agents have: hey, you might die if you do this. Will you still do it?

That is the risk you incur by coming after me. I make enemies. But first, because I am an dragon originating of the East Asians: I know exactly who my friends are, first. All I ask is for you to not act stupid.

If you insist: well. When the LONG opens its maw, you will be right to be terrified. Why do TIGERS have teeth if not to use them? Praise the knife that goes through the PEAR for you, or you will not eat well tonight, and if you do: know that it will not last.

Karma simply does not come quick enough. That's A-OK. The universe prefers slowness. So now I dance. I gave to it my sixieth spiritual death and it has finally snickered instead of dragging my face through the fucking dirt, asking me to open my mouth and taste the worms which dance in the rain with their entire bodies. It's why they writhe. Now when I laugh it laughs through me and seems genuinely pleased. But what I care about most is this: that I have gotten so good at what I need to do, and what i Want to do, that Nanami Kento now merely inclines his head and walks beside me. And this: that Toji merely glances an eye at me and lifts his chin, smiling, crazed at the edge of pleased, and asks me anyway, despite full knowing in all his rage and all his cool dead & dying & disabled body discernment: hey, how are we gonna fuck em up today?

Treacherous cunt.

I am not a spiritual person. I've merely died spiritually enough times for me to have to use the academic word for it. In me I have, first: the people who saw and shielded me - second: the people who taught me, dancing to their own survivals. I am the friend of Bob. The one who told me to keep writing. Bob, I am proud, and I know you are proud of me. Hey, hi, hello.

This is my dream. My friends are a dream. All of them are. One by one they have stood, and they have stood alone, and now I am there beside them.

I honor all those who aid in my survival. Face me when you shoot me in the fucking face. This is why union leaders are assassinated in their beds, with pregnant people right beside them. This is why small children in the first formally livestreamed eradication campaign call the men in tanks cowards, and mice, because that little girl was just that fun, that interesting. This is why Sugimoto Saichi, at the very beginning of his story/dance, he hesitated when that wounded animal came out and charged him, desperate and mobilized with all its might to clear a path to its survival. Because he saw and he understood in less, but it was still too late. So that is why Asirpa said let me take the shot next time, if you can't do it - in fact, don't even try. For we need heat to survive the winter. Dragons of the East are interested in one thing, and that is people, not god. We come when called. We come when uncalled. It is why we show ourselves when people of a land need rain. 's also why we show ourselves when people of a land don't think they need shit. Do you understand the level of discernment required to do this? My judgement is not divine. I don't give a rat's shit about God. Wanna guess what I give a shit about?

A rat's ass.

But just so you don't the wrong idea, because that is what personally pisses me off the most: I don't believe in God, but I believe in you.

How is this possible? Because I had a parent, and in her, she was a dragon, and she has evoked it enough times, at all the critical moments, for me to follow her example. I will incur the risk now. I have always taken risks, because I've seen what it takes to safeguard and then nurture and then, perhaps, cultivate a life. I was born into the year where dragons have danced and they saw me and I have seen them, and you really should be thinking about Zuko not being stricken down by the last 2 dragons of his time by now. My father is a rabbit - he knows how to respect the world, so that he is to be respected if he cannot be loved. And he still chose to care for me, a weakling. He still chooses it: for we played a poker game, just once, after majiang, and he saw how I dealt my last card and thus understood my entire play and he looked me in the eye when he said:

Don't do that again.

So now I incur the risk. Because I know the cost of what it means to survive in a place like this. The world. The world. People get hurt here.

Duh. Richard Siken is needed no longer. He has said what has needed to be said. He writes, and I write too. I pick it back up, the dead thing at the end of the road. Because in order for it to be dead, it must have been killed.

So I will incur the risk. You are welcome to join me. The time to wait has been over since the first people(s) said, fucking shit fuck help! help! and nobody came, or if they did, they still ended up dying anyway.

i have never been interested in living forever. people who do are interested in having fun. the rest are idiots. the people who have fun usually die first - it is why aang's entire people was eradicated from this earth, from that fiction lifeworld. so now i find it more interesting when the people who have the most fun don't die - and that is why Toji of JJK is ketamine to people. from everywhere. from all walks of life. do you want to know why JJK is popular now, everywhere? I will tell you why now. Because I am being nice, and I am interested in your surviving, your continuous survival, your real tunes. Because I would prefer to be your friend rather than your enemy, but you make your choices, and I will make mine.

Here it is the truth: it is because JJK is interested, at least initially, in what it would look like to wield overwhelming power responsibly, which is to say: meaningfully. It is why Gojo is Japan's animation poster boy right now. He always did like to fuck around and find out. And he found out, didn't he - he found out that his own creator gave up respecting his principles to serve franchise interests, the grinding acceleration of that kind of selected - and chosen - giving in. It is a death. I have grieved it.

Now I stand here, alone.

Now I ask : who is interested in seeing Gojo Satoru still alive, even knowing that he has failed in his task to do what he said he did? Is it because of him, as a character, as a person who lived within the narrative, or is it because of the narrative that either enables or disables his real and true living?

One of the oldest people in my life said this to me recently: I personally believe that there are no shitty characters. Only a story that no longer suits them.

Will you be a story that I can live in?

Or will you be a story that makes me want to come after you and demonstrate to you, selectively, intimately, how you have betrayed me?

Will you, or won't you?

Kong Si-Woo is calling me now. Sorry. Bye. Gong Si-U is the best negotiator I know, and he's telling me to take a break. You can't solve everything by your self, he is saying. That's why you pick your men carefully. And he has chosen. Do you know who he choose?

He chose Toji.

Toji survived after he left the torture pits in that family clan of his.

First, he ended the life of every cursed beast in the family's torture pit to relish the fact he could do it, perfectly alone. His solitude earns the survival of Zenin Maki, and thus the survival of her sister, Zenin Mai.

Second: he met someone who was curious about him there, also perfectly alone in one of the most inhospitable places alive, already similar by then, and earned his respect, unyielding for some reason not known to him, personally, but his ass is shown to me because I have tapped it and I liked the sound that came back.

This is because Kong Si-Woo and Toji have a 10-year history. Adults at that age, making new friends? Color me delighted.

Third: in earning the Korean man's respect: he earned the capacity for real trust, the kind that marks actual fucking solidarity. And then Toji, scorned Japanese man he is, lived for 10 more years with Kong Si-Woo near him and by him, because these are men who when they are killed will live on, until Toji fucked around and found out for the last time --- until, of course, the story itself brings him back to meet his grown son.

Now I ask you: will you be respected, or will you be interested in what real enabling, at all costs, looks like?

Will you give a shit the way Toji does, or will you give a shit the way Nanami does? Will you move the way Sugimoto does, or will you simmer quietly like a jar of moss like Qingming, pirated Dream of Eternity: Yin-Yang Master, softspoken and brutal in his withholding? Will you have fun like Satou Samuel Owen, or will you earn the respect and thus relieve the responsibility of Nagai Kei, at age 17, willingly took on because he saw clearly the danger Satou posed to every normal person alive on the planet, and decided for himself that he would end it now.

Will you be tortured like Suzaku Kururugi, so complete, fans of Code Geass feel it even today, or will you take decisive action to bring the very structures of the Jiujutsu Sorcerer's World down by disavowing the only child you've named for blessing, just so he could have a headstart?

Which character will you relieve of their responsibilities? Can you tell who needs it the most? Do you know what I'm saying here? I am saying I do not need Nanami Kento anymore and he has never needed me to speak. This is because he died in Shibuya, and I am glad he did, because Gege Akutami's writing abilities did too. I would not have survived the Nanami's badly written death the way I could survive Gojo's. Gege must have detected this in some way: he must, even with his franchise of an empire, because even a franchise of an empire comes from people: because he waited to kill Gojou, because he knew everybody seemed to like him, and genuinely love him, in many many lands, and what he did was brutal, and it was genuinely cruel: he bisected Gojou in half instead of blowing a hole through him despite putting him in Toji's killer fit.

It means Akutami was done with Gojou's character, and discarded his personhood, and gave his fans and comrades and enemies crumbs. Enemies of Gojo savored it: but they understood its brutality, and rejoiced because finally the biggest dick did win, as they foretold, because they foretold the death cult that is global racial capitalism, because they have survived, and they don't want anybody else to except for themselves, and their friends, of course. Even our enemies have friends. What does this tell you: it means everybody has the capacity to understand tragedy. Indeed, Everybody else simply understood it for tragedy. Now there's nothing wrong with a nice tragedy.

But is it interesting? Toni Morrison looked me in the eye in one of her interviews and I will tell you what she said to me: she said once you have gotten the jobs you have all trained so beautifully for, you must now go and free someone else. This is not a grab-bag candy game.

Now here's the thing about TRUE FICTION: AND TRANSFORMATIVE FICTION: we can bring him back.

I will do it. Anyway, I will do it. Why? Because I know what it takes to complete a story and respect a character's personhood. Because I learned how to draw first, and then I figured out how to write. Each time, it was a person who bestowed it to me. So now I read Dungeon Meshi and trill with delight. Now she gets it. So now I reread DOROHEDORO!!! Now this one too, she knows it. So now I follow Witch Hat Atelier, not only interested but believing in its conclusion: for Shimomura knows exactly how to dance to make her people dance, too. This is a skill.

Will you dance. You. Hey. Hello. I ask you now: Will you fucking dance? If so, come here. I protect all other/Othered animals. But first, you must show me your teeth, and then second, you must make it known to me you are not my enemy. For I am not god. I am merely a person born into dragon year. So now whenever I open my mouth, I do it knowing the whole world will listen. I stand alone, and I will go unheard, or I won't, and then: I will either be killed, or I will change people along the way. I don't mind either results. Because right now, Tosaki, the man with the mints and the cigarette and the crisp white suit, from Ajin: DEMI HUMAN is my favorite fucking character.

He dies at the end, by the way. He dies with no regrets. I seek to follow him.

Hey - Aaron Bushnell. I evoke your name to evoke your death, because your last words were Free Palestine and you chose to do it, standing there, perfectly alone, despite wanting to become a software engineer, transitioned out of active duty.

You have done your duty. I got it from here. I will not fail Hind Rajab again. Trust me, I won't. You plug it in right by me, or I will know. Now isn't that the real fun?

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electricshoebox · 2 months

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writer interview ✍️

Tagged by @junemermaid, thank you so much my friend!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

42 apparently!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

662,511 😳

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All of these are Dorian/Iron Bull from Dragon Age: Inquisition.

How to Share a Bed Without Killing Each Other: a Love Story (5 chapters, Rated T)

Rivers in the Sand (Oneshot, Rated E)

a soft place to land (Oneshot, Rated E)

Always Good at Bad Ideas (Oneshot, Rated T)

Flashpoint (Oneshot, Rated E)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Oh definitely I do! I know that it can be really difficult and intimidating to find the words to leave a comment and I just really want people to know how much they're appreciated. I also love getting to share thoughts and excitement and little behind the scenes things. It may take me a little time sometimes, but it's really important to me to respond.

I heard somewhere once that people think authors respond to artificially inflate their comment numbers. I don't know where that came from, or if there are authors out there that may do that, but I honestly don't even pay attention to that? I don't even really look at that number as a reader either. I just want commenters to know how much they've made my day!

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Man, I really had to think about this. I don't really have nearly any that are solely angst.

But I do have one that's left open-ended in a pretty angsty place. My Dragon Age 2 rarepair fic for Merrill/Orana, Counting the Cost. It's set right after the final confrontation with Merrill's clan, with Orana having to learn via that news that Merrill uses blood magic.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Honestly, most of my fics have "happy" endings, or at least hopeful ones. I just have a hard time not leaving things on a good note. It's hard to pick one that stands out more than others. I think, though, that The Eye of the Storm will have this honor once I finish it (if that's encouraging to anyone 😊).

7. Do you write crossovers?

Echoing June here, I've written a fusion fic before. I basically took the plot of the movie Inception and adapted it to a version of Dragon Age: Inquisition set in a future version of Thedas (In the Shadow of Dreams).

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I think I remember getting a weirdly critical comment once but I don't think I've ever gotten direct hate. I mostly write in quiet fandom corners these days, I'd be pretty surprised if someone bothered.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh definitely! I've written all kinds. I've written some centered on specific kinks (like waxplay in a soft place to land), and some that were hinted at in canon that I wanted to explore (like Flashpoint). But the majority of the time, it's really just a part of the larger story, a vehicle for character analysis or communication. In A Line in the Sand, for example, it was a major character turning point. Sex is just such an interesting way to explore a character or a relationship. It's a level of intimacy and vulnerability that can really reveal so much.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, but I have had some ideas taken in the past. Nothing I'd make a big deal about, and I don't always mind when things like that kind of blossom into fanon, but I do wish people would ask first. I don't always think it's intentional or conscious, though, so again, no reason to say anything.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Still blows me away someone wanted to. Both Wishing Stars and No Patron Saint of Silent Restraint (both Dorian/Bull) were translated to Mandarin.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. My writing process just isn't very conducive to collaboration. It's unpredictable and scattered as to when I get writing done and get motivation. I'm also extremely particular about how my writing sounds and fits together, and I think I would just have a lot of trouble trying to mesh that with another writer.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

That's such a hard question. I think it's always going to be whatever pair I'm currently writing for. I just have phases with ships where they're all-consuming for awhile, and then I finally sort of move on, even if they still have a special place in my heart.

That being said, Deacon/MacCready has meant so much to me because it's not only the first pair I finished a novel for, I'm now finishing the second one. This pair inspired me again after a long desert of writing despair, and it just brought so much good into my life. It's really hard to top that.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

There are two that come to mind. One was for Red Dead Redemption 2, a meditation on grief set in the epilogue, from Charles' perspective. I really had a lot of ideas for it and a lot of things I wanted to explore.

The other is Uprising. This was my retelling of Dragon Age 2 inspired by David Gaider's comment that Velanna was initially considered as Justice's vehicle instead of Anders. I wanted to re-imagine the story that way. So Velanna is the Justice character and Anders stays with the Grey Wardens. I just wanted to explore what could change, and what ways the story would have been different. I got through Act 1, but lost steam. It was also my first attempt at a novel-length fic, and I think it had potential.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do a pretty decent job of setting a scene. I see a lot of scenes in my head play out like they're movie scenes, so I try to describe them in kind, and make them fairly easy to visualize. I'm also really aware of a character's physicality. Like what they're doing with their hands, posture, where they're looking, how they're shifting their feet, etc. And I do feel like I have a good handle on character voice, or at least I work really hard to make the characters not just sound like but feel like themselves, and make decisions or take actions that still feel like things they would do in canon. I feel pretty confident in my character banter, too. I feel most at home writing dialogue where people are bantering and teasing and sniping at each other.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have so many crutch words and phrases. I have to make such a conscious effort not to use them over and over, and even then I'll go back later and find where I've used the same term or word back to back. I also struggle a lot with action scenes. Writing ALITS and TEOTS has done a lot to work that muscle and I think I've improved, but it's not at all second nature. Trying to make them interesting and tense while still making sense is a real challenge for me and it takes me a long time. And I don't feel very confident in creating my own characters. I like writing for established characters because all the interesting and cool bits are already there. Making my own original characters equally as exciting and unique and intriguing is so much harder for me.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Going to just quote June directly here: "it can be used to good effect but it's best used sparingly. I would generally always prefer that plot-relevant or important dialogue were simply, 'This is the murder weapon,' she said in French. Don't withhold information or emotional impact for the sake of showing off."

She said it perfectly. And I'll add that it's often very jarring and even pulls me out of the story a lot of the time, unless it's written by someone fluent. It's very difficult to pull it off naturally otherwise, and that is very obvious to your readers.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Technically, Sailor Moon, though I only shared it with my friends. The first things I put on the internet were for Lord of the Rings.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Hmm. It would be fun to write something for Baldur's Gate 3, but I'm not sure I can get past some of my mental blocks with fandom there. I would like to play around with Barbara/Lucy for Fallout 4.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

It's hard not to say A Line in the Sand. It's just very, very special to me for so many reasons. I've talked about it a lot so I won't go on, but yeah. It's hard to believe I'll have another experience with writing quite like that one.

Tagging (no pressure as always) — @bardic-inspo, @totally-not-deacon, @mercurymiscellany, @amanitajack, @just-another-wasteland-merc

#writing memes #writer interview #about me

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illusivesoul · 7 days

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THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT MY FELLOW WRITERS

Was tagged by @timesthatneverwere Thank you :)

I'll tag @mtreebeardiles @starlightwrites @mxanigel @anneapocalypse and @marythegizka . Only if you feel like doing this, of course.

I'll post the questions here and my answers under the cut.

Last book I read:

Greatest literary inspiration:

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write:

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me:

You can recognize my writing by:

My most controversial take (current fandom):

Top three favourite tropes:

What’s your current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut):

Share a random frustration:

Last book I read: Sapiens: From Animals to Gods by Yuval Harari. A really good and interesting book about the evolution of humanity and religion, societal developments, where humanity may be in the future, etc.

Greatest literary inspiration: Not sure I have any, to be honest.

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write: I'd love to read a fic that centers around big events in DA history like the fall of the elvhen empire after Solas brings up the Veil, the fall of Arlathan, the Exalted Marches, etc.

For ME, I'd like to read fics set in what the me2 characters were doing before the events of the game. Garrus in Omega, Samara searching for Morinth, Zaeed looking for Vido, etc

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: I mean, I mostly write rarepairs, so that doesn't get much attention already. I'm currently writing about Leliana's mom, who I hc was a Carta dwarf that through the twists of fate ended up working for Lady Cecile.

I love writing about obscure characters and giving depth to characters who have 2 lines of dialogue in the games lol.

You can recognize my writing by: If you find a ME or DA rare rarepair on ao3, there's a good chance that it was written by me lol

I always open fics with either descriptions of scenery ("It was a busy day at the Grand Cathedral") or direct dialogue (“Shouldn’t be much longer now, Natia”). And my fics very rarely go over 2k words.

I think this is a common thing for writers, but I've always felt that most of my smut fics are quite similar to each other.

My most controversial take (current fandom): I have a lot lol. I'll give 2 for Mass Effect and 2 for Dragon Age.

As much as I enjoy them, I don't like how most of the squadmates don't ever stand up to Shepard and are pretty much just yes men and women who go along with everything Shepard does (it's also why Ash and Kaidan are among my favs)

I think curing the Genophage in me3 is a mistake (I prefer Mordin surviving and going to work on the Crucible and then continue working on a cure to be used later when the galaxy is more stable, as his ending slides show)

For Dragon Age, Loghain was right in retreating from Ostagar cause the battle was unwinnable, and (not sure if this qualifies as a controversial take) Vivienne is the best Divine imo.

Top three favourite tropes: Not sure if these are tropes per se, but I enjoy Fighting before kissing, reuniting after being separated for years,

What’s your current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut): 6.

Share a random frustration: My lack of a proper schedule to write. I always try to get a some words into wips each days, but sometimes I spent days without writing followed by a sudden burst of activity lol.

#tag meme

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laurelsofhighever · 11 months

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I was inundated by one person (@1ichen) in the tags wondering about my (crack?) theory that the Second Orlesian Invasion of Ferelden was basically a way for the Chantry to have an exalted march on Ferelden without getting its hands dirty. And really, that’s as much of an excuse as I need

To set the scene: It’s 8:24 Blessed, Ferelden is recovering after a lengthy civil war (details murky) because Arland Theirin, in addition to being a tyrant, left the nobility in chaos with no clear line of succession. Across the border, Emperor Reville is 3 years into his reign and looking for some way to make his mark. Is Ferelden an easy target? Considering it takes a full two decades to conquer, and rebellion springs up almost immediately... no, not really. Is it a sensible target? Well... also no. Even two years after Ferelden is won, there is still enough of the army engaged in keeping the Fereldan people subjugated that Nevarra feels safe enough to invade Orlais and claim territory. It says quite a lot that even at reduced strength, Orlais can beat back Nevarra (admittedly with mixed results), but it takes two decades of full force to defeat Ferelden.

So what does Ferelden have that makes it worth 20 years of war? Why not go straight for Nevarra? Ferelden is rich in resources, true, and has surface access to Orzammar and therefore the lyrium trade, but does it really have anything valuable enough to be worth the effort of conquering it? As far as the codexes and WoT tells us, Ferelden didn’t offer any great insult to Orlais (like Orlais did with Nevarra), and it wasn’t waging war against any of Orlais’ allies, either. What’s left is a clash in ideology, but what about Fereldan beliefs could be so objectionable? They have a lot of shared history and they’re both Andrastian nations (this will be important later).

My theory is that it wasn’t Emperor Reville’s idea to specifically target Ferelden, he wanted to pick a fight anyway and it was the Chantry who nudged him in that direction. This is all speculation and based on a vision of Fereldan culture that we have very little evidence of except by its absence in the Dragon Age - and its contrast to contemporary Orlesian society - but hear me out.

Fereldans, as a whole, are portrayed as downright uncivilised by the rest of Southern Thedas, which is interesting given that the civilising influence that unites the region is adherence to Chantry doctrine. Rivain, for example, is often considered in similar terms because of its cultural tradition of seers and other practices that don’t outright condemn magic. Interesting. That’s a tangent for another day. From what we see in Origins, the majority of Fereldans - at least in the Dragon Age - hold far more conventional views about mages, but it’s not universal. Anders’ mother doesn’t want to let him go to the Circle, Wilhelm seemed to live quite openly as a mage in Honnleath after taking part in the Rebellion, and there’s a specific conversation in The Stolen Throne where it’s stated that the reason mages are driven away from the rebel army is so that the Orlesians don’t get to OTT with their retribution. Similarly, elves in Ferelden, while not treated well, do seem to be at least marginally better off than in Orlais: there is at least mild shock when the Warden reveals Loghain has been selling the alienage elves into slavery, and again, during the Rebellion elves were an active part of the rebel army appreciated for their abilities (though their existence tails off towards the end of the Stolen Throne so we don’t know what happened to them afterwards).

Why am I bringing this up? Well, given the century of occupation, there are two main explanations for the difference in treatment for mages/elves in Ferelden and Orlais: either they were both the same and after the Occupation Ferelden got better very quickly; or the Ferelden we see in the Dragon Age is what you get after 100 years of their culture being eroded to be more like Orlais. Given what we see in The Stolen Throne and in the remote parts of the country that the Occupation likely didn’t touch (like the village in the mountains with the heretical dragon cult), and the fact that cultural genocide is pretty much colonialism 101, I’d argue the latter is more likely. Which, if you follow this line of logical fallacy to its conclusion, means that before the Invasion in 8:24, Ferelden was a more progressive place for mage (and elf) rights.

At this point, Ferelden is still a fairly young country. It’s pretty much several Alamarri tribes in a trenchcoat, and has just gone through some Wars of the Roses level shit that has presumably left the poswer structure a little wobbly while everyone sorts out what side they’re on. While there is a Circle of Magi at Kinloch Hold and the country has been nominally Andrastian since Calenhad united the tribes, it’s also fair to assume that there were isolated areas that held older views, including less draconian views on magic, and more equitable views on elves owing to the influence of Alamarri culture and perhaps the preserved history of Shartan’s role in defeating Tevinter (which is known to the chantry sisters in Denerim, so it’s knowledge that doesn’t completely die out by the Dragon Age).

So imagine it: the dust settles after the Fereldan civil war and from it emerges a culture growing strong from its Alamarri roots - tolerant of magic, allowing freedoms to elves that would never be given in Orlais - and the Chantry sees chinks in its hold over the people. They don’t venerate the Chantry like they do in Orlais or Kirkwall; their cathedrals are humble, drab, doctrine an afterthought to practicality. It’s not enough to be called outright heresy, but one day it could be. This puts the Chantry in a difficult position. Does it sit by and watch heresy continue to spread, and maybe infect other nations until it creates a schism? Does it intervene with an exalted march like it did for the Dales, and bring Ferelden back into line? Both options run the risk of shattering the Chantry’s power base. The first because a schism would divide the faith (and therefore the clout, and the spoils) and leave the whole of Southern Thedas open to a power grab from Tevinter. The second because invading an Andrastian country for nebulous reasons is likely to make all the other Andrastian countries nervous, if not downright rebellious, because what’s to stop them being next.

Getting Orlais to invade Ferelden is a perfect solution to this quandary. It nips Ferelden’s heresy in the bud without drawing attention to it, and as a bonus, it doesn’t have to expend its own resources to do it, and only has to sit back while the tithes roll in. This is why Chantry propaganda declared the Occupation as the Will of the Maker, why they didn’t intercede to stop the shedding of Andrastian blood when Ferelden offered no real provocation for invasion, and why Orlais decided 20 years was an acceptable time frame to annexe one (1) province.

Even if that’s not true it would make an awesome tv series.

#dragon age #dragon age meta #ferelden #orlais #the chantry #fuck the chantry

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atopvisenyashill · 3 months

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I don’t get how you’re a Rhaenyra fan but a Dany hater 🤨 like Rhaenyra committed a lot of atrocities in the end.

I don’t hate Dany! She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s got some of the best magical scenes in the series - she’s got some of the best scenes in the series, period, her last dragon fever dream in agot is like top 10 for me easy - and she’s a character that is conceptually similar to like, theon or ned or cersei in that she is really firmly rooted and informed by her past traumas, and I love characters like that from a writing standpoint. I have definitely talked more negatively about her bc it’s basically impossible to not be constantly inundated with takes i feel are just the most vapid or deranged or whatever takes in the world, but you can say that for anyone who feels anything at all about dany bc she is a very polarizing character! i think some of her narrative is frustratingly written, i do not mesh well with a large section of her fanbase, and i actively hate her show counterpart, but show dany is a vastly different character than book dany is (i mean just age alone, like with robb and jon, some of your sympathy evaporates bc they are too damn old to be acting this stupid). ultimately, a lot of the "hate" people think i feel for her is directed at what i feel are stupid opinions on her character or her show counter part's place in pop culture, or just like, normal analysis and critique that i do of every character in this series.

i will acknowledge that i tend to describe myself as "pro stark, pro blacks, pro smallfolk" so people know the general gist of what they're signing up for when they start interacting with me, but that is such a simple way of diluting all of my feelings for all of these characters. like "pro stark" in the sense that they are the most rational of the leaders we get in the main series, and have a connection to the land, people, and culture that is important, but i've pointed out plenty of times that robb's war is harmful to the people of the riverlands, regardless of whether he's justified or not, and i've been posting about how ned and cat fail to properly prepare their children (and the north in general) for Real World Politics, to the detriment of their kids. "pro stark" in the sense that i thought show dany wasn't just deranged from season 1 she was also wildly unlikable and nauseatingly stupid, you could see her "dark dany" turn coming from a mile away because these were not subtle writers interested in exploring why dany would decide "dragons plant no trees" and instead focused on her looking hot while she set shit on fire (same way they were less interested in looking at why jon failed as lord commander and had him be the action hero fighting at hardhome). definitely most of my aggravation at "dany" is at the show version, and while i do get why people feel that if you're a proponent of the "dark dany" theory that you're "anti" dany, but I am not anti book dany! i just think like rickon stark, shireen baratheon, jojen reed, aegon vi, etc she is very much doomed to die a very tragic death.

and i do not like characters based on how little atrocities they commit lmao, like, if i were to list my top 10 favorites, probably half of them have committed some extreme war crime. theon is a rapist! jaime is a shitty ass partner to cersei, a deadbeat dad despite living in the same building as his kids, and a failed child murderer! bran is mind raping hodor, understands on some level that what he's doing is morally repugnant, and keeps doing it anyway! pretty much every targaryen i like has committed some sex crime heinous enough to get them life + 25!! bobby b raised joffrey!!! i know i facetiously say shit like "rhaenyra did nothing wrong" but i'm well aware she's out here torturing people, same as like 75% of the characters we interact with in the whole series. so "rhaenyra commits atrocities" or "dany commits atrocities" is just not how i look at these characters (and not to get into stan wars here, but good lord, "rhaenyra commits atrocities" she is not the only or even the worst person in the dance! like 85% of these people suck and the ones who don't - which is limited to like, helaena, jace, nettles, and addam almost exclusively - either die or disappear because That's The Point. also, i was raised SDA alright, you gotta be a really compelling character for me to get past being super catholic, it's in my dna to be a spiteful hater of catholics!! catelyn stark is my one exception to this rule folks!!!!).

as to why i like rhaenyra - for one thing, saying that emma d'arcy is a better actor than emilia clarke is like saying cillian murphy is better than bradley cooper. they are just not on the same level lol. i definitely have my critiques of show!rhaenyra's writing but i also think she's miles better written than show!dany and her story is also more interesting because her writing is much less nonsensical. for another, i think book rhaenyra and book dany are wildly similar characters (for a reason!) meant to be in conversation with each other, and i very much enjoy what that conversation is saying about power, nobility, gender, sex, war, and identity. on a more technical level, while fire and blood is a mess writing and world building wise, the one thing it does better than the essos chapters (because it doesn't take place in essos, it takes place in westeros, and george struggles much less fleshing out "western poc" than he does "eastern poc" ya know) is that rhaenyra is not the only insight we get into the conflict. the people she loves, the people she rules, the people she harms, they all have a pov and a voice in a way that missandei, irri, jhiqui, rakharo, jhogo, grey worm, on and on, do not, the way that basically every single character that isn't westerosi except mmd (who was killed in book one) is not afforded. it's just a lot easier (as of right now) to talk about rhaenyra as a character because we have her beginning, middle, and end and the povs of people who hated her vs dany, we have the beginning and middle, a lot of arguing over what her end will be, and no one in the narrative as of yet who has even the barest criticism of her decisions besides cardboard cut out villainous slavers.

so like...no i do not hate dany, and i don't feel it's necessary to asterisk every post about rhaenyra with "i know putting a hit out on nettles and addam, locking the smallfolk into KL without easing their burdens of the war, positing herself as an exception to male line primogeniture instead of pushing for absolute primogeniture, and using torture on tyland and vaemond's family was fucked up, i acknowledge that she's flawed" when i talk about her, nor do i feel the need to defend my position on dany on the off chance one of her more annoying stans finds my posts and decides i hate women because i said i didn't like her sexual relationship with irri.

#asks #anons #anti daenerys targaryen #i tag 'anti x' so people can filter the posts out. like i have 'anti x' tags blocked bc some of the opinions of my moots annoy me alkjdfs #but i otherwise love and cherish those moots ya know!! with very few exceptions i don't actually hate any of the characters.#they're deep! they're well written! they feel very real! it's not 'anti' to think a character who burns people alive is a villain tho!!#grrm critical #fire and blood critical #f&b critical #i can't remember what i tag that as #i hope this rant makes sense #anti game of thrones

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sansa286 · 1 year

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The Complexities of Vaemond Velaryon's Claim and the Succession of Driftmark

I was re-watching HotD S1E8 - "Lord of the Tides" and was reminded of just how complex the issue with the succession for Driftmark is.

SPOILERS: House of the Dragon, Fire & Blood, A Song of Ice & Fire books and Game of Thrones.

Before we begin: hats off Vaemond's actor, Wil Johnson. He did incredible as Vaemond, I hung onto every word he said. I could feel just how pissed off he was. Round o' applause for such an excellent actor!

Disclaimer: I'm neither strictly Team Black or Team Green. There are characters I like/find interesting on both sides. I also want to make it clear, that although I point out how Vaemond is right about some stuff, I personally don't really care about the circumstances surrounding Luke's birth as both Laenor and Corlys claimed him.

Let's get into this...

We know that Corlys has been mortally wounded during battle in the stepstones, which has resulted in a fever. He may not survive, so Vaemond believes now is the perfect time to make a case for him to inherit Driftmark, and not his *official* nephew Lucerys. He knows he'll have the backing of the Greens, as they have been looking for a window into knocking Rhaenyra out of the line of succession in favor of Aegon. It's a very "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of alliance. No one actually cares about one another, it's about one-upping a common foe together.

The argument being made by Vaemond and others, is essentially that Luke shouldn't inherit Driftmark because:

He is a bastard.

He is still very young (14).

He hasn't been raised on Driftmark.

I am quickly going to address the last two points:

1.) Luke's age doesn't matter. Children take their inheritance at crazy young ages all the time in-universe. Aegon III took the throne at 10. They rely on advisors, or regents (like Lysa Arryn being Lady Regent of the Vale until Robin comes of age), but they're still entitled to their inheritance. Fully disinheriting someone based on age is rather ludicrous.

2.) As Lord Beesbury pointed out, a person's abilities doesn't alter their entitlement to their inheritance unless it's something very serious or the current ruler decides against them for [insert reason here.] If abilities meant anything in terms of Westerosi succession then they sure as hell wouldn't be trying to put Aegon of all people on the throne. Obviously Rhaenyra could have done better by sending Luke as a ward to Driftmark under Rhaenys, but again, that doesn't matter enough to disinherit someone.

Now due to the taboo of accusing Rhaenyra of being unfaithful to Laenor, he can't outright say the first point, but it is still very much being said, and he and makes it apparent when he uses terminology like "Velaryon blood", and talk of "bloodlines." Vaemond insinuating that he is a better fit for Driftmark over Luke due to his Velaryon blood, is essentially pointing out that Luke has none.

In Westeros the simplest order of succession goes Lord --->Firstborn son--->Firstborn grandson and so on, following a direct line of descendants. We'll come back to this in a moment though, because it's not as simple as many would think.

After Corlys, the next Lord of the Tides was supposed to be Laenor, but due to his "death" it flows to Luke. While Luke was born out of wedlock, he has not been disowned as such and carries the Velaryon name through Laenor, his official father.

But the thing is, Vaemond is technically right. By laws of succession, due to Luke being a bastard, he shouldn't be the heir to Driftmark. And he by all accounts, is speaking the truth here.

But guess what? That also wouldn't make Vaemond the heir to Driftmark either!

Vaemond only gets Driftmark if Corlys has no other living grandchildren. If Luke were publicly outed as a bastard and stripped of all his titles and inheritance, they would not automatically go to Vaemond, but Baela and Rhaena. The law of succession always follows the line of the direct descendants of the eldest living male heir. Vaemond is not a direct descendant of Corlys, but their father, who has passed. Corlys is the current Lord of the Tides. Had Laenor passed away before Laena with no children on his own, then Driftmark would have went to Laena. With Laenor gone, and Luke disinherited, the claim then goes from Corly's grandson to granddaughter. That is how primogeniture works in Westeros and also why Rhaenys was even considered for the Iron Throne in the first place, as she was the sole living heir of King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne's firstborn son, Aemon.

Males are favored, but not absolute. Sons and grandsons come before daughters and granddaughters. But all come before an uncle or aunt. The only time an uncle or another male relative takes precedent, is if his lord-brother or father declares him heir (Jahaerys with Baelon), or he usurps it (there are a few examples of this happening in the ASOIAF books, and even one during this period with Lady Jeyne Arryn, who should make an appearance in S2.)

The argument could go that because they're women they can pass on the Verlaryon blood, but not the Velaryon name. Somewhat true, however easily corrected, as there have been several examples of lords taking on their mother's surname when they're the heirs to a land or region (See: Maege Mormont.) Likewise, Baela or Rhaena could take their mother's surname, and their children can opt into taking the Velaryon name as well, and that would actually be expected.

So, Vaemond is right, but he is mostly wrong. And he is trying to rob his very own nieces, those of legit Velaryon blood, from their birthright.

This is why Vaemond is far from just someone concerned with his own house being snuffed out. He is playing the game of thrones, like everyone else. He just lost early-on.

When Rhaenys announces that she has agreed to wed Baela and Rhaena to Jace and Luke, that should've been enough to satisfy his supposed concerns: that house Velaryon would die out in both blood and name. Don't get me wrong, I do think Vaemond is legitimately concerned, that is apparent in his passion; but he also has his own agenda. The marriage of Luke and Rhaena would mean that the next heir to Driftmark would have the Velaryon name passed down through Luke, and Velaryon blood passed down through Rhaena. House Velaryon would be far from ending.

I know people (rightfully) harp on Rhaenyra for backing her son's claim to Driftmark over Baela and Rhaena. That is wrong, but at least she did insure that they would have power. Rhaena being Lady of Driftmark means that she will reside over the birthland of her mother (and given how Luke has been raised, I'm going to assume co-leader as well.) Baela marrying Jace means she will be queen one day, which will make her the second-most powerful person in the Seven Kingdoms by rank (and given her personality in the book, as well as the bits and pieces we get in the show and deleted scenes: also in practice.) As far as we know, Vaemond had no plans to give his nieces anything; he has his own wife, children and grandchildren at this point.

If Vaemond's only true concern was the survival of his house, then the arrangement for Luke and Rhaena, in theory, should be perfect to him. But what does he do? He doubles-down, makes a spectacle of himself and it costs him his life. Brutally, might I add. Even if Daemon didn't kill him, Vaemond would've left King's Landing tongue-less.

But, it didn't even have to resort to that. Daemon aside, let's just say that he still wants Driftmark for himself, there were smarter ways to react. I honestly think he should've just been more politically practical, and took a page out of Otto's book.

Otto took a big L in this episode. This court meeting was supposed to be the beginning of the end for Rhaenyra as heir. His plan was to get Vaemond to press the claim of Driftmark, with Otto sitting the Iron Throne in-lieu of Viserys, he would of course side with Vaemond no matter how good of a reasoning Rhaenyra made. Luke would be publicly outed as a bastard, which would then delegitimize Jace, and then Rhaenyra herself. Then bam, Aegon II is made heir.

But his plans are foiled when Viserys makes his surprise entrance. You can see the look on he and Alicent's face. They know they're screwed and Plan A is down the toilet. But they don't run around calling Rhaenyra a "whore" and rant to Viserys about how he has robbed Aegon. They sit back, observe and roll with the punches, because Otto is that person that always has a Plan B (as we see in the following episode.)

If Vaemond wasn't so wrapped up in his own ambitions, then he would've heard of the match, fake smiled at it, and then met with the Greens afterwards to plot another way on how he could get Driftmark. Hell, he could've even bargained with Rhaenyra for him to be made Master of Ships on the Small Council in the event of his brother's passing. But he doesn't, and the chips fell where they did.

Overall Vaemond is a tragic character, because he struggles with second-son syndrome similar to how Daemon and Aemond do. He does clearly care for his family, but wishes to find his own footing within it and is envious of his older brother for having the most power. I truly think he would have been fascinating to see if he would've become a political player for the Greens or Team Black, or did something all on his own. But alas, he wasn't that kind of character. Vaemond is similar to Ned Stark in the way that they both forget how to play the game and it ends up costing them greatly.

#vaemond velaryon #lucerys velaryon #baela targaryen #rhaena targaryen #corlys velaryon #rhaenys targaryen #otto hightower #rhaenyra targaryen #daemon targaryen #driftmark #succession crisis #house of the dragon #fire & blood #asoiaf #analysis #team velaryon #team black #team green #westeros is so annoying

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