#there are elves when you want them

[victorie552]

Ok, so Noldolantë, "The Fall of the Noldor" is a lament composed by Maglor about what happened before, during and after First Kinslaying at Alqualondë. It's such a good song that it's played regularly in Aman and Valar listen to it often (I swear, I swear it was in the Silmarillion I just can't find it now).

It's also a more or less common fanon that Maglor continues writing Noldolante through the whole First Age. Makes sense - it's about fall of the Noldor, and Noldor did a lot of falling back then.

Headcannon time: So my first thought was that Noldolante must a long, long, long epic of a song. So it probably has many parts, right? Iliad has 24 books/parts, somehow I think Noldolante would be at least just as long, and there are longer epics. And again, just like Iliad, unless you're a scholar, in the daily life you don't really listen to/read the whole thing, just reread and repeat the most dramatic fragments. What I'm trying to impress upon you all is that the story would have different segments, or chapters, if you will.

And if Maglor continues to write the story during the FA, there would absolutely be a moment in the lament where the OG Noldolante becomes Noldolante 2, and even Noldolante 3. There may be the same musical motif or something, I decided that Maglor IS that good of a bard to keep it all consistent enough so you know it's all the same story, but the style changes a lot - it's been 400 years in the making, let The Music Elf have fun!

So, Point 1: Many, Many Parts, basically Maglor's FA WIP

My second thought was that, while Feanor invented his alphabet, elves learned their history mostly through oral tradition aka songs and spoken stories. Noldolante is definitely a historical record, where a historical event was archived for future generations.

(It was a also a way to deal with grief, guilt and blame Maglor and all Noldor have faced regarding First Kinslaying - free therapy! But that's not what this post is about)

Archived.

My 2.5 thought was that Noldolante isn't just recallings of how pretty and horrified the beach looked during the murdering or how mad and sorrowful the sea was at everyone during the voyage or even how awesome and charismatic Feanor looked during his speeches that every single Noldo was ready to fight Morgoth barehanded in his name - no, this is a record of who killed who, who got killed by whom, and how.

Noldor and Teleri knew each other (were friends, even!) before the First Kinslaying, so I'm confident that after a lot of interviews, detective work, and cross-referencing, Maglor could and would create a very good... name list. Practically every Noldo and Teler present during First Kinslaying would get a stanza in a song, more if he killed someone, most if he killed many people. Killers and killed would show up twice, first in a fragment listing the killers and their victims, then in a part listing the victims and their murderers. Basically it's the same thing twice, but from different POVs. With when, where and how included.

(It was seen to be in bad taste to compare kills during Maglor's Regency, when most of his interview-part work happened. People did it anyway. There were a Saddest Kill, Funniest Kill, and Weirdest Kill discusions. There was a Tier List. These were weird times to be a Feanorian Noldo.)

(It WAS in Bad Taste, but at least people talked about it. I cannot stress enough how much free therapy this lament provided)

(Little did they know, when Teleri started getting reembodied in Aman, they had very similar discussions, but more in a "I can't believe he killed me like THAT" way. Long, long, long after the First Age. Noldolante is a gift that keeps giving)

So, Maglor had all the historical grith and no common shame to create a "We Killed All These People And We Feel Bad About It" banger of a song, and every Noldo had a very personal reason to at least remember the fragments they are in. It's a hit on a scale never seen before.

(I'm not sure how to tackle the issue of Nolofinweans and Arafinweans learning about Noldolante after crossing the Ice. But there were discussions. There was anger, there was "????", there was controversy. Basically, the song got bigger and bigger rep no matter what your opinion on it was. By the time of Mereth Aderthad it was an important cultural and political piece and at least Fingon's forces were included in the main song. It had parodies.)

Point 2: Archive Function/Kill count storage. Cultural phenomen, every Noldo included

This is where my personal nonsense begins: Main Noldolante was done, there was nothing more to say about First Kinslaying, all killings and deaths were well documented.

But the Siege started. And the Noldor kept dying.

It was less dramatic than it sounded - between the big battles the siege was maintained, but orc raids also happened and sometimes one to few Noldor died in skirmishes. The legal procedure was to document the death of a fellow elf and send a word to king Fingolfin. The cultural procedure, technically started by Feranorians but adapted by many more, was to send the name, common characteristics and cause of death to Maglor's Gap. After few months, King Fingolfin would send reinforcements, short condolences and financial compensation if they had family. After few months, family of an elf would also receive a personal lament for them and a place for them in a Noldolante.

Yes, every lament Maglor created in that time was technically part of the Noldolante. Noldolante 1.5, if you will. Laments make in that time were very customized, and simpler than Noldolante Main, but were still considered a part of the same song. Of course, nobody was expected to know and remember laments for every single Noldo, younger Noldor born in Beleriand could even only know fragments about their family members. Only Maglor would ever know Noldolante in full, but it was understood that everyone had their place in The Song.

The results of Great Battles were harder to document, but Maglor did that. Of course, Dagor Bragollach was hard on him personally, but he worked his way through.

(High King Fingon forbade creating laments for his father. There were no songs for Fingolfin. Apart from in Noldolante, of course. Of course. Maglor did not share the lament with anyone, but he sat long hours and many nights with a blank paper before him, looking at the candle flame and thinking of the past and the future. The song unsung, but there)

Nirnaeth was... Maglor was never more hated and more approached at the same time than then. Still, Noldolante grew and grew, as if people knew the end was near.

It was Second Kinslaying that destroyed the myth of Maglor's song. Feanorians didn't know the Sindar they killed, but surely, they couldn't just left their names unmentioned like they did with orcs? So, Noldor talked, but the battle happened in caves - it wasn't uncommon to find dead bodies in empty rooms, with no witnesses to what happened. Surviving Sindar didn't want to share any names, even when Maglor strong-armed some into talking with him, and good for them. Maglor made a big lament anyway. Maglor, wild, with no shame and dead brothers, with legacy crumbling around him. Noldolante, with holes.

After Third Kinslaying, Noldor didn't want to talk. Lament for Sirion didn't have any names. Clearly, songs weren't a way to go anymore, it was always about live witnesses. And so Maglor raised the twins.

Lament for Maedhros was sung repeatedly. There was no one to hear it.

Point 3: Only Maglor knows Noldolante in full. But that doesn't matter, because everyone knows the important part: the Noldolante is finished. The Star of Hope rises in the West and the story goes on. The Fall has ended.

#silm #silmarillion #noldolante #maglor #yet another post that went in different direction than I planned #started with meta went into headcannon and ended with fanfic angst #I wanted to end it with crack!!! #I mean. I mean #it all makes kind of some sense if we're talking about elves here #but guys Noldor had Men and Dwarves as allies #Maglor would want them in his Historical Record song #I think with Dwarves they would mainly refuse when he asked them if they wanted a part in Noldolante #so maybe he would only get some allies and personal friends of Maedhros in #but Men #guys Men. they would agree and they would make lists and it would become Clown City so fast #but Sons of Feanor aren't known for their ability of knowing when to quit #so Maglor has a Noldolante 3.0 Standard Version with 254 Parts that has Elves and an Occasional Dwarf Only #and Special Version Noldolante Deluxe Extra Edition with 547398134 Parts that includes Men #everyone is included you don't have to die in battle #all common causes of death have a dedicated jingle to them #to the point you know a man's cause of death after 3 notes #these parts of Noldolante well the music bit actually survived into the Fourth Age #the words are gone but the music is played at funerals in some places #The Noldolante Main survived only in parodies though #actually Finished Noldolante is a very good thing huh #as in no more Fall of The Noldor #they can finally catch some break #I believe that during Maglor's Regency Era all Noldor did was Processing. and breeding horses. #Noldolante? more like Maglor Finally Discovers Shame: A Story #I think some personal revelations on legacy and connections between children and life's works would be made

[v-arbellanaris]

I have no idea why but I absolutely hate how Ameridan' story was handled, they basically dumbed it down to him worshipping both the creators and andraste/chant of light, which kind of proved Cassandra's dumb (and incredibly disrespectful) point of an inquisitor having "room for another god". It's also so unfair how they made the evanuris to just be power hungry slavers and tyrants, my only hope is that if the creators were disproving then I hope it would be the same for the chant of light and maker (seeing asnit was solas who made the veil and not the creator) I really hate how centrist the game has gotten, like flat out, whenever I hear the words grey morality and nuance I can't help burn cringe, that's how much dragon age has ruined it for me.

It's also so incredibly funny how the devs are genuinely surprised that most of the players are pro mage, like of course we are?

i think it's particularly extremely aggravating, the way bioware writers write about a pantheon as if polytheistic religions are simply a thing of the past and dead and some kind of mystery/mythology. according to bioware, this kind of writing for polytheistic religions is fine because no real religion these days would everrrrrrr worship multiple gods /sarcasm. (note that the links are just some examples and not comprehensive in the least)

there's a lot of writing choices i quite simply disagree with in dai, and there's some that are just... i don't even disagree with them because that implies it's something to argue about. some of their writing choices are just wrong. after borrowing so heavily from ethnic groups to shape their fictional histories, the disrespect of writing their fictional oppressed minorities as being responsible for their own oppression because they were not "open" enough to include/absorb expy christianity into their religious beliefs and fought back against violent colonialism. the resulting clumsy collation between isr*el and the indigenous people of the americas wanting to reclaim their lands stolen from them by white colonisers makes my blood boil.

ameridan is just another piece of the puzzle that makes me seethe. we have a man who apparently ~existed before hostilities between the elves and the humans~ which is now the fault of drakon's son who invaded the dales after ameridan was long gone. that's already absolute bullshit because ameridan lived in the fucking dales. elves only started living in the dales AFTER ANDRASTE'S REBELLION. after the fall of arlathan, and hundreds of years of enslavement at the hands of tevinter humans???

additionally, the battle of red crossing happened in 2:9 glory, but tensions between the elves and humans had been building up since the second blight. drakon the first died in 1:45 but the elves apparently did "nothing" to help montsimmard when it was overrun by darkspawn in 1:25 divine - twenty years before his death, there was already simmering resentment. additionally, it was drakon the first that expanded the orlesian empire and the orlesian chantry - wotv2 notes his battles against the darkspawn did more to spread the chant of light (specifically, the orlesian chant of light which he, yknow, fucking made up) than any of his other attempts. by the time the exalted march on the dales happens, over three quarters of thedas is under orlesian rule. maferath himself handed the dales to the surviving elves from andraste's campaign in -165 ancient and the elves lived in the dales peacefully until the orlesian chantry was salivating at its borders. and the orlesian chantry has a history of wiping out "cults" - i.e. other sects of their own religion that differ from belief, no matter how minor, to their own. including, notably, the wholesale genocide of a non-violent sect centered around fertility rituals and, later, the dragon worshipping sect in haven off their own land. (and i'm willing to BET MONEY that they were originally alamarri themselves, considering that andraste was brought there to rest, and considering how cultural variance in religion usually occurs [i.e. through the blending/adoption of folk beliefs or the cultural/religious practices from Before]. so the andrastians slaughtered the cult AND THEN TOOK THEIR FUCKING LAND.)

the entire way andrastianism is treated in inquisition makes me violent. and unfortunately, it does not look like it's going to change - there's been multiple statements about how the maker's existence will continue to remain "a mystery" out of a reluctance to confirm or deny the existence of a One True God which, coupled with how they've shat on every other religion in the game - the tevinter chantry, the qun, the stone, the elven pantheon, every other sect worshipping the maker/andraste - gives me absolutely no hope that the writing team is going to get their heads out of their asses about it.

#asks #bioware critical #dai critical #and tbh at this point i really think anyone acting like the writing team is being geniuses or whatever is kinda racist and deluded lmao #most polytheistic religions surviving today are inextricably linked to ethnicity and culture and rich histories of surviving and resisting #colonialist attempts to wipe them out. i feel like comparatively there's fewer polytheistic religions in ''the west'' (more specifically #rooted in white culture) as a result of that. but bioware didn't borrow from THOSE white-rooted polytheistic religions and cultures #they borrowed from native; jewish; roma; even hinduism when it came to the dalish elves but people want to act like the only thing bioware #is pulling from is fucking norse mythology. borrowing character archetypes from norse mythology and planting them onto your #fictional ethnic minorities based off real life religions and people. IS NOT ACTUALLY GOOD WRITING. when you dont CONSIDER the implications #like Gods Not Being Good or having Separate Morals To Humans is a huge theme for norse mythology #but not so much afaik in other polytheistic religions TODAY??? #fucking bioware SHOULD HAVE JUST USED NORSE MYTHOLOGY AS A BASE FOR THE ELVES FROM THE START #and NOT brought other ethnic groups into it??? #the moment they did they SHOULD HAVE been considering the implications of their writing. and that they didn't and continue NOT TO #is actually something people are allowed to be fucking upset about!!!!

[ride-a-dromedary]

I am caught on the self indulgent idea of Jaheira and Halsin and hair combing and braiding, but particularly extending their services to Tav and the gang.

#BG3 Musing #Halsin Posting #jaheira is quick - braids tight and pulls a little and tells you to stop squirming but her braids are all immaculate by the end #and halsin is slower and surprisingly dexterous with his hands but the braids are generally looser and freer feeling #and he'll info dump about what certain styles and placements mean in elven circles #and he prefers the combing part because it reminds him of his familial circles and how his mother would comb all of their hair #and it was a bonding experience #he'll ask if you want him to - jaheira will snark that it looks like a magpie took nest in your hair and motion you over #astarion absolutely wants neither of them to touch his hair at first but the lure of a combing is a very strong one #so they wear him down eventually #lae'zel is also harder to convince but halsin helped get her hair unmatted in the back after a particularly grueling day #and even though she kept grumbling that he can pull it harder and get it over with and got antsy - she actually really liked it #jaheria is *really* good at keeping up wyll's cornrows and parts extraordinarily #and halsin tuts sympathetically when shadowheart tells him she can't remember either of her parents braiding her hair #karlach is ALL FOR IT after her engine is fixed because having your hair combed by someone else??? feels so nice?? #(she wiggles and fidgets far too much though) #i am in the craving mood for elvish styles of bonding okay especially with so many elves and half elves in the party #jaheira may have been a little dodgy on the being a mom side but i believe she took care of her children

[slicedblackolives]

really love the idea that elfin children love running off into the human world and playing with human children because they have barely any friends their own age back home. and while they are immortal they reach "adulthood" at roughly the same age as us so some families have this eldritch being watching over them because grandma edith taught it how to ride a bike. if the being is benevolent. and if it isn't. well.

#elves/fae #and perhaps their obsession with abducting humans is a result of this desire to go back to that joyful childhood... that they dont realise #is gone because their friend is dead now. #they keep trying to trap/relive the simple joy of an innocent human childhood not realising its a result of the warmth and safety #provided by human families. which they cant replicate. #imagine some mad fae king tyrant wholesale abducting children and keeping them trapped #and throwing centuries old dice at them and screaming PLAY! PLAY! #and they dont want to they want to go home. #imagine how powerful nostalgia is when your childhood was 10 years and you are currently 560

[softersinned-arc]

you ever think about a character who just got so spectacularly fucked over by canon that you really don't know where to even start with making it right so you kind of just have to hold them in your hands and say "i love you so much and someday i'll do right by you" because

#(thinking abt fiona dra.gon age today) #('fuck the chantry' ma'am i'd die for you) #(what i wouldn't have given for her to get to interact with hawke. or velanna.) #(or for her and alistair to have CONNECTED god i cry so hard whenever i reread the calling) #(do i need another character? no! will i write her anyway? probably!) #(god. god. god. thinking bout what would have happened if we could have gotten her instead of wynne) #(fiona carefully avoiding alistair for as long as she can because He Doesn't Know and seeing him with the amulet knowing it's hers) #(watching her son fall in love for the first time. knowing he's likely to die in the final battle.) #(or fiona in kirkwall??? or even. fuck. a real explanation for fiona to have allied with alexius) #(because she had to have a fucking reason) #(and it had to be good so like. was she being manipulated? we know blood mages can hold other people in a thrall) #(and given the threat from the chantry we know that there was real danger posed) #(but what would have prompted her to a.) invite in a foreign power while trying to stay safe in ferelden) #(and b.) invite in a foreign power that frequently engaged in the enslavement of elves) #(when she herself has such a painful history) #(and is now responsible for countless mages. including elves.) #(anyway. holds her in my hands. i love you. someday i'm gonna figure out how to do right by you.) #(also. nevarran fiona whose necromancy could make the mortalitasi blush. it's what i deserve.) #(thinkin bout cassandra too what if i just put everyone on the new multi and subject you all to watching me reblog about them constantly) #(cassandra has curly hair i want you all to know this she has thick curly hair and she cuts it v short so the curls are SO bouncy) #iv. tilting pretty sharply bitchward. ( marianning )

[volfoss]

also its very funny bc choosing a misdeeds mission will have mistos going up to you and being like 😒 do you REALLY wanna do this one. like the one im doing rn is about this sibling who was like hey. i dont want my sister to date. kill the guy shes dating. and mistos was like this is mushy relationship stuff and i dont wanna get involved :///// and when i get there, shalvas starts the battle with smth along the lines of i really dont want to do this but here we go. literally what is his deal

#twist rambles #♟ #normally hes like ok ^-^ lets go into battle. its very funny to me bc its not JSUT my guilt over doing anything bad in games but they #will just be fucking miserable when u do evil missions. its very funny to me bc like. shalvas DOES have an established character. 10000% bu #if vol/foss was popular i knowwww people would give him the giorno treatment of no personality and he sucks to a majority of people. #but anyways it IS silly to me that mistos has to give his 2 cents on every mission you go on. even if its not an evil one. i think he prob #is mad at shalvas for taking this evil mission but shalvas is also on mad at me island due to me making him do this one so. really its only #fair. or something. its silly to me i like the little touches that they add. bc idk like normally ur protag in a game is pretty moldable to #ur choices. ie like. tw2s you have to pick the guys that suck so bad or the elves we are insanely racist to for a lot of the game #and like. when u look canonically. peepaw does notttt like to pick sides w the war. and esp since he doesnt have his memory back fully by #the time he makes that choice theres no way that he can use his prev knowledge from the LAST war to inform his choice. and that game treate #it as like yeah siding w the govt who are notoriously rly bad or the elves who are well. they sure fit them into the trope of i wrote a bad #guy and he has valid points but to make sure ppl hate him i have to have him do extreme evil. so u dont WANT to choose the elves side. #unless u suffered thru the really fucking bad racism in the books irt that. which i did. so for me its very funny to like. see vol/foss #handle the thing of ok u have choices and one of them is something it doesnt seem like the protag would do. in a more natural way ig.

[ziracona]

[[Hawke v Arishok, 9:34 Dragon]]

#this is really how the finale of act 2 feels if you and the Arishok are best friends but you can't let Isabella die but also what makes it #is it's super mutal. if you're besties he tries to get you captured so you won't die and you're both like *draws sword trying not to cry* #dragon age 2 #The Arishok #Tiva Hawke #Hawke #DA2 spoilers #when you don't want to kill him and he doesn't want to kill you but he's honor bound to a duel to the death if he doesn't take back the #person who stole their holy book and if you don't accept the honor duel deal he'll have to just fight everyone there & a lot of people on #both sides will die so you have to duel your bro to the death honorably even though neither of you wants to or you're disgracing him and #causing more death but you can't let Isa be killed for the second time she did something selfless in her life #DA2 Act II finale was peak well-written tragedy because you have options but none of them are great and it was unavoidable for you #Isa could have stopped it. Maybe the government in Kirkwall could have. But not you. Not the Arishok. And you two are the ones who have to #pay for it. The scene where he asks you if the elves are right and you know this is the last straw but you're like 'yes. you're right.' and #he's like *deeply sad* 'Yes. I am.' Arishok @ Kirkwall *crying* 'I love your dumb citizens more than you so bad i have to kill your ass'

[captainofthestrangestship]

Spones Political Marriage AU, Where Humans and Vulcans have been at war for a long time. But when David McCoy saves Sarek’s life, peace talks begin between the two groups, however neither are very trustful of the other. So an old tradition of using marriage to foster peace between two groups is put forth and its decided that the sons of the two men who have made peace possible would be an acceptable match.

Thats how one Leonard McCoy finds himself being bonded to Spock and having to deal with the political tensions that still exist between his old home and his new one.

#star trek #spones #leonard mccoy #spock #political marriage AU #i havent forgotten about kirk hes still a captain in this but for the army and is very good at what he does #he of course offers himself for such a union but is shot down as Vulcans do not want someone with his reputation living among them #he almost loses it when they suggest leonard and spock get married and then actually loses it when leonard agrees #he basically thinks it some sort of trick but leonard is like i can save more lives agreeing to this then i could with my own hands #so theres nothing you could say to stop me #leaning towards this being a more fantasy setting so vulcans are closer to being elves and they all live on the same planet

[sage-nebula]

Not to be controversial, but sometimes I really wonder if the TDP fandom would be so averse to calling Harrow Callum's father / would be so obsessed with Callum's biological father if Harrow was white.

#like i know part of it is also that so many people seem to chug haterade when it comes to stepparents #but fandom racism is a very real thing - including in THIS fandom #the number of Viren stans i've seen say awful things abt the Sunfire Elves . . . #the misogynoir against Miyana is particularly bad after this season #so it would not surprise me if ppl ignore the loving father Harrow was to Callum #since Callum was a TODDLER btw #to obsess over Callum's bio dad #whom Callum WOULDN'T REMEMBER btw #bc Harrow is Black and Callum's biodad was white #that's the vibe i get anyway #this post brought to you by someone calling Callum's biodad his ''real'' dad #and me wanting to tear them apart with my bare hands as a result

[victorie552]

Menegroth was totally sacked in Second Kinslaying, right? You know what invaders do when they sack cities? They steal shit. Everything that isn't bolted to the ground (and few things that are) is taken.

And Menegroth was, well, the cultural center of Doriath (and only stone/ish city to my knowledge) and also housed Daeron, who famously invented his own alphabet. I'm sure they had a great library.

Someone, and I'm nominating Maglor for the honor, definitely stole every and each paper (that wasn't burned down during sacking) and took it with them to Amon Ereb or wherever SoF dwelled at the time. ("I mean, it's that or leaving it to the orcs" - Maglor)

SoF had more Sindarin texts and cultural treasures than people in Sirion (they're refugees. what is there to say). Maybe they even offered to trade them for Silmaril (cultural heritage for cultural heritage), before they decided to just go on with the 3rd Kinslaying.

Sure a shit thing to do, but came in handy when Elrond and Elros happened.

#I want to say #very english of them #but every empire and invasion does this #I don't think there were a lot of texts as elves aren't really all that about written records #but they should have Something #stealing their stuff after destroying the country really adds insult to the injury #smaller hurt than all the murder #but still very much a hurt #I really think that has potential #maybe that made the negotiations for Silmaril worse #maybe in the end somehow they had more Sindarin texts than Noldor ones #maybe they gave it all to E and E when they send them to Gilgalad #they gave that all back this time not for silmaril but because it's the right thing to do #and of course it didn't matter in the end #you can make a story there is all I'm saying #headcanon #maglor #menegroth #second kinslaying #sons of feanor #silmarillion #silm

[nomaishuttle]

AND im super excited to add rivers and stuff :]]

#i need to decide if i want it to be a fantasy world or a more realistic one #if its fantasy I keep typing fancy instead of fantasy ugh #anyways. if its fantasy itll be wayyy more world building #bc id have to decide what Kind of fantasy and all of the like #fantasy things would be ON TOP of normal worldbuilding stuff like the politics and the climates and stuff #roy not too much tho.. since either way id have different civilizations #just with each fantasy species id want to take care to make them all have different like. ykwim #my least favorite thing in fantasy is when theyre like And all elves like forests and all dwarves are miners when likee #irl #humans are all the same species but we all do all sorts of different things and have tons of different cultures.. so i hate it when they #just have humans have different cultures and every other race is a monolith like it makes no sense #or they have the humans have one culture ('normal' aka vaguely european) and everybody else gets 1 thats a poorly thought out stand in for #a real one... idt theres anything wrong abt getting inspiration from irl cultures at all as long as you do your research and are respectful #but i find it rly lazy to just be like. and the elves are like chinese people. like ok..? plus i think when you do that yr wayyyyy more #likely to be SO incredibly racist. yk ... its judt somrthing you have to be rly careful abt #but im excited for world build Is the basics of it ^-^ im always thinking Id be normal if i had a big big project so maybe this can be it..

[icewindandboringhorror]

Daily Log 7

Trying out (probably just temporarily) making short daily-ish notes about things, in an attempt to see if it helps me be more reflective or productive lol.

Activities: Finished all of the little things I carved out of avocado pits, will maybe post pictures at some point? I painted some sections (like for the eye I carved, I made part of it white for contrast, etc.) and then generally glazed them with some shiny paint stuff. Now I really wish I had more avocado pits, I was unsure at first, but I have some new ideas.. I want to try inlaying stones like I've seen in some pictures, similar to the same ones I use for eyes in my sculptures. >:3 (random google image example of the stones inside, like this sort of thing V)

Low effort/small house cleaning tasks, did a few dishes, put up laundry, organized things, put up the recycling, paid bills, etc.

Still extremely sleepy and unfocused, it was hot last night and the cats woke me up multiple times so I only got a few hours of sleep and barely had any energy to do anything and also had a headache and back pain a lot of the day. ToT

Finally made an appointment I was supposed to make like 4 days ago lol..

Gave wet food to the cats (this is an ordeal because George eats way faster than Noodle, so I have to separate them and stand guard so George doesn't vacuum his up immediately then run over and try to eat all of his brothers food.. evil boy must be watched to prevent his crimes )

Edited videos for like.. 15 minutes but still have not been very productive on that front (or editing costume photos or anything) due to shoulder pain and stuff making it hard to type/use mouse much on the computer. grrbbb >:V

Spent 10 minutes looking up a weird pendant I had in my rock collection area and found out it's an old piece of costume jewelry from the 60s(?) and could be worth like $200 potentially, which is cool. I'm not sure if I'll sell it though because I do think it's quite unique and good for a prop when making wizard character inventories, etc, and I'd never be able to find anything like it again (it's this one below.. it's very weird.. looks like something a mage would have lol)

Translated the tapestry text for 5 minutes, and got out some tubs of clothes to start organizing them to sell outfits and stuff online, but then felt ill and had to go lay down so now the tubs are just sitting out on the floor ghgh..

Notable sights: It rained a bit and the sky was very pretty at one point. Didn't get to go outside today due to schedule/low energy, so no clovers or anything. Saw a fat squirrel out the window once though. Also when I was looking through my "rock collection" (which also includes marbles, dice, pieces of glass, stones, gems, rubber balls, seashells, smooth wood, jewelry scraps, etc. ggh.. really more "shiny things collection" but it's mostly rocks, so) for interesting stones to possibly put into avocado pits in the future, I saw a lot of pretty rocks I hadn't thought about in a while, so that was nice.

Goals moving forward: Focus on social activities, finding new friends in the places I want to move, communicating with ones I have. Physical therapy exercises. Finish and upload videos, edit costume pictures & etc. Do the new costumes I've planned. MAKE SCULPTURES at some point, I miss them.

Notable foods: Nothing really.. but it's an asparagus day tomorrow I think so.. >:)c hehehehe... Oh, I did try a bite of corn, which I really really love corn but am not supposed to have it on my diet. The miniscule morsel was sufficiently cherished. Still craving hearty stuff despite resuming my iron supplements lol..

#just posting these publicly since it feels more like I'm doing something or easier to hold yourself accountable if you make public #declarations of goals and progress or etc. .. perhaps.. for now #just want to do worldbuilding I want to work on the language I want to do these sorts of things #furstrating to just walk around in a haze all day unable to focus on mental tasks like that #One of the most important things in my entire life actually is being able to think about little elves and magic and etc. #annoying to have multiple days in a row where I make very little progress on that aside from thinking of a few little story #ideas or something here and there. I should have had the text translated already and finished the worldbuilding slideshow #already and made a game set in my world already and so on and so forth.. grr #There's another upcoming heatwave again and summer is soon so I think it will only get worsw #the more often I feel warm and sick or cant sleep due to the temperature etc. #But I am trying to catch up somehow.. a little.. lol #I think it's very common to feel like you're not making enough progress in life on the things that matter the most to you #especially during capitalism and with low income and mental/physical health issues and during a still ongoing pandemic #threat and etc. etc. etc. like.. Logically I get it and I know it's not something to be too worked up over because that's just how #probably half of the population feels at all times especially people who are in similar situations to me #but still.. my brain is like Yes i know the facts of the situation No i do not care #if someone else came to me like 'ough Im feeling so unproductive for xyz reason' I'd reassure them and talk about how #it's situational and a lot of people feel that way and it's the system we live in and blah blah #but when it's ME it's like.. No.. This Situation Is Different Of Course. Surely It Is Much More Terrible #If You Haven't Finished Your Entire ToDo List By The End Of The Week Then The World Will Explode #ANYWAY.. #daily log

[dexaroth]

next hobby im gonna develop is to train a pigeon to travel around the globe to deliver sculptures of my mutual's ocs

#i wanna use this new sculpting skill to make gifts for ppl but irl i dont know enough abt anyone that i care about to do it justice.. #lets be honest tho. if u got a handmade gift from someone youre gonna be overjoyed even if isnt something you love #but like 2/3 of them are sorta neurotypical and im not the kinda guy to sculpt cutesy elves and stuff that they like...i also dont wanna be #associated with that sorta style. im belittled and treated like a child enough and i dont want That sorta sculpt to become whats left of me #when i die or something. #and just having pictures of the sculptures isnt enough too. id rather make a 3d model that i can actually give to the receiver that they ca #can mess with and modify. yknow.. #dextxt

[foone]

Bad idea: Age gap discourse but in a fantasy land where there's multiple races who have vastly different lifespans and life styles.

Is it wrong for a 27 year old human to date a 140 year old stone elf, considering most stone elves don't get out of diapers till their 30s?

Is it wrong for a 80 year old dwarf to date a two year old fire wisp, when fire wisps only live up to 5 years (between the eruptions) and have memories of their past lives, so in a way they're "born" at age 400,000+? That octogenarian dwarf is way younger than the fire wisp that's only physically younger than some of the socks the dwarf has!

Is it wrong for a chronomancer who was never born to date, well, anyone? They are zero years old and infinity years old and negative one hundred and seventeen years old all at once. They look like an old human, sure, with the long white beard and the wrinkly skin, but as far as anyone can tell, they've always looked like that. We've seen the cave paintings.

Is it wrong for a 30 year old lizardman (that's old in lizardman years) to date a human who is 60 years old in biological years (because of aging spells), 26 years old in lived-experience years, but only 13 years old in calendar years? (ie, they were born 13 years ago, but spent some of that time in sideways timelines, so they've lived more years than have passed in their home timeline?)

Is it wrong for a 12,000 year old dragon date a pile of 400 kobolds when kobolds only live like 10 years on average, but reach full maturity in one year? And if you disagree, can you do anything about it? You do know what happened to the last policeman who tried to arrest a dragon, right? Their city is still smoldering, 50 years later.

Is it wrong for anyone to date the time worm? It's the same age, every year. So the age gap can only intensify. If you start dating the time worm when you're both the same age, when do you break it off because you've become too much older than them?

And most confusing of all... What about the fairies? They could be anything between a thousand and a day old, they would lie about their age either way, and they can look like whatever they want. There's fairies we know for a fact have been around since the founding of The City of Towers, who met the silent mother herself, and also look like they're at most ten years old. Is it wrong to date them, or just really uncomfortable for everyone who sees it? And on the other side there's fairies who are "born" (hatched? They come from plants, I'm not sure what the verb even would be. Seeded? Sprouted, maybe) this week who are already appearing like middle-aged men and dancing with widows in what looks like a scheme to run off with her fortune but they never take the money, because what would a fairy want with worthless metal discs? Maybe fairies have a hive mind or genetic memory or reincarnation with full memories, they'd never tell you or give you a straight (or consistent) answer anyway.

Stonefolk are really the only inter-race dating situation anyone can agree on. They're unthinking & unmoving solid rock during the day, so those hours don't count. Thus their "real age" is a nice even half of their true age. So if you meet a stonefolk who was dug out 30 years ago, watch out: that's a 15 year old, and if you're a 25 year human, that's too young for you, even though their dig-date is five years before your birth-date.

EDIT: 2024/01/12: Changed the name of the Stonefolk

#Age gap discourse shitposting #One hundred and one magical pistols #Technically #My writing

[tropicalscream]

blah blah Bethesda bad anyway

my favorite thing about Elder Scrolls is how goddamn fuckin weird it is

like on surface it's just some dnd game but like even a cursory glance shows tis fucking insane like:

The moons is the corpse of a god

the stars are actually holes in reality when alot of primordial spirits hated that mortals were becoming a thing and fucked off

The demon lord of forbidden knowledge/resident Cthulhu stand-in might also be the beta version of the entire fucking universe made sentient when it wasn't chosen to be the used reality

there are cat ppl that take the form of furrys, lions, or regular cats, so you can have a cursing Pirate legend whose an alcoholic & wanted in 5 countries but is also a like basic tabby cat

the wood elves are so pro-nature they're cannibals and also they murder vegetarians

Vampires came from the Lord of Rape doing well ya know

Werewolves came to exist bc the lord of hunt got bored and is a furry

sex is treated like a fucking ip copyright contract on what aspect of sex is happening and what god it's under. There's been many religious wars about this

The lizard ppl are part tree

the Dwarves all fucked off somewhere and disappeared bc they were so atheist they did math to break relativity and literally no one has any idea where they went God or mortal (except maybe Cthulhu and hes not telling)

Said Cthulhu stand-in treats hiding your grandma's secret cookie recipe & hiding a spell that would end the universe and slay a god the exact same and he will murder you for either

Everyone wants to fuck the Orcs but will never admit it and they got so bent out of shape that a demon god killed the og orc god, ate him, and shat him out bc she couldn't deal with everyone complimenting them all the time so now all Orcs are cursed to be hated but they're all still sexy & so is their god

And all this isnt even the tip of the iceberg

#tes #the elder scrolls #tesblr #daedric prince #elder scrolls online #eso #skyrim

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

It frightens and discourages me how pervasive "tribal" stereotypes and imagery are in the fantasy and adventure genres.

It's all over the place in classic literature. Crack open a Jules Verne novel and you're likely to find caricatures of brown people and cultures, even when the characters are sympathetic to the plight of the colonized peoples - incidentally, this is the biggest reason I can't recommend 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to everyone, despite Captain Nemo being one of my favorite fictional characters of all time.

You can't escape it in modern cinema, either. You'll see white heroes venturing bravely into jungles and tombs to steal from natives who don't know how to use their resources "properly." You'll see them strung up in traps, riddled with sleeping darts, forced to flee and fight their way out. Hell, Pirates of the Caribbean, a remarkably inclusive franchise in many other ways, had an extended sequence of the white heroes escaping from a cannibal civilization in the second film.

And when fantasy RPGs want a humanoid enemy, the "bloodthirsty natives" are the first stock trope they jump to. World of Warcraft is one of the most egregious examples, with the trolls - blatant racist caricatures with faux-voodoo beliefs, cannibalistic diets, Jamaican accents, and a history of being killed in droves by (white) elves and humans - being raided and slaughtered in nearly every expansion.

It doesn't matter how vibrant and distinctive the real-world indigenous, Polynesian, Caribbean, and African cultures are. It doesn't matter how much potential these real civilizations offer for complex and sympathetic characterization. Anything that doesn't make sense to the white western mind is shoved under the same "savage" umbrella. They're different. They're strange. They're scary. They have to be escaped, subjugated, eliminated, ogled at from the safety of a museum.

Modern writers, directors, and developers don't even seem to realize how horrifying it is to present the indigenous inhabitants of a place as "obstacles" for non-native protagonists to overcome. "It's not racist," they say, "because these people aren't really people, you see." And if you dare to point out anything that hurts or offends you as a descendant of the bastardized culture, you're accused of being the real racist: "These aren't humans! They're monsters! Are you saying that these real societies are just like those disgusting monsters?"

No, they're not monsters. But you chose to design them as monsters, just as invaders have done for hundreds of years. Why would you do that? Why can you recognize any other caricature as evil and cruel, but not this?

This is how deep colonialism runs.

#tw racism #critical #this isn't even about any specific media anymore #it's a pattern #and it's a pattern that seems so obvious #but it's so omnipresent that even the most progressive folks can't seem to recognize how terrifying it is #these tropes were written in blood