#third age fuckery

[mothdalf]

Inktober day 10: Smaug and his stolen fortune

#inktober #tolkientober #inktober day 10 #day 10 fortune #inktober fortune #tolkientober fortune #tolkien dragon #great Wyrm #I love these noodles #Smaug #inside the lonely mountain #third age fuckery

[skitskatdacat63]

2023 Australian Grand Prix - Fernando Alonso(ft. Max Verstappen & Lewis Hamilton)(my personal post-race highlights)

#i seriously think this race took like 10 years off my life #i think i aged about 50 yrs during it and had about 5 mental breakdowns #i dont think i can sum up all my thoughts: just look at my liveblogs and youll see my emotional rollarcoaster #to quote will buxton: “its been a long day.” AND I HAVENT EVEN SLEPT YET WAHHHHH #anyways absolutely wild race but yknow what im glad i experienced it and ty to you all for being here with me #when else am i gonna experience such fuckery #apologies to everyone affected by my yelling and screaming i think i lost my mind about 10 times #props to nando for his consistency #not only has he gotten p3 3 races in a row #but he also lost and regained his p3 twice in a very confusing way(i think i was abt to have an emotional breakdown at the third restart) #okay but things that make me squeal: THE WAY FERNANDO LOVES HIS TEAM AND THE WAY THEY LOVE HIM and THE WAY MAX TAPS HIM ON THE BACK HEHEHE #fernando alonso #max verstappen #lewis hamilton #2023 australian gp #fa14 #mv1 #lh44 #we do a little bit of f1 #f1 #formula one #formula 1 #(2023: 3/23 races watched)

[cornfieldsrambles]

YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO INFODUMP PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT WIGGLY'S SIBLINGS???? THAT HE APPARENTLY HAS????

omg ok SO

Meet the Lords in Black. Charming, aren't they?

Yes, Wiggly does indeed have four brothers who all do different things, so I'll cover them one by one, in order of introduction (since we've already met each of them in Nightmare Time at least once). BTW Nightmare Time has a fuckton of lore in it that I won't go into here, so even though I am about to spoil significant parts of it for you, I do recommend watching it, it's really good and if there's enough interest they might make a third one!

(Also you might notice they're all in doll form in this picture. This is how we knew them up until NPMD introduced us to what I call their Tumblr sexyman forms. Which are rad as hell by the way.)

So you already know Wiggly. That little green fucker, Wiggog Y'Wrath, the Capitalist Cthulu who does uwu-speak and starts a cult by invading people's minds. This will become a bit of a reoccurring theme with these guys. He's also the only one to successfully start an apocalypse, and the only one to have attempted to birth himself into our reality. (Or is he? We'll get to that...) He does seem to have some kind of dominion over the other LiB, as whenever all five of them show up there's always emphasis placed on him, like in NPMD where he does most of the talking while his siblings occasionally butt in.

Now for Bliklotep. Blinky seems to have slightly lower-scale ambitions than Wiggly, but don't let that fool you. Eyeball Boi is still incredibly dangerous. He runs an amusement park, WatcherWorld, deep within the Hatchetfield Witchwood. But it's not for the amusement of the patrons. Oh no. It's for Blinky's own amusement. Once you step inside, every insecurity, every shred of potential conflict will be ripped to the forefront, turning people against each other to the point of trying to kill each other until he's fully infected their minds. It's implied that, if not all, but a significant chunk of the workers at WatcherWorld were once patrons before having their minds taken over by Blinky. He's also implied to be the thing in Trail To Oregon that Jack Bauer sees during his venom-induced hallucination, as Blinky is referred to as "The Watcher With 1,000 Eyes", which is exactly what JB says he sees? Making Blinky the only LiB to induce a Starkid crossover. My headcanon is that the Dikrats founded Hatchetfield. But regardless.

Next up on the roster is Tinky. T'noy Karaxis, the Time Bastard. You may be wondering about that one line in NPMD where he recognised Pete as a Spankoffski, and said he "could have the whole set in his toybox". Has Tinky gone after Pete's relatives?

Well. Um. You know Ted, right? Yeah, his name is Spankoffski. He's Pete's big brother. We actually got the surname reveal before the brother reveal, lol. And that's not the only reveal we got about Ted. Our boy Teddy Bear has this whole entire tragic backstory and it turns out he gets fucked over in literally every timeline! Isn't that fun?

So, to summarise an entire episode: Tinky makes travel fuckery happen, Ted wants to go back in time to fix his life, accidentally goes back to before the time machine was created and gets stuck in the past, literally. Tinky is watching and laughing at the whole thing, then shows up to blow Ted's brain to smithereens with his weird little magic box, the Bastard's Box, where he stores all the people he toys with. Anyway Ted eventually catches up with the present by aging, except now no one knows who he is, he's... actually I won't spoil that. But once he dies he ends up eternally trapped and tortured in the Bastard's Box. Yaaay.

Fast forward to Nightmare Time 2 and we get introduced to Nibbly, in possibly the most unexpected way imaginable. He's revealed to have been behind a whole episode literally right at the end of said episode, and even though it was kind of foreshadowed, it hits you like a freight train in the best way. Remember when I said Wiggly was the only one who tried to birth himself into reality? That was kind of a lie. Nibblenephim can sort of do that anyway. Every year, he can possess a bunch of carcasses and create a living form to walk the earth for one night. He also has a cult of followers who provide him with the carcasses, as well as a sacrifice to feed on. There's a little more to it, specifically with how the sacrifice is chosen, but again, I'm trying to spoil as little as possible. Go watch Nightmare Time. Nibbly also seems to have a "pig" motif, and his theme song, The Nibbly Ditty, is a banger, easily my favourite of the three LiB theme songs we've heard so far.

And finally, we are introduced to Pokotho, in the very last episode of NMT2.

Except no. We were formally introduced to Pokey there, yes, but we've seen his apocalypse already. Long before NPMD, before Nightmare Time, even before Black Friday.

Yeah, remember me saying that Wiggly was the only one to successfully start an apocalypse? That was also a lie! Pokey already did that, and he did it without ever showing his masked face. Remember The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals? The blue spores that came down in a meteor and turned everyone into singing zombies? That was Pokey's doing! That's his blue spores! That's his apocalypse!

This also provides an explanation for why blowing up the meteor didn't work. Emma and Hidgens were right about the hivemind thing, but wrong about the location of the central brain. It wasn't the meteor - the meteor was just the vessel which carried the spores to Earth. The central brain was sitting safely up in the Black and White, laughing as Paul blew himself to smithereens. The central brain was Pokey, the Singular Voice, the most uncompromising of his brothers. The one who hates every voice that is not his own, hence the hivemind and making all of his zombies speak in HIS voice.

Anyway in NMT2 he's happily collecting musical zombies by taking on a human form and infiltrating a fighting ring of superpowered children until he has enough to kickstart another apocalypse. (Don't question it, we're almost done). He also calls himself Otho, not Pokey, making him the only LiB to have two different abbreviations of his name. Hannah is also there (remember her? Lex's little sister?) and she is like incredibly important to this whole thing, she has a super powerful mind, but that's a whole other thing.

But I did mention Hannah for a reason. Because you said "Wiggly's SIBLINGS". And while the Lords in Black are always referred to as brothers, they do have one more sibling. A sister. A Queen in White. And her name is Webby.

Yep, Hannah's imaginary friend isn't imaginary, who could have guessed? She's benevolent, always trying her best to combat her brothers' antics, but given that there's one of her and five of them, this is a bit of an uphill battle. Webby doesn't have a full name that we know of, nor does she have a doll. We don't know much about her. And she may not be all-powerful - but then again, neither are her brothers.

Infodump concluded. Hope this helps, it was very fun to write.

#the lords in black #hatchetfield #starkid #nightmare time #nmt2 #nightmare time 2 #wiggog y'wrath #t'noy karaxis #bliklotep #nibblenephim #pokotho #npmd #nerdy prudes must die #the guy who didn't like musicals #black friday

[aliceoverzero]

Harry Du Bois vs Light Yagami has gripped my brain again.

Thoughts on how a Death Note version of Disco Elysium works:

Firstly. The ugly tie is capable of perceiving and talking to Ryuk. They get into an argument with each other filled with profanity and yelling during their first conversation. This happens early enough in the game that it's likely the player hasn't fulfilled enough conditions to be able to notice Ryuk, leaving them with their tie incoherently yelling at nothing.

Harry: "Kim, my tie is having an argument with a person that isn't there."

Kim: Kim pauses, his reaction betraying nothing but a slight exhaustion. "Fascinating, detective."

(If you have this encounter while able to see Ryuk but unable to hear the tie, the conversation is equally confusing.)

Second. Everyone has some surface level awareness of the folklore of shinigami, but it's varied and contradictory bordering on useless in most cases. Only the truly powerful or truly strange have interesting or useful information. Evrart suspects that Wild Pines employs them for union busting which is why him and his brother have the identity fuckery going on. The Paledriver vividly remembers making love to one back before electrical power was invented. Passing an Inland Empire check with Joyce will earn a summary of how the corporate class has treated the shinigami like a hostile SCP and have spent billions in R&D trying to figure out how to kill them. Cunoesse was given a Death Note a couple years ago but wasn't literate enough to use it, so now she has the empty book binding of a Death Note and a few paper shivs (touching the book binding or getting stabbed by Cunoesse are valid ways to gain the ability to see shinigami).

Third. Dodging the effect of the Death Note can be done in multiple ways. Evrart uses Harry's name too much for Light to not pick it up through the rumor mill, but the right drama checks can make Light doubt whether Harry's true name is actually Tequila Sunset or Raphael Ambrosious Costeau. Alternatively, either of those names can be internalized in the thought cabinet to make his legal name invalid. Regardless of how it's done, what's more important is right afterwards when you need to make a multiple dialogue checks (primarily drama) to convince Light that Kim went to the same lengths and it's not even worth trying to target him. Ryuk will contribute to this bluff if you've convinced him that supporting your efforts will be much more entertaining than letting Light win.

The Pale would absolutely factor in to the supernatural elements, but I'm not entirely sure how. Pale Aged Vodka might be a temporary power up to both see shinigami and be untargetable by the Death Note. I think Ryuk would be scared of the Pale, at the very least, even if he can't give any insight into what the fuck goes on in there.

#disco elysium #death note

[nowandthane]

OC Name Meaning

got tagged by @sillyliterature to do this! thank you <3

Rules: google and post the meaning of your OC'S name (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! bonus if you can find something for their last name too.

this is gonna be long i have a LOT of children 🧍

Sarani Shepard: meaning protector, guardian or path (gotta be honest, i knew about the first two and it's why i chose the name, but the third is a surprise to me when i googled again for this). I already kinda HCed Sarani (who had a different placeholder name at the time) as being part Indian so I was intentionally finding an Indian name that would fit. her LIs call her Rani sometimes which means 'queen' and 'joyous song' and that second one feels especially fitting as she doesnt let anyone else use her first name, and she is very happy to have people she loves and trusts 🥺

Mars Shepard: my new child i just made last night whose face isnt done yet xD got the idea of using space names from @xoshepard (thank youuu <3) and I went with Mars because roman god of WAR and also gender fuckery 😌 she's gonna be romancing Kaidan!

Nayima Surana: means gentle, delicate, tenderness. this is kind of hilarious because while that's how she starts off being her experiences have hardened her a lot 😔 i dont have a pic for her im gonna remake her when (if) i ever get back to playing dragon age. also goes by Naya (renewal, fresh). we can say that shot of darkspawn blood renewwed her and freshened her up!

Riyaad Hawke: my canon hawke is garrett riyaad is a random dude the hawkes adopted dfjkghk. name means 'beautiful garden'. if you cant tell, i almost stole his name for myself xD

Bintang: 'bintang' is the Malay word for star

Arianwen Trevelyan: means silver, blessed. she's an andrastian and blessed made sense because of that, and her hair is like blue-silver so yeah (silver when she was born, darkening to blue, was the canon i made for her i believe)

Bronwen Trevelyan: similar meaning, fair/white and blessed. she's aria's twin so it made sense.

Veara Lavellan: my lavellan used to be Valora and pretty much just chaged her name for veara. the most i found on the internet is that it means 'special' lmao

anyways i do have more OCs around here somewhere but i'll stop there kjdfhgkd

no pressure tags: @mxanigel @xoshepard @poetikat @sweetmage @azurechicken @malabadspice @illusivesoul @westernlarch @menacingmetal <3 <3 <3

#tag games #oh god now to tag all of them dfjkghdfl #sarani shepard #mars shepard #nayima surana #riyaad hawke #bintang #arianwen trevelyan #bronwen trevelyan #veara lavellan

[sweaterkittensahoy]

The copyright rant; re: crochet patterns

A reminder that taking an out of print pattern and scanning it or re-typing it and making it available for money or not does NOT give you any copyright over the pattern.

I see this a lot when I'm digging up vintage patterns on etsy and other sites. People who say, "I scanned it/retyped it, so I own the copyright."

First of all, no, you don't. That's not how that works. I pay for the patterns you offer because 1) I want them and 2) I think it's fair to pay you for digitizing the pattern.

In the US, crochet patterns are copyrighted by whoever first wrote them. I assume that if one writes a pattern for a company (Patons, Red Heart, etc.), then it's a work for hire situation much like comics. The pattern writer gets a one-time payment, and the company gets the profits from the pattern itself. That's just a guess to explain how it works. I assume that if there is copyright fuckery, the yarn company takes care of the legal shit, not the pattern writer that was hired by the yarn company.

This is important because a LOT of vintage patterns you can find for sale on etsy and ebay and other places aren't actually out of copyright (something around 70 years minimum in US law). They're out of print. So, technically, the yarn company could spend time tracking down the illegal reproduction and sale of their copyrighted material if they really wanted to make a fuss about things.

They don't do that because it's a waste of their time. Those of us tracking down vintage patterns and buying them from third-party sellers aren't hitting their bottom line. Because those patterns are no longer part of their bottom line. They're out of print.

But they ARE still under copyright for the most part in the US because they haven't met the age requirement to not be. And here's the thing: even if they ARE out of copyright in the US, that doesn't mean someone digitizing them puts them back into any sort of copyright.

It's like Pride & Prejudice, okay? You know why there are so many ebooks of P&P? Because it's in public domain and everyone wants to make a buck off of it. But none of them OWN P&P. No one owns P&P. That's what public domain means.

All of that being said, you know what is definitely still under copyright and reported by my ass when I find it on etsy? Patterns from books that are still in print. Not the books themselves, mind. Used book market is used book market. But people who have scanned individual patterns to sell even though the book is still in print.

I also get real fucking salty about people selling patterns that can be bought directly from the company or person who wrote them in the first fucking place.

THAT'S a copyright violation. Not sharing a vintage pattern you paid for because someone digitized it. Not digitizing the pattern itself.

Honestly, I get so tempted to take patterns from people who yell "I have copyright!!!" the most and just roll them out for free because 1) no you don't and 2) fuck you. Yeah, you digitized it. Thank you. But to act like you get the rights to any of it because you did that is bullshit.

Anyway, that's the copyright rant. Tip your servers.

#crochet #knitting #vintage patterns #vintage knitting #vintage crochet #i have one etsy seller on my eternal shitlist #because they claim copyright #and blank out the name of the original yarn #and use a huge fucking watermark

[paint-lady]

🖊 + Maru!

Send me a “🖊+an OC“ and I will talk about that OC! It can be a headcanon, a fun fact, a small paragraph of backstory- anything! Alternatively, send in just a “🖊“ and I will talk about any one of my OCs at random!

Oh, Maru my beloved.

Maru "Maru-Maru" Maru is my character in Secret World Legends and my NPC (and eventual PC) for the Secret World ttrpg. They are the current OC im constantly rotating in my brain like a rotisserie chicken.

I had attempted to write a longer form comic for them and even finished a first chapter. Unfortunately, life got busy and started taking more spoons to other tasks and I am not able to dedicate the time and energy I want to the comic. And thats okay. In the year I have been cold, I have expanded upon the Maru-verse even further, and discovered even more interesting loops and details to incorporate. And I cannot wait to illustrate them one day.

So without further ado, please enjoy this extensive lore breakdown on Maru-Maru:

For your convenience this post has a keep reading <3

Name Significance: Of course Maru is not their given name. Its partially a joke, partially an echo of a long-lost memory, partially a misheard role to fulfill, and their first grasp on their identity.

The name Maru firstly comes from my Exalted Zenith character. My partner and I wanted to name our bees after them, as a way to honor the fun we had with such a short campaign. Little did we know how smoothly Exalted and SWL can blend together- the transition from one age to the next, apocalypses rising, and powerful beings beyond comprehension changing Creation. The tone is certainly different though: an Exalted chronicle is uplifting and with epic heroes to save the world, whereas SWL is riddled with uncertainty about how long the collective will of reality can hold.

The SWL version of Maru can barely remember their previous incarnation, it's more like a weird dream than anything else. If they look to closely, the memory vanishes; like the people of the Third Age trying to grasp their memory of the Second, and their predecessors before them. The golden light within them feels different, yet can still vanquish monsters with their touch, and aid people plagued by nightmares seeping through cracks in reality.

A more recent discovery has played nicely into my friends headcanons and names of their characters. SWL Maru was discovered by experienced agents of names Inanna and Ninshubur in Kingsmouth. While the name Maru is not a Sumerian/Assyrian deity, Mamu is. There is not a lot written about Mamu. They are most notable for being a god of dreams and having both male and female depictions. We love a lil gender fuckery in the pantheon. There was temple built in Imgur-Enlil (modern Balawat) to them. Dreams were not seen as depictions of the subconscious (thanks Freud) but rather true portents of the future. This is all over the epic of Gilgamesh as a literary device to keep that long ass story going. Regardless, the Assyrian King who had dreams of Inanna vanquishing his enemies felt the portents were significant enough to build that temple to the messenger: Mamu. Additionally, there are oodles of accounts of death-dreams and glimpses into other worlds (namely the Underworld) across several sites, whether its recorded dreams from priests and priestesses- or more Enki myths.

And this is what Maru does- even by accident. They catch glimpses into the other worlds, talk to other versions of themselves to relay messages and warnings, and make sure Inanna and Ninshubur are aware of whatever weird shit is out there. In the SWL ttrpg, I intend to have Maru explore this role to fulfill more, as a messenger and a dreamer. Funnily enough, the surname I gave Maru is 夢宮: Yumemiya, which can translate to Yume: dream, and Miya: a shrine, or place for gods. Don't you love it when the narrative falls into place like that? (But in truth, I borrowed the surname from Kanae Yumemiya, an actress who portrayed Usagi in a Sailor Moon Live production...)

Lastly on name significance, we have the japanese translation that Maru means ◯, and is literally a circle. Depending on the characters used to spell Maru, it can also mean truth, and expanded to mean a complete unending cycle. Putting two ◯◯ together is like censoring a name or word, similarly to how $#%&#! is used in English. In a way, Maru-Maru is saying their name is Redacted, or blankety blank or So-and-so. This was incredibly hilarious in the SWL game when QBL labels the player a terrorist after climbing Orochi Tower. Ah yes, you've definitely found the ringleader who set off the Tokyo bomb: It was ◯◯! Excellent journalism, QBL, no notes.

But in truth, its a clever and funny way to hide themself. Searching Maru on google is gonna get you a stardew valley villager and a cute, chubby cat youtube sensation. And they like it that way.

So whether it's Maru, Mamu, Redacted, ◯◯, or some other weird fifth thing, they'll always be that one odd baby bee who reaches across dimensions to keep reality running just a little longer. They won't have to face the end alone, in fact, its statistically improbable.

And if you survive. If you are still you. Think on the questions. Remember when you were a bright little thing, so full of questions?

THE LIFE CYCLE:

Time is a funny thing when dealing with several versions of the same individual. The smallest changes completely alter a course of events. Many Marus recall gaining their bee not long after the Tokyo Filth bomb around 2012, and being swept up by whichever agency got to them first. Many recall their parents working tirelessly at their jobs at the Orochi Group. They learned how to cook for themself at a young age because Mom and Dad wouldn't be home til late. Many recall the first time they heard the buzzing static was as young as 6, following the sweet whispers through a soon-to-be park and a newly planted flowering tree. There are a few that never receive a bee, or receive their power through other means. These timelines are the strangest ones.

A riddle to kill a sphinx: What's one, then three, and then one again? Wait- that's not how it goes...

The Lumie, Templar, and Dragon Maru all share the same origin. Depending on where an outsider glances, the three realities are so close, they are nearly one. Nearly. They grew up in Kaidan with their parents. They did attend the Orochi-sponsored schools and attended several programs, but flew right under the radar for "gifted abilities" that Orochi was seeking. Little Maru was aware of whispers in tv static, rattles in old pipes, the shrieks of summer cicadas Evangelion style. As a young child, they marched to the beat of their own drum, ignoring or indulging the whispered warnings as they saw fit. The dreams were harder to ignore, but when they told their parents about the big scary monsters that couldn't get out- it was written off as their overly active imagination. After all, they had failed an aptitude test to get into the nearby elementary school near their work. Its uncertain whether or not Maru's parents knew what that test was truly analyzing- and whether or not they were relieved to see they failed. Decent Orochi employees have excellent poker faces.

Sometimes one is born special. Sometimes specialness is genetically modified into one. Not every child is equal.

As they grew older, the supernatural continued to burrow into their eardrums. Maru was an average student, but occasionally received top marks on answers whispered to them. They earned a reputation for being a little bit of a tech whiz, and had an observant eye for finding errors in codes. Not really a "super power" but troubleshooting tech is an immensely useful skill. Maru was exceptional at the ol' percussive maintenance with old printers, punchcards, and fax machines. When things went to digital interfaces, Maru found the tried and true "have you tried turning it off and back on again," to be a real winner.

When they didn't want to hear the whispers, they'd make use of bulky, noise-cancelling headphones. Maru would often be seen wearing them outside of class and in their home, enjoying the peace and quiet. Maybe the headphones were a placebo. It only worked because they believed it worked. However, at night, their mind would be plagued with vivid dreams and even louder whispers and messages. Headphones can't keep hide the noise if its already in their head. Frustratingly, they'd always wake up and immediately forget what they dreamt. This was their normal. Caffeine to keep themself up during the day, wear headphones to keep out the messages, and TV to drown out the static at night.

And there wasn't really anyone to talk about it with. Last time some Orochi kid fessed up to their weird dreams and whispers, he'd definitely vanished. Teachers said the student moved away, but Maru knew his parents still worked in Faust upper management. Another girl said she could hear thoughts before you could finish thinking them. Maru thought that one was bullshit- but she disappeared too. Lesson learned. Keep the static to yourself.

Don't fear It. Fear Nothing. Fear the Foundation. It's no wonder; they say once you hit four, it's all downhill from here.

When it came time to apply for highschool, a few of their peers found this "Clubhouse" and despite its messaging, were blabbermouths about it. Maru always felt uneasy about the place. If there were whispers saying they had nothing to fear, they didn't trust it. They couldn't believe the claims that were coming from this place. Free drinks? Can play games as long as you want? You can be yourself without any fear? Maru especially didn't trust the last one. None of their classmates knew how they felt wearing the girls uniform. None of them knew how exhausting it was to shut out the whispers, keep the eyes on them sated with just the right expectations, and then complete their coursework on top of it all. Maru absolutely did not want to "perform" there either.

Upon finishing highschool, Maru was presented with an opportunity. They'd complete a university comp-sci degree and then immediately dive into a job at the company. Orochi is not devoid of nepotism. At first, this seemed ideal. They'd attend university in New York, and take their summer internships with the American branch of Orochi. Should everything go well, which... it was going to go well that was the expectation... they'd be looking at a substantial salary and generous benefits while working in the Tower.

America was loud. America is loud. But the sheer volume of everything drowned out the buzzing whispers. They still needed the headphones to drown out the rest of the noise though. They could focus a lot more on themself outside of the Orochi bubble, even if their presence was just a few streets away.

Maru figured out a lot about themself in the four years at Uni, especially the gender thing. They enjoyed building weird robots and programming them to do silly things- in addition to their assigned tasks. They enjoyed the few college parties they attended. They even had a steady, long term relationship with a classmate named Caesura (nods back to Exalted). As graduation loomed, they dreaded going back home. They realized how much time they spent alone and really did not want to go back to that solitude at Orochi. So they avoided it. They delayed their graduation by a year and a half by swapping majors, making absurd connections and promises with subdivisions of Faust and Anansi, and prolonging which classes they needed to graduate.

What was the cause of all this, sweetling? Where is the zero point?

Everything changed sometime in 2012. Maru couldn't get anyone on the phone back home when the bomb went off. Even the work lines in Faust were gunked up. They have zero clue if a letter they wrote made it through security and into Orochi's headquarters. Caesura had also vanished. (Unbeknownst at the time, the man was abducted by the Dragon. In most timelines, he does analog calculations for the faction, figuring out where pieces need to move rather than doing field work himself). And then they get their bee, freak out and wreck their apartment, get nabbed by one of the big three, and then get sent out to Kingsmouth.

Things start to break and differ sometime after this for our Red, Blue, and Green iterations of Maru. They all admit to being unaware of their prowess for chaos magic before meeting two other big bees: Ninshubur and Inanna. It was Ninshubur who gifted the confused baby bee a chaos focus, and Inanna gifted a them an empowering gadget. Receiving these items are one of the more prominent cracks on the flickering timelines on the Reality Engine.

Though the most prominent tears in their time are when the Dreamers made themselves known to Maru. The first, a gift. The second, worship. The third, freedom.

Templar!Maru, believes they were tricked by the gift. They swear they would have never have listened to the bubbling voices, but deep down they know that they fell for their sweet words. Whenever the Dreamers approached them, they were certain to make sure they'd never be fooled twice. Their choices are marked with unbound Blue wings.

Dragon!Maru had already begun developing their philosophy on the cyclic end of the world: however messy and destructive it was going to be, whatever was going to rise out of the ashes was going to be just as magnificent. Decay is a form of life. They morbidly want to see what the world will look like at the end, but have to be strong enough to make it there. Accepting the gift, begrudgingly worshipping, and freeing the Dreaming Ones is all part of their dream. Their wings drip with filth. Unease sits in their stomach, they do not know if they'll get their wish.

Lastly, Lumie!Maru was keen on not listening to more voices in their heads. They are the only iteration to refuse the gift. Their wings gleam gold. What is done cannot be undone, and they loathe that their defiance to one set of voices is obedience to another.

Go ahead, glance back. Don't sweat it, sweetling. You won't turn to salt and you can't make yourself impossible. History will conserve itself. The continuities will hold.

Again, time is funny when dealing with several iterations of the same individual. The slightest changes make immense impacts on their lives. There are Maru's who graduated on time. There are Maru's who never left Kaidan. These individuals work with Orochi, whether they want to or not. There are Maru's who's last memory is the filth exploding from within that guy's jacket. There are Maru's still sleeping. There are Maru's who joined the Council of Venice, there are Maru's who hacked the Swarm's game back, and fled their factions. There are Maru's who want nothing to do with the secret world and just want a peaceful goddamn life with their wife and accounting job. There's a Maru who is just really into boats...

But they are all connected, tethered to one another. Like a rat king on reality, fated to meet and tangle.

FUN and STRANGE DETAILS:

BLOODY VALENTINES: Uta, the rabbit killer in Kaidan, is three separate individuals who used to inhabit the same body. Lilith is responsible for splitting her like a worm and separating the sibling souls into new bodies. Maru is an anomaly: they are physical duplicates of the same individual existing simultaneously. Both Maru and Uta fight with unprecedented coordination, switching aggro and balancing their buffs between the three of them. The showdown at the top of Orochi tower was certainly a spectacle... And a vocabulary lesson for swears in several languages. Some agents have noticed the similarities between Maru and Uta, but Maru is quick to squash any speculations. This is not because the two actually know each other, but more Maru does not want anyone to know their Orochi background if they can help it.

The buzzing on Uta reveals some interesting clues about Maru and their existence. Uta was not plagued with insanity but rather hypersanity for the new age- and with new software there are bound to be bugs. While Maru didn't absorb their twin in the womb or was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia; Maru was also sensitive to whispers just outside reality. And so were other children born around the same time. Maybe Maru and that generation of kids got the patched version.

A LUCID DREAM: The Black Signal, or John, tells the Chuck's who will listen that he's no longer singular, he is plural- but remembers what it was like being a sole individual. To Maru, this is so old news. In fact, Maru loves to snark back at him saying that he is not special and they're plural too. There are many Maru's. The Black Signal doesn't really tend to listen to this. Maru may be many, but Maru is still meat. If they would hatch, then they'd have a new conversation. Again, Maru disregards this, and says they've spent enough time being an egg.

They don't want to think too hard about what it means to have "hatched." They know John's not talking about them being nonbinary. Maru is an adept and experienced enough chaos user at this point to recognize when a timeline is too different for them to safely pull on. There's a phantom pain in their outreached hands and fingers when they try to go too far. They are aware that there are some selves they used to be able to call upon and cannot anymore. Something about them has changed. They are aware they can become "out of sync" with their doppelgangers or even be "out of phase," and get stuck somewhere overlapping two or more timelines. But to not be able to call themself at all is terrifying. If only they had the ability to glance at all it all from the outside ... oh.

At least, Maru can't do this consciously. Some versions of Maru have swapped places with their doppelgangers in their sleep or had rude awakenings of being pried from bed to be used as a meat-shield for another. While dreaming, they can go anywhere- so long as they don't forget how to wake up. These ones don't know how close they get to bleeding out of reality.

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES:

In my SWL playthrough, I of course ran into a whole bunch of bugs and glitches. And I love them. But, there were times that it made the game do absolutely weird things- which provides some very fun stories to weave into the glitch. The most notable was at the Second Choice in the City of the Sun God. At this point, my partner had played ahead and was almost through Translylvania when I had finally defeated Aten. He knew there was an Ultimate Move behind the choices and spoiled a little (with my permission). I didn't know what "Blue Wings" meant but I understood to get them I would need to, against my better judgement, listen to the Dreamer's at least once. So after defeating Aten and being greeted by the Filth bird saying "hey you should do the worship emote" I then obliged and typed /worship.

And the game crashed. No worries- this happened all the time for me. My laptop would get obscenely hot running this game and would shut itself down so it wouldn't fry itself. Upon reloading, I had to do the Aten fight again but found myself having trouble with some of the UI interface. Reloadui did not solve the issue, and I found myself in front of the Filth bird again. I typed /worship and Maru did nothing. I opened the emote tab, and clicked, and Maru would do nothing. In fact, all of my emotes were not functioning- except the dances.

I laughed as I watched Maru dance and devour tacos in front of the Dreamer, not knowing how frustrating it must have been for the cosmic entity to watch some small, nascent angelic thought just proceed to do anything but what it requested. How much longer? Out of frustration, I eventually attacked the creature, triggering the next cutscene. The Dreamer's were angry, and I laughed and laughed.

Now the strangest thing is in game play, Maru sometimes has golden wings. I have had friends say they see blue wings and I will see gold on my screen. I've also had the opposite. In all cutscenes, they are blue. Considering the overlapping timelines, it seems like Lumie!Maru's almost choice bleeds through onto their timeline sometimes.

INITIATE THE D20 SYSTEM:

I have been very fortunate to be the storyteller for some very avid fans of the Secret World and have presented an alternative timeline to the world they know and love. Maru of course, is no exception to this. Everyone is operating with different times and circumstances. Eventually, I will get the chance to play Maru in the game. But for now, Maru has only made one appearance: to Olivia, the newest bee of the group. Of course, Olivia has zero idea what implications she has encountered by merely interacting with this version of Maru, untethered to their doppelgangers. The TTRPG timeline is indeed one of the strangest.

Thank you for reading this absurdly long OC lore post, I have spent easily 3 week writing and editing and rewriting and adding. I hope you enjoyed and it sparks some fun thoughts about SWL and maybe a lil Exalted. As a treat.

#steph answers questions #thanks for the ask! #swl #storyteller vibes #maru energy

[kaitcreates]

Guess who just spent the entire day learning about age of consent laws across different counties to see if Jaime and Dru could legally work without any faerie time slippage. This girl.

(Please note this is all about if they can legally do it not if it is ethically ok is up to each individual persons judgment. All laws also only cover Sexual inter liars and nothing about dating. I have also not studied law in anyway and all this is from research on the internet)

TW this talks about age of consent laws and does have the word rape in it. It doesn’t talk about anything directly but it is referenced.

We do not know what age Ash and Jaime will have in TWP due to Faery time fuckery, meaning they could stay the same age as last time we saw them(Ash 16 & Jaime 18/19) or be much much older(This option is highly unlikely especially for Ash) If no time slippage happens in Faerie because of an artifact Jaime has or some sort of magic Ash has then that means their ages would go be 18 for Ash(we last saw him at 16 in 2013) and 19 for Jaime(he was “barely 17” in September 2012 so he was about 18 during January 2014 when SOBH took place)

Anush will also be 19 in TWP so this is also just to see if any of these three with no time slippage could legally date anyone outside of each other.

Since we don’t know any age of consent laws for either Faerie or Shadowhunters and in the codex it says that they are encouraged to follow the laws of whatever country/state they reside in when applicable I will be going over laws in: Mexico City(Where Jaime is from), Los Angeles(Where Kit, Ty and Dru are from), Brazil(Where Thais is from), India(Where Anush is from), New York(Where Dru and Thais currently reside), and England(Where Kit currently resides)

Mexico City, Mexico: The minimum age of consent is 12 meaning that any sex with someone under 12 is illegal and the age with no restrictions is 18. Meaning anyone between the ages 12-18 isn’t exactly illegal per se but is still open to prosecution. Different states in Mexico have different minimum age of consent fluctuating between 12-15 but 18 does appear to be the no restrictions age across all states as of 2018. It is also illegal to have sec with anyone “under 12 years of age or with a person that has no capacity of understanding the meaning of the act or that for any reason cannot resist.”

California, USA: the age of Consent in California is 18. It is absolutely illegal for anyone to have sec with someone under the age of 18 unless they are lawfully married. This also means that if a two people both under 18 who both willfully had sex are technically doing it illegally but they are early charged since the law states they’re both perpetrators and both victims . The level of punishment changes on the age of the two parties but in general if they have and age gap of 3 or less years they are charged with a misdemeanor, if the age gap is over 3 years it could be either a misdemeanor or a felony.

New York, USA: In New York the age of consent is 17. If someone who is 21 or older has sexual relations with anyone under 17 , they may be charged with third degree rape. If the perpetrator is over 18 and the victim is less than 15, they can be charged with second degree rape. Rape in the first degree encompasses sex with a child under 11, or less than 13 years old with a someone over 18.

India: The age of consent is 18. I couldn’t find much in actual punishments but similar to California if both parties are under 18 then both can get charged for statutory rape.

Brazil: The Brazilian age of consent is 14 with close in age exceptions being made to 12-13 year olds with partners who are as much as 5 years older than them. So a 17 year old can legally have sex with a 12 year old. It is illegal for anyone over 18 to have sex with anyone under 14.

England: In England the age of consent is 16 which means that if you have sex with someone under 16 when you yourself are 16 or older than that is illegal. Exceptions are often made if they are close in age generally with a three year age gap being the maximum.

TLDR:

In Mexico City and Brazil all the members of the gang can legally have sex with anyone else in the gang as long as a parent or legal guardian doesn’t asks for them to be prosecuted.

In California and India anyone under 18(Dru and Thais) can not have sex with anyone including each other.

In New York it’s more or less the same as California only at age 17 instead.

In England same as NY or Cali only 16 and exceptions are mad sometimes if both parties are close enough in age. So the whole gang gets their pick of love interests from anyone else.

#shadowhunters #the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc #the dark artifices #tda #twp #the wicked powers #jaime rosales #dru blackthorn #jaime rocio rosales #rosethorn #anush joshi #ash morgenstern

[heraldofcrow]

Here you go crow, here's you a new Murder Birb, Raven from Guilty Gear, let's see if you have a type or if Bloody Crow is your one true love.

Close to a thousand years ago, Raven was born during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire, somewhere in the Kingdom of Germany. He lived a very average middle-class life, until he was enlisted as a soldier in his mid-twenties and sent far away. He became an accomplished knight, waging war in foreign lands, but the campaign quickly became an unsustainable one a little over a year after it had begun. The unit to which he belonged attacked a small village to obtain supplies, but their enemies had planned for it and attacked them in the middle of the night.

Raven woke up and, sensing danger, left his room. Avoiding the enemy soldiers, he fled on horseback but he—and the horse—were struck down by a hail of arrows. Defenseless, he was stabbed to "death" by five soldiers. However, rather than dying, he found himself in a strange cylindrical space, as if caged with birds of prey, and felt immeasurable pain. After a few minutes, the pain abruptly ended, and he woke up in a pool of his own blood. Somehow alive, his wounds had closed, leaving faint scars. His aging halted on this first recovery from death, Raven thus began his infinite circle of death and life.

At some point, Raven settled in a village and started using his powers to help people, at times healing the sick and wounded, and at other times overthrowing tyrants. For these deeds he was punished and even executed, but his many returns were celebrated as miracles, and they began to view him as a god. As word of his deeds spread, outsiders sought his aid and left the village to help other settlements. When things settled down, he returned to the first village thinking that he would be welcomed back with open arms, but instead found that the villagers blamed him for every problem that occurred during his absence. Raven then realized that he was no god, but a simple repairman to them.

In time, Raven grew apathetic and tired of living, and attempted suicide many times, only to be met with failure. It was then that he drove an experimental device with spikes on either end through his skull, in an attempt to prevent his brain stem from regenerating, but this too was unsuccessful. Eventually, he met That Man, who gave him a new lease of life, and pledged his allegiance to him.

In summary

Raven is a recurring character in the Guilty Gear series. He is one of three servants of That Man, and his right-hand man. With an immortal body that cannot die of natural causes, Raven has lived about a thousand years, and nothing stimulates him anymore, except pain and eventually even that will soon lose its meaning.

His instant kill special is Sehnsucht which is either a reference to a Ramenstein Album or the German noun for Longing or Desire

Said Instant Kill has him do This

Raven's Instant Kill in Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 - YouTube

His theme's are Worthless As The Sun Above Clouds and TSUKI NO SHIHAI (Moon's Domination)

Now then Crow, the ball is in your court.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This has been the third edition of Cosmic's sleep deprived Ramblings About Random Lore Fuckery.

(The previous two are on @katyspersonal 's blog)

But do not worry.

There WILL be more.

Cos or some say Cosmic, these sleep-deprived Rambles About Random Lore Fuckery are amazing, never stop.

Also, hmmm let me see.

Long white hair? Raven/Crow themed design? Metaphorical but also literal death(s) that leads to a bizarre bloody rebirth and an endless cycle of resurrection? An attempt to do the right thing and help others but fated to become their villain/enemy?

Is a figure of legacy among commoners? Failed suicide attempts because of immortality Vileblood super-strength/Hunter’s Dream interference?

The themes of growing tired of living until meeting The Person that one can pledge allegiance to in order to receive some form of purpose? A meaningless existence under the weight of long life that is only stimulated by pain?

Absolutely OP? Scary?

Has comments under his videos that say stuff like this?

And lyrics in his second theme like this??

—

Well, Cos or some say Cosmic. After doing some research, I would say that I do, in fact, have a type. This character’s story sounds eerily similar to the overall tale I wove so passionately for Bloody Crow.

Now, though I am very intrigued by this new Murder Birb, I will say that Crow does remain my one true love because he is the most blatantly Murder-Birb of them all so far (I have seen other characters like this too!), but damn….these raven/crow people are always so cool….what is it with them….I am…very interested in them all….

Ah, well! Thank you for the analysis and ramblings. I can’t wait to see what comes next 👌

#lol thanks cosmic #this was actually fun #and man what a character…some of that stuff sounded so familiar #but i’ve never played guilty gear before #i didn’t expect that type of game to have legit lore that went so deep?? #his videos looked really cool too #represented by all those ravens and all that #yess very Bloody Crowesque #the inability to commit suicide too omg 💀💀 #that…is….a theme for sure #damn #bloody crow of cainhurst #bloody crow #raven guilty gear #asks #mutuals

[mothdalf]

Tolkientober day 2: spiders

For today’s offering we have the web shrouded path through Mirkwood

#Inktober #tolkientober #inktober day 2 #Tolkientober spiders #inktober spiders #Tolkientober day 2 #mirkwood #Mirkwood spiders #the hobbit #third age fuckery

[doks-aux]

I'm picturing both Ed and Stede being like 🧐😠😤😡 at Izzy and Sam, Ed because he doesn't like that Izzy's attention and adoration is on someone else (and maybe he has an old grudge with Sam) and Stede because he feels like Sam is stealing his whole Gentleman Pirate thing (even though people keep pointing out to him that Sam was doing it first, which does NOT go over well, they're completely different in that Stede is doing it RIGHT), and if Izzy's into that why wasn't he into Stede?!? Ed agrees, it's VERY rude that Izzy wasn't into Stede and he has half a mind to tell him so but Lucius is like oh my god STOP.

So Ed and Stede spend all their time creeping around eavesdropping and spying and bitching to each other (like Stede spying on Jack and Ed) and discussing What Must Be Done About This and planning a fuckery to Get Izzy Back and they don't even notice that Izzy and Sam just, like, went off to get (re)married.

I would pay to be able to read a fic like this, I really would. I've only run into a couple of fics where Izzy moves onto a new love interest and Ed actually has to deal with that rather than somehow winning him back. (Granted, this is probably because outside the SteddyHands circle of ships, I only read Izzy/OC and Izzy/Other Historical or Famous Fictional Pirate. Maybe it happens a lot in Izzy/Actual Character in the Show fics.) The concept of a fic where it seems like a textbook SteddyHands set-up, only for Izzy to choose the third option and especially for it to be Sam is fucking delectable. And infinite bonus points for Lucius at his wit's end because if Ed and Stede had arrived at whatever-this-is MONTHS AGO maybe things would have gone a lot smoother. But as it is he's team Izzy/Not This Bullshit now and playing look-out while they take a dinghy to elope or whatever. And Ed and Stede being so caught up in their own drama together even when it's nominally focused on someone else that they don't actually notice what's happening with that someone is perfectly on-brand.

God, there are so many good possibilities for how Stede and Sam might interact. I feel like Sam's a nice guy who'd be all "Same hat!" at Stede, especially post-character development Stede who's given up all his inherited wealth and is gaining his new riches in the proper pirate-y and looking good doing it. Which just makes it funnier if Stede gets all snitty about it. God forbid anyone stresses that Sam is called the Prince of Pirates, therefore outranking the Gentleman Pirate at least by technical definition. And there's historical precedent for an Ed-Sam grudge with irl Sam mutinying against Hornigold and being voted captain while Ed stayed loyal to the old man. And I wouldn't want Sam to be the wholly innocent party here either. Like, I can see him sincerely trying to get along and be a gentleman at first, but when he's getting passive aggression and Kraken death glares for his troubles, he decides it's no fun to be the bigger man. He should get to be a bitch, too. It's also funnier if Izzy is the most mature person in all of this after Lucius.

What's funny is that in my personal AU, Sam and Stede got started on the whole romance novel cover pirate thing about the same time. Sam's been sailing and ship-hopping and treasure-hunting his whole life, but there was a huge gap in his piracy career between Hornigold's cabin boy and the Robin Hood of the seas. This is so I can have him be as historically inaccurately middle-aged as the others while keeping his whirlwind success when he does seriously try his hand at piracy while still having it be plausible that his old friends don't even know he's still alive. He and Stede get along well enough that Stede's all giddy about Izzy being smitten with him. Ed is... getting better at the whole "Izzy is allowed to have other friends" thing, but this is a potential boyfriend and it's Sam who Ed's been butting heads with since puberty, so he doesn't take it as gracefully as Stede when it's pointed out to him. And Sam is trying to play nice with Ed because he's got a lot to answer for for letting everyone think he was dead, but like. He is eventually going to ask why Izzy is missing a toe and eventually someone is going to give him the honest answer.

I want everyone to have a nice happy ending, but I want them to yell and cry a whole lot on the way there.

#ask #treesofgreen #BellHands #Izzy Hands #Israel Hands #Sam Bellamy #Edward Teach #Blackbeard #Stede Bonnet #BlackBonnet #SteddyHands #Lucius Spriggs #doc's stories #doc's headcanons #Reunion AU #pirates #Our Flag Means Death #Flying Gang #doc posts pirates

[raccoonspooky]

Hiya, I’ve gotten a few questions across different platforms about commissions so I’ve decided to bite the bullet and do it!

Obviously, I’ll still be writing fanfic but this way you can get something specifically catered to what you’re into!

You’re totally welcome to use any of my pre-existing fics to give me an idea of what you’re looking for (tone, vibe, kinks, sequel, etc)

Important things to note:

I need a way to get into contact with you to chat about your piece! There needs to be some form of communication so I can send you any questions, or so I can send you some bits for your approval and feedback.

You can message me here on tumblr on this blog or on my main blog @possumteeths, otherwise I’ve also got discord or an email address. DM me for discord or email!

Payments will be through paypal or my kofi. (Please talk to me about the commission beforehand! Sending anything does not mean I’ll write your fic unless youve spoken to me beforehand and you’ve been given the go ahead!)

If I write over the agreed wordcount, which I likely will because I don’t know how to shut up, that's yours for no extra charge! If I get excited about an idea and end up writing more, that’s just a bonus for ya!

Rules, Pricing and other Info under the cut!

Rules:

You MUST be 18 or older to commission me.

I will not write anything nsfw involving an under aged character. I will not write scat or anything referencing necrophilia and extreme gore. Characters getting hurt or canon typical violence is absolutely fine, I just won't write horror/gore in a horny sense. I will not write incest, if the reader insert is involved with brothers or something, I’m 100% fine with that I just refuse to write family member x family member.

No real people please! I will not write real people!

That being said, if your fic is a little on the darker end and might squick any of my readers, or if I’m not comfortable posting it to my page, I’ll post it anonymously or email you a pdf.

Overall, if I am uncomfortable with something I’ll let you know but there’s not much that squicks me out besides what I’ve listed.

If you’d prefer the reader insert be named, I can do that but I will not write your pre-existing OC. I'd rather use a named default character or a character that you and I design together. You’re welcome to chat with me about characterization of the reader insert or third person insert though! I’d love to brainstorm with you!

If you post this fic anywhere, be sure to clearly state that I wrote it and link my tumblr/ao3. Do not mention it is a commission!

More stuff:

I enjoy writing second person x readers without using the “y/n” device. Of course, I can write third or first and integrate any reader insert devices that you’d like.

Character x Character or second person x reader format stories are things I’m good at!

x female reader is always my default but any gender of reader is fine with me! Any pronouns you prefer are fine! I can write f/f or m/m as well.

I write mostly smut!, your commission does not need to be rated E, but I quite like writing rated E type o things haha.

Monsterfuckery is something I LOVE and i’d love to write.

You will not be charged anything extra for poly or reverse harem ships! But if keep in mind, I can only fit so much into certain word counts! I’ll let you know if I think your idea is unfeasible under a certain word count!

Fandoms/Characters that I know well and I’d love to write for:

Horror/Slasher films: (Love! The Sinclair brothers, Brahms Heelshire, Billy Lenz, Harry Warden, Leslie Vernon, Bubba Sawyer, Thonas Hewitt and Billy/Stu from Scream.) Don’t let this list deter you! Im pretty much down for all forms of slasher fuckery, these ones are just my favorites lol!

Dead by Daylight

Fallout

The Boys

Mass Effect

Dragon Age

Skyrim

Tons of other junk.

Original works/generic (insert trope) settings

I’m open to writing anything else, just ask me if I know the fandom/characters and I’ll let you know! Crossovers? Hell yea. I’m always down for silly shenanigans.

If it’s something I haven’t seen/read/played I’m totally down to consume the thing for a fee depending on how much I have to watch/play/read and how easily accessible it is lol!

Pricing:

Base price: 1,000 words ($15)

Any increase of 1k will be an additional $5 until 8k words.

After 8k words, price will be $10 per additional thousand words. For example, a 10k fic will be $70.

As of now, the cut off for what I'm willing to write is 40k words!

When can you expect your fic?

A 1k fic will take me about a week but at the most it could take me about 2 weeks. Anything after 5k to 10k please give me up to a month to get your fic done!

If you for whatever reason need a fic done ASAP or by a certain date, you can put in a rush order, meaning I'll ask for an additional 10% on each thousand words that you're asking for!

I'll post all commissioned fic on my ao3, it will be gifted to your username if you have one! If i'm uncomfortable posting it, it will be posted anonymously or emailed to you as a PDF. Its totes okay if you want to keep your commission to yourself! I won't post it if you don't want me to!

If I'm very busy, I'll let you know and let you know when you can expect your fic before we even start talking about premise!

#poki writing #slasher fandom #blog maintenance #commission info #slashers #slasher x reader

[vvitchllng]

Vasselheim sending out their fucked up god weapons/vessels, Vox Machina making preparations for the apogee solstice which is fast approaching, Ruidus flaring seemingly more frequently, the fae pulling some fuckery with leylines and borders, the Cerberus assembly still pulling bullshit with residum and dunamancy, Something is going on in Aeor a Fallen Age of Arcanum City where at least one of its citizens has woken up A N D the “moon” has a fucking divine gate around it

This feels So Big, the apogee solstice is such a looming threat. One solstice a mortal killed a god and ascended to take their place and Erased Them From The Memory Of Everything, another solstice led to the death of Two Thirds Of The Worlds Population. Anything could happen, and the different factions of the world are sitting up and taking notice and making plans that might or might not connect to or contradict each other. These weaving storylines are Fascinating.

#critical role #cr spoilers #cr3 #calamity pt 2 here we Gooooo

[essayofthoughts]

Same for you: 12, 19, 23 owo

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Ripley.

Like. If we're going for the villain pick, Ripley. I don't think you should think she's a good person - she's not - or that she's nice a woobie or something. She's fucking awful! But she's also awful in a really human, engaging way and I find her so fun to poke. I think a lot of people kind of forget the pure banality of evil, the way these people can have really simple, dull motivations - Ripley wants power and knowledge and she doesn't care how she gets it. Everyone is just a tool or a stepping stone in the goal of that.

And she's canonically a foil to Percy, so that makes her REALLY USEFUL in analysing him - and him in analysing her! - so for all of those people who like a bit of dark!Percy like... Ripley! She is right there!

And she's such a bitch. She refuses to swear despite being someone who tortures people, she's clever enough to replicate guns from second and third hand reports, she's always looking to her own advantage - and she's just. Awful! She's exactly the kind of person who looked at the structural inequality of the Dwendalian Empire and decided to do the amoral shit others got away with because of wealth and when she got arrested for it assumed it was purely because of class differences and not because she's just the Worst.

And the thing is these days there's so much moralising! Oh the villain must be woobified, oh they never did anything wrong at all ever (MCU Loki, Kylo Ren, even the Betrayer Gods in CR!) and frankly fuck that.

Ripley did do shit wrong and that's why I find her engaging. She wilfully tortured people despite it being useless for information gathering! She made guns and spread them around purely to fuck with Percy! She's an awful human being and sometimes it's really fun to look at that in the distance. Over there. Way over there. Down the barrel of a sniper rifle.

Yeah.

If we're doing non-villain, minor-character fic... it's Desmond, it's fucking Desmond, I know he's not really "Unpopular" so much as "ignored" but I don't care! I will fight you all on this hill, that Desmond Otham is so revealing as to Percy's own perception of his own guilt and failure to his family ("I want you to spend the rest of your life making up for the things you allowed to happen" says Percy and WHAT THINGS Percival! This lad is a carriageboy! He's about the same age you were when the massacre happened! What the fuck do you expect him to blame himself for!? Now you blaming yourself on the other hand...)

Plus I just think he's neat! I think he's a great example of someone with a lasting consequence from Percy's reckless actions - one of those people Percy mentions who may not see them as heroes for reasons that are completely justified. And if he is the courier or returns to Whitestone and takes up another job - he's got that reminder the rest of his life. Even away from Vox Machina, he has his maimed hand.

I think he's really cool, fuck everyone who disagrees.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

N/A, I think? There's nothing I like that I'm mad, ashamed or horrified over that I can think of. I like the things I like and I know why I do so I've largely resolved any conflicts I'd have of that kind. I've definitely figured some things out writing fic that kinda annoy me (i.e. I can write smut pretty easily when there's trauma and mental fuckery involved but not like... on it's own) but that's fanfic more than dealing with fandom as a whole or the canon itself.

So uh. N/A!

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

Again, I think N/A? I don't generally ship things, not to like... shipwar, this is my OTP or else kind of deal. I think that kind of thing is actually really unhealthy and often hoping for that ship can cause people to disconnect from the canon itself in order to back up their warped reading of the text, plus it just sets people up for disappointment! I'm a big believer in creating ships purely for the "I guess this could be neat!" kind of thing, and I don't generally get into it more than that.

Perc'ahlia is the exception, but that wasn't unwilling. They gave me too many fantastic squishy feelings and thinky thoughts, I didn't even hesitate.

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

#blorbologist #anna ripley #desmond otham #perc'ahlia #vox machina #ask #ask game

[llitchilitchi]

Not an Oblivion fan so, can you explain to me what are "the Reclamations"???

it's a pretty in-depth thing in the lore of the elder scrolls itself, so I'll try to condense it as much as I can. there's also this video by FudgeMuppet that explains the religion in itself, would recommend watching it because these guys are Way better at explaining the lore than I am

major spoilers for the plot of Morrowind

the ancestrs of the dark elves took to worshipping the Three Good Daedra of Morrowind, Azura, Mephala and Boethiah. about 3000 years ago, the "fake gods" took over. I won't get into the exact details of how these new gods - Vivec, Sotha Sil and Almalexia - achieved their false godhood, but the three of them became the rulers of Morrowind as the gods that walk among their people, taking the place of the Three Good Daedra. they renamed the Good Daedra 'The Anticipations' to suggest that they were only there until these new "gods" could claim their place and formed the Tribunal Temple. as you can imagine, achieving godhood and replacing your gods is not exactly something one does without a lot of blood on their hands, but their divinity lead their people into a golden age

fast forward to the end of the third era, about 6 years before the events of Oblivion, and the events of the Nerevarine Prophecies take place, blah blah, a saint is reincarnated, more fake divinity fuckery, the Tribunal is less than happy about what happened because the results of these events leads to the destruction of the one thing keeping them divine. it drives Almalexia insane and she kills Sotha Sil, which ends up getting her killed as well, and the god Vivec disappears, too

after all of this mess, the dark elves came back to worshipping the Three Good Daedra, now The Reclamations, after they "reclaimed" their posts as the gods of the dark elf people

I could go into the actual belief systems and what each of the daedra represent (spoilers: they're not Actually good), but I think the main takeaway regarding Dream's past in the au is that him and his family were supporters of the changes in the religious beliefs and system of their country, and he took to worshipping the Daedra rather than continuing worshipping the Tribunal

#asks #oblivion au #I am So sorry if I messed anything up its been a while since Ive played the game #would recommend the video I sent to explain this better Im worried this is a mess #tldr dreamie boy is a fan of the reinstated old religion #as of the tribunal they were turned into saints so the old schooled people wouldnt be mad about them losing their divine status #thenaiads

[roosterforme]

Okay so if you had to pick would you want frat boy rooster or bg’s rooster? (or the secret third option which is a chaotic combo)

I really want to say the chaotic combo, you have no idea how badly...

BG's Rooster. 100%. I had the fuckboys in my heyday. Now I am too old for them and their fuckery. But BG's Rooster is my age and he's sexy and he's got a big dick and he's a daddy.

#who would you pick #if you ask emily #b&bg and fuckboy