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aquaticsoul · 6 months

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The Echo | Relationship: Revon Tulet

Here goes another relationship meta, hot off the press! Buckle up, because this is a rollercoaster.

First, a little about Revon (who is an OC of my friend Kira's who lives with lots of other Mistericans over on @shiroi---kumo ).

Revon is a Misterican Royal Knight who served as Prince Pilvi's personal guard. He was Pilvi's first soul bind, looking after his charge since right after Pilvi was born. Thus, he was also the unofficial, undeclared leader of the other six of Pilvi's soul binds, which does include Sielu.

On Misterica, Sielu saw Revon pretty much daily from the time he was twenty-five to the time he was thirty-seven (when Misterica was destroyed). They didn't always talk much, but Sielu thought of him quite fondly and enjoyed it when they did.

Eventually, he decided that the job Revon had was definitely exhausting, so he saw to it to make sure the knight had a comfortable place to sit (the chair in his classroom) sometimes and, with some help from his sister, that the "poor man got some insoles". Revon never asked for any of this, nor did Sielu ever realize how much the small actions meant to the other. He was just concerned.

As years passed and Pilvi neared the age of thirteen, uncertainty over whether the boy would survive the Ritual of the Holy Blade became stronger. Sielu, having had to lead the music for such a thing, was the only teacher present when it finally did take place. Revon, being the boy's guard, was also in attendance.

And while Pilvi did survive, he was also put through an unbearable amount of pain resulting in screaming, falling unconscious, and being temporarily under Tiamat's full control to address the crowd. He fell into a coma for three days following it, during which Sielu spent most of his time trying to forget what he'd witnessed. It didn't work too well.

Finally, he went to his classroom to hunt for something to peel his mind away from worrying, and there he sat for a few hours. To his surprise, Revon was also there, and after some discussion both agreed that nothing, not even Tiamat herself, was worth putting their liege through such a thing. And while neither could truly fix the other's worries, the solidarity in what their society saw as a radical viewpoint was at least nice.

Misterica eventually was overtaken by Chaos when Sielu was thirty-seven. He, Sydän, and Sinfonia ended up in Wonderland rather than being killed in the fall, and if you've been here a while you know how that story ends. If you've not been here a while, Sinfonia and Sydän both died within six years. This left Sielu alone and in a state of severe, uncontrolled depression. Herba attacked the village he was in, killing everyone except him, who she took prisoner.

This is where things get complicated. Sielu was with Herba for nine years total. Her eyes, unfortunately, were pink like Revon's. Her hair was also green. Those two colors together are offputting at best to Sielu by the end of the nine years, outright triggering at worst dependent upon his state.

He was not in good shape by the time he escaped and found Valo, Aamunkoitto, and Revon. After trying to explain what happened and the fact that, to Sielu's knowledge, Pilvi left him with Herba to die, he was quickly shut down by Revon and Valo. Revon became extremely angry about the entire situation, effectively scaring Sielu into refusing to talk altogether.

Many weeks were spent sleeping in the farthest corner of the room in the inns they were staying at, making himself as small and quiet as possible so that no one would have anything to be upset at him for. A little at a time, he tried to make amends with Valo.

And then he tried with Revon, who ended up crying during the interaction. He put Sielu back in bed, to which he once more felt disliked and unwanted. A bit of conversation later, Revon finally admitted to seeing Sielu like his own child... and Sielu took it a bit too seriously.

During his time spent with Herba, he consistently was reminded that he was only kept alive because she couldn't have Pilvi (or, as she called him, Makenshi). This, coupled with issues he developed in childhood, made him assume Revon meant he was a replacement for Pilvi until they could actually find the boy.

Sielu resigned himself to this misunderstanding, promising Revon the rest of his life or to get him to Pilvi again, whichever came first.

Internally, it's been tearing him apart to reduce himself. Externally, he refuses to speak on it.

To sum up this whole post, Revon is currently a hard subject for him to open up about. He believes, quite firmly, that Revon is too good for someone like him and he also believes Revon will abandon him the moment he gets the chance.

Neither of those are true, but that's where he currently stands. He's got major work to do, but he'll find it worth the effort for someone he loves so much. After all... Revon is the first person who's made the songbird desire to sing again.

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y-rhywbeth2 · 5 months

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Gods and Clergy: Bane

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Well, I did the murderhobos, might as well cover the deity and daily business of our favourite hot-topic-shopping dictator and co. now? Ahahahahaaaaa There is too much goddamn material on Bane, I'm going to kill Ed Greenwood-

Intro: If you're not consumed with fear and hatred while trying to take over a city which you intend to rule with cruelty and an iron fist then this is not the religion/political party for you. If this is not the religion/party for you, please lower your neck so that I can attach this slave collar to it.

Banites: The hierarchy and rituals and stupid toys of the church of Bane is what you get when Lawful Evil and Lawful Stupid have a horrible, overcomplicated offspring called Lawful Sadistic. Bring me the avatar of Bane I'm going to stab this fucker Also, being goth is mandatory.

Dreadmasters: More teleporting! Bossy, immune to fear and fond of magic rods. Also, do you remember that "divine oath" Durge and Gortash swore...?

The Chosen: Should be way more impressive than what we saw in game. Forging unbreakable oaths! Pet beholders! Detachable shadow spies! Etcetera!

Bane: Boy, the world (and my sanity) would've been a much better off if this dude had gotten intensive therapy instead of divine power!

(This thing is too fucking long and should perhaps be split into two posts but ooooh my god am I not editing this anymore.)

---

Bane's clergy often hear their god whispering his dogma in their dreams:

"Serve no one but me. Fear me always - and make others fear me even more than you do. The Black Hand always strikes down on those who stand against it in the end. Defy me and die - or in your death find loyalty, for I shall compel it. Submit to my will, [as uttered by my ranking clergy] since true power can only be gained through service to me. [Spread the dark fear of Bane.] It is the doom of those unguided by me to let power spill through their hands. [Those who cross the Black Hand meet their dooms earlier and more harshly than those who worship other deities.]" - Bane's Dogma [with 14th century addendums in brackets]

Bane is basically the quintessential villain of the Realms. When a person pictures the face of evil, they picture this god and his followers.

The most important thing to know about Bane and his religion, in my opinion, is summed up here:

"The summons [from Ao] had come wearing the face and form of that which each of the gods feared most. [...] To the Black Lord, Bane, the summons came in the guise of absolute love and understanding, its light searing his essence as it carried him from his kingdom." - Shadowdale

You want to give one of the most evil bastard in the pantheon a panic attack? Give him a hug.

Following a brief version of a backstory that has been given for him; the mortal who would be Bane was born on Abeir, Toril's linked twin planet/parallel universe. There he was a nameless battle slave to Maram of the Great Spear - an ancient primordial being of absolute evil whom the Netherese had summoned into the world, where it broke free and started inflicting horrors upon the world. While in the service of said horrifying evil, the young slave nurtured ambitions of having absolute power for himself.

While on Toril he teamed up with his two future frenemies, Bhaal and Myrkul, and they killed (or possibly subjugated) his master and took his power for themselves, before heading off to nag Jergal for his job. After bickering, the ex-slave known only as "the Bane of the Ancients" wins the draw and gets to be what he always wanted - the epitome of tyranny with godlike power. The next step for him is to conquer the mortal world and destroy all the other gods so that none have power and control over him.

Banite religion is founded on the principle of making Bane's dream of global domination possible. Every Banite is a link in the chains of Bane's power. What they rule, he rules. All Banites strive to take over something (village, city, kingdom, army, whatever). All Banites are expected to aid and obey their superiors in this domination.

When in control, a Banite is to use their power to "further the cause of hate, fear, destruction and strife." Doing so within the control of the law is preferable, but chaos is tolerated as long as that chaos is wielded as a tool with perfect control. You can get voted into power by stirring up people's fears of minorities, or start the apocalypse and present yourself as the saviour - but you must not be overwhelmed, or you have failed.

The world is divided into slaves who have no power and exist to serve, and the powerful who command them. Bane is the rightful master of all and all are to serve him, and by extension his followers (those with the strength to seek, take and hold power), willingly or by force. Control is the key virtue in the eyes of the faith. Always be in control and/or be controlled by somebody more capable/deserving of power than you. As their lessers are expected to obey every order perfectly, the superiors are expected to be competent in their leadership and wield perfect command.

Banites pride themselves on being cold and decisive in all that they say and do. They also enjoy cutting sarcasm. It's vital to appear in command of yourself and the world around you - shouting, loss of temper and other outbursts of behaviour that suggest a lack of control/power are avoided like the plague. Two Banites on the brink of killing each other may appear to be in the midst of only a polite, but insistent disagreement.

Bane used to enjoy watching his power hungry idiots backstabbing each other to climb the ranks while overzealous worshippers splintered into factions and started killing each other (most notably a divide between the divine-magic based orthodoxy and the arcane-magic based reformers/"Transformers".) Then Mystra technically killed him during a fight with Torm in the Time of Troubles, and Cyric took over his church. When Bane made a comeback in the 14th century he immediately decided they wouldn't be doing that anymore. Now it's an united rigid hierarchy from top to bottom, and Banites are a well organised, well equipped unit.

The laws of the heathens are irrelevant, but a Banite who gets caught breaking those law trying to achieve their goals is expected to suck it up and do the time for failure - unless they've been doing such a good job that everybody's too far under their control to try and punish them for it, in which case great job. A+ in Bane worship.

Banites typically establish themselves in an area by finding a location out of sight of a civilisation and building a fortress, where they build their power until they are too strong a force to drive off. Taking over an existing fort is also a possibility. The temple is run like a military base: spartan, with only tapestries showing Bane's symbol and religious texts on it for decoration. The courtyard is meant for military drills and rituals, and there's a mass hall for dining and holding prayer. They like pointy architecture. And black. Oh, and the torture basements! Can't forget those. It's also where they keep a variety of trained monsters in pens. You may end up sharing your cell with a displacer beast or something, but don't worry about it.

Banites have a secret network of teleporting spells. The actual "portals" will be any space of stone big enough to stand on, which are magically connected to other points (also stone). If you stand on one and speak the correct password, then it will teleport you to the destination designated by that password. There are no spells or barriers that can prevent the teleporter from arriving at their destination. Banites can bring others along with them if they are physically connected when the password is said. They can't bring more than 100lbs of inanimate matter with them.

All are welcome to convert to Bane. There will be an interview where your intentions are checked, although if it turns out you're not actually evil-aligned you can still join. There's a good chance that they'll use magic to turn you into an "incorruptible champion of evil and uncompromising disciple of order" anyway; "for Bane recognizes the value of those who have seen the lure of good and turned away from it to serve evil."

Or just use dark magic to twist you from a person into a weapon/guard/servant bound to the service of Bane anyway.

Banites are also able to ensure loyalty with a magically binding divine oath called the Dark Promise, cast by his favoured priests (Dreadmasters). It's an old spell, back from the early days when Bane was a new god and his followers were vulnerable, and is not used as often. When the spell is cast and the oath is made, a set of circumstances are set into motion that targets of the spell must follow to the letter. The promise must have Bane's interests at heart and the conditions and stipulations cannot be endanger the individuals' lives. If the oath is violated, it drains the oath breaker's life force. The damage done by this spell cannot be healed, and if the oath breaking does not cease then they will die.

Bane is one of the few exceptions amongst the gods in that his worshippers are all henotheistic rather than polytheistic. Banites consider worship of other deities "foolish," Bane is the only master you should truly serve. All under Banite rule will be forced to convert to the worship of Bane. They are however willing to cooperate with the followers of Loviatar (pain), Talona (disease), Malar (predation), and Mask (thievery) as Bane has terrified these gods into allying with him. From a certain school of Banite thought, this means that they and their followers are part of the chains of Bane's will (the gods/faithful in question probably wouldn't agree). Bhaal was, or perhaps still is, a servant of Bane and he and Myrkul have also been counted amongst Bane's allies in the past, despite their tendency to squabble, so cooperation with Bhaalists and Myrkulites is not unimaginable when it serves both their deities.

Banites do not get on so well with... anybody, but they particularly hate worshippers of Ilmater (compassion), Tyr (justice), Helm (non-Banite order), Lathander (optimism/renewal), Torm (champion of the innocent), Oghma (knowledge) and Mystra. If they get their hands on one they'll usually torture them and leave their mutilated bodies somewhere for the distressed public to find. Bane and Cyric are still at war, both due to humiliation and the fact that they're still fighting over areas of divine power that the other has stolen/reclaimed from the other, and the corpses of Cyricists that fall into Banite hands are usually found with "heretic" branded on their foreheads as a warning to others who worship the usurper.

Banite clergy are expected to always be armed, and it is mandatory that you at least wear something black at all times. For ceremonial purposes, Banites wear black armour or robes with a blood-red cape. Wizards like to enchant their robes so that they swirl and give off illusions of glittering with "black stars" and have blood dripping off the hem. The higher in the ranks you go, the fancier the clothes get. Banites used to have facial tattooing, although this made them rather easy to identify and kill off when Cyric took over and some purges took place. The highest ranking Banites can be identified by a gem that they wear on their forehead. Banites are not expected to wear anything that would identify their religious affiliations if it would get them persecuted, but they do like decorating their clothes with spikes and are are expected to dress in a certain specific colour that I'm getting sick of typing out. When Bane rules the world we will all be dressing as goths under threat of execution...

Each priest has a ceremonial staff denoting their rank, which they will have at these rituals. When a Banite dies they are buried with it. They are unenchanted and purely for ceremony, at most being used to light braziers. It starts with a simple black wood staff [level 1], which at higher ranks has an ivory skull at the top [lvl 2-4]. Higher yet they add silver plating, and the skull is the size of a fist [lvl 5], and the even higher level priests that skull has ram horns [lvl 6]. After that you get real human skulls! [at lvl 7+]! They're allowed to decorate theirs how they like, as well as adding enchantments. So gemstones, magic runes, etc.

Bane's holy symbol is the Black Hand, a symbol of terror recognisable to the entire Realms. Versions include a black handprint, a black claw or a metal gauntlet embedded with jewels. Priests usually wear a replica of the hand as a carved pendant of black stone. There is another Black Hand seen on his high-ranking priests: elbow-length gloves crafted of flexible metal mesh or chainmail, usually worn on the left hand. It emits an eerie dark radiance, i's supposed to be black, and a non-Banite found wearing one can expect every Banite on the planet to hunt them to the ends of the world for this blasphemy (also it's about 50,000gp in value jfc). The gauntlet cannot be damaged by force and absorbs all spells of third level or less. Area of effect spells are not negated, but cannot affect the wearer. It can drain magic out of items, should the wearer touch them with intent to do so. The wearer can then discharge all of the absorbed magic into the body of another by touching them, causing them damage. They can also paralyze undead and living beings via touch.

To question or disobey a superior is to question or disobey Bane himself, and is answered by torture, disfigurement and/or death. The word of a Banite of superior rank is law, and you will do literally anything they ask you to do.

Banites have invented a magic whip (a mystic lash) that does all sorts of fun nonsense in case that happens. It's made of glowing red energy. If the priest needs their hands free then the whip can actually wield itself (need to scourge that annoying initiate, but you don't want to look up from your book? Then good news!) If the wielder choses, a lash of the whip may cause one of the following; paralysis, memory loss, seizures, extra damage plus the disintegration of equipment, or electrocution.

One is expected to greet those of higher rank by kneeling in front of them and kissing their boots

At the bottom of the hierarchy are the novices, who are addressed by the title of "slave." If they're good enough, Bane will send them a dream vision or manifest as a voice speaking from one of his altars - he will name them, and they are allowed to enter the first rank of the priesthood… of which there are 12 ranks with their own unique addresses, which everybody is expected to memorise. Disrespect to a higher rank will, as mentioned, involve insulting Bane and lead to torture, disfigurement and potential death.

The only time you're not expected to use the titles is when in the presence of heathens, Banites will address each other as Brother/Sister Faithful (when speaking to an equal/lesser) or Dread Brother/Sister (when addressing a superior).

Banites do not refer to each other by name, only by the name of their rank (unless there are too many individuals of the same rank. In the case you had a room full of Black Fangs, you would address them individually as Black Fang [Surname].) It's generally impossible for eavesdroppers to learn the names or personal details of a Banite.

The rankings are determined by character level, and are as follows:

Watchful Brother/Sister/Sibling

Deadly Adept

Trusted Servant

Willing Whip

Hooded Menace

Black Fang

Striking Hand

Vigilant Talon

Masked Death

Dark Doom

Higher Doom

Deep Mystery

The Deep Mysteries include the Deeper Mysteries… which have their own ranks! Secret, higher levels which are unknown to those of the first 11 levels who must address all higher ranking Banites as "Deep Mystery." There is no official means by which a Banite is bestowed this title, they bestow them upon themselves if they believe they should have the rank. The test lies in the fact that in order to keep the title their fellow Banites must also begin using them - in other words if you are not a pretender and truly have the power and authority to hold this title, then your siblings in the faith will follow.

The ranks of the Deep Mysteries, in order of authority, from lowest to highest:

Vigilator

Lord/Lady of Mysteries

Lord/Lady of the Hand

Imperceptor

Dark Imperceptor

Grand Bloodletter

High Inquisitor

The High Imperceptor is the Banite of highest rank of the Deep Mysteries, supreme living servant of Bane, and unlike the prior titles this one cannot be self-bestowed. I haven't seen any explanation for how it is bestowed, but I imagine Bane decides.

Banites don't bother with set holy days. We will have a holy day whenever the leading priest decides we're having one, and it will be called whatever they decide it is. This usually means a) somebody fucked up, time for a public punishment; or b) we've got an enemy/traitor, time for human sacrifice.

Rituals are to be held in as close to pitch darkness as is possible, gathered around the Black Altar (a wood table covered in a black cloth, a block of black stone - whatever, just so long as it's black so we can give it an ominous name). The Black Altar is to be made holy by having a replica of the Holy Hand of Bane floating above it (this too has to be black in colour). This is a levitating 6 foot tall stone hand that can sense alignments within a 60 foot radius, and it will attack good-aligned people on encountering them. When not in use it patrols Banite locations, seeking out spies and intruders and killing them.

And that the Seat of Bane will be placed in front of the Black Altar. The chair is black, its back is carved into the shape of a hand. Senior clergy sit in the throne when acting as Bane's voice for the rest of the congregation. So the leader of the area's Banites sits in the chair, and that means Bane is sitting in the chair. While sitting in it, the seated can read the thoughts of all beings within 90 yards. it can project a forcefield around the chair; can nullify magic in the area; allows the seated to see through illusions and invisibility; know the alignment of everyone present; allow the seated to speak with dead; and also conjure walls of fire. If the chair is knocked over, it causes a massive explosion of fire that kills everyone around it.

Then the party. With minimum partying and maximum solemn, ominous chanting and deep, heavy drum beats. Those guilty of disobedience or other failures will be chained to the altar and whipped in front of the congregation. And then there's the human sacrifice: "Sacrifices had to be humiliated, tortured, and made to show fear before dying to be acceptable to Bane, and they usually met their deaths through slashing, flogging, or being crushed by the Hand of Bane."

The traditional power base of the Banite faith was Zhentil Keep, the base of operations for the Zhentarim. The Black Network has once again been taken from Bane by Cyricists however, after the death of Fzoul Chembryl a few decades back - Fzoul was a Chosen of Bane and basically his favourite servant (who has since been made into a quasi-deity bearing some of Bane's divine power, that he may continue to serve) and Zhentil Keep is currently in ruins. The loss of the Keep (for a second time) destroyed Zhentarim power, and now they're mostly just a bunch of mercenaries with good connections on the black market trade routes (slaves, drugs, weapons, etc) as far as I can find.

The Dreadmasters are Bane's specialty priests, making up 10% of all Banites. Dreadmaster is a unisex title. They spend their time doing all the spellwork and making all the delightful inventions that have been giving me a headache. They have a stupid number of spells given to them. Nobody else's specialty priests have this many fucking spells.

They cannot feel fear from sources other than Bane

They can, however, project the feeling of absolute terror into every being within 10 feet of them, usually causing everyone to run screaming.

They can completely destroy the souls of the dying

Create extra evil undead

Create powerful, still sapient undead servants from dead Banites (from ghouls up to vampires)

Create animated suits of armour that serve the Banites, powered by people's souls

Make a warding symbol drawn with a mixture containing three drops of blood from a collection made by sacrificing 30 people. The ward is invisible and cannot be detected, and when activated it drains the life out of everyone present.

They have a supernatural knack for reading other's true moods and intentions They have a supernatural level of charisma and authority over their servants, who cannot help but be fanatically loyal

They are exceptionally skilled in the artificing of magical wands, rods and staves. When they use them the magic of the items is increased.

They're the ones who cast the stonewalk spells that make the teleport network run.

They're also the priests responsible for binding the Dark Promise.

"The Chosen of Bane are tyrants in every sense of the word, consumed with the quest for absolute power. Hand-picked by the deity of tyranny and fear, [they] are both charismatic and filled with hate [...] They seek only to rule with absolute, unchallenged authority over every living and undead create across the world."

They are unbothered by temperature, both hot and cold, as well as resistant to being burned or electrocuted.

They do not age, though they will still die at an age where they would've died if they did age.

Supernatural insight into motives and emotions, and a massive boost to their charisma.

They can mind control people, are immune to fear, can share this immunity with others or increase the fear they feel.

They can also cast gaes, which is basically exactly the same as the Dark Promise, but doesn't necessarily have to benefit Bane (blasphemous as that sounds).

They can summon undead beholders to serve them

They can grant their own shadows independence as an undead creature of the same name (shadows), While separate the shadow is free-willed, though the two remain telepathically linked.

They are served by a retinue of their own master's servants including: doppelgangers; helmed horrors; beholders; undead Banites; hell hounds; imps; displacer beasts; Banelar nagas (evil snake things with human faces)

Bane doesn't like using avatars, if he needs to manifest on Toril he just possesses people in positions of wealth and power who transform into handsome, yet "oily" looking black haired men as long as he's inhabiting them. The souls of these people are forced to watch as the god does what he wants. Once the body is "worn out" from all the punishment he puts them through (mortal shells, so fragile) he'll move to another evil or neutral mortal via touch.

If he strikes out with his gauntleted hand, then there is a good chance that the person stuck will drop dead.

In combat he warps the face into a more beastial visage. His hands become talons capable of "rending flesh and bone" and in the Time of Troubles when he was first forced to manifest as a normal human he immediately started editing the body into a more demonic visage although that might've been because he'd just crash landed in his own temple and destroyed it, and only had a few moments until his torture happy zealots turned up to find what seemed to be some random dude standing in the wreckage. He was in kind of a panic trying to make sure they saw Bane, God of Tyranny not... that.

His other manifestations as a pair of blazing red eyes staring out from the darkness, and a black, taloned hand which was the temperature of ice to the touch. They work exactly like his other manifestation.

Bane sometimes announces his presence, and that he is paying attention to you, with the sudden manifestation of the giant footprint of a boot, scorched into the earth. He shows his approval of his followers through their sudden discovery of a black sapphire. His disapproval is shown through the sudden appearance of red carnelian, ground into dust.

He is served by various devils, beholders, death tyrants (the undead remains of beholders that failed him), black dragons, banelar nagas and pride incarnates

Bane can cast any spell at will, save those that heal or create.

Bane was slain in the Time of Troubles. After his death his followers had an even bigger row between those who were loyal to Bane (orthodoxy) and those who worshipped his portfolio instead of the god himself and switched to Cyric. Many of the Orthodoxy began worshipping Iyachtu Xvim the Godson, son of Bane (whose mother was either a fiend or a fallen human paladin, nobody's sure).

Xvim was doing a pretty ok job in his nascent godhood up until 1372 DR, when Bane hijacked the essence of himself he'd left in his son and destroyed him - being reborn within his body and immediately regaining the rank of Greater Deity. About a few years following the Bhaalspawn Crisis, the year where Bhaal was supposed to be reborn from the death of his kids but failed.

Bane went on to continue being one of the most infamous, powerful and dangerous gods on Faerûn up until the Second Sundering, when suddenly we've got confusion.

In BG3 canon, the Dead Three are clearly greater than quasi-deity status. Due to new rules that WotC pulled out of their ass, gods of lesser deity status or higher cannot manifest avatars. Bane can still empower clerics and have Chosen, so he's most likely still a Greater Deity in BG3.

In Descent into Avernus, the Dead Three are apparently quasi-deities now, forced to exist in permanent avatars on Toril and unable to grant spells of have Chosen.

I think this nicely explains what I mean when I say D&D has no fucking "real" canon, it's all just a mountain of everyone's headcanons.

#Bane doesn't need to torture people; having to learn all the stupid details in his religion is already hell #enver gortash #long post #baldurs gate 3 #bg3

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commsroom · 6 months

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Hello. It occurred to me recently that Hera is the only character of the main cast who is not named for an engineer/physicist/mathematician. Do u think this has any significance regarding her role on the team and her character, or not really?

(Also, the wiki says she's probably named for the Greek goddess Hera which has interesting connotations if it's true. There was also a NASA probe called Hera at some point I'm pretty sure, but I don't know which is the more likely namesake. I just enjoy the names in W359 because I am a physics student and it's fun to hear character names in all my classes.)

hi! i think the answer is kind of... yes and no? like, gabriel urbina has said his process of naming characters is first to choose a category to pick surnames from, to narrow down the options (so, in this case, famous scientists), and then to find given names that he thinks sound good with those surnames. so i don't think symbolism is the purpose, and i don't think it needs to be. but hera, obviously... doesn't have a last name. and so the way she was named (both in and out of universe) is different, and i think that does represent something.

first: hera is the mother program of the hephaestus. the hera of greek mythology is the mother of hephaestus and cast him out of the sky. the allusions are obviously intentional. (as are other mythology names in the show, but that's another topic.) second: a lot of real world things relating to space are named for mythology, and clearly cutter agrees that's how it should be done. but also: goddard's AIs share the same naming scheme with their spacecrafts. hera, rhea, eris, enlil, perseus, hyperion vs. hephaestus, hermes, tiamat, urania, valkyrie, sol. in one sense, this marks them as company property, people who are treated as equivalent to technology.

but, third: from a writing perspective, gabriel urbina has also said he only started getting a sense of who hera was when he started writing for michaela swee in the second episode; there's such a difference in how she's written just between those first two scripts. you can even see in the first recording script that her name was stylized HERA, as if it stood for something, like a much more standard AI character might have been named. which goes so far against what her name actually ended up representing that it retroactively becomes an in-universe microaggression.

and so, fourth: despite all of that, the real thing that makes hera's name stand apart is that it's a chosen name. it's offered to her, but not the way a name is given - it's a bribe, with the understanding it can be taken away from her. rachel says she can see what else is available if hera "has a problem with the etymology or any of the allusions," which is kind of interesting. but hera chooses to be hera. i don't think it's a stretch to say she has a deadname and a chosen name: that she has to introduce herself every time in a way that amounts to "i prefer to be called hera" and that her name is treated as optional and conditional, a reward for good behavior. if hera wanted to take a middle or last name, she would be choosing those, too.

i think ultimately names in wolf 359 are less about categorization and/or symbolism and more about identity. names are symbols that represent and contain the people who claim them. how people are referred to, when, and by whom - as well as how people refer to themselves by name as an act of self-determination, a reclamation of identity, or in defiance - is all central to the themes of the show. and, from that perspective, i think how hera is named (and what her name means to her, how she has had to construct and fight for parts of her identity that others are given as a default assumption) is significant, but i don't think it really sets her apart from the others when their names are treated in similar ways thematically.

#hi!! always happy to hear from you #sorry i always think i'm going to keep it short and then i. don't. i don't know if this even answers your question.#but i can imagine it's funny to hear these names in that context and. be thinking about wolf 359 characters.#also obviously minkowski is also. in some ways denied her name. but it represents a different experience and a different aspect of identity #anyway. it feels like such a no-brainer but i kind of love the way urbina says he names characters because like.#yeah i guess that is how most people are named. they have a last name and then someone decides what first name would go with it.#that is true.#wolf 359 #w359 #hera wolf 359 #asks

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laurelnose · 4 months

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Forgive my desperate urgency but you are The Person whose opinion I must have on this topic-- I don't know very much about D&D and especially not about dragonborn, I am only in the BG3 fandom for Vibes, but this came up as of course it did because I'm me--

DO DRAGONBORN HAVE GIZZARDS

please we must discuss this

A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION DESERVING OF SERIOUS CONTEMPLATION

So dragonborn are descended directly from chromatic/metallic/gem dragons in some way (the exact way is a point of theological contention). The difference between those three dragon types is, to the best of my limited knowledge, not germane to the discussion. I will consider dragons as a single category.

Dragons are definitely not reptiles. They are warm-blooded and they act like cats. I do not actually think the cat thing is relevant to them being reptiles or not, Forgotten Realms wiki, but thank you anyways. So they are not like crocodiles, but are they like birds? Probably not. Although they did evolve from proto-dragon species which were among the few survivors of the cataclysm that killed the dinosaurs. Much like birds! (Or maybe they were created by the gods. Whatever. I’m not getting into a Faerûnian creationism debate. Anyways, in this context only, por qué no los dos.)

Dragons are preferentially carnivorous, but functionally omnivorous, with an emphasis on the omni. They can eat and digest just about anything, including inorganic materials. This ability is because of their “innate elemental nature”, which kind of makes me think dragons don’t really have digestive systems as we know them. They’re more like great primordial engines. I think this precludes gizzards in the dragons themselves — how would they get stones in their gizzards if their digestive system can break down stone? What would they even use them for? So if dragonborn have gizzards, they did not get them from the dragons.

Dragonborn do not seem to usually be capable of regularly digesting rocks, so if they swallow inorganic matter it should stay where it’s put. Baby dragonborn are born toothless and are fed by a lactating parent (dragonborn → monotremes??) until they grow teeth, and then are graduated through soft foods up to regular food (consisting of much more meat than your average humanoid). They are capable of digesting non-meat foods, but it doesn’t look like they have the dentition to chew non-meat foods. Which is why birds of just about all diets have gizzards — they don’t got no teeth! I’m going to go with either dragonborn have trouble eating vegetarian meals, as they have no grinding molars, or they do have gizzards. Courtesy of whatever primeval force or deity created them, maybe.

I also considered whether, if dragonborn are normally gizzardless, the Dark Urge specifically might have been created with special dietary capabilities, but you don’t need a gizzard for, say, osteophagy. (Notably, the only primarily osteophagous bird, the bearded vulture, has lost its gizzard.) And I feel like the other things animals use gizzards to digest are not quite On Theme, as it were. However, they might possibly, like bearded vultures, have a hardened, partially keratinized digestive lining for dramatic osteophagy (involving sharp broken-off pieces of bones).

On a different hand, dragonborn manifest draconic abilities at different levels, ranging from different or multiple breath weapons, dragonfear, or abilities from Bahamut or Tiamat. I wonder if some dragonborn, maybe those with particularly strong breath weapons (since the breath weapons are formed from elemental energy produced by dragons’ unique diets), might also manifest the ability to Just Eat Fucking Rocks. Not a glamorous ability! But very fun I think! Possibly more fun for dragonborn which do not natively have gizzards, as having a sort of elemental furnace in their belly instead of a stomach would then enable them to more comfortably eat food like salads.

On another totally different hand, polymorphed dragons (or not polymorphed, if you’re not a coward) are supposed to be able to hybridize with most of the humanoids, producing children that may take after either or both parents, and aarakocra and kenku are Right There. I mean, not in BG3, but, y’know. Half-dragons and dragonborn are different, but still interesting.

Also, dragons in the Forgotten Realms taste like turkey. I don’t know what you can do with this information but I feel like you would enjoy knowing it

#asks #bomberqueen17 #i am also only in bg3 fandom for the vibes atm lmao. maybe this will change if i ever actually finish a run

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alpaca-clouds · 4 months

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BG3 and the Second Sundering

You know what? I might ramble a bit about DnD Lore, because I am recently starting to get really into the lore. And I think that the Second Sundering is super interesting in terms of how it might connect to BG3 and its characters.

Quick refresher for everyone who (like me) never really had any contact with the lore of DnD and specifically the Forgotten Realms prior to 2023.

The Forgotten Realms is more or less the main setting for DnD and describes a collection of worlds that are technically speaking connected to our world. The main world most of the lore happens is called Toril, though frankly: Toril mostly consists of Faerûn (where most plot happens) and then an assorted collection of stereotypical settings that are mostly "Fantasy-East-Asia", "Fantasy-Egypt", "Fantasy-Africa" and "Fantasy-Aztecs".

The Forgotten Realms have magic (the Weave) and a wide collection of gods. And most worldwide storylines can be best described as: Bhaal, Myrkul, Bane, and Shar do some bullshit. And: Ao (who totally is not based on YHW) has issues.

Most of the recent events within the lore are all connected to those things. To give you a quick rundown:

The laws of the Forgotten Realms were written down by Ao in the Tablets of Fate, and about a hundred years ago Myrkul and Bane stole those tablets trying to give themselves more power. This made Ao angry at all the other gods and throw them out of the Astral planes. Stuff happened. More stuff happened. The Tablets of Fate were found again and Ao decided to destroy them to prevent something like that from happening again. Which lead to the Spellplague among other things. But we are not talking about the Spellplague today. No, we are talking about the Second Sundering, which happened just a few years ago from the perspective of Baldur's Gate 3.

Because Ao decided to reforge the Tablets of Fate to properly put the worlds of the Forgotten Realms back into order. And here is a thing you need to understand about the gods in the Forgotten Realms: They all, with no exception, strive for more power. No matter how Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil they are, they strive for power. And they all knew: When the Tablets would be reforged, the gods' powers would be more pinned down compared to how free they were without the tablets. So, all the gods tried to get more powers by getting more followers. To archive this, they all got themselves more chosen, so that they could be more present on Toril, which is how this most notably affected the people on the world.

The main events of the Second Sundering happened between 1484 and 1487 DR. (BG3 takes place in 1492 DR.)

Now, I will not go into too much detail of what happened. The tl;dr is that the usual people (the dead three and Shar) did their usual bullshit, some of the chosen were kidnapped and at times killed, there were several wars, some of the effects of the Spellplague were reversed, and some dead gods came back (including Mystra, but that is a story all on its own).

Within the world not all people even learned what was going on. Like, sure, people would have known about the wars and some might have heard some rumors about the chosen running around and stuff, but they would not have learned exactly what was going on with the gods and with the tablets of fate.

Still, some of the characters in BG3 would probably have known of - and even been involved in - in the events. Most notably of course Gale, who as a chosen of Mystra would be involved into everything in one way or another. Again, Mystra is probably a topic on her own. But yeah, Gale would have been involved somehow.

Chances are that Wyll's entire thing with defending the city from the Tiamat people, was also probably somehow connected to it.

The same goes of course for Shadowheart. She might in fact not fully remember this - but she was most certainly somehow dragged into those events by Shar.

The other three origin characters would not have been that involved. I firmly believe that Astarion knew next to nothing about what the fuck was going on, due to Cazador keeping the Spawn kinda away from the outside world except for hunting. And while the Second Sundering did involve some events in the Hells and on the Astral Plane, I doubt that Lae'zel or Karlach were very involved.

Ironically, someone who might well have been deeply involved would have been the Dark Urge. Because Bhaal was fairly involved in everything going on. Heck, chances are that even Gortash and Orin were in some way involved. Not quite sure about Ketheric. But those two? Yeah, probably involved.

And, you know. I think it is kinda a funny thing to think about. With everything happening there and how the characters - and in fact the events - being connected.

#baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #dungeons & dragons #dnd #forgotten realms #faerûn #second sundering #dnd lore #wyll ravengard #gale of waterdeep

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aemiron-main · 1 year

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PINNED POST

Hey there! I’m Em/Aemiron and I mostly post art and Stranger Things analysis! :DD (my art is over at @aemiron-art)

My Stranger Things twitter is @aemiron-main and my ST tiktok is also @aemiron-main!

This is the sort of stuff I tend to post about/am known for:

Edward Creel (aka Vecna)

Creelarke (cofounded by henrysglock and myself)

Karen Wheeler being Virginia Creel from an alternate timeline

Connie Frazier being Alice Creel from an alternate timeline

Eightfifteengate

NINA weirdness and the moving and disappearing corpses during NINA & the changing blood on 001 during the 1979 massacre

I have some featured posts below, and then under the readmore cut, each section will have a few links to its own featured posts, and will also have a link to another tumblr post that will take you to the full list of posts for each subject. I had to do this because each tumblr post limits me to 100 links, so they don’t all fit in one post!

You can also find all of the links organized in a searchable google doc here, just in case the links break on tumblr, which they often tend to do. There’s also a link to the specific google doc section for each topic under the cut.

Featured Posts

Who Is Edward Creel? If You’re Confused About Him, Read This (x)

Creelarke And The Tunnel Scene (x)

Original Eightfifteengate Post/Where Eightfifteengate Started (x)

I Know Why Will’s Birthday Is Important To Vecna/Henry/Edward- Original Post About Will’s Birthday Being The Same Day As The Creel Murders In Edward’s Timeline (x)

Yep, The Creel Murders Happened On Will’s Birthday In The Edward Timeline/According To The Indianapolis Gazette- Confirming The Dates (x)

Original Karen is Victor’s Daughter, Virginia, Not his Wife, Virginia/Karen is Edward’s Sister Post and Connie as Mother Alice (x)

Original Connie Frazier is Alice Creel Post (x)

Multiple Henries During NINA- His Drastic Appearance Change In Seconds (x)

Henry’s Shattered Mirror Scene Is A Direct Tommy Parallel (x)

Post Sections

Creel Murders

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of creel murders posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Creel Murders Posts

1.) Why Are We Seeing Through Henry’s Eyes During Victor’s Retelling? (x)

2.) Henry Was Wearing A Straitjacket At The Creel House When Victor Got Arrested (x)

3.) Why Did Henry’s Drawing From The Couch Magically Show Up On The Creel Dinner Table When Virginia Died, Including A Crayon? (x)

Edward Creel

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of edward posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Edward Posts

1.) Who The Fuck Is Edward Creel- Original Discovery of Edward Creel Post (x)

2.) Who Is Edward Creel? If You’re Confused About Him, Read This (x)

3.) Edward Creel is Vecna and Henry Creel is Innocent: The First Shadow, Edward Creel, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, and Carl Jung’s Theory of the Shadow (x)

Creelarke

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of creelarke posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Creelarke Posts

1.) Creelarke And The Tunnel Scene (x)

2.) Creelarke and the Lost Boys of Montauk (x)

3.) The Gayest Saturday Morning Cartoon Episode Ever: Scott’s Hank the Ranger Figure, Creelarke, and Tiamat (x)

The First Shadow

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of TFS posts I made AFTER seeing TFS) (click here to go to a tumblr post with the fulll list of TFS posts I made BEFORE seeing TFS)

(click here to jump to the TFS section of the google doc)

Featured TFS Posts

1.) Edward Creel is Vecna And Henry Creel is Innocent: The First Shadow, Edward Creel, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, and Carl Jung’s Theory of the Shadow (x)

2.) My Sweet Boy vs I’m Not Your Boy: What Is Up With The Brenner-Virginia Parallels in TFS? And What’s Up With The TFS Brenner-vs In-Show Victor Resemblance? (ft The Girl (Boy) He Stole) (x)

3.) Silly, Terrible Play: Henry Ripping Off Virginia’s Dress and TFS Henry Breaking The The Fourth Wall (x)

The Creel Newspapers

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of creel newspaper posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Creel Newspaper Posts

1.) I Know Why Will’s Birthday Is Important To Vecna/Henry/Edward- Original Post About Will’s Birthday Being The Same Day As The Creel Murders In Edward’s Timeline (x)

2.)Yep, The Creel Murders Happened On Will’s Birthday In The Edward Timeline/According To The Indianapolis Gazette- Confirming The Dates (x)

3.) I Knew It, The Lab Was Involved In The Creel Murders- Initial Post About Victor Being Found On The Side Of The Road In The Indianapolis Gazette (x)

Timeline Weirdness

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of timeline weirdness posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Timeline Weirdness Posts

1.) Big Initial Post About Comparing The Creel Timeline Sources (x)

2.) Your Timeline Is Wrong- Missing Boys and 3 Missing Hunters (x)

3.) The Creels’ Disappearing Door and Magic, Colour-Changing Wallpaper (x)

Creels and Wheelers Being Related/The Creelers

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of creeler posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Creeler Posts

1.) Original Karen is Victor’s Daughter, Virginia, Not his Wife, Virginia/Karen is Edward’s Sister Post (x)

2.) Original Connie Frazier is Alice Creel Post (x)

3.) Your Granddad’s Time In The War- Victor as Nancy’s Granddad (x)

NINA Project

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of nina project posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured NINA Project Posts

1.) THE MAIN ANALYSIS OF HENRY'S JUMPSUIT BLOODSTAINS DURING THE MASSACRE: What The Hell Is Up With The Bloodstains On Henry/Edward During The 1979 Massacre? Why Do They Keep Moving And Changing And Vanishing? There’s Multiple Henries/Edwards (x)

2.) Initial Post About That One Dead Kid Turning Into A Grown Man (x)

3.) What If NINA Isn’t Just A Simulation? What If It’s A Time Machine? (x)

Hawkins Lab

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of hawkins lab posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Hawkins Lab Posts

1.) Initial Post About The BTS Picture Of Young Henry’s Sensory Tank Suit Costume (x)

2.) That Green Lab Colour Grading- Why Isn’t It Present During NINA? (x)

3.) Henry and The Demodog, A Possible S5 Scene and The Horrors of Regen Healing (x)

Mothergate

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of mothergate posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Mothergate Posts

1.) Henward, Vaginal Imagery, Brenner's Surgeries and Tearing (x)

2.) Spines Twisted and Eyes Popped Out: “Mother” Edward, Jim Hopper, and Lab-Russian Prison Parallels (x)

3.) Henward, Mothergate, Castration, and Billy (x)

Sam Owens

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of sam owens posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Sam Owens Posts

1.) Victor and Owens, Lying to Oneself, Possible Origins of the Edward Timeline (Did It Start Out As A Simulation? Is Owens The Father Edward Talks About?) (x)

2.) I Get It, I Do: Scott and Owens Parallels and Owens' Weird Understanding (Why Does Owens Understand What It’s Like To Lose A Son To The UD?) (x)

3.) ARE THERE ANY OTHER CREELS I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT??? (Is Sam Owens Victor Creel in the Edward Timeline? Why Does He Call Possessed Will “Son”?) (x)

Dr. Brenner

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of dr brenner posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Dr. Brenner Posts

1.) Initial Post About Martin Brenner vs Richard Brenner (x)

2.) You Don’t Wanna Hurt Me: An Analysis of the “Nancy in the Tattoo Chair” Scene (x)

3.) What The Fuck Is Up With Brenner’s Hair? (x)

General Creel Family

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of general creel family posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Creel Family Posts

1.) Chrissy’s Dad Having His Eyes Sewn Shut vs Laura Cunningham’s Sewing Machine vs Laura- Virginia Parallels (x)

2.) Victor Rocks The Same Way In Pennhurst As He Did When Holding Henry On The Night Of The Murders (x)

3.) Victor’s Reflection Looks Like Michael Myers’ Mask And It’s Not A Coincidence- And It Ties To Timeline Theory Stuff (x)

Eightfifteengate

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of eightfifteengate posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Eightfifteengate Posts

1.) Original Eightfifteengate Post/Where Eightfifteengate Started (x)

2.) More Halloween Camera Timestamp Weirdness (x)

3.) The OST Track “8:15” Plays When The Cali Gang Gets Out Of The Van (x)

The Vanishing of Will Byers

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of vanishing of will byers posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Vanishing of Will Byers Posts

1.) What The Hell Is That White Light In The Byers’ Dining Room Window During Will’s Vanishing? (x)

2.) That’s Not The Same Kid At The Same Time: Initial Warm Will vs Cool Will Post (x)

3.) What The Hell Is Going On The Night Will Vanished? Newspaper Weirdness, Terry and Joyce Being Conflated, and Timeline Weirdness (x)

Gay Mike Wheeler

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of gay mike wheeler posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Gay Mike Posts

1.) The OG ‘if Will Is Gay Men Who Die By Hate Crimes, Mike Is Gay Men Who Die By Suicide’ And Hypervisible Vs Invisible Gay Men And Ted Wheeler’s Ignorance Post (x)

2.) If Mike Ever Actually Loved El/Even Just Had A Crush On Her, Why Didn’t He Use The Moment He Actually Fell In Love With Her As Part Of His Monologue Instead Of Claiming It Was Love At First Sight? (x)

3.) The 60 Minutes Namedrog And Its AIDs Themed Episode (x)

Music in Stranger Things

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST music posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST Music Posts

1.) ST and Music That Seems Nonconformist But Is Actually Conformist (x)

2.) “Play With Me” vs “Rock Me Amadeus” (x)

3.) We’ll Meet Again, Dr. Strangelove, Yanks, and The Singing Detective (x)

Mike’s Mental Health Posts

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of mike’s mental health posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Mike’s Mental Health Posts

1.) Mike Didn’t Even Try To Hit The Water At The Quarry: Mike And Joyce Parallels and Looking Through “Mike Lens” (x)

2.) Everyone Vandalizes The Bathroom Stall: Mike Is Taught That HE Is The Problem (x)

3.) Mike Having Food Issues Isn’t A Stretch (x)

ST Movie Parallels

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST movie parallel posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST Movie Parallel Posts

1.) Henry’s Shattered Mirror Scene Is A Direct Tommy Parallel (x)

2.) I’d Say You're Asking Me to Follow You Into Mordor: Eddie Munson, Mordor, Edward Creel, and March 22nd (x)

3.) Initial Post About The Wheelchair In The Creel Attic Vs The Wheelchair In The Attic In The Changeling (x)

ST Costuming

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST costuming posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST Costuming Posts

1.) Will’s Unbuttoned Flannel (x)

2.) Initial Post About The BTS Picture Of Young Henry’s Sensory Tank Suit Costume (x)

3.) Even If You Don’t See A Detail, It’s There: When Will We Finally Beat The Production Error Allegations? Not Everything Is A Production Error, The Details Matter. (x)

ST Production/BTS

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST BTS posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST BTS Posts

1.) Frame By Frame: Quit Calling Everything A Production Error (x)

2.) Henry Has Been Planned Since Season One (x)

3.) The Moving And Changing Kids Are Not A Production Error And They're Not Adult Stand-Ins Either (There's Zero Need For Standins Because They Have Hyper-Realistic Digital Doubles Of Every Dead Kid) (x)

ST and Changelings/ST and Irish Myth and History

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST vs Changeling/Irish History and Myth posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST and Changelings/ST and Irish Myth and History

1.) The Reason For The Wheelchair In The Creel Attic (Brief Initial Post About ST vs The Changeling) (x)

2.) That’s The Same Damn Tub AGAIN! (Initial Post About ST vs Before I Wake and The Tubs in ST- Did Henry or Edward Get Drowned and Dumped in the Quarry?) (x)

3.) Initial Brief Post About Vecna’s Claws and Changeling Imagery (x)

Multiple Upside Downs

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of Multiple UDs posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured Multiple UDs Posts

1.) Blue vs White Lights and Multiple Versions of the UD/Multiple Upside Downs (x)

2.) Another Post About Two Different Versions of the UD Castle Byers (And Two Different Wills) (x)

3.) Why Are The Snow Ball Lights There In The UD? If The UD Is Frozen On The Day Will Vanished, They Shouldn’t Be There At All (x)

ST vs DND

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST vs DND posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST vs DND Posts

1.) The Two Heads of HNL: Richard and Martin As The Demogorgon (x)

2.) Not Gage and Not Mom: The Virginiagorgon (Or The Virginiaganger? Both?) and Virginia Being Replaced By A Shapeshifting Doppelganger (x)

3.)True Sight, Doppelgangers, Shapeshifter and Will’s Powers (And Why is Brenner Basically Every DND Monster in ST?) (x)

ST vs TV Shows

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST vs TV posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST vs TV Posts

1.) Edward Creel, Peter Bishop, and Fringe: They Don’t Remember Him- How Could They? He Never Existed. (x)

2.) Owens, Cancer, Peter, Regenerative Healing and The Cure (x)

3.) Pretty Woman, Pretty, Henward, The Pennhurst Guards, and Always Sunny in Philadelphia (x)

ST vs Video Games

(click here to go to a tumblr post with the full list of ST vs Video Games posts)

(click here to jump to this section of the google doc)

Featured ST vs Video Game Posts

1.) Henry’s In A Tank: Stranger Things vs The Evil Within (2017) (x)

#stranger things #byler #henry creel #pinned post #pinned post section #pinned post section: main post #timeline theory #st creel timeline weirdness

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balladingbard · 6 months

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On the Topic of Summoning Elidibus

Okay, all. This is a wild rabbit trail I’m following, but after thinking about it…it kinda makes sense.

Remember that ending scene in Pandæmonium with Elidibus in the Lifestream and him seeing the light? We figured that was him being reborn, but what if that was him being summoned?

Hear me out, because like I said, this is a wild rabbit trail. Remember back in 1.0 with Bahamut and his summoning? If you read Encyclopedia Eorzea (and I’m talking the first one, since that’s all I’ve seen at this point), on the bottom of page 26, it talks about Bahamut being summoned by Tiamat and the other dragons. The text states, “Her sorrow and anguish, combined with the rage of her kin, however, corrupted the spirit as it returned from the Lifestream- the result a mad tyrant little resembling what had once been the dawn wyrm.”

I’m weakest with ARR lore, but to me this sounds like the real Bahamut was yoinked out of the Aetherial Sea and corrupted when he became a primal. (And if someone more knowledgeable with ARR can prove me way off, please do, because again, I’m no lore expert.)

And if that could happen to Bahamut, couldn’t that happen to Elidibus?

Think about it. He’s a primal already. And with him being in the Sea, wouldn’t it be possible to summon him back? With enough prayer and petition, and the right amount of aether, it could make sense to see Elidibus as himself again (and with Claudien having the Heart of Sabik and the WoL warning him about it, it’s certainly open to having Elidibus return.). This could also explain Elidibus’ curiosity at seeing the light in the middle of him thinking about the path of the Star.

On top of that, it would make sense why Venat made sure her spirit was destroyed after her defeat by the Scions. In Shadowbringers she mentioned the form she would take would always be her choice, but what if she was afraid that through summoning, someone could bring her back and corrupt her, forcing her to do untold damage? If Bahamut, being the spirit of a dragon, could nearly destroy the world, imagine what bringing back one of the most powerful primals in history could do.

Anyways, it’s a long shot, and this is what happens when my post-migraine-brain gets to thinking. If Elidibus does end up being summoned back, I really hope we don’t have to fight him again. Poor guy has been beaten up enough already.

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #endwalker spoilers #Bahamut #tiamat #Venat #elidibus #ascians #summoning #ffxiv lore #pandaemonium spoilers #endwalker #pandaemonium #a realm reborn #a realm reborn spoilers

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kontextcomic · 7 months

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Page 3-128. Steadfast.

Tiamat that topic is what made her snap and kick your ass last time, for god’s sake please learn your lesson!

#webcomic #comics #comics on tumblr #fanart #fancomic #Final Fantasy VIII #FFVIII #Final Fantasy 8 #FF8 #Ultimecia #Tiamat #Guardian Force #mention of self harm

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fragmentofmemories · 2 months

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On the topic of Tiamat, unlike many of the other characters she was the one who probably changed the least.

I already had a backstory and personality laid out for Tiamat. But compared to the rest of FAoR's cast I actually liked that initial idea and stuck with it.

As a result, she's my most consistent character yet, and I personally enjoy writing her "tough, yet warm" dynamic with the rest of Team Hinako.

If there were changes it'd probably be giving her (and a couple others) a rougher accent. You know, just to add to the worldbuilding a bit.

#i have new art but to show it earlier would be a waste. i'll just say...#i'm just really excited about it (lol)#coh1 #gekkouka writing #false aria of rebirth #tiamat dagonia

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shiroi---kumo · 6 months

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Misterican Culture and Religion || Tiamat's Prayer

I have written many times within the space of Kumo's blog in the last years Kumo making this motion:

And he is not the only one who does. ALL the Mistericans do. That's because instead of extending their hand for a handshake in greeting they do this. It looks like:

The right arm swings out into a large arc as the left hand swings up into a low arc until they meet flat palm in front of the belly. This is a Misterican Greeting but it carries more weight than that.

That hand position is also how they hold their hands in prayer. Mistericans greet the same way they pray. This makes sense when you remember that Misterica is a Theocracy and the Chruch is half of the Government.

The Government is run by The Religious Council AND The Royal Family. The Misterican Government basically had two kings.

One in the form of the Reigning King of the Royal Family and the other in the form of the leader of the Church, known as The Piipsa.

So basically what I'm saying here is Mistericans were extremely religious as a society and having religion blending into natural greeting isn't too far out for them.

But more importantly because of the nature of how a Misterican dies. When a Misterican dies, their body fades out into nothing as their Mist is released back into the skies to return to the heavens from which they were born.

Meaning Mistericans highly valued comradery and company. So to greet your fellow Misterican with the symbol of prayer to Tiamat was just another way of showing gratitude and grace at being able to meet with those you love once more or to be blessed with the meeting of a new soul. They thanked Tiamat for gifting them their lives and their bodies so they greeted each other in a manner that would show as such.

To add even more respect to the motion, and when one would pray to Tiamat herself they would tip their head in order to drop their horns even ever so slightly.

And I know I have said this before - that the Misterican phrase "I drop my horns" is equal to humans saying "I tip my hat" but for a Misterican to drop their horns to another was a way to bow their heads. It was a symbol of respect to another and in some senses a show of submission. For a Misterican to drop their horns at all was an extreme show from their immense value they placed in crystals in general as they were seen as a blessing from the Celestial Mother, Tiamat herself.

The horns upon the crown of one's head was a show of her love for the - crowning all of her child in brilliant crystal. So to drop those horns to another was an extreme show of respect.

So they greeted each other in the same fashion they prayed because they wanted everyone on in their lives to know they valued them as a blessing too.

#the mist in my soul || headcanon #topic: misterica #topic: misterican culture #topic: misterican religion #topic: tiamat #topic: misterican religious council #topic: misterican royal family #topic: misterican language #tw; death #tw; religion #tw; long post #g! the last cloud prince #g! white cloud's scribbles [[ mun's art ]]

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aquaticsoul · 7 months

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@muses-of-kira sent:

💭 + The Child of White (Siipi and Sade)

Things to Think About || ACCEPTING

"I don't know how to feel now. I was pretty set on listening to what the prophecies say," Siipi starts, her face falling the slightest amount. "But Sielu and Sydän - my kids. They teach him. And both of them are firm that he's just like any other boy. They have been since they swore their Oaths four years ago. They say he is just nine years old and he is so small."

Sade puts a hand on his wife's shoulder, offering a nod. "As parents, we want to trust what our kids say. We raised them to have good character, including honesty, so... if the Child of White is just a normal child as they say, what does that mean for Misterica? Either it speaks to the strength of her people and our Celestial Mother or it says that somebody is lying."

#guest muse: sade #guest muse: siipi #sing a round of love ; answered.#meme ; things to think about #religion tw #topic ; pilvi #topic ; misterica #topic ; tiamat #topic ; background #topic ; sydän #topic ; religion #topic ; misterican royal family #arc ; sing dear bird (misterica)

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y-rhywbeth2 · 5 months

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Lore Compilations (+ this blog's tagging/filter list at the end)

A WIP of a pinned post table of contents to tidy up the blog while I empty my fixations onto it plus a lore accuracy disclaimer (so I don't have to keep typing one), because why not. I like tables of content.

Disclaimer regarding lore accuracy: If you combine 50 years, 5 editions, 10+ settings, god knows how many novels, and then all the writers who all retcon and contradict each other's work then what you get is a clusterfuck. The lore I show here is compiled from all five editions of the game. You will likely see stuff out there that contradicts some things I say, or stuff I didn't mention/know. That's the lore for you. If you were the Dungeon Master making your own story, your job would be to pick and chose and build your own take on the setting out of it. I, personally, heavily favour older lore. Larian absolutely did this with Baldurs Gate 3 - frankly, I don't think they even know half this lore even exists, and Bioware took some liberties in the original games too. Wizards of the Coast themselves trample D&D into the ground all the time! All D&D is near enough fanfiction built on fanfiction. Therefore, if you find any information useful you may take it, leave it or tweak it to your desire for your own story, because it's D&D lore, and that's how it works.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS [WIP] (I make no promises as to the speed or order at which any of this is produced)

Baldurs Gate: The City #1 | Demographics | Aministration & Government | ???

Religion How religion works in the Realms, the different pantheons in the world and then individual posts dedicated to the gods as individuals, how and why to worship them and how their churches function

Religion | Priesthoods and Temples | Deities

Vampires Feeding | "Biology" | Hierarchy & Powers | Weaknesses & Cures | Psychology

Drow Culture | Other Drow Cultures

Planars & Planetouched Tieflings | Githyanki | Bhaalspawn | Devils

Orcs

Hin - That's "halfling", if you're over 3'4" Overview | Culture | Homelands | Religion

Gnomes Culture | Homelands | History | Religion

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Tagging system:

Various lore things that don't go in the larger compilations are tagged lore stuff

If I feel like posting anything I scribbled ("art"), the tag will be the scribbles

When I'm making posts and being negative or complaining about video games and trivial stuff, it will be filed as: griping

Whenever I find or consider something new about the Dead Three and/or want to rant and scream insults at Bane again, my tag is the idiot three

Things that aren't lore will get tagged babbling

When I babble about my characters, I tag it OCs, and the ocs are also tagged by name. So far I've only mentioned Vel

If I don't want to put my babbling about certain characters into the tags, I'll just put the / in front. /astarion, /orin, /gortash, /durge, etc

For sensitive material, such as if I feel like poking at the various delightful topics presented in the game - ranging from toxic relationships, the potential Banite police state, Bhaalist red rooms and the cult abuse and the creepy breeding programs - I'll use edgelord hours - as in Dead Dove Do Not Eat

When I want to babble about stuff happening in my game as I play it, they're tagged playthrough shenanigans

When I start talking about my oc's romance with Astarion I'll tag it petty murder boyfriends

When I want to get some popcorn and watch the disaster that is the Chosen and pre-amnesia Durge being irredeemably evil, I'll just tag it villainous nonsense for now.

#lore stuff

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theinquisitxor · 7 months

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September 2023 Reading Wrap Up

It has officially been a year of doing these reading wrap ups!

I read six books in September, amid a very busy month of school and work. Grad classes, working at college campus, and preparing for a trip all ate up most of my reading time. However, I managed to get through four physical books and two audio books. I completed a new favorite trilogy and started a reread of an old favorite.

1-3. The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin (The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky) 5/5 star series. This series has been on my tbr since 2019 or so. I finally got around to reading it, and was absolutely hooked. I loved the narration, worldbuiling, and conclusion to the series. The Fifth Season was my favorite of the books, but honestly I loved all three. So unique and amazing- a new all time favorite series. Adult, post- apocalyptic fantasy.

4-5. A Darker Shade of Magic & A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab (Shades of Magic Series). Since the Threads of Power book released in September, I've been wanting to reread the og trilogy. Since VE Schwab has let me down recently, I was worried that I wouldn't like this series anymore (especially since it is an old favorite). I got through the first two books on audio, and that was good decision for reread purposes. Both books were enjoyable and fun to re-listen to, if not the best things ever.

6. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. This was my non-fiction for the month of September, and while this is by no means a new book, this book discusses topics and lifestyles that I am interested in-- mainly surrounding eating locally and seasonally, and growing your own food.

That was it for September! I should have more time for reading in October, since one of my grad classes is ending. See below the cut for October's tbr!

October TBR:

A Conjuring of Light (audio) by VE Schwab (currently reading)

Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse 8) by James SA Corey (currently reading)

The Fragile Threads of Power by VE Schwab

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

New Percy Jackson

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher (halloween read)

The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4) by Brandon Sanderson (audio)

Nonfiction

#reading wrap up #September reading wrap up #books #bookblr #the broken earth #nk jemisin #The fifth season #shades of magic #ve schwab #fantasy books #my post

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elstreem · 8 months

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Habetrot Conversations and Profile Details

So I got Habbycat to Bond 5! (not...NP 5...I still just have her at NP 2...I literally got NP 2 Angry Mango and a 2nd Lily from the FP summons what is my cursed luck)

Anyway, long post and reminders for spoilers for LB 6 as Habetrot is only available once LB 6 is done.

For starters, looking at Habetrot's Bond conversations for My Room, she has very different lines for Gudao and Gudako.

I'll start with Gudao's set of conversations:

The first one is her teasing Gudao about Mash. BediGuda is my OTP, but I accept it will never be canon as the game obviously points to MashGuda, especially with the events of LB 6 - but no hard feelings, MashGuda is pretty cute and I like how supportive Habetrot is of Mash and Gudao getting together.

The 2nd one is talking about how tiring it is to deploy the Black Barrel. It makes a bit of sense that Habetrot points it out since she never really wielded it...though with how easy it is to loop her NP, poor Habbycat must be so sore if she's being used as a farming unit.

The third one presents some food for thought with Habetrot's remark about injuries. I do headcanon Ritsuka's got major issues both mentally and physically with everything they've gone through, and LB 6 actually showed it with RItsuka's sight blurring up several times, and even coughing up blood while remote summoning during the fight against Barghest. Heck, even as early as Babylonia, it is mentioned in the fight against Tiamat that Ritsuka's fingers were just about to undergo necrosis due to the strain of summoning.

So when Habetrot mentions injuries in her bond diloagues, I take it as confirmation that Ritsuka is canonically suffering from chronic pains and ills from pushing their body so much.

On another note, it's also interesting that Habetrot points out being a faerie makes her tougher than some Servants - especially when you consider some, like Jekyll, are almost basically humans in terms of abilities.

The last one is Habetrot mentioning that she never actually hears about Gudao's love life. It fits in neatly with my version of him, all things considered, I think Ritsuka is very friendly but respectful, and when others open up the topic of a serious relationship, he politely declines since he actually doesn't fall in love easily (until he and Bedivere grew close, that is). But that's just me.

But again, so cute that Habetrot wants to support Ritsuka,Ritsuka knows it and tells Habetrot they appreciate her efforts in turn.

Now for Gudako! Habetrot's dialogues for Gudako in general are geared towards treating her as a bride (though, if you check her profile, she remarks that despite her skill being exclusively effective on females, she thinks guys can be brides too. That's honestly sweet.)

Her first dialogue is planning to measure Gudako for a wedding dress! But also trying to hide her intent to do so, which isn't fooling anyone, Habbycat. Still, isn't it just so cute? I'm aroace and don't see myself getting married, but even I would be happy to have someone so enthusiastic to make an special outfit.

This second piece of dialogue is connected to another aspect of Habetrot mentioned in her profile, which states she basically lives out her dream of getting married through the brides she helps. Aww, Habbycat...

The next conversation is the counterpart to Habetrot reacting to Gudao's injuries, indicating that Gudako is also showing signs of being worse for wear after all the Lostbelts. It's a Gudako response to just brush it off with a laugh, huh? Poor gal...but Habetrot isn't taking that nonsense and she insists on treating Gudako right with some self-care and being pretty and-

That's really touching to me, Habetrot fussing over Gudako. Goodness knows how much the Chaldean Master has been through, probably the last thing on Gudako's mind is looking pretty... hell, self-care as a concept seems like a luxury in a fight to save the future. Who cares if you're showing signs of exhaustion, right? But at the same time, it is so important to do mundane, regular life activities and remind Ritsuka that she has a life, and hopefully, will be able to return to a life where she can dress up, go out and have fun.

The Bond 5 conversation is Habetrot firmly declaring her will to make Mash and Ritsuka happy brides. Just...🥺🥺

I'd like to imagine that when F/GO ends and Ritsuka returns to a normal world, all the Servants are constantly watching over them from the Throne, and some, like Habetrot here, will secretly help out Ritsuka in all sorts of things even when they're no longer a Master. assuming, of course, Fujimaru Ritsuka is still human at the end of F/GO, given the implications of some remarks...

That's the Bond conversations done - I really loved unlocking these and getting character insights. One last My Room dialogue that changes depending if Gudako or Gudao is set at your character is this:

Which I think is the response "what do you think of our Servant-Master relationship?" that all Servants have responses to.

And as for people that Habetrot reacts to, she mentions Mash and that she notices Mash does get a bit sad talking to her...and then there's this.

Which, by the way, Habetrot will say this particular dialogue without any change in expression.

Er, Habbycat? Blink twice if you need help.

#fgo #habetrot #fgo habetrot

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