ashenthornes

[ashenthornes]

Laying in bed, giggling and kicking my feet, drawing little hearts with devil horns on them.

[ashenthornes]

Older than history itself

What if the oldest vampire was a Neanderthal girl 🤔

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I adore this so much, it is beautiful

drew my whole dnd party competing in sports that fit their vibes :3 !

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Gadge truthers how do we feel about the fact that this duet to Lovely by Billie Eilish from The Voice Croatia literally invented the ship

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it really hurts me to see so many gazans asking us for help, though that's through no fault of their own. they've been forced to use a social media site that they're probably not familiar with (because tumblr has kind of faded out of popular consciousness), to interact with us in a second language, to distinguish themselves from the scammers who are taking advantage of genocide, and to ask strangers for help. i don't think there are any cultures where it's easy to ask for help like this, but i'm intimately familiar with how humiliating it can be in arab culture. please be kind, gracious and helpful to the gazans in your inbox. this is a desperate time for them, and in addition to the physical danger inflicted by "israel", the prices of basic resources in gaza are extremely high due to scarcity, and those that manage to escape to egypt are financially exploited by landlords there and have an extremely difficult time finding work due to their unofficial status as refugees. these families will continue to need our help and i hope we can all continue to provide it to the best of our ability.

[ashenthornes]

Imagine being the only person alive who can say this

[ashenthornes]

Not that I have seen a lot of them, but I feel like there is one pretty big issue that Ludinus/Aoer defenders/supporters seem to overlook. And that is Actually Killing A God in Exandrian Canon, while possible, also erases them from having ever existed.

Im not sure I can personally wrap my head around the ramifications there, but if we take that at face value, killing a God and not then replacing them (and therefore as far as the universe of Exandria understands it, having always been them) means it likely undoes whatever that God did.

The issue there is, unlike The Raven Queen or even Vespin, who replaced or was attempting to replace, the God they removed, it leaves a hole in the entire creation of sentient/sapient beings in Exandria. Prior to the Gods arrival, from my understanding of the lore available at least as presented in Calamity, Campaign 1, and the Downfall prologue (I dont have the source books), the most advanced life outside of the Primordials was for the most part Elementals and potentially Genasi,w ith maybe a handful of other mortals existing in extrememly difficult lands.

If Aoer were to have succeeded in killing A God, they likely wouldnt have stopped there. Their hatred and distrust of the Gods (however well warranted) didnt just extend to the Betrayers (as seen in Downfall when they banish a follower of The Dawn Father from the refugee ship) so they likely wouldnt have stopped with just one. And we know for a fact Ludinus wants to wipe them all out.

What would that mean for life on Exandria? No Wildmother ever existed to help grow plants and animals. No Stormfather to guide the storms and weather of the world, shaping the continents and mountain ranges necessary for life to flourish. No Dawnfather to light the world, providing it warmth and comfort. No Knowing Mistress to safeguard knowledge. No Lawbearer to help facilitate the formation of society. No Archeart to grant the majesty of the Arcane to mortals. They wouldve never have existed. Where does that leave Exandria??

And this isnt like an IRL Theological Thought Experiment of We Think God(s) is/are responsible for these things. It is actual, factual, the way the world of Exandria works, is these are these Gods Domains. They are responsible for their proliferation on Exandria.

And maybe life on Exandria would have/could find a way without them, but I cannot imagine knowing this from an outside perspective adn thinking *yeah they should do that, its best for them.*

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The narrative is one thing, but I think it's really weird for fans to think Ludinus "has a point" about the gods in general causing the destruction of the Calamity when we know better. We objectively know better. It wasn't Sarenrae mutilating Vespin Chloras into a mindless puppet. It wasn't Melora sending Zerxus manipulative dreams and visions. It wasn't the Raven Queen destroying Exandria's protections against extraplanar threats. It wasn't Kord sending fiends into two inhabited cities to slaughter people indiscriminately. It wasn't Bahamut trying to release two emperor titans to destroy the planet. It wasn't Pelor killing and resurrecting Zerxus multiple times just for kicks, calling living breathing mortals "worthless paper dolls" and "a bad first draft".

It wasn't they who were responsible for the cloud of ash covering Exandria, or even most of the casualties. We know it was "not only in the first year, but in the first moments of Calamity" as Rau'shan and Ka'mort were destroyed—to prevent unleashing them on the world and everything being lost—that a large amount of that two-thirds of living beings were killed. We know that the "eruption of ash and fire, molten stone" from the destruction of Toramunda caused by the release of energy from the Astral Leywright sent up a cloud that covered Exandria for about a hundred years—up to the point where Downfall takes place, in fact. We know who then saw that destruction, done in the name of saving the world from the worst of his carefully plotted scheme, and then decided to shatter Exandria's teeth.

It's interesting how fixated some folks have gotten on the idea of "history being written by the winners", that maybe we don't really know the truth of what happened. It's not only ironic to then give infinite benefit of the doubt to the perspective of someone we know is a liar, it effectively wishes away how much of the history we've seen play out for ourselves. Under this...let's charitably call it understanding, the gods that we objectively know caused the Calamity's destruction are never the gods being referred to as oppressors and tyrants (even when they've explicitly identified themselves as oppressors and tyrants!).

For Bell's Hells, and the people of Exandria, much of this information has in fact been lost to time, and I don't look askance at them for not knowing what happened. I do, however, look askance at the real-life people who do know what happened, who can reasonably piece together the information we've been given, and are still so desperate for Ludinus to "have a point" that they're hiding behind tautologies and clichés so they can demonize the gods regardless. Because "what if the good guys were bad" is subversive, you see. When the black-and-white mindset is true but just casts the heroes as the villains, well, that's nuance, right?

[ashenthornes]

With the knowledge that there's faithful in Aeor working on the Factorum Malleus in the hopes that they can use it to fight (and destroy) the Betrayers alongside the Primes, I wonder if that's what Erathis was talking about when she said to the Emissary that there's two threads, two vows she thought were parallel that in fact intersect and cannot both be carried out.

The Primes have an obligation to mortals. They created them and have a duty to oversee and care for their creations. They have a responsibility to safeguard the aspects of creation they represent. They cannot abandon mortalkind to its fate by leaving Exandria, and they also can't stand idly by while their siblings the Betrayers kill them.

But at the same time, the Primes have an obligation to those same siblings. They're family. They all fled Tengar together and vowed to stay together. It was the Betrayers who took the most active role in allowing their escape. To truly end their siblings would be to abandon bonds that come with being family.

And the situation in Aeor is one which puts these obligations into extreme conflict. Do you destroy Aeor, ending the last great sky city and killing countless thousands of mortals to save your siblings? Or do you allow the mortals their weapon and their judgement against your own family, sparing them but dooming those who've been with you since the start of it all?

As a corollary I'm fascinated to see what the purpose of the Emissary is, because he seems to be Earthis' third option. She's still breaking a vow (that she would be with the others in Aeor), but it seems like he's a way for her to uphold her vow to safeguard mortals while also protecting her family.

[ashenthornes]

We are all aware that whatever happens, whatever crisis of morality the Prime Deities have or don't have, Aeor will fall by the end of the next episode.

I personally believe that the Prime Deities will actively make the choice to destroy the city, as much as it might hurt them to do so. Why, exactly, do I think that?

The very thing that broke this family of gods apart was that Primes got attached to the mortals that the Betrayers wanted to destroy, enough for the Primes to fight for the mortals and lock the Betrayers away so tightly that they could not even grant their worshippers magic. The way the Betrayers see it, the Primes chose these paper dolls, these bad first drafts, over their own siblings.

Maybe the majority of Aeor wants all of them dead. But Archmage Previn and some other mages, according to her, do not want to kill the Primes. Only the Betrayers and the Primordials.

I'm certain the fear that mortals would turn such a weapon on them and use it as soon as they do something that mortals dislike is there.

But what better opportunity for the Primes to show the Betrayers that as much as they fight, as much as they disagree, as much as they hurt each other, they will not let anyone turn their siblings into nothing?

What better opportunity for the Primes, just this once, to choose their siblings over mortals?

[ashenthornes]

"If you wanted to make us to serve the gods, you should not have made us good."

Another instance of the swirls and eddies of problems created by the massive scale of the gods-war: their own soldiers, made to fight, driven to anguish by the war stopping, because it means a crisis of self; the ideals they are meant to embody are apparently not immutable. This quote isn't even necessarily "you shouldn't have made us good, because what you're doing is evil" - they're upset they have no purpose! It's more like, why did you create us for one thing and then abandon us and change the prompt? Similar energy to Erathis struggling with there being so many promises and responsibilities to uphold, and saying it is not kind to do things halfway. Part of the strife of the Calamity is just the massive and constant turmoil of change, and with periods of time outsized for anyone but an immortal.

[ashenthornes]

Okay so the planetars/celestials were working WITH Aeor and its mages?!?!

What a statement , regarding the creations of the gods and the way they behave in their absence.

[ashenthornes]

Thinking about the gods, chased from their home and stumbling across a place they would shape into a new one.

Watching this new home and their new creation be destroyed by their own hands.

Realizing the only way to save this world they love is to leave it. Isolated in their own domains, unable to walk free and play as they did when they were young.

Locking themselves behind the Divine Gate to prevent this sort of destruction from ever happening again. Unable to directly interfere even when their home is threatened again, but knowing it is better, at least, than this.

Ludinus looks at them and sees magical sky wizard gift-givers who didn't favor him. But they are beings just as lonely as all the rest in creation.

[ashenthornes]

they could never make me hate the gods, as an ex catholic I obviously have my trauma relayed to religion, but I can also separate dnd gods who are real in their world and the god I was told to believe who isn't real, and the gods want to help, they just dont always go about it the right way

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So y’all know the classic edge trope of “my blade cannot be sheathed until it has tasted blood”? What if a magic sword that has that requirement, except it’s sort of inverted. A sword that, instead of being inhabited by an evil spirit which once awakened cannot be lulled back to sleep except by blood sacrifice, was inhabited by a benevolent spirit who would not allow the sword to be drawn unless bloodshed were the only possible solution. A sword whose power could never be misused because it would only allow itself to be used in situations where it was justified. What about a Paladin who spends their entire journey fighting with a sheathed sword, incapacitating but never killing or maiming. The party believes that the Paladin has taken an oath of no killing, until they face the big villain. And it is in that moment, and that moment alone, that the sword will allow itself to be drawn.

Idk, this image set my mindwheels a-turning.

But do y’all see the vision?

[ashenthornes]

I haven’t even begun to unpack the last part of Downfall pt. 1. The conversation between the gods about the fate of Aeor was just so loaded I’m still processing. But these three quotes, all in favour of the destruction of Aeor, really stuck out to me. Presented without further commentary because they live in my mind rent free rn:

“Everyone here is in misery. We should devour them. There’s only one release, and it’s in the back of the throat of something that wants you dead.” -Zaharzht

“One thing, Dad. They don’t fear you, they resent you. You think you spare them, they’ll be grateful, they’ll start praising your name? That’s not going to happen. You let them go, they do it again.” -Emhira

“Look, death is inevitable. It’s just guiding them to a shorter thread.” -Emhira