#< eldrines creations >

[eldritchforezt]

image description: two identical flags next to each other. they have nine horizontal stripes. the middle three stripes are thinner than the others, the fifth stripe being the thinnest. in order, the colors are dull blue, light dull blue, pale dull blue, dark purple-magenta, dark grey, dark purple-magenta, pale dull blue, light dull blue, and dull blue. end image description

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• beingitle - a gender label under the perceitle system. it’s related to wanting to be referred to as “the being”, to the point of it affecting your gender.

tagging @magitoki , one apologizes if this was already in your queue or to coin list . .

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[PT: tagging @/magitoki, i apologize if this was already in your queue or to coin list.. :PT END]

[surgeryie]

⠀ ི Saya no Uta（ ✙ ） NPTs．

Sena ﹐ Oddity ﹐ Adorine ﹐ Molly ﹐ Evangel ﹐ Sonata ﹐ Nymphi ﹐ Eldryss ﹐ Eldrine ﹐ Naura ﹐ Numine ﹐ Asylum ﹐ Paradox ﹐ Mischie ﹐ Vurity ﹐ Ophe

Meat ) Meats ﹐ Flesh ) Fleshs ﹐ That ) Thats ﹐ Sie ) Sier ﹐ Redacted ) Redacted ﹐ Cure ) Cures ﹐ Thing ) Things ﹐ Nym ) Nymph

The Eldritch Creation ﹐ The Angel of Temptation ﹐ The Perfect Monster ﹐ Their Siren Song ﹐ The Girl Made of Flesh ﹐ The Deceiving Angel ﹐ The Eldritch Horror of your Dreams

[aeronbracken]

TAMSIN LOREPOSTING (as I promised... it is long btw)

-Tamsin was born in 1466 DR in Neverwinter to an Elven Noble family. She was the bastard daughter of the patriarch of the family; Aerin Morren. He took her out of obligation and acknowledged her as his daughter.

-In truth, she was not his own daughter and her real father was his twin brother Eldrin who vanished after giving the baby to him and making Aerin promise that he would take care of her. However, that caused resentment between him and Tamsin since he always thought she was the reason that his twin brother left his side.

-Speaking of her father; he was the younger twin which meant he wouldn’t inherit anything and it gave him a freedom that his brother never had. Eldrin wandered around the Sword Coast; one side of him yearning for power. During his travels, he met with a Drow Shadow Sorcerer who offered him to making a pact with the Raven Queen. With his help he became his Hexblade Warlock and the price was the conception of Tamsin.

-Her mother neither loves nor hates Tamsin. She is just an experiment in her eyes –someone made for the purpose of collecting memories and bring them to her once she died- and the Raven Queen is watching her from afar refusing to help her or ask anything from her.

-Back to Aerin, his wife wasn’t happy due to the situation even though he assured her that Tamsin wouldn’t inherit anything and his wealth would go to their sons. But she felt slighted by her existence and never hesitated to show it. While Aerin didn’t harbor any hatred for his ‘daughter’, he also didn’t interfere his wife’s cruelties.

-From an outside view she was taken care of; she had the best clothes and a decent education. But her stepmother made her life a living hell; every misstep had a consequence she would beat her for mundane things like eating too much, laughing too loud or talking in public.

-The only people who ever showed her kindness were his brothers but their affection was more like out of duty and not love. They were often away from home due to dealing with their father’s business to escort caravans and trading ships.

-When she was a teenager Tamsin had a short affair with their neighbor’s son: another Elven nobleboy. He was the first person she fell in love with and while their relationship was sweet it was short-lived. He left her for another Elven noblewoman when his parents arranged a match between them.

-Shortly after Tamsin’s stepmother convinced Aerin to find a suitable husband for her. It was an aging lord and their aim was to get rid of her while benefiting from the situation. When she came to her room to tease, Tamsin’s powers manifested and she killed her stepmother in a gruesome way.

-Aerin wasn’t pleased to find his wife’s corpse but there wasn’t any love between them and now he had a chance to get rid of his ‘daughter’ for good. He could give her to the authorities and nobody would blame him including his absent twin. However, Aerin couldn’t bring himself to do it and instead, he gave her a handful of coins then send Tamsin to Eldrin’s Shadow Sorcerer friend so he would teach her how to control her powers.

-So she found Callimar who is a Lolth-sworn Drow and a former member of the House Syr'thaerl which is annihilated by other houses. He barely escaped to the surface thanks to his powers and made a living by making shady businesses of others while traveling the Sword Coast. Tamsin found him in his home in Secomber and he took her in not out of affection for his friend but because he was obbsessed with the idea of exploring her potential in Shadow Magic.

-With time he developed an obsession due to Tamsin’s parentage and witnessing her creation back then. He taught her how to use Shadow Magic properly and how to play the game from his experiences in Menzoberranzan. –he was proud of her when she surpassed him- Tamsin grabbed everything he taught hungrily and he groomed her into a self-serving individual by using her vulnerabilities.

-Callimar also liked to have power over Tamsin and her being dependant on him. With time they developed a toxic affair between each other.

-After there was nothing left for Callimar to teach her, Tamsin grew restless. Making small works for worthless people made her feel like she was wasting her potential in this town and thought about leaving for good.

-One day she found Callimar’s diary while cleaning his room and learned the truth about her parents which made her want to leave even more. She escaped one night after he fell asleep, taking half of their coin.

-Her destination was Baldur’s Gate considering the long distance between the city and Secomber. In here she started to work in Sorcerous Sundries under Lorroakan for enough money to rent a small room. However her luck turned when the word of her profession spread and one of the power hungry nobles decided to hire her to do his bidding.

-After starting to work for Lord Cardan Asina, her life standards increased greatly. She started to live in his manor and from outside she was his ‘Arcane Advisor’ but her real mission was to work as an infiltrator, collecting information and help his personal assassin completing his tasks –sometimes killing the targets herself-. Her Shadow Magic skills helped Tamsin greatly.

-The more tasks Tamsin completed the more her Lord liked her and started to bring her with balls and soirees in the Upper City. She met with Gortash on a night like this, shortly after he became a Lord.

-I won’t go into detail about their affair but it was short-lived (around three months I believe?) and mostly physical though in the very end there was some kind of sick affection between them. (I will post so many fics about it btw.)

-However her pleasant life among the nobility came to an end when her patron learned about Tamsin’s affair and got rid of her. It was out of pettiness and paranoia; thinking she was working for Gortash and trying to steal his secrets. He took all of her savings and threw her to the street after spreading the lie that she tried to kill him to sully her reputation.

-Shortly after she got kidnapped by the mindflayers <3

[tearofisha]

Eldrin Shadewalker

1. Eldrin's job is not as simple as leading Wraiths in battle or communing with dead spirits, he also works as something of a grief councillor for Craftworlders that have lost loved ones and is a kind empath as a result.

2. During long campaigns, Eldrin has taken terrible wounds fighting alongside his Wraith-host as well as defending Aelinor on the field of battle. These include wounds from Power Swords, Thunder Hammers, Storm Bolters, Ogryn fists and Vindicare sniper shots.

3. Eldrin is infamous for his love of tea and taking pleasure in brewing pots from all over the universe. He finds gifts of exotic teas to be a very generous gift to receive and often sends custom blends made for his friends based on what he knows about them as gifts.

4. Despite his good service for the Craftworld, his profession sees him vilified by most others as a crude necromancer that enslaves the spirits of Ulthwés ancestors in service of the Craftworld. While Eldrin doesn't much care about his reputation, he does make for a lonely figure.

5. Eldrin's sister was one of the great Autarchs of Ulthwé in days gone by, her death is what lead him to the Path of the Spiritseer.

6. Eldrin has never really been romantic with anyone in his life, and I consider him to be asexual.

7. His prize possession is his Witchstaff/walking stick, grown by the Artisans of Idralâsh after his original staff was destroyed by a Keeper of Secrets that attacked the Exodite world.

8. My inspirations for Eldrins character puts him somewhere on the physical Elrond, mentally Uncle Iroh sliding scale of sage old man character creation. The influence is quite obvious in the character art of Eldrin.

9. The many wounds of his life were all repaired with the aid of Bonesingers and a medical type of Wraithbone that encourages the body to heal at incredible rates. This is great for most warriors but one so frequently wounded so badly like Eldrin has seen it also accelerate the aging process of his body and he is well into the crystallisation of Seers that is also taking Eldrad Ulthran, despite Eldrin being only a quarter of his age.

10. Other than Dracite Aeril, Jastra, Telwin and the warriors of Idralâsh, Eldrin's only true friends are a human refugee/anomaly he protects on Ulthwé, Aelinor and Rishaeron. Despite everything the three have been through, they rarely speak outside of war matters and Eldrin sorely wishes he could see his friends more, especially now Aelinor has left Ulthwé.

Thank you for the ask!

[collection-of-curios16]

An Artist Admires Art

The jets of pistons hissed throughout the halls of the House of Inspired Hands. Sharp twangs of metal on the forge echoed in the heart of invention. The many busy hands tinkered away restlessly to implement their wild ideas and cast them into reality. There was one such station that carried a crowd. One such place within the halls of ingenuity garnered the attention of many of the devout inventors within. 

Sitting at a workstation, hands calmly yet precisely maneuvering the large box filled with wires, was Sir Eldrin Eyrynnhv. Some call him Sir, others Headmaster or Professor, and some simply refer to him as a friend. Right now, those gathered around him referred to him as genius. 

“Eldrin, tell me again, how did you come up with the design? This is incredible, perhaps even one of the greatest inventions to ever be crafted within the House of Inspired Hands.” A stout little Halfling with a wizened, yet impressionable face exclaimed.

“You praise me far too much, Orind, my good friend. It is akin to composing a ballad. The wood is my story. The wires my stanzas. The keys my language, and the keystrokes my dialogue. When inspiration grips one so strongly, guided by Milil herself, you do not shirk that responsibility. As you would know.” Eldrin punctuates by gesturing around the building known as the House of Inspired Hands. A truly noble place for invention and new creations. 

“Of course, Eldrin. I am just truly amazed.” Orind wistfully says.

Eldrin continued working, determination in his eyes. He hardly noticed the young human male, roughly seventeen years of age join the crowd gathering around him with a large covered, rectangular object in his hands. 

“Um, Sir Eldrin? Your commission is finished, and I am here to deliver it.” The young man says after watching Eldrin work for several moments.

“Thank you very much. Here, take this.” He says handing over a couple of gold coins. 

The young man’s eyes light up, “Thank you very much, Sir Eldrin!” And he runs off.

Eldrin calmly sets his tools down and props the large parcel on his lap, and unwraps it. A slight smile crawls across his face, as a single tear races down his terribly gorgeous countenance. There before him was an absolutely immaculate painting of a light-skinned Dark Elf, with short white hair that hung in front of a pixie-esque face with gorgeous dark-pink eyes, and full lips slightly parted. Her long, curved ears had several piercings, and her demeanor was proud, yet coy. 

Eldrin slowly traced his finger over the face of the woman, eyes welling up with tears, as he whispered something under his breath. A soft tune to a song that carried with it much weight. He pressed his body against the portrait before pulling himself away slightly and setting the painting aside. He eyed his device, stood up, and pulled a string across the joints located in the belly of the machine. He nodded to himself and proudly stated, “It’s finished.”

A loud, beautiful laugh erupted from down the hallway, and Eldrin looked to see it was Asha, who was consumed in a fit of humor. She was conversing with one of the priests. He smiled to himself.

“What are you going to call it, Eldrin.” The Halfing asked with bated breath.

“A Piano.” Eldrin said softly.

“Piano? Is that Elvish? What does it mean?”

“There is no single word for it in Common. It refers to the bittersweet feeling when the seasons change, ushering in a new era. My people believe this change is not one to find sorrowful, but instead rejoiced. However, most often we greet it with a sense of loss for what once was, and a shimmering feeling of hope and happiness for what could now be.” Eldrin said, slowly sitting down on the bench, his feet finding the levers on the base of the box. His fingers gently glided across the ivory keys, feeling the weight of their importance at this moment. He finally rested his hands, and stroked the first key, letting out the ring of a miraculous melody that immediately gripped the attention of any who wasn’t already before gripped. Another and another, until his fingers orchestrated perhaps one of the most profound and soul-cleansing pieces of music heard in the Prime Material Plane. Flourishes and glides met with dancing of mind and fingers across the keys. Heart met with soul, marrying in a bond heard throughout the Upper Planes. Then, he slowed it down, bringing the music to an end. Everyone around had forgotten to breathe in the brief moments he played, and all were moved.

“That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard, Eldrin.” Orind said. 

“I couldn’t agree more, friend.” Eldrin said, smiling, looking down the hall as another exuberant laugh echoed throughout the House of Inspired Hands.

Eldrin smiled softly, his icy blue-grey eyes lingering on that magnificent form of Asha, the Dark Elf Priestess who once swore loyalty to the Queen of Spiders herself, Lolth. 

Now, she was a radiant presence in a place of creation and worship. 

And so Eldrin smiled. 

[beesandbooks1]

Discussion: The Magic System in Knightmare Arcanist

To read this post on my blog instead, click here!

Hello book bees and welcome to another discussion post about a magic system! Today I will be discussing the magic used in Shami Stovall’s Knightmare Arcanist. Disclaimer, I have not read the whole series yet so my understanding of the magic system is limited to the first book. I will be discussing it based on my impressions from that book and may update my blog when I finish the series.

[Spoiler warning!] A brief summary of magic in Knightmare Arcanist

Stovall introduces us to the idea of magic early on in the first book. The protagonist and first person POV character Volke informs us that starting at age fifteen–adulthood in this world–people can bond with magical creatures to become arcanists, their creature being called an eldrin. Volke introduces us to this idea by telling us about his island’s traditional bonding ceremony with phoenixes. Every ten years, a handful of young phoenixes oversee a series of trials of worth in which the hand picked students of the schoolmaster demonstrate their skills and allow the phoenixes to determine if they are worthy of bonding or not.

Volke explains that this is not a necessary step in bonding between eldrin and arcanists, but is a hugely traditional part of his island’s history. Any person can bond with any eldrin so long as both parties are willing–and in fact Volke describes the bonding twice: Once when a creature he is unwilling to bond with attempts to force the bond, and the second time when he actually does bond with his eldrin, Luthair. The bond is extended, it appears, from the mystical creature and then agreed to by the human.

Mystical creatures do not begin to actively mature beyond adolescence unless they are bonded, and thus have that motivation to bond in order to grow. On the other side, humans that are too old or too young are undesirable for eldrin to bond with. Once bonded, the arcanist and eldrin begin to share personality traits, most notably the arcanist’s personality shaping how the eldrin’s personality grows. It is also possible to bond with an eldrin that is older, something called a second bonding. These bondings make magic far more difficult for the arcanist to learn, and can have serious consequences. Most notably, if the second arcanist an eldrin bonds with is significantly different from the first arcanist they bonded to, the eldrin can go insane from the clashing personalities influencing its magic. The magic is accessible to both eldrin and arcanist, and they often work in tandem when controlling it. Magic is also different depending on the eldrin, with each magical creature having a variety of natural gifts accessible to the arcanist.

Looking at the relationship between eldrin and arcanists

While the idea of having magic wielders bond with magical creatures is not an original one, the way Stovall sets up the bond is interesting for a few reasons. First of all, in my encounters with similar bonds in fantasy novels it’s not often that the personality of the mage becomes a major influential factor for the creature. If anything, most of these “bonds” either feature strategically differing personalities in order to make a more well rounded team, or the personality of the magical creature is expected to exert more influence over the mage. Stovall’s system instead explicitly centers the influence the arcanist wields on the magical creatures, shaping the creatures’ adult personalities to match the arcanists’.

The second thing that fascinates me is the corruptible nature of the magical creatures. This is explained in two ways. Volke explains, when bonding with his knightmare Luthair, that a second bonding is usually difficult for arcanist and creature. The arcanist has a harder time accessing the magic of their eldrin since the eldrin is already a fully grown creature with vaster and deeper powers than most arcanists begin with, making wielding that magic painful. The creature, as well, risks a descent into madness if the personality of their second bonded clashes too much with the personality of their first, creating a dissonance in their own mind.

The next corruptible influence is the occult plague, an overarching threat throughout the story. Though the plague affects both arcanist and eldrin, it appears to have a much stronger ability to corrupt the eldrin. An arcanist touched by it may have warped thinking but still appear sane, while an eldrin will appear mad once they are corrupted. The plague also physically alters the magical creatures, causing them to grow unnatural limbs and affecting the eyes. The plague and second bondings both affect the arcanists, but primarily target the eldrin, implying that the bond can be less beneficial for magical creatures than expected initially.

Evocation, augmentation, and manipulation

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was when this came up in the book. These three words are what the instructors of Volke and his fellow apprentice arcanists are trained to do with their magic. They’re not just instructed to explore the bounds of it, they are given concrete boundaries as to what magic they are each capable of albeit in different manners. Evocation is the creation of something within your power’s access. For phoenix arcanists, this means creating fireballs and for Volke this means creating fear and terror that afflicts those around him.

Augmentation refers to a sort of dual power, something that the arcanist and eldrin do together. The most obvious example of this is Volke’s, as his knightmare can literally cover him in shadow armor and they can wield a sword together. In this way, Luthair’s power augments Volke’s abilities and Volke augments Luthair’s power.

The last option, manipulation, involves utilizing what is already present in a way specific to your magic. Gregory Ruma, whose eldrin is a leviathan, can manipulate the bodies of water around him, creating massive tidal waves. Likewise, Volke can manipulate the shadows around him and absorb himself into them to travel, or to avoid falling off a cliff.

Consequences, restrictions, and limitations

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love a magic system that seems limitless but actually has a lot of regulations to it. When Volke and Ilia dream of being arcanists, they dream of having the kind of power master arcanists have. Gregory Ruma, and the other arcanists they meet at the Frith guild, have immense power. These arcanists have, over decades of training, come to be powerful enough to control oceans and craft storms. However, a new arcanist has no way of creating that kind of power.

Even as Volke’s friends and fellow apprentices begin to train and demonstrate skill around him, their powers pale in comparison to those of masters. Atty can produce a minor fireball and Illia can transport something as small as an apple, and not very far. Likewise, Volke can only go short distances through his shadow travel once he learns the technique. This is because their magic requires training, and has exhausting consequences–though moreso for Volke than anyone else.

As the protagonist, one would expect Volke to be natural gifted at his magic and be talented and powerful in comparison to his peers. Instead, as a second-bonded, Volke is repeatedly informed he will have to work twice as hard to get the same results. His singular advantage is that Luthair is already fully grown, with realized powers and an idea of how those powers should be used. The magic itself, though, burns Volke and makes him weaker the more of it he uses. He works up his stamina in the face of the pain, but for much of the book he worries that in an actual confrontation he will have the chance to make one move and then pass out from the pain.

Final thoughts

I haven’t gotten past the first book in this series, so I expect that we’ll learn more and more about the consequences of using powerful magic and how hard it is for arcanists to train themselves to that point. I’m also looking forward to learning more about the different kinds of magic arcanists can wield. In this book we’re introduced to Volke’s friends and peers, and the magic their eldrin allow them to touch. But there are so many other creatures in the world Stovall creates and I can only imagine this results in some very interesting power combinations. I’m also interested to see how far the consequences go. Volke overcomes quite a bit in order to be able to effectively wield magic in this first novel, but I can imagine that as the magic gets more powerful the pain grows worse and more difficult to bear.

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[eldritchforezt]

image 1: a flag with 7 horizontal stripes. from top to bottom the widths are medium, narrow, narrow, much wider, narrow, narrow, medium. from top to bottom the colors are red, very pale yellow, pale yellow, dull pink, pale yellow, very pale yellow, red. horizontally across the middle is a wavy band of pale pink. there are rows of ovals in a slightly darker pink running across the top and bottom of the band, creating the impression of overlapping transparent curves. end image 1.

image 2: a flag with 11 horizontal stripes in several slightly different widths. from top to bottom the widths are wide, narrow, narrow, medium, medium, wide, medium, medium, narrow, narrow, wide. from top to bottom the colors are red, very pale yellow, pale yellow, dark pink, pink, pale pink, pink, dark pink, pale yellow, very pale yellow, red. end image 2.

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aengidavet

• a gender tied to being a corpse possessed by an angel

requested by ( 🎀 ) anon

• coined by eldrine

[eldritchforezt]

rat omninoun flag

~ a term for when the user has a deep connection, and/or uses it in their identification, to the word rat. they also use it as an honorific, name, and pronouns.

requested by @bees--on--toast

~ @omninoun-archive

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First Image: ID: a flag with 9 horizontal stripes. the middle one is very thick, and the rest get progressively thinner moving in towards the middle. from top to bottom the colors are brown, muted light brown, light brown, pale pink, gray, pale pink, light pink, pink, red-pink. in the center are 6 pink lines radiating outwards like whiskers, with a rounded triangle in the middle like a mouse nose. above and on either side of the triangle are two larger rounded shapes pointing up and out. end ID.

Second Image: ID: a flag with 9 horizontal stripes. the middle one is very thick, and the rest get progressively thinner moving in towards the middle. from top to bottom the colors are brown, muted light brown, light brown, pale pink, gray, pale pink, light pink, pink, red-pink. end ID

[eldritchforezt]

— ✨🪐

spacecadetsongic

~ a -songic gender related to the song “hey, space cadet (beast monster thing in space)” by car seat headrest

— ✨🪐

Image one: A flag with eleven horizontal stripes. The first four are a gradient from dull brown to rust red. The fifth stripe is blue, the middle stripe is dark grey, and then the flag proceeds in reverse, blue to red to brown

Image two: A flag with eleven horizontal stripes. The first four are a gradient from dull brown to rust red. The fifth stripe is blue, the middle stripe is dark grey, and then the flag proceeds in reverse, blue to red to brown. In the middle there is a white line drawing of a humanoid sitting with legs flat on the ground, looking slightly upwards. they are wearing a simple space suit and their only facial features are simple eyes

[eldritchforezt]

IDs are in alt text

• daemidavet

a gender tied to being a corpse possessed by a demon

• requested by @epikulupu

[eldritchforezt]

craniegien

• a gender related to skulls and the color beige

image ID is in alt text

• requested by anon