#{ laughing at Legato being like 'who the fuck is nai' }

[needle-noggins]

okay @madnessmadness and anyone else within the venn diagram of ttrpgs and trigun: extremely long overdue explanation of how I accidentally made Knives in a Wizard Tower the big bad of my Dnd campaign:

So. I'll preface this by saying that I stumbled into Trigun after cooking up this particular guy. I saw the clip of baby Nai laughing as the ships fell and went Oh that's what I pictured for my campaign's backstory so I watched Tristamp and everything lined up a little too perfectly.

For starters, when my players and I sat down to start this campaign, we spent the first 6ish hours just building the world. They had a ton of input and came up with a few crazy things, like a giant desert filled with ancient tech that no one understands and some wild west towns; and the ancient tech was from a hypermagical society that mysteriously collapsed and there was genocide involved too? They basically set me up for this.

My big bad is a reflavored Karsus, the wizard in canon Forgotten Realms dnd lore who tried to become a god and fucked up magic for everyone else (Karsus's Folly -> the Spellplague). This also takes a lot of inspiration from Critical Role's Calamity, what with huge cities in the sky falling and the collapse of a hypermagical society thanks to drama between gods and mortals. I sprinkled in Prince of Egypt flavor and gave him a brother who tried to fix all the stuff Karsus fucked up. Said brother, Tarovir, was an accomplice to Karsus but tried to stop him when he realized how unethical Karsus' attempt at apotheosis was. This failed and Karsus essentially died horrifically, leaving Tarovir to wander a destroyed world and try to bury the essentially radioactive, corrupting magic unravelling around them. People distrusted him, knowing he had been on the Unethical Wizard Council and was Karsus's brother, but he keeps trying, fueled by guilt and shame. Some shit happens and Tarovir dies trying to send refugees through a portal to the feywild. Whoops.

Tarovir is reincarnated centuries later as our party's horizons walker ranger, who has no memory of his past life but is getting bits and pieces via weird portals back in time as the party travels around the map. This ranger is so fucking vash-coded. That was also unintentional. The player hasn't even seen Trigun, but she's playing a lonely half-orc who pushes people away and wields a gun and wanders the desert and has an inexplicable connection to the ancient tech that's being rediscovered from that era of High Magic... hm. Wait a sec.

Anyway. Karsus is back (party doesn't know yet) as what remained of him was discovered by a vampire (big bad #2, let's think of him as Legato but a male manipulator instead of a trafficking victim) who saw what was left of Karsus and went, yes, i'm imprinting on this guy like a baby bird, he was so powerful, let me resurrect him. This guy, Vaemyx... I'm just trying to say that he sucks (and not just bc he's a vampire). He has absolutely no empathy whatsoever and he's a little too obsessed with Karsus's delusions of power and his ex-girlfriend (the warlock's Feywild patron). Anyway. I think i got away from the point, which is that Karsus is now sitting around plotting how he's going to achieve apotheosis but better this time, and he's puppeting Vaemyx to do his bidding about it. He's going to get it right, and he's going to find the reincarnation of his brother, and he's going to use his brother's innate connection to magic again and harness the very essence of all magic that flows through the world and control it, damn it.

Oh shit, I also just remembered that our paladin was a former paladin of the cult that Vaemyx also controls and she's in the weird process of breaking her oath but also kinda towing the line to avoid repercussions (this is about to fail spectacularly). That player has seen Trigun and already connected this girl to Wolfwood and his inner conflict. Yay.

I'll also say that Karsus' method of trying to achieve godhood kills a lot of people and fucks with necromancy (of course) (very FMAB style) and he has no qualms about this because, actually, non-magical and non-high wizards are scum to him. So he really doesn't give a fuck about collapsing society as he knew it except for the fact that his attempt didn't work the first time. And Vaemyx shares a similar hatred for people and wants to prove himself/also has some fucked up rejection dysmorphia and decides to make it everyone else's problem.

Anyway. I made high fantasy trigun on accident. Sorta.

[screamingshark]

Guys, I’ve been hit with a need to make a merman!AU for vashwood...which is fitting since it’s mermay.

Get this: Vash and Nai are both in a facility where they research plants, only in this setting the plants are aquatic (Mermaids) and they’re housed in aquariums for study though most live freely in the oceans. Plants still produce energy and amino acids in boundless ways making the research into how to harvest that energy a top priority with Vash and Nai being the only male presenting plants ever discovered as well as the only ones who can speak freely with humans

(Theres some legal mumbo-jumbo about doing it humanely because I don’t want this to be an angst-fest and Vash and Nai agree to live in the facility to ensure their sisters are properly taken care of. A peace-treaty sort of scenario)

Vash has Meryl, Milly and Roberto taking care of him while Nai has Legato, Conrad and Elendira

They hire Wolfwood and Livio for security and Vash is instantly smitten with the hot new security guard and wants to court the fuck out of him

Only one problem: He only knows how to court plants, not humans, so all of his attempts just make Wolfwood laugh or they go completely over his head

cue Vash trying even harder

I still need to like, plan it out, but this may be my next project to work on for May in between Shattered Glass, I may even draw for it

We shall see!!!!!

[cerebralbleu]

Confrontation still managed to light some sort of tension in his gut; every move, every decision, all of it had to be extremely calculated. Any suggestion of weakness was abhorrent to himself, and to the power that he deserved. There, holding Vash in his web, sharp expression narrowing even further as the Humanoid Typhoon attempts to bridge some sort of communication-- Legato gives a firm tug to his wrist, only to watch the phone fall to the ground.

He glances downwards, and slowly tilts his head to the side at the caller ID: a name he didn't know. Legato bends down, keeping his eyes on Vash, and picks the phone up.

" At this point in time, I don't think you can give me any answers that I want, " he retorts, holding the phone between two fingertips. " Especially not with an audience. "

With that, Legato begins to drag Vash with his threads, eyeing the end of the quiet alleyway, following the sound of the traffic coming from the freeway on the lower tier of the ward. He looks back to Vash as they get closer and closer to the side of the railing, wicked intent in his expression.

" You can still do something for me though. You can struggle for me. "

Vash the Stampede has been in difficult situations at the mercy of humans, before. His body kept the score, each scar holding memory as important as the pain itself.

There's no way to physically influence the situation, of course, so that's been out the window from the get-go. But Bluesummers still hasn't made any obvious attempts at incurring any harm to either of them, yet; and crucially, he's talking. As long as the pacifist could keep a dialogue going, the odds just might slip well.

He's jolted out of his thoughts when his body moves without his say.

With his puppeteered hand no longer positioned to grasp it properly, his phone clatters to the ground. Its listener—according to the screen facing upward, someone named Naï—continues to hold onto the line quietly.

"Just wanted t'prove I'm interested in helpin' you get the answers you want," Vash says, putting effort in speaking clearly. "But you're right: you don't have t'believe me. You're the one in control here, Bluesummers. So, what d'you wanna know?"