#🜎 | know that the alchemist has power over the stars and not the stars over him. | alchemy

[deathleadsarc]

an ascension to further transmute the Soul to the One.

[deathleads]

ic. tags

― a witch need not fear the darkness | for she is darker | muse ― a history of creations most pleasantly foul | history ― unholy blood mother | death leading to oblivion | khrosteia ― know that the alchemist has power over the stars and not the stars over him. | alchemy ― the loves of the lilith | chimera ― the sanctuary of the witch | home of the belladonna ― sing sweet the danse macabre | music ― passions reigned high on display | aesthetics

[theatricalmage]

The brainrot took over and so here's a vat7k hadestown au!! Don't know if I'll develop it fully but I liked designing it at least!

More info under the cut:

- Varian, the Coronan royal alchemist, tasks himself with deciphering an incantation capable of bringing the world back into tune. Times are tough, and the royal family + Quirin are doing their best to cope with the meagre crop yields and desolate weather (Corona not really being the sunshine kingdom - hasn't been for a while). He wants to help and do good and I think he'd be a good Orpheus.

- Hugo, having moved about from place to place, still has his interest in alchemy and does what he can to get by. He plans on temporarily staying in Corona before looting, but he encounters a certain like-minded scientist at the Snuggly Duckling. I think him being selfish works especially well in Eurydice's role, having a more pessimistic view of the world. It also works with how he gets drawn to Donella's offer of working for her later on, leading him to his death.

- Ulla as Persephone! I was initially stuck on whether to have Rapunzel (and either Eugene/Cass) as her (and Hades) but I was drawn to the connection that Hugo has to Donella and the Donella/Ulla relationship in vat7k just works too well. In this case, Ulla won't be Varian's mother. She's still gonna be somewhat of an inspiration to him though, being the previous Coronan royal alchemist and for her intelligence. For half the year, she'll return to Corona with food, drinks, and alchemical compounds/inventions, bringing Spring and Summer to the world, if only for a bit.

- Donella would be such an interesting Hades, losing sight of her love for Ulla, heart filled with fear and hurt, leading to bitterness and cruelty. Ingvarr being Hadestown and how by being the esteemed Ingvarrian engineer, she'd be in charge of major technological advances across the kingdoms and so would wield a significant amount of power (like how Hades is literally the ruler of the underworld). Ingvarr essentially being a near death sentence for its workers while also displaying its technological prowess, all still shrouded in mystery and corruption - a place so otherworldly compared to the rest of the kingdoms.

I didn't want to modify the outfits too much nor the personalities,, if anything I imagine the general plot beats being the same as the original musical/story but with slight differences that'd you get inherently as a result of these characters. I wouldn't want it to be the case where it's just the show but the names are changed. I'd want this to still make reasonable sense in this AU, with the actions being understandable for this particular cast of characters.

For Hermes, I ended up picking Xavier, as he's most knowledgeable of old legends and stories, which would work in reference to the Hades and Persephone myth (and so Donella and Ulla)! He'd act as a mentor figure for V, someone who can guide him in uncovering the forgotten incantation. Quirin would still be the good supportive dad he is (even if he doesn't fully understand his son's project).

Last but not least, the fates!! often lurking in the background, I'm still a bit stuck on who it could be? I'm tempted to have it be Raps, Cass, and Nuru as they've had celestial connections at some point (and ya know how stars can represent fate), but I also love the freckled siblings dynamic so much. Also Team Radical... Maybe Raps and Cass can be their normal selves but their Sundrop/Moonstone counterparts are the manifested physical forms of the fates? They wouldn't be visible to the characters though, just voices in the wind.

Anyways yeah!! Those are my thoughts. Do let me know if you've got any cool ideas or questions. I'm really combining my interests at full force and there's nothing anyone, not even myself, can do about it quite frankly. 😮‍💨

[starcurtain]

hihi sorry to rant in your inbox but i hate when people use aven's line about jade that says her kindness comes with a price to make their relationship seem worse than it is. while the ipc is. well. the ipc i dont thinl it would benefit her to harm him like theyre both stonehearts AND hes her subordinate. personally i think the price he mentions is like, testing him like she did in her social media post with the ores. it certainly would be less incongruous with her want to guide those that come after her..

I think that people really struggle with Jade. They took one look at her dommy mommy appearance and her status as one of the top three in the Stonehearts and they just want her to be unrepentant evil soooo bad.

Don't get me wrong, she is definitely a master manipulator and she definitely has a specific personal goal she's working toward using the IPC as her vehicle to do so. Her overall idea of creating an endless vortex of desires that can't ever be sufficiently met is very Voracity-coded and not really the kind of idea a very well-adjusted person would be espousing. We have no idea how loyal she really is to the IPC's goal of aiding Preservation against Destruction in the War of the Aeons.

But she's also, over and over again, been painted as having "True Neutral" moral alignment in-game. She's literally xxxHolic's Ichihara Yuuko with a bad case of capitalism: She always demands a price, but never asks more than is fair.

It's literally Fullmetal Alchemist's first law of alchemy: Human kind can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.

All of Jade's exchanges are equivalent and none of her customers enter into a bargain without understanding the price they are paying. In fact, she won't even let Firefly try to make a deal at all without doing her research in advance to truly realize the extent of what she is asking for. Jade is inherently an honest businesswoman.

The issue is that greed is all-encompassing. The ability to have any wish granted is a temptation that virtually no one can escape in the end.

Therefore, I think the best way to understand Jade is as the Honkai Star Rail equivalent of Mephistopheles. In the legend of Faust, the eponymous Dr. Faust longs for more in his life--he is endlessly pursuing knowledge and power, but has hit the limits of his own ability. He meets the devil, Mephistopheles, who agrees to enter into a pact with him: Mephistopheles will fulfill all Faust's wishes while Faust is still alive, but then Faust's soul will belong to the devil when he dies. The deal is fairly presented. The terms are not unclear: If Faust agrees to the bargain, he knows what will happen to his soul in the end.

Mephistopheles doesn't trick him or force his hand when it comes to this bargain. Faust could say no. He could resist. But he doesn't. He agrees, because human greed and pride are simply that overpowering. He thinks he's smarter than the devil; unlike the thousands of others who have come before and suffered damnation for their deals with the devil, Faust thinks he is different, better than others, more deserving... The actual temptation doesn't come from the devil. It comes from human hubris.

Like Mephistopheles, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Jade merely presents the choice--it's humanity's endless desire that leads to the downfall.

It's a snake and an apple and a contract for a reasonnnnnn, Jade haters.

So, I don't think that Jade represents any danger to anyone who can resist temptation. Firefly walks away from Jade's exchange entirely unscathed. Trailblazer isn't pressed into surrender.

But Aventurine?

To be honest, I think his relationship with her is a bit more complicated.

Aventurine likes Jade. She did him a solid when he was at his lowest in life. His character stories make it clear that he views her as, essentially, someone "safe" in the IPC, unlike other Stonehearts.

But... I do agree that Aventurine approaches Jade more cautiously than he approaches others. And I think that probably stems from a couple of different factors:

Jade has positioned herself as Aventurine's "pseudo-mother," and Aventurine responds to her as if she, indeed, a mother figure he has to obey. He is more respectful of her than anyone else we see him interact with in the game--Diamond and Opal get called by name, but Jade is always "Ma'am." Which is very close to "Mama;" this is not an accidentttttt. When Jade disrupts his banter with Topaz, Aventurine immediately does as he is told, hands over his room card, and simmers down. Even in joking social media posts, when Jade asks Aventurine to do something (judge the uncut jade stones she sent him), he does it even when she rejects his high demand for profit sharing.

But:

2. Jade actually failed Aventurine's moral litmus test. From the beginning of his adulthood flashbacks, we see Aventurine explicitly troubled by the fact that his human dignity was denied and that a market value was assigned to his existence. And not even a high value. He was sold for pennies. It's the ultimate mortification, and we can tell it is still bothering him to this day because even "future" Aventurine brings up the sting of that bone-deep insult during Aventurine's long walk through Penacony. In response to the indignity, Kakavasha gave his original master a moral test: Kakavasha says that he'll go willingly into the hellscape of the death maze if his master will give him 30 copper Tanba, just half his market value. His master refuses, demonstrating that he does not view Kakavasha as a human being, worthy of any respect. By refusing this tiny, insignificant request, the master exhibits his utter moral depravity, from which there is no return. In response, Kakavasha ultimately kills him and takes the 30 copper coins he asked for (nothing more, nothing less) from his corpse.

When Kakavasha meets Jade, he then makes the exact same demand: He wants 30 copper coins and exactly 30 copper coins. At this point, it is very clear that--to Kakavasha--the coins are emblematic of his value as a human being. (I promise you, somewhere in his apartment right now are the 30 bloody coins he took from his master's cold corpse.) His freedom, his dignity, his worth... All of these things hinge on being able to acquire the original 60 Tanba coins. Thus, those who refuse his requests for the coins also symbolically refuse his request for basic respect, his request to be seen as an equal human being who deserves to not be reduced to mere pennies on a bill of sale.

And Jade refuses this request. She treats the demand for Tanbas like a paltry sum and instead ignores the specificity of the request to give a general "We'll give you riches beyond your imagine, more than you could have ever thought to want." But that isn't what he asked for. She stepped over the request he actually made in order to supplant her ideas, on her terms. Kakavasha made the tiniest, most easily completed request in the world, and in failing to actually just respect what he personally wished for, Jade demonstrated that she ultimately will not really respect him.

Just like his slave master, Aventurine represents a value on a page to Jade. For this reason, even if she extends pseudo-maternal behavior to Aventurine and he laps it up like a starved kitten drinks up milk, we see that he remains more cautious toward her than he does to any other female character in the game. Aventurine comes across as more comfortable talking to Acheron than he sounds when he talks to Jade... Because in failing the most basic and seemingly meaningless test, Jade revealed exactly to what extent Kakavasha can--and cannot--trust her.

Does Jade actually mean Aventurine any harm? No, I really don't think so, and you're right, those who claim that she does are really over-exaggerating Jade's negative traits, mostly because they've almost universally got a strong anti-IPC agenda and hate everything from the IPC except Aventurine on principle. Everything in Jade's character stories points to her honestly wanting to develop the hidden talents of others, to "polish" rough cut stones into true gems, and to see her fledglings thrive. Kakavasha is someone she picked up out of the dirt and dusted off. If he excels, that means her faith was well-placed, her judgment was correct, and her team as a whole excels.

It's exactly like a business owner who takes great pride in producing a fantastic product. Only when the product succeeds can the business itself succeed.

But business owners see their products as objects, not equals.

Jade is a fairly neutral figure and I think she wants to see Aventurine grow and achieve greatness. But at the end of the day, their relationship is very predicated on the notion of investment (Jade puts up the original capital to make Aventurine great, and he repays her faith in him by generating wealth for the IPC). It is clear she just can't be trusted to value Aventurine as a person above a means of profit--and Aventurine knows (and accepts) that too.

[shanastoryteller]

Hayppy Valentines day you ingenious lady! Three faced goddess continuation? Maybe specifically about Tonys star-heart? ✨💖

a continuations of 1 2 3

Rhodey is going to kill him.

His grandfather outlawed necromancy in the kingdom, but Pepper's going to find someone break that law specifically to bring him back just so she can kill him again.

Tony's dirty and bruised and he probably has a concussion from his head wound and he really doesn't even want to think about the stitches in his side from the shrapnel that was pulled out of him.

He grew up in the palace. There were always magical healers around for anything serious. He's never had stitches before. He's known there was a certain amount of risk posing as Edward and working at the edges of the war, but he'd never expected them to go to this much effort to kidnap a damn alchemist!

"They're going to kill you."

He glances at his fellow captive and quirks his lips up. Yinsen doesn't have any talent with magic, but he does have exceptionally steady hands, which is almost as good. "Probably."

Yinsen sits on the opposite side of the cell from him, his hands hanging between his knees and still stained with Tony's blood. "The kingdom will fall."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far," he says with forced casualness, even though it's absolutely true. He has no heir. "I'm good at my job, but I'm hardly the only alchemist and armorer in the country."

Yinsen tilts his head to look at him over the edge of his glasses. "We've met before, you know. It was at one of those hideously boring balls at the palace - you were deep enough in your cups that I'm not surprised you don't remember."

Well, fuck.

"I know that the king won't come for you," he continues, voice heavy. "Could you do what they're asking?"

"I'm not a god," he says tiredly. "To harness the power of a star - I don't know how they even got it down here, or got it that that size! You'd need," he pauses, then admits, "you'd need to ingest a fuck ton of mercury, and gold, and have a binding spell with some serious power behind it, and if that doesn't kill you, maybe it would work. But you'd need a lot luck to keep it from just consuming you anyway. Which is apparently what's happened to everyone else."

"A lot of luck," Yinsen repeats, "or the Goddess's blessing."

Tony snorts.

The Starks being Goddess blessed is just propaganda, something one of his ancestors thought up to keep their family in power.

If it were true, he wouldn't be the last Stark left.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Just read through the MKEgged tag, and where's Redson? I want to see the roller-coaster he goes on of "A baby!? Wait, who's the father If it can't be me? Oh, okay, no other parent. I'll step in and help, what do you mean the pregnancy has a high mortality rate!?"

Just this guy trying to figure out what he's feeling and how to handle things with this baby, because yay baby, but also No you're not allowed to die!"

Prev.

haha yes! XD

Red Son's bull-brain tells him "Whomst is the father!?" immediately, even if him and MK aren't in a fully romantic relationship yet. His infatuation tells him that only *he* can father Noodle Boy's progeny!

The fact that the pregnancy was magical in nature calms him down only a little bit... until he learns that MK's true species have a high maternal mortality rate due to this unique form of reproduction.

Red Son, busting on into MK's prenatal appointment: "Noodle Boy!! Who said that you're allowed to die!? I strictly forbid it!"

Red Son goes out of his way to investigate what knowledge is available on Stone Monkeys so he can devise a way to help MK survive and recover. He knocks on the door of every soul he can think of who would hold some idea of what to do; Lao Tzu, The Gold Star of Venus, and even Guanyin herself.

The alchemist and planet god both only had second-hand accounts of how Stone Monkeys lived, but provided copies of their literature all the same.

Approaching her old master was a little awkward, but the Bodhisattva Guanyin is a patron god of safe childbirth, and Red Son wanted to have their input on the matter. To her surprise, Guanyin was equally concerned for MK's well-being - and had already offered to attend the birth to ensure that they could monitor MK and the baby. Red Son learns from Guanyin that Sun Wukong himself had such questions many centuries ago, but curiously dropped the matter sometime after the Journey. Former master and disciple share a warm goodbye, finally reunited by their worry over a noodle monkey-boy.

Xiwangmu was still mourning the loss of her husband, so Red Son thought it improper to bother her on such a matter - but clearly Lao Tzu or Gold Star blabbed. The very next time Red Son stepped into the Celestial Realm, he found himself swept into a suffocating hug by the Queen Mother of the West.

Xiwangmu, weeping: "Oh, my little fire opal. You are so proactive! Scouring the Heavens and Earth to find a way to save your mate and child!" Red Son, confused: "EHH!?!?"

Turns out, the Queen Mother had a gut-reaction to hearing that her grandson's beloved ("WHO TOLD!?" shrieks Red) Monkey Prince was pregnant. And that reaction was; "GREAT-GRANDCUBS?!?!"

Red Son barely has a second to object. The Queen Mother weeps how the Jade Emperor is to miss the birth of his first great-grandchild, but that the pregnancy is a light in a very dark time for her and the court. She orders her court secretary to give Red Son unlimited access to the celestial library so that he can continue his research.

After the whirlwind of discovering that apparently even Heaven itself blames him for MK's Egg, Red Son turns to only two known members of the Noodle Boy's species.

Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque.

The Macaque was the most difficult to get information out of since he kept slipping into the shadows whenever Red brought up questions on his species. Luckily one attempt/battle (it got out of hand) lead to the appearance of Sun Wukong on the scene.

Wukong: "What's the issue, firecracker?" Red Son, holding thick notepad: "I need to understand your species so I can devise a way to prevent MK's stone egg from killing him!" Macaque, turns off powers: "Oh! Why didn't you say so? I thought you were trying to dissect me or something!" XD Wukong: "We know almost everything there is on our species, so fire away kiddo." Red Son: "Yes! Finally! Question 1; in the case of self-spawned eggs, is the child a genetic clone of the parent?" Wukong & Macaque: (*both shake their heads*) Wukong: "Oh no. Its not a clone. You see, the Egg absorbs Dao from it's surroundings - not just it's parent. So it steals bits of DNA from whatever troop happens to be around. You know like friends, family-" Macaque, slyly: "Former mates." Wukong: "Former ma- hey!" (*glares*) Red Son, thinking: "So an additional source of life energy could supplement MK's own depleted supply?" Wukong: "Yeah... but the healthiest option is usually a dear friend or life partner. Someone who can cling to them and supply the most juice. Also helpful if the pregnant person wants their kid to look like their fave person." Macaque, knowing smile: "Or... whoever they have a big crush on." Red Son: (*hair-flames briefly flicker pink in blush as he imagines a red-furred baby monkey with calf hooves*) Red Son: "Wait. How come you both know so much about this topic? I know Sun Wukong has access to the celestial library, but Macaque has been barred from the palace grounds since the rebellion! Why do you share the same knowledge?" Wukong & Macaque: (*both start spluttering and choking on air*) Wukong, trying to find words: "You see-! We uh...!" Macaque: (*fades into background at 50% opacity, hiding face in scarf*) Red Son, realising: "Ah. I see. Thank you for your input, gentlemen." Wukong: "Where are you going now?" Red Son: "I'm going over to Noodle Boy's place. I have been invited for company." (*Red Son leaves. Macaque phases back in*) Wukong: "Well. The Egg might not be her doing. But she certainly wishes it was." Macaque: "I'm just glad they didn't try getting more out of us." Wukong, cheeky grin: "Like what? How we both know so much about Stone Eggs because once upon a time we wanted some of our own?" Macaque: (*hides face in scarf again*) "Shut up, peaches."

As for the Demon Bull parents? Well..

PIF, calmly writing letters: "Even if the child was not made the traditional fashion, we will both adore them all the same. I expect any grandchildren of mine to be as beloved as a prince or princess ought to be." DBK, arms full of baby shower gifts: "Make sure to note the exact hour, day, month, and year of the child's birth! It's very important for divining the calf's fortune!" Red Son, flames twitching: "Are you two-!? ARE YOU PLANNING A ROYAL BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT!?" PIF: "Do not shout dear. My mother visited shortly after you left. Seems that a certain child of mine has been asking around about celestial monkeys and safe magical birthing practices, and it's stirred the court's rumour mill. Me and the simians are planning a formal announcement once the child arrives." Red Son, blushing pink: "I would have gone through the same effort if I only considered them a mere ally." PIF: "I know you would. But a mere ally, does not donate so much life energy to the parent in hopes that the child becomes theirs." Red Son: (*blush grows even bigger, flames spit embers onto the surrounding furniture*) PIF, brushes embers off of desk: "Hopefully, Xiaotian doesn't experience the terrible heartburn I did whilst carrying you." Red Son: "Mother!" DBK, wincing with sympathy: "Only exacerbated by your cravings, my love! You had a great desire for charcoal and spiced meat on the bone."

MK texts Red Son a few hours later asking if he'd like to go out for some barbecue; "Just started craving it for some reason. Oh! And we should make sure to get cheese tea too! Acid reflux acting up rn and I need something to quench the flame."

Red is so down bad.

It's not all sunshine and baby monkeys though - there is genuine worry across the families about MK's condition. None more so than the men who raised him.

(*Red is leaving MK's place after a hang out session, when a certain pig-man in the kitchen speaks up*) Pigsy: "Hey... thanks for being there for him." Red Son, surprised: "Huh? Oh! No problem..." Pigsy: "I know you like him. Like, like-like him. I don't exactly approve but.... you've been going out of your way to find ways to help me. Make sure he..." Pigsy: (*trails off, eyes puffy*) Red Son: (*quietly approaches, awkwardly places a hand on Pigsy's shoulder*) Pigsy: "Promise me something." Red Son: "Ok." Pigsy: "If the worst happens... I want you to still be there. For them. Not just because you like him. But because you really care about him and his kid." Red Son, certain: "I do. I truly care for Xiaotian. And I wish to be there for him through it all. And if the unthinkable were to occur, I would still be there for them." Pigsy, wipes tears with sleeve: "Thanks, punk." Red Son: "Again, no problem." Pigsy, changing tone: "Now! What's with this letter I got saying MK and his baby are gonna be presented to the Heavenly and Infernal Court?" Red Son, remembers previous encounters: "oops."

Once he fully explains the misunderstanding in heaven, Pigsy whacks Red with a spatula.

[rolaplayor101]

After searching about, I've found others who've had and thought about the same issue that I did, which is that the Kingdom Hearts fandom has a HUGE amatonormativity problem. Which, yeah, most fandoms do, but the difference here is that the KH fandom is pretty small, which makes it way more prevalent.

There's a good amount of people who think Sora is aroace, grayromantic, or alloromantic asexual, but they keep it to themselves for risk of being harassed by shippers. They have to protect themselves with "aphobes DNI" on the few posts they do post about it. They have to continuously reblog their own art or go to a confession blog to lament about it.

And it's sad! This is saddening! And the thing is, I do ship SoRiKai. At least the minimum amount, enough to be fully invested in what's going on in canon. Because, canonically? They do care about each other intensely enough to usually go beyond the bounds of typical friendship. Especially Sora. The way he thinks, the things he does, it's all so grandeur in comparison to the things people do in real life for their friends. He flat out says he wants to be with Riku and Kairi forever in one of the first games.

The problem is that people still think being aroace means being apothi and aplatonic, but that's not the case. Sora feels platonic attraction so quickly, frequently, and intensely that it even puts off new characters he meets in the game. He's affectionate, uplifting, and confident(most of the time). But people can't see aroace people as a whole as anything but negative and loveless. Which is just plain not the case for all of us. Aspec people post about the different ways aspec people think all the time! It's mostly the only thing in the aromantic and asexual tags, and I frequent those a lot! So I'd know!

This is an issue thats brought up over and over and over again, and it's that being aroace-- feeling exactly zero romantic or sexual attraction-- does not mean you also feel zero platonic or queerplatonic (or sensual or alterous or any tertiary) attraction. It does not mean you can't feel attraction that is just as intense as allos feel romantic or sexual attraction. Sora has always attributed his strength and confidence to his friends, to his heart that belongs to all of his friends. He feels platonic attraction so intensely that it literally powers him up. It's the main theme of the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Saying that Sora feels queerplatonic attraction towards Riku and Kairi does not mean he'd feel any less than if he were romantically and/or sexually attracted to them.

Thinking that queerplatonic and/or platonic attraction is less than romantic and/or sexual attraction is incorrect, aphobic, amatonormative, and exactly contrary to what Kingdom Hearts the franchise is partially trying to do.

Kingdom Hearts normalizes healthy, platonic, life-long relationships, which wasn't well represented in the early 2000s. Most media represented friendships as on the back burner, especially when pit against romantic relationships. Affectionate arospecs watched shows and movies when they were younger seeing the main character dismiss their friends, grow out of them, or outright hate them, and then have their problems be solved by a romantic partner. Toxic or unhealthy friendships (and also sibling relationships) were the norm, so having Kingdom Hearts, and a few other media I can't think of right now, be made where there's no romance outside of background characters and established ones fron Disney Movies, and where friendship is treated as equal and as the most important, was revolutionary.

Tons of Shounen anime do this, too. Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Hero Academia, most sports anime. Then there's other stuff like most magical girl anime, Soul Eater, Little Witch Academia, Promised Neverland, Lucky Star, Baccano, most Miyazaki movies. A lot of popular anime are popular because people love the friendships between characters. And I bet most people in Kingdom Hearts love it specifically because of the friendships too. They like that they're friends. Because their friendships are wholesome, and healthy, and good. They make us feel good. KH isn't "Queerbaiting"(which is only ever brought up for mlm ships and never for aspecs or wlw) for having Riku and Sora care about each other and get along. Just because pop culture has forced f/m relationships start specifically because a girl and a boy get along(if even that happens), doesn't mean that all characters in all media that get along are romantically into each other. Both of those are bad and thinking that its not is a double standard. Platonic chemistry and romantic chemistry are not the same (even if pop culture media continue to try and make it seem like they are). But so many posts trying to prove Sora is actually canonically secretly in romantic love with Riku and Kairi only have evidence of him just being his regular old self, doing things he canonically sees as platonic-- things that are platonic.

It's not an issue of people headcanoning Sora with romantic/sexual attraction (or otherwise) for the other characters, it's about the harassing of other people that it's canon and the blatant aphobia and amatonormativity. All that's canon right now is that Sora cares about his friends, which includes Riku and Kairi, and the fact that I got so much negativity back for saying he's aroace and feels queerplatonic attraction for them only proves that some people in this fandom think aroace people can't care about anyone strictly because they don't feel romantic or sexual attraction. The aphobia in the fandom needs to be addressed, and the aspec content should be allowed to be post freely without push back.

TLDR; Once the main Kingdom Hearts fandom stops seeing every little interaction between certain characters as canonically romantic, it'll finally be a more open and healthy community that people won't be afraid to engage in.

I want this to be helpful to read and for someone to learn something. And if aphobia shows up again, maybe take that person to the side and say that's not cool? Defend us aspecs, please? Cause all that..really makes me feel bad about and put off Kingdom Hearts completely. (And again! I ship SoRiKai! But people that don't ship it shouldn't have to go through this either!)

[wordsandrobots]

This week I appear to be thinking about my motivation for writing.

Specifically, I should say, for writing fanfic, although there is crossover with my forays into original works. And I started by thinking about the various times I've lost motivation for various projects, because the negative is occasionally a useful way of gauging the positive.

My Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 series Life After Equivalence represents the longest-running stretch of fanfic writing I've engaged in. I started it during my second year at university, right after watching the anime for the first time. A continuation of that continuity post-Conqueror of Shambala, it started out with what in retrospect was a fairly clunky set of plot-devices, but I'm rather proud of where it went. While recognising what an excellent piece of story-telling the manga is, I've always found more to engage me in the anime's adaptation. I think Dante is a fascinatingly shallow villain and what it does with the homunculi is deliciously horrific (in the genre sense). I greatly enjoyed think about where everyone could go next, particularly the more world-weary anime!Ed, and inventing new supporting cast for them as well as bringing more manga characters into the mix (sometimes in quite twisted ways). So much so that I was writing new fics for it as recently as 2021.

The problem is, working on an idea for over a decade and a half means that you're not the same person you were when you started. I have learnt and grown a lot in that time, as a writer and in general. I gradually became increasingly at odds with the original concept for where that story was heading and as much as I tried to change direction and salvage the plot, I don't think I can. Not comfortably. The sense that what I'd started was riddled with conceptual mistakes has gotten stronger and stronger, making it very hard to pick up again. I think as an author, you have to have confidence in your ideas, to properly sell them, and with this, I've lost that.

With my most fully-formed Transformers epic, This Is How It All Began, the explanation has more to do with a gradual failure of interest in the source material. It's not that I was ever beholden to canon with that story; it was an attempt to retell things using the elements I really liked, my own personal 'G1' redux. But as the Transformers franchise has ossified around that first generation of characters to the exclusion of any real innovation, there doesn't seem much point continuing. I can't explore someone else's worlds without them engaging me and Transformers increasingly didn't.

Nor can I write from spite, when the source 'lets me down'. Untitled Alternative Episode Nine represents me grappling with where I wanted the Star Wars sequels to go. I love The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, as a story in which characters who think they know what their role is gradually learn better as the whole thing goes careering off the rails. There was tremendous potential in their tale, and sadly I knew at the time it would likely be squandered. But I didn't realise when I started working on this fic that The Rise of Skywalker would be such a sprawling shambles, about-facing on the promise of finally pushing Star Wars beyond rigidly defined stock arcs so hard, it felt like poor comedy. Increasingly, my story became framed by repudiating that re-enclosure, by the desire to get it right.

And while I still think my version -- where the First Order rips itself to bits in a power struggle between Kylo Ren and General Hux, where the Knights of Ren are actual characters, the remaining lost Jedi students, and Rey, Finn, Po and Rose all get the chance to work towards a future free of the endless, circular struggle set by the 'main characters' of the galaxy -- is a better story than the one we got, it doesn't change anything. I'm not really fixing anything and by defining my work as *not that*, I limit my own joy in it. I'm not in conversation with something I love but rather shouting into the void, to no great end. Once again, I couldn't see the point in continuing. Especially with the ongoing Star Wars media increasingly feeling like an exercise in box-ticking, as bad as anything the old Expanded Universe ever produced for sheer pointlessness. At least the older spin-offs occasionally got super weird. Live-action cartoons do not really offer space for that, sadly.

Then there are the times my motivation has been directly killed. Chris Chibnall's tenure as show-runner on Doctor Who, abruptly ending my longest-lasting fandom for me, as another promise of widening potential was squandered on dull, miserable, derivative ideas. That one Captain Harlock fic I was having a lot of fun with until someone came along to be extremely pedantic in the comments and struck a nerve so hard, I flat-out lost all the enthusiasm I had for the idea. Bad experiences that meant continuing or going back was too hard to contemplate. This is how it goes sometimes.

So. Invert all that:

Enthusiasm for an idea -- and more importantly, confidence in it.

Positive engagement, the feeling that I have something to say and that it is worth saying about this thing.

The sense I am not fighting the source material but playing with it, spinning it out in interesting ways, making merry with the rules of the canon.

And I can't count out the benefit of having good interactions over what I write; for all I am a fundamentally compulsive writer, I delight in knowing my work can touch others, in being told that it is good and a worthwhile expenditure of my effort.

All stuff I already knew, I think. But it's sometimes worth reflecting on what pushes you to create art and this -- this all makes sense.

Now if I could just leverage these things at will, I'd be unstoppable.

[astralexpressarchives]

Bailu the Bloomborn Scion

Bailu is, of course, a young Vidyadhara currently titled the High Elder of the Xianzhou Luofu. There are lots of theories and misinformation about her identity floating around as of patch 1.3 so I want to make this post to share my thoughts on the topic.

Most people who only do the main story quests and companion quests in Honkai: Star Rail will know Bailu as the Healer Lady who is constantly trying to escape the maids assigned to watch over her. You'll know that there are some crazy politics regarding assassination attempts and that some people want Dan Heng to replace her as acting High Elder. You may even believe that Dan Heng's previous identity, Dan Feng, chose Bailu as his successor and that she holds part of Dan Feng's High Elder power, specifically the power to heal.

I'm writing this post to let you all know that this is all a hoax and you're successfully being gaslit by the Alchemy Commission and the Vidyadhara.

To understand the truth behind Bailu, it's imperative to understand the Bloomborn Scion experiments. Almost everything that we know about the Bloomborn Scion comes from the Undestroyed Letter found on the corpse of Dan Shu.

Dan Shu

Keep in mind that 30 years ago, Dan Shu was the chief alchemist of the Alchemy Commission and a loyal believer in Lan the Hunt. Her special friend, Yufei, was sent to fight in the 3rd Abundance War. Yufei did not survive the war, getting caught in radius of Lan the Hunt's lux arrow and dying, along with everyone else in the vicinity. This incident turned Dan Shu towards Yaoshi and set her on the path of Abundance, eventually leading her to becoming the head of the new Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and starting much of the drama regarding the Alchemy Commission and Sanctus Medicus that we see in-game. For those curious, Dan Shu's Diary and the Longevous Disciple set outline much of her backstory.

The Vidyadhara

There are many records in-game of certain Vidyadhara members cooperating with the Alchemy Commission. In fact, the previous chief alchemist was a Vidyadhara lady. The topic at hand is usually smuggling arbor branches out of the Scalegorge Waterscape for some purpose. For example, you can see this recorded here in a Vidyadhara egg:

The glimmer of the crystal-clear Vidyadhara egg catches your eye. You gently touch the Vidyadhara egg that looks like a pearl. Fear squeezes your heart like a giant hand. "Send these branches to the Alchemy Commission?" It is clear to you that the vessel you are holding contains a strictly forbidden object on the Xianzhou. "If we get caught by the Ten-Lords Commission… I…" The vessel in your hand feels heavy. You breathe carefully to avoid dropping the vessel. An authoritative voice comes by your ears. "Our line of succession has been broken because of that sinner. Now, here is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" The elder’s voice is youthful, but it sounds weary and emotionless. "If you can complete this, you’ll become a hero, and I’ll guarantee you a seat in the council of Preceptors. What do you think?" You nod, then shake your head. The elder laughs eerily like a screeching owl.

This poor egg was tricked by a Vidyadhara elder (likely a Preceptor) into smuggling out some arbor branches for the Alchemy Commission's experimentation. They were promised power but... well, considering they are now an egg I don't think their fate was kind.

Note that the elder refers to the Preceptors as a council - this is important later.

Take note also here that the elder still believes that their line of succession has been broken. They have not been able to successfully restore their High Elder.

Honestly, though, this should not be a surprise because a High Elder commands some of Long's power, technically making them an Emanator of Long. Emanators are created when an Aeon recognizes an individual and allows them to draw on the power of their path. Since Long is currently out of commission, successfully creating a new High Elder out of nothing should be theoretically impossible.

The Bloomborn Scion

On Dan Shu's corpse, we find the Undestroyed Letter containing communications between Dan Shu and a Vidyadhara known as Gouchen.

From Gouchen, the important parts of his letter are:

We have no choice but to entrust that young girl to your esteemed commission in pursuit of knowledge. This is our sincerest intent. Though young and not chosen by selection, she possesses remarkable potential. Placing her under your tutelage will facilitate careful observation and documentation of her growth. We hope that with time and guidance, she may become a powerful support for you. Your esteemed commission has inherited and undertaken a great legacy. Regrettably, the present times are perilous, and the scepter of power has fallen aside. Though possessing the talent to change the tide, the opportunity to do so was not present. Now that the obstacles have been removed, that opportunity has arrived, we have faith that you can revive what has been lost and reverse the course of events! With this letter, I send a servant to deliver ten samples for your experimentation.

The young girl mentioned here is clearly Bailu, made clearer in Dan Shu's response letter later.

Notice how he specifically states that Bailu is both 'young and not chosen by selection.' This directly contradicts information in Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae's companion quest where you "find out" that Dan Feng picked Bailu as his successor. Considering Bailu was evidently only created recently and that Dan Feng 'died' almost 800 years ago, the story clearly does not line up.

Gouchen also claims that 'she possesses remarkable potential.' This is another thing that directly conflicts with Bailu's general treatment. Though she is a powerful healer, she is belittled and gaslighted into believing she is lacking power. In fact, regarding Bailu's power, from her Character Story: Part 4 we know that her maid reported:

Furthermore, since the high elder has already demonstrated her powers of calling lightning and commanding the waters, I have instructed one of our finest crafters to make the Dragonhorn Pilory to shackle her tail, to prevent a loss of control over her powers and a repeat of the disaster of the Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae.

If you speak to Bailu standing in the Alchemy Commission and ask her about her shackle, she says this:

"Talking about that always makes my blood boil! The Preceptors call it the Dragonhorn Pilory, which is a noble jewelry piece exclusive to the high elder of the Vidyadhara. They are treating me like a three-year-old! This heavy thing drags my tail down, and I can't even take it off when sleeping. You think jewelry is supposed to be like that?"

Clearly, they have lied to her about the truth of her shackle. She believes it is just a jewelry decoration for High Elders and doesn't realize that it is shackling her demonstrated powers of 'calling lightning and commanding the waters.'

Gouchen also requested the monitoring of her growth, to which the maid responded, also in Bailu Character Story: Part 4:

Still no physical change in the high elder. She has not grown. This is not unusual as slow development is common among Vidyadharas. I am more concerned about her having no dreams than the slow growth of her body.

So slow growth is common in the Vidyadhara. This also goes against the idea that Dan Feng picked her as a successor because, as that was 800 years ago, Bailu would most certainly be causing alarm with her slow growth. The average Vidyadhara lifespan is 700 years, so that would not be 'not unusual' development. The truth is that she is still a child.

Regarding her dreams, we do know that Bailu's first maid told her not to tell anyone about her dreams so Bailu has been keeping them to herself. From The Dragon Returns Home:

Timid Voice: The Preceptors are very fearful of you, Miss Bailu. They asked every maid to record your dreams and daily activities. And I did so, at first. Timid Voice: After a while, I felt that the Preceptors were asking this not out of concern for you, but for some malevolent purpose... so I stopped. Bailu: ...Yuanli, don't worry. I never told anyone about my dreams. Timid Voice: Good, good, then I needn't worry. They'll be assigning me to a different job soon — I hope we have another chance to see each other one day.

It's very clear that no-one knows the truth about Bailu's creation except those directly involved. Other Vidyadhara make claims that we know are not true like this:

Twisted Voice: I have never believed in the High Elder! You are unworthy of the condemnation you spout! Twisted Voice: Especially you, Miss Bailu. You simply do not have the power of the High Elder — the power to summon the forces of nature... Why should I believe you are superior in any way to Master Dan Feng?

Regarding Gouchen's statement about 'the scepter of power falling aside,' I believe he is referring to the fact that the presence of a High Elder by Vidyadhara law takes away power from the preceptors. In the Preceptor Assembly Chronicle Fragment, soon after the sedition, the Preceptors discuss this:

"The Preceptor Council is a stop-gap measure for when the High Elder position is vacant or governance is untenable, but Xuepu's message rings loud and clear. She wants to take advantage of [Missing] being cut off to completely replace the High Elder position with the Preceptor Council."

it appears that the Preceptors were agreeing to function as a council in the absence of a High Elder. Bailu's presence directly threatens that council and, for a council established for a few centuries, returning to the High Elder rulership is a drastic and potentially undesirable change for many of them. This is most likely why they want to assassinate Bailu, especially considering that Dan Heng is both stronger and proven easy to manipulate in the past.

This is likely why Gouchen reported battles at the start of his letter - Bailu's titling of High Elder most likely created a mini civil war of sorts among the Vidyadhara.

And, of course, along with Bailu, Gouchen sends 10 more samples for experimentation.

Dan Shu's response reveals more information but it's also worth noting that, because it is was on her corpse, she most likely did not find an opportunity to send the letter.

I have received the samples that were sent. However, after transplanting and cultivating them, all the samples turned to powder. It is likely that they were constantly constrained by the waters of the ancient sea, causing them to lose their vitality upon separation from their original body. After all, both the samples and the ancient waters are mystical celestial traces and are elusive to comprehension.

Dan Shu received the samples and was trying to cultivate them but it was failing.

As for the girl, she has learned quite well under the supervision of my predecessor, but she lacks sufficient experience and tends to be overly rebellious. The servant you sent must watch her every move. There is no need to worry, as she is not likely to break free from our control in the foreseeable future.

Further confirmation that they are talking about Bailu, as she is the rebellious Vidyadhara girl with a servant watching her every move in the Alchemy Commission.

There is no need to send new samples after receiving this reply. Back then, we unintentionally created the miracle of Bloomborn Scion, but there is a limit to mere luck. Until I make further progress in my research, such a miracle is unlikely to occur again.

And this part confirms that:

Bailu was a miracle created by the Alchemy Commission and Vidyadhara. Her creation is considered 'mere luck' by Dan Shu and she does not believe it will happen again.

There's a lot to Bailu's story and I could keep talking about all of the details but I'll stop this section here. I'm happy to further discuss details with anyone who is interested and I'll likely make additional posts on the topic of Bailu's creation in the future.

[quibbs126]

hello!!! can you do a starfruit x pomegranate fanchild? it's okay if you can't. ty!!!

I just realized last night that I never actually posted Miracle Fruit over here, my bad. She’s probably been done for like a month now, I just forgot that I never posted her

Anyways, so her original name was Star Apple, since they’re round like pomegranates, have a star shape in the middle, sort of like starfruit but also not, and they’re purple while Pomegranate is mostly red and Starfruit has a lot of blues. But I was struggling with how to incorporate the star apples without her looking goofy so I shelved her. Then later I discovered miracle fruits and was like “you know what, I can see Pomegranate and Starfruit naming their kid that”. And also they’re red and round like pomegranates I guess

Putting this down now, star apples does seem like the better choice, but whatever, I chose Miracle Fruit and I like her. Maybe I can make her a star apple sibling down the road

Miracle fruit:

Okay so first off, that thing on her head is supposed to be a headband, based on Starfruit’s apprentice priests, but it looks more like a hat. I added that hair bit on top to clarify more that it’s a headband, but it still looks like a hat

Anyways, so as you can see I took some liberties with Miracle Fruit’s design compared to her parents. Her eyes are more open and circular and she has the cheek blush because she’s supposed to be a kid, and I thought that was one way to portray it. I made her eyes black because of the black seeds of miracle fruit, and also because the blue eyes didn’t really fit Miracle Fruit’s color scheme, while I didn’t want to give her red eyes because she already had so much red on her design (by the final product I had toned down the red considerably, replacing it with the blue). And I was told the black eyes looked the best, so here we are. Maybe I took too many liberties with her design, I don’t know

I wanted to give her a simple dress, since she’s a young…priestess I think, and then I added the patterns so she doesn’t look too plain. I feel like the outfit she’s wearing looks like from something I’ve seen, but I don’t know, I just based the design off of open miracle fruits. I think the dress looked better in the sketch though

Her necklace was another homage to miracle fruits. Originally in the Star Apple design, she had a head chain (I think they’re called?), like Pomegranate and Starfruit, but I decided giving her a necklace would be better

Anyways yeah, that’s Miracle Fruit’s design, not too much to say really

So as for her character, I don’t have much on that end either. I figured she’d be a priestess from the same place as Starfruit, assuming that Pomegranate reformed and went back to Starfruit, I don’t imagine Miracle Fruit would be learning the dark arts or anything, nor would she be around Pomegranate Village much

Though I will say, her concept at the top makes her look more like an alchemist to me. Hmm, maybe I should have done that instead

Well anyways, so she’s learning to be a priestess, and she has some impressive psychic powers, being incredibly gifted. Though there is also a strange oddness to her powers, one that no one’s entirely sure how to explain

I imagine her to be a small, quiet child, just walking around the halls. If she speaks, she probably has a pretty quiet voice

But uh yeah, that’s her. To be honest the things I had of her might have been forgotten over the month or so, so that can explain the somewhat lacking info section. But regardless I hope you like her!

[kingxgarm]

Ok

So, after spreading my info out, I have four different "rewrites" of Wish, all with their own (noncreative) names just so I can tell them apart

I'll be going over one of them in this post, they'll all get separate posts

The first one I've dubbed Yearning

It's more of a retake than a rewrite, as I've changed A LOT, almost only keeping the names of certain characters, I wanted to remove almost ALL the references to Disney movies, treating this more as a standalone movie than a 100th year special

So, CHARACTERS

Asha- Asha moves to Rosas, she does not live there, she is an alchemist, that's why she moves there, her hair and color pallete is the same, but she kinda looks more like Venti from Genshin (unfortunately), (I'll make drawing of my designs eventually, I don't have my sketchbook), she has been traveling since she was young, and after a few days of staying in Rosas, she is summoned by the King, she is meant to represent wishes, not necessarily good itself, but just wishes

Magnifico- Magnifico is a mage, he was born with magic, mages were given magic by dragons (that has some lore too), mages are not well liked by humans, his parents tried to hide in a rather large city, but were caught, Magnifico was saved and given to a trusted mage, that mage sent Magnifico to Rosas to be safe there, eventually his magic was discovered and he was made king (at age 9 👍), since Rosas was small and not very well informed of the outside world, they have never seen a mage before and thought Magnifico was a God, after he turned 25 he put a spell on himself that he would be immortal and never age to keep the people from worrying about him dying with no heir, he never marries, he only wants to keep the people happy, but he is not happy being king, magic takes a toll on users causing Magnifico to be very depressed, every month he calls an assembly and for an hour gives the people whatever they want, they walk up to a chair in a gazebo where he sits, announce what they want, and it's granted, Magnifico represents want, he wishes to be free but wnats to keep the people happy so he just does what he wants and not what he wishes

Dragons- there were seven dragons, each representing different forms of magic, they each (minus purple) had a childwith a himan to bring magic into the human race, red gave mages power over the elements (fire, water, air, and earth), orange gave mages the power over the mind (like emotional manipulation), yellow gave the power of deception (reality warping), green gave the power of physicality (power of creation and destruction), Blue gave the power of shape (shapeshifting and changing other stuff), purple gave the power of substance (learnable magic like alchemy and potion stuff), (Magnifico is related to the green dragon, and all alchemists are ruled by the purple dragon)

PLOT

Asha is taken to the castle because she's a well-renowned alchemist, she proves this by giving the king a potion of calming (at his request), and it works (ITS A WEED POTION /j), every day she is asked to become a royal Alchemist but she never knows how to answer, after a few days, instead of a potion of happiness that the king asks for, Asha gives him a potions of honesty and asks why he constantly asks for happiness potions, this is where they would sing a duet, but by the end the potion would where off and Magnifico would be very upset that she did that to him, arresting her, and locking her in a dungeon, they both pray to the stars (cuz religion ig, and cuz I wanted to get them in the story somehow), Magnifico for strength to keep the people happy, and Asha for a way to save the king from himself

This is as far as I got before I started writing the others, but I did figure out what to do for the ending, and even a sequel (where Magnifico has two daughters that grow up to be Maleficent and Mother Gothel, but I kinda don't like the sequel anymore, plus u haven't even finished the first one, also don't care for the daughter lore since I'm trying to seperate from the Disney canon)

Also yes, I did try writing songs for this, but the duet isn't finished, and the "This is the Thanks I Get" rewrite got moved to another rewrite, so.... (and I still need to rewrite it anyway cuz it contains too many elements of this story, UGH)

I'd greatly appreciate feedback, cuz ik damn well this probably sucks lol, the other ones are better (I'm lying to you), I want to improve this story, cuz there's still ideas I like (the magic system, wants vs. wishes, and the fact that the people of Rosas are the villain), but there's definitely stuff I don't like (Magnifico and Asha being pretty much the only characters, the fact that the "villain" isn't the villain, and maybe the name [I'm still not settled in on Yearning rn]), something just feels off about it to me, I can't put my finger on it

Wish rewrites

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

[deathleadsarc]

one could consider the Goddess Khrosteia to be a goddess forbidden by the more morally lawful of scholars. though she takes great care of her patrons, she is not exactly known for her goodness. there is no benevolence. once weakness is sensed, weakness is punished swiftly. she will rip through bone and flesh, tear apart the brain that so dares to forget their piety.

a show of weakness as her patron is a direct sign of contempt. of mockery. disrespect. Most of, if not all, of Qistina's nature is a direct result of Khrosteia's soul. Qistina is not a traditional reincarnation, as alchemy is not a power of humans. rather, it is a power of gods. specifically, Khrosteia, who dared to show her power against the other gods before her. She is rebellious and utterly thirsty to remain free. Khrosteia comes forth against Qistina's soul every time she uses alchemy to overexertion. Her body simply cannot contain the goddess's power within, she would break apart. However.

in moments, there is a certain catalyst that sparks against her abilities as an alchemist. when soul of Qistina and soul of Khrosteia join as one. her body may disappear, but what remains is the very thing found beyond the end of the light. She becomes an EinSof - a god before gods were born. power compressed within a body of blinding light. a eye to give sight to the soul within sits in the middle of what could be a 'face'.

it is not death itself. it is a creature that exceeds humanity and cosmic being alike. both Qistina and Khrosteia fight from within. Qistina remains alive because of Khrosteia, and Khrosteia is still alive because of Qistina. In this, they become One and their souls join with that EinSof, that creature that sits beyond soul and eldritch knowledge. She will be different, yet the same. Such a joining has only happened once, if ever so briefly ― the moment when both the lives of Qistina and Khrosteia were in danger. Tied to the witches pyre for her crucifixion, killing all life in the village. All person and leaf and soil and air. Though it quickly returned to her soul at the behest of Khrosteia's soul, having just awakened from Qistina's constant discovery of alchemy. Qistina does not know to this extent, but there will come a time when she does. The madness of Khrosteia will surely bring about this second coming and further destroy the world for its betrayal of Her.

[clocktowerechos]

Factions of the Necron Eternal Empire

of the Brightest Night AU

"In another life you would have been a worthy addition to the Empire. You will have to serve better as a warning in death." ~ Stormlord Imotekh, Herald of the Silent King

At its height, the Necrontyr Empire was strong enough to challenge the Old Ones with dominion over countless stars and keepers of near-magical technologies. But it could not save them in the end. Robbed of their mortality, sentience, and finally their empire, they were forced to slumber for millions of years. However, they have awoken far earlier than in canon with the Silent King enforcing his will via Command Protocols. While many dynasties have bent the knee as they awake, not all do. The ones who do not are led by leaders whose code has deviated to the point of divergence, where the Command Protocols do not work. Such as in the case of the mad Zahndrekh and the meticulous Tryzan.

The Phaeron Dynasties

The traditional Egyptian-flavored Necrons, masters of the old empire and holding territory in what used to be the core of the empire. They are largely unchanged save for the fact they alone are the masters of teleportation, to the envy of their kin, and they possess the greatest void fleets.

The Huanron Dynasties

Chinese-flavored Necrons who occupied the mid-rim of the empire. They are known for the quality of their Crypteks, their long-lost academies once surpassing even those of the core. Of note are their Alchemists, Harbingers of Transmogrification, who have mastered the material of "Terradermis", a modified version of Necrodermis which while not as strong, can automatically replenish and renew itself from mineral or stone-based material around it.

The Saperon Dynasties

Incan-flavored Necrons who occupied the outermost edge of the empire in life. In death, their tombs became great mountain ranges that touched the sky. Their gilded bodies often seem divine to primitive tribes who now live on their worlds. Of the dynasties, they are the ones most likely to interact with mortals, often ruling over anything from planet-bound tribes, to entire stellar bodies as vassals and client states, often calling them to war while their Saperon leaders are bedecked in shining war gear and wielding terrifying solar powers.

The C'tan Vampires/The Soulstarved

When the Silent King shattered the C'tan, he failed to seal all of the shards away. Some floated through the void of space, others left forgotten on distance worlds, and some discovered by curious mortals. Such people were lured by promises of power, not knowing they held pieces of the Deceiver. Granted great power and superhuman abilities, they are now cursed with a forever-draining life force, a hole in their soul that leaks and from which they cannot stop. They are forced to feed upon the life energy of others to sustain themselves. They form themselves into hierarchical courts, cloaking themselves in finery and opulence, using their long lives to work their way into positions of power. Forever hunted by the Inquisition and the Ordo Hereticus, some are manipulated by the Silent King and Necron Lords to do their bidding. Others are eager to prove themselves or just show off their power and join forces with the soulless willingly.

The Mont'yr'vash

Another tragedy from the Tau Empire's Bloody Teared Years, they were born from a failed colonial expansion using experimental technology. Their fleets were flung into the void, the usual Warp Skimmer engines replaced with untested Warp Dive engines, many crashing upon desolate worlds. Their colonists devolved into a pre-caste society, separated by lightyears from their Sept Worlds, not knowing they landed upon the worlds of the Necron Empire. After being found, those who were not wiped out by sadistic or callous Necron Lords were uplifted to serve the dynasties. Believing the Necrons to be living gods, they serve them alongside Human Pariahs. Most often seen with the Saperon Dynasties, they are utilized by any dynasty that is in contact with them. Often filling the role of living cannon fodder, covert infiltrators, or devout supplicants to boost the standing (and ego) of their ruling Necron Lord.

[monstersdownthepath]

Some extra details

About Clorpt and Val-Kasz that aren't in the original articles, either because I came up with it later, couldn't figure out how to organically fit it into the article, or just decided to leave it out.

Clorpt is a Chaotic Neutral CR 20 Diminutive Aberration (Chaotic, Earth, Great Old One). It lacks the Insanity rule of most GOOs, instead any creature making contact with its Churning Mind must succeed a save versus being struck with a psychic migraine as useless information about rocks and dirt fills their head, taking minor Int damage and becoming staggered for several rounds. Its Master of Stone and Soil allows it to cast any spell with the Earth descriptor as a spell-like ability, with a cooldown period of 1 round per level of the spell upon completion of the cast; this cooldown ticks down twice as fast if Clorpt is burrowed. It has a burrow speed of 100ft and can burrow through any substance, though solid metal slows it down to half speed. As alluded to in its article, it can Plane Shift at-will, but only if it's surrounded by soil, and if it's not in the Plane of Earth, it can only shift to the Plane of Earth.

Clorpt's Unspeakable Presence is only 150ft wide instead of 300ft and causes any creature that succumbs to it to be unable to vocalize anything not spoken in Terran; creatures that don't know Terran simply cannot speak at all (so it's a literal unspeakable presence). Unlike other GOOs, it has Regeneration that's insurmountable so long as it's in contact with sand, stone, silt, or soil, and its Immortality causes it to be reborn on a random planet inside of a geode over the course of several months whenever it's actually killed.

Val-Kasz is a Neutral Evil CR ~26 Gargantuan Ooze (Extraplanar, Great Old One, incorporeal). It doesn't fully exist in reality, and the Shape that exists in reality is actually a feeding appendage being extended into the Material Plane, something not even its cult is fully aware of (this is how its Immortality works; it withdraws its appendage and spends several years regenerating it). The rest of its body is safely inside of a mindscape of its own creation which drifts close to the Dimension of Dreams. Mortals who are hallucinating or dreaming due to narcotics can rarely enter this mindscape by accident, which is how it gets ahold of creatures from afar even if they've never heard of it or been anywhere near Val-Geith. Visitors it notices and catches are often released untouched in order to draw them to its crater, but sometimes for its own alien reasons, it will tamper with them; sometimes it gives them strange psychic powers, or awakens a sorcerous bloodline in them, and sometimes it just inspires them like a muse to perform some feat of artistry or chemistry. Sometimes it goes even further and destroys their consciousness utterly, pouring a fragment of itself into their former body (unless another Ethereal or Astral creature does it first) to explore the world. Such puppets are almost always powerful psychic casters--especially Mesmerists--but sometimes they become Alchemists or Investigators instead.

Star-torched victims are drawn into its mindscape while they dream. For the most part they're ignored, as many of them are too busy exploring the mindscape and aren't lucid enough to affect it. Creatures that alter the mindscape in any way or do something else which draws the Old One's attention are usually destroyed instantly. This behavior isn't intentional, it's a side-effect the psychic 'lighthouse' effect the mindscape has on addled minds. It's basically the equivalent of someone piling up empty sunflower seed shells and never quite realizing how big the pile has gotten until they brush up against the husks, and then shoving part of the pile into the trash can. The Shape doesn't consume minds, though it will sometimes pull them open to examine them out of curiosity or to gain an answer to a question it has.

Val-Geith means 'Gentle Land' in Aklo, while Val-Kasz means 'Gentle Death.' This has no basis in the game proper.

[clericofkelemvor]

Clip of back to back conversations with Araj Oblodra, the drow alchemist you meet in Moonrise who wants a sample of your blood and a bite from Astarion, when you meet her again in the city in Act 3 with a romanced Astarion in your party. Choices made in her conversation in act 2: gave her the PC's blood, backed up Astarion when he refused to bite her. This happens after there is a massive explosion in her home and she runs out.

Transcript below the cut

Astarion: And I will keep refusing until the end of time. I'm done bowing to the whims of others.

Araj Oblodra: Oh! My silk, what are the chances - it's /you/!

AO: Ah, and the heart-stopping bloodsucker. I hope you've changed your mind. My neck is yours, any time.

Tav: Astarion, we can leave if you don't want to be around her. (Astarion approves, Jaheira approves)

AO: Never say never.

AO: Forgive the mess. Your blood is far more volatile than I'd anticipated.

A: I'll be all right. Let's just get this over with.

T: Forget it. I saw how you made Astarion feel. I'm done with you. (Astarion approves)

AO: Nervous to see me again, is he? How sweet.

AO: But! We have quite a bit to discuss. What a wonder you came to my door just when you did.

AO: You see, it's /your/ blood that caused the conflagration you just witnessed. Imagine!

AO: It's a breakthrough in the sanguine arts the likes of which the world has never seen. The Grand Matriarch will have no choice but to restore House Oblodra after I present her with my research.

AO: But listen to me, rabbitting on about myself when I have you - the prize bleeder - on my very doorstep.

AO: If you'd come inside, we could discuss something far more exciting than drow politics.

AO: How I made him /feel/? What I propose goes well beyond such frivolities. We are talking about alchemical breakthroughss based on the blood that runs through /your/ veins, my friend!

T: And if it does?

A: I appreciate the thought, truly, but if this is something you want to look into…

A: Well, hearing her out won't kill us.

A: Well, death never stopped me before. I don't know why it should now.

AO: Now, now. I do think that's enough. When you see what I've been working on, bygones will all be bygones, I assure you.

The party follows Araj down to the lower level of her house.

A: If that's her 'formula' I can smell, it's even fouler than her blood. Gods below…

AO: Ah - a cosy little spot, isn't it? These four walls have witnessed greater alchemical triumphs than the keep of Urngath Dorrund!

AO: And now that you're here, the crown jewel of my research is soon to be faceted. All you have to do is drink Formula Gruna.

T: Formula Gruna?

AO: Well yes. Formulae Arkku through Fruak were spectacular failures. But Gruna - Gruna is different. Believe me!

T: What will this formula do?

A: Say no - the only thing she's offering is pain, and I- I don't want to see you hurt.

AO: When you first entered this home, you saw the incredible latent power within your blood exposed in all its nuances. Formula Gruna will unleash that power /within/ you.

AO: Risky. But - erm - safe!

T: I won't be drinking any mysterious formulas today, thanks.

AO: Not even for the betterment of the alchemical arts the realm over? Not event for /that/?

T: All right. Hand it over.

AO: Oh, marvellous. I've never been so excited for anything in all my days! Just - stand over there. Far over there. And drink up!

A: What are you doing? That had better go down the drain and not down your gullet.

Tav steps away and drinks the potion Araj gave them. An explosion occurs around them, doing low fire damage.

T (ambient): Am I… /explosive/?

T: You seem surprised. Had you expected me to die?

AO: Oh my- my heavens! You LIVED!

AO: This is incredible. I'm seeing stars!

T: Is this going to kill me?

AO: I'd hypothesised you wouldn't, my friend. And you've proven me absolutely correct.

AO: You are the world's first /detonative exsanguinator/. To put it simply: from this day on, your blood goes boom. big boom! Ahaha! It's incredible!

AO: All it needs is a spark.

AO: Certainly not. But it might do damage to anyone who makes you bleed without your express permission.

A: Naturally, I always ask first. I'm civilised, unlike you.

AO: There are other necks available for biting, of course. If you were so inclined.

T: Can you revert it?

T: You've had enough of my blood.

AO: What an odd question.

AO: Now, let me offer you a little treat. In exchange for the teensiest vial of your marvellous blood, I'll give you something that'll really throw your enemies for a loop.

AO: I'll only ask a /nominal/ fee in exchange.

AO: Now now, darling. Let's not be /rude/…

A: They said 'no'. You should learn the meaning of the word.

T: Why do you need /more/ of my blood so badly?

AO: My research will be quite worthless without proof. And my proof is running through your veins. I only need a tiny bit. Then - then my life will /truly/ begin.

T: I said /no/.

AO: Ah. I'd so hoped it wouldn't come to this. But I can't let my prize experiment walk out that door. I'd hoped to take a sample with your permission. But I can do without it.

Everyone rolls initiative.

[bigolbard]

The Legends of Apex but they're DnD

I like Apex a lot. I like DnD a lot. I couldn't sleep last night, so this happened. Some of them are based on personality, others on mechanics. Some of them also get subclasses because fuck you, I make the rules. Read on at your own risk.

Bloodhound. A lover of nature and beasts, and an expert tracker. Bloodhound is a RANGER.

Gibraltar. Incredibly tough to hit, wields a shield, and can unload massive damage when needed. Gibraltar is a PALADIN.

Lifeline. A medic, but not the best medic. Reliable healing with the ability to revive while still fighting. Lifeline is a DIVINE SOUL SORCERER.

Pathfinder. Incredibly mobile. Likes to push fights quickly, but can disengage just as quickly. Is into hand to hand combat. Pathfinder is a MONK.

Wraith. Gained the ability to travel between dimensions. Harnesses a power that is now innate. Wraith is a SORCERER.

Bangalore. Boring at first glance, but full of interesting potential when you really take a minute to think about it. Was a soldier. Bangalore is a FIGHTER.

Caustic. An incredibly intelligent individual who is very good at making alchemical substances. Caustic is an ALCHEMIST ARTIFICER.

Mirage. Tries a little too hard to be funny, but is genuinely charismatic. Likes to be the center of attention, but is still quite intelligent. Mirage is a BARD with the Artificer Initiate feat. (He could also be a Trickery Cleric, depending on if you value personality or ability.)

Octane. Reckless, aggressive, and fast. Fight first, think later. Octane is a BARBARIAN.

Wattson. An electrical genius who uses their inventions to gain the upper hand. Wattson is an ARTIFICER.

Crypto. The poster boy of edgy backstories that the DM had to go through great lengths to un-edge. Incredibly paranoid. Crypto is a ROGUE.

Revenant. Sneaky and stabby. Revenant is also a ROGUE. (An Assassin Rogue, to be precise.)

Loba. Sneaky and steal-y. Loba is also also a ROGUE (A Thief Rogue, to be precise.)

Rampart. She makes things by hand and kills things by hand (using the things she made by hand). Shiela is literally an Eldritch Cannon. Rampart is an ARTILLERIST ARTIFICER.

Horizon. Arguably the most intelligent Legend in the games. Clearest proficiencies are in gravitational science and related fields. Likes to create black holes. Horizon is a SCHOOL OF GRAVITURGY WIZARD.

Fuse. Sold his soul for fame and fortune. Has a projectile weapon that never runs out of uses and does good damage. Fuse is a WARLOCK.

Valkyrie. Chaotic as hell. Wants to seduce everyone. Successfully injected herself into a blossoming relationship and faced no consequences. Valkyrie is a BARD.

Seer. A cursed child who isn't actually cursed. Defined by the events of his birth, which spawned a legend not necessarily deserved. Seer is a SORCERER.

Ash. A trained fighter who prefers swords over guns. Incredibly skilled at murder, but can also tear through space, appearing to be in two places at once. Ash is an ECHO KNIGHT FIGHTER.

Maggie. Will fight anyone and anything at anytime. When she rages, no one is safe. Maggie is a BERSERKER BARBARIAN.

Newcastle. Will protect you and pick you up if you fall. Has a shield, and knows how to use it. Kind of a dork, but in a good way. Newcastle is a CLERIC.

Catalyst. An area control specialist who's very in-tune with nature, astrology, and spirituality. Catalyst is a CIRCLE OF THE STARS DRUID.

Vantage. A long-range sniping specialist with an animal companion. Vantage is a BEAST MASTER RANGER.

Ballistic. A master of arms with a knack for poetry and the classics. A refined man with refined taste and did I mention a whole lot of guns. Ballistic is a SAMURAI FIGHTER.