#( the inquisition would be more of a cult than it already was )

[endawn]

also. an inquisitor pax au would never happen in the da verse. given the nature of the anchor and how it uniquely ties them to the fade ( even giving a dwarf inky !!! dreams !!! a dwarf !!! ), it would simply give the hunger demon too much power. it WOULD be hunger. it probably was able to purge pax. only keeping a ‘template’ of what he was in order to evolve, learn. if not purge or assimilate him fully, then it’s a situation to what pax is doing to the demon: suppressing it and locking it away. i think eventually it would be able to assimilate pax Fully. or what it only wanted to keep.

[demeruart]

I needed to get more of my current Inquisitor out lol Her name is Serena.

Serena’s History

I’ve head cannoned that she was part of the Lavellan clan but before she got her Vallaslin they were raided by a Tevinter cult of an old god and she was taken as a slave. Before she was sacrificed the magister performing the ritual to the old gods noticed how pretty she was and decided rather to keep her alive.

After nearly a decade she managed to escape back into the Free Marches where she tried to lose her pursuers in Kirkwall. Unfortunately for Serena she was found by the templars and thrown into the circle, so once again found herself caged. When the circle fell she joined the mage rebellion and went to attend the conclave with them and somehow got herself wrapped up in all the inquisition.

Personality

She’s pretty light hearted overall, dealing with all the pain with humour. She’s pretty good at taking things in stride remaining calm and level headed in the worst of it.

Nothing much phases her anymore but Corypheus had such a presence about him that freaked her out so much she was sent back to the day she was supposed to be sacrificed. It pains Serena to lose anyone especially those who are already suffering, and she would rather throw herself in harms way than to let someone die.

From her time in service to the Magister she’d learned how to use her charms and wits to survive, weaponizing her sexuality. Besides all that she tries her best to keep her emotions in check, often masking them to not seem weak/vulnerable.

[oneeyedoctogod]

This WIP Wednesday, some more of my beloved bloodweaver (I might do a post about him at some point, to tell a bit more about his story).

Kind of long one, mostly because I didn't know where else to cut it haha.

--

Despite being a goddess who claims to be worshiped by thousands, Iena dies alone. Her followers have fled or died in her name, her harem is long gone, freed by the Inquisition. The floor of her palace is stained with her blood, a pale pink that reminds you of dying roses.

You look at her broken body, the way her eyes have gone hazy with pain. You wonder if you’re allowed to feel sympathy for her or can only be the weapon the Inquisition wants you to become. She only tried to reclaim the throne her kind had lost to the Divine. Capturing humans to brainwash them into her cult was a wretched thing to do, you know. And yet, her harem was a protection for many, the poor and the weak. You don’t regret fighting her, liberating the city. You just can’t help but think —

In the end, what she did isn’t that different from the Inquisition’s actions.

Pitiful, isn’t she? Poor little Iena only wanted to be loved Fitting, for the goddess of passions

“Shut up,” you snap. You don’t mean to speak out loud, but what does it matter? Iena isn’t going to snitch. She’s too busy bleeding out. Why would she care about her killer being mentally linked to another of her kind.

She’s watching you now. Curious.

“Indulge me, bloodweaver,” she gasps out. Her hands are stained with her pinkish blood, as one of them lift from her gaping wound. “Let a dying goddess read your fate.” “… Why would I want that?” You ask. Your voice wobbles for a second. “Aren’t you curious, bloodweaver? Don’t you want to know if there’s — a special someone, waiting for you?” Iena coughs for a moment, and blood seeps out of her mouth. “Don’t you want a family?”

You stare at the outstretched hand, the way it shakes. Gulp. Fear and guilt and this terrible burning curiosity war inside your mind. Iena is right. You do want to know. You want it so much — can you hope to have… Something? Anything? Is it betraying your dead family, if you hope to find new people to love, if you want to be loved again?

You have nothing to fear, Altair I will protect you

“… Fine,” you finally mutter, and let yourself fall to your knees to take her hand.

You feel her power wash over you, gentler than before. It tastes like something sugary. Honey, perhaps. She giggles quietly for a moment but whether that’s because of what she’s seeing or the lack of blood and oxygen, you can’t guess.

“Oh, what a poor, sad, lonely soul you have, bloodweaver,” she whispers, with a smile on her face. Her tone isn’t mocking, but it may as well been. “Always running, always hiding, with everyone you love taken away from you in blood and fire.” “Tell me something I don’t know,” you mutter, then gasp when the hand pulls you toward her, until your foreheads touch.

You could have fought her, stopped her from moving you, she is so weak now. You’re not sure why you didn’t. Morbid curiosity maybe. She laughs again, airy like she isn’t giving her last prophecy, like she isn’t dying.

“Fine then. You lied to me, bloodweaver, when you refused me. You said you would rather die than belong to a god — but that isn’t true. You already are his and you know it. You dread it, resent it, but you can’t stop him. You won’t. He will bathe the world in flames for you, He will lay your enemies’ heads at your door and give you all that you could ever wish for.”

Her smile widens. You can almost feel it against your cheek. You know who she is talking about — of course you do. You feel his presence in your mind like a cold breathe against your neck. You wish you could pretend to hate it, but even now it feels comforting.

Denial wouldn’t suit you my Altair You know you crave me as I crave you

“How lucky you are, bloodweaver. You will never be parted. Not by mortals, not by gods, not by death. You won’t want to. You are a part of him and he is a part of you, for he knows your name and gave you his.”

Her voice gets weaker and weaker. Blood smears on your skin. You are so close to her, it must look like an embrace. Maybe it is — a last act of worship for the goddess of passion.

“How lucky,” she repeats, “the godkiller, beloved by a god. I almost wish I could have seen the end of your story.”

Those are the last words of Iena, goddess of love and passions, protector of the innocent,. A prophecy and the new title you have to bear. Godkiller. It tastes bitter.

[teecupangel]

from @fanworldbuildingfun:

A not so small, early Monday thing

Apparently, you can survive the Gallows. It wasn’t even that odd a thing. It was just not normally spoken of, for various reasons ranging from legal (no idea how to treat person), to political (fear of punishment no longer being a deterrent)

This, I propose: Desmond ends up in Firenze, but too late to stop the Auditore execution. Just after the scirmish Ezio started in fact. Auditore were already being taken down, in all the mess that resulted, and normally that would have been it, as far as Desmond knew

Except… They still glowed important-golden in his vision. Now, it can be all of them or, as I was initially mulling over, only Petruccio. So Desmond steals him away, and has to quickly find a place where they would be safe l, while the guards are in high alert. This means, he can’t reunite Petruccio with his family at once

As a result, Desmond also misses the window of opportunity to get himself and Petruccio out of Firenze. Which turns out a good thing, as not only Petruccio’s recovery has been slow, but was followed by a bout of sickness. Petruccio simply didn’t have a strong immune system, and the stress of Gallows made that even worse

So Desmond was stuck taking care of him. More, perhaps, than he would have otherwise - as he did not have a constant, reliable access to a medic. Which, at one point he deemed a good thing - after the one he consulted recommended a healing that, even to Desmond’s not-medic, basic knowledge, was Bad (think lead or mercury, or even bloodletting)

It takes time. But Petruccio gets better. Better than Desmond ever remembered seeing him, in fact (and doesn’t matter if it’s due to modern-ish treatments, or Isu bull). That, and the kid turned out to be fun to be around. Smart. Inquisitive sometimes, perhaps, too much so. Or may e Desmond just wanted someone to share the things he learned with

By the time they manage to leave Firenze safely, though, the main line if ACII is almost over

In fact… Desmond brings Petruccio to Monteriggioni just after Ezio finished collecting the feathers

…and not long after Ezio has heard Minerva’s message in Rome

teecup Additions:

We never did find out what was Petruccio’s illness but I always headcanon’ed it as something like a compromised immune system because of how he’s described to be ‘bedridden’ a lot but we do see him leave the house before.

Desmond could just go ‘fuck it’ and start giving Petruccio healthy food and boiled plants with medicinal properties and it would start to work because what Petruccio was lacking was the vitamins to help boost his immune system. Desmond has no idea what was working and he’s just gonna chalk it up to clean water and clean food. XD

Oh man, the reunion would be awkward as hell too. Like, the Auditores would be so happy to see Petruccio but they would definitely be sus of Desmond.

Not to mention, Desmond would realize what was going to happen next because Ezio knows who he is and he’s still wearing Altaïr’s Armor and that means Cesare will be attacking them soon.

So Monteriggioni will be saved by Desmond’s warning and Mario wouldn’t die.

But this would complicate things even further because now everyone thinks either Desmond is a spy or he had inside information about the Borgias which makes him dangerous.

Except Ezio who believes that Minerva’s words were meant for Desmond and, if Desmond was here, this meant that Desmond was some kind of divine being meant to save the world.

(Cue Ezio starting a Desmond worshipping cult with Petruccio as his co-founder? XD)

[theonekrafter]

mcit fic recs

ive been reading a lot of dragon age fanfic bc im writing a lot of dragon age fanfic so here's a list of the ones i've enjoyed recently!

Few Against the Wind - KiaStirling

9 Chapters, 74331 Words, Inquisition Era

the characterization of the canon characters is really excellent. its outside pov for now, mostly looking at the mcit through the eyes of solas, and its interesting to see that big brain of his think ab all the strangeness of the mc. mc also has to learn the language of trade and how to write so she get's a good alibi in the form of not being able to communicate why she's so weird and why she knows what she does

As a Little Bird Flies - Newbieauth

68 Chapters, 216 595 Words, Inquisition Era

includes sleep deprivation torture, so if that is Not For You i would skip that bit. it is not graphic and is far less revelatory in the angst than a lot of fics that include torture. very relationship centric, the mc is not very good at the whole fighting thing, but she does have a gun! a gun she must keep anyone from getting near so they dont figure out how to make more!

Local Woman Too Angry To Die - TLWillow

6 Chapters, 16 522 Words, Inquisition Era

is there a lot of it yet? no. is what's there fucking hilarious? yes. local woman IS too angry to die, doesn't thinks she's in dragon age, and definitely thinks she's been kidnapped by some mountain cult. where she lacks in knowledge she makes up in pure spite.

Identity - AMCanderly

5/6 Chapters, 22 098 Words, transmigrated in DA2 current story in Inquisition

mc was made tranquil in kirkwall before they could even attempt to influence the plot, somehow ends up at the conclave and gets the mark on their hand, reversing their rite of tranquility in the process. dealing with having your emotions taken away for like ten years and then finally getting them back is already hard enough, much harder when you're also expected to be the herald of andraste.

[doomedandstoned]

Montréal Ambient Post-Hardcore Troupe MILANKU Unveil New Music Video

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

It's the weekend! Time for deep breaths and a slower pace and reflection. At least time enough to check out the new music video from MILANKU. The five-member Montréal band conjures an ethereal sound that takes advantage of ambient soundscapes to drop a robust blend of post-everything.

Milanku's new record is entitled 'À l'aube' (2023), which translates to "At dawn." Each track on the album takes a que from there, starting with misty atmosphere, perhaps representing various stages of the rising sun. This is followed by a radiant post-rock instrumental push with post-hardcore vocal inflections.

The band sings in French, as well, with lyrics inspired by the poetry of French-Czech writer Milan Kundera (b. 1929), who wrote The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- a book that muses about philosophical themes like time, happiness, and eternal return (the idea that everything in the universe repeats itself).

In fact, the song titles themselves are each piece of a poem, which like the music delves into poignant feelings of loneliness, despair, and consolation. Milanku gave us this window into their creative process:

Most of the skeleton of the album was built before the pandemic. After a few months of downtime, we refined and modified the songs and recorded the songs in two studio sessions. The pandemic had an impact on the sound of all the songs on the album. Without the pandemic, the result of the album would not be the same at all. The album sounds like a whole, a maturity of the band and a story that is told from the first note to the last.

Having revealed the opening track already, today Milanku reveals the album closer: "À l'aube; nous sommes disparus" ("At dawn; we will be gone"). It features Erika Angell from Thus Owls.

The most musically emotional track of the album, this song starts off as a sweet guitar melody and slowly turns into a storm featuring Erika’s voice as the grand priestess of this storm that everyone is trying to escape. The lyrics in Swedish and French make it even more mystical.

Milaku's À l'aube doesn't just rage against the gloom; it observes it, experiences it deeply, and reaches tirelessly towards hope. The sound absolutely envelops you in ecstatic glory by album's end. Look for it March 31st on Folivora Records (pre-order here). For fans of Cult of Luna, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and Neurosis

Give ear...

WATCH & LISTEN: Milanku - "À l'aube; nous sommes disparus"

SOME BUZZ

If Milanku draws its origins from the work of Milan Kundera, the soundtrack is definitely more on the side of the thundering density of the being than of its "unbearable lightness", galvanized by the Czech author.

From the start, Milanku hammers out its brutal character, infused with melancholy, even dystopia, and standing straight upright on the wire: defiant, shouting, and inspired.

Mesmerized by the warrior's rage, flayed by its own doldrums, the quartet relies on pared-down arrangements and an oft-staged vocal presence, harmonizing like an instrument, and howling at the big time, but plastered with a disquieting sense of dilettante.

À l'aube by Milanku

At the heart of the enterprise, tearing off the peels of flapping skins, we explore the state of affairs of the contemporary genre, tragic, desolate, where any notion of common sense seems diffuse in the amalgam of trompe-l'oeil. The texts are meditative, inquisitive and the observations that emanate from them, weep and persist in trying to make sense of it, through its ever-growing losses of illusion.

With four full-length releases behind them, Milanku presents today 'À l'aube' (2023), a five-track burn that breathes new life into a caste of disenfranchised people, imbued with a disarming lucidity, and gives itself a framework and a voice to pull its head out of the swamp.

Photo by Nick Shaw

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[izzet-always-r-versus-u]

Universes Within theorycrafting: 40K (creature types)

For the bigger Universes Beyond sets, I think I'm going to aim more top-down/broad-strokes - what are the general patterns, what restrictions to those patterns put on adaptations, where larger groups of cards are likely to end up, etc. - rather than going individually card-by-card.

(Individual card posts are still likely, but they'll be in the vein of "best/easiest/most intriguing adaptations" and "most awkward adaptations" - stuff I consider actively worth talking about in particular.)

For 40K, the major mechanics are all fairly generic and broadly applicable (the Miracle creatures are a notable exception, but that's just those three cards, not bunches of them to sort out), so that mostly just leaves the creature types as top-down considerations for UniWit adaptation. The one- or two-off types - Inquisitor, Custodes, C'tan, and Primarch - are effectively still "individual card" adaptations (aside from Primarch, which overlaps with Astartes), but at 27 cards that are or reference the Astartes type, 28 such cards for Necrons, and 38 such cards for Tyranids, there's still a lot to sort through.

Inquisitor

Starting with the small-number types, for general flow-of-the-post reasons. Inquisitor isn't a type that I think WotC would bring back in an intentional way in the future, the way they have for Detective and likely will for Scientist, but it's also not a type that has to be changed when adapting the two cards with the type to Universes Within: the Magic multiverse has inquisitors, with 11 non-40K creature cards having card names that clearly indicate "Inquisitor" is their profession (plus Inquisitor Exarch, which is somewhat fuzzier, and the digital-only Inquisitor Captain).

While those cards stretch across a few different planes, the majority are found on Innistrad. Inquisitor Greyfax translates naturally as Seeta, Lunarch Inquisitor, the boots-on-the-ground leader of the group of inquisitors that clashed with Thalia and Odric in the Shadows Over Innistrad block story. (This would be set before those inquisitors embraced Emrakul's transformations and started calling themselves the "Sinpurged," since Greyfax doesn't exactly have Eldrazi on its typeline.)

The Lunarch Inquisition was a tool of the Lunarch Council, which in Shadows block had been infiltrated and subverted by the Skirsdag, a demonic cult, so an inquisitor with a direct connection to a specific demon would make a natural translation of Inquisitor Eisenhorn's mechanics, even if there isn't a named character that can definitively fill that spot. (I considered making it another Jerren/Ormendahl card, but Eisenhorn's get-into-the-red-zone mechanics seem too active for Jerren, and a simple 4/4 flyer is too generic for Ormendahl.) Perhaps Ulmach, the alluded-to head of the Inquisition who never puts in an on-screen appearance?

Custodes*

The single Custodes card, Vexilus Praetor, is a mono-White Warrior that's all about protecting your commander. The first place my mind went with that was folkloric/mythological guardian figures, beings whose purpose was to protect a person or role that could theoretically function as their own creature type.

While I eventually found a stronger fit for Astartes, my initial thought was to set them on the unnamed Roman plane that's home to Licia and Prava (and possibly Saskia), and tutelary/guardian deities were evidently a pretty significant aspect of Roman religion - an individual such deity being called a Lar or a Tutelar. So [Vexilus Praetor] is a Lar/Tutelar Warrior, a sworn protector of the position of emperor in Licia's empire.

C'tan*

The two C'tan cards are both big, splashy, mono-Black flyers. I'm sure there's some mythological Spooky Thing I failed to think of which Magic hasn't already done and therefore would be open to be a new creature type, but in lieu of that, I wound up with a half-measure I do still like.

In the wake of the Phyrexian invasion, new power players have emerged into Theros's underworld: great, winged reapers known as Thanatons, embodiments of the moment of death. Were they always lurking in the shadows, drawn out by the power vacuum left by Erebos's death, or are they an entirely new nightmare formed from the collective trauma of Theros's mortals through the power of Nyx? None know but Kruphix, and who knows if he's still around to share that information.

(For individual card names, I turned [Shard of the Nightbringer] into Deathgaze Reaper and [Shard of the Void Dragon] into Embodiment of Entropy, if that helps get across the vibe I'm shooting for here.)

Astartes*

This is where things get interesting. Astartes stretch across four colors: primary in White, secondary in Black and Red, tertiary in Blue. They are also very diverse mechanically, with loose trends towards go-wide strategies (for aggression or for sacrifice) and Cascade (or similar effects). The vast majority are Warriors. There are also two Clerics, one each of Knight, Scout, Warlock, Berserker, and Wizard, as well as two artifact Dreadnoughts. They are produced as tokens by a Demon Primarch, a flying Vehicle, and an artifact Human. Through the Primarch type, they are also connected to the Spawn type, specifically the 3/3 red Spawns of [Magnus the Red].

The reason I discarded the Roman plane is that while Warriors work on the plane, on a larger scale the obvious "class" type for that plane, or at least the Roman aspect of it, is Soldier, so introducing a whole bunch of Warriors seemed like a miss.

At some point the whole "there is only war" bit, the connection to Demons, and the "red storm" visuals of the Warp on the cards all clicked together to make me think of the warstorm of Valla: an unending storm of battle on a plane split off from the Kaldheim subplane where all of the Demons live. [Astartes] as the permanent denizens of the warstorm just fits.

(And the part of Valla that split from Kaldheim was the part that also had stuff other than the Immersturm, so the continued inclusion of Humans and whatever's going on with the Dreadnoughts has space to work, too. Why doesn't Immersturm-of-current-Kaldheim have [Astartes]? Maybe the Demons wiped them out without the warstorm sustaining them, maybe they became demons through density of magical exposure, maybe there are still some around but they just didn't show up in the cards or story because they were Over There, like Eldraine's Satyrs or the missing Kappas of Kamigawa. This is a case where I like the core concept enough that I'm willing to find ways to sand over the rough edges.)

From there, there's two possible angles: my first thought was to call them Stormborn, basically elementals of battle endlessly conjured by the warstorm itself. (My actual first thought was "Warborn," as they're born for war...but as mentioned, [Astartes] are primarily Warriors, and "Warborn Warrior" sounds really dumb, so Stormborn it is.)

But also, Valla split off from Kaldheim, the "Norse mythology" plane, and Norse mythology has beings whose existence is endless battle - the Einherjar (singular Einheri, apparently), mortals that fell in battle who were taken to Valhalla to wage daily war with each other in preparation for Ragnarok. The spirits of Istfell do cover this trope already (though Valhalla itself is a separate realm), but there's still space for a different angle with a Magic twist; the Einherjar are instead the most bloodthirsty of fallen warriors, taken by the demons of the Immersturm to forever stoke the warstorm with their fury until the gods cut the demons off from the other realms. Or maybe Istfell's spirits are an adaptation by Kaldheim itself to the warstorm being cut off from the plane, sending the worthy fallen somewhere new with their original destination no longer available. In either interpretation, the Einherjar would be flesh-and-blood pseudo-undead, sustained by the warstorm in a very violent symbiotic relationship.

Valla would still have Demons, like Immersturm does, so [Mortarion] (and [Magnus], who belongs here by extension) is an easy fit. [Thunderhawk Gunship] becomes one of the flying demon longships referenced in the Kaldheim story (and appearing in the art of Invasion of Kaldheim). The Spawn could just translate their same concept from 40K, stormborn/einherjar so warped by the warstorm as to become something altogether more monstrous.

The artifact creatures are...tougher. Perhaps Kaldheim once had, and Valla still has, a magical tradition akin to that of Lorehold, where statues are carved in the image of fallen warriors and brought to life to fight and serve alongside them. (The advantage of using a plane we have very little detail on, and that we'll almost certainly never revisit when Kaldheim exists, is that there's a lot of room to play.) [Belisarius Cawl] would be a statue of a master sculptor who continues their work after their death, [Redemptor Dreadnought] would be a giant war-statue, and [Helbrute] would be a war-statue infused with demonic magic, and thereafter endlessly fueled by the bodies of the fallen.

Primarch*

Both Primarch cards are Demons whose mechanics position them as leaders of armies, so the natural way to adapt them would be as exactly that, demonic leaders of armies within the warstorm. The replacement name would be something that evokes "Viking war leader" - not a subject I have much real knowledge of, so I'm leaning on fictional knowledge and leaving this open as a "to be replaced with a more fitting term by someone more knowledgeable" slot. In the meantime, Jarl sees sufficiently little use outside of this context that it works reasonably cleanly as its own type for this narrow application - at least moreso than Thane, the other name I considered.

Necron*

Necrons are mono-Black artifact creatures with a consistent mechanical connection to the graveyard and/or death, including the specific mechanic Unearth, and to other artifacts. There are five cards that are Wizards and two that are Nobles, with a number lacking "class" subtypes, including all of the legends. The tokens, created by six different cards - including two Vehicles (which both fly), and an enchantment that turns all of your creatures into artifacts - are all Warriors.

The most immediate, obvious place to fit the type is Alara: they're colored artifact creatures with Unearth in a color that falls within the overlap of those two themes' shards. [Necron] becomes, say, Husk, a new strain of undead caused by an interaction between some combination of Dregscape magic, etherium, and Phyrexian wreckage. (In my head they actually look a fair bit like classic Phyrexians, very much both robot and corpse.) The first ones arose and started building more of themselves from the fallen that surrounded them, and Alara is quickly developing an entirely new problem.

The one point of issue with this take is the class types - why is the most common such carded type among them Wizard when they're basically robot zombies? What's the deal with the Nobles, when, at least to my knowledge, neither Esper nor Grixis has a straightforward nobility to pull immediate corpses from? Vithia had monarchs, but it's not like those titles would've survived centuries as just another group of corpses in the Dregscape, aside from Sedris himself. It's certainly still workable, especially compared to some of the stretching I just did to make "Einheri" work, but "army of unearthed artifact creatures" is generic enough to be worth thinking of what other possibilities there might be.

The first place to look would be the four planes with a major density of old, buried stuff: Dominaria, Zendikar, Amonkhet, and Ixalan. (There's also Arcavios, but the colors are an awkward match there, given Lorehold are the ones that deal in old, buried stuff.) Well, maybe three - Zendikar's moving away from old dungeons towards new dungeons these days (thanks, Nahiri), so it's not the best place to throw a new ancient army.

Dominaria has the issue that the ancient armies of artifice are already well-covered on cards, including their types - pretty consistently Constructs. It's one thing to stretch to an existing, narrower type that fits within that umbrella, the way I tried with Robot, but "why are these Thran/Antiquities War artifacts an entirely new creature type?" is a trickier question. With Dominaria, one can always go deeper for an entirely undiscovered, ancient-er artificer civilization - or just a contemporary of the Thran - but there's better fits.

Amonkhet has potential, since it's not exactly a stranger to things rising from the dead, and there are plenty of ruins its modern denizens have left undisturbed, but might now have new cause to dig into. Perhaps before their civilization shrunk to the walls of Naktamun, their predecessors built constructs of pure lazotep to stand watch over their tombs, Eternals without the base corpse? It could work, but "what's going on in the Amonkhetu ruins?" seems like a question to answer more in-depth on a proper return to the plane, rather than stitching a reskin over. Still, the general idea has promise; hold this thought.

Ixalan just put an emphasis on buried artifacts of fallen civilizations in particular, and there are multiple viable angles to work with: a dormant race of Servitors constructed by a sect of the Komon Winaq searching for a silver bullet against the Mycoids? An impossible remnant of the Fourth People? A reawakened cohort of Fomori constructs (thanks, Quint)? All have merit, though the caverns-bound options have issues with the "flying vehicles" question, and the Fomori option has issues with the "Noble" question. Still, like Alara and the Husks, the possible issues with Ixalan and the Servitors are solvable.

My last big idea for the Necrons came from the card Tomb Fortress; it's not actually bound to the [Necron] type mechanically, but just the name itself reminded me of the Terracotta Army, a massive collection of statues built and positioned to guard the grand tomb of an emperor. Where Amonkhet has existing mysteries that would want specific focus, Shenmeng (the home plane of Mu Yanling, formerly known as the Plane of Mountains and Seas) is largely a blank canvas open to being painted in, and a fantasy take on the Terracotta Army where the armies created to guard the emperor's tomb are a very real martial force that have developed designs of their own seems like a great potential fit. A grand imperial army in a world of magic would certainly have wizards, it could easily have representations of minor nobility and specific generals (covering the legendary [Necrons]), and the vehicles could be grand sky chariots, or alternatively more specific pulls from Chinese mythology I'm not well-versed enough to think of off the cuff.

The question here would actually be what to (re)name the type: Terracottan is clunky, Terran has a common usage in SFF that has nothing to do with this concept, Statue is both stiff and overlaps heavily with the existing Sculpture type...perhaps it could use a transliterated Chinese term for the Terracotta Army - again, not something I'm well-versed enough in to know what a transliteration that actually works correctly as a translation would be, so I'll use Statue as a placeholder.

The Statue army of Shenmeng is probably my favorite of these options at this point, but Alara and Ixalan are both very viable adaptation options as well, in my opinion.

Tyranid*

Tyranids are heavily centered in Green and secondary in Blue and Red. They range across a massive range of sizes, including a bunch of individually variable sizes, and share typelines with Humans and Gargoyles (as well as having at least one Tyranid Mutant), with the Tyranid Humans also having the potential for class types - two Wizards, one Artificer, one Advisor, and one Scout. ("Pure" Tyranids can also have class types, as one of their multiple tokens has the Warrior subtype.) Their mechanics emphasize +1/+1 counters and X costs, with ramp to help enable both through the Ravenous mechanic.

The Tyranids, down to the core of their mechanics, are a colossal invading and/or corrupting force. Whereas all of the other types adapted here worked somewhere or another in the established multiverse, albeit sometimes somewhere rather obscure (see: Valla, Shenmeng), there really isn't a place to put this collection of designs that doesn't immediately become about how that place is being overrun by not-Tyranids, which points to creating a loosely-defined new plane for them to have their run of, the same way the Sliver Gravemother got her own plane to have successfully conquered in her precon introduction. With that in mind, this section becomes less about where to put them (the only restrictions are that it has humans with the aforementioned range of class types and somehow incorporates gargoyles, all of which fits within a generic medieval fantasy pastiche), and more about what they are, conceptually and aesthetically.

The extent to which they go tall and wide, combined with their color distribution and their sheer diversity of sizes and shapes, points me personally towards an insectoid vibe - the aesthetic of chitinous armor and myriad limbs, the concept of a great hive colony. Perhaps not the most original take, given the likes of the Slivers or the Zerg that also play in that trope space, but it's the one that feels like it makes the most sense. (The overly narrow Sliver aesthetic works in their favor in this one instance, since it means there's plenty of aesthetic space for [Tyranids] to cover without looking too much like Slivers.)

The [Tyranid] Humans would be humans infested and overtaken by [Tyranid] parasites as the colony extends its reach over the plane's human(oid) civilization, disrupting defenses from within to help clear the way for the greater body of the swarm. The [Tyranid] Gargoyles are fuzzier; maybe a subset of [Tyranids] happen to look enough like the local gargoyles that the name for them caught on, or maybe the local gargoyles are flesh-and-blood and can be infested the same as humans can? Probably the former is cleaner. Gargoyle Flock has enough space for flavor text to get the explanation for the typeline across, in any case. The [Tyranid] Warriors would be recent adaptations that mimic the form of their foes, and the rest are just...vaguely akin to various insects, but alien in a way that it makes sense not to just use the Insect type for them.

I haven't had much success coming up with a fitting (re)name for these: Parasite is used too frequently in Magic in the generic sense to be a new creature type, any "Stormborn"-style word-splices involving "Hive" or "Swarm" read/sound really clunky...Brood is the placeholder term I've been using, though that's also Marvel's name for their take on this concept, so it's probably worth avoiding even if I doubt they could have such a simple term copyrighted. Maybe Exo, from exoskeleton? I'm assuming Destiny doesn't have a copyright on that name, and that's a rather different concept, so the shared names are less of a concern. 40K's "xeno" stuff is kind of dubious, but Exo does evoke a vaguely "alien" feeling in a similar way, I think.

Demon

Realized well into typing this post up that 40K's off-color Demons are worth making note of in a "how to adapt creature types" post. Obviously the type name isn't changing here, but "what to do with the Blue, Red, and Blue/Red Demons" is a question that still falls under the overall premise, so I'm sticking them on the end.

Some of the mono-Red ones slot into Kaldheim or Valla fine - even the Demon Knight, since there's an [Astartes] Knight, which would mean Valla has Knights in some capacity. The mono-Blue ones feel like they make the most sense on Alara; Grixis's demons expanding out of Black and into the shard's other colors as a side effect of the intermingling with the other shards seems plausible, and one of them even has Cascade. The Blue/Red ones (bar [Magnus], which as a [Primarch] goes to Valla in this scenario) feel a little more off there with their spellslinging focus, but not to the extent of being a deal-breaker. It does mean they work just about as well on Valla, though.

The other angle is to take the Arjun the Shifting Flame approach and set them on an unknown plane, but with a distinct enough aesthetic that you get their vibe even if there are no details given: a plane where Demons are focused in Blue and Red as keepers of forbidden knowledge that tempt mages with arcane secrets.

so, tl;dr:

Inquisitor -> Inquisitor (Innistrad) Custodes -> Lar or Tutelar (Roman plane) C'tan -> Thanaton (Theros) Astartes -> Stormborn or Einheri (Valla) Primarch -> Jarl (Valla) Necron -> "Statue" (Shenmeng) Tyranid -> Exo (new plane) (off-color Demons to some combination of Alara, Kaldheim/Valla, and a new plane)

[mandoalorian]

Obey Me [Dark!Ezra Prospect x F!Reader] SMUT

Summary: After you run out on a trading discussion with other Prospectors, and embarrass Ezra, he is left no choice but to punish you for your bad behaviour.

Warnings: 18+ SMUT, dark!Ezra, unprotected p in v, fingering, edging, slapping, spitting, choking, bondage, very rough, degradation kink, dom/sub dynamic.

Word count: 2200>

Author’s Note: I say this every time but I truly do have a hard time writing for Ezra so I’d like to thank my best friend @honeymandos​ for tolerating my questions and helping me gain a better understanding off the Prospect universe. Also there’s a very high chance we will both work together in expanding this Dark!Ezra type thing in the future so let us know if it’s something you’d be willing to read more of. <3

Masterlist

“Are you mad at me?” you asked Ezra after approximately an hour of silence. Stupid question. He was about five feet ahead of you, trudging through the long grass as he headed back to the tent. He was definitely mad and he hadn’t said a word to you since he dragged you out of the mercenaries’ camp. You’d caused a scene— but it wasn’t your fault.

The mercs were disrespecting you, and Ezra had messed up. They had offered aurlac at a good price, almost too good to be true. You’d illustrated your concerns to Ezra from the get-go but as always, he didn’t care what you thought. He pushed your feelings to one side, choosing to listen to himself and himself only. He never played by anyone else’s rules.

When the mercenaries began to call you, part of you waited for Ezra to intervene. Once upon a time he would’ve, but either obtaining aurlac was too important to him, or he’d been so caught up in his ability to use you and degrade you in your private time, he’d become accepting of others treating you that way too. If that was true, you weren’t happy. You could take care of yourself, but still, part of you wished that Ezra would just defend you when scoundrels and crime syndicates such as the mercenaries tried testing your patience.

Another hour passed by and it irked you that he was giving you the silent treatment. He couldn’t be mad at you for running off. Yeah, he hadn’t secured the aurlac like planned, but you were convinced he wouldn’t have ended up with it anyway. They were too suspicious and they displayed the weirdest cult-like behaviour. If it wasn’t for you trying to escape the camp, who knows what would’ve happened.

But according to Ezra, you had sabotaged his whole plan.

He didn’t say a word to you until you had finally arrived back to base.

“I warned you,” Ezra growled, pushing you into a corner. His sudden application of force made you stumble and knock over a few ornaments and items of clutter that decorated your shared pod. With a series of loud crashing sounds, they fell to the ground, but Ezra seemed completely unfazed. You’d think after hours not complete silence, he would’ve calmed down, but evidently not. “Why do you never listen to me, hm? Why are you so disobedient?” he continued, leaning into you so close his face was only centimeters away from yours. You could feel the way his breath fanned over your ear and the sheer warmth of it was intoxicating. You had missed this. You’d missed this kind of proximity with him. It only made you yearn for more.

His voice wasn’t like the usual sweet melody. It was rasp and abrasive. The comments he made were in the form of little snaps and all his questions were rhetoric, as you later found out. He was being so condescending, talking down to you like you were nothing more than worthless inconvenience. If he spoke to you like this when you had first met, you probably would’ve cried. Ezra could be hurtful - maybe even toxic to a degree - but you had known him long enough to know that he did have genuine care for you. This was illustrated through his possessive nature and the way he always put your safety before his own. You had come to learn that this side of Ezra was like an act, and you only encouraged it.

You swallowed, your gaze flicking to the ground as his large hand caressed your stomach. “I don’t… I uhm… I don’t…” you felt yourself become increasingly more flustered as you tried to desperately search for words. It was like he cast you under a spell. You were always so witty, you and Ezra could go for days fighting over who gets the last word. But right now…

“Aw, cat got your tongue?” Ezra chuckled. But his laugh wasn’t warm and welcoming, it was sinister. It was enough to make your heart slam against your chest. He gave your hip a little pinch before removing his gloves and slapping you across the face. You gasped, your shoulders curling inwards and you felt smaller than ever as you sunk down the wall behind you. Your face stung at his action and you shot him a glare.

“Fuck you.” you spat, rubbing the skin that would be burning red in just a few moments.

“I might just take you up on that.” he snarled, bringing the same hand to the column of your neck and wrapping his fingers around it. He squeezed gently at first, and a pathetic little moan escaped your lips. His honey brown eyes darkened with desire at the noise you made as it went straight to his cock.

“You like it when I choke you, huh?” he cooed, his thumb softly grazing the height of your cheekbone before squeezing your neck again, significantly harder this time. Your eyes snapped shut and you gasped, arching your back and pushing your body into his. The constant shift in his demeanor was getting you riled up as you never knew what to expect from him. Soft delicate touches or another slap to the face. He was the one who got to decide, not you. You knew better than to talk back, but still, where was the fun in that?

“You could do it harder.” you smirked playfully, not even sure why you would put that idea in his head. He scoffed, his mouth parting slightly in disbelief before slapping you again in the exact same place as before. You winced, already feeling your eyes become glazed, but ignoring the painful sensation, you offered him a pout of discontentment. He dabbed his finger in the corner of your eye, wiping away a tear, before dragging the same digit down your sore cheek and across your plush lips.

“I’m sure you could put that pretty little mouth of yours to better use.” Ezra growled, reaching down to unzip his pants and pull out his cock.

Within minutes he had you pinned to the floor, completely naked, your arms and legs spread out. He hovered over you, his aching cock in his hand— hard and heavy. He’d left you with no choice but to submit to him. Your arms had been binded up with rope and he’d tied you to the pipes. You couldn’t free yourself if you tried, and you knew better than to resist him.

“When will you learn your lesson?” Ezra asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow as he squeezed your tit. He ran his thumb over your hardening nipple and gave it a little pinch.

“Never.” you gritted out, only to see Ezra’s smirk grow wider.

He hummed casually before positioning himself in between your legs and pushing his thick length inside of you with absolute no warning. Your body jolted with pleasure and you went to grab him, forgetting that you’d been tied up. Your wrists immediately sprung back to position as the pipes on the walls rattled. “Ezra!” you gasped as he settled inside of you. “Fuck— oh my god Ezra.”

He chuckled darkly, spitting on your face and rubbing his saliva into your raw red cheek. Ezra nudged the curve of his nose against yours. Then, his fingers did a little dance across your skin before he brought them down to your aching cunt, beginning to perform an assault on your clit. He was still buried deep inside you as he rubbed your bundle of nerves in tight little circles. He was a pro at many things, but you couldn’t help but feel that he was the absolute best at navigating your body and knowing the best ways to make you feel good.

“Ezra, please.” you whimpered, squeezing your eyes tight shut. He didn’t like that one bit.

“Look at me.” Ezra demanded but his tone was completely lost on you as you felt yourself begin to see stars. Ezra felt it too— the way your pussy clenched around his cock like a vice, signifying that you were close. You mumbled something incoherent, shaking your head as your thighs began to involuntarily twitch. “Look at me, whore.” Ezra drawled out again, staring at you intently as your face screwed up with pleasure. Sighing upon seeing that you had reverted back to your old disobedient ways, Ezra pulled his hand away from your cunt and tutted.

“No!” you cried out as he deprived you from your orgasm. He was still nestled into you, balls deep, not moving.

“I told you to look at me.” Ezra whispered lowly, like it was the simplest thing in the world. You were too busy getting lost in his touch, you hadn’t even realised his instruction. In that moment you hated him for edging you. He knew fine well you were close, but this was just one of Ezra’s typical ways of taking back control.

“Ezra,” you gritted out. “I need you to fuck me.”

“Now, you don’t get to decide that.” Ezra chastised, shaking his head.

“Ezra— please. Fucking— ngh, please move. Please move.” You chanted.

“You act like a brat all day and then you switch up the second I lay my hand on you… beggin’ for more.” Ezra observed. He brought his finger back up to your lips and pushed the digit into your mouth. “Suck.” he commanded, and you did so, willingly. You weren’t in the mood for messing with him anymore. You just ached for him to fuck his seed into you. You knew that he’d reward your good behaviour.

Once he was satisfied that you had licked your juices clean from him, he pulled his finger away from your lips and smiled. It was the smile you had fallen in love with— the smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and a dimple appear in the left of his cheek. “Good girl.” he praised before giving your neck a quick squeeze.

You wanted to plead with him— do anything to get him to move, but you knew that the most you could do was just stay quiet and obey him. Obligate to his every demand.

And it worked. You supposed he was struggling to last too, just stilling inside of you. He wanted to move. He wanted to fuck you just as much as you wanted to be fucked by him. He wanted to show you who was the boss and why you should never— ever— embarrass him like you had done earlier in front of the mercenaries.

His pace was fast and brutal, and his hands roughly palmed at your breasts. Ezra’s gaze flicked down from your scrunched up face to your cunt where he fucked you relentlessly. He watched as your pussy swallowed his cock and he praised you for taking him so well. His once articulate nature had been lost amidst the haze of lust that clouded his vision, and he had succumbed to whispering sweet nothings into your ear. You felt so perfect, your soft walls wrapped around him. Only a few lanterns illuminated the tent. Your folds were glistening under the artificial amber light, slick with your arousal. 

It wasn’t long before you began to jerk your own hips, meeting his thrusts desperately as his balls slapped against your skin. His large hands grabbed onto your thighs as he steadied you, and this time, it was his eyes that had snapped shut. He was close. You could feel it. His lewd moans filled the confines of the tent and you his cock throbbed inside of you. Just the feeling of him filling you up like that was enough to send you over the edge.

Your walls clamped down around him and he slammed his cock into you one last time, as deep as he could before his ropes of cum spurted inside of you. He choked as his orgasm washed over him, and you felt your walls flutter in delight as his cock pulsed inside of you. 

When he pulled out of you, you moaned at the loss of fullness, and Ezra rose to his feet and untied you from the pipes.

“Have you learned your lesson?” he asked, taking your hand and helping you stand.

“For now.” you taunted back, shooting him your most innocent look as if he hadn’t just absolutely railed you. Ezra hummed, ignoring the way his softening cock twitched at the way you fluttered your eyelashes. You had him wrapped around your little finger.

“For now.” he repeated, his tone ominous as he contemplated your words. He pulled open the blankets on the bed and gestured for you to make yourself comfortable. It was the least you deserved after being binded to the floor for the last half an hour. “Rest well, little birdie.” he muttered, stalking around the tent and turning the lanterns off one by one.

“Good night Ezra.”

Permanent taglist: @paintballkid711​  @supernaturalgirl​ @phoenixhalliwell​ @ah-callie​ @stardust-galaxies​ @wickedfrsgrl​ @goth-topic​ @nerdypinupcrystal​ @wonderfulfluffer​ @kiwi-the-first​ @pedroepascal​ @castiel-barnes​ @honeymandos​ @rocketqueen​ @ladycumberbatchofcamelot​ @dybalalover10​ @girl-obsessed-with-things​ @elena-myth​ @moth-guillotine​ @pedro-pascal-love​ @hayley-the-comet​ @pinkninja190​ @maxiarapamaya​ @autumnleaves1991-blog​ @artsymaddie​ @harrys-stan​ @kennedywxlsh​ @cripplingmoon​ @cheekygeek05​ @mrschiltoncat​ @rye-flower​ @theamuz​ @persie33​ @sleepylunarwolf​ @martellthemandalor​ @justanotherblonde23

[whatever-souls-are-made-of]

I saw Eternals last night and oh boy oh boy do I have feelings about it.

So I've seen criticisms about the pacing of the film and how it felt draggy or boring at times but I sat through MoS and BvS so in good faith I cannot say I was ever bored during my first watch of Eternals. If anything I actually needed the moments of quiet and extended transitions to help me process whatever the last scene had thrown at me. There was a lot of information to absorb throughout the whole movie and it helped to stop me from getting confused. The film's score is fucking superb (of course it is, it's Ramin fucking Djawadi) and the cinematography and costumes are beautiful and engaging. You can just absolutely tell a woman directed this film and it works so well.

*Spoilers begin*

I love characters. Holy fuck do I love characters. Ensemble movies are really hard to do justice to but even moreso when the entire ensemble is brand new characters. Cloe Zhao had to make us love an entire 10+ character cast in like two hours and at least for me she succeeded.

I loved Thena so much; the powerhouse tank goddess of war suffering from celestial android PTSD that winds up being the key to the truth about the Eternals themselves was AMAZING. Her partnership with Gilgamesh and how he cared for her and protected her so perfectly while still retaining his own unique personality was perfect; I loved them the way I loved Aquaman's parents. His death was the one to actually get to me and half of that was Angelina Jolie's acting in that scene really selling it to me.

Every single second Kingo is on screen after the timeskip is literally the best. I love his presence as a character and how believable he is as an entire dynasty of Bollywood movie stars. He's entertaining as fuck but still deep and intriguing as a character and I'm very excited to see more from him.

Druig is probably my favorite Eternal by personality and design alone; the fact that he was the first Eternal to question the parameters of their mission and demand to understand why they couldn't intervene even when the humans around them were causing chaos and war. He isn't even necessarily the most ethical of them despite this, considering he was running a mind-control cult in South America when we find him in the modern day, but he's just so intriguing! Plus his relationship with Makkari is just 10/10, absolutely adorable. Speaking of Makkari, I feel like she's going to get a more prominent role in the follow-up film and I'm glad for it. I love speedster characters as a rule and her personality is extremely fun and cute and quirky and I love that she speaks exclusively in ASL. I'm also on the side of "glad that Makkari and Druig didn't kiss" because quite honestly Hollywood has ruined kiss scenes for me 🤷 physically intimate moments that don't include kissing (see; the hug at the end of Rogue One) and that leave the nature of a relationship up for interpretation are my JAM. I'm not sure if I want to view Makkari and Druig as romantic just yet and I get that option because I didn't have to watch them make out. Similarly, I thought the hand-touch scenes between Ikaris and Sersi were so much more profound and moving than anything else they did.

Especially that sex scene. That's literally the only thing I would straight-up cut from the film entirely if I had the option. It went on too long and didn't add anything beneficial or meaningful to the story. It was definitely the sauciest scene Marvel has ever put in a movie but it was unnecessary.

I felt a little shafted when I realized Ajak was already dead at the start of the film. I see why she needed to be, since even after the split of the team during the Inquisition she still had an air of unquestionable authority and if she were alive for any part of the active plot it would have detracted from Sersi's arc in a big way. Also, her armor design was the absolute coolest.

Phastos was BRILLIANT. Absolutely phenomenal from his character design to his growth as a person to his actor's performance. He was animated and present and fascinating in every possible way, and his modern life with his husband and son was just beautiful. Even if it didn't have the added bonus of pissing off homophobes and racists all around the world, I cannot stress enough how excellent the portrayal of his relationship and family was. This was gay representation finally, FINALLY done right. None of the other characters gave him shit or even questioned him for being married to a human man, we didn't suffer through any cliche, pandering lines, and Disney didn't once try to use it as marketing clout. His marriage was depicted as naturally as anything else and that's exactly how you do it.

Also, I've seen discourse stirring up about Phastos and his small scene after the bombing of Hiroshima, and while I do think there is discussion to be had over having specifically the black character in the ensemble voice feeling responsible for humanity's war crimes, I feel like a lot of viewers on tumblr in particular are taking this scene supremely out of context or else wilfully misunderstanding it entirely. Nothing about the scene implies at all that Phastos was directly responsible for nuclear technology. Earlier scenes in Babylon showing him inventing the steam engine for humanity, only for Ajak to instruct him to take it back a notch and settle for introducing them to the plow instead, which he's very put-off by. The scene in Hiroshima is foreshadowed by this, as by the time humanity has reached atomic bomb levels of technology, Phastos believes his assistance in the advancement of human industry and invention helped bring about more destruction and harm than good (and given what Arishem reveals later about the purpose of humanity he isn't completely wrong). Phastos is /not/ responsible but he carries the guilt anyway, though at the same time when he tells Ajak "they aren't worth saving" as he breaks down and cries, he acknowledges that despite his hand in human advancement throughout history, in the end it was the choices of the humans themselves that lead to the destruction. If anything at all throughout our history was going to make a sentient, godlike being truly give up on us, it would probably be nuclear warfare. The inclusion of Hiroshima didn't feel at all like it was done in bad faith or was somehow making light of it (I saw somebody call it a throwaway scene and I just 🤷🤷🤷). Obviously this is just my take on it.

One other thing about Phastos; it's stated repeatedly, by multiple characters, that Ikaris is the strongest of them all and is generally considered unbeatable. Of all the Eternals, Phastos is the only one to keep Ikaris contained for any significant amount of time. He's the only one who comes close to actually defeating him, though both Thena and Makkari give him a good beating. The only thing I want to see more of with Phastos is more of his family, more of his relationship with his husband, more on the people who restored his faith in the people he believed couldn't be worth saving.

Sprite was an exceptionally fun character. Her powers were so cool, and the allusion to her being the source of many of the ancient world's myths and legends is a really interesting idea (the tale of Icarus, the epic of Gilgamesh, etc) I would have been totally happy with her as a plucky sidekick the entire time, but giving her the unrequited love sideplot was actually a really awesome move that gave her frustrations with her presented age and appearance greater depth. She was never portrayed as a rueful or vindictive person towards Sersi or Ikaris despite loving him and bring jealous of her. She loved Sersi too, and stayed with her because they were family. She never blamed Sersi for having things she wanted, and only really held it against her at the very end because she believed she was supporting the "right" side of the conflict (Ikaris'). I personally think one of the biggest missed opportunities for this film was in regards to Sprite; I think it would have been a massive step in the right direction to have made her non-binary. Honestly when I first saw her I didn't even think she was meant to be female; her costume styling and haircut screamed androgynous and her voice and mannerisms didn't skew masculine or feminine to me. I still thought she might even be a boy when she was hiding in the illusion of an older woman at the bar with Sersi and Dane. Nothing else would have had to change at all, not her love for Ikaris or desire to grow, because her entire story arc fits a non-binary character to a T. She even has this incredibly poignant line where she asks, despairingly, why Arishem made her this way. That was the most queer-coded line in a film I've ever heard and I can only imagine how many people struggling with their identities and outward presentations felt seen when they heard it.

The film sort of lost Sprite for me towards the end, if I'm being honest. I thought the plot was setting Ikaris up for a fake out when Sprite chose to go with him and support the completion of the emergence. I thought that Sprite was either planning to sabotage him from the very start or else was going to have an emotionally tumultuous moment fighting her teammates and switch sides during the battle. I felt pretty let down, but also didn't hate that while she was clearly conflicted still, she chose to stand by and choose Ikaris over Sersi despite loving them both. What I didn't particularly get or enjoy was Sersi abruptly offering to make her human with "leftover energy" from the celestial. I don't even understand how the leftover energy worked in the first place, but more to the point I don't feel like Sprite's dissatisfaction with her physical form and frustration with her unrequited affection for Ikaris foreshadowed being turned into a human at the end. It felt very abrupt and flat and I just wasn't that into it. It was my second least-favorite thing after the sex scene.

Also, as a side note; Kingo's Peter Pan allegory was an excellent bit of dialogue. I had absolutely no idea the movie intended for Sprite to be in love with Ikarus the way Tinker Bell loved Peter Pan but once he said it I was like "oh, of COURSE!"

Side note of the side note; Kingo was absolutely in love with Ikaris too. He was playing him in his latest movie when they find him post timeskip, portraying him as the sexy leading heart-throb. He expresses admiration and very unwavering loyalty to Ikaris up until the reveal of the truth, and sits the last battle out entirely because he can't bear to choose sides.

Finally, onto Ikaris. I knew he was shady from the moment he showed up in London. I didn't exactly assume he was going to be the "villain" in the end, but I knew there was something sus about him when Sersi explained he'd just up and disappeared on her without explanation. While their romantic backstory was a little bland, their wedding scene was sweet and it made me sure that whatever made Ikaris leave her before the events of the movie couldn't have been good. I do appreciate that while they kept up the "good soldier, follows orders, doesn't question them" theme they had for him until the very end, I like that he didn't stay robotic or one-note the entire time. Like the Icarus of mythology, he's shown to be a bit vain and overconfident at times ("I could lead them" (the Avengers) and also funny and a little awkward ("I am beautiful"/"You're breaking up?"/ getting yeeted into a building by a deviant while clearly trying to make an impressive entrance for Sersi in London). He was subtle but he wasn't absolutely blank, so when his true colors were revealed in the flashback it was all the more jarring. This heroic vestige of a man lead his leader, who trusted and loved him, to her death and then watched her die, only to then plant her body strategically to feed into his lies. Yes, I absolutely bought how much it pained him to kill Ajak, just as I bought his feelings of absolute failure after the death of the celestial inside Earth, but he still did it all. He lied to and manipulated his family, successfully killed one and tried pretty damn hard to kill several others. The only thing I didn't care for was that after all that, after killing Ajak and then threatening and fighting his teammates without so much as a blink, he suddenly just absolutely can't bring himself to harm Sersi at all. He falls to his knees and watches her win, and then accepts his failure and flies into the sun. He self-destructs because his perceived weakness for the woman he loves made him lose his fight. On paper it all looks really good and I feel like it probably resonated well with lots of audiences, but I don't know, the "I will do anything for my cause but I can't kill her because I love her" just falls really flat for me.

I'm also just a bit bummed out because at first when he flew into space I thought he was just going to exile himself as some kind of self-punishment. I thought maybe he'd return in the sequel with some sort of reformed outlook and maybe face consequences for murdering Ajak and fighting his family. Unlike some "redeemed" characters (Kyle Ron comes to mind here) he actually had a basis for a believable redemption and I liked him enough on screen to want to see it.

(Also my stupid shipper brain immediately saw Sersi and Dane as the superior couple, but figured hey, Sersi has two hands. She deserves two boyfriend's to hold them. I hope somebody else with the same brainrot as me writes some Dane/Sersi/Ikaris thruple nonsense, even just a little).

Dane was a fun character, but beyond character himself I was literally just so happy to hear Kit Harrington actually get to speak real dialogue and emote and shout and act like a fucking human being. Three straight seasons of Jon Snow unintelligibly grunting almost had be convinced the man couldn't act at all. Now that I've seen Tobias Menzies in The Crown and Kit Harrington in this, I'm even more retroactively pissed at Game of Thrones for absolutely wasting these actors' potential (and don't even get me started on how badly they wasted Lena Headey in the final season). I'm very excited to see what The Black Knight has to offer us.

Y'all, Gemma Chan is too beautiful for this world. Her cheekbones alone could stop wars. I have a new celebrity crush and she's going to be living rent free in my brain for at least a few months. I love the concept of Sersi's character so much; I love that from the moment she's introduced she's the most human of all the Eternals. Her very first scene is her appreciating how beautiful the earth is. She's the first on the team to get right into human society, learning their languages and helping them with their daily routines. She has a human wedding ceremony. In the present day, she's a teacher with a human boyfriend, and the first thing we see her do with her powers post timeskip is save a child's life and hug her to comfort her after. Throughout her struggles with coming to terms with being Ajak's chosen replacement, she chooses kindness at every possible chance. She doesn't even initially want to kill the celestial that threatens the continued existence of Earth; she just wants to put it to sleep, to avoid being responsible for the murder of what is essentially one of her Gods.

My gripe with Sersi is I feel like she inadvertently becomes the audience surrogate for long stretches of the middle of the film, and we lose her and miss chunks of her arc because she fades into the background. I still don't understand how she turned a deviant into a tree, despite it being the thing that leads her to eventually defeat the celestial by turning it into whatever she turned it into. Her powers are based in matter manipulation but it's almost too vague. I feel like out of all the ensemble cast, Sersi got the least amount of actual growth because so much of her time as the main character was spent providing exposition and being the audience stand-in for understanding the plot. Her talks with Arishem might have been much better as chapters in a book rather than movie scenes. She wasn't boring or non-competing, but she fell flatter to me than the rest of the Eternals and I think that's a disservice to both the character and the actress.

[ladeaeveld]

Notes on Tevinter Nights

I finished reading Tevinter Nights not so long ago, so here is an overview of what is happening in Thedas. There is probably nothing particularly new since I'm a bit late to the party. However, I find such overviews convenient to refresh my memory when needed. Perhaps it will be useful to someone else!

This overview was meant to be short, but there were so many interesting details... now, it is huge.

Also, since I’ve read the translated version, any help with wording clarifications is greatly appreciated!

The post is under a cut due to Tevinter Nights spoilers (and length).

Global events

- There is a war between the Qunari and Tevinter.

- Three branches of the Qun do not agree with each other. The Antaam, the military branch of the Qun, attacked Ventus and continued the invasion without the permission of the other two. It results in faster progress of the invasion as the other two branches were a moderating influence on the Antaam. The Ben-Hassrath holds a neutral position.

- In Tevinter, the Venatori are still a problem.

- Smaller countries like Rivain and Antiva are under serious threat of the Qunari’s invasion.

- The heads of the Antivan Crows, eight Talons, held a meeting to join their forces, protect Antiva, and withstand the Qunari's invasion. The meeting was disrupted, and four out of eight Talons were murdered. New heads of the Crows will be chosen soon.

- The king of Nevarra is on the brink of death. The Mortalitasi, who have always had great power in Nevarra, continue to interfere in politics.

- All the Grey Wardens were summoned to Weisshaupt.

- We were introduced to a considerable amount of characters from the guild of treasure hunters, the Lords of Fortune.

- Regarding the Inquisition, little is known. All external issues of the organization seem to be handled by Varric Tethras. He gives quests, monitors their implementation, hires new people.

- One of the Executors, or ‘those across the sea’, showed up in the flesh. Solas said they are particularly dangerous and cautioned against interacting with them.

- By now, many have heard rumours of the Fen’Harel’s cult.

Minrathous

- A demon or something far worse is imprisoned under Minrathous. With the help of the Venatori, it is now unsealed (will probably be sealed again later). Yet, to awake it, some blood-magic ritual must be performed.

- The creature was sealed with eight blood-bonded enchanted clay disks. They showed a long and thin four-winged dragon rising from the dark waters.

- It is said that ‘demon’ is not the best word to describe this creature. It is something ancient and mighty, unnamed, something that will subject to god only.

- This ‘demon’ was a part of Corypheus’ plan of making Tevinter great again. According to this plan, Minrathous was to become the cradle of the new world. If Minrathous had not surrendered to Corypheus, the ‘demon’ would have left the city no choice.

- Most of the population of Minrathous could have perished as a result of this creature awakening.

- Enchanted predators and monsters resulting from magical experiments seem to be common in Minrathous.

Elven experiments

- In Nevarra, under a mountain with three asymmetric peaks wrapped around each other, there is a dwarven thaig. This thaig is called Hormak, and it was lost to the darkspawn hundreds of years ago.

- In Hormak, Grey Wardens have found elven halls, where experiments on living were conducted. And it is quite lively in these halls now.

- There is a huge pool with a greyish fluid that reeks of brine. It creates hybrids.

- There were different types of hybrids: darkspawn with other darkspawn, animals with other animals, darkspawn with animals, and even a centipede and a Grey Warden hybrid.

- When a hurlock stepped in the greyish fluid, it was enveloped and then transformed into a drake and a hurlock hybrid.

- The transformed Grey Warden said that the fluid affects ‘them’ (sentient races?) differently. To be transformed, it is not enough to touch it. The fluid should get inside the body.

- All over the place were large repetitive bas-reliefs depicting ancient elven. There were three types of them. The first one showed majestic elven kings and queens with reverent supplicants. The second one showed elven mages healing sick. The third showed big aravels, drawn by herds of hallas, going to distant mountains (one of the mountains had three peaks wrapped around each other).

- Later, those bas-reliefs were described differently. On the first one, elven rulers were arrogant and despised their subjects, who seemed to be in great terror. On the second one, mages weren’t healing sick, but on the contrary, they were injecting corruption into bodies. On the third, a halla had a strange rounded body and very long and ridged horns, and an aravel had bars on its windows, which made it look like a cage.

- Somewhere at the entrance of the halls was one more type of repetitive bas-reliefs. It showed three figures: a supplicant, a priestess, and a monster. On each subsequent bas-relief, a supplicant and a monster were different, while the priestess remained the same. It seemed that with each subsequent bas-relief, her grin grew wider.

- The experiments are directed by some will, which is referred to as a female. ‘She’ is not yet there, ‘they’ are waiting for ‘her’.

- Symbols of horns of a halla are present on each column in the halls.

- According to bas-reliefs, there are twelve such places in total.

The Inquisition members and allies

For completeness, this part should have included information from the comic, but I tried to avoid that.

- According to Tevinter Nights, Varric and Charter remained in the ranks of the Inquisition.

- Charter mentions her lover, Tessa.

- Vaea and ser Aaron show up but without a clear relation to the Inquisition.

- There are two mages, Vadis and Irian, who saved a peaceful Qunari settlement called Kont-aar from an agent of Fen'Harel, thus keeping the chance of subtle peace between the Ben-Hassrath and Tevinter. The Ben-Hassrath returned the favour by directing said mages to Kirkwall, to a certain dwarf, where they intend to go after seeing Val Royeaux.

- Sutherland and Company are still loyal to the ideals of the Inquisition.

- Quentin Calla, who was a bearer of the enchanted clay disk for a while, provided the Inquisition with some information.

- Philliam, a Bard!, (formerly) Sister Laudine, and Brother Ferdinand Genitivi, with the help of the Lord of the Fortune, Mateo, accepted and completed the quest from the Inquisition.

Fen’Harel and the red lyrium idol

- The red lyrium idol's adventures ended. It is now in Solas' hands, or at least he says so.

- There are three descriptions of the red lyrium idol's appearance. The first one, made by the dwarf, the Carta assassin: two figures, too thin to be dwarves, caressing each other. The second one, by Mortalitasi: two lovers or a god mourning the sacrifice. The third, by Solas: crowned figure comforting another one. (Note: I remind you these are not exact quotes but a translation of the translation, and nuances might have been lost.)

- Some qualities of the idol: red lyrium weighs more than the usual one; the idol is liquid inside; it reacts to other lyrium.

- The idol created or revealed a ritual blade.

- Solas calls the idol his.

- The Mortalitasi recounted the events in the Fade in which Solas took a form of a giant wolf the size of a high dragon. He had burning eyes like those of a pride demon and wings of fire which later resolved themselves into lesser demons. The Fade is called his natural home, and it is said spirits serve him gladly.

- Solas pays special attention to the actions of the Inquisition.

- Members of Fen'Harel's cult would rather die than be captured.

- The ritual the Dread Wolf performs already affects the Fade.

Random interesting facts

- The Qunari slowly cut down a part of the Arlathan Forest.

- The Ben-Hassrath are said to know the most about Solas’ actions.

- Among four killed Talons was Giuli Arainai, Eighth Talon, and this might be a good time for Zevran to show up somehow.

- There was a lyrium crystal that produced a light with shades of green and yellow in Hormak.

- Dorian no longer has slaves, only hired labourers.

- Josephine sent Dorian some good Antivan wine. :)

- Vaea now possesses a healing artefact, which seems to be able to heal anything except death.

- There is an example of a dwarven metal prosthetic of a leg, which does not seem to restrict movement in any way.

Since I’ve read Tevinter Nights after the last Dragon Age Day... - Evka became a Grey Warden and did rescue the next one!

- The hunger demon that turned a person into a werewolf in the village called Eichweill was not completely defeated.

- It seems those elven artefacts do strengthen the Veil, after all.

- The Randy Dowager is Ferdinand Genitivi. Five scarves fluttered in shock out of five.

⠀

This is all for Tevinter Nights for now. I did not include plenty of curious facts, probably enough for another post. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!

If you have any corrections regarding facts, or grammar, etc., don’t hesitate to DM me! Or you may leave a comment in my ask box if you want to stay anonymous.

Thank you for the attention, and have a nice day!

[nomouthtospeakof]

WIP wednesday

thank you @a-drama-addict​ for tagging me! same as always, don’t know who to tag, take this as invitation and tag me in whatever you make lol

i kinda had to rummage for WIPs to share, which is funny to say because this is the most i’ve posted for one of these lmao. both drawings (albeit less WIPs and more fun doodles) and writing (albeit less likely to get finished than my other stuff)! usually i’d put the art up and the fic under a cut BUT i’m gonna do it vice versa bc one of the doodles is of an upsettingly skinny anders so, warning for that! anyways -

Felix left Tevinter surrounded by unfamiliar and untrusted faces, helmeted and hooded and masked, his father’s the only one amongst them all that he thought he could trust. He was confused and weary, too relieved with the prospect of his father finally abandoning stagnation and too hopeful with the thought of Dorian potentially rejoining them for him to ask too many questions, for him to dig his heels in and beg his father not to go, or at least not to drag him along. He wished he had - if there was anyone who could have talked his father out of this when opportunity first hooked at his flesh, it was him - but it had been so long since he’d seen this kind of excitement in his eyes.

When he finally returned home, he came alone.

The greeting was mixed - he had left friends behind here, and they welcomed him back warmly. Others, distant family and closer allies, were eager to worm themselves into his good graces as quickly as possible, hoping the heirless head of House Alexius would name them in his soon-to-be-read will (amusingly, some of them had sided with his grandfather when the patriarch before last had tried to sever him from the family name forever - Felix had long since forgiven them, but he hadn’t forgotten).

Still others watched him from a distance, wary; he had worn the robes of the Venatori just a month ago, and he had since betrayed them. Both those aligned with and against the cult had reason to detest him. He paid them little mind.

The Tevinter court was a hazardous place, to say the very least. Despite generally hearty genes and a life spent largely inside away from the fields and workhouses, only half of the senators and more important officials made it past fifty years, and the hourglass’s sand only ran faster from there. Each time one used the wrong word, the wrong title, the wrong curtsey, the wrong spoon at dinner, their chance at finally meeting death in the near future doubled. Tripled, if those they offended happened to already be in a mood.

Ironically, Felix had never felt more untouchable walking through the senate than now. Ten years ago he would have pissed himself if he had to speak in front of the Magisterium for any length of time - now, he could hardly care less about what the court thought of him as he sung the Inquisition’s praises and condemned the Venatori and any other nationalist movements that fed upon hopeless, fearful men like his father and sic'd them like dogs against other hopeless and fearful men.

No matter how many little aghast gasps or mocking murmurs he heard, he refused to bite his tongue or curb his language. After all, what were they going to do if he offended them? Kill him?

and the doodles! vvv

[reddus-sideblog]

Dark Heresy Narrative Writing

I wrote out a sort of “ending scene” to the end of the last Dark Heresy session I GMed, on a whim.

Much to the Acolyte’s dismay the maimed Masquerader’s body suddenly went limp, joining the state of his erstwhile comrades. Tyr released a bassy, static-infused sigh while Octavius cursed under his breath. Asher, for his part, continued kneeling beside the heretic’s body, his outstretched hand faltering, then falling limp by his side.

“Damnation, boy”, growled Octavius, “you couldn’t have checked him for suicide pills?”

Asher was a bit at a loss for words, he had been psychically plumbing the more surface levels of the Scarlet Masquerader’s mind, before diving deeper in to reveal concealed information about the cult. While the panic of guildsmen and other civilians faded away as he focused his efforts had been contested and blocked by the extreme pain the cultist was in. These distractions had done little to dissuade the psyker’s mental probe, and as he pried at the latches of his target’s mind they had burst open, just momentarily. But just as suddenly, however, Asher was ejected from cultist’s depraved mind as his consciousness suddenly stopped existing, shunting the mental intruder back to the physical plane.

“Well what was I supposed to do?”, asked Asher, frustratedly. The other cultists had either escaped or else were far more dead, much of their forms reduced to ash by Tyr’s marksmanship. The psyber creature that had assaulted them was now little more than debris under the mag-rail that had pulled into the transport station but moments ago, it’s current location also being the handiwork of Asher’s psionic ability. They were surrounded by frightened citizens, the dead, and dead ends.

Octavius glared at the young mutant from under his helmet, Asher’s midnight black complexion made his eyes, and thus his look of indignation, stand out all the more. The ritualist’s glare abated momentarily, as it was transferred to the masses about them. This confrontation had been unfortunately public, and after his brief stint as “The Arch-Heretic of Londinium” Octavius was not eager to be in the public eye any more than utterly necessary.

The elder’s reveries was broken with a whip-crack of physical reality being torn asunder as Asher was already working on their exit. While all of the Acolytes had their misgivings about such a dramatic use of psychic powers in public the alternative of escaping via more conventional methods was less enticing, as the Arbites would be showing up all to soon. The first indistinct, then much more focused image of the Inquisitorial Facility came into view through the Warp portal Asher was manifesting, before it became wholly stable. The actinic reek of Warp energy flooded the mag-rail platform and the masses recoiled at the obvious and powerful witchcraft, while Asher stood up and sullenly plodded through the portal he had created, the winds of the other world whipping at his hood and mostly covered stark white bangs.

Tyr made to go through the temporary gateway before being waylaid by Octavius. “Help me with this, would you?”, the occultist asked, as he attempted to lift the now quite dead Masquerader that Asher had been mind probing. The arachnine techpriest aided his ally with ease, and the two walked through the portal none too soon before it closed and made their way through the Facility’s halls, a funeral procession for a none too deserving deceased.

They deposited the corpse of the cultist onto one of Tyr’s dissection tables, and both of the present Acolytes took a moment to gather themselves. Once they caught their breath the two venerable men began to complain about their more youthful companion’s impertinence and impetuousness, along with his lack of foresight, at some length. After this all-too-common verbal exercise had run it’s length Tyr and Octavius sat in silence for some time, before the techpriest addressed the grox in the room.

“So...did you bring him to be rendered down for ritual components? Surely he’s well beyond any other use to us...”, said Tyr, trailing off in uncertainty. He was never quite sure of the extent or breadth of Octavius’ eldritch abilities, so his ability to foresee much of his compatriot’s further moves was often obscured by this mystery.

“You’ll see soon enough.” said Octavius, dispelling none of the mystery surrounding his actions. “Keep the body preserved, we will have further use for it.” Having said this Octavius took off with a confident, slow saunter.

Tyr contemplated the occultist’s words as he prepared the body for storage in the Facility’s mausoleum section, indexing it’s location in his mental vaults and seeing it off as orderly servitors propelled the slab to it’s cryo-crypt. If his previous experiences in the Inquisition over the past 2 years, most especially those around Octavius, were anything to go by, he was sure that the plan would involve all manner of dark sorceries and things contravene to the doctrine of the Imperial Cult, the Cult Mechanicus, and general morality. Tyr was, for his part, intrigued.

[dragonanarchist1155]

Ok so bear with me I gotta talk about at least one of my OCs while my stomach pain goes away (with the help of warmth and a bit of mint)

So

I think I haven't yet Posted about my dear friend Junnahed right?

Well, he does need a bit of an introduction then.

A fairly inquisitive dragon cleric is not something you would expect to find that often in your travels but Junnahed just goes anywhere, really anywhere.

He walks on the Steps of Saffiya, the famous Daknin explorer. Though instead of doing it because of a sense of self discovery and closure after the death of a loved one, he's more doing it because he doesnt feel at place anymore in the rapidly changing Daknin society and world.

He was taken in as a young hatchling by wandering priests of the god of healing of the Kiana snake people of the east, though was never much religious and nothing really stuck to him, he got really in deep on the knowdlege a out magic, especially restoration, healing and diagnosis criteria.

He set off at a fairly young age from the small temples at the dragon-snake border towns on small travels towards his homeland, but the rapidly modernizing Daknin tribes never really felt fulfilling for the old-spirit of travel that filled his heart, filled with stories about the nomadic Daknin and the wandering gods of the snake people.

He would not discuss it with anyone else, but he always believed that the "winged blue snake" form of the healing snake goddess was more than likely a wandering daknin healer of old. This belief fed his desire to set out on a trip of his own, as he saw himself and many others in the grandiose stories about the old gods. Maybe he could help people just like they did?

Junnahed set out one day with the blessings of his adoptive family and the promise of all the young students of the cult of the healer that he would always have a home to come back, and friends to rely upon, on the faith.

He thanked them, even though he knew he was unlikely to return.

His first adventure was... a bit crazy. But you kinda learn a few things after almost being eaten by an owl, successfully threatening bandits, defeating a chaotic monster on an unstable volcanic plateau, and saving a rich man from a stroke. Needless to say after that last one he didnt have much problems about money for a while.

Spears are a weapon of choice, like most Daknin. Unlike most Daknin though, he never learned how to ride a horse. He flies anywhere he needs to instead, and is proud of it. He carries a small sack behind his back, over his tail inbetween his wings. In it is most of his livelihood. Many books written by him, full of information, stories and diaries. Magic tomes with handwritten notes, spell components for combat, and ocassionally a skull or some bones for intimidation... which he routinely replaces with new ones as he progresses through his travels, after giving proper burial and respects to them for helping him prevent combat. This has been off putting at times with some cultures, but the usual Daknin approach to Pacifism has always been like that.

Though he wears a dark Gambeson coat frequently, he also wears an old upper plate below it, after finding out that for all he had read about combat in the old books of the priests of healing, it really bloody hurts to get hit by a sword on the ribs, even if it doesnt penetrate, especially when you are kinda skinny for a dragon.

If you ever meet him, expect a fairly talkative and respectful dragon, who will respect your customs and listen and ask for hours on end, who will heal you free of charge should you need it, and will usually hang around if asked, even if only for adventure's sake.

He has probably not realized yet he has already left his home world, through unknown means, and will likely not realize so unless significant effort is made towards trying to show him that.

In his belt lies a holy symbol of the winged god of healing, which he uses for mass healing spells should the need arise.

He sleeps like a cat, curled up on top of warmth and soft bedding (usually his sleeping pack which is a sturdy piece made by a thankful store owner crow man, after he spent an entire day helping him sort boxes of supplies), his feathery wing wrapped on top of him, and his tail wrapped around himself, or anyone else he is sleeping with.

He's asexual, even though he does not know the name for it, though he is a hopeless romantic, who frequently has both friendship and romance crushes of fellow adventurers he has spent time with and gotten to know. He is not prone to rage unless someone steals from him. Nomadic Culture makes him fairly comfortable with giving people anything they might need if asked, even though it might hurt him long term, but stealing from a dragon does not go well in any world.

He has sharp teeth, a sharp spear and floofy ears. He will become your friend, and that is a threat.

:3

_______

If you want to unsubscribe from Nike's Oc's facts then hide the tag #oc-stuff because I'll occasionally do this shit when I feel bad but have thoughts™️

Y'all have a good night, my stomach pain has calmed down and I will put on pjs and sleep.

[kat-hawke]

Kul Tiran Backing

A puddle broke beneath the soles of the Director's boots as she journeyed through the rain across the city of Boralus. Eyes swept across open streets from beneath the hood of the long coat, drops of water cascading off to the sides. The amount of rainfall here stirred up memories of her Gilnean childhood for only a minute before she shifted focus to the upcoming meeting.

"I don't think I've ever seen you nervous," Alyssa chimed across the telepathic link. "Anxious, sure. But nervous—"

"Are you making a point here, or?" Kat interrupted.

"No. Just curious. Why does she make you nervous and not anyone else?"

"It's not her. It's the topic at hand. Doing this puts an unnecessary risk on other financial ventures and our relation, should she decline. Yet, I'm left with little other options to seek funding." Kat admitted as the office came into view across the plaza.

"There's also the matter of what I plan to do. Pad her funding line with my own coin to avoid potential investigations into my financials. She won't like it, I know. To keep that behind her back creates more risk while revealing the matter could turn her away."

"Well, if she doesn't need to know, then why risk it? What she doesn't know won't hurt her." The dagger-bound woman practically shrugged in her tone.

"It could hurt us both. I'll consider your point," Kat sneered.

Drowning out the warlocks reply, she swung the office door open, the bell above the frame emitting the soft chime throughout the space, announcing Kat's arrival to the noblewoman seated at the desk. Pulling back the soaked hood with a smile, the pair commenced with the standard pleasantries. An informal greeting, inquiring on one another's state of wellbeing, and a brief catch-up of the recent Scourge invasion.

"My family is all well and safe, and Stormhollow did not suffer the Scourge. I would consider things well and good." Lady Stalsworth answered as she eased back into the seat, following their courteous handshake.

"Glad t'hear," Kat nodded, swinging one knee over the other as she dropped into the adjacent chair. "Gransonee was spared from the dead risin' again as well. So, no effect on our current arrangements as it stands." She paused for a moment. "Unless, of course, ya' wish fer changes?"

"Unless there are reasons why I should wish for changes, I see no need. Do you?"

The Director shook her head slowly. "None wot-so-eva. Th' profit flows, th' people are happy, and the hamlet has been able t'repair and expand some infrastructure. Most importantly, it keeps Jasper out of m'ear."

Elaianna chuckled in a breath, a faint smile touching the corner of her lips. "You did not write to me about our current business affairs, but rather, a new one if I am to understand your letter correctly?"

The pleasantries were dismissed. Both women preferred to discuss business over the former at every meeting.

"That is correct, yes. While this proposal is of another nature, it bears no effect on the current trade agreemen'." Kat cleared her throat, ignoring a comment from Alyssa as she pulled a ledger from the coat. "I'm sure yer aware of th' current state of the Kingdom, yes?"

"Presuming you mean things such as the King's absence and an ill-chosen replacement on the throne in the meantime? Yes. I cannot say things are any better here, as the Lord Admiral has also gone missing."

"I was referin' more t'the current economic situations." The Director clarified, collecting her hands upon the leather cover of the ledger.

"Aye," the Lady dipped her head in a shallow nod. "Such things come with recent events."

"More-so when on th' tailwinds of a long and costly war," Kat added. "Stormwind is, well t'be blunt, fractured. Th' military cutbacks, coffers empty...surely ya' know wot follows there. Taxes and overexertion. Th' nobles houses are all in a tiff, vyin' fer favors and agreements in exchange fer gold. Sharks, th' lot of 'em."

"I am an affluent woman, but I cannot cease an entire kingdom from going into taxation," Elaianna remarked, weaving her fingers together and studying the Director. "So what favor and agreement are you looking for?"

Kat quickly wet her lips, knowing her discomfort in this proposal was visible to a small degree, and while the dagger-bound woman was silent, Kat knew she was listening. Without further delay, she promptly opened the ledger to her Unit's budget and slid it across to Elaianna.

"I do no' have th' time or patience t'lobby the houses while they are in congress fer fundin', nor would I likely care for th' things they ask in exchange. My Unit is internal affairs, we are no' combat facin', but many believe wot we do is of little value."

"What -do- you do? Especially in times post-war?" Lady Stalsworth inquired, glancing over the ledger.

"Th' same as we would durin' war. We handle issues that extend beyond th' capabilities of the guards; serial killin's, drug cartels, slave rings, th' occasional cults." Kat picked at her nails in her lap, out of the other's view.

"Our latest project has no' been well received by m'peers, and I narrowly dodged havin' the Unit axed with my proposal. With the right resources and time, we could document and categorize these dangerous people's thought processes and mental states. Study them, if you will, and create a possible method t'detect these behaviors before they manifest into somethin' larger. However, with no fundin' or resources, I canno' produce the results needed to keep my Unit from disbandment."

"And you're looking for..." Elaianna asked as she found no estimated total within the ledger.

"Wot eva yer willin' t'give." Kat answered plainly. "I hate t'even ask at all, given our current professional relationship. And I certainly do no' expect charity either."

The Lady nodded again, motioning toward the Director. "Would monthly increments be of use, or were you hoping for a singular lump sum?

"Monthly would be ideal, luv'. A lump sum may create too much of a surplus that others may try to pillage."

"I can commit to supporting your Unit on a monthly basis." Elaianna pushed the ledger back across the desk with her answer.

Inquisitively, Kat stared and collected the ledger, returning the book to her coat as she hesitantly asked, "And in return?"

With a simple shrug, the Lady answered, "I would ask what I would hope you would already do. If you happen upon any knowledge of a threat to Stormhollow or my family, you will let me know so that we might protect our people and ourselves."

A soft hum rattled with Kat's throat. This was something she would have done already, yes. But while Elaianna had never given her a reason to be mistrusted, Kat struggled to believe one would ask only this in return for funding. A thought that Alyssa did little to dismiss.

"That I would already do, yes. Though I will add that if ya' have an issue within Stormhollow that falls within wot m' Unit handles, I would be more than happy t'direct focus there until the matter is resolved."

"Thank you."

Kat lifted her hand, "it is I who owes ya' thanks, twice over."

"Then let us call it a deal." Elaianna smiled, extending her hand over the desk to cement the agreement.

Now at the crossroad of revealing or secreting her intend, Kat's conflicting thoughts churned again as she eyed the offered hand. Forcing her way through, she began to reach but recoiled at the last second.

"Don't do it," Alyssa argued to no avail.

"There is one more thing," Kat muttered, clearing her throat.

"I will pull funds from my personal accounts, those undocumented linked to Gransonee. Doin' so on m'own would draw attention and force m'hand into revealin' th' island and hamlet publicly, which would then force a pledge to the Alliance or vassalage t' a noble house. Against the wishes of its people. I will hide th' funds I sent in the same ledger line as yer own." The Director admitted, letting out a heavy breath as if a weight had been lifted.

"I wanted ya' t'know, rather than keep it hidden from ya' and risk an auditory blowback."

Immediately, Elaianna's lips pursed, and a low hum vibrated behind the displeased expression as the offered hand was withdrawn. The silence which followed lingered uncomfortably between them for a solid minute as Kat held her breath and avoided the Lady's gaze.

"I suspect such will not pose a problem," Elaianna finally spoke, "as it is assisting the Kingdom."

Kat's shoulders dropped as she relaxed and let out her breath.

"I wanted t'be honest and transparent in m'intentions than lead ya' blind and risk everythin'."

"I appreciate that," The Lady smiled faintly. "Thank you."

"Th' consequences will be mine, and only mine t'bear should anythin' happen." Kat offered her hand to complete the transaction with a nod, relieved when Elaianna nodded and took the hand in a firm shake.

"Let us hope such things do not come to be."

Standing to exit, Kat fixed the position of her coat, which had shifted slightly while seated. The hood remained down, as the sound of rainfall beyond the door had ceased during their exchange.

"Light and Shadow keep ya' and yer family, Lady Stalsworth."

"Tides guide you and yours, Lady Hawke."

Resisting the urge to correct and discourage using such a title, Kat resigned to dipping her head and turning towards the door. Quickly leaving the office and taking in the scent of the city after the rain. She knew Alyssa overheard every word and would likely inquire on details but cut the inquisitive warlock off before she had a chance.

"Another time," Kat implored, "I promise. Just give me time."

[ @elaianna, @alyssa-ward​ ]

[ Relevant: @tristanasneak, @jocelyn-wellson, @myzariel, @nikkithorpe, @lovelydeadlysocialite, @quinn-varden ]

[dgcatanisiri]

(1/2) I got such a big facepalm when Dorian appiered in tevinter nights and how writing deliberately mentioned that he have only the servants now. I just... Bioware really should stop pretending that Dorian didnt defent horrible things. If anyone of their scenarits gave at least half of theit shit, Dorian could have finally had a conflicked he (as a character) so despiratly needed in Inquisition.

(2/2) But it would probably make many players uncomfortable with their "Best Gay Friend" being not so perfect cinnamon roll UWU as they want, so Bioware just run from risk as fast as from a shitting elefant. Writers dont want Dorian to grow, just be a stereotipical LGBT-doll to bait the audience. The worst thing is - it actually worked... It sickens me. (sorry for my bad english btw) 

I mean, I really would have been down for a “Dorian learns that slavery is bad” push through Inquisition - we have Krem, Bull’s trusted right hand among the Chargers, whose father sold himself into slavery because he couldn’t compete with the prices of slave labor, and yet there’s not even a passing encounter between them. We have Varric, who was friends with an escaped Tevinter slave, and yet Fenris isn’t even NAME-CHECKED, let alone discussed as an example of what is wrong in Tevinter. We have the encounter with Gatt, and, while I understand not making it a must-have encounter because of variation possibilities, Dorian just gets catty at him because he represents the Qunari, rather than having even a moment of recognition that this freed elven slave looked at staying in slavery and joining the Qun, and unreservedly joined the Qunari - kinda shoots holes in that whole “poverty is the same as slavery” thing when the Qun looks better to someone who has suffered under those systems.

But no. We have Dorian revealing that his father would have straightened him out if he’d gotten the chance (and getting the option to push Dorian to “forgive” him, which HELL. NO. and I resent the implication that it’s somehow “better” to do that). And we have Dorian getting harassed by Mother Giselle, framed in such a way that we can only disagree with her asking after the intentions of the Tevinter mage among the Inquisition - when a Tevinter cult centered around an ancient Tevinter magister is the actual enemy of the game. Her concerns are completely justifiable, but the game wants to set her up as a straw villain in opposition to Dorian, with no real room to accept her point of view. But DORIAN, no, he’s got to be in the right.

Like I’ve said before, Dorian just comes across as little more than a prop - there to drop the “homophobia is bad” anvil and then be the ego boost for the female Inquisitor with the “safe” flirting - flirting that leads to that conversation where the Inquisitor will accuse him of leading her on, he’ll offer that line of “in another life” that I despise, and then tell him to keep fluffing her ego. He’s there to be the bestie character, not a character in his own right.

I mean, note that when BioWare DID write a gay character who shut that “friendly flirting” down right off with Gil in Mass Effect Andromeda, Gil has been sidelined all over the fandom. And while part of that is certainly BioWare setting the scene with the combination of minimal focus on him and a homophobic storyline... When it’s compared to Dorian, it gets very, VERY concerning to me on the subject of representation.

Because, end of the day, BioWare is still a business, still trying to make money. And making money means focusing and continuing their successes, cutting their losses when things aren’t working out. So the business approach here says that Dorian is a success, so keep chasing a repeat. Meaning that there’s a not-unreasonable-expectation that whoever DA4′s gay option is, he’ll be a prop as well, yet another gay character suffering something exclusive to his experience as a gay man.

Worse, even, because if they don’t do something like this, when we’re heavily expected to be in TEVINTER and hobnobbing with the elite of that nation, then there are two options to BioWare - either they don’t comment on homophobia in Tevinter, gutting the emotional core of Dorian’s story outright by making it into “not that big a deal” in reality, or they try and argue that Dorian’s efforts at reform have already been turning the tide, which... No. That’s not how society works. If they were already near the point where Dorian’s (acknowledged to be!) long shot minority party has been able to impact society that much, then it was already nearing that change, and, look at that, the emotional core of Dorian’s story is gutted anyway, because now Halward was doing this at a point that it would have reflected poorly on him in society.

BioWare doesn’t THINK about how the things they include will impact the rest of the world. It’s all immediate gains at the expense of future world-building. I mean, hell, that much was obvious with all the snapback Trespasser put the Inquisitor’s choices through, making everything more or less the same.

But it hits with Dorian in a different way because the game wants us to see him as a “good” Tevinter, without ever asking the question of if there ever really can be a “good” Tevinter. And my answer is “not among the Magisterium.” The good Tevinters are ones like Krem, like Fenris, the people who’ve been beaten down by the systems of Tevinter and have no voice.

I stand by the idea that, if BioWare wants us to have some kind of conflict in DA4, some decision point, where Dorian’s life hangs in the balance and it defines who gets to “rule” Tevinter going forward... Honestly, I can very easily accept Dorian as a casualty. Of course, given how BioWare has gone out of their way to play him up as “the good Tevinter” in the last few years with their supplementary material (he’s been in like every comic story arc they’ve published over the last few years in some capacity, even just a one-issue cameo), I’m reluctant to believe they’d actually even go through with that - “oh, no one would sacrifice Dorian, so let’s not put that in, no one would choose [other option] over him.”

I get that, in a barren landscape, Dorian represents a very powerful SOMETHING to audiences. Hell, I even understand the people who are moved by his story, even if I’d deeply critical of it - just because I find it reduces him to a prop for the development of the straight man who would have done that to him, that doesn’t mean that other people can’t find meaning and can’t connect with Dorian himself. But it’s a very real counterpoint that, in a barren landscape, Dorian also by design fails to be what just as many people needed him to be as he provides. And, rather than listen to anyone who was left unsatisfied, the overwhelming attitude I’ve seen from both the fandom, in their treatment of anyone who DOES have criticisms towards him, and BioWare, in their portrayal through merch (having his hoodie modeled by and shaped for women’s bodies) and supplementary material (the comics, Tevinter Nights), don’t care to address, that they want to just sweep it under the rug and lavish praise on Dorian for being what he is in Inquisition.

And, again, all I see in Inquisition is a prop for gay pain causing straight people character growth and development. I’m not here for that.

[derangedhyena-zoids]

I guess now that I featured The Kids in something I can elaborate on them and everything related slightly without seeming completely insane.  BIG HEADCANON BLATHER TIME: Raven and Ryss had 2 kids, both boys. 

Ryss wasn’t a terribly good mother. She loved her kids but was a little panicked about them at all times, and didn’t really like the distraction they were. Specula was a good mother and did the majority of keeping them out of trouble. 

They were also psychic as fuck, but that didn’t show up until they were hitting puberty. I’m sure that was an entire Time.  

Ryss literally didn’t think she could get pregnant by Raven. She based this off of both what she’d been taught by Hiltz (humans=/=Zoidians) and the fact that Fiona had never been pregnant despite sleeping with Van for years*.  So, once Ryss figured out she was pregnant**, telling Raven was a bit of an event because Raven was under the impression that such a thing wasn’t possible. He also had little interest in being a parent. Ryss also had no idea what pregnancy even entailed for a Zoidian, and neither did Fiona. Again, all she knew was what she’d learned from Hiltz, and it wasn’t as if he went out of his way to teach her the finer points of anything. (Knowledge is power after all, and he wanted wanted to hold as much power over her as possible. What she didn’t know to begin with, she couldn’t know was being withheld. All she knew from Hiltz on the topic was Zoidian pregnancies are of a greater duration than human pregnancies - mainly because he’d irritably snapped about how ‘the vermin’ reproduce faster.)  Raven’s main reluctance about parenting had to do with... you know, his massive unresolved parental trauma. Which after some extreme stress he and Ryss managed to work through, largely because they had a lot in common in this department. Afterwards Raven warmed up to the idea of being a father, and was... well, Okay.jpg at it. Let’s just say he had Shadow helping Specula with the kids a lot. ...the kids were raised by Organoids. SO.

An attempt was made to keep track of Ryss and her offspring, especially after Raven’s death and she began to make herself scarce. But nobody expected the kids to be psychic af, and they quickly sussed out that something was up and followed their mom’s lead, making themselves and their families impossible to find.  ....

The Guardian Force pretty quickly lost tabs on them, but did know what to “look for”, so to speak. 

However, this attempt was never linked up with the information the Empire had on Ryss, mainly because too much time had passed and no one knew to bridge the info.

Anyways. All three Zoidians were aware there were differences between themselves and humans, Hiltz more than most. Hiltz was the only one of them that had an adult level of knowledge from Zoidian times. Fiona and Ryss were literal children and were only ever, at best, taught the very basics about things. Part and parcel of subscribing wholesale to the we’re-the-best group’s newsletter, Hiltz also a keen interest in biology/related, obviously interested in scholars of that group’s discussion on what amounted to Zoidian eugenics. ‘we’re the best, and here’s why.’ Hiltz didn’t even remotely consider that humans and Zoidians could hybridize, nor was he interested in finding out. (though he had well-established to Prozen and the Imperial scientists his “ownership” of Ryss and the fact she was not to be messed with, I’m sure he had to mindfuck and/or sic Ambient on a swath of folks to get them to stop bothering him about jizzing in a cup.)***

Joke’s on him because he fathered *at least* these three: 

while living in the small colony with the scholar. 

because he, Hiltz, the weird guy, was hot, amazing in bed, and quite DTF.   scholar: ...   Hiltz:  (ツ) scholar: ... Hiltz:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  scholar: ...sure, whatever, what could it hurt anyways ^^^THESE FOLKS HAD A TIME. Unlike with Ryss’s kids, who at least had a slight understanding they were different and some guidance on the situation, any and all of Hiltz’s offspring HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON. And not that any of the fertility restrictions were enacted at this point in time (there’s wars, you live in the wild west, please have kids), but the addition of Zoidian into the mix fucks the inbuilt population-control-genetic-engineering-bullshit straight up, which resulted later in a lot of confusing surprises for people annnnnd is part of why miscarriages became common later down the line. 

Nobody expected the spanish inquisition weird side-species fuckery. Nobody even knows to look! By NC0 times there’s just starting to be coherent, unified inquiry into the various vanilla-human mutations running around.

WHOOPS THO: Backdraft & Co have been at this shit for a while and already know a lot about this. Because they have a hard-on for the Empire and a lot of OG Backdraft are basically really rich, bitter offspring from Imperial families who think they’re better in just about every way. Including genetically. When Backdraft became predominantly a moneymaking, black-market, illegal-battling underground enterprise, a rift began and never stopped growing. Backdraft has a strong preference for recruiting folks of Guylos descent (hi, Bit), but in recent memory had stopped turning people away for not being so. Because money.  It did kinda...  go in peoples’ file though.  In the game of historical telephone, Ryss (and Raven’s) bloodline were more or less demoted to the same: ‘from Guylos.’  Alteil was in range of figuring a few important things out. Unfortunately, HE DED. His successor with this information is Layon.  Surely nothing can go wrong there. ANYWAYS. A massive and valid concern Ryss had was what would happen with hybrid offspring, since to her knowledge her kid would be the first. Hiltz’s were already adults, they were fine. They were better than fine, they just needed a lot more water and salt than everyone else. So, as we all know, Hiltz uh, actually succeeded in removing a sizable chunk of the human population on Zi. Once everyone had scraped semi-functional society back together, the powers that-were-to-be basically prioritized secure settlements and making everyone feel safe so... you know, they’d have kids. Important for the whole rebuilding society thing.   The Zoidian offspring became slightly more statistically relevant during this time, because them and potentially even their kids had all been scared shitless and fled into the hills from the Death Stinger bullshit long before anyone else had. Once there they were good at Not Dying In General, because they had a variety of inexplicable abilities and were just WELL I’M A FREAK BUT I’M ALIVE SO, YOU KNOW, WE’RE COOL. 

Greater than zero chance that someone started a cult. Very, very obviously: these folks knew to keep to themselves. Though the original offspring and their mother had NO idea what was going on, over time any kids at least had fair warning, and knew to keep oddity to themselves. When the most blatant expressions of things were bred out, only the subtle but strongly expressed items remained, discussion of familial strangeness subsided.  Then you’re left with people like Brad who can basically see in the dark, but thinks everyone can see in the dark, it’s no big deal right?    RELATED, BUT NOT: This is technically a spoiler, but not really, because I’m not sure this actually “plays into the plot” so much as it is just “a fact of the plot” annnnnd I sort of want/need to explain this a little because it’s related to all of this.  In this hc, the Zoid Eve is a metaphorical hyper-simplification of ‘resources.’

Back in Zoidian times, some scholars - namely those aligned with the group(s) Hiltz was eventually born into - theorized that the Zoid Eve’s power was not an infinite resource as many believed, but actually an incredibly finite one. Not in the sense of it being used up, but the sense of “there are only ‘100′ of these, there will only ever be ‘100′ of these, we cannot add to or take away from this”  (sidenote: I subscribe to the idea that the Zoid Eve was some kind of supernaturally-occurring power source that the Zoidians shaped into what everyone now calls the Zoid Eve. They did this so long ago that its origins became unclear; beliefs from various groups ran the gamut from “LITERALLY GOD” to “it was built by us”)   The power of it gave life and longevity not only to all Zoids but them too. And it seemed that the more individuals there were, the smaller the “slice of the pie” they received. They began to project apocalyptic futures in which the “slices” were so small that death ran rampant, and Big War would be inevitable. Obviously, nobody wanted this. But unfortunately the group who theorized this also started a huge, lengthy campaign to reduce the population, which - after many years, a lot of societal sabotage and and many smaller conflicts between groups - eventually culminated in ongoing, wholesale slaughter, which led to the big Zoidian-apocalypse nonsense that we’re all familiar with. Cool story bro, right? Well, y’see, those ancient scholars weren’t wrong, though. To an extent that’s actually what led to the hyper-concentration of strength in the DSaurer/DScorpion battle, and why Zero and One are functionally god-tier Organoids. But what this means in modern times, is that the remaining Zoidians - and to a proportionately-relevant extent, the hybrid offspring - are the only remaining folks (besides the Organoids and Zoids) benefiting from the pie anymore. Ryss is the last Zoidian; she’s basically non-aging at this point. 

First-gen hybrids? Aging at a complete snail’s pace.  Second gen? Still having a very strange time. So on and so forth... Can they die? Absolutely, but it’s pretty hard to kill them.  Basically only complete destruction of vital parts works. Does this also apply to Organoids and Zoids? Absolutely. “then why’s Fiona dead” Because the double-bond with Zeke seriously fucked her up. Van dragged her down, hard. “but-”  Zeke could’ve pulled away from her at any time and she would’ve lived. Been a nutcase probably, but lived. She suspected it, Zeke was outright in denial; she never called him on it because she cared about him too much and didn’t want him blaming himself for whatever happened. This is what Ryss suspected/understood as well, and likewise didn’t want to break Zeke. “wait, what about zeke?” HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM IN CLOSING: I don’t have names for any of the offspring discussed here, but I have thought about the appearances/other stuff. Obviously. I’ve never specified how many original offspring(s) were running around. But it couldn’t have been too many. So anyone in NC0 times related to either Ryss or Hiltz can trace back to ^^^the folks pictured above, most likely.  I actually have no idea how to properly calculate the amount of population vs how much impact a handful of reproducing individuals would have over x generations. So please excuse vagueness there, as I’m both open to adjusting that number when/if it becomes feasible to do so, and also don’t think it’s terribly necessary to have this information nailed down because let’s be real nobody cares and that’s a lot of work. Also as I’ve mentioned before, there’s several serious confounding factors here: -these people can LIVE A LONG TIME. The original hybrids and their kids ARE POTENTIALLY STILL ALIVE. They mature relatively rapidly, but then coast into a very slow aging process. That means that - especially the males - could still technically be producing offspring.  -that makes my head hurt and makes figuring out lineages stupid nightmare mode. so don’t expect me to actually do that because I’m not sure how to. The main Facts(tm) you need are:  Sara is 4th gen. Vega is 5th gen x2. Brad is 5th gen. Stoller is 7th gen.

that’s the important part, okay.  (*’s from earlier: )  *tl;dr the bizarre situation they’d inadvertently created with Zeke wreaked havoc on Fiona’s ability to reproduce. Conversely, Raven and Ryss *almost* had a ‘proper’ setup, so Ryss was fine. Nobody knew this. **Ryss figured this out with Fiona’s help - and who did they both go to, to ask in confidence?

Yep. ”isn’t he-” YEP. ***The Empire knows next to nothing about Hiltz. The Republic, however has AN OBSCENE AMOUNT of information about him. Difficulty level? The data was both classified, and never really tied back to him. Because Hiltz murdered the scholar and burned down his house/lab, the connecting information was all lost. The scholar had moved the material to his house in secret, due to fears of an Imperial spy in their research facility - he was telling Hiltz the truth.   The most that the Empire ever learned at that time was that the Republic had “captured” a Zoidian (Hiltz), and that was about it. This drove the fervor which led to them grabbing at the Republic’s continued excavations - eg what happened with Shadow, and presumably them attacking (and IMO, overpowering) the Republic group that’d also seized Ryss.   Before Hiltz became involved, Imperial scientists gleaned a lot about Ryss, but as I’ve mentioned before, she wasn’t treated anywhere nearly as poorly as Hiltz had been. She also had Specula, which helped a lot.  So, the Empire knew nothing of Hiltz, but a lot about Ryss.  Thanks to Alteil and his predecessor’s longstanding obsession with the Imperial military, Backdraft has almost all of the Imperial military’s data from the past few centuries.  Ergo...