#3E-Motivation.

[inaconstantstateofchange]

I come to you on my hands and knees (relevant to the topic right lol) begging for any and all info on Bane, Banites and how it all ties in with Gortash. I love you in advance. <3

Bane and His Cult

Alright, so after twelve and a half hours of research I still don’t fully feel like I have enough, but at a certain point I just need to get this out there, and if there is anything you – or anyone else – would like to see explored in more detail, please feel free to ask! 

Note: I love getting asks like this! There is such a vast quantity of Realmslore that having some sort of specific focus for my deep-dives is a huge help, and knowing the topic is of interest to others is a huge motivator. I also greatly enjoy getting to put my training as a historian to work, as there is so much to interpret and archive alike. 

As ever, these writeups will align with current 5e lore, and draw from 3.5e for additional supporting information. On rarer occasions – and always noted – I will reference 1e and 2e, but with the caveats that there is much more in those editions that is tonally dissonant with the modern conception of the Forgotten Realms, and thus generally less applicable.

We���ll begin with one of the most recent conclusive descriptions of Bane, from the 5e Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, an overview of the current world-state of, well, the Sword Coast: 

Bane has a simple ethos: the strong have not just the right but the duty to to rule over the weak. A tyrant who is able to seize power must do so, for not only does the tyrant benefit, but so do those under the tyrant’s rule. When a ruler succumbs to decadence, corruption, or decrepitude, a stronger and more suitable ruler will rise.  Bane is vilified in many legends. Throughout history, those who favor him have committed dark deeds in his name, but most people don’t worship Bane out of malice. Bane represents ambition and control, and those who have the former but lack the latter pray to him to give them strength. It is said that Bane favors those who exhibit drive and courage, and that he aids those who seek to become conquerors, carving kingdoms from the wilderness, and bringing order to the lawless.¹

This gives us the briefest summation of what draws people to the Cult of Bane: the desire for power and control, often deriving from a sense that they lack exactly those two things. Bane is the quintessential deity of lawful evil, which – if you’ve read any of my previous posts on the sociology of the Nine Hells – bears a striking similarity to Baator itself, the realm of lawful evil, and the place where Enver Gortash spent at least a portion of his formative years. 

The majority of the following excerpts derive from 3e, which went into far more detail on the specificities of the Faerûnian gods, including their dogmas, holy days, et cetera. One important point to note, however: any discussions of Bane’s scope of power are no longer accurate, as the time period in reference is about one hundred and twenty years before Baldur’s Gate 3 is set, at a time when Bane had just returned to life – and godhood – as nothing less than a greater god. By comparison, during Baldur’s Gate 3, he is a quasi-deity, having abandoned most of his previous godly power in exchange for the ability to directly meddle with Faerûn – forbidden to the gods by the overgod Ao – and gambling that he would be able to regain his lost power and prestige in so doing.²

The dogma of Bane – that is, the core tenets and philosophies that his followers seek to emulate – is as follows: 

Serve no one but Bane. Fear him always and make others fear him even more than you do. The Black Hand always strikes down those that stand against it in the end. Defy Bane and die — or in death find loyalty to him, for he shall compel it. Submit to the word of Bane as uttered by his ranking clergy, since true power can only be gained through service to him. Spread the dark fear of Bane. It is the doom of those who do not follow him to let power slip through their hands. Those who cross the Black Hand meet their dooms earlier and more harshly than those who worship other deities.³

Even were there nothing else to go off of, this would tell us a great deal about the group dynamics of any followers of Bane, whether established church or fragmented cult. Just as in the Hells, hierarchy is everything to proponents of lawful evil. Any cult of Bane would have a strict order to its power structure, and there would be limited – practically nonexistent – tolerance for any questioning or insubordination of that order. To the minds of Banites, such is simply the natural and superior ordering of the world. These interactions are detailed below: 

Within the church, the church hierarchy resolves internal disputes through cold and decisive thoughts, not rash and uncontrolled behavior. Bane’s clerics and worshipers try to assume positions of power in every realm so that they can turn the world over to Bane. They work subtly and patiently to divide the forces of their enemies and elevate themselves and the church’s allies over all others, although they do not fear swift and decisive violent action to help achieve their aims.³ 

The manner of tyranny that Bane holds to is similarly calculated – he is not interested in mere shows of force, but rather in insidious plots that twist and make use of existing rule of law to legitimize tyranny wherever possible. A social tide operated ostensibly within the laws of the land is far more troublesome to fight back against than a simple army.⁴ 

As far as specific ritual and day-to-day workings of the cult, some can be evidenced here, in broad strokes: 

Bane’s clerics pray for spells at midnight. They have no calendar-based holidays, and rituals are held whenever a senior cleric declares it time. Rites of Bane consist of drumming, chanting, doomful singing, and the sacrifice of intelligent beings, who are humiliated, tortured, and made to show fear before their death by flogging, slashing, or crushing.³ 

In this sense, rituals seem most likely to be used as a display of power and a test of subservience, leaving lower-ranked members of the cult at the whims of their superiors, expected – as noted previously – to attend to their commands with the same alacrity they would use were Bane himself to speak. The rites themselves are designed to reinforce and glorify the primary aspects of their god’s domain: the tyranny of forcing submission and pain from the weak. 

Faiths & Pantheons, published a year after the Campaign Setting supplement, provides a similar description of the rituals of the cult of Bane, along with some intriguing and flavorful additions (noted in bold for ease of comparison): 

Their religion recognizes no official holidays, though servants give thanks to the Black Hand before and after major battles or before a particularly important act of subterfuge. Senior clerics often declare holy days at a moment's notice, usually claiming to act upon divine inspiration granted to them in dreams. Rites include drumming, chanting, and the sacrifice of intelligent beings, usually upon an altar of black basalt or obsidian.”⁴

As, in the “present day” of Baldur’s Gate 3, Bane has lost much of his foothold on power and his Faith’s old domains, the specifics of architecture of Banite keeps are no longer quite so relevant. However, in times past, when his Faith worked far more openly and held much greater power, the philosophy of Bane was expressed through the architecture of his churches and strongholds: 

Tall, sharp-cornered stone structures featuring towers adorned with large spikes and thin windows, most Banite churches suggest the architecture of fortified keeps or small castles. Thin interior passageways lead from an austere foyer to barrackslike common chambers for the lay clergy, each sparsely decorated with tapestries depicting the symbols of Bane or inscribed with embroidered passages from important religious texts.⁴

The social capital of a Faith – a broad term used to encapsulate all followers of a single deity – is often heavily intertwined with the power of its god, a mutualistic relationship that runs in both directions. More social weight behind the Faith means its god’s name and will is conveyed to more people, some or many of whom might apportion some worship or act in alignment with that god and empower them by so doing. More power for the god means more divine actions that can bolster their own image and the reach of their clergy. At its height in the late 1300s, the Faith of Bane was one of the most prominent and powerful, with comparable might to that of a small kingdom.⁵

Something that is important to bear in mind in a setting such as the Forgotten Realms, not only polytheistic, but an environment where the gods being worshiped are demonstrably existent, is that the followers of evil gods are not likely to be obtrusive with the less savory aspects of their dogma. Not only would that, in the majority of cases, do more harm than good to their deity’s long term goals, in the words of Elminster: 

A dead foe is just that: dead, and soon to be replaced by another. An influenced foe, on the other hand, is well on the way to becoming an ally, increasing the sway of the deity.⁶

All of this aligns with what we see of the Cult of Bane and its operation in Baldur’s Gate 3. While it does not have the same sway and might behind it as it did a hundred years before, through manipulation of law and carefully applied pressure – of whatever form most likely to yield the desired results, be it threats, bribery, blackmail, or use of hostages – Gortash has enacted a steel web of delicate, ensnaring tyranny across the entire city. 

We can even find present-day expressions of the interactions of the cult members, and find that they hold true to what their forebears experienced, further proof of the consistency of lawful evil. A personal note found on the body of a dead Banite guard at the Steel Watch Foundry calls the Black Gauntlet in charge of the Foundry Lab, Hahns Rives, a “disgrace to the Tyrant Lord”, and notes the writer’s intent to “compile a list of Rives’ shortcomings for the Overseers.”⁷ These shortcomings include: 

1. Rives failed to reprimand Polandulus for making jokes about Lord Gortash! 2. Rives missed the morning mass to Bane - twice! 3. Rives didn't punish Gondian Ofran when she missed her gyronetics quota merely because she'd lost a finger that day in the punch press.⁷

We can see evidenced here the constant scheming for position and recognition consistent with this manner of lawful evil hierarchy. Both devils and Banites orient their day-to-day lives around how to prove themselves to their superiors, while also undercutting them at any chance they have to prove their own superiority, with hopes of being raised above them. 

This is only reinforced further by another text found within the Steel Watch Foundry, Bane’s Book of Admonitions. Its text is not written out for us, but described as such:

A book of adages and precepts for Banites, providing the basic tenets of worship of the Lord of Tyranny, with suggested prayers for common situations. The heart of the book is Bane's Twelve Admonitions, a dozen rules for proper Banite conduct, with punishments specified for failure to comply. The book opens easily to a page with two of Bane's most popular admonitions, number six, the Reprimand for Leniency, and number seven, the Rebuke for False Compassion.⁸

The most likely scenario is that this book was used by the “Overseers” referenced by the anonymous Banite writing of Rives above. The exact position of the Overseers is not made clear, but from context and knowledge of Banite hierarchy, we can infer that they inhabit a place in the hierarchy above both the guard and Rives himself, and that their role is to ensure all those below them uphold the tenets of Bane at all times, never losing sight of his will. 

In that context, it makes sense that they would both have a book of specific punishments for specific infractions – rule of law, after all – and that, given the attempted report on Rives, punishments (“admonitions”) for the crimes of leniency and false compassion – and all compassion is false when your conception of the world does not allow for its existence – would be those most referenced. It would be incredibly important to the unity of the cult, as well as to Gortash’s plans, to harshly punish any observed leniency or break from Bane’s law among members of the cult.

Not only would failure to control the situation at the Foundry potentially spell failure for the schemes of Bane’s Chosen, any unpunished step out of line by members of the cult would be seen as tempting others to do the same, a trickle of dissent quickly becoming a flood. Better to ensure that all adherents live in merited fear of the consequence of failure. 

After all, it is said of Bane himself: “He has no tolerance of failure and seldom thinks twice about submitting even a loyal servant to rigorous tortures to ensure complete obedience to his demanding, regimented doctrine.”⁴

And, in an appropriately lawful hierarchy, the same rule must apply from the bottom, to the top.

¹ Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. 2014. p. 26.

² Descent into Avernus. 2019. p. 231

³ Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3E. 2001. pp. 237-8

��� Faiths & Pantheons. 2002. pp. 15-16.

⁵ Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3E. 2001. p. 93

⁶ Ed Greenwood Presents: Elminster’s Guide to the Forgotten Realms. 2012. pp. 135-6.

⁷ Rives’ Failures as a Banite. Baldur’s Gate 3. In-Game Text.

⁸ Bane’s Book of Admonitions. Baldur’s Gate 3. In-Game Text.

[thecreaturecodex]

Mind Flayer, Illithid

"Mindflayer" © Steven Bellshaw, accessed at his ArtStation here

[In designing a mind flayer, I wanted to avoid some of the pitfalls of the past. The 3.x mind flayer was very fragile, and the mind blast very disruptive, so that fights with them either resulted in the mind flayer getting pulped before it could do anything, or the entire party stunned long enough for the mind flayer to get halfway to a TPK. So I wanted to give them a bit more bulk. 5e gives them full on breastplate, but I wanted to keep the slick leather look from the 3e era. I did take the save every turn and limited uses for the mind blast from 5e. Although I'm not using the psychic magic ability for my mind flayer (because it sacrifices uses/day for versatility), I did use a couple of occult spells so they have some way to deal damage.]

Mind Flayer, Illithid CR 7 LE Aberration This lean humanoid has slick lilac skin and a head like that of an octopus. Multiple tentacles surround a lamprey-like maw. It wears leather robes decorated with skulls and other macabre accessories.

Illithids are the most common and most widespread of the mind flayers. Although some of them live in colonies close to an elder brain, the better to both share its knowledge and fertilize its eggs, many of them live solitary lives or in small communities more similar to a monastic cell. Every illithid desires power and knowledge, and they all go about obtaining these in different ways. Illithids with the same creed may come together in a circle, or illithids of several creeds may travel together in what is called an inquisition, similar to an adventuring party of humanoids. Many illithids keep multiple charmed or dominated slaves to serve them as physical labor and emergency rations.

Most illithids avoid direct physical confrontation if they can help it, instead sending their slaves to the front lines and fighting with their magical abilities. Illithids are masters of mind-influencing magic, and are capable of turning allies against each other or forcing their enemies into hazardous situations. Their most feared ability is the mind blast, which can incapacitate an entire party long enough for the illithid to close in and bore its tentacles into the brains of a victim or two. Illithids usually flee if combat turns against them, as they value their lives above all else.

Illithids are usually tall and imposing, averaging six feet tall but lean. Their skin is usually in shades of pinks and purples, although green and blue hues are not uncommon. They dress in a fashion suggestive of aristocracy—high collars, fancy robes and jewelry are typical. Their unique language, Qualith, is written only and similar to cuneiform; they speak in hissing, rasping tones when they use their mouths, but usually rely on telepathic communication. 

Illithid    CR 7 XP 3,200 LE Medium aberration (mind flayer) Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +12 Defense AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +2 armor, +4 shield) hp 68 (8d8+32) Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +9; +4 vs. emotion effects SR 22 Defensive Abilities affectless; Weakness light blindness, sunlight sickness Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee masterwork light mace +10/+5 (1d6+1), tentacles +4 (4d4 plus grab) or tentacles +9 (4d4+1 plus grab) Special Attacks mind blast, pith (tentacles) Spell-like Abilities CL 8th, concentration +12 (+16 casting defensively) Constant—mental barrier I At will—detect thoughts (DC 16), levitate, mind thrust II (DC 16), suggestion (DC 17) 3/day—charm monster (DC 18), dimension door, dominate person (DC 19) 1/day—fly, plane shift (DC 19) Statistics Str 12, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 19, Wis17, Cha 19 Base Atk +6; CMB +9 (+12 grappling); CMD 20 Feats Agile Maneuvers, Combat Casting, Magical Aptitude, Weapon Finesse Skills Bluff +10, Fly +10, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Knowledge (dungeoneering, planes) +14, Perception +12, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +15, Stealth +12, Use Magic Device +12; Racial Modifiers +4 Knowledge Languages Aklo, Qualith, Undercommon, telepathy 100 ft. Ecology Environment underground Organization solitary, inquisition (2-4), circle (5-12 plus 0-1 ulitharids) or colony (20-200 plus 1 ulitharid per 10 individuals and 1 elder brain) Treasure double standard (masterwork light mace, masterwork leather armor, other treasure) Special Abilities Mind Blast (Su) As a standard action, an illithid can create a 60 foot cone of mental energy. All creatures in the area must succeed a DC 18 Will save or be stunned for 3d4 rounds. A creature that is stunned may attempt to recover from this condition as a full-round action with an additional DC 18 Will save. Mind flayers are immune to the effects of a mind blast. An illithid can use a mind blast three times per day, and must wait 1d4 rounds between uses. This is a mind-influencing effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Tentacles (Ex) An illithid attacks simultaneously with all its tentacles, treating them as a primary natural weapon.

[assassinationclassroom-studyblr]

Assassination Classroom Notion Page

So I'm in the process of making a motivational Assassination Classroom page because I rewatched the show like three times this month and I realized just how much of a comforting and motivating space it provides.

Basically it's like motivation for studying and getting through life. I'm not finished but here's the 3E singers sections.

All the checklists are kind of personal. They're specified to my personal goals and what habits I want to build, so if you want to take inspo from this, you can always add things like personal headcannons too!

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Ivan Dilisnya

Domain: Dorvinia then Borca Domain Formation: 715 BC Power Level: 💀💀💀⚫⚫ Sources: Secrets of the Dread Realms (3e), Domains of Dread (2e), Realm of Terror (2e), Domains and Denizens (2e), Ravenloft 3e, Ravenloft Gazetteer IV (3e)

Ivan Dilisnya is the Darklord of the former Domain of Dorvinia and now the co-Darklord of Borca with his cousin and aptly named “Dark Twin”, Ivana Boritsi.

Dorvinia was a small region of mountains, evergreen forests, and valleys without any form of formal rule. How it managed to survive for 25 years based largely on the decisions made at the whims of a small, petty man with a love for overacting and toxins is beyond me.

Dorvinia functioned much like how a child would rule a courtroom – bribe the child with the right “toy” and you would find whatever justice they felt like dealing out. Of course, said justice changed from day to day much like a child who enjoys broccoli one day then decides its the absolute worst thing you could put before them the next.

The Dilisnyas’ history in Ravenloft is as old as the first Darklord (but decidedly NOT the first vampire), Strahd. The family was present at the von Zarovich wedding where Strahd thought it was a wonderful idea to murder his brother, then attempt to woo his would-be sister-in-law. We all know how that worked out, but perhaps some of the Dilsinyas had a bit of foresight into these matters, for some claimed illness and left before Strahd’s transformation and murdering of the majority of the wedding guests.

Ivan was born on the same moonless night in December as Ivana. This day is known as the Night of Dead Man’s Get in Borca and every year these cousins celebrate their birthday by inviting everyone to their birthday celebration. Their separate birthday celebrations. It is a way for these jealous, bickering cousins to determine where their subjects loyalties lie. I wonder if anyone has attempted to attend both parties in one evening?

Ivan was cruel at a young age. He enjoyed torturing animals as early as 6 and committed his first murder by 10 by poisoning a young serving girl for the crime of taking a pastry from the kitchen. At 12, with no real motive, he committed matricide by poisoning his own mother in such a way to make it appear that she died of an unknown disease. I, personally, would have named this disease “Ivan”.

Ivan seemed to only show affection towards his elder sister, Kristina. This affection was more akin to obsession than actual love and drove Ivan to acts of violent jealousy. Kristina truly loved her brother and was blind to obvious evil little poisoners ways. Something she would come to regret once she married Edgar Leskovich.

Ivan was the sort that would destroy anyone or anything that stole attention and affection away from him, so Edgar was an obvious threat. The jealousy seethed inside him over the course of their courtship and marriage. Once they had a child, Ivan finally snapped, poisoned them both, adding sororicide to his ledger. The child was saved by their midwife before Ivan could get to them.

Ivan, unable to conceal his crimes from his family, fled into the Mists to avoid their wraith and Dorvinia was formed. A year later he married Lucretia Marzeya. Somehow he managed to go four years without committing uxoricide and Lucretia had three children with Ivan. All of which, he was told, were stillborn. Though, far more likely his wife spirited the children away before Ivan could add filicide to his murder bingo card.

Dorvinia was a short lived Domain, surviving a mere 25 years before it was absorbed by Borca during the Grand Conjunction. Ivan loves to wave his fingers and pout while throwing an overdone and far too dramatically acted temper tantrum and say this is my fault, but he was the one who decided to leave Dorvinia to visit his dear cousin because he was scared of a few tremors.

Ivan now co-rules Borca with Ivana. Ivan never learned how to share, so instead of working with his cousin, Ivan despises her and does all he can to gain favor from the many poisonous peacocks that make up the Borcan nobility.

Ivan surrounds himself with lavish plays, ballrooms, and feasting halls in the Degravo estate, which is well guarded. I suggest never asking Ivan about his “Playroom” unless you want a first hand demonstration of some of his favorite torturing devices.

As a Darklord Ivan is known for his subtle manipulation hidden behind his foppish demeanor, over the top temper tantrums, and, naturally, the ability to poison any object he touches. He is cursed to no longer have a sense of taste. Not to be confused with his love of “acting” and dressing in costumes, this sense of taste is quite literal. Food and drink hold no actual taste to him and turn to ash upon his tongue. This drives him to hold lavish parties where he enjoys serving both delicacies and rotten, maggot covered food. He takes great offense if someone appears to enjoy the food too much or not enough.

One may wonder how such a person manages to maintain loyalty. As Ivan has solved all things in life with poison, it should come as no surprise that he uses poison for this purpose as well. Most of his servants have been poisoned with “Borrowed Time”. These servants will die unless they are administered an elixir, Mercy, each day before sunset.

Ivan continues to age whereas Ivana does not. This leads our jealous, overgrown child to believe Ivana is hiding the secret of mortality and eternal youth from him. Perhaps she is. Who am I to give away such secrets?

Despite his child-like and foppish mannerisms, Ivan should not be underestimated. He holds a powerful position in Borca and can make or break anyone with the wave of his hand. His ability to poison any object has been the downfall to invading armies. Though it was Vlad’s army, so we can’t give him TOO much credit for defeating that failure mercenary. Though, if anyone ever gets a hold of the recipe for Mercy, I feel Ivan would quickly have a rather large uprising to deal with.

Domain: Dorvinia then Borca Domain Formation: 715 BC Power Level: 💀💀⚫⚫⚫ Sources: van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (5e)

Ivan’s ties to Dorvinia are not mentioned within Dr. Ricky’s new guide, nor is he named Ivana’s Dark Twin, but is referred to as her elder cousin. I’m sure Ivan is very pleased by that development and isn’t throwing a temper tantrum right now as he reads this.

His beginnings are similar to previous accounts, though we a few less “cides” checked off on his frequent murderer club card during his childhood. Instead, it was the Dilisnya’s pets and servants that fell to his murderous ways as his parents covered them up.

Ivan had no desire to grow up. Honestly, I can’t really blame him there. Growing up is very overrated. I can’t remember the last time I felt that naïveté of youth that we so often take for granted. Anyway, I digress…Ivan surrounded himself in fantasy to escape responsibility. He indulged in child-like behaviors and crafted toys and games he forced his sister, Kristina, to play with him. His parents, ever the enablers, allowed this behavior to continue and even set up whimsical rooms and diversions for him throughout their estate.

Being a very stable individual, when he discovered that Kristina was being sent away to a boarding school, Ivan snapped and murdered his entire family in a single evening with his toy creations. Perhaps he wanted to fill up his murder club card before it expired.

As the co-Darklord of Borca, Ivan is a feeble, ancient man who uses a large spider pram to get around. The spider pram carries him throughout his estate, which now mostly resembles a demented child’s playroom full of murderous clockwork toys, animals that would be better off in Markovia, and toy-enacted operas. Well, at least he still retained his curse of having “no taste”.

Ivan is afraid to leave his home, so our Tormentors gifted him with the ability to deliver letters to anyone anywhere he pleases. Ghosting him doesn’t work, so try not to get the attention of this childish stalker or after sending you hundreds of letters he may set forth in his trusty spider pram and greet you in person.

He’s also very good at convincing other’s that he’s a helpless child. Well, they say that the best lies are closest to the truth…

Lastly, he can make any toy he desires. Mostly this amounts to servants and fake versions of the family he killed because he’s a sad and lonely man with only a spider pram to keep him company.

He still retains his hatred of Ivana, though it’s more because she now holds the position he was supposed to inherit. Ivan…you did inherit it. Perhaps spend a little less time writing fan letters to everyone and a little more time investigating this little tidbit.

A childish toy maker in a spider pram makes the creepiest of stalkers, but not an overly powerful one. Although Ivan’s toys are immune to Ivana’s poison, his overall presence and influence over the realm of Borca no longer holds the same force that Ivana holds. Despite the lovely spider pram, this new Ivan does not appear to be as powerful as his predecessor. 2/5 Skulls, mostly for the spider pram.

[spewagepipe]

Development Pipeline: How Determined Started [Pt. 1]

This Dev Pipeline is the story of how I decided to abandon a game that I've been developing for three years now.

It starts in the summer of 2021, when I was encountering the Old School Revival movement for the very first time. Why I hadn't heard of the OSR any earlier remains a mysterious accident of history, but in any case, the game's inception was a direct result of reading Matthew Finch's A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming (yes, this is also secretly a Plumbing the Depths post).

In the Primer, Finch presents scenarios to illustrate the differences between "old school" and "modern" (in this case, 3E D&D) play.

In the first, a party is searching for a suspected pit trap. The 3E approach is trivial: one dice roll for a perception check; one roll to disable the trap; situation resolved. By contrast, the OSR version involves no dice at all: the players first ask if they can see a seam in the floor, but are stymied by poor illumination; then they consider pressing the suspected area with a pole, but don't have the tool at hand; finally, they empty a waterskin to see if the water will seep through the hidden seam. When it does, they then describe themselves carefully shimmying along the gap between the seam and the corridor wall (since they can't think of any way to "disable" a pit).

To be sure, stopping every ten feet to perform similar experiments sounds like a tedious nightmare, and evidently OSR-Legolas would be no better at spotting traps than OSR-Pippin – but the example is still inspiring. Diegetic mechanics (bespoke, circumstantial rules that characterize all of the relevant properties of the diegetic situation), allow the players to engage with the situation in a highly immersive manner where their natural intuitions lead to viable solutions. By comparison, the 3E approach reads like automated gambling, unmoored from either player skill or diegetic circumstance.

Then Finch moves on to a second example, in which a player has elected to leap down to make a plunging attack on an unsuspecting goblin below. After the last example, I was expecting a similar divide – a few quick dice rolls for 3E, while the OSR involves the player describing their preparation, timing, or maybe some details of goblin anatomy...

But this time, both cases are fully automatic and random. In the 3E case, the GM doesn't know the rules of the game well enough to make the correct ruling, so instead they make a bad, bullshit ruling that upsets the players. In the OSR case, the GM knows that no rule exists at all, and so jumps straight to making an equally bad, equally bullshit ruling that also upsets the players.

For the life of me, I still can't understand why Finch put in this second example that totally undermines his first one. It makes the OSR look haphazard, inconsistent, and sloppy; lacking any real principles to motivate these design choices. But after reading the Primer, there was one idea I couldn't let go of: what if someone did make the combat example work in the same way as the trap-finding one?

Click here for Part 2

[no-naem]

Now I shall put some of my favorites of the unfinished art from the 100 Kayano Days challenge. [Rubs hands together]

These are all in order from old to new, from September 2022 to January 2023.

It's a hot day. Karma: "I want cuddles, and I can't cuddle Akari (she'd kill me). So..." Nagisa: "You're too hot." Karma: "I know I am." Nagisa: "YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!" Karma: "Cuddle time." Nagisa: "IT'S 31 C!!! AKARI, HELP!!" Akari: "Sorry Nagisa! I have another love to attend to. You're on your own."

(Lol the dialogue is kinda off but I like what I was trying to go for.)

Aguri lives AU but at what cost. Akari is this 🤏 close to losing it.

Adults Kayano, Kanzaki, and Karma went to that one cafe that was doing that collaboration with a popular video game.

GoM AU, with Akari slowly turning into an antimatter creature. It took a long time for her to transform, and there was no cure to stop this. It wasn't fun, but at least her friends were there for her.

Kayano and Akari, Deemo AU, based on that one art for ANiMA from the game.

Okay, THIS one I still like a lot. It takes place in the Okinawa arc, and the concept was that there'd be a montage where each student would use Korosensei's Ultimate Defense Form as a blunt weapon to knock out all of the guards. And then end with Karasuma taking out Takaoka the same way.

GoM AU again. Nagisa excitedly shows off one of his partners. ...and yes I made antimatter Akari 10 feet tall. :D

Surprise Koro Q! Based on that one episode from the anime. Imagine if the transformation was permanent.

Baby shark doo doo doodoodoodoo...onesie.

Shirt reads: "I am completely normal and not insane I have no desire to harm anyone I am not carrying a weapon." I like the potential chaotic vibes in NagiKae. They're besties.

Eldritch AU!!! Context: some of the 3E students are eldritch beings, and Kayano is the reincarnation of an ancient being that ruled a whole other dimension filled with other eldritch monstrosities, which she can summon. This AU gave me so many brain worms, yet not enough to help me finish any of them. 😩

I have a bleak zombie apocalypse AU. Takes place after their high school graduation, probably after the events of Korotan D? Kayano's half-infected, Nagisa's a zombie, Karma has severe head trauma that he can't fix and it's making him go wack, and Gakushuu's trying to keep everything together.

I wanted to draw more than one birthday art for Akari and this was one of them. Just her and her big sister...

This one was gonna be a prank. Forgot about it though LOL.

The concept was Kayano arriving in limbo, dazed, after getting killed. But Aguri tells her to go back. It's not time yet.

Aberration AU. Takes place 4 years after canon, right around the time they're in college. The monster behind them is basically both of them. Their memories and DNAs make up the monster. Kayano and Nagisa are unhealthily codependent after being kidnapped and used as experiments for...3 years. 😐 But it's okay. They eventually get rescued and get therapy.

Kayano twins AU. I was gonna draw a short comic about the twins but I had to give up because I was struggling for some reason. (Why is this pic so LONG???)

One of the Christmas/Karma birthday ideas. It'd have Karushuu kissing under a mistletoe. Kayano's just here for the desserts, man.

Eldritch AU. This would be a sequel to Day 88, featuring Kanzaki (she's a time god) instead, but I didn't have enough motivation to finish it.

This is just Day 93, but Aguri and Korosensei were supposed to be there with her, along with the rest of group 4!! But I ran out of time.

And finally, this is another limbo situation where the Yukimura sisters would hug each other one last time. But then I thought it was too sad and went for the "Aguri lives" ones.

If you made it all the way to the end, then WOW thanks for reading!! Hope y'all liked reading about my thoughts! There are actually more arts that are unfinished but those are like...really messy lol.

[pissfizz]

ik nothing abt assclass but please elaborate on your au if you would like to👁️👁️

OK YES OFC!!!!! Sorry for late response I was waiting until school got out lol

Ok so the premise of assassination classroom is as follows: kunugigaoka junior high is a private college prep school notorious for having an extremely hard curriculum and extremely smart students. It is a school of the elite minded, and all the students are faced with an aggressive pressure to excel. The school has a class for third years called 3-E, dubbed the “End Class”. If your grades drop too far, or you show behavioral problems, or disobey school protocol even, you will be shipped off to this class, which is located in the old rickety school building up a mountain and surrounded by forest, just off the main campus. These children can’t participate in extracurriculars, are given no facilities or accommodations, and are faced with intense discrimination and bullying from other students and teachers. They are used as a threat to keep the other students motivation high. You don’t want to end up in E class. And then one year, the moon explodes. The next day, class 3E’s teacher is gone, and replaced with a giant yellow octopus. This is korosensei, the being who blew up the moon, and can travel at Mach 20 speed, can regenerate limbs, and has plans to blow up the earth in exactly a year. His one request was to the teacher of this class for unknown reasons. The government allowed this, since they would then have tabs on him for most of every weekday. They want to kill him before his deadline, and so they tell the kids that since they’ll be around him every day until then, they will be tasked with the job of killing him. However, his teaching and the assassination motivation gives these kids hope and they actually begin to grow and progress. He genuinely cares about these kids and is an amazing teacher. With help from government agent tadaomi karasuma and assassin irina jelavic (aka professor bitch), these kids attempt to assassinate their teacher all while balancing their hellish school life and trying to overcome hardships.

My au is about toya if he were in this class. He is just beginning his rebellion against his father, and is just learning how to navigate it. He begins to do whatever he can to defy his father, and so he purposefully starts failing classes to distance himself from the image of what his father wants him to be. A lot of his personal development comes from realizing that he is his own person, and he doesn’t have to sacrifice things that he loves or that is a part of him just because it’s related to his father.

Also I am going with that white hair from stress hc I saw awhile ago because I LOVE it, so as the year goes on his hair lightens a lot until it’s almost at the point it is in canon by the end of the year. And also. Toya is interesting. Especially in middle school and as a child. I think his time with tsukasa and saki is very formative to him, and he really internalizes a lot of what tsukasa says since he idolizes him so much. He’s very… pure of heart for lack of better term. He believes at first that they can convince korosensei not to blow up the earth by showing him love and friendship, and is almost optimistic in a lot of ways. He clashes a lot with the more realistic and pessimistic members of the class due to this. Also, at one point the class learns parkour to aid in their assassinations, and I like imagining toya because of his fear of heights lol. I think he’d be really good with both knives and guns, but is a sucky sniper because he gets scared when he’s up on the perches. He has relatively weak bloodlust, at least when compared to someone like karma or nagisa, but he’s very talented at channeling what he does have. He can think of spectacularly creative assassination plots but a lot of them aren’t very… realistic and thus are near impossible to pull off. He’s one of the smartest in the class, but stays as one of the lowest ranked for a very long time until he finally decides to put his father behind him and not let him ruin his future like that.

I have. A lot more thoughts but they’re kind of everywhere and hard to explain without the context of the show lol

[mornyavie]

Man @my-smial I don't want to make that post any longer for the sake of OP's notes and our dashboards but the priorities of the 5E DMG are genuinely so baffling to me.

It's like they think the purpose of the DMG is not to, y'know, G the DM, but rather to provide enough tables that you can randomly generate an entire campaign.

except magic items those are too important for random gen.

Like here is the "magic item prices" table:

Doesn't even provide a randomness method (though there is a bit on this in the "selling magic items" section, which is under "downtime").

And here is the table for randomly generating the tactics used by a campaign villain:

(in case the prospect of making literally any decisions about the main feature of your campaign is scary, there's also tables for their motivation, identity, possible weakness, etc.)

There's 4 different d100 tables for determining various quirks of a major artifact in case you include one in your campaign, but virtually no information on... why and how you would do that.

Relatedly, here's the example dungeon map they provide:

If you look carefully, you'll notice that there's.... there's no key.

Even "Appendix C: Maps" doesn't contain a single example of a keyed map. Nowhere in the DMG do they mention "hey you can keep track of dungeon rooms by numbering them."

I don't know if this is a deliberate choice? A really wierd oversight? An example of the "experts in anything etc etc" principle?

Meanwhile, here's the equivalent example from the 3E DMG (3.0, specifically):

It's a fully keyed map, and the accompanying example of play instructs you on how to use map keys, descriptions, common abbreviations like boxed text and stat blocks, etc... as well as literally transcribing what a group playing this dungeon might sound like as they go through a few of the rooms.

The 3E DMG really emphasizes running dungeons over any other aspect of play, but at least it... shows you how to do that. The 5E DMG seems to assume that you've already learned to GM from somewhere else. It gives you lots of tools for building an adventure, but almost nothing on running one.

Several people in the notes of that post have mentioned that their advice for learning to DM 5E is to read the 4E DMG! I haven't spent much time with 4E so I can't speak to that specifically.* Nevertheless, I have to agree that the 5E DMG doesn't really feel like a necessary part of the book trio, and I wouldn't really feel like the teaching it does provide is worth the price tag.

*though from my understanding, encounter balancing and understanding the combat roles of various enemy types is one of 4E's strengths, and that's definitely a useful thing for a DM to get explicit advice on.

This doesn't really affect us since we don't play 5E often anyways, but. Rant written.

[opticor]

partial PE honkai eruption timeline aka i can’t believe HUA became MANTIS at 17

[image id: four collages of screenshots from honkai impact and supplementary comics, acting as citations and references for the timeline below]

roughly a year before PE 3E, KEVIN moves to Nagazora in the Far East (what we call Japan) where he meets MEI [Divine Key manga: Judgment of Shamash chapter]; that summer, six months before the eruption, she goes to an academic symposium on the MU continent where dr. MOBIUS spots her as an excellent candidate for a career in the MOTH evil scientist department [game chapter 17 act 2, ER Recollections: Good News, DK: Shamash]

the manga kinda makes it sound like KEVIN transferred 3 months before the eruption, but that doesn’t work with their bench conversation in chapter 17, unless MEI was scouted the year before they met; but as she already has a crush on someone when she meets MOBIUS, and allegedly wasn’t interested in that stuff before she met KEVIN, i think it’s simpler to assume she only went to the one the summer after KEVIN transferred to Nagazora

meanwhile, HUA begins her freshman year in Sapphire (a city in the east of Asia); she spends 6 months there, during which time she makes many friends, obtains many fashionable clothes, and celebrates her 15th birthday; the third eruption occurs on the day she is due to go back home [all game chapter 20]; HUA survives the initial eruption, is saved by HIMEKO, and eventually joins MOTH as some sort of regular soldier [game chapter 20, DK: Wings of Origin chapter]

MEI’s symposium in the summer 6 months before 3E + HUA’s birthday on february 9th place the eruption somewhere between february 10th and 28th, depending on how strictly we count HUA’s 6-month-long first semester at school (which likely started in september). personally, i think february 14th is the perfect date for a honkai eruption but either way it seems to at least add up to the same month as CE 3E [per the Azure Waters extras] which is neat because hi3 is a story about endless cycles etc.

3 years later, KEVIN kills the 6th herrscher [DK: Shamash]; within the next year, the 7th and 8th herrschers are also defeated [game chapter 20; also per the Second Key manga, Su joins MOTH about half a year after KEVIN killed HIMEKO, and the 8th herrscher manifests soon after]

a small discrepancy in the timelines: 2nd Key manga says it’s been 5 years since 3E while Shamash+ch20 add up to less than that; Recollections: It attempts to fix this (i think) by placing SU’s admission to MOTH at 5 years after SU and KEVIN last met instead (likely the time they saw EDEN in concert [Recollections: Chat History] which is some time before the eruption, possibly even before the bench scene) and yes this means that SU got his medical degree in just 4 years, probably because he’s very smart and motivated, but maybe also because they were already in dire need of medical personnel? i’d also assume this means that KEVIN, MEI, and SU were all in their final year of high school (i’m actually not sure if it was mentioned that they’re in the same year?) since at the very least SU, who lived away from the epicenter, would’ve graduated normally. if PE schools in the “Far East” were the same as schools in Japan now, perhaps disaster struck a mere month before MEI and KEVIN were to graduate :(

there’s no specific timeframe for 9E [mentioned in ELF manga chapter 2 and DK: Blankness chapter both of which are on the CN website but sadly only available as fan translation on mangadex], but the 10th ends 10 months after it [DK: Blankness] and HUA becomes a MANTIS 6 months after that [DK: Wings of Origin]

that’s at least 22 months between HIMEKO’s death and HUA’s procedure (but likely quite a bit longer if we assume between the 6th and 11th they were spaced about 6 months apart), which i don’t think anyone would round down to a year but even then it’s at least 5 years after 3E so to say HUA was 17 at the time would only work if she'd been a middle-school freshman, rather than high-school one

the birthday picture seems like a deliberate touch, and so does making her unnamed best friend Carole-shaped (Carole is 16 in APHO -- someone like the Olenyeva twins would work better as a middle-schooler classmate, or even Sora/Kuu-chan) so perhaps HUA was supposed to have been 12 at 3E when they wrote the manga, but they’d changed their mind about it by the time they got to chapter 20 in the game? now the one thing i really can’t explain to myself is why they made it a point that HUA changes from her school uniform (VA’s blue outfit) to the clothes “Carole” gave her (the Spring Traveler outfit) when she was going home, when the image of her cowering on the ground in VA’s outfit when HIMEKO saves her has been referenced in so many places!! what’s the point

“but if you can’t believe HUA was 17 how can you believe that she became MANTIS 6 months after 10E ended, these things are literally on the same page” idk beats me, one of these is just more compelling considering how scared mihoyo is of letting women be over the age of 18

i could believe Pardo was 16 or so when they MANTIS-ed her though, and Kosma was even younger probably. they of course didn’t need SWARA because when miho came up with it, Pardo and Kosma didn’t exist yet but! if you wanna have fun reconciling all the lores, we could perhaps assume that MEI gave HUA the SWARA treatment for some other reason than the one stated in Blade of the Empyrean :)

tl;dr of this is i think HUA was at least 20 when she became a MANTIS, probably 21; this doesn’t change anything about how effed up her story is, she still saw the horrors of honkai at a very young age, just, you know, mihoyo’s own timelines reveal the lies :^

[inaconstantstateofchange]

Hi!

I'm so glad i found your blog, your deep dives are making my brain tingle in the best of ways! It's so difficult to really find all the info your curious about with the many different editions and histories of everything so you are an absolute lifesaver for understanding all these intruiging lore aspects.

I've been very curious about Asmodeus for a while now but am kinda struggling finding out more about him, I know he's very strong and apparently a large snake?? But I was wondering if you at some point feel the motivation to if you could tell me some about him, he seems so interesting to me and I just wanna know more about who and what he is.

Again, you are so awesome and I vow to devour all your writing!

Asmodeus: An Origin

Thank you so much for the kind words - and for your patience as I worked on this one. If there's any question you had about him that feels like it's not wholly answered here, feel free to let me know! There's still a lot that I was not able to include.

As ever, these writeups will align with current 5e lore, and draw from 3.5e for additional supporting information. On rarer occasions – and always noted – I will reference 1e and 2e, but with the caveats that there is much more in those editions that is tonally dissonant with the modern conception of the Forgotten Realms, and thus generally less applicable.

You would be hard-pressed to find a more succinct introduction to Asmodeus himself than in the following passage, from 3e’s Book of Vile Darkness: 

Asmodeus the Archfiend, the overlord of all the dukes of hell, commands all devilkind and reigns as the undisputed master of the Nine Hells. Even the deities that call that plane home pay Asmodeus a great deal of respect.¹ 

As to his current position, 5e’s Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide features Asmodeus among the list of gods, naming him the “god of indulgence”, and crediting to him the domains of knowledge and trickery. His symbol is “three inverted triangles arranged in a long triangle”, as seen in the image below.² 

While his active circle of worshippers remains small, he is one of the gods habitually turned to by those in need, particularly those who have done something to earn them the displeasure of another god:

After transgressing against a god in some way, a person prays to Asmodeus for something to provide respite during the long wait. Asmodeus is known to grant people what they wish, and thus people pray for all the delights and distractions they desire most from life. Those who transgress in great ways often ask Asmodeus to hide their sins from the gods, and priests say that he will do so, but with a price after death.³

Asmodeus is particularly appealing to those who fear what awaits them after death, or have arrived to find the reality does not match their hopes. For these souls, even the hazards of Baator might be preferable to long centuries of solitary wandering on the Fugue Plane. 

All souls wait on the Fugue Plane for a deity's pleasure, which determines where a soul will spend the rest of eternity. Those who lived their lives most in keeping with a deity's outlook are taken first. Others, who have transgressed in the eyes of their favored god or have not followed any particular ethos, might wait centuries before Kelemvor judges where they go. People who fear such a fate can pray to Asmodeus, his priests say, and in return a devil will grant a waiting soul some comfort.³

The worship of Asmodeus attracts staunch individualists, who desire a future unaligned with the domain of any of the other gods, and are willing to choose self-determination in any form that might approach them.

The faithful of Asmodeus acknowledge that devils offer their worshipers a path that's not for everyone — just as eternally basking in the light of Lathander or endlessly swinging a hammer in the mines of Moradin might not be for everyone. Those who serve Asmodeus in life hope to be summoned out of the moaning masses of the Fugue Plane after death. They yearn for the chance to master their own fates, with all of eternity to achieve their goals.³

Asmodeus achieved his current official status of godhood during the Spellplague, which lasted from 1385 to 1395 DR. After this, for reasons he has unsurprisingly chosen not to reveal, he performed a ritual to alter the metaphysical categorization of all existing tieflings, giving them features that highlighted this connection.

Due to this shift, tieflings are often perceived with wariness by those who believe that Asmodeus is able to exert control over these newly-determined “descendants” of his. While this is an unwarranted suspicion, as tieflings are no more bound to his will than any other individual of another race, the mistrust remains unfortunately pervasive.⁴ 

The true origins of Asmodeus, particularly from 3rd Edition on, are kept rather ambiguous, seemingly quite by design. This is both for Watsonian reasons – that a supreme being of evil such as Asmodeus would not carelessly leave information about his origins (and, potentially, weaknesses) floating around – as well as Doylist: it is a more elegant solution than eternal retcons, and leaves it up to the individual scholar or DM which explanation they ascribe the most veracity to.⁵ 

On the charge of Asmodeus’s true form being a giant serpent, we have Chris Pramas to thank for that bit of lore, stated in 2e’s 1999 Guide to Hell, but rarely mentioned - and not in any definitive manner - from 3e onward.⁶ 3e’s Manual of the Planes, published in 2001, does reference this account, but as a whispered and shadowy theory about the Archdevil Supreme, rather than objective truth.

Brutally repressed rumors suggest that there is more to Asmodeus than he admits. The story goes that the true form of Asmodeus actually resides in the deepest rift of Nessus called the Serpent’s Coil. The shape seen by all the other devils of the Nine Hells in the fortress of Malsheem is actually a highly advanced use of the project image spell or an avatar of some sort. ... From where fell Asmodeus? Was he once a greater deity cast down from Elysium or Celestia, or is he older yet, as the rumor hints? Perhaps he represents some fundamental entity whose mere existence pulls the multiverse into its current configuration. Nobody who tells the story of Asmodeus’s “true” form lives more than 24 hours after repeating it aloud. But dusty scrolls in hard-to-reach libraries (such as Demogorgon’s citadel in the Abyss) yet record this knowledge. Unless it is pure fancy, of course.⁷ 

One can see from the framing of the above excerpt that there is no attempt made at certainty. Perhaps it is mere conjecture, or perhaps a secret, hidden truth that few may know. It is impossible to say for certain. 

Another story of Asmodeus’s possible origin is found in 3e’s Fiendish Codex II. This text, again, does not frame the information given as universal truth, but rather takes pains to emphasize its ambiguity. 

The best way to understand devils and their ways is to listen to the stories they tell about themselves. The most famous of these tales have propagated as myths throughout all the worlds of the Material Plane, becoming familiar to mortals of all sorts. But as is often the case with legends, contradictions abound. For example, the tale of the Pact Primeval is the accepted version of the multiverse’s creation. But an alternate story claims Asmodeus as the fallen creator of the universe.  Countless cultures have their own versions of the Pact Primeval legend. The names of the deities featured in it change depending on where it is told, but the names of the devils are always the same. Perhaps this fact is what inspired Philogestes, the accursed philosopher of evil, to pen his famous proverb: “The gods exist in multiplicity, but Asmodeus is unique.” As is the case with any myth worthy of the name, the following tale is true — whether or not it actually happened.⁸ 

In this account, Asmodeus began as a celestial embodiment of law, formed from the concept itself to fight against the embodiment of chaos — demons.⁹ Over time, as he and his followers became more akin to the enemies they were facing, those celestial beings not engaged in the fight grew leery of what they were becoming, and took him to trial, to account for himself. The god of valor spoke first, laying out the concerns of those gathered against Asmodeus. In response: 

Asmodeus smiled, and the smoke of a thousand battlefields rose from his lips. “As Lord of Battle,” he pointed out, “you should know better than any that war is a dirty business. We have blackened ourselves so that you can remain golden. We have upheld the laws, not broken them. Therefore, you may not cast us out.”⁸

Despite their efforts, the gods were able to find no laws that Asmodeus had broken. Unsurprisingly, as he himself had helped write them. This conflict between Asmodeus and his host and the remainder of the unsullied gods continued on, with the gods unable to get rid of him, and free themselves of the constant reminder of the Blood War.

With time, the concepts of “good” and “evil” entered the world alongside law and chaos, and Asmodeus was able to argue for dominion over those souls that chose evil. The gods loathed the reminders of this fact, however, and when Asmodeus volunteered to move to the empty plain of Baator, they enthusiastically agreed. It was only years later, when the number of souls arriving at their own planes after death began to sharply decrease, that they thought to travel to Baator themselves, where they found a robust operation based around encouraging mortal souls to take to the path of evil. 

“You have granted us the power to harvest souls,” replied Asmodeus. “To build our Hell and gird our might for the task set before us, we naturally had to find ways to improve our yield.” The war deity drew forth his longsword of crackling lightning. “It is your job to punish transgressions, not to encourage them!” he cried.  Asmodeus smiled, and a venomous moth flew out from between his sharpened teeth. “Read the fine print,” he replied.⁸ 

While the recorded story implies a simple act of one-upmanship, a later section of the Fiendish Codex tells us that Asmodeus’s split from the other celestial deities was not so amicable. 

Once he had committed himself to residing in Baator, the deities physically cast him out of the upper realms, and he fell — and fell, and fell. Upon reaching the plain of Baator, he plunged through the nascent layers he had begun to shape. (In some versions, his fall created the layers, breaking the formerly featureless plain into nine pieces, which then arranged themselves into floating tiers.) At last he hit solid ground but continued to fall, spiraling through rock and soil. The protesting earth of Baator tore at his flesh, opening scores of gaping wounds. Still he fell, until he could fall no farther. The point where he finally stopped was the deepest part of Baator — the Pit.  The wounds that Asmodeus suffered in his dramatic fall have never healed. Though he manages to appear blithely unperturbed by his injuries, they still weep blood every day, and he has been wracked by constant pain for millennia.¹⁰ 

This casting down and its associated injuries is corroborated in other texts as well, including 3e’s Manual of the Planes. 

5e’s Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes seemingly follows on from the Fiendish Codex’s account, sharing one conception of the fallout of Asmodeus’s stratagem, positioned as an in-universe account penned by the aasimar bard Anodius in a work titled “The Trial of Asmodeus”.

At some point after Asmodeus broke from Celestia to rule Baator, he was brought up on trial for unspecified crimes and trespasses. Asmodeus claimed the right to speak in his own defense, and a court was gathered, arbitrated by Primus, a being intrinsically aligned with Neutrality and Law. From Asmodeus’s recorded arguments in his own defense, we can surmise that those on Celestia had accused him of acting outside of the law in actively working to turn mortals to evil. 

The case stretched on, with neither side ceding ground, for weeks, until finally Primus declared his judgment. While Asmodeus could not be convicted of any true crime – for he had acted within the law in all things – he was to take an artifact, the Ruby Rod that is synonymous with his position, which would “guarantee his adherence to law”.¹¹ A quote from Anodius’s in-universe text is helpfully provided by Mordenkainen: 

“I literally sit beneath eight tiers of scheming, ambitious entities that represent primal law suffused with evil. The path from this realm leads to an infinite pit of chaos and evil. Now, tell me again how you and your ilk are the victims in this eternal struggle.” – Asmodeus addresses the celestial jury, from The Trial of Asmodeus¹¹

In a manner similar to his contested origin, Asmodeus’s appearance is described in several varying ways — a fact that seems in line for a principal schemer such as himself. This seeming discrepancy could also speak to varying uses of aspects or projection spells.

The Fiendish Codex II in one instance paints him as “a horned, red-skinned humanoid with a tall, lithe frame” who “dresses in splendid robes and understated but elegant accoutrements.”¹⁰ A later section in the Codex corresponds to this description given in the Book of Vile Darkness: 

Asmodeus stands just over 13 feet tall, with lustrous dark skin and dark hair. He is handsome in the same way that a thunderstorm is beautiful. His red eyes shine with the power of hell, and his head is crowned with a pair of small, dark red horns. He dresses in finery of red and black; a single garment of his might cost what an entire nation spends in a year. Of course, he is never without his Ruby Rod, an ornate piece of unparalleled jeweled finery and vast magical power.¹ 

Regarding his personality, he is most often described as “a soft-spoken, articulate, chillingly reasonable fellow who is confident in his status as one of the multiverse’s most powerful entities. Even when surprised, he reacts with supreme poise, as if he were already three steps ahead of his adversaries.”¹⁰ The Book of Vile Darkness notes correspondingly that: 

The actions of Asmodeus are often mysterious to outside observers, but that is due to the short-sighted and dim-witted view most beings have. Asmodeus’s manipulations are labyrinthine and insidious. They work on a grand scale, although when it suits his needs he is willing to focus his attention even on the status of a lowly mortal soul.¹

¹ Book of Vile Darkness. 2002. p. 165-6.

² Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. 2015. p. 21.

³ Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. 2015. p. 24.

⁴ Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. 2015. p. 118. 

⁵ “Watsonian vs. Doylist”. Fanlore.org. 

⁶ In general, I try to stay in-universe with these lore writeups, but in this case it did feel like some out-of-universe context was necessary. 

⁷ Manual of the Planes. 2001. p. 123.

⁸ Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. 2006. p. 4-5.

⁹ While the description of these events found within the Fiendish Codex is too long to transcribe here in its entirety, I highly encourage you to read the full account for yourself. 

¹⁰ Fiendish Codex II. 2006. p. 73-4.

¹¹ Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. 2018. p. 9-10.

[ruppertmundysrevival]

Finale | 16 septembre 2023

Souvenirs décousus d’une game de balle (Finale RMR 2023, An Oral History)

par Les Martres

M. Raymond Je suis arrivé arrivé au terrain grâce à un lift d'Arthur Raymond, qui était quand même pas pire hangover. Cette année, c’était juste de sa faute à lui.

J. Bourgon Arthur Raymond est arrivé au terrain avec une bunch de bananes et s’est lavé le visage et les avant-bras aux Wet Ones.

A. Fontaine Rousseau C’est vrai que l’affaire des Wet Ones, c’était une drôle de vibe pour commencer la journée. Moi, je suis arrivé crinqué ben raide parce que j’avais écouté du Viagra Boys pis du Turbonegro ben fort à la maison pis là y’a un dude un peu blême qui s’frotte le corps avec des Wet Ones dans les estrades ? Pas la vibe à laquelle je m’attendais.

C. Charland Les vapeurs de Wet Ones m’ont fait tout oublier du match…

A. Fontaine Rousseau Je tiens à préciser que malgré l’affaire du dude qui se tartine avec des Wet Ones, j’ai probablement commencé la game avec ma plus belle claque de la saison. J’pense que c’était un signe.

M. Raymond Au deuxième but, après un solide coup sûr, Mayo s’est fait dire par Jules de se tenir prêt parce que celui-ci allait claquer un ballon-sacrifice pour le faire avancer. Le problème c’est que la définition de ballon-sacrifice était visiblement pas la même pour tout le monde. Mayo a surtout compris cours sur toute et s’est fait retirer comme un enfant d’école.

R. Thibodeau En fait, Jules a parlé en code plus subtil : « Mayo ! Ballon-sacrifice. OK ? » Je lui ai dit, à Jules : « Dis-lui pas ça, ça va le mélanger. » Et la suite me donna raison, lors d’un classique et chaotique REEEEEEVIENNNNNNS !

J. Bourgon Collision au 1er but quand Manu rentre dans Julie (ou Julie rentre dans Manu). Commotion cérébrale refoulée. Manu se sentait mal. Julie était en tabarnac. Mais ils ont fait la paix.

R. Thibodeau Il veut bien se donner une image de brute, ce Ruiz, mais au fond c’est un cœur tendre.

J. Bourgon Jules ben trop excité de porter l’hélice et qui la sort trop tôt (d’habitude Bouchard la sort dans un moment iconique à la 6 ou 7e manche), mais qui fait quand même son move de pogner la balle nu main.

R. Thibodeau Après une 6e manche où on n’a pas réussi un retrait et où les Ninas s’amusaient comme des futurs gagnants, on est revenu au banc un peu débiné... Notre dernier tour au bâton, 7 points en arrière. C’est alors que je me suis rappelé la fois de. Vous rappelez-vous, la fois ? J’ÉTAIS EN RANDONNÉE au pied d’une énorme montagne. Le sommet, perdu dans la brume, me paraissait inaccessible. L'ascension, impossible. Puis, une petite voix m’a soufflé : cherche le réflecteur. C’était la voix d’une petite martre ! Elle me parlait du petit réflecteur cloué sur les arbres pour baliser les sentiers. Je l’ai écoutée, puis une fois au premier réflecteur, j’ai vu le 2e. Puis le 3e… Puis… LE SOMMET ! Un seul coup sûr. C’était ça notre réflecteur. Charland l’a trouvé vite en tabarouette. Puis un 2e, puis un 3e. Puis… LE SOMMET ! C’était fou, car je n’avais même pas pensé à l’histoire de la randonnée comme une métaphore de la partie de balle molle. Je voulais juste parler de ma randonnée, mais ça a semblé motiver les Martres et ébranler les Ninas. La vie est bien faite, quand même.

A. Fontaine Rousseau Vous souvenez-vous de la fois où on a fait une remontée folle en septième manche ?

C. Charland Toujours du mal à m’en rappeler…

M. Raymond J’arrive pas à mieux décrire Poulin en 7e manche qu’avec cette image :

J. Bourgon Maxime a demandé à Christophe s’il se rappelait de la fois. Christophe comprenait rien. Maxime lui a rappelé l’histoire de la fois où on a gagné la finale.

Tout le monde s’est dit au revoir en pensant réellement qu’il y aurait une activité parascolaire aux quilles cet hiver.

C. Charland J’essaie de me rappeler, mais je me rappelle toujours pas de la fois.

R. Thibodeau C’est vrai, les quilles ! Quelqu’un a dit à Brouard qu’il allait s’en occuper, mais elle ne se souvenait plus qui. Peux-tu te manifester, SVP, organisateur.trice des quilles ?

J. Bourgon Julie et Mayo ont encore closé le parté.

Jules a partagé ses moments kinky avec le trophée (et ses grands bas mauves). La victoire de l’année prochaine risque de goûter un peu la graine.

Bouchard a essayé de nous faire croire qu’il a du coeur parce qu’il a porté le chandail des Martres pour jouer une autre finale que la nôtre.

R. Thibodeau Je me demande si Bouchard leur a fait le coup de la casquette à hélice, à son autre finale. Pour me consoler de son absence, j’aime me dire qu’il ne garde ça que pour la RMR.

J. Bourgon Dans tous les cas, les Martres ont démontré qu’elles peuvent gagner même sans hélice !

R. Thibodeau Après la partie, les Ninas ont souligné le fait que cette défaite-là, elle était dure à avaler. Je les comprends. Si j’étais eux, j’oublierais vite cette défaite pour me rappeler plutôt celle de l’an passé, dans cette finale dont on se rappellera comme “l’affaire Cousineau”. Ou même celle d’il y a deux ans, qui s’est finie à peu près 34-2 pour les Martres. Elles étaient un peu moins pires, ces défaites, c’est vrai ! Mais l’an prochain, c’est votre année, les Ninas ! On croit sincèrement en vous, et on vous souhaite de vous refaire des forces pendant la saison froide. Froide, comme la douche que vous avez prise après la partie, diront les langues sales. Mais on n’irait jamais là. Merci pour le bel été à tous ! Ninas 🖤, Martres 💚, RMR ⚾

* * *

LES LAURÉAT.ES DU GALA 2023 DE LA RMR

1. L'AMÉLIORÉ.E Celui ou celle s'étant le plus amélioré.e le temps d'une saison, d'une partie, d'une manche, ou même d'une sortie à l'abreuvoir. Lauréate : TANTAWI Mentions : C. Raymond et M. Raymond

2. MEILLEUR ESPRIT SPORTIF Debout sur le banc, cette personne est toujours là pour aider et encourager son prochain, dans les beaux jeux comme dans les erreurs les plusses pires. Lauréat : THIBODEAU Mentions : Poulin et Hill

3. MEILLEUR ESPRIT DE BAVEUX Cette personne très gripette que tu adores détester et qui sait comment jouer dans la tête de l'autre équipe. Lauréat : RUIZ Mentions : E. Talbi et M. Raymond

4. LA PLUME D'ANGE Auteur.trice du meilleur résumé de la saison. Lauréats : M. RAYMOND et FONTAINE ROUSSEAU

5. LE PORTE-PAROLE DE LA RMR L'orateur ou oratrice par excellence de la ligue, qui donnerait les entrevues les plus divertissantes à RDS et TVA sports. Lauréat : HILL Mention : Berthiaume

6. MEILLEUR MANIEMENT DU BÂTON (FEMME) Celle dont tu redoutes la frappe. Surtout après la réalité du soleil. Lauréate : COUSINEAU Mention : Brouard

7. MEILLEUR MANIEMENT DU BÂTON (HOMME) Celui dont tu redoutes la frappe. Surtout après la réalité du soleil. Lauréat : BOUCHARD Mention : Charland

8. LA MAIN DE FER DANS UN GANT DE BASEBALL (FEMME) Celle qui attrape toutes tes balles sans scrupule. Lauréate : BOURGON Mention : Cousineau

9. LA MAIN DE FER DANS UN GANT DE BASEBALL (HOMME) Celui qui attrape toutes tes balles sans scrupule. Lauréats : RUIZ et GAULIARD Mention : Bouchard

[pathfinderunlocked]

Frost Man Vampire Spawn - CR5 Undead

It’s nearly impossible for most creatures to live in the arctic wilderness.  But that just means that if you run into a creature, there’s a good chance it’s not actually alive.

Artwork by Josh Nizzi at joshnizzi.com, copyright Marvel Studios.

Frost Men are a race of wandering, rugged nomads who live in the wilderness of the tundra at the edges of the world.  They call themselves frost folk, but other races only ever see adult males, and so call them frost men.  The frost folk never correct them.  They’re originally from Forgotten Realms, and appeared in D&D 1e and 3e, but were converted to Pathfinder by Necromancer Games.  The D&D 3e lore is somewhat different, making female frost folk simply an unusual sight instead of being unheard of.

This is a frost man that was turned into a vampire’s thrall, presumably after trying to fight a vampire and losing.  Vampire spawns typically ignore everything about the base creature and completely overwrite their stats with those of a wight, but to me that makes more sense when the base creature is a human.  I wanted something that felt more like it was still connected to the frozen wilderness, even in undeath.

It annoys me that the typical vampiric “if defeated in combat, it becomes totally invulnerable and flies home to its coffin” nonsense applies to vampire spawns, which are theoretically meant to be used as nameless combat minions in a vampire adventure, not complex exploration encounters that force you to track down each one’s coffin.  A lot of vampire spawns probably don’t even have coffins, considering they're just captured enemies being used as cannon fodder.  With that in mind, I slightly altered the frost man vampire spawn’s version of this ability, compared to a typical vampire.

Frost Man Vampire Spawn - CR 5

The pale, largely unprotected body of this frost man wanderer seems unaffected by the ice and snow.  He has an axe in one hand, and he casts no shadow on the frozen tundra.

XP 1,600 LE Medium undead (cold) Init +3 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+2 armor, +3 Dex, +4 natural) hp 38 (4d8+20); fast healing 2 Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +7 Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2 DR 5/silver Immune cold, undead traits Resist electricity 10 Weaknesses vulnerability to fire, vampire weaknesses

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft. Melee slam +6 (1d4+4 plus energy drain) or morningstar +8 (1d8+4) or morningstar +8 (1d8+3) and slam +1 (1d4+2 plus energy drain) Ranged composite longbow +6 (1d8+3/x3) Special Attacks blood drain, dominate (DC 16), energy drain (1 level, DC 16)

STATISTICS

Str 16, Dex 16, Con —, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 19 Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 19 Feats Toughness, Weapon Focus (morningstar) Skills Intimidate +11, Perception +10, Sense Motive +10, Survival +7, Stealth +18 Languages Common, Frost Man, Necril SQ gaseous form, shadowless, spider climb Gear leather armor, mwk light flail, composite longbow (+3 Str), 30 arrows

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Frost Howl (Su) Once per day as a standard action, with its voice, a frost man vampire spawn can create a ten foot ring of supernatural frost on the ground around it.  Creatures within a 10-foot radius of the frost man vampire spawn when it performs this technique take 1d6+4 points of cold damage, and can make a DC 16 Reflex save to halve this damage.  The save DC is Charisma-based.

A frost man vampire spawn is immune to the effects of its own ring of frost.  A creature can walk within or through the area of ice at half its normal speed with a successful DC 10 Acrobatics check.  Failure by 4 or less means the creature can’t move that round (and must succeed at a Reflex save or fall); failure by 5 or more means it falls (see the Acrobatics skill).  Creatures that do not move on their turn do not need to attempt this check.  The ring of frost lasts until it naturally melts (about 6 hours in comfortable weather).

A frost man vampire spawn cannot use this technique if it is silenced.

Ice Blast (Su) Three times per day as a standard action, a frost man vampire spawn can release a blast of freezing mist in a 30-foot cone from the eye underneath its eye patch.  A frost man vampire spawn can remove its eye patch as a free action.  A creature in the area takes 3d6 points of cold damage (DC 16 Reflex for half).  The save DC is Charisma-based.

Hunter’s Mark (Su) As a swift action, once per day, a frost man vampire spawn may place an invisible mark on a creature that it can see.  Its attacks against this target have a +2 bonus to hit, and the frost man vampire thrall can perceive the approximate direction of the marked creature if it is within 1000 feet.  This effect lasts for one hour.

Blood Drain (Su) A frost man vampire spawn can suck blood from a grappled opponent; if the vampire spawn establishes or maintains a pin, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage.  The vampire spawn heals 5 hit points or gains 5 temporary hit points for 1 hour (up to a maximum number of temporary hit points equal to its full normal hit points) each round it drains blood.

Dominate (Su) A frost man vampire spawn can crush the will of an opponent with the cold subtype as a standard action.  Anyone the spawn targets must succeed on a Will save (DC 16) or fall instantly under the frost man vampire spawn’s influence, as though by a dominate monster spell (caster level 12th).  The ability has a range of 30 feet.

Energy Drain (Su) A creature hit by a frost man vampire spawn’s slam (or other natural weapon) gains one negative level.  This ability only triggers once per round, regardless of the number of attacks a frost man vampire spawn makes.  See Energy Drain description for details.

Vampiric Fast Healing (Su) A frost man vampire spawn gains fast healing 2.  If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, a vampire spawn assumes gaseous form (see below) and attempts to escape.  It must reach an area of natural outdoor ice or snow within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed.  (It can normally travel up to 9 miles in 2 hours.)  Additional damage dealt to a frost man vampire spawn forced into gaseous form has no effect.  Once at rest, the vampire is helpless, and an ice tomb with 20 hit points forms around it as the gaseous form wears off.  The frost man vampire spawn heals at the rate of only 2 hit points per hour while reforming inside this ice tomb, instead of its normal fast healing rate, and remains paralyzed and unconscious until its hit points are fully restored, at which point the ice tomb shatters and the frost man vampire spawn emerges.  If the ice tomb is destroyed while the frost man vampire spawn is still healing, the ice tomb reforms 1 hour later unless the frost man vampire spawn is destroyed.

Gaseous Form (Su) When reduced to 0 hit points in combat, a vampire spawn can assume gaseous form (caster level 5th), as the spell, but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.  It cannot assume gaseous form under any other circumstance.

Shadowless (Ex) A frost man vampire spawn casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a mirror.

Spider Climb (Ex) A frost man vampire spawn can climb sheer surfaces as though under the effects of a spider climb spell.

Vampire Weaknesses Frost man vampire spawns cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it.  Similarly, they recoil from mirrors or strongly presented holy symbols.  These things don’t harm the frost man vampire spawn—they merely keep it at bay.  A recoiling frost man vampire spawn must stay at least 5 feet away from the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against that creature.  Holding a frost man vampire spawn at bay takes a standard action.  After 1 round, a frost man vampire spawn can overcome its revulsion of the object and function normally each round it makes a DC 25 Will save.

Frost man vampire spawns cannot enter a private home or dwelling unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so.

Reducing a frost man vampire spawn’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see fast healing).  However, certain attacks can slay frost man vampire spawns.  Exposing any frost man vampire spawn to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure and destroys it utterly on the second consecutive round of exposure if it does not escape.   Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a frost man vampire spawn equal to one-third of its maximum hit points—a frost man vampire spawn reduced to 0 hit points in this manner is destroyed.  Driving a wooden stake through a helpless frost man vampire spawn’s heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round action).  However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head is also severed and anointed with holy water.

[blogplacement1]

Week 1 - Thursday 31 October 2024

Period 1 - Class 3G didn’t require a demo for halloween task and the powerpoint was a lot quicker. Class were chatting away but working hard while the radio was on. Felt off that pupils weren’t asking me questions instead of the teacher.

Period 2 - Class 3E was a lot calmer today and were doing halloween task. The class spoke about a desire to do clay work for their unit but unfortunately I will need to do a written unit with them. They are not fans of the written work so there might be a lower attendance. Class are very likeable.

Period 3 - Class 4F They were doing a fun task on redrawing a painting they studied from memory. I then went outside and got one member of the group to look at the painting and describe it to the rest of the group to draw as accurately as possible. I liked that various meta-skills like team work and democracy/decision making were explored.

Period 4 - Began making plans for units while observing 5D and Adv. Higher. A quiet period.

Period 5 - Class 2K was a new class I will be teaching in a few weeks. They were very loud and had lots of big characters. Some weren’t in so class was a bit more relaxed but they still made a lot of noise. They didn’t have as good fine motor skills as some of the other classes and weren’t motivated to learn. I thought they had a certain charm though.

I concluded the day by looking at the student files and learnt about all the ASNs for my classes. I was surprised at the amount of them.

[toutmontbeliard-com]

Le Collectif PMA 2024 présenté par Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération

Ce mercredi 18 septembre 2024, Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération (PMA) a présenté officiellement le collectif PMA 2024 et a remis à cette occasion les tenues officielles aux jeunes sportifs. Cette année, il regroupe 12 sportifs de haut niveau qui bénéficient d’une aide de l’Agglomération afin de poursuivre leur projet sportif et professionnel tout en valorisant l’image du territoire. Cette année, PMA a affecté 26 500 € en soutien des athlètes du collectif. "Depuis 2011, l’Agglomération accompagne et encourage les jeunes dans la pratique sportive. Les membres du collectif PMA, des athlètes de haut niveau soutenus financièrement par l’Agglomération, sont les premiers ambassadeurs de cette politique du sport pour tous. Ce collectif permet de promouvoir l’image sportive du Pays de Montbéliard et de faciliter les conditions d’entraînement des sportifs de haut niveau licenciés sur le territoire", souligne Charles Demouge, Président de Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération. Chaque athlète bénéficie d’une aide financière annuelle et d’une tenue aux couleurs de PMA. En contrepartie, il s’engage à participer à certains évènements organisés par l’Agglomération, arborer les couleurs du Pays de Montbéliard et à promouvoir Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération sur les réseaux sociaux. Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération affiche ainsi son soutien total aux sportifs et athlètes de haut niveau licenciés dans un club du Pays de Montbéliard et démontrent leur motivation et leur ambition, tant par les résultats de la saison écoulée que par les objectifs qu’ils se fixent. Les critères de sélection du collectif PMA Pour être retenus, les athlètes doivent répondre à 3 critères : être amateur (ne pas avoir de statut professionnel) ; être licencié dans un club du Pays de Montbéliard ; être inscrit sur une des listes ministérielles : espoir, collectif national ou haut niveau (relève, seniors ou élite). 12 athlètes sont membres du Collectif PMA 2024 : Marcus BURGER – Age : 20 ans – Statut ministériel : espoir – Discipline : moto enduro – Licencié au club : Team Enduro Franche-Comté de Dambelin – Membre du collectif PMA depuis 3 ans – Montant de subvention attribué : 2 000 € En 2023, Marcus est dans le top 10 du Championnat de France et d’Europe d’enduro. EN 2024, il devient champion de France cross-country en espoir et actuellement en tête du Championnat de France d’enduro. Eva LACHERAY – Age : 24 ans – Statut ministériel : haut niveau - catégorie relève – Classement Fédération Internationale Escrime : 15e – Discipline : escrime / elle fait partie de l’élite française du fleuret – Licenciée au club : Les Lions de Montbéliard – Membre du collectif PMA depuis 2015 – Montant de subvention attribué : 7 500 € En 2024, Eva a eu l’honneur de participer aux Jeux Olympiques à Paris où elle a terminé 5e en fleuret par équipe et 13e en fleuret individuel. Classée 15e au ranking mondial à la fin de cette saison elle fait directement partie du tableau principal sans passer par les qualifications lors des premières coupes du monde 2024-2025. Elle a également pris part aux quarts de finales du Grand Prix de Washington et des championnats d’Europe senior à Basel. Jade MARAVAL – Age : 22 ans – Statut ministériel : espoir – Discipline : athlétisme lancé de javelot – Licenciée au club : Elle est licenciée au FCSMO Athlétisme et fait partie de la section haut niveau du MBA (Montbéliard, Belfort, Athlétisme) – Membre du collectif PMA depuis 5 ans – Montant de subvention attribué : 5 000 € Avec un record personnel de 56 mètres 61, Jade présente la deuxième meilleure performance de l’année. Après avoir remporté son 8e titre de Championne de France en javelot en février, Jade a terminé à la première place de la Coupe d’Europe du Javelot U23 un mois plus tard. Au cours de la saison 2023/2024, Jade a également été vice-championne de France Elite hivernale et vice-championne de la Méditerranée U23. Elle termine 3e au championnat de France Elite. Marine MERBITZ – Age : 18 ans – Statut ministériel : espoir – Discipline : marche athlétique – Licenciée au club : Montbéliard-Belfort Athlétisme – Membre du collectif PMA depuis 1 an – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € En 2023 et 2024, Marine a été 6 fois vice-championne de France de marche athlétique en salle et sur piste. Cette année, Marine bat aussi le record de Bourgogne Franche-Comté junior en 13’11 sur 3000 mètres en marche en salle. Sélectionnée en équipe de France 3 fois, elle a reçu une médaille d’argent européenne en équipe en 2024. Avec un record personnel en 47’47 sur 10 000 mètres de marche sur piste aux Championnats de France élites, Marine a également participé : – aux 10 000 mètres de marche mondiale et s’est positionnée 24e, – aux 10 000 mètres de marche européenne et s’est positionnée 8e. Mélitine MOREL – Age : 14 ans – Statut ministériel : haut niveau - catégorie relève (surclassée) – Discipline : ski nautique – Licenciée au club : Ski Nautique Montbéliardais – Membre du collectif PMA depuis 2 ans – Montant de subvention attribué : 3 000 € En juillet 2024, Mélitine finit quadruple championne de France en slalom figures saut et combiné à Toulouse. Elle se place 5e en slalom, 6e en figures et obtient une médaille de bronze par équipe lors du Championnat du monde junior U17 au Canada. Cet été, Mélitine devient également championne d’Europe de slalom à Recetto, 5e en figures, 4e au combiné en Italie et médaillée de bronze avec l’équipe de France. Zakariya NOUI – Age : 17 ans – Statut ministériel : espoir – Discipline : karaté – Licencié au club : Bethoncourt Karaté – Membre du collectif PMA depuis 1 an – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € 50e au classement mondial, Zakariya a terminé 2e à l’open France en junior dans la catégorie -55kg en mai 2023. Cette année, il a été à la 3e place lors de l’open international au Luxembourg en junior (catégorie -55kg) et à la 2e place lors de l’open international à Orléans (catégorie -52kg). Corentin LEQUET – Age : 20 ans – Statut ministériel : haut niveau - catégorie relève – Discipline : cyclocross – Licencié au club : Centre Cycliste Etupes – Membre du collectif PMA depuis 1 an – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € En 2023, Corentin participe à la Coupe de France à Quelneuc où il se positionne en première et deuxième position. La même année, il finit 8e au Championnat d’Europe à Pontchateau et en première et deuxième position en Coupe de France à Albi. En 2024, il a terminé 15e au Championnat de France à Camors. 5 nouveaux membres du collectif : Florian PACHECO – Age : 18 ans – Statut ministériel : espoir – Discipline : athlétisme – Licencié au club : FCSMO Athlétisme – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € En juin 2023, Florian est devenu Champion de France cadet du Décathlon où il a battu ses records personnels (14″66 sur 110m haies, 41m92 au javelot et 4’43 sur 1500m). Il a également obtenu une médaille de bronze pour l’épreuve du 40 mètres haies. Fanny Aurore PELTIER – Age : 27 ans – Statut ministériel : collectifs nationaux – Discipline : athlétisme – Licencié au club : MBA (Montbéliard, Belfort, Athlétisme) – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € Durant sa carrière, Fanny a été notamment Championne de France, vice-championne du monde et vice-championne d’Europe en relais 4x100 mètres, finaliste aux jeux olympiques des jeunes. En 2024, elle participe à la qualification relais 4x400 mètres pour Jeux Olympiques. Elle a terminée 7e place aux championnats du monde relais à Nassau, 3e au meeting international de Jacksonville et vainqueur du 400 mètres finale des championnats de France interclubs. Naël ROUFFIAC – Age : 19 ans – Statut ministériel : haut niveau - catégorie relève – Discipline : VTT – Licencié au club : Centre Cycliste Etupes – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € Naël est 2 fois vainqueur du classement Général de la coupe de France de VTT (cadet et junior). En 2023, il est vainqueur de la Junior Séries de Guéret (en France), Granichen (en Suisse) et à Brouains (en France). Il participe à la Coupe de France et se place 1er du podium. En 2024, Naël se place 5e du classement des Championnats de France espoir première année et 28e de la Coupe du Monde à Val di sole (en Italie). Henri-François HAQUIN – Age : 21 ans – Statut ministériel : haut niveau - catégorie relève – Discipline : cyclisme sur route – Licencié au club : Centre Cycliste Etupes – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € En 2024, Henri-François se positionne dans le top 10 lors de la 5e édition du tour PMA critérium professionnel. Cette année, il a obtenu 5 victoires (voir liste ci-dessous) et a fait 7 podiums. Henri-François intègre également les rangs professionnels cette année (équipe encore non connue à ce jour). o Vainqueur de la dernière étape du tour de Côte d’Or o Vainqueur de l’estivale bretonne o Vainqueur de la 4e étape du tour d’Alsace o Vainqueur de la 3e étape du Tour du Pays Roannais o Vainqueur de la 2e étape du circuit de Saône et Loire Simon BARAN – Age : 21 ans – Statut ministériel : haut niveau - catégorie relève – Discipline : cyclisme sur route – Licencié au club : Centre Cycliste Etupes – Montant de subvention attribué : 1 000 € En 2024, Simon participe au Championnat de France espoirs et se place en 14e position. Il termine 6e au Tour du Pays Roannais et également au tour du Charollais. Il détient le prix d’Igney et a terminé 2e de l’agglo tour de Bourg-en-Bresse. Read the full article