#About the Commander

[lady-quen]

Honest to god "came back wrong" is one of the sexiest tropes there are. Especially if the catch isn't "oh it's not them after all, it's just a monster wearing their shell" but instead it IS still them, just changed. Irrevocably so, perhaps in grotesque ways, but at the core of it all, past all the whispers and strange looks behind their back, past even their own self-doubt - lies a small part of the person they used to be. The very part that counts.

Yeah, get driven to near-insanity by what you lost and can't get back. Struggle with your identity, your own skin. Ask yourself every day and every night, was it really worth it?

And then, find the strength to eventually answer, yes, yes it was.

Despite everything.

It's still you.

[lady-quen]

Nobody knows don't mind him putting his head back on his neck, his eyes are up there

im aware this is an insane thing to say but i fucking. love characters that are just cockroaches. and i dont mean like. gross i mean they just do not fucking die. they can survive anything. they will outlive EVERYONE because they just will not die no matter what be it because they have a reason or because they literally cannot stop surviving the odds i love it i love it

[linktoo-doodles]

experimenting

[transcarcinization]

i think he would kill it on space tiktok

[milkywayes]

you were born to do this

happy N7 Day!

[find prints here!]

[lady-quen]

Mael's leaves are based on the tillandsia air plant, which is a type of epiphyte (occasionally aerophyte) which grows in moderate to hot climates - from what I read, the metallic silver sheen isn't a product of a pigment, but a form of structural mechanism to bend and reflect light. That can be attributed to a waxy outer layer and specialized trichomes, miniscule hair-like appendages that are more efficient at water intake and subsequently keeping the water, which makes Mael further resistant to heat and drought. His skin and bark also possess a similar silvery shine under most light, which is a pretty fun explanation to why ingame, he appears green-ish in darkness, but gray under light!

I'd also imagine he'd turn greener when soaked, like the real plant, and then silvery white when exposed to the sun for too long and dried out.

And then there's the funny thing.. Mael doesn't even do fire magic or really anything fire-themed, he does ice magic as part of necromancy, and is more magically resistant to cold than he is physically resistant to heat.

i need more sylvari headcanons that are based directly on plants/fungi tbh

succulent sylvari being able to go days without drinking anything

sylvari that are based on specific trees which can’t stand the cold having problems with injured bark/limbs in shiverpeak mountains due to winter damage

sick sylvari getting all sorts of leaf diseases / losing their leaves

some poor sylvari having (perhaps chronic) problems with excessive sap dripping

just tree diseases in general

specific mushroom and tree sylvari being friends because of symbiosis (even if just on a sort of metaphorical level)

sylvari that lose all sorts of pollen (I know they don’t reproduce but.. just imagine) upsetting all the allergic people around

imagine a corpse flower sylvari…. poor thing doesn’t have any friends. apart from perhaps noseless sylvari.

??? gimme more pls

[naiad-r]

"But not like this. Never like this."

@dinlukeweek Day 5: Dark Fantasy | Greek Mythology

[duckydrawsart]

*softens ur commander* <3 :)

[androdragynous]

I'm a disability advocate (I think you should be disabled)

[acceptrans]

Hope nobody did this with Plo Koon and Commander Wolffe before!

Tumblr messing up the picture's quality again

The template by @mellon-soup under the cut!

[cabbagege]

It's always one of them

[lady-quen]

It's time for my favourite thing, more lore about Mael. And what better than delving into his early life for once?

Yes, Mael used to be a dollmaker. Tune in for more of this man's ridiculous adventures under the readmore.

As an heir to Riannoc's Wyld Hunt - destined to hunt down Mazdak - Maelmordha awoke saturated with necromancy. So much so, that he lacked practically any shaper magic, leaving him unable to create his own clothing or otherwise work with plant matter like many of his peers. This also left him unable to alter his own body, which is why he had barely changed physically since his emergence.

But the desire to fit in burned strong - he picked up woodcarving, wishing to shape in his own way. To create something of his own that wasn't merely necromantic constructs. Woodcarving progressed steadily into dollmaking, a time-consuming hobby indeed, but one that served him well once he moved out to Divinity's Reach to begin education in the Priory.

He was broke. And so, he experimented with something new: summoning tiny shades to haunt his puppets, animating them at his command. Delighted, Mael joined a street show, bringing his creations to life in front of a curious audience. With how they seemingly moved on their own, many people assumed him to be a mesmer. His side hustle as an entertainer earned him just enough money to make ends meet. Of course, his Priory mentor - an older human woman, fellow necromancer and historian - had a different idea of entertainment: one that did not include safety hazards such as summoning multiple shades into dolls in front of children. As soon as he'd see her coming, he'd bow with a flourish, "Now, for one last trick! I will vanish!" and promptly book it across the street.

Still, his puppetry was but a mere approximation of life. In the end, it was all nothing more than just another trick of necromancy. And yet, that playful idea of his youth slowly became the foundation of his magic, an unparalelled mastery over darkness which only intensified with his descent into undeath. The demise dealt to him in flame and steel saw Maelmordha become disjointed from his body, no longer a mortal union of soul and flesh, but something far more sinister. He was his own puppet and puppeteer, the spell snaring his soul to Tyria in wretched immortality woven from invisible strings moving his limbs. To hide this secret was crucial; The entirety of the Pact's reputation would be in peril otherwise.

And so, he continued onward. His mastery over shade magic grew, and faced with the United Legions' steady decline in the face of the Dominion, he allowed himself to turn the tide. To let rise his puppets once more - to call his spellbound shades, breathe darkness into charr corpses to bring them upright, weapons in hand. Legion and Dominion alike danced at his command, their features veiled in black. Amidst the haze of weeks of slaughter, a title was bestowed upon him in disgust and mockery by Ruinbringer's forces - Shadow Imperator. To demean the Legions, as though they would grant a non-charr such station. Not that the Pact Commander was in any way interested. He already had far too many masks to wear.

In his youth, Maelmordha had been a performer. Little did he know he'd have to play a role his entire life - and beyond.

[ominouspuff]

Rebel

[sunflowersinheaven]

[inkskinned]

it is genuinely and truly terrifying to watch trump and his apostles create a crisis and then "resolve" the crisis.

it is terrifying to watch right-wing media first say they love the tariffs, that "america is finally first again," that we don't need to be in a global economy. but then trump changes his mind. the media, in the next day or even hour - suddenly admits that the market was crashing, that we were in serious economic danger. but no worries because trump has saved us all! he's brought us back from the brink and stocks skyrocketed, something biden never did! trump's a hero! he loves us! he saved america!

i hate that the word "fascist" doesn't even seem to alarm them anymore. i hate that they treat it as a joke. i hate that others lift their noses and say triggered, libs? while lives fall apart. this is a man who has a religion behind him. this is a god-king. this is a man who has warped the soul of america, and they treat him as if he's just a goofy genius with a heart of gold.

within one hour of the tarriffs being announced, i already saw a commenter on instagram saying this is how we know he's playing chess, not checkers. but all the libs already sold their stocks, and i'm sat here laughing. i had to close my eyes.