#Alfred is ���The May or May Not be Possibly Blessed by Immortality.”

[anonymous-existences]

Random DCxDP Prompt/Thought #2

Jason Finds a Notebook in Danny's drawer, Big Capital letters on its cover written as 'Labels', He raises an eyebrow as he inspects and opens the notebook. "What's this about??" He asked, Turning his head to Danny before reading the text. "Oh that's my nicknames for people cuz I tend to forget names a lot." Danny shrugged nonchalantly as Jason flipped through the pages.

He stared dead silent for a moment at his name and it's 'labels', blinking in disbelief. "WHY DO YOU HAVE ME AS 'ANGER ISSUES', 'FUNNIER THAN JOKER', AND 'HE WHO PROBABLY HAS A FURSONA'?!" Jason read the other labels in disbelief.

His gaze landing on Bruce's 'labels', barking out a laugh as he read the first one out loud. " YOU HAVE B AS 'AUTISM SPECTRUM'?!" He yelled out with a wide amused grin, Danny laughing softly, "I mean... Just look at him..." Danny shrugged making Jason laugh out even more.

[vilefeather]

Theorycrafting: The “Rotted Blood” of Cainhurst

It is common knowledge that Cainhurst and the Healing Church, longstanding enemies ever since the heyday of Byrgenwerth, brutally warred against each other following the latter’s proclamation that the blood used by the Vilebloods was forbidden and heretical, with the Church ultimately triumphing. The event that sparked the conflict was when a Byrgenwerth scholar betrayed his fellows and brought a particular form of the old blood back to Cainhurst, which the nobles there adapted amongst themselves.

What, however, was the specific nature of this ‘tainted blood,’ as Queen Annalise herself refers to it as, and how does it compare to the methods and eldritch tools that the Church used in their war upon Cainhurst? Based upon what we can observe in-game, several conclusions can be drawn.

Perhaps the most obvious boon of the ‘rotted blood’ that the adherents of Cainhurst bore was the ability to channel their life force directly into their weapons in order to strengthen their potency, as illustrated in the ‘blood blade’ capabilities of the Chikage and Lady Maria’s Rakuyo. This in itself is a special ability, as only those who have become Vilebloods/bear Vileblood lineage can execute the technique, and is almost completely unique to Cainhurst, as no tool or skill utilized by Church hunters is equivalent. The only exception to this is the weapon utilized by Brador, the wicked Bloodletter mace, which similarly requires the wielder to sacrifice a portion of their own life to unlock its full potential; even here, however, the parallel is not perfect, as the Bloodletter costs a flat amount of hp upon transformation whereas the Chikage inflicts a constant drain. This indicates a difference in methodology between the construction of the weapons, and it is also important to keep in mind that the Bloodletter is one-of-its-kind, being the personal weapon of Brador, and likely does not correspond with standard Church approaches to crafting armaments.

Another very noticeable aspect of the Vilebloods’ blood-granted augmentation was their incredible physical resilience even in comparison to other hunters, numerous examples of which can be drawn from the game. One, as you might expect, is the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst, whose immense health pool makes him easily the most formidable hostile hunter enemy one may face and necessitates slowly whittling him down while avoiding the equally significant amounts of damage that he can inflict. Even if, due to a lack of in-game information, we should assign him the lowest possible status as an unremarkable guard amidst the Vileblood’s ranks, the implications are quite significant- were all of Cainhurst’s royal guards so strong? The circumstances of the story would indicate that there is at least some truth to this- the Church hunters, who could draw upon the entire population of Yharnam, would have almost certainly outnumbered the Vilebloods, who were restricted to the isolated lands surrounding Castle Cainhurst; as such, the latter would have had to possess an advantage of their own in order to combat the Church. It stands to reason that what the Vileblood knights and guards lacked in relative quantity, they made up for in physical quality and potential.

A second example, once again, is Lady Maria, due not only to her boss-level amount of hp, but also on account of her ability to massively enhance both sections of her Rakuyo as per blood-blade techniques with only a minimal loss of health and no drain afterwards. As evidenced by the Rakuyo’s own description, Maria disliked blood blades despite her Vileblood lineage, and the double-bladed sword was explicitly created to benefit more from regular martial prowess than the transfer of the wielder’s life force. In other words, this means that Maria possessed the strength of body necessary to employ a blood-draining technique that she herself was reluctant towards (and thus presumably less practiced in) upon a weapon that was not intended to be used as such, fully impaling herself upon the two sections of the Rakuyo and augmenting its range and killing power to a degree that not even a Chikage user could hope for. Indeed, the extent to which Maria ultimately employs these skills within her battle is astounding, accomplishing such feats as channeling her life force into a lethal explosion and enabling the bloody trails of her swords to burst into flame with every swing. As Maria herself was only a “distant relative of the queen,” one can only ponder the destructive capabilities of the Vileblood techniques if taken to their utmost extent.

A third and final example is Annalise, the Queen of the Vilebloods and the one from whom the player accepts the covenant and personally receives the blessing of the ‘tainted blood.’ One may at first be inclined to question this, given how easily she is reduced to paste by a single Church hunter (i.e. Alfred); however, as the very vessel of the substance from which all other Vilebloods gain their abilities, Annalise has achieved something that all others of her kind have not: namely, immortality. The Queenly Flesh that one can obtain from her remains following Alfred’s questline indicates that even in such a state, the Queen’s remains alive and “undying,” with Annalise herself stating as much after you resurrect her and if you attack her. With but a simple ritual at an altar (an act whose implications could fill a long post by themselves), she is restored to perfect health as if nothing had ever transpired, no true harm done to her body or mind. Such is the power of the ‘rotted blood’ that an individual can not only increase their body’s capacity for punishment but even negate its inherent, absolute limit, preventing them from truly dying.

[lookatthisdork]

Batman AU Idea - Ghosts

I’ve always been a sucker for supernatural-element AUs in otherwise (near-) magic-less settings, and Batman generally leans hard on the (COMIC) SCIENCE end of the science/magic spectrum, so naturally I’m always on the hunt for Batman AUs with magic stuff happening. The worldbuilding that some authors put into a Gotham where immortal beings are just part of life is amazing.

But there’s so many vampire AUs. Don’t get me wrong - I love them, and I love their writers. But I just want more variety sometimes.

Ghosts

(Shout-out to my favorite Ghost-Batman fic where all of the batkids (Pre-Flashpoint) are ghosts with human-Bruce-dad. And Lost Boys Fly by hauntedlittledoll, it’s completed and just really well done.)

Imagine a Gotham where the laws of reality are just a bit thinner than usual - where magic and the supernatural bleed into everyday life due to a combination of natural geography and concentrated human misery. On top of all the mundane evils of the world, Gotham deals with demons and satanic cults and the like.

Also, ghosts. Lots and lots of ghosts. Usually victims of murders or suicides. Ghosts aren’t super common even in Gotham, but they’re near unheard of outside the city (in America, at least - I doubt Gotham is truly unique in this AU).

Most ghosts are short-lived echoes that disappear within a day or two. Some linger for longer - weeks, months, years, even decades by some accounts. The amount of time a ghost remains is directly proportional to how self-aware and powerful (read: dangerous) they are. 

And in modern Gotham, there’s an urban legend that at least one ghost has been stalking the city’s streets for centuries.

Miscellaneous world building:

The Manor was gifted to the Pennyworths rather than the Kanes when the Waynes died, which means Alfred owns the estate in modern-day. He had no idea that his dad left him a house frequented by (a) ghost(s), but he’s grown very (disturbingly) used to the company.

People that like Kate Kane: she exists in this AU! Just because the Waynes died out ages ago doesn’t mean the Kanes aren’t still around. In fact, Gotham probably relies on Kane Enterprises instead of Wayne Industries. (But Kate keeps her personal background and has a working relationship with her “cousin”)

One of Bruce’s self-appointed jobs is to help other ghosts move on as fast as possible and to deal with the already-crazy ones. This involves a lot of reaching out to surviving family members and haunting the shit out of a lot of murderers.

Also a lot of haunting the GCPD and its detectives’ homes. (Gordon did not sign up for this shit, he should have just stayed in Chicago where all the dead people stay dead.

At least half of the Batkids are ghosts that refused to move on even after meeting Bruce. The other half are vigilantes he insists on haunting watching over.

Dick died in the same fall as his parents. (Age 12)

Barbara is alive and dealing with these dead assholes for some reason.

Jason died on the streets of exposure. (Age tbd, either 10 or 14-15)

Tim, Stephanie and Cass I’m undecided on (though Stephanie would have died of torture at Age 16 and Tim would have died of something no immediately visible that still left his shirt soaked in blood, Age tbd) 

I have no idea how to write Damian into this AU, haha oops

Bruce is quite possibly the oldest-known sane ghost. No one know why he’s the exception to the general crazy-in-a-year rule - people that know him assume he’s just too stubborn to go off the deep-end

The other dead batkids end up the next-oldest ghosts - the stubbornness is contagious?

This universe’s Ra’s would probably be interested to know what makes Bruce tick

Yes, the ghosts look the age they died at, though they can change their appearances with some will and imagination

If they’re particularly stressed or not paying attention, they look exactly the way they died - fatal wounds included

For obvious reasons (cough Bruce’s eternal eight-year-old babyface cough), they almost never show their faces. Dick in particular is fond of the disembodied voice trick when he wants to make his presence known.

Ghost powers! The older the ghost, the more they can do. Powers may include moving objects nearby and at a distance, moving through walls, disappearing and reappearing anywhere within one’s preferred haunts, localized illusions (more like hallucinations really), manipulation of emotions, manipulation of temperature (mainly making things colder), fucking with electromagnetic equipment and possession.

Possession is the hardest, and Jason tends to use it most often; Bruce almost never uses it

Weaknesses are the old favorites: salt, iron and holy ground.

Note: the salt must be unrefined with no additives; common table salt only works on younger ghosts. Iron doesn’t stop teleportation and only works if you swing directly at a ghost’s projected form. And desecrated holy ground (made by harming an innocent on former holy ground) is fair game.

Crucifixes do absolutely nothing! Nor does holy water! Getting your local priest to bless some salt doesn’t help either. (Gotham criminals still try all of these, though)

When Bruce joins the Justice League, Hal refuses to believe it and mocks the fuck out of “Casper” in that first meeting. He then spends the next month haunted by his “coworker.” And thus begins a beautiful friendship!