#But that has to do with the campaigns too

[wmaitla]

Reminds me a bit of my VtR campaign. The PCs are Neonates (baby vampires) who get turned and introduced to vampire society. They haven't been around for a century but they are broadly unfamiliar with vampire society. Despite being corpses reanimated with a hunger for blood they're still very empathetic towards humans and frequently have connections with still-human friends and family. "Socializing at the club" is a perfectly valid and effective Touchstone (way for vampires to maintain their connection to humanity).

Meanwhile, there are at least a half-dozen NPC vampires who dress and act like perfectly mannered high-society people, but are ancient monsters behind the scenes. Elysium itself is a monthly meeting in an extravagant penthouse where blood flows freely and it is understood that Things Happen to blood dolls. There is a Bailiff whose whole vampire job is to literally help other vampires dispose of corpses in a way that doesn't get noticed. There's an entire Covenant dedicated to forming cults of humans to torture and exploit, and another one who considers it their sacred duty to torment humans and destroy their lives because they believe its what God intended for them.

There ARE nice vampires (Most Carthians and a few of the Ordo Dragul TRY to be kind to humans) but vampire society as a whole perceives vampires as being a rung higher on the food chain than humans. If a Kindred does some nightmarish shit, that's not bad, that's their privilege as a predator and a vessel for the Beast.

I've been GMing this campaign for two years now and it has been a JOY to not only watch my players recoil in horror at the nightmares around them, but to watch them grapple with the existential terror of slowly becoming nightmares themselves.

Modern vampire who has spent the last 70-ish years of their immortality primarily being slutty in nightclubs and non-lethal snacking on hookups shocked and uncomfortable that most vampires older than the lightbulb are really into torture and cruelty and eating babies alive. Super excited to finally meet his own kind and then oh no. oh fuck. time out wtf are they doing. this is profoundly unsexy they bit that guy’s arm off and are letting him crawl around screaming and crying. there’s not even any kissing or grinding or club music. is this normal?? i am Going to throw up i’ve gotta get these poor ppl out of here. askjeeves how to smuggle 30 naked prisoners (assorted genders) out of vampire mansion time sensitive.

[totalswag]

Heyy!! Hope you’ve been great! I have a request…….💌💌

How about Drew and popstar!reader do like a super hot Calvin Klein ad together, and launch a collab with the line. xx

calvin klien collab ⎯ DREW STARKEY!

authors note i've been doing great thank you for asking lovie!! ugh I enjoyed writing this and coming up with some good ideas heheh. i hope we get to see drew on an ad one day (he would look so good). since i usually write about singer!reader x drew being in a relationship, i wanted to write something that doesn't involve them together, more so meeting for the first time.

taglist ✎ ̼ if you would like to be notified every time i post you will type in your username then be all set to go.

masterlist

summary in which you and drew starkey are collaborating in a hot calvin klien photoshoot for the first time.

warning(s) high tension, flirting, bodies touching, y/n and drew being the hottest people on the planet.

Being asked to be involved in a Calvin Klein photoshoot was a complete dream come true. You've always wanted to be one of those women, and now you are able to say you are. When you got the news from your manager you were filled with loads of emotions.

What no one was expecting⎯Drew Starkey and Y/N Y/N featured on Calvin Klein together. After the announcement, everyone was going wild over the news. No one would've thought to two most upcoming talented people in the industry in a photoshoot together.

The room is alive with the low buzz of cameras clicking, stylists altering clothes, and the subtle smell of expensive cologne and body oil hanging in the air. The buzzing of music playing in the background set the mood for the shoot.

Meeting Drew for the first time felt unreal. He was so generous, kind, and understanding of boundaries. He told you, "anytime you feel uncomfortable please let me know."

That made you trust him during the entire process.

"Thank you for coming, my name is Andrew, and I will be your photographer for the shoot," he says while shaking your hands; "for this shoot, we want it to be super hot as the company quoted." 

You and Drew are standing in front of a full-length mirror, bodies inches apart, wearing nothing but the sleek, minimalist Calvin Klein underwear that has already been dubbed the year's best campaign⎯and it hasn't been launched yet.

"Lean in a little more," the Andrew says.

Drew tilts his head, grinning slightly as he approaches. His fingers ghost over your waist, not quite touching but close enough to feel the warmth of his skin through the dense tension in the room. Your pulse quickens. His gaze drifts down to your lips for just a second too long. The camera flashes, recording the moment in real time.

When you put your palm on Drew's bare chest for the following shot, you'll notice how hard he swallows. His skin is warm, and his muscles feel taut when you touch them. You're supposed to be playing a role⎯selling desire, closeness, and the effortless Calvin Klein fantasy⎯but neither of you knows where the performance ends and reality begins.

As you two pull away the tension between you two is still lingering in the air. Drew's usual playful smirk soften into something unreadable. This is all supposed to be professional.

The second part of the shoot arrives. Drew is lying on his back in jeans, with you on top of him in jeans and a jean jacket. Drew's right leg was sitting up, while his left leg laid down. You rested your head on his bare chest, peering into the camera.

Andrew clicks many times in a matter of seconds, prompting you both to change positions. Drew was directed to place his left hand on your waist beneath the jean jacket, and you were asked to lift your upper body while maintaining eye contact.

His piercing blue eyes on you and yours on him. Chills going down your spine. Everything in your body was on fire.

Once the third portion of the photoshoot came to an end, Drew and you were sent back to your dressing rooms to get back into your normal clothing then come out to look over the pictures.

Pictures came out perfect.

"That one has to be my favorite" you say, referring to the picture of Drew sitting behind you, left hand on your waist, head on your shoulder. You sit between his legs, lean back against his chest, and wrap your arms tenderly around his head. You both look sexy and badass. 

Drew and you walked out together with your managers trailing behind you two keeping good distance. You laughed at something he said about filming for Queer when he nearly fell.

"It was really nice getting the chance to work with you, Y/N," Drew admits. "Maybe we should hang out sometime?" Could I get your phone number?

"You're a great person to work with Drew and I would like that, I'm free this Friday if you aren't busy?" You suggest, smiling sweetly.

He chuckles before gazing at his feet, reaching into his pocket for his phone, and handing it to you.

"Perfect, see you soon, Y/N" Drew says, pulling you in for a hug.

"See ya!"

It's been four days since the shoot and your fans have been eager. Calvin Klien teased viewers with behind-the-scenes footage prior to the release of the entire campaign.

One of the clips shows Drew casually tucking a stray strand of your hair behind your ear in between shoots. Another angle captures the way he murmurs something to you right before a shoot, causing you to giggle softly—an intimate, unscripted moment that only heightens the tension.

Fans on all sorts of social media apps were going crazy. The edits of the clips were being posted. Your phone was blowing up from texts and calls from your closest circle over the campaign ad.

fan88: They didn't have to go this hard for a Calvin Klein ad, but here we are 😳

fan15: i can take them both all at once btw

fan22: so you're telling me this their first time meeting???

fan11: I CAN’T DO THIS. WHY DO THEY LOOK LIKE THEY’RE ABOUT TO DEVOUR EACH OTHER!!! 😫

drew starkey: i think we just broke the internet

drew starkey: i'm about to pick you up too

⎯⎯ my taglist! 𐙚˙⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩

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[wardensantoineandevka]

i haven't watched CR since CR1 - what's the status of the VM crew? Curious but i know in my heart im not watching another campaign to find out

So, I've summarized their epilogues as they play out in the finale of Campaign 3. I've tried to not editorialize and stick to facts, but as always I do recommend people check my work! You can read a transcript of the episode with this link starting at where the VM epilogues start.

Grog is an ambassador to the new Krevirian Republic on Ruidus. He and Gaz Tomo, one of the officials of the Republic and a former revolutionary who fought the prior imperial regime and who is not dissimilar in temperament to Grog, hit it off immediately. Grog has also taken to introducing himself as Grogory.

Scanlan and Cerkonos of the Fire Ashari (who was played by Robbie Daymond during C3) developed a really hilarious but actually fairly touching friendship over Cerkonos's attempts to woo Lieve'tel. Shortly after the events of C3, in the time where Pike has no duties to tend to, he asks her to spend some time adventuring with him again before they both have to hang it up for good. Pike wants to say no, but admits that she still loves him and loves spending time with him. He says they don't have to marry again, but they're probably going to get married again (again). For now, though, no labels. He also casts True Polymorph on her too, so they are both adventuring as centaurs.

Lieve'tel continues to serve as a high warden of the temple at Vasselheim. She is still out there gettin' it.

Percy, feeling that he is getting old, exacerbated by the fact that years have been very difficult and hard and stressful, and that retirement is fast approaching, has decided that he and Vex need to start thinking about preparing their children to take over some of their roles in Whitestone and the world at large. Percy wishes to try to locate the reincarnated gods before anyone, because he is paranoid about trouble starting, but Keyleth convinces him to allow this to be something the generation after him decides how best to approach and worry over. Whitestone is among those places that open themselves to Ruidian refugees, and it benefits from an increase in residuum trade in the aftermath of the shift of magic following the Rite of Catatheosis.

Vex eventually steps away from her duties alongside Percy as he gets older to spend time with him in their several vacation homes across Exandria and their cottage on Ruidus. They are mentioned to own both an Evil Babies painting by Braius and a Lavorre.

Keyleth is among the first, if not the first, to know when a god has been incarnated into the world by communing with the roots of the primordial trees throughout Exandria. She does not tell Percy.

Aside from and probably after her time with Scanlan, Pike for a long time feels a sense of loss and grief without the Everlight's presence and feels uncertain what to do with her life, so she continuously tends to the Everlight's temples until one day, fifteen years later, she receives news that the Everlight has been found.

Vax no longer carries out his duty as the Champion of Ravens alone, but now has a partner in Morrighan, perhaps with others to come in the future. Together, they are expected to eventually find and protect the incarnated Matron of Ravens. Thus, he returns to live in Exandria, with a little more vitality and color in him than before. He returns to Keyleth. She says that she has changed in the years since, and he asks to start over with no expectations. She agrees to another beginning, and they introduce themselves to one another again: "My name's Keyleth, and you're the love of my life." "If you will have me, I am yours, Keyleth of the Air Ashari."

[revvethasmythh]

You know, Veth often advocates for acts of retributive justice and she's a strong believer in vengeance as a concept. This comes up a few times during the campaign, and I think it's one of the most interesting things about her and she has a line in Episode 20 on this topic that is genuinely perhaps the most fascinating thing she says in the whole campaign (which I don't say lightly). It's a conversation between her and Caleb about his past, which she only just learned about two episodes ago. She assumes outright that what Caleb must want is to go get revenge on Trent for what was done to him, and says that of course they can go do that before dealing with any of her issues, then hits him with this: "The thing is, your story that you poured out to me and Beau, the other day-- it was very sad, and I'm so sorry that you had to go through it, but I have to say, in a way, I'm a little bit jealous. [...] All I'm saying is, I feel like you can get revenge. You can maybe even get redemption for what you've done, and you can become a better person. You can do good to counteract the bad that you've done in your past, and maybe someday there will be an end to your suffering." (Emphasis by me). That connection here between "I'm a little bit jealous," "I feel like you can get revenge," and "maybe someday there will be an end to your suffering" is not lost on me. At this time in the campaign, the idea of getting turned back into a halfling is something relegated so far into the future she can barely see it (and we know Sam was more than willing for it to never happen at all). Just one episode earlier, she was asked to give some backstory about herself and lied out her ass so she didn't have to cop to what had happened to her. She wasn't ready to trust anyone with it or ask explicitly for the help to get turned back. As far as she is concerned in the moment, there may never be an end to her suffering in this form. So she's jealous of Caleb, because he can get revenge and someday maybe his suffering will end.

On the topic of vengeance itself, I think it makes a lot of sense that Veth would be vengeful because she is impotent to achieve it in her own life. What is she going to do, go home to Felderwin and get vengeance on her brothers for what they all did to her? The town for how it treated her? No, she can't do that. She never gets to come face-to-face with the goblins that kidnapped her family, had her killed, then enslaved her during the campaign or after. As utterly fantastic as the blueberry cupcake moment is, she didn't even get to kill Isharnai, the hag who actually, physically held her under until she drowned. Veth has never gotten to achieve personal vengeance, or even really had the opportunity to face the concept of it as it pertains to the injustices perpetrated against her in her life. Like, she is, for sure, a highly reactive individual who jumps to wanton killing often just based on her extreme personality, but there is some real meat to the fact that she can get so fixated on revenge. I think she really wants it for herself, and she can't imagine that other people wouldn't also want it for themselves. She has never gotten it, so she always suggests it. She's jealous of Caleb because he can get revenge on one, simple target that will represent his trauma (even if it's not actually that simple for him), and that's something she can't do. And she never gets to even try. I'd be all hornt up over the concept of violent revenge if I was her, too.

[anonthefold]

1. Yes, they ARE an Artificer after all.

2. No, they are more machine rather than human and don't generate odor like flesh beings do.

3. Yes, he specializes in complex flavor dishes.

4. He doesn't mind it but sometimes it is too hands off for him.

5. No tattoos but he does have weird runes on his armored body that glow and he doesn't know why or how.

6. His brother. He is also an Artificer. Just human.

7. Fear is the mind killer.

8. Religious texts/artifacts across the world. He has a deep fascination with the existence of Gods.

9. Lesser restoration

10. Ummm... Getting Merced by a demon and transmutated into walking armor.

11. No.

12. They lean heavily into capes and cowls and hoods to hide what they look like to the general public. So if edgy is stylish yes.

13. He loves the arts

14. Absolutely, except his brother.

15. Dryer than the desert

16. No

17. It would take a lot of convincing

18. So easy.

19. Not so easy

20. Variant humans are rare in this campaign and he is from a very unique lineage of artificers so I guess not

21. Family atm

22. Never.

23. Not until after he finds out what did this to him then he couldn't care how he dies.

24. One he doesn't know

25. He tinkers a lot and experiments with embuing magic into ordinary items

26. No heroes

27. It's pretty much his entire story arc yes.

28. Well.... Not in the literal sense.

29. Hmmmm... Probably but I'm not sure he'd be friends with me..

30. Fame is fools gold for the fortunate.

31. I want them to transform into a Kaiju. He'd probably want to transform into a human.

32. He just wants to be a real boy again

33. Ironic that this is a ttrpg character. He'd GM though.

34. Brood brood brood

35. Yes but they also believe that unseen forces also intervene with the outcome when they want to.

36. They are level 7. They have killed.

37. He is a faith seeker but not a complete believer of any one religion or God.

38. He has chronic nightmares like me but his have subliminal messaging about his killer

39. Who gets married? No he wouldn't.

40. Not without using his big brain first to determine why it is there.

41. Sort of. They can be stubborn and force a result that is not in their favor.......... Repeatedly.

42. Yes, Common, Dwarven, Under dark, Celestial, Elvish

43. Yes with the grace and poise of a bowling ball.

44. His brother

45. Lots of planning but does have expertise in quick thinking.

46. No terrible liar.

47. Ehhh. They are aware they are a bad liar. He might do it as a last resort.

48. He already left the building to satiate his lust for revenge.

49. Nope. It is pretty clear to him (as of right now at least)

50. He's quiet and reserved. But when he has something to say it is very profound. He is also very tired but fueled by revenge and righting wrongs. He is also very witty and creative and appreciates humanity now that he is missing his.

This is Hrothi. My sweet edgy baby boy.

You've Got Questions and I've Got Answers OC Edition

Do they have any crafting hobbies?

Do they wear perfume/cologne? If so what scents do they prefer?

Do they enjoy cooking?

Do they enjoy baking?

Do they have any tattoos? If so what are they and do they have any special meaning?

If they were badly injured, and for whatever reason couldn't go to a hospital, who would they go to for help?

Do they have any unusual fears?

Do they collect anything? If so what and why?

When they're sick what do they do to feel better?

Do they have any regrets?

Do they have any addictions?

Do they have any sense of style? Regardless of the answer do they believe they have a sense of style?

Do they enjoy poetry?

Do they have a hard time opening up to people?

What kind of sense of humor do they have? Or do they have one at all?

Do they have or want kids?

How easily would they be convinced to do something that goes against their morals?

How easy is it to become their enemy?

How easy is it to become their friend?

Do they have a strong connection to their culture?

What is more important to them, friends or family?

Would they ever betray someone for money?

How would they want to die?

Do they have any enemies?

Do they have a daily/nightly routine?

Have they met any of their heroes? Did they regret it?

Has a chance encounter ever had an unexpected effect on them?

Are they a #gamer?

If they were real would you be friends with them?

If they had the chance to be famous would they take it? If they are famous would they rather they weren't?

What superpower would you choose for them and what would they choose for themselves? If they have one would they choose something else?

If they could change one thing about themselves what would it be?

Do they play ttrpgs? If so what kind of characters do they play? Or are they more likely to GM?

How well do they deal with grief?

Do they believe in fate or do they believe they are in charge of their own destiny?

Would they ever kill someone? Have they already?

Are they religious? If so do they have a strong sense of faith, are they uncertain, or are they somewhere in between?

What are their dreams like? Do they have any recurring dreams/nightmares?

Would they ever crash a wedding?

If they found a sword in a stone would they try to pull it out? How would they react to being able to pull it out or not?

Do they learn from their mistakes?

Can they speak multiple languages? If yes which all do they speak and why?

Can they handle stressful situations?

Who, if anyone, would they trust with their deepest secrets?

Do they plan in advance or just wing it?

Would they lie to get out of trouble?

Would they lie to get someone else out of trouble? Even if they would have to take that someone else's place?

How likely are they to go on a quest for revenge?

Do they have trouble keeping their enemies and their friends straight?

What is your favorite thing about them?

I love these so I figured I'd make one of my own! Just be sure that if you reblog this ask one or two of these to the person you reblogged from (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

[utilitycaster]

A couple things before I do this as I said I would here

I’ve decided it’s more effective in the long term to bring up a handful of people than everyone who’s ever been obnoxious, mostly to maintain ongoing leverage, ie, maybe if people leave me alone they can get away with their lower-key shitty behavior, and if people don’t, then they won’t.

Do not harass nor send hate to the people I've mentioned; take the high ground. Blocking, vagueing and openly going “what the fuck is wrong with that guy (gn)” however is chill, but I won’t be taking anons personally that are pile-ons on these people because that is not the point of this exercise.

Similarly I just delete anon hate or post it if I have a funny enough response for it but it won’t elicit this kind of thing for various reasons I don’t care to get into right now.

If my good opinion is important to you, really, the quickest way to lose it is to treat me expressing my own opinions on my blog as a personal attack on you. I wasn’t specifically judging you until you decided I was; now, I will ruin your day or week and I won’t feel sorry.

Now, I’m going to be honest. The reason I haven’t done this earlier despite the shit I and many others have waded through all campaign is that the vast majority of people who engage in harassment, hate, or “how dare you exist and have opinions that aren’t mine, don’t you know the world revolves around me” will then immediately make a post like this, such as the loser who led to this: (rest below the cut)

source

To be clear I do hope they get whatever presumably important medical procedure this is and I too am in opposition to transphobia on an active political level, however, if you take your own shit out on me, a random woman on the internet, I will continue to fight for what I believe to be your fundamental human rights like gender expression and healthcare but there is no right you have that prevents me from calling you a stupid thin-skinned loser and that I feel sorry for anyone who has the misfortune to love you as I suspect you’re incapable of truly returning it, and also your blorbo still sucks. This has been: if you attempt to treat me even slightly like your punching bag, I punch back.

With that in mind let’s go to the people I’m talking about today. If you're not into this, skip the cut.

I think it goes without saying that warrior/inrecovery was an embarrassing blight on this fandom and imo/dna shippers’ steadfast laxity in taking out the trash is yet another reason why this ship ain’t it chief. I’m posting all of the aliases under which they attacked me and others, but they flamed out during the Laudna addiction metaphor and hopefully got help, though as you can see their blog for the past like, decade, is them attacking people over femslash ships, so idk if it’s gonna stick, pals. Anyway, they have a distinctive style so hopefully if they ever rear their ugly head again I’ll be able to get and post an IP address. I did have some suspicions about Tulsa OK but they are not sufficiently founded. Anyway: you can also find them under tlb/wc (they use that one to make death threats); thatguy/10592; clearcowboy/angel; screechingalpha/nightmare; and holysoul/enthusiast, all of which are still up and have the evidence as of posting

Honorable mention to the person who called me a hypocrite for checks notes liking callowmoore more than Imo/dna (series of asks from November 11th, 2023 in which they harassed not just me but many people who had simply interacted with my posts). I have my suspicions as to who it was [noted tar pit from Westphalia, Germany absintheheartbeat, who I also think sent this Dorym ask] but as I have no proof that’s really all there is. While we’re talking about generic tar pits disconnectedkat is a discourse blog that is just generally a piece of shit and is one of those people who clutches pearls about HOW DARE YOU TRY TO WIN AT FANDOM WITH LEFTIST CAUSES ignoring the big elephant in the room of “countless C3 fans lecturing incompetently about this being a revolutionary anticolonialist narrative and how we’re just status quo loving conservatives and then crying when we point out that they are being shitty in real life.” If you are one of those people reading this and finding yourself getting huffy, do take a look at the people mentioned throughout this and ask yourself: are you okay with them? Because if so, then your issue isn’t “it’s mean to call people stupid and attack them on a moral basis”; your issue is “it’s mean to call me stupid”, and you are part of the problem, and, moreover, I am in your walls.

Theshepardshuffle deactivated but I do want to point them out here just to note that I have in fact suffered more than Job and been more steadfast than any US Marine at the hands of imo/dna shippers for the sin of saying “this ship isn’t very good.” I’d also want to point out that they are why I started checking on people I’ve blocked. See, this is a side blog, so if you block me I cannot interact with you, but I can still see you, and our buddy shep joined tumblr, blocked me, and then posted discourse about me constantly not realizing I could literally see it (and to be clear. I know people I have blocked can see this. I hope they do.)

Anyway, the main event: let’s talk about noted racist idiot hecate astralley/wright (main blog bone/heat), to my knowledge a white American cultural Christian, seen here (archive link if they delete it) mocking someone who found Bells Hells’ behavior justifyingly reminiscent of a conquering colonialist army as their family experienced, and horrifying for it (note: this mention is made with everypigeondeserveslove’s knowledge and permission; they are well aware of this bullshit). Hecate decided it was a good time to be a truly unfeeling piece of shit about this in the service of checks notes convincing people that Bells Hells was an anticolonialist narrative. They did, to be fair, just start reading Wretched of the Earth, so they do know who they’re talking over. I mean about. They also accused me of, when I pointed out this article’s discussion of history and whether it was written by the victors, Godwin’s law, which is not really what that means (saying ‘this phrase has its origins in a lot of hateful groups who used it to evade their responsibility in historical events, and also even if history is written by the victors, that doesn’t mean every alternate viewpoint is automatically wrong’ is simply factual), then turned around and claimed, in a truly stunningly insolent case of putting words in someone’s mouths, that criticism of Imogen and Laudna on the basis of their unkind actions was akin to calling them degenerates (archive)to the point that people were confused. This is an ongoing pattern with that circle; you’ll see it with cringefae/compilation too of just. Making shit up. 

What you need to know about them is in the end they’re mostly just a hypocrite and a loser. They’re really into 9/11 jokes, which to be clear I’m not personally squeamish about, but I also don’t go around screaming about how cruel the fandom is to Aeor, a city that is entirely pretend, while joking about real-life civilian deaths. Absolutely terminal case of caring more about pretend people than real ones. As for the idiot part, interesting to claim at one point that Orym would be saved by the Wild Mother and should, and this is a direct quote from someone who, again, is only now reading the first book listed the “Notable Theoreticians And Theories” list on the Postcolonialism wikipedia page, that he should “read theory” and then claim to have Gotten It From Hearthdell after spending much of the intervening time, as discussed, arguing for the deaths of the gods. In fact, I recommend looking back through their blog in depth for a combination of tiktok-brained politics, an utter lack of empathy, and Consistently Getting It Wrong And Lying And Pretending They Didn’t. 

Second person is cringefae/compilation. When they’re not throwing tantrums interspersed with gifs of the pink My Little Pony, or throwing different tantrums about Kipperlily Copperkettle, or throwing different tantrums about Essek and Verin Thelyss existing within the narrative, you can find them throwing tantrums about how everyone but them is a bigot, often in the main tag. This has been commented on by the general fandom, and it is notable that even others in their circle often won’t touch their vent posts (also many of said posts directly attack others in their circle, which is funny to me). Now I’ll just keep it very basic: I think what’s going on is that cringefae does not think they are a very good person, deep down, but is trying to project an image of being a very good person, and so they have decided that people in the fandom, of which I was public enemy number one before they seemingly discovered the native text block function, are the Real Bad People, and don’t seem to have the ability to process. Now the thing about cringefae is that if you dislike a character OR like but would enjoy them experiencing some fictional horrors and that character is not Essek Thelyss; the Briarwoods; a character I personally like such as Fjord when they are on the warpath (they actually seem to personally really like Fjord and I think high key hate that I like him because they have basically no consistent identity other than contrarianism; they do not seem to like anything, really, other than possibly the pink My Little Pony); or a white cis straight man that they do not headcanon as not that, then they will call you a bigot. Now: you may notice, with a quick perusal of their blog, that they believe Ludinus Da’leth to be a racist who started a race war, which would imply Essek Thelyss is nonwhite, but they have definitely argued against this as well, and recently argued both in favor of Ludinus having a redemption arc and also that they don’t believe in zero-effort redemption arcs, because again, there is zero logical coherence other than attacking people they don’t like for whatever reason. I don’t even have links; just scroll down their blog for a few minutes and you’ll get the vibe (bad). They too have a tendency to make up a guy and get mad at that guy (and have to clarify they're just making shit up in the notes); possibly to assume the worst of the fandom in order to feel better about themself. And whereas I think astralley/wright might know deep down they're attacking real people to defend pretend people and hoping no one will notice and call them on it, cringefae seems to be genuinely too stupid to understand the concept of "it can be interesting for a story to be tragic." They also tend to frequently insult the positions of people in their circle and conflate everything they don't like into one person; again, horse-immorality (deactivated) was one of the loudest "bor'dor is a dog" people and cringefae liked them and now is like IT'S SUPER RACIST TO SAY BOR'DOR WAS A DOG because again, it's not about any position, it's just about finding some arbitrary scapegoat and attacking them so that you can feel righteous, and in doing so, they become a cesspit of a person.

I think the kindest thing you could say about cringefae is that in their incoherence it all kind of cancels out, and absolutely no one really seems to take them seriously. They seem entirely unaware of the concept of crying wolf and how maybe if you say that a woman who checks notes happens to openly prefer the canon art of Jester, Yasha, and Imogen to fan redesigns, canon art that was checks notes designed by women and checks notes drawn by women is a “soft MRA” you might be wildly irresponsible in your accusations to the point of eroding an ability in the fandom to actually point out misogynistic views (also, hanging out with astrall/eywright does kind of fuck your image as caring about the oppressed). It’s accusations as a tool against the people they’ve decided are The Bad Ones. And really that’s the thing. I know we’re all online here, this is explicitly my fandom sideblog and I try to keep it light on politics not because they’re not vitally important but because I do see Tumblr largely as an escape and not as a news source, but I would bet good money this is someone who doesn’t like, do anything other than post. Anyway, just kind of a stream of nonstop constantly shifting incoherent bile worth a block. One of those cases where you're like "have people...just put up with this person in their fandom spaces forever? why? don't fandoms deserve to not have a missing stair like this?"

[lemotmo]

I'm so tired for all of you who get questions like this everyday. But this is a good response to a question this person probably didn't want the actual answer to if I'm being honest. You all have to be so tired.

Q. I just think it's odd that you, and lots of other people, seem to be so sure of what is happening when we don't really have any indication from Ryan, Oliver, Tim or anyone really that it's going that way at all. Eddie is planning to move to Texas. Moving away is the big change that Ryan is talking about for Eddie. And Ryan flat out said he's not going to encourage people to believe something that's not happening. I'm not making that up??

A. I have a question for you that I think I already know the answer to but I'm going to ask it anyway. Were you around while the show was on Fox? Because Tim and the others involved in the decision making, mainly Kristen, had zero problem telling everyone that both Buck and Eddie were just straight and that people should stick to fanfiction if they wanted to see them as anything else. Kristen said Buck and Taylor were endgame as often as she could. These are not people who have ever been afraid to tell us it's not happening. Tim would, as politely as possible, tell us in interview after interview that they knew the audience shipped them but there weren't any plans to go down that road. And now these people are doing everything they can to avoid giving a direct answer to those very same questions. Also Buck is bisexual now therefore not in fact straight. The shooting arc was originally supposed to end with Buddie canon before Fox axed that storyline. Fox said no and they followed orders. If this wasn't true Tim would have corrected that narrative by now. Too many people, some supposedly involved with the show, have made the claim repeatedly now. Tim has defunct plenty of things. He reads and sees all of it. He would have corrected that narrative if it was false. Moving to ABC completely changed the landscape. It gave him the freedom to tell the story his way. They went from a network that really wouldn't allow Oliver and Ryan to even talk about them, basically wouldn't allow Ryan to talk at all (I'm not exaggerating Fox gave us absolutely nothing), to a network that appears to have fully embraced the idea of them. We're not making that up.

Do we have definitive proof? No. We do have the show though. We have the very clear narrative that the show has been telling since 7x4. The show making a point of having Buck and and Eddie's storylines run concurrently with one another, in the same episodes even, was intentional and very much the point. Their storylines are connected. The show has not made that difficult to see. People on Twitter distorting the point of those episodes doesn't change the point of those episodes. People on Twitter allowing people to rage bait them into believing the most ridiculous nonsense doesn't make that nonsense true. We also have the PR campaign that ABC is running for the show, and it's entirely centered around Buddie. No one else on the show is getting the focus they're getting, and you can't argue that is false because where is the stuff for literally anyone else? Even if you remove the Family Feud episode because it involved other actors, that still leaves all season 7 episodes being promoted and teased using Buddie content, the Instagram posts, Oliver playing in the NBA celebrity all star game, all the interviews that Oliver and Ryan have had, the Ryan photoshoots, the pop culture jeopardy question (this was legitimately a very big deal), even the very intentional New Year's Instagram post. These are not things that happen by accident. Angela and Peter are technically the leads, normally they would be getting this attention. Jennifer is a bigger name, it would make sense for ABC to learn into that but they're not. Their focus is on Buddie. You cannot pretend that's not happening.

Yes Eddie planning to move to Texas is absolutely part of the 'big changes' Ryan was talking about. And I'm not going to break down that interview with you because it's readily available for everyone to read, but if you read that interview in its entirety, especially the stuff he said about Eddie, and all you came away with was 'Eddie's moving to Texas and Ryan said he's not going to encourage people to believe something that's not happening' then you didn't read the interview at all, or you're Intentionally misunderstanding, because that's not at all what he said. Interviews are meant to tease upcoming storylines. They're not meant to act as spoilers. This isn't revolutionary news. Why do people act like they've never seen or read an interview before every time a new one comes out? They cannot tell us where it's going. His Buddie answer was all over the place. He didn't answer the question at all. It was not a hard to just say 'I see them as life long best friends. I see them as always being a part of each other's lives, they will always be family and they absolutely love one another but I don't see it as romantic love'. That's literally all he had to say. That was the question he was asked. And he wouldn't be forbidden from saying that. There's a reason why he and Oliver and Tim all dance around the question. They can't tell us the answer yet. I'm tired of trying to talk people out of being miserable doomers. If you want to hate everything all the time regardless of what the context surrounding it is then that's your problem. I frankly don't have the emotional bandwidth or patience to play the mental gymnastics you people have to perform every single day to force a negative narrative onto absolutely everything related to them. How are you not exhausted by yourselves? So many of us have answered ask after ask, made post after post offering up example after example, CANON EXAMPLES, to back up what we're saying and every single time you all come back to re argue the very same things we just took the time to explain. You're clearly not interested in actually having anything explained to you. You're clearly not interested in acknowledging what the show is actually very clearly telling us. You very clearly don't want anything other than to be negative. So go be negative together and leave the rest of us alone. We cannot help you see and acknowledge what you're intentionally making yourselves miss.

Thanks Nonny! Much appreciated.

Pffff, so immensely tired of these kinds of questions. I've had my fair share of them and I did answer a few the last couple of days, but I can't do it anymore. I won't.

The FOX era was tough y'all. I need all of you to fully grasp this. We had these insane scenes that were so incredibly romantically coded, but that never lead to anything concrete. We lived from Buddie scene to Buddie scene and in some seasons those were few and far between.

They went from relationship to relationship, but they still had more chemistry between each other than they ever had with their love interests. It was fun shipping them. The fanfics and fanart were stunning and the loooong meta was amazing. But I never really truly believed they would ever happen. I hoped of course, but only 1% of me believed it could ever happen. By the end of season 6 I had lost all hope.

But then they moved to ABC and season 7 pulled out all the Buddie stops. Look at us now. Today I'm 100% a believer. We are close now. Stop trying to kill our buzz. We are happy. We deserve this. Leave us be.

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[crunchyspositivybubble]

@hildanasr

Before war started, Hilda and her husband, Mohammed Ayyad had gotten married on September 30th. Hilda was an chemistry teacher, while her husband was an engineer. Both of them dreamt of sharing a wonderful life together, but in a blink of an eye the war started and they lost everything that they built.

Along with them, the rest of their families are forced to seek shelter in a small tent. Their current situation is extremely difficult, having no food or proper shelter and being constantly on edge due to the looming dangers in their vicinity.

The rest of their family includes: Hilda's parents, her brother Ahmed (21), her sister Linda (26), her husband, along with their children Reema (3) and Saleh (1.5) and Hilda's youngest sister, Talin (14).

Not too mention, Hilda herself is also pregnant (as mentioned in the screenshot above).

Their goal is to leave for Egypt, but for that to happen, they first must reach their target goal, which is €50,000. Currently, Hilda's fundraiser was only able to reach €8,836, with the last donation being 9 hours ago. Their donations has decreased, which is why I'm asking anyone that can, to please share and donate to Hilda and her family's campaign.

[alwayzadorbs]

Idk if ya have any rules or if you only do nsfw but could I have some hcs on how lucifer is with a crush and how he asks asks reader out? You can include some nsfw though as I wouldnt complain about it ;) My brain has been rotted by lucifer smut mmgh

Thank you for reminding me to post a Guideline for asks. Here ya go, I hope you enjoy, Anon!

Rating: Fluff

Lucifer couldnt figure out what was wrong with him, Why were you the only thing on his mind? Whenever his mind drifted off, he found himself thinking about your smile. Then, just for a minute, he thought about holding your hand. Feeling flustered, he shook his head.

"Why am i thinking about a lowley human?" he sighed, attempting to fixate on his workload.

Scribbling in the blank notes, he squinted a tad. Slipping back into his previous thoughts, letting his mind go back to the image of you two, together. Lucifer thought about how you would react if he surprised you with an article of clothing or classy jewels. And if he did, what kind of item would be the most fitting?

His heart beat faster as he pictured you wearing what he picked out, buffing his pride just from a fantasy. Lucifer thought about you wearing his color, red, not just any tacky red, Deep, ruby red. He chuckled, before coming back to reality.

"Wait, did I actually write down their name??" he looked down in disbelief, quickly erasing the words.

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

Lucifer stood by the entrance of the RAD garden, fixated on what he was holding. Earlier he had texted you to meet him where he was standing, now he was waiting for you to arrive. He would finally get to tell you what he'd been burning to say. By this point, he realized that he was in love with you.

Tracing his finger against the smooth surface of the Jade bracelet he had bought for you. Lucifer cracked after seeing it in the window of an antique artifacts shop, he'd been trying to find a way to ask you out, and this was perfect.

He quickly shoved the bracelet into his pocket upon hearing the thump of your footsteps.

"Hi Lucifer, You wanted to meet me here? What's the occasion?" You smiled, not knowing it warmed his heart to see.

"no occasion, I just didn't want my obnoxious brothers bothering us. Come with me, I want to show you something." he chuckled, turning on his heel to enter the garden.

"Oh a stroll with the ever-busy Lucifer, are you sure there's no occasion?" you trolled alongside him, teasing him a bit

You breathed in deeply, inhaling the scents of the garden. You took in the sights, viewing a mix of flowers from the demon world and the celestial realm.

"What, I'm not allowed to spend time with you, just the two of us?" He smirked, stopping in front of a patch of red, strange-looking flowers.

He leaned down, plucking one of the flowers from the ground. "Do you know what this is, Mc?" he said, holding it up

"No, I can't say I do. What is it?" you cocked your head to the side, feeling a familiar sense within the flower

He inched towards you, tucking the flower between your ear and head. "Lycoris radiate, The red spider lily. You've probably seen it before, it's from the Human world. As you know, this garden features a variety of flowers, some from the Celestial Realm and some from the Devildom. But..." he paused for a moment

"There were very any human world flowers here, and in light of your presence...I campaigned for one to be planted here." He smiled, gazing into your eyes

"I also wanted you to have this," he continued, reaching into his pocket "I saw it in the window of an Artifacts shop, and I knew you had to have it."

"Lucifer...you really did all this for me?!" you laughed, reaching for the bracelet

"So you haven't figured it out yet?" He chuckled, bringing your hand into his "I Love you, Mc." He said, slipping the bracelet onto your wrist.

"I Love you too, Lucifer!" you laughed, leaning into his arms to embrace him in a hug.

"For a moment, I thought you might not say it back" He cupped your face, leaning in to kiss you

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

Writers note

I will make a smut version soon! i won't leave you guys high and dry!

[magicalgirlmindcrank]

Dog op said the words 'Trump's executive order to ban gender affirming care mainly fearmongers about trans boys...' We are so so sorry the part of our brain that interprets meanings of words when put together in a sentence has yet to be bowled out. Why are you getting so fucking heated about that anyways if you yourself are doubling down on that position anyways? Was my point that Trump's lines of 'protecting women' is more about protecting them from the evil 'men pretending to be women to access women's spaces' too hard for you to grasp? Curious how you can look all the transphobic caricatures of exclusively trans women the Trump campaign ran and think 'this is mostly about men, actually.'

Then again, it must be very gender affirming for trans men to constantly speak over trans women, so y'all do you.

"Trans men aren't targeted by anti trans rhetoric and law."

Trumps executive order to ban gender affirming care mainly fearmongers about trans boys not being able to give birth or breast feed and calls transitional surgery "female genital mutilation".

When we say we are invisible, it's not that we are invisible to the people who hate us. It's that our struggles are invisible to the people who should be advocating for us.

[markantonys]

my hot take is that i think 6 would be the ideal number of seasons for wotshow! i know everybody gasps and clutches their pearls anytime i suggest that less than 8 seasons could actually work and be good and be plenty of time haha and for that reason i will make this unrebloggable, mostly just musing to myself over here, not looking to start an argument! but if we put s4 finale as dumai's wells, which is a big turning point in the series.........i honestly struggle to imagine 4 full seasons' worth of story for most of the main characters after that point. most of them kinda only have 1 major story arc between dumai's wells and last battle prep, tbh, and the rest of the pagetime in all those books is made up of either cuttable sidequests (ebou dar, far madding, etc) or cuttable minor characters and their cuttable subplots eating up an absolutely inordinate amount of pagetime while the mains tread water and take 4 books to accomplish something they should've been able to do in 1. it's also worth noting that stuff often takes less time to do in the show than we might assume; for example, a lot of people might assume mat's moiraine rescue heist should take up half of an episode since it's important, but it's actually not that long of a sequence and i bet they could do it in like 10-15 minutes.

now for a layout of how each main character could do 6 seasons!

rand: s4 dealing with caemlyn and maybe also cairhien with anvaere as colavaere, finale dumai's wells leaving him ready to downward spiral into a dark place next season; s5 darth rand as the season-long emotional arc with smaller plot beats like the cleansing and semirhage peppered throughout (cairhien could also be placed here), finale epiphany; s6 loose ends (like bonding with his partners, which i feel could work great as a post-epiphany narrative reward rather than being crammed in before he starts going downhill) and last battle

egwene: s4 going to salidar and being raised amyrlin maybe as the midseason climax, then second half of season heading for tar valon with finale cliffhanger being kidnapped; s5 tower arc, finale seanchan battle; s6 loose ends (gawene, TAR battle with mesaana's substitute unless that somehow gets folded into the seanchan battle) and last battle

perrin: s4 maybe masema is dealt with early to fill up perrin's TFOH absence, finale dumai's wells; s5 faile kidnapping arc married to his TOM whitecloak alliance storyline by having galad's whitecloaks be his devil-deal for rescuing faile rather than the seanchan (and maybe it's the seanchan who kidnap faile, thus letting the shaido be done with after dumai's wells and ensuring all the main characters are narratively connected to the seanchan during s5); s6 loose ends and last battle

mat: s4 forming the band and maybe leading them at dumai's wells as the culmination; s5 some kind of storyline that covers his tuon and seanchan involvement, though i imagine the circumstances would have to be fairly different from canon if ebou dar is indeed cut (maybe he absorbs ituralde and leads campaigns against the seanchan on rand's behalf, which brings him into tuon's path, though idk how it would play out after that since he wouldn't abandon his own army to haul her off on a solo roadtrip, unless maybe something happened to force him to); s6 loose ends (moiraine rescue - i think it would make more sense as an early-season event in the final season, and in the penultimate season finale all we get is a cliffhanger tease that moiraine might be alive) and last battle

nynaeve: barely has any story to speak of after ebou dar besides being a cheerleader for rand/lan/elayne, so even for a 6-season model they'd probably have to make stuff up for her (i still like my previous suggestion of rand having sent ALL his partners away during darth rand time, which here would be s5, and so nynaeve is the one he almost kills during the collaring incident, and this causes him to send her away too, to the black tower where she and logain basically replace pevara and androl in cleaning up that mess, thus ensuring this important storyline is in the hands of a main character, neatly paralleling egwene's efforts to clean up the mess at the white tower during the same season, tying out nynaeve's connections with logain as the one who healed him AND in showverse as someone who also witnessed his gentling and whom he was impressed by, and being a poetic conclusion to the show's flirtation with the idea of nynaeve joining the red ajah by having her instead be a key figure in *helping* men who can channel)

elayne: s4 rejoins the waste crew to get folded into avirand's relationship and work with rand on retaking caemlyn; s5 succession arc; s6 loose ends (cairhien throne maybe) and last battle

the main issue here is that that's putting a whole bunch of major climactic events in the s5 finale (rand's epiphany, egwene vs. the seanchan, perrin's battle of malden, elayne's battle that makes her queen), but i'm sure they could spread these across two different episodes like s3 is doing (perhaps elayne & perrin in ep7 and egwene & rand in ep8). and there also isn't a great way to *not* have all these late-series climaxes coincide unless some characters have their single late-series storyline stretched across 2 seasons, which i'd say is a big no-no for TV.

so, yeah! i'd never say no to 7 or 8 seasons of course, but when *i* game it out, 6 is the number i naturally land on, although i know i'm much more merciless about cutting stuff than a lot of readers are! hell, even rafe is taking s3 at a slower pace than i'd initially proposed back before we knew anything. 6 also has the advantage of being a pretty reasonable and realistic number to hope for in today's television landscape (WOT's sister-show ROP is slated for 5, so reasonable to imagine WOT might land somewhere around that number too). 5 seasons would be tight but doable, 7 or 8 would be luxurious, but i would be extremely pleased to get 6 even if that's less than rafe's max possible number.

my final note is that i suspect we are now around about the Decision Point where amazon has to let rafe know how many total seasons he'll get so he can plan out s4 accordingly, and thus i also suspect that s3 will leave everyone pretty much exactly in their TSR ending spots, which would make them all well-positioned to pivot into different things in s4 depending on the future plan. (for example, say elayne and nynaeve are still in tanchico at the end of s3. this way, if it's decided there will be 7 or 8 seasons, they can head off to salidar in s4 and take time for a sidequest, whereas if it's decided there will be 5 or 6 seasons, they may have to scoot straight over to rand & co right off the bat in s4 to get ready to launch into the caemlyn arc.)

[dresshistorynerd]

"Really wasn't saying much" is an interesting response to getting criticised for agreeing with intensely Islamophobic rant. If they weren't saying more than "I like long skirts, but they are impractical in the moors" (which is incorrect as a blanket statement as others pointed out) then perhaps they shouldn't have gone out of their way to agree with Islamophobia?

(For context I'm talking about this post.)

But as was pointed out by @/marzipanandminutiae this idea that skirts, even long ones, can only be comfortable and practical in very limited circumstances is false (point which the OP seemingly failed to understand). The OP said in the original post: "if your mode of transport is foot, bike, or horse, pants are more practical." So in addition to skirts being impractical in moors apparently skirts are also more impractical *checks notes* for walking. I can agree that pants are usually more practical for riding a bike, but most skirt are imo fine for biking, so sometimes when counting in the weather, the comfortability, etc. a skirt is the better and more practical option for me (it of course depends on what you find comfortable) even though I'm going to use a bike. But for walking? There's absolutely no reason why skirts would be inherently less practical for walking. Sure some skirts might be less practical than some pants, but also some pants would be less practical than some skirts. And when it comes to the moors? Skirt is again not inherently less practical. Even a long one. For most skirts you can easily raise the hem by folding some of it to the hip and securing it with a belt, technique which women, especially working women, (at least in Europe) have used thorough history.

You can't do that for pants. So pants would in fact more likely be impractical in the moors by getting their hems wet and stained by the grass. It's true that historically people of steppe environments have often used pants, but that's because in steppe environments horse riding has usually been so central to the culture. (Though horses were introduced outside Eurasia pretty late in the game, but still Eurasia does have pretty large part of the world's steppe areas.)

Historically pants have been used in extreme cold (trapping the air properly with skirt is not possible when you move around) and for horse riding. Without modern comforts you would think practicality was of utmost importance for the pre-modern humans, but pants were only popularized outside horse riding and extreme cold climates in the Early Modern Era (I go through that history in detail in this post). That's because the skirt is in fact the more practical garment in the vast majority of circumstances. Skirts have just gotten bad rep because they have become associated with womanhood, and women am I right??? Women simply can't be the ones used the more practical garment because as we all know women are irrational and vein and women be shopping you know?

In the Victorian Era upper class women used quite impractical dresses, as upper class people have always done (to show you are rich enough so you don't have to do physical labour), while upper class men wore less impractical pants (for reasons that are too complex to go into here, but shortly it was because modern masculinity was build up from romanization of a rural gentleman and a military man), so it was decided that skirts are simply less practical. Of course working women used practical skirts, but they didn't count. It was the mainstream Late Victorian feminists (not all feminists at the time agreed), who cemented this view on skirts, because they accepted the idea that skirts were simply less practical and that men's dress in general was just more rational, because men were more rational, so to free themselves from the confines of womanhood, women needed to stop being vein and adopt masculine dress, including pants. They ended up being very successful with their campaign and they managed to make it acceptable for women to wear pants. It was a legit great achievement, controlling what women can and can't wear is bad actually, but at the same time they conceded that femininity is irrational and skirts are impractical. Eventually the skirt was marginalized to a more formal dress status (which is usually by design impractical), which is why, even after all our feminist progress, the idea that skirt is impractical still persists.

[greenfiend]

Mike needs to finally finish his campaign...

aka how the DnD universe perfectly reflects the in-show's universe, through a nested universe lens. A story within a story within a story...

As controversial as the nested universes theory is, I want to explain that there are many hints towards it. The basis of the theory itself is based off the DnD universe created within the show.

In the very first episode, Karen cuts Mike's campaign short.

Will rolled a 7, which meant the Demogorgon got him. Once Will revealed this to Mike, that sealed his fate. That's where the campaign ended. It basically ended with Will's character dying.

At the end of the season, Mike turns back the clock allowing Will's character to survive his fight against the Demogorgon. He rolled a 14 instead of a 7!

Basically after Will survives, Mike RUSHES to finish his campaign to the confusion of the other boys.

So as much as Mike wants to end the campaign there, ensuring Will's character's survival, he can't. There's still more story to tell.

The campaign finally continues in ST3, with Will leading it this time. Mike says "it's so early" because he doesn't want to continue the story just yet. Within the campaign, there's a ton of foreshadowing (that's for another post) but basically Mike rushes again to finish it.

This time, Mike gives up and allows their characters to all die. Will becomes very upset by this. Mike later deeply regrets it...

Mike regrets it because Will donated his DnD set, meaning... he was done contributing to the campaign. They sacrificed themselves and that was the end of the story. Mike absolutely does not want that to be the end! So what does he do?

He turns back the clock again... and continues the story for Will, but without Will.

Mike wants to go back to DnD to properly finish the campaign but is held back again... this time by Lucas who is unable to play with them.

This was why he is greatly affected by Lucas' basketball game. He was held back from finishing the story properly.

Erica (the recipient of Will's DnD set) continues the campaign with them.

They all nearly died again... by Vecna. But two characters were left and they decided to stand up against him.

The odds were not in their favour, but despite that...

They won.

Mike successfully changed the story in time.

The DnD campaigns are a clear reflection of the story within the show itself. A story within a story.

So... what if there's another layer to this?

What I'm arguing is that this may be a major hint that a Mike exists beyond the show and is the one writing the story of the show itself. A story within a story within a story.

Will originally was creating it with him, but he moved west (click the link for the symbolic definition of that... my apologies in advance... ), unable to complete it. Mike has to complete it on his own...

He must change the tragic ending to a happy one. But he must complete the story in time before it's too late. Full theory post on the details -> here. (Warning it's tragic and dark).

[quinn-of-aebradore]

CR Non-Endgame Ships Bracket Take 2

Hello my friends! Some of you may recall that just about 2 years ago now, I ran a series of polls for ships from Campaign 1, Campaign 2, and EXU Calamity that were not together at the end of their respective series. I excluded any Campaign 3 and modern era EXU ships, since at the time, those storylines were still open; Imodna weren't even together at that point. However, now that C3 has reached it's conclusion, I thought it was a good time to revisit the concept. I also didn't feature M/F pairings last time around and now is a good time to make that right too.

So! Let's get into the rules and paraments parameters:

The phrasing "non-endgame" was chosen as certain relationships present were together at some point in canon but are not longer (ex. Blumendrei) or there was an either mutual or one-sided attraction that did not result in a relationship (ex. Widojest). It doesn't feel right to me to simply call these ships "non-canon", though they are featured alongside plenty of purely fanon ships (ex. Verinwulf), so. Non-endgame. It's a little clunky, but it works.

I've reincorporated pairings from the first poll that lost in the very first round, potentially giving them an opportunity to shine further! Any ship from the first poll that made it further than that is not present this time around. These pairings are: Widofjord, Fjordwulf, Vaxmore, Fjolly, Jester x Reani, Polynein, Vexleth, Perc'ildan, Beaukeg, Vexahra, Beastrid, Beaureani, Polymachina, Beaujester, Lucigast, and Widomauk. Please do not ask me where they are.

Almost every ship will feature fanart of the characters in question, included of course with permission from the artist. Links to the original posts will be included and I highly encourage giving them some love if you vote! Any ship that doesn't have a piece of fanart has a little tableau designed in HeroForge by myself. Grogleth is the only exception, with a still from TLOVM.

This bracket is for fun. Ship hate will not be tolerated. You will be blocked if you act poorly in the tags.

Block “cr non endgame poll” if you don’t want to see this further!

Voting will begin this Friday, February 14th, at 3pm CST. All polls will run for 24 hours. The first round will take place over two days, split into Parts A and B.

Matchup links and breakdown below the cut.

Round 1 Part A:

Laudna x Dorian VS Widoyussa

Polyhells VS Blumenshadow

Scanvax VS Dashrym

Dariax x Deni$e VS Shadowmauk

Beauvasha VS Percylan

Ludinus x Liliana VS Laudna x Fearne

Yu x Laudna VS Orym x Dariax

Kashleth VS Imofearne

Chetanna VS Vaxlethmore

Verinwulf VS Grogleth

Liliana x Otohan VS Yashter

Percy x Tary VS PolyCrownKeepers

Fearnechet VS Imogen x Otohan

Jessek VS Veth x Devexian

Luciessek VS Jester x Calianna

Shadowmoore VS Fjeth

Round 1 Part B:

Fjarrow VS Dashrymwill

Fearne x Braius VS Pikeleth

Widobrave VS Doomstorm

Ashrym VS Percy x Pike

Shadowidomauk VS Laudmoore

Shadowfjord VS Fearne x Opal

Verleth VS Greystorm

Blumendrei VS Percleth

Bashter VS Rubygold

Grog'ildan VS Kashvax

Jestermauk VS Doriax

Essek x Ludinus VS Widoking

Widojest VS Zerxus x Azmodeus

Laerryn x Patia VS Lucien x Cree

Esswulf VS Mariking

Jestrid VS Goldenshadow

[utilitycaster]

What faith do you have in the future of Exandria as a setting? One reason the finale has bothered me so much is that established Exandrian lore seems to not make sense anymore. The world no longer feels real and so I find myself not having confidence in future stories told there. When I brought this up to others they said that history was written by the victors, aka the Gods. But in reality it was Matt Mercer in published source books and a 10 minute video. So what hope for future stories?

Here's the thing: I do not actually feel like Exandrian lore was changed significantly. I think the resulting character beats for Bells Hells/some Crown Keepers/Vax are for the most part incoherent, but actually, all of the made-up bullshit that people claimed in fandom to support their idea of how the campaign would go (about which they were largely wrong) or, after the fact, the campaign ended? Absolutely none of it confirmed. We have absolutely zero proof that people would have rounded up Ruidusborn and slaughtered them and indeed, the fact that Liliana is just bopping around Exandria on her gap year without so much as a slap on the wrist serves as proof positive that this is probably not what they'd have done. Vasselheim has not to our knowledge lashed out. The Ruidians are being welcomed by a number of people across the world. The gods are still deeply important and frankly that lore with the Luxon/gods becoming mortal was even seeded in past campaigns/Downfall. My issue isn't really any of the core lore here; it's that all of this kind of popped up in the last 5 episodes because Bells Hells were too busy exploring the crevices of their own colons with their heads to formulate a plan, and then when they showed up having ignored everything their many, many benefactors had done for them and were rude besides everyone simply stood aside. Hell, those people who told you that history was written on the victors probably thought Bells Hells would be on the run forever as late as episode 120, and were expecting a post-apocalyptic Exandria as late as episode 117 or so. They are stupid, and if they are your friends you should find smarter ones. But anyway the actual lore of Exandria is basically entirely intact or was changed in a way that was shown onscreen. If you have specific things you feel were ignored, let me know, but the problem wasn't the worldbuilding; it was that Bells Hells were granted foot-thick unjustified plot armor.

So with that in mind it's fine. I think my desire for a new setting is more just that like, this campaign really feels like they've gotten too precious with Exandria and were too afraid to do anything drastic or let people like. die. or in severe cases, stay dead. But my complaints about the lore are much more that like, the Apex War was clearly supposed to mean something and no one in the party gave a shit; not that the lore itself was incoherent.

[thenatezone]

Having digested the Bell's Hells finale I think I want to make some observations that, FULL DISCLOSURE, will veer into gentle criticism, but that's fine because we're all incredibly normal and mature and we'll just be cool about it.

I know that these last few episodes had to close out not just campaign 3 but presumably also this version of the show. I know the cast likes to revisit their old, iconic characters and that the constant references and connections to previous campaigns are really fun for them. But, fun as it was, I feel it came at the expense of crowding Bells Hells out of their own campaign.

I believe we have reached MCU Phase 4 (?) levels of callbacks and references to previous campaigns, which, in my opinion, M9 handled with much more restraint. Easier for the cast to do back then, you might say, with only one previous campaign and no supplemental series like EXU to weave in, but I would respond by reminding you that no one made them ratchet up the shared universe storytelling. To continue with the Marvel analogy, sometimes a Spider-Man story has pretty high stakes that might justify the X-Men or FF or Avengers showing up to help. If they're going to, fine, but you have to keep the focus on Spider-Man or you've failed to tell a Spider-Man story and you shouldn't have involved so many other heroes if they're just going to take away opportunities for his character development.

Also, with so many EXU installments and the main series only running 3 weeks a month, I thought campaign 3 really dragged compared to the others. Maybe that's because it was a lot less...vignette-y, I guess, than VM or M9? I'm guesstimating here but it felt like Bells Hells had identified the bad guys (and more or less what their plan was) about one-third into the campaign and the other two-thirds was pretty much exclusively about stopping it. Just not my preference for the pacing of a multi-year campaign.

As far as revisiting VM and M9 to give them updated endings, I found this...emotionally satisfying in the moment, let's say, but kind of narratively weak and cloyingly sentimental when considered after the fact. It reminds me (I am old) of the finale of Lost, which ends on an uplifting and feelgood scene. This emotional satisfaction lingers for a moment and then you (if you are me) realize that you will have to make your peace with the fact that the show has been promising answers to its many mysteries and will not be delivering on any of them. It's not a waste of time because you have enjoyed yourself, but you wish the show had delivered more relative to what it had promised. That's how I feel about Bells Hells.

Now I do want to note that if I had played Bells Hells as a home campaign I would have loved it! Would never have shut up about it. Would have been completely on board with the meta-references and the constant in-character arguing and planning and ethical debates that kept going in circles. Would have appreciated the players all taking big swings with their characters even if some of them weren't as successful as others. Would definitely have supported of a final session that wrapped everything up a little too neatly, because it might have been the last time our crew could play after years together and the real world had gotten so unpleasant that maybe the fantasy world could lighten up just a bit. And while it's unfair to hold Critical Role to the same standards as a scripted show when it's not, we have to acknowledge that it's also not just some friends playing DnD at home with only themselves to satisfy.

Still love the program, still love the chemistry of the cast, still can't wait to see what they do next with this last EXU and then Daggerheart. The worst day fishin' is better than the best day workin' after all, but I hope some bigger fish will be biting next time.