#Danger!Josh lore sunday because Ceth's got adhd overwhelm and acknowledged that she can't human anymore

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Hello dear friend,

I was wondering if you have a favorite Josh era and when you have time or spoons, if you’d tell me about it or even (if you wanted to) share your favorite art. ❤️

Hi Winter, First thank you for sending this ask, it means the world to me at the moment. Things have been highly overwhelming and I love yacking about the rat muse when I'm down like this. <3 My favourite Josh era might be the Arkanis era (post-Corprus disease pre-Nerevarine). It covers the quests Corprus Cure, Mehra Milo and the Lost Prophercies, The Path of the Incarnate and Urshilaku Nerevarine. As well as a few Twin Lamps and Morag Tong quests and a murder misery in Vivec City. He's got a sense that he needs to at least see through getting the information that he'd stolen from Holamayan to the Urshilaku out in the Ashlands. He's not convinced that he really is the Incarnate like everyone says but not many people can say they survived Corprus Disease with their mind at least some what intact. He's struggling with keeping his mind present, however and it's what starts his rampant sleep avoidance. The less sleep he has, the less likely he is to connect to the Blight Hive. This backfires a lot. He's looking for answers as to why things have gone the way they've gone. He wants to know why these creatures keep calling him Nerevar and he wants to know why he's been cursed in the way that he has. He doesn't believe he's the Nerevarine but he's never been this accepted by people before. It's the first time he starts embracing his Ashlander side and starts using his father's name. He feels connected to something and he's always searched for that sense of belonging.

He's also madly in love with his Urshilaku Guide and it's driving him nuts.

This version of Josh is just finding his purpose for the first time. Before that he felt like he was aimlessly flailing about. He started working as a vigilante freeing slaves and burning down plantations and markets. This purpose was born out of a desire for revenge on his behalf. Being called the Nerevarine is something he's still deeply uncomfortable with but he is curious as to why he's being flung into these prophecies. Josh after Corprus finds some direction and is slowly regaining stability in the new body he's in. He's gone through a lot with his recovery. The wasting of his muscles, the 60% body burn and the removal of both his right pectoral and the first two toes and half the ball of his right foot left him severely weakened. It took him a few months to be able to stand with the assistance of crutches and he was stuck being unable to really get around without them until he designed his foot prosthesis out of scrap he'd found in Dwemer Ruins.

It's a fundamental change in his character that gives him some perspective. He's very reactionary and it's not often at that point in his life he gets that time to just sit and be. After he puts on Moon-and-Star he's got a whole other set of problems. The progress he's made during those months he was sick and then finding himself again is fundamental to who he becomes later and why he feels a certain responsibility for what happens next. Deep down he knows he chose it and he feels like a puppet because of it. It's Josh before he gets that constant apathetic melancholy that defines his character after the Main Quest. He feels like he might have a life ahead of him, like the darkness from his childhood and adolescence was behind him. It's his most hopeful.

As far as art, my faves so far are from this time period, I think it's the version I draw the most.

This one I still love (my actual fav is the nude version but this one gives you the creation of his never nude robe so...) He's meant to be lazing about in Etana Ilaba'andul (Erra's older brother)'s guest yurt. This concept kinda predates this whole Arkanis concept but is what gave birth to it. As a result he's missing a few scars and moon-and-star is present but it's meant to be around that time. This is really when I decided he'd have different designs for different periods. Before that I hadn't settled on any design for him. It was just a handful of ideas.

This one was 100% painted because of my Kogoruhn fic and is the most up to date depiction of this version of Josh. My next work will also be based on a scene from this fic. Part of this work involves the hivemind connection that he keeps losing himself to, and it's a huge aspect of how I visualise Corprus and the Sixth House to work. Arkanis is when I figured out Josh as a character, and I think that's why I like it so much. It's the most fleshed out.