#Dragonlance The Second Generation

[moonsofkrynn]

Lately, I've been reading any and all Dragonlance books I can get my hands on, and most recently finished The Second Generation. Having only now started Dragons of Deceit, I was tickled by the apparent difference in the book when it comes to Justarius's opinion on our good friend Dalamar—the dark elf mage that dated his daughter, Jenna.

Take a look at this excerpt of "The Sacrifice", from page 293 of The Second Generation:

If Justarius had sent them, he would have told her first, and she’d had no word from him in months, ever since their last quarrel. He strongly disapproved of her lover.

Compared with page 116 of Dragon of Deceit:

And although Justarius was a Red Robe, a follower of Lunitari, daughter of the god Gilean, and Dalamar was a Black Robe, follower of Nuitari, son of the goddess Takhisis, the two were friends.

...While I understand that these books were published decades apart...It is way more entertaining to pretend that Justarius's issue with his daughter's partner had nothing to do with the normal reasons Dalamar is maligned—Justarius just wants his friend back!

Jenna, please lend your poor father his study buddy back, he misses him!

[skull-bearer]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Dragonlance - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Dalamar the Dark/Raistlin Majere, Past Dalamar the Dark/Jenna Characters: Dalamar the Dark, Raistlin Majere, Jenna (Dragonlance), Palin Majere, Bupu (Dragonlance), Dunbar Mastersmate, Original Male Character(s), Horkin (Dragonlance) Additional Tags: Ghibli AU, Laputa- Castle in the Sky AU, Second Generation, Knights of Takhisis, Post Summer Flame, No Chaos, Resistance, War, Genocide, Violence, Airships, Sky Pirates, Gnomes, Mages, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mystery, Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Despair, Hope Summary:

As the Knights of Takhisis close upon Wayreth, and the last bastions of resistance fall; Dalamar discovers a strange mystery, that may lead to a final beacon of hope in this darkening world.

Chapter 1: A Late Night Because what this fandom really needs is a ghibli au, and Laputa is one of my absolute favourites.

[dafodils-on-the-moon]

!!!! So many questions bc I love this with all my heart <3 First, it's freaking hilarious that he became jester because he was "difficult to handle." LOVE that. Second, I gotta know, what does everyone else think about him? Arthur? Gwen? Morgana? Is Morgana doomed to die by the hands of a COURT JESTER?????

Ok so. Crucial part of this Au: Uther knows Merlin in Balinor’s son but does NOT know abt the magic. Merlin does not know about being Balinor’s son. Uther kept him cause he thinks it would be a good idea to have a dragonlord on hand that's loyal to Camelot, given what he's keeping under the castle.

Also I'm very aroace and don't wanna write romance for a while, so no romantic Murther.

Instead, Uther raises Merlin and Arthur as brothers. He deeply encourages the loyalty to one another as keeping Merlin loyal is essetail and Merlin is a very valuable asset that bears protecting. He emphasises to Arthur that as the eldest, Merlin is his responsibility and he should take care of him. Merlin is his younger brother.

Arthur takes to this role like a wildfire. Protective as SHIT over his new baby brother (Merlin is two years younger), esp. Since he was… not doing too hot when he first got to the castle. He was greiving and seemed *terrified* and didn’t speak at all for months. He was sickly too, for reasons no-one could pinpoint. Arthur had made it his mission to cheer Merlin up, as no one should be that sad. He and Merlin communicate at first via drawings.

He only seemed to improve after he started talking quietly to an imaginary freind he named “Kiggah.” It seemed to help cause merlin slowly started talking to Arthur and then in general and his health imrpved too.

Yeah… Merlin’s imaginary freind is Killgarrah lol.

Killgarrrah, or Kiggah as a now 5 year old Merlin could pernounce, is getting a major overhaul in this AU. His is going to be far far less of a bastard. Cause dragons are too cool for him to be the absolute worst.

In this AU Kiggah actually cares more THAT HIS ENTIRE RACE WAS ERADICATED than that he was trapped under the castle. Cause, fr, that is not the part id focus on. Also I gave him a family before, sorry man. Kiggah was also really really fond of dragonlings and hatchlings and was very excited to see the hatching of his first great-grandhatchling before the purge. Ow.

Anyway, Merlin is TERRIFIED of being in Camelot. He’s terrified he’s going to say something wrong and reveal his secret and die. He blames himslef for his mother’s death (cause he’s like 4 1/2 and thats normal for kids that age) and more specifically, his magic. So he supresses the shit out of it, which is why he’s so sickly.

Kiggah senses Merlin basically killing himslef and tries coaching Merlin into using his magic again. Adopts Merlin as his own hatchling. Kiggah doesn’t know Merlin’s dad is Balinor, but he DOES know he’s emrys, magic itself. As a result, Kiggah views Merlin as a fellow magical creature and raises him accordingly. He… doesn’t really get how human hatchlings are supposed to work.

Merlin starts acting weirdly dragonlike. His growling, he’s biting people, hee’s climbing everything, hoarding things and has a major fixation with fire. He is gettign “difficult to handle” as UTHER, assumes this is just how dragonlordlings are, (good gracious), but needs a way to coverup the fact he’s raising one.

Fooleswurth, nuerdodivergent in ye-old times, sees Merlin and his like “haha verily. Reminds me of when I was that age, I was just the same. He must have “The Jester’s Spark, haha.”’ Uther goes “yes and” and now fooleswurth has an apprentice and Uther has a way to explain why his ward is so weird.

Anyway, Kiggah is NOT excited about Merlin’s new older sister, but Merlin loves her. He is very excited for whenever Morgana’s magic manifests. She grows on Kiggah. (Esp. With all teh trouble she gives Uther). Morgana’s going to be fine.

She and Merlin get on like a house on fire. Gossipy bitches. Morgana sics Melrin and his “jester’s privolegde” on bothersome nobles to insult them into the ground.

Gwen becomes Morgana’s maidservent, and she Morgana and Merlin are great friends.

[catulhu333]

Bahamut and Tiamat were aspects of Io/Asgorath in early 2nd edition of AD&D lore?

...as well being the two key archetypes influencing all dragons, and in 1st edition of AD&D, the only gods of dragons?

2014/2015 "Rage of Dragons" miniatures of Tiamat and Bahamut

Wile changes to Bahamut and Tiamat (and deific dragon lore in general) in 5th edition (were Bahamut and Tiamat are the supreme, and only real draconic gods), and to a degree 4th edition (were Bahamut and Tiamat were 2 halves of Io), were controversial; these changes are actually based on far older lore, that was changed mid 2nd edition, with 1992's Monster Mythology and further on.

In 1st edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Bahamut and Tiamat were the only dragon gods, with worship by dragons being split between them, as seen in 1984 article "Dragons and their deities" in Dragon #86: "Evil dragons worship Tiamat, and good dragons worship Bahamut. That is, for all practical purposes, the extent of common knowledge about the way dragons worship their deities."

The divinity of of two was first outright affirmed in 1980 in "Leomund's Tiny Hut: Rearranging and Redefining the Mighty Dragon" in Dragon #38; with Tiamat kinda earlier in the original 1978's Monster Manual, were she was presented among the Lords of Nine.

Miniatures of Bahamut (or as named in the catalog the Platinum Dragon) and Tiamat (or as named in the catalog the Spectral Dragon), from Grenadier Models 1990 catalogue, originally from the 1989 Dragon of the Month II line from 1989. Special thanks @oldschoolfrp, thanks to who I know of this lines existence. Their original post here. I recommend checking them out.

Paladine and Takhisis from Dragonlance, also debuting in 1984, were often identified with Bahamut (Paladine) and Tiamat (Takhisis). It's rather ambiguous though - the creator of both, Jeff Grubb believing this, but writers of Dragonlance novels, and main architects of the setting, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (who basically gave them personality and story), believing them as similar, but separate characters/deities.

Official publications either suggested a connection, or stated them to be the same (as well as Bahamut and Tiamat gaining traits of Paladine and Takhisis, like being siblings, and in past, lovers), with 5th edition (with 2021's Fizban's Treasury of Dragons), stating them to be the same.

Constellations of Krynn, in the center Takhisis (left) and Paladine (right) opposing each other, the Gilean' constellation between them. From 1984's "DL5: Dragons of Mystery".

Still, Paladine on Krynn (the world Dragonlance is set in) is/was the leader of the Gods of Good, and Takhisis is/was the leader of the Gods of Evil, and were among the most powerful deities of the setting, equaled only by their brother Gilean and second only to the High God and Chaos.

According to 1989's "Player's Guide to Dragonlance, the two together created the first dragons: "Paladine is Father of Good and Master of Law. During the Age of Dreams, Paladine led the gods in creation. Paladine and Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, infused the raw fury of chaos with form and purpose, creating the first material beings— dragons. Takhisis, jealous the first creations were not entirely hers, corrupted the chromatic dragons to evil. Paladine replaced his fallen children with the good, metallic dragons, but Takhisis’s act began the rift between good and evil."

This origin of dragons on Krynn evolved overtime though, with some changes, but I won't elaborate on this here.

1990's Draconomicon

The draconic pantheon was first expanded with 1990's Draconomicon, though oddly, Bahamat and Tiamat are not among the list of Draconic deities, at least seemingly.

The book instead presents Bahamut and Tiamat instead as seemingly archetypal forms of all dragons (even indeed, the twin Platonic forms of all dragons), even their gods, all of whom (with one exception) are their "pale reflections": " And here the conversation must turn to dragons, for in these species the diffusion theory seems to be the only suitable explanation for their wide-spread existence. Dragons are the only creatures for which there exist archetypal forms. In dragonkind, these forms are Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, and Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon. All of the core species of dragonkind the good aligned metallic dragons and the evil-aligned chromatic dragons (ignoring for a moment those fringe species like crystal dragons) seem to be pale reflections of their archetypal forms, displaying some but not all of that archetypes characteristics. For example, a red dragon possesses some but not all of the characteristics attributed to Tiamat, while a gold dragon possesses some but not all of the characteristics attributed to Bahamut. Indulging in mathematical language for a moment, each species of dragon seems to be a subset of properties belonging to one or other of the archetypes. Or, conversely, each archetype seems to possess a superset of the properties possessed by the appropriate class of dragonkind. Some sages truly believe this observation to be representative of the truth of the matter. According to this theory, the very existence of the two archetypal forms Bahamut and Tiamat is responsible for the existence of dragons throughout the multiverse. In metaphorical language, dragons are the shadows that the archetypes cast across the planes. As shadows are, in a sense, subsets of the creatures casting them as they must be, since shadows are two-dimensional so are the shadows of the dragon archetypes subsets of those archetypes characteristics and powers."

Two of the dragon gods, Lendys and Tamara, as Platinum Dragons, seem to be even closer to the archetype of Bahamut, both being platinum dragons themselves, but still lesser than him.

In the same book, there is also mentioned the oldest and highest draconic god, Asgorath the World-Shaper, later identified with Io. Asgorath is stated to to be creator of dragons, and the universe (in the sense of seemingly all existence), at least according to dragons.

But, the myth in the same sourcebook (as found in-universe in the Book of the World, a written down red dragon myth, suggests Asgorath is Tiamat: "It is easy to speculate, based on this myth. The plural inflection of the word breath might be taken as implying multiple heads; the Thorass word for renegade is bahmat. It seems almost too close a correlation can Asgorath be Tiamat and the Renegade be Bahamut?"

This is further alluded in Asgorath's description: "Thus, reds believe that Asgorath is Chaotic Evil as implied in the Book of the World mentioned at the beginning of the chapter while bronzes believe Asgorath is Lawful Good."

Suggesting that like red dragons see/perceive Asgorath as Tiamat, Bronze (and other good dragons) would see the World-Shaper as Bahamut. And that the two "archetypal dragons" are themselves seemingly aspects/parts/avatars of Asgorath. Which is further suggested together with Bahamut's description in Draconomicon: "Sages continue to debate the true nature of Bahamut. Is he the archetype of all good dragonkind, the ideal of which all other dragons are merely shadows? Is he an avatar of a greater deity?"

This is quite obviously an inspiration for Io being split in ancient times into Bahamut and Tiamat in 4th edition/Nerath lore. As well as in "Fizban's Treasury of Dragons", presenting Bahamut and Tiamat as the origin of all dragons, and their forms, it even also using allusions to platonic forms, and shadows of higher reality. As well as Bahamut and Tiamat creating the original universe (that split into the multiverse), like Asgorath was stated to.

Io was first introduced in 1992's Monster Mythology, if very probably taking inspiration from Asgorath (with whom he is directly identified in the book), as well as perhaps Krynn's High God. Io is also stated there to be believed by dragons to be their creator, and of all of existence. As well repeating Platonic and Gnostic ideas from Draconomicon about the world being a shadow of a higher, truer reality: "We Dragon-sages make a distinction between the Two Voids; the First Void, wherein only Io had existence, and the Shadow Void, where Io's willingly shed blood created the potential for existence and creation to come into being. Most non-dragon races only know of the Shadow Void, and they do not know of the earlier time outside time when only the Ninefold Dragon existed."

Monster Mythology though, makes Bahamut and Tiamat somewhat lesser in status, making them Lesser Gods, though only Io (as a Greater God) and Chronepsis (an Intermediate God) are above them, the other two gods (Faluzure and Aesterinian), being on the same level of power. Still though, it is a visible downgrade from their grand role in Draconomicon, and of their counterparts (Paladine and Takhisis) on Krynn. Monster Mythology is also the the first to make Bahamut and Tiamat explicitly siblings and "intended mates".

1998's "Cult of the Dragon" sourcebook, combined the draconic pantheons mentioned described in Draconomicon and Monster Mythology, often identifying/conflating some deities between the two (notably Asgorath and Io, though that was done before). Though this also resulted in a seeming further downgrade in status of Bahamut and Tiamat, them being still Lesser Gods (and Bahamut identified with Xymor, made as possible child of Lendys and Tamara), while including multiple Intermediate Gods (Astilabor, Garyx, Kereska, Lendys, Null as the Guardian of the Lost/Chronepsis, Tamara and Zorquan).

[exhausted-archivist]

Do you remember that BioWare Blog Post BioWare Community Update: Writing Our Worlds

I have guesses about the two redacted codices. One I've already mentioned in one of my asks, but I'm going to stick them under the cut for spoilers. But I think, the first two codices of datv we saw were from Emmrich and Taash.

I think this one is Emmrich because we know he was written by Sylvia and this codex is credited to her. And same with the second one, Taash's writer is Trick Weekes and we know they wrote the second one.

Transcript:

Misconceptions about the Necropolis No one has more respect for Brother Genitivi's scholarship than I, but his writing on Nevarra details very little of the practices of the Grand Necropolis. The more I travel, the more I'm convinced these elisions have led to unfortunate conclusions by people of less than generous imagination. For example: we do not "lock up" our dead to pound fruitlessly against their coffins in the dark. Our departed lie in peaceful state, or even wander! The undead tableaux are loving constructions, not "dress-up with corpses." And in the event a malign spirit causes a disturbance, we don't simply "thow them in a tomb and toss the key"! Sometimes I thik [redacted] crafts these questions to tease me. From [redacted]'s diary

Transcription:

[Redacted] Talks: Dragon—Vinsomer Appearance: Dark back and light underbelly. She's hard to see when underwater. Like those whales. Diet: Squid or those big worms that burrow near the shores. Uses her lightening to stun prey. Jaws are more like a beak. Good to grip squishy stuff or crack shells. I think the lightning also helps her see down in the deep water. She does little crackles before she strikes. Behavior: She's hunting more than she needs. She's also not attacking [redacted] unless they get close to her lair. Then she kills them fast. I think she has dragonlings. Must be trying to keep them fed and not look for fights. Only reason a dragon stays that quiet is to protect her kids.

[vintagerpg]

Temple is the anchor TSR’s second experiment with what we would now call an “adventure path” (the first being the original Dragonlance modules, which themselves would find themselves collected in similar softcovers in the early '90s). Temple brings characters from level 1 to level 7. Zuggtmoy defeated, they move on to the second book, Scourge of the Slave Lords (1986), which reprints modules A1 through A4.

Once again, these aren’t modules I am super fond of. A4 in particular commits the annoying foul of “you’re captured and have none of your cool stuff.” But even generally, I don’t find the arc of the story particularly interesting (understandable considering the module’s origins as tournament modules) nor the villains thrilling (orcs, hobgoblins, gnolls and ogres, primarily, none deployed with gusto). I also think it is weird to follow the conflict of Temple (with its demoness) with slavers (who seem so prosaic).

This book is superior to the original modules, though, as the weird tournament edges have been smoothed over and the sections have been developed further. I still don’t love it, but I dislike it less. Its a shame they didn’t use the old art, though, which I do mostly like. This features a lot by Ron Lindahn and Val Lakey Lindahn, which reminds me a lot of the costume-y look of Ralph Bakshi’s monsters in Lord of the Rings. It’s unusual. I like rather like it, honestly. But I also liked the old stuff.

Oh, speaking of art, I have a devil of a time visually parsing that Jeff Easley cover. I don’t know why, but that orc always looks like some Harryhausen-style centaur to me because of how he is getting tackled. Weird.

[gaddaboutgriffon]

@puppetmaster13u so you seem to like branching out of the DPxDC and also like dragon-ized characters. Well I have had a fic Idea for a while.

A gem that when put in water makes it turn a glowing purple and anyone submerged in that water turns into one of sixteen breeds/subspecies of dragon based on which one fits them best. (More on each breed later.)

Now for the plot part. There’s a treasure/magic weapon some bad guy is looking for that can only be found by dragon eyes. He decides to essentially take street kids and use the gem to turn them into dragonlings promising to turn them back after he gets what he wants. Tim Drake/Red Robin and Damian/Robin are investigating the disappearance of the kids and find the bad guy pushing a kid into glowing purple water and the transformation into a dragon. Of course there is a fight and it ends up having Tim turned into a dragon but they escape with all the dragon-ified kids, but the bad guy escapes with the gem. Now Damian has to take care of and keep a bunch of juvenile dragons hidden and track down the bad guys with the gem to ever be able to undo this. Oh being turned into a dragon comes with some instincts and pack behaviors that makes Damian’s job harder.

Ok the Pack tends to be divided into eight roles. 1 the Alpha is the leader and protector of the Pack. 2 The Beta is the second in command and helps enforce the orders of the alpha. 3 the Scout is the one that has the best memory for land marks and obstacles to the pack and goes ahead looking for danger. 4 the Hunters does the most hunting, fighting, general tasks to protect and provide for the pack. 5 Tracker is a specialized hunter and is one that will track prey down or find missing pack members. 6 Sentry has the best senses of hearing smell and/or sight and acts as a early warning for the pack. Often works with the Scout. 7 Nanny is the one that takes care of the babies in the pack or injured members or elderly members. 8 Omega/Peacekeeper this one breaks up tensions in the pack by diverting attention of fighting members from each other onto them. Often through annoyance or play.

Now for the different breeds and what each does best. Oh and the Dragons are not really reptiles. They are more like egg laying mammals and the scales are made of fused overcoat hair like the Pangolin has. The digestive system produces gases that combust when combined with oxygen in the atmosphere and use an electric spark like the electric eel and the bombardier beetle. Those gases are lighter then air and with the hallow bones helps make them light enough to fly, but if they use to much for fire in a fight then they can’t fly for a while. There are some breeds with exceptions and those will be explained. Can you tell I am a bit of a biology nerd.

First we have the Pygmydrake. It is the smallest breed like the chihuahua of the dragons, being about the size of a medium sized dog. It has fire and spits acid and a fully prehensile tail. Tends to be more cooperative and live in much larger packs than any other breed. In a pack with mixed breeds will often act as an omega or scout.

Next we have the Shiftscale. It can change the color of its scales at will and can blend into its surroundings it practically goes invisible. Sharp retractable claws for silent movement. It can breathe fire but not as much as other breeds. More likely to ambush prey and if they don’t have the element of surprise is likely to retreat.

Ok now the Firerex. These are the second biggest breed and they have the biggest gas sacks for ton of extra fire. Very much more likely to roast an opponent then the other breeds because they can. And their jaw strength is like a hydraulic press for really strong bites. Just big guys that are affectionate with their pack and will be the first to fight to defend it.

Onto the Spearback. They can breath fire but are more likely to fight with their quilled tail. These prickly guys are not fond of strangers or surprises and are likely to slam their spike tail to impale anything that startles them. They can flick their tail fast enough launch a loose quill like a giant dart. But once trust is earned they will be glued to your side.

Moving onto the IceScale. This breed has a mutation where their body does not produce the right gases for fire but instead they spray a liquid that will freeze when mixed with nitrogen in the atmosphere. Thus they can’t fly either. The body is better adapted for freezing weather and the wings and tail for swimming. They have a great sense of smell and can track down scents from miles away. Eyesight isn’t to good though.

Going to have to finish the rest of the breeds in a reblog.

[dndhistory]

470. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - Dragonlance Legends Volume 2: The War of the Twins (May 1986)

The second in the series that followed the massively popular Chronicles series of Dragonlance novels, The War of the Twins continues the more intimist story of what happened to Raistlin and Caramon (the twins of the title) and Crysania, a cleric of Paladin and a very inappropriate paramour for the black magician Raistlin.

This volume confirms the role of Raistlin as one of the more interesting villains in D&D lore, as he can at the same time demonstrate love and even tenderness as well as commit completely inexcusable actions, from murder of innocents to betrayal of his own flesh and blood. For Raistlin everyone is a means to an end but he is not completely soulless.

The book follows the events from the first volume, which ended with the central trio escaping the Cataclysm and being propelled 100 years into the future, with Raistlin taking on the role of legendary magician Fistandantilus and Caramon becoming his reluctant general as they attempt to conquer the dwarven stronghold of Thorbardin. As with most middle sections of the story this isn't the strongest in the series, but it is still a very strong book ending in a cliffhanger that demands you start reading the third volume immediately. Fortunately there wasn't much time to wait, as by August of this same year the last of the Dragonlance Legends series would hit the shelves.

[prue84]

The Current and Future Pendragons

Fandom: BBC’s Merlin (canon divergence, post-canon) AU AU: The Royal Husbands (Aithusa Pendragon)

High King Arthur Pendragon and the royal family of Camelot.

AU in which a series of canon divergences lead to Arthur surviving the mortal wound inflicted him by Mordred at Camlann and, with the help of Merlin who then becomes his Prince Consort, bringing the golden age foretold by the prophecies.

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Manip planned few years ago, but started on the prompt of @tavernfest​. It's all @papysanzo's fault on Tumblr for reblogging the May round. Also @merthurotica​, but their post on my RSS feed turned up later.

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More about the AU under the cut and also at the AU edit. (More fanworks from this AU at the links above) (All rambles and how this manip was made under the cut. Please suffer with me.)

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Arthur Pendragon, king of Camelot and High King of Albion. He successfully reunited the lands as the prophecies said, and also brought back magic. Few years after the victory of Camlann he married Merlin, who has become prince consort and second ruler of the kingdom. But, since unfortunately Merlin might be many things, but a woman with a womb he's not, Arthur (with Merlin) had to find a way to conceive a heir while being married to a man. Cue in Mithian, crown princess of Nemeth, equally saddled with the duty to give the throne a heir but uninterested in finding a husband trustful enough to sit at her side without potentially become a danger to her right to the throne. Together, the three of them reach an agreement that satisfies them all and they've been tight-close since. Their peculiar settlement initially was met with confusion and diffidence, but Mithian earned herself the thrust of everyone, and eventually the title of Queen of Camelot, third in line after Merlin. Peter is the first born of this union and rightful heir to the throne of Camelot. He's a talented swordsman but he suffered through all his teen years because of the never-ending comparisons with his warrior father who is on another fighting level. With age he learned to accept that he'll never be a war king and nobody ever asked him to become one either. He isn't his father, his name isn't part of legends or prophecies; he wasn't born to unite Albion but to keep it united once the Age of the Once and Future King sees its dawn. He will be a good and fair king for the peaceful times of the golden age, and his duty will be to make sure all his father - and his father's husband - sacrifices won't be wasted, that what they built is preserved. Susan was conceived because Mithian wanted both a heir for her to entrust Nemeth and a daughter. She's stubborn and strong but also capable of great empathy and kindness, as her mother and the Pendragon women (when they not meet High Priestesses who manipulate them). She's a formidable archer. Handsome Caspian, the son of Gwaine and Lady Vivian, is courting her and she welcomes this game, but Susan is enjoying too much her freedom to settle for a marriage and a family of her own. She has time though. Aithusa is the cute, small thing of the family, although she's actually the oldest of the new Pendragon generation - not counting the centuries spent in the egg that make her older than the castle of Camelot itself. As per usual with the dragon race, Aithusa's growth is stunned by her remaining with her parents. Only by being left on their own to tend to themselves, a dragonling is forced to grow. Thus, despite she was hatched on the dawn of the golden age, before Arthur married Mithian, she's still a dragonling that can fit Arthur's shoulders - her second favorite spot after the sling she made Arthur wear for years under his shirt. She learned the human language and can talk with her half-dragon impaired siblings Peter and Susan, but her speech pattern still needs some work. She doesn't care though. She's not so eager to leave the nest.

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Aithusa, (officially the ward of the king, unofficially considered by anyone in the court his scales-covered, flame-breathing daughter) is actually the eldest, since she was the first to come to the family. So yes, she's the older sibling. Make of this knowledge what you want. She also is firm that Arthur is a dragon, just one kind that looks like humans. But he's totally dragon. And if he doesn't breath fire or doesn't understand the dragon language, is all Uther's fault who didn't teach him his dragon gifts. Since Arthur is clearly a dragon, while Mithian sadly isn't, Peter and Susan are to her half-dragons. She still claims that it's because of the half human blood in their veins that they are impaired and don't have any dragon skill.

There's a fanfic for Aithusa as the (still only) daughter of the royal husbands during Father's Day, if you're interested.

When the time comes, and Arthur retires to Avalon to sleep, Peter will ascend as new king of Camelot, whose court will be moved to the renovated Castle of the Old Kings (or a new castle - still have to decide on this). Susan will succeed to Mithian on the throne of Nemeth. Aithusa will inherit the nest itself, the castle of Camelot, to own and protect until Merlin will be ready to make use of it.

I decided that Caspian would be Gwaine's (and Vivian's) son out of looks alone, and out of a (wrong) belief that he was meant to be Susan's love in Narnia. I never watched the second movie, and by the time I finally read the books, I didn't want to change it. For the same reason, I don't have a woman for Peter. A potential daughter of Gwen and Lancelot wouldn't be bad, but not necessary. (The AU idea ends with Arthur's travel to Avalon for his sleep and a mention of Peter moving the court to another castle, to then a time skip focusing on Merlin, so I didn't really focus on Peter's or Susan's life.)

While I'm writing this I wondered if Merlin wouldn't want to have a child so to kickstart the dragonlords kind (although, unless Magic changes its rules, the child would never inherit the dragonlord powers, since Merlin doesn't die). It never occurred to me before. I'm not sure he'd feel like having children, if he already knew that he would be immortal and he would then be forced to see his children grow old and frail and then die. But who knows. He could have one or more with Mithian, especially once Arthur is gone to Avalon. In case, Edward Pensive is there for the picking. Also Lucy.

About the AU When Lancelot is sent sent back to the world of the livings after he sacrificed himself to close the Veil, Gwen realizes that, between the two boys she loves, a relationship with a knight of humble origins has better chances than the one with a king that comes with a throne and a heavy kingdom, and so she picks Lancelot over Arthur. Arthur, who has given his blessing to the couple, doesn't find the time nor interest to find himself a wife and he's still a golden bachelor by the time Camlann happens. Merlin manages to save him and they eventually acknowledge their feelings. The Court backs Arthur's wish to marry a male servant on the premise that Arthur will pick a woman to give the kingdom a heir. And here comes Mithian, who might be more interested in women, so Camelot and Nemeth can make an agreement that will make both households happy. Since Mithian is wonderful, and fondness between her and the Royal Couple of Camelot grows, she's eventually given the title of Queen of Camelot, third in line after the King and the Prince Consort. Arthur and Mithian will have two children, the first born a male who will inherit Camelot and the second a daughter that will inherit Nemeth.

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Tec stuffs (aka Behind The Manip) Both a challenge and a nightmare. The original picture is four people. I needed five. Now, onto the specific characters - in order of making. Mithian, who had to be moved to make space for Merlin, was surprisingly easy to make. I wished to delete the lions on the dress, and replace them with either the Pendragon dragon or the Nemeth bull, but it was too much even for me, so I gave up. Removing them altogether felt odd - the dress is black with little movement, and without the lions it felt just one blotch of black. Susan. I'm not satisfied. The actress picture was perfect in pose but it has something in colors/lights that makes it stand out and look a bit more fake. Whatever. Peter. It took me a while to find the picture that would fit the body. Initially I kept the original body's curly hair, for I didn't feel like William Moseley's hairstyle would acceptable in a Medieval setting. But then I changed my mind, and remade it. He might be a bit too stocky for my liking but the body is that and making him less bulkier is out of option. On the chest the costume featured a cross: I erased it to be replaced it with the Pendragon dragon in the same style. Quite proud of how that turned out. Can't say the same for the sword. Yes, Arthur's son has a name sword which is coincidentally the sword of Peter Pensive. But the change was a given. Merlin was one challenge. I planned to use another body for his (the same king from Vikings but with another costume) but the picture just didn't work out. The one I chose... featured the man from the knees above. Which meant reconstruction for legs (which meant stealing the legs from Arthur's base - coincidentally it's always the same character!)... and the cloak. That was the true challenge! Also. I like how it turned out, but it just irks me that Colin doesn't look in the camera. But that picture was perfect and the result is fine. It did take me some tinkering to place the circlet but all in all I'm satisfied in how prince Merlin turned out. Bonus point for my headcanon marriage ring that didn't look good (the manip is too small for decent rings renderings), but I managed to add another from a jewelry maker that does rings in a style very similar to Ygraine's canon ring. Be sure to visit their Etsy and die. Ygraine's sigil, that replace the medallion the original body was wearing, is a given as well. Too bad we don't have a decent prop pic of it. Now. Arthur. Bloody Arthur. Tinkering with the original body to change colors from blue to red was funny. The rest NOT. Replacing the original sword with Excalibur, which was mandatory, gave a mild result. Ygraine's ring is there but, given the small size, isn't looking good enough. And those were the easy things! Because then it came the time to place bearded Bradley. Now. We do have few nice bearded Bradley pics, courtesy of the man himself, but they were mostly too small to work with in this manip - and/or in poses that wouldn't fit the body. You might say: there's Vikings: Valhalla. No, my friend. I downloaded ALL the screencaps available and very few worked, and - given the costume the character wears, there was never a inch of Bradley's bearded neck. In the end I worked with one of the pics Bradley released on Instagram. A pic with a black background in which bear and hair blended in. And an hard shadow on the right side of the face. A nightmare to cut, a nightmare to fix. And then the crown. The crown comes from The Hollow Crown. It looks similar but it isn't the same refurbished prop (different decorations, slightly different proportions of the fleur-de-lis). Years ago, when I saw the pics, I decided this would be older!Arthur's crown, for it's more regal with its fake gems and golden coating. There wasn't a pic with the proper perspective, so I had to tweak it a bit. It doesn't look awful, mind me, but I feel something's off with how it's placed on Bradley's head. I can't tell what, though - I used one of Arthur's coronation pics as reference while working, but still I can't fix what's wrong. In hindsight I wonder if I should've used a crowned Arthur pic with the original crown and be done with it. And then Aithusa. We literally have two pics of her, unless you want to work with night/dark screencaps. I knew where I wanted to have her, no idea how to. Still not happy. Does she looks fake? Yes. But at this time I just gave up. Whatever. (Besides, the other options didn't work. Her standing promo pic at Arthur's feet? Her fore legs are in a different perspective. Her standing promo pic on Arthur's shoulders? There was enough space, her head would be cut out from the picture and there was no way to extend the base pic by 50px, that specific background is a bitch to work with).

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Credits

1. + 18. Vikings, season 4 promo pictures. ( farfarawaysite.com/section/vikings/gallery4/gallery21/gallery.htm ) 2. Janet Montgomery from Salem, season 1 promo picture. ( farfarawaysite.com/section/salem/gallery1/gallery14/gallery.htm ) 3. Anna Popplewell from Reign, season 1 promo picture. ( farfarawaysite.com/section/reign/gallery1/gallery1/gallery.htm ) 4. Vikings, season 2 promo picture. ( farfarawaysite.com/section/vikings/gallery2/gallery1/gallery.htm ) 5. Colin Morgan from We Hunt Together. ( farfarawaysite.com/merlin/actors/colin/filmtv3/gallery.htm ) 6. The Hollow Crown, season 1 - Henry V. ( farfarawaysite.com/section/hollow/gallery1/gallery3/gallery.htm ) 7. Merlin, deleted scene - screencap. (Merlin's Keep at Far Far Away) 8. Spinner ring by artisanlook on Etsy. ( etsy.com/listing/462981991/spinner-ring-ruby-ring-silver-band ) 9. William Moseley from Bonnie Paul's 'It Was Love, Now It's War' Music Video photoshoot. ( justjared.com/photo-gallery/2650927/william-moseley-bonnie-paul-it-was-love-now-its-war-01 ) 10 + 11. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian original prop (Peter’s sword and scabbard). ( uk.propstoreauction.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/78/lot/18159 ) 12. Merlin, original prop. (Merlin's Keep at Far Far Away) 13. Bradley James, photoshoot by Jose Palma (2021). ( instagram.com/p/CVvMc_AMC8m ) 14. Merlin, season 2 promo picture. (Merlin's Keep at Far Far Away) 15. The Hollow Crown, season 1 - Henry VI. ( farfarawaysite.com/section/hollow/gallery2/gallery2/gallery.htm ) 16. Bradley James from Vikings: Valhalla, 2x06 - screencap. ( kissthemgoodbye.net/PeriodDrama/index.php?cat=510 ) 17. Merlin, 4x11 - screencap. ( kissthemgoodbye.net/merlin/index.php ) 19 + 20. Merlin, creature picture. (Merlin's Keep at Far Far Away)

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Crossposted Livejournal: prue84.livejournal.com/97890.html Dreamwidth: prue84.dreamwidth.org/89442.html Deviantart: deviantart.com/prue84/art/The-Current-and-Future-Pendragons-964446326

[deaddoveadventures]

MUN'S COMFORT LIST

Comfort food(s): sushi... i love it so much...

Comfort drink(s): Cola and hot chocolate - but like NOT mixed please lol

Comfort movie(s): The Last Unicorn and the LotR movies. I love both of them so so so much. LotR was my childhood. <3 And the last unicorn movie just .. is perfection? The Art Style, the Music, it brings back fond childhood memories.

Comfort show(s): A lot of enjoyment for watching series has been drained from me because of trauma, but uhh.. The closest I can get to a comfort show is some things that I am nostalgic for like the Animes "Le Chevalier D'eon" and "Monster".

Comfort clothing: Black Hoodie with anime print on it probably. I love hoodies. Also tbh cosplay.

Comfort song(s): The Souls Games OST (Including Elden Ring and Bloodborne). Love it. Most beautiful vibes.

Comfort book(s): Anything Tolkien and Middle Earth. Currently, I'm getting back into the Silmarillion. <3 I also love The Witcher Books so much! And I think I can count the Dragonlance books as new comfort books as well.

Comfort game(s): Baldur's Gate 3. Hands down. Also classic RPGs like Mass Effect <33 and Dragon Age <333. Also The Witcher III and other general classics such as Bioshock and Alan Wake (I still need to play the second one though...) I miss that time in gaming. *sighs wistfully*

Tagged by @undyingmedium ((Thank you so much. <33 Made me happy to be tagged here!!!))

Tagging: @astralfox0893 @springvaletales @wanderingarcherviola and anyone else who wants to do it! :)

[stardust-in-my-mind-blog]

Prologue

It is always the map of believing, the white landscape and the shrouded farms. It is always a land of remembrance, of sunlight fractured in old, immovable ice,

And always the heart, cloistered and southerly, misgives the ice, the drifting for something perplexed and eternal. It will end like this, the heart will tell you, it will end with mammoth and glacier, with ten thousand years of effacing night, and someday the scientists rifling lakes and moraines, will find us evidence, our relics outside of history, but your story, whole and hollowed will end at the vanishing edge of your hand. So says the heart in its intricate cell, charting with mirrors the unchartable land of remembrance and rivers and ice. This time it was different: the town had surrendered to the hooded snow, the houses and taverns were awash in the fragmented light, and the lake was marbled with unstable ice, as I walked through drifts through lulling spirits, content with the slate of the sky and the prospect of calendared spring. It will end like this, the winter proclaimed, sooner or later in dark inaccessible ice, and you are the next one to hear this story, winter and winter occluding the heart and there in Wisconsin, mired by the snow and by vanishing faith, it did not seem bad that the winter was taking all light away, that the darkness seemed welcome and the last, effacing snow. He stood in the midst of frozen automobiles, cars lined like cenotaphs. In the bundle of coats in wool hats and mufflers he rummaged the trunk for God knows what, and I knew his name by the misted spectacles the caved, ridiculous hat he was wearing. And whether the courage was spring in its memory, was sunlight in promise of whiskeyed shade, or somehow aligned beyond snow and searching, it was with me that moment as I spoke to him there; in my days I am thankful it took me that moment as I spoke to the bundled weaver of accidents the everyday wizard in search of impossible spring. Tracy, I told him, poetry lies in the seams on the story in old recollections and prospect of what might always and never be (And those were the words I did not say, but poetry lies in the prospect of what should have been: you must believe I said these words past denial, past history), and there in winter the first song began, the moons twined and beckoned on the boarders of Krynn, the country of snow resolved to the grasslands more brilliant and plausible. And the first song continued through prospects of summer where the promise returns from the vanished seed, where the staff returns from forgetful deserts, and even northern lands cry out to the spirit, this is the map of believing fulfilled; this is the map of belief.

-Dragonlance: The Second Generation by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

[weirdlet]

It's Tuesday night, I just got home from work and I have a half-day tomorrow, we are storming the dragon's lair before he can turn himself into a god, and I am LIVING

after defeating the fire giant king, giant support for the dragon is much lower, but he still have a few minions guarding his lair. We're teleported to the frozen island that holds the volcano where he dwells, and sneaking up the carved staircases in the mountainside. The weather is awful, to the point Glory gains a level of exhaustion. We see three frost giants guarding the path, and are now trying to figure out whether to try and take them out, or get around them.

....the attempt to distract the giants gets them to sound the alarm. But nevertheless, we persist and because the distraction wasn't US per se, we still get a surprise round.

-the giants have summoned stony minions from the pillars, as well as statues of a frost and a fire giant.

One of the giants attempts to swat Glory out of the sky, fumbles, and on his way down slips and falls prone. Glory laughs at him from his position in the air. Then he dives on him. Then he stabs him.

And rolls a nat 20, critical hit, with 8d6 sneak attack damage. 90 FUCKING points of damage in one shot.

That giant is no longer an issue.

The second giant is magically imprisoned, and the third- must be around here somewhere, line of sight on this map is a mess. But Trinidad the tortle barbarian is ready to descend like a meteor on their kneecaps. And the stone defenders. Maeve is also getting into the mix with those, and things are heating up.

On looking at the combat tracker, I can see a bit of what's waiting for us in the wings- it turns out the ancient red wyrm's name that I've been mishearing is called Hoornmdargh. And it turns out that fighting the giants has prevented them from turning on magical barriers that would prevent further entry up the mountain. Trinidad and Maeve are laying all about them, Alain the revenant is throwing daggers, and Sorianna is mentally magically tormenting that one poor giant until Glory stabs him a lot.

And THEN something shows up- the red Abishai- some ungodly half-dragon looking motherfucker that's *also* flying, and shows up right behind Glory and bites the fuck out of him. And hits him with a mace. And is generally a pain in the ass, until Glory turns around and stabs him and then flaps away to try and suck down a healing potion. Trinidad uses his superstrength to lasso this Abishai thing and haul him to the ground, there to stomp on, aided by Maeve in another beautiful circle-beat-down. Just because he's down, though, doesn't mean he's out- he evades a massive smite and starts throwing punches and mace-blows, and tries to misty-step away- only he's still roped. Even so, he gets away, and is gunning for Sorianna the mage- but even so he ends up surrounded. He roars, but Maeve's aura lends us all courage- and from above, Glory drops out of the sky sword-first. Between the lot of us, we hack him to pieces.

The strange creature had a ring with two keys on it. We go to the statues that were mentioned, which did not in fact get animated but apparently were the things that controlled the magical barriers- but one of the keys opens the doors to the lair-

revealing a dragonling. It's just barely our size, and Glory brazens right up to it-

and with Panache, says "Listen, sweet thing- we're about to make a whole big mess in here. How would you like to inherit early?"

The dragonling blinks, considers, and goes and curls up underneath a giant-sized worktable.

We sneak ahead down the hall, overhearing Giantish and catching sight of a couple of fire giant guards around the corners. We wait, calculate our moment- and leap out and murder the shit out of them. Even so, they call for reinforcements- a hill giant and a bunch of azer, fire-dwarves. The azer attempt to form a shield wall, but are already losing numbers while above everyone's heads, Glory proceeds to stab and irritate the hill giant who can't swing his hands fast enough to pluck the tiefling out of the sky. He then throws a boulder at the lot of us- which lands.

In the middle of the shield wall.

We're in the process of dealing with that, when a mage of all things in the middle of another shieldwall of azer starts throwing cold spells at us. Glory dive-bombs him and scoots away- only to get frozen into a winterfest ornament stuck to the ceiling. It is cold. He is hurt. But he takes that moment to breathe, and center himself- and spend several hit dice- and prepare for the moment he's free again.

Sorianna, the bladesinger wizard, steps into the middle of those azer and pulls off some kind of whirlwind of blades. Steel Wind Strike. It's badass. She cuts through most of them and then heads for the wizard with murder in her eye. Alain joins her and it's a fantastic battle-couple moment before Henri Haste's (I will never understand these names) head topples off of his neck.

After the battle clears up, we wave to the little dragonling we'd convinced not to fight, and ask it if there are many more like it. About a dozen, it says, and they were already on the fence of whether or not to fight and be in Hoornmdargh's good graces, or sit it out and be in our good graces. Glory persuades it that he's seem elder dragons eat their young before, and there's no great reward to be had sticking with their progenitor. The dragonling and its hidden friend nod and them scamper.

In the next hall, we find a cafeteria full of azer, and Glory rolls a natural 20 roaring that they should surrender. Maeve and Sorianna attempt to back him up with limited success, only for Alain to come in and start stabbing. Sorianna follows that with a Shatter spell.

And even so- with a second impassioned bellow, they start throwing down weapons and leaving. The rest of the gang lets them go, and while we can't be sure if they're telling others to stay or go, but the effort was made to spare those we didn't have to kill.

A quick exploration later, we've found the mage's room and quickly tossed it, and a door flanked by dragon statues with a volcano symbol. We take a breather, kick in the door to a smithy full of lava- and that's where we end for the night!

-she lied, lyingly. Our one guy got back on and so we'll get a few rounds in. This smithy is full of an active ritual intended to ascend the dragon to godhood- there's a giant statue of a humanoid dragon, treasures that are being sacrificed on the giant anvil, and according to what we know there has to be humanoid sacrifice going on elsewhere in this complex.

Sorianna casts Shatter on the statue, whose ankles fall apart and whose body falls such that it creates a bridge over the lava for us to walk on. The actual dragon lounging in the corner says 'Go away' and bathes the enTIRE ROOM IN FIRE NO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW FUCKING BIG THAT CONE WAS. HOLY SHIT.

Some hasty retroactive fire protection potions keep Sorianna from dying instantly. Maeve knocks over the table full of treasures in order to goad the dragon into leaving his cozy little island and getting where we can hurt him. This is suitably dramatic and Inspiring, as in, we all get Inspiration points from witnessing it. Glory gets into the room, flapping above it all, and shouts at Hoornmdargh in Draconic to the effect that he's lazy and useless and Glory can fly rings around him.

Alain teleports himself next to the dragon. This is sure to go well. Ker-stab, and hopefully not instant squash. He gets tail-slapped into the air above the lava, and thankfully has some floaty magic going on. Meanwhile, three elementals are attacking Trinidad from *out* of the lava, and great googly moogly I swear things are about to go to shit.

[9mothsinspace]

Fun fact: I'm a dragonlance fan in second generation, which is why my second name is based on Tanis.

Which is

Great! Dragonlance name, yeih.

Oh come on, why did it have to be Tanis?

[ophexis]

After days of travel, you finally arrive at the small town of Royal Mount, so named after the sacred hill resting at its center. Your contact asked you to meet them at the local inn, where they would impart delicious culinary secrets upon you.

You quickly notice a sign advertising a place called Tym Hort's inn. This must be the place. As you enter, a hooded figure wearing a strange billed hat waves at you. They lower their hood as you approach, looking up through shining glasses. "Greetings my friend! You may call me Phex. I believe you are here to discuss a most delicious topic, are you not?"

You find nothing odd about them, save for your inability to settle on any pronoun to refer to them. They regard you with an amused look despite their clear sleep deprivation and as they invite you to sit, they open a large grimoire, surely full of secrets each more delicious than the last...

The first dnd cookbook! Winner of the last poll!

This is a book I hadn't planned on getting initially. I watched misohungrie's review, and it seemed like a really nice book, but despite the fact that I've played in a few campaigns using dnd, I've never actually played in the Forgotten Realms settings (or any other of their settings) and always in homebrews. So I wasn't that yet interested in the lore or references.

And then I played Baldur's Gate 3.

So I now have this book, and it's one of my favorites of my collection lmao. I haven't gotten the second book yet but I intend to eventually!

The book separates its recipes by "cultures", basically most of the basic playable races in dnd. Uncommon has a mix of stuff, from dragonborn, gnomes, tieflings. And then drinks have their own chapter. Between each chapter there's also a nice menu reproduction for various inns, which I love.

I'm only really familiar with forgotten realms now that I've consumed the entire wiki for Baldur's Gate purposes and finetuning my oc's backstories lmao but there are references to many others, like Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Ravenloft and a few more. My good friends, who are much more powerful nerds than I am, gave me a brief summary of all of them so that was also pretty cool. There's also at least one obligatory Drizzt reference, which I have to mention bc I'm about to get into that shit to indulge in the drow obsession I could never have in high school.

ANYWAY.

The recipes are varied, and there are a LOT in there that interest me ngl. I've already cooked two! I've made Dwarven Flatbread (easy and delicious!) and Halfling Chili which I believe I've posted about before. It is also very delicious (I remade this week! I didn't post about it bc I'm supposed to be cooking something new lmao). It uses cocoa powder and cinnamon amongst others in the spices. And delicious bacon.

Human recipes have variety, are pretty hearthy and generally go for a "comforting" vibe, I would say. They go from hand pies to seafood bouillabaisse or ribs to candied apples! Very fun chapter.

The Elven chapter unsurprisingly has a lot of light recipes, a ton of veggies, with some seafood! But for the most part it's a lotta veggies and fruits, and the one drow recipe, mushroom steak!

The Dwarven chapter, by contrast, has a lot of meaty recipes. You've got potatoes, sausages, beer, bread, rich desserts. (kinda my favorite chapter I think lmao)

The Halfling chapter is all about hearthy, homely(?) recipes that can be shared with many people, and many soups. This one is also very good.

Uncommon cuisine has a wide range of recipes. This is the chapter that has the halfling chili. Because normally it's made of...well you know. But you can make it with turkey, if you're not a dragonborn of very specific taste.

And finally the drinks are about half and half alcoholic and not, which I think is nice as someone who doesn't drink. It also has the second drow "recipe" which is like a mushroom "tea" (or like a stew?).

Now, there is one major problem with this book.

So many recipe photos missing!! So many!!

And it's particularely frustrating for this book because sometimes a page will have an environmental photo of like trees or whatever. But why not put food photo there instead?? Bummer.

This is a pretty village and all but do I really need it? I don't think so lmao.

Now after agonising over the meal choice (and over my mental health) for the last 10 weeks, I finally decided to make the Vedbread, a cheesy, mushroomy bread roll that sounds delicious. I just gotta go out and buy some shiitake mushrooms soon. Misohungrie happens to have made that one too (kinda the reason I chose it lmao it looks delicious) so you should check out his video too if you're interested in the book! He's also kinda the reason I bought the book in the first place, and he brings up the weird photo issue too.

Overall I really like this book, because I like ordinary daily life lore and you get a pretty good amount in that one, on top of having delicious recipes to try out. The recipes aren't super crazy in terms of trying to make them weird or unique, but they all seem pretty solid. They all have a little flavor/lore blurb before every recipe, and it's fun to get some tidbits like "tieflings love spicy food" or whatever yknow lol.

My tab crashed and I can't remember what I was following up with, but I wish y'all success in your culinary adventures and campaigns! I'll make a post for the vedbread when I get around to making it!

[curiouselleth]

Would you do 1, 9, and 11 for the fanfic author ask game, please?

Sure, thanks for the ask @general-illyrin!

What's your favorite trope to write?

Maybe crossover? I have myRaistlin is Eru fic idea, Last Trial musical (dragonlance), and Silmarillion crossover, and then there's my personal writing white whale that I've been chasing for like 2 years, and in the long term it would hit everyyyy fandom I like or want lol. Focused on the Silmarillion and Tolkien.

9. Biggest pet peeve when writing?

Hm it's pretty frustrating when I know what I need to write, and I want to, but not how to write it. Like; character A needs to get from the docks to meet with character b. Very short, barely need a few sentences... and I've been sitting on it for like 2 hours. In hindsight I should've taken a break and moved on to what happens after... oops lol

11. Do you prefer writing angst, crack, or fluff?

Angst with crack coming in very close for second place, because I think half of my ideas are angsty crack treated seriously 😂 (see: my Raistlin is Eru idea and my Elured is Gil-galad fic, Veil of Starlight, which has now hit almost 7.5k words)

[erdarielthewhumper]

Related to this post, since y'all asked (@sweetwhumpandhellacomf @autophagay @whump-queen) and i don't feel like answering each of you separately; I was talking about the Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (mainly the first book of the trilogy, The Time of the Twins)

Allow me to quickly introduce the central characters of the story :D

First of all, we have the dark mage Raistlin Majere, who has a very bad case of being an edgy D&D pc. He plans to enter the Abyss to destroy Takhisis, the goddess of evil, and ascend into godhood in her stead, and is willing to do anything to achieve that goal, no matter the cost to other people or the world or even to himself. But to gain sufficient power to challenge Takhisis he needs to get his hands on spellbooks written by an ancient dark mage that were destroyed in the Cataclysm over three hundred years ago. And opening the gates of the Abyss may only be done by a black-robed mage of evil and a cleric of Paladine, the god of good, working together - this supposedly impossible condition having been devised long ago to protect the world from the devastating consequences of doing so.

Then we have Crysania of Tarinius; cold, strong-willed, and proud, but somewhat naive, she grew up as the sheltered daughter of a noble family, but traded riches and title for a life of a priestess, a Revered Daughter of Paladine. She is one of the true clerics who have been granted the ability to use divine magic. When Paladine sends her in a dream a warning of Raistlin's evil plans, she goes to confront him, and comes to believe that Raistlin can be redeemed and brought back to the light. Which is exactly what she sets out to attempt.

Then there's Caramon Majere, Raistlin's twin brother. Where Raistlin's power is in his intelligence and his skill with magic, Caramon's is in the strength of his body and his skill with a sword. Where Raistlin, as a child, was ostracized and bullied, Caramon was the popular one. And Caramon is endlessly loyal to Raistlin, and at least half his sense of self is built on being Raistlin's brother, and he wants nothing more than to have the Raistlin he used to know (or thinks he used to know) back. In the past two years, Caramon has tried settling down to live an ordinary life with his wife, but it hasn't really worked out for him.

And then there's also Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Raistlin and Caramon's former adventuring companion, of the "cheerful and well-meaning but doesn't usually think things through, has cleptomaniac tendencies, and is very good at getting himself into trouble and getting into places he definitely wasn't supposed to go" flavor of rogue. (He's a more static character than the three i mentioned above, but he's around so much that I feel I had to mention him by name.) Plus of course there's a number of various side characters.

In the first book of the Legends trilogy, "The Time of the Twins", Raistlin journeys back in time to find the lost spellbooks he needs, and other mages, in an attempt to stop him, send Crysania and Caramon back in time, to the city of Istar ruled by the priests of Paladine, to a time just before the disastrous Cataclysm that will wipe the city off the map. And Tas tags along with the two, despite really not being supposed to.

In the name of fairness, though, I do need to warn you that this is american high fantasy written in the 80s. Which means that it contains to varying degrees a number of the problematic and iffy tropes that are unfortunately typical to the genre and the time period. Crysania is... almost surprisingly well-written and complex, for a female character in 80s fantasy, and generally speaking I find her an interesting character, but she does still get a few misogynistic tropes sent her way and is nearly raped (only nearly, it doesn't actually happen, but if it's a particularly squicky topic for you, you might wanna tread carefully there) at one point in the second book. Plus then you have the "certain sentient races are fundamentally evil and/or stupid while others are neutral and elves for the most part tend towards good but are snobby assholes about it" trope which is always a bit questionable, and some other nonsense like that. I would say that for the most part the iffy stuff is either "that aged poorly/is a product of its time" or "the authors have some probably unconscious biases/didn't think the implications of this thing through" etc. rather than the result of active and malicious bigotry, and personally i approach these things mostly with the attitude of "there's no such thing as a morally pure book anyway and fantasy as a genre has traditionally had a huge problem with racist/sexist/homophobic/in some other way bigoted tropes so it's better to just try and be conscious about those while reading than swear off reading any over 10 years old fantasy books altogether", but your tolerance for these things may vary and it's up to you.

The amount of physical injury whump in the books is relatively limited (although if you're into magically-induced... i dunno, chronic illness, for lack of a better word, you're in for a treat with Raistlin), but the amount of angst, and the amount of manipulative and fucked up character dynamics are fun, and there's the occasional case where someone gets hurt physically as well. But do also keep in mind that healing magic is a Thing in the setting and Crysania is a cleric, and adjust your expectations accordingly (although near the end of the second book Caramon does get hurt a little bit at a point where Crysania has her hands full of other stuff and he ends up spending like half of his appearance in the third book limping around bc of that, so that was fun)

I'd also say that out of the three main characters, the one whose story the books are most concerned with telling is Caramon. (The Russian musical adaptation shifts the focus around more to Raistlin.) Like all of them are important and get time devoted to their perspectives and their stories, but ultimately I think the question the books are the most concerned with answering is whether Caramon is able to find his own legs to stand on and his own path to walk, whether he's able to find something better to build his identity on than being Raistlin's brother.

Also, the Legends trilogy technically is a sequel to Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning). Raist, Caramon, and Tas were all central characters in the Chronicles as well, and you'll also meet some other characters who were introduced in Chronicles, and there will be references to events that took place in that trilogy. Don't stress about it too much, I guarantee you that the Legends trilogy stands perfectly well on its own as a story even if you haven't read the Chronicles, I haven't read the Chronicles either (or, I started it, but never got further than the first book bc the pacing was sorta awkward and it wasn't very good at obfuscating the game mechanics so there were places where it was painfully clear that something was a game mechanic or that some moment was a dice roll with a certain result, and I just found it pretty distracting. The Legends is a lot better about it, idk if that's because it's not directly based on a playable commercial campaign or because the authors had just gotten better since starting Chronicles or what)