#Oath of Flagellation

[greyeisacreativecolor]

I'm playing in a halloween oneshot this year, and decided to use my Artificer homebrew to play a frankensteins monster with a couple of flesh golems of his own! If you too want to play a horror body builder in 5e this spooky season then you can buy Dark&Dower for as little as $1!

https://ko-fi.com/greyeisacreativecolor

[the-batacombs]

Kay, I finally found a copy of Batman: The Wedding to read, so now I've read most of the whole little arc and it's. It's weird. It put a lot more pieces into place for me that I hadn't put together by fandom osmosis, which helped a lot, and I think I kind of understand the shape of the story that Tom King was trying to tell.

The thing that's really getting me is the fact that it really implies this like...deterministic Selina Kyle in opposition to a free will Bruce Wayne? She (and the narrative) build up this idea that Batman follows from suffering, and she makes her decisions accordingly. But in the last couple pages Bruce and Alfred's conversation suggests that Bruce has just been doing his best to find happiness this whole time.

The whole thing can have been engineered by Bane (confirming that Batman does not, in fact, follow from suffering) without eliminating the concern that Selina really thinks (a) Bruce is just that selfish and (b) Bruce is incapable of changing his behaviors.

So it's just...nothing? She leaves him at the altar just because she won't communicate with him and there's no further communication and he immediately falls into a guilt-sadness spiral? (And then Dick gets shot--)

It's weird. I think it would be a very good basis to move his and Selina's relationship out of the on-and-off primary love interest stage into the vaguely-amiable-exes stage (DC won't do it, but I can dream), but the primary implication here seems to be that Selina just really wasn't ready to get married, and consequently she blew up their relationship.

[kwillow]

I have this strong feeling that theo would be very happy to live in one of my oc's nations. (Hes a minotaur prince of a country that religiously collects any and ALL forms of knowledge cause they believe knowledge no matter what about or how you got it, is not evil also they do necromancy) Unless theo likes to lie in which case just dont do it infront of the crown prince and he'll be golden. The prince tends to skin people alive for lying to him u.u

Theo's a man of ethics, you know. He's taken a Hypocritic Oath.

Alas, I worry Theo might not be as at home in such a nation as one might think, despite his, erm, hobbies.

His studies into necromancy/blood magic are done out of a sense of filial duty, and as a rather fussy man with a prudish personality, he finds the hands-on application of it quite revolting and something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Additionally, Theo may be a nerd who loves books and dark magic and books about dark magic, but he is also a proud scion and adherent of an archaic aristocratic line. As such, he comes packaged with some rather staid, traditionalist values and the belief that most people are inherently his lesser. His few social experiences haven't dissuaded him from the opinion that the vast majority of people are some combination of brutish, stupid, and dissolute.

All that to say - he believes that he himself has the proper motivations, intellect and capacity for self-control (ha) to practice responsible crimes against nature, but would he say the same of wide swathes of society? Certainly not! A kingdom wherein necromancy is widespread and celebrated would naturally have too many lowly people who should never practice such a gruesome, potent art doing so, and that means the kingdom itself must be corrupt.

He would view the collection of dubiously-attained knowledge similarly. He would certainly like to partake in such knowledge, because he is a noble man of good breeding and fine manners who can understand and apply such knowledge with a gentleman's delicate touch. As a curiosity, and out of an appreciation for historical artifacts, he would like ancient tomes of evil work preserved, but not accessible to the unwashed masses who would sully them or use them for ill. Better to remain in a private library, read only by those who engage in appropriate self-flagellation after. Who decides what to preserve and which people should get access to it? Well, himself, of course! He wouldn't trust any other curator's judgment. Another strike, in his view, against a kingdom with a laissez-faire approach to science.

Also, while he values (often brutal) honesty and is certainly not a consummate confabulator of the caliber of Hyden or Ambroys, Theo will use deception to achieve his own ends. Just... not often very well. He's not exactly rocking a Charisma build. He also tends to chafe against male authority figures, especially if they threaten any consequences of his actions. It might end badly for him on the "skinning alive" front.

Anyway - I wouldn't stamp Theo's visa to the minotaur prince's kingdom, for everyone's sake. Best case scenario, he rudely complains about everyone there being debased reprobates the whole time and everyone is extremely uncomfortable. Worst case scenario, I've got one dead rat-sans-pelt and the city's libraries have been ransacked by a man who feels like common people are too dumb and immoral to read medical textbooks and the Kama Sutra alike.

[balrogballs]

Hi I love your South Asia AU so much, and this is probably a stupid question, that’s why I’m asking on ANON. You mention a few times that Maedhros practices the “ratheeb” and could you mention what it is? I tried to Google, I promise, but there were many different results.

Absolutely not a stupid question, it’s an incredibly niche regional practice in the area my parents are from, and I’ll definitely be explaining it in the chapter in which it’s performed, because it’s very unlikely people outside said region are aware of it.

So ratheeb is short for kuthu ratheeb (ratheeb being a generic word hence your Google results). It’s a self flagellation ritual specific to a tiny subset of Muslims in Northern Kerala, where men go into a trance state and slash at themselves to the rhythm of devotional songs. It’s technically a religious practice but is also performed by non-religious people (for example, Maedhros in this AU) and these days it’s more very painful folk art and performance than anything.

In the story, it’s essentially an allusion towards the Oath, and imo the ritual when performed by non religious people just screams Maedhros to me in general — beating yourself up for a thing you no longer believe in. And in the context of my AU — one look at a ratheeb performance will tell you exactly why the papers called Maedhros what they did.

Might actually help to see it because it’s hard to explain haha, so here’s a YouTube link to a video of the practice (as depicted in a film) — not graphic but TW for blood and obviously self flagellation.

[missveryvery]

So last night in Baldur's Gate 3, I became an "oathbreaker" and you might wonder what I, a perpetually guilt-ridden, bleeding heart, overly-sensitive dweeb must have done with my paladin to break my oath. Here's two examples of things that can get you into oathbreaker territory:

What did I do that's as bad as murdering a TINY GIRL who is a RACIALLY OPPRESSED REFUGEE?

Killing a guy who tortures people!

These are the same??!??

Killing this hot topic party city flagellant baby's-first-toxic-dom embarrassing motherfucker got my god tsking at me?!??! What????

[aesolerin]

Did you ever hear about that digital presentation/lecture one of the Red Hook fellas gave on how they put together the game visually and inspirationally? (Fun Fact: Jester turned out the way he did because Bourassa hates the DnD Bard stereotype, lol) I'm mentioning this in particular because he went over Leper as an example in terms of symbolism incorporated into his design

(which, side tangent to that: Leper's blocky and metallic aesthetic was inspired by Iron Man! the more you know, lol)

This was put out onto YouTube before Red Hook made it fully clear DD2 was gonna be a thing, which made it all the more notable when people later realized that one of the pictures used on that slide was of Leper's DD2 character design. So, everything he was talking about here was likely with Leper's canon DD2 backstory in mind. This is important because:

One of the points Bourassa mentioned was the fact that Leper has a "broken sword for a broken man".

That by itself is already brutally sad, but rest assured! It gets worse if you think about it long enough. After all, do you remember when that happened in his backstory? If not, lemme stop being coy for a moment to help you in drawing some conclusions:

The Leper's sword broke in killing off his advisors.

It wasn't the diagnosis that got to him. Neither was it leaving his kingdom behind. It was in breaking the oath he made to himself that he would protect everyone in his kingdom. Because, treacherous or not, his advisors were still part of his kingdom. It was only a small handful of people, sure. And yes, it's true that they couldn't be trusted to take actions in good faith once he was gone. And it likely was the right thing to do, at the end of the day.

But justifications don't erase the stark truth that he murdered his own subjects in cold blood.

And THAT shattered him (and his sword) more than a simple diagnosis or self-exile ever could.

Because, the thing is: someone can believe that their actions were objectively the best possible option and justifiable, while considering those same actions subjectively horrifying and unforgivable. After all, murder is still murder no matter the motivation, and some folks deeply take that to heart.

~~~~~~

Of course, this is only true if I remembered that presentation correctly, as I haven't tried to look it up to verify it, lol. You got any thoughts on it, yourself? Assuming you hadn't already realized that on some level, of course - for all I know, you could have drawn this conclusion a long time ago and never brought it up because you thought it was obvious! xD

Or, on the other side of it, there's no reason you should feel the need to change how you characterize our fave Leper buddy, y'know? Though, imo, it's not particularly contradictory to how we normally characterize him. This is just another angle you could look at him from if you wanted to in your writing, shippy or otherwise!

(Though speaking of shipping: this creates another interesting level to think about Leper's dynamic with Jester, no?)

(Maybe Jester needs to get his king to forgive himself by comparing their past actions. If Baldwin finds nothing wrong with what Sarmenti did, which was spurred on by a much more selfish - if entirely sympathetic - motivation, why should Baldwin go about putting his own actions on a pedestal of guilt? Unless he's implying that he's supposed to be morally better than Jester, which I'm p sure both of them would hate to draw as a conclusion.)

(Or maybe Leper sees it as another way they can understand each other that others may not grasp. That while they may be stained by their past actions, it doesn't make the two of them inherently unlovable or deserving of suffering. It's a burden they can help each other bear due to their own personal experience with it.)

(Or maybe Jester is tired of all this masturbatory self-flagellating fuckery and would much rather he and Leper get down to something a bit more literal in its sexual nature. Wouldn't put it past the Silly fella)

thank you much for providing that link to the video! which i will in turn provide in full, because it is a very fun and thought-provoking talk overall, not just the Leper stuff!!

(and, as someone who's played lots of bards, ☹ [but i will point out i've never played one of those horny bards at least])

i do very much agree that retaliating and killing his traitorous advisors was a huge turning point for Leper, and a source of at least some degree of internal conflict for him.

was it a moment of freedom and liberation, finally justified in doing something about those poison-tongued sycophants?

was it a moment of horror and regret, killing treasonous-but-still-subjects of his?

was it a moment of resignation and cold calculation, defending himself against attackers seeking to kill him?

was it a moment of inevitability and hollowness, knowing something of this magnitude was bound to happen after his diagnosis?

some bits of all four? fluctuating day-by-day, nightmare-by-nightmare?

as Bourassa said, a broken sword for a broken man. no matter the literal golden facade he puts up, Leper is still a broken man looking for something as he battles the horrors of the Hamlet/the world. at least this is an unexpected connection he shares with Jester, right?

i will admit it's not something i've commented much on in my fics, as Jester's trauma is just so much more, but i certainly have thoughts!

way back in my first DD fic, Dreams, Jester notes that royal blood on their hands is something they share, and Leper smiles as he says “Hence the beauty I see in your bloody finale. Such cruelty and abuse should be responded to in kind."

in Bow, something about the assassination attempt seems to have severely fucked up the Veiled Emperor's sense of trust.

believe me friend, when it is finally revealed, i am going to have so much fun 😊

these are some wonderful(ly painful) thoughts you've shared, and again thank you for putting this talk on my radar!!

[longwindedbore]

What fresh (Catholic) Hell has the oblivious or brain-dead (Protestant) Evangelical leadership cabal delivered themselves and the rest of us into?

I ask as an ex-Catholic - are you punch-drunk fools aware that you have engineered the take over of the Supreme Court by Opus Dei, a secretive world-wide Catholic organization?

Apparently you thought you were using the Catholic Church to increase YOUR political power.

Maybe you Evangelicals should re-evaluate who used who.

YOUR local pro-White Evangelical Patriarchy State GOP politicians are bankrupt and facing being swept from office in a tidal wave backlash that has already begun.

Trump GAVE Opus Dei a majority on SCOTUS potentially for decades. While you and Faux News watched.

It’s one thing to co-opt the “Catholic issue” of abortion to use it for the White Christian Nationalist & Patriarchal code language “secret” goal of “overturning Affirmative Action and getting women and minorities out of the White man’s workplace.” That’s political. Ugly. But political.

But doesn’t it defeat all your plans to hand the supreme court over judges indebted - in all senses of the word - to Opus Dei, an organization that reports directly to, and only to, the Pope in Rome?

As an ex-Catholic I see that we now have six very very alt-right to fanatical lunatic fringe of Catholicism Supreme Court Justices: Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett. It terrifies me. But you’re OK with it?

These aren’t the Biden or Pelosi Catholics who will be excommunicated for fulfilling their oaths to the Public.

Three of the Catholic SCROTUS were nominated by your Evangelical “New Cyrus”, Trump. Then shoved through by McConnell and the GOP Senators elected by Evangelicals.

Opus Dei is a secular Catholic organization of economic elites operating worldwide.

Organized like SPECTRE (meeting in Rome) in the Bond movie of the same name.

Was used as the NAME of the sinister organization in “The DaVinci Code”.

Opus Dei has its origin and philosophy in the Spanish Fascist regime of Francisco Franco. Heir to the inquisition and Armada.

Currently the Pope is liberal and ecumenical. So unlikely to exploit SCOTUS other than try to persuade.

But the papal pendulum can swing in a heart beat followed by a puff of white smoke.

Also, the ‘explosive growth of new evangelical churches in Latin America’ you crow about results from ‘poaching’ members from the Catholic Church. The current Pope is, after all, South American. So not an admirer of Evangelicals.

What we’re you thinking? Assuming you thought.

Opus Dei doesn’t publish a list of members but influential secular Catholics, like Leonard Leo of the Heritage Foundation, have been instrumental in the nominations of five of the six current Judges. As well as many in lower benches.

[Opus Dei doesn’t publish a list of members for the same reasons that are typically expressed by the KKK and the marching virgins of the Patriotic Front.]

Trumped effed us all on this one by handing over control of the Court - at best - to a fringe group of devotees. Or - at worst - to an international theocratic cabal.

Maybe he did so because, like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea, the Vatican City micro-county does not have an extradition treaty with the US?

In any event nothing good has ever come from the far far far right of the Catholic spectrum. Devotees who are, still today, big fans of hair shirts, daily attendance at mass, self-flagellation, and sleeping on wood boards.

Hoping all you Evangelicals know the properly tonal response to “Dóminus vobíscum”

[vaultsixtynine]

loosely referring to younger ana's paladin situation as an oath of blood . flagellant paladin assassin to dubiously badly-coping traumatized freak monk who wants to stop unwillingly envisioning playing around in her friend's organs for fun pipeline

[ofstarsandskies]

ToZ AU -- A Kresnik's Regrets

Looking at Victor, Ludger has a thought. He knows he won't get an answer, but he'll give it a try.

'Victor, do you ever regret your Oath?'

"Of course not," Victor's "you're an absolute moron" stare's in full swing, yet he actually humors his question. "Giving up my eye's functionality was a calculated move; I trained to rely on one eye long before I bothered selecting my Oath's witness," Ludger's just about to nod when Victor flips the script, "Why did you ask?"

'Just thought it was common to regret it. Nii-san and I both do quite a bit.'

"That's because you both rush into situations without considering the consequences," It sucks he's right in Ludger's case. But really, his brother as well...? It's hard to imagine... "Though whatever your faults, there's no point in using hindsight to self-flagellate. What matters is you both still function as Kresniks; keep to your duties and leave the unnecessary thoughts behind before you create malevolence in yourself."

...Did Victor just console him? He... no, if he comments, Victor'll take it back. Just nod and accept it!

'Thank you, Victor. I'll try.'

[alittlelillian]

You are my punishment for the crime of existing.

You are my blade, my pills, my rope, my rubber band.

Inflicted on me to remind me of the oath I’d made, my unbroken promise.

My vow to never give up on people.

An unholy faith, humility at its core. Self flagellation in the name of compassion.

So even for you, someone so cruel, so complacent, so undeserving

I give myself up, my body, my heart, my mind.

Surely with time, when there is nothing left for you to destroy

When my nerves are frayed, my bones crushed, my muscles torn to shreds.

Surely then I will have paid my dues.

[krokagator]

Weirdly enough, I really like the cleric idea, but as a subclass for a paladin maybe? Because pallies are all about that self-sacrifice for the good of all stuff, so something like an “Oath Of the Blood” might work really well, where you can sacrifice your own hp to heal others.

Maybe instead of a channel effect at 3rd level you get the option to use your hp as part of your lay on hands hp pool? Or you can choose to take a d6 of damage when you channel, then add that damage as healing for those in your channel range? At 7th you could have an Aura of Blood, where you bolster your allies somehow, maybe give them damage reduction even? But enemies gets advantage against you or something, idk. I feel like the tenets would all be self-sacrifice or self flagellation based.

This also kinda makes me want to make a reaver based paladin, like reavers from dragon age, where you steal an enemies hp to heal yourself, and the less health you have the more damage you do, but that’s separate.

Some DnD Homebrew Rules to Fix Common Player Bugbears (Not Bugbear Player Characters, Which Are Perfect)

Brought to you by DMs who have had to concede with players that, yeah, that rule is dumb, let’s fix it.

“Natural 20′s on Initiative are a waste of a Crit″- A Nat20 on initiative gives the player one Hasted Action (to be used to Attack once, Dash, Disengage, Dodge or Use An Item) for the first Round of combat. Nat1′s on Initiative mean the player can use their Action or Bonus Action but not both, and loose their Reaction for the first Round of combat. 

“This Healing Potion cost me all my gold and it’s healed me for nothing.” - You can use a Healing Potion as an Action or a Bonus Action. If used as an Action you stop and concentrate on drinking it, and heal the max amount of HP. If used as a Bonus Action, you take a swig and hope it was enough, so you roll for the healing received as per usual rules.

“The Cleric has run out of Spell Slots and there is no healing Cantrip, we’re screwed and they feel useless” - Since Clerics are literal channels between their god and the world, I’ve given my Clerics an ability we called Divine Conduit - As an Action, you may cast Cure Wounds without a Spell Slot by sacrificing your own HP equivalent to 10xthe Spell Level you cast it at (10 HP for Lvl 1, 20 for Lvl 2 etc) as you literally burn yourself up by releasing more divine power than your body can take. 

“Why don’t cats have Darkvision?” - No clue. Cats have Darkvision now. 

Remember, if the rules as written aren’t working for you and your group, you can change them! 

[balrogballs]

Never say Balls doesn’t suffer for her art because I just sat through an hour-long phone call with my chattiest uncle who has asked me a good 300 questions about my life and what I had for lunch for the last two weeks, because he practices a certain folk/religious trance-flagellation ritual that I have written Maedhros to be a practitioner of in my Postcolonial!AU (as an allegory for the Oath) and I wanted to write an accurate portrayal of it 😭

(sorry for the definition being from some academic paper but there’s very little about it online because it’s a VERY niche regional practice and I only remember it because I’ve seen it done IRL)

yes i am indeed using my family consisting of an intermix of a good 4-5 religions for fic writing purposes

[vigilantejustice]

baby’s first day of jury duty! best wishes!

stupid baby’s first day of jury duty more like it! so silly to have like selective amnesia and experience anxiety like it’s the first time every time as if my life hasn’t been a series of anxieties that nearly never eventuate. just constantly being bitten alive before and during only to see after that it was fine and not at all the big deal it felt like it was going to be but then instead of acting like a being theoretically capable of higher order thinking and learning a lesson it’s like self-flagellative rendition of sisyphus and his rock.

tl;dr it was fine and in a move that is very on brand for me was worried for no good reason

[aesolerin]

okay, thoughts on DD-as-DnD races + classes now

if i wanted to go by Pure Canon everyone would be human but that's boring, so there's gonna be some variety!

Abomination/Bigby: Shifter Barbarian, specifically the Longtooth subspecies (which can make bonus action bite attacks when shifted) and Path Of The Beast subclass (which manifest a natural weapon when raging). there's some conflict with what to do as far as bonus action, but he's probably a fine combatant otherwise. it'd be cool if he and his DM homebrewed the ability to spit acid like the Acid Splash cantrip!

Antiquarian/Josephine: hmmm. she's tricky. half of her schtick is that she's a terrible combatant. maybe she's a Rogue that due to Roleplay(tm) runs off and hides at the first sign of a fight? she could be a Thief Rogue because their 13th level ability is being able to use any magic item regardless of it's requirements. and for reasons unknown even to me making her a Gnome (Rock subspecies) calls to me. she could also just be a Human 🤷

Arbalest/Missandei: Ranger, Hunter Conclave, ez. little bit of spellcasting for healing and Hunter's Mark and such. would it be Mean to make her a Tiefling for the 'family chased out by angry mob' backstory? making her a Harengon could also be fun

Bounty Hunter/Tardif: Way Of The Kensei Monk, actually. man punches things and does weird weapon shit. and since he's covered head-to-toe it's probably a bit of a mystery as to what he is. hence why it would be really funny if he was a Human punching and/or stabbing the shit out of oozes, mindflayers, and dragons.

Crusader/Reynauld: Paladin, duh. i'm torn between Oath Of The Crown or Oath Of Devotion. he's also definitely just a Human.

Flagellant/Damian: jfc where do i even start with this guy. the only class i can think of that hurts itself is the Blood Hunter, but it's technically homebrew so not every table is gonna allow it and i personally haven't looked into it much. a quick glance, and maybe he's a Profane Soul subclass that made a 'deal' with a Celestial? i could see him being Half-Orc for that Relentless Endurance feature (stay standing at 1 hp when reduced to 0 once a day)

Grave Robber/Audrey: Rogue, ez. a Scout could be interesting, even with the 'at home in the wilderness' flavor. and i want to make her a Tabaxi purely to make her a catgirl. you know it in your heart to be true that Audrey would be the best catgirl.

Hellion/Boudica: Barbarian, ez. i know she's not particularly religious but Path Of The Zealot is a compelling fit. it even has a bit of a Barbaric Yawp in there! and that lategame ability to not fully die until her rage ends pairs interestingly with her backstory. flavorwise she'd be a perfect Goliath.

Highwayman/Dismas: Fighter. or Rogue. well, Why Not Both? he could take a few levels of Fighter (probably just Champion subclass) to get the Two-Weapon fighting style, then go Rogue (maybe also Scout?) and stab and shoot things to his heart's content. an almost-Human-passing Tiefling could be fun.

Houndmaster/William: Ranger, Beast Master Conclave, ez. i can see him as a Human or maybe as a Half-Elf. William i love you but DnD-wise you are just so straightforward.

Jester/Sarmenti: Bard, ez. College Of Valor bcs he does like to stab things. i like the College Of Sword's use of Blade Flourishes and the ability to get a Fighting Style, but we can't forget that he also supports his party members so we like Valor using Bardic Inspiration on others. and he's definitely a Tiefling.

Leper/Baldwin: Paladin, Oath Of Redemption, Aasimar. 2 ez.

Man-At-Arms/Barristan: Fighter, Battle Master, ez. i kinda want to make him a Dwarf, probably the Hill subspecies.

Musketeer/Margaret: hmmm. she should probably be a Hunter Ranger like Missandei, but i feel a compulsion to make her a Fighter with the Archery Fighting Style and maybe the Arcane Archer subclass just to let her have her own identity. i could also see her as a Half-Elf or a High Elf.

Occultist/Alhazred: okay yes he is obviously a Warlock. but the two most obvious subclasses- Great Old One and The Fiend- have zero healing abilities. Celestial Warlocks get healing though! so do we go lore-accurate or ability-accurate? i personally would pick Celestial Warlock! make it a fucked up Celestial he made a deal with! not sure if i should make him a Human or a Drow

Plague Doctor/Paracelsus: Artificer, Alchemist, ez. i think it would be extremely funny if she was a Kenku underneath her mask and clothing

Shieldbreaker/Amani: okay i know it's weird, but i think a few levels of Draconic Sorcerer to pick up some acid damage stuff and a unique form of armor-without-armor could really fit her. but, hear me out, her primary class being College Of Swords Bard could really fit her dance-battler asethetic. would it be mean to make her a Yuan-ti (snake-flavored person)?

Vestal/Junia: Cleric, duh. but Life Cleric or Light Cleric? given that she's supposed to be the healer of the gang, i'd lean towards Life. strongly compelled to make her a Harengon. bnuuy. but just a Human or a Half-Elf is perfectly fine!

Runaway/Bonnie: so there's a Sorcerer subclass made in the Magic The Gathering collab called Pyromancy. and u know our favorite pyromaniac/pyrophobic gremlin is gonna set so much shit on fire. for some reason making her an Eladrin (season-flavored Elf) calls to me, but so does making her a Lightfoot Halfling.

Duelist/Sahar: hmmm. either a more aggressive/stabby Battle Master Fighter than Barristan with all her complicated stance shit, or maybe a Swashbuckler Rogue for her precise stabbings and fancy footwork. i'm drawn to making her some kind of Elf, or a Githyanki purely because of the way Lae'zel BG3 is.

if you read all of this nonsense i applaud you and offer you a cookie for your troubles and/or efforts 🍪

i think you mentioned playing dnd once or twice? can you please do dd characters as dnd players? anything that comes to your mind!

(oh my god i am so sorry i kept meaning to answer this then forgetting then remembering then forgetting in a torturous cycle of Shame 😭)

i'm in like 4 campaigns lmao i am perhaps a bit of a DnD freak

there are some specific Archetypes of DnD players, and thankfully i've got a solid enough group that i haven't encountered some of those kinds. here's my opinion for the DD characters as DnD Players!

this is nerd shit, zero interest, maybe they could get into it if you bribe them for the first few sessions: Boudica, Damian, Junia, Sahar

Big Number Go Brrr, min-maxer and/or looter to the extreme (and not often with an actual character): Tardif, Paracelsus, Josephine, Alhazred, Margaret

gets really into roleplaying/character (this can be a positive or a negative, sometimes both at the same time): Sarmenti, Reynauld, Dismas, Amani, Audrey, Barristan

Normal Person (not in too deep with the roleplay, not too crazy with the combat): Baldwin, William, Bigby, Missandei, Bonnie

Forever DM but really fucking good at it: Heir

[kendrene]

On the same morning they burn the corpse of her mother, Rhaenyra disappears. 

A search is called the second they realize this is no common mischief, not a usual escapade. The Kingsguard is dispatched to the four corners of the Keep and Viserys, deep in mourning, now also worry-stricken, leads the hunt himself. 

They do not find her.

“Have you any idea where she could have gone to?” 

“No. Father.” Alicent shakes her head, hands hidden under the table, fingers chewed to shreds by her own fear. “The Dragonpit, perhaps? Rhaenyra always—” 

“We’ve already looked!” Her father swiftly rounds the table and grabs both of her shoulders, squeezes tight. She’s wearing one of her mother’s old dresses, cut lower, more daring than she’s used to, and his calloused hands scrape her skin raw. “Think, child. She trusts you in everything. Where else could she be?” 

Alicent shakes her head again. She doesn’t know. Caught up in the preparation of her mother’s funeral, Rhaenyra has not talked to her much. Sometimes — and she immediately flagellates herself for the uncharitable thought — it feels Rhaenyra has been avoiding her. 

“I don’t—”

“She is the heir.” His mouth sours, his fingers dig to the point of bruising. “She can’t just vanish whenever she pleases. Not anymore.”

“She knows her duty, Father.” He lets her go, and Alicent fights down the urge to attack her own hands anew. “She wouldn’t.”

“No?” He chuckles dryly. “You told me about it yourself, once. How she spoke of taking her dragon across the Narrow Sea to look for adventure, and never return.”

Alicent’s ears go hot. Perhaps it is the room that grows too stifling. She had never meant to tattle to her father; it merely slipped out of her one day the princess had been particularly frustrating. Besides, Rhaenyra wouldn’t, not really. She wouldn’t just fly off. Leave her here all alone.

Would she?

“We were children, then.” She offers to try and defend the honor of her absent friend. “Besides, Syrax is still in the pit, is she not?”

“Yes.” Her father concedes, despondent.

“Well, then—”

A knock at the door cuts her off.

“My Lord.” Ser Criston, resplendent in his white tabard, steps inside the room. “My Lady.”

“Rhaenyra.” Alicent shoots to her feet. She shouldn’t speak before her father. She doesn’t care. “Has she been found?”

“No, my Lady.” Something flickers across Ser Criston’s gaze, gone before Alicent can put a name to it. “My Lord Hand, the King wishes to broaden the search to the city. He asks that you head one of the searching parties.”

“Of course.” Her father reaches for the pin, symbol of his office, that he’d set down on the table upon arrival. It glints weakly, wetly in the firelight “Tell King Viserys I will attend him presently.”

“Father—”

“Stay here until I return.” He orders, one foot already out the door. “I do not need you to run amok as well.” 

“Father, please.” Alicent can’t help it. Her one hand closes round the other, seeking for a hangnail, skin to break. She tugs at her thumb, the pain bright and grounding, and for once in his life her father relents. 

“I will find her, daughter.” His knuckles brush under her chin, soothing, then he draws her into his arms, a thing he has not done since she was barely tall enough to reach his hip. Sharp juxtaposition from mere moments ago. He's not touched her this way in nearly a decade — Alicent can scarcely remember the last time his hands have been on her without leaving a mark. The latest set bubbles to the surface of her skin, and will be purple-black come evening. “I swear that I will.”

She’s not sure it’s an oath he ought to be held true to.

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

Thank you sm! I love ur view of the Silm characters. As that is the case, any Maedhros headcanons?

no thank-yous necessary, it's really my pleasure! i'm just flattered that you feel so positively towards my interpretations :)

same format approach as before: tamer headcanons are above the cut and the grimmer/more graphic stuff is underneath.

he has pretty large age differences with most of his brothers, so his role tended much more towards the parental than the sibling-y.

at Valinor-era family functions, he was always designated caretaker for the younger crowd.

as a result, he found it a lot harder to make friends with his younger cousins because they tended to not really see him as a peer (he and Fingon originally got close because they both got the i-love-my-younger-siblings-but-sometimes-i-wish-i-were-an-only-child thing).

in fact, other than Fingon, most of his cousins don't really like him (authority figure, no fun, blah blah blah), which was kind of rough for Mae to deal with as a teenager.

he's the most into traditional scholarship out of all his siblings! pre-Beleriand, he was the kind of person who would write a dissertation for fun.

he originally wanted to go into academia or medicine, not politics.

he loves animals, though he's pretty quiet about it because it's kind of Celegorm's thing and Celegorm a. doesn't like sharing and b. it feels like intruding

he isn't charismatic or charming in a typical way. i think he's actually pretty shy and awkward! Maglor tries to coach him into being suave, but it never sticks. but he's funny (once you can get him past monosyllables,) and he's kind, and he's good-looking, which makes up for a lot in the eyes of Valinorean society

he starts putting a lot more effort into appearing "nice" and "approachable" post-Thangorodrim, because he has to counteract fear rather than extra attention based on how he looks.

he loves music and singing but isn't especially talented at it. he mostly just listens.

he adores children and wanted to have a family growing up

Nerdanel is his go-to parent for advice. he keeps consulting her in his head up to the end of his life.

post-Angband, he's almost completely blind in one eye and can't see in the dark from either one, due to parts of his eyes being removed as experiments and resulting infections. glasses don't help very much, but he wears them anyways in social situations to seem less intimidating.

he hoards food in secret for most of his adult life. he got so used to never having enough that he can never relax, even when resources are plentiful.

he feels responsible for his brothers swearing the Oath, as well as for their actions in pursuit of it, even the ones he had no part in. he's a relentless self-flagellator over almost anything bad that ever happens and will willingly take blame any time it's offered.

he makes health sacrifices in favor of trying to look "stronger" and provide more reassurance to his follower. he's always pushing past his physical limits (i.e. he almost never walks with a cane, he goes out on patrol more times than his soldiers, he purposely stays in rooms on upper floors so he has to climb stairs, etc.)

he honestly hopes he's going to the Void when he dies. he thinks he deserves it and it's what's best for the world, because he's obviously a cowardly, destructive, weak person and shouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.

the only promise he ever broke to Fingon was to not blame himself if Fingon died.

over the years in Beleriand, his relationships with his brothers gradually get worse and worse--they resent that he's kind of a broken record about everything being their fault, and he's afraid of hurting them by being too close.

anyways, i hope you liked these! feel free to share any of your own too! :)