#about roderick

[the-ventrue-futurist]

((Found some vintage pics of Roderick~

[druidcore]

mike flannagan essentially saying that greed and capitalism and the hunger for money (not borne out of a need for safety and contentment, but for power and the urge for more) is death to an artist. that poetry and truth and art cannot live in tandem with greed. that they are anathema to the duplicitous, treasonous and covetous nature of the wealthy and gluttonous.

[sunderwight]

Thinking about a bingqiu Dreamling AU where Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua are both bored deities, just sort of taking a brief sojourn through the mortal world to shoot the shit and see some interesting monster or other that Shen Yuan has heard about, when they come across a tea house and decide to take a break and do some people-watching instead.

Shen Yuan is well into something of a shut-in phase, which Shang Qinghua doesn't like, mostly because when Shen Yuan is in those phases he doesn't do particularly well either. Shen Yuan's a social butterfly, for however little he cares to actually acknowledge it about himself, and his critique of Shang Qinghua's literary masterpieces gets so much harsher when he's not getting enough enrichment.

So when they overhear one of the kitchen boys solemnly insisting that he is going to do everything in his power to never die, and Shen Yuan laments that the boy would probably regret such a wish if it came true, Shang Qinghua decides to bestow a rare bit of godly power onto this mortal and grant his wish.

He doesn't make him a god, of course, that wouldn't even be in his ability. At least, not without using up more time and effort than he's prepared to expend on this one random kid. But immortality on its own is not that difficult. The boy will still finish growing up, and will still be able to be harmed, to know hunger and pain and illness. It just won't ever kill him.

Shen Yuan sighs that it's a cruel thing to do to a mortal, especially one with such low odds of ever cultivating other skills to mitigate the potential torment of it all. But Shang Qinghua just shrugs and they place bets, that this boy will ask for the immortality to be revoked in a hundred years, or two hundred, or so on, or else he won't. Shen Qingqiu approaches the kitchen boy and flusters and bewilders him by telling him to meet him back here again in a hundred years time.

A hundred years later, the tea house is larger. The boy has grown to be a striking young man, who looks at Shen Yuan with wariness and something else, something almost like awe, as he asks what manner of creature he's made this bargain with. Shen Yuan assures him that he has no nefarious intentions, and instead asks Luo Binghe how the past century of his life has gone.

Horribly, at least at first. Binghe's mother had already died by the time they met, but afterwards he managed to earn enough money to travel to a nearby sect. Working in the tea house's kitchen was just a minor stopover along the way. Shen Yuan was wrong, it seems, about his odds of becoming a cultivator -- Luo Binghe earned entry as a disciple.

Yet, he had no success. The master who took him on was unaccountably cruel and mercurial, and Luo Binghe's attempts to cultivate failed. Looking back he sees now that there were many times when he should have died but didn't, but when it was all happening he just thought himself lucky. At least until an enemy sect attacked a cultivation conference, and he suffered mortal wounds that absolutely should have killed him (or anyone) but still didn't die. (No demon race or abyss in this AU, but there are still demonic and fantastical creatures.)

His cruel master, upon witnessing this, accused him of heretical practices and tried to kill him as well by flinging him off the edge of a gorge. The fall was terrible. Binghe lay at the bottom in a horrifying state, injured beyond reason and yet, still, he didn't die. Eventually his body recovered enough for him to drag himself out, and once he did the only thing on his mind was getting revenge. For the next several decades he managed to ingratiate himself to all manner of potential allies, forging alliances, accumulating blackmail, and convincing people that he had to be some powerful cultivator through his supernatural resilience, lack of visible aging, and a lot of bluffing. He got revenge on his old teacher, drove his first sect into ruin, and rose to prominence as a feared and respected leader of the cultivation world.

Shen Yuan listens with clear interest, asking plenty of questions and seemingly quite taken up with the story. At the conclusion, Luo Binghe admits that his actual cultivation is still mostly a matter of smoke and mirrors, and wonders if -- now that the hundred years have passed -- Shen Yuan means to strip his immortality from him.

Shen Yuan asks if Luo Binghe wants that. When Luo Binghe says no, he accepts the answer, and tells him to meet him back here again in another hundred years. Luo Binghe calls after him, but before he can ask anything more, Shen Yuan has disappeared again.

A hundred years later, Binghe arrives back at the tea house with an entourage befitting of an emperor. The tea house has also expanded. Luo Binghe orders a lavish feast from them, which everyone hastens to provide. He's spent the past several decades consolidating his power, forging alliances with key political players via several marriages, producing heirs, and crushing his enemies. As he brags about the state of his massive harem to Shen Yuan, the deity's eyes begin to glaze over. He doesn't seem impressed. He also doesn't seem to care much for the food, and eventually his attention is stolen away by a conversation at another table. The diners are discussing the exploits of a promising new poet and novelist. Try as he might, Luo Binghe fails to regain Shen Yuan's attention before the evening is done. Shen Yuan doesn't think it's a big deal -- after all, if Binghe is still riding on top of the world, he's probably not going to want his immortality gift revoked just yet!

Another hundred years go by. The tea house has returned to a more modest situation, the next time Shen Yuan sets foot in it. He waits an unusually long while for his guest to arrive, and when he does, he's almost stopped at the door by the tea house's servers. It's only when Shen Yuan bids them let him through that Luo Binghe is able to come to the table, almost collapsing against it and desperately falling onto the arrangement of snacks with obvious hunger.

Shen Yuan wonders if this, now, will be when the boy (no longer a boy) asks for the immortality to be revoked. Surprisingly, he finds himself resistant to the idea, even though it's also clear that the game has run too long. Maybe hundred year check-ins were too short? He doesn't like the implications of what's gone on, even if he's not really surprised about it either.

Between desperate mouthfuls of food, Luo Binghe explains that without mastering inedia, going hungry but never dying is a deeply unpleasant experience. Shen Yuan orders more food. Once Binghe has finally eaten his fill, he begins, haltingly, to explain his situation. His clothes are ragged, he is painfully thin, and his gaze is haunted.

Apparently, several of his wives conspired to assassinate him, despite his reputation as unkillable. Realizing that most poisons and such didn't kill him, but that he could still be incapacitated, they hatched a scheme to dose his food with a powerful sleeping agent, and then walled him up in a famous ancestral tomb. They went to great length to ensure that it was impossible to escape from. It took Binghe decades to do it anyway, digging away at the floors, and when he got out he found that his power base had collapsed. In-fighting and the incursion of his enemies had led to the deaths of all of his children, and what wives had survived had either fled or remarried. Not that he particularly wanted them back at that point, since the ones actually most loyal to him had also been killed early on after his own "death". His face marked him, to the eyes of his enemy, as a surviving descendant of himself. He was hunted down, chased across the continent and back again, until he managed to fall into enough obscurity that his pursuers abandoned the chase. Except that he has nothing, and any time he tries to regain something, he runs the risk of being hounded again. Those who might see some potential in him still remember the collapse of his recent "dynasty" and slam doors in his face, or else try and turn him over to those now in power in pursuit of a reward. Those who don't know that much see only a dirty beggar, and usually run him off on that basis instead.

Shen Yuan, almost hesitant, asks if Luo Binghe would like to have his immortality revoked.

Luo Binghe declines. How will he be able to take revenge on those who wronged him if he is dead? He has a hit list a mile long by now.

Which is definitely not the most noble of reasons to persist, but Shen Yuan finds himself reluctant to ask twice. Instead he orders more food, and then even reserves one of the traveler's rooms above the tea house for several days. By then the sky is turning grey, and Luo Binghe is losing his apparent battle with exhaustion. Shen Yuan presses the key into his hand, thinking it's probably not enough, but there are limits to how much gods are supposed to interfere and Shang Qinghua already stretched them to the breaking point with this entire scenario.

He leaves, not seeing the hand that reaches after him just before he is out of the door and gone.

Another hundred years pass. This time, Shen Yuan arrives to find Luo Binghe already waiting for him. He isn't surprised to see that Binghe's situation has visibly improved -- maybe he was keeping closer tabs on him, just a little bit, for this past while. If only to be sure he wouldn't have to warn the tea house workers to expect an unorthodox visitor again! But no, Binghe has been doing well enough for himself. No more harems or thrones, though. He dresses more like a well-off merchant now, deliberately posing as his own mortal descendant rather than as a great immortal cultivator. The food at the table looks far more delicious than usual too (Binghe commandeered the tea house's kitchen himself this time). As they chat, Shen Yuan is regaled with the exploits of Luo Binghe's travels and adventures, how even though he initially set out to claim revenge on those who overthrew him, by the time he was in a position to actually do so they had already died of the usual causes (time, illness, their own schemes backfiring, etc). Subsequently, only their children and grandchildren were left with the scraps of power they had obtained, and when one of those children employed Luo Binghe as a bodyguard, his initial plan to assassinate them eventually fell by the wayside. After all, the wrongdoings weren't actually theirs. From that point, Binghe was able to restore himself to a more comfortable life, joining his new employer on their travels until he had set aside enough earnings to take his leave before his youthful good-looks earned him suspicion. He then began investing in travel and trade, specifically cargo ships, because never spending too long in the same place or around the same people helped disguise his immortality. He had found that, at least for now, this served him better than playing the part of a cultivator. It also gave him time to try and actually repair his ruined cultivation base somewhat, and fighting pirates proved very diverting.

Binghe is midway through recounting his adventures with a gigantic sea monster, while Shen Yuan hangs on every word, when they're interrupted by the arrival of a brash young mistress, clearly wealthy and trained in cultivation. The young lady declares that there is a rumor that a fallen god and a demon meet in this tea house once a century, that they wield strange powers, etc etc, and she intends to interrogate them both with the assistance of her hired muscle and her own spiritual weapon, and discover the truth of the matter. Then she whips out, well, a whip!

Before Shen Yuan can deal with the matter, Luo Binghe is already on his feet, disarming the goons and breaking a few arms in the process. Shen Yuan is so distracted that he almost misses the whip aimed right for him, but before Binghe can catch the barbed weapon with his bare hand (wtf, Binghe, no) Shen Yuan deflects it with a wave of his fan, and then efficiently knocks the troublesome young lady unconscious. The hired muscle flees, Shen Yuan arranges for their assailant to be placed in a room upstairs until she regains consciousness, and he and Binghe resume their meal and conversation in relative peace.

Even though it's clear that Luo Binghe has not yet reached the end of his tolerance for life, Shen Yuan nevertheless finds himself strangely reluctant to part ways at the end of the night. Still, he does, because that's what is expected of him, gently denying Luo Binghe's suggestions that they find some other establishment to continue their conversation at. He also has to investigate these "rumors" that the young lady mentioned. It's probably nothing (Shang Qinghua has a loose tongue when he's drunk, and a lot of imaginative storytellers have frequented this tea house over the years) but he doesn't like being caught unawares like that. Heavenly politics are... complicated, it's best not to court unwanted attention in any capacity.

Another hundred years go by. This time, when they meet at the tea house, Luo Binghe asks Shen Yuan why he keeps it up. Why did he pick Binghe? What is he really after? When Shen Yuan fails to give any kind of clear answer, Luo Binghe shoots his shot and makes a (very obvious) move on him.

Shen Yuan, flustered, gets up and flees. Ignoring Luo Binghe's calls after him. It just doesn't make any sense! Why would Binghe do that?! He's a man who once had a harem of wives in the triple digits! Clearly he's not gay, so what was that all about? Was he just messing with him?! How dare he! Etc, etc.

Another century passes. Luo Binghe waits at the tea house, which has fallen onto hard times again. With the construction of some new roadways, travelers no longer pass through as often. Binghe listens, worried, to the proprietor's laments that this old place will probably not be around in another hundred years. He listens because he has no one else to speak to, because Shen Yuan has not shown up. Not that morning, not during the day, not come evening, and not now that it is closing time. Binghe nevertheless charms and bribes the proprietor to let him stay even after the place has shuttered.

It seems damning, of course. He pressed too hard and now his mysterious benefactor wants nothing more to do with him. Except, no, he refuses to accept that. He's still immortal. And he has gleaned enough of Shen Yuan's character by now that he thinks that even if he was rejected, he would be let down more clearly and gently than this. The more he thinks about it, the less willing Luo Binghe is to believe that he has been deliberately stood up (also, since the tenor of his confession was different from Hob Gadling's, he never delivered an ultimatum about what it might imply when they met up again).

Over the centuries, Luo Binghe has built up a few contacts with similarly strange and supernatural stories. Cultivators, sure, but also others, fortune tellers and people of strange ancestry, questionable abilities, those who have interacted with powerful beings of mysterious provenance. He makes his way to a certain gambling den, frequented often by such people, and while he flashes around enough money to draw curiosity, he collects information. Shen Yuan wasn't the only person who started paying more attention to the kinds of rumors surrounding the two of them after their confrontation with the young cultivator a couple centuries ago. And in fact, Luo Binghe has been spending many, many years trying to find out more about his mystery man. Though, too many potential deities and immortals fit his description for him to have ever conclusively figured much out.

This is how Binghe gets wind of a rumor that an eccentric occultist has somehow captured a god in his basement...

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Vincent Price as Roderick Usher -

Fall of the House of Usher (1960) dir. Roger Corman

[biancadavri]

Why the hell would Cadash of all people not be insufferable about what went down with the red templars? Carta work is all about hitting them below the belt!! "Oooooooh Andraste's chosen can't be a lowly dwarf" "Nooo the Maker wouldn't send us a criminal" Mh? Beg your pardòn? Who did Envy Made Manifest get psychosexual with for being god's special little blorbo? You? Your orlesian ass? Eat shit swagless

[christiancagesupporter]

to prepare for roddy's world title match on wednesday i made this

[love-3-crimes]

Day 13: Encore

realized ive never drawn the announcer so! announcer drawings. his name is Allan x]

i also have this other version of him, i just ran out of time to work on him lol. hes based on satan from the adventures of mark twain

[dantorrance-moved]

ZACH GILFORD as RODERICK USHER "A MIDNIGHT DREARY", THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER.

[the-ventrue-futurist]

Hands?

Now, that's an interesting one.

Roderick's hands are a world of contradictions. They may look lithe and delicate, but are actually strong and rough to the touch. This is not a blueblood who likes things being handed to him on a silver platter or expects others to do the heavy lifting for him; he's known to take on all of his haven upgrades himself, even if that means he's got to wield a hammer or a blowtorch; break down walls, make holes in the ceiling or orperate heavy equimpent. His hands may be strong but are also precise; a much needed skill in nanorobotics or microchip construction. Cuts, bruises and burns on his hands are all part of his night-to-night life, however his nails are always manicured and immaculate. Since he's using his hands for so many tasks he dislikes wearing rings, as they bother him when he's working; however he always wears a watch.

[forgottenarthur]

The Badge of Queen Marian

The Queenly Arms of her Royal Majesty, Marian of the House of [Marian], Queen of [Varmont]

Or (yellow/gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Gules (red): warrior or martyr; military strength and magnanimity

Argent (white/silver): peace and sincerity

Pupure (purple): royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Rose: hope & joy, denotes distinction, 7th son ~red rose—above + Grace/beauty, martyrdom

Sun: glory & splendor, fountain of life, intelligence/enlightenment

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success

The royal badge of the Queen Consort

Marian's own elaborated crest:

Both the couple and their legitimate children are entitled to the use of any of the below crests.

Note to Lizzy: any of the below could also work for Cassandra's own badge, if you don't think she has one of her own? (IRL she probs wouldn't have one of her own bc she isn't a ruler/doesn't command armies or households, but lbr this is a fantasy world! We make the rules! And she's an imperial princess soooo)

The combined arms of the Queen with her husband, the Emperor.

Mantled display:

An alternate (though the more technical one would be the above given its dexter/sinister divide etc, this device is still one that could also be used esp for Arthur/Sebastian/Cassandra, given 1) that it plays w the charges and 2) its use of the imperial crown since Marian is technically only a queen and not an empress -- me @ roderick: come on, man -- but I can also make one w the royal crown instead! I just forgot to do it earlier alksdjfkljdsf):

The elaborated arms of Emperor Roderick I and his Queen Marian.

(it was really fun to play w the eleborations -- the screen on the website for making these is v sq so its kinda hard to do that ~and do the arms but its so funnnn now i wanna do the elaborations for everyone alskdjfkjsdf anyway i feel like once i do amira's crest and one for the late empress [everyone, if you have any ideas for that throw them my way!!], i should do another roderick!varmont-wide one which includes everyone's elaborated crests!)

[allaboutthaboom]

[thatsbelievable]

[five-and-dimes]

Thinking more about Dream not telling Hob why he missed the 1989 meeting, and while I love the humor and absurdity of Dream just being terrible at communicating, I can’t help but also think about the angst in how Dream views the whole situation.

We know that Dream blames himself for what happened, holds himself responsible for being captured and the decay of his realm in his absence, considers the whole thing a failure on his part. 

I can imagine Dream not telling Hob where he was because he truly believes it is irrelevant. It was his fault he missed their appointment and that’s all that matters. The details are superfluous, would just sound like he was making excuses for his own mistakes. He’s trying to grow, it would not do to place the blame of the past century on anyone but himself and his own weakness. It was not Roderick Burgess who hurt Hob Gadling.

And at first, Hob is a little frustrated. Happy to see the stranger, obviously, but still carrying a tinge of hurt at having been stood up over something so innocuous. 

But the meeting continues and he can’t not notice all the red flags. His stranger is so different, and not in a bad way, necessarily, but in a way that speaks to something having happened. And he’s more open, giving Hob the answers he’s wanted for so long (his name is Dream) and yet when it comes to their missed meeting it’s impossible to get a straight answer out of him. He says please forgive me, says my failure kept me from you, but he won’t tell him where he was. 

I don’t think anything would come to light that first meeting, or even the first few after that, but I think Hob becomes more and more aware that Dream isn’t telling him everything- not because of pride, but because of something painfully close to shame. 

And I don’t know how it ends. I don’t know what finally tips Hob over the edge into pushing Dream to tell him the full story, into finally getting Dream to explain the past century, full of rage and pain towards Roderick and Alexander Burgess yet still interrupting himself several times to make sure Hob understands that it was Dream’s fault, he was weak, he was prideful, he understands, he’s not trying to shirk his responsibility-

But of course ultimately Hob embraces Dream with all his strength, and curses the Burgesses, and cries for his friend’s pain, and forgives him and resolves him and tries his very best to ease as much of Dream’s guilt as he can.

(Which isn’t much. But it’s a start.)

[milk-crater]

Going on wrestling reddit and seeing people complain about Adam Cole or his current storyline and complaining about this or that and blah blah blah well let me le you in on a little secret

Adam's current storyline was made for ME specifically. It is so far close to everything I wanted from his return. I am HAPPY he and Max went right back to feuding. Am loving the Undisputed Kingdom as Adam's sketchy back up. Just so glad that House of Black is making eyes at my boy. There are so many ways this storyline could go and I am so.excoted for it.

[buccellato]

Fucks me up to think about how Legato's legacy in-universe after his death in Trimax (and presumably Tristamp) is probably gonna be how much he sucked and nothing else....

Like, nobody will like Knives but Vash will be long-lived enough to be able to eventually talk about his good qualities from when he was a child and his quasi-redemption in his last days. But who remembers Legato? Livio and Vash are the only living people with any extended memory of him and neither of them would have anything nice to say (and rightfully so). Neither of them probably knew he was a slave, either—as far as Vash can tell this dude showed up one day and hated his guts, for all he knows he's just another survivor from July! Outside of Knives, Elendira, Legato, and maybe Conrad, I don't think any other character knows his actual life story.

And to add on to that, there's no way of looking up that past either—he had no name or personhood before he was effectively rescued, so who could investigators or reporters or archivists track down for information? The human being that was Legato only existed for as long as he knew Knives, before that he was something to be kept and abused as an object. There's presumably no surviving family they can reliably contact, nobody to really say "yes I knew him, here's what his life was like, here's how we can prevent something like this from happening again".

His entire existence will be reduced down to "a human weapon that was freakishly loyal to public enemy #1" without any reflection on the mechanisms that made him the way he was because there's just no actual knowledge of his life.