#also time wizards are canon in dnd and I had to do it

[calamari-minecraft-corner]

You mentioned Hubert in the Sir billiam the 3rd post like once, is he still undead in this au? And are Sir Billiam and Techno related at all in this au, or they completely just like, two random half(?) orcs, no relation? Cause like in noir au you made them Nephew and Uncle (I think) so I was wondering if you did something similar here or if they're completely unrelated?

And like I'm assuming the mascarade arc is based on the masquerade stream give the whole Sir Billiam thing so is Karl there? And on a following note, just in general what the heck is up with Karl, you've mentioned him a bit but not very much I am very interested in how you are translating him into dnd au

That's about it for now c:

Hehehehe yes yeeeeees some Masquerade Arc Questions :3

1. Hubert and Ranbutler are gonna be very interesting in this au. For Hubert he is a Shadar Kai Fey Wanderer Ranger! Shadar Kai are very fun— since they are elves that are between life and death! So he wouldn’t be *undead*, but he would be something that’s for sure!

Especially since the Egg is influencing him :3 (The Egg is the reason he is that specific ranger-)

But he’s very scary, one of Billiam’s closest servants and would kill someone if needed but hides it with polite smiles and being obedient.

Ranbutler would be a Half Elf Rogue Assassin! Hes- silent. A lot of the time unless he talks but is very loyal to Sir Billiam, even though he treats him horribly. He doesn’t remember where he used to live at, but he knew it was somewhere in a more rustic area of the Badlands and that’s it. It’s been a while for him since he was taken during the war.

Billiam and Hubert have been in this world for a long time while Ranbutler is still new to everything basically!

2. Billiam and Techno are related! The way I’m framing it is that Billiam is probably a distant relative of his that Techno thought honestly died long ago (but then again Techno lived longer than he should too due to The Blood God’s Blessing) but he honestly never thought much of Billiam. He’s heard bits about him way back and was just like “yeah that guy sucks” bc well- he’s a rich pompous bastard HDJDDJ

The reason I wanted to make them related in the au is to show like how different these two are— especially bc Techno could have easily became Billiam since Techno was chosen that path but he decided to be his own guy. And even though they’re different Dream especially sees key differences- like even though Billiam is a half orc he sees stuff that reminds him of Techno.

3. Yes! The Masquerade Arc is based on the Tales Stream! The same for the Pit arc too! The way how it goes would be different actually! This would be a way for the Party to prove their trust to the Kinoko Kingdom— King George asks them to assist their Grand Wizard Karl with a problem and Karl explains to them that this masquerade party he went to years ago had some very weird shit in it and he heard it’s been happening ever since still- and he basically forges them invited and tells the party to go in and figure out what’s really happening since he doesn’t know what he saw was real or not. And once they complete that mission then Karl can help them get on Sapnap and George’s good graces!

That doesn’t mean some characters from the initial masquerade won’t show up as some.. interesting guests after all ;)

4. I am so glad you asked about Karl bc he is my favorite. Karl is a “Winter” Eladrin Chronurgy Wizard!

Eladrin are very fun for me bc they change by the seasons from how they are emotionally as well as just in general— but he would be a winter one due to how well- detached he is. Detached and lost.

Karl is basically a very powerful time wizard who was trying to help make things not go to shit during the war time wise. Even though Dream had nothing to do with messing with time magic, some of the wild magic during the war was getting intense and fucking with time itself so Karl had to go back in time and do missions on his own to prevent it from happening.

He originally was a Fall Eladrin actually! But then over time the more he was doing what he needed to do he was becoming forgetful and became well- the Karl everyone knows now.

He’s still nice! He’s just— spacey and not trusting. He has an archive of all his adventures and what happened as well as other journals but he doesn’t like to read them since they don’t feel real. He never leaves his tower in Kinoko Kingdom and Sapnap has to check up on him constantly.

Him, Quackity and Sapnap used to be together right after the war but a year before the whole story began with Cala they had a messy fight since Karl didn’t remember Quackity at all and Quackity wasn’t in the right headspace.

Karl and Sapnap are still together but it’s- distant. Very distant.

He’s just a very secluded wizard in the tower who’s scared that if he goes out he’ll lose whatever memories he has left.

[wtfforged]

my campaign hiatus has gone on for too long so to cope ive combined my interests at their maximum potency and had some dnd-strawhats thoughts

thoughts in depth under read more... :)!

this is SO self indulgent. their designs literally did not change. but i am a firm believer that dnd doesnt have to be european high fantasy. and also one piece literally IS fantasy. no changes are necessary to fit into dnd. ive already imagined plenty of campaign/oneshot ideas inspired by one piece. so this was basically just an exercise of trying to replicate their canon abilities in dnd 5e as much as possible without totally homebrewing everything. well. aside from luffy. you just cant take away or change his stretching.

LUFFY: (human monk. drunken master subclass. outlander)

the only plain human of the crew to balance out with the fact that he still has rubber powers. obviously a monk. but drunken master subclass specifically because i think the flavor(not the fact that its about being a drunkard) and abilities both fit him really well. this line in the subclass' flavortext especially fits him: "A drunken master often enjoys playing the fool to bring gladness to the despondent or to demonstrate humility to the arrogant, but when battle is joined, the drunken master can be a maddening, masterful foe."

ZORO: (tiefling fighter. samurai subclass. bounty hunter)

a fighter with the samurai subclass is so very incredibly obvious... but i actually had a lot of fun geeking out while comparing the abilities to what he can do in canon; Fighting Spirit, Rapid Strike, and Strength Before Death especially! tiefling is also pretty on the nose for his demon pirate hunter shtick and asura form, but i thought he'd be really human-passing for a tiefling and theorized about his tail getting cut off at some point or another before joining the strawhats. initially wasnt gonna give him a feat, but i gave sanji a feat so i thought itd be unfair to not give him one as well, so sentinel fits the bill pretty well i think!

NAMI: (tabaxi rogue. arcane trickster subclass. criminal)

cat burglar -> full grown literal humanoid cat. this one is INCREDIBLY self indulgent... i love... cats... theres nothing deeper to this and no other reasoning. i took cat burglar and ran with it. can you tell that i love izutsumi dungeon meshi? rogue for the aforementioned burglar-ing as well, and the arcane trickster subclass for when she picks up climatact! the mage hand will be very useful for her pickpocketing. in the future as she levels up with timeskip, i can totally see her multiclassing into wizard as well! weather wizard!

USOPP: (lightfoot halfling artificer. artillerist subclass. urchin)

I HAD SO MUCH FUN THINKING ABOUT HIS CHARACTER SHEET. halfling's Naturally Stealthy ability lets him hide behind his crewmates since theyre (almost) all bigger than him, so its perfect for hiding behind zoro or sanji all the time. Lucky is also perfect for him, and I think Brave fits pretty well too when he puts on the sogeking mask. artillerist artificer is also very fun! tinkering and making magic items for his crew, and i think Eldritch Canon or Arcane Firearm could both be easily reflavored as kabuto or any of his inventions. for emphasizing his sniper-ness, the spell sniper feat was also necessary. i think hes my favorite of all the concepts. big ears and long nose combo is so cute to me.

SANJI: (half-elf monk. drunken master subclass. guild artisan (cook!))

race was mostly based on vibes i wont lie. squints. and that vinsmoke balogna or whatever too ig. but mostly vibes. along with the idea that i think a dwarf zeff raising him would be really funny and cute. monk is also obvious, and same subclass as luffy for mostly the same reasons. though the flavor fits him much less, i think the abilities still fit him perfectly, and this blurb specifically; "Your martial arts technique mixes combat training with the precision of a dancer." i really wanted to give him a different subclass from luffy, but i dislike all the other monk subclasses a lot and i found none of them fit him as well anyways, so to try and give them SOME differences, i gave him the crusher feat.

CHOPPER: (awakened deer(shifter statblock) cleric. life subclass. hermit)

this ones definitely a mouthful im sorry. awakened deer for obvious reasons, but due to magic instead of devil fruit stuff. when i was struggling with his race, i looked a lot at shifter because of his forms, but it occurred to me that itd be super cool if he could shift between all of the different shifter options instead of being stuck with just one to replicate his rumble balls. something like heavy point/guard point=beasthide, horn point/arm point(?maybe?)=longtooth, walk point/jumping point=swiftstride, and brain point=wildhunt. hed definitely need some kind of nerf though to balance out that homebrew... and cleric for class. duh.

ROBIN: (high elf wizard. order of scribes subclass. criminal)

robin is definitely the one i struggled the most with just because of her class. elf came pretty easily- shes very elegant and i think shed look cute with super long ears- and i landed on high elf instead of wood elf for the int-based abilities. i was really on the fence between sorcerer and wizard for her because i knew shed be a full spellcaster, but i didnt feel that any of the subclasses really fit her. i ended up going with wizard for order of the scribes since it focuses on texts and knowing everything. but also because robin with a flying talking sentient book would be crazy cool. it could also be similar to how she spawns mouths and eyes places to talk to or watch people. my "fuck it, why not. this would be rad. its my house" mindset kicked in with her i will admit. also the One with the Word ability made me cackle out loud when i read it. thats the funniest ability ever. anyways, i cant really think of a way to replicate her powers, but maybe we could just reflavor a bunch of spells to be her limbs or clutch; hold person, maximillian's earthen grasp, or evard's black tentacles. thatd probably work okay, and theres a handful of spells to replicate her ability to spawn eyes or mouths. unrelated, but i imagine nico olvia to be a drow. why? her hair is white. i am a simple man!

[blububblgum]

Daenerys as a D&D character!!

I love dnd to bits, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how certain asoiaf characters would be if they were made using dnd 5e rules. Obviously, i had to start with dany! She is a shadow magic sorcerer, with the elemental adept feat.

My long, winding thought process about dnd and dany is under the cut, in order to spare you all.

I'm kind of working with like, westeros in the forgotten realms as my base concept, since theres elements of both that are needed for this character build to make sense lol.

Sorcerer made the most sense, with how the targaryans are thought to have ancient magic, and since dany is quite charismatic, charisma would be her spellcasting stat. I think that the obvious sorcerer subclass is draconic bloodline, but i disagree, since the way dragons are portrayed in asoiaf doesn't match up with the dnd description of dragons. I could maybe see draconic bloodline sorcery for the Fire and blood characters, but for the "modern" targs, i'd honestly lean toward fire genasi (descendants from genies, with specific elemental powers) ancestry, since the immunity to fire is emphasized. Though technically dnd doesn't really work like that, i think as a character dany would be a fire genasi (though without the usual visual traits, i suppose)

since i elected against draconic bloodline, the sorcerer subclass that makes sense for daenerys is shadow magic! its maybe a bit on the creepy/edgy side, but i think aspects work well for dany's life. for starters, if you think of her gaining magic during her life, the deal she made to try and save khal drogo's life would be perfect timing for darker magic to make its home within her. however if you wanted her to have magic from birth, then the dramatic circumstances around her birth could be heightened by there having been shadowfell influences around. also!! at 6th level, shadow sorcerers can summon a "hound of ill omen" which can take any shape, and could easily be a small dragon.

The last aspect of why i chose sorcerer, is that while the spell casting sucks at lower levels, it then really gets good as you gain spell slots (limited per day and necessary to cast any spells) and sorcery points. the spell list for sorcerer is full of damage dealing spells, and dany kinda reads as a glass canon to me (i love sorcerers a lot but they are fragile). I did briefly ponder divination wizard, since daenerys seems to have an inclination toward being a dreamer, but i don't think she had time to study and practice wizardry in her chaotic childhood. whereas we see as she gains power and confidence while growing up, and sorcerer works well with that

last few details! i've portrayed her as higher level here, which is why she is so fancy. since she is upper level (in this i was thinking around 14th), she would have access to feats, and i definitely think fire elemental adept (gives bonuses to spells that do fire damage) would bring back some of the draconic aspects to her spellcasting. for metamagic options, obviously twinned spell (allows a spell that targets 1 person to be twinned to hit two people) cause its the best one, but i was also thinking subtle spell (allows a spell to be cast without speaking or moving) since it would be quite helpful for her. For other potential feats; inspiring leader (bonuses when you give speeches n stuff) and war caster (allows magic to be used better during combat) both make sense. For her stats, i was thinking in order of highest to lowest; charisma, wisdom, intelligence, constitution, dexterity, strength. Maybe i'm doing her a disservice by having her physical stats be her low ones, but i think her mental stats are just stronger.

Anyways if you actually read all this i love you and please message me any opinions you have about dnd/asoiaf

[strawberrypinky]

Mystra and Gale

@legacygirlingreen "see my only experience with Mystra is purely in DND sense, since I do not play BG3, but USUALLY we change the usage of her depending on campaign and what the DM has come up with... so in the BG3 space I am assuming they made her really predatory towards her chosen one?"

Had to make a bit of a separate post for this as this is a bit ✨complicated✨, but my answer is below the cut!

Mystra has changed a lot over the various editions of DnD (more like WotC is killing her off and making a 'new' Mystra with each Edition, but anyway), so I understand why there are so many discrepancies between people's views of Mystra.

BG3 is based on the 5th Edition, but Larian took a few creative liberties. Generally speaking, Mystra is "the Mistress of Magic and Mother of Mysteries who guides the Weave of magic that envelops the world, [...] tending to the Weave, making possible all the miracles and mysteries wrought by magic and users of magic.".

According to BG3, Gale was a prodigy from an early age and eventually studied at Blackstaff Academy to further his talents. From the age of eight, he was mentored by Elminster Aumar, who is widely considered Mystra's "favoured Chosen". I'm not going to delve into the dynamics of Elmister and Mystra here, messed up as they are, because it would take too long.

Point is, Gale, from a young age, was essentially channelling Mystra's divine essence and, as a wizard, worshipping her. And yes - this is important for their dynamic.

Gale eventually became one of Mystra's Chosen, though the timeline was never specified. The earliest Gale could have met Mystra was in 1479, when Mystra was resurrected after the Second Sundering. Gale should have been between seventeen and his mid-twenties at the time, but there are a few canon inconsistencies that make his age challenging to place. Namely, the game takes place in 1492 and recognises Elturel's descent, which canonically didn't happen until 1494, but anywho.

Initially, Mystra was a teacher and muse to him, showing him her realm before eventually becoming his lover. The relationship turned sour/ended when Gale released parts of Netherese magic (absorbing it and creating the Orb) in an effort to prove himself worthy to her and gain access to parts of the weave she previously denied him.Was this wrong of him? Yes. Was there malicious intent behind it? No, absolutely not. Gale wasn't even aware that the magic he absorbed came from Karsus.

As part of his questline in BG3, Gale is tasked with destroying the Absolute with the Orb and is promised forgiveness by Mystra when he succeeds. If you let him use the Orb in Act 2 when finally uncovering what the Absolute is, you get a game over, and the game essentially tells how catastrophic that decision was. Aka, Mystra ain't shit.

As for her and Gale's relationship? While perhaps not inherently predatory in Gale's case (if he met her past the age of 18!), Mystra is known to prey on young boys. Minsc has a line about hiding young boys from her in his homelands if they show an early aptitude for magic.

Generally speaking, I don't think I need to highlight how incredibly messed up their relationship is and always has been. Gale was taught to worship her from a young age and was practically raised to adore the ground she walked on because she commands his very being - magic.

She is a goddess with infinitely more power than him. The power imbalance is insane and does raise the question of "Could Gale have ever said no?" With Mystra's track record, he may have never been able to. While he consented to a more intimate relationship with her (at least there isn't an explicit implication of SA), he was never on equal footing with her. And yes - Power imbalance impacts consent. Mystra is ingenuously responsible for the insecurities he's shown to have in the game and never should've put her hands on him or anywhere near him.

While Gale's hubris makes him incredibly complex and, yes, also flawed, his and Mystra's relationship should never have existed because it is borderline abusive.

[justablah56]

*looking back at you with my big autism eyes* You should tell me about rwd. After your sleep. Eepy time, Aether

HIHIHIHIHIU OK YAY OK . ok . im all sleeped up and I'm going to be so insane at you ok . gonna put it under a read more though because . I'm about to be so insane .

SO ! rolling with difficulty , as you can probably tell from the title , is a dnd podcast . mechanics wise , it's on like . the complete opposite side of the spectrum from dndads lmao- they're still very story driven , but they're a lot more crunchy , very following the rules as written but like finding loopholes in them because for funsies . they do little 20 minute bonuses each time the crew levels up so you know exactly what each character is getting and all their new stuff , I actually really like those . the episodes are 3-5 hours long , but each season is only like 10 episodes . and it's not split up into each season is a campaign and it gets very confusing sometimes sbnxjsnxnd like the first campaign (the one I'm autism about) is the first 5 seasons , and they only just finished season 1 od their second campaign . anyways ! most of this stuff is why idk how many dndads listeners will be willing to listen to this but that's ok 👍

NOW !!! as for what its actually about !!! (at least campaign one I'm probably not gonna talk a lot about campaign two) it's about a crew of four silly guys on a space plane ship ! it uses the planescape dnd setting , basically like all the planes of existence in dnd canon exist on different planes that can be traveled between through portals or like the plane shift spell , or , in the cast of our beloved crew , you have a spell jammer , which is a ship that can cast plane shift and you can sail between planes and it's very cool . anyways , the crew consists of kyana - a human monk , finbar - a firbolg (giant kin fae thing) druid/ranger multi-class , VR-LA (pronounced veer-la) - a mechanite/warforged (robot) wizard , and Dani - a fire genasi artificer . the four of them basically live on their ship , the Per Aspera , which is owned by Dani's "Uncle" Otto , who sends them on little jobs and stuff and he's also kind of an asshole but I like him . they also take jobs from other people sometimes and then they forget to go back to Otto who gets pissed at them about it and it's silly . anyways . usually though , the seasons focus on an adventure relevant to one of the characters with other little jobs filling their spare time .

gonna very briefly talk about kyana and finbar just so you know those two before I go on a ridiculous rant about VR LA and Dani ok . so Finbar is just a middle aged firbolg (everyone else is like 20 except VR LA who's only been awake for a year ish) , hes a part of a chef's guild and makes it his responsibility to make sure these idiots don't get themselves killed either by y'know monsters , or just being stupid and forgetting to eat . and he's like 8 feet tall . he's a big guy . Kyana is just a little guy who ran away from her (evil) monk monastery and got found by the crew just . swimming . in the astral sea . which is the void between planes that spell jammers can sail on . insane . anyways . she has no idea what's going on because she's never been anywhere and she is precious and loves the world and loves these people who are nothing like how she was raised and isn't that wonderful ? I love her . and she's like 5'0 . shes literally a little guy <3

now I'm just gonna talk about VR LA bcs he's my little guy and I am spinning him around at record speeds inside my brain <3 his whole thing is basically that his previous crew on the per aspera got Got by a crew of space pirates , and he was the only one left . but then smthin happened and he lost all his memories and couldn't keep the ship like . flying . and eventually he shut down on that ship and was woken up by Dani , who had found the ship and made fixing it up her personal pet project bcs she's a little mechanic who saw a flying wreck and said I can fix her . and she did . and then she also saw the shut down robot on the ship and said I can fix him . and she did . this is how the ship belongs to Otto instead of VR LA , bcs he's like ohhhh Dani fixed it up and she's my employee and you don't even remember anything . anyways . Dani and VR LA are literally siblings to me . icy they're so important to me . the high int low wis siblings . that post I made a bit ago about how dndads doesn't have any characters who are like . little autistic brainiac smartasses . that's these two . both of them . and that is probably most of the reason why I'm so attached to them rn . like I need you to know that I did not recently listen to this podcast . I listened to this pretty soon after catching up on dndads two ish years ago and have just been like . passively into it this whole time . and now I'm like ok no I'm into this for real now . whoopsies . time to relisten and be autistic about this . and that's what ive been doing . anyways . back to the actual show <3

so Dani !!! she was found off the streets by Otto , who owns a little dnd fantasy mechanics shop , and he taught her how to be an artificer . shes incredibly smart , both like . street smarts . and literally anything mechanical . this comes with her being the biggest smartass known to man <3 she's very blunt but also very bad at expressing anything and is the least perceptive person ever (she has a passive perception of 9) she's a bitch and I love her so much <3 she's very snappy and abrasive and aggressive but also the ship is the single most important thing to her and it's not the ship without her crew and that is all she cares about <3 she doesn't give a shit about anything except for the ship she singlehandedly put back together and the people who live in it with her , and she would do anything for them . man . I love her icy .

now I'm gonna talk more about VR LA again bcs I'm not done with him <3 he's so abxnwjncjqnxjqmdn icy I love him . he just like me fr fr . he's also very smart , but he has . zero street smarts . ask him about anything and he probably knows something about it but ask him to talk to a person and he cannot . he does not know this . he continues trying to talk to people and like . persuade people and shit but he's so bad at it . icy he's so fucking bad at it . I love him so much . anyways , the other people on the per aspera are literally the only people he has and the only thing that could come close to them in terms of importance is his old crew , and yet he still picks Kyana and Finbar and Dani over them . man . icy this is a whole thing that I am very extremely ABJDJSNCHSBXHJA about . VR LA is a guy who has no memory of his old life but he knows it happened and he knows he used to have a crew of people he cared about but he can't even remember their names . (at the start) there aren't a lot of things that vr la actually cares about . he's very passive and like I'm staying with this ship because it's all I have even if it's not even legally mine anymore , and I'm staying with Dani because she's the only person I've ever really known . icy they're so siblings to me . ohuufhfggg . however !!! the one other thing he really *wants* is to know about his old life . he wants to know who was important to him before and he wants to know if they're okay even if he doesn't know them . it makes me ill . but he has his crew , and while those people might have been important to the old VR LA , Kyana and Finbar and Dani are important to *now* VR LA . so if it happens that along the way he can find out who he was , hed do anything to find them . but he has his people , and their safety and happiness is the single most important thing to him . if he will not lose a second crew . if hed have to hurt his current crew to find his first , then he's not going to find them . man . icy I could go on about this alone for hours . but I will not . anyways . silly little robot <3 I am so completely normal about him <3

also there's another silly robot named Maxim who you meet in s1 ep7 and I think him and VR LA should kiss . I'm not going to talk a ton about them beyond that but uhhh yeah . extremely repressed adhd sorcerer robot x extremely blunt autism wizard robot <3 Maxim hermit who is extremely emotionally intelligent but is very purposefully stomping out all the emotions because this is a purely professional relationship and we are here to professionally exchange mutually beneficial information and nothing else . VR LA adventurer who has never heard of romantic interest in his year of remembering being alive and just knows that he greatly enjoys Maxims company and he will tell him so despite having only just recently reconnected with him. and their compliments to each other are purely out of professional admiration . anyways .

and there you go ! and I didn't even really spoil anything past like the first few episodes <3 as you can see I am extremely normal about this podcast and it's characters <3 I went on for a lot longer than I thought I was going to but hey that's what happens when new hyperfixation <3

[johannestevans]

My Top 6 Films of 2023

Just some recommendations for my favourite new releases of last year!

Originally published on Cinemania.

2023 had a few knock-out hits as far as the cinema goes — obviously, people were very excited about the respective releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer, but my top films of the year were a bit different.

One thing I do think unites a lot of these — and a trend I hope to see from more films in the next few years — is a trend toward more earnestness and sincerity in scripts and plot lines, and I’m hoping that trend continues!

Without further ado, my top films of 2023:

They Cloned Tyrone (dir. Juel Taylor)

They Cloned Tyrone is a fucking triumph, and hands-down had my favourite costume design of the year — it at the same time feels very vintage in places, calling heavily on the Blaxploitation movies of the 1970s and their aesthetics while at the same time dragging in more modern— and dystopian — futuristic elements throughout. Teyonah Parris is a particular triumph as Yo-Yo, but the whole cast really rocks this whole flick.

This film feels in so many ways like a fever dream, layering disparate elements and tones, and for that is all the more hard-hitting with the horror and painful realism of its cynical central plot.

If you watch a single of the films recommended on this list, make it this one.

Down Low (dir. Rightor Doyle)

This film is weird as fuck, and it makes a lot out of leaning into that. Delving into the ugly reality of down-low hook-ups on gay dating apps and dialing the chaos that can arise from them up to the max, this is a surprisingly heartfelt look at gay loneliness and isolation in the white middle-class US.

It’s fast-paced and kooky with its dialogue — Lukas Gage, of Euphoria fame, co-wrote the script with Phoebe Fisher, and Gage’s particular style of verbose and down-right weird speeches are dotted through it — and while it ultimately ends in the death you know from the beginning is coming, it doesn’t feel like it’s wholly a tragedy.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023, dir. John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein)

I don’t think I need to go into great detail about this one — Dungeons and Dragons’ newest addition to its array of canons here is a spellbinding and delightful watch. A lot of the problem with fantasy films and TV shows the past few years has been how painfully over-ironic they are, with none of them being able to just lean into their premise and accept that, yes, we’re being a bit silly, and that’s the point! But the DnD movie is just spectacularly earnest and gives itself entirely over to the wonder of its world, and that feels wonderful.

Every time I’ve watched it, which is a few times now, I’ve picked up on new fun world details or little in-jokes, and there are just so many things this film does right and has fun with, most of all making Xenk Yendar even more autistic than ever whilst also making him hot with the Regé-Jean Page casting.

And also, Hugh Grant is here playing a horrible, sleazy bastard of a wizard, and speaking of hot —

Cocaine Bear (dir. Elizabeth Banks)

Must a film be good?

Firstly, isn’t a coked-up horny female bear wreaking havoc and ripping people to shreds enough? And also, even if it wasn’t enough, aren’t so many queer characters going through the weirdest day out ever, girlbosses galore (I’m including the bear), funny as Hell dialogue, and even plot twists enough?

We saw this in the cinema on its release, and it was utterly glorious. Everyone should have the pleasure of seeing the feminist icon of 2023, the cocaine bear (sorry, Barbie), on the biggest screen imaginable, ripping into some hapless gay with full surround sound.

The Boogeyman (dir. Rob Savage)

I normally run along to see any new releases from Rob Savage as I loved Host, and The Boogeyman was so much more than I expected — bearing no resemblance at all to the original lacklustre Stephen King short story, this film really plays so creatively with light and shadow and has an honestly spine-tingling monster design that feels viscerally frightening from its introduction to its final boss battle.

I love it when a film plays with light sources, most of all when good horror does it, and this flick really delivers on that point — not knowing where light is going to come from adds extra tension when you’re trying to see into the shadowy corners, and whether it’s from the lunar nightlight, the videogame flashes, the camera, the fridge, or anywhere else, this film really has this holistic approach to light and shadow that just fucks.

The Pope’s Exorcist (dir. Julius Avery)

Again, must a film be good?

Isn’t it enough to have a coked-up bear —

Okay, I used that line already, but this time it’s Russell Crowe, and he’s doing an Italian accent, and he’s riding a little Vespa, and it’s the funniest and best thing in the world.

Much like the DnD movie, The Pope’s Exorcist really leans into its premise and just goes really earnest about it — it doesn’t take too much time to sardonically comment on the ridiculousness of its own universe, and that makes it feel really fresh compared to a lot of other big studio horror films. It’s silly and stupid and mixes more impressive scares in with the cheap ones, and it’s just a really fun movie to watch with friends.

[sovonight]

i had a lot of opinions on xan's age in the mod to the point where i had a post in my drafts all written up about it, essentially just to say that xan should be younger. anyway this is that post

first off let me just put his canon portrait aside. seeing as how bg2 said "hey don't look at the old portraits, jaheira is blond and has slanted eyes now, and viconia is super hot," let's just disregard it as something that can and would probably have been retconned if xan had been brought back officially (especially since he was airbrushed in heroes of baldur's gate).

second off let's set aside all timeline considerations, because bioware doesn't care about timelines, and the video games certainly don't care about timelines, so i don't want to hear "but how could erevain reference xan's depressing attitude in iwd if xan was only in his fifties when erevain--" shhhh shh shh sh. it's okay. bioware forgot about elves when they stated that gorion's ward was 20 years old (and don't even get me started on the flimsy excuse that they're "physically adults" at 20, this is clearly a story meant for a protagonist who is emotionally considered a young adult for their race, elves are elf-20 when they leave candlekeep, thank you), the timeline issue is bigger than all of us.

now, to my point. in the bg2 mod xan's age is stated to be 263, but i disagree. here's why:

elf lore reasons (dnd loremasters avert your eyes):

according to a period-appropriate 2e text, 263 would put him in "old age". just... ruminate on that for a moment. does the bg2 mod remember that elves do still show physical signs of age? if he's 263, shouldn't xan be comfortably tucked away in a wizard tower by now? or like, just generally residing in the safety of his beloved evereska? i know forgotten realms is its own campaign world or whatever, but let’s just assume for a second that the cultural lore here can be directly translated over, because the book also says that not many elves choose to keep adventuring past adulthood. so what is xan doing still adventuring at the age of 263?

"but he's a greycloak!" putting aside how the "greycloaks" were invented solely for the video games so we know next to nothing about them, let's dig into that for a second. just because he's a greycloak doesn't mean he still has to be doing fieldwork. how is it that at 263, he hasn't already been offered some higher up position back at headquarters where he's the one coordinating who takes what missions where? it's not like he's bad at his job--both mods imply that he does well in his career. even if he's not one for management and really just excels in the field, the bg2 mod mentions that xan had a mentor in the greycloaks when he first started--so how is it that he's never mentored anyone else yet?

"sovo he's not good at his job he was literally captured by mulahey and held captive for a month" first of all how dare you, mulahey was a difficult fight with a full party and xan is just one sad little guy. second of all i kind of agree; rookie mistake to head in there completely alone. hmmm, wouldn't that invite you to place him closer to the beginning of his career...? one could even assume that this is his first big solo mission without his mentor...

xan himself

in the bg1 mod, his anecdotes are largely about his time as a student at the academy of magic & the death of his father as a child. to me, that says that he's still close to those periods in his life, and hasn't yet created many experiences beyond them. it's only in the bg2 mod, where his age of 263 is stated for the first time, that he starts telling anecdotes about past greycloak missions and lamenting about how old he is compared to charname.

confusingly, the bg2 mod also gives him a new voice that's rather young compared to his supposed age. yeah yeah i know it's a feat to get voice acting for a mod at all, and the perceived age of a voice is subjective, but it still strikes me as a weird choice that's at odds with the new narrative and dynamic that the mod is trying to push on xan and charname's relationship.

xan and charname's dynamic

in the bg1 mod, xan occasionally calls charname a child when he thinks she's being immature, naive, or optimistic (which is, to him, synonymous with naive). iirc, this is mainly in their earlier exchanges when they're getting to know each other, and charname says things that he thinks are ignorant or rub him the wrong way. this never stuck out to me because it's a usage that fits neatly into the fantasy setting, and it's not saying that he views her as a child. when he does comment on her age outright--like saying that she's surprisingly capable for someone so young--it points out that there's a gap in age between them, but it certainly never gave me the impression that it was on the scale of, like, 100+ years.

in bg1 the gap in life experience between them feels more balanced. xan has much more experience on the road, with adventuring and combat and loss, but he's clearly not... the most well-adjusted or well-rounded guy. he excels both academically and professionally, but his social ties are severely lacking for it--he's isolated, already an outcast before he ever even exiles himself. meanwhile, charname has been confined to candlekeep until adulthood, and so has very little real adventuring/combat experience, but (depending on your rp) has a much more generous view of the world than xan does, and has more long-lasting and close relationships with others (not just considering the game's companions, but the inhabitants of candlekeep).

i read xan's bg1 romance as, this is his first time being in love, ever. and he doesn't know what to do with himself, with these feelings that make his heart soar and sink and that comfort and frustrate him, to the point that his solution is to just up and leave the party. also, his justification for leaving is that he's afraid of what he's heard love will do to him--he's heard that in bonded couples, if one dies, the other will likely die of heartbreak. d'you see the picture i'm painting here?

meanwhile, in the bg2 mod, xan and charname's gap in life experience is newly defined and emphasized. a new array of conversation topics imply that xan was already past all of his firsts in life, including love. xan also now occasionally calls charname "silly girl" or "foolish girl" as some weird admonishment/term of endearment, which... i'm not a fan of, given the new emphasis on how he's so ~old and experienced~ and she's so ~young and innocent~. there's also a dialogue option i despise where charname can tell xan to focus on how young and beautiful she is to take his mind off things, and in another exchange there's an option that starts with an admonishment of "you're not my father," which given everything else that the mod has pushed forward, that comparison is kind of um, ew? charname and xan no longer feel like equal romantic partners to me in bg2, and when he calls her "foolish girl," i don't hear endearment--i hear a statement of perspective. to a 263 year old xan in bg2, she is just a girl, one year out from home.

the significance of 263

"but WHY is he 263," i hear you ask? well, it's simple. it's so simple that they literally stated it in the mod. you see, xan was apparently born in 1105 dr...the year of the guardian.

YES. YOU READ THAT RIGHT. the ONLY reason he's 263 is so that he could say he was born in the year of the guardian! you know, like how he's?? a guardian??? because of the moonblade?? OH, HOW CLEVER!

it’s just yet another way to tie everything about him back to the moonblade (which is funny, considering how he has such mixed feelings towards being a moonblade wielder, and how in the retcon happy ending, he's released from it, so, what's the point) and it’s kind of nonsensical too, because what, everyone who was born in that year turned out to be a guardian of some kind? surely not!

and in case you have any lingering doubts, you're pretty much told outright that the name was part of the reasoning because xan starts guessing charname's birth year.... based on her class. yes, he starts suggesting year names with "blade" or "shadow" in them if you're a thief class. and i thought he was supposed to be intelligent.

my fix

i prefer to think of xan as being 140, about halfway through the conventional adventuring age range of 110-174. this would put him as being born in 1228 dr, year of the tattered banners, which honestly, if you really want the name of the year to be tied to him in some way, "tattered banners" sounds worn and depressing enough to suit him. it’s a fitting age for him to be bleakly thinking that he’ll die before he ever reaches middle age bc the adventuring life will be the death of him, to still have his years as an academy student actively on his mind, and to act like he already knows everything about life without recognizing that he still has a lot to learn.

this may feel like a very simple and underwhelming answer for the journey we took to get here, and it is. really, though, i can't get over the year name reasoning. you know there's a "year of the trembling tree"? you know who also trembles? xa--

[dyspunktional-leviathan]

Today's mobility aid update: apparently, I am now a Full Time Wizard Staff User.

_

Tl;dr: I'm a cane user who needs more support and has shoulder problems, I am beginning a cosplay of a dnd wizard, and turns out that apparently a staff is better for me than a cane.

(still planning to try forearm crutches and would like a powerchair eventually but well, I'll compare all those too. And for now, I have my staff.)

& also, the wizard I'm cosplaying, Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance, is canonically very disabled and uses his staff as a mobility aid.

_

Backstory: https://www.tumblr.com/dyspunktional-revan/717836384898023424, also some follow-up https://www.tumblr.com/dyspunktional-revan/719407235725492224 (I did try two canes and it was *horrible* on my shoulders).

And now I've been planning a cosplay of Raistlin Majere (who, by the way, canonically uses his staff as a mobility aid!! A young mobility aid user (25 in the first book (Dragonlance series), had to use a mobility aid since 21)! A disabled magic-user who is disabled not because he is magic-user (has been disabled all his life, an event that disabled him much more at 21 was related to magic but the disabilities themselves were not magical — his body was just severely weakened and broke down more; and *couldn't be healed* for magical reasons but not from magical afflictions)! And more and more and more I love Raistlin so much).

There had been several things at home that could go for the staff's pole but they all needed work and weren't very handy to walk with. But now I got a new one — a drape runner that wasn't holding in the wall and had to be taken off; and — this particular one was already an appropriate length. And empty inside, and thin and firm enough at the same time thanks to being metal (wrapped in some kind of plastic). I still had to give it some tip to stand on, and it wasn't even cut straight. It's 25mm and the standard cane tip is made for 20mm.

And then my mother had a genius idea. She took an old cane tip, and *shoved it in*. And it holds perfectly.

Now to the mobility aid part!

So, now I have a proto-staff I can actually walk with, and at first I felt like my cane was mostly better. But then I wanted to stand up and my legs hurt really bad, I took my cane at first but then I decided to take the staff instead — it can offer more support, especially if I hold it with both hands.

After a while, I put it down and took my cane — and realized that the staff was actually better. My shoulder instantly felt much worse. Idk about the rest because I just put down the cane and took up the staff again, and had been using it for the rest of the day.

I'll probably still need to use a more conventional mobility aid outside (when not in costume)... For one thing, I don't think anyone's going to offer a bus seat to a guy with a wizard staff rather than a cane or a crutch (eh. Also that applies to when in costume too, thought about that long before I'd thought of actually using the staff as a mobility aid outside of cosplay).

Although perhaps btw I could, like, try to ask, hey I have leg problems, I actually use a cane when not cosplaying, could you please,, Idk.

As I said in tl;dr, I'm still planning to try other mobility aids, planning to buy at least one forearm crutch as soon as I can go out (currently ill). I'll compare that and the staff too, might alternate like folx do alternate their conventional mobility aids? And eventually I would like a powerchair, don't know if it can ever become possible for me.

[thepandalion]

Im so normal about him I promise

!!! Kemi!!!

Last session my beloved boy got a new cardigan and.. well, while I love his cloak (poncho?? idk I made that thing up based on my favorite poncho but fantasy so-) he really does look great in green

anyways, my good friend and dm, Bird, described the cardigan as "green, with leaf patterns on the outlines, and a print of a fey flower on the back". now, I had no clue what a "fey flower" is. like, is there real dnd flowers of the fey realm that have canonical designs or no? So, I googled. and google informed me of a real world plant called the fuchsia fey. which is a puple flower. so naturally I tried to draw that flower... which didn't exactly translate well into how I sketch, so I just. lifted the sketch and put it in the drawing too? the golden and green faint lines around it are literally my sketch for the flower in low opacity. I love the vibe it gives, like its vaguely magical/ethereal. but then I wanted to balance the colors a bit, and suddenly kemi's pondering whether he should even keep his very recognizable cloak when (if my very bad acting somehow evaded notice of that fact) he's trying not to get recognized. it's part of why I had him buy new clothes, too..

anyways. second drawing includes his staff. which I do have a specific design for, its in his character sheet I drew a while back. he also looks so feminine in that one that my mom asked if "she's sitting on that branch" which. yeah kemi was originally designed to be my entire gender (purple with masculine pronouns is literally everything required for my gender to be stolen by a fictional character, and in our local language there's no gender neutral pronouns so I default to she/her for convenience).

the last one is awkwardly placed bc I literally ran out of space and went "oh, shoot, where's my favorite ref pose for laying low" because I unironically used that pose ref picture like three times before for like. my internet avatar character (thats my pfp) and for one of the gachatube ocs I have for my gacha arg series. I'm actually very proud of that one.

also I never drew kemi with his bangles around his legs before. mostly because I thought the shoes would get in the way, which like.. if he's standing upright they totally would, so I stand by that. but I wanted to do both sets of bangles and originally he didn't have shoes and had one on each leg, so. I stand by that one.

also decided to give him extra ear piercings for the one w the long rectangle earring. for flavor and color balancing and stuff. also also the leaves on the front of the cardigan are supposed to act a bit like if the fluff of hoodies and stuff were just. tree.

anyways fun note is that his shoes dont have like. fronts. its boots if you remove the toe caps entirely. weird ass wizard desert shoes.

[cadaverousconsumer]

helloooo here are my beta kid headcanons! @icarusshomestuckfan do u remember that one convoersation we had about how i had no headcanons? well i do now!!!!

also im only doing the beta kids rn cause i dont wanna spoil anything for @giggleshitter0

ok chat starting with my main dude

Dave Strider hc!! dave is definitely, at the start at least, very thin but relatively lanky bc of general malnourishment from bro. however i like 2 think that he would become healthier throughout the comic and eventually become a healthy weight for his height. dave i think, if he went 2 school i think people would like him and think he was cool and wanna hang out buttt i think that he wowuld only have a couple good friends like the other beta kids buttt like his irl friends. i think dave definetly learned many domestic chores at a very young age. however i think bro would care about how dave looks, like his style and whatnot, but it would be strictly mandated by bro, with lil room for dave to express himself differently from bro. i think that dave is biracial bc i think roxy is black n dirk is pale asf in a white way.

kk now for our unoffical main character the nicest sigmaest guy john!

John Egbert hc: just clariying i think june egbert iis totally cool and probably canon buttt i personally never rly thought about it b4 getting into the fandom so i have no headcanons for her so here r my headcanons for john. john definitely is on the chubbier smaller side imo. his dad does bake a lot! i think john had a pretty good upbringing and was pretty happy with his bad movies and prank obssession. at school he probably had a couple nerdy friends and tehy were all very close! i dont think he would play dnd buttt if he did i bet thats where he would meet his friends, stranger things style. john is a classic nerd and people like him bc hes so nice and very considerate. john likes basketball n has fun playing it but isnt very good. i think john is half brazilian bc i think jake is brazilian but alpha kids are for another day haha. john has definetly broken his glasses a few times tripping over things. i think hes a bit clumbsy lol.

now onto our goth queennnn rose

Rose Lalonde hc: rose definitely had a rough childhood 2 but i think her mom took more care of her then bro did even if it was only 2 play the role of motherhood for her passive aggressive tendencies. she definitely stopped doing anything (other than vacuuming lol) once rose was old enough to do it herself. i think roses hair is bleached and straightened to oblivion and when she gets older shes defintely gonna wish she hadnt done it so much when she was younger. i think at school many people would have wanted to be her friend but she prefered more solitude, for wizard fanfics and eldritch god study. i think rose is shorter and curvier, (i def like the idea of her being shorter than kan) and a bit darker than dave. she started her intensive makeup routine in the hopes of attracting her mothers attention negatively, but with no luck. however she kept up with it because she found she liked the repetitivness of putting it on each morning, as well as the fact that it fit her overall aesthetic.

now for everyones fav doggie girl, jade!

Jade Harley hc: i love jade i think she is sooo cute. jade had an interesting childhood, being raised by a god level dog. i dont think it was necessarily bad just... very different from the other kids. i imagine she was left unattended a lot, but bec would always be aware of when to teleport in 2 save her. her hair is very long and has never really been cut officially due 2 living in the woods. jade is completely homeschooled and has nevre left the island. i think jade is rather petite and pretty thin overall... i imagine dogs probably arent the best at nutrition for humans haha. even tho jade doesnt know any kids her age in person i think she probably had many online friends and spent a lot of time online, playing games, watching videos, and just messing around. i think she learned bass from a youtube video. jade is also half brazilian cause jake

well those r my shitty headcanons

[jazlynriddle]

Welcome to your life - Pt 1:

Everybody Wants To Rule THEIR World Ch 13:

Summary:

"You need only close your eyes to it and be happy and safe with us."

The Keeper (player) has already secured the repository and Sebastian's loyalty, emboldening his descent into darkness. Now, they just need to win over Ominis, cure Anne, and create a domain to call their own.

And not necessarily in that order.

The Keeper's tale, a post-game story of a morally-grey, pragmatic, Chaotic Neutral, non-binary, muggleborn, orphan player character, so burned by 1800s orphanages, that they became a power hoarder who demands more payment for quests, burns paintings but doesn't want to rule the world, just their own territory and the two boys who'd caught their eye.

Warnings: Sebastian x MC x Ominis! Spoilers! Dark content! Slow-burn canon-compilant corruption! Fucked up 1800s orphanages! MC has no love for Anne or Solomon! Dubious happy ending (it's happy for MC, Seb and Ominis at least).

You can also read on AO3! (chapter specific warnings below)

Notes:

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, descriptions of blood and injuries, all that fun stuff.

So, I'm about to be a Game/Dungeon Master for a homebrew DnD campaign for the first time tomorrow, and I'm absolutely terrified- wish me luck and I hope ya'll like the chapter! TvT

Ominis hummed absently as he tended to the small garden outside the Feldcroft house. The Keeper had brought back some Plantain seeds with them from their last trip to Dìon Castle for him to plant in their garden.

It never hurt to have some on hand, in case they needed a healing salve for internal injuries that wiggenweld couldn't heal.

Hearing the sound of the front door opening and footsteps approaching, Ominis lifted his head curiously. From the light and carefully measured footsteps, it was likely to be the Keeper, since Sebastian’s stride was more quick and confident.

"Heading to Dìon?" Ominis asked with a small smile.

He’d come to realise over the school break, that the Keeper was always doing something. The only time they were still, was when they were thinking and planning, or sleeping.

He really wished they did the last one more often, Ominis simply couldn’t understand how they could function with so little sleep. Somehow, they’d even managed to find the time to complete their holiday homework while juggling their management of the castle.

The Keeper's voice reached his ears. "Yes, I'll be checking on the elves and I found a cave down by the lake I wanted to search for limestone."

"Alone?" Ominis' concern was plain in his voice, exploring was dangerous, especially without magic.

The Keeper chuckled fondly. "No, I will be exploring with Sebastian and Tynx, if and when Sebastian finally gets off the bed."

"I'll kick Sebastian awake if he doesn't get up soon then." Ominis shook his head with a wry smile.

"Tell him to get his arse to Dìon or I'll go without him." The Keeper's voice drifted away with a playful lilt, followed by a gust of wind.

Ominis brushed a hand over his hair, checking for any stray strands that might have been tossed by the Keeper’s broom. How did they even get such a fast one-

"Was that the fifth year mudblood?" A scathing masculine voice grated on Ominis' ears from somewhere off to the right. It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Looks like, what the fuck is that thing doing in a wizarding village like Feldcroft?" That voice was easier to recognise, a boy from the Macnair family, which helped Ominis place the other voice as Selwyn.

What in Merlin's name were those sixth-year bullies doing here?

"Oh, Sallow's guest? Well, they've been living with him since the break began." A feminine voice replied, one of the Ndiaye twins, Ominis easily figured.

"Sallow? I guess he has been hanging with it recently, can't believe he'd let that thing live with him, doesn't it stink the place up?" Selwyn sniggered nastily and Ominis struggled to quell the anger that swelled in his chest.

"We should teach it that it doesn't belong in a village like this, let alone our noble House." Macnair spat. Ominis tensed in alarm.

"Babe, come on, let's not waste time talking about other people." Another voice joined the conversation Ominis was eavesdropping on, that was definitely the other Ndiaye twin sister.

"Yeah, it's not every day we have the house to ourselves." The first sister's flirty voice reasserted itself.

"...fine." Macnair's voice was reluctant but quickly switched back to a cocky drawl. "Did I mention that we're able to use magic outside of school now?"

"Wow, really?" The second Ndiaye twin tittered in exaggerated amazement.

"Of course…"

Ominis relaxed as the giggles of the girls and the boys' voices faded into the distance. It looked like the Ndiaye twins were dating a pair of sixth year Slytherin bullies. Great taste. Or maybe it was their money the twins liked.

He'd heard of Macnair and Selwyn bullying half-bloods and muggleborns relatively often. Sadly, with Professor Black as the headmaster, ruffians like them were getting away with it far more than they should.

Hopefully they wouldn't try anything, the next term was their seventh year after all. Surely, they wouldn't compromise their own graduation by doing something stupid only a week before the new school year.

"What's down that alleyway?" The Keeper asked curiously as they shoved the last textbook they'd purchased into their pouch.

Sebastian glanced in the direction they were pointing. "Oh, that's Knockturn Alley."

"Doesn't seem as popular as Diagon." The Keeper mused, noting the way the crowd flowed past the entryway, as though trying not to acknowledge its existence.

"For good reason, Knockturn plays host to many dangerous and unpleasant people." Ominis muttered darkly.

"You've been down that street before, then?" The Keeper asked, their interest growing at that statement.

"Unfortunately." Ominis grimaced. "My family often has dealings with unpleasant people. So, I've been forced to accompany my parents now and then. Trust me, you don't want to go there."

"Well, at least while we can't use magic." Sebastian whispered into the Keeper’s ear with a grin.

"I heard that." Ominis glared in Sebastian's direction. "Trust me, having magic wouldn't make it any less dangerous, particularly for you, Sebastian."

The Keeper shook their head. "I agree. Your emotional self-control is still not ideal for a dangerous encounter that can't end in murder."

Sebastian grumbled but, to his credit, didn't argue. Ominis looked mildly unsettled by the Keeper's wording but also relieved to have had them on his side on the subject.

"Let's get going then, we still need to buy potion materials and I want to check out the rest of Diagon Alley." The Keeper nudged the boys along as they continued past and away from the fork leading into Knockturn Alley.

If Ominis thought the Keeper wasn't eventually going to explore Knockturn Alley on their own, they weren’t going to correct him.

Sebastian'd had a point, traipsing into a dangerous place without magic would be foolish. As such, the Keeper would simply wait till they got an opportunity to investigate during the school year. For now, they would focus on acquiring the materials and textbooks needed for the new term.

Hopefully they’d still have time to see everything Diagon Alley had to offer. They'd already burned a decent amount of the day in a meeting with Fixtlick Flitwick. He'd given them their shiny new vault key, made of goblin silver, and they'd then spent the rest of the meeting discussing the wards they wished to place on the Dìon Castle grounds.

The Keeper had requested some basic wards; the unplottable ward that removes a location from all maps, the anti-apparition ward that prevents apparition within its borders like in Gringotts, a distraction ward like the one on the Leaky Cauldron entrance to Diagon Alley, and an illusion ward that made the plot appear to still be a hill with some ruins rather than a proper castle.

They also got a rather expensive blood binding ward that gave them full control of any magical aspects they add to their territory. Such as detection charms that would go off if anyone approached their land and allowed the Keeper to track intruders. As well as grant or deny the ability to apparate freely and permit access to management of the wards.

These protections would have to do, till they could figure out how to cast the Fidelius Charm. Which would render a majority of the basic wards moot, but the Keeper wasn't going to risk their sanctuary just to save some galleons.

The Keeper paused, noticing Sebastian staring into the window of a gaudy looking shop. They couldn’t imagine what could possibly be attracting his attention in there.

"How much money do we have left?"

"No."

"Come on, Ominis, I haven't even said what I wanted to buy!"

"You don't need to, Sebastian, we don't need it."

"Ominis!"

The Keeper's eyes were narrowed in concentration as they measured and calculated the quantity of limestone that they had been collecting for the last three days from the caves they'd explored with Sebastian. Scribbling notes on the journal that they were using to keep track of the work they'd been putting into the plot over the past five weeks.

It had been slow going, but it wouldn't be very long before they were ready to lay the foundations. Though that would have to wait till after school began in four days. Deciding to keep as many rare plants as they could had turned out to be even more complicated than the Keeper had anticipated.

The sheer amount of rare and valuable plants growing in random spots across the castle grounds had necessitated a tedious amount of planning in order to avoid losing them during clean up. Forcing Ominis and the Keeper to spend hours selecting various locations to temporarily move the potted plants to, where they wouldn't, well, die immediately.

The house elf magic of Tibsy and Tynx had been instrumental in the actual uprooting, potting and relocation of the plants and, over the course of working together, it seemed that the elves were becoming more comfortable around the Keeper.

"Master, we've finished tending the plants, perhaps Master should consider retiring for the night?"

Well, the elves still insisted on calling the Keeper 'Master' despite having been given free rein to call the Keeper literally anything.

The Keeper shot Tynx a lazy smirk. "Giving me orders? You've been spending too much time with Ominis."

"Not at all, Master, merely a suggestion." Tynx lowered his head respectfully, adjusting his coat as he did. "Tibsy has already returned from preparing dinner at the Feldcroft house."

"Is that so?" The Keeper sighed, tucking away their journal. "Very well, Ominis would be upset if I skipped dinner."

"I'll speak with Sebastian about the ratio of clay to limestone needed and give you and Tibsy the verdict tomorrow morning." The Keeper summoned their broom, grasping the handle loosely. "For now, you guys can move the limestone Sebastian and I found to the Keep ruins."

"Yes, Master, have a safe flight." Tynx nodded as the Keeper mounted their broom, waving as they shot off into the night.

The Keeper smiled to themselves, honestly, the development of the castle was going much faster than they’d expected. In the muggle world, such an undertaking would be beyond ludicrous for three sixteen-year-old kids with two slaves.

In the wizarding world, it only took them a little over a month to get reasonably close to being ready to start mixing and compressing the materials to create the foundations. The collection of materials that they needed to build their castle fortress was going surprisingly smooth, thanks to Sebastian's tireless research.

The caves in the area were good sources of limestone and one could easily harvest clay from soil. Fortunately, the dry and cracked earth by the northern mountainside seemed to be particularly rich in said clay. Making cement from them shouldn't be too difficult as long as they got the ratios correct.

Same went for the Cement-stabilised Rammed Earth that they were going to use to craft the castle walls, roofs, and foundations. They'd selected this material for its ease of crafting, incredible durability, unshakeable stability, weatherproof properties, insulating capabilities and excellent shock absorption.

Cement and clay were already checked off the list, sand was easy to gather from the coast, and soil was literally everywhere.

The elves had spent the last three weeks sifting soil for clay, mixing the loose soil with water, and waiting for an hour before pouring away the debris and collecting the wet clay that sank to the bottom with bags made of fine thread. It took about a day for a bag of clay to dry enough to be used, so the Keeper and the boys had kept busy gathering everything else while the elves prepared the clay and tended the plants.

They would soon have somewhere safe to hide the repository and the Keeper could then start experimenting with their power. They could barely wait.

With these thoughts in their head, the Keeper's mood was pleasant as they arrived in Feldcroft, hopping off their broom, tucking it away, and casually strolling down the dirt path to Sebastian's house.

Which was probably the reason that they were caught off guard by a depulso slamming into their side, throwing them into one of the stone fences around the Feldcroft house.

Searing pain erupted across the Keeper’s side as they crumpled to the floor, a few stones coming loose and falling with them. Ignoring the agony, they scrambled to their feet, tucking, and rolling out of the way as a diffindo slashed uselessly against the rock behind them.

Every breath made their side scream in protest, but each throb of pain only pumped more adrenaline through their veins, sharpening their mind and senses. The instinct to fight drowning out their body’s distress.

The darkness was a disadvantage since they couldn't use magic to cast a revelio, but it seemed like their attackers didn't have enough intelligence to shut up or hide.

"Just- hic- die mudblood!" A young male voice spat, slurring through half his sentence as he threw a reducto at them.

"Nowhere to- urk- run! Expulso!" A second target shouted, sounding equally as intoxicated as the first.

The Keeper rolled again, dodging the second spell while the first shot went wide, stopping their body’s momentum behind the temporary safety of a crate.

Taking the momentary respite, the Keeper knocked back a shot of wiggenweld, tossing the bottle aside and rolling again as a bombarda hit the crate.

Seeing the boys staring stupidly at the crate, the Keeper took the opportunity to map the area, their targets were standing just a few feet from each other. Good, it'll be easier to take them both out quickly if they clustered.

Unfortunately, there were many more feet between the Keeper and their targets. The Keeper ducked a glacius, feeling their ribs creak in their chest, the wet cloth covering their side sticking heavily to the ripped skin that was still knitting itself closed along their side.

The Keeper knew they wouldn't be able to fight for very long, so they would need to focus on disarming the targets and prevent them from using their magic.

Pushing themselves, the Keeper sprinted towards the closest boy, dropping to the floor, and swiping their leg out to knock the first target onto his arse.

With a curse the boy went down, and the Keeper wasted no time, punching him square in the face. They felt a satisfying crunch against their knuckles and the boy fell backwards with a muffled wail.

"Galen!" The boy still standing shouted, stupidly throwing a diffindo that barely missed his friend's thrashing form.

Dodging his spell, the Keeper shot towards the second boy. Ducking under his outstretched wand arm, the Keeper threw themselves into his waist, tackling him to the floor.

Twisting their limbs around the boy, the Keeper kicked his wand out of his grip, stomping on his hand and hearing his fingers crunch under their boot. The boy's mouth opened to release screeches of pain, but before they could escape, the Keeper grabbed a fistful of his black hair and shoved his face into the dirt.

"Now, who the fuck are you and why are you trying to kill me?" The Keeper growled into the pinned boy's ear.

Hearing a sound to their left, the Keeper grabbed a rock off the floor and flung it at the other boy as he tried to crawl away. The rock landed square in the cowardly boy's back, knocking him back to the floor as he choked on the blood streaming from his nose.

The Keeper tightened their grip on the pinned boy's hair, about to lift his head so he could answer their questions, when they heard Ominis' worried voice.

"That way Sebastian!"

The Keeper paused, the red haze of battle clearing slightly from their mind. They probably wouldn’t be able to torture their would-be assassins with Ominis nearby. A part of them hissed at being deprived of satisfaction, but a larger part of them couldn't bear to worry him longer than necessary.

With a reluctant sigh, the Keeper raised their voice, feeling a bite in their chest as they did so. "Over here guys."

"What happened!?" Sebastian called out, as he and Ominis rushed over, alarm sharp in his voice when he caught sight of the red patch of torn cloth along the Keeper's side. "You're hurt!"

The Keeper was mildly amused when Sebastian stepped on the other boy’s back, pushing his face back into the blood covered floor uncaringly as he hastened to their side.

"How bad is it!?" Ominis exclaimed, worriedly hovering behind Sebastian.

"I'm fine, I already took some wiggenweld." The Keeper reassured them, standing gingerly. "These two drunk bastards decided to try and kill me out of nowhere."

"You fought off two wand wielding attackers without magic?" Sebastian asked, sounding impressed.

The Keeper shrugged. "I've known my way around a fight long before I took up a wand, and these morons relied too heavily on theirs, didn't even know how to dodge. I don't suppose either of you know who they might be."

The boy they'd been pinning struggled to his knees, trying to crawl away. It was a truly pathetic display.

"I recognise this one from our house, a year above us I think." Sebastian turned to glare at the boy who he'd stepped on before. "That one I'm not sure."

"Selwyn and Macnair, I believe they're dating the Ndiaye twins." Ominis grimaced, feeling guilty for not having mentioned what he'd overheard a few days ago.

"Ah yes, I believe I saw them bullying a half-blood that one time in the Defence Tower." The Keeper mused.

As they spoke, the two injured boys dragged themselves to their feet, standing together as though that would make them look more intimidating.

"Fucking mudblood, I'll tell my father and you'll be sorry for this." Selwyn spat, the words coming out nasally thanks to his broken nose.

To the Keeper's surprise, Ominis scoffed imperiously, his voice cold and biting. "Just try, if we report you to the ministry, the only damaging spells they'd find here are yours."

His sightless eyes narrowed dangerously. "I wonder how humiliating it would be for everyone to know that a wandless muggleborn laid you both out without any effort."

Macnair snarled at the offence, but backed down when the Keeper cracked their knuckles threateningly.

"You'll regret this!" Macnair growled instead, cradling his broken hand as the two bullies limped away.

The moment the two boys were out of sight, the Keeper doubled over with a groan, placing a hand over their ribs. The bleeding had stopped thanks to the wiggenweld but it felt like their ribs were still fractured.

At their movement, Sebastian quickly reached for them, supporting their weight, and letting them lean against him. "Merlin, I thought you said you were fine!"

"I am." The Keeper huffed with a pained grimace. "Relax, it's probably just a fracture, the wiggenweld closed the gashes and started the mending, but it's not as fast as a healer's treatment. I just need some rest before the bones heal fully."

Sebastian shook his head with a sigh. "Come on, let's get you back to the house."

Ominis placed a hand on Sebastian’s arm. "I'll go on ahead to start mixing a plantain salve. It should accelerate the healing process."

"Good idea." Sebastian nodded and Ominis hurried back towards the house at a brisk pace, while Sebastian refocused on the Keeper. "Alright, let's take it nice and easy."

The Keeper chuckled, wincing at the burn it caused. "My hero."

"Here to rescue your victory lap from the tragic fate of ending on your face." Sebastian grinned as he helped them stumble towards the house.

The walk felt far longer than the Keeper thought it should have, but after much effort, they were finally hobbling through the doorway and limping towards the sofa.

Pausing, the Keeper braced themselves against the backrest while Sebastian carefully cut their clothing off their body. Removing their garments, Sebastian placed the bloody cloth on the table and returned to the Keeper's side.

"Easy now…" Sebastian murmured as he helped them settle on the couch carefully.

"We need to clean off the blood." Ominis dragged the tub they used for bathing out from under the kitchen table till it was beside the sofa. "The elves would probably be helpful to give us some water for that."

The Keeper grimaced, they must be more out of it than they'd believed, to not have thought of that sooner. "Tibsy."

With a pop the small elf appeared, immediately she gasped in shock at the drying blood covering their left side. "Master! Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine Tibsy, could you summon some water in the tub?" The Keeper reassured her.

"Of course!" Tibsy snapped her fingers, conjuring water in the tub immediately.

"Thanks." Sebastian nodded, grabbing the cloth that the Keeper normally used to wash with and dipping it in the water.

Wringing out the excess water, Sebastian began to gently clean the blood off the Keeper's torso. "Does it hurt?"

The Keeper shook their head. "Don't worry about that, I'm more eager to be clean so I can lie down."

Ominis sighed as the Keeper evaded the question, shaking his head as he mixed the salve together, grounding up the Plantain with chamomile and adding the powder to a bowl with the wet ingredients.

"There, that should do it…" Sebastian nodded, dropping the cloth back into the, now red, water. Wincing at the sight of the dark bruise forming on the Keeper's skin.

He should have been there. Fighting by their side.

Sebastian felt his stomach twist.

"Hey. Don't do that." The Keeper chided, glaring at Sebastian. "I'm used to magic-less combat, you aren't. You would have been a liability."

Sebastian blinked. "...I don't know if I should feel comforted or offended."

The Keeper shrugged. "Take it however you will, it's simply a fact. Without a wand your presence would not necessarily have prevented my injury. It might have even been worse. So, stop beating yourself up for this."

"They're right Sebastian, we would have been useless in that fight, now move please." Ominis chimed in, holding up an armful of bandages and the bowl of mixed salve.

"Fine fine, I'm just in the way, I get it." Sebastian rolled his eyes as he moved to sit on the other side of the Keeper. While Tibsy snapped her fingers, vanishing the bloody water from the tub.

Ominis placed the bowl and bandages in his lap, searching out the Keeper's left arm and placing it on his shoulder. Running his fingers over the swelling bump, he carefully scooped a handful of the salve to apply over their skin.

"Thank you, Ominis." The Keeper sighed as the cool goo was gently massaged into their side. Ominis would definitely be a great healer, his careful handling of their side was delicate and steady.

After a few moments, Ominis wiped his hand on a cloth and began to bandage the Keeper's torso, Sebastian helping him hold the bandage from the other side intermittently.

The Keeper closed their eyes, they and Sebastian had tended each other's wounds often during their adventures but using magic and wiggenweld was much less personal than doing so the muggle way.

The way that they were used to.

Except that they'd always had to tend their own injuries, no one else had ever given a damn what they were feeling at any given point. So, the Keeper found themselves savouring the feeling of being so gently and lovingly cared for.

"Take a deep breath, how does that feel? It's not too tight, is it?" Ominis asked worriedly as the Keeper took a careful breath, testing the bandage to be certain that they could breathe without issue.

The Keeper shook their head, opening their eyes and gently caressing the back of his neck with the fingers hanging over his shoulder. "No, it feels just right."

Ominis smiled with relief, carefully tying off the end of the bandage and tucking the ends neatly into the folds. After that, he carefully felt the Keeper's left arm and fastened a sling around their neck for their arm to rest in.

Satisfied with his work, Ominis nodded. "There we go, try not to move your left arm too much. Now, all you need to do is rest."

The Keeper gazed at him fondly, Ominis was so sweet. They leaned forward slightly to press a kiss to his forehead. "Yes, Healer Gaunt."

Sebastian covered his laugh with a cough and Ominis rolled his eyes. Leaning back, the Keeper sighed and glanced over at the anxious house elf hovering by the sofa, wringing her soft blue dress in her hands.

Softening their voice, the Keeper gave her a tired smile. "Relax Tibsy, I'll be good as new by tomorrow evening. Could you clean up a little here before returning to Dìon? Let Tynx know that I was injured by some stupid kids and that I won't be dropping by tomorrow."

"O-of course, Master!" Tibsy beamed, quickly snapping her fingers, vanishing the remains of the salve ingredients from the table, sending the bowl to wash itself in the sink and setting the table with dinner. "Please eat, Master, Tibsy will be going now!"

The Keeper snorted in amusement as the house elf popped away and Ominis lightly bopped them on the head in response. "See? Even the elf thinks you should eat more consistently!"

"Both of them apparently." The Keeper chuckled as Sebastian stood.

"Come on then, better follow Healer Gaunt's orders." Sebastian grinned as he helped the Keeper to their feet, supporting them as they made their way to the table.

Ominis sighed in resignation as he followed behind, it looked like the nickname was going to stick. Well, it wasn’t like he really minded that much, especially if it got his reckless lovers to actually take his concerns seriously.

Sitting beside the Keeper, Ominis carefully moved his hand along the table till he found the Keeper's plate and slid it closer to himself. After using his knife and fork to examine the steak's position and size, Ominis carefully began cutting the meat into bite size pieces.

"You could just ask me to do that." Sebastian protested as he poured a glass of water for the Keeper.

Ominis shrugged. "Surely I'm allowed to help too."

"Of course, you are. Thank you, Ominis." The Keeper shot Sebastian a glare as they accepted the glass of water.

Sebastian winced. "I- yes, sorry Ominis, I didn't mean to imply…"

Ominis gave him a wry smile. "It's alright, I understand, and I appreciate the concern."

"You're spoiling him." The Keeper shook their head.

Ominis smirked as he slid the plate back over to the Keeper. "As if you don't."

"Do you have to talk about me like I'm a child?"

"You are."

"I believe you are."

"Oh, come on!"

Notes:

Ominis be like "it's dangerous to go alone, take this." *Picks up Sebastian by the back of his shirt and drops him in front of Keeper.*

Am I the only one who thinks Ominis' hair is incredibly neat? Like, wow, man must spend ages combing and gel-ing every morning.

And I mean, the last fight that Sebastian got hot headed during resulted in a death sooooooo, self-control man, gotta work on that. Also Ominis totally can't even see that the shop Sebastian was looking in was gaudy-

If you're interested in the type of bricks I'm using in this story, do check out some of the coolest bricks I've ever seen! Literally too heh heh xP https://youtu.be/9SCyGAaXvJE

[needle-noggins]

okay @madnessmadness and anyone else within the venn diagram of ttrpgs and trigun: extremely long overdue explanation of how I accidentally made Knives in a Wizard Tower the big bad of my Dnd campaign:

So. I'll preface this by saying that I stumbled into Trigun after cooking up this particular guy. I saw the clip of baby Nai laughing as the ships fell and went Oh that's what I pictured for my campaign's backstory so I watched Tristamp and everything lined up a little too perfectly.

For starters, when my players and I sat down to start this campaign, we spent the first 6ish hours just building the world. They had a ton of input and came up with a few crazy things, like a giant desert filled with ancient tech that no one understands and some wild west towns; and the ancient tech was from a hypermagical society that mysteriously collapsed and there was genocide involved too? They basically set me up for this.

My big bad is a reflavored Karsus, the wizard in canon Forgotten Realms dnd lore who tried to become a god and fucked up magic for everyone else (Karsus's Folly -> the Spellplague). This also takes a lot of inspiration from Critical Role's Calamity, what with huge cities in the sky falling and the collapse of a hypermagical society thanks to drama between gods and mortals. I sprinkled in Prince of Egypt flavor and gave him a brother who tried to fix all the stuff Karsus fucked up. Said brother, Tarovir, was an accomplice to Karsus but tried to stop him when he realized how unethical Karsus' attempt at apotheosis was. This failed and Karsus essentially died horrifically, leaving Tarovir to wander a destroyed world and try to bury the essentially radioactive, corrupting magic unravelling around them. People distrusted him, knowing he had been on the Unethical Wizard Council and was Karsus's brother, but he keeps trying, fueled by guilt and shame. Some shit happens and Tarovir dies trying to send refugees through a portal to the feywild. Whoops.

Tarovir is reincarnated centuries later as our party's horizons walker ranger, who has no memory of his past life but is getting bits and pieces via weird portals back in time as the party travels around the map. This ranger is so fucking vash-coded. That was also unintentional. The player hasn't even seen Trigun, but she's playing a lonely half-orc who pushes people away and wields a gun and wanders the desert and has an inexplicable connection to the ancient tech that's being rediscovered from that era of High Magic... hm. Wait a sec.

Anyway. Karsus is back (party doesn't know yet) as what remained of him was discovered by a vampire (big bad #2, let's think of him as Legato but a male manipulator instead of a trafficking victim) who saw what was left of Karsus and went, yes, i'm imprinting on this guy like a baby bird, he was so powerful, let me resurrect him. This guy, Vaemyx... I'm just trying to say that he sucks (and not just bc he's a vampire). He has absolutely no empathy whatsoever and he's a little too obsessed with Karsus's delusions of power and his ex-girlfriend (the warlock's Feywild patron). Anyway. I think i got away from the point, which is that Karsus is now sitting around plotting how he's going to achieve apotheosis but better this time, and he's puppeting Vaemyx to do his bidding about it. He's going to get it right, and he's going to find the reincarnation of his brother, and he's going to use his brother's innate connection to magic again and harness the very essence of all magic that flows through the world and control it, damn it.

Oh shit, I also just remembered that our paladin was a former paladin of the cult that Vaemyx also controls and she's in the weird process of breaking her oath but also kinda towing the line to avoid repercussions (this is about to fail spectacularly). That player has seen Trigun and already connected this girl to Wolfwood and his inner conflict. Yay.

I'll also say that Karsus' method of trying to achieve godhood kills a lot of people and fucks with necromancy (of course) (very FMAB style) and he has no qualms about this because, actually, non-magical and non-high wizards are scum to him. So he really doesn't give a fuck about collapsing society as he knew it except for the fact that his attempt didn't work the first time. And Vaemyx shares a similar hatred for people and wants to prove himself/also has some fucked up rejection dysmorphia and decides to make it everyone else's problem.

Anyway. I made high fantasy trigun on accident. Sorta.

[monsterlovinghours]

What about the Dons in DnD world? 🤔

I'm sure some are really easy but fell free to do an in depth analysis on their role and backstory. (The easiest one would definitely be Scarabee 👀)

Ooooohh. Since I'm on my phone and typing out long things is hard I prooooobably won't go too in-depth but I invite y'all to reblog with your own thoughts and opinions!

-A while back @realmonsterboyhours drew Bajo as a tiefling and now I can't see him as anything else. He's also bard coded, he's definitely got the charisma for it--he also plays that sexy flamenco guitar.

-You're absolutely right though, Scarabee is a no-brainer. Obviously a warlock, he's got a patron already part of his lore. Has just about every spell or potion ingredient you could think of up in his attic. As for race, I could see a half-elf. Like, there's something of the fey about him, but he's been human or at least knows what being human is like.

-Zhuk is an orc and I'll die on this hill. He's big, he's beefy, he's large and in charge. I'm also going with barbarian, based solely again on art drawn by @realmonsterboyhours of him holding a sledgehammer. Imagine big-ass swords in those meathooks of his. Or a giant axe. Or just picture him saying "fuck it" and beating someone to death with his bare hands. Look at me and tell me he wouldn't do it. Not because he isn't civilized or intelligent but because someone's gotta do the dirty work.

-Cia is an elf druid. I mean, *look at him.* Mans is about as fey coded as you can get and looks like he didn't see something that wasn't a tree until he hit triple digits. If you took the daddy energy out of Halsin, you'd be left with Ciaróg. Also, he helps his tiefling husband with his rose gardens and how cute is that??

-Gio is an enigma. He's absolutely an eldritch horror, but just for funsies, I think he'd take the form of a drow. After a couple of centuries he might change his form, but drow is his favorite. He has a lot of arcane knowledge, things that beings of this plane shouldn't know, so he just tells everyone he's a wizard. Did a lot of studying, you know.

-Saft a half-orc artificer. He's a bit of a big boi, sturdy and thick, but despite his size and his brutish heritage, he can tinker with the most delicate mechanisms. Mostly uses his knowledge to make explosives and weapons; incendiary devices are his favorite. Has built so many guns.

-Bjalla is a vampire. "hhhh but what's his race" LISTEN HERE I'M NOT CHANGING WHAT'S ALREADY PERFECT. Of course he's a fucking vampire, what else would he be? And yes, I believe he would be a rogue. No, I am not saying this because I'm also madly in love with Astarion. There will be no further questions. He's canonically an assassin, you can't tell me he wouldn't be a rogue. Yes, I have a type, leave me alone dammit.

-Mozzie gives me dwarf energy, though his size doesn't quite gel with that idea. Maybe an earth genasi? Something earthy idk. He also gives ranger vibes, someone who travels a bunch. Though in this realm of high fantasy, since internet isn't a thing, he deals in information. He can gather intel, spread rumors, manipulate the flow of knowledge from one person or place to another.

-Lag is a firbolg. He's big, he's fluffy, he's a big ol sweetheart who couldn't hurt a soul if he tried. Also probably a druid, though he's less concerned with plant life and more with animals. He's the fauna to Cia's flora.

-Devlin is a shifter. Like, it's obvious, right? Clearly he's a shifter, he's werewolf coded. And honestly, I think he's our cleric, just because I had the idea that the deity he worships is so ancient and he's been cursed so many times, he's actually forgotten its name. But also how funny would it be to have a cleric that bestows blessings and makes things holy by literally absorbing the curses and evil magic. It's fine, he's fine, it doesn't hurt! Not anymore, anyway.

[angeart]

oop yeah i can see how that would be really unclear i wasnt really thinking lol!

i love all the fantasy aus you have already and they do count as fantasy, i also tend to forget that hybrid aus are already typically fantasy-type stories and arent just canon

my brain always goes to like dnd or magic users or like. typical high fantasy with dragons and knights and wizards and whatnot when i say fantasy so i guess i forgot to specify

ANYWAY

royalty and assassin could be really cool to see like you mentioned! it would be fun roles to put grian and scar in.

specifically the fantasy vibes i was thinking of were wizards/warlocks/sorcerers (yes scar's last life series is an inspiration here) especially if they were elemental themed or something along this lines... (grian fire magic? probably been done before but like. explosions & grian. go together yes?)

or something along those lines

-burny anon

ooh yeah okay gotcha with that fantasy stuff! i think magic users can be fun, definitely!

grian and explosion magic sounds sooo fun!

i mean. fire magic. mhm. fire. not boom-booms. yeah, that.

before i even read that, my first thought with grian and elemental magic swerved from the usual elements to like. what i like to assign (and this goes hand-in-hand with being an assassin), which is like. shadow magic? void magic? something dark and shady that helps you be unseen but see everything if you know what i mean :D

i'm thinking about the magics i've assigned scar over the times. which is necromancy, earth/plant/nature magic, charmspeak... and he's been a puppeteer of sorts before in an au. he also has predisposition for trickery (<3) so illusions work.

fun fact my cuteguy in the misguided heroes au has illusion magic! to a degree.

shapeshifting is also on the table for the both of them. (i've had thoughts before of, specifically, scar saving an injured birb... but the birb is grian.) although i guess that's not the kind of magic you wanted since it has nothing to do with elements jkxnbkj—

need to spin this more in my head. i'll try to think of elemental themes we'll see what happens :3

[gnawer-of-table-legs]

THE SEEKER (SOUL VOID) HEADCANONS, THEORIES, AND ANALYSIS

SPOILERS!!!! OI!!!

tw: brief self harm mention, car crashes, death, blood mention, mental health struggles (is that too vague?). Let me know if anything needs to be added.

Demi and pan

The guy ever ❤️

has a fear of failure. It’s pretty intense, but I’m not sure if it’s to the level of Atychiphobia since Atychiphobia will usually result in the individual avoiding situations in which they could fail, and he definitely doesn’t. But. It sure does come close.

if he ever played DND he’d play a neutral good wizard. It’s the research aspect for him.

probably died in the 1960s. Fedoras had begun to fall out of fashion in the 70s, so it would give him a good time period to be wearing those (the fashion died when he did 😔)

ALSO: Car safety regulations began to be a concern in the 1970s. There, manufacturers started offering airbags and anti-lock brakes, better seatbelts, etc.

quote from a source I ain’t citing: “President Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 into law on September 9, 1966”

I’d like to imagine he died right before those car safety regulations. For the Irony.

He canonically uses phrases like “post-haste” so I’m putting him in the humanities field. Maybe history major with a minor in philosophy. (Did they have majors and minors back then? Probably not in the same way we do now)

Because he died trying to get someone out of a car crash, I assume that he had been one of the people in the car when it crashed— otherwise, how would he have lost his life by just approaching the car and trying to pull people out? Sure, Fire/car exploding is possible. But since he’s shown to have glass shards stuck in the same places where his scars are, I assume that he died from the broken glass of the car -> over exerted himself trying to save others and bled out.

The Seeker is completely unaware of how many void residents stan him (we all saw the Husk’s mural of him)

(is it a mural if its on the floor?)

Probably has imposter syndrome.

bitchass motherfucker would cry at sad movie scenes (unless someone else is also crying)

some theories:

It’s been confirmed that a soul’s journey through the SV depends on the soul itself. There was a guy in the Respite Biome that described a starkly different experience than the player’s, and then came to conclusion that the journey was different for everyone. However, I still think souls can cross paths if they share something in common with other souls. So if each biome represents an aspect of the individual’s trauma, then the biomes in which the Seeker has been should give insights on his character, right? Because he talked to the Respite Entity and inspired them to make a change before leaving— and yet the Leech does not seem to have met him (with how lucid she is about her situation, she would definitely have been able to collaborate with the Seeker in some way, and yet he isn’t mentioned). Even though the Leech Biome (guilt, I think— guilt and being toxic/parasitic in relationships) is very close to the Respite in the player’s journey, the Seeker does not come across it because it is not a trauma he shares. His books do not appear there.

He and his books appear in the grasping forest (wanting something always out of reach, implied to be happiness, loss of self*), his books are in the enamel core and the veiny area (idk what these represent), the Sketchyard (feeling of not being good enough despite efforts to improve/bring joy to others), and the respite. *he is shown to be afraid of losing his sense of self, both in his journal entries and when he’s dying on the ground.

The glass shards area (before the Leeches and after the Respite) probably has to do with his death. Idk why the player can access it, unless they also have trauma relating to car crashes/etc— or maybe it’s more generic. Maybe that biome stands for broken glass or sharp things in general (sharp things and allusions to self harm appear throughout the player’s journey, along with a glass bottle that is so pivotal to their character that it is used as one of the three keys to access the Grim).

I think a big theme for his character is how talking with people who share your trauma/experiences or can relate to them can be helpful to both know you aren’t alone, and to share stories/coping methods. The Seeker is able to traverse many biomes (although not all) because he shares their trauma somewhat. This is further cemented by his ability to sense others emotions by touching them.

Not all souls who share experiences form healthy relationships, of course. Some can become unhealthy/manipulative/dependent (ahem ahem, Grim and Leech). The individual needs to take steps to maintain healthy relationships (as is with any relationship, regardless of who is involved).

@captain-will

Now that you’ve finished the game I have released the hcs

[transrathma]

ok so. kaine has obviously existed longer than bg3 and gale have, so with that in mind i have two questions

first of all, who was kaine before bg3 and gale? did kaine have a different partner? did kaine as a character change at all when you put him in bg3? is bg3 canon now?

and secondly, what made kaine x gale make sense? what made it happen? what made it grow to this immense size?

one of these days i could probably sit down and share all of kaine's history + lore but that would require my brain to work in some organized way so likely it won't happen</3 but this i can do

[deep inhale]

the first thing to know about kaine is that they were born entirely of whatever the fuck happened to my brain the first time i watched the music video for move by taemin. they were an idea way before this, but literally within 24 hours of this album drop they became a fully realized creation.

in their very earliest iteration, kaine was the only child to a minor noble family in an unnamed nation somewhere in faerun, and they were born very sick and as such grew up intensely sheltered. prior to their first campaign (hoard of the dragon queen lmao) they ran away from home in an attempt to prove to themself that they were strong enough to... well, to live.

eventually, they became the central part of an original setting, which i then created a homebrew dnd campaign centered around. the first time i ran a game in their setting circa 2018 they did have a bit of a fling with another npc, but it was more or less a tactic to tie their two parts of the story together. that game fell apart and when i began it again, rewritten (more than a year and a half ago!) that npc was no longer a part of it. they're still the main driving force behind the campaign - it was their prophecy that brought the party together, and they're using the party as their ticket to the outside world.

kaine didn't necessarily change much when they were stuck in bg3. i changed their lore a little bit, of course - the crux of my homebrew setting (osoa) is that it's a small place inside what is essentially a demiplane snowglobe, and what the people there perceive as the "spiritual plane" is the layer of the cosmos that separates them from faerun. in that version of events, kaine learns the truth through an arcane connection across the planes with another character (we don't have to get into his crazy ass rn) and kaine's efforts (along with the efforts of a cult of fanatics) end up shattering the glass and reconnecting their demiplane with faerun.

for bg3, all i did was push that story up, and made kaine more passive in it - osoa was reconnected with faerun when they were young, partially as a result of the ritual that imprisoned their magic, and by the time they grew up, it was old news.

so no, bg3 isn't their "canon" - although it's not any less canon than their original story, i think. there's the kaine that exists in their og story, the kaine that exists in my dnd campaign, and the kaine that exists in bg3 - all loosely related but equal in the end. i use them for basically anything i get the excuse to, anyway.

now. kainegale. [grabs you]

i hadn't actually intended to romance gale when i started playing bg3! i didn't play early access and my first campaign was a different character altogether, who i abandoned about 12 hours in because i fucked up a bunch of shit and also because gale had grabbed me by the dick.

i made kaine for gale early on because i saw him as a good foil for them. kaine is a sorcerer, but they spent their whole life studying magic theory. they weren't allowed to use their magic to their full potential because of its volatility and the nature of its imprisonment, so they were made to study everything they could in an attempt to ensure their safety. this, of course, built up resentment for magical theory and school and lessons and whatnot. gale, of course, is a wizard, and loves to read, but more importantly he loves to teach.

it is vital to understand this in the context of their relationship - gale changes everything kaine thinks they know about what magic is. not only is he a practitioner of a different type of magic altogether, but when he speaks, kaine wants to listen. they can hear the value in it. he makes it matter to them. and if there's more than a little bit of a professor/student complex in there, well. that's just the effect a little bit of positive reinforcement has on a motherfucker innit

and the more i got to know gale, the more i really felt that he and kaine were made for each other dkjsdfkjksd that sounds so corny but it's true.... there's just so much about them that i didn't do intentionally that makes me absolutely insane.

the symbolism. his name is gale for fuck's sake - the storm imagery is built in to his character. kaine is a blue draconic sorcerer - they're lightning, they're thunder, they're a raging windstorm.

as if this wasn't enough, they really are two sides of the same coin. they've both been dehumanized without realizing it, in totally opposite ways. gale by his relationship with mystra - she built him into something she could use, she made him think he was nothing without her, and then ripped everything away from him when he acted of his own will, effectively proving it. when we meet him, he thinks he's nothing. even in act three, at the carnival - "gale thinks that he, and the world, would be better off if he were dead."

compare this to kaine. they've grown up being told over and over that they are the strongest mage their bloodline has produced in generations, that they are the scion of house silva that is going to lead valais into a new era of prosperity, that they deserve all this and more - but they're not allowed to feel it. they're not allowed to leave the palace, they haven't been named or coronated to their people, their existence has been all but kept secret outside of their country, and they're not allowed to use their power. they've been magically shackled for as long as they can remember. their power is nothing but a tool, and it's not a tool that's at their disposal.

kaine teaches gale how to choose himself. gale teaches kaine how to be themself.

and their personalities, too. idk. i have these Thoughts and Theories about gale's time as mystra's chosen, and how he essentially has to adjust to being mortal again, and how kaine is all new to the world and experiencing everything for the first time, and just. im fucking holding them so tightly in my hands

of course all of this just exacerbates the most harmful parts of themselves, and everything gets worse before it gets better, but they are so. they just get each other. idk. it was like i didn't even try - they just became this thing that i am merely a conduit for. my muse, as it were

thank you so much for asking<33 there's so much more i could say about all of this i'm sure. i'm just so crazy about them both