#and i think i want to make it steampunk(ish?)?????

[crystalizedcryolite]

While waiting for me to finally finish the next chapter..

DESIGN ANALYSIS FOR MY VIGILANTE AU >:D

As always, let's start in rainbow order! But first things first; all CG members have matching eyes, in one way or another! Red has yellow eyes, Orange has green eyes, Yellow has orange eyes, Green has blue eyes, and Blue has red eyes!! I might change things depending on how it looks, though.

Anyway, Red!!

I'll admit, I'm definitely giving him a design upgrade, but let's talk about this one.

Ah, the classic yellow bandanna. How could I leave it out? It's iconic!

His hair is definitely the wildest out of everyone's. A lot of black and grey in his design, too, which makes the yellow bits and the light-up shoes REALLY stand out.

The yellow matches his eyes and bandanna, and is reminiscent of that media trope with seeing yellow eyes peek from the darkness. The mask is, of course, to hide his face. Red didn't really seem like the guy to wear a visor like Green, or cover his entire face like Blue, so he gets that mask! Might change that, who knows.

His outfit looks thrown together with not that amount of effort. Very casual, as Green pointed out. Before Orange, he was the latest addition to the team, which can mean he can be a bit inexperienced. Wanted to convey that somehow!

Light-up shoes, oh, light-up shoes... who doesn't love them? Green certainly doesn't, but Red disagrees!

Next one!

Orange/Sketch

Now, I didn't draw their vigilante outfit yet, but I added the description of it to give an idea!

I wanted her hair to give a very anime-protagonist feel, if that made sense? Not sure if I got that right but it works for me! And hey! Freckles!

Working clothes: His pants are covered in paint to give an artist-like feel. (I should know. I paint a lot and some of my clothes did NOT survive the process.) As for the top and apron, I wanted it to feel like an actual café worker's uniform without it being a basic starbucks rip-off.

Vigilante outfit: VERY reminiscent of outfits animated characters would wear in scenes where they're doing some graffiti on the streets. That was my main inspiration behind the design.

Also in dark colors. They have to blend into the darkness and stuff!

The pouch mentioned was for practical sake; as is something I like to do when thinking of designs. And it helps with the artistic urge to draw at any time, regardless of what the situation is.

Not much to say about Orange's design, besides the fact that I wanted to give it a very protagonist-y vibe.

Yellow/Y

The second design is more or less his actual vigilante outfit, buuuut yeah!

Curly hair -despite my inability to draw it- and Yellow has been a favorite hc of mine!

His outfit is somewhat inspired by steampunk? Not exactly, but I DID have steampunk in mind while making it! The pilot's jacket was the best change yet.

Someone on a03 has told me that he looks like Alan, somehow! I'm not sure if I see it, so does anyone else see it? It would be a funny coincidence if so!

Green/Songbird

His hair is my favorite part of my Green design so I HAD to keep it! The classic headphones are there with a gamer-ish colour scheme.

VERY hip-hop and streetdance inspired! His visor is a reference to the sunglasses Orange gave him in the "More Faces" short, rather than his sunglasses in the Influencer Arc.

His clothes are a reference to the clothes I see my sister wear for her own dance training, and I love streetwear in general, so its a perfect fit! The necklace is just for show, though. Nothing practical about that, but it does look cool! Plus, it's a notion to his powers! His outfit is practical, but still shows off somehow, just like Green!

My vigilante!Green is the most experienced in the group, so I wanted him to look that way, somehow? And he definitely looks the most professional! I think!

Blue/The Witch

The second member to join the vigilante team!

I HAD to give her a hat. The witch's hat is a must. Practical? Not exactly. Cool? Yes, indeed.

The mask is my favorite part. A direct reference to the "Faces" short, AND a good way for Blue to, ahem, mask her identity (hehe a pun)

The sweater and coat combination seems strange, but it looks a little like a modern witch outfit? Trenchcoats definitely give a vigilante vibe in a way, and Yellow already had one, so Blue gets a belt and a sweater to go with it!

Blue definitely needed a bag for her potions. She can't just make them on the spot!- well, she can, but it would still be a hassle! She'd be the most practical when it comes to her clothing for vigilantism, after Yellow.

Purple/Aeolus!

Obviously, the cloak is a reference to elytra. The green hairtie, the bag and the cloak buckle is a reference to their mother, Orchid. You can see the vines on the bag strap, the flowers on the bag and buckle, and the leaf-shape on the hairtie.

There's also a lot of green on them, wink wink ;3

To hide their identity, they cover a majority of their face with the cloak hood!

It was hard to balance the colors, but I'm happy with the results! This one is simple compared to the others, but its still cool nonetheless!

Purple was meant to have ripped jeans but my drawing ability to low, so... sorry, Purple.

AAAAND THAT'S ALL! Sorry if this seemed boring or disappointing, or whatnot. I tried my best!

[gothicromancebf]

my problem lately is that i want to write a new story but i just have a bunch of loose ideas and i dont know how to string them together or i just keep changing my mind about what i want to do 😭

[hazshit-hotel-hater]

Sir Pentious Redesign! (2/7)

It took way longer than expected to get this guy out but I think it was worth it!

Going to start off with the biggest gripe that Vivzie never makes characters look like their respective eras or set times. For Sir Pentious finding out hes OLDER than alastor made my jaw drop to the goddamn floor. While I was inspired by fashion from 1888, I mostly wanted him to have a steampunk-ish vibe and give him some things from times different than when he died. I guess I’m a bit guilty of making him look like he’s from a different era but he still doesn’t look modern I guess?

I took a big chunk of inspiration from the King Cobra for his colours and scales but I think leaving the type of snake he is a little ambiguous is more flexible.

Things like the green in his eyes and vest and gloves are once again my usage of the sin colour wheel I go crazy about. Sir Pentious is a very envious person in the show to an extent and definitely is in my rewrite. I also kind of wanted him to look like an opposite to Angel Dust with all his pink because inverted colours yknow. Seeing as they eventually become friends and all that in my rewrite I’d like for them to look nice together!

The brown is also a lot easier on my eyes than the black and red and yellow was so I’m pretty happy with that too. I was very attached to his goggles though so he gets those and the little extra magnifying bits for designing

I think I’ll eventually end up adding more to this post later on but for now this is what I’ve got so far! I love this funny british snake and I plan to get the next redesign out much sooner… hopefully. 🧹

[astra-galaxie]

So...quick question. How would you rank each CC game in terms of character design? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Oh! Good question! Let me get some pictures, and I'll come back with my list!

1st place: Mysteries of The Past

I LOVE the character designs of MotP! It does an amazing job at replicating the style of the late 19th century, which it's supposed to be set in, and while some things aren't entirely period-accurate, I love it regardless! Also, the characters' physical appearances are detailed and unique, creating a large diversity among this season's cast.

Plus, Victorian Steampunk is one of my favourite styles (even if I don't wear it), so that's an added bonus for me!

2nd place: The Conspiracy

This season showcases how much Pretty Simple's character designs have improved since its release, as it brought back many S1 characters. The details in the designs are beautiful, and this is also when PS started trying more facial expressions and poses for the characters. This season is a perfect example of how character designs can be improved with practice, so it earned second place!

3rd place: Travel in Time

S6 gets third place thanks to how many different periods' styles it's replicated. We had Ancient Times, the 1960s, the Renaissance, the future, the Age of Sails (which I love pirates, so bonus!) and Medieval Asia. This season had so many unique styles within it that it's only fair it should be in the top three! I think the only reason it's not higher up is because it's shorter than the other seasons, and while I don't know if I would want it to go for 60-ish cases, it would have been interesting to see what other times we could have visited.

(I still think we should have visited MotP during S6, but that's an idea for another time, so I'll shut up about it for now!)

4th place: Supernatural Investigations

S7 gets fourth place, as I love seeing its take on different supernatural creatures. I am a HUGE fan of the paranormal and magic, so this season is right up my alley! While some designs could use improvements (*cough* the demons *cough*), I still like seeing all the different mythical creatures. Regardless of the things I would choose to change to improve some of the characters' designs, it did an excellent job making characters who are so different than what we see in other seasons.

5th place: Save The World

Save The World is when I feel that Criminal Case really started to branch out with its diversity in character designs. We visit so many countries throughout the seasons that it makes sense for the characters to reflect the differences between nationalities. I won't speak for how accurate some of the designs are for all of the nationalities featured in this season, but I think PS did a good job designing characters to represent each country. You can even see it among the Bureau since few members originate from the same country. Overall, StW has fantastic character designs, even if the following seasons have more details.

6th place: City of Romance

OMG! Who would have thought we'd ever see the day CoR DIDN'T come in last place on a list?! (At least I don't recall them ever not being in last place...)

Even if CoR failed horribly at being the final season of CC, the character designs are good. Some characters I like more than others, but overall, they have plenty of details without being overwhelming. Had CoR gotten the chance to be a full 30-case season, we might have seen more characters come back from past seasons and see the design improvements like we did in S5 and S6. Like I always say, CoR had the potential to be better than it was, but at least the character designs weren't a total flop!

7th place: Pacific Bay

(AnxietyFluffy, please forgive me for putting S2 so low on this list.😭)

While I enjoy PB's plot and characters, unfortunately, I had to put it so low on the list since, compared to other seasons, its character designs aren't as impressive to me. Mainly, it's because it's only the second game, so PS was still working on improving character designs. While I can see an improvement between S1 and S2, it's just not enough for me to put PB higher on the list. But, I still think PB did a good job creating diversity between districts, and while I will always question how the climates of these districts coexist, it was nice to see the differences reflected in the character designs.

8th place: Grimsborough

Last but certainly not least is Grimsborough! While it's nostalgic and the game introduced me to CC, sadly, its character designs showcase the fact that it's the first game. I would never say the designs are bad, but they're not as good as they were in the following seasons. There's something simplistic about the designs compared to feature seasons, but I still enjoy them. However, I am glad that PS started making the characters more detailed and unique in the following seasons, and I wish we could have seen more S1 characters come back in future seasons to see how much their designs could have improved.

I loved seeing how PS's character designs improved over the course of their 8 games while staying true to their CC style. I've always enjoyed the style and characters of this series, and it was fun to pick which ones I liked most! I'm sure others would put the seasons in a different order based on character designs, but I'll stand by my choices.

Thank you for the ask, eggsandmasks! You always send me some fun brain teasers!😁

[kitkat121306]

So I’m planning on making a one piece vampire dnd-ish AU and I need help.

The vampire part is a bit complicated but the gist of it is, you have three types of vampires, devils, damned and donors. Devils are those born from two vampires, Donors are also born from two vampires, but their blood can turn others into vampires. Regular vampire strengths and weaknesses for them. Damned are the ones who turn into vampires by drinking blood and get various powers( this Au’s version of devil fruit users). Damned aren’t affected by the sun.

I say dnd-ish cause I really like all the concept with the classes so I’m using those, but not the whole world lore. Aside from a few google searches I don’t know much about the different classes.

I want to give all the straw hats classes to help with the lore of the Au. So far this is what I got:

Usopp: Archer-Ranger, but he still uses his sling shot, I chose this for obvious reasons.

Nami: elementalist, from what I understand they usually have one max two types of elements, but because of Nami’s weather related abilities in the anime I’m thinking of just letting her have 4 elements but be more of a glass canon.

Robin: sorcerer(?) who specializes in rune magic, gonna combine rune with poneglyph lore. I think her devil fruit power works well with rune magic.

My biggest problem is with the close range combat types, I’m just overwhelmed with the options. I’ll give a brief description for each crew member.

Luffy is obviously a damned, but he doesn’t regularly drink blood like other vampires. Instead he eats copious amounts of food.

Zoro an ex-mercenary, also known as Vampire hunter Zoro. He just hunted vampires because they were the jobs with the biggest pay. He isn’t affiliated to any group.

Sanji is the escaped prince of the germa kingdom. The germa family are descendants of dragons and after many experiments ichiji, Niji and Yonji can all turn into dragons, Sanji is the only one who doesn’t have this power but he still has increased durability, fire resistance and strength.

Jimbei is a sea monster from Sabaody lagoon

Brook won’t be a vampire he’ll just be some type of undead creature. I like the idea that he turned into an undead by accident.

Chopper will be a reverse weredeer so he turns into a human on the full moon. Because he turned part vampire as a reindeer, when he turns into a human he loses all his power. All his transformations are a result of the vampire blood, he was just born as a reverse weredeer.

Franky i have no idea, he’s just Franky, but with a steampunk aesthetic, he adds gears and pipes just to make stuff look cooler but they’re completely unnecessary.

If any of y’all are still reading I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

[mystic-orb88]

Wake Up, Viktor Fans:

So I’m thinking this is nice. It’s certainly.. Something. I want to buy it and take care of him forever. He’s adorable. Honestly had lower expectations. Also, it’s absolutely HILARIOUS we got a major design leak from a bloody PONY. Priceless!! How can anyone be mad?? We all wanted him to get SOME merch acknowledgement.

Okay, so if we’re going to do a brief analysis of what little we have, because this still has some interesting things- Gold trimming that he didn’t have in League of Legends all over his armour, eye sockets in the mask that aren’t fully fiery yellow, different cane (although of course you can’t make much of it with such lack of detail), and the same cape from League, which we also see in the teaser trailer of Season 2. What intrigues me most, however is that familiar patch near the front of the cape.

Also, what if the little circles on the hooves (maybe armour cuffs around the arms and legs) are this weird little golden circles on the robes of the fanatic people. I just thought these were simple decorations they made to distinguish each other from the ‘unenlightened’ Zaunites, but now I think they serve some sort of practical function, if the Machine Herald himself is wearing them. Perhaps an alternate way of stabilising Hextech without needing Shimmer or ruins. Not to mention, they DO look slightly organic and irregular, even compared to the cartoonish steampunk-ish aesthetics of the show. So not entirely mechanised.

Overall cute design, restores my faith in his Season 2 Arc despite what I’ve been seeing people write.

Also, side note- OH MY GOSHHHH, is it just me or does anyone get trypophobia from all the Arcane-y orb stuff?? Like, last Season, it was easy to brush off, but this time round, I want to cringe and run away every time I see that goopy Coronavirus-looking orb of webs. But if it means more Viktor content, I’ll just keep putting up with it.

[mad-bird-writes]

Introduction and Current WIPs

Hiya! My name is Echo (@tousled-birdmad-girl is my main for those who care about such things) and I'm a writer. I've been writing in some form or another since I was about ten years old, but only recently plucked up the gumption and drive to attempt anything original, much less put it out for the world to see. Time will tell how this goes...

I love horror, tho I wouldn't consider myself a "genre" author, as I think horror, surrealism, fantasy and magic can be found everywhere if you know where to look, and the presence of fantasy elements does not necessarily mean you're writing a "fantasy" book. So, we'll call what I do "fiction" and leave it at that for now :D

Inspiration-wise, I draw from the works of Stephen King, everything Mike Flanagan ever put to Netflix and beyond, Paul Shapera and his ever-growing Shaperaverse, Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Palahniuk, and the Cthulhu Mythos as a whole (with a particular liking for taking the worlds, entities and themes first created by Lovecraft and using them to create something that'd make him spin in his grave.)

Below the cut: a list of my current WIPs and some general housekeeping information. If you see something that sparks your interest, please come sit by my hearth and pour yourself a drink <3

Original Works:

The Lost Souls' Revival: After a series of personal crises, struggling creative Amari Walker stumbles across a flyer advertising a strange carnival, offering "a total restoration of spirit" for the cryptic asking price of "3Y". With nothing left to lose, she attends, quickly becoming enthralled by the Revival and its colourful cast of performers, in particular its eccentric, nameless ringmaster. When her night of fun and escapism is over, she finds herself wanting more, and embarks on a one-woman quest to follow the ever-moving carnival wherever it goes, a quest that will drive her to the edge of sanity, and possibly beyond the reach of reality itself. (vibes: steampunk, dark carnival, mythology/folklore mishmash, fantasy horror, the Fair Folk, whatever the goblins were selling in Rosetti's Goblin Market)

So-Far Untitled Southern Gothic: It's 1897. The world is changing too fast. Pastor Nathaniel Lawrence is dying, for all that he's trying to hide it. His daughter, Susannah, too old for rebellion and too young for spinsterhood, is content to follow in her mother's footsteps as the town's herbalist, but a bombshell marriage proposal seems set to destroy those plans. A chance encounter with a badly wounded man may offer her the escape she seeks, but at a price: Merritt Caine is not all he appears to be, and his dark past has an unbreakable grip. (vibes: southern gothic HEAVY on the gothic, small town horror, witchcraft (fictitious and real), Satanism (fictitious and real), corruption but in a good way, religious horror, the cycle of abuse, eventual murder (of the good kind) )

The Order of The Pallid Mask: In the corpse of a city at the centre of a dying world, a benevolent cult is working to restore their world to its fabled former glory by appealing to its retreated god, The King in Yellow. Sariann, the cult's High Priestess, is willing to sacrifice whatever she must to ensure a brighter future for the city's refugees; her body, her soul, her mind. Virgil, a lower-ranking member of the Order, her confidant, attendant and trusted friend, is willing to defy the Order and his faith to keep her alive. And the Yellow King has plans and desires of his own... (vibes: Cosmic horror, Lovecraftian but make it romantic, the beauty of the unknown, rituals, creating a religion from the ashes of an old world, post-apocalypse, ancient civilization (not of Earth), Eldritch love triangle) ***

Fan Works/Other:

As far as fanfics go, I don't have any long-form WIPs on the stove, more like a series of short (well, short-ish) form drabbles, headcanons and other assorted bits, which I might as well post here when I have them as proof that I do have a creative output that extends beyond Spotify playlists and Pinterest boards.

Fandoms include:

Fallout (mainly New Vegas and the Prime series so far, but encompassing this universe as a whole)

Red Dead Redemption (particularly the second game as I haven't played the first one yet, £35 for a port of a PS2 game my *ass*)

the Flanaverse (Hill House, Bly Manor, TFOTHOU, Midnight Mass... basically everything bar The Midnight Club, which I have not watched)

the Cthulhu Mythos (if you can call that a fandom :D I was working on a queer retelling of Dreams in the Witch-House at one point, if I can *find* the notes I wrote I might bring that one out of retirement...)

plus one or two fandoms the content crucibles of which I would not subject myself to if you held me at gunpoint (iykyk)

I've also amassed a small collection of OCs from various TTRPGs I've been part of, a couple of whom still haunt my mind and may or may not be written about from time to time... (no DnD tho, I think it's safe to say we've reached saturation point with DnD-centric/derivative works) ;)

***

General housekeeping + other info: I am an adult and this is an adult writing blog by default. I will be writing smut/other sexual content and dealing with mature and dark themes throughout these listed works (and anything else I may write to post here.) I will tag for "main" triggers and give general content warnings where applicable, but I cannot guarantee to cover every single trigger a person may have, therefore, you read and interact here at your own risk. If requested, I will add more trigger warnings, but again, I can't fully guarantee to get everything.

I kindly ask that you refrain from reposting anything from this blog: excerpts, character profiles, moodboards (if I make them) etc. I also ask that you do not take anything for your personal use under any circumstances.

My inbox is open, so send me an ask if you have any questions or simply want to chat! But for now, I've rambled for quite long enough, so I'm gonna wrap this post here. See you! <3

(tagging @coffeexafterxmidnight and @dominaarts )

[larissa-the-scribe]

Hello, since I am evil and subjected you to this ask game, I will also subject you to asks mwahahaha :))))

May I request: I'm Not Here to Make Friends >:(

*Gasps, faints* How... how dare

Anyways thanks for the ask! (from this ask game)

Info:

This is from Rifters (series 1), where Kathryn is living in a steampunk/superhero world, becoming a part of the younger-hero-training-school-place. Her stint as a superhero has made her some enemies, and her friends from that world also have enemies. One of them is trying to tear down the superhero structure from the inside out, and so, as a first step, has sent his best asset minion adopted son and secret weapon to infiltrate the hero guild place (I really need to define things) as a spy. Part of his mission is also to locate a specific hero who has no traceable identity but has been a thorn in super villain's sides ever since, uh, *checks notes* the out-of-world newcomer came in and stopped the apocalypse.

Benn (currently Eabennor) is an angsty loner teenager who is just here to DO HIS JOB and he doesn't care about anyone ever-- Especially not that Nuisance (Kathryn) who keeps following him around and trying to talk to him--he's Spying and they are his Enemies (aka this is his feral kitten era).

Snippet:

“Anything else you want to say before I slam the door in your face?” He asked—hoping his bitingly sarcastic tone and smile left her little doubt that he meant it. “What about dinner?” she asked. Eabennor stared at her, halfway between exasperated and confused. “I have no idea why you’d think I’d be interested.” Kathryn blinked. “…In eating?” “What?” “Since you just got here you have to sign up for dinner,” Kathryn explained, tilting her head. “Though I suppose you’re probably not keen on interacting with people, or not today at least.” “Oh.” “But you should still eat,” she continued, “even if you’re not interested. The food is very good here.” “Yeah, probably.” Eabennor bit back any other comments that might embarrass him further—though thankfully she seemed dumb enough to not have noticed. “Supper time is usually at 6:30,” she said, tapping her chin thoughtfully, “I’ll talk to someone in the kitchen about setting aside a plate. If you go down at 7:30-ish, it should be pretty clear, at least besides the kitchen crew cleaning up. How long that takes can vary, though, so I can’t give you a solid estimate on how long they’ll be there.” “Good to know,” he said flatly, considering the viability of carrying out his threat from earlier. This whole conversation—no, this whole day—had been a complete trainwreck, and he desperately wanted to be left alone.  “Exact details for the future can be figured out later, though,” she said, smiling brightly, as if looking forward to the conversation had given her a new meaning in life—obnoxiously cheery, he thought to himself—“Matthias is the first door coming into the hallway, and I’m in the hall across the way, so if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” “Is that all.” “One last thing,” she added, with what he could have sworn was a mischievous glint in her eye, “I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.” Maybe it was petty, but slamming the door did turn out to be quite cathartic.

[tadc-harlequin-au]

OH! I have an Idea. Do you remember that little creature I showed you? Well, what if it helps Pomni?

I call it a drone, it, is good for combat by using its iron hard head to headbutt the enemy without drawing too much agro and it can help her go into places she can't cause of its small size. (It's half the height of her legs)

So what do you think?

If you want to make that a thing, then go ahead!

I'm not stopping you on your creative endeavors, the beauty of a Puppet is that you can make it anything, as long as it looks mechanical and steampunk-ish. By your description, it definitely sounds like a small companion Pomni can have, like a little dog lol

[i-write-sin-not-tragedy]

Wait can i ask what lavender is?

Oh yeah ofc!! I haven't posted about in ages rip

Its a fic I've been slowly working on thats this sorta fantasy steampunk-ish au where Angel and Charlie get fake married to avoid suspicion from both their families. Bc you know they're gay kskdks (Charlie is Bi ofc but still). Their bond is purely platonic, and i really really love the idea of a fake marriage au that stays platonic, you know?? Fake dating that stays fake, etc

Also bc i am platonic!rainbowdust trash and desperately wanted to write something for them.

Also i haven't mentioned this au in ages but i have been slowly adding ideas to my doc over time! and Vaggie has entered the picture now in my outlines.

Theres a lot of context i wont go into now, but they find her injured much like in canon, and help her heal (and ofc she and Charlie will end up together romantically)

I've been mentally trying to work out her role in the au and since Charlie and Angel are in a lavender marriage i think it could hysterical if Vaggie is Angels "mistress" more accurately thats what the three of them TELL everyone she is to avoid suspicion.

And like the idea of a servant going "sir your.....your wife and mistress are making out in the limo" followed by Angel knocking back a shot and saying "That sounds like not my problem" is sending me into space kskfkwkdksk

[steamberrystudio]

02/01/202....3!? Devlog

Halloooooo everyone!

It's been a while since my last proper update here so I am going to be posting a bit of an update and recap and plans for 2023 post. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

I think we all know my big accomplishment in 2022 was releasing Gilded Shadows and then updating the game with Quill's route. 🥳

I also fully drafted Reuben's route and did one heavy revision of it! I've gotten through my second revision up to about Chapter 9.

The un-coded word count of Gilded Shadows is 985,000 words. (For those of you who are new and haven't seen me explain this before - the "uncoded" word count is the word count in Scrivener. All the routes lose words when I code them. The coded word count in Renpy is somewhat smaller and Reuben's route isn't coded yet so I don't know how long the game will be once his route is in the game.)

Still. That's a lot of words! LoL

Gilded Shadows is still lumbering along like the behemoth that it is. When Reuben's route is fully revised and checked for typos, I'll move on to coding it and working on sprites.

And then my last route will be YUU! Yuu is going through a bit of re-planning and re-structuring at the moment but I am really looking forward to writing his route.

I do not have an ETA on release for either of these routes beyond "This year." It's impossible for me to predict how difficult the writing will be. Reuben's route has been really tricky to write just because the plot is sort of crime...thriller? ISH? And I've had to do a lot of editing to smooth out how things flow. That kind of thing is difficult to predict until you've actually started writing.

ANYWAY. Throughout the year I've written a few small things that will eventually go in the lore book and taken some notes on other things I want to include. ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

But I won't pretend 90% of my energy hasn't gone to just developing this game and getting it out there.

I have done some work and planning on next projects though. On my so called "Late Night Projects" (IE stuff I work on late at night or on weekends and my spare time). All these projects are things I hope to complete after Gilded Shadows is complete.

Some of them are experimental (trying out new features, new release styles, new game structures, etc) and some of them are stories I've had saved on my hard drive for years and just finally want to finish.

I'm really excited to eventually explore my space guilds and steampunk worlds and dark fantasy worlds and all the other ideas I have. I may have to work on these projects until I'm 90....but I am DETERMINED. 💪

Through 2023, I want to finish Gilded Shadows and all Gilded Shadows content (lore book, art book, KS rewards, etc). And then start to work on my next project!

So I hope you all stick with me - through this year and (hopefully) many years of game-making to come!

Thank you all for your endless support and encouragement. I truly hope this year is a better and happier year for everyone.

Be blessed! And I love you all. 💖💖

~Esh

[worldsfromhoney]

Ficlet Masterlist

Each ficlet has its respective warnings so pay heed to them!! I aint responsible if you don’t know how to spot the big red warnings 👁️👄👁️

Gen All The Way

Tar dan Elif

High fantasy. An assassin goes about an assignment. It’s their favourite one yet

tints, tones, tests

Punk. The occupant of a room sees two worlds in one and makes a choice

pristine clean

Magic realism. The cleaner of souls heeds the call. The body’s in a forest

this winter we played

Medieval. A statue shows up in town. It’s not as cold or unmovable as they think

Ornaments Along the Parapet

Modern. She decides to go to the old railroad bridge

counting on

Historical. This child gets candy. The price? Freedom

…and so on!

Queer platonic

The Crowning Jewel

Cyberpunk. The rebels go and rob critical information. They get more than they expected

Lines of Power

High Fantasy. An undead necromancer goes for a sleepover at a witch’s house. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Throw Thy Pride

Modern. After being imprisoned, a government agent comes back home. It doesn’t mean he comes back whole

Not Like This

Urban Fantasy. A chicken humanoid gets a scare and the farmhand is there for comfort. It’s not as easy as it sounds

S.A.D.

Modern. One day, the tattoo shop remains closed and its florist neighbour needs answers. It’s somehow what they expected and not at all

Tears For You

Medieval. The knight sees the servant when they start crying. It is on their honour that they help stem the tears

Let Me

Xianxia. A master healer’s junior comes back to the sect. It doesn’t mean they came back whole

A Home With You

Modern Dæmon AU. Local tour guide approaches seemingly lost tourist. They get more than they expect

When in Rome

Steampunk. You come upon a stranger being dismantled and torn apart. You stay and witness.

…and so on!

Gay Gay Gay

what use are labels (with you)?

Modern. A chase between a hero and a villain. To what end will they reach?

With My Heart and Soul

Historical. The best bachelor in Roma’s looking for something. He finds it in a house he’s too familiar with

He Who Tends, He Who Mends

Medieval. A knight comes home from war. He finally gets taken care of

This Godly Taste

Historical Fantasy. Playing a game with a god never ends up well. Not even if you’re the pharaoh

Jewels of Mine

Historical. In the eyes of God, love is not a sin. In this case, it is and he cannot stop wavering

My Dear Thief

High Fantasy. A thief just wants to start a new life, free from the past. But everyone dreams and so does he

Vivre Notre Amour

Historical. A revolutionary sneaks into the bedroom of one of the most protected nobles in France. They talk as they always do

…and so on!

Series Ish

Welcome to My Channel

Urban Fantasy. You go through your coming of age ceremony. You wonder how anyone gets through adulthood like this

PART ONE

FINALE

To Fall and Fall to Rise

Urban Fantasy. After years of freedom, Val’s mother calls for him. What else is he to do but come?

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

FINALE

Imposter Syndrome

Urban Sci-Fantasy. Del’s mother is dying and it’s time he claims the thing he wants most—or the person

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

FINALE

…and so on!

Do interact with this post (like/rblg/comment) if you want to be added to the taglist for any future works !!

Have fun reading love 💛💛💛

[curioussubjects]

Hey friendo! Asking you those fandom questions. <3 4, 5, and 12

hi! 💜 4: popular ship im not too invested in....hm well. im so sorry to everyone but but.....spaceparents. i have nothing against the ship; it's fine and it makes total sense. it just doesn't do anything for me especially not now that i just want to hunt bill adama for sport for being a shitty dad...really gets in the way of enjoying the ship. will i ever forgive him for torn? no i won't. i wish i liked it enough to read for it, though, because there's so much fic and im sure a lot of it is excellent. 5: favorite fanwork involving THE CHARACTER: hard choice! sadly none of them are fic, which allegedly is my main area, but OH WELL. this being the case i have to say that i have a huge soft spot for the torn-up road 2; makes me want to chew through my walls. 12: funniest/wildest au team free will as the teletubbies. this was never anything but crack on a gc in my defense lmao im still so caught up in canon divergence fix its for bsg that i dont have any au that is particularly wild. mostly they're vibes i think would be fun to play with. they're all lee/kara obviously: steampunk-ish au maybe during wartime or some kind of civil unrest idk. what matters is that i want kara tinkering with machines and lee as a politician trying to take down some robber baron scheme or stop a war from breaking out. they fly blimps at some point idk! i also like to play with a noir au with kara as a pi and lee as the barkeep with all the gossip id have gaius show up thinking he's the femme fatalle character but kara's not interested lol. --------- doing this thing

[fallencrowkarma]

My friend and I are trynna figure out ways to make the Harbingers' designs more slay than they were: Pantalone gets to have that one long ponytail with the purple orchid on the side. Assuming that he and Baizhu ARE related (and I hope they are cause UGH), his main outfit is very Liyuean but retains the Fatui aesthetic.

Sandrone abandons the whole maid getup because, even if she made the Catherines, it just would have been better if she looked like a mechanic of sorts or a steampunk-ish inventor. Not to mention she just looks so boring. I HC that she runs the technological industry in Snezhnaya, so, she deserves to have a more bombastic design. (Sorry if this was long! I was so interested in your art that I had to throw in my two cents!)

Do not apologize omg i love getting asks like this!! Actually thank you sm bcs you pulled me right out of artblock lol the brain was inspired!

I also need pantalone and baizhu to be related SO bad honestly😭 but You and Ur friend are so right about giving him a ponytail he’s so pretty :( thats such a big brain idea. as for the outfit…. I Tried LMAO i wanted something classy and seductive. I think it Ended Up with more liyue than fatui but i still think its an interesting first idea.

As for Sandrone… i’m Not very invested in her yet tbh she does look boring . While i Personally Like the maid aesthetic, i agree it doesnt really fit her all that much and it’s so bland. At least from what we have Seen so far. I think steampunk would be so cool for her! A Little fontaine inspired yk. I didnt wanna get rid of the headband so i made it similar to the flowers ruin guards have growing on them, though they Look better on the full outfit one. I dont know if i would keep that on a second Draft tbh but it was an idea. The elbow and thigh high parts also have a ruin guard Look but i think with Colors it would be more visible.

[a-suspicious-lack-of-bagel]

I've been thinking about old railway uniforms, and come to the conclusion that the textiles could be INTERESTING in a steampunk world.

If steam power is widespread and commonplace, that means that there's going to be plenty of steam piping and/or boilers around. A lot of it would probably be insulated for safety and efficiency, but that still probably means that a significant part of the population has to work around HOT steam-powered equipment fairly often. I don't think that EVERYONE would necessarily be going around in protective double denim, but I think there'd just be less demand for fabrics with worse heat resistance.

That probably means that textile innovation wouldn't focus so hard on inventing New materials; but rather on improving natural fabrics. With a focus on mechanical innovation, I think your steampunk inventor would have an ENORMOUS array of linkages available to them - for converting a continuous mechanical input to various complicated and adjustable movement patterns. I think that having a lot more workers in hot environments would also lead to wide-spread use of mechanical refrigeration.

I've seen a few videos of industrial fabric-handling machines - they seem to have a Lot spiky metal fingers making repetitive movements. I think a steampunk world would be GREAT at making those little fingers do different, interesting patterns of movement! I recently saw a Matt Parker video about a continuous lattice of 7 different directions of pencil, and there was a cool animation of its cross-section. Imagine the funky patterns you could weave with thread going in more than 2 directions - either coplanar with eachother or in 3d space. All the cool decorative patterns woodworkers can do with plywood and veneer - imagine that with thread!

One of the reasons that a lot of tradespeople wore denim was because the pattern of the fabric obscured oil and grease stains. Could you achieve the same effect with the above funky patterns if they were dense enough? SO many workwear fashion options. And if you've got hot steam on tap as well as decent refrigeration - heat treatment would be easy to incorporate. What sort of interesting features would they be heat-setting into their clothes?

And if you want to build any sort of articulated machine/robot with steam as the power source; you need something to carry that steam - a flexible, high-pressure, heat resistant pipe. That sounds like a braided hose to me - and if you're using more colourful metals than stainless steel, your steam plumbing could get COLOURFUL! You know how we have braided hoses with a red or blue strand for hot or cold water? JUST IMAGINE the industry standard colour coding schemes for different temperatures, pressures, and phases of various fluids they could have!

Colour coded flexible pressure hose reminds me of an electrical system - I wonder how a steampunk world would do mechanical calculation? Did someone say Convoluted Fluid Based Computers?? With advances in textiles, hoses, and ropes - surely at some point they'd invent wire or fibre-wrapped pressure vessels! (Just think what they'd do with carbon fibre!) A society with (admittedly probably building-sized) computers that's used to dealing with high-pressure fluids - SURELY they'd invent jet propulsion? Perhaps not for rockets or aircraft - imagine pressure-jet steampunk ships, submarines even.

Actually where I can see modern-ish chemical rocketry in a steampunk world is in miniature steam generators - either HO bipropellant (your choice of liquid or gaseous) or peroxide monopropellant. A vigorous chemical reaction with hot, fast H2O as the product - sounds like a (rather explosive) portable power source.

Anyways, TLDR i'd LOVE to see what technological innovations a steampunk world would have. What paths they'd go down for research.

[lightandfellowship]

There’s so much time between the main stories of Dark Road and Birth by Sleep—I’d love to hear any theories or headcanons you might have about what happened between the two! (I’m especially curious what you think of Xehanort and Eraqus’ first fight, since we only saw a little piece of that scene)

I think it makes sense to assume that Xehanort lost that first fight with Eraqus, which I think is the consensus amongst most KH fans? When Xehanort brings up the subject of Kingdom Hearts a second time when he and Eraqus are older, the idea behind Eraqus attacking him in order to stop him seems to be that it worked the first time. "If words won't dissuade you, only one thing will." Fighting it out must've made Xehanort stand down/change his mind (for whatever reason). Maybe he decided that he wasn't yet ready to lose his friendship with Eraqus, so he relented after being defeated. Which also explains why Eraqus is so shocked when it doesn't work a second time and Xehanort actually seriously injures him instead of just...angrily sparring with him, I guess.

I think that first fight is interesting in how it slightly recontextualizes the second fight. Because it reveals to us that Xehanort has tried to get Eraqus to agree with him about Kingdom Hearts multiple times. Does he desire Eraqus' blessing, or does he want Eraqus to actively help him on his mission? Either way, it shows that Xehanort cares enough about Eraqus/Eraqus' opinion to be persistent about it even 60-ish years later, all while knowing that Eraqus probably won't change his mind. That suggests a level of desperate hope to me; he risks having his plan ruined by telling Eraqus about it (who could then go on to stop him) but he'll take the risk if it means potentially getting Eraqus to finally validate him. Even though the likelihood of that happening is like, really small, and he probably knows that. Though of course during that second fight Xehanort seemingly gives up on Eraqus and scars him as a warning not to mess with him anymore (notably doesn't kill him though!)

As for the timeline between KHDR and BBS, I don't really have many headcanons since the games give us so little to go off of. There might be a novel blurb I haven't read or a secret report I'm forgetting about that gives us some small insight that I'm not privy to (I still need to read the novels and Character Files short stories. Also replay BBS). I imagine KHML might actually give us some answers there because of the Land of Departure still needing some explaining--it sounds like Eraqus only moved there as an old man? (From what I remember old man Xehanort says something like "I see you've settled in."). Which suggests that Scala may have been persevering for a while after the events of KHDR and before dying out completely (?).

I think the only thing I have that might count as a concrete headcanon: I believe Xehanort and Eraqus met Yen Sid after becoming Masters; I don't think their relationship has been retconned. Yen Sid says it himself that they walked the path of Keyblade Master together, and obviously he doesn't make an appearance in KHDR. I assume Yen Sid was trained by a lone Keyblade wielder out in the world, probably a mage type. Would be kinda fun if it was a Keyblade wielder from Steampunk Scala who left the world for one reason or another and settled somewhere else, maybe because they were unhappy with the direction the city was going in and jumped ship early. I imagine Xehanort and Eraqus meet Yen Sid on their travels and become fast friends once they realize that they're all Keyblade Masters (Keyblade wielding is a dying art so they have to stick together).