#and the other needs a domain related to magic

[indoorghost]

Just remembered i still have two somewhat important story roles that i currently have no characters to fill in this project

[violaextract]

NOT ONLY CLASS SWAPPED SCYTHEBELTS, BUT ALL CLASS SWAPPED FATED??

you try to give a flower to your crush and your powers go haywire smh

hi so if you saw the og class swaps i did for the fated in like,, 2020 maybe,, uhhhhhhh no you didnt ( you can see the og ones behind them in the line up )

this time i chose sub classes for them!! and they are very silly, BELOW THE CUT IS MY THOUGHTS AND WHY I CHOSE THE SUBCLASSES I DID, IF YOU WANNA HEAR MY RANTING VVVV

sylnan is circle of shepherd, i felt that it suited him, especially with the idea that he could steal from people with the help of animals, also because he lived with the rats, so,, ykyk,, also the vines can be used to climb stuff because thats cool, i love the guardian spell too, basically you get downed and you can summon a spirit that will attack anything that gets near you, ( even if the spell doesnt attack teammates or non threats its a nice idea for braad to be the only one who can get near him when this happens, and possibly as the party grows together the others can also approach him ) also the vest design is meant to mimic a ribcage, i think i had an idea of why i did this but forgot,, it just looks cool. maybe something to do with his death or his emotions, whos to say

braad, arcane trickster, SURPRISING NO ONE, hes silly thief guy who maybe became a rouge to help their situation, but he was kinda just hiding it from his brother, until the pact thing happened and then after the pact is severed, hes a trickster instead of a bard. he needs to be able to do his silly illusions, also i like to think he just happens to doge stuff, like by sheer coincidence

velrisa, college of lore, i thought because she wouldnt be a cleric for weejas, she could be a sort of, storyteller if you will, spreading the word and fighting for her god with music, she still does stuff with undead and whatnot being raised by clerics, but she simply found another way to show that,( maybe she struggled with normal cleric magic also maybe she relates to mountain )

taxi, battle master fighter, it was this or champion, but i feel like it fit what with what we know about his parents, in this he was trained and whatnot, it was probs a gillion tidestrider thing where it was fucked and he throughout the fated travels learns to fight for himself and protect the people he cares about instead of listening to what people told him he should be fighting for. also maybe he could become some sort of champion because its taxi, i love him.

mountain, war domain, like with taxi i was inbetween war domain and death domain, i felt death domain because the death of his wife maybe threw him into that, but i felt that what with mountain being in a fighting ring and meeting his wife there, that war fit better, he is a crazy good fighter and healing also possibly learnt from Hilda and heightened after her death. hes still mountain though so alcholic cleric punch healing and shenanigans, dont think that just because hes a healer now hes devoid of everything that makes mountain, mountain. plus with taxi, maybe hes very involved with helping taxi find his fight, and with vel, she knows about cleric stuff despite not being one so ykyk

okay rant over, the read more thing didnt work so IM SORRY, i put too much thought into this BYEEE

[witchofthesouls]

So, I'm just thinking now, considering how Unicron is Earth (or well, the inner-most parts of the planet, and Gaea being the outer parts and making up his prison), would that technically mean that in some cases he (or perhaps Gaea) may or may not have created some of the Pantheons of ancient Earth?

I mean it would explain why so many of the Greek Gods were such jerks.

And would that furthermore make many of the creatures and beasts in those mythologies creations of the two? Like, going back to Greek Myth, Typhon is actually a direct creation of Unicron, meant to destroy the gods, and potentially Gaea herself.

Idk, just a bit of a thoughty-think I had

Primeval Anon

I did have some thoughts related to this, but more in the 'magic was once real' area.

Personally, I think Unicron was meant to represent the 'end' of everything; he was of the Void where everything was sprang forth, he is the Call to return to it. Death, I suppose.

Gaea is an... intermediary. In a way, she's the bridge of Unicron to Primus as she represents the 'driving force of chaos in creation and death' since neither of them would completely stand on their own. Hence, why Gaea and Megatronus Prime were respectively 'born' because both step into a critical role as support/adversaries/contemporaries for the respective forces that once came of nothing. Primus needs Unicron, just as equally as Unicron needs Primus, so they made their own versions of their brothers to fill that particular void of in their lives, even if Unicron did his by mistake because he was in a coma.

The accidental union between Gaea and Megatronus would have made a nearly indestructible prison that would have kept Unicron caged definitely as he's contained on a very secluded galaxy and feed through Gaea's brand of chaos via life/death cycle of the native lifeforms... if it wasn't for the incoming visits of other Primal lineages or creations (the Quintessons and the modern Cybertronians).

Because of the absolute chaos that's combined, is it really a surprise that Earth/Gaea plays a pivotal setting across the multiverse?

In a more commentary route, when it comes to the Ancient Greeks or any of the pantheons of the ancient world, violence is an integral theme within them because they're are divine personifications of their respective domains. Life is beautiful, but it can be full of grief, suffering, and cruelty as well as joy, wonderment, and compassion. The pantheons reflect that conflicting, confounding nature.

So going back in the direction of the ask, 'magic is real' is basically the joint that holds Elsewhere and all the Other AUs because it's deeply fascinating thinking about the roles that humanity played among that. Magic is a really wild concept in and of itself, so everything can be true, even if contradictory. It's like the old philosophical and theological debate of whether or not did gods predate humanity or did humanity make gods in their image to explain the universe?

So if the power of collective faith had shaped the world holds true, then it really puts a different spin on the various tales told across the world of all kinds of folklore stealing away many humans, staying near human settlements, or the creation of certain kinds of entities, doesn't it?

[mahouowo]

Clow Card Divination 101

In this post I wish to share with you my favorite form of divination!

It's a long one so more under the read more!

The Clow cards (later Sakura/Star cards) are from the manga & anime Card Captor Sakura. The series follows a girl called Sakura Kinomoto who finds a book in her father’s study called the Clow book. The book contains Clow cards which were made by Clow Reed before his life ended; sealed away until Sakura accidentally releases them. With the Clow cards gone and only left with The Windy, the story follows her capturing all the escaped cards. When she finally has all of them it becomes clear she is next in line to become the master of them. Thus, the cards ‘evolve’ into the Sakura/Star cards by Sakura signing her name onto them.

Clow Reed and The Clow

Clow Reed was a sorcerer born with both English & Chinese heritage. His parents were from very powerful families of magic users and because of his mixed heritage, Clow Reed came to be the most powerful sorcerer ever known. He created The Clow; cards encompassing both Western (Sun) & Eastern (Moon) magic. Each card has their own personality and tremendous power. With the creation of The Clow he also created two guardians called Cerberus & Yue.

Cerberus

Cerberus (aka Kero) is one of the two guardians of The Clow. He is bossy, confident and overindulgent, but also positive and fun. Clow Reed left Kero with the task to find the next master of the cards when he died. Although Kero chooses Sakura out of consequence, he becomes her guide for The Clow throughout the story and helps her through many ordeals. His power is that of the sun & western magic and the cards under him reflect his personality and domain. Just like the sun he generates his own energy instead of needing his master’s to survive.

Yue

Yue is the other guardian of The Clow. He is cold, serious and aloof but he has a kind heart. He cared very deeply for his old master, so much so that he had a hard time accepting Sakura as the new one. Yue is in charge of judging the person Kero chooses to see if they are worthy of being the new master of the cards. Because of his hard time accepting anyone other than Clow Reed it took a while before Sakura could convince him; not wanting to hurt him. His power is that of the moon & eastern magic and the cards under him reflect his personality and domain. Just like the moon he doesn’t generate his own magic and needs his master’s energy to survive.

System

The Clow cards work under a hierarchy. The attribute cards rule over the elemental cards and the elemental cards rule over every card underneath. When laying cards, if any of the attribute cards or the elemental cards come up they influence the reading greatly with their meanings.

The Suits

The Light Suit

The cards under The Light stand for all that is everyday life, lightheartedness and fun. The exception to this suit is The Shadow, but without light there is no shadow, thus it is included here instead of The Dark suit. I also relate The Light suit with the major arcana in tarot, albeit the positive side more than the negative side. Positive things like having good fortune or good things that we do not have immediate control over.

The Dark Suit

The cards under The Dark stand for all that is mysterious, unknown, and otherworldly. This includes parts of life we might not like, but still have to go through. Just like the Light suit I relate The Dark suit with the major arcana in tarot. It talks about things we thus far had no control over, but notifies us to think about those aspects and invites us to take the necessary steps for positive change. It will be a challenge and we might even fear it, but life is filled with ups and downs. When we get through our down period, we face the better times triumphantly with an experience richer and we might even be better equipped to handle a similar situation in the future.

The Fire Suit

The cards under The Firey stand for action, passion, temper and upheavals. It tells us that one way or another we need to put our all into it. Whether it’s to keep trying, fully take something out of our lives or try our best to hit that mark. Yes, it may be challenging and the road might be bumpy, but the vitality & creativity of the Fire suit tells us that we can do this. Sometimes all we need is willpower & determination!

The Water Suit

The cards under The Watery stand for emotion, relationships and intuition. Although the Watery is an aggressive card of its own, the cards underneath it tend to be more calm, soft and some are even fun! However, the cards underneath the Watery are also related to how we handle situations and react to the world and people around us on an emotional level.

The Earth Suit

The cards under The Earthy stand for stability, security, & strength. They are about the material self or about things related to the self. Whether this is protecting one’s self, finding balance around one’s self or breaking material cycles.

The Wind Suit

The cards under The Windy stand for communication, truth & clarity. It's about taking a step back and thinking it through sometimes. Although the element of air is related to the mental realm not all cards in the wind suit are related to it. Some are about literal movement as well.

Individual Card Meanings

This is a long list with a few words per card. I am working on a more in-depth document regarding The Clow because many people, including myself, don't think the official fortune telling book really fits with its descriptions. The Clow cards each have their own individual & unique personality which shine through in their meanings. Why not add those into the equation? There are also meanings that come from my personal use of the cards. Use what you feel is right!

The set I bought came with The Miracle card which I use myself so I included it here as well. It does not belong to a suit like The Hope & The Nothing.

The Dark

unknown, uncomfortable, needs over wants, catastrophic thinking, night, challenge, mystery

The Light

day, clear, going to be okay, enlightenment, positivity, encouragement

The Firey

arrogance, passion, rage, explosive, high energy, drive, fire

The Watery

emotions, co-operation, relations, water

The Earthy

body, material, earth, stoic, barren, stability

The Windy

intelligence, mental clarity, bind, mentality, wind, logic, analyzing

The Arrow

shooting your shot, several chances, scattered, many passions, aiming but not shooting, goal-oriented, inspiration

The Big

not as scary as it seems, big heart, non-discriminating, means well, friendly, clumsy, oblivious, ditsy

The Bubbles

clean slate, cleansing, cleaning, make a prototype, there is an idea but nothing concrete, ephemeral

The Change

empathize, change, camouflage, fitting in, mask, invisibility, hiding, aversion to change, mind games

The Cloud

brain fog, confusion, emotionally clogged, pretending to be fine, making the best out of a bad situation

The Create

creation, manifestation, inspiration, writing, paper, art, imagination, creativity

The Dash

avoidance, speed, quick thinking, shy, scared, skittish, escape

The Dream

prophecies, dreams, occult, knowledge, clair senses, veiled, obscure

The Erase

declutter, moving on, lift the veil, revelation

The Fight

giving it 110%, hard work, disciplined, meticulous, brash, actions speak louder than words, exercise, hidden power, assertive, willpower

The Float

detached, big picture, head in the clouds, more than it seems, take a step back

The Flower

friends, fun, longevity, light-hearted, optimistic, joyful, calm, relaxed, party, celebration

The Fly

moving, flying, soaring, travel, big change, transformation, open-mindedness, support, freedom

The Freeze

congeal, frozen, stagnation, cold, many pieces to a whole, sharp, splintered

The Glow

good fortune, kindness, beauty, peace, inspiration

The Hope

positivity, wish, hope, content, look at the brightside, love, oneness/unity, happiness

The Illusion

see what you want to see, imagination, longing

The Jump

leap before you look, reach further heights, pestering, stupidity

The Libra

balance, truth, weighing options, justice

The Little

small, bullying, sadism, annoyance, schadenfreude

The Lock

stability, shut-in, not available right now, familiarity

The Loop

repeat, habit, link, infinity

The Maze

self-created, lost, (feeling) stuck, distorted

The Miracle

divinity, support, family, miracle

The Mirror

leadership, regret, mirroring, confrontation, image

The Mist

toxicity, decay, elusive, destructive

The Move

turning heads, chase, small steps, keeping it small

The Nothing

nothing, void, negativity, (fear of) abandonment, loneliness, despair

The Power

Showing-off, pride, trouble maker, friendly challenge

The Rain

fun, abundance, jokes, free-spirited, chaotic

The Return

a need for change, regret, living in the past, restore, nostalgia, return, learning (from the past)

The Sand

multiple options, jack of all trades, adaptability

The Shadow

two sides, hidden, consequences, the shadow archetype

The Shield

defensive, jealous, protest, protection, help others, idealism, steadfastness

The Shot

obsession, events speed up, hectic times, ruthless, stubborn, willpower, lashing out

The Silent

meditation, contemplation, look within, loud, sensory overload, solitary

The Sleep

sleep, end, momentary peace, forgetfulness

The Snow

witty, control, purity, management

The Song

bliss, happiness, singing, music, song, mimicry, perfectionism

The Storm

bothered, moody, overthinking, uncertainty

The Sweet

sweets, self-love, rest, relaxation, take care of yourself

The Sword

challenge, anger, precision, conflict, cutthroat, confrontation

The Through

omit, remove, invisible, spirits

The Time

time, when, exhaustion

The Thunder

upheaval, sudden, rampage, lightning, tower-moment

The Twin

two people, equal, entwined, together, stuck, co-depend, pattern, fate, cycles, habit (and breaking of), hurting without meaning to harm, duality

The Voice

greedy, communication, all talk no action, venting

The Wave

overwhelmed, tidings, emotionally moving

The Wood

growth, perseverance, gentleness, nature, patience, sensuality, abundance, altruism, fertility, breaking habits

[adhdbisexualramblings]

Hello, Gravity Falls fandom! Since the Book of Bill, I have gotten remarkably attached to that loser triangle again, and that has consequences!

So you know this fic of mine, yeah?

Well, I’ve made an AU out of an AU. Yay~!

The main premise of the AU is simple - Bill dies with the rest of Euclydia to his own fire (because I am under no impression that a kid/teen who was brimming with anger knew how to control his powers well enough to leave one lone survivor) and gets sent to the Axolotl’s domain, which is some version of heaven, though not exactly heaven.

Like in my fic, Bill asks to stay. This time, the Axolotl agrees and lets him out of pity and since it also knows what Bill will do once he’s alive again. It wants to prevent that.

And so begins the Assistant Godling AU!

Bill is essentially raised in the Axolotl’s realm, and is much more emotionally stable for obvious reasons. He’s not magically 100% better, and will still shut down if he can’t handle something devastating, but he knows how to take care of himself for the most part.

Since it would be boring stuck in a void, Bill has a job. He’s the only (one of the only) Bill Ciphers who is good, and the Axolotl needs some help with damage control, so that’s exactly what Bill does: damage control. He goes around from universe to universe to stop any world-ending events. A lot of the time, his assignments are Weirdmageddons, but he’s gotten others.

Character reference sheet below, since he looks different. Please read for further context:

And some closeups (in which you can see my tiny mistakes lol)

He is rather fond of the Pines family and very protective. Ford is still one of his favorites because of his six fingers.

He’s met a lot of kid versions of both sets of mystery twins and of most all other Gravity Falls residents.

Doodles :3 (the first and last ones are not AU related but they’re still neat)

He also eventually gets a twin but that comes later in the story. I hope this intrigues some people!

[bluetortoist]

I know I have a MILLION other ideas I need to focus on rn, but I really wanted to share this since its been cooking in my mind for a while. I had an idea for some sort of Gods&Monsters AU with Batman and my OCs

(THIS IS A LONG POST, SO CLICK BELOW TO SEE MORE!)

Some of the Lore/Rules I have thought up of it so far:

● Gods/Goddesses are divine, immortal beings that have domain over specific things in the world. They are a power that can be bestowed by any mortal to take the place of the previous god if they so choose said mortal. Though this rarely happens for God's are usually reluctant to give up their domain and immortality.

● People called their "Champions" are blessed by their respected god and can communicate with them and call upon them for their assistance/power. They are people both feared and/or revered depending on who they fight under and when blessed, aquire great strength, durability and magic ability than that of a normal person.

● Gods/Goddesses can only travel to different locations their temples were built at on mortal land. If they have a Champion, though, they can then travel with them and basically go wherever their champion goes in the mortal world.

● Gods/Goddesses all go barefoot, wearing very little accessory on their feet, for their divinity keeps them from touching mortal ground. They can travel to the mortal realm, but they can't be seen by them unless they are their champion or if their champion calls them for power.

● It is possible for a God/Goddess to relinquish their status of godlihood and become human. They can either willingly give their title away OR if they bare a child to a mortal, thus bearing a demigod. However, like before, most gods (especially older ones) are not easily ready to lose their godlihood, so when a God loses their divinity, it is usually seen as disgraceful or sorrowful action for being brought down in such a state. The act of having a demigod child is thought to be the biggest taboo and the surest way to lose all their divinity, so relations between a God and a mortal is not really thought in high regards.

● Monsters and humanoid races exist in this world. Humanoid races who have intelligence can also be candidates as gods.

So my OC's first:

🐇 Eleanor is the Goddess of Childhood and is a fairly popular god among families and children. She watches over all children who request her blessings for protection, good fortune, health, etc. There have been a few cases where some children were able to see her while in her temples, but they lose the sight when they get older. Do not be fooled by her title and appearance, because like a child, she can be just as cruel as one. She is more powerful than some people think and her mood can turn just as badly. Even with that said though, she is a pretty lonely goddess, because she has never had a champion in her name. No one wants to fight for something as fleeting as childhood. Same with her followers, they will all eventually leave once they become adults and got what they wanted from her.

Jervis Tetch is her champion that represents her and can call upon her and her powers for assistance in combat. He was another that was able to see her as a child, but was one that actually stayed with her. A troubled and difficult life is what made him feel safe and wanting to keep coming back to Eleanor for the sense of comfort he never got to have in his life. It was no secret that she was getting attached to the man as well, watching him grow up and see how his life was turning even daresay love?. At Jervis' lowest point, she managed to reveal herself to him and it only solidified, not only their co-dependency, but his devotion and resolve to become her champion, to be something more than what even he thought he could be.

Jonathan Crane is her champion and can call upon her and her powers for assistance in combat. He traveled to the abandoned kingdom of the dead because he planned on stealing Kathys books and knowledge of necromancy, but ended up finding her in her domain and becoming her champion instead. It was an equal exchange sort of deal, where he can get access to her divine powers and her necromancy teachings while she gets to see the outside world and join in on her handsome Champion's sinister endeavors in using the dark occult.

💀 Kathy is the Goddess of the Afterlife and conjurer/watcher of creatures of the undead. She is considered a neutral evil god since death comes for all, no matter who or what they are, but she tends to bend the rules of her domain over the dead. In her mortal life, she secretly practiced forbidden magic in necromancy due to her interest in the god and the beings who can come and go from it. While she meant no harm, she was tried for heresy against her kingdoms faith and messing with conservative ideas of life and death. She was severely punished, but rather than pass on, her soul was given the title by the previous god. When she returned, she wasted no time turning the old kingdom into a graveyard and necromancing the peoples corpses in it.

🦅 Mavis is a fairly newer Goddess of the Skies, basically a "lesser" nature god that domains over the skies and all aviary beings. Mavis is the illegitimate daughter of the previous Sky Goddess and the corrupt ruler of a kingdom that took advantage of the god and her following of the Harpy people. The position of Sky God had been left vacant for a good few years until Mavis came out of hiding and reclaiming the divinity since she was the previous gods child, suprising both gods and mortals thinking that she has been dead. Not a whole lot of gods welcomed her at first for being a demigod and such a new one at that. But part of why she came out now was so that she could finally smite her blood father for all of his crimes against her, her mother, her people, and Oswald.

Oswald used to be the rulers advisor, who originally planned to sabotage and take his place, but then came to befriend the Harpy people and then his motives begun to change when he was aware of the rulers plans. It was realized too late, however, after finding out the ruler took advantage of the Harpy god and was sentenced criminal charges for aiding in the betrayal and for later taking the demigod offspring of the previous Sky Goddess. He became a father to Mavis while living in hiding, and told her everything that happened and how she was the next one in line. Even after years later, Oswald decided for them to return to the harpy people. Oswald had become too injured to be her Champion, but has gained the Harpy's trust again and became one of their many leaders among them, supporting and affirming Mavis' power and domain as he so wanted to do from the beginning.

Other thoughts from Canon characters are:

🦇 Bruce Wayne, of course, is the lone wandering "Dark Knight" who is a demigod born from the God of Medicine and his mortal mother. Being able to travel both planes of existence, he wanders through both lands as his own form of affirming justice and peace among both corrupt mortals and corrupt gods alike.

🃏 Harley is the newly appointed Goddess of Chaos and has been for a few centuries now. The title used to be Jokers and used to be his champion before she got tired of being used badly by him and managed to trick and strip him of it. Joker still roams the mortal realm to this day spreading his own chaos while finding his way into getting back at Harley and overthrowing her to gain the title back again.

🌿 Ivy is obviously the Goddess of Nature and is considered one of the older, major gods of the world. She usually keeps to herself up in the divine plane, but has roots everywhere on earth so she and other gods and see whats going on down there. She is a popular god among many masses, including farmers, hunters and apothecaries since her domain is what makes up most of the world. Though truth be told, even with all the followers, she doesn't seem to care for mortals that much.

🐈‍⬛ Selina is another lesser, but still important, nature Goddess of the Fauna on land, though its apparent that she favors the feline races. She is a finnicky and trickster god that usually prioritizes her own vices, but still offers her services to her followers, if she so feels like it. She rarely is ever on the divine plane with the other gods and would rather be roaming around in the mortal realm since there are many of her temples spread wide around the world. She and Pamela sometimes clash since Selina usually tricks and brings misfortune to hunters who mean ill will while Pamela blesses good fortune for them.

🪙 Harvey is the God of Law and is a frequently used name among many kingdoms' justice system, be they morally just or corrupt.

❔️Ed is the God of Knowledge and is a prominent figure for both scholars and inventors alike. He has played a hand in many constructions of mazes, puzzles and engineering throughout the centuries. He is someone always hunting to get to the answer first and prides in being two steps ahead of the situation. He is a God that is a bit of a Trickster and likes to play mindtricks, even to his followers (he thinks its only fair that they use their brain).

❄️ Victor is the lonely God of Snow. Nora and used to be his Champion and were both very much in love until she was inflicted by a curse from an opposing God before they defeated them. He keeps her in a divine casing made of his ice to preserve her until he can find a magic strong enough to release her from this curse. He can only go so far with no Champion and very little temples to his name unfortunately.

Aaaaaand that's all I have in this AU so far! I know some characters have more thought in them than others 😭 But I hope you enjoyed my crazy rambling and this world I'm cooking up! I'd definitely like to expand on this sometime since I think there's still so much you can fill in. Again, thanks for listening~ 💙

[autumnslance]

FFXIV Write 2024: 27 Memory

(Hey it's the practically tradition, annual future fic! Spoilers for Endwalker's patch storyline.)

“Did you want the radio on this morning?” Tillie asked as she set out breakfast.

“Please,” Iyna answered, easing herself into her chair. Her right leg was stiff and aching this morning thanks to a shift in the weather. Even Viera grew old eventually, though she had never expected to be one of them with all the adventures and danger she had been through in her long life.

Tillie turned on the radio, the morning host going over said weather report while Iyna ate. There were also the morning’s newspapers to peruse. She liked to keep a few subscriptions rotating, to see where the biases were and who she had to write stern letters to.

Well, dictate to her assistant. Her handwriting was still shite, and her typing skills weren’t as good as they used to be. Her wrists and fingers ached too easily these days.

The weather report ended, with a brief word from the morning’s sponsor—some chocolatey beverage powder—and the next forty-five minutes of music began before general news. There was a brief identification of the song title and singer if it had lyrics, but otherwise the announcer remained silent.

Iyna was chewing on jam-covered toast when notes she had not heard in decades struck her ears. They had none of the magic of the old minstrel’s performances—regulations wouldn’t allow it for many good reasons—and there was a modern stylizing, but the song was unmistakably one of his, commemorating and embellishing on one of the Warrior of Light’s victories.

She closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. It had all begun with a map they hadn’t been sure was real. They had found the treasure—and a gateway to the Thirteenth, and thus had begun a new adventure: to search the Void to find the lost Great Wyrm Azdaja, sister to Vrtra, the Satrap of Radz-at-Han.

They had not expected the twists and turns along the way. Had not expected Zero, or the Fiends, or Golbez. None of them had expected Zeromus, and the dive into Golbez’s domain on the moon’s reflection to fight the draconic voidsent.

Iyna remembered how close it was; the cracks in reality between the Thirteenth and the Source, the creature’s rage as it hammered them again and again with draconic void magics. Lotus draped over C’oretta’s head as she flopped to the ground. Dark had her axe that day, standing before the others, heaving and snarling as the darkness attempted to reconstitute. Aeryn straightening, rapier ready, about to rush in again. Zero’s hopeful light, able to pierce the deepest darkness. Vrtra’s call. The simulacra falling as a small dragonet manifested with the help of her brother’s Eye.

The song was coming to an end. “Who was the artist?” Iyna asked. “I missed it.”

“I don’t think they said yet,” Tillie replied. “Probably after, before they introduce the next one.”

Iyna nodded, and listened for the announcer. She smiled as he identified the modern artist as Nadim Ranaz, commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of Lady Azdaja’s return with a new rendition of the classic ballad. Ranaz was also a distant blood relation to the Warrior of Light, and his musical interests included rediscovering and modernizing the songs and ballads of his many-times-removed cousin, to spread and preserve them in the current era.

“It’s been some time since I’ve visited Thavnair,” Iyna mused. “Tillie, would you—”

“On it,” her assistant replied, pulling up contact information and beginning arrangements.

Two hundred years. Azdaja no longer needed her brother’s Eye, her own aether replenished, though she still had plenty of regrowing to do to reach her full power again. It would be nice to visit the dragons, to speak of old times, of old friends, and reminisce about that wild era before seeing the fruits of their labor in the peace and prosperity of modern Thavnair.

Iyna would also have to make a visit to Ranaz, sharing her carefully kept copies of the old minstrel’s songs—most of them from Aeryn’s own extensive collection.

Both of her old friends would like that. That wandering minstrel had only ever wanted to share his stories with the world, and Aeryn’s own bardic nature, so oft at war with her tendency to demure her heroics, would appreciate the songs being passed to a new generation.

After all, Iyna’s own self-appointed task as keeper of her friends’ legacies meant keeping those tales and their truths circulating for as long as she was able. To keep their memories alive in not only her heart but the rest of the world’s.

She wasn’t out of the fight yet.

She also was not at all the singer that Dark or Aeryn had been, but hummed a few bars anyway as she left the kitchen to prepare for her next adventure.

“Tales of loss and fire and faith...”

[gravity-what]

I was thinking about your posts about Wuya's powers and Chase's powers and the Land of Nowhere and I have a question!

Chase sticks a couple of fingers in the ground, emets this blue/black aura, and then this zombie-esque serpentine creature springs forth.

Do you think this is Chase's power, or does it have something to do with whatever he did to Wuya's power in the prior season (since you said Wuya's power is something like breathing life into stone/awakening spirits)? Or is this just a demonstration of how absolute Chase's control over The Land of Nowhere is, that even corpses buries in the land can be called to his beck and call? It has those red eyes like the fallen warriors often do, so maybe...

Oh, and do you think this is was dead creature Chase buried here to use later? Is the leftover bits of a dragon he killed? Is it something he cobbled together from bits of his domain through his own power?

Thank you very much for your time!

Ohhh! This is a really interesting question!

I’ve only just started to explore some of the magic system in my fics, so some of this answer is still just raw thoughts and headcanons but I actually imagine this is Chase’s power. I imagine that the ground in the land on nowhere is absolutely permeated with Heylin magic (some of which is the Heylin magic Chase stole from Wuya) and so Chase just has to kind of activating it to get it to do his bidding. (It’s the extract same thing Wuya did when she took over the world, essentially shoving all of her magic into it so that, if she wanted to use that magic is was at her fingertips instead of having to go the more tedious route of actually crafting a spell). I also think this spell is slightly different from the awakening spells we see Wuya favor (though I do think she could easily do this one if she wanted) in that it’s more a re-awakening/bringing a spirit back to the body while Wuya seems to favor awakening inanimate objects. [related note: I don’t think Wuya is the only person that can do awakening, but she was one of the more prolific and powerful witches back in the day that could and the only person that seemed to be able to awaken objects simply by existing most people needed at least a little spell work! The reason Chase doesn’t need it here is because it’s the land of nowhere.]

So, ya, this is a case of Chase having full control over the land of nowhere.

As for what the creature is: I think it’s probably a Uwabami or some other name for a mythological giant snake. I think if it was a dragon it would just be bones since Chase wouldn’t have let any flesh remain! However I do think this is something Chase killed and brought to the land of nowhere for this exact purpose. I’m sure he has a tone of these kinds of creatures laying around just waiting to be brought back like this!

[lunastrophe]

Drow Fashion 🕷️✨ About Spider Silk - Part 1

Everything you may want - or may not want - to know about spider silk in (mostly Lolth-sworn) drow culture and fashion. In this part you will find information about:

sources of spider silk,

basic uses and meaning of spider silk in drow culture.

🕷️ Various Types Of Silk – among surfacers, silk spun by spiders is generally not widely used, but in the Underdark, spider silk is not excessively hard to obtain. It is extremely light, very elastic, durable and often has many other extraordinary properties, especially after being imbued with magic. In consequence, the Underdark silk market is probably vast.

Raw spider silk can vary in quality, depending mainly on the spider species it comes from – also, most spiders are naturally able to produce several types of silk that vary in thickness and adhesiveness. Some threads are suitable for producing delicate, transparent or semi-transparent materials. Some are useful for weaving thicker fabrics, carpets and tapiseries. Silk waste, after being properly processed, is also useful – for example, for making silken threads and fabrics of lesser quality.

🕷️ Silk Farming? – silk can be obtained from webbings, cocoons or egg sacks of wild spiders, or it can be extracted directly from caught or freshly killed specimens of various sizes. Such methods are generally time-consuming, though, and often dangerous.

Silk farming is probably quite popular in the Underdark, allowing to produce silk on a larger scale while maintaining better control over its quantity, quality and properties. Silk farms can contain thousands of more or less domesticated spiders that can belong to species best suited for producing silk.

Headcanon warning - silk farming is not mentioned in drow lore sources, I borrowed this idea from historical attempts to produce spider silk on a larger scale. So far, we humans are bad at this, mainly because we cannot figure out how to domesticate spiders (they like to kill each other, so it is hard to keep them together) and how to make them produce the kind of silk we want them to produce (every spider produces several types of silk and only some are suitable for making threads and textiles)... but I bet that drow would figure out how to make this work.

(If anyone is curious about this topic, I was inspired mainly by this article).

🕷️ Free-Range And Cruelty-Free* – silk can be obtained without harming the spiders and in case of more intelligent species, even with their explicit permission. Such things are probably especially important to Lolth-sworn drow who are forbidden to cage, mistreat or kill arachnids, or even to disturb inhabited spiderwebs.

*Only in relation to spiders, though. Underdark drow are probably not overly concerned with well-being of slaves and serfs tasked with gathering and processing silk...

Silk of spiders that live in temples and other places sacred to the Spider Queen, as well as silk of abyssal arachnids that live in Lolth’s domain, is most likely highly valued among worshippers of Lolth – especially among her priestesses.

🕷️ Uses Of Spider Silk – drow use silk to make armour, weapons, clothing, domestic and ceremonial textiles, high-quality strings, lines, nets and tents, and various works of craft and art. Spider webs, often calcified with magic, are used in creation of architecture ornaments or sometimes even whole structures like bridges, passages or buildings.

Among Lolth-sworn drow, spider silk is closely connected to worship of Lolth and is widely present in Lolthite temples and shrines – just like living spiders. It is said that Lolth herself favours silk and that when she takes the guise of a drow, she appears as a lithe drow woman dressed in a gossamer gown woven from spider silk.

Spider silk is also useful as a spell component and it can be used to craft magical items. For example, silk of phase spider and strands of ether are needed to create a portable hole – wondrous item that looks like a circle of black cloth.

For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️

[inaconstantstateofchange]

Mephistopheles's Deal - Devilish Hierarchy in the Forgotten Realms

[Spoilers for Astarion's personal quest and also pretty much the entirety of the game.]

So, I have a lot of thoughts about the devils in Baldur's Gate 3. I think in general, Larian has done a pretty solid job of drawing from and referencing the Forgotten Realms lore as it relates to their characters and storylines, but with the devils is where the most has been lost in translation to the broader audience.

There is a big difference in the Forgotten Realms between devils and demons - it's more than just semantics. This is one area where the alignment charts are actually useful - Devils are Lawful Evil, while Demons are Chaotic Evil. What this means in practice, is that devils are evil, yes, but they are also intensely bureaucratic and bound by specific laws, structures, and hierarchies. Demons are the exact opposite, misshapen monstrosities (for the most part) that do not belong in the world and are driven to lash out at it for its existence alone.

The "Blood War" that Karlach and a few other characters mention in Avernus? That is devils vs. demons. In fact, devils were originally celestials themselves, that became corrupted in their efforts to stop the tide of demons. The remaining celestials turn a blind eye to the Hells (or actively encourage its existence) because the devils are the forces holding back the encroaching Abyss, a far greater threat than they themselves could ever be.

The major area that we see this hierarchy expressed is in the layers of the Hells, the different dominions. Zariel is the least powerful Archdevil, ruling (and fairly recently come to power, too) the First layer: Avernus. The second-strongest Archdevil, of the Eighth layer, is Mephistopheles, superseded only by Asmodeus, the Archdevil of the Ninth layer.

With regard to the overall power level of the archdevils, this is where the exact answer gets a bit fuzzy. It has varied by edition, and personal take on the lore, but the ultimate point of agreement is this: no matter how powerful you personally think the Archdevils may be, Asmodeus is the exception. He has at least the strength of a greater god (one with a wide and expansive domain crossing multiple worlds), not even including the additional power he would be able to bring to bear by virtue of his domain, were a conflict to take place within it.

Raphael and Mizora, the two "devils" we have the most direct experience with as players, are not true devils at all, but rather cambions: half-devils. This allows them to skip some of the steps of power development usually required for devils to increase their power, but also stratifies them a bit with that development. Their primary advantage is freedom of movement between the planes, granted to them by their mortal parentage.

(The above is just part of the reason why Raphael's "plan" is so laughably doomed to abject failure, but that is a meta for another day.)

On to souls: why do devils need them, how do they get them, and what do they use them for?

Devils have an entire society based on backstabbing, conniving, one-upmanship, and, most importantly: paperwork. The devils - especially the Archdevils - are always looking for ways to get one up on each other. Not even necessarily to take their positions (although if it so happens to work out that way, all the better), but just to have information, leverage, even one point of superiority over them, etc.

One of the primary ways devils can bolster their power levels is based on the number (and quality) of souls under their command. Those souls, when willingly signed away, do not go to the usual Fugue Plane upon death, to be taken by whatever god values them most highly to their own afterlife. Instead, they go directly to the Hells. There they begin the standard progression of lowest-ranked devils: tortured to wring out what magical energy can be gleaned from them, then starting as lemures on the lowest rungs of the hierarchy, contributing to the infernal economy and adding to their ruling Archdevil's power, ranks, and influence.

Unwilling souls can be used, but they are generally considered to be the lowest quality, used mostly for things like soul coins, etc.

Note: this is where this is going from primarily lore-backed meta to meta I am extrapolating onto a bit, based on what seems logical to me.

If souls can only be willingly signed away, why can Cazador pay for his contract with Mephistopheles by trading the souls of others? Based on the legalistic evil of devils, my take is that, by the properties of magic and vampirism in the Forgotten Realms, "legally" speaking, the spawn he creates are enough a part of him that he is able to speak for their souls in their stead.

Based on this property, and the aforementioned power scale of the devils, the thought arises: does it really make that much sense for the Dark Urge to just be able to waltz into the Eighth layer of the Hells and steal the Crown of Karsus? It would make much more sense if it was willingly given - or at the least, allowed to be taken - by Mephisto, who stood to gain something much better than a bauble of not much use to archdevils: souls, and a multitude of them.

If Cazador is able to sign away the souls of his spawn, due to them being magically recognized as a part of him, I believe the same would be true for mindflayers turned by the controlled Netherbrain. The goal of the Dead Three was to ultimately transform an untold number of denizens of the Forgotten Realms, to take their souls and the power from their worship away from the gods (they never claimed to be brilliant strategists, we'll leave it at that). Mephisto, then, would stand to gain a great deal in being able to make use of those souls himself.

I do think that rather than a heist, Durge and/or Gortash made a deal with Mephisto for the Crown in exchange for the souls of any transformed mindflayers. A win-win for both parties, by all accounts.

Shame about the unforeseen brain damage and/or ragtag team of meddling do-gooders - and their owlbear, too.

[alt-wannabe]

MCSR D&D

after a long LONG time, i've finished up mime's character sheet!

Knowledge Domain Cleric 15

i was gonna wait to post this but i'm currently trapped in airport purgatory so i have time to write this all out

more below the cut!

Wisdom needed to be cranked bc cleric but I knew I wanted Intelligence to be high as well. After that it was just luck of the dice since I roll the ability scores. I didn't put tooooo much thought into how I scored the other abilities- just knew I didn't want charisma lowest bc I personally find Mime funny af.

So sorry for how huge that photo is- taking a screenshot of a non-multiclass spell list is HARD. Any spell that says "Always Prepared" came with the Knowledge Domain and honestly I think they're all spells I would've picked for Mime anyways. They emphasize organization, scouting, and acquiring intel aka Mime's spreadsheet nonsense. In terms of playability spells that a cleric needs, I picked Guidance, Resistance, Spare the Dying, Bless, Cure Wounds, Enhance Ability (also inspired by Captain Mime leading HBG through bedrock MCC), Mass Healing Word, Revivify, Spirit Guardians (fun fact my fav spell in the game), Mass Cure Wounds, and Heal. Speedrunning related spells include Detect Magic, Locate Object, Locate Creature, Divination, Find the Path, and Plane Shift. For other picks we've got Sending (just like sending chat messages in game), Banishment (generally just a good spell to have- sends something to another dimension), Flame Strike (I realized he didn't have many damage spells + his mini has fire in it), Create Undead (deadass minecraft zombies is the only connection here), and Word of Recall (fully acts like a stasis pearl/pearl hang- teleports you/allies to a previous location).

This is what he's got equipment wise. In MY mind that Hat of Disguise is a beret so that's what it's gonna be. Face paint is annoyingly not an item so I've got the Marvelous Pigments and the Disguise kit as a janky dupe for mime face paint. Wings of Flying = elytra there's not really much more I can say there. Crystal Ball and the Atlas are both spreadsheet-esque research based items which inspired their pick. The mace is partially because he needed a weapon other than the cleric's starter weapon and partially because that specific mace is closest to the super cool gothic one on his mini.

Here are some class features from the Knowledge Domain! The domain as a whole/the spells are more why I chose knowledge but the class features aren't unfitting for Mime either. Knowledge of the Ages specifically is a feature I like- Mime typically has his shit together on all fronts.

This is the first time the background I picked has taken any effect on the character sheet (and I just bought a new sourcebook so suddenly I have a lot more options lmao). This Researcher feature just screams Mime to me.

That's the finished character sheet! I'm not entirely sure who's gonna be next. The campaign is taking a TON of work and I've barely made any progress so that may take a lil more focus than character sheets. I will say I have druid K4 in the back of my mind so possibly that next? We'll see! Hope y'all liked this :)

[neonluardon]

An Uncanny Dream

Now, I have dreams, some of which tend to involve a character or two. I am a Genshin Impact fan, and I especially like Kaeya. But the dream I had about Kaeya was so uncanny and equally majestic that I never wanted to forget about it. So, I prepared some visuals. I will be using the notes I took the moment I woke up. These notes help me a lot, as I have already forgotten almost all of the details.

Plot: I was the player but instead of controlling the Traveler, I was controlling Kaeya, the story itself was from his perspective. Because of a reason, I cannot remember, Kaeya ended up stuck between the line of truth and delusion.

Kaeya was aware of his existence, his world was pitch black and white. Everything he used to find beautiful now looked horrible, all voices were gone but a music that kept repeating over and over. As Kaeya, I was supposed to run around and ask for help. But no matter where we went, we couldn't interact with a person.

I remembered I had some resin (even in a dream I'm worried about not using resin lol) and decided to fight in a domain. Somehow, although we couldn't interact with humans and animals, Kaeya could harm Hilichurls and other Abyss-related creatures.

Upon defeating the enemies, Kaeya got an artifact. But this artifact didn't have relic bonuses.

The artifact's name was changed to "Memories From Afar". When I tried looking at the description of the artifact, instead of writing a story or giving an explanation, it simply said:

"You cannot go back now. Memories are out of your reach."

It said "Fatal error." too in very rare cases, because I was panicking so much that I kept reloading the screen and expected something else to come. After obtaining this artifact, I never managed to earn another one no matter how much resin I used.

I decided to use this artifact on Kaeya, but when I opened the character screen, all of my characters were gone and only Kaeya existed. And, well, he didn't look very well.

All of his talents were set back to one. His name didn't exist, instead, there was something akin to "X" but not exactly the same. He was a shadow, an "absence" on the game's screen. And his profile icon didn't exist as well. During this moment, I noticed that Kaeya couldn't interact with the others because he literally didn't exist anymore. He was conscious, he tried everything, but all that was left of him was his absence. And for some reason, no one in Mondstadt seemed to notice his sudden disappearance either.

Did the Irminsul Tree get corrupted and erase his information or was he not cared for at all? This was the question Kaeya asked. I was shocked since I didn't expect him to know about the tree and information could get erased from there.

I kept controlling Kaeya but the vision was so vague that the map barely helped, and no, the main menu wasn't opening either. No Paimon, no settings, just Kaeya and his absence.

Then, I remember seeing Dragonspine. Kaeya was here for some reason, lost and confused. But since he didn't exist anymore and all he could talk with was me (the player, not the traveler, he broke the 4th wall) he suggested taking some pictures.

This especially crept into me a lot because, in one of the fics I wrote, Kaeya went so insane that he needed pictures to make sure he did things right. I can somehow feel that by telling me to take pictures, he meant it in a way to "make sure everything is real."

He got mad when he saw the photos and how even they were colorless. He thought that by using an object that "exists" he could get rid of the terrible darkness. The photos also proved that what we were seeing was correct since not even the player could outrun the colorless screen. Yes, he said that. If even I can't change things, there is nothing Kaeya could do, according to him.

This was one of the scariest scenes, to be honest. The map was there but I couldn't understand a thing, everything looked too dark, once the elegant and magical Dragonspine was now sheer nightmare material. We fought multiple monsters. Kaeya was trying to find his way into reality, thinking for some reason that someone could bend his curse, and bring back the colors. It felt cold, too cold. I could physically feel the sheer chillness hitting my face. I remember moving in my bed as the dream continued.

But it came to an end. Kaeya was attacked by a Mitachurl with a cryo shield. We tried outrunning it but the cold killed Kaeya before the monster. I woke up after he died, the "sheer cold" screen was the simplest but most uncanny thing I have ever seen. It doesn't look that terrifying in the gif but imagine seeing this in a dream.

And a silence followed, Kaeya said nothing. I clicked the revive button but it simply said "Fatal error: Character files missing"

But as I stared at the screen, I could also think of a way that could have saved Kaeya. It was Diluc. For some reason, Diluc's flames could cut through Kaeya's corruption and the tides of reality itself. That little cut between truth and delusion could be his escape. But we never found Diluc, and it was already too late when I realized what we could have done. I felt guilty, knowing that he died because of me. And it wasn't a simple death either, he was deleted or his information in the Irminsul Tree got corrupted beyond fixing, erasing him from existence altogether as the only remains of his presence were his consciousness. He died in darkness, in the sheer cold he despised so much.

I woke up. I was mesmerized by this dream and wanted to write it down. But now that I looked at my badly written notes and the scenes I tried recreating, I feel terrible. This dream was one of the greatest things I have ever experienced, it showed just how creative my brain could get but also... how horrifying it can be. I will never forget the sheer cold screen and the artifact of "Memories From Afar".

[kusakabesimp]

The term Evening Moon Sword Drawing - Hazy Moon (Oborozuki 朧おぼろ月) literally translates to a moon that is obscured by clouds or mist. I've also seen it more poetically as 'Moonlight Veil .' This imagery fits perfectly with Kusakabe's reserved character and practical approach to combat.

Gege often draws inspiration from anime, manga, and other pop culture, and that's the case with Hazy Moon. Oborozuki is a nod to a recurring sword across several video game titles related to speed, agility, and precision.

The first appearance (that I know of) is from Final Fantasy VI, which was released in 1994. The Oborozuki is described as a shimmering, moonlight blade, and can only be equipped by the ninja character Shadow. It has incredible boosts to speed and physical/magical evasion. The second is from Shinobi in 2004. Oborozuki grants a temporary increase in speed and allows better precision within the game's fluid combat system. Parallels to Kusakabe:

New Shadow Style and Evening Moon Sword Drawing are designed for speed. If you want a deep dive into the techniques themselves, you can check out my Hazy Moon - Jian Zhi and Tsuki no Ken Techniques post and New Shadow Style and Simple Domain posts.

Kusakabe's sword style emphasizes explosive speed and precise timing rather than sheer power. He can strike fast, whether he's using NSS drawing techniques or other martial arts, and his SD intercept technique allows him to close gaps and engage targets quickly.

This also applies to Kusakabe's Oborotzuki, which is inspired by Mangetsu Gō (満月剛 - Full Moon Strength) from the Tsuki no Ken sword style. It channels the user's full strength into a single, powerful blow, often aimed at a vital point.

I love the way Gege has intertwined these references with Kusakabe's moon-themed sword style, giving us subtle character lore we didn't even know we needed.

[agentoffangirling]

The show didn't imply Mobius and Sylvie wanted to go with Loki because they walked down the stairs. They were confused and curious as to what had gotten into him. However, the show did have Sylvie straight up say she NEEDS to go out there to him. But then the show just didn't do anything with it because they just insisted on him being the sole martyr (again) when he didn't need to be.

I disagree Sylvie is a mary sue. Sylvie has often been depicted as flawed, short tempered character who lets emotions get the best of her and is unable to think because of that. Even season 1 showed that.

The only ones who insisted she was perfect were the TVA related characters who were trying to get under Loki's skin, to make him react. She wasn't stronger or more competent. Maybe she was better at casual fighting but her magic was just as flawed. Her enchantment failed, she would have died and be eaten by Alioth if it wasn't for Loki. Even her original plan was flawed because she wouldn't have gotten any answers from the TVA and would have only gotten captured if not because of Loki. During S1 finale she was right to want free will for everyone, but she let the pain and emotions get the best of her and was unable to think straight and find an alternative or talk it out with Loki. Much as Loki was unable to think straight in Thor 1. Even the writers acknowledged that at the end of season 1. What Sylvie did is not necessarily a bad thing because the alternative would be genocide, but it was a decision that was laced in anger and selfishness.

I would also disagree that they took out the sylki aspect considering the writers and producers and directors were all promoting and defending it even during and after season 2, and even included moments in season 2 that did imply romantic nature of their relationship, even inluded the kiss in previous on, but yes, it was downplayed, but mostly it's because Sylvie as a character as whole was underused this season. It was clear they didn't know what to do with her because for this season they only had two things on their mind: 1. Include more Kang/Majors (back then the studio was all about him) to the point episode 3 had to be rewritten because originally it hardly featured any Loki at all and 2. Make sure Loki ends up on that stupid chair.

The source of my claim are Eric Martin and Kevin Wright's interviews where they both said that Tom gave them a book and was gushing about how neat it would be if Loki's story came full circle and how fullfiling it would be if Loki ended up getting that throne just when it was the thing he didn't actually want anymore. Tom was the driving force behind the decision to have Loki end up in that chair which is...man...I know he loves Shakespeare and likes tragic endings, but sacrifice and Loki losing in the end is overused at this point.

You also have Mobius standing lost and confused in front of his house, "letting time pass" while Sylvie smiled and happily walked away but sure I guess 🤷🏽‍♀️

In some ways, she is depicted as flawed, but the majority of the time, they write her as being the supreme opinion on everything™

The definition of Mary Sue states: "Mary Sue is a character archetype in fiction, usually a young woman, who is often portrayed as inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, liked or respected by most other characters, unrealistically free of weaknesses, extremely attractive, innately virtuous, and generally lacking meaningful character flaws." I don't know about you, but that seems to describe a whole lot about Sylvie.

Young woman (20s-30s appears to be the age range they're figuratively going for [since she's like thousands of years old])

Competent across all domains (strong fighter, taught herself magic)

Unique talents (enchantment, "scrappy" fighting style)

Liked or respected by most characters (Loki especially, but also Mobius, O.B., He Who Remains, and to an extent Ravonna)

Unrealistically free of weaknesses (is written to be right in every situation, almost always wins every fight)

Attractive (Sophia di Martino is pretty beautiful)

Innately virtuous (again with always being right, the only one who can apparently save lives?)

Lacking character flaws (she's hot-headed? That's kinda it, there are very few character traits in the first place)

You can disagree, but Sylvie very easily fits several of these boxes. Even with the claim that she is flawed, that's more so fanon than canon, as I cannot find a single situation in which the writers poise her that way. Her being flawed seems more of an acting choice from di Martino than Eric Martin and others writing her that way

They might've been defending Sylki in interviews, but that was kinda it. I can only recall a few scenes that hint at a romance, and Sylvie was much more detached from it than in s1. I do agree that part of the reason it was mostly gone is bc Sylvie was underused (again proving that there was little of Sylvie beyond Sylki)

I have a lot of beef in general with how they had several chances to make her grow as a character from s1 and they did absolutely nothing. That's definitely a separate rant all on its own, but basically, Sylvie is a character who needs a drive. Her drive in s1 was killing HWO, and now that's complete, what's next for her? This is an absolute gold mine for the writers to dig in and make her more than one-dimensional, but nooooo. Let's just have her moan around and blame others instead of doing anything productive. Such great writing! /sarc

I think Loki's story coming full-circle would have been an excellent thing to do, but the way they pulled it off is something clearly both of us don't approve. It's also low-key (haha get it) annoying when this arc was previously done in s1, so they're not really doing anything new other than Loki getting that throne. There definitely was a smarter way to do it so at least she wouldn't be miserable and separated from everyone in the end. At least that, we see

[non-cannon]

I've been previously reminded of the idea, what if magic makes Nina or Eddie turn evil, a la Rufus. The last time I thought of it, I concluded that sans magic bs Nina wouldn't turn evil, but she might turn dark. (See here: https://www.tumblr.com/non-cannon/747558446208024576/ive-been-having-serious-thoughts-about-what-if?source=share)

This time I decided to think about what might drive Nina to turning evil on her own, and what that would look like.

I think it starts the same as before. She self isolates to protect others from the chosen one curse, and she ends up alone. At some point she even loses her grandmother. It could be from natural causes, but chosen one related causes sure would speed things up.

Nina ends up alone, for years, dealing with spirits and demons and gods and curses all the while. It wears her down. She gets of fucking tired of dealing with all of it that she eventually snaps. She doesn't turn evil, not yet, she just turns apathetic. She starts saying no, and refusing to engage.

Unfortunately, the gods and spirits and monsters don't leave her alone, and eventually she snaps again. All Nina wants is some peace and quiet, and they won't let her have it, so she'll force it. She'll kill them all if that's what if fucking takes.

There's also a part of her that wants to make sure there will never be another chosen one, so no one else will have to suffer as she has. No one can be chosen if there's no one left to do the choosing.

The gods may be powerful, but over the past few millennia, they've waned, and over the last several years she's grown in power. She's gained knowledge, skills, powers, artifacts and allies. She doesn't necessarily know about the allies. But they're the minor beings that have gotten used to being ignored who were surprised that anyone was willing to hear them out, let alone help them without asking for anything in return. So they help her, partially to repay whatever favor they feel she owes them, but also because who ever broke someone this kind and pure and good, probably fucking deserves whatever is coming for them.

Nina won't accept the help directly, she still won't let anyone get help hurting her, so they find ways to subtly help her. Guiding her to useful artifacts, protecting while she sleeps, ect.

The gods largely ignore her, until she kills her first minor god. Then they start panicking. And while Nina doesn't notice, either because it's so small, or wilful, the domain of the god crumbles, harming and or killing people god of war style. As she keeps killing gods, more of the world starts being damaged and more people die, and Nina refuses to notice.

And for whatever reason the gods can't fight her directly unless she takes the fight to them, and when she takes the fight to them, they die. They try sending curses and hexes at her, but they're the reason she knows how to fight those. One of the more self aware gods muses that if they hadn't so thoroughly used and abused her, she wouldn't have the power, skills, knowledge, or motive needed to kill them.

And they can't stop her. They've already taken everything from her except her life, and she's stopped caring about that long ago. And they've thus far failed to kill her anyway. Eventually Anubis comes up with the idea to take his powers away from her, only to realize that it's much harder to retract curse than a blessing. Not that it matters, Nina's amassed enough power at this point that she no longer needs his power.

Eventually the remaining gods, desperate and scared, decide to chose human acolytes to fight her for them, and the chose the members of Sibuna. Hoping desperately that, despite how many years it's been, Nina still cares about them enough that they can stop her, one way or another

[alexissara]

THE Comics Of The Year 2023

I'm Alexis Sara, and if you don't know me then you should know I am an Eisner [among several other award] winning comics writer and I eventually kinda left behind comics because of a massive feeling of burn out and a lack of hope for the industry. However, I utterly adore the medium and I do enjoy comics still even if mostly in indie form or Manga. Manga of the year is a separate post since I just read more Manga and I wanted to talk about more comics overall so this section is all non manga stuff from Webcomics to graphic novels to single issue type deals, everything I read is up for consideration.

Extreme Venomverse #4 Necroko story 

This story makes me even more mad than I am every day about the state of the public domain. Stan Lee is dead, he doesn't need Spider-man money but Marvel will for many many many more years hoard the amazing ideas made by so many other people that relate to spider-man and even when Spider-man enters the public domain Disney will sue people for using any part of spider-man that doesn't come from the debut time and is still with in their copyright. So an amazing character like Nercroko is stuck at the whims of some editor to see if the creators can bring her back, for how long they can bring her back, they get to decide how gay she is allowed to be, how violent, if the story fits their brand image and if a random event has her erased from the timeline or something to fuel a mans pain or something. Which is to say fuck Marvel comics, don't buy their stuff but I read this story and it's really fucking good, 12/10 it's not really worth buying Extreme Venomverse cuz the other stories are mid but as fuck but this little short story if you could find it at retail value for a single issue of Venomverse #4 pick it up for sure. It's a venom magical girl who is gay, just great, perfect, brilliant, inspirational.

IDW Sonic 

You expect to see the sapphics from me and there here, for real, but I really enjoy this series in general. Whisper and Tangle are my main draw but I did enjoy Sonic video games a lot when I was younger so the characters, designs, etc are always something I just like seeing. The IDW comics bring a great consistent art style that makes the world of sonic feel very alive, stylish an cool. The new characters are all people I want to show up as playable in new sonic games and the story lines all feel like they would be exciting to see in a video game. These comics are really well done and while it could be more explicit in allowing it's original characters to be queer [I understand main game characters not being able to have romance to give the game devs space] it's still a good time.

Ladykillers

I love when the lesbians are on an adventure, when they are poly, when they are silly, and we got it all here. Ladykillers is a silly D&D inspired webcomic that has these cute little dumbasses go on quests and get into trouble. It starts pretty one shotty and eventually gets into a continuous narrative. If you loved Bauldr's Gate but wished it was just about like three homoerotic girls getting into silly trouble, this one is for you.

My Dragon Girlfriend

My Dragon Girlfriend every year is a top series for me. The release format of release makes each update a very small dose of a larger narrative but these little romances are all compelling and sweet and fun filled with silly little sapphics. While the newest couple added in is the one I am least compelled by I still enjoyed them. The art is really cute and sweet, the way emotion is portrayed is handled really well, Country really knows how to capture emotion within the medium and masters making good use out of all the little details.

Grand Slam Romance

I don't like sports but if lesbian magical girls played soft ball I would have to convert to being the number ones sports girly. The messy lesbian drama here is so good and the jokes are really great, when I grabbed this I kinda worried it be YA toned which typically doesn't sit well with me but luckily this is in fact adult fiction for adults that just has a strong sense of whimsy. It's a really great read and I hope a lot more people check it out because it's super good and even has a follow up book coming out.

SpellAstra

These lesbians have issues and I am so fucking here for it. We got a trio of queer witches casting spells, fighting monsters, etc who are all also teachers for a school of other witches. One of the party turns into a demon if her seal is broken which causes her to get all violent and feral, one has a magical artifact tied to a bigger play happening across the universes of the world and the final is holding secrets she doesn't want to share. From there their issues run into each other, they deal with new problems they cause, their love lives get complicated and we find out the truth of all the messy lesbian fun that is unleashed between them. The translation is sometimes a little wonky but if you can forgive a self published self translation to English for sometimes saying words a little wrong but still understandably then damn there just isn't really a story like SpellAstra I've read.

Mage & Demon Queen 

After following this series for so many years it finally finished. This action comedy yuri series is fucking amazing from start to finish a fun time with some of the best jokes across all of comics for nerdy little sapphics like me. I do think near the end of the series we spend too much time with the men of the cast who simply were not the draw for me at all but they got a lot of panel time but outside of that small preference so much of this series is so perfect it's hard to even fault the parts that are a little less great.

Pink Sugar 

What a fucking book, what a queer gift that this exists, that we live in a world where this is being released on webtoon [and a ton of other places] gives me hope for queer art and art in general. This story is lesbian in the deepest ways, with the diversity of lesbians that I want to see. Masc Non Binary Lesbians, bigger fem lesbians, trans lesbians, all falling in love with each other in these gloriously sweet ways. This series is truly queer in the most real sense. The presentation of the afterlife is innovative and fun. the comedy is great, the chemistry between all four of this polycule is great, the romantic moments are super sweet, the art's fantastic, the pacing is great and all of that lends to some really fucking heart breaking moments to as we get into the deep feelings of these dead women. This is one of the best stories being told right now and maybe ever. I love Pink Sugar, I beg of you to check it out. It's currently kickstarting a physical version if your reading this near release of this post then you should go back it. You can read it for free, if you like it, back it.

If you want to help me enjoy more art then consider checking out my Patreon or Ko-fi and giving me a little bit of cash so I can do more of this kind of writing but also like make lots of my own art, art is hard to make and costs money and like maintain my chronically ill and trans body also takes money so anything helps, thank you. If you want more details on any of these I do have reviews for many of the pieces of art above but you can also let me know you want more and maybe I'll write more.