#apsalar

[chloristoflora]

"All right," Cutter said. "It will do."

"What will?"

"This path. It will do." He hesitated, then said, "Cotillion. This notion of... balance. Something has occurred to me-"

Cotillion's eyes silenced him, shocked him with their unveiling of sorrow... of remorse. The patron of assassins nodded. "From her... to you. Aye."

"Did she see that, do you think?"

"All too clearly, I'm afraid."

Cutter stared out the window. "I loved her, you know. I still do."

"So you do not wonder why she has left."

He shook his head, unable to fight back the tears any more. "No, Cotillion," he whispered. "I don't."

House of Chains, by Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4)

[litcityblues]

'Deadhouse Gates' --A Review

Okay, I'm two books into Malazan and will have to take a breather. Not because I don't want to read more of the series-- I do, it's just that these books are a lot. Two books and they've both been incredibly dense. The climaxes of both books have been shatteringly good. But they're also so good that you have to put them down and walk away once you're done with them just to catch your breath a bit. It's an entirely different beast from Sanderson or Robert Jordan-- if you're reading Stormlight, you know what to expect. (Many, many, many pages until the Sanderlanche begins. Plus Kaladin is inevitably being put through the wringer somehow.) If you're reading Robert Jordan, you know it's going to be a lot, (see, 'The Slog' a.k.a. Volumes 7-10) but Malazan is just different. I've never had a fantasy series that just sticks in my craw the way these have so far.

So, Deadhouse Gates:

I already knew coming in that this one wasn't going to be a direct sequel to Gardens of the Moon-- so introducing still more characters and an entirely new setting wasn't nearly as jarring as I found it to be in the previous book. Instead, we get interesting new characters right off the bat: Felisin Paran, the youngest sister of Ganoes Paran (now an outlaw with Dujek and the other Bridgeburners after the events of the previous books) who is caught up in a cull of the nobility ordered by the Empress Laseen and carried out by her other sister, the new Adjunct Tavore Paran. She makes friends with two fellow prisoners- Heboric, a behanded and disgraced High Priest of the God Fener and Baudin, a thug. They're sent to an otataral mine where Felisin offers her body to the self-appointed leader of the slaves, Beneth to keep them safe.

In the deserts of Raraku, Icarium, a half-Jaghut whose past has been wiped from his memory for the safety of the world, travels in the company of Mappo- a Trell warrior who knows the truth about Icarium and why his memories were taken. They make their way through a battle between shapeshifters of Soletaken and D'ivers to try and follow the Path of Hands to Tremorlor, an Azath House deep in the desert that might offer Ascendancy and even godhood. Escaping the battle, they find shelter with Iskaral Pust, a high priest of the Shadow who is insane (probably).

As rebellion flares across the Seven Cities, the Wickan Warleader Coltaine takes command of the Malazan 7th Army and when the High Fist Pormqual refuses to evacuate them by sea, staying in the capitol city of Aren, hundreds of leagues away, Coltaine makes the decision to evacuate overland. The Imperial Historian Duiker meets up with them and accompanies them.

Our only characters from the previous book, Fiddler, Kalam, Crokus, and Apsalar (formerly Sorry) land in one of the Seven Cities. Their original notion was to return Apsalar to her home village, but Kalam and Fiddler have a new plan: to kill the Empress. Eventually, Kalam leaves the group to take a mission deep into the desert to deliver the Holy Book to the resistance leader, Sha'ik. It's believed that once the book is opened, an apocalyptic Whirlwind will begin, announcing the start of the rebellion. As the others make their way through Raraku, Apsalar's recovered memories gradually reveal that Rope, the patron god of assassins who possessed her in the previous book was the previous Emperor's Assassin, Dancer- leading them to believe that both the old Emperor Kellenvad and Dancer escaped Laseen's assassination efforts by ascending to godhood.

The separate journeys of all these characters gradually begin to intertwine. Felisin, Heboric and Baudin escape (with some assistance from Duiker) from the mine and make their way back to the mainland-- Baudin dying in the process-- but not before revealing that he's an assassin sent by Felisin's sister to protect her. Heboric acquires more powers and unseen, magic hands and they arrive in deep in Raraku where Felisin, bent on revenge, agrees to open the Holy Book and become Sha'ik reborn, leader of the Rebellion against the Malazan Empire-- she reaches an accommodation with the Goddess to not fully be subsumed and adopts an orphan child whom she names Felisin.

Coltaine is successful in his trek across the continent-- the trip soon passes into legend as The Chain of Dogs and the High Fist refuse to save the remnants of the 7th Army who die in sight of the city of Aren, Coltaine amongst them. The High Fist is betrayed and eventually, all ten thousand soldiers are crucified along the Aren Way-- including Duiker, who is rescued and (seems to be) bound for a resurrection of some kind.

Mappo, Trell, Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar- along with Iskaral Pust and- as it turns out, Apsalar's father, join forces to enter Tremolor with the idea of using the Deadhouse to travel to the Deadhouse in Malaz City to unite with Kalam to complete their mission of killing the Empress only to find that Dujek's betrayal might have been planned and is seemingly false- a ploy to gain more allies to deal with a greater threat. The group eventually separates: Apsalar, Crokus and her father ask to go home. Kalam finds himself in a relationship (a situationship?) and living in the Shadow Warren with his demon guardian and 1300 crucified children he's been assigned to take care of. Fiddler, surprising everyone-- including himself, re-enlists.

Felisin/Sha'ik reborn approaches Aren with Heboric and her armies, only to find that the city has not been taken. Seeing that, she orders a retreat deeper into the desert to await the arrival of her sister Tavore, and her army.

Overall: Like I said, these books are a lot- but in a good way. Duiker's plot line and the Chain of Dogs becomes instantly epic to me. Put it right up there with Dumai's Wells from The Wheel of Time or Lake Town from The Hobbit-- Coltaine's last stand in front of the city? Just brutal. Just amazing writing- especially the arc of Coltaine over the course of the march. He starts out as a mercenary/outsider type but by the end, when he's offered help by Dujek, he stays loyal to the Malazan Empire and turns into a symbol of the immense achievement of the trek- even if it doesn't end well for him.

Speaking of which: I need more pieces of this puzzle filled in, because Dujek's betrayal was false? To face a greater threat? Is Malazan bad? I'm confused--- I don't know how to feel about this, but I expect more of the series will help clarify what the heck is going on.

While it's not a direct sequel to Gardens of the Moon (there's apparently a lot of overlap with Memories of Ice- the next volume in the series) I love the connective tissue between the two. We see more of Paran's sisters and the conflict between Felisin and Tavore is going to be delicious to watch, even if it inevitably sends whole armies to their deaths. I loved the redemption arc for Heboric and Felisin-- though how much of a 'redemption' arc it actually is has yet to be determined.

If there is one bone I have to pick with this novel it might be the fact that Apsalar ever so conveniently is reunited with her father apropos of pretty much nothing (apparently he was saved from the Shadowhound attack and brought to the temple in the desert via warren?)

This volume was nowhere near as hard to crack as the first volume and it wasn't as jarring either when the plot shifted from one group of characters to the next. This series is dense. It's involved. It's epic in every sense of the word and it can be a bit intimidating, but I'm all in. You should be too. My Grade: **** out of ****

[st0rmy-fr]

@dino--draws's

Agena (oh hey I drew her before!)

Apsalar

DrWondertainment

do you want a sketch headshot for cheap? do you perhaps have some extra familiars laying around from grinding coli?

boy do I have a deal for you!

for one (1) familiar I do not have in my bestiary, you can get one (1) sketch headshot of a dragon of choice

see my bestiary here

edit: max 10 sketches per person~

[enolezdrata]

Apsalar from Malazan Book of the Fallen series

[labelleofbelfastcity]

Me: *plans out an Apsalar cosplay*

Me: *remembers that no one would recognize me anywhere*

Me:

[lrr-tweets]

[sitchurama]

Frender Week!

Day Four: Fluff or ANGST

Oh god.

I had a whole story for context to go with this. I might actually write it yet. The gist of this moment was some asshole shoved Fry out the airlock and Bender had to pull off one hell of a rescue... or he tried his best, anyway... 💔

For Frender Shipweek by @sorry-apsalar!

[abitoflit]

A Beginner’s Guide to Malazan Characters

First published within Tor's online newsletter, this guide, written by Laura M. Hughes, outlines each of the major players within Erikson's world. While this guide is intended for the second book in the series, Deadhouse Gates, some of the characters from the first novel appear and made it into this guide. I am posting excerpts from Hughes' guide in order to help my readers who are interested in this series and because I appreciated Hughes' sarcastic and snarky method of describing the "major players" within this series.

Kalam:

Splitting off from his squad as well as his Bridgeburner BFF Quick Ben, former Claw Kalam Mekhar has one goal in mind: to assassinate the Empress. Well, I say “one goal”; he may or may not get distracted by a book at some point, but we’ve all been there…right, guys?

Fiddler:

Accompanying Kalam is fellow Bridgeburner Fiddler, who’s left his own BFF (Hedge) behind on Genabackis. Like Kalam, ol’ Fid’s big beardy face is set towards righting an old wrong. He’s not the only one.

Sorry/Apsalar:

Remember Sorry? The sweet lil’ fishergirl possessed by the Patron of Assassins, then slipped into the Bridgeburners as their creepy-arsed new recruit? If so, you’ll probably recall that she’s pretty pissed off with a lot of people right now. You’ll also remember that she changed her name to Apsalar, after her buddy Crokus Younghand’s patron goddess (though I suspect he would’ve ended up worshipping her even if she’d named herself Bollockface).

Crokus Younghand:

Ironically, Crokus soon decides to change his profession from thief to—you guessed it!—assassin. You know, just like Sorry, who’s now named Apsalar, a.k.a. the Goddess of Thieves. Come on, Crokus. Aren’t relationships complicated enough already?

Icarium:

Half human, half jaghut; with his greenish skin, protruding tusks and tall, muscled, Hulk-like physique, you’d likely shit yourself if you bumped into Icarium in a dark alley. As fantasy fiction is so fond of reminding us, however, appearances can be deceiving; if something glitters, it could be gold or it could just as easily be a turd rolled in glitter, and not all that is green is a Hulk. Yes, in spite of his fierce exterior, Icarium is polite, considerate, and well-educated, a gentle giant with a deep philosophical streak and an earnest desire to explore history’s layers during his never-ending quest to recover his own memories.

Just…don’t make him angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

Mappo:

On a centuries-long mission to wrap Icarium in proverbial cotton wool (and—rather tragically—to keep him from recovering the memories he so desperately seeks) is his BFF Mappo. Theirs is a bromance to rival even Rake/Brood, and Mappo in particular is a real cutie. Sure, he’s a bit rough ‘round the edges physical—with his bristled back and his tusks and his overall solid MASSIVENESS, he’s not quite as pretty as his verdant mate Icarium. However, he is arguably even more tragic: caught up in a centuries-long internal conflict between friendship and duty, Mappo is the most philosophical, empathetic henchman you’ll ever meet.

Mappo and Icarium’s quest also sets them upon the Path of Hands, whereupon they (handily) cross paths with Crokus and Co. Less handy is the fact that hundreds of others are following the Path, too . . .

D’ivers:

Gardens of the Moon introduced us to the concept of the Soletaken when Anomander Rake veered into his draconian form. Surely nothing could be more terrifying than facing an opponent with the power to transform at will into something truly monstrous. Right?

Meet the D’ivers! If the name doesn’t immediately give it away, let me clue you in: you know how Voldemort turned his snake, Nagini, into a Horcrux (a living repository for a piece of his own soul)? Now imagine if he’d been able to a) split himself into multiple animagus forms, and b) use those forms as living Horcruxes.

He couldn’t, of course. But these guys can.

Gryllen / Messremb / Ryllandaras

Some bright spark has spread the word about Tremorlor. This same bright spark (or is it shifting shadow?) has also given out directions to the House, essentially sending an open invitation to any Soletaken and D’ivers who happen to be in the area. Of these, there are some—like Ryllandaras the man-jackal and Messremb the bear—whose veered forms are few, but incredibly strong. But as a D’ivers’ power grows, so too does its numbers. When veered into his D’ivers form, big bad Gryllen becomes hundreds of rats that cover the ground like a carpet, overwhelming his enemies by sheer force of numbers and devouring them in mere minutes. As you can imagine, the subsequent clashes on the Path of Hands between Soletaken and D’ivers (and our poor heroes caught in the middle!) are fraught and unpredictable. Who would win in a fight between three bears and five hundred bees? A hundred rats and a thousand ticks? Twelve dogs and a sea monster?

Which is more powerful: an old Shadow priest, or a million spiders?

Mogora:

One of our heroes’ more fortuitous encounters (or less fortuitous, depending on your perspective) sees Crokus and company taking a break from the punishing desert in a long-forgotten temple of Shadow. The temple—built into a cliff and inaccessible but for a rope lowered, Rapunzel-style, by its inhabitants—is home to an elderly couple. Mogora and Iskaral Pust show about as much affection for one another as Ian McKellan’s Freddie and Derek Jacobi’s Stuart in the sitcom Vicious, while their bizarre plots and ceaseless bickering are reminiscent of cartoon nemeses Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, Dick Dastardly and that smug bastard pigeon, and—of course—Tom and Jerry. The scenes between Pust and Mogora lend the story an air of slapstick comedy which is, quite frankly, delightful – though our heroes don’t see it that way. Especially when they’re woken in the night by Iskaral Pust standing astride them, brandishing his ever-present sweeping brush in a quest to rid the monastery of its eight-legged denizens (a.k.a. his wife).

Iskaral Pust:

His wife might be a literal nest of spiders, but she’s certainly not the only one spinning webs. He’s no D’ivers, but High Priest of Shadow Iskaral Pust is much craftier than his ostensible role as comic relief leads us to believe. Much like Kruppe in Gardens of the Moon, Pust is all about misdirection, using his constant disingenuous monologues to maintain a façade of madness whilst subtly plucking at everyone’s threads in service to his master, Shadowthrone.

You’re probably thinking that this all sounds very impressive. In which case, the less said about the small, monkey-like bhoka’rala who worship and harangue Pust, the better.

Cotillion:

From webs to Ropes: for the Assassin of High House Shadow, Cotillion takes a surprisingly hands-on role in guiding his reluctant protégée, Apsalar, and her companions. Perhaps feeling slightly guilty about abducting her, then possessing her, then forcing her to commit brutal acts of murder in Gardens of the Moon, the Patron of Assassins now appears to have taken on the role of kindly uncle to the knife-artist formerly known as Sorry.

What a nice guy.

Sarcasm aside, Cotillion is a veritable saint compared to this next lot…

Sha’ik:

Possession—or more specifically, possession as a not-so-subtle metaphor for the way religious belief can override an individual’s own better judgement—is a prevalent theme in the first few books of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. We’ve just recalled how Cotillion possessed Apsalar back at the beginning of Book One; now, we have Sha’ik, the mortal incarnation of the Whirlwind goddess Dryjhna. Every time the old Sha’ik gets too, well, old, she’s replaced with a younger girl in an endless cycle of decay and rebirth.

Does the fact that Sha’ik is a willing vessel make her any less of a victim than Sorry? You’ll probably never get the chance to ask her, I’m afraid. She’s protected very fiercely indeed by her two loyal bodyguards: Leoman, and Toblakai.

Leoman of the Flails:

Desert boy. Hardened fighter. Have a guess what kind of weapon he uses.

[the-infamous-eel]

Here she is, again. My fave.

Apsalar

[chloristoflora]

And crouched at the base of those stairs was a familiar figure, teeth gleaming in a wide smile.

"Iskaral Pust!"

"Missed me, didn't you, lad?" He edged forward like a crab, then cocked his head. "I should soothe him now - both of them, yes. Welcoming words, a wide embrace, old friends, yes, reunited in a great cause once more. Never mind the extremity of what will be demanded of us in the days and nights to come. As if I need help - Iskaral Pust requires the assistance of no-one. Oh, she might be useful, but she hardly looks inclined, does she? Miserable with knowledge, is my dear lass." He straightened, managing something between an upright stance and a crouch. His smile suddenly broadened. "Welcome! My friends!"

Cutter advanced on him. "I've no time for any of this, you damned weasel-"

"No time? Of course you have, lad! There's much to be done, and much time in which to do it! Doesn't that make for a change? Rush about? Not us. No, we can dawdle ! Isn't that wonderful!"

"What does Cotillion want of us?" Cutter demanded, forcing his fists to unclench.

"You are asking me what Cotillion wants of you? How should I know?" He ducked down. "Does he believe me?"

"No."

"No what? Have you lost your mind, lad? You won't find it here! Although my wife might - she's ever cleaning and clearing up - at least, I think she is. Though she refuses to touch the offerings - my little bhok'arala children leave them everywhere I go, of course. I've become used to the smell. Now, where was I? Oh yes, dearest Apsalar - should you and I flirt? Won't that make the witch spit and hiss! Hee hee!"

House of Chains, by Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4)

[healing-fumes]

video games are the only realistic way i can think of with which to surround myself with blood and violence and murder. so far i've tried channeling my bloodlust into drawing, and it worked during.. i think it is something to keep exploring

[tiguidou-dragons]

Based on what you guys answered on my little survey, i’ve brought to you 3 monsterific dragons. Some a little bit tamer and some truly monstrous. I’ve priced them at 500g each.  Prys, the mythological firebird - Spiral, Obsidian Giraffe, Fire Peregrine, Sunshine Spines, Light unusual Kaisenna, the.... angelic? being?? - Midnight Fade, Shale Blend, Silver Peacock, Arcane common Apsalar, the skeletal ghost - Banescale, Iris Chevron, Abyss Tear, Robin Skeletal, Shadow unusual Willing to do mixed or treasure payments at G:t ratio of 1:1250. Will reblog with a link to sales tab!

[lrr-tweets]

Cori coming in with the perfect caption

[majkoszkice]

Fuck it - Cayden dump

Some descriptions below the cut

1. Idk really, got really fixated on a thought about heart glasses for like 5 minutes.

2. Picture taken right before disaster. Canon celebration of Cayden’s 52nd birthday. Everyone got in a pile and I cast levitate to get down from a moving ship’s mast. Ship immediately starts to move from under us. Luckily we got tangled in one of the sails.

3. The Boy and his Funky Proportions.

4. Style experiments to see how far I’m able to simplify to still be happy with the look.

5. He’s on like a 5th sketchbook just for himself, spoiled :v

6. We’re hatching a faerie dragon egg. Turns out it has greater chance of hatching when in presence of fey. Gnomes count. Apsalar gets a tiny dragon, Cayden gets to be a little spoon :>

7. 2 months of downtime on a ship put some vague illustration ideas in my head, im not very happy with it tho

8. Being magical lets you make your own special effects to enhance gesticulation and such : D

[deckof-dragons]

New Year, New Request Event!

It's that time of year again. I'm doing another drabble/doodle request event. This has become an annual thing for me because it's a fun way to start the year. This year, a new rule is only one request per person. However, I'm still open to doing anon requests so I'm going to ask y'all to go with the honor system and not make more than one request. Also, same as previous years I chose if I fill the prompt via art or writing, though if you specify one or the other I'm most likely going to follow it, there's just no guarantee I will. Where applicable please send the request to my appropriate fandom blog (the blogs linked next to the listed fandom) it's easier for me that way. Otherwise, sending the ask to this blog is good.

The only overarching rule is NO NSFW, kink stuff or content that promotes hate. I can also decide not do a request for any reason and I don't have to say why if I don't want to. Also, while I'm gonna try to do requests in the order I got them, I'm not going to totally hold myself to that.

Writing Rules:

I'm fairly flexible; hard fluff or angst is totally fine. Ship or Gen fics. If necessary I'll bend stuff to fit my headcanons/preferred way to viewing a character.

Fandoms I will write for:

A Hat in Time (@shadowthrone-ammanas)

Team Fortress 2 (@kellanved-ammanas)

Super Mario Bros. (@anomander-dragnipurake)

Bugsnax (@poliel)

Futurama (only Frender) (@sorry-apsalar)

Hollow Knight (@cotillion-the-rope)

Doom (only DoomVega) (@the-nehemoth)

She-Ra (only Hordak, Entrapta, and/or Imp) (@tavore-paran

Deltarune

Dead Cells

Venom (only Symbrock)

Undertale (preferably not the skelebros, not a hard rule though)

Wandersong (Yes, I've started writing fic for it! Just haven't published it yet.)

What I CAN'T/WON'T write:

Other fandoms and OC's.

Art Rules:

I can draw pretty much any character from most fandoms, though best results will be from fandoms I'm familiar with (which is more than just the above listed fandoms, too many to list in fact). I can do OC's, fandom OC's as well as true OC's, too if you provide a proper reference and it fits my rules.

What I CAN'T/WON'T do:

Gore, anything that's a big scene, backgrounds, realistic stuff (including characters in live action stuff), mech stuff, characters based solely off written descriptions.

-

You don't have to be a follower of this blog or any of my fandom blogs to make a request. And, not at all required, but I'd appreciate a response when I post you're request so I know you saw it.

[lrr-tweets]