#blackbane

[retroanimechris]

Thela and Kait Blackbane, two sorceresses in training for my original fantasy project/RPG Neo Heroica Garda World

[taravangians-storming-balls]

Some personal highlights from dragonsteel

- a syl cosplayer giving me a blackbane leaf and going "I think this is important?" and then running off

- the really tall load bearing stoneward at the worldhopper ball who kindly put his phone back up to record more after the group of like 10 short people behind him asked him to because viewing through his phone was the only way we could see anything. Truly was there when we needed him

- the tiny lift cosplayer who ran up to my partner and went ELEND!! and then turned to me and went VIN!! and then insisted we follow her over to meet another vin cosplayer she had collected

- being told by a friend that someone described us as an "elend and vin who were tearing it up on the dance floor" at the ball

- the gaggle of amaram cosplayers who I never saw apart from each other. They gave us some glowing spheres

- the oathbringer sword you could pose with being literally 40 pounds

- kaladin cardboard cutout. I do in fact only go up to about under boob height on kaladin.

- spinning in circles with my friend and other vin cosplayer to effectively create a car wash brush with our mistcloak tassels

- walking literally anywhere in the con and hearing card trading deals happening. If you have your cards out someone WILL ask you if you have herald 7

- pattern cosplayer asking brandon a question at the spoiler q&a. He looked really cute standing up there. You could see his little pattern silhouette over the crowd

[tenebris-lux]

- chapter 46, Words of Radiance

This part made me smile for the obvious reasons. It’s the response to this part. But that bit at the end where Rlain was going to say something … (SPOILERS from here on!) He was probably about to confess to Kaladin that he was a spy for the Listeners. And being a spy can mess with your personal loyalties; it’s hard when you relate to the people who had been enemies.

That’s relevant in this chapter, because Kaladin goes to a meeting with people trying to assassinate one of his charges, and … they have fair points too. Now Kaladin is caught in a problem. What’s the right thing to do? To where does his loyalty go? It’s not even as easy as just taking Elhokar out—it would still be betraying Dalinar as well, even if the intentions are good. The real sticking point is that his friend is one of the spies/assassins. That’s someone he helped and also wanted to keep safe. And Kaladin … well, he has a REALLY hard time letting go, and he’s caught between two attachments here. He doesn’t know it, but he’s in a similar situation as Rlain is.

Moash is using the group as an opportunity. He agrees with their point about Dalinar, but that’s secondary to him. He just wants Elhokar dead. I can’t blame him, and it must hurt having to protect the guy who thought nothing of his grandparents. This, folks, is what we call a conflict of interest; he shouldn’t even be this close to Elhokar. He’s trying to make the idea appeal to Kaladin by putting the savior spin on it; “you can help people this way, so it works out” kind of thing. The thing is, Kaladin only really kills immediate threats to his charges. He doesn’t really do the premeditated stuff.* He’s a defender, not an aggressor. As Syl said before, he’s a Windrunner, not a Skybreaker. And he doesn’t have a taste for duplicity. That’s Shallan’s territory.

It’s kinda cute how Kaladin’s conundrum with this is in the Shallan-focused book. One could objectively consider her actions of killing her father a betrayal. She’s 100% justified in it, IMO, but it was difficult for her to do. And she felt she had to because he was an immediate threat to those she loved, and there was no changing that; he only got worse over time.

*He came close in The Way of Kings when he was being transported to the Shattered Plains. He carried that blackbane leaf with him for a while, but never got around to actually using it.

[kainekron]

Stormlight reread: 11 droplets

Man syl's gesture of getting Kaladin the blackbane always hits me like a sack of bricks it's so Ernest and naive and just AAAAAA!

[shyblacksheep]

Xander Kitamura 🔥

One of the main characters from my comic in the works ‘New Wolf’. He’s a 14 year old half kitsune, half lycan. His main ability is foxfire, while his lycan half gives him to ability to heal much faster. He has the more outgoing personality and tends to be considered a bit of a hothead, but is fiercely loyal to those he cares about. Xander’s parents decided to go with his mother’s last name for him rather than his father’s, William, since his dad didn’t really consider himself a Blackbane anymore. Because of that, they decided to give him an English first name to represent his British side; He’s full name is Alexander.

[ X ] ⛩️

[howlinginsolitude]

Romantasy Readers of Tumblr: Lend Me Your Power

A very dear friend of mine (who doesn't follow this account so I'm hoping she doesn't find this post) is finally publishing her first novel and me, being me, is trying to help get the word out to help get her some more arc readers. I figured here would be as good as anywhere to post it, but even if you just reblog I really want to surprise her with new signups.

Blurb:

What if your fate lies hidden within the secrets of the past?

Gwen Thorncrest, heir to the throne of Tavia, has always known her fate. But as her father’s health fades, she’s thrust into a role she fears she may not be ready for. Amidst her grief, Gwen must navigate danger, betrayal, and political scheming as she claims the throne that is rightfully hers. To fulfill her destiny, she must journey across Tavia to the Misty Mountains, where she must conquer her doubts and safeguard an ancient secret she is blood sworn to protect.

Tyreal Blackbane, a commoner sworn to protect Gwen since childhood, harbors a secret of his own—a forbidden love for his future queen. As new threats emerge from those who view a woman’s ascension to the throne as a threat, Tyreal must confront his own destiny. His unwavering loyalty and hidden feelings put him on a collision course with his heart and duty.

Together, they must face an ever evolving and intertwining fate as she inherits a kingdom, and he inherits something he never expected. Can they protect the people of Tavia and each other—while concealing their deepest secrets?

Content Warnings: Death of a parent, grief, adult content, etc (full warning list on signup page)

ARC Signups: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KnAyr_JGVvheg5CnANdaufBFkdFITTHWQPHCWxlHtIs/viewform?edit_requested=true

Also her Linktree: https://linktr.ee/daniloughary

[silvercaptain24]

………oh

Oh I forgot Kaladin had blackbane leaf in the first book

Oh that hits so much harder now

Oof

[gorematchala]

Why are all amateur writers obsessed with trauma. Why dont you write about fuckers who are doing alright but things could be better

Its always like this is my oc blackbane shadowheart and he went on the heros journey but fighting a dragon was so scary he got the trauma and abused his girlfriend and got into meth, like, go read the hobbit dummy. And try to comprehend the media while you're at it

[csakamulokbamulok]

És arról nekem miért csak most kell tudnom, hogy az orange is the new blackban ennyi csecs van? ❤️👭👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍👩👮👮‍♂️

Igazán szólhattatok volna!

[silvercaptain24]

Oh yeah no I had that happen in WoR with the Blackbane leaf too, I’d forgetten it existed until the Shallan arc and I was just like. Oh my heart. But I just read the post where the Stormfather explained the Heralds and. OH BUDDY NO was about all I could do as a reaction.

RIGHT?!? I actually sobbed at Snotlout, I was not expecting that, my parents had no idea what was going on and I had to explain it to them

HECK YES TO BOTH OF THESE

IM IN THE MIDDLE OF OATHBRINGER RN AND I JUST

LIKE I CAN NEVER READ THE PROLOGUE OF WOK THE SAME WAY AGAIN

Also the HTTYD books!? Oh gosh, those were a whole experience that I was not expecting to have.

I KNOW RIGHT? Same. I started HTTYD thinking it was a lighthearted, silly series full of fart jokes and funny Dragonese. I ended it crying and stabbed through the heart by an experience that compelled me to write an overarching arc as insanely impactful as that which Cressida Cowell masterfully crafted. And I started up The Way of Kings again, this time I'm finishing it for real lol, and oh my goodness I'm getting punched with foreshadow after foreshadow after foreshadow ahhhhh how dare you Brandon Sanderson /hj I have to stop reading sometimes just to stare at certain lines like "oh my goodness. You sneaked that in there, this far back? No way" Hence why they're two of my favorite authors of all time :D

[retroanimechris]

Xyla Blackbane render for the Neo Heroica Garda World bible I'm drafting (all original conceptz)

[diabolicalworldwriter]

this is a few months old, (and that position! it’s so stiff! why?!?) but I love honor chasm and I love Kaladin and syl. Let’s go bringing poison to keep our suicidal friends alive!

this was a very beautiful and emotional scene in the book and we all (we all being just me) know I’m gonna draw this a lot more with more renditions and hopefully the art will improve as time goes on. (spaghetti fingers crossed (man I love using jokes literally no one else is going to get)).

so here ya go! just focus on the poorly drawn and kinda pixelated face, not the awkward posture. and smile because syl and kaladin are adrable and we love them. 

hope you like it even though it’s trash. (I mean, if you like my other trash, maybe??) also, sorry that the majority of my art is Kaladin (what am I apologizing for he’s amazing), but I’m partly a simp (who am i kidding i’m definitely a simp) and as I’ve mentioned before I’m trying to make a video with the fan art. so I need a lot. and for now, that’s what you get. 

I’ma try to do shallan soon, but her song was one I wrote myself and my voice is disgusting. so the fan art will be concentrated to what I can do. (and I can’t draw adolin’s beauty adequately for the life of me, not that I’ve captured Kaladin’s but I’m a mess and my other characters look kinda trashy too.) soooo... ya sorry. you’ll get some kinda different art tomorrow maybe hopefully.

[ultramaga]

"How many ways can I say, "Don't be a jerk?"" As many as you please. However, we saw the worst people infiltrate and destroy our culture, and learnt from that that it is nicer to have the barbarians outside the gates than in. "Usually it’s Dungeons & Dragons or Warhammer 40K that conservatives seems to be trying to drive the “woke” crowd away from." Because in the name of inclusivity, they exclude, in the name of diversity they make everything the same. They drag everything DOWN. "“{Game} is for Everyone.”" It isn't, it wasn't, it cannot be. "Why would we ever turn someone away?"

Because they want to wreck our happiness? Take Star Wars.

The next Rey Palpatine movies are being directed by a woman who, not only says she has no idea how to make a film, but who hates men, and who aims to make men "uncomfortable". She also states that every film she makes is woke propaganda. Yay? Why the fuck shouldn't we want people like this as far, far away from our hobbies as possible?

"I look upon this the same way I look at freedom of speech."

They can SAY anything they like. From outside our hobbies. They can make their own. But they never do, because the Woke only know how to destroy. "hate speech is not allowed on most social media platforms by their Terms of Service" Yes, because most companies are run by and for the woke, or try and pander to the woke, and that means they allow the hatred of all religions but one, the hatred of whites and now jews, and the loathing and incitement of violence to men and boys. Because all are equal in Leftism - but some are more equal than others. "If someone wants to act like a bigoted 🦆🦆🦆hole after I say my table is an LGBTQIA, BIPOC, Neurodiverse friendly table, they’re gone." Yup, you can gatekeep your table and we can gatekeep ours, but when your mob controls the hobby and does thing like using Paizo's market share to blackmail companies into blackbanning rivals, then we have a problem. And when I see good and evil being tossed out the door in favour of cultural relativism, when I see DnD books obsessed with prom instead of adventure, I know the fish rots from the head, and the failure to gatekeep the hobby meant it is dying. DnD had a resurgence thanks to Stranger Things - but it was OLD SCHOOL that they were playing, not the Gender Identity bullshit it has become. And now the staff have largely been given their marching orders. Because it turns out woke is a great way to go broke. Who knew?

Failure upon failure, heaping and flowing piles of maggoty shit everywhere, because we didn't gatekeep, and because the people who hated the hobbies were put in charge of the hobbies.

The Western comic book industry is nearly gone. Soon manga will be the only choice apart from a tiny handful of indies. Why manga?

I'll give you two good reasons.

"I won’t hesitate to call the police to have such a person removed from my home." Because you are a lunatic. "Imagine asking what’s going on over on the Warhammer 40K table and being told to eff off because people of your ethnic background aren’t allowed." Ok, sounds like that needs to be gatekept if it goes beyond their personal table, otherwise it is about gatekeeping their table, NOT THE HOBBY. But if they just want to play with other Fijian Indians or whatever, why the hell should I care?

I never see Leftists objecting to discrimination when it is done by the groups they favor. The rage is only if some group they despise - whites, straights, males etc - does exactly the same thing. Which is why when Leftists get into power, they divide society into the Protected and the Scum, as in Australia. You cannot close your business to the Protected, but you can do any shit you like to everyone else. My introduction to that was learning that the AHRC has no problem with sacking people because they are white, or refusing employment to anyone who is gay, or denying charities to men and boys. Because Leftists HATE equal opportunity, they DESPISE the level playing field, and the sweetest joy they will ever know is causing harm to others. So don't just gatekeep your hobbies - gatekeep the whole fucking society.

Just say “No” to Gatekeeping In Gaming.

How many ways can I say, "Don't be a jerk?" Yes, EVERYONE is welcome in the TTRPG hobby and Miniatures Wargaming spaces. However, disruptions are not welcome. I hope to shed some light on the gatekeeping phenomenon.

There is this absurd notion that it’s okay to keep people away from our hobbies. I’ve been seeing more posts online again about. “This is why we should keep people away from [whatever] game.” Usually it’s Dungeons & Dragons or Warhammer 40K that conservatives seems to be trying to drive the “woke” crowd away from.The prevailing theory to counter this argument is that “{Game} is for Everyone.”…

[loganscanons]

uf short fics

Context: Some short fics featuring UF friendship duos. The first is Precious and Helena, the second is Paige and Orthanach, and the third is Tulio and Zelda.

Precious walked into the morgue with her head down, focused on the paperwork Fil had just handed her. When she looked up, opening her mouth to ask Helena a question, she stopped dead in her tracks, her expression shifting from neutral blankness to surprise, her eyebrows raising.

“Helena, what are you doing?” Precious asked. There was a sharp edge to her bewildered tone, like she was too caught off guard to be sure if she should be disapproving.

Helena sat on the autopsy table, her legs folded like a pretzel, bent forward as she scrolled on her phone. At Precious’s question, her shoulders tensed, and she looked up, though she wasn’t sure why she seemed to be in trouble.

“It’s my break!” she said defensively.

“But why are you on the autopsy table?” Precious’s black heeled boots clicked against the floor as she neared.

Helena’s shoulders relaxed, realizing that the reason for Precious’s outburst was about an arbitrary matter. She looked down at the metal slab, and then back to Precious. Not much thought had gone into sitting on the autopsy slab; it was a surface on which she could sit, so she did.

“Oh, uh, cause it was the closest thing when I decided to sit down,” Helena said.

“The autopsy table is not a chair; it’s for decedents. Get off,” Precious said, and she swatted Helena’s knee with the thin stack of papers in her hand. 

“I cleaned it first!” Helena defended, though that was not what Precious was concerned about.

“So?” Precious asked. She figured Helena had cleaned it. She wasn’t sloppy with her work. “It’s for dead bodies, not for you to use as a chair during your break, Hel.”

“I’m a little bit dead,” Helena chirped as she unfolded her legs and hopped off the table.

“Aren’t we all?” Precious said dryly. “When you’re all the way dead, you can sit on the autopsy table all you want.”

---

The Oak & Swan was abuzz with cheerful chatter and laughter, the air saturated with a mood of giddy celebration. The proposal that Rhonda had put so much thought into had been a success, making Teale cry her tearless cry from happiness. When they left the private room, Teale was greeted with another surprise. The company of her friends ready to celebrate.

Sitting alone at the bar, Paige observed the festivities with a small smile. As she watched Divina trying to teach Anastacia the steps of a modern dance, a large figure leaned forward next to her, his arms resting on the bar. She turned her attention to the man, and he smiled, his crooked teeth showing and his golden eyes shining. 

“Hey, why’re you all by yer lonesome, Paigey?” Orthanach asked, nudging her with his elbow. 

“I’m fine,” she said. “I like watching.” 

Orthanach gazed around the room, slowly taking in all the smiling faces, then looked at the ceiling, where music played through speakers. Then, he turned his attention back to Paige. 

He folded his arms on the bar and rested his chin on them as he looked up at Paige. “You should come dance with me.”

“Oh—I-I don’t really dance,” she said.  

Nach sat up, his eyebrows raised in disbelief, but his eyes still twinkled. “Yer tellin’ me ya grew up goin’ to Bates and Rachkov events and ya never learned to dance?”

“I don’t like dancing,” she said, shrugging. 

“Don’t like dancin’? Dancin’ is a great way to have a good time!”

“I don’t like people looking at me dance.”

“Ah,” he said, nodding understandingly. He looked around the pub again. He wanted to convince Paige to let loose and have a little fun. She was so uptight and serious.

He turned his attention back to her, “How ‘bout ya dance with me now? And if anyone looks I’m sure they’ll be lookin’ at me bein’ ridiculous and not at you. And if ya hate it, I promise I’ll never ask again. Unless I’m very drunk, and I forget I made that promise, but jus’ flick my forehead or somethin’ if that happens.”

She hesitated. He was fae; his promises had weight to them. If she agreed to dance this once and didn’t like it, he would keep true to his word.

With a gentle smile, he said softly, “If you don’t want to, that’s okay, Paige. I won’ hold it against ya.” 

He stood and took a step back, then held out his hand to her, his palm up. “Whaddya say?”

For a few seconds, she said nothing, staring at his outstretched hand. Then, she smiled and placed her hand in his. A grin spread across his freckled face, and moments later, they were whirling around the pub. A laugh escaped her lips as he loudly sang along with the song playing through the speakers, prompting Grant to join in, and tried not to collide with any tables.

---

Zelda craned her neck as she took in the enormous factory and it’s high ceilings. She and Tulio had been wandering the abandoned building for at least ten minutes, passing slowly among the old machines coated with dust and rust. Cobwebs hung in the gaps of the machines. Patches of the factory were illuminated by moonlight coming through the broken windows. The atmosphere certainly wasn’t welcoming, but it didn’t provide any indication of ghosts.

“I thought you said this place was super haunted,” Zelda said. She squinted at movement in a pool of moonlight. It was just clouds passing over the moon.

“I didn’t say ‘haunted,’” Tulio said. “I don’t really like that word. It has such a negative connotation, and most ghosts don’t mean to haunt people; they just haven’t been able to pass on.”

With quick strokes of her forefinger, Zelda drew her initials in the dust covering one of the machines. She wiped the dust on her finger off on her pants and asked, “What would you say instead?” 

“Inhabited?” Tulio suggested. He pointed the large camera balanced on his shoulder toward a sign of movement. It was Zelda’s shadow as she wandered away from him. 

“Okay, I thought you said this place was super inhabited,” Zelda said. “That doesn’t sound as cool.”

She brought the camera that hung around her neck up to her eye and snapped a picture of the shattered glass, yellowed from age, that let in the moonbeams.

“This isn’t about being cool, Zee,” Tulio said with a small frown. “We’re here to help spirits pass on to the other side. And it does have a lot of spirits. Old factory not up to code, unhappy workers, accidental deaths. It’s bound to lead to some angry spirits.” 

She was right that the equipment for finding ghosts was unusually quiet. Tulio chewed the inside of his cheek, then said, “They might not like the camera. Some spirits don’t like being filmed.” He cleared his throat and announced to the seemingly empty factory, “To anyone who resides within this factory, I’ve turned the camera off. We respect your privacy. See? The light isn’t on anymore.”

Silence.

Tulio glanced and Zelda, who was still holding her camera up as she looked around with wide eyes. He whispered, “Zelda, put your camera down.”

“Oh, sorry!” she said. 

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a translucent apparition of a bloodied, torn-up man appeared just feet away from them. 

Tulio, startled, jumped back and yelled, “AHH!” at the same time that Zelda gasped.

He clutched his hand over his heart and took a deep breath, “Oh, you startled me.” He shook off his fear and addressed the spirit, “Hello, sir. My name is Tulio, this is Zelda. If it’s not too much trouble, we want to talk to you.”

“About what?” the ghost asked in a raspy, thin voice.

“Your life, any concerns or last wishes you had, things like that,” he said with a comforting smile.

“And how you died!” Zelda interjected. Tulio glanced at her, wide-eyed, and she added, “If you’re comfortable with that.”

The ghost made an unpleasant sound that was somewhere between a growl and a moan. “Oh, I’ll tell you how I died. We said things like this would happen,” he gestured to his missing arm and torn up chest. “But did anyone listen? Nooo.”

Zelda and Tulio exchanged a look, Tulio’s eyebrows knit together, and Zelda with a delighted smile.

“Maybe we should find a place to sit,” Tulio suggested.

[headcanonseverywhere]

A few old sketches from last year :)

[pocketramblr]

"Nale's nuts" I'M SORRY WHAT SFDGVCG