#bloodsports is more important to you

[kaiasky]

important info for new /r/196 friends

when you reblog a post, two people get notifications. the person you directly reblogged from (who you are actually talking to) and the OP, who always gets notified no matter what.

Weaker minds might say "so be mindful of what you say and don't be too annoying because the OP has to read it too :)" but they're wrong.

your GOAL is to annoy the OP so much that they delete the post, which is currently(?) the only way to save oneself from the spam a popular post will inflict upon your notes. (the reblogs remain it just isn't on their blog anymore.)

posting is a bloodsport and winning is all that matters. follow for more great tumblr tips

[dailyadventureprompts]

The Daily Adventure Prompts Masterpost

After several years of running this blog, it’s become more and more evident that I need some central reference where people can access all my different DM advice posts, important tags, and ongoing series. Sharing my ideas with people and helping to improve the art and craft of being a dungeonmaster was always the point of DAP after all, and its of no help to anyone if the answers to important questions are buried under a hundred or more pages of my rambling.

To that end, I present this post as an ever expanding catalogue of my thoughts. Something that you can page through at your leisure in hopes some of my hardwon lessons will be of use to you.  

DM Advice: The go-to tag for all my rambling on how to improve your d&d game, with some highlights presented here,

My Process

Getting Organized

Basics of Campaign writing

Railroading & Rollercoasters

The “more than you can chew” universal d&d story structure

Ghosts on the Horizon: not getting bogged down with overplanning

Mapmaking 101

Writer’s Block

Better Random Encounters

Better Loredumps and Exposition

Writing Adventures to Make your party care about your world

Series of Interest

The DM Starterpack: Focused on first timers or those who want to re-learn d&d from the ground up this series of posts is intended to give you an idea how to come up with a campaign concept, write a first adventure, run a session zero, and slowly pivot into running a larger campaign.

Tableskills: While a lot of my work focuses on how you can write better stories, these posts talk about being a better storyteller focusing in on the performance art of DMing.

Mechanics: On the flipside, sometimes you need to put on your game designer hat and focus in on ways to make the underlying engine of the game run more smoothly to better facilitate fun and storytelling.

How to Run...: there are certain types of adventure that need more thought put into them then the average monsterhunt or dungeon delve, and so I wrote a series of articles to not only help you write/design them but to pull them off at your table.

Wilderness Exploration

Heists

Naval Combat

Infiltrating a fancy party

Mystery

Airship Adventures

Political Intrigue

Mythology style epic labours

The Loot Overhaul: A series of posts where I focus in on different aspects of d&d’s treasure and item

An overhaul to player wealth & The Economy

Better Loot & Treasure Hoard generation

A case for magic item shops & Item focused treasure hauls

Shopping trips & Group Inventory Management

Making Identifying & Attuning to Items interesting

Crafting Overhaul pt 1: Weapons & Armour

Crafting Overhaul pt 2: Magic & Consumables

Monsters Reimagined: My ongoing delve into d&d’s bad monster lore and how it can be improved. Sometimes it’s because a cool monster is just underwritten, sometimes its because how they’re used in the narrative just doesn’t make sense, sometimes its because there’s decades or even centuries old pro-genocide talking points that we need to unpack.

Footnotes on Foes: For those topics that don’t warrant a full “monsters reimagined” but I still want to give my take on. Fun stuff in there, especially with lesser known monsters that could use a revamp.  

Heavy Topics: Where I deepdrive on the nuance of particular topics, ranging from uncomfortable touchstones in history that are important to my writing to sensitive subjects that you’ll want to discuss with others around your table.

Bad Opinions: Sometimes a take so awful lands in my inbox that I need to hold it up infront of my audience and perform a vivisection. Its part media study, part bloodsport.

Dungeon Design: An attempt to do what the creators of the game have put off for decades (despite being half of the title) and actually provide a coherent framework for step by step dungeon design. After nearly twenty years of banging my head against a wall, it finally seems to have worked.

Planescape: Where I try to add cool new (or revamped) destinations to the tapestry of d&d’s multiverse.

Special mention to “Why I don’t use the Great Wheel Cosmology” as it underscores a lot of my overall problems with d&d’s cosmic lore and its weird moralistic claims.

Deities: A collection of new/overhauled gods focusing on making them represent ideals that people would actually believe in as an embodiment of ideals and narrative themes.

How to use the divine in your game: a story first view of how to use faith, religion, and gods in your campaigns aiming for things more subtle and thematic.

Outer Gods: For when you want to get lovecraftian

Religion is the tag I use to talk about the concept of both faith as a theme in writing, as well as how the organized religion serves as a worldbuilding tool

Adventures by Type: not a comprehensive list

Press Start: Opening adventures for those who want a solid start for future campaigns or adventures

Campaigns: For those who’d like a larger story framework to play with

Adventure Compendium: If you’d like a lot of ideas on the same theme

Dungeon: Need I say More?

Monsterhunt: Facing off against a powerful enemy that has some tricks

Villain: In both Quantity and Quality

Player Home: Every party needs a place to rest their head

Ally: They’re here to help, usually

Patron: Benefactors of the shady and non shady verity

Mystery: Put your Sleuthing Hat on

Thief: Time to steal something

Faction: Larger groups the party can join

Adventures by Environment

Lowland

Swamp

Field

Desert

Wasteland

Highland

Cave

Mountain

Forest

Seaside

Ruin

Settlement

Village

Town

City

[siilvan]

bloodsport – I

prologue | next

characters: vladimir makarov

summary: day one of your imprisonment brings you face-to-face with the enemy.

genre: angst, slowburn, enemies to ?, fem!reader (callsign: petra, no desc.)

warnings: semi-proofread, cursing, canon-typical violence, minor descriptions of blood/injuries, light manipulation?, makarov fucks w/ reader's head (╯д╰)

word count: 3.3k

note: listened to makarov’s voice reveal while writing this and felt my brain chemistry change immediately <3

the first thing you notice after waking up is how uncomfortable the bed you're sleeping on is. the mattress is thin and bare, sitting low to the ground on a wrought iron frame that had seen better days. your body aches, muscles burning and begging for reprieve as you pull yourself up to sit. you carefully swing your legs over the edge of the bed and wince from the effort.

you're not in a hospital, not even a temporary clinic set up for emergency treatment. the walls are made up of weathered stone and brick, akin to an old prison built to withstand a siege, and the iron bars across the room confirm your suspicions.

you've been captured.

the air surrounding you seems to grow thicker, heavier, threatening to steal the oxygen straight from your lungs. during your career, you've dealt with a great number of challenges: being shot, stabbed, abandoned, betrayed, and even nearly killed. you've been captured as well, but only for planned operations. torture was never a threat.

several parts of your body are neatly wrapped in surprisingly clean bandages, reminding you of the incident that led to your capture. the missile, konni's presence in the city, makarov. did he take the sergeants captive, as well? are they here with you?

you force yourself to stand and try to ignore your knees almost buckling as you cross the room, heading towards the door. a glance through the bars provides little information - the cell across from yours is empty, and the only sound you can make out is meaningless chatter between the guards patrolling the hall. they're speaking in russian, preventing you from eavesdropping on their conversations. it's probably nothing important, anyway. while searching, you start to consider the worst case scenario.

soap and gaz may not be here. they could be lying dead in the sand, either killed by their wounds or by the enemy.

you shake your head and step back into the middle of the room, not even daring to entertain that train of thought any longer. you can't afford to doubt your team at a time like this. they're alive, either in cells of their own or recovering somewhere else.

the voices in the hall suddenly go quiet. they're soon replaced by footsteps, languid yet purposeful, expensive shoes padding against the stone floor and steadily drawing closer. your eyes stay glued to the door, unmoving from it despite your instincts telling you to run. you have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. your only option is to face the person approaching directly.

advice from your team swims through your mind. although the sergeants have never been locked up and tortured, price and ghost have. you can remember price's stories clear as day, as if he told them only yesterday. ghost was more private about his experiences, but after las almas, he slowly began to open up about his past. the two echoed the same advice to the sergeants and yourself.

do whatever is necessary to make it out alive.

you squeeze your eyes shut and inhale deeply, attempting to calm your buzzing nerves and racing heart. panic will do you no good in this situation. when you open your eyes, you're immediately greeted by one of the guards - a man in black clothing and gear, his face obscured, unlocking the door at the far end of the room. he steps away a second later, leaving you staring at the man you dreaded meeting through the bars.

his gaze is trained on you, dark eyes burning holes into your skin, rendering you immobile. you try to maintain a confident demeanor nonetheless, refusing to give him the satisfaction of intimidating you.

"turn around," he says, his voice flat as he gives you the simple command. "hands on the wall."

you hesitate, pride briefly overtaking your rational senses. after a short-lived staring contest, however, you silently concede and turn to face the wall. you press your palms to the cold stone and listen as the door creaks open and shut. gloved hands wrap around your wrists shortly thereafter and pull your arms backwards, forcing them behind your back. cold metal replaces his touch and binds your wrists.

"seems a bit excessive, don't you think?" you ask. your voice wavers just slightly, hoarse from lack of use. "i'm already out of commission, thanks to these injuries."

he gives you no response, though you catch a glimpse of his apathetic expression when he reaches past you to grab a metal chair that rests in the corner of the room. it scrapes across the floor as he drags it away, and you turn once more to watch as he sets it down a few feet from the side of the bed.

"sit down." he looks at you and motions to the bed. you wordlessly follow the order and stumble forward before settling on the edge of the mattress, hands clenched into tight fists. he sits on the chair across from you and leans back, looking completely at ease while taking in your current appearance.

"do you know who i am?" he speaks again, eyes flicking back up to meet yours. you feel like a prey animal locking eyes with a predator, waiting for them to tear you apart. you don't dare to look away.

"makarov." the name leaves your lips in a low murmur. "leader of the ultranationalists. konni's commander. the 'world's biggest threat,' according to some. i've heard plenty about you." you stiffen as the edge of his mouth twitches, an eerie smile playing on his lips.

"i'm sure captain price had a great deal to say, lieutenant." he folds his hands in his lap, nodding towards your bandaged body. you're still in your uniform, albeit without your dirty and damaged outer layers, and your gear is long gone. you feel vulnerable under his gaze. "my men found you in quite an... unfortunate state. i must admit that i'm impressed. surviving a direct missile strike is no small feat."

"where is my team?" you demand, fighting against the restraints. they don't loosen in the slightest, of course, and makarov merely tilts his head to the side at your struggle. "there were two men with me. where are they? what did you do with them?"

he blinks at you, refusing to respond. you open your mouth to repeat the question, before he interrupts you. "they didn't put up much of a fight. it was disappointing, really." his hands unfold and he shifts in the chair, chuckling to himself. "i expected more from price's so-called 'elite task force.'"

his comment pulls an involuntary gasp from you, a stuttering breath falling from your lips. "they didn't... you killed them?" you ask, voice dropping to a near-whisper. it can't be true. soap, gaz– surely they're still alive. they have to be.

"i never said that," he replies, shaking his head in a low-effort attempt to placate you. "whether your teammates still live is not my concern. my men left them to their own fates."

your eyes narrow, though your shoulders slump just a little at his answer. they could still be alive. "what is your concern, then? i doubt you've taken me captive just to talk." you remark, racking your brain for any reason why he'd take you over the rest of the team. convenience, perhaps? you were defenseless, and of the options readily available, you held the highest rank.

"nothing gets past you, does it, lieutenant?" makarov leans forward, prompting you to sit up straighter in order to keep a comfortable distance. his voice lowers, as if he was hiding his next words from any curious souls just outside the room. "i think we can help each other. i have information that you need, and your allies have the resources to take care of a constant thorn in my side."

"are you saying we have a common enemy?"

he nods, reaching into his pocket. "it appears we do." he pauses, pulling out a cellphone and scrolling for a moment before turning it towards you. you lean closer, studying the image on the screen as he continues. "this should look familiar to you."

you furrow your brow at the blurry picture, but the subject still stands out. it was a man laying dead on the ground, wearing combat fatigues that looked out-of-date, surrounded by several corpses dressed in similar, yet mismatched uniforms. their bodies have no visible identification, reminding you of the americans you encountered working with konni and al-qatala.

"i remember them. we thought they were random mercenaries hired by your men," you say, shifting your focus back to makarov. "i take it they're not working for you?"

"the men you encountered were not mercenaries. they worked for a man, not a company. your team knows their employer well." he pauses long enough for you to nod your head, urging him to speak. the satisfied smile that briefly crosses his face is enough to make your blood boil beneath your skin - he's enjoying making you beg for information. "the american general. shepherd, was it?"

"what?"

"did you really believe that you could trust him, petra?" he asks with a quirked brow. hearing him utter your callsign in such a casual tone only serves to make you feel hotter, practically burning with rage; at shepherd or makarov, you're not sure.

the situation doesn't make any sense. why would shadow company launch a war with konni, only to ally with them in secret? based on the intel that laswell gathered during your time in las almas, about shadow company losing the missiles to the group, shepherd should want to burn the organization, not assist it. you frantically search for an answer, but come up with nothing. grudgingly, you look to the man sitting in front of you.

"tell me more." you mutter, managing to subdue your anger for the time being.

instead of elaborating, he stands from the chair. you watch him cross the room and stop in front of the door, casting a glance in your direction. "we can discuss the details in due time. for now, come."

you stare at him, confused, before rising to your feet and following him. he leaves the cell and starts down the hallway with you in tow, doing your best to keep pace as the momentarily forgotten pain quickly settles in again. a pair of guards follow the two of you from a small distance, close enough to intervene in an emergency but far enough to not indulge in your discussion.

if you can even call this a "discussion." a madman and his captive audience is a more accurate description.

you try to take in your surroundings. the corridors greatly resemble the cell you were in, dark stone and brick walls that looked in dire need of repairs. the barred windows you pass look out onto different fields, courtyards turned into vehicle and weapon storage. you have to restrain yourself from gawking when you see a small collection of tanks in one area, accompanied by smaller APCs scattered about.

makarov has a small army that somehow slipped under your radars. you're well aware of konni and his affiliation with other powerful groups, but you've always assumed they were disorganized, using guerilla tactics and thrifted gear. this is something else entirely, you think. he's preparing for war.

you hear a soft rumbling in the distance. at first, you mistake it for one of the vehicles, until the sound disappears. it reappears seconds later, and you quickly realize that it's thunder.

"petra," he addresses you suddenly, drawing your attention. "tell me, do you consider yourself a good person?"

your brows knit together at the question. it feels out of place, and you wonder for a moment if you misheard him. your step falters, causing one of the guards to grumble something about "keeping up" until you catch up again. "i, uh– i guess i do, yeah. what are you getting at?"

there's a storm approaching, the thunder sounding closer now. the sky grows dark as grey clouds begin to form and block out the sun, casting shadows across the exterior grounds. it's a melancholic scene, although fitting considering your circumstances. you reach a set of doors that another pair of guards pull open, allowing you to step outside.

a cold breeze sweeps past you almost instantly, forcing a shiver down your spine as goosebumps rise to the surface of your exposed skin. makarov says something to the guards that you don't quite catch and the doors shut behind you, leaving you alone with him. you're standing on a small balcony overlooking a bustling area full of soldiers and mercenaries alike, training and organizing their forces.

"you consider yourself good, even though you're responsible for innocent lives being lost?" he remarks, stepping towards the balcony's edge and placing his hands atop the stone ledge.

"innocent lives– you are the one responsible for that!" you exclaim, striding across the balcony and glaring daggers at his profile. "my job is to save people, and that's what i do. i've spent years hunting down threats just like you with the sole purpose of making the world safer for the innocents!"

he turns to face you with the same apathetic expression as earlier, when he first entered your cell. he doesn't look at all affected by your words, dark eyes staring straight through you. if you didn't know better, you'd think he was seeing into your very soul. his response - or rather, the lack thereof - is enough to make you go quiet. a beat of silence passes between you, only broken by the encroaching thunder and sounds of his soldiers training in the field below.

"what of the missiles used by your allies? the ones that they lost." he mutters, earning an exasperated sigh from you.

"you mean the missiles that your men killed them for?" you flex your hands in the restraints and shake your head. "i'm not allied with the shadows or their commander, but even if i was, those missiles were going to a good cause."

"and, where were they going?"

your eyes flit from his own, focusing on the distant horizon. you can tell exactly where he's going with this line of questioning, but the frustration continues to build up inside of you.

"if i had to guess, they were probably heading straight for your doorstep." you grumble, shifting from one foot to the other. standing for so long is nothing short of agonizing, given your current state.

he clicks his tongue, making a 'tsk' sound at your reply. "you cannot claim to be fighting for a good cause, if said cause considers civilians another price of war." makarov huffs. from the corner of your eye, you can see his gaze still firmly locked on you. "the lives that you save will never outweigh the damage you've done. they'll never cleanse your hands of the blood that stains them. every time your allies fire off a missile to kill someone like me, so, too, are they killing innocent–"

"you're one to fucking talk–"

the words tumble from your lips as your back is slammed into the wall, your skull knocking against the stone from the force. you wince, eyes temporarily falling out of focus and head spinning from yet another injury. makarov leans in dangerously close, one of his hands wrapped around your throat uncomfortably tight, restricting your airflow. you can still breathe, but just barely, sucking in short gasps of air.

"watch your mouth."

the warning is a low growl next to your ear, his voice dripping with such an intense venom that it makes your skin crawl. you try to nod your head despite his hold, finding it impossible to form any words with your lack of oxygen. your brain is firing off warning signals, desperate pleas to eliminate or escape the threat in front of you.

after a couple seconds, his grip loosens, allowing you to fully inhale and exhale, chest heaving with each ragged breath. he's still standing unbearably close, enough that you can feel the heat radiating off his body. it's an unwelcomed reprieve from the damp breeze that makes your weary bones ache.

finally, he releases you and steps back, giving you space to come down from your brief adrenaline rush. you blink away any remaining disorientation and fix your gaze on him, sinking down on your heels and slumping against the wall.

he looks completely calm - a stark contrast to his demeanor from just moments ago. an uneasy feeling settles in your stomach as you watch him collect himself, fixing the rolled cuffs of his dress shirt and straightening his suit jacket.

"you wanted to know more about general shepherd." he mutters, eyes finding yours and holding your gaze. you worry the inside of your cheek and nod in return.

"the men working for him are not mercenaries, nor are they from any private military group. they're ex-soldiers." he begins, crossing his arms behind his back. "operatives from the CIA, to be precise. he has attempted to send several men undercover, and he's failed every single time. once discovered, they are... taken care of."

you lower your head and squint, struggling to follow. "i understand sending one man undercover, but why more? what is he trying to accomplish?"

"come on, you can figure that one out."

you want to sneer at the condescending tone, but instead you close your eyes and try to think. shepherd is still in the wind after las almas, and the only person that has a chance of knowing his location is graves. judging by the latter's cooperation with urzikstan, however, you can safely assume that shepherd is lacking in resources.

"he's attempting to start a war. reestablish himself and shadow company as an invaluable military asset," you mumble to yourself, suddenly feeling apprehensive about revealing this to the man in front of you. "if he can prove his worth, he can find forgiveness for his crimes. he'll try to use his position to pin it on the one-four-one, too."

"very clever, petra. i'm impressed." he chuckles at the glare you shoot his way, clearly annoyed with his praise.

you bite your tongue and push yourself off the wall. "i need to relay this to my team as soon as possible. shepherd can't be left to his own devices." you roll your shoulders back and mentally prepare for the uphill battle that the you'll be facing. the one-four-one's relationship with shadow company is already fragile, and you're left to ponder if graves knows about this plan. he could very well be involved.

"no need to fret over that. i have people for matters such as this."

makarov saunters across the balcony and places his hand on the door handle. you narrow your eyes at him, confusion plainly written on your expression.

"i thought you said we could help each other."

"haven't we?" he asks, swinging the door open. "ah, i can see what that pretty little mind of yours is struggling to understand. you believed i was going to let you go, didn't you?"

a bright flash emerges from the storm clouds blanketing the sky, illuminating the crooked grin on his face. you stumble towards him, fatigued body threatening to collapse under its own weight. you should have known better, you shouldn't have trusted that the situation would end in your favor.

"you– you fucking asshole–"

before you can lunge at him, use the last of your strength to do something, the guards from before appear in the doorway and restrain you. their hands dig into your skin, aggravating fresh wounds and setting your sensitive nerves ablaze, ripping a pathetic pained whimper from your lips.

"as much as i would love to stay and indulge myself," makarov starts, stepping aside to allow the guards to force you back inside the stronghold. "i have somewhere i need to be. as do you."

"go fuck yourself–!" you snap, fighting the guards in a last-ditch effort to free yourself. as they drag you down the hall, back to the prison cell you had already grown to hate, he keeps his gaze on you.

"i look forward to getting better acquainted with you, lieutenant."

taglist: @sofasoap, @roosterr, @rohansregret, @lonesome-doves, @thorrsexual

⋆ feel free to ask to be added to/removed from the taglist!

[wickmitz]

any thoughts/opinions on vikdecai?

i don’t believe i have any complex thoughts that haven’t already been said by the community at large! mostly my opinions just correlate to a very fond i like them, since mordecai kneecapping viktor in order to save himself from having to hurt him later is really one of the first things that humanizes his character. makes you realize he’s not nearly as cold or practical as he tries leading you to believe -- a front that unravels further given his atlas obsession. and i like that! my favorite thing about mordecai is his subtle longing for the lackadaisy crew, how much he doesn’t wish to hurt them, and how venomously he loathes his current life … what he’s doing now isn’t what he wants to currently be doing, but merely what must be done for his goal, one which is already layered in lackadaisy sentiment. so his bond with viktor is important to me, given how much it highlights this inner struggle and earnest truth within his character. but then again, this can also be applied to mordecai’s relationship with mitzi, atlas, and ivy, so let me discuss them in a more romantic sense. which i’m sure is what this question is trying to get at!

romantically, i view mordecai and viktor’s dynamic as … favorable? it’s entirely plausible there were feelings there, an intimacy only they shared as men inside atlas’ arsenal, people who were entirely knowledgeable of the lackadaisy’s nasty underbelly. it’s their slaughter of people deserving and of many, many innocents that help their boss’s speakeasy run, and this violence ( this constant watching one another’s back ) would only breed closeness in spite of the horror it’s built on. and, of course, they have core things in common outside of their job and efficiency for bloodsport! like their love for family, their devotion towards those who matter most, and how out of place they equally feel on this soil - - in this world and era, where everything feels like it’s out to get them in some way or another. their ability to connect beyond their surface level traits and quirks ( mordecai and viktor are very much opposites on their surface, and they have a habit of bickering about these differences, albeit lightheartedly ) demonstrates the profoundness of what they have and what they’d do to protect it. they care for one another in little gestures, insignificant to most but in a way that truly matters to them … as they can see the genuineness in it, since they’re putting themselves into the careful actions and aren’t just doing things for politeness sake. for example, mordecai tries adorning them in matching cloth so they’re two equal halves, symmetrical, and then we have viktor who pocketed mordecai’s glasses to give him later when they were done with their mission. i like to imagine there are more things like this in their relationship! stuff that isn’t as severe as life or death, like saving your friend’s skin by a mere inch or dragging each other to a finish line every day. any of atlas’ men can offer that. it’s the extra things, done out of agency and personal desire, that bring them closer than any other regular joe on atlas’ payroll. it’s rather clear that they were close canonically, and that viktor was perhaps mordecai’s closest friend in a way that atlas could never be due to the pedestal he was constantly put upon. and while we have less insight on viktor’s feelings, i’d imagine the betrayal has never, and will never, fully heal. it is not a wound he can easily patch up, and it isn’t something one could just forget either. how can you dismiss someone who used to be your hands and eyes and ears? when you two functioned as another man’s extra body in your entirety? you may as well have shared a mind when out on the field, and that’s a closeness and a trust which is hard to lose. viktor hardly lets anyone in as is, just as anti social as his spectacles wearing companion, so to lose that in such a violent was is an unspeakable pain he bears, i’m sure. mordecai took whatever remained of his life from him with that shot. he’s permanently robbed viktor the ability to defend the last few hairs he cares to protect. his purpose is now up in the air. and all this anguish from someone he completely and utterly believed in … there is a lot of hurt, is what i’m saying. a hurt that’s too deep and life altering for it not to be supremely personal too. it’s deep and festering and viktor ignores it, and mordecai ignores it, mostly, but sometimes his paw strays near his wound and he itches at it, and it reopens the ache all over again. there is metaphor to be found there! an abandonment and a departure that leaves you bloodied from maiming or being maimed. it is very easily a multi-layered sentiment!

however, i could still take this or leave it romantically, hence my earlier statement of favorabe rather than unabashed gushing and swooning. this is a ship i like, but i don’t read mordecai as crushing on viktor per se? i’ve always viewed his extreme relationship with atlas as puppy love that’s half bred from devotion, something not entirely genuine but also still genuine enough, which makes for a nice parallel between that and rocky’s bond with mitzi. his rivalry with atlas’ wife and his oddities such as wearing his boss’s shirts read as girlish crush behavior, typical things one does when believing themselves enamored, you know? naturally his views and feelings for atlas aren’t quite that simple nor easy to parse, and i’m not trying to simplify them in any way! i just believe he had a torch for atlas, and thus didn’t carry another for anyone else, at least not as intensely. whatever feelings he might have for someone would always be second to atlas, who was his very reason for living and breathing every day, who was his answer and justification and eventually? his obsession. in many ways i think mordecai was too wrapped up in atlas to properly develop feelings for viktor, even if there were inklings of something inside of him. ironically, the term something is what i love using when thinking about him with viktor or mitzi. mordecai is something with those two, he feels something, an unlabeled sort of thing he can’t really reach -- perhaps he doesn’t even want to, scared of what it might mean, what it could say. and it is different somethings! they are not the same feeling, what he feels towards those two, but it’s not fully known to him in the way that his feelings towards atlas was. it is not as clear! especially now, with things as awful as they are and with mordecai so full of turmoil he’s forcing himself to not share. he also has an intense aversion to emotions, obviously, which doesn’t help matters lol. this man could find some of the closure he’s so desperately seeking if he took more than a glance inside of himself, but then he wouldn’t be apart of this tragic tale, now would he?

still, in a better world where the lackadaisy’s gaggle of traumatized characters are allowed healing without any casualties or major losses, then i’d enjoy seeing a viktor and mordecai slowburn. where they decide to remain steadfast by each other’s side like once upon a time before, and they deal with life as a unit. maybe when given the space for it, mordecai’s affection can finally cement into real love for viktor -- the romantic kind, something sappy and disarming and maddening all at once. maybe viktor will allow such indulgences, finally able to touch upon his heart again and use it in a way that he hasn’t gotten to in a couple ages. or maybe he won’t share the specific feelings that mordecai possesses for him, but he’ll enjoy creating an entirely new thing that’s only for them : he can compromise and he can bend if mordecai is willing to bend just the same. they certainly wouldn’t be your typical couple, their emotions too stunted for regular dates or typical pda, but there’s something more special and intimate to them carving out their own space, and thus having their own secret world. a mix of platonic and romantic affections, a healthy dose of selfishness and desire they couldn’t ever have before but now can hoard so entirely, in small bearable doses. and there will always be some things they both won’t ever be able to shake ( mordecai disabling viktor, atlas, viktor’s daughter, etc ), although they could manage these aches and guilt better together, which is the exact sort of happy ending i’d want for them. if i may be so indulgent myself haha ( <- person who knows lackadaisy’s ending will be mostly dark and tragic but likes playing around with hopeful scenarios and what-if’s regardless! )

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

Happy Birthday Lord Megatron, I am a highly respected journalist for the illustrious and totally legit Cosmechpolitan magazine. Would you care to speak on a few rumors that are circulating on social media? First, is it true that you once went shot for shot with Metroplex and then both of you crashed the gala held by the Society for Iaconian Fragile Artworks?

First of all, thank you for acknowledging such a joyous occasion to all true Decepticons. As the emperor, it's important to give my underlings something to look forward to >:]

As for the battle with Metroplex, we did and the fight was glorious. Got that titanic idiot to punch straight through a 30 mechanometer sheet of stained glass. If there are two things I enjoy more than anything in life it's bloodsport and causing problems for the higher castes 🖤

THAT BASTARD SAID HE HAD HIS BUFFED OUT

[simlit]

Chosen of the Sun | | dawn // twenty-nine

| @izayoichan | @maladi777

next / previous / beginning

ASTER: So then I said, what do you mean it doesn’t fit? An ogre’s only got three toes! ELDEWYN: You have such a gift for storytelling! Truly charming! ASTER: Just wait till you hear me sing! LUCIEN: Oh, can we?! ASTER: Most certainly! KYRIE: clears throat ASTER: Ah, right, right. Maybe after dinner! And I expect there’s still dessert to be had. ELDEWYN: Of course! What sort of dinner party would it be with no dessert? ASTER: And more wine! ELDEWYN: It sweetens the conversation! INDRYR: I’m afraid you’ll put our dear bard into an early grave. ASTER: Don’t listen to him, my good sir. I’m very well practiced. ELDEWYN: Ahaha, but I wouldn’t want to dampen your chances in the games. It’s important to stay focused, you know. When is the next trial, Your Grace? KYRIE: Just three days from now, my lord. ELDEWYN: Very good. Not to rush you, of course. I expect it’s been quite the challenge conducting for the first time. I was curious how you might go about it. Your sister took to it like bees on honey. A profoundly optimistic and delightful maiden, Her Grace is. A shame she’s away this year. INDRYR: I would think someone so gentle might be ill-suited to run the trials. Considering the combative nature of them. ELDEWYN: Well, certainly the trials have been more brutish in the past… But that’s hardly the case now, isn’t that right, Your Highness? LUCIEN: My mother lobbied for a more humanitarian structure. I think we can all agree the trials are more enjoyable without any bloodshed. ELDEWYN: It’s true the games are still enjoyable, but there was something to be said about such high stakes. These past few ceremonies haven’t had the same sort of enthusiasm. At least, one might expect the Chosen to be far more invested when their lives depend on it! But that’s all in the past now. INDRYR: You sound almost nostalgic. ELDEWYN: Oh, think nothing of it. Those were different times. ASTER: Well lucky us we came when we did, hm? LUCIEN: Bloodsport was abolished before I was even born! ELDEWYN: Yes, nearly twenty years ago, I think it was. There was some dreadful business around then, and the Keran Queen— Lucien’s sweet mother— threatened to withdraw her financial support if the Church did not reform. After decades of shouting about it, they finally banned it once and for all! INDRYR: Then, there were others that wished the rules changed? ELDEWYN: Oh yes, there were some here at home that made such a fuss, but it was tradition, you know. ASTER: Ah, the wine is just delicious, my lord! ELDEWYN: I’m so glad you appreciate it! One of my favorites. INDRYR: That dreadful business you mentioned… ASTER: I’m sure that’s a story! ELDEWYN: Eh… yes, well… It was unfortunate. ASTER: Come now, my lord, we’re all shivering in anticipation! Good wine deserves a good story. A real sordid tale, eh?

[dowhatteverer]

This was originally going to be a really angry post where I talked about bad faith criticisms of htfasj and vagued about the veiled entitlement of people who mock my story and went in-depth into debunking some criticisms of me that made me particularly upset with their contradiction and horrible implications. Then I wrote this last part and I realized that it was much more important than getting back at people who upset me. So I decided to delete all that and focus on this.

If you're in the Genloss fandom, particularly in relation to TSE, you've probably heard about or read "How to Fail at Ship Jumping" and seen the fandom's aftermath.

I've heard that some people have changed their headcanons to not align with mine and some are afraid to make their own AUs because of what happened with htfasj, and that really sucks.

Honestly, I think that htfasj showed that his fandom has underlying issues and my story is being made an example out of. People feel that Ranboo is too talked about and are frustrated that the side characters don't get more love. People are sick of every other fanfiction just being an escape AU instead of something unique. While at the same time showing that a portion of this fandom thinks they're superior for not liking popular things (the irony of them following streamers with thousands of fans across the globe apparently lost on them) As angry as I am that fast is being made into bloodsports for kids who feel they are entitled to my time and attention, (and make no mistake, that is exactly what my vocal critics are mad about) it's not exactly going against the grain where it matters. It's probably controversial as it is because it's so inoffensive.

I'm planning on soft-quitting Tumblr. After breaking my phone and not being able to check the app for two weeks I realized that I was in a healthier headspace without it. I'm not deleting my accounts because my comic still has people who love it and I don't want people to lose it. But I don't enjoy being in the Genloss fandom anymore because now I constantly fear that there are people who hate me for just having fun or people who like me who are being excluded from parts of the fandom because of my controversy.

So before I leave, I want to say something.

If How to Fail at Ship Jumping frustrates you, make your own version of it that you like better. Or make a completely unique AU that holds all of the things that you love! I don't want the comic that I made because Ranboo's story inspired me to be the "arbiter of Genloss fandom's destruction" I want it to inspire people the way it inspired me to finally get started on my own webcomic.

Be it out of spite or out of love, I want htfasj to make you make something for this fandom that you love and that other people love. I want you to do something fun and unique that makes you happy and scream with joy! I want you to have a subsection of the Genloss fanbase obsessing over your versions of the characters and asking you a million little questions in your ask box and on Discord! I made htfasj because I wanted to do something fun for myself that others could participate in. I don't want to ruin other people's opportunity to do that.

I'll hop back in to squeal about The Founder's Cut next Saturday, but that's probably the most Genloss stuff you'll get from me for a while. I just hope that this fandom will be in a better state by then and we can all have fun talking about this horror series and making it our own with our fan fiction and fan art and AUs like we should have been.

Also publicly hating on other people's fanfictions and Fan art for the sake of complaining instead of trying to help the creator improve is considered bad fandom etiquette, even popular ones. I don't care if you don't @ me, you're still the one being rude.

[lilaccatholic]

Things I'm hoping for in Sunrise on the Reaping:

More character names in general!! Not just because SC infuses so much character into the names she chooses but also it would make fic writing so much easier if I just had the names of Katniss's parents for the love of goodness

I want my heart BROKEN. We know that Snow kills basically everyone Haymitch loves as punishment for what he did with the forcefield, but I legitimately want to feel as much of the tragedy as possible so it doesn't become mindless bloodsport.

As always, worldbuilding!!! Panem is such an endlessly fascinating world, and what we got in TBoSaS was so good, but I crave so much MORE about how this system works. Remember, the second Quarter Quell is basically Snow at the height of his power. We've seen the first days of Panem as the Games are first becoming a thing, and we've seen the end of the Capitol's reign of terror when things were more relaxed right before amping up in an effort to prevent war. There's no other way Katniss could have been out there hunting, that there could have been a tolerated (and thriving!!!) black market in 12, that so many people could have been collaborating to organize a rebellion. What must Panem have looked like at the height of Snow's might? What might we learn of the harsh realities of the Seam that Katniss, jaded though she was, missed in her innocence?

Tie-ins with the other books! I'd love to see more about characters like Greasy Sae, Ripper, even the Mellarks, and other merchants, and see what they were like before Katniss knew them. If anything, I feel like that above all would show how devastating the firebomb attack on 12 at the end of Catching Fire was. Look what's been destroyed. Look *who* has been destroyed. See these characters you've grown to love? In 25 years, all of them, even the children, save who Gale could usher into the forest, they're all dead.

In that vein, I'd love more info on the culture of 12. I feel like that goes along with worldbuilding, but this is so important to me that it bears repeating in a slightly different font, lol.

I have soooo many thoughts on this, but this is what I've come up with so far. I'm so excited to see what comes when the book is released in March. Let me know what you guys are looking forward to!!!

[bhaalble]

Its not world-ending shit but I am. Slightly 😬 at the amount of retroactive tinkering going on with BG3. Fanservice can be a bit of a slippery slope in my experience. Its not that I think any of the specific changes made are bad in and of themselves. There are many I like quite a bit, equippable Orin armor, the epilogue, setting His Majesty officially as a hairless cat. There's also a bit of a Schrodingers bug situation imo. Are the new Lae'zel dismissal lines "new" or were they just not triggering because of a bug? Did they redub Astarion saying "this is important devil", or is was the wrong audio file always being pulled from?

But I think at a certain point: you made the product you made. Outside of basic playability fixes I think its fine to let the criticisms stand on their own, let players take the lead on mods, and save something for the definitive edition this game is almost certainly getting in a few years time. I also think creating an environment where people firmly believe they can invoke changes on the source material by just getting enough people to @ the studio on twitter is an environment that opens up both your staff and your fan to harassment. Interpretation is already a bit of a bloodsport in fandom. The goal for many people is to have the read or the headcanon that becomes popular enough it "might as well" be canon, meaning you can weaponize it against other people with divergent reads. This becomes about ten times worse if your headcanon has a shot at becoming ACTUAL canon. The worst thing you can do in that scenario is give people someone to tattle to, because the stakes of the game will then become "the CREATORS like MY idea best which means you should stop having your own". We're already seeing it happen with the voice actors, with Neil being treated like word of god on basically any given Astarion argument. Imagine how much worse this gets when it slips into the actual played experience of the game. You'll functionally be creating distinct generations of players, each with a different experience of the game depending on WHEN they played. At which point: who gets to be More Canon?

Again I don't want to sound like I'm doomsaying "they made the alien a little less rude so artistic integrity is basically DEAD". Entirely possible this is the full extent of it, in which case all these changes functionally just become Odd Trivia points for the future. I guess just consider this Ex-Homestuck trauma speaking. Having an extremely fandom facing dev team can be an incredibly double-edged sword

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for dating my friend's brother?

Before I say anything else, I will clarify that we are not dating *yet*. However, the situation is complicated, so I'd like to ask the public for their opinions before continuing.

I (23 M) am a university student. During my classes, I have met someone who we will be calling C (M 19). We have become quick friends, due to our shared interest and participation in the local bloodsport tournament, as well as his insitance in tutoring me in my weaker subjects. It is too the point that we will be running for class president together in a few months.

An important note is, due to my extraordinary intelligence and (as some have put it) "very annoying" personality, I do not have many friends. There are some club mates that I spend some time with, plus a few teachers I enjoy, but beyond them it is mostly just C.

Anyway, recently I have been doing some research into other geniuses in my field (robotics, if you must know) and have come across a certain individual by the name of I (M 27). Now, I has a reputation around the aforementioned tournament I participate in, namely for certain actions he did in the past. These include, but are not limited to; working for an evil corporation, robotically modifying unwilling participants, and being a general nuisance. I will note, all of these things took place long before I joined the tournament and met C. Speaking of which, yes, C is I's brother, as well as a victim of some of the crimes mentioned above.

I knew about some of this before reaching out to I, but decided the knowledge I could gain from his expertise could be worth it. So, after talking one on one for a while, we met up. And then it happened again. And again. And with each subsequent meet up, the conversations we have grow less intellectual and more (for lack of a better word) personal. And, despite myself, I've developed a tiny, insignificant, easy ignored, not at all distracting crush on I.

I have not told C anything. He does not even know I have been talking to his brother. And, while he tells me that he has come to terms with what was done and no longer hates him like he once did, that does not mean he likes him. And neither does anyone else, as a matter of fact. I is so locally hated, its wonder as to how he still shows his face some days. Still, he does, and maybe the hate is all one big joke? I don't know, I don't know how to read these sorts of situations.

Either way, I want to come clean to C. I am terrible at keeping secrets, so it is only a matter of time. That, and I want to ask I about the nature of our relationship and clear things up. But I'm scared of losing one of the few people that can stand me.

AITA?

[waterloggedsoliloquy]

18 & 20 for the ask game. i need to hear how this hypothetical drama would unfold

you picked the GOODIES

18.) what aspect of the story would get you #canceled on twitter?

this is a toughie is the thing. while im not one of those creators thats terrified of being offensive or problematic, i also dont pay that much attention to elements of work that might offend. im more interested in being genuine and trusting my message rather than relishing in having #problematique content.

that being said i think a lot of people would not like that sicely isnt a g*ld st*r lesbian or that lucerne doesnt use labels, bc twitter is really hung up on what characters "really" are or what stories "really" mean.

i think theyd also do that thing where theyd be like ugh look at these children currently in abusive situations why are they not acting 100% perfectly, the author clearly has no idea what theyre doing with portraying abuse, this is just torture porn and fetishizing ptsd/osddid. bc theres no way that the things that happen in CW could ever happen to people, bc abuse happens to other people and never in anything i might have to interact with.

20.) your ocverse just got a movie trilogy a la hunger games style. how have they horribly mangled your message/theme so that the movies are now a showcase of what the original was condemning?

This ones also a toughie actually bc a large part in why the hunger games movies contributed to showcasing what the original work condemned is because the media circus and bloodsports as vapid entertainment were directly being condemned in the original and #Media isnt really a huge part of carousel waltz. i think in order to really turn carousel waltz on its head youd have to be simultaneously very victim-blamey to the children but also prop up the adults as the ones who must "save them", bc children cant do anything on their own and cant be trusted to have legitimate grievances with the adults in their lives. flattening midas into either a villain who never cared about the people he abused or apologizing for him as a well-meaning patriarch who was just led astray and by proxy flattening the abuse into depictions more palatable to the wider consumer audience would do it i think.

but i dont know if it being a movie trilogy would necessarily cause those changes to occur-- movies are visual and sequential like comics but usually have to be 2 hours or less and are overwhelmingly held hostage at the whims of distributors, executive boards, investors, etc. so the influences it would have over carousel waltz would be along those lines. i think that with the time crunch it'd probably be really easy to make the story less subtle, and to have to hammer home points. certain characters necessarily would not have as much screentime and focus in a movie trilogy, which i think WOULD contribute to being an example of what im trying to condemn, and a movie might inadvertently say that some abused children are just collateral damage and we can move past them, some abused children dont have interiority or anything to draw attention to them, some abused children are more important or worth rescuing more. its also very important to me that most of the carousel waltz kids r not white, and that the grownups are, but casting would probably whitewash them or try to make the story colorblind instead of keeping in how midas' abuse takes advantage of his identity of whiteness over them. combine this w the idea that there needs to be adults to save these kids and u get a white savior araceli. if this concept makes you want to gnaw your leg off at the ankle to get the shackle off, that just means youre still human! try to hold onto that feeling.

since magical girl isnt a big genre in the west theyd try to reflavor it as some other thing like superheroes or a dnd party or something. or theyd want to age up the kids so the bad things happen to a more acceptable age group bc the idea that kids might have bad things happen to them is a scary thought so theyd completely miss the point abt it being a story abt child abuse and now its a buncha late teens-early 20s bullshit.

im actually debating how much swearing i want in carousel waltz (it was really hard writing guardians dilemma without zizi swearing) but executives would only let me have one fuck and would not let anthea call anyone a cocksucker :(

[cr1ms0n4nd-ac3]

Hi and good early morning, I had an awesome dream I had and I can't help but to yap about it. Must undercut it tho in case if it's not kinda long!! ↓

Okay, so my dream is that I got a notification on ST's insta after I got home from school. And when I looked at it in curiosity, I was shocked.. The new teaser is telling us about a foreshadowing post with a new member coming soon.

And guess what?

It's my ST OC Ace/666.

Literally me and everyone else in insta and Tumblr went absolutely wild.. and the foreshadowing post they posted had a new person but it's absolutely static in VHS effect, but the motif instrumental with static effect sounds like the song "The Apparition". Some theorizies that we're getting a new MV soon. Some theorizies that the new MV will be about Vessel meeting Ace. (Btw, my dream took place during October.)

But even better, when the new MV got randomly premiered in October 30th right before Halloween. But before this is released, the Sleep Token website had something new..

A rune decipher code, but unfortunately. I was the first to decipher it and posted it quickly right after I finished it on the website. It reads as "Let me take you with me".

And OMG?!? Literally I had an random email message from some user "666_3C4@rev3r1es.vo1c3", saying to me that "I did a good thing" solving it.

And then tomorrow, the MV got released on purpose..

Kinda like TØP when someone puzzles it for the Paladin Strait MV. But crazier..

Okay, here is what the Apparition MV is about:

[ In the beginning of the song, Ace, or 666 was walking into that church where Vessel used to first perform, and where The Way That You Were MV took place(kind of since it looked the same?).

Things were different ever since years went on, but someone theorizies at first that Ace is a multi-dimensional hopper. And he's trying to go into the past to collect past renmants that Vessel left, and it turns out it's confirmed! Ace was indeed a multi-dimensional hopper, and he's collecting the renmants. The beat drops up when Ace opened the door to start collect them all!

He then dimension-hopped one of the MV's we've seen, Hey Ya, Jaws, Bloodsport(from the room below), Alkaine, The Love You Want, and Fall For Me.

The pieces that he collected were important by the way,

Ace found Vessel's old blade, his TPWBYT mask that glitches to One at first, to TMBTE.

Hinting that there will be kinda more new MV's soon. But when he was about to return back.. he was greeted with an eldtrich glitched Archangel..! It was basically a mix of The Apparition Creature and the MoonReaper(aka the TMBTE creature.)

But Ace knows how to fight back, so he brought his guitar and started using it by causing loud sounds. But he is using Vessel's old blade for later to finish it down. This is the first time we had seen a new member knowing how to fight back.

( Also insert Vessel just singing with his TMBTE mask in 15 seconds per while Ace fights that silly creature angel lol- but there are also grey static images of the MV's we've seen in many years. Yet it instead foreshadows a hint about new lore! )

And when Ace finally defeats the eldtrich glitched Archangel with one fatal stab, he got randomly teleported back to his own shadowed room. Confirming that he finally finished his task.

He brought the past renmant items, but the Vessel mask had finally changed into the TMBTE mask. The MV is about to end with an "oooo" part but it instead cuts out with a glitch.

And that's when we are greeted with a new voice, and new rune messages at the end..

Here is what I'd known so far, everyone else on tumblr deciphered it by the way:

"You found them all, didn't you?"

"He left it all so much, just to suffer a lot."

"But he doesn't have to suffer much longer now, now that you collected it."

"I thank you for completing the task I gave you."

"Now it's time for us to make him ascend."

"We won't ler him suffer much longer now."

....And wow, our minds are.. wow.

And after this, everyone goes even more crazy now.

Some theorizies that the new voice might be Eden or someone else new. WHO KNOWS!!

And then I woke up accidentally at 6 am afterwards...

..Welp! I'm gonna put this on my oc's lore now. Thanks creative dreams!!!

[ambrosialdesire]

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

original characters ↳ my yandere ocs! contains art and other information about them

a m b r o s i a l o c s ↳ overall tag for my ocs t h e v e i l e d d e p r a v i t y o f m o n s t e r s [ tvdm ] ↳ achelous, sung-jae, pollux, and steinar's universe ↳ achelous tag - all info about him ↳ sung-jae tag - all info about him ↳ pollux tag - all info about him ↳ steinar tag - all info about him h i s c a r n a l d e v o t i o n [ hcd ] ↳ father valerius' universe ↳ valerius tag - all info about him a n i m u s & a c h a t e s [ aaa ] ↳ levy's universe ↳ levy tag - all info about him

[martianloon]

Fic Recs 5/11/24

9-1-1

Idiots on Reddit by 7ate9 | Rated: G | 35.7 k words | Complete

Buck and Ana seem to keep clashing during Eddie's recovery after the shooting. Both turn to Reddit for assistance, and both get answers.

Bad Buddy

Ask a Stupid Question by aworkingprinter | Rated: M | 32.6 k words | Complete

“I’m just asking if you like her.”

“What if I do?” said Pran. He didn’t say it like it was one of their usual challenges. He said it like he was seething. “What if I do, Pat?”

When Pat asks Pran if he likes Ink, Pran says yes.

KinnPorsche

Bloodsport by raelle | Rated: E | 42.5 k words| Complete

Part 8 of Love & Blood

When Pete sees shady figures staking out Macau’s school, he can’t tell if it’s paranoia or good sense that tells him they’re bad news.

A week later, Macau and Vegas disappear.

Pete races to track them down and get his family back.

--

The first 6 chapters are a complete story and rated M for blood and violence. The following two chapters are rated E and contain smut. Chapter 7 is an epilogue, and chapter 8 is an alternate ending.

Memento Mori, Memento Vivere by Lori0 | Rated: E | 34.2 k words | Complete

Remember that you must die, remember that you must live.

Porsche remembers. (Or, more accurately, Porsche never forgot.)

Dislocation by 99_9 | Rated: M | 25 k words | Complete

Part 1 of Train to Failure

The next time, Chan’s considerably more alert, like his brain has been doing some filing and redecorating while he slept. He remembers the fire fight. He remembers sitting by the front door planter and smoking, convinced he was going to bleed out, and the med team who rushed out to pull him into surgery just in time. He remembers brief flashes, rolling through the clinic and noting the water stain on the ceiling, vaguely hoping that his niece would be able to get a good rate on the foreign exchange for his estate and that the wire fees wouldn’t be expensive.

He lies still with his eyes closed, taking stock of his surroundings. He can hear the machines and another person breathing. He’s not sure if it’s a bodyguard - it might also be one of the boys, probably Tankhun. If Khun is sitting with him, there aren’t too many casualties, but if it’s a bodyguard -

He lets his eyes slit open. The person in the chair next to him is Kim. That’s a good sign.

Or: Chan lives. This makes some things simpler, and others more complicated.

MDZS/ The Untamed

To Arrive Without Leaving by 99_9 | Rated: E | 14.8 k words | Complete

Part 1 of To Arrive Without Leaving

Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue have been making eyes at each other across the Sect Leader's study for a while, each believing that their position prevents the other from wanting them. When Meng Yao is kidnapped, Nie Mingjue will do anything to get him back. Could this be the start of something new between them?

-

“Meng Yao,” said one of the men who had stuffed him into the sack outside his bedroom in the Unclean Realm, a large, dangerous looking fellow with a scar through his eyebrow.

Meng Yao just blinked. In all his hours of thinking, he’d never anticipated that he might be the one they were looking for. What an oversight.

“This Meng Yao is…” he said, and trailed off. This Meng Yao was very tired and very scared, he thought, but it wouldn’t do to say so.

Merlin

Deep In My Heart I'm Concealing by Cithara | Rated: E | 102.5 k words | Complete

Navigating life events that turn his world upside down, including his ascension to the throne and a revelation that rocks him to his core, Arthur's ever-evolving relationship with Merlin becomes the most important of his life. No one ever said love was easy.

“I would die before I hurt you,” Arthur said, his voice strangled. “I would kill anyone who ever tried to do you harm and it pains me to think that you could ever fear me.”

“I don’t understand,” Merlin said breathlessly. “You’re the king, you – ”

“I’m not standing here as a king, Merlin!” Arthur shouted, his voice breaking as he did so. “I’m standing here as a man, a man who believed he knew you completely, a man who thought you were the one constant in his life, a man who thought…who thought you were his,” he finished, horrified to feel tears pricking his eyes.

[maehem-1]

Worldbuilding rule to live by: If you like something, put it into your world. I wanna ramble about how I've lived by that rule in the current world I use for my DND games. This is also the flagship post of my personal DND tag! It's a long one, enjoy my ramblings!

I've created many homebrew items based off of Guilty Gear. My favorite is my adaptation of Ky's Thunderseal. I also managed a decent adaptation of Sol Badguy as a PC (I think PSI Warrior is a good subclass for him… actually, that gives me an idea. What if Psionics isn't a natural thing, like becoming a gear? Like if you have psionics it counts as a different creature type. That'd be so much more dramatic/impactful than “magic but different”)

Speaking of Ky's Thunderseal, it was wielded by someone important in my world's history: my Jetstream Sam stand-in, because I love MGR:R. I also have his murasama, mechanical arm, and chin guard thing as items discoverable in his tomb. The arm? I was reading Beowulf at the time, so you can use it to rip someone's arm off. It's dope.

Dwarves. I love me a good Dwarven mountain home. Dwarves are a really well developed part of my world, though it's not very unique because I LOVE the classic dwarf archetype. Grudges, ale, and forging, baby!

On that note, Hobgoblins. I love a wandering hobgoblin legion, remnant of a Hobgoblin Empire. This stems from Jort of the Order Undivided by The Bard Ilthari. Unfortunately, for all my love of the bright nosed folk, in my current game I've devolved them to lowly slavers of Goblins, without much hope of increased complexity like Jort gave them, since, well, I feel like I leaned too hard into the cruel slavery thing too fast and it's hard to come back from that. If they lean into the

A lot of my favorite DND things stem from Order Undivided, I also have a Senket analogue npc, and my dwarves are mostly modeled after Kazador. I've been working on an arcane Oath for Julian. I also love Gnolls quite a bit, and learned up on Yeenoghu to possibly use as a villain. Hell, my love of tactical heroic play stems from the paladins being able to defeat much greater numbers by gathering allies and taking tactical positions. I long for the day I play a game where I command armies like the Warmaster himself.

I'm a big fan of Mathew Colville, and NOT a fan of dealing with worldbuilding other Planes, so I stole his concept of the cities of Hell and slapped it on my material plane! Also makes it easier to port the Illrigger class into my world's normal rotation. Ditto for my interest in the Underdark, though I think I'm closer to forgotten realms than he is. I also stole Count Nekodemus of Castle Rend, though only in name. Mine is Baron Orwell Nicodemus, and he's a Tortle (and a little bit of an asshole, in the bureaucratic sense). I think I just like the name :3

I've loved smash bros for a really long time, since I was twelve playing Smash 4. I recently got into it again, both through videos about the history of the competitive scene and by playing Ultimate again after so long. This, of course, led me to the Five Gods of Melee. Suddenly, I had an idea for the pantheon I've been putting off structuring. Five Gods, chosen by competition between all lesser deities called Representatives. (I thought it sounded cool). Each representative also gets two associated damage types, and I'm considering adding some bonus related to them (maybe the cleric can replace their spell's damage type with one of those types instead? Incompatible with channel divinity to avoid tempest cleric shenanigans?). If this turns into a slay the gods campaign, I'm definitely going to lose my mind because none of my players would understand Leffen jokes

One of the only Representatives I've come up with, an idea I've had since the beginning, is basically a god of bloodsport/gladiatorial competitions. I decided to model them off of Technoblade, as a memorial to the Blood God himself.

I love the old traditions of DND. All that dungeon crawly, noodly bullshit. Love it. I make sure to have a lot of dungeons in my world, and am always prepping more my players will probs never see. I've also way expanded my world so that it's much more of a points of light setting, though my players are in the most densely populated area (due to being the only place that existed before geographical expansion) I also need room to improvise new locations. I love my current “canon,” but that just hurts my ability to say “there's a mountain way over there that has a ___, ___ and ___, because… that mountain should've been on our map, no? When you map the whole world, it gets so very small, doesn't it?

Legend of Zelda. My old world had a bit more of it, but I try to incorporate Zelda dungeon design into my dungeons when I can.

When I develop my Underdark better, I want to include a lot of Hollow Knight inspo. The Drow wearing masks, stuff like that.

Really this has just become a ramble about my DND campaign world and I love it

I frequently give creatures multiple creature types. Oozes are also aberrations, many Gnolls are also Fiends, etc. As I just came up with a half hour ago, Psionics characters would get a second creature type, what to call it yet I don't know.

Elves. Hooo boy. I'm not a fan. They live so long, it's too hard to create ancient history with them around. Which is, honestly, the entire appeal of elves. The reincarnation/ embodiment of living history aspect is the only interesting angle I can find personally. Whenever someone wants to play an elf, they never want to lean into the Elrond of it all. They just want to play a taller human, usually with a bow and arrow. So I don't have Elves. Simple as. Of course, they do exist, they're just incredibly rare. They were driven off the mainland for ~reasons~ and hang out on this island made entirely out of trees. Mostly old ass elves and really young ones (born on the island) are still alive, with very few survivors of the between generations. Lead by a Baelnorn, ‘cause they're cool. Drow are the exception, because they're also cool, but they're rare on the surface for different, more obvious reasons. If someone ever tells me they want to play an elf, I'll publicly decline the offer, then catch them alone and give them the lowdown. Half Elves know nothing of their elven heritage, since it's been so watered down by now, though they still get mechanical benefits.

[astarab1aze]

Some Assortment of Headcanons (i don't wanna make separate posts)

on the subject of artyr myrdin, kingmaker: he is literally merlin. the knights of the round table, king arthur, camelot, and some threads of magic all exist and are important parts of history, especially in the telling of merlin's ascendency. though he wasn't specifically searching for a means to achieve godhood, the means found him anyway, through his actions and advisory in camelot - he was not given a choice in the matter, fate-touched by both the sightless eye and starstitcher, naturally chosen to ascend by sunjatta itself in evolutionary design. yes, his ascendency led to the birth of mages as a whole, humans with magic in their veins to become something more than mere possessors. what makes witches, warlocks, wizards, and sorcerers different from any other human? they can wield their magic with great acuity, humans evolved specifically to temper the breath of the universe.

creation magic is the oldest form of magic, the root of all. it exists within all things, but is not a resource so easily tapped into. in times past, all nightfolk and supernatural creatures were born capable of wielding it, however, after several bloody wars and numerous calamities, the outer gods saw fit to strip most of the creation root, damaging their link to magic but not outright severing it as a whole - a generous punishment for wanton devastation and the wholesale slaughtering of humans. that being said, though rare, there are some nightfolk born capable of tapping into the root, bolstering their inherent magical prowess - effective prodigies. these mages are fate-touched with legends waiting to be written about them and their escapades, historical figures at birth whether the world knows it or not. even the most powerful of them all may not know the breadth of their capabilities, or even that they possess the root ( loux and furie are prime examples of this, as neither of them know they can broaden and amplify their magical skillset to encompass most if not all schools ). the benefits are difficult to quantify, but the creation root grants the possessor with unlimited potential and access to vast stores of magical energy, as well as innate power buffs and a little something unique per individual. really, the list goes on.

i don't think i've mentioned it, but nightfolk do enjoy sports and competitions. they have all kinds and their names are altogether straightforward: broom racing (nascar on a stick), broom derby (roller derby on a stick), iron alchemist competitions (literally magic iron chef), werewolf football, dueling championships, hunting, talent competitions, basically whatever human passtime you can think of has a nightfolk equivalent - and they're vicious about their teams, especially when it comes to the bloodsport division. every sport has a family-friendly version and someone-gets-killed-every-time version. nightfolk as a whole are more accepting of their natures than humans are, and so have relatively few moral complaints when all the paperwork is filed and the people involved are made aware of the risks. competitions are less dramatic, but no less intense - some competitors can't take the L and end up committing murder. shrug. oh, sports are mandatory in all magic schools ( ex. loux was an expert duelist by the time he was 16 - kind of the only thing that kept him from getting expelled ).

the merauda barnum in merauda barnum's school for gifted and troubled boys is an ancestor to the very same 'barnum' of the barnum & bailey circus - both are shadows of what they used to be. merauda barnum was the ringmaster of a freakshow and circus who, through some strange twist of fate, ended up saving some impoverished kid's life. blackwyrm attraction gone awry, that sort of deal. the kid went on to become a teacher and moved his way up the ranks, invested his money into the right projects, and wound up building and funding a school with permissions from the department of regulatory sorceries - to pay it forward and do for others what merauda did for him, in her name. it was a big help for impoverished students who weren't invited to belegerande's or any of the other schools. however, predictably, with involvement from the department, it was cheapened and fell to the bottom in education and quality. it's effectively a...well, a circus, now.