#codex between this and that

[lizzybeeee]

When you spend 20 years attempting to bring down the child slavery, murdering, human trafficking exploitation ring that stole your childhood, murdered your friends, and killed countless innocents only to have them rebrand as 'Noble Freedom Fighters™' off-screen.

[theodosiani]

Ghilan'nain ate the other evanuris.

Which is not to say Ghilan'nain killed the other evanuris, no their archdemon's died and the blight took them. Slowly perhaps, agonizingly but without their immortality even they may succumb to it's tortuous plague. No, Ghilan'nain watched as first Dirthamin fell and was guarded over zealously by a mad and distraught Falon'din. They all sat with his dying dead rotting body for a time. Falon'din would allow no one to touch him until he too fell to the blight.

They were the first that Ghilan'nain ate, thought Dirthamin was little more than bone. It was almost like having her children again. Returning them to safety within her, the only safety she could offer her comrades in arms. Ensuring that they may be together forever, it seemed a blessing and a mercy.

Everyone but Andruil was horrified. Andruil simply watched her knowingly, Ghilan'nain trusted her to do the same for her if she herself met such a fate. She could not fathom, even now that she had risen herself, outliving her beloved goddess.

Then went Sylaise, it began to feel natural, right. Their blood sung in her veins and she knew that she could carry them. When they inevitably escaped perhaps she could recreate them. Meld flesh and bone and perhaps a little of her own for surely theirs had mingled. It was a thought experiment, something to keep her busy while they lay trapped in this eternal prison.

And then Andruil's archdemon died.

Ghilan'nain ate Andruil when she still drew breath. They agreed on it, of course, argued even. Ghilan'nain did not want her love to suffer but Andruil would have no one else kill her. Would not suffer the indignity of mercy from the rest of their family. Instead, Andruil looked into the eyes of the servant she raised so high as Ghilan'nain sunk her teeth into her loves wrists and wrenched. She would have torn out her throat, or even her heart but then they could not look each other in the eyes. Ghilan'nain's own eyes would be the last thing her love saw, that felt right.

The prison was harder after that, Ghilan'nain found herself listlessly waiting, wondering when her own blood would twist and writhe against her. It never came, even as she changed. The blight of five evanuris coursing through her molded her into a creature unlike any other. She did not realize, for Andruil was gone and what reason did she have to maintain her appearance anymore?

When June died it was habit more than anything. Something to do in the endless wait for mortality. A feelings of flesh in her teeth and flesh beneath her fingers. Elgar'nan might sneer but it was the most movement he'd seen from her in decades. She wondered what he would do with her body, when the time came. Surely she would simply rot.

And then the prison broke.

Then Ghilan'nain was free.

[desaturate-worlds]

i was so excited for venom 3 and was so unimpressed 😭 when it ended i was just like “…oh” and i have so many thoughts but i need to watch it again before i fully form them

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Girl help why is a fantasy setting using modern American gender terminology

They could've already bounced off of the existing term aqun-athlok and show the gender culture of the North largely adopting Qunari concepts as part of cultural exchange resulting from the literal hundreds of years of war with the Qun. The only openly transgender characters we know of are from Tevinter anyway! They already wanted to show the Qun in a more positive light in Veilguard, having Thedosian queer culture be primarily influenced by the Qun would be a great way to do exactly that

[goatsorcery]

the fact that vallaslin are slave markings of the evanuris really should have had more relevance in a game wherein two of the evanuris return

[megsdoodletag]

WIP Wednesdays: The Updated Codex

i'm doing WIP wednesdays bc i have SO much written and none of it can be posted on ao3 because!! they are not subsequent chapters lmao.

Juno gets a little lost (this happens often) and runs into one of her uncles (she has several) and a cousin (one she actually has met before, which is statistically a miracle). None of this means she's safe.

Juno had seen enough of her father's brothers to know this was one of them. "Honsou. What the fuck are you doing in here, and what the fuck is that?" the primarch demanded.

"Uh," said Honsou, "I stole her! To…uh, lure…my…glorious rival." He hefted Juno up a little further. "Yep. That's what this is. Hostage situation in progress."

A hostage?! Juno glared at him. She should have known a treacherous agent of Chaos would betray her like this!

Perturabo squinted at the baby, then up at Honsou. "That is an eldar."

"Not just any eldar," Honsou tilted Juno's chin up so she was forced to look up at the primarch. She pouted, knowing from experience biting on his metal arm wouldn't be as satisfying as she wanted it to be. "Look at those big baby Ultramarine blues. Ventris'll be here within the hour."

Disgust flickered over Perturabo's face. "This wasn't from your little…project…was it?"

"Huh? Wh- oh no! No she's not from the - no." Honsou laughed. "No this one the blue boys cooked up all on their own, isn't that right?" He bounced her on his hip.

"And you're certain she is of the thirteenth?"

"Absolutely." Honsou said blithely. "Check this out. Juno, what does the Codex have to say about this?"

Juno promptly launched into a particularly preachy refrain regarding facing chaos legions. "-and their stain shall be excised by the sword which is devotion and the bolter which is justice," she finished. She took a breath, having forgotten to do so during the recitation. "I'm not allowed to have a bolter 'till I finish basic training though," she explained apologetically, "so I will have to skip that bit today."

"'Course kiddo," Honsou said, patting her side absently. "When you're a little older you can take me out right and proper." His expression had turned a little funny, the way Lord Calgar's did sometimes when she was climbing on Brother Cato during debrief.

"Huh," said Perturabo. Then, "whatever, as long as your plan doesn't involve the Ultramarines planning a full scale invasion." He turned to the models in clear dismissal.

Honsou paled. "They're not that dumb, unfortunately."

Perturabo snorted. "Indeed."

[yuelaos-codex]

Wedding Ship Meme

link to template by @heyneon

tagging @bbrocklesnar @alexxmason @captmactavish @onehornedbeast @finding-comfort-in-rain @carlosoliveiraa @tao-tgsh @ghastlyrider @captastra and anyone who wants to ✨ no pressure ofc!

Decided to do both ending 2 (my canon) and ending 3 to show how different yet similar the routes are!

++ some rambles/explanations under the cut:

ASCENDANT ENDING

THE PRENUP

this is sending me bc i have this long ass timeline that leads to them signing a prenup:

- astarion ascends, then breaks up with selene bc she didn’t want to become his spawn

- selene comes with karlach and wyll to avernus, but she doesn’t last long (she’s a lover not a fighter 💀) karlach convinces her to go back to faerun. she tells her that she has been on autopilot ever since, and she has not had the time to process the breakup. the constant fighting in the hells was not helping

- hesitantly she goes back to waterdeep, where she learns that she is being summoned back to evereska. she journeys there and gets celebrated as the savior of baldur’s gate. she starts creating songs abt her adventures. somehow, she still felt as an outsider in her family despite getting acknowledgment. she goes back to waterdeep where she feels more at home

- she slowly builds her reputation. the reunion party also happens during this time.

- 3 years pass by. she goes back to baldur’s gate ever since the brain. not as a hero, but as a performer this time 🥳

- they see each other again ever since the party

- zariel arc begins(!) selene recruits astarion (and the gang!) to help defeat zariel. this is where they rebuild their relationship, whatever it was. they make house of hope their homebase

- before the final fight, astarion, desperate and pissed off that selene was not jumping on his advances, propositions (again 😩) to turn her. they get into this massive fight. selene tells him that the only way that they can make this work is to enter a (magical, hell-powered) contract, where he can’t compel her and in return she can’t leave or betray him. astarion, who was planning all along to turn selene into a vampire bride (where he actually can’t compel her) instead of a spawn, agrees to it since the contract was heavily in his favor. BOOM PRENUP. they both sign it. astarion turns her the very same night 💀 they’re basically married at this point

- they defeat zariel yay, slowly take over baldur’s gate while also getting a vacation home in waterdeep while also traveling the world yadda yadda. then they have a wedding despite already being married for years bc why not ✨

THE WEDDING

at this point selene is a very famous singer, and astarion close to becoming the shadow ruler of baldur’s gate. their wedding gets called the wedding of the century— think the royal wedding, imagine the masses crowding on the gates trying to see what’s going on inside 💀 they hold it during the daytime to squash all the rumors of them being vampires. their motif is white and gold, and is heavily influenced by elven culture. selene’s gown’s train is around 20 ft long. their cake is 3 minscs and 8 boos tall. the festivities lasted for DAYS. lots of hedonistic debauchery occurred ehehe

THE SONGS

so i chose songs that had wedding vibes but also toxic when you listen to the lyrics. chemtrails over the county club is about choosing to live in your own safe and comfortable bubble despite the ongoing horrors outside (cue in my snow globe symbolism for them). there’s also this line where it says “it’s never too late, baby, so don’t give up” which makes me feel that there’s still hope in the relationship becoming healthy… eventually 🤡 (i mean, they actually have forever between them). you belong to me is very fitting bc astarion can let her roam the world freely, but ultimately she can’t leave him. (this also aligns with one of the voicelines a!astarion has if tav leaves with karlach to avernus as a spawn— he tells them that he allowed them to go with karlach bc he’s not some “controlling monster”. he could summon tav back beside him if he wanted to.)

SPAWN ENDING

THE WEDDING

as for the spawn ending, at first they want to hold it with just the two of them but then word gets around, and now everyone was excited for the wedding! they didn’t expect so many people would want to congratulate and celebrate with them. imagine 7k+ people wanting to attend 💀💀💀

they hold the wedding reception in the underdark, but made their vows privately under the night sky 🥹😭 MOON AND STAR MOTIF LFG 😭😭😭

THE SONGS

just a quick one: there’s this line in your universe that says “you can thank your stars all you want but, i’ll always be the lucky one” which i think perfectly sums up how he views tav/selene. bc who in their right mind would help a vampire— a monster, let alone give them their blood? only tav/selene. (which also aligns with his voiceline saying “other people don’t have a heart like that. you’re… you. no one is like that.”) ANYWAY ENOUGH RAMBLING THANKS FOR READING 😘

[sammys-magical-au]

I just realized how fucking funny it is that in my au at the end of the Clone Wars, Anakin, Padmé, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Lionel are all each going through one of the five stages of grief meanwhile the Clones and the Forbidden Triad are off having Alderaanian Manwhore Summer (ft Sister)

[baeshijima]

anyway ive now finished the lantern rite quest with just under an hour before it goes and

[thefloatingstone]

Remembered this song from a boss fight early on in NieR Automata, during which a cult of robots had come together to pantomime the concept of religion. (the robots in the game are all trying to strive for a sense of purpose in being alive by mimicking behaviour of humans who have by now gone extinct but there's not enough time to go into all of that here).

And this cult of robots come to the conclusion that their version of gods if they follow the human translation of the word is "the creator" which to them are organic beings. And so if they are pantomiming religion in an effort to find purpose in being alive, then through the practice of religion you are supposed to ascend to a higher state of being equal to that of the gods.

And so, if you are a robot and your creator is an organic being, what is it that separates you from your creator? That is of course the realities of being an organic being, and being tied to the reality that being organic means having to die one day.

And so this robot cult comes to the conclusion that to ascend to a higher state of being is to become as gods, and for a robot to become as a god, their creator, is to ascend to that of organic being, and to do so is to embrace what separates machine from organic which is death.

And therefore, to die is to become god.

And then they all attack you and this song plays called "become as gods". Which includes the robot cult chant of "We'll all die together and become as gods" while the choir chants in the fictional language of the NieR series which is its OWN separate dump of lore, but which is roughly labelled and understood as "The language of the gods". That being a weird translation of the GATTACA code which makes up human DNA.

....

NieR Automata is a good game. It's one of only 2 games that managed to make me bawl my eyes out at the end. Not for a story reason, but for how the game directly connects you with every other human being who has played the exact same game and the concept of sacrifice to help another in ways I don't want to spoil because if you've never played and finished the true ending of NieR Automata there is nothing in this world that will prepare you for its ending and I would not dare to spoil that for you.

Anyway I rambled a lot but it was needed to explain the full force of this song for you to understand why it's not only a banger but a banger with some deep fucking WEIGHT behind it.

(btw this is genuinely unrelated I just remembered at time of post it's the Steam Summer Sale and Nier Automata is 50% off right now but that was not the point of this post)

[magebutts]

also maybe im just misreading the codices, but uh...... why arent more people talking abt the very heavy implication that solas might be what the andrastian chantries believed to be the maker 💀

[fleshwerks]

14.

Codex entry: A confession

I cannot say I shared or share the Inquisitor's idealism. It was idealism that made him a weak man, this faith in the Law and the predictability of Man. It is why he surrounded himself with people who could be strong where he could not. I also cannot say that I could, or ever wanted to be a leader of men, but retain flexibility and freedom to not be drawn taut and immobile by the wills and wishes of thousands. For the admirable quality of knowing my place and the opportunities it furnishes, he sanctioned me to curl myself into his fist. A generous hand, when needed. An accusing finger. I seize now the title, and form it to suit the needs of this world, and myself, for I am a part of it. I have no ambition to rule or lift myself up as king or god, but like my predecessor, to assure that there is a world left to live and die in at all.

I want to confess how the Inquisitor died. He was ailing, but I was set to leave on his orders. I would like to say I had begged to stay, I am a practical man, and the world does not stop turning and burning, waiting for the Inquisitor to pass. I did offer, however, and he offered to have me thrown out of the camp in return. I offered then to break something very small within him, to make it quick. It wasn't painless, but it was fast. Something that would break anyway in the body of an old and fragile man. I said I'd like to watch him die, and I didn't wait for consent. He died right where he belonged, in the low morning sun, in my own arms, and I laid his naked body in the tall grasses of the Wycome plains for the vultures and worms. It didn't seem right to do otherwise. He said once that a known grave is like a crowded room that the dead can neither sleep in nor leave. Don't go looking. He belonged to everyone in life, his last breath and bleached bones belong to me, and those I simply will not share.

Servis

9:50 Dragon

[ladyinthebluebox]

Solas writing a letter to Elgar'nan like

[wonderful101gecs]

they should create a prog metal band with good audio production

[leothelionsaysgrrrr]

5. letters between two of your OC’s companions about them 7. someone describing a time your OC hurt them Let's hear it for Rexus.

5. Letters between two of your oc’s companions about them

An intricately folded note written in Neve’s handwriting:

All right, I’ve held it in long enough, I’m asking. That…incident…in Treviso. Which one was funnier: Rook, or Lucanis? I mean, sure, I doubt slipping off a platform into the canals while trying to be nimble was very fun for them, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen two men sulk through an eluvian looking more like a couple of sad wet cats in my entire life and I’m terribly sorry I missed seeing it in person. What a way to find out the boss can’t swim.

Added below, in handwriting that presumably belongs to Davrin:

I’m not sure why you think asking me this in a letter was the best idea, since you could easily just come find me in person to ask and you know as well as I do that the one thing Rook can never resist is reading letters that aren’t his. Or why I’m replying in kind despite knowing all this. Maybe burn this after you read it.

Rook can swim just fine. I’ve just been telling everyone he can’t because he used the old ‘oh no, I’m hurt and I can’t swim, help me, Davrin!’ routine to try to pull me in with him because maybe I chuckled a little bit when he fell. Lucanis got himself out just fine and seemed intent on not acknowledging anything happened at all, which is fine with me since he cooks my food and knows where I sleep, but Rook? Rook wouldn’t shut up about his ‘fucking wet clothes fucking stuck to his fucking balls’ and cursed in Tevene at the squelching sound every time he took a step in his wet boots. How someone lives in a place as rainy as Minrathous practically their whole life and hates being wet that much is beyond me.

Anyway, the answer’s Rook. Rook was funnier.

7. someone describing a time your oc hurt them

Discarded note near a dockside Venatori post:

I don’t want to hear it. I don’t see you out here going toe to toe with the bastard. He’s a menace, and you’d have fared no better.

-C

I was there, idiot. I saw it. You were the one flailing after him with those fancy blood sickles of yours like a wild animal, until all Rook had to do was step aside. You’re lucky I managed to throw up that barrier in time and all you got was bruises from a fall like that. They’ll heal, but you deserve every bit of fish guts you find in every little place your skinny ass can think to hide it from now until forever. Any luck and you’ll be able to cobble together at least one meagerly useful thought for the better next time you run into him.

-L

OC Codex Prompts!

[immobiliter]

things i would have loved to see in veilguard: evidence of active cooperation between the north and the south instead of just snippets of info from the south in inky's missives that were completely detached from the rest of the plot