#don't worry about the dragon myth i made it up | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mdhwrites · 1 year ago

Note

The demon realm isn’t diverse despite the show saying all myths from the demon realm influenced Earth even back in the deadwardian era it very European inspired there are also POC witches but their skin color makes no difference and the demons in the show barely have any resemblance to demons from mythology or religion I feel like the Crew could not write different Cultures and sticked to the Fantasy European Model because it easier and because some people will take issue with the show depicting their monsters as demonic What do you think?

Punctuation. Is. Important. This post is... weird without it. BUT it does actually bring up an interesting point, in part because... Well, I'd be in a pretty similar boat unfortunately.

See, western/European fantasy may have a WIDE variety of options but it also has the easiest when it comes to having a good selection of easily available creatures, settings, etc. to take from. Everyone knows dragons, dwarves, elves, gnomes, etc. At least, here in the west. Unless you do deeper digging, a lot of people will have a pretty limited reach for what they can do monster wise and I think that is reflected in the show.

And I suffer from it myself. I've never done real deep dives into all the monsters out there so while I like them, my mind ends up freezing on only a handful of common ones to use in my writing or the like. It's something that I would like to get better about due to just the sorts of things I enjoy writing. But because a lot of fantasy sticks to these close knit groups of easily useful monsters and myths, you kind of get stuck in a loop.

The show did give itself an out though for worry about potentially insulting other cultures and that was that everything is BASED on something from the Isles. They didn't have to make one to one portrayals but could have taken inspiration. Theoretically, that is in fact what the show did since we don't actually get anything named after a regular monster. The closest are the fact that the witches and wizards actually use those terms and I guess giraffes. Otherwise, they're all purely made up. Which, you know, isn't a bad thing so long as they're interesting.

Unfortunately they're not for most of the like... five that show up in the series? Cool designs usually but little in the way of making them unique obstacles or having real personalities besides "Creature."

The other potential excuse is that the style of the Isles was specifically based on a Dutch/Netherlands artist named Hieronymus Bosch. While his art is weird, it still is steeped in his culture as his buildings and the like are still European in inspiration. Of course, then we get into the fact that they don't include any of the actually surrealist elements of his art which is part of why the Isles is so boring. Strip that part away and all you're left with is... Europe but it's a little weird.

However, the reuse of European history, even including people who look like Vikings, is much weirder to me. At that point, you're not basing this on artwork or fantasy... You're just copying history. Like you point out: Their architecture, style of dress, etc. like that actually mimics common, HUMAN clothing trends just as much four hundred years ago, before a human ever ruled them, as it does in the present day. That's a bizarre disconnect that adds to the feeling that this is just kind of a lazy fantasy setting.

And no, I don't expect every fantasy world to look like Hylics and be this unknowable, abstract landscape. I am fine if something just steals medieval fantasy for its style and creatures after all. The thing that makes most fantasy distinct are its cultures and the interplay of them, or how they diverge from our world despite being so close to it at the same time. Skyrim is not a bad or boring fantasy world because it is THE style you go for with generic fantasy. It's world is vibrant to many because it feels more alive and like there are conflicts that are motivated by things like magic, monsters, etc.

It doesn't even have to be something big. My favorite book series of all time is a medieval fantasy series with some magic for two books and then NEVER BRINGS IT BACK. The mythos around the Rangers of Ranger's Apprentice though, them genuinely engaging with the different countries they come across (even if many are just replacements for real world countries) and the exploration of those cultures, how they differ, their beliefs, their tactics, etc. helped make each place feel like a unique challenge and world in and of itself even though it was lifting so much from reality. It drips with what makes these countries interesting and fun to take from for a fantasy world.

TOH though? They wrote in explicitly an excuse to take literally EVERY fun part of every religion, story, myth, video game even, etc. that has EVER been told... And decided to snark at all of it instead and act like it was better than all of that. Which is potentially a reason to go with the generic, European-centric style BECAUSE it is the most generic. Because most people will know about it from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. As such, it is the one that is the easiest to ridicule because they are actively choosing the elements that are the easiest to mock. It's like when people say that Madoka Magica is a deconstruction of the magical girl genre because they have literally only seen Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura.

And yes, there is an argument to be had about Dana potentially not feeling comfortable including other cultures' mythologies due to cultural appropriation and... I'm not going to try to deliberate that. I am the second to last person to get to behind the British. I also won't say it would be exactly a bad reason to avoid it even. Just that it is a thing and... *shrug*

A lot of this in fact kind of doesn't have a conclusion besides a shrug. After all, I like D&D. I like the Forgotten Realms. They are not, by default, that unique a fantasy world, in part by design. But, you know, a good DM makes that generic world into a playground. TOH never feels like it's willing to expand to even add a slide.

======+++++======

Btw, if you want a monthly-ish D&D show to watch, I HIGHLY recommend Dan Jones and Dragons. It has a more casual feel to it than I feel like a lot of D&D stuff I've watched tends to have while not devolving into jokes and gags. Everyone is taking it seriously but they're willing to diverge for thirty seconds about a good joke that happens. All of the characters, their personalities, the drama they go through and the care they have for each other is also just SO GOOD. Cannot recommend enough.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #the owl house #toh

21 notes · View notes

lemonhemlock · 11 months ago

Note

Bastardphobia in GRRM's world.

As you pointed out we see several examples of highborn bastards being treated well and portrayed favourably but it came to my attention that the citation for bastards who are usurpers, is the Blackfyre rebellions that have happened in Westeros.

Before I go into this I'll get the obvious out of the way :

The Dance of the Dragons was inevitable, whether or not Rhaenyra had bastards, Viserys fucked things up for everyone.

Now, the Blackfyre rebellions happened because Aegon the Unworthy legitimized Daemon Blackfyre, who was seen as more Targaryen than Daeron The Good. I won't pretend to be super well-versed about this but Daemon also had all the symbols of legitimacy, which begged the question of who had a right to the throne. This also sparked the Ninepenny Kings rebellion.

This ultimately happened because someone messed around with laws and gave zero fucks about the consequences (this looks familiar)

If these rebellions hadn't happened, this might just be a thing at the very back of people's minds.

Now while there was an anti bastard, this was about people being worried about inherentance,as you stated but as you've pointed out we see bastards who are just minding their own business and doing well for themselves in a world that's generally fucked up.

There's also a class element to this cause where do they fit in, they're outliers.

Let's discuss everyone's favourite bastards Jon Snow. Catelyn who knows her history and has given birth to sons that favour her looks wise, fears what may happen should Jon wants more and the Northern Lords want someone who looks like a Stark.

All in all Fuck the Targeryns.

chaoticcoffeequeen asked: **this is because of the myth that Targaryen's are better than everyone else, they have the doctrine of exceptionalism that allows their inbreeding, this has given them a superiority complex and the idea that rules don't apply to them. (I know why the inbreeding took place but it doesn't change the effects this would have on them) PS: this is why Nettles is so cool cause shes this seemgly non-Valyrian girl who was somehow able to tame a dragon. (Valyrians used blood magic but how did she do it)

Hello & welcome back, coffee queen. Hope you reveled greatly these fine winter holidays. ✨🥂💘

Yeah, I basically think GRRM is using the usurper bastard trope as a means to introduce the premise for dramatic civil wars, but royal bastards are also more high-stakes than the bastards of some random small-time lord. In any case, as long as (like you said), no one messes around with the established laws, the line of succession doesn't get as muddy and the causes for violent conflict remain few. There were bastards on Dragonstone for generations (where the dragonseeds came from) and nothing happened until Viserys I decided to cover his eyes and ears and live in delulu land.

Unfortunately, we're going to have to disagree about Nettles. Obviously I have no way of reading GRRM's mind about this, but I do think it makes more sense thematically for Nettles to have some dragon blood in her from her ancestors. I don't think regular people should be able to ride dragons, as cool as it would be, because it seems to me that within this universe, that kind of ability is only accessible to someone if they've made some sort of pact with the devil. Regular people couldn't have transgressive powers that go against nature because they haven't (yet) transgressed (later part of this post).

#ask #chaoticcoffeequeen #bastardposting #nettles

13 notes · View notes

horizon-verizon · 1 year ago

Note

What do you think of that take and reading of GRRM that ASOIAF and also his previous works are following a strict priority of expressing anti-war statements, so that readers can expect every character initiating or leading armed conflict to end up narratively severely punished, no matter the individual personalities, circumstances and motivations? It's used to predict bad outcomes for Daenerys, sometimes Stannis, but also to explain finished arcs like Rhaenyra's and Robb Stark's. (1)

Pt. 2 of ask: "I understand this as just another myth/theory fans came up with like many others. But what worries me is that these readers wouldn't even take offense at it within the entanglement of themes the author brought up in his story. As positive a pacifist message could always be seen as, why is a white male writer given free pass to wrap themes like this up in a way that would necessarily and intentionally devalue the idea that misogyny or slavery are deserving of violent conflict and resistance?"

I don't know if GRRM is strictly anti-war so much as critical (skeptical) of why people go to war. As in he questions, points out inconsistencies, and remarks on double standards that make the justifications of "unnecessary" wars.

Thing is that in his novel Fevre Dream, he has a character specifically say that you can't expect a group to experience intergenerational, consistent, long-term suffering and systematic oppression that makes up the very fabric of the oppressive society/institution and NOT expect the violence and war to be the thing to remove that exact oppressive system in place. In fact, total destruction is necessary because of how intrinsic to the social order/status quo the oppressive practices and institutions in place are. Which is why dragons are not strictly good or evil as a metaphor in ASoIaF and are actually symbols of freedom in Dany's arc in particular. Destruction is very useful whe used for specific moments where you need to uproot things to start over. Fire itself is a magical substance that doesn't fit into a binary when we are talking about themes in storytelling or real-life idea systems & human history/psychology.

So honestly, I think ASoIaF fans who argue that ASoIaF/GRRM argues for a "strict priority of expressing anti-war statements, so that readers can expect every character initiating or leading armed conflict to end up narratively severely punished, no matter the individual personalities, circumstances and motivations" are being too myopic about it. The series already constantly questions what it can mean to be a "good" leader in a society(ies), the conflicts involved that could stop a perosn from being a "good" leader. dragonseeds here on Tumblr says it more eloquently than I could:

it’s the beginning of the exploration and deconstruction. functionally this system is rigid (specifically in terms of gender and class) and horrifically violent: so what it’s really like to live in it? to try to be a hero, a knight, to be a lady in a world where your body belongs to your family, your lord, your order? is it possible to be a good person in a hierarchal world like this, with such vast power imbalances woven throughout it and every relationship and interaction that you have informed by that? how do you navigate that imbalance in order to have meaningful relationships—can you every truly do it? and who decides what is good? how do you know if it’s truly right or it just felt right because it’s what you wanted to do? what about the people who have no name, no family, no order: what happens to them? don’t they matter? what if in a lifetime of looking the other way or actively causing others harm, you do a few things—maybe one thing—that’s objectively good: does it mean anything? does it matter, even if no one ever knows? what if the best thing you ever did broke every vow you made, every law that governs your society? how do you live with that dissonance? what’s it like to be a ruler, to be a king or queen—is it possible to be a good one in such an unequal system? to wield power justly? who decides what is just? who decides who should rule? at which point does the amount of power someone can have cross the line into too much? is it when you stop trying to figure out how to use it correctly and worry only about how to keep it? if holding onto it costs you everything, your family and all your relationships, is it still worth it? what if having that much power available is necessary to the survival of your people, maybe even your world, but when it’s misused the carnage left behind is beyond articulation—is it still worth it? are the lives it saves worth the lives it took? how do you measure that? who carries the weight of that choice and how? how do you live with it? how do you go on living in a world that can be harsh and cruel and unfair, a world where your good intentions and your personhood seem to matter very little in the face of someone else’s greed or when compared to the yoke of your duty? and the questions never stop and the answers when and if they come are rarely easy, but the point is that you keep asking and keep trying because that’s what it means to be alive lol

And to be honest, Dany is the person who understands more than anyone else in this series how important it is to ask these questions and perform as a leader for others than for oneself. While there is an answer and a goal--think of others, don't go for power to only become a menace--GRRM shows us the journey of how people become or decide who they are by emphasizing their environment and the constant philosophical questions of how to live in an unfair world and find meaning in living. The process matters as much, if not more, than the result bc without such a process how do we change this or that aspect of the phenomenon that makes us/others suffer, espe with humans being a social race.

Yes, why is it that many fans are willing to have a white male writer "devalue the idea that misogyny or slavery are deserving of violent conflict and resistance"?

On top of Western consumerist societies already mass-convincing people that they should not think too deeply about double standards of race, gender, etc. in media, I think that with so much of the commercial advocacy of diversity, etiquette is both prevalent and shallow enough for companies, 1%-ers, and politicians to claim that they are helping [insert: everyone else] when in fact, they are using activism to sell themselves to people with better intentions. Pinkwashing, the case of the Velaryons being black and/or darker-skinned than literally everyone else but it somehow does not affect the actual story, etc. Meanwhile, you have corporate counterinsurgency measures making it more difficult for indigenous people to effectively convey their messages or even gather data about their unethical destruction of lands for their pipelines. It is in their best interests for people to not feel too passionately about some things they control by convincing them that they are participating. You have white "professionalism" and genteelness making it harder for people to feel much compassion for people who may have manic episodes, just make public "spectacles" of themselves in reaction to unjust acts, etc.

Really, it's a way to maintain various facets of white, able-bodied/minded, patriarchal supremacy, and people need to actively unlearn. I'm being general bc I do not want to write too much as I have done before.

#asoiaf asks to me #grrm #asoiaf writing #performative activism #consumerism

6 notes · View notes

elias-the-corvid · 9 months ago

Text

Some time ago I read The Void Princes by Derin Edala, and although it wasn't my favorite work of theirs, it had a fragment that left me... Thinking.

“Any dragon tamer you call up in such a situation will do exactly what I did. We can’t just choose not to prioritise the dragon if it isn’t convenient. People who are capable of making that choice aren’t able to become dragon tamers."

I don't exactly know why this bit stuck with me for so long but...

I thought about the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus, the basic gist of it, the bit we all know, is he's trying to get her out from the underworld, he's forbidden from looking back at her until they're out or she'll have to stay. He looks back.

There's lots of versions, each trying to explain why he looks back. Some say he was worried he'd been tricked, that it was not really Eurydice, or she was too silent and he was not sure she was really following him, was she lost? Did she need help? Maybe he feared for her wellbeing, maybe she was hurt. Some say he was too excited to wait and some say he believed himself out of the underworld and when he looked back, she had not yet exited. Throughout all of these versions I cannot help but see the love, a love so deep he had to look back, to see her once more, safe.

And I think, maybe, he was the kind of person who would look back. Maybe if he wasn't that kind of person, he wouldn't've been in that situation in the first place. Maybe Hades knew he'd look back and made this challenge specifically so he'd fail, or maybe only the people incapable of not looking back would follow their beloved into the underworld and convince a god to give them a chance.

#just thinking #orpheus and eurydice #greek myth #Elias says stuff

1 note · View note

patheticbatman · 2 years ago

Text

@kim-poce won this round again! The 47th Win A Commission contest was Nana Miriam. I adapted this from the Myths and Legends podcast version. If you’d like to see the drawings in context with the story, please keep reading!

This a standalone story from the predecessors of the Zarma, the Sorko people, one of the peoples who was part of the Songhai Empire, known for their fishing ability on the Niger River. The Songhai empire was in West Africa and reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries. This story may take place, but it's not really connected to anything historical. All you need to know is a hippo has been terrorizing a village, and a young man was hired to take him down.

—

The young man crouched in the tall grass surrounding the Niger river, watching the hippopotamus - the river horse. It was larger than he expected. He had killed bigger. He had killed everything. Dragons, giant crocodiles, wizards, anything that brought pain, destruction and chaos to the land was what he was called on to fight.

He smirked.

The funny thing was he hadn't done anything special. Really? He was just brave enough to go into the dark after the monsters, only to discover that the monsters were nothing more than normal. The dragons were scared lizards, the giant crocodiles were regular crocodiles made massive in the mind by panic. The wizards were twisted old men who delighted in cruelty.

The young man rested his spear on the ground and unlooped the bow from his shoulder. Everything - no matter how big, powerful or otherworldly - everything died. His job was just to help it along. And this, this was just a hippo.

He placed his spear on the ground, and then climbed a tree overhanging the river, careful to stay out of sight. He crept out onto a branch, balanced himself on the wood and drew an arrow from the quiver. He steadied his hand, nocked the arrow, drew it back and let loose. At the one spot he knew would kill this thing quickly.

The hippo dropped, but not in the way the young man had expected. It rolled to the side.

The young man drew back the bow ducked and rolled as the earth seemed to rumble. He lowered his bow as he crouched, jaw agape, then a smile curled on his face.

“Well, you're a fast one,” the young man said, glancing down to where he left his spear. He looked back up at the beast, but noticed that the hippo was following his eyes. Did this hippo know what was going on? He didn't have time to think through the implications because the hippo now appeared to be three sizes larger than it was when the young man shot the bow. It roared and charged as the young man dove from the tree.

He had to get to a spear. He hit the ground, rolled and found himself before a wall of hippo. The creature had tripled in size since the young man had seen it triple in size. It was nine times its original size. And now wait, were those ovens on the creatures back? They flashed to life with flame.

The young man couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. There was wonder in the world after all. He narrowed his eyes. Too bad. It had to die.

—

Nana Miriam sat on the riverbank with her father. She had seen the hippo eating the rice fields as it did every day.

Her father hobbled over and took a seat by her. “Oh, Hey, there's that new hero type guy that they got to fight the hippo.” Fara Makan said as he grunted to a seat. “How's that going?”

Nana Miriam saw the hippo, the size of a convention center, light the fires on its back. 10 of them. This time she glanced down at the young man, the hero, just in time for him to become a silhouette and the flood of flame. When the fire stopped, the hero’s bones fell among his ashes.

“Well, it's not going well,” Nana Miriam said as the hippo shrunk back to its normal size and shuffled back to the rice fields.

The men who hired the hero rushed to put the flames out before they spread. This hippo would destroy the village, not by carnage, but by starvation.

“Don't worry about it,” Fara Makan said to his daughter. “Everything has its time. We should get back to our lesson.”

Nana Miriam was Fara Makan’s only child. Her training had started one warm morning. Three years ago, she sat by the river with her father and he pointed at the fish. He would ask her what each fish was that swim by.

“And that one and that one,” she told him each time.

But he only shook his head with a grimaced. “Nope, not that type of fish.” He told his daughter she needed to learn to see the world as it truly was, even if it was muddy and uncertain at times. Only then would she have power.

And so Nana Miriam learned to see. It was difficult of course, but she was a quick study. Three years on, in her late teens, she rivaled her father.

About six months later, the hippo had arrived and the father and daughter knew it for what it was instantly, through a rare combination of magical forces.

A monster had been born, whether it was an actual hippo that had discovered the power or a demon that took the form of a hippo. They didn't know, but they saw its wrath. It devoured all the rice fields. Anyone who tried to stop it, was incinerated, trampled or devoured himself.

They had banded together one time and surprised the hippo with the whole village, making a stand against one of the monsters of the unknown.

But the thing turned into a mouse and darted into the reeds.

Their celebration was cut short by the seven more trampled fields the next morning.

That day, Fara Makan, Nana Miriam's father, had hunted the beast. The monster had caught his spears, melting them in bullets that popped out of his back like some fifth generation Pokemon. Fara Makan’s magic was the only reason he was able to walk away. But magic can only go so far when a hippo the size of a Mack truck is jumping on your body. So Fara Makan walked away with a permanent limp.

Now the village was looking at moving. It was a tragic and harrowing prospect. This had been their land for generations and the journey to find a new home would be a long one. The neighboring peoples were nice, but not like let-the-neighbors-live-in-their-home-permanently nice.

The last night in their home, Nana Miriam smelled the air and walked to where her father was cooking. “What was all this? That was a lot of rice and meat for the two of us.”

Her father sparked a grin. “Oh, it wasn't just for the two of us.”

Just then, outside, they heard a cacophony of barking.

Nana Miriam looked to her father. “You didn’t.”

Fara Makan rushed to the door.

“You did!” Nana Miriam followed with a groan.

Her father, despite criticizing the town for looking elsewhere for their salvation, was inviting a hero.

There stood Kara-Digi-Mao-Fosi-Fasi, and his 120 hounds.

As Nana Miriam walked up to the hounds she found she looked up to them. Not like they were role model dogs or anything. They were the size of horses.

“One hundred and twenty horse-sized dogs.” Nana Miriam said, nodding approvingly as she looked over the field of dogs.

Not only did they sound like a real threat, but they might actually have a chance.

“Thanks for coming,” Fara Makan said to Kara-Digi-Mao-Fosi-Fasi.

The dog handler asked the father if he had the fee ready.

With a grin, Fara Makan went in and got the first pot of rice. “Who's hungry?” He yelled out to the hounds.

They bayed and wagged their tails and jumped as he flung the rice and meat out to them.

“Your fee is feeding your dogs?” Nana Miriam asked the dog handler.

He shrugged. “Yeah, having a hundred and twenty horse-sized dogs is expensive.”

The next morning, the trio walked to confront the hippo with 120 horse-sized dogs.

“Why do you have them all on separate leashes?” Nana Miriam asked. “Wouldn't it make more sense to have one big leash, one that branches off into smaller leashes? That way you're not pulled in 120 different directions.”

The warrior said that this gave him more control this way. He could decide which dogs to loose.

“When does it usually take more than one dog to win a fight?” Nana Miriam asked, but she would soon learn the answer to that question.

They were in one of the far off rice fields, one of the few still remaining, and they found the hippo there bent down, munching on some rice. It looked up, barely registered the field of horse-hounds in front of it and continued eating.

“Hounds, attack!” Fara Makan said, pointing at the hippo.

The animal didn't even look up, and the hounds didn't move.

He smiled, embarrassed. “Oh yeah. Sorry. I guess that's your thing.” He said to the warrior.

Kara-Digi-Mao-Fosi-Fasi let the first hound go to attack the hippo. It charged for the hippo’s throat.

—

“Well, what did we learn?” Nana Miriam said to the two sheepish men, when the trio returned home.

The two men remained silent.

“You're going to make me run through this little post-mortem - oof.” She sighed. “This literal post-mortem-”

Kara-Digi-Mao-Fosi-Fasi exploded into tears. “They are dead. All of my dogs are dead.”

Fara Makan patted his friend on the back. “It wasn't your fault.”

Nana Miriam couldn’t hold back anymore. “Yes it was!” She had told him after he let the first ten go one-by-one. The hippo had crunched each lone dog with the same amount of effort that we would give to a piece of popcorn. She told Kara-Digi-Mao-Fosi-Fasi as he was loosing the eleventh dog that he needed to let all the dogs go at the same time so they could surround and overwhelm the hippo.

He told her to know her place and that he had this in the bag.

“Well congrats. All of your dogs are gone. I hope you have a Plan B.” Nana Miriam was not trying to be nasty, but her hope had faded fast as the hippo finished eating the dogs, and all that was left was irritation.

Kara-Digi-Mao-Fosi-Fasi left in tears to go update his resume from Dog Handler to Regular Guy.

And Nana Miriam and Fara Makan were left alone. The father and daughter went out to sit by the riverbank. They didn't have enough food for dinner. He used the last of it feeding the 120 horse-sized dogs.

Rice was exceedingly scarce in the village. They would need to find an alternate soon, or they would die.

Looking up at the clouds, Fara Makan said that they would need to leave soon if 120 dogs couldn't hurt the thing. In addition to all the heroes that had tried and died, maybe the hippo couldn't be killed.

Nana Miriam sat up. She said, “Yeah. I’m going for a walk.”

Fara Makan nodded. “Yeah, I kind of want to be alone too.”

They joked, but watching 120 dogs get chewed up by a giant hippo is the kind of thing that sticks with you.

Nana Miriam patted him on the shoulder and rose to her feet. She started walking to the north, toward the village. She looked back until she was out of sight of the river, where her father sat, processing all the death. And when he was out of sight, she moved west and looped back, past their house. She was going south. She was going to see it. She was going to see the hippo.

“Hey, what's up?” The hippo asked Nana Miriam when she walked up to him, chewing at the rice fields as per usual.

“You can talk?” Nana Miriam asked,

“Well, kind of,” the hippo clarified “You can hear me because of your magic. You do magic with your dad. I can kind of tell, you seem like the type. By the way, I am a shape-shifting hippo who can make oven jets on his back. You're kind of amazed about the wrong thing here.”

Nana Miriam thought that if she could talk to the hippo, she might be able to reason with it. She said that he was killing the village by eating all of their rice.

“Ah, bummer. Hey,” the hippo asked one question. “Did you ask to be born?”

Nana Miriam shook her head.

“No one does, right?” The hippo said through a mouthful of food. “Well, neither did I. I was born though. And do you know how much energy it takes to run ten ovens on your back to defend yourself from guys trying to kill you?”

Nana Miriam said, “No, but that didn't mean-”

“Oh, didn't mean what? That I, a hippo, can't defend myself? If someone attacks me eating the one food source that's both delicious and calorie dense enough to feed me, I can’t defend myself? That seems like a double standard. And it’s not like I’m going into the village eating people or something. No, I'm hanging out on the outskirts, eating rice. You all should let me be.”

Nana Miriam asked the hippo if they had any other choice.

It said, “Nope. I’m not saying that I am invincible, but I am kind of pretty much invincible. I mean, I just slayed 120 dogs - new record, by the way. And they’re not as filling as you’d think. No one can kill me and you humans obviously don't respect me. So I can and will continue to do whatever I want.” The hippo swallowed the rice and bent back down to eat.

“I can kill you,” Nana Miriam said.

The hippo looked at the girl and laughed, and started to light the fires on his back.

Unlike all the others, she didn't shirk away.

She kept looking right in his beady little hippo eyes.

“Sure you can, little girl,” The hippo said to the grown woman. “Maybe come back tomorrow though. I kind of had my fill today.” The fires on its back ignited shooting a ring of fire that expanded out from the hippo. It came to rest on the ground, not burning the rice, giving the hippo a comfortable space to eat without being disturbed. Or so he thought.

Within minutes his walls of flame flickered, smoked, and turned to water, which dropped to the earth.

Nana Miriam stood, tossing out bits of spices from her belt-bag and finishing up the last of her incantations. Her eyes snapped open and she looked directly at the hippo. “One of us is going to die today, and it isn’t going to be me.”

The hippo’s giant nostrils flared. He squinted his little pig eyes and charged in the absolute opposite direction. He didn't need any of this. There was something about that woman, something that filled him with a deep abiding terror.

After a short sprint, the hippo was far enough away to throw up some walls. The ground rumbled and Nana Miriam rocked back and forth as the rice field parted and iron walls grew from the dirt. They stretched high into the sky, secluding the hippo. Nana Miriam heard a low laugh echo around the chamber.

But Nana Miriam was just beginning. She waved her hands, said an incantation and transformed into a smith.

Nana Miriam, Smith Extraordinaire, made short work of the wall after she'd conjured a bellows, hammer and an anvil. She smashed her way through just as the hippo floated out underneath her feet. The hippo had transformed itself into a stream and was now making a break for the river.

Nana Miriam took off after it.

It was nearly to the river's edge when Nana Miriam waved her hands and the local river was gone.

The little creek that the hippo had turned into slid into the cracks of the Riverbed, but there was nowhere else for it to go.

Knowing that it could move faster as a hippo, the creature changed back and took off in a full run toward the Niger River.

Nana Miriam was able to dry up that tributary, but not even the hippo's magic could dry up the Niger. It could rest, reform, and come back and destroy this woman and her entire village.

The hippo was so busy congratulating himself that he didn't notice another wall until he slammed his head into it and started bleeding. The hippo staggered backward to see Nana Miriam finishing her incantation.

She said, “There is nowhere else for you to go. I should thank you for helping me realize my true power.” Nana Miriam laughed. “But for now? It was time for you to die!”

But before she could charge, however, they both heard, “Nana Miriam!”

The woman turned to see Fara Makan, his best spear pointed at the hippo.

“Did, did you do this?” Fara Makan asked, gesturing to the lack of a river, the wall, the bleeding hippo.

Nana Miriam nodded.

“My girl. I am so proud.” He smiled wide.

The hippo had a wry smile of his own. He turned not toward Nana Miriam, but toward Fara Makan. It charged.

Fara Makan stood up as straight as he could. He wouldn't die, shrinking and fearful. If he was going to be eaten, he wasn't going to be an easy meal. He gripped his spear, braced himself and gritted his teeth for the gaping maw that just this morning had gulped down 120 horse-sized dogs.

But the hippo froze inches away from his spear point. The hippo scraped at the dirt, but couldn't get to the man.

Nana Miriam was gripping its tail. She couldn't get in front of the beast, but she could get there fast enough to grab it and stop it.

She held it as it desperately scraped at the dry river bed, pulling uselessly away. As she hauled the hippo to herself and from her father, her hands and arms glowed with the otherworldly light of her incantations.

She started spinning the hippo.

He, who had destroyed lives, villages and hope, was at her mercy.

And it would find none.

It went around and around, over her head, Miriam spun and spun and spun the hippo.

With a cry, she released it, and it flew into the sky. Soon, neither Nana Miriam, nor her father could see it. In fact, when the creature crashed into the earth, all the way to the east, it was already dead. Nana Miriam had thrown it so hard, it had circled the earth three times, and died of thirst, before hitting the ground once again.

The creature that had plagued their village was gone and it was never coming back.

Nana Miriam flew to her father and hugged the man, weeping as she allowed the water to return to the river. She was so glad that he was safe.

Fara Makan patted her on the back. He could hardly believe it. The famine was over. Nana Miriam had done it. The fight was over.

But the fear had not left Nana Miriam’s heart.

—

“Hey, so I was in town just now,” Fara Makan said to Nana Miriam, as he knocked on the doorframe of her workshop. “Did you make an announcement in town telling everyone to come to the river?”

She shook her head slightly. “No, no. I made an announcement in every town.”

“Okay,” The father said, then he looked to her work bench. “My girl, you had been in here for 40 hours straight. What were you working on?”

Nana Miriam was wide-eyed. She was working on a solution. So that nobody would ever have a problem with magic hippos again.

“Again?” The father forced a smile. “Nothing like the hippo would happen again. He was dead. Nobody can't fall from low orbit and survive. Not even if you're a hippo with back ovens.”

It had been a few weeks since she had killed the monster and saved everyone living along the river. She even personally hunted any other, normal hippos that dared walk within her village lands. Fara Makan taught the people songs about his daughter. Her name would live on forever for this brave act alone. Like he said, it was over.

She stood, her fingers stained by the powder that she had been working on. She got up in his face until she was mere inches from him. “It isn't over.”

As someone blessed with such power, she was duty bound to serve her people. She could never let such a dangerous creature exist again. She showed her father an egg - her final solution to all their hippo problems.

There was a murmur from out front. The father emerged to see not only the members of the village, but all the neighboring ones too, assembling on both sides of the river.

Nana Miriam stepped out, and announced, “I hope you left your weapons at home, friends, because you won't be needing them today.”

The father jumped when he heard Nana Miriam yelling out behind him. Some of the people nodded that they did leave their weapons at home. Others set their spears and arrows down.

Nana Miriam walked to the water's edge and said that they never needed to worry about another hippo attack with her magic. She will be able to get rid of all of them. “With only this,” she held up the egg, your only responsibility will be to feast.”

She dropped the egg in the water and light shimmered out from it.

She stood, her eyes fixed on the ripples. Smiling.

The people looked at each other, faces reflecting the light. But when was this feast coming?

Then a lump, a small island surfaced in the river.

The crowd around it jumped back when they saw that the gray mass had eyes, but then relaxed when they saw that those eyes were dead. Some jumped in and started fighting over who would get to take this hippo home.

Nana Miriam told them to calm down. “This won’t be the only one.” She pointed back out to the river.

As far as the people could see, dead hippos were surfacing in the Niger.

Nana Miriam raised up her hands and told the people, “Hop to it!”

For hours people came to drag the bodies of the hippos from the water to render them, to smoke and sear the meat. To save it for the future. While their villages were still recovering from the famine, they could eat hippo.

And now she had saved them from every possible future hippo attack. All the people were grateful. None of them would ever threaten her father or her people again.

—

Weeks passed. And the river was clear. Only the hippos had been killed. The frogs, fish, birds, even the crocodiles, everything else flourished, but something, something strange was going on.

“Where have you been?” Farrah Maka nearly hit the ceiling while tiptoeing into his hut. He found Nana Miriam sitting up waiting for him.

He chuckled. “Nowhere, just out for a walk.”

“Tell me,” commanded Nana Miriam, not echoing her father’s chuckle.

“Since when does a father need to explain himself to his daughter?” Farrah Makkah asked. “I will tell you nothing.”

Nana Miriam rose and reached into a pouch at her side. “That's what I thought you would say.”

She went to the threshold and sprinkled powder from the pouch onto the dirt outside and muttered an incantation. The footsteps, the path that her father had walked, glowed in the night. It stretched off alongside the river. Beyond Nana Miriam’s sight. “Nowhere looks awfully far away.”

She swung her pack onto her back. And without a goodbye left her father standing in the doorway.

He hesitated for only a moment before rushing off after her. It took a little over three hours following the glowing footsteps until Nana Miriam arrived at a second larger hut.

She said another incantation and a hovering light glowed above her. She unhooked the gate and entered the darkness there.

She saw two beady eyes staring back at her. Hippo eyes.

Fara Makan arrived, winded from jogging the whole way, just as his daughter drew the dagger from her pack. “Now wait,” he said.

Nana Miriam turned. “What were you doing? Are you harboring it? Are you caring for it?”

Fara Makan nodded. “The hippo has a child, and is pregnant.”

Nana Miriam couldn't believe it. After everything she had done, he went and did this?

Fara Makan stopped her. “I did it for your fear!” She closed her mouth and he took a breath, and then continued. “I don't know what it was. If it was when the magical hippo charged me or from something that happened in the fight. But you've taken things too far. People who are fine, don't wipe out entire species.”

Nana Miriam lowered her dagger. “But what if another hippo monster came? What if it came after you again?”

“Then we'll handle it the way we handle everything: together.” The father said. “But these hippos weren't the ones that deserved to die.”

Nana Miriam sheathed her dagger. He was right.

She'd been scared. She'd been scared for him. And she had taken things too far.

Nana Miriam opened the door and took it by the chin. “You’re free to go.”

The pregnant hippo and calf trotted out.

Nana Miriam and her father began the long walk back home in the dark, side by side. And Nana, Miriam would forever be known as the destructor and the source of all the hippos in the world.

And so ends the happier version of Nana Miriam.

—

But in some versions, that is not the end.

Apparently after everything was finished, the hippos returned and the land was at peace, Nana Miriam met someone. Fono was a good kid and they were happy. But Fara Maka was worried. All that magic. He taught Nana Miriam. That was his old family secret.

If it got out, that would be it. So he sat Nana Miriam down and made her promise to never reveal the family magic to anyone except her own descendants. Since her father was her father and her betrothed was just that, she agreed. After all they had been through, she would honor his request.

Well, things changed. Nana Miriam married the man and he became her family too. It also didn't help that Fara Makan was showboating. Literally. When the father and son-in-law went out fishing, Farrah Maka would return with a full boat, laughing and berating his son-in-law's empty boat, telling Fono “Don’t worry! I will take care of your family for you.”

Then one day, a year or so later, Fono returned with a catch bigger than Fara Makan. Soon, all of his catches were bigger than Fara Makan’s.

Nana Miriam had consulted with a holy man and asked to whom she owed a greater duty. Her husband, who was honest with his feelings, or her father, whose fame by association had gone to his head.

The holy man replied with the former.

So Nana Miriam taught her husband the magic.

One morning, Fara Makan was in bed with a fever. Fono told him not to worry. He could fish for the both of them. He knew that it was a bit of a stinging blow, but he was also being genuine. He knew his father-in-law was getting older.

Fara Mako winced and waved Fono away with a sneer.

As the man left for the day, Nana Miriam remained behind to care for her father.

When Fono was gone, Fara Makan rose from the bed, his fever having disappeared like magic.

He asked Nana Miriam, “Why did you do this to me, your family.”

She replied that Fono was her family too. He was Fara Makan’s family. It wasn't fair to shame him each day when Fara Makan was over there, cheat-fishing. So yeah, she told her father that she taught Fono the family magic. But once again, there was nothing to fear because he was family.

Fara Makan did not see it that way. And he attacked.

Whether Nana Miriam was unable or unwilling to fight back, it was never said. Nana Miriam’s might was considerable, and she loved her father dearly, so she may have been holding back.

But when Fono came back from fishing, Nana Miriam was dead and her father was gone.

Enraged and sorrowful, Fono found his father-in-law and challenged him to a duel.

At sunrise, the pair rode their boats out on the Niger and had a final battle. They unleashed all of their magical powers.

And both died.

And so ends the sadder version of Nana Miriam.

Nana Miriam Explanation

This was another story I had in the works for several years. I based it off the transcript of a Myths & Legends podcast by Jason Weiser. If you’ve seen my story ‘The Eyrie’, it’s the same podcast. This episode came out in 2021. The show does not release its transcripts or sources for free, so I found a site that recorded an iffy transcription. Then I fixed it up and adapted it to be more obviously dialogue and cut some details that sound good by ear and in context, but were distracting on-page.

But I actually drew the pictures first. Due to how long it took me to get to writing things, and because I knew how the story went, I drew the pictures for this one early.

The first one is my crappy attempt at making Nana Miriam (NM) throw the hippo. His tail is supposed to spell Nana Miriam, but I accidentally added another cloud tittle (the dot over the letters ‘i’ and ‘j’) so oh well. It’s the most famous part of the story, and I wanted to include it in a special way. Also I originally was only going to draw four pictures total for this story, and had a lot of ideas on what to draw.

My sources for the Sorko people’s wear was inconsistent, especially in terms of how the women wore their hair. So NM has various different hairstyles, some based off Zarma hairstyles and practices. But the most fun part was drawing her dresses! Again, I used Zarma patterns for the drawings, and it was quite fun. They’re complicated, but I personally am looking forward to coloring them in.

For the second picture, I wanted to draw the giant hippo (occasionally called Mali in some sources) but at the time I was using a small page. So I just drew his face! I wish I could’ve included his ‘ovens’ but oh well.

Third, I wanted to put the scene of NM killing the ring of fire to paper. I thought that was pretty cool, and easier to draw than the iron wall event or the river nonsense. In some versions, her bag holds magic spices that are huge amplifiers to her power, so of course I had to include it. I was pretty proud of her hand position, so here’s a closer-up sketch of it.

The fourth picture is where I feel like I lost her face. But anyway, that’s her being triumphant and mean over the other hippos.

Hippos are a genuine danger to river-dwelling peoples. They’re fast and like to literally break boats open and destroy fields. Even zookeepers who know their hippos for decades avoid interaction whenever possible. They can and will eat you, if they’re hungry enough. But they’re also very important to the ecosystem.

The last picture is NM ‘freeing’ the hippos after terrorizing them for so long.

Like many people, she had gone through a lot of trauma. And like many people, she had to realize that her trauma did not give her license to hurt others. It’s a tough lesson, but one that was especially inspiring to see from a lady character.

I’m not sure how common was the ending with Fono, Fara Makan and the death of NM. As far as I know, it only appears in the ‘African Myths of Legend’ book collected by Stephen Belcher - at least as far as I found.

The parts of the tale that are definitely from Sorko culture, largely the beginning, hint at a view where heroines were maybe not the most common thing in the world, but weren’t outlandish within the culture.

But the Zarma are pretty different from the Sorko. The Zarma are largely Muslim, lived quite recently under foreign rulers far away with a tendency to enforce their own gender roles, and their women’s rights are stifled. Again, due to the effects of colonization in the countries the Zarma inhabit in modern day. Plus, the story was collected by an outsider - they may have left out details or changed things to keep bits of the myth private.

In any case, in the Belcher book I found, the tale is about Fono and Fara Makan. Fono is drawn to legends of NM and despite her father’s bad feelings, they happily marry. NM’s accomplishments are not mentioned in detail, and are only stated as equal to Fono’s own.

So from this newer, more conservative mindset, we get a quieter NM who is less willing to do violence or use magic, and lets her husband be the main character. And lets herself be killed by a weaker man, a man she loved and trusted, in the name of another man she loved. She even sought advice! When did NM seek advice in the ‘happier’ story? Never. She just did what she wished. And Fara Makan never wielded such dominance over his daughter. It’s just weird.

So in my opinion, that was a new addition tacked on to appease conservative listeners. But I decided to include it because sometimes, even the strongest people have trouble keeping up their boundaries and defending themselves from family. And that’s normal, and nothing of which to be ashamed.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed Nana Miriam!

#sorry this one was late! I’m going to finish it up later #full post #nana miriam #Zarma folklore #african folklore #Black folklore

2 notes · View notes

worldsentwined · 2 years ago

Text

I posted 231 times in 2022

55 posts created (24%)

176 posts reblogged (76%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@grammarpedant

@blackrabbitrun

@minutia-r

@baladric

@notapaladin

I tagged 231 of my posts in 2022

#my art - 39 posts

#the queen's thief - 24 posts

#dnd - 23 posts

#the murderbot diaries - 21 posts

#dungeons and dragons - 20 posts

#queen's thief - 20 posts

#poetry - 19 posts

#silly things - 16 posts

#oh i love this - 15 posts

#murderbot - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#because at this point i've sort of forgotten who's into what and also half of my brain is at all times consumed with my original characters

My Top Posts in 2022:

Not quite midnight here, but since the AO3 collection is live, here is my gift for @vaysh11 in the @mbd-gift-exchange! True story, I haven’t actually watched the Mandalorian but the idea of Murderbot and the Mandalorian encountering each other in a bar in space was such a good mental image that I had to draw it. I hope you like it! You can also find it on AO3. (Bonus: a ficlet describing Murderbot’s reaction to this heavily armored stranger, as seen in a conversation with everyone’s favorite research vessel. Read it on AO3 or under the cut!)

SecUnit? Is everything okay?

I'm not sure. Running a risk assessment now.

Do I need to deploy the-

For fuck's sake, ART, do NOT deploy the Pathfinders. This guy just has a lot of weapons, that's all

Just weapons?

And armor

What kind of armor?

Mandalorian

What?

That's a Mandalorian warrior. Culturally significant armor style, beskar steel. I can send you an info packet if you want

Sure, ART, go ahead and send it, not like I have anything better to do than read

You don't have to be sarcastic, I'm just trying to help

You can help by telling me if I need to worry about him going after my humans

Our crew, you mean?

...

Yes, our crew

Unlikely. Has he shown any interest in them?

No. I just...he has a LOT of weapons

And armor, don't forget the armor

Yes, thanks, I'm very aware of the armor

Do I detect a note of jealousy?

Fuck off, ART

62 notes - Posted December 31, 2021

Wanted a new phone wallpaper (that would fit my new, awkwardly large phone) so I played around and doodled on top of a pretty texture my friend @audreycritter made.

92 notes - Posted February 21, 2022

New @mayakern skirt arrived today! I love how the pockets are green inside, it's such a fun detail. (Also, many many thanks to Devin for exchanging my order for the next size up after I bought a different skirt in the recent sale and realized I'd prefer a larger size, this one fits perfectly!)

124 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

Immakuk and Ennikar they anointed each other with the oil of the gods made only for the gods

So a few weeks ago @shaelit asked if anyone had drawn that scene, and then the request got shared in the QT discord server and I was bullied into drawing it lovingly reminded that I have the ability to draw. Anyway, it was high time I did some art from these myths, the Immakuk and Ennikar stories are my favorite in the series and this one is a particular favorite.

124 notes - Posted November 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

This has probably been said before on the posts about leaving comments on fics you like (especially when you get the "already left kudos here" banner) but it just occurred to me that the easiest comment to leave when you have already left kudos is "I liked this fic so much I read it twice".

223 notes - Posted October 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #it's really nice that three of these are my own art posts #sort of surprised by the top one but I guess it spread #long post #also it's kind of wild that one of my top posts is actually from 2021 #but I guess they don't count December posts for these #and it was posted when it was already 2022 in some places

3 notes · View notes

lunarscaled · 1 year ago

Note

"How many promises can I make before I am assumed accountable for them?"

THE FOLK OF THE AIR: THE CRUEL PRINCE pt. 5

"One, I would assume."

-> In poetry there is a narrative device called the objective correlative, where in place of metaphors and similes to extend emotional relevance, an object is given. When sorrow and glass windows, or pools of water could not compare enough to hold the weight in both hands, they think of objects that are bestowed to others the emotional significance another wants to convey: take my knife, take my cloak. Take me with you, it says, Take pieces of me with you because I cannot burden you with all of it. ( they wonder if he is selfless or selfish. many people in positions of myth and power will end up corrupted by it, but in the same vein isn't that what heroes are meant to stand against? he seems remiss to be beholden to any claims he has made and it dampens their view that people can be as foolhardy and good as books claimed them to be. of course he doesn't want to fulfill every paltry wish. ) Lyric's hands turn over a yellow and red apple between their fingertips, one bite taken out of its side; they did not travel around with the party the way Wyll did, exploring the surrounding area seeking a way to remove their wriggling brain parasite ( or so they all said ), as Lyric had no such illness. Instead they spent their time closer to camp, or out at length to the nearest settlement or city for several days doing their own work, listening to and solving issues on their own time. It meant they were sometimes given unconventional payment in exchange for something anyone else could have done: scare off some wolves, chase out a goblin, pick herbs for someone's medicine. The apple was one such payment---a small sack of them. Four, plus the one in Lyric's hands. They think about how all of those interactions were like small promises of their own, but unlike his concerns, they were able to put their money where their mouth was and do things. ( their teeth, fanged just enough to be more dragon than human, bite into another spot of sweet skin and peel it away from the fruit, a single bead of juice caught on their lower lip that they wipe away with a thumb. they remember some cleric talking about apples and fruit of temptation, but the story is lost on them now. )

"Not to throw stones, but you're in your current predicament because of a promise."

-> Lyric did not talk directly to Wyll or the others much. They had their own corner of camp a little further away than the rest with all their things tucked into a tent, their books stacked on an empty wooden crate like a bedside table that marked where their personal territory began. They did not talk but they did listen, sometimes close enough they're sure it would off put the others if they knew that Lyric could listen through the eyes and ears of that familiar of theirs ( it wasn't that they didn't trust them, but that... yeah. they didn't trust them. ) Lyric didn't understand the terms of Wyll's pact or why he had stayed, or if he was at odds with himself for his choice, but they did feel he was someone who took seriously how others perceive him; their arms cross loosely over their chest, apple in one hand, with their thick cloak draped around their shoulders, it's heavy fur collar the bit of bulk they feel they need to be taken more seriously. They stare at him and through him, a man on the edge of his worries, and wonder how he's survived this long if he's been making and breaking promises. His one white eye draws their stare more than they wish to admit to, but only because it stands out so starkly.

"Maybe don't go running your mouth until you're finished with your current debts if that's your worry."

#limpfisted #* questions and answers.#⋇ I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN KNOWN TO LEAN INTO THE HAND THAT BEATS: BALDUR'S GATE 3

0 notes

alj4890 · 3 years ago

Text

All Through the Night

A Choices The Royal Romance Dark AU

A/N Here's the planned second half to part 4. This part was meant to delve more into Drake and his suspicions about Leo. Sorry again for the accidental post.

@gkittylove99 @krsnlove @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @yourmajesty09 @mom2000aggie @ofpixelsandscribbles @twinkleallnight @lodberg @twinkleallnight @amandablink @neotericthemis @mm2305 @sfb123 @iufilms @tessa-liam @busywoman @nestledonthaveone

Masterlist

Part 4 (second half)

Music drifted from the palace to where Drake stood. He was in the shadows near the palace gate, trying to fight against the need to check up on his friends. He had been completely against this wild plan that Liam had to officially meet Riley.

He was also against the notion of Liam keeping his being a vampire a secret from the American.

*****************

"I will tell her." Liam argued. "But I don't see the reason to do so until she gets a chance to see who I really am."

"Yeah, but you really are a vampire!" Drake pointed out. "That is a part of who you are."

Liam ran his hands through his hair. "But it doesn't affect my personality. It is merely a..." His brow furrowed, "a medical condition."

Drake couldn't help but laugh. "A medical condition?" He shook his head. "I guess that's true. You do need the occasional blood transfusion."

Liam grinned. "Even if I do take those transfusions differently than someone like you, it doesn't change who I really am."

"True."

"And with someone who hasn't been raised in our world or even within Cordonia, it will be difficult for Riley to believe." Liam folded his arms and looked out at the night sky beginning to transition to dawn. "Vampires, werewolves, dragons...we are nothing but myths and legends used to make horror movies and such."

Drake walked over to grip his best friend's shoulder. A smirk formed on his lips. "You know, given your personality, you'll probably scare her off with how big of a sappy dork you are."

Liam laughed and playfully shoved him away. "Why was I cursed with you as my best friend?"

"Someone has to remind you what you really are." Drake grinned at him. "I'll keep your secret when I meet the girl but I don't want you going to the palace. Olivia cannot be trusted."

Liam rolled his eyes. He was tired of this same argument he had been a part of for nearly twenty years. He knew Olivia could be trusted. He wished that the two people he loved as family found a way to get along. Their similarities alone should have made them instant friends.

"I still say I should go with you to the ball, even if I have to sneak in." Drake added.

"We will be fine. Rashad and Sherry are Cordonian nobles. People won't think twice with their attendance." Liam explained. "They'll be safe and I will as their unknown plus one."

"You are too trusting." Drake grumbled. "Anything could happen to the three of you without any backup to help."

"As much as I appreciate your protective side, I am a vampire who will be with two dragons. If anything happens I think we can make it out without a problem."

"Just be careful." Drake ordered. "Keep your guard up at all times."

"We will." Liam slapped his back. "Don't worry so much."

********************

Don't worry. *humph* My only remaining family is literally within the enemies stronghold while I am forced to wait in town for them to escape.

Drake kicked a small stone before turning away from the brightly lit palace. He headed on into town in the hopes of finding something to take his mind off the danger they were in.

How can I ever return to the Dark Kingdom if I lose them? How can I face my king when I wasn't where a Walker should be, defending a Rhys unto death?

He couldn't help but think about his own father. Jackson Walker was the epitome of what a guard/companion to the Rhys family should be. He had been a close confidante to both Constantine and Eleanor. Without him, Constantine would have never met his queen.

Once Drake and Savannah were old enough to begin learning the loyalty that their blood oath demanded, Jackson began to teach them how to protect their prince.

Their mom had been against them being nothing, in her opinion, but servants to the Dark crown. Drake could remember the fights he could hear during the day between his parents. Bianca Walker would shout at her husband that he was brainwashed into believing he had to do this and was doing the same to their children.

She never understood. It wasn't just the magical oath that held them bound to the royal family. It was the people themselves. Liam would have been the one he would want as a friend. He had all the characteristics that made him the best. He was kind to a fault, loyal, and never looked down on anyone regardless of their social status.

Drake and Savannah wanted to be around the young prince and play with him and his dragon kin. The five of them had formed a bond that had nothing at all to do with magic.

Like normal children, they found their kindred spirits. They found where they belonged.

It had been perfect.

Bianca left when Drake was ten years old. Once she found out that she couldn't take her children with her back to America, she decided to never contact any of them ever again. Jackson took it hard. Savannah and Drake somehow weren't as hurt by her leaving. Once she was gone, peace returned to their home and they admitted to each other that they were glad she was no longer a part of their family.

They loved their mom, but she had been hard on them. She had done everything she could to turn them against the creatures of the Dark Kingdom and their father. That final day home with them had been when everything blew up. When they stubbornly refused to give up Liam, Rashad, and Sherry; she waited until their father left for work to punish them for their refusal.

Drake rubbed the back of his neck as he walked through Cordonia's capital. That had been where his mom had grabbed him as she whipped him with a belt. Savannah had stood there with tears falling down her cheeks, pleading with their mother to stop. It had only caused a frustrated Bianca to backhand her for not seeing the supposed evil that the Dark Kingdom held.

Savannah had fallen back from the force her mother had put into the slap. She struck the side of her head against the kitchen table. Blood streamed down the side of her head as she looked up at their mother with fear in her eyes. Drake jerked out of his mother's grasp and positioned himself between his sister and parent.

Bianca stepped back from what she had done to her children. She violently shook her head.

"I would never--it's this place! It's evil! I would never--"

Liam had burst through the door followed by Sherry and Rashad. The ten year old prince and his nine year old dragon kin had positioned themselves as guards around Savannah and Drake.

Sherry gently touched Savannah's wound, found a clean napkin to press to stop the bleeding, then wrapped her friend in a protective hug. Her silver eyes had narrowed upon the woman before them. Rashad stood on Savannah's other side with tiny flames in his palms, ready to throw if needed. Liam stood bravely in front of all them while staring down the woman who had hurt his friends.

Bianca trembled at the anger she could see in those bright blue depths.

"Why?" Liam asked.

Unable to ignore the power that could be felt coming off the vampire prince, Bianca dropped to her knees.

"I want to leave." She admitted. "I don't want to be here anymore." She lifted her eyes to the children. "I'm tired of living in darkness."

"You chose this life." Liam pointed out. "It is your choice to leave." He took a cautious step closer to her. "But you will not touch those who the royal family protects ever again."

It was strange how adult like Liam had been in that moment. Drake had stood in awe at his refusal to back down to his mom. He had also been shocked when his mother agreed to leave without them.

Savannah half-heartedly tried to get their mother to stay. Her tears had lessened now that their friends were there. The siblings realized in that moment that their father was their true caregiver and that their friends had become their family.

They never had to worry ever again.

***************

Drake grimaced at that memory. He thought once their mother left that all their troubles would be over. How wrong he was.

Four years later, his beloved father suffered with a heart attack. Constantine, distressed over the doctors saying their was no hope for his friend surviving had sent for Regina.

It felt wrong accepting help from The Guardian of Cordonia, yet he and Savannah easily accepted any help she could give.

Regina used all her knowledge in the hopes of saving Jackson, yet all she was able to give them was one month with their father. His heart was too far damaged by the time she arrived. The potions she prepared would allow him this short amount of time to be with loved ones.

"It's a gift." Jackson explained, grasping her hand. "One I don't deserve. Thank you, my lady."

She smiled and gently kissed his cheek. "I wish I could do more, Sir Jackson."

"You've done everything." He squeezed her hand. "You have my eternal gratitude."

Jackson spent the next four weeks with those he loved the most. With Constantine, the two old friends reminisced about their childhood together. They laughed over old memories and even spoke about the painful parts of their shared pasts. Failed marriages, deaths of loved ones, even the occasional once held truth that they now doubted was discussed.

He then focused on every lesson and memory he wanted his children to remember once he was gone. He apologized for not doing more in keeping their mother happy. He then encouraged them to lean on each other and their friends.

"As long as the two of you have each other, there is nothing that you can't get through." He grasped their hands in his. "Whatever happens, never turn your back on your sibling."

It wasn't long after that, surrounded by his loved ones, that Jackson Walker died peacefully in his own bed.

Drake had held his sister while she softly cried and silently vowed to live up to everything his father had taught them.

If only he had noticed the signs that Savannah wanted a different kind of life.

***************

Drake glanced back at the palace before going into a dive bar. He couldn't help but wonder if Savannah was up there.

"Whiskey, neat." Drake ordered.

He ran a hand down his face. Every time he thought of his sister, the pain in his chest flared up. Whiskey helped somewhat in dulling the ache. It certainly helped dull the memories.

Why didn't I see that her unhappiness after Dad died never really went away?

Years had gone by with Drake and Savannah being a member of Liam's inner circle. Their status as being a companion of sorts to the crown prince went along as had all the previous Walker's who had come before them. Their bond with the vampire had only grown stronger.

Drake took a long sip as he thought of the weeks leading up to the Beaumont brothers coming into the Dark Kingdom.

Savannah was becoming more depressed. She had always been well liked by those of the Dark Kingdom. She even had a few men/vampires propose marriage to her.

Yet she never truly explained to Drake what she wanted.

I could have tried more, I guess. Maybe then I would be able to understand why she took the potion to destroy everything we had.

But he did not do that and she left him with nothing but an apology and her love.

He'd decided then to pretend that she had died. When he felt the effects of her blood oath being destroyed, it certainly felt like when their father had died. That pain had been a horrible. Savannah's though had been excruciating. It was as if he was being boiled alive from the inside out. His very veins had felt like they were being ripped up all the way to his heart. He had never fainted in his life, but in that moment, he wished he had passed out sooner.

At least I didn't see her leave. Makes it easier to pretend.

Now that so much time had passed, he was tempted to try and see her. Not necessarily talk to her, but see that she was happy in her life with Bertrand Beaumont.

A familiar chuckle pulled him from his musings. Looking up at the mirror behind the bar, he saw Leo with his arm around a woman who Drake didn't know.

Pushing away from the bar, he made his way over to the exiled prince.

He didn't know what it was, but he had never felt any loyalty or even friendship toward the man. Perhaps it was because of their age difference, but there were little things that Leo did that always put Drake on his guard.

He knew Liam longed to have a relationship with his older brother which was the only reason he approached the man. He would have quietly left without a word if not for Liam.

Leo looked up and his easy going smile hardened. "Drake! How have you been?"

"I've been good. You?"

"Can't complain." Leo smiled down at the woman tucked under his arm. "Madeleine, this is an old friend of the family, Drake Walker."

"Hello." She nodded her head to him.

"Madeleine's the Countess of Fydelia." Leo explained.

"Nice to meet you." Drake bowed his head. "So, how long have you been in Cordonia?"

"About a year or so." Leo replied. "What brings you down here?"

Drake shrugged. "Just a night out for me."

"Is my brother here?" Leo stood up and looked around the dimly lit bar.

"No."

Leo's smile disappeared. "Really? That isn't like you two, going out on your own."

Drake shrugged. Setting his glass on their table, he nodded his head. "See you around." He took a few steps away before turning back. "You know, Liam's been trying to get ahold of you."

"I've been busy." Leo glanced down at Madeleine. "He'll understand once he meets someone."

Drake narrowed his eyes. "I'll tell him you said hello."

He walked out door and back towards the palace gates to wait on his friends.

"Did you not want to question him about your kingdom?" Madeleine asked.

"He wouldn't have told me the truth, love." Leo finished off his drink. "He's too loyal to my brother to ever speak badly about how the kingdom is going."

"The blood oath he has is incredibly strong." She told him.

"Yes, but you broke that for Savannah, didn't you?"

"Well, it was me assisting Regina with it. She was--"

"You give yourself too little credit, my love." He caressed her cheek. "I can see how powerful you truly are. How intelligent. That's why I know you will be one day known as Queen Madeleine, Savior of Cordonia."

"Cordonia?" She laughed while shaking her head. "I'll be content simply being your Dark Queen."

"Once we have control of my kingdom, we will finish what was started by Kenna Rhys centuries ago." Leo told her. "The world will finally see Cordonia united once and for all."

Drake Walker moodboard

#all through the night #choices the royal romance #trr dark au #trr drake walker #trr savannah walker #leo x madeleine #trr liam #vampire liam #trr vampire au

31 notes · View notes

hannibalismos-jaaneman · 3 years ago

Note

Hi! I heard you weee doing wand reading and was wondering if you could do mine. I recently redid the test. This is the original one and the latest one

These are so different I am amazed. I am guessing when you got the first one you were a teenager and you got the new one as an adult (but that is just a guess). Thank you for choosing me to analyse your wands.

So I will analyze these wands together in sort of a mix so I can compare their qualities well (don't worry I have analyzed both of Sirius Black's wands together this way before I deleted my account from here the first time).

P.S. Very sorry for being so late, I was unable to bring myself to do this one, it made me quite emotional at the first glance.

***

Beech: As I have said earlier, beech is the wood for the wise ones, the children beyond their years (some people call them the "to-be-burned-out prodigies" but I believe that not to be true). These people are progressive and some people say it is rare to see beech in the hands of a pure-bred (but there are always exceptions of course).

Redwood: Redwood wands are the so-called "harbingers of luck" but that is a long bygone myth. They are usually paired with owners who themselves are lucky and do not fear to take up opportunities whenever they see one (and that is not at all a bad trait, just to clarify. being opportunistic is in every human's nature)

Inference: This seems like such a genuine transition; as one grows, they see pain, they see betrayal and they change because of that. One experiences so many different scenarios that they learn that they might have to wrongly tread upon a few people to survive because the world now is cruel. In my brief experience with wandlore, I have seen such transitions, and I can confirm that these differences might make the master look like a completely different person but one never leaves their true self behind, even if the wand might make them appear like they have.

***

Phoenix feather: The rarest core of all. This one paired with beech shows extreme intelligence and a picky nature as the bird whose feather the wand wields is a free and wise creature. Paired with beech specifically though, it shows artistic liberty and a vivid boldness in the master and their magic.

Dragon heartstring: The core might not be rare but it sure is more powerful than all. Dragon heartstring shows this "flamboyance" in all kinds of its magic and has a signature flair that births from its master. Dragon heartstring represents variations and diversity (this means that the master changed in a way that they started fitting into their surroundings more than they did earlier).

Inference: Another very raw transition. This shows that the master went from being temperamental to being mellow and easy-going (which happens as one grows). This also shows a certain amount of experience gained by the master and how they gained a clearer and more realistic view of the world.

***

Reasonably supple: Wand flexibility shows the dubiousness and self-perception of a person, not only the wand's fidelity. Here, it signifies that the person who used it was young or a novice. Their thoughts took different shapes swiftly and they were impressionable

Hard: Here, the master's principles became rigid and unbreakable. This flexibility shows that the master gained a very restricted yet wide view of the world. Meaning that they know how it works but they think of it in several different ways, they have a philosophy, more than a fluid perception and in that philosophy are the grounded scars of their past.

Inference: Such vastly different flexibilities signify that the master was hurt before they learned more, that life has been more a journey than a lesson and they know that this is the best way to gain wisdom. This is such a raw form of change that some people might not be able to cope but as the saying goes, "What does not kill you, only makes you stronger." And in the end, life is all about becoming stronger.

***

13 3/4": This is a longer wand than most people own. This shows that the master has a high pedestal they have been set to and their peers look up to them, meaning that they are highly respected in their social and personal circles. This also shows high self-esteem and an unwavering sense of dignity and power.

13": This gets cut down by three-quarters of an inch, showing that the master mellowed out a little but did not lose that dignity and self-esteem on the way. This gives the sense of constance in life and a maintained image in society.

Inference: Sometimes, masters believe that wrongs that need to be rightened are the reason their wands lose their lengths but it is in the confines of such delusional proclamations that the wand becomes unfaithful for this shows practically gained wisdom and courage to admit to folly.

***

Lorist's Conclusion: This has been an eye-opener for an analysis. I have never witnessed such great change in wands and it shows that the master is capable of adapting and surviving in solitude as they are an independent self-nurturer.

#this is making me feel so vulnerable #wands #wand analysis asks #wand analysis #wand analyses #wand #wand lore #wandlore #wand lorist #wandlorist #asks #my asks

12 notes · View notes

venteamocha · 4 years ago

Note

Hello! Sometimes I see you post stuff from IF blogs and I've recently started playing some IF games, which I've enjoyed so far. Do you have any IF stories you'd recommend in particular? I'm not attached to any particular genre and I don't need romance or a self-insert main character, (though I'm not opposed to either). Though, it's a definite plus if it's LGBTQ+ inclusive! I'm not really sure what the "cornerstones" are of IF so I'll take any and all recommendations haha

Oh god, I play so many IFs. So many. And it’s not even close to all of them, but I’m trying!!

Tbh IFs without romance seems to be very rare, I think because when I think IF I think Choice of Games, and those pretty much always have romance in them. At least, the most well known ones do. But a well done one without romance would be nice too!

Okay, this is a list of my favourites! They’re all LGBT+ inclusive, and most have gender selectable love interests, or at least ones that change gender depending on the gender and sexuality combination you pick. In no particular order, of course. Behind a cut because I’m gonna give them each a mini review. Because I haven’t done that yet.

(There are so many.)

Mind Blind: I absolutely love our big brother Nick, I love how witty and sharp so much of the dialogue is, I love how the MC clearly has a rather large handicap, but is still such an important person to so many people and not looked down on in the slightest. And when they are, we all know it’s because that person is a jerk! They’re not defined by what they aren’t, but what they are, and that’s a great message.

Shepherds of Haven: Part of why I love this one so much is I just love fantasy settings and this one just pulls it off so well. The cast is full of amazing characters, and I gotta say I die inside pretty regularly for not being able to afford the patreon content, lol. The author puts so much amazing stuff on there, and gives us so much great content in the game and through answers on tumblr, and you can tell this whole thing is just the best thing ever to them, and that makes it the best ever for us readers too!

The Wayhaven Chronicles: I’d be shot if I didn’t mention this one, the series that literally killed dashingdon when the book 3 demo dropped!! Again, another author that cares a lot and does their best to do right by their fans. We’ve been given drip after drip of these amazing characters backstories, and I just cannot wait for more! It’s definitely very romance centered, but the overall plotlines are also very good, and I have to say that no matter who I romance, I just feel like the group as a whole is a family. And that’s wonderful.

Speaker: I really like the lore. I really like the lore. I can’t wait until we get more of the overall plotline. Mostly I want my Speaker to get in deep trouble so Seb, Li and Seer (best sister ever) go off and beat the shit out of whatever is causing it. This probably says something about me, but what can I say, I thrive on angst and inflicting near death injuries on my OCs. Sometimes I even kill them, although all of this is offtopic. Or is it? I guess we’ll find out, although I doubt we’ll actually be able to kill off Speaker. And yes, I am definitely playing the Seb & Li poly route. I love them both so much.

Wilhelmina: I love vampires, ok? Ok? And this one is based off Dracula!! The OG!! And you can choose Drac’s gender!! Shit, sign me up forever!! Yeah, she might be literally killing my bff, torturing my fiancé and low key fucking with my mind, but vampires are hot!! Let me live! Or not. But yeah, this is a really well done retelling of the Dracula novel and I like how well it works as an IF. Did I mention I like vampires?? Especially when they get all monstery?? (This one has an MC with a set gender, as it’s based on an already existing literary figure. Mina can have a same sex relationship with dracula, if you make drac a female, or with Lucy, a female love interest.)

More Things in Heaven and Earth: Hi Nell!! First off, I gotta uncover a deep shame of mine. My family literally has a Shakespeare heirloom collection. As in, my greatgrandfather passed down through the family a collection of Shakespeare that was published in 1911. In ye olde englishe. I tried to read it when I was like 10 and was like what language is this?? What the fuck? What the fuck??? And ended up reading As You Like It, a bit of Romeo and Juliet, and a little of Hamlet. Didn’t touch the rest of it. I only got into the other stories through trashy ya reimaginings. That said, this retelling of Hamlet inspired me to go read the whole of the original and now I have a lot of fears for these characters that I’m so much more attached to, oh god I hope my Ophelia has a happy ending. I hope Hamlet himself has a happy ending. The dialogue is so well done, everyone is engaging, and yeah it made me finish an old af book when nothing else did. (This one also has an MC with a set gender, female, for the same reason. However, there are two gender variable love interests, so you can very much play a bi or gay Ophelia if you so choose.)

Guenevere: I love King Arthur. All the myths. I have so many books based on the King Arthur mythos, oh dear god. I love pretty much every version of it. All the movie and tv shows too! I just can’t get enough of those knights. I could go on for paragraphs about how courtly love worked and how all the different social castes were, but I’ll try not to. This series lets you customize Guen as a character to an amazing degree, considering that she’s also based on an actual literary figure like the other two I mentioned above. It really feels like she becomes your own character, and yet she still exists within this world very very well. I worry quite a bit that the author might have bit off more than they can chew with the current book they’re working on, what I’ve seen of it looks absolutely massive in scale. What is out so far is a wonderful read though, full of drama and laughter and lots of chances to make the story your own.

Bastard of Camelot: Yep! Another King Arthur series! Sue me! This one lets you set Mordred’s gender though, so it’s more inclusive in that way. It is very interesting to play as one of the “bad guys” of the King Arthur mythos. You can play them as straight up evil, as good, or you know, a bit of column a and a bit of column b. Or they can just be a rude little shit. It’s got dragons too! You get a dragon pet! Dragons are cool. It can be a bit tough to play sometimes, since a lot of people dislike Mordred quite a lot because of prejudices. Hopefully this will change a bit later in the series if you’ve been a fairly good person up to that point. Gotta say though, as a warning, that Mordred is a product of incest. It’s not glossed over, and it does cause a lot of problems for them in the story.

God of the Red Mountain: I just love that this inspired me to read more chinese mythology tbh. There is just so much here! And it’s just such a good read. I wish I was better at describing things. The MC being a spirit that you can define, the whole setting, most of the love interests also being spirits, the massive amount of history and culture and lore, how it all fits together. It is such a well done story. I really wish it got more attention than it does. I still miss Big Sister. I still can’t wait to find out more about the foxes, and how we can heal our MC.

The Nameless: Another one that lets you play as something otherworldly. I love the lore behind this one, and I love all of the cast I’ve met. I kind of like that our MC isn’t loved right off the bat, that we’ll have to win over all of our love interests and even the other npcs. I’m up for the challenge! Everything I’ve read on the tumblr for these characters just makes me love them all more tbh. I love how much they’ve written for all of them! Most of all though, I love Oisein. All the art of them is just *chef kiss* and their personality is magical.

A Mage Reborn: This is a really recent one but!! Wow, it’s really well done! That cliffhanger!! Oof!! Not many books literally start with killing your MC off! That takes guts! I told the author this already, but I love the way they formatted this, the way it starts with the end, so to speak, and then fills it all out. It just made everything feel so poignant, how MC is literally looking back at all these moments in time in the last minutes they have before they die. Shit. That’s powerful. And there’s gonna be more??? Can’t wait for that angst. Give me that drama. Of course I picked the one who had me killed, that’s just how I am!

These are all just the COG type games, there are a few twine games with graphics I’d throw on here, but the list is long enough as it is and they feel like they’re in a different category to me. Maybe it’s just me?

#if #if recs #rivi's recs #interactive fiction #there are more than these that i like too!#these are just the ones i feel the strongest about #and as i said these don't include the itchio twine ones #there are amazing ones there too but that feels like it should be a separate post?#i'd put links but i think it won't show up anywhere if i do #because tumblr is A Site #i can pass them on though if needed

74 notes · View notes

madammonkie · 3 years ago

Note

Hi Riko, I wanted to tell you that the anon who made you feel horrible about the ships involving Nezha and MK are none other than Antis.

I know this because my friends and I were attackked by them and they threatened us half to death and one of my friends ended up having their lives ruined.

Also, just a few actual info, Dad!Wukong is NOT canon, if he was MK's father, thenn that would confirm that he hooked up with someone and/or fell for them and had MK, which is indirectly a confirming a ship, even thoughh no other ships (besides IronBull ofc) will ever happen.

And about NeZha, the whole "forever 12 years old" thing is in fact a LIE, idk how it started but I guess a person had spread rumors about him being 12 and it poisoned a lot of people's minds, my friend and I started Taoism last year and our teachers told us that he is over millienias of years old, and it turned out to be a hoax.

So if anyone tries to spread extreme rumors around, just know that they are getting reported and dealt with, lying about crimes is deemed illegal.

Ahaha i appreciate your concern about this, but they were not making me feel horrible about it as I Share the same opinion about it, Dont worry! I just felt like a moron for so confidently use the wrong tags. The content was indeed supposed not to have any ship in it other than Dragonfruit

I'm so sorry that happened to you and your friend, I agree that threatening someone is no bueno and i really suggest you perhaps talk it over or Perhaps Ignore them or block them.

And about the Dad wukong, Yeahhh Its not canon, bUuutttt I really like the mentor mentee, dad and Son dynamic, it doesn't have to be biologically related, they just have that bond ya know and I can't see it any other way.

Prince Nezha was Indeed dubbed "forever 12 years old" while having to live for millennium, and I may have not know the Taoism lessons, But I do know that he is eternally stuck in the body and a mind of a child.

Many medias portrays Prince Nezha as a child because it tied to how he become a Lotus Prince in the first place. I believe he committed s*icide to pay for his sins to the Eastern Dragon King. And his Master, (I forgot the name of the God) reincarnate him in the Heaven into a lotus Root.

While I do understand where you are coming from I do believe a misunderstanding of Chinese myth isn't necessarily to be a crime. Aside from actual gross usage of the said Myth into a gross content.

I'm not fully understanding Prince Nezha's story but I really do believe he is potray as a Child God where parents pray to him in hope for him to bless the children to grow up to be obedient and respectful Children.

Also I am aware that Lego Monkie Kid Prince Nezha is aged up, and ngl thats kind a neat idea. I don't think thats the core problem with my mistake of a Tag, the core problem is that In the mandarin Dub, Wukong called Prince Nezha as his Little brother, probably meant as sworn brother, and the idea of shipping them kinda gross.

Again I appreciate your concern, but I do think this is all just a misunderstanding and miscommunication. I hope your friend can get up from the said horrible experience,

cheer up💕 Its not worth it to have your life ruin for some dumb online argument, let's all just enjoy the show however we like! (Within Reasons of course)

#tell your friend its going to be okay!#You can Do it!#Lets all be friends here and enjoy the content however we like!#its just miscommunication lmao #HGhhghhhh I cant believe i screw up this much lmfao

5 notes · View notes

bergdg · 3 years ago

Text

Strixhaven Students: Prismari

In this five-part series, I’ll be creating a brand new Dungeons and Dragons character who would call one of the colleges of Strixhaven home. Each character will be built using content released in either published books or in Unearthed Arcana (UA) documents, such as the recently released Mages of Strixhaven UA.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Fizzik Mythstone, Inspired Loremaster.

Art by ArtDeepMind - Link

From his earliest memories, Fizzik Mythstone seemed destined to join the family ranks in attending Strixhaven and being a student of Lorehold: there were many famous artificers amongst his relatives, including his uncle Hofri Ghostforge. As part of the family business, Fizzik's father trained young Hofri in the mystical arts of artifact restoration.

However, Hofri dreamed of what life could be beyond his family's plans, for Hofri had a love of the performing arts. As they worked in the family forge, Fizzik’s father would tell him the stories of the ancient weapons they worked on and the heroes who had wielded them. Hofri absorbed these tales, imagining how they could be adapted and performed. Eventually, he acted on his creative impulses and began to turn those stories into plays. And as he dreamt of larger stories, he began to learn different forms of magic to augment his productions.

When the time came to attend Strixhaven, he took his various skills and made a name for himself within his first year. Using the grand library of the Biblioplex, he even developed new methods of artifice that could be used for the stage. He eventually drew the attention of the two Prismari Deans, who offered him a place in their college.

Starting Stats (using the Standard Array)

Strength: 14

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 8

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 12

Fizzik’s primary skills are his intelligence and ability to apply research that he has uncovered. He was trained from an early age to be an artificer, so spent a lot of time lifting heavy weights around the shop and then deftly moving between the various shelves. This ability came in handy when he started to work behind the scenes in various stage productions.

Race: Hill Dwarf

Fizzik comes from a long line of dwarves. When it came to looking at which sub-race to choose, I eventually settled on being a Hill Dwarf, as the Mountain Dwarf build felt like a more martial character; as Fizzik will show you, his skills lay in an arena different from the battlefield. The nice part about the dwarf race is that you get a +2 to Constitution, which helps to even out his “dump” stat.

Proficiency: Mason's Tools

Background: Entertainer

Throughout his youth, Fizzik's greatest joy came as he recreated tales of history for audiences. And while he was decent enough at acting the parts, he found greater value in the arts surrounding the theater: script writing, set and costume design, and directing. This was much to his parents' disgruntlement, unfortunately, as they (especially his father) felt that this pursuit was frivolous.

Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Performance, Disguise Kit, and Lute

Level 1: Artificer (Level 1)

Fizzik was trained by his father from a young age in the family business: artifact restoration. In his workshop, they examined ancient weapons, finely glazed pottery, and old books with brittle pages. As they worked, Fizzik learned about the spells and enchantments that wizards from eras past would place on them. And although he found the work a bit tedious, hearing the tales of history from his father as they worked sparked his imagination.

While Fizzik began his journey as an artificer, he eventually multiclasses so that he can pick up the Mage of Prismari subclass, which isn't offered to the artificer in this UA. In order to differentiate the types of magic learned between them, Fizzik specializes in different types of spells depending on his class. As an Artificier, these are Transmutation spells.

Starting Class Proficiencies: Arcana, History, Carpenter's Tools

Spells:

Cantrips: Mending, Prestidigitation

Leveled Spells: Catapult, Feather Fall

Level 2: Wizard (Level 1)

In his spare time, Fizzik would develop plays based on the stories he had heard about ancient heroes and the artifacts they wielded. He held his productions at a community center where the elderly dwarves would congregate after they retired. And while his productions were decent, he had dreams about making them grander.

One day while looking through some ancient histories, he came across a leather-bound tome, The Magiks of Theatre. Sneaking the book away into his private collection, he spent any free moment poring over its pages. He quickly mastered all sorts of new spells and began to implement them into his storytelling productions.

As mentioned before, in order to differentiate the types of magic learned between them, Fizzik specializes in different types of spells depending on his class. As a Wizard, these are Evocation and Illusion spells.

Spells:

Cantrips: Dancing Lights, Firebolt, Ray of Frost

Spellbook Spells: Burning Hands, Color Spray, Disguise Self, Silent Image, Thunderwave

Level 3: Artificer (Level 2)

Eventually, the fateful day came, as it had for many generations of his family: he was accepted to attend Strixhaven University. With one final, "Don't forget that Lorehold is in your blood," from his father, he was out of the house and feeling more free than he had ever been.

He loved most everything about this new experience; he even enjoyed the Basics of Archeology class his father had insisted on him taking, due to an exceptionally engaging Kor professor. But most of all, he loved discovering the countless mysteries held within the Biblioplex.

There, he uncovered some ancient texts from places of which he had never heard, such as the Undercity of Ravnica. He learned about some secret arts, in which various magic inks that could contain certain spells. These spells could then be cast by those on whom the ink was painted or tattooed (depending on the ink's properties), regardless of their own spellcasting abilities (or even lack thereof). He immediately saw how this could augment some ideas he had for some theater productions. After months of experimentation, he was able to replicate them via artificer infusions, a skill he had learned from his father.

Infusions:

Enhanced Arcane Focus

Replicate Magic Item - Masquerade Tattoo

Replicate Magic Item - Moodmark Paint

Replicate Magic Item - Spellwrought Tattoo, 1st Level

Spells:

Leveled Spells: Expeditious Retreat

Level 4: Wizard (Level 2)

Using his ink techniques and his knowledge from The Magiks of Theatre, Fizzik began to produce some plays starring his friends and other fellow first-year students. Word soon spread, eventually coming to the attention of Deans Uvilda and Nassari of Prismari.

After one especially rousing retelling of The Saga of Hafwyt the Curious, the two Deans approached Fizzik after the show. They congratulated the Dwarf for his retelling. Dean Uvilda commented on the brilliant use of his magic ink to create Illusory costumes, while Dean Nassari gushed over the various spells used to create lighting and sound effects. And together, they extended the invitation to join their college.

It was what Fizzik had dreamt of for a long time, as several of his friends he had made also belonged in Prismari. But he was hestitant to do so, kept back by his family's expectation for Lorehold.

One day, his famed Uncle Hofri came to give a guest lecture on artifact restoration for Fizzik's archeology class. Hofri managed to grab Fizzik as class ended, requesting they grab a bite to eat together to catch up. During that time, Hofri noticed something about his nephew. With a gentleness Fizzik didn't expect, Hofri gave him the space to open up about the Prismari offer. After a moment passed, Hofri said the following:

"You know, everyone's path to greatness is their own. If everyone trod the same path as everyone else, we would never have amazing stories to tell. Tell you what; I'll worry about uncovering history, and you be the best storyteller you can be so that everyone else can hear about it and discover it themselves."

That statement of support meant everything to Fizzik, and he accepted the offer from the Prismari Deans later that day.

Subclass: Mage of Prismari

Creative Skills: Two additional skill proficiencies

Athletics and Nature

Kinetic Artistry: You can dash as a bonus action. When you do, you can do one of the following: Boreal Sweep, Scorching Whirl, or Thunderlight Jaunt

Spells:

Spellbook Spells: Illusory Script, Magic Missile

Level 5: Wizard (Level 3)

Fizzik's knowledge of the theater grew leaps and bounds as a student in his new college. He began to adapt more intricate stories of legends past, and his productions moved to the large Prismari stages. Soon, crowds from Strixhaven and across Arcavios were in attendance of his shows. Even his uncle Hofri came periodically, especially if Fizzik had adapted a dwarven myth to the stage. But his parents never seemed to have the time to attend; there was always too much work to be done in the shops at home.

Spells:

Spellbook Spells: Blur, Continual Flame

Concept Art for Prismari Campus

After level five, I see Fizzik continuing to progress as a wizard, which has stronger ties to his time as a Prismari student. If I were to advance Fizzik in levels of Artificer, I would most likely pick Battle Smith as his class, with the Steel Defender being his primary stage hand for his many shows. I also see a time when he eventually reconciles with his family, especially since he has support from his uncle, the legendary Hofri Ghostforge.

Now, I will turn it over to you. If you were to play a character from Prismari College, what type of character would you build?

Next, we’ll be meeting a character from Silverquill.

Getting the word out: @flavoracle @kor-artificer @askkrenko @vorthosjay @wizardsmagic

#prismari #strixhaven #magic the gathering #dnd

7 notes · View notes