#dwarven aesthetic

[dwarvenaesthetic]

Alice Butenko 

Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica 48, 1150-109 Lisboa, Portugal, Lisboa

Free to use under the Unsplash License

Buy us a round!

[ironfoot-mothafocka]

[sailorgl0om]

pixel skyrim weapons

[cy-cyborg]

I'm begging dragonage fans to do a tiny bit of research about arm amputees before loudly shouting their opinions on the inquisitor returning in the next game Please lol.

Apparently, it was confirmed that the inquisitor, your chatacter from the last game (who looses their arm in the final cutscene of the DLC), will return in Veilguard as a customisable character, similar to Hawke, and they will play an active roll in the story. This has caused a lot of people to start speculating on how they'll handle the inquisitor's missing hand, with most people agreeing they'll have to have a prosthetic to be an active part of the story. Which, while I do think this is the rought bioware will take, isn't true, and a part of me really hopes they leave the inquisitor without a prosthetic arm like in the end of Tresspasser

Partially because we already have a companion with a prosthetic (neve) and it would be nice to see some diversity in how amputation is depicted in such a mainstream game, but also because you dont need a prosthetic to fight as any of the main 3 classes from inquisition.

Mage:

mages just need a staff, the game shows them as 2 handed weapons but it's totally beleiveable that it would be usable 1-handed (Neve also uses a dagger-like weapon in the trailer, you can make a "staff" in inquisition that functions more like an energy sword, and the Mage in the chargers uses a staff resembling a bow, so I think it's more that they just need a focus, the shape doesn't matter as much). A knight enchanter may struggle more 1 handed, but I wouldn't write it off as an option with some modifications made to their main staff.

Warrior:

the easiest to justify, because there are several cases of arm amputees fighting with a sword and sheild in history, and while many did have prosthetics, most weren't functional (meaning they were mainly for aesthetic purposes and didn't actually aid the fighter in any way. There were exceptions, like Götz of the iron hand, who's prosthetic was functional, but most were not). The inquisitor looses their arm just above the wrist*, so they still have most of their forearm. Most sheilds strap to the forearm, so it wouldn't take much adjustment to make that work, and you can use the other hand for the weapon. Obviously, two-handed weapons will probably be off the table, though, lol.

*edit to say, as several people pointed out, i got that wrong, my bad 😅. The inquisitors arm is actually amputated through the elbow, the screenshots i was looking at just weren't very clear and it has been a while since i got to trespasser lol. It would still entirely possible to strap a shield to the upper arm though, with some pretty minor adjustments to the existing straps on standard (as in, those used by non-disabled warriors) tall shields, so the point still stands.

Rogue

this is the one people tend to be the loudest about and the one I understand the most. Obviously duel-weilding daggers won't work (unless you give them something like the hidden blades in assassin's creed on their stump side, I guess) but using a single dagger still would, and is a perfectly reasonable approach, given that's how most irl people used daggers. Archery, though, absolutely can work without a prosthetic, despite what people think. Dragonage has crossbows, not something like Bianca (rip) but a small, single-handed crossbow is an option. Even ignoring that though, amputee archery is a thing irl, and not every arm amputee uses prosthetics for it. The bows are modified to be held in one hand and drawn with the mouth using a kind of pully-system built into the bow that I could very easily see being modified into some dwarven-style contraption in game (some double arm amputees use their feet to draw regular bows, but I don't think that would be pheasable in combat).

Like I said, I think bioware will probably go with a prosthetic, but i hope that they don't. Or at the very least, show them with it sometimes and without it other times (the same goes for Neve, no one wears their prosthetic 24/7, I'd love to see them both take them off around the home base, even just occasionally). A lot of arm amputees in particular prefer to go without one, and arm prosthetics in media are some of the worst offenders of the "perfect prosthetic"/"miracle cure prosthetic" tropes. It doesn't count as "diversity" or disability representation if it doesn't actually change anything other than the look of the chatacter, and im really, really desperate for some actually decent amputee representation in games.

[thatsmimi]

my hyper specific dungeon meshi headcanon is that chilchuck has a purely aesthetic crush on senshi but marcille makes it her own mission to Make Sparks Real bc she's sooooo romo pilled.

it goes nowhere bc neither chilchuck nor senshi are interested in dating let alone each other. however it makes for very funny scenarios.

re: chilshi: i kinda dont remember the og post for it but here are references from the top of my head. of course i believe it's somewhere ryoko kui did confirm that halflings generally admire dwarven beauty standards but bwaaah. let me have fun. bisexual chilchuck win.

[dadsbongos]

Hi!!! Hope you’re doing well - I just want to take a moment to gush before I ask something, because I’ve really enjoyed your blog since finding it:

1: your writing is SO good I’ve reread your dunmesh fics several times now & just eat them up every reread. I’m stoked you also have funger content & can’t wait to eat those up

2: your blog’s aesthetic is just 🤌🤌 chefs kiss

3: your chilchuck’s wife fic - I’m convinced you are the chilchuck expert you characterized him so well (& the bit in the 3some fic when he choked the reader ? gulp)

OKAY on the with the actual question: I was wondering if you have any chil thoughts for the chilfuckers? Maybe some sfw / nsfw?

thank youuu :] i'm so glad to provide for the dungeon community with both meshi and funger <3 and also extra glad to make the chilchuck people proud, he's my fav lil man

i have so many chilthoughts bc i am a verified chilfucker i need that middle aged man

nsfw chilthoughts 

MEAN mean man

Likes to make his partners huff and whine, especially if they start haughty or mouthy

Facefucking, especially, for the mouthy ones. Wants to shut you up and make you drool

Lately the thought of Chilchuck fist-fucking a bigger race has been making me sweat… like yeah lil man, get up in that thang… I need to write it. Maybe some dwarven wench who keeps mocking Chil, or an ogre that feels its appropriate to pick n lift him up while working

Schrodinger’s breeder kink - sometimes its all he’s thinking about and sometimes the thought is entirely uninteresting

Touched on it a BIT in my body swap fic but i think Chil has a really sensitive neck and likes being held there (maybe not choked, but grabbed and stroked for sure)

Has a secret goon for younger partners but doesn’t like admitting to it, the taboo of it makes him all hot especially since he knows most other races can’t tell. Like a VERY poorly kept secret that could ruin his distinguished reputation

i also have chilchuck fic ideas that i haven’t fleshed out, but thought it’d be a shame if they sat in my ‘puter unseen:

Idea 1: Reader is a young elf, only about 72, and against all odds began dating Chilchuck. On his 30th birthday, it's brought to attention that you’ll be in your 90s when he dies. Leading to a spiral wherein you’re just trying to live in blissful ignorance to your races’ lifespan difference, and Chilchuck assumes you’re mature enough to handle his death, move on, and remember him fondly… lol… anyway. When Chilchuck dies you study how to maintain your own mana without a dungeon and practice minor healing spells until you can do a full revival, which fails on Chil, so you have to turn to dark magic. Basically rewinding his life until he’s the same age as when you two met and he’s upset you brought him back because YOU could get in major trouble and that’s when you confess you didn’t tell anyone when he died bc you knew you’d bring him back -- and you’re a nutcase that keeps doing this every time he dies despite knowing he wants to die peacefully. Omg loving someone so much you need them at all costs even ruining their perception of you… 

Idea 2: Chilchuck helping a 20-ish(+?) y/o half-foot negotiate a contract for themself and he thinks they’re soooooo cute so they get together, and he’s kinda nervous to bring them around cuz you’re crazy young compared to him. Not even a child to speak of GASP. The party doesn’t notice at ALL cuz they have no idea about anything about half-foot aging and customs -- but his daughters look at him sideways lmao

and this is literally not even a full fic idea but i have a note from my chilchuck master doc for you lol

im so normal about him

[wealmostaneckbeard]

Orc and dwarf hardware (guns, computers, power tools) are both incredibly durable. You can drop a piece of dwarven/orcish kit in the mud, leave it there several days, pick it back up, do a bit of cleaning, and it will work just fine. But dwarves value aesthetics while orcs prefer ergonomics.

[retellingthehobbit]

First chapter / Previous / Next

Webtoon/A03 /Instagram/Tumblr Sideblog

Chapter 13 of my comic adaptation of the Hobbit, "the Necromancer!" I put the title page at the end this time for Reasons, though I might change it back to the beginning later. Below the readmore are my "translator's notes' on why I made certain changes to the source material (ex why Thror is here instead of Thrain), if you're interested:

Gandalf’s art style is inspired by the work of Lotte Reiniger. I chose this for a variety of reasons: because it really captures the aesthetic of a 'classic fairy tale battle of light and dark,' because the smoky backgrounds remind me of the way Gandalf often does magic with smoke/fire, and because it's entirely monochromatic/'grey.' The only other note I have on this chapter is that, as I mentioned before, I’ve altered the timeline so that Thror is the ringbearer dwarf captured by the Necromancer (not Thrain.) The “in universe” explanation for the change is that Tolkien and I are both translating the Red Book of Westmarch & other ancient texts, but came to different conclusions. The history of the dwarves is especially different because Bilbo wasn’t as interested in political machinations, there was misinformation spread by the Elf-King of Mirkwood, and even the Council of the Wise may have spread misinformation to conceal the fate of the dwarven Ring of Power. There are two “out of universe” reasons I changed it: The first is that I wanted to explore a timeline where Thror vanished before the mountain fell, Thrain died during the fall of the Lonely Mountain, and Thorin became king while leading his people into exile. The second was to draw another link between Smaug and the Necromancer. Thror vanishes with the Ring….and it’s only then, after Erebor lost what strength the Ring gave them, that Smaug invades. The only question is, “why did Thror bring the map and key with him to Mirkwood in this version?” My joke answer is that it’s not relevant to Bilbo’s journey. My real answer is that none of the characters will ever know. Maybe they were so precious he always kept them on his person; maybe he was planning to strike some secret deal with the Elf-King; maybe the Necromancer used his influence over Thror’s Ring of Power to manipulate him into bringing him the map and key, for sinister reasons of his own. (It’s probably the last one.)

[fuckyeahdwarffortress]

The Ultimate DF Poll

This is it, folks. The penultimate poll of perfect proportions. There was even space to add in "Other" and "I just want to see the results".

Your votes matter for this one!

[dwarvenaesthetic]

uve sanchez

brut concrete art Calle Jardines, 77, 37120 Doñinos de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain, Doñinos de Salamanca

Free to use under the Unsplash License

buy us a round!

[cripplecharacters]

Genuine question from someone building a high fantasy world; would it be okay in theory to keep a race that has the typical dwarven culture and aesthetics if theyre not inherently little people? Or is it insensitive to continue that?

Hello!

To properly answer that question, we'd need a bit more info on what aspects you'd consider to be the typical culture/aesthetics.

Please send another ask with some more specific info.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[dunmeshistash]

everything about ancient artefacts and ancient technology in dunmeshi reminds me of the dwemer from elder scrolls, tbh. with the steampunk aesthetics and being extremely ahead of everyone else technologically, even to the modern day despite disappearing mysteriously a long time ago,, the brief glimpses into dwarven tech also reminded me of this, which suits because dwemer are also known as dwarves, lol

I love when ancient civilizations are more technologically advanced than modern day! The implications!

[vigilskeep]

do you have a favorite/least favorite map/area in inquisition? (it's an unpopular choice, but i am partial to fallow mire - the spooky vibes are immaculate)

i do like the fallow mire myself; its being relatively linear pleases me and i love the spookiness too. but i don’t rlly like the main quest there narratively, i find it an extremely grating bit of inquisition’s politics

i have a lot of love for the storm coast, the sea’s pretty, i adore the heavy presence of dwarven culture in a fereldan map and that this might be the kind of place roamed by our faves from highever and amaranthine. i also quite enjoyed emprise du lion! that was new to me this run. it’s beautiful, red lyrium on snow is an aesthetic, it’s a little more linear, the resources are plentiful, there’s gorgeous dragons to fight, the big keeps and arenas appeal to my interests

the exalted plains is probably my least favourite? it can be so fucking annoying to navigate and there’s far too many orlesians you have to help for no reason, i don’t care for that or for fighting the freemen, they never sell that and there are some jaw-droppingly awful throwaway arguments for it

i haven’t been to the hissing wastes yet though! and i actually only just went to the forbidden oasis for the first time lmao i never bothered to go before... it seems a little irritating to move around

[antvnger]

Which architecture do you like best from Lord of the Rings? Human, Hobbit, Dwarven, or Elf?

-Meme Lord

(I would love to live in a hobbit hole, but I love the dwarven aesthetics)

Hobbit holes look so comfy and cozy and perfect honestly. I think they’re my favorite. Elves are too fancy shmancy. Dwarves look cool but it’s too rough. Humans are…typical, I guess.

And since I’m a burglar, I think a Hobbit hole is perfect for me.

[lydiachan]

Dwarven Creation vs. Sotha Sil Creation

There are distinct similarities between the aesthetics of ancient Dwarven culture and Sotha Sil's Clockwork City. It is found that a big portion of Elder Scrolls players often have trouble identifying the differences between the two, and the idea that Sotha Sil's creations are Dwarven. This is not the case at all, but there is a reason why they are so similar. In Sotha Sil's lifetime, he was heavily inspired by the Dwarves as he came to power when they were in their peak in the First Era. (Sotha Sil died in the Third Era to the hands of Almalexia, as seen in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind). Dwarven science and architecture was at the base of all of Sotha Sil's research but he didn't completely steal all of their ideas. The architecture and automatons you see in Clockwork City are made out of a completely different material than what you would see in any Dwemer ruin. Sotha Sil used brass, the Dwemer used Dwarven metal that is completely unique to their kind. Another thing, Sotha Sil could take any Dwarven idea and make it better, turning it into an entirely new creation that is his own. For example, take a Dwarven sphere and a Factotum. A Dwarven sphere may be programmed to complete a task, but they have no intelligence and are rather weak. Factotums on the other hand are pretty much what people would consider to be a modern day robot. Factotums can complete several complex tasks, sense physical feeling such as weight being added or removed from their person, they detect and report crime, they can scan for resources, maintain a city, they can TALK, they can give the player tasks, and document important information such as citizenship and banking as seen in Elder Scrolls Online's Clockwork City DLC. Factotums are also usually in charge of the local guild traders, which is also an extremely important source of goods for any Elder Scrolls Online player. In greater and more powerful Dwarven automatons such as the centurion, they cannot function or "turn on" unless they are given a source of power, usually from a lever that is pulled. I remember the first time I played Skyrim, it took me so long to figure out that the centurions were not just decorations and that they could actually move and attack you. The Dwarven centurions Clockwork equivalent would be an Imperfect. Though imperfects are a lot larger in size, it is the same idea except that they can move and function on their own and the player doesn't need to manually power one on. Imperfects don't have as much dialogue as factotums, but they are a lot stronger than centurions. (Do not try to kill that one imperfect that is a world boss in Clockwork City alone, you will fail). Like the Dwarves, Clockwork City also has automaton spiders. Sotha Sil created two different kinds of automaton spiders: the Firepot Spider and the Dancing Spider. The Firepot one was created to be used as a barbecue for chefs, which is really weird but okay I guess. Could have just used a normal grill. There's not much to say about the Dancing Spider though, it's very similar to the Dwarven Spider except it's attacks and movements are a lot more dramatic hence the name "Dancing Spider". I will say though, both of the Clockwork spiders are incredibly strong in-game and are extremely annoying to encounter despite their small size. Sotha Sil also created an automaton dinosaur species but I'm not going to get into the details of that one because it can't be compared to anything Dwarven. Basically, the Dwemer didn't have dinosaurs. Another huge point that I should have brought up earlier before I started yapping about automatons is the fact that Dwemer cities were powered by steam and the Clockwork City is powered by Sotha Sil's magic alone. Well, it WAS powered by Sotha Sil but it is now powered by his artificial Heart of Lorkhan that he created to save the city during his death. If I see anybody else call Sotha Sil "Dwarven" I will redirect them to this post. Sotha Sil is NOT short, he's like seven feet tall. Nirn's tallest elf. Thank you.

[bharv]

just saw your dao mention in another ask and i'm wondering if you have a ted talk about why you love it?

i also REALLY loved dao but i recently replayed it and i'm wondering how much of my affection was just nostalgia. some of that is just an aging game of course, but if dao came out today i'd be even crankier about some of the design choices than I am about bg3 (and I have a lot of cranky bg3 thoughts that I don't post haha)

I think I last played in 2021 probably, and that was my 9th playthrough lol.

Is it perfect? No, but to me it stands up really well still. I like CRPGs but with older ones I sometimes struggled with how much you needed to use your imagination and/or how unintuitive the UI was. I will say I first played DAO on console and switching to PC was a revelation, it was so definitely built for hotkeys and mod support! But I loved the voiced companions, the 3D graphics.

I think there have been other less graphically ambitious CRPGs that have also done things I love. The Pillars of Eternity games, for sure. Some of the Owlcat games. But there's something about the character design of the companions, the way the dwarven origins weave into the main narrative, the way the story unfolds in exactly the amount of time it needs to take that I love in Origins. (side note I think people that didn't like it so much really should play as dwarves, and if they don't like it for aesthetic reasons they need to. Grow up. That's my TED talk lmao)

Some of it is nostalgia, for sure. We've come a long way in a lot of areas from 2009. But I think the balance of exploration and linear storytelling is a sweet spot for me, I find endless open world really tiring unless there's excellent environmental storytelling happening (Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas do it very well, a lot of other games including Inquisition don't do it as well for me.) I love the writing on the whole, especially the two dwarf paths which are the highlight of the whole series IMO. You have a lot of narrative freedom with your warden in a way you don't with Hawke or the Inquisitor, and that's got a lot to do with not having a voiced protag. I'm not a voiced protag fan at all, unless you are telling a very tight story. I feel like if you're trying to allow for a really customisable main character it always hinders things. Shepard is that sweet spot for many, but is extremely hard to get right; it basically works because they are set in a very particular position at the start of the game, but their past is very broad brushstrokes, and the v/o is kept very neutral.

I actually am in the minority of loving BG3, lol. It's again not perfect and I do mourn the game we might have had from early access, but they struck a balance between appeal to audience, graphic level, scale and sheer amount of options that I think is insanely impressive technically. I just wish they'd kept a little more of what they wanted to do instead of responding quite so much to fan desires, but then again the game would have appealed to a much smaller audience had they done that.

But to me, BG3 combines gameplay I actually enjoy, characters I actually love, environments I like playing in, and choices that feel really juicy, and that's what I want in a game. And that feels like origins to me.

Origins certainly isn't perfect and there's BIG things I would change (why do the villainous men all have big noses? Why are the skin tones so poor? Why would a human society based on a church led by women with a woman as prophet still be patriarchal and sexist?) but I think it still has some of the more interesting writing of the series balanced with the narrative freedom I like in an RPG like that.