#elven screams into the void | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

alpaca-clouds · 5 months ago

Text

High Fantasy Conundrums: The Diversity Paradox

I have some thoughts on High Fantasy and the way it currently is shifting in terms of the mainstream depictions. Meaning: No, this is not about books that much. It is more about the big franchises. The stuff with money behind it. Because those have stuff in common right now. I am talking about Dungeons & Dragons, The Witcher, Dragon Age, The Rings of Power and other more budget heavy fantasy.

Many words have been written, said, and screamed into the void of the internet about how these days you will usually see diversity in those. Most notably people that are not white.

And the self-proclaimed "conservatives" (who are actually white supremacists) will cry about how those are "medieval European worlds" and that hence there should not be Black or Asian people run around in them. Ignoring, of course, how there were Black and Asian people running around in medieval Europe.

And there will be leftists, that will defend any decision in this regard, on pure principle.

I will count myself among the second kind no doubt. I think it is good and important to see non-white characters in those big franchises. And frankly, I couldn't give less of a fuck whether or not whatever writer originally wrote a book that stuff was based on did imagine the world to be inhabited by people who did not have cheese-skin. I really don't.

Especially as the entire "realism" and "historically accurate" argument falls apart rather quickly if you consider one very important fact: There were no elves in medieval Europe. There were no dragons in medieval Europe. And there sure as hell was no actual magic in medieval Europe. So... Yeah, somehow I actually do think that Black and Asian characters inhabiting those fantasy worlds is less of an issue, when it comes to stuff being "historically accurate".

And yet...

There is something about this, that still very much irks me. Especially when it comes to some recent franchise stuff, like most of what Wizards of the Coasts did in regards of Dungeons & Dragons 5e in terms of lore - and something I am starting to expect from Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

And that is the lack of any actually non-white cultures within the world - and the lack of worldbuilding in this regard.

See... High Fantasy has generally speaking one big struggle in regards of the worldbuilding. A struggle that can be found in high fantasy world after high fantasy world: For the most part, the cultural worldbuilding is often lacking. While humans are often allowed to have a couple of different cultures, everyone else is usually treated like this: "This is dwarven culture", "this is elven culture", and "this is halfling culture". There is no variation in it. The dwarves in the high north have still the same culture, as the dwarves living in the south of the continent. And while humans do have a bit more in terms of different cultures, it usually also goes in broad strokes. Like: "This is the horse culture, this is the very noble culture, and this is the peasant culture". Am I saying I am blaming Tolkien? Yeah, maybe a bit.

This is one of the reasons I fell so in love with Dungeon Meshi. Because Dungeon Meshi literally is the first time I have seen that someone actually came up with differences between different elven and half-foot cultures and stuff. And I love it.

But Kui is the one writer I can think of, that really did that.

So... Let me talk about DnD, because I know my DnD Lore and I can tell you a bit of why this is bothering me here.

See: Dungeons & Dragons has this whole ass world in the Forgotten Realms as the main setting: Toril. Toril has a variety of continents. Just as you can see:

Now, originally half of those continents did not exist, I might add. Most of them were added during 2e and 3e. Especailly 3e and 3.5e did some worldbuilding in regards of those other continents. Even though, yes, if we are honest those continents are very much: Fantasy Asia, Fantasy North America, Fantasy Middle America, Fantasy Africa, Fantasy Arabia, and Fantasy Australia (about which, I might note, we know next to nothing).

But while 3e and 4e did make some use of those other settings, 5e did something else. 5e very much reverted back to focusing on Faerûn and the Sword Coast once more. But because by the time 5e released it was 2014 in the real world, they knew they could not make Faerûn this super white world. So Faerûn became diverse. There are Black and Asian and Brown people living there now. But... culturally it stay in the "generic fantasy Europe" sphere.

And that is my issue: The lack of different cultures.

I will talk a bit more about the issues with the High Fantasy "Medieval Europe" culture tomorrow, but today let me say this: Even these days, when non-white characters will be included into those fantasy worlds, they still will only be allowed to exist within a supposedly white cultural context. They are not allowed to have a non-white culture.

While this makes some sense in prescribed worlds - so worlds based on books that never had any intent on depicting anything but their "white" pseudo-European culture (like Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time with their respective Amazon Prime adaptions), this is less the truth for worlds that are designed around whatever they represent today.

Wizards of the Coast absolutely could put some effort into creating those other continents as good, lived in settings - and allow folks from those other continents who live in Faerûn to bring parts of their own culture with them. They could pay some PoC to actually do that worldbuilding Own Voice style. You know?

And the same is true with Bioware and Dragon Age. While I am by far not as familiar with the worldbuilding of DA, as I am with the worldbuilding of DnD, I am under the impression that there is not a lot going on in terms of non-white cultures from other continents. There are non-white people hanging around in the main plot and what not, but it does not seem as if there is a lot going on in terms of them having cultures of origin. Correct me if I am wrong. Some of those cultures seem to have names, but that is where the worldbuilding ends.

And that... You know, that is an issue. Because diversity, especially ethical diversity, is not just about the skin color. It is about culture. And somehow the culture aspect of it gets ignored a lot. Doesn't it?

#high fantasy #worldbuilding #fantasy worldbuilding #dungeons & dragons #dnd #dnd lore #dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #lord of the rings #the witcher #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #the wheel of time #the rings of power #diversity #representation #medieval europe #cultural diversity

88 notes · View notes

dreaming-medium · 5 months ago

Text

Animals Without Direction

Chapter Thirty-Six: Drums

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Masterlist

Drums.

The marching sounds like drums.

It reverberates through your body like a second heartbeat. Each and every beat sends a shock wave of fear and anxiety right through you.

Just as the sky was brightening, you started to hear it. The drums of evil. The drums of death .

You and Hyunjin were the first to pick up on it, your Elven ears piqued immediately on the first thud.

The two of you have not left each other’s side since the gate closed. The stone walls surrounding you somehow don’t make you feel as safe as the hand firmly clasped in yours does.

Hyunjin’s presence is keeping you sane. Every instinct in your body is screaming to leave. Every iota of your being is begging for you to turn tail and run.

Both of you are standing in the center of the fort, both eyes facing forward, away from the gate. You know they’re coming from the south and the west. Jeongin and Changbin lie behind the hill to the North.

Louder and louder the drums begin to sound. They sound more like footsteps the closer they get. You begin to hear their armor clinking, their swords bashing against their shields to intimidate you.

Hyunjin squeezes your hand tighter. He’s trembling. Same as you.

Every hair on your body feels like it's standing up. There’s a permanent lump in your throat.

“I have seen many battles in my day,” Hyunjin whispers for your ears only. “Never have I felt like this before.”

You only hold his hand tighter.

Any moment now, you’ll need to let go and grab a hold of the sword that feels so heavy on your hip. The sword attached to the belt that Jeongin secured to your body with such care.

The ghost of his kiss sits on your lips.

The archers on the top of the stone walls shift around. They’re all sitting against the wall to conceal themselves from view. The six other foot soldiers stand in the center of the fort with you and Hyunjin.

Louder. Louder. Louder .

You can’t hear your heartbeat anymore. You can only feel it.

Tighter. Tighter. Tighter .

You’re grateful for each second you get to hold his hand.

One of the archers makes eye contact with you. His bow is held in front of him with a nocked arrow not yet pulled back to be fired.

The two of you stare at one another before his eyes move behind you. They widen. He gulps.

What did he see?

You fight every instinct to not turn your head.

Do not stare directly into the eyes of the Void, Y/N.

Louder. Louder. Louder.

Do not stare death in the face.

Tighter. Tighter. Tighter.

Swallow your doom and let it sit in your stomach with your last meal.

Louder. Louder. Louder–

It stops.

It’s silent.

It was silent before your parents saw the Mercy Division through the window, too.

Your eyes drift up to the sky. It's not quite blue yet. It’s painted orange and pink.

Not a single cloud to be seen.

How beautiful.

But, yesterday’s sunset was probably prettier…

------------------------------------------

Every single archer stands up, pulls back their bowstring, and looses their arrows at the same time.

Twelve arrows soar through the air. You have no idea if any of them hit their targets. The yelling starts immediately following the whizzing noises that came from the attack.

It’s a roar.

It rips right through you like a lightning bolt.

“By The Six,” you murmur. How many of them are there?

Hyunjin squeezes your hand one last time, pulling your attention to him.

Your eyes meet.

“For Miroh,” he says to you.

“For Elves ,” you respond.

He stares at you for a second, grabbing your face with two warm hands and pressing a long kiss to your forehead. His hands feel so warm on your cheeks. He somehow fights off the December chill.

“Thank you, Y/N,” he hisses against your skin.

He lets you go just as quickly.

The two of you part and your hand reaches for your sword like second nature.

A wave of arrows comes over the top of the wall, blindy coming down into the center of the fort. None of them are near your body, but still, you flinch.

The shield of absorption comes off your back and you hold it securely on your arm.

Every archer knocks back another arrow and lets them fly. Over and over again, they reach into their quivers and pull arrows out, not even giving themselves time to think before they’re fired into the hoard.

It’s only a few seconds before another barrage of arrows comes over the top of the fort walls. These arrows are much closer to your body, you lift your shield up over your head.

One bounces off the metal and the shield begins to purr.

There’s a sharp yelp to your right. You turn your head just in time to see one of your archers fall to the ground from atop the wall with an arrow in his chest.

Hyunjin moves from your side and sprints towards one of the turrets.

“Hyunjin!” you yell after him. He turns and yells back.

“I can shoot my flames from above into their army. Stay alive, mercenary!” He doesn’t say anymore, he turns and runs into the stone leaving you with the six other foot soldiers on the ground.

Another barrage of arrows comes down and you duck under the shield. Three hit the steel.

Things are happening so fast, you almost forgot how quickly everything happens during battle. It’s one thing after the next within 3 seconds of each other.

There’s a loud clang to your left against the gate. It chills your bones. It’s immediately followed by more clanging and yelling.

It bangs over and over and over again. The bellows of angry soldiers overlap the hits.

Slowly, you turn and look directly into the eyes of hatred. So many sets of gleaming, evil eyes are pushed against the metal gates of Fort Mire, waiting to be let in. Waiting to tear the flesh from your bones.

These soldiers are uglier, meaner, nastier than any Erban soldier you’ve seen before.

Their muscles are bigger, their swords sharper, and their hatred stronger. It’s been so long since you’ve seen a Mercy Division soldier.

The fear rips right through your body.

All of these soldiers have one purpose. And it’s to kill you.

And you can feel it in their glares. In the way their screams and words are slung at you.

Suddenly, you’re a small girl again, pulling your cloak over your ears as you run through the woods. You’re hiding from their lingering stares in the streets of Erbus’ capital.

Everything about their aura sends you back.

Your chin dips down as you stare back. You will not allow them to intimidate you more than they already do.

No matter how loud fear is screaming in the back of your mind, you will not let them get to you. Not anymore.

The rest of your body turns and you face the gate completely.

Other soldiers around you stand motionless as they also stare at their doom.

“Six protect us,” one of them whimpers under his breath.

Your hand tightens around your sword. You lift your shield up to protect yourself from another barrage of arrows.

Four this time.

Mercy Division soldiers continue to pound at the gate with their weapons. Dust and tiny bits of debris fall from the stone surrounding the gate with each hit. All of a sudden, you have no faith in the fort’s construction.

That gate is the only thing protecting you from death.

The archers continue to fire more arrows into the horde. Gods, you hope they’re hitting their marks.

All around you the air takes a deep breath, The little heat that was in the December air is sucked away.

A loud swoosh sucks up the atmosphere and then there’s a loud roar of screams from the army outside the walls.

Your eyes flick up to the wall just in time to see Hyunjin dance around before launching a large ball of flames down into the enemy horde. The screams get even louder.

“ ELF! ” A soldier screams from outside the gate.

Your blood runs cold as you stare at Hyunjin. He doesn’t even flinch. His lithe body spins around, fingers moving in a dance just as elegant as his body while he draws heat and energy from the world around him.

The world inhales once more and another ball of flames begins to grow in his palm. His other hand comes in front of his body and produces a blue shimmery ward.

A barrage of arrows are shot at him and each arrow deflects off the ward.

It’s like he has a giant target on his head now.

He ducks, spins, and launches the fireball into the crowd. More screams and more arrows are fired at him.

“Ladders!” An archer screams from atop the wall.

Oh, shit .

Your feet take off before you can think further. Next thing you know, you’re sprinting into the same turret that Hyunjin entered previously.

You’re leaping up three stairs at a time up the spiral structure.

The closer you get to the top, the louder the screaming gets.

By the time you run outside along the wall, Hyunjin hurls another fireball into the army. Your eyes follow it all the way down.

Down.

Down…

To the… hundreds of soldiers surrounding the Fort.

It’s just … a sea of enemies. They’re everywhere.

Your knees wobble as the fear finally grips your heart. There’s just… so many .

Where’s the grass? You can’t even see the ground between them! They’re all screaming, banging their swords against their shields.

Ladders are being brought to the front of the army towards the wall.

You can see the three flaming craters in the ground from Hyunjin’s attacks. There’s sizable holes in the army where his attack landed. But it’s like taking one brick out of a wall.

The front line of archers pull back their bowstrings and let them fly.

You bring your shield up just in time to deflect at least ten arrows off of them.

A loud clang comes from your right and you whip your head around to see the ladder resting against the wall. Any second now, a soldier will pop up and try to get to the gate’s lever.

Once that gate is open, Miroh’s interior legion is done for.

You’re all too familiar with that battle plan.

Swallowing your fear, you look down at your fellow foot soldiers on the ground.

“ Get your asses up here! ”

Without any further hesitation, your instincts push your body into the passenger seat and you spin around and bash your shield into the Erban soldier that was charging you after he got off the ladder.

Because of the array of arrows that the shield took the hit of, when you bash the soldier, a loud pop sounds through the air and his body is thrown off the wall.

Behind you, you hear Hyunjin launch another fireball into the enemies below.

You take two steps closer to where the ladder is leaning against the wall.

A soldier vaults over the stone wall and is immediately met with your sword coming upwards and slicing up under his chin. He doesn’t even have a moment to register what happened before his body is falling backwards off the wall.

Grabbing the wall with your one free hand, you turn and kick the ladder down backwards and down into the army. There’s a loud roar of screams as it comes down with several soldiers still climbing it.

Again, no time to watch.

You see another ladder being placed against the wall ahead of you, much closer to Hyunjin.

The mage is looking the other way, his elegant moves never pause once. He’s launching fireball after fireball down into the Mercy Division.

His cape billows around his soldiers. Embers swirl around him like fireflies. His eyebrows are fiercely furrowed in concentration.

You’re running towards the ladder.

One, two, three soldiers make it over the top by the time you make it over there.

Two of them turn their attention to you while the third focuses on an archer along the wall.

The first soldier raises his sword and brings it down to you, you raise your shield and block the blow– you feel the metal purr on your arm.

Pushing his sword away with the shield, you swing your sword upwards at his head, he leans backwards to evade your swipe.

The second soldier swings his battleax at your body, you drop down to the ground underneath it. At the same time, your leg comes out and sweeps underneath the first soldier, knocking his own feet out from under him.

Your momentum spins you around more and you pop back up to block another hit from the battleax with your shield. More and more your shield vibrates.

Bringing your boot up, you kick the second soldier in the chest, when he stumbles backwards, you shield bash him once more. The energy stored within the shield launching him off the wall.

The first soldier is just about to get up when you swing your sword down and right across his neck.

Blood spurts out of the open wound and sprays all over your freshly polished armor.

Grimacing, you turn and see the archer had already taken care of the third soldier and managed to push the ladder off the wall at the same time.

There’s a growl behind you.

You turn just in time to get hit right in the jaw with a strong right hook. It blurs your vision and rocks your entire world for a moment.

Copper floods your mouth and you stumble back a step.

Shaking your head, you raise your shield out of instinct and weakly block another blow from a sword. It knocks you back a few steps.

When you regain your footing, you steel your hold on your shield to absorb several more blows as the soldier relentlessly swings at you.

Hit after hit after hit abuses your shield.

They’re one after the other, the shockwave from the hit goes up your arms into your shoulders each time.

You grit your teeth and push back to meet an attack and a deafening crack splits the air.

The soldier lets out a blood curdling, gurgle-type scream and another gruesome spray of blood washes over your body not concealed by the shield.

By The Six.

A strong ache blossoms through your jaw from his punch, your vision still feels a bit fuzzy from the blow.

When you take the shield away from your vision, you see blood everywhere . The damage the shield had done to him was insurmountable. You feel your stomach flip when you see his arm had been ripped clean off. The rest of his corpse was bleeding out against the wall.

“Gods…” you murmur, swallowing the bile in your throat.

There was no time to dwell on that.

More and more soldiers are climbing up the walls like insects.

The archers are doing what they can to take them down, but it’s starting to become too much.

You turn and scan the wall.

Hyunjin catches your eye once more. He’s a whirlwind of heat and flames. The very air around him bends to his will as he hurls attack after attack into the enemy.

There are ladders on either side of him.

Immediately after he throws fire on one side, he spins around and launches one to the other. Back and forth, back and forth. One after the other. There’s no hesitation between any of his attacks.

He’s already three steps ahead of the soldiers crawling up the walls.

But you can tell he’s becoming overwhelmed.

Archers are so focused on the perimeter of the wall, they cannot turn their attention on him even for a moment. The foot soldiers are no longer down below in the fort, like you, they’ve come up to the top of the wall to protect it with everything they have.

The screams of battle are so loud and consistent, they’ve almost become white noise.

Swords clash. Metal scrapes against metal.

Curses are thrown as arrows are fired.

Begs for mercy and medical attention hit your ears– but they’re not voices you recognize.

Miroh’s interior legion was not going down without a fight.

Another ladder comes up and sets into place on Hyunjin’s left.

You take off in his direction.

Other Erban soldiers try to get in your way but they’re quickly introduced to either your sword or your shield. Left and right you cut them down. Some fall to the stone under your feet, others fall from the top of the wall down to the dirt below.

One by one, four Erban soldiers come over the ladder to the left of Hyunjin, three on the right.

Your aching legs push faster, you completely bowl over two more soldiers off the wall. Their screeches barely even reach your ears.

The closer you get to Hyunjin, the colder the air is around you– he’s taking all the heat from the world around him in order to hurl the flames down into the enemy.

You see his eyes flick over towards you when you’re about ten feet away.

The world moves in slow motion.

His sharp eyes move from you, to the enemies around him. Your boots hit the stone with heavy thuds.

Hyunjin spins and launches a fireball past your body, taking out the soldiers directly to your five o’clock. You feel the heat shoot past your head– it will be a miracle if none of your hair singed off in the crossfire.

You continue running as fast as your legs will allow.

He finishes his spin and bends over, making his back as flat as possible.

Oh, you clever mage.

An enemy soldier raises his sword above his head directly next to Hyunjin, ready to bring it down onto the mage’s neck.

You shoot forward, your body using its momentum to spin and create even more force.

Rolling to the side and raising your sword up at the same time, your entire body rolls over the back of Hyunjin's, your shoulder blades meeting for a split second.

Your body glides around and you roll over Hyunjin’s back.

With your sword gripped tightly in your hand, you bring it down to slash across the soldier before he could bring his own down on Hyunjin’s neck.

As soon as your boots hit the stone once more, your body twists and you bash your shield into another soldier. The metal of his helmet clangs with the metal of the shield and he recoils.

Your arm comes back and you smack the shield forward at him again before he can recover, launching his body over the wall.

Time resumes at its normal pace.

Behind you, you can feel Hyunjin’s body moving fluidly once more.

The two of you become a sight to see.

If you go low to take out the legs of the soldier approaching you, Hyunjin goes high and attacks the one after him. You’re fighting back to back, taking on every single Erban soldier that makes it over the wall.

The lever to open the gate rests directly between your battling bodies.

Anyone that gets close is immediately cut down.

Both of you look like you’re in a well rehearsed dance with how well your attacks are timed out. You’re defending the lever that opens the gate as if your life depends on it.

Because it does .

Soldier after soldier meets your sword and shield, all of their bodies adding to a morbid pile on the ground below you. Arrows continue to whizz past your head and into any Erban soldiers you or Hyunjin cannot get to.

Over, under, up, down, slash, bash, jump, dodge, stab, left, right. Your two bodies look so graceful in their movements.

Just a pair of battle trained Elves ready to fight until their last breath.

Your vision is so locked into the battle; every muscle is moving on its own. The sword you wield is no longer just a weapon, it’s an extension of your own body. Blood covers your armor, painting a gruesome war painting all along the steel.

The air around you is so cold, not only from the December air, but from Hyunjin drawing every single ounce of warmth from it in order to wield his blessed fire.

Your eyes snap to the ladders just a few feet away from you. Soldier after soldier comes up, one after the other. Just a never ending stream of evil.

You need to knock those ladders over. No, you need to eliminate them completely.

How are you going to destroy those ladders? Even if you knock it down, they’ll just put it back up.

Slashing at another enemy soldier, his blood sprays all over your body before he falls to the ground in a heap.

“Y/N!” Hyunjin yells. You whip around to him. “Shield!”

You raise the shield up in front of your body.

A whistle pierces your ears before you feel a fireball shatter upon impact when it hits you.

The metal on your arm vibrates. You grunt loudly with the impact.

You smirk.

Just like old times, eh, Hyunjin? Camus is rolling over in his grave.

You spin around, gaining momentum, before you hurl the shield at the soldiers like a discus.

“ WARD! ” Hyunjin screams.

Shit.

The shield careens through the air and when it hits one of the soldiers at the top of the ladder, a loud explosion rings out.

Your hand comes up in front of you.

A loud drumbeat sounds in your ears, it’s so loud, as if the sound was coming directly from within your chest. Every single drum pounds in a strong rhythm.

That same shimmering magic pours out of your hands before the blast of the impact can affect you. You can vaguely feel the heat against your palm from the other side of your magical shield.

Wooden pieces of the ladder fly out around you, some of the tinier pieces shooting through your ward and clinking against your armor.

As soon as the initial blast dies down, you drop your ward and swing your sword around to behead an Erban soldier who was more preoccupied with the explosion than you.

Then, with no warning, there’s a respite.

You look around and see no Erban soldiers climbing over the wall on your side.

Frantically, your eyes look around for your shield. It had to have gone somewhere close by. Where? Where did it go?

Hyunjin runs up behind you, you can feel his pants on the back of your neck. You turn around to look up at him.

His sharp, crimson eyes scan over every part of your face, then down your body, looking for any injuries. Ash and soot spots blotch his otherwise flawless skin.

“Are you hurt?” he pants.

“Nay, you?”

“Nay.”

“Good.”

You take a deep breath, trying to calm yourself. You’ve been fighting non-stop now for who knows how long. The roof of your mouth is so dry, your tongue sticks to it as you try to produce saliva.

Turning, you look over the wall and see Erban soldiers piling up against the wall below, most of them trying to get through the gate. Arrows are being fired up towards the two of you and flying past your head.

A deep cough comes from your chest and you look around on the ground, still trying to find your shield.

Hyunjin grabs your upper arm and points downward towards the dirt within the walls of Fort Mire.

“Thank The Six,” you breathe out. The metal glints in the sunlight.

Once more, your eyes lift and you look all along the wall.

Your heart sinks.

Only three archers remain.

Only two foot soldiers are standing.

The walls of Fort Mire are littered with bodies. Some of them are still whining and begging for mercy or medical attention. But they’re all beyond help at this point.

Blood pools over the stone. The entire wall is painted a deep crimson from the sheer amount of gore splattered all along it.

Your armor is no better— you look like a corpse that rose from the dead.

“Get the ladders to the front!” an Erban commander screams from down below.

More ladders.

When you wipe the sweat off your brow, you end up smearing blood across your face. It turns your stomach but you swallow the bile rising up.

By the Six, how were you supposed to hold off any longer?

Your legion is a shell of its former self. How much longer until your body becomes one of the numerous lying dead at your feet?

Hyunjin takes a deep breath behind you. “Here they come…” he whispers under his breath.

Your head whips around to look to the north. A sharp horn pierces the air in a long, low, deep blast. It rattles your very bones.

But not with fear, no. With hope .

Hundreds of horses pour over the hills.

The roar of Miroh’s soldier’s battle cries sound like one constant note at this point. It’s just a low, even hum that lifts your spirits.

Even with how far away he is, you can clearly make out Changbin leading the charge down the hill, his sword held tightly in one hand and his horse’s reins in the other.

You feel your motivation coming back into your body. You just need to last.

Protect the gate. Protect the fort.

Survive.

#skz x reader #stray kids x reader #bang chan x reader #lee know x reader #lee minho x reader #seo changbin x reader #changbin x reader #hwang hyunjin x reader #hyunjin x reader #han jisung x reader #han x reader #lee felix x reader #felix x reader #kim seungmin x reader #seungmin x reader #i.n x reader #yang jeongin x reader #stray kids fantasy au #animals without direction

54 notes · View notes

bearlytolerant · 5 months ago

Text

Evil God Theory part 1

Hello! I have seen theories going around about who the two baddies in the gameplay video at the end are and I just wanted to take some time and share my thoughts.

I believe our lovely little tentacle armed baddie is the goddess Andruil! Below I’ll lay out some entries and photos as to why I believe it is her.

Under cut because this is a long post!

From the wiki:

Andruil was indeed the hunter. She made great and terrible weapons: a golden bow crafted from the gathering storm and the screams of the south wind and a golden spear of unbearable heat crafted from the radiance of stars.

Have a look at this spear from the concept art. I circled it in red:

From Unreadable Elven Writing codex entry:

She shook the radiance of the stars, divided them into grains of light, then stored them in a shaft of gold. Andruil, blood and force, save us from the time this weapon is thrown. Your people pray to You. Spare us the moment we become Your sacrifice.

And from the description of the bow Andruil’s Gift:

She took the gathering storm, trapped its fury in golden limbs, and strung it with the screams of the south wind. Andruil, blood and force, your people pray to you. Grant that your eye may not fall upon us. Spare us the moment we become Your prey.

A picture of said bow but I flipped for the point of this post’s sake:

Excerpt from Elven God Andruil codex entry:

One day Andruil grew tired of hunting mortal men and beasts. She began stalking the Forgotten Ones, wicked things that thrive in the abyss. Yet even a god should not linger there, and each time she entered the void, Andruil suffered longer and longer of periods of madness after returning.

Andruil put on armor made of the void, and all forgot her true face.

This character in the photo definitely seems to be masked and would be a good reason for many to forget her face if it became a permanent fixture.

More from the same codex entry:

She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands.

If that’s Andruil’s dragon/dragon form those lands certainly look plagued and blighted. At first I thought this might be the same ritual spot as the one in gameplay because the tall statues match up but this area seems different with what surrounds it (more buildings here and the ritual area itself seems flatter). Make what you will of that.

Anyway, back to Andruil being our baddie on the left. I think the headpiece resembles a bow, especially the Andruil’s gift bow. But also with her having gone to the void and if we associate void with blight, her being tentacle-like/more skeleton, is very reminiscent of these characters too:

Here’s some poor quality pictures I attempted to grab of other parts of her other than her face to showcase similar features:

But yeah, she looks kinda like a blighted mage/god thing so if it is Andruil, it would explain why she looks like some of our other chatty friends from the deep roads.

One last photo is her mosaic pulled from the Andruil Goddess of the Hunt codex entry on the wiki:

While her bow in this pic matches up better with a different statue, the lines behind her could represent her void-like tentacle appearance. This is my weakest piece of evidence for Andruil but I still think it should be here.

Anyway, this is all I have for now! I’ll be making a post on the other figure too, but separately because I maxed my limit on photos with Andruil. If you made it this far, thank you!

#bear rambles #dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #da4 #veilguard spoilers #da4 spoilers #andruil #bear makes shit up #evil god theory part 1 #also I’m not dismissing Ghil!#she’s a great runner up!#dragon age meta #dragon age lore #dragon age theories #long post

67 notes · View notes

thedastravelerer · 11 days ago

Text

I just finished the Dragon Age Veilguard and I need to scream my thoughts into the internet void.

My Rook, Lucrezia, was bought along with other kids by the house de Riva when she was 3 years old. She doesn't remember anything before that. When her magic manifested at the age of 8, she begged Viago not to send her to the Circle. Viago saw great potential in the little elven chaos gremlin, so he decided to hire private tutors for her. From the age of 14, she became Viagos apprentice, accompanying him everywhere. Her sunny, bubbly personality was a great distraction in social settings. She was the Robin and Viago was the Batman, basically.

Inquisitor romanced Solas.

So that is the viewpoint, from which I experienced the game.

The good:

The music is AMAZING

The environments are gorgeous

Spellblade is sooo much fun. The perfect mix of rogue and mage.

Treviso is so beautiful. I am never saving Minrathous. That sh*thole can get swallowed by the ocean.

The final missions were great. The tension, the loss, the heartbreak, the betrayal—10/10. No notes.

Baby griffons

The conversations/dynamic between Lucanis/Spite and Taash crack me up

The dynamic between Viago and Lucrezia was everything I could have hoped for. I still laugh when I remember the letter from Viago starting with "IDIOT".

Viago and Teia—I would die for them. Every time they flirt, I picture Lucrezia sticking fingers into her ears and going LALALALA. I don't want those pictures in my head.

Harding wins the competition for the prettiest room in the Lighthouse.

I love the little offhand comments and banter between all of the Crows. It was fun to hear Lucanis or Lucrezia randomly mention Viago or Teia. It really painted a picture of them knowing each other for a long time and being able to poke fun at each other.

I loved Lucanis as a character. Also, the 3-way relationship between Rook-Spite-Lucanis is perfect. I loved that when Lucanis learns about Caterina being alive, he shuts down and Spite is like: "What?! Why are you putting more locks into our prison? I AM GETTING ROOK! :D

The "Solas therapy" ending was heartwarming (and also a bit funny)

I loved Solas as a character. I see, why he is the god of trickery and lies. And how his wisdom turned into pride. I just wish I could slap that stubborn liar. Just once.

You know it is real love when you spent the last few hours chomping on an archedemon and your Vhenan still kisses you.

I liked the relationship progression between Davrin and Lucanis. They went from open hostility to mutual respect to drinking buddies.

Lucanis questioning Bellara and Neve about their business decisions was hilarious. Crows are first and foremost business people.

Isseyas storyline. I just wish they delved deeper into her story instead of getting an infodump. I enjoyed seeing how the blight twisted her grief and regrets. How she remembered only her love for the griffons she saved. And the blight corrupted that love, forcing her into horrible mistakes.

The bad:

The story is so shallow in comparison to previous games. All of the nuance is gone. There is no Loghain, no Meredith and Orsino, no Anders. Everyone is either the good guy or the bad guy. Maybe except for the Butcher and Isseya.

A lot of the darker, complicated, interesting themes are ignored. After the Antaam Qunari (Sten in DAO), the Ben-Hassrath Qunari (Bull in DAI) we finally meet a scholar of Qun and we get NOTHING interesting from her. We can't have a deeper conversation about the Qun. We can't even talk about her hypocrisy of running away from the very rules she forces on Taash. The Antaam are the a$$holes and everyone else following the Qun is good. Until they disagree with their assigned role in life and get their mind broken until they fit the mold again. But we don't get to learn that.

Who TF is Anaris? Why is he the Forgotten One? What does it even mean? What beef did he have with the Evanuris? We don't get to learn that. We get MWHAHAHA I AM SOOO EVIL. Boring and disappointing. It would have been much more interesting if he convinced Cyrian his sister was a pawn for the Dread Wolf. There could have been a conflict between elves choosing Anaris, who promised them power after their gods turned out to be a$$holes, and elves choosing a new, free path.

Are we not going to address the EXECUTIONER in the room? Who is he? Where did he come from? Why is he totally cool working a desk job in the Necropolis?

We finally see Kal-Sharok and we learn almost nothing about the dwarves living there. How did they survive? How do they govern themselves? What is the culture like?

I don't understand the Titan powers Harding has. Like, I get the concept, but the details are confusing.

I am sick of the words "ritual" and "artifact"

The quests "press button in three places" or "destroy/place crystals so they link/unlink" were a bit repetitive.

Characters sometimes have lapses in memory. Ferelden has fallen to the blight, but Emmerich and Harding are going camping there... Mmmmkay. Rook, baby, you have used the teleport vortex like three times before. We have 2 in the Lighthouse.

I love Lucanis, but his romance is very undercooked. I get, that he pushes a lot of emotions down, and flirting is just another weapon the Crows use to get to their targets. But we see no inner turmoil in banter, no notes wondering about Rook. He touches Rook exactly once - in the romance scene at the very end. They never even address the almost kiss.

The brutality of the life of Crow recruits is smoothed over to be nice and family-like. We are talking about an organization that buys enslaved children and forces them into hunger games to shape them into elite assassins.

The widespread Tevinter slavery is mentioned minimally. The only mention might be the codex of Dorians speech in the Magisterium. Their whole social system is built on slavery and caste system. We don't get to talk to Neve about any of it.

Most of the helmets are hideous.

The "stealing cultural stuff is wrong and we, the pirates and treasure hunters, are not doing it. We are the good guys!" talk you have with Taash right when you meet her was so jarring. Like, it makes sense, because Isabella is in charge. It would have been funnier and less preachy if they went with "We don't steal cultural stuff, because Isabella stole something from the Qunari once and it was a sh*tshow".

No dirt, no persistent gore

You don't get to have deep conversations with your followers. Instead, you get to read their diaries and letters in the codex. I felt like a creep snooping through their notes and letters to each other. Same feeling with the Lighthouse banter.

I miss the more abrasive followers. Everyone is high on friendship. Why is no one protesting against the demon-possessed assassin cooking all of our meals? Why isn't Bellara more wary about the Tevinter mage? Emmerich gets a lot of sh*t for the creepiness, but nobody questions the morality of using body parts as Legos.

I wish we could choose a class for the Inquisitor. She looked so ridiculous and out of place in the last fight. She is one of the most fearsome fighters in Thedas and she wears the blandest outfit possible. She isn't even armed.

We find out the Andrastian faith is a fairytale and no one except Harding comments on it? All of the human followers grew up in Andrastian cultures. Religion forms the structure of society, customs, inner values, viewpoints on the world, and what is considered "normal" on a subconscious level. In DAI you have a conversation with Josephine about how the Andrastian faith provides common ground for negotiations across cultures. Cassandra walks through an elven temple that is older than her religion and still wonders who could believe this nonsense. Why aren't you more upset, people?!

I am going to pretend the post-credit scene didn't happen. You will not soil the beautiful tragedies of the very human mistakes and choices the imperfect characters like Loghain made. I will not accept some demon whispering over the wonderful multi-faceted people and their rises and falls. F*ck you.

The bug, where the game loads the preset character instead of your custom Rook is annoying and didn't get fixed by the patch.

I hate the UI with a passion

No grey streaks in Inquisitors hair is a crime.

I hate the underwater view in Rooks room. I have an irrational fear of deep waters and sea life. The Ossuary is a prison of my nightmares.

I hate the redesign of the demons. They look like dementors with their robes open.

It is not clear how long was Rook trapped in the prison of regrets.

Anyway... rant over. I enjoyed the game like I enjoy the Marvel movies. With half of my brain turned off.

#dragon age #dragon age veilguard #dragon age the veilguard #dragon age spoilers #datv spoilers #veilguard spoilers #rant post #dragon age screenshots #dragon age rook #lucrezia de riva #screaming thoughts into the void #meh #antivan crows #crow rook #rook de riva #pretty but mostly empty

24 notes · View notes

mon-the-lemur · 3 months ago

Text

Thoughts on the new DA:The Veilguard trailer

Here are some thoughts that my friends @hug4tim and @slecnaztemnot and I had watching the trailer in detail.

Black City

I believe this is Rook inside the Black city. It is a ruined version of the Arlathan place from the gameplay reveal trailer. And while that place was golden and relatively untouched, this place is obviously ruined, completely devoid of colour and there are vines growing through it, which look like lyrium veins, presumably blighted.

Teleportation magic

Here we see Elghar'nan jumping out from a void bubble and appearing out of nowhere in front of Ghilan'nain. There was no teleportation magic in the previous games for lore reasons. I believe that now when the veil is torn, we will be seing more previously impossible feats of magic.

Underwater level(s?)

This place is obviously an elven ruin that is now underwater. Most probably the sea and I expect it perhaps off shore from Rivain. Maybe we will also get to swim?

Lyrium mines + Titan eathshaping magic

Here we see an entrance to the inside of a mountain. Based on the doors and the architecture around, it was originally dwarven, but perhaps now used by other peoples (ie dwarven pully systems tend to use way less wood).

Just after this we see the inside of the mine, with lyrium veins running through the cavern.

Following that we get to see Harding petrifying darkspawn.

In my opinion this will be one of Harding's major quests. As far as I know, Harding hasn't really been in the deep roads much. Perhaps when she goes to the lyrium mine, a titan once again stirs due to the torn veil and connects with Harding, giving her stone creating and shaping abilities. She can petrify creatures and it seems also create rock formations:

Morrigan

Our with girl finally changed her wardrobe :D

The crown is obviously the same design as Flemeths. I believe that Morrigan has indeed inherrited Mythal's soul from Flemeth, as was theorized.

Also, as you can see her magic is now much stronger and visually very similar to the elvhen gods' that we have seen.

I also think, that from Morrigan's side it does not matter who drank from the Well, she will have those abilities either way through Mythal herself. In my opinion it will only have consequences for the Inquisitor, who could have some bonuses and issues depending on either choice with the Well in DA:I.

Manfred the walking backpack

Adding this just cause... I mean look at him, he's adorable.

Multiple elvhen gods

This image follows the screenshot with Manfred in the trailer.

It seems to be set in Nevarra's necropolis. And it also looks like there might be a little bit of a cult situation going on.

This image is accompanied by Bellara saying "Our gods are back". That and the "cult" lead me to believe we may be looking at Falon'din.

The armor design looks very similar to Solas' from the prologue. The skeleton has horns on it head, and as per Solas' words on Falon'din, he was vain and loved gaining followers. That to me tracks with what we seem to be shown in the image above.

Also what is up with Ghilan'nain here????

Taash

The person lying down in the sand (?) seems to have horns, one of them made from green crystal. That screams to me that it is Taash. Perhaps this is how we get to meet her. If so, the poor baby always has bad angles in trailers :D

Anderfels

Lucanis' personal quest?

Neve's personal quest?

The man with red lyrium looks like he is wearing similar outfit to Neve, so perhaps a shadow dragon, or maybe even family member.

Irellin and Strife (?)

#dragon age #da:tv #dragon age the veilguard #da4 #dragon age dreadwolf

26 notes · View notes

dajjalen · 2 months ago

Text

Read Part 1 Here!

With the heavy military presence already in Dalaran thanks to these radiant echoes, Dajjalen thought it best to station his mercenary crew of demon hunters on the floating city as well. The rumors of potential chaos were rampant, and he was already growing restless at home in Silvermoon City. Sitting still was never his forte, even prior to his demon hunter days.

These days people had become more accepting of their kind, they had proven themselves valuable allies and the military was happy to accept their aid within the echoes. Plus, it was a good excuse to see and catch up with his friend and occasional roommate, Aerden. The duo had met during Aerden’s very first campaign, when Dajjalen had saved his life outside of Orgrimmar during a Legion attack. He had watched the young man grow into his own skin and abilities from then on, finding a great resemblance in him to his own late son. Aerden had taught him how to feel almost elven again despite his more monstrous appearance.

So naturally when the nerubians began to attack after the city’s teleportation, Dajjalen’s first thought was hoping that Aerden would be alright. He kept his senses open; by this point Aerden had a very distinct aura to him that he would be able to see from great distances. But for now, he and his band of hunters wreaked havoc down upon any of the nerubians they came across, ushering the civilians they picked up along the way towards the evacuation points.

That’s when Dajjalen spotted the familiar aura from afar running along the outskirts of the city with a group of others towards his current location near the portals to the ground below. There was no sigh of relief to be had as those around him screamed and pointed towards the city center. Everyone began sprinting towards and cramming into the portals to escape what appeared to be some sort of large void orb expanding quickly through the entire city.

Aerden wasn’t going to make it.

Obviously Aerden had assumed the same, and he watched the young elf’s aura suddenly fling itself over the edge of the city along with those he was with. He rallied the hunters who had yet to go through the portal and pointed towards the throngs of people flinging themselves off the city, “Save who you can!”

With a running leap, Dajjalen jumped from the edge himself as a pair of phantom wings sprouted from the humped, tattooed flesh of his upper back. A dozen or so other demon hunters followed suit, streamlining themselves to catch up to the falling victims. A thunderous *BOOOOOOOOM* signaled the explosion of the city behind him, briefly disorienting him when the force of the blast caught up. But he never once took his sights off of Aerden, who now appeared to be spiraling out of control. With a few rapid flaps of those beastly wings, he closed the gap between the two of them and reached a clawed hand out to snag the unconscious elf’s shoulder, immediately pulling the much smaller frame in against himself..

Once secured, Dajjalen spreads his wings open to slow their speed. The falling debris pelted and nicked the hardened flesh of his back, but he managed to safely glide the remainder of the way down onto the beach about a quarter mile away from where they had portaled the others to safety. He kept Aerden pressed to his chest, back exposed to the exploded city in case any more debris should come their way. His friend was still alive, but he would need medical assistance for some of the gashes he had accumulated on his way down.

The ground seemed to suddenly rumble and shake around them. The demon hunter assumed it was Dalaran crashing into the waters behind them, so he kept his young friend protected. What he did not expect was the earth beneath them to suddenly open up and swallow both of them whole. Spindly legs and sticky webs seemed to come from all directions, swiping the claws on his free hand towards anything within reach. A few screeches echoed through the darkness when he made contact, but this was a losing battle. There were simply too many, and down further and further they went.

“I’m sorry I failed you.”

@aerdendios

~ To be continued…

#story #dajjalen #aerden #wyrmrest accord #tww

14 notes · View notes

marchwardenofmordor · 6 days ago

Text

“The poor wretches had not considered my origins, nor that I was night-eyed, for I saw, before they did, on that pitch black battlefield, though the ash and dust of the wastes, the pure horror etched into their faces and so inhaled it like a drug. They had thought, initially, by the blue incandescence of my swords, that I was an ally of theirs. How wrong they were.

I saw them scatter as I charged with my vanguard.

So incensed was I, with the love of my Lord and the blessing he had carved into my flesh, memory and soul the night before, that with a buzzing excitement, I felt my vision tunnel into pinpoints, though my pupils dilated to a horrific degree, and every hair upon my neck stood on end, my skin flaring and bursting into invisible flame as a witch bound to a stake. The more they fled, the more excitable I became, and chased them rabidly, carving a path of destruction through any and all who stood in my way. Man or woman, or some combination of the two, both, or neither, I cared not.

I cared only for their demise, and for the blood that would bathe me, warm and wet, through the layers of my armour. Through their deaths, I gleaned a connection, and I felt that same love that they had for one another, I held for my Lord, though mine was tenfold. Thus I screamed it to the red skies and tore the rest of them asunder, berserk in my aspect, of almost ten feet and muscle-wrapped.

Iron and bile mingled upon my tongue, and I could not help but breathe in their perfect elven offals, limbs bestrewn, becoming more agitated yet, the tendons of my fingers constricting and loosening, my blood-fire stirring an itch to rip, to shred, to maim, as my jaw ground and clenched, poised nearly to chew off my own tongue. I would bless this destruction with ire and woe, and all who should witness me would retain my love and despair, and know to whose bed I would be returning after this task was complete.

I believe in my Lord, he who will rend all life to unholy rapture and erect a new world. Hence I transfix and writhe in blissful flagellation.

Cry, weep if you must. I will not stop until I am knee deep in the decaying and accursed progeny of Valinor, for I hate the sunlight in their gazes, and that those who have witnessed the light of Laurelin possess the gall to turn such a garish glare upon me, and so offend my flesh. Let the woodworms feast upon the sacred tree and let it fall.

Hark! Raise thy voice, let it be heard in finality before I silence it eternally. Soon, we shall all be one in fire and the void.”

- Marchwarden’s Confessions

#silmarillion #silm #the silm #the silmarillion #lotr #lotr mairon #lotr oc #silmarillion oc #silm headcanons #silmarillion mairon #silmarillion fandom #silm fic #silmarillion oc: seregluin/gwathragur/ossecáno|gossandir #tw blood and injury #tw blood and gore

7 notes · View notes

itstheelvenjedi · 8 months ago

Text

Slow on the uptake bc checking tumblr/socmed is very much the bottom of my priority list rn

But obligatory disclaimer as a polyam queer butch that I do not condone, support or agree with the shit Frazer Blaxland has been saying lately.

I'm not personally gonna stop making content for Dammon/shipping him with characters, I'm so deep into my personal headcanons that tbh the only connection there is pretty much the voice itself and the vague appearance so I feel like I can separate the two pretty well. If you can't that's also fine but also pls do not attack me for this. I will block you. I'm ONE more bad thing away from losing my fucking shit frfr (which is why I'm so inactive here rn) and I'm NOT about to be the bitch that has to tell the psych that dumb fandom drama was my last straw so I will not be engaging w any attempts. This is the only time I'll bring it up. but yea. Feel like I have to say it so ppl don't assume I support those disgusting opinions.

Also not sure how long I'll be 'active' here again. I may disappear again for a while I'm sorry ;; shit sucks rn and tumblr/most socmed is effort and spoons I dont have LOL if we're buds and for some reason you DONT already have me added on Discord feel free to DM me and I'll give yall my Discord tag,

That's the place that's easiest/least stressful and where I spend most of my time atm, but I don't want ppl to feel like I'm ignoring them! I promise I'm not <3 if you tagged me in a meme or whatever I will get around to it when I can I promise, it'll just be slow and at the whim of how many spoons I have on a given day haha

#i have no idea what to tag this as but uh #this #lmao #unfollow or hate me for choosing to separate the character from his VA if you want thats your call /gen #but i'm going to be a stubborn petty bitch about it #genuinely have so little good in my life rn i'm not letting some asshole take my comfort ships away from me #call me dramatic if you want idc im dead /srs bg3 is keeping me sane & stopping me from chewing people's arms off irl rn #blog update #kinda sorta #blog announcement #delete later #elven rants #elven screams into the void #also kinda. but i'll tag it just incase

2 notes · View notes

myfavouritelunatic · 1 year ago

Text

And Horror And Madness Walked - Chapter One

Sadly, she did not need a bed to succumb to sleep. It crept over her before she had time to register what was happening, and she slunk slowly down to the stone floor, a pool of gold and silver hair and sparkling elven dress. She had been pulled back into the dark forest. Galadriel began to run, screaming, searching for a way out. A way to wake up. But the bush and branches only thickened the deeper in she went. And she knew… she was being followed. “Leave me be!” She cried, trying not to let her fear overcome her. The princess held great power in her spirit, but it certainly felt diminished here. Then, for the first time, she heard the thing that would stalk her. It laughed. A malicious and unearthly laugh that seemed to echo from all directions, as if Galadriel was surrounded by multiple creatures. “Afraid not… Galadriel… once I have you… I cannot let you go…” The voice was female, that much was clear, but it did not sound of elf or man or dwarf. It was something else. “Reveal yourself! I command it!” More laughter. “You won’t be commanding anything much longer…” Suddenly, the coldest of chills swept through Galadriel’s body. The wind she had seen in past dreams… she felt it on her now. She felt her hair move, as if swept off her shoulder by a hand. And now that hand was upon her. Galadriel cast her eyes down and saw something horrible. A monstrous hand, void of colour and warmth. Grey and leathered, fading into the blackest of talons at the end of each finger. They glistened as if dipped in water. Or blood.

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: For this first chapter, nightmares, spooky forests, and stalking creatures. Straight up horror vibes! Oh and a tiny bit of violence towards the end.

May I present my offering for both the Tolkien Monster Mash and Haladriel Kinktober Bingo! A tale told over four parts. A mash-up of The Rings of Power and The Silmarillion, set in the first age where Galadriel meets Halbrand waaaaaaaay earlier. Sauron was tired of waiting I guess? :P I hope you all enjoy!

Tagging: @pursuitseternal @denzit @heronamedhawks @gil-galadhwen @scriberated @youwearfinethingswellwriter @theriverwild @thrillofhope @klynnvakarian @marimosalad @90shaladriel @coraleethroughthelookingglass @somebirdortheother @ichabodjane @hazelmaines @hikarielizabethbloom @yletylyf @princessfantaghiro @eowyn7023 @mamanmae @demonscantgothere @jhalya @vellichormybeloved

#haladrielfancollective #haladriel #saurondriel #halbrand #sauron #galadriel #melian #thuringwethil #the rings of power #trop #trop fanfic #the silmarillion #silm fic #tolkien #halloween #tolkien monster mash

47 notes · View notes

tristayranambrosio · 9 months ago

Text

"Flirt/Casualty" Day 1 - February 18 DWC

(This short story is told from the perspective of a former band Mate and how Trist and He met. You know before Trist was all Star-Void-Elfy. Enjoy <3: Note that its a little steamy and about a very tormented Orc who struggled very much with being himself until my Bard stumbled into his life) I nurse the sour ale in my tankard, I despise the flavor and would much prefer the tang of citrus and sweet mixed with some honey wine that I see the softer fellows in this den can be seen enjoying. Not me… no I have to sit and watch as the Crimson Curtain comes to life at the arrival of its star lutist. He is like a feast for my starving eyes, and I imagine if it was his lips I drank from… even this piss-water would taste like bliss. Instead I see him lean over a table and flirt with one of the affluent patrons and my tankard groans in protest under my white knuckled grip. Luckily for me an Orc bitterly suffering through the sorry excuse for a drink and scowling at this brazen display of flamboyant softness isn’t out of place here. In truth I crave the comfort of its magnificent colors, and the beautiful staff… I want to drink their sweet scents, roses and citrus… to bathe in them to bask in the relief it’d be just to live in their embroidered silks, rather than the oppressive Leather plates and spikes the Chief insists I have to wear to attract the attention of some she-orc to bear my sons. I snarl into my tankard and take a long furious gulp and attempt to swallow it with the revolting thought of using some poor female like that… knowing my mind would wander back to the laughing eyes of the Rose scented lead that has started in flirting with a fellow across the bar from me… Seeing how the soft beauty of an elf lightly squeezing the other Mercenary's arm and admiring the build sends my blood on fire and I briefly contemplate making the bastard another casualty of my fuming jealousy… No one else should be allowed to touch my Rose… none of them are good enough… fel neither am I… And yet… I flash back to the bright curtains while he grips them as tightly as I do my tankard. I imagine him screaming my name under my palm as I make him stifle it lest his boss hear what I’m taking from him… I imagine how it’d feel to pull his hair until he was panting and spent just so I could kiss his shoulder and tell him everything. That I’d never wanted someone as badly as I did him… I’d had my share of elven males, loved their tender perfect bodies for the pleasures they were to touch, this one though, he haunted me ever since I heard him sing… play… on Nestor’s old wine stained stage. He laughs again at something the jackass across from me says and I’m out of my Stool and about to storm over and yank my Rose away from this-this-... I halt when the Bard meets my eyes, struck with an overwhelming sense of terror, rage, and desire, with no idea which of those is reflected in my eyes. He’s unafraid, meeting me stare for stare, only in his Light Pink eyes I see… amusement, he’s not intimidated by the growl that I didn’t even realize was escaping me. “Easy, big guy, if you’re looking for a fight I’ll oblige, but Nestor told me you wanted to meet.” He extended a hand smiling… at -me- and I feel my face twist with glee and fury with a focus, that Bastard Busybody Ring-master I will kill him, “I’m Trist’Ayran Ambrosio, a pleasure-”

The way his tongue rolls over the last word has my body at attention and my nostrils flare… my anger at the meddling Cabaret Director temporarily dispelled as I’m being offered a hand I’d imagined on every part of me and I am once again glad that armor and leather doesn’t have much give as a rule and my state isn’t betrayed to be what it was, fixated entirely on this little Rose’s hands… eyes… lips… I grunt and force down my thoughts of how I’d like to hear him speak around parts of me I’ve only ever shared with soft sweet males like him… He waits patiently, his hand held out to what he must see as a brute of few words and even fewer kind ones. I make a show of crossing my arms and sneering at the Cabaret and despite loving every inch of it growl, “Did the Fop? Figures he’d send the Tavern Flirt at me. I’m -not- interested.” My body revolts and rails against my statement, the lie it was… I wasn’t just interested, I was obsessed… I had been for weeks… months… Trist withdrew his hand smoothly as if I’d not just looked at him with the well practiced disdain I leveled all openly true people with, and he smiled, “No one’s twisting your arm, big guy, not that I could… but you play?” I huff and keep my mask on firmly, indifference, disinterest, annoyance… even when within I yearn BURN to feel him -in- my arms… “Drums.”

Trist beams… and my heart slams so hard within my ribs I swear I feel it trying to burst from me into this Bard’s hands, like it was trying to escape, fly to him from the moment I heard his voice, then saw his face… Rose Quartz eyes and the most magnificent Autumn Maple hair that framed his perfect features in waves and curls that smelled like the Roses that haunted my senses ever since. “Well I’d love to see what you’ve got for me, Big Guy, but it’d be nice if you could give me a name… Otherwise you’re just gonna be some generic ‘big guy’ and if you’re joining up… well I’d like to be able to introduce you as you…” Oh what I could show him… what I had for him was a lust so intense it was making my blood power anything but my mind, and again I delayed my reply assailed with the image of showing just what I had for him… and hearing him say my name, “Jezza” My voice is a growl that I hope is intimidating and not giving away where my thoughts had gone… I needed to get a hold of myself… have this damned bard, and then put him from my mind forever. It wasn’t healthy, and if I can’t repress this need… this weakness for him and what he awoke in me, I was never going to be able to face my Tribe. It was not as if I could sire on him… but, Ancestors help me, my body certainly seemed to wanna give that a go with the urge building in me by the moment, not to mention the restless nights that showed my supposed lack of interest or virility with proposed brides was simply a product of them not being this soft bard… Get it over with, get him out of your head… this is not normal. “Jezza.” My breath stopped. My heart seized… say it again… I willed him. “Jezza…” He tasted my name testing the sound on that damnable tongue, “Handsome name for a Handsome Brute.”

He was- “Are you MOCKING me runt?” I nearly roar. “Nah. Just flirting. Lets see what you got.” With that he sauntered up… and tucked a pair of Drumsticks under my belt… and I could swear he did it to glance under the hem of my leathers… but I was too distracted by the proximity… how he somehow smelled even better than I imagined, and how my eyes nearly rolled back in their skull knowing just how close he was to me. It was over too soon. He pulled away and swatted my hip, “You coming?” The bard brandished his lute as he sauntered to the stage tilting his head to the Drum set in the back, but I was almost rooted to the floor. Staring at this brazen… cocky… magnificent -thing- that I was going to -make- mine. I rumble and to myself, “Not yet… but you’ll see to that soon.” I stormed up to the stage all bravado and seething outrage… but I play… and Oh… I bask in the first time my Rose really sees me and feels me in the beat. The novelty will get stale… and my Life will start and I’ll leave all this behind. Maybe after a few more songs.

@daily-writing-challenge

#moon guard #roleplay #world of warcraft #wow oc #bard #warcraft rp #short story #trist'ayran #daily writing challenge

14 notes · View notes

lyfedda · 20 days ago

Text

NOT AN OPEN RP

CW: gross Yog-Sothoth Bifrost stuff. All hurt, no comfort.

"Wake me if I get too... you know," Lyf said softly to Marius, giving him a soft kiss before they laid on bed. "This shouldn't take long. I.. it shouldn't..."

"Lyf," Marius said, taking their hand, "Mein Schatz, I know this isn't easy on you, but do you really believe that trying to talk to Yog-Sothoth is right? What if he wants their mind, soul, and body? What if he completely abandons you and take over them? This isn't what Sinclair would have wanted and you know that," he said, squeezing their hand. "Think about unser Schmuckstück-"

"I am!" Lyf snapped at him, covering their mouth. "It's been... it's been three days and I can't... we can't just do nothing! This isn't fair, Marius. This isn't fair... I need to at least try."

The most Marius could do was stand by them, right? They had their mind made up, Lyf was going to go talk to Yog-Sothoth. He just hoped it didn't backfire. So, he nodded and kissed Lyf's hand before he let go. "I'll wake you if I have to. You have my word."

Nodding, Lyf closed their eyes. They clung to the amulet, drifting off.

When they opened their eyes, they saw a light. A rainbow hue shining through a window. Under them, the ground was wet and sticky. Blood, they knew. They sat up, looking along the train. It must've been.. right after the Void came and destroyed everything. "Yog-Sothoth," they called as they stood up, grunting. "Yog-Sothoth, please. I'm here to talk and I'm not in the mood for your mind games. I want to barga-"

The door opened, and someone came on to the cart. Lyf turned. Loki... she was there. Just like always. She was beautiful and oh so scared. Just like always. She would pass them and go on to Thor, they'd say their goodbyes and- "Don't I know you?" She asked, voice soft and small. She approached Lyf, lifting her hand to their face. "Don't I know you?"

Lyf's eyes widened. What? That... that wasn't supposed to happen. "No," they said weakly, confusion clear on their face. "You... you're Loki. We never met, but I watched the Black Box."

Loki looked so... happy. She must have known she was going to die at that point, but she still looked so utterly pleased. Maybe it was because of Sigyn being so close and her remembering her wife. Maybe it was because she knew she'd save lives, the ones she unknowingly doomed in the first place. Maybe she was just happy to have her mind back in one piece.

"So we make it," she said after a pause. "Or rather we don't make it. How long did my blood last?"

It wasn't right. Loki never spoke to them before. They... they weren't supposed to be able to interact. Yet she was holding their face so gently. They couldn't help but lean into it. Her hands were surprisingly soft... "80 years," they said after a moment, staring at the elven woman. "The train arrived over a year ago... no one escaped besides myself."

"Then it wasn't for nothing," Loki said, giving Lyf a gentle kiss on their head. She was so much taller than them. Like most people from their world. Asgard, especially. "You survived. You lived. Celebrate that."

The hands on their face were soft. Lyf couldn't get over how warm they were. Very warm. Very... hot. A little too hot. Their eyes widened when Loki's soft smile widened, the corners of her mouth tearing. The hands grew hotter and hotter until they were finally on fire. Lyf screamed and pulled away while what was supposed to be Loki caught aflame. "You made it! Here's your reward!" She charged them.

Lyf didn't think twice about it before they took off running towards the door. They opened it quickly and jumped through, slamming it shut behind them. The train was gone, and they were... home. Not their home on Earth. On Midgard. They stepped forward, taking in a shaky breath. "Midgard..?" They moved forward, the sun beating on their skin. They took only a moment to bask in it. "This isn't real," they reminded themself. "This isn't real. You're looking for Yog-Sotho-"

"Lyfrassir!" A woman's voice called in their native tongue, and Lyf turned. Suddenly, they were ten years old again. Their mother stood there with a basket full of food for them. "Come on! Your mother is waiting!"

Right... they were having a picnic. Lyf felt tears well up in their eyes, and they ran forward. "Mother!" They ran forward and wrapped their arms around her. "Mother! It's you! It's you."

Fornsaxa laughed, putting a hand on their head. "Of course it's me, honey. Who else would I be? Are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?" She brushed back their hair, giving Lyf a smile. "It's okay. I'm right here."

Lyf pressed their face in her abdomen. They missed her so much. "I know... I know, Mother. I'm so happy." They looked up at her with teary eyes and the biggest smile.

... but it wasn't real.

The reality made them want to scream.

"I... I'll meet you and Mama by the lake, okay? We can have our picnic then," Lyf said, pulling away and wiping their eyes. "I'll see you soon."

Fornsaxa just smiled. "No, sweetie. You won't." She turned and walked off. As she walked, she began to morph. Her skin was flayed and she grew in size, limbs growing longer and she began to contort, the basket dropping as she got on all fours and rushed to the giant forming ball of meat and flesh and teeth and bones growing in the center of the dried up lake.

Lyf was back to normal. Grown and broken. "... Goodbye, Midgard." They turned and continued on, finding another door. One that was green with eyes and webs.

Home.

Lyf walked through the door, but was met with darkness. They froze as they were pushed forward by a sudden force and made to go inside the endless night. "NO!" They yelled, running back to the door, but it was gone. "NO! NO NO NO! NOT HERE! PLEASE!"

It was their ship. The ship they spent six months on completely alone in darkness and silence. The ship that they died on and made their first deal with Yog-Sothoth. Lyf pouted at the wall where the door once was and screamed. There was no air. The ship had no power. They couldn't breathe, they couldn't see, they couldn't do anything! "Marius!" They yelled out, hoping he heard. "Wake me up! Wake me up!"

"Lyf," a voice came from behind them and Lyf froze. They turned their head... no. Cosmos, no.

Sinclair smiled at them. They saw them so clearly. "Lyf, it's okay. You can relax, you idiot. We're safe."

Lyf shook their head. "Yog-Sothoth," they said, tears streaming down their face. "Please... I've suffered enough."

'Sinclair' hummed. "Have you?" They walked over to them, grabbing their face roughly. "Oh, you poor thing. I suppose I've made you wait long enough." They dropped their hand and the darkness around melted around them and was replaced with the rainbow glow of the Bifrost. 'Sinclair' remained. "Go on then."

Lyf took several deep breaths, calming down. "I... I want Sinclair Foster back," they said, standing tall on the tracks. "I'm willing to give you whatever you want."

They seemed intrigued. 'Sinclair' hummed, jumping up and sitting down on to nothing. "Whatever I want. Well, when you saved your own life, I took your body and life. I would need something of significant value. I have your life, so that leaves-"

"No," Lyf cut them off, shaking their head. "No... You can't have them. I... Anything else. Anyone else!"

Their laugh echoed throughout the Bifrost and 'Sinclair' shook their head. "No. It has to be them or no one at all. Those are my terms. You know my rules better than anyone, Lyfrassir. My favorite vessel." They moved closer to them, floating around them. "You want them back? You've got to pay the price. The price is their mind," they wrapped an arm around their abdomen, "body and soul." Their lips were against their ear. "It's a small price to pay for the love of your life."

Lyf closed their eyes. It... wasn't small at all. They sniffled. Sinclair would never forgive them. They would hate them. After stabbing their eye out to save them form Yog-Sothoth before, to accept the deal would just be...

"I can't," Lyf said after a moment.

'Sinclair' breathed in deeply. "Then fuck. Off," they growled out and shoved their hand through their chest.

Lyf shot up in bed screaming. Marius was there. Marius was there and pulling them into his arms. "You're okay," he said, holding them so tight as they cried. "You're okay."

"I can't- I.. I can't save them," Lyf said so brokenly. "I can't save them..."

What were they supposed to do without them?

#tma rp #mechs rp #lyfrassir edda #the death of sinclair foster

4 notes · View notes