#emp <3

[snowfallenlavender]

grahhh

i miss emperor

i miss him

[jeeaark]

Will GGold bring Emps a doggy bag from his adventures saving Lae’zel?

Well-

I may have had more inspiration for this question than was needed

Don't ask how Greygold got they acquired clown brains.

Bonus Thought:

I think Greygold should have a momentarily skewed perspective on the power of friendship. As a treat.

[mittthrawnuruodo]

"Once you take an illithid by the talon, there's no telling how deep into the abyss it might drag you." (for @theemperorweek)

[xdraonarts]

happy pride to this dude

[tavtime]

There is something skittering around in my brain tonight about the way that BG3 intends the audience to view mind flayers as individuals vs as a species, and the way that plays out in the player's relationships with Omeluum and the Emperor.

I mean, one of the primary gears upon which the story turns is that when a person becomes illithid, the soul they previously had is destroyed (but not their memories of the person they were). This is presented as an insurmountable wrong - literally socially aberrant - and it certainly is so from both the point of view of the gods concerned with mortal souls, and illithids' mortal prey concerned with keeping their brains in their heads.

The Emperor's storyline takes this to the conclusion that the condition of being soulless is, in and of itself, a complete destruction of the individual; that whatever it was before, the illithid will be invariably manipulative, inherently untrustworthy, and unable to reconcile its needs and desires into peaceful coexistence with non-illithids. It's certainly the conclusion you're intended to draw from Duke Stelmane's story, as well as numerous supporting texts, most notably from the creche.

But then... Omeluum offers the refutation to that. Here he is, leading a peaceful life because he just... wants to. Absent a soul or comprehensible mortal desires to operate as a moral compass, Omeluum still chooses to contribute to the Society of Brilliance. He voluntarily and at personal cost researches alternative food for himself so that he doesn't need to feed on sentient beings. He helps the player character multiple times, despite the fact that doing so carries variable risk with little promise of reward.

So clearly, being illithid in and of itself is not what makes someone manipulative or untrustworthy: it's not a baked-in species trait. The Emporer isn't Like That solely because he's a mind flayer; he's like that because... he's like that. That's who he is as a person. That's what he has become, in his current incarnation, and yes, some of it is certainly due to his transformation (having your soul shredded and your will broken would screw most people up pretty badly, I imagine), but not all of it! If something about his circumstances had been different, maybe he could've been different as well. Maybe his moral compass would have pointed in a similar direction as Omeluum's.

[fiddlehead-soup]

Happy Friday. Post your Dream Guardians!

[bigmfrat]

The Emperor got tired of you being difficult so now you have to deal with Thez'Taress, an exiled Venerator of Ilsensine and a much worse illithid who hates humans only slightly less than he hates elderbrains.

I just wanted to draw him in my own version of the dream guardian robes because my friend made a new roman inspired oc. This is my Tav/Oc btw, not the Emperor if the above text didn't make that clear.

here he is without the multiply and magic layers. I was originally going to give him the astral prism background and shade him but I'm tired of looking at this, maybe I'll mess with it again later, who knows

[kaxenart]

Since the newest update changed some of the evil ending cinematics, I was messing around with the endings.

Asking emps to do some world domination and be its lapdog sword arm now wraps up in a much more satisfying way than the original like "emps sits in a chair, TAV IS NOT EVEN IN THE FUCKIN' SHOT, the end!"

My squsband is one hype man away from evil and I am the hype man.

awwooooooooooo

[rebornrosess]

THE BEAR 1.02 VS THE OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR THE BEAR S3

[enchantrum]

Just want to point out the very brief and very smug smile that flickers over Emp's/DG's face when he talks about Vlaakith being desperate to stop him. He's so proud of himself that for a moment he loses composure and reveals some of his human pettiness. <3

Makes me think on the type of person Balduran was, too. He's a much different entity now, but here you see a bit of the old rascal.

I think it shows a less obvious aspect of his personality. He definitely enjoys feeling that he's outsmarted someone, especially someone so powerful. Even in such a grave situation (trying to convince his ally not to attack him), he can't help smirking about it.

It is also very brief- I caught it on the tail-end here. He's speaking seriously with you and doing his usual pleading looks and behaviours, but when he talks about Vlaakith his tone lightens and you can see him physically struggle not to reveal how proud he is of himself lol.

Honestly it's the closest to "giddy" we ever see the DG. He's excited to share this with you and struggles to maintain a serious tone.

Compare it to the expression he has at the beginning of this scene:

He goes from the above to almost joking around, in less than a minute. It's a huge contrast and seems to be initiated by him laughing at Vlaakith. It's unhinged- but in a distinctly human way.

[snowfallenlavender]

m gonna draw me and emp sooon,,, agh

[jeeaark]

For a while, Greygold had some apprehensions for how they'd handle their new appetite, but you know what? Omeluum was onto something with the whole 'Devouring The Enemies Of Who You Care About' dietary plan.

Favored enemy now has new meaning to Greygold. Their orcish heritage would be proud.

Unlike DnD's warding bond spell, nothing is more sexier than BG3's warding bond having no ranged limitations. Maybe Greygold is tightrope-walking the star-crossed lovers tragedy. Maybe Greygold likes a challenge.

[corvitine]

I have a silly headcanon about the Emperor and my Tav. So Balduran was a pirate, yeah? So I think the Emperor likes shanties. Dahlia is a bard and her favorite kind of music besides ballads (because she’s a college of valor bard) is shanties. He likes it when she plays shanties :)

[xdraonarts]

don't really have a whole prompt week worth of images in me this month, but i did wanna toss my hat into the emperor appreciation week going on rn (check out @theemperorweek if you want more of this squit from other artists/writers/creators) so im tossing flowers at it

[chizu117]

I can't believe that there's even an option to tell Raphael that you're in love with the Emperor. Like why the Fuck would you tell him that?????? He already thinks that you're stupid now you're just pissing him off!!!!!!!!!

[fiddlehead-soup]

Dying cuz i just saw someone call Emperor "ur cuddlefish bf"