#gemcut

[luna4sart]

Guess who did a commission? This owl! For a pretty cool artist @smolsasaIt's kinda awesome that years after drawing her magic I get to draw her magic crystals too. ^^

[silverravenstudio]

✨𝘉𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘖𝘱𝘢𝘭✨

✧ On its own, Opal is well-revered. Throughout history, early humans thought of it as a mystical “night stone” that glowed in the confines of pitch-black caves. Eventually, it took on a meaning of mysticism and power. Many civilizations thought it held the remnants of spirits.

✧ Boulder Opal is unique in its own right. Miners first discovered it in 1870 in Australia. To this day, most of the Boulder Opal on the market is found in Western Queensland.

✧ Shamans & Healers believe that the overarching meaning of Boulder Opal is betterment. Its energy is about improving your life and chasing your dreams.

[dragonbleps]

opens seven tabs of research to get the right description for a phrase that'll be used exactly one (1) time in this WIP

that's just how writing goes

[stochastique-blog]

Love you

@lerogems НОВИНКА Гидротермальный хризоберилл!

Уникальный минерал, который так редко встречается в природе. Несмотря на свою редкость данный камень стал известен с древних времен и его востребованность не спадает с течением времени. Свое название хризоберилл получил от греческого слова “хризос” - “золотой”. Сегодня ТАЙРУС является мировым лидером по выращиванию уникальных драгоценных камней. Гидротермальный хризоберилл, по своим характеристикам абсолютно идентичный природному!

Еще один берилл из коллекции TAIRUS GEMS. Сегодня хризоберилл популярен в Европе. Зелено-голубоватый оттенок, насыщенный цве��, высокое качество огранки – все это делает хризоберилл ТАЙРУС идеальным для создания и реализации ювелирных шедевров.

Основные характеристики хризоберилла: - Химическая формула: Al2BeO4. - Твердость: 8,5. - Плотность: 3,7. - Светопреломление: 1,744-1,755 #изумруд #рубин #сапфир #александрит #морганит #рубеллит #украшенияназаказ #ювелир #ювелиркиев #ювелирукраина #ювелирныекамни #lab_created #lerogems #labgemstone #gemstones #gemstone #coloredgems #coloredgem #labcreatedgems #created #labcreated #greengems #stone #green #rawstone #rawstones #cutstone #gems #gemcutting #emerald #gemlover #emeralds #ruby #colombianemerald #colombianstone #sapphire #огранка #огранкаподзаказ #ювелирныеизделия #ювелирныевставки #изделиеназаказ #ювелир #ювелирный #камень @lerogems https://www.instagram.com/p/BwrMUXQB5Xr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=b89m50ns5rdi

[satureja13]

The Boys are back home from their trip to Henford where they'd celebrated Summer Solstice. Time to return to their underground police department and send Ji Ho back ingame to investigate Jack's murder. Vlad isn't happy about this. There is a killer on the loose ingame. What if he kills Ji Ho too and Ji Ho has to endure his dying in full consciousness? Anything feels, smells, looks, sounds, tastes so real ingame. And so they are arguing back and forth. Ji Ho wants to go back. He wants to chase Jack's murderer and he needs to dig his feelings out. And he also wants to provide the Therapy Game for other creatures in need. Ji Ho and Vlad actually don't need to talk at all, they know very well how the other feels over their Bond. I guess they do this hoping the others would chime in and take their side. But they are just quietly doing their stuff and enjoy the show. Ji Ho and Vlad never talked to each other that much ^^' And even though they are arguing, that's a good sign that their relationship slowly evolves. Vlad: "Don't go." Ji Ho: "Jack is your best friend and there are creatures out there who need our help. You know I have to go. And I want to get my feelings back - I want to love you."

'Came in from the city walked into the door I turned around when I heard the sound of footsteps on the floor Said he was a killer, now I know it's true I'm dead when you walkout the door Hey babe I'm hooked on you

Can't stop now Don't you know I ain't never gonna let you go Don't go'

Yazoo - Don't Go

Eventually Vlad gave in. He also wants to arrest and punish Jack's killer. But he insisted to charge the bond before Ji Ho logs in. They are still a bit weak after teleporting the TukTuk and he wants Ji Ho in a good condition ingame, in full strength and awareness. What Ji Ho didn't expected was, that Vlad was kissing him instead of just hugging him, as usual! Poor Vlad. He must be very afraid and upset, so wants to make sure the Bond is fully charged. Otherwise he wouldn't have done this, since he always refuses any (avoidable) romantic interactions as long as Ji Ho doesn't love him.

Now Ji Ho doesn't want to leave ^^' Vlad: "Be careful. Come back to me - log out immediately if anything is odd." Ji Ho: "Don't worry. I will come back ..." and then he whispered "... for more."

Vlad wanted to watch over Ji Ho from inside the chamber but Sai didn't allow it. Vlad is so upset, he would pull out Ji Ho at the slightest disturbance and compromise their investigations. So he sat outside. Saiwa: "You gave him hell ^^' " Ji Ho: "You heard it?" Saiwa: "We all heard it." Ji Ho: "Oh."

The others were worried about Ji Ho too and wanted to watch his every move, but they continued their work to not make Vlad even more axious.

And then Princess Jihovere was back in Saarburg. Only a few minutes after she left the game. The crack was still there!

And there was still an opening! Princess Jihovere stepped closer to see what's down there.

'There's evil in the air and there's thunder in the sky And a killer's on the bloodshot streets And down in the tunnels where the deadly are rising Oh, I swear I saw a young boy down in the gutter He was starting to foam in the heat'

Bat out of Hell - Meatloaf

And then she saw him. There really was someone down there far below!

The Princess knelt on the ground to take a closer look and maybe find out who it was. And what he was doing. He was picking up the gemcut skull Greg had lost/sacrificed! Is this the crossroads demon who fulfilled Greg's imprecise 'change their hearts' wish, somehow mistook it and took Jack's heart so he died? ö.Ö' Omg and Greg said 'their hearts' - is there/will there be another corpse?

She must have made a careless noise because the demon looked up to her - and cast a spell! And he looks like Kiyoshi! (Since he's a NPC it's kind of obvious that Tiny Can chose Kiyoshi, because he really is a demon.)

The spell hit the Princess and for a few short seconds - before she blacked out - she felt everything. All her lost feelings - all at once. The pain, the loss, the sadness - but also joy and love! So much brighter than anything Ji Ho ever felt before!

Luckily Greg and The Queen still were near and heard the Princess' scream.

The Queen: "Godess! Is she dead?"

Greg carried the Princess back to Saarburg. When she regained consciousness, she looked in the lifeless eyes of a skeleton. Did the demon now kill her too?

Oh no, poor Vlad! They are monitoring everything back home, Vlad must have witnessed his death! And he felt through their bond what Ji Ho felt. He must be devastated. But Ji Ho can't log out yet. He's still ingame, not like Jack, who'd been kicked out after he found himself dead. Maybe he can ask the skeleton some questions about the demon? And maybe NPC Jack is here too? Wherever 'here' is...

to be continued...

TMI: After Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode, he and Alison Moyet formed Yazoo (they'd known each other since school days). Later Vince formed Erasure and Alison started a solo career. Alison Moyet has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard o.o

The Therapy Game Master Post with the sessions and places so far is -> here

From the Beginning  ~  Underwater Love ~  Latest Current Chapter: 'Who killed Jack?' from the beginning ▶️ here Last Chapter: 🕹️ 'The One' from the beginning ▶️ here 📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28

[dozydawn]

“thistle” hat pins. love the use of particular gemcuts to evoke the gumdrop/muffin shape of the flower

[the-world-annealing]

The Fairy Godmother's Gift

"...good heavens! Only your foot, of all the kingdom's, fits this glass slipper! Do you know what this means?"

"...yes my prince, it's me. The woman you dan-"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that, what I want to know is how you made this slipper."

"Huh?"

"I mean, obviously I had my scholars take a look at this thing the moment I found it on my doorstep, and they all told me that it was utterly beyond modern glassblowing techniques. It fits only your foot, out of millions! Even the greatest artisans can't make anything to that degree of precision! And yet you carelessly left it behind as you ran away."

"I guessed the fairy godmother could always make new ones, if I really needed them."

"Wait, a fairy godmother? You have the favor of the fairies? Why are you living in squalor?"

"All her spells wears off at midnight. It's a literal party trick, nothing more."

"I'm quite literally still holding this slipper."

"That's weird, the rest of my outfit changed back. So it doesn't automatically transform back at midnight... and she can't just unconditionally reverse all her enchantments either... Which means the midnight thing was a lie, and she has to actively focus on an item to turn it back?"

"It would explain why the sole thing to retain its new shape was the one both of you misplaced. But the particulars don't matter, the fact that her creations can stick around permanently does."

"...and that means..."

"Our struggling kingdom is saved! We'll be the microengineering capital of the region, the empire, the world! Glassblowing, goldsmithing, gemcutting... and who knows, perhaps some future technology will greatly benefit from the ability to arrange gold thread with nanometer-level precision."

"Hold on, how are you getting the fairy godmother to play along with all that? She just wants to help her charges move up in the world. Me, my mother, my grandmother..."

"..."

"Oh."

"Ella... will you marry me?"

[noamuth]

Bloodletting

As a part of his worship to Lolth, Dalamus practices minor bloodletting, a ritual sacrifice of his own blood, typically a few drops from his fingertips allowed to soak into a page in his journal.

In Menzoberranzan, Dalamus had a shrine in his home dedicated to Lolth which he offered prayers and thanks to. In times of stress, he might prick or cut a finger and offer a small amount of blood in the hopes it would change his luck. If his day or week improved, it was assumed to be because his blood had pleased Lolth. By contrast, if nothing improved, he took it to mean he had not offered enough.

Now on the surface, every day is fraught with stress, and this bloodletting is more frequent. After learning of his Matron's abandonment of him, he repented that day for his continuing to draw breath with the blood of his palm and multiple fingertips before returning to his typical "schedule". He believes if he can just continue to prove his loyalty and hold off Her ire until he defeats the Absolute, then perhaps all will be forgiven and he can return to Menzoberranzan. Perhaps not back to Nedvyllanna's side, but back to being a commoner.

He always does so in the privacy of his tent. In lieu of a shrine, he settles for drawing Lolth's symbol in his journal and letting the blood soak it. He keeps his blade clean, cleans his wounds, bandages his wounds afterward, and may take a small sip of a health potion to accelerate healing to prevent the necessity of multiple bandage changes.

Even with a healing potion's help, soreness may linger a bit longer than the wound itself, making stone polishing difficult or painful depending on which finger(s) he chose to use. This, he thinks, is just another way to show Lolth his loyalty--that he is willing to temporarily pause his gemcutting to assure Her that She comes before all else, even if being unable to work with his hands is legitimately upsetting to him. The upset is part of the point.

Despite its consequences, the bloodletting itself has become a strange soothing activity. There is a rush of relief at seeing the release of blood, a sense of accomplishment, of doing well for his Goddess. It is something within his control, and something which he believes pleases Lolth, or at the very least delays her ire for another day. He relies on it so much that missing more than a day without some kind of dedication to Lolth--be it his blood or someone else's--causes distress.

He worries that if he displeases Lolth, especially now knowing he was meant to die after his exile, She will somehow "catch up" to him and punish him. The reality is that Lolth likely does not care about him at all, if she even bothers to sense his existence anymore.

~

He does eventually break this habit with help and support and the promise that nothing bad will happen to him if he stops. It takes an intervention--confiscation of sharp objects from his tent, and a willingness to hang out with him when he becomes antsy--but it does happen.

The release from that fear, realizing that Lolth is not going to punish him for not bloodletting, is enough to move him to tears.

Even far into the future it remains a tempting fallback when incredibly stressed, but he gains healthier coping mechanisms to use instead, as well as having more people in his life he trusts to talk to.

[vythanis]

🦴Have they ever broken a bone or had any sort of major injuries before? If so, what was their ailment?

Vy'thanis has been remarkably lucky when it comes to breaking bones, but not quite so lucky when it comes to major injuries. He has a two-ilm wide band of scarring around both wrists from the time he spent as captive of an insane void-hunter. (Content warning for torture on that prompt I linked.) He was chained up and the shackles tore up his skin, then got badly infected. The conjurer did what he could when Vyth was rescued, but the infection was pernicious and left scarring.

He's got multiple nicks and cuts on his hands and fingers from slipping with a chisel while gemcutting, as well as a scar on the back of his head from falling in the creek and hitting a rock when he was ten.

[fuckyeahdwarffortress]

Tell you what, necromancers are so much better than vampires. I have like three necromancers and they haven't even raised any corpses, let alone killed anyone. Vampires killed my tavern guy, my stock taker guy, my trader, and i interrogated one and he confessed to an entirely different nonsense plot, then attacked! That's just rude. They're not even being helpful like my necromancers who are doing all the gemcutting. Hell, if all my dorfs were necromancers they'd probably be more positive for having shared interests. This is an anti-vampire pro-necromancer blog now.

I've been reviewing your asks now that I've woken up. Apologies for a lack of responses.

I'm thrilled, of course, that you have become a Necrodwarf fan like myself, however. Necromancers have no need to eat, sleep, breathe, or drink, making them the ultimate Dwarf labourer, as they are also not eligible for targeting by Undead mobs.

I do wish the Toady One allowed Dwarfs/Necromancers that exist in-fort to pen documents. I believe you can have a Scribe and a Librarian, and if one or both are Necromancers, they might try write a book?

If they do, there's a chance they pen the Secrets of Life and Death, which will allow more Necromancers to be made should any living soul read the book in their spare time.

Failing this, you can always raid a Necromancer Tower for any book that may contain the Secret, and if you succeed in taking it, have a Necrodwarf Fortress.

[clouseplayssims]

So I'm working on behind-the-scenes things for Edirann while getting ready for round 3, and I need some thoughts/opinions on hobbies!

I'm trying to make my lists an even number for the sake of ease (I tend to roll dice) and I'm stuck on some.

As a refresher:

Arts & Crafts

1. Painting 2. Flower Arranging 3. Drafting 4. Candlemaking 5. Knitting 6. Sculpting 7. Sewing 8. Basketweaving 9. Dyeing Fabric 10. Toy Carving 11. Weaving Fabric 12. Soapmaking 13. Pottery 14. Care for Bonsai 15. Pet Rock 16. Sculpting

Cuisine

1. Cooking 2. Baking 3. Bartending 4. Gluttony 5. Winemaking 6. Candy Making 7. Growing Food 8. Tea Ceremony 9. Raising Livestock (for the sake of food) 10. Juicing

Film & Lit (need 1 more option!!)

1. Reading 2. Scholarly Discussion 3. Writing 4. Listening to Stories 5. Watching Plays 6. Acting 7. Telling Dragon Legend 8. ????

Fitness (need 1 more option!!)

1. Swimming 2. Skating 3. Log Rolling 4. Cardio 5. Yoga 6. Tai Chi 7. Horseback Riding 8. Chopping Wood 9. Martial Arts 10. ????

Games

1. Puzzle Games 2. Chess 3. Darts 4. Poker 5. Pool 6. Skittles 7. Axe Throwing 8. Knife Throwing 9. Planning Sieges 10. "Train Set" (need a better word for it, and a default)

Music & Dance (need 1 more option!!)

1. Dancing 2. Organ/Piano 3. Harp 4. Fiddle 5. Lute (regular) 6. Lute (exotic) 7. Drums 8. Singing 9. Violin 10. Chinese Zither 11. Reciting Sonnets 12. Listening to Music 13. Firedancing 14. ????

Nature

1. Entomology (bug hunting) 2. Fishing 3. Birds 4. Cloud Watching 5. Hiking 6. Rodent Keeping 7. Beekeeping 8. Trapping 9. Gathering Flowers 10. Gardening 11. Foraging 12. Chickenkeeping 13. Mining 14. Livestock Keeping 15. Pressing Oils 16. Ant Keeping

Science (need 1 more option!!)

1. Stargazing 2. Weather 3. Metallurgy 4. Bubble Blowing 5. Magical Technology 6. Studying Slides 7. Giving Lectures 8. Anatomy 9. Potion Making 10. Collecting Geodes/Fossils 11. Worm in a Jar 12. ???

Sports (need 1 more option!!)

1. Soccer 2. Netball 3. Golf 4. Boxing 5. Tossing a Ball 6. Hunting 7. Jousting 8. Fencing 9. Dueling 10. Archery 11. Swordfighting 12. ????

Tinkering (need 1 more option!!)

1. Repairing 2. Woodworking 3. Carpentry 4. Gnome Making 5. Barrel Making 6. Blacksmithing 7. Gemcutting 8. Smelting 9. Repairing Wagon Wheels 10. Armorsmithing 11. Leatherworking 12. "Robotics" (need a better description) 13. Restoring "Carriages" 14. ????

[placesyoucallhome]

FFXIVWrite #6 Ring

He’d grown up not that far from the Chapel of the Twelve, deep in the Shroud, where only bandits and sylphs bothered to go otherwise. He would hear the bells chime in the morning and night, welcoming Azeyma and Mephina, day after day after day. His tribe hadn’t, entirely, acquiesced to the wider traditions of Eorzea, having their own ceremonies between couples under the eyes of Mephina alone. But there was usually still an exchange of something, jewelry, a ring. 

An unending band, meant to mean eternity. He’d made a fair few, especially when he was still training, earning his keep and hospice bed. Rough at first, but goldwork he’d caught on to quickly. Gemcutting not so much. Making and remaking the same ring over and over and over, enough so he’d once wondered if they were giving them out like pieces of cheap candy. They were probably melting them down in the back, actually. 

He knew it was all bullshit anyways, stones fell out and bands broke, people returning rings when the coupling fell through, the protective ring of the Twelve shattering over his head as he realized the wolf Dalamud was instead a dragon. 

He no longer took orders for rings, having decided to specialize in clockwork instead, making and remaking mammets, some well older than he. They could possibly exist forever, with regular maintenance especially, right? Magitek had, if the tales he’d heard of Azys Lla were true. Besides, those eternal bonding bands were supposed to go on the left hand, weren’t they? Would they mean a thing if he had no hand to put it on? Or maybe the clockwork hand he created would survive far beyond him, an artifact to discover long after he was gone. 

Nemo frowned down at the golden metal hand he was strapping to his arm, it creaked as he thought, fingers shuddering as he concentrated on stretching them out, and curling them in, six gems on his wrist flickering and connecting to his aetherial current. The heat of summer made his mottled skin ache and burn, even more so in the sweltering Thavnairian sun, but he had a new ring of gems to worry about, and a sennight to try and find them. He’d make something worth lasting the test of time, he just… needed a better gemcutter to do it.

[dragonbleps]

suddenly realizing that i probably shouldn't give Dal a 4th level spell from a class he's not in ljhsjdfhg

i just wanted him to know stone shape. it'd be a gemcutting life hack lmao

[yellowfingcr]

// discovered recently through this article that, because certain powers were and still are attributed to gemstones, gemcutting as an art had both ties to the occult and the techniques on how to do it were frequently kept secret by master gemcutters. this to say that in a place like the lands between I wouldn't be surprised if you had master sorcerer gemcutters keeping their very special techniques to themselves, or specially cut stones as status symbols

and also

(this is the hand catalyst in question)

[jbt7493]

yknow what'd be cute? (dwarf fortress feature) if different... okay this is like my minecraft opinions. Uh if the game had like, ideal cuts for different types of gems so that it knew like, okay, an emerald cut emerald is gonna be better than a tapered baguette cut emerald but a brilliant diamond is better than a table cut diamond.

but first off like the basis you'd use for that is subjective anyway and secondly you dont have control over what type of cut you get so either you'd just be slightly changing the average value of the gemcutting job and adding more variance to it (frustrating if you get the "wrong" cut repeatedly on your expensive gems), you'd make higher skill gemcutters more likely to randomly pick the "right" cut (this would be the reason to do it, since cut gems don't have a quality level so gemcutter skill isnt super meaningful, but then you'd end up with ONLY emerald cut emeralds and it'd make it less fun), or you'd get the ability to pick and then it'd be just as much a case of it being boring that all emeralds are emerald cut instead of having variety with zero upside

it might be neat if in history scholars/gemcutters could discover/invent new gem cuts. i was thinking about how like, scholardwarves can for instance discover the germ theory of disease. but it doesnt seem to have any mechanical impact. it'd be neat if civilizations and scholars discovering new things gradually changed the technology level available to you. but that would be... a whole nother game on top of what is already a hell of a fuckin game. does seem a little silly that a civilization can be largely identical for a thousand years though. i mean its not like human civilization didnt have stagnation periods but in dwarf fortress you can achieve all the criteria that should be necessary to get some technological progress from pretty much any model of history but especially the correct one - enough food that everyone comfortably eats 3 meals a day and the stockpile only grows, big booms in population, people are able to spend time on labor other than engaging in food production and construction, and plenty of incentive for a new technological leap - and you can get scholars discovering new things. but you can't use them. well, obviously its just not a developed feature. but it does seem like the sort of thing that they should want to do eventually; im not sure they do, since i know there's a specifically desired tech level that they see themselves at in terms of development. i mean i guess it's just preferable to keep things available as you add new features instead of adding new features that you need to fuckin grind to get access to.

would also make it annoying to make a new world if you dont enjoy having to not only make a new fort but get the fort to an affluent level and then get a bunch of scholars to jerk off for a while for a *chance* at unlocking the feature you want to use. so yeah this is also a bad feature.

damn, two features thought of in one post and both suck ass i am not good at this

[kingdomofedirann]

Basic Information

Name: Joseph Hartman

Age: Elder (Elder)

Sexuality: Straight

Gender: Male

Mortality State: Human

Location: Edirann City

Position in Society

Title: Baron

Class: Nobility

Heir: Goderick Hartman

Personality

Primary Aspiration: Family

Secondary Aspiration: n/a

LTW: Earn $100K

Zodiac: Aries

Personality: TBA

Traits: Natural Cook, Great Kisser, Unflirty, Angler, Social Butterfly

Preferences

Likes: TBA

Dislikes: TBA

Hobby: Tinkering (Gemcutting)

Addictions: None

Religion: None

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Material: Fabric

Aesthetic: Traditional

Favorite Clothing Style:

Favorite Location:

Genetics

Skintone: RenSim Peau Dark

Eyes: Cornflower Blue

Hair Color: Brown

Hair Texture: Straight

Hair Thickness: Thin

Height: 6'5

Body Type: LBB

Body Hair: 01

Other: Balding

Relationships

Father: n/a

Mother: n/a

Spouse: Charlemaine Hartman

Siblings: None

Children: Adelard Bellamy (step-son), Everilda Hartman, Goderick Hartman

Other Relatives: None

Allies:

Rivals:

Other: Munroe Roque (ward)

History

Birthplace: Kingdom of Edirann

Place of Death: n/a