#glabra jacaranda

[iapetusneume]

I've been thinking a lot recently about black and white vs shades of gray, and its really something we've been weaving into the narrative of Call of the Sea for a long time.

There are a lot of people who have black and white perceptions of morality. They view some deities as good, some as evil. (And depending on where one falls, they might not look on Neutral in a good light, either.)

And Glabra is becoming world-renouned in her ability to negotiate with entities that are often viewed as "evil." And a big part of that is that she's willing to give people the time of day, and listen.

She listens to what it is that they want, and she tries to find a way where everyone wins.

When a villain tells her what they want and their plan to get it, there's times she'll be like "do you really want this, or do you want this instead?" Or "I can see why you want this. Have you considered trying to get it using this different path?" And the villains are often taken aback by this. They were not expecting compassion, or problem solving.

This doesn't work all the time, of course. And while she used to be naive, she is a lot less so. She will try her hardest to negotiate if she has the opportunity. But if she needs to, she will fight.

Navona, Armony and I were talking about the idea of an organization rising up, with very black and white views on morality, who see Glabra as a threat. Who think that she's deceiving the world by having people work with these "villains." And how the world would fall apart if she were to die. Because she's become extremely beloved to many of these villains, either as a close friend or as a lover.

(She's a vampire, now, so unless she's actively killed she's going to live a super long time.)

And the organization sees her existence as liability. Its too risky to have someone like this hold such a precarious balance in place. Better they be rid of her and go back to things being black and white. Better to rip the bandaid off quickly. And if they provoke the rage of these villains because of her death, then all the better for them showing their "true selves."

Stories are told about her legendary ability to persuade just about anyone. How she's gained the favor of kings and queens and archfey and gods and goddesses by simply given the chance to talk. Many think that she's using some sort of magic. The organization only sends the most devout to engage her directly, because anyone who is not a zealot she will "charm".

And at first she's bothered but not too annoyed, because she's able to convince so many to stop this fight, and to see things from her perspective. But as she is targeted by more zealots, she starts to get angry.

Because she's often accused by them for being a fool, and she honestly does not understand why it is so important for the motive to always match the outcome. Many of these villains whom she's helped are now doing things that people would describe as "good." Some of them are doing it for extremely selfish reasons, because it happens to line up with something they want. But she looks at the perspective of: are they hurting anyone? Are they hurting the world? And also, they can't help improve the world if they're dead. If they want to work to help improve the world (possibly for attonment, but also just being a citizen of the world), why should she stop them? And if they want to improve the world for a selfish reason, what does it matter in the larger scheme of things?

I think her being a druid helps with this. She sees nature in all its beauty and brutality, and knows that balance is not what's written in children's books. That living in harmony with nature takes work, and balance sometimes happens in strange ways.

And given the Calamity that struck the world as the result of the God Wars, a part of her can't help but wonder if they got to the point they did because no one was willing to listen to what the "villains" had to say. The world was too black and white, and it almost destroyed itself in the process.

She doesn't excuse evil behavior, but she doesn't see the point in killing someone when there is the potential for them to bring good into the world.

But it does sometimes keep her up at night, wondering what might happen if she were to die. Because as much as she gets mad at the organization, they have a point. So, she works her hardest to not let that happen. And maybe, sometime in the future, this will be something she doesn't have to worry about.

[houseofkranion]

The Encounter Table - Sylvari

[iapetusneume]

Nidia Tylan (sylph (later minotaur), magus)

Vivian Chaudary (human/werewolf (later devil), monk/shaman)

Glabra Jacaranda (wilden/vampire, druid/ranger)

Zylvi Dufaure (infernal tiefling (formerly a dragon), brawler)

get to know my d&d characters!

(or: an ask meme made to supplement a lack of new ask memes)

why did they choose their class(es)? their subclass(es)?

before they met their party, what was their main goal?

what is their goal right now?

if they could learn one spell that isn’t available to them at present, which spell would it be?

do they follow a higher power? what are their thoughts on divinity?

which party member do they relate to the most?

which party member do they understand the least?

what are three songs that suit them?

do they care about their appearance? how much effort do they put into presentation?

how often do they lie? what situations cause them to be dishonest?

what skills are they proficient in? why?

have they ever been in love?

what do they dislike about themself? why?

what is something they love about themself?

do they trust their party? why or why not?

what are their feelings on the people who raised them?

what do they dream about, when their dreams are their own?

do they see themself as a leader or a follower?

what haunts them? what doesn’t?

which of the five senses do they rely the most on?

do they follow their head, their heart, or their body?

what is a promise they’ve broken?

how do they feel about nicknames, titles, or labels that have been given to them? how do they feel about their name?

which of the four elements speaks to them the most?

what stories do they like to tell? what stories do they like to hear?

who do they miss?

how do they mourn?

who would they kill? who would they kill for?

who would they save? who would they be saved by?

what do they seek out from others?

they’re given a blank piece of paper–what do they do with it?

do they seek control, or do they want less of it?

what makes them cry?

which party member do they go to in a crisis?

which party member do they worry for?

what’s a secret they’ve kept?

what is their favorite thing to hold?

what do they smell like?

are their hands calloused, soft, or something else entirely?

do they enjoy poetry?

what are they attracted to in other people?

what are three words they would use to describe themself?

why do they fight?

what do they need to learn?

how do they hug people?

what do they deprive themself of?

when they meet someone, what is the first thing they notice?

what do they see in their future?

what makes them smile?

can they sing? can they dance?

what is the most beautiful thing in the world, for them?

from whom do they seek validation?

which is more frightening to them: day or night?

what was their education like?

whose hand do they reach out for?

what animal do they most relate to?

what makes them angry?

what do they think their role in the party is? what is their role in actuality?

what is a quiet passion of theirs?

do they whisper or yell more often?

what kind of flower would they choose to pick from a meadow?

outside of otherworldly forces, what do they believe in?

what fight has scared them the most?

do they value mercy or justice more?

what is holding them back?

who makes them feel warm?

what makes them laugh?

what was the best moment of their life?

how would they describe their party members?

[marcelomoro]

RELAÇÃO DE ÁRVORES NATIVAS PARA ARBORIZAÇÃO EM FORTALEZA

A arborização das cidades brasileiras é notavelmente dominada por espécies exóticas, ignorando a rica biodiversidade nativa de nosso país. Sensível a esta questão, o Botânico e Eng. Agrônomo Antônio Sérgio Farias Castro produziu o texto abaixo, que posto neste blog. No texto, Castro discute sua visão sobre a problemática da desvalorização das espécies nativas e presenteia a cidade de Fortaleza com uma importante contribuição: uma lista de árvores nativas do Ceará que podem ser usadas como árvores ornamentais nas cidades costeiras do Estado.

RELAÇÃO DE ÁRVORES NATIVAS PARA ARBORIZAÇÃO DE FORTALEZA

Antônio Sérgio Farias Castro

Eng. Agrônomo e Botânico

Abril de 2017

 As populações humanas no planeta estão cada vez mais concentradas nas cidades, o que gera uma série de problemas, como a redução drástica da cobertura vegetal, o que por sua vez irá ocasionar uma perda significativa de qualidade de vida destas populações. Cidades saudáveis, mais agradáveis de viver dependem de uma boa cobertura vegetal natural e de uma boa arborização, é inconteste. Esta consciência tem se ampliado nos últimos anos e há iniciativas várias de plantio de árvores em muitas cidades do Brasil só que em muitos casos, sem o devido conhecimento técnico, uma vez que, infelizmente com plantas, muitos acham que sabem e fazem de qualquer jeito, desperdiçando recursos, energia e tempo. Um dos principais pontos para o sucesso dos plantios é a seleção criteriosa das espécies, devendo ser previstas uma maior quantidade e diversidade de espécies nativas dos ecossistemas do entorno. O emprego de espécies nativas na arborização e ajardinamento público e privado traz diversas vantagens como contribuir com a conservação da biodiversidade, com a introdução ou apenas manutenção no caso de nativas remanescentes da vegetação original ou ainda as que surgem por propagação espontânea; trazem um embelezamento distinto do "normal", com texturas, cores e formas diversas, com a "cara do lugar"; efeito educativo, uma vez que muitos são os que só irão conhecer as espécies nativas,  por toda sua vida, se inseridas ou conservadas em ambientes urbanos. Outra vantagem do uso de nativas é a formação de Corredores Ecológicos proporcionando assim o fluxo de genes, animais e plantas entre os remanescentes florestais existentes. Também as nativas, por serem adaptadas ao meio tem mais vigor e são mais resistentes à pragas e doenças, intempéries e condições adversas, o que reduz ademais os custos de manutenção para que forneçam todos os benefícios da vegetação nos meios urbanos de forma durável, como a melhor infiltração de águas, proteção de mananciais, abrigo e alimentação da fauna autóctone, filtro de poluentes e ruídos, amenização de temperaturas, beleza paisagística e conforto psicológico.

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma Lista de Árvores Nativas do estado do Ceará, com possibilidade de uso na arborização urbana de Fortaleza, separadas apenas pelo porte. É sabido que a maioria dessas espécies não está disponível nos viveiros da região, onde predominam exóticas, contudo esta Lista irá por certo, despertar a atenção para as muitas possibilidades em nossa desconhecida flora, para uso em projetos de arborização, incentivando a coleta de propágulos e a produção de mudas, a partir do conhecimento. Necessário haver nas equipes quem conheça essas espécies em campo, de preferência botânicos, para que orientem as coletas e seu melhor emprego e manejo conforme as características e a ecologia das espécies. Se a espécie é heliófila ou umbrófila, caducifólia ou perenifólia, de locais secos ou úmidos, formato da copa, etc.

Gameleira tem raízes muito agressivas, devendo ser plantada longe de edificações e tubulações. Juazeiro apresenta brotações com abundância de espinhos, que devem ser removidas. Araticum-do-brejo é própria de solos encharcáveis, devendo ser plantada em margens de rios e lagoas. Embiratanha perde as folhas na época seca, sendo inadequada onde a intenção seja sombra plena e não é adequada a podas. Limãozinho possui muitos acúleos no tronco devendo ser inserida afastada da circulação.

Também importa dizer que há lacunas nesta área em relação ao comportamento de algumas espécies em meio urbano quanto a raízes, tolerância a podas, necessidade de maior ou menor irrigação, velocidade de crescimento, resistência de galhos, melhores espaçamentos, etc. Estudos e práticas são altamente recomendáveis.

Buscamos uma mudança de paradigma, não é mais possível que só tenhamos gramados, palmeiras e yucas, sem falar das exóticas invasoras, nas cidades do país da megadiversidade.

 RELAÇÃO DE ÁRVORES NATIVAS PARA ARBORIZAÇÃO DE FORTALEZA

ESPÉCIES NATIVAS DE PEQUENO PORTE (Até 4m)

 Açoita-cavalo (Hirtella ciliata)

Arapiraca (Chloroleucon acacioides)

Angelca (Guettarda platypoda)

Angelim (Dahlstedtia araripensis)

Araticum-do-brejo (Annona glabra)

Catingueira (Cenostigma nordestinum)

Chifre-de-carneiro (Godmania dardanoi)

Côco-babão (Syagrus cearensis)

Freijorge-louro (Cordia glabrata)

Imburana (Commiphora leptophloeos)

João-mole (Guapira laxa)

Jucá (Libidibia ferrea)

Mangaba (Hancornia speciosa)

Milhomens (Leptolobium dasycarpum)

Murta (Eugenia punicifolia)

Pau-branco (Cordia oncocalyx)

Peroba (Tabebuia roseoalba)

Pereiro (Aspidosperma pyrifolium)

Piqui (Caryocar coriaceum)

Pitiá (Aspidosperma ulei)

Pau-violeta (Dalbergia cearensis)

Sabonete (Sapindus saponaria)

Ubaia (Eugenia luschnathiana)

Ubaia-de-cachorro (Eugenia azeda)

 ESPÉCIES NATIVAS DE MÉDIO PORTE (4-8m)

 Aldrago (Pterocarpus rohrii)

Almescla (Protium heptaphyllum)

Amargoso (Vatairea macrocarpa)

Burra-leiteira (Sapium glandulosum)

Cajueiro (Anacardium occidentale)

Caraúba (Tabebuia aurea)

Caroba (Jacaranda brasiliana)

Catanduba (Pityrocarpa moniliformis)

Coaçu (Coccoloba latifolia)

Cumaru (Amburana cearensis)

Embiratanha (Pseudobombax marginatum)

Freijorge (Cordia trichotoma)

Gonçalo-alves (Astronium fraxinifolium)

Ingaí (Inga laurina)

Ingazeira (Inga vera affinis)

Inharé (Brosimum gaudichaudii)

Ipê-verde (Cybistax antisyphilitica)

Jataí (Apuleia leiocarpa)

Jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril)

Jenipapo (Genipa americana)

Juazeiro (Ziziphus joazeiro)

Limãozinho (Zanthoxylum rhoifolium)

Marfim (Agonandra brasiliensis)

Mulungu (Erythrina velutina)

Murici (Byrsonima sericea)

Mutamba (Guazuma ulmifolia)

Pacotê (Cochlospermum vitifolium)

Paineira-de-dunas (Pachira endecaphylla)

Pajeú (Triplaris gardneriana)

Pau-branco-louro (Cordia glazioviana)

Pau-d'arco-roxo (Handroanthus impetiginosus)

Pau-d'arco-amarelo (Handroanthus chrysotrichus)

Pau-d'arco-amarelo (Handroanthus serratifolius)

Pau-d'arco-sapucaia (Zeyheria tuberculosa)

Pau-jangada (Cordia toqueve)

Pau-sangue (Pterocarpus villosus)

Pitomba (Talisia esculenta)

Praíba (Simarouba versicolor)

Quina-quina (Coutarea hexandra)

Rabujeira (Platymiscium floribundum)

Trapiá (Crateva tapia)

Xixá (Sterculia striata)

 ESPÉCIES NATIVAS DE GRANDE PORTE (> 8m)

Angelim (Andira surinamensis)

Angico-branco (Albizia niopoides)

Barriguda (Ceiba glaziovii)

Bordão-de-velho (Samanea tubulosa)

Cajá (Spondias mombin)

Carnaúba (Copernicia prunifera)

Cássia-rosa (Cassia grandis)

Cedro (Cedrela odorata)

Gameleira (Ficus elliotiana)

Oiti (Licania tomentosa)

Oiticica (Licania rigida)

Pau-pombo (Tapirira guianensis)

Macaúba (Acrocomia intumescens)

Madeira-nova (Pterogyne nitens)

Marizeira (Geoffroea spinosa)

Mirindiba (Buchenavia tetraphylla)

Piroá (Basiloxylon brasiliensis)

Sabiá-tiúba (Colubrina glandulosa)

Tarumã (Vitex polygama)

Timbaúba (Enterolobium timbouva)

[iapetusneume]

I’m a big fan of the Everybody Lives ending, but in D&D it takes a bit of an amusing turn.

In this game, Glabra will have brought back to life two of her metamours before having met them. Because we’re not doing the thing where “oh, now that my first wife is back I can only be with her.” (Though she does give them some time to reconnect with their hinge - that’s only polite.)

And then she also helps save the old flame of one of her other lovers. She does all of this because she loves her lovers so much and wants them to be happy. And if there is a pain she can help heal, she wants to try.

So she defies demons, devils, and even death itself to help bring about the impossible.

[iapetusneume]

Finally got around to designing Glabra [she/they] in GW2. The Sylvari are really close to what I imagine the Wilden in Navona’s campaign are. I’m eventually going to use these for references for when I try to commission art, as this is about 80% of what I imagine Glabra is.

(Some notable differences are: her branches on her head would be thinner and more of them. And they would be jacaranda blossoms, not purple leaves. Also, her eyes should be glowing red. (Before she was turned into a vampire, her eyes glowed blue.))

I could see her wearing an outfit a lot like this in her downtime, but I didn’t have any good way to put her in her Admiral uniform for the Temporal Expats, so I decided on aiming for the colors of the uniform. This style is probably something she’d wear while in her village and acting in her role as a druid.

[iapetusneume]

Do your D&D characters sleep in their armor?

This is a bit of a complex answer. I would assume that this is them camping out for the night or actively on an adventure and in an inn.

Nidia and Arley are from Pathfinder; Vivian started in World of Darkness and then the game shifted to being run by Pathfinder; Zylvi, Glabra, and Cassidy are from 5e.

Nidia is a magus sylph (who later was transformed into a minotaur). She would sleep in her armor while camping, but unless she's very nervous about the inn she's staying in, she'd sleep in pajamas.

Arley is a Bloodrager minotaur, and would sleep in her armor while out adventuring.

Vivian is a monk/shaman who is also a werewolf, so she had a lot of natural armor. She would occasionally sleep in her shaman robes while adventuring. When she's not wearing her shaman robes, she'd be sleeping in a tank top and shorts.

Zylvi is a pugilist tiefling, and would probably not sleep in her armor. Given the nature of her adventuring, that would not be her first instinct. She is rarely on the road, and more often than not had adventures either in a city where she had an apartment, or while living on an airship. She would sleep either in a nightie or naked.

Glabra is a druid/warlock wilden, and her situation is a bit strange. Wilden don't sleep (unless they've experienced severe physical exhaustion), and they usually just meditate in the sun for 2 hours in a 24 hour time period. BUT...! Glabra was turned into a vampire. Navona had to decide how Wilden would react to the rules of needing sleep as a vampire, and decided that they need to sleep 4 hours (as opposed to most races needing 8 hours if they were turned). SO THAT GIVEN... Glabra would sleep in her armor if she was on the road. If she had her airship or was on the sea in her seafaring ship, she would probably sleep in her quarters naked (or in pajamas if it's really cold. but she'd rather be naked cuddled up to one (or more) of her lovers and a lot of blankets).

Cassidy is a rogue roegadyn who has a similar situation to Zylvi in how she adventures, so it's incredibly rare that she'd be out on the road. When she is, she would sleep in her armor. If she were in an inn, she'd probably be in a tank top and shorts.

Thanks for the ask!

[iapetusneume]

Glabra started when I joined a D&D game in early 2015 with a friend from work. I sat down with the DM to build my character, and he asked the usual first questions of "do you know what you want to play?"

And I knew I didn't want to play a Fighter because I had done that with my last character, and it helps me not fall back into a previous character if I take a different direction. (Though I did have fun.)

But I didn't have any burning inspiration, either for class or for backstory. Until my brain decided to fixate on an inside joke from marching band/color guard in fall 1999 of "BE A TREE!!" (It was related to the routine we were doing.)

So I told him that: i somehow wanted to involve trees.

So we played around for a bit with the Warden class (I was big into DA at the time, so the humor was not lost on me), but finally decided on having her be a Wilden Druid. I didn't know much about Wilden at the start, and at the time there wasn't a ton of reading available about them. But I liked the idea that they were a relatively "new" race, and decided that Glabra was exploring to build a guidebook to the outside world for her people. (It gives her reason to be an adventurer.)

"Glabra" is also a nod to the last campaign i was in, which was in Sydney. There are so many jacaranda trees in and around Sydney, and I especially loved watching them from the bus as I would go visit Patrick. (I know now they exist in the US too, but i had never seen them before going to Australia.) Glabra is part of the name of a subspecies of jacaranda. (And I found out later involved with other species names but I didn't know it at the time.)

.

When Navona was getting ready to start Call of the Sea (the name of the current campaign), she informed us that she wanted to try a nautical campaign because she'd never done one before. I asked if I could repurpose Glabra, and Navona was excited because she had been in that other campaign and liked her.

I wrote a bigger backstory for her, but the main desire to explore was still there. There had been a cataclysmic event 200 years prior, and a lot of information (and memories) were lost. Its also when the wilden first appeared. Glabra was from a backwater island and wanted to learn more about the world. And we went from there.

2019 was when the campaign started, but 2020 is when it really shined. Glabra really became a legendary hero this year.

[iapetusneume]

At this point in the campaign, Glabra has defied actual demons and devils to help save some of her lovers’ other partners. Twice she’s gone to save them without having met them before. (In both those cases, her lovers had reason to believe that the person was beyond saving, until they suddenly learned that they could be.)

She never thought that one love was “more” or “less” than another. They were people important to her lovers and that was enough reason.

In one of those situations, she saved her boyfriend’s wife. They’ve become great friends and great metamours, and are happy being in a V.

In another situation, she saved her fiance’s ex-boyfriend. Her fiance and his ex talk things out and get back together. For a short while it’s a V, but it eventually becomes a triad.

And very very recently in-game, several of her lovers went on an adventure together to help save another boyfriend of hers who was in peril. Several of them had never met the guy before. Why did they do it? Because she loved him, and that was reason enough.

Love is complex and multi-faceted, and can’t be contained in simple boxes. The love shared between two people might share similarities with other relationships, but each one is unique. Glabra is not threatened by the love her lovers share with others, because each one is its own thing. And it’s also why she gets so excited when she can help them in some way: because love is wonderful, and of course she wants to help those she loves with others.

[iapetusneume]

So, last night when playing D&D, our characters won a prize that looks like one of those “best friends” necklaces for two people, but intended to be shared with one’s lover. Both Glabra and Chaksa are poly (and metamours), so at first they’re like: “...so this is nice but we’re not a fan because who would we give this to?” But because this is a table top game and the DM is also poly, she had the person giving it to them create a set for them to have necklaces for all of Glabra and Chaksa’s lovers.

See, Navona was borrowing heavily from a module, and in the module it was written without polyamory in mind. But because Navona has flexibility with table top games, it was modified.

This is a big reason I prefer playing games with Armony and Navona.

The original enchantment on the necklace allows people holding the matching pieces to cast Charm Monster when they hold hands without having to pay a component cost. An interesting by product of making more pieces of the same set means that any two people in the same set can make use of this enchantment. Which also means that two metamours could cast it, which I love.

[iapetusneume]

Tell me what makes Glabra laugh!

She’s always overwhelmed by how much joy her two puppies have with life. Being a druid, she’s able to beastspeak to them, and their enthusiasm manifests often in laughter.

One of her fiancées - Thinker - also excels in making her laugh. He tends to subscribe to the “I’m going to do the serious thing but I will make jokes the entire time” way of life, and very much acts as comedy relief in a lot of serious scenes we do.

She will also occasionally partake in various mind-altering substances, and tends to be the happy/giggly drunk/high person. But the times where she’d indulge to that point are rare, since she only wants to do so in a safe space.

[iapetusneume]

For the D&D ask meme, for all your characters: 17, 31, 47

[The list of questions for the meme is here.]

For Nidia Tylan, Vivian Chaudary, Glabra Jacaranda, and Zylvi Dufaure

17. what do they dream about, when their dreams are their own?

Nidia - For the longest time, she dreamt of having her own library, preferably in an area that didn’t previously have one. She started adventuring because she needed to raise funds for it, and her family was not going to be in a position to support her financially for this. She also dreams of being close to her family, which doesn’t exactly jive with where she wants her library because she comes from a city with a university and a wonderful already-existing library.

She also dreamt of having a best friend who didn’t care about how “strange” she was. 

Honestly she was too scared to dream of having a lover. She wouldn’t daydream of having one, but sometimes when she dreamed deeply she would.

Vivian - Having her own restaurant, and a living space that would allow for a large herb garden.

She also had dreams of having kids. It was actually a recurring dream that would be a little modified each time she had it. Part of the way she knew she was falling in love with one of her many partners was she started to see them in that dream, as part of her family.

Glabra - Glabra actually struggles with dreams, and has nightmares more often than pleasant dreams. Wilden don’t usually sleep - they usually meditate for 2 hours - and only require sleep when they’re extremely exhausted. The other exception is if they’ve been turned into a vampire. And I won’t get into all of the minutae of how Navona ruled her vampires work mechancially, but a big point is: if a race would usually require to sleep for a long rest, they’d have to sleep 8 hours in a coffin over some of their grave soil. If they were a race that meditated while having a long rest, they’d need to sleep 4 hours. So, Glabra went from needing to sleep once every few months to having to sleep every single night after she was turned.

So this, along with the stress of being the Captain (now Admiral) of a large group of adventurers who are trying to save the world... she gets a lot of anxiety. It’s difficult to tell if she’s getting nightmares from her nerves or from potentially one of her enemies, but it’s enough that she despises sleep and sought out ways to have dreamless sleep.

But when she manages to have the rare pleasant dream, she dreams of having a large family, in a beautiful home somewhere warm.

Zylvi - Ever since Zylvi was little, she’s had dreams of flying. Not the sort that she can do with her tiefling wings (that’s more of very short flight and low to the ground), but being extremely high up in the air. And from the way the dream was, she knew that she was the one flying, on her own wings.

It was very recently she discovered that she was a gold dragon in her past life, and those dreams were actually memories.

She also dreams of making the perfect sculpture of Bahamut. She is afraid to practice because she feels like her failed attempts would be like an insult. (Overcoming her pride is part of her larger character arc.)

31. they’re given a blank piece of paper–what do they do with it?

Nidia - She’d save the paper for when she might need it later. She went through a lot of paper during transcription work when she spent time in a city, and was pinching every copper she could. Post-game the need to do this would be less (since her boyfriend became a king and they then got married), but the impulse to not waste anything would remain.

Vivian - Without any explanation given to what to do with it, she’d probably start writing out recipe ideas she’d like to experiment with.

Glabra - She would fold it a la origami and give it to her fairy dragon - Minima - to play with.

Zylvi - She’d sketch someone or something nearby.

47. when they meet someone, what is the first thing they notice?

Nidia - Their language patterns, dialect, social status. Because of her devotion to helping educate those who don’t have access to education, she’s very aware of how differently people talk across education and class barriers. She also does a lot of work with scholarly circles, so she needs to immediately alter her vocabulary to best suit her surroundings. She doesn’t want to alienate the people she’s trying to help, but she also wants to be taken seriously by scholars so she can get work and save up for her goals.

Vivian - Their smell. As a werewolf, her sense of smell is extremely good. She’s very good at being able to discern what race a humanoid is by scent alone, if they practice magic using material components (or the scent of residual magic), what they had for lunch, etc.

Glabra - At the beginning of the campaign, I would say a person’s smile. Glabra is a cinnamon roll but was extremely naive. Now, she’s going to be looking for cues to see of someone is going to take her seriously. She’s gaining a reputation, but Wilden aren’t viewed favorably everywhere in the world, and her bubbly nature often makes people think they can take advantage of her.

Zylvi - Any religious symbols someone might be wearing. Zylvi’s faith in Bahamut is deeply personal and complicated, and she’s had a lot of bad experiences with Bahamut’s followers. It takes her a really long time to get to know - and trust - other followers of Bahamut, and she often tries to avoid them. And because her mother is a devil of Tiamat (where she gets her infernal heritage from), she avoids any and all Tiamat followers. Honestly she tries to avoid people who worship any of the dragon gods because it always leads to awkward questions that she didn’t know the answers to for a very long time.

[iapetusneume]

Flurry of Boops - when your girlfriend is a monk and uses their training to boop your nose gently 8 times in one second.

[iapetusneume]

Something that's super adorable about Glabra and Atron is how much they both are into botany. And they get really excited, especially in talking about rare plants.

Thinker enjoys going to gardens with them, but he doesn't contribute to the conversation in the same way. And that's fine. Its not one of His Things, and it doesn't need to be.

But he's thrilled that two of the people he loves most in the world can enjoy this passion together.

And its that moment when you get to watch someone you love have their eyes light up as they talk about something they care about. That light, that passion, that becomes the precious thing.

When they make the plan on how their house will be designed and landscaped, Atron asks "we're going to have space for a garden, right?" And Glabra is all like "of course!" And Atron is also a bit surprised when Thinker agrees. The most beautiful thing about their personal garden is their enthusiasm.

[iapetusneume]

So, in Navona's world, wilden were created by Feyurna when she had the chance to channel the power of the wild magic when the Weave was torn. Much later, when Feyurna made Glabra her First Knight, she gave Glabra the ability to imbue sentience to any tree. It was a much weaker version of the spell that Feyurna once used. (Feyurna was able to instantly awaken a ton of trees, and did so over the span of a few days. Glabra can only cast it once per day, and it takes an entire year to take effect.)

One of Glabra's lovers, Atron, shares her love of botany. He is also infertile, since he became a lich. But he's always wanted to be a father. Before he and Thinker - the third in their triad - had met Glabra, they had planned on adopting. Thinker does not have fertility issues.

So when Glabra became a part of their lives, the conversation included the possibility of having biological children, as well as adopting. But, with her special powers from Feyurna, they have another option too: growing a tree and granting it sentience.

Since both Glabra and Atron love gardening, this is something they could really do together. And, like, Atron doesn't feel a burning need of any sort to have biological relations. He's intensely demisexual, so before he lost his fertility he didn't think it would happen since he and Thinker planned to adopt. And then Thinker and him were on opposite sides of a war and they didn't officially break up but Atron had plenty of reasons to think that they'd never reconcile and somewhere in there he became a lich but then they were able to reconcile and Glabra was now there and... yeah. It gives him a chance at an experience that he never thought he would have.

This is a very long-winded explanation for a touching but amusing scene.

Its after the final battle, and they've finally been able to settle down. Their house has been built, and they've been able to landscape and plan their garden. And then, finally, they're able to plant some of the seeds they had saved that they will eventually bless to become their children.

And Thinker is all like "well, now the two of you need to have sex."

And Glabra's all like "but that's not how the spell works," and Atron's all like "yeah this isn't a fertility spell but there'll still be babies in the end."

And Thinker is all like "well, yes, but that's no reason you have to skip this fun step of babymaking."

And they aren't going to argue with that logic, lol

[iapetusneume]

While she's getting better at it, Glabra is not great at perceiving someone's moral alignment. At first, she used to read a person's alignment as how they treated her. And because she's a cinnamon roll who genuinely wants to help others and has amazing charisma, she makes friends frighteningly easy. Including a lot of people who fall somewhere on the "evil" side of things, and a LOT of people in the morally grey area.

But, like, none of these are the sort who want to use her. No one is trying to take advantage of her. She is their friend whom they love and deeply care for. Many of them don't have a lot of close friends, and fewer who they know care for them like she does. She genuinely loves them and has stood up for them when few would.

She started the game terribly naive. Did not know what some of her new friends were doing. And when she started to figure out some of the things that were... not great... she was like "hey, I was wondering if you had ever considered not doing that?" She would ask in a way that was not judgemental. Or she was simply curious or confused to as why they would. Sometimes her questioning would lead them to rethink some of their behavior. Some would change the nature of it, like only targeting "other evil people." And she's not always sure exactly where this puts her in the grand scheme of things, but there's often a bigger crisis happening that she needs to focus on so she can't really give some of these details a lot of thought.

She's gotten a lot better at many things, like being able to predict behaviors. Right now they're in a big city with a lot of potential enemies. She knows she's bad at stealth, so trying to not put herself in a situation where its needed. She knows there's a good chance of being followed or being ambushed, so is trying to lean hard to avoid situations where that would be easier to do. Because she knows that even when it's possible, she has trouble spotting the actual tells.

And her morally grey and evil friends have picked up on this, too. Even when she's better than she was, that isn't where her strengths lie. She tries to have her sneakier teammates watch her back, and she knows that they continue to watch her back even when she doesn't ask. Because she comes off as a huge mark for con artists and other ne'er-do-wells, her grey/evil friends are fiercely protective of her. Its very much "oh no you don't, this is MY cinnamon roll."

Its led to her being in a unique position to help unite the world against the forces that would tear it apart, because she's actually willing to talk to evil people in an attempt to gain help. Sometimes shes asking an evil person to do a good thing, sometimes shes asking them to do a neutral thing. And because she's amazingly persuasive, she's often successful.

What is strange for me as a player is that I can see how this is setting her up to backfire amazingly one day. One of her friends is going to do something Evil and its going to give her a crisis of conscience. I don't know how it'll resolve. I don't know if her alignment will shift as a result. (In previous games, I've had Good characters shift to Neutral because of an action they've taken in-game. In both cases, I was warned that the action would change their alignment. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.)

For now, though, its led to some truly strange but wonderful role play. I didn't think it was possible for a Good character to be friends with Evil characters, and even convince them to do a lot of Good Things. And the fact that they mostly do it for her sake? Because they love her so much? I have a weakness for that.