#greyslate

[lucifer-just-needs-a-hug]

Okay I’m about to finish Candela Obscura everybody wish me luck

[conceiteddemon]

There were some little inconsistencies in the first Tide and Bone chapter that I’ve been gnawing on but I think I’ve pieced together the Maw’s plan that makes everything make sense with the new context given to us in the asylum directors letters.

Parts of the break in mission seemed too…smooth? It was bothering me that there was a screaming beast transformation followed by a murder/resurrection in the backyard and that none of the guards, who were explicitly stated to be on high alert and had timed periods of feigned casualness drilled into them, didn’t go check on All of that. And maybe guards who work for greyslate have seen/heard their inmates do some weird shit and have learned to look the other way as long as it happens within the bounds of the sanatorium, fine, but in the middle of the night? In the backyard?? It seemed pretty sus to me before I realized

The Maw and the Serious Man had set up a Candela investigator honeypot

Here are the facts:

1. Sarkas’ escape from the sanitarium went oddly smooth, RIGHT after he witnessed some magic bullshit go on. It went so suspiciously that Rajan theorized that he might have been let out.

2. Sarkas had no proof of what he saw other than his word. According to Matt, a lot of Candela cases turn out to be ‘a drunk guy’ or ‘neophyte woman making big deal out of nothing’ or ‘mob hysteria’, so when Sarkas, who was previously in an insane asylum and had a background as a distrusted OUP, came to Candela with nothing but his word, it seems set up to appear as Baby’s First Investigation. Nekari and Cosmo, who are both old hat, heard about this assignment and thought it seemed ‘routine’. A little parting gift walkabout for an incredibly old man.

3. The Maw seems to mainly prey on the vulnerable. It took Rajan’s sister as a child thrall, and attempted to take him as well. This is speculation but if the Serious Man knew Raj’s mother well enough to stroll around with her, then it’s likely that she was involved with the Occult. Combine that with greyslate being a place where they put OUPs out to pasture, and her line about the circle having her ‘favorite flavors’, it seems like her preferred thralls are those who have had bleed exposure before. Investigators are both strong and vulnerable, and would make great thralls because they haven’t been ‘used up’ like the inmates were.

4. The director’s letters stated that the Maw needed stronger thralls as the current ones burned out too quickly.

So we’ve got the perfect setup to nab a few grade-A thralls, people who are in a line of work where disappearances happen regularly, are susceptible to the Bleed, come with a host of issues to feed upon but aren’t ‘greyed out’ yet like the inmates are. It seems like the perfect plan! Nab a circle, get strong thralls to get digging, set up some misdirection on where the group disappeared to once they are brainwashed and you know more about them.

Unfortunately for them, Cosmo rolled up with a guy who knew EXACTLY what he was fighting and had a chestful of locusts, a monster woman to engage the enemy monster woman in a kaiju battle, a backup triage lady since the first triage lady was preoccupied monster battling, and another dude with a personal vendetta who literally physically cannot die.

[quinn-of-aebradore]

Since I've seen some folks being interested and the fic itself is still a work-in-progress, I thought I'd give a little introduction for the Essek and Caleb in my Candela Obscura AU! The above are their designs as I put together in Hero Forge and of course, here is them drawn by Maddy!

Essek in this world is an occultist who was raised in a very devout Ascendancy worshipping family in Briar Green. While he attended Briar Bank College, he was contacted by EONS and began doing work for them. As that connection went on its course and eventually came to a disastrous ending, Candela made contact with him as a way of damage control, with Lightkeeper Yussa Errenis taking him in as a ward, sort of, which led to Essek meeting—and eventually joining—the Circle of the Nein. He is currently retired from field work and serves as Lightkeeper to the Circle of Pearl.

Caleb, on the other hand, was born outside Newfaire in Tottergrass but grew up in South Soffit after his family lost their farm and moved to the city to find work. In his teens, he was offered an internship at EONS and spent time assisting in their labs in more ways than one, leading to his first exposure to The Flare and bleed. While on track to receiving a scholarship to Briar Bank College, he suffered a breakdown—the circumstances of which EONS has burned from the record and even Candela is unsure of—and spent several years in Greyslate. Whilst a Circle was in process of an investigation at the Sanatorium, Caleb escaped and soon found his way to Candela, becoming part of the Circle of the Nein as a professor soon after. He is currently retired from field work and serves as Lightkeeper to the Circle of Amber.

The fic I'm currently working on takes place after their retirements, though I have plenty of ideas about the events before that and of their backstories that I may turn into their own fics down the road. Which is why certain details are omitted here. If I remember to, I'll maybe post a snippet for WIP Wednesday this week :3

[vexing-imogen]

nocturne

Elsie sees to him last, at his insistence. Rajan has never been overly fond of doctors (with one notable exception), and whatever she had done in the tunnels below Greyslate has kept him from death's door for now.

"I'll be back," she says, once he's settled on the sofa, assurance and threat in one. He won't be weaseling his way out of this one.

He regards the crumbling ruin of his torso and thinks that is probably for the best.

Rajan settles in to wait for Elsie to return, knowing it may take a while, given the extent of Cosmo's injuries alone. He closes his eyes, tilts his head back, relaxes into the cushions of the sofa, and...does not sleep. It is not the pain in his chest that keeps him awake, rather the yawning ache of emptiness. Stillness and quiet where there is usually a low drone of activity.

It reminds him far too much of their his house that sits abandoned in Briar Green. The only difference being that he knows the swarm will eventually return.

Soft footsteps draw him out of thoughts that are spiraling into maudlin. "Raj?"

He cracks an eye open, takes a moment to focus through the kaleidoscoping fractals. Elsie stands in the doorway, her black bag in one hand, still covered in dirt and blood, her hair falling from its pins. Beautiful.

"Elsie." He gives her a half smile, sitting up straighter, wincing as the movement pulls, close to tearing.

She brings a stool over to sit in front of him, sets her bag on the sofa beside him. "How are you feeling?" she asks, tracing cool fingers over the scars above his eye. He leans into the touch for just a moment.

"I've been worse," he tells her. That gets him a raised eyebrow and an annoyed twist of her lips.

"Right, of course." He can see the muscle working in her jaw as she turns away from him. Her hands clench and unclench in her lap. "You promised that you wouldn't make this difficult."

He hadn't really, not in so many words, and certainly not with any degree of sincerity at the time. But he knows when to swallow his pride, and so he takes one of her hands in his, strokes his thumb gently over her knuckles, his touch lingering on the indent where a ring used to sit.

"What do you need from me, darling?"

Elsie turns back to him with a sigh, pulling her hand back. She steels herself before pulling open the tattered remains of his shirt and jacket, exposing the gaping wound on his chest.

"Tell me how I can help you," she pleads. "How do I-" Her hands flutter nervously for a second. "Is there anything I can do to fix...this?"

Whatever Rajan may have been expecting, nothing could have possibly prepared him for Elsie reaching her hand into his chest and stroking along the torn edges of the hive. All of the breath leaves his lungs on a gasp, and something hot races down his spine. He meets Elsie's wide eyes, and realizes belatedly that his hand is clamped, vice-like, around her wrist.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," she says breathlessly, withdrawing her hand.

"The swarm will return," he says after a moment, his extremities still tingling, "and they will take care of...internal repairs." And expansion, but she needn't worry about that. "The most you can do for me is close the wound."

"Okay." She nods, reaching for her bag, all business. "Lie back."

She works in silence for several minutes, cleaning the edges of torn skin, numbing the area as best she can, and starting to stitch him up. The sensation is uncomfortable, but never painful. He allows himself to relax into it; her hands delicate and precise, her gaze intent.

"I-I didn't realize-" She starts and stops tentatively. "How long has this been a part of you?"

He doesn't answer right away. "Since the night I lost my sister."

"Raj," she breathes. He has to look away from the pity in her eyes. "Why did you never tell me?"

He hums. "I suspect for the same reason you never told me about your illness," he says. She freezes, and he reaches up to tuck an errant curl behind her ear. "It was my burden to bear, Little Bird."

She is nearly finished before she speaks again, working on the last few stitches. "I never wanted to hurt you, Raj," she whispers, loose strands of her hair tickling his bare chest.

"Nor I, you," he says. "And, yet, here we are."

"Where do we go from here?" she asks, once he is stitched and bandaged, his shirt mostly back in place.

Rajan sighs. "To sleep, Elsie."

"Be serious."

"I am," he insists. "It's been a long day, we're both exhausted. Anything else can be left for the morning."

He watches her shoulders slump, the stubborn set of her jaw relax. "Fine." She finds a blanket for him and turns off the lamps. Then he watches as she frees the rest of her hair from the pins, removes her shoes, and curls up like a cat on the opposite side of the sofa.

"What are you doing?" he asks, incredulous.

Elsie huffs. "All of the guest rooms are occupied," she says, adding in a softer voice, "and I don't have the energy to climb the stairs to my room tonight."

He hums, can feel sleep finally coming to claim him. "Sleep well, Elsie," he murmurs, running his thumb over her ankle; once, twice. "May your dreams be free from shadows."

She pokes him in the hip with her toe. "And may the morning come swiftly."

***

Rajan wakes just a few hours later, as the sky is starting to lighten in the pre-dawn. There is a warm weight pressed against his side, and he finds that he and Elsie have migrated towards each other in the night. Her head is on his shoulder, her arm flung across his waist, and he barely has to move his head to be able to smell the traces of jasmine and honey on her skin.

She mumbles something unintelligible and snuggles closer. He inhales deep, catching the underlying scent of petrichor and bleed, closes his eyes again, allowing them both a moment of comfort before they have to face a new day and whatever lies ahead.

[agreeablesenseofthemacabre]

Would anyone be interested in a fic about Nathaniel and Sean pretending to get engaged so they can use the Trapp family name(tm) to get Sean’s mom out of Greyslate? With all the drama that would cause ??

[drippingmoon]

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

What's an element from your planning, research or worldbuilding that you're particularly excited about or obsessed with?

Share a snippet that shows it, if you'd like to 💜

Happy Storyteller Saturday, winter!! I've never and don't really participate in the ask days, but thank you very much nonetheless for the question❤ Answering for AoS because otherwise I'm gonna give myself 'quiv blues lmao.

So I get to talk about the Beast my beloved?? Awesome<3

The Beast of the Deep Night (designation: aberration of light) is all void limbs, its lambent eye, and all circular movements. There's one way to tell if its near: she swirls, circles, sways and dives for a star; everything is greyslate and suddenly you open the cabin door and see its lambent eye (that's how it tears itself a window into the universe). It can only move circularly because she follows a rhythm only it can see, though people still debate if it's because the Beast is removed from life, or if it follows the pattern of the universe itself<3

(And basically it makes planets furious, stars seethe, and humans crap themselves in fear) Now for the worldbuilding part I wanted to get to!!

(Got jumped in the middle of the chapter, and loved it. So naturally I wanna expand it further next time I'm writing)

There's another ongoing debate: if it's worse to die by the Beast or by the war. At one point everyone started to unanimously vote for the Beast and this is why: they believe it came into being because the universe was losing too much too quickly and got nothing in return, so it created a creature that couldn't lose anything to protect itself, and that it loathed the selfish.

So, if you are selfish enough and it devours you, she erases you. There won't be mourners, there won't even be death because it's as if you've never existed and disappear like smoke from the stars it snuffs out. So they're afraid of all the ghosts of people they might not remember, and they're afraid of being meaningless, of never having made a difference and of never having a single loved one light a lantern in remembrance, to grieve because they were loved.

And yeah, that's the original Beast: gatekeeper, homeless entity, IT specialist in deleting, glitch (when a nebula glitches, it's a heartbreaking phenomenon, but when a star glitches, it becomes undead remorse) and would probably the cutest critter in the universe if it asked for belly rubs in-between scratching and tearing, but alas.

Thanks so much for the question!!

[samwellwinchesterthebrave]

Okay, I am just now watching chapter 3 of Candela Obscura and I'm about an hour into it and hot damn.

First of all, I am falling in love with Noshir's voice. I need to go find more things with him in it stat.

Second of all, I love Aabria's outfit. Her hair is amazing and that necklace is just *chef's kiss*

I love the mystery so far of this one. We're as much in the dark as the circle and it's delicious. We know something hinky is going on. We've known Greyslate is hinky because of what happened to Sean's mom. But everyone is walking into this mostly blind and it's delightful.

I have a feeling this is gonna be a really intense circle. Especially as we have so many connections shown early on

[marvelousbelladonna]

Aunt Bea visits Greyslate

Part 1/2

[theshapeshifter100]

Thought about Candela chapter 2, and what's mentioned in the Quick start guide (this got a bit longer than I intended, and spoilers, obviously

Well, one, Spencer killed off two named EONS NPCs, which, bold move, but definitely makes it clear that what was canon to his game doesn't have to be canon to your game.

On that note, the 4th Pharos.

Under 'Key Assets' for the organisation Candela Obscura in the QSG, the 4th Pharos is described as such

'A vault located within the Flare that houses phenomena to keep them from corrupting the world with bleed.'

Which is true to what Spencer showed us. Spencer showed a dark fucking take on it, but it's not inaccurate.

I will now share what the QSG has to say about Greyslate Sanatorium.

'The asylum located in the Sidle. It's often used to hide away civilians and agents who were subjected to too much bleed. The OUP frequently uses the slang 'going grey' in reference to this facility and the effects of bleed.'

If you don't know (because this didn't really come up in chapter 2) the OUP stands for 'Office of Unexplained Phenomena', and they're a government group, attached to the police force (the Periphery) that mostly covers up bleed incidents.

If we look at what Spencer showed us with the 4th Pharos, and what's written about Greyslate, the two organisations seem to have the same idea of dealing with people exposed to too much bleed. Lock 'em up and throw away the key, forget about them, they're too far gone.

I'm now going to bring up the third faction in all of this, EONS.

Now, EONS does have its own version of the 4th Pharos; the Devil's Well.

'Located under the Glass Sea, this was an attempt by EONS to create a vault styled after the 4th Pharos.'

Now, whether the Devil's Well also holds a prison of the damned is up to the GM. However, EONS is the only group that seems to be trying to find a way to help people infected with too much bleed, with Adjuvant.

"An experimental antidote for bleed, or rather, an attempt to stop the 'negative human reaction to the natural phenomena of bleed'"

They are the only group of the three factions here to have this kind of resource. While EONS is generally not good, I just find it interesting that they're the ones actually trying to reverse the effects of bleed in people. Not OUP, who are probably too bound by bureaucracy and a corrupt system to try. And not Candela, which has been around since before Oldfaire fell, and is probably the foremost authority of bleed and its effects, but they aren't doing anything either.

My two thoughts on that are; Candela knows something EONS doesn't. Or, Candela tried, failed, and is arrogant enough to think that because they tried and failed, there is no way of doing it.

Anyway, this whole thing is likely very intentional on the part of the game designers and world builders. It's not interesting to have one shiny, good organisation you work for, and the rival being entirely evil.

Though of course, in the end, it's all up to how you want to play it. If you don't want the 4th Pharos to be a prison for the damned, fine. In your game, it doesn't have to be. In the same way Avery Choi and Violet Boucher can be alive in your games. It's all part of the fun.

It's just this comparison just wouldn't leave me alone!

[moze-xoxo]

homestuck ask game!

88, 89, 94

88. Favorite homestuck fics

I have a lot! Here's one I really liked by @acedavestrider

89. Favorite homestuck fanartists

tons of faves. here's a few i rly like: @the-suckiest-sburb-of-all @disabled-stuck @raddical @shortcakeproject @tomatograter @solluxdyke @davey-babey @greyslates

94. What would your strife specibus be?

clubkind I think! I would use a very colorful morning star.

[staticrevelations]

how did i miss that we're returning to greyslate ???

[anonymous-blog-supporter]

❁GO FOLLOW THEM❁

❧ Here’s a Blog that’s truly Amazing! ❣ @greyslate ❣ Go follow and support their awesome content !

[letsgetagift]

1 Whisky, 2 Whisky, 3 Whisky, Floor - Slate Coaster

Engraved is ‘1 Whisky, 2 Whisky, 3 Whisky, Floor’. A

great fun novelty gift with an engraved saying on a simple slate coaster.

A great gift for any occasion from birthdays and anniversaries to Christmas!

Each coaster is ever so slightly different and is approximately 10cm x 10cm.

The coaster has foam feet at the base. Your coaster may have a small amount of fool’s gold which naturally occurs in slate, we think this adds a lovely natural and rustic effect to the coaster but we ensure that the fools gold is not in excess or affects the design of the coaster.

Caring for your coaster: Avoid any excessive weight or impact, wipe clean only. Not dishwasher or microwave safe. Air dry.

http://nemb.it/p/wKgyv8mPqn/tumblr

[hzxstone]

Chinese Natural Grey Slate Stone For Kitchen and Bathroom Floor Tiles

Slate has variable surplus structure and cryptocrystalline structure, and its structure is plate-like structure. The rock that has no recrystallization is a metamorphic rock. The original rock is shale, mudstone, siltstone, or neutral tuff, which can be stripped into thin slices along the bedding direction. The color of the slate varies with the different minerals it contains. Iron-containing materials are red or yellow; carbon-containing materials are black or gray; calcium-containing materials will foam when exposed to hydrochloric acid. hzx@hzxco.com

https://www.hzxstone.com/slate/natural-grey-slate-floor-tiles.html

[beajarenojewellery-blog]

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[greyslates]

i accidentally put an S on the end of my signature like i was signing into fucking roblox omfg