#honestly i love when fantasy worlds mix cultures

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

I don't know if it's anywhere near your realm of interest, but the next Dragon Age game is gonna release soonish and it appears that it's gonna heavily feature a Spain-based area. Sort of. They kind of mishmash a lot of real life inspirations, but there's a country called Antiva that's a Venice-inspired merchant country, but the language, names, and aesthetics seem to be mostly Spanish. Other than plutocracy and political corruption, it is known for having THE guild of assassins in the continent. Idk it seems like the kind of thing that would interest you hahaha

that's SO FUNNY

i've never played a dragonage, are they mmos??? i know they're rpgs but i have no idea beyond that. i don't know if i'll play it just cause i have a laptop that is already having trouble running games like the sims 4 lol, but maybe if it comes out for console or in the future when i get a pc ??

[sicklyworm]

hello your taste in characters is so cool and based i LOVE shang qinghua. i was wondering what ur thoughts r on his relationship with shen qingqiu as portrayed in the books and in canon?

i feel like even tho they have great scenes together, we don't get all that much interaction between the two so its easy to miss key details about how exactly their dynamic works.

like, in fanfiction i often find that writers tend to write shen qingqiu as like Incredibly antagonist towards shang qinghua or they're the bestest friends in the entire world and neither of those feel quite right, but otherwise getting their relationship accurate seems to be kinda tough.

Oh dear moot thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about this!

My thoughts on cannon Cumplane:

SQH and SQQ's friendship mostly stems from circumstance.

Both of them are modern men in a ancient fantasy world with little to no connection too there past lives. They both have to act out the strict standards of ancient chinese culture while on the inside both of them are brain rotted netizens.

So having another transmigrator who they can unmask with and be able to say all the shit they can't elsewhere is probably super cathartic!

They do like pestering and annoying each other in cannon. But rather than interpreting this as animosity i believe this is just another sign of them cutting loose and being more authentic than they usually can be.

Now this not to say they are ride or dies. Both of them have things they prioritize over there friendship and that's okay! They can have a good friendship without being all super loyal and dramatic about it.

Honestly it would be OCC if SQH suddenly stopped be a slimy rat bastard because he was circumstance buddies with SQQ. And with how thin SQQ's face is it would be SUPER OCC for him to declaring they were besties lol.

Also side note about SQQ being portrayed as antagonistic in fanfiction:

Many people find SQH relatable and get really defensive about his character because of that. I can easily understand someone misinterpreting there dynamic as hostile and getting super defensive and start character bashing SQQ because of that.

We all love our favorite characters but it's important to keep a level of separation in mind when writing!

Extra:

I was rereading the books to make sure my brain wasn't getting things mixed up and I realized that most of the time SQH is the one doing the pestering in cannon. Yes SQQ does go on his little tirades about PIDW but with his face being so thin and SQH being so shameless it's usually SQQ at the butt of the jokes!

[elderscrollsconceptart]

I love elder scrolls but I'm sad about how orientalist it can be

I didn't specialize in it, but The College and department I went to specialized in South East Asian studies. So for a long time I've been acutely aware of the obvious artistic and creative influences on various TES societies, art styles, motifs, etc.

Orientalism has a bizarre mix of pandering assumptive stereotypes, romanticism, and at its worst, pure racism. Orientalism originated via dangerous and racist western attitudes of past centuries which were used to simplify and insultingly coddle and ostracize non-western cultures while also allowing westerners to access said cultures via a smug sense of superiority and curiosity.

There are a lot of East Asian, South Asian, North African, Middle Eastern influences in the various societies and cultures of TES.

I cannot speak for how people of those backgrounds may feel about how the various artistic styles and inspirations have influenced the art and lore of TES.

All I can say is there is a lot of IRL cultural influence in TES. Creating a vast fantasy world and *not* taking IRL cultural inspiration is hard. IMO it's practically unavoidable unless you want to get REAL WEIRD with the lore and art in the way Michael Kirkbride does (he can create genuinely alien cultures).

I am of the personal opinion that cultural artistic inspiration is fine as long as it is done with *deep* respect, care, and dignity towards the civilization it is taking inspiration from.

I personally feel TES does more than enough to go beyond simple cultural artistic inspirations and creates something that is both very familiar and also entirely new.

For example, let's look at how Argonian art and culture is depicted in TES.

Besides the Kukri knives which are of South Asian origin, were largely looking at a fictitious culture that has extreme aesthetic similarities to indigenous cultures of Central and South America.

I myself am descended from such people IRL.

I have direct family connections to specific tribes in Northern and central Mexico. Am I bothered seeing a fictional series taking direct artistic inspiration from the ancient cultures of my ancestors? And that our culture is applied to a bunch of weird lizard people no less?

Yes, it does bother me a little. However, when I think about it I also realize there is nothing ignoble about the Argonian people or how they are represented in game or art. I mean look at them. What is there to be ashamed of when you look at them, talk to them, *see* the Argonians and how they live?

The Argonians are quite frankly, super fucking cool badasses. They have a complicated, dark, heroic, and fascinating history. Just like my ancestors. Why would I shy away from seeing the culture of my ancestors inspiring a proud fictional civilization?

There's nothing to be ashamed of when I see my culture represented or taken inspiration from as long as it is not being used in a demeaning or insulting manner.

I don't feel Bethesda is acting with racist or ill intentions when they take artistic inspirations from real cultures. I want to give them credit. A lot of very intelligent and learned people work for Bethesda. Many of their creatives come from all over the world and from many different cultural backgrounds.

For example! Many of the artists who worked on the western inspired civilizations of Cyrodiil and Skyrim were of East Asian, South Asian, and African descent. They took it upon themselves to learn the artistic cultural stylings they wanted to take inspiration from and to represent them in an authentic but still creative and unique way. This is what any good fantasy series should be able to do.

They know the world is huge and every culture is endlessly diverse. There should be no shame in depicting or taking inspiration from a culture or their artistic style as long as such inspiration and depiction is done diligently, honestly, and with respect.

I feel that the art and artists of TES have faced up to this challenge and expectation and have (largely) met it. There are some examples that do make me roll my eyes, but even these are largely just cases of lazy artistic expression or generic inspiration.

All in all, artists and creatives absolutely can and should do more to ensure their inspirations from non-western cultures are done with tact and respect. I personally feel the creative behind TES have been meeting expectations in this regard and have done a fair job of taking inspiration without being insulting.

[kirkwallguy]

Having a fictional culture with both good and bad mixed takes is good and juicy, and feels very real. However i won't understand this fandom's hype over qunari politics. Women can't be warriors so when they want to show or develop fighting skills they're treated as men and they're men now. That's... Okay to fandom ppl? Exciting?

Don't get me wrong it's so interesting like the way they think gender works, sexism evolving into gender transition and how they're executed etc etc it's all good I'm not criticising writing here. It's more like the way people got excited over it like "look they have a word for trans people!!" And the context is that women not being allowed to fight. I'm not even sure if all of these aqun-athlok warriors are trans men at heart / just accepting to be a man just to fight and sacrificing their gender for it...

I still think aqun-athlok is a wonderful word and idea but in Qunari culture it's just reflecting on the place a person has in society, and by place i mean job, they don't have concept of individuality

no i agree honestly. i do actually love an oppressive fantasy society (wearing my giant "I ❤️ FANTASY HOMOPHOBIA" tshirt) but the aqun-athlok just being treated as a nice trans rights thing (in-universe and by fandom) doesn't make much sense to me. the way women "becoming" men in order to fill a man's role in society and trans men transitioning are lumped together without acknowledgement doesn't feel great tbh, it walks into transphobic mindsets in a way that makes me think they just straight up didn't know what they were talking about with krem. it also tells us nothing about trans women in qunari society, which WOULD be interesting if they were making a point about transmisogyny buuut i don't think they were

tbh i just find the qunari's whole thing iffy so i don't really play in that space all that much. people more knowledgeable about this have probably posted about it but it does just not come across great that they're these invading misogynistic fanatics belonging to a mysterious and violent "race" with a religion that is consistently treated as a threat. it feels like something that belongs in an 80s/90s fantasy world. i really hope they've walked this back a little in dav but considering what i read of tevinter nights i doubt they will

[something-pithy]

Notes and an Update: What's in a Name?

Chapter 16 of an echo, a stain features Astarion doing what he does best -- feeling terror, spiraling and at the very least contemplating terrible choices as a result. lol.

SPOILERS FOR ACT 2 OF BG3 BELOW

Those of you who are mostly caught up on an echo, a stain know I love me a flashback (and now the rest of y'all know, too lol). There are two in this new chapter, one of which is set in the Shadow-Cursed lands after Astarion has confessed his initial intentions toward and current feelings/desires for Tav to Tav (post-Orthon confession). As a result of that conversation, they've put a pin in the sexual aspects of their relationship, but are still together romantically. Then, the Araj Moment happens (spoiler alert: nobody bit that heifer), Thaniel is reunited with Oliver, Halsin's... admiration of Tav is becoming more apparent, and Astarion is... yes! Spiraling!

I think that flashback speaks for itself, and I'll let y'all get what you will from when / where in the story it appears.

The OTHER flashback, which is much more brief, is about this Tav's name. Now, I'm not trying to make any secret of the fact that the Tav in this story and I have a lot in common in terms of ethnic backgrounds when you remove the high fantasy fake world element from Tav's lol. FIRST I want to say, I don't give a fuck. There is no shame in my game. Nobody comes for George R.R. Martin or Robert Jordan or J.R.R. (the Rs are for REALLY RACIST) Tolkein (don't @ me -- or do, go ahead and send me an ask if you really want to know my feels on that one looool) for writing about characters whose ethnic and cultural backgrounds are Western European / British.

Second of all, maybe I'm being unnecessarily defensive because I'm an old head who came up in a time when writing a self-insert character was like THE VERY WORST POSSIBLE THING YOU COULD DO AS A WRITER, but once again I don't give a fuck.

The lived experiences of ethnic minorities, people of mixed ethnic and cultural heritage (not fucking half-elves who most of the time are just people of the Caucasian persuasion with pointy ears and shorter lifespans than regular elves), first generation children of immigrants, and all manner of permutations of non-white, non-Western "others" are in extremely short supply in all forms of media / popular narratives in the Western world (shit honestly, it ain't just the West but that's another struggle for another day). This is especially true, from what I've experienced as a lifelong nerdalerd, in speculative fiction.

So yeah, I conceived my Tav as a mixed-race (kind of, she's all high elf, but mixed sun, moon, and sea because she's a motherfucking unicorn, come at me bro looool -- no, there are other reasons too but also she's a unicorn lol), mixed-ethnic-and-cultural-heritage person whose life choices are NOT aligned with a lot of the conventions and values of the cultures in which she was raised.

Because that story and perspective is wildly underrepresented in literature, mass media, speculative fiction, and fan fiction.

So here we are. loooool

Having said all that, I got a comment from my fucking delightful beta and queen of my soul, Komo, asking about the naming conventions I reference in this chapter (or their real-world analogues).

So for the notes part of this episode of "Notes and an Update," I'm going to quote part of the comment she left on AO3 about the story and my response, which adheres to my policy of "why say it in five words if you can say it in EIGHT MILLION." Let me know what you think!

NAMING CONVENTIONS IN AEAS

(FROM THE COMMENTS SECTION OF AN ECHO, A STAIN CHAPTER 16:)

Komo wrote:

I have so many questions about naming conventions, both from the corner of the world that Tav’s family hails from and BG proper. Like, in American and Japanese culture, women take their husband’s last names when heterosexual couples get married. In the States, there are exceptions to this rule, of course, with some women hyphenating. In China, women do not change their last names, but kids are almost always named after the father’s side (the old one child policy may have affected this, but the top 100 most common surnames make up 85% of the population anyways). If Tav and Astarion do end up together, would names be a thing they’d have to navigate? Astarion is such a possessive little yandere after all.

I wrote:

OK so this Tav's ethnic and cultural background, as we know, is mixed

(I'm not even getting into her racial background I just can't with fucking elvish loool and her families on both sides are far-enough removed from immersion in elven culture where I'm like LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL SEE YOU LATER TOLKEIN).

On her father's side, she's Zakharan / DnD-analogue MENA (Middle Eastern North African, with apologies to Said for the orientalism of the term Middle Eastern).

On her mother's side, Amnian / New Amnian / DnD-analogue Latina but -- oh lordt OK without getting into the complexities of codified colonial Spanish racism and colorism, that identity is complicated. Through a combination of executive decision-making about elves and race and how they interact with culture on the material plane (aka not in the Feywild) AND really leaning into the idea of cultural analogues in Toril / the Forgotten Realms, her Latina-analogue ethnicity comprises a mix of indigenous and colonizer racial/ethnic heritage.

(I also can't with how fucking convoluted figuring this out was, is, has been, will forever be looool.)

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, for the sake of brevity (looooooooooooooooool), we'll say Tav's full name results from the combination of her parents' names using Amnian/New Amnian (Spanish) naming conventions, BUT that means her full name (which is not even as long as it could be but is LONG) incorporates both Arabic naming conventions AND Spanish naming conventions that result in impressively / annoyingly long names loool.

In modern Spain, at least, when women marry, some don't even take their husband's name. But the kids' names are composites of parents' family names.

A Spanish child takes the surnames of both their father and mother. The structure is usually [father's surname] y [mother's surname] (though in modern Spain and Spanish-speaking countries a lot of people no longer use the "y"), but the main surname would be the father's surname. So for example, someone's full last name might be Juana Garcia y Martinez or Juana Garcia Martinez, but she might just go by Juana Garcia.

ALSO, especially for children of families of some kind of note / nobility when the dad's family was not as well-known as the mother's, this would include the composite names of both parents.

So Juana's name might be Juana [Garcia de Manzanilla (dad's composite surname)] y [Martinez de Hierro (mom's composite surname)].

So Juana Garcia de Manzanilla y Martinez de Hierro. And like, when people get real into it this can go back generations. Like, I don't even remember my mom's whole-ass name. looool.

NOW, Arabic names are composites, too, but incorporate the father's first name, the grandfather's first name, then the family name -- back in the day, they'd link these things with words that indicated the relationships. So for example, if Yemina's dad is Yusuf and HIS dad is Muhammad and their family name is Rashid, Yemina's name would then be Yemina bint/bin (daughter of) Yusuf ibn (son of) Muhammad al-(of the family) Rashid.

So Yemina bin Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Rashid.

OK SO THERE'S ANOTHER COMPLICATION (aren't you glad you asked this question loooooooooooooooooooool): with regard to Spanish naming conventions, apparently this patrilineal thing hasn't always been the case and only came to be the norm around the mid-1700s. Before that, surname transmission was often matrilineal.

(This comes into play here because the year in BG3 is like, idk, 1492-98 or something? I forget whatever who cares it's before the mid-1700s and I'm just making it vaguely and very much not perfectly analogous with the time / calendar of the Western world because I don't have the bandwidth for anything else loooooooooool).

In this Tav's case, her mom ditched her dad and the kids were young enough at the time that she was able to, as a sign of DEEP FUCKING DISRESPECT TO HIM loooool, change their names to MATRILINEAL AMNIAN-STYLE COMPOSITE SURNAMES LOOOOOOOOOOOOL

(So for a while Tav's government name was Zeneida Nqa Tavares de la Torre de López Jimenez y bin Harun ibn Ishaq al-Jazairi loooool)

I mean this was like looooooooooooooool FUCKING PROFOUNDLY SCANDALOUSLY DISRESPECTFUL FOR HER TO DO TO A ZAKHARAN MAN especially one of SOME NOTE WHO WAS SELF-MADE

That shit was mad personal and a level of petty that mere mortals can only aspire to it was so deep

But TAV'S MOM DOES NOT PLAY

(Now, could she have just cut Tav's father's name out entirely? Sure, but 1) THAT MOTHERFUCKER IS NOT GETTING OUT OF CLAIMING THESE KIDS / PAYING CHILD SUPPORT esp if he ever got married again HER KIDS ARE THE FUCKING HEIRS AND HE AIN'T GON FORGET IT and 2) (possibly more importantly) FUCK HIS COUCH, PEOPLE ARE GONNA KNOW HE FUCKED AROUND AND FOUND OUT)

Even though he's deadass like "lol wtfever I don't give a fuck, I know what their real legal names are" and also this resulted in a protracted, multinational legal battle that was never actually resolved until each kid reached the age of majority and decided what their own legal name would be.

Ahem, anyway as a consequence of all this, Tav's full-ass, whole-ass, government name is:

Zeneida (first given name)

Nqa (middle given name)

bin Harun ibn Ishaq al-Jazairi (full Arabic/"Midani" patrilineal surname)

y (conjunction [means 'and'])

Tavares de la Torre de López Jimenez (mother's full surname)

So: Zeneida Nqa bin Harun ibn Ishaq al-Jazairi y Tavares de la Torre de López Jimenez

But as we know, she just goes by Zeneida Tavares, and she wasn't lying when she said on most docs it's just "Zeneida Nqa Jazairi Tavares."

Second...

tl;dr: Tavvy for short. Ms. Tavares if you nasty.

ALSO LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

If Tav and Astarion do end up together, Astarion better adjust them expectations, bc after all the drama that's existed around her name, he gonna have a hard time getting her to change it looool

Not to mention, she has a career based in part on people knowing who she is so... loooool

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO IF THE STARS AND PLANETS EVER ALIGN FOR THEM / THEY EVER GET THEIR HEADS OUT OF ASSES

[findyourrp]

🌺 Hello lovelies! I'm a 21+ year old woman looking for someone to do a MxM original fantasy rp with!

🌻 I'm looking for someone who is interested in a degree of world building and plotting. I would love a "classic" medieval-esque world but I'm also open to alternative ideas as well (urban modern fantasy, other pseudo-historical settings... whatever else you can think of!). Our world doesn't have to be super original, in fact I'm very open to taking from existing IP and mixing and matching as we want but I love getting to come up with some lore that could be relevant to our characters (think "how does magic work?", "what abilities and weaknesses do our vampires have?", "what are the different elven cultures like? How do they view humans? how do the humans view them?" etc.)

Some of my favourite tropes for this are:

vampires

elves

witches

fae/fairies (Celtic/traditional depictions)

other mythological creatures?

magical realism

knights (and the royals they protect 👀)

angels and demons (not necessarily Christian/Jewish) and the occult

gods

djinn, genies (mythology or popular culture)

soulmates (😍)

...

(Honestly, I'm open to a lot more!)

🌷 Despite loving to world build I prefer character-driven/focused stories overall and am not overly interested in pure "action" (combat etc.).

🌼 For the roleplay, I would love to stick to one main (MxM) couple but I'm open to including other MxM or FxF side pairings as well (not a requirement and I don't mind sticking to only our main guys!). No MxF though, please! I am also more than open to focusing on important platonic relationships for our characters.

🌸 One thing I want to note is that I don't like it when MxM (or FxF) pairings emulate heterosexual gender roles. There should not be the feeling of "this character is the woman in the relationship because he bottoms" (of course I'm not against a man who is more feminine when it comes to his mannerisms or interests, I just don't want to have the feeling that this is a straight couple just with the pronouns switched out so please no stereotypical top/bottom or seme/uke dynamics).

🌻I'm open to eventually writing smut and we can discuss the details of that as well but please keep in mind I'm not really looking for a roleplay that overly focuses on that.

🌺I write in 3rd person, past or present tense depending on your preference but please no 1st or 2nd person. When it comes to post length, I'm not super sure what I'm looking for and don't want to limit myself either way but I think shorter posts might be easier for me to handle while starting out (of course it also depends on what is going on in the roleplay and I think starters/time skips probably require longer posts anyway). I would prefer to roleplay on Discord.

🌼 A little warning beforehand: While I have been writing original stories and fanfiction since I was 11, I'm a new roleplayer and don't have much experience with this. I'm also not a native speaker and not always available due to health issues. I might be able to reply every single day for a while and then disappear for a week or two. Please be okay with this if you decide to roleplay with me!

If you are interested in roleplaying with me, please like this post and I'll get back to you!

Thank you for reading ~

.

[findmeinshattrath]

The War Within and the Worldsoul Saga Reveal

Some thoughts on the new expansion(s)

Not my favorite cinematic, but I liked it for the most part. Appreciated the more calm and intimate approach. Dialogue could have been better at some points though.

Anduin is a little generic looking for my tastes. He doesn't look bad, I just feel like you could toss him into most fantasy settings and he would fit. It's a very default protagonist look. Honestly, also reminds me a bit of the Warrior of Light they use in FF14 cinematics.

Alleria's going to look damn good though

Would not have guessed we'd be going all Journey to the Center of the Earth, but I AM FEELING IT!

The Shadow Priest's ex-knife returns and I am for it! Can't help but love the "edge of a knife" line in the trailer

All the new zones look damn interesting

Eager for the Nerubians, love those guys and I am expecting some friendlies. Somewhat mixed feelings on the look of the "evolved" Nerubians, but I like them overall

Isle of Dorn is intriguing. I love the Earthen and was expecting Titan-forged based on lore tidbits we've seen, so nothing shocking. Really enjoy the look of their buildings, it's a great take on the Dwarven aesthetic. Little bummed we don't seem to be getting anything that looks like the Northrend & Deepholm Earthen stuff.

New gryphons look dope

Earthen as an allied race is unexpected but very welcome! Would not have guessed they'd be neutral, but I am very grateful for that. May not be the most unique addition Alliance-wise, but seeing them in the Horde really gets me. Will probably elaborate on why in a later post.

Like the gemstones and SHOCKED Blizz actually gave the female Earthen beard options (love to see it)

Disappointed but not surprised that they don't get druids. Come on! Vrykul have them! Plus, could have had an Eonar connection

Ringing Deeps will probably be cool, but it kind of excites me the least for now. Do love the whole "underground cavern, pierced with sunlight from above, covered in plant life" thing though

Hallowfall caught me the most off guard

Underground neutral human civilization, descended from the Arathi, big light crystal, underground sea of monsters, air ships, Holy Fire, intense (and potentially dangerous, at least for us) faith in the Light. Goddamn. Might really have something here.

I am always in favor of potentially exploring different human cultures outside of the Alliance. That said, kind of a bummer that it's just another flavor of fantasy Europe like we always get.

Dragonriding coming to other mounts was expected, but nice to get confirmation

Hero Talents are very intriguing. Looking forward to seeing if they pull them off. If nothing else, the archetypes that come out of it will probably be fun to mess around with. A lot of the classes don't really have super unique "Hero archetypes" firmly established, so it'll be fun to see what they come up with.

Announcing 3 expansions at once is pretty ambitious, gotta say

Going back to Quel'Thalas to defend the Sunwell is gonna be cool. Lots they could do story and world-building wise.

Gryphon mount now, maybe dragonhawk next?

Curious and nervous about how Zul'Aman might fit into things (I'm really worried that they'll end up allied with the Void or just flat out destroyed)

Since we're probably going to kick Titan ass, I hope at least Eonar ends up on our side.

I wonder how Sargeras will fit into it

When I first saw the thing about warbands, I thought we were getting some sort of interactive companions/party members, like an evolution from followers and champions. Account wide stuff is nice though.

[pervigilatrix]

My top 5 books of 2022

(from someone who struggles to get motivated to read and only read about 15 books last year)

5) Heartstopper 1 & 2 - Alice Osman

The first two Heartstopper books really spoke to me and my experience as a bi person when I was in high school. They're SO easy to read, and they really got me out of a slump. I found that after the second book I didn't enjoy the next two as much, although they were still good. Be warned that there are mentions of EDs and suicide after the first book. 7.5/10

4) Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson

This book perfectly captures all of the elements I love of a mildly cheesy fantasy romance. We've got forbidden love, mystery, and some good plot twists. ALSO, IT'S A STAND ALONE BOOK!!!! HALLELUJAH!!! My one complaint is that the.last quarter of the book feels very slow, and ultimately it has a bit of an anticlimactic ending. However I still think it's worth reading. 7.6/10

3) Howls Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones

Okay. A classic. But an easy to read one. Such a cute and welcoming story, and if you're a fan of the movie, this will give you so much more context for what's going on (the Ghibli film is one of my favourite movies of all time, and watching it again after reading the book I saw so many things I'd never noticed before!). There is one point where the story got a tad confusing but it honestly didn't bother me at all. 8/10

2) The Charm Offensive - Alison Cochurn

I finished this book in less than 2 days. Absolutely adorable LGBTQ love story. I love the concept of the Bachelor-esque TV show. I was entertained the entire way though and genuinely laughed at certain parts. The characters feel loveable and real, particularly Dev, who I found super relatable and just a very well rounded character. However upon researching, some Indian-Americans have said that his character fell a bit flat when it came to representing their culture. Overall, super duper easy to get through, very in-a-slump friendly. Highly recommend if you're looking for an easy rom-com read. 9/10

1) Ninth House - Leigh Bardugo

My god. Stunning. In her lane. Absolutely thriving. This book made me love reading again after such a long time of it feeling like a chore. The world feels so magical and the characters are all so loveable in their own ways. The mix of fantasy, crime, mystery (and potentially a sprinkling of romance in later books) just works so well in this story. As you read the main story which is happening in Alex's present day, there are also bits and pieces of her past woven through, and you start to put pieces together of what's actually going on here. Highly, highly recommend. I can't wait for the next book in the series. 12/10

[lemonhemlock]

sorry I come busting in like this and honestly, you're free to delete this anon if you don't want this rant to clog ur tl and nice blog. <s>-ing it so it takes up less space. this will only be half comprehensive if at all lol can't be bothered sorrz but I'll try to approach it with as much sincerity as I can muster

"you can’t apply real world logic to the fake tv show"

we all unconciously apply "real world logics" to the fiction we read/see/talk about all the time. it's how we make sense of the fiction we read and the millions of opinions thrown at us.

what is implied by "logic"? I'm sure what we understand as our "real world logic" is vastly different from person to person. in my world cousin incest is encouraged. in my world my mother was married of at 15 to a 30 year old. does "logic" mean "modern belief system"? again I'd wager you use your modern belief system to interpret your fiction as well. (hell, historians/academics/anthropologists are trained to refuse the urge of applying modern belief systems and cultural universalism because doing that is so ingrained in us as humans to the point entire belief systems are build on it.) unless you're doing some specific reading feat. your applied academic theory/philosophy/politic/thruline of choice.

if the meaning of "you can’t apply real world logic to the fake tv show" is "oh 10 yos were historically expected to b breeding eager! (again what history are u using? surely not the one grrm is using.... which is barely any. if one at all lol) so don't question it! move on to the next scene - oh look a grown ass man kicking and manhandling an alcoholic child! they dont make them badass lil kids like they used to! oh look the gay man is sad bcs he cant make babies in the pseudo-historical fantasy world :( :D haha surely never happens in our real world! i mean back then, sureeee, but not today!" dont get me wrong. nobody HAS TO be appalled by 10yo aemond just as nobody has to be appalled by 14yo alicent being "groomed" either. because remember that's the "applied-real-life-logic" fallacy! wouldn't want to do that to our precious incest drama. keep ur brain at home when u visit the dragon and incest and child grooming show guys!

is my pointing out that aemond might be written as a character study or perhaps even a cautionary tale abt boys indoctrinated at a young age "applied-real-life-logic"? that's just a reading of a modern text parading as a historical text (!) with a consciousness towards the present modern issue of historical revisionism among young people. grrm loves his dragon, he loves his operatic incest dramas, but he also loves his societal critic. and sometime she mixes them all up for funsies. or is asoiaf and co's anti-war stance smh not "applied-real-world-logic"? or is being appalled by war somehow an acceptable presentist reading and cultural universalist stance but being appalled by a 10 yo groomed by adults around him to fuck good and make pure babies all while spewing supremacist shit is not? or was it the clumsy form and casual tone of a 50 words anon written in maybe 5 min of the latter that's not to ur liking

the characterization of aemond as a 10 yo was not pulled outta thin air either. my pointing out that aemonds speech and behaviour at 10 have much in common with 4channers and lil wannabe hitler youths is not that far fetched. sure you're free to disagree but throwing that "apply real world logic" falacy at someone for a reading you disagree with is just vacant. aemond is not a historical figure in which case I would be deeply averse to presentism and universalism and would be much more cautious in my reaction/tone towards behaviour that I deem deeply disturbing on various levels.

Of course I'm not going to delete your rant; you took great pains to write it and your points are as valid as anyone else's. Thank you for being so open with aspects of your own culture. I do agree with your stance that we are inadvertently influenced by own belief system whenever we interact with a piece of media or a written text. This fictional universe exists in the here-and-now and it would be kind of pointless if we weren't ever allowed to analyse it through a more sophisticated modern lens & just kept everything at "medieval morality" level all the time, so as to not be anachronistic.

However, I do feel like these two views can be reconciled somehow. I honestly think what the anon was trying to convey by the "real-life logic" comment was that 10-year-old Aemond is, in effect, also a prop for the showrunners to introduce narrative or thematic elements that they may want to develop later, not just a random little boy parroting ideology he doesn't fully understand.

Thus, little Aemond can be propagandized by other family members into believing Targaryen hype, including the joys & wonders of targcest, agreed. But, at the same time, he is also a character in a TV show, whose lines are written by someone, with framing decided by someone. There is authorial intent behind his appearances on screen, not everything is naturalistic, so to speak. And sometimes decisions pertaining to characters (especially those with little screen time) tend to be strategic. Meaning that, yes, the show is pointing out the consequences of targcest fascistoid indoctrination. But, it is also possible it wants to lay the building blocks for a future Helaena-Aemond dynamic and is using that scene to shoot two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Which is to say that if the authors (scriptwriters, directors, producers) wanted to introduce the audience to the possibility of helaemond, this is one way to do it. Little Aemond is being directed to stare wistfully at Helaena while imagining how cool it would be to marry her. Grown-up!Aemond is being directed to move his whole-ass chair and stare like a weirdo at his sister dancing with Jace. It's disruptive in the dinner table landscape, especially when compared to Aegon's reaction.

This is where subtext comes into play. And, because we're speaking of cues and innuendo, different people may interpret it differently. This is not to say that helaemond is a certainty, only that various visual storytelling hints have been employed, should they want to pick this thread up again in the future. I doubt that these two actors just so happened to come up with these acting choices on their own in one big coincidence.

If this were real-life and Aemond an actual person pining after his sister, perhaps these interactions wouldn't have occurred in the same manner. He would have looked at Aegon when having a conversation with him. He would have kept an eye on Jace and Helaena without physically moving his chair. These can very well be details added by the show-runners to subtly communicate something to us. Of course we can disagree on the nature of that information, but, from a logistical standpoint, it makes sense that they'd want to keep their options open, test the waters, and only in later seasons commit to a a certain path.

[fagsystem]

There are minimal spoilers here, but still some spoilers for Strange World. This specifically is an overview of the story.

First: The representation

The representation comes in two parts. Queer representation and mixed representation. I am not mixed nor a person of colour at all and I cannot speak much on it, but I will say what it is:

- This is a fantasy world. Everyone lives in a secluded area surrounded by impossible to get over mountains. Therefore, there is not the same races as we have here, so when I say someone is a race they are presumably that race. With that said, there are differences in skintones as well as some inspiration in some character designs taken from different cultures.

- Ethan, the protagonist, is mixed. He is also the gay one. His dad, Searcher, is white. His mother, Meridian, is black.

- Meridian is a black woman. She is in an interracial marriage with Searcher, who is white.

- Diazo, Ethan's love interest, is South East Asian. I do not know enough to figure out more specifics, but he is clearly Asian and his clothes are clearly inspired by floral designs. I believe Japanese, but I also could be incorrect, but he is definitely Asian. He appears only briefly, but is spoken about multiple times.

- Callisto is a side character who is Taiwanese. (Her VA is at least and she is not white).

That is about all I have to say about that. If anyone else has anything to add, please reblog:]

As for the queer representation:

If Diazo was a girl, the movie would have been the exact same. There was no bigotry or homophobia. I honestly doubt it exists in that world since he told his grandfather he had a crush on a boy without any sort of fear or hesitation.

Him being gay was both a plot point and absolutely irrelevant. It was a plot point due to the fact that his crush on Diazo was brought up multiple time and implied to be a relationship in the end. It was the exact same as if Diazo had been a girl, as if the movie had been straight.

It was beautiful.

I cried.

We first see it when he goes to see his friends and he panics spotting his crush. Then his dad sees that its his crush and does that cutesy embarassing his son by asking too many questions thing.

His grandpa, Jaegar, was trying to bond with him and discovers he has a crush. Ethan denies it, before bursting out that yes he has a crush and the guy he likes is so cute and he gets so flustered around him. Jaegar gives him (some admittedly bad) relationship advice.

There could be a blink and you'll miss it look of surprise on Jaegar's face, but I don't think there was. There was not even an assumption that Ethan was straight, he was not asked if he has a girlfriend or what the lady's name was. He was not even assumed to be straight by Jaegar.

It was beautiful.

It was so beautiful.

(Please do not talk about its lack of advertising on this post. I would rather not have every single post about Strange World focus on that, thank you. A seperate post could be made.)

[ladyniniane]

This or That? Tag

Thank you for tagging me @violets-in-her-arms-writes! It was fun!

|| HISTORICAL or FUTURISTIC ||

I love reading historical fiction. But I’m also aware of my limits, I’m not an historian or a specialist of any period. Beside, writing historical fiction is bit...restrictive. I like to be able to shape the worlds I want. I prefer researching specific eras or cultures to use them as inspiration for my fantasy cultures, though I never aim at reproducing them faithfully.  I always add my little twists. With a futuristic setting, all the possibilities are endless from technologies, to alien civilisations, to landscapes...

|| OPENING or CLOSING CHAPTER ||

Both are honestly really important. I love starting new story and I love finishing them, though I always feel a strong rush of emotion when I write the last lines of a story. I’m 300% invested in my writing. Seeing that my character are alright after the long journey they have been through is something really powerful.

|| LIGHT+FLUFFY or DARK+GRITTY ||

I write to breathe, I write to heal, I write to be happy and make my readers happy. I can and I do write dark things, my stories aren’t all rainbows and sunshine, but I would be unable to do just that. Darkness without a glimmer of hope isn’t what I want for me and my readers. This wouldn’t be fun, this would just be rubbing salt on old wounds.

Beside, though that’s a matter of personal taste, I don’t think that fluffy thing are inherently boring. There’s beauty in that too, and strength in optimism, especially in the time we live in.

|| ANIMAL COMPANION or FOUND FAMILY ||

My stories definitively need more animals (more cats. You always need more cats). I have numerous examples of found families in my stories, the heroines of my fanfic are a big found family for instance.

|| HORROR or ROMANCE ||

I don’t write horror often, I mostly use psychological horror when I do, but I prefer romance, for the same reasons I explained above.

|| HARD MAGIC SYSTEM or SOFT MAGIC SYSTEM ||

For me, magic is always something a bit mysterious and difficult to grasp, something that can be dangerous and unpredictable. I’ve trouble designing rules and very logical system. For me, it’s better if there’s some mystery. The only rules I have are “this magician can cast this or that spell”, “no magic (whether it comes from the darkness or the light) is inherently good or bad”, “healing magic can’t fix everything and won’t restore you perfectly” and “if you do too much magic, you will exhaust yourself”. That’s it.

|| STANDALONE or SERIES ||

I usually write standalone. I like stories that are self-contained. Though, I sometime writes several stories set in the same universe. And my fanfic won’t exactly be a standalone since there will be extra stories and a sequel, though centered on a different character.

|| ONE PROJECT AT A TIME or ALWAYS JUGGLING 2+ ||

I like to focus on one project and advance as fast as possible. The only time when I juggle is during the NaNoWriMo or the Camp. Then, I will work on my main projects and on a few less important things on the side.

|| ON AWARD WINNER or ONE BESTSELLER || 

I’m not sure. I’m not sure I would even want to be published. Though I chose the bestseller because sometimes I would like for my fanfic to get more traction and returns but...It’s alright as it is. I’ve made my mind.

|| FANTASY OR SCI-FI ||

I write mainly fantasy, maybe for aesthetic reasons I guess. You can have this ancient feeling, these universes out of time, magic, ghosts, the beauty of the countryside, castles...A world that is like ours but not exactly like ours.

But I’m not against writing sci-fi. I have several ideas that I may or may not explore. Especially a story mixing futuristic elements and japanese sprituality, with an heroine on a quest of self-discovery. Pilots, temples, buddhist nuns, kimonos, neons, that would be the aesthetic of this story.

I also have an idea about two aliens sisters, their complicated relationship and rebellion against their father’s tyranny.

|| CHARACTER DESCRIPTION or SETTING DESCRIPTION ||

Both. I think I’m quite good at providing descriptions that convey the personnality and essence of my characters. And I love describing settings and change ambiances every time.

|| FIRST DRAFT or FINAL DRAFT ||

First draft all the way. The revisions are the most tedious part of the process.

|| LOVE TRIANGLE IN EVERYTHING or NO ROMANTIC ARCS ||

Ok hear me out: I hate love triangles. Especially the love triangles in young adult novels. “Oh no, I don’t know if I love random badboy or friend next door teehee”. Seriously, give me heroines who know what they want. When I was 15-16 I mostly read adult novels because young adult books where full of this stuff. Anyway.

I would like to write a story without a romantic plot. Most of my stories feature proeminent romances. I write them because I find them cute and heartwarming. But I’m also aware that it contributes to the cliché that you need a SO to be happy. And I would like to write characters like me, who aren’t interested in romance (at least, many of my characters resemble me in the way that they don’t want to have children. Oops.). So maybe one day I will write a story about those two friends who have a café/library in a magic town and who aren’t interested in romance, thank you very much.

|| CONSTANT SANDSTORM or RAINSTORM ||

I love being inside when there’s a rainstorm and I love the smell of rain!

I tag...whoever wants to do it.

[ziskandra]

hello! for the questions for fic writers meme, a few questions for you:

Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Great minds must think alike, because I've answered 12 and 17 here! (Short answers: omegaverse and train controller AU, respectively) 7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of? As I mostly write shorter fics, worldbuilding doesn't crop up too often in my works (and consequently, it's not one of my strengths, either). That being said, the times I have stretched my legs with slightly longer stories, I have had fun with some of the worldbuilding elements! There are two fics I'd like to highlight in particular. Firstly, a rare Original Work: Aulia & Haidrul's Enchanted Weapons and Wares. Given I struggle with worldbuilding at the best of times, I was completely astonished to find myself writing a 10k origfic within the span of four days 😅 But I was on holiday when someone who's writing I admire came up as a last-minute pinch hit for an exchange, and the character types they requested fit in perfectly with this fictional world I'd kind of been building in the back of my head for years?

Which might sound a bit strange (then again, do I know how these things work? not really), but basically, it's low fantasy set in an Indonesian-inspired post-apocalyptic world, where magic is a known quantity but is dying out due to a rejection of tradition and a declining population. The story is basically framed as two elderly store proprietors telling stories about their Youth to a passing traveller who's going east to fight in the war (there's a dragon problem, but that's not the focus of this particular fic...), and how they built a happy life for themselves despite not living up to the expectations people had for them. Honestly, I'd love to write more in this world and expand on the universe more, but I have a certain impostor syndrome when it comes to stories inspired by my own culture: as a mixed-race person, I never really feel like I can lay claim to anything when it comes to race and ethnicity and that's something I'm still working through and unpacking for myself. Writing this fic was definitely a step in the right direction though and helped me let me overcome that fear a tiny bit for myself. Secondly, my longest Dragon Age fic, To Find A Cure, which is mostly told through a series of letters told between Anora and her wife, Warden-Commander Cousland, during the Inquisition-era while Cousland is off on her quest to, uh, find a cure for the Calling! I ended up knee-deep in Fereldan Politics Lore for this one, oops, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I also ended up with something of a sequel outlined with a bunch of OCs where Elethea Cousland (who's introduced in To Find A Cure: she's Fergus's daughter and was sent to Denerim as a child to be raised as heir to the throne), Rowan Guerrin the II (pours one out for Connor...), and a maternal cousin of Anora's run off to try and reunite Anora and Elissa when Anora is on her deathbed (Anora is of course, extremely displeased that her heir has disappeared when she is actively dying, but Elethea's a bit of a romantic...) It's basically inspired by The Stolen Throne but these three are aware of Ferelden's proud history of polyamory so, less tragic in the end.

Questions For Fic Writers

[verytiredbeaver]

Because I'm bored and it's almost the Christmas season I thought I might rank the John Lewis Christmas adverts over the last few years. For anyone who doesn't know John Lewis is a pretty big department store in the UK and its kinda a Christmas tradition that they release these fairly elaborate Christmas adverts every year.

I know this is just capitalist pandering and I'm ultimately playing into systems which are destroying the world and meaning of holidays.... anyway.

The 2012 advert is pretty good, people really like this one apparently and while it's a nice simple message it's too vague for me. I don't really feel anything out of watching it and the song isn't that good imo. 5/10

2013 is a tough one, on the one hand the designs are wonderful and Lilly Allen is an icon. Looking at the behind the scenes I realised that this at least partially animated by stop motion bur I dunno, something about this one still just doesn't click for me. I do like the whole message of sticking together despite differences but as a whole it's not really my favourite 6/10

I love Monty the penguin so much but the song isn't that good and just feels a tad off hut otherwise pretty great. I felt this penguins need to feel togetherness with another on a very deep level but the thing with the toys at the end just kind of doesn't click for me. 5/10

FINALLY! The reason I have been obsessed with these adverts for almost a decade now. Instant classic, instant tears, song is perfect, message is good, overall vibe is cute. I go feral for the bit where the party sound cuts out and the old man is all alone and then it comes back when he gets the telescope. 2015 is flawless, genuinely imo 1000/10

2016 was a bad year for all of us, wasn't it. This included, I like foxes but the cgi isn't great and it's kinda just a repeat of 2014. I also feel it lacks any real critical message that all the other ones have had, I know this sounds idiotic but this one feels the most like an ad and only an ad. 4/10

I've actually never seen this one before I started this post.... there's a reason for that. The songs okay and I do actually like this kid and monster interacting but as a whole I think it has the opposite problem of 2016 where its trying to do a lot with very little. It feels forced and its not very good imo, also it loses points for kinda copping out in the end. 6/19

I gotta preface this by saying The Sun is bad and if you can find this video on a different YouTube channel please link below.

That aside, I love Elton John, he's a personal favourite of mine and I think in a time where arts programmes and the value of stuff like that gets diminished it is kinda of beautiful to visualise the impact nurturing musical talent can have on people. This feels like a very short version of Rocket man and it wouldn't shock me if they drew a little inspiration from this advert. It's not the most emotional and i think i take points off for kinda just doing Elton John whose basically guaranteed to please people but yeah, 8/10

This. This right here, one fucked up little guy, Edgar is my blorbo and I adore him. This is what 2017 wished it was. The little fantasy town is nice and the cover of the song is honestly pretty good. The general vibe is also good because it's a little sad and that's what I'm looking for tbh. 8/10

I honestly kinda of like the visual aesthetic of this one with the mixed media approach of stop motion, traditional imagination and papercraft. I like the message of this one a lot because I'm a suckered for the positive choices having wide ranging positive impact on the world. The one problem I have is the pacing is a little off and the time loop at the end feels kinda unnecessary 8/10

I have grown to like this one a bit more but u very vividly remember watching the 2021 advert and not liking it. I think it might be the alien, they don't look that alien and I'm not a huge fan of ET which this is a pretty blatant play on. While I do like the message of sharing culture and peace on earth and there's a few moments worth noting it's just kinda mid for me, the kiss at the end also kinda weirds me out but thats probably my own thoughts on this being a kind of ET homage clouding that. As I said I've softened on it but its still a 6/10

I dunno maybe this whole list is asinine and a wasteful glorification of capitalism and I should do something better with my evening

...

JUST WHEN I THINK IM OUT THEY PULL ME BACK IN. Boy howdy did I feel some things while watching this that I pressumed an advert could never stir within me. I really relate to the Taylor Swift lyric "I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try" and man does this hit the spot! Also I think this might he the most solidified message since 2015 because I think foster care and the general care system is so important in our society and its nice to use this platform to bring attention to a worthwhile cause. Bonus points I've included a link to the song in this one because it's sung by a semi creepy sad clown man, which is obviously a plus (I like to think he recorded the version in this advert in the full get up). Great, spot on, Christmas miracle (tm) 1001/10

[ruvial-the-hunter]

hi! i'm lily grave. i've been running a campaign of Ironsworn: Starforged for some friends over the course of about a month now, and i've been having a fantastic time! i think it's a phenomenal rpg, and my players and i are having a blast.

that said, i did kind of go against the recommended way of playing. for starters, i'm GMing; the game is designed with solo or cooperative play in mind. i did a lot of meticulous worldbuilding, on and off, for what wound up being nearly a year; the game intends for you to pick up the book and get started in about an hour. i don't think this has hurt our experience — this is the kind of game i wanted to run, and the system i wanted to run it in — but I am curious what it feels like to use the Ironsworn system for unguided solo play.

so! since the original game is literally free to download, I decided I would go ahead and do that! welcome aboard the record of my solo campaign in Ironsworn!

Prologue, Part One: Reading the Intro

I'm familiar with the Starforged core book, so a lot of the preamble is about things I already know. That's a good sign! It should make this easier.

I'm going to use the default setting, The Ironlands. I'm already doing way too much worldbuilding for my active campaign; might as well go easy on myself. :)

Let's go over this setting's truths together!

Two generations ago, your people were driven to the Ironlands from their former homes in the Old World.

Not dissimilar from the Exodus from our homeworld in Starforged. Fun to see how this inspired that!

The weather here is harsh. Winters are brutal. The rugged terrain makes travel and trade difficult and dangerous.

Viking-coded fantasy then, I imagine. I can get down with that! I love a wintery setting, and I'm permanently down for hiking through dangerous terrain in games. (Death Stranding, my beloved…)

There are no thriving cities. Instead, Ironlanders live in isolated villages or steadings. Their homes are modest buildings of wood, stone, and thatch.

Oh, I like this. If Starforged is more Star Wars than Star Trek, then this is more, I don't know, King's Field than Tolkien. Apologies for the choice of reference, but it's all I had. Go play King's Field. I haven't.

Many areas of the Ironlands are unexplored and uninhabited except by the firstborn—beings such as elves, giants, and the wolf-like varou.

Very glad to see mythical monsters here! I've missed them in the very human-centric setting of my campaign. I was sort of looking for Solo D&D that plays like Starforged, and that's what I seem to be getting! Except that everything is collapsing and grimy and cold, which is how I like it.

Coins have little value here. Most commerce is made through barter and favors.

Okay. Yes, I like this. Ironsworn seems very against making you keep track of some specific number of money units while gaming, and honestly? thank God. Leave rigid spending math for the games with computers behind them. When there's humans in the loop, it's way more fun to just barter.

Some communities remain isolated and independent, while others trade in basic goods such as iron, grain, wood, livestock, wool, and coal.

Settlements work the same. Good to know.

There is a diverse mix of peoples and cultures within the Ironlands, even within a single community. You can envision your character and those you interact with however you like, unbound by considerations of geography, lineage, sexual orientation, and gender.

Cool! I'm hoping for some fantasy races as well, if you're willing to give them to me. Still, always appreciate when TTRPGs go out of their way to encourage you to be creative and inclusive when creating your worlds.

Communities sometimes band together under a powerful leader, but there are no kingdoms. Territorial lines are sketchily drawn, if at all.

Love it. I hate borders, I hate monarchy.

Large-scale warfare is unheard of, but raiding parties and skirmishes between communities are a constant menace. Some communities subsist entirely on raiding.

That first statement is begging me to explore how large-scale warfare might come about in a setting like this! Still, I'll respect that it would take quite a lot; people sound rather disconnected in this setting.

Spear, axe, shield, and bow are the dominant weapons. Swords are rare and highly prized. Some warriors choose to wade into battle clad in iron, while others trust in their prowess or in the strength of their shields.

I love this, because I picked the option in the Starforged worldbuilding questions that vows are Always sworn on swords, so everyone has swords in that campaign. Their rarity here will be a very funny contrast!

Magic is subtle and mysterious. Mystics seek to ward away the darkness through the practice of magic, but often succumb to it. Rituals are performed as blessings and to gain insight.

I might start looking for homebrew magic systems; I've seen a few floating around, and I'd love to incorporate a little more witchery into this universe. As it stands, I'll be starting with the core book before I decide on any changes or add-ons!

Supernatural creatures and beasts are rare, frightening, and dangerous.

But not unheard of!

And that's it. These are the bullet points at the outset of the first chapter. I'm liking this so far! No complicated thoughts yet, but a lot of threads to pull on. They hint here that the worldbuilding questions I loved so much in the sequel are forthcoming, but they first give us some notes on Iron Vows. I'll give you the shortened version:

Vows are sacred. You promise to serve or aid someone, or to complete a personal quest, and abandoning or recanting an oath is seen as a terrible, shameful failure. These oaths are sworn while touching a piece of iron; either a coin, a weapon, or a piece of armor.

Vows function as your way of gaining experience. Starforged adds some secondary legacy tracks that let you gain XP through forming bonds or making discoveries, but if I'm not mistaken, it's just vows in the original game.

We'll start our character with a background vow, which will inform us what their personal quest is, and a vow that starts the story we're telling!

A quick note that I will be using Iron Fellowship to keep track of my campaign! Forever grateful to the independent developers that make virtual tabletop experiences possible.

The next few pages explain the mechanics of Ironsworn, which I won't be going over in detail. I think the game is largely self-explanatory, and I'll explain the exact way action rolls work the first time I have to do one and so on. If you'd like to learn how to play the game in detail, the core book is free!

Prologue, Part 2: Character Creation and Worldbuilding

The book advises me that I can do worldbuilding first, or character creation first. Honestly, I have an easier time making characters with the world questions answered, so let's start with those!

The Old World. Selected: The sickness moved like a horrible wave across the Old World, killing all in its path. Thousands fled aboard ships. However, the plague could not be outrun. On many ships, the disease was contained through ruthless measures—tossing overboard any who exhibited the slightest symptom. Other ships were forever lost. In the end, those who survived found the Ironlands and made it their new home. Some say we will forever be cursed by those we left behind.

I love a plague world. Give me a plague world any day of the week.

Iron. Selected: Inscrutable metal pillars are found throughout the land. They are iron gray, and smooth as river stone. No one knows their purpose. Some say they are as old as the world. Some, such as the Iron Priests, worship them and swear vows upon them. Most make the warding sign and hurry along their way when they happen across one. The pillars do not tarnish, and even the sharpest blade cannot mark them.

Very spooky. Offers some cool religious angles. Maybe some cosmic horror elements to throw into the fantasy soup!

Legacies. Selected: We are the first humans to walk these lands.

I wasn't in love with the other options, and I kind of like what this adds to the mystery of the pillars we just introduced.

Communities. Selected: We live in communities called circles. These are settlements ranging in size from a steading with a few families to a village of several hundred. Some circles belong to nomadic folk. Some powerful circles might include a cluster of settlements. We trade (and sometimes feud) with other circles.

No complicated commentary here, I just like this. Feels right.

Leaders. Selected: Leadership is as varied as the people. Some communities are governed by the head of a powerful family. Or, they have a council of elders who make decisions and settle disputes. In others, the priests hold sway. For some, it is duels in the circle that decide.

Give me weird cultural diversity between the circles, please! Everyone does things differently and everything is clannish and different wherever you go.

Defense. Selected: The wardens are our soldiers, guards, and militia. They serve their communities by standing sentry, patrolling surrounding lands, and organizing defenses in times of crisis. Most have strong ties to their community. Others, called free wardens, are wandering mercenaries who hire on to serve a community or protect caravans.

The Free Wardens are technically a Circle, united under a common cause and banner. Even so, it's hard to say they have a leader, or a land to call their own.

Mysticism. Selected: Magic courses through this land as the rivers flow through the hills. The power is there for those who choose to harness it, and even the common folk often know a helpful ritual or two.

Sorry, but I'm weak for a hypermagical setting. We fled disease to a land with strange, unrusting pillars and abundant magic energy. Things are strange here, but we have come to accept it.

Religion. Selected: The people honor old gods and new. In this harsh land, a prayer is a simple but powerful comfort.

Arguments are frequent between the two schools of faith. Surely the old gods have abandoned us! Surely the new gods are devils in disguise.

Firstborn. Selected: The firstborn live in isolation and are fiercely protective of their own lands.

Seems like the Firstborn are magical races. Exciting news. We have Ironlanders in weird Circles and Firstborn in Ancient Societies. I know I said “less Tolkien” earlier, but I'm always game for some reclusive high-fantasy elves.

Beasts. Selected: Beasts of all sorts roam the Ironlands. They dwell primarily in the reaches, but range into the settled lands to hunt. There, they often prey on cattle, but attacks on travelers, caravans, or even settlements are not uncommon.

We did not come to the Ironlands for their convenience. This magical place seems to be the only realm resistant to the horrors of the plague, and its fauna take strange shapes in the mystic currents.

Horrors. Selected: We are wary of dark forests and deep waterways, for monsters lurk in those places. In the depths of the long-night, when all is wreathed in darkness, only fools venture beyond their homes.

I've been reading Berserk on and off for a while. I like a little bit of undead / demonic horror in my fantasy worlds!

Okay! That's it. I feel ready to introduce you all to:

Ruvial the Hunter.

Ruvial is being ported in and modified from a character I played in the excellent open world RPG Moonring. Let's see how they fit in this universe!

We'll be setting Ruvial's stats first: assigning one 3, two 2s, and two 1s to their character sheet.

Edge: 3. This determines quickness, agility, and ranged combat prowess. Ruvial is fast, and they are accurate with a bow.

Heart: 1. This determines courage, willpower, empathy, sociability, and loyalty. Ruvial is not naturally gifted in socializing or empathizing with others, but they're trying.

Iron: 2. This determines physical strength, endurance, aggressiveness, and prowess in close combat. Ruvial is pretty good up close, too, but better at range.

Shadow: 2. This determines sneakiness, deceptiveness, and cunning. Ruvial is a hunter, after all, and moving in the shadows is their bread and butter.

Wits: 1. This determines expertise, knowledge, and observation. It's not that Ruvial isn't smart, it's just that they aren't very familiar with the world. They're something of a nomad, and so their knowledge and expertise are somewhat lacking.

Time to choose their Assets! Assets are cards that make your character unique, and there's a few different kinds. They're pretty intuitive, and they can be upgraded (or added to a character) using XP earned from completing vows! We'll be starting with 3 assets. I'm gonna start with a Path, a Combat Talent, and a Ritual.

Path: Slayer. Level 1 Ability: When you Gather Information by tracking a beast or horror, or when you Secure an Advantage by readying yourself for a fight against them, add +1 and take +1 momentum on a hit.

Ruvial the Hunter, after all.

Combat Talent: Archer. Level 1 Ability: If you wield a bow, when you Secure an Advantage by taking a moment to aim, choose your approach and add +1. • Trust your instincts: Roll +wits, and take +2 momentum on a strong hit. • Line up your shot: Roll +edge, and take +1 momentum on a hit.

I was tempted to take something other than Archer at the start and let them get better at using a bow over the course of the story, but it just felt right.

Ritual: Augur. Level 1 Ability: When you summon a flock of crows and ask a single question, roll +wits. On a strong hit, you interpret their calls as a helpful omen. Envision the response (Ask the Oracle if unsure) and take +2 momentum. On a weak hit, the crows ignore your question and offer a clue to an unrelated problem or opportunity in this area. Envision what you learn (Ask the Oracle if unsure), and take +1 momentum.

Leech was also very high on my list of choices; Ruvial in Moonring was a blood-drinking maniac who ran around eating badgers in the woods. This is a more refined and stoic Ruvial, who seeks communion with crows.

Finally, let's give Ruvial the Hunter a background vow. This will tell us their story so far.

Ruvial Qualm was born into the Circle of the Hunt, a collection of trappers and butchers who helped provide food to the Circles of the Ragged Coast. As they got older, their skill with a bow made them something of a prodigy, and they were sent out on their own for hunts at a young age. It wasn't cruelty; the child had wanted things that way. They were quiet, and antisocial; staring down a deer with a knocked arrow seemed their happiest place.

Returning home from a hunt, Ruvial finds the encampment of their family has been utterly destroyed. Their loved ones as blood and as parts, shredded by the maw of some unknowable horror. Their stockpile of meat on sawn river ice annihilated by the greed of a monster.

They howled with grief. Abandoned in the world. No longer loved by anyone alive. The futile rage of a teenager, pushing out of their body so violently at the terrible sight.

They grab hold of the iron coin on a cord around their neck. The gift from Donovan. The thing that makes them a member of the Ironsworn Circle of the Hunt.

“Here and now, I swear that I will find the beast that did this. I will learn its nature, and I will strike it down alone.”

This is their vow: Avenge the Fallen Circle of the Hunt. Rank: Epic.

When we join them, however, their most recent vow is a little different:

Kenrick and Shona are inconsolable. Their little girl has disappeared.

When little Adda vanished — that strange girl the Circle of the Threshold had found by a stream — it was assumed to be some kind of accident. A tragedy, but not unexpected for a foundling. The child had simply wandered off, and gotten mailed by some horrid, Deep Wilds beast to the East. A tragedy, certainly, but nothing greater.

But then, one of the Thresholders' girls started talking. Kenrick's girl, Maya, would babble at times about The Voice in the Candles. She'd swear she was hearing things — sweet things — in an unfamiliar voice from the flames. The imagination running wild? An ill omen? It was debated, but not taken seriously.

Until she disappeared.

Here, now, arrives Ruvial the Hunter. They have been called here by reputation. Some supernatural thing is stealing their children away, and it must be stopped. The Circle of the Free Wardens has thrice refused this task, and it seems only a matter of time before the fire starts whispering again.

The hunter agrees. Doesn't say much more. Swears a vow:

“Here and now, I, Ruvial the Hunter, swear to you, Kenrick of the Circle of the Threshold, that I will find what has taken your missing children, and slay it.”

Kenrick is a little stunned.

“That's it? You have nothing more to say?”

Ruvial stands, shaking their head.

“No. If this is indeed a horror that needs hunting, there's nothing more you can tell me that'll make this easier. I just have to track it down myself.”

This is their vow: Find the Child-Taker. Rank: Formidable.

Last thing to do before we continue: Picrew. Sorry, but I love to visualize a character, and Picrews are a great way to do that quickly! I'll be using Ame's Pixel Fantasy Character Picrew to shape up a Ruvial.

Perfect! That'll do. That's our friend Ruvial.

Next time, we'll start exploring the story of Ruvial in greater detail.

[solring3n]

Actually this is my tumblr so I decide the posts so i'm just gonna lore drop EVERYTHING of My oc before i implode.

I was actually very careful making her, I like my characters complicated, as a fan of dark fantasy (ASOIAF, The Witcher saga) i could not miss out the potential of including a world in its medieval state with a setting similar to The Witcher (non-humans are lesser, and elves are an alegory to native people)

Because of this, I decided that I would keep the funky hair and eye colors but will not accept white elves, they are native so they should look native, I made my elves mostly dark-skinned or asian, their language is a mix of gaelic and norse, including some of the old words, im still working on it, their culture is directly tied to nature, though it changes with each tribe, the shared thing between ALL ELVES, is their faith. As a historian, I also unfortunately have Arthurian Legend brainrot, because it comes included in my degree i used some elements with my OC.

Ardhine (A female version of Arthur I pulled out of my ass, I saw some use Arthurine, but its ugly, honestly) is young commoner, who is part of the Indigenous Jedi Protocol, a protocol designed by the council to allow indigenous jedi to mantain their culture and regularly engage with their communities; because of this, Ardhine visits her tribe every other week, staying with her grandfather, a lonely blacksmith. (Im still designing it, but I have it drafted)

Ardhine is gifted and troubled, unlike Anakin, she is not impulsive but she schemes. a lot. intrigue and plots are natural to her. She comes from a medieval world which has already colonized its indigenous people, and thus, the horrors we know are commited. Artie was born from assault commited by human soldiers, her mother was practically a little girl when it happened, constant attacks from nearby nomads who especialized in slave trade did not help the situation. When she was three, her mother was taken to Slaver's Bay, her grandmother and uncles killed, just her and the lonely old elf fled to another kingdom whose marshall wasnt useless.

Artie was found by Master Fay, another elf who alongside Darth Revan, is a relic of the times of elven freedom. At age ten, she was picked for padawanship by Master Mundi, a peaceful and patient man that took time to understand her and love her, he is basically her father.

Part of Artie's religious practices include a rite of passage, in which girls, boys, and children that are entering adolescence present themselves to the gods and are given a tattoo that represents the one the high priestess deems accurate, these tattoos normally represent the role they may have in the community (artisans, hunters), or a destiny too big to avoid.

Artie has the tattoo of the Mother goddess, a beautiful tree tattoo that covers her entire face, her forehead has the branches, her nose the trunk and her cheekbones are outlined with the roots. This tattoo signifies a great destiny as per tradition, she receives a dragon's egg (that hatches). Revan had the same tattoo, now here is where we get whacky, the elves also believe in reincarnation, they believe the Mother gives those who tried but failed another chance. Revan got their opportunity in Ardhine.

They are the same heart, same soul, Revan is grief stricken, all they want is finally doing it right, so they can see Admiral Onasi again (im a faithful carth onasi truther ‼️‼️ come at me). Revan believes killing the sith will get them to the Mother's embrace, and thus guides Ardhine to killing Palpatine and Dooku, as tradition goes, Ardhine must go through a process similar to Revan's, which to her horror (she STICKS to the code, she is annoying about it) means falling deep into the dark (it has always been there).

This part is my favorite, Ardhine, who believes so strongly in the rules and the code, breaks absolutely everything and, as the story progresses, becomes more machiavellic, building spy networks and designing deadly plots and assassinations, getting away with them everytime. Assuring the republic's safety, but sometimes, her plots are personal, she has killed those who wronged her birth family, the separatist general who was in Cerea, she has killed for the clones, for the jedi.

Artie has a romantic relationship with Ahsoka, which deteriorates as the Clone Wars progress. Ardhine and Anakin antagonize each other constantly, as Anakin thinks unfair how Ardhine gets away with her intrigues everytime and Artie thinks he is foolish and rash, both Ardhine and her master carefully plan their battles for minimal casualty, Skywalker does it in the fly (one of her lineage-brothers is tusken, Ardhine has little birds that tell her all. She knows). Ahsoka starts to think her own girlfriend a hypocrite (which she is, and thats exactly the point) and Artie thinks Ahsoka is easily manipulated.

Ardhine is a marine, she is ELITE, combining her own people's combat practices and the jedi's, she relies heavily in her connection to the force and she has a fucking dragon, Valyrax, a beautiful male with black scales, a pink belly and eyes, he likes when the clones give him belly rubs and lighting buildings on fire<3 he has a special zone in the Venator (The Revanchist, because, yknow) where he snoozes and rests. She has a handpicked (by Palpatine:///) team of young specialists sent by leaders of all worlds (we have a Kenobi, and a Organa! And also Cassian Andor and Thrawn!!! Its complicated!!!) HK-47 is also here, psychopathic as always.

[scootersscooter]

No I definitely agree. Elena as a source of Latino representation is just a mixed bag overall. Because the Avaloran culture pulls from various Latino cultures to pick and chose from to create one whole.

Elena herself I would argue is excellent latina representation. She serves as a vessel for young children (latinos and non-latinos) to see themselves and all that they're capable of. Speaking as someone who was the target audience of the show when it aired I remember vividly going to (my predominantly Latino) school and seeing a majority of girls my age dressed as Elena on Halloween. The show did it's job presenting a well rounded princess for young latinos to look up to.

Growing up latino you kind of resign yourself to not seeing yourself represented on screen. This didn't particularly sadden me it was more just a fact of life. But Elena filled a gap that most of us (the target audience needed). She's pretty, capable, and not afraid of asking for help. She loves and leans on her family and friends whenever she needs them, and ACTIVELY EMBRACES her culture—which is something that many young latinos struggle to do, whether it be because of racism, familial pressure, or just pressure to assimilate in general.

I think the main issue with Elena of Avalor is that it was presented as something that it's not. There was so much pressure on her to be the first Latina Disney princess. She was never going to possibly be able to live up to what people expected.

Other princesses and fantasy lands can and do pick aspects from different cultures all the time. I'm not saying this is a good or bad thing, I'm just saying that it happenes. But because of racism (all around the world but especially in the U.S) latinos are not allowed this same privilege. We are taught to hate ourselves by a culture that diminishes our own, taught to try and assimilate ourselves into a culture of whiteness that actively tries to erradicate your culture every day. Whether there is or isn't a right way to create this Latino fantasy land honestly isn't even really my point.

The reason we can't (not necessarily that we should) is that current Latino representation in the form of leading characters is very minimal. We should be able to easily name multiple examples of TV shows movies that have accurate depictions of various Latino cultures, especially because non-latinos tend to see us all as one, as all the same even though every country has it's own various cultures that have no reason to be lumped together. Until then audiences will remain very jaded, suspicious, and critical of any and all Latino representation.

Personally I do enjoy Elena of Avalor despite all it's flaws (likely helped by the fact that I am Mexican) but I am also highly critical of how the show mishmashes cultures together because sometimes it does feel very jarring when you're watching the show.

Would I say it's the best representation out there? No, not by a long shot. But I definitely do think that it's a start and hopefully sooner rather than later we can get better constructed and we'll thought out Latino representation.

I think that Elena of Avalor really was just a bandaid on top of the already festering wound of racism and xenophobia in society.

The fact that most of you don't know that Disney Junior's Elena of Avalor is about Elena restoring her kingdom from the clutches of colonization and reconnecting her kingdom with others, nature, and it's own indigenous roots all while dealing with her own baggage after being trapped in an amulet for 41 years, trying to find herself, prove herself, and restore her kingdom to it's former greatness, and have instead chalked it up to "the Spanish princess show" and "bad Hispanic representation" actually keeps me awake at night