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dilemmaontwolegs · 7 months

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For the love of god(dess) || CL16 {1}

A/N & Summary: Greek God/dess AU. This was a draft I had wasting away with reincarnation trope. Reader is the goddess of love. I don't even know what I am doing anymore lol Warnings: reader injury, blood WC: 2.2k Part One || Two

“Do you ever stop working?”

You leered across the scrying bowl to the unwelcome guest waltzing into your sanctum. “Unlike some, my work never ends.”

“Come now, I remember a time when you used to love my little soirées,” Dionysus whispered in your ear as he dipped his finger in the bowl, disturbing the still waters. The god of debauchery had never held just a little party, there was a reason hedonism and excess had been celebrated for millennia. “Take one night off. It will be one to remember.”

“Liar,” you said with a smile despite yourself. “I still don’t have any memory of the last one.”

He winked and flicked the droplet of water from his finger at you playfully, “Then I am doing my job right. It’s on earth…”

Damn, the god knew how to pique your interest. Thousands of years watching through the haze of the scrying bowl did little to capture their humanity. Whenever you could, you used to walk among them to see the fruits of your labour.

“Love, you are eternal - yet you waste away in this…” he drifted off as he looked around the empty stone room, carvings depicting your greatest champions along the walls, “place.”

While the other gods had their golden palaces you were content in the temple that had once been filled with priestesses who served the deity you once were. A shell of who you used to be reflected back in the still water. What was the Goddess of Love with a broken heart? Cold and empty like this temple.

Your thoughts darkened and shadows crept along the walls before you took a deep breath. It had been a few decades since you had some fresh air, maybe it was for the best to get out. “Fine. One night.”

Dio grinned and swept an arm around your waist before leading you to the door. The sunlight hit your face and you cursed Apollo until your eyes adjusted to the brightness. The drunken god took one look at the white robe you wore, a silver sash tied at the waist, and tutted.

“I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but this won’t do.”

“Any other insults?” you dared as you cast a hand over yourself, the white cotton bleeding to a deep red leather skin that hugged your body and accentuated your assets. A black corset snapped at the contours of your waist and pressed your breasts up, the armour unnecessary but as familiar as breathing. The others may have forgotten the great war but your heart remembered the loss and you swore you would not leave yourself vulnerable again.

He let out a low whistle and shook his head.

“Oh, one more thing.” Your bow and quiver snapped into place across your back and drew a groan from Dio. “What?” Your eyes darted to the chalice that was forever held in his left hand. “You have your attachments, I have mine.”

He held his cupped hand up, wine sloshing over the rim, and pointed a finger at you. “Firstly, this is a curse - not a choice. And secondly, this is useful to drink out of.”

“Maybe you should have been more careful where you stuck your dick.”

“I didn’t know the nymph was one of Zeus’ favourites, obviously,” Dio grumbled before setting off down the path that would lead to the mortal realm.

–

Las Vegas, Mortal Realm, 2023 PIW (Post-Immortal-Wars)

You already knew the party would be a large one, but this was big even by Dionysus’ standards. Thousands of people imbibed in the free flowing alcohol and danced under strobe lights in Sin City, his favourite playground. Dio sent a mischievous wink before he touched the champagne tower and his power imbued with the liquor to increase the effect and ensure everyone was on the same level as him.

“Drink, Love,” he ordered as he tipped the rim of his glass to your lips. Sweet wine warmed your throat as much as his power did and you drank it down knowing that for at least a few minutes your cares would be diminished - but they always came back too soon. “Now dance.”

Your hips swayed and your hands found themselves moving above your head as the lights mesmerised you. Human scents came and went as they moved around you, their pheromones calling to your power as they found lovers, if only for the night. One particular scent caught your attention and you followed it to find Dio talking to the human. He had been god touched and the mark glowed on his brow - not that the mortals could see it.

“Love, this is the man of the hour,” Dio gushed, casting a hand to the party as if it were all for him. “Max here won the race.”

You didn’t know what race he was referring to, nor did you care. “Of course he did,” you stated dryly. Max was Nike’s champion and Nike was the Goddess of Victory in everything except what mattered. “Congratulations.”

You grabbed Dio’s hand and drank your fill from his cursed chalice in the hopes it would douse the fire that ignited in your veins. If Nike had fought alongside you in the war instead of wasting her time with her Olympians and their silly sports then maybe Károlos would have survived. Maybe you would do more than just survive eternity alone.

“Sorry, she doesn’t get out much,” Dio joked, clapping the victor on the arm. “Drink, my friend. The night is young and life is short.”

You slipped away into the sea of bodies, drifting through until a cool breeze called from the balcony and you escaped to the quiet. Your breath exhaled with a heaviness only an immortal could carry and a chuckle startled you.

“Fuck, not another one. Can’t I have one moment of peace?” you groaned as his scent found you before the handsome man stepped out of the shadows of the corner he had been hiding in.

“Sorry,” he apologised. “This was my hiding place first.”

The mark of the Adonis glowed beneath the dark hair that fell over his forehead and you internally scoffed at the god’s vanity. The man standing before you would have been stuck down if he showed his face in Olympus, he was far too good looking it would be considered an offence to the petty gods. And those eyes, green eyes just like...You had to look away before you could finish that thought.

“What do you have to hide from?” you asked, leaning against the rail as you watched fireworks explode among the stars. “You’re a champion.”

“You must have me confused with someone else,” he laughed bitterly.

“I know a champion when I see one.” You felt Dionysus breeze onto the balcony before you heard his drunken laugh behind you, the bitter smell of blackthorn root on his breath from the drug he had smoked.

“Love, eternal Love, I found you,” he slurred as hugged your back, the feathered fletches from the quiver of arrows irritating him. “Must you wear these prickly things?”

Before you could stop him, he ripped an arrow out, the sharpened point catching the side of your neck. A hiss of pain escaped your lips as blood trickled down your throat and the power that kept the weapons hidden from mortal sight broke with the bead of blood on the tip.

Adonis’ champion gasped as his mind raced to piece together what he was seeing. A woman bleeding and a man holding the weapon. His eyes narrowed and he leapt at Dio, trying to wretch the bloodied arrow from him before he could attack you again. You could have laughed at how futile the attempt was for a mortal to attack a god but said god was higher than Zeus’ perch in his palace and rotten drunk off his wine.

The fates must have been laughing their asses off as the mortal and god collided, both tumbling to the floor before the mortal screamed in pain.

A hand reached into your chest, at least that was how it felt when the fire exploded inside you. “No, no, no, no,” you cried as Dio fell away from the mortal and you saw the arrow buried in the champion's chest. “What have you done?”

The fire faded as the bond snapped into place and you hated how you suddenly feared for the mortal. That fear had you rushing to his side and falling to your knees as Dio stared at his hands. “I, I didn’t mean to,” he stammered.

Even the mortals knew the power those arrows held, the stories were told throughout the ages of how just a nick from one could make strangers, enemies even, fall for each other in an instant. The greatest weapon of all was love and it had the power to destroy even the immortals. And Dio had just stabbed the mortal with one, coated in your blood. Blood that bonded.

You gripped the shaft and tugged the arrow out of his chest before slamming your hand over the wound and pouring your energy into it, sealing it closed. He reached for your hand that was slick with his blood and you let him hold it, unable to fight the love that came from your own power.

“You’ll be okay,” you promised him before narrowing your eyes at Dio. “You, not so much.”

“It was an accident, I swear, it was like I couldn’t control myself. Charles just jumped-”

Your eyes flared silver as you looked back at the unearthly green shade of his eyes. Same eyes, same name, Adonis’ champion. You had foolishly thought Adonis had chosen the mortal for his beauty, but if the mortal was reincarnated then he would also bear the mark on his brow.

“Károlos,” you whispered as a feeling of rightness settled across the universe.

Charles frowned at the name but understood the tenderness in the tone, such a sweet sound. His chest no longer burned and smooth skin met his palm as he felt for the wound that had healed, but the blood on his shirt was proof he had not imagined it all.

“Who are you?” he asked as he rose to his feet, tasting his blood on his tongue.

You flinched at the question and looked to the stars. “I go by many names, but you may call me Y/N.”

“You called me Károlos.”

“That was your name the first time you walked the earth,” Adonis said, appearing on the balcony in a flash of light. “Károlos, Karlaz, Carl, Charles - it’s always the same. A hundred lifetimes lived, always searching, always waiting. All for this moment.”

When Károlos had been killed you had stormed to the Underworld ready to bargain with Hades, but he had said Károlos wasn’t in the Elysian Fields. You hadn’t believed him in your anger. All this time, Adonis had kept his soul safe.

You reached behind to your quiver and drew an arrow, grabbing your bow and notching it. “You had two thousand years to tell me he was alive.”

Adonis held his hands up, shifting closer to Dio ready to sacrifice him as a shield. “You think the fates would let me tell you! I did what I could but you were happy to grovel alone in your temple.”

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Charles asked, wondering why no one had come to see what was going on, except when he looked at the party everyone was frozen like the time had come to a stop.

“I was grieving! And now I will have to mourn him anew, because he’s fucking mortal!”

Adonis grinned and you debated releasing the arrow. “Are you sure about that? Is that not your blood that runs in his veins now? I can smell it on him.”

You paused. Your blood had been on the arrow, immortal blood. You and Charles had gravitated to each other without realising it and you inhaled as you leaned a little closer. There was still a hint of that fresh mortal scent but it was an undercurrent to the aether that grew stronger with each breath.

“What the fuck is going on?” Charles snapped as you dissected him with your eyes like an experiment. “And why is no one else moving?”

You unnotched the arrow and waved the feathered end at Adonis. “We are going to have words about this later.” The beautiful god nodded before disappearing in a flash of light.

“So I'm forgiven, right?” Dio asked with a shy smile. “Told you it would be one to remember.”

You held a hand up to silence him and looked at Charles. “I don’t know how to answer your questions without making more. It might be easier if I show you.”

He accepted your hand without hesitation and you wondered how much of that was the force of the bond or because on some unconscious level his soul recognised yours. Either way, you smiled at the warmth between your skin before leaving the mortal realm behind.

“Where are we going?” he asked as the stars faded with the lights of Sin City.

“Home.”

–

For Reference: Dionysus - God of Wine and Pleasure Nike - Goddess of Victory Adonis - God of Beauty, Desire and Rebirth Károlos - (Old derivative for Charles) A warrior who was fated to be your soulmate before being killed protecting you in the Immortal Wars. Reincarnated as Charles Leclerc by Adonis. Olympus - Immortal Realm

Click here for part two.

#greek god au #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc imagine #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #formula 1 fanfic #formula one imagine

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alpaca-clouds · 3 months

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High Fantasy Conundrums: The Diversity Paradox

I have some thoughts on High Fantasy and the way it currently is shifting in terms of the mainstream depictions. Meaning: No, this is not about books that much. It is more about the big franchises. The stuff with money behind it. Because those have stuff in common right now. I am talking about Dungeons & Dragons, The Witcher, Dragon Age, The Rings of Power and other more budget heavy fantasy.

Many words have been written, said, and screamed into the void of the internet about how these days you will usually see diversity in those. Most notably people that are not white.

And the self-proclaimed "conservatives" (who are actually white supremacists) will cry about how those are "medieval European worlds" and that hence there should not be Black or Asian people run around in them. Ignoring, of course, how there were Black and Asian people running around in medieval Europe.

And there will be leftists, that will defend any decision in this regard, on pure principle.

I will count myself among the second kind no doubt. I think it is good and important to see non-white characters in those big franchises. And frankly, I couldn't give less of a fuck whether or not whatever writer originally wrote a book that stuff was based on did imagine the world to be inhabited by people who did not have cheese-skin. I really don't.

Especially as the entire "realism" and "historically accurate" argument falls apart rather quickly if you consider one very important fact: There were no elves in medieval Europe. There were no dragons in medieval Europe. And there sure as hell was no actual magic in medieval Europe. So... Yeah, somehow I actually do think that Black and Asian characters inhabiting those fantasy worlds is less of an issue, when it comes to stuff being "historically accurate".

And yet...

There is something about this, that still very much irks me. Especially when it comes to some recent franchise stuff, like most of what Wizards of the Coasts did in regards of Dungeons & Dragons 5e in terms of lore - and something I am starting to expect from Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

And that is the lack of any actually non-white cultures within the world - and the lack of worldbuilding in this regard.

See... High Fantasy has generally speaking one big struggle in regards of the worldbuilding. A struggle that can be found in high fantasy world after high fantasy world: For the most part, the cultural worldbuilding is often lacking. While humans are often allowed to have a couple of different cultures, everyone else is usually treated like this: "This is dwarven culture", "this is elven culture", and "this is halfling culture". There is no variation in it. The dwarves in the high north have still the same culture, as the dwarves living in the south of the continent. And while humans do have a bit more in terms of different cultures, it usually also goes in broad strokes. Like: "This is the horse culture, this is the very noble culture, and this is the peasant culture". Am I saying I am blaming Tolkien? Yeah, maybe a bit.

This is one of the reasons I fell so in love with Dungeon Meshi. Because Dungeon Meshi literally is the first time I have seen that someone actually came up with differences between different elven and half-foot cultures and stuff. And I love it.

But Kui is the one writer I can think of, that really did that.

So... Let me talk about DnD, because I know my DnD Lore and I can tell you a bit of why this is bothering me here.

See: Dungeons & Dragons has this whole ass world in the Forgotten Realms as the main setting: Toril. Toril has a variety of continents. Just as you can see:

Now, originally half of those continents did not exist, I might add. Most of them were added during 2e and 3e. Especailly 3e and 3.5e did some worldbuilding in regards of those other continents. Even though, yes, if we are honest those continents are very much: Fantasy Asia, Fantasy North America, Fantasy Middle America, Fantasy Africa, Fantasy Arabia, and Fantasy Australia (about which, I might note, we know next to nothing).

But while 3e and 4e did make some use of those other settings, 5e did something else. 5e very much reverted back to focusing on Faerûn and the Sword Coast once more. But because by the time 5e released it was 2014 in the real world, they knew they could not make Faerûn this super white world. So Faerûn became diverse. There are Black and Asian and Brown people living there now. But... culturally it stay in the "generic fantasy Europe" sphere.

And that is my issue: The lack of different cultures.

I will talk a bit more about the issues with the High Fantasy "Medieval Europe" culture tomorrow, but today let me say this: Even these days, when non-white characters will be included into those fantasy worlds, they still will only be allowed to exist within a supposedly white cultural context. They are not allowed to have a non-white culture.

While this makes some sense in prescribed worlds - so worlds based on books that never had any intent on depicting anything but their "white" pseudo-European culture (like Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time with their respective Amazon Prime adaptions), this is less the truth for worlds that are designed around whatever they represent today.

Wizards of the Coast absolutely could put some effort into creating those other continents as good, lived in settings - and allow folks from those other continents who live in Faerûn to bring parts of their own culture with them. They could pay some PoC to actually do that worldbuilding Own Voice style. You know?

And the same is true with Bioware and Dragon Age. While I am by far not as familiar with the worldbuilding of DA, as I am with the worldbuilding of DnD, I am under the impression that there is not a lot going on in terms of non-white cultures from other continents. There are non-white people hanging around in the main plot and what not, but it does not seem as if there is a lot going on in terms of them having cultures of origin. Correct me if I am wrong. Some of those cultures seem to have names, but that is where the worldbuilding ends.

And that... You know, that is an issue. Because diversity, especially ethical diversity, is not just about the skin color. It is about culture. And somehow the culture aspect of it gets ignored a lot. Doesn't it?

#high fantasy #worldbuilding #fantasy worldbuilding #dungeons & dragons #dnd #dnd lore #dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #lord of the rings #the witcher #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #the wheel of time #the rings of power #diversity #representation #medieval europe #cultural diversity

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y-rhywbeth2 · 10 months

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Lore Compilations (+ this blog's tagging/filter list at the end)

A WIP of a pinned post table of contents to tidy up the blog while I empty my fixations onto it plus a lore accuracy disclaimer (so I don't have to keep typing one), because why not. I like tables of content.

Disclaimer regarding lore accuracy: If you combine 50 years, 5 editions, 10+ settings, god knows how many novels, and then all the writers who all retcon and contradict each other's work then what you get is a clusterfuck. The lore I show here is compiled from all five editions of the game. You will likely see stuff out there that contradicts some things I say, or stuff I didn't mention/know. That's the lore for you. If you were the Dungeon Master making your own story, your job would be to pick and chose and build your own take on the setting out of it. I, personally, heavily favour older lore. Larian absolutely did this with Baldurs Gate 3 - frankly, I don't think they even know half this lore even exists, and Bioware took some liberties in the original games too. Wizards of the Coast themselves trample D&D into the ground all the time! All D&D is near enough fanfiction built on fanfiction. Therefore, if you find any information useful you may take it, leave it or tweak it to your desire for your own story, because it's D&D lore, and that's how it works.

Disclaimer regarding Larian's canon (and Bioware, and Obsidian): The setting shown in BG3 does not really match up to the setting as presented in sourcebooks (and sometimes novels, previous games, and 'word of god). I'm always talking about the latter and reframing the story and characters within the latter.

Disclaimer regarding asking me for my opinions on how [x] works in canon: I can make an educated guess based on the sourcebooks, but there are many gaps in many places and however educated the guess, unless it comes from a sourcebook, novel, or writer, it's just my own headcanon.

---

TABLE OF CONTENTS [WIP] (I make no promises as to the speed or order at which any of this is produced - and some of these need updating)

Abeir-Toril Why it's called the "Forgotten" Realms

Baldurs Gate: The City #1 | Demographics | Law & Legal System | Aministration & Government | ???

Human Names | Clothes and Fashion | Music | Dating, Sex, Marriage etc [part 1] [part 2] |

Religion How religion works in the Realms, the different pantheons in the world and then individual posts dedicated to the gods as individuals, how and why to worship them and how their churches function

Religion | Priesthoods and Temples | Deities

Death and the Afterlife Dying | Judgement | Afterlives

Arcane Magic

Vampires Feeding | "Biology" | Hierarchy & Powers | Weaknesses & Cures | Psychology

Elves The Complete Book of Elves once said ‘The elves of Toril do not follow the standards of most other worlds,’ which yeah, pretty much. The Player’s Handbook is not necessarily going to be accurate when talking about the Tel’Quessir.

Drow Culture | Other Drow Cultures

Planars & Planetouched Tieflings | Githyanki | Bhaalspawn | Devils

Orcs

Hin - That's "halfling", if you're over 3'4" Overview | Names | Culture | Homelands | Religion

Gnomes Culture | Names | Homelands | History | Religion

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Tagging system:

Various lore things that don't go in the larger compilations are tagged lore stuff. Things that aren't lore will get tagged babbling.

For sensitive material, such as if I feel like poking at the various delightful topics presented in the game:

I'll use edgelord hours as the generic "reader discretion advised"

The tag villainous nonsense means Dead Dove Do Not Eat.

the family circle is an extra warning for discussing the themes and subtexts such as those present with Bhaal's cult and the Bhaalspawn: including reproductive horror and sexual abuse, including the incest.

If I feel like posting anything I scribbled ("art"), the tag will be the scribbles

When I'm making posts and being negative or complaining about video games and trivial stuff, it will be filed as: griping

Whenever I find or consider something new about the Dead Three and/or want to rant and scream insults at Bane again, my tag is the idiot three

When I babble about my characters, I tag it OCs, and the ocs are also tagged by name. So far I've only mentioned Vel

If I don't want to put my babbling about certain characters into the tags, I'll just put the / in front. /astarion, /orin, /gortash, /durge, etc

When I want to babble about stuff happening in my game as I play it, they're tagged playthrough shenanigans. The original games are bg2 playthrough shenanigans.

When I start talking about my oc's romance with Astarion I'll tag it petty murder boyfriends

#lore stuff

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one-flower-one-sword · 8 months

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"Gege, don't panic just yet. I'll repeat those words to you. Give them a listen."

"...Alright," Xie Lian said.

Hua Cheng's memory was exceptional, and he clearly and precisely repeated the words as soon as they left the area where the corpse-eating rats had gathered. Xie Lian stared intently at his lips as he pronounced a series of moderately paced and somewhat bizarre-sounding phrases. The words had a strange, ancient rhythm to them. Hearing them spoken with such steady control through Hua Cheng's lips made the notes deep, beautiful, and pleasing to the ears.

TGCF Volume 5, page 343

Mu Qing rolled all the silk veils into a ball and tossed them to the side, his veins popping slightly. "How would I know? Because all your clothes, accessories, and daily living needs were my responsibility back then. I washed for you, I mended for you - and every item in your wardrobe was unique. These statues are too detailed - everything is there, exactly the same, completely! When I saw those clothes, of course I knew which face they would have!"

TGCF Volume 6, page 50

For he had remembered something else: the tale of the red-clad ghost who set hundreds of civil and martial temples ablaze. Hua Cheng became famous overnight when he defeated thirty-three heavenly officials and obliterated every single one of their temples and shrines across the entirety of the Mortal Realm.

Xie Lian had long forgotten how many heavenly officials had fought him over that blessed land; their titles, their faces, and even the words they said were lost to him. He could only vaguely recall that there were about thirty of them.

TGCF Volume 8, page 24

Was thinking about Hua Cheng's memory while rereading these scenes and how he appears to basically have perfect recall. Yes, we know he can "record" things with his butterflies, but he only seems to be doing so during strategic moments. If he had recorded what the corpse-eating rats were saying, there would have been no need for him to repeat their words himself, but he does. And they were words in a language he could read but not understand when spoken, and he only heard them spoken once and when there was no reason for him to memorize them. And yet he can recall them perfectly.

Xie Lian wonders if the extreme accuracy of the statues' details is because the sculptor's mind was so filled with images of him and only him, and while that's not wrong, I do think it's remarkable that Hua Cheng was able to remember all those intricate details. After all, they're from a time where he mostly was only able to watch over Xie Lian from afar, and even when they were close for once, it was usually during very stressful circumstances. Yet years later, he can still recreate it all perfectly, to a point that, according to Xie Lian, not even Xianle's most renowned sculptors were able to.

Same with the thirty-three heavenly officials - Hua Cheng was a ghost fire during that time and again it were very stressful circumstances where he was actively trying to defend Xie Lian with what little power he had. And yet, even years later, even after he was almost dispersed as Wu Ming and out of his mind, he can apparently recall every single one of their faces and knows exactly who was there. It's a stark contrast to how Xie Lian has no idea anymore even how many there were, much less their names and faces.

Of course, at this point it's been several hundred years, so that's not surprising. Still, there are many moments like these where Xie Lian is confused and taken aback by Hua Cheng's strong reaction to things he himself can barely remember and often doesn't even really think about anymore. That's a multi-layered issue of course - for one thing, trauma messes with memory, and Xie Lian himself has stated things like that he'd rather remember the delicious meat bun he ate the day before than how he'd been trampled to death years ago. For another, Hua Cheng has reason to cling to those memories Xie Lian would rather forget because of his immense anger on Xie Lian's behalf.

This doesn't explain moments like with the corpse-eating rats though, since like previously stated there was no reason for Hua Cheng to actively try and memorize what they were saying. It can thus be extrapolated from these examples that he always remembers everything this precisely, whether he wants to or not, even if he only heard or saw it once, and no matter how much time has passed since then.

On the one hand, this would evidently serve him very well in cases like his worship of Xie Lian or his goals in aiding and protecting him. On the other, this would mean that every moment of suffering he went through - or that Xie Lian went through, which to Hua Cheng is the worst kind of suffering - will forever be present in his mind in perfect detail. To him, it will always be as if it happened just yesterday. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't forget, because there's no "off setting" to his perfect memory, it's always "on" and can't be overwritten.

I think this might also be a small but not insignificant part of what makes up Hua Cheng's palpable intensity and sharpness, and also contributes to the strong emotions he surpresses beneath his controlled exterior.

#tgcf #rereading tgcf #hua cheng

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genericpuff · 1 year

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I can't remember exactly what chapter but early on when Persephone went to talk to Hades during the "one day of the year the citizens get to see their king and file complaints" and side lines it (and the citizens time) to talk about Tori and Alex and his missing eye and they eat lunch... didn't Hades just conjure food instead of making them lunch or am I misremembering?

so this ask sent me on a bit of a ride because i went to go find the scene you were talking about, i knew exactly where it was but i had actually completely FORGOTTEN about the whole lunch bit that came with it

and oh, my fucking god-

MAN'S IS EATING AN ENTIRE STEAK ALL TO HIMSELF. AND HE GIVES HER JUST A COUPLE PASTRIES ???

and yes, he does basically magic it out of nowhere because he casts an 'illusion' to change her outfit and they're basically in a secret room right now. So he definitely didn't prepare this by hand or ahead of time (unless he lied about the whole 'illusion' thing and he really did knock her out and change her clothes against her will, oh god no-) And yet despite this being the "woman of his dreams", he STILL feeds her like a squirrel.

This is more proof as to why Persephone was never plus-sized rep and is written purely through the male gaze. For some reason Rachel is DEAD SET AGAINST feeding this poor girl or letting her chew food onscreen, and that's just the BARE MINIMUM of like, healthy fucking behavior.

Seriously, stop reading this post RIGHT NOW and ask yourself, "When has Persephone actually eaten a meal onscreen?"

Go ahead, I'll wait.

THAT'S RIGHT. SHE NEVER HAS.

The CLOSEST we've ever gotten to her eating a meal was that time she ordered takeout (fucking Chinese takeout???) and we never actually see her eating it. She's stirring it around in one panel and then by the end of the conversation, the food is gone.

Even in scenes where you'd think she'd be eating, like in the scene where she stays at Hera's for dinner, they come up with some random excuse as to why she can't have a full meal.

(I just noticed writing this up btw that they're all eating the same thing she is so why are they so apologetic as if they're all feasting on meat and she's just eating lettuce and cheese??? But it looks like all they're eating is greens and toast, what the fuck is happening-)

It's astounding to me at all that a Greek family wouldn't have anything more in the house for a vegetarian to eat than lettuce and halloumi. Need I remind you that Greek food is Mediterranean, it is primarily vegetarian. Beans, veggies, fruit, breads, and cheeses make up much of the foundation of Greek food so why don't they have anything else in the house; and why in the world is Zeus being all judgmental over her being vegetarian when most of what he eats - AND WHAT HE'S LITERALLY GOT ON HIS PLATE RIGHT NOW - is vegetarian???

And when she DOES eat, it's always the tiniest morsels, like she's a squirrel or a delicate little baby who's never seen food before and whose teeth haven't grown in yet. She'll be holding utensils, she'll have a plate in front of her, but will she eat the food? Will there even be food on the plate?

Anything we see her legitimately consume is juice. Happy little baby needs her juice, her sippy sip.

This is honestly so indicative of how Americanized LO is. From the lack of actual Greek food to vegetarianism being treated like an inferior diet to the main female character not being allowed to even CHEW food onscreen let alone eat, like... what year is it ??? Being a vegetarian isn't a radical idea anymore, and for fuck's sakes, Greek food is readily available even in North America so it shouldn't be this hard to get right! Can we please throw out this 1950's misogyny bullshit of the man stuffing his face with steak while the woman eats nothing but grapefruit skins, hard boiled eggs, and wine??

NO, SHE HASN'T. SHE HASN'T BEEN EATING ENOUGH, WE HAVEN'T SEEN HER EAT A GODDAMN MEAL ONCE SINCE SHE LEFT THE MORTAL REALM. CALL SOMEONE.

NO DON'T FALL FOR THE DISTRACTION PERSEPHONE, IT'S A PLOY TO KEEP YOU FROM EATING, PLEASE JUST TAKE ONE BITE YOU'RE SO CLOSE-

YOUR DAUGHTER IS HUNGRY. SHE SCREAMS FOR THE CHICKEN NUGGER. FEED HER.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus #ama #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything

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miquella-everywhere · 3 months

Note

Miyazaki said that the SoET was supposed to complete “The Elden Ring circle” and “honour GRRM’s contributions” by “focusing entirely on Miquella” 😭

When I heard about the DLC originally I was worried they were gonna make Miquella cheaply evil, because Fromsoft is allergic to positive divinity and good endings I guess. But looking at all the Miquella lore it would make just no sense, the best-worst outcome could’ve been Miquella corrupted by Mogh. They didn’t even make it an interesting evil. I have a friend who thought Miq was brainwashing ALL his followers, which thankfully isn’t the case. This is one of those “twists” or more “complex” endings where the straight forward route is a thousand times better. Isn’t us helping Miquella fix everything so much more interesting ? Miquella is supposed to be a parallel to Marika, isn’t it natural for us, tarnished warrior, to take up Godfry’s role? And not the out of nowhere larper. “Age of Compassion” is already set up as a name! Also as everyone said, Godwyn is just wasted! Why don’t we help Miq grant him a true death? Imagine the rotten, bulbous undead Godwyn as the final boss and act of mercy. Imagine if we could help Malenia too ughh. Who cares about Fia and her taking advantage of Godwyn’s remains.

By the way, do we get any mention of Miquella’s shadow? Or Fingers?? Good on the Dragon and Marika lore we love a nuances queen

"Focusing entirely on Miquella" 😒

I've been trying to avoid as many spoilers as possible, since the leaks ruined the build up and nearly everything for me, but from the people that I have been talking to they all say that Miquellas presence in the DLC is almost like an afterthought and his only major role is to be Radahns backpack in the final battle...

So basically I've been getting the impression that Miquella's entire development feels forsaken and pushed aside and that makes the final boss even more of a "Wait, what the fuck????" moment than it already is 😭 Even my bestie @marble-writes who is primarily a dragon slayer(go queen kill them all👏😂) and not much of a lore enthusiast said that Miquella's big twist felt so out of left field and lazy...

Back when the first trailer dropped I was literally frothing at the mouth at the idea of Miquella being our companion and guide, similar to Melina's role, through the Realm of Shadow. And it makes sense! Base-game lore built up Miquella as this kind, compassionate soul, so why wouldn't he be our friend? Why wouldn't he be our guide because, just like the promo said, we were being guided by him. And even if he didn't turn out to be a companion I at least expected him to be like Ranni in that he would be a major NPC and quest giver and we could interact with him and help him with whatever he needed help with...

But nope, just toss all that wonderful potential aside and make him the big-bad backpack and a dollar-store Serosh rip off :'(

I'm just... so devastated, especially after reading that article with Miyazaki saying that he wanted everything to go "full circle" when really it all just feels like a series of dashed lines that don't connect but vaguely form a circle. There's far too much missing to even really call it a cricle :(

AND GOD MIQ AND MALS SHADOWS!!!! I have not seen or heard anything about that so I am assuming that their shadows, the one that every empyrean is supposed to have, are ignored and forgotten just like Miquella's character development 😭 (and if im wrong and they are there dont tell me, i want to find and experience them for myself)

But still its yet another thing that is completely forgotten and leaves even more plot holes within SotE's lore and further erodes Elden Rings story as a whole 😭

and I dont know anything about the fingers at this point sorry :(

#i was so excited by the idea of ushering in a silent age of abundance/compassion along side rannis age of the stars 😭#and now it all amounted to nothing 😭#sote spoilers #uri answers

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spacebarbarianweird · 7 months

Text

The Dhampirs of the Sword Coast - Chapter 1

Astarion's daughter Alethaine has been an adventurer for six years but the whole experience was, at least, dissapointing. Now the young dhampir has to decide if she has to return to her parents or try her luck in Waterdeep.

This is the first chapter of the longfic dedicated to the adventures of dhampirs, vampire spawns' children. The events are set in 1537 DR, forty-five years post-game. Alethaine's age is 25. The stories about her childhood are here. The most of the characters are original but there will be cameos of Baldur's Gate companions, Forgotten Realms NPCs etc. I am tagging my whole list as usual BUT if you don't want to read this story, feel free to contact me. I will create separate tag lists for different auidiences.

Thanks @queenofthespacesquids for beta-reading!

Read on AO3

The List of Chapters

Alethaine Ancunin (High Elf/Necromancer) - age 25. Lawful Neutral.

Theris (Tiefling/Bard) - age 27. Chaotic Neutral.

Ulsha (Half-Orc/Paladin) - age 26. Lawful Good.

Alethaine Ancunin decides she will not spend another night in the woods.

She needs a bath. A bed instead of a bedroll and a roof above her head instead of a tent.

The elf puts her hand into her pocket, touching the silver coins. Not much. Practically nothing if she wants to sleep in one of the Waterdeep taverns. At least something if she is fine with a bedbug house on the outskirts of Crown of the North.

Maybe, sleeping in a tent isn’t a bad idea. It’s much better than the dungeon she was locked in for two months back in Daggerfoll. And for what? She only insulted a cleric. Not her fault he was easily offended!

But the thought of setting up camp and casting protection spells makes her sick. The dhampir’s back is sore because of her heavy traveling sack. And she suspects her leather boots have rubbed her feet raw and bleeding

“One night in the inn, and then I will go to Waterdeep and find something profitable. It’s the richest city on the Swords Coast! There must be something for me!”, she thinks.

“But it’s a city of guilds”, another voice reminds her. “And you are a dhampir, you can't even join an adventuring party without attracting too much attention. It’s difficult to survive on your own.”

Alethaine shuts off the inner voice and enters the Inn. A woman, a dark-haired elf, glances at her from behind the bar.

“Name?”

“Alethaine.”

“Just Alethaine?”, the elf squints her eyes.

Alethaine puts the traveling sack onto the floor.

“Just Alethaine.”

“No rooms available”.

“Really? I don’t see many people around!”

“No. Rooms. Available!”

“Then why did you ask my name?”

“You look like a Tel’Quessira. But you aren’t one. I don’t want any trouble.”

Alethaine looks around. From all the possible inns in the area of Waterdeep, she’s managed to go to a place owned by an elf!

Unlike any other creature in Faerun, elves always feel something is off with Alethaine. They immediately know she isn’t actually an elf and it's not her quarter of human blood to blame.

Dhampir.

When Alethaine was a child, it was just a word. Her best friend was a dwarf and she was a dhampir. Someone's father was an innkeeper and hers was a vampire. The fact she had fangs or skin too pale for a living person was something everyone in Daggerlake got used to.

And her ability to walk on ceilings was just a funny ability, not a weird trait.

But the real world shoves her dhampirism up to her nose, forcing Alethaine to always keep a low profile.

Don't open her mouth too wide to show her teeth. Control her emotions so she doesn't let her eyes glow red. Never use the useful skill of defying gravity and walking on walls in front of others.

And as if being half-undead isn’t enough, the gods decided to give her innate magic skills.

For necromancy.

“Go away, girl,” the innkeeper looks uneasy. It is a fear in a mask of disgust.

“Listen” Alethaine switches to Elven, her second mother tongue. “It’s been a very long day. I am tired as fuck. Maybe, we could negotiate? I have been an adventurer for six years and know a lot of spells. Maybe you have some issues with the undead or maybe someone died and you need to know where the papers for the Inn are?”

The innkeeper loses her patience. Persuasion isn’t Alethaine’s strength.

“You are not a real elf, Alethaine,” the woman laughed.”I don’t know what kind of trick you use to look like that, but you can’t lie to the True People. You stink of death and profane magic.”

“It’s called necromancy.”

The elf lets out a scared laugh.

“I am not talking about that! I have known a lot of necromancers in my lifetime. Maybe you can resurrect an animal or two, it’s not a big deal. But you are not an elf. And I am very much sure you aren’t a fully living person. Go away!”

“Go fuck yourself”, Alethaine says, and then adds a few vicious insults mentioning the elven gods, the woman’s ancestors, and compares the innkeeper to a drow, more precisely, to a drider.

The innkeeper just points at the door. Alethaine picks up the sack and leaves the inn.

As it happens, the weather outside is disgusting. Autumn. The month of Marpenoth. Pretty pleasant time in the South but, hells, miserable in the North.

Alethaine sits down on the porch. Her feet hurt and the dhampir thinks she can smell her own blood.

I wonder what my parents would do, she suddenly thinks.

They parted ways six years ago. Her mother, Tiriel the Barbarian, was invited to Luskan as the head of the city guard (and also someone who was experienced enough to beat the shit out of cultists) and Astarion had already been fed with the small boring town of Daggerlake.

Maybe, it was time to return to them? Luskan is pretty far away from Waterdeep but if she gathers enough money to buy a place on a ship…

Of course, Alethaine’s parents will welcome her with open arms, making sure she feels at their new home the same as she felt in Daggerlake. But the thought of returning looking like a stray beaten cat without any money or anything to be proud of loathes her.

A stupid thought, of course. If Alethine really learned anything by being a lonely adventurer, it is the fact loving parents are a very rare thing.

Alethaine stares at her pale hands. An elf who isn’t an elf. White skin as if of a dead person. Long pointy ears. A pair of vampiric fangs.

She doesn’t look like her mother. Tiriel is a tall half-elf with red hair, and freckles dance all over her back and shoulders. Mother would come back after being absent for a week muttering “I killed a fucking wyvern and befriended a werewolf, he is staying in our basement until we sort things out” and immediately doze off in Astarion’s arms. Tiriel is loud, brave, and reckless - Alethaine would always grab her hand when they went to a city market in the surface part of Daggerlake.

People often asked Tiriel what crypt she had found her pale daughter in.

Yes, Alethaine is a half-vampire. She is much more like her father’s daughter. The same silver hair, though straight, not curly. Fangs. Certain facial features. Tiriel would always say she has his nose and his form of lips. Alethaine is his replica except for the body warmth, of course. Astarion has none, his skin as cold as the world around him.

Meanwhile, Alethaine’s living beating heart runs hot blood through her veins. Half-undead blood, to be honest.

Sometimes Alethaine wonders what his life had been like before he crossed paths with her mother forty-five years ago, in 1492 DR. But it had undoubtedly been something very bad, and Astarion doesn’t want to talk about it with his only daughter. Something so bad that her father, who fears no gods, no monsters, no devils, nothing, sometimes cries with fear in the middle of the night.

Once or twice, she asked Astarion questions. Just out of curiosity. But he looked at her as if her words had caused him physical pain.

Alethaine looks up - the rain intensifies. The dhampir shivers.

When she was young she couldn’t wait till the day she would hit the road. She wanted to see the world on her own, to have her own adventures similar to ones her parents had before she was born.

They both trained her - sometimes her mother just took her into the woods for a week or two, forcing Alethaine to survive in the wilderness using very few tools and things - how to set up a fire, how to find food and identify poisonous plants. Everything which might come to use when Alethaine is on her own.

And also teaching how to dodge a two-handed ax.

“Once the fighter wields it, they can’t do anything. Just look at the blade and use your instincts. You are smaller and faster than I, make it your advantage!” Tiriel would say lifting the ax in the air as Alethaine was preparing to jump away.

Her father taught her to use daggers and fangs. “Princess, magic is magic but a blade is a blade. Don’t rely on spells”.

Astarion showed her how to pick up lockets and traps and, most importantly, how to attack a bigger enemy from behind.

“Most of the enemies you will meet will be taller and bigger than you but few of them would see a five-foot-tall elven maiden as a threat”.

They trained Alethaine well, Astarion, and Tiriel. They made sure their daughter could protect herself in this dangerous world.

She wraps herself in a black jacket. Astarion made it for her when she was seventeen. Black, with pockets, nothing unusual except for the embroidery of a red dragon inside and a text in Espruar. Anyone unfamiliar with the Elven language would consider it poetry or a prayer.

It is neither. The text is simple and beautiful like any text written by Tel’Quessira.

Ai armiel telere maenen hir, saren damia.

You hold our hearts forever, our child.

A short reminder that Alethaine isn’t alone in this world.

Maybe, fuck the pride, and return to her parents? To the only people who care about her? Six years are enough to understand that Alethaine Ancunin is anything but an adventurer.

Someone who is dumb enough to spend two months in a cell for insulting a cleric? Yes. A misfortunate bodyguard who got her client murdered? No doubt. A chronically unemployed dark witch? Absolutely.

But not an adventurer.

“Kill the fucking bard, I am tired of him!” Alethaine hears a drunk male voice.

“Yes. Theris, I told you l would turn you inside out if you come back!” the second voice adds.

“Please, my beloved townsfolk! I am just a traveling bard, performing innocent songs!” The third voice sounds androgynous. “Maybe I could sing something more to your liking?”

“Yes! We would love to hear you sing from pain! You horny asshole”

“Oh, please, your sister jumped on me herself! I couldn’t say “no” to such a lovely creature!”

Not your business, Alethaine, she tells herself but curiosity definitely killed the dhampir, and she looks behind the corner.

A young tiefling with violet skin is holding his lute as if it was a shield as two drunk fools corner him with a very clear intent to beat the shit out of him. One of them is red-haired, and the other is missing an eye.

Theris the Bard tries to keep his cool but his tail betrays his fear.

Alethaine senses something weird about him. No, it can’t be.

Surely, Alethaine knows she isn’t alone. Her parents released 7000 vampires into the Underdark forty-five years ago, twenty years before her birth. There must be a lot of dhampirs in Faerun.

But she has never met any of them. Until now.

Theris catches her scent and stares in shocked disbelief.

“Hey, leave him alone!” Alethaine drops her sack, ready to cast a spell.

“Oh, what a pathetic picture! An elven maiden comes to rescue a bard from their demise!”

“Listen, I hate bards,” Alethaine says and Theris casts a betrayed glance at her. “Honestly, if it was in my power, I would hang them all at the crossroads. Especially the ones who can’t keep their trousers laced. But this… tiefling… happens to be my… relative of a sort… And I would like you to let him go.”

The men exchanged glances. The one-eyed one comes close to Alethaine and she can see he doesn’t have front teeth and his lower canines are rotten.

“You are a lovely creature, elf. Have you ever received proper care from a real human man? My brother and I are very experienced”.

Using the dagger might be dangerous, Alethaine thinks. She doesn't want to be imprisoned again - and she might be very well hanged for murdering two people. As for the fangs, the men will tell everyone she is a vampire and then she will be staked or burned.

Alethaine raises her right hand, feeling the concentration of dark magic on the tips of her fingers.

“HOLD!”

The man freezes, unable to move. There is fear in his drunk eyes.

“Hey, what are you waiting for? Drag her inside!” his brother punches the tiefling and steps on his lute. The instrument breaks in two. Theris makes a painful sound like his bones have been broken

Alethaine straightens her back and raises her left hand.

“What is your biggest fear?” she whispers as the second spell is cast on the drunk man.

And then he screams.

“THEY ARE IN MY SKIN! THE WORMS ARE IN MY SKIN! BURN ME! BURN ME!”

If he wasn’t paralyzed, he would try to get to the closest torch to set himself on fire, but he is bound by two spells and can’t move.

His brother suddenly realizes something is off and lets the bard go.

“What the fuck wrong with you?” he quivers.

“Everything is fucking wrong with me!” Alethaine laughs. “First l will kill you, and then I will raise you up to carry books for me all around Faerun until I get tired of you! And if you ever tell anyone about me, I will find you and turn you inside out!”

The spells wear off and the one-eyed man collapses on the ground whimpering like a beaten dog. The red-haired man helps him to stand up and they both disappear into the dark.

“Fuck, my lute. What’s a bard without a lute,” Theris stands on his feet. “I am Theris. And you are Alethaine, I’ve heard your conversation with the innkeeper. The bitch hates everyone who isn’t an elf.”

Alethaine stares at the young man. His violet skin is pale as if he had been dead for a few hours. The dhampir fangs are almost indistinguishable from the tiefling ones and his eyes have a natural red color.

“Never seen another dhampir?”

“No! You are the first!”

“Lucky you. I wish I'd never met any of our kind. But alas we never get what we want.”

“But why? What’s wrong with other dhampirs?”

“Everything! We are solitary predators, once we are stuck together in one place, we are fucked!”

Alethaine points at the lute and the bruises. “It seems like you are fucked either way.”

“Can’t deny it. So, Alethaine, what brought you to the City of Splendors?”

“I am looking for work. And to spend a night somewhere.”

Theris scratches his forehead. “There is too much competition among the adventurers. Bad choice. Well, thank you for saving me, I wish I could pay you but since my working instrument is broken I can only offer my gratitude.”

Theris turns away. Alethaine senses something she’s never felt before. It is a feeling of belonging. Sharing the journey and adventures with someone similar to her.

“Wait! Maybe we could look for something together?”

“Not interested!” But the tiefling’s tail betrays his thoughts.

“Your tail disagrees”

“Fuck. Bad tail!” Theris bares his fangs. “Oh, fine! It’s nice to meet … someone of my kind… And who isn’t Ulsha.”

“Who is Ulsha?” Alethaine can’t believe her luck. There is one more dhampir around? If she had known, she would have come to Waterdeep years earlier!

Theris hisses. “Oh, Ulsha is a delight! Six feet of anger and angst! So devoted to her blasted Morninglord she forgets her profane origin!”

“But you are friends with her, aren’t you?”

“Oh no, we are sworn enemies. She wants me dead, I want her to come to her senses. And she also killed my fey-dust dealer. The dude gave me stuff almost for free and Ulsha ended him like some vermin. I am still brooding about it!”

The weather is getting worse and the autumn winds start howling like hungry wolves. Alethaine wishes nothing more than a warm bed near the fire. Theris shuts up as if thinking about something.

“I got it! Alethaine, you look much more decent than I do! Well, you still look like a person no one should trust…”

“Careful, tiefling, I might forget about our blood ties and break your horns like they broke your lute!”

“... But Ulsha doesn’t know you and she has this awful paladin trait of assuming the best of strangers. We and Black Death really need a warm place tonight as well.”

“Black Death?”

Theris puts his hand behind his shirt and snatches a small ball of white fur. The ball yawns and pierces Alethaine with two ruby eyes.

“A weird name for a pet rat,” she says.

“Hush, Alethaine, he is very sensitive.”

Alethaine feels an unstoppable desire to pat the rat. She’s wanted to have her own pet for all her life, even tried to foster a kitten back when she was ten. But mortal animals fear her, they sense her undead origin. Horses buckle up in her presence, dogs howl, cats run away.

But the rat is so peaceful in Theris’s hands Alethaine dares to touch it.

Black Death winces but doesn’t run away.

“Hm, he likes you. And he has a very good taste in strangers. Ok, let’s melt that paladin’s cold heart!”

It takes them almost an hour to reach a small tavern almost at the city walls. Alethaine is soaking wet and Theris is no better.

“Are you sure she is here?” Alethaine asks. The tavern looks abandoned.

“She is always here. Looking for the poor and miserable and helping them not to fall into the wrong hands. Ulsha! Ulsha, bless us with your divine presence!”

“Get lost, fiend!” someone roars from the inside. “And whoever you brought with you!”

The door opens wide and Ulsha steps outside.

A tall and muscled half-orc woman in a full paladin outfit leans on her two-handed sword as if posing for a sculptor. The sign of Lathander shines on her chest like a small sun.

“Ulsha, would you be so kind as to let us in so we could talk? Have mercy on your cousin!” Theris makes a pleading look but Ulsha has none of this.

"Cousin my ass, Theris! I have no desire to be relatives with someone who can't keep their cock away from people!"

"It was all consensual!"

Ulsha bares her fangs, which, accompanied by orcish teeth, make her look like a wild bear.

"I don’t want you and bullshit and your… fairy friend at my place"

Fairy friend? Well, it seems like racial hatred between half-orcs and elves goes far beyond mutual dhampirism.

"Wait, you can't be angry that a bard was a being bard! Maybe we can…" Alethaine tries to find the right words not to make Ulsha angrier than she already is. "Re-pay the damage?"

Theris suspiciously looks at the necromancer and then turns his eyes to Ulsha.

"In my defense, I didn't kill anyone! Did you?"

"I am not answering this question." Alethaine crosses her hands.

"GET OUT!" Ulsha slams the door, leaving the dhampirs outside.

“Urgh, I hate her” Theris spits. “I wonder how the fuck she survived her childhood in the Underdark!”

“She is from the Underdark?” Alethaine asks with a shock. “My condolences,” she adds loud enough for the dhampir to hear.

“Yep. Ran away when she was fourteen, got to the surface at sunrise, and gave an oath to never return back. I mean, there are very few dhampirs who are from below there. It seems like the underground tunnels definitely affect fertility. This one is just the worst!”

The door opens again. Ulsha looks disgruntled.

“I don't need your pity, elf. Or whatever you call yourself…”

“I’d prefer Alethaine, thank you very much.”

Ulsha sighs. “Forgive me, Morninglord. Here is some work for you. If you do it successfully, you are free to stay with me or with the quest giver. He is a kind man. Now, go!”

Ulsha tosses a scroll to Alethaine. Catching the scroll, the elf reads it aloud.

“A cat is missing. Last time seen at Mistshore. Return to Gale of Waterdeep.”

Gale of Waterdeep… If the wizard is truly the one her parents told her about… And if this is THE wizard her mother once saved from offing himself…

"Theris, we have a very rewarding job for tonight!”

Tag list

@tugoslovenka @marcynomercy @wintersire @vixstarria @not-so-lost-after-all @ashiro20 @theearthsfinalconfession @herstxrgirl @starlight-ipomoea @micropoe10 @astarion-imagine-archive @veillsar @elora-the-slutty-songstress @fayeriess @lumienyx @tallymonster @caitlincat-95 @tragedybunny @valeprati @lynnlovesthestars @marina-and-the-memes @waking-electric @ayselluna @connorsui @asterordinary @darkarchangel96 @locallegume @brainfullofhotsauce @coffeeanddonutscafe

#astarion #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 astarion #astarion bg3 #dadstarion #aletha #alethaine ancunin #dhampir #waterdeep #dhampirs of the sword's coast #meet the dhampirs #baldur's gate post game #dungeons and dragons #forgotten realms #necromancy #dhampirs of the swords coast

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my-pjo-stuff · 1 month

Note

For the Great PJO Ask Analysis event: (ask no. 3)

You've got a topic in PJO you'd like for me to analyze?

The way demigods inherit their godly parents powers. Percy has a long list of abilities compared to Annabeth/Clarisse/Beckendorf, etc.

Want to share YOUR analysis of stuff with me and my followers?

Grover Underwood is an incredibly complex character who tends to get forgotten both by the fandom and the author. As satyr, he's got different aging to demigods and while Annabeth and Percy know him well, they don't seem to completely know. He doesn't talk about his family, his relationship with Juniper and is generally used as comic relief. His status as Pan's legacy holder seems underdeveloped as well. Thoughts?

Want to hear my take or shares yours of different characters and aspects of the PJO universe?

The exploration into the realms of Greek mythology is interesting. The Underworld is relatively easy for the trio to get into and for them to escape which seems to contradict the Underworld being a terrifying place with Tartarus, etc.

Nico and Bianca Di Angelo's storyline seems rather complicated and doesn't really explore them as characters. Opinion?

The way demigods inherit their godly parents powers. Percy has a long list of abilities compared to Annabeth/Clarisse/Beckendorf, etc.

Now I'm going to be honest and say that in my opinion there isn't much to analyze? Like, at the start of the series it seemed pretty obvious to me that powers are rather rare to be inherited from godly parents. Instead, it was more like talents that were passed down (Apollo kids being good at archery, Athena kids being smart etc.) For Percy's powers I honestly just assumed it was because he was the MC, and thus obviously had special or cool stuff to make the story interesting. In universe I chalked it up to just being a genetic lottery like irl in which actual powers were like a super recessive gene.

There's always a chance you'll inherit it and it'll show, it's just VERY small. Then as the book went on and more and bigger threats got introduced, as well as more characters being thrown into the mix a classic case of power creep set in. 'Cause you need the new characters to be interesting for the reader to get invested, while also needing to up the stakes from time to time to keep it interesting. Yet at the same time the characters also need to be able to reasonably defeat the enemies. So the most logical way to solve all that is to introduce new powers.

And I honestly there's not much more you can really analyze or explain. It's not really a coincidence that most characters introduced in the first five books didn't have any powers or only relatively weak ones, while those later introduced tend to have them or have them more powerfully.

Grover Underwood is an incredibly complex character who tends to get forgotten both by the fandom and the author (....) Thoughts?

I think Grover is one of the many wasted characters in the PJO books, he specifically having suffered from being treated like a side character despite having the setup of a main one. You already pointed out that Grover is very interesting as a character and has a lot going on- which, in my opinion, would have been better explored for a character if they had been a demigod.

Grover is in this sort of weird position where while yes, his themes are very cool and even relatable, they are not relatable enough. Because who do you think would children (aka, the books target audience) rather read about? The cool human demigods their age who look pretty and do cool stuff? Or the satyr guy who doesn't fit conventional beauty standards and isn't human? Fact is that Grover just isn't really as "attractive" as a character compared to others- he always seemed to take more of a background role supporting other characters. Which yeah, is most definitely a HUGE waste (which I honestly don't think I need to elaborate on further). And I honestly blame the fact that he just isn't pretty enough. Is he ugly? No, but he certainly isn't pretty or very fandomizable. He doesn't really have popular ship options and already gets pushed into the background of the books to make room for Percy and Annabeth. The fact that thus the fandom largely ignores him and he seems to lose importance as the story goes on doesn't seem suprising to me.

Again I'll just have to go meta and say, I think it's just the fact that they are in a children's book. It would get pretty boring to just always stay in America/the "human" world with a setting that could offer locations such as the Underworld, Tartarus, Olympus etc. so logically Rick searched for ways and reasons to get characters down there to use them. PJO and HOO being a kids' book series of course meant that he couldn't truly portray places like that as horrifying and dark as they should be, so he had to tone it down to keep it child-friendly. Same goes for the escapes from Tartarus and the Underworld- Rick can't just have his characters die, so he has them come out relatively unscathed. That's personally one of the reasons why I think that PJO would have been much more interesting had it been a young adult or teen series, since it would have allowed darker themes to be explored more thoroughly than they were. 8Some examples being locations like the Underworld, the true dystopia that a world would be where demigods just straight up have no human rights, the systematic issues with CHB ect.) Nico and Bianca Di Angelo's storyline seems rather complicated and doesn't really explore them as characters. Opinion?

I mean Bianca's only major character trait was just "Nico's sister". She was as flat as a piece of paper, died a few chapters after her introduction and really just served as a plot device for Nico's storyline. So I honestly don't think I have to say and go over the exact same talking points as everyone has gone over with her before. Nico on the other hand had some very cool set up where we could explore HIM growing angry with the gods. I mean, Zeus was the one who killed his mother, no? His father (even with good intentions) just straight up erased his and Bianca's memory completely. Bianca ended up dying not only for a god (Artemis) but also indirectly because of the gods (the scrapyard they have and the robot thingy). And Hades just also straight up attempted to semi-kidnap him and train him up to be the Child of Prophecy for what I can only assume to be his own gain. Not to mention the disrespect children of Hades got at camp. Nico is, as much as I see it, one of the characters with the most reasons to be hostile towards the gods. Right up there with Luke and Ethan for what I see. Unfortunately though that was never explored, purely because Rick either A) didn't have the time or B) couldn't have the antagonist look too good. I'm not yet finished with all the books, so there is a chance that the part about the story being overcomplicated could refer to something else- but as of now I gotta assume it's the "he's from ww2, actually!" thing. Which, honestly? To me, it is much less overcomplicated and more underdeveloped. Nico's "time travel" is, when it boils down to it, just a loose excuse for Rick to have another kid of the Big Three there without anyone breaking their vow. We could have had a cool exploration of how demigod life changed over the decades or an interesting arc of feeling displaced in time. Instead, we got none of it because, frankly said- for Nico as a character right now that backstory just frankly isn't important. Nothing would really change for him as a character if we just push away that time travel thing. All we'd need to say is that he and Bianca got their amnesia in an accident and then BOOM. Nothing would change for their characters at all really. We could easily say that Maria was killed by Zeus together with her unborn child to get Hades to curse the oracle and keep the time line in check. So yeah, to me their backstory is more of an excuse to have them here and is severely underutilized and unexplored- and Bianca is just a dumpster fire overall.

#pjo #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #bianca di angelo #nico di angelo #grover underwood #rr crit

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beetlethebug · 5 months

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so we know that like, Kristen's whole deal is religion and such, right? I'm just kinda thinking about the other Bad Kids and the Gods. Maybe it's my own multi-deity pagan ass just wanting to consider what it would look like. (I'm using primarily Forgotten Realms Gods and my absolutely vague knowledge of them).

This got long so read under the cut ;u;

Gorgug is absolutely Garl Glittergold's favorite child. He loves the shenanigans. Do you think he starts connecting with Gruumsh when he starts connecting with his birth parents? Baby Gorgug leaving bits of metal and toys he accidentally broke on the altar the Thistlesprings' have in their workshop. Gorgug pre-artificer offering up the songs he makes as a tricky sort of "metal" working. Feeling a connection to Gruumsh in the heats of his rage, the nudge of a hand during his frenzy guiding him to the right target. Keeping bits of scrap from their enemies to melt down into his next artificing project. He also probably talks to Helm, sometimes, asking for guidance on how to best protect his friends. Gorgug has big protector energy.

Adaine who is, in a way, a deity in her own right, depending how revered the Oracle is. I don't know if Adaine would connect with Elvish gods, but she and Oghma vibe. I think that after the Bad Kids all talk and bond, Kristen makes a joke about her being a Gruumsh follower with her furious fist and so Adaine jokingly buys a pin to wear in offering. Jawbone also had a talk with her about sometimes it can help to talk to someone about your anxiety--whether that be a counselor or even the Gods, sometimes. Just Adaine praying to Gruumsh to have the strength to punch her anxiety in the face is very beautiful to me. Azuth is the god of wizards, so he and Adaine might vibe. Adaine feels like the type to vibe with the Gods mostly in jest; she talks to them sometimes, but they're silly little guys to her. Because of Tracker and Jawbone's lycanthropy, I think she either has a small shrine to Galicaea or has the biggest beef with her imaginable. Maybe a little bit of both.

Riz. God. I think once Riz meets his Father, he definitely like, sets up a little shrine to him. Ancestor work feels really important to Riz. He dedicates a lot of self-care things to his dad, I think. Mainly sleeping and drinking water. Does he do them? No. But it's the thought that counts. Riz is definitely the like, mundane acts of worship. Incorporating it into miniscule parts of his day that would go undetected unless you knew him and where to look. He also probably has some devotional jewelry to Yondalla; I think that Penny probably had a habit of repeating prayers while touching the beads of her bracelet (kind of like a Rosary) and that rubbed off on him, especially when she was babysitting him. The whole family also probably have at least some sort of worship to Tyr due to their connection to justice and law enforcement. I think Sklonda is more connected with some of the deities associated with Goblins, specifically Gruumsh (can you tell I love him?) and Maglubiyet. He prays to war gods to get through the absolute shitshow of Adventuring school. He and Adaine probably dedicate their research to Oghma.

Fig is really interesting because I feel like she is probably in the vein of demon work instead of divinity. Although I think that she unironically thinks Riz's dad is super cool so like, playfully worships him. Fig is the Bad Kid that I feel like collects all the different pieces of her friends and wears them proudly upon herself. She dedicates concerts to Kristen's new deity of the week. She sighs and asks Oghma for help on exams; she includes prayers to Gruumsh in her tracks. I feel like Fig also might have a tendency to like, worship the people in her life. She thinks they're so important and she cares about them so much. So she elevates them to the status of a God in her mind. They are invincible. They are young and powerful and the bonds they share are much, much magical then some God who pretends to be high and mighty. Her body is an altar--she wears jewelry and draws sigils and uses so much color magick. She is, in a way, a walking beacon to the gods, saying, "Look at us! We're just as good as you, and if you doubt it, then we'll kick your ass!"

Fabian Seacaster my beloved. This man follows his Father's footsteps for a long time. He worships Gods of the tempest, of the sea and sailing. Yondalla holds a special place in his heart. Riz nearly has a conniption when Fabian corrects him on a prayer to Yondalla, and the two of them bond about it. But once this man starts dancing, this man worships Corellon Larethian with his whole chest. He does a lot of his worship through dancing. Moving his body, getting in touch with his roots. Because of the fire elemental, he also does some like, elemental magic? But I think a lot of his forms of worship come through bodily experiences. Braving a storm, dancing in front of a crowd, making just the right maneuver to protect his friends in battle. Sometimes he and Fig and Gorgug will sit together and make devotional playlists!

#fantasy high #dimension twenty #dimension 20 #fabian seacaster #riz gukgak #headcanons #adaine abernant #fig faeth #gorgug thistlespring #deities #forgotten realms deities #dnd lore #dnd gods #listen i am just. submitting this into the world these are my thoughts and feelings #paganism #the bad kids #d20 fantasy high

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0aurelion-sol0 · 3 months

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(So before we start with this theory & new post of mine for a long time since my semi-hiatus, I want to repeat that I do not want any new informations about season 5 or anything related to it whether true or not, same for any leaks, set photos whether true not. I ESPECIALLY DO NOT WANT THOSE!!!!! or interviews that are the slightest bit too revealing UNLESS I haven't looked at it myself and even then, easy on any of these. I know something minor about this season & have seen two things about it but that's it, nothing more.

These theories & analyses might be proven wrong or false already or in the future but I don't care, I do this for fun & as a way to explore different possibilities about the story that can be interesting or could have been at least. I hope everyone understands this & will not be a party pooper towards me just to have a "GOTCHA!!!" moment... With that said, let's get into it, shall we ?)

_________________________________________

The Thessalhydra:

Back To The Future &... The Beginning.

_________________________________________

For this first post, I wanted to go back to season 1 as I found it was fitting to explore one of the earliest major fandom theories of Stranger Things since it's final season is on it's way.

"The Thessalhydra as the final threat from the Upside Down."

And while at first everyone at the end of Season 1 thought, obviously, that this creature would be the next threat in it's second season, the Mind Flayer poked it's head and said "not yet!", "I need to experiment with my minions first!" with a Vecna also slowly planning his own armageddon as well. And as much as I don't like him (& his season... 😒), he's here and he proves to be useful from time to time when it comes to theories or analyses because he still part of the show & can help up in terms of parallels, themes & plot.

But now, let's remember the last episode of season 1! The boys playing their new campaign about the Thessalhydra taking a similar turn to the one they did at the beginning of the first season (*wink wink*) & this time Will does a 14 (*wink wink*) & kills the Thessalhydra with a fireball. (*wink wink*)

Now if this wasn't a tv show with multiple seasons, I would tell you that the boys obviously staged the whole thing for Will to win so that he can be happy and because they're all very nice friends & also not repeat the same game at risk of making him vanish again especially if the monster this time is the size of the Empire State Building, (sorry with the luck these characters have, I simply can't believe they can have a happy ending such as this one. WILL HAD UD SLUGS INSIDE HIS BODY, WTF GUYS???!!!) but this is a tv show with multiple seasons. And now, it has definitely become foreshadowing for what's to come.

Especially since in it's fourth season now, we basically have Nancy having an apocalyptic vision of Hawkins with a large creature which is describe by having a "gaping mouth".

And if you look at her face here, she definitely did not find that thing beautiful in the slightest, though she is probably more terrified about the fact that she saw most of her family dead. 🤭

But would you look at that ?! What creature in ST fits that description ? Quite a lot actually but obviously you know which one I'm talking about, yes The Thessalhydra! And oh my god, look at what I've found on the Forgotten Realms Wiki:

"Thessalhydras were hideous and terrifying creatures. They had a large, reptilian body with a long tail, 18 feet (5.5 meters) in length, which ended in a pair of large, sharp pincers. It had no head, instead eight hydra-like heads, each about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length, surrounded a gaping mouth filled with teeth and acidic saliva."

Well well, after that, it's difficult to argue what else could that large creature be!

End of theory! Bye guys! Thank you for reading!

...

Except I also can do that... 😅 Because I have reason to believe that this future Thessalhydra is a creature we have seen before. One whose campaign mirrors another campaign from the same season.

Yes. I have reasons to believe that the Thessalhydra and The Demogorgon from Season 1 are one and the same.

Do you remember this ?

Of you course you remember this, what a stupid question. It's part of a series of trauma that affected us deeply as a fandom, for different reasons (at least for me) but it proves to be an even more important parallel than we originally thought.

I don't need to tell you about the thematic importance of the parallel or what it means for the characters, we've all already gone through that already, I am more interested in it's significance for the plot.

So El kills The Demogorgon & Henry the same way. By disintegrating them. But that action doesn't seem to end the same way for the both of them & El herself.

What is interesting is that the three of them dissapear in some form, Henry into an Upside Down gate but ends up falling forever through the Hellscape (a different dimension than Dimension X/The Upside Down though likely connected, the same way that Dimension X & The Upside Down probably are the same thing but it's not fully confirmed yet.) before ending into Dimension X/The Upside Down in some way. And we all know what happens from here on out, at least what we know of it since Season 4.

I have a theory for why he ended up there, what is the nature of that place and did not simply disintegrate like The Demogorgon who I also do not think simply disintegrated but we will not go fully through that in this post.

El though ends up in the Upside Down after being taken by the disintegrated part of the Demogorgon or by disintetrating herself (though it didn't really seem that way to me) which I think is probably because the Demogorgon used it's powers on her since he could open gates or send anyone to the UD in season 1. (We will also get into that but not in this post, same for why he was so different in Season 1, both physically and in the way he behaved.)

But the Demogorgon, from what we saw simply disintegrated and we never heard or saw any significant clue of it's existence again. Which again leads me to believe, if we follow the logic of what happened to Henry & to El in some way, it is still alive, somewhere.

And I believe personally that it is in the Hellscape right now, and in the same way that Henry got electrocuted while free falling in that place which marked the start of it's transformation as Vecna, I think the same is happening to The Demogorgon and is slowly being transformed into the Thessalhydra.

I think that El when she disintegrate something, she sends them into the Hellscape which is connected to Dimension X/The Upside Down as some sort of passage for someone who didn't enter via a gate the "original" or "right" way per say. Because being launched into Dimension X/The Upside Down in a state or in a way such as this one could be fatal so it's some sort of transition in a way.

And while Henry technically went through a gate, he was disintegrated before it's opening & that gate couldn't last more than a few seconds which I think is a result of the barrier between the worlds not being thin enough. Plus I think El gave way more strength into Henry than she did the Demogorgon with her powers which in turn also opened a gate behind him.

So as a result, he went into the Hellscape as some sort of "safer" transition between the two dimensions since as we know, and I hope, no gate before that has been opened in Hawkins before.

And as for the Demogorgon, again I think it's a point of it fighting back against El & using it's own powers against her plus again El didn't seem to launch the same type of strength of her power as she did onto Henry since she was standing much closer to the Demogorgon than she did Henry while also using an important memory of hers to defeat him.

Now as to why we haven't seen that Demogorgon or Thessalhydra in ST again, I think it's because the Hellscape was connected to the original version of The Upside Down, Dimension X in a way that it's not anymore with The Upside Down because what happened November 6th, 1983 changed more than just the environment but also the workings of those dimensions since the barriers between the dimensions are now thinner.

So I see 3 possibilities for the Demogorgon, to me it is still free falling through the Hellscape being slowly turned into the Thessalhydra or somehow ended up in Dimension X instead which is still connected to The Upside Down but is seperate it's own plane in some way since The Mind Flayer still come from there or is in a version of The Upside Down that is still Dimension X outside of UD Hawkins.

But still, some things are still up for speculation for how exactly it all works out in the end.

As I said at the beginning of the post, you take Nancy's description and apply to other creatures in ST like the Meat Flayer/Spider Monster (whatever you wanna call it) of Season 3, a gaping mouth with multiple hydra-like heads who in a way also gets defeated by fireballs via Lucas and it's fireworks which we see Will throw with him but the Demogorgon also fits that description with it's own gaping mouth blooming like a flower whose petals could look like different mouths coming from it.

And in a way, it would be ironic for The Demorgorn from season 1 to be The Thessalhydra because if we follow the boys' campaign, the very thing that took Will back then, that he couldn't defeat would also be the same thing he will defeat in it's final season as some sort of karmic consequence for The Demogorgon & The UD as a whole but also as a way to tie it's final season with it's first season in a more concrete way.

It started with Will and it will end with Will.

#stranger things #stranger things 5 #st5 #st5 theory #stranger things 5 theory #the demogorgon #the thessalhydra #the upside down #el #el hopper #eleven hopper #jane hopper #vecna #henry creel #vecna stranger things #will byers #stranger things vecna #the mind flayer #hellscape #dimension x #stranger things five #stranger things season five #william byers #And I can't but notice how Will; El & Henry all vanish at some point of the story.#The Demogorgon as well!#Even more parellels!#But people have already noticed that with Will & El in Season 1 but nice to see it works for other cases such as Henry or The Demogorgon!#Billy and The Flayed in season 3 also fits that scenario.#And Vecna's Victims before they are discovered or Hopper also fits under that scenario as well.#Which makes me think we are going to see other vanishings in Season 5.

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atticsandwich · 3 months

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ok typically first lessons for a new season generally set the stage of where the story goes for the season so!! here are some highlights i think will be worth noting:

[spoilers for nightbringer lesson 41 under the cut]

- the science fair seems to be our main focal point, kinda like how og obey me s2's was the play (which is still my fave season btw). notable each of the branches of science highlighted could have a main driving subplot to weave everything together? we don't have too much to go off of yet though

- it seems we're really going for the "everyone but solomon and mc has forgotten about mc's disappearance", which, considering they put extra focus on the brothers + luke and simeon being extra clingy, i think will be something we'll come back to later on (interestingly, dia + barb hasn't displayed or hinted at feeling like they haven't seen mc in a while)

- thirteen hug scene! i think it's definitely setting up for the non dateables to be romanceable, thirteen especially has displayed a lot of romantic tendencies towards mc in more recent events (mephisto and even raphael too, though they're a lot more lowkey)

- simeon. in one of the chapters they're hinting that there's definitely something wrong/off with him, which i definitely think will be another major subplot. maybe some stuff with michael getting physically involved finally? interestingly raphael's currently at the celestial realm bc michael called for him, which makes me wonder if he's gonna attempt to disguise himself as raphael again (though i doubt it)

- not really anything notable but i was scared they weren't gonna give us a solomon scene but I'm glad they did LMFAO he's so cute. Lucifer kissing mc's head as goodnight for longer than normal right in front him was funny. Also we definitely bang him in our room at the end LMFAO

ok that's all if i missed anything to note lmk 👍 i haven't played hard mode yet (help im still at lesson 20 something over there) and i haven't seen anyone talk about what the story chapter there is so if u know pls lmk 🙏) no mephisto cameo yet too.... sobs....

also i am. so glad i start unlocking my cards' level caps... power scaling is rough out here even with a full team of level 120 cards (+ level 80 memories) i barely reach A rank without the wand boosts

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #atticsandwich rambles #obey me shall we date #obey me spoilers

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jess-the-vampire · 1 year

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I loved the finale but kinda wished hunter got to stomp belos too then sobs from happiness knowing it’s finally over or belos stuck in the between realm forever or reliving his worse nightmare as a fate worse than death

Honestly the finale felt so odd to me because we felt like were were getting setups that just were not given resolution in the finale.

And these are setups post cut, so these are things the writers had to have planned while knowing their time, which makes it more odd to me.

like at that point the focus should be to only set up things you are going to touch on and that come back into play, not add things you don't.

I personally don't think hunter needed to watch belos die, but when the show gave him new powers last episode i kinda expected them to like....come back in the finale?

like hunter's dash has no role in the finale at all, it was useful for the one scene he got regarding willow and gus and figuring out flapjack is with him and everything.....but it's one episode before the finale and it is completely forgotten after the fact outside of a couple dashes in the archive that are relatively minor.

and he ends up getting a new palsiman anyway so it just feels....off to me. I mean i was expecting him to get a new palisman but it now almost makes his dash a bit more irrelevant to even have.

kinda like how they kill glyphs, but we get glyphs at the end anyway so why the loss at all if it's not really going to stick?

honestly, let's ignore the fact the way belos died really should not have killed him for a second, Eda, Raine, and King are the characters with some of the least interactions with belos at all in the show.

Like his rule had affects on these characters and their loved ones and he did try to have eda killed, but when you think of belos' victims.....these three tend not to not be the first 3 you think of.

i kinda think the death would of been a little better if none of them jumped in and the rain just did it.

There was some minor set up for camilia or the other kids to help finish him off so i almost think it would've been more fitting if they were the ones to do it if we HAD to have that.

i dunno man, i've heard all the arguments for why belos's death works, and a lot of it seems to be rooted in the fact that "Belos is not complicated, he's evil, he doesn't need a big death and yada yada"

but it's like, it's not that belos isn't complicated, it's that the show seemed too afraid of making him complicated. I mentioned this in my last belos post but there's lots of evidence to suggest he's a more 3d character, because of how his story ties into the stories of other characters, because he symbolically represents what people who grow up in these oppressive systems can turn into. There's a lot of real potential for belos to stand out as a villian that comes from sympathetic origins but can't be forgiven or redeemed.

Which is a good lesson for kids, that people can come from bad spots but that doesn't mean you can forgive their actions.

Something that would be far more revolutionary and interesting and tie into the themes of this show much better.....then implying his depth, not committing to it and making him generic, and everyone praising this as if generic big bads who get killed aren't extremely common in most shows.

Su was a rare exception of redeeming a big bad, not the norm, and everyone seems to be under the weird vast impression it's the other way around. Unless you're a lacky, you die as a villain in pretty much every show.

But instead that gets replaced with "Well he did it cause he's inherently a bad person", even tho the show directly told us the audience that he was in indoctrinated child when it came to witch hunting, that this wasn't something he got into because he wanted to but because he NEEDED to survive in the town.

The show has plenty of set up and evidence that he does have something deeper to him but backed out of it for one reason or another.

And remember here, they were cut at ER, so they added this whole caleb backstory AFTER the cut, so even if were were to say they wanted belos to be deeper and changed their mind.....they added all the bits that implied depth AFTER the cut.

like frankly, in retrospect, if you want belos to just be an ozai metaphor esq character and not have any depth to his villainy at all, caleb should of been entirely cut.

Do something different with hunter, because having this half finished thing with caleb that is not relevant to belos's end at all feels like baiting the audience with complexity they never get.

You could of easily just reduced philip's backstory as just being this witch hunter who went missing years ago and that would be more fitting of making belos one note as they want him to be during the finale.

having all this drama with his brother leaving him for a witch and philip acting out in response feels strange to even implement if it's not even going to be touched on that much.

the show draws so much attention to it too, which makes it extra odd.

'They wanted to tell a story in the bg for the audience to figure out", ok, so that implied they want us to care about belos's origin....right??? So why not pay that off and reward those you got invested?

Having a little story to figure out is neat but not when its the basis for the plot and not when it's existence is gonna be boiled down to "Well none of this is relevant to why he became evil. He was just like that".

like having his backstory told like this could of been great, but the show ends saying belos is not complex and that none of this matters to why he's evil despite caleb clearly being important in why belos hates witches to begin with.

i might be less bothered if i knew the crew wanted to showcase the brother's story someday but they don't even seem to be high on the list of toh spinoff ideas.

it all feels like teasing a really compelling story that tied into the themes and then dropping it last minute. And now people are rewarding that because apparently now making villains just evil is revolutionary despite the fact this has been done to hell and back since the dawn of time.

Belos went from potentially being one of the most standout modern day antagonists, to being just like everyone else, and i'm not sure why everyone thinks that's supposed to be a good thing when we had the potential to look back at toh and reward them for diving into what can make people into a belos and the cautionary tale behind it.

and now instead of being memorable in that category for doing something interesting, he's just gonna be looped in with every other generic modern day big bad who represents this specific kind of evil.

If belos is not going to actually be allowed to be complex, don't bait the audience into thinking he is.

#the owl house #toh #emperor belos #philip wittebane #toh criticism

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alpaca-clouds · 10 days

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Worldbuild Differently: Unthink Religion

This week I want to talk a bit about one thing I see in both fantasy and scifi worldbuilding: Certain things about our world that we live in right now are assumed to be natural, and hence just adapted in the fantasy world. With just one tiny problem: They are not natural, and there were more than enough societies historically that avoided those pitfalls.

Tell me, if you have heard this one before: You have this fantasy world with so many differnet gods that are venerated. So what do you do to venerate those gods? Easy! You go into those big temple structures with the stained glass in their windows, that for some reason also use incense in their rituals. DUH!

Or: Please, writers, please just think one moment on why the fuck you always just want to write Christianity. Because literally no other religion than Christianity has buildings like that! And that has to do a lot with medieval and early post-medieval culture. I am not even asking you to look into very distant cultures. Just... Look of mosques and synagogues differ from churches. And then maybe look at Roman and Greek temples. That is all I am asking.

Let's make one thing clear: No matter what kind of world you are building, there is gonna be religion. It does not matter if you are writing medieval fantasy, stoneage fantasy, or some sort of science fiction. I know that a lot of atheists hate the idea that a scifi world has religion, but... Look, human brains are wired to believe in the paranormal. That is simply how we are. And even those atheists, that believe themselves super rational, do believe in some weird stuff that is about as scientific as any religions. (Evolutionary Psychology would be such an example.)

What the people will believe in will differ from their circumstance and the world they life in, but there is gonna be religion of some sort. Because we do need some higher power to blame, we need the rituals of it, and we need the community aspect of it.

Ironically I personally am still very much convinced that IRL even in a world like the Forgotten Realms, people would still make up new gods they would pray to, even with a whole pantheon of very, very real gods that exist. (Which is really sad, that this gets so rarely explored.)

However, how this worship looks like is very different. Yes, the Abrahamitic religions in general do at least have in common that they semi-regularily meet in some sort of big building to pray to their god together. Though how much the people are expected to go into that temple to pray is actually quite different between those religions and the subgroups of those religions.

Other religions do not have this though. Some do not have those really big buildings, and often enough only a select few are even allowed into the big buildings - or those might only be accessible during some holidays.

Instead a lot of polytheistic religions make a big deal of having smaller shrines dedicated to some of the gods. Often folks will have their own little shrine at home where they will pray daily. Alternatively there are some religions where there might be a tiny shrine outside that people will go to to pray to.

Funnily enough that is also something I have realized Americans often don't quite get: Yeah, this was a thing in Christianity, too. In Europe you will still find those tiny shrines to certain saints (because technically speaking Christianity still works as a polytheistic religion, only that we have only one god, but a lot of saints that take over the portfolios of the polytheistic gods). I am disabled, and even in the area I can reach on foot I know of two hidden shrines. One of them is to Mary, and one... I am honestly not sure, as the masonry is too withered to say who was venerated there. Usually those shrines are bieng kept in a somewhat okay condition by old people, but yeah...

Of course, while with historically inspired fantasy settings make this easy (even though people still hate their research), things get a bit harder with science fiction.

Again, the atheist idea is often: "When we develop further scientifically, we will no longer need religion!" But I am sorry, folks. This is not how the human brain works. We see weird coincidences and will go: "What paranormal power was responsible for it?" We can now talk about why the human brain has developed this way. We are evolved to find patterns, and we are evolved (because social animal and such) to try and understand the will others have - so far that we will read will in nature. It is simply how our brains work.

So, what will scifi cultures believe in? I don't know. Depends on your worldbuilding. Maybe they believe in the ghost in the machine, maybe there si some other religions there. You can actually go very wild with it. But you need to unthink the normativity of Christianity to do that. And that is... what I see too little off.

#worldbuilding #fantasy worldbuilding #science fiction #scifi worldbuilding #religion #fantasy religion #forgotten realms #dungeons & dragons #dnd #writing #fantasy writer

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mammons-lover · 4 months

Text

Mammon x reader:

I don't use Y/N I used Mc (I know a lot of people don't like Y/n I secretly like it but shush, Anyways Enjoy!!)

MC stood in the middle of the pharmacy aisle, feeling a mix of excitement and nerves. They stared at the array of pregnancy tests before finally grabbing one. To calm their nerves, they picked up some of Mammon's favorite snacks: chips, chocolate bars, and a couple of ring pops, smiling to themselves at the thought of Mammon's delight. They paid for everything and headed home, trying to keep their thoughts in check.

As soon as MC got home, they set the bag down on the kitchen counter and rushed to the bathroom, the need to pee suddenly overwhelming. They barely noticed the sound of the front door opening.

Mammon strolled in, calling out, "MC, I'm home!" He kicked off his shoes and headed straight for the kitchen. "Sweet! Just what I needed," he said, spotting the bag of snacks. He rummaged through it, opening a bag of chips and munching away. As he reached back into the bag, his fingers brushed against something unfamiliar. He pulled it out and froze.

A pregnancy test.

"MC?" he called, his voice tinged with uncertainty. Just then, MC stepped out of the bathroom, and their eyes widened in horror seeing Mammon holding the test.

"Are you... are you pregnant?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"I don't know yet," MC replied, their voice shaky. "I was about to find out."

Mammon nodded, trying to muster some confidence. "Let's do it together, then."

They walked back to the bathroom. MC paused at the door, turning to Mammon with a blush. "Can you cover your ears?"

Mammon raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? I've seen you naked, you know."

"Just cover your ears!" MC insisted, their tone half-serious, half-grumpy.

Mammon chuckled, raising his hands to cover his ears. "Alright, alright."

MC took the test, feeling a mix of anxiety and excitement. They set it aside and washed their hands, trying to stay calm. As they waited for the results, the silence in the room felt deafening.

"What if it's positive?" MC whispered, their voice barely audible.

Mammon lowered his hands from his ears. "If it is, we'll deal with it together. I'll do anything you want, MC."

MC took a deep breath. "I... I want this baby," they admitted, looking up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

Mammon's heart swelled. "I want it too," he said softly. He tried to lighten the mood with a grin. "Our baby is gonna be the coolest kid ever. Just think of all the fun we'll have."

MC laughed, the tension easing slightly. "But, Mammon, we haven't even seen the test yet. And if we are having a baby, you better marry me before it's born. I don't want our baby to be a bastard."

Mammon burst out laughing, and MC joined in. Their nervousness momentarily forgotten, they shared a moment of levity. Then, one of their phones went off with the alarm signaling it was time to check the test.

"Alright, moment of truth," MC said, taking a deep breath. They took two tests and handed the other two to Mammon.

MC checked their tests first: one was negative, the other positive. They looked up at Mammon, who was staring at his own tests with wide eyes.

"Both of mine are positive," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

MC's heart raced. They were about to speak when Mammon suddenly walked out of the bathroom. Confusion and panic set in. Did he change his mind? Tears welled up in MC's eyes as they stood there, frozen. Just as they were about to follow him, Mammon walked back in, his expression serious.

Before MC could say anything, Mammon got down on one knee. "MC, the first time I saw you, I couldn't believe my eyes. You were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. As I got to know ya, I knew you were the one for me, and no one else. You don't know how much I love you. So please, take this ring and make me the happiest man in all three realms."

Through their tears, MC blinked and saw the ring – a ring pop from the pharmacy. They laughed, tears streaming down their face. "Yes, of course, Mammon."

Mammon slipped the ring pop onto their finger and picked them up, spinning them around before pulling them into a passionate kiss. "What flavor did ya get?" he asked, grinning.

MC laughed, wiping away their tears. "I don't know. I think raspberry or something."

They shared a laugh, knowing their future ahead would be filled with love and laughter.

#obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me imagines #mammonobeyme #mc obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me scenarios #obey me fanfic

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