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pipperoo · 2 days ago

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finally finished fantasy high junior year and of course my brain had to, against my will, start making an au for the npmd guys. it's so bad that i literally had to doodle some of them

this au is still very much in its infancy and might probably stay there, but i had some ideas for these guys. richie is also included in this au, i'm still working out the kinks for his design

but essentially it would start with the six main characters starting their freshman year at some adventuring academy and after some event, are forced to be in a party together for the rest of the year. they all really don't like each other at the beginning, but eventually grow closer as they uncover the evils that have taken root in hatchetfield (this is just the vague synopsis)

steph is a high elf sorcerer, grace is an aasimar cleric, ruth is a half orc bard, pete is a firbolg wizard, max is a tiefling barbarian, and, honestly, still kinda struggling with what richie would be, for now, he's an air genasi rogue (very much could change) [below are their basic designs, which turned out not too bad]

i'll put more of my idea below the cut, but this au may not be really fleshed out completely anytime soon, gotta a lot of wips with little time on my hands. but check it out if you're interested (and, this is probably a long shot, but if you have ideas for richie, i would love them!! please)

Just to be very clear, this is a DND au, specifically an au of Fantasy High which is a Dimension 20 show that I love very dearly. A lot of the worldbuilding would be heavily based on that world (so I use some terms that are from fantasy high throughout this, but I think it's still very understandable if you haven't watched any of it. But if you don't know a lot about DND, this may not make the most sense) But, I still have Hatchetfield twists and this is mainly my own story I'm coming up with, there's inspirations, but still mostly my own.

I'm, first of all, imagining that Hatchetfield is much like Elmville and exists in Spyre as some modern town. So all kinds of species and magic exist in this world. Most of the people are raised up as adventurers like any DND world.

So, basicially the big bad would be the lords in black. They would operate as gods that are in the same pantheon and pretty much share power with each other. Wiggly would operate as the leader, but they are equal in regards to strength. The one being keeping them in check and preventing them from taking over the world is Webby. They once existed in the same pantheon before Webby left. She and her few remaining followers aim to counter their ploys.

The Lords would give anything to eliminate Webby, but as long as she has followers that remember her name and believe in her, she remains a God. They are constantly trying to hunt down followers of Webby, but they are far too elusive.

But, there still remains a chance for the Lords to stop Webby once and for all and purge the world of her followers. There is a prophecy. (I don't have the exact wording yet) Essentially it claims that one of the Lords' devotees will have a child that is imbued with Webby's powers at birth. On the first blood moon after their fifteenth birthday, the child has the choice to devote themselves to the Lords or be sacrificed in the Lords' names. Either way, the Lords will finally be given the power to strike down Webby for good. With the child, they'll have an edge over Webby that they can capitalize on. The child devoting themselves would be making a warlock pact and sacrificing is sacrificing. Until this child is born, the Lords wait.

The devotees are, of course, the Church of the Starry Children. They are devoted to the entire pantheon. I'm still debating the exact people involved, but the Youngs, the Monroes, and Solomon Lauter are for sure there. They operate in secrecy, also waiting for this child to be born. In the meantime they try to gain higher up positions within the town so they can aid in the taking over the world when it occurs. Solomon is the mayor.

As another avenue for the Lords to gain more power, they gain individual followings. They do this by tricking their followings into believing they are some different god. The heads of these individual churches know who the real god is, but no one else. The corruption runs deep in Hatchetfield.

One of the centerpieces of Hatchetfield is the adventuring academy (place holder name is Blim's Battling Academy) ((Jeff Blim would be the principal)). This is a place that acts as the highschool where young adventurers learn how to succeed in their chosen class.

The character at the heart of the story, that's at the center of it all, is Stephanie Lauter. She is a High Elf, like her father, and she was born as a Divine Soul (chaos affinity) Sorcerer (as the nepo baby she is). She is the child from the prophecy, but does not know about it and doesn't know what her father really does. She's had that white streak in her hair since birth. She is not thrilled to be going to school and being forced to join a party. She has that same rebellious spark from the musical and hates authority just as much. She has some grasp on her abilities, but knows very little of why she was given these powers and from who. Though she won't admit it, she wants more of an understanding and she doesn't often feel worthy of these powers because she did nothing to earn them. She's disliked her father ever since her mother vanished without a trace one day and he refused to tell her what happened. (That was due to some Nibbly stuff)

The next important character is Grace Chasity. She was born as an aasimar to human parents. She was seen as a blessing to them. Her celestial heritage shows through her white hair and white freckles. She was raised in Blinky's pretend church (I still need a name for what Grace believes it to be.) She is a Domain of Order Cleric. She believes that following her deity is the best way to go and has some superiority complex because of it. She does have one secret though, that her parents have always urged her to keep hidden. She is a fallen aasimar which means that her divine energy manifests as a necrotic shroud and through skeletal, flightless wings that appear on her back. (This occurs when they were touched by dark powers in their youth which was Blinky in her case, but Modify Memory was used on her, so she doesn't remember it) She fully believes this darkness is who she is and will do anything to cover that up.

Another character that is pretty fleshed out is Max Jägerman. He is a red tiefling that was born to his human father and tiefling mother. Max also lost his mother to something when he was younger. He is a Path of the Zealot Barbarian. After Max's mom vanished, his father turned mean and distant. The only path to gain his attention was through worshipping his deity (Wiggly). Max himself doesn't have as much understanding or faith in this God, kept in the dark a lot. He only does it to appease his father and that is so strong he gets the same effects as if he was worshipping the deity directly. When he rages he gets a little radiant damage bonus to his attacks. He is still the same asshole from the musical, like he seriously sucks and is a massive bully (honestly, kinda like Ragh before his redemption arc), but he didn't go to middle school with any of the characters. (The plot hinges on the fact that none of them really know each other.) He is, of course, a major player on the blood rush team (this world's version of football)

For the nerdy trio I have less fleshed out ideas, I also want them to have a tie to the cult, but I still need more time to think on it.

Ruth is a Half Orc, born to half orcs (her tusks are kinda supposed to like the head gear she wore, though I might still give her head gear). She's never felt compelled to use her natural given strength and instead finds that her passion points more to theater and learning to be a bard. She still is very anxious, so her Charisma is not the best and therefore she's not a very good bard yet. She is a College of Spirits Bard. She's not the best with persuading others and her connection to spirits further ostracizes her. She doesn't have the best control over the spirits she conjures. Her arc would be about gaining the confidence to be a true bard and to step into her potential. There could be a possible Pokey connection too.

Pete is a firbolg, like the rest of his family. He is a a Chronurgy (time manipulation magic) Wizard (this is from the Explorer's Guide to Wildmount, so Critical Role, but I think I'm still going to go with it because it fits him too well). He has no idea where these time manipulation powers have come from, they're sometimes out of his control. He likes to keep his head down in his studies, to be invisible. He is still reeling from the disappearance of his brother, who vanished without a trace, he also had shown some Chronurgy abilities before he was gone. He sometimes pokes around and look for answers, but nothing has come up yet. He doesn't have a good feeling about it. (Tinky would be Pete's connection).

And for Richie, I still need to think of his basic arc, I really don't know yet. For now, he's an Air Genasi and a Scout Rogue, but that is not set in stone. I think he would definitely be a rogue, but he could be a phantom rogue and have that connection to Ruth with the spirit stuff. Again, would love other opinions!

So, basically the main plot is them having a Bad Kids situation where they all get detention or miss out on choosing a party and they're all forced to be in a party together. There are a lot of contentions in the beginning, but they begin to unfold the mystery of the church of the starry children and the prophecy Steph's in. They get closer as they share their insecurities and help each other grow from them. The ending would be them facing down the cult and stop Steph from playing her role in the prophecy. (The loophole is that Steph has the choice, she's not forced to make a choice. She still has the option to opt out and stop them from gaining her power.) I also have Grace discovering the origins of her religion and choosing to change deities. Right now, she changes domains to the Tempest Domain (basically going from order to the natural chaos of storms because Grace is more unhinged than not and she should be free to have that chaos) Pete finds out where Ted went, Tinky got him, and where his abilities stem from (i think he would eventually switch classes to multiclass artificer, but that would probably happen sometime later). Max faces off with his dad and learns the truth about his deity. Ultimately will stand against him and start the process of finding another source for his rage (most likely Path of the Totem Warrior and choosing the wolf as his totem spirit)

The only ship I currently have is Steph/Grace, from what I set up, it's kinda the obvious choice. They have contentions because Grace is struggling with being a fallen aasimar and Steph, who did nothing for her powers, automatically having this divine energy. Something that was not given to Grace regarding her heritage when all she does is maintain faith. And that hits a sore spot for Steph because she deep down doesn't believe she deserves it either, but has it regardless. She wishes she had the choice for her class, that she wasn't stuck, and hates that Grace had the option and chose that. That's what I have so far (Grace also has those contentions with Max because of his faith and how, despite the fact he's a tielfing and asshole, he's still gifted something radiant, but these two will just be friends) More ships may be added, but who knows

This is what I have so far, I may continue with this and may even write it one day, but not in the near future at all. I want to make each of the storylines more equal, it seems like I have a lot of focus on some but that's only because those ideas came pretty easily first. Steph is the heart, but I want more balance and more plot given to the nerdy trio. Again, if you have an idea for Richie (Please) or any other ideas for this, I'd love to hear it!!! And, thank you for reading it to this point, I ended up having a lot more than I thought!!

#hatchetfield #grace chasity #max jagerman #ruth fleming #peter spankoffski #stephanie lauter #richie lipschitz #npmd au #npmd #pip’s rambles #this kinda got out of hand #i really love dnd and this was a great way to combine all of my obsession!!#i even don't hate my drawings that much #Even tried to color them a little #i really need to stop with these new ideas and focus on the ones in front of me #also first time drawing pete ruth and max!#can’t believe it took so long #lautity #its still so scary posting drawings and my au idea ahhh

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anxiouspotatorants · 10 months ago

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Actually you know what I need to rant about this: while literati is technically a good girl x bad boy dynamic it is written so incredibly well and avoids so many pitfalls and stereotypes that it makes a good girl x bad boy hater like myself (I’m only half joking — I don’t think any trope is inherently good or bad but I tend to dislike most pairings with this dynamic) fall head over heels for their story and relationship.

So much of what makes the two of them work is the contrast between how others perceive them and how they truly are. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who understand who Rory is as a person (Lorelai, Lane, Paris, Richard and Emily to a certain degree for starters), but she's constantly met with the expectation that she just does good and is supposed to make everyone proud 24/7. Stars Hollow as a group especially are big on this, as seen f. ex. through how Taylor takes Rory's one comment about an inappropriate DVD and twists the whole thing into a censorship crusade and makes Rory its poster-child even though she wants nothing to do with it and tells him so repeatedly. But instead of hearing Rory disagree with him (like he would Lorelai and Luke) he assumes that she actually agrees with him - and why shouldn't she when she's the perfect sunshine paragon of good who would never disagree with her elders? Also her grandparents treat her as incredibly fragile and childlike, like she must be too innocent to ever do anything wrong and so whenever she does something it has to be somebody else's fault (usually Lorelai, but occasionally Jess or whoever else was present). Time and time again Rory is treated like something innocent and naive and weak — but not by Jess. He sees her as a person.

And it obviously goes the other way too. Jess is treated like shit by pretty much everyone else. Either people hate him unprovoked or very much provoked (he did do a lot of pranks in his first few weeks and while I'm a Dean-hater I'm not blind to how much Jess picked fights with him), or they’ve simply given up on him. He tells Rory himself that every authority figure he had back in New York gave up on him too, from teachers to principals to his very own mother. But Rory doesn’t treat him like a lost cause, she treats him like the smart, brilliant and asshole-ish teen that he is. By having faith in him she also often holds him more accountable than others. Where f. ex. Lorelai or the other adults just roll their eyes, Rory physically drags Jess into doing his shifts at the diner. While others write him off, Rory chews Jess’ ear out for not helping Luke more and for willfully making enemies out of the Stars Hollow adults.

They don't put each other on pedestals or below each other. Jess doesn’t try to make a sinner out of Rory and she doesn’t try to make a saint out of him. There’s genuine respect between them. They expect each other to have integrity and treat others with kindness and honesty, and the rest is good old chemistry and common interests.

I particularly love how in so many of their scenes (especially pre-relationship) when they spend time alone they just get to be these goofy nerdy kids. They argue about controversial authors and dig through records shops and eat hot dogs and make fun of each other and try to make each other laugh. It’s not just sexual chemistry as it too often is in a dynamic like this (and often uncomfortably sexual when writing teenagers - looking at you Gossip Girl), and not just well written intellectual chemistry — they have platonic chemistry too. A hell of a lot of it actually.

While I don’t think ASP wrote them through a purely deconstructionist lens on the good girl x bad boy dynamic (if she did plan on writing the dynamic at all), there is something to be said about how where many around them treat them like stereotypes they treat each other like people. To so many people, Rory is a perfect small town princess, a little miss sunshine with booksmarts for days but too delicate and sweet for anything with grit and weight. To a lot of the same people and many more Jess is a pathetic brutish and maniacal lost cause, hell personified in a chainsmoking leather-wearing teenager. But to each other they are actual human beings. Kind and mean and flirtatious and scared and reckless and smart. Rory really thinks that with the right motivation and mindset Jess can be the kind who does (and at the end wrote) incredible things. Jess really believes that with a little more practice and support to step out of her comfort zone she can be the amazing journalist she wishes to be.

They don’t have this stupid «we’re so bad for each other but we can’t stay away» thing that too many trope users rely on and don’t even justify in the plot. Everyone else might think they’re not fit for each other, but they knew they were each other’s person from the very first day.

#where a lot of good girl x bad boy dynamics are about opposites attracting #what draws Rory and Jess towards each other is how much they resonate with each other #the books the weight of expectations and assumptions the passion for more in life #they don't look at each other and see a sexy alien world they look at each other and see themselves #me rant because me unnecessarily passionate about this #again I don't inherently hate the good girl x bad boy dynamic #there's just so many examples of doing it badly out there #like I don't even need the dynamic to be morally good I just need it to be justified in the narrative #and to not just rely on the same old “it's so bad but it feels so good” and relying on stereotypes over actual character writing #Rory and Jess is one of the ways this dynamic is actually done right and it's because ASP doesn't dumb them down #or take the dynamic for granted just because it's popular and bound to have an audience #literati #gilmore girls #rory gilmore #jess mariano #rory x jess #gilmore girls meta #my meta #also extra because I can't contain myself

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