#i think the necromancy is such a funny part of his character. he was doing it & then he just stopped

[windupaidoneus]

like. obviously he could tell something was off. i feel like for any wol with an affinity for magic (but especially white magic) it kind of makes sense. can't imagine the aether corruption would keep your magic the same, it'd have to have some impact... & hildegarde has researched aether before. for the necromancy. yknow the necromancy that he did. & tried his hardest to keep it ethical (ftr haurche agreed to it due to his ride or die sick & twisted devoted heart), hence all the researching. not only that but i mean obviously he immediately noticed sin eaters used the same magic he did. it was kind of a really easy tell

& the only people he knew in that world were either obviously hiding shit from him or just... gestures toward whatever thancred had going on in shb. the twins don't count bc hilde is a grown ass man he was never going to emotionally rely on them. once his aether's corruption started being bad enough that haurchefant's form became subtly (but not subtle enough for hilde to not notice) distorted he just... stopped. he could rely on haurchefant a little at first, manifesting him a physical form by feeding his soul his own aether, it was always temporary but it did offer him some measure of comfort. but his aether just HAD to not be able to contain the wardens' light! WOMP WOMP. & so he bade haurchefant adieu in a much less dramatic way than in the vault lmao. haurche would've wished to be summoned again "once his aether got better" surely, but hilde absolutely expected himself to be unsalvageable even before mt gulg. this was the actual final goodbye for him. & surely they'd meet again in the aetherial sea. maybe. maybe not. maybe his aether would be too corrupted to go there

& of course ardbert was there. but um. ardbert was also kinda in the midst of watching his world maybe die maybe not after having traversed it as a ghost for a hundred years unable to do anything to help. hildegarde was hardly gonna put much emotional weight on him. there were things they could talk about but they weren't That familiar with each other & had very different lived experiences, & hilde takes a while to trust people. it's not like they knew they were shards of the same ancient at the time lmao, they were kinda just stuck together because of circumstances... & it is kind of hard to look a ghost in the eye, the ghost of a hero who tried everything, & tell him you think you're not capable of saving his world, actually, & you're probably gonna destroy it even.

so well. who was left but emet-selch. very twisted for hildegarde to rely on him considering he very much wore the face of solus! as someone raised in the empire hilde both resented him for the horrors the empire committed (the same way he resents himself for participating in it. yknow. something he totally had a choice in. lol) & like... well... indoctrination doesnt really go away in a day. everyone's made to revere solus. regardless of whether he ever met the man personally (which he didn't), the emperor is a religious-like figurehead ; there's just going to be an odd sense of trust associated with him even if hilde knows all he's done is horrific.

that, & hilde felt emet might've been the most straightforward with him at the time (not quite true but not quite wrong either, he does willingly give away a loooot of information which shouldn't be nearly enough for hilde to put trust in him but he wasn't exactly the pinnacle of mental stability & good decisions at the time), alongside with um. well i hate to say it but emet being demeaning & rude toward him was validating to him #TERRIBLESELFESTEEM. it felt like he was finally being seen for what he was (& let's not even get into how horrible yet cathartic it felt for emet to call him "eater" post crown of the immaculate.. lol.....), which sure says a lot about the kind of mindset growing up in garlemald while visibly not 'pureblood' can instill in you. & emet also gets more personal. calls him nicknames even if condescending, shows him his humanity, even gets a little vulnerable with him.

& so i do believe the black magic knowledge hildegarde has at the time of shb comes from emet himself training him from time to time. in my beautiful canon. bc hilde asked, believing magic that is more inherently umbrally aligned could help him quell the corruption. which does lead to more "bonding" if you can even call it that... & makes it easier for hilde to dissociate emet from solus in a sense? he sees more of emet beyond the character he embodies (which is also just part of canon. ppl who think emet acted as himself while playing the role of emperor are completely fucking stupid. but i digress), it feels less & less like there is a power imbalance between them (to hilde) (TO HILDE) (HILDEGAAAARDE THERE'S STILL A POWER IMBALANCE!!! HILDEGAAAAAAAAAARDE)

btw i started thinking about all this bc im drawing arr hildegarde you know it's bad when drawing arr makes you think about shb

i don't really know what the conclusion of this post is. misplaced trust because he felt he had no one else to rely on yeah, & ofc emet pulled at his heartstrings due to how emotional & empathetic he is (not to the point he ever considered actively switching sides or anything of the sort, but more than enough for him to desperately wish for another way that didn't lead to the ascian dying Again). & he did fully intend on going to the tempest alone. though it baffles me to think emet might've believed the wol capable of working out how to get to the tempest let alone amaurot on their own while being tormented by the horrors of light corruption. especially since he claims to expect them further into the transformation, at which point they would likely not be as... sapient. if i'm honest with you i genuinely fully believe emet was consciously orchestrating his own death there despite everything he says & does because there's no other way to make sense of everything that leads up to the dying gasp. oughhh i miss him

amaurot fucking sucks guys.

shb was so heavily the shitter for hilde thancred was there but clearly not emotionally available bc he never is but ESPECIALLY NOT then, had to stop doing necromancy on his one actual proper partner bc his aether corruption couldve ended up corrupting haurche's aether too, hancock was decidedly not in the first, shtola & urianger hiding shit from him the exarch never ever being straightforward on anything alisaie being traumatised every other day & having to keep supporting alphinaud to the best of his ability through everything despite it all. also trying & failing to shield ryne from bearing too much responsibility as the oracle of light. & having to save the world. while his own aether was eating at him in the form of the very magic he wielded best threatening to turn him into something hed always believed himself to be deep down (a monster. not a sin eater specifically.). And if all of that wasnt enough emet-selch was there. is it really any surprise he ended up emotionally relying on the antagonist the most out of all the characters in the expansion bc he really did not have anyone else when shit got bad

[asherashedwings]

PICOS SCHOOL DESIGN DUMP

Pico

So, I decided that my previous designs for a lot of these characters are going to be more-so their designs during the events of the Pico’s School games. So when they were kids. Like, some will be a bit different, but for the most part, that’s how it is. So then these new designs are them as adults.

When trying to figure out Pico’s design, I didn’t know how I wanted his outfit in this new design to differ from his previous. Cuz like, that’s already the perfect Pico fit. But then I realized “omg, it’d be so much funnier if I DIDN’T change it.” Cuz he is definitely the type of mf to be wearing the same clothes he’s had since middle school.

Like, Cass or Nin come back for a rematch, and they both look super different, and then they look at Pico and he looks NO DIFFERENT than last time they saw him.

Darnell

I immediately broke my rule with the previous designs with Darnell, cuz I just really liked the previous design’s outfit and was like “eh, imma use that for his adult design, and just change the kid design.”

I imagine he got that varsity jacket like, custom made, and it was like super fuckin expensive. But like, when he got it, he decided “wait, I don’t want the sleeves” and just ripped them off 💀

Can’t have long sleeves when you’re always working with fire ig.

Nene

I think Nene is the one I’ve drawn in alt. outfits the most. What can I say, I just really like drawing her and messing around with her clothes. So I had a lot of previous pieces of mine I could look back on for reference.

The main change that isn’t outfit related is her hair. I just decided to dick around and see what looked good, and landed on that. I think it looks pretty good, idk.

Also, gave her a WWJD bracelet cuz sometimes I forget she’s Christian and I thought it was funny.

Reminded me of this one stupid idea I had, featuring my very headcanoned version of the G-Squad:

Like, the G-Squad are doing their whole cult thing, worshipping the Peniliens, when the Pico trio burst in, and Nene says something like “THERE IS ONLY ONE LORD AND SAVIOR, AND HIS NAME IS JESUS CHRIST.”

And then they kick their asses, idk.

Also, here, them as kids. Pico just got spikier as he got older

Okay, time for some antags 💥💥💥

Cassandra

She was actually the first redesign I made in this batch.

Main change: Beard. I just sorta wanted to make the Penilien duo more androgynous. I imagine that they don’t really care about transitioning that much, since they don’t have the same gender roles and stereotypes as humans. Just “I’m [insert gender here], that’s it.” Also, I just think Cass slayed with a beard.

I also wanted to incorporate shapes from their alien forms more into their human disguises. So I gave Cass these big sleeve things to sorta emulate the big bulky arms she has in her true form.

One of her pincers is also chipped. This comes from the fact that in Pico’s School, one of her horn-hair things is shorter than the other, and I wanted to find a way to incorporate that.

Damien

I don’t think there’s much to say here that I have already said while talking about Cassandra.

I imagine Damien does less to hide his alien features, since he has a huge superiority complex and thinks Peniliens are superior anyways, so like, why hide his true colors? Why hide what makes him greater than everyone around him?

So yeah, that’s why he keeps his tail out.

Nin

YIPPEE, HEAVYILY HEADCANONED CHARACTER TIME‼️‼️

So Nin differs with the whole “previous design is them as a kid” thing, cuz he doesn’t really age past his age in Pico’s School. Cuz bro dies.

(Also, quick HC timeline: Pico 1 and “Pico 2” (the conflict with the robo-kids) both take place in middle school, while what I call “Pico 3” (the conflict with the G-Squad) happens in high school. So that’s why Nin appears less child-like; he’s a high schooler)

So like, I hc that when Pico killed Nin, Nin pulled some necromancy bullshit and revived HIMSELF. Cuz idk, that feels like some bullshit Pico’s School would pull.

So now he’s undead. His hair also sorta resembles horns cuz it’s sorta to symbolize his devotion to the Peniliens. If y’all are interested in hearing all the HCs I have for the G-Squad (or just PS in general), I might share more at a later date.

That’s all for now tho.

Bonus:

My color palettes for these fuckers. They’re all named after the MSI songs I associate with each of them. I do not support MSI, I just really like the music and it reminds me of Pico’s School for some reason, so I always listen to a lot of it whenever I get sucked back into this fandom

[crows-of-buckets]

WOOO VEILGUARD ART!! I decided to draw my Rook with the characters I feel they're gonna get along best with. I was also gonna draw them with Lucanis but I couldn't think of a good pose, since I haven't finished the Wigmaker's job and don't have a good grasp on his character

Anyways! Closeups beneath the cut and I also wanna ramble about how I think the characters dynamic would be with rook

(they/them pronouns for my Rook)

There is nothing in this world that's gonna stop me from befriending Davrin. I already adore him he's so INTERESTING TO ME IDK I think it's cause I'm soft on grey wardens. I think him and Revari would bond over being Dalish (Revari wasn't born Dalish, but they did spend their teenage years with the Dalish and got their tattoos just like any other clan mate) And I think Davrin's confidence and charm is gonna mix well with Revari's more sarcastic personality (I am not immune to the sarcastic personality type in dragon age games) these two are gonna kick ass together so hard

I think necromancy FASCINATES Revari, but they struggle getting a grasp on it. This does not stop them from pestering Emmrich about learning lmao. They try so so hard but cannot do it even half as well as Emmrich can. This dynamic is purely inspired by the "Excellent job Manfred!" Comment that he makes in tevinter nights lmao. Speaking of Manfred, Revari also finds the idea of a skeleton that follows you around the coolest thing ever

OHHHH NEVE GALLUS THE LOML!!! Revari is a part of the shadow dragons, so the two bond over that. Revari had a shitty life, and generally deals with that by being funny, while Neve is generally just cynical. The two I think are gonna have an odd balance with one another, which I'm looking forward to. That and Neve Gallus is just stunning I need to kiss her so so bad omg....

Yeah! For Revari I am thinking of going Evoker mage with them, but I may put some points into necromancy or whatever it's called (death caller I think) but I want to see how the skill tree works in game before I say anything for certain. I am geniuenly excited I'm ngl

[griancraft]

Hi guys, this is sort of my official "please, for the love of god, listen to Skyjacks with me” post because I’m losing my mind and all the content I can find is from the latest stuff right now, and I don’t want to spoil myself. I want to be able to talk about this with people!!!! I will make a watch (listen) party discord if there is enough interest. Just give it a chance; you won’t regret it. Also, some information may be wrong or outdated. I’m on episode 11 out of over 200.

Skyjacks is a ttrpg podcast about sky pirates in a world where there was a catastrophe about 200 years ago that left the sea unsafe to sail and maybe even damaged the entire world to the point where civilization is scattered and in small groups. There is very casual queer rep, and it’s casual to the point where it really just fits into the world perfectly.

A brief summary of the premise of the first episode will hopefully get you hooked. I’m really bad at summaries, but I promise it’s a billion times better than how I talked about it here:

Captain Orimar Vale is dead, and a mutiny will be on Gable, Jonnit, Travis, and Dref’s hands if they are unable to keep up the ruse of him being alive. To do this, necromancy (deeply forbidden magic) is performed by the Dref, the ship's doctor, to turn him into a semi-functional zombie. Captain Orimar is famous for his abilities as a captain; to replicate this will take great skill.

As they run out of supplies, they make a desperate decision: port on the land of one of Orimar’s scorned lovers or deal with the growing uneasiness of the rest of the crew. They haven’t seen their captain healthy in months, and whispers about his health are starting. However, greater danger will await them when they take to the skies again, lurking just beyond the clouds…

And more propaganda as to why I think you guys will like it:

There are unique and interesting gameplay mechanics they use to tell a really cool story, and if you like Hermitcraft or any other sorta storytelling-based SMP, I promise you’ll like it. Like. If you liked Boatem from Hermitcraft 8, you’ll love the characters in Skyjacks. The players are exceptionally good at playing their characters, their humour is unmatched by anything similar I’ve had the pleasure of seeing, and the story is prioritized, which I think is an amazing choice.

Best part? It’s still ongoing after, like, 5 years. Some people have left, but a good chunk of the OG cast has stayed. Not that leaving is bad, because holy crap, 5 years is a long time, and stories have to end at some point! It’s a good way of getting into something and knowing there is still a shit ton of content to be explored.

The music is good. The story is good. The characters and humour are amazing. The lore of the world is sprinkled throughout, and as you learn more about the world, the more excited you get. It’s incredible so far, and if you decide to listen to it, I will actually love you forever and ever. My boyfriend is on episode 190, and he finds it so funny every time I go. Oh my god, this is so cool.

Link to the podcast, but in a playlist (up to 180). So it’s in order and easy to find, since it’s a part of something else from the oneshot network:

[angelr-fish]

NPMD characters if they were in percy jackson cabins?

I do this thing where I always end up crossing over my hyperfixations so I NEEDED to do this.

Peter Spankoffski - Child of Athena

Peter is quite obviously a nerd, and while he doesn't come up with many strategies, he does have a some qualities in common with other children of Athena. (he is also the only one to notice that the building was not structurally sound)

Ruth Fleming - Child of Dionysus

Ruth loves theater, so much so that she'll do anything to be around it even though she cant be on stage. he is also the god of fertility which kinda fits yeah

Richard Lipschitz - Child of Hecate

now this one is kind of a stretch, I had a very hard time placing Richie somewhere. I landed on this one because Hecate is the goddess of "magic, witchcraft, the moon, graves, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery." now while that is a mouthful most of those is what led me to this in the first place. magic and sorcery? that is some anime shit and Richie loves anime shit. now graves, ghosts, and necromancy that one was more of a stretch for me, I mostly chose it because he dies first. yes very big leap. in this little universe I've created for myself there could be a tie to this as to why Richie is the one who interacts with max first idk I'm rambling here.

Stephanie Lauter - Child of Jupiter

we are bringing in the roman gods now. Steph is a child of Jupiter because there is no way she isn't a child of the Big 3. I chose Jupiter specifically because she is often seen leading the group and if i were to chose a character she was similar to it would probably be Thalia. as for the roman thing well its just another way for max to forbid Pete from liking her cause of the camp rivalry. This is quite ironic in the same way it is in the show because....

Grace Chasity - Child of Janus (Huntress of Artemis)

yep grace is also a roman kid, kind of like how she's the exception of being a nerd in the show. I chose Janus specifically because he's the god of "beginnings, gates, transitions, duality, doorways, passages, and endings." Grace is the catalyst to the entire show, she unintentionally causes a lot of the issues that happen so I thought that slightly fit the doorways and passages part cause she kind of leads them through this maze. Grace has A LOT of duality to her. she is a nerdy prude through and through and yet, she does so many things like touching herself and lying to the police! next, she causes the ending of Max Jagerman's life as well as the end of his afterlife so that part fits. as for gates, she just talks about the gates of hell so much and I thought it was kind of funny. being a huntress is kind of self-explanatory though. I mean being abstinent and immortal? sign this girl up!

Max Jagerman - Child of Ares

I really don't even think I need to explain this one. 1. Competitive, its in a Ares kids blood to be competitive, lets be so real right now. 2. Daddy Issues, Every Ares kid has them, I mean why wouldn't they? they are all constantly competing with there siblings for just an ounce of his attention or approval and it just fits in my eyes 3. Bloodlust? have you seen this guy? he killed like 4 people! 4. Fuck Clivesdale

okay that's all I have of the main characters, but I might work on some of the others. or maybe even just Hatchetfield characters in general

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog - Dofus, livre 1 : Julith [PART 23]

I think after this it's kinda natural that Joris will never ever put his trust into anyone that isn't Kerubim or Atcham ever again.

I am once again asking why Kerubim has these books and what was he doing at devil's sacrament.

He's never beating those necromancy allegations.

There's a canonical name for the evil-ass looking huppermages.

Once again, this is Them in Dofus 2 when they reveal to Joris that they framed Julith or something. (source: my beautiful mind)

The Dessous comic implies that Marline bought this stuff from Kerubim which is so funny. It's beautiful how little of a shit the man gives for the safety of others.

I may not like Khan in his present form, as a macho gobbowler, but I like the idea of him. Joris, and his little "ghnhnn I have to do what's right, I have sacrifice my happinesss for other people" complex needs someone like that in his life who will buy him alcohol and help him run away from home when he's 14-16.

I'm sure if given another movie, or a show, Ankama's plan would have been to make Khan more likeable. He seems like a ride-or-die friend.

A scene ago he was in Julith's arms. So, she found it important to get him into the arms of this dofus-powered doll. Personally, I like to think that he started thrashing and maybe even bit her.

What did she lie about though? Liking him? Not wanting the Dofus? Being a competent person and not a fuck-up? (I love Bakara and say all of this with affection)

Once again, I empathize, that Julith was gloating about this to Bakara. That she doesn't really care about Joris (and by extension, Joris's feelings.)

She is killing a thousand people, who did nothing to her. These are civilians who came to watch a sports match. How many mothers are here with their sons and daughters who just wanted to look at their idols? If Joris never had Grougalorasalar's soul, if he and Kerubim never learned of her plan, THEY would have been among these viewers.

Julith is a very interesting character because she's ruthless, she has no morals, absolutely no understanding or compassion for others, — even Bakara or her own son, — and yet she is driven by love almost entirely. And that's her one redeeming quality.

But also — does it really change things, when you're driven by love to kill a thousand innocent people? To ruin your son's life? Because it doesn't really change much, to me...

I think there's a tragedy in that. She does love the idea of Joris. She loves what she sees of him, his voice, his face, and eyes. If she learned more about him, she'd probably love the parts he didn't show too. She'd love to see how he grew up.

She'd love how committed he is to those he loves. She'd love his ruthless march towards what he thinks is right that will allow him to close his eyes as he does unforgivable things. The only thing she would dislike is his loyalty to Bonta.

But the reverse will never be true. Joris can become a warmonger, a dictator, and a war criminal, but he would loathe to place his needs above those of others. He wouldn't do horrible things if he didn't think it was for the greater good of mankind.

As a 600yo man, Joris has lived through two apocalypses, — and yet people like Nox and Julith will lose 1-4 loved ones and go insane, killing people. I doubt he feels much for her, except for disgust.

Their friendship is so important to me. But also, somewhere out there, Tatak is crying.

I think one of the great tragedies of Joris's character is that he is doomed to break his own moral code, slowly but surely.

One must imagine Joris Jurgen living happily with the blood of innocents on his hands, because the alternative is more haunting.

One of her main issues is that she projects the actions of a few onto literally everyone in Bonta. Which is a very crazy fucking reach.

But I understand how she arrived at this reach to begin with: I don't think she was ever happy, before Jahash, and when she finally was happy, for once in her entire life, they took even that away from her.

You wanna know who else in this scene is going to have only 2 people who give meaning to his life? Jo—— [I am forcefully restrained by the police]

I just really like pointing out the similarities between Joris and Julith, — and the way these similarities underline their differences.

Once again: she doesn't give a shit about anyone's opinion. She is betting everything onto a nebulous future where Joris and Jahash and Bakara forgive and forget everything she did, and they live as a happy Fambly (in Brakmar, because that's a GOOD city and they will LOVE to move there, after being no longer welcome in Bonta due to the 1000 dead people.)

(Guy whose very emotional and Julith and Joris voice) guys I think she's starting to realize that their familial relationship is going to be unfixable.

Joris and everyone present here are quite aware that stopping this will kill one of them.

They are also very aware that one dead person is better than a thousand.

[pampanope]

Hello, how are you doing? I’ve come with more questions >:3

1. Since cannonly Graves’ died in MW2, how is he alive? Did some cute girl/boy/enby necromance him or something? Or was it something more reasonable and realistic. Hell, was he even in the area when he was supposedly killed.

2. Is MW3 cannon in the ShadowDadlderverse? I hear it’s really really bad and not many or everyone considers it to be not cannon. This question goes hand in hand with the former

3. How did Graves’ feel when he realized that his dad wasn’t a hero? Did his finding out happen to coincide with Bell? Or is Graves still blind to what Addler did to Bell?

4. Since the Shadows are notably close in their verse, they most likely have game night. What games and movies do they play while together? What games and movies are banned?

5. Since I cannot go five questions without asking about fantasy and dnd, what would Graves character sheet look like? Class, race, backstory, spells, weapons, etc.

6. why is last name Graves? Is it his mother’s last name? Does like 7-11 call him Phillip A. Grave when pissed or something?(i definitely need to dig into the gas station man)

7. What is relationship with Laswell? And maybe if you’re feeling extra extra dangerous, maybe say what you picture Laswell’s wife to look like.

8. Also how old do you think Graves is? He can easily be seen as like 25-41. Or how old you think he is in your Au?

I know I am definitely asking some pretty deepish questions when it comes to your Au, but I like to learn. I especially like to learn about characters. And since your interpretation of Graves’ is currently scratching the itch I am internally inclined to ask these questions.

Stay safe!

Okaay here i gooo

1. I rly believe that tank was an unmanned vehicle that Graves controlled remotely while Soap ran around frantically XD hurling insults and a Shadow thumping him on the shoulder when he got carried away.

2. The only canon a peel off of mw3 and slap onto the Shadowdadler verse is that Makky is at large and Graves flew off into the sunset|

3. It depends on how he found out. If Graves knew what his father did at an early age, it’s be less of a shock. If Adler was honest about why a masked man was lurking somewhere nearby, told his son that he hurt one person for the sake of millions, it’d be better than if he tried to hide his actions. It wouldn’t surprise me if adult Graves grew to have a similar mentality as his father.

4. Game night’s full of multiplayer games (snash bros, mario party, MvC, etc). There’s a DnD session off to a corner. Ruined jenga towers litter the floor. A circle if Shadows play charades. Monopoly is DEFINITELY banned, too many fights break out. Any high shakes gambling on card games is also prohibited (there Shadows who are talented at card counting and sleight of hand). Any and all genres of movies are watches, with the exception of the Star Wars sequels. Those are unanimously banned.

5. I’d die if Graves was still the leader of a mercenary group but classed as a bard XD high charisma definitely. Still human. Idk enough about DnD as a whole to say what spells he’s gonna use but I like ghe idea of him boosting his part members that do the fighting

6. Ok so in one of my Dadler comics, Adler fights off and kills enemy agents that wanna target him and lil Phillip. He buries them in their backyard. Phillip learns one day that there are dead bodies there. Learns that they had to die for him to keep living. He’s looking at graves. The memory would stick with him. Lol 7-11 calls Graves Sir when the commanders being stubborn ir reckless 🤣 (funny, the Lt. can be just as stubborn and reckless)

7. Oh! I like her and the role she plays. I liked the sneaky sneaky part she had~ Her wife? I picture her a bit taller than Laswell. She’d be a brunette, soft featured, a bit tanned, down to earth and honest about her thoughts and feelings, something Laswell appreciates as someone used to subterfuge.

8. I got Graves at a solid 40. A tiny bit seasoned to be out in the field, but still young enough to be effective. He ages gracefully 🥰 hehehe

[evilbeanieman]

YTTD Main Cast as RPG Classes

Sara- Knight. She's known as the samurai woman, I mean, what's the western equivalent of a samurai? She's got the whole justice and honor thing going for her too.

Joe-Squire. He's essentially Sara's support and travel buddy. He basically is her support for the entire first chapter, and we can see that she depends on him from time to time to help her get through things. Every knight needs a squire, and Joe would be pretty great at it, I think.

Kai- Assassin. This one is kind of a no-brainer if you ask me. Although, given that Kai hasn't been able to kill anyone, I would say he's got the skills of an assassin but probably keeps the front of being an Inn Keeper or Servant.

Keiji-Royal Guard. Considering Keiji's past in the force, it would make sense to put him in a similar position. Since he's quit that however, I'd say he lays low as a commoner with the skills of a trained guard.

Shin-Shop Keeper/Wizard's Apprentice. Shin has no physical capabilities whatsoever, but I imagine that would be balanced by an extremely high affinity with magic. Though he lacks complete proper training since his mentor..."disappeared" a while ago. Since then, he's been working as a shop keeper and studying magic on the side.

Kanna-Witch (Botanical magic). Okay yeah this is somewhat inspired by her death in chapter 2. Though she does go through a lot of character growth in the game, so pairing her with plants isn't too out there. Additionally I think it would also match since Shin has an affinity for magic, so it'd make sense that his sister does as well.

Gin-Werebeast/Fae. Kind of another obvious one. I would like to think Gin is like a kemonomimi, probably one of a wolf or even dogcat hybrid. Considering his sometimes wild nature, and love for animals, he'd definitely be a child of the forest. The fae part is mainly since he likes to be a bit mischievous and silly.

Qtaro-Barbarian. I mean, Gin's nickname for him is literally "muscle gorilla," I don't think you can get any more raw strength than this class. I would think Qtaro is a part of some guild of fighters or adventurers and had a team he would do bounties with.

Reko-Bard. Another obvious choice. I don't think I need to explain much here, as she is a performer. Though I'd say she's definitely more of a physical attacker than most bards, but still has powerful magic in her tunes.

Alice-Bard/Outlaw. Similar to Reko. His magical music isn't as strong as hers, leading him to attack physically more often. Although ever since one fatal encounter, he's been on the run. Now he tries to rely solely on his strength, as to not draw too much attention with music that might sound familiar...

Nao-Witch (Painting magic). Again a bit of an obvious choice. She can bring some of her drawings to reality, although it takes quite the amount of magic. She has more training and control over her magic thanks to studying under Mishima.

Mishima-Scholar/Potion Seller. Mishima wouldn't really be a fighter, instead being the knowledgeable scholar you could come to when in need of information...or potions, if you're strong enough for them, that is. The potion seller bit I think would aid in his "mad scientist" kind of vibe in the og game, but also because I thought the idea was funny.

BONUS ROUND

Midori- Necromancer. We all know this is the obvious choice for him. I'd say that while his main focus is necromancy, he'd also specialize in other magic so he can keep it a secret. That doesn't mean his experiments are hidden well, however.

Maple- Homunculus. She would be the result of one of Midori's experiments gone...wrong? Right? An incredibly powerful being made of magic, capable of transforming her body when engaged in combat. Also, she is madly in love with him. Imagine a sort of "Dr. Frankenstein and his monster" kind of relationship between the two, where instead of the monster hating the creator, she's super lovey dovey to him.

[ome-magical-ramblings]

The Crossing of magical currents, Egregores, and Transformation through Death.

In this post I will offer a pet theory I have that's not backed by any historically provable(? is that a word) way, I hope that by writing this that I offer different way to look at things in modern point of view but not so near our history. I hope that this view isn't seen as definitive and I hope people push it BEYOND it's sphere. I find people get too academic or too smug or too too too many too, even irony poisoned and damaged by the whole affair that they get too...insincere and if anything this posts I want to deliver forth is BE SINCERE that's it.

Apollonius and Levi

I think there's this assumption of "oh Eliphas levi just scared himself when contacted Apollonius", an not everything is mentioned in the high magic book by Levi. I am personally of the belief that the whole idea of magical chain and egregore that Levi was conjuring up was all in effort to create a cord/chain to link the modern occult practices he had. That was the whole work in the his chapters to create a fulcrum for reviving magical practices. Was the whole necromantic evocation a sham, was it real? what was the plan of Levi? If we divide 22/2 then we find the middle point of the whole chapters and book that was his master plan, his book was a literal hypersigil for linking the practices of modern occultism to a chain reaching back to Apollonius, he warns about necromancy but then does it himself, he calls him a divine ghost but say that normal people shouldn't work necromancy. I can't in good faith look at this and tell you look, yeah he was just larping. Regardless of the whole process, Levi inevitably linked the whole practice with the Nuctemeron. My intention here is that the 12 hours of initiation of Papus. Are in background of all of this. Following Screencap with my highlight, Resurrection is Zayin(7, Chariot) combined with Mem(13, Necromancy) lead us to Resh(20, Thaumaturgy, Universal Medicine) and what do you think the title of the 20th chapter in that chapter...resurrectio

Olive Pixely and British Occultism

Here we enter with a different whole character that barely have any online presence for people, and this is a funny contiuation to Levi because in this sense Olive is channeling christian mystical practices from her dead brother..The reach of Olive's teaching is immense, it jumped through the Atlantic and we see it in the writing of Geoff-Cobb's New Avatar Power in his Dee-Hay-Thooth ritual, Gareth Knight talked about the same ritual, and her Cosmic breathing was also found in the writings of Jacobus G. Swart. Sadly her system isn't known by a lot, and the ripple of her work went further than what she thought her work would touch many many people. The main point here is that the practice itself centered and start with the same fulcrum preceding by Levi. Death(of her brother) was the start which this transformation of her and other people took place! In this sense, we don't know how far her teachings, influences, and techniques reached but intuitively speaking on my part...I feel like she did cause major change in British occultism that's hidden in nature.

Stele of Revealing, Austin Spare, Crowley, Thelema, Chaos Magic and DEATH.

The Stele of Revealing is an older text in this sense but it carried the same force and same momentum of other works above I talked about. Crowley had his book of the law after he saw this Stele:

Austin Osman Spare created this Stele embodying the secret glyphs and sigils of the Cultus:

AOS and Crowley are both definitely influenced by this Death Posture, by Transformation through Death. The Thelemic current is transformed and upraised by the funerary tablet of Stele of Revealing and when people do Liber Resh..Why Resh? Zyin + Mem = Resh, Resurrection of Death by Will Power. That's the whole of Liber Resh. The people telling you about it being related to Great Work or to some Thelemic concept aren't looking at the deeper symbol going on, Even AOS bring the topic of the death posture. I think it is in hsi book The Focus of Life he mentions: “By the Death Posture the body is allowed to manifest spontaneously and is arbitrary and impervious to action. Only he who is unconscious of his actions has courage beyond good and evil, and is pure in this wisdom of sound sleep.” The Death posture is a sympathetic magical representation of the thing that Stele of Revealing, Olive Pixely, and Eliphas Levi all did and shared in one form. The death posture for all intent and purposes is the sigil of the operation of conscious sacrifice toward transformation. In the book of Pleasure AOS mentions: “The new law shall be the arcana of the mystic unbalanced 'Does not matter-need not be'; there is no necessitation, 'please yourself' is its creed (the Belief ever striving for denial is kept free by retention in this state). Let's talk Crowley's channeled book of Law, specifically the sections that are important: Chapter 1: 12. Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love! 13.I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy 20. The key of the rituals is in the secret word which I have given unto him Chapter 2: 7. I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go 13. for why? Because thou wast the knower, and me. 20. Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us

Now I know it's weird that I would be quoting these specific sections but if you look at them you can start to see that Crowely just became a chain of this work, he become the ring in the chain of this Stele that's reaching until today. All the work we have of PGM related magic nowadays, Arabic magic, and so on is touched by this Stele metaphysically/astrally if you think about it. Anyway I am going a bit out there with my rambling, to sum it up. The Stele itself is an astral door(Daleth), Olive Pixely is a channel(Beth), and Eliphas Levi is a nail/peg/hook(Vau). As letter, they're all manifestation toward the Mem(Death), they are all qabbalistic gematria waiting to be unlocked and explaining each meaning of their manifestation: 2 + 13 4 + 13 6 + 13 The post is getting a bit too long but I hope with this I can offer some area for connecting and explaining the mysteries and a space for the manifestation of wisdom. Clearly, you the reader are currently thinking oh he must be saying that death or anything related to death is important. That's true, and more on that we see the most sacrifice in the figure 12-13 the sacrifice of the hanged man lead to the transformation of creation. It's by conscious sacrifice or by sacrificing our conscious that we transform the world. It's not JUSTICE, people think of a Just World but the world is Justified through Sacrifice. I almost forgot... BE SINCERE!

[gwenthebard]

TELL! US! ABOUT! YOUR! OCS!

OH SOMEONE ACTUALLY ASKED

OKAY THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG ASS POST, LETS TALK ABOUT MY TWO MAIN OC CATEGORIES

Pathfinder OCs and Fallout OCs. My Pathfinder OCs are primarily based around the Montague family of Ustalav, my Fallout OCs are primarily based around game MCs plus one TTRPG oc

Honestly I've written fan fiction about all of them, but I'm absolutely too terrified to share that

Buckle up y'all

MONTAGUE FAMILY

The Montague family are Ustalav nobility, all disappointments to each other and all fucked up in their own and unique ways. I sort of have art for them, but it's just Hero Forge screenshots from them being largely game characters.

In alphabetical order:

Alaela Montague

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 123

Height: 5’4 (163 cm)

Ancestry: Elf

Class: Cleric

Likes: Her kids, Bad Boys, Adventure, Sex, BDSM

Dislikes: Settling Down, Purity Culture, Losing

Fun Facts:

Parents are wealthy merchants in Absalam, but extremely disappointed in their daughter’s life choices and don’t talk to her much.

The collar is not part of her uniform

Alaela's a bad ass Cleric of Calistria who fell in love with her husband after she tried to kill him on a dare and he found it really funny. They got married, but after having the triplets she realized she was missing a life of adventure. She waited until they were 12, said "I'm sure they won't get mommy issues if I leave now" and left.

She still regularly writes her kids letters, somehow knowing where they are even when theyre adventuring. Every year she hosts a family dinner where everyone's invited, but attendance is inconsistent.

Bella Montague

Pronouns: She/They

Age: 63

Height: 6’3 (190 cm)

Ancestry: Dhampir human

Class: Cleric

Likes: Helping people out, Howl, meeting new people, Unions

Dislikes: Vegetables, Alcohol, Capitalism

Fun Facts:

Is in horrible need of wearing her glasses, but thinks they make her look like a nerd.

Became a cleric to try and see her mom more (it didn’t work)

Bella's the middle child of the Montague triplets, and was actually the first of them I built. She's very much a jock, terribly built, and is a charismatic herbo who gets by on the fact no one asks her anything too complicated.

She can't hit anything, will eat or drink anything you hand her, and has built a slow resistance to poison from Howl testing his poisons on her since they were kids. They will do literally anything an older woman tells her to, and has accidentally unionized war camps.

Delilah Montague

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 63

Height: 6’3 (190 cm)

Ancestry: Dhampir human

Class: Witch

Likes: Death, Necromancy, The Eyes That Watch, Salem, Sally

Dislikes: Food, Baths, Bella

Fun Facts:

Uses Embalming fluid as her perfume

Sally is the only one allowed to fix her hair or pick her outfits

I'm actually playing Delilah in an Alkenstar game, and she's probably my favorite. Having suffered from sleep paralysis since she was a kid, on the first birthday after her mom left the creature in the shadows, the Eyes That Watch, sent her a cat as a birthday present. Salem's a talking cat who ambiguously hints he was once human, and is a himbo

She takes terrible care of herself, having not taken a bath or brushed her hair in decades now. Her outfit was white when and blue when she was given it, and she's never purposefully dyed it. Delilah often has to be forced to eat by Salem, though at the same time he eats most of her rations for her.

Howl Montague

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: 68

Height: 6’6 (198 cm)

Ancestry: Vampire human

Class: Alchemist

Likes: Fashion, Sewing, Fiber Arts, Bella

Dislikes: Blood, messes, insects

Fun Facts:

Made the main outfits all of the triplets normal wear (armor withstanding)

Bella is the only one who gets to hear about how his experiments are going (she's the test subject)

Howl is the oldest Montague child, and is proud of having the best fashion sense. He wakes up every morning and decides he's the most impressive person in the country. Having trained to be an alchemist since a young kid, he specializes in mutagens and poisons.

Howl is a disaster pansexual and has a habit of falling fast and falling hard for every man and woman he meets. Absolutely has never gotten a date and never will, because he has negative game. Sally tried setting him up once on a blind date and he panicked and poisoned himself to have an excuse to leave early.

Kolro Montague

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: ???

Height: 7’5 (226 cm)

Ancestry: Vampire human

Class: Fighter

Likes: Bloodshed and massacre, subjugating the masses, torture, his wife

Dislikes: His kids, his life choices

Fun Facts:

Spends an hour every morning styling his hair and beard

Makes sure to schedule a collective twenty four hours of bonding time with each of his kids each year to seem like he cares

Kolro's family had ruled their territory in Ustalav for some time before he became a vampire. Killing his own father, he took up the titles and has ruled the territory with an iron fist ever since, his cruel exterior only pierced by Alaela.

Kolro has no idea how to raise kids, and literally thinks his kids aren't properly adults until they try to kill him and steal his titles and lands. None of them have tried to do so, and none hold a demeanor close to his, leading to constant disappointment. He's not sure how to interact with his kids in a way that's not encouraging murder or discussing the philosophy of war.

Salem Catenhagen

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: ???

Height: Cat

Ancestry: Cat

Class: Cat

Likes: String, fish, catnip, women, flare for the dramatic, evil schemes

Dislikes: Water, long walks on the beach, The Eyes That Watch

Fun Facts:

Used to be human before betraying The Eyes That Watch

Considers himself the dad who stepped up to Delilah.

Literally just gonna leave this here, what else needs to be said.

Sally Montague

Pronouns:

Age: 63

Height: 6’3 (190 cm)

Ancestry: Dhampir human

Class: Druid

Likes: Her kids, Delilah, her husbands, nature, animals, flowers, trees, birds, bugs, green, brown, purple, pink, red, white, black (list continues indefinitely)

Dislikes: Fighting, anger, bad vibes

Fun Fact:

Stole her pearl necklace from her dad’s private vault as a memory of home

Is wanted in every country for violent acts of ecoterrorism she refers to as her “fixing the vibes in the room”.

Youngest of the Montague triplets, Sally has always been the silliest of the family. Loving peace, happiness, beauty, she was always considered to be a rebel in her family, something she thought stressful. When she fell in love with a halfling bard at nineteen she panicked at how her family would react and did the logical thing:

She robbed her grandmother's grave and placed the body in her bed, burned down her tower, stole the Montague family pearls, and faked her death for five years while she eloped and had a kid. By the time she returned, everyone was so happy about her being alive they didn't care about her taste in men. She primarily lives in a halfling commune with her three husbands and scores of kids and grandkids, but occasionally goes on trips to perform ecoterrorism.

FALLOUT OCS

These have a lot less information, mostly because most of them are my character headcanons and the one TTRPG one I've never gotten a chance to play in a game so it's just for my custom setting

I have a picture of my Sole Survivor OC, literally shitty "took picture of screen" because was playing her recently, but not even Hero Forge art for others so keep that in mine

Nancy Alberts

Origin: Lone Wanderer

Pronouns: She/Her

Nancy's genuinely hopeful and happy, but also very shy and uncertain about herself. Growing up in the vault she was the type to try and making people like her by being funny, but none of her jokes work in the wasteland so she's just nervous.

Ends up becoming really skilled at using automatic rifles and the like. She wears the power armor she's given while out on quests, but otherwise feels a lot of comfort in wearing her old vault suit while around the house.

She started getting a crush on Butch before she left the vault that she fucking hated and suppressed. They became a relationship of "well we know each other and not many other people" after he left the vault himself, and kinda on again off again until they actually started dating after the game.

Mouse

Origin: The Courier

Pronouns: She/Her

Mouse lost big sections of her memory after getting shot in the head, remembering some vague details but forgetting a lot. Not remembering her actual name, she just remembers people liked to call her Mouse, and she was from farther out west. Wandering back out into the wastes she found herself.

She ends up becoming classic cowboy, using revolvers mostly with occasional non-scoped rifles, wears leathers and coats. She acts cheerful and happy, though is constantly on the verge of an identity crisis and crying regularly as she tries to figure out who she is. Tries staying alone at first, despite meeting few people, but does bring Boone along after helping him out.

Sees Boone as similar sad person for her to relate to, especially since it helps neither talks about their past immediately. Starts to enjoy his company and adds his gifted beret to her normal wardrobe. Starts to get a crush on Boone, but pretty much immediately knows he's never returning that.

Sleeps with Benny planning to kill him and thinking it's the best way to show Boone "not interested", but they end up talking about their feelings and regrets and she forgets to and falls asleep. Wakes up pissed off and tracks him down, ends up letting him go, and gets pissed at herself again and shoots Caesar for the hell of it before leaving. This all makes her realize how desperate she is for someone to talk to, and makes the crush on Boone worse.

Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road happens and she realizes it's not just Boone, she just has the worst taste in men and is touch starved.

She does the Yes Man ending, and tries and help people around her get better as she realizes she's a complete mess. Tries turning herself into a martyr, but friends keep pulling a "I will drag you into loving yourself" point

Julie "Snipes"

Pronouns: She/Her

Origin: Sole Survivor

Julie grew up in the country and was used to needing to hunt and the like, with her dad being a major doomsday prepper. Gladly settled down and became a suburban housewife after growing up with that, trying to put that behind her. After waking up from being frozen she fell back on a lot of that, while spiraling mentally.

Julie believes completely in customization and sufficiency, though how far she takes it can be concerning. She primarily dresses as above and uses a sniper rifle and pipe pistol for close range. She stopped using her husband's name early on, though didn't feel comfortable taking her maiden name. In the end she ended up getting the nickname Snipes for her preferred method of combat.

She alternates rather regularly between being nice and supportive and wanting to go into the Wasteland and fight everything she sees. Generally tries to help others, but at the same time just feels really lost and unsure of how to act in this new world so she falls back on letting others do most of the charity work.

On top of building settlements and falling back on knowledge she has from her past she customizes everything. Her weapons, her armor, even herself in what ways she can. Julie got really into chems after the apocalypse, often making her own and using them during fights.

Doesn't really get over the death of her husband for a long while, not even removing her wedding ring the whole time or living his behind. Becomes really good friends with Hancock and has brief flings with Piper and Macready, but isn't ready for a full relationship. Does Minuteman ending, after the game she ends up retiring to Diamond City with her robot kid to try focusing on herself again.

Morgause

Pronouns: She/Her

Origins: Fallout 2d20 (Custom Richmond Setting)

Morgause is a member of "The Kingdom", a group of ren faire descendents who formed a pseudo-medieval civilization. A member of the noble class, Morgause left it behind to seek a life of her own. Now she wanders the wasteland trying to help smaller civilizations, while escaping bounty hunters her family sends trying to bring her back.

Morgause still dresses in the pseudo-medieval fashion of The Kingdom, wearing long dresses and veils even to fights. Primarily using rifles, she likes to keeps her distance if a fight happens and use her charisma first when possible. Her dialogue's still peppered with the dialect of The Kingdom, though she's been trying to hide it as it's a subject of ridicule the farther out one gets from their territories.

Morgause travels alone mostly, though has recently started taking up group jobs in an attempt to socialize. Not really sure how to act outside the specific context of a noble of a single culture though it's been slow and with plenty of blunders. Her one and only attempt to have asked someone on a date having resulted in laughter

[thousand-winters]

Hello. Now that you have finished chain of thorns, could we know what you liked and didn't like? A rant?

Oh, it's a dangerous thing to ask me to rant, dear anon 👀 But yes, absolutely!

Let's keep it organized.

The positives/what I liked:

The platonic dynamics: Specifically the Carstairs siblings and Grace and Christopher, but special mention to Jesse and James. I was pleasantly surprised by them having multiple scenes being sweet and supportive and caring to each other. I know there have always been platonic relationships in CC's books but I feel like sometimes it feels more like they tell you they care than them actually acting as if they care about each other, so I was delighted by how it was done this time.

Matthew's alcoholism: I was concerned when the first few chapters were released and Matt seemed perfectly fine while apparently stopping drinking altogether, because... yeah, that's not how it works. I thought it was nice how it was handled, the withdrawal and him falling again during the Christmas party and the acknowledgment that even when his body recovered, he would have to be mindful from then on because it's not that easy.

James and the bracelet: This one too was a complicated matter and I know not everyone liked how much he avoided telling anyone about it, but I think it was realistic. With this kind of... heavy experiences, it's normal to want to close off as to not receive "pity".

Grace: Everything about her behavior was also nicely handled, I felt. This is something I always bring up when it comes to talking about why she did bad things even without Tatiana around, and it's because that kind of influence doesn't go away just because the person is not physically there. She lived under an abusive parent for like half of her life, so of course even her mindset and way to see the world reflects that, even to her own detriment. That was nice to see, that it wasn't brushed off as "she's out, so she's perfectly fine now".

Thomastair: Perhaps slightly biased since they were my favorites since the beginning, but their scenes were sweet, heartfelt, and sometimes so funny. They were so fun together, it was a joy to get to their parts when reading. Who else is doing it like them in this trilogy?

Lucie and the power of death: I quite liked how her power was a bit more versatile in this book than in past ones. I think some of my favorite "action" scenes were the ones she was in. I'm particularly fond of the moment with the ghost pentagram to keep Lilith in... "Rise. I do not command, only ask. Rise."

Now comes the more complicated stuff...

The negatives/what I didn't like:

The love triangle: Was it really necessary to make Matthew and Cordelia a thing for like five minutes just for the drama? It had already been established that Matthew's love for her wasn't actual love, and Cordelia didn't have feelings for him, so it was just annoying, honestly. CC could still have played with the idea of Matthew yearning for her as the sort of salvation they were presenting it as, without them becoming actually involved.

The disappearing conflicts: I mentioned this in another post, but they set up a series of conflicts in Chain of Iron that they didn't follow through with. Suddenly everyone was chill with each other and some of the logistics, for example, what it would mean for the queer characters to come out publicly in the era they are in, Lucie's consequences for technically performing necromancy, Matthew confessing his "sin" to his parents, just.... poofed out of existence. I understand why, as the ending was changed, but it just felt badly handled like this, and it makes the characters seem like idiots for even worrying about those things being issues in the first place.

Christopher's death: The goal here was to not make the book as tragic as it was originally intended, but something bad still had to happen, right? I also mentioned this in another post, but Christopher's death feels more like "well, someone from the main cast has to die", and less like a logical step in the narrative. In my opinion, it doesn't work, because it wasn't chosen from a narrative standpoint, so it ended up being mostly unimpressive in its own context. Main character deaths should be meaningful, not just shock value.

Lack of action: Don't get me wrong, I know we're all here for the characters and their relationships with each other, but this is still a Shadowhunters book, presumably about... you know, hunting demons? This was a problem throughout the whole trilogy though, it feels at times way too domestic or most of the conflict is relationship based, with action taking a second plane. The thing is, this is the final book of a trilogy, you would assume it would have some epic fights, right? But it doesn't, and the fights it does have never quite feel high stakes, so in that respect it's a bit... boring.

Important scenes skimmed over: The aforementioned scene with Lucie and her necromancy, aka, Jesse's trial on Idris? Charles coming out in front of the Clave to accuse the Inquisitor? Gabriel and Cecily mourning their son? Nope, we're just kinda told about all of these things and meant to just take them as they are. Ah, but we did have time for the love triangle, didn't we?

Pacing: Kinda ties to the lack of action, but it felt like we were going very slowly at the beginning and then at the end we have to go through fights and conflicts really fast, no time for anything to be properly felt because we are just moving on. At least that's what I personally felt.

The dissonance between the original plan vs the final result: Not only were we told certain things would happen that didn't (like the whole thing with the Carstairs owing the Herondales), but I felt like some of the things that were promised and did happen were... odd. Like they were originally meant to happen in a certain way, but since the ending was changed, now it just feels lazy. Esme Hardcastle? Vaguely funny, but CC, cut your losses, you changed your mind, we know the family tree was before that, it's fine. Belial owing Jem a favor? I admit I haven't read that side story, but owing him a favor just for delivering a message? I'm not sure it was meant to happen that way, but I could be wrong. It just felt poorly planned to me.

I think these are the main things, anything else might be me being extremely nitpicky, which I admit to be.

I do like TLH and TSC as a whole, but I don't look at it with eyes of love, so I can be quite harsh on it. Take my opinions with a grain of salt and don't let them take away your enjoyment of this book from you, since they're just that: my opinions.

[bluebirdmybird]

FMA Watchthrough: RIP Trisha

Episode 3

Let's do a transmutation with Moms ashes!

Brother thought Winry was Nina,,,

He does this every time we see a dog and a girl in the same frame. He's going to keep doing this until it happens. And probably after that, because he has no sense of place and time.

Winry's parents die :( sad :( I like that we actually see her reaction here, I think that was skipped over in FMAB

Brother: Winry saying their Dad can still come back so they don't understand is a bit ow, but her parents died loving her and Ed's Dad chose to leave and hasn't come back

He's not wrong, Hohenheim is always crazy for that one

Like dude letters exist

also just you wait Winry they'll understand parental grief soon! Reaaaal soon

No necromancy in this house boys!

Trisha: aw my little man

Brother: My little, small man. My miserable little man.

THOSE MISERABLE LITTLE BOYS

Noooo Trisha don't turn into a spider ahaha

So at this point my brother realized that the mom was going to die, and probably soon because Ed and Al were young when they started spidering

So everytime Trisha appeared he started saying 'wouldn't it be funny if she died right now'

Trisha standing outside the house: what if she just died and then rolled down the hill

What if the boys fall onto that train and their mom dies

What if they open the door and the mom is dead on the floor- oh no

But Trisha is just sick

Now, further context, we've also been watching solo levelling so we like to joke when a character has more than one bead of sweat they're struggling

Oh no Trisha has 7 drops of sweat

Oh no her pupils disappeared

Oh no she's in a grave

Pro tip from brother: Maybe you shouldn't do necromancy when you're 10 years old

When the transmutation rebounds, he just goes I would have succeeded because I would add more blood

Just add blood tm

Guys my brother said he would give up an arm for me :( this is the only affection from him I've gotten this month /j

LEAUTINENT COLONEL ROY MUSTANG

Why is his title so long

Me: what do you think about mustang?

Brother: he's cool I guess. I feel like he would drive. A mustang.

Wow how original

Okay but can we talk about the stupid tricorner hat Mustang wears outdoors? Is that part of the uniform? why? Why is he willingly wearing that?

I do like the connectivity of Mustang seeing the letter and finding the elrics, not him just stumbling upon them

And Hohenheim is being hunted... he was in the military maybe? Definitely something sketchy with him

If I could have more canon manga stuff (I was daydreaming in the car) I'd like to see more of Trisha and Van's early relationship. I want more Trisha development. She acts as a very... I guess maybe elevated character? She doesn't have insane amounts of depth but the character's reactions grow her importance

Oh and Ed's not super depressed this time around. He got his automail fast too, they didn't waste any time developing this episode

I'm pretty sure we meet Hughes next and I am so excited! And crying!

[thaiteaaddict]

in your GW villainess isekai, did you plan that turn towards gothic horror or did that just happen all on its own?

This is such an interesting question!

I got so off-track with this reply (sorry Anon!) and there are some spoilers for my fic, so read more at your own risk ⚠️

When I first started this fic, I was originally doing it for my own entertainment; I’d started reading all the villainess isekai manga/manhwa out at the time, and I was really enjoying all the tropes that popped out of it. By that time, there were also really only two types of villainess isekai: the romcom kind and the serious kind. The revenge type was just starting, so the serious type was more deconstruction and “fixing the plot.”

I say all that because this is what lead up to the path my GW villainess fic took - I had to decide whether I wanted to keep it light-hearted or take it somewhere more serious.

For the light-hearted route, it really would have just boiled down to romcom. Heero and the others would have returned much earlier, Duo would have followed the traditional route of being someone isekai’d into a fantasy novel character, they fall in love (again), and happy ending! The story would have likely ended after about 18 - 20 chapters tbh. There wouldn’t be a Maxwell family, no Harvester/religion aspects, and magic would have been implicated but not explored, and even then with absolutely no necromancy/Gundam deities.

For the serious route, I knew it would be longer. It would have an actual plot, it would pull in more characters and motivations, more of the world around it. Duo and his variations would have to be so much more; he had to have history, had to have desires other than just surviving, and he had to make sense. Not just him, but every other character as well - I needed them to make sense for the role they filled, to take part in the overarching plot. Some would have to suffer because of that, some would have to die for it. It’s funny looking back at it now, but at the time I really wondered if I could make the emotional commitment and investment needed for that type of plot.

I made that choice by Chapter 5, when Duo went on his provincial tour. I knew I’d have to choose by that chapter, because that was the chapter Duo left the confines of the estate and ventured out to the world beyond the city gates. I had to know what world he would be stepping into.

Even then, there was still leeway in how serious I wanted it to be. I still had plenty of ideas for more serious stories (I still do lol, saved for future fics) that I didn’t need to turn this story into what it is now. I could always touch upon small bits of the world, keep the plot relatively straightforward, and end it after around 30 chapters.

Thus, what fully decided the trajectory of this fic was chapter 8. Chapter 8 had Meilan, who died in the original novel, and also introduced the human trafficking issue with Armonia. I could have left Meilan’s OG plot line of being killed by overwhelming numbers and never introduced the slavery aspect. I decided to include them, cementing the final overarching plot line the fic now follows.

After that decision was made, I knew what direction the story was headed. The gothic horror aspect became a part of the story because I liked thinking of the Gundams as something close to eldritch horrors. The actual scale (aside from Deathscythe, who I decided MUST be Absolutely Eldritch) of monster hadn’t really been cemented until Quatre entered the main plot line in Chapter 14.

Arc I got to keep the light-hearted tone, touching only vaguely on the world around it because to Duo - it wasn’t quite real. The world was a novel, a fantasy, that he had been inserted into; he knew the tropes, but the line between him (real) and everyone/everything else (fantasy) was thick - until Solo snapped the collar around his throat.

In some way, the arcs were meant to mirror the experience of reading the og novels in the story. The first book was a romantic fantasy from the protagonist’s POV; soft in all ways, naive and vague when it came to anything between the lines.

Arc II mirrors the sequel - the hard turn the story takes when all that had been left unsaid and implied finally comes bubbling to the surface.

Arc III is the absolute shitshow.

TLDR; I liked the gothic horror aspect too much and consciously chose to include it once the direction of the plot was decided lol

[ghostlycoyote0]

Alright I’ve done nothing but scroll through the tags of stuff I like so far, time to actually do the blogging part of this blogging website

So, I have this habit of thinking of elaborate crossover plotlines between everything I’m interested in. In-universe it’s all one continuous thing, but it’s very disjointed when I think of it because I usually just do one scenario and whatever would branch off of it at a time. It’s also framed as a D&D campaign, idk why, it doesn’t really affect how anything happens. Anyway, I will be talking about this crossover thing a LOT, it’s one of the main reasons I even joined this website because I know no one who likes all of the same things and therefore no one who would understand what I’m talking about. There, long opening ramble done.

Right now, the three biggest things for me are Borderlands 3, Psychonauts, and Skulduggery Pleasant

There could be some really interesting parallels between a lot of these characters. Raz, a 10 year old who saved the world multiple times and picked up psychic abilities very quickly, even though he’s definitely too young to be doing so; Valkyrie, an adult who was 12 when she started learning magic and saved the world pretty much annually for, what? 7-ish years? Sasha, a highly skilled psychic secret agent who is perfectly happy to teach Raz how to shoot lasers at will, and was very easily convinced to do some probably-not-safe experiments with him; Skulduggery, a highly skilled sorcerer detective who was perfectly happy to start teaching Valkyrie how to summon flames and displace air at will, and took basically no convincing to bring her along to fight one of the most dangerous people in the country, probably also the world.

Not to mention the parallels that Tanith alone could bring. She was in love with Ghastly for a while, but neither of them confessed in time, and when they finally planned a first date, she got possessed for years and came back to find out he had died while she was gone. Compare that to Sasha and Milla, who are very obviously in love yet will not confess.

Also, this one’s more of a stretch but still there and could still lead to some funny interactions, Tanith and Sanguine compared to Hammerlock and Wainwright. “Brit who fights monsters for a living and man in a brown suit with a strong southern American accent”, but it’s more like looking in a warped mirror than a true parallel. Tanith and Sanguine were only together while Tanith was literally possessed by a being of pure hatred who only wanted the world to end and she hated him at all other times, need I say more?

Anyway.

I want to see interactions between a lot of these characters. What happens if Sasha meets a well-dressed skeleton? What conversations would they have? “How are you uh..” “Walking around? Necromancy. Anyway-“ What about an interaction between Oleander, the guy with heavy trauma related to bunnies who idolises the military, and Tina, the girl who constantly wears a bunny mask and has killed countless people in and out of warfare with little to no remorse?

What if everyone is pulled out of their own worlds and thrown together, forced to work together to somehow find a way home? Maybe spirits are low and no one’s sure what’s going to happen. Maybe Sir Hammerlock decides to start telling a story about some huge monster that he hunted - altered to be less scary and more light-hearted because there’s at least one child present and everyone likes a fun story. Maybe Skulduggery shares a story of his own later, about a comically incompetent bad guy and how he saved the day.

One thing is for certain though: Sasha Nein is the only person to actively find and start a long conversation with Claptrap. He’s way too interested in the idea of a fully sapient robot to be annoyed.

I’ll share some of the more plot-like ideas another time but, yeah. Huge crossover. It lives in my head rent free.

[outpost51]

Happy STS! If you were to design a deck of playing cards based on characters in your WIP, who would you assign to be the King? The Queen? The Jack? The Ace? And the Joker?

Happy STS Nopal!!

You’ve triggered my cartomancy trap card!!

And given me the chance to ramble about some characters folks haven’t seen in Arsonist Chronicles yet!! [happy stim]

So I read a standard deck of playing cards the same as I’d read tarot (sans the major arcana), with the suits converted as such: spades = swords, hearts = cups, diamonds = coins, clubs = wands, jack = knave, ace = knight (I know, I don’t read the aces as aces, great crimes have been committed on this day). You didn’t come here for that though, you came for blorbos and blorbos you shall receive!

★○★○★○★

♤

King of Spades: Taredd is as brilliant as he is charismatic — a shame he uses what would otherwise be qualities of a good leader to be a manipulative little bastard. He’s the current king of the Fae while the Seelie Courts hold power, and only recently assumed the throne after his father mysteriously abdicated mid-Revel. The whereabouts of former king Theodas are unknown.

Queen of Spades: Princess Cassara, Cassie my beloved. Sharp, clever, and as calculating as her brother, she’s quite happy in her position as second-in-line — she gets all the perks of nobility with none of the boring work that comes along with it. That, and she might have a massive secret mutual crush on her personal guard, and as queen, she’d be expected to marry someone for political gain. No thanks!

Jack of Spades: Funny enough, a queen — the nebulous queen of the Unseelie Courts, to be exact. Although, she technically isn’t a queen just yet; she slipped away into the night right before her coronation a few months prior to the start of Unlikely Adventures. There’s a rumor she’s sought a fresh start among the humans, in retail no less, but it’s so preposterous, it’s passed around as an ironic joke rather than viable theory.

Ace of Spades: General Nelene is the aforementioned personal guard. She was part of the ritual trade-off when the Seelie Courts took over — the monarchs of the two choose new guards from the ranks, and then trade. It’s supposed to be a show of trust but, well. Fae. Anyway Nellie has a big lesbian crush on Cassara and they’re totally ✨ Doin’ It ✨ on the DL, and they’re definitely Not Planning Anything Nefarious. What do you mean the Knight of Swords represents unbridled ambition? Noooo, no, Taredd trusts her with his life, his sister’s life, and control of his forces—

♡

King of Hearts: Life — not for the King thing, it’s because she’s compassionate and generous, but she’s got great control over her emotions and she’s wary of disrupting the universal balance.

Queen of Hearts: Death. Yeah, we saw this one coming. She’s all the hyperempathy and none of the balance, thinks with her heart, doesn’t consider so much the consequences of her actions. Listen, you take an evening stroll through a graveyard and not feel your heart shatter into a million pieces over a little girl crying about her sister. I’m not saying I’d hand her a book of necromancy instructions, but I totally would.

Jack of Hearts: Ayla, of course. She’s the very embodiment of why we should not let our id run around unchecked. War crimes.

Ace of Hearts: Phada — she’s a whole can of worms by herself, and the reason we can’t have anything nice have vampires.

♢

King of Diamonds: Savras Zegan! Yes diamonds is my FZS&S suit. Savras is a funny little hoarder of objects both mystical and mundane.

Queen of Diamonds: Paghana Fithum, mother hen of the entire supernatural community.

Jack of Diamonds: Miorina Stazor, don’t fear the Mia, but do fear the Reaper. Something, something new life, resurrections, etc.

Ace of Diamonds: Tom Smith — a man of utmost diligence. Nuff said.

♧

King of Clubs: Acheron La Croix, Sang-d’origine bloodline. Imagine, if you will, the stuffiest, velvet-smoking-jacketest vampire ever. Now give him Dad Energy™️. Yeah, that’s Acheron.

Queen of Clubs: Fiery, determined, strong — Pamela Foster, president of the HOA and progenitor of the Castlebury Park vampire bloodline. It’s not often a new bloodline forms but when it does, it’s a big fucking deal — not to Pam. She has gardens to judge and citations to write and meetings to run and bake sales and festivals to coordinate and boy does she give the Vampire Council a run for their money.

Jack of Clubs: Psyche Hunter is a newer vampire and brings “fresh, young energy” to the council, whatever Acheron means by that. Personally, I think it’s because she taught him how to use a smartphone. Also, she’s been adopted by Keir and they’re bisexual power besties, and I just think they’re neat.

Ace of Clubs: Keir Toussaint is the perfect example of a centuries old immortal who’s fully integrated into modern society. This man was turned in fucking 1802. Fuckin regency era rake ass loves Fortnite and shitty beer. Brash, impulsive little punk.

🃏

Finally, we’ve reached the end. The wild card. The very embodiment of universal entropy. The Deep. [kisses his stupid head] Bastard <3

[coeursetcolores]

Cyrus, The Scholar: Chapter 2

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Chapter 2 of Cyrus’ story in Octopath Traveler!

Man, things got dark!

I thought Prim had the dark story, but this was messed up! Human sacrifices, kidnapping, torture...It was not just a name, not just a name.

Someone give Cyrus a break! And this is only Chapter 2?!

I have the feeling Chapter 4 might constitute bumping the rating up, this game is so unexpectedly dark. And so detailed about it.

But, let’s press on.

Since this is the same town as Tressa’s Chapter 2, I actually did her’s first. I figured with Cyrus being a gentleman and all, he’d step out of the lady’s way. 

And wow, can things change between two chapters.

I will admit, the bursts of humor about Cyrus’ obliviousness about how attractive he is got old pretty quickly: not that funny when it cost him his job (still salty Therese). Kinda feels like a double standard, female characters don’t usually end up in his situation...I dunno, I just really don’t like Cyrus getting punished/made fun of because he doesn’t notice when people are interested in him: if they like him, they should be upfront with him.

Lay off Odette, he’s supposed to be your friend.

Oh well; Detective Cyrus is back everyone! Book man’s hittin’ the streets!

Quarrycrest is nice, little mining town. All the wooden parts make it look like it’s still being worked on. It really sells that the place is developing into something else, like it would be bigger and more advanced later on. The wood could get upgraded to stone and the stalls could become stores. It’s nice to think of after Tressa’s chapter.

I do wish the mystery parts had more to them; I know it’s not that kind of game, but they’re just so easy it’s hard to believe Cyrus is the only one who can solve them. Eh. Moving on.

Are all of Cyrus’ chapters going to end up underground? I get that his bad guys like to stay hidden, but there’s more options: attics, abandoned buildings, woods, creepy mansions...

Overall, the sewer starts out pretty basic (hope everyone did laundry after they finished up down there): dark, wet, rats...

And then we get to the boss’ room.

Dang...This guy’s messed up. How do you even crystallize blood? And was the circle on the ground made of blood too?

I was not expecting that corpse to fall. Usually the hero gets there before anyone dies, so I figured everyone would get rescued and that the ritual just took more time.

And the game showed me it wasn’t playing around.

You save three people.

Ten went missing.

We’re going into some dark territory going forward, it looks like.

I’m actually kind of glad Gideon didn’t show up much, this guy is pure evil. Worked pretty well to just show up for the fight. Would’ve liked to have had his motivations explored a bit, though. Honestly just seems like he was written to just creep the player out.

I really like how this chapter shows Cyrus’ moral side: we already learned about how much he craves knowledge, but here we see where he draws the line. He admits the topics about necromancy intrigue him, but he would never actually try them. He knows that some things shouldn’t be researched and has the self-control and morals to reject them instead of blindly pursuing more than he probably should. Usually intelligent characters will disregard the moral choice in favor of research, but Cyrus doesn’t. I like that.

And now Odette wants to be nice. Yay.

Aaaaaaand, we’re being followed.

Let’s hear what our companions have to say about this tonal shifting chapter!

Primrose: Ooh, debate! And a respectful one! Both sides have points, and Cyrus even admits he likes hearing about her perspective. Just a talk about two ways of seeing the world. But did they have to end with another oblivious Cyrus joke?

Tressa: Cyrus, you are going to get killed one day. Tressa’s supposed to be the newcomer to the traveling life, why is she lecturing you? Though, it is refreshing to see how older people can have less wisdom than younger ones at times. Neither of them are naive, they just have more smarts than the other in different areas.

Ophilia: Oooh! I know he’s just being frank, but I have shipping goggles on! Watch yourself, Cyrus!

Therion: Recruit a criminal, solve a crime. But aww! Cyrus praised him! You go inspire that disenfranchised youth, Professor! GO TO CLASS, THERION! Achieve your potential (but also stay a thief, because they’re cool)!

H’aanit: You’re far too modest, my dear! People would line up to take your courses! I never want to hunt, but I’d love to learn biology from you!

Alfyn: Aww, poor guy! You go dad on him, Cyrus! Team Dad #2! I really like how he presents knowledge as ultimately being subject to the user. And yes, Alfyn is pure. I’d love to listen to discussions between these two about their fields, mutual mentoring is an interesting topic to explore.

Olberic: WAIT, YOU GUYS ACTUALLY NOTICED YOU’RE BEING FOLLOWED?! I was not expecting that! No ambushes coming for them, then. I feel so much wiser when these two talk to each other: one about knowledge, the other about danger. 

By the way, I love that everyone addresses Cyrus as “Professor;” even if he’s not on the clock, they respect him.

All we wanted to do was find a book. Now we’re involved in a conspiracy with necromancy, torture, murder and kidnapping.

Who hires someone to do this? And how does the academy fit into it?

And who’s that hooded figure?

Guess we find out.

On to Stonegard!