#its for lore reasons. he became a paladin

[bladedalchemistreplica]

I'm not sure how much I'm spending int he kitchen but I'll give a minor update here.

The AU has a lot of lore to it and it's gonna be a bit steaming hot when I get online again. But I took a few things here and there for it to grow into what it is today ((Cursed 19+ paged doc). Long day and a lot of traditional drawing to get the characters feeling right before I jump onto my digital run for the au drawings. Here are a few of the things I have down and not spoilers! ((In the known long run and longer thread points/activities)

important aspects ((clarification)

Rift creatures felt pretty unused in the show ((maybe I'm in the wrong but...eh)) so they are gonna be used a lot for the AU and it's reasons for tensions and alliances

Blade of Marmora is a largely known space for half-breeds of the Galra, run by Kolivan who is a grump but kinda don't the halflings running around, most of the time.

Voltron and her lions were created by Alfor to aid in keeping the larger rift beasts at by and working in more environmentally hostile areas. Including the more rouge and powerful Galra warlords and Altean defactors.

Galaxy Garrison is Earth's international/galactical defense entity as they have the ATLAS running up. Crafted by some help humans and rogue Alfor. Before they became hostile towards alien entities.

Humans are more aggressive towards aliens and less welcoming due to some Galra attacks before they encounter the Altean empire and craft a testy treaty of peace.

I gave the druids some lore because we NEVER GOT IT. They are galra but a sub-category of Galra, but just Magical. Like sacred Alteans- who are referred to as Alcolytes, including the Olkrians, and given the Balmera more respect to their name. As well as another species who are like the Alteans.

The Freedom Fighters are those who take in Half-breeds, run by Te-osh and some other members who were cast out for being halflings or other reasons. The name is from the old rebel group her father worked with.

Guardians in training (Voltron lions): Lance is half Altean and human, Keith is half Galra and human, Hunk is a human, Pidge is human, and Shiro is half Drule and Altean.

After Alfor disappeared speculation and distrust began to rise up, leading to more tensions between Melenor and Zarkon.

Alteans can live for thousands of years just as the Galra had, Melenor- like Zarkon, has extended their life forces to an almost immortal state. ((Kinda like Celestia if you think about it but it's got it's own downsides)

Zarkon has the Sincline Guardians, Melenor holds the Voltron paladins, and Earth has the ATLAS knights, machines aided by their most powerful and intelligent of people. Each is built to fend off exterior threats and to aid in venturing out or protecting various locations and items. Including being used to keep one another at bay and in check. Out of them all the Sincline guard is of biggest threat due to the Galra's strength and combat history.

Earth has its own territory, and while small it holds other alien lifeforms and allows the humans to become their own empire. Smaller than the Altean and tiny to the Galra, they are mighty.

Oriandle is split into two, one is a chunk (which was present in the show but was hidden by the white lion) that was destroyed when the rift appeared. ((All I'll clarify for now)

Established tidbits to clarify other things

e-osh, Olia, Ozar, and Matt do KNOW of one another and the first three do see one another as a family. Te-osh raised Ozar from infancy and Olia she found before him during a brief Galra invasion and raised Olia. (4-9 years)

Lotor has his generals but they are all his guards; Axca was his personal knight, Zephriod and Ezor are his knights, and Narti is his personal Druid in training under Honerva's eye. Kova is there as his bonded.

Matt and his father still see alien life with a fairly good eye as they were helped by them when they were stranded, the Galra who were with those who aided them did greatly help in their changing mindsets as well, Matt on his personal ventures encountered and befriended a group of aliens while running some stops and got a partner later on.

Romelle and Bandor are on bad terms and Bandor has enlisted in the Voltron guard and is friends with Tavo, Merla, and Luka, while Romelle works and resides on another planet with some close friends.

Allura and Lotor are both Half-breeds, sharing being Altean/Galra crossed. Unknowingly becoming best friends. Allura is also very powerful like her father.

Alfor is very powerful but is unstable with the new power and it requires quite a bit to control and keep it at ease. He also keeps it under wraps with a clasp.

Honerva is of sacred blood and married Zarkon without the approval of Altean Relations, which led to the first thread being cut in tensions. She also acts as his sorcerous and aided in building the Sincline guard.

Adam is alive here and works with Shiro in re-instating the Galactical relationship between humans and aliens.

Half-breed is seen as an insult and derogatory while cross-breed is used as a descriptor or used in pride. While not uncommon, interspecies relationships are usually looked down upon or seen as a blemish. Leading out to various negative outcomes for the off-spring at times. ((An example is Galra-Altean relationships/off-spring, and Altean-Olkrion is seen as acceptable.)

I have various oc's as well who play a part, some more notible than others but still exist.

United to undertake the task of brining peace and control of the Rift creatures and it's curses. But it becomes more and more difficult when peace seems to be always out of reach and actions of the past continue on in various manners.

 Xterion is a species I made up/expanded for one of the muses and like species, like a few others! They are one of the few giant (8+ height) civilizations in the AU. ((So oc tag for them?)

List of names (Who you can expect to be here- Bold/color is imporant

while everyone plays a part these guys are the most important and do play a large part! they also can be asked things and I will post things with them. Not everyone will be center of stage but I wanted to show how and who are here. They will be listed off on the blog once it is shared! ((Side note- not all relationships are shown here!) Not labeling everyone, to much color and way to much clutter, to save color and eyes I'll leave the rest to the imagination. OC's are tagged as such, but for the Xterion species and people I just put OC in case anyone new is here, the other blog will have appearances!

Altean;

Alfor - Queen Melenor - Empress Honerva - Coran - Romelle - Bandor - Hira/Merla - Floria(OC)

Balmera; Shay - Vanessa (OC) - Olia - Narti - Van'tar - Tusk(OC) - Nyma -Inna'va(OC)[oldaltean]

Human; (ATLAS) Pidge - (ATLAS) Hunk - Matt - Sam/Colleen - (ATLAS) Veronica - (ATLAS) Adam - (ATLAS) Ina - Akira(texas) -

Halfings; (ATLAS)Shiro - (ATLAS) Lance - Keith - Allura - (Sincline) Lotor - Antok - Kolivan - Merla/Hira - Melode (OC) - Tavo(OC) - Indago(OC) - Ozar+Acxa -(Sincline) Ezor/Zethrid - Lahn - Regris - (Red Paladin) Rolo -(Black Paladin) Sven

Galra; Krolia - Thace - Emperor Zarkon - Varkon - Ulaz - Janka - (Sincine) Commander Sendak - Hepta - (Warlord) Trugg - Gnov - (Sincline) Raht - (Warlord) Ranveig+Mar - Dayak - Doctor Haggar(clarify--doctor galra) - Sniv - Macidus

Other; Plaxum - Burr - Chip - N-7 - Lady Luxia - Yellow paladin Gyrgan - Slav - King Zanto(OC) - Princess Vinta(OC) - Green Paladin Trigel - Blue Paladin Blatyz - Ryner -La-sai - Remdax/Vakala - Meraon(OC) - Ver-nosh(OC) - Queen Zemerna(OC)

Comic may different from more rendered artwork from me! <3 to add on but still be neat as I usually do!

For the Poll, if t is voted as a Yes the comic will start with Alfor and with a brief view of other notable muses before ending with Alfor again. but WHEW---

That's a lot of stuff. Hope this helps and...wow. I have been on the grind these few months/weeks. Forgive me again but I am in a huge mood and really just enjoying this all. Thank you again <3

This blog is also open to questions for this AU! :> but please be patient with me, sometimes I get a bit overkill with info dumping, and have to go back to ensure I don't spoil anything lol <3

[verathion]

daphne lore

alright folks, i've finally finalized daphne's backstory.

Full name: Daphne Taverim

Pronouns: She/Her

Nicknames: Daph, Dee, Witch (affectionately, mostly) by Rolan

Birthday and birthplace: 6 Kythorn, 1461 DR. Thultanthar (Material Plane) (GEMINI BB)

Height: 165cm, 5’4”

Class: Wizard, Necromancer

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Titles: Lady Shade, Witch of Thultanthar

Love Interest: Rolan (but the Daphneverse is large and she has been shipped with many).

Family:

Parents: Deregon Taverim, Oath of the Crown Paladin; Manarlume Tanthul, Prince of Shade

Siblings: Anyone who has her face (no seriously, her father is a bachelor and I imagine she has lots of siblings in Faerûn she doesn’t know about).

The Taverim clan came to Thultanthar eight hundred hundred centuries ago, and became one of the first elven families to settle there while it was still in the Shadowfell. As such, they spent most of their time trying to make their ambitions known, to be worthy to call one of the last remaining Netherese enclaves home. A prominent magical family, they soon became adept in the shadow weave. Deregon, however, was not born with any such gift. But his devotion to his his home was unmatched. He quickly rose to power and became the head of The High unit dedicated to protecting Dethud Tanthul, one of the Twelve Princes of Shade, and the seventh son of the High Prince, Telamont Tanthul. It is then he met Daphne’s mother, Manarlume, the daughter of Dethud. Manarlume wanted nothing to do with Daphne after she was born—she viewed her half-elven daughter as impure and a blot in the Tanthul’s Netherese (human) bloodline. Deregon convinced Manarlume to give him custody of her, and thus, he raised her on his own, with the help of his elven family. Daphne and Deregon were among the few who escaped Thultanthar before its destruction.

Both her father and her mother are still alive, though she does not know the whereabouts of her mother, nor does she care. Her father is currently on a quest of his own—an Oathbreaker for having chosen to save his daughter’s life over Dethud’s during the fall of Thultanthar.

At the age of 23, Daphne was married to a cleric of Shar named Belnan. It was an arranged marriage, but the two got along quite well, and eventually, they grew to love one another. He did not survive the destruction of Thultanthar, though he did help Deregon to get Daphne out of the city before the fall.

Personality:

Daphne is aloof, curious, and a bit mischievous. She will often play devil’s advocate to test other’s resolve—not to cause trouble, but to better understand other people’s positions, beliefs. Raised in a relatively evil-aligned society, she dances on the precipice of it often, but her time spent in Baldur’s Gate has taught her that goodness is not always weakness. Growing up, she was always treated as lesser—her blood, and her not having been born in the Shadowfell. As such, she has a competitive streak, and always feels as though she has to prove herself to someone. Especially with magic. 

Her father being a military man, she’s developed a barracks-style sense of humor. She loves a good quip, and teasing is her form of affection. She also has an unnaturally strong playful shove for such a tiny frail wizard—another thing she got from her father. One time she nearly knocked Astarion over after laughing at one of his pick-up lines. She is also prone to snorting when she laughs if a joke hits her particularly well.

She knows that her practice is taboo in Faerûn, and she grapples with the concept of it; she was raised in a society where it was normal, commonplace, revered even. Daphne will always look for reasons to explain her craft, but respects those that still hold their reservations. She knows what her colleagues in necromancy are capable of. Overall, she is open-minded, and doesn’t have a hard time putting herself in others’ shoes.

Daphne struggles with self-doubt more than anything. The loss of her home was tragic, terrifying, and it began a whirlwind of hard realization that her home, her people, her family were viewed as enemies, tyrants, threats. She finds it hard because no one mourns them, and feels isolated in her grief. She keeps her origin a secret, knowing that it’s not exactly a good thing to tell people. She wonders if she will every find a place where she truly belongs, or if she is even worthy of it.

Her late husband, Belnan, and his sacrifice haunts her to this day. She wonders often if she was worth it, if his sacrifice was wasted. When it comes to love, she closes herself off to the point of being mean about it—she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone ever again for fear of the pain it could cause.

Random Facts:

- Daphne’s main work in Thultanthar before the fall was to care for the Grand Catacombs. There, she would conduct rituals for people to speak with their ancestors for guidance, should they wish. 

-She calls herself an “arcanist” more than a wizard because of her upbringing.

- Daphne loves strawberries most of all, and almost always craves them; her component pouch has small strawberries embroidered all along it. Coming from a floating city surrounded by shade, strawberries were never heard of—but her father would bring them back after his excursions to the surface.

Quotes:

“Have you heard this one? A skeleton walks into a tavern—wait, maybe it’s a zombie…Anyways, a zombie walks into a tavern—or was it a ghoul…”

“I’ve seen and smelled worse.”

“My mother would have a lot to say about this were she here. Well, she’d have a lot to say were she not here. She just generally has a lot to say.” 

Story:

After the fall of Thultanthar, Daphne and her Father traveled to Baldur’s Gate. The plan was to sail away from Faerûn and find some place far away to start over, but it fell through, as a lot of plans do. Deregon’s broken Oath weighed heavily on him, and he decided, after making sure Daphne was comfortable in Baldur’s Gate, to leave and rediscover himself in this new world. Daphne objected of course, not knowing much of a life without him—but eventually, she relented, knowing it was a journey he had to make on his own. 

Her first few months on the surface was full of intensive unlearning. In Thultanthar, she was taught of the history of the world through the Netherese perspective, and found herself shocked that it was not necessarily true. On one hand, she felt betrayed—betrayed by her closed-off, cloistered upbringing. On the other hand, she felt enlightened, her curiosity piqued by the unknown. She delved into books and, her favorite source of knowledge, the dead, traveling all along the Sword Coast to explore ruins of the past and speak with those interred there to learn their stories. 

Daphne was caught up by the Nautiloid as she was leaving Baldur’s Gate to investigate the shroud that had befallen Moonrise. She had heard rumors of it, and wanted to see it for herself. 

[sillovn]

Adventures of the Aurora Saint

Became inspired to play ER again, so I finally finished the game on the Int/Fth character. Here's some thoughts.

~ Background ~

I still very much like (and stuck with) the character theme of "Snowfield Paladin". The idea being Cold status and the Light spells (ie. auroras) would be central to the build.

Lore wise, I imagined him as an ex-fundamentalist or "proto-Miquellan Knight"; a servant of Miquella who traveled into the northern snow in search of a place to plant the (future) Haligtree. He dies on expedition, but is revered as a minor saint in future times.

~ Build ~

Character ended being a spellsword+support incants. We had a very distinct Int=offense, Fth=defense split in our kit; both for lore and ease of control reasons. As per usual, I don't like pure-caster or 'dual-caster' sorc+incant styles, hence the focus on melee.

Here's the final stats...

Mainhand: Glintstone Kris

Offhand: Zweihander + Golden Order Seal

We want to use Glintstone Kris' projectile weapon art quickly in fights. Meanwhile, buff incants and using 2H Zweihander (we cannot use it 1H) is something done before combat (or at least requires a big disengage during fights). Put simply, Mainhand = "fast actions", Offhand = "slow actions".

This works because Mainhand takes priority for weapon arts (when off-hand has 'No-Skill'). By soft swapping to our 2nd Offhand (Seal), we get to immediately fire Glintstone Kris. Thus, if you do the reverse (Offhand - Kris), one also needs to 2H the Kris to use it's weapon art. Having G.Kris + Seal out at the same time also lets us easily access all our ranged combat tools in the same place.

Essentially; swap "style" from melee to ranged with 1 button. Though switching back to melee requires 2 buttons (swap Offhand > 2h grip). Its not that big of a deal though, since ranged combat gives you space from the enemy; and thus time to switch back to melee.

-

Zweihander was used with magic infusion. The original cold infusion idea is not very good on our stats. Still, its possible to have most of both worlds thanks to 'Freezing Mist' AoW. It procs cold more less in 1-hit, and there's few other weapon arts that pair well with colossal sword class anyway.

Feeding into this, we had Banish Knight Halberd as a 2nd melee weapon (Offhand hardswap). Here, we had a ranged frost attack in 'Ice Spear'. Ended up using the Halberd sparingly, mostly because I enjoy the distinct melee/range swapping style the main weapon setup had - having another range attack was excessive IMO.

Some alternatives to Glintstone Kris as a 'bullet stick' were any light weapon + Glintblade Phalanx. And of course, Sword of Night and Flame.

-

Spell options were largely lore-driven, I used support incants + Golden Order sanctioned offense spells (ie. Golden Order discs + assorted Dragonbolts). Though, having assorted Int weapon arts meant that 'generic projectile' Incants had no real use. By the end, incants were largely for buff, though the occasional Discus/Lightning Spear still had a use (namely, evasive enemies don't dodge them well).

Which then brings up the question; is it a good idea to run such an odd hybrid just to use some buffs? Unlikely.

Yeah, Golden Vow is good. But what if instead of spending FTH for a temporary dmg/def buff - we just add INT for more damage, or END to wear better armour?

-

Since we finished the game before hitting Meta-level, there's still a few points to spend. The current MIND/END values are not optimal, and one can easily throw more END for better armour. Alternatively, more STR to 1H Zwei.

In the end, Im really fond of the character. Sure, hes mostly a 'jank spellsword' with support spells - nothing that a pure 60 INT character couldn't do better. At least, if you only count offense in solo play. The weird combo of Int missiles/frost + Fth buffs, IMO make him a very interesting PVE coop phantom - and Ill taking him to the DLC as such.

Below is some discussion about INT+FTH hybrid weapons.

~ 50 for Damage ~

One common statement about Int/Fth is the lack of weapons besides Sword of Night+Flame. And while its true that Int/Fth has no dedicated infusion, consider that in ER - damage is pretty free.

What Im trying to say is; ER lets you have way more damage than you ever need. Also, plenty of weapons/spells will hit hard without optimal stats.

The idea I ended going for is "50 damage stat". This something Ive picked up from PvP, where you get 50 in your main damage stat and spread out the rest to wear more armour/use a greater diversity of weapons. Sure, this isn't a PvP char - but the logic here is to do an uneven split of Int>Fth, treating Fth as a utility stat (sort of).

Main reason for Int > Fth stat spread is that you get more utility splashing Fth than Int. Int>Fth gets to use Int offensive tools + Fth utility tools - while the inverse doesn't work since Int doesn't have much in the way of utility.

Since Golden Order Seal scales Int/Fth equally within the 30-45 softcap bracket (eg. there's no difference between 40/30 or 35/35). Thus, the ideal Int/Fth ratio depends on what incants you want, and if offensive spellcasting is your main goal.

Worth noting that for Incantations, going above 30 Fth gives few new spells (above 35, even fewer). For support incants - Protection of the Erdtree (35 fth), is last the major one. There's the advanced heals/regen spells but those are not that much/strictly better than the basic versions. For offense, pretty much all 30+Fth incants are some form of cataclysmic AOE attack (see. Radagon's Ring, the various Dragon Lightnings). How many do you really need? (if any at all).

The 45 softcap also means that our weapon/spell ideal stats are not in sync, which leads to...

~ The 45+5 setup ~

A solution I settled on was 45 Int + Heirloom talisman (Int or Fth). Throw on the +5 Int if you want to swing weapons, hitting the magic infusion softcap (50). Swap for +5 Fth to in you want better offensive casting.

This was because we were squeezed for levels during most of the playthrough. For the final build (depending on target 125-150), you can easily ignore this swap.

-

That is all for today.

[mayihavethisdanse]

“What is this, the Dark Ages?”

Or, Arthurian themes and allusions in the Brotherhood of Steel mythos as seen in Fallout 4. (But that’s a lot of words.)

Yep. We're doing this. 

First, some obligatory caveats: there is no single Arthurian canon, just 1500 years of assorted fanfic based on the whims of whoever was writing at the time. For this extremely highbrow Tumblr meta, I have ignored most of it and drawn on my favorites. Also Wikipedia.

Also, I am not an expert in Arthurian literature (or Fallout lore, come to that), and I preemptively beg the pardon of anyone who is.

Finally, in no way am I claiming that all these parallels and thematic echoes are deliberate or even significant. In fact, I'd break it down into:

Clearly deliberate allusions, whether in or out of universe;

Probably coincidence, but could be someone deliberately capitalizing on a coincidental similarity;

Almost certainly coincidence, but fun to speculate about; annnnd

Blatant Monty Python references. (Because of course there are.)

I'll start with the big one.

Arthur Maxson, boy king and unifier

(source)

So across all the retellings and variations of King Arthur’s life story, there are a few consistent elements, particularly in his early life and rise to power. Some of these threads are echoed in the Fallout universe, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the person of Arthur Maxson.

Both the legendary King Arthur and Arthur Maxson were born with a claim to power lying in their ancestry, both were fostered away from their families, and both proved themselves in combat at a young age. 

King Arthur united the warring kingdoms of Britain into a single entity, making them stronger against outsiders and receiving general admiration and acclaim. Arthur Maxson united the divided factions of the BoS after the events of Fallout 3 and is held in similarly high regard by his men.

The name Prydwen is a reference to the ship of the original King Arthur. Presumably, Arthur Maxson (or someone in the BoS who anticipated his promotion) christened the airship in a deliberate homage to the Arthurian myth.

King Arthur is associated with his legendary sword. I think it’s notable that Maxson’s legend is associated with a bladed weapon, too. ("He killed a DEATHCLAW with a COMBAT KNIFE!”)

Probably coincidence, but fun: the historical emperor Magnus Maximus, who pops up a lot in early Arthurian legend, was known in Welsh as... Macsen. (⌐■_■)

Round Table, but make it dieselpunk

(Continued under the cut.)

Moving away from obvious allusions and into some looser parallels:

Like the Round Table, the Brotherhood is an exclusive knightly order with its leader being the one able to open it up to his chosen few.

Like the Round Table, the BoS sees itself as defending human civilization against forces of chaos. (I’ll touch on their tech-hoarding tendencies when I get to the Grail stuff.) This idea of civilization in the face of chaos goes back to the BoS’s founding, even though the level of isolationism we see in most of the Fallout franchise is not exactly what founder Roger Maxson had in mind: “Notably, Maxson's ultimate intention was to establish the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers.” (source) In a lot of ways, Arthur Maxson represents a return to his ancestor’s original ideals.

Renegade knights? Internal politics? Traitors within? We gotchu.

In both the medieval legends and in all chapters of the BoS we’ve seen, there’s a big focus on bloodlines (ew). Ironically, it’s probably Arthur Maxson’s unquestionable ancestry that allows him to be more progressive than either of his East Coast predecessors when it comes to boosting Brotherhood numbers by recruitment (even though you can still see a clear division between “born Brotherhood” and recruited soldiers, but that’s a topic for another day). Maxson sees himself as an Elder who "cares for the people"—however misguided and patronizing that attitude might be—and whatever else you might say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't believe he has a duty. Which brings us to…

Know Your Enemy: Danse as Gawain

Before I start this section, an acknowledgement of authorial bias:

Gawain, as portrayed in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is my very favorite of King Arthur’s knights. (Other stories aren't always as flattering, but like I said at the outset: I'm sticking to the ones I like.)

That poem is my very favorite piece of medieval Arthurian literature. In this section, I'll refer to the modern English translation by Simon Armitage.

...that’s it, I have no other biases to disclose. 

What? 👀

(Art: Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

All right. So in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, you’ve got this himbo loyal knight of Arthur’s who finds himself caught up in... you know what, let me just paste in the Wikipedia summary. (The Toast, RIP, also did a pretty entertaining and more-or-less accurate recap.)

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

Don’t worry too much about the plot details, though; for this post, I’m more interested in the thematic parallels. The Green Knight story is full of contrasts: order vs. chaos, civilization vs. wilderness, mortal man vs. Other... but let’s start with Gawain himself. 

Some stuff to know about Gawain:

He was "as good as the purest gold, devoid of vices but virtuous and loyal". Gawain took his principles more seriously even than the rest of Arthur’s knights, not out of pride but out of humility: "I would rather drop dead than default from duty," he says. 

He’s faithful and honorable and never even tempted to betray an oath, even when offered every variety of seduction and riches, except for a single moment of weakness in a desperate desire not to be executed for random shit by powerful forces for reasons he doesn't understand.  

Even though he doesn’t really understand why he needs to die, he sticks to his oath. Gawain's one weakness is a moment of desperate, private, human desire for survival. He'll submit to the headsman’s axe if he has to, but he'd still rather live. 

Above all, Gawain is the ideal of a human man: he might be the bravest and loyal man there is, but he’s still fundamentally human.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

A few more fun facts about Gawain that resonate with Paladin Danse’s story:

He’s got a bunch of really shitty brothers. (No comment.)

Gawain (SPOILERS!) doesn't actually end up beheaded, but he does willingly kneel for his execution and gets a cut on the throat as a reminder of his sin. And, uh, Danse can also get his throat cut! It doesn’t end as nicely but it’s, you know, a thing that can happen.

Gawain might be a really good guy, and he tries really hard to be one, but in the end he’s nothing more than that: there’s nothing supernatural about him, he has no special powers beyond his own principles and devotion. He’s just a dude doing his Best. 

Wait, why not Danselot?

Oh, that guy? Here’s the thing.

Lancelot personifies the continental ideals of courtly love that became popular in the High Middle Ages. Central to his story is the prioritization of personal relationships and romantic feelings in a way that you don’t really see in Gawain's, at least in the Green Knight tale. (Later stories hook Gawain up with an extremely delightful lady, but even that is a different flavor of romance than Lancelot's and has more to do with Gawain honoring his word and his egalitarian treatment of women (hell yeah). In the poem, Gawain is impressed by Bertilak's wife but resists her temptation; in fact, the biggest risk is not that he'll yield to her advances but that he'll be discourteous to her, i.e., violate his principles and cause dishonor to his king and his host.)

Lancelot is driven by passions over principles in a way that Gawain never really is (at least in the stories I’m talking about; later writers have committed character assassination to various degrees). Yes, you could argue that both Gawain and Lancelot betray their oaths, but Lancelot’s betrayal is never, um, blind. He knows what he’s doing and makes a deliberate choice to prioritize his love for the queen over his love for the king. It doesn’t make him a bad guy—he too is an ideal knight with one fatal flaw—but his character isn’t as comparable to Paladin Danse. 

Yeah, Gawain is (in most stories) a prince and a kinsman of Arthur’s, but he’s ultimately a native boy who doesn’t break the mold of a Knight of the Round Table. Likewise, Danse is portrayed as competent and valuable to the BoS, but not exceptional or breaking the mold of what a BoS soldier should be: he simply represents the ideal. Meanwhile, Lancelot is a foreign prince who was marked from childhood as special and fancy, and his storyline goes alllll over the place. (Much like this post.)

For example, Lancelot goes to absolutely absurd extremes to prove his devotion for no other reason than to prove it. (“I’ll do any useless humiliating thing you want. I’ll betray every oath except the one I made to you. That’s what love is!”) Gawain would never. Danse would never.

Ultimately, Gawain's tests are of his character and not of his love. And like Gawain, Danse’s devotion is to service and his principles, not to another person—even Arthur Maxson.

All that said, there are some similarities: both are beloved by Arthur, both are held up as the ideal of what a knight should be. And even if their fatal flaws are different, both make the point that no matter how good and brave and loyal they might be, no human being can be perfect. 

(Except Galahad. Who is, as a result, very boring.) 

I’ll conclude this section with a quote from someone else’s take on the Greek Knight poem:

I like Gawain. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying his best which is all any of us can do. He’s not like the other knights in the Arthurian legends who occasionally ‘accidentally’ kill women on their little adventures and then feel hard done by when they have to deal with the consequences of that. Gawain holds himself to a high standard – higher, it seems, than Arthur and his knights hold him to considering how hard they laugh when Gawain tells them how bad he feels about the whole thing.

I think Gawain is very relatable in this story. We all want to be better than we actually are.

And that, more than anything else, is Danse.

The Grail myth

What’s that? Lost relics of power? Better send some large armed men after ‘em!

The parallels to the BoS’s tech-hoarding ways are obvious enough that the games themselves lampshade them (albeit by way of Monty Python). But it also ties into the larger themes of “purity” versus “corruption” and the BoS’s self-image as a bastion between civilization and chaos. (See Maxson's line in response to the Sole Survivor’s quip about the Dark Ages: “Judging from the state of the world, it wouldn't be a stretch to say we're living in that era again.”)

But the ultimate futility of the Grail mission is also worthy of note. The BoS might want the power of prewar tech on their side, but they’re no more to be trusted with it than any other group of human beings. No matter how they try, the “corruption” of humanity can’t be overcome as long as they’re striving to harness power for their own ends. You can only achieve power by surrendering control of it.

The death of Arthur

The nature of gameplay being what it is, it's not guaranteed that the Arthur figure will be fatally betrayed, bringing Camelot down with him—but it's not unlikely, either.

Awkward.

Some final spitballing:

Outside the Brotherhood, there are some fun parallels of the Arthur myth with the rest of Fallout 4. Betrayal by one’s own son, for example.

The key difference between the BoS and the legendary Round Table: King Arthur’s knights, for all their flaws and human weaknesses, are usually presented as unambiguous Good Guys. The BoS is... a little more ambiguous...

...but damn if they don’t think they're the good guys. 

A-ad victoriam, fellas!

[konohagakureship]

Hidan and Kakuzu d&d au! Two more members of the Akatsuki Fellowship!! They are travelling around Khorvaire, in the world of Eberron!

au! Akatsuki D&D

Headcanons:

All the info related to places and clans is from the canonic lore of Eberron, or from interpretations that I’ve found here and there, and also a bit of my own homebrew lore. I’m gathering all the info and sources in my WorldAnvil page so you can check it out if you want :)

And this is the map with notes so you can pin all the locations.

This time I chose to put only the info relevant to the characters to make the post shorter. But still, this will be a LONG post so be prepared xD

Founding of the Akatsuki Fellowship

All the members of the party met in Sharn, the biggest city of the continent of Khorvaire. They were there for different reasons but ended up travelling together across the world.

Hidan the bloody warlock

Hidan was born in the warrior nation of Karrnath in the city of Atur, where the living and dead coexist in a daily basis.

His parents were members of the Blood of Vol cult, and actively participated in the life of the Crimson Monastery, the largest worship site dedicated to Vol in the entire continent. 

From a young age, his parents instructed him in the faith of the Divinity Within and encouraged him to follow their path and become a Seeker of the Blood of Vol.

The Blood of Vol is a religion centered on the belief of Divinity Within, which means that they do not revere any deity but the blood that courses through their own veins. The followers of the Blood of Vol are called Seekers, and many of them are necromancers employed by the government of Karrnath to control their undead soldiers. 

Seekers believe that death is a curse prevent mortals from achieving divinity, so by breaking the curse of mortality, humanity will be able to live a plenty existence. Necromancy is an attempt to fight the curse of mortality and prevent the loss of the knowledge and skills obtained by past generations. 

Contrary to the popular belief, Seekers cherish life and do not want to become undead. Those who become undead are considered to be martyrs who have given up their own chance at divinity to help others, since they will become tools for the living.

The Blood of Vol cult is ruled from Atur by The Crimson Covenant.

At the age of twelve, Hidan showed signs of possessing magical abilities, which catched the interest of the Cult and welcomed him into the Crimson Monastery to train his powers in favor of their religion and ulterior plans.

Hidan had always been an avid follower of his faith, but soon after joining the Monastery he started to interpret it in his own terms.

His warlock status made him believe that his blood carried the divine will, and that his mission was to actively fight for the Divinity Within by converting all the misguided mortals to The Blood of Vol, or sending them to their deceiving gods to see for themselves how misguided they were. 

The years passed and Hidan only grew more powerful and reckless, learning and crafting unique invocations to unleash his magic at its fullest potential.

His ever growing power mixed with his free interpretation of the beliefs of The Blood of Vol, marked him as an individual too independent and powerful to escalate in the ranks of the Cult.

In an attempt to channel his energy and give him a purpose, The Covenant prompted him to join the Order of the Emerald Claw, the paramilitary arm of the Blood of Vol, and sent him to Rekkenmark.

The Order of the Emerald Claw is an outlawed organization of Karrn patriots and Blood of Vol worshippers spread throughout Khorvaire. They continue to operate in a semi-terrorist fashion to this day, proclaiming their desire to see Karrnath once again rise to power.

Their connection to the Cult is only known by highest ranking members of the Order.

Hidan was sent to Rekkenmark, in the border with Thrane. His cell had the undercover mission to hunt down any paladin of the Church of the Silver Flame that entered Karrnath with the intention of killing Vol’s vampires and undeads.

The Blood of Vol is a forbidden religion in some regions of the continent due to the evil connotations associated with their practices, and many groups such as the Church of the Silver Flame actively works to destroy them.

His days as an Emerald Claw Knight were short, though.

At the beginning, Hidan thought that the Order was his rightful place, that surrounded by powerful patriots he will be able to bring the divine will to all the mortals and spread his faith to the edge of the world.

However, he soon started to feel disenchanted with how the Order handled their business and how little they cared about his divine will. He realised that like in the Monastery, the Order also lacked of determination, and so he began to make their creed his and reform it by his own standards.

The time passed and Hidan grew more reckless and discarded his superior’s orders more frequently, which caused friction within his cell. 

By recommendation of The Covenant, when the situation became unsustainable, The Emerald Claw “prompted” him to take his own path and fight for the Order by himself in his own terms, far away from Rekkenmark.

Instead of going back to Atur, Hidan decided to travel the world, free from any restraints, finding misguided mortals to convert to the Blood of Vol and killing all those who didn’t want to achieve immortality.

Unsurprisingly for everyone but himself, his homicidal activities granted him the status of “kill in sight” in many cities, and soon the bounty for his head was high enough to buy a villa in the upper levels of Sharn.

So Hidan, a powerful warlock and Seeker, spent the following years running away from the law and inquisitors of every city he stepped on. He never bothered to hide his presence anyway...

After a near death experience with a Flame paladin in Sigilstar, he traveled to Sharn, where he knew he could hide from prying eyes and find refuge in one of the Order’s liars. 

However, The Emerald Claw rejected to host him as he attracted too much attention, forcing him to hide in the lowest levels of the city, where he was told that there was a unofficially Vol-friendly tavern run by elves.

Little did he know, that in the Callestan district lived one of the most renowned bounty hunters of Sharn, who was currently drinking a pint in the same tavern he choose to spend the night in.

Kakuzu the bounty hunter

Kakuzu was born in the port city of Zarash’ak, in The Shaodw Marshes.

His father was a human from House Vadalis (beast tamers), while his mother was a human with a quarter of orc blood from House Tharashk with the Mark of Finding (bounty hunters).

He was raised within the Tharashk House and learned how to bounty hunt from a young age. Even though his training was focused on the ways of his mother’s House, he enjoyed spending time with his father and help him train and sell his imported beasts from the Eldeen Reaches.

Kakuzu spent his childhood proudly working for House Tharashk, dreaming of becoming a renowned bounty hunter and awakening a powerful Mark of Finding. However, his dreams would sunk when at the age of seventeen he finally manifested his dragonmark. 

It was an aberrant dragonmark.

The dragonmarks are passed through bloodlines and when two members of different dragonmarked families reproduce it often results in aberrant dragonmarks. Originally aberrant marked were seen as outcasts and outsiders, often shunned by the houses and eked out a pitiful existence. Now they unite under their own House, House Tarkanan.

Kakuzu tried to hide his new mark, constantly covering his body as much as he could and not getting intimately close to anyone for fear of being discovered and casted aside. His mood soured in a couple of months, and he ostracised himself from his closest friends and family.

But after a couple of years it had grown up so much that it almost took his entire back, and inevitably the House found out about his condition and expelled him from the clan.

Abandoned by his people, he traveled to Sharn in an attempt to join the Aberrant Dragonmarked House Tarkanan.

House Tarkanan is a house only formed by aberrant markeds, from any race and clan. They are usually bounty hunters, mercenaries and accountants.

When House Tarkanan first established itself in Sharn, the halfling Boromar Clan attempted to assimilate them, but the offer was turned down. This resulted in the Boromars attempting to destroy the House. When this proved too difficult a deal was struck. Since the Boromar clan doesn't traffic in assassinations, it was agreed that so long as House Tarkanan doesn't take contracts against the Boromars, they would be permitted to stay in Sharn without paying a fee.

Despite being shunned away by his family and now working as a bounty hunter for a bunch of criminals, Kakuzu found his place in Sharn. He also worked as an accountant for the clan from time to time, a nice changes of winds from his usual, dirtier, business.

He made himself a name in Sharn, and over the years was granted the title of Baron, as a senior assassin of the Clan. Kakuzu was well known in the city, especially in the districts of Lower Dura. 

He established his residence in the lawless district of Callestan mainly because the rent was cheaper, but also because his best informants also maraud those streets, inns and ateliers.

Kakuzu is a baron of House Tarkanan, and his main income comes from the clan’s dealings. However, he takes freelance work if the pay is good enough, and he usually doubles his fees if the contract is from his former House.

House Tharashk, despite expelling Kakuzu many years ago, is often interested in hiring his services in the big city, since bounty hunters that are not from House Tarkanan or the Boromar Clan are not allowed to make business freely even after paying a bountiful fee.

House Tharashk has deals and a close relationship with House Thuranni. The elven house team with them whenever they need to find artifacts or people, in exchange for influences and intel. They are currently working together with the Emerald Claw in Stormreach (Xen’dirk), seeking ancient artifacts for Lady Vol. 

House Thuranni is involved in many dubious affairs and unofficially allied with many organisations, such as the Blood of Vol and the Emerald Claw. The Thuranni fought alongside Karrnath during the War, and they have an important presence in Atur with their True Shapers academy.

These unofficial affairs turn every Thuranni establishment into a safehouse for those allies who need refuge or a meeting point.

So Kakuzu visits The Shadowkeeper tavern whenever the Tharashk need something from him, to catch up with his informants, or just to drink a large pint.

...though cashing in a good bounty for a dumb Seeker, is also interesting.

-------------

We have 6 out of 8 members of the party!! yeyyy!!! now i need to finish the other two ;)

[arkt-nehrim-archive]

Hey! Are you willing to answer lore questions about Nehrim? Specifically Narathzul... the timeline for his imprisonment doesn’t seem to be right.

Do you know how long he was imprisoned for? Because somewhere before then, he had to imprison his dad... and Baratheon took over presumably right after. Beats me how Tealor survived like that for however many years Narathzul had him there.

Always, and thank you for asking!  =D  This is a tricky one, but I’ll do my best. At the end of the day, I can only speculate. I’ll divide it into two parts, one for Tealor and one for Narathzul.

[ Spoilers for both Nehrim and Enderal below. ]

Starting with Tealor! He didn’t survive imprisonment. The Tealor Arantheal you engage with in Enderal is not the real one, he is the Emissary; the personification of what he failed to do/wished to be, as any Emissary is, you kinda have to die for one to be created. Yes, they -say- he’s alive and nobody can really discount that fact because I mean, he’s there, living and breathing in front of people, vouching for himself, and as we all know, it’s -really- hard to argue with that man! Plus, our Enderal PC wouldn’t really have any reason to be able to call him out, they don’t have the knowledge the player might about Nehrim’s story beats.

Now, the timelines between the games are obviously wildly different, but whether it was 30 years or 1,000 for Tealor, he -died-. He would’ve had to.  Narathzul doesn’t mention his father when he tells you what he did to the paladin’s spirits, so unfortunately we don’t have hard confirmation -from- a Nehrim source, we can only say he’s likely to be dead because of how Emissaries work.

-Strictly- speaking to Nehrim, Tealor is a spirit, or some kind of undead, bound to the Temple, which is why once he realizes you’re not Narathzul, he disappears and all them black skeletons come wreck your shit. Looking back to Enderal, there’s another time something like this happens! Down in the ancient Pyrean city too, when the High Ones be pulling their bullshit, a whole shitton of Lost Ones are raised to hamper your path in that very specific red lighting. I mention -that-, because -Nehrim- Tealor is guarding the Predestination in the Creator’s Temple, even reciting it as you progress through the dungeon, which we know are created by the Eliath (who may or may not also be High Ones, I can make a whole other post about that).   He could’ve just teleported away of course, but there’s no casting animation for that, he just despawns and then the lighting goes red and the skeletons show up. Details are important.

I can’t give a clear answer, but for the sake of trying to link the two game’s lore on the subject, -I- personally believe that Narathzul killed his father, but unlike the other Paladins, didn’t bind him there.  That would come later, from the High Ones. Narathzul slaying him could’ve been a similar catalyst to how the Prophet was killed by the Veiled Woman, only Narathzul couldn’t have known what became of it.  So! The way Tealor “survives” his imprisonment, is being an Emissary-  they’re immortal, they don’t die until their purpose is fulfilled, and given the High Ones are timeless creatures, it stands in my mind to reason they easily could’ve held onto a pawn for decades/centuries to bring about The Cleansing.

Onto Narathzul! 

Due to retcons, it’s a pretty solid cleave between Nehrim and Enderal’s lore deciding how long Narathzul was imprisoned. There is technically a definite answer in the sense Nehrim being strictly canon seems not be the case anymore, so he was imprisoned for 30 years.   A book from Forgotten Stories attempts to clear up the matter about why Nehrim uses 1,000 years and Enderal uses 30,  and frankly, it’s a -mess-.  It suggests that Narathzul simply -lied- to his followers and they spread those lies to fluff up his myth, but I call -bullshit- on that because the whole -point- of Narathzul being special because of his bloodline is dependent on how long he spent down there and didn’t age. I’ve heard it said it’s “not realistic”, but of course it’s not, it’s a thousand fucking years, it’s called -high fantasy-! It’s stupid, fun Tolkien bullshit! Narathzul could’ve put himself through centuries long naps for all we know, it just builds the willpower of the character that he endured for such an -impossible- span of time. Not to mention, the source of the above material -is- the Holy Order, and Enderal spends a lot of its time heavily implying them fools be lying all the time to maintain their power structure, so why trust it as canon anymore than trusting Narathzul? It makes -sense- that an organization in service to the Lightborn would defame and discredit what happened, Narathzul was a rebel, of -course- you make him look as terrible as possible to maintain the status quo.   

In the end, it’s whatever side of canon you subscribe to regarding how long Narathzul was imprisoned. Some prefer Enderal’s, others prefer Nehrim not getting shafted. Personally, I’m of the mind it was 1,000 years. He survived because he’s half Lightborn, he’s theoretically immortal- and that’s not even bringing up the lineage of the Aeterna and how long they can potentially live WITHOUT special snowflake Lightborn power because of the -Seraphim- who live insanely long too (Hi, Arkt, he’s 8,000 at -least-, it’s terrifying) being the progenitors of Aeterna. Narathzul has multiple reasons why he can be as old as he is, and being inherently magic could help his survival in his confinement- not to mention he wasn’t -completely- alone between his jailer Arch-Seraph Arazdor, whoever was giving him provisions (books, chair, candles, etc), a Silver Plate to speak at whoever has the others, and however many people have attempted in the past to free him and not succeeded. ALL things that can be seen through environmental story telling. So when actually thought about, his confinement not driving him completely nuts (outside of just pure willpower) can be believed.

As a small side note,  Barateon being 1,000 is a hard one to swing, but Merzul is also the same age and it could be argued they keep themselves a live by magic.  If you look at Enderal’s take on the Lightborn, it’s doable.

Anyway, I hope that cleared something up!  I know I always get long winded with these things.  <:P 

[shadowknight465]

The Wrath of Life

Light. Light of all colours in rainbow except for purple.  Surrounded by a golden aura. It was beautiful yet he is afraid.  When he tried to touch it. It burned him. Causing him screech a unholy sound with repeated phrases like. "Sinful creature and True spawn of hell."

There was a knock at the door.

Do these people have a life outside of bullying me?

He thought as he opened the door.  Except that the person was not who he is expecting, in fact he doesn't think he has ever seen him before. Before he could the stranger's name. He barge in straight to the guest room. "What a lovely house you two have, Nightmare." He said putting down his things . "Do you mind if you can run hot bath for me?" He asked.

"Um. First of all I don't even know you.  Second you can't just go to people's houses and expect them to treat you like royalty. " He said crossing his arms. The stranger look at him. "I thought Dream already told you about me." Nightmare thought of what Dream said before he left. "Neil?"

"That's me."

"Hold on if you are really Neil then give me proof."

Neil removed his cloak. Revealing that the cat has lost an arm. Nightmare felt guilty.  " Don't put on a sad face little boy.  You are just being protective of your home, and that I applaud you." Neil woke Nightmare with his thoughts. Neil then smile. " I guess I forgot that Dream told me you're not very trustful with strangers." Neil scratch his head "Speaking of which ,  Do you happen to know a person name Hubert Cumberdale or better known as Salad Fingers?" Nightmare gulped.  It's been awhile since he seen Hurbert his first and possibly only friend.  Last time he ever saw him was the time he had to take Hubert to the asylum. "Yes. I've know him." He answered. 

"Hubert wanted me tell you thank you." Neil responded.

"For what?" Nightmare asked.  He doesn't remember giving Hubert any kindness in fact he thinks what he did was horrible. "Because of your actions Huber is now married with a beautiful wife they had a lovely child." Neil responded.  Nightmare sigh in relief. " So I was worry  for nothing?"

"Yup. Now can you please run me a hot bath?" Neil responded. Nightmare decided this time he would run him as hot bath.

~~~~~

Dinner was not like what he was expecting.  Instead of him cooking it was Neil. But at least it was good. Baked beans with roasted ham. With a cup of wine. He felt comfortable knowing the person living with him for a while is friendly. "Hey Night, what time is it.?" Neil asked. Nightmare looked outside. "Well it is dark." He said. "Well time for me to hit the sack." Neil got up and went to his bedroom. 

Maybe I should go to sleep as well.

Nightmare thought. He took of his shirt. Brush his teeth with a dry corn cob. And went the his bed.  Falling asleep as soon his head hit the pillow. However instead of his normal nightmares this one felt wrong. He was wearing the same clothes Moon was except it was mostly black and sliver. He has markings all of him and he was behind a female paladin. Her skin was kissed by the sun itself. Her short hair looks like fire and her eyes were a red and yellow gradient.

"Sun. Is something wrong?" He spoke, but it wasn't his voice.  The paladin said nothing. "Sun?" The paladin turn with a flaming sword in her hand. "What are you doing?" He said backing away slowly, but the girl's eyes turned snake-like. And she jumped to him. Stabbing him with her blade. He quickly got the blade off of him screaming.  "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" The girl didn't answer.  Instead she showed her snake-like fangs smiling. He knew this was a fight so he summoned his unprepared scythe. The girl called for help claiming Moon was a traitor again and all the women that came looks familiar.  "But Sun. Didn't Moon said-" One of girls tried the reason. "She lied to us again." She cut her off. Nightmare felt betrayal, but he doesn't understand why. None of the girls responded and attacked him. One tore his mask and shot him in his missing eye with a arrow.  A mix of magic and weapons overpowered him. He knows he can kill everyone if he takes his gloves, but he made a vow to never used his bare hands. So he decided to do the next self defense.  By placing a cursed on them. One where they are trapped in limbo. He place his scythe on the ground and chant in latin. However the paladin attacked him in the back. He felt his life draining from him as he hears a man scream. "Mi Nina." He shut his eyes for the final time with the feeling of wrath and sorrow.

Nightmare woke up in a cold sweat. As he looked around he saw that the scythe Moon gave him was with breaking. Eventually turning a bit bigger with a moth at the bottom. 

What just happened?

He thought. Maybe another vision? He eventually fell back to sleep. He'll think about it in the morning.

~~~~

The autumn harvest festival has arrived and Nightmare put on his more regal garment. Neil was getting a few beers and the townsfolk had forgot he existed.  He was thinking about looking into the lore of the festival until a mysterious stanger showed up wearing strange garments.  She was pretty however.  Skin that was kiss by the sun, flaming hair that's been put up by a high ponytail.  A gold-red mask covering half her face, but not fully her scar. 

The priest was the first to got up to her. "Hello madam." He said.

"Olá" She responded.  "Huh?"

"I said hello in my native tongue." She answered.

"Oh. Anyways  What a pretty thing like you brings in our beautiful village?" He said.

Here he goes again trying to groom someone.

Nightmare thought as he rolled his eyes.  He look at her again and felt off. Like he met her before.

It wasn't long till she spotted him. She walks towards him.  Later squinting her eye. "M-Moonie?" She asked almost crying. Nightmare felt awkward.  "No, I'm Nightmare." He said. She blinked. "Oh my mistake, you just reminded me of an old friend of mine." She said as she walk away whispering "Eu sinto Muito.". 

Why do I feel unsafe around her?

Nightmare asked himself.

"You best keep an eye on her." Nightmare heard a familiar voice.  He turned and saw Nox in disguise.

"What are you doing here?" Nightmare asked. "Errands." Nox reply.

"Hey, Nox can I have a word with you?" Nightmare asked. Nox set the large sack he was carrying down. "What is it?"

"That's scythe Moon gave me.  Is it perhaps any chance curse?"

"What makes you say that?" Nox reply. "Last night I had a dream where I was murdered.  But it wasn't me at all." Nightmare answer. "Maybe the scythe didn't like you." Nox said. Nightmare could feel the jealous aura coming from Nox.

What's make that scythe so important to him?

He thought. "I think there's something that you're not telling me.  In fact ever since we first met I could sense you have some grudge against me and I don't know why." Nightmare said. Nox glared at him than he towered over him getting ready to punch him. Yet he didn't.  Instead he just sighed. "Moon's soul stuck in it. And I don't want anything bad happen to him." Nightmare had seen this behavior before.  In both real life and in his books mostly his romantic novels. "Are you telling me that you're..." Nightmare begin. "No. Not like that." Nox begins to plea. "In love with him?.." Nightmare finished.  He's no love expert, but  He can tell Nox is in love with Moon. Nox blushed a purple hue before covering his face. "Look me and Moon first met we had a rocky beginning.  I was task with killing death by W.D Gaster. I would have succeeded if that man didn't spot me. When we met again  It turns out that both of us aren't so different after all and.." Nox stops himself and put his arm around his chest. "He was the only person I could talk to about these feelings of hate on being born with a uncomfortable body." Even though Nightmare can't understand he felt bad for Nox. "So what do you think about that dream I had? Does it mean something?" Nightmare asked trying to change the subject.  "I don't know myself. And I read all of Moon's books and scrolls." Nox answered. Nightmare watch Nox pack up. "Where are you going?" Nightmare asked. "Home. Hecate freaks out being alone at midnight." Nox replied. Nightmare took a breath.  Then music became louder and more vibrant, with the lights and fire becoming brighter and more warm. He turn and saw the stranger dancing with the strong man. Something doesn't seem right. Usually the strong man would refuse to dance for anyone, but the little girl he was targeting.  And he could've swore he saw scales of a snake on the stranger. The stranger later took the man to a small alley.  Nightmare thought that the man is just showing her around town. So he didn't pay much attention. He decided to try out the bobbing for apples he saw a couple of people did.  He should known better than to trust everyone when they pushed his head into the water. Luckily the little ones are making smores next to its fire they made themselves so maybe he can rest there.  As he headed to the campfire the little boy with the abusive mother grabbed him. "Nightmare, I don't feel comfortable with that girl."

"What girl?" Nightmare asked.

"The girl dancing with my mom." The boy pointed out. Nightmare took a look and saw that the stranger with the boy's mother.

Wasn't she with the strong man?

He thought. He turned to boy. "I'll keep a close eye on them while you have fun with your friends. Alright?" The boy nodded. Nightmare walks towards the dancers, but made sure that both of them can't spot him. He watch as the stranger convinced the abusive mother to go to the alley. Once there the stranger carefully removed the other woman's clothes. Nightmare thought they were going to court with each other so he turned away embarrassed. Even if he wasn't there the two women would eventually be found, and be hanged for committing homosexuality witchcraft. He left to tell the boy he might be getting two moms if they can convince the court. To his surprise the boy didn't pay no mind to it. In fact the boy just ask if it's okay with God. He doesn't know how reply due to him not being religious.  So they change the topic. Eventually Nightmare forgot about the stranger. Later he got tried and decided he had enough partying for tonight. As he went back home he heard a scream next to him. He turn to where the scream was and saw the unimaginable.

Everyone that danced with the stanger died in pools of blood and a demon snake mantis fire thing licking some from her hands. Nightmare backed away slowly until a woman scream caught the creature's attention. She smile and dash past Nightmare and grabbed the woman and begins to feast on her. By making her paralyze with the vemon in her fangs. Then she gutted her with her teeth. Later riping her limb from limb until she was nothing more than a pool of blood. Worst of all everyone saw it. While Nightmare ran.

Is that a Solarite?

He thought, but someone grabbed him and push him towards her. The Solerite took notice and held him down. Nightmare closed his eyes and hope that the death will be quick, except it never came. Instead she froze in place and is beginning to cry blood. Then stopped. "Você conhece o Nim?" She said.

"W-What?" Nightmare asked. "I said. Do you know Nim? You know that apple tree dryad?" She said.

"Yes. She's my mother." He said. She glared, but not at him. "Essa vadia...I know she would do this. But never to her own son."  She muttered.  "Nightmare, did you summoned this..thing?" A man yelled. "No. I barely even kno-" He was cut off. "As if you weren't evil enough you destroyed a sacred ceremony. " Nightmare look down.

Are they that stupid?

He thought. "Wait, I cause the massacre.  Not him. And how is he a part of it?" The solerite asked. "Didn't he summoned you?" Someone else asked. "No. I came by going on a boat by myself. " She answered.  "Well he bleeds black blood." A woman said. "I have a close friend who bleeds black blood and he would never harm someone unless he has too or is provoked." She replied. The solarite stood up and allowed Nightmare to stand up. Then she put her hand on his shoulder.  Surprisingly it didn't burn him. "Are you a scapegoat?" She asked. Nightmare took a deep breath.  "Yes." She turns to village.  "Raise your hand if you still think he cause the massacre?" Not surprisingly almost all of village raise their hands. "Good thing my pets love barbecues." She whispered. "Now come to me if you think he is innocent." All the children and some of villagers came forward despite their loved ones pleas and threats. She came up to them and pat them all on their heads. Later did the same to Nightmare. "Who are you?" Someone said. The solarite smile. "I am the wrath of life." She said as she turns into a snake and begins slithering away. Many tried catch her, but she was too fast. And those that did hands were burnt to a crisp. Nightmare took the opportunity to run. He went home grabbed Moon's scythe and spent the night at the in-hill. Planning to talk to Moon about her and about that dream.

[rosexknight]

@arceusfan493 Here’s that Dragon Age 2 rant you wanted.

Because I am still not over it.

Under the Read More, I have for you: - Lore Context - How Dragon Age 2 is Amazing - How it Hurt Me Enjoy~!

Oh yeah and major spoiler warning for Dragon Age 2 and minor spoiler warning for Dragon Age Origins and Awakening.

Lore Context ((Note: It is way more in-depth than this, I am simplifying ALOT))

Okay so. In the Dragon Age universe, magic is seen as super dangerous, because mages and those who have magical abilities are connected what is called the Fade, which is like a world that mirrors ours. It is also known as the Dream World, and every race but dwarves dream, but Mages specifically are connected to it in a way that lets them manipulate it for magic. In the Fade there are spirits and demons that can be brought into the real world by a mage or take over a mage’s body to enter our world. When this happens the mage becomes what is called an “Abomination” and loses all semblance of themselves. Demons are dangerous, spirits not so much, and demons are actually just spirits that have been twisted from their original purpose, usually by desire/pride/rage/etc. Spirits are the embodiment of virtues, where as demons are usually the embodiment of sins. There’s also Blood Magic which is hella powerful but corrupting and usually links back to demons.

There is also some religious reasons why magic is so feared, as it’s basically said that mages that got too close to God caused all the bad shit happening in the world (specifically a literal and metaphorical plague called the Blight) and also there are political reasons since there is a country/kingdom that’s all mage-run and it’s not great.

So for the protection of all the non-mages, they lock all mages in these towers called Circles so that they can study, hone their skills, etc. But they're essentially prisons, and the mages are watched over by Templars, which are like anti-magic paladins. And all this is ran by the church called the Chantry (there's a shit ton of lore and all these fears are linked back to that religion I mentioned earlier.) In order to become full mages, you have to pass a test where they put you against a demon in the Fade to prove you can handle your magic. If you fail you become an abomination. If the Circle thinks you will fail this test, they will (literally) brand you Tranquil, which cuts off a mage from the Fade but ALSO makes them 100% emotionless. Also if you get too good, they might also brand you a Blood Mage and kill you anyway.

Also, there is no escape. You can try to escape, but when you come to the Circle, the Chantry takes your blood and puts it in a vial. They then use this blood to track you down if you slip away.

Now, in the games we have seen that SOMETIMES the Circles are not that bad. Mages can get special permission to live outside the Circles as long as they can get jobs. Some mages are perfectly content there, while others aren’t. The mages might be governed by the Chantry and Templars but usually each Circle is kind of given its own freedoms to have its own politics, etc. HOWEVER, whether or not you're put in a good Circle is a toss-up, completely dependent on where you are, who is in charge, etc. And also the Templars can call upon the Right of Annulment if they feel the things in the tower are getting out of control, which essentially nukes the tower and destroys it and all the mages. OH and you are sent to the Circles when your magic starts manifesting (between the ages of 4-14) with no say from you or your family. Just “Oh you got magic? Time to lock you in this tower.” SO needless to say, things between Mages and Templars are fucking tense, and the game is not shy about giving this whole thing a prison feel. The mages are very obviously the oppressed class here (elves are also oppressed but in a different way and I’m not going into that.)

Also you can play as a mage in-game, which makes this all hit especially home if you do since you as the player both see and experience it.

OKAY that should be all the lore context you need.

How Dragon Age 2 is Amazing

DA2 takes place in a town with one of the bad Circles. The Commander of the Templars, Meredith, has basically gone insane. She’s become paranoid, and is turning mages Tranquil (illegally btw because we know that she turns some Tranquil even after they passed that test I mentioned earlier,) or killing them left and right. However, in conjunction to that, there's ALOT of shit that happens that are all mages fault. Blood magic, demons, your mom (basically the only family you have left at that point btw) gets killed by a crazy necromancer, etc.

So it puts you, the player and your PC Hawke, in this situation where you clearly see magic is HELLA DANGEROUS, but you also see that the mages are being pushed too hard by the Templars and are taking drastic measures to escape or fight back. And again, it hits doubly hard if you play as a mage. The game also takes place over the span of 7 years, so you see it all build up and get worse and worse as you play.

So it presents the conundrum: Do all mages suck or is it because of what is happening? It's fucking brilliant. Especially coming from the first game, Origins, where you see a good Tower that's super chill until one crazy mage fucks it up. You see what horrors magic can bring but also see and hear how crazy Templars can be when they face such horrors (this is clear with both Meredith herself AND a recurring character named Cullen but if I talk about him we’ll be here all day.)

Anyway, point is there's clearly no right answer to which side is right or wrong, and the game builds up on it alot. It gives you all the perspectives with Meredith, the paranoid Templar Commander, Orsino, the leader of the Circle who is just trying to keep the peace and defend the mages, and the Grand Cleric in the Chantry Elthina, who refuses to take a side even though she has the power to basically end it all. Your companions also have opinions on all of it as it unfolds. And it puts you right in the middle of it all. And you experience all of it.

Like I said, fucking brilliant.

How it Hurt Me

One of your companions is Anders, who is a mage that has run away from the Circle you know of from Origins. He's a healer that is helping people from an underground (free) clinic, and has also been helping mages escape the city. He's all about freedom for mages, and has fused with a Justice spirit that he became friends with. The spirit saw the injustice that was happening to the mages and wanted to further help. Both Anders and Justice are from Dragon Age Awakening, which comes after Origins. They are companions in that game and you see how their friendship grows and how they come to be able to help each other.

Now I LOVED Anders and Justice in Awakening. I was ALL FOR seeing them again seeing how the years had changed them, and helping them. I also played as a mage in both games so I was also all for mage freedom. It’s also worth noting that in Awakening you learn the Circle was NOT kind to Anders. He’s a free spirit, a lover not a fighter, and he was suffocated. He tried to escape like 7 times and after the last one they put him IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR A FUCKING YEAR. He was 100% expecting to be killed every time he was caught. “Oh but couldn’t he have used those methods you mentioned earlier to live outside the Circle?” you may ask. And like, yeah maybe. But also...No one should have to do that?

I romanced Anders because I adore him. He’s a bit of a broody boy in DA2 that tries to push you away, but he’s hella sweet and supportive. Funny. Small hint of danger with Justice. He's great. And it was great to romance him in DA2 since I was playing Awakening going “No please why can I not romance YOU?”

Well throughout the game you see that due to the anger Anders has, Justice is getting morphed into something more akin to a spirit of Vengeance as things are pushed more, and that Anders is having trouble controlling him. Depending on what route you take with the romance, he and Justice can either fuse into something like only one being, or Justice can be turned fully into a demon of Vengeance. Both of these are heavily implied more than confirmed, so it’s kind of ambiguous, but the ending is the same. Anders becomes consumed by this, and everything else is drowned out.

Eventually, towards the end of the game, when Meredith has sent off for permission to the Right of Annulment, and Orsino can’t control the many other mages wanting to fight back, and things between mages and Templars are coming to a head, Anders asks you to come with him to get some ingredients that will make a potion to separate he and Justice. Then that turns out to be a lie and he asks you to distract Elthina in the Chantry so he can do...a thing. And he won’t tell you what. And you know he's up to something. BUT in DA2 and Awakening he's ALWAYS said that violence isn't the answer and that we have to show people mages can be good by example, and been against blood magic, etc. So you have the option to help him or not.

I helped him because SURELY he wouldn't do anything crazy. And SURELY he wouldn't ask/trick me, the woman he loves, to do something crazy. He simply asks you to trust him, and I did.

Aaaaaaand then I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

He blew up the Chantry in that town. Confirmed death toll from game lore is 100, but people estimate it could be more. This was the second time I had to walk away from this game due to emotions, the first being when your mom dies.

The Chantry runs the Templars, and the Templars watch the mages. Things were coming to a head. It had been a silent war raging. The Knight-Commander of the Templars was seeing shadows, threatening to basically rip the tower apart to find Blood Mages where there weren't. The leader of the Mages supported the Circle but was doing little to lead the mages against the Templars, and if the mages snapped all hell would break loose. The Cleric in the chantry refused to take sides, even though her word would essentially sway the masses into siding with someone. But she had to stay neutral because she couldn't choose as it wasn't her place, and she agreed there was no right answer both sides had a point. He blew up the Chantry, and forced people to take sides. Change had to come, and he decided he had to take the matter into his own hands to do it. And whether or not it was him or Justice or both is ambiguous and dependant on the route taken.

And I fucking helped him.

The game at this point forces you to choose a side, and I chose to side with the Mages because I WAS one and also Meredith wanted to kill every mage there for what Anders did.

I was betrayed by this character I had loved for two games, who my Hawke fell in love with, who I trusted, etc. And THAT hurt worse than anything else ever. You then had the option to kill him, which was the third point I had to walk away and agonize over a decision. Whether or not Anders was right is a topic still viscerally debated in the Dragon Age community too and it gets ROUGH.

So yeah. That is why I’m not over it and why I love this game so much but also how fucking dare it do this to me.

[hunterguyveriv]

Hidden Beauty

Here is my submission for Days 1(First Sunrise/Set) & 2(Late Night Adventure) of Kacxa Week I had this plan to do quick ficlets for these 2 days but no matter what I did they merged into one and Kind of ties in with “The Promise.”

This post would have been up sooner, but I kind of pepper sprayed myself. Harvested hot pepper seeds from plants I grew earlier and apparently I didn’t wash the oils off well enough xD xD xD 

Anyway, here is my submission for days 1 & 2 titled Hidden Beauty

"Let me take you somewhere in which you will feel young and take your mind away from all this..."

It was nighttime on Verolgah-VI. The two planetoid moons did their annual dance across the evening sky as shooting stars streaked the upper atmosphere. The devastated planet's temperature was chilly, but nothing like what most of the Paladins were used to, save for one.

He looked to the lions with 3 out of the 5 charged up, Red was in the final stages of charging up. He let out a sigh; some things were going to plans, but he had to remain on edge as the leader. Shit tends to hit the fan when one least expected it, and with friends still about 2 maybe 3 more days away, anything could go wrong.

Since they first landed on, well, more or less crashed when the lions collapsed from low energy, the Paladins all slept in the cave with Acxa. But tonight was different; it was cold enough to drive them to the lions that were charged. Hunk, Lance, Shiro, and Coran were sleeping in the Yellow Lion. Allura, Pidge, and Romelle were sleeping in Green, with Blue-Powered down to preserve power. Krolia and Keith's wolf were snuggled up in Black, which was somewhat comfier than the ground from the Star-whale, but nothing close to temperature.

Keith only grabbed his red & white jacket from Black's storage locker, from when he grabbed what little belongings he left on the Castle when he took a sabbatical from the Voltron-Force. Krolia was ready to get some sleep when she asked if he would turn in. His response was he had too much on his mind and was going for a walk. When his mother saw Acxa walk out of the cave, she gave him her sly "mother knows all" smirk and responded with "you kids don't stay out too late" before turning and taking his wolf with her.

Blushing and stammering at her, he turned to see Acxa wearing something similar to an Earth styled tank top in the moons' light, which her blue skin radiant. When he got within range of her, she gestured her head to follow her. He threw his jacket on which even over his Paladin Armor slightly loose. He put his belt with his Marmoran blade on and started walking with her. She took him to her favorite spot in silence. It had been three long years since she saw him last and even though she had so much to tell him, opening up was something relatively new for her. Even taking him to a spot she had grown to love in her mind was a huge gamble, that she was surprised she was doing.

It was one of the most stunning sights next to her that he had ever seen. It was a massive valley with a small creek like waterfall leading into a small shallow lake. Further behind were some of the most gorgeous mountain ranges he had ever seen with millions of stars. Even the nearby Argola nebula was just barely seen. Its blues, greens, purples, & reds intensified by the planet's atmosphere. His mouth agape, Acxa finally broke her silence. "I found this place about a year and a half after I was left here by the coalition."

Keith walked forward, taking in the beauty of the water, reflecting the moons and stars. The water droplets flying into the air reminded him of fireflies he used to catch with his father when he was a small boy, "It's beautiful." She walked up to match his location, slowly wrapping her arm around his. She sensed him tensing a little and then relax, but she knew he was much like her. Both introverted warriors, just starting to let their feelings show on the surface. "In the morning this spot reminds me of my homeworld, before it was officially... 'indoctrinated' into the Empire."

He looked to her, seeing a sorrowful look on her face. "Tell me about it?" She looked at him softly, smiling, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. She started to sit down, but he stopped her taking his jacket off, laying it on the ground gesturing for them to sit on it. She slowly sat down on his coat. She looked at him. "Won't you get cold?" He shook his head, "Nah, I grew up in the desert for the most part. I am used to brutally hot and brutally cold temps."

Acxa nodded and looked up to the stars and looked back at him. "From what I remember, it wasn't like this planet. For the better part of a deca-phoeb the planet was a relatively fridgid planet, but it was no barren froze wasteland. My mother's people were born in a region in which it was neither barely above freezing or frozen. The closer you got to the planet's polar region the darker blue their skin got, towards the equatorial sections they were either a lignt blue almost white color almost like that little girl & those two Alteans. But regardless of our skintone we all loved Aaenergola..."

Keith continued to listen to the Acxa tell him of her homeworld. The architecture, the lore, some of the history, the customs, and so much more emphatically. But when it came to the story of the Empire coming to her world, her demeanor and tone changed. Her planet had fought the best it could but ultimately was indoctrinated into the Empire.

She revealed her father was a doctor and her mother a Galra Lieutenant who he had saved from dying. Both harbored no ill will towards the other's race. When she was born, both parents wanted her yo have a decent education despite being a half-blood. But it wasn't until she got to her parents' death when she was 9 that she became bitter. When Aaenergolan Terrorists executed her parents for helping Galran citizens while Aaenergolans were starving. She trailed off as she remembered coming out of her hiding place. Finding her father brutally murdered, protecting the area she was hiding.

Keith, for the first time, saw tears streaking down her face and her lip trembling. He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to scoot closer to him. He had asked if she wanted to stop, and she nodded her head, wiping some of her tears away, asking about his homeworld.

As she did to him, he told her of Earth and his life on the distant planet they were trying to get back to. Of the blue skies and oceans, everything that made the planet one of the most beautiful he has ever lived on. Growing up with just a father before he died fighting a fire. His life before his adopted brother Shiro came into it.

Keith told her it wasn't until he was on a Blade mission did he learn who his mother was and later on in the Quantum Abyss, the reasons why he grew up without her in his life. Just hearing his voice caused her to relax and snuggle up to him. He felt her wrap an arm around his waist, prompting him to wrap an arm around her shoulders. When he stopped talking about Earth, she was fast asleep, snoring softly on his shoulder. Not long after, he fell asleep after repositioning, so her head was on his chest armor.

Many Vargas later, Acxa sat right up as one of the suns started to rise. She was expecting to be alone, which typically happened when she let her guard down, showing a side people typically never see. But was relieved seeing Keith still sleeping next to her. She pulled her legs to her chest and started watching the suns rise.

He started to stir, feeling the warmth on his face. When he woke up, he saw Acxa sitting up, his jacket draped over her shoulders. He slowly sat up and beheld one of the most stunning sights as the twin suns started to dance across the sky. The water, especially the waterfall, looked like it was molten lava. Like the sky, the vegetation itself looked like it was ablaze, swaying in the wind with colors of reds, blues, greens, and purples.

Both half breeds talked a little while enjoying the beauty of the sunset heads perched against each other. When the bottom of the second sun was just barely over the distant mountains, they decided it was time to head back to the group. But before leaving, he took one last look at their surroundings and turned to her.

She had a nervous look on her face, "About last night..." He had a delicate look on his face and softly smiled, "I want to thank you for last night. You bringing me to this beautiful place was as if you were opening your true self to me." She closed her mouth, being a little surprised at being thanked; she started to blush purple. "It takes great courage and trust to open up to someone, and I hope I am worthy of both."

Almost 2 hours later: The group was starting to freak out that Keith was nowhere to be found, nor was Acxa. Most of the group was searching the compound, while others were searching the immediate area. Some were worried that the pirates took them, one worried that their host handed him over to the pirates, while another knew all too well where they were. She refused to answer anyone's questions about why she wasn't worried. But Coran soon put two and two together, once being a parent himself.

When the group regrouped, it wasn't until his wolf snapped his head up, ears perked that everyone put their attention elsewhere. With their leader and hostess missing, The Paladins drew their bayards ready for anything. If it were an ambush like last time, they'd be prepared to fight.

Two figures were walking towards them with the suns at their backs, nearly blinding everyone. When the wolf bolted and teleported, everyone got on edge, waiting for the inevitable attack. But it never came. Instead, they could barely make out one figure stopping greeting the wolf and the three of them walking back.

As they got close, enough everyone realized that it was Keith with Acxa wearing his jacket. But what really caught their attention was that they were both holding hands and that their demeanor was different. It was no longer of two socially awkward Galrans who tried hiding there was something there to clearly having broken the ice with each other.

[talesofealdancynedom]

Wolf Queen Flowen Monabellan; in fairy robes.

Tale 0: Death at the Wolf Gate (chapter 2. Flowen & Luthid 2/4) part 2. Stories of Fey

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Flowen Monabellan was the previous Wolf Queen; One of the first beast Queens in fact. Hundreds of years ago, after opening the Wolf Gate she made, by her village, she had met a wolf more bewildering than imagination. Flowen lived in the small alpine village in the Far North, surrounded by snowy hills and rocky flats. Ice and snow sheets remained here most of the year, and there was almost no sun in the winter; yet the sun visited all day in the summer. This village was called North Moon by the people of The Far North. North Moon was the Far North’s north most settlement, and a magical forest hosting a variety of hidden fey. The number of fey had increased since Flowen made the Wolf Gate; and North Moon soon got a mythical reputation. This was because gates are the doors to the shadow veil, allowing fey to enter the day veil where humans live. Where there is a gate, there is a magic forest.

Though colloquially an area that has lots of fey, and magic users, is called a magic forest, this one did not have many trees. The wonders of North Moon appeared the brightest out in the open, during winter nights. With her village in need of balance between magic and common folk, Flowen became a witch mage; and thus, the only magic user in the area. As such, she would protect the village, and its peace, with her life and kindness. When not among commoners in the day, Flowen would be running and singing in the snow all night. She when she hunted, it was along the slopes and flats, with the wolf children of her magic forest. Eventually the wolf fey would tell there father about their new friend, and he decided to visit Flowen; A king never fails to disappoint. When Flowen first met the Wolf King, her breath was taken. There was no pelt more beautiful, nor wolf as immeasurable; and when he turned into human form, Flowen had never seen a man as tall, well dressed, and reverent. The Wolf King had come when he sensed an open gate in his kingdom, and was further intrigued by his children’s tales of the day veil. Wandering into the day veil for the first time, the Wolf King was pleasantly surprised to see a human that gave him love at first sight. To see a grown woman of the Far North, dressed in wolf fairy robes of pale gray fur, that matched her braided hair and moon lit eyes. The Wolf King would take Flowen as his Queen, if she would have him as a loving husband. In that moment, it was like they had known each other all their lives.

Flowen was the kindest and most motherly of the fey queens. In beast form, she was a large white wolf with grey eyes. She provided her kingdom with many Aliki puppies over the centuries, which all grew strong. Many were killed by humans who feared them, or died in war and on hunts; but her eldest son, Eobreth, always survived. Even while he roamed the day veil, and seeing war. Flowen seldom saw Eobreth, as he never came back home after the wars; but the reason why he didn’t return is what mattered. Eobreth was happy, and doing what he loved, by making the world of magic in the day veil, a little better. It made Flowen proud to see one of her children love where she came from; A child with the strength of his father, and sweetness of his mother. Flowen saw herself in her eldest son, all the parts of her that loved, and cared for everything and everyone around her.

Flowen awoke on the Wolf Gate, after centuries of being Wolf Queen in the shadow veil. She noticed she was perfectly human again. Flowen saw the gold glittering dust blow away; her husbands ashes returning to the veil. She lay on the cold gate, going dark while she was consumed by magic and emotion, while crying for her lost children and soul mate. Flowen felt them die in her soul, and the magic her husband gave her leave her body. It hurt worse than fire, cut glass, or shattered bones. Then she noticed her surroundings; Her beautiful Wolf Gate, made with love for her kingdom, was coated in silver. Sunaeth, the eldest princess, lay with the twins off to the side, not far from her. Their fur wolf robes and gilded armor were gone. Flowen’s remaining children were no longer Aliki Wolves, but human mages like her. Examining her suroundings further, Noticed there was a girl dressed in violet and black fur on the steps of the gate; sobbing. At her feet, was a man in fake fairy robes, made of sealskin. He was laying dead in a pool of blood. The girl looked up at Flowen, crying in fear and grief.

“I’m sorry. it wasn’t me,” She whimpered. “My name is Luthid Graywolf. I tried to stop my father, but I wasn’t fast enough. Let me take you to my cabin in the village. Those children by the gate must be yours: Wolf Queen Flowen Monabellan. I am relieved some of them survived; though it appears they are human like us. My father’s actions towards magic were deplorable, and I will do anything to help you heal. Forgive me for grieving him nonetheless. He was still my father.” Luthid said.

The wolf gate had been coated in silver; the weakness of the wolf kingdom. Like Iron to ferries, this metal was sharp to the touch among carnivoran fey. Generations without a mage caused the gate to remain closed, and the fey became frustrated and began to eat the livestock. The world of magic began to encroach on North Moon; which was no longer connected to magic and nature like it was when Flowen was last here. As lead paladin, Luthid’s father demanded the gate be coated with silver to stop the influx of wolf children, and so he could summon the Wolf King of legends. He did not care that the Wolf Gate was closed and not the source of the fey anymore. All the fey that remained in North Moon’s magic forest, had been here since the gate as last open. He had gotten the idea from tales that are sung and shared in the Far North; and in North Moon, these were tales of ancient times, which recounted the kingdoms of fey. He had assumed if the Wolf King was summoned through an opened gate of silver, the king would die. No Wolf King, no wolf children; and thus, no feline or canine fey eating his people’s livestock and pets.

In truth, the fey could be reasoned with; or even help people if a knowable mage or magic user was present. But instead of negotiations, Luthid’s father sent her to gather information about the mysterious stone circle platform, which was carved with the table of fours and ancient runes. He assumed this must be the gate. Luthid, desperate to appease her aggressive father, and be the next witch, found information by traveling into the closest city. When wizardry could not give her answers, Luthid studied the magic of mages. Luthid recounted the songs her mother sang about magic, and the tales of Aliki Wolves. To her surprise, there were many accounts of the mage prince of the Far North, Edmond Monabellan, who summoned wolf fey to defend the boarders, and conquer greener lands. A paladin destined to be the last king, and bring peace to The Far North. Luthid had no idea how connected the wolf kingdom was to her heritage. The thought of destroying such a rich connection to fey made her sad. The wolf fey and winter magic had been used to kill against its neutral nature by men before; the fey had forgiven humans, yet the people of her nation sought to kill them. Could fey even forgive? She wondered. Luthid felt that North Moon, and all the Far North, was reaping what it sewed. If you can’t treat something with care, you won’t have it anymore.

Luthid did not share everything she learned with her father. For instance, Luthid never mentioned that kingdom stones were made, and thus no one could summon fey except the King Mage. Her father planed on summoning not just a fey, but their King. No one, not even a mages, had ever summoned a beast king. Possibly someone requested the presence of a king of fey, when trapped and blackmailed; but not summoned. Luthid was now invested in preserving the magic forest she called home, and wanted her father to fail for his own safety. The lessons of magery and lore taught her how to handle and love fey; her father’s plan was over the top, and unnecessary. Further, Luthid did tell her father how to open a gate, and that wizards were not powerful enough to open gates or summon fey in the first place. She knew fey were sentient, and did not deserve death for coming closer to the village. Worse yet, if her father did not die trying to summon, the Wolf King may finish him off. Luthid had no doubt the Wolf Kingdom had ill will towards the Far North, after they were forced to be tools in the wars of old.

By the time Luthid arrived at the Wolf Gate to stop her father, he and the Wolf King were both dead. Luthid recognized who else was there, because of all the hours of work she had done in the libraries. She stood before the Wolf Queen, of whome she had read of, mourning her family. Luthid was overcome by guilt. She should have come sooner, or tried to encouraged friendship between North Moon and it’s fey. Luthid expected Flowen to be mad or vengeful, but this was not the case. Flowen saw little point in dwelling in the past, and took her position back as local witch mage. Luthid would dare not strive for the position anymore. Flowen’s first order was to have the gate restored, and the silver taken off. Then, she took Luthid with her to come to an understanding between the locals and the magic forest. But there were not many fey left; all the wolf children, who made up most of the magic in North Moon, died with their father. Flowen stayed strong to keep being a mother for her remaining children. But inside, she grieved an unsurmountable amount of pain and loss.

Because of Flowen’s work, the village realized that if they had a mage here sooner, the wolf kingdom and people could have been saved from so much tragedy. Every day, Flowen wondered what happened to her eldest child Eobreth; Sunaeth and her twins were alive by her side, but not him. All half human royal fey survive the death of a fey king, by turning fully human like the queen. Or, if they find love, become the new king. Eobreth must be alive somewhere. Flowen needed answers now, to get closure. She wondered many things while chipping silver off the gate:‘Where was Eobreth?’, ‘is he alive, and human?’, ‘does he feel the same pain and loss of his kin?’’, ‘what if he found a true love, and I never knew?’’ She mused. One mourning, as Flowen was taming the sled dogs, she looked to the forest’s edge and saw something familiar. A black wolf, a grim, trotting back into the brush. It was a wolf fey. New wolf children meant only one thing: Her son was alive, king, and she had new grandchildren. Flowen began to feel warmth again. Then she saw her eldest princess Sunaeth come out of the brush…

<---PREVIOUS

[viridianstarlight]

Time to share some of my D&D characters! As I said in an earlier post, these were made in Reroll, a browser program designed for making pixel art of D&D characters, and it works like a doll maker kinda.

Above are the characters from the first campaign I played in very briefly. I never actually played Elri though. He was just a planned backup character that I started before the first session, after realizing how likely it was that Tarloc would die (we had an accidental test session where I realised he loved taking risks, like deliberately activating traps, although I toned down that side of his personality quite a bit when we started playing).

Long post ahead, there’s like 20 characters. Won’t go deep into explaining all of them though.

Next is Nemesis, a tiefling Wizard (Necromancy school) that I played briefly in a different campaign. I had some really great ideas for how her Necromancy skills could play into her story and morals, and some of that came to fruition during the campaign. She had a really interesting personality too, starting off as a bitter woman who hates everyone, meeting a super smiley bard, and gradually deciding ‘I would die for this one and this one only’, but still giving the ‘I hate you’ attitude when the friend nicknames her Nemmie (especially when the party member she hates starts using it).

Unfortunately though, those are the only characters I’ve really played.

And now, because tumblr thinks it’s a great idea to not allow people to have multiple images together throughout a post (like I have at the top of the post), every portrait needs to be full-size. Guess this is gonna be a long post.

This is Seymour Aran. When making the portrait, I forgot to give him an eyepatch. His first name is a pun, since I thought it’d be fun to give a man named ‘see more’ one eye.

He’s an NPC planned for the first session of my campaign, a member of the local temple, and he’s partly to blame for the villain of the first session.

And this is said villain. She thinks the town of Crast (a mountain town built around a coal mine, where the campaign starts) is dismissive and disrespectful towards the dead. So hey, why not change that, by force?

Oh, and she used to be Seymour’s apprentice too.

Tobias is a friendly face the party meets in the first session. He’s the son of another NPC, but because of lore reasons, he doesn’t know that. Oh, and he’s also a bit of a conspiracist

A name some of y’all might be familiar with (it was my first URL on this account), this is my Dragonborn ranger that I wanna play eventually, one of my favourite unplayed characters (although I could say that for a lot of them). He was banished from his clan for not taking orders and killing a pretty important character from the clan. His name translates to ‘stubborn and honourable betrayer who does not belong’.

Another of my Dragonborn, this one’s a Bard. His name translates to ‘traveller who belongs to the keepers’. His clan are keepers of knowledge. He also found another of my favourite characters, Waking Sky, when she was very young, feeling lonely, angry, and afraid, and took her to a monk monestary he knew, who helped raise her and teach her to deal with those feelings.

She’s 19 now, and still hasn’t entirely learned to deal with those feelings.

Yup, blue hair. In world, her hair is actually a mix of blue, white, and its natural blonde, and she has tattoos of waves on her left arm, but there wasn’t a way to show either of those in Reroll, so I settled for this.

Oh, and she’s a Monk too.

Sky is one of my characters that was originally created for an old fan-fiction project with some friends, which ended up being abandoned, and I translated some of the characters I made for that to D&D.

This is one of my Paladins. She calls herself an ‘Emissary of the Light’. She grew up in a cavern settlement with her family, but they were forced to flee when it was invaded by goblins. Only a handful of the dark elves survived, including her mother. Her mother was killed when she tried to return a few months later though, and since then Ulstra has sworn to fight for the very light that blinds her (yeah, playing with the rule that makes dark elves have difficulty seeing in normal light conditions).

Iolanthe is a human Fighter who ran away from her noble family with nothing but her horse, rapier, and the clothes on her back.

Talvani is a half-orc Rogue who was raised by pirates. They found her as a baby (from an island village they raided), and the first mate thought she’d make for some great muscle for the crew as an adult. The captain didn’t like the idea at first, but let it happen.

Could you imagine pirates raising a half-orc child?

Valo’s an interesting character. When I started making him, I wanted to make a Druid halfling, but I also wanted to mix in the charlatan background. Really curious how that mixes if and when I play him.

Arutan’s an undead dwarf from the underground city of Arudel. The city’s dead now, with Arutan being the only ‘surviving’ member. With him being undead though, he’d be kinda complicated to play, so there’d be a lot of back and forth between me and the DM about how that works, if I do end up playing him.

I really badly wanna play a tempest Cleric someday though.

Another character from that old fan fiction project. The next few are from there too. In the old project, Ghost was the best friend of my self-insert character, who became addicted to player-killing (the project was set in an MMO). I’m kinda thinking he might have a similar arc as a D&D character. Of course, being a criminal, I’d probably need to make sure the DM and players are ok with a party member like that.

Another character from that fan-fiction project. Translating her to D&D, I decided to work with the Folk Hero background, which isn’t one I’d done before. I don’t really know much else about her though, aside from the traits I picked and a few ideas they’ve inspired.

Yup, another character from that project. I decided on him being a Guild Artisan for his background, specifically a carpenter. I don’t know much else about him though.

Sarah’s yet another character from that project. She’s a musician, but just as a hobby, rather than as a Bard class. Her brother ran away to join a circus band, but hasn’t been able to commit to one yet.

Yup, another from the project. Skarlet’s a Monk, with the Entertainer background. Apparently I forgot both of those details when I made this portrait though, and thought she was a Rogue with the Assassin background. I might remake this, but I do quite like the portrait. Now I’m conflicted, dangit.

Theriel went on an artifact recovery expedition a few years before present day as a guard to a super secret location. When he realised how dangerous the artifact was though, he made some very difficult decisions, believing them to be best for the safety of the world. And now he’s an Eldritch Knight.

Oh, and Theriel’s the last of the batch of characters from that old project. The character was originally inspired by Jack from Final Fantasy Type-0, particular the character’s ability to make horrible jokes (often at the worst time).

Sunflower is a Barbarian. A few years back, he was fighting in a war as an infantry soldier, and ended up some super powerful magic dude. He has no memory of how the fight went down though. And now sometimes he gets angry, his memory lapses and he can’t remember what happens. He just knows that, when the memory lapse ends, it’s usually with his sword in a bloody body.

[kokichi-and-co-imagine-blog]

To everyone: what would your Pokemon teams be and why?

Oh good god.

Well… this is going to get complicated. At least from me.

Let’s start with assuming no legendary Pokemon. Makes life a bit easier. Of course only a bit.

So… first off a lot of this depends on generation and limit. If you’re asking for a full team that I would have with rotations and stuff, we’re looking at… probably close to 10 full teams of 6, maybe even more.

In my defense, I’m a major Pokemon fan and I really really like a lot of them.

Of course, if we’re going to cut down the team to a more manageable six which can be from any region/gen, but only one from each region/gen to keep things interesting and varied… well, it would depend on a lot of things, including mood and such, so if one were to ask me this question again it would likely change. But, here would be, as I feel right now, the team I would use if I was limited to only six, one per region/gen.

1: Lucario. I’ve been a fan of this guy for so so long, ever since it was first introduced. I loved Lucario and the mystery of Mew as a kid (still kinda do). The whole concept behind aura is amazing. One’s spiritual energy/life force/ soul being utilized in combat? Being able to sense others and see without seeing? So awesome. Lucario is just SO. FREAKING. COOL. It’s design is wonderful as well. Jackel/Anubis? Yes please. Plus, I’ve been maining Lucario in Smash Bros. ever since Brawl. You better believe it’s making my team.

2: Tyranitar. Is it probably the weakest pseudo legendary when it comes to typing? Yes. Do I care? No. Tyranitar is BA. First, it’s one of the only two pseudo’s to not be a dragon. Yes, 8 regions, 9 pseudo’s, and only 2 are not dragons. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some dragons. But… variety would be nice, you know? But yeah, not a dragon, still awesome. It’s Godzilla for crying out loud! Plus, its design is just so good. It’s simple but perfect. It’s a giant Lizard creature that could fell mountains. It doesn’t need to be complicated, and is perfectly awe-inspiring and terrifying without being complicated. I also used a Tyranitar in my Ultra Sun playthrough, a male one named Typhon, Man was he fun to use.

3: Golisopod. Listen, if a Pokemon is good enough for YOUR BOI GUZMA to use it on his team, you know it’s a good pokemon. It’s the Alola take on Gyarados and Milotic (weak pathetic first stage with few moves  and while those two do have a slightly higher BST, that ain’t enough to keep my boy Golisopod down. Golisopod’s design is just so good. An Isopod mixed with a Samurai? Sign me right up thank you. It mixes the creepy crawly aesthetic of the bug type with the strong proud samurai perfectly and I love it. And yeah, sure Emergency Exit can be kind of annoying, but it allows you a second usage of First Impression. That is worth it. Also, it’s shiny is dope.

4: Toxtricity. Part of building a team means keeping in mind type composition. I love Grimmsnarl dearly and equally, if not more so, but I already have one Dark-type on the team, so Toxtricity manages to bag this spot. At least, for now considering my current mood. Ask me again tomorrow, or even in an hour, my answer may very well change. Anyway, Toxtricity itself. When I fist saw the design, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt. It was… interesting to say the least, but I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at, or what it was supposed to be. But after some more time with it, learning more about it and using one I can say that Toxtricity is easily one of my new favorites. Quite possibly my absolute fave from Gen 8. A punk lizard that plays music? Rock/Metal? HECK. YES. The form change is also pretty nice. The stats don’t change between the two, but I honestly like it that way. Just the idea that more energetic natures would have an ‘Amped Up’ form based on an electric guitar while the more mellow natures would have a ‘Lowkey’ one based on a bass is ingenious. Same with the movepool changes. It makes sense that the different forms with their different music preference would have different moves. (My personal fave is the Amped Up, especially with its shiny colors.) Plus, an electric posion type? SO. COOL. Who cares about 4x weak to earthquake, this thing is boss! And Punk Rock is an amazing ability.

5: Flygon. Man oh man was Flygon treated poorly. Added in Gen 3 as a solid pokemon, but with a better attack stat than a special attack one. True, not bad in it of itself but before the Special/Physical split, ALL Dragon-type moves were special. Meaning Dragon Claw, a solid dragon type move back in Gen 3, wasn’t yet a physical move. And Outrage wasn’t even something Flygon could learn yet (it wouldn’t be until Gen 7 that it became a TM). Then came gen 4. Now, I love gen 4. I truly do. It is by far my favorite Gen. And it did do something very good for Flygon. It gave the special/physical split, allowing some Dragon type moves to now be physical as well. But you know what else came along? Garchomp. Honestly, I like Garchomp, I do. But suddenly here we are with a new Dragon/Ground type that is a pseudo-legendary? My poor poor Flygon. And it didn’t get any better. I mean seriously, give Mewtwo and Charizard two megas but none to Flygon? WHILE GIVING ONE TO GARCHOMP WHO DIDN’T NEED IT AND WAS ITS BIGGEST COMPETITION?! Why Game Freak? Why?Anyway, mini-rant aside, I love Flygon. The design is incredible. The line is based on an antlion and is so cool. That sweet green design and the little lenses over the eyes? Perfect, just perfect. Plus, it has some sweet lore. Appearing in sandstorms with haunting music coming from its wings? Yes please. Beautiful pokemon that was done such disservices. It’s a shame really. With Megas gone, Flygon will likely never get that final boost it needs. Though considering it is in Galar while Garchomp isn’t… maybe Flygon will have a chance to shine again. (A shame though that it will never get to have a type change to Bug Dragon. Would be sick.) Regardless of the future though, Flygon will always have a place in my heart, and in my team. 

6: Zoroark. Yeah, I know what I said about team composition above with Toxtricity and Grimmsnarl. But  I also pointed out mood has a lot to do with it. Anyway, for Zoroark itself. Like Lucario, I’veb een a fan for so long, ever since it was first introduced. It’s kinda funny in a way. Zoroark acts as the perfect yin to Lucario’s yang. Lucario uses aura to sense things and to see, Zoroark is the maser of illusions. In it of itself, this illusion business is awesome, but add in how it counters Lucario and it works just so well. Typing as well, Lucario is a fighting steel, the type you’d think of for a chivalrous paladin of justice and truth, while Zoroark is dark (evil type in Japan), perfect for a sly illusion master. Of course, it’s not just dualism with Lucario. The line is just so amazing itself. Clearly drawing from Kitsune, Zoroark is a sly fox that is able to not just use illusions, but masters them to the point of being able to create solid constructs out of them (see the anime). It is just so cool, how can I not love it? Also, like Tyranitar before it, I used a female one named Vixen in my Ultra Sun playthrough and it was a delight. 

Anyway, that would be my team. You know, assuming all the limitations I put on myself and my mood at this moment. But if you guys enjoyed this and want to know more about my favorite pokemon, please let me know. I’m always happy and excited to talk about Pokemon.

Anyway, going to hand this over to the other mods. I’ve been monopolizing this ask for too long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ooo!! This’ll be fun to answer! Cause, well, I love Pokémon!!!

But, forgive me for this; I haven’t played any of the games.

So im just saying my favorite characters!!!

1: Glacieon, I really, really like glacieons and have always loved ice type Pokémon. Mainly because I really like the cold. Like; really, really, like the cold. I also really like her attacks, their cool!!! (Pun intended)

2: Furret. Absolutely furret, I never knew why I liked furret, but. I’m just gonna blame it on me really liking Ferrets and cause I honestly have really liked normal types for some reason.

3: Vulpix (either one), I really like any fire type Pokémon mainly because I’ve always just had a very weird interest in fire and because vulpix can be either a fire or ice Pokémon I love that about them. And they remind me of a bunch of irl animals that I love!!

4: Smom , I LOVE THOSE LIL ICE BABEYS SO MUCH!?!? They are so cute-!? I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH???! They are all my children and I want to adopt them all, and I will. No one can stop me………except maybe the other mods-

5: Sylveon, absolutely. I always have such an attachment even with digital animals, so I absolutely would give my eevee enough attention and love for them to evolve into sylveon. Honestly, it’d end up be accidental, but, I still really love Sylveon, and wouldn’t care if I got more than one of them-

6: Flareon, listen- I just love eevees okay-? I love them all so so much, and would lay down my life for each and every one of them. Just 💞💞💕💖💓💖💝💞💖💕💝💓💕💞💖💞💖💝💘💖💕💕💞

——————————————————————————

Ah, I bet you missed hearing from me! No worries, I’ll tell you my pokemon team, even if it’s not particularly exciting.

First off, a Pachirisu is a must for my team. I’ve always loved how hyper it can be and the mishaps it would cause. Plus, c’mon- who doesn’t like its color scheme?

I’d also incorporate Chimchar to my team. I’ve always had a soft spot for Chimchar, since it was my first ever starter and I leveled mine all the way up to 100 in my Pokemon Platinum playthrough.

Yamper definitely had my heart the moment I saw it! I have a really strong love for dogs, and its addition to the game got me so excited!! Kirigiri can vouch for me on that one.

Growlithe is also integral to me. When my dog was a puppy, I used to jokingly call her a growlithe. I don’t think I still have pictures, but I even got her a floof for halloween once so she could be in a costume with me. Also... Arcanine is seriously badass.

Wooloo is super cute too! I love that it rolls away from its problems, and I, too, wish to do that. Plus the braids immediately reminded me of Peko, so I was super soft for it the moment it was revealed.

Finally, I’ll add my favorite Eeveelution to the team: Glaceon! Something about its sleek design always made me happy, and the way its fur sharpens as defense is super interesting!

(If legendaries were allowed on the team, I would’ve added either Giratina or Shaymin. They’re my favorites.

[langwrites]

Lang Plays Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I’m playing them in this order: Blue Lions, Black Eagles, Church of Seiros, and then Golden Deer. (I organized them by how likely it is to have a true final boss who is actually as relevant to the lore as the opening cutscene. And also because I thoroughly spoiled myself about that.)

So, after sinking what the game tells me was eighty hours into a single playthrough, here’s my thoughts on the first thing I tackled.

Spoilers below the cut.

Very Early Game (Blue Lions):

It’s the Fire Emblem Dad! (I played Path of Radiance. I’ve seen this dude before.)

Hi Claude. Sorry, I’m gonna steal every single one of your peers I can catch. Same to you, Edelgard.

Dimitri is so awkward it’s almost palpable.

Aww, Ashe and Annette are adorable. Mercedes has that dead anime mom hairstyle that sets my teeth on edge, but she’s super nice. It’ll take me longer to warm up to the boys, I think.

Felix is the token “I MUST BECOME STRONGER” myrmidon character. Gotta have at least one per game, apparently.

Sylvain = Sain. Token womanizer cavalier. His support list is pretty odd, though.

Dedue = the guy who done punch things. And he *has* to punch things, because he’s slow as hell and his speed growth isn’t great.

What the fuck is that strength growth, Dimitri. What the fuck is that Charm growth.

I was so close to making him my team’s designated Dancer unit, you guys.

Beleth is gonna be their teacher and somehow I don’t imagine this going super well.

Pre-Timeskip School Life:

Once again, I regret not being able to support with characters who’ve firmly attached themselves to the other two houses. (Which is only like three people in my “gotta catch ‘em all” playthrough, but whatever.)

But I can support all the recruitables, which is...something that took me a long while to do.

The first person I stole for the Blue Lions was Caspar. The first person who straight-up joined was Flayn. Yay, auxiliary punchers and auxiliary-auxiliary healers!

Ashe, your adoptive father really didn’t need to die. You were right. It was all bad all the way down.

Flayn gets kidnapped and I fuck around for a month raising everyone else’s supports and realizing Seteth’s too distraught to train my Lance level. Dangit.

I missed the opportunity to support with Leonie entirely because her personality put me off for the first few in-game months, and it turns out you can only start her support chain while Jeralt is alive.

Dammit. Now I’ve gotta train with lances.

What’s-his-fuck over at the village sure did do a thing, didn’t he. And if he hadn’t dropped his disguise just then he could have gotten away with it.

Their scheme would’ve failed faster if anybody around this fucking monastery could apply logic to shapeshifter shenanigans.

Seriously, no one should have trusted Monica.

You vanish over the course of a year, and come back with your personality totally inverted.

Tomas/Solon had just demonstrated what it looks like when these dickbags drop cover, and then everyone subsequently failed to make the correct deduction. If they hadn’t, Jeralt would’ve lived.

Dad-stabbing: A theme of Fire Emblem games. Seriously. Check out the huge list of dead dads (which goes all the way back to the first game in the series.)

Also dead moms, but for some reason moms are less prominent in the series as a whole.

For the purposes of this analysis, we are also including every single boss who had kids. Which isn’t most of them, but god damn there are still a lot of dead dads.

Dorotheaaaaaa be my frieeeeeeend

Yoinked Linhardt after finally showering him in enough gifts to get his sleepy ass to sign transfer papers.

Swiped Marianne, Bernadetta, Petra, Ignatz, Alois (kinda), Shamir (sorta), Manuela (iffy), Hanneman (yoink), Catherine (see previous), Hilda (how), Lorenz (woop woop), and Leonie (sigh).

The Death Knight remains, for the moment, unpillaged for his Dark Seal drops. This time it was an accident: I killed everyone else in the room except for him and a priest/mage, but then that last dude squared up with Felix and died.

All the points I poured into their associated skills and their supports, however, left one big gap:

DAMMIT FERDINAND, I’M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE. WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH ABOUT HEAVY ARMOR. RAPHAEL JOINED UP DESPITE THAT.

(I got a B-rank support with him and he popped into my office to say he was transferring, nbd. Ferdinand’s B-rank is locked until after the timeskip.)

tl;dr: The only recruitable character I missed was Ferdinand.

Seteth and Gilbert don’t do shit until post-timeskip and Rhea isn’t playable, so w/e.

As soon as I say that, Seteth and Flayn have a paralogue. It’s a beach level. I hate beach levels and desert levels. Seteth gets to be MVP because he’s the only jerk who can fly.

They have a little speech after the paralogue level that reveals that they’re actually father and daughter, not siblings. And the whole story of this little subplot basically confirms that they’re dragons.

Neither of them transform over the course of the game, and that’s okay.

Ruh-roh, Raggy. Let’s see who’s really under the Flame Emperor’s mask--

“AND I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT TOO, IF NOT FOR--oh wait teleportation exists. BYE!”

Dimitri proceeds to thoroughly lose any chill he ever pretended to have, and I’m 99% sure the villain in question isn’t actually old enough to have caused the Tragedy of Duscur. Unless the biographies in the notes were lying.

Now, the backup dancers over there sure as shit are, but logical reasoning has its time and place.

Whatever. Time for stabbing.

WE ALREADY KNOW THESE PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING THEMSELVES LOOK LIKE ANYONE, MASKS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. THE VICTIM ONLY HAS TO DISAPPEAR FOR A WHILE.

WHY AREN’T WE CHECKING THAT AS A BASIC PRECAUTION.

THERE HAVE BEEN THREE OF THESE CREEPS ALREADY.

Their name is too long and I should call them Morlocks.

But seriously, check for infiltrators.

What passes for strategy around here: Take Paladin Dimitri, plunk his overleveled ass down on a corner where all the enemies’ targeting reticles converge, and wait five minutes for all the counterkill animations to play out.

If I wanna try the same with Sylvain, he needs to be backed up by at least Annette and probably Felix. Maybe even Mercedes if she’s not already busy slinging Physics around.

Dimitri’s fine with just sitting around with a forged Steel Lance and poking holes in everything.

Beleth can do the same, but is much more reliant on dodging and not just facetanking axes.

The little “no damage!” sound effect is still very satisfying. Yes, game, my Defense/Resistance has escaped the bounds of your damage curve.

Dorothea became my Dancer unit, because despite Dimitri having twenty-eight Charm to her nineteen, he begged me not to and also is better sitting on a corner and killing everything.

Huh, the monastery is sure being invad--you know, Edelgard, if it wasn’t already really obvious that your faction is basically the “villain route” in Samurai Warriors parlance, using giant mop-headed demonic beasts as shock troops would probably give it away to observers. If they weren’t already running away in abject terror.

The principle from How to Train Your Dragon still applies: A downed dragon is a dead dragon. If Rhea didn’t want to basically get mobbed, she should’ve stayed in the air and acted as flying artillery for the Knights of Seiros with her mouth laser. She could’ve sat on top of a wall and fired with relative impunity.

Sure, some demonic beasts can fly, but there weren’t any in that cutscene and the flying ones have, mechanically, one less health meter than the landbound ones.

Also, they’re pushovers.

And there’s the washed-out creep brigade! They look like the Grimleal, but with more feathers and less of a tan.

...And there goes Beleth, off to have a five-year nap.

Welp.

Post Timeskip:

Oh good, it’s been five years. Beleth, I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably at least slightly dragon at this point. Check your ears if you have a chance.

Tiki canonically napped for like 99% of her three thousand years in Awakening, ironically enough, so it’s not like dragon-people are exactly early risers.

Poor rando gets asked “what year is it” like that question is ever used outside of fiction. Beleth doesn’t read time travel books, I take it.

“oh you probably shouldn’t go to the monastery, it’s like super haunted and shit”

“sorry what was that i couldn’t hear you over the sound of me climbing up to the monastery”

Eyyyy, it’s a lance-wielding pirate.

...Hi, Dimitri. Where’d your macaroni hair go.

You know, it’s not surprising that Dimitri would think Beleth was a hallucination. He spent a lot of time yelling at his inner demons even pre-timeskip, after taking a couple of severe psychological shocks.

But he absolutely should have walked into her and been surprised when he knocked them both on their asses.

He’s been spending the last five years stabbing people, hasn’t he.

Yep.

He looks like he fell out of Game of Thrones.

Blue Lions! Rah rah something team chant. Rah rah Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen~

None of you people trained any of your skills. In five years. Dimitri you were a paladin. Did you eat your horse.

You are all getting sent to boot camp.

Hi, Gilbert. Why are you playable now all of a sudden. Why is your speed a fucking two.

THIS IS WHY MIKLAN HANDED YOU YOUR ASS.

Once again, the “plunk Dimitri’s overleveled ass down on a corner and watch people die” plan is still a valid strategy. I still don’t know where he gets all this strength (and charm). Like, goddamn.

Annette got cornered for like five turns because I was too cowardly to put her in range of a Brawler.

Then she killed him with a critical Fire.

So, I guess Felix’s remarks about Dimitri’s issues make some sense now, but he should still stop making them. I know he’s a tsundere par excellence, but still.

STop TalKing AboUT KilLing PeoPle

Warning: Sympathetic Boss Approaching.

Look, most “sympathetic” bosses in Fire Emblem kinda fall flat. The better ones are placed in the way of the player characters while they’re in the middle of a low point in the emotional arc and get utterly wrecked in a flurry of misdirected fury. Sometimes the characters even feel bad about it afterward. The worst ones are the ones who are just utterly devoted to someone who’s earned everyone’s ire by being a utter fucking asshole.

Good: Mustafa from Awakening and Shiharam from Path of Radiance. Good people forced into bad situations. Or just cornered. Henry talked up the former long after he got a Chrom to the face, and the latter was probably the best-written of the “aw, I wish I didn’t have to kill him” bosses I’ve run across.

Bad: Levail from Radiant Dawn. There is no getting around the fact that General Zelgius was a bad dude. Levail holding him up as a paragon of knightliness and swearing to serve him out of sheer admiration did not make him even marginally better.

We sure did kill Caspar’s uncle, didn’t we. I’m sure that won’t come back to bite us square in the ass. Not after he had that “this guy is a person who cares about stuff” cutscene to remind us of his pixel humanity.

I’m sure it’s fine.

Bwoop, bwoop, everyone say hello to Ferdinand and Lorenz! And say goodbye to Ferdinand, because he didn’t allow himself to be recruited pre-timeskip, isn’t recruitable post-timeskip, and then I had Felix kill him with Thoron.

Lorenz can rejoin us, though. He doesn’t count as an enemy commander once he’s been smacked down to 0 hp.

HI, DEDUE. WHY ARE YOU ONLY LEVEL TWENTY. GET IN THE BACKLINES AND DON’T TALK TO ME UNTIL YOU CAN ACTUALLY DAMAGE ANYTHING.

(Seriously, tho, I was waiting for Dedue to come back for two reasons. One: I did that paralogue of his way back in Part One and he did not get to die after all that. Two: Part of Dimitri’s epic slide into “spear-wielding mountain man who runs around killing people with his bare hands” had to do with Dedue “dying” during the timeskip. That jackass cracked a smile for the first time in ingame years thanks to the world’s punchiest bodyguard coming back alive.)

(Fortress Knight is still the worst class.)

I totally didn’t pay any attention to what, if anything, actually separated Master classes from Advanced classes other than my inability to get my hands on Master Seals. So Ashe is a Bow Knight now, while Felix made it to Mortal Savant (wtf is that name and why is the class model basically a samurai) and I spent a very long time level-grinding Sylvain’s Reason skill to make him a Dark Knight. I aimed for Gremory with all my spellcaster girls, but I admit to not really paying attention to specifics.

(I ended up with five Gremories: Annette, Flayn, Mercedes, Lysithea, and Dorothea. Bernadetta became a Bow Knight and Marianne promoted eventually to a Holy Knight. Dorothea also ended up taking Mortal Savant, which she didn’t ever use.)

(Seteth became a Wyvern Lord and Dedue eventually made it to Warrior.)

(Byleth qualified for Mortal Savant and used it precisely no times.)

(It became pretty clear that I just threw Master Seals at people whenever the possibility of promoting them came up.)

(Certification is a weird system.)

I stopped paying a ton of attention to supports around the time I realized that Ferdinand wasn’t going to be recruited no matter what I did in the final month before Shit Went Down.

Then I started paying attention again like two chapters from endgame, because I remembered some A-ranked supports meant that the characters could get paired endings.

I also stopped ignoring Cyril and started using him as an adjutant, though his stats never quite caught up to Seteth (also known as the only instructor unit I ever consistently used).

Cornelia is absolutely a Morlock plant. That is a face she just made, even in flashback.

I wish we could've seen Dimitri’s now-dead uncle, if only because I’m curious. Also, what did Edelgard’s mom/Dimitri’s stepmom look like?

Why is there always a fire level. I saw it earlier thanks to doing Ingrid and Dorothea’s paralogue, but it’s a Fire Emblem stock level type and I hate it.

Okay, yeah, this area totally got nuked. Magitech nukes, but still. It’s still on fire centuries later? Why??

Felix’s dad is a Holy Knight. Why do I have to keep his ass alive on a field when half the enemies are barely Advanced classes, never mind Master classes.

Oh right, because I want the exp for myself.

Rodrigue is possibly the single person here who can make Dimitri’s murder-bender change direction even slightly. He also gets along with his actual son so much worse than that. He’s like Annette’s dad, but with actual verbal confrontations.

There’s Caspar’s not-exactly-forgotten aunt, here to “secretly” avenge her dead brother. Dude, could you say something about that?

Three levels later: I thought we were done with the dad-stabbing. 

Felix has officially lost Too Many People in pursuit of keeping Dimitri alive. As has everyone else, frankly.

In other routes, Dimitri absolutely runs his campaign off a cliff.

Here, he turns his life around. More or less. Gotta make the choice to get better.

Time to take back the Kingdom’s capital, like we’ve not been doing for four chapters now. Finally.

Cornelia is absolutely a Morlock plant. This is like the fourth character who supposedly did a complete characterization 180 after a period of being actually useful to other people. Goodbye, civil engineer we never knew.

I think the only infiltrator who did things properly was Solon, but he still dropped his disguise for no good reason early in the game. That operatic level of drama is not a trait that helps him survive a month later. Just goes to show that the Morlocks don’t have more than one type of good judgment at a time, I guess.

I know I’m supposed to avoid the giant doom robots, but...

No, it turns out I can just have Dimitri and Beleth stand in the middle of the killzone and destroy them for fun and profit.

Ding dong the witch is dead.

Welp, time to go save the Alliance, which is getting schooled by the Empire.

HI CLAUDE.

I MISSED YOU AND YOUR FAITH IN HUMANITY. And specifically in Dimitri, for some reason? I think he kinda stabbed your soldiers a lot the last time you two met, but feel free to keep being the Best Character.

Your bodyguards are top-notch, man. One of them got hit with anything over the course of the entire battle.

Your general Judith, however, necessitates Flayn using ALL of her Rescue spells just to keep her alive.

I still had to send Ashe to keep a Falcon Knight off you, but no big.

And also had to send Hilda and Petra to kill the Asshole Reinforcements to nick their stuff.

Dimitri sat there and dodge-tanked all of Arundel’s attempts to kill him until the team killed everybody else. Then Dimitri poked him and he died. Dimitri OHKOs everything except monsters now, and that’s only because they have multiple health meters.

And then Claude fucks off to become king somewhere else. Okay then. It was a nice speech, though.

Killing the Death Knight for fun and profit and now Mercedes is crying. Shit.

Doesn’t this place get vaporized in every other route?

Did killing so many Morlocks by accident lock us out of seeing an intercontinental ballistic missile?

(And it is by accident, because this route is like the only one where the Morlocks are incidentals instead of the main problem, partly due to Dimitri’s tunnel vision and partly just because they don’t drop their disguises upon death.)

Well, I guess it’s time to confront Edelgard.

It’s completely valid of her to look at the guy who was threatening to rip her head off with his bare hands and hang it from the gates of the Empire’s capital a little while ago, and then go “Yeah, diplomacy’s shot.” That Dimitri stopped being quite so all-consumingly homicidal a bit ago is not actually reason to try throwing herself on anyone’s mercy. I feel kinda bad for her, since she’s been pushed into this corner and her ace-in-the-hole allies are basically decapitated, and I stole all her potential friends back during the school phase of the game.

Also, sunk cost fallacy.

Still walloped the entire roster of the second-to-last level, down to killing Hubert with Lysithea. Hilda and Cyril killed all the bird demons.

On the final level, which starts immediately after the previous one, three characters got totally destroyed by the sheer number of mages floating around: Dimitri (whose Avoid finally failed him four times in a row), Hilda (same), and Dedue (thirded). Seteth miraculously survived taking 68 points of damage from a single attack, and then later went on to take Edelgard’s last health bar off with a crit.

Weirdly, Beleth’s Avoid was just fine. Finally let her use the Sublime Sword of the Creator and she killed most of the Gremories that took out Dimitri and Hilda.

And everybody we could save per plot constraints got to live! (Except Ferdinand.)

I’m willing to save him on subsequent routes because killing him made Dorothea sad.

Next time: Lang plays the route that screws over most of these people in service of killing the God-Pope.

[paladin-andric]

The Lethal Tag

Tagged by @corishadowfang! Thanks, I enjoy doing these.

Rules: Answer these five questions for whatever characters you want, then tag some people.

I suppose I’ll be doing Blackheart, since nothing else I have on my mind is really tangible at the moment...

(Long post, so answers below!)

1) What is your OCs’ favorite weapon type (and if they don’t have one, then just answer hypothetically, and that goes for the rest of the Qs)

Alexander: Despite spending the entire story using a sword, it’s actually not his go-to! A sword and shield may be his primary pick on the ground, but he’s usually atop his horse (he doesn’t bring her to the infested city due to terrain, cavalry charges aren’t exactly effective in an urban enviornment). As a heavy cavalry knight, Alexander’s usually using a lance. The might of a lance charge atop his steed, Dragon, can fell even the toughest warriors in a single hit. Cavalry supremacy is the way the Geralthin army fights, and it’s led them to victory against foes on all sides.

Senci: He uses a longsword, though being a kobold, his size means he has to use it like a greatsword. He’s really good with it though, and becomes quite experienced in the art of combat during his journey!

Leianna: A spiked mace is her trademark. Though she’s a cleric, she uses it out of personal preference. Cracking skulls is just her style. She also uses a shield with it as well. She’s a pretty balanced warrior, though at times reckless.

Lexius: A short sword and small, wooden shield. Very plain and simple.

Razorwing: The great hero, a famous archer! He uses a longbow, it’s his staple! He also has a dagger as an emergency fallback, though as one of the avian koutu, his maneuverability means he shouldn’t really ever need to use it.

Paul: He’s a bounty hunter kitted out for any engagement. His primary weapons are his miniature crossbows. He also has a broadsword and daggers in case he needs to fight up close. He’s known to use tricky support weapons like smoke bombs and nets as well.

Wurie: The wolfman, and Captain of the Guard Wurie uses an arming sword, and nothing else! He’s spent plenty of time mastering its use, though. The same, old but maintained blade has brought him through many years of service, from his start as a caravan mercenary, through the height of his career as the founder and leader of a mercenary company, and finally to his years as a guard for the city of Palethorn.

Andric: A claymore! He’s strong enough to use it with one hand, though he tends to use both anyway. Having a free offhand is helpful with casting his holy magic though, being a paladin and all.

Tourthun: He’s a red, firebreathing dragon! Soooo...claws and fire.

Charles: Half-human, half-dragon, all magician! He doesn’t use any weapons at all! Not physical anyway, as he has an array of spells to choose from. If for some reason he couldn’t use any magic, he’d probably just use his claws.

2) Do they own such a weapon? How does it look like? (Add drawings or pictures pls!)

Alexander:

Senci:

Leianna:

Lexius:

Razorwing:

Paul:

Wurie:

Andric:

Tourthun:

I guess? That’s the closest I can think of a picture to his “weapons”. (He’s actually really nice though so don’t worry, he’s not actually plundering gold or frying people)

Charles:

3) How did it come into their possession?

Alexander: He commissioned a renowned blacksmith and armorer to forge his equipment.

Senci: A gift from his tutor and foster father, Andric!

Leianna: Granted to her by the Order of God, the religious order she serves.

Lexius: The monk scraped together the tiny bit of personal wealth he had and got his sword, shield and chainmail quickly made by a nameless blacksmith, hence their dubious quality.

Razorwing: After becoming a very skilled bowman, he put in a lot of time learning to how both make and maintain bows and arrows. His current longbow is one he made himself!

Paul: He was careful to have his armaments made by well-established blacksmiths with reputations for high-quality, reliable merchandise. Can’t have a breakage or malfunction in the middle of an important mission, after all.

Wurie: Part of a dual deal, actually. When deciding to become a mercenary, he mentioned his lack of armaments to the caravan company he wanted to sign up with. The head merchant actually pointed him to a company blacksmith, offering a moderate discount. This was to hopefully foster some loyalty so that Wurie would stay on with them for future trips. The wolfman did indeed stick around with them for a long time.

Andric: Meticulously crafted by a master blacksmith, and then enchanted by himself. The top quality steel is deadly and reliable, and the paladin’s own blessing makes the claymore tear through the scales and flesh of demons and evil monsters with ease.

Tourthun: All dragons are born with their claws and breath powers.

Charles: Everyone’s born with magic already innately inside of them. It’s simply a matter of training to draw it out and learn to use and control it...

4) Who taught them to use it?

Alexander: That would be Sir Gabriel Winthorperry! A knight that arrived to the house of Angelus to serve Alexander’s father, he took on the role of tutor when Alexander expressed interest in becoming a knight. He trained the child for many years in the use of knightly weapons, combat and conduct, until Alexander was finally able to set off as an knight on his own. He’s become a great tactician from his time commanding armies as well.

Senci: Sir Andric, the paladin and one who raised Senci! He drilled Senci vigorously. At first he didn’t want to, but Senci begged and pleaded, wanting to become a hero like him. He made sure the kobold would be strong and skilled enough to survive out in the harsh world that Senci still sees as a dreamland.

Leianna: She began training to become a cleric as she reached maturity. As a child, she had to run away from home for reasons. A priest found her out in the forest crying, and took her back to the monastery. There she grew up learning about the holy scriptures, church tradition, and God. After they accepted her request, she started training, and became proficient at channeling holy magic and using blunt instruments.

Lexius: No one! He has absolutely no combat experience or training! He’s totally out of his league...though he IS very skilled at healing magic, and has quite a bit of potential that will become apparent later down the line...

Razorwing: An archery tutor who turned out to be a pretty nasty man, actually. He started a toxic, abusive relationship with Razorwing while he was young and naive. A traveling human helped him break free from that, and Razorwing began training himself after that. He quickly rose to become a master archer in due time. and is pretty famous as an adventuring hero now.

Paul: Self-taught. He started small, but his natural combat awareness, sharp senses and streetwise nature helped him stay alive long enough to become VERY good at what he does.

Wurie: Trained by a barbarian tribe as a warrior at first. He ran away and fled to Geralthin, where he became a mercenary. He got a lot of training and firsthand experience with kobold raids on the caravans he protected. After becoming the head of his own company he set off on many missions against all kinds of monsters. By the time he became a city guard he was a seasoned veteran of war. In that time he became skilled in the art of mediation and diffusing volatile situations as well, since the job required it.

Andric: Trained by the church, and forged in the crucible of war. He’s spend decades fighting cults, monsters, and even slaying dragons. He’s one of the most battle-hardened and highly-skilled paladins in the world at the moment, and his mere presence can turn the tide of war.

Tourthun: He doesn’t fight, nor was he trained. He’s borderline pacifist, though certain events will force a change soon enough. As a great, mighty dragon though anyone but a great wizard or hero would be hard-pressed to defeat him if they wanted to...not that most would. He’s developed a fiercely protective attitude towards humanity, and wishes to defend them from other, more evil dragons.

Charles: He went to college for the magical arts. He’s still young, but his natural ability, great mind, and fast learning along the powerful desire to become better means it won’t be long before he’s a master sorcerer.

5) Does your OCs’ have a special boss-killer move? What is it?

I like to imagine this question as making a “Finisher” or “Ultimate” move from a videogame, so I’ll try my best to use that as inspiration.

Alexander: He’s just a knight. A good one, but still a knight, having no magic or superhuman abilities. I’d imagine his ultimate move would be him using a rallying horn, and an army of knights appearing and running down his foe in a crushing cavalry charge full of lances.

Senci: Some sort of reckless and wild flurry of swings, ending with a front-flip cleave.

Leianna: Beating the stuffing out of her enemy, knocking them over, and slamming her mace into their skull.

Lexius: The spell Destroy Evil! I’ve written some lore on magic before, so here’s an excerpt about the spell:

“Caster creates an aura around them of pure good, destroying anything evil, both physical and in concept. This will spell destroys not only beings born of evil, like demons, and tears the corruption from tainted objects, but also seeks out and destroys evil within normal beings. Selfishness, hatred, greed and jealously are burned away from people in the aura. This process is extremely painful, amplified by how “bad” of a person the target is. Even good people will feel great pain, but the truly wicked will be wracked with such horrific suffering that they will likely die of shock before the process is complete. Once these thoughts of darkness and wickedness are burned away, those affected will feel different, calm and at peace with themselves. They might no longer feel temptation to do bad, or may begin to see the faults with their old ways. Stripping away free will is a huge taboo in human society, so this spell is generally only cast on either the willing, on defiled objects, or in groups where demons are suspected to be hiding in human disguises, the holy person gauging the reactions of those affected. Demons will screech in horror before burning away completely. Sometimes used by holy men and women to purify themselves of temptation and sin. An extremely difficult spell to cast.”

Razorwing: A flurry of arrows fired while he’s flying in the air, followed up by a cinematic headshot.

Paul: A smoke bomb and him dancing around the enemy unseen, landing hit after hit, ended with a shot to the back while the enemy’s trying to find him.

Wurie: Rallying the Silver Shields, his mercenary company, to come in and overwhelm the enemy!

Andric: Calling down a pillar of pure divine energy, smiting his opponent and enveloping them in holy flames.

Tourthun: His *SPOILERS* appears and the pair drown the enemy in a sea of flames.

Charles: Probably the spell Ritual of Pain. Here’s a description from the lore excerpts again:

“The caster, before casting this spell, must draw blood. The more blood, the more powerful the spell. Generally, the sorcerer will stab their hand or arm with a knife, dig into the wound to let blood pour freely, and then hold up their hand and cast the spell. A torrent of acidic blood will pour from the caster towards the intended target, drowning the victim in boiling acid. This extraordinarily powerful spell costs the caster dearly, who will be terribly wounded afterwards. Anyone casting this spell is either desperate enough to risk death, or has a healer handy. Use of this spell is frowned upon in many places, though in antiquity it was one of the powerful death spells used to defeat the dragons.”

Tagging @lady-redshield-writes, @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword and @sheralynnramsey!

[puppetmaster55]

Thoughts on s8

Boy, this one got long.

Alright. It’s been like a month, and I feel detached enough from my initial emotional responses that I can finally get this out. My thoughts on the final season of vld. All I can say is, I urge you to read beyond the first sentence, because I will be diving into it and picking it apart as best I can.

So… here it is.

I liked the season.

I know, I’m surprised too. I didn’t go in expecting to like it like I did, I just expected to at most, Not Hate the season.

But I liked it, and perhaps not for the reasons that anyone else could say.

The throughline of the season, the narrative tying all 13 episodes together into one, was very clearly there. I liked that. Compared to season 7, where I still believe that it was written as two separate seasons (the road trip arc, and the earth arc) where season 8 culminated felt like the place that it was leading to when the season began.

I liked maybe two of the episodes, while the rest were middling or passing, and a couple had me staring in confusion trying to understand what was even happening at times.

The best episode of the season, honestly, was Day 47. Kinkade and Rizavi are the most interesting of the MFEs to me, and getting more of them was really nice. Getting a peek into the day-to-day life aboard the atlas was also really nice.

An episode that should have been great, but fell short because of its final lines? Battle Scars (you know, the one with Olkarion? Yeah that one). Up until those final lines, I really did love that episode, because we finally got the answer the unspoken question: why is Voltron necessary to win, to stop the bad guys?

That episode did wonders, to me, in answering that question. We got to see the tragedy and destruction that happens when Voltron isn’t there, when the robeast arrives and attacks and everything that is used to combat it fails to work. Every other time, Voltron swooped in to save the day at the last minute, and while that is excellent storytelling, seeing this, seeing what happens when Voltron isn’t there for that last minute save… that was really powerful.

There was really good lore, some that build upon lore from long ago (the astral plane, anyone? We got more of that), and others that had me staring because who let these writers into my home and into my notes.

And then there’s what I didn’t like.

Lotor had an arc, that much was clear, and he was obviously lingering throughout this season like a ghost. What that means, or what that doesn’t mean, is for another discussion digging up and reconstructing the skeleton by which the series itself was built upon.

Like two paragraphs ago, I talked about Olkarion and how much I really loved that episode. Here, I talk about why I didn’t: because of the handwave at the end. Those final lines, about how these innocent lives died so our heroes could have the information to save others, and that their deaths were noble and not in vain?

I hated that.

I hate when unfair death has all the weight and tragedy removed by saying “they gave us important information that can save the lives of billions” as if they needed to die for that to happen, as if they gladly were soldiers in battle and not civilians safe at home.

So, I would have loved the episode, had it not said that the horrifying and tragic death of Olkarion was, in the end, a Good Thing and that this entire planet, this entire culture, that is dead should not be mourned but celebrated for the death that was forced upon it. That this genocide (and it was genocide, make no mistake) should be celebrated for advancing the knowledge of… yeah.

…….I did not say that this would be without bias. There is no way to speak of this without having some sort of emotional bias.

There are many things I could talk about, from the strangeness of the pacing (Day 47 and Clear Day are about as filler as filler ever gets in this series, and that they’re back to back this season baffles me now as it baffled me when I first watched them) to the ways that characters have their personalities altered (Lance doesn’t feel matured, he feels like he’s had everything that made him a likeable personality stripped away, and y’know what, that’s my next paragraph).

So. Lance. I loved Lance in the early seasons, I loved Lance even as far as season 7. Lance was fun, he had a big personality and made some jokes but was brilliant in his own way and grew despite everything. I didn’t recognize that Lance in this one. Having Allura call him sharpshooter, he should have been preening, and instead he sounded like he didn’t want it, he sounded like someone who was going through the motions. Lance in season 8 was devoid of the personality that he had, stripped away until there was only the ghost of it that appeared maybe three times in all of this season.

Hunk had one moment, when he was making the Altean food and getting the captured Alteans to open up, and that was it. I feel glad, almost, that he didn’t have focus simply because he managed to evade the things that happened to everyone.

Keith… I grew distanced from him in the space between seasons 2 and 3 because of how vibrantly the fandom was chanting for him. I think I grew to become neutral to him from the way he was always centered as The Protagonist. Weirdly, I felt like I recognized the ghost of early seasons Keith (him from the first two seasons, who I actually felt I could grow to like) in this season.

I entered this season resigned to seeing Big Keith Moments, and there were like five in three episodes in a row in the first half, and after that? I didn’t see the season centering itself around Keith as much as I feared it would. This actually made me take a step back and see some good moments for him and remind me that I actually might have grown to like him, that I actually could still.

If there’s one thing that this season let me down on, it’s that Lance did not end up in handcuffs. I’m so let down by that, honestly, it was one of the only things that could be reliably counted upon for each 13-episode set, and he wasn’t in handcuffs at all.

Allura was annexed practically from the start, slated to perform a massive sacrifice that made me hurt even as I watched it happen. She was still in love with Lotor, even as she clung tighter to Lance. For that, among too many other reasons, I cannot say that I enjoyed the romance.

And the romance? If it felt weirdly done in season 7, having it be a throughline in season 8 made it hurt all the more. Lance and Lotor deserved more than to be Allura’s love interests. Lance deserved more than to be stripped away until that was all that he was.

Allura’s end, too, felt awful. I didn’t like it, I still don’t like it, and if this had been the series that was meant to end that way, I would be fine with it. But it wasn’t, and so I didn’t. I figured, though, that she was going to die or something similar when she brought the dead park back to life. I also figured, apparently foolishly, that Lance’s declaration that the team was her family would be something that would stop her from making that sacrifice.

I wanted Allura to live, dammit, and see peace and see the formation of a New Altea.

Pidge was there, too, but she didn’t have any stakes or anything. Pidge was there, and got to taker her whole family (including the dog) out into space. That she got some bonding time with Allura was good, but beyond that there was about as much for her to do in this season as there was for Hunk.

Shiro… honestly? Shiro wasn’t even in this season. I don’t know who that person was that wore Shiro’s face, but the Shiro of the past seven seasons was more of a Shiro than whoever this person was. Yes, even the empty Shiro of season 7 was more Shiro than whoever this Shiro was. He was stripped of his rank of Paladin, stripped of his personality, stripped of everything that made Shiro… Shiro. He even had his status as a main character torn away from him, as he didn’t appear in every episode, and those that he did appear in barely featured him.

God, but Shiro deserved better.

And Kuron, but that’s for another time.

I didn’t expect to get any answers from Operation Kuron, but I at least held out some hope of getting answers regarding the second colony. Dead hope, perhaps, but hope still. I never got the impression that the alteans there were dead, despite all the season 6 dialogue that talking about thousands of Alteans dying by Lotor’s hands.

Looking back, I guess we were supposed to take everything being said at face value. There apparently was no deeper secret, the little stuff that said that we didn’t know everything (even the characters themselves saying that they didn’t know the full picture) meant nothing. Lotor did a bad thing trying to do a good thing, and for that he was sentenced to death.

And even then, after getting shown and told repeatedly that Lotor is an Evil Villain, we’re given his backstory at long last, where he’s shown as a tragic figure who wasn’t an evil villain at all, simply someone who was desperate, and in that desperation turned to methods that were wrong and that he was trying to atone for throughout the entire time he was in the series. So what was it, then, that we’re supposed to feel for Lotor? Are we supposed to feel sympathy for him, or are we supposed to condemn him?

God, but Lotor deserved better.

Everyone deserved better, really.

Two plot threads that I didn’t expect to see closed out, were that of the quintessence monster that Ranveig experimented on, and Zethrid. And honestly? I wasn’t expected Zethrid to make a return. That was a delightful surprise.

The quinessence monster being some late-stage retcon of simply being a monster from the cosmic abyss felt sad, when it could have been simply what it was introduced as: something that was mutated by the quintessence into the monster that it became.

Beyond that, I almost liked the things that Lahn brought up. What right should the Galra have, to submit to Voltron when Voltron is responsible for all that happened was a direct result to Voltron’s actions. They got rid of Lotor, and with his removal there were intense consequences that they cannot simply pretend didn’t happen.

As for Zethrid? The original script was there, with Zethrid’s lines making it clear that Ezor was dead and she was taking revenge on Keith and Acxa. Changing it so that instead it was that Ezor was alive was a good move, since it unkilled a lesbian, but I think it also undercut Zethrid’s arc and made Ezor into some heel-face turn away from violence. I never got the impression that Ezor wanted something different than violence, since she was always one of the bloodthirstier of the generals.

Still, it was a nice enough addition.

And now we reach the yelmore of this season: Curtis.

I love Curtis, honestly, and I love his marriage to Shiro. With how we’ve seen the writers handle romance already, I’m perfectly fine with not getting the tale of how they went from existing on the bridge together to being happily married. I love that we got that, that DreamWorks drew a line in the sand about where they stand on representation and that it was with the first mlm wedding (if not also kiss) in western animated media.

Really, the only thing I can critique is that the original plan had confirmation that Zethrid and Shiro are lesbian and gay, respectively, and they both were originally to end up alone with dead lovers. That is literally all my negative say on the matter.

And all this brings me to… Honerva.

Oh, Honerva. You were, honestly, a more fascinating villain when you were Haggar. You were a scientist, a high priestess, with the backstory of someone who wasn’t afraid to step into the purview of the gods to gain the knowledge you desired. And you ended up as someone who apparently only ever wanted to be a mother. That your whole entire plan, the one that was meant to be the culmination of this entire series, was to destroy all realities until you found the one where you could be a mother to your child, is… quite something.

Under a different approach, I could understand it perfectly.

Under this approach, it was clear with how you commodified Lotor even after regaining your memories that you were going to be the same way with this Perfect Reality Lotor.

I dunno, maybe it was my expectations playing against me, but I expected Honerva to retain her status and desires as a scientist above that of being a mother. Even before she went into the rift, even before it began to affect her, she was more concerned with the science than with much else. Yes, she loved, and yes, she lost, but she and Zarkon both were reduced down to the evils they were deep down: Zarkon, the ruler, and Haggar, the scientist. Learning she was a mother to Lotor didn’t feel like it should have changed her desires for knowledge or caused her to abandon them entirely.

Which isn’t to say that Honerva was a terrible villain here, simply that she became a different kind of villain than who I expected her to be.

As a final season, I didn’t get the impression that we were concluding storylines begun way back in the first season. I didn’t get the impression that we were seeing the end of the journey that we started down. Honerva’s final approach as a villain didn’t feel like the culmination of the path begun at the start.

Quite honestly, season 8 felt like the ending to a different series.

Maybe it isn’t though. Maybe I went into it expected a shonen series but around half a dozen characters instead of one single character, and instead got a weirdly done series with questionable to horrific themes and lessons. Others have written about those better than I ever could.

Or maybe it is, and the series we were sold at the start isn’t the one that we were ultimately given.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[agrimtotem]

horns

“Did it hurt?”

Dyanisi blinks, startled by the question, and turns to look over her shoulder. Her hand, which had dropped to the hilt of her sword in warning, goes back to its place at her side once she recognizes the speaker as non-threatening.

Eisha Sparrowsong, or Sparrow, as the rest of the Braves call her, is staring at the small, blunted stubs where Dyanisi’s horns used to be. Sparrow is small, barely more than a calf, with soft sorrel-colored fur and hooves that she hasn’t grown into, and looks about as intimidating as her namesake. Dyanisi had quietly disdained being placed in the same Brave squad as the youngling, but understood the reasoning; she was Grimtotem, and she wasn’t to be trusted. She’d have to earn her place in the Bluffs.

When Dyanisi doesn’t respond immediately, Sparrow gestures towards her head and then at her own horns, as brown as her fur and curled out slightly. “It looks like it hurt. I can’t imagine what that felt like. When they, you know.” She clears her throat. Dyanisi stares at her silently, one eyebrow raised. “...cut them off,” the calf finishes on a mumble, clearly having lost her confidence in the question.

Dyanisi holds her gaze for a long, awkward moment before turning her eyes back out across the horizon and answering simply and bluntly, “No.”

There’s a sharp chuckle to the other side of her, deep and throaty, and Dyanisi and Sparrow both turn to look at Tahno where he leans heavily against the axe he’s planted into the ground. “Of course it didn’t,” he huffs, resting his massive chin in one massive hand. “Haven’t you heard? Grimtotem don’t feel pain.”

Where Sparrow is small and unimpressive, Tahno Steephoof is massive, a mountain of a bull. He wields a greataxe nearly his own height and his chestnut fur stretches over comically large muscles. Dyanisi is not petite by any stretch of the imagination, and truthfully has been a bit disappointed with the warriors that Thunderbluff has had to offer as a whole, but even in comparison to her Tahno is large. He’s the second in command of their squad, is quick for someone his size, and more clever than he pretends to be.

Dyanisi hates him.

He smirks at her, then looks back behind her to Sparrow, whose eyes have widened in surprise. “They make special totems and bleed over them,” he says to the younger girl airily, “and after that they can’t feel pain as long as the totem is close by. But where, I wonder,” he continues, eyes cutting back to Dyanisi and narrowing as his smirk grows, “does she keep it? She’d have to carry it on her, but I don’t see it.”

Sparrow goggles at her and Dyanisi snorts derisively. “He’s lying, child,” she says, her voice tight and sharp with warning, her ears tipping back.

“Oh,” Tahno says brightly, as if struck by a sudden realization. “I bet it’s right up there with the stick she’s shoved up her--”

Dyanisi lunges for him, sword halfway drawn from its sheath, before her sense catches up to her and she stops. Tahno hasn’t moved, but she can see his muscles tighten and tense in anticipation, and his smirk has shifted into a sneer. Do it, his expression seems to dare her, dark brown eyes glittering, give me a reason.

It takes a long, long moment before Dyanisi can control her breathing, stomp down on the rage building in her chest. Once she’s sure that her next movement won’t be to see how much of his muscled neck she can cut into with one swing, she releases her grip on her sword once more and moves back to her previous position, rocks shifting and crunching under her hooves. The valley below is calm and peaceful, and the winds are calm enough today that she doesn’t have to brace against them while standing at the edge of the bluff. She has a very brief, very fanciful daydream where she just-- shoves Tahno off the cliff and waves at him cheerily as he plummets. Then she takes a long, deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth, and turns back to look at Sparrow. The younger girl’s eyes are wide and horrified, darting between Dyanisi and Tahno in concern.

“You don’t have feeling in your horns,” Dyanisi says dryly. “If a warrior were crippled every time a horn broke then none of the tribes would have warriors.”

She wonders if she should be embarrassed by her horns, if she should feel dishonored. They’re shorn flat close to her skull, as close as can be safely done. It was a requirement: if she wanted to become a Brave of Thunderbluff, she would have to give up her horns. After all, the Grimtotem aren’t the only tribe with dark fur, and without the trademark facepaint there would be no way to recognize her as one of the defectors. She could be a craftsmen with horns or a warrior without them, and she knows no craft well enough to support herself. A shu’halo who cannot support herself is left behind, and a shu’halo left behind is as good as dead.

She may not walk with the Grimtotem anymore, but she remembers what her tribe had taught her: the strong survive, and the weak die. It’s easier to be stronger with a sword.

Sparrow glances from Dyanisi to Tahno as if looking for confirmation, and he shrugs noncommittally, seemingly disappointed that Dyanisi didn’t rise to his bait. She looks back to Dyanisi, eyes wide and questioning. It’s uncomfortable, and Dyanisi shifts away from her. For all that Sparrow is, technically, an adult, she still seems so… calf-like. Dyanisi has never enjoyed calves, never bothered to spend much time with them. She’s a warrior, not a breeder, and besides, most of the calves of her old clan didn’t make it to adulthood. Not much point in getting attached.

“There’s a… pressure,” she answers finally, relenting. “And blood, but it doesn’t hurt, mostly.” Sparrow’s eyes widen nervously at the mention of blood, and Dyanisi makes a mental note to keep her distance from the calf. She’s untested and unbled, and she’ll be more of a hindrance in battle than a help.

“But won’t that make it harder to fight?” Sparrow asks, leaning even closer. Dyanisi throws a harried look at Tahno, but he’s back to smirking at her and just raises his brows, which is fair she shouldn’t have expected any help from them. “Do you… do the Grimtotem use their horns to fight often?”

Dyanisi chews on her response for a moment, trying to decide if she’s loyal enough to her old tribe to keep their secrets, and then shrugs. “No. Horns mostly just get in the way. Sometimes,” she says pointedly, “bulls keep them long to compensate for something.” The comment goes right over Sparrow’s head, but Dyanisi hears Tahno muffle a snort of laughter that he cuts off short and when she glances back over at him with a smirk he’s glaring at her, as if offended that she’d said something amusing. “Chieftains might let them grow to look intimidating, but shorter was generally preferred.” She trails off for a moment, lost in thought. “One of my brothers got his horns stuck in briars during a raid on the Kraul. It was one of my first hunts. He’d been shot in the leg with an arrow and was having trouble keeping up, and when he tripped and fell he got tangled in the thorns.”

“Did you have to cut him out?” Sparrow asks nervously, as if hoping for a good answer but fearing a bad one. Dyanisi hesitates, and looks back at Tahno for a brief moment. The expression on his face is stony. They both know that she didn’t.

“...there was no point,” Dyanisi finishes. “After he fell he didn’t get back up.”

Sparrow falls silent, eyes going even wider than usual, and Tahno is a mountain of judgement behind her. Dyanisi turns her eyes back out to the plains below.

What actually happened was this:

Brannen had been shot and he’d tried to keep up, but he’d fallen and gotten tangled. Dyanisi and her other brothers and sisters had paused long enough to determine that it’d take more time than he was worth to cut him out, and they’d left him. He’d been enough of a distraction to the Quillboar that the rest of them were able to get through the Kraul without pursuit. For a week or so following, Dyanisi had heard his screams in her sleep, his shouted pleas for his siblings to come back and help him, the sick wet sound when the Quillboar had descended on him. She’d heard them in her sleep and woken disgusted that she’d once called someone so craven a brother.

“Give me a sword and take my horns,” she says finally, glancing over her shoulder to make eye contact with Tahno once more. All the humor is gone from his face, and he eyes her like an assessment, like he’s determining a threat. Good. Let him remember who she is. She stares at him and says, “I kill better with a sword anyway.”

------------------

(( dyanisi is a grimtotem defector who joined the horde following cairne’s death. while she personally was not part of the grimtotem branch that took control of thunderbluff, not having been in the area at the time, she still faced exile with the rest of her tribe, and was among those who chose to submit to baine. she became a bluffwatcher, though admittedly under heavy scrutiny of the squad that she worked with, from the time of the cataclysm up to the events of the battle for azeroth.

her squad was led by osso brighthorn (Ret Paladin), and consisted of herself (Prot warrior), tahno steephoof (arms warrior), eisha sparrowsong (or just sparrow, MM hunter), and maiyra steephoof (resto druid, tahno’s cousin). eventually she and her squad settled into each other, but it’s fun for me to think about their early dynamics.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

still unused to horde stuff and i’m slowly learning lore as i go but i like writing and i like tropes and i like tauren so here’s my very tropey tauren))