#just a big ol' lore dump this

[forestofforever]

Etienne seemed to crumble as he looked at the man, tears welling up in his eyes. "Heart...I...I thought... I thought I'd never see you again." He sobbed, unable to stop this emotional response. He was so happy to see this man, even if he didn't quite understand why.

The man slowly approached Etienne, one hand reaching up to cup his face. "Oh my, I am not used to you showing quite so much emotion... but then again, you are not quite... you, are you? No. There's two." He wiped Etienne's tears away with his thumb. "I suppose that's why it took you so long. Only one side wanted to come here... but things have changed, haven't they? You're not fighting it as much anymore. I can tell. There's still two... but you're slowly growing into one. As intended."

"W...what is... what is happening to me?" Etienne was barely able to stop sobbing, the sheer sensation of finally being where he belonged utterly overwhelming him. The man sighed softly. "I'm afraid it is a rather long story... but you deserve to know. I understand if it makes no sense, I assure you, it will become clear eventually."

"The Forest... it's always existed in a plane of its own. It connects to other planes of existence, other worlds... People can fall through the cracks and end up here, they can accidentally slip between the boundary that keeps us apart, it's how it's always been... But a while ago, the boundary seemed to... come apart. The Forest is now a part of your world, slowly integrating and finding its place in your plane of existence." He motioned at the sky.

"And it appears that your world... how should I put this... it contained counterparts of the creatures that dwell here. There was a man, Benjamin." The man motioned at himself now. "He was my counterpart. We were forced to... coexist within one vessel. One world does not have the space required to contain both individuals. I seized control of the vessel rather quickly, the man I was made to share with wasn't exactly a good person, I don't consider it a loss." There was no hint or remorse in his voice, he sounded rather matter-of-fact about it.

"But that's not the only way. One side does not need full control, both sides can coexist, as long as they... merge... grow together. Become one. It's what the Crow did with his counterpart." The man tilted Etienne's head, getting a good look at his eyes. "I do believe that is where you're heading, though it seems there's still a lot of...internal conflict. It's getting in the way. You should stop fighting it so much, it'll all feel much better once you let it happen."

Alura’s chest hurt from keeping up with him but at least she war warmed up now. Her eyes began to glance around at the scenery around them, it was changing. The scenery caught her attention first, noticing the beautiful vibrant flowers. She loved nature- more so, the animals that would tend to frolic in it. What really set off bells in her head was the sky, it seemed almost as if their reality was shattering and shifting before them. Her eyes scanned the area, staying vigilant. As his paces slowed she caught up to him and remained a few feet behind him.

The voice in her head made her cover her ears- an attempt to drown it out but to no avail. After her failed attempt her hands dropped back down to her sides. Her body seemed to move on its own from this point, stepping over the branches that crawled beneath her feet. Her attention would shift from their surroundings to the back of Etienne’s head. Sure he was physically here but he didn’t seem to be conscious. With how talkative he usually was, she figured he would’ve said something by now.

The tense feeling she had seemed to fade as she fell into the trance. Keeping up with him with swifter movements, the feeling of her body feeling light- the pain in her chest not being registered anymore. When he stopped she could barely register what was happening, mentally trying to fight the trance that she had been put under. Her green eyes landed upon the man before them. She stared at him blankly before her brows began to furrow. The atmosphere around him made her body instinctively tense up. Whoever- whatever this was, they were dangerous and Alura could tell that much.

A small cough escaped her once the illusion around them was shattered. The cold and all the running she did taking an effect on her body. Her eyes squinted, scanning over the being before them. She took note of the exposed heart- what a flawed design especially of that was his weak point. She had a feeling there was nothing weak about this man. His cold expression turning into a smile didn’t put her at ease- it just made her more wary of what was hidden behind this possible nice facade. His voice made her inhale sharply, holding in another cough. Him addressing Etienne- her eyes looked over at him with a hint of concern before looking back at the being. She didn’t respond to him, besides he hadn’t exactly been taking to him.

Was this who was causing Etienne’s inner torture? She could either try to reason with him or kill him but both of those things she wasn’t sure how to do. All her clothes and items were back at his house- it was just her and a thin T-shirt against whatever this was. Still, he was being calm at the moment- so she wouldn’t try to cause any hostility.

[tauforged]

finally finished up a proper fullbody ref of this beautiful bastard!! my tenno oc, my special boy, my silly guy, my cinnamon apple — LAZ!!!!!!

i got wayyyy too ambitious with this one, but i think it serves its purpose just fine — and it was loads of fun!!

[octoooo]

Splatfest :)

[silvers-starrway]

One day in the Sonic Big Bang Server @cherbearsz mentioned Murder Drones and I was like omg yes, I love that show! Then soon after that I posted this sketch I did of Chaos Sonic with some of the disassembly drone features in the server which led to us discussing the au more seriously with having Chaos Sonic in the place of N and Sonic in the place of Uzi.

We bounced ideas around in that server, Cher made these two awesome lineups and we just followed the plot of the show from there! We got some input from some of our lovely friends too on character placement and how characters might interact with one another so it's not a 1 to 1 of the story in the show. The main plot beats are there but the interactions that lead to those beats might be totally different but I'll ramble about that in the question about cannon divergence hehe.

Fun fact, the au was created before ep 7 and 8 of Murder Drones dropped so when they did drop holy moly did Cher and I have a field day with those figuring out how the characters would react to certain scenes.

How did you guys get the ideas for your AUs?

!!!

[lynn-katt]

AU comic-y thing that I spent more time then I'd like to admit working on

Au Lore dump time!

(Only the stuff related to this comic tho)

• Cosmo has been cloned and turnt twisted many times before this is not the first time Dandy has done this

• Everytime Sprout finds out a Cosmo is twisted he himself almost goes twisted but Astro erases his memory to prevent that from happening

• The reason the mains are still the original mains is due to the fact that Dandy can't create perfect clones of them due to their more complex personalities yet...

• The only toons who are still their original selves and not clones are just the mains but nobody has any idea except for Dandy, Astro and Pebble

• the Original Cosmo has been twisted since Dandy first started his ichor operation and if Sprout were to ever come across this specific twisted version of Cosmo he wouldn't harm Sprout in any way as the original twisteds the ones who's ichor was used for cloning retained their memories even after becoming a twisteds

Sorry if any of this was confusing this AU is really just Dandy as a big ol irredeemable disney villian and I think that's fun! Sprout is also my favorite character so alot of this AU is just angst surrounding him and the toons he's closest with.

[greattigerssimp]

Christmas headcannons for the Punch Out!! Wii boxers!! 🥊🎄✨️

(cover by me :p)

They're all having a christmas party/sleepover together, there's a big Christmas tree in the gym, and their doing Secret Santa :3

Glass Joe 🇫🇷 🥐

- Made most of the food for the Xmas party. He baked bundt cakes, sugar cookies, peppermint brittle, buche de noel, and little gingerbread men he decorated to look like the boxers. Bro literally baked his German bf into a cookie because he misses him-

- The ref gifted ugly Christmas sweaters to all the boxers. Joe got an oversized blue and white jack frost themed one. He actually loved it and is keeping it

- Got berated by Aran throwing snowballs at him on his way to the party

- Overly invested in Kaiser retelling Christmas stories

- Over drank hot chocolate and passed out around 10pm. Later woke up under the tree, wrapped in wrapping paper and with several gift boys in his hair. Shockingly, it wasn't Aran who did this-

- Received his secret Santa gift from Kaiser. It was a makeshift lightweight belt Kaiser had crafted himself. Joe cried for 20 minutes straight after receiving it

- His new year resolution is to win more fights

Von Kaiser 🇩🇪🔩

- Had amazing childhood Christmas's as a child (at least the ones with just his mom) and will happily hyperfixate and info dump about them

- Taught Joe how to make fresh gingerbread (Lebkuchen)

- Recieved lots of cute, hand-made christmas cards from his boxing class. Almost cried reading them since they all praised him as a boxing teacher

- Traumatized most of the boxers after he told lore-dropped about Krampus.

- His ugly Christmas sweater was itchy and had bells on it. It quickly got on his nerves, and he later got rid of it... not before taking the bells off though. Spare parts are spare parts!

- Did most of the decorating around the gym and policed anyone who wanted to help decorate the tree. Clearly, he's an expert

- Received his secret santa gift from Bald Bull. He got this adorable "build it yourself" cuckoo clock set and absolutely adored it. (Extra hc that Bald Bull knows wayyy too much about the boxers' personal lives bc he's so quiet and listens in on their secretive conversations).

- His new year resolution was to practice self love more

- Around midnight, when the snow slowed down, he took Joe outside for a little private slow dance behind the gym, out in the snow... they kissed by the end of the hour, by the end of their slow dance ❤️

Disco Kid 🇺🇲 🕺

- "I 👁jUsT wAnT🤲 yOu🫵 FoR 4️⃣mY oWn🤲, MoRe ➕️ThAn YoU 🫵cOuLd EvEr KnOw🧠, MaKe🔨 My WiSh✨️ CoMe TrOoOoO✅️... aLl I wAnT🤲 fOr 4️⃣ChRiStMaS🎄 iS yOuUuU🫵" ....all. night. long. With Aran too.

- Got a cute reindeer sweater from the ref, and wore it all night. Got sad when Kaiser threw out his own sweater.

- Has an entire, 100+ song playlist he made for the party. About 10 of the songs on it were remixes of that one Mariah Carey one he loves so much

- Danced with Aran all-night long, despite Arans lack of rhythm. Got giggly af when Aran kissed him.

- Took a picture of Joe wrapped under the tree. It's now the official WVBA Christmas card.

- Accidentally burnt his tongue drinking the hot chocolate Hondo brought

- Kept in contact with Hondo, Aran, and Tiger as they stole Flamenco out of Brooklyn Heights. Acted as the "mission control" of the Flamenco heist situation

- Recieved his secret santa gift from King Hippo. It was a necklace made of pearls, that were decorated to look like little disco balls. He loved it, weared it all night long... and thanked King Hippo with a big ole hug.

- His new years resolution is to take his career as a boxer a little bit more seriously

King Hippo 🏝 🦛

- Hates the cold sm, he's napping by the heater 90% of the time

- Hondo was nice enough to supply the king with extra hot cocoa

- His sweater sadly didn't fit him

- Loudest teeth chattering in the world

- The boxers who got rid of their sweaters gave them to Hippo for him to use as a blanket... plus the warm hug Hippo got from Disco Kid.

- "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" is considered an offensive song to him and his kin. Disco Kid nearly lost an arm before promptly removing the song from his holiday playlist.

- Recieved his secret santa gift from Soda Popinski. He got a little Hippo plushie! He stimmed and roared a lot from it, so the boxers assumed he was happy. The plushie was pineapple scented too, so it reminded him of home.

- Doesn't know what a new years resolution is, and he didn't make one.

Piston Hondo 🇯🇵🍣

- Cooked most of the non-baked foods for the party, including freshly made hot chocolates... fanciest hot chocolates ever made.

- Gave up his cute penguin sweater to Hippo, despite actually liking the sweater

- Was the designated driver during the "Flamenco Heist" mission... which is good, since none of the other participants could drive that quietly.

- Got pulled over for speeding out of Brooklyn Heights... buuut after getting the ticket and trying to get Aran to stop cursing at the policeman, he eventually transports Don and the boys safely to the party.

- Crashed out under the tree after the heist.

- (Before the heist) recieved his secret santa gift from Glass Joe. He got a cute pusheen cat mug and a christmas card with a handwritten Haiku in it, about what a great friend Hondo is. Needless to say, Hondo was very grateful.

- His new years resolution list is loooong... stuff like "lose weight" and "focus on social life" and "be less selfish"... basically a lot of insecurities he secretly has.

Bear Hugger 🇨🇦🐻

- Got a large tree, fresh from the woods (AND replanted it, because deforestation is bad ✨️)

- Spruce didn't attend the party bc he was hibernating

- Bear recieved a polar bear sweater that was way too small on him, which sucked because he liked it. After Hippo was done using the unused sweaters as a blanket, Bear would later give his sweater to Lomasi, even if it's way too big for her. She loves it though

- Ate most of the food and stole some leftovers for Spruce and Lomasi to snack on. The sugar made him stay up all night

- Wayyyy too invested in the whole Flameco heist story

- Around 3am, he left the party and got his woodland animal friends to steal the remnants of Don's torn coat from a local dump, and he got them all to repair it. Don would be gifted it back on Christmas morning, much to Carmen's shock and surprise.

- Recieved his secret santa gift from Super Macho Man. He got two gifts, an adult bib that pointed to his mouth and read "CPDS: Canada's Pancake Disposal System." and Spruce recieved adorable squirrel sized swimming wings (made by Kaiser, gifted by Macho Man).

- His new years resolution is single handedly stop humans and corporations from hurting the environment.

Great Tiger 🇮🇳🐅

- Typically doesn't celebrate Christmas, but is gonna do so this year just to spend time with his friends and to participate in secret santa. (It's a personal choice if Sikh individuals wish to celebrate Christmas or not, according to my research before writing this).

- Absolutely LOVED his corny ahh ugly Christmas cat sweater, wore it during the Flamenco heist situation

- Re-inacted some of Kaisers' christmas stories using his clones

- When Hondo arrived at Carmen's house that evening, Tiger was in charge of distracting Carmen and her family while Aran snuck Don out of the top window. He and his clones did a (technical) one-man caroling mini spectacular, complete with dancing and a short rap session. Ofc Tiger had to he over the top with it

- Screamed like a girl when Aran gifted him a fake dead rat... luckily, Hondo said "Aran, you shouldn't hurt your own kind" after Aran bursted out laughing

- His new years resolution is to be more self sufficient and depend on his magic less

Don Flamenco 🇪🇸 🥀

- His parents from Spain sent him this gorgeous, satin winter coat with a cute little card. They love him very much, despite how little contact Don has with them (due to Carmen ofc)

- Bro had an entire Cinderella arc. Basically, Don wanted to go to the WVBA Christmas party, but Carmen wanted him to stay home and spend the night with her... even though he's been cooped up at her home since mid-December. She says stuff like "I matter more" and "They're better off without you," using such language to gaslight and manipulate Don into staying with her.

- They got into a fight about it, which resulted in Carmen not only tearing up his new winter coat Don's family from Spain had sent him a few days ago... but she also locks him in her room that night until he "becomes a better boyfriend."

- This pushed him over the edge, and he called out to Disco Kid for help! Luckily, Aran, Hondo and Tiger were able to "kidnap" him away from Carmen's place, and Don was able to spend half the night at the party

- Pretended to like his elf christmas sweater so as not to hurt the refs feelings.

- Also wore it because he hates the cold

- Taking selfies along with Macho Man, without thinking that Carmen might see them and know where he was. Thankfully, Carmen didn't.

- Recieved his secret santa present from Great Tiger. He got an expensive skin care kit that he vows to use daily.

- His new years resolution is to "be a stronger boyfriend" for Carmen.

- Snuck back into Carmen's home around 6am and fell asleep on the couch. Was overjoyed the next morning to see his new coat repaired.

Aran Ryan 🇮🇪 😈

- Tries to dance with Disco Kid to the Christmas tunes, but he's got no rhythm, so it looked kinda awkward but cute at the same time.

- Just so happened to be dancing under a mistletoe a certain German precariously placed for a certain French... but only he noticed.

- Quickly kissed Disco Kid before gesturing to the mistletoe.

- Agreed to help save Don's christmas only because he wanted to break into Carmen's home, plus he has experience climbing up to second floors from the outside.... don't ask how.

- Once he broke in, he promptly placed a spare fake dead rat into Carmen's stocking (that was conveniently in her room) before safely carrying Don out of the window

- Threatened to drop Don multiple times if he didn't shut up about the cold... thankfully, Don was okay.

- Recieved his secret santa gift from Bear Hugger. He got A LUMP OF COAL. He nearly destroyed everything in that gym until he looked deeper into the gift bag... and also saw he got a new leather jacket with a badass Irish blessing on the back of it. Bear laughed his ass off at Arans initial reaction

- Didn't say it out loud, but his new years resolution was to be a better behaved human of society... at least for Disco Kid's sake.

Soda Popinski 🇷🇺🍾

- Casually walked to the gym out in the cold wearing a christmas tank top and apple bottom jeans.

- "Soda it's fucking 21 degrees out"

- "And?"

- Liked his snowman sweater, it was super cute to him. He and Macho Man did sweater selfies together

- Chugging eggnog because no one else wants to drink it. The sugar he got also made him stay up all night

- Got scared by Kaisers krampus story and had nightmares until new years

- Started a snowball fight with Aran early on during the party, which Joe unfortunately became a part of

- Recieved his secret santa gift from Don when he eventually arrived at the party.

- His new years resolution was to keep up his alcohol recovery process

Bald Bull 🇹🇷 🐂

- Didn't go to the Christmas party because he hates parties and doesn't celebrate Christmas. He flew back to Turkey to spend time with his family

- Gave gifts around new years to his many family members

- Didn't get his christmas sweater from the ref, but he wouldn't have liked it anyways

- Left Kaiser his secret santa present by the tree along with a note explaining why he didn't come

- When he came back in early January, he received his secret santa gift from Disco Kid. He got a pair of fluffy bull slippers. He loves them and wears them every morning now.

- His new years resolution was to become more approachable

Super Macho Man 🇺🇸🌊

- Is the one who wrapped up Joe and placed him under the tree

- Didn't like the itchy santa sweater he got (it irritated his artificially tanned skin), but he wore it most of the party because Soda wanted to take selfies with him... and gosh darn it, he won't admit it, but he liked seeing Soda all happy and enjoying himself

- Secretly cuddled with Soda each time he had nightmares about the krampus

- Also got scared by Kaisers story

- "Bro who told you about this fucking creature?!?"

- "Mien grandparents."

- "Ah, who would've guessed."

- Made Christmas thrist traps and posted them alongside Don. They even recreated that one santa scene from Mean Girls with just two people

- Recieved his secret santa gift from Piston Hondo. He got a nautical themed surf board, signed by all of the boxers. Bro let's out the loudest fucking "HELL YEAH BRO" when he got it.

- His new years resolution is to keep being talented and handsome

Mr. Sandman 💤 🟢

- Didn't participate in secret santa

- Spent Christmas alone, working out

- Recieved a WVBA merch gift card from Mr. Dream, and a ton of fan mail and gifts from his fans

- Spent Christmas night staying comfortable and sleeping peacefully

- His new years resolution is to try and find a hobby outside of boxing

(Bonus! Because I didn't wanna end on a sad note.)

Little Mac 🥊🟢

- Spent Christmas with Doc and Peter Punch, away from the Christmas party

- They all pulled an all nighter, watching Christmas movies all night

- Doc managed to pull enough money together to give both of them a plentiful christmas

- Despite being teens, Mac and Peter still both believe in Santa Clause.

- They both got lots of presents on Christmas morning, but their favorite gifts was the gamer tank top meant for Peter, and for Mac, it was this necklace with a picture of Doc and Mac first leaving the orphanage

- Mac's new years resolution is to finish school with passing grades, Peter's resolution is to keep up his appearance, and Doc's resolution is to lose a little bit of weight

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a happy holidays! And from the boxers...

"Joyeux noël" - Glass Joe

"Frohe Weihnachten" - Von Kaiser

"RAWR" - King Hippo

"Merīkurisumasu" - Piston Hondo

"मेरी क्रिसमस!" - Great Tiger

"Feliz Navidad!" - Don Flamenco

"Nollaig Shona!" - Aran Ryan (he knows a little bit of Irish lol)

"С Рождеством!" - Soda Popinski

"Mutlu Noeller" - Bald Bull

"Love ya all, have a happy holidays!~"

[plasma-packin-mama]

a cure for them old world blues 💗🎄

(Featuring @thebigolbee ‘s Marlow!)

I talk about fallout down there (mostly nonsense thought dump) ⬇️

Thinking Abt the existence of modern traditions 200 years into the post apocalypse is very interesting to me... I think that the Enclave, bastion of conservatism and WASPism that it was, probably held Christmas traditions pretty intact throughout its lifespan. Good Ol American Values yadda yadda conflating American identity with whiteness and Christianity and the picket fence happy nuclear family veneer. So Arcade had at least a few Traditional Christmases as a kid. Which I think would probably be pretty unique in the wasteland. 200 years is a long ass time for tradition and culture to morph when it isn't being held still a chokehold by an insular community. Idk how strongly cultural Christianity would still be smothering the general zeitgeist around 2281, but I definitely think the traditions of winter holidays would have changed and morphed a lot from what they are today. Idk I'm not an anthropologist.

Anyway, The other big source of info about old world traditions would be old world ghouls like Richie!! I won't talk about his lore because he's not my character obviously, but he was alive before the bombs dropped so he'd know firsthand how Christmas was celebrated back then. I think Delilah would want to set up a Real Christmas celebration for him, "just like in the old days!!" To make him smile :) Arcade could help them get the details right. Someone's making eggnog out of mantis eggs or something. Hey are there chickens in fallout??? Do I remember there being some in 4? Are they just regular ass chickens?

Ok stop talking peep MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS OR IF YOU DONT CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS HAPPY MONDAY LOLOL I HOPE YOU'RE OFF FROM WORK AT LEAST.

[mossymandibles]

Ummm meet Jago (I changed it last minute from Zaander who I’ve mentioned like, twice but whatever) Close childhood friend/old flame of Kraw. They have a sort of haphazard reunion neither of them are expecting.

I’ll post more about him later, I feel like I’m not in the headspace to drop a big ol lore dump, idk. I’m ok with asks about him though ofc

He’s a species of Hox Stray, kind of a primate/bat/sapian? I’m still thinking of ways to organize my ‘new human’ taxonomy so bear with me I’m slow.

I’m just very excited about him and enjoy drawing him a lot and he’s been on the brain for SO long so I’m happy he has a form now.

He’s trans but could only afford to get two sets of his tits removed.

[pokeblaze0238]

since this is a shadamy au, it only makes sense to havve human silver in this

basically in this au, hes shadow and amys future son. How is he their son if hes from 200 years in the future I'll in the massive lore dump down below

also have some extra doodles:

theres also techically 2 silvers in this au. think a trunks and future trunks situation.

big ol lore time under read more:

so silver in this is born after the flames of disaster got released so basically at his parents are kinda separated due to circumstances aka shadow being basically being at large

His mom also running and hiding him and her cause the government also realized “oh shit he has offspring we should probably go hunt that down as well”

So basically for around the first monthes of silvers life with his mom is basically in hiding and searching for his dad shadow, which sadly leads amy to being seen by a group of gun (I’m just tired typing out the government when we both know what G.U.N. is) soldiers leading her to having to hide silver away from them and grabbing their attention holding a fake silver (basically a somewhat large rock swaddling in a extra blanket), which leads to her getting shot and dying. leaving only an sos message for shadow to find her dead

So a short amount of time passes and shadow finally arrives on the scene only to see no one there except for the corpse of basically his wife.

So he’s holding Amy and grieving the loss of the love of his life till he hears something. A babies cry, so he goes over to inspect it to find baby silver hiding in some carefully placed debris so he carefully picks up the baby and holds the little guy for a bit till he hears someone making their way and runs off

So in a last minute before shadow gets captured by gun he tries to use chaos control silver to get him somewhere safe but something goes wrong and he accidentally yeets our poor small child 200 in the future.

Left with no family, silver spends the rest of his life up until the events of sonic 06 just trying his damn best to survive. Most of his memories of his parents start getting super fuzzy and very much faded til he meets an odd man named mephiles

[d8tl55c]

woo! woohoo! weeheee! oh that took a while. i wanted to finish it during chosenweek and idc im extremely pleased. it turned out just how i wanted

here's the original page 3 before i

DEEPLY SCRUNHKGLED IT !

- - -

this document was created with the help of 5-year TCO handling expert, avast!, for the purposes of any other antiviruses coming across and wanting to keep useful HI-PWR StickFigures.

please be aware that the TCO variant in particular is the most dangerous to keep idle. its power core is an experimental device that WILL explode if unattended/starved for all types of input energy for too long (also see: BITE protocols).

upkeep shouldn't be too hard if you've installed the avast! ECL system, but still. don't mess around with it! serious!

this is why regulations exist, people! don't forget it in the Chest or you'll have a time bomb on your hands...

anyway it gets to the feathers bit way later than TDL's document. they're not as vital to a host PC as core maintenance, but still a thing to keep in mind.

if your TCO is especially agitated for a period of time, it may be molting... apparently feathered animals do this all the time, and someone went way too hard on the strength specs on its exterior armor so that'll take some effort.

when the User is idle, let the Cursor hang around near the Taskbar so the TCO can use the pointy parts as leverage (or just wait a while, it should get over it).

note: it might also complain for more food. don't worry, this is purely a simulation of the increased nutritional requirements of real molting. status quo should resume in a few days.

- - -

/lore dump over ``^^``

aaand the other point of this post is to ask you something.

yes, you. 💕

would u like to

ask me a question about one of the other bullets on my big ol diagram? :333

i have most of this information written out but,,, i didn't know how to structure it. so! YOU ask me first what you're most interested in uwu or ill just skip merrily through them one by one, no pressure.

perfect example question: "WHAT THE HELL IS AN ANTINODE/GAIN CRYSTAL/METADATA CLIENT"

ask either in my literal asks, or in tags on this post, or in the tags on my previous story post, or in my DMs- anything will do! \o_🎉

thank you!!!!!! i love engineering discussion!!!!!!!!!!!

[galaxy-lilies]

Mg. Indie G. Lillies, I beg thee to please send the sketch and the lore dump.

(for context this is in the oc universe @star-captain cooked up and introduced to me way back when and we've just been building it since)

so there's this alien species called starborns that have a chance of being born when a star is made (thus their name) and they can be a multitude of different colors, they have white hair + star freckles, they don't need to breathe oxygen and bleed silver blood, however if their inner cores are disrupted by the gravity/gravitational pull of another planet it could cause their form to break down and die.

for shits and giggles avon and i were like "lmao what if the hermits were in this universe" and then boom, starborn Scar. we're still not sure what he did before he got onto the, well, Hermit craft (it's like a big ol ship where a bunch of mini ships can park/stay) but we do know when he was born, he was hurtling through space, got a liiiiittle too close to a sun, and crash landed and/or was rescued by folks who were able to make his initial prosthetics for his right arm and legs

thus began his journey planet hopping and exploring, he was growing out his hair a la s9 elf Scar style so by the time he ran into Cub it was long. Cub at this point was a mercenary too + a warden hybrid and when he captured Scar, the starborn kept on escaping his cell and messing with him. It wasnt until after 1) Cub realized that the bounty on Scar was to capture him for a cause he didnt agree with (trafficking), 2) the two start traveling together, and 3) when they finally stumble across the Hermit does Scar ask Cub to help him cut his hair

(Grian taking a look at what Scar is doing on the monitor)

But the main doodle I drew last night was before all of that, when the days of mercenary work, betrayals, and hurt had yet to reach Scar, and all he wanted to do was explore.

his design is probably gonna change a bit but yee yee, base lore, hope that ramble made sense

[entelodante]

New chimera OC! Big ole lore filled info dump below!

This guy is an archmage, which in modern terms in this world is someone who is using pre-Godfall magic, so he's old as hell. And he does go by he, not that he is really 'male' but since fleeing Mirum his house has taken up residency in a predominately human kingdom, so his pronouns are moreso born from trying to acclimate. Not that he went any farther than that. Beach Vacation, or just Vaycay for short, is an ETREMELY skilled caster as the name would suggest. His name by the way is three days long, so it is a little disorienting to be introduced to him, but chimeric names fade quickly once they're 'heard', like a dream! That being said Vaycay's main goal in life is the betterment of his family. He was a high ranking caster in pre-revolt Mirum so they have taken up the position as the head of one of the larger remaining Chimeric houses. He holds a very high place in the court of their current housing Kingdom, who relies on him as their head Archmage. He is a chimera of the mindset of preserving their people to as close as they were before the exodus from Mirum in the hope of one day reclaiming the continent. Formerly he was staunchly against pacts with outside sources to attain magic, but in modern settings a recent Godly war has killed off a lot of the Archmages that were left. With their numbers only ever in decline he has reluctantly made the decision to pact the children of his house with a grove. The location of which is kept close to the chest. Regardless of that he still finds deformation of the Chimeric form to be distasteful, even if he and his family have partaken in it slightly themselves. He has particular disdain for those who attempt to mimic other species. His modifications mainly focus around expanding the volume of his mana chamber, leading to his disc shaped faceplate and a high tier casting ability. While most chimera can only project their thoughts and emotions, he can also forcefully intercept the minds of others to 'read their mind' if you will. He is also apt at spell cancellation, quite adept at canceling out other magics with ease. Though he is incapable of doing so towards divine magics. His main value through all is as a battle mage, he is a wiz at suffocation spells and casting redirection. There is hardly a battle he participated in that he didn't win. Thus whatever Kingdom he inhabits is typically left well enough alone.

All in all, a chimera defined by his achievements and earned sense of 'I'm better than everyone'. He is both beloved and feared by those below him, no one is his equal within his house. Mostly cause he still hasn't gotten over the loss of his partner, but nowadays it has morphed more into a sense of superiority. Basically, great to fight alongside, but would be a nightmare to have dinner with. He WILL be rude and condescending to the wait staff.

[grow-bettah]

Do you guys want a headcanon/ personal c!Grumbo lore dump? no? okay here It is!!

starting off with my silly guy for obvious reasons- Grian. quick warning i pour a ton of myself into him as a hyperfeminine fat trans man💕

Grian - Avian. Big ol' birdy bird. no set species, he does whatever. TRANSGENDERED. Trans Man Grian owns my life, and this plays jnto my Ariana stuff too btw. Grian doesn't want top surgery, but he's been on T pretty much ever since he joined Hermitcraft, like mid to late s6 he asked X if it was possible to do that for him. He's gotten waaay more confident since then. also he was a scrawny lil guy when he joined HC, but once he got comfortable he let himself heal (no more watchers) he became the fat little rat bastard I know and love. /aff Grian has fibromyalgia! He's an ambulatory wheelchair user and otherwise Mumbo carries his cane around for him just incase he needs it. (it's the colour of Mumbo's eyes. Grian won't tell him, and Mumbo will never know unless told since he can't see his own reflection.)

Ariana Griande was a persona he grabbed up pretty early on in his Hermitcraft career, and nobody except Mumbo, Scar and Gem know that that's him. He very much enjoys playing the part of Ariana every so often and wearing the tight hot pink outfits she does! When he's Ariana he doesn't mind using she/her btw.

CuteGuy is a very recent persona hes started playing. The cute superhero and sidekick to HoTGuy- they know eachothers identities but don't snitch. Mumbo doesn't know that Grian id CuteGuy, and gushes about that 'terribly handsome' superhero to his boyfriend regularly. Both Gri and Mumbo are huge HoTGuy fans and own a good chunk of merch of him. Mumbo does suspect that his Boyfriend is CuteGuy since he conveniently has to go build or farm or whatever whenever another hermit is in need of CuteGuy's help. Grian knows Mumbo's onto him. lol

Mumbo time!! the blorbo

Mumbo! He's a bat slash vampire guy. he's a real fancypants and wears strictly suits and cravats. He does however get it dirty with redstone periodically. His vampire identity isn't a secret- The hermits aren't worried about it since they're aware he drinks from pretty much only Grian. He's also a trans man! Just that he doesn't really use a persona to live out his hyperfemininity like grian, but rather wears dresses, skirts and other feminine clothes whenever he so pleases. He also refuses to get the teta snip, he thinks they look great in his suit jacket thank you very much. He's on T, a fair bit longer than Grian. Also, X knew before Mumbo did that he's trans. hehe. Mumbo WISHES he could eat anything other than Blood because he knows from Scar that his boyfriend's cooking is phenomenal. Also because blood doesn't really get you all that much nutrition which keeps him skinny, which in turn worries Grian all the time because he thinks Mumbo looks like a stick ( a "very hot and sexy stick" according to Grian mind you.) Mumbo has narcolepsy! He's pretty independent even with it obstructing most of his life. But sometimes very short sudden naps aren't too bad (when he's not doing redstone or building. Grian's always around when Mumbo's building up high, just for safety.)

I hope this isn't too much to read y'all! I just needed to dump all of this out on you guys today just to.. explain how my art functions? I guess? MWA kissy

[nekojaf]

The Calm Seas

by Yuki and Neko

Once upon a time there are a bunch of robots that were Barbie girls in a Barbie world and decided they can be whatever they want

OKAY OKAY NO Me and @yukiphobia24 accidentally made a pirate AU that was way more in-depth and detail than we thought we were going to make it so expect to see a crap ton of art and also random lore dumps about it. It's basically an amalgamation of both of our aus (SamsXReader+TheScarfTwins) as well as just regular Five Nights at Freddy's..but with pirates and robot oppression and nobels.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

My Eclipse is the captain of the main pirate cast. He has both an arch nemesis as well as a big ol crush on certain someone. I have lots of art to share already so keep an eye out.

[cutebutalsostabby]

iirc you said in another post that the time between ALTTP and OOT was either 80 or 400 years. i haven’t played ALTTP yet but love timelines - are those numbers in the game somewhere?

I think I came up with those specific figures myself, BUT I do have some in-game and official text basis for them! The reason for the 80 year vs 400 years (or even longer) options is that there is actually some pretty big inconsistency between a) various parts of the game itself, b) the official game booklet, and c) Nintendo's big ole retcon of the Imprisoning War. Or possibly retCONS if we count TotK.

(Idk if you wanted an info dump, but you're getting one lol. THANKS FOR THE ASK!! 💜)

SO. The intro cutscene.

We start by hearing of legends from long ago, about a Golden Power that resides in a hidden land. Many people tried to find it; none ever returned. One day, evil power began to flow forth (we later learn this was due to Ganondorf finding the Triforce), so the King told the sages (originally translated as "Wise Men") to seal the Golden Land away for good. The narrator then describes those events as occurring so long ago that they became legend. Sounds like a while, right?

But then within about an hour or two of gameplay, you meet Sahrasrahla. Sahasrala? Saharasala? YOU MEET MR SALSA. And he ends up telling you a story about the knights that fought to protect the sages and who were almost all killed at the time, leaving YOU, the protagonist, as the last known member of that bloodline. According to Mr Salsa, those events took place only three or four generations ago.

That's not long at all! I mean, the exact numbers may vary depending on whether it's 3-4 generations from Salsa-san's point of view or Link's, as well as whether we give that person a human lifespan or an elf one (ALTTP has some Western fantasy elements, but the later games suggest that Hylians are basically just humans with pointy ears), but that would be where my ~80 years figure came from.

One of the later bits of dialogue then mentions Ganondorf rediscovering the Golden Land after the knowledge of it was lost - which may explain the discrepancy between the intro cutscene and Sahasralah(?)'s own dialogue. (I'm taking screenshots from Youtube FYI - see cutscene compilation here.)

All good so far?

WELP. THEN WE HAVE THE GAME BOOKLET.

By "game booklet" I mean the little brochure thing that used to come with physical games up until someone decided they weren't necessary. Boo and bah humbug. But I digress.

The original booklet for ALTTP, which you can find online, says that the Imprisoning War took place centuries ago. It also adds a bunch of other new lore details, including Ganondorf's last name, Dragmire - which never actually appears in-game. Both of those things are however missing from the truncated lore dump you get in the Gameboy Advance release's booklet:

And then there's Nintendo's Fallen Hero retcon. Lol.

See, the original "Imprisoning War" from ALTTP went something like this:

Ganondorf found an entrance to the Sacred Realm (formerly "Golden Land") and went in. Much like the others before him, he was then stuck there forever. UNLIKE the others before him however, he then randomly stumbled across the Triforce, which offered him the power to make a wish.

He made some unspecified wish along the lines of "I want to take over the world". As a result, the Sacred Realm became the Dark World and started to leak evil magic and demons into the Light World (aka "Overworld").

The knights fought against the demons, allowing the sages to seal the entrances ro the Sacred Realm. Note it's unclear if they even knew about Ganondorf's existence at this point.

Sometime later, Ganondorf manages to partially break free, and sends his alter ego Agahnim out to break the seal on the Sacred Realm and merge the two worlds into one.

And then we have Nintendo's retcon, which introduces the whole idea of the Fallen Hero - as a means of clumsily tying ALTTP to Ocarina of Time. So instead of the above:

Ganondorf publicly swears allegiance to the King of Hyrule, only to later backstab him and take over the castle. He then follows Link into the Temple of Time and grabs hold of the Triforce while the latter goes to take a nice long nap. He only manages to claim part of the Triforce (Power), so his wish remains incomplete. The other parts go to Link (Courage) and Zelda (Wisdom).

Seven years later, Link challenges Ganondorf to an epic showdown and loses. Ganondorf claims the remaining parts of the Triforce and uses them to transform into the Demon King. The seven sages, Zelda included, then seal both Ganon and the Triforce away in the Sacred Realm.

The names of the seven sages (per OoT) eventually become the names of the towns in Zelda II. Any remaining discrepancies are handwaved away as unreliable narrators.

Interestingly, TotK's Imprisoning War is much closer to ALTTP's version than Hyrule Historia's - which makes me wonder if that whole retcon is doomed to be retconned once again. Of course, the Triforce isn't present at all within TotK, but it's also a pretty compelling reason for why seven sages with secret stones couldn't win against the one guy with a secret stone. So there’s that.

But yeah, going back to that initial question: no, there's no specific figure provided for the time between the Imprisoning War and events of ALttP. Just depends on which piece of conflicting lore you feel like using lol.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #24: Dark Sakura

today on Grailfinders we’re making the big bad of Heaven’s Feel, Dark Sakura. she’s Sakura, but dark! I admit we haven’t played F/SN yet (heresy, I know), so if we get any lore wrong I profusely apologize. she’s got that grail gunk all up in her, so you know we had to give her the ol’ sorlock treatment. she’s a Great Old One Warlock for that GOO, and a Clockwork Sorcerer to get some of her own power. with those two in place, we have everything we need for omnipotence! maybe.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Ancestry & Background

Sakura’s a Human, or at least she was before the goopening, and she grew up with a special pattern on her that’s teaching her magic. that’s a Mark of the Sentinel if I ever heard it, giving her +2 Charisma and +1 Dexterity (thank you Tasha), as well as the Sentinel’s Intuition for a d4 bonus on all Insight and Perception checks. the most important part of hiding yourself from people is making sure they don’t know if you know that they know what you know, y’know? you can also use the Guardian’s Shield once a day for a free casting of the shield spell, and you’re a Vigilant Guardian, letting you throw yourself between an ally and an attack once a day. we’re not really using that last one here, but maybe you’ll use it during Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, who knows. bacon grease really hurts, so maybe that counts as an attack?

you also get an extended spell list, but we’ll just go over the ones we want as we get them.

you’re also a Haunted One, because dear christ is the Matou family fucked up. on the plus side, you’re proficient in Arcana and Religion. that totally makes up for the trauma, right?

Ability Scores

your highest stat is Charisma. if you want people to think you’re doing alright, you need to lie to them constantly, and that’s a lot of charisma checks. also, your magic comes from within, and also from a cup, and also from a cup within, and all of those are charisma based. second up is Constitution. you can keep fighting with like, 80% of your body gone, so yeah. you’re pretty tough. third is Intelligence, as magic in Fate is a mix of sorcery and wizardry- it would feel weird to have this low, even if we don’t need it. this means your Dexterity is just okay. as implied by that bit about your body getting torn apart, you clearly don’t get out of the way of attacks easily. which kind of makes sense, you’re still just a teenager with magic powers. speaking of, your Wisdom’s low. I don’t want to assume as to how you got a grail stuffed inside you, but I will say it probably makes it hard for you to focus on stuff. that means we’re dumping Strength. you are a teenage girl. plus you’re going to have plenty of minions to do all the heavy lifting for you. I hear one of them is the strongest in the world.

Class Levels

1. Warlock 1: starting off as a warlock gets you proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as Deception and History. you also get an Awakened Mind from your GOO! (that’s Great Old One btw, but both work to describe grail mud) that gives you an Awakened Mind, letting you speak telepathically with anyone nearby as long as they know at least one language. I know the grail let Medusa speak Japanese but wouldn’t it be funny if it didn’t? now you’re prepared.

The grail will also give you Pact Magic like all warlocks, allowing you to cast spells using your Charisma for the spell modifier and save DC. You only have one first-level spell slot at the moment, but it recharges each short rest, and you’ll receive more and stronger spell slots over time. Eldritch Blast gives you a basic ranged attack that any caster should know, while Infestation allows you to call upon the grail mud to poison a nearby creature while also forcing them to move one space in a random direction. If your DM is fond of pits and hazards, you will be fond of this spell.

For your leveled spell, you can bring the mud to bear against anyone near you with Arms of Hadar, attacking friend and foe alike around you, while also preventing them from making reaction. For your second spell, go on the defensive with Shield of Faith giving you or an ally +2 AC for up to ten minutes. Any damage avoided is effectively damage healed, if you think about it.

2. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations to shape the grail mud to your liking. with these you can don an Armor of Shadows for free castings of Mage Armor on yourself, instantly adding an extra 3 points of AC while not wearing armor. you can also use Agonizing Blasts, adding your Charisma modifier to all damage done by your Eldritch Blast.

Speaking of dealing damage via Eldritch Blast, your new spell this level is Hex. With this spell, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to your target every time you hit them, and they also get disadvantage on all checks made with an ability of your choosing. If your target falls to 0 HP before your hour is up, you can even move it to another target! Given how many attacks Eldritch Blast can fire off in a single turn, this is a great boon to any killer of humanity.

3. Warlock 3: At third level, warlocks receive their Pact Boon, an extra special gift from your patron to shift the tides of battle! When you enter the Pact of the Talisman, anyone can wear it and add a d4 to a failed check up to your proficiency times a day. If you know what’s coming, you can be better prepared for it. Failing that, you can at least pretend you were prepared for it and make your rolls better anyway.

You also gain second level spells this level, and Hold Person is a doozy! One creature of your choice needs to make a Wisdom save, and if they fail, they’re paralyzed for up to a minute, or until they make another Wisdom save at the end of their turn.

A paralyzed creature is Incapacitated, and fails all strength and dexterity saves. In addition, all attacks against them gain advantage, and attackers within 5’ of the creature always deal critical damage whenever they hit. If you want to kill a humanoid as quickly as possible, this is how you do it.

4. Warlock 4: At fourth level, warlocks gain their first Ability Score Improvement, allowing us to round out your Dexterity and Charisma at the same time! We still can’t summon Saber Alter just yet, but you can use a Sword Burst for more or less the same effect. You also gain your first pseudo-summon this level thanks to Phantasmal Force. This illusion can be of anything you wish, but if you make an illusion that would deal damage to the creature, they will take a little psychic damage each turn.

5. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks learn third level spells. Counterspell will allow you to no-sell just about anything in the game, when it works. Countering the right attack or escape attempt can instantly make you the MVP of any encounter, which feels appropriate for a holy grail.

You can also don a Cloak of Flies thanks to your new invocation. With this, you deal poison damage to every creature within 5’ of you while also gaining advantage on Intimidation checks, at the cost of disadvantage on all other forms of charisma. You can use this once a short rest, and it has no time limit! it’s literally free damage.

6. Warlock 6: In contrast, your new Entropic Ward is free anti-damage. Whenever a creature attacks you, you can react to give it disadvantage. If this causes the attack to miss, your next attack against the attacker is made at advantage. You can only use this once per short rest, but I’m sure most people would prefer to have as few stab wounds as they can manage.

You can also further spread the mud’s influence thanks to the Hunger of Hadar, making a 20’ radius sphere of darkness that slows movement within it and deals damage to anything that starts and ends its turn within it.

7. Sorcerer 1: now we’re going to jump back to Sorcerer real quick and pick up some regular Sakura spells. you can argue we should’ve done this class first then, but I wanted the extra HP. so yes, you have Spells, you cast them with Charisma too. these refresh on long rests, but you can use warlock spell slots for sorcery spells and vice versa. this also doubles your cantrip count with the addition of Fire Bolt, Frostbite, Lightning Lure, and Chill Touch so this level isn’t 100% regular Sakura. you can also use Magic Missile if you like multiattacking but hate missing, and Silvery Barbs for another way to make the infinite power of the grail work for you. react and force someone to re-roll an attack, save, or check. if they fail, you can give an ally advantage on their next attack, save, or check. it’s great.

speaking of roll fuckery, you’re a Clockwork Soul, which lets you Restore Balance. 90% of the time grails are doing the exact opposite, but whatever, it lets you remove advantage or disadvantage from a d20 roll you can see Proficiency times per day. you can make the grail do literally anything, so everything we do here is 100% canon. people will believe that, right?

8. Sorcerer 2: second level sorcerers get a Font of Magic, so you can burn spell slots to make sorcery points and burn points to make sorcerer spell slots. if you’re not aware of the “coffeelock” gimmick, this lets you turn warlock slots into sorcerer slots, then short rest to regain the warlock slots for infinite magical power. as long as you can stay awake and not die in the process, at least.

to help you not die, here’s False Life! it gives you temporary HP! that’s almost as good as healing!

9. Sorcerer 3: third level sorcerers get Metamagic! it lets you customize spells almost as much as your invocations let you customize you. Heightened spells give one creature in their effect disadvantage on their save for 3 points, while Quickened spells let you cast an action spell as a bonus action. you blast hard, and you blast fast. it makes sense, given the magical reactor you’re stealing power from.

also you can cast Alter Self now! I don’t know what your cool red and black dress thing is supposed to be made out of, but if it’s made out of you, now you can make it by using the Change Appearance option. you can also choose an Aquatic Adaptation or Natural Weapons if you want.

10. Sorcerer 4: fourth level sorcerers get an ASI to max out your Charisma for the strongest spells, as well as the cantrip Mind Sliver to mess up human brains even more, and Maximillian’s Earthen Grasp for a sorta giant. why make a giant the size of a mountain when you can make a giant out of a mountain? think smarter, not harder. (it restrains a creature for up to a minute if it fails a strength save and you can make the hand crush people while grabbed.)

11. Warlock 7: Seventh level warlocks can use fourth level spells like Dominate Beast, turning any beast you can see into your loyal companion for up to a minute, forcing it to obey any command you give it. Most of our enslavement tactics only work on humanoids, so if you have to fight Hessian Lobo, this can help bring him into the fold.

If that’s not beastly enough, you become a Sculptor of Flesh this level, letting you cast Polymorph once a day with a warlock spell slot. This will transform you into a beast with a CR equal to or lower than your level for up to an hour. This is effectively summoning a giant to fight for you while also giving you a much larger HP pool to work with. You can’t cast spells while polymorphed, but I don’t think you need to if you’re a T. Rex.

12. warlock 8: at level 8 u get another asi, this time you’re getting lucky! congrats, some people have to stay up all night for that one. with this, yu can re-roll a creature’s attack, check, or save (as long as it directly affects u) up to 3 times a day! you can’t loop the whole war, but you can loop an attack or two. or three, if you were paying attention!

you can also summon a guardian of faith now, it’s only large so pretty small for a giant, but it blocks an area and stabs stuff for radiant damage! plus these are concentration free, so you can make as many as you want!

13. warlock 9: ninth level warlocks get fifth level spells, and if you really wanna make a shadow giant, then you need BIGBY’S HAND!!! it makes a big hand you can control. sure it’s not the whole thing, but all the cool giant boss fights only let you hit one body part anyway. also yer eldritch blast is a lance of lethargy now, so once a turn you can knock 10’ offa someone’s move speed for the next turn. that’s why this build’s so late!

14. warlock 10: tenth level warlocks can toll the dead and deal extra damage to anyone not at full health, but more importantly you get a thought shield! your mind cant be read by anybody you don’t wanna deal with, and you get resistance to psychic damage bc the amount you block gets launched back at the sender! you’re mostly mud by this point, i think. you ever try to make mud freak out? doesn’t go well.

15. warlock 11: leventh level warlocks get a mystic arcanum, a fancy way of saying you have normal spell slots now that only work for the one spell you get them for. no upcasting allowed past this point! now you can create undead! wit this you can turn up to three corpses into ghouls that’ll stay under your control for 24 hours. you can refresh this control with another casting, or you can just let them run free on the populace, your choice. boom, creepy skeletons, done!

16. Sorcerer 5: fifth level sorcerers got Magical Guidance, giving you another way to boost failed checks if you got the points for it. also, you can dispel magic now. if you couldn’t counter it, at least you can cut through it after the fact! (kinda ironic you died to rulebreaker, huh?)

17. Sorcerer 6: at sixth level clockwork sorcerers become a Bastion of Law, letting you spend sorcery points to give yourself a barrier to block up to 5d8 incoming damage.

18. warlock 12: at twelfth level you get your last asi, makin you tough! that’s 36 hp now, and another 2 every time you level up from here on out! if you want to heal a lot of hp, you need a lot of hp. or not, you can just turn into a huge giant crab if ya want. you also get the protection of the talisman this level, letting whoever is wearing it get an extra d4 on their save proficiency times a day! you’re just better than everyone, huh?

19. Warlock 13: a thirteenth level warlock gets a seventh level arcanum like Finger of Death. it kills people and can turn them into your zombie minions, just like the grail mud.

20. Warlock 14: all of this is nice of course, but it’s not warping a servant to serve you indefinitely. thankfully, that’s why you can now create thralls! you can use your action to touch any incapacitated humanoid and charm them indefinitely, or until they get hit with a remove curse spell. as long as you two are on the same plane, you can also talk to each other with your minds!! just. convince someone to play Saber. alter them. boom, salter.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

Create Thrall is a huge boon, letting you turn just about anyone into your minion for practically free. there’s no save, even! while finding an incapacitated humanoid sounds daunting, it’s easier than you’d think with a liberal sprinkling of heightened Hold Persons. suck a servant into goop and make them your servants. or zombies, or just lie to them!

as a sorlock you get infinite magic as long as you’re willing to work without sleep, which lets you blast away with your strongest spells without issue. well, not your strongest spells since those are arcanum, but still, infinite upcast Magic Missiles and Hungers of Hadar. it’s nice!

of course if you want to talk defense, infinite spell slots means infinite sorcery points means infinite shields. your infinite magical power makes Bastion of Law just a silly power to have, with no limit to the number of times you can use it outside of how much mana you have to burn meaning you can block up to 5d8 damage every turn with no limit outside of your patience. this is on top of your decent (for a caster) hp, as well as an ungodly number of ways to block, disadvantage, and stymie attackers at every turn. if someone somehow manages to fight you directly, it’s going to be a while before they can even pretend to land a hit on you.

Cons:

it a good thing you have those shields, because your AC is terrible without them. 15 AC isn’t bad, of course, but it means you’ll have to use every trick in your book if you get cornered by someone with actual fighting experience.

also, that big pro I put up there with the Bastion of Law? it takes a bonus action to burn a slot into points, then an action to make the shield. that’s your entire turn gone every time your shield needs to be refreshed. if someone really gets you on your backfoot, you can last a while, but that’s about all you can do. this is why you need the minions.

but now that I brought up that “ungodly number of ways to block attacks”… you have an ungodly number of ways to block attacks. that means not only do you have to be really paying attention to the DM’s turns, you need to keep an eye on all those methods of defense so you A) can use them well, and B) you don’t burn through them too quickly. complexity isn’t a death sentence, but you should know it before going all-in on a build. some people just want to relax in D&D, after all.