#lidian

[seven07graces]

[bookshelfpassageway]

In an ideal world I would have posted this with much more heads-up, but today I was suddenly seized with the vision of making an October art challenge for the indie xenofiction book series Hunters Unlucky, and I'd been looking for a good prompt set for myself anyway.

As with all October art challenges, all mediums and interpretations of the prompts are valid, and the outline is really more of a suggestion than anything. Do as much or as little as you please, and rearrange to your heart's content.

Credit to user ibenkrutt for giving me some of the prompts here.

[reviews-sky-1]

New book review!

Lullaby and Other Stories From Lidian by Abigail Hilton

[monstersofsilence]

it's judgement time: the (clumsy) novice mage

it has been a while since I have done a proper one of these and lately her muse has been calling to me

let her judge your peeps! (1 character please. multiple reblogs are okay, too!) she is a tad bit gullible and naive but she got the spirit!

judgebacks are also welcomed if you want to :>

[secondspark]

The Pros and Cons of Prophecy

((RP scene between me and the GM from Vreska's game.))

The day was hot, as was only proper for high noon in the great city of Lidian. Smooth-cut marble offered scant respite from the heat and the ever-present winds carried with them the cries of hawkers pitching their wares, the sound of a thousand throats at mid-day prayer, the smells of bodies and spices and a thousand thousand blooming plants from the gardens that grew like weeds all through their fair city. Even in his soul the Great God Helm, Watcher Over the Realms of Man, kept his keen merciless gaze upon all the souls of humanity. It warmed him deep into his bones, a place where the normal warmth of the day could never touch.

Silently, his robes swirling about his legs, he made his way forth from the basilica looking for a particular paladin of his acquaintance. He'd spent the night before in contemplation with Helm and His priests and he knew that the idyllic times of rest and idleness were definitely drawing to a close. It was his duty - always duty, with him - to prepare the girl for a long journey by sea.

Snorting to himself at the thought, he ventured forth a chuckle. Vreska'd hate that, he suspected. Always said that the sea was not fit place for a decent person. He, of course, was born at sea and loved it like he loved few other things in this world.

Vreska was not hard to find, her habit being to spend mid-day prayers in meditation in a small garden, taking some relief from the heat among the greenery and flowers. Most of the plants were practical--foodstuffs, medicinal herbs--but there were a few simply for pleasure, and that was where she could be found.

Her eyes opened on Beyazt’s approach, smiling. “It’s a good afternoon. Escaping the other councilors already?”

He smiled at his one-time ward as he reached up to smooth his extravagant moustache. "They haggle worse than fishwives and pinch coin until you can almost hear the coin scream in pain." he said, his voice like honeyed smoke. He then took a seat on the far side of a bench from Vreska. "It's good to get my old bones out and moving." he said with a wry chuckle. He kept himself far fitter than most Elders of his position and standing. "Perhaps I'll get out to sea before the seasons turn." he offered. "You should join me."

“But that means getting on a ship for who knows how long,” she replied, tone teasing. “While I like to swim, months on the ocean is something else.” She studied him for a moment, their long acquaintance letting her see past the words. “Or is this a lead in to the next task for the Order? I am recovered from my last adventure. I’ll get rusty lounging about here.”

"Endless hours upon the training field and she whines to me about becoming rusty. Does the Mother Superior know of your newfound love of idleness and leisure? Shall I send for a troupe of dancing-boys to dote upon you with silks and flowers next?" he retorted with a smile. He'd been making that same threat for almost as long as he'd known her. "But yes. As much as I would love to take a holiday upon the sea with my second-favorite paladin, there has been a prophecy uttered by five different seers of three different faiths." he said, sobering a touch. "You have been Called, child, and I am here to prepare you for the trial to come."

She made the expected exaggerated face at his teasing, laughing a little. The last person to try to curry her favor with such gifts had not fared well. As Beyazt continued, however, her expression sobered and she listened, a slight frown of concentration forming. “Perhaps that explains a few things,” she mused, looking to the small fountain supplying the garden. “There’s been a...restlessness. Images. Almost like memory.” She shook her head. “Though I somehow doubt the seers are any more coherent and forthcoming, if anything, less so, knowing them.”

"It's almost like you know them." he said, reaching out a hand across the distance that separated them to pat her on the shoulder. "But even for seers, this latest Seeming is … disorganized." he admitted. "Far away, there is a darkness gathering. Holes worn thin in the fabric of reality and, it is feared, some things have begun to slip through." he said. "I would spare you this, if I thought even for a second that you would heed the request of a feeble old man." he said. "I will not lie to you, Vreska. I worry. For you. For all of us. The threat is far away for now, but if those from Outside succeed in forcing their way into our world once again, we could stand on the door of a very great calamity. And, as usual, the fools and degenerates will not listen to us. They never listen to us. So instead of armies and fleets, we send … you. A few others, sworn to secrecy." he said. Standing abruptly, he extended his hands towards Vreska. "Pray with me, daughter." he half-asked, half-ordered.

She took a breath. This was their sworn duty, one she had adopted as her own under his care and guidance. His worry was something beyond the usual concern for her duties to the Order as one of its Swords, however.

So Vreska smiled for him and took his hands as she stood. “With your blessings guiding me, I will do what must be done,” she assured him, ignoring the fluttering in her stomach at how serious this might be.

Mind-to-mind, hand-in-hand, souls to souls, they prayed. For safety, for security, for love, but above all, always above all, for duty. For victory. No words were spoken aloud, to be carried to an unbeliever's ears. Their prayers were spoken in their mind, reflected across the cosmos, across the world of spirits and dreams as well as to the places Above where the Gods dwelled. Always, at the doorway to that place, Helm was there. Watching, grim-faced. He never acknowledged prayers on his face, but both priest and paladin both felt his gaze upon their souls, their secret hearts. 

On their flesh, ripping across their skin, a spectral fire ignited, mingling his copper-gold with her azure flames in an offering to the spirits, a private veneration to their Kalashtar. Eventually, at the end of time and after only a short while, the flames died away and both paladin and priest turned their gazes away from the divine and back to the world of Men. "And take my blessing as well, my child. You will do your duty and do it well, for you know not what it is to betray your own souls. No matter the cost, strive ever towards victory, my paladin, and may Helm see fit to guide you back to me when your duty is done."

He let her hands go and took a step backwards to collect himself, to give her time to recover as well. For her, seeing the divine was difficult at times, clouded. "So. Lunch?"

[i-eat-apple-people]

Lid [lidian] I-eat-apple-people

ur internet name is [first name] + “[discord name]” + [tumblr url]

i’m seth “glass” glassandeyes

[nelove22]

The players of the matches from matchday 5 of Liga BPI 2023/24!

[ikrutt]

Highland and Lowland Curbs, 2023

Some information on the marsupial sophonts of Lidian. Curbs show up in Hunters Unlucky by @alhilton, a xenofiction novel with several sapient species.

Buy the books directly from the author here or download a free 4.5 hour sample of the audiobook here.

[sichylili]

quiero verlo hacer un berrinche y ver como sus padres lidian con eso cada uno a su manera, a quien se le saldra de las manos primero?

Español

bueno..

A Catnap realmente no le importaría mucho solo lo pondría irritado por sus llantos.

English with the translator

Well..

Catnap wouldn't really care much it would just make him irritated by her crying.

Español

Ordenándole a la "señorita" Miss Delight que lo eduque,

oh algo parecido.

English with the translator

Ordering "miss" Miss Delight to educate him,

oh something like that.

Español

A Dogday se le haría un poquito complicado, al solo tener la opción de hablar con el pequeño.

English with the translator

It would be a little complicated for Dogday, only having the option of talking to the little one.

Español

Teniendo pequeñas conversación con el, aunque para Dogday eran cortas o algo inútiles, para poder calmarlo.

English with the translator

Having small conversations with him, although for Dogday they were short or somewhat useless, to calm him down.

Español

Pero para el pequeño, era suficiente.

English with the translator

But for the little one, it was enough.

[meichan801]

Queria dibujar mi version de Michael. Tiene ojos azules profundos similares al mar, cabellos dorados un poco mas claros, y alto, apariencia sencilla pero elegante. Le gusta la musica y las artes humanas (aun que no es muy bueno cantando ya que de hecho su ''habilidad'' es el ''poder'' no las artes). Trabaja demasiado(workholic), excesivamente 24/7, es de esas personas que odian y aman su trabajo y lidian sus traumas de esa manera, lo veo con poca habilidad con las nuevas tecnologias humanas y no gusta mucho del picante)?? tiene buena relacion con sus otros 5 hermanos expetuando lucifer :s por obvias razones, es aun un tema delicado para el tocar, queria mucho a lucifer y fue el mas afectado al respecto.

Su personalidad es seria mayorparte del tiempo, es el pilar principal del cielo, es bastante severo especialmente si se tratan de las reglas y la proteccion del cielo.

En mi AU seria pareja de adam pero necesito todo un post respecto a su relacion XD.

[seven07graces]

[bookshelfpassageway]

the eternal push and pull between "i think i would talk to people in the Hunters Unlucky fandom more if there was a community discord" vs "i don't want to be a moderator i can't handle that kind of responsibility" (<- said with the gravity of a chosen one pleading that he doesn't want to be king)

[alhilton]

Is calico a possible Creasia coat color?

Ah, such a simple question, but so complicated to answer! Is it possible? Maybe. Likely to be expressed? No. You probably know how calicos are produced and anyone who doesn't can google that. Short review: you need at least one of the color alleles (in the case of the domestic cat, the black/red) located on the X chromosome. So males are always homozygous, but females can be heterozygous. Then you need the thing where neither color is dominant. Instead, females express both colors. This event alone will produce a tortie, not a calico. To get calico, you need one more thing: the piebald gene, which is present in many animals. It produces random colorless white patches, interspersed with the underlying color(s). Finally, in order to get a classic calico, you need the female zygote to have discarded her extra Xs (turned them into bar bodies) early enough to produce solid patches instead of a more blended coat. NOW you have a classic mi-ke calico. She will almost always be female, but can be male XXY or male chimera (having absorbed his twin!) or possibly an even rarer genetic event. On the flip side, solid red or black cats are male something like 75% of the time. Female solids would be homozygous for the trait, which is rarer. There are other genes that effect cat coat color and pattern, and of course there can always be new mutations, but those are the basics. Question: is color a sex-linked gene in other species of cats? Big cats have many things in common with domestic cats. Is this one of them? I could not find an answer to this. Probably no. But... I did have Caraca say at one point when she and Halvery were trying to reproduce Roup's color, "Solids are more likely to be male." This strongly suggests that some aspect of creasia color is on the X. So even if this is unlikely for big cats in our world, I have sort of committed to it on Lidian. But... Is the piebald gene present in other cats besides domestic cats? Again, no answer. The closest I could find was the white band gene that produces golden tabby tigers. It is not actually piebald, though. It's a completely different gene. If you read the wikipedia article about golden tabby tigers, you will notice a lot of inbreeding. This is how most usual colors in domestic (and semi-domestic) animals get a foothold. People notice a single unique mutation, decide they love it, and do some aggressive inbreeding to produce homozygous individuals. Many domestic animals have very shallow gene pools. Obviously, most of them handle it just fine. Wild animals avoid inbreeding. Nature tends towards outbreeding. Maximizing genetic diversity is a survival strategy, so animals evolve various barriers to inbreeding. There ARE more color variations in big cats that live in jungles/forests vs open plains. Tigers and leopards have more color variations than African lions. It doesn't seem to affect their odds of survival as much. Creasia live in dense forest, so it makes sense that they have some color variation. Rare mutations would pop up, but they would quickly disappear unless the creasia started selecting for them. So if they decided that piebald was fabulously beautiful and everyone wanted to have babies with those cats, they might quickly develop a piebald trait that is regularly expressed. But they tend to like colors that are "good for hunting," and those are browns/grays/black. They are starting to value other traits and expand their tastes, though. Anyway - the potential for something like a calico is probably in there somewhere. To specifically get calico, I think you'd see piebald popping up first.

[monstersofsilence]

The Novice

"Oh no! Oh no! I'm late!" Lidian kept saying to herself, running through the city to get to her destination. Wanting to become the best upcoming mage as can be though, unfortunately, she tends to wake up late. Sometimes happens for her but she is determined. Maneuvering through crowds of people to get where she needs to be. She may sometimes be late, it doesn't stop her from wanting to learn.

She finally makes it to her destination, opening the door but noticed the lights have not turned on. "Uh... hello!" She called out. "Teach? Mister Grelotta?" Lidian walked around and noticed that it felt empty. Almost as if the person packed everything and left in a hurry. She remembered coming across the dusty knick knacks that would cause her to sneeze but her teacher insisting that they are magically imbued and not to touch them. She eventually sees a piece of paper taped onto the wall. She went to it, grabbing it off the wall and read it aloud.

"I know that you will come here and see this place is empty. Just coming out to say that I have scammed you along with countless others. However much money you gave me is long gone for I have skipped town. You idiots were easy to fool believing that magic is real..." The last sentence hurt Lidian to the core. "So... he was a fake?"

Tears were forming but she took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "N-No... No crying!" She says to herself. Lidian used the tape left on the wall, hanging the paper for whoever else comes by to see it and marched out of the building. "I am not giving up that easily! Magic is real... I just know it is! And I won't stop until I learn whatever I need to learn to make my ancestor proud!"

Lidian walked aimlessly through the city, lost in thought but more so speaking outloud, getting a few stares and raised eyebrows overhearing a girl talking to herself. "Okay... the guy turned out to be a fraud. Meaning all the money I gave him every week was... kinda my fault. That is okay. So if he is fraud, doesn't mean what he said about magic could be the truth. Right? Magic is definitely real! My ancestor was titled The Arch-Mage for a reason! Judt have to... start all over again finding another, and legit, teacher... And possibly convince them with however much sum of money to teach me... but... where can I find that kind of person..."

She stopped her self rambling and halted her aimless walk to see she had come across a cafe. Lidian had never been in one of these before. "Mystikal Cafe... huh. I guess I can try it out." Walking inside, she sees the lively scene of people talking amongst each other at their respective tables. The wallpaper colors of bright blues snd pinks made the place pop, feels welcoming.

The place seems to be mostly an all-female staff with waitresses garnering a maid outfit with one standing out to being more "out of uniform" with theirs not fully proper and gliding around on rollerblades. Lidian walks to one of the empty tables, taking a seat as the one waitress that stuck out like a sore thumb glided to her table. "Well, haaaaaylooo!" She says with a cheery voice. Up close she can see her hair blocking her left eye and notices some orange dye streaks on it which makes a lot of sense to her sticking out more. Possibly more of a punk style troll. "Welcome to the Mystikal Cafe and I will be your lovely waitress for today. Name's Anyssa Hanell and what might ya be getting today, missy? Might I recommend an espresso shot along with a velvet cake slice topped with some strawberry frostinng."

"U-Um... oh wow..." Lidian didn't expect to be put on the spot. She doesn't even know what wants nor what they have. What if she says a certain item and they don't actually have it? "Uh... d...- Um... Donut!" She finally made her decision.

"Just a donut?" Anyssa raised a brow, taking her notepad out and pen. "What kind? And do you want a drink? Latte? Hot coffee? Cappuccino?"

"Um... u-uh..." This girl is trying to test her. Lidian feels like she might explode. What kind of donuts do they have? This Anyssa girl didn't list them. Do they have chocolate? Powdered? Plain? They gotta have plain, right? A place that have donuts should always have plain donuts. " P... P-Plain! And just regular coffee!"

Anyssa raised s brow but eventually smiled. She can see that might've almost given the girl a panic attack by putting them on the spot. "Gotcha. Plain donut and a regular coffee coming right up." She wrote down the items along with the table number and was about glide to the front counter until she heard the girl to not go yet.

"Wait, please! I... wanted to ask some questions."

Anyssa stood where she was and slowly glided back to the their table. "Something wrong?"

"Well... okay... I am trying to learn magic. I went to a peraon that, who I thought, knew magic but uh... I just found out that he conned me... along with my money that I gave him... and I am looking for anyone... SOMEONE! I know it sounds crazy and stupid that magic might not be real or whatever but... I think it's real. My ancestor was a mage and I want to make her proud to be the best there is just like her. So... do you know anyone or have some leads that I can search out for?"

Anyssa carefully listened and smiled. "Pretty determined to wanting to learn this whole magic thing, huh? I'll be right back."

Lidian watches the girl glide away and see them talking to one of the other girls behind the counter, handing them her order and then seeing her going in the back. From there she merely looks down at the table, tapping her finger on it until she heard someone clearing their throat. Looking up, she sees a girl wearing the same maid uniform and having a side haircut. She was smiling at them. "I heard you are searching for teacher of magic?" She says. "Name's Merlee. Merlee Zodius."

[secondspark]

Vreska che Lidian Backstory

((Apparently I never posted Vreska's backstory here before, for one of the game's I am in.))

During the tumultuous era of the Godswar, a quori physically found themselves on this material plane and became embroiled in the affairs of the arcane warrior who found and aided them. The pair joined with other adventurers, as well as fought on their own. Eventually they aided in felling a dangerous efreeti lord seeking to tip the balance in the favor of his own destructive god. The warrior was mortally injured, the quori cursed by the efreeti to be forever cut off from their native plane, the severed connection tearing the spirit creature apart. In a moment of desperation, the quori and the warrior bound themselves to one another to survive as a joined being, defeating the efreeti’s lingering essence and plots, but also tying the dream spirit to the warrior’s bloodline forever, reborn again and again, trapped in this realm but always watching over the descendents of their first companion, flitting across the branches of the family tree.

Sometimes Vreska almost remembers in her slumber, but doesn’t recall the memories on waking. They are hazy impressions of a time long past, and she couldn’t explain what a dream is--only the visions the presence in her mind sends her.

There’s a voice, but no clear words; direction, but it’s not straightforward. She knows they have met, have spoken--though there is no waking detail. But they’ve always been there, as comfort and guide. Keeping her out of trouble--or getting her into it. Pushing her to train herself, body and mind, even before she was taken in by the order.

Vreska remembers nothing before she was five or six years old; those days are a hazy blur. She only remembered her birth name and that her birth was celebrated with others around the winter solstice (she thinks). How much is because there’s nothing of note to remember, or what her other half is keeping from her, she isn’t sure, nor is she too worried about it.

She grew up on the streets of Lidian, trying to be more helpful than a hindrance, though with an instinctive ability to see what was fair and what wasn’t, and to direct her mischief at the latter. Still, in her youthful naivety--sometime around the age of fourteen-ish--she was talked into helping a heist against a “mad priest” of a little known holy order. The troublemakers were made, Vreska facilitating the others' escape at her own expense.

It was the first time she had met another dual-soul.

Beyazt recognized her in a way no one else ever had, and instead of turning the girl over to the authorities, he offered her a meal, a place to sleep, and some explanation for the presence sharing her head. The man was definitely odd but honest and gentle, so she agreed. A temporary situation to stay out of trouble became something more permanent as Vreska began to study, and then to train, with the Eyes of the Watcher, an order of Helm set to guard against extraplanar dangers--and Vreska’s nature was of great interest, her soul-deep memories carrying knowledge and experience that could guide the girl, if not the entire Order.

A decade and a half later, Vreska is a Paladin of the Eyes, guided by her faith but also the presence in her self, visions leading her across the dangerous ruins of the world. Encouraged to heed the visions as they corresponded to those of others more prophetically inclined, Vreska makes her way to Pochwald.

[voltaire92]

Que ganas de hablar con alguien....entiendo que todos tienen sus problemas y lidian con sus cosas....pero solo me gustaría poder hablar con alguien....y no sentir que molesto o sentirme culpable por hacerlo...