#lore adjacent

[classificationhell]

How do you think Alastor, Vox, Fizz+Ozzie, and Mourningstar would react to reader bottling up their feelings? They don't focus on their negative feeling and try to maintain a positive attitude about everything to not be a burden on the people around them.

(I hope you and your sister are both doing well, btw. I hope she's recovering well.)

Yeah.... Alastor is going to try and wait for them to be ready. He'll try and show his trustworthiness and such, and yeah, he has his own secrets, but his patience won't last forever. Eventually, he'll swaddle them so tightly they are unable to escape and just wait by their bed until they tell him everything. They will tell him everything with a bit more prompting, no doubt.

Of course he'll commend them for keeping their smile and optimistic attitude, but he doesn't want them to have any secrets from him.

Vox understands a fake smile. He's another one who will try and wait for you to open up. Maybe probe a bit while you're playing with Vark. However, he's less patient than Alastor and his secondary gender does him no favors with being seen as a protector. Sooo he may use his hypnosis to get them to tell him, if that's an option.

Mourningstar wouldn't notice at first to be honest, but once he does he is absolutely distraught.

He tells them everything, even things he probably shouldn't >.>, so why won't they do the same? Clearly, they don't love or trust him! He's doing anything and everything to show them how much he loves them and trusts them. He'll hold and cuddle and kiss them, and if all else fails, he's on his hands crying and begging that they tell him. "Do you not love Daddy? Do you not trust him princess? What can Daddy do to get you to? More cuddles, more outside time, do you need more love and attention?" For the love of everything unholy just tell him or you will never know a moment's peace.

Fizzarolli and Ozzie will try and ask you upfront and let you know that there's no need to try and be strong and that you wouldn't be a burden if you confided in someone. They'll even offer you the chance to talk to a therapist instead of them. However, they won't force you to do things since that's kind of counterintuitive to providing an environment of safety and trust.

[kurzler]

in my opinion, many modern greek retellings/stories inspired by greek mythology don't fail because they're inaccurate. they fail because they have nothing new to say.

i don't mind changes to the original myths, as long as they make sense and they have a narrative purpose! i understand that making changes is sometimes necessary to convey a certain narrative, especially to modern audiences.

is epic the musical mythologically accurate? hell no! but the changes serve to tell a specific story and to convey a certain message. also, epic the musical is self aware about its "inaccuracies". and the music just bangs.

is hadestown accurate? no! does it make the change that I always dread, removing the kidnapping from the hades/persephone myth? yeah. but hadestown is barely about them, and it uses greek mythology as a "narrative frame" to tell a certain story. it has a point. it has a message.

what are stories like lore olympus trying to say? what is the messagge of the hundredth persephone/hades retelling? what are we supposed to take from them? "don't listen to your mother she's a bitch"? "mothers are irrational and you should forsake her for a man"? very feminist.

why are we still doing the medusa "feminist" retellings? it's BEEN done. too many times. and they're ALL the same. it's a worse crime than being bad: they are boring.

i'm tired of retellings that are just "what if this very famous story was THE OPPOSITE and the protagonist was an ASSHOLE the whole time and the villain was MISUNDERSTOOD and the real VICTIM" okay but why. why would that be the case. what's the point of the story you want to tell. or do you just want to use shock value.

of course, i dislike retellings that are so different from the myth that they go AGAINST the spirit/message of the original, because in that case what's even the point of retelling the myth? just tell an original story. but i would take stabbed poseidon and capitalist hades any day over the same basic story of medusa being a girlboss or demeter being bad because of... reasons?

tl;dr: stop being unoriginal and tell a good story. or at least an entertaining one. i beg you

[teaboot]

I gotta write about my OCs more, huh

[anannua]

words hard

I really liked this story so I illustrated a bit of it, check it out

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36736339 [ hard to follow - espresso_bun ]

[arcanegifs]

cmon you guys stop it with the garen hate smh his lines with Kat in LOR are so fucking funny ksdjfksdjfksdjfks

If you really want more lesbiabs in League you can also watch/read Leona and Diana!!!!!!!

DOOMED YURI SAVE US ALL

[renatogpadilla]

Light-Bleed.

It was supposed to be another patrol.

Lux and her Illuminators were supposed to be the scouts. That was the point of the name! Illuminate where the threat was and then Garen's men would take care of it. To the Demacian commoner, they were a charitable order of pious men and women who gave charity to the poor and downtrodden, but they could hold their own if push came to shove. Of course, that was only until backup arrived... At least without Lux outing herself.

So when they realized the little mage camp they were supposed to scout out was the current acting base of the Sylas of Dregbourne, saying they were in over their head was the understatement of the century.

Care to imagine what happens when you send a closeted Demacian mage-noble to a camp with a guy whose main superpower is to literally detect and absorb magic...?

What happens, as Garen Crownguard would discover that day, was a massacre.

When the Mageseekers arrived, there weren't many enemies left to fight. Just the marks of a long pair of magical chains, lining the split remains of the members of his sister's squadron.

If you're an older sibling, you might be able to imagine a fraction of the fear that Garen felt. All these bodies, of Mages and Illuminators alike... They could have all been killed, but they'd fought to the last man... They'd actually forced a retreat from Sylas from his own base. For all intents and purposes, they'd won the day!

But they weren't here to celebrate. They weren't here to cheer and rejoice that that monster had one less foothold in their home... They were dead. Splintered. Chained to death.

And his sister was nowhere in sight.

There was never a more panicked man than Garen Crownguard as he was in that moment. His men could handle the stragglers. He immediately started looking for survivors, but the big brother in him really only looked for one.

He caught the little flash of light out of the corner of his eye. Dim as death, but it was there. And he started digging under a small mound of bodies, once men and women of the Shield, like himself. And below the remains of about ten dead Illuminators, barely clinging to life, with a cracked breastplate, and a bleeding out of her side, her hands aglow, agonizing, but alive, was his sister Lux.

He picked her up as gently as he could in the state she was in. She'd hidden under the bodies to live. Or had they hidden her in the end, even knowing what she was? Gods, she would hate herself for this forever... He would make sure every single one of them had a hero's burial. He tucked her hands close to his chest so nobody could see, and his men understood. They took one look at him and told him to go. Normally, he would be the one staying above everyone else... Since when do his men give him orders? But this was Lux, and if there was one thing that had been abundantly clear since he day Garen had become a member of the Dauntless Vanguard and of the Mageseekers, and all of the men and women under him knew it, was the unshakeable faith and insurmountable love the Lord Commander felt for his little sister, and her for him. The few people that knew them personally would swear upon the Spirits that Lux was the only real weakness Garen had. The only thing that could cause him true damage.

And now his sister was dying.

The Mageseekers knew two things for sure as they saw him carry his sister away, running to where he knew she would have leashed her horse, Starfire, to a tree far enough away from danger: The first was that the pain he was going through right now was the most broken they would ever see him.

The second was that the reckoning that would befall the man that had dared lay hands on his little sister would be so righteously terrible, so incredibly brutal and visceral, that the Protector herself would look away in disgust.

But right now, Garen was running... and he was panicking. His sister winced in pain and her hands lit up brighter. She was glowing! He couldn't take her back to the Garrison! They'd know! He couldn't-!

"B-brother..." She could barely form the word. "Star..."

"I know, Lux, I know! I'll get her! I'll get you! You're going to be fine, I swear!" He rounded the corner and indeed, there was Starfire, whining like crazy. There had to be someone he could take her to...! All the healers were under the Crown, and everyone that wasn't was not going to keep their mouth shut about a Mage noble! Who else, who else...?!

He got close to the horse and his sister put a weak, glowing hand to her nozzle and whispered a name between whimpers.

"Isha..."

The horse got it immediately. As soon as she was free and Garen and Lux were on top, she bolted faster than Garen had ever seen her. Isha...? Garen hadn't seen her since the talk they'd had on the balcony a few months back... But she and Lux were close. She already knew... Whether she could help...

He'd trust his sister.

If she thought Isha could save her, he'd put his faith in her too. He let Starfire guide him to the woods next to a little town he'd never heard of before. Into the woods she galloped, fast as lightning, and dodged what Garen would later know were small metal plates on the ground. Traps, for intruders that got too close. Star knew the pattern by heart now.

His sister's whole skin was glowing. No. Not glowing... Flickering. In and out and dimmer every time.

The mare stopped in front of a ramshackle hut in the middle of the woods. Garen didn't have time to appreciate the decor. He patted Star on the head and carried his sister off.

"ISHA!!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "ISHA, SHE NEEDS YOU!"

He didn't hear the door unlock over his own heartbeat. The girl with the blue hair basically pushed the door down, her hand clutching something on her thigh.

"Garen? How did you-?" She managed. Then she saw her... Lux bleeding in her brother's arms, her glow wild and uncontrollable, barely clinging to life.

Her world came crumbling down all at once.

"Please..." Garen barely managed it.

That snapped her out of it. "Get her inside." She whispered, almost to herself, and then louder. "GET HER INSIDE, NOW!"

Whatever was on the main table was thrown to the side before Garen could lumber through the door. He put his sister there, in the middle of the room and gave Isha some space. At once, the raggedy woman started patching her up, taking whatever supplies she had on hand. And cleaning up the wounds.

"There's a lot of blood... I can't... There's gotta be SOMETHING!" She'd dressed the wounds and cleaned them up. She'd tried every ointment she could think of that would be safe and even removed pieces of metal from her wounds, but now Jinx was fully panicking. Lux was twitching on the table... What the hell could she do?! She'd not seen wounds this bad since... since...

"Stay awake, baby, stay with me!" The girl said, repeating it to both his sister and herself. Her hands moved so fast Garen couldn't keep track... He thought he saw a flash of purple as she moved from time to time, but that was probably him hallucinating out of stress. Little by little, a bunch of bandages and rags got tinted red...

Too red... Too much...! She could fix the lesser injuries but...

Oh. That's what she could do. What she and nobody else could.

She leaned over Lux's face. "Lux? I need you to listen to me... There's something I can do. And I don't know if it'll work, but if it does, it's going to hurt like hell. It's risky but it's all I've got, okay, love?"

Lux managed to lock eyes with her and Garen saw a softness - a love - he'd never seen in his sister before, even through the pain. She nodded. "Trust y-you..."

That was all Jinx needed to hear.

"I love you. Whatever happens, I love you, Luxanna." She kissed her like there was no tomorrow, and for a fraction of a second she was afraid there wouldn't be... "Garen, get her on the bed!" She said, and she ran to her workbench.

Garen didn't have to be told twice.

"I have you sister! I'm here, we're both here! We're not going anywhere!" He carried her to the room in the back and laid her on a comfy thatch bed. "What now?!"

Isha came into the room, rubbing a wet cotton furiously on her arm. "Now, you hold her down. This is going to be bad."

Then she pulled out a syringe and started drawing her own blood without a second of hesitation.

"What are you-?"

"My blood's not all normal. There's a drug in there that saved my life before. I'm hoping it saves her's too."

"Hoping?!"

"I'VE GOT NOTHING ELSE! YOU WANT HER TO LIVE OR NOT?!?!"

As she said it Garen could barely notice her eyes glowing, a small flash of purple, and then a brighter glow, not from her eyes, but from the syringe. A mix of crimson and neon purple that Garen could feel went against everything he once believed in... Blood Magic, in the most literal sense.

Isha got closer. "Okay, Lux, here goes. Whatever you see, it's not real. We love you!"

She stuck the syringe in the biggest wound she could find and pressed, trying for the life of her to focus on her job and not on Lux's screams of agony as the Shimmer entered her system.

Garen held her down on the bed as much as he could...

And then the lights went crazy.

One moment, her skin glowed like she was about to burst, a mix of gold and purple as gorgeous as it was terrifying. Her eyes, her hair, everything in the room changing colors wildly. The daytime seemed to turn off at one point. The sun outside looked blue, the shadows on the corners of the room felt brighter than any torch and the mirror reflected nothing but a black void where the light should have hit.

All throughout, Luxanna writhed in pain, and all throughout Jinx and Garen held her. And at some point, Jinx put a hand on Garen's shoulder, and he returned the gesture...

One last, massive scream of agony, Lux, lurching forward with almost enough force to push Garen off, and Jinx could swear she lifted a few feet off the bed, the light of her and Garen's own bodies dancing haywire as the Bright Lady fully lost control... and then...

Darkness. Pitch black darkness.

And little by little, the colors returned to the room. The right colors. Dimmer than before, but slowly returning regardless... Like the saturation was coming back to an old photograph.

Lux didn't move. Garen didn't move. He just held her, like a broken ragdoll he couldn't - he wouldn't - live without.

Isha didn't let go of Lux's hand as she sprawled herself and put her ear to her chest... Jinx had never prayed honestly in her life until now.

Nothing.

Nothing...!

Terrible, unreal nothing...!

.....

And then, faintly, weakly, almost imperceptibly, but there...

A heartbeat.

And now Jinx let the tears out.

"Oh, Lux!" She held her so tight she might've crushed her if she wasn't careful. "Oh, love, you really had us going there, honey! You'll be okay, you'll be okay...!"

She was alive. Garen looked at the gaping wound in her side and... He couldn't believe it. It was a small change, but the wound wasn't bleeding anymore! In fact it was... closing. Not super fast, but fast enough to notice.

His sister would live.

He finally allowed himself to breathe as he dropped on the corner of the room.

And very faintly, because his voice was still gone, he laughed. A nervous cry-laugh, like only a big brother could. And his tears began to dance in his eyes and off as well...

*****

It took a few minutes for them to catch their breath and Garen left the room to let Lux recover. He had taken off his armor. It had felt heavy for the first ever time today.

He sat on the couch outside the room in his slacks as Isha came out of the room, pacing.

"She's stable." She said. "Might not wake up for a while, but she'll live..." She had something folded over her shoulder...

She went over to her workbench and picked up a huge backpack and dragged it to the door. Then she sat on the floor, leaning on it.

Garen finally found his tongue.

"You saved her life." Whatever else he had to say would have to wait. That mattered the most. "Thank you."

She just gave him a look... He knew where she lived now. She thought that might be less of a problem than she might imagine, but time would tell...

"Who?" That's all she said. And from the venom in her voice, Garen knew exactly who she meant.

"Sylas of Dregbourne. I take it my sister told you who he is?" He didn't give a singular shit about protocol right now. Isha deserved to know.

"She's mentioned him." She'd done a hell of a lot more than mention him. Somedays, when they weren't... active at night, Lux would wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare the memory of 'Sylas the Unshackled' had caused. "Where?"

"Near the Hinterlands. The border between them and Demacian civilization proper... Just a forward camp, though."

"It's enough." She got up and stormed into her room. She leaned down over the bed and gave Lux a soft kiss before turning to her nightstand and leaving a little contraption there. A tiny toy monkey with a pair of cymbals in its hands and a crank in its back.

She looked at her. Her Light. Her Lux. Barely alive, having survived an agony few but Jinx herself would ever know...

"What are you doing?" Garen asked as she left the room in a huff.

"When she wakes up, she's going to need you." She said. She was in a place she hadn't felt herself in in a long time. "When this happened to me, I started hallucinating. I lashed out. Couldn't think straight. God knows what that means for a girl with Magic at her fingertips. You might have to restrain her."

Garen didn't think she could be mad enough to try what he thought she was going to try.

"And where are you going?"

"Hunting." She answered, and she took out a giant... Godesses, what was that thing? It took Garen a minute to comprehend it. Eight metal tubes strapped together to a massive chamber with a handle and a trigger. Scattered paint littered its surface in intricate patterns. She opened the bag with one hand and fed a bunch of scrap metal where she kept the back of the contraption open with the other. An absolute metal abomination of a weapon. "He went too far. Never again. Stay with Lux. Don't go anywhere. More importantly, don't let her go anywhere. If it's anything like what happened to me, she'll try to leave. Hard."

"You can't just take on Sylas by yourself! He's got gods know how many mages guarding him at all times, and even if you could find him, he did that to Lux! Lux had Magic!" Garen was one to talk... Like he didn't want to go himself! But she had just saved Lux's life. He wasn't going to let her throw her own away!

"Exactly. Magic he would steal. Magic he could use. He's so used to fighting your way... He won't be ready for me." Another weapon left the backpack. A single tube this time, thick as hell, almost as long as Isha herself. A metal shark head adorned what Garen assumed to be the nozzle, painted in blue, pink and gold. "Nobody ever is."

He couldn't stop himself. He got up and grabbed her by the shoulders. "And when he kills you? When Lux wakes up and you're dead? What then?! Why save her life if you're just going to make living it miserable?!"

That actually gave her some pause. Good, some common sense! Finally!

"You got somebody, G?" She sounded different... Darker. She was hurting just as much as him. "Somebody you love? Not like you love your sister... Someone you would die for if it meant they got to be free for a day at least... Someone like that?"

"I do. She... Disappeared during the first revolt Sylas started. I haven't seen her since." Garen had to stop himself from wondering the worst.

"What's her name...?"

"Katarina."

"Sounds pretty." And Jinx got the tiniest smile from the Lord Commander. "If it was her on that bed, and I wasn't here to save her... If you knew who did it. Would you stay your hand?"

The thought alone made him sick to his core. "I KNOW who did it! And going at him like this is not the play! He knows how this works!"

"Sylas knows how you work, Garen. He'll be expecting Mageseekers and Illuminators. A grand show of force, scorched earth, the works. That's why I can do this and you can't. Because I don't need Mageseekers and Illuminators to burn everything to the ground. Because he can't plan for me."

"I won't let you." And he meant that shit. He admired the hell out of her now, but he would not let her be killed by that monster too.

"Lord Commander." She said as that purple glow came to her eyes brighter than ever. Those eyes that were like daggers. Bright, glowing daggers that stabbed deep into Garen's soul. There was a rage in those eyes he had never seen on a human before. "With all due respect... You don't have a choice."

And then she pushed him. Harder than he'd ever been pushed in his life. He'd fought the trolls of the Freljord one on one and he'd not been pushed that hard! He flew over the table and landed back on the couch, pure shock in his face.

He saw her in full now. Her veins glowed purple for a second, her eyes a rabid animal's. She unfolded the thing on her shoulder at last, a dusty, dark green hoodie with fangs at the rim, the inside lined with so many toothy grenades Garen couldn't count them all. She readjusted that contraption strapped to her thigh (because of course that was a weapon too) and lifted both of those insane machinations of hers in one hand each as she turned to face the door.

Still in shock, Garen could only form one question.

"Isha... Who are you?"

The girl at least graced him with an answer.

"Not Isha." She said as she pulled the toothy hood over her head. And she sounded like a demon. Garen would know. He'd fought demons. "My name is Jinx of Zaun. When Lux wakes up, ask her who that is."

And in a flash of purple, she was gone.

*****

Jinx unstrapped Starfire from her tree. The mare didn't whine or step back. She knew what time it was too.

"Take me there."

And Starfire did. She carried the Witch of the Woods, weapons and all, like it was nothing. Almost flying through meadows and forests, ever onwards towards the Hinterlands. Towards their prey. She thought of the kind of monster she was hunting....

And a voice in the back of her mind said "Kill", and Jinx didn't have to be told twice.

[necrotic-nephilim]

there is not enough femslash in batcest circles. the girls deserve to be just as weird about each other as the boys are. if BruDick gets to be weird father/son/brothers/lovers/friends/rivals/soulmates then it is only fair that Babs/Cass get to be mother/daughter/sisters/lovers too. Something about that deep intrinsic but undefinable love that is born out of trauma, especially if you consider Cass not knowing what healthy love looks like in the first place. i think it's fun and deserves just as much fandom content.

besides that, you can get even more niche with rarepairs like Helena/Steph. Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma is already a fantastic comic and even though it's their only real canon interaction it has so much potential. very comparable to TimJay in how Helena tries to get Steph to understand her morals and the corruption you could play with it.

batman: huntress/spoiler: blunt trauma (1998)

that comic also highlights on how both Steph and Helena are outcasts of the Batfamily and don't have the approval of Bruce to be doing what they do in "his city". I think there's so much Potential in Helena taking Steph under her wing because Bruce won't let her in and it becomes a weird codependent toxic sapphic mess. I think the protectiveness Helena feels over Steph from the get-go is so clear and the way she wants to look out for Steph, wants to make sure Steph understands the real world? I love them. Helena should be allowed to steal Steph, actually. I think it'd be fun.

there are a lot of other possibilities too like Babs/Steph or even getting weird with Helena Bertinelli/Helena Wayne and the existential question of "is it selfcest or not." But these two specifically live in my head rent-free, especially Helena/Steph and one day I'll convince everyone else to ship it too.

[classificationhell]

So it's most likely not going to happen in the fic I am writing for him, but imagine Mourningstar's delusions go so hard that he genuinely believes that you are his babygirl, and not in the adopted way. Like in order to help him heal more his brain decided to fabricate that everyone died that night except you. You were taken from him, but not by death. The angels must've taken you and then sent you back down once he proved he wouldn't lift a finger to help those filthy sinners ever again.

Even if you look completely different, even if you insist you don't remember this man he's so sure in his delusions. Of course you don't remember him you were just born when it happened that's why you look at him like he's a stranger, oh babygirl he's so sorry he missed so many important milestones for you. He wonders why the angels didn't tell you about your Daddy, but it's alright he'll tell you all about your family and about memories he has of you as a baby.

It all makes so much sense now! Angels wouldn't be so cruel as to murder his entire family. The reason he didn't make a grave for you was because he couldn't find your body, and a small part of him held hope that you were alive somewhere. The reason why Charlie's nursery only had the one crib was because him and Lillith had decided to co-sleep with you in their bed, yes, yes, it's all so clear! He must've been so deep in his grief he had momentarily forgotten, oh babygirl he's so sorry but he remembers everything now!

He will tell you all about the day you were born and how excited Charlie had been for a sibling. He'll tell you about how she used to play dress up with you and read you her favorite stories and how you'd giggle. He'd tell you about how he used to make you watch in wide eyed wonder whenever he'd use his magic around you.

What you aren't his second daughter and you came from another family? Oh honey, the angels must've kept you in a state of sleep and you dreamed the whole thing, shhh, don't get upset now, Daddy's here, and he'll help you remember the real truth about your past. Poor thing you must be so confused, don't cry Daddy's here now.

For those of you who have no idea who this unhinged man is allow me to introduce him to you. Essentially he is Lucifer if Lillith actually attempted to form a legitimate army to take down heaven due to the extermination and as a result was punished by the angel of death taking away his wife and child. He becomes more and more secluded and insane in his grief until he finds an Omega Little regressed, being chased by an exorcist (in my fic), crying out for their Daddy and he saves them and becomes immediately attached and regardless of pronouns or actual gender he calls them his babygirl or princess. He is unhinged and delusional but truly does love them.

[al-luviec]

band au

[tervaneula]

Concerning ✨this post✨

@witchofthemoss @antimattercontainment

Y'all are SO RIGHT LMFAO

“Babe. Babe, did you write this?” 

Yuichi turns to look at Leonardo and, seeing him holding the yard sale sign he was going to laminate and put up a little later, raises a brow. 

“Yes. Who else would it have been?” 

Leonardo stares at him for a second. 

“...what does this sign say?” 

Now frowning in concern, Yuichi puts down a box full of old vinyl records he was bringing outside and goes to the slider. 

“Leo… are you okay? It says “yard sale”. Have you had enough water today? Do you need to lie down?” 

The corner of Leonardo’s mouth twitches. And then he laughs. 

Yuichi doesn’t understand. 

“Leo—” 

“Yard sale!” Leonardo wheezes, tipping his head back and covering his eyes with his palm. “No, it says–” he giggles some more before leaning towards Yuichi and bringing the sign right up to his eye level, “–it says yale sale.” 

Yuichi stares at the turtle. Then at the sign. Then slowly at the turtle again. 

He flushes so hard that the tip of his nose turns bright red. 

The sign is promptly snatched from the now bent-over-in-laughter turtle, crumpled into a tight little ball and thrown in the trash. It won’t help anymore, of course – Yuichi knows that Leonardo will undoubtedly bully him for this, probably forever – but it makes him feel a little better. 

He smacks his husband upside the head as he goes to leave the room to get a marker and another piece of paper, smugly grinning at the indignant yelp. 

It’s okay. He’ll get it right this time. 

[7clubs]

OC dump :]

some funny new bisexuals me and my bestie made recently so we could stick them into a dramatic polycule

(most of the drama is because of a certain big lizard. but they all love each other very much regardless)

[ollierachnid]

I love himmmmm

[filurig]

needed to do a little refresh on gnomes/tomtar in pareidolia cuz i decided. There will be ptarmigans. more info about the different factions mentioned in the second image below..

as mentioned, tomte society is usually quite decentralised and local, spending the most time together in small groups within major dispersal groups during certain times of the year, with no centralised leadership. their gatherings during winter almost resemble family reunions in a way. however, there are two more "centralised" gnome factions which work together year-round - the mountain front and the midlands front. these are relatively "new" factions which only arose when major territorial disputes began between trolls and gnomes after gnomes started collaborating with humans to a noticeable degree a few hundred years ago.

the two fronts organise to fight against the trolls and try to take territory and defend their own from them. as trolls and gnomes used to share territories and collaborate in the past, their current conflict is partly driven by tales of "betrayal" carried down through the generations in tales, on both sides. another part of it is the increasing industrialisation, and with cities growing and the human wood industry homogenising forests causing old territories to become less hospitable, many gnomes, especially the gnomes of the mountain front, are driven to try to retake old historical territory of theirs in the mountains. both fronts are driven by a council, usually elected based on their strategic prowess and leadership skills.

[morrigan-sims]

Lord Captain Xandra von Valencius, Rogue Trader of the Imperium

Following the unexpected death of Her Ladyship Theodora von Valencius and her known heir, a bladedancer named Xandra has taken the Lord Captain's seat. While she may be new to the role of Rogue Trader, Xandra von Valencius is far from a nobody. In fact, this isn't the first time she's been referred to as nobility. Prior to the reveal of her von Valencius heritage, Xandra made a name for herself as a crime lord on a hostile death world, wrangling the scattered pirates into a formidable fleet. Rumor says she ruled ruthlessly until she was captured by a rival gang. No one knows what happened to her in the 3 months she was missing, but when she returned, having single-handedly slaughtered the entire gang responsible for her capture, Xandra was changed. Having attracted much attention with her recent ascension to Lord Captain, it seems that Her Ladyship is eager not to fall into enemy hands. In addition to Xandra's own skills with blades, rumor says that she is accompanied by an eerie death cultist who never leaves her side. Will the new Rogue Trader grow the dynasty's glory, or will she be the reason the von Valencius name is struck from the history books? Time will tell if the skills she used to gain and keep control of her criminal empire will serve her well as Lord Captain. (Bladedancer Assassin, Iconoclast, Death World + Crime Lord origin, ♥ Kibellah)

If you couldn't tell by the top half of this post, I started playing Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader a couple weeks ago. I bought the game on my birthday because it just happened to be on sale, and in the past 2 weeks I've racked up 31 hours. Which isn't much compared to my playtime in WotR when I first started playing, but it's pretty impressive given my workload. I've been having a ton of fun!! This is Xandra, and yes, she's a (space) pirate who was captured and tortured. I have a type, apparently.

Here's some pics of her in-game.

I imagine that the 2nd outfit (the long coat) is her adventuring outfit (lots of pockets plus belts for weapons and such), and the other more uniform-looking outfit is her "ceremonial" outfit. (She's never going to get more formal than that.)

Also, if anyone else plays Rogue Trader and hasn't played the Void Shadows DLC, I highly recommend it. Kibellah is awesome, and the Bladedancer archetype is SO much fun to play. (Yes, I'm running a party that's 1/3rd Bladedancer Assassins. Surprisingly, it works really well. They are VERY efficient little murder machines.)

[ikoraswife]

oh my god it makes so much sense that oryx returned given the lore about the winnower in the grimoire book

[tovaicas]

↳ ꜰꜰxɪᴠ — ʀᴏᴜᴠᴀꜱᴛʀᴇ ᴅᴇ ʟᴇᴜᴠᴇᴄʜɪᴇʀ ⇄ ᴇꜱᴛᴇᴇᴍ

Today, tomorrow — forever on, from one war to the next. Have you ever wondered when our war ends? Does it even matter? Were we not meant to be nothing but weapons from the day we were born, our edges kept sharp and bloody when needed and hung up and set aside like good, obedient little soldiers when not?

(Steel Temper! Heavensbreaker! The Warrior of Light! Our Weapon of Light!)

Look in the mirror. Do you still feel him crawling up your spine, setting within your bone? Do you feel it gnawing at the edge of your soul? Feel the blood in your fingers again. Remember your purpose. Remember the grind of the bone beneath your fist. Remember. Remember. Remember. Stare into my eyes and REMEMBER.

(Even now, you continue to deny it. Well. Deny me all you want. You cannot deny what we have done.)

You feel it, don’t you? There’s no point to hiding it. I know you. Feel the furious pulse of hot blood in your head. Feel it in your teeth. Feel it in your throat. Feel it in your heart. Feel my hand on yours, cloak it in scale, and grind it deep into where it needs to be. Again, and then again. One broken shield exchanged for another. It’s never enough. It will never be enough.

(Or you could beat every single one of them to death with your bare hands. You would like that, wouldn’t you?)

But you know as well as we — that it was never the Eye.

(I knew you would.)

It was always just you.