#lore: an empire of dreams and illusions

[sorryimananti-romantic]

Horizon

faerieprince!san x oc

royal/fantasy au, soulmate au

Take Me Home spinoff (can be read as a standalone)

series lore

genre and warnings: fluff, angst, mild smut/suggestive, time travel/time loop, tragedy, violence warnings, mention of death/su!cide, past traumas, idk if i missed sth

synopsis: the eight faerie princes and the princess who rule the planet mirinae sense something that doesn't belong to their world- something that screams unnatural and dangerous. however, san is able to feel the presence of a faerie instead and it leads him to gaeul, who came back to life as a part of a darkling's evil scheme. san soon realises that he might be connected to gaeul in unimaginable ways, and the bond that they share might not be good.

-> part 1

-> part 2

-> part 3

-> part 4

-> part 5

Planet Mirinae Map:

[Kingdoms --> star-signs, Seas--> birthstones

(Seonghwa and Yunho share the Kingdom of Aries;

Kingdom of Gemini is split into two states bc duh;

Fomalhaut--> free land without a monarchy)]

disclaimer: the series can be read as a standalone since i do enough of explaining the whole universe at a tolerable pace (i hope), but in case you decide to read take me home (seonghwa series) which is a crucial part in the worldbuilding of this universe, i assure you not much will be spoiled and take me home will still be confusing asf (i really hope so LOL) anyways enjoy or whatever.

status: complete

taglist: closed

[desultory-novice]

I was lore surfing RTTDDX and found an interesting subject. Magolor's EX screen says he learned about the Master Crown in a "dusty tome" and thought it was a fairy tale. Now it makes me wonder of the subgame Tome tracker. What if those books in that subgame are his personal library (lore collection)? What if those tomes were written by the Ancients themselves?

So, I've been thinking about this idea ever since I learned Magolor wasn't really Halcandran and it freed me to truly think of him as more of an "Interdimensional Traveler" ... and I think I have finally come around to my most current headcanon on this subject!

It involves the Spiders. That's right. This all goes back to "the portrait" in TDX!!

Magolor has a dream, right? A quiet, silly dream to build an amusement park that the entire universe could enjoy! But...well, he's also just a wee~ bit of a megalomaniacal egg, and even though he's WILLING to work toward his dream from the ground up, starting with a small, privately owned shop, we know that by the time of RtDL, he's definitely not against fantasizing about about things like cheating the system and becoming all powerful!

So, there's the our main character of this tale.

And what's the best and quickest way for an ambitious egg to get a big enterprise going? (Especially if he'd already tried things the hard way and failed?) Having FUNDING. So, Magolor reaches out to Queen Sectonia's empire, y'know, since the queen and her court magician can literally MAKE gigantic precious gems out of magic.

Ah, but she won't meet with just a humble (and very, very poor) future-theme park designer with nothing but an idea.

No, Magolor needs an identity to impress her.

...Thus begins Magolor's history of cosplaying!

Magolor puts on the blue and gold hood and describes himself to the court as "...a descendant of the Ancients." ("Look, look! I've even got a Halcandran name!" "...Why does your name mean 'liar?'")

Queen Sectonia, who possibly already have the mirror at this point (all we know is that Shopkeeper Magolor has heard that she once looked just like Taranza, we don't know whether he saw that transformation for himself) could be just as interested in getting her hands on more Halcandran artifacts as Magolor is, so she accepts him as a guest of her empire! ...And probably assigns Taranza to babysit the suspicious creature.

So it is HER library where Magolor finds the dusty old tome that tells him about the Lor Starcutter! (And a bunch of stuff, including ID-F86?!) Magolor is beginning to see that Halcandra, his "assumed" hometown, is where he might be able to make his dreams come true.

Time passes, Taranza and Sectonia learn that Magolor is not Halcandran, just a swindler (though Taranza holds some lingering affection for the fellow bookworm, enough to not throw out his picture) and Magolor is kicked out on his non-existent feet.

With the last of his resources, he hitches a one-way ticket to Halcandra and begins his search! (...Or maybe he actually got as far as having Sectonia fund an expedition for him? Maybe the portrait is of their :wipes a tear away: "...lost scholar-explorer Magolor"? Maybe they never did find out the truth about him, rather, they assumed him lost?)

On Halcandra, Magolor is desperate enough to search for any trace of truth in the stories until his fancy cosplay robes turn an ashy gray and start to break down (as I believe the opening cutscene for the Epilogue is 100% meant to show us that Magolor's clean look is but an illusory disguise he kept up with magic to impress others, including Kirby and the gang - because it's hard to convince everyone you didn't totally steal the ship you're on when you're literally dressed like a castaway - and his illusion breaks when he runs out of power)

But...just when it looks like maybe he'll die here, maybe his quest was in vain...the fairy tale turns out to be reality!

-

As for why the Tome Trackers game looks that way, I kinda think it could still be based off of Floralia's library? (Or whatever other library he may have gotten the information from.) But that the place we're running around in is just an attraction isolated to Magoland. He's got a replica (at least, I hope it's a replica) of King Dedede's castle throne room in Merry Magoland too! XD

[cagemasterfantasy]

Dnd monsters explained Aboleth

Before the coming of the gods, Aboleths lurked in primordial oceans and underground lakes. They reached out with their minds and seized control of the burgeoning life-forms of the mortal realm, making those creatures their slaves. Their dominance made them like gods. Then the true gods appeared smashing the Aboleths empires and freeing their slaves.

Aboleths have never forgotten.

Aboleths have flawless memories. They pass on their knowledge and experience from generation to generation. Thus the injury of their defeat by the gods remains perfectly preserved in their minds.

Aboleths minds are treasure troves of ancient lore recalling moments from prehistory and intricately across eons. Few creatures can conceive of the extent of an Aboleth's plan.

Aboleths dwell in watery environments including ocean abysses deep lakes, and the Elemental Plane of Water. In these domains and the lands that adjoin them Aboleths are like gods demanding worship and obedience from their subjects. When they consume other creatures Aboleths add the knowledge and experiences of their prey to their eternal memories.

Aboleths use their telepathic powers to read the minds of creatures and know their desires. An Aboleth uses this knowledge to gain a creature's loyalty promising to fulfill such wants in exchange for obedience. Within its lair the Aboleth can further use its powers to override senses granting creatures such as its followers the illusion of promised rewards.

The Aboleths fall from power is written in stark clarity on their flawless memories for Aboleths never truly die. If an Aboleths body is destroyed its spirit returns to the Elemental Plane of Water where a new body coalesces for it over days or months.

Ultimately Aboleths dream of overthrowing the gods and regaining control of the world. Aboleths have had untold eons to plot and to prepare their plans for perfect execution.

Aboleth Lair:

Aboleths lair in subterranean lakes or the rocky depths of the ocean often surrounded by the ruins of an ancient fallen aboleth city. An Aboleth spends most of its time underwater surfacing occasionally to treat with visitors or deranged worshipers.

When fighting inside its lair an Aboleth can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Aboleth takes a lair action to cause 1 of the following effects:

1: The aboleth cast Phantasmal Force (no components required) on any number of creatures it can see within 60 feet of it. While maintaining concentration on this effect, the Aboleth can't take other lair actions. If a target succeeds on the saving throw (DC 14) or if the effect ends for it, the target is immune to the Aboleths Phantasmal Force lair action for the next 24 hours although such a creature can choose to be affected.

2: Pools of water within 90 feet of the Aboleth surge outward in a grasping tide. Any creature on the ground within 20 feet of such a pool must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet into the water and knocked prone. The Aboleth can't use this lair action again until it has used a different one.

3: Water in the Aboleth's lair becomes a conduit for the creature's rage. The Aboleth can target any number of creatures it can see in such water within 90 feet of it. A target must make a DC14 Wisdom saving throw or take 2d6 psychic damage. The Aboleth can't use this lair action again until it has used a different one.

Regional Effects: The region containing an Aboleth's lair is warped by the creature's presence, which creates one or more of the following effects:

1: Underground surfaces within 1 mile of the Aboleth's lair are slimy and wet and are difficult terrain.

2: Water sources within 1 mile of the lair are supernaturally fouled. Enemies of the Aboleth that drink such water vomit it within minutes.

3: As an action the Aboleth can create an illusory image of itself within 1 mile of the lair. They copy can appear at any location the aboleth has seen before or in any location a creature charmed by the Aboled can currently see. Once created the image lasts for as long as the Aboleth maintains concentration as if concentrating on a spell. Although the image is intangible it looks sounds and can move like the Aboleth. The Aboleth can sense speak and use telepathy from the image's position as if present at that position. If the image takes any damage it disappears.

If the Aboleth dies the first 2 effects fade over the course of 3d10 days.

[the-college-of-whispers]

The Nature of Alteration

by Telonil Kaeire, Alteration Master of the College of Whispers

Alteration, as a school of magic, is often misunderstood and confused with Illusion by those who do not study magic in-depth. Dating back to the First Era Ayleid empire, Alteration was originally used as a military tool. The changes brought on by this school of magic apply to everyone, not merely caster and target (as seen with Illusion magic).

A core aspect of Alteration, as outlined by the anonymously-written book Reality and Other Falsehoods dating back to at least 2E 582, is to accept that reality is false, a dream of some greater being. These spells seek to convince a greater power that it’s easier to change reality than to leave it be. Therefore, Alteration is not bound by the laws of reality.

Alteration is about uncommon sense and how the line between magic and mundane do not exist, as eloquently put in the book Breathing Water by Haliel Myrm (a piece of fiction dating back to at least 3E 427 that explains Alteration in a very brief, non-fiction manner). One of the possible morals of this work is that the world will end a spell no matter how good the mage casting it.

It is, however, bound by the laws of nature. One must know something strong or tough to change their skin to with the Armor spells. One must know the three combat elements (Fire, Frost, and Shock) to create elemental shields. One must know water before breathing it or walking upon it. Indeed, even the Detect Life and Detect Dead spells (previously categorized as Mysticism before it was deemed obsolete post-Great War) are categorized modernly as Alteration spells, cementing the connection between nature, life, and Alteration.

Ultimately, Alteration works with and manipulates what is. Nature and natural order and law are what is. Thus, Alteration is intrinsically tied to nature and natural order and law.

Sources

Imperial Library entries:

Breathing Water (Haliel Myrm, traces back to 3E 427 through The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind)

Reality and Other Falsehoods (Anonymous, traces back to 2E 582 through The Elder Scrolls: Online)

UESP entries:

General: Magic

Lore: Alteration

Lore: Mysticism

Morrowind: Alteration

Oblivion: Alteration

Skyrim: Alteration

[stellocchia]

Ho postato 15.235 volte nel 2022

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Ho taggato 2.928 dei miei post nel 2022

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Longest Tag: 140 characters

#like it's not really a choice if you put a gun to someone's head and tell them it's either you do what i say or a i shoot you and your famil

I miei post migliori nel 2022:

#5

Btw, I love how there are streamers complaining the audience wants high production planned lore and won't be satisfied by anything less, and then c!Clingy, c!Jack, and c!Hannah come in with a low-key self-contained stream and everyone absolutely adores it.

Like, at the end of the day that's what made people fell in love with the dsmp streams anyway. It's the casual in character but extremely relaxed streams that do it. No matter how silly they are.

859 note - Postate 12 luglio 2022

#4

In other news, it's still somewhat funny to me how c!Fundy said no to dealing with his daddy issues, but then saw his estranged maybe uncle and his schrödinger's uncle going through the weirdest possible coping mechanism and went "yeah, that's one way I can connect with my family".

Like, good for him, hope being a noir npc helps him too

1.333 note - Postate 13 luglio 2022

#3

C!Tommy should fill his walls up in glitter so the next time c!Dream tries to hide in them he'll be sparkling and easy to see from afar for weeks

1.754 note - Postate 31 luglio 2022

#2

I absolutely LOVE Jimmy's new prank.

Please, that's so fricking good!

I think we should consider this canon, just like with the toy Jimmy stuff. Joel isn't a god, he's just a very good illusionist. He's a scam artist.

And maybe it's not even his doing! Maybe that's just what the fountain does! It covers everything in pretty little illusions that fall away with the flick of a lever.

Joel's height? His beard? His whole floating kingdom? Nothing but a pretty illusion from the fountain. And he knows it. Oh, he knows it! That's why he's so insecure. That's why he has to constantly repeat to himself that he's tall, strong, and sexy. My man's a scam artist!

2.217 note - Postate 21 novembre 2022

Il mio post numero 1 del 2022

Some people in this fandom: "c!Dream only SEEMS evil because we don't see his perspective!"

C!Dream from his perspective: "It's always morally correct to kill fortniters 😌"

3.801 note - Postate 14 gennaio 2022

Guarda ora l'Analisi del tuo anno 2022 di Tumblr →

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E131 (March 30, 2021)

Tonight’s guests are Liam O’Brien and Sam Riegel!

Brian points out that a lot of Caleb’s greatest fears have come to pass. Liam: “It’s funny, because he’d kind of believed for a while that those things weren’t going to happen. After a while, he got complacent.” He notes that it was extra wild because everything with Trent popped up again in the midst of that complacency. And how did it feel to be defiant toward Trent? “I think Trent successfully made Caleb question if Caleb really was in control“ at the dinner party. “I feel like anything that I do is part of his plans for me, or is that just gaslighting? I’m legitimately scared of that dude.” Sam: “Of Matt?” Liam: “Sure.” He highlights the disconnect between knowing that the M9 is mechanically powerful and could possibly defeat Trent in a dice-and-stats battle, versus fearing him in a story sense and being convinced he can do almost anything.

Sam, on Luc’s death: “That was brutal, man. Matt Mercer is a-- he hates children! Clearly. He actively sought to kill a child in the campaign in as brutal a way as possible. He hates children and wants them dead. Canon. No, but to RP, that was horrible.” He highlights that so much of Veth’s arc has been about trying to get back to her family. “We had to choose something and we thought we were making the right choice. It was all Veth’s fault, and it was pretty rotten. My heart was beating pretty fast, and I certainly didn’t want to have my son die live on the stream. I don’t know what Veth would have done. That’s the end, that’s over. It’s almost worse than when your own character would die. This is something that would also kill Veth.” After the episode was over: “just shaken. I also didn’t know what to do next! That felt like a turning-point moment for my character, weirdly so close to what we assume to be the end arc of this campaign. I texted Matt later that night and was like, that’s it, Veth’s out, I’m tapping out.”

There’s an interlude in which Sam discovers a new dream to record an episode of this show from his Peloton. Dani informs him that she will not be inviting him back.

On Astrid, Liam: “I literally don’t know what she’s doing. I know that she’s dangerous, she always was ambitious, and there’s not been a moment where Caleb let his guard down with her. He’s not trying to reestablish what they had. He cares for the both of them, for Astrid and Eodwulf. He thinks about it a lot, still. He can’t tell how much she buys into everything that she experienced and is now living as a full-grown adult. He suspects that she’s bought in and is not going to change things, because she believes in the system, as much as he’d like to peel her away. He does believe that they want what’s best for the Empire, and stopping whatever wants to come vomiting out of a hole in the frozen north is good for everyone. And they’re powerful. They’re not trustworthy, obviously. But there’s enough at stake to make it worth it. He could imagine a situation where they fight each other to the death.” He was convinced Astrid was going to stop them when they left the tower and was really shocked when she held back. Sam: “Not me! I’ve trusted Astrid since day one. She’s the greatest! I sent a letter to her, she’s very nice, I think you guys would be a nice couple. I believe every word she says.”

On having to decide on Veth deciding to go off and save the world after Luc’s death. “Like I said, I was ready to be done. And then I decided somewhere in there that that’s not very D&D. So I thought I’d leave it up to somebody else, so I asked Caduceus to decide for me, essentially. She knows she’s putting her other family in danger if she doesn’t go. It’s an impossible choice, you know?” Liam: “I love watching you grapple with it, because you’re a lovely father and love your kids.”

On the Sanatorium, Sam: “That was brutal, man. Matt lulls you into a sense of complacency. We’d forgotten that Caleb was a stone-cold killer! It had been a while since he went on a murder spree. Still got it!” Liam: “I never meant for this character to be perfect sunshine.” Brian: “You don’t say.” Liam: “He’s very not-perfect, and I think in his brain, he was going in with the impression that they needed to get in and get out as soon as possible. The place is crawling with people with magic ability, and I didn’t have faith that we wouldn’t be sussed out or something wasn’t going to blow an illusion.” Everything was about getting out of there as fast as possible.

Did the conversation with Yeza help with Veth’s decision? “First of all, every conversation with Yeza is a beautiful one. Every time she talks to Yeza, it makes her feel good. In some ways, she’s gotten to the point now where she knows Yeza’s going to be supportive, she knows he’s going to allow her to do what she wants, but maybe that’s too much. Maybe she needs to not listen to him, basically, and be like, no, you need to be selfish now, dude, you need to say ‘come home, I’m sick of you leaving’. At a certain point, being supportive can turn into being enabling.”

Cosplay of the Week: Jester in the snow! (liljerbear47, photography by kairiceleste on Instagram)

On Trent’s motivations for chasing Caleb: “I really don’t know. The simplest explanation is to just hammer down the nail that’s sticking up. It has crossed his mind that all high-level wizards are in danger of their own ambition and egos, so it’s occurred to him that Trent might have the same kind of ideas that Halas had in the past, and maybe Caleb was always meant to be another body to jump into. Maybe in some sick, disgusting, twisted way, he wants him to be his successor. I am thinking of the next campaign, without getting too deep in, trying to do something that is much more ride-along. Caleb is very, very specific, and I thought long and hard about all the different pieces on the chessboard for him. For campaign three, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.”

Dani: “Do I need to be keeping lore on your fucking ads?”

On the cursed dagger: “It was a tricky one, because in campaign one, one of the characters was under the influence of a cursed weapon, but it interacted with him and he knew what it was and what it did. And it affected his gameplay as a character. For me, Veth didn’t know what it was, ever. I as a player knew what it was doing, but Veth didn’t know at all. So it was kind of like my dirty, dark secret for many months. I knew this thing was coming perilously close to killing me, but my character didn’t know enough to bring it up to her friends. Nobody ever asked! So I was like, well, I guess this thing’s just going to kill me one day, and it’s kind of going to be a surprise.” Liam: “Sam, you love danger and self-destruction so much, you might as well be Mollymauk.”

On the fight in Yasha’s sequence, Sam: “You gotta put a character in your storm giant creature. It was so fun! It was so great of Matt to involve us in this encounter. It would’ve been fun just to watch, because Matt would have made it amazing and Ashley was sweating bullets, which is always fun to watch.” Sam notes he felt guilty, but Liam was going for the kill. Liam: “Matt’s gotta be careful about giving me that kind of story beat. I do not fucking care, I just fucking flip, I’m like, well, I’m going to destroy you, and I have no qualms about it. It’s too much fun!”

The Beau/Yasha tower date was in part inspired by not being able to give gifts as easily this last year. “This thing that we do together is a gift, but I love finding these moments, like the book for Jester and the tower for Yasha and for Beau. I really just wanted to give both of them a little magic for a night. I wanted them to leave this-- we’re trying to be as entertaining as possible, but shit is having an effect on all of us too, and I wanted them to have an escape, a great place to escape to.”

Fan Art of the Week: an amazing group shot, plus Marion, Yeza, and Luc! (vocaz on Twitter)

On choosing Essek over Trent, Liam: “It would have been so interesting and awful and great! Essek and Astrid and Eodwulf are everything that Bren used to be attracted to that are terrible for him. Essek, hopefully he can with time find a way out of the hole that he dug himself into, but it was only two months ago where he was found out and his ambitions came crashing down around him. Long-term, I have high hopes for him, but I think it’s going to be hard.” In contrast, Astrid and Eodwulf are still “deep in the shit. It would have been really hard to navigate, but fun to play at the table. We made the right choice with what we went with. Essek’s just getting started, and Caleb doesn’t trust him entirely, because he was burned so hard not too long ago. He’s still more trustworthy than the other three. So it’s the better choice. While Caleb has all these ties on the other side, they’re really fucking dangerous. So if you have to choose, you choose Essek. But fuck that die.” Sam: “Veth, much like Sam Riegel, makes instant decisions about whether to trust someone or not and sticks to it forever. Astrid, 100% trust. Eodwulf, 100% distrust. Essek, completely distrust. I still don’t think he’s a good guy. Ikithon? Trust. 100%. Because you know where he’s coming forward, you know what he wants. I still want him dead, but I trust him.”

On Veth’s post-adventuring plans: “Veth is probably still too in it right now to think about what comes next. I, Sam Riegel, have a good idea of what I want Veth to do post-campaign.” Brian: “Maybe you shouldn’t tell us. Save it for the show!” Sam: “All she knows is she can’t do this anymore. It’s very unhealthy to be battle-wounded every other day. It’s fun for a while, but college has to end at some point, and she’s gotta go home.”

On Frumpkin changing appearance and returning to the Feywild: “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but the way it feels now for Caleb is that he feels too enmeshed in everything that has happened, and too much good has happened, and too much needs to happened, that that really narcissistic, selfish goal has the risk of harming everything else, which is more important. And that’s how he looks at it now. So he’s gearing towards letting everything from the beginning of the campaign, and where he started, go, and trying to figure out what use he’s going to be now and what he’s going to do if they’re not all dead. If Matt throws that shit down, I don’t know what I will do, I think about it a lot. But turning Frumpkin white and saying you’re free either way is him preparing to let go of everything he’s been holding on to for a really long time. He’s addicted to that idea that he can fix himself, and we’ll see if that hard choice gets presented, what he might do. But where he stands now, he doesn’t think that’s going to be reality, and he sees a way that he can be of use that he never really anticipated before, so he’s slowly shifting gears towards living with the pain he was trying to remove.”

On the last request scene and confidence heading into Aeor, Sam: “I feel like that’s a good request. I think all of us realized that if we die, that probably bodes badly for the world. I feel like all of us are at a point now as characters and as friends, that the first order of business would be to take care of everybody else’s shit, although we probably have different ideas of how to do that.” Liam: “I want the Empire to be healed, Caleb has all these memories of his parents and what they wanted for the world, and he wants that too. It’s clearly not in place now, the system needs to be broken and replaced. That could be a part of Caleb’s sunset. I don’t want Caleb to die, so maybe he can work on that after. As everything starts to shake out and we start heading towards our destiny, Caleb’s just free-floating. He’s not even going after the same thing he started for. So he’s looking at Veth’s family, and Luc specifically, and seeing that’s me, that’s a little boy in the Empire.”

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (March 20/2021)

Happy two months of Season Three!

Karl hosts the next Tales From the SMP episode, featuring a bunch of gladiators vying for a position as general of the Subbin Empire.

---

VOD LINKS:

Tubbo

Foolish

Karl

Ranboo

---

---

It’s time for Tales From the SMP: “The Pit!”

---

The Cast:

Karl plays Karl 

Techno plays Porkius VII

Tubbo plays Jackie 

Hannah plays Genevieve 

Phil plays Watson 

Ranboo plays Ran 

Jack plays Bartholomew 

Sapnap plays John (”Ugly”)

 Fundy plays Laggius Maximus 

Punz plays Levi 

Bad plays Edward

---

- The first part of the VOD is muted. Karl appears to be walking around a large colosseum type area

- He mets Porkius VII, leader of the Subbin Empire

- Porkius tells Karl he needs a new general to lead his armies, and is hosting games to choose a candidate. Karl will be the cameraman

- He tells Karl to interview the gladiators for the fight

- They head down to the cellar and first encounter Jackie, who was pulled from off the streets

- Next is Laggius Maximus

- The first trial is a tower in the middle of the arena that then descends into a floor of lava. Jackie wins and doesn’t burn in the lava.

- They head back down to the cellars and meet Bartholomew, who drinks mead, and Watson, an expert marksman

- For the second trial, Porkius activates the low gravity fields, and Bartholomew and Watson fight. Bartholomew wins.

- Next, they meet Levi, who had to fight his brothers and sisters growing up, and John, whose name is too boring

- Instead, they get Genevieve, who aspires to be the Subbin Empire’s first female general

- In the third trial, Genevieve and Levi enter the water loop for combat. Genevieve wins

- They next meet Ran and Edward. 

- John wants to become general because he’s bored. He gets renamed to Ugly and is chosen to fight Edward in a trial of water and archery. Ugly wins.

- Karl chats with the gladiators for a bit. 

- Ran doesn’t give many details about his history and says that, win or lose, this place is going down.

- The next trial is the waterdome! Genevieve loses to Jackie.

- Then a hoard of zombies as Ugly, Bartholomew and Ran fight in the air. Ran slays Bartholomew. Ugly shoots down Ran.

- Jackie wins the next duel against Ugly, but he must complete one final task before he can go to war. Jackie fights the whole group and wins.

- Karl gets Jackie to kill him.

---

TW: Derealization (and flashing imagery if you plan to watch the VOD)

- Karl returns to the Inbetween, where a book from :] welcomes him back and tells him not to stray from the path again.

- A book under the tree tells him a surprise is waiting up the ladder. There’s a chamber full of blood splatters and a :] face telling him to stick to the path.

- He returns to the surface and :] tells him his mind seems to be playing a trick on him.

- A book in the room Karl first came to the Inbetween in tells him not to be silly and to not trust the illusions, that they are a result of his mind deteriorating

- An all-caps book tells him to get the portal, but a glitch effect sends him back to the starting room, where a book tells him that the writer knows best for Karl, to not let these illusions dictate his view of the Inbetween.

- Karl goes through the halls and sees the other Karls running around. There’s a glitch effect that changes the lighting. At the birch tree is a book telling him that these other Karls have stayed in the Inbetween too long and lost themselves, doomed to wander forever. He has to go to the portal.

- A glitch effect sends him to a dark room, where the book tells him not to go to the portal, telling him “We” will come and make sure he doesn’t

- Text pops up on the screen

“Follow the torches”

- Karl starts running along a path of torches

“It can’t follow you through the portal” “You’ll be home soon” “Keep going!” “Hurry!” “For your friends”

[There’s some writing in Standard Galactic that flashes]

“Protect your stories”

- Karl makes it to the portal. A book from :] tells him he might not ever remember his friends if he goes in, that the Inbetween is better.

- Karl runs though the portal and comes out on the Other Side, a new castle, wearing black clothes.

- A book welcomes him home.

---

- Ranboo does a chill stream and talks to Tubbo, Karl, Foolish and Dream 

- They talk about all sorts of stuff, but late into the stream, they discuss a lot about the lore process especially! Here are a few details

- Dream talks about how he wants to do an edited Dream lore video at some point

- The first Dream-Ranboo Panic Room stream was improv-ed on the fly with Ranboo messaging Dream to join his stream and giving him basic instructions to follow

- Dream talks about how the lore at this point is in a building/character progression stage. Eventually, all these different plot lines will start colliding. Right now, everything is still building up as everyone works on their plots. There will be a point eventually that triggers a cascade of other events, and what exactly that trigger point is may be unexpected...

- A lot of the lore is improv or very quickly-planned, so plans are flexible and can change depending on how plot points go, with other things planned long-term

- There are a lot of red herrings! Things set up in lore where predictions and theories can use details to point to a theory that seems like it has to be this specific thing, those same details could also point to something else...

- Dream made a huge effort to stare at Ranboo a ton during the Finale, and Ranboo stared back on purpose

- Dream was watching Ranboo’s stream and noticed that Ranboo was picking up blocks as a character thing and thought it was really cool, so he coded it so that Ranboo could pick up grass blocks (but he messaged Ranboo to be responsible with it after the spawner thing)

- They talk a bit about DreamXD becoming a thing, and Dream talks about how he logged on as DreamXD the first time for a short cameo during the Dreamon Hunter bit to be the demon

- They continue chatting for a bit more about the lore process

---

Upcoming events remain the same.

[shooting-stars-library]

Beautiful

Masterlist

PLEASE COMMENT/REBLOG, IT LETS ME KNOW IF Y'ALL LIKE MY WRITING/WANT MORE AND HELPS MORE PEOPLE SEE IT

Summary: "You're as Beautiful as the day I lost you."

Notes: Cycle- One standard year (ten months according to the Star Wars wiki)

Bruh Star Wars time standards are wack. According to Legends lore, they have 5 day weeks, ten month years, plus three festival weeks and three more holidays, like 368 days in a year, but they still only have 29 days in their second month. This was later changed to a normal 12 month year in Canon. I used Legends lore because I thought it was more fun. Anyway, I got this idea and it wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it so even though it took me a lot longer than I planned, I still wrote it instead of any of my other wips oops. Enjoy this extremely self-indulgent, very short fic.

Cross-posted on AO3.

Pairing: Boba Fett/Fem!Reader

Genre: Slight angst/Fluff

Words: 827

Warnings: None

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

No matter how many times you had imagined this scenario before, you had never considered the fact that they may actually come true.

“Boba?”

The man simply stood there, watching you. For a moment, you thought you had finally lost it. That the years and the longing and the loneliness had all fused together in your mind to create this… illusion in front of you, this hallucination. Evidence of a mind that had finally been shattered after struggling so long to persevere. It had to be another dream, a convincing one, you had to admit, but a dream all the same. Boba Fett was…

An enigma. That’s what he was. He was just another customer, another hunter seeking your talents as an information broker. Your network of spies and informants was unparalleled, and the information they passed on to you made you powerful enough that even those who felt threatened by all that you knew didn’t dare to give you any trouble. Every hunter with half a brain knew that if they wanted to find their quarry, and find it before anyone else, to go to you. However, it was still a surprise to you to see the famed Boba Fett walk through your door. The armor-clad warrior never seemed to need help from anyone, skilled or not. However, you weren’t generally one to turn away a customer, and from what you knew about this one, he wouldn’t cause trouble.

“Who’re you after?”

If your blunt question surprised him, he didn’t show it, but simply tossed a puck onto the table in front of you. He nodded at it to indicate that you should have a look for yourself. So you did. Naturally, you recognized the person he was looking for, and though you couldn’t give him an exact location, you were able to give him a few of the bounty’s known hangouts. He nodded, and handed you a bag of credits in exchange for the information you gave him. Then he left.

It was another half a cycle before you saw him again. He lingered a bit after you gave him the intel he asked for, casually asking a few questions about your hobbies outside of information brokering. He soon left once more, but was back two months later. Soon, he became a regular customer, though admittedly the two of you spent more time engaging in playful banter and flirting than talking business. After three months of dancing around each other, he finally took you out on an official date. About a cycle and a half later, two and a half cycles after you met, he finally asked you to marry him. Saying yes was the best decision you ever made.

Unfortunately, you didn’t get to enjoy being Mrs. Fett for very long.

“Do you really have to go? It’s not like we need the money, and you know how I feel about working with the Empire.”

“I’m only helping them to get to Solo. Handing him over to Jabba will keep the Huts out of our lives for good.” He held your chin in a gentle grip, keeping your gaze on his face. “I’ll be okay, princess, I promise.”

“You better be.” He kissed you goodbye, then left.

A few weeks later, one of your informants ran into your office to give you the news. You collapsed, unable to bear the weight of what you had just heard.

Boba Fett was...

Dead. Boba Fett was dead. Had been for five years. So why did this man look and sound so much like your husband? Why did you feel so drawn to him?

“I know what you’re going to say…. ‘Why didn’t I come back to you?’”

A beat passed. You slowly took a step forward. Then another.

“I suppose I was scared.” Boba Fett was never scared. “Scared you wouldn’t want me back when you saw me, that you’d turn me away after being gone so long.”

Another beat. You continued your slow stride, decreasing the distance between the bounty hunter and yourself.

In a voice much smaller and more vulnerable than you’d ever heard from him before, Boba continued, “Perhaps I was scared you wouldn’t love me anymore.”

Still, you stayed silent, eyes never leaving his, gait steady. He shuffled uneasily the closer you got, unable to read your expression, your intentions.

“Princess, please, say something. Shout at me, scream, anything-”

He cut off when you reached up and cradled his face in your hands. Shuddered when you brushed a thumb over a scar lancing down his face, and the other over his bottom lip.

“You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you.”

Boba Fett has only ever cried twice in his life. Once when his father died, and once while falling to his knees after hearing your words. You followed after him, wrapping your arms around him and pressing a kiss to his temple.

“You’re here now Boba, that’s all that matters.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Copyright © 2021 Shooting Stars Library. All rights reserved.

[viriyanon]

breaking down killer and healer's "achilles come down" gifset

i just want to talk abt this [x]. if u haven't heard the song, please do now. maybe as u read this.

why did i make this gifset? no reason. i was looking up the french sample of achilles come down on the internet and when i read the lore that inspired the songwriter, lying beneath each word and punctuation, i immediately thought, "this is it. this is killer and healer."

so i just did it while listening to the song as i picked the raw materials. the french sample is an excerpt from camus' book "the myth of sisyphus" that i havent got the chance to read.

Je vois que beaucoup de gens meurent parce qu’ils estiment que la vie ne vaut pas la peine d’être vécue

i witness that a lot of people are dying because they consider that life is not worth living.

i intended to use the scene where chen yuzhi sat in the rain and yu tangchun blasted himself in junbai's ammo warehouse to represent this line but i realized it wouldn't align and make a great contradiction with the scene for the next line.

(yes my preference is pain)

i reread the line and felt like, this sentence holds much more despair than just a fit of rage and vengeance. it represents achilles' helplessness after patroclus' death and his war against hector that had become meaningless. for after that, he still had lost someone who became the meaning of his existence.

and i thought of zhan junbai whose burning power had to smother because of yu tangchun's death, aside from his failed dynasty and being stripped off of his wealth. even if he succeeded in building his empire, what could the big city give him? what could a bigger mansion do to mend his broken childhood? what could his power do to fill his emptiness? his heart yearns for love, to be taken care of and nurtured, to regain the childhood that's never been fully his, to feel a mother's arms again, but he didn't know how to admit these.

and it led him to the consequence of his stone heart. an unworthy life with nothing but the cold winter wind and pathetic death that noone grieved for. even the one he considered as the love of his life didn't want to meet him in the afterlife, or the next life.

zhan junbai had lost yu tangchun but he knew yu tangchun lost nothing. so he held tangchun's prayer beads, the only thing he could hold on to for a while to relieve his fear of death but couldn't be taken to the other side of the great divide, and ended the miserable life he didn't choose. the beads falling was a sign that nothing from tangchun would be spared for him to be possessed.

J’en vois d’autres qui se font paradoxalement tuer, pour les idées, les illusions qui leurs donnent une raison de vivre.

Paradoxically, I witness other people who are being killed for their ideas, their illusions, which give their existence a sense.

on the other side, there was jiang yuelou who was "killed" there too, after witnessing chen yuzhi's life force withered, taken forcibly by his archenemy, not by a peaceful slumber. and his archenemy claimed victory on that, saying that jiang yuelou lost too. zhan junbai killed jiang yuelou's dream and ideas of living together with chen yuzhi in the countryside. he killed the core of yuelou's existence, someone who had helped him become human.

for zhan junbai had failed to metamorphose into a better person and it cost him the reason for his existence. he wanted to drag yuelou with him too, he wanted yuelou to lose the sense of life that allowed him to dream of the sunset in a quiet countryside.

alas, he didn't know about keying. yuelou survived the grief thanks to her but deep inside he was already dead at that time. he couldn't let himself dream again. his city was saved and his people were no longer haunted by opium but his sleep would only be visited by nightmares. like zhan junbai, he too was a shell without gunpowder. his existence made less sense without chen yuzhi but at least, chen keying filled half of it.

notice how i faded all colors behind yuelou and junbai except red shades? yes, i want it to look like their worlds dreaded the moment yuzhi and tangchun passed away. junbai had more prominent red in the gif, symbolizing the blood rain from the people he had killed and sacrificed for power also his strength, ambition, and malicious intention. while yuelou had a more brown-ish shade to signify the dream that'd been crushed so he had to come back to earth and live his life as it is. also a representation of his resilience, strength, and loneliness.

Ce, qu'on apelle une raison de vivre est en même temps une excellente raison de mourir.

what we call a reason to live is also an excellent reason to die.

different from junbai and yuelou, i made yuzhi and tangchun's more colorful and flat. they were the good memories that brought colors to junbai and yuelou's lives. their existence rounded both the two men's sharp edges respectively. even though tangchun is not entirely sincere with the gentle touch but his sole presence already evokes a junbai that the executive himself doesn't know exist. alas, he just doesn't know how to embrace that other side of him who wants care and affection.

i intended to keep the colors because both settings explain what kind of story follows after each of them. both yuzhi and tangchun are under the sunlight, probably symbolizing hope and light to yuelou and junbai. but if you look closer, in tangchun's setting, it is raining while in yuzhi's, it is pretty clear skied. in some culture, rain that pours from a clear sky is named as "the rain of dead people", "fox rain", etc. dont ask me the origin i wont bother to go to the archive's building. accidental or not, it's really tangchun's part of the story. the rain can also sign their stormy relationship. as for yuzhi, it's too much of a clear sky and sunlight, like a day when everything is too good to be true and you should beware instead.

also, notice how the red and brown are kinda mixing so none of them are too prominent? and added with the reduced blackness so it gets the misty vibe? i want to make them look like a fever dream; something that's too good to be true. they are probably just in yuelou and junbai's head, pulling them back to the ground while fulfilling their desire of a good day with a good person sharing their dining table and food, and noone blames them for that. they are their ideas, their illusions, something they want to pursue, a dream comes true, a reason to live. but when that dream is crushed, they are back to the ground, to the painful reality, get punched and kicked and being told unworthy by life. that's where yuzhi and tangchun become good reasons to die.

How the most dangerous thing is to love?

this is a line from achilles come down that stabs me the most. i just want to incorporate this part to the gifset to show where did i learn about the french excerpt from camus.

i suppose this is the tang yuan stall because yuelou and yuzhi were not near their house when this tragedy happened. also, yuzhi emphasized that he wanted to eat tang yuan with yuelou when he's dying and the director showed us this establishing shot so, i assume this is the tang yuan stall.

this is yuelou's dream that is killed together with yuzhi. a dream of a beginning of a life that's not lonely and dark. look at the steam wafting. i see that like a smoke from a burned dream. it's yuelou's burning passion and new spirit are being smothered by the snow. and the snow represents that one phrase about God taking back an angel home (if you read my fic, you'll know). it's a picture of fate.

[aesterea]

are the guardians your ocs! they seem really cool can we learn more about them?

they are, and thank you!! also, aren’t mary’s edits @thewinedarksea just some of the most gorgeous things you’ve ever seen? i am so deeply and ecstatically honored she’s doing this series for me 💙💙💙

the Guardians belong to the mythology i created for the fantasy world in my main project, the Arcane Elements Cycle. they are definitively not gods, but they come pretty damn close. historically, they were extremely powerful magicians who ruled the world a few thousand years ago. they are generally referred to by their English names, but i’m going to provide their titles in the language of the AEC world as well. a quick overview of the history:

the Enchantress (aka Ereshezania, Queen of Gold, or just Ezania, Golden) was the greatest magician to ever have lived, and she lived for a very long time. she was a warrior queen who united the entire world of AEC into an Empire that endures to this day. to help maintain this place, she personally selected twelve special magicians and appointed them as Guardians over specific things— not places, but aspects of life and living. the Guardians were insanely powerful beings, both in terms of magical ability and what they had the freedom to do with those abilities. their reign is remembered as the golden age of this world, but it was as much a time of terror as it was a time of glory, and for that reason, it ended in copious amounts of bloodshed. the Guardians did not simply fall, they were destroyed. for that reason, a lot of their history has been lost and much confusion has arisen as to who the actual legitimate twelve were, what they did, what they were really like, etc. there are countless legends, but it’s become difficult to discern what is true. i really enjoy playing with that!

the Wishkeeper was definitely one of the original twelve (fun fact: she was the first one i created). her name in their language, Whitje, translates to Wish. she presided over the Garden of Wishes, supposedly hidden in the sky, where she tended to flowers representing the hopes and dreams of people on earth. it was her duty to determine when someone had earned their wish and how that wish should be granted, if at all. she was the closest thing Ezania had to a successor, and she is the most prominent figure of folk lore in the AEC world. people tend to talk about her as if she’s still around (“don’t let the Wishkeeper hear you!”, “Whitje herself couldn’t make me happier/bring me down”, etc.), though very few people actually believe that. she’s associated with duty, fate, responsibility, and wisdom.

Night and Day alternated watching over the world. their Ezni names translate simply to Night-Carrier and Light-Carrier. Night was a gentle figure, kind, compassionate, and steady. Day was selfish, fickle, and casually, carelessly cruel. he is trust, she is betrayal. he is privacy and mystery, she is fame and celebrity. he is promises and intimacy, she is frenzy and festivity. he is the secret-keeper, she exposes everything. he is the Guardian of dedication and things that endure, she is the Guardian of bright and fleeting joys. i wrote this piece about Day years ago and it’s still one of my favorite things i have ever done. in my head, Day is always laughing. always baring her teeth. Night is hopelessly in love with her.

Mischief was a terror of a sorcerer who delighted in preying upon Ezania’s lower enemies, hunting and capturing and killing, and whatever other kinds of fun he wanted to have with them in between. his Ezni name is something like Deathly Shadow. he’s fun, but i don't actually have much to say about him except in relation to his lover, Beauty.

Beauty is one of my favorites. she is commonly thought of as the Guardian of love and lovely things— romance and affection and attraction and friendship and charm, flowers and perfumes and whatnot— but this is a misinterpretation. her name in the Ezni language translates to Ravisher. in her time, she was known to be phenomenally cruel. “love and lovely things” were indeed within her jurisdiction, but they were side pieces to her true focus, the extremes of human experiences. the original Guardian Beauty had more to do with pleasure and pain, terror and devotion, fury and euphoria, every form of sensation, and every overwhelming emotion, all to the brink of madness.

Beauty and Mischief made… quite a pair, as I’m sure you can imagine. They were friends of Delusion, who is probably my actual favorite. his Ezni name is close to Misleader, but Delusion actually suits him quite well. he had this carnival-type thing where he would lure in specific targets and then put them through hell and back to teach them some important lessons and transform them into new, supposedly “better” versions of themselves. you know, break them down so they can rebuild, become something stronger or smarter or wiser. Delusion is the Guardian of madness and everything beyond it. he is associated with dreams and illusions, trickery and manipulation, but also fun and games and play, personal growth and self-discovery. (side note: this is one of Mary’s coolest edits, she put a ton of work into finding pictures and recoloring them to get that purple congruency, and i am in such awe)

Mirage was called Mirja, which is actually pretty close. Mirror may be slightly more accurate. she was a lifelong martyr, a little in love with her own destruction. a devotee, a worshipper, a willing victim to the others. she was probably not a true Guardian but rather a servant. i repeat that the Guardians were not gods, but her reverence of them was very religious. she believed she was serving humanity at large by serving them. she’s mainly associated with sacrifice and service, but also devotion and peace/patience in the midst of suffering. if Delusion represents a person’s breaking point, Mirage is the acceptance that comes after.

Deepwater (or, The Warning of the Deep) ruled the underwater world and was especially associated with the most dangerous places in the ocean. you know that feeling of dread and foreboding you get when learning about the horrors of the deep sea? that’s Deepwater. another name i’ve considered for her is Devastation. she was… not friendly. she would wreck ships that mildly annoyed her. she would just call it justice lol. The Drowned Princess was her captive lover, a young woman who called to her for help while drowning in her waters, and she answered by… not really saving her, but keeping her in a state of not-dead. Deepwater was extremely protective and possessive of her, and allowed her to visit land only once a year, and only a specific island where she was in the company of siren-like creatures ruled by Beauty.

there are many others, but we’ll end this with the Siren (i think this is one of the most beautiful moodboards i’ve ever seen). the Siren has existed in my head for a long, long time, but i only recently included her in the AEC world. she represents loss and grief (the water), and lostness, aloneness, and longing (singing), but also hope and imagination (stars). she is very, very dear to me.

[sorryimananti-romantic]

An Empire of Dreams and Illusions

"Manipulated Sky, Manipulated Stars, Manipulated Time"

[Series]

Take Me Home Horizon

[Original Characters]

Yena (Take Me Home oc) Gaeul (Horizon oc)

[Ateez Characters]

Ateez - Character Concepts

[Universe Sketch]

Lore Concept and Map Timeline Sketch

[wewinbees]

the st george of the dream smp

philza’s hardcore tour with slimecicle has got me thinking about one line from doomsday again. during ghostbur’s argument with phil, he says “i’ve read the history books, phil. you slayed the dragon, you slayed alivebur, you are the st george of the dream smp, we understand, everyone understands that, phil. but look what you’ve done. how can you look at this and still see yourself as a hero?”

i’ve always loved that entire speech from ghostbur, but i don’t know we’ve ever had an actual canon explanation for what most of it means, namely “the dragon” part.

first, phil being in history books in the dream smp 100% makes sense - for his role in smpearth (hinted canon) as co-leader of the antarctic empire, for his aid on the dawn of the 16th, arriving late and killing wilbur and then as an age old immortal who has probably born witness to enough things to at the very least be a valuable source for historical documentation.

in his hardcore world, phil describes himself as a traveller who discovers the remnants of the ender war, uncovering war torn builds and monuments. now the hardcore lore is COMPLETELY SEPARATE to the dsmp and is really cool and i am only considering dsmp phil as like... an offshoot timeline version of him where he goes to check on his son. and the only reason i do this is bc this speech has been lingering in my head for two months and we don’t have enough phil lore to pad out theories

the canonising of phil’s hardcore life system could mean his hardcore lore is loosely canon to the dsmp, though, making the battle for endlantis a candidate for the dragon. for anyone who doesn’t know a lot about that, watch this video bc oh my god it’s so cool they don’t call him philza minecraft for nothing. main issue though, there’s TWO dragons he kills there. plus, it’s during his ‘lonely voyages’ and it’s to protect another dimension’s abandoned ruin - not exactly something that would be documented in history books

it should be noted, too; dsmp phil doesn’t know what the end is. he doesn’t recognise the portal, implying the dragon is something else entirely. since he’s centuries old, the end could potentially have been created later on, as if to banish the creatures of the end including these dragons to this separate dimension, and philza would have no clue. this would make sense for a being as powerful as dreamXD taking the portal as a protectorate, fearful of those forces being released out to the world.

with that in mind, this makes smpearth a possibility since they technically went to the MOON, not the end. main issue with this one is that phil didn’t kill the dragon. he helped, but so did everyone else and timedeo dealt the killing blow, with the main egg being collected by the antarctic empire by techno. however, this would make philza a canonical astronaut which i think is cool and justifies any historical inaccuracy :)

now st george.... hmmm. had to research him for this. apparently he slayed a dragon that had been terrorising a village, demanding human sacrifices every now and then and george only jumped in to save a princess. st george himself is the patron saint of england, as well as farmers and soldiers. with phil being “the st george of the dream smp” this suggests that phil is viewed as protector of the server, and maybe l’manberg if we’re looking at the saint of england part. making ghostbur view this as a betrayal, that their great hero turned on them at their moment of need.

but phil... isn’t? he killed the withers during doomsday, because that was the immediate danger at the situation, and he helped build new l’manberg, but he was never really loyal, or believed in the their country, seeing how they treated tommy and techno and the corruption from the origins values, as he hears from ghostbur, to what it becomes under the new cabinet. he stayed neutral until the tipping point, and then left. i don’t think he was ever considered a great hero for the server, more just a respected figure

i think it could be ghostbur’s bias, made up of fond memories of his father from childhood and his dislike of alivebur that formed this illusion. phil is respected by everyone on the server, they know his wisdom, he’s apparently extremely historically important, but that’s the pedestal they’ve put him on, just like the fandom’s “dadza, creeper hole covering up” dreams. philza acts justly, and if his idea of justice goes against l’manberg’s values and the rest of the server’s wishes it doesn’t matter. he’s seen enough in his life to know what a worst case outcome is, and to him, doomsday wasn’t it.

still, he cares about people. he gave up his wings after having them for an immortal lifetime just to save his son, only to have to kill him minutes later. he spent time with techno despite everyone warning him he was a traitor, and grew to understand the reality of his situation in pogtopia. he stayed neutral for fundy, tommy and tubbo, knowing how much the nation meant to them and how they were so deeply tied to it. he showed care for virtual strangers, saving ranboo from the lava and gaining his trust as a result. and he cared for ghostbur, the clueless shell of his dead son that served as a reminder of everything l’manberg took from him.

phil is so complex and we don’t know anywhere near enough about him. characters are very relationship driven in the dsmp but people limit his character to the role of a father, so im glad cc!phil’s setting the facts straight on that one, and i hope the syndicate will let him fully explore more elements of his character. and i. i just.

i just really wanna know what the deal with the dragon is guys like what did that mean what is that implying i just don’t understa-

[imperiuswrecked]

                               ATLANTEAN PANTHEON

Long before Atlantis sank into the sea it was Golden City and an Empire that stretched across the world. This is the History of Atlantis, before and after, the Cataclysm which sank it beneath the waves.

Namor Week - Day 3 - Mythology

This is a worldbuilding fic and a it is canon and headcanon based. This lists out all the known details of the History of Marvel's Atlantis, and includes Neptune & Cleito, as well as their children who are all original characters of mine. I tired to use as much known lore as possible when writing this. 

Atlantean Pantheon

Neptune - God of the Sea, God of Waters, Lord of Horses, Father Ocean, Old Man of the Sea, Lord of all Things Below, King of the Deep

Neptune has blue skin and white hair with black eyes that cover his sclera and irises, he has gills on his neck and pointed ears. He wears a white toga and a golden circlet on his brow. He wields Neptune's trident. He is solidly built in form and his cape is a fish net. His white hair is a tangled mess and he has a long white beard.

He is as terrifying as the sea and just as unpredictable. He rules over all the oceans and sea life that inhabit it. He derives strength from prayers sent to him by the Atlantean people as well as humans who know of him, often in modern times Sea Faring people such as human fishermen and sailors also send him prayers.

Neptune is closely tied to the physical world, especially that of the sea. The oceans being hurt, harms him and over the centuries with constant pollution he has a shadow of his former strength. Which is why he does not often appear to help Atlanteans, often needing to conserve his strength lest he fades away into the awning black Ether of the Forgotten Realm where Chaos resides.

Cleito - Mother of All Things, Goddess of Fertility & Childbirth, Lady of Undying Things, Embodiment of Illusions, Maker of Dreams, Mistress of the Shroud, Keeper of the Nexus Fragment, Moon Mother, Queen of the Golden City

Cleito has golden skin and amber eyes, her hair is tree branches that grow pretty flower blossoms, all of different types. Depending on her mood the flowers are either in full bloom or decaying. She has pointed ears and her fingernails are like black claws, she has fangs.

She is wrapped in her black Shroud which is dotted with different colored gems, which are the souls of dead Atlanteans of the past waiting for her to pluck them from the shroud and send them into their next reincarnation cycle. The Shroud looks like the night sky and the gems are like Stars.

She is the Weaver of Dreams and Illusions and gives hope to her children. Often appearing in the visage of the Moon she watches over her descendants and those who pray to her. Her place of power is the Golden City which was once the capital of the Empire of Atlantis, however it now resides decaying beneath the waves in a forgotten place. Cleito often sleeps in her palace tomb to conserve her energy since she lost much power during the Cataclysm when she used her abilities to change her children’s people into permanent water breathers. It is guarded by her father Evenor who is a sea dragon spirit. She awakens very rarely before returning to her healing sleep.

Unlike Neptune, Cleito is not closely tied to reality of the world but rather to an embodiment of ideas and dreams, she works her magic and powers through the Nether Realms.

She is the Keeper of the Nexus Fragment; Long ago the Nexus connected all realities but it was fragmented due to a power struggle for control of it, its pieces fell into different realities. Some were absorbed by the souls of people and they became Nexus beings, able to use the power of the Nexus to alter realities or create pathways between worlds. Other fragments became glowing orbs of light which were collected by beings of power to protect them or lay in long forgotten places, waiting to be found. Only beings of divine power (or touched/blessed by a divine power) can contain a Nexus without injury and only they can pass a fragment onto others.

Evenor - Sea Dragon Spirit, With a face like a seahorse and a body of a long snake like dragon he most closely resembles dragon figures of the Eastern surface world. His scales are grey and white and he has a mustache like white hair from his nostrils as well as ridges down his back and long sharp white claws on his hands and feet. His eyes swirl like an ocean whirlpool, to look in them is to be lost. He travels between the spirit world and the real world.

He dedicates his time to protecting his daughter Cleito. He can turn corporal in his dragon form if he desires. He has untold strength and abilities as he is very mysterious and keeps his secrets close. Atlanteans pray to Evenor for protection against bad spirits.

History of Atlantis before the Cataclysm

Neptune was the sea, formed within its roiling waters he manifested physical form, with hair and beard as white as sea foam, skin as blue as the water, and eyes as dark as the black depths beneath the waves. He carries with him, his magical Trident which controls the waters. He has complete mastery over the oceans and all those who dwell within it. His favor is as fickle as the sea, his personality is as ever changing as the ocean. He grants favors to those he sees fit to receive them.

Cleito was born of her father and her human mother, spirit and reality came together in her form and she walked between both worlds as a child before choosing to dwell in the spirit world of her father, she learned all there was to know of places outside of reality. She is the pure embodiment of Illusions and is a being of great power. While Neptune may be more well known Cleito dwells in the worlds behind worlds and watches over her people, only stepping in in dire circumstances.

While Neptune ruled the Seas, she was Queen of the Golden City which was once the hub and center of the Empire of Atlantis.

Neptune and Cleito had children, five sets of twins, who became the Ten Kings and Queens of the Atlantean Empire. To celebrate their children the God & Goddess gave them land to care for, it’s people looked to them not only as their deities but also their rulers.

The Ten, as they would later be remembered, were; Vyncia & Kysine, Ozak & Otia, Sevgi & Rejuat, Teinbo & Zarusal, Mverix & Narxis. They would go on to have children of their own who were part water breathers, and part air breathers. With one human parent any descendant of Neptune and Cleito’s blood were blessed with abilities.  The Atlantean Empire and most especially the Golden City thrived with technology and innovation, peace and prosperity, and all the knowledge they could record for future generations. The most advanced of their time they were a powerful nation. Much of the knowledge is lost after the Great Cataclysm.

Vyncia & Kysine - Daughters, Twins, Goddesses of Fresh Waters

African Models should be pictured for these characters

Vyncia - Goddess of Surging Waters, Lady of Streams & Rivers

Kysine - Goddess of Tranquil Waters, Lady of the Lake

Ozak & Otia - Twins - Brother & Sister

East Asian models should be pictured for these characters

Ozak - God of Deep Waters, Drowning, Death

Otia - Goddess of Tide Pools, Tides, & Unexpected Fortune

Sevgi & Rejuat - Twins - Sister & Brother

Caucasian/Nordic/Irish/Scottish models should be pictured for these characters

Sevgi - Goddess of Dew & Mist, Marsh Maiden

Rejuat - God of Bogs & Marshes, Trickster

Teinbo & Zarusal - Twins - Brother & Sister

Middle Eastern/Indian models should be pictured for these models

Teinbo - God of Hot Springs & Healing, Wisdom

Zarusal - Goddess of Rain, Rainbows, & Rainstorms, Monsoon Bringer

Mverix & Narxis - Sons, Brothers - Twins, Gods of Salt Water

Pacific Islander/Native models should be pictured for these characters

Mverix - God of Sea Storms, Sea Foam & Sea Farers

Narxis - God of Sea Creatures, Sea Life & Plants

History of Atlantis during & after the Cataclysm

Set the Evil Serpent God, and his devoted followers, The Lemurians, waged war on the Atlantean Empire, Neptune & Cleito in order to gain control of the Nexus Fragment. Cleito lead many of the fights and was badly injured due to Set’s trickery however during an earth shattering battle with the Gods, Neptune was imprisoned in a wall of everlasting fire and forced to watch as Set attempted to rip the Nexus Fragment from Cleito’s heart, their Ten Children came from all over the Empire to fight Set and they sacrificed their lives to save their mother. Set enraged at their daring and attempts to defeat him, orders his people to slay the remaining descendants of the Ten. The Lemurians follow Set’s orders with Suma-Ket and Artys-Gran leading them. Killing all direct blood descendants and using their blood to fuel Set with more dark power.

Neptune and Cleito attempt to regain their strength however Neptune, upon learning his children are dead, snaps and gathers every reserve of water, every drop that he could command and begins to drown the world. Gaia the Earth Goddess, upset from all the turmoil awakens and causes huge earthquakes to break Atlantis’s Golden CIty away from the mainland separating it from the rest of the Empire. Neptune drowns much of the Earth and the entire nation of Lemuria, his fury is uncontainable and his tidal wave sweeps towards Atlantis.

Cleito seeing last of her children’s descendants in danger, (many of them demi-gods/goddesses due to them having one human parent) uses a huge quantity of her reserve magic to give them aid and protect them from the destruction; Cleito sinks the now isolated Island of Atlantis beneath the waves. Only those with the capabilities to breath beneath the water survived, they would go on to evolve and become better adapted to their new underwater home. Thus they are now only known as Atlanteans, the last people splinter over time and make their homes all over the oceans.

Set engaged Cleito and Neptune in battle for the last time. All the death of the descendants of Neptune fuels the blood magic that gives Set even more strength and he begins to overpower Neptune and Cleito. Seeing that Set was not satisfied with all the death and that he still wished to carve out Cleito’s heart and gain control of the Nexus Fragment, convinces Cleito to use the last remaining power within her and she banished Set and his highest ranking followers, Suma-Ket & Artys-Gran into the Ether. The underwater portal to their prison was sealed with a door that could only be opened by one who has the Royal Blood of Neptune. Cleito, exhausted beyond all measure, succumbs to a deep healing sleep, and her father Evenor takes her below the seas to her sunken temple, its whereabouts now lost to time, to be protected forever more. Neptune recedes beneath the waves to rejuvenate and neither are seen for centuries before they are awakened by their youngest descendant, Namor the First of Atlantis.

Those Lemurians who followed Set and were left behind used dark magic to transform themselves into water breathers in order to search for a way to bring their master back to them, they spend several thousands of years combing the ocean floor for the location of the Blood Gate, and Cleito, so they may gain the Nexus Fragment and find a means to bring Set back to Earth. Since the great Cataclysm the Atlanteans and Lemurians have been at war. While Lemuria languished in dreams of the past, Atlantis looked towards the future and the preservation of their people.

[busghost]

Fu Hua’s very long lore

She’s more than 50,000 years old, what did you expect?

Also I cried rereading the manga for this so you better appreciate it.

VERY LONG POST

Sources

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1018/3

Fu Hua origin story

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1012/1

Story to make you cry, please read it. It’s so good.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1020

Fu Hua makes a school.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1011

Fu Hua kicking Schicksal’s collective ass.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1005

The Second Eruption Manga because it’s connected to literally everything in the story. No I’m not exaggerating. Please read it, it’s so good.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1010

Fu Hua the secret agent.

I will be spoiling parts of all of the above.

Previous Era of Civilization

Fu Hua’s story starts 50,000 years ago in her home city of Sapphire, a Honkai eruption had occurred and she had hidden from the beasts and was one of the few survivors. She was found by Himeko, the leader of Squadron V in MOTH, and she offered to teach Fu Hua how to fight the Honkai. A year later Himeko was corrupted by the Honkai and became the 7th Herrscher, the Herrscher of Flame and was killed by Kevin Kaslana. Fu Hua was the only survivor of Squadron V after their leader became a Herrscher and was mistrusted by other members of MOTH, calling her the “Firewytch’s Little Bird”, because she and Himeko were close.

Later Fu Hua was assigned with a group of other MOTH soldiers to take back a mine in Australia. They were going to be given 10th Divine Key weapons as they had begun being mass produced, and told that it was a field trial for the Divine Keys. They were given an injection before the mission and sent off.

(note: there are multiple 10th Divine Keys because the 10th Herrscher took over many bodies, thus there are multiple Herrscher cores to weapons)

When they arrived they had no problems killing smaller Honkai beasts but then the massive Emperor class Honkai beast Gensha appeared and killed everyone, the Divine Keys being wielded by regular humans had no effect on such a strong Honkai beast.

When Fu Hua confronted Ganesha her Divine Key shattered and she was thrown against a building but unlike the other soldiers the metamorph ICHOR which they had injected into the soldiers before the mission took hold and Fu Hua became a MANTIS soldier, adding Honkai genes to her human DNA. Her shattered 10th Divine Key also changed form from a Xuanyuan Sword to the Grips of Taixuan.

DR. MEI also gave Fu Hua the 8th Divine Key, Fenghuang Down; it creates illusions/ dreams that Fu Hua can trap her targets in. She is also seen using it to power up normal attacks, or perform attacks that are impossible, such as cutting out a man’s tongue when she’s tied up and he tries to assault her. She also put herself/a copy of herself in somebody else’s mind using Fenghuang Down.

After this we know she fought the Honkai as a MANTIS like Kevin Kaslana, the previous era Sakura or Su did. She also took part in the final battle against the  14th Herrscher, the Herrscher of the End, on the Moon. After the previous era’s final defeat at the hands of the Herrscher of the End, Fu Hua and the remaining Humans went underground and into cryostasis to wait for the 4th Divine Key to heal the damage Honkai had done to the Earth.

Current Era of Civilization

Sometime around when human civilization reappeared was when the survivors from the Previous Era reemerged from cryostasis. When exactly isn’t shown but we are shown panels in the manga of Su and Kevin in Ancient Egypt and Rome/Greece.

Fu Hua, Fuxi, and Nuwa are in charge of aiding human civilization around China and they’ve set up base in Shenzhou. They were in charge of Project EMBER, a project meant to speed up the development of human civilization. Fuxi and Nuwa were also entrusted with a 10th Divine Key and tasked with giving it to a person of this era who could wield it, they picked a young woman with a stigmata Ji Xuanyuan. Fuxi and Nuwa also created the Phoenix image for Fu Hua to have to make her a legend

Fuxi and Nuwa weren’t MANTIS soldiers unlike Fu Hua so they would age and die. They didn’t want Fu Hua to become lonely when they were gone so they make the ELF Book of Fuxi to keep her company.

Unfortuntely because the Honkai grows with civilization Project EMBER sped up the growth of the Honkai and gave birth to the Judgement class Honkai beast Chiyou. Nuwa and Fuxi died to stop it and Ji Xuanyuan was trapped inside the beast. Project EMBER was cancelled and Fu Hua became the Immortal Celestial, Phoenix, Protector of Shenzhou to protect China because that’s what she promised she’d do.

Fu Hua also starts a school to teach people how to combat the Honkai. It was Book of Fuxi’s final request.

In the late 1400s Schicksal has solidified its control over Europe and wants more, so they decide to head east. Schicksal and the Ming Empire fight in the Eurasian steppe from 1470-1475 but then Fu Hua shows up and defeats Schicksal’s army single-handed. She also defeats Kallen Kaslana in single combat and call her out for using the Oath of Judah against humans.

Now we get to the visual novel. It’s not translated but I’ll give a brief summary of what I know from hearsay. Fu Hua is betrayed by her students and killed in an extremely gory description that includes organs outside of the body and exposed brains. Luckily a few cells are left alive, so she can heal back from that, due to being a MANTIS soldier. She sets out looking for answers as to why she was betrayed. She also meets Otto Apocalypse, who is wandering the world after Kallen’s death. I don’t know what happens beyond that.

Mihoyo please translate your shit.

Anyway, Fu Hua continues protecting civilization in Shenzhou. She also adopts and trains Cheng Lixue sometime in the 1990s but then also abandons her.

the Second Honkai War

(again seriously, read the Second Eruption Manga)

The Second Honkai War is where we see how terrifyingly powerful Fu Hua is.

When Otto mobilizes all of Schicksal to defeat Sirin, because she had gained 6 Herrscher cores and the situation had gotten really out of hand. He also calls upon his old friend Fu Hua, because Sirin has the Gem of Serenity, the core of the Herrscher of Death and Otto believes he needs the Herrscher of Death to revive Kallen.

Otto, Cheng Lixue, and Fu Hua personally confront Sirin on top of Babylon labs where they confront the Herrscher of the Void directly. Fu Hua immediately traps her in a dream world and fights her in the dream world and kills her there, making her think she’s dead. Then Otto fucks everything up by letting Sirin get in touch with God and she free’s Sirin from Fu Hua’s dream, so Fu Hua creates an attack so powerful Sirin that God has to shield her from the blow. Sirin had to be saved by deus ex machina.

Luckily Fu Hua’s punch did sever Sirin’s connection to God. Unfortunately, she burnt up so much of the 8th Divine Key she lost her memories. Sirin also left the dream world with control over some of the powers of the 8th Divine Key.

When she exits the dream world she doesn’t remember who Cheng Lixue is and Cheng Lixue sacrifices herself to let Otto escape with the unconscious Fu Hua. 

By the time the 2nd Honkai War is over, Fu Hua wakes up and runs away from Schicksal but she has nowhere else to go. She has lost a great deal of her power and is dying as well, so she has to rely on Schicksal to defend Shenzhou because her promise to do so is all she really remembers. She basically has to become Otto’s personal lackey in order to ensure her home’s safety.

In 2014, Kiana and the gang are at St. Freya and Fu Hua takes Kiana on a mission with her under the guise of it being easy. A Schicksal scientist has defected and taken the Gem of Serenity with him to neutral Singapore to escape to Anti-Entropy territory. Fu Hua has to get it back. Fu Hua kills a pervy clone of the 1st Herrscher and Kiana gets to the Gem first. Kiana is possessed by the Herrscher of the Void because the the Gem of Serenity was returned to her. (Kiana is Sirin, want that explained? Ask me or go read the 2nd Eruption Manga). Fu Hua beats her up and gets the Gem back, saving Kiana. The whole purpose of Fu Hua’s mission was actually to make sure that the Herrscher could get the Gem of Serenity.

Stuff That Happens in Game (spoilers for Chapter 4 onwards until the end of the post)

After Chapter 4 in the game Fu Hua uses the 8th Divine Key to go into Bronya’s mind to help her put her mind back together after Bronya destroys the chip in her brain to stop Cocolia from being able to mind control her.

Chapters 5 and 6 are both illusions created by the Herrscher of the Void using the small part 8th Divine Key she stole from Fu Hua in the Second Honkai War. When the Herrscher of the Void begins to awaken within Kiana at the end of Chapter 6, Fu Hua kidnaps Kiana takes her Schicksal HQ. Fu Hua fights for Otto in the beginning and captures Himeko. She uses the 8th Divine Key to heal Himeko after their fight then goes to save her friends, then Otto kills her for betraying him.

BUT all those people she’s used the 8th Divine Key on still have a copy of her in their heads. So Himeko is guided around Schicksal HQ by Fu Hua and given the means to save Kiana from the Herrscher of the Void. Bronya is saved from Grey Serpent by the Fu Hua in her head. Kiana has the Fu Hua in her head throughout ARC City until Fu Hua fights Kevin to let Kiana escape. And now Kevin has that Fu Hua as a feather.

Where does that leave us now?

At least one copy of Fu Hua still exists in feather form. Kevin says he’ll wake her up when it’s all over, in reference to defeating the Honkai.

The Fu Hua in Bronya’s head doesn’t seem to be explicitly gone.

If you’re in the “Himeko’s not dead” crowd then she’d still be there but,, Himeko.

And if it’s possible for her body to come back from near-death again then that’s a possibility but she was extremely weak when she died compared to when she healed the last time.

Anyway, Phoenix is the Hottest Thing There Is.

[ozbian]

Critters, it has been awhile since Travis' last TM ... so here's a bullet point summary of recent events

I know that a LOT of good good stuff happened last episode, but I don't want us to forget to ask about the older episodes!

(List is mostly cribbed from Critical Recap, tries to focus on major events and stuff most relevant to Fjord and Nott)

...

(Travis' last TM - post Ep 84, with Laura)

Ep 85 - The Threads Converge

Battle with the Inevitable End, following the assassination attempt on Caduceous in the previous episode

Pumat raises the possibility of dispel magic working on Yasha

Nott talks about how she feels wrong interacting with her family while disguised as Veth, and she doesn't feel like she's making a genuine connection

Confrontation with Gentleman about Jester's parentage. He denies it pretty coldly, Jester is upset, Cad smells something fishy

Fjord & the others comfort Jester

Caduceus manipulates the Gentleman by talking about his past and asking him to check on the Savalier Wood and his family

Nott and Beau tell each other about their crushes on Caleb and Jester Beau respectively

Jester confirms the Gentleman is her biological father and they have a sad and important conversation

Caleb disguises himself as Jester and collects her mail, they get Astrid's address

Jester scries on Yasha, they're in Rexxentrum

M9 port to Rexxentrum which is under Krynn attack

Caleb is back in Rexxentrum! He is not okay!

Caduceus is in the middle of a fuck-off massive city! He is also not okay, but less not okay than Caleb.

The M9 make their way through the krynn attack until they arrive at the temple.

Ep 86 - The Cathedral

Fight with the cultists and the Cardinal, Nott kills the Cardinal

Laughing Hand and Yasha arrive, Inevitable End also arrives, Yasha nearly kills Beau

Nott is mindwhammied

Yasha is freed!!!

Obann retreats taking Nott

Pumat Swole offers to stay behind to hold off the cultists while they chase Obann and the M9 reluctantly agree

Guilty short rest

Fjord says he'll take Yasha up on some of her grief and regret and hits her for 19 damage to regain 9 hp

The M9 eventually figure out how to get into the secret chambers

They find Nott awaiting their arrival, Caduceus dispels magic and frees her, Obann's attempted ambush fails and he disappears from sight until Fjord casts Faery Fire, Fjord gets mindwhammied and walked into one of the sacrifice pillars. Caduceus frees his mind but doesn't have enough movement left to get him out of the pillar, Fjord steps free next turn

Yasha gets the hdywtdt on Obann and rips off his wings

The M9 see Obann transformed into Punished form by his evil god ... there are tentacles and teeth and eyes

Ep 87 - Punishment and Politics

Caleb gets swallowed but he cool-ape mans out of it

Caduceus gets swallowed (again) and since everyone's shrouded in darkness no one knows

Beau goes down

Jester is down. No healers...

Fjord nearly takes Obann down

Kadogeist gets the hdywtdt!

Caduceus mass deals and offers to hug the Kadogheist...

Pumat is relatively okay but Nott gives him a potion

Fjord touches the Laughing Hand's body and it poofs into ash, he covers by saying "Let the winds take you to your place of rest" and Caduceus compliments him

M9 are held not under arrest and Caleb is not okay, Fjord checks in

Yasha is updated on happenings incl Fjord's voice change

Meeting with Dwendal (& Allura), Beau implies to Dwendal that she used M9 to get in with the Dynasty & specifically comments on traveling with goblins and half-orcs (and caduceus!) (clearly using the King's prejudice to manipulate him)

Dwendal threatens the M9 with treason against the empire notwithstanding half of them don't even go here?

Parlay with the Dynasty is possible!?

Trent is an asshole and the M9 form up protectively around Caleb when he approaches them

Ep 88 - Unwanted Reunions

Kameruth Cottage!

Fjord gives Yasha the book that Caleb gave to him : )

Caduceus inadvertently inspires the M9 to plot Trent's murder to keep Caleb safe

M9 also plot for world peace

Fjord and Clay talk about honesty and camouflage, and Clay gives him the Wild Mother symbol he crafted at the Force

Yasha dreams of the Storm Father

Meeting with Martinet Ludinus, Jester is charming af, Ludinus politely holds Yasha's potential prosecution over the M9

Meeting with Trent and Eodwulf, Caleb is not okay but he holds his own anyway, Nott fishes for info

Shopping for diamonds and bone instruments

Fjord wants a tournament

(Sam's last TM - post Ep 88, with Liam)

Ep 89 - Lingering Wounds

Downtime

Nott and Fjord continue to walk through the capital city of the Empire undisguised, Fjord proudly wearing his WM symbol

Yasha reads her book from Fjord

Jester messages people

Caleb takes Fjord and Nott by the academy and talks about his past

Beau does a deep lore dive into Empire history

Jester offers to help Fjord with his work out like Beau does, Fjord gives himself a hernia

Jester and Beau have an important conversation, Beau gives Jester Molly's tarot cards

Caleb goes off on his own and talks to Astrid

Fight Club!

Beau beats up a fit older guy

Fjord and Darrow fight with weapons, fjord using his new blade

Darrow remarks that Fjord's been getting into weird stuff, Darrow goes pretty hard and seems to feels a bit bad about it later, Caduceus doesn't cancel a crit, Fjord goes down, Darrow brings him back to consciousness and is too nice about winning, Fjord snaps at the healer who comes out to tend to him and goes to get a drink

Yasha intentionally gets beat into unconsciousness and tries to play it off, Caduceus and Jester are Concerned

Episode 90 - Bathhouses and Bastions

M9 plot and plan their day,

Fjord asks Beau about her workout routine and carb loading

Clay remarks that Trent was telling the truth very carefully

Fjord has a spa day, M9 are supportive, Jester offers up her hair growth solution to assist with his beard endeavours

To the library!

Jester looks into Molly's tarot deck, lore drop!

Clay tries to find out how he should comport himself at a Traveller Convention, there's not much there but he found out it's happening on the longest day of the year

Beau and Caleb go digging for info on uncovered beacon

Nott helps Caleb break through his research, he comments that Nott's husband is a lucky man, Nott checks in, she offers support with Astrid and Caleb doesn't tell her about his visit, long hug : )

Fjord meets up with the party after the spa and asks for feedback from the M9 who are complementary: -

Yasha: your skin looks quite beautiful

Clay: you're glowing

Jester: it looks like you've got a little stubble coming in there

Shopping, Yasha & Jester get their commissions

Traveller doesn't appear and Jester is worried

Group Spa Day!

Party meet up with Darrow, Jester invites him to the Bathhouse and Nott encourages this (is she trying to matchmake with Darrow and Fjord or did she think he was hot and want some eye candy or both or neither??

M9 bamph outta the Bathhouse to Xhorhas in bathrobes

Fjord insists on changing into his normal clothes while everyone else walks on as is - Caleb pranks Fjord using illusion

Meeting with Essek, he is in so deep with the M9, they plot

Dynasty has found a traitor, the Taskhand, Fjord disguises himself as Vence to try and get some info, dude was clearly under some kind of mind control

Meeting with BQ, Caleb is very eloquent, Clay is very honest, Nott is very intently staring at Yasha when the M9 talk about their unnamed formerly mindcontrolled friend, Yasha is very brave

Essek is in very deep with the M9

Essek is invited to dinner but declines : (

[rebelsofshield]

2020: Top Ten Star Wars Media to Look Forward To

We have closed out the end of the Skywalker Saga and with it a decade of Star Wars storytelling. Luckily, Star Wars is bigger than ever with many promising and exciting stories on the way in 2020.

10. Star Wars Resistance Finale

It’s hard to believe that we have only a little more than five episodes left of Star Wars Resistance before it closes the story of Kazuda Xiono and his flying ace allies. It’s certainly been a bumpy ride at times, but when it is at its best Resistance is some of the most pure fun Star Wars storytelling in the current saga. Seeing how showrunner Justin Ridge and his creative team bring an end to this two season story is sure to be exciting as we see the fates of our friends on the side of the light, the dark, and everything in between. Especially our dear Tamara Ryvora. Oh, Tam.

9. Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren

The first issue of this miniseries arrived last year, but writer Charles Soule and artist Will Sliney’s chronicling of Ben Solo’s meteoric fall from grace is already a stunner. The Rise of Kylo Ren’s first issue delivered an emotionally complex character piece that also provided tantalizing new lore for the intriguing, if criminally underutilized Knights of Ren. Its next three issues are sure to be as revelatory and heartbreaking as its first. Soule has a difficult task ahead of him in not only filling in some of the biggest blanks left over by the Sequel Trilogy but also walking the fine line between making Ben Solo’s transformation into Kylo Ren emotionally resonant but without taking away the acts of evil that made him such a compelling antagonist in the first place. Given his strong storytelling track record, he seems more than up for the task.

8. Star Wars: Doctor Aphra

Doctor Aphra remains one of the best original creations to come out Marvel’s Star Wars publishing line. As a chaotic Indiana Jones-esque archaeologist and the first canon queer protagonist for the full Star Wars franchise, Aphra won over legions of fans with her convoluted scheming and out there plots. While Simon Spurrier finished off his take on the character last year, Aphra isn’t having a long break with Nebula Award winning writer Alyssa Wong taking the reins of her future adventures. Joined by artist Marike Cresta, Wong looks to charter a new era for the character that will hopefully be as twisty and fun as her last. Also, there’s those pesky rumors that our good doctor may be making the jump to television sometime in the future. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

7. Star Wars: Darth Vader

Greg Pak has big shoes to fill. To say that Charles Soule and Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader runs were successes would be an understatement as both are frequently cited as not only the best Star Wars comics of the current Marvel era, but some of the best the franchise has produced ever. Hopefully, Pak is up to the challenge. Charting the Dark Lord of the Sith’s emotional fallout from his son’s rejection in Cloud City, Darth Vader looks to head into new territory and hopefully provide even more of that sinister characterization that past writers excelled at. Marvel clearly can’t get enough Vader, and honestly, neither can we.

6. Star Wars: Queen’s Peril

EK Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow was the Padme story that we all sorely needed. Telling a politically charged coming of age story while also revitalizing the former Queen of Naboo and her handmaidens as fully formed characters, Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow was a delight and one of the most unique Star Wars novels of the past several years. The fact that she gets to tell more stories with this cast of characters is a blessing and a prequel novel following Padme’s early years as Naboo’s matriarch is an intriguing concept. Let’s hope for much more handmaiden intrigue and as many flowery clothing descriptions as possible.

5. Star Wars Alphabet Squadron: Shadow Fall

If we have learned anything, the middle chapter of Star Wars trilogies tend to be their most divisive and esoteric. Hopefully Alexander Freed’s second installment of Alphabet Squadron lands more in The Empire Strikes Back camp than Attack of the Clones. Having built a stellar ensemble cast in the first installment of this series, Freed now looks to complicate their lives as the final stretches of the Galactic Civil War become more hectic and frayed. Alphabet Squadron was one of the most immersive and mature Star Wars novels of last year and its sequel, Shadow Fall, hopefully continues that trend.

4. Star Wars

It’s been a long time since Marvel’s main Star Wars title was a must read comic. While it briefly soared back to life in the middle portion of Kieron Gillen’s take on the series, Star Wars has still been a far cry from its stellar opening arcs for quite some time now. If anyone can right the ship it is Charles Soule. The superstar Star Wars writer looks to take our heroes through a time of heartbreak and inner turmoil as we chart their lives following the climactic events of The Empire Strikes Back. It’s still a largely unexplored era in galactic history and Soule, who manages to blend large picture and character centric plotting with grace, seems like the perfect fit to take us there. Its first issue debuted just this past week and if it is any indication, then we are in for a dark, but hopefully rewarding, treat.

3. Project Luminous

Almost a year out from its announcement at Celebration Chicago and the mysterious publishing initiative, Project Luminous remains as illusive as ever. Theories range from a massive tribute to the fortieth anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back ala 2017’s amazing A Certain Point of View or even a multimedia experience set during the Old Republic. Regardless, the talent involved is enough to get any fan excited. Claudia Gray, Daniel Jose Older, Charles Soule, Justina Ireland, and Cavan Scott have all been confirmed to be a part of this…whatever this is… and given the great work churned out be all parties involved, it’s hard not to be ecstatic at what could come.

2. Star Wars The Mandalorian Season 2

I’m pretty sure all Star Wars fans breathed a sigh of relief when Jon Favreau revealed that we would have to wait less than a year until the second season of The Mandalorian. With the DNA of the series now set and our cast of characters primed for more adventures, The Mandalorian seems prepared to take us to all manner of new adventures in its sophomore season. While the creative talent behind the screen has yet to be revealed, one can only hope that the directing team is as diverse in talent and vision as last year. As for plot? Well, we don’t know much at this point, but we do know that there is a rather jacked Gammorean appearing somewhere. Baby Yoda’s future is still on the line. Oh, and Moff Gideon somehow has the Darksaber. Forgot about that. That seems important.

1. Star Wars: The Clone Wars

It’s hard to believe that over half a decade after its mid production cancellation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is returning to finish its story. It’s the sort of announcement that had it been leaked beforehand, would have been hand waived away. For fans that had become accustomed to the disappointment of seeing the unfinished plot threads for the series resolve in other media, the reveal that we would be getting a twelve episode final season was an incredible dream come true. There’s going to be an undeniable emotion to seeing Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein, Dee Bradley Baker, and Sam Witwer back in their voice roles once again and it’s more than certain that writer and director Dave Filoni is certain to have a few heartbreaking surprises on the way. This is sure to be a revival and finale to remember.