#love game in eastern fantasy icons

[adreamofsplendor]

虞书欣 ❦ Yu ShuXin ❦ Esther Yu

© adreamofsplendor

[xinyuehui]

Wanna die?

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy · 2024

[mostlyfate]

Stop chasing. You’ll be discovered.

Ziqi. Let me put it on you.

[iconskdramas]

- love game in eastern fantasy

• please like if you save

[theurbanunicorn]

PSD file: https://www.mediafire.com/file/8byo7tzsrf60zuf/Icon_series_11.psd/file

Featuring: Esther Yu starring in the historical fantasy romance series Love Game in Eastern Fantasy.

Hope that you guys will find the PSD applicable and useful in some sort of way

[peekofhistory]

Compilation of all my Hanfu and Guqin posts 😊

(Updated March 24, 2025)

Hanfu Posts

Warring States/Qin/Han Dynasties - Straight-edged robe (直裾) - Wrap around robe (曲裾) - Layering + undergarment pants - Straight sleeved straight-edged robe (直袖直裾) - Fish-tail straight-edged robe (鱼尾直裾) - Mesh straight-edged and wrap-around robes (素纱直裾/曲裾) - Men's hanfu in Han dynasty (两汉男汉服)

Weijin + North/South Dynasties - Ruqun (襦裙) - Ruqun (襦裙) pt. 2 - Liangdang (裲裆) - Ru vs. Xiyi (襦 vs 褶衣) - Slim-arm wide sleeve Ru and Xiyi (窄臂大袖 - 襦和褶衣) - Quling inner garment (曲领中衣) - Half sleeve + knee covering (半袖+蔽膝) - North Wei (Xianbei tribe) large collared long robe (北魏（鲜卑族）大襟长袍)

Sui/Tang/Five Dynasties - Sui + early Tang dynasty hanfu - Early Tang hanfu layers - Men's round-collared robes - Men's half-sleeve (半臂/半袖) - Golden era Tang shirt + skirt (盛唐衣衫+褶裙) - Vest, shawl, outer jacket (背子，帔子，披袄) - Golden era Tang hanfu layers - Wide-sleeved ruqun in Tang (唐朝大袖襦) - Mid-Tang shirt + long robe (中唐衫+长袍) - Late-Tang/FIver dynasties hanfu - Buddhist donors hanfu/Dunhuang Mogao Caves (供养人/敦煌)

Song Dynasty - Popular style for Song; shan, ao, moxiong tops (衫，袄，抹胸) - Long shan/ao (beizi) (长衫/袄 (褙子)) - Half-sleeve shan/ao (半袖衫/袄)

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Hanfu videos

Tang dynasty hanfu

Weijin/North-South dynasties hanfu

Eyebrow changes through the dynasties

Men's hanfu through the dynasties

Curvy Tang ladies :D

Grandpa giving out flowers

Tang woman visiting museum

Men's Ming dynasty hanfu layers

Tang dynasty hanfu + modern dancing

Ming court advisors "friendly" debate

Ming dynasty grandma with granddaughter

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Guqin Posts

Guqin introduction

Workshop/Studio Tour

Lacquer allergy experience Part 1 (scroll down) / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Summary

Making Guqin - Part 1 (step 1 - scroll to bottom for video) - Various steps of making Guqin - Part 2 (steps 2-5)

Playing Guqin - Part 1 (Gou and Tiao) - Part 2 (Gou and Tiao pt 2)

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Asks

Pattern for undergarment pants

Qing dynasty clothing

Iconic hanfu of each dynasty

Historical mourning clothes + costumes in Chinese period dramas

Costumes in wuxia/xianxia (ex. Untamed and Word of Honor)

Tang Hezi undergarment

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy drama: Esther Yu hairstyles

Favourite historical dramas

Maid outfits

Tang hanfu patterns

Korean traditional outfit

Guqin introduction (English book)

Foot binding

Flourished Peony hanfu (国色芳华汉服)

Hanfu overlap from one dynasty to another

Chinese muji (geta) (木屐)

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Other

Romance of the Three Kingdoms etiquette MV (三国演义礼仪 MV)

Hanfu revival movement overview

Tang Ming Huang TV series rec + MV (唐明皇推荐+MV)

Hanfu books recommendation: "汉晋风流" (Romance/Elegance of Han and Jin ) "唐之雍容" (Grace of Tang)

Hanfu book recommendation 2: 华夏衣橱 (Huaxia Wardrobe)

[stillness138]

i'm digging through the game soundtracks to find anything genuinely nonwhite in a painfully white world and wrote a whole thing about how it would benefit us all if the remaining carcass of the witcher fandom spent less time bending backwards trying to excuse domestic violence while drawing their fave abuser with brown skin and more time on genuinely examining those parts of the universe that are clearly meant to be fantasy nonwhite and criticizing both Sapek and CDPR for barely doing anything with them (and for orientalism when they do) but then i landed on the good ole "old man wrote a companion piece on Ciri's family tree only to give us Lara Dorren's measurements" and actually, in the end the point is what i've been saying for a while now. The fandom should, more than anything, quit passing this guy as some revolutionary feminist icon and look critically at him for one damned minute. Sorceresses are fierce and independent, but they also must all look like supermodels, complete with "the ugly one" (the one with an eastern name no less) getting a makeover lest the others make fun of her. Like yeah there's stuff that continues to age well given the time and place it came to be and there's stuff that's meant to be relatable because it shows imperfection but nothing exists in a vacuum and everything is made with some kind of bias. You have to include the creator in your analysis of a piece, even if you (unlike twn or even the games) actually like said piece. I am reminded of my high school art history textbooks and the pages dedicated to just laying down the cultural background for any given topic, the context is crucial. I love the game soundtracks, but whoever did the first one didn't care all that much about Azar Javed being Zerrikanian (neither did the writers tbh) and now nearly 20 years later we still have fuck all and i'm gonna go continue being in agony over his entire existence.

[sialiia]

As promised! Posting a fresh STARTER CALL today~ Mutuals only. Length will vary. Multi's you don't have to specify but it is encouraged. If you would like a specific verse, do let me know! I'd be more than happy to accommodate! quick verse info below: Featuring verses such as: zombie.apoc, his.dark.materials, the.nevers, super.natural, super.heroes, squid.game etc!

Verse 1: Catch All;; non-specific verse for threads and a verse for threads I don't know where to put. Sydney is a physical medium (can see ghosts/spirits and entities.) verse 2: Super.natural;; Sydney uses her gift to help put beings at ease. She travels across north and central America when needed. She isn't skilled in combat, but rather enjoys the research part of it. But she would give actual hunting her best shot if need be. Win.chester of Choice: Sam. Verse 3: Vampires;; Twi.light, Vampire.Diaries, Vampire.Academy... We love the vampires. Twi Syd is either a human who knows about the Cull.ens or is a vampire who is turned by Riley or comes to help in BD. I'm pretty flexible with this one. I love twi. Vampire.Diaries, Syd is a human who gets caught up in the vamp shenanigans. She thinks Kol is hot and is terrified of Klaus. :D Also has unintentional beef with Katherine (malka-lisitsa). Vampire.Academy, Syd is a feeder... Needless to say Syd would not mind if a vampire bit/drank her blood. That shit is hot LOLLL. Verse 4: Zombie.Apoc;; Syd is a mess. She is out of anti-depressants, she is seeing HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF DEAD at any given moment. She is basically in near constant agony from all the spirits wanting help to move on and she can't keep up. She isn't a fighter. But she gets pretty good at making maps and pottery. WD specific: She lives at Hill.top, she is terrified of Negan and anytime he shows up, she hides. :D Verse 5: Super.heroes;; Power.Rangers/Super.Sentai have had crossovers with Dis.ney, Mar.vel and D.C comics. So this can fall into any of those! But Sydney is part of the english version of Choujin Sentai Jet.man team. "Power.Rangers Sky Force" She is the blue Ranger of that team. Since I am friends with Alyson who played Taylor in PR Wild.Force, I have full approval for this idea from someone who was an actor on the show B) [MORE INFO HERE]

Verse 6: anime/cartoon;; Basically the same shenanigans but I use an icon banner instead of irl icons.

Verse 7: Fantasy / dnd/larping;; Sydney is a fairy/pixie, For convenience, she is able to shrink herself to a small size, or make herself 5'4. Verse 8: His Dark.Materials;; Sydney is able to see dust instead of ghosts/spirits/entities. She has a daemon named Paul who is an eastern bluebird. Verse 9: The.Nevers;; it's 1899 in Victorian Era London, England. Sydney still can see ghosts/spirits/entities. She is a member of the Touched (person with a special ability) She came over from America with her family on a business trip, but realizing others had gifts, she decided to stay. During the attack during the finale, she survives. Verse 10: Skill Swap;; Since I also really love the power of hydrokinesis Sydney instead of seeing ghosts/spirits/entities, can manipulate water. Verse 11: Squid.Game;; Sydney is number 056. She is either in SK, knows the language. Or she is in an Americanised version of the games. thread-depending she survives or perishes.

[vaingloury]

Disparate Thoughts on Dungeon Meshi

I'm an anime-only watcher, so no spoilers beyond what's currently aired (eps 1-3) + mild map spoilers for a random 3.5e D&D module (Sunless Citadel).

- I'm not the first nor will I be the last to harp on the English localised title but Delicious in Dungeon sucks. I do, however, think going with the "DnD" naming scheme was a nugget of a good idea (let's face it, "Dungeon Food" sucks too). Maybe "Diners in Dungeon"/"Dungeons & Diners" instead (as in those who dine, not a place where one dines). Or "Dungeon Dine" (like "dungeon dive"). Regardless, I'll just be calling it Dungeon Meshi going forward.

- I don't know if this is coloured by me going into this series with the knowledge that Ryoko Kui loves Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 or a wider ripple effect of eastern dungeon-fantasy conventions being shaped by there not being an official Japanese translation of D&D between Basic and 5e, but the world-building's vibe is old-school D&D as hell. It feels like it was written by someone who maybe never got the chance to play the tabletop game much but spent hours poring over the 1e Monster Manual in hopes of getting a campaign off the ground (and ended up penning a manga instead, game scheduling be damned). There's the disarming of traps, feeling for secret doors, and even the iconic red dragon as seen on the covers of the Basic Dungeon Master's Handbook and 1e Monster Manual being the dungeon boss. Design-wise, the dungeon's layout it reminds me a bit of the map from Ruins of Castle Greyhawk or The Sunless Citadel (pictured below, right).

- The main cast is very tropey at the moment. Quite literally all the Basic classes are covered; the generic white man Fighter (Lv 1, no multi-attack yet :P) as the party face, the halfling/thief, the elf/wizard, the missing cleric, the dwarf... This works for this point in the narrative but doesn't make me particularly attached to any of them. They need another overarching obstacle.

- I generally don't like Studio Trigger's output (not the Imaishi-involved stuff anyway; Gridman fucks) but I respect how bouncy their animation usually is. So, I was excited to watch something animated by Trigger but not (originally) written by them. Dungeon Meshi, however, looks static and resorts too often to Dutch angles to maintain visual interest. There's a bit of an art shift in episode 3 where this improves; more fun "off-model" moments, the movements get a little bouncier, more color harmony. Hopefully, this stays and isn't just a guest director fluke. Form the snippets I've seen on the manga, Kui suffers a bit from "draw background killed my grandma", thus her ability to make her simple character designs emote well has to carry the page. The anime does the opposite; super detailed backgrounds but flat shading/lack of texture on the characters creates a need for them to over-emote with a "screen-shake" effect in order to stand out from their surroundings, which I could see getting old fast. The main event, the food, looks better in the anime than in the manga due to colour and animation bringing it to life.

- I don't usually laugh at Japanese comedies because they're either too slapstick for my tastes or too pun heavy for my JP comprehension level. Dungeon Meshi gets a point for making me "lol" more than once.

- Finally, a good panty shot:

- I watched episode 3 dubbed. EN Marcille > JP Marcille (I say this as a stickler for subs). The rest of the dub cast is fine but I'm probably sticking with JP because JP Laios' ability to scream > EN Laios (EN is a great generic white man, though). I'm not familiar with most of the JP voice cast. I think Chilchuck is my fave in JP.

Both languages have little breathing room between lines of dialog and I was hoping the EN dub would play around with the fact that the character speaking isn't necessarily the one on screen (thus less lip-flap matching, especially for Senshi, who has few indicators that he's actually speaking even when he's onscreen) but alas. I'll do another one of these if I have more to say later in the season 🥂

[adreamofsplendor]

虞书欣 ❦ Yu ShuXin ❦ Esther Yu

© adreamofsplendor

[nemainofthewater]

Two days left, and currently Mobei-jun is in the lead with 29.6%, followed by Yan Wushi at 23%, and then Hua Cheng and Zhou Zishu in joint third with 7.9%.

Part one of tag propaganda under the cut, part 2 with the write in candidates will be in the next reblog

Yan Wushi

#yan wushi your tits are iconic. to me by @web-novel-polls

#the trashcan speaks#he spends the entire donghua swaggering around like this. evilly.#world's chillest man goes on a nonconsensual road trip by @mu-qingfang-stan-account

#im sorry but yan wushi literally has his tits out 24/7#its canon#just look at him#i dont think he's the necessarily the hottest out of this selection but tits are out#polls by @antique-forvalaka

#no no the typo is perfect#it's th👀usand autumns forever now#obviously had to give this one to yan “tits out for the jianghu” wushi#mobei jun is also a strong contender but ultimately lacks the sluttish energy that puts yan wushi in the no 1 spot#poll#cdrama poll#official boob poll by @woolasaur

#thousand autumns#yan wushi#😄🥰#though anyway it's more like the donghua yan wushi than the novel but still... 😉 by @eaion

#yan wushi just somehow feels the most tits out#despitr the fact that there's more tit visible for some of thebother choices#i just can't explain it#he has most tits out vibes by @tinypinkmouse

#YAN WUSHI#PLEASE#😂 by @angelicapocalypse

#yws duh by @kagesu

#yan wushi's tits are always out in the spiritual sense even when they are physically covered by @verlaines-ex

#I was torn between Mobei-jun and Yan Wushi but I decided on Yan Wushi and here's why:#Mobei-jun has his tits out because the hamster god designed him to have his tits out#Yan Wushi has his tits out because he wants to have his tits out by @randomseacucumber

#yan wushi vs zhou zishu ???? dont make me CHOOSE#(i chose zzs bc i accidentally skipped over yws and didnt see him)#(also. thoosand autumns lmao)#ALSO. why is mbj winning. yws is more tits out by @ashes-onthewind

Mobei-jun

#mobei jun was tits out even in the freezing cold that means something#also shoutout but not mentioned- the entire female cast of curse of the golden flower#all that crying and running down stairs while breasting boobily the entire time by @bitterfrosts

#at this point i can't even remember if it's canon or fanon#but in my heart it's mobei jun by @gege

#mobei jun's tits are legendary by @highwarlockkareena

#its literally not mobei jun if his tits are not out. in this list he's the most consistently tits out character#+in 80% of his google search images. its on the donghua cover. blindingly so#& the way that in the fandom the coverage/cleavage also truly is adjusted according to the occasion so that atp its a recognisably#integrated part of his wardrobe. half the time also serving a plot purpose if its a slash fic <3 no surprise in seeing him winning#AND he's a demon... seeing all the character designs of demons in svsss.. its almost like a point of pride and tradition#not to say the other characters are not out tho.. yan wushi or sm good others.....i just love mbj ok by @chord-assassination

#mobei jun by @kanronotatsu

#Mobei-Jun's chest is a defining feature of his creation!#I remain loyal to my king 😤#Lemmi hold those tits my liege 🤲 they look heavy by @livingmeatloaf

#normally so dissapointed in the scum villain ratio of these polls but im so glad this one is right#a defining part of mobei jun is that those thangs are thanging#they bounce when he goes down stairs by @theunconsecrated

Duke Su

#i know he's an underdog but i have to vote my heart#duke su your no shirt sword practice in the rain will always be famous to me 😔 by @noswordinourlake

Mu Sheng

#mu sheng#love game in eastern fantasy#guide to capturing a black lotus#feel so robbed that we didn't get any bath scenes in the drama#it's like a kdrama that doesn't have the ML brooding in the shower scene by @notacatdown

Whether full shirt off or with a cleavage low enough to tantalise, these characters are causing nosebleeds right, left, and centre

Write-ins, propaganda, and images are welcome!

ÉDIT - that moment when you see the typo in the poll options just after posting but you can’t edit a poll 😭

[theresattrpgforthat]

hey! love the blog, could you recommend any tactical combat games in the vein of lancer/icon? I'm hopelessly addicted to moving little dudes around on a grid rn

THEME: Tactical Combat Games 

Thank you! Here are some games that centre tactics and combat. Enjoy crunching those numbers and moving around those dudes on a grid!

Trespasser, by tundalus.

It's clear even from your place of rustic isolation. Hideous beasts run roughshod through the countryside, roving bands of marauders reduce settlements to smoking rubble, wide-eyed prophets babble madly at the sky, and common folk like yourself live in a constant state of terror. Well, you've had just about enough of it. No more tilling the fields in obscurity. Of course, that's all assuming you survive your first day. 

Trespasser is a tabletop roleplaying game about peasants-turned-adventurers carving out safe refuge amid the long collapse of their dying world. Designed for player-driven sandbox campaigns of survival and dungeon crawling, Trespasser borrows themes of early tabletop and pairs them with a tactical combat system inspired by 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. 

You’ll get good use out of a number of dice with this game, although most checks will require a d20. Rather than a power fantasy however, this game prioritizes survival: your characters are but mere peasants, trying to make their way in a large, dark fantasy world. It is expected that your character die, and another character will have to replace them. If you admire the principles of old school gaming but also enjoy picking character options and pushing miniatures around a grid, Trespasser might be for you.

Rotted Capes, by Paradigm Concepts, Inc.

The Golden Age of Superheroes has ended, not with a BANG, but with a BITE! The Dead overran the world and humanity's protectors are missing, dead or worst of all, Z'ed!Once dismissed as the B-List Superhero, you are now mankind's last hope for survival in this horrific world where the Super Zombies sit atop the food chain, looking hungrily down upon you. 

At its core, Rotted Capes is a roleplaying game of post-apocalyptic survival in a world overrun by zombies with a particular twist; this event has taken place in a typical superhero comic book world and the players take on the roles of superheroes struggling to protect what’s left of humanity.

If you want to crunch numbers, Rotted Capes is the game for you. You have Attributes, Skills and Powers that all add up to give you modifiers on every roll, with special abilities and moves you buy with XP at the beginning of the game. With both regular zombies and zombified super-heroes, you’ll be up against varying levels of difficulty that require teamwork, strategy, and an urge to give in to the flaws that your character carries with them in order to survive. The book itself is a bit difficult to navigate, but once you get used to the system, you’ll have freed up some brain space to figure out where (and when) is the best moment to strike.

Zafir: Tactical Roleplaying Game, by Zafir Games.

Zafir: Tactical Roleplaying Game is a fast-paced, tactical, cover-shooter, tabletop RPG that brings something new to the genre. The setting is inspired by ancient middle-eastern themes and Zoroastrian mythology, with a unique magitech twist, bringing the world into a magical analogue of the industrial revolution. Guns, magic, airships, and energy crystals all coexist in the world of Zafir. 

Set just two decades after a massive world war, the nations of Zafir are at an uneasy peace. Banditry and sky-piracy are rampant, and the need for muscle and guns is at an all time high. Will your crew help fight back the tide of outlaws, or become outlaws themselves?

Zafir requires 4 different-coloured six-sided dice for play, each dice representing stats and trackers, as well as a battle map and tokens in order to keep track of what your characters are doing. Characters are broken down into your standard categories of Class, Origin, Attributes, Equipment, Abilities and Proficiencies. Your character also has a Responsibility, which gives your character non-combat skills, and languages, which hint to the complex lore of the setting for this game. The bulk of your tactical play will take place inside Missions, although there will likely also be as many social role-play opportunities as you like in between each mission. With a large world to explore and a wealth of character options, feel free to min and max to your delight!

Gone Rogue, by QuickWit.

The world is in chains, having willfully relinquished control to the automata known as the Legardien. You are members of the Rogue, the last bastion of resistance against our metallic overlords, on your way to their shining capital of Sion. You are desperately outnumbered, outmatched and outgunned, perceived as the enemy by the sheep licking at the Legardien heel. You will enter Sion to overthrow the despotic Legardien from their seat of power and restore the reigns of humanity back to our own hands. No matter the cost. To yourself, or to mankind. The time of peaceful obedience is over, the age of the Legardien at its end. We are the Rogue.

In development since late 2019, Gone Rogue is a tabletop roleplaying game in which players take on the roles of fearless revolutionaries in a futuristic pacifist dystopia. Skilled, audacious and armed with advanced weaponry, you must enter a city unaccepting of your ideals. Your mission, to reclaim mankind’s freedom in an uncompromising battle against an army of autocratic war machines.

Gone Rogue uses a series of archetypes to determine your character’s role in the party, each with starting stats and abilities. Your character will also choose a Suit that will give you traits, upgrades and inventory items. This is a game that cares about inventory, movement, hit points, cover and more, so expect to pull out your grid maps and start crunching some numbers! However, don’t forget that there’s lore and worldbuilding involved as well - at the beginning you will need to answer some questions as a group, about what the resistance looks like, what the characters’ stake is in this fight, and what kinds of NPC’s the party has access to. This game has only a starter kit right now, but as starter kits go, it has more than enough to get you playing!

FIST, by claymorerpgs.

Now: the second half of the twentieth century. The powers that be are locked in a tense nuclear standoff, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Away from the watchful eye of national intelligence, a cadre of exceptional misfits is assembled. These soldiers of fortune are uniquely equipped for covert and unusual operations. In these uncertain times, the line between science and superstition has been broken, and the new arms race is only beginning. You, or your associates, may be faced with weapons, tactics, and actors unlike any you have ever seen. For a price, those exceptional misfits can help. 

When you’re all out of options, it’s time to call FIST.

FIST is a tabletop roleplaying game for one referee and two to six players. It draws heavily from Chris P. Wolf and Olivia Gulin's Offworlders and John Harper's World of Dungeons, as well as being inspired by Metal Gear Solid, The A-Team, and Doom Patrol. 

Characters take on traits that act as building blocks; each trait gives you a special skill, an item for your inventory, and a stat modification. Character advancement adds on more traits, making for highly customizable characters. FIST also has community-made supplements for additional traits, foes, and missions to give you the experience that works best for your table.  When it comes to dice mechanics, the roll instructions are fairly simple. The game is designed for theatre of the mind: the tactics come into play when it comes to how you solve your problems. Thematically, you’re looking at supernatural warfare: think about modern mercenaries going up against strange horrors beyond our mortal ken.

Beacon, by Pirate Gonzalez Games.

BEACON is a high-fantasy TTRPG inspired by LANCER, D&D 4e, and Final Fantasy.  BEACON is a tactical, highly-customizable game where you are encouraged to mix features from various classes, like the teleporting Shadow Dancer or un-killable Gravewalker.

Design the details of your setting together (your Reflection), create your character (your Beacon), and get ready to do battle against the cyclical, everchanging threat of the Scourge. Will you and your fellow beacons be able to defeat the Scourge this time, or will you find a way to break the cycle forever?

If you like LANCER and ICON, you will probably like this game. Like both of the aforementioned games, Beacon uses two different systems for narrative vs combat-style play, and also uses d20s and d6s for your character’s roles. The bulk of Beacon revolves around quests, which are the adventures your characters will embark on, each with information and preparation requirements, a number of stages, specific rewards, and downtime between each quest. Highly structured gameplay allows for a wealth of resources for GMs - and with over 400 pages of character options, combat information, NPCs and setting information, Beacon at its playtest stage is a game to be reckoned with. If you’re looking for a tactical RPG with a fantasy element, I highly recommend you check this one out.

The LUMEN System, by Spencer Campbell.

LUMEN is a rules-lite system for making and playing RPGs focused on telling the stories of powerful characters. LUMEN was first developed for the games LIGHT and NOVA, and has been converted to this genre agnostic SRD so that you can use it to make your own games with the same system. 

At its core, LUMEN is designed to tell power fantasy stories. The characters played have access to incredible powers, and use those powers relentlessly in pursuit of their objectives. It’s inspiration comes from video game genres such as looter shooters (Destiny), hero shooters (Overwatch), and dungeon crawlers (Diablo). 

LUMEN uses d6 dice pools, 3 attributes, and a series of classes that give players something unique that sets them apart. While the system relies on players determining how they will go about solving their problems, much of their problems will involve combat. Games can include status affects, health tracks, spells and similar special abilities, and more. LUMEN focuses on fast and lethal combat, so you won’t be moving around on the map, but players will use the tools they have at hand to gain the upper hand in stressful situations, invoke consequences and complications, and look cool while doing it. 

Some games that use the LUMEN system include Hedge (Wardens fighting off a Faerie Apocalypse), Blazing Hymn (Mech pilots protecting humanity from monstrous Angels), and Lords of Eternity (Superhuman beings of immense power, duelling with swords).

[kara-oni]

Table of Tags

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[regular tags:]

video

audio

my post

50 notes

important

reference

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wallpaper

icons

long post

stim

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[games:]

nintendo

ssb (super smash bros)

pokemon

n harmonia

meowstic

loz (legend of zelda)

fire emblem

mh (monster hunter)

animal crossing

kirby

sonic

splatoon

bayonetta

final fantasy

kh (kingdom hearts)

halo

destiny

eliksni

dnd

dice

horizon (zero dawn, frozen wilds, forbidden west)

undertale

hades

resident evil

fromsoftware

ddlc (doki doki literature club)

flight rising

fnaf (five nights at freddys)

minecraft

overwatch

uncharted

genshin impact

okami

hollow knight

tamagotchi

vr chat

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[comic related:]

marvel

daredevil

deadpool

venom

spiderman

spideypool (ship)

wandavision

tfatws (the falcon and the winter soldier)

loki

what if (marvel)

hawkeye

eternals

moon knight

agatha house of harkness

dc

teen titans

raven

═════ ∘◦ ❈ ◦∘ ══════

[cartoons:]

ladybug and chat noir

lukanette (ship)

marichat (ship)

multichat (ship)

its the avatar (avatar the last airbender)

voltron

ppg (powerpuff girls)

gravity falls

steven universe

w.i.t.c.h.

winx

═════ ∘◦ ❈ ◦∘ ══════

[anime:]

mha (my hero academia)

fruits basket

rwby

overlord

inuyasha

hanyo no yashahime

yugioh

sailor moon

shugo chara

pucca

demon slayer

tokyo mew mew

castlevania

soul eater

digimon

hatsune miku

promare

haikyuu

hamefura

card captor sakura

yoi (yuri on ice)

house husband

one punch man

═════ ∘◦ ❈ ◦∘ ══════

[tv shows:]

grishaverse

mando

wheel of time

the expanse

teen wolf

spn (supernatural)

pjo (percy jackson)

good omens

dw (doctor who)

power rangers

got (game of thrones)

hotd (house of the dragon)

stranger things

merlin

sherlock

jatp (julie and the phantoms)

kdrama

doom at your service

kings affection

cdrama

tmopb (ten miles of peach blossoms)

the pillow book

mdzs

svsss

tgcf

love 020

love between fairy and devil

love and destiny

love game in eastern fantasy

═════ ∘◦ ❈ ◦∘ ══════

[movies:]

studio ghibli

star wars

lotr (lord of the rings)

the hobbit

bagginshield (ship)

harry potter

fbawtft (fantastic beasts)

narnia

love and monsters

godzilla

crazy rich asians

disney

princess diaries

maleficent

[cofficionado]

The Dizi Tag Game

Rules: Answer the questions and then tag people you want to participate! (Also tag it #The Dizi Tag Game so we can see everyone’s lists)

I was tagged by @aslibekroglu! Teşekkürler canım!!!

1. Your first dizi & how you discovered Turkish dramas: That answer has 2 parts: I first stumbled on a scene of Kiralık Aşk of season 2 on youtube through a google search that was basically begging the algorithm to give me a romcom since I felt like I had watched everything Hollywood had to offer. It was 2016 and I couldn’t find any subtitles but I fell in love, I saw it had a huge season 1 so it took me a while to find the subtitles to watch from the beginning. By then Erkenci Kuş was being promoted, people in my country fell in love, and because of that there were subtitles from episode 1, so I feel like both of those series are my answer for that question, because when I watched the one episode of EK, I watched KA episodes during the whole week I waited for a new EK one.

2. Show(s) you’re currently watching: ooh boy, here we go: sen çal kapımı, menajerimi ara, hercai, arıza, sadakatsiz, son yaz, I was watching sol yanım but it got cancelled, I began içerde two weeks ago and I have yet to finish 50m2 cause there are like 3 episodes left.

3. Your favorite genre of dizi (romcom, mafia show, contemporary drama, historical/fantasy, etc.): it’s always romcom, it was why I got into this, why I’m studying a whole new language I probably won’t ever use in real life, and even though the path almost all of them choose to go after episode 20 something pisses me off and makes me want to drop everything, like it’s happening with sen çal at the moment, I’ll always go here.

4. The show you rewatch (parts of) the most: Kiralık Aşk, I always rewatch it, it’s my safe place.

5. Favorite Turkish actor and actress (feel free to pick multiples): are you mad? How can I choose among my children? Off... tamam, I’ll pick multiples and this is not an order of who I like the most: elçin sangu, barış arduç, çağlar ertuğrul, demet özdemir, tolga sarıtaş, hande erçel, aras bulut iynemli (the man is a legend best actor of his generation to me), çagatay ulusoy, ahsen eroğlu, too many to name but those are the ones that come to mind now, I know I’m going to regret this.

6. A show you quit before finishing: I was about to drop Erkeci Kuş when they announced the ending because I could not handle Can after the memory loss, and I did drop Afili Aşk after Kerem asked Ceyda to be his bride, they ruined a perfectly good character for nothing, in my opinion.

7. Favorite song(s) you’ve discovered in dizis:

Zeynep Bastık - Her Yerde Sen

Güliz Ayla - Olmazsan Olmaz

Elçin Sangu ve Barış Arduç (Mutluluk Zamanı) - Bu Su Hiç Durmaz

Başak Gümülcinelioğlu - Sen Çal Kapımı

Afili Aşk - Aslı Demirer

Koş Koş Koş - Menajerimi Ara

Karya Çandar - Bir Anda

Karya Çandar - Başa Sardım

Kenan Doğulu - Tencere Kapak

8. The show whose plot disappointed you the most: Aşk Laftan Anlamaz, Afili Aşk right there at the ending and now Sen Çal Kapımı.

9. A show that was cancelled too soon / ran too long: Şeref Sözü, I mean 4 episodes was just absurd, yeni hayat, I wanted a bit more of Her Yerde Sen, I feel like they left us too soon and Sol Yanim had more to tell us too / Erkenci Kuş ran too long, and to me they could have ended Afili Aşk a little bit sooner just so I didn’t have to watch ceyda and that circus at the end.

10. Favorite Character(s): ömer iplikçi, kerem yiğiter, ayşe yiğiter, hülya çamoğlu cevher, eda yıldız, serkan bolat, selin sever, sanem aydın, can’t remember the rest.

11. Your favorite romantic pairing(s): DefÖm, CanEm, AyKer, EdSer, ArHal, HülKer, DocBar, SelDem, ReyMir, SerSel, and it goes and on and on...

12. Favorite side character(s): Cey Cey (Erkenci Kuş), Melo (Sen Çal Kapımı), İbo, Vedat, Ayda and Azmiye (Her Yerde Sen), Koray (Kiralık Aşk), I’m gonna be so mad because I can’t name the others I know I’ll remember later.

13. Best kiss: I usually love the magic of the first kiss in dizis, they usually make it very special moments, so I like the first kisses in Kiralık Aşk, Sen Çal Kapımı, speaking aesthetically I think Demir and Selin’s first kiss is really beautiful, that’s in her yerde sen, and also serkan and eda’s iconic sana deli gibi aşık oldum moment made for a beautiful kiss too.

14. An underrated show more people should watch: I only have current shows one my mind so definitely menajerimi ara and I feel like people are sleeping on son yaz.

15. A show everyone loves that you aren’t interested in: muzice doktor, alev alev and doğduğun ev kaderindir, even though demet is on it, I could not get into it.

16. A show you want to recommend right now: menajerimi ara, son yaz and masumiyet.

17. The next show on your list: I am watching Teşkilat’s commercial break for the first episode as I answer this tag and I am loving it. Then there’s the second episode of maraşlı, masumlar apartmanı, yeşilçam, içerde (trying to watch it) and kuzgun.

If you guys haven’t yet been tagged, I’ll tag @mrsgreenworld @middle-eastern-queen @sweetrupturedlight and whoever wants to do it, this was a lot of fun! (please tag me!!)

[murfeelee]

Video Games Pt3: Video Game Challenge

I saw this list on Pinterest out of nowhere, and what better way to ring in the new year than with another questionnaire, about my favorite pastime! This is the spiritual successor to Part 1 and Part 2.

Day 1 - Very first video game: Pacman and/or Mortal Kombat and/or Samurai Shodown on arcade machines (way back in the day when laundromats had arcade machines and gumball machines and such in them--good times, good times U_U); Tetris on computers; and a buttload of PS1 titles (again: back in the good ole days when consoles came with promo demo discs--I had Frogger, Need for Speed, Medieval, and a bunch of others).

Day 2 - Your favorite character: Here’s my Top 10 Males post and Top 10 Females post.

Day 3 - A game that is underrated: I will preach the greatness of PS1′s Legend of Dragoon till my dying day. It was doomed to dwell in Final Fantasy 7′s shadow, which came out earlier that same year, and it’s a real shame, cuz LoD was E V E R Y T H I N G.

My favorite aspects of the game are:

Its lore and worldbuilding. On top of the fact that the premise of the game is could be an anime series in its own right, you just get SO EXCITED to visit each new location, and uncover more about the world’s history, and see the different architecture, technologies, cultures and different races (I LOVE the Winglies, of course). It’s actually a gorgeous game for its time.

The combat -- I STILL have some of the Addition patterns memorized to this very day! They get progressively harder as you level up, but once you get used to the timing you feel so dang good. Die, More and More!

The soundtrack and cutscenes. The NOSTALGIA? O_O Bruh. The story is just really good, and was the very first video game to make me cry when certain...events...happened. Play the game and find out for yourself!

Day 4 - Your guilty pleasure game: The Sims, Dragon Age...any and all EA games. Effing ashamed of myself every time I give that nest of corporate demons at Electronic Farts money. “Surprise mechanics” my arse. 

Day 5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were): Has Jar Jar Binks been in a video game yet? Then that’s me. XD But I wish I was most like Lara Croft, as explained in my Top 10 Females post.

Day 6 - Most annoying character: For females it’s Lightning from Final Fantasy 13, and for males it’s Vaan, from Final Fantasy 12. I don’t mind as much when supporting characters are effing annoying (Vanille, Hope, etc), but when it’s the MAIN protagonist?! WHY, Square Enix? WHY.

Lightning was just a negative nancy debbie downer. I wish they had swapped Serah and Lightning, I seriously do. I just couldn’t stand her dry and soulless personality. She wasn’t being edgy or bada** or cool or sexy or FANG or anything; she was just a bitter jaded unhappy wench.

And with Vaan I just effing hate that dude. Why was he even there? They tried so hard to make this pushy entitled kid relevant, but I was like no, the story could’ve easily been told without him, and I wish it had been; he’s a effing idiot.

Day 7 - Favorite game couple: Yuna and Tidus from FFX (hardest I ever cried playing a video game -- THE FEELS I TELL YOU).

Day 8 - Best soundtrack: I used to think it was Skyrim, but nope, it’s Witcher 1, 2 and 3. Just listen to ALL of the songs CDPR ever produced for the entire franchise, including all the unreleased tracks, and enjoy the eargasm.

Day 9 - Saddest game scene: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice had me legit depressed for a good week. Get your tissues and holy water ready; it’s seriously effed up. The entire game is the saddest I ever played, jfc.

Day 10 - Best gameplay: Witcher 3, duh. Main quests, side quests, combat, dialogue, plot, graphics, worldbuilding, creatures, bosses, soundtrack, characters, Gwent, NEED I GO ON.

Day 11 - Gaming system of choice: Playstation for life. But the Nintendo Switch is effing brilliant, ngl; once they put Skyrim & The Witcher on it I was like SOLD.

Day 12 - A game everyone should play: At least ONE Final Fantasy game. There’s 15+, and Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts. It’s not just a game, it’s an experience.

As much as I rag on FF13 and FF15, they’re still admittedly LEAGUES better than a lot of other crap out there. I just happen to feel that Square Enix is out of its frikkin mind lately, and tbh I’ve been rapidly losing my hype for the FF7 Remake. I was never much of a FF7 fan to begin with, aside from being a rabid Sephiroth fangirl and watching Advent Children a billion times. But Square’s gotta be drunk as a skunk if they think I’m paying all that money for god knows how many of these effing “episodes” they’re gonna piecemeal us to dangit death with. HAYUL no. I’d rather not get too attached.

Day 13 - A game you’ve played more than five times:

Day 14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper: Huh?

Day 15 - What game are you playing right now: Speak of the devil, I’m replaying God of War for the zillionth time already.

Day 16 - Game with the best cut scenes: In terms of graphics and story impact IMO might be Red Dead Redemption 2. That game was frikkin gorgeous, and the story was SO DANG GOOD. Braithwaite Manor!? O_O

Day 17 - Favorite antagonist: For females it’s either Edea from FF8, or Yunalesca from FFX. For dudes it’s Sephiroth, from FF7. That man needs some serious counseling.

Day 18 - Favorite protagonist: Yuna from FFX for the ladies, and TW3′s Geralt of Rivia for the dudes. 

Day 19 - A game world you would like to live in: The more Middle Eastern-inspired scifi/steampunki-medievalesque world of Ivalice from FF12, or the medieval French/Swiss Toussaint from The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.

Day 20 - Favorite genre: RPGs and JRPGs, and pretty much action-adventure games with swords and sorcery.

Day 21 - Game with the best story: Red Dead Redemption, which is a good thing and a bad thing. A lot of the time I felt I was watching a movie, rather than playing a game. But it was still an Oscar worthy movie. XD

Day 22 - A game sequel which disappointed you: Technically it hasn’t come out yet, but from what we’ve seen of the Nioh 2 beta release, omfg what’s going on? U_U Now, don’t get me wrong! Nioh 2 looks AMAZING. But....that’s cuz it looks exactly like Nioh 1, just with new yokai gameplay thrown in. o_O Uh...is this a DLC expansion pack or what? Cuz it sure ain't lookin like a full-fledged sequel! :P Dare I call it an asset flip. Come on, don’t do this; do MORE. Unless this is actually an expansion you’ll sell for half the price. ;)

Day 23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style: For graphics it’s RDR2, but for most unique art style it’s always been Okami for me. <3

Day 24 - Favorite classic game: Spyro the Dragon. Their reboot for PS4 was AMAZING.

Day 25 - A game you plan on playing: Cyberpunk 2077. I’m so bummed, knowing the game’s been delayed to September 2020 instead of April, but oh well. As long as CDPR gives us that master-class level of Polish we all know and love from The Witcher 3, then take as much time as you need, I guess. At least they’re not like effing EA or Bethesda. XD

Day 26 - Best voice acting: BOY. Freaking iconic, Kratos. :P

Day 27 - Most epic scene ever: Ciri beating the absolute tastebuds outta Caranthir in TW3, not once but twice. Most OP Witcher EVER, girl; WERK.

Day 28 - Favorite game developer: Though I effing hate them, I’m still a Square Enix fangirl at heart. It’s just saddening to see this weird turn they’ve been making recently, with garbage like the Quiet Man, and especially with Final Fantasy, my favorite game series of all time. U_U I’m not looking forward to the FF7 Remake anymore, tbh. I just hope FF16 is more of a return to form.

Day 29 - A game you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up loving: Skyrim. I was never a big fan of Elder Scrolls games, and when Skyrim came out I was very meh at first. But then the mods started coming out for it and I was like wow. O_O

Day 30 - Your Favorite game of all time: Legend of Dragoon on PS1, Final Fantasy X on PS2, Skyrim on PS3/PC, The Witcher 3 on PS4, and The Sims on PC.

________________________________________________

Thanks for reading!

[imaginativecrime]

7 reasons The Witcher series is a mess (or damn I need to vent)

Unpopular opinion time! For the record, I’ve read the books, played the games, hell, I’ve binged the Polish movie and series (because my love for Michal Zebrowski and Zbigniew Zamachowski is undying, sue me), and I was super hyped. Then I spent the entire series yelling at the TV, so I made a handy numbered list of the reasons why I personally consider it mediocre at best.

Because I’m fucking disappointed and I’ll never not be bitter about it. Fact.

Be warned, there are all sorts of spoilers below.

Let’s look at some of the issues that affected the show as a whole:

1) Adaptation is hard work - but you have to do it right

Adapting a story from one medium to another is difficult, you inevitably have to change things to make it suitable to the new form of expression and also, everybody wants their adaptation to be unique, to emphasize points they think are important, to reflect on the current times, you name it. But changes in an adaptation should make sense and lend themselves to the storytelling.

Many changes in the series were arbitrary, nonsensical and contributed absolutely nothing. One such example is the Battle of Sodden Hill, a terribly executed “siege” with not enough extras to fill a classroom instead of a battle of 100 000 people. Writing out Redania, Aedirn and the Brotherhood of Sorcerers from the conflict doesn’t seem to have a point to it, while the delayed arrival of the armies of Temeria and Kaedwen is both unexplained, unlikely and underwhelming, not to mention that it completely undermines the Nilfgaardian threat as a whole. This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg of all the things that are wrong with Sodden Hill in the series. 

Or take Foltest and his affair with Adda. It is perfectly clear in the books that after seven years of wizards, witchers and all manner of frauds coming and going while Foltest is obsessed with breaking the curse instead of killing his daughter, even the very last blind and deaf peasant knows about his shenanigans. It’s only logical, too. The story is relayed to Geralt in no uncertain terms at the very beginning. Now in the show the whole episode is too short to set up a murder mystery that requires Geralt’s incredible detective skills (uhuh) to unravel. What is worse is that you cannot make a big reveal of something that your audience actually has previous knowledge about. So why even bother to have Foltest deny it and have Geralt beat it out of Ostrit? 

Which brings us to point two:

2) We all know which way to Temeria, don’t we?

Even if you have popular source material, you cannot expect everyone to know it. An adaptation has to consider people who are just getting their first introduction to the sandbox. When your lore is as rich as that of the Witcher, you need time and careful effort to set up your world. The show made a total shit job of this one. As in the above example, sometimes the show ignores that we, as an audience, know things. 

Another example is Vilgefortz. We know him, his plans, abilities and allegiances, we have very specific expectations of his character. Besides completely failing these expectations (and doing a very unconvincing early reveal of his true colors), the show goes as far as taking Vilgefortz’s iconic sentence (You mistake stars reflected in a pond for the night sky.) and putting it in Fringilla’s mouth. Like did they actually think we wouldn’t notice? Or not be pissed?

At other times the show expects us to fill in its glaring blanks exactly by knowing our lore and characters. One obvious, overarching example of this is the issue of the separate timelines, that sometimes left even fans a little confused. Also, fun fact: one of my friends (who has no idea about anything in the Witcher’s world) for instance needed some time to realize Pavetta wasn’t, in fact, a grown-up Ciri, and he remains to this day very confused about Blaviken.

Basically, we are on a swing here, which is actually made even worse by another thing: bad pacing.

3) Hold your Roach for a moment

The first season wants to cram too much into its limited time and it has a severe negative impact on worldbuilding and character development. By bringing in all three timelines from the beginning, the show has to juggle time allotted to each. 

To be frank, Ciri’s timeline at this point consists of a lot of running and screaming, which in itself hardly merits all the time we spend with her. It could have been utilized in part to provide us with a view of the war from ‘below’, to show that beyond the high politics and heroic battles there are burned villages, dead peasants, people who lost everything, cripples, deserters, ruined fields, and so on. Instead, we get one refugee camp of neat tents, actual beds, food and complaints about Calanthe (though not of dead husbands, lost homes or winter). Though I guess it should come as no surprise that the shock value of paint being made from a woman’s reproductory organs (that never happened in the books) is more important than actual large scale human suffering.

Now giving Yennefer an extended back story is great. But by that level of extension once again time is being consumed that is taking other opportunities away. Opportunities like giving Geralt himself a bit more background, clarifying points for fresh faces in the audience, giving characters more time for meaningful interaction. Because there is not enough time to let the story breathe and progress naturally, episodes are often rushed, choppy, and shallow. 

4) Reverse worldbuilding, aka welcome to nowhere 

Another serious issue with worldbuilding is what I suspect to be a deliberate departure from the game visuals and aesthetic. One of the things I adore most about the games is that it built heavily on Eastern European history and folk tradition. Nothing compares to the feeling when you ride into a village and you feel right at home because things are inherently familiar, or you go out into the woods and hear the exact bird song you are used to.

Netflix is very careful not to even offer a whiff of this particular identity to its show, but it doesn’t seem to have a clear artistic vision beyond that. Thus while landscapes are nice enough, other settings such as cities, taverns, ballrooms and the like are horribly bland in that “this is how we imagine the middle ages in Hollywood” way and look exactly what they are: sets. While one is not likely to quickly forget the red rooftops of Novigrad or the wild beauty of the Kaer Morhen pass from the games, there is nothing memorable about the locations presented in the series. (Even more bewildering is the depiction of the elite boarding school of Aretuza as a creepy dungeon with elf skulls everywhere. I cannot even begin to address this one unless it is all in caps.) 

Point being that the show lacks an actual visual identity that would distinguish it from any other dime a dozen medieval fantasy.

5) My kingdom for a decent wardrobe

Sadly enough, the bland and flavorless visuals have a terrible effect on something else: clothes and armor. While some costumes are well done, there are way too many examples of the opposite. One very obviously is Nilfgaardian armor, which looks like fossilized trash bags with sad dick helmets. The fact that armor in the show is treated as the equivalent of cardboard is doing no one any favors. Please do your homework next time. Please?

Another inexplicable departure from the books and games is the appearance of the nobility, and most jarringly, sorceresses. That dress Yennefer picks out the first time? It’s literally the drabbest, ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, and the others are not much better. When it comes to period-accurate choices, the range is just so wide: we are talking cambric, velvet, silk, cloth of gold and silver. We are talking luxurious furs, embroidery, colorful feathers, bright dyes, coats of arms and jewelry. Brooches, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hat badges, belt buckles, hairpins, you name it. People wore their wealth. Making them look like sad orphans will not make them look any more medieval.

Peasant clothes also had their decorations, though to a lesser degree than nobles, obviously. But I guess it’s too much to hope that those would get any attention when queens are dressed like they lost a bet.

6) I see your people and I raise you mine

Including people of color in the casting choices caused a lot of heated debate amongst the fans, but at least it means that the show cares about minority representation, right? Right?

The world of the Witcher has its own minorities, and what we have seen of them so far is so incredibly pathetic that I haven’t the words. For one thing, they look so terrible that elves in the Polish series actually look better, and that was so not a high bar to exceed. To make matters worse, they again seem to lack any sort of distinguishing visual identity (except for the Dryads. I’m also willing to make an exception for Chireadan, as he actually looks right and he’s a settled elf.)

Sadly, unlike the games, the series also fails to establish even the beginnings of a compelling narrative for its minorities, which definitely needs to be in place by the time Thanedd happens at the very latest. What is more, we seem to be given something called the Great Cleansing, which is plenty obscure but comes across as a Night of Broken Glass sort of thing (though that could be just me). While still salvageable at this point, this shift in narrative is cause for some concern, and so far doesn’t make much sense.

7) Your villains are not my villains

Unlike the books and games, the Witcher series sadly doesn’t seem to excel at presenting opposing sides without the need to vilify one (which again, makes me worried about what they are going to do to the Scoia’tael later). 

Nilfgaard is now an Empire of Evil (TM) that lives for killing and religious fanaticism, Fringilla is a psychopath, and Cahir... Well, Cahir is a thousand shades of wrong all on his own. Stregobor and Istredd are now assholes of a whole different caliber, and even poor Eyck of Denesle gets to enjoy his five minutes of fame as a madman frothing at the mouth instead of a paragon of knightly virtue.

This is going so well.