#mavros: a collection

[full---ofstarlight]

tagged in this oc questionnaire by @gwynbleidd !!! i did delvyre because my brain is just full delvyre these days, but also my d&d character sirrus, because it just dawned on me that i can spill all his backstory secrets here without worrying about spoilers bc none of you are my party members hehe

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NAME: Delvyre Coppersmythe — Delvyre was the name that her mother, whomst she has never met, gave her and it was embroidered onto her blanket when she was left on her father’s doorstep <3 

NICKNAME: Del, since it’s just a nice shortened version of Delvyre; her father used to call her Little Flame, even before she started learning fire magic 

GENDER: cisfemale

STAR SIGN: I do not have enough braincells to figure out the Forgotten Realms translation, but she’s a Sagittarius Sun, Aquarius Moon, Leo Rising.

HEIGHT: 5’3” (160 cm)

ORIENTATION: Bi bi bi

NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY: Her mom’s family are High Elves, and her dad’s family has roots in Kara-tur but they’ve been in Faerun for generations at this point. She’s lived in Baldur’s Gate all her life. 

FAVORITE FRUIT: While she likes cherry-flavored things, her favorite actual fruit is any kind of citrus

FAVORITE SEASON: Autumn! 

FAVORITE FLOWER: Sunflowers!

FAVORITE SCENT: Is it too obvious if I say a campfire? 

COFFEE, TEA, OR HOT CHOCOLATE: All three? I think coffee wins out slightly, because she likes the buzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP: Either more than 10 or less than 6, there is no in-between. 

DOGS OR CATS: I gave her a proficiency in animal handling for no real lore reason, and I guess I’m gonna reverse engineer that and say she’s a big cat person and used to feed stray cats in the Lower City a lot. 

DREAM TRIP: I think she’d love to go to Alm. 

NUMBER OF BLANKETS: So. Many. She likes to bundle up when it gets cold. She wraps herself up into a little nest. 

RANDOM FACT: If she was a Pokemon trainer, her buddy Pokemon would be Nine-Tails. 

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sirrus's has a lot of our homebrew world lore so i did my best not to just gush about it lmao

NAME: Sirrus Montague totally not Eminence Sirrus Mavros Alarie

NICKNAME:  The Red Thief is his, like, criminal name. Also what if I told you Sirrus was a nickname?

GENDER: cismale

STAR SIGN: My DM very kindly provided us with her homebrew months and seasons and said she was working on an astrology system, and my only requirement was that there was one that was Lying Liar that Lies for him <3 (Ahem. Gemini.) 

HEIGHT: 5’10” (178 cm) // but he wears heeled boots and counts his horns when listing his height, so he’ll tell you 6’1” 

ORIENTATION: Pansexual

NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY: He says he’s from Endoza, a port city in the Peaceable Kingdoms (our homebrew world), but REALLY he is from the Sentose Archipelago, a pirate-y vibe collection of islands just south of the PK, populated by hobgoblins, tieflings, humans, water genasi, and half-elves. Oh, and he’s a tiefling. 

FAVORITE FRUIT: Starfruit!

FAVORITE SEASON: Summer. Ya boy hates the cold.

FAVORITE FLOWER: Hibiscus 

FAVORITE SCENT: The sea. 

COFFEE, TEA, OR HOT CHOCOLATE: Coffee. 

AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP: Eight on the dot. He needs his beauty sleep <3 

DOGS OR CATS: I’m leaning towards cats?? For no real reason????

DREAM TRIP: Our in-game joke is that he’s gonna take our Jimmy Buffet-inspired NPC buddy for a fishing-tour-combo-bar-crawl and the next campaign will kick off with them tied up on a boat and having to figure out how the heck they got here (it won’t happen; I’ve been tipped off as to what the next campaign is). 

NUMBER OF BLANKETS: One but it’s very fancy and cozy

RANDOM FACT: since none of you are my party members, I can actually reveal the big big big backstory secret that i’ve been hiding and probably won’t reveal for some years: HE IS SECRETLY FROM A VERY CUTTHROAT NOBLE FAMILY WHO CONTROLS A RUTHLESS TRADING EMPIRE AND AFTER A TERRIBLE SHIPWRECK HE SAW A CHANCE TO FAKE HIS OWN DEATH AND HE’S BEEN HIDING FOR THEM FOR A DECADE AND HE FEELS HE NEEDS TO ATONE FOR ALL THE SHIT HE WAS FORCED TO DO AS A TEENAGER TO HELP FURTHER HIS FAMILY’S WEALTH AND STATUS ///ok done screaming

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taggin' @criffyzou @sun-marie @yappatadwinks @n7viper @thedeadthree @birbycakes @commander-krios @cynda-queer anddd anyone else with little guys (gender neutral) that they would like to fill this out for!! (tag me bc i always love to read about them :3c)

[driedupeyeballs]

Hi! So! Remember Spider? Yeah? Did you know he’s… not my only… Yuu… OC…

Fox! Fox Peterson! What a dude! Uh! Yeah!

Yeah! So them and spider grew up together, and despite being pretty different in most things they’re practically inseparable. They met when they were both around 7-ish because they lived in the same neighborhood, eventually Fox moved to a different state but they kept in touch and never drifted apart. They got isekai’d into Twst on the same day once when Fox was visiting. Fox had come down to where spider lived because a band they both liked was playing a concert in the area, and the carriages came when they’d gotten split up before the show started. It took them a while to find each other in tw but once they did they made a promise that when they finally got out of tw, they’d see that band in concert someday

.

They have a lot of pets! Idk if I’ve mentioned this but Spider has a gray cat named Smoke in his homeland, and a tarantula named Willow that he has in tw and keeps in his dorm. Fox has three dogs and two cats in their homeland, the dogs are Solar (Golden Retriever), Cielo (German Shepard), and Wisp (Husky), and the cats are Sophie (Russian blue) and Howl (Himalayan)

Fox joined the fencing club at Royal sword academy as they’ve always had an interest in sword fighting and similar things, they have a small sword collection in their homeland.

Fox is trilingual, they speak English, Spanish, and Japanese. They speak a little bit of French but isn’t fluent

They befriended neige fairly quickly, as well as a few of my rsa OCs, namely Dove (twisted from prince Florian) and Elis (twisted from Alice.) Jasper (Jasmine) takes a liking to Fox fairly quickly, but Jasper has a tendency to take a liking to everybody and has gotten into some bullshit bcuz of it, so his vice housewarden is a bit (VERY) protective of who he hangs around with. Che’nya likes messing with Fox cuz he knows they’re too nice to bite back.

Speaking of that, generally Fox is too nice to bite back. They’re extremely logical, calm, and collected in any given situation, which is one of the reasons they work well with Spider, given that Spider has a very short temper and tends to blow a fuse at a lot of things, so Fox can always mediate. There are very few occasions where Fox would ever raise their voice, they always try to be a voice of reason in every situation.

Fox is an ENFJ, which is almost the complete opposite of Spider’s INTP. Also, in the subtlest of Nice moments I could possibly add, Fox’s birthday is exactly 69 days after Spider’s birthday.

I have a third Twst OC who isn’t a Yuu, but he’s an NRC student that spider and Fox befriend, making my main Twst OC trio. Also that oc’s birthday is 69 days BEFORE spider’s birthday (so his is April 7th). Can you tell I’m bad at coming up w birthdays 😔 anyway third little shit is Calliope Mavros (he/she/they), they’re twisted from the hydra from Hercules. Theyre Ignihyde’s sole jock

Floyd’s nickname for them is Garibaldi, which is this funky guy. He calls them any variation of it, but usually “Gari-chan” or “Lil’ Garibaldi.” Unlike Spider, Fox loves their Floyd-chosen name and actually has a little garibaldi plushie that they sewed because of it. Spider is jsut salty he didn’t get called a shark and is instead stuck as Little Koifishie lmao (also shoutout to person from discord server for coming up w Garibaldi for them I could not figure out a good Floyd name for them)

Rook had a hard time coming up with a nickname for Fox bcuz there’s rlly no gender nuetral anything in French so monsieur doesn’t have a neutral equivalent, he ended up just landing on maître des lames, which, if google translate isn’t failing me, is Master of blades.

Also their dynamic with Jade is very silly!!! I shall ramble about them for a moment. Spider works at mostro lounge so Fox and Calliope were chilling there one day, and it was one of Fox’s first times at NRC, and their first time at Octavinelle. Spider warned them to steer clear of the leech twins, but Fox is one of those ppl that can literally make friends with anyone so they often don’t heed such warnings. Spider had to go do some work and told Calliope to make sure Azul n the twins don’t rope Fox into anything. Fox is a bit gullible, but they’re still logical, so Calliope didn’t think it would be a massive deal for her to leave Fox unattended. It’s not like they’re a child. So Calliope went to grab some stuff from his dorm that they’d forgotten, leaving Fox alone. Didn’t take long for Floyd to sniff out the fresh meat, and Floyd was already messing with them from the bat. But Fox wasn’t getting annoyed by his attempts at getting under their skin, they were just doing their thing of being way entirely too nice. Now, Fox is also a big fan of mushrooms, and Floyd noticed the fact they were wearing mushroom earrings and he somehow verbally rolled his eyes, groaning abt how he didn’t need more mushroom lunatics in his life. As if summoned by some godly force, Jade materialized behind Floyd and complimented Fox’s earrings, to which the two began discussing mushrooms and Floyd immediately left the room, groaning as loud as he possibly could. And through the power of fungi and mostro discounts Jade managed to accidentally win over this idiot, then he ends up falling head first soon enough

Thanks for dealing with my rambling

[detournementsmineurs]

Collier "Touquet" de Claude Momiron en maillechort (1968), collier "Collerette" de Jacques Gautier en argent, verre, silicium et émail translucide (circa 1955) et collier "Mavro" de Claude Momiron en maillechort et émail (1969) dans le "Parcours Mode, Bijoux, Design" parmi les Collections Permanentes du Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD), juin 2024.

[itsacyn]

The Fox A fox looked at his shadow at sunrise and said, “I will have a camel for lunch today.” And all morning he went about looking for camels. But at noon he saw his shadow again—and he said, “A mouse will do.” ---KAHLIL GIBRAN . . #itsacyn @designandcraftfair 25-26 March @trumanmarkets . #fox #london #upcycled #anthropomorphic #whimsical #popsurrealism #popart #creepycute #arttoy #artcollector #collectible #arttoy #characterdesign #softsculpture #textileart #popsurrealism #creepycute #reuse March 24, 2023 at 01:58AM via Instagram https://instagr.am/reel/CqKfPrWv61R/

[laggingartblog]

I dont think i'll ever really know how to draw a braid

[therealvagabird]

The Black Paladins

Within the Inquisition of the Holy Imperial Church, there is an elite order of faith militant agents who are feared throughout the world as some of the deadliest combatants of all time. These are the Black Paladins, who among the laity are sometimes known as the “Godkillers” for their incredible reputation. While certain stories far outstrip the reality of what these warriors might achieve, the order has been known to cultivate their image as nigh-supernatural killers to deter any who might stand against the Empire.

The Black Paladins are known in official Imperial records as the “Palatinos Mavros”, from which their low-Vasileian name is a direct translation. Official doctrine claims a heritage from the Asuric warrior lodges dating back to the Ava-Asur empire, when a great hero known as the Night’s Shield slew many powerful daemons in the Wars of Terror – though in practical terms the Black Paladins came into existence in their current form during the early-middle years of the Second Vasileia. Their rise was fomented in response to increasing difficulties with suppressing daemonic influence, and they solidified their reputation during the years of the Red Plague, during which the famed hero known only as “The Black Paladin” led a company of acolytes to put down daemonic cults spreading the sickness and help the current Kaishan to quell the daemonic threat. This period constituted one of the few times a daemonic avatar was able to manifest on the material plane – however briefly – since the elder days, and during their battle with said monstrosity the Black Paladin was pulled into Avyssos along with their foe. The followers of that fabled hero would later establish the namesake order and swear eternal fealty to the Inqusition.

A small collection of knights, the Black Paladins are trained as solitary fighters versed in magical and martial techniques for the purgation of daemonic corruption. Their training starts from childhood and they are often drafted from orphans given over to the Inquisition for indoctrination. No one outside of the Inquisition knows the precise means by which the Black Paladins are trained or “created”, though it is suspected that certain rituals of alchemy and mysticism are used to elevate the subjects to more-than-mortal standards. While they draft from any suitable races, only the Ava, Asur, and humanity have ever been members of the order, and the greatest proportion of their number was of that latter race. It may be that this is due to certain traditions or quirks of the training process, but any Black Paladin regardless of background is more than a match for the natural talents of even a veteran Ava blademaster.

Due to their small number and specialized training, the Black Paladins are not a general combat force. Their members are sent on solo missions of high risk and importance to areas afflicted with severe daemonic taint. When not dealing with such rare and cataclysmic events, they tend to have agents serving as roving investigators, while the rest remain bound to their hidden citadel beneath the grand cathedral in Dameseka. While they are skilled at a variety of weapons and spells, most Black Paladins prefer to fight in their distinctive heavy armor, and utilize a traditional melee weapon over more exotic alternatives. This is due to the fact that the armor and weaponry of the Black Paladins is laden with specialized enchantments designed to protect them from hostile magics or environmental effects, as well as aid them in the casting of their unique spells. A Black Paladin may cast searing light from their sword or halberd as a drake-gun spews liquid fire across an entire battlefield, and one of their order in full armor may survive under water, resist disease and poison, and move without tiring despite the great weight of their panoply. Black Paladins are also tasked with the protection of certain dangerous artifacts by the greater Inquisition, though they do not often work alongside other agents of the broader organization.

During the Liberation, the Black Paladins were terrifying foes for the rebels. While they did not serve as frontline combatants, the hero Leon Isidore did have to face off against several Black Paladins throughout the war. After losing a few of their number – an unthinkable wound on their pride – the Black Paladins retreated to Dameseka and sought to guard their secrets against attack. During the Siege of Dameseka, the Black Paladins made a shocking betrayal of their oaths to the crown. While infiltrating the city, Leon Isidore found that the order had split into two factions some time ago – those who sought to serve the Auceptor Kaishan despite his clear consorting with daemonkind, and those who remained true to their mission. Freeing the imprisoned true knights, Isidore was able to escape the Auceptor laboratory-dungeons and facilitate the final victory of the Liberation. After the war, the new Hierarch reestablished the order after executing the corrupted knights, and the Black Paladins rose anew to seek out potential daemonic threats during the Winter War and the later Long War.

In the current era, the Black Paladins have experienced a decline in popularity within the Third Vasileia, both its general citizenry and its leadership. While no actions have been taken against them, Imperial military forces have grown tired of the fact that the Black Paladins will act only against clear daemonic or occult threats, and not contribute their power to the general war effort. With no major daemonic actions since the Liberation, and no records of major daemonic manifestations since the near-legendary early years of the Second Empire, some have begun to wonder if the reputation of the order still holds.

In some translations of the order’s title, the term “Vasilikos Mavros” is used – Vasilikos being a word for a one of high knightly standing dating back to the First Empire, though it is an archaic title and is not used in official Third Empire documentation. “Palatinos” is considered the proper High Vasileian translation for “paladin”.

[achilleid]

Religion in the world of Epyllion

The major focus is upon two “divine” levels. The Stars and the Hells. There are seven major stars, the brightest and biggest in the sky, representing seven patrons who are believed to have ascended to the heavens, their spheres (aka magic) returning to the cosmos.

 All the human depictions of the stars have both male, female and genderless counterparts. The stars are not believed to hold one “gender” so many interpretations are had and encouraged.

Virtus, the White/Great Star -  largest and brightest Star in the sky, used to mark True North. Patron Star of leaders, kings and rulers, soldiers and warriors and also the symbol of the king of Mavros. The Starry Crown, worn by the king, contains seven stars made to represent each patron. The piece made to represent Virtus is crafted from a large chunk of pure eldrenite. Virtus is a star of courage and resilience. Visible during the day, even in the brightest sunlight. 

Atriorus, the Black Star - Visible close to the horizon only in the dead of night. Patron star of sailors, guards/watchmen, night workers of all trades and of dreams. Associated with evening, many pray to the Black Star for a peaceful night, or in the case of thieves, for a successful heist.

Camina, the Red Star - bright, red and high in the southern sky, the patron Star of craftsmen, forgers, hearth and home and to a lesser extent, healing.

Certus & Fidus, the Twin Stars - Patron stars of the arts, revelry and love of all shapes. Located in the eastern sky, they are both visible during dawn, twilight and evening. Most forget these two are also associated with truth and certainty and in some extent, loyalty and justice.

Meliora, the Golden Star - like the red star, it is also visible during the day and has a yellow shine. patron star of merchants, travelers, tradesmen and luck. Favored by both the seedy and respectable among those who work for coin.

Sesaris, the Faded Star - Patron star of mysteries, knowledge and secrets. Also a favored star among scholars, thieves, courtiers and those who trade in secrets. Visible only on the darkest nights.

There are also believed to be five Hells, thought to be great swelling rivers within the hollow earth where those who commit any of the five most unforgivable acts are condemned to struggle and drown endlessly.

The five acts are, from greatest to lesser: kin-slaying, treachery, murder, thievery, and debauchery. (Debauchery is not so much "lust" as it is decadence or over indulgence of any kind and is SO loosely applied that often ANYTHING could be deemed as debauchery.) The river for those condemned for debauchery is considered the least terrible and the shallowest with thinner shores. Aka. it is possible for a soul, through wishing to reform, to escape the river and ascend to the stars.

The other rivers are wider, deeper and more treacherous, with the river for kin-slayers said to be filled with thick blackened mud that latches you to the bottom of the river bed and never lets go. This taboo stems from the time after the world was nearly ended. During that period, people turned on each other for the few resources available, child against parent, sibling against sibling, etc etc. The societal scars of that time period are still held in the collective mind of the people.

[malkalaila]

Pieces from Kate’s personal jewelry collection | 142/?

Jewels: Patrick Mavros “Pangolin Haka“ earrings in silver

[emotten]

Welcome to Omadon

It’s World-Building Wednesday!

To kick off this new blog series and celebrate the crossing of my halfway point in the first draft, I wanted to start sharing a little more about the world I’ve created for my current epic fantasy novel-in-progress, The Horsemen.

This was the original map after playing with multiple fantasy map generators for far too long. I’m pretty sure I used Inkarnate to create this map. As far as the general shape of the land and the names of its Dominions, that all came after this version of the map was created and settled on. 

This story has come together in a much different way than any other story I have written, starting with a general idea and immediately launching into map creation. It took me months to decide on a map... I created so many. I knew that The Horsemen would be my most intricate and fantastical story yet, and I wanted to have a map, an outline, and an entire story bible before I even tried to begin writing. And I am so glad I did all of this research and book work first. 

Keep reading to see how the map of Omadon evolved. 

After the map was created, I wrote the Creation Myth. This was a step I knew I wanted to take before thinking too much on the story because the creation of the world of Omadon is very important to the heart of the story. 

Creation Myths exist in every single culture all over the world. The Big Bang theory is a Creation Myth. Christianity is based on a Creation Myth. Each religion has its own story of how the world and mankind came to be. If this world I created was to feel real, then it was going to need a Creation Myth. 

From that myth, I began to get ideas for the names of places. After all, in our “real” world, aren’t there places named after saints and goddesses? And so began the grueling process of creating names for every mass of land, every forest, every mountain range, and every body of water that existed in my map. Somewhere, I have a disastrous word document that breaks down the roots of each word/name and what they mean. 

Throughout the mapping and myth-ing, I had begun to collect little bits of information for my story, including the main characters, of which I knew there would be at least four, and their names, goals, backstories, etc. 

You can see where I edited some of the land masses and took out some of the little castle icons that were there before. Some of the older Dominions and of course the bodies of water are named after those featured in the Creation Myth, but there are plenty of new words which were created and added to that horrifying word document I mentioned earlier. 

The most important Dominions for me to figure out first were the ones from which our four main characters would hail. The point of these characters is that they are “different” from one-another, and so their homes and their lives and backstories had to be different. Theia is the coveted Princess of Kokina, where it’s sweltering hot and rains only once a month; Nik is the libertine future King of Asporoth, where it is springtime all of the time; Shade is the exiled former King of Mavros, where they have three seasons--winter, autumn, and darkness; Thane is the famed executioner of East Skotein where there is no weather, really, just cool, salty wind from the seas and gray everything.

Once this version of the map was complete, I began to see the journey my characters would take, and the story began to unfold. I wanted to explore certain areas of this world, and so I tried to figure out how to get my characters to go there. From there, I began to compile my outline, dig deeper into my characters and their relationships with each other, the main goal of the story, and all the research that needed to be done in order to pull this thing together.

Throughout this series, I plan to explore each Dominion more closely, starting with the one where our story begins: Kokina.

[siofreed]

Rinko: “For the nth time, I’m not a Mavro! This is not an Eureka! Leave me alone already!!!” DX

A rather lost Noah found herself in the Hungry Joker-verse. Why is everyone after her cube?!

The cube is a container filled with Dark Matter Rinko has been collecting in her home world. She can use it to summon weak versions of Akumas, though their poison is still lethal (even to Mavros).

She’s been playing keep away with everyone while trying to figure out how she got so lost. Heading to Japan to check out if the Ark exist in this world sound like a good idea at that time...

[ask-beacons-finest]

Transcript for match 4!

(Teams CNRI and KABM are owned by @bittiblakebelladonna and @allkindsoffandomshere respectively)

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen,” The AI’s familiar face pops up onto the screens of the arena, soliciting cheers from the crowds, “How are all my lovely fans doing?”

“Heh,” Jaune taps the announcer’s desk a few times, “I suppose maybe Blake has a point.” “Indeed,” Ren adds, “We could do with some changes to her personality.” “I could do that right now,” Penny excitable declares excitably, opening up a panel on her forearm and dragging out a wire with a connection port, a process that makes Jaune give off a disgusted face and Ren shudder and look away with a quickly covered mouth. “What,” Penny questions obliviously, “What’s wrong?”

“Let’s get both those teams up here,” The AI struck a pose and continued, “Riiiiiiight now!”

With that announcement the AI’s face disappeared from the screen, being taken up by one of two teams with their aura bars below their faces. The teams themselves raised up on platforms on opposite sides of the arena from the waiting area below, the crowds chanting for their respective favorites. Once the teams finally were situated on the arena floor the AI’s voice boomed out again.

“Excellent,” Her cheery voice captured the hearts of those in the arena and those watching from home, “Let’s get them introduced! Team CNRI you lovely ladies are up first!”

The team responded to the demanding cheers of the crowds and stepped forward. The leader, Cilo Kitrinos, raised both her arms and cheered back, ushering the crowds to jump up and lose their collective minds, Cilo relished in the energy centered around her team and clenched both her fists in determination. The second member, despite seeming incredibly nervous and shy at first, quickly warmed up due to the efforts of her leader and stood there with a burning fire in her eyes, ready to battle on. The third member stood with a smile, overlooking her team with caring eyes, determined to protect them until the end. The fourth jumped around, more so than the leader even, chanting and waving her arms in a sporadic fashion, getting the crowd shouting even louder than the leader could. Four weapons float in front of them.

“Ah Weiss,” Sun cheerfully waves as Weiss enters the Headmaster’s area with a grim expression, his cheer leaves due to this, “Oh? Is everything alright there Ice Queen?” “Yes,” Weiss nodded, clearing her throat and putting on a smile, “Things are perfectly well, just lost in thought on my way here.” “Hmph,” Adderin stared down to the arena, “Lost in secrets child?” Before Weiss could retort he spoke again, “Focus Sun, we will now see a battle between you and I,” Adderin tapped his cane to the ground as his snake-like eyes flittered from one side of the arena to the other, “You will see the might of Shade academy just as Miss Winter Schnee has.” “Well,” Sun let a smirk grow on his face, “You wanna make a bet?” Adderin eyed Sun’s mischievous smile and mumbled to himself, returning his gaze to the arena below without saying a word.

“Team KABM,” The AI cheered with the crowds, “You’re up next!”

Team KABM took up their place, with the leader, Kalinin Kesvena taking the front. A big smile full of mischief plastered upon her face as she stands with her arms crossed which seemingly gains a few worried glances from her teammates. The second member stands quietly, her eyes slowly surveying the team across from them, her fingers tapping the side of her leg as her mind races through thought after thought. The third member stands, unwavering in the face of her opponents, her hands bravely cemented to her hips as she looks onward, receiving admiring cheers from the crowds as her strength is clearly displayed simply by looking at her. The fourth continues casting nervous glances both to the opposing team and his leader as well, his worrying stature, despite being so tall, expresses his obvious concern at whatever nonsense his leader has planned for the upcoming match. Their weapons are also floating in front of them.

“Did I miss anything,” Blake enters the announcer’s box quietly, giving her colleagues a bit of a jump when she speaks up. “No,” Jaune removes his leg from the desk and allows it to drop to the ground with a thud, “No no, we’re just starting. We’re going live in a few seconds.” “Wonderful,” Blake took her seat between Ren and Penny, straightening her jacket and looking out of the glass with a glossy sadness in her eyes, her voice remained cold and unshaken, “Let’s prepare ourselves shall we?” “Friend Blake,” Penny pipes up to question but shuts it down when Blake’s eyes narrow and glares her down into silence.

“Alright everyone,” The AI’s face reappeared on the screens, a big smile spread on her face, “Let’s kick off the match in three...two...one!”

Both teams kicked off to grab a hold of their respective weapons. With team KABM grabbing hold first, Kalinin nonchalantly walks up to a small bag and grabs it, with a fluid motion she reaches in and tosses out a large handful of multicolored marbles across the battlefield in front of her team, then takes another and begins to toss it up again and again with a smile. The second member, Aichi Seiten steps forward to a relatively large shield and fastens it to her right arm, with a few finger presses to a panel along the bracer of the shield it quickly spins around in an intricate fashion. The third member, Bertha Zuckers steps up while sliding a few rings along her fingers and heaves a heavy looking battering ram, her figure slouched back in order to hold it properly, kneeling down she pushes the front handle forward to reveal a hidden compartment, she quickly places in a large multi-missile holder into the slot and pulls back the front handle, a determined look on her face as she stares down her opponents. Schwalb Messer, the fourth member of KABM nervously fumbled with his weapons, wrapping a multi-knife sheathe around his waist, and as if disregarding his earlier nerves, he pulls out a simple combat knife and gives it a few spins between his fingers, readying himself for the upcoming battle.

Team CNRI grabs their weapons quickly, with Clio Kitrinos slipping on a pair of bronze bracelets, with a clench of her fist the bronze bracelets expand and cover her hands entirely, as well as slightly up her arm to form a pair of gauntlets, a shining ring sparkles on the middle finger of one hand. The second of CNRI, Nyx Mavros jumps forward and grabs a crossbow from the floating set of weapons, taking an arrow from a floating quiver and slots it into place, within seconds she fires it out into the middle of the field, she then takes hold of the quiver and hooks it to the side of one of her thigh-high boots. The third member, Rhea Grasidi grabs hold of a staff, with a simple twist of her wrist, it extends and she smashes it to the ground, after a moment of respite and deep breath she shoots her eyes up to meet those of her opponents. The fourth of CNRI shouts out and cheers, charging for her weapon, a long whip with a heavy core along the grip filled with water, once she grabs hold of it she stops in her tracks and turns to the shout of her leader, reluctantly nods an agreement and stands her ground.

“Don’t worry,” Kalinin grinned, tossing the simple glass marble as she surveys the carpeted area around the front of her team, “Enough of these bad boys and no one can touch us.” “Do not doubt an opponent,” Bertha tightens her grip on her battering ram, the front of which opens up, “That will be what leads to a downfall.” “Let’s just get this over with,” Schwalb’s nervousness seems to have returned, his grip white-knuckled on his knife, “I don’t like how they’ve put down a trap too.” “We move,” Aichi spoke, more so to herself than her team, “Only one ranged weapon, if we use proper technique, we can grasp an advan-” “No time!”

Bertha exclaims in a hurry and quickly fires off a rocket down the line of the arena towards the two CNRI member rushing forward. Both Clio and Nyx easily avoid this as Nyx knocks another arrow into place, and with a simple spine of her weapon the crossbow folds and extends into a spear, the arrowhead shining as the tip of the spear with an icy blue tint. They continue their push forward until they reach the arrow Nyx had previously shot into the ground, with a quick nod to each other Nyx halts and raises her hands, her aura glowing as Clio kicks the arrow out of its place in the ground and continues rushing forward. In an instant, the arena is filled with a blinding light as the arrow explodes, Nyx’s semblance activates and shields her leader and team from the light, seemingly bending it away from their eyes. Clio takes the moment of cover to run around the minefield laid down by Kalinin, avoiding them with a general ease.

“What on Remnant,” Ren questioned, shielding his eyes from the blinding light, “What just happened?” “Hmmm,” Jaune, whose eyes were closed having predicted the move, “Blinds her opponents with a special dust arrow, uses her semblance to manipulate light. Now that’s how you enter a battle. It’s probably already won.” “Ah,” Penny smiled, clasping her hands together as she watched on, entirely unaffected by the blinding blast of light, “What an ingenious plan! Isn’t it friend Bl-...Blake?” Penny looked to the ground to see Blake writhing in agony, covering her eyes as she muffled her screams and curses into a bitten lip. “Ah,” Penny nervously returned to the microphone, “To all the light-sensitive faunus in the arena, please remain calm, your pain will only last for another minute or so depending on species!” Jaune shook his head, how reassuring.

“Great work,” Clio shouted back as Nyx returns to her charge, “Let's get them!” “Hmm,” Nyx nods and charges ensuite, avoiding the minefield as easily as her leader, jumping up to the blinded team KABM with her spear raised.

“Well,” Weiss stood, “Blake is surely going to complain about this tonight.” “Hmph,” Winter smirked, “Surprised you didn’t suffer the same fate, Sun.” “I’ll be honest,” Sun lets out a laugh and lowers his hand from his eyes, “They got me the first few times, but eventually I ended up learning their team like I knew my own!” “Oh,” Weiss’s eyes turned to slits, a mischievous tone in her voice, “How’s Neptune then?” “Oh haha,” Sun rolled his eyes, “Sheesh, what’s with you Schnee’s and your attitudes?” “Oh, what’s that supposed to me-” “Silence,” Adderin cut off the cojoined voices of Winter and Weiss, who settled down away from a terrified Sun, he adds sadly, “It appears you have gained the upper hand Mr. Wukong.” “You know,” Sun smiles and puts a hand on the old man’s shoulder, “You could just call me Sun!” Adderin turned his head to glare at Sun’s hand, after a moment he raised his snake eyes to meet Sun’s, “No.”

Schwalb could only glance up after rubbing his eyes and squinting to see the shadowy figure of Clio in the air in front of him, her fist pointed right at him as her ring began to glow. Schwalb’s face revealed his absolute panic in the final second before an incredible blast of fire shot from the ring, sending both Clio and him back, Clio lands easily on her feet and continues her charge as Schwalb tumbles backward, his aura dropping from the point-blank blast. With a quick and final punch to the collapsed boy’s stomach, crushing him down into the ground, his aura drops to the red as the buzzer sounds.

Meanwhile, Nyx charges her own blinded opponent, Kalinin Kesvena, and smashes her spear down onto her head, flipping over her. Kalinin finally shook the blindness from her eyes and desperately looked for her attacker, only to feel a light tap on her shoulder. Before even being able to turn around Nyx stabs her spear into the earth between Kalinin’s legs, instantly freezing the earth around their feet. Kalinin attempts to turn to strike Nyx but slips and lands chin first on an outstretched knee, her aura drops a slight amount before dropping even more when Nyx smashes the rear of her spear into Kalinin’s back. After collapsing onto the icy ground Kalinin flicks a marble behind Nyx, who chooses to ignore it, Nyx presses her foot against her opponent's shoulder and pushes off, sliding Kalinin right in the middle of her own minefield.

“Sorry,” Nyx pulls a bolt from her quiver and tosses it up into the air, “This was meant for us huh?” “Screw,”  Kalinin shakily stepped up, another marble in hand, and quickly tosses it Nyx’s way, “You!”

Nyx tosses the bolt into the minefield surrounding Kalinin, setting off a chain reaction of various dust explosions, she watches on until the buzzer indicating a participant is out sounds off throughout the arena. The explosions cease and Kalinin is covered in black soot, her clothes ragged as she breathes heavily, a smile spreads on her face as she collapses. Nyx turns to aide her team, and only out the corner of her eye can she see it, the tossed marble slowly rolling towards the one previously tossed, Nyx had no time to react as the marbles touched, setting off an instantaneous explosion that shook the arena floor. When the smoke cleared Nyx slowly collapsed onto the ground, clenching her fists angrily before passing out, the buzzer sounds.

“They got Nyx,” Iris shouts from her position towards the starting point of Team CNRI, “Let’s finish them!” “I’m almost ready,” Rhea stood still, her head resting against her staff, eyes closed, “Let me focus just a bit more.”

Bertha smashed her battering ram against the blocking gauntlets of Clio, who was sent flying back by the force of the attack. Clio flung her hand out and caught hold of a small flying drill that was headed directly her way, Aichi stood off to the side, controlling the flying drill as well as its double, which flew Clio’s way as well. 

“Hurry it up!”

Clio shouted to her teammates as she punched the flying drill out of the sky, turning to watch in horror as Bertha began to charge, her battering ram prepped to smash into her. Seconds before impact, however, Bertha was hit by a heavy stream of water, stopping her immediately and causing her to raise her weapon to block the stream. Further down the arena floor approaches Rhea and Iris, Rhea gripping hold of her staff, a weak cloud above her as she walks, raining heavily, meanwhile Iris is holding an arm out, controlling the water to pool it up and shoot a heavy stream towards her opponents. The pool of stored water is getting larger and larger as they step down the arena. With a smile Iris throws out both her hands before lunging forward, shoving both hands out in front of her as the entirety of the stored pool of water shoots forward, blasting both Bertha and Aichi, the latter of which gets thrown from her feet and smashes into the wall of the arena. Bertha struggles to remain where she stands, her aura glowing as her semblance activates, using her extreme strength to push forward through the waterfall-like current. With a look of determination Rhea grits her teeth and screams out, her aura flashing brightly as she pushes herself past her limits and causes a lightning bolt to shoot from the cloud and directly into the stream of water, electrifying Bertha into submission and sends her flying back into the wall alongside her teammate. The force of her colliding with the arena wall nearly shatters the part she hit, sending cracks throughout the wall. From within the wall, Bertha weakly looks up to the announcer’s box, as if ashamed she did so much damage to the arena. The final buzzer sounds for team KABM.

“Hmm,” Jaune sighed, looking down to Blake, “Hey can you see yet?” “No,” Blake, now sitting on the ground, rubbing her eyes, “But thankfully it doesn’t hurt as much anymore, why did I miss anything?” “Just costly damage to the arena walls!” “Ah,” Ren gives off a nervous laugh, as Jaune just sits there and drags his hands down his face, “Penny...you shouldn’t have...” “HOW MUCH FUNDING DO YOU BRATS THINK WE HAVE?!”

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen,” The AI’s face retakes the screens, “Before Professor Belladonna has a mental breakdown! Let’s call the match! It appears Team CNRI of Haven Academy is victorious!”

The crowd cheers, a sound nearly deafening, the AI struggles to be heard over the excitement, her face showing her irritation at not being paid attention too, “W-Well, it certainly was an amazing match wasn’t it! What an incredible act of teamwork from Haven’s students! I’m sure Headmaster Wukong is proud!”

The AI nods, her hand on her chin with an expression of deep thought, “I bet I bet, yes yes. Now, let’s prep ourselves for the next match! But before that, give one last round of applause for the victors!”

The crowds chant Team CNRI’s name as the team picks up their fallen teammate and gives off flurries of excited thanks. Team KABM pick themselves up, with Bertha irritably taking hold of Kalinin’s hand and dragging her along the arena floor to their plate.

Once both teams have returned to their starting points, the plates begin to sink back into the arena, leading them to the waiting area below.

“Alright,” the AI lets out a sigh, but dramatically turns it around with her usual excitement,  “What a fiery match, I’m almost all tuckered out...BUT! There’s no time to rest! As soon as those repairs are done, we’re kicking right off into the next match!”

[schrodingersfett]

Graveyard Squad Story Facts

As promised, here are some facts to keep you all entertained.

1) Lieutenant Grim was originally named Maze, but while reading the Republic Commando series I realized the name was already taken and I didn’t want there to be confusion.

2) Grim is also a nod to the Brothers Grimm

3) Jedi General Mavro Rothki is named after a famous painter. Bonus points if you know who!

4) Although romantic relationships are not portrayed with the main characters in the story, Rothki is canonically gay.

5) Ghost was the first character I created for the entire story. I always have a character in most of my stories with supernatural abilities or names.

6) Ghost is my favorite member of Graveyard Squad.

7) The 614th battalion is a homage to my hometown.

8) Originally, their armor was going to be red, but I didn’t want people to confuse them with clone shock troopers. The battalion’s deep maroon color is close to black, but still has its red and purple tones.

9) Jonesy was designed to resemble a hockey player. This can be seen through his appearance (hockey ‘flow’ for hair and terrible facial hair), his armor design, and his name. Jonesy also has a mouth to match a hockey player’s ‘chirping’, but he has all his teeth.

10) Slip was almost the medic of the group. It was between him and Ricochet, but after coming up with Ricochet’s backstory, I HAD to make him the medic.

11) Binary was originally supposed to be this cool and collected persona with a sniper and mad hacking skills. He kept the latter, but I didn’t want him to seem to perfect. I made him a younger personality with perfectionist qualities. In other words, he is a total sweetheart.

12) The order the squad joined is as follows:

                                   Xander

                                   Ghost (joined Xander on day one)

                                   Jonesy

                                   Slip

                                   Binary (a month and a half before Ricochet)

                                   Ricochet (two days after the Battle of Kamino)

13) There originally was going to be a clone trooper named Sonny with a bubbly personality, but I saw that someone already had an OC clone with that name. The same goes for the name Crash.

14) Xander is portrayed as a fatherly presence. This will be a major theme in part three.

15) Ghost can talk, he just chooses not to.

16) Slip was the last clone I created for the squad. I had no idea what I was going to do with his appearance or personality. I just knew I needed six clone troopers. I came up with a tamed version of a mohawk and built Slip’s personality around it.

17) I am a person that loves names with meanings...same goes with titles....

This concludes my fun facts about the story! If you guys have any other questions PLEASE shoot me an ask and I’d love to answer!

[mavrosaerosrae]

Mavros’ weird headcanon

What they smell like: Dog, leathers, oils for the upkeep of weapons and leather; the basic musk of an outdoors-man.

How they sleep (sleeping position, schedule, etc): He is a light sleeper but manages to rest well when necessary. And, always on his back with an arm tucked behind his neck or hands interlocked over his abdomen.

What music they enjoy: Anything Polly West sings.

How much time they spend getting ready every morning: He’s efficient. He only takes the time needed to wash off the grit and grime and put on his full hunting gear.

Their favorite thing to collect: Beasts of all kinds. Mostly of the canine variety. He doesn’t really collect them, he really just bonds and manages a mutual respect that keeps them around. He does, however, breed hunting and working dogs.

Left or right-handed: He prefers his left but he can use both effectively.

Religion (if any): None. He is a non-believer

Favorite sport: He doesn’t do anything for sport. Not even hunt.

Favorite touristy thing to do when traveling (museums, local food, sightseeing, etc): He enjoys the outdoors so he takes in all the sights and natural surroundings as he passes through.

Favorite kind of weather: He is oddly acclimated to winter but he doesn’t have a favorite.

A weird/obscure fear they have: None

The carnival/arcade game they always win without fail: Sadly, he doesn’t participate in carnival games. But he’d probably be good at anything that was akin to archery.

[vacationsoup]

New Post has been published on https://vacationsoup.com/what-is-commandaria/

What is Commandaria?

What is Commandaria?

First-time visitors to Cyprus will eventually be introduced to Commandaria. So what is it?

Commandaria is an amber-coloured, sweet, dessert wine exclusively made in the Commandaria region on the foothills of the Troodos mountains.

Using sun-dried Xynisteri and Mavro grapes the wine-making process takes the grapes and from the 'must' achieves an initial wine strength of around 15%. The wine is then aged for four years in oak barrels. The resulting wine may then be fortified, lifting the strength even higher. Fortification may be achieved in a variety of ways. One route is with the addition of 70 - 95% pure grape distillate, raising the alcoholic content to the permitted maximum of 20%. Commandaria production is highly regulated and controlled. The history of the product provides some clues to the significance of the brew.

During the Crusades, Commandaria was served at the 12th-century wedding of King Richard the Lionheart to Berengaria of Navarre.

Richard pronounced Commandaria "the wine of kings and the king of wines".

Near the end of the 12th century, Richard sold the island of Cyprus to the Knights Templar, they, in turn, sold it on to Guy de Lusignan. The Knights Templar chose to retain a large feudal estate at Kollosi near Limassol, referred to as "La Grande Commanderia" from which they brewed and exported large quantities of wine to European courts. Using the name of the region, Commandaria has the distinction of being the world's oldest named wine still in production. As befits its heritage, Commandaria holds a protected designation of origin (PDO). The whole business from location, to planting, to harvesting, is highly regulated - some might see this as being quite novel for Cyprus.

If you plan on going Commandaria hunting you should head for the Southern slopes of Troodos. Specifically the villages of Agios Georgios, Agios Konstantinos, Agios Mamas, Agios Pavlos, Apsiou, Gerasa, Doros, Zoopigi, Kalo Chorio, Kapillom Laneia, Lovaras, Monagri and Sillikou which collectively form the Commandaria region. These fourteen villages are found at an altitude of between 500 and 900 metres. The vines share the landscape with thick, wild-growing bushes battling for survival on one of two soil types, volcanic sandy soils or limestone. This terroir coupled with limited rainfall makes for tough, dry, growing conditions in which no irrigation is permitted. That the vines survive and deliver is a testament to their durability. These qualities feed through into the final product. That amber colour and delicate aroma exemplify what can be achieved when addressing the challenge of obtaining a quality finished product.

All that remains is to try your first. St John Commandaria, the offering from Keo (the major producer of alcoholic beverages on Cyprus) is readily available. Producers to look out for include - Tsiakkas, one of the leading independent family firms. Then there are versions from St Nicholas, Alasia and Ambelis to name but a few. Enjoy the journey!

[cavane]

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[malkalaila]

Pieces from Kate’s personal jewelry collection | 133/?

Jewels: Ocean Tides Milky Quartz Earrings with 18ct Gold in Silver by Patrick Mavros