#musings [lore and ideas]

[protect-namine]

the thing about venti is that he doesn't embody freedom so much as he nurtures it. venti is who he is today because the people taught him to love and he returned that tenfold. the people were the first to teach him autonomy and freedom, and his response is to protect that ideal

I just really love mondstadt's relationship with their "absentee" archon a lot. there's something almost poetic about how just by being themselves, they sort of "created" their own god. a wind wisp became their archon by observing and living with them (ofc I'm oversimplifying it)

as described in freedom sworn, it's the anemo archon who actually takes on his region's characteristics, not the other way around. it is not that mondstadt is the nation of freedom because of venti, but that venti is the god of freedom because of mondstadt. and now you have that same archon asking what I will argue is actually the best quote of genshin, "what is freedom when demanded of you by a god?"

[apollos-boyfriend]

nobody on origins actually cared about origins lmao

do sneegsnag, captainsparklez, philza, scott smajor, shubble, and countless other ccs mean nothing to you.

[gaysparkler]

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here

Title from Andrew Marvell's "The Garden" Read on AO3 Spoilers for the choice directly following "A Warden's Best Friend" under the cut!

Rook was pacing. Emmrich could hear them go from room to room withing the Lighthouse – and no doubt in the courtyard, though there was no way he could be certain. There had been an air of disquiet around them, and that, Emmrich could say with certainty, was due to the number of difficult decisions they had been forced to make. As a Watcher, Emmrich knew how sheltering the Grand Necropolis could be. The “choice” boiled down to which classes to take, which role to ascend to, which tasks to do for the day, what to eat for each meal.

Not which city should be saved, and which should burn. Not thrusted with the fate of the world in their hands.

Emmrich wondered if he could even handle it half as well as Rook had, though part of him wondered how much was hidden away from them all. From him, despite his and Rook’s not-so surprising closeness.

Perhaps, then, it was not surprising to see Rook push past the doors to the laboratory, their dark circles remarkably worse than usual. The door closing behind them was heavy and loud in the previous quiet of his reading. They stood in the middle of the laboratory and fidgeted with their glove in silence, mouth twisted in a frown. The sound of Emmrich’s book closing seemed to make Rook remember why they were here.

“Could I help you with anything, Emmrich?” They spoke again before Emmrich could answer. “Please, I just—I need…something normal. Something real.”

In the dim light of the room, Emmrich could see tears pearling in Rook’s eyes. He carefully set his book aside before standing and gently approaching them, as if the wrong move would send them running.

“It’s not much,” he said as he extended a tentative hand towards Rook, “but there are some bones that could use some sorting.”

Rook let go of their glove to grasp Emmrich’s hand, and nodded. A tear slipped. Emmrich watched it slide down their cheek, leaving a trail of kohl in its wake. Before he could think, he raised his other hand to Rook’s face and caught the tear with his thumb.

“I—” he stammered, “please forgive me—”

But Rook only closed their eyes and leaned into his touch, wisps of jet-black hair falling across their features, weightlessly. Emmrich heard them take a slow breath in, and out.

“I can handle some sorting,” they finally said, keeping their eyes closed. “I wouldn’t be worth much as a Watcher if I couldn’t.”

“Now, now. None of that.” He tapped Rook’s cheekbone with his thumb before slowly sliding his hand away from their face so he could fetch the adorned box containing the unidentified bones he had brought with him from the Necropolis. He carefully placed it on his examination table, and gently tipped it over so the bones would spill, without rolling too far, on the marble. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rook worrying at their bottom lip. The weight of the world, on such delicate shoulders…

“Right,” he said, cheerfully. “We’re all set!”

Manfred, on the second floor, gave an excited hiss. And that was what Rook needed to crack the smallest of smiles. They made their way to the table, on Emmrich’s opposite side, and the moment they started their work, the tension in their face and body disappeared. Something normal, usual. Something that did not generate an impossible amount of doubt, guilt, and hypothetical similes.

“Thank you,” Rook whispered without looking at him, their voice rough with tears.

“You are most welcome, my dear,” he replied as he watched their fingers deftly and carefully handling each individual bone, and already beginning to separate them in neat categories. In that moment, Emmrich wished he could have seen Rook fully in their environment, in the Necropolis. To see them fully immersed in their work, how their necromantic talents manifested outside of combat, know them as they are—pressures of apocalypse removed. But would that truly be the person in front of him now?

Emmrich finally reached forward, his fingers brushing against Rook’s, and joined them in their meticulous sorting.

-

Their work finished and laid out in precise reconstructions (partial, in some cases) on Emmrich’s slab before them, Rook finally looked up at him, and to his heartbreak, fear remained in their eyes. Emmrich laid his hand on one of few cleared areas of the table, his palm up and inviting.

“Rook?” he softly called. Their hand found his.

“Pénthos,” they said almost in a whisper. “My name.”

An old Nevarran word, before the trade tongue was favoured.

Mourning.

Their dark eyes, sunken in purple deep as bruises, said everything he needed to know.

Do not let this be forgotten. I beg you.

“Pénthos,” Emmrich repeated, inclining his head towards them. “You look tired. You should sleep.”

They scoffed. “Everyone’s been telling me that.”

“Then that should provide you with enough evidence to lend it credibility.”

“I know that,” Rook—Pénthos sighed, “I know…that I should sleep. I just—I can’t.”

And just like that, the tension that Emmrich worked (not so) hard to dispel returned to their body. Pénthos began fidgeting with their gloves again and picking at their lip—and it broke his heart. He wished so dearly there was something, anything he could do to help once more and then—

Manfred appeared behind them, holding a tray of freshly brewed tea.

“Well,” Emmrich said, “may I invite you to stay for tea?”

Pénthos smiled again, the brightest thing he had seen all day (save maybe for Manfred’s jewelled eyes, but he would tell neither—not yet, anyway) and replied, “I would love to.”

“I have heard that resting with good company can almost be as beneficial as a night’s sleep.”

Pénthos chuckled. “Did you, now?”

“I have, of course, my sources!” Emmrich pointed to a specific section of the many bookshelves lining the walls, somewhere on the second floor. Pénthos’ smile turned into a full laugh, and the lines of tension slipped away, even if just for a moment.

[legionofpotatoes]

everyone hates crunch and everyone wants the new dragon age to have 4x the scope with 8x the quantum content

[hedgehogoftime]

Stock Factory Model Fantasy Elves: Nature loving twinks that are basically humans that live a long time with pointy ears. Usually snobbishly racist.

Tolkien Elves: Tall and fair, but terrible in their beauty. Their eyes shine with a fae light at once maddening and enrapturing. Ageless, with all the good and bad that entails, and forever tethered to this world. They are eternal, but they can only be what they are. Their wisdom comes from centuries of war and suffering. And yet, for all their strangeness, their is a gentleness and a compassion to them, that only comes from knowing what suffering truly means.

[themosthatedbeingg]

Lore /idea drop•

Since Sinmas IS different then Christmas and I have a feeling that most of Hell doesn’t actually celebrate Christmas in the Christianity sense maybe not even in the commercial sense what if Hell has its own Winter gift giving holiday !

Winter Wraith , a time during the cold months we’re you band together to share resources and warmth and be together , and being together and being strong together keeps the ice wraiths away… and over time it got commercialized and now it’s mainly about what’s the best gift you “share, /give “ to someone … how many ppl can you have at your place , how popular are you? How much do you love your kids by giving them their fav Toys .

{edit } This is celebrated on the solstice during the longest winter day and the coldest night.

Wraith Eve / Wraith Day .

[drowxiv]

I probably should've mentioned I'm on vacation right now so I'm sorry for no gposes to entertain with! I didn't have a chance to build up a queue.

But I'm back with more 4am over sharing.

I have a headcanon that Drow "mark" the weaker partner during intercourse as a way of broadcasting "this one's mine."

Except it's not some paranormal or magical mark that indicates or forms a bond between them or anything. No. It's just regular ass hickeys that they take super seriously.

So it's essentially the fantasy equivalent of "You got carried away and now everyone knows. Good luck finding concealer in slate grey."

[iniziare]

Reminder to self when I've done some more writing: Remind people that I'm canon-strict, what that means, and how I guess it means that I'm reclaiming yet another term that has been rendered as being something akin to negative by the masses. Better known as, a... 'lore purist'. Hi, yes, that's me! Hi, hello, my name is Sae, how do you do?

[fenkko]

cant believe i reached 30 tags in prev post rambling about homestuck i didnt even know there was a limit

[gu6chan]

Cursed obscure Drakengard factoids i need to share so im not the only one suffering over them + sources so you know I'm not insane

Seere and Manah aren't human, the "Rock-wielder" people they come from, while they LOOK human, are their own separate species (This is from the Materials, I believe?? I'll have to check on this one again my memory is blurry)

Gismor's name isn't actually Gismor (World Inside)

Legna in Angelegna isn't the guy, but the puppet (Memory of Blood)

[vixlenxe]

I fell in love With a pair of Ocean Eyes, That promised me Endless Seas And Adventurers Unseen.

[oficeandwind]

sorry for being so quiet today. i'm getting sucked back into ff.xiv

[apollos-boyfriend]

I hate matpat because he admitted to not playing the games he makes theories on. like?? that’s his job and he can’t even do it right??? he lacks reading comprehension skills, like I swear he does

oh you don't have to swear, he does. fully. i'm not into hollow knight personally, but last time a post of mine critiquing his theories blew up, i got a lot of notes saying that his hollow theory (or at least one of them? idk if he's done more) is wildly despised within the community because it's apparently debunked in like. literally the first cutscene or something.

i've said this before, but it's kind of a weird line between "he does not have media comprehension skills" and "he DOES realize these things, he just doesn't give a shit and will say anything to make his theory make sense". for example, something i do know well: fnaf. in his like, "final timeline" or whatever the fuck, he creates an entire narrative about elizabeth and the funtimes being LATE in the timeline, taking place after the crying child's death. however, in that very video, he points out the OVERWHELMING amount of evidence that the crying child witnessed elizabeth's death, from the nightmares having stomachs on their mouths (elizabeth was scooped through baby's stomach) to the fact that the game constantly tells the crying child to "remember what he saw" or something loosely along those lines. he is AWARE of the fact that these things exist within the text, however, he has this fucking superiority complex that it doesn't matter, because HIS theory is CLEARLY right, these very important lore texts must've just been bullshit.

[lorelune]

I loved your calibrator reader fic so much. Legitimately made me tear up more than once i felt the emotions so strongly. But also one sided beef with dan heng is funny. My brain is so geared for polyship though that i'm like "nnooo shh don't be mad at him, meet him and kiss them both" (not trying to push you in that direction to clarify! That's just where my brain goes)

AH thank you 🥺 honestly i am honored producing tears is the highest praise!! thank YOU for reading and enjoying!! 🩷

the one-sided beef is VERY funny. calibrator is so deeply ... damaged and insecure at this point meanwhile dan heng is healing his relationship with the xianzhou (and jing yuan). i do LOVE a polyship and would love to kiss both jing yuan and dan heng on the mouth but tragically cicatrix is not the piece for the poly jingheng musing (cat biting cord emote)

HOWEVER. i am cooking a scene where there will be some Explicit Flirting by feixiao to beloved calibrator :3c

[crabsnpersimmons]

me: whew! all done with that drawing. now i can go back to writing tha--

art muse: I HAVE A FUNNY IDEA TO DRAW

me: WHAT WE'VE BEEN DRAWING ALL DAY LET WRITING MUSE HAVE A TURN

writing muse: (goes back to sleep until they need to be awoken to write an email or something)

me: well... fine. are we at least going to draw the other thing we said we're going to draw a month ago?

art muse: NO, DRAW THIS INSTEAD

[red-dragon-archfiend]

I think the problem with internet horror is sometimes you get a good idea like Slenderman or the Backrooms and it catches on too much and suddenly there's all this extra lore and fan content and it kind of ruins the mystique of the whole thing because now not only do we know too much about it but there's all these separate canons and fandom things and it doesn't feel like an immersive horror experience anymore