#nomad armor set

[swtorpadawan]

Character Creation Addiction - Part #97 - Tanasin Nuiv

I don’t know anything about his background.

Send ideas to my inbox.

[batmanfruitloops]

Yippee, medieval fantasy! I put so much unnecessary thought into the lore of the setting but I love it so.

Jonathan is a half-human half-fae, though no one can tell what he is when he dons his Scarecrow attire. A scarecrow brought to life by a witch? The ghost of a vengeful knight? A lich? Death itself? One thing is for certain, no one wants to cross paths with him.

He lives a mostly nomadic lifestyle, finding and collecting things that he can use to enhance his magic. He has enchanted the bones he decorates himself with as makeshift lightweight armor and protection against other magical attacks. As a bonus, it gives him an undead appearance. His fear toxin is a completely unique form of magic he made himself, because of this it is incredibly hard to counter.

Jonathan grew up with his human grandmother who treated him horribly for being a halfling. He was forbidden from using magic and grew up isolated. After she killed his beloved horse, Ashpuddle, that was the final straw. No longer having to worry about his grandmother he learns magic on his own and reanimates his precious friend. After that, he is determined to become proficient in magic and becomes obsessed with fear. Having been raised isolated from humans, he doesn't understand them and finds them to be horrible (as most magical creatures do) but interesting. He enjoys studying their fear.

I don't really like what I did with Ed's colors, so um... ignore them.

I usually see Riddler depicted as a fae in fantasy settings, but our Ed is not a pretty boy Riddler but instead some kind of little animal. So he is a dragon. Some dragons tell riddles, they kidnap people, and are typically depicted as highly intelligent.

His father gave him to his human grandmother as an egg, and she raised him for the first few years of his life until his father decided to take him back and raise him as a proper dragon. Though he has no intention of actually teaching Ed instead using him as a punching bag to ridicule and project his own insecurities about being raised by a human himself and being mostly outcasted from dragon society. Dragons have a bitter rivalry with humans and it's incredibly taboo to be associated with them in any way.

As an adult, he is left to fend for himself and is hardly prepared to live as a normal dragon. He decides to become the Riddler trying to prove himself to the people of Gotham so he can assimilate into human society and go back to living a normal life with his grandmother. His idea of proving himself doesn't exactly help him and instead makes him a lot of enemies. Dragons are seen as incredibly valuable, dragon parts are used for powerful magic and medicine. He'd fetch a pretty penny and many people he goes after plan to butcher and sell him. He's essentially trying to be the knight that saves the day, but alas he is a dragon.

-Fluffy

[nevadancitizen]

-> ATOM BOMB BABY!

synopsis: you're a nomadic survivor in a post-apocalyptic wasteland until you get transported to a strange, new world. these demons were obviously expecting a human that was softer, less spikes-and-thorns and more fluff-and-wool. how will they react and adapt?

word count: 3.3k (~530 each)

characters: lucifer, mammon, leviathan, satan, asmodeus, beelzebub, belphegor, post-apocalyptic! reader

trigger warnings: canon-typical violence, it's implied that the reader has killed before and will kill again lol

notes: new vegas and obey me! have been kicking me in the head repeatedly recently. so there are some allusions/references to new vegas in this one but you don't need to know jack about new vegas to understand this :) also mammon's is longer than everyone else's and he's pining hard for mc because i'm soooo in love with him it's not even funny and IGNORE that there's a lot of holes you could poke in this.. okay? okay <3

It had been a… a miscalculation, really. An embarrassing one. Diavolo had accounted for many things to ensure the success of the Exchange Program, but he failed to account for the most important thing: the fact that, at the end of the day, humans are better at killing than any other living thing. 

Was it wrong for him to assume that things had been the same way they were two hundred years ago? Yes, of course. It was stupid not to check in on the human world, because if he had, he’d find that it was razed by nuclear bombs, the land and water still tainted with the fallout.

So, no, neither he nor the brothers know what to do when you quite literally fall out of the portal. They’re shocked when, instead of being confused and scared and fragile, you’re vile, scarred, spitting threats as if they came naturally. Wait – are you wearing riot armor? And – yeah, that’s a gun. Definitely a gun. A gun you’re currently pointing at them.

-> LUCIFER 

Honestly, this is the last thing Lucifer needed: another fucking headache. He supports Diavolo with all that he is, but he can’t ignore the fact that he’s sometimes so careless that shit like this happens. He’s the one who talks some sense into you and gets you to holster your weapon, as he’s the only one with a level head in the room. (Well, Diavolo would be the other, but he’s… weirdly excited that this human is challenging and has so many thorns you’d think they were born in a briar bush!)

He’ll try his best to accommodate you, even if that means teaching you that yes, you have to shower at least once every two days if you’re to continue living in the House of Lamentation. And no, you cannot hoard food and water in your room. He knows it’s instinct for you at this point, but it causes problems with Beel. 

He basically takes over teaching you how to be a regular, functioning member of polite society, kinda like how he did with Satan. (Really, he thought he’d never see the day where the Devildom was considered part of polite society, but after seeing snippets of the human world through you, he knows that this place is way better than the human world.) He teaches you how to use proper cutlery, how modern plumbing and refrigeration works, and how to solve your problems with words rather than bullets. 

Lucifer is also… oddly patient when it comes to you. As much as he hates to admit it, he sees part of himself in you – the part that had just been cast out of the Celestial Realm, the part that took months to adjust to the world of the Devildom. He knows what it’s like to be subjected to new and confusing ideals – but instead of just a completely different way of life, you’re introduced to the same on top of an legit, organized education system that you’ve never encountered before.

And if that trigger finger of yours ever gets itchy, he’ll take you to go hunting. He’s inexperienced when it comes to hunting with guns instead of claws, but this is the only time he’ll set his pride aside, sit back, and learn. What better hunter to learn from than someone who’s hunted everything, from mutated creatures to fellow man?

If you ever take him to the human world, prepare for him to be silent and observant. He’ll be that way for a while, just looking over the rolling hills and plains that were once green, killed and turned brown by radiation. Then, slowly, softly, unsure if he’s speaking to himself, you, or his Father: “What a splendid world you ruined…”

-> MAMMON

When Mammon comes into the Student Council Room (because he was running late, as per usual) to find you, gun holstered but hackles still raised, his first instinct is to get the fuck out. He’s been in situations like these before, and he knows when to bounce.

But, of course, he’s still assigned as your guardian even though you clearly don’t need one. He thinks that your guns and knives are enough to deter any demon, honest! (Even though that doesn’t deter him from trying to pick your pocket. What really deters him is when you catch his wrist and hit him with the most threatening glare he’s ever seen on a human. Jeez, you honestly look like you’re about to clean his clock…!)

But still, since the Great Mammon was assigned as your guard, he’ll stick around. He doesn’t really mind, because you’re kinda cool anyways – not that he’ll ever say it to your face. But really, with the kinda armor that you’re wearing, plus the grime of the wasteland that doesn’t go away no matter how many times you wash… you’ve got a unique style, and that’s all he has to say, okay? If you really want, he guesses he can hook you up with a modeling gig – but only if you’re with him! Uh – only because he wants to make himself look better in comparison, y’know?

Yeah, even with someone from the wasteland, he’s still absolutely head over heels in puppy love. He’ll show you stuff he got from the Old World (as in, the pre-war human world) because, as much as he denies and deflects, he wants you to have some sense of normalcy. A place that isn’t filled with raiders and ghouls and slavers and someone trying to kill you at every other turn. He’s nice like that.

But he still really wants to know what the New World is like! You can’t get those Old World Blues if he’s just as enthusiastic about New World Hope, right? He asks about your weapons (and takes the spent bullet casings from your guns because they’re shiny), your occupation, your lifestyle – everything, honestly. He wants to know about your family – assuming they’re still alive – and your friends – again, assuming the same. He’s eager to know as much as you’re willing to share, even the more gruesome things you’ve seen or experienced.

He also wants to know about what… ahem, what affection is like. Surely you can’t trust easily when people are willing to kill one another over a sack of rotten vegetables, right? So he’ll be gracious and allow you to playfight and get rough with him, since that’s your weird human way of showing affection! What do you mean that’s not – that’s not how humans show affection now? Humans show affection in the New World the same way they did in the Old World? Well, he just assumed because you hadn’t been showering the Great Mammon in praises and loving touches and – ugh! Just drop it, okay?

Yes, he assumes a lot, mostly based on the apocalypse movies he’s seen. Unless you actually have a sit-down with him and talk about what life is really like in the wasteland, he’ll ride on these weird assumptions. Assumptions like the existence of radiation-riddled zombies, super-mutants and their variants, and other beings that would otherwise be labeled as supranatural if not for the complex and long-winded explanations Mammon comes up with.

If you ever take him to the human world, he’d be delighted to see what remains of Las Vegas – or is it called New Vegas now? Who cares! He’s all-too-excited to bust out whatever human world money he has and get those dice rolling! Sure, he knows that the deck is stacked and the dice are weighted and the games are rigged in every possible way, but it’s about having fun with his human, right? (That’s what he says until he’s forced to fold and cash out. Then it’s “no fun anyway,” and “a waste of time,” and he’s itching to check out the nearby towns and settlements. For something to steal? Hell, probably.)

-> LEVIATHAN

The first thought that crossed Levi’s mind is that you’re obviously cosplaying the main character from It’s a Federal Offense to Mess with the Mail, Man!: Tales of Gunslinging Wastelander Couriers Solving Convoluted Demon Family Drama’s way less popular spinoff, I was Doing Fine Scraping by as a Nomadic Wastelander, but Then I was Transported to Some Strange, New World with Seven Demonic Suitors who are Fighting Over Me as we Speak! Though, if that were the case, where was your convention badge? And that armor doesn’t look fake. It doesn’t really click until he hears the very real sound of you cocking your gun that you’re not playing pretend, nor are you fucking around in any capacity.

He so desperately wants to cement the fact in his mind that you’re a normie, you like doing normie things like cleaning your guns and knives and talking about the politics of the wasteland, which actually reminds him of this game he’s playing and you’d totally love it and –! Oh no. It’s true. You’re cool. Like, really cool. Like, not-a-normie-at-all cool!

Even though you’re not an otaku (and depending on where you’re from and your education, you might’ve never even heard of Japan), Levi will slowly come out of his shell and try to ask you questions about the wasteland. Like Mammon, he has a lot of assumptions based on the games he plays, but they would actually be more accurate. Instead of supranatural things, he thinks about the logistics of the world at large – blame the RPGs he plays. 

But, this leads to him thinking he knows all there is to know about your life and how you live it. Depending on your temper, it may lead you to snap at him, telling him that your life isn’t a video game. This isn’t Grognak & the Ruby Ruins. The wasteland is grueling and cruel and unforgiving. You have seen starvation, debauchery, reignited fascism and misled democracy. You have seen people be crucified for not agreeing with the slavers putting them up on the cross. What you’ve lived through isn’t fun. It’s not a fucking game. You can’t respawn if someone gets a lucky hit. You die. And that’s it.

And of course it causes a blow to his ego, reinforcing the idea that he’s just a “yucky otaku” or some shit like that. You have to reassure him that you have nothing against him personally, it’s just that he was being kinda patronizing and acting as if he’d lived in the wasteland all his life instead of you. After some time alone to sulk, he eventually comes back around and realizes that you’re right, and that you’re really cool, and he wants to be friends with you, so after that brief period he apologizes. 

Good luck trying to drag him to the human world! Levi’s a shut-in, and much prefers experiencing the wasteland through video games than real life. Though if you’re bound and determined, call him up on whatever the equivalent of facetime is on your DDD and talk him through what you’re doing while in the human world, even if you’re just walking along an abandoned highway. He really appreciates your effort and might even work up the confidence to travel the wasteland with you, but sticks to walking the desolate wastes as opposed to going into towns and… ugh, socializing.

-> SATAN

Satan immediately wants to laugh in Lucifer’s face because he fucked up so immensely. Seriously, how could you not know a nuclear war happened? (This is ignoring the fact that he didn’t know, either. He just thought that humans haven’t put out anything worth reading in a little while. He’s a demon, so two hundred years is… not a significant amount of time for him.) 

He’s a hardcore nerd, so he wants to pick your brain about the politics, the logistics – everything about the wasteland. He’s kinda insensitive about it in the beginning, but will eventually turn and not treat the deaths of people close to you like a plot point in a book. He’s unashamed about it, too, and will ask you as soon as the question pops into his mind, lest he forgets it. This leads to weird topics of conversation over dinner, all spurred on by his question of “How many people would you say an average person has killed? Assuming they’re competent enough to kill, of course.”

Your weapons are another point of interest for him. Obviously big gun manufacturers aren’t around anymore, so where do you get your guns? Are there modifications on them? Are the mods homemade, or do you get them from a designated seller? Does the seller need a license, or is it a free-for-all? If it’s a free-for-all, how do you know the quality of the mods they’re selling? And other exhaustive lists of questions that leave you wishing that Mammon would just burst through the door with another stupid money-making scheme on the tip of his tongue. 

He knows how overwhelming school can be, and organized education in the wasteland is sparse to none, so he takes up the title of being your tutor. You’re obviously frustrated with this new thing you don’t have a choice but to partake in, and Satan can sympathize. You’ve never even studied in your life, so he tries his best with trying out different studying techniques to help you form healthy habits that promote a healthy school-life balance. 

If you ever take him to the human world, he’ll be elated. Not because of your trust in him to bring him to the wasteland, but because he can actually do a case study on humans! Not on anything in particular, he’s just curious. He takes soil and water samples to test the levels of residual radiation, talks with locals – both in small settlements and more populated areas – about their life experiences, their political opinions, their religious beliefs… basically everything under the sun, really. He comes back with a new appreciation for humans and a few books that have been published in the New World by doctors and the like. 

-> ASMODEUS 

Ew… what sewer did you crawl out of? Asmo respects people’s kinks and lifestyles and knows that someone’s yuck is someone else’s yum, but he holds the firm belief that it shouldn’t impact other people. And that blood on your boots and the… whatever that’s on your armor is seriously grossing him out. (Though the drop knife strap that’s hugging your thigh is really doing something for him. But that doesn’t make up for the fact you haven’t bathed in a week.)

At first, he distances himself a little because you distance yourself. You don’t want to be judged for something that’s considered normal in the human world. Purified water is a precious commodity, and people don’t want to waste it showering when they could be drinking it. A dip in the river – yes, the ones with the sediment and the radiation and the mutated fish – suffices for most.

Though after a while, he decides that it’s high time he’s bonded with the human that’s living under the same roof as him. Maybe you just need a makeover, then you’ll unleash your full potential as a scarred, gunslinging wastelander hottie? Some demons are into that.

So, with little to no warning, he decided it’s time for a shopping spree. Even though you’re uncomfortable wearing the “high fashion” that’s at Majolish (because it provides literally no protection, armor-wise), he’s able to compromise by getting you some loungewear that you won’t be going out in anyway. While you’re out with him, he drags you to a shop that sells soaps, perfumes, and the like. You’re obviously not used to things that smell good and it’s obviously overstimulating, so Asmo just picks some of his favorites and gets you out before you have a scent-induced breakdown.

Once you’re back at the House of Lamentation, he drops all the shopping bags in your room and drags you to his – it’s time for a makeover, because you’re in dire need of one! He gives you a nice manicure (and adds some nail polish if you’re okay with that) and breaks out the “Doctor Asmo” title to diagnose what kind of skin routine would work for you. If you take issue with the scars you’ve accumulated throughout your life in the wastes, he tries many gels and creams to heal the tissue and reduce the starkness of the scars (even if he thinks that it’s kinda futile because the scars have existed for so long or have been exposed to the sun too much). 

Honestly, Asmo cringes at the thought of going to the human world after having you describe it to him. Even the slightest dosage of radiation that’s above the regular background levels can be really detrimental to your skin, and he doesn’t want to risk radiation poisoning – even at a minor level! Raiders can’t be stopped by his beauty alone, and he doesn’t want to chip his acrylics while handling a gun. Instead, he’ll get the human world in little doses through you. 

-> BEELZEBUB

Not to sound rude, but when you first arrived, you smelled far too rank for Beel to eat. Yeah, he’s eaten inedible things before, but he knows when to suppress his hunger because eating something rancid will hurt more than it’ll help. But don’t worry, after you freshen up and bum some clothes off Mammon (because you didn’t bring any other outfit – obviously), Beel’s appetite is back! Good for you…?

He’s actually really excited to sample some New World food when it’s your turn to cook dinner. Even if you tell him it’s nothing to write home about, he’ll eagerly wait at the kitchen island, not-so-subtly sneaking tastes here and there while you cook. He’s not deterred by the weirder-sounding and even-weirder-looking foods like squirrel stew and coyote steak. If anything, that just makes him more excited!

If Mammon’s not attached to your hip while you’re walking the halls of RAD (and surely yapping your ear off all the while), Beel’s there. He mostly sticks around to see what snacks you can conjure up from things he never thought of eating before, like when you plucked a bug out of the air that was flying around the courtyard and snapped its head off before eating it. He stared at you for a second, just enough for you to start to fluster and get defensive, before doing the same. Protein is protein, after all. 

He also wants to introduce you to fangol! From what you’ve shared, he’s deduced that sports aren’t really a thing in the wasteland – you can’t waste your energy playing when you need it for your continued survival. But you’ve got a lot of energy from being cooped up in the House of Lamentation, so he can help you in a way that benefits both you and Beel: you get rid of your excess energy, and he gets to practice. Practice with someone who’s very inexperienced, yes, but still – it’s practice!

And if you ever itch to get a hint of your old wanderer lifestyle back, he’s all-too-happy to take you on a hike or to go camping with you. Even if it’s purely on a whim with no preparation whatsoever, he’ll grab whatever he can carry from the fridge, stuff it in a backpack, and, after sending a text to Lucifer detailing where you and he are heading, be ready at the front door, all within ten minutes. The food he brought won’t be enough, surely, but he can strip the leaves off a tree like an elephant if needed. 

If you ever take him to the human world, make sure to pack ample food for him because, if pushed, he will strip the nearby towns and settlements of their food supply that was meant to last the next three months. Yes, he’ll pay them for the food, but still – it’s a shock for the wastelanders to see this towering figure push a bunch of money in their hands without even counting it and rattling off what he wants like he’s ordering at a restaurant. 

-> BELPHEGOR

He’s in the attic and a wastelander like you has enough common sense to not trust him. Good ending he stays locked in the attic forever lol goodbye twat

[nanshe-of-nina]

Women’s History Meme || Kick-ass Women (6/10) ↬ Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae (d. c. 520s BCE)

The nomadic Saka-Scythian groups of Central Asia were less familiar with wine, as we can gather from accounts about Queen Tomyris told by Herodotus, Strabo, and Justin. In the sixth century BC, King Cyrus of Persia invaded the land of the Massagetae, a confederation of Saka-Scythian nomads east of the Caspian Sea. Warlike horse people, like their neighbors the Issedonians, the Massagetae were distinguished by gender equality and the sexual freedom of their women. They sacrificed horses to the Sun. Armored in helmets and wide war belts of brass and gold, they fought with bows, lances, and battle-axes. The ruler of the Massagetae at this time was a powerful woman named Tomyris. Like other Scythian tribes, the Massagetae were milk drinkers unused to wine. This fact was exploited by Cyrus. Retreating aſter losing a battle with Tomyris (ca. 530 BC), he resorted to treachery. According to Herodotus’s account, he set out a fancy banquet with large quantities of wine under his Persian tents and withdrew. The pursuing nomads, led by Tomyris’ son, came upon the abandoned feast. They drank the wine and fell into a stupor. The Persians came back and slaughtered the Massagetae; they captured Tomyris’ son, who killed himself as soon as he regained his senses. Enraged, Tomyris sent a message castigating Cyrus. “Glutton for blood! Your weapon was red wine, which you Persians drink until you are so crazy that shameful words float on the liquor’s fumes. This was the poison you used to destroy my army and my son. Leave my land now, or I swear by the Sun I will give you more blood than you can drink.” The mayhem was horrendous in the next battle. Tomyris’ army destroyed the Persians and Cyrus was killed. According to the legend, Tomyris found the king’s corpse, hacked off his head, and plunged it into a wine jug filled with blood drained from Cyrus’ men, crying, “Drink your fill of blood!” — The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor

[soylent-crocodile]

Faller (Monster)

(ISOPOD by Anastasia Berseneva)

CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12

(As the name may suggest, these were built from the ground up as an terrestrial whalefall specialists, with the various giant beasties of pathfinder substituting for whales. I actually used fallers as a placeholder name but got attached to it, so here they are! They're up there in CR so that a caravan of five of them puts up a genuine threat for someone who might fight an Adult Red Dragon.

Also I don't love this art for fallers, but it was the most buggy of the bipedal isopods i could find.)

Fallers are wandering nomads who specialize in feeding on the carcasses of great beasts, such as giants, dragons, and large dinosaurs. They live in family groups of up to a dozen individuals and have no leader, employing an anarchic decision making process that may see these groups splitting and reforming as different individuals take different paths. A faller caravan’s lifestyle consists of divining the location to various monster falls and then traveling, possibly hundreds of miles, to such a banquet. Upon reaching such a corpse, they will claim it, defend it, and slowly harvest and feed off it until such a time as it grows thin and they must move on to fresher falls. It’s noteworthy that, due to their powerful innate divination magic, a group of fallers may set camp for a death before it occurs. Generally, these divinations hold true, and fallers find a warm corpse at their destination, but twists of fate are not unheard of, and fallers are generally prepared for battle if need be. Fallers are frequently seen ushering giant flies, which serve as a combination of pet and mount, enabling them to engage flying enemies and scout high-up or hard to reach places. These flys are surprisingly docile and loyal in a faller’s hands. 

Fallers are known to come into conflict with adventuring parties over the spoils of the latter’s conflicts; adventurers regularly stake claim to the loot and parts of a particularly dangerous foe, but fallers consider themselves owed the rewards of such a struggle, and practically speaking, are often unable to relocate to a new corpse before the threat of starvation looms. Unfortunately for many adventurers, fallers are trained combatants, and a particularly undiplomatic group of them may spell doom for an adventuring party soon after a proud triumph. Finally, fallers have been known to come into conflict with the cultures dragons and similar great beings surround themselves with; claiming the corpse of a lone dinosaur is one thing, but disassembling and eating a corpse may be less welcome when it’s the corpse of an important leader or respected member of a community. For this reason, cultures led by dragons frequently adopt a kill-on-sight principle for fallers, and kobolds in particular are known to litter a faller’s anticipated path with the most lethal and cruel traps they can manage. 

Despite this, faller’s oracular abilities are also known to a few peoples, and some cultures seek out such beings to ask questions, sometimes deliberately luring them by killing a large animal. Fallers are a practical and isolationist type, however, and must be provided some benefit to expend their divining abilities; especially since such abilities are necessary for their way of life.

Fallers' endonym is a series of rasps and hisses unpronounceable to the average mammal or reptile.

This hunched over biped has a hard, segmented shell on its back, a number of segmented limbs, and large black eyes.

Misc- CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12 Init:+4 Senses: Perception:+22 Scent, Darkvision 60ft Stats- Str:22(+6) Dex:19(+4) Con:23(+6) Int:15(+2) Wis:24(+7) Cha:16(+3) BAB:+12/+7/+2 Space:5ft Reach:5ft Defense- HP:138(12d10+54) AC:24(+4 Dex, +2 Armor, +8 Natural) Fort:+12 Ref:+12 Will:+15 CMD:38 Resist: Acid 10, Cold 10 Immunity: Disease Special Defenses: DR2/Bludgeoning Offense- mwk Glaive +19/+14/+9(1d10+9/x3) or Net +18(Entangle, 10ft) or 2 Claw +16(1d6+6 plus trip) CMB:+18 (+2 Racial bonus to trip) Speed:30ft Special Attacks: Studied Target +3 (Attack, Damage, Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, Survival; Move or Swift Action) Feats- Great Fortitude, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Vital Strike, Power Attack (-4/+8), Quick Draw Skills- Climb +15, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +14, Knowledge (Geography) +14, Knowledge (Nature) +14, Perception +22, Ride +13, Survival +22 Spell-like Abilities- (Caster Level 11, Concentration +14) Augury, Invisibility Purge, Sanctify Corpse 3/day Dispel Magic, Find the Path 1/day Divination 1/week Special Qualities- Ferocity Ecology- Environment- Any Languages- Faller Organization- Pair (2), Caravan (4-6 Fallers, 0-3 Giant Horseflies) Treasure- Standard Special Abilities- Studied Target (Ex)- A faller may use the Studied Target ability as a 10th level Slayer.

[hazelkjt]

Glamtober 16- "____punk"

"I've once heard the setting of Monster Hunter described as Cavepunk, and I think that's right on the money." -ABItorial: Monster Hunter, A Culture Of Danger

Yeah I'm just taking this statement and running with it, since I agree lmao. Have fun with my attempt at a Monster Hunter inspired set in FFXIV! Tried to go for a default Hunter Armor set similar to how it was in World.

Glam List-

Riversbreath Faussar

Linen Turban (Mole Brown)

Auri Gown (Soot Black & Mole Brown)

Nomad's Armguards of Fending

Legacy Warrior's Breeches (Mole Brown & Soot Black)

Berserker's Leg Guards

Palaka Earrings of Fending

Zormor Necklace of Fending

[gremalkinn]

CrawlWings (OPEN WOF Fantribe)

CrawlWings are a Pantalan tribe, found most commonly in the North-Western mountains of Pantala. They are most notable for their impressive size, heavily plated armor and multiple legs. They do have wings, though they are mainly vestigial, and used for soaring short distances across caverns (some variants of CrawlWing do not have wings, and may have even more extra legs in its place).

They do not have an established monarchy, and instead live in nomadic family groups led by a ‘mother.’ They are often stereotyped as mindless and aggressive, and most dragons find ‘Crawlers’ appearance strange and frightening. Despite this, CrawlWings are actually quite good natured- it’s only when provoked that they’ll even think about a fight.

CrawlWings are free for anyone to make!

Description

By the far the biggest of the dragon tribes, both in height and length. CrawlWings have long segmented bodies covered in impenetrable armored plating, and have three sets of main eyes on their head, with almost a hundred more along the side of their body. These eyes that trail down their neck to their tail tip act more like a ‘peripheral view’ to the CrawlWing- they can’t actively see their surroundings with these eyes, but can sense movement with them. To the average dragon, these eyes just look like odd dots. Their main set of eyes have a second opaque eyelid which protects the eyes from dirt while digging.

CrawlWings have five sets of arms, along with pincer-like appendages below their head for holding prey or bringing food into their mouth.

Their scales and eyes can be almost any color, though most commonly include deep reds, browns, blacks and vibrantly colored scale trim that come in shades of yellow, pink, or orange.

Not only this, but Crawlers are capable of bioluminescence. Though not as strong as a SeaWing’s phosphorescent scales, these faint patterns along their shells come in a multitude of colors and are used to communicate long distance across caverns in total darkness or recognize each other.

As for their tails, they are long and club-like, and end in a pair of talon-like pincers. CrawlWings use their tails to carry belongings, hatchlings, or even write, and it's not uncommon to see them hanging from cavern ceilings by their tail.

CrawlWings that consume mostly metal will have more of a metallic armor, while CrawlWings that eat rare jewels and ores may develop crystalline growths on their armored plating. Elderly Crawlers often have very bulky and overgrown armored plates, like a weatherbeaten rock face.

With their armored plating, CrawlWings have very little sense of touch, which they make up for with thin antennae along their back, neck, tail, and around their head. Antennae grow out in a variety of ways, some CrawlWings may grow antennae from their snout like some kind of beard or mustache, others might sprout from their eyebrows, or simply along their jaw. These antennae are incredibly sensitive, and if they are not carefully taken care of, can become damaged and cause a lot of pain

Unlike most dragon tribes, CrawlWings ears are slits beneath the gap in their head and neck plating that allow them to take in sound.

Baby CrawlWings (or Grubs) have very soft scales and often don’t develop a full plate of armor until they’re around 4 or 5.

Being as capable diggers as they are, CrawlWings have discovered a strange red ore hidden deep in the earth, which when eaten and incorporated into their armored plating, gives the CrawlWing the ability to shift into other creatures. While shifting into other creatures, the transformed CrawlWing is notable by their red eyes, and most even have the red ore jutting out of them no matter what they shapeshift into (for example, a CrawlWing transformed into a squirrel might have red rock sticking out of it like armor)

Diet

CrawlWings are omnivores, but mostly prefer to scrounge for moss and other greens instead of wasting energy hunting. Most notable of all, CrawlWings are known to eat rock and other metals by breaking them down with their specialized venom, which is then converted into their armored plating.

CrawlWings eat by tearing their food into tiny chunks with their teeth or swallowing it whole. They don’t have much need for cooking, as they can eat almost anything without a problem

Abilities

CrawlWing claws are very strong and semi-retractable, evolved for digging, climbing, and running fast. They aren’t particularly dexterous with their talons, which is why they use their wings, head pincers and tail for more precise work, such as writing. As their name suggests, CrawlWings can use their many limbs and sharp claws to scale walls. These multiple legs also allow CrawlWings to move their bulky body more quickly. They are capable of running extremely fast in short bursts, much like a cheetah, while moving their long body in an S motion. They are not stamina hunters though- being the size they are, they require a lot of energy. As such, CrawlWings prefer stealth, and often perch on ceilings before dropping down on their prey and ambushing from above. While their sense of touch, smell and hearing are quite weak, CrawlWings can sense even the smallest vibrations with their antennae, which can be helpful when trying to find weak spots in rock or finding relatives within cramped tunnels.

CrawlWings secrete a venom from their mouth and head stingers which allow them to break down rock and ore while digging. Their armor is extremely strong, and invincible to most attacks, such as fire, claws and even RainWing venom (their armor being mostly inorganic). However, their armor is not entirely immune to their own venom, and although fights between CrawlWings are EXTREMELY rare, their venom can be used against each other

A CrawlWing with its bioluminescent glow

Society

Most CrawlWings believe in a mysterious entity known as The Great Mother. The Great Mother is said to be a hybrid of every dragon tribe, and that she has an eye for every tribe. She represents harmony and all the tribes' connections. Because of this, CrawlWings see hybrids as harbingers of peace and good tidings. It is also believed the three moons are the eyes of a great CrawlWing encircling the earth entirely.

The other dragon tribes see CrawlWings not even as ‘an enemy tribe’, but as beasts.

When it comes to their relationship with the other dragon tribes, ‘Crawlers’ are often outcast or mistreated wherever they go, forced to live in the shadows for fear of being hunted or treated as beasts.

Simply put, they are seen as brutish, primitive and naturally aggressive, far less intelligent than the ‘real dragons’.

Many CrawlWings are advocating for peace between the tribes and aiding in ending wars (wether as a mercenary or a diplomat).

It’s common for other dragons to hunt CrawlWings for their specialized shells as armor and venom for military purposes (weakening enemy armor or carving out holes in the sides of castles to make stealth/assassination missions easier)

Despite their fearsome appearance, CrawlWing’s highly value protecting those that aren’t as big or strong, and to assist those who need it most. CrawlWing’s believe it is their job to protect others, even to their own detriment.

When a relative dies, it’s customary for one to wear their shell as armor so that they may continue to provide protection even after death.

CrawlWing’s are notably good parents, and although not as ‘technologically advanced’ as the other tribes, they are extremely neat. CrawlWing’s often hatch in clutches of at least four, but a CrawlWing can lay up to 20 eggs at a time. Parents carry the eggs with their head pincers, (carefully) in their mouth, with their tail, or slung across their back while they travel.

It is not uncommon for CrawlWing dragonets to have multiple parents

Hybrids of CrawlWings and other tribes are EXTREMELY rare, but not impossible. Mainly because other tribes fear them

CrawlWing’s have a specialized language (similar to morse code) that they use to communicate through tunnels- made up of a series of taps, clicks and thumps that only other CrawlWing’s can pick up on with their antennae

Names

Most CrawlWing names are based on the old language (essentially, a lot of Latin). Old language names usually center around peace/connection (Pax, Otium, Harmonia, Concordia) and it's common for followers of the Great Mother to have names like this. Other common names have to do with dirt/rocks (Boulder, Shale, Ore, Digger, Terra, Stone, Gravel) or more musical sounding/onomatopoeia names to reflect how they communicate through rock (Click, Snap, Clink, Chink, Crack, Thump, Thunk). It’s not uncommon for a CrawlWing to have multiple names, or take on the names of respected loved ones.

Creating a CrawlWing

-Anyone is free to make a CrawlWing

-creating CrawlWing adopts is totally fine

-i don’t want to limit anyone’s imagination, so don’t be afraid to make that character you have in mind! These were just made for fun, I really wanted to make a centipede dragon

-hybrids are also fine 👍

-current timeline i have in mind for these guys is set where Pyrrhia and Pantala have frequent trade (theres no specific year), but feel free to place a CrawlWing in whatever year. You can put one in cyberpunk 2050 I don’t mind <3

-got any questions? Just ask!

[badbatchposts]

Quiet Corners of the Galaxy

Happy Bad Batch Eve! I'm obsessed with the new season but the content isn't coming out fast enough so I felt like I needed to write my own.

Tech's not dead and Crosshair rejoins the team partway through Season 2 after Mayday's death rather than being imprisoned by the Empire, but this is otherwise canon-compliant. No Season 3 spoilers.

Fic Summary: While on a routine mission for Cid, the Bad Batch encounter a woman fleeing from the Empire. Crosshair suspects her seemingly free-spirited, nomadic existence is actually a cover for something else, but struggles to keep his attraction toward her in check as their personalities and ideals clash.

Chapters posted 1-2x weekly!

Chapter One

“We will be landing on the outskirts of the city ruins shortly. Scanners indicate that it is abandoned, but there is an Imperial outpost located ten klicks East, in the next valley over. This should be a relatively simple operation: make our way to the city center, locate the cargo, and return to the Marauder.” Tech was at the controls of the ship as usual, setting them down in an open, overgrown area where the ruins of the city—little more than rubble and scrap now, haphazardly heaped stoneworks and scorched earth where once there had been homes, streets, marketplaces—were fewer and further between. The remaining members of the squad did their final checks of their equipment, adjusting armor and securing weapons as the hatch hissed open. Wrecker was the first out.

“Woah. What happened here?” The largest member of the squad looked around incredulously. The destruction was not recent; a thick layer of soot, grime, and overgrown weeds was evidence of the neglect that the ruins had been left to. It did not seem that anyone was deeply interested in rebuilding.

Tech had the answer, as always. “A particularly destructive battle toward the end of the war. The city was occupied by Separatist forces. Citizens who were unable to evacuate before the droids moved in were held in a makeshift camp on the North side of town. Luckily, this means that many of them made it out alive once the Republic regained the territory. Their homes…were less lucky.”

Crosshair, Hunter, and Echo followed the pair down the ramp. “What cargo could there even be left to recover in all this?” Crosshair asked skeptically. His voice, as usual, dripped equal parts disdain and boredom.

“Cid’s intel says mostly expensive droid parts,” Echo intervened. “The town had a factory. When the Separatists occupied it, they planned to begin shipping the parts off-world to help with production of their army. The Republic moved in too quickly for them; the factory was destroyed, but the crates were being housed underground awaiting cataloging. As far as Cid’s source knows, they’re still there.”

Hunter looked thoughtful. “Anything to worry about with that Imperial outpost, Tech?”

“Doubtful,” the other replied, examining his datapad. “The cargo is not significant enough to merit their attention, and forces are largely dedicated to patrolling a nearby spaceport, where it would seem most of the refugees have relocated.”

Hunter nodded seriously. “Alright then. Crosshair, get a good vantage point on the hilltop where you can keep an eye on us and any activity from the outpost coming our way. Everybody else, let’s locate that cargo.”

Their forces divided, the rest of the squad beginning to pick their way among the ruins toward the city center, while the slender sniper hiked in the opposite direction. The hills were dotted with trees—not heavily forested, but enough cover for him to dig in and wait. Soon, he crested the peak, settling in at a good vantage point where he could watch the outpost in the middle distance through his scope. Activities at the facility were regular and rhythmic; troopers on patrol, units coming and going from the nearby spaceport. Nothing extraordinary.

“In position. All clear,” he reported over his comm.

“Acknowledged,” came Hunter’s reply. With any luck, the others would retrieve the cargo within a number of hours. He waited, patient and disinterested. He was good at waiting.

Some time later, his comm crackled to life again with a status update. “Cargo located.” It was his turn to acknowledge their progress. For a brief moment, he thought idly about whether he preferred missions like this one—smooth, uncomplicated, if a little boring—or those where everything seemed to go right to shit. At least, he smirked to himself wryly, the latter required more significant use of his skills.

When he heard the screeching sound of failing engines and saw the dark plume of smoke trailing behind the ship on its downward trajectory, all he could think was that the galaxy must have been listening in on him.

It crashed down northeast of his position, the impact of the wreckage echoing out across the valley. The response on his comm came through almost immediately.

“What the hell was that, Crosshair?”

“Downed Imperial shuttle. Drawing attention from the outpost now. Get moving.”

“Well, with any luck that’ll keep them occupied long enough for us to get outta here. Stay outta sight,” Hunter replied. Crosshair shifted his scope from the troopers mobilizing at the outpost toward the crash site, just in time to see a woman emerge from the ship, coughing in the smoke. He had expected a detachment of troopers to come stumbling from the wreckage, not a lone woman. She was human, silver haired, staring back at the shuttle with a look halfway between rage and despair. She slammed her fist against the ship’s hull in frustration, and he smirked a little as she winced, rubbing her hand in pain. She ducked back into the ship, emerging momentarily, pulling a poncho over her head as she strapped a blaster to her hip and pulled on a pack.

He scanned the area around her as she began marching south from the crash, glancing furtively in all directions. She was heading on a trajectory that would intersect any moment with two troopers on speeder bikes. She was moving too slowly, limping a little. This should be interesting, he thought dryly. He was sure the Empire were very welcoming to unauthorized crash landings of stolen shuttles near their facilities.

When the woman and the troopers came face to face, he could only imagine the dialogue accompanying the silent pageant he could see through his scope. The woman slowly raised both hands, throwing a flattering, charming smile at the troopers. She thought she could talk her way out of it, he reasoned. So the flash of the blaster bolt caught him by surprise when she snaked one of her hands behind her head, grabbing a concealed weapon off her shoulder, and fired off a shot.

“Is that blaster fire, Crosshair?!” Hunter demanded over the comm.

“Not mine,” he replied calmly.

“Then who?!”

The round had caught one of the troopers in the chest, toppling him off the speeder bike. The woman took advantage of the confusion to dive for cover behind a tree, exchanging fire with the remaining trooper. What she couldn’t see, of course, were the other half dozen Imperials making their way toward her position. Any moment now, she’d be surrounded.

“Status?” Crosshair queried over the comm.

“Making our way back to the Marauder.”

The woman managed to get a good shot in on the remaining trooper, and he toppled to the ground. However, just as she made a dash for the speeder bikes, two green bolts flashed by, wrecking her getaway vehicles and forcing her to dive once more, losing the smaller blaster. She recovered quickly, unholstering the larger piece at her hip and taking shots at the oncoming troopers as she ran for cover again. It was pointless, he thought. She didn’t stand much chance of escape, alone, on foot. Not this close to the outpost.

From his vantage point, he could see the troopers fanning out, boxing her in. She had the hillside to her back; the elevation would slow down her retreat, even if she could keep up enough cover fire to out-maneuver the speeder bikes. And—the only part that mattered to him—she ran the risk of drawing Imperial attention to the adjoining valley before they finished loading up the marauder.

However, before he could further consider the implications of her retreat, he saw her move to fire off another shot from around her cover. In the brief moment she was exposed, a blaster bolt from one of the troopers clipped her side, propelling her forcefully to the ground. She was close enough for him to hear her strangled cry at the hit, echoing out against across the valley. She scrabbled backwards in the dirt, blaster thrown out of reach. One of the troopers swung off his speeder bike, approaching her slowly as he took aim. They weren’t planning on taking her prisoner. He couldn’t hear whatever words they exchanged, just see the snarl on the woman’s face before her features calmed, peaceful, as she closed her eyes before the inevitable.

Crosshair dispatched the trooper closest to her, expertly, just before the Imperial could squeeze to pull the trigger. He followed it up with three more in rapid succession, the troopers falling dead before they could hope to locate the sniper’s position or find cover. The final two, he saw with some surprise, were caught off guard by the woman, who had managed to crawl over to her lost blaster in the confusion.

She was attempting to limp her way over to one of the abandoned speeder bikes when he caught up to her.

“Stay back,” she warned him, eyes glinting as she aimed her blaster at him.

“Are you even sure you could ride one of those things by yourself right now?” He drawled back at her.

“Of course I can,” she snapped. As if to prove it to him, she gripped the handle of the first one she came to with her left hand, knuckles white, right hand steady as she kept her blaster trained on his chest. She swung her leg and mounted the bike. He watched her grip on the handle loosen as the shock and pain caught up to her, her eyes rolling back in her head as she collapsed.

Next Chapter

[the-bad-batch]

Reader Masterlist

Melissa Schemmenti 

Make you Feel My love -  Set after Season 2 Episode 18. You go home to find Melissa upset and angrily sorting her closet after the events of the staff room argument. You comfort her as she confides in you with a new insecurity.

Coffee Mugs & Cronuts -  Melissa has a bad weekend, unfortunately for you, you catch her on a bad day. After breaking her coffee mug and spilling the coffee all over yourself, you argue. Melissa says things that break your heart and you spend the rest of the week avoiding her. Both of you unaware of the love you share for each other.

Finding Happiness with You -  Jacob and Janine are back at Melissa's for further cooking lessons. Neither know that you and Melissa live together, after falling in love when you join the school as the new third grade teacher.

I was meant to love you - You were seven when your soulmate tattoo appeared.

"You’re bleeding, are you alright? I’ll kill him."

You’re the only redhead I want -  Melissa overhears a conversation between you and Jacob and mistakenly believes you're in a secret relationship and unwilling to tell her. She begins to avoid you until you're forced to take action.

She’s everything I’ve been prayin for -  After a one night stand with a beautiful redhead, you rush out of her home and to your new job only to find her sat in the staff room. To your delight she seems to have enjoyed the night before just as much as you do and can't help teasing you about it.   18+ 

What We Do In The Dark - Melissa x OC

Forced to take time off work after a breakdown, Melissa finds herself taking her sisters advice and going to an sex club which her sister had mentioned, just to prove that Kristen Marie has terrible ideas. There she finds a new place to let loose and a woman she only knows by the name of Ell, who will change her life forever.   18+ 

I think this is when I set myself free - A year ago, you left your home with Melissa, leaving your engagement ring in her hand after she'd told you to leave. Now, you stand in front of her at the annual Schemmenti party, ready to finally get the closure to leave before you try to move on from her.

If only moving on from her was possible.

Bo-Katan Kryze

She will change everything series: 

A Future Uncertain - You find yourself following Din to Kalevala to check in on Bo-Katan after her home is destroyed. You're yet to take the creed and get your armour. Having been told to take time to discover yourself and see if the Creed is meant for you. You're Certain of your future until the former Princess of Mandalore stands before you.She's going to change everything.

Show Yourself -  Mandalore is being restored. Bo has rebuilt on Kalevala. You're now a Mandalorian having finally taken the creed but you can't get Bo off your mind. So you find yourself stood in front of her palace, unsure why you can't get the former Princess off your mind.

Hit me with your best shot -  Satine’s mark is simply “Duchess.

”She’d begged Bo to show her the moment it had appeared and she’d refused until her pleading got too much. Satine had smiled, big and toothy like she always did whenever she was truly happy. All she’d uttered was how appropriate.

Lady Bo-katan Kryze, people have always told me of your beauty, wish they’d warned me about how hard you hit.

One under the light of Mandalore -  You organise a party at the palace and invite the new republic cities, as well as those who you believe will benefit being aligned with Mandalore. Your wife sits upon the Throne and you find yourself playing diplomat when you run into an old friend. 

I want you Mentally and Physically -  After Bo confirms that all you are is fuck buddies, you decide to wind her up by flirting with your closest friends. What could possibly go wrong? 18+ 

Bo-Katan Kryze & The Armorer 

Forever & Ever Series

I think I could love you forever -  A nomad former Jedi, you find yourself on Mandalore after saving a Mandalorian child from Storm Troopers. There you meet the Manda'lor and her adviser plus a friend from your past you thought was lost. Convinced you would be better off on your own, your thrown into turmoil when you realise your connection the Manda'lor and her Advisor is more than just attraction.

Ghosts of our Past -  As your relationship with both Bo and The Armorer continues, your past continues to haunt you. You can't forget the night everything changed for you, when your friends and family were killed by the Empire during Order 66. Luckily for you, you have supportive partners and friends.

In My Dreams -  Although you're married to Bo, you can't help but wonder what it would be like if you both introduced Ahsoka and The Armorer into your bedroom and Bo, ever the perfect wife wants to make your dreams come true. 18+ Only

Fennec Shand

You can confide in me - The first time you see Fennec, she hasn't slept for days. Slowly, you manage to get her to confide in you and eventually, you begin to confide into you.Jedi/Book store owner reader.

Agatha Harkness 

May Angels Lead you In -  Agatha mourns the loss of her lover after her lover has lost the battle with her mental health. She receives comfort from the one person who can understand her loss. *Trigger Warning for Suicide here* 

Miscommunications and M&MS -  “Are you jealous?” You can’t help but be amused as Agatha continues to move around your room in the new and improved Avenger’s compound.

“No, I’m not!” She huffs and you lean against the sofa as you continue to watch her pick up her books and pile them on one of the many small tables scattered around the room.

“Oh, you really are jealous!” You let out a laugh, before your smile fades slightly. “Wait, why would you be jealous?”

Lin Beifong 

Stop Talking -  You are Zhu Li's little sister. You've managed to get a job as Lin Beifong's assistant and are tired of watching her work herself into the ground. It had nothing to do with the giant unrequited crush you'd got on her right?

Are you Mine? (I’m yours) -  You bring Lin her dinner but she's not in the mood to eat. *Explicit Smut* 18+ 

You don’t see me (Not how I see you) - You've been with Lin for years but you've never been her priority. So you leave.

Desperate for you -  Lin's tied up in front of you, desperate for you and you've never seen anything sexier. *Explicit Smut* 18+ 

Maria Hill

I can’t lose you -  You're injured as the Avengers battle Abomination, Maria reacts.

I’m Home (In your arms) -  Maria returns from Space after a year and you're just happy shes home.

[natlacentral]

Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh: The Costumes of Avatar: The Last Airbender Season One

Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh revealed the complexities of creating the costumes of Avatar: The Last Airbender Season One, visually translating the four nations and their iconic characters from animation into live-action.

Since 2005, Avatar: The Last Airbender has inspired us with compelling storytelling and its deep mid-19th century historical culture influences–including but not limited to Asia, Mesoamerica, Inuit, Eskimo, and indigenous cultures. The universally acclaimed animated series spanned for three seasons (or three books) and expanded into a sequel series and several different mediums, but after a live-action misstep in 2010, the epic franchise finally found its way to Netflix with a brand-new retelling of the world of Avatar. The live-action series of the same name premiered on February 22, 2024 and immediately captivated the audience through its outstanding cinematography, with a brilliant cast transformed into the beloved characters through the vibrant creations of the costume department. Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh, the costume designer responsible for translating the series from animation to live-action revealed the inspirations and manufacturing challenges and rewards behind the garments of Avatar: The Last Airbender: “A lot of it was research, looking into the cultural background of the nations and the characters that were originally inspired by the animation, learning and understanding their history and tradition. I studied garment history and how clothing was traditionally worn in those cultures, what influenced their color palettes and fabrics, then tried to meld them together in a way that paid homage to the animation but at the same time respectfully and authentically represented the real life cultures. That was really the first step into it.”

Visually creating a fantasy world is a momentous task, where in comparison to contemporary or even historical filmmaking each background character has to be fully developed to build the rich population within storytelling. Khaki-Sadigh and her team crafted over 400 costumes that visually defined the Air Nomads, Water Tribes, Fire Nation, and Earth Kingdom. She said, “For the Air Nomads, I decided to pick the color palettes you see in Fall season … the rusts, oranges, yellows, maroons, deeper browns, it’s just so warm and comforting. For the Water Tribes, I looked at icebergs. There are so many hues of blues and teals; it’s not just white. I also explored how the ocean reflects the light differently, creating various shades of blue. With the Fire Nation I was really inspired by volcanoes, looking at all the different shades you see when a volcano erupts, from the fiery lava to the ashes–the reds and oranges within the lava and the blacks and grays from the ash and from when the lava hardens. Then for Earth Kingdom, the inspiration came from forests and springs. So that’s sort of how I broke down the different color palettes and expanded on what was in the animation.”

Avatar: The Last Airbender showcases the art of “bending” elements, which requires a full range of motion to visually achieve the right level of grace and power on screen. Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh explained the importance of fitting room action tests to assure practicality while wearing these intricate costumes on set: “It’s really important to make sure that it becomes almost like a second skin to the actors, otherwise they would feel out of place, taking them out of character. For example, we changed Aang’s cape; we had it fuller at the beginning but we found that it kept hitting him and didn’t flow as nicely, so we had to taper it down, re-alter the shape of it. It took a lot of math trying to figure out the patterning to get it to a place where it’s still read like a full cape but at the same time it moved with him as opposed to hindering his movements.” Then she added, “We had the Fire Nation armor shoulders wider to match the animation, but after we did some tests we found out that they limited how far they were able to move at the shoulder point. So we made them narrower, which just made the design a little bit different from the animation, but the actors were able to move freer for their bending.”

The costume design challenges for the show continued outside the fitting room. Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh explained that in order to achieve color consistency between outdoor and Volume sets were daunting–the latter’s LED lights forcing fabric changes and prolonged dying processes for many costumes: “We dyed the Fire Nation armor leathers five or six times because in daylight they had a beautiful deep shade of burgundy but in front of the Volume the color turned hot pink! In order to find the right hues to actually read red, we had to go super dark in real life … almost like a blistery color.” She added, “With Aang’s cape, we loved the color, but when we tested it [in the Volume] it was also pink … we tried about ten different fabrics before we narrowed it down to three and chose the one without a pattern with a brownish rust color that read the right hue on camera.”

Being the main protagonist of the series, Aang’s costume had to be just right. The simplicity of the Air Nomads garments meant the costume designer had to focus on texture and layering to prevent a flat look on camera, also utilizing natural fibers to represent the Air Nomad’s peaceful lifestyle. Besides the cape practicalities and color complexities, Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh recalled a peculiar challenge that followed the team throughout the filming of Season One: “Gordon [Cormier] was a growing boy, so every few weeks we had to build him a new pair of pants because he would outgrow them. I think he’s got probably around twenty pairs of pants, which probably will not fit him anymore [laughs].”

There is a beautiful visual perspective in Avatar: The Last Airbender that separates foreground and background characters, the former showcasing more vibrant shades of color and details that define their journeys away from home and unique personalities. For Katara, Khaki-Sadigh incorporated flowy water wave patterns in her parka and the under tunic inspired by Inuit art, whereas for Sokka her team implemented a more geometric design for his costume–symbolizing the character’s engineering background. His armor in particular included some Viking elements, which the costume designer revealed came from her discussions with some of the indigenous advisors on the show, delving into their trading culture and how they would build clothing and tools based on what they had access to–from leathers to bones. She said, “We built all those little rings and hand sewn them into the armor’s leather, creating a sort of chainmail look. We then casted the shoulders to look like metal, taking that element from the fact that there were Fire Nation ships that have basically been abandoned, so he would have been able to use the metal from them to create a protective layer for himself because he’s the warrior of the tribe.”

The show had yet another gorgeous display of fantasy period costume design with Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors. From the golden headpieces to the intricacies of the armors, Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh delved into the process for making those samurai-inspired costumes: “In my research, I came across a group of female samurai warriors called Onna-Bugeisha, which was my inspiration for the Kyoshi warriors. I found this beautiful leather that had this basket weave print on it which became our base for the armor, very traditional for the style of Japanese samurai armors. The headpieces were 3D printed and they all had their own unique geometric fan pattern on them, then we painted them and wrapped the leather straps around with five different layers of hand braided braids, creating these tassels at the end of it.” She then revealed a fascinating fact about Suki’s costume: “The fan that crosses in front of her headdress is actually a vintage fan that we took apart and used to create the front … It had such a beautiful pattern and texture. Also, if you look closely at the corset portion on the bottom panels of the armor, you can spot small little geometrical fans that are laser etched onto the leather to create a little bit more texture and detail onto it.”

Among the Fire Nation, two characters really drove the villainy side of the tale in Season One–on one end Zhao, an ambitious general with a personal agenda, and Prince Zuko on the other, the heir to the throne who is navigating an uncertain path between his devotion to his people and the moral complexities of war. Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh’s team created several looks for the two villains, incorporating symbolic elements that defined their personas: “There’s something just so mysterious about Zhao. He sort of beats to the tone of his own drum so we incorporated his own personal crest, different from the rest of the Fire Nation. If you look at the details of his armor, on his gauntlets and on the skirt panels, even on his shoulder crest when he ends up wearing the [Admiral] cape, there is a different pattern that still has a flame weave to it, but it’s very unique. When he became Admiral, we made a more regal and powerful version of the costume inspired by the traditional Roman conquerors.” Then she delved into Zuko’s designs: “He goes through a lot of changes, personality and emotionally. He’s the man of many changes … he had more changes than any of our cast had, but I think the biggest thing for us was his armor. I wanted to make sure that it was regal prince-like, it stood out in comparison to the other Fire Nation armors, but at the same time, it was still part of the brigade. He’s holding onto so much tradition. He has this overwhelming struggle of what he personally believes and what is expected of him. His armor is not just like a physical thing, it’s also a metaphorical armor; he hides behind this armor to portray something that is expected of him, but yet he’s not sure if that’s who he is yet. We added a bit more layers to him with his armor, doubled the shoulders and three or four panels on his armor to add a little bit more rigidity to him.”

With Avatar: The Last Airbender renewed for two more seasons, the costume designer confessed she looks forward to designing Ba Sing Se and Ember Island and overall further developing the characters through more cultural history exploration. This interview barely scratches the surface of the team’s immense work, so if you crave more behind-the-scenes, make sure to follow Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh on Instagram.

[oddclan-askblog]

Other Maokon clan members

Jamra and Albatil

Jamra:

An oddly friendly drone with a commanding presence. Jamra is the clan's lead metalworker, he spends most of his time in the forge making new steel armor and training his understudies. When he has a bit of free time he makes copper and gold jewelry. Jamra has a prize Elum and previously hosted the annual plain races.

Jamra hasn't interacted much with the corvokon and still remembers them as bitter enemies of the Maokon. He disdains the alliance as it keeps his tribe stuck in north east mudos and cant wait for the queen to cut ties so that the tribe can resume their nomadic ways.

Albatil:

Current sun priest, he works closely with the queen and personally trains Messa. He is the only other red mudokon in the village. Albatil obsesses over the latest fashion trends and loves battle. If he's not pummeling some poor shmuck (his apprentice) he's in the gambling den vying for his next set of bling. He's outgoing and loves attention.

Albatil secretly supports the clan aliance though he doesnt date voice it to the queen. He trained alongside Asibatu when they were in their youth and came to know Vitur through Asi. He knows there's something more than friendship going on between the old birds and supports them however he can.

Sarim and Nimon

Sarim:

A stoic sort who keeps to himself, Sarim travels from far and wide charting the stars. He gathers strange plants and animals on his journeys for the clan to study or keep as pets. Sarim does not enjoy combat but is a fierce warrior, he is feared by many sligs.

He's interacted a bit with the Corvokon and doesnt fully trust them. He especially doesnt like that they work with the tribal sligs but what can he do? Nimon trusts them and the aliance so its good enough for Sarim. Jarta's diner is pretty dang good too.

Nimon:

A pacifist through and through, even if it makes him an outcast to his tribe, Nimon will not kill. He spends his days foraging for food, fashioning clothes for the clan and exploring the forest. Sarim usually has to get him out of trouble.

Nimon has also been saved by Raaf on a few occasions. Then again, he's also trusted Raaf to guide him to "cool new places" only for the two of them to get thoroughly lost. So its basically just Raaf paying back the favor. Nimon likes the alliance and knows Jarta and Raaf well.

[hastalavistabyebye]

okay i have got to hear about the seagulls stop it now Jedi Fox AU

and maybe also dragon raising?

Since @/ithillia asked about the Jedi Fox au too (I answered here) I'm going to talk about dragon raising for you my dear if you don't mind <3

But first, some more informations about Jedi Fox :

He doesn't get his kyber crystal on Illium. No, it's Fox, he finds his deep inside the Jedi temple, in one miraculously preserved Coruscanti cave. The crystal's color is a sort of rich copper/brown (it ended up being a relief of sorts for the guard because Fox could have had a purple one right ? But it would have been too close in meaning to the red blades of the sith and the dark side for their comfort) (it's also in reference to how Fox is often headcanon to have a lighter eye color than other clones) He was still healing and bound to bed when he went and got his crystal. Vokara Che was, of course, not impressed (everyone else was quite a little bit panicked because Fox just kriffing disappeared when he was still too exhausted and beat up to walk without support for longer than a hallway most of the time)

His master is Mace Windu and Fox and Depa adore being (padawan) siblings now and exchange so much gossip and blackmail material. Fox also learns Vapaad from Mace, but prefer to use Shii Cho usually.

Alright, that's for this au's tidbits.

Dragon raising

It isn't really a fic, it's more a worldbuilding file made of bulletpoints.

It's the clone wars transposed in a fantasy setting basically and started very self indulgented to progress as my worldbuilding project xD

In this au, the Vode are young mandalorians from Concord dawn raised as warriors, trained and raised to tame dragons and fight with them. Dragons are a very dangerous, wild and rare species that can only be found in the mandalorian sector. They were supposed to fight in a war they had nothing to do with but ended up putting an end to it (I'm still thinking about how they did that). Because of all of that upbringing, their link with dragons and a bit because of their armors, the rest of the mandalorians tend to despise them and see them as bad omens at best. Their armors is a problem not specifically because of how flexible it is to be adapted at riding and fighting with a dragon, but mostly because their helmets look featureless. As if they were blind, mute and deaf soldiers. Puppets that follows orders and rides a sithspawn creature.

After the end of the war and gaining their independency, the Vode still tend to keep their faces hidden and only wear their helmets around their own people.

Each battalion specializes in one type of dragons (toxins, ice, fire, electricity, desertic...) and their colors indicate that. Their equipment is also adapted to those specializations.

The Jedi are a nomad sorcerer sect that would have been caught up in the middle of the war. So the Vode stopping it, plus the fact that they're very close to the dragons and their general badass-selves makes them very favorable in the Jedi eyes. Both people are isolated from the rest of the population and knows what it is to have to survive against the rest of the galaxy. They get pretty close (sometimes very close depending on the people in question) and help each other's.

WIP game

[transfemininomenon]

it's been talked to death about the way that from soft games handle their telling of lore & in particular the use of item descriptions to do so. that in particular has been super interesting to me from the beginning, and so i decided that i was going to do a lil list of my three personal favorite lore twists/implications that come from item descriptions

3. Nomadic Merchant's Set - Elden Ring

the lore twist: mentions of the mysterious frenzied flame show up throughout the entire game in various ways, namely in incantations & areas/enemies that have been consumed by the frenzied flame. it's portrayed as an incredibly powerful but maddening thing, and its origins are mainly left a mystery

also throughout the game there are various nomadic merchants who assist you by offering different kinds of items, as well as some offering little bits of lore & quest hints. they're portrayed as very kind and helpful, and are most notably found by following the sound of a beautiful, somber tune that they all seem to play

eventually, exploring deep, deep underneath the capital of the Lands Between will find you discovering what is in my opinion the most harrowing sight in the entire game - piles and piles of corpses, all in different poses of absolute agony and horror. and as you enter, you hear a familiar, now haunting tune as you find the last few remaining merchants still remaining deep below

you finally come across their armor set at the very bottom of a deep chasm, where the harrowing truth of both why so little of these merchants remain, and also the origins of the frenzied flame

2. Talisman of Beasts - Demon's Souls

the lore twist: would just like to say that anyone who's been a fan of these games for a while knew this one had to be here - it's truly THE original big one when it came to Lore Twists through item descriptions

throughout demon's souls there's mentions of both the Old One and an unnamed God. the Old One is an ancient demon that is the progenitor of all other demons throughout the game and the source of the deep colorless fog that is engulfing the world. this Old One can not be killed - it can merely be lulled back to sleep, and is stirred by use of soul magics, which it is also the source of

the unnamed God, on the other hand, is the source of miracles - divine magic as opposed to soul magic. servants of this God use their miracles to help fight against demons, and view miracles as heavenly acts as opposed to the demonic acts of soul magic, with one clearly good & the other clearly evil

however, this talisman ultimately reveals that the Old One and God are in fact one and the same, and that both soul magic and miracles ultimately come from the exact same source

1. Ringed Knight Set - Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City

the lore twist: disclaimer with this one in that this one is a lot more of a Personal Interpretation & a lot less concretely canon than the other two on this list, but it's my personal favorite of the lot for reasons that i will explain and i simply had to have it

a very big part of the lore of dark souls has to deal with the curse of undeath, with those cursed with it unable to truly die and steadily becoming hollow shells of themselves as they are repeatedly resurrected. this concept of undeath is explored in various different ways throughout the entire series, and the protagonist of each game is some form of undead. all undead are branded with what is known as the Darksign - a burning red circle

the origins of the curse of undeath are left vague throughout most of the three games, though it is claimed that it was created when Gwyn, leader of the Gods that ruled in the Age of Fire, refused to relinquish said Age of Fire to make way for the Age of Dark, an age ruled by men instead of the gods. the full extend of how it was created or how it is transmitted remained a mystery, and at least for me it very much seemed like the curse happened accidentally, all part of Gwyn's desperate attempts to keep going what he felt was right

that is, until, we finally enter the Ringed City - the second DLC for dark souls 3, and the final bit of content for the entire dark souls trilogy. throughout the series the subject of Man and their relation to both the Dark and a thing known as the Abyss are explored a lot, and in the Ringed City it is explored even more, a lot of which is very much meant to be left to interpretation so i won't comment on it much, but amongst other things found in the Ringed City are various enemies marked with a terribly familiar burning red circle

upon finding the armor of the knights of the city, the truth becomes revealed - early man found their own smidgens of life within the Abyss, and the gods fearing this decided to place a brand upon the armor of those men. a brand eerily familiar to that of the darksign, what would later become the signature sign of one cursed with undeath

the implication thus, at least to me, becomes that the curse of undeath was willingly created by the Gods in order to prevent mankind from finding their own forms of life, to prevent them from rising to the same status as the gods who ruled over them. what once seemed like an accidental thing now was revealed to be purposely done, and the sheer weight of that combined with this revelation and answer coming at the very end of the series after the question being established from the very beginning is why it is my personal favorite item lore twists

[lazodiac]

There seemingly won't be a Planeswalker's Guide to Thunder Junction, sad to say, so it's time to stop delaying this.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is the most recent Magic the Gathering set to release, taking place on a "fresh" plane- a place that has no sentient, sapient life. Initially populated by the Atiin people, nomads from another plane that moved here when the Omenpaths opened up the multiverse, everyone who decided to come on down to the Junction and make a new life for themselves has given themselves a bit of that old west flare.

But the question is; where are all our new friends from? In a burst of intellectual curiosity and bad decision making, lets actually do our best to figure that out, starting with... (some ground rules: only the subject matter of the card art matters. Instants and Sorceries will try to divine where the spell and cast are from to the best of my abilities. Please note this is mostly arbitrary.)

WHITE

... cool way to start. Based on the artistry of the Eversaloon's entryway I'm calling Kaladesh, it has the appropriate spirals.

The original printing of this card is Innistrad so you might be tempted to say this lovely lady is from there, but the style of wings, the way she is channeling Thunder through her gun, and the general vibe of the art tells me this is Dominaria.

This delightful feller is endemic to Thunder Junction! The armor has an Esperite flare but I'm counting this as not from another plane.

Aven Interrupter is our first one that's like, actually obvious. Owl aven have only been seen on Arcavios so until told otherwise, this friend is from there!

While we're seemingly not getting a Planeswalker's Guide for Thunder Junction, it was mentioned on twitter that Felidar are native to the plane. The particular design of the cat and horns suggest creatures native to the American West as well.

This abomination (Affectionate) of a pun features a local oxen and a Thunderous wind whipper. As much as a magical spell can be, this is from Thunder Junction proper.

Another native creature to the plane. I love the fluffy beards on these critters.

Now look at this bad boy! There's absolutely no known place in Magic the Gathering that a rabbit person like this could exist... yet anyway! I'm thinking this guy is from Bloomburrow (as is the Mole person from Murders at Karlov Manor, incidentally).

While this is noted as a spirit, the fact that it's an animus suggests to me this is more of a living mirage than an actual person. Native to Thunder Junction.

Eriette is the weirdly sympathetic wicked witch of the Wilds of Eldraine storyline, so this stunningly beautiful piece of artwork is from that storybook plane.

There's no real defining characteristics on this card to really peg where it's from... except! IT was mentioned on Twitter that Spree cards were meant to evoke big Western films, and this one is The Magnificent Seven... which means this lone survivor's from Kamigawa, because it'd be funny (and the spooky aura radiating out of these guys feels like a Reckoner thing). Hey, I did say these would be arbitrary sometimes.

The incredibly cool horse(?) of Annie "Haseya" Flash, one of the main stars of the story. Fortune comes and goes as she pleases, but Annie always finds her when the chips are down. I love this creature, and love Annie. I choose to believe Fortune's from the Atiin homeplane and came with her.

There are not a lot of places Dwarves can be from in Magic the Gathering... this doesn't have the exact sort of filigree you'd expect from Kaladesh, but consider the fine work and the tools being employed, this lovely fellow is likely from there.

The Sterling Company, our villainous lawmen for the plane! I'll talk about their leader later, but based on him, his style, and the impeccable fashion of his men, I'm saying they're from New Capenna.

Goddest boy in the multiverse Kellan Okoson is here to lasso an entire train to safety with his fey-natured vines. While I'd love to say this is from Eldraine because Kellan is from there, this is the natural fey-gifts he inherited from his shitty father, so they're from Oko's Plane.

This polite kidnapper is pretty clearly from Eldraine. I wonder what she left in the cacti's place though...

This is a tricky one. The way Thunder works on the ol' Junction is that it needs a loop to radiate through- thus the horsehoe on the blade. But that, plus the inner tang also being a loop, suggests this is a former Zendikari sword, modified from climbing equipment to chaos-channeling shock-sword.

Annie Flash digs up her past for one final job, and looks sweet as hell doing it. This is from the Atiin's plane, I'd reckon.

This guy could really be from anywhere, which is kind of the point of Thunder Junction- to give up your old life for a spell and see if a new you will work out. But the fact that his potions are so classical Fantasy Potions I'm saying he's from Dominaria.

This delightful little critter is native to Thunder Junction, and what a cutie he is. Did you know Prairie Dogs were a type of squirrel before seeing this card, because I didn't!

Fundamentally I have no real indication of where this guy could be from... but he's from Prosperity, the Sterling Company's roost, and his suit's got a bit of an armoured look to it... so I'm gonna say Kamigawa.

Look some of these just flatly aren't actually doable. The drones bouncing around suggests it could be from one of the planes that got those, but ultimately I think I'm going to have to put this as "yeah I got nothing".

I could have swore there was somewhere in the Wilds of Eldraine story that said these particular blue and white bovines belonged to the giants of the sky... and while I can't find it, I wanna say they're from Eldraine anyway. So I will, it just fits dangit!

This is definitely native to Thunder Junction. It's just got the vibe, you know?

Choke this one up to New Capenna- and if you think that's wrong, blame the Sterlings for having such fine coats.

Ditto for this one- though I'll note that the carriage and the train from the above card absolutely have that Kaladeshi vibe.

It' always fun to see what exactly gets turned into an instant or sorcery spell in flavor-first sets like this. This friend is from Thunder Junction, positive.

Another Sterling, another New Capenna ex-pat looking to make a name for herself. If it helps one of the city's of the plane, Omenport, leads directly to New Capenna, making it one of the most likely planes for people to naturally come from.

I will stop calling Sterling Company mooks New Capennan's when they stop looking like people from New Capenna. This is a sort of Aven you'd find there design wise.

Cute, designing a shield like a deputy star. This has no real markers signifying the people using it, but the subject of the art is clearly the shield itself, and this bad boy was made on Thunder Junction baby.

Only 30 images are allowed per port so check in soon for PART 2.

[bite-the-bloody-hand]

Dramatis Personae

For the sake of having the most important details of Zell's person and history written down somewhere, I have been compelled to create this character sheet of sorts. FULL of spoilers for Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous.

Name: Grenzel 'Zell' Marion Hellsing Birth name: Salyut Pronouns: He/Him Gender: Trans Man Species: Dhampir (Vampire King Ancestry) Age: He thinks he's 19, but he's off by a few decades. Birthday: 20th Gozran :weed emoji: Star Sign: The Bridge (or The Daughter, I think he's right on the cusp?)/The Underworld Dragon Sexuality: Pansexual, Panromantic Deity/Religion: None Class: Bloodrager Primalist - Celestial & Arcane bloodline. Background: Nomad- Honglian and Ustlavic Alignment: Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Good Path: Azata+ Love interest: Daeran Arendae Starting Stats: (Level one): STR 16 DEX 8 CON 14 INT 12 WIS 14 CHA 16 Top 3 Skills: Perception, Athletics, Persuasion Hobbies: Spinning thread, bug hunting, venue crashing (plays drums, flute, trumpet, and lute as cover) Horseback riding, various kinds of entertainment-derived mischief, Improv theater, bone carving Accent: Ustlavic - while fluent in Common he prefers to let people think otherwise. His accent will get thicker when he's tired, annoyed, or fucking with someone. Will speak in broken Ustlavic or a paint-blisteringly thick Honglian regional accent at the drop of a hat.

Quotes: "Come drink with me, friend." "Even foul water puts out wildfires." "Echh… we're really in the rice now."

Appearance: 5'5", broad shouldered with a somewhat wolfish appearance. Works out, but wouldn't say no to a cookie kind of physique. His hands and feet are oversized and a bit paw-like. He has hip-length, greying black hair that he keeps braided - usually in two simple plaits but he does love a fancy set of braids when time allows. His skin is a dusty gold-grey, as if undeath has left an actual tarnish behind.

His face is wedge-shaped, with high cheekbones, square jaw, and a slightly large nose crooked from catching one too many right hooks. Eyes are sharp, with small pupils and colored a bright blue-green - like the afterglow of a lightning strike - that reflect eerily in darkness or low light. Heavy, sharp eyebrows give him a somewhat cynical, predatory look that gets enhanced by his easy grin - he's not shy about showing off his fangs. He has one large deep scar bisecting his right eyebrow that sadly doesn't have a cool origin - a clay pot fell on him when he was trying to get it off a tall shelf. Otherwise he bears a few cut marks on his arms and legs from skirmishes, a deeper set of clawmarks over his ribs from a bad run-in with a wolverine, and the scars from affirming surgery. Finally, the fatal gutwound from his 'death' in the Stolen Lands, and the subsequent chest scar from Areelu's botched experiment.

Generally he gives off the air of a wolf desperately trying to domesticate itself, or a half-feral stray hunting dog. Real freak on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere energy. In the kindest of terms he can be described as unsettling but beautiful.

He favors jade, carnelian, and silver accessories when he can get them, and has simple bar earrings in each ear that he can't quite recall ever getting. (They're tracker tags from Areelu on account of his habit of fucking off in a random direction and getting stuck or lost somewhere upsetting.) He has issues with the joints in his hands being hypermobile that he corrects with silver splint rings. He favors primarily black outfits with pops of bright color, and minimal armor to avoid any issues with spellcasting. He has long debated the merits of getting a tongue piercing but hasn't decided whether to commit yet. He has a tattoo around his left leg of reindeer stones, and plans on getting more but isn't sure on the designs yet.

Personality: Zell by nature is an exhuberant, friendly, genuinely loving person who has learned the hard way to be extremely reseved with his trust and care. He affects an easygoing, relaxed demeanor that covers an anxious intensity soaked by deep, deep rage that is difficult to percieve until that switch flips. He leans on his innate charisma as social currency, is something of a barfly and enjoys sneaking himself into events by claiming to be 'with the band.' He especially loves crashing weddings and birthdays in this manner. Is generally known as The Guy to go to if you need something delivered, furniture moved, wood chopped, or defensive horseback riding lessons. Sometimes given to bouts of deep introspection, he has something he's searching for or working towards that drives him obsessively. Suffers from chronic joint pain and light-induced migraines, dyslexia, and severe abandonment issues. Runs hot, therefore gets heat exhausted easily.

Archetypes: Ringleader, Bon Vivant, Ambitious Sorceror.

Merits: Kind, supportive, loyal, gentle.

Flaws: Bloodthirsty, capricious, self-destructive, deceptive.

History: CW for forced cultural assimilation, forced detransition, child abuse

Zell was born under mysterious circumstances in the Hongli steppe. His mother was absent - whether she died or abandoned him was never explained - but he was raised within her tribe to be a happy and healthy child. Nobody was over concerned with gender, so he identified as a boy from early on and easily fell in with his peers. He excelled at riding horses, but had difficulty with a bow, so he trained in polearms and sword instead. While he doesn't remember much of his earliest childhood, he fondly recalls the parts of his youth leading a gaggle of youngsters across the steppe and icy desert, hunting for the tribe, herding goats and reindeer, finding cool bugs, and generally reveling in his freedom.

Unfortunately, it was not to last. When he was close to coming of age, he began to develop strange sorcerous abilities. Arcane necromancy and suggestive, enchanting magic came easily to him, and his control was nebulous at best. Still, he had help from his tribe and rarely had any extreme issues.

Soon however, strangers in terrifying black armor came from across the land bridge. They met with the elders that had raised him, and demanded to take him over to distant Avistan. He was devastated when the elders agreed to let him go, and tried to run away on his own. He was caught after weeks of evasion, and severely punished by his new handlers. The next time he was fully conscious, they were already more than halfway over the land bridge.

He was brought to Lepistadt in Ustalav to live with the "Hellsing" family, a deeply interconnected group of nobles and high-ranking Hellknights dedicated to the obstruction of a specific group of malicious vampires... When they aren't running an anti-Iomedaen protestant shadow crusade. Under the auspice of being closer to his father - who he would never meet - and 'necessary' training of his sorcerous power, he was put under the care of Nora Hellsing: a vicious, rigid woman whose first and foremost goal was to forcibly erase as much of Zell's identity as possible. Treated like a burden and an atrocity, he was denied the comfort of his language, his name, and all freedoms he had been allowed in Hongli. Alongside this, Nora did everything she could to stoke Zell's bloodlust and rage, honing him into a devastating fighter and wicked spellcaster. As a capstone, he was put through the same military academy as the other youths in the Hellsing organization. Faced with culture shock, unwinnable tasks, and Nora's cruel attention, his teenage years were a nightmare.

Nora reshaped Zell into Marion Hellsing with the intent of creating the face of the organization's next generation of Vampire Hunters, a devastating half-vampire princess that could be used as much as propaganda as a weapon. She succeeded in making Zell more dangerous, but failed in nearly every other capacity. As Marion, Zell used enchantments, intimidation, and sheer physical prowess to rebell at every opportunity; taking Nora's progressively extreme punishments while fighting indoctrination with every weapon at his disposal. He quickly learned that Nora and the more retaliatory Hellknights would stop short of anything that would kill him - though whether it was because they didn't want to risk him becoming a vampire or wished to avoid the wrath of his absentee father he could not immediately guess. Unfortunately this meant that anyone close to him was fair game - so his closest companions had to either be strong enough to hold their own or they would feel the brunt of the punishment. This did not deter Zell in the slightest, instead only fueling his rage. Zell played the part of a delinquent, bratty punk: deliberately failed classes, slept around with teachers and upperclassmen, and refused to behave unless inspired to exploit the rules to his advantage. He led a small gang of other disaffected youths upset by their involuntary placement at the Academy, and was consistent annoyance to just about anyone in power.

Even so he had few friends, and those that did get close did so for safety more than a sense of genuine friendship. Zell secretly found more solace in the labyrinthine libraries of Lepistadt's universities, more concerned with researching things on his own terms than following the ridgid precepts of Hellknight military training (or literally anything Nora wanted him to read). Eventually, his curiosity -and perhaps the occasional supernatual nudge - led him to discover interesting secrets about Hellsing's origins, and his own.

He discovers during this time that Hellsing is connected by familial relation to the Vampire King - who before becoming a vampire was the last known Aasimar of the newly dead god, Aroden. After being turned, he had apparently wandered and spent some time briefly in Tian Xia - long enough to sire a single child: - Salyut, Zell's childhood name. The child is meant to be Zell, but would have been born decades before. It will be many years before Zell eventually learns that he was given to Areelu by his father, raised til about age seven, and then left nearly a century later with the children and grandchildren of his mortal siblings with only the vaguest memories attached.

He also discovers that Hellsing's Anti-Iomedaen bent is more than just superficial: all the families are either related by blood to the Vampire King (and therefore, Aroden himself) or former clerics and paladins of the fallen god. It is unclear whether they are working directly with Areelu Vorlesh or if her involvement is just a coincidence, but they seem to believe the Vampire King's scion potentially holds a piece of Aroden's soul.

This causes him great concern… after all, Hellsing as an organization doesn't care about him as a person - they only care about Marion Hellsing the figure, and what she can do for their legitimacy and power. If they think 'Marion' holds a piece of Aroden's soul and want to try and do something with that, he doubts he'll come out the other side with any sense of self.

Learning all of this, his goals soon shifted from being the most annoying little shit on the planet to securing his own safety and freedom from Hellsing. While chasing these leads and preparing his escape, he stumbled upon caches of research left behind by Nora… and eventually proof that she was planning on becoming a lich. The particulars of her research, and how she plans to use the power of lichdom, disgusted Zell, but there was no one within Hellsing he could turn to in order to stop her. His only choice was to flee, and hope that Nora never succeeded in her plans.

This time, escaping the Hellknights was a far easier task. Armed with years of learning their tactics and the surrounding lands, he easily slipped away from Lepistadt and made his way south. The plan was to make for Absalom - perhaps strike up with some scholars who could point him towards more information about fallen Aroden. Picking the name 'Grenzel' for himself, he began his new life.

After a year or so on the road taking courier work and odd jobs, he happened to meet the captain of a river barge while chartering passage for a job. Captain Aslan Ciardha soon blew through all Zell's barriers and became his dearest friend and brother in arms. They traveled together for several years before Zell broke away to follow a lead in the Tors of Levenies. The lead was a dead end however, which allowed Zell to rejoin his friend - now a Baron in the tumultuous Stolen Lands.

He had difficulty falling in with Aslan's new crew; having little in common with most of them and no tolerance for the particulars of running a kingdom. His foremost goal was to protect and champion his friend - who had apparently come under the thrall of the wicked fae at the heart of the blight in the Stolen Lands. While Zell could see the signs of his friend being perhaps a little too invested in redeeming a clearly evil fae, there was little he could do to sway his friend. And soon, sensing his interference, Nyrissa would ensure that Zell was just as distracted.

He had not expected Tristian - of all people - to show any interest in him beyond the seemingly genuine concern of a healer. Even so he was charmed by Tristian's gentle, if fumbling, persistence, and eventually started to worry less about Aslan's predicament. While bemused and a little terrified of the prospect, Zell let himself start to fall in love and relax more around the other companions, finally gaining a sense of ease among them.

When Tristian inevitably turned coat and betrayed them all in Vordekai's tomb, Zell was devastated. He went with Aslan to Candlemere to try and talk sense into Tristian, but learning how thoroughly he'd been played truly broke his heart. While Aslan was determined to prove Tristian could be saved and made for the Temple of the Elk, Zell opted instead to support Amiri in confronting Armag. While he wasn't seeking his own death in battle - distraction and a few unlucky breaks put him on the receiving end of a mortal gut wound.

Before any of his allies could return with help, Areelu Vorlesh whisked him from the battlefield to save his life and initiate her final experiment: Alchemizing his soul with Nahyndrian crystal. Now, with his soul so full of rage and heartbreak, seemed to her to be the best moment to strike. She threw in the top surgery for free, as a treat.

Delirious, heartbroken, and in a body slightly altered from normal was how Zell came to in Kenabras square, unsure how he even got there or even why he was still alive.

[almostharmon]

with forsaken and kaldorei heritage sets announced i am just gonna ✨shamelessly✨ plug my draenei heritage armor concept i did in 2021 because im yearning for more space goat content

my goal was to marry their nomadic and old eredar/vindicator aesthetic that would resurge every time they settled down for a long period of time. i thought going with strictly either would do them a disservice, as both are essential to them.

heres hoping they do them justice and that they are next in line for heritage sets!!