#oh neat fantasy!!!

[demenior]

trick or treat! for anything fealty and/or volstrucker related 🫶

i'm still working on it, but bc of this i started writing up a whole thing about the volstrucker and how i think they function/work

here's a sample

The Residuum:

I consider residuum to be, effectively, fantasy magic cocaine (yes, functionally, that’s suude, but that's made from residuum so i'm doing a same-same here). It should not be ingested, but ironically, that’s what most people do with it. Absolutely addictive.

Volstrucker are walking around with a small fortune implanted within them

They keep the knowledge of these implants secret not only to protect their identities, but to keep them from being targeted by black market operatives who would steal the residuum for resale

The activated implants function in several mechanic ways (a reskinned Bladesinger, iirc), and I’ve added a little extra in my writing. I figure there should be some really good payoffs for all of the training and getting shot up with the fantasy coke that could kill you from using it:

Rather than a 10ft boost to walking speed, I treat it like being hasted

This comes with the round of exhaustion when it ends, but! The trick is that it's not held to the 1 minute spell time, the Volstrucker can control when it ends

They can keep their implants active until the residuum is burned out, but, how much strain can their bodies handle?

Activating the implants also heightens their senses

Mechanically this would be some boost to perception checks

I write it like they’ve had a veil on, and the residuum hitting takes that away. Colors are brighter, sounds are louder, the world moves slower (because of the haste). This is all good for being alone and moving in on an assassination target.

Amplifying spells

Mechanically, what I call Amplifying allows for casting a spell at a higher spell slot, while spending a lower spell slot.

It is extremely taxing on the body and so can’t be done often (a once per long rest or smth like that)

In writing this means getting to decide to boost just how damaging your spell is going to be

Components

In a pinch the implants are expected to serve as emergency spell components. But due to how expensive residuum is, the expectation is that  Volstrucker should be carrying all of the spell components they require

Trent does not like this, but the Volstrucker discovered that you can burn your residuum at low levels (not a full activation) to push back fatigue.

This is important if you’re working deep in enemy territory and can’t afford to sleep for a few days, but need to maintain your senses

There is a price to pay on the other side—the lethargy that hits is even heavier than the usual fatigue, and often amplified depending on how many sleeps you are in deficit

By keeping the residuum “on low”, you burn through it faster

Restocking

If a Volstrucker lives long enough (5-8 years, depending), they will burn through their reserves

By this point, their body is so dependent on having residuum that if they do not get another round of implants they will go into withdrawal

This has a high likelihood of death, and so is to be avoided

In theory they could be weaned off of the residuum safely, but due to the nature of everything going on with the Volstrucker, this has never happened

This round of implants has a much faster recovery time. Most Volstrucker recover at home, with no need to be drugged as their bodies are accustomed to the excess of residuum and they can control it, so they are not expected to accidentally kill themselves

No Volstrucker has lived long enough to need a third round of residuum implants

[caprart1]

Deathless death

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

wormie wormie wormie wormi-

[nyatbinary-81]

@vulpixisananimal sifstem art jumpscare!! more specifically i got bored and decided to mess around with sif and mal's outfits.

[welcometogrouchland]

I also think it's nice that they made Camilla a sci-fi nerd and Luz a fantasy nerd. They're genres that are often seen as completely opposing one another by many people, which is what we're led to believe about Luz and Camilla in season 1. Luz is silly, nerdy, frequently in over her head and irresponsible and loves the boiling isles. We're led to believe that Camilla is the normal, conventional TV mother who'd be disgusted and terrified by the demon realm if she saw it.

Then yesterday's lie gives us a lot of nuance to this, and we realize that while they're still very different and now on opposite sides of a conflict, both mother and daughter are incredibly kind people (seen in their treatment of Vee) who love each other but struggle to make the right choices without hurting one another.

Then thanks to them drops all this Camilla characterization and we realize! She was a nerd too this whole time! The wedge between Camilla and Luz is motivated by past traumas and grief! and for the future has them switching sides on the central conflict of where Luz should stay (Camilla now wanting Luz in the demon realm because it's what's best for her, and Luz believing that staying in the human realm is what's best for the people she loves). They finally talk and realize that, like Willow pointed out earlier in the ep, the two are so alike. Camilla reveals that she's a secret nerd too! That she had a hard time growing up and accidentally hurt Luz trying to save her from the same fait! It's so important to me that Camilla keeps calling Luz a good witch. It's affirming her interests and goals, reminding her that she's just as good as the hero of her favorite story. And Luz finally only realizes that she wants to be understood...when she's finally able to understand her mom. When she realizes that the woman she loves and admires is just as much of a nerdy screw-up as her and that there's hope for her. Her palismen ends being multiple animals at once, showing both how Luz making unconventional choices (like carving an egg) keeps paying off for her and how her potential is limitless now that she finally knows and accepts her own goals, but to me it also reminds of the fact that Camilla is a vet and passed a love of all the weird and unliked animals (like wolves, possums, snakes, etc) to her.

It's just so so sweet and it really shows how much love and thought the crew put into this mother daughter storyline (FTF haters are not welcome on this page, respectfully). I can't wait to see how both of these misunderstood but healing women (who radiate "little/big sister" and "mom" energy respectively) are gonna interact with a) the lonely, easily manipulated and well intentioned but ignorant collector (a mix of both their interests as a magic being with a space motif! I just realized that lol) and b) the nasty puritan white man who's really obsessed with conforming to society's norms even when it literally doesn't benefit him at all.

Anyway, I believe in noceda( AND clawthorne 👀) family supremacy 💙

[reillymackay]

a twilight cleric(/sorcerer) eladrin for an upcoming campaign, heeeere's margaux✨

[knightelf]

i think i gotta delete tiktok .

[h0neyfreak]

I wrote a paper in college for a children’s fantasy class on how PJO handles disability (specifically ADHD and dyslexia) better than almost any other book for kids that tries to be “about” disability. And rereading it now as more of an adult (I think I was 18 when I took that class) I was worried I’d spend the whole time cringing at my past self but like….I was correct and I’m glad I said it. “Your brain is wired differently and just because it’s a benefit in certain situations (fighting monsters or reading Ancient Greek) doesn’t mean it sucks any less the rest of the time. Especially in a world that doesn’t acknowledge the existence of monsters or write anything in Ancient Greek” is a based take on intellectual disabilities that genuinely meant a lot to me as a kid with (undiagnosed) ADHD.

[sea-buns]

Fabian rolling another nat 1 in episode 2 to do the exact same thing is starting to feel like a really fucked up 12 Days of Christmas

Like I popped open the Fantasy High advent calendar and it was another day of Fabian failing in an extremely traumatic way

[reneesfanworks]

they got me an optical pen for christmas let's fucking gooo

[fantasmagoriam]

Hey @lilbittymonster, I just think she’s neat :3

[xiiiwayfinders]

I love Barret so much

[gu6chan]

99% just my autism speaking here but something ive been noticing lately that im sorta kinda 😶 about is when ppl are like "I think you'll like this" but not bc they ACTUALLY think you'll like it, rather they just got into it and want you to also get into it so "I think you'll like this" is a nice personal hook. i love chill stuff as much as any other person ofc but given i don't divulge that EVER, what makes you think my berserk reading, made in abyss watching, drakengard playing ass would like YURU CAMP????

[shaniacsboogara]

thinking about my tiefling rogue after months of only having my half orc warlock on the brain... 😈

[tigirl-and-co]

I have a BotW/TotK opinion so unpopular I think I would be murdered for it

[artskls]

holy crap i just found this in my drafts it’s been....years?? since i doodled these

original comments:

did you know that the ffvii item list wiki has an illustration that goes with every item. Like the different chocobo greens are actually just different vegetables apparently and the Don Corneo mission items tell you exactly what the three dresses cloud can wear look like