#or in dubhan's case

[moonlit-grove]

Most likely to get duped by a street magician to least for the OC grouping ask! (@uselessidiotsquad)

COURTIERS GETTING DUPED LET'S GO.

Most Flaithri - Listen the Baron is young and arrogant as fuck. He thinks he knows everything. He will fall for every single trick.

Miesce - Actually she's tied for first but for COMPLETELY different reasons. Girl is so high everything looks like magic to her.

Dubhan - Odd case. He's not duped, he just enjoys them. He's surprisingly able to suspend his disbelief to watch magic shows.

Forgh - Do not be fooled this man is an idiot. It depends on the tricks the magician does if he's fooled or not. COMPLETELY on what tricks are done. Smdh Forgh.

Hartha - She has spirits that can tell her whats actually happening. She might get fooled for a moment until a ghost just goes "you know he's just sliding the cards down his sleeves right?"

Marfach - OKAY. Listen. She's spent so much time around humans. She KNOWS tricks. She even learned some to fuck with Mad.

[carrotcouple]

And with this smol Ebony and Dubhan art, I have drawn Dubhan a total of two times!

I keep starting things as rough sketches and then going “I should color this.” kids are so hard to draw. Luckily Ebony looks like a kid. I’m not sure about Dubhan. Can you guys tell i don’t care about anatomy anymore. AHAHAHAHAHA. Help me. Dubhan and Hypatia are the “not straight haired Nijik” squad. God, I don’t talk about Dubhan and Ebony enough. He was her older brother, her hero, the person she wanted to become. And then he dies in her arms, trying to protect her from Vlad. It haunts her for the rest of her life, even after the Battle of Makena.

[jbhofstee]

Hello! This is a writeblr for an aspiring author! I go by JB Hofstee and I prefer to write in supernatural and fantasy genres at this present time. I have two projects currently simmering on a back burner while I attend college. Their summaries and primary characters are going to be under readmore for anyone curious!

PSI Files - Multi Book Supernatural series

Clarity Fergus always knew she was different. And she wanted to use that to help people—both living and dead. After an incident in her hometown, she finds herself involved in the Bureau, an international organization which keeps the balance between the natural and the supernatural. Clarity joins the organization and works to solve cases around the globe of supernatural and natural beings disrupting the balance.

Main Characters

Clarity Fergus - A young American human woman with spiritual powers, sense auras, and the ability to speak with the dead. Having suffered high social anxiety, Clarity learns how to cope and grow into herself once she finds herself working for the Bureau.

Gershom Black - the enigmatic detective who is one of Clarity’s trainers. Often the serious and more balanced view, his severe outlook covers up a deeply caring personality and deeply buried guilt. His words oftentimes contradict his actions, almost as if he naturally tends to walk a line.

Dáithí Murty - a water type of Fae from Scotland called a tangie, Daithi is the magical and tech of the trio, a forced detective for the Bureau and Clarity’s other trainer. He acts more lighthearted and is a bit flirtatious, but beneath that lies a deep sea hiding away his true personality and intentions.

Supporting Characters

Todd Anderson - a dhampir detective for the Bureau and the former apprentice for Gershom and Dáithí, Todd is a quiet and reserved type, preferring to think before he speaks or acts. Very observant, he sometimes states his observations out loud, though, which can cause some discomfort. He has good intentions, but he tries to keep people at arm’s length due to fear of his nature.

Gwen Collins - a half-fae, half-human young woman who works as an archivist for the Bureau. Very friendly and bubbly, she often is seen sporting a new shade of pastel hair each week. Gwen is on the backend, getting information from the archives for detectives, frequently for Gershom’s team.

Robert Faeway - The stoic Deputy Director of the Bureau, Faeway was once human, until necromancy and science were used on him to bring him back, turning him effectively immortal and super-human. a turn of the 1900s century man, Faeway was far more scientific and less spiritual and this still translates into much of his mannerisms to this day.

Lady Emilie - a being who creates and protects portals, she’s often found at the entrances to the Bureau, typically in what’s designed as an antique shop. A very knowledgeable woman in her own right, she has no issue moving pieces how she pleases without telling anyone. Her goal is to help maintain the balance so the threads don’t converge and collapse, though, so there is little malevolence to expect.

Piotr Stolarz - a trickster poltergiest from Poland who can’t seem to cross over. Even as he took revenge against those who wiped out him and his family, he can’t seem to find the reason why, starting to extend his punishment to members of their families until he’s tracked down by the Bureau. He eventually becomes an ally and is considered an anomaly due to his inability to move on.

The Stonekeeper - A Fantasy Trilogy

A banished darkness threatens to return from the Wastes. Yet the kingdom is in shambles after the murder of the king, his wife, and their unborn child. The barrier keeping the dark prince in the Wastes is weakening and the only way to strengthen it is to find the royal family’s ancient elven stone. Which is in the possession of a young woman far from the capital, in a village of no consequence...

Main Characters

Lucasta Henda - Working on her mothers’ farm and training to be on the village guard, Lucasta owns a golden stone necklace she always wears. Level headed and strong willed, Lucasta is not the kind to take nonsense and does not tolerate injustice. Despite her desire to remain in her village to protect it, she knows she must leave it to keep it safe.

Val Guiscard Thankarat Amadeus - a disgraced mage, labelled a warlock, Val values his freedom above all else. The wealth of his family couldn’t tempt him to remain in a gilded cage, so he left. He reunited with his elder brother, though, to help him with a mission to guarantee the kingdom’s freedom. After the murder of his brother, Val must continue it on his own.

Mira Loch - Lucasta’s childhood friend, highly knowledgeable from her connections with her monk uncle who would send her books as presents, she also serves on the village’s guard as an archer and healer. Mira is not the type to shy away from sharing her knowledge and is not fond of being patronized. She refused to be left behind when Lucasta left the village.

Lian Wu - Her family having fled civil war in her homeland, Lian Wu was found to be slightly gifted with magic, not enough to be a mage, but enough to be trained to be a guard for a mage so they would not fall to the dark arts. Lian was paired with Val’s elder brother to be his guard and he escaped her watchful eye for his mission. Frustrated, Lian managed to track down Val, Lucasta, and Mira, learning the truth and joining them on their quest.

Pyrrus Aneirin Maddoc - a nobleman, Pyrrus is known to be a highly honorable man and his family to be fiercely loyal to the royal line. Pyrrus offers his allegiance to Lucasta and her group, offering to travel with them to assure their legitimacy in the capital. Trained as a warrior and a politician, his skills and reputation prove to be invaluable.

Sciéno - An ancient elf who was awakened by the dark prince’s invasion of the temple he and the other sentinels were sleeping in, only to be awakened to guard. He was the only one to awaken and had to destroy the room his comrades were in to keep their secrets safe. After running into Lucasta and her group in an ancient ruin, he reluctantly agrees to assist them, if only to keep the dark prince from gaining all the ancient stones to have the powers they possessed.

Prince Dubhan - Dubbed the dark prince, Dubhan is the son of the Emperor from centuries ago who ruled over the kingdom with an iron fist, bleeding the people dry for his dark arts. The Emperor was defeated by the ancestor of the royal line and he and his son banished to the Wastes. While in the Wastes, Dubhan learned how to consume the energy of other beings, especially mages, to strengthen his own power and killed his father in this manner to begin his return and take back what he believes is rightfully his.

[demonac]

Island Dwarves - Creative Make-Up for Sunday Morning Heroes

The Patreon Preview of TDDC Extras #40 is up; if you're a supporter, ask your questions there!

But in the meantime, did you catch my last Creative "Make-Up" video?

SCRIPT (Raw transcript):

So for this week's creative exercise, I went back to basics a little, and looked at designing a dwarven city - not for the world of Tales From My D&D Campaign, but like a lot of the places in that world, I want it to have familiar elements that fit in well with the oldschool, Tolkeinesque feel most D&D players are used to, but with enough of new or unusual elements - or in this case, elements from other viewer suggestions - to make it a little more interesting. So if some of you listen in, you may find your idea. I'm not drawing the map, or choosing the population size, number of clans and guilds, because this is all an excercise in brainstorming, and in designing an RPG setting to make sure there is plenty of potential for exciting conflict.

Baiyin A'chala is an old Dwarfhome; a mountain tunneled into for mining, then expanded from a worker's barracks to a small town, until many long dwarven generations later, it has grown into a full city and fortress, with families, farming, industry - its own art, history, and politics. In this case, it's not just a mountain - it's effectively an island, as Mount A'chala was separated from the mainland by Loch Dubhan - a quarter-mile of water. Now by island, I don't mean there's like a beach, or flat land - it's really just a mountain projecting up from below the water-level, with a chain of tiny barrier isles - mostly just weather-worn rocks - out to either side.

Old mined-out tunnels are re-purposed as living space, but also as mushroom and lichen farms to help feed the population. The water also helps provide for the city with fishing, though they never built a serious harbor, so their surface trade has remained fairly limited. The old rule of a Dwarfhold still stands; build nothing outside the mountain that can't be abandoned the moment the alarm is sounded. In practice, some of the fishers have built themselves floating shacks by their light docks to live closer to their trade, as the times have been relatively peaceful, but the rule is still - dwarves won't defend any external structures. If enemies fall upon the Mountain, you must get inside. That's why you won't find more than a hermit-or-two willing to camp out on the tiny rock isles.

In Baiyin A'chala's prime, they delved a tunnel beneath the shallow Loch, connecting them with the underdark, and thus to many other subterranean places, including other, distant Dwarfhomes and some of the more reasonable races that lived in the depths of the earth. For over a century they were able to trade with other dwarves via the Underway - it was always dangerous, requiring heavily armed caravans, as the darkness holds many strange creatures, both monsters and violent humanoids. But there came a day when an army of Derro assaulted the city from beneath, trying to breach the heavy metal gates and other layered defenses. The Derro are like pale, sadistic shadows of dwarves, and they fought with deadly abandon (and weakening poisons), but the defenders were stalward, led by Undercaptain Balgair, and though they quickly lost the first Gate to the surprise attack, they rallied and held fast at the Second Gate against many waves of attackers - even against the pair of carrion crawlers unleashed by the Derro. But one of Balgair's scouts reported back that the tunnel was still filled with the pupilless white eyes of the dwarves' mad cousins, and far worse, he had spotted the taller colwed form of a Spider-priest; a Drow.

Balgair realized that if the dark elves were behind this, there was no winning; it meant the Derro had been tricked and were merely being used to probe and wear down the Dwarfhome's defenses. Whether they won or lost, a Drow Legion would surely come next, and to stand against such enemies, one would have to be as mad as the Derro themselves. And so Balgair ordered his men to fall back to the Last Gate, and to destroy the columns, for there was only one tunnel into Baiyin A'chala, and its final defense was the Loch itself. With the gate sealed, the dwarves smashed the columns, allowing the mass of stone and water above them to collapse the Underway, crushing the attackers in a calamitous flood of seawater and rubble that none survived, and forever branding the Undercaptain: Balgair the Sunderer.

Some called Balgair a hero, but to many he had destroyed the future of the Dwarfhold by cutting them off from the world, and to this day there are some who hold a grudge, or at the very least a disdain for The Sunderer and his descendents. They would argue that seeing one Drow was hardly enough evidence on which to irreversably bring down the Loch, but to debate it was pointless; it was done.

Not long after, the Council passed an Edict banning any delving down to the level of the Underway or below, to avoid opening new routes to the Underdark or exposing the mountain to new dangers from the depths, but it did not take long for the Mining Guild (and all metalworking craftsdwarves) to balk at this limitation, for they knew there were richer veins of ore deeper down. And within a generation, they began to question how much more mining could be done at all within the confines of the heavily tunneled stone of Mount A'chala.

 When it comes to Dwarven politics, each dwarf is born into a clan, which is your extended family, and effectively a political unit. Most dwarves are also part of a guild, based on their profession - like a combination union and marketing board. - Smiths, Miners, Stonecarvers, Alchemists etc. There are marriages both inside clans, and between them, so families and lineage are still tracked carefully within a clan, but if you ask a dwarf who they are, they'll more likely mention their clan and guild before getting into their biological family.

The ruling council - known as the Greybeards - is composed of two representatives from each clan, and one from each Official guild. A council vote is required to make a guild Official (adding their seat to the Council); by tradition, a guild becomes official at 100 members, but a smaller guild can also be given official status if they perform a great service for the city, as have the Alchemists and the Mages' guild. The Priests are not a guild, but they have their own special representative as well.

As a GM, if you don't want to run a political game, the Council is just a bunch of authority figures, suitable for questgiving, villainous scheming - being rescued or kidnapped or assassinated. But it you want it, the council allows for all kinds of politics:

If somebody wants to get something done (or stop something from being done), they have to find out which council members are undecided, and which ones could be convinced to change their votes; convinced, bribed or threatened.

There are always conflicts between guilds, looking for advantages over one-another. Some guilds might feel like their areas overlap, and may want to merge, but they can only do so if both sides agree, and a lot of pressure of various forms may be required - especially since the combined group may be a lot stronger in other ways, but would go from two seats down to one on the Council.

The Council can strip a guild's Official status, removing their seat, but the threshold for the vote is 2/3, rather than the usual 51%. Politically, the traditionalists, especially from the larger guilds, would never strip the vote from a guild that meets the minimum size. But the smaller guilds, like the Alchemists, could be vulnerable to some kind of political machinations - especially if they were blamed for some disaster or outrage.

Smaller clans have the same two council votes as the larger ones, and they have still have their great halls and their vaults; their own resources. So while larger clans obviously have more power and wealth, there is a natural incentive - call it market forces. At a certain point, a shrinking clan becomes small enough that what it does have is concentrated into fewer hands, such that marrying into it becomes a good value proposition. That doesn't mean they all balance out to be equal, by any means, but a clan that is dwindling tends to bounce back closer to the average within a generation or two.

--- Remember, people (and the occasional wagonload of goods) can still get to and from the city by boat; the lack of harbor just prevents them from using larger vessels - you can easily send a party of non-dwarf Player Characters there. So if you were using Baiyin A'chala, or a similar Dwarven city in your game, what sorts of things might be going on?

There's always a movement by the Mining Guild, usually supported by other major guilds to revoke the Edict that prevents them from mining straight down below the mountain. "The old connection to the Underdark was through the mainland", they argue, "if we remain in the roots of this mountain, the chances of reconnecting are minimal." After all, centuries have passed since the trouble, plus the supply of new ore is becoming tighter and tighter - something has to give.

But there are still some who hold up Balgair the Sunderer as a hero for cutting off the underdark, and many many more who fear that if you delve deep enough, its inevitable that you would reconnect the city to the Derro, or the Drow... or worse.

Others (usually in opposition to the miners above), say they should finally build a permanent harbour, suitable for heavy ferries, or even oceangoing vessels. Big ferries (and the facilities needed to load and unload them, and to defend the docks) would let them multiply their overland trade, and blue sea vessels would open up whole new avenues for trade - both new wealth and a great deal more food variety is out there for the taking.

But, a lot of traditionalists are against changing the very ancient Dwarven rule against major construction outside the mountain, and more importantly, the comitment to defend something outside, in the open - where they lose the tremendous defensive advantage of enclosed spaces with hundreds of years worth of intense fortifications. They point to the attack just a few decades back from a ship of Gnoll pirates, who killed 2 fishermen, but took heavy casualties and fled the island with their tails between their legs without setting a single foot within the tunnels of the city. With the proposed harbor, either far more lives would have been lost fighting outside the mountain, or the Gnolls would have run off with every crate of cargo and stolen or burned every ship at the docks.

Both of the above expansion plans make great political struggles, either for active involvement by the players, or more likely in the background, leading to many smaller-scale and more direct interpersonal and interfactional problems and disputes for the PCs to get involved - to debate or to smash. Ultimately, if you had a campaign focused on this city, you probably want one or both of these changes to happen, to enable oversea or underground invasions or exploration.

 With the harbor (maybe even before it's finished), I would aim to send out some heroes to explore the nearby coast and islands for possible trade routes before considering any invasion (which would seem to justify the councerns of the anti-harbour dwarves).

Similarly, if they decide to dig deeper and more greedily, I'd be inclined to start with more insidious threats before big direct challenges. They breach a series of caverns or ancient lava tubes, and somebody needs to explore them to find out if they are self-contained, or if they lead into other new areas which might connect to the greater Underdark. Whether or not they've breached the Underdark, they may find a few big nasty thing(s) to fight, but in the city weird things start happening... in the form of individual, sneaky monsters creeping into the city, acting more like a serial killer that has to be tracked down and captured.

What else is going on? Whether the deep mining prohibition is lifted, or whether the problem is just the lack of space left within the mountain itself, an anti-mining movement may form. They are strictly non-violent; but they get together, pick a spot where mining is happening, and they barge in and force out the miners, barricade themselves in, and then go to work on the stone, what they call "Facing" it - smoothing it, carving reliefs, engraving patterns - crafting the tunnel itself into a work of art so that when the owners (via superior numbers, possibly threats and thugs, possibly with barristers and having the activists jailed) when the miners force them out, they have to either tunnel around the area, or deface it. And defacing works of art will enrage a certain percentage of the population who may otherwise be more sympathetic to the mine owners.

Do the activists hire the PCs to make a distraction in one mining tunnel so they can take over another? Or do the miners hire the PCs as mercenaries and "outsiders" to protect their business? OR does all this happen without player involvement, but the tension leads to other nastyness; does overmining collapse a residential area? Was it sabotage by a more extremist wing of the activists, or a 3rd party like a tunneling monster? Does one side send thugs against the other, kidnap a leader? All great options.

This has gone on pretty long, but some more shortform plot ideas:

A number of dwarves are behaving very oddly; it turns out they've been experiencing some kind of hallucinations.

It turns out the common thread is which farm - which tunnel - they've been getting lichen or mushrooms from. Turns out the farmers had bought some foreign plants.

They could have gotten some Myconid seeds by mistake, and a small colony of the fungus-people hypnotized the farmers to ignore them. You could smash them... but it may even be possible to negotiate? ...Somehow?

OR were they sold tainted Lichen intentionally by an outside force? Who's responsible, are they inside or outside the mountain? Track them down and find out!

There have been reports of a rash of pickpockets in the arcade (the old arched part of the market, though the market has expanded over time, and shops have popped up in all sorts of places).

Some witnesses claimed to have seen dwarven children fleeing the crime, but not one has been caught or even identified

It turns out they are actually small, crude-looking, temporary flesh golems (but in clothes they could be mistaken for children), who last just long enough to steal something, then run off and dissolve through a sewer grate, leaving the loot to be picked up by a servant of their creator

Are they being created by a rogue alchemist? Or a priest of some weird religion? Or some spellcaster or monster that has snuck into the city (possibly disguised as a dwarf)

What are they after? Just money to try to fund a proper golem? Or are they after something specific... keys to something valuable, or spell components for voodoo... or evidence of some conspiracy or crime (would that make the golem-maker a good-guy?)

Bottled up in this mountain, with less and less minable space (particularly where there is likely to be ore), most of the Mining Guild is falling on hard times... but one clan or company is making a fortune. Where are they getting the ore?

The obvious assumption would be they are breaking the Edict, mining down too low, but there's no evidence of this; they have hardly any claims in the lower levels.

It turns out they are getting new ore from an extradimensional source!

Did they find (or through some dangerous ritual) create a portal to another plane which they are mining? What new dangers are they exposing the entire city to in the process? Alien creatures? Or could the ore itself be dangerous?

Did they make a deal with a Devil? Or some other being? Or a devil pretending to be some other being, like a Djinn? At what cost?

I hope that gives some ideas, particularly to those of you suggesting ideas about dwarves.

I want to thank all my generous Patreon Patrons for helping me keep making videos of all sorts, particularly Gandurk, Pericles, Syldari, Lord Eibon and Tyrano McG and Zombi - the members of The Organization.

Make sure to make suggest your own weird or interesting ideas in the comments or on twitter @TalesDDC; and don't get too overly specific, because you never know what you'll get. Brainstorm away, whether for RPGs or for any fiction. Of course, if you want to see a lot of my crazy RPG ideas in action, check out the epic illustrated Tales From My D&D Campaign!

[moonlit-grove]

FREN! how about 2, 3 and 15 with Vie and Count Dubhan? >;3c (@griffith-and-co)

OOO >;3c

2 - Does your OC have a signature weapon they use? How did they get it? Does it have a name?

His greatsword! He was granted it by the grand duchess as a symbol of "office" when he was named Count of Bleeding Hearts. It has a large, cracked heart on the guard, which appears to bleed when he's in battle. It has no name... yet :3

3 - Does your OC prefer close range or long range combat?

Close range, absolutely. He loves seeing the terror in his enemy's eyes as they realize they're going to die at his hands.

15 - Talk about a fight your OC won.

Hmm... A fight against a valiant that infiltrated his camp, trying to free another- one he'd taken to break on his own alongside his beloveds toys. The first valiant attacked him, blinded by rage. His greatsword overpowered and broke the valiant's sword arm. He was thrown into a cage to be broken when they finished with the second.

[moonlit-grove]

OKAY SO! @uselessidiotsquad​ asked about characters having songs, and I showed an entire playlist for my Nightmare Courtier, Dubhan. This post will be going into the songs and why they were chosen for him. Each song will be linked, but the full playlist is here. Some of the reasonings will be extremely short, but... sshhh

The Count of Bleeding Hearts

Dubhan (pronounced like Devin), is Aengus Corbeau’s ex-beloved. The one he had before Kahedins, he was always a little... odd for a beloved. He was a warden, incredibly flirty, and wore being Aengus’ beloved like it was a badge of honor. When he fell to Nightmare, he spent a few years still in the Grove trying to make Aengus fall. His abuse of the raven ramped up, he cut him off from his twin. He vanished from the Grove one night, leaving Aengus shaking and bleeding from the last night with him.

For two months, he was a recruit. Then, he wooed a warden captain to Nightmare, and influenced him to bring along his entire battalion of wardens. He was given title, the Count of Bleeding Hearts. Until recently, he was still in the Caledon and stalking Aengus. Only a year before he was sent to Mount Maelstrom did he let the raven go. He has two new beloveds, @salad-tales​’ Oleander and @thoseofuswhoblossom​’s Impyreno.

Poor Unfortunate Souls

For a Warrior, Dubhan has always had a little magic. The tiniest amount of mesmer magic, just enough to create minor illusions. As a Count, he seeks to turn those to Nightmare with broken hearts, seduction and betrayal. Though sometimes, to his court, he is cruel. When he needs to be, he is terrifying and powerful... Or if someone touches one of his beloveds toys.

The Other Side

He was a warden. He was a little cruel even under the Dream, but he was a warden. He was a straight-laced warden. Then one of his friends revealed his hand: He was a double agent.

Don’t Mess With Me

He is a Nightmare Count. After Heart of Thorns, the Court of Bleeding Hearts becomes a splinter. They are powerful, they are terrifying. Dubhan is cruel once you’ve fallen. If his chosen toys aren’t around, he might make recruits fill his needs.

Joker’s Song

His relationship with his beloveds is twisted. He is obsessive, one is unwaveringly loyal, the other acts like he doesn’t care. They are a twisted, harmful relationship. But if any of them were to leave, the others would crumble and grieve. They are lost without the others.

Ex’s and Oh’s

“Bleeding Heart” is usually meant to meet someone so kind they feel everything another feels. For Dubhan, it means he makes your heart bleed. He makes you fall, and he leaves.

Paparazzi

He is obsessive in love. He is horribly, terrifyingly obsessive. His beloved becomes his dedication. He loves him more than anything. No one else can touch them... Also, his stalking of Aengus after he became a Courtier. Aengus had left the Grove with his twin and joined a circus. He sometimes got inside.

If I Had You

Oleander’s perspective of the relationship. The squire would do anything for Dubhan. Anything at all for the Count’s affections.

Bad Boy

There was a period, in his relationship with Aengus, when the raven considered breaking up. When he thought about calling it off... But the time spent with Dubhan was thrilling, exhilarating. He considered it, he genuinely did... But he didn’t know how bad it was going to get.

Set Fire to the Love Song

Aengus’ perspective on their relationship, from the honeymoon phase to reflection now that he has Kahedins.

Only Us

During Heart of Thorns, Dubhan only cared about himself and his beloveds. He cared about nothing else. Still, they are the most important to him. No one else could ever match. He cares only for them.

D.T.M

His current feelings about Aengus. A part of him is still obsessed.

I Don’t Want to Hurt You

His feelings about Aengus during the period he stalked him.

I Kissed a Boy

This man is gay. He’s also an ass.

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

Kahedins’ feelings on the Count.

Equality

Looking back on his life as a warden and as a Dreamer. He would not go back.

Ricochet

A more somber look into Aengus’ feelings. He can never forget Dubhan, the scars run too deep.

Can’t Be Tamed

The Count cannot be controlled. No one can tame him. Not even his beloveds.

The Spectacle

He is one of the more... flashy of the nobility.

Carnivore

As a warden, he only had so far he could go. There was only so much he could do. As a Dreamer, there was only so much he could have. He tried. He tried to be good. He was destined for Nightmare.

Dark Horse / E.T.

Honestly I can’t explain this one, it just gives me vibes for him and his beloveds.

How To Be A Heartbreaker

His court seduces. They use seduction.

Heathens

The Nightmare Court. Need I say more?

Good Girls Go Bad

Good boys in his case, but well... He is a master at his craft. He knows how to get Dreamers to fall.

Your Love’s a Drug

Another look at Oleander’s feelings on the relationship, maybe also a little of Impyerno’s feelings.

Brainwash

Once again, honestly it’s just vibes.

Threw It Away

Dubhan’s feelings for Aengus directly after the raven and Kahedins became beloveds.

Die For You

Dubhan and his beloveds as they stand currently within the general story.

In The Dark of The Night

This could be read as either: Dubhan during the stage of him stalking Aengus

Or: Dubhan’s long-running “rivalry” with Sariel

[moonlit-grove]

MORE ON MY SYLVARI REPRODUCTIVE HEADCANONS

Technically not sfw but i mean we're just talking about it???

When the Pale Tree was designing sylvari, she did not know what certain parts of a human were for. She could figure out some, like the eyes and ears, but the reproductive organs? She couldn't. She didn't know what they were. So some of her children have both, one, or none at all.

In the headcanon that the parts are fully functional and they can reproduce, some are more likely to carry than sire, and some can do both. Sylvari seedlings (the term for children born biologically and not from the pale tree) are usually conceived in spring to be born in fall, though that is not always the case.

They are born unconnected to the Dream, and remain young until they connect. This can take anywhere from a few days to a few years. Usually, twins will connect at the same time. A twin is more likely to carry or sire twins.

"Seedling" is the term for all of them, and used for young ones that have not connected to the Dream

"Sprout" is the term for ones that have connected but are still young.

Seedlings grow similarly to human offspring, though the time between the life stages can vary depending on various influences including their parents, their connection to the Dream, and the type of sylvari they are.

Examples, with my sylvari:

Vie has a vagina, but she can grow a functioning penis. She is more likely to carry but can sire.

Ailbhe has a vagina and a penis and is more likely to sire.

Aengus has a penis and a vagina and can do both.

Dubhan has a penis and a vagina, and is more likely to carry. He would rarely be able to sire a child.

Saoirse has none. She cannot have a biological child, nor does she want to. She was a seedling for many years before she finally connected after Jarlath was born.

Takikki only has a penis. He would be unable to carry.

Sitheach only has a vagina. He would be unable to sire.

Flaithri has a penis and a vagina, he would be able to sire but it would be extremely rare for him to carry.

Canon Examples

Canach has a penis and a vagina, he is far more likely to sire but can carry.

Trahearne has a penis and a vagina. He can carry and sire, but he prefers to sire. (Scion AU cannot carry)

Malyck only has a penis, he cannot carry.

Laranthir has a penis and a vagina. He is far more likely to carry, it is nearly impossible for him to sire.

[moonlit-grove]

Have a free pass for any question you'd like to answer! But it must be about a couple! -🍃

h m m m... in that case >:3c

1 - When did they meet?

For Orrian Royals, Romeo and Tristan met when they were both young. They grew up as best friends, and both met Ylva years later when she was assigned to protect them.

With Nightmare Boyfriends (which really needs a better ship name but shh), Dubhan and Oleander met while they were wardens, and both later met Impyreno when they joined Nightmare.

5 - Tell me one random fact about them

Ylva can and will lift her husbands while they fling magic in a fight. It’s very intimidating to see a norn woman carrying a human and a sylvari throwing fire and lightning.

The Count and The Knight share The Squire. He is the Squire to both the Count of Bleeding Hearts and the Knight of Machinations.

19 - What are each of their love languages?

Ylva and Romeo are both acts of service and physical touch. I imagine Tris is probably also touch, and maybe gifts.

Dubhan needs physical touch and quality time. He is very touchy for a Nightmare Count. Olli strikes me as physical touch and acts of service, while Imp seems to be gifts and quality time... Or maybe words of affirmation.