#or maybe it will and they'll basically become OCs

[kakusu-shipping]

I’ve grown attached so this is probably going to become a full self insert not for just to be a dad to fish I guess. What a life I am living.

[brittle-doughie]

Since you responded to my Pf hcs time for Lover!

Hollyberry Cookie (Mania)

Appearance wise, looks almost practically the same maybe some clothing tears and mayyyybe more armor for resistance in fights

Personality wise, ya she's a more cracked out version of princess cupcake cookie (that's the oc right?)

Becoming basically addicted to foods, fights or fiestas. She now requires a kingdom size of this to satiate her desires (and even then that's still not enough!)

She most likely overthrew the royal family, even kicking her son from the throne to become ruler of Hollyberry kingdom and probably sent them to prison, regulating? Bah! Don't think about that and drink off the day as much as you can!

Very likely that she might've killed some of her citizens or atleast nearly killed pitaya dragon cookie because she wants to fight but overdid it and nearly let them to bleed to death... But heyyyy they got doctors in the kingdom so they'll be fine!

Very crazy for you! Will not hesitate to kill everyone even her former bodyguard (Now Captain of the cookie knights of the Cookie kingdom, traitor!) if it means she can have herself!

Unlikely scenario but I have a feeling she wants to replace her shield to various types of weapons, mainly because she likes swinging around sword n shit and a shield is lame!

The Lover of Passion HCs (Beast Hollyberry Cookie) | The Ancient Beast Order AU

For this, it would be a vibe between @/cuppajj’s Dragonberry Cookie and Tea Knight Cookie, except replacing the dragon element of the former and the more armored look of the latter. Except, within the helmet’s visor, you can see the Lover’s deranged, driven mad eyes…

Kinda, a mix of that and her original personality, but leaning more on the laidback side. She drinks and partakes in her own vices with no sense of control. It’s only when she spots the object of her passion at the moment is when the manic side of her kicks in.

A battle, juice, or even of romantic interest, she chases after it with the same level of insane passion. She wants her kingdom to pursue their own desires without any limits or barriers stopping that. A kingdom without control would be chaos, but the kingdom flourished as a result too.

Her intense passion for battle nearly costed the life of Pitaya Dragon Cookie, who has since retreated to the Dragon’s Valley. The kingdom’s medical staff can handle the cookies that get sent there because of her desires for battle, and if they perish, well they just didn’t have it in them anyway.

Wildberry Cookie has joined your ranks in a bid to stop the Lover from spreading her overindulgence on chaos around all of Earthbread. The Lover would give him the time of day, if not for the fact that she already has YOU in her sights. If the Lover is passionate about something, she’s doing EVERYTHING she can to get to it..

Her shield still remains her as her primary weapon, but she’s open to others if it means cutting through her opponents much faster, the fire in her heart remaining strong as so!

[artsycloudysleepy]

aaaaaa tysm!!!! this helps so much, you have no idea! have a great rest of your day and thanks again :D

(warning that the tags are long and lengthy!)

hiya nye!! hope you're doing good :3

looking for some OC advice if that's okay: i have an OC who has MDD, but afaik i don't have it myself and i really want to avoid harmful stereotyping or unrealistic portrayals!

was wondering if you have any tips on writing it, if there's anything specific i should know (if there's treatment, side-effects, etc.) or just anything to avoid in terms of stereotypes?

obviously don't answer this if you don't want to, it's probably very personal, and take your time if you do! i want to avoid screwing up, and while i am also going to check out articles and do my research, i also want to make sure i'm not accidentally being a prick or looking at misinformation and ask you if you have any advice :)

thank you so much! have a nice day nye, stay hydrated :D

Heeyyyy Artsy :3

I'd be happy to help in whatever way I can, but heads up I'm not professionally diagnosed or anything and am definitely not an expert on the topic, so this will just be from my personal experience

So of course maladaptive daydreaming is different for everyone, I think the most common interpretation of it is someone who might use their persona to self insert themselves into media they might like, or a personally written story. Sometimes they might be pre-written and played out (I personally believe this is what "shifters" do). A second common one might be writing a story by thinking about it as a show, where you yourself may not be involved. Many people wrote brilliant stories using this method.

My personal experience is that I can count multiple times where my maladaptive daydreaming was more prominent throughout my life, but I can't really pick it out if childhood experiences as it was kind of like the hit thing to be good at imagining when you were 5.

My standout experience with MDD is ongoing. It started five years ago and it involves myself and other people consistently. There is no change in plot or reboots, I consider these people consistent as any other person I might know. Plainly, I consider the maladaptive daydreaming characters that I have created (ocs) AND have not created to exist as people in some way, so I treat them as such.

Part of my MDD is that these people I know through my head interact with people from the real world, having casual conversations and such.

My level of focus on my MDD varies on my mental health and environment, it usually ranges from maybe 1 interaction a day to things I have planned for the day being cancelled because I'm busy daydreaming. My daydreaming friends will often grow distressed if I don't speak to them for long periods of time. Some of them (my ocs) fear that they'd cease to exist, while others may fear their friends could disappear, including me.

Something well known for MDD is repetitive motions, personally I find my stims outside of MDD are larger and more noticable, while I'm daydreaming sometimes my repetitive motions will be spinning a pen or something as miniscule as timed blinking or eye movement. It's like keeping pace to me, like they tell you to associate a smell with sleeping if you have a hard time sleeping. The motions help keep me focused on my daydreams.

I don't like closing my eyes when I daydream, but I do like dark rooms. I also prefer background noise. It's also well known people like to listen to music while they daydream, and I do, but the noise doesn't have to be music. It just has to be constant and have some kind of pattern that I can tune out to. The noise helps distract me from what I see visually!

I haven't researched treatment because recently I've been quite good at regulating my daydreams, and in the past it's been a fear of mine. I think the only treatment there would be for MDD is finding other coping mechanisms.

As for side effects, I'm not sure what would qualify. I can get angry at daydreams the same way I would anything else, same goes for every emotion. Sometimes it just makes my mood seem out of place, I think. I also think it's obvious when I'm daydreaming, because people usually poke me or wave a hand in front of my face (THIS IS SO ANNOYING DON'T DO THIS I'M DAYDREAMING FOR A REASON). MDD sometimes restricts my real life experiences, socializing, sometimes makes me forget meals, it also makes my memory of everything worse, instead replaced by memories of daydreams. MDD is something that I deal with, while I know it's a negative thing it's something that I don't have any desire to detach myself from. That's a scary idea to me, so I suppose that's a side effect in itself.

As far as writing a character with MDD goes, you'd have to know what they were daydreaming about first. A lot of the rest of the traits, such as what noise or actions they use, would be down to their other characteristics. If I was going to avoid something, it would be to not make everything they daydream about separate to reality. Almost everyone I've known with MDD has integrated their realities in some way, whether it be having their persona personality shine through, their daydreams interact with people around them, writing about it, drawing or infodumping. Of course this might not be everyone, but I think it also depends how private of a person they are. People who have MDD tend to know they're creating something complex.

Thanks for asking me Artsy, again, this is just from personal experiences. Hope this helped! :3

[ali3nboyfriend]

I've been mulling over how to depict the fae in my own stories so how what might you suggest would be a few good ways to write them instead of making them basically just elves, like you criticized?

you sent this right before i made another post in that thread, but i'll copy-paste what i put there and add some more on/elaborate!

complete, magically enforced inability to lie. this doesn't mean they can't be deceitful! i love fae that have to be VERY careful with their choice of words; it puts a fun obstacle in place when writing them.

in that vein, inability to go back on deals or not follow through with them. if they make an agreement with someone, they have to adhere to it. this is another place where being careful with your words comes into play; some fae that do want to come out on top can promise something that sounds good, but when interpreted literally it's not very great at all for the person they're bargaining with.

strict adherence to a ruleset that does not come naturally to mortal folk, often to the point of getting the mortals they interact with in trouble with them. this can involve rules regarding hospitality, etiquette, and daily living, as well as whatever else you could come up with. perhaps the "never take food from a fae" rule isn't so much that they'll entrap you, but that accepting their hospitality means accepting something else you might not otherwise agree to. maybe you should never say "thank you" a fae, otherwise you'll owe them.

use of “glamour”. as in, the more humanoid appearance you’re seeing and interacting with isn’t what they actually look like, there’s a big monstrous beastie under there. this is one of my favorites. maybe they can look very similar to elves! ...but that's not actually what they look like. i have an OC that's like this; elven-seeming at first glance, but underneath he looks like a bipedal mixture of a stag and a barn owl. you could incorporate the idea of seeing stones with this; rocks with a hole in the center that if you peer through you can see a fae for what they really are. there is also the folklore around seeing a fae's true form when you look at them out of the corner of your eye, or the one where they never quite get their humanoid disguises right, so you can spot them if you know the tells. there's a lot of possibilities, and use of this trope makes them feel way more uncanny and alien.

embodying whatever court they’re a part of, in the sense that they are more like manifestations of the forces of nature associated with their seasons than they are people sometimes. this isn't as limiting as one might think. winter fae can be ruthless and cruel, yes, but they can also embody the feeling of togetherness winter can bring around the holidays. perhaps there's a difference between a summer fae who embodies the beginning of summer, one who embodies the dog days of summer, and one who embodies the transition into fall.

on this vein, actual attention being paid to the court system if it exists at all. if they're broken up into courts, why? are they just the seelie and unseelie courts, the seasonal courts, a combination of the two, or a different court system entirely? i'm partial to two "main" courts, seelie and unseelie, which are further broken into the seasonal courts; seelie is summer and spring, unseelie is autumn and winter. but there's a lot of ways you could do it. what do these courts mean for the identity of a given fae? what does it change about them? the issue i take w a lot of writing that uses the courts is that it doesn't use them to the fullest extent, which makes them functionally the same as human kingdoms. these aren't humans! that's why i mention them embodying their courts. they don't have to, but i think if you want to use the courts at all you should have good reason for it!

extreme! heightened! emotions! when they love someone they are MADLY in love with them! when they hate someone they are MORTAL ENEMIES! sadness becomes a deep depression, happiness becomes utter elation. it's hard for them to contain it! this has some ties to folklore and i really love it a lot; maybe the fae just don't process emotions the same way humans do. maybe they're acting completely reasonable by their standards!

not knowing or understanding the limitations mortals have. sometimes they do things out of kindness and are genuinely well-meaning but they’re so alien to mortals that they can really really hurt them with this kindness. this can be part of why the fae are seen as dangerous; even the "good" ones can and will hurt you, they just don't know they're doing it.

“fae” being an umbrella term for multiple kinds of creatures! high fae and elves and pixies and hobgoblins can all be kinds of fae! brownies are a kind of fae! there's so many things that have been called faeries over the course of history, i don't see why not take full advantage of that.

not something based strictly in folklore, but an interpretation i'm partial to: fae being the physical manifestation of the very existence of magic and/or chaos in the world. without magic, there are no fae. without fae, there is no magic. combine this with the seasonal court system, and fae become the reason why the seasons change at all. any disruption to their people could have disastrous consequences for the mortal world.

in general i recommend looking into fairy folklore and stories and seeing what interests you most, because these are just the tropes and questions that are most interesting to me! there's a lot of stuff you can do with them to differentiate them from typical depictions of elves.

[wilsons-journey]

Inspired by @/mistfallengw2's post -> here, I decided to do a little thoughts and plans for the upcoming homestead, too.

Or maybe more my story ideas with the upcoming Expac. ---

Main Owner of the Homestead will be Valefor and Kying. After the Events of EoD they moved far away and settled in Janthir. The closeness to the water / ocean is just perfect. Kying will love it there. He grew up close to the ocean - so its home for him. After the Events of SotO they'll return there. (They lived in the Wizard Tower during the Events of SotO)

Wilson, Fuma and Mishra will be the main OCs playing through the Story of Janthir. Or, depending on the Story, will be at least traveling through Janthir. They will meet Neeve, Valefors Twin Sister, during their journey and end up at the Homestead by chance.

Due to Valefor and Kying no one telling they moved there, it will be a fun surprise reunion. While Wilson and Co will continue their journey, Neeve will move in the Homestead - becoming Valefor's and Kyings neighbor.

Depending on the Story Neeve will be also a part of Janthirs Events - joining and helping Wilson. I also see Valefor/Kying occasionally helping them. Maybe even taking over, together with Neeve. During the Events of Janthir, the Siblings will have a lot of time to reconnect. It will be messy, but I'm certain they will figure things out.

So far for my basic plans for the Story. Things will very likely change, with experiencing the Story - but the basic Idea will stay with Wilson and Co finding Neeve and get her to Valefor. And then,... Janthir Stuff happens. We will see who else of my OCs gets involved.

---

To the Homestead itself:

The Main Building will be Valefor and Kyings home

They will have a little garden with vegetables - Kying will take care of that, later Neeve will join in and add some more plants to it. Maybe Flowers in honor of her new found Friend Wilson :3

Neeve will get a little home with a forge

They will have a bigger Trainingground, where Valefor and Neeve can bash their heads together

I can also imagine them having a little fireplace outside, to sit and vibe together. Valefor will often sit there and play some music

Valefor also gets a very personal area up high somewhere - he likes to sit somehere high and just watch the area

Due to Wilsons and Co visit, Valefor and Kying will build a little House for visitors. Maybe two houses, cuz Wilson and Co will use one of it as a temporary home they come back from time to time Maybe they use that house to put all the souvenirs they found during their journey there

Besides, on the topic of Wilson, Fuma and Mishra - some time after the Events of Janthir, they will establish a new orphanage. Wilson would be such a perfect mother to all the parentless visitors. Not only for her own kind, the charr - for everyone - from human to creatures. She will take care of everyone! The orphanage will be Wilsons and Co Endgame.

I still have this "Old Mama Wilson" sketch laying around,... You know what, have it under the cut:

[sluggybunny]

👄 📊🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒🫂~ 💋💋💋💋💕

I shall answer these for Saturn, my beloved. And it's Saturn Sunday!

👄: How do they talk? What's their vocabulary like? What does their voice sound like? Any accent, verbal tics, etc?

Saturn has a kind of a deep voice. Maybe a bit husky? She just has a standard American accent (She spent most of her youth in Seattle) She's very good at switching gears when talking, able to fit in seamlessly with upper socialites and corporate speak and then back down to street or gang levels (Although as time goes on, she has definitely lost touch with street dialect. She's becoming too corpo... someone save her..) She's got a quick wit and a lot of what she says is somehow very calculated and right off the cuff.

📊: What is their best stat? What is their worst/dump stat? How do these affect how you roleplay as them?

Her best stats are physical stats. Strength & Agility. While she is an expert liar and manipulator, that's not something she actively trains in like she does with combat. She's just really into the thrill of combat and her weapons of choices tend to be heavy or hard hitting fire arms or good ol' fashion bludgeoning to death. Fun fact! She killed a man with a shower fixture she ripped from the wall once 💖

Her worst stats are probably logic, lol. She does not devote much time to intelligent pursuits. She's not stupid by any means but she prefers to leave the big thinks to the big thinkers since they'll always come up with something more fun (Reason 1 for why she sticks with that old wyrm, she likes to see what fucked up stuff he's got cooking)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦: What is their family like? Are there any family members that are particularly influential and/or important to them (whether in a positive or negative sense)?

Her family.... I have a lot of lore for them lol.

The main important one is her Mom, who raised her. Her mom was basically disowned from her family for eloping with a corpo (Lol like mother like daughter Huh LOL)

Mom left Saturn when she was still just a kid. Just packed stuff up and left. Saturn had no idea why and thought her mother died. But in reality, mom got an off from dad. "Come back but ditch the kid and we can be together" and well, mom picked the dad :)

(saturn doesn't take it well when she finds out years later)

🫂: How are they with casual physical touch? Do they have different boundaries based on how well they know a person? Is there a specific reason behind their comfort level?

Saturn is pretty touch adverse, honestly. She claims she doesn't care/is just neutral but in reality she's so touch starved it loops back to her first reaction at touch is pure disgust and overwhelming anxiety.

She can't feel fear the way other people do and intimacy is one of the few instances she gets fleeting flashes of 'fear' and she can't register what it is and hates it. So she's very 'don't touch me unless we're fucking, no cuddling afterwards.' lol.

OC ask meme

[sunnysssol]

🌙🍯🧀 for suzie!!! (from the oc ask :3)

Thank you for the question, friend (^-^)/💖 didn't expect anyone would ask for Suzie LOL but do remember I take them for canon characters too !!

🌙 (crescent moon) - Does your character have a moral code or a set of rules they have for themselves? If so, what made them adopt these morals or ideals? If not, why?

Not to ASOIAF-post but someone clocked Suzie as a Tully of Riverrun before and it's so real I fear. ISTJ Suzie sticks to "Family, Duty, Honor" as their morals, specifically the "duty" part even if the other two get a little murky at times. When they first became an Assistant, they were beholden to serve England and America (then the Thirteen Colonies). That was their duty, not just to themselves but their family. But eventually, when it became clear to them that they can't have both, Suzie chose the one they had always felt more personally towards rather than the one laid out by all those who came before them. They stopped spying on Alfred for Arthur, basically. And up until now, Suzie lives with duty as the double-edged sword in their hand. Family is more than just the people related to them by blood (hell, even Uncle Wilfred is 40 something generations apart from them, making the blood relation very, very thin), and honor is subjective.

🍯 (honey) - What are some reasons someone would like or get along with your oc? Are these positive traits something your oc is aware of?

Suzie is highly competent and sensible even when she ought not to be and even when she doesn't feel like she is. I feel like I've mentioned it a few times here but Suzie really just has a lot of common sense and that's a rare enough thing (at least in Clownville, Hetalia LMAO) that people naturally gravitate to them to take charge 😭 she won't be patronizing– she won't coddle you either and while I think it can come across as a bit harsh in the beginning, it's clear to see that's just how she cares for people. It's not hard to like somebody who consistently and reliably has your back :'] I think Suzie is aware of it, but she doesn't really know that it's the reason why people like her so much. She thinks people like her because of her connections and/or the fact that she's always "prepared for bullshit". Is it willful ignorance, or does she really not know? Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The question asked for traits and I focused on just one LOL but, here're a few quick others:

"Prepared for bullshit" — a thousand back-up plans, their car loaded with everything one could possibly ever need and a general sense of "I'm here, demons. Come and get me." are the building blocks to one Suzie.

Practical, but supportive — will honestly tell you if an idea is bad and could be asked to give you some ideas, but won't try to take control away from you.

Prudent and punctual — If they say they'll be there, they'll be there and be on time. Even if they said it was a bad idea or even if they'd feel out of place there because they show up for the people they care about :'3

🧀 (cheese) - What’s the funniest thing that your character has ever done? Alternatively, what’s the funniest thing that’s happened to them?

Aahh i'm weak with comedy auwhshdh but I feel like Suzie is somebody who isn't necessarily funny, they just become funny through sheer coincidental comedic timing or just on principle with how unbothered they can be when something may or may not literally be on fire just a few steps behind them 😭 maybe their very blunt and colorful way of speaking or the faces they pull after they promise not to judge? Suzie Live Reaction type beat. And she has called people "cunts" to their faces multiple times in various professional and non-professional settings despite her very businesslike personality. Suzie never gossips, if she has a problem with someone, they'll know almost immediately 😭

[2:38 AM] Everything and nothing is funny when your life and everything you have ever stood for and cherished is a joke 👍

[2:40 AM] you good baby???

[2:40 AM] I burnt my fucking eggs, Alfred

[2:40 AM] OH LMAO

[2:41 AM] Jesus what am I, a muppet??? It was on low too. Fucking hell

[2:41 AM] it's okay baby, i'd still love you even if you were a muppet

[2:41 AM] the cutest muppet on Earth 😂❤️

[2:41 AM] Can your love for muppet me un-burn my fucking eggs???

[2:42 AM] CALM DOWN BRO DAMN 😭 i'll get you some new eggs if you want some so damn bad

[2:42 AM] Hold on just lemme get dressed

[2:43 AM] Unless you want me with no pants on

[2:44 AM] 👀?

[2:44 AM] I'm good.

[2:44 AM] I just want eggs

[2:45 AM] You and those fuckin eggs 😭 ok okk

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

You're probably getting bombarded with asks right now so sorry to add to the clutter - but I am a huge rock nerd - that goes beyond like Steven Universe and Houseki no Kuni. So I just want to share some stones and stuff that have cool properties and maybe could provide some inspiration (mainly tho so I can list off rock facts)

Mercury: Mohs 3.5, Toughness: Brittle - Malleable. Technically Mercury is always found in it's liquid form unless amalgamated with other elements, etc. But Mercury actually can be solidified, creating a "rock" with a 3.5 Mohs scale. What's interesting about this is that this solid Mercury produces an awful echo-screeching sound when bent. Idk how this would apply for a SU One Piece Character, but having the abilities to liquify, solidify, as well as being a very heavy metal which corrodes or amalgamates with many other rocks, a character like this would be a difficult opponent, or a powerful ally.

Calsilica: This ones funny because it's not a natural gem, and has an extensive history of people trying to claim that it is. Rather, Calsilica can be made from the run off byproducts in plastic, epoxy, wax, etc, condensed so hard it becomes a rock. I've had character ideas of this kind being a gem who either feels like they're lesser for being man-made, or even having imposter syndrome.

Painite: Mohs 7.5-8, tough. An incredibly rare, red-orange gem, which though is a lesser "hardness" then diamond, could easily break or shatter one.

That's another interesting thing about diamonds that was less included in the show, but they are very brittle - while sapphires, rubies, jade may be of a lesser Mohs scale, they could easily crush a diamond. Especially Jade. Jade may be one of the toughest, naturally occurring gemstones out there (hence why there are so many carvings made out of it) and can even be stronger than steal, also with no known cleavage point (point where the gemstone easily fractures most) it's a kind durable to both blunt and pin-point force.

Rutile: Rutile itself can be pretty thin and weak, but they usually occur inside of other gemstones, as needle-like fractals and growths. Their possibilities are endless and they're gorgeous. Hundreds of gem kinds can be "rutilated".

Carbyne: The. Strongest. Material. Known to man. Taking Graphenes place. I have OC's made of this, but the possibilities for character development are endless. Because, technically, only a 100 atoms of carbyne exist. They have to be contained by a graphene tube in order to stay in existence. These could be extremely powerful characters, but say their outer coating of graphene is gone? They'll vaporize. Carbyne, Graphene, and Buckminsterfullerene are all in the carbon family along with diamonds, and so modern experimentation has led to their creations, and thus, gemstones both harder and tougher than any diamond.

Though, having said all that stuff about diamonds, there is one kind that is incredibly difficult to shatter and that is Bort or Bortz. It's technically a term for any diamond that isn't jewel-grade, or natural diamond, used for cutting tools and abrasives, but as a gemstone, it would be the top tier of diamonds. Their crystal structure is smaller than a normal diamond and so blows or damage are spread out evenly through the material, rather than a regular diamond which will often take force over one point of cleavage and completely shatter.

Ok I will be quiet now I've literally been typing this for more than an hour - I just love gem Au's and your designs especially. Idk if you've heard of Houseki no Kuni but it's basically a manga/show where the characters are completely made out of the gemstones, unlike being manifestations of light in Steven Universe. I'm working on a fic/head canon au of HNK One Piece characters (once again because I'm a rock nerd)

Good lord. That's a lot of rock facts.

I def will be using this information in the future so I'm posting this as future reference/ getting this long thing outta my inbox/ showing everyone else these rock facts

Thanks for the ask and tips!

[realsorcerershit]

Hey, I'm gonna make a bit of a long post here. It's going to be ramble-y, it's going to be kind of a stream of thought deal, and I don't really know where it's going to end up as I'm writing this. It's personal, and it's something I feel strongly about, and it has to do with my last textpost.

So. The topic of today is:

I Don't Like Talking About Myself Anymore.

And no, this isn't going to be some post where I'm just venting, but moreso analyzing why. I need to get my thoughts out there on this, and I need to...talk about it, really. Just throw it off my chest, into a wild where maybe six people will read it. So let's get into it.

Last night, in a small bit of frustration, I made a post talking about people trying to over-analyze media, and give it an objective rating of it being good or bad, and indirectly using that as some high ground, telling people that they shouldn't like something because it's "objectively bad". If you want to read that, I'll put a link to it below.

Link to post: Fair warning, I use a bit of harsh language. I stand by it, though.

And ever since I posted this, I've been in a lot of thoughts about it. What brought this surge of emotion up? Why do I feel so particularly strongly about it? Why is this a belief I hold close to my heart? And - the answer isn't really simple. Like most emotions people go through, it ends up being a complex weave. So let's start with the absolute basics.

First thing's first. Part of the reason I feel so strongly about this is, that, there's a natural element of attachment to the media that people enjoy, and that includes myself. *I* have some form of attachment to the media I enjoy. FPSes, the dnd campaign I play in every week, the small bits of music and other games that I enjoy, the people I like watching on youtube or even the small amount of shows I enjoy watching. All of it takes up at least somewhat of a portion of my life, and as such, it becomes part of...who I am, in a way. Media sticks with people, it can influence them in various ways.

And now, we live in a world where people end up trying to analyze everything to a point where nobody can just admit that they *dislike* something these days. There always has to be some kind of justification for their dislike, there always has to be some logical, realistic reason for it that makes sense in their head. So, they come up with reasons why. And those reasons can range from a wide variety of things. For example, if I told someone I liked the genre of metal in music, I could get a response along the lines of, "Oh, metal (the genre of music) is too formulaic. Everything's the same, so it's bad. And, the lyrics end up sounding like a kid wrote them", instead of that person just saying "you know, I really do respect your tastes in music, however, I am not a fan of metal, because it simply isn't for me." The latter of these two responses would legitimately tell me, the person speaking, that, hey. I can respect that this isn't for them, and that I can disengage the topic on friendly terms. Not everyone's going to mutually like the exact same things, and that's part of being human. However.

The first response is where things get bad. Because now, suddenly, I feel confronted. I now have to sit there and justify my like for something, in a heated debate that I didn't want to have in the first place, because here I was, pouring my heart out about something I love. And now, that love is being attacked by someone who had no real purpose in it. And it doesn't even come out of a place of malice, most of the time. People are nowadays super trained into thinking that they have to fit into these very specific camps or else like...they'll be laughed at, or whatever.

So, this all leads me back to the topic at the top of this post. I don't like talking about myself anymore. I don't like going off about the hobbies I have. The OCs whose stories I think about every day, my favorite video games or movies or songs or...any of it. Because the default response these days seems to be that, if I'm not talking with someone who likes the things I like, that I'm going to be met with some form of backlash on it. And it hurts. It genuinely really hurts. I hold up something I genuinely love, and I want to talk about it with people. (At least, when people want to hear about it. Don't force things on people, that also isn't right. Something I'm working on myself, too.) I want to share it, and now I'm afraid to, because at the end of it all, I think I'm going to be...harassed, or chastised, or ridiculed, or some other thing, because that happens to be the default now. And now I feel backed into a corner, where I've put myself in some kind of shame box that I'm only now after maybe 15 years starting to slowly work my way out of.

Just respect other people's hobbies, as long as they aren't harmful. That's all I ask.

[cactusspatz]

August recs

Okay, I've got a handful of miscellaneous recs, and then ten recs for Victoria Goddard's Nine Worlds series, which I'm putting under a cut because at least two of you I know are still reading and the recs are full of spoilers for At the Feet of the Sun. Enjoy!

MISC

The Long Way Home by itsnatalie (DCU, gen)

With Jason tentatively back in the Batfamily, things are going pretty well for him--except for the whole thing with Tim. But who gives a shit about Tim Drake? But when Jason and Tim are pulled into a frightening race for their lives inside a labyrinth that's out to kill them, they may have to look past their differences just to stay alive. Maybe along the way, they'll discover they aren't as different as they thought, and family comes in many different forms.

Spectacular in every aspect: the horror, the action, the hurt/comfort, the brotherly devotion underlying their swarm of issues, and the ending. I really can't rec this one highly enough.

Late Night, North Station by raitala (Untamed, Wangxian)

Lan Zhan finds A-Yuan lost in the railway station. He maybe finds more than he bargained for. Some mornings you leave for the office and come back with a son (and possibly a husband too).

Sooooo sweet, with a lovely autistic LWJ POV. The sequel is still a WIP but is great so far.

Beginning at the End by WerewolvesAreReal (Temeraire, Granby/Little)

In many ways it seems that John's life revolves around William Laurence.

Lovely character study trilogy with Granby sorting out his unrequited thing for Laurence and his ongoing thing with Little.

thou, who art victory and law by The_Apocryphal_One (Goblin Emperor, Csethiro/Maia)

He couldn’t help his unintelligence, any more than she could help her father. And he was kind. She should try to remember that. (Or: Csethiro Ceredin goes into her betrothal to Emperor Edrehasivar VII with assumptions, and has every one of them challenged.)

Great Csethiro POV as she works through her pride and preconceptions.

NINE WORLDS

Embers by alfgifu

Kip Mdang returns to Solaara, hardly confident that the Imperial Service will take him back but sure that there is no place for him in the Vangavaye-ve. The City of Cities is still expanding from the backwater village it was before the Fall; the work of reconstruction continues but it is no longer a simple crisis. In the Palace the big political beasts are circling for position under the newly awakened Emperor. Despondent and determined to bury himself in work, Cliopher finds his former patron disapproving and the new Master of Offices openly hostile. But he is still a fifth degree secretary, and some problems are easier to solve when you feel that you have little left to lose… and don't care which enemies you make along the way.

Amazing!!! Basically a novel-length series digging into the difficult period between Kip returning and Kip becoming the Hands of the Emperor, with tons of bureaucracy and corruption and competence porn and of course, his devotion to His Radiancy and building a better government. Also features wonderful OCs, worldbuilding, a really horrifying bit of magic, some unexpected allies, humor, and Kip being just a really lovely (and determined, and traumatized) person.

thank you!!! no walnuts!!! by mage-pie

Pikabe has fucked over his army career (and maybe his whole life) by refusing illegal orders to commit a war crime and kinda sorta leading a mutiny (he was cleared of wrongdoing, but still, mutiny). He’s been shuffled out of the way to some random base where everyone gives him the side-eye (because mutiny) and he’s never going to see anyone from his old unit ever again. (Which doesn’t matter, his former lieutenant’s also-fucked-over life is none of his business, whatever, it’s fine it’s fine.) Then he gets a mysterious package and a mysterious Solaaran visitor who might have an idea about turning things around (a suggestion, even).

Fun possible backstory for Pikabe; part of a series that I haven't read in full yet but it stands alone.

Signals by Penguinity

Kiri cleared her throat, and the secretaries looked up as one. She waved the letters in one hand. “The stack in the second pigeonhole, what sort of letters are these?” “The ones from people who aren’t crackpots, but don’t need help from our office.” Cliopher nodded, satisfied. “Indeed, well-sorted.” Kiri held up a finger to silence him. “And?” There was a brief pause, before Gaudy gave an almost inaudible sigh and answered. “And who are flirting with Lord Mdang.”

SO funny, featuring the junior secretaries and Kip's ace obliviousness.

A Good Man by Quasar

It takes a while, but eventually Masseo discovers why a man with no name got saddled with a family curse.

Brilliant little premise run off that line about how Ludvic violating the Emperor's taboos would curse his whole family.

One Bed Too Many by white_hart

They slept beside each other on the deck of the vaha, and in a nest of cushions in the solarium, but this is the first time there's been a bed. In fact, there are two.

Sweet immediately-post-ATFOTS fic with them negotiating physical intimacy.

Five People Who Were Surprised The Next Time They Met Cliopher by Quasar

Five people who were astonished when they met Cliopher after the events of At The Feet Of The Sun.

What it says on the tin! A fun collection of people, culminating in Pali and Kip figuring out a detente.

Thrive in the Sun by electropeach

A day in the retired life of Cliopher Mdang: the sun, the sea, the wind, his fanoa… and a cousin baking up a storm in his kitchen. (Alternately titled "Enya Hears About Sardeet")

Immensely soft and funny series, with just a dash of feels about Fitzroy's tragic childhood.

The Tanà’s Day Off by rattyjol

Kip takes the day off. Fitzroy fills in.

In which they are so so cute and extremely married.

Homing by oliviacirce

Homing, adj., (1) having a natural ability to find the way home from a long distance away, (2) guiding or directing homeward; v., (1) to aim at something and move quickly and directly toward it

More on the theme of Kip and Fitzroy figuring out their asexual/allosexual relationship, with an assist from the retirement house squad. Lovely and domestic.

Kip Thistlethwaite by alfgifu

His tone was light on the offer itself, despite the sturdiness of his declaration of identity. She could refuse him with no embarrassment to either of them, turning this into a joke that they could laugh over with Basil later in the evening - but - but - those steady brown eyes were serious. “A marriage of convenience?” she said, equally lightly, “how gallant, sirrah.”

I am going absolutely feral waiting for more of this delightful series, in which Kip happens to be visiting Basil when Jullanar is blackmailed, and offers himself as an alternative. The second story deals with the Emperor finding out that his secretary is indeed married to THAT Jullanar.

[eldritch-spouse]

Oh oh I have more questions of the Cleric if you don’t mind. Does it always have strings attached at the fingertips? What do those rings around its body do? Will pulling on the cape irritate it?

Is the Cleric one of your ocs who dislikes/ likes kisses on their uhh face? ALSO can I top it???? (I have a feeling the answer will be no 😔)

Does it always have the strings?

No. They're used mainly to secure people and drag things into place, like the webs of a spider, almost.

Human force can't break them. Perhaps a very amorphous monster can slip through the gaps of those strings however- A slime, for example.

The rings

Aren't really a thing. They're bursts of energy that manifest usually upon activation, like a shock of electricity, revival. They then cease.

What happens if you pull on their cape?

It's a part of its body, albeit not a very sensitive one. It's sort of like tugging it by the tail (a dormant tail). They will regard you, but if there's something imperative the Cleric has to do, then you'll just get dragged along if you keep grabbing the cape. There isn't really any irritation, so much as there's confusion and general ambivalence.

Kissing?

They don't see a lot of the appeal behind it, mostly because their head is relatively insensitive, so they don't really want kisses. Nor do they try to imitate the gesture. But, to change this demeanor, all you have to do is kiss somewhere they'll really feel it, y'know?

Can you top it?

Never totally.

Cleric won't let you bind them anywhere, but you can definitely get on top of them with enough pushing. Unfortunately, nothing will stop them from touching and grabbing at you. If you can keep it overwhelmed by pleasure, then maybe, otherwise Cleric will eventually start regaining control inevitably.

How does it communicate?

The Cleric doesn't enjoy talking too much. It can speak fluently, and does so in much the same way a lot of angels do, by projecting their voice physically. It tends to speak in short, concise sentences that get basic points across clearly.

How tall is it?

Around nine feet. It can adjust and become smaller if the situation calls for it, but it can never go beyond nine feet.

Can Cleric leave the Clergy?

No. It can't venture beyond the perimeter of the garden, for two main reasons:

One, there's a mental block. A guideline left by Krulu. If that boundary is crossed, it immediately has to go back, find a way back within range or contact him and remain still if it can't path its way back to the main building. The Cleric doesn't know how to act outside its own premises.

Two, the sensation is not pleasant. It's like leaving your home to go somewhere, but you left several of your organs home. It's going to start taking physical damage in less than an hour.

Can you cuddle them?

It's... Not that comfortable. They're very stiff. They'll hold you for endless time, but it's just not that affectionate. You need to show them how to cuddle first.

The Cleric is prone to just standing and holding you like a baby, which might look uncomfortable to you, but they're fine. As they "cuddle" you, they're still focusing on what's going on inside the building.

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

Hi! I thought the Scriddler topic was interesting and I’d like to add to it.

I’ve been a Scriddler shipper since maybe 2014? Very much the early days like you described. I came into it via a genuine love of Scarecrow and the Riddler, and while I love the ship, I have a huge issue with the way that when they’re shipped together both characters are flattened into caricatures of themselves.

Maybe it’s because I take the world of Batman far more seriously than others, and I overwhelmingly tend towards “angst” in my fandom activities, but I feel like there is so much that could be done with them and their relationship that I feel a lot of people have sort of forgone. It’s a damn shame. So in spite of the fact that I’ve been here for a long time, I have also felt sort of alienated by the way people ship in the Scarecrow world. I mostly interact with each of the characters separately and just quietly ship them in my mind these days.

Glad the fandom has become more friendly to you over the years. Even though I’m a gay man who prefers to understand my favorite character as being like me, I think it’s ridiculous to get upset at people for disagreeing.

Love your content. Hope you’ve been doing well :)

Sorry for the late-ish reply, but thank you for the very nuanced and interesting take. I appreciate hearing from a long time shipper such as yourself.

I think all that you've pointed out is valid and really telling of fandom. It's also truthful, because I can see the same. Two unqiue people flattened into what is basically memes of the original characters. Kinda like how people are tired of Hroo Hraa, as it's been done again and again til it's like, beating a dead horse.

I understand that on one hand, comics can't be perfectly canon because they'll inevitably contradict each other HOWEVER, there are certain aspects that all Scarecrows and all Riddlers have. Certain themes, weapons, clothes and even personalities. it's a fine line between creating an OC and keeping it close to lore. And it's very easy to go either way.

I'm a firm believer in letting people ship and create as long as they aren't directly, and key word here, purposefully trying to hurt someone with that creation. Always remember, assume ignorance before malice.

It's all a very nuanced subject and not something to make black and white. Not all OCs are bad, not all Scriddler is fertilization. (if any of it really? I don't see it much nowadays) Fiction is fiction. It's not a bad thing to write about bad people. etc etc. I could go on. But you get it.

In the end of the day, I just try to be supportive. Kindness overpowers all, and that's what I've built this blog with. Kind words.

[grayfeather]

Tell us about pokemon OCs!

ooh my pokemon OCs okay

I've got a decent number of them for pokemon, but sadly some are less developed than others so I'll talk about the two that are more recent / more prevalent in my thoughts. my pokemon OCs usually tend to fall into the category of protag-insert mostly cuz when i feel more comfortable applying my own completely original character to the existing plot, especially when I wanna get a little sillier with it (read: expand upon) than the actual plot does.

Putting the rest under a read more to not clog up anyone's dash as this'll Absolutely get long

it's 2k words oh my god how did this happen

First one on the docket is my newest kiddo, my scarvi protag Harley. They're a little femme nonbinary kid from Galar (like the regular scarvi protag is implied to be). I named them Harley mostly as a motorcycle joke bcuz that's the game with the motorcycle pokemon friend lmao.

Harley grew up in Turffield (little grass-themed farming town) with their just their mom (as pokemon protags tend to) after their dad passed away due to illness. Growing up, they weren't shunned per say, but more like as their age group grew up and everyone fell into their own cliques, Harley ended up being left by the wayside. They were never bullied or anything like that, but while everyone was friendly with them, no one was ever really close to them. They developed some serious people-pleasing tendencies bcuz if they could be useful to people then maybe they'd eventually want to spend time with them. This also led to them becoming one of those "extremely cheery to hide the pain" types, very outgoing and happy on the surface, but kinda a mess internally.

Eventually, Harley's mom moved them to Paldea in order to get a fresh start where they enrolled in Uva Academy (cuz this is violet and not scarlet). I've got a vague timeline in my Google Docs to make the whole Treasure Hunt thing make sense from an actual schooling perspective and not just as a game mechanic, but to summarize, Harley transfers into Uva a little after winter break and then the Treasure Hunt happens for like a month before the second semester starts.

Harley gets asked by all the scarvi friends to do their specific questline and Harley (the people-pleaser) says "yeah, of course I can do all that!" and they complete the gym challenge, take down team star, and fight all the titan pokemon in the course of a month at the end of which is area zero where they get crazy trauma-bonded to the zero gang and thus become the zero gang. Harley learns to rely on people and not try to do everything themself, celestial by ed sheeran plays, credits roll.

So then for the scarvi dlc. I've got Teal Mask happening at the end of the second semester (cuz i cannot justify to myself the entire main game plot And the tm plot happening during the same time frame). Harley's a little hesitant to go on the school trip, especially cuz the Zero Gang has basically been Attached to each other following area zero, but their friends convince them to go.

In Kitakami, they meet Carmine and Kieran and I love Carmine and Kieran 💜💜💜

The plot here is pretty much just what happens in TM, but I really wanna play up the whirlwind situationship of Harley and Kieran bcuz It Is Funny To Me

Anyway, everyone congratulate Harley on the newly acquired legendary pokemon daughter who is unfathomably older than them. This is a comedy.

Indigo Disk is truly the part of this that makes my brain buzz the most. I'm extending its events to a whole semester bcuz that gives me so much more time to play with. Harley's a second-year now! Carmine convinces them over the summer to apply for the Blueberry-Uva exchange program (mostly cuz she's worried about Kieran, also cuz she'd like to see Harley again). Harley would've been much more apprehensive about applying and accepting but they've got friends there! They'll know people!!

uhhhh unfortunately for them, Carmine is an upperclassman (thus they don't see her much) and Kieran (who they share a homeroom with) is an asshole now! haha whoops!

Harley has a Pretty Shit Semester all things considered. They get roped into the League Club bcuz everyone's convinced that only they can beat Kieran (and make him go back to normal), which sends them into a bit of a spiral cuz they don't even Like competitive battling and in fact really struggle with double battles. They have serious doubts that beating Kieran will even Help the situation at all, but they press forward bcuz they are kinda lost without the zero gang support network and thus fall back into their people-pleasing tendencies bcuz Everyone around them is saying that This Is The Best Plan.

So after much, much stressing and studying and honestly kinda neglecting their health, they eventually do beat Kieran and become the League Club champion and surprise, surprise it Does Not Help! So now Harley's feeling extremely guilty on top of everything else. And then maybe two weeks after that battle we get the terapagos stuff and everyone gets to have a heart to heart and everyone's friends again and Harley's last few weeks at BB are much better than the past months have been.

Mochi Mayhem stuff happens over the summer, it's very cute, Harley and Kieran get to be a battle couple for it. Zero Gang gets to meet the Kitakami siblings and I love it, super cute and self-indulgent.

For post-game stuff, i've got some vague ideas, but uhhh Harley and Kieran get together in their fourth-year (planning a oneshot about this one if i ever get the motivation back). Eventually, as an adult, Harley becomes a teacher and eventually takes over as headmaster of Uva bcuz they realize at some point that what they really enjoyed about being a pokemon trainer was helping their team reach their fullest potential and after tutoring Team Star they realize that that extends to people to. Nemona's champion in this, she deserves it, Arven spends some time working in the school cafeteria before opening his own restaurant, and Penny uhhhh i think she's still committing some cyber crimes, she deserves it.

GODDDDD THAT WAS SO MUCH AND I'VE STILL GOT ONE MORE

My beloved Alick, the oldest and most self-indulgent of my pokemon kids. They are Easily the closest thing i've got to a self-insert, but i like to think that the character development they get makes them different enough from me. They are you see....... a gamer...... 😞

We got another they/them user here, bcuz if i'm gonna be self-indulgent i'm gonna go all out. Alick is my protagonist for my favorite pokemon games, black and white. and also black 2 and white 2. and also legends arceus. They're a multi-game protag bcuz i thought it was super fun this way, and you know what? it totally is.

Their backstory is pretty similar to the regular bw protags'. They grew up in Nuvema with their two friends, Cheren and Bianca, they live with just their mom. In this case, their parents are divorced and their dad works a lot and also travels a lot for work, so he's mostly a vague presence in their life, the most interaction between the two being when he sends expensive birthday gifts.

I will admit that I aged up the Nuvema kids a bit to recent high school graduates, mostly cuz I was using Alick as a way to channel my angst at not knowing what the fuck i'm doing with my life, cuz they only go on the pokemon journey bcuz their friends are going and they don't wanna be left behind.

This does of course put them in the path of team plasma and N and i loooooove N, but you probably could tell that. One more thing I gotta tell you about Alick, and I need you to stick with me here, is that they can understand pokemon (like N). This doesn't exactly...... help things with regards to N, but I've included it bcuz i'm fucking obsessed with characters that foil each other and i'm also using as a kinda allegory. Cuz all Alick's life, they've hidden this part of themself from basically everyone, so to meet someone who is like them for the first time in their life is kinda freeing? Except then surprise! N is king of team plasma, the guys that have been harassing them and their friends this whole time so now things are pretty tense.

A lot of Alick's angst throughout bw is fear at what they've been roped into, feeling disconnected from their friends, and begging the universe to please not make them be the protagonist here please!!! unfortunately for them, N has decided that only they can be the one to summon Reshiram and beat him bcuz obviously this is how ideological disputes get settled, that is after all, what all of his fantasy stories have taught him. Alick, meanwhile, is like "life is not an rpg!!!! why do i have the pretty boy antagonist insisting we're rivals????"

BW ends with Ghetsis and his Hydreigon killing one of Alick's pokemon, sending Reshiram back into stone hibernation, and traumatizing Alick so badly that they give up pokemon battling for two years. They say goodbye to N on the roof of the Pokemon League Hospital bcuz he stuck around a little after everything to make sure things settled down before he left. They aren't really ready to be friends yet, Alick's still hurting from everything that N dragged them into and N needs to spend some time figuring things out for himself. They part ways, hoping that maybe in the future they can start over.

Alick moves with their remaining team to Aspertia City, becomes friends with the family down the hall, and spends some time as a pokemon handler for pokestar studios (even staring in one movie). They stay in contact with Cheren and Bianca as well as some of the remnants of team plasma (specifically those from driftveil).

Due to some shenanigans, they get a pokemon egg from the driftveil plasmas, so they decide to give a pokemon journey one more shot in order to raise this egg right, which is good call after it hatches into a baby Deino (pre-evo of Hydreigon for those unaware).

Team Plasma comes back! Alick Is So Fucking Mad! Their new friend Hugh from down the hall Is So Fucking Mad!

Alick doesn't angst much in this one, mostly they seethe. The depression and anger have overridden much of the anxiety that plagued them two years ago.

At the Giant Chasm, N saves Alick, and then Alick fights Ghetsis and his Hydreigon again, but this time they have their own, well-raised, and very much loved Hydreigon and their team manages to beat the half-mad Ghetsis.

Alick makes it to the Pokemon League and finally officially enters the Hall of Fame as a Champion, and their original team from BW even gets added to honor them.

I've got actually a whole bunch of post-game stuff for Alick before they get shunted off to legends arceus. Immediately after b2w2, they go with N back to the remains of his castle to dig the light stone outta the rubble, cuz Reshiram is Still asleep from the end of BW lmaooooo

Alick and N then go on a cute little backwards journey from there to Nuvema Town so they can fulfill that promise of starting over.

In another stroke of sheer self-indulgence, these two are in a queerplatonic relationship bcuz it's My Story and I Do What I Want

They end up traveling around the world together for like 5 years before disaster strikes and Pokemon God Themself decides that they need Alick to do a favor for them.

Legends Arceus happens. Alick still has their memories. They Do Not Want To Be Here.

They're so focused on completing the pokedex and getting home that they alienate themself from the village as a whole, and they aren't pretending that they can't understand pokemon anymore, so to a village of people who are afraid of pokemon, Alick is a Bit unnerving.

They form an odd camaraderie with Volo as two individuals on the peripheral of society. Also I like drama.

Alick gets banished from the village and I hope that in my version of events the justification for that makes a little more sense, cuz Alick hasn't really given these people any reason to trust them. Part of their team is a Hisuian Zoroark, so in this moment, instead of being escorted out of the village, they death glare at Kamado, say some ominous shit, and then disappear into the fog that their Zoroark conjures.

LA continues pretty normally from this point. The rift closes and Alick almost panics at that, but convinces themself that once they complete the pokedex, arceus will send them home.

Volo fight happens. I love the Volo fight. Alick has a slight ptsd flashback at yet another scary dragon-type that wants to Kill Them.

Alick finally meets Arceus, Arceus basically refuses to send them home. Alick Hates God Now.

Alick's best bet for getting home ends up being Giratina and the Distortion World. They spend...... who can even say how long, in the DW (a place with no time or space). Essentially, in my mind, while in the DW, a person does not age or hunger or tire or experience anything to indicate time is passing. They can even encounter other people in the DW regardless of when or where they entered. The DW has many different portals to reality that can take a person to different times and places in the world. Alick is looking for a very specific portal that can take them to or near to their time period.

The funny thing is they don't even make it back thru the DW. No, instead, one of the portals takes them to the far future, where one of their pokemon gets captured by a mysterious pokeball, they grab it, but uh oh! this was actually from the area zero time machine! Alick gets pulled through time that way and ends up in area zero about a week before Harley begins school. No! I did not mention any of this in Harley's section!

Eventually, thru Harley's adventure, Alick is freed from area zero and reunites with N and then gets to go home. It's been about two years since Alick disappeared. They move in with N (especially since their bw and b2w2 teams are there already). They become the official replacement elite four for Grimsley (sticking with dark-types). And sometimes they are a guest instructor at Blueberry Academy and give bad advice to emotionally fraught high schoolers. 💜💜💜

And if you've gotten this far.... first of all i love you!!! second of all a special little treat for you.....

Their character playlists: Harley and Alick

[boyheros]

ohh yes i love vague details heh... me when interpretation

further questions... what is mizrieta sickness and what does it do to humans? (animals too if they can get it) what are mizrieta themselves? what is the process of reincarnation? are they conscious while waiting for a body to inhabit, and are there "rules" to reincarnation? (like, can they only inhabit certain bodies and etc) and what was the extinction event?

HEH thank you. i'm writing so much now you don't know how helpful this is for me actually. i hardly ever tend to write my oc lore down, before now this was all mentally catalogued. because i'm crazy. thanks so much for asking me stuff again. ok here we go

"mizrieta sickness" is when a human's soul & base black gets realized. it's not a human's natural state of being so it usually causes problems, especially because it often occurs during instances of great violence/trauma/duress ....usually when mizrieta are trying to kill people for resources (base black usually. all mizrieta need that but they only have a finite amount, and it can decay. stealing it is sometimes the only solution...) i'm kinda vague about how that "realization" works, too. i'll say it usually happens with violence or near death. if you're sitting next to someone with a realized soul you're not just gonna get the sickness it's not contagious like that. happens a lot when mizrieta try to steal base black cuz. they're trying to force a humans base black to realize (and it IS actually possible for only base black to become real without the soul. VERYYY rare though) and that will force the soul into existence too.

as for it's effects, plenty of people 'die' of something called "vessel rejection" right when they get mizrieta sickness. basically the strain of suddenly having a real soul (and also experiencing the horrors) will basically kill them. the new soul falls right out of the body. but it's not entirely a death sentence cuz it may not be too severe, or if their soul goes back in the body before all the biological processes stop then they can survive... because humans don't know how to control their souls/base black they'll have issues with this until they do learn. it's difficult because they're still alive, piloting their physical body the way we all do, but they also exist as a ghost that's essentially possessing themselves. parts of their soul can shift out of their bodies willy nilly and that in turn will interrupt biological processes and cause health problems. like your entire arm may go numb cuz the part of your ghost that's supposed to inhabit it moved out of place. ppl with mizrieta sickness also always have pupils the color of their soul. less so for any reason that makes sense but because i want the "eyes are the window to the soul" reference LOL.

im using a readmore now i should've done that on the last posts too my b. here we go:

as for animals. honestly haven't thought of that tbh i figure they could get the sickness because. they're alive also. actually maybe this could contribute to the extinction thing tbh. if you can steal base black from people you can steal it from animals. but if you kill em all...oops!!

as for what mizrieta are themselves. most basically what consists of their "self" is considered to be their soul and their base black, since they shapeshift their physical body can vary and change and blahblahblah. unlike humans they know how to control their souls/base black and can shed their vessels, incorporate new material into their vessels, possess someone else's body, etc. but literally i'll be blunt: the only difference between "a Mizrieta" and "a person with Mizrieta Sickness" is that the mizrieta knows how to control themselves & shapeshift, and also social view. there's a sorta "humanity divide" where. even though LITERALLY humans and mizrieta can be made up of the exact same components, humans view themselves as humans and they wanna stay that way. and the rare few (clones like the facestealer for instance) who 'become' mizrieta decide to take that label. they switch sides, i guess. (that's why Mizrieta the character is named that. she was like WELL! i'm goin all in!). humans and mizrieta alike tend to view the humanity divide as, well, a divide. normal humans on this side, mizrieta on the other, ppl with mizrieta sickness kinda in the middle but still on the human side. when in reality it's more like a continuum. you can go your whole life as a regular human, but once you get the sickness, you'll probably slowly slide over to the mizrieta end over time...

as for reincarnation. once you have a realized soul it basically exists FOREVERRRR so if you have a fatal vessel rejection. you're like a ghost now. Lingering souls without vessels tend to wander, not usually very cognizant of who or where they are. (another difference between humans and mizrieta i guess. mizrieta would be much more Aware. they're practiced at existing as a Soul rather than relying on stuff like brains to hold their consciousness and memories.) The way ghosts interact with living humans can vary widely. Some don’t seem to know or care about the presence of others, while some seem to intentionally seek living beings out, seemingly in the hopes that they can regain a living vessel for themselves. this means you can in fact shove a new vessel at a ghost and they can live in it. boom. as for "rules," you'd realllly wanna reincarnate someone in a body that matches the DNA of their original one. you COULD possess a body that wasn't 'yours' in any way but. your soul might just reject the body. like an organ that doesn't match. or the body will start "turning into" you cuz of base black memory like i mentioned last post.

IN THE STORY THOUGH. reincarnated people don't know how they got reincarnated!!! they just tend to kinda "wake up" somewhere, alive. there's a whole religion about it now. at this point in the chronology, clones stopped being made. before the (latest) extinction event, even. so no one ever considers, "huh, there are machines that that can make bodies" ....they think "what the hell, Maverick, you're a clone? i thought those were extinct? where the fuck did you come from that's so unnatural."

now, the extinction event. also left kinda vague on purpose. but the human race's population had been declining for a looooong time. enough time that they invented cloning as an attempted stop-gap. i figure it would be a combination of a lot of factors (multiple "extinction" level events, perhaps), over quite a bit of time. as in the standard of living lowered enough over time that people on average are shorter than they are now. and then the mizrieta come and kinda finish them off. it's not like all mizrieta are human killers, but as i said. humans make great resources for them. you do what you do to survive, i guess. not all is lost though bc if you're killed by mizrieta for resources, you probably got mizrieta sickness, so you can probably get reincarnated...yay....

but in the part of the story i tend to treat as "the current part" or the part that would be the focus if it was a written story or show. is post extinction. lots of this other nonsense is 'backstory' if you can believe it. lots of the info i'm feeding you would be mysterious i guess. humans went extinct so they lost a loooot of everything. resources, knowledge, etc. societal views change too. ALL reincarnated people literally have mizrieta sickness so it's not viewed as bad, anymore, and it's not called 'sickness.' you're just reincarnated, lol. instead, regular humans (the offspring of 2 reincarnates are born normal, without realized souls) are called "natural born" or "naturals" because they're. yeah.

[taras-toe-beans]

Hi, I'm Bec, just another bg3 player on Tumblr dot com. Made a sideblog so I don't flood my main with bg3 reblogs. I will also be posting more general dnd stuff from time to time, especially since some of my bg3 ocs are either based on characters I played in campaigns, or went from bg3 to being played in a campaign.

I do art and write some fic, but I don't share a whole lot.

Ask box is open. I'd love to answer questions about bg3, dnd in general, my ocs- pretty much anything, really.

Also sorry for the lack of durges, but I really can't think of much original stuff in terms of backstory so I've kind of left that alone

Basics about my ocs:

Izzrhys Illith'vir (my main Tav, subject of a majority of art/fic stuff, I'm playing him in a dnd campaign as well)- he/him, drow, oath of devotion paladin with 2 levels in life cleric, neutral good. Romancing Gale

Aesir Corvus (an actual dnd character I used, used them for my first tactician level bg3 campaign)- they/them, half high elf thief subclass rogue, chaotic good, romancing Wyll. They and Xarek are half-siblings.

Xarek (originally a dnd character I played in a short campaign with my in-laws, turned the Tav for my second attempt at an honor mode playthrough. He won :3)- he/him, half drow fiend patron warlock, chaotic neutral, romancing Karlach. He and Aesir are half-siblings.

Tiresias (technically my Curse of Strahd character, although I did start a bg3 playthrough with him that I'll maybe see through, especially because he feels very morally different from my other ocs.) he/him, grave domain cleric of Loviatar, lawful evil, no romance selected, if I do pick one at all. (Also, side note: I could not find anything that really fit him in cc, so this is as close as I'm getting. I have sketches that I'll post separately.)

Aratris (my first Tav, made for a multi-player campaign), they/them, half-wood elf circle of the moon druid (though they probably spend more time in owlbear form than in humanoid form lmao), true neutral. Romance undecided. Lae'zel romance bugged out in act 1, so they'll probably end up with Halsin. As of right now, it doesn't look like their campaign is ever actually getting finished sadly.

Leoryn (obligatory bard playthrough???) they/she, high elf lore college bard, neutral good, romancing Astarion

Talaak (My one and only Dark Urge who is not fleshed out very much oops)- she/her, silver dragonborn storm sorcerer, neutral evil romancing Minthara

Roszira- she/her, a strongheart halfling who I lovingly refer to as the "world's worst Tav". She's going to multiclass in everything. Yes, everything. Needless to say, she's incredibly indecisive. I made her to do one of the Steam achievements (multiclass into all classes without using withers) and I know there are a million easier ways to do it, but this has just become my fuck around and get achievements playthrough. Chaotic good. Romancing Shadowheart. Update: I got so many achievements with Roszira's save file, and after hers, I only had two left, one of which was completing honor mode. Thank you for your service, Roszira. Sorry I turned you into a squid.

[thornvault]

Kali Introduction Post

As I've previously threatened, here's info on my Magnifico ship OC (shoutout to @king-magnifico-haven who actually asked for this!! You're so special to me rn 🩷)

Keep in mind that Kali is still a VERY new concept (originally created less than 24 hours ago at the time of writing this, though it may take me a minute to post) so a lot of this information is very likely subject to change. I have the basic idea, but as I toy around with the story I'll be thinking of new things. I'm impatient though so I'm posting what I got so far anyway!

Please be kind to the art. I don't like drawing humans so I don't do it very often 😆

Summary: Kali is in their mid-20s, nonbinary (they/them); they start out as Magnifico's apprentice and eventually become a Dark Mage, but in a good way. They're mastering that damn book. Kicking its butt. They're very motivated. Powerful OCs are cool and sexy!

Personality: Kali is soft-spoken but firm. They are most comfortable being in the background and much prefer to take orders than give them, but they're capable of taking charge if the situation demands it. They are outwardly polite and without much of a temper, though they have a mischievous side that they may show once they feel comfortable. Still new to the concept of safety, they can be a bit skittish and a people-pleaser, but they'll unlearn those habits in time. Once they grow more accustomed to their new home, they'll gradually become more outspoken as time goes by.

Plot: The main change to the movie for this AU is that there are several months or even years between Asha's failed interview and the rest of all that plot. Instead of immediately making a Wish Upon A Star™ and being heard, it stews a while, maybe Asha even gets her own little underground rebellion going before Star ever shows up. Let there be a proper plot. Once she turns 18, she'll just choose to keep her wish, what's Magnifico going to do about it? He may not like it but it does seem like a voluntary thing to do so he's not going to force her. For now.

Anyway. Onto Kali. They're relatively new to Rosas, a war fugitive from a place I haven't yet named. Kali has seen more than their fair share of suffering and loss. The Kingdom of Rosas always sounded like a fairytale to them, they never fully believed it to be real until they found it. Welcomed to a safe haven in exchange for nothing, they feel indebted to the people, and Magnifico especially, for taking them in.

Their Wish™ is to be able to help, to make a difference - however small - in the lives of people and all living beings. The pain they've endured has made them gentle, not cold, and they just want to make things better. Their past reminds Magnifico of his own, and seeing their wish when they give it to him, he offers them the position of his assistant - what better way to help than by learning magic, after all? Kali turns out to be fairly talented in it. It'll take a while to learn all the spells and potions and whatnot, but they clearly have the potential.

We all know why I'm here, of course. As surely nobody who's ever met me could have guessed, this mentor/student arrangement turns into an affair, which then turns into the real deal. Only there is the small problem of the Queen who may not be entirely on board with this concept. Sorry Amaya.

I haven't entirely figured out how things will play out here, only that Kali will stand by Magnifico and try to help as he slowly slips off the deep end, whereas Amaya just sort of drops him the second he starts glowing (really, Kali felt bad for her, but if she wanted to keep him she should've treated him better). It's not that they fully agree with his methods, but A) he's their mentor, surely he knows best; and B) he's not entirely wrong. Yeah, people should get their wishes back if they want them, it's THEIR wishes after all, but damn you're not even going to ask him nicely? Just break in and steal them after he's spent years keeping them safe for you? And he's clearly not doing well so they're sort of stuck between being supportive and trying to steer him into another direction, it's a weird position to be in.

Anyway, let's assume we're still going with movie canon to some degree and the ending still happens. Amaya offers Kali a position as High Mage; though wishes will of course no longer be taken nor granted, magic can still be useful. They may continue their studies by themself and continue living in the castle. It doesn't feel right at all, and they miss Magnifico.

So Kali does the unthinkable, and gets out that book. They're careful, very careful, but they have a lot more time now than Amaya and Dahlia did, and there has to be some way to free him. Getting him out of the mirror sounds easy enough, though it does require using spells from the forbidden book. But then there's the whole deal with unbinding him - well, at that point both of them, really. They visit him in the dungeon as often as they can without arousing suspicion, but it does take a long time for them to find a way to do all that.

And that's the story of how Kali begins to study forbidden magic and ways to use it safely, and revolutionizes the entire concept of how magic works. They can do it because they have genuinely good intentions with it and know how to keep their emotions in check. They got a pure heart. Come on, it's Disney, bear with me here. That makes sense in-universe. Magnifico gets fixed by True Love's Kiss and you can take that from my cold dead hands.