#part time casters fanart

[moss-cola]

Ruler of everything

[mareenavee]

15, 17, and 20!

HI TOPSY!!! AHH. Thank you for taking the time to ask these! I appreciate it!

Fandom Positivity asks from this game here.

15. A topic you never get tired of discussing.

Oh I feel like you knew what I was going to say. I mean there's A LOT about TES that I'd happily chatter over but let's focus on my favorite first.

✨ Weird Magic Shit ✨

To prevent myself from absolutely rambling about this, because I absolutely will given the time and space, I will simply outline what I mean when I say this. There have been a number of ways spells have changed for the series over time. So in fic, we are really free to change the perception of spellcraft and magic in whatever ways we see fit, pulling from lore sources or the game mechanics, or whatever we want. I spend a lot of time thinking -- well, what if a spell could work differently? Is it too far out of canon compliance to make sense? If so, why? And how do we tie it back in a specific way that allows the reader to suspend their disbelief just for a bit? How can a caster's skill affect how they perceive magic or make use of it? What cultural aspects affect how magic is learned or utilized? How does magic and language connect? Are they one and the same? etc, etc.

All of it comes back to the fact that magic is inherently weird and also a huge, huge part of TES. So I'm happy to twist it and warp it out of shape, because it seems there's so much not told in the source material. Early on I did also write a smol post with some super basic ideas on it, and not every aspect of what I am working with is on that post -- but it's there. :> And I'm always happy to discuss weird magic things.

Actually, messing with magic starts pretty early on with World and continues throughout, like, every fic I write. It's a big deal. I'm always here for talking about how I work with it and how others headcanon weird magic shit. (:

17. Something you love that you don’t often share because you’re worried what others will think?

Hm! Well this is interesting because I am very transparent with the kind of fandom participation I work with LOL I don't really generally worry per se what others will think of my taste in fanfic or fanart because at the end of the day, people can scroll past me if they don't prefer to engage with what I'm yelling about. I've been lucky in this regard that most of my mutuals will also yell about similar things.

I'm trying to think of things recently I've read and loved that I would worry about discussing --

Oh! I know. One thing which is really more of an unpopular opinion than anything. I love to dunk on the Nerevoryn ship, but the ✨Morrowind Fic Writers✨ who lean heavily into this give me pause sometimes with how adamant their commentary can be LOL. So I'm not about to write out my unpopular opinions. Because it's very much not like that for me with fandom. Like I want to have a discussion about the merits of the writing or story, not cause chaos in the comments section by posting "lol okay then, you do you" right lol. I find it to be sort of a waste of time to be negative toward others on the internet and I don't want to invite others to waste their time being negative to me because of how funny I find this ship generally speaking. (Please know most of the humor comes with me hearing Voryn/Dagoth Ur's voice as it was in Morrowind while I'm reading. It is a thing I cannot help.) I suppose sometimes in general I'll read this ship for funsies? To be perfectly fair, I don't mind the ship. I just haven't encountered much content for it that isn't absolutely absurd to my eye. (And sometimes even if it is absurd, it's in the best possible way.) Perhaps it's not that I worry about what others will think. It's more that I just don't have a lot of opinions that aren't jokes I think. LOL (For the record, smut/pwp also has this effect. It'll be funny to me most of the time, unless it's well written then I'm just like good for ya'll and move on.) I am simply not the intended audience for that, or, unfortunately, the majority of Nerevoryn ship content. And that's totally okay.

20. Give kudos to someone who is a devoted fan (either of your own works or others’)

MORE KUDOS! I wanted to give a huge shoutout here to @changelingsandothernonsense who has been reading World since the very beginning, version one, challenge mode, me posting every day and cutting content left and right, and also skipping editing phases. She knows SO MUCH about the story upcoming and has been following along with the revision. Not only that, but keyboard smashing with me in my DMs and reading snippets that nobody else has gotten to see so far. AH and it's been such a joy and an inspiration. We chat every day pretty much about fandom things. Thank you for being a fandom bestie and for your enthusiasm. 🫂 I could say so much more LOL. I appreciate all the effort and all the shenanigans. And most of all, I appreciate getting the chance to talk not only about World, but also about Danger!Josh. :>

[leasdoodles]

she's so bad at lying i love her 🥰

[harenodrawsthings]

Test drawing. I got the paper I decided to use for drawing Dream 2, but wanted to do one more test. I needed see how my fill pens behaved on this paper for spot blacks, and to see how the colors for Pilar and Douman looked on this paper. I have to be mindful of my marker technique, but I really like the paper. I was out unexpectedly for another week and have to leave yet again, so I wanted to be 100% sure this is the paper I want to use since I’m taking it with me. I’m really excited to FINALLY start drawing Dream 2! Out of all the ones in the list I think it’s one of the weirdest ones so I’m gonna have a lot of fun, haha! 

[laulink]

The consequences of wielding magic in Fodlan

That’s a headcanon of mine I’m quite fond of (and that I reference in my latest one-shot) : the idea that wielding magic does come with side-effects, but instead of the scars that we sometimes see in fanarts (which are cool, I’m not saying otherwise), those side-effects are hidden, almost invisible, and vary a bit depending on the type of magic you wield. More to the point, it’s not your skin that your magic attacks, it’s your nerves.

The idea is that magic is a form of energy and you generate it yourself, then gather it, usually in your hands, to cast spells ; but just like wielding a sword or an axe often over a long period of time will cause callouses to form on your hands (skin getting damaged by your use of a weapon and being remade thicker so it can’t be damaged again), wielding magic will damage your nerves over time and progressively lead you to lose part or all of your sensitivity over areas of varying sizes.

The thing is, sensitivity isn’t just “feeling touch”, it’s also “being able to identify if something is cold or hot�� (or thermoception, which also tells you how cold or hot it is so you can know when it gets too much and avoid getting hurt) as well as being able to “feel how your limbs are positioned” (proprioception).

Those different sides of sensitivity already vary between people (some will be more sensitive to heat than others) and can also be altered by the things that happen to you (a surgery might cause you to lose part of your superficial sensitivity around the area you had the surgery on, like your wrist, which is called hypoesthesia, or on the contrary when the nerves reform they’ll overcompensate and you’ll be hypersensitive, to the point of feeling pain from the lightest touch, which is called hyperesthesia). Of course, in Fodlan, your use of magic can have a similar effect.

Fire and ice magic users (like Marianne) will first be desensitised from heat/cold because the temperature of their magic will get their hands and arms used to higher or lower temperatures and they’ll progressively stop registering them, meaning that the first sign a fire using mage is starting to feel the side-effects is that they won’t notice that a stove-top is too hot to put your hand on and get burned. But their nerves’s deterioration won’t stop just because they don’t feel heat so well anymore and, over the years, they’ll progressively lose the rest of their sensitivity.

Lighting users (like Dorothea) have electricity running down their arms when they conjure up spells and electricity is what is used to send messages by the nerves to the brain, so it will rapidly come to affect all types of sensitivity, but often the first one to be visibly impacted is the ability to feel touch/pressure.

Wind users (like Linhardt) will also lose all types of sensitivity at the same rate, though it tends to affect their proprioception a little earlier than the rest (feeling of weightlessness comes with wind and offsets the nerves).

In a similar, yet opposite manner, black magic users (like Hubert) will also lose proprioception first, then the rest at roughly the same speed, but this time it’s not because of a feeling of weightlessness but a feeling of heavyness from the miasma that is black magic. 

Light magic (like Manuela’s) is a special case because it will cause the caster to lose their vision first (not directly through the magic altering their nerves but because the casters will be exposed to their spells’ particularly strong light) and, after a while, progressively lose the different types of sensitivity at roughly the same rate. It’s the type of magic that is slowest to deteriorate the casters’ nerves.

Lastly, white magic : it cannot actually heal the damage done to the nerves (it’s too complex), but it tries, and the more you use it and slightly damage your nerves with it, the more it will try to heal you as much as the person you’re trying to heal, the more sensitive you’ll become, causing hyperesthesia on an area of varying size.

For all those side effects, there is a cure : not using magic anymore for as long as it takes your nerves to heal (and avoiding any contact, even cloth, on the area impacted if you have hyperesthesia). Depending on how much damage was done, it can take a long time : if the caster doesn’t feel anything up to their elbow, knowing nerves grow back at a similar speed to your hair, you’re looking at a good year of “no magic” to regain your sensitivity.

Stimulation can help with the recovery, which means it can also help slow down the deterioration process while you are still practicing magic : the exercises will vary depending on the type(s) of sensitivity you’re trying to stimulate, but it’s not too complicated to figure out so most mages come up with their own exercices to fit with their lifestyle and available materials and tools.

[hotvampireadjacent]

ok i have to know. i HAVE to know. what is the appeal of douman. i am not even trying to judge you i just dont understand. i have seen so much fanart of him on pixiv ever since he got released. he gives you a talisman full of curses as a valentines day gift. please i just want to understand.

OKAY IT'S A LOT MORE THAN THAT THO. he's very extra in everything he does.

he first shows up in the game as a villian and in shimosa that is out in NA now.

he's on the main fgo na page now too!!!

so anyway he first shows up as a villian and isn't summonable/playable many years later. and of course as a villian he's caused a shit load of problems for the mc/ you. and what does this motherfucker say when he's summoned?

the most shady shit you've ever fucking heard. normally, this would be believable. servants don't normally keep memories of previous summons, with some exceptions. It, later on, becomes very clear that he DOES remember all the times he tried to kill you. and he still has the balls to say this shit.

He first appears as a caster in shimosa, and alter ego is a special 'extra' class. Like a really special fucking weird one. as if it wasn't shady enough 1. he says he doesn't know you 2. he's not a caster as one would expect 3. he's ALTER EGO of classes. which is a like a bunch of spirit origins shoved into one guy.

he's problems the clown and after you summon him he's still actively trying to kill you.

also. he got a big part in a newer chapter in jpn 5.5 heian kyo where's hes back to being a big bastard. i don't know the details bc. i wanna go in blind when it comes in na. i've been avoiding a lot of jpn spoilers but i'm sure that's why a lot of people love him too.

for me i can't help but love him.... he was abe no seimei's rival, the number one onmyoji in Japan...so that means he has to be great to be his rival.... he would have been happier if he stopped comparing himself to a guy who was above him but that isn't who douman is..

hate filled horny clown my beloved.

also in the begining he shows up and says he's working for satan and before he's killed in shimosa says it was 'just a joke' the satan part. causing problems on purpose <3

i know a little bit about heian kyo but will refrain from talking more bc of spoilers. I can only love a man filled with hate for not being no. 1 and doing anything possible, including underhanded tactics, to try to become no 1.

how could I not love him? He claims not to know what love is...perhaps if I cherish that cursed valentines day gift and cough up enough blood he might start to understand. <3 fucked up clown my belvoed of all times <3

HIS VOICE and his NP IS so good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsEjjQX51oA

[bimbosupreme]

mephistopheles love post

the equivalent of a mental breakdown tangent is all going under a read more

yes believe it or not that freaky ass literally not even human clown in fgo gets love, and love from who? me and like 3 other people

first off

ok and with that out of the way,

i’m not even familiar with their lore. Reason why i stopped caring about the lore behind faust and mephistopheles is that an interlude happens that shows that mephistopheles is just some homunculi made by some mage nobody named faust. and even then the interlude doesn’t talk about the lore behind the novel, its just you helping mephy kill faust

that being said though i would hope the developers expand on their origins more and potentially even release a “true” mephistopheles (a girl can dream)

So, they’re not even the real deal demon known as Mephistopheles in the first place, and i can hear u going “well that’s lame” and like, no, we just need to redirect our feelings from appreciating a demon to appreciating a homunculi who has a weird characterization in the fate universe

Design tangent:

Fgo was actually my first gacha, and so when I came across this servant I kinda instantly fell in love with their design, I love the colors used in their final ascension and overall appearance. The hat that has horns but they're not quite horns, theyre these weird colorful pointy twisty things, the large garish butterfly ornament on their chest (which isnt ugly at all and somehow works so well with their everything on them) is cool, the tights are so cool to look at, i mean look -- a checkered pattern with golden lining on the shorts portion, the tits out look like yes we get it youre insane, the gloves??? purple and also cool, plus theyve got this gradient thing going on? and the fingers have this line going through them, thats so cool. actually the only other servant that comes close to this in terms of “out there” colorful designs is probably final ascension kama and qsh ( i love them both). Also, mephy has this scissor weapon?? thats so cool lol i dont see any other servant wielding giant scissors (for the love of god give mephy an animation update i need to see them use the scissors while doing flips) and they also have this bomb obsession going on? cant relate, but the bombs designs are so so cool i mean its a fucking centipede -- no idea if centipedes are a thing in the original faust but thats something Ill have to look up at some point. ALSO mephy is wearing heels oh my god anytime people wear heels is an automatic win. No clue whats going on with the hair but its kinda cute (dont question me on that) and it has curls and the hair colors are cool i mean its like a lavender thing with darker purple highlights? i love colorful things and i love people with wacky personalities so. Oh my god their tail how could i forget that its so cute and dumb i almost forgot it was there, like what is that even a whip? i dont.. but its got these little purple tips to them that are kinda cute/cool but more cool because tails are fucking up there alongside heels in terms of cool stuff on characters. and of course their fluffly cape -- again no idea what the designers were going for i mean look its a mess of a design i have no fucking idea what any of it means and i hope they explain it someday because that hair and the butterfly and the tail and the hat and the fluffy garb and a bomb obsession?? and this got the go ahead - yeah lets add that to the game like what

ALSO LETS TALK ABOUT THEIR EYES

appreciate these with me for a second

god.

oh and the blue lipstick and face paint god thats a cool design ugh

they can be normal too or at least as normal as possible i mean they even trimmed their eyebrow here lol but you can see the not so well hidden insanity/goofiness peaking through with the inside of the suit at the bottom being highlighter purple and a green shirt with gold accents underneath the black coat at the front <3, fuckin hate that hairstyle tho bro we gotta get that middle part hairstyle outta hereeeee--

TAKE A DETOUR AND LOOK AT THIS LINK THOUGH THIS IS THE MOST NORMAL AND BEST IVE SEEN THEM IN FANART. THE POTENTIAL IS THERE. WE CAN HAVE NICE THINGS AND THEY LOOK GREAT ITS POSSIBLE. I HAVE TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE FROM THAT DRAWING.

anyways this is me going off all about why i like their design! but we haven’t even touched the nitty gritty of it all. their personality! what personality you may ask? havent they always been some weirdo laughing a lot and saying dumb shit all the time? well yes and no

Characterization:

True to their dumb little clown design mephy also acts like one.

Some servants bond 1 lines are like “fuck off” and some actually talk to you, nah this bastard mephistopheles’ just laughing. and for the second bond line it seems to imply theyre fuckin with you more (showing up and dissapearing and saying ‘afterimage’) so thats nice that theyre actually making some effort to mess with you in a way? some servants take a long time to actually interact with you so this shows theyre not afraid of interacting with you and thats just at bond 2. and of course the third bond line implies they were probably trying to betray you, its stated in more than 1 place that mephistopheles (actually isnt this a caster class thing?) will betray you or attempt to do so. So the third bond line seems to imply that their attempts have been stopped by you and that’s what they say after some failed attempts. So after stopping this freak from doing some shit their next bond line is actually doing a confession! a jester being honest who couldve seen that one coming but theyre 100% not lying, they really arent a demon but a homunculi made by faust

speaking of faust we’re going to backtrack a little into their interlude that i brought up at the start of this post, its one of those dream interludes and it starts with mephy asking you to help him plant bombs for their eventual reuinion/showdown with faust -- in the meantime faust keeps sending golems in an attempt to kill both you and mephy

When you track faust down, it’s shown that faust was your typical mage, inhumane and uncaring. It’s also pointed out that this faust killed innocents, but this typical mage behavior is boring to mephy, and they say that boring typical behavior is why they wanted to kill them

 so i really cant blame mephistopheles for being the way they are, being raised by this type of guy, even if mephy was always messed up and wacky from the beginning its no reason for faust to attempt to kill him.

Mephistopheles also shows up in salem, cu alter’s interlude, and of course the knk crossover event, and some other things im most likely forgetting but those 3 are ones that i find notable

anytime they show up theyre actually helpful, in salem mephy points out that the nature of the being responsible for the salem epic of remnant is something alien rather than a typical foreign god, mephy also tells you that time is also being sped up and in their weird way they try to cheer you up by spouting some nonsense at the beginning (guda needed some kind of distraction from the grim events that had just transpired at that point in the story), i cant quite remember what mephy did in the knk event but they were a part of your group and were helpful the whole time, actually @/zeravmeta does an amazing analysis of their role in the knk event as well as some extra character analysis here

mephistopheles is kinda cryptic in a weird way though,

like overall i mean theyre a jester homunculi in appearance so yeah its to be expected but come on i love morally gray characters, despite their supposed betrayal hints scattered around here and there

they have this one line that always gets to me

and this line is said with a completely serious face too

the rare serious mephistopheles face! its kinda grim to see that line, no laughs, no nothing, their voice is kinda serious and monotone too. of course this could be just to get you to lower your guard but its still kinda out there that they have this rarely used portrait and that line, so i like to take it as being said to you when youre by yourself and with sincerity

and at least sei (with her wacky outfit and all lol) seems to get along with mephy and thinks theyre nice woohoo

so at the end of the day you have this guy that laughs a lot and gives mixed signals

and they fuck with you

and will most likely try to kill you more than once but hey thats just another tuesday at chaldea

Before I finish last thing I want to point out is this snippet from the fgo source material book which provides more information on servants, and this specific translated bit under mephistopheles

at the core of it all this homunculi....can be your friend! you just need to not go into despair i guess

of course this entire post is an overanalysis into an underwritten character, quarantine + all online college classes have done this to me, i have a douman icon what did you expect

OH...BEFORE I REALLY SIGN OFF AND FINISH THE POST HEY CLOWN LOVERS CHECK OUT THESE FANARTS AND FANARTISTS...

THE FIRST ONE IS HASENDOW YES THE DOUMAN DESIGNER... <3

i cant believe they drew mephy

twice !

and for those of you on twitter check out @cuz_pb and @L0VEYAMA003

[iffangirlingwasasportiwouldbepro]

So the Beautiful Creatures movies was on TV the other day and as I was watching it (for the second time ever since it’s so inaccurate from the book that I never wanted to see it again) I realize how much we were robbed. Like the cast is absolute fucking perfection (some of the costumes and hair should have been different *cough cough Ridley cough cough*). Jeremy Irons as Macon? Sign me the fuck up. The incomparable Emmy Rossum as Ridley? Hell yes. Emma Thompson as Sarafine? Absolutely! Viola Davis as Amma? Perfect fucking casting. Alden and Alice as Ethan and Lena? They look and act the part. The movie could have been so good and if you look at it as a movie on its own, it’s not terrible, but for fans of the books it was a disaster. If they had had the same cast and a more accurate adaptation of the books, it would have been perfect and we probably would have been able to see the other books get adapted too. Not to mention the fact that the Caster Chronicles fandom wouldn’t be as tiny as it is now and we would have fanfics and fanart and everything else that other fandoms have. Ugh. It honestly makes me so mad (especially since I just finished re reading the first book and it still holds up for me)

[uriangerswifey]

ℂ𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕜 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 [💉] ⠀⠀⠀ 【He who hath mastered all at birth. He who started all at his crowning. He who lets go of the world at his time of parting. Ars Nova.】 ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀━━━━━━━━ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀『𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺』 ⠀⠀⠀ 𝓐𝓭𝓶𝓲𝓷: Actually managing to do the impossible! Bear with me here! 😅 For now enjoy this cute neko Romani! 😍 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀━━━━━━ 𝓣𝓪𝓰𝓼: #anime #manga #boy #animeboy #otaku #videogames #kawaii #cute #fanart #fate #fateseries #fategrandorder #fgo #servant #fatecaster #caster #solomon #solomonfgo #fgosolomon #typemoon #pixiv #romaniarchaman #fgoromani #grandcaster #chaldea #nasuverse #fateromanisolomon (at Fate/Grand Order - Account) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByljAdOBlcv/?igshid=oal0ppiin1sy

[official-alan-dabiri]

Official-Alan-Dabiri and the 5 Stages of Grief

Okay, I’ve been doing some grieving for the esports side of Heroes of the Storm, and I’d like to kind of put my thoughts out here for my three human and three-hundred pornbot followers. I’m just going to step outside of what has been mockingly referred to as my “blizzard fursuit” and be real for a minute here. Hi, I’m Rob. I am a Heroes of the Storm player since alpha, and a Heroes of the Storm esports fan since before the custom game mode had been added, when maps were random and they had to be cast afterwards off of replays. The recent announcement of the cancellation of HGC and Heroes of the Dorm hit me - and the rest of the community - very hard. So I’m just going to touch on the stages of grief as they pertain to this event, and my feelings on the whole matter.

For those of you here for silly patch note commentary, fanart, and moba memes, I’ll put this behind a read more out of respect for your dashes.

Denial

I think Denial is the shortest stage we’re facing here. Denial came when there was no announcement of 2019 HGC for two months, and some of us shrugged it off. At Blizzcon, outward-facing Blizzard employees assured the fans, the casters, the players, and other esports-attached people that HGC would be back in 2019, and be as big or bigger. I’m not going to say that they lied, but their statements fed into the idea that this would be fine, and some people latched onto that in the wake of the expanding silence before it was finally broken.

To be in denial is a defense mechanism. It is denying that this is happening in order to numb our emotions and make it through the first wave of pain. Here, denial is the shortest stage because this is so believable. In the wake of so many questionable moves Activision-Blizzard has made lately, the severity and suddenness is a shock, not the event itself. This is really happening. Professional-level Heroes of the Storm is dead. And of course it is. After all, these are the numbskulls who made a mobile game the centerpiece of Blizzcon 2018, right?

Anger

I just want to preface this by noting that I, personally, never move past anger. I may struggle through it, but that anger never goes away. After the loss of my maternal grandfather to COPD over twenty years ago, the smell of cigarettes still enrages me. So please understand that when I say that I will never forgive Blizzard for this, I am not being melodramatic. I will be angry about this for a very long time.

Anger, however, needs to be appropriately directed and channeled. I’m upset at losing my weekend HGC fix. I’m upset that my amateur team no longer has a pro scene to watch together and work to emulate. And I’m very upset that Heroes of the Dorm is gone, since it was the catalyst that drew many of my friends into the game in the first place. This loss is the end of an era of entertainment. But that’s not the real crime here.

Hundreds of people - some of whom I admire and idolize - across the world are now unemployed. Very abruptly. Right before Christmas. Forty players, per region, are now out in the cold, along with any coaches and managers the team might employ. Add to that the casters, production staff, and analysts? Those people just got hosed. Some of those players dropped out of college to be here. Some of those players dropped out of college literally this fall in preparation for the 2019 season, after being picked up after the region’s playoffs, or fighting their way up in the Open Division and through the Crucible. There are people who have leases they’ve signed based on income that just got ripped away from them. Blizzard just brutally smacked down every one of them, tore away their jobs, and smashed their dreams.

And they did it in a blog post. That was how most of the players and casters learned about this. This wasn’t an event that was common knowledge, and the announcement just broke the NDA for them all. They have been living their lives up until literally the blog post, making plans dependent on HGC 2019. They found out they got fired by reading the news. And Blizzard selfishly kept this under their hats for this long to make sure that no players, sponsors, or other organizations got spooked before they were already locked in to Blizzard’s other esports. This was the worst way to do it. It’s unforgivable.

Bargaining

The bargaining stage is about seeking control over a terrible situation. It’s looking for how things should be when how they are is unacceptable. And for this announcement, there are a thousand different ways that would be preferable to this.

For one thing, I would love if this just weren’t happening. If only the HGC were just on a limited budget. If only the HGC was following a different, cheaper format. If only either HGC or Heroes of the Dorm were gone, and not both. For another, I would love if the call had been made six months ago. Cancel the crucible, make sure everyone has months of notice before the doors close to seek other work, or go back to school, or whatever. Literally any notice whatsoever would be preferable to this. Even if it’s just all in NDAs and the public doesn’t know, half of my anger is mitigated just because I know those folks aren’t entirely hosed.

Of course, the greatest bargain at all is to go all the way back. What if they’d designed the HGC better? The HGC was set up to ensure its own demise. The pros being paid salaries by Blizzard was great for their financial security, but those salaries elevated them above everyone else. The rest of the scene withered. Was Tempo Storm ever going to play against an open division team? No. Never. Maybe a scrim if they had connections, but nothing serious. In the days before HGC, those players had a really high chance of getting matched into the best pro team in round 1 just because of the seeding. Amateur tournaments are few and far between right now, and most of them go without casters, or have inexperienced casters who don’t have the platform to bring these games to a sizable audience. The part of the scene that still exists is now tiny to the point of invisibility. If HGC had been designed on a points system like it was for the first blizzcon, though? Those structures would still exist, instead of having been steamrolled over to build the now-derelict HGC parking lot. Scaling back Blizzard’s involvement with that system would have been a minimal change.

Depression

A lot of the community seems to be in this stage. A lot of people think this was a deathblow to the game itself, and, to be honest, it might be. The announcement was accompanied by the news that the development team is shrinking, and that content will be coming out slower, but with no indication of how slow. There is no shortage of doom and gloom, with people predicting no new hero for months - or even years - and balance patches being made by devs with no resources to test or monitor the results.

Ultimately, this is a downer. I’m not going to tell you it’s not bad. The lack of a pro scene to aspire to immediately kills the interest of a nontrivial number of players, who thought they could one day break into that world, whether as a player or as a caster. And the lack of those players kills the motivation of content creators, who are making build guides, tier lists, and learning-related content for those players. Make no mistake, this scene will shrink because of this. Your favorite pro players, streamers, youtubers, and other content creators might just move on, looking for other games to excel in, and take some amount of their audience with them.

Even if you weren’t part of this community, (why are you reading this, then?) Heroes of the Storm ranked 12th on the most influential esports of 2018. The loss of this is going to spook literally every sponsor across all esports, planting the seed of doubt that this is a worthwhile use of funds when it could all vanish overnight at the whim of the game’s publisher.

And even if you don’t care about esports, the professional level of the game had an effect that rippled down through all levels of play. Do you remember suddenly seeing Xul in your games a whole lot earlier this year? Do you remember Alarak suddenly being a contested pick in the last two months? Surely you noticed that the “solo lane” role suddenly became a thing last year when Blaze and Yrel were added, couldn’t main tank, but still had high win rates. All of that was the pro scene trickling down.

What happens now? What’s going to take the place of that influence? I don’t know. All I know is that when the playerbase looks up to see the highest level of play now, there’s just a void where HGC was.

Acceptance

Regardless of your feelings on the matter, though, Heroes of the Storm existed before HGC, and will continue to exist afterwards. It might end up being a much sparser community, with the pros moving on and the content creators in exodus, but we’ll still be here. I mean, I will, at least. They aren’t pulling the plug on the game, no matter what some angry nerd says about false hope. We’ve got years of gameplay and years of snarky patch notes ahead of us. Not to mention that all Blizzard content is HotS content. I’ve got Overwatch heroes to steal from Jeff, and Starcraft units to turn into poc, and lore-defying skins to slap on everyone in between. Heroes of the Storm is here to stay, and anyone who says otherwise is planning for a future calamity that’s still decades away.

That said, there are still high-level Heroes of the Storm tournaments happening. As I believe I mentioned previously, I have a team in Heroes Lounge, and that league has confirmed that they’re not stopping anytime soon. Similarly, the Nexus Gaming Series is gearing up, with sign-ups in January. In fact, there’s a number of options for community tournaments, both to participate in and to watch, with more undoubtedly coming, once the pros and casters finish their grieving and come together, looking to make it clear that they care about the game more than Blizzard does, and they’re willing to show it.

We all care more than blizzard does, or we wouldn’t be this upset. So let’s keep our eyes to the skies and give our support to whatever comes out of this. Because if the death of the pro scene would kill this game, it’s up to us to support a semi-pro scene ourselves to keep HotS alive.

[moss-cola]

You are more than I could ever be.

[oneinathousandwords-blog]

The Sacred Blood-Lines ~ A Yu-Gi-Oh! Reader’s Request Fanfiction ~ Chapter 2

“So, do you three have plans about where you’ll be staying while you’re in Japan?“ Yugi smiled at Ishizu, Rishid, and Marik from across the table, cheerfully scooping up the last of his french fries.

Marik shook his head. “We were going to stay in a hotel, but we wanted to meet up with you two before making any plans.“

Kaiba tapped his foot impatiently. He had been sitting stolidly at the table without saying a word for the entire meal, but he was done with waiting. “Let’s cut to the chase. Why are you here?“

Ishizu primly wiped her mouth with a napkin, sighing quietly. “To understand the scope of the threat to come, you must know of the history of the tomb-keepers.“

“Our family has two branches, the Ishtars and the Kanaans. The Ishtar branch was tasked with guarding the Millennium Rod and the Millennium Necklace, while the Kannan branch was given the job of maintaining the ancient rites of worship for the Nameless Pharaoh’s soul. Both branches had the same ritual performed on the males when they came of age, but the two rarely interacted beyond that.“

“Corruption, it seems, was fated upon both of our families. Aswad Kanaan is the current head of the Kanaan branch. He is a few years older than I am, and unusually skilled in magic and the ancient arts - and has the ambition  to match.“

Kaiba snorted. “Looks like you Tomb Keepers have a few institutional issues.“

Marik looked away briefly, an odd expression on his face. Yugi noticed his slight discomfort.

“It is in darkness that darkness breeds.“ Ishizu sighed. “And we have been in darkness for too long.“

“This Aswad . . . what is he trying to do?“ Yugi asked. “And why did you warn us about giving away our blood?“

Ishizu smiled, her eyes suddenly softening. “Yugi, Seto, both of you are descendants of the line of the Pharaohs. Your blood, your bones, and every other part of you comes from the Royal Egyptian line of power.“

“No way.“ Yugi breathed. Kaiba just closed his eyes, a vague, self-satisfied smile spreading across his face.

“But that is also a liability.“ Rishid cut in, his deep voice a strong contrast to Ishizu’s. “Aswad wants to use your blood to call forth the Pharaoh’s power from beyond.“

Kaiba’s head snapped up. “There’s a way to do that?“

“Yes.“ Ishizu said, a hint of bemusement lingering around her mouth. “But only if you feel like ritually sacrificing Yugi on the sacred altar in the Pharaoh’s tomb. Such a ritual is, on top of that, forbidden. Such tactics have been attempted before by those who would steal the power of the blood-line. Some have even succeeded - to a point. But the spell itself is long, and complicated. It has failed every time it has been spoken. As it employs dark magic, there is a penalty for misreading even a single syllable of the ritual.“

“A penalty?“ Yugi asked, wiping the last crumbs from his hands.

“Death.“ Marik said, his violet eyes trailing over both of the heirs. “If only one word is said wrongly, the spell’s caster will still be devoured by the forces he tried to call up.“

“In other words, there’s really no threat, is there?“ Kaiba said, a mocking smile on his face. “After all, if this ritual is impossible, then there’s no way this Aswad can use whatever powers we may have.“

Ishizu shook her head. “Aswad is an extremely powerful threat. Even if no one else has ever been able to cast this spell, he will do whatever it takes to make it work for him. And even if the ritual fails, whoever’s body he used for the ritual will still lose its soul. If he cannot obtain the Pharaoh’s power, he will end your life; maybe even both of your lives.“

“So what do we need to do?“ Yugi inquired. “And how soon can we expect him?“

“He’s not alone in his fight.“ Rishid sighed. “Those of the Kanaan who are dissatisfied with their lot in life have joined him. Petty, open-minded criminals and thieves looking for power have come to his cause as well.“

“Aswad has trained them in the ancient games. Your knowledge of mere Duel Monsters won’t be enough.“ Marik cut in. “You’re going to need to learn how to use your spirit protectors’ true powers.“

“As usual.“ Kaiba sighed in annoyance. “So, what are our spirit protectors, and what do they do?“

“Your spirit protectors are the Monsters who serve you alone, as descendants of the Pharaohs. Specifically, the cards you have built your entire decks around.“ Ishizu’s pale eyes looked deep into their souls, calling up memories one of them would rather have kept hidden.

“They can use the power of your blood-line to live in this world, and protect you from threats that are both physical and spiritual. Learning to call them from the world beyond is your first step in defending yourself from Aswad.“

Yugi looked between the Ishtar siblings, incredulous. “So you’re saying that we can summon Duel Monsters to the real world?“

“You have the potential to, yes. But if you cannot master it, then it is likely that Aswad, who has trained in such techniques since his youth, will overwhelm you.“ Ishizu shook her head. “We have already spent too much time here. We should leave, immediately.“

“We;re already in danger, aren’t we?“ Kaiba said casually, rising to his feet.

“Yes.“ Ishizu glanced around the restaurant. “Both of you, get away from this place now. If Aswad gains even a drop of your blood, it will be enough to summon forth a fraction of the Pharaoh’s power. We cannot let him have any of it. We will cover your escape. Go, now!”

Kaiba grabbed Yugi’s sleeve cuff, all but dragging him to his feet. “You’re staying with me. We can’t get separated.“ The billionaire hissed. “We’re going back to corporate headquarters.“

Hmmm. I wanted to put some cool fanart of Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes in this chapter, but I couldn’t find a well-drawn one of them together in the same scene. I have an idea in my head of what I want, but I won’t be able to really draw it how I want until I can buy a computer graphics tablet. I guess I’ll post it with the chapter then. For now, please enjoy the story.

This is still the beginning, so many things have to be introduced before I can move onto the main plot. Also, it is a reader’s request, so anything you want to see in here will happen. I want to update this story at least once a week, usually on Wednesdays, so the quicker you get the requests in, the quicker I am to include it in the chapter. Thanks for reading to you all!

Chapter 1 can be found here.

[harenodrawsthings]

A Dream from Last Night Part 2

Now that I finished both parts of this dream I had, I can explain what it was all about! For the sake of telling I’ll just use my mastersona’s name bc that’s who I drew in the comic. Hopefully it works but here’s the link to Part One.  

All of the servants were kidnapped for reasons unknown, and the search had brought Pilar to a nondescript parking garage. On the wall of the garage was a moss wall with tiny glass coffins containing all of the missing servants. However, it was a trap set by the mage who kidnapped them. Shadowy figures from the mage appeared in attempt to cut off her hand, take her command spells, and sever the bonds with her servants.  

Before that could happen, she was saved by Caster of Limbo. They revealed a little black bird, and sent it out to find the mage responsible. From there, it follows the bird as it flies through Paris. It happens upon a bird-headed mage with command spells of their own, sitting on a balcony with a glass of whiskey. 

And then the dream ended. I woke up kind of salty about missing out on what was gonna be an epic adventure in Paris to save all the servants from the mysterious bird mage. Anyhoo, this was a ton of fun! It also gave me a good feel for how I want to tackle the second dream I had, which is longer. 

[harenodrawsthings]

Some warmups that ended up turning into a test because I needed to see markers on my multimedia paper, and needed to actually keep tabs on which colors I’m using where. (Like writing down which marker I used for a hair color.) I finally got the right brown for Pilar’s hair; It’s supposed to be dark brown and not whatever I’d been using before.