#personname1

[eliteseven]

Ok but what if Shadowheart is all ready to murder her way to get to Tav

She's found it, dressed in her old armor, spear in hand.

Out walks Tav, missing an eye and skine, blood coming from everywhere, holding a sword with a broken arm.

She is stooped over holding the hand of a young black haired, green eyed half elf child, who wears initiates garb.

😮 goodness.

Tav, bloodied and broken, but emerging from the cloister alive and with a stolen, frightened initiate? Barely able to stand without passing out and yet- standing defensively over the child. (Not even going into the themes of cruelty and why it would be so important for Tav to protect a helpless child, given her past).

Shadowheart wouldn’t even know who to help first. Tav quietly collapsing into her arms, a breath away from death itself. A frightened young Sharran half-elf initiate that eerily reminds her of her former self…

Her relief at finding her wife alive is immeasurable. Her absolute terror at Tav’s sorry state is evident. What if it’s beyond her healing capabilities? She has to swallow all of her fear and try to demonstrate to this child (who likely recognizes her as Selunite and is even more frightened) that she isn’t a threat. And she needs to get Tav home asap.

What an interesting alternative, wow! Hopefully Nocturne is there to help. 😬

[whereserpentswalk]

Wonderful tags @personname1

Literally the only proof we have of any neopaganism in the nazi is from Himmler individually, who was an occultist, but the only time he was ever called a neopagan was other nazis trying to discredit him. And still it gets brought up like its fact when people want him to seem "creepy" in telling of history.

The nazis that you see in movies are as much a historical fantasy as vikings with horned helmets and samurai cutting people in half.

The nazis were not some vague evil that wanted to hurt people for the sake of hurting them. They had specific goals which furthered a far right agenda, and they wanted to do harm to very specific groups, (largely slavs, jews, Romani, queer people, communists/leftists, and disabled people.)

The nazis didn't use soldiers in creepy gas masks as their main imagery that they sold to the german people, they used blond haired blue eyed families. Nor did they stand up on podiums saying that would wage an endless and brutal war, they gave speeches about protecting white Christian society from degenerates just like how conservatives do today.

Nazis weren't atheists or pagans. They were deeply Christian and Christianity was part of their ideology just like it is for modern conservatives. They spoke at lengths about defending their Christian nation from godless leftism. The ones who hated the catholic church hated it for protestant reasons. Nazi occultism was fringe within the party and never expected to become mainstream, and those occultists were still Christian, none of them ever claimed to be Satanists or Asatru.

Nazis were also not queer or disabled. They killed those groups, before they had a chance to kill almost anyone else actually. Despite the amount of disabled nazis or queer/queer coded nazis you'll see in movies and on TV, in reality they were very cishet and very able bodied. There was one high ranking nazi early on who was gay and the other nazis killed him for that. Saying the nazis were gay or disabled makes about as much sense as saying they were Jewish.

The nazis weren't mentally ill. As previously mentioned they hated disabled people, and this unquestionably included anyone neurodivergent. When the surviving nazi war criminals were given psychological tests after the war, they were shown to be some of the most neurotypical people out there.

The nazis weren't socialists. Full stop. They hated socialists. They got elected on hating socialists. They killed socialists. Hating all forms of lefitsm was a big part of their ideology, and especially a big part of how they sold themselves.

The nazis were not the supervillians you see on screen, not because they didn't do horrible things in real life, they most certainly did, but because they weren't that vague apolitical evil that exists for white American action heros to fight. They did horrible things because they had a right wing authoritarian political ideology, an ideology that is fundamentally the same as what most of the modern right wing believes.

[eliteseven]

So we all know Shadowheart is a badass, she is a cleric and Selune's favorite little princess after all.

What about Tav? I can see people thinking "human fighter woman" just can't keep up, but imagine Tav standing and with nothing more than sword and shield stopping a group of bandits, or something else to protect Shadowheart/someone else? Even better if the idea that she IS superhuman, as all high level characters have to be, comes to the fore.

"How the hell did she do that?" "No human can do this." "Watch me." and "I am your sword and your shield. I am your armor and until I am broken and dented, rusted beyond all repair, you shall not be harmed."

Oh yes, let’s please talk about Knight Tav for a moment! 😍

I think you’re right. All her life she’s been underestimated! Noble spoiled child who suddenly wants to take up arms? Laughable! But Tav LOVES to prove people wrong!

But also Tav has real fears, real concerns that drive her to learn swordplay, defense, battle tactics. She wants to be able to protect herself- but that eventually blooms into the desire to protect anyone who’s weaker, defenseless, in need of her sword and shield. (Like I always say- Shadowheart saw it firsthand (and first got hearteyes for Tav) with the Tiefling child refugees! Tav sprang into action to defend them, to care for them!)

But let’s talk about Tav’s battle prowess. A fighter, a knight, a Cormyr Purple Dragon (name still cracks me up lmao)- she finds herself in elite company after a decade of sacrifice, of training. She may not be versed in clandestine skills like Shadowheart, but pound for pound, out in the open, she’s absolutely something else. She’s often the last one standing.

The first time Shadowheart sees it in full force, I imagine it’s when she and the other party members are down. Unable to defend themselves, only Tav is left to fend off a swarm of enemies to protect them- be it Bhaal cultists or some simple bloodthirsty bandits. And she does. All power, beauty, effortless grace- blood of her enemies staining her face, her hands, her armor, the blade of her sword. It’s probably breathtaking, in a sense, watching her chest heave as she fells her last enemy and wrenches her sword free. And the dichotomy of the way she fights vs how she drops to her knees immediately after to cradle Shadowheart in her arms??? 🥹 to heal her with no thought of her own wounds???

She lives and dies by her honor and her ability to protect her loved ones. And boy, does she come through. She may not be winged like Aylin but I feel that she is as much of a warrior angel in her own right. And Selûne probably holds the savior and lover of her chosen in high regard 😉 so that’s a little boost in her abilities, too.

[heroineimages]

@personname1: I did! She's one of my ascended Godir, too!

Age of Wonders IV poll, for no real reason

Hey, so here's a dozen of my 200+ factions I've designed on Age of Wonders IV, vote on your favorite. (Click on each for larger.)