#phillipine eagle

[basbird]

I watched EXU: Calamity when it aired in Summer 2022. Obviously, it blew my mind. I did some sketches of Cerrit Agrupnin. The way that Travis described him "tuning in" with his senses (fluffing up, pupils dilating) was particularly enjoyable.

[quornesha]

Philippine Eagle Prophecy And Symbolism

The Following Channel is from higher powers, Divine, the ancestral plane and is prophetic through Quornesha S. Lemon| Whether the Phillippine Eagle appears in dreams, visions, waking life or synchronicities, it is a sign and message that blessings, prosperity and a release from a generational curse is upon you. Your destiny is being unleashed. And your calling is being initiated. What held you back will no longer have access to you. The divine has been watching you from afar and every wrong, every loss that you’ve had to accept will receive recompense. It is symbolic of blessings, recovery, renouncing vows, annulment of toxic vows or beliefs, removal of demonic strongholds. It is also symbolic of a season of confidence in your calling. You are being called forth. You don’t have to tell people who you are anymore nor whose you are, they will now know, witness and sense it. You will see things from a ‘sense of humor’ perspective. You no longer have to ‘threaten’ others for bothering you, all you have to do is pray, and let it be.

You are moving into a season, where Moses, an ancient ancestor has been awakened. And if anyone or anything is sitting on your blessings, holding your money, attacking you in the realm of spirit, sitting on your ideas must be destroyed. Destruction will know their name. Jealousies and envies must bow to the will of the most high. A table has been made in their presence and the haters or gatekeepers against your blessings have now become the audience. And anything or anyone that has rejected you will now watch you rise. For those who hide you divine will hide them in the worst way as well. Divine is your vindicator. Every curse, every road block, every hindrance will crumble away and a new day has dawned. Every delay in happiness and success will break. 

The kingdom of divine, heavenly realms are opened to you. Your throne is ready. Be seated in your honor season. What denies you denies divine and he nor your ancestry will play about you. 

People's hate, negativity, backstabbing, and betrayal are not your responsibility to carry. Divine is your vindicator and no one has gotten away. Divine has a special love for you and even though he hid his face from you for some time, his grace is upon you now. 

We are entering into a season of Moses, so whosoever is holding your destiny, holding up your process, and the will that the divine has for you will suffer the consequences. They will be like pharaohs, and then the plagues will start. 

It is written in the divine Akashic Records that this is to be so. It is universal. Divine commands that thing, that person, that situation to loose you immediately and let you go into the promised land he has for you. 

Divine is in all creation. 

This message isn't, obviously resonant with all whose paths it crosses, as perhaps you may encounter someone of this vernacular, mastery or skill. Therefore, it is a sign from the universe that you're meant to work with such a person. 

Need further clarity or your own queries answered? Book your own reading as my schedule is full and I do not guarantee a reply on social media regarding this post.

If this is not you, then it is time to get clear to rejoin your tribe or the rest of the world of infinite beings. It's time to bring your light to the forefront. However, if you aren't able to invoke, heal or otherwise on your own, call on the assistance of shamans, healers, intuitive people, etc. to assist you. This synchronicity can possibly have specific meanings for you, it's time to get insight. 

The Gift that Quornesha Has can never be duplicated, She is a Shaman, Writer, Healer,  And Teacher with incredible prophetic/healing gifts. Please do not infringe upon her rights as the author. You are not permitted to reuse, nor are you to sale as you wish. This information has been made available to you for the purpose of introduction and demonstration. All rights reserved. If you'd like to use this in a magazine, online publication, or other, please ask for permission first. Legal actions will be taken if you proceed to impose. Be blessed, bless others and be at peace on your journey. What you do is coming back on you. Make sure that it is good, and all is well within you, through you and around you.  The source sees all and knows what you think it does not. 

[libelelle]

hi what are some of your favorite bird pokemon? do they have any Real Bird Details that you enjoy / fantasy bird-isms that you enjoy? holding notepad and pen

TEEHEEEEE I LOVE BIRD POKEMON.... my favourite of all time is my beloved pidove. literally a pigeon. with a heart on its chest. you must understand

i havent been into pokemon for a really long time but you can bet if you name a bird pokemon ill love it. some highlights:

because they are awesome.

lots of bird pokemon are, predictably, basically just birds. ^these guys up here are eagle (looks like a phillipine eagle), cormorant (they do swallow massive fish whole. like that it is eating pikachu. very swag), raven, and a barn swallow of course.

the lore im not super up to date on pokemon lore but it doesnt matter because there is a star among them all.... Archeops

YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTANDDDDDDD

archeops is based off of the first species/fossil of the bird lineage.... the first bird, Archaeopteryx.... its a transistional fossil that shows the evolution between theropods into birds, which you can actually see a lot of these traits on the pokemon as well (retains teeth, clawed forelimbs/wings, bony tail <- all traits of anscestral theropods that are lost in the evotion of birds + feathers and wings evolved for powered flight)

i also love that some of the dex entries say that they run better than they fly... its possible!! they arent though to be especially strong fliers, and it's likely that they glided more than they flapped, just cause they lack some of the anatomy that makes modern birds so effective (the keel for example. its a projection of the sternum/ breastbone that acts as a muscle attachment site for the pecs, so they can flap harder) they probably did do a fair bit of running. in any case it doesnt stock them from being flying types!

this is the famous fossil that you restore in pokemone BW (best pokemon games ever)

if i could bring Achaeopteryx back to life IRL i would i would recreate jurrassic park. i need to meet her. if pokemon was real i would resurrect her fossil 10800909390 times and cause an ecological disaster on purpose

[beedreamscape]

I was searching for what type of sexual dimorphism Cerrit would present, being a Phillipine Eagle, and this is what the wiki says:

The level of sexual dimorphism in size is not certain, but the male is believed to be typically about 10% smaller than the female, and this is supported by the average length provided for males and females in one source.

This is reverse sexual dimorphism. Females are not only heavier but have a wider wingspan!!!

Wrayne is (very likely) bigger than Cerrit!

(And even if she's another type of eagle, this rule still applies. The difference can even be higher than 10%.)

[madamefluffnstuff]

Well, I work with birds, so...

Ornithology is the study of birds. Aviculture is the breeding/rearing of birds.

The closest living relative of the extinct Dodo is the Nicobar Pigeon.

Stellar's Sea Eagles are the largest eagles overall. The longest one is the Phillipine Eagle.

Blue Jays, Crows, and Ravens are all in the same family- Corvidae.

Bald Eagles do not "screech" like in movies. They chirp.

The bird call you hear in movies when there's a Bald Eagle is actually a Red Tailed Hawk.

[tsyllaes]

I like griffins with the front legs being the eagle's legs, otherwise to me it just feels like a cat with wings and an eagle's head. Also, because these are real creatures in Llayad and not beings of myth, they aren't gonna be the size of lions because I can't envisage something that big being able to fly. So they're not big cat sized. Also more exist than just these four, these are just the ones to fill all the biomes so I've got something. If I need more later then I can make more.

Llayan griffins are, as I say, like any other wild animal. They live as mated pairs for life and have a clutch of three eggs every five years. As the chicks learn to hunt and become more independant, the parents take less and less part in their lives and they leave to find their own territories.

The legend goes that a griffin's feather restores sight to the blind, but only when given as a gift. I wrote a story about that about a decade ago. Idk whether the legend is true or not, but I don't think so.

The griffin is also one of the zodiac creatures, the sign for those born in the first half of autumn. I'll get into that when I draw the pics for the zodiac =3

The tawny sand griffin, the only truly desert-dwelling griffin. It's only small, smaller than your average house cat, with a stumpy little tail and floofy paws so its feet don't get burnt on the sand. Named the tawny sand griffin cos I used a tawny eagle and a sand cat as reference, both natives of the African desert. Sand cats are tiny adorable babies.

The original griffin I created based on a serval! This one's the native of the savanna. Loooong elegant legs, much pretty kitty :D

Clouded griffin of the Llayan forests and lowlands, based off a clouded leopard because I LOVE those things. They're from the rainforests of South-East Asia, so not quite Africa but still fits in my world. I therefore also googled eagles of SEAsia and found the Phillipine eagle, which has an impressive mane, so this is the only griffin with a mane.

The biggest griffin, from the Llayan mountains. These aren't based on anything in particular, though I used a crested eagle as ref for the eagle part, the mottled grey/black patterning just fits the mountains.

[joshcontextualstudies]

Artist research: Whang od

For this project, I have taken inspiration from the Filipino artist Whang-Od, a lady that started tattooing from the young age of 15. She first learned from her father, breaking stereotypes of women using her exceptional talent and skill potential that her father believed she possessed. Her art originates from the Mambabatok culture, incorporating designs like eagles, for warriors who killed enemies, python skin and other geometric designs.

Whang-Od began tattooing and travelling far to villages around the Phillipines. Many communities would request for her to imprint symbols carried through their ancestry to individuals reaching a significant point in their lives. For men, she would do bikking tattoos, a chest tattoo that stretched over the shoulders and arms, taking several days to complete and in return, the individual paid in food, rice or a large pig. Women were also tattooed, to show fertility and beautification. As for tattooing materials, she would use completely organic and naturally sourced materials, consisting of charcoal and water that is pricked into the skin using thorns from calamansi or pomelo. This is known as batok and is actually a lot more painful of a method than modern tattooing techniques. She then adapted a signature tattoo in 2017 that consisted of three dots, symbolising herself and her blood-related apprentices and also the next generation in her art. 

Every tattoo Whang-Od made told a story. They marked milestones, celebrated victories, and symbolized status in the community. Warriors often had intricate designs that showcased their bravery and accomplishments. Women, too, wore these tattoos as a badge of honor and beauty. The designs were as unique as the individuals wearing them, each carrying a specific meaning:

Filipino tattoos were considered terms of honour in the past, especially for warriors who wore geometric designs and animal emblems that stood for bravery. Moreover, these tattoos had mystical significance and were thought to provide prosperity and protection. Common natural symbols for development and life were the sun and waves. Together, they created a rich legacy of tattoo art in the Philippines that combined nature, spirituality, and power.

In traditional tattoo art from the Philippines, animals are very symbolic and each one stands for a unique quality. For example, the Philippine Eagle, sometimes referred to as the "Haring Ibon" or King of Birds, represents freedom, authority, and the spirit of the Filipino people. The carabao, also known as the water buffalo, represents patience, persistence, and hard work—values that are reflected in Filipino farmers. The Tamaraw, an indigenous animal in the Philippines that represents strength and rarity and reflects the resilient nature of the Filipino people, is another noteworthy figure. The Sarimanok, a legendary bird in Filipino culture, is also connected to good fortune, which makes it a well-liked option for people wishing for luck and wealth.

Nature-inspired tattoo designs in the Philippines have deep symbolic meanings that evoke the natural splendour of the nation. These landscapes, which range from breathtaking coasts to deep woods, are skillfully weaved into tattoos to convey distinct stories. Mountains stand for the path of conquering hurdles and are a sign of strength and resiliency. The bravery to sail through life's continual changes is embodied by ocean waves. Bamboo is a sign of adaptation and flexibility, while the sun is a symbol of vitality and optimism. Including these components in tattoos, people convey experiences and trips while also honouring the landscapes of the Philippines. The goal of traditional tattoo art from the Philippines is to provide narratives via symbolic significance, more than just looking aesthetically pleasing.

As I craft my linocut design, I'm inspired by Filipino tattoo art, aiming to express my identity through symbols. I carve geometric patterns resembling traditional tattoos, symbolizing resilience and self-discovery in my journey. Animal figures like the Philippine Eagle and Carabao represent authority, hard work, and perseverance, shaping my identity.I also include nature symbols—the sun, moon, and waves—symbolizing life's cycles and growth. These elements pay tribute to my cultural heritage and my personal journey. Each stroke of the carving tool adds layers of meaning, reflecting who I am and the values I cherish.Through this artwork, I celebrate my identity, embracing my cultural roots and individual experiences. I hope to inspire others to reflect on their own stories and connections to the world around them.

[critrolestims]

Cerrit Agrupnin (Critical Role) stimboard for me!!

🔎.🔎.🔎 🔎.🔎.🔎 🔎.🔎.🔎

[wearepaladin]

Samira by Rafael Benedicto

[sketchingsharkofthewest]

2014 era Digital

[querkynotions-blog]

Winged Animal Kingdom

Raptors: Eagles

[i-make-questionable-choices]

I see your Harpy Eagle Ice and I raise you this:

Phillipine Eagle Ice

Wings AU character bits

Hi this is me trying to get a grip on writing again and getting the characters while also adding the wing bits.

Ice Harpy Eagle

Likes having long nails (harpy eagles have fuckin huge talons), keeps them shaped and neatly painted if he's in the mood when on leave

Likes to keep his nest cool and clean (comfy but practical)

Tall nesting! He always claims the top bunk! 

His childhood bedroom had one of those tall beds with a desk under them because he kept piling stuff up to sleep atop of them and it could fit multiple people 

Sad because Navy bunk beds are small :(

Strong as fuck (he's smaller than Sli but can bench press almost as much) (harpy eagles grab animals as big as them like sloths and carry them) (can carry others while flying if needed just not for lengthy flights)

Very keen eyesight so sunglasses for light sensitivity (maybe reading glasses for near sight focus? I like him with glasses)

Very good hearing (don't shit talk near him he'll definitely hear it)

Hair moves very slightly, similar to feathers (kinda like their facial disk and feather crest) 

*Baby feathers are almost all white with some light gray. They molt usually once a year (sometimes twice) and it takes 5 years to get the adult coloring 

Ice's stayed in a middle coloring and he got insecure. His mom suggested matching his hair and that's how the frosted tips came to exist :D

He's a provider by nature but his little sisters have made him very nurturing and affectionate too (Slider knows this firsthand and thinks it's hilarious how fussy Ice can get)(the others learn with time but first baby goose)

Leaves feathers around the house (perfectly placed thank you very much)

Slider Bearded Vulture

Lämmergeier means “Lamb vulture” (wrong because they don't prey on sheep but shhhhh).  Slider calls Maverick “Little lamb” as a joke because he loves annoying him and wants to eat him up

CAN ACTUALLY EAT BONES!!! (Bone soup is a thing!) Will chew on them till it's painful to watch and will take anyone's bones off their plates to pick the marrow off them

The bone dropping shows a lot in him just throwing stuff. He does it. A LOT.

He also likes to have a tennis ball around to fidget dropping it and catching it when it bounces

Has an actual nest bed. The mattress is on the harder side but it has a shit ton of blankets and pillows (to the point you can't feel the mattress)

There are old feathers around the nest tucked in between pillows (don't tell Ice!!) ⁠(⁠ ⁠⁄⁠•⁠⁄⁠-⁠⁄⁠•⁠⁄⁠ ⁠)

Very involved into the life of the ones he loves (helpful, affectionate, etc) (this includes parenting looks at baby goose)

His feathers only dye red when visiting his family or on vacation with family because they frequent iron rich waters (his mom loves her red feathers and looking at her baby look like her makes her teary eyed)

Maverick Peregrine Falcon

Very lightweight!!!

He's beauty, he's grace, he'll dive down and kick you in the face (literally, peregrine falcons kill prey by punching them with their closed talons when dividing)

Very keen reflexes (both at ground and on air), will grab anything you throw at him even if distracted

Very! Good! At courting!!!! (Looking at the beginning bar scene)

Small but comfy nest. Very soft and also bunk bed! is perfect

Has a favorite blanket that he will ALWAYS take everywhere, even on deployment 

Cracking his head fuckin open more than once as a kid because he's a menace and small and tried to dive from places he climbed (not his best idea)

crying because he's so small he can't carry goose after the accident and can just grab at him until they get rescued

Now this would be for trans! Mav

To everyone's surprise Mav is as big as he can get (Female birds of prey are bigger than males= bigger wingspan, human height is genetic so for avians is a bit mixed)

Wings don't allow binding (for obvious reasons) but kinesiology tape exists! 

He already used KTape before joining the navy and top surgery so he's used to just strutting around shirtless (we stan a short confident king! It's honestly so freeing to tape and be shirtless I might just leave him pre surgery for next fanart pieces)

Goose Emden Goose

Literally a Mother Goose™

Has learned to deal with Maverick and not only does he not get surprised by his antics, he can predict them and is already prepared for them (aka get ready to scoop tiny ass Mav if he gets in trouble or hurts himself)

The good part is that it has made him baby proof. He can deal with a child he's been dealing with Mav!

Terrified. Absolutely terrified. Because his beautiful baby gosling is as much a little shit as his wife and best friend. If his wings weren't already white they'd for sure be by now ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

I need to think more about Mav and Goose but that involves looking for Peregrine Falcon and Geese facts

Edit to take out the divider because I don't like it

[hawkpartys]

me: identifying things on inaturalist is calming also me: in genus pernis fighting for my fucking life

[loquaciousquark]

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap-Up (July 13, 2022)

Very belatedly, here��s the cast-full recap for Calamity. Everyone is here, including Brennan (excluding Matt) and Marisha is hosting-ish. Aabria wins her first game of rock paper scissors ever as part of the intro.

Aabria normally doesn’t care about optimizing characters, but Brennan’s alert that they would die she took as a challenge. Laerryn more than doubled Patia’s HP thanks to Toughness & her Arcane Ward. She did a lot of research to build the character as solidly as possible. Brennan’s direction to the cast to pick lots of magical items (in retrospect: OUCH) frightened Sam, who picked only a Wand of Smiles & a +1 Ring of Protection--and even that made him feel guilty. Luis asking for a Holy Avenger gave Marisha the freedom to ask for more. Brennan: “But there’s an element of verisimilitude to that though, right? These people, the movers and shakers of Avalir. ‘Can I borrow $20?’ No! These people would be fucking loaded!“ It wasn’t just a clever parenting ploy trying to wrangle children, it made sense in the world which doesn’t need an army, just a guy with a Belt of Storm Giant Strength.

Lou wasn’t as Calamity-infused as the rest; he was just excited to be on Critical Role & didn’t feel like he could just show up as a plain bard, so he did bard-sorcerer. (Sam didn’t want to do a plain bard since he’d done that before, but wanted to play something familiar at this high level. Brennan suggested the flavoring, and Sam picked his multiclass warlock patron from the first fey result on the CR wiki. Oh, Sam.) Lou used his Magical Secrets feat to get his dragon summon and the Cone of Cold, “’cause we never took a rest of any kind.” Brennan: “All the GMs out there, fuck a rest, all right? They don’t need ‘em.”

Nydas started as a sorcerer. Loquatius started as a warlock. Patia was a pure School of Enchantment wizard. She didn’t get to use a lot of her class features within the game, but the one thing she did get to clear with Brennan was that she got to use her vast library knowledge to have access to 10 extra spells.

Brennan: GMs & DMs shouldn’t be stingy when the character designs should allow for expansion. Find non-gamebreaking ways to expand character powers.

Travis walked into character creation with zero prep, despite instructions to come with ideas. He happened to be the last one at the table to describe his concept, and after everyone else was full magic, he & Brennan landed on the non-magical investigator rogue. Travis always builds characters by starting with an item. Fjord began with a pair of silver forearm bracers/greaves which he got from a costume shop. Likewise, Cerrit came from these very cool hawks (a type of handaxe) from a fighting system called Sayoc Kali in the Phillipines (wielded by a Navy Seal named Jack Carr). That turned into the Philippine Eagle, which came together beautifully with the Sightwarden elements.

Travis talks about being blown away in the first episode with how natural a rapport some of the characters had with each other (especially excluding him). He felt like he’d missed a meeting. However, it turns out there was indeed a secret meeting between Marisha, Aabria, and Lou in which they talked about their characters’ secret nasty histories with each other.

Brennan wanted to know all the ways that the 75% of the energy dedicated to the Replenishment was actually being misused, siphoned, or otherwise misdirected, and his few suggestions (lichdom, people extending their lives) paled in comparison to the players’ ideas (making the city capable of interplanar travel).

Brennan explicitly wanted members of the Brass Ring to be up to “asymmetrical amount of shady shit.” It was also funny for Brennan to hear these characters talking about how nasty they were as corrupt city officials at the same time he was emailing Luis to discover Zerxus was “not doing good. He’s like, ‘It could all burn. It could burn today, tomorrow, who knows?’“

It’s hard for Luis to be objective about a character he’s been inhabiting for so long. He wanted to challenge himself with a hard commitment to a full redemption paladin. He wanted to parallel his experience as the lonely First Knight with the connection of the Betrayer Gods’ experiences. He didn’t have any longstanding secrets--the dream happened that day. There were two times he wanted to talk to the rest about his issues: first right after speaking with Purvan, and second was during the Zone of Truth until Nydas scolded him. However, Brennan could see the desire to confess in Luis’s eyes and moved the story forward. :O Lou loved the dynamics of the conversation--Zerxus challenging others on their reticence only to be yelled at by his best friend.

Brennan loved how much Luis got into storytelling. His emails were full of notes about Zerxus’s strong convictions and ways he could be manipulated. Brennan likes that 5e moved paladins from wisdom to charisma casters because it allows for the examination of a morality system based on CHA. Zerxus took the universal truth of “everyone can be saved” and never questioned the following conclusion that “I am the right man for the job.” Luis deliberately built in this toxic trait: “I am going to change you.” However, he also felt it was important to have a fervent, unkillable hope. “Let’s have this person who is the most well-meaning, the goodest person in his own heart, and let’s give him this blind spot.”

Marisha talks about the dissonance between the players knowing the characters are being shady but having to justify them internally because they genuinely believe it’s for the good of the city.

Sam talks about Quay being the opposite: instead, he was a liar all the time; his flaw (figured out during the playing) was that he lied to himself more than anyone else. He couldn’t admit to himself that he just wanted simple things, “to be a gritty indie reporter” and to have a lady, and he hated the bending of truth required to be the Herald of Avalir.

Cerrit was a good dad for that day only--he had years of not being a good dad before this. The implication was that Wrayne and Cerrit were not doing well because he had his eyes everywhere except the house with his family. She took off looking for meaningful work and Cerrit just said, “Okay.” He put some of his fears about being a new dad into the character. Travis said he wanted to be Jor-El who got his kids out of there.

Everyone made character choices which elevated the story. The ties to Vespin & the Betrayer Gods were helpful, but everyone was corrupt in some way except Cerrit. Even Quay is introduced by influencing an election. Brennan didn’t want the viewers’ lesson to be, “that’s what happens when everyone’s bad. Not like me, who’s good.” Having a good character whose attention was just in the wrong place was also a great lesson. Travis found it fascinating that even when playing a good character whose entire job was to investigate at the end of days, he had a hard time pushing his friend the Herald on his obvious lies. 

The kids being so cute destroyed everyone. Travis picked a dad character because he wanted collateral damage; the character needed stakes. His favorite superhero is Superman (correct) because he is omnipotent and still chooses to be good (also correct, and I’ve never felt so close to Travis), but he’s also been fascinated by Jor-el, who was so prescient he could see the planet’s impending explosion but couldn’t make a ship big enough to fit all three of them. He talks about building characters with priorities: if the first priority is the threat, the job, the enemy, the second is the family, implying you have then put something above the family. As a new dad, he doesn’t know how to do that: his heart is outside his body now. He wanted to explore that conflict of priorities in Cerrit.

Luis doesn’t have kids of his own, but he likes the pretense--he likes trying to access that part of his imagination. He wanted to have a kid that wasn’t his to parallel the relationship between the Betrayers & mortals (wow!). Zerxus’s child was staying with Nydas’s family (Lou’s idea).

Sam & Aabria very quickly decided they didn’t have kids. “There’s something slightly hilarious about exes who fucking hate each other, and there’s something not hilarious at all about exes with a kid who hate each other.”

Travis is incensed that he missed out on all these coffees with other players to pre-prep character relationships. There was early discussion about Laerryn being Elias’s mom with Evandrin, but it never got cemented. There was some idea of it coming up if Elias were ever orphaned in game.

The city put a lot of pressure on Zerxus to become First Knight because there weren’t many other good options after Evandrin died. They needed the eldritch knight-oracle power of Evandrin to study.

Brennan loves playing kids. “There’s a convenience to orphans” due to their lack of attachment. See: Luke on Tatooine. He loves familial relationships because people are like gems, and certain facets only show up in family relationships (Spy x Family vibes, tbh). Even characters who tried to avoid family still had critical moments: Eadalus and Nydas, Patia and her grandfather.

Nydas was based heavily on John Hammond from Jurassic Park. The goal is not just to make the city great, it’s to make it great and show it to the world forever for the recognition. “I think, in the moment where you killed us--”

Brennan: “I just wanna say something. Matt Mercer made up the Calamity, okay? Matt Mercer made it up, and I’m over here bad-copping it--” Sam: “So you gave birth to us, and Matt killed us?” Brennan: “In a way. I’m in the delivery room.” Lou: “Well, I specifically mean when you killed us with the tree. Which is you. The tree didn’t have to be that wild. It could have just split open. And then in the fourth episode for the first second, AKA two hours, you murdered us ruthlessly. That was you.” Brennan: “All I’m saying is that everyone loves it when Matt says two-thirds of Exandria’s gone, but when it actually starts to happen and we’re making saving throws for an hour of gameplay, all of a sudden people got some shit to say. That’s all I’m saying.”

The moment of death was when Nydas realized he had something of value to lose: a community of people doing great things. The slow moment of Laerryn casting Blight was his slow-mo realization of “uh oh, I might have been sitting on something really important” regarding the prophecy. After that, he had this single-minded impetus to try to mitigate the damage. Brennan loved seeing the prophecy incite a character to panic in real time without a saving throw. He thinks it reflects the differences in character backgrounds & Nydas’s grounded struggle in growing up on the earth vs. the elves’ air-based privileged upbringing.

Brennan thinks Cerrit’s decision to leave is right up there with the Blight & pulling the heart through the tree in terms of critical game moments. He could have completely shifted that fight or even persuaded them to stop. Travis thinks Patia & Laerryn were the no. 1 & 2 targets if he’d been there, with Zerxus behind at 3rd. He OOC thought it was a good chance for them to weaken each other before he had to come in to fight them.

The drive to get the Leywright done was because it was the best timing & would free her up to fix her marriage. “Once we get this done, we could do the little things” like visiting Quay’s home plane.

Sam reads his text history with Aabria. “Lorwyn is her first name. ... My first name is Loquatius Hambrick-Zucker.” Aabria had forgotten she’d named her something else first. Next text: “Maybe I should simplify my stupid-ass last name to something much more fey, since that’s where I’m from. How about Loquatius Seelie, implying that I’m from the Seelie court, like Elmenore. Wasn’t that something you did with Fearne on ExU?” They figured out the relationship timeline & number of years divorced, as well as the faults for the marriage. Aabria honestly thought this was just going to be a bit. They were planning to just be sniping at each other in the background for the campaign, but Sam kept coming at Aabria with genuine emotions. Sam had lightly discussed Quay discovering parts of himself with Brennan over the course of the story, but didn’t know what that would look like. Brennan had his hands off that relationship more than any other.

The scandal with Elena Tuvaris was the mark of the end of Loquatius’s reporter-y honesty.

The speech in episode 4 comes up, oh God. “The most beautiful woman in the world” makes Brennan choke up every time he watches it (apparently hundreds of times, God bless). Sam’s emotion in that moment was fully & completely honest. “I’m not a very good actor. I fell in love with her during the game.” Marisha talks about a conversation with Sam she had during C1 about roleplaying styles. She asked him about influences & callbacks, and Sam said he likes to remember what has already happened like rungs of a ladder. Marisha thinks the speech was a masterclass in being 100% informed by what had happened before. Travis reveals Sam wrote the speech in the shadows of the break in illegible chicken scratch on a legal pad. Brennan was blown away by the sheer gravitas of the speech coming from a character who’d only moments before made the deliberate decision to die, to go down with the ship--and then to transition into the Market of Wonders...

Brennan: “That is a perfect joke. I’ve been lucky enough to see a couple of them in my life. That is a perfect joke. There’s something that [Joseph] Campbell says: ‘comedy completes the realization that drama begins.’ I have not contradicted the depths of my sorrow. I have not contradicted the meaningfulness of my sadness, but I have introduced something profoundly absurd and wonderfully silly, and I am not uncommitted in the moment of doing it. It’s hysterical, and it makes it even more sad.”

Aabria volunteering to be the divorced partner of Sam was the best RPG decision she’s ever made. Marisha loved the sediment layers of trauma.

Marisha wanted Patia to be like a Kennedy. It was hard for her because D&D is built on scrappy ne’er-do-wells, and to be someone integrated in society was hard. Brennan thought she did an incredible job bookending her completely absent parents with “Happy Replenishment, Grandfather.” Brennan didn’t realize how alone Patia was until she said that Laerryn was her best friend. There was a moment where everyone was having connections with everyone and Patia was alone with a statue. That led to the in-game realization that somehow Patia’s parents had failed, which is why she’d erased (or someone had erased) them from her memory. 

Brennan consulted with Matt before linking the Gau Drashari with the Ashari. He blew up Matt’s phone in his own planning. He had to negotiate balancing the stakes of Avalir with the Primordials’ historically canon focus on Vasselheim. Matt named the Gau Drashari when Brennan asked if there could be a druid group at the mountain the Betrayer Gods would want to destroy. Matt created the idea of the Tree of Names when Brennan came to him with a story beat he needed.

Sam praises Brennan’s balance of the need of the short-form story against Matt’s gigantically huge world.

Travis heavily commends Luis for starting the story off super strong. Lou had told Luis that Brennan likes to start off with character vignettes, and Luis knew of course that meant he wouldn’t start with him, ha! Luis had asked for an encounter with a Betrayer God, but expected it to be a big distance shadow, not something so intimate that resulted in him caring for the character. Zerxus establishes attachments very very quickly--unhealthily quickly. He fell in love with Evandrin immediately and loved Elias as his son immediately. Lou was agonizing over the PC vs. NPC knowledge of Luis having had this intense encounter with Asmodeus but not bringing it up in game. Luis talks about the crazy intimacy of the Lord of Hells looking like Evandrin, like Elias, being super receptive to everything Zerxus offered. Sam thinks it was a crazy unusual bold choice and he loved it.

Blighting the tree & pulling Asmodeus through the portal were key moments for Brennan. Travis could see Brennan’s face change with delight when that happened. Aabria loves how beautifully Luis played the scenes with Asmodeus because he never asked for anything, never insighted, never Zone of Truthed--he tried to do a bunch of things that Luis mechanically knew would never work instead, like Remove Curse. There were certain things he was willing to question and certain things it would never occur to him to question.

Brennan: “In terms of being a liar, the God of Lies--I don’t flimflam a person with a steel resolve. I do what real evil is, which is I find somebody who already wants to believe. You go, ‘Is there something you’d really like to be true?’ How much does the devil even lie in those scenes? You say stuff, you say, ‘The Prime Deities did this to you,’ and homeboy’s like, ‘Yeah, sure, man.’ It’s so much him just letting you walk to where he wants you to walk.”

Travis was very creeped out by the non-conniving, non-arch evil of the devil by way of Brennan. Marisha felt like she genuinely saw something new about what Brennan is capable of. She is horrified at how manipulative he could be when he wanted. Brennan says it’s important to have high cognitive empathy and low capability of caring when the target is hurt; you have to be very emotionally intelligent and aware of what others feel/want to be successfully manipulative. You just don’t care when they’re wounded by it. Asmodeus’s manipulation of Zerxus wasn’t that he lied to him, it was that he showed up to him wounded.

Brennan had a line if Zerxus had ever questioned Asmodeus on his lies: “Yeah, I showed up to you hurt, because you guys love it when people are hurting.” Luis: “Well, a savior needs somebody to save.”

Aabria was more scared that Brennan’s Asmodeus didn’t have an affectation or accent.

Brennan had so many contingency plans if the characters had failed to end the world. He had plans where the Septarion came after them in case they tried to get the city’s authorities on their side. Sans Blight/pull, Vespin shows up and is evil, the Taxmen turn & it’s a fight at the tree: boring options. Most of the contingencies in absence of hubristic folly involve brute force being responsible for the Calamity instead. Others for the final combat included the Taxmen overwhelming them, and contingencies for if Laerryn went down in the final fight: someone would have had to make an insane Arcana check to finish her work--probably Loquatius.

Travis could not have rolled the 31 without the inspiration, the buff, the teamwork. Cerrit had atoned and focused and killed the evil, but had one thing left to do to make things right. He couldn’t have succeeded without the Ring of Brass wanting to help him escape. “It mattered that we were friends.”

After the orb, Travis texted Marisha in game “What did you do to my daughter?!” because he didn’t realize initially what Patia had sent her. Patia’s knowledge hoarding came about because Marisha mourned the loss of the Library of Alexandria. She asks Matt often what’s happened to her orb. Brennan worries about it too: “The camera stops rolling, and suddenly canon leaves you! I immediately wanted to run and find Matt and be like, is the orb okay? I’m not--I don’t have any say anymore. It goes back to you now. Is it fine? The little library, where is it at?” Marisha loves the fan theory that the library going to the daughter of a master detective was the origin of the Cobalt Reserve.

Brennan would love to come back and play Kir or Maya as an adult. Adult Kir in his mind is huge & jacked.

It was really significant to Brennan that Laerryn used her leywright to save Exandria, and for Zerxus to get his cleansing redemption power to get Vespin back for a moment. He didn’t want the story to say that science, innovation, or compassion were bad; it was all a product of a single moment in a specific inspiration. He loved the bookending of these same focuses of failure being later used for a new, more selfless purpose to great success.

Bolo is dead. Matt is hereafter conscripted into doing Slavic accents for Aeorians. Or Bolo is hit by a wagon. Or Bolo was an Aeorian master spy who later worked on threshold crests. Or Bolo polymorphed into a dragon and flew away safely.

Marisha to Sam: “You were sleeping with a dragon, ha!” Brennan: “Dragon fucking! Thanks, folks!”

We end on a lovely thanks to the production crew, including the graphics team with the overlay degrading. The Calamity is here, but the Calamity is not here forever. Aabria: “So we’re alive?” Brennan: “Five of you are dead. That’s what the dice fucking said!”

And on that cheerful note, we’re out! Is it Thursday yet?

[ella-guinness-autphotography2022]

The Philippine Eagle is symbolic of the Filipino's bravery and strength. It is relational to my model Marga.  The lord of the skies, the Philippine Eagle is the world's largest eagle and can only be found in the Phillipines. However, its species is critically endangered due to deforestation and habitat destruction.

[unicorntwinkie]

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