#realm-sucking

[x-crowmancer-x]

Enderpookie seems a bit different >:/??

[ithinkdogshouldvote2]

For you guys who weren't at the live show in Milwaukee tonight:

At some point in the past little Ron fell through a hole to the forgotten realms, was stuck there for 2 days, went to school with Walter long enough for someone to develop the lifelong urge to bully him, and then came back to earth and no one noticed he was gone.

[xielianslver]

tgcf modern au but their still gods/ghosts they've just lived for that long

[inhuman-obey-me]

Diavolo & The Loyalty Thing

Alrighty everyone, we're going to be blunt here -- if there is one character misunderstanding in this fandom that has always pissed us off (jk there are many actually), it is how people interpret Diavolo's deal with Lucifer after the war.

We know a lot of y'all don't like him because of that agreement. We know a lot of you think that Lucifer is magically bound to Diavolo's will because of it, as with a pact, and is unable to defy him. We know that many of you dislike Diavolo because you think he was taking advantage of Lucifer in that scene.

Well, the devs have made it plain time and time again and even more so in Nightbringer: that is not the case.

You are wrong, and here's why. (Or, to put it more nicely, please let us convince you otherwise.)

(spoilers including Nightbringer Lesson 17 below the cut)

Let's start by reviewing the situation from Lucifer's side:

Lucifer, a guest to the Devildom many times before in a diplomatic coordination context, has just led, and subsequently lost, a civil war in the Celestial Realm. The catalyst that pushed him to start this war was the impending punishment declared against his sister, Lilith. Seeing that sister get fatally wounded in said war, he flies down after her falling body, where both of them land in the Devildom.

Diavolo then shows up with Barbatos, presumably because they, you know, saw two war-wounded angels falling from the sky into his domain. Lucifer turns to Diavolo and starts shouting that he knows the prince has the power to save his sister -- and pleads with him to do exactly that.

Diavolo makes a point of telling Lucifer that it may not be in the way he expects or wants, but he agrees to do it on the condition that Lucifer swears loyalty to him. Barbatos attempts to interject against the idea, to which Diavolo responds that he's aware already that this is a big risk for him. Lucifer, upon realizing that he is becoming a demon himself as a consequence of the war, agrees to Diavolo's terms.

(OG Scene on left, Nightbringer scene on right)

Diavolo then takes Lilith before she dies and reincarnates her as a human. This then remains a secret between the three of them from that moment all the way until the events of OG Lesson 15, when Lucifer finally confesses the whole thing to his brothers in the first timeline, and then OG Lesson 16, when MC reveals it (in the second timeline).

So to recap: Lucifer started a war with Lilith's punishment as the catalyst, lost, showed up in the Devildom, and then demanded the prince of that realm save his sister from essentially the same punishment he was fighting against in the first place.

To be clear about Diavolo and Lucifer's relationship at this point, they had been communicating about diplomatic affairs, as a governmental head and a top representative respectively. They are friendly, but not close friends yet. They are not allies in this war. Diavolo is not involved at all in the Great Celestial War or the situation with Lilith. And with this rebellion, Lucifer no longer holds that diplomatic status -- in fact, as mentioned in Nightbringer Lesson 8, the brothers were essentially war criminals in the eyes of the Celestial Realm, with Lucifer as the leader.

Moreover, Diavolo's goal as prince is that he wants to establish peace and cooperation between the Devildom and the Celestial Realm. These two realms were enemies for the vast majority of history, and although there is a nonaggression agreement between them currently, it's a tense sort of truce, not true peace.

Helping Lucifer defy the Celestial Realm is in direct opposition to that goal. Taking in the brothers at all is pretty risky in terms of that goal, as Barbatos makes clear above, but there's at least a sort of implication that it is the Demon Prince's business what to do with new demons. Interfering in the Celestial Realm's punishment of one of its angels though? Well, Asmodeus and Leviathan understand right away when they learned the truth from Lucifer back in OG Lesson 15.

There was a very real risk of pissing off the Celestial Realm that he had to calculate against here, and it's a risk that threatens not only him but everything that matters to him most -- his realm, which is a responsibility he takes very seriously, and his goals, for peace between the realms.

And then there's Diavolo's own precarious political situation.

Though Nightbringer retcons this a bit with Diavolo's father falling into a slumber and leaving the realm to Diavolo more suddenly, the original OM actually established that Diavolo was in charge before the fall, with the Demon King going off to sleep shortly after giving the brothers' their titles. And Nightbringer has shown that his position as the de facto leader of the realm is very much in question.

The nobles of the House of Lords are very blatantly unhappy about Diavolo and his goals, especially in regards to the now-fallen angels. Really, the whole realm doesn't really approve of angels -- they've made a clear point of it in NB, and even well into OG's main story, approval ratings for the exchange program are mentioned as being better but still pretty low, with various references to demons threatening to eat the angels.

But more to the point, the House of Lords has power over Diavolo. Though he is the rightful heir to the throne in terms of birth, they are able to challenge that right, and they even choose when he will be allowed to ascend to the throne -- something which, even in the distant future of OG, they still have apparently never allowed him to do, seeing as he's still not the king even after all this time. And just between his goals for peace and his taking in the fallen angels, they already maneuvered to punish him with suddenly demanding he go through the Kingsblood Crucible to potentially prevent him from ever becoming king. And as Diavolo says, even if he passes, they could still decide against appointing him king.

Now imagine if they found out that he risked the safety of the entire realm to help save a dying angel. If they knew that, they probably wouldn't stop at just challenging his fitness to rule.

So, to be clear, when Lucifer showed up with Lilith, yelling at Diavolo to save her? Diavolo was NOT free to just do whatever he pleases. When he said he's taking a big risk by helping Lilith, he really was. There were so many reasons why he shouldn't, and no real reason why he should -- but Lucifer was begging him to do it anyway. So, he needed something in return. Some kind of reassurance, some kind of protection in the potential consequences.

And there certainly are consequences for helping Lucifer. Even with the Lilith deal being a secret, there are consequences. We saw that already with the House of Lords' increased animosity -- as said above, he was nearly removed from power over it. And as for the Celestial Realm?

Well, that brings us to the end of Nightbringer Lesson 17, where Raphael comes bearing a message from the Celestial Realm -- or, more aptly, a threat.

(We could go into a whole thing about why the Celestial Realm is threatening this but that's for another time)

So, here we are, at the very dangerous crossroads that Diavolo finds himself at now in Nightbringer -- the Celestial Realm coming into his domain with blatant threats of war, while the nobles of his own realm just tried to remove him from power. Threats that are being made against him over helping Lucifer and the brothers. And that's without any of them knowing about Lilith, which would only make all sides even angrier.

You know what he could really use, amidst all those threats? An ally. Someone he could depend on to have his back. Someone he could rely on to be unequivocally on his side, in that very precarious balance of powers.

So that's what he asked for -- loyalty. For all that he was putting on the line for Lucifer's request, he asked for Lucifer to stand by him in turn. What he asked was simply this: "Don't stab me in the back. Don't leave me to deal with the consequences alone. If I'm going to help you, promise me you will be there for me too."

P.S. Lucifer himself has said he agrees with Diavolo's goals. Talking with Diavolo about the peace and cooperation plan was a huge part of why he started having doubts about the Celestial Realm! He was not being asked to do anything he disagreed with; Diavolo knew Lucifer feels the same about his goals as he does. Lucifer takes the loyalty thing too far in OG Season 1, but it was never the only reason for him supporting Diavolo!

[paverics]

trying to explain warrior nun to someone

[uncanny-tranny]

I know other adults like to joke about how much pain they're in, but genuinely, please try to get your pain checked out if you're an adult experiencing it, or at least adapt your life in whatever way lessens your pain.

Your pain deserves to be addressed. Please don't "let" it get worse because you've been told that to grow older is to suffer. No, you aren't being needy or selfish or annoying. Ultimately, you are the one who suffers the most from the state of your health, and it's entirely reasonable to want your health to be up to your standards.

[viscerat]

Ok so this was supposed to be day 10 of POSTALtober, for which the prompt was "Faith", but I fucking forgot that the character Faith exists so instead I let my religious trauma take over and created this <3

[zelda-the-sacred-realm]

I HAVE ANOTHER!!! TIMEEEE.....WEAR IT

Time model is back!

I don't know where you find all these t shirts but I really love them! And I really enjoy making my characters wear them!

Also sorry if I answer questions so slowly, but I caught the flu again in 2 months, and I feel very tired and a little depressed, but I try to draw a bit during the week

Thanks for your ask! Hope you like it! 💖

[hijklab]

Something really lgbt just happened in the skill tower mlord…

[kellyvela]

So the prophecy...

Aegon foresaw the end of the world of men. 'Tis to begin with a terrible winter gusting out of the distant north.

[I, Rickon Stark, Lord of Winterfell….]

Aegon saw absolute darkness riding on those winds. And whatever dwells within will destroy the world of the living.

When this Great Winter comes, Rhaenyra, all of Westeros must stand against it. And if the world of the men is to survive, a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen strong enough to unite the realm against the cold and the dark.

Aegon called this dream "The Song of Ice and Fire". This secret it's been passed from king to heir since Aegon's time. And now you must promise to carry it and protect it.

...

I can't with the mention of a Lord of Winterfell in the middle of all that...

AND THE DAGGER!!!!!!!!!!

[junorsky]

So, I decided to participate in the Baldur's Gate 3 challenge this month. I loved the game and can't stop playing it in my free time with my friend or alone even though I already finished it.

I've drawn a few sketches last week and enjoyed it, also I'm interested to see if i'll be able to keep this pace. The best thing is that they posted all of their concepts and models on artstation, so I have LOTS of material

One warning: the game is 18+ and the art is going to be mature as well (blood, dark themes, nudity). That is to say, be wary if you don't want to see anything listed here

Let's start with this one. Words: mirror, tentacles

A mind flayer watching themself in the mirror

[alicelufenia]

The Court of Eilistraee

The Drow City Imberlur

When the fuck was anyone gonna tell me Ed Greenwood had a youtube channel [x] where he does shockingly well produced lore videos on little tidbits of the Forgotten Realms, straight from his home campaign to the greater rpg community.

Both of these videos related to Eilistraee and non-Lolth sworn drow settlements are a godsend. Visiting Imberlur someday would be a dream come true for my Tav, and I can totally see an astral projection trip into Eilistraee's court when she reaches the climax of her story, similar to how Gale had a one-on-one with Mystra towards the end.

Thank you Ed your little side stories are worth their weight in gold while WotC continues to do nothing with these elements that have been around for literally over 30 years.

[adxmanial]

I’ll be real honest here folks if I see you streaming or saying anything about Eurovision Other than criticizing it this year you’re out

[druidonity2]

Fanfic idea - A lost mawrat finds itself on Azeroth, long away from home, and finds a man soaked in the stench of the Maw. Unsure where else to go, it follows him, hoping to be lead back to the Shadowlands.

[amedetoiles]

mortal changheng is like a golden retriever puppy who just wants to play and make friends with the angry loner new kid on the block i’m snickeringg

[yeetus-feetus]

how come all the other ships get fae lord/prince x runaway human prince AUs!?

Where is the over 5k fic about Fae Ra's al Ghul and human prince Timmy???

Timmy who's kingdom has fallen apart, who has runaway to find a way to bring back the dead king and restore peace and order to his home. Timmy who determined to complete this quest in spite of all others doubts, who would rather die in unknown lands than give up and be proven wrong. He must do this; for his people, for his brothers, for himself.

Ra's, a powerful Fae lord who finds a young human that has stumbled into his domain. Centuries old, ethereal, mysterious, draped in the finest of fabrics. Ra's offers a deal, a typical Fae kind of bargain. The Fae play tricks, twists words, play games; but this human boy is smart. This human boy he finds himself holding great respect for.

Dealing with Fae, what trade do they agree upon, is it a delicious mistake?