#reedlands

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Another Chinese official laid out the rationale in the 1620s:

Stop the minor profit of the occupants of reedlands and grasslands! . . . some lazy people, without consideration for the long-term future, go after the minor profits of reeds and reject the great treasure of cultivation of crops. Not only do they not pursue land reclamation themselves, but they also hate others for doing so . . . the marketplaces are more desolate every day, the government revenues fall short of the regular quota. How can we allow this under these circumstances!

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[harrowleaf]

Today on "Shizu's Travels in the Lands Between" we have:

An encounter with a living jar who could've practiced on his phrasing

Accidentally getting some really spooky eyes because she had no idea of the side effects of obtaining the powers of dragons

And finishing the evening by deciding to stop by someone she refers to affectionately as "Uncle Yura" while contemplating on how to proceed next.

[lanseax]

New Elden Ring OC just dropped

[ponderousorb]

🌿 House Marais & House Hoslow - Elden Ring Fan Lore 🐍⚔️

I'm finally finished this thing I spent waaaay too long on.

At the top of House Marais, we have Arsene, the former head of house, and his wife Mei Li (yes she named her son after herself). With Arsene, I was looking at the other older characters that seem to be House Marais relatives, and they all seem to have gray skin. It would be really interesting if somewhere back in the tree, there was some Albinauric blood in the mix - it might explain why the men of House Marais are cursed with ill-health. Mei Li is a sanguine noble from the reedlands (where the formless mother is apparently worshipped in at least some locations). I created her with the background in mind similar to Varré, a war surgeon, but likely did not go physically into the battlefield, being from a noble house. Their children are Maleigh Marais who we see in the game, Thallium and Belladonna. (Guess what my theme naming is!) Now, Maleigh doesn't seem to have married because he's fulltime simping for Malenia (fair enough!) Thallium marries Eidhneán, a mysterious woman from a faraway land of bogs - and a skilled pyromancer. Thallium's health is not as poor as Maleigh's, but he did lose an eye to the creeping sickness that infests many of their line. I based his mask on the portrait of a noble in Volcano Manor, and partially on the DS2 manikin masks (iykyk)

From this branch, we meet the next generation: - Nettle: the eldest daughter, and a healer - learning many skills from her grandmother - Thiollier: the boy! the wet kitten man! His health is terrible and every moment is pain. - Jedica: youngest daughter and a mischief maker

Belladonna, the only one of her siblings in good health, marries and Chronos Hoslow. I think these are like, the only two prominent houses we hear of in ER? of humans at least. I still liked the match - a) they both seem involved in Volcano Manor b) Juno looks like that Their motto: "scriptum est in sanguine" :3 And their children, special guest stars Juno and Diallos Hoslow! I like to think that Diallos got saddled with a bit of the wet kitten genes and that's why he's... well a bit of a boyfailure. I want to do more relatives to connect some of the older characters up the chain before Arsene, and the original ancestor depicted in Maleigh's mask. But also this took so long... so long.

I WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS i am rattling the bars of my cage please talk to me

[totallyseiso]

I just saw a theory online that the formless mother is influencing the land of reeds, hence why one of the item descriptions mentions "blood-soaked madness," why the reedlander description mentions blood being a familiar sight, and all their weapons inflicting blood loss. If that's the case, then I really hope we get a dlc about that.

It feels weird that there's so many mentions of the land of reeds. Like this is absolutely just wishful thinking, but it feels like if they're mentioning it that often then there's a reason

[tarnishedinquirer]

Person of Interest: "White Mask" Varré

Name: Varré Alias: "White Mask" Race: Reedlander? Gender: Male Occupation: Assassin? Affiliation: Godrick? Unknown Notes:

Prime suspect in unnamed Maiden's murder at Chapel of Anticipation

There's reason to suspect his involvement with Godrick, but likely has his own agenda.

Shares my negative opinion of the Roundtable Hold

Still wants me to join it for some reason.

Seems surprised but not overly disappointed that I'm still alive.

Reacted really negatively when I told him I had no interest in joining, but offered advice when I "changed my mind." Of course, I always intended to join, I just wanted to gauge his reaction.

Informed me that Godrick had a "new toy"

Gets really condescending when you ask him too many questions

Will update this profile as more information becomes available.

((IE, I am deliberately ignoring information that my character would not have at this point))

[rook417]

"Garasu, a curious name, is it not?"

"Reedlander in origin, my Queen. If my studies serve me correct."

"Reedlander? So far to the East? Pray tell it's meaning?"

"Raven. A symbol of resolve. Odd name for a lowly Tarnished, no?"

[yellowfingcr]

Share with me a memory of ER verse Heysel's youth. One of the happiest she may have, in fact.

// that's a very good question! perhaps the childhood moments that shine brightest in her memory remain those occasions in which she would get to meet with her cousins (and annexed extended family, sure, but you know, the cousins were about her age and their parents weren't) especially in the case in which it was them coming to visit her, rather than the opposite!

her father's side of the family was the one she met most frequently (almost the only one, as her mother's relationship with her own side wasn't as good) and so those were the cousins she bonded best. there was a language barrier for sure, as she never learned too well their specific reedlander dialect, and of course a cultural one, but it absolutely didn't prevent this bunch of kids from spending days playing together, as maiden against monsters or wandering knights, with marbles, cards, and swimming together, and making and flying kites together, and it certainly didn't stop them from forming a sincere, long cherished warm friendship. once every handful of years heysel would come home to a house full of people that had tremendously little in common with her except blood, aunts and uncles and cousins from a place so very far, and that little was everything, and certainly more than enough for oceans of love to be poured upon her. every time she'd squeal in surprise happy as one can be and every time there would be hugs and laughter and delight unfettered. those days left a trace of joy so deep that centuries later, through death and return, she can still think about them and smile.

[theashen-fox]

Elden Ring! AU

Name: Ash

Race: Tarnished (Reedlander)

Age: Unknown, appears to be in his twenties

Class: Bandit

Weapon(s) of choice: Uchigatana, Great Knife, Shortbow, Throwing Knives, Finger Seal

Background:

Ash’s memory of his life in the Reedlands prior to coming to the Lands Between is one he doesn’t like to go into detail about. He doesn't remember how or why he got here, but he’s been a strict individualist, rarely even talking to people unless necessary. He sneers at the worship of the Greater Wills, as well as the Demigods. In his eyes, all of these beings represent oppression and control. Despite his asocial and somewhat cynical exterior, he’s quick to help innocents--or the relatively innocent--he comes across. He’ll rarely stick around long enough to be thanked for it, though whether this is due to humility or just a desire to be by himself again, he won’t say. Despite being a bandit, he’ll rarely steal anything, preferring to instead rob the bodies of people and creatures he’s had to kill.

(WIP as I don’t know how to properly work him into Elden Ring lore).

[dragon-communion]

[Courtesy of Zullie's Enemy NPC video]

Eleonora has dark hair, pale skin, and very bright blue eyes. Based on a cursory comparison to other characters, I think it's safe to assume she looks extremely Carian. Seluvis in particular caught my attention for coloration.

While I originally assumed she might be from the Land of Reeds, considering her weapon and her ties to Yura, now I'm wondering if she either ended up in the Lands of Reeds after becoming Tarnished, or if Yura gifted it to her.

She could just be a Reedlander outright, but I think it's important that a woman whose name is violet and whose faction is red has unclouded crystal blue eyes.

Eleonora clearly works for Mohg, considering the fact that she's a bloody finger, but the absence of the trident tattoo and the red eyes begs the question of what exactly her ties are to Mohgwyn.

Thoughts on Eleonora, the Violet Bloody Finger:

Items

Eleonora's Poleblade- A weapon from the Land of Reeds, which is heavily implied in many item descriptions to be in some extremely bloody warring-states style era. The Formless Mother has left her mark there and Eleonora could've known about her before ever reaching the Lands Between.

Drake Knight Set- Implies that all drake knights seek the beauty of dragons as well as their power, and also states that they're mute. The only other perspective we have on Eleonora is Yura, who heavily associates her with beauty. It's hard to say what her own motivation is, but the repeated emphasis is interesting, since I don't think anyone else except maybe Godrick calls dragons explicitly beautiful.

Greyoll's Roar- This is unique to her, as all other NPCs (Banished Knights) who use communion spells seem to use only Dragonfire. It definitely marks her as a cut above the rest.

Dragonfire- Seems to be part of the communion starter pack, based on the other characters we fight.

Purifying Crystal Tear- It's not clear where this tear could have come from or why a tree would have been influenced to make such a thing. A few of the tears seem to imply things, like the twig tear that saves runes coming from the tree Godwyn is buried under, or the thorny cracked tear that buffs consecutive attacks being in a domain ruled by Malenia. None of the Minor Erdtrees seem particularly influenced by blood, and it's a strangely specific blessing. Was it gifted to her, as a method of being able to survive Mohg's ritual and fight by his side? Possibly made for her by Mohg somehow? Or did she steal it from some place with intent to confront him? Hard to say.

Questlines

Yura- This is the questline she's most closely tied to. He technically starts us on the path of dragon communion- he'll fight Agheel with us, and tells us where to use the heart to take its power. Yura also fights a couple of Bloody Fingers, one for the sake of it and the other who's been hunting him. By the time he gets to Eleonora he's dying, and it's hard to say if Eleonora or someone else killed him, but the next time we see his body he's apparently "given it" to Shabriri, driven to utter despair by his failure to save Eleonora.

Dragon Communion- While Yura starts us on the path of devouring dragons, the ultimate end goal of any communion heretic is through Mohg and into the Land of Shadow. And Eleonora is that storytelling link between dragon hunting and the blood cult to nudge us in the right direction.

Frenzy- Yura's body is given to Shabriri as a result of his failure, and Shabriri can continue to use his body to fight alongside us at the end of the game. Shabriri having Yura's body is essential to him telling us about an alternate way to burn the Erdtree, and therefore essential to us becoming a Lord of Frenzy.

At a later time I might pull up her face to compare her appearance to some other characters and analyze the possible meanings therein, but I think this gives us enough to theorize with for a start. It's hard to say when she started dragon hunting, and when she started listening to the call of the blood, but I think it's reasonable to assume either or both could have started in the Land of Reeds. She travels with Yura, becomes an exceptional Drake Knight, and then a few options present themselves.

Dragon hunting inherently makes one susceptible to gluttony and bloodlust. That makes drake knights already prime candidates for submitting to the charms of an eldritch blood god. Mohg could have recognized the beauty and passion in her, very like Yura, and offered Eleonora a place in his bloody family.

If she served under a priestess, Eleonora could have possibly learned about Bayle and the Land of Shadow. There's every chance that Eleonora was actively hunting for a way to reach it, and perhaps when she tried to cut Mohg down and get to Miquella's body she fell too in love with the blood itself, becoming one of his fingers. It wouldn't be the first time someone fought Mohg and then decided to follow him.

I'm going to think about her a bit more, but I just wanted to lay this out for easy reading.

[harrowleaf]

I'd say yes, Corhyn.

[jannekebooister]

Rietkragen / Reed lands - mixed media by Janneke Booister Via Flickr: Watercolour and pencil on Gerstaecker No 3 paper. 

Colours used are Cobalt Blue, Burnt Umber, Payne's Gray, Winsor Violet; all Winsor&Newton Professional and Cool Brown, Dark Indigo, Port; all Derwent Graphitint Pencils and Brown Ochre, Raw Sienna, Straw Yellow, Dark Violet; all Derwent Watercolour Pencils. 

My own reference. 

For a challenge. 

Paper size 40 x 30 cm, available (contact me) 

Het verhaal van dit werk is beschreven in mijn blog / The story of this work is written in my blog www.jannekesatelier.blogspot.com

[mohgwyn]

varré wife post has got me acting unwise

[rancid-rotten-slobs]

"Marika's tits she took out the dragon? What the hell kind of traveler did we run into?" The female bandit said looking terrified as she and her partner stopped their squabbles. "Listen take a left when you leave the cave! There's a catacombs where they used to bury heroes and stuff... I-I think there's a path up to the top somewhere by there! Just don't tell anyone you saw us here please!" She begged groveling at the maidens knees.

"Oi should we tell her about the reedlander? She's been causing trouble all around limgrave slashing up the boss' best muscle..." the male bandit whispered into his partners ear being a bit more discreet.

"Of course not! Do you want some bloody swordswoman hunting us down cause we ratted on 'em? Just let her figure out... hehe anyways if that's everything mistress I'd be mighty obliged if you left us to our devices... we need to reset the "demi human" traps. Hehe..." she stuttered sweating even more.

‘Arise now, ye tarnished. Ye dead, who yet live. The call of long lost grace speaks to us all’

This call to action had reached through the veil of death. As clear as church bells ringing in the distance. Many heroes of old had risen to the call, stepping out of their tombs and going back to the land of the erdtree.

Gloria Celestant was one of these tarnished. Only there was a problem. She had been buried DEEP underground. Her coffin jammed shut as hundreds of others lay atop it. It was meant to be symbolic, the holy woman raising the impoverished up even in death. Though in this particular instance the heartfelt gesture was deeply annoying. She had no idea how much time passed since she last heard the clarion call, but she knew it had been some time. While all of her other tarnished siblings had risen and gone on grand adventures…Gloria was clawing her way out from her grave.

She knew it wasn’t terribly dignifying. A woman of the cloth scrambling up a makeshift mountain of coffins, falling down and climbing back up. But it was necessary. She was well enough read to know what might bring the tarnished together, and she had to get out there and do her part before someone of lesser character did something obscene with the Elden Ring!

She finally made it. She had gotten to the top of the pile and fell to her knees. Now she could go out and-…what is that smell?

There was a faint chuckle as the heavy stone door was opened. Another one for thr grinder, a stray lamb mindless following thr jangling keys infront of them not realizing they were being lead to their doom till it was much too late. Varis was about to write them off, the war surgeon had no time or patience for such nonsense. Too much of the world had gone to shit for her to even consider rambling on about quests to some doe eyed tarnished.

Standing by a glowing green foggy sight of grace was a colossal woman. Not just in height but width. In fact there didn't seem to be an inch of the woman not covered in fat! She wore the typical garb of the white masks minus the pants which seemed to have been cut away to reveal a sweat set of adipose and cellulite riddled thighs. Thoughba peculiar pair of horns peaked out from under the cloth hood and.... was the white mask always fashioned after a cow?

"Ah, tarnished are we? Come to the lands between in search of the Elden Ring? I'm afraid you're a bit late you see." Varis chuckled gesturing to a now shrivel husk of a tree surrounded by a thick brown smog and what looked to be a colossal mountain in the distance. "A curse.... One so awful and vile one would be wise not to even breath the same air as the putrid caster, had tainted thr lands between." The stranger explained a multi headed flail clinging at her waist as she spoke.

[scribblefire]

Potential cover for The White Cat Oracle Comic. What do you think? #drawing #comics #catoracle #ancientwisdom #tarot #ancientegypt #anubis #death #mummy #reedlands #cat #cats #work #workroutine #oraclecards https://www.instagram.com/p/BtwCo6IFxhG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qji2kr9d4310

[tarnishedinquirer]

The First Steps

Wouldn't you know it? as soon as I step outside, I start getting answers. Hope they all come as easy to me, but that's too much to hope for.

This character was standing right outside the tomb, as if he was waiting for me. Doesn't take a master inquirer to peg this man as a suspect. Even if I didn't already have a backlog of crimes, I'd start looking for one. This man was born guilty.

The weapon hidden in the back of his belt where he assumed wouldn't notice is a "kunai," a tool favored in the Land of Reeds by both gardeners and assassins. I didn't see any dirt on his gloves, just suspiciously fresh blood. From what I hear, the land has been locked in civil war so long, the grass itself feeds on blood instead of water. Seems exaggerated, but every tale from there is about blood. Not assuming he's a Reedlander, but he still seems very familiar with blood.

The audacity of this man. I don't even have to talk to him for a minute before he all but confesses. "Unfortunately, however, you are maidenless," he says, like he might have something to do with this. He tells me all the things that I'm denied from being maidenless. Runes, an invitation to the "Roundtable Hold." He's practically gloating about how, if I continue to follow the path before me, he's condemned me to certain death.

I'm waiting for him to make his offer, but it doesn't come. Not yet, at least. He must want me to squirm. Well, there's only one way to make me squirm, and his grubby fingers aren't coming anywhere close.

I do manage to get some info out of him. His name is White Mask Varré, and Godrick the Grafted is the owner of that castle up ahead, called Stormveil. The voice makes sure I know how it's spelled.

"The Grafted"? Interesting epithet. Like the "Grafted Scion" at the chapel?

Conclusion 1: The spider at the chapel was a minion of Godric the Grafted. Possibly one of his kids. Why the fuck it looked like that, or why it was there to attack me, is a different series of questions.

Conclusion 2: Varré murdered the maiden. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but the timetable fits, and that blood is less than a day old. I don't think he used the kunai, but it's so poorly concealed, it can't be his main weapon.

Couldn't help but also notice all the burned corpses on crucifixes, or the enormous knight on horseback, but I'm gonna deal with those problems later. Much, much later, if I can avoid it. I'm curious, yes, but I know when I'm punching above my weight class.

((forgive the poor resolution, I had to cut things down to potato quality to keep the recording from fucking up. I'll try bumping it up a little more soon))