#ring cities

[cthoniaverse]

Siobhan “Shiv” Dagdammach

Artwork for Shiv and Torc done by @nathanaelwhale who can be found here on Tumblr and on his Instagram.

This is my “first draft” of my main character, Shiv, for my writing/world building project.

Born to two Kyolander wanderers in the Ring City of Crucible, Shiv is a short tempered young woman who works for the Dowser’s Guild. She lives with her father, Finvara a mushroom farmer and retired adventurer, just outside of the city proper.

Her work involves finding, investigating, and fixing magical anomalies around the city, often as a result of misuse of magic or negligent magical practice. Her innate magical ability allows her to create brambles, which prove surprisingly useful in a variety of situations from imparting knowledge on the local soil/environment to offense and defense using her thorns.

She learned basic magical principles by attending Crucible’s (only) mage’s college, Grimlock’s Arcane University, before graduating and finding work with the Dowsers. The daughter of two seasoned adventurers, she is also well versed in using her innate magical energy to make herself tougher, stronger, and faster than a typical human.

Her hobbies include drinking at the local pub, pipe grass, working out, reading adventure stories, and gardening.

She loves and is very close to her father, but can be embarrassed by him and his behavior. She maintains a similar relationship with his familiar, a large mountain boar named Torc. She does not like to talk about her mother, who she hasn’t seen in her memory.

In her own words Shiv is “not good at making friends,” but has some drinking buddies from her days at GAU she meets up with every now and then.

Shiv is not pleased with the state of the city, she feels more could be done to help the average citizen, and that a lot of the worst aspects of Crucible are, intentionally or not, caused by the nobility and their disregard for others. The chip she seems to carry on her shoulder is born out of a dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and an insistence that things could be better, or at least more fair, for more folk. Unsurprisingly she has a disdain for the rich, and even more for those born into it.

Siobhan is a small moving part in a much larger world I am creating. While I have fun fleshing out the realm of Cthonia, the central story set here is about Shiv, her life being thrown into disarray, and the choices she makes afterwards.

Stick around if you enjoy text blurbs and occasional artwork for worldbuilding/writing projects!

[tarnussy]

Nokstella, Eternal City

[illustratus]

Watchful Peace, The Return of the King by John Howe

[inthedarktrees]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) dir. David Lynch

[gildedmagnolias]

Watercolor of Minas Tirith

[pennywises]

THIRTEEN HORROR FILMS THAT SCARED TF OUT OF ME!

tag rules: select 13 horror films that at one point in time terrified the hell out of you (gifs optional)

tagged by: @animusrox

tagging: @losthavenmine @90scully @saw-x @stephendorff @dushku

@classichorrorblog @kizzyedgelll @rogerdeakinsdp @deadringers2023 @madeline-kahn

@j0el-miller @ethan-hawke @ricky-olson @ncutisgatwas @jodifosters and anyone who'd like to do this!

[rotpeaches]

"Soph, if you go after Isabella...you got no idea how fuckin' powerful she is."

"Maybe you should have said that to Isabella before she went after me."

[lxdymaria]

˚✧ DARK SOULS 3 ∞ ° ˎˊ˗  

[ivyjinna]

To the end of the world.

You can get the art print at: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/ivys_gallery/

[screwpinecaprice]

They won the lottery and inspired by Mr. Greg, they spent it all in one day by committing identity fraud.

Idk I took a second job and my brain is so fried right now. 😭

[thecoffeelorian]

Dear Friends...

STOP. DO NOT SKIP.

...Did you read the news this morning? Specifically, the story below?

...Well, I don't know how else to tell you this, so I will have to be as blunt as I possibly can:

This isn't going to stop.

This isn't going to disappear with the wave of a magic wand, and neither will it fade away with the snapping of a god's fingers.

This is also why, once more before I'm due to travel, I'm asking for your help.

Specifically, both @rajaagaza and @khaled-gaza are in urgent need of funds...and in order to save themselves and their young son, Karam, their VETTED CAMPAIGN will need to reach $13,000 CAD by next Saturday morning.

So, if there is anyone out there who has ever felt the need to help an innocent family, then you all know what to do.

Donate.

Share.

Reblog.

[nighthaunting]

I know we’re all just clowning here on tumblr dot com but I do think the perception of Morgott as like, ultra-religious and sort of blindly following the Golden Order despite their hatred of Omens is a really contextless reading of his situation.

If we read the description of his great rune it says:

That the Omen King was born of the golden lineage, and that he was indeed the Lord of Leyndell.

Morgott was the rightful ruler of Leyndell, Omen or not that was his golden city full of people who would revile him if they knew of his true origin.

I think his motives are less someone who’s tricked themselves into believing in something that hates him and more someone who’s wanted a place where he belongs for so long that now that there’s finally a place that he provably has a right to he’s never leaving.

Morgott isn’t deluded about what the Golden Order is or he’d never have invented the Veiled Monarch. Even the lines about his becoming the Erdtree’s protector don’t really indicate he had a particularly faith-based reason for doing so, but rather that he found that he came to love the Erdtree despite not knowing love.

Morgott is the gothic heroine who just inherited a big cursed estate but he wants a place that’s his own so bad he moves into the haunted house anyway and starts loving the architecture despite it being full of ghosts that hate him.

Morgott who led the Night’s Cavalry to hunt Tarnished, and beat the shit out of Rahdan, and launched the Seige of Mt. Gelmir and prosecuted the bloodiest and most costly war in the Shattering is not a guy who is getting his blind fundamentalist on, he’s a guy who’s decided that he’ll pile up a mountain of corpses before he lets anyone take away or threaten his place and is willing to be extremely proactive about defending it.

Editing to add:

And see the thing is, I think there’s even more nuance to it than just Morgott finally having a scrap of something to call his own and being willing to defend it with all his might!

In hindsight, I actually think Morgott had a better idea than anyone what the Tarnished would eventually have to do to get to the Elden Throne.

His dialogue as he’s dying makes it clear he’s known about the thorns blocking the way into the Elden Throne and been considering every way anyone might get through them.

In his dialogue as Margit in Stormveil, he says very specifically “the flame of ambition” and speaks of snuffing that flame.

I think Morgott realized that the only way a Tarnished could get into the Elden Throne would be to burn the Erdtree, and not only has he come to love this fixture of the haunted house he chooses to live in, but he knows that burning the Erdtree would destroy the place he calls his own.

Is it any wonder he’s so proactively trying to stop any Tarnished from even approaching Leyndell in the first place, when in his eyes it wouldn’t be unreasonable to view a sufficiently powerful Tarnished as a direct threat to the piece of the Lands Between that he’s carved out for himself?

[siggiedraws]

1st Mission: Escape from the military pursuit!

This was made for Emi Jones' City Escape cover!

HUDless version:

[klauswalz]

Dark Souls 3 - Angel

[ardate]

Every Boromir hater makes my enormous love for him grow stronger. Sorry you couldn't understand him, I get him tho and we're holding hands and the whole of Gondor is laughing at you

[little-pondhead]

The Curse Of Hope

_

Danny is in another universe. He had a reason, but he doesn’t remember anymore. He can only stare, horrified and disgusted, at the sickest city spirit he’s ever seen. Shivering and swaying with every step, core exposed, and ectoplasm leaking from wounds that are decades old. A ratty blanket was thrown over their shoulders, barely hiding the spirit’s pale grey skin and protruding black bones.

The spirit didn’t even sense him until he reached out to touch its wispy shoulders. The spirit flinched, clutching at the dozens of trinkets hanging from their neck and tucking in on themselves like they were expecting a blow.

“Oh, shit,” He swore, floating back a few feet, hands in the air, to show he meant no harm. “I’m sorry. I promise, I’m not here to steal from you.” The spirit shivered again and rolled a pearl necklace in between their fingers. A nervous habit. “Uh, I like that pocket watch? It’s very nice.”

That got their attention. They peeked at Danny, and he saw that more tattered cloth was covering their eyes, blending in with the stringy hair that reached the ground. Their blanket fluttered weakly, revealing hundreds of thousands of tiny marks etched into their skin. Scars, really. Scars that wrote out curse after curse onto the spirit’s very being. They burned with evil intent, and even reached inside the spirit’s body and wrapped around their core.

Occasionally, blinding specks of color raced across their body, temporarily erasing the writing, but it always returned quickly. He watched, a little detached, as one particular line rewrote itself across their rough forearm, drawing fresh ectoplasm like someone was writing it with a thin knife.

“Are you…alright?” Danny stuttered. A stupid question.

The spirit cocked its head. He couldn’t see their eyes, but he felt their burning gaze as they pondered the question.

“The pain of others becomes mine own.” They rasped. “The lights of the city dim as rotten wealth clogs mine veins. Magicks long forgotten have eaten mine skins, pulled mine cloak, and darkened mine skies. Helios has refused to grace mine doorstep, and the seasons of the Earth have revoked their kindness.”

Danny held his breath. It felt like he was the one with the exposed core, not the spirit.

The spirit shivered once more. “Tell mine soul, little lamb. How could this Forsaken City know peace, when it was long since ripped from mine hands?”

Shit, he needed Frostbite. And maybe Clockwork. Now.

-Or-

Danny meets the spirit of Gotham City. The villains and rogues that have plagued the city for decades are literal curses that are taking quite the toll on Gotham, and honestly, Danny isn’t sure how much longer they can hold out. The heroes seem to be doing some help, and are probably the reason Gotham made it this far, but the poor city needs help from the Realms if they want to get better.

Luckily, Danny can provide that help.

But only if he could get Gotham to leave their city behind. Because recovery is going to take a very long time.