#sir alton

[lacking-hydration]

@flaralol​​ (GRABS YOU BY THE COLLAR) WAHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im actually considering making a long-term comic so ill try not to be TOO in-depth or anything but i basically i was really inspired by Hex, and whatever the lore proposed there was....

there’s this radio advert for Hex that discusses this other world or dimension that’s like ours, except everything is nonsensical and mystical and all of that, and i was so entranced by the idea of it being some dimension that’s intrinsically tied to our dimension, the right side, like a mirrored universe where everything that happens in our dimension happens there, just filtered through that dimension’s rules (or lack-thereof) and vise versa....

so the sort of like. the ICON to alton towers, the MR. ALTON TOWERS himself, is the earl from hex. (not the. real one obviously. i’m pulling this information from the ride about a fictionalized version of an already unsubstantiated legend.)

excuse the oatmeal like quality of this image.

this is sir alton talbot-eastmanvanshire. yes that his full name .not including all of the extraneous accolades and all of that. i made a ref for him and a bunch of his variants (more on that later) but this is just what he normally looks like. he’s sort of like this. all powerful (sort of.) entity who has complete control over the other side’s version of the land that used to belong to him when he was alive on the right side. He’s always searching for ways to entertain himself and bring people to his place of residence, that seems to be what keeps him happy. the things that he creates in his world are put into place on the right side, abstracted into coasters and rides and the like!

on the other side, there are a plethora of people who are like ride representatives, usually working on behalf of a corporation, institution, organization, some sort of group ect... All of them have ended up in Alton’s world, and most know him by a different name entirely. Characters that he’s invented to fit into those respective worlds, that he can easily slip into and out of.

The mechanics of the whole “variant” thing are a bit more complicated than that but. hopefully i can go more in depth about that in a more narrative form.

The world of Alton Towers is a weird. and complicated one, throughout each of the lands there’s a lot in-fighting, mainly with the members of the x-sector ruining it for literally everyone else.

thats just a little. snippit of stuff THANK YOU FOR LISTENING OR ASKING I dont feel super confident talking about this stuff often but i would like to because its one of my favorite instances of world-building that ive done.

[lacking-hydration]

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

listen I think there must be something very enriching about talking about the weird versions of yourselves that inhabit your brain.

@lacking-hydration

I think....they would be friends.......... comparing pictures of all their different personas over tea and having a ball

[whollyjoly]

no one:

absolutely no one:

not a single soul:

alton more showing off his whole ass chest in crossroads:

[retrowave-racer]

Happy Birthday to Sir Nem! Ive really been feeling attached to him lately, he’s one I’ve always wanted to do more with and loved the knight idea for him but felt like I went back and forth with his design a lot (never forget Ginger Sir Nems brief appearance) but now I have really settled into him having sentient alien armor that has a very organic feel to it! I will still draw this version of his design a lot, even though current Sir Nem is meant to have the black armor. I hope these have been enjoyable so far, I’ve had a lot of fun working on them!! Also funny story about the pinker Nemling. I had accidentally coloured them that shade, but felt it still worked really well so I kept it! I had always intended for Nemlings to vary in shades of red/pink anyways! Also…is Sir Nem hiding something about himself ? Or does he himself even know what he really is….

Poses again are a mix from @adorkastock , @theposearchives , and @jookpubstock !

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer Polyship Week 2024, Day Two: “Blorbo Has Two Hands” (Soulmate AU)

It's Day Two of Valicer Polyship Week 2024, "sponsored" by @polyshipweek, and today's prompt is "Blorbo Has Two Hands!" This prompt, as per PolyshipWeek's write-up on the matter, is all about "The rallying cry of polyshippers everywhere: Why have a love triangle when you can have a trio of lovers instead?" and how the polycule makes love, not war. This is naturally an excellent prompt, but I wasn't sure whether I was going to use it or one of the other ones when it came to writing a story for Day Two --

Aaaand then Wednesday, November 6th happened. And after rather a lot of time spent staring at the prompts with no inspiration because I was still feeling kind of numb inside over the fucking election results, I came back to the list right before going to bed, looked at "Blorbo Has Two Hands" again, and thought, "You know what, I can probably do something with that and my Soulmates AU -- specifically, someone doubting the trio are all actually soulmates because multiple soulmates isn't a common thing in that verse." So I drafted out a story about Smiler, working at a bar post-the trio fleeing England to avoid the wrath of Kelman, the wrath of Victor's parents, and possibly the wrath of the police after Alice killed Bumby, getting harassed by a customer who didn't believe them when they said that both they and Alice were Victor's soulmates -- only to get proven wrong when said soulmates showed up to find out why Smiler was suddenly feeling so upset. It was pretty rough, but I figured it worked for the prompt --

And then I went, "Hang on...didn't I just do something like this yesterday?" For indeed, this story was rather similar, at least in general theme, to the "Alice vs Nessa" Valicer In The Dark tale I wrote for Day One. But given my mental state at the time, I couldn't come up with anything better for Day Two. So I left it be and gave myself a choice -- either try to write a different story later, or lean into the theme and do a Victor-POV story of some jerk inserting their nose into the polycule's business and getting theirs for Day Three.

...given the story I'm about to present is the "Smiler gets harassed by a customer about whether or not multiple soulmates is a thing" story, you can probably guess what I chose. XD For now, here is your Day Two story! Sorry it took a bit to get there! XD

--

“So – Mister Van Dort over there is your soulmate?”

“Yup,” Smiler confirmed, smiling over at the table where Victor was currently involved in what looked like a rather intense conversation with Alice, his hands flying all over the place as they spoke. “We met at one of his parents’ parties – ended up in the same corner together, started commiserating over the fact that we both hated stuffy social gatherings, went to formally introduce ourselves by shaking hands, and – well.” Smiler grinned down at their own hands, currently drying a glass. “Suddenly the party was that much better.”

“I see,” their current customer – a fellow named Robert, who apparently ran a woodworking shop in town – murmured, nursing his third whiskey. “And Missus Van Dort is – all right with that?”

Smiler tilted their head. “Er – yes. Why wouldn’t she be?”

Robert raised an eyebrow at Smiler. “Because – she’s his wife?” he said slowly, as if they were an idiot. “And would likely want to be her husband’s soulmate?”

“Oh, there’s no problem there,” Smiler said brightly, putting away the dried glass. “She’s also his soulmate.”

Robert blinked at them. It was a pretty long blink. “What?”

“Alice is also Victor’s soulmate,” Smiler repeated obligingly. “We’ve got a bit of a thing going on.”

“You’re – but – that’s impossible,” Robert insisted, leaning heavily on the bar.

“It’s not,” Smiler said, mentally preparing their usual speech. “It’s rare, yes, but–”

“Balderdash,” Robert cut in, putting a finger in Smiler’s face. “People can only have the one soulmate. Otherwise, what’s the point of them?”

Now it was Smiler’s turn to blink. “What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about how the whole point of a soulmate is that they are the person that the universe has ordained as the most important one in your entire life,” Robert said, warming to his topic. “The relationship beyond which all others pale. The one twinned to the very center of your being! If you were given more than one, then – then it would cheapen that bond. Make it – make it lesser. It wouldn’t be about finding your perfect match – it would be about finding someone you just kind of like more than the rest. A person only has room in their soul for one soulmate. It’s simple fact.”

“It’s not,” Smiler insisted. “There’s been studies done on the bond, and–”

“Oh, studies,” Robert said derisively, grabbing his drink and taking a big swig. “Yes, everyone appreciates a study. As if any scientist really knows how to measure a soul.” He looked Smiler up and down. “And what do you know about studies? You’re a bartender.”

“My father’s an alienist,” Smiler said, wrinkling their nose against the bitter taste in their mouth produced by even obliquely mentioning Kelman. “And I study chemistry in my spare time. I’m not an idiot just because I pour drinks for a living.”

“No – you’re an idiot for letting your soulmate get married to someone else,” Robert retorted, attempting to poke Smiler’s arm – they jerked it out of the way just in time. “Shame on you for that. He’ll never be able to be a proper husband to his wife if you’ve already taken up that space in his soul! Everyone knows that people who have soulmates that are just friends have to remain single. It’s the natural order of things!” He took another drink. “Cruel of you both to lead that poor woman on. She should be off trying to find her actual soulmate, not being – taken advantage of by two horrible monsters like yourselves.”

Smiler opened their mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Closed it again. Where the hell were their words right when they needed them most? Alice had once said they could talk their way out of a murder scene while holding a bloody knife, and now they couldn’t refute one drunk?! One deeply annoying drunk who’d hit pretty much every nerve in their body, sure, but… “I...you…”

“Smiler?”

Smiler and Robert both looked over to see Victor and Alice approaching, wearing identical expressions of concern. “Is everything all right?” Victor continued, picking at the knot of his tie. “You – you feel quite upset about something.”

“Very deeply annoyed indeed,” Alice added, giving Robert a suspicious glare. He smartly shrank away. “Is this fellow bothering you?”

“Yes, but he might not be for much longer,” Smiler said, smirking. “You were saying about how people can only have one soulmate?”

Robert looked between the three of them, visibly processing the fact that Alice too had felt Smiler’s emotions. “I – but – she – you?” he stammered, clearly having trouble collecting his thoughts.

“All three of us,” Smiler said, leaning on the bar. “Two romantic bonds and one platonic one, and all very real. And even if we weren’t all soulmates – so what? I think Victor would still have enough love in him to handle both his wife and me.” They put on an innocent stare. “Unless you’re saying that nobody can care about anyone but their soulmate? Because that sounds like a pretty lonely and miserable life to me.”

Robert stared at them for a moment more. Then he reached into his pocket, plonked some coins on the bar, and fled out the door. The trio watched him stumble away on wobbly legs. “...so I guess he didn’t believe you when you told him we were all soulmates,” Victor finally said.

“He did not, and decided to give me a big old lecture about it,” Smiler said, scooping up the money and counting it. “Okay, good, this is what he owed...anyway, it was all about how ‘multiple soulmates cheapens the bond’ and ‘if your soulmate is your best friend you need to remain single’ and nonsense like that.” They shook their head as they put the money away. “Who comes up with those things?”

“Arses,” Alice said succinctly.

Victor and Smiler both snorted. “Well put,” Victor said, then laid a hand on Smiler’s wrist. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t feel at all that having both you and Alice as soulmates has cheapened anything. If anything I feel – I feel blessed. I had trouble believing sometimes when I was younger that I was worthy of one soulmate, let alone two.” A bright smile split his face. “And now look at me. Tied forever to the two most wonderful people in the world.”

Smiler beamed, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. “I feel exactly the same. Two bonds just means twice the love to spread around.”

“Well said,” Alice said, putting her hand over theirs. “Hopefully someday people will understand that better.”

“Mmm. Until then…” Smiler leaned in and gave Victor a quick peck, before shooting Alice a grin. “I’ll just enjoy what we’ve got.”

[startixx]

S

Yah

[disarmluna]

[autumn-towers]

Oh and here. The worst thing I've ever created. You're welcome.

[lacking-artdration]

does anyone know if we have nemesis tomorrow

[altons-towers-offical]

Petition to start blaming Felicity on all our problems

Pretty sure that the Power of the Towers or/and Algenon(is that how you spell his name?) would personally kill anyone who signed.

[lacking-hydration]

alton variants 1/?

i haven’t told anyone on here about my alton towers lore...but i’m about to. in summary, this is the guy who runs the parks, and there are a bunch of different versions of himself he has for the different rides....

(a lot of just general lore below the cut, if ye be curious)

ok. still here? yay. buckle up.

for context, you’re going to need to know what the other side is. So, imagine there was an identical version of our world just next to ours, that was hidden from us by an invisible wall, but if you managed to break through it, you would find an earth not restricted by rules of physics, or reality. A world, not backwards, per-say, but every way other than right. That is the other side, the wrong side, and it is parallel entirely to our world. The right side. Anything that happens there, happens here, just by our rules. Anything that happens here, happens there, but in an indefinitely more absurd way.

a long-ish time ago, long before Alton Towers was the thrilling theme park, and instead just the estate of an Earl with a (in)famously long name, "Sir Alton Talbot-Eastmanvanshire IV." Sir Alton was an eccentric, rich beyond imagination, and well known in the community for being egotistical, and avaricious. Because of course he was. Though reportedly very intelligent, you probably wouldn't have known that if you'd talked to him. Alton was always known for living in his own world, frequently throwing parties with other well-to-do folk and just generally acting disconnected from the rest of the world.

Though Sir Alton would most certainly not be forgotten due to his less than amiable reputation, it's not why he's most well-known around where his estate once stood. Surely you’ve all heard of the legend of Hex. See, the legend goes that one day the Earl went out riding in to town, and passed by an old woman on the way back, who asked simply for any kindness that could be given. When he turned her down, as most of his kind tend to do, she proclaimed that the tree in the estate’s garden had been cursed by his blackened heart. The next time a branch fell from the tree, one member of his family would die. At first, Alton didn’t believe the old woman. However, after a member of his family died in total synchronicity with the falling of one of the branches of that infamous tree, Alton was more than convinced of the old woman’s curse.

Driven to attempt to break the curse himself, to understand what had wrought this curse upon him, Alton took the fallen branch to a secluded area deep within the towers, and preformed every experiment he could possibly imagine to crack the code. After two weeks spent entirely hidden away from the world, the Earl’s family grew increasingly distressed at his absence, so you can only imagine their shock when he disappeared entirely.

They would never find Alton, or what had caused his disappearance, and it wasn’t long before he was presumed dead, the mystique behind it eternally clinging to the mystery of the estate. However, Alton had, indeed, cracked the code, as his experiments had weakened the border between the right and wrong side, and ultimately tore them open and taken him. Faced with an utterly backwards version of his reality, Alton’s sanity was not long for this world, and he quickly succumbed to the madness of it all. This would turn out to have many benefits, as it allowed Alton to take up his estate as its owner, and become a miniature god, of sorts. Alton remained eternally trapped on the other side, exclusively on the land that, on the right side, rightfully belonged to him. Now, he’s managed to pull a few strings, and pull a few people from the right side into his domain, to entertain him, to give him company in this lonely little space of abstract nonsense. As the population in Alton Towers slowly grows, the barrier between right and wrong grows weaker, and strange structures and people begin to appear on our side. Of course, to us, they’re just roller-coasters and rides and whatever. Sir Alton is always looking for more permanent residents in his domain, though, so be careful next time you visit his estate........ or something.

THATS ENOUGH RAMBLING. ill tell you all more the next time i finish some more variants. hopefully then, i can actually tell you about how the variants work. fun stuff. ive been sitting on these ideas for a really long time i just havent had the balls to tell anyone. so yaes. now you know

[andersam5]

YAAAAAASSSS!!

Officially besties now. It is law

@lacking-hydration

I think....they would be friends.......... comparing pictures of all their different personas over tea and having a ball

[retrowave-racer]

I’m not giving up on Oc Tober yet! I’m pretty sure I picked this prompt specifically so I could draw Sir Nem. My guy towers over everyone and weighs a ton but is so so so nice. Little critters adore and trust him with their lives. I may have mentioned but he almost is never the one who instigates a fight, he only ever defends.

Now the critters! Of course there is a baby Nemesite, and some of you may remember the Smiley fuzz ball, but who is this newbie? That’s a design I came up for for my Void species! The babies specifically. They are meant to take design inspiration from Tapirs/Elephants…I suppose if you know what the Elephant thing is referencing…well you’ve definitely watched all the Oblivion Ride Videos !

[achromic-red-dreams-doze-angrily]

holy shit I might actually buy whole watermelon now instead of the precut stuff

[originalharmonysalad]

1966 concert posters for the 13th Floor Elevators appearing at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, CA.

 Art by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley (Mouse Studios),

[galedekarios]

visited jaheira's home with alton, gale and jaheira and:

gale: a natural impulse to try and shield one's loved ones from danger, especially when you feel a moral compunction to run head-first towards it.

it makes me think of the fact that we learn in an origin playthrough that gale completely cut off his contact from his mother, knowing that he himself has become a danger and a threat to her well-being.

such a threat and such a danger that it ultimately led to gale leaving his beloved home behind to seek treatment and, even though he has found nothing to indicate it exists, perhaps a cure.

tara: she still wants to know when she'll see you again, sir. i avoid giving any answers. but she misses you. gale: i can't risk putting her in danger. tara: i know that, but she doesn't.