#so it isn't confirmed at all

[truly-sincerely]

Even More Comprehensive BG3 Timeline

(Now with citations!) Years in (paren) are confirmed, all other lines are approximations. For my own sanity this timeline is based on available in-game information and not the Forgotten Realms at large.

1450s

Enver Flymm born

Gale Dekarios born (1457)

Enver Flymm sold to Raphael by his parents, renamed Gortash

Gortash learns about Crown of Karsus while a prisoner of Raphael

Karlach Cliffgate born

1460s

Gortash escapes the House of Hope

Gale Dekarios summons Tara the Tressym (1467)

Wyll Ravengard born (1468)

1470s

Lae’zel of K’liir born (1470)

Gortash in his Heapside Reavers period

Gortash rebrands as a black market arms dealer

Orin the Red born to Helena and Sarevok Anchev

Durge begins their serial killing spree in Baldur’s Gate (1477)

The Emperor dominates Duke Belynne Stelmane (1479)

1480s

Elminster resurrects Mystra (1480)

Gortash trades Karlach to Zariel for infernal machines & iron (1482)

Baldur’s Gate’s Beloved Ranger statue goes missing (1482)

Duke Abdel Adrian murdered during Returning Day speech (1482) - Bhaal resurrected - Ulder Ravengard replaces Adrian as Marshall and as Duke

Orin kills her mother Helena in self-defense

Gortash recruits Franc Peartree to distribute infernal iron weapons

Gortash establishes a cult of Bane in Baldur’s Gate

Gortash approaches Durge about an alliance

Gortash moves against the Zhentarim & Knights of the Shield

Ulder Ravengard named Grand Duke

Wyll Ravengard pact with Mizora, leaves Baldur’s Gate (1485)

Dead Three made aware of the Crown of Karsus (most likely informed by Gortash)* - Gortash becomes Bane’s Chosen - Durge becomes Bhaal’s chosen - Gortash & Durge are instructed to recruit Ketheric

Gortash tells Durge about Crown of Karsus (via correspondence)

Hall/House of Wonders test mission* - Durge gets Bhaalist memorabilia - Gortash gets a bunch of Gondian designs - Durge & Gortash get companionship

1490s

The Chosen visit Ketheric at Moonrise, learn about Illithid colony

Gortash & Durge visit the House of Hope (for intel on Mephistar?)

Gortash & Durge raid Mephistar - They get the Crown of Karsus - They get the book on the accelerated grand design

Gortash captures the Emperor

Gortash & Durge return to Moonrise - Their identities are kept secret from Ketheric’s people - Durge impresses the Moonrise Gnolls, but not Steelclaw - Ketheric yells at Durge in the throne room for an unknown reason

Durge proposes their plan to the Elder Brain who accepts

Raid on the illithid colony (1491) - Durge puts the Crown on the Elder Brain - Orin gets Durge alone during the raid & stabs them in the head - Orin tadpoles Durge, making them the first True Soul - Orin declares herself the Chosen of Bhaal

1492

Durge is found by Kressa Bonedaughter

Minsc captured by Absolutists at a recruitment rally in the Undercity

Gortash gets weird and intense with unethical experiments - Some futzing to get the tadpoles to consistently remain in stasis - This is when the name ‘True Souls’ gets coined - Extremely questionable fun with brains - Getting the Absolute’s voice sorted out - Tadpoling his parents - Poorly conceived experiments on children & their parents

Gortash has Iron Throne converted to hold hostages

Gortash presents prototype Steel Watcher to the city council

Jaheira tracks cult to shadow-cursed land, meets Isobel

Minthara Baenre is 'recruited' by Orin and Ketheric

The Descent, Elturel fall into Avernus happens

Duke Vanthampur revealed as a diabolist, killed by adventurers

Guild Bursar Uktar launders money for Gortash’s Campaign funds

Isobel is resurrected by the Dead Three

The Elder Brain sends the Chosen dreams about the Astral Prism

Gortash researches the Prism, finds out that Vlaakith has it

Gortash tasks Ketheric with sending a team to get the Astral Prism - They send a nautiloid piloted by the Emperor and other illithid - The Elder Brain lets the Emperor slip its leash - Magthew Budj arranges for Durge to be on the nautiloid as well

Gortash deploys Steel Watch in Lower/Outer City

At this point Elturel is no longer in Avernus

First Druid Halsin captured by goblins

Nautiloid picks up Shadowheart & the Prism from Astral Plane

Nautiloid picks up Lae’zel

Nautiloid goes to Baldur’s Gate, picks up Gale & Astarion

Nautiloid goes to Avernus, picks up Karlach & Wyll

Nautiloid crashes, (20 Eleasis, 1492)

Some helpful links:

A page from Sarevok’s book: Sarevok - (Murder tribunal)

Accelerated Grand Design: Gortash - (Gortash's Office)

An Offer: Gortash - (Peartree basement)

Aquatic Labor: Gortash - (Flymm’s Cargo Basement)

Baldur’s Gate Temple of Bhaal: Yanthus - (Gortash’s Office)

Balthazar’s Notes: Balthazar - (Necrotic laboratory)

Clasped Book: Balthazar - (Balthazar’s chambers)

Devil’s Fee Observer’s Report**: Himberloo - (Nine-Fingers’ office)

Elder Brain Domination: Ketheric/Yanthus - (Ketheric’s Room)

Enhanced Weapons - Sales Ledger: Peartree - (Peartree basement)

Experiment on Cruor: Orin - (Temple of Bhaal)

How To Build a Watcher: deceased Gondian - (Steel Watch foundry) 

Journal of Enver Gortash: Gortash - (Gortash’s Office)

Magical Histories: Volume 2: The Spellplague: unknown - (Sorcerous Sundries)

Memoir Notes with Recent Addenda: Gortash - (Gortash’s office)

Missive from Gortash: Gortash - (Ketheric’s room)

Missive from Ketheric: Ketheric - (Moonrise, 2nd floor)

Mistress of Souls’ Research Log: Kressa - (Mind flayer barracks)

My Gratitude: Gortash - To Peartree (Peartree basement)

Next Steps: Gortash - (Gortash’s office)

Prayer for Forgiveness: Durge - (Necrotic laboratory)

Scrapbook of Letters: Gortash/Durge - (Flymm’s Cobblers)

Special Operations - Infernal Arms: Uktar - 

Studies of the Elder Brains: Gortash/Yanthus - (Gortash’s Office)

Suspended Ceremorphosis: Gortash/Yanthus - (Tadpoling center)

Test Mission with Gortash: Durge - (Temple of Bhaal)

The Astral Prism Heist: Gortash - (Gortash’s office)

The Dukes of Baldur’s Gate: unknown - (Baldur’s Mouth/Peartree’s house)

The Grand Design: Gortash/Yanthus - (Mind flayer colony)

The True Life of ‘Lord’ Gortash: a skeleton - (Wyrm’s Rock Prison)

The Ultimate State: Gortash - (Gortash’s office/Flymm’s Cobblers)

*an in-game contradiction between Gortash and Durge. See: ‘Test Mission with Gortash’ and ‘Memoir Notes with Recent Addenda’. I’ve placed it after, but there’s also a legitimate argument to be made that Gortash and Durge met and became allies much earlier, possibly around the same time as Gortash’s betrayal of Karlach

Additionally, the House of Wonders (church/workshop) and the Hall of Wonders (museum) are two different buildings in the Upper City. Durge writes that the Hall is their target, while Gortash writes that the House is their target. It is my opinion that they hit both locations.

**no link cuz the bg3.wiki doesn’t have it??

[hydrachea]

Explorers of Sky is a good game.

[snaggletoothedbastard]

I've seen a couple of people complaining that the Captain didn't get a Coming Out Scene so that means it's Bad Rep, and I think they're missing the point a bit.

Like, sure, it would have been nice to see him finally come out but also, he doesn't have to? Personally I think it's amazing that ThemThere managed to create a character who isn't openly gay but is so obviously gay that we all just know without him having to say it. It's clear that they put a lot of thought and care into all the signs - the way he looks at the guys he has crushes on, the little offhand comments about Mike making a very fine soldier or the builder being handsome, the references to queer culture (Dorothy, Elton John, Cole Porter etc). They didn't half-ass this. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they were careful and subtle about it.

Also, we know the Captain's personality by now, right? He only talks openly about personal matters when he feels it's absolutely necessary, like when he's explaining about the bomb in "Redding Weddy" and explaining how he died in "Carpe Diem", and he doesn't seem particularly comfortable in either of these instances. He was alive in a time when he either wasn't allowed or didn't feel that he could be open about who he was, and seeing as he's sort of stuck in that time, what with him still acting like the war's continuing, he's obviously still heavily repressed. And it's in character. It makes sense for him to still be closeted. And of course, throughout the show he does gradually learn to relax and open up a bit, but he's not a fan of change anyway so it also makes sense that it takes a while for him to do that. As shown in "Gone Gone" after Mary moves on, he'd rather keep himself busy than talk about feelings.

And this is more a personal preference here, but I really really love seeing a gay character who isn't out. Now this doesn't mean I don't like openly gay characters, I love them too. But we see quite a lot of them, and it's just nice to have something a bit different. The Captain means so much to me as representation because while he's not openly gay, it's still very clear that he is gay. He's not a queerbait character, because they haven't hinted that he's gay and then revealed that he's actually straight. They've purposefully made the Captain gay, and there's barely any ambiguity, so even though he never says, "I'm gay," you'd have to be a fool to think he's anything but.

Queer people don't suddenly become queer when they come out. Just saying the words, "I'm gay," doesn't make someone gay. Being gay makes someone gay. That's it.

And the Captain is gay. That's it.

[worstloki]

there is a difference between being born to a throne, maliciously vying for a throne, stealing a throne, and having a throne thrust upon you when you are already in the midst of an identity crisis. And I fear Loki's place in the line of succession has people unable to differentiate between any of these

[jurygarroth]

aaron may be the single most misunderstood mcd/mystreet character and it’s not even funny it’s actually really stupid and baffling

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU - Reclaiming

This is a little something I have had in mind for a while :3

TImeline wise? We are muuuuuch further. Like. late spring early summer (So the gang has been in farmtale for over half a year now!)

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We are back with Baby Pov :3 @spotaus you ready friend?

No Beta'ing or Edits. We just go with whatever i wrote >:D

*-----------------*

Nightmare sits on his little chair on the bright yellow porch of the Danielle Farm.

Ngihtmare watches as His four speak with the two nice ladies.

Ellie just sits wiht her head in her hands, she had been crying before. Dani isn't much better as she looks over their dying tree farm.

Killer frowns "I don't get it! You guys won the lawsuit right?! There was proof of sabotage! I thought you got money and everything?"

Dani chuckles as she rubs her cheek, removing some tears "It matters little... The trees are almost all dead... Even with the money... There is enough for us to live comfortable yeah.. but it isn't enough to restore the damage..." she looks back at their farm.

Horror frowns as he looks back "Any that survived?"

Dani sighs "Technically they are still alive... but they are dying... we checked all of them and well..." she sighs "only a few of our oldest cherry trees are still okay... and those aren't baring fruit anymore, probably part of why they weren't too affected." she sighs "i don't know the science behind it..."

Nightmare frowns and looks at Dust. Dust notices him and shakes his skull.

It had been going on since a month or so... The girls were beyond alarmed and panicked when they found one of their trees just dying for no reason. It got worse when it became clear that it had spread.

They thought wood rot at first and removed the sick trees but later realised their very land had been sabotaged and poisoned.

Killer frowns "And can it be healed?"

Dani shakes her head as she looks back at the trees that are still not showing any new leaves. "Maybe... but getting things for that? It is too expensive... and even than it would only save the cherry trees... and well... those aren't the real money makers and the thing we have our living with..." she rubs the perfect yellow wood.

Nightmare knows what she is talking about. THe two had combined their magic and made a new tree. somekind of mushroom tree combination.

Nightmare tugs on Cross's sleeve and he looks down "yeah nightmare?"

Ngihtmare looks at Dani "Can you make a new one? Like you made the first one?" That is how their farm started after all.

Dani smiles before sighing and shaking her head again "Our land used to be a forest... What we did was make one tree and let it... well.. infect and change the other trees around it. We eventually made sure it couldn't spread further and out of the area we wanted with magical barriers in the ground... but without new trees we can't go it again."

Ngihtmare frowns "and trees take time..." even their mushroom trees take a few years to fully grow.

Dani nods and smiles sadly at the others "We are... going to share the news with everyone later... Look for a new place and new jobs..." she rubs her eyes "new start... again."

Ellie sobs miserably "I don't wanne move..."

Dani looks back sadly at her other half.

Nightmare watches as his four think but clearly can't think of much. They had grown closer with the other two monsters. The two had often come by with extra wood for their home repairs and later with old mechinery and other things for them to repair and use as they saw fit.

The two had to drive a lot and deliver their wares a lot and got too many places. They made sure to keep an eye open for anything that others in their community wanted.

So when they heard something was up with their farm? They got to work. Horror had recognised the poison together with Crop and Dust had isolated and indentified it.

Killer had been very helpful with helpign the girls get their win in the lawsuit. Killer still has his silver tongue after all.

Nightmare hops off of the chair and wanders a bit further into the tree farm. He had been show their center tree before. THe biggest tree of their whole farm and the strongest of them all.

Nightmare stands before it and stares. It is sick. It looks a sick grey and no longer the beautiful strong branches that had made it strong. Nightmare inches closer as he stands before it.

When he first got shown this place he had been afraid he would get reminded of his mother. but it was different. These trees? They are really trees. just nature. His mother had always been strange compared to the natural trees. ironically, Nim had been something unnatural.

a whisper.

Nightmar eblinks and tilts his skull "hello?"

another whisper. it aren't words. it is more of a whisper like the wind going through leaves and leaving with a whistle. Yet....

yet...

Nightmare blinks as he inches closer "I am sorry it hurts..."

more whispers. but it isn't what he would expect... it isn't...

Nightmare tilts his skull "I don't think it can hurt me... like it is hurting you..." Nightmare finally truly gets it now. It is all connected. It are trees which grow like mushrooms. the roots are all connected and they all talk and communicate and share the magic and resources between them...

It si why they are all sick.

Nightmare frowns as he hugs himself close "I am sorry i can't help..."

another whistle. a whisper. it is a reassurance. but also an apology. The trees love the two who take care of them. Who helped them flourish. They don't want to leave the two.

Nightmare frowns before a a thought about himself returns. Something he hadn't acknowledged or even thought about in a long time. Not since he got his job as god...

He was a nature spirit. He may now be a skeleton but his core? His soul? Was still the same as when he was a ball of energy, a tiny nature spirit.

Maybe...

He slowly raises his hands near the tree "I can try to help..."

A slightly louder whistle and whisper. To be careful. To not hurt himself.

Ngihtmare touches the tree and feels the connection all over the farm. This farm is so much larger than his home. So much larger than Crop's farm!

Still. he feels along it. It is strange. He can't really interact with any of it. He just feels along it. It is strange and he is seeing double. But then he spots it. Something that is wrong. A greyness that is eating away the energy and colour of this feeling. He gets there and... and what now? He foudn it... he thinks... it is like a smudge. a smudge that eats and makes what was there before disappear...

He can't heal... but... maybe he can just... remove it?

He tugs and tugs on the thing. it doens't want to let go but eventually it stands no chance.

Nightmare feels it and it feels wrong. But it needs to disconnect from the trees! But how? He is right now kinda there with the trees connection and he has the thing and...

Ngihtamre concentrates and imagines holding it prisoner. Holding it close but seperate from his own.

It is now like a thin fill over him, still in his minds eye. His normal eyes don't see anything wrong or different of before.

Okay... what now? What is he doing anyway? How does this work?

"Nightmare!!"

Cross?

Ngihtamre tries to turn towards the voice and sees a bright light purple energy come towards him. a blink later and it is Cross normally. He looks worried.

And then he doesnt see the bright yellow of the energy of the tree anymore but just the normal trees.

He feels sick.

Cross gets to him and picks him up "Ngihty! We told you not to use your magic. It is still fragile..."

FRagile? oh.

Nightmare notices the now obvious part cyan and part purple light shinign unto the white of Cross's outfit... Woops... overdid it again...

A loud gasp "Oh no! Is he okay? I am so sorry. I didn't think... It never hurt any of us?" Dani is by Cross and looks horrified. Right... most of them haven't seen his scars.

Dust is by them in a moment and checks him over as Cross speaks "No this... this is a thing that happens if he overuses his fragile magic..."

Nightmare isn't relaly paying attention as he tugs on Dust's scarf and mutters "Dusty.... I feel sick..."

Dust frowns as he checks his temporature and skull over.

Nightmare feels something slowly crawl up his system and his magic starts to shape to get rit of it... He tugs harder on the scarf and mutters "sick...."

Horror gets it as he searches before holding up a basket by his skull. Ngihtamre doesn't wait and vomits.

Grey sludge that burns on his tongue leaves his body and he shudders. But in one go and it is all out and he feels a million times better.

Nightmare blinks at the weird grey blob of mass in the basket. Huh... pretty sure that has more mass than Nightmare has.

Cross just holds him tighter and rubs his back "that... is new..."

Dust looks at the basket and Horror looks around.

Nightmare blinks and looks at Horror "It will cause sickness." he is sure. So sure. but how does he explain. He doesn't have the words ready. He just hopes Horror understands him. His four always understand him.

Horror looks at him before looking at the basket thoguhtfully "Think we can burn it?"

Burn... kill it... Nightmare nods. That sounds good.

Horror looks at the girls "We euh..." he looks at the basket "I am not sure what this is... We need to look into it?"

Dani nods as she rubs her arms "of coruse... of course... I am so sorry something here caused him to get sick or overuse his magic and..." she then looks sadly at her trees.

Ngihtmare blinks as he already feels sleepy but still he says it "don't be sad... they don't want you to be sad."

Dani blinks and turns to Nightmare "waht... what do you mean?"

Ngihtmare hums and just nuzzles closer to Cross. he listens to the soft whistle and whisper. then he mutters sleepily "They already feel a bit better... They like you two... just rest..." and he yawns.

Killer steps over and starts speaking with Dani. Nightmare can't really hear it anymore as he falls asleep. Very tired and Cross is so warm.

---

Killer groans as he hears loud pounding on his door. God can't they just have a lay in today? He groans as he looks to the side adn sees Dust grumble angerly as he rolls further around Nightmare. Nightmare however is still completely out. Not having stirred much since the day before.

Killer checks him over first but still finds him just peacefully asleep. Nothing wrong. Probably just exhausted. Though none of them are even sure what Ngihtmare did to cause him to go so low on magic and energy.

More pounding on the door and Killer groans as he staggers over to the door. STill just in his sweats and sleeping shirt. He opens the door and shoots the other, Ellie, a grumpy look "I know I said We would be willing to help but i think i didn't need to imply to not do this at 6." or whatever time it was.

Ellie just stands there, her truck still running "It is fixed."

Killer blinks ".... what?"

Ellie shakes his shoulders as she speaks "It is FIXED. The trees! There are leaves growing! It is fixed! The whole farm!"

THe information connects. Killer stands up straight as he stares at the bunny monster in shock. He glances over his shoulder before looking abck "what?"

Ellie smiles brightly "I dom't... I don't know how! But... he fixed it Killer!"

Killer blinks before he feels panic as he grabs her shoulder "no one can know."

Ellie blinks "but... he caused a miracle... he-"

Killer nods "exactly. Ellie. What do you think happens when people learn what he did? What he could do? We don't even know he could do this."

Ellie blinks before her eyes widen and her face twists with worry "oh..." she looks thoughtful for a moment before a large grin appears "in that case. Thank you Killer! For bringing up the idea to put barriers around each tree section! We managed to get some seperation in the infection!" she then hugs him before pulling away "Thank you... I will tell Dani too." she grins and makes a zipping her lips motion before throwing away an invisible key.

She then apologises and waves before quickly rushing to her car. Killer cna see her grab a mobile phone as she starts calling. Killer waits a moment to and reads her lips as she greets Dani and tells her that what happened can not get out. That they just found a way to isolate the problem and remove the sick trees.

Something that if you knew how this thing worked probably wouldn't know but it is enough of a story to not arouse suspicion. Ellie waves and then she drives off after finishing her call. No doubt to return to her girlfriend, or are they already wives? Killer isn't sure.

Killer returns to the nest and sits next to the still sleeping Dust and Nightmare. Horror and Cross are no doubt out and doing stuff to prepare them for their first tiny harvest.

His godhood become active again...

Killer is just happy it isn't connected to that stupid balance anymore.

Though he does not look forward to trying to figure out what exactly it is.

*-------------------*

:3 the tiny god may have finally found something he likes and wants to do :3

Just because it isn't too obvious. It is restoration. After all. That is what Nightmare does.

First he restored the balance (or tried to). And then he got his boys, and isn't restoration just a way of saying mending? Which is healing? And what did the four do when they were near Nightmare? :3

I think you can see the pattern.

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[ray935sworld]

HELP. My criminal law professor just constructed following case:

"What if a father - let's call him Valentino (V) has shared custody with his ex-husband - yeah, let's not always be like 'ugh, bad ex-wife' and reflect the diversity in our society - So Vs ex... Mark has their son Frank from Monday to Wednesday. He -" then the case followed.

Either this man has no idea what insanity he is causing me beside wtf he is trying to teach and this is just the biggest coincidence or he is doing it on purpose.

[gottagobackintime]

I find it fascinating to witness the straight audience of any media not being able to pick up what the makers of the movie/show puts down.

It’s like when people reacted to the “You wear fine things well” scene in Our Flag Means Death with “aw, they’re such good friends” whereas the queer audience went “omg, this is happening”. We all had access to the same scene, we’d all watched the build up to that scene but the straight audience wrongly read it as friends/straight whereas the queer audience had suspected they were building up to a romance but this was the confirmation. Even the creator of the show was baffled that people were surprised that Ed and Stede fell in love. Because he thought they had made it obvious.

And as I said, we, the queer audience picked up on it. And I feel like the same thing is happening with Ted Lasso. Do I know that Ted and Trent will get together? No, I am unfortunately not a writer on Ted Lasso. But you can’t deny that there are clues pointing to it. But the straight audience barely pick up the fact that Ted and Trent like each other, be that in a platonic way or romantic way. I’ve seen several reactions to the last episode of season 2 and ONE of them included the scene where Ted reacts to Trent not being in the press room. All of them severely cut down the scene in the parking lot. One of the scenes most of us Ted/Trent truthers point to as a huge piece of evidence for it going canon. The parallel of them meeting in an empty parking lot, just like Ted and his ex-wife and Roy and Keeley. But because Ted and Trent are both men it couldn’t possibly mean anything. And Ted has an ex-wife and a kid so he can’t possibly be into men, as if there is no such thing as being bisexual. “But I’m pretty sure Trent has a family, he has a kid right?” So? He could be divorced, we also have no idea if his daughter has another dad or a mum. And the same thing applies to him, it doesn’t mean he can’t be into men (take also into account all of James Lance’s interviews, and his choice of shirt in one of them, friend of Dorothy anyone? He's the captain of this ship, we're just along for the ride tbh.)

Then we have the wonderful “I’m so not homophobic, in fact, you are homophobic because you think Ted is gay just because he likes musicals and has ‘feminine’ traits” um no… it’s the fact that he kind of acts in a way that an ally wouldn't. Yeah, he called himself an ally in that one episode. But every single person who is now out as queer who at one point considered themselves an ally because "I’m not one of them but I sure think they're neat" raise a hand 🖐️ (been there, done that. Was very into queer things before I realised I myself am one of them). What it always comes down to is "it's pandering", "it's tokenism" (having the main character on the show be queer wouldn't be fucking tokenism), "not everything has to be gay", "why can't men just be friends, there is a severe lack of male friendships on tv". And like the last one makes me go??? There are a MILLION friendships between men on TV. There are even multiple friendships between men in Ted Lasso. Beard and Ted, Ted and Higgins, Ted and Roy, the himbos and so on. Having Ted and Trent become a couple wouldn't really change anything because there are still friendships between men. They also claim that Ted is needed as the "straight without toxic masculinity" representation. As if Beard isn't right there. The man who has no problem going to an immersive show about the menstrual cycle. Has no problem with shrieking when he's surprised and so on.

I also like that if we'd get Ted and Trent together, we'd get two middle aged queer dads. Which isn't that common. It's not even super common to see people realising they're queer late in life on TV, and yet it happens every day. Because let's face it, most queer men on TV kind of look like Colin, and I don't mean that as a bad thing. And I'm looking forward to his storyline. But it's also nice seeing middle aged or old people finding themselves and being allowed to be who they are (see Ed and Stede from OFMD). Also would enjoy seeing people lose their minds when they realise they've been fooled this entire time. It'll be like Black Sails all over again.

I do not have any doubts about the fact that, had Trent or Ted been a woman and they saw Trent give up his career because of Ted's influence, they sure as hell wouldn't protest people thinking they'd become a couple. But because it's two men it's just delusional for some reason (homophobia).

What I'm saying is, it's clear that the straight audience has a hard time picking up subtext and clues that the makers are planting. Because they've never had to do that. Because they are always clearly represented. They don't have to look for minor side characters and hope that they might be queer. Because the main character is straight and most of the supporting cast too. When you've grown up with a lack of representation or with representation that is meant to be subtext, you'll learn to pick up on it. And you do look at media differently. I just wish that the straight audience could listen to us for once, without getting defensive and dancing around the fact that they are uncomfortable relating to a character that turned out to be queer.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Avatar Love talk 3: Game vs Action

Follow up from (and also defending Kyo in this vid)

Yangchen: I plead the fifth on what Kuruk said. No idea why you two think you got your horny ass desires from me. Kyoshi: I'm not the one who sensually listened to the sound of Kavik writing with a pencil, but go off? Yangchen: Again, pleading the fifth! Anyway I still think Kyoshi has the least amount of game. Kyoshi: Really? We're still on this? Can't we talk about something else? Wan: Like your mommy issues? Kyoshi, pushing his face away and knocking him down: Ok, defending my "game" it is. Yangchen: Kyoshi, really, just accept it. You can't flirt for shit. Kyoshi: Again, I don't need to. Yangchen: You keep saying that! How do you expect to get anyone if you can't or don't flirt? Kyoshi: I walk into the room and look at them. Maybe smile, if I'm feeling feisty. Yangchen: That's not going to work- Wan: It worked for you, Yangchen. Yangchen: *deflated* Kyoshi: Oh so it's "flirting" and "super game" if Yangchen does it, but if Kyoshi does it then I'm just lucky? Wow. Hmmm. So fair. Yangchen: Kyoshi, you had two years with Rangi and Yun and I had five minutes with Kavik. We are not the same. Kyoshi: Listen, Yangchen, I think we've got it all wrong. It isn't about game or flirting. It's about action. I know how to get my girl going- Wan: Yangchen knows how to get Kavik going too! Yangchen: SHut UP, Wan! .......Yeah I know how to get Kavik going too, blow steam in his ear, fling him off a bison, what's your point????? Korra: Wait, fling him off a-? Kyoshi: Oh no no, Yangchen. That's not what I mean. You see, I'm probably going to go down in history as "World's best daughter-in-law." Whenever I sincerely talk about how I'm going to take care of Rangi or Hei-Ran, and Rangi melts into a literal puddle at my feet. Korra: So, like, you're amazing moral character is how you flirt? Kyoshi: No, it's not flirting. It's doing. Actions. Like I said before, they like me for who I am. And maybe because I have a good smile too. Kuruk: Being good looking does help. Yangchen: Ugh, where are you going with this? Kyoshi: I'm getting to it. What I want to say is, 'What's so great about having game, when the real measure should be the results?' Yangchen: *rolls eyes* 'Results.' Please, Kyoshi. We all know I had Kavik wrapped around my finger. Kyoshi: So you got with him? Yangchen: I-well uh- Kyoshi: Tell me, Yangchen. Which one of us actually GOT their boo in the end? Hm? Yangchen: .......... Kyoshi: Only actions and outcomes matter, Yangchen. What's so great about your "game" if you can't even "win"? Wan: I haven't seen a burn this severe since that volcano took out Roku. O-O Voice on the phone: 911, what's you're emergency? Korra, on the phone: I just witnessed a murder! I mean both parties are already dead-can the dead die twice?????

[bonefall]

As a big sibling with a lil sib with epilepsy, when they read TBC they Honestly thought if they got struck with lightning reciting the lord's prayer they'd be cured like Shadowsight is from their epilepsy. I had a discussion with them on how that's not how it works, but ge was so upset they took it away from Shadowsight that he hasn't picked the books back up and has stated that 'he hopes Ashfur wins and starts a new religion.,'

I do not even know how to respond to this besides saying that your little sibling is 100% right to be pissed and I now also hope Ashfur wins and starts a new religion.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

in jadeite do the characters still have the same eyes? like hutao with her flowery eyes and zhongli with his....serpent-like? ones

genuinely good question, i haven't really stopped to think about it? because in genshin as far as i know, the only eyes that really matter in terms of- what they look like? are the khaenri'ah star eyes. so like- we have people with wild-ass eyes but they never seem to factor in to the overarching lore of the game. with the exception of childe i guess? but his' are more like- they matter because he's an outlier (doesn't have the little anime shine), not because he has a particular shape in them.

also ngl i think you might be missremembering zhongli's eyes thanks in no small part i assume to fanon, bc i would not describe that man's eyes as serpent-like. neuvillette's? i can get behind. baizhu's and chongyun's? even more than neuvillette's. maybe even shinobu's but given her mask i guess hers are supposed to be more cat-like. but zhongli's...? like yes they're among the more non-normal eyes of the cast, but like- these:

next to these:

you see what i mean?

like not to get tinfoil hat on you but if i had to pick another character with eyes like zhongli's i would not pick the serpent men, but rather

you know? like they're the same shape, the colors are just inverted in the sense that her eyes are lighter with darker marks while zhongli's are darker with lighter marks, but other than that: rhombus in the middle with a ring around it. not sure there's any other character with eyes like those. xiao's look the most similar but on closer inspection he just has a semi-circle, not a full ring. so uh 🤷‍♂️

anyway- sorry about the tangent. i guess my answer to the actual question would be- maybe? i guess we can keep the eyes as they are, but just treat them the same way genshin seems to treat them. as in- most eye shapes are nothing more than a nod to the character's unique quirks rather than teyvat lore-relevant. again, teyvat lore-relevant i think is only the khaenri'ah star, maybe childe's eyes, and i guess baizhu's technically? and maybe neuvillette's. oh and arlecchino's of course. and i guess alhaitham can sit on the ?????? corner. but other than that hu tao having flowers isn't because of some long lost bloodline, but because she has plum (?) flower motifs. i think (inb4 it is about some long-lost bloodline lmao). you get what i mean? same goes for other characters with unique eyes. nahida has the four-leaf sigil bc she's connected to sumeru and the akasha and all that. kokomi has weird eyes because she's a fish. dori has an X in her eyes because money shines. like their eyes are unique but they don't have worldwide lore connotations the way the others seem to do. faruzan maybe has her eyes like that because she was stuck in some ruins for 100 years. i haven't read candace's lore but her golden eye can see stuff?? maybe she's lore-relevant too idk

so i guess bottom line is the people in this reality just have wild-ass eyes sometimes and it's no different than finding someone with albinism 🤷‍♂️ like you just go huh. neat. you're a genetic minority. anyway, and move on.

TL;DR: yeah the eyes are the same bc the only wacky eye-shapes that seem to REALLY matter in genshin's overarching lore are the khaenri'ah star ones, so i'm just not gonna bother w it.

if that bothers you we can also just say that they all have normal human-shaped eyes and keep the same color. like i guess what i'm trying to say is that only the khaenri'ah star will matter in the fic? and even then i'm unsure if it will matter all that much. so really whether hu tao has flowers in her eyes or not is irrelevant (using her as an example, but this applies to the others)

[starcurtain]

So what I'm getting from Fontaine is...

Vishaps, Enkanomiya, the Primordial Sea (probably): Behold, we have achieved perfection, the pinnacle of bathysmal vishap evolution!

All of Fontaine (actually): You fucked up a perfectly good dragon is what you did. Look at it, it's got anxiety!

[pochapal]

btw for reference Here are all the spoiler glimpses of beatrice's form i've been accidentally exposed to for the sake of transparency and also so you can know how surreal/funny it is for me to be unravelling the meaning of this vicious murderwitch in canon while also seeing occasional iceberg tips of what seems to be some kind of extremely thorough and comprehensive blorbo memeification going on. i think you guys are doing some breaking bad fandom shit to this woman.

[brick-van-dyke]

If there's one thing I've respectively noticed from Zionists and defenders of Israeli war crimes, it's that every source, argument and potential avenue to explore each explanation is riddled with cherry picking, moving the goalposts and mental gymnastics to explain why their conclusions, which typically are barely even related to the sources they use, somehow overshadow literal reality and what we see with our own eyes.

While scrolling, one example I came across was the repetitive misrepresentation of BLM, antifa and quotes from Martin Luther King Jr, as well as statistics, scholarly journal articles and government website information. These are all good sources, yet every single time they're mangled completely until the only possible "interpretation" of any of them is "well Israel is right to defend itself after shorting rockets beforehand because the retaliation was brutal and all Arabs are bad by default therefore". As if any of these sources are even about individual exceptions of Israel versus hatred towards Arabs.

I think what I find most absurd, as someone in the middle of their own studies, is how every bit of critical thinking and logic goes out the window as they do every single thing possible to do what professors worldwide say NOT to do when evaluating sources. It's like watching a race to see who can tangle and misconstrue scientific information to fit their world view the fastest. Then said people say "um actually I studied at university before so it's actually not wrong that I'm doing this exact this everyone is warned not to do because I have a permit". Ignorance I can forgive, but willful and arrogant manipulation? That's another thing entirely.

[bhaalsdeepbat]

imo the thing about ascended astarion is that he does love his LI, but he no longer shows it in any meaningful way. everything he does is out of fear and he thinks he's performing a show of love, but has his vulnerability locked behind so many layers of a role he's playing. He's using this role as a layer of separation to prevent him from feeling weak and vulnerable in the way love makes him feel while also manipulating the LI into complacency so they don't leave him before the tadpoles are dealt with.

he can feel that flicker of what once was, but it's accompanied by feeling small and weak. the ways he doles out affection affirms that he is none of those things. so, no. not showing love, but showing how he's the one in control. like he tells araj, he needs people to know who owns who, now.

it comes back to "I can be yours, and you can be all mine. If only for the night," but instead of the the equal partnership that springs from the Graveyard Scene where they vow to be each other's for as long as the other will love them, accepting the uncertainty of that future because of the abundance of joy living a life worth living can bring when lived together, Astarion has to establish ownership over his LI.

He owns them, body, heart, and soul, but the only piece of him his LI has is the piece that no longer exists. the piece of him that was the sweet, vulnerable Spawn who was starting to see kindness in the world where it once was cold and unwelcoming.

he loves them, but it's locked up so deep, all he can feel is a flicker of remembrance, like he lost something.

[udunitnaoarryporrer]

Game night doodle!

So, you died. But you got better. Even so, bestie isn't having any of it.

He's a reserved sort of guy. But the pure distillation of his spirit from every timeline in every universe isn't. And bestie is a protective sort.

So, his echo just hangs out with you during your entire week-long long rest. You gotta talk about something, right?

Here's my bard telling our echo knight's echo about how her great great aunt, Drizzle Bug, stole 7 pojos from her ex-husband and ran away to marry an Othilupian feller who claimed to be the king of the pojos.