#sort of daily npc

[collectivewarmth]

daily reminder that an inner world is not required for any sort of system! it can be an excellent visualization tool for some but it’s not something that everyone is going to have.

if you have an extremely complex inner world with pages of lore and thousands of alters/npcs, you’re so valid. but, someone who also has no sign of an inner world or one that’s simply a singular room in a house? equally as valid.

understanding we all have different experiences is key in fully accepting the collectives around us!

[vintagerpg]

This is I11: Needle (1987), a reworked tournament module by Frank Mentzer. It features pregenerated characters named the Ghost, Blaze, Finder, Blondy, Slim and Smiley. There is at least one stealth Star Wars quote. The players need to go into a jungle to get a weird obelisk, haul the thing back, then explore the moon the obelisk teleports them too. The first part is a pretty typical hex crawl, albeit punctuated with puzzles and high strangeness. The third part is a dungeon crawl. The dungeon crawl sure is odd (it ends with a confrontation with “Tiamat” and no, I am not going to explain that further) but it is the middle part that I think is the most interesting.

The middle part is the hauling of the obelisk back to the king who wanted it found (its not an obelisk, its actually a gigantic piece of tech). This is sort of a nightmare logistical puzzle, involving lots of NPCs sailing to the obelisk, taking it down, packing it up and hauling it back. Things need to be built. Like roads. And a raft (the thing is hollow and will float). That means lumber. Which means upsetting the natives, who are bullywugs and grippli, locked in rivalry with each other. The whole thing plays out across two months of daily events, which feels like a novel sort of slog. I’d definitely enjoy playing this — there are all sorts of opportunities for things to just go entirely off the rails.

Clyde Caldwell cover art. I don’t love it, but I honestly think that is because it was recycled for the 2E Rogues Gallery, a book I loathe. The interiors are by Doug Chaffee, who I don’t know. They feel like run of the mill late-‘80s D&D illustrations.

[nobody-nexus]

Dance Rush: NPCs!

Ever wonder who's behind the scenes of Dance Rush? Well, it's the NPCs of course! Specifically, Agents and the main network system... Bubble!

B.u.b.b.l.e. is the main AI that basically handles about 80% of the game. He's the first face you see, and we hope you like him- because he keeps showing up

Next up are the agents! What are agents? Well, they're more or less the management behind the idols! They handle everything from paperwork to events to collabs- to even the daily schedule OF their idol! They're extremely sentient, but at the same time a bit limited

One thing to note is any sort of accent color. These said accent colors help indicate which agent is behind who. Of course, this is a little pointless considering some of the coloring matches the colors of the rest of the body unlike others

Most of the agents are bigger then the idols themselves! Some tower over most of the idols, but can somehow move throughout the back of the stages with ease, probably due to how big the backstage actually is

Moon is the one at the top of the food chain aside from Caine. She has admin powers, but it always comes with a price

If an idol abstracts, their agent.... dissipates. And their code is reused for something else

[milkzoro]

zoro doesn’t know how to show emotion & he’s pretty mean to you without even realizing :(

๑๑๑ (gn!reader x roronoa zoro) ๑๑๑

- you loved being around him ever since joining the crew, he seemed so stable and you craved it.

- you always offered to join him with his daily routines. gathering dinner supplies, ship chores, sometimes even training.

- it was never a solid ‘yes’ answer but took it as an invitation anyways.

- it seemed like you talked your ass off whenever you were with him and it made you insecure.

- you wished he would give you something, say anything. something other than npc responses.

- but being around him made you so happy,,, even if it sometimes resulted with you thinking too much about your past interactions.

- ‘i wish he would voice his mind.’ or ‘maybe i’m annoying him.’

- zoro seemed as if he couldn’t care less when it came to you but you never learn.

- coming up to him on a regular day seemed like the best option, everyone was at peace just spending time by on their own.

- zoro was napping in the warm summer sun, his golden skin so radiant… sighhhh

- a weird feeling brewed in your stomach as you mustered up the courage to wake him.

- “zorooo.” you softly rubbed his arm, from his bicep to his forearm.

- he groaned. “…can’t you see i’m busy y/n…”

- that weird feeling you had was validated.. he couldn’t see your face, he was rolled over on his side as he laid still, but your eyes were glistening.

- how could such simple words effect you.

- he was clearly sleeping, why even try? you walked away without another word, warm tears started to fall.

- zoro didn’t wake, or even notice what had happened. but robin witnessed it all. she’s been taking notes on how you’ve been acting these past few weeks.

- she didn’t wake him up, but waited til he had risen on his own.

- “swordsman? don’t you realize how you’ve been talking to y/n? it seems like they admire you, or maybe your presence. despite you’re petulant actions towards them.”

- zoro was confused at the mention of your name, he thought everything was fine.

- “i think they’re hurt.”

- he didn’t know what the issue was but he eventually made his way to your door. ‘hurt?? wdym they’re hurt?’

- he knocked twice before entering. “hey, robin said you were hurt. everything okay?” he felt something was off, he’s not used to seeing you like this.

- “m fine zoro, you can go back to sleep.” you were in your bed while you fiddled with your fingers, picking at your rough cuticles.

- he was even more confused now. he thought you liked to be around him and now your pushing him away?

- he had to think of the right words to say, he was not familiar with this feeling.

- zoro entered deeper in your room, letting himself in. “just wanna make sure-“

- “yeah.” the air was dense in your room. “you can leave now.”

- he absolutely did not like this. your short words were harsh. ohhhhh.

- he finally understood what robin had meant. he never realized it before but now that you’re away if feels as if somethings missing. robin knew it would play out this way if he never showed you any reciprocated efforts.

-zoro didn’t leave, he kept a soft gaze on you. he didn’t speak either.

- you didn’t want to say anything either but that’s the just type of person you were. always needing to voice your thoughts.

- it was hard but the words just spilled from your mouth. “i just wish i knew how you felt, what’s going on in the thick head of yours.” you felt more tears start to fall.

- “it’s like you’re numb to all sorts of feeling, to me you seem so put together and secure, i love being with you but i can’t seem to learn.”

- “it shouldn’t even matter cuz your just my crewmate but it really does hurt me.” … “i feel like we’re similar in a lot of ways but i’m relizing now that i should just back off.”

- your words stung. ‘just a crewmate?’ he knew he would lose any sort of connection he had with you if he didn’t act now.

- you being around made him happy, he would miss you.. if you weren’t there to accompany him with his stuff, who would? he’s relizing that he is killing off his relationships. he needed you but he didn’t know how to say it.

- “wait no.” he stated.

- your brow was raised ushering him to keep talking.

- he avoided eye contact trying to come up with the proper words, he could see how he’s made you feel. his face burned hot, he was mad at himself.

- “yn.. i’m so sorry.. i- i want you to keep bothering me…”

- …

- “i’m realizing now what i’m doing to you, it’s not fair. i know i’m not the best with expressing my emotions but please let me try to be better.”

- you were stunned, he came to you. and this time it was him showing you some sort of feeling. your mouth fell seeing him try.

- “y/n, i know i never say this but i really, really appreciate you. you always coming to me with things, even if it’s the smallest thing ever. i’m taking it for granted. i know it’s gonna take time but please be patient with me, i want to prove myself. i need you.”

- his sudden confession sent spears through your heart. ‘was he lying?’

- “i- i don’t know what to say zoro. i think i need space.” you didn’t want to but feeling like this pained your soul, you cared for him so much and if you got hurt by him again, you wouldn’t know what to do. it’s not like you could just ignore him, you lived together.

- “please.” he took your hands in his, he thought maybe he could show you how he felt. touch was his love language.

- after talking with robin, she explained to him that maybe your love language was words of affirmation, or quality time.

- of course he didn’t know what that meant so he had to do some research.

- words of affirmation,,,, he was gonna have to work on that, but he would do anything to keep you coming around.

- quality time he also enjoyed, but he needed to incorporate some positive energy towards you to make it even worth trying. he has a lot of work ahead of him.

- but he really needed you. you made him feel stable.

- how can he fix this.

๑๑๑

i luv zoro with all my heart <\3

(maybee pt. 2?? i wanna make this a fucking fic 🙈)

[subwaytostardew]

▽ Subway to Stardew - Adoptable Joltik ⚡️

This would play after Emmet's 8 heart event and getting Joltik up to 8 hearts as well.

I released a separate mod specifically for adopting Joltik, so you only need to get them up to 8 hearts to adopt them! You can do it right now!

Adoptable Joltik Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/21002

And of course... Commentary under the read-more.

Joltik's adoption event sat in the drafts for quite a while. It took me whole a day to implement and I didn't let myself sleep until I finished everything. (It's 1 PM now...)

The event ended up wildly different because of how extra custom pets are implemented. You would think that they would be added in the same way as you get your cat/dog that you select during character creation. No. You have to buy a license. Only Marnie is authorized to sell them.

Here's the original script for Joltik's adoption event:

[Joltik Adoption Event]

Emmet: @! Joltik likes you verrrrry much. They want to stay with you. I'm letting you adopt them. Yup. I filled out all the paperwork. The Joltiks are legally documented now. 

I never gave ours a name... Galvantula wouldn't let me. She is verrrry picky about it. But that's okay. Joltik is yours. You should name them. She came along for approval. So. What name should I put on the adoption form?

[Name input box like Marnie's adoption thing...]

[Galvantula pauses for a moment to think and then offhandedly agrees.]

Emmet: Galvantula didn't shock me for that. That name is okay. Yup. I will file that with the Ferngill Republic. Don't worry about it. Make sure you take verrrry good care of our little Joltik!

[Joltik jumps and heart emotes]

◇──◆──◇──◆

The whole naming portion was a source of much more frustration than it should have been. In events, the name input box is brought up by the "catQuestion" command (which applies to dogs chosen at the start, too...

If you refuse, then Marnie also shows up no matter what you do. Farmhouse positions are also tricky and made even harder to find reference for after 1.6 added the farmhouse being moveable. Joltik kept spawning where Emmet was supposed to be so I had to use a move command just to get them to spawn one tile to the side. Galvantula was fine. I didn't get to updating her vanilla portraits yet so she's staying quiet.

The catQuestion command also only adds the pet you pick during character creation. There's no fields to target the usage. You have to buy a license. It's the only way to get another pet. I didn't want Joltik to replace a cat either since in-story you would have to earn the trust of both Emmet and Galvantula... There's no way you can do that by the first 25 days of spring. It's immersion breaking and you lose a cat.

I did find the license aspect funny though. It was oddly fitting for the mod's lore of Pokemon being pretty much banned from the region. Emmet is a threat to Stardew Valley's ecosystem. Not the best guy for the task of combating anti-Pokemon xenophobia.

Pet sizes are apparently hardcoded so I had to make a new spritesheet for Joltik as if they even need a 32 x 32 pixel area per frame. I did end up making new sprites for them while I was at it. I tried to base it off of the cat's behaviors so I have less animation fields to edit (I was tired). The cat loafs a lot. Trying to convey that in a tiny spider posed quite the challenge.

After everything was done, I figured that the whole adoption portion of the mod could easilly be taken apart to be its own mod as a demo of sorts for the expansion. So I went and made a content pack to post.

Bringing up your starter pet's friendship level takes quite some time, so it would be awkward if I let the event play with no preconditions. Because of that, I ended up including Joltik as an NPC and locking their adoption behind their heart level.

We actually only had two lines per day of the week (not including season) for daily dialogue. That shot up to six lines per day of the week for a full 0-2-4-6-8-10 in spring because I was determined to publish a mod. (I've been modding for nearly a year nonstop and I don't have anything playable... humiliating...)

Anyways! I hope you're all having fun with 1.6! It certainly brought new challenges and opportunities to the modding scene!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[writingforatwistedworld]

Heyoo!! How are you?? Hope you're well!! ^^

I noticed your ask box is open and I'd like to request a Self Aware! Deuce/(Your choice here)/Riddle with a player who has their ceremony outfit but when they arrive for their daily stuff/near the end of their stuff, they go into the changing card room for the homescreen and just play around with their hood like "Hehe, hood on, hood off, hood on, hood off" and repeated until they do other stuff/go away (aka out the app)

Good day/night!

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, kidnapping, violence, murder, religion, blood, death, obsession

Riddle Rosehearts/Deuce Spade/Malleus Draconia-“Hehe, hood on, hood off, hood on, hood off, hood…”

Honour to the Overseer!

This tomato was just way too happy the moment he was put on the home screen

I mean, he has better clothing than this but it seems like you favor his ceremony robes so why say no?

Oh? He is supposed to wear it? Ok

Now off again? Mhm no prob... On again?

“Hehe, hood on, hood off, hood on, hood off, hood…”

Imagine this redhead's embarrassment when he notices that you are playing with his clothing

If this would be done by someone else they would be collared before they could even just turn around to run away

And then here you are, highest power in this world, playing with his good old robes

Ah uh... dear Overseer, you are messing his hair up... NOT THAT HE IS TELLING YOU TO STOP!

To be honest, he really likes you doing this

I mean, he is always so feared, looking like the tyrant that he was once to his dorm.... Once actually cutting someone's head off after they didn't pay you enough respect (in his eyes at least)...

And then you turned him, mentally, into one of the cute hedgehogs he uses to play cricket

Keep going... he might wake up in the infirmary after you left simply because his blood pressure was everything but in the healthy zone but ok

We encourage turning him into a cinnamon bun over here

Just keep this limited to him, ok? Otherwise he has to make sure that the other someone you would also be doing this doesn't have a head anymore

My man over here shy the second you give him attention

I mean, he is like a cute little chick, looking up at you with so much adoration and trust

Big round eyes my friend, big round eyes

And you like his ceremonial robes?

Like I said, eyes and a lot of interesting paint... Yes, that was one an NPC in ceremonial robes who thought they could take his favored position

But back to the fluff

Poor thing was I confused when you put the hood back on and off

Is this somewhere in the rules?

Pulling someone's good off and on??!

I mean, there is so much and he might have lost track of them... (don't tell Riddle!)

But just hearing that giggle is enough for him to stop questioning your actions

“Hehe, hood on, hood off, hood on, hood off, hood…”

He is almost the one saying “aww! How cute!!!”

Remember, red paint

But seriously, he is really considering giving up on his dream to become an honor student if it means defending his position

Just keep tugging on his hood, there are already seven students in the infirmary because of him. Wouldn't want to make it worse, would you?

Our local dragon far was exexpecting a lot from his God

JUST NOT THIS

But ok, let us set the screen

Mister “those are no green contacts but real” was standing there, all excited for your return...

Heck, his tail was almost wagging

Wait, you are currently looking at whim to put here... He won't let you!

Once he finds out which imbecile took his place... huh?

O-Overseer! Watch out! His horns can be a bit sharp at their ends!

You wanted him to wear his hood?

Why didn't you tell- it's off again

Why is it on again?

It may sound weird especially if we are talking about a guy like him but he would turn his rivals into fried chicken if they were to get the same treatment

And also, he doesn't mind that he, the prim and proper monarch that he is, leaves the room always with messy hair

He wears it like some sort of badge of honor

This must mean you are holding a lot of affection for him! And also that you wish to be with him!

Don't you worry, a few spells and preparations later you will be here, with him, without escape

[modcroissant]

Small bio on Rainbow Crystal Cookie

He's an NPC, sorry for those wanting him to be sort of playable.

You can visit the Costumes Shop to purchase a costume, log in daily for 10 days and you'll get a free costume of your choice! No matter if the costume is legendary or special, your pal Rainbow Crystal Cookie got you covered.

[musubiki]

So obviously team limochi but, do you have any au stuff about if mochi actually Did choose to marry sullivan? Like have you ever entertained the idea privately just for fun ?

sort of!! honestly, at least to me, its one of those things thats like...its nice having sulluvan there so we can see lime Jealous(tm) and hes a GREAT independent/NPC character, but i dont think they would work that well as a couple (at least not as well as mochi and lime do) for a couple reasons

its probably just the way the story is designed at this point, but im a big fan of "give the couple lots and lots of time together to develop a friendship/relationship," which is hard to do with sulluvan and mochi because hes constantly busy with other shit in his undertaker/spirit realm and shes always doing her witch thing....,,i would prefer it if he was more closely linked to the guild, but by his nature he cant really pick favorites business-wise, so his appearances are somewhat sparse and only show up once every few weeks to bug her for a date/debt repayment.,..my kind of ship is the one where they see each other daily..,i would need to reinvent a whole adventure/story where they would be near-constantly interacting to see how it would actually be...

(as a side note i HATE the trope thats like... couple spends like 2 seconds together on screen and then married next time you see them..like give us some fucking DEVELOPMENT please)

[greyias]

Since I'm currently stuck in Sandrock Hell, figured I'll just start doing some pic spams and regaling you with the tales of how I've broken the game. Approaching end game, and my little builder Aria, who has been a hopeless flirt (inadvertently breaking hearts left and right because she thought flirting with certain NPCs was really funny), has finally met her match.

What's funny is, this romance sort of started as a joke because I kept accidentally clicking on the bounty hunter poster every time I was attempting to go into the Commerce Guild, and @grumpyhedgehog kept saying that Aria was lusting over it each morning to psych herself up before having to face Yan to grab her daily commissions.

Then Logan went and robbed a train and apparently that sealed the deal that they were meant to be because of my long history of romancing train menacing npcs

Anyway he also tried to... *looks at smudged writing on hand* blow her up why does this keep happening to my blondies and they had a knife fight or two. She punched him so hard at one point his mask fell off.

Anyway they're married now.

[fyloe]

Hello! How do you characterise your Lamb? What is the AU that has two Lambs here? One seems to have a history with Heket. What is your favorite weapon and curse and relic? Who is your favourite NPC? Drink water and eat your vegetables daily.

This took me a while to answer because I was gonna draw art for it but I felt bad for making you wait after begging for asks so I'm answering anyway.

The Lamb is my au is just a tired little creature they go by both They/them and He/him, mostly they/them though. They only really give a shit about their Mom, Uncle (Jay), and their grandpa Ratau. Lamb is literally their name. Like, that's their full name. But, Marrei calls them Lamby sometimes. They're always tired and sort of stoic, they get annoyed easily, and are full of teens angst despite being forever eighteen. They're SOOOOO a Mama's Boy it's a chronic condition actually. They love naps and slaughtering those against them, also homemade food and sewing. They like to garden, and cook but aren't good at either.

If you're talking about my drawing of my Lamb meeting canon lamb it's because it was just a "how would those two react upon seeing each other" kind of scenario, but if you're referring to the drawings of Marrei (his mother) she was presumed dead thousands of years ago by Leshy, Kallamar, and Shamura because that's what Heket told them so that's why she's still around. When they executed Lamb they truly figured they had the last lamb.

She does have a history with Heket as she used to be her consort and is still devoted to her after all these years despite her sadness about their fallout. Marrei is the only one allowed to worship the Old Faith in the cult because Lamb can't find it in them to get mad with their mother.

I think my favorite weapon is the poison sword but the godly version and I despise the axe. I'm a "need for speed" kind of person. It's not the dagger because the strong attack is horrendous when trying to break shields.

Curses I think is the four tentacles in each direction, relic is the one where it strikes lightning on a random enemy. It helped me kill Kallamar and my wife Heket.

Ratau is pretty high for NPC but if Heket counts I choose her every time, but I assumed you mean the friendly ones. I like the clothing lady she's fun, but still. Ratau is my little man. I love rats a lot. I've had three. I also am interested in Aym and Baal, I have Baal in my cult rn and he's so cute. I fw the fox so hard he's so mysterious I think he'd be my favorite IF HE DIDNT EAT MY GRANDPA!

Ty for the reminder to drink and eat I have a chronic problem of forgetting lmao

Little preview of a comic coming out for such a great ask~

[boowasphone]

Hello phighting tag!!! If you saw there is two qna videos for phighting which includes some lore, now those videos combined are about 4 hours but my friend @hexyn went through the videos and compiled some of the most interesting bits of information

Everything will be under the cut

EVERYTHING THAT IS SAID IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE/POSSIBLY MISHEARD

- boss battle plans, everyone teamed up to defeat one big guy (probably ????? kind of????? already done considering the sfoth rounds)

- gacha system with zuka hosting a item store to buy crates for skins

- being able to buy stickers from zuka's store

- "storymode really roughly outlined/planned" said by soda and will pay their attention towards singleplayer storymode after they're done with multiplayer

- plans on adding chat titles next to your name

- dom and valk were apparently born into fame by their parents being very popular and them carrying their career

- allusions has a phighting map in their game

- more accesory npcs besides dom and valk coming soon

- rocket canonically being adopted by zuka

- valk and dom apparently sees the phighters as nothing but a faster way to make money and nothing else said by soda

- hyperlaser apparently has a mask under his helmet, not specified which one tho but its probably a joke answer

- in future updates, the skins will go away and would soon be added in zuka's shop

- possibly being able to visit other areas around the map (thieves den, playground, lost temple and blackrock)

- minigames getting added in crossroads such as fishing, etc

- apparently said by soda, blackrock are the heavily demonized people in the lore so far by her and the devs, "purposefully starting shit to piss others off"

- none of them can't eat spicy food besides hyperlaser

- crossroads, thieves den, playground, lost temple, blackrock etc all live in one big giant land and are separated by regions around the areas

- apparently the Inphinity is/or has an extremely large sentient entity outside of the phighting universe

- with the subspace and medkit situation, medkit wanted to help people with the crystals while subspace wants to cause chaos, the crystals in between their horns are from their own expirements, they both use the alternative energy source to wield their weapons

- all of the regions canonically hate eachother and all have different motives

- skins in game are described as non-canon alternate universes, just a excuse for skins and some in the future may be canon

- subspace was assigned to make biograft by blackrock's leader

- darkheart is (sort of) friends with venomshank, similar to the way you'd wave to someone you know across the street

- broker will give you daily challenges, and when completed he will tell you a bit of lore

- sfoth swords (excluding sword) are like deities in the inphinity

- banhammer was originally going to be a part of Blackrock, with many of the Blackrock figures knowing him; however, this was changed, and now he is factionless

- broker has been arrested for murder, manslaughter, and gear laundering (although no one said that he did the recent murders in crossroads, ofc still very bad and deserves to be imprisoned)

- The faction leaders will be playable characters, and the four will each be based off of overseer, darkage, korblox, and redfield/redcliff

- biografts do NOT wipe

- medkit found sword injured and nursed him back to health; the two eventually became friends as a result (this will probably be expanded on in the future)

- rocket can't swim and is in first place of playable characters that would most likely swear the most. The 2nd is subspace, and that's it. Note that rocket apparently gets it from zuka

- biograft does not truly hate everyone; they are simply a killing machine who shows no mercy to their enemies

- banhammer isn't blind, he just thinks he's so powerful he intentionally nerfs himself by blinding himself (he thinks it's funny)

- hyperlaser's face has never been revealed due to the idea him being a very mysterious character; they may reveal it in the far future, though it would ruin the mysteriousness

- soda plans to make ugc for Phighting (not lore related though notable to add)

- there are multiple biograft models such as zeta, epsilon, and beta (zeta is the orange one)

- regions may have genetics:

blackrock will have demons with fangs

lost temple will have big dudes (with "something with their eyes?" this was not expanded on)

thieves den will have markings on their body

they don't know what playground would be just "very very silly"

- phighters are created from a big fountain called "The Spawn"; the spawn pops out new people with their own gear these people are not born as babies, and they have a level of intelligence. after they are born, they are assigned a faction and shipped off to their respective location. If two people sacrifice their gear to the spawn, a biological child is formed; however, this is very uncommon as few are willing to sacrifice their gear

[dailycharacteroption]

Book Review: Faiths of Purity

And with today’s entry we end off the week with a beginning, a beginning of a quadrilogy in the Pathfinder Player Companion line of books, focused on the various faiths of Golarion’s Inner Sea Region deities.

Now, I say faiths specifically instead of deities, since this book is less about the deities themselves and more about how the mortals worship them and incorporate their beliefs into their daily lives.

The reason that these books came to be was to help build the world and give a religious character that one was portraying plenty of inspiration for what they would value and what sort of holy days and the like they would celebrate and follow through with, which was a fair bit more than what we got out of deity descriptions in many editions of D&D. Sure, you knew their alignments, their domains, and they symbols, but beyond a paragraph or two, their lore was pretty sparse in most books, so it was a nice change of pace.

The book starts with a breakdown of the seven good-aligned major deities in the Inner Sea Region, specifically information about their faith and their worshippers, everything from what sort of classes favor the religion, what they wear to identify themselves to other members of the faith outside of holy symbols, how they worship, what they consider taboo, and of course, their goals. Additionally, there is a bit on what sort of relationship the faithful have with other belief systems. These deities range from the frivolous but heroic followers of Cayden Cailean, the wandering and wise Desnans, the parental (and condescending) followers of Erastil, the righteous devotees of Iomedae, Sarenites who honor the mighty but merciful hand of the Dawnflower, art-focused followers of Shelyn, and the stalwart followers of Torag.

The book goes on further to briefly speak of the goodly minor deities. While not gone into the same detail, gives a good idea of what sort of followers they attract. They even go into the Empyreal Lords as well!

From there, we get various organizations that are tied to the aforementioned religions but having more specialized goals than simply following the teachings of said divinity. Things like secret organizations that bring light to nations of tyranny, or knightly orders.

Beyond that we get new combat feats associated with the fighting styles of the god’s followers (but not the divine fighting style feat, that comes later), as well as spells associated with each faith.

Additionally, with the exception of chaotic divinities, these faiths all qualify as valid options for a paladin to follow, and each one actually has an entry about how the oaths of paladins are altered by the nature of the god they worship, such as Shelynite paladins never striking first except to protect innocent life, and valuing the beauty and cultural importance of works of art greatly and seeking to protect them as well.

Finally, there is a bit on the various holy days and observances each faith in this book observes, which can be a fun way to set up festivals when the party goes to town or even inspiration for characters that would observe them even far away from where their faith is common.

The lore offered in this book is a major worldbuilding boon, as characters and NPCs alike can be fleshed out a lot by how they interact with and observe their faith. Faith means a lot to many people in the real world, so why wouldn’t it for characters in a fantasy world, even if they themselves aren’t divinely empowered?

Additonally, I like that none of the art in this book is of the deities themselves. Instead, it’s all example art of various worshippers of the faith, tying back to the “divinity from the mortal perspective” angle that this book and it’s companions are going for.

I do love this book. It’s a fun expansion of lore into the various major goodly faiths of the primary region of our setting, with plenty of fluffy to inspire characters with a light bit of crunch like that bit of cookie in a Twix bar. Firm enough for substance, but not so prominent so as to overshadow the texture of that delicious caramel. I hope that simile makes any kind of sense.

I don’t have super lots to complain about in this book, but I will say some of it is a little outdated, from Erastil’s somewhat traditionalist ideals that got downplayed in 2e to the paragraph on Apsu claiming that he does not grant divine magic to non-draconic followers, something that proves expressly not true in later books. (There’s even a paladin archetype that is baseline assumed to be associated with him, after all). But overall most of it is still good.

And that does it for our first week of book reviews, and the reception has been quite positive, so I’ll definitely be continuing this special in the future! But for now, look forward to more archetypes next week, and more specials in the future.

[tookerthetookiest]

Diluc x Reader

SAGAU - Self Aware Genshin AU (kinda??)

You were casually doing your daily's in Genshin Impact, but a weird quest you had never seen before appeared as your last one. It was near the gate area next to the Angel Share's Tavern. 'Weird, I don't remember ever seeing this commission before' you thought to yourself, but proceeded to do it anyway. When you teleported your way over to the area, not a single NPC was there, not even an enemy. Your PC/Mobile/Game Console was starting to run the game poorly so maybe that's why.

Finally an option came up to accept the quest from an NPC, but before said NPC could load in, if there even was one to begin with, you already clicked to accept it. Your screen turned black and you leaned in to get a closer look. Only to be sucked into your screen. Faint images flashed before your eyes, memories perhaps? Whatever they were, they stopped in an instant leaving you to drift off into a slumber.

Now onto Diluc, the owner of the Angel Share's Tavern and the largest wine industry in teyvat. Who also happened to live the life of a vigilante, moving in the shadows at night, protecting mondstat's citizens.

His nightly patrol was moving along splendidly, until he came across a figure cloaked in white, laying on the floor of the gate near to his tavern. Approaching with caution, he crept up to the figure. Upon closer inspection, it was a person, though a tall person. Like extremely tall. Near to them was a crown of sorts, more in the form of a halo.

He couldn't just leave them like this, it may pose as a threat in the future, who knows. Mustering all the strength he could, Diluc lifted the person and dragged them back to his mansion. The halo- crown came following after which rose his suspicions, who could this person be?

After a long journey, which would've been much easier if it weren't for your height, Diluc put you in a spare bedroom and chained your right hand to the bed so you won't escape if you were a threat.

You slept well into the afternoon that day, under the supervision of Diluc. The chains clinked, alerting diluc. He watched you with caution as you rose from your position while rubbing your eyes. "Who are you?" Diluc asked, alerting you as you were unaware he was there. "I..." Though you barely spoke a word, your voice already sounded calm and gentle, easing Diluc's nerves but he didn't let his guard down. "I am the creator of this land" you answered almost as if you don't know. In truth you actually didn't, you were doing dailys like 5 mins ago, now you're here.

"Creator? How am I supposed to believe them?" Diluc thought. "I don't really know how to get you to believe me honestly." You answered his thoughts. "How did you do that!?" Diluc said shocked. "Do what? I just heard what you said" you got a good look at him after you said that, he resembles Diluc but there's no way that could be possible.... Right?? "But I thought it I didn't say it" "Oh, weeelll does that prove I'm the creator??" He sighed, "Listen, until I get more proof that you are the 'creator' you're going to stay in this room." As he said that the shackles holding you simply fell off after you touched it while examining it. "Look! More proof!" You exclaimed. "Just.... Don't leave the room then i guess." He began to walk out the room until you spoke up "Wait, what's your name?" "Diluc Ragnvindr" With that he left, trusting you would stay.

Diluc????? FROM THE HIT GAME GENSHIN IMPACT???? Were you in Genshin??? How is that even possible? You sat there with your thoughts wondering how this happened. You began to realize it was all because of that quest you accepted but still, how? You began recalling the memories, you remember creating teyvat and everything on it, including the archons and the magic in this world. But you never did those, or maybe you did. Is this a dream or was the life you had before a dream? You continued to ponder late into the night, so late that you got to see Diluc walk home. You found comfort in knowing there are recognizable faces and people you could trust. Diluc made his way to your room to ensure you were still there and to his surprise you were.

He slowly began to trust you more as the days went by, talking to you whenever he had the time to, he found that to be the best part of his day. Though telling him that he was in a video game seemed like something you shouldn't do, it felt as though a balance would tip if you did. Soon you were given permission to explore the surrounding forrest though not to far so you wouldn't get lost. Everytime Diluc was away you would explore, none of the animals feared you and you even found out you could talk to them. One day you were playing around with your animal friends and lost track of time, huddling up together with them and falling asleep. Diluc searched the whole area for you when he didn't find you waiting for him like usual. When he found you he was so relieved but a bit concerned when he saw the wolves around you napping.

You enjoyed your time with the animals, but one day as you play with boars, you wandered closer and closer to springvale. Unknown to you, that was the day hunters came out to look for boars. Peacefully you ran about with the creatures you called friends when a screech of pain took you out of your leisurely trance. You hurried over to the boar that got caught in a trap, quickly releasing it with your strength. "I heard something get caught over there!" You heard in the distance. Healing the boar of its injuries you stood up searching to see where the shout came from. All the boars began telling you 'run! run! ' and so you did. You ran but the sounds of some boars getting shot down stopped you, you hide behind a tree and watched as the injured boars got tied up to be carried away. In ones final moments it told you to get away quick, though you have the power to help, you know better than to disrupt the natural way of life. So you ran again, but a hunter saw you some of them shouted 'look catch it!' but they couldn't catch up to you, your height gave you a big advantage. You ran all the way back to the winery, holding back tears for the loss of your friends.

Diluc came back ready to talk to you, his day was tiring and he desperately needed to hear your voice. Though his own stress disappeared when he heard your sobs. He had never seen you cry, you were always so calm and happy. He rushed over to you holding onto your arms "what happened!? What's wrong!?" "H-hunters killed my fr-friends" you cried. " Who were they. " He asked with rage, though he himself didn't know those creatures the sight of you this way filled him with rage. "Diluc please, i-it was just the way things must be, if i intervened it w-would not help anything. " He cooled down and just sat with you. You lost family before in the other world, this seemed to feel like the same thing." I know the feeling of loss... " Diluc began to tell you about his father and brother. You already knew though, so you kinda just sat there. You heard his lore so many times before at this point hearing someone say it back left you unfazed, but coming from him with the look of distraught on his face, you couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

The next day Diluc went to the tavern, the night went on as usual until some hunters came in talking about a figure dressed in white. He became suspicious and listened in on their conversation. "It was huge! Atleast 8ft tall!" The surrounding hunters gasped and asked for more information." It was in full white clothes! It looked so majestic!!" " Maybe it was hunting our boars, alot have gone missing recently. " Another hunter suggested." You may be right, we should capture it to make sure it isn't a threat. " Diluc was shocked, he wanted to argue with them, but that would cause a scene. He didn't want to put you in more danger, so he kept to himself.

He went straight to you that night, "You're no longer allowed to leave the winery" he said assertively. "And why not?" "Can't you read minds?" "Ugh, so what if hunters are after me, I can protect myself!" you defended. "I just don't want you getting hurt!" He retorted. That was the first time you fought. He got to annoyed of the arguing and simply got up and left. Leaving you pissed, maybe you should just leave, prove that you can indeed protect yourself.

The morning after, Diluc didn't even bother going into your room, not wanting to see you both argue again. Though if he did, he wouldn't have found you. You had left to go explore the wilderness, though trouble found you quicker than expected. Treasure horders, they were surrounding you "Hey aren't some hunters from springvale looking for a creature like that." One asked "Yup, and im sure they'll pay a hefty price for it, we'll probably make more money off of that thing than those boars." They moved closer to you, readying their weapons. You thought of a plans to escape, watching as one rushed forward. Blowing a gust of anemo his way, you took it as your chance to run. Before you could make it far, a treasure horder threw a bottle infused with pyro at your feet. With not enough time to react, you stepped in it, falling to the ground in the process. Healing the burn with hydro, you rose a wall of geo to protect yourself for a short time. One began pounding away at the wall with a hammer and almost got through.

You fought well into the afternoon, no matter now many of them you got rid of they just kept coming. You were growing tired, only putting up a sheild to protect yourself as you wait for someone to help you. Diluc finally decided enough was enough, he had to talk with you and atleast negotiate something. "Y/N, listen-" he opened the door to your room, quickly noticing you weren't there. "Y/N!" Shouting frantically as he searched around for you. Finally he realized you left, he wanted to believe you were safe, but he just had to find you. It was to late to get someone to help him, so he had to look for you alone. He ran through the forrest searching for any signs of you, even if just a strand of hair.

He almost gave up until he heard the sounds of treasure horders fighting something in the distance. Creeping up towards them, noticing they were surrounding something. The more he looked, he noticed a white robe and the halo- crown you wore. He finally found you! But not in the way he hoped, you looked worn out so he had to act fast. You were about to let your sheild down for your energy was just to low until a flame emerged from behind the treasure horders. While they were distracted you summoned a gust of wind to send them flying into the air, then escaping behind some bushes. You noticed a familiar mop of red hair, rushing through the treasure horders. Regaining some of your strength you ran towards him. He came looking for you and how glad were you that he did.

The treasure horders began to seem less and less but instead of fighting them to the very end, Diluc decided to take you and run back to the winery. "Y/N let's go!" He shouted to you, dashing into nearby bushes with you casting a wall of geo to block your escape. You both ran until you got the the winery, panting and gasping as you slowed down to catch your breath. "Are you ok?" Both of you asked at the same time, a small laugh erupting from you both. "I'm fine, I'm more worried about you though" Diluc said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine" Standing there, looking at eachother with fondness for one another. Diluc walked up to you and hugged you, sinking into your larger frame. You we're so comforting, so warm, he could surely get used to this feeling.

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

Finally my first fanfic of the year (even if it's pretty late). Its not really my favorite, there's alot that I just realized I could change, though I've been busy and I'm still very busy so I doubt I'll have time to fix it 😞.

Anyways, I'm open for requests! Send me any character along with what you want in your fanfic!

Have a good morning, evening or night! 🌃☀️🌅

[misty79]

Stardew Valley Basic Mods Guide

I’ve been playing a lot of stardew valley because 1.6 is dropping soon and I’ve never done a Joja run before, wanted to see it before there were any potential changes. Anyways since I’ve been playing modded and while looking for new mods I realized it’s kinda overwhelming to find ones I like, so here’s some I recommend.

First off How To Mod Stardew Valley its much easier than it sounds. Every mod requires SMAPI or Stardew Moding API, Follow that link or go to nexus mods and search SMAPI then do manual download, slow download, then unzip the zip folder into your stardew mods folder (i recommend pining this to quick access), then follow the instructions in the installer and your all set, just add any mods to that mod folder, unziped, and your all set. Trouble shooting Guide on the stardew wiki or linked in the description on the nexus page.

Note, there are other ways to download mods that aren't through nexus, but nexus is the most simple in my opinion and has the most mods on it.

UI info suit, if you’re watched any modded playthrough you’ve seen this one. It adds icons under the mini calendar on the top right showing your daily luck, if the traveling merchant is there, if it’s someone’s birthday, if Queen Of Sauce is on, how long machines or crops take to finish, and so many other things you can check out on the nexus page

To-Dew, the name explains it pretty well, it is a to-do list that you can add things to and they show up in the top left corner. These can be daily, seasonal, a certain day of the week, certain week of the season, one day of the season, raining/not raining on farm/island, you can add headings if you have a lot on the list. It is one of the most useful mods I've found.

Convenient Inventory, sorts items from your inventory to nearby chests, you can also favorite items so they are not sorted out of your inventory

Generic Mod Config Menu, This mod allows you to change settings on almost any mod added while in the game from the bottom of the game settings page.

Visible Fish, Another super popular mod for almost any playthrough you could find, adds catchable fish to waters and optionally trash.

Dynamic reflections, Adds reflections to the water, puddles after rainy days, stars in the water at night

See NPC Map locations, Just what it sounds like, shows NPC locations on the map

Stardew Notification, adds more notifications for machines, cave harvests, morning silo report, next day weather, birthdays and more

CJB Show item sell price

Seasonal Outfits

Dynamic night times, adds transition skylines between day and night

Part of the Community, when you talk to or gift villagers if others are near they also gain friendship

Skillful clothes, Adds skill increase to clothes based on what they are, ex farmers pants +1 farming, sailor top +1 fishing

Cat Gifts, your cat will occasionally leave gifts for you

Happy Birthday, Adds your birthday to the game, on your birthday villagers will gift you when talked to

I have over 100 mods downloaded so there's more I can talk about but these are my favorites and don't change the game too much.

[trickstarbrave]

exploring elder scrolls lore is a lot like playing historian and theologian. its interesting, complex, and contradictory in ways many media tries and fails to create realism. it is told primarily through unreliable narrators, in game texts that contradict each other as much as they agree, with varying opinions and perspectives you are tasks to sort through and come to your own conclusion on often enough. sure, skyrim drops the ball sending you on infinite annoying fetch quests and plots that feel like they dont even effect the world around you and killing a god has about the same weight as getting a cool sword, but there is still some meat behind the bland surface they couldn’t quite scrape out despite their best efforts.

the problem with it i find, like most fantasy stories and epic tales, is that is male focused.

“but brave” people cry “female characters do things all the time!” this is true, we do actually have more substantial female characters in the elder scrolls who are just as important as their male counterparts. sure their male counterparts are usually not important at all, but there is equality in there. and you can be bi presumably because bethesda couldnt figure out how to code any other sexuality in the game. but what i mean by “male focused” is that most of the lore and mythos we get concerns male heroes, battles, and war. there are politics sure, but mostly things like religion and battles. the importance of textiles is never considered, different cuisines are afterthoughts, fashion is relegated mostly to armor and cheap trinkets for you to enchant. if it does not exist to further grand tales of combat, is largely ignored, and this is increasingly more and more the norm in the elder scrolls.

it isnt entirely non-existent. if you go looking you can find bits and pieces. but most things presumed to be “women’s work” are largely ignored despite making up most of daily life. weaving isn’t a skill you can learn when historically we do see people wear armor made of linen, but you can sure mine and melt down metal, something also mundane and usually boring, because blacksmithing and mining are seen as a traditionally masculine jobs. so saying “ugh no one wants to spin thread” doesn’t exactly hold up when its equally as boring to make dozens of iron ingots and iron daggers to level up smithing.

it’s also just a shame because (and this is touched upon more in older games at least) what clothes people wear can tell a lot about their culture, background, and class. it could be used for stealth, for blending in, and if you are dressed incorrectly you look like and are treated like an outsider. how food varies region by region shows what food they have available to them, what they produce, what goods are more expensive, and also can talk about background and class. riften and solitude should not be eating largely the same food just with different mead. nor should they be mostly dressed the same. these things add richness and complexity to a world that is now largely ignored because who gives a shit just pick up a weapon and fight that’s all that really matters.

skyrim in lore has sheep. of course it does, because they live in a cold climate with a limited growing season, they have devote more time for crops to feed their people and not on textile crops like you might see in warmer climates with longer growing seasons. yet you dont see any sheep, just goats. you don’t see shepherds, or hear about them. you dont see piles of wool, or women spinning thread by the fire or weaving. you don’t see them dyeing yarn or fabric or sewing clothes. even if you don’t want to make your player do it as a game mechanic you could have it be present in the world as a logical part of the setting just as you have npcs working in fields. instead clothes just magically appear in chests and other loot cabinets and are relatively worthless except to enchant despite fabric being a very expensive, labor intensive product to make. it just pops into existence anonymously, largely unimportant and uninteresting. they always say very little, and mean nothing unless you want to play dress up or enchant for a spell caster.

it’s not like the designers have never had to think about these things before. they have, at least subconsciously. fabric is still very clearly heavy and wool. it contains classic pop culture “viking” imagery (including some that are uhhhh very not historically accurate like men wearing women’s broaches), but that’s about it. why they dress like this is unanswered. how their ancestors dressed isn’t really important. how they vary from location to location is also not important, because large swaths of land obvious wear and eat the exact same thing, that’s why there is no regional food or styles of dress across all of europe /sarcasm

anyways throw a dog a fucking bone every now and then i am tired of constantly looking for lore that isnt about fighting and killing and breaking shit. what did they wear and why, how did jewelry evolve, what dyes do they have accessible to them and how rare are they, fabric weaving, gossiping, give me it back so the world feels slightly more alive. 

[subwaytostardew]

▽ Adoptable Joltik  - Sidetracked Events⚡️

I added a 7-event (more like 3, really) storyline included as an update to the Adoptable Joltik mod. It consists of Emmet not taking loss well. He misses his Joltik. He doesn't want to bother you about it. He will get back on track eventually.

These play when you enter the backwoods/mountain pass between 6:00 and 10:00 AM after seeing the adoption event and have at least 8 hearts with Joltik. Enter the mountains at the same time for the 5th event (with Ingo). Each event unlocks a new line of daily dialogue from Joltik and starts a cooldown for the next event to not start until after 4 days. The final (7th) event requires 9 hearts with Joltik.

As always... Commentary under the read-more.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

This update didn't really have any planning. It was a spontaneous decision to make more events and all the content was written as I coded so it's a bit rougher than previous events.

I've been wanting to update the Joltik mod to use Emmet's new recolored spritesheet and lock adoptability behind 8 hearts as intended (and also... fix the event requirements since I realized it was set to 10 hearts instead of 8... oops). The file was also zipped in a way that removed the containing folder so it made using mod loaders like Stardrop and Vortex more finicky.

If you've already seen the adoption event, there wouldn't be much incentive for downloading an update since Emmet doesn't appear outside of events. I'm not ready to release him as a full NPC to the general public just yet! His heart events are still broken. I dread going back and fixing them. I got a bit burnt out from working through my backlog of things to do for the mod and wanted to switch tracks from pixel art (so many portraits...). Eventing is my favorite thing to do regarding the mod, so I decided to make more events to include in the update as a break of sorts (not working on the mod? Taking an actual break? Why, I'd never!). More events are the perfect solution for me wanting to show off the new art for Subway to Stardew while also not implementing submas as full NPCs in the Joltik mod.

I could make Emmet's 9-heart event but... I feel like that's more of a Subway to Stardew thing than an Adoptable Joltik thing... if that makes any sense. I might include it later when I get around to writing/coding it, but I thought it would be a bit abrupt to add in the Joltik mod since you don't really get to befriend Emmet as intended there. There's also some people who aren't obsessed with submas and do download the Joltik mod for well, Joltik! Only Joltik. I went into eventing with that in mind and well...

I missed Emmet. I wanted him to be clingy again. I think you can tell where I got a bit self-indulgent. Making a mod is a lot of work and if I have the ability to turn Stardew into an Emmet friendship simulator, I'm going to make the most out of it. I need my emotional support Emmet to keep me on track. So for people familiar with Subway to Stardew and do like submas, you can get Emmet hugs at 9 hearts with Joltik now because I got derailed. Yippee!

The sneaking around in the mountain pass part was just silly. Since you can't visit Emmet in the Adoptable Joltik mod, I wanted to write around you not being able to find him. He's actively avoiding you now. Whether or not you notice him doesn't matter. He's not going to talk to you. It's safer that way.

I was thinking that Emmet doesn't take loss or changes in his routine very well; adopting Joltik would cause him to split tracks with you for a little bit. He's clingy and can't stand the few he cares about being gone even a little bit. He overthinks Joltik being happier with you so his inferiority complex flares up and he gets insecure about you forgetting him, too. He's jealous of you being a two-car train and he misses having Joltik aboard. He knows it's wrong to direct his frustrations at you since all you did was make Joltik happy.

There is a lot derailing his train of thought. While it's hard for him to stay on track, he still cares about you; you're still his best friend and favorite passenger (at the end of the line...). He doesn't want to split tracks forever, so he'll steer himself away in case if he accidentally lashes out or you end up thinking he's annoying with his visits for Joltik. He doesn't want you to hate him. He just wants to make sure Joltik still cares about him and still care for them while he takes the time to adjust to the changes in his routine. He's still frustrated with you, but that's his problem, not yours. He knows that. He thought it was a good idea to avoid you until he adjusted.

After all of that, his frustrations die down and he's a little deprived of his favorite (not-Joltik) passenger. He's clingy again. He won't let anyone derail him. Not even you. But he's back on track!