#theres a bit of something like this in phoenix's backstory but that all happens within the same household and is sort of inverted

[finelythreadedsky]

i've been reading a lot about fundamental differences between homer and tragedy and one interesting thing is the preoccupation of tragedy with the conflicts of women's loyalties to their natal and marital families, which manifests in so many tragedies putting women in situations where they are forced to choose sides in conflicts between their husbands/fathers/brothers/sons (eg medea chooses her husband over her father and brother, antigone chooses her brother over her future husband and potential children, procne chooses her sister and father over her husband and son, creusa remains dedicated to her father and his lineage instead of her husband and his). women are supposed to forge chains between men by their marriages and tragedies are so often interested in what happens to those connecting links when things go sour.

and that's just totally absent in homer, there's never any tension between icarius and odysseus or between eetion and the house of priam or between autolycus and laertes or between tyndareus and either paris or menelaus and agamemnon. most of the time either father-in-law or son-in-law is totally absent from the narrative. there's nothing that would put a woman in the position of mediating between the family she was born into and the family she married into.

but you know who in homer does experience this tension between loyalty to natal and marital families? hector. in iliad 6 andromache begs him to adopt a more defensive strategy because she and their son will be totally lost if he dies, and hector speaks of having to fight for his father's glory and his own. andromache and astyanax will suffer if hector dies well and bravely fighting for a lost cause, but priam will benefit. hector even acknowledges that after troy's fall it will be andromache who suffers most, not priam or hecuba-- for them the memory of hector's glory will be a consolation, while for her it will only be more pain. hector is torn between his father and his wife, the family he was born into and the family he has created through marriage.

[gracelandmp3]

if you're still looking for asks - who is/are your dnd character(s)?

BOY HOWDY DO I LOVE TO TALK ABOUT MY OCS also i dont think ive ever fully written them all out like this before i really have,,,,, lots huh

ok so my main bitch, who ive had for like ,,,, damn this frog game @torpidglory is running has been going for almost a year now thats wild - anyways her name is hadassa silverstone & shes a black dragonborn uhh,,,, failed revolutionary & priestess of the raven queen? mechanically shes a level 5 grave domain cleric w a criminal background and a Lot of issues - im kind of overhauling her right now in terms of like personality / rp stuff bc i know a lot about her backstory but i never really decided what kind of person she is? shes ,, the reluctant mom friend & she believes in fate and i think she tries to believe that most people have good in them & she should try to find it, but that kind of goes against her instincts (she grew up on and off the streets & was adjacent to the thieves guild, her dead twin brother was a member) so its something shes working on. she was a casual worshipper of the raven queen for most of her life and i think originally joined the temple as cover / to give her comrades access to a safehouse? but then over time she developed a really deep connection to the raven queen & now since the first thing she remembers after her whole backstory Nonsense which i dont have time to get into here went down is waking up in the temple, she really believes that her goddess has a plan for her & brought her back to life to achieve that. (sorry i think about hadassa a lot shes probably my favorite oc and i would die for her shes got a whole playlist which is a wip but like.. so u know how serious i am) 

then just continuing in order of when the games started we got ifrit kheferu, a tiefling sorcerer whos part of this dragon religion we made up?? narratively hes a favored soul but mechanically his sorcerous origin is phoenix bc i wanted to play an immolator but dnd doesnt super have that build so i improvised - anyways hes got a god complex & thinks hes a prophet & the dragons speak to him and also hes a pretentious nightmare twink..... hes heavily inspired by ephrim friendsatthetable and somebody else who i cant remember, hes only level 1 and we havent played this game in a Minute bc its a rotating dm west marches thing & i think im running the next oneshot (his full list of titles is the Reverend Ifrit Kheferu, Flame-touched, Lightbringer, Lesser Dauphin of the Coruscat of Thalia - formerly of the Marid, Third Flagship of clan Ifrit)

then we got Val, my bouncer paladin from the dungeon world game that my friend james is running - theyre a temple guard at the temple of the Lady, which we created during world gen as like.... a sanctuary for vice and stuff like that?? (weird things happen during the quiet year its a fun game lads) anyways the Lady is the goddess of thieves, luck, & protector of all those who use the roads so within the walls of the temple compound is kind of a combination hostel, casino, brothel, and marketplace? like generally the vibe of the Lady is that thing of where a bartender ends up being ur therapist, except that theyre a priest - so val is a bouncer, pretty much, but w a divine connection. theyre legally required to scam people in order to keep their quest boons. 

last but not least, brand new and untested, is ismene assam, tiefling swashbuckler rogue & first mate of the pirate ship la salope. she hates furbies, loves deals, and was gonna be my only non spellcasting character but, well, tieflings - her spells that she gets from her infernal legacy are like friends & charm person & stuff so i think she doesnt think of them as magic, just like,,, force of personality - i rolled on some tables from xanathars guide for backstory stuff and i think she was born in the city of dis and then moved around a lot growing up - one of her parents is a devil and she has some connection to nobility maybe?? i think she scammed her way into a court somewhere & ran off after getting engaged or married to a princeling im not entirely sure - again, untested. she cheats at cards, cant resist a bet, thinks she’s more or less unconnable, and shes gonna be EXTREMELY fun to play. her original concept was a gunslinger who’s just zoe from firefly but a tiefling, so theres still a bit of that in her? but shes changed a LOT since then

anyways i have a Problem and i play way too many divine classes