#this is all just nonsense

[mangotelevision]

Jo9 simple backstories and power overviews

There's not a lot we know about the jury so all of this is very headcannon-y for warning. Some of this might clash with cannon so I'm leaning for this to be more so a part of my rewrite.

Zane Ro’meave (unofficial title: Zane the Undying)

Deemed leader of the Jury of Nine by Lorde Garte, his father, and instead of choosing a ninth guard for his squad he declared himself as worthy enough for the position. Still remains the ninth member of the Jury of Nine to this day and refuses to choose another as he believes one could not wield the power like he does, also refuses to take an official Jury title, feels as though it is beneath him and people should fear his name and his name alone.

Zane was never a guard, never took the oath and never trained as one, took the Jury Leader position per his fathers request after he finished his studies and became the High Priest of O'khasis. He has no knowledge or skill in weapons of any sort, physically he is weak, he uses others to accomplish the things he wants, his conviction and manipulation is his greatest advantage.

Has had the gift of foresight since he was a child, a magic that allows him to read people's thoughts and see fractions of moments of the future. He believes his powers come from the heavens and the stars, that he has a divine right to rule because of his power. He receives something akin to prophecies of the future, vague visions of what will come to pass, these visions have never been wrong- and he cannot change anything no matter how hard he tries. So he desires to seek out a magic that can, something that will provide him with the strength to alter fate.

(He can’t read Aphmau's mind and she has changed a future Zane saw, it was small and minute but it changed, she did something that resulted in his vision being wrong. Zane is never wrong. This is why he is so enamored with her, why he wants her dead- because she’s stronger than him, because she can change fate. It is a power he wants so desperately and if he can’t have it then no one can.)

Janus the Silver Death

Most everything about him is unknown, he is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. He hides behind his helm, and the only person to ever see under the mask and live to tell of it is Zane. Janus is thought to be an elf in some form, no one knows if he’s a full elf or half and he never answers when asked. He is the oldest member of the Jury, no one remembers how long he’s been there, and rumor has it that he’s been protecting the Lords of O'khasis for centuries. It is unclear if he was a guard or not before his Jury position.

Janus wields twin broadswords, one frost and one fire. Expert fighter, no one has ever seen him lose a fight. Although more often than not he relies on his Jury abilities. He is a necromancer of sorts, he possesses the ability to bring back those that his enemies have slain- the more people his opponent has killed, the harder they’ll fall.

It is unknown if he has powers that exist beyond those gifted to him through the Jury.

Katelyn the Fire Fist

Katelyn was sent to the Guard Academy after an “incident” per Lord Garte’s orders. No one is quite sure where she came from or what this incident was but it's largely thought to have been of a violent nature, something bloodied and bruised, although her early life is largely a mystery and she changes the story each time she’s asked. She was exceptional at the academy, a prodigy in combat, but after many disciplinary actions and detentions, Katelyn was expelled due to “excessive violence” and declared unfit to be a Guard. Was placed in the Jury Reserves, where she stayed until a member of the Jury had a more than suspicious death and she rose the ranks per Lord Garte’s orders. She stands as the youngest appointed Juror in recorded Ru’an.

Specializes in hand to hand combat and wields weighted adamantine gauntlets brazened with wyvern claws. Katelyn has magic that exists outside of her Jury powers, she’s a half-witch with a blood magic known as dragon's fire, which gives her the ability to use the fire of a wyvern while being virtually fireproof herself. She is not a traditional witch and cannot be taught any other spells or enchantments, all spells cast from her hands will always fail.

Her Jury power is that of absolute agility, possessing limitless agility, with her balance, bodily coordination, speed, reflexes and strength transcending virtually all other beings. With this power, time moves far slower to Katelyn and she has the endurance to keep it up for prolonged periods of time- no one has ever outpaced her in a fight.

Has a quick temper and doesn't work well with others, easily angered and her fire often burns too hot for her own good, oftentimes more than a little too eager to start a fight.

Lillian the Phantom Sword

Raised in Nahakara Village alongside her cousin Ivy, Lillian became a guard through traditional means. She went to the guard academy when she became of age and excelled in her studies, graduated top of her class and made high Jury List. Served as a guard in her home of Nahakara Village, where she remained second in command until Ivy finished her own guard training.

Lillian became cursed by unknown means while exploring the enchanted forest with Ivy, resulting in her reflection gaining a consciousness and a life of her own. Hears her reflection talking to her, telling her to kill and destroy, overall not good things. She ignored it for as long as she could before eventually stepping down as head guard to seek out someone who could help. She finds Zane, who's idea of helping is bringing the reflection to the physical world and combining the real Lillian with the reflection. The two can switch fronts at will, but the reflection is always in charge, she is always in control in the back of Lillian's mind talking and telling her what to do. Lillian is but a vessel for her reflection.

She wields a simple guards sword without her shield, believing it to be too bulky in combat. Lillian is an expert level swordsman, the above average guard will not win, fighting with her is often thought to resemble a dance with her graceful movements. Her Jury power is that of illusions, she can conjure things out of shadow and mist, make people see things that aren't there. Her powers are significantly stronger and her illusions far more believable when her reflection is casting them.

The reflection is forever grateful to Zane for freeing her and giving her the control and strength over a physical body, she'll obey his every order, she is indebted to him. The reflection of Lillian is his most loyal guard.

Ivy the Venom Scythe

Raised by her cousin Lillian's parents in Naharaka Village, Ivy never cared to be a guard, she was content with her own devices, researching and experimenting with her poisons and potions. Ivy was always in and out of trouble, always some misfortunate adventure she roped Lillian into, who more often than not got them out of said trouble. She joined the guard academy after much convincing from her cousin, her havoc showed no mercy to the school and although she graduated on the Jury List it was not without a few official warnings on her record.

Joined the ranks as a guard of Naharaka with her cousin, was difficult to work with and a shitty guard, always skipping patrol to continue with her experiments. Lillian was more often than not the one who got in trouble for Ivy’s disservice to the guard code, she was the one who encouraged her to be something she’s not after all. Was formally reprimanded and assigned her second strike to her guard record after being caught lacing her sword with poison. After Lillian was cursed and fled from her duties, Ivy left also and joined the Jury Reserves in O'khasis where she was assigned to a Jurors Team and allowed to experiment with her poisons and venoms as she saw fit. Was later appointed to the Jury through traditional means after a member stepped down.

She wields a large poison laced scythe, leaning very far into her self-assigned grim reaper motif. Her Jury powers are similar to a curse, she has the ability to take the life force of anything she touches, her body acts as a poison and she can spread that poison to others. This has an effect on anything living, ranging from plants to animals she can turn anything to dust and bones. She possesses immunity to all poisons, venoms and toxins and has a vast and incomprehensible knowledge on anything relating to such topics.

Ivy’s a wild card, someone Zane can’t easily control. They don't exactly see eye to eye but Ivy is here for a good time not a long time so she’ll do whatever he asks of her as long as it’s not boring.

Jeffory the Golden Heart

Became a member of the Jury through traditional means. Went to the guard academy to learn to protect others, excellent guard, the Golden Boy of the academy in the years he attended, perfect record and perfect marks, graduated early and managed to land a spot on the Jury list. Went back to guard his home in Skysted before transferring to O’khasis per Garte’s request, became head guard and general of the O’khasis military after a few years of service.

He's a brave soldier, loyal and kind hearted. His devotion to those he loves and the people he has to protect knows no bounds. Jeffory is the people's soldier, everyone adores him, the Golden Boy of O’khasis. After one of the Jury of Nine stood down to retire, Jeffory was given the mantle.

Fights with a very untrational choice of weapon, and his mastery of the glaive is something short of a marvel. He’s a flashy fighter, eager to show his skills and yet he is kind all the while. His Jury powers are simple and often overlooked, he possesses the ability of imprisonment, allowing him to create a barrier that can capture and imprison humans, creatures, anything, with little hope or no chance to escape. (functions similarly to the golden lasso from the original series) Although he uses this as more of a pocket realm, like a mythical handbag to store things in. He has no magic or other powers outside of his Juror title.

Knows that the Jury is corrupt and he worries he’s starting to become just like the others, he fears the day he’ll be just as bloodthirsty, just as power hungry. He’s concerned that the Jeffory that he has become has lost his heart of gold, and it scares him.

Ivan the Hallowed

Warlock hailing from a small mountain village, Ivan got into a lot of trouble with his magic as a kid, always felt as though he had to prove something, as if the world owed him a great debt. The Village sent him away to train as a guard in an attempt to keep him out of trouble and his head out of his magic books, believing they knew what was best for him. Ivan wasn’t a particularly great guard, unpopular and unskilled in the protecting front, but he seemed to make up for it with his fighting. After his training he was assigned to the Village of Pikoro, where he continued with his magic studies- the village was often known for its distast and distrust of magic, he was exiled shortly after his arrival.

Was offered the position of Jury member by Zane, even without making the Jury List post graduation. The High Priest was enamored with his ability to cast complicated spells, he had seen nothing quite like it, he wanted to study it, cultivate it as his own. Ivan’s magic is strong, impressively so. One of the brightest spell casters Ru’an has seen in centuries, although his magic is volatile and unstable: this instability seems to be his driving force, his bragging point as his spells don’t have to adhere to the normal laws of magic.

He seemed to have gained no excess powers after obtaining the title of Juror. He’s the most recent addition, so he feels like he has something to prove that makes him dangerous. Doesn’t take orders well and tends to do his own thing. Zane only keeps Ivan around out of his usefulness, once it has expired it’s not unlikely Ivan will as well.

Ein the Beast Slayer

Abandoned and taken in by a tribe of werewolves, Ein was raised and trained by the creatures of the moon as one of their own. Until a violent incident with a rival pack resulted in his adoptive family banishing him, afraid of his strength. They feared that which was stronger than them, the things they couldn't control. He joined the guard academy, he held the vengeful desire to become stronger. Graduating with decorated honors and a position fairly high on the Jury list, he took a position in a Village close to his old home. Early into his guard career, Ein slaughtered the werewolves from his pack, the ones that took him in as their own, raised him, betrayed him. He made them understand true strength, gave them a real reason to fear him. He now wears the skull and fur of the alpha werewolf.

Ein went on to kill nearly hundreds of werewolves, bringing their population to such a decline it caught the attention of The High Priest, Zane Ro’meave. Zane heard of his deeds and sought him out, mysteriously, a member of the Jury resigned and Ein took their place.

His Jury powers are a curse, it’s a blood beastman curse that allows him the ability to shapeshift into any animal that he’s consumed the blood of. It is unknown if this trick will work for humans. His weapon of choice is a battle ax, although he often prefers to do Zane's dirty work as one of the beasts in his collection. Ein loves the chase, he lives for the kill.

Teony the Bright Blade

Became a member of the Jury through traditional means, raised in the village of BrightPort Teony joined the Guard Academy and excelled in her studies. Often referred to as the brightest mind of her generation. Graduated with high honors, Jury List and signed to the Jury Reserves, where she swore her allegiance to the O'khasis Guard. Served as second in command of the O’khasis Military, until becoming a member of the Jury of Nine alongside Jeffory the Golden Heart, the two were given their titles during the same ceremony.

Teony has immense skill over any and all weapons, she has a mastery of the craft of fighting.

Her Jury power is a summons- she can conjure weapons, knights, animals, most anything she needs out of light. These beings hold no physical form in the hands of others, weapons will disappear if she is not the wielder and the animals will vanish if they are cut through.

No one outside of the Jury has ever bested her in a battle of skill, she is the expert amongst experts, specialist in all weapons and can summon any of her choosing to wield. She is noble and strong, like Jeffory she is a true guard, her loyalty knows no bounds. And similarly, she often fears she is doing the wrong thing, helping the wrong people. Her oath to the Guard code outweighs her oath to Lord Garte, her nobility will always come first, her duty is to save people and protect, where there is darkness she shall be the light. Just like Jeffory, her heart of gold will be her downfall.

[fluentisonus]

the thing is I am still thinking about that bit in conclave right before they're about to vote when the breath of wind & birdsong comes in through the window that had recently been violently blown in to let the light and air into what has til then been a suffocatingly still & sterile & dark & enclosed environment & it ruffles all the pages on the desks & they all pause and look up. like oh god is there

[carpenter-sabrina]

Musical Numbers in A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter (2024)

[rendevok]

Moon dance 🌕✨

[vaxxildamn]

finally…… the legendary Level 20 Scissor Gal-adin

[spitedemon]

i really don’t think it’s “typical dragon age fandom nonsense” for people to be genuinely upset about the world state choices. combat, level design, art direction, gameplay gimmicks, those have all varied across each dragon age game. the one thing that’s remained constant are nods to our previous choices.

i wasn’t expecting my HoF to come riding in on a griffon, but i can’t find a monument dedicated to warden tabris somewhere around the anderfels? lucanis couldn’t have some lines about the time that one arainai boy was stirring up trouble in antiva city? you’re gonna tell me that making a mage the new divine wouldn’t have some impact on nevarra and antiva? on the anderfels, the supposed most devout militant andrastian nation in thedas? you’re saying nobody in the north is paying attention to who rules orlais or ferelden? come on.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

[right to left]

finally finished This Wip from Ever ago and so now i ask you ever look into another dudes eyes and suddenly want to do whatever he wants

[aethersea]

I do think Blazing Saddles handled its one depiction of native americans very poorly, and the full extent of its representation of chinese workers on the railroad is they were literally just there. not even one single speaking line. unclear if this is worse or better than the redface.

it's fucking phenomenal at lampooning antiblack racism though. extremely blatant, extremely funny satire, which is constantly and loudly saying "racism is the philosophy of the terminally stupid at best and morally depraved at worst, and we should all be pointing and laughing at them 24/7"

plus the main character is a heroic black man who has to navigate a whole lot of bullshit but is constantly smirking at the extraordinarily stupid racists and inviting the audience into the joke. the one heroic white character is a guy who was suicidally depressed until he met the protagonist and they just instantly became buds, and he's firmly in a supporting role the whole time and happy to be there. the protagonist saves the day with the help of his black friends from the railroad, and uses the position of power he was given to uplift not only those friends, but all the railroad workers of other minorities too, in an explicit show of solidarity.

anyone saying "Blazing Saddles is racist" had better be talking about its treatment of non-black minorities. it had better not be such superficial takes as "oh but they say the n-word all the time" or "they have nazis and the kkk in there!" because goddamn if that's the full extent of your critique I very seriously suggest you read up on media analysis. there is too much going over your head, you need to learn to recognize satire.

[agentravensong]

characters who see themselves as more of a Force or an abstract concept acting in the world than as a person. characters who prioritize their role as a cog in some greater mechanism over their own personhood. characters who get their hands dirty, who run themselves ragged, who take on an unbearable weight, who hurt or neglect or give up or straight-up betray the people and things they once held close, because they believe in doing so they are fulfilling their Purpose, the thing they exist in this world to do (and no one else will do it, *can* do it, so it has to be them). characters who've determined that they are constructs bound to preprogrammed code, to a script already written for them by someone/something else, and have been operating under that mindset for so long that they don't know how to live on their own terms. characters who uphold the fate that is smothering them. can anyone hear me

[salemoleander]

I am BARELY resisting going full red-strings-corkboard on this season. And by barely resisting I mean not resisting at all here is an extremely long list of the events those pins would be marking out.

BigB getting a Task that was a different color than everyone else's. It's not just a randomly assigned Hard Task, bc Scar rerolled for a Hard Task and his was also just a white envelope. It's fundamentally different.

That task taking BigB away from socialization, and seemingly being an incredibly time-consuming and dull request. Of profound disinterest to any watchers.

The phrasing of his Task!!

Dig a big hole. All the way down. At least 3x3. Make it your base if you want.

Everyone else's are direct and formal - the only one with more than one sentence was Skizz's, with the rule clarification of "One attempt only." Bigb's Task is four short abrupt sentences. It is also the only Task to contain extraneous information, 'Make it your base if you want.' The requirements (at least 3x3) feel like an afterthought to mimic the numerical/specific demands of the other tasks.

Evo symbol on the face of the Secret Keeper statue.

The fact that there's a statue at all; the fact that there is a physical representation of what is assigning tasks that everyone must complete, when previously everything was always handled via commands and unseen RNG.

Grian talking to the statue, and (bc of his Actual Role as game organizer) acting as a mediator for the impartial decisions handed down, speaking for it.

Grian making one last bad joke and saying he doesn't know if it counted or not- depends on whether we the audience laughed.

Grian asking for task recommendations from the audience. The watchers are making the tasks. The Watchers are making the tasks.

Again I could be off-base, and I'm not usually even that smitten with bringing in Evo lore. I don't want a Big Bad really...but. It feels like something very unusual and intentional and cool is happening in this series. And I'd guess we'll know if theres something going on once we have more than one data point.

My largely unfounded suspicion is that there is another being (maybe Listeners, maybe something else) trying to reach out to the Players via decoy Tasks, and BigB was the first recipient. Get them alone, make them of disinterest to the watchers, and tell them something we don't get to know.

Because that's the really, really fucking cool part (if my wacky theory is remotely right): We're the bad guys. We're the ones giving out tasks - hell, we're the ones actively brainstorming harder and crueller tasks in Grian's comments!

If they actually made a story where the Players have to keep secrets from us I will be delighted. Bc that is the same genius bullshit that made Evo Watcher lore so fun

[licorishh]

she's everything, he's just ken, etc. etc.

[vamp-bites]

I'll be your mirror, reflect what you are, in case you don't know

(I'll Be Your Mirror by Nico and The Velvet Underground)

[lovelylonelymoonlight]

I think we need to make dick a lil more unhinged like

Tim says bye to kon perfectly straight faced and devoid of emotion and Dick starts teasing him about his obvious crush

And then another titan is like, huh??

“his heart beat picked up by two additional beats cmon now”

[cowardlykrow]

“Not my circus, not my monkeys”… Except those are his monkeys and they are the circus

[vaguely-concerned]

purple hawke who, at malcolm's death, lost not only a father, a mentor, the single most stable and safe point in their world up until this moment. but also the only person in their life who would consistently, gleefully 'yes, and — ' them. the loss, in one fell swoop, of both a beloved parent and your sole willing — no, not only willing, enthusiastic — improv partner. truly, the most unkindest cut of all that the maker could have seen fit to deal. (there's always so much less laughter in the house, after malcolm's gone.)

and then after all the horrors of the blight and trying to make a new life in the shithole turned shithome of kirkwall....... they meet varric. and something that's been slumbering deep within their soul dries a tear of relief and joy and whispers 'oh we are so back'. and they are so right

[deimosatellite]