#unkindled ash

[theimpossiblescheme]

Ashen One . Alonso of Londor . Warrior of Sunlight . Former herald of the Way of White . Newly honored Knight of Catarina . Friend to Siegward, Greirat, Anri, Orbeck, Andre and even Patches . Publisher of two spellbooks in Orbeck's memory . Father figure to the Fire Keeper . Lover of Cornyx . Custodian of the New Age of Dark

[demilypyro]

I love how fucked up Dark Souls 3 is geographically. The lands "converging" is such a cool way to indicate that everything is going wrong. The age of fire has been stretched so far that even the laws of physics are unravelling. Time was always convoluted, but now space is too. Locations are positioned mostly on vibes. The desert kingdom of Carthus is underneath the wooded Farron Keep, not because it makes any goddamn sense, but because the two kingdoms were historically at odds, and are now doomed to be stuck together. Bridges lead to nowhere, the ground is full of open fissures. Cultures long dead are brought back through the unkindled ash. Anor Londo is there

[angel-advise]

the unkindled will rise. nameless, accursed undead, unfit even to be cinder. and so it is, that ash seeketh embers.

[wodenscild]

Mmm i wanna ramble for a bit about soulsborne games. I have played through DS1, 2, 3, Bloodborne, & Elden Ring at this point. & all of them have their own unique strengths & weaknesses. I was introduced to the series through DS1 Remastered so I’ll start there!

Honestly? I love it with all my heart! I love the interconnectivity of the world! I love the NPCs! I love the story & atmosphere! How there are still echos of the age of ancients within the age of fire! I love the feeling of getting lost & ending up somewhere like Ash Lake or the back entrance of Darkroot Garden! & OMGS the obtuse mechanics! Like genuinely I love how obscure some of the stuff in this game is! From Vagrants to Grave Lording I feel like there is just a lot of neat things & always more to learn! I think the only things I don’t like are the limited casts on spells & pyromancies! & how you are fully stymied when using estus! I also appreciate how you can just level up at any bonfire, without having to see a specific NPC like you have to in 2, 3, & Bloodborne! It is still my favourite game in the entire series.

Dark Souls 2 is… interesting kdfksk you can tell Miyazaki wasn’t at the helm of this game. People shit on this game a lot, saying it is the worse of the series. I wouldn’t call it the worse, rather than it is just weaker than the others. It doesn’t have that same emotional oomph. What I do like about the game is the introduction of power stancing! Something which doesn’t return until Elden Ring! I do love the maze like map design within each map! I love the enemy designs! I love the bonfire ascetic system! Letting you advance individual areas to the next NG cycle! And cos this game locks certain things behind NG+ & beyond, that is both cool and useful! & I love the Covenant of Champions! &… that’s about all I liked dkckd the big flaws that has stood out to me was estus healing times, enemies stopping being respawned after the 12th kill (which is annoying if you are farming for souls or loot- Cov of Champs does allow them, but idk it is just annoying & it is telling that this covenant is only present in the Scholar of the First Sin edition), statues locked with Fragrant Branches of Yore, the health decreases when hollowed (which I know harkens back to Demon’s Souls, & DS2 is a lot more forgiving with this- but I think the health changes between hollow/human is done best in DS3, where rather than hollowing/unkindling decreases your max HP, & shows that on the health bar- it instead increases your max HP when human/kindled, & that changes the health bar- less emphasis on an item that comes in relatively low supply). Also the enemy AI’s feel weird, the number of areas that are intended for multiplayer is annoying on many levels (glares at the Black Gulch, & the path to the Blue Smelter Demon), & hhh yeah. I will say tho, I am pretty neutral on ADP! I like the concept that you can invest in your iFrames when rolling! & I appreciate how they reworked the level up costs with this stat in mind! & I then also appreciate how they balanced the game around being at higher soul levels cos of how cheap it is! & then implemented soul memory to de-emphasise soul level based match making! DS2 id the awkward teenager of the DS games- you can tell it isn’t made by Miyazaki. It had hella cool concepts! But it also was just annoying to play. It feels weak emotionally, but is still a decent time to play! It is kinda the Subnautica Below Zero of the Dark Souls games FDLSLDKC

Imma talk about Bloodborne next as it is the next to release in the series chronologically! Iirc this is the project Miyazaki was working on while DS2 was being developed! It is also the game that launched Soulsborne into major public consciousness. & it is easy to see why! The vibes & design are just on point! A beautiful hybrid of gothic & lovecraftian horror! The game has so many cool features! Iirc this is the first one in the series to have a stat explicitly influence your discovery stat! Good gods the fast healing with blood vials! THE TRICK WEAPONS! The music! The bosses! & man imo up until this point never has a DLC felt so seemlessly part of the base game! I love the concept of chalice dungeons! ESPECIALLY how there are community dungeons that aid with grinding up blood echos, insight, and blood stones! & Ofc the story & lore of this game is wonderful, & will just leave you asking & wanting more! Tbh I don’t have much to say about what I don’t like- other than needing to see a specific NPC to level up, early access to warp which de-emphasises exploring somewhat- & how this is the first game of the series to not let you upgrade your armours, a feature that has stuck with us up to Elden Ring (which sucks for Fashion Souls lovers who wanna wear gender armour but also have protection too <//3).

DS3 feels like a love letter to DS1. It has that same emotional oomph that DS1 had, & feels like it is part of the same universe. So there is a lot of insight that DS1 can gleem into DS3! I have already mentioned how much nicer DS3’s health management is with their hollowing/unkindling. You can see a lot of influence of Bloodborne in this game! Especially within Irythill, from its design to its enemies! This game iirc is the first to introduce FP! So no more hard limits on the number of times you can cast your pyromancies, spells, & miracles! The game feels a lot more polished! & idk what it is but I feel so much more inclined to explore this world! & this game rewards it so hard! I also love the insane number of mimics here too XD I think I have had more mimic chests than non-mimics! What I find annoying tho about this game is that again you can’t upgrade your armours- which sucks! Cos there are some hella cool armours I would love to wear more! But alas <//3 it is a reflection on the designers wanting to make combat in these games more proactive than defensive. I again am not a big fan of having levelling up tied to an NPC over just at the bonfire. & I am kinda sad too see power stancing (tho we do have paired weapons), ADP & bonfire ascetics leave us behind! Bonfire ascetics would have been a great addition to this game! Especially cos there are items locked behind the later NG cycles! & they absolutely could have used this as an opportunity to include the black phantoms of these later cycles too like DS2 did!

Lastly (cos I haven’t played Sekiro or Demon’s Souls yet) is Elden Ring. The Breath of the Wild of the Soulsborne games! I love this game! It is large! Immersive! Easy to get lost in! Fun! & just- it is an experience! I appreciate how this game lets you level up at the bonfires/graces again! It isn’t as immersion breaking this way & you can just keep on slogging through! The story is interesting! & the number of secrets you can find just by poking around is truely wonderful on so many levels! & I keep coming back to this game! The only other game other than DS1 that I play the higher cycles on! I think the only 2 things I don’t like about this game is again lack of armour levelling, & the lack of multiplayer that just happens to you. Player invasions are turned off unless you have summoned a player, which sorta sucks as someone who always enjoyed being invaded at random & having a goof ball fight (I know you can use the Dried Finger iirc to allow invasions without a summon but it just doesn’t feel the same, ya know?). There isn’t anything like the Grave Lord servants to randomly make your world harder & you gotta invade them to stop the black phantoms. There isn’t anything like the Blue Sentinels or grey spirits to be summoned without a summon sign to help other players. & all of this can make Elden Ring feel a bit lonely. Which is inevitable with open world games, & this sorta stuff would’ve helped a tonne with easing that.

DOFKSKF ANYWAY BIG RAMBLE ABOUT THESE GAMES. THEY ARE ALL PRETTY NEAR REGARDLESS. If I had to rank them it would DS1, 3, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, then DS2 dkdkdksjd all of them are good all things considered! Best lore games are DS1 & 3. Best exploration 3 & Elden Ring. Best combat Bloodborne, 3 & Elden Ring. Best sequence breaking DS1 & Elden Ring. Best NG+ experience DS2 & 3. Best obtuse mechanics DS1. &- yeah that’s it dkfksk

[groundskeeperosha]

Utur is doing a Utur activity, when randomly yellow smog appears in a thick, vaguely humanoid shape next to them. Then it disappears, and they are met with... one of the wideest brimmed hats they've ever seen. Also a large sword, though not as large as some that Jackie's handled, pre-emptively stabbed into the ground for dramatic effect. A shield covers the hands assumably gripping the grip of the handle.

The person lifts their head to look at Utur, and they are wearing a plague doctor's mask, with the glass eyes slightly covered in white ash. They are simply staring at Utur in the current moment.

-@unkindled-silver, Kin

*Utur stares back*

um. are you okay? is this normal for you

*They... look extremely confused right now*

[cicaklah]

pairing: Diana/47

fake fic title: the night isn't dark (not with you)

A fic I wouldn't write is absolutely a schmoopy death fic where Diana thinks she's dying but it's actually 47 who is dying.

But then my brain was dark souls au where 47 is the unkindled ash and Diana is the fire keeper and they conspire to get the age of dark. But now I actually want to write it.

[mintwater]

Buried Embers

within the ashes were buried embers, viable, but unkindled -- and in another timeline we played this experiment out: danced and cried, lashed out and apologized, loved each other and proved it. i caressed you, until past-present-and-future was a rhyme, and one day, we died. somber, but without regret, without regret all i needed was your help, and all you needed was mine

[blackjackkent]

Pairing: Unkindled/Firekeeper Warnings: None Word Count: ~740 Setting: Dark Souls 3, directly after the End of Fire ending

A/N: Random little flashfic vignette that my brain insisted on spitting out after thinking about DS3 for the first time in a while and having feels about the End of Fire. Honestly I have a whole longfic in mind about an Unkindled's journey towards this ending that I would like to write, but idk if I will ever actually get around to it, so this is what I have produced instead, at least for the time being.

Idk how good this is or how much sense it will make to anyone besides me. XD Like DS itself, it operates more upon vibes than sense. But here it is for anyone with interest in such things, and hopefully my brain will let me go to bed now. <3

-------

“Ashen one… hearest thou my voice still?” she asks. 

All is dark. The first flame has burned out at last; not even embers remain. And with it has gone all light out of the world, even that pale ring of fire that had been the sun’s last dying form. The blackness is absolute.

He breathes - once in, once out. Then again. The kiln smells of charred bones. 

The firekeeper speaks again, her voice like the whisper of silk on skin. “Ashen one… what we have done may not be undone. Dost thou still hear me?”

He turns his head, listening. In the silence of the darkened world, he can hear the gentle susurration of her feet through the infinite ash that blankets the kiln. So many have died in this place, fed themselves to the fire in pursuit of immortality for a god long dead. But no more bodies will burn here now. They have seen to that. 

They have seen to the end of the world.

“What have we wrought, ashen one?” she asks him. There is a tremble in her voice. “Surely we were not wrong? The world had stretched itself to breaking, its only respite to be found in utter surcease… It was a kindness we did, and yet I did not, in all my visions, sense how cold it would be…”

He feels that chill as well, seeping through his armor. It is not a chill merely of the air, but of the world itself. Its heart has been stopped; its flame-blood no longer flows. 

It matters not to him, of course. He is not alive, in spite of his breath and the twitch of his flesh, but merely a construct molded of the remnants of those who came before. No matter how cold this long night grows, he will not freeze. 

But she might…

The thought stirs him from his torpor, as his own discomfort did not. Were he abandoned to witness this sea of black in solitude, he might have sat there unmoving for many hours before finding the will to rouse himself. But he is not alone. 

The fire has faded, and the world with it. But she is still here, as she has been waiting at the end of every battle since he was pulled gasping from the grave. She has been his voice, as he has been her eyes. She has given him strength, and he has acted for both of them in pursuit of a new world. And now, even in the endless darkness, he is not alone because she is with him. 

He stands. His armor rasps metal on metal with the movement. He hears her soft exhalation, a sigh of relief. 

“I hear thee, ashen one. Wilt thou come to me? Canst take my hand?”

He reaches out blindly, led only by the sound of her voice and that nearly imperceptible sound of ash under her feet. His gauntleted hand brushes the sleeve of her robe, and then her fingers close around his with a desperate intensity that he can feel even through steel and leather. She tugs his hand to pull him to her; he cannot see her but he feels her weight as she leans into his chest, her forehead pressed to his breastplate just above his heart. 

“I know I am not wrong in what I saw,” she says softly. “A new flame will kindle itself, dancing across the darkness. We could take no other course than this; we could not hope for a new world while the old one still writhed and struggled for breath.”

It is a plea for reassurance, for comfort. He says nothing still, but releases his grip on her and begins, methodically, to strip the gauntlets from both his hands. Each metal glove falls into the ashen dune with a soft thump. When she reaches out for him again, their fingers interlace, warm skin on warm skin that says what he cannot say in words.

She relaxes; her voice softens to almost a whisper. “Yes. If we walk side by side in this darkness, there shall be nothing left to fear. Thou wilt stay with me, to see this new world together?”

He lifts her hand and presses his lips silently against her knuckles. 

Her breath catches, releases shakily. “Then this is how it shall be. We shall traverse the roads of black, and I shall be at thy side.”

[death-rebirth-senshi]

First time I was doing my pure faith build in dark souls 3 it was going so badly that I was like "fuck it I'm gonna do some crazy shit I'm killing Anri [letting her die to Horace] since I've already screwed over Irina for my dark miracles. Might as well make this a failing to save some people run."

And one of the fun consequences of that is it locks you out of the Lord of Hollows ending entirely. Yuria will just leave Firelink Shrine without a word; is already gone, completely abandoning you.

Now, if a certain cleric had read the stories in the Londor divine tome about granting salvation to hollows, perhaps had been enchanted by the possibility that instead of mimicking Gwyn's final act again and again and again, they could reenact his very first, and usher in a new age?

Well, perhaps it's for the best this vain delusion will never come to fruition. What business did he have anyway, attempting to walk the same path as the old gods of Lordran? What kind of world would attempting such a thing even bring about? No, it's for the best that temptation has been removed; just look at what happened to poor Irina due to his lust for power. This dalliance in the dark has only reaffirmed his faith in the light. The fire must be linked; the heretical lords slain and dragged back to their thrones. That is the reason he was raised; his calling as Unkindled Ash. There is no other path, so this has to be the right one.

[warriordragonart]

A cover illustration for my and @imagimationart’s WIP Dark Souls 3 fanfic! It’s a novelisation of our co op playthrough, following our two Ashen Ones, Lia (the Darkmoon knight, my character) and Leshy (the Abyss Watcher, Riley’s character)

[paris-rokin]

6, 26, 43?

Why did you do that? Well it just seemed like the thing to do

A scenario that you've replayed multiple times? The one where I'm an unkindled ash trying to make the lords of cinder link the flame

What's your take on spicy foods? I used to be a weenie and everyone made fun of me. Now that I'm allergic to most things, spicy is one of the few flavors I can safely have, so I like the burning now. It amuses me to offer my salsa to other people and watch them suffer.

Sweet & spicy or cheesy & spicy have always been two of my favorite flavor combos, even back when I couldn't handle much spice

[maldrontheassassin]

🕯️

─╠═► Send 🕯️to hear Maldron's inner thoughts about you! | ACCEPTING

There was a deep breath. Amidst the various knights and heroes that sit and while their hours away, there was not one that escaped the knight's gaze.

Of them, only one was bypassed as he schemed and scrutinized. Only one in Firelink Shrine went without consideration if a shield, if knives, or if his lance would be best used to dispatch them.

Only one was present, with whom he felt safe. In ways that the assassin did not consider possible. It was a relationship bereft of the push and pull with which he toyed with others. There was only someone who was willing to give, and give, and give, and here he was... taking and taking.

So much that it was too easy to abuse that trust, too easy to push her -- an innocent by all accounts -- to the wayside in his selfish pursuits.

There was never rage, there was never outspoken fury or curses slung in his name. There was nothing to spite about this woman. All the while being someone who could not be cast from his sight.

No matter how simple the joys were, bringing creatures and monsters around the Shrine to wreak havoc for those who yearned for rest... this Unkindled Ash, whose life's purpose was to spite the world that took everything from him still went unfulfilled. Her somber pleas and distraught noises were... pathetic, compared to the shouts and cries that fueled him.

For once, Maldron realized; he felt guilt for how his actions affected her. Admissions of this, staring it dead in the eyes, would stand to unravel him. So, he would play it off - he would bury it deep and instead treat the Firekeeper as a blind spot in his worldview. Odd as it may be, that was the simplest way to partition it.

...If only that was the truth. Far truer, but so alien to the man that he would never even consider the notion, was that he was guilty because he was fond of her.

[theros]

i find it very amusing that even when it comes to human fictotypes, I can't do human right.

Prompto is the most normal human out of any of them and he's a clone (who was slated to become a daemonified soldier before being kidnapped as an infant).

JB is human, but has a very alterhuman experience with another side of himself which has been treated as a separate entity he could communicate with before. He struggles to accept this other side of himself due to trauma and it manifests in a similar experience to having a system member you can speak and communicate with, but who doesn't have enough solid differentiation to be a full other person yet. Similar to facets/shards/whatever your preferred language for this type of system member is.

Joshua is human, but has prophetic abilities because his mother was a specific type of human who can see vivid prophecy under specific circumstances. He was also raised by cougar-shifters from a very young age and doesn't relate to other humans, even when introduced to some as an adult in an attempt to integrate him with "his own kind". He acts much the same as the shifters who raised him and accepts the occasional brutality of their ways and world in a way that disturbs humans who were raised by humans.

LY comes from a race with bat/dragon wings (which make him a favorite among young dragons, and also causes the fully nonhuman races to trust and relate to him more than they might with regular humans).

And the Unkindled (both of them, though I tend to discuss them as if they're a single kintype for simplicity's sake) are a type of undead characterized by their connection to ash/embers/fire and our tendency to lose our humanity if pushed to the limit or to deep despair, but that's more of a general undead thing in that world.

I don't think I've ever even flickered a character who was a normal human either. Hells, my most recent humanoid flickers have been a ghoul, an angel, an animated doll... and another clone.

[caxycreations]

Streaming Dark Souls 3 on Twitch!

Teaching Allu the ways of the Unkindled in Dark Souls 3! Come watch us topple monsters and slaughter gods as Allu learns to walk like true Ash!

[enemyloaded]

are you even living if you don’t give a small identity and backstory to your soulslike customizable characters?

my guy in Dark Souls III is an irishman who just had a really weird day, then became unkindled a d is just rolling with it

my Elden Ring character is a prince who was thrown out in a coup, and sought to return to his throne by becoming Elden Lord

my Remnant, From the Ashes character is just a guy who went crazy and wants to kill god

[blackjackkent]

☔ Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

(ask game for teasing wips/upcoming projects)

Man, there is a part of me that would LOVE to write this AU of Hector in Elden Ring (and a whole bunch of other stuff). :P

I had come up with a whole scenario in chatting with @zenjestrr, talking about a plot revolving around an elaborate set of isekais. It's incredibly silly and way too complicated to ever actually write, but I'm wholly entertained by it for some reason.

Hector and Karlach get yoinked into the world of Wrath of the Righteous (which I haven't yet played) via a portal from Avernus, bc Zen tells me that the game opens with a portal to hell being opened.

They experience the events of that game and through some unknown plot developments end up getting isekai'd again at the end of THAT plot.

Because she's no longer in Avernus, Karlach's engine has been hotting up again, and she ends up dying just as the second isekai happens. Separated from Hector, she ends up in the world of Dark Souls 3, where her soul (because she died by fire) ends up in a new body as one of the Unkindled Ash and she proceeds through the plot of DS3. She - being very familiar with the idea of letting go of something that's dying - takes the End of Fire ending and lets the First Flame go out, creating a new world.

Hector, meanwhile, gets yote into the Lands Between. He's all grief-stricken and sad bc he thinks Karlach is dead and he's entirely alone forever. He ends up allying with Ranni (because moon magic/Selune) and ushering in the Age of the Stars - not as Ranni's actual consort but more of a business partnership.

Between Hector traveling off to the stars with Ranni and Karlach ushering in a new world in DS3, more world-jumping shenanigans ensue and they have an incredibly romantic and feelsy reunion and go off to a happy ever after, either back in Faerun or in some other world. :D

Obviously writing this would be a) an enormous undertaking and b) hilariously off-the-wall, but I must admit I really enjoy the idea in the abstract. XD If only I had infinite time and no other obligations or ideas. :P