#when you exclusively choose dragons-

[the-fools-sideblog]

also did an attack (a friendly fire to be exact) before the 3d model one

and so, this is it

attack (friendly fire) for Churromans !

character name: Cyclone

[psin314]

Honestly, I love Murat so much, like my god, if he were a romanceable character, I would 100% choose him without thinking twice, I would want to take care of him and give him lots of delicious food, say lots of compliments to him and I would marry him so badly (IM BEING FOR REAL OKAY,,,) :}c

anywaay, What do you think his route would be like? 👉👈

• 🐢 anon

so!! a really big post ahead.

i was thinking about npc murat for a while actually. (i wanted him to romance lucanis in my other rook's playthrough. x)) so i will talk a little about this version and much more about his companion version. enjoy! (everything's under the cut. there's even pictures!!)

(don't ask about plaideweave lucanis please it's the only proper screenshot i had and i was very lazy to open the game to make a new one...)

npc murat

- murat is a temporary, location exclusive companion / npc. he can be taken on some missions in treviso that are related to the antaam. in some, he goes fourth, bringing the company to the task point, in others - he takes a place in the squad. the rest of the time, he can be found in the cantori diamond, and you can talk with him about: him, the crows and the qunari.

- murat also kills the antaam squad in this au, but doesn't interfere much with the plans of the crows. he just gets a reprimand from viago, about which he doesn’t care at all.

- viago's old friend and teia's best friend. a qunari specialist. he knows a lot about the qun, vashoths and, naturally, knows how to fight them.

- first meeting: after you rescued lucanis from prison and took some kind of treviso quest from viago, a man stops you on the way out. it turns out to be murat, who wants to join you. you have to refuse him, because you already have the crow, but you can accept his help. in this case, he is very happy and will appear in the following quests. or refuse, in this case, he will not be present in the quests with the antaam and some quest moments will be missed due to the absence of murat.

- a non romanced lucanis will romance murat (of course) if you don’t save treviso. murat, together with lucanis, tried to protect the city from the dragon and in the process he saved lucanis, shielding him from idk what enemy. the blow hit his back and tore his coat and jacket. the wound is not deep, but a scar remained across his entire back. while lucanis was away from the lighthouse, he became close to murat. by act 3 there will be a moment where you catch lucanis trying to escape through the eluvian in the lighthouse. you think it’s spite, but it turned out to be lucanis, with some kind of package in his hand, very similar to a gift for someone. from him in the dialogue you can find out that he is going on a date.

companion murat

- the first meeting with him is the same, but this time you can recruit him.

- where he lives in the lighthouse: an attic appears above the dining room and he lives there. you can climb up there by the ladder. at first the attic is all in dust, wooden boxes and planks. murat sleeps on a questionable bed like lucanis'. in the future the attic will be transformed. there will be a variety of crow symbols everywhere, melee weapons, armor, some herbs hanging from the ceiling, and a large soft carpet on the floor. the same bed. next to it is a nightstand with a bunch of mugs, blackened inside from tea.

- romance. (not like in datv. more like in dai. you can start a relationship with a character already in the middle of the game and kiss them whenever you want.) you just need to flirt with him. likes funny dialogue options.

personal scene 1 - before going to bed, you go into the kitchen and see murat rummaging through the shelves. he doesn't notice you. he finds a bottle of wine there and turns around. when he sees you, he immediately hides it behind him. murat mentioned earlier that he was an alcoholic for a very long time, so he doesn't drink anymore, and he shouldn't drink at all. you have the option of either telling him that it's bad, or allowing him to steal the bottle. the second option is not thought out, because it will affect the entire future story of the character, so for now without it. you take the bottle away. and then you either support him in a friendly way, or support him more uh intimately idk maybe hinting at sympathy. in response to this, murat only gets embarrassed and leaves. (or tell him that if you see him near alcohol again, you will kick his ass.)

personal scene 2 - an interrupted kiss, of course. constant flirting with murat and improving your relationship with him leads to this scene. murat offers you to spar together. you can refuse, agree to hand-to-hand combat or to use knives. in a fight with him, you can give in to him (murat will win and notice it), fight fair (50/50), fight unfair (murat will lose and notice your tricks. he will react positively) and fight with all your might (rook wins). in any case, murat ends up on top of you. either you slap him in the face in a friendly way so that he gets off you, or the romantic option - you reach for a kiss. murat doesn't mind, but you're interrupted by some companion and murat immediately gets up. after the scene, murat tells you that he wouldn't mind training with you sometime again. he doesn’t comment on the almost kiss.

personal quest - viago gives murat a letter. it turns out to be from his ex, layla. it indicates the meeting place. your goal is to kill her, since she betrayed the crows in the past and disappeared. and since she came back, you can't let her go. murat asks you to let him talk to her in person first, and then deal with her, since he had a past with her, you agree. the meeting place is in a quiet abandoned small port. you watch him from afar, from the balcony of an abandoned house, and hear only fragments of dialogue. after murat and layla's conversation, he turns around and just leaves. layla waves at you, apparently, she noticed you a long time ago. you can choose to go after layla or murat. if you choose layla, then when you go down to her she'll already disappear. so the choice is without a choice in particular. then you catch up with murat. he walks and then suddenly falls, grabbing the wall. you think he was poisoned, but coming closer, you see that he is just crying. well not just. he's having a full mental breakdown. you try to calm him down and lead him to the lighthouse, since he can't see where to go through his tears. he doesn't really want to go anywhere. he just wants to stay here and die. in the lighthouse, you calm him down in the attic. he talks about his past and how shitty his life is. there are also friendly options and romantic ones. (and the mean ones too, you can say that you don’t want to listen to him whining and that he should get his shit together and not cry because of his ex. murat agrees, but the relationship with him worsens.) romantic option - you also hint at your sympathy for him, something like "you deserve love. moreover, there is someone who can provide you with this love." murat understands you and kisses you softly. murat is now romanced.

after this, you can approach him for a portion of kisses. you can also break off the relationship.

eeewww sex - after a certain story quest, an exclamation mark appears above murat and you immediately run to him in the attic. first, he gives you a gift - a weapon depending on your class. and then he presses you against the beam and kisses you. you can push him away, ask him to just kiss you and nothing more, or allow him to do what he has in mind.

sex scene!! very beautiful and hot, believe me. he probably goes down on you. and there are wet noises and heavy breathing. the scene after - you are on the carpet, a druffalo wool blanket and pillows. very naked. here you can dump him, say that you just want to have sex without anything serious or talk about love. in the latter case, murat holds your hand in his, kisses it and says that he is ready to do anything for you. after that, in addition to kisses, you can also ask him for sex. murat won't refuse.

a romantic scene towards the end: murat takes you to his favorite place, one of the rooftops in treviso with a beautiful view. here he tells you a little about crows, again about his past + you can talk about your future together. plus he reads you poetry, but forgets a couple of lines. (here you can also break up with him.) then he comes to kiss you again. if you want, you can offer him sex on the roof. murat, as usual, won't refuse.

after the fade prison: murat comes to you and looks very exhausted. he doesn't cry, but his eyes are wet. he tells you that it was very difficult for him to live without you these couple of weeks and if it weren’t for the belief that you could still be saved, he would… he doesn’t finish the sentence and comes up to you, squeezing you in his arms. he whispers to you that he loves you so so much and can't live without you (maybe in antivan), and eventually a couple of tears come through. no sex. even if you suggest it, he will say that he can't do it after worrying for that long, but he will offer to be a weighted blanket for you.

the scene at the very end: he runs to you, happily hugs you and lifts you up into the air (he can lift you even if you are a big qunari, but not very high, and then adds that something clicked in his back, but it doesn't matter). he tells you that you finally dealt with this mess and no matter how much work you still have to do, he'll always be there for you. final kiss.

pics from the epilogue: 1-2 drawings with murat and rook. on both he will look lovingly at them, or he may kiss the back of their hand on one of them. the text will say something about that now you have a personal assassin who will help you deal with any problem. especially if this problem is alive and bothers you a lot.

- you can't romance him if you, crow rook, didn't choose treviso. in all other cases, romance is possible.

- if neither he nor lucanis are romanced, then yeah. (sorry neve...) you can find this out from their dialogues in the lighthouse or in the banters. plus there is a scene with them. you need something from lucanis very urgently and you burst into his pantry without knocking. lucanis is there, yes. but besides him there is also murat. on his knees. with his hands on lucanis's hips. you have 3 options - say OH and leave them alone. tease em a little, murat will answer you, and lucanis will simply cover his red face with both hands. or ask murat to leave, since you need to talk to lucanis. in the 3rd case, murat gets up, whispers something in lucanis's ear, he blushes and murat leaves the room.

- dialogues with companions in the lighthouse: 1 sometimes you can see how murat and luc talk in antivan with each other. rook asks if it is possible to repeat what they said for them but in common, because they heard their name in the dialogue. both crows answer you no. if rook is a crow too, then rook answers them in antivan. 2 discusses dragons and qunari with taash. 3 plays with manfred and tells you in disappointment that he doesn't understand why manfred keeps winning. 4 quarrels with davrin in a friendly manner, but it seems to you as if they are about to kill each other. he also talks like that with harding, but the insults are coming only from lace. 5 helps bellara to write her fanfictions. he has a lot of certain experience that will come in handy for writing certain scenes.

[llamagirl28]

Hello folks! I'm back with good news!

First off, let me get the development update out of the way. These past months writing has been difficult due to health issues regarding my hands, but I've still managed to get some work done and make progress on the demo. The updates have been Patreon/Kofi exclusive so far (since they have early access perks) and I've been waiting for content to build up for a public release. Now, I finally bring you something to sink your teeth in!

I also wanted to let you know that I've read the feedback you left me and I've taken it all into consideration. I have made plans for changes, some major, some minor, but I've yet to implement them. Here's a list of the future changes:

I've received feedback that chapter 4 feels slow, overly-descriptive and filled with scenes of tasks and chores; looking back on it, I do admit I've gone overboard with these things. I'll be cutting down on superfluous bits, altogether removing some scenes or changing them into something more interesting and relevant.

Also regarding chapter 4, as well as 5: I've...info-dumped quite a lot, and it slows the pace. I'll be going over the game and try to spread out information better, or withhold it till later.

Guinevere will be introduced earlier, in chapter 3. Really excited about this change :)

Instead of having one main trait for Mordred's dragon friend to choose from in chapter 2, the option will be between four archtypes. These will allow me to better flesh out the character (I've found the current system restrictive and one-note). I'll elaborate more on these new choices when they're added (which I've started to work on) but know that they incorporate the existent personality traits. This change will also come with not just edited, but entirely new scenes featuring the draconic companion.

Adding an alternative route to showing Elaine around in chapter 5, so Mordreds not interested in her can still do something fun

Alright, now let's talk demo update!

What's new?

More of chapter 5 (it's a big one)

Greet the wedding guests. Reunite with Nimue and catch up, meet Merlin for the first time

Talk to, insult, or ignore Galahad

Get on the dancefloor! (with a RO or friend of choice!)

Edits made: some bits of Nimue's conversation in chapter 1 have been reworked and a new dialogue option has been added, a couple of edits done to Morgana's first POV in chapter 3

Demo link:

[contessaxchaos]

How Veilguard Handled Themes and Lost its Audience

This is tagged Veilguard-critical. I didn't set out to be critical (ie disparaging) of Veilguard, I set out to be critical (ie analytical) of one crucial aspect of its writing.

I reblogged a post by @meat-louse where I supported their premise ("this warped sense of history veilguard has") by pointing out how Veilguard can actually work to feel more integrated into the Thedas that we know from DAO, DA2, and DAI. Their conclusion is that:

"dragon age’s depictions of social issues were never spot-on, but at their best they encouraged the player to engage with those issues and ultimately seek to change society for the better. veilguard has no interest in changing society."

Here's my observations:

The issue is they want a game that’s simple and streamlined in its messaging. They want it focused on themes like regret and acceptance and teamwork and friendship. They hammered hard those themes, which, while it’s good practice to have strong themes, they overdid it to the point that we’re shouting “I GET IT!!!” They worked on those themes to the exclusion of nuance. To the exclusion of complexity.

Three games have trained us to look at the world and its problems, and look CLOSER because you’re not being told the whole truth. In fact there is no single truth. For every Anders, there’s a Cullen. You have the fearsome Arishok but you also have Sten, and for every hundred Sten who uphold their culture and beliefs unwavering, there’s an Iron Bull who knowingly subjects himself to reeducation in order to continue functioning in his society. And not far from him is an Adaar who is free from the Qun but faces the consequences of banishment and ostracization from their own culture and people. The game doesn’t say which side is right or wrong, you have to experience it for yourself to be able to have an opinion on the matter. My opinions on the Chantry were different when I played a Trevelyan versus as a Lavellan. Cousland has a different experience from a Tabris. That’s the point: your roleplaying changes depending on who you choose to be at the start of the game. The experience changes. The game is not interested in selling you a “correct” moral standpoint; it instead presents you a moral dilemma that unfolds through your questing, but it doesn’t give you an answer. It values a jerk Inquisitor, a stupid Warden, and a bloodthirsty Hawke as much as it values all the sarcastic, diplomatic, and traditionally heroic versions of our player characters.

But in Veilguard…

But in VG, all moral questions have already been resolved for you, either by signposting it, by not allowing you to interrogate these questions as Rook, or by completely ignoring it (no slaves, no tranquils, no alienages, no Circles, no cursed werewolves, no cults). They hyperfocused on their themes that they sacrificed nuance and complexity.

That’s why your companions and Rook only have low-impact conflict. Nothing will drive away your companions because they hold no strong convictions that clash with others. They serve the Themes. We can easily contrast this with companions from the other games: Vivienne gives you a closer look at the value of having Circles and the Chantry. Morrigan counsels expediency over do-gooding. Cassandra is has served all her life on the side of the "oppressors", but she questions the Seekers without letting it break her faith in the Maker. They have convictions. They were built from the ground up to be characters with their own agenda. They weren't built from the ground up to be your support system.

Which is what Veilguard appears to have done with their companions for the most part. I say the most part because there are three people with very clear themes, and Rook doesn't clash with them because their themes were designed to be very personal. The three are Emmrich (im/mortality and legacy); Bellara (something something preservation of the past, although I'm not sure what the point is because preserving the past at the cost of the present is not really very...cogent? Cultural/historical preservation is not exclusive to having a present and a future); and Taash (cultural and gender identity).

Talking to Taash made me reflect on my understanding of what it means to have a body you don’t agree with, perhaps even more than Krem did because with Taash, you can ask them. They will tell you. And that’s because Taash serves the Theme of Identity, both cultural and gender. BUT it’s also overdone to the point where those who don’t understand how it is to be trans feel like they’re being talked down to for not understanding.

What would have worked better is if they sparked the players’ curiosity and genuine interest in trans identity, and then allowed the players to engage with it as deeply or as shallow as they like. Instead everyone gets The Lecture as if we’re all uneducated on the matter. As if there are no allies among us. As if there are no shallow allies among us who are swayed by virtue-signalling. The Theme has swallowed what should be an invitation to talk and be curious and be enlightened.

Regret and sunk cost and redemption are also strong themes in the game. And you know they spent a long time and a lot of effort on that because the Team does a Talk Session after every piece of regret they uncover. Again: they’re made to serve the Theme to the exclusion of nuance and complexity. Yes, they raise good points, asked good questions, engaged with what we all saw. But I will argue that it’s US—the players—who should be having THAT conversation with ourselves or amongst ourselves. The companions should be there to give their point of view as a Mourn Watch, as a Grey Warden, as HARDING. But no—we don’t get that opportunity to absorb the regrets, to interrogate it ourselves based on what we know about Solas in DAI, or just to scratch our heads and say “okay but but but the game is always saying that history is not equal to the Truth and there’s always more to the story, so who can I ask / what other codices can I possibly find to shed more light about this?” Like…nada. You don’t make insights; the game already feeds you all the CORRECT insights so that you don’t ever have to be wrong about the Theme, because the Theme is Redemption or the Cost of Regret.

You don't need to engage your brain anymore because the game has already curated that for you. It has solved for you an equation that the past games would normally leave for you to solve through another playthrough. In DAO, if you only ever play Cousland, you will not grow your understanding of the plight of elves in alienages, or the injustice of the Dwarven caste system. You understand them intellectually because you are a person existing in a society that has poverty and injustice, but it doesn't hit the same until you play in the shoes of a Tabris or a Brosca.

Many of the writers who built Veilguard have been there in the construction of the other Dragon Age games. They were there when Veilguard was still Joplin. What we all wanted, they also clearly wanted to include in the game. They know it's not their role to dictate what players should believe by the end of the game, or to make the team generally harmonious and supportive of Rook. But their views and their skills were not valued.

Anyone who can write can write complexity.

Not everyone who writes can write nuance. That shit takes experience and skill. Writing is not just putting words on paper. This is especially true for massive collaborative writing projects such as videogames.

The writers failed because they were failed by the studio, first.

[joycrispy]

I'm seeing some confusion out and about over the title A Companion to Owls (generally along the lines of 'what have owls got to do with it???'), so I'd like to offer my interpretation (with a general disclaimer that the Bible and particularly the Old Testament are damn complicated and I'm not able to address every nuance in a fandom tumblr post, okay? Okay):

It's a phrase taken from the Book of Job. Here's the quote in full (King James version):

When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. --(Job 30:29)

Job is describing the depths of his grief, but also, with that last line, his position in the web of providence.

Throughout the Old Testament, owls are a recurring symbol of spiritual devastation. Deuteronomy 4:17 - Isaiah 34:11 - Psalm 102: 3 - Jeremiah 50: 39...just to name a few (there's more). The general shape of the metaphor is this: owls are solitary, night-stalking creatures, that let out either mournful cries or terrible shrieks, that inhabit the desolate places of the world...and (this is important) they are unclean.

They represent a despair that is to be shunned, not pitied, because their condition is self-inflicted. You defied God (so the owl signifies), and your punishment is...separation. From God, from others, from the world itself. To call and call and never, ever receive an answer.

Your punishment is terrible, tormenting loneliness.

(and that exact phrase, "tormenting loneliness," doesn't come from me...I'm pulling it from actual debate/academia on this exact topic. The owls, and what they are an omen for. Oof.)

To call yourself a 'companion to owls,' then, is to count yourself alongside perhaps the most tragic of the damned --not the ones who defy God out of wickedness or ignorance, and in exile take up diabolical ends readily enough...but the ones who know enough to mourn what they have lost.

So, that's how the title relates to Job: directly. Of course, all that is just context. The titular "companion to owls," in this case, isn't Job at all.

Because this story is about Aziraphale.

The thing is that Job never actually defied God at all, but Aziraphale does, and he does so fully believing that he will fall.

He does so fully believing that he's giving in to a temptation.

He's wrong about that, but still...he's realized something terrifying. Which is that doing God's will and doing what's right are sometimes mutually exclusive. Even more terrifying: it turns out that, given the choice between the two...he chooses what's right.

And he's seemingly the only angel who does. He's seemingly the only angel who can even see what's wrong.

Fallen or not, that's the kind of knowledge that...separates you.

(Whoooo-eeeeee, tormenting loneliness!!!)

Aziraphale is the companion.

...I don't think I need to wax poetic about Aziraphale's loneliness and grappling with devotion --I think we all, like, get it, and other people have likely said it better anyway. So, one last thing before I stop rambling:

Check out Crowley's glasses.

(screenshots from @seedsofwinter)

Crowley is the owl.

Crowley is the goddamn owl.

[dalishious]

Hi, hope you're doing well!

I had to unfollow you/block a lpt of tags for a while until I beat datv but I'm so happy to be back. You're one of the first da blogs I followed, and I see you've gotten a lot of argumentative people at the moment, but I just want to say I think that you're great, and I appreciate the candid way you answer people.

Just a quick question, you said Taash's rivaini route had a lot of bullshit? I've just beaten the game for the first time and that was the route I chose so I was wondering if you could elaborate?

Thank you!

Disclaimer: A lot of this is written from a personal place. In no way am I trying to discredit anyone who feels differently. That even includes Trick Weekes, when it comes to the gender stuff at least. And please keep hatred of Taash out of this post; as I say in the end, I do still really enjoy Taash as a character!

The player first meets Taash when still identifying as a woman. However, Taash soon comes to realize they are not a woman; they are non-binary. While most of this answer will be quite critical of Taash’s story, there are positives I would like to acknowledge first. For example, I do think that the dialogue options surrounding the acceptance of Taash’s gender is fairly good. I like that you can be encouraging but not pushy about them exploring their identity further, when the topic first comes up. If you play as a non-binary character yourself, you are able to relate to Taash on a personal level, and provide them with a sense of kinship outside that which they seek from the Shadow Dragons, (who apparently double as both abolitionists and queer support group?) The game makes it clear that Taash’s gender is not just player-reactive; if the player chooses to avoid Taash’s personal questline, Taash still later on announces they are non-binary and use they/them pronouns now, with a game notification letting you know they went and embraced that with the help of Neve and Harding. And while some people have criticized the use of terms like non-binary as “not being fantasy enough” for their tastes, I personally think it’s perfectly fine to be overt like that, instead of dancing around the topic. I saw a post on a recommended Facebook page from some cis person who said they learned a lot about gender diversity because the game went out of the way to be so blatantly inclusive. Yes, there are a moments I can agree are kind of cringe, but lord knows there’s plenty of cringe in other regards as well with the writing, so it’s not like it’s exclusive to Taash’s gender writing. Overall, I think it’s a good exploration about someone stepping outside of a binary view of gender, except for one glaring problem: It is so very, very, white.

Trick Weekes, Taash’s writer, is non-binary themself, but they are also a settler living in the colonial project known as Canada. And that has very clearly influenced their perspective on how they think gender and culture works. With Taash’s writing for the Rivaini route, Weekes paints a picture that their gender journey must come at the sacrifice of their cultural identity, as if the two must be distinctive, separate things. What’s worse, is how binary the cultural identity aspect to Taash’s story is; ironic for a character who is supposed to be about stepping outside a box like that!

Not once, not twice, but three times, Rook is forced to choose to convince Taash if they should be Rivaini or Qunari. The first time, there is an option to say “why not both?” But that option is not present the second or third time the dialogue prompt comes up. The one that hurt me the most is when Taash is clearly having a breakdown over who they want to be vs. who they were raised to be, and the only way to try and console them is to make them pick a singular thing to identify as.

I also think it was a hugely missed opportunity, in choosing to have a bunch of Tevinter humans be Taash’s only source of learning about gender diversity. We know from codex entries that they talk to the Shadow Dragons about that topic, but apparently no one else? Why not have Taash consult a Rivaini Seer for advice, or hell, how about adding more qunari characters who aren’t just standard brutes to mash buttons against in a fight? So, in limiting the scope of this knowledge to just Tevinter humans, Taash is only getting more reinforcement that gender comes before any other cultural identity.

As a Two-Spirit person, I cannot stress enough that gender and culture do not exist in two separate vacuums. They can overlap and/or can be essentially under the same umbrella. So, when Weekes writes about Taash struggling with cultural identity and gender identity at the same time, I can understand that feeling so well. But I cannot understand the written approach Weekes takes. The message I received was “your gender is more important than your culture.” Which again, I must stress is such a white colonial idea of queerness.

I do really like Taash despite these shortcomings from Weekes, though. Just like how I really like Sera despite Kristjanson’s bullshit in Inquisition. I’m not about to hate on a character just because there are certain parts of their writing that I think should have been handled better, when there are more parts that are really fun about Taash. They are so refreshingly autistic-coded in a way that doesn’t punish them for being so, for example.

[dead-end-draws]

Do you think WOF dragons have last names?

I like this question a lot!

I could see it extending into some tribes, but perhaps not being exclusive to all. Interesting one to approach!

Mudwings, for example, don’t have any strong ties to parents, so last names likely wouldn’t hold much weight being passed down. But it would be fascinating if they formed troop names that would essentially act in place of their last name.

I also like the idea that Nightwings can change their first name to fit with their current identity/occupation (if they wish), and their former name could become a last name of sorts.

Icewings & Seawings seem like the type to have distinct last names due to their royal family lines staying mostly consistent throughout.

Skywings & Sandwings feel like they’d receive last names based on great achievements, as status symbols. Getting a last name is an honor, perhaps they do ceremonies for granting this?

Rainwings may do simple nicknames or color themed last names based on their main scale patterns.

Regardless, just for funsies, here’s what I think the first arc’s last names would hypothetically be in this universe. I’d love to hear your or anyone’s own ideas on this!

Arc 1:

Clay Broadhorn (Mudwings may base last names on their common physical characteristics as a troop)

Tsunami Rippleroar (Water related, tough sounding for a lineage of royalty)

Glory Lightbloom (A last name Glory adopts as Queen when her fellow Rainwings comment on her scales ‘blossoming’ gradually with more suntime, like a flower taking in its first spring.)

Starflight Scrollsort (Assigns himself his own last name based on his occupation at Jade Mountain, and his love of scrolls being a key part of his life)

Sunny Thornsage (Based not only on a desert plant, but on the ‘Sage’ wisdom of choosing Queen Thorn in place of the warring Sandwing Sisters)

[gamemakerm]

In honor of Mermay and the current trend of Animal/Therian HRT going around (inspired by @ayviedoesthings's Dragon HRT series, @welldrawnfish's Fish HRT, @kaylasartwork's Bat HRT, @nyxisart's Puppy HRT, @deadeyedfae's Human HRT, etc etc etc, love all your work), I wanted to share the short story I wrote last year about medically turning yourself into a mermaid. This got published in WriteHive's Reclaiming Joy anthology, and we're now just outside of the six-month publishing exclusivity, so I can make it publicly available.

This was really raw to write for me, and there are trigger warnings for transphobia(/whatever the equivalent would be for mermaids?), implications of violence and hate crimes. However all the stories in the anthology were ultimately about perseverance, courage and love. I hope you enjoy, and if you want to get this and eleven other uplifting stories I can't recommend the anthology enough (though this is the only one relevant to the tags as far as I know). And if you really, really like it, you can buy me a kofi!

Scales

When the scales began to break through skin, they said you were becoming a monster. Blue and green, seafoam to pearl. You weren’t certain at what point you started to believe them.

You began to wrap yourself in tighter layers, a futile effort not to draw attention to the rough patches. Elbows, knees, along your arms, mottled with foundation and concealer caked on like spackle. Toner to offset the iridescent shine so that a passing glance wouldn’t be drawn to it. Constant checks and double checks, bathroom visits far beyond the routine. 

Your careful camouflage is usually enough to deflect scrutiny, but occasionally a stranger catches on. Nobody has said anything to you yet, but you have noticed more glances on the train. The old woman’s frown of disapproval. The young man with something to prove to you, himself, the world. His jaw tightens as he calculates his ability to start something. You tuck your chin and pretend to be busy with your phone. In the dark screen you can see the skin flaking on your cheeks. The beginnings of another patch betray you.

As you touch up in the bathroom mirror you tell yourself you wanted this, that you were prepared for the hardships. 

You walk to the public library after your shift ends. You walk most places these days, telling yourself it’s a last hurrah. The fact is you sold your car to make a dent in the cost. You’ll sell everything eventually. You’re going to have to. 

The forums have a list of books everyone checks out when they choose this path. There aren’t many and most are fantasy. There’s a running joke: if anyone mentions Hans Christen Anderson, run. You spot The Little Mermaid on a small display. You don’t run. You check out your books. The librarian gives a knowing nod, but doesn’t remark. You silently thank her for the discretion.

You take a long shower, makeup swirling down the drain. You can’t help but scratch at the itching patches on your thighs, peeling skin tearing away for new growth. Shampoo and blood circle under your feet. Your fingernails are sharper than they were this morning. You exfoliate, letting the city, public transit, the glances of strangers be cleansed. Your reflection in the mirror, a colorful smattering of new scales dusting your cheeks, is tear-streaked, ethereal. Beautiful.

You knock the concealer into the trash bin.

Your mother left a voicemail. She avoids the elephant seal in the room, talking about her gardening, your cousin’s new baby. She lingers for a moment, then: You’re being selfish. She burns brightly as a beratement begins, emboldened. But without someone to riff with she loses her steam, trails off and repeats it. You’re being shellfish. She can’t help it; she laughs despite herself. There’s a minute where she doesn’t speak, but you can tell she’s waiting for the sob in the back of her throat to settle. She promises she’ll come to your party and the voicemail ends.

You still haven’t heard from your father. You don’t expect you will. You’ve made peace with that.

You do your weekly injection on the alternating leg, needle piercing deep in a gap between scales. The plunger delivers 200mg of concentrated hope directly into your bloodstream, salt water in salt water. You put a hello kitty bandaid over it and wait for the feeling of ice in your veins to settle, the tension to go out of your muscles. It doesn’t.

You pass an enraged man on the street, spit flying, a home-made sandwich board making his message clear: The Siren Is The Devil’s Agent. The back offers an equally cogent argument: Go Back To Atlantis, Fish Freaks. You would if you could, you think dryly. He notices you and seethes, but the current of the crowd carries you away before he can curse you out.

You drag your potted plants down to the front stoop and post a craigslist ad: free to a good home. They’re gone within the hour. You allow yourself the rare indulgence of posting a selfie, eyes closed, serene, to the reddit: Learning to love my scales <3! It’s still difficult to type on your phone with the new claws. The upvotes start to come in; everyone loves a guppie.

You catch up on the shows you haven’t gotten to yet. Where there was once only the metaphorical List, there is now an actual list. Despite your best efforts it’s becoming increasingly clear you’re not going to finish all of them. You knock a few off, restructure it based on length. It still looks too long.

You have dreams about choking on toxic waste, getting minced by a boat propeller. You keep a running count of the number of times you’ve dreamt of getting your head stuck in a six-pack of soda rings. You’re up to four. 

Every few days you do laps in the local pool. You’re getting faster, but you feel exposed. There are whispers around the locker room. 

Your cat knows something is happening, but doesn’t understand what that means for her. You hold her whenever and for as long as she’ll allow, give her as many pets and treats as she wants. Despite clearing out your apartment you’ve spoiled her. She licks the scales on your cheek as you cry over her. This seems to inspire something in her; she demands her tuna crunchies. Dutifully you give her the tuna crunchies. She can have as many tuna crunchies as she wants.

You doomscroll your twitter feed, making sure this isn’t the day you lose access to your meds because of some white man in a suit. A sister is assaulted by a violent extremist with a sense of humor: he shot her with a harpoon gun. Her crowdfunding campaign starts on the maidens reddit and goes viral.

You triple check to make sure your friend is still willing to take your cat when you go. They promise to spoil her and tell her stories of you every day. You continue to cry over it. They invite you out for sushi to talk about it, then backtrack to ask if that’s a microaggression. You go to sushi. You’re thankful for the distraction.

By the time your legs are more scale than skin and your fingers begin to develop webbing you’ve given up on pretense. The looks are now constant, but you get reflective sunglasses and a new patch for your jacket: Don’t like it? Drown, with a scaled hand reaching out of water and flipping the bird. You put the energy out into the world, and the world doesn’t fuck with you.

Children love you. Their parents do not. 

On the train a young girl quietly asks if she can feel your scales. You allow her to touch her little fingers to the aquamarine pattern running up your arm, giving her your most reassuring (but still fanged) smile. She’s fearless, enamored, reverent. Her mother pulls her daughter away and hastily apologizes for her, not looking you in the eye. But you know that girl believes in magic now.

A group of white supremacists go out on a boat loaded with assault rifles for “no reason” and get lost at sea. This is somehow your fault.

The day your fins begin to push their way out from your arms, your boss calls you into his office. You both know he can’t fire you in this and seven other states, but you both also know you won’t be staying much longer. He’s done his best to make you aware you’re making his life more difficult. You put in your two weeks before he can flounder for another excuse. He moors you with paperwork for the rest of the afternoon.

Someone leaves a rotting fish in your pool locker. You don’t go back, and you don’t file a report. You tell yourself the chlorine was bad for the gills freshly forming under your ribs anyway.

Your friends take you out clubbing. You lose yourself under the waves of music, submerged under strobe lights and the salty sweat of dancing bodies. You whisper sweet nothings into a stranger’s ear, entrancing her as you move against each other. You can see iridescence shining around her eyes, shimmering glitter and an emerging pattern beneath makeup. You brush a thumb against her cheek and she melts into your touch. You don’t get her name. You don’t need to; you’re both not long for this world. You catch up with your friends smoking outside, your lips still tingling with vermouth.

Weeks pass. Work ends. Your apartment is down to furniture and cat supplies. You take longer showers. News stories continue to come out, the machine churns and roils: monsters walking among humans, the mark of the beast, sacrificing daughters to the ocean. 

You make sure your meds are reupped for the final stretch.

When your legs start to merge you know you don’t have much time left. You donate the last boxes of your clothes. Your friends get first dibs on furniture before it’s put on the street. They bring drinks and sit on your floor, an impromptu celebration and wake. They ask all the usual questions: what are you going to do for food? Shelter? What if you get hurt, or attacked by a shark? Do they have waterproof laptops yet? Will they ever see you again? What if it isn’t right for you? Can you ever come back?

You don’t know how to answer most of those questions. The group stays with you through the night. At 4AM you put on The Little Mermaid and the group drunkenly sings along. Everyone knows the words. It’s juvenile and you can hear the maidens on the reddit rolling their eyes and tutting about misrepresentation, but you know everyone in your position does it. You try not to cry, but the waterworks start and don’t stop.

At daybreak you put your cat into her harness and everyone piles into a friend’s van. It’s not far to the beach, but they take the long way around. One final tour of the land. Your cat sits on your lap and stares out the windows as you pass old haunts, your grocery store, your gym, your high school. You realize you still have library books to return and almost get them to turn around, but someone promises to go back for them afterwards.

There’s an isolated area on the beach where a canopy and tables are set up; banners, food, friends. It’s a regular going away party, as if you’re going on a short trip abroad. You suppose you are, in a way. Someone rented a wheelchair with fat tires to help you get down to the beach.

When your mother arrives she pulls her shirt off to show her custom-made clam bra. Her eyes are already red and puffy, but she’s doing her best to be energetic and upbeat. She holds you for a long time and says she’s happy for you, that you’re beautiful, that you’re so much stronger than she ever was, and then she puts on a brave face to help everyone get served at the buffet. Your cat chases small crabs across the beach around you, and you sit in the sand. The party goes strong.

The tides come up until your fin is tickled by the seafoam. Everyone knows that means it’s time to go. You pass your cat off to her new owner and she gives you a last headbutt. She seems to understand. You kiss your mother’s cheek one last time and she clings to you. The group raises their drinks as you paddle out, disappearing beneath the waves. You give them the money shot and leap out of the water on your way out of the sound, and you can hear cheering from the shoreline. You hope someone got a video for the maidens.

You keep the city in sight for a while, but the currents lead you further into open waters. There are boaters out on the water who wave to you. You wave back and keep swimming up the coast. 

At dusk you rise to the surface and watch the setting sun turn the horizon from blue to pink to purple and orange. There’s nothing for leagues around. As the sun sinks below the waves and the skies darken you sing your first real siren’s song. Shaky and imperfect, it soon resounds over the ocean breeze. You leave everything behind in it. There are no words, only feeling and sound. It’s a lament, an invocation, a dirge. It is many things, but it isn’t an apology. You have nothing to apologize for.

In the seas beyond a chorus joins in with a language you never learned but understand, integrating your song into theirs. You swim to join them.

[felassan]

New today on DA:TV from Game Informer, 'Breaking Down Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Classes And Factions':

"Breaking Down Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Classes And Factions by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 25, 2024 at 02:00 PM "As part of the character creation process for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, players will have to select both a class for their player-controlled Rook and a faction. After customizing much of your Rook's body, including things like a Qunari's horn type and material, for example, with the hundreds of options available in Veilguard, it will be time to pick said class.  [embedded link to DA:TV reveal trailer] There are three classes to choose from: Rogue, Mage, and Warrior. As the names suggest, each features a unique combat system and plays differently as a result. Though you’ll be performing things like light and heavy attacks using the same buttons, what those attacks do varies based on your class. For example, a sword-and-shield Warrior can hip-fire or aim their shield to throw it like Captain America, whereas a Mage can use that same button to throw out magical ranged attacks – read more about the combat of Veilguard in Game Informer's exclusive feature here. Plus, as you spec out these classes and unlock their individual specializations, the differences will only grow even more stark.  - The Rogue has access to three specializations. The Duelist is the fastest of the three, with two blades for rapid strikes; the Saboteur uses tricks and traps; and the Veil Ranger is purely range, sniping enemies from afar with a bow. - The Mage can utilize necromancy with the Death Caller specialization; Evokers wield fire, ice, and lightning; and the Spellblade uses magic-infused melee attacks. - The Warrior can become a Reaper, which uses night blades to steal life and risk death to gain unnatural abilities; a Slayer, a simple but strong two-handed weapons expert; or the Champion, a tactical defense fighter. While these specializations don't matter upfront – you class into them via the skill trees you progress through the game – it's nice to see the potential of each class before you choose it."

"For the penultimate step of the character creator, at least during the demo BioWare shows me, players select a faction. The Grey Wardens return, joined by other returning favorites and new additions like the Antivan Crows, the Mourn Watch, the Shadow Dragons, the pirate-themed Lords of Fortune, which is what I chose in my demo for the current Game Informer cover story, and the Veil Jumpers. Each faction has unique casual wear, which is worn in specific cutscenes when the character isn't donning armor, and three unique traits. The Lords of Fortune, for example, gain additional reputation with this particular faction, have increased damage versus mercenaries, and perform takedowns on enemies with slightly less effort. Veilguard game director Corinne Busche says this faction selection, which ties into your character's backstory, determines who your Rook was before, how they met Varric, why they travel with Varric instead of their faction, and more. "The message of The Veilguard is you're not saving the world on your own – you need your companions, but you also need these factions, these other groups in the world," creative director John Epler tells me. "You help them, they help you now.""

"He says BioWare wanted to avoid the trope of needing to gather 200 random resources or objects before helping you save the world. Instead, the team aimed to create factions that want to help you but have realistic challenges and problems in front of them so that narratively, it makes sense why you help them in return for their help when the time comes.  "Gameplay-wise – each of our classes has a specialization, and each of them is tied to a faction," Epler continues. "But beyond that, each faction has a [companion] as well as [people we're calling agents, ancillarily] who exist as the faces of these factions. We didn't want to just say, 'Here's the Grey Wardens, go deal with them.' We wanted characters within that faction who are sympathetic, who you can see and become the face of the faction, so that even if there are moments where the faction as a whole may be on the outs with you, these characters are still with you; they've still got your back."  [old version of this paragraph] If you find yourself unhappy with your lineage or your class, you can change them using the Mirror of Transformation, found in the main Veilguard hub, The Lighthouse. You can also change your Rook's visual appearance there, too." [new version of this paragraph] If you want to make changes to your character's physical appearance, you can do that with the Mirror of Transformation, found in the main Veilguard hub, The Lighthouse. However, class, lineage, and identity are locked in and cannot be changed after you select them in the game's character creator. [Editor's Note: This article previously stated players can change their physical appearance, class, lineage, and identity using the Mirror of Transformation. That is incorrect as class, lineage, and identity are locked after you first select those. The article has been updated to reflect that, and Game Informer apologizes for any confusion this mistake may have caused.] For more about the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below."

[source]

[goodqueenaly]

Your grasp of ASOIAF is fantastic, so hopefully you can answer this. I've seen some Pate and Rosey shippers out there, and it made me uncomfortable. Am I off-base in thinking Pate's dream of buying this girl is not only not actual love but would have probably not turned out well? Or am I missing something in the AFFC Prologue?

More under the cut:

Number one, I can’t tell you or anyone else how to feel or react to a given character or plot point. I can say how I feel about characters and plot points, and I can talk about how I think the author wanted readers to react, but I can’t tell any individual reader how to experience the books. So I can only comment on how I see the Pate-Rosey situation and how I think the author wrote it.

In that context, do I personally find it disturbing that Rosey was being sold, by own her mother, into sex work, with the price based on her virginity? Of course! As a young, lowborn Westerosi girl, working at an inn with her “serving wench” mother (who may have herself engaged in some level of sex work), Rosey had extremely limited agency over either her future or her body. Think of, say, the “serving wench” by whom Robert fathered twins at Casterly Rock, or young Glendon Flowers’ sister at the Pussywillows, whose virginity was used as a means of exchange for Glendon to receive his knighthood, or girls like Bella and Lanna, destined to become sex workers in the same brothels in which they were presumably born and where their mothers still worked; these few examples (among many others) highlight the extent to which Westerosi girls and women of lower status, in similar positions to Rosey’s own, may be viewed as freely available sex agents or objects, with little or nothing in the way of other opportunities. By selling her daughter in this way, Emma had eliminated the ability - however much or little it may ever had existed - for Rosey to choose her own romantic partner or spouse, and had defined Rosey, likely long term if not forever, as a sex worker: here is a girl, according to Emma, with whom sex can be bought for the right price. 

Consequently, I think it is fair to recognize that what Pate was buying from Rosey was, at least very strictly or literally, the right to her body. Pate’s thoughts along these lines begin in the opening portion of the chapter, when Pate comforted himself that “[b]y the morrow the girl could well be his”. Most of Pate’s fond musings on Rosey focused on her physical features: “her hazel eyes”, “her budding breasts”, “the clean fresh smell of her” and “the way her hair curled behind her ears”. Rosey was, in Pate’s mind, “all he wanted in the world”, and when he finally did secure the fatal gold dragon, Pate told himself to “[r]un back to the Quill and Tankard, wake Rosey with a kiss, and tell her she belongs to you”. On the flip side, Pate could not disguise his jealousy when Rosey touched Alleras on the arm, or his fury at Lazy Leo’s casually cruel needling of him over her;  indeed, Pate’s parting words to Leo were a threat to kill Leo should he touch Rosey, a bold (if drunkenly so) vow for one who well knew the martial and dynastic advantages Leo enjoyed over him, rooted in Pate’s own desire for Rosey. 

That said, do I think the author wants us to view Pate as some sort of lascivious villain who simply viewed Rosey as a means to a sexual end? I don’t necessarily think so. Pate first thought of Rosey when he imagined sleeping “with Rosey’s arms around me”, and he promised (to himself) that he would "take her far away from Oldtown, across the Narrow Sea to one of the Free Cities” - neither aim specifically or exclusively sexual. Pate also envisioned himself and Rosey in a different future, in which he would “buy a donkey with the coin he’d saved, and he and Rosey could take turns riding it as they wandered Westeros” - again, a future which did not solely focus on sex between the two of them, and which he himself described as "enough ... so long as I had Rosey". Too, while Pate related the physical features he loved about Rosey, he also remembered a night where “she’d let him rub her feet and play with them, and he’d made up a funny tale for every toe to keep her giggling”, which seems presented as a sweet anecdote between the two rather than a malicious or cynical one on Pate’s part. Moreover, the last line of the chapter is that Pate’s “last thought was of Rosey”, recalling the trope of the dying lover thinking of his beloved in his final moments. Whether or not any given reader wants to call this situation “love”, I think Pate believed that he was in love with Rosey. (It is also possible that, because Rosey brought the alchemist to Pate, Rosey herself wanted Pate to earn the gold dragon from the alchemist to buy the right to sex with her.) 

Were Pate’s dreams with Rosey particularly practical? I would say probably not, but I would also say that we probably should not expect Pate to have had a very practical plan for the future. Indeed, this is the ironic joke of Pate the prologue character being named for Spotted Pate the pig boy of those well-loved Westerosi fables: where Spotted Pate would seem like “an empty-headed lout” but would nevertheless always triumph though his “uncouth cunning”, our Pate may have seemed like an academic (ostensibly) in the making but was in fact a fool destined to fail and be tricked in his turn. If Pate’s, well, rosy ideas of a future with Emma’s daughter seem idealistic and vague, they were the plans of a teenage all-but-failed novice without the intellect and ability to succeed as a maester, the family standing and wealth to cushion him if he failed at that, or the skills necessary to make a career (to extent any member of the smallfolk can) outside of the maesterly course - simply the rudiments of his education at the Citadel and a horror of spending the rest of his life as a domestic servant to an elderly, senile man. Pate, I think, did not know exactly how he would make it in the world, but he knew that he didn’t want to stay where and how he was and that wherever he ended up, he wanted to be there with Rosey.

[just-some-user-hunny]

What if bastard!princess reader had a secret(but not really) relationship with one of her court friends? Like a lady in waiting or if you want, her favorite maid? Choose any characters you'd like<3 I'm a complete sucker for this trope^^

Anon I adore this trope, you have no idea 😔

Bastard! princess reader may be locked up in a tower, but darn it, she's going to have whatever fun she wants. Due to her being a bastard, thankfully there's no actual political duty for her to marry some random man that the king chooses, and Daemon is exclusive about his daughter. The richest, most powerful man could swagger up to him and demand for your hand, and he'd still tell them to f off 💀 he doesn't play when it comes to you.

If bastard!princess reader were to have a secret relationship with a lady in waiting or a maid, then there's not much your family would do to intervene (well, most of them).

Rhaenyra would see no problem with it, but encourage you to keep it hush hush to avoid drama amongst the family- members like Alicent would prefer you stay single, so that all your attention is on them rather than this other person.

Daemon would be a complicated character in this scenario. He's extremely possessive and controlling as a yandere, and he'd want his daughter to stay home and single, but at the same time he wouldn't particularly forbid you from having crushes or flings. He himself has obviously gone around, kinda hence why you even exist in the first place 💀, so he wouldn't be judgemental if you were to have a one time fling with a favourite maid or lady in waiting. As long as it stays that way. A fling. If you were to ever ask him to give your hand away, you'd be met with a firm no. Especially if he doesn't approve of them. In his eyes, you don't need a spouse to take care of you. Your family is there to do that, you'll always have a roof over your head and food on your plate.

I like to imagine a possible scenario where when the dance of the dragons begins, bastard!princess reader packs up their necessities and their loved one, and flies away on Cannibal to escape the mess that's about to happen.

[williceunleashed]

Gotta love a frail old hypocritical man. Gatekeep, Gaslighting, Girlboss as it were. Do you also subscribe to the relatively common headcanon of him haveing had a stroke at some point or is he just a sick old manTM? (Not that those are mutually exclusive!)

Have a dumb idea I had as a teart.

Ghetsis: I'm perfect both body and min- *coughs up blood*

Anthea & Concordia or the shadow triad: sure dad, let's get you to bed

I like to keep whatever is going with Ghetsis a mystery :) I like him being super secretive about what happened to him. We just know this guy was injured and that he isn't all there mentally. I don't suscribe to one specific headcanon ! :)

If I had to choose a specific headcanon, I suppose i'd headcanon that he was severely injured when he tried to summon one of the legendary dragons years before he took N in ? It would explain his physical damages, and be in line with how obsessive he is with his scheming too ? Like the guy's scheme to take over Unova didn't start when he took N in 15 years ago, it started waaayyyy before when he tried to summon a legendary ? I would guess the attack he received didn't only leave scars but is still very actively damaging his body (in BW2 he has a cane and has the victorian dramatic cough, which he didn't have in BW1). Like my old man is slowly but surely dying

I made this little ref for Ghetsis if you are interested in more old man art (It was mainly to keep track of his hair design lol)

[ranticore]

thinking about characters fursonas is always more fun to me than directly anthro-ifying them because it's not just a question of "what animal would they be" since before you can even ask that you have to figure out how they would pick a fursona, and i almost feel like that says more about a character than what animal they choose.

like. would they want an animal that represents their ideal self? something that represents how they see themself to be currently? and how well does that perception match up with these actual reality? or would they pick based on something less complicated like "favorite animal"/"movie character they liked”.

all that leadup to ask, how do you think your mvf guys would pick their fursonas?

💯💯💯 literally it's one of the most fun characterisation exercises you can do, it tells you SO much about them, how they view themselves, what they want others to think of them and so on. all that good stuff. and then you get to delve into furry subcultures, influential artists etc

so on to the actual fursoneys themselves

Jean-Baptiste - aforementioned hummingbird with a suit from idk clockworkcreature or something. the subculture/art style is realistic but very humanised, basically a bird head on a feathery human body, no wing-hands, with a Georgian style of dress (potentially with steampunk elements) and named after a famous scientist from the period. He would not be an artist, but he would be one of those ppl who's a bigtime engineer making huge money who invests heavily in commissions of art (usually traditional media like oils, colouring pencil, etc) and writing about this character, who is a kind of inventor/old-timey scientist with a highly detailed backstory and canon setting. He chose the hummingbird because it's beautiful, precise, and tenacious, and also just because he likes the 'rare fursona species' aura. He has VERY strong negative view on poodling (when someone wears a partial fursuit with their skin showing) and has been posting to the same old rp forum for the past 20 years. Rude and bitchy but one of those guys who always pays well and tips for commissions because money is no object. an important part of the economy

Bowman - exactly the opposite to everything above. His fursona is a retriever-ish dog called Dog or Mutt or something with a single-colour palette and the art style is new school big toothy grin etc. fursona exclusively wears board shorts. He draws at a beginner level and he's obviously having a blast with it. The muscles are very detailed (so's the bulge) & the art is clearly bara influenced, especially around the eyes. He wouldn't have any interest in suiting i don't think but you will find him at the furry rave in a neoprene harness. He wouldn't have much money to commission with and his twitter feed would be mostly reposts of other people's art (without permission)

Islin - ok you know that one genre of art style used exclusively by dragon furries where it's got realistic scale textures, backgrounds, and the ref sheets are usually incredibly detailed and the dragons in their anthro forms are always absurdly ripped. He can draw this, i know it in my heart. The design is pretty generic western dragon, all things considered, I don't think he has the imagination for more (sorry). Character's name is something appropriately fantasy-ish like Xyrgoryx. He could definitely take commissions as a side hustle but as a perfectionist and professional worrier it would overwhelm him easily. You would probably not find him at a convention at all, I'd say such spaces do not appeal to him. He's been on Furcadia tho.

Félix - generic twinky fox in a thin-lines washboard abs disney-inspired art style with an absurdly deep backstory which we never get to see because the character is only ever drawn being railed. He can draw but more importantly he knows how to take the commissioner's money and run, delete his account, and remake under a different username. Was able to afford a fullsuit from Made Fur You and that alone gave him enough clout to continually avoid allegations of past misbehaviour. Every so often someone goes "hey isn't that a known scammer" when they see him at a con but it never sticks. Later he would get cancelled immediately for saying he "didn't care about" right-wing furries as long as their art was cute.

Senca - Almost certainly a feline-based original species or hybrid. The art style is very goldenwolf with spiritual/neopagan influences, mostly traditional media and ACEOs in oil pastel so it's got a kind of smudgy look. Her character has the same name as her and she considers it a 'truesona' of sorts. She's an established artist and well-respected but struggles to keep up with what Tha Youth are doing and her personal website has looked the same since the year 2006. She has a realistic partial suit but doesn't wear it much anymore, preferring to vend at the dealer's den instead. She always knows way too much gossip about any given person you could point out to her but she insists she isn't involved in what she'll delicately & vaguely refer to as 'drama'.

Léa - she was attracted by the promise of easy entry into a supportive and friendly readymade community and bought an expensive Closed Species design to be her fursona. She tried to participate in events but instead got sucked into a cesspit of petty warfare between her CS community and a very similar CS with design elements that may have been inspired by hers (after all, 'dog with kinda long pointy ears and a big fluffy tail' is VERY copyrightable). She goes along with it, afraid of losing her space in the panopticon discord community by voicing a dissenting opinion and it'll eat her up from the inside. until one day she wakes up and realises she paid €400 to gossip and participate in a group that bans you from adding horns to your fursona's head (a legendary trait restricted to the CS owner and their favourite sycophants) whose main form of bonding ritual seems to be reposting their enemies' art to mock it and colour-pick to prove the palettes were copied. She explains all this to Bowman in one big tearful rant on their first offline date at Eurofurence and he helps her get away from that community.

Helena - that was her copyrighted closed species. and she IS litigious about it.

Erica - it's a pine marten in a modern sketchy "just got an ipad and procreate" style, really cute, fun design, good coordinating outfit, honestly ticks all the boxes but then 5 days after he posts that awesome themed ref sheet he's got a brand NEW fursona and this time it's a cute lil jackdaw, again lovely design all around looks great but wait no in 5 days time it's a roe deer, no wait it's an otter, it's a gecko, it's a

Pascal - a sick as hell cartoony golden eagle with an electric guitar and sunglasses and you can imagine it airbrushed onto the side of a campervan because that's where it lives. he's strictly offline, doesn't know what a furry is, never been on twitter, but he is 100% certain in his heart that this bird is a true representation of himself

[satoshi-mochida]

FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time launches May 21 for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Switch, and PC - Gematsu

Social slow-life RPG FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam on May 21, publisher LEVEL-5 and developer LEVEL5 comcept announced. The PlayStation, Xbox, and PC versions are newly announced. It will support English, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, German, and Spanish language options.

In the west, the game will be a digital-only release available in the following editions:

Standard Edition ($59.99)

-Base game

FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time

Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade ($13.99)

Upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition to claim amazing rewards, including an exclusive mount, equipment and costumes!

Digital Deluxe Edition ($69.99)

Pre-orders for all platforms include the downloadable content “New Adventurer’s Pack,” which contains the following:

Flutter Charm – An accessory that increases Exp earned.

HP Potion + (x10) – Heals HP.

SP Potion + (x10) – Recovers SP.

Power Aid + (x10) – Temporary Attack UP effect.

Resistance Aid + (x10) – Temporarily Defense UP effect.

Life Cure + (x5) – Revives and heals HP.

Great Bomb + (x5) – Damage to a massive area.

Fireworks (x5) – Sets off traditional fireworks.

Courtship Fireworks (x5) – Sets off heart-shaped fireworks.

Celestia’s Gift (x100) – Use to revert a Strangeling back into their original form.

In Japan, the PlayStation 5 and Switch versions will also be available physically for 7,678 yen. The physical edition contains the same content as the standard digital edition.

Here is an overview of the game, via LEVEL-5:

About

Step into this slow-life RPG where you can freely switch between 14 unique jobs, so called “Lives,” and enjoy a carefree life in a fantasy world. Fish, cook, shape the island to your liking, or team up with friends to battle monsters across the vast world. It’s up to you to choose what kind of Life you’ll live!

Key Features

A Dragon Guides You to a Mysterious Island

You are an adventurer who sets sail with the archaeologist Edward and his team.

Following the light emanating from a dragon’s fossil, you discover an uncharted, deserted island.

A vast abyss, a dragon made of bone, and a girl’s message that begs you to save the world…

Travel between the island that thrived 1,000 years ago and the present-day island to unravel the mystery of its downfall!

14 Unique Lives to Make Yours Brighter

In this world, a “Life” is the equivalent of a job.

Each has its own characteristics and provides various ways to enjoy yourself.

Collect ingredients or materials with Gathering Lives, create weapons or cook dishes with Crafting Lives, or fight monsters with Combat Lives. You can switch between any Life at any time, creating a life that’s uniquely yours.

Shape the Island! Create Your Town!

Use Lives to gather materials and restore the island to its former glory!

Not only can you place houses and objects, but you can also alter the landscape and draw rivers and roads to create a truly unique island.

Expand your house, place some furniture, and decorate the interior however you like!

Embark on an Open-World Adventure!

Freely explore the largest continent in the series!

Climb ledges, swim across rivers and lakes, or ride on mounts – With these new actions you can explore the world without limits!

Endless Fun with Multiplayer!

Enjoy multiplayer with up to four players!

Invite friends to your island, explore dungeons, or find your own ways to have fun together!

If you have two controllers, you can also use the 2 Player Family Co-op feature where one player can join the adventure as your travel companion without needing to connect online!

Supports Cross-Play and Cross-Save!

Play freely on any platform! Play in handheld mode when you’re outside and enjoy the game on a big screen at home.

To access online play, a paid subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, PlayStation Plus, or Xbox Game Pass is required, depending on your platform.

An Epic Games account is required to use Cross-Save.

Watch a new set of trailers below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery. Visit the official website here.

All Features at a Glance

English

Japanese

Traditional Chinese

Simplified Chinese

New Life Guide

English

Japanese

Traditional Chinese

Simplified Chinese

[hoboblaidd]

Veilguard Verse Tags, timeline, and headcanons

timeline: - rather than list what we're all familiar with, some basic points:

Expanded interactions: In addition to dreams, Solas can talk to Rook and those who are sensitive to spirits ala Emmrich and Lucanis/Spite in places where the Veil is thin, and can talk to anyone at a Fen'harel altar; they're like walkie-talkies.

Rooks start at very low approval, for obvious reasons. Their relationship is adversarial. They are, to him, a jailer, "an irritant", a "child", and a tool. They took away his freedom when they trapped him in jail, took away his control and his goal, and unleashed his worst enemies. It doesn't matter how kind, snarky, or aggressive a Rook is: he will never go above neutral approval. While Solas is caged, Rook is always an enemy.

Solas is a textbook trickster god in datv, far more than he is 'the god of lies.' He bargains, he cheats, he uses people. It's in his lore and it's in every mythological story that has a trickster irl.

tag:

VEILGUARD | : The events of the game. Solas is trapped in the regret prison, but not before he uses blood magic to bind with Rook. He advises the team up until they kill Ghilan'nain, when he's finally able to pull a switcheroo and break free. He fights Elgar'nan's forces in Minrathous, and tries to trick Rook into killing Elgar'nan and bringing down the Veil. To the extent it’s relevant, I will use a default Lavellan/world state, but it will have no effect on whatever ending you choose.

important headcanons:

General

I'm convinced "You've earned the Dread Wolf's respect" is a Fourth Wall trick.

Solas knows Rook's real name, but he almost exclusively refers to them as Rook (in italics, and derogatory).

Full rundown of the expanded Veilguard verse

Solas can communicate with Rook more frequently than in the game

Anyone can talk to him at a Fen'harel altar

Solas loves his People and is motivated by them - including modern elves

Power Levels

Power levels in Veilguard

Solas’ power during the final Veilguard battle

Regrets

The veracity of Solas’ regrets and memories

Regret Prison

Solas in the regret prison

Sensory experience in the regret prison

Trickster

Solas the trickster

Solas keeps a Batman-like dossier on everyone

The Dread Wolf - Ratdog

Ratdog

Quest-specific

The End of the Beginning (Solas threw Rook into the wall so they'd bleed and he could use blood magic to connect them)

The Enemy of My Enemy (Solas could kill Rook in their sleep, but it's against his interests)

The Blood of Arlathan (placeholder)

A Cage for Gods (Solas took over the Shadow Dragons in Minrathous for those weeks Rook was in the prison)

The Dragon and the Dread Wolf (The archdemon fight scars linger) (Injuries, scars, and shapeshifting in the final battle)

The Dread Wolf Rises (Atonement ending) (Non-Atonement endings)

[mammoth-clangen]

I just wanted to say that you've greatly inspired me to start working on my own clangen comic!! I'm TERRIBLE at drawing cats, so when I first started reading clangen comics I figured I would never make one. But yours was the first one I read that wasn't based off "cats" per se. After I read yours I sought out more clangen comics that didn't feature cats, and I finally started my own!! @scaleclan-clangen (I'm still not very good at drawing in general, but better dragons than cats haha). Obviously you don't have to respond, but if you do choose to, then I would love to hear any tips that you may have!

Oh dragon clangen that's so neat! 🐉

I'm definitely not the first to use non-cats for a clangen, so i can take 0 credit for that cx Even before I started there was at least a few around using other species (pigeons, wof dragons and chickens off the top of my head), I think there's even one using inanimate objects out there!

I've done a few comic/clangen tip asks but as for art advice, it's tricky because it's mostly the same old "practice always" cx

For dragons specifically I can give one bit of personal advice which is: References are great even if you're drawing a made up animal!

Find a living creature with similar anatomy even just in one area (wings/legs/head/etc) and boom, references! I originally learned to draw almost exclusively from my silly original species so this does work I promise cx

Something I always say is "if you used a reference and it still looks wrong, it is". Which is to say, use references but don't marry yourself to them, go with what looks right! Usually I find a couple of similar ones and draw from both, rather than replicating one completely. When I'm drawing a particularly in-depth pose (such as Poppy hunting in Moon 8) I often try to find a video of the moments surrounding it, to get a better idea of movement. Also the line of action is your friend and it's Not just relevant in animation, it will also make your still drawings hold more motion c:

When learning a new species, or a particularly hard pose, I'll often doodledump loosely from a reference then put that reference right next to the doodle to compare where I went off.

This way you get a better feel for shapes than you would from tracing (which isn't The Devil, but should be used sparingly), and better proportions than just loose referencing c:

don't try to work out who the characters are i intentionally anonymised them rjhrfh