#Morrigan replies

[memento-morri-writes]

4, 17, and 20 for whatever you’d like ❤️

Oh my fucking god. I'm SO SORRY. I SAW THIS THE INSTANT YOU SENT IT BUT I WAS STRESSED (for unrelated reasons) AND CLOSED MY INBOX AND TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS ASK UNTIL I GOT AN ASK ON ANOTHER BLOG TODAY. 😭😭😭😭

ask game here. (yes, I'm still accepting them.) (and any other questions, tbh. I just love talking, lmao.)

4. pick an alternate setting you would want to put either the main cast of your work in— zombie apocalypse, medieval fantasy, regency era, office hijinks, etc. describe what it would look like and/or write 100+ words in this universe.

So, I really fucking suck at making AUs, because most of the time I literally cannot separate my OCs from their setting. Like, Rook belongs in a high-fantasy setting, and nothing else works. Cyra needs some tech-y elements in her world or it doesn't work. Fallon only works in a no-magic fantasy world. Etc. Like, in my mind, if I wanted to write those characters in a different setting, I would have put them there in the first place. I know that's not a very satisfying answer though, so I'm gonna give you a sneak peak at the Worst Timeline AU for Rook that lives rent-free in both my head and my google docs.

In this AU Rook ends up becoming the 2nd-to-last boss of the campaign, with a complete set of Gambits (his special combat moves that Sigmar was teaching him, named after chess pieces), instead of the three he has in canon. This is maybe the most evil thing I've ever come up with and it was the result of me and the DM "yes, and"-ing each other for like an hour or more. (this also reminds me that I should share the Liars lore dump on this blog so people actually have some fucking context for this shit, but it's 5k words, so idk that will anyone would read it.)

the rest is going under the cut because I talk too much.

17. do you have a specific structure or method of plotting? what does your drafting process look like?

So, to be perfectly honest, I've never figured out how to plot or draft. I've never finished a draft of any project that was more than 10k words long (and even then the only completed short stories I've finished were for a grade in school), and my plotting and drafting process has changed for every project I've ever started. For my D&D writing, my "plotting" is pretty much just me typing one or several rambling messages in one of the threads in my "dnd idea dump" channel in my private discord server (I'm the only member). In most cases those messages get edited or rewritten completely at least a couple times before I actually get around to writing the thing. Drafting for D&D writing is usually done between 9pm and 3am, with me writing the whole "vignette" in one sitting, regardless of length (usually in the 1.5-3k range). (The sole exceptions to this so far are Snakebite and kind of the Carrion Backstory, which I chipped away at over a few days / weeks.) For ATQH, I had a very detailed plot setup in Milanote that was broken down into Acts > Chapters > Scenes like this:

As for drafting, I did my drafting for ATQH in Scrivener, writing completely out of order whenever inspiration struck. I've tried more "standard" outlining (for Political Fantasy WIP, for example), but I never actually ended up writing much for that WIP. What very, very little I did write was also out of order, though. Here's a pic of my outline doc, though, which lives in Scrivener.

20. do you think there's anything about your work which is predictable from your previous works/interests, or to anyone who knows you well enough? if the work was written by someone else, what would a recommendation designed to personally bait you look like?

This is a fucking HILARIOUS question to ask me, ngl. All of my writing is extremely self-indulgent, so yeah, almost all of it is textbook Morri's Interests. Rook is probably the best example of this: "A reckless, self-sacrificial lying bastard of a pirate with self-worth issues who gets the shit beat out of him on a regular basis and is generally miserable most of the time." Like, that's Morri catnip. All of it. Pirates? catnip. Whumpy shit? catnip. Self-loathing character? catnip. (One of my friends (who also happens to be a fellow player in one and the DM of two of my dnd games) knows well enough by now that she can convince me to read/watch ANYTHING as long as there's pirates. And literally just today she told me "you need to make [my woman character] more pathetic. You love your two pathetic men so much." Also, Rook having a Bad Time / almost dying / actually dying is pretty much a "and the sky is blue" situation to my friends atp, lmao.) In general, my Specialty seems to be pathetic men who get injured frequently and not-so-low-key hate themselves. (Rook, Carrion, Kris, just to name a few.) My favorite characters not written by me also tend to fall into this category. (Locke Lamora, my beloved.) I'm also just a sucker for characters who are Massive Fucking Idiots. Extra bonus points if they're Smart But Also Stupid. (ie, competent in one area, but absolutely failures in another. Especially if the thing they're Bad At has something to do with emotions / people skills.) Also, in terms of D&D characters in general, being a rogue, barbarian, or paladin is pretty much my MO at this point. I'm playing two rogues (Rook + Avra), a barbarian (Carrion), a paladin (Odynia), and a college of dance bard (Rune, who was kind of a shocker for everyone, since I usually never play full casters). And my characters from my previous, abandoned campaigns were another paladin (Asola) and another barb (Cyra). And we're stopping Odynia's campaign, and I'm thinking about recycling my other barbarian (Cyra, my beloved) for the next one. Basically, I'm the martial bitch, hahaha. Specifically high-damage martials. (Rogues with sneak attack, paladins with divine smite, barbarians with brutal critical...) Being super tanky (as a barb or paladin) is a huge bonus, but not a must. If we step aside from D&D it's really funny that the WIP that got me back into writing is so Not My Style, lmao. As an aroace person, I'm not a big fan of romance books, and I don't really like writing romance. But ATQH -- the first thing I had done any writing on in YEARS at the time -- is most definitely a romance. However, it came from a place of me wanting to write the kind of romance I wanted to see in the world: one with a lot of depth and characters who had strong identities, personalities, and problems outside of their love interest. Also, NO INSTA-LOVE. My most beloathed of all time. (Looking back, it was also partially a product of my parents collapsing marriage and me coming to terms with / realizing my own aromanticism, so in many ways it was kind of therapeutic to write.)

[floorworm]

I'm like halfway through Silverborn and, cards on the table, I am feeling seriously unwell. I don't like the goings on here in the slightest. Might explode.

[hyperbali]

I want you to know that ive been avoiding datv spoilers by scrolling really fast past posts on my phone. I had NO idea what morrigan looked like. I got fuckin jumpscared by her outfit and look from one of your posts. Guess I didnt scroll fast enough but I did audibly say 'oh nooooo' outloud. Good lordt. What did they do to her

LMFAO i'm so sorry to have done that to you

yeah, i don't know... what the fuck is going on with that midriff... bra.... mess. i didn't think they could outdo the orlesian ballgown in hideousness but by god they managed it

i think what's worse is i can see the potential of a nice fit here, there's some details i think work well, but altogether it's a nasty hodgepodge

and yes i do plan on redesigning it tyvm

i am desperately curious if matt rhodes ever did concepts for her veilguard look, i would like to know how much i need to curse them for throwing out most of his design direction once again

[pax-of-songs]

Why, hello!

Pax looked up from his book. As he did a comet of concentrated magic slammed into Morrigan. Pax closed his book with a sigh as Moon appeared between the two men. If looks alone could kill, Morrigan would have been vaporized.

[apricatt-art]

Hi, happy occasion! ♡

What's your favourite thing to draw?

I love drawing happy bubbly characters!! That’s probably obvious though, so a less known one is I really love drawing easily irritated/annoyed characters :]

[martyrmarked]

i fear sid's fight or flight instinct just immediately kicks in when sebastian's with 10 feet of her

[stromuprisahat]

Sjm was definitely trying to make Moriel endgame but then changed her mind, handled Mor's sexuality so disrespectfully and then Azriel to be paired with Elain because who's left.

I don't really care about any of them enough to pay attention to possible signs of that.

I don't mind Elriel due to their vibes.

Mor's one of those confusing characters I feel we should see as cool, yet I can't bring myself to become interested in. And perhaps thanks to her name I've always had an issue to see her as a blond.

To be fair, aside from a single scene at the end of the third book, I don't see a point of keeping Elain around at all. And she doesn't even get the credit for that one...

[memento-morri-writes]

ASK GAME REVENGE TIME

for Rook - 2, 7, 15, 24, 59, 65, 89

for Carrion - 12, 57, 61, 88, 98

and writer's choice: 44

~ @akindofmagictoo

ooh, hi Zoe!!! I wasn't expecting to get any bc I didn't reblog the ask game, but I'm always down to talk about silly stuff for my OCs. (Prime example being the Jell-O Saga.)

Rook:

2. What low-stakes thing will they always get disproportionately passionate about?

I had to think about this one for a minute, but then I remembered a piece of lore I wrote down once: "Pet Peeves: Sweet alcohol." So I guess that?? He hates fruity cocktails and those dessert wines or sweet liquors. It's alcohol, not candy! Based on his drinks of choice in-campaign, I would say he prefers whiskey, but also, that has bad associations now bc he shared a bottle with Sigmar the first night they talked for real. (This was the same night that Rook (freakishly prophetically) called him a "dead man walking".) (Obligatory disclaimer that I only just turned 21 and do not like any kind of alcohol or have any interest in drinking it, so I don't actually know what anything tastes like, lmao.)

7. What kind of prank are they most likely to get got by?

The thing about Rook is that he's a very paranoid and untrusting person. So he's unlikely to "get got" by the vast majority of pranks. I feel like the kinds of pranks he would be most likely to fall for would have to 1) be of the crueler kind (tricking someone into believing something upsetting, mainly), and 2) come from someone he trusts (a party member, aside from the wizard who is a little shit).

15. Your character confidently turns to the audience and says, “Hey, check this out.” What are they about to fumble, and how badly?

If we're talking about canon campaign events, he once bombed a lock picking check that he had advantage on and a +8 to. The DC wasn't even high. He then also nat 1'd on a wisdom save for the trap triggered by the failed unlocking and literally vanished. (He was teleported to another room in the dungeon.) I really suck at imagining modern AUs for my characters (it's almost impossible for me to divorce them from their setting because the two are usually very connected), so I'm not sure what he would do in this scenario irl.

24. On a scale of “tiny kitten” to “middle-aged dad” how loud are their sneezes?

See, the thing about Rook is that he will endeavor to hide any injury or illness whenever possible. So he would absolutely do his best to muffle his sneezes. I feel like in general, if sneezing at normal volume, he's probably in the realm of "large or mid-sized dog": quiet-ish, but not necessarily high pitched and "cute" in the way that a kitten's is.

59. Would they survive working in a customer service job? Would anyone else?

No and no. He has no patience for entitled assholes (he put up with more than enough of that with his father's family), so he would not do well in a customer service job. He can be charming when he needs to be, but he wouldn't do it day in and day out for no other reason than "I need to do this or else I will get fired". That's not a good enough reason, to him. He would also absolutely insult or stab horrible customers. Lose-lose, tbh.

65. Do they steal fries?

Rook actually has a lot of issues with remembering to eat, in part due to the potion he takes to prevent exhaustion fucking with his appetite, as well as issues with texture and just being bad at self-care in general. (This is definitely not me projecting onto him, not at all. /sarcasm) But if/when he does remember to eat, or if he's in a good enough mood to feel like being a little shit (affectionate), he would absolutely steal fries. And I think most of his friends would gladly let him, because they're glad he's eating something.

89. Why are they like this? Wrong answers only.

I psychically linked with the DM 6 months before I even met him and subconsciously stole his ideas for villain characters out of his head. Those ideas incubated and grew into Rook. (This is in reference to the fact that everything about Dr. Purity was written months before I joined the campaign, and also the fact that the DM was already planning on having a major pirate villain, and I said "oh, my boy's backstory has an evil pirate...".)

Carrion:

12. Do they agonize about where to put stickers, or slap them on anywhere?

I don't think Carrion cares about stickers. He really doesn't care about appearances/aesthetics in general. I feel like he'd just leave them behind, accidentally throw them away, or pass them off to Valeska, the party warlock.

57. How broken is their phone?

Not very, but only because he has a fucking military-grade case and screen protector on it. Even with all of that the screen protector is so cracked it's kind of hard to see the screen, and the case is scuffed to hell and back. (He absolutely has run over it with his truck before.) The case and protector were a gift from his friends after he broke or lost like 5 phones in 3 years.

61. Do they scream on rollercoasters? For fun or out of genuine terror?

Honestly, I feel like he's the person who's sitting there stone-faced, as if they're watching a particularly uninteresting show on television. He's not a huge rollercoaster fan. He's so tall and bulky they're a little bit uncomfortable sometimes, and he doesn't like sitting still. He always wins the biggest prize at those "how hard can you hit this" things, and gives it to Valeska. (He doesn't even like amusement parks, but if someone drags him along, he'll go and just follow them around like a sullen shadow.)

88. How beat up do their clothes/shoes/etc. have to get before they finally stop wearing them?

Literally unwearable. And I mean totally unwearable. Every single piece of clothing he owns is ripped, torn, and stained. The state of my old pair of Converse (soles falling out and feet would get totally soaked in the rain) looks prime compared to some of his shoes. All his pants are ripped on the knees, but none of them started that way. (I will say, the fact that he grows like 2ft in height and gains a few dozen pounds of muscle when he rages doesn't help, lmao. We don't think about his clothes in the dnd setting.)

98. There’s a massive spider making its home in the corner of their room. What’s their reaction?

Just leave it be. He spent YEARS living outdoors, so spiders are just chill buddies to him. As long as it's not a venomous one, he's fine with it, no big deal.

Writer's Choice:

44. Would they do numbers on Tumblr? Bonus: what’s their URL?

I think both Rook and Carrion would be meh on tumblr, but videos of their Bad Decisions (most likely posted by their friends or party members, not themselves) would do numbers on instagram or tiktok. Morana (necromancer witch for a pathfinder campaign) would do well on the witchy side of tumblr. She has an impressive collection of bones and taxidermy. One of her posts goes viral after someone points out that she has a real human skull on her bookshelf, and she responds with some variation of "don't worry about it / that's none of your fucking business / his name was Jeremy". Her raven friend, Miro, who she saved as a chick, would be quite popular. She'd probably get a fair amount of hate / weird messages regarding her... unsettling statements and over practicality around death. Might also make posts about forensics, like the stages of corpse decomposition and how body farms work. Kind of like a much more morbid "ask a mortician". Offhandedly mentions having her own colony of flesh-eating beetles and gets like 100 asks about it. I can see Avra (rogue/ranger from my CoS game) doing content like that of @/howtofightwrite and/or @/blumineck (informational content on weaponry and combat, mostly geared towards / useful for writers). She would also probably talk about inaccuracies with crime networks/assassination/murder in media, and people would probably be a little concerned how she knows so much.

[ghostgirlvii]

When the stupid (affectionate) romance/sex scene in DA:O is slowly inspiring you to write a small fic to go along with a drawing you are working on.

Brain calm down please! We are heading for another burn out otherwise.

Brain: Yeehaa partner! 🤠🐎

[salted-seaz]

Amina & Vulture *3, Inez & Rhiannon *7, for the ask game <3

3: What were their first impressions of each other? How does that compare to their impressions of each other now?

7: How often do they see one another? Where do they usually meet?

[madforhoran]

Replaying DAO and getting all the hilarious banter between Alistair and Wynne 🥹

[mana-sputachu]

Who's your favorite demon/devil in fighting games?

(that or demonically-empowered)

...I mean, aside my very obvious love for Jin and Iori, you mean?

Well, Siegfried/Nightmare is also a beloved fave. All my PCs have been named after him, currently we're at Siegfried the 3rd.

And well, Dante was in a few crossover FGs so I guess he does count? I'm very out of the loop with DMC, but my love for this middle-aged half demonic himbo is forever.

...does Morrigan counts as "demonically emporwered" since she's a succubus? If yes, add her too to the list!

[themxtleycrew]

@girlsfightingarena (for Tifa pls :) )

These tournaments attracted all types, all kinds of challengers near and far. It was challenges like these that really got Mila's blood pumping, just like the Dead or Alive tournaments, she'd be going up against all kinds of fighters, all kinds of fighting styles. Spying the brunette woman in the white tank top and long gloves, Mila was definitely curious, based on how the woman carried herself, she seemed to also be a mixed-martial artist.

Mila on the other hand, didn't look like she came to participate, having just got off work at the diner, she still had the ballcap with Johnny's logo on it. Dropping her duffle bag, she excitedly approached her fellow contestant.

"Are you here for the tournament too? Okay, yeah that's probably a dumb question. Did you wanna spar before the fight starts?" Mila's eyes glowed with excitement, fists clenched in anticipation.

[morrigan-sims]

Happy birthday! 🎉

Thank you! 💖

[literalite]

hi seph! I hope you're doing well! I have a question. How do you get the lighting in your edits to be so damn good? I mean, before you edit them. I always want to take in-game pics for edits, but the lighting is always so abysmal. Do you have any tips or tricks for getting a good lighting set up? Thanks for answering!!

(P.S. - I think you were sick at the time, so idk if you saw it, but I did your telephone cas challenge a bit ago. If you haven't seen it.)

HI sorry that this has been sitting in my ask box for like two months i just never had the opportunity/memory to actually address it fghjk but ok here goes it's really simple imo?

im presuming we're talking about plain background edits for this, although the general uh method for this is the same regardless of having a "set" or not. firstly i use these backgrounds, i've used them in most of my ingame edits here here and here, combined with the lights in this set which i use in all my ingame edits pretty much

make a big empty room, and line the walls that will be in the direction of the camera with the backdrops. i usually use only one or two of the lights (and shrink them down so the mesh itself is less intrusive) to light the scene because underexposed images are wayyy easier to edit then over exposed images. less is more- in this case i literally only used the one. not too close to the sim either or you're liable to wash them out entirely

i think an important thing to keep in mind is where the angle of light is coming from? straight on can make your images look flat, from directly behind and you can't see a thing. i usually do one to the side of the sim and (if i want more light) one slightly behind but sort of far away. u can change the colours of the lights themselves too to make it more expressive i tend to stay away from greens and oranges because i find those more difficult to edit

i went hunting in my screenshots folder for examples of this general idea, sorry you really can't see the lighting i used but its pretty much what i just said hgjkl again its better underexposed then overexposed. also zoom in the camera by the scrollwheel and use the keys to back away from the shot to make them look nicer too

i really didn't know how to explain this adequately sorry FDGHJKl ur welcome to keep sending me more specific questions if you have any more