#Slavic!Strahd

[old-world-bird]

A bit late upload, but here is a piece I did for a @curseofsergei's Curse of Strahd zine @mementomoristrahdzine

The zine is free, so please check it out. There's a hella load of amazing artworks Google Drive Download | Itch.io Download

Patrina, smol Kasimir, and a small glance to the days when everything was almost perfect. And Strahd on the pegasus Bucephalus of course, that Disney vibe will not support it by itself.

Fun fact: I started this piece 3 years ago while DMing CoS and it evolved from this-

-to this-

-to what you've seen above. Farewell, the shoulder uwu

[miraculan-draws]

Strahd von Zarovich

[ocelot-art]

(Closed) Looking For Voice Actress For Baldur's Gate 3 Curse of Strahd Mod!

tl;dr I'm looking for a voice actress for Ludmilla for a Baldur's Gate 3 Curse of Strahd mod.

Hi there! For the past few months, I've been working on a mod for Baldur's Gate 3. It's a passion project that'll see the party being whisked away to Barovia for a dinner with Strahd von Zarovich - who's taken an interest in their tadpoles. It'll be fully voiced and animated, with a custom Castle Ravenloft map and music.

Several wonderful folks have already contributed voice work, but I'm still looking for a voice actress for Ludmilla, one of Strahd's consorts from the Curse of Strahd 5e module. She would have around 40-60 lines of dialogue. (More details below!)

In a perfect world, I imagine Ludmilla would have an Eastern Slavic accent to fit the general setting, BUT I'm open to all voices and interpretations! As far as inflections go, I'm trying to characterize her through her writing to be calm, polite, and curious.

I'd ask that you have a decent microphone and Audacity, but no professional voice acting experience is required.

If you would like to help out with this project, please shoot me a message - and bonus points if you're able to send me a voice sample! I'm also Mozcat over on Discord. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. ^^

Practice lines: https://justpaste.it/ed45i

[deanastasya]

PART 2 YWAH

Rahadin and Strahd himself, not much to add except I wanted Strahd's metals to be gold, and as a slavic person myself, wanted his outfit to reflect that. For general dusk elves, I just wanted them to be distinct from how I draw other types of elves i guess. So they are tan but with more purple undertones, unlike human skintones. Dark eyes as a treat

PART 1

[luckyblackcatxiii]

Hello! Sorry in advance if this has already been answered somewhere. I really admire the way that you design outfits for your characters and wanted to ask if there were any reference sources that you recommend for designing D&D-ish fantasy outfits. Have you just picked up trends/patterns over time? Are there a certain time periods or fashion eras that you like to emulate in your designs? Media that has inspired the designs? Thanks for sharing your amazing art with us!!

Hey there!

No apologies needed, you'd be the first to ask me this (that I remember in the last couple of years, at least)

I think my biggest suggestion to anyone who wants to design outfits for characters--fantasy or not--is to first do some studying on how clothing is structured, as well as historical and/or regional fashion. Whether that's taking a class or just going through various medias that cover the topic, such knowledge helps you get an overall roundness on the basics of how clothes work, how they can be applied to the human figure, and just why certain fashions became in vogue via the times, emotions, economies, psychology and culture they reflected. All which can then serve as inspiration and guidance on how to go about clothing your made up person/society/etc, because after all: not only do we dress ourselves to reflect our own individuality, but people have been doing that for generations before us. Whether it's the fabric used or the shape of the silhouette, clothes tell a story! And a lot of it is interesting!!!

Also, the more you understand clothing, the more believable and strong your designs will present themselves.

(You'll also suffer the curse of recognizing how inaccurate a lot of historical TV shows and movies are with their depictions of costuming, then have to stifle this down so as not be obnoxious to those around you! Yay!!)

When it comes to designing fantasy things though, the best part of drawing from reality and historic fashion is you can have references without the feeling of having to be entirely beholden to accuracy (while still--I should hope--being respectful enough to avoid borrowing more personal aspects of cultures who may not appreciate parts of their identity being used without knowledge/context applied). I often like to mix and match different time period/regional aesthetics and mesh them into something that becomes seemingly familiar yet unique enough to call my own, and it seems to pay off in the long run.

Aside from that, I like to keep in mind the practicality of an outfit--why is it being worn and what is its purpose?--while also making sure it defines the most important aspects of my character, as well as has a nice shape/sillhouette. After that, aesthetics, personal enjoyment, easter eggs, and overall fun make up the rest of the designing process. Be sure to indulge once in awhile, if not always if that's your vibe!

On that note: I personally like to depict western clothing between the 15th-early 20th century, with the Georgian and Edwardian era being my favorite. Though, thanks to my VtM game, I've definitely grown a deeper appreciation and affection for the 20s more 'recently' and with Curse of Strahd, I've been having a ton of fun getting more familiarized with Slavic and Eastern European clothing. I have a lot of CoS NPCs that need designing (and I'd like to do a fashion zine for Barovia someday, so I've been doing a lot of research as of late...)!

If I'd have to give credit to any media that's inspired my own designs, I'd have to say Odin Sphere (or any fantasy based Vanillaware game, really) is always there in the back of my mind when I'm tackling a fantasy look. I'm absolutely blanking on anything else, but i'm sure there's plenty of inspiration that subconsciously sits in my brain just Ratatouille-ing my hand when I decide to design things AHAHAH~ I'm sure once this is posted, it'll all come rushing to me...

This has gone on pretty long and I admittedly feel like an unqualified egomaniac after yapping as much as I have, but I hope this helps, if not offers some overall insight on my own process! Thank you so much for your inquiry and kind words, I'm so glad you enjoy my stuff and look forward to supplying you more in the future! :,3c <3

[crowholtz]

one of my Curse of Strahd characters, Silka. she's one of the wildfolk of Barovia. I wanted to see her in some traditional wildfolk clothes, which are heavily slavic inspired, specifically Ukranian inspirations!

the Wildfolk here have a lot of Shifters from werecreature ancestry. Silka's line comes from werelynx shifters!

the art is by amazing @liusia-piu. I wanted to get an actual Ukranian artist to do this so I could get some advice on the clothing, the embroidery, and the jewelry. I also learned some cool stuff bout cats in Ukraninan mythology! Thank you so much <33

[l1ve-l4ugh-lov3craft]

shoutout to curse of strahd for forcing me to learn how to do more slavic accents so that all my npcs don't just have the exact same russian accent all across the land

[mx-lamour]

Costuming Strahd: Part 1 An "I thought too hard about this" adventure.

I recently picked up some fabric for Strahd (because you know I gotta dress up when my players eventually come to dinner).

A "fine black linen" for the shirt (from here if you want to grab some for yourself), and a black jacquard chenille (kind of a mid-weight upholstery fabric) for a classy vest.

I started doing some visual research on traditional clothing in Slavic and Southeastern European regions, hungrily compiling whatever I could find to build some pattern recognition.

Having a little bit of trouble reconciling traditional peasant garb with "but what would nobility wear" and "what year is it", plus the obvious influence of Dracula and his early cinematic adaptations on descriptions of Strahd von Zarovich (which are decidedly Western), and the need to remind myself that I am building a fantasy costume not some historical reenactment.

1937 print of a Wallachian peasant vs. a portrait of Vlad Țepeș noted 1466

The vague description from I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin gives me a neat little list of his layers: "cloak, outer coat, embroidered vest, and . . . a very fine black linen shirt."

The "outer coat" threw me. I suppose it shouldn't have. But it didn't quite mesh with the Ottoman influences in Vlad Țepeș portraits nor the stout vest and almost oversized coat ensembles I'd been looking at in peasant images from Romania and Hungary. Instead, that kind of layering really read Western Europe to me, so I was shunted directly back to Christopher Lee's portrayal of Dracula (in which his costume really is black-on-black-on-black, apart from the barest hint of a white shirt beneath the squarely Victorian suit, which easily consists of both a vest and jacket and, in this case, a cape).

Side note: Nowhere have I (yet) found mention of any sort of necktie. Just the Bela Lugosi style crest (but on a gold chain, not a ribbon).

There's just something about that 1930s white tie, folks. Mm.

Anyway, I figured it was safe enough to start with Strahd's shirt. Well... but, herein lies still the same conundrums: shirts aren't all the same spanning eras and regions. I did stumble on this, though:

I love me a pattern.

What I like about this in particular is that it's structured in a way that makes me believe Strahd was inspired by a man who lived in the 1400s. These sort of blocky, pieced shapes were how shirts were commonly built throughout much of history, with various amounts of gathering and whatnot, so it could be pretty versatile in terms of "what year is it".

I like the embroidery on the neck, cuffs, and over the shoulders. And I like that the split in the neckline is centered. I've seen examples with the split at the side of the embroidery panel that are really intriguing, but while a few have been noted as Ukrainian or Polish, most of the examples I've seen have been Russian, and I'm trying to avoid anything overtly Russian. (Russian garb is yummy, but it's not Barovian.)

The lighting on that third one is either ominous, suggestive, or both.

What I don't like is the open sleeve ends. There are certainly worse offenders (there are some HUGE open sleeves in some of the folk ensembles, like, unconscionably long and billowy), but even this kind of straight sleeve doesn't feel... I don't know... organized enough for Strahd.

I have a Viking style shirt with straight open sleeves like this, and it bothers me to no end. The material over the thin part of my forearms and wrists is floppy. It crumples and rides up (maybe they're just too big overall, but that's a risk to consider). I usually just roll them up to my elbows to have done with it, but that's a move for casual wear. I could see Alek Gwylim sporting open sleeves, but not Strahd. Strahd needs cuffs. Or if not cuffs, the kind of sleeve that narrows tight around the forearm and probably has at least a dozen buttons running up the length of it... but that's hardly practical, either, is it? Strahd treads that infuriating middle ground somewhere between comfortable and elaborate.

So anyway, I'm probably going to enlarge the sleeves. Not a lot; just enough to get a little bit of that "poet shirt" gathering on the shoulder and allow some extra movement in the elbow. And it's going to have cuffs that button around the wrist. Turning it into something a little more suggestive of the Renaissance (though I'm sure as hell not adding ruffles; I'm sure Strahd would think them frivolous).

Side note: Cuffed sleeves are not unheard of in folk garb from Romania and surrounding areas, but it still felt like a very deliberate choice to make. There's certainly a noticeable trend of open-sleeve styles, especially in Transylvania, if I understand correctly.

That first image is from I Do Declare. Great stuff.

Ultimately, the slightly tucked, cuffed sleeve should also bleed well enough into late-1800s suit territory, at least in spirit. The sleeves should have the approximate volume as (or perhaps a little more than) a modern button-down shirt.

Little concept sketches.

Building up from the body, the vest is the next most important thing (aside from pants, but I'm just looking at his torso for the moment; you can fake good pants, especially at the table).

Whatever happens, I knew the vest should be at least these two things: black, and embroidered. Why not blackwork on black fabric? And, since I've picked out a jacquard fabric that already has some texture to it, let's just keep piling on that subtle intrigue. That's right: get up close and personal, look at that mesmerizing detail... lol.

I do not have an actual plan for any of the embroidery yet. That's a problem for future me. (Good luck, sucker.) What I would like to do, vaguely, is take some of the traditional/folk embroidery from that southeastern region and combine it with more western Victorian elements. Haphazardly span worlds to mimick the elvolving lore.

Soutache, anyone?

The style of the vest I sketched out is based on the below examples of traditional Romanian outfits (from what region, I have no idea). The nubby little lapels reminded me of late Victorian waistcoats (which button up rather higher on the breast than modern suits), but with the added fun of a standing collar. That thick black embellishment also caught my eye, of course.

Look at that dapper little guy.

I would like the vest to be more fitted, though, rather than the boxy, open-front (and often sheepskin or fur-lined) style of traditional peasant dress.

Along a similar vein as "the man needs cuffed sleeves", having a more tailored vest seems practical and organized. Crisp might be the word I was looking for. And he's a lord, he can afford the extra effort. A fitted waistcoat would also play along with the little fantasy Renaissance lean and nods to Victorian fashion.

Strahd said trunk hose were a thing of the past, but made no mention of doublets one way or the other.

That's it for now. I was definitely just going to do a quick intro this morning, but here it is, evening again. Joy of joys. This is my work.

. . .

[Next - Costuming Strahd: Art Addendum]

[theundeadgospel]

doing it for both versions bc I love them. based off canon timeline.

—

BASICS

Full Name: Bethanne Vladislava Drozdov.

Known Alias(es): The Gospel (of Myrkul), The Herald of Myrkul, The Knight of Bones.

Age: 400+.

Gender: Female.

Birthday: March 14th.

Heritage: Vistani.

Religion: Spiritual theism.

Sexual & Romantic Orientation: Pansexual.

Status: Undead, active. Nosferatu spawn.

Residencies: Currently located in Thorncrest.

Highest Education Level: None, was taught by her late family.

Occupation(s): The champion of Myrkul. (Kassandra) Strahd Von Zarovich’s black knight. Myrkulite temple owner and trainer.

PHYSICAL EXAM

Facial Features: Grey-lichen flesh. War paint. Black painted lips. Long, pointed ears. Calloused and war ridden.

Faceclaim:

Voice: Thick Slavic accent, deeper octave, smooth and quiet at default but can use her general voice to project threats.

Voiceclaim: My own take. (Used in Curse of Strahd and LARP.)

Eyes: Strict, necrotic eyes and midnight black scleras.

Hair: Long side shave in blood red.

Body Type:

Distinguishable Marks: War paint used almost at all times. A deep, never healing scar on her belly from being disemboweled. Plethora of scars all over her body from combat. Many tattoos.

Weight: 180 lbs without armor.

Height: 5’7.

MENTAL EVALUATION

Mental Illnesses: Depression. PTSD.

Psychological Profile: The severe fear of failure. The severe fear of her loved ones dying because of her inability to tank. Undying determination to unite her undead brethren with the living.

Positive Traits: Loyal, determined, empathetic, warrior.

Negative Traits: Can be toxic, stubborn, violent, impulsive.

Alignment Type: Lawful evil. (Portrayed as a morally grey character.)

Personality Type: INFP.

Phobias: Literally immune to fear and disease.

Mannerisms: Grinding fangs when stressed, claws at things (or herself), makes bat noises.

Hobbies & Interests: Journaling and poetry, collecting bones, dusking rituals, paying respects to the dead, cleaning graveyards and resting places, tending to the dying in their last moments, training.

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS

Combat Style: Zealot barbarian + Oathbreaker.

Weapon of Choice: Spinemangler (Battle axe), Myrkulite Scourge.

Hand-to-Hand Combat Proficiency: Elongated claws and gauntlet strikes.

Tactical Strengths: Natural born leader. War general. Gives orders and can follow orders as well. Front lining tank.

Tactical Weaknesses: Divine hits deal extra damage. Psychological warfare.

Signature Techniques: Rage. Decapitation + dismemberment. Torture. Rip and tear. Animalistic.

Pain Tolerance: Will fight until death arrives. Undying prowess.

Defensive Skills: Meat shield for her party. Soaks up hits and hits back harder than the perpetrator.

AFFILIATIONS & RELATIONSHIPS

Family: Mama Andreá (Mother, deceased.) Catalina Drozdov. (Sister, deceased.) Florin Drozdov. (Brother, deceased.)

Yona Glamourhoof. (Adopted daughter. Alive.) Nova Espiritu. (Adopted son. Alive.) Oren. (Adopted daughter. Alive.)

Allies & Associates:

Her party. (Yona, Morian, Nova, Oren, Elias, Aphrodite, Ingrim. All alive.)

(Kassandra) Strahd Von Zarovich. (Boss. Active.) Lord Myrkul. (Faith. Active.) Sir Strange. (Ally. Active.)

Ireena and Izek Kolyana. (Former allies. Deceased.)

Rivalries: N/A.

Enemies: Vashka Von Zarovich. (Main antagonist. Active.) Lodewyn Lyresong. (Second antagonist. Active.) Noctus. (Beth’s vampire lord. Active.) Merwin. (Arch Devil. Active.)

Romantic History: Sir Laurent (Martin Clémentoi Vasile Le Meilleur) de Baptiste. (Leading love interest.)

Notable Friends: Her party.

HABITS & LIFESTYLE

Daily Routine: Runs based off of schedule. Usually.

Diet & Nutrition: Nonexistent. Meats. Blood.

Exercise Habits: Excessive training.

Grooming Habits: Meh.

Substance Use: None.

Sleep Patterns: Barely. Always on guard.

Personal Aesthetic: Doesn’t care much for fashion. Viking aesthetic. Lots of furs, war paint, heavy armor. Old gothic.

Favorite Books: Anything based on eldritch horror and necromancy. Secretly loves romance.

Favorite Music Genres: War drums.

Favorite Art/Architecture: Romance.

— — —

BASICS

Full Name: Bethanne (Betty) Vladislava Drozdov.

Known Alias(es): The Eldritch Beast. The Rat Keeper.

Age: 400+.

Gender: Female.

Birthday: March 14th.

Heritage: Shavali.

Religion: Spiritual.

Sexual & Romantic Orientation: Pansexual.

Status: Undead, active. Vampire.

Residencies: Currently located in Castle Drachenfels.

Highest Education Level: None, was taught.

Occupation(s): Grey Seer Rasknitt’s war lord (Formerly. Status unknown.). Clan Moulder’s experimentalist. (Formerly.) Clan Vishus’ lieutenant. (Works alongside Warlord Skreech. Active.)

PHYSICAL EXAM

Facial Features: Youthful, pale with freckles, bottle-cap glasses.

Faceclaim:

Voice: Smooth Slavic accent, almost purrs when talking.

Voiceclaim: My own take. (Used in Warhammer DnD.)

Eyes: Dull grey.

Hair: Messy, medium length locks in blood red.

Body Type: Athletic. Slender.

Distinguishable Marks: Clan Fester branding on her right arm. Clan Moulder branding on her left arm. Many tattoos.

Weight: 150 lbs.

Height: 5’7.

MENTAL EVALUATION

Mental Illnesses: Depression. Anxiety. PTSD. Psychotic. OCD. Minor bouts of schizophrenia.

Psychological Profile: Undying determination. Intense and inconsolable hatred toward humanity. Obsessed with violence and structure. Wants to ‘perfect’ Ubersreik by wiping out all of humanity.

Positive Traits: Perfectionism, intelligent, flexible, adaptable.

Negative Traits: Disloyal, extremely hostile at times, unpredictable, apathetic to a fault.

Alignment Type: Chaotic evil.

Personality Type: ESTP.

Phobias: Also immune to fear and disease.

Mannerisms: Nervous twitches. Rambling. Speaks to self a lot. Must always be occupied with something. Constantly experimenting or journaling.

Hobbies & Interests: Skaven ethologist. Journaling. Scholar. Self experimentation + experimentation on others. Blood magic. Studying warp magic.

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS

Combat Style: Blood sorceress. Fighter. Can transform into the eldritch beast while in a rage.

Weapon of Choice: Spinemangler (Battle axe.)

Hand-to-Hand Combat Proficiency: Elongated claws. The eldritch beast.

Tactical Strengths: Natural born leader. Brute force. Strategic. Coordination.

Tactical Weaknesses: Usually doesn’t engage in close combat. Divine hits for extra.

Signature Techniques: Eldritch beast going into a rage (Unadulterated slaughtering.). Boiling blood in the body. Pulling blood strands like puppeteering. Rip and tear at the eyes and throat first. Purposely prolonged. Will heal 1 HP then continue her methods and consistently revive them.

Pain Tolerance: Fair.

Defensive Skills: Has her Stormvermin front line. Middle to back liner. Range attacks.

AFFILIATIONS & RELATIONSHIPS

Family: Dimitrius Kolamanakova. (Brother. Deceased.) Gideon Gold. (Brother. Deceased.) Ezra. (Brother. Deceased.) Dimitri. (Mentor. Deceased.)

Tarba. (Mentor. Deceased.) L’Neauch. (Adoptive father. Deceased.)

Allies & Associates: Clan Fester. Clan Moulder. Clan Vishus.

Rivalries: N/A.

Enemies: Ubersreik Five. Humanity.

Romantic History: Blackacre. (Former love interest when she was human. Deceased.) Grey Seer Rasknitt. (One sided love interest. Unknown status.) Throt the Unclean (One sided love interest. Active.)

Warlord Skreech. (Partner. Active. Has an adopted whelp.)

Notable Friends: Lyss. (Close friends. Active.)

HABITS & LIFESTYLE

Daily Routine: Wake up, drown in wine, all according to schedule.

Diet & Nutrition: Wine.

Exercise Habits: Basic workout routine.

Grooming Habits: Meticulous. Very big on fashion. Neat and tidy.

Substance Use: Excessive drinking.

Sleep Patterns: Lazes around often.

Personal Aesthetic: Victorian vampiric gothic. Jewelry. Shawls and cloaks. Heels.

Favorite Books: Any information on skaven. Practices Queekish.

Favorite Music Genres: Instrumentals. Opera.

Favorite Art/Architecture: Gothic architecture. Sculptures.

— — —

Tagged by: No one, I’m bored lmao.

Tagging: @infernalapparatus @thanatologie @stories-from-the-warp @serpentofslaanesh @vampsyred @shadow-cleric

[mystic-mauve]

Playing Curse of Strahd as a slavic group is a careful balancing act, as i have discovered

You want it to be gothic horror, but sometimes you just gotta go down the Skidaddle Road to look for Bob Pancakes or whatever, and some magic is inevitably lost

[old-world-bird]

Some design commissions for other people's CoS campaigns

1 - Anastasia, Strahd’s daughter from Tatyana’s previous incarnation before Ireena. Commissioned by @blazingemstone

2 - Sasha Ivlikova, the construct, aka Strahd's fifth bride, aka the most traumatized Barbie of the Barovia. This and following are commissioned by @knightinkosherarmour

3 - Patrina Velikovna, who needs no presentation

4 - Yakov the Magnificent, once beheaded vistani boi en pointe

[vanhelsingapologist]

I am more than a little obsessed with how you draw Victor Vallakovich, I cannot lie, and also pardon finding your blog and then spamming notifications a lil bit, but dang I love your art and the designs for CoS characters you’ve done are just *chef kiss.*

Our DM did Victor from a completely different angle (like very different) from RAW, so I’m always curious about the Victors done a little closer to original, and the design you gave him, oh wow, I love him, I lowkey wanna adopt him a little bit not going to lie. But yeah I just needed to state as such and ramble! How’s his tenure as burgomeister (apparently?) going? 👀

This is so kind! Thank you! Spam all you like, it has no negative effect on me. Also, I love talking character analysis from our games, so if you wanted, I’d be more than happy to provide you with how we interpreted him, if you’re cool reading it!

Spoilers, as always, for our campaign.

Design

My DM has our Victor in his early 20’s. They wanted to play Victor as someone who was a victim of his dad’s abuse, and they thought that the trope of shutting one’s child away in their home for ‘protection’ would hit our party harder if he was a young adult. It became more controlling. So when designing him, it was important that he maintained a gaunt, haunted look. Almost Tim Burton-y. I combined Victorian, Traditional Slavic, and modern gothic influences to really hit Victor’s style. If you like the chains on his belt but want a younger look at him, @tantaliax has an INCREDIBLE design that utilizes a lot of these influences too.

As for the hair, our Vallakoviches canonically have vitiligo, passed down through Vargas. If I ever drew Victor from the back, his neck would have some. I think he also has some local vitiligo on his chest. I wanted Victor to have a couple streaks to set him apart from Vargas, but not too much

As for his tenure as Burgomaster��

Now that Vargas is good and dead, Victor’s a bit distracted by the power, enforcing odd laws and taking long, brooding walks in the dark that are probably illegal to interrupt him on, but he really has no idea what he’s doing. He sees it as a temporary distraction before he fucks off and leaves Barovia forever.

He likes to do the fun stuff. The being mean, the soirées, the gothifying his ancestral home, the BANNING OF THE FESTIVALS. But he hates the administration, which is funny because he’s actually pretty good at it. And he won’t give speeches. No speeches.

He repurposed the reformation center into a school and when people were like “weren’t people tortured there?” Victor was like “UGH I would’ve loved to learn in a place where people were tortured.” No one really knows what to do with that, but Victor spearheading the Barovian public education platform was whiplash inducing.

For the most part? He lets Emilia do most of it. She’s like, his shadow government while he acts as the face. He happily miserably sits in his attic and experiments or paints when we aren’t plucking him up and companion-izing him.

The main problem? Lady Wachter. He has her under house arrest for riot reasons, but “his” hesitance to decisively end anything has let her cult run amok. People in Vallaki are starting to say he’s too young, weak, and scared to do anything, which is once again garnering support to her.

I think Strahd’s also going to start tempting him with more power or the ability to leave to get him off the party’s side. Vallaki is super Pro-Party right now, and if Wachter’s second bid falls flat, I think Strahd will get that foothold in.

[velvetwarfare]

while my fever lowered a bit I wanna talk about the differences between my bb girls long post ahead

I differentiate them by both icon border and by referring the default to Betty whereas COS is Bethanne ✨

𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘

- A humanoid strand of vampirism. She was willingly turned by an ancient vampire in an effort to save the Leathe townsfolk better, growing tired of her squishy, mortal body and watching her family constantly die around her.

- LARP based. More crack shit friendly. Lighter themes.

- Stats ✨

- Shavali (homebrewed version of Vistani). Slavic-Romanian. Speaks mainly Russian.

- Victorian gothic aesthetic. Feminine lean. Can dress androgynous, prefers dresses and makeup more. Very elegant and fanciful, likes to douse herself in jewelry and wine to feel more uppity (PTSD from her past).

- Her backstory consists of formerly being a bard in Al’Hazir, practicing jests and crude humor only to earn extra coin rather than produce her own content due to the rich despising how light hearted it was. Because of her poverty and lack of home as well as family, and due to her intense desire to survive no matter the odds, she unwillingly changed her entire persona to fit her boss’ needs. Eventually, she went mad with how many times she had to strain and break her true self in order to just live, and came across the last performance for Deity’s Eclipse (Halloween). Seeing that the richer folks could afford prosthetics and costumes, Betty was only left with a dingy vampire cloak and begging for any sort of fangs. Being denied and told if she fucked up her performance in front of the neighboring city’s higher ups, she’d be cast outside to die in the winter, Betty resorted to shaving her canines into fangs herself with only a nail filer. This proved to be foreshadowing for when she became a true vampire — nobody telling the difference due to her canines having already been shaped to be fangs.

- Melancholic, pessimistic, has an awful view on humanity. Covers it all up with crude humor as a defense mechanism. Severe BPD. Doesn’t know how to take shit seriously because she has been masking for literal decades. Secretly VERY empathetic and gets attached easily from loneliness. Mentally incapable of not being a downright bitch with sharp sarcasm 90% of the time (ingrained defense mechanism). Wants her own children but can’t biologically create one as an undead so she’ll just adopt any fucking person she deems worthy LOL. Pansexual, no lean. Likes to sleep around. Does not give a shit about social normality.

- The Forgotten Realms brought out her serious side though — blood magic and becoming a sort of general and all to a bunch of Skaven. She’s very much used to violence and death due to this. Doesn’t bat an eye at bloodshed. Isn’t opposed to it either. Just don’t ruin her carpet or attire.

- H.arley Quinn, H.ormone Monstress, and S.pinel coded.

- Noel’s Lament as a theme song. Memory by Cats is her human theme.

- Easy to ship with. Easy to interact with. Very laid back and flexible.

𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄

- An unwillingly turned vampire spawn with a heavy strand of animalistic Nosferatu (beast-like spawns turned from a beast of a vampire lord, the most severe and fatal out of all the covens. usually, people don’t last long as this version of undead due to how it wrecks the body and mind. those who live are absolute killing machines.) . Lived in a very healthy vardo and settlement before they were slaughtered by her vampire lord.

- DnD (Curse of Strahd) based. Dark themes present. Both controversial and touchy subjects. A grim turn on the default Betty.

- Vistani and highly spiritual, doesn’t care for the Gods (they both share that tbh). Speaks in Patterna and Romanian. Has Celtic traditions. Was never a city folk, she has 0 idea how to socialize with people, was raised off the grid.

- Stats and bio ✨

- Very androgynous. Muscled as fuck. (see s.triga or k.arlach) Literally just wanted to be a pretty princess before her body got disfigured and cursed as all hell. Extremely insecure over her appearance due to the looks she always gets from people (unwillingly intimidating). Barbaric and vintage vampire aesthetic. War paint. Envies other vampires for looking more normal and humanoid. Her wild shape is corrupted as well — to be a giant bat beast just like her vampire lord. Dreads how monstrous she is, just wants someone to find her pretty again.

- Bethanne grew up in a decently small sized vardo and settlement before being turned. Mama Andreá, a small elderly woman, was a psychic who ran a traveling business where she would read fortunes and read people’s souls. Catarina was her elder sister who taught her how to read nature and defend herself in the dark forests. Florin was her younger brother, who she mainly raised when Andreá fell ill. They all made up who she still is today — and without such humane love, Beth would have fell complete victim to the fatal strand and turned fully into a beast. Any souls that Noctus takes will never rest in peace due to his curse — and Bethanne is prophesied to be the one to behead him and set all the souls free due to escaping from his grasp and actively fighting the strand that’s always trying to corrupt her body.

- Pessimistic tendencies, but tries to stay optimistic for the sake of her party and hope to lay her family to rest by killing Noctus (her vampire lord). Any modern reference goes right over her head. Any social aspect goes right over her head. She is so fucking confused by society, I swear to god. You’re going to have to teach her everything normal. She knows how to read and write though, she loves to write poetry to vent. Excellent crafter, made all the toys for her vardo. Excellent at weaponry and archery. Knows tarokka. Was given a deck by Cassandra (Strahd in disguise as a Vistani woman, but no one knew it was her at the moment) as well (on request, but she already knows how to use it due to Mama Andreá having been a literal psychic who dealt with fortunes and divinity.) Humanity treats her like shit out of fear due to all the undead attacks, but she still loves humanity and continues to protect them despite her reluctance to. Highly and openly empathetic but has sarcastic tendencies. Usually pretty stern and serious, exhausted 25/8. Literally dreads her own existence because of how tiring it is to live with the curse and constant death around her. Everyone she’s loved so far has fucking died so she firmly believes her existence is a curse in itself that causes anyone who gets close to ultimately die. Is petrified to love. Wants to be loved so bad it’s ridiculous.

- When I fucking tell you she is HELLBENT on the hero complex. Not only was she forcibly turned, forced to leave her vardo at the City of Judgement, got this heavy ass prophecy shoved into her arms, and gets the nastiest backlash from the living just for existing as a vampire spawn, and having everyone she loves die around her, she believes that saving her loved ones and setting the souls free will be enough proof that she’s fucking worth something other than misery and failure. It’s not going well LOL this is COS everything goes wrong. She protected her first love interest until the very end until he caught feelings for her then got straight up kidnapped by one of the main antagonists — where he’s been actively tortured and experimented on slowly in an unknown location. She just found out about Cassandra and her true identity and is about to beat her ass silly for forgetting her Vistani ties but then she’ll try to save her ass too. It’s even worse because Vistani are so built on this foundation of acceptance and love and these two were originally two innocent Vistani women who may have even known each other in the past before getting entirely DESTROYED by vampirism and status. They both have the WORST mental health and PTSD too rest in pieces holy shit

- Hates violence but will instigate it over a short temper. Jokes about needless violence just to be a cunt with her weirdly dry sense of humor. Verbally harsh as hell and dangerously outspoken. Her intimidation comes from both her tongue and appearance. Has made a kid shit his pants before, and that was actually unintentionally JGHFHCVCH ,, has told a God and a devil to go fuck themselves, regrettably told Cassandra on their first meeting to fuck off because she was in a real shit mood at the time and Cass was joking about the fates not telling her if Beth would be tall or short (she’s 3 inches taller than Beth and Beth apologized later on and said she’s a train wreck to which Cass just stares at her and asked if the only reason she wanted to speak to her was to say she’s a train wreck and followed it up w it’s obvious you’re a train wreck and Beth just dead panned and asked her if she’s always such a cunt I fucking LOVE them LMAO) , has threatened an ENTIRE FUCKING AREA OF ROYAL GUARDS with her axe because one of them was being racist and threatened her party’s safety, threatened Ireena’s fucking brother too because he was just as bad as the guards and she HATES authority. Vaguely threatened the council of Ravenloft for corrupting Cass in conversation only. probably will threaten them in person honestly, especially if it’s just a group of pompous dudes. she hate hate HATES men in power — and so does Cass LMAO these two are going to be HORRIFIC

- Low key C.armilla coded, M.erida, K.arlach, A.lucard, and E.da coded.

- All the Saints of Notre Dame theme. The entire Brave soundtrack. Any Celtic or Viking song. Skål by Fuimadane.

- Not that hard to ship with, she’s just heavy baggage and looks like a monster for the most part so not many people cared to ship w her.

[plutoswritingplanet]

I know it's not my usual content, but I'm starting a Curse of Strahd campaign with my friends. And I want y'all to meet my slavic prey animal, Drusilla Dru Lyuricheva.

She's a paladin, she took a vow of chastity and she will save the unsavable

[corbinite]

I kinda wanna try running curse of strahd (if I can get my hands on a pdf) but it’s bothering me that despite being based on dracula all the names are vaguely serbian but then with some german thrown in and like I get that people think romania is a slavic nation (it isn’t but it has slavic influences) and germans do have a history in transylvania (though I doubt the creators of ravenloft actually know that) but like... it still bothers me. So I think I’m gonna have to change all the names and places over to something else if I want to not go insane

[mochizuke-creates]

*Scoots in my best Stralek piece yet*