#lightcasting

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Devout Lightcaster

"Goddess, grant us light to banish the world's shadows." —Prayer to Kamsa

Artist: Shelly Wan TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[brokentrafficknight]

[windforestsso]

And every move you make Every bond you break Every step you take I'll be watching you

[for-the-greater-good]

adrian lightcaster webweaving // all from pinterest

[ruitethewingedfox]

Ok there's almost definitely not a large community for this series but what little of you may be here; Lux has trumpet-player vibes.

[organicdeep]

The first episode of Lightcast series, prepared by N.Volkova

youtube

or SoundCloud

[comicaurora]

Slowly making my way through the TOTK B roll stream, had a few thoughts on the emptiness of the sky islands. In a way, would it not be more surprising if there were more remains to be seen? Ignoring the whole 'it's a game, decisions were made by the developers' bit, nature can take over surprisingly quickly in the right circumstances. In a way, it's more surprising so much survived in BOTW (like the bomb hut ruins. Fire damaged wood? Should be gone in a decade or two anyway). (contd)

So the thing about the Sky Islands in Tears of the Kingdom is that, not only are the ruins fairly well-preserved - presumably due to having been in the Sacred Realm for the last 10,000+ years - but even with them damaged and tumbledown, it's fairly clear from the layout of the islands and their structures that they were not residences. That's not something that would've been lost to erosion and time, that's something foundational to the architecture of the place.

When the game designers want to show a place people live on the surface of Hyrule, they hit a few key points: distinct-looking homes with beds, places that make food, and an inn for travelers. The buildings are different sizes, decorated or personalized by the residents. They're laid out relative to one another in a way that allows for easy, convenient traversal. It's intentional design that makes the villages feel lived-in, cozy, and worth protecting.

Inside the buildings, little details show the presence of living people, even if the building is empty at the time. Table settings, notebooks, pictures on the walls. They feel like they've been shaped by the influence of people, living and working and customizing their environment.

These are all, to be fair, things that we wouldn't expect to last very long if the town fell to ruin. When we explore the sky islands, we aren't expecting to find well-preserved paper maps or notebooks or anything. But if they were lived-in - if they were Zonai population centers rather than temples, ritual centers and factories - that would still be reflected in the basic layout of the structure itself. A residence is designed to accommodate for every basic need, meaning we'd expect the buildings to have places for them to sleep, to eat, and to relax. On the Sky Islands, we find none of these things.

The most common buildings on the sky islands are these isolated stone one-room ruins. They look and feel like storehouses - a few pots, some crumbled masonry. No doors or interior rooms for privacy, no comforts, no sign of a place to sleep, no adjoining buildings. These things were never homes.

The Great Sky Island is the only really plausible candidate for a place the Zonai might've actually lived, being about town-sized with several buildings, but it's not laid out like one. The buildings are either small one-room storage sheds or the massive Temple of Time, and there's no sign of other specialized buildings that could have been used for things like food, rest or other necessities. The Great Sky Island feels like a large, beautiful public park built grafted onto the Temple of Time.

The larger dungeons are more internally complicated, but not in the way that residences are complicated. The water dungeon looks like some kind of huge open park - wide avenues, plazas, devices built for mobility. It feels like a place meant to be traversed and admired, not stayed in.

The wind dungeon is more clearly built as a weapon platform, nowhere we expect people to live. It makes sense that it feels sterile and lifeless.

The larger, more complicated sky islands are also designed for clear utility. The spheres are some sort of celestial observatories, featuring a control system, a treasure chest, and nothing else.

Wildcards like Lightcast Island were clearly built to serve a single purpose - in this case, a lighthouse and attached microdungeon - but contain no signs of life. Zonai came here for a reason, but they didn't stay.

The glide challenge islands are visually impressive, but ultimately the rings are empty - they don't even have structures on them. They exist for the dive challenge and nothing else.

Same deal with the labyrinths, which exist explicitly as puzzles and challenges.

The mines in the depths are also clearly structured for utility - storerooms, construct part repositories and a lot of conveyer belts for moving zoanite. The purpose of the building is very clear just from the layout, and these are not places where anyone was supposed to be staying outside of work hours.

This, along with the layout of towns on the surface, shows that the designers are very good at constructing architecture that reflects the in-story utility of a place, which means the lack of signs of life in the sky islands is not a limitation of the console or the imagination of the artists - it's an intentional design choice.

The end result of all of this? The Sky Islands feel like somewhere that the Zonai built and visited, but not where they lived. They feel cold and unwelcoming and liminal. There's no sense of loss or tragedy, just a feeling of emptiness - people used to come here, but they don't anymore. There's none of the poignancy of an empty dining table's unused place settings or an abandoned child's toy. None of the Sky Islands that descended during the Upheaval were places where the Zonai lived. At the peak of their power they were mistaken for gods, a massively thriving technologically advanced civilization - I'd expect their homes to be cities, towers of jade and marble bustling with the activity of a post-scarcity utopia. None of the Sky Islands show us anything like that, and given how well the designers can portray a lived-in place even without any people in it, this is assuredly intentional. The Zonai built and visited and used the Sky Islands we can explore, but as a whole they lived somewhere else.

But throughout it all, there's this pervading unease - the fact that there's no obvious tragedy makes the sky islands feel more unnerving. We know just enough of the story to infer that something happened to the Zonai - something bad, if we read into Rauru and Mineru's reaction - but whatever it was left no scars. The Zonai constructs don't even realize anything's amiss. The buildings have been damaged only by time and gravity; the forges and mines and observatories and temples are silent and abandoned, like the Zonai all went home one night for dinner and just never came back.

The Sky Islands don't feel dead, they feel lifeless. A place people passed through but didn't leave their mark on. When Link traverses the islands, he isn't just alone - he doesn't even have the comfort of signs of life. The only evidence he has that anyone ever came to these islands are the fact that somebody built them in the first place. They left no marks, no art, no notes, no diaries, no toys, no graffiti. They're just gone.

[houndsofcorduff]

40. Your OC is watching someone attempt to do something at which they are extremely capable. However the person they are watching really isn't... [For Corduff 👀]

Thank you for the ask! I decided to go with a scene from before book 1, when Corduff and Boru are just getting to know each other. It was fun to think about little Bo and Corduff not being used to his particular brand of...training...yet. Also, I'm physically incapable of writing short scenes, so I hope you don't mind it's a good chunk of reading:

Training Grounds. Elsava. Rosen. 42nd Day of Spring, 938.

Somehow, this scrawny blond boy was going to bring peace to the entire world. And it was Corduff's job to train him. Training Hayes and Siobhan had been easy, they were so skilled and precise in their spore manipulation and they caught on quickly, very much like Corduff had been at their age. This kid, Boru, though, was very different from his other two apprentices.

"When do we get to eat?" the thirteen-year-old complained.

"I think we should do some training first, work up your appetite," Corduff answered. "We'll start with -."

"I've already worked up an appetite, it's my first day as your apprentice, you could at least get to know me before working me out," the boy huffed.

"I'll get to know you just fine, but if you're going to fulfill the prophecy of peace, you'll need to know how to windcast," Corduff countered quickly. "Now, don't worry, we'll start simple. Take an open stance. There's already a breeze, feel it on your skin, try to pull on it with your SporeSense, draw it closer to you. Close your eyes if that helps."

Although he did grumble, Boru spread his feet shoulder-length apart. He also shut his eyes. He hesitated a moment, then raised both arms to shoulder height. That hadn't been part of his instruction, but Corduff was willing to let him see it through. He had seen the skill the boy had with lightcasting, it was insane, so maybe this was just part of his process. Then, for reasons beyond Destiny herself, he inhaled deeply, held it in his chest like he was about to dive underwater, then thrust his hands forward.

Nothing happened. Not a rustle. If anything the breeze faded, like the wind was rejecting him.

"Did you just…punch the air?" Corduff couldn't even believe he had to ask that question.

"I was drawing it in like you said!" Boru opened his eyes. "I was just following your instructions!"

Destiny's stars, this kid was going to be a lot of work. "Try it again," he said, trying not to lose his patience. "This time, no punch, don't even move, just feel the spores. Relax your arms and don't hold your breath. Feel the weight of the air. It feels like the moment just before you fall. You know that feeling? When you're running and you know you're going as fast as you can?"

"Oh yeah," Boru grinned from ear to ear. "You want me to run? I can run really fast."

"I'm sure you can," Corduff said quickly before the kid could take off at full speed, "but for now, stay still, completely still, but picture yourself running in your mind. You need the feeling of running without actually doing it, got it?"

"Right!" Boru closed his eyes again and breathed in and out. That was an improvement, at least.

After a few moments, the grass at Boru's feet quivered. He didn't see it, but Corduff did. It was a starting point if nothing else.

"Better," Corduff said. "Still terrible, but better."

Bo opened his eyes in triumph and turned to his new master. "Alright! Does that mean we get to eat now?"

Yep, a lot of work.

____

Put my characters in more situations!

[lumilasi]

Finally, after forever I have some sorta ref post for Diojas. I needed to do this given he and Azul are my "main" couple, and the most major story of my characters happens around them.

I wondered if I should draw his full body separately for this as well, but then felt like it fits to have his full body ref image be with his BF, since that's the case for Azul's reference too. (Which, I now have to update Azul's sorcerer outfit at least given the story changes in regards to his BG)

Diojas' bio below:

Name: Diojas Sterling

Nicknames: Dio (his family/friends), Boy, Brat (his dad, affectionately), Puppy, pooch, your highness (Azul, jokingly) Prince (his dad's pack members)

Age: 29

A Grimmhound/Lightcaster sorcerer hybrid whose opposing powers cause him to struggle with controlling both, especially the former.

Family: Mother Mellina (Lightcaster sorceress), Father Alexander (Grimmhound), teen sister Mia. His dad's Grimmhound/Lycan pack

Love interest: Chester Knight/Azul Samaros, a thought-to-be-shadowcaster sorcerer whose magic turns out to be something completely different eventually.

Closest friends: Iris Avara (An astral sorceress who is also Azul's childhood friend), Angus Belmont (Formerly his BF's rival), Roman Bosco (the BF of Azul's friend/honorary younger sister figure Ava, a fellow half-blood Grimm)

Rival: none

Powers:

Astral projection: A basic skill for all magic using beings essentially, just how good you are at it depends on your skill level; on one hand Diojas should be really good at it due to being a Lightcaster, but because of his Grimmhound essence he tends to struggle with it.

Light spells: Diojas can utilize sacred light magic for exorcism, healing, protection and offensive spells, but how well they work varies

Grimmhound power: Diojas can transform into a canine beast that is very fast, strong, and durable, not easily damaged by mortal weapons or even most magical ones. Because of his father being a Golden Hound, he also can summon special claws that can damage spirits and ghosts as well.

Keen intellect: Because of his struggles with his powers, Diojas is very good at finding workarounds and using tactical thinking in solving situations when he can't rely on his magic. He's also known to be able to learn and retain a lot of random information for later like his mother.

Weaknesses

He's very self-conscious due to his struggles with his powers & having been a rather lonely child, meaning he struggles to approach people on his own in a more emotional level, which is ironic considering he's actually very good with people once he does talk to them thanks to his emotional intelligence and empathetic nature.

Diojas can't control his magic fully, and needs a protective talisman to keep his beast side at bay. He has spirit claws like his dad, but can't summon them most of the time.

NOTABLE BG STORY FACTS:

Diojas has always struggled with his hound side, and as a child had it lash out often; this is the main reason why he and Mia have such a big age-gap, its because his parents ended up waiting until his magic became stabler before even entertaining the idea of having another child.

Azul/Chester entered his life when his parents decided they wanted someone to cover his back during missions as he was starting to take reckless risks to prove himself, and given he was an adult at this point they didn't want to be constantly present and make him feel like a toddler needing to be kept an eye on.

Diojas was a very grumpy kid due to his struggles, which is also why he didn't really have friends a whole lot until he began working together with Azul, who introduced him to new people that he ended up connecting well with/generally gained confidence to make friends.

Diojas ends up becoming sort of the negotiating neutral party between Angus and Azul during the first few months of their developing new relationship, where the two were still likely to be at each other's throats.

Other Fun facts:

Diojas is gay, he was instantly attracted to Azul and VERY unhappy about it.

Unlike his dad, Diojas doesn't have as strong of a canine instinct in human form, so he doesn't act out on them at random like Alexander does - unless he's drunk. If you see Diojas staring at a bird, not wanting to take a bath, or scenting his boyfriend then you know he's wasted.

Lot of people assume his empathetic nature was inherited from his mother, but it actually comes from both; Alexander just tends to hide his behind a gruffy facade due to his past trauma. (once you actually look at what he does rather than says though, it becomes obvious he's someone who cares about people a lot)

Diojas' hair is two-colored because typically, only manifested Golden Hounds can have blond hair, but Diojas also had blond hair genetics from his mother, allowing the 'golden mane' to manifest partially. If his mum had a different haircolor, Diojas' hair would be fully brown or even black.

Since he is a Grimmhound, he does tend to prefer red meat/game based foods, but doesn't sometimes eat it raw like Alexander, as again, Diojas' isn't as strongly of a Stinky Forest Man like his dad.

He's a bit closer with his mum, mainly because he really looks up to his dad and thinks he's kind of a disappointment for struggling with his beast side so much. (of course Alexander doesn't think so at all and keeps reminding him of that, but it is difficult for Diojas to internalize the message)

His first time was with Azul, given he never dated before either on top of growing up with no proper friends. (Azul had slept with Iris before but no one else so he wasn't that much more experienced despite the confidence he seems to ooze)

He tends to enjoy snatching Azul's colorful cardigans a lot, to the point he no longer even really thinks about it when he does so.

Roman becomes one of his good friends almost accidentally while he and Ava help him and Azul out in their quest, and Roman can relate with his struggles and fears of his own powers, BUT is also older so he has some life-experience to share with Diojas.

If Diojas would let his hair grow out fully, it would still be brown from the underside and blond on top; the brown color isn't just in his roots, but rather his hair genuinely has a split in pigmentation.

[brokentrafficknight]

Catherine Arc-Cruz and Zhen Zhen Rose-Wukong!

Knightlight kid x Strawbana kid, call it Lightcaster

[doomwads]

99 Ways to Die

Game: Doom II Year: 1996 Source Port: Any Specs: MAP01-MAP03 Gameplay Mods: None Author: Warren Marshall idgames | doomwiki | onemandoom

Warren Marshall despaired of the release of Quake, with everyone salivating over its lighting. 99 Ways to Die was meant to be a rallying cry to show folks how you could push Doom to simulate a more realistic lighting model. Marshall's fears were unfounded--the community has been more than strong for the nearly 30 years following 99WAYS--but he amusingly never made a PWAD after this one. The way it points toward the realistic lightcasting that would become the norm is why it was named one of Doomworld's Top 10 WADs of 1996.

Click here if you'd like to read my full review.

[for-the-greater-good]

“do it, it would be so slay,” the angels say as they convince adrian to burn all of his relationships into the ground, brutally slaughter his best friend and closest confidant, and construct a reality where he was born rich, denying his heritage, in order to be accepted into high society to further his own goals that are at their core for the sake of humanity

[eternal-dragon-of-time]

Magius Dracheneyes

Finally threw together a fullbody fully rendered Magius image! + Lore

Nonbinary (they/them)

Spawned into Lore while young and was trained as an assassin basically from the start

Starting Class: Rogue

then its goes Chaos Slayer -> Lightcaster/Lord of Order (while pretending they aren't haunted by their chaorruption at every step)

Cursed to have to keep every oath they make. They do not make promises for this reason

Covers their face in an effort to unperson themselves (also because they are a wanted criminal)

The EDoT's most pathetic wet cat. They are doomed to fight Drakath in every timeline and if they win they usually die right after.

Loves violence because its the only thing they are good at. They are kind of like Goku but worse.

[sunny-porridge]

Around a Cooking Pot

The first thing that Link learned after coming out of the Shrine of Resurrection was how alive the world was. Rolling hills and winding rivers greeted him, beating to the beat of his own heart as he adjusted to the blinding light outside the cave.

The second thing he learned was how to roast an apple over an open fire.

Quickly after that, cooking became second nature. He could coax a smile out of a sad friend with a fragrant mix of fish and butter, conspire with his friends in Kakariko Village after offering a couple pieces of honey candy, or boost his strength before a fight with the help of a meaty skewer.

He often got weary travelers to open up and share their stories over the soothing refrain of a simmering hearty soup, quietly delighting in the satisfied sighs of his unsuspecting guests as they tried a warm meal for the first time in days.

He once even made a cake for a Princess, who refused to share a piece even as she sniffled and stubbornly wiped tears from her eyes at the familiar taste of sweet berries mixed in a luscious rich cream in between layers of fluffy white sponge.

It was no surprise then, that when he set off on a journey with eight heroes of courage, he became the group’s official cook at the sight of the simple stew he made on their first evening together, camping on the forest of the Hero of Time’s era. Link often wondered how his brothers had survived their own adventures going on little else than hardtack, milk, and the occassional friendly monster teaching them the recipe for an unexpectedly delicious soup (which was more likely than one would think).

Sure, most of them had some frequent access to towns, merchants, or their own homes, but adventuring meant spending days at a time on their own, fighting hordes of monsters, exploring the most untouched parts of the land and crawling through long forgotten dungeons, and yet his brothers had been rather helpless around a cooking pot except for the most basic of recipes.

Now, the act of cooking was almost as nourishing as the food he prepared. The rancher had told him once, with a grin and a bump of his shoulders, that it looked like he was in a trance. And sure enough, once he really got into it, he felt as if he merely had to toss ingredients into a pot and watch them bounce, becoming meals in an instant as he hummed a little made-up song and lost track of everything around him. Of course, in reality cooking takes a lot more patience and care, and he likes to take the time to make every detail just right.

It had been almost three years since he separated from his brothers and stopped using the name “Wild”. As he sat around the fire making his new favorite recipe - one he hoped he could one day share with the men who had become his brothers - Link once again lost track of his surroundings, this time to the soft hum of a now familiar tune he had learned from the youngest hero on the team.

He sat on a trunk in a nameless island in the North Akkala Sky Archipelago - whoever named the Sky Islands had clearly gotten bored after the masterpiece of Lightcast Island - preparing a pizza, a brand new recipe he created with Koyin after helping her recover the recipe for cheese. The rancher had introduced him to cheese before, and he sometimes missed the soft, pillowy Ordon Goat Cheese, but the more fragrant version they made in Hateno melted perfectly over the disk of soft bread and thick, herby tomato sauce.

He had already tested a few different toppings to place on top of the pizza, trying to find the perfect companion for the savory cheese. Strips of roasted vegetables where a sensible option and offered a fair variety, but Link didn’t get to where he was by playing it safe. Today, he was testing thin slices of cured meat, and although the result was quite satisfying, he found himself wishing he had saved more of the sweet-and-tangy fruit that grew in the warm islands of the sailor’s world. The pineapples would complement nicely with the rich, fatty tones of the meat.

[chocsbookblog]

Book Review: Oops! I Broke the Wizard's Android!

Title: Oops! I Broke the Wizard's Android!

Author: Royce Roeswood

Narrator: Royce Roeswood

Rating: 4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Audio ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for allowing me a copy of this audio book in return for an honest review.

Ninienne Lightcaster has been sent to a back of beyond moon for her final year of her wizard training. The wizard she is assigned to for her apprenticeship is old, forgetful, and not even interested in her speciality. But he is curious about her new technical devices and jumps at her suggestion to purchase an android, a purchase that may lead to her failing her magical studies if she’s not careful.

This is the third audiobook in a row where the author has been the narrator, Royce Roeswood did a brilliant job of bringing his book and characters to life. I had no problem keeping up with who was who.

Note on use of AI, at the end of the novel the author explains how he utilised AI during the writing process along with a tarot deck for the same purpose. I don’t have an issue with this, the story was weaved and polished by the author, how authors get their ideas and what devices they use to create the tale is up to them.

What I liked: The melding of fantasy and sci-fi was cleverly done. I tried to explain it to my brother and he suggested it was like Star Wars, but it’s not like that. It felt more like a magical fantasy which happened to have advanced technology in the background. It was also a fun story, with a lot going on, and a little bit sinister at times too.

What didn’t work for me: I’m not sure if there is an aim for a sequel but some things felt a bit unfinished at the end, I wasn’t sure if her friend not being available to take calls was a plot line to be expanded on or just to leave Ninienne feeling jealous. I would certainly be open to reading more from this world if that’s in the plan.

Final thoughts: A lively story mixing two of my favourite genres.

Who would enjoy this: Age from young adults up, fans of light fantasy and light Sci-Fi.

[marcusrobertobaq]

Those trains got some "Lightcast" written together with CL's logo in the texture. What does it mean?