#moonsideshade

[nordarknessdimsthesky]

Nina?

Full Name: Nina Owateng


Source: A Coven of Chayan Gender and Sexuality: your queer aunt Pronouns: she/they Ethnicity/Species: Human, Wood Chaya Birthplace and Birthdate: Shangaura, 694 Guilty Pleasures: Singing loudly and maybe off tune, double dipping, having dessert before a meal Phobias: Seeing their family get hurt or killed, not being able to help their family What They Would Be Famous For: Revitalizing many farmers’ fields during droughts, though she wouldn’t want the fame What They Would Get Arrested For: breaking state laws by practicing Chayan magic, keeping tons of Chayan children away on Weiyun island from the Shangauran military that wants to use them as weapons OC You Ship Them With: Canonically their partner and co parent is Taran Ayu OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Anyone in the Shangauran military or perhaps Shangauran royals who have a grudge against the Chayan Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Memoir or fantasy Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Adults who treat children like they are stupid or incapable of understanding tough things Talents and/or Powers: as a Wood Chaya they can manipulate plants and wood, speed up or slow down plant growth Why Someone Might Love Them: They’re kind, quirky, imaginative, nurturing. 10/10 would cuddle.  They’re playful and great with kids. They get lost in their mind and dance even when there’s no music.   Why Someone Might Hate Them: She can be idealistic, indecisive, frenetic, and one egg short of a dozen sometimes. How They Change: After reuniting with their coven mates, they learn they don’t have to just rely on Taran to take care of the Weiyun coven. They also realize that their children are growing up and can make decisions for themselves, such as going back to the mainland even in the presence of danger. Why You Love Them: It’s always fun to inhabit their headspace.  I wrote some of their character traits after a dear friend who I love and appreciate.  In some small way, I would like older-me to be like Nina.

[chromoluminary]

Iris?

Full Name: Iris Gender and Sexuality: variable depending on the decade/century Pronouns: she/they Ethnicity/Species: Human from Spring Birthplace and Birthdate: Presumably Spring, presumably almost 3 centuries ago, but that’s all she remembers. Guilty Pleasures: falling off the map and bailing on any official commitments without a sign for a week at a time to go hiking with someone they love :) Phobias: She probably would have been desensitized to most actual phobias over the years? But I think they’d maybe be wary of watching loved ones die. :( What They Would Be Famous For: Being a kickass Aspect of Spring that attempts reform on whatever scale she can sustain over the course of multiple centuries. What They Would Get Arrested For: ohhhh you know, not muuuuuch just all those war crimes and being an accomplice/accessory to a minor murder on verdant grounds  OC You Ship Them With: Liora! :) Unless they’re just coworkers.  OC Most Likely To Murder Them: hmmmm there’s The Balance. Probably the Balance. Liora comes in a close second after that bunch tho. Favorite Movie/Book Genre:  Postcanon I honestly think whatever books Liora ends up bringing home for herself because Iris is nosy and likes knowing what her wife is reading lately. But if they had to go to a bookstore themselves to grab something, probably whatever history books they could get their hands on. Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Historical inaccuracy in a period piece play or novel because the author was too lazy to research. Seasons, how hard is it to just look up the name of the Fall aspect from two centuries ago instead of just making one up?  Talents and/or Powers: Honestly unclear postcanon? I’m open to your interpretations, but probably some healing still, plenty of illusion, maaaybe that lil not dying magic.  Why Someone Might Love Them: Their inherent want to keep doing good in the world, continuing to try and leave a mark even when everything feels as though it’s working against them. Above all being as kind and devoted to her causes + loved ones. Why Someone Might Hate Them: The Aspects are infinitely more stab-able than one might assume. And kinda deserve it for being resistant to radical change in power. How They Change: Spring is about learning to let go and come to terms with things starting anew. For change uh.... Iris probably learned that things needs to end before anything starts again, and that includes her. Why You Love Them: I could write an entire essay here but it boils down to her being a character who has so much heart and a really clear goal of wanting to make things better, both for herself and for her loved ones. And like,,,,, I do super super vibe with the sentiments, themes, and motifs that surround every last bit of their life, and it provides such an interesting space to explore.

[lupinuslepidus]

Bird of paradise, queen's cup, angel's face, rain lily (closest I could get for liora), moonflower, petunia

Bird of paradise: answered!

queen's cup: hmmm well i have plans to make hot chocolate and im very much thinking about it. we don't have sugar but we have cocoa powder and honey so we'll see how it goes :)

angel's face: ohhhh boy. i think my dad kept reading to me longer than average, like up to full-length novels, so i gotta say that like ? master and margarita? loved that

rain lily: today was pretty typical for my time here? went to the lab in the morning, looked at moths in the natural history building in the afternoon while it stormed and thundered outside, had dinner with the lab group, ran pride trivia

moonflower: oohthisistough no it isnt. green

petunia: ...........hmmmmmmmmm. i definitely used to low-key idolize john muir but im like -- sorta done with old white guys. it's hard to say whether i've got one person that's an inspiration above all others, but people like gabi fleury, robin kimmerer, lauren esposito, Sarah McAnulty -- people who do science ethically and are good at science communication and are doing hard work -- are really cool.

[measureyourlifeincake]

🌦🍎🖍. plus! 🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭

🌦 - wouldn’t you like to know weather boy  🍎 - fruit. 🖍 - youre so good at art dont deny it 🎭 - ew theater kid

1.wow rude 2. wow rude 3. aw thanks! 4. wow rude

[mightyisthepen]

✒️

[pythagoriantymek]

Tak capstones. More tak capstones. a cephalopod. more tak capstones. steam codes for Cultist Simulator and Sunless Skies. Probably cap it off with some tak capstones, just to be safe.

This is how you get you divine blessings fast tracked. Also, an altar just covered in miscellaneous small objects is definitely aesthetically pleasing, so doubly effective there.

Thank-you friend!

[sciencefordragons]

the Devil, the World

!!! well hello!!!

I already answered the devil’s prompt in the ask from eldritchwyrm, so I’ll refer you to that ask! (it should be just below this one)

the world: do you like waking up early?

I do! I have a hard time of it, though. I really like being awake when most of the world is still asleep, and the earlier I wake up the better I feel about tackling the coming day. I love the colors of the sunrise, especially out in the desert when you gotta take every not-bone-drying hour you can get. Mornings can just be a very soft time, and if I was better at my sleep habits I’d take advantage of them more.

Thank you so much for the ask!! <3

[mayhembymoonlight]

The Beginning

Hello and welcome! This is a side blog (written by @moonsideshade) dedicated to creating my next world and campaign that I run for Dungeons & Dragons 5e. I’ll be periodically posting my thought process as I go through this, and when the campaign itself starts I will likely post updates as to how things progress. While this is, of course, primarily my campaign and I always have to bias my own ideas (since that’s what’ll make running the campaign fun!) I also do think it would be fun to hear what other people’s thoughts/suggestions are! So feel free to reply to posts or submit on the asks page and I’ll try to respond.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this goes! I’ll post my preliminary concepts/thoughts sometime tonight or within the next couple of days. See you then!

[trainer-blue]

@moonsideshade

A cheese wizard - a fromage, if you so wish -,

[nordarknessdimsthesky]

for the spotify thing: 44

2020: The Devil Went Down to Georgia -- The Charlie Daniels Band

And YOU get a larp song!  Most of the Hereafter playlist crept into my 100 this year.

2019: Seaside Rendezvous -- Queen

Helloooo rabbit hole of good omens.  i pretty much just had Queen on blast walking around or driving places summer 2019.

2018: Muddy Waters -- LP

This made the 100 that year because I binged OITNB spring semester of senior year.

2017: Oya -- Ibeyi

Haunting, almost leaving the body kind of feeling.  Somewhere I think i have a shitty photo booth video of me trying some Umfundalai choreography to this track in an empty studio space.

2016: The Greatest -- Sia ft. Kendrick Lamar

I think dear @sciencefordragons introduced me to this one junior fall.  It primarily makes me think of walking to classes that fall semester.

2015: Delilah -- Florence and the Machine

All of HBHBHB reminds me of driving around the summer after freshman year.  Delilah later became relevant through many larps, but I most associate it with Edie Ardent from Followers.

[chromoluminary]

14, 37, 41, 65, 115, 135

14: Do you believe in luck and miracles?

Oh absolutely. I’m one of the most superstitious people I know with those kinds of things. It actually took me a long time to realize not everyone believed in them.

37: What do you say during awkward silences?

I’m pretty guilty of not recognizing silences as awkward and just kinda sitting comfortably with it. Because p much everyone i speak to nowadays is a college student, I can usually get by with asking people about their classes/major/life in general. Or compliments! I have gotten way too used to giving random compliments that probably makes the silence even more awkward.

41: Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

Not everyone. Most people, maybe.

65: Are you hungry right now?

I had approximately 3 servings of rice in the last hour, so the answer is probably no, but who knows.

115: Do you play the Wii?

I used to, but when I went away to college my brother ended up taking the wii that we had in the house. I really miss the wii sports resort plane flying games out of anything.

135: Dumbest lie you ever told?

Gonna be honest, it was probably when my friends at camp forgot my name for the second time in a week, i got annoyed, and when they asked again i told them that my name was Liz. That one took a bit to be able to shake.

Questions from here!

[lupinuslepidus]

it won't show up but :canon:

The Beckoning There is a city that exists between the lines of the city that you know. You catch glimpses of it, every now and then. Remember the day you were walking down the street and saw a small child standing at the end of the alleyway? The alleyway at the back of the Italian restaurant, with a dumpster always overflowing and sometimes a friendly and mangy stray cat? There, at the end of the alleyway, back against a graffitied brick wall, stood a small child in a bright yellow raincoat. Odd, you that; it was a sunny day, after all. The child waved at you. You nodded, hesitantly, and moved on. Remember the day you were out in the park as the sun started to set? There had just been rain the other day, and the gleam of the reflecting sunset in a puddle on the sidewalk caught your eyes. You looked, and for a moment you could swear that the trees in the reflection had no leaves, though the trees in the park were verdant with summer greenery. Then a passerby hurrying through the park, talking loudly on their phone about sales and advertising revenue and potential clients, stepped in the puddle, sending ripples across its surface. They cursed loudly at their wet shoes and kept going. The reflection looked exactly how you expected. Remember the day that you woke up at three am and started pacing your room? Outside the world was bright; the nighttime city is never dark, the sky was glowing an apocalyptic red from the streetlight’s glow on the clouds and the rectangles of other windows were bright and you could see silhouettes moving in some of them. It took you a long time to notice that the windows weren’t quite where you expected them to be, and a longer time to notice that there were no airplane lights tearing down towards the city’s international airport, or cars going down the street. But once you fell back into an uneasy sleep and woke up the next morning everything was back to normal. The apartment buildings beyond yours were exactly where you expected them to be, and the airplanes roared overhead once again, and the honking of cars stuck in morning traffic filled the air with a cacophony of noise. The Beckoning is a city that exists between the lines of the city that you know. The seasons in the Beckoning never change; it is always a gray and drizzly autumn day, and there are always children wearing yellow rainjackets, and people holding lanterns up to darkened windows. At least that’s what you’d like to believe. Someday, perhaps, you will grow tired of your summer city, your autumn city, your winter city, your spring city, your city ever-changing and ever-growing and ever-noisy, your city never quite satisfied, your city full of people whose names you cannot remember and trains always running ten minutes late and dumpsters in alleyways and stray animals and lost people. Someday, perhaps, you will heed the Beckoning.

[trainer-blue]

@moonsideshade

players: oh haha this dungeon is pretty tough. maybe we should take a break right in front of the boss chamber?

the DM, already rolling dice:

[measureyourlifeincake]

✒️

[mightyisthepen]

 @nordarknessdimsthesky tagged me to share five songs with very little guidance other than “something that is simultaneously quintessential to your personality while also being something that others might be unfamiliar with.” and then i promptly forgot about it for a while whoops I’m not 100% sure how to interpret “others might be unfamiliar with,” but I’m going to go with one song that a couple of my friends know I vibe with and then try to find four other songs they probably don’t. Here we go: Crowded Table - The Highwomen    spotify | youtube Bethlehem Steel - Nanci Griffith      youtube

Write This Down - George Strait      spotify | youtube

Mt. Washington - Local Natives       spotify | youtube

In My Mind - Amanda Palmer            spotify | youtube

Tagging @four-for-fidelity, @spacecoffeeandcartoons, @shardblade-cascade, @sciencefordragons, and @moonsideshade if any of y’all are interested!

[pythagoriantymek]

3, 11, 15, 29

3. rant. just do it

No film gets my dander up like the third Hobbit movie. From the insane improvised balista made from a broken bow, a burnt log, and a child to the gosh darn, straight from fricking Arakis s a n d w o r m that emerges for literally no reason, the movie is filled with baffling and terrible choices. Not even mentioning that it completely loses the heart of the story by focusing an entire movie on this battle, instead of its stupidity and the consequences of it. Also, Peter Jackson’s arm was twisted into making it, the actors and staff from New Zealand were shafted in production, and there wasn’t even originally going to be three, so everything was rushed and terrible. Like, I realize there is a lot more legitimately problematic material out there, this one just gets me uniquely mad. Lindsay Ellis has a great video essay series on youtube about the production side of this trilogy that I reccomend to any fans. 

11. what unusual talent do you have?

Uh geez, what is unusual? I have won awards for throwing knives and tomahawks, that seems unusual. 

15. what’s a question do you constantly get asked?

How to do you pronounce your name? Or where is that name from? These are not necessarily bad or rude questions, just extremely common ones.

29. what quote or inspirational setting do you think is bs?

Okay, I absolutely hate the Yoda quote “Do or do not, there is no try.” It just infuriates me, because attempting to do something is meaningfully different from not doing anything, and it is such a glib way of dismissing ernest effort. I mean, I get it, to a certain extent, but it is so smug and easy to use in bad faith. 

Thank-you for the asks!