#technically ancient elf would also be on this list

[fadewalking]

Reva's type is both very simple and restrictive:

Woman (men regrettably allowed).

Physically Strong

Stern/Serious

Not overly touchy

Tall

[100jewels-between-teeth]

A semi-comprehensive list of every pre-established lore inaccuracy in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Please note, this isnt me saying you cannot enjoy the game for what it is. This is not me saying you shouldnt play the game. But as a long time Dragon Age fan (started with Origins, has consumed all extra media including books/shows/novellas/etc..) the way Veilguard has fumbled the lore is, to someone who cares, infuriating. I shall keep the list under a read more to avoid spoilers for Veilguard. This will also be added to with more points that are given for people who wish to add

But without further adieu;

Bioware Kind of Forgot...

Bioware kind of forgot...

That Solas, after you choose to drink from the Well of Mythal (whom in Veilguard is confirmed either a lover/mother figure) is fucking pissed

That Solas was not bringing down the Veil to move the Evenuris and put them somewhere else, but to establish the ancient elves once more

The fucking orbs

That the elves were currently, at the end of inquisition, beginning the elf uprising and following Solas

the Elvhen Language

Solas having an extensive spy network that never gets brought up

That most of the Elves would be on board with Solas's plan

Brialla and how she controls Eluvians too

That in Inquisition, it is stated that barely any working Eluvians exist and that the one in Skyhold and the one in the temple of Mythal are extremely rare

The Valaslin and how if all of what happened is common knowledge, that the elves arent currently freaking the fuck out that they are wearing slave markings

Solas does not abhor the use of Blood Magic

That the Evanuris were trapped/locked in the Black City specifically and not the fade in general, so Solas would have to open the Veil either at the doors of the Black City or travel. The gods would not be wandering around the Fade

Using the lore/logic confirmed in Veilguard, the ancient elves being spirits that, with the help of lyrium, were made into elven form, that Cole should technically be one of the most powerful creatures known to man since they gave themselves a human body without the assistance of Lyrium. Bioware kind of forgot...

Slavery in Tevinter (really now there are no slaves shown in Minrathous?)

Varric hates the deeproads/dwarves so why is he so okay with Harding's magic

Hawke in general

Varric is a world famous author so someone would have mentioned his death at some point?????

how the fucking Blight works (seriously the entire party is infected with the Blight)

How spirits work

Morrigan never wanted to become a vessel for Mythal and despises the thought

The Antivan crows bought/tortured child slaves and children from brothels, to be trained as crows, basically nullifying all of the trauma Zevran had gone through

Fenris freeing slaves, still

In the final battle they refer to the head of the Imperial chantry as the "Divine" when it should be the "Black Divine"

That Thedas has two moons

More shall be added with discovery

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Magic and Genetics: Magical Beings

So, I mentioned in my other post about magic and genetics that the fact magical creatures and wizards can reproduce is significant. This is because generally, hybrids with parents of different species are sterile (at least with animals, plants are different). As Fleur can be a quarter-veela, it's clear the hybrids we see in the magical world are not sterile.

As sterility is attributed to the difference in the number of chromosomes between the two species, this suggests that goblins, wizards, muggles, veela, and giants all have the same number of chromosomes and are part of the same genus. And this has some interesting implications when it comes to world-building...

Disclaimer: As with my past post on the subject, this is from online reading, I haven't studied any of this in a professional capacity.

When it comes to interspecies hybrids among animals, they tend to be from the same genus, otherwise they can't even reproduce without some human interference. So, I feel pretty safe in the assumption that if wizards and veela can have fertile offspring, they fall under the same genus

A genus is a biological classification above species and below family. While there is some leeway in what falls under the same genus the general gist of what defines a genus is:

They all descend from the same group of organisms.

A genus shouldn't be expanded needlessly.

All species in a genus should show distinctive traits and similarities.

Now, the legal definitions in the Wizarding World somewhat support this. All the following creatures are defined as "beings" by the Ministry of Magic:

Humans (muggles, wizards and squibs)

Giants

Goblins (and the related Pukwudgies)

Vampires

Hags

House-elves

Veela

Any hybrid of the aforementioned species.

(Werewolves are technically human, Lycanthropy is treated in the books like an illness and not a separate species, hence why I didn't list them here)

I should note Merpeople and Centaurs were also offered the description of "being", but refused.

And we see practically all of the species listed as "beings" can have fertile offsprings with each other: Hagrid is a half-giant, Fleur is a quarter-veela, Flitwick is a half-goblin, the mobile games, and Pottermore reference part-vampires, and the Fantastic Beasts movies include a half-elf (I don't really consider these movies canon as a whole, but the existence of half-elves makes sense).

This means that the definition of "being" is for all species in this humanoid genus. The reason I'm bringing this up with association with genetics is that, if we go back to the definition of genus, all these species (and potentially centaurs and merpeople too) are descended from the same ancient race. Which, in turn, says something interesting about the evolution of magic in genetics.

Since most of these races are magical, well, all of them except muggles are. Muggles are incredibly similar to wizards and squibs, more similar than the other species are to each other. This suggests that the evolution in the Harry Potter universe started with an ancient humanoid magical species that got split into the different magical species we know of (goblins, wizards, giants, elves, etc...) first since there are more differences between them. Then, some thousands of years later muggles and wizards split.

I don't know how or why or what this ancient humanoid magical race could be, but the fact muggles and wizards are probably both descendants from some proto-wizard race that existed thousands of years ago gives another possibility into how muggleborns can be born. If all muggles descended from wizards, it could explain how muggleborns would occasionally be born. I still believe almost all muggleborns are descendants of more recent squib lines though. I don't think regular muggles have a high chance of giving birth to a muggleborn, but because of this evolution theory, it still could happen.

The other interesting note about this is that muggles are likely to be able to have children with goblins, veela, vampires, and giants just like wizards can. But these half-breeds, unlike the ones we see in the books aren't partial wizards, so could they cast magic like wizards?

I'd say yes.

The fact all non-human creatures are legally forbidden from holding wands means they all can produce magic with a wand. Winkey the elf got blamed at the beginning of GoF for casting the Dark Mark with a wand, which means that even though house-elves and goblins are capable of their own magic, they could use the same spells wizards do with wands if they had them. Goblins can use wands as well, Griphock says wands would expand their magical powers. If I had to guess I'd say the same is true for vampires, veela, and hags — that if they had wands they could cast magic like wizards. Their being from the same genus kinda explains it, they all have the genes for casting magic, and yes, their magic is different, but not that different. I'd say their magic is probably more similar than wizards are willing to confess.

Giants are different in that they don't really have an innate magic, and aren't shown to be capable of any magic beyond their sturdy skin. I'd say giants had a similar evolution to muggles in that they lost the capacity to cast magic at some point in the split. I'd guess it happened differently with each species though.

Back to the earlier subject of a muggle and goblin child, for example. I believe this half-goblin would have magic similar to a half-goblin wizard like Flitwick, potentially, a half-goblin half-muggle would be registered as a wizard by the book and quill that accepts students into Hogwarts. Potentially you could have a muggle-being hybrid who is treated like a half-blood wizard even though neither of their parents are wizards. I mean, goblins can use wands, and so can half-blood wizards with one wizard parent and one muggle parent... Basically, I think there could genetically be a half-blood wizard that has no wizard parent, or even grandparent for that matter.

(All this is potentially true for merpeople and centaurs too since they were offered the "being" status)

I just find these implications about the relations between wizards, muggles, and the other magical races really interesting.

[spicyviren]

Oh let me meditate on the beast of devouring that feeds on the stars, that star devourer dragon Let me repel this Star dragon and banish it from the light of my Sun

- Ancient Sunfire chant, Tales of Xadia

I'm thinking about the sun and the stars and how Laurelion is, probably, both.

(Reposted because I’m a damn fool!!)

The Big Bang, in real life

The majority of atoms which make up us, our earth, and even our very own sun, were formed in the hearts of the very first stars in the universe.

These stars were made of lighter elements, mostly Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium. But under the immense pressure at the core of those first stars, heavier atoms like Carbon, Oxygen and Nitrogen were formed. The stars eventually died - exploded - and released those heavier elements into the universe to be crafted into other forms.

As Carl Sagan famously put it, "We are made of star stuff."

And so Aaravos's quote in the teaser for season six - We are, all of us, stardust - is a blatant nod to the Sagan quote as well as, I am assuming, that aspect of the universe in some shape or form. Allegorically, it speaks to the idea of the universality of existence in the basest sense. But also, it acknowledges that the stars, like everything else, operate generationally.

So in this way, if we are to assume the TDP cosmos operates at least somewhat similar to our own, Xadia's sun is a younger (but still old as balls) star, from a different generation than the stars which are far more distant and ancient.

(As a side note, the very first stars in the universe did not last very long. Though certain stars in existence right now have "lifetimes" which are projected to last longer than the universe has currently been in existence.)

So if Xadia's sun is technically a star, even by Xadia's own admission (see Sunfire chant), then by this metric I have to ask...

What makes the Sun arcanum different from the Star arcanum?

While those first, most ancient of stars produced the materials which would become life, only a sun can sustain life and is therefore inextricably linked with the earth and all the life on it. It's this connection which I imagine is responsible for the change in the nature of the magic.

In Callum's Spellbook, Callum makes some word-association lists for the different types of magic. He associates "truth" with both Sun and Star (perhaps a trait of their shared stardom). No other words match up completely, but it feels like they are referencing similar things within different contexts.

The Sun teaches while the Stars are simply intelligent; the Sun is a "guiding light" while the Stars are associated with "destiny." Further, many of the other words Callum associates with the sun are about being in positive community with others (optimism, warmth, charisma, leadership). The nature of the sun is more giving, nurturing, and dare I say loving than that of your average star. Sun is revealing and honesty, Star is mysterious and reality-altering. Further, there is a dynamism in the words for Sun Magic that is absent from Star Magic - sharing knowledge vs simply having knowledge, guiding vs prescribing a set path.

(Another side note: Callum also mentions that Star mages are born, which, Callum's limited understanding aside, is perhaps a hint about what it will take to connect to the Star Arcanum. I have thoughts, but.... I'll just leave that there, winky face)

Obviously, these word associations can only go so far. Some of the most hostile and arrogant (eh eh!!) figures we've met have been Sun-aligned. But it does make me wonder about the beginning of Sun magic and what that introduction may have looked like.

Ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?*

Okay, so big question for me. Is Aaravos a star, like, literally a personification of a ball of gas burning billions of miles away, or is he just like, a very special elf? The same goes for all Startouch elves.

Zubeia refers to Aaravos as both a star and as an elf, and it's one of those things which I can't decide is real or simply a more poetic way of speaking of him. Is "Startouch elf" simply another type of star? Official art also sometimes depicts him and others as constellations. Are they the formed consciousness of a collection stars?

But it also makes me think of how often Sunfire elves personify the sun/the sun orb.

JANAI: You are a student of history, yes? Do you know where the Great Orb of the Sunforge came from? KARIM: Legends say it was a gift from the Sun herself. The gift of a millenium. - "The Drakewood," S4E6

In "The Queen's Mercy," we have...

Aditi nodded. “[...]and so, as the Sun’s daughter, I will lead you into her embrace.”

...and earlier, there is this:

Queen Aditi the Merciful, they called her. Queen Aditi the Kind. The Light of the Sun Incarnate. Kim’dael had thought it all an insufferable exaggeration. Sunfire elves gilded everything they could touch, of course they would do the same to their beloved leader.

Karim personifies the corrupted sun orb in "After Darkness":

He could still see it: the top of the Sunforge Tower, upside-down from where he lay, shrouded in inky corruption. It looked ill, its sickness weeping red and crowning the spire in a haze of blood. [...] We will come back, he promised his beloved, tainted city, his lost home. We will not abandon you. The orb pulsed mutely, a cry for help he could not answer.

TDP uses personification a lot, so it is kind of hard to parse out when it's being literal and when it's being lyrical. Perhaps in the examples cited it's simply the ostentatious way of the Sunfire elves like Kim'dael thinks. But if Aaravos, a known person, can be a star, then I can easily reason vice versa.

In the Book 1 novelization, Aaravos refers to himself as "of the First Elves." And if that is true, it follows that there must have been "Second Elves."

So who is Laurelion?

The significance of the laurel in the Western canon goes back to the myth of Daphne and Apollo.

There are various versions of the story, but essentially, Apollo (popularly associated with the sun), falls helplessly in love with Daphne. Though her reasons vary in different iterations, Daphne turns away from Apollo's affections. She runs and Apollo pursues. Just as Apollo is about to catch her, she begs for help - sometimes from her father, a river god, and sometimes from her mother, a nymph or Gaia - and she is saved by being turned into the laurel tree. In Ovid's Metamorphosis, when Apollo reaches Daphne post-transfiguration, he can still feel her heart beating below the bark. From that point on, the laurel wreath was associated with Apollo, achievement, and victory.

Gold, the element, takes the symbol Au from its Latin word, Aurum, which has etymological ties to 'aurora' (dawn). Names likes Aurelio or Aurelius similarly mean "golden" or "guilded."

So, taken together, I of course think immediately of this:

THAT BEING SAID, this looks more like a weeping willow or a wisteria than it does a laurel, which has bushy foliage rather than hanging. The closest I can maybe get is a mountain laurel, which does have blooms that hang kinda sorta like a wisteria, though not nearly in such a dramatic fashion. But anyway!

The golden laurel...⋆｡°✩Laurelion✩°｡��

Interestingly, in Ovid's retelling of Apollo and Daphne, Apollo's love is the result of being struck by Cupid's golden arrow, while Daphne's disgust of Apollo's advances are the result of being struck by a lead-tipped arrow. And so, there is an association there with gold and love. And within the context of the myth - Cupid is getting petty revenge on Apollo after Apollo is boastful and arrogant about his own prowess with a bow and arrow - it's also an instance of weaponizing love.

Which brings us to that which is known everforth as...

The Nova Blade

It is actually quite common for stars to have companions and to exist in what is called a binary star system. In this system, two stars are gravitationally locked in orbit and can appear as a single object when observed by the naked eye. Sometimes, the proximity between these two stars results in what is called a nova - a sudden brightness which appears to be a new star. Novas are not associated with stellar "death" (you'd be thinking of supernova, in that case).

Now in our universe, novas are not actually stars. They are events, momentary bursts of brightness under specific circumstances between two stars. But the name "nova" originally came from the term "stella nova" which means new star.

…and though undying, took last breath, immortal Laurelion was no more. - "The Death of the Immortal"

Did Laurelion just...die? You know, it was really unclear...

I do not think the Nova Blade killed Laurelion in the moment described in the poem. Kazi is so doubtful and Callum is so sure - Callum you fool! - surely that would be too easy (quote quote easy)?

I will grant that "Supernova Blade" would sound kind of hokey, and even originally I had thought, "Oh cool, 'nova,' like 'SUPERnova!'" And then I thought to look up just 'nova' and it turns out it was actually its own thing. But even without all that, the 'though-undying' of it all haunts me.

And so I hold to the idea that the Nova Blade makes an immortal mortal. It does bring death's bite, but in a way in which Laurelion becomes something else, reborn with death's promise like all other mortal beings are.

I have two point five ideas.

The Light of the Sun Incarnate

My first hypothesis is, of course, that Laurelion became the tree with the Sunseed with a name that's a nod to Daphne and Apollo. Of course, I'm assuming here that the tree in which the Sunseed is kept is responsible for producing/sustaining the Sunseed, which may not be true.

Now the drawback of this idea is the legend that the Sunseed was a gift from the Sun herself. So here, it would have to be within the context of the Sun sacrificing Laurelion in some way for this purpose. There's obvious Jesus parallels here which, full disclosure, is not really my bag, baby, but there are plenty of elements in TDP that very easily slot in with Christian canon. But also, in the laurel myth Daphne begs a parent to save her, which puts the sacrifice of it all in a different light. It makes me wonder if the event with the Nova Blade is self-inflicted and, mayhaps, an act of love. So in this sense, the Sun "gifted" the world (or just the Sunfire elves, I dunno) her child by simply letting her child go.

My second hypothesis is that Laurelion became the first Sunfire elf, of the second elves. We are, all of us, stardust. It would not come as a shock to me if all elves were ultimately descended from the Startouch elves of old.

AND THEN we've got Aaron Ehasz talking about how the red dragon scale amulet (...and look, this show does color coding, that's SUN) is somehow related to Laurelion?

Sunfire elf, I say! SUNFIRE ELF!

Combining both of these scenarios, I could see Laurelion being the child of the Sun (again IF we are to assume each star is a living entity). Or maybe Startouch elves are born OF stars while not, technically, being the same thing, like an egg hatching the next evolution of its mother.

And so, perhaps Laurelion chose to become mortal, to become the first Sunfire Elf. And all of Laurelion's children, and their children's children, and their children's children's children, they were all of them children of the sun, the light of the sun incarnate, bringing the hope and optimism of something new to the world; destined to return in death to the embrace of their very first mother. And as a symbol of her love, the Sun gifted Laurelion the Sunseed, golden and cradled within a tree.

*oddly relevant Lion King reference

[portalmasterkazatos-champions]

This is a secondary blog to @skylands-archives and the one I'll use for role-play with any and all my friends interested in it.

I made the art with an avatar maker and lost the old file so had to get it off the amino I put it in.

As a portal master I've learned time is easily manipulated. I go around from timeline to timeline and take certain members of the Skylanders teams who would have passed on without a trace anyways and take them before they can be harmed. I bring them to my realm and give them understanding on the fact that they'd have passed on from the attack that would have destroyed them anyways so I gave them new life as champion to a new portal master who'll train them vigorously.

(list of skylanders by figures I own at the moment and therefore available to ask questions as well)

Lightcores

°Drobot (series 2)

°Eruptor (series 2)

°Hex (series 2)

°Legendary Grim Creeper

°Prism Break (series 2)

°jet vac (series 1)

Cores (+variants real and custom repaints)

°Trigger Happy (series 1)

°Shiny Trigger Happy (series 1 custom repaint, yellowish orange fur with black guns)

°Big Bang Trigger Happy (official variant, riding a big gold cartoony nuke, series 3)

°spyro (series 1)

°shadow Spyro (series 1 red and black custom repaints)

°Mega Ram Spyro (official variant, has elongated horns in ram spiral and larger spiked tail , series 3)

°cynder (series 2)

°pastel cynder (custom repaint, pink and blue, series 2)

°slam bam (series 1)

°zap (series 2)

°whirlwind (series 2)

°pop fizz (series 1)

°super gulp pop fizz (series 2, official variant on a large potion bottle at least 3-5 times his own body size)

°shadow whirlwind (series 2, red and black custom repaint)

°terrafin (series 1)

°Blades

°deja vu

°stump smash (series 1)

°zook (series 1)

°zook (series 2)

°voodood (series 1)

°ignitor (series 2)

°hex (series 1)

°lava barf Eruptor (official variant, series 3)

°gill grunt (series 1)

°gillie grunt (purple custom repaint, series 1)

°camo (series 1)

°warnado (series 1)

°dino rang (series 1)

°lightning rod (series 1)

°lightning rod (series 2)

°chop chop (series 2)

°flameslinger (series 1)

°boomer (series 1)

°stealth elf (series 1)

°jet vac (series 1)

°old hero jet vac (custom repaints with white interior to his gun and gold tube for the gun and gold for all his yellow, series 1)

°sprocket (series 1)

°flashwing (series 1)

°sonic boom (series 2)

Giants (+custom repaints)

°hot head

°cobalt hot head (nice blue (need to use picture) repaint)

°tree rex

°Ancient Guardian Tree Rex (cool repaint (need picture))

°ninjini

°crusher

°swarm

°eye brawl

Swap force

°blast zone

°wash buckler

°fire kraken

°rattle shake

°free ranger

Trap masters

°blastermind

°Dark Wildfire

°knight light

°knight mare

°head rush

°gusto

°bushwhack

°snapshot

°jawbreaker

°nitro Krypt King (official variant, gold armor, blue eyes instead of red, white cheker pattern on a few spots)

Super chargers (variants+vehicles included)

°super shot stealth elf (not technically a variant but also series 4)

°stealth stinger (ssse's paired life elemental air vehicle)

°Stormblade

°fiesta

°burn cycle (fire element land vehicle)

Sea shadow (dark element sea vehicle)

Imaginators and senseis

°earth quickshot creation crystal

°fire ninja creation crystal

°Dr Neo Cortex

°Tae Kwon Krow

°king pen

°golden queen

Magic Items, Extra Levels, and traps

Note of importance: in superchargers and imaginators the dlc level items only give gold and in trap team only its own give levels to expand and also aren't magic items and in swap force the only levels that work for it are its own too as giants let ssa (Skylanders spyros adventure) levels to play in giants. Also traps give gold in superchargers and let you use a different element weapon in the vehicles and seem not to do anything or give gold in imaginators. (I don't remember but intend to test this last bit)

°undead orb trap

°fire torch trap

°earth orb trap

°2 life hammer traps

°2 water totem traps

°air storm warning trap

°tech angel trap

°magic element trap I don't remember the name of

°pirate seas (Spyros adventure bonus level and a magic item for cannonball rain with a shockwave finisher)

°empire of ice (Skylanders spyros adventure+, bonus level, magic item that summons icicle rain with shockwave finish)

°tower of time (swap force+, bonus level, magic item that summons gear rain with shockwave finish)

°firey forge (swap force bonus arena level, also a magic item that drops a bucket of lava over an enemy)

°sky diamond (swap force+, magic item that provides a diamond worth 25-50 gold in several containers or as dropped loot at a chance during duration)

°anvil rain (Skylanders spyros adventure+, magic item that's self explanatory but no shockwave at the end like a few of these items)

°ghost swords (Skylanders spyros adventure+, magic item that summons 2 swords held by skeletal arms to fight alongside you)

°sky iron shield (Skylanders spyros adventure+, magic item that provides 2 shields that protect you in only the two spots the rotating shields are in)

°dragon treasure chest(Skylanders spyros adventure+, magic item that reveals a hidden treasure chest on each level)

°rocket ram (trap team+, magic item)

°speaky tiki (trap team+, magic item)

°mirror of mystery (trap team bonus level)

°nightmare express (trap team bonus level (trap team+ dlc level toys don't act as magic items anymore))

°hand of fate (swapforce+, magic item for extra damage by summoning a skeleton fist)

°piggy bank (magic item that helps get rich, trap team+)

[scriptores]

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄 : hermes , the messenger of the gods

overview: a son of zeus and maia, the daughter of atlas, hermes was born in a cave in arcardia as a god of swiftness and craftiness. he snuck out of the cave in his youth after his mother told him a story about apollo's cattle. through his cunning, unrivaled speed, and trickery, he was able to steal the prized cattle, endeared an angry apollo to him through the invention of the lyre, and won his father's favor through his amusing antics and sacrifices to the gods. thereafter, he became zeus' personal messenger and an olympian god by his own right presiding over herds, heralds, travelers, commerce, trade & thieves. he is the pantheon's middleman and arguably the biggest aid to their mortal heroes. he also serves as a psychopomp, guiding departed souls to the underworld when requested or needed.

VERSES.

✧ main : for any greek myth canon or ancient/modern fantasy verses that leaves room for the pantheon to exist. any cataclysmic/supernatural threat that can only be addressed by a chosen one/few means there's a call that will need to be answered, and you know who's making that call? hermes is the mouthpiece of the gods, and herald of nearly every story, so he will be convincing heroes to step out of their ordinary worlds to go save the world, may even help or deliver a boon somewhere along the way between his many misadventures errands if he takes a liking to them!

✧ dragon age : will be kept a little vague for the sake of flexibility with plots, but the general vibe is that hermes was a city elf turned thieving rogue with a robin hood complex, so can very easily be dragged into a companion verse during the fifth blight, or recruited by the inquisition if they can look past his delinquency. he is technically a mage, but non-practicing, never properly trained, and won't disclose this voluntarily; however wind is his natural element and he does use magic to grant him supernatural speed which he chalks to his "enchanted boots". aside from that he'll rely on his arrows or short sword in a fight.

✧ fae verse : open for further plots and development, but he's so fae boi coded it has to be done. he would be considered seelie, an embodiment of wind (originally from the autumn or spring court? not sure yet), and a herald to whatever faerie monarch applies. he's usually sent as a spy, diplomat and courier between the fae courts, but is also regularly found in the mortal realm stirring relatively harmless trouble or stealing things from guarded hoards and castles.

✧ modern/futuristic/dystopian : any non-immortal plots where more than likely hermes is just your typical outlaw recruited to a cause or special mission. will be a case by case basis, but some options are: hermes as the vroom vroom catch me if can boy, the designated getaway car, the double agent, the heist extraordinaire, the clever speedster (for mutant/super hero aus), the devil's advocate (for organized crime aus where zeus is the head of a crime ring), the head of his own band of thieves etc etc

DOSSIER.

name. hermes titles/epithets. trickster god, slayer of argos, of the golden wand, of the gateway, patron of athletes and gymnasiums, swift-footed, luck-bringer, keen-sighted, glad-hearted, ready-helper, champion, guiless-one, famous-one pronouns. he/him age. immortal pantheon. hellenistic polytheism etymology. olympian god sexuality. pansexual alignment. chaotic good / neutral

relations. zeus (father), maia (mother), atlas (grandfather), apollo (favorite target, brother), dionysus (foster kid, brother), charon (hhrrhgurrgh ♡), and too many many others to list (homer said he's for the streets).

height. 5'11" build. lean and very toned, especially around his calves, thighs, and glutes. he's not running around in a mini chiton for no reason hair. black and usually kept at a youthful and lush length, just short enough to stay out of his eyes and nape eyes. dark brown, increasingly gold during a run, and near electric when he starts to reach top speed. sacred animals/plants. ram, hare, tortoise, cattle, sheeps, goats, strawberry trees, crocus

abilities / skillset. * super speed. the fastest god of the pantheon, easily capable of traveling faster than the speed of sound, and if he pushes it hard enough his top speed reaches just shy of the speed of light.

* dimensional travel. he can also travel the axis mundi aka "the crossroads" between realms and take others through those roads. typically, he uses this for short cuts and to save on his endurance when zeus needs him to hop to too many far away places at once.

* wind manipulation. his proclivity for speed is in large part due to his manipulation of air and ability to live in his own separate vacuum with little to no wind resistance. as such, he is able to fly for limited periods, create whirlwinds, manipulate and build air momentum into concentrated blasts, change the trajectory of airborne projectiles, cushion a hard fall, enhance his agility, create air shields etc.

* martial arts/rogue class skillset. not just for fantasy verses, but in general hermes has very high dexterity, coercion, and agility. he is also very adept in martial arts/wrestling. while he is strong, he can be overpowered and will reply on his speed and precision with hits, as well as use an enemies momentum against them.

* intelligence. hermes is wickedly smart and inventive, as demonstrated in several of his myths, it's the reason why he was even accepted into the big 12 to begin with. his intelligence won't present itself in the conventional way, he has very little patience to sit and learn subjects that don't apply to him or engage him, but he has a strong affinity and natural understanding of physics and mathematics which will be obvious in the way he trades, the things he's creates out of scraps and items he collects, or when he improvises his escape plans.

magical items/work instruments. he's got a couple of these that's he's either stolen or created for himself, but his short cloak/hood of invisibility is the one he will not leave the house without. and his arm brace is what allows him to carry souls to the underworld.

restrictions.

* speed and endurance limitations. since he is creating his own little vaccum, the faster he runs the less oxygen he has to breath, which as an immortal won't kill him, but will be very painful and mess with his focus. he trains a lot to build up his lung capacity so he can travel faster for longer periods of time, but like any runner, he does have his limits. high speeds are mean for shorter bursts. he's also still trying to outrun lightning, but somehow can't seem to manage it (yet).

* low damage tolerance. while he is very agile and prides himself in being hard to catch, when a hit does manage to make the mark, his tolerance for damage will be low. ( he's also very futbol player coded in that way. don't trip him while he's running because he will be baby about it for a hot minute. )

* unfocused. while very hard working, he can and will get easily distracted, take on multiple tasks at once regardless of his bandwidth or overestimate how many enemies he can take on which is usually to his detriment. he's also.... very thrill seeking and care free which means he's likely to act on impulse rather than strategy, thinks he's smart enough to improvise his way out of a bind (most of the time he is)

themes. i had to make a playlist, don't look at me

[iteveit]

very long self indulgent journaling below cut. Topics; 2 years of being refugee, mourning for people I've lost, 2024 resolutions, and other stuff.

Ive had exactly four experiences with friends whom I have opened up to about being a refugee in which I've walked out of it feeling worse about myself than before opening up. Im not sure what sort of response or words I was hoping to hear, but I always felt like specifically those four didn't grasp at all what I was talking about. Bad advice would follow. Or in the case of one out of those four experiences, one (currently former) friend assumed I was opening up to him solely because I was about to scold him for something, what followed was him expressing that he's had it way worse than me in life. Like.. Huh??..... I'm not eloquent or knowledgeable enough to even express anything on a political spectrum, but merely sharing my experiences about the troubles Ive had on a mental health level makes me uncomfortable sometimes. I go about my day pretending I'm quite a normal person. Ref-you-jee? Couldn't possibly be me. I've joined an anon peer group because I was quite tired of living with a mask on. Over here, I do want to write and share my own thoughts for once without the imaginary baggage of "is this a good idea, will people still like me afterwards?"

I've had a lot of trouble coming to terms with the culture and background I fled from. And my family is inexplicably intertwined with that background. I could say I miss drinking tea lightly brewed in warm milk (no water!), with sugar to taste. I could say I miss drinking it on a late cold evening. But I actually miss the whole package. I miss my aunt who made it specifically for me and her daughter, in her messy kitchen with the loud fridge. I miss how cold evenings felt during the month of January in the suburbs of my hometown. I miss my younger sister when she would call my aunt's barely-functioning landline phone, being mad about how no one told her that we were hanging out together that night. I could go on, listing how I miss random mundane things about my family members.

Now I have no family. I won't go into the specifics of how, and why. But I've lost most if not all members of my family, including access to my old home and country. There is a horrible sinking feeling when I think about how I have nothing physical or digital from my past. I won't even get started on how harrowing the thought of having little to no safety nets is. I have my memories and nothing else. The brain can be kind to u sometimes, when it decides to conveniently remove all the shit things from your memories. I don't think I even liked how the milk tea tasted back then, and my aunt had severe anger problems, and often in a blink of an eye would resort to physical violence. Still I miss small things. I wish I cherished it more back then. Wish I could have expressed to my sister more how much she meant to me.

Back to the present.

Frie//ren is a great series holy shit. I crossed the name midway so it won't show up any searches. Obviously I'm not an ancient sorcerer elf who saved the world at some point, but boy I felt it when she cried during her companion's funeral. I also wish I got to know others better before it was too late. I'm a pretty antisocial person in the sense that I find it so alien that anyone can make close friendships. I go about making acquaintances, and I think it's too much effort on my part to care any further. I have a friend who considers me really close, and she's always expressed how I seemed so untrustworthy at first cause I never hung around for more than a week with any social clique in college. Oof... It's not like I didn't like anyone I hung out with. I think I didn't give it much thought at the time.

I have a few friends from before shit hit the fan. One technically being a childhood friend, albeit an online one from the other side of the globe. I don't think my mental state allows for me to develop bonds with new people at the moment. New country, new social rules, too much baggage to process. I, however, would like to get to know these older friends a bit better. That's one of my 2024 resolution. It'll be depressing as hell if my feelings aren't reciprocated, but in that case I really, REALLY, want to learn how to not get (for lack of a better word) butt-hurt about it. Frankly I don't know which will be the harder challenge. My other 2024 resolution is to cook more things from my culture.... I can't.. I can't cook that well btw..

For now I will make my own shitty milk tea, and drink it during way waaaay colder winter evenings. Way colder temperatures than my hometown ever experienced. Maybe I'll be drinking it alone, maybe with new people. I made it this far, too late to stop now.

[thedinanshiral]

My personal DA4 wishlist + thoughts

I’ve been teasing this post for a couple of weeks over at Twitter, i’m the worst! But anyway, since game journalism has decided to confirm, once again, that the next Dragon Age game will be set in Tevinter like that’s breaking news, now’s as good a time as ever to write all this down.

Locations: Tevinter, clearly. It’s been pretty much a given since the end of Trespasser in 2015, with that scene where the Inquisitor stabs a map on a table directly on Tevinter as they promise to go after Solas to stop him. But also concept art and several stories from Tevinter Nights heavily imply Antiva, Nevarra, the Anderfells, and maybe Rivain. For those of you who don’t know your Thedosian Geography 101, that’s basically Northern Thedas. And it makes sense, since so far for three games straight we’ve been first stuck in Ferelden, then the coast of the Free Marches, and later the rest of Southern Thedas. We’ve never been North, only heard of it. So in DA4 i’m sure we will finally be able to visit.

Characters: If we’re going to Tevinter, we must meet Dorian again, maybe meet Maevaris Tilani as well (previously only seen in comics), judging from the latest comics series, i’m hoping for Fenris too. And going by the latest teaser trailer, we might see Varric again. As for characters that so far we have no news of, i’d like to see Cole, the Iron Bull, and if by any chance BioWare feels like blessing us with a Hawke/Fenris reunion i might just die happy.  I’d also very much like to see the Inquisitor, but more on that later.

Companions: considering concept art and the latest teaser trailer, plus Tevinter Nights stories and new characters, we have an interesting repertoire of new potential companions. A Tevinter mage, an ancient elf (like a temple guardian) or a dalish elf (like Strife), a Nevarran mortalitasi or spirit, Antivan Crows, Lords of Fortune (new faction, kind of like treasure hunters), Qunari lady, maybe an alchemist or shapeshifter, Grey Wardens (possibly a dwarf), a liberated or escaped slave, a Siccari (Tevinter spies/assassins)..even past agents of the Inquisition could return. 

Plot: We know Solas wants to take down the Veil. We know there’s two archdemons left, and Grey Wardens are regaining some spotlight in concept art lately. We might have to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously and be strategic about it. Solas might even unleash a double Blight just to keep us distracted while he focus on his own goal, who knows. But many other things are happenig in the margins and all over the place. The Qunari Antaam is having a crisis with some of its members supposedly going rogue, the order they’re so proud of is breaking up, and the whole of Northern Thedas is facing an imminent threat of invasion. Tevinter is still dealing with remnants of the Venatori and might soon be dealing with a slaves rebellion and/or a political and social reform (Magisters Dorian and Maeveris have been working wirh the Lucerni, a group aiming to restore and redeem Tevinter). The Antivan Crows -the de facto rulers of Antiva - may be dealing with a succession crisis, as their First Talon, a powerful feared and respected but old lady, might not be around for much longer and seems her chosen heir has died before his time. Meanwhile in the Anderfells nobody’s heard anything from the Grey Wardens’ HQ at Weisshaupt since the end of Inquisition, and as told in the novel Last Flight, the sudden reappearance of griffons may have had something to do with that radio silence. So you see, get ready for another +100 hours long game because BW has plenty of stuff to keep us busy with. But in short, DA4 seems will be about primarily searching, finding, and dealing with Solas. Regardless of what you decided at the Exalted Council in Trespasser, the Inquisition or what’s left of it is most likely the group orchestrating that mission. As it was so clearly stated then, they need new people Solas doesn’t know so he can’t foresee their actions, so it’s possible the DA4 protagonist is a new agent or a third party hired to do what the Inner circle can’t due to their familiarity with Solas in the past. But at the same time -and this is assuming we get to find Solas in this game - i definitely think the Inquisitor could easily show up again. No, losing an arm doens’t mean they’ve retired forever, prosthetics do exist in Thedas, a world where you can combine dwarven craftmanship with enchantments, seriously, i don’t ever want to hear “but they lost an arm” ever again as an excuse to write them out. And no, marrying Cullen or joining the Red Jennys is no impediment to join the “Stop Solas” Squad; the end of Trespasser means something, mainly that this is personal. Be it they loved them as lovers, as friends or ended up hating his guts for using and betraying them, the Inquisitor’s relationship with Solas makes this very personal, and so having any other character do that face off would cheapen all of it, all that bittersweet angsty development and expectations of either revenge or closure. That moment should happen between those two. It adds a ton of motivation due to their past historyas well, something a new protagonist would lack entirely.  My personal best hope is for a sort of dual protagonist thing, say we play new protagonist for most of the game but a selected missions or scenes where we play as the Inquisitor once again and take over for key and heart-wrenching dialogue options. My second best hope is for the Inquisitor to show up as playable for the moment we catch up with Solas. My third and final best hope is for the inquisitor to be a sort of advisor but more like new protagonist’s boss/employer to whom they report back to and get new missions from. The Inquisitor can be stuck in meetings for the most part of it, i just want to know they’re there, behind a door, super busy but there. A cameo like Hawke’s in Inquisition is the bare miminum i can take, anyhting less than that like a mention in a sidequest description or a footnote in a codex entry would be a total  injustice. 

Romances: I’m open for pretty much anything, as any good BW fan would be. But i’d like romances to feel more alive in the sense that they don’t abruptly get stuck once you exhaust all related quests and dialogue options. As much as my Adaar liked that spank from the Iron Bull, that it was the only thing they could share after their romance was locked was a bit..meh. I liked Dorian’s tho, because his gave one the option to talk a bit, go for a walk, gossip, and sure, it all happened off-screen, and there were limited possibilities, but it was nice and made their relationship feel a bit more real, like they had more to it than kissing and stuff. It happens in most games, once you secure a romanceable companion suddenly you run out of things to do and share with them, and you get stuck with the same 3 lines of dialogue over and over again. There should be a way of solving that.

Side quests: i’m ok with fetch quests initially as it is a good way of forcing the player to go out and explore huge maps, but i’d also like the fetching to have some meaning other than checking things off a list. I want to explore many ruins, and -can’t believe i’m actually saying this- i want a Fade quest. Wait! I know what you’re thinking but don’t kill me just yet, here’s my idea: what if we could visit the Fade at certain locations to witness memories or meet with spirits and recollect information on Solas, his past, his present? Both to understand him better (keep in mind we’ll most likely get a new protagonist who isn’t familiar with him like we are as players) and try to locate him or predict his next move. It would be i think i great way of having visions of Arlathan in its golden age, maybe seeing some of the other Evanuris, how they interacted with each other and with the elves in their service, what really happened ...i just want that sweet, sweet lore, i need it.

Technical stuff: ok, graphics will be amazing for sure, but i also would really really like: better, more varied and longer hairstyles, PLEASE. Body sliders, it’s damn time we get them. Mounts that actually make a difference! Let staves blades make damage in combat, I’M BEGGING HERE. Combined classes, MAGICAL ROGUES! A homebase we can fix up/build on/redecorate as fully as possible (Skyhold was great and i love it to pieces but why were those walls NEVER repaired????) . More casual outfit options, idk i love to dress up my characters, maybe some transmog? A day/night cycle and please i would love to see Thedas’ second moon, also weather variations depending on the region. Yes, i’m ambitious.

Gameplay: i’d like more AI options for companions, but not quite like in DAO, that was too much and i rarely used it. I’m curious how they’ll do combat this time but i know for sure i don’t want the kind of combat that has me going almost frame by frame pausing at every second, it’s annoying for me. I want large areas like in DAI but with a bit more stuff to see and do although one of my favourite maps is the Hissing Wastes so i won’t complain if we get a literal desert but i’d also like it to have secrets hidden around, make me work to find and solve them, i love exploring, i jump and click on EVERYTHING like i’m still a kid playing Monkey Island. A companion in concept art seems to be holding what looks like some form of rifle, so i’m curious how they’d incorporate that in the game. I know Tevinter has the magics and dwarves have the skill, a firearm is totally within the possibilities in-game without breaking any lore; also super curious what sort of skill trees Crows or Lords of Fortune could have, are they rogues, or warriors, or both??

So far, that’s what i got in my head.Well, most of it anyways, i may have missed something but this post has to end somewhere lol

What’s in your head? Feel free to share! Have you been thinking on how you’ll create your next protagonist? All i can think of is magical rogues and that  glowing bow was all the hype i needed.

[ravnicaforgoblins]

Ravnica for Goblins

More Awesome NPCs of Ravnica

NPCs are one of the most important tools in a DM’s campaign. Your assorted guards, informants, bartenders, hench-persons, random civilians, and, of course, your quest-givers. Optimistically, you hope to have certain NPCs stick around for a while to have the party build a relationship with them, as opposed to getting murder-hobo-ed because your party doesn’t like their attitude. Which is why it’s so great that Ravnica is filled with cool NPCs who are definitely stronger than your party (for a while)!

A couple notes; I already did a list of Awesome NPCs, focusing on the Ladies of Ravnica, so this time I thought I’d try and give the boys (and Melek) some spotlight. Secondly, as I’ve by now made annoyingly apparent, I’m focusing on characters in the modern era of Ravnica, i.e. after the Decamillennial, because everything before the Decamillennial is a nightmare to figure out and you don’t need that headache.

Tajic, Blade of the Legion

You can’t have the Boros without Tajic. Well, you can, but you don’t want to. Tajic is the Legion’s Champion as well as their Mazerunner, and embodies all the ideals the Legion stands for. Unity, strength, passion; an unbreakable shield against all who would threaten Ravnica’s citizens. He is technically considered a Firefist, but special considerations should be made to give him the flavor he really deserves. Both of Tajic’s MTG cards have had some manner of protection against damage when involving other creatures. In addition, Firefists are actually primarily spellcasters, whereas Tajic is never seen without a blade in his hand or his name. So, to sum up, take a Firefist, add in some manner of damage resistance or even immunity contingent upon having allies present, throw in a weapon trick or two for his big wavy sword, and ta-da! You’ve got Tajic!

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary

I know I said no pre-Decamillennial, but Momir Vig is a special case. Technically, the former Guildmaster is dead, but the shadow of his reign still lingers over the Simic Combine. Momir Vig symbolizes everything Ravnica fears about the Combine; progress without restraint. Vig’s cytoplasts were oozes designed for personalized evolution in subjects to correct flaws and deficiencies (regrowing lost limbs, bolstering weakened immune systems, extra brain cells, etc). The only problem is that the project worked so well that Vig stopped seeing the need for consent, creating a new form of cytoplast that only needs to touch a host to bond with it. This raised some understandable concerns among Ravnican citizens, as well as the other Guilds. These concerns went to 11 when Vig’s Project Kraj, a gargantuan organism composed of thousands of cytoplasts, was activated to purge Ravnica and start over with a fresh slate. They went to a further 12 when Vig was killed, Project Kraj summoned every cytoplasm back to it (maiming, crippling, or killing a large number of hosts), and proceeded to go on a rampage that only ended after it ate Rakdos and went into a coma.

Momir Vig is exactly the kind of mad scientist to escape the grave, go underground, and continue his research unimpeded until it’s ready. A Rogue Guildmaster with no boundaries, or as we like to call it, a ready-made Big Bad.

Melek, Izzet Paragon

As with Vig, Melek is canonically dead, but that sort of “dead” that could conceivably be temporary if the story requires it. Melek is a Weird designed by Niv-Mizzet himself to be the Izzet Mazerunner. A certain sparkmage had other ideas however, so he absorbed the sentient being of pure elemental energy into himself at the start of the Maze and took its place, then tried to shock the other runners to death because, you know, winning. But following the physics principle that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed into a different form, it’s believable that Melek could return someday. Probably with a grudge against said sparkmage. Melek is a fascinating build, combining high-level spellcasting with complete elemental resistance or possibly even immunity. Basically, a wizard who can tank. Even more intriguing, any lab run by a being composed of pure energy would be calibrated to channel said energy, possibly allowing short-range teleportation within said lab. This is a brilliant exercise in lair mechanics, so don’t hold back. Lest we forget Melek is a personal project of the Firemind, aka, the single most brilliant, powerful, and egocentric fire-breathing ancient dragon wizard in Ravnican history.

Tomik Vrona, Distinguished Advokist

Given the Orzhov Syndicate’s seeming fascination with being a faceless hierarchy of priests, lawmages, ghosts, tax collectors, etc; it’s nice to have another face with a name. Tomik Vrona is a lawmage who apprenticed under Teysa Karlov herself, making him a master of Ravnican law. It also makes him uncharacteristically open to relationships with other Guilds, as he is effectively Teysa’s link to the outside world during her imprisonment. Tomik carries a strong respect for the law, but is a passionate lover of interesting & creative loopholes. In short, he’s not inherently evil/greedy like most of the Syndicate, but still has ambition in spades. He prefers to use gargoyles for transportation, treasures every book he owns, and is canonically dating/living with that hot-tempered sparkmage mentioned previously. Whether the relationship is public or not is up to you. I personally see it as a measure of trust between the NPCs and the party; it’s a pretty controversial pairing of Guilds. It could even be a Romeo & Juliet (Julio?) kind of affair, just putting that out there.

Vorel of Hull Clade

If Momir Vig represents the dark side of the Simic Combine’s experiments, Vorel represents the infinite possibility they can offer. A former Gruul shaman, he made the decision to give up a piece of his clan’s territory to a Boros Legion garrison to better fortify their home turf, and was nearly killed when they turned on him for perceived cowardice. Vorel escaped and joined the Combine, where he was given Merfolk traits and an environment that embraced his ideas & strategic thinking. Vorel is extremely grateful to his new Guild, and believes himself to be an example of how anything is possible through the Simic, no matter one’s origins. His strong passion & drive have led to great breakthroughs, but he’s definitely more emotionally-driven than most Simic researchers. Here is a Biomancer that isn’t afraid to get dirty or bloody in combat. This could be a fun experiment in crafting a Simic Melee Weapon.

Tolsimir Wolfblood, Ledev Guardian

You know that one leader elf in fantasy stories who everyone else takes orders from but never fights themselves? Yeah, this isn’t that elf. This is what you wish that elf was, a warrior archer who leads his soldiers into battle atop a giant dire wolf and kicks some serious ass. The Ledev are Selesnya’s elite mounted force, skilled fighters, archers, swordsmen, and even spellcasters. They are the cavalry, the breaking dawn on Hornburg, the “oh shit��� in an enemy’s mouth. Please don’t make the mistakes of countless fantasy novels by being on bad terms with such badass warriors. Having any member of the Ledev behind you should be a boost to the party’s courage & resolve. Having Tolsimir fight alongside you should be one of the greatest honors of your life. The chance to finally recreate that “besties” relationship between Legolas & Gimli as you see who can kill the most enemies in battle.

Domri Rade, City Smasher

I hesitate to include Domri, I genuinely do. He’s a scraggly little punk who nearly brought about the destruction of the Gruul (and all of Ravnica) ultimately because he was too weak and too stupid. I include him here out of respect for the lore, but you can honestly do better. Domri Rade was considered too small & weak for any Gruul clan, so he instead bonded with the savage animals of the Rubblebelt, eventually discovering he could incite them into stampedes at will. This new power finally granted him admission into Borborygmos’ own Burning Tree Clan, but he panicked during the burial rite of passage and planeswalked away for the first time. Eventually he learned to control his powers, returned to the Rubblebelt, challenged Borborygmos for leadership of the Burning Tree clan, and won by sending wave after wave of stampeding boars to trample the cyclops Guildmaster. He was enlisted by Nicol Bolas to help destroy Ravnica, and failed to realize that meant him too as an eternal ripped out his Planeswalker Spark, killing him. Domri Rade is basically a cheap knockoff of Garruk Wildspeaker, only smaller and weaker and dumber and infinitely less dangerous. He is, however, considered by many to be an omen of the End-Raze, heralding the return of the Boar God Ilharg and the burning down of Ravnica by the Gruul who follow the Old Ways. So maybe play up that angle if you include him in your campaign.

Ral Zarek, Izzet Viceroy

If you only include one NPC from any of my lists in your Ravnica campaign, you must include Ral Zarek. Failing to do so is denying your players the opportunity to interact with the single coolest character in Ravnica. He beats out Vraska for the sole reason that he’s a much more public & accessible figure than the Gorgon Assassin, and an unexpected encounter with him is significantly less likely to end in your death/petrification. Between his good looks, cocky grin, brilliant mind, and lightning powers that put Thor to shame; Ral is certain to make any situation more interesting. He’s a great contact to have within the Izzet, a brilliant researcher, extremely talented with designing gadgets or magic items, an astonishingly powerful magic user, and a fun guy to hang around with. He can definitely have a temper on him, so understand when to back away. Hint: His hair turns from black to white when his electromancy powers are activating. You’ll also probably notice the sounds of static discharge building up around him, perhaps a faint smell of ozone, crackling energy coming from his gauntlet, and, oh yeah, his eyes glow and his smile turns into a growling grimace of death as he fills you with lightning. Whether by design or accident, Ral is basically the mascot for Ravnica, and it’s almost unthinkable for him to be absent from a campaign set there.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Jinx the Loose Cannon build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

Wanna join me? Come and play! But I might shoot you in your face! Bombs and bullets will do the trick; what we need here is a little bit of panic!

Would be unfair of me not to do a Jinx build after a Vi build, and would be unfair of me not to do a Jinx build in general. One of the most popular characters in League of Legends almost entirely because of her music video, Jinx is 7 brands of crazy and the perfect character when you want to get excited and blow stuff up!

GOALS

Come on; shoot faster! - We’ll need just a little bit of energy with quick movement and boosts of excitement when we get kills.

Let’s try something fun right now - We’ll need some tricks up our sleeves to keep alive and keep the enemies dead. Some people would call it anarchy.

Let’s blow this city to ashes - And see what Pow-Pow thinks when we shoot stuff before blowing it up!

RACE

Technically Jinx is a human, but no one really knows for sure and with skin that pale I’d probably say you’re some sort of Half Elf. In particular while it doesn’t make too much sense a Wood Half-Elf can run faster with Fleet of Foot for an extra 5 feet of movement speed. You also increase your Charisma by 2 and two other abilities by 1: choose Dexterity and Wisdom.

As a Half-Elf you get Darkvision up to 60 feet, and your Fey Ancestry gives you advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep, cause you can’t make crazy go to sleep! Oh and you get a language; bleh boooring! Just pick whatever.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Jinx’s a walking Looney Tunes character, squashing and stretching and bouncing around like a maniac. Because you are a maniac.

14; CHARISMA - You won the hearts of pretty much every League of Legends player with your unique brand of crazy.

13; WISDOM - More in flavor to dump this, but we need Wisdom for our class features.

12; CONSTITUTION - You’re an ADC but I’m not about to dump CON.

10; STRENGTH - Jinx can take a lot of hits and come out fine, and lifting up Fishbones takes a lot of strength.

8; INTELLIGENCE - You’re completely bonkers. Technically a genius (and if your DM’s cool enough to let you swap your Intelligence and Wisdom that would make more sense for RP) but something’s gotta show that you’re insane.

BACKGROUND

Hey let’s get even crazier: you know Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica? How about we grab a background from there?! The Rakdos Cultist background is perfect for a crazy anarchy clown! You get proficiency in Acrobatics and Performance to dance in the mayhem, a musical instrument of your choice (Drums go boom, so pick those!), and a language choice between Abyssal or Giant; go for Abyssal cause why wouldn’t you speak like a demon?

As a Rakdos Cultist you have a Fearsome Reputation: people are too scared of you to stop you from making minor criminal offenses like refusing to pay for food or breaking down a door at a local shop. Well, as long as fat hands doesn’t see you.

NOTE: Rakdos Cultists do get additional spells from their background, but it’s a very Ravnica-specific thing and I know a lot of DMs would be against it. If they allow you to take the spells go ahead but I’ve elected to ignore them in this build.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - MONK 1

Starting off as a Monk because I’m crazy! But it’s mostly for their skill and saving throw proficiencies. You get proficiency in two skills from the Monk list as well as an Artisan’s Tool: choose Athletics, Insight (because why not? But we might swap it later depending on your DM), and Tinkerer’s Tools to work on Mr. Sparkles.

As a Monk you get Unarmored Defense equal to 10 + your Dexterity and your Wisdom score, because one thing you certainly aren’t wearing is armor. You also get Martial Arts which lets you do some crazy stunts:

You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and Monk weapons, which is good cause you don’t have much Strength.

You can roll a d4 for your unarmed strike or Monk weapon, which increases as you level up.

When you Attack with an unarmed strike or Monk weapon you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.

No guns yet, but that’ll be fixed by...

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

Jinx is known as the Demon of Piltover, so a Fiendish pact would be perfect for some mayhem! As a Fiend Warlock you can Get Excited with Dark One’s Blessing, letting you gain Temporary Hitpoints equal to your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level whenever you slay an enemy.

You also get Pact Magic: you can take two Warlock cantrips and of course we’ll be grabbing a shock pistol with Eldritch Blast. You can also trick the sheriff with Minor Illusion. Make some fake booms spray some walls; distract them while the real fun begins!

For your spells of choice Hex will let you shoot the enemy just a little harder, and Arms of Hadar will serve as some Flame Chompers to help you get away from the cops.

Also if your DM’s okay with the Class Feature Variants UA I’d suggest swapping out your Insight proficiency with Intimidation for some proper anarchy!

LEVEL 3 - MONK 2

Now that we’ve got something to defend ourselves how about we grab a machine gun? But firstly Monks get Ki points to help get excited! You can spend Ki points on Flurry of Blows to punch twice instead of once with your Bonus Action (which your probably won’t do much but oh well!), Patient Defense to dodge a big metal fist flying at you with your Bonus Action, or Step of the Wind to Dash or Disengage with your Bonus Action and also jump twice as far! Step of the Wind is by far the most in-character choice to take. After all they’ll have to try a little harder to catch you!

Speaking of being hard to catch you also get 10 feet of Unarmored Movement. On top of Wood Elf movement you can run 45 feet in a turn!

LEVEL 4 - MONK 3

Pow-Pow, I missed ya! Way of the Sun Soul Monks are perfect for blowing up the sun. You get a proper ranged attack with Radiant Sun Bolt: instead of punching you can shoot some sun bullets, which will do your Martial Arts die in Radiant damage. They have a range of 30 feet, and you can shoot one out as a Bonus Action or spend a Ki point to shoot twice with your Bonus Action.

Third level Monks can also Deflect Missiles. If you’re shot by a weapon you can use your reaction to brace yourself for a d10 plus your Dexterity modifier and your Monk level. If you reduce the damage to 0 you can “grab” the shot and shoot them back with a Zap, spending a Ki point to throw the shot back as a Monk weapon with a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks can Zap their foes with Eldritch Invocations: Lance of Lethargy will properly slow down enemies hit by a zap, but I’d hold onto your other invocation for now. Likewise hold out on picking a spell as well for now.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 3

The cool thing about being a champion as popular as Jinx is that just about anything is canonical. Want more tools as a PROJECT? Take Pact of the Tome. Star Guardian? Pact of the Chain! But the most in-character choice would be Pact of the Blade for more guns! You can summon swords and hammers, and with the Improved Pact Weapon Invocation they can be guns! (Well a shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow at least.)

If you’re going for Pact of the Tome take Book of Ancient Secrets instead. If you’re going for Pact of the Chain take Voice of the Chain Master instead. Honestly there’s practically no reason for you to take Pact of the Blade, but it is the most in-flavor.

You can also take second level spells now: Shatter will let you make a boom on your enemies or a wall, and Scorching Ray from the Fiend list will let you shoot out some red-buffed bullets! Kerchow, boom, kablamo!

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement: seeing as Eldritch Blast seems to be our main source of damage at the moment increase your Charisma for more accurate Zaps.

You also get another cantrip like Prestidigitation for some fireworks, and another spell like Hold Person to keep them in place with some chompies!

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get access to SUPER MEGA DEATH ROCKETS! Or rather third level spells like Fireball! And I mean, I don’t need to explain this: it’s Fireball! It’s a big explosion! Blow stuff up!

You also get another Invocation at this level and honestly there isn’t much that’s in-flavor. Pick whatever you think is good (Agonizing Blast is always a good pick) and roll with it. Can’t tell you everything: gotta make up your own plan sometimes!

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 9 - MONK 4

These builds always get weird, where we get our ult before our abilities. Regardless fourth level Monks get an Ability Score Increase for more Dexterity now since we’re working on Pow-Pow.

You also get Slow Fall to pull out some balloons as a reaction to reduce fall damage up to 5 times your Monk level.

LEVEL 10 - MONK 5

5th level Monks get Rev’d Up with an Extra Attack, equaling three in a punch punch bonus punch combo or four if you use Flurry of Blows. And speaking of Extra Attacks your Martial Arts Die increase to a d6 for even deadlier bullets!

You can also hold an enemy in place with some chompers with Stunning Strike: when you hit an enemy with a MELEE attack (so not your sun balls!) you can force them to make a Constitution save against your Monk DC (which is currently really low) or be stunned until the end of your next turn. Distract them and run back to shoot them up!

LEVEL 11 - MONK 6

6th level Sun Soul Monks get Searing Arc Strike, letting them cast Burning Hands using 2 Ki points and upcast it by spending additional Ki points. Considering that your Monk DC is awful I’d highly suggest against using this ability.

But hey at least your fists are magical now thanks to Ki-Empowered Strikes; not like you were shooting them with 6 different types of magic already... Oh and your Unarmored Movement increases by 5 feet, to a max of 50 now!

LEVEL 12 - MONK 7

7th level Monks get Evasion: when they have to make a DEX save they take no damage on a successful save or half as much on a fail. Jinx rides giant rockets until they explode and gets out without a scratch; you think that’s natural?

You also get Stillness of Mind, or the way I see it: a mind too crazy to keep still! You can use your action to let the crazy take over any effect of Charming or Frightening, so you can go back to shooting!

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 6

May as well hop back to Warlock so we can finally grab Dark One’s Own Luck. Once per Short Rest you can add a d10 to an Ability Check or Saving Throw you make; you can do so after you see the initial roll but before you know the outcome. Jinx knows her way around mayhem; what most think is luck is just a bit of natural skill, ‘tis all!

For your final batch of chompers grab Hypnotic Pattern for a whole line of the things to distract your foes! Who’s a good hunka junk?

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 14 - MONK 8

8th level Monks get another Ability Score Improvement and since we’re focusing on Pow-Pow now you should max out your Dexterity for deadlier bullets and more AC to, ya know, not die?

LEVEL 15 - MONK 9

At 9th level Monks gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids without falling thanks to Unarmored Movement Improvement. Physics? That’s boring!

LEVEL 16 - MONK 10

At 10th level Monks get Purity of Body, making them immune to poison and disease. I’d chock it up to the fumes from Zaun. They also run 5 feet faster with Unarmored Movement, adding up to 20 extra feet for 55 feet total!

LEVEL 17 - MONK 11

11th level Sun Soul Monks can finally start using Fishbones! Searing Sunburst lets you shoot a rocket at a point within 150 feet; everyone in a 20-foot-radius sphere must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 radiant damage, but they don’t need to make the save if they’re behind full cover that isn’t see through.

You can also increase Fishbones’ damage by spending Ki points, gaining 2d6 damage per point to a maximum of 3 Ki points spent. (So 6d6 extra damage, or 8d6 total!) So yeah if you wanted you could totally shoot a Fireball’s worth of damage out over and over again, but you’d probably be better sticking to the actual Fireball spell for that.

Oh and your Martial Arts damage increases to a d8, meaning that Pow-Pow is doing the damage of a Light Crossbow now. It’s a Light Crossbow that shoots light! Ha!

LEVEL 18 - MONK 12

12th level Monks get another Ability Score Improvement: if you want more big booms increase your Charisma for a tougher Warlock DC. But if you want more little booms Wisdom will make your Searing Sunburst harder to avoid and give you more AC. I personally opted for Wisdom.

LEVEL 19

There are two directions you can choose for your last two levels in this build. The first option is to take the last two levels in Monk for Tongue of the Sun and Moon (which is meh) and Diamond Soul (which is amazing), or you can opt for 2 more levels in Warlock for more Invocations, higher level spell slots, and another Ability Score Improvement. I personally opted for Warlock in this build but feel free to adapt it how you want. Or don’t cause I know most groups don’t get to level 20 anyways.

WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get more Invocations like I just said, and you’re more than welcome to cause some anarchy with Dreadful Word for the Confusion spell. Is it a bit too late to be getting 4th level spells that you can only use once a day? Yeah probably!

Oh and feel free to replace that one mystery invocation from 5th level with Bewitching Whispers. It’s technically more in-flavor!

You also get access to 4th level spells, and the Fiend list has Wall of Fire for a big row of huge flaming chompers!

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 8

And our capstone is the 8th level of Warlock for our final Ability Score Improvement. Much like I said 2 levels ago: Charisma for big booms, Wisdom for little booms.

And for your final spell; how about a little shock-and-awe? Sickening Radiance is like a 30-foot boom, but anyone who walks in the blast crater or starts their turn there must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 4d10 radiant damage. They also suffer one level of exhaustion, and emit green light in a 5-foot radius so they can’t go invisible. The light and any levels of exhaustion caused by this spell go away when the spell ends. It’s a real slow cooker; kinda boring, but reeeeal deadly!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Do you ever wanna catch me? - With 55 feet of movement, somewhere around 18 AC (between 17 and 19 depending on how you build), Evasion, temp HP whenever you kill an enemy, a 30 foot range with your Radiant Sun Bolts, and some really long-ranged hits with Eldritch Blast and Searing Sunburst you can make sure you never feel ignored.

I'm really getting bored! - Almost all your abilities come back on a short rest, the only exception being a one-time use of the Confusion spell. That means you can use all your abilities and take a quick break before getting back into the fight!

Smile! It’s called gun play! - There’s also the fact that you do, just, a lot of damage. 3d8 + 15 Radiant damage with Radiant Sun Bolt (4d8 + 20 if you do Flurry of Blows), 4d10 Force damage with Eldritch Blast (plus an additional 16 if you took Agonizing Blast), and some massive bursts of AoE damage with Shatter, Arms of Hadar, Wall of Fire, and of course good ol’ Fireball.

CONS

No need to be scared... or alive - You’ve got an ADC’s lifebar, which is to say... not big. At best you’ll go a little over 100, which is still more than enough for you to be whacked a few times before being executed by Power Word Kill. 

All part of the plan I just made up - You’ve got three really good stats... and three really bad ones. Your DEX, WIS, and CHA are high but your Strength, Constitution, and notably Intelligence leave a lot to be desired. Your Strength is negated somewhat by proficiency in Strength saves and Athletics but plenty of things can hit you hard in the Constitution or Intelligence.

I'm MAD! Got a doctor's note - The same eternal problem remains when you mix classes like this: you have 3 primary stats so you’re going to have to dump something unless you rolled lucky during character creation. Your best bet is to get an 18 in both WIS and CHA, or a 20 in one of those stats and a 16 in the other. And regardless of what you do you’re going to want to grab an Amulet of Health to fix that awful Constitution score.

But who cares if you’re crazy; as long as it works! You’re packing a small armory with you and know how to use all of it at once. Kick down some doors, shoot the place up, all while singing a kick-ass theme song! Just don’t get too crazy, or the party Paladins might have a vendetta against you.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

[goldenzingy46]

so i found i regulus black as potions master au

...and whilst it’s (unfortunately) anti-snape, it’s also fucking funny.

FIND IT HERE

and if that didn’t convince you, read below for some extracts:

And he goes home to his creepy obsessive mother and says, “Hey mom, guess what, the Dark Lord just tried to off me,” which is debatably true but guaranteed to piss her off, And suddenly the Official Black Viewpoint on Voldemort is that he Needs To Be Dead (which dismays Bellatrix but is actually something of a relief to Narcissa), Unfortunately Sirius is a bit busy being a covert operative for the Order of the Phoenix and doesn’t hear about this, and also he’s still basically disowned on account of being a reckless Gryffindor idiot

But because he’s there, Snape does not manage to get the job, which doesn’t help at all with his ‘everyone is out to get me’ worldview, and then Lily Evans is murdered by Voldemort and everything goes to hell and Snape doesn’t have Dumbledore’s backing and ends up in Azkaban just like everyone always knew he would, the greasy bastard (says everyone who has the time to think about it). Amusingly enough, he ends up across the hall from Sirius Black, who has been tossed unceremoniously in Azkaban for betraying his friends, murdering Peter Pettigrew, and blowing up seventeen Muggles. This has the somewhat unexpected side effect of causing the Dementors to avoid that entire hallway, because there are Absolutely No Happy Thoughts available, on account of Snape and Sirius being so busy hating each other. Like seriously, they basically come up with a schedule: up at seven, bowl of gruel, sneer at each other for two hours, have a screaming fight, bowl of gruel for lunch, three hours of furious glowering, another screaming fight, bowl of gruel for dinner, nasty sniping insults until bedtime. The Dementors have never found two humans so perfectly suited to torture each other before.

Voldemort was wrong and also had created Horcruxes and yeek, dude, those are so evil even the Black Family Library only has one book on them and it’s How To Not Create Horcruxes.

Incidentally, Grimmauld Place has been renovated, because after Regulus’s mother died, he looked around and went, “Wow, this place is creepy as hell. Kreacher! We’re going for a new aesthetic,” and Kreacher went, “Yes, wonderful Master!” and now the whole place is in white and green with silver accents and actually looks like a place you might want to spend time for reasons other than “on the run from the law and haven’t any better choices.” 

He does still end up mixed into the whole mess with the Stone, because this is Harry we’re talking about, but the Trio pretty much figures out the problem is Quirrell from the word ‘go,’ because Professor Black is not sweeping around being Gratuitously Evil all over everything and therefore is not the immediate target of suspicious eleven-year-olds.

Regulus Black hates Lockhart, because no one ought to be more fabulously dressed than Regulus in his own school, you flamboyant fucker, I will out-magnificent you if it’s the last thing I do

Malfoy is still a prat. Some things never change.

Sirius Black breaks out of prison during the summer, for reasons no one can figure out, and the only person to see him go is Severus Snape, who is found laughing hysterically and raving about a black dog, and has therefore clearly been driven mad by Dementors, ah well, no great loss, moving on, nothing to see here. 

If anyone is going to be able to master the Animagus transformation without any training, in Azkaban, for no reason other than Pure Spite (™), it’s going to be Severus Snape. 

Regulus is like, “werewolves are not supposed to be this calm and likeable, I do not even know what is going on, am I friends with a werewolf? I might be friends with a werewolf. Or allies. I can be allies. Allies is a good Slytherin term. We are both on Team Keep Potter Alive Until Voldemort Is Dead.” 

So then Sirius grabs Ron (to get to Peter) and everyone ends up in the Shrieking Shack and there is a lot of shrieking, which includes Sirius yelling “Get behind me, Harry, Regulus is a Death Eater,” and Regulus yelling, “Get behind me, Potter, Sirius is a Death Eater,” and Remus putting both hands over his face and going, “Oh Merlin, two of them, there are two mad Blacks in my life, what even the fuck.”

Unfortunately Sirius is still technically an escaped convict, so he turns back into Snuffles before they get to Hogwarts proper, and Regulus in a moment of Utter Glee (™) is like, “Oh, this is my dog, he’s very devoted to me,” and Sirius has to fawn doggily on his brother. 

Which is actually hilarious, because he walks in for the first time in fifteen years and goes, “Wait, do I have the wrong house?” because everything is light and airy and open and really quite pleasant, and there’s no screaming portraits anywhere, and even the house-elf heads have been relocated to Kreacher’s room. 

So anyway Ireland wins but Krum gets the Snitch and Harry and Ron are having the time of their lives, and honestly Sirius is too because he gets to cadge food from everyone and he gets ear scritches from Remus whenever he wants them and he gets to growl at that supercilious fuck Malfoy whenever he likes. 

Sirius is...not known for his Tactical Planning, and rushes off to Confront the Fake Moody, which honestly goes better than it ought to, because Barty Crouch Jr is not expecting Professor Black’s enormous dog to suddenly turn into Sirius Black and hex him senseless 

When the Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Black rips off his own sleeve and screams, “Does my Mark look fucking gone to you, you incompetent asshole?” at the Minister for Magic, and said Lord is also one of the most well-respected Professors at Hogwarts, the Minister’s approval ratings tend to tank. 

Regulus is a Slytherin, he’s supposed to be cunning and sneaky and fly under the radar, he shouldn’t be number two on Voldemort’s hit list, this is frankly embarrassing. Sirius is kind of indignant that his brother is higher up Voldemort’s hit list than he is. Really, Sirius? Remus says. That’s what bothers you about this situation?

And after the third nightmare which is pretty clearly a vision not a nightmare, Sirius goes right down to Regulus and is like, “So Harry is having visions in which he’s seeing through Voldemort’s eyes,” and Regulus is like, “Well fuck, that’s what that Horcrux does.” 

Sirius learned Occlumency from his father, who had a lot of things to keep from his mother, and then later from the Department of Mysteries after he became an Auror. His version has a lot of “setting traps in your mind so your enemies really regret trying this.”

Regulus learned Occlumency from his mother, who had a hell of a lot of things to keep from his father, and then later from being servant to a batshit insane Dark Lord. His version has a lot of “hiding everything important under lots and lots of obfuscating facts and memories.”

Voldemort does try to convince Harry that his godfather is being held in the Department of Mysteries. Since Snuffles is asleep on Harry’s feet at the time, that doesn’t have quite the intended effect.

1) Sirius stops following Harry around as a big black dog and starts following him around as a human

2) ...and then realizes that’s not going to work so well at Hogwarts and goes back to following him around as a dog.

3) Sirius formally takes custody of Harry, his godson, and declares that Harry never has to so much as see a Dursley again

4) Regulus points out that since Sirius is the elder son, this makes Sirius Lord Black

5) Sirius has a fit of the screaming meemies at the thought of politics and formally abdicates the title in favor of his brother, who’s been doing a pretty good job so far

Voldemort spends the summer moving into Malfoy Manor, which the Order of the Phoenix figures out after Sirius gets very drunk and flies his motorcycle to Malfoy Manor in order to “glitterbomb those pretentious wannabe-Blacks.” Glitter apparently does not register as a threat to the Malfoy wards, even when it’s been spelled to be unremovable. Not that glitter really needs to be spelled to be unremovable. Sirius figures out who exactly is in residence when a rainbow-glitter-covered Voldemort comes out of the Manor at speed and tries to hex him off his motorcycle. In retrospect, it wasn’t Sirius’s brightest idea ever, but he did learn where Voldemort was!

Harry’s sixth year is the year that Severus Snape, fuelled entirely by Pure Spite (™), reinvents the Animagus transformation from scratch and escapes from Azkaban as an extremely angry bat.

At this point, Snape is rather dubiously sane, on account of fifteen years in Azkaban, which even if he didn’t have to interact much with the Dementors was fifteen years of either solitary confinement or confinement across from the man he hates worst in all the world. Snape therefore has two driving obsessions right now:

1) Voldemort killed Lily Evans and must therefore die.

2) Snape has to outdo Sirius Black, or die trying.

So about a week after the news that Severus Snape, Death Eater, has escaped Azkaban, Hagrid goes out to open the main doors and discovers a dead Death Eater on the front step of Hogwarts with a neat little note that says, “For Lily.” General consensus is that this is Weird.

The night that Malfoy was supposed to get his Great Duty from Voldemort, which was going to be Killing Albus Dumbledore, was the night Sirius decided to glitterbomb the Manor. And Voldemort, whose Priorities can be skewed by Utter Wrath, decided that Malfoy’s Great Duty was going to be Killing That Fucker Black, How Dare He Disrespect Me, I Want His Head. Malfoy is actually sort of okay with this at first because his hair is covered in shiny red glitter and he looks like an off-brand Weasley, which is Not Acceptable.

So what he does is call Sirius in and say, “Hey, brother, do you want to fake your own death and have an enormous funeral so I can kidnap Cousin Narcissa?” Draco is in the corner trying to figure out when his life took an abrupt left turn into Weirdville, Population Him. Sirius is like, “OMG enormous funeral can I come as a Grim and frighten everyone? Please?” Regulus, who is only the practical one if you ask him, is like, “That is a great idea, it will give me a perfect opportunity to kidnap Cousin Narcissa, truly we are tactical geniuses.” Sirius wants there to be So Much Glitter and is rather put out when Regulus vetoes that plan. Harry, when told about this, decides that Amateur Dramatics on the theme of My Godfather Is Dead And Everything Is Terrible sound like a lot of fun, and wants to be chief mourner at the funeral. Hermione is So Done with all of these people. Remus declares that he will go to the funeral in ashes and sackcloth and rend his clothing dramatically at appropriate points for extra pathos. Hermione is Even More Done and goes off to write to Viktor, who can be relied on to talk about sensible things like spellcrafting and also say nice things about her hair. Albus decides that having Sirius be Officially Dead might actually be a good tactical move in the war, and authorizes the use of Hogwarts grounds for the Epic Funeral, but adds some... tactical revisions to the Kidnapping portion of the show. Minerva joins Hermione in the corner of Done With Everything. Sirius designs his own fake corpse, because of course he does. The Epic Funeral goes off without a hitch, somewhat to everyone’s surprise, and Narcissa is exceedingly surprised to be invited to Post-Funeral Tea by her Cousin Regulus and given a Portkey to a secluded and well-warded villa in France, to be used when necessary. Snape, who watched the whole funeral upside-down in a tree, is Delighted. He has Outlived Black! He has Won! Take that, Black! Voldemort is also Delighted. Tiny Malfoy is just as useful as Larger Malfoy!

Albus looks Wise and Cunning and strokes his beard thoughtfully. Regulus does not say Rude Things about Albus’s overblown sense of the dramatic, mostly because he knows perfectly well he doesn’t have a leg to stand on after the Epic Funeral

Albus hatches a Plan (™)

The first bit of seventh year is actually pretty uneventful, and Harry spends it waiting for the Other Shoe to drop, but the only things that drop are another large handful of dead Death Eaters, who show up on the doorstep every week like clockwork 

The Battle of Hogwarts ensues, Highlights include:

1) Ginny Weasley being cornered by Bellatrix Black and nearly killed, except that a fucking enormous bat interposes itself between them and takes the Killing Curse meant for Ginny, and dies with what everyone swears is a look of utter satisfaction on its face

-Literally no one ever figures out what the fuck was up with that, but the bat is buried in Ottery St Catchpole with full honors

2) Neville Longbottom drawing the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat (delivered courtesy of Fawkes) and beheading Nagini

3) Regulus Black being cornered by about eight furious Death Eaters and being rescued by his brother, who surprises the Death Eaters by appearing abruptly behind them and yelling, “Back from the dead, fuckwits! Eat that!”

4) Remus ends up facing off against Pettigrew, who has a silver hand which is poisoning him to death on account of the lycanthropy and Voldemort being Terrible. Pettigrew ends up dead. Eyewitnesses report he may have thanked Remus for the mercy.

5) Ron, Hermione, and Viktor Krum (a late and rather surprising addition to the Order) being a really quite effective team (“Er-my-own-nee is brain, I am brawn, you can be good looks,” Krum is heard to say. Ron spends the entire battle blushing furiously.)

6) Harry and Albus and Hedwig taking Voldemort on together

It turns out the Power the Dark Lord Knows Not is that of a really pissed off snowy owl doing her damnedest to claw his eyes out, during which rather chaotic interlude it’s surprisingly simple for Harry to trip Voldemort off the main dais. Landing on one’s head on a stone floor is liable to break even the most Dark Lord-y of necks. A whole bunch of historians have despaired of making the Battle of Hogwarts sound properly heroic when the Chosen One just tripped the Dark Lord and he broke his own fool neck by landing wrong.  Nonetheless it’s remarkably effective.

The most interesting thing to happen to Harry for the rest of the year is testifying in front of the entire Wizengamot that his godfather is, in point of fact, Not Dead and that the whole thing was an elaborate act for the purpose of fooling Voldemort.

NOW GO READ IT!!!

[galadrieljones]

Ship-a-thon!

tagged by @idrelle-miocovani and @pikapeppa, and I’m finally getting around to it!! Thank you!!

1. First ship you ever wrote fic for:

Technically it was self-insert fic for the Backstreet Boys, *NSync, and Hanson in like, 1997. More realistically, it was Solavellan, summer of 2016. 

2. Ship you write the most now:

Right now, I’m pretty much only writing Arthur Morgan x Mary Beth Gaskill for the Red Dead Redemption 2 fandom (in a fast-growing chapter fic called A Funeral). Ships I meaningfully hope to get back to are Aloy x Nil (Horizon: Zero Dawn) and Sene x Ameridan (I still have a lot up my sleeve for them). I feel Sene and Solas have mostly been retired, at least in their canon divergent fix-it iteration. But of course, with DA4 developments, I am always likely to get back to their more tragic, awful canon circumstances. Lol. 

3. Ship you read the most now:

When I read fanfic, I still mostly read Solavellan and Dragon Age fanfic, especially now that, for the time being, I’ve moved on from writing for the fandom. I try to stick faithful to my friends who are magnificent DA writers. I’m slowly combing my way through fics by @ladylike-foxes @bearly-tolerable @ellstersmash and @buttsonthebeach right now, and of course I always look forward to @thevikingwoman‘s Temporal Arrangements updates <3 Note that I am MASSIVELY slow when it comes to reading, particularly catching up on longfics, so you may not know I’m there at all till I whisper my way into the comments section all at once when I catch up....

4. Newest ship:

Arthur Morgan x Mary Beth Gaskill, Red Dead Redemption 2. This is a very rare pair, and I’m stoked for the readership I’ve accumulated so far at AO3 (and to a MUCH lesser extent, on tumblr). I’m not altogether sure why it’s so rare lol, but Mary Beth IS a low profile character for sure, and most of the fic I see for Arthur seems to be the second person Reader x Arthur, which is a sub-genre I’m not terribly familiar with. I do have theories that Mary Beth might have been the originally planned love interest for Arthur, and I know I’m not alone in that at least. There just aren’t a lot of other content creators for the ship right now, which is fine lol. I’m cool being the captain of this ship.

I also have some newer ships that I love, even if I don’t actively ship them? Like Arthur x Charles and Arthur x Albert Mason. I REALLY like viewing these as complex platonic relationships, particularly Arthur and Charles, who I see as platonic comrades fighting in a losing war (never romantic), but I’ve seen some beautiful art and writing for both of these as romantic ships and really like to see what people come up with.

5. Rare ship you wanna read more of:

I’d love to see some more Ameridan x Lavellan ships out there!! I know they exist. I also am definitely meaning to get into @a-shakespearean-in-paris‘s Arthur x Charlotte fic, another RDR2 rare pair.

6. Your taboo ship:

Most of the time, I give no fucks about what people want to ship. The only thing that legitimately freaks me out is Joel x Ellie from The Last of Us. That, to me, is gnarly af and I’m actually like, morally opposed to the pairing. I’m definitely a little squicked by Arthur x Dutch in RDR2, though I don’t have any moral issues with it. I just don’t like it personally. In the end, 99.9% of the time, I say ship and let ship. 

7. They never met in canon ship:  

I don’t think I have one of these. Unless you count Solas x Ghilan’nain. Though I guess they DID meet in canon? Idk lol.

8. Your unexpected ship:

Lavellan x Ameridan and Lavellan x Abelas. Tbh when I first got here, I never understood these sorts of canon divergent ships. It was bizarre to me. But after hanging out for a year or so and finding new ways to explore the story, I ended up being so fascinated by the prospect of Sene in a post-Trespasser world, attempting to move on from Solas, and her complicated relationships with other ancient and quasi-ancient elves. 

Also, Aloy x Nil for HZD. This ship grew out of my own writing and not really much out of the game. I think Nil’s role in Aloy’s life is supremely unique, and I explored it in a one-shot, which became a yet-unfinished chapter fic that I’d really like to get back to one day.  

9. The ship you always forget to give love to:

Morrigan x Warden Cousland. I feel like I don’t see a ton of other Morrigan x Warden ships (except you @buttsonthebeach!!) and I have always loved the complexities of the ship. 

10. Ship your OC with a canon character (if applicable):

See #8 lol. I’ve shipped Sene Lavellan with every ancient elf there is lol. I’ve also got a Lavellan x Blackwall ship, which I wrote about briefly in my probably-abandoned fic Unsigned.

I’ve also got a very loose concept for an OC x Joel ship in The Last of Us that I never wrote about. Her name is Cynthia. She’s a widow, and she’s got a sixteen-year-old son. The two find their way to Tommy’s compound in Jackson at some point post-TLoU. I had an idea for a canon divergent fic in which Joel and Cynthia get married, and shortly thereafter, during an attack on the compound, Joel and Cynthia’s son end up captured and held hostage by the Fireflies. Cynthia and Ellie then must set out on a journey to rescue them. Cynthia is a skilled trap-maker, a little like Bill, but even more specialized. She teaches Ellie how to make some badass traps. Add this to my long list of fics I would love nothing more to write, but I have no time to write them. 

11. Ship you’re embarrassed to ship:

I’m a grown-ass woman I have no embarrassment lol.

12. Your most romantic ship:

Sene and Solas. But also maybe Arthur x Mary Beth. I’m not sure which is more “romantic.” I don’t really do “sweep me off my feet whirlwind romance” writing. Though, of course, they’re romantic in some sense. 

13. Your sexiest ship:

That would be Sene Lavellan x Ameridan, for sure.

14. Your most tragic ship:

Ugh. Probably Sene Lavellan x Abelas. I have not written as much about them as I should have. Their story is quite complete in my mind and has a few endings. 

My Nume Lavellan x Blackwall ship is also pretty sad.

15. A ship you want more content for:

I always want more Iwyn Lavellan x Solas content by @thevikingwoman. In any and all forms, though my favorite story for them so far is Temporal Arrangements. <3

tagging @bearly-tolerable @wrenbee @a-shakespearean-in-paris @ladylike-foxes @lyrium-lovesong @buttsonthebeach @ellstersmash @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul ^_^

[lucalicatteart]

Avirre'thel : Climate, population & local country info (+ a bit about language)

Just an informational post about the climate (temperature, weather, etc.) of Navyete (where a majority of the Avirre'thel live), some general population info (how many members of this species exist, how the population is distributed, etc.), and some maps and short descriptions of Navyete and it's surrounding areas on the continent of Aviinine.   (info under read more) 

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((NOTE: Anytime I mention ‘Elves’ in this, I am specifically meaning Fanyin Elves (but just not wanting to spell it out every time lol), which are the main group of Elves in the lands of modern day Fanyin, and the modern day evolution of the same group of ancient elves that the Avirre'thel/vampires originated from, the ones who have lived on the same lands for thousands of years and have a history with them. There are plenty of other elves in other places in the world who have no history with the vampires and etc. The use of elf/elves/elven here is specifically in reference to only the ones on this continent, not elves as a whole))  (*also since writing this, I decided the thing about how to refer to groups of elves (name of homeland + ‘iri’ at the end), so the Fanyin elves can just be called ‘Fanyiniri’, which I may use in updated sections, but I wrote some parts of the text a long time ago so they may use differing terminology lol)  

(ALSO NOTE: I try to give some  estimates here and list stuff like percentages and temperatures and the amount of square miles that make up a country or etc. etc., but just be aware that I am bad at math and I know absolutely nothing  about stuff like how big a country would usually be or how many people would live in a place or etc. etc. , so some estimates may be really unrealistic or off or maybe don't add up with other measurements listed. I'm trying my best to be thorough but don't get annoyed or something if i accidentally estimate a population incorrectly or something lol..)

I'll start with the maps and stuff first, since it's the longest part, and I guess is also the most broad information, so I can kind of start zoomed out and then gradually focus in (from the whole continent, then to just the population of one country, etc.)

This (above) is a full map of all of Nanyevimi (the entire world), I might change some things but this is I guess just a quick initial outline.

From this, we'll hone in on just one continent, Aviinine,  loosely meaning ‘home of elves’ in ancient elvish. Though they did not actually originate here, the land has been home to some of the oldest elven societies and at some point was entirely inhabited by them and flourishing, even though today out of the four main countries of this land, Fanyin (and the "technically separate country but basically is just an extension of Fanyin" country, Mippya) is the only one which is still dominated by elves, with Asen having lost elven influence and becoming a diverse global city, Nanebae still being mostly barren, and Navyete now being the central hub for the Avirre’thel since their creation/split from the elves years ago. The name is still used though as it stuck around and most people (even modern elves, who’s language has evolved very differently and doesn’t share many similarities to ancient elvish anymore) don’t know the literal translation.

Here’s a really bad close up drawing of Aviinine (hopefully it looks similar enough for you to tell which one it is on the more zoomed out map lmao but it’s hard to take small things and scale them larger and make the outline look the same…lol.. it's up near the northern right side of the larger map), where you can see the individual areas outlined.

(though the shape is more accurate on the larger map..  on this on directly above, Fanyin is a little too far up, as it should be mostly below Navyete, since Navyete kind of sticks out above the rest of the continent with Asen and Fanyin being fairly even with each other kind of, if that makes sense? So the shape is more accurate in the zoomed out map, but this one can at least show the area divisions lol)

I’m just going to list places (I guess they’d be like countries technically) and then talk about them because I have no idea how else to organize this

This first one is going to be a bit long and the most detailed because it’s the main place that’s important to me currently (since I’ve been focusing mostly on the Avirre'thel recently and these are their lands)., but the other ones will be shorter , so hopefully this whole thing won’t be too long of a read lol

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Navyete:

in the past was originally named ‘Naviyethe’, but due to language changes* and also the vampires wanting to make the name more theirs and separate themselves from the old elves, the name was changed when the land was ‘taken’ from the elves.

The population in Navyete is about 98% vampires/Avirre'thel, with about 1.6% being of various humanoid demon species, 0.3% being humans (when I mention humans, I mean humans from Nanyevimi, NOT earth humans... Nanyevimi is an entirely separate fantasy realm and has nothing to do with earth lol), and 0.1% other, including maybe a few elves from Northern Fanyin who fled due to being targeted by the elven government or etc.

(also there's only about 2,400,000 Avirre'thel in existence, with 2,254,000 of them living in Navyete (98% of 2,300,000), meaning there's really like, not many Avirre'thel living outside of their native country at all lol. In the 20,000 years they've been around as a species they really haven't branched out much or settled other areas)

Originally vampires were mostly around Nanebae (like… hiding out in the mountain range after being forced out of Fanyin) and Asen (to some extent, though again, they weren’t allowed in major cities and there’s a huge hub of major cities on the coast of Asen, so they were still only in the parts of Asen most near Nanebae really). Also this is the Avillthe vampires I'm talking about, as of course the other "races" did leave this area and resided in a few other places (the Avleste were in the major cities in Asen, the Avesi were actually the first vampires to be in Navyete since they moved more up into the north to one of the islands there, the Avlethre somehow trumbled their way over into the isolated human territories, the Avan I guess technically would still be near where the Avillthe were, the only difference is they lived isolated inside the caves near the mountain range and the Avillthe didn’t, etc.), so the Avillthe were mostly the ones leftover and roaming around the Nanebae mountains for a while).

After a series of issues with the Elves, the vampires demanded an area of land in the north from the elves (since living in the coldest climate would be most suited to vampiric intolerance of heat lmao), who initially fought them about it, but then realized it would look bad on their ~~peaceful beautiful elegant image UwU~~~ so they decided to just give the land to the vampires at no cost  (it’s all gross and mountainy and freezing anyway! yuck! not beautiful and flowery UwU), and actually gave them much more than they asked for (the entire country of Navyete instead of just a little section of northern land or an island).  ..

After which the elves proceeded to aggressively frame this about how good they are and what a generous people they are to have given land to the vampires and how barbaric the vampires were to demand it from them in the first place, and to support the ideals of ‘Elven Kindness’ (as if they weren’t the ones who originally kept the vampires from even owning land in the first place), which did mostly improve their public image the way they desired it to, boosting tourism and people who idealized the elves or wanted to live in elvish lands. To which the vampires mostly just thought, ‘Thank god we are not them’, then sold some of the land around the border so that their land would no longer have any fraction of an area that is close to touching the lands owned by the elves, (originally Navyete and Fanyin were touching and shared a large amount of bordering land, but the vampires intentionally sold that land to people in Nanebae so that there would be plenty of space between them and the elves lol).

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The whole continent of Aviinine is about 650,000 square miles, with Asen taking up about 172,000 sq mi,  Fanyin & Mippya being about 220,000 sq mi, Nanebae being 102,000 sq mi, And Navyete being like 156,000 sq mi.  The population of Navyete is about 2,300,000 or roughly 15 ppl per square mile (if it were evenly spaced) , but like a majority of the cities have a wAYY higher population density since like a majority of people literally live in a small belt in the middle upper part of the country and thats all lol.. most of the country is actually just wilderness and areas that aren't very inhabited.

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Pretty much every city in Navyete has some sort of physical border around it, usually also with some type of  guards, or fences, magic barriers, or other security measures. This is due to a past of Elves sneaking in across the border to cause trouble and spite them (like “well, we’ll give you this land but will still be assholes about it and occasionally set fire to things or sneak into your homes and burn them down even though we know you’ve hardly even been here long enough to get your footing”), which is mostly because the elves began to get paranoid of the vampires moving in so close to them after mistreating them for so long , so elven leaders felt it ‘necessary’ to occasionally send spies and others just to “make sure the vampires weren’t up to anything”.

(And also because it was a profitable tradition. Like part of it definitely was 'Oh no there's people developing into a powerful cohesive group right next to us and we’ve treated them horribly in the past so I bet they hate us, what if they rise against us, we should be defensive by… making them.. hate us more,, i guess".  But then there was also an element of "Hey, we all hate the vampires right? Well guess what… for only a small payment of a huge amount of money, my “"tourism company”“ will offer to help sneak you across the border so you can go on the funnest adventure of your life! Have you ever wanted to burn down homes, rape, steal, and violently assault members of a small village as a fun upbeat weekend activity? Just pay me for the trip and you can have fun with all the destruction you’d like, and you’re guaranteed to be back and safe before the week even starts!".

So the frequent elven attacks were both like, out of utterly unfounded fear/guilt fueled paranoia, AND also out of certain groups (especially the government) realizing they could charge rich businessmen and lower down government officials and military leaders and etc. huge sums of money for the access to just,, go be shitheads in another country and harm innocent people that they felt deserved it (because "Avirre'thel are just gross corrupted elves who abandoned their magic and are weak and gross but also are like apparently fearsome and barbaric so we've got to get them before they get us!!").

( Some elves also justified this with the knowledge that Avirre'thel are incapable of dying, and just end up regenerating back to a healthy state no matter what you do to them (you could crush all their bones and cut off their arms and behead them and they'd be back to a normal state in like maybe a month or less), so going in and burning down their homes and brutally beating the hell out of them in he middle of the woods ins't like, something they can't recover from. They'll be back to full health within a week or two probably, and can always rebuild their flimsy little houses, so what's the harm? It's not like permanent death or anything. It's just a little game with no serious life threatening cost, obviously! (nevermind the trauma of constant violence and the drain on resources it takes to constantly rebuild everything)).

Which of course sometimes didn’t work out so well for them... If you gave the vampires a chance to fight they weren’t hesitant at all to kill the intruders, many entire groups of them were murdered on multiple occasions,for trespassing and trying to invade small settlements in the middle of the night. It was just that much of  the time, the Avirre'thel were overpowered or disabled. You can’t kill Avirre'thel/vampires due to the whole immortality thing, but if there’s 40 of you and like 15 of them and you jump in and first thing cut all their limbs off, they’re not going to be able to have the mobility to fight you well, so you can take your time in the destruction from there, as long as you’re fast with initially getting them in a state where they cant fight you back, which the elven invaders usually were, since they could do magic , which the Avirre'thel, a non-magic capable species, usually had pretty much nothing to defend themselves against it.  So a majority of the time the elven trespassing groups were very precise with their planning and would intentionally target groupings of people with little defenses, like small unprepared villages in the middle of the woods with a lot of children or physically frail or other individuals who would be less able to put up a fight and are too unconnected to the rest of the world to be able to quickly call on others, etc.

The attacks on the Avirre'thel (both the shitty tourist group attacks and the deliberate elven military ones, which,, honestly were functionally the same thing) went on a very long time only growing in frequency and eventually became a hugely pervasive problem, which is part of what led to things like the cultural focus on children being trained in evasive combat techniques and self defense early on (like age 8), everyone migrating to live inside of or right next to large cities (for better community defense), and also the beginning of a lot of organizations of demons who existed solely to travel with and protect vampire communities from attack (as demons are generally stronger than elves magically, and could defend them with strong magic, since vampires are inherently not magic capable), and of course, (back to the actual main topic of this series of paragraphs lol) the start of the traditions of building huge border walls around cities all the time with night watchers and stronger defense and etc.)

While they could have put a huge border around the entire country, or part of the country, so much of the land is mountain-y, or permanently frozen, or difficult to use in other ways, so they figured it would have just been too complicated and used up too much resources to have a solid border around all of Navyete. Instead, just opting to build it around “wherever there were people”, since the Fanyiniri and other elves/associates of theirs were really only coming in to attack people and their homes, so as long as border areas protect them then, who cares about having them way out in the middle of nowhere protecting trees or something.  

This was made a lot easier by the fact that ancient elves (and thus the avirre'thel who directly came from them) were excellent at working with stone and metal, so it was fairly simple to build pretty sturdy walls around most larger cities at least, and even in smaller settlements or rural towns, it would be pretty easy to carve or build a basic wall and then find one or two villagers (or a few demon political activists working to overthrow the elven government that have formed a defense squad ) to keep watch at night.

Though some people have always preferred to live outside the walls, on their own in the forests/frozen beaches/mountains/complete middle of nowhere, or sometimes just perched right on the outskirts of the city walls so they can still feel more isolated yet maintain the convenience of city resources.. A good majority of the population had come to (and mostly still do) live in cities or smaller gatherings, pretty much all of which were walled in or guarded somehow. This could possibly have also contributed to the somewhat more community focused than average culture of the Avirre'thel, given that even though you could travel freely from place to place at any time, you were still usually kind of literally living in a closed off space with others, which even in largely spread out areas like huge cities, can make you feel closer.

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In recent times, they don’t receive much trouble from the elves, but have security up regardless, due to still being quite on guard for them, though they usually use other means of security rather than just, building huge ass walls around everything all the time lol.  Today many walls are not upkept anymore and are only around for aesthetic or cultural value, but it’s still extremely common to see cities with tall stone walls spanning the entire border of the city, they’re just probably not actively guarded as much and don’t serve the same purpose. Invisible walls or barriers made with enchantments are much more common now as well, though they used to only be used in addition to physical walls, now people simply use them on their own.  It's still kind of been integrated though into traditional Avirre'thel architecture as just a Thing They Do, even if they don't use the walls for defense any longer, they may still build a decorative and elaborate wall around a newly constructed city, or implement smaller wall-like barrier looking structures into normal buildings and etc.

They do also now have a partial border wall going along certain popular areas close to Nanebae and Fanyin (which is like , just about the only sort of border thing that doesn’t have a city directly inside of it, but then again it still is connected to living areas and buildings, like at some points the 'wall’ is more just like, a fence that connects multiple housing and health buildings lol). Not to keep people out, but due to the increasing amount of individuals fleeing from the current state of Fanyin. They’ve set up like a whole connected string of watchers and help centers and special medical buildings and etc., so that when like, random teenagers show up malnourished and ill and traumatized having just ran through the freezing woods for 27 days to escape torture and slavery, they are sure to have adequate resources for them and people waiting there to help them get on their feet and find them food and shelter and etc. But this like 'fence with a bunch of medical facilities and stuff alongside it' is really the closest thing they have to an actual border wall for the country as a whole, and still usually only do walls for cities and etc.

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so ANYWAY, ,

ALSO in southern Navyete  is usually a lot of farms, since that’s the warmest land they have (like up in the north north it’s iced over and snowy nearly all year around). Though vampires don’t necessarily HAVE to eat (as long as they consume blood when needed, they’re fine), majority still do, and while a small amount of the food is imported from other places overseas or taken in from Asen (though lol they don’t use  routes through Nanebae because they never want to run into elves, stuff from Asen is usually moved from coast to coast rather than on land. and this is really only foreign/non-traditional foods), they do still vaguely try to grow some food of their own and farm when they can, especially for specialty local dishes and herbs and spices and etc. that are unique to vampiric/Avirre'thel cuisine.

It's less populated and much more rural in Southern Navyete, but all of the farms and little towns and etc. still usually exist within a wall and have plenty of connection to their own and local communities. Farming towns and such usually exist in little clusters along popular southern roads and trade routes, so they still have connection with the rest of Navyete and easy travel access. Though of course there are some people who live completely in the middle of nowhere far out in the woods outside of the walled boundary of any town (and are pretty much just left alone to do their own thing), most people living in southern Navyete are just inhabitants of small towns/cities that mostly work on growing or harvesting food. Though you could also count the people who live in small cities right on the border, who usually do more medical or government aid work (as these border towns only exist to stay along that fence (which is technically in southern Navyete) and help fleeing elves) instead of farming stuff.

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The middle of Navyete (including most area of the islands) is where a majority of the population lives. As mentioned, all cities have a defined ‘city wall’ , though today it really depends on the city as to whether there are actively employed people who watch guard of it. 55% of the population of Navyete as a whole lives in the various main cities in the middle of Navyete. With the rest mostly living almost directly outside the city walls (this is by choice, it’s not like there’s not enough room inside or something, they just, idk, maybe prefer the type of housing (larger homes usually) on the outside, or in smaller rural towns (still with a wall but, just, smaller, more sloppily constructed, or in modern times possibly without one since walling everything off isn’t as popular anymore) .

(So like the population would maybe break down something like: 55% of people live within the walls of one of the various cities in the middle of Navyete, 8% live in areas directly outside of the city walls (still in the middle of Navyete), 12% live in smaller towns in between the major cities (in the middle of Navyete), 22% live in other areas  like southern Navyete or the middle of nowhere outside of towns and etc., and 3% live in actual northernmost Navyete on the islands or far up in the top north (which like 1,000 of those people would be those who serve on the council (the government of Navyete) and all of their advisors and etc. , since their main meeting area and living spaces are for some reason up in permanently frozen hell mountains in the very furthest north lol). But generally yeah like, 75% of people are all in the middle of Navyete, which is where most resources are clustered and etc.)

Like anywhere, there’s still of course a few that live out in the middle of nowhere but a large majority of the population is concentrated in a few specific areas. Navyete has a ton of unused forest and wild land (partially because it’s uninhabitable/dangerous and partially just because of vampires focus on having a strong community, and also from preferring a very particular climate lol) that mostly just has a few travel routes and maybe a small town every once and a while but not much there. The grouping of cities in the middle portion of Navyete is essentially where everything is. I’m not really sure how to describe exactly what the buildings usually looks like so I’ll give pictures -

(NOTE: All images are just taken from random google image searches, and aren't exact, they're just the closest approximations I could find for the type of aesthetic I was thinking of, without having to sit down and painstakingly draw a bunch of buildings to have them exactly as I envision them lol)

Basically all of the buildings in vampiric cities look something similar to this style:

(minus any modern looking glass buildings in the background of these images lol)

Sometimes newer buildings may look a bit more clean, but have a similar aesthetic, like this:

Housing in city areas usually looks something like this -

or sometimes larger apartment buildings and community home type places (nobody is technically homeless (unless it’s by choice like in the case of travelers/wanderers/adventurers/etc.) in Navyete, everyone is provided with at least basic housing and food, but basic housing places are usually kind of like large community homes where everyone has their own room  but there’s a shared dining hall and public areas and etc  (due to how much most vampires are used to sharing kitchen spaces or public bathrooms or etc. with others, this really isn’t seen as a bad thing to them)) will look something like this (below) and are always located in cities, rarely are in more rural areas

Homes outside of city walls, usually look more like this -

And really tiny homes in the middle of nowhere are probably more like this -

(( AND Of course there are some ancient buildings, like the main government hub where the council meets far in the norther mountains, and many of the main areas of cities or the walls built around them will have the more distinct and older traditional ancient vampiric architecture style, but... I have to finish my drawings of it so I can actually make a post about it lol, so for now I'll leave that part out. Though traditional architecture does incorporate very similar elements, though the style is a bit different, the same ideas still stand in terms of everything basically being made of stone or glass with little wood, and there being a ton of metal working and everything being fairly ornate. ))

But yeah in general, whether in the city borders or not, most all Avirre'thel buildings include like.. lots of stones.. rocks..bricks. plain kind of dark colors, lots of grays and whites and dark shades with a few muted accenting colors. Often a lot of details or elaborate patterns.. a lot of windows (they just dislike the heat itself for reasons previously mentioned in the species outline post, but are totally fine with sunlight itself, they actually like natural light and the sun, just as long as it’s still pretty chilly temperature wise).

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Except, in addition to the above aesthetic, they also have heavy focus on metal, especially fancy grates and windows with metal and etc. , I couldn’t find example images in the same style that featured these things but (and this will be more clear once I eventually create the main post about traditional vampiric architecture),  as a left over thing from their very early building styles they’ve always used a lot of metal with the stone, so just like, imagine the stone buildings above as the base but pretend there’s a ton of fancy metal working and metal light lanterns or something   hung on the outside of every home -

(Kind of like below, not exactly though, since Avirre'thel metalwork usually has it's own distinct patterns and repeating designs it follows, but again, these are 'close approximations' from google image searches, not exact replicas)

And imagine that all the windows (not just decorative statement windows like, every single window in the house/public building/etc.) look kind of similar to stuff like this  -

(or some places have windows without glass that are just metal grates kind of, like metal windows to let light in but just metal without glass in them like this, (but having glass is way more common especially for public buildings)  

and often featuring random metal stuff like these built into the walls or hanging outside or covering windows or etc.  -

and especially stuff like this (which i couldn’t find many examples of, the one in the image is kind of plain for them and would probably be more elaborate, but the idea of metal decor in doorways that hold lanterns is very much something they’d have)  

or like these for front doors to houses/public buildings or even usually doors to rooms within a house (except have the wood part be plain metal lol,, they do,, use wood sometimes,, but like, most of everything is just metal, glass, and stone/brick/etc. Though doors are the most common things to use wood for, and can be pretty common, many doors have been metal and glass only,, its probably about like 50% both ways, with half of all buildings having wood + metal+ glass doors and half just being metal + glass  (except maybe a few of JUST wood or just metal etc., and in some more ancient buildings, stone doors of course, though those are heavier and less convenient lol  )  -

and fences that are just plain metal, or plain stone, or like this (pretend the pattern in the middle is metal instead of cement lol )  -

and especially stuff like these (like, metal detailing around roofs and etc. They like to add excess metal everywhere they can basically, just for the sheer Drama And Aesthetic i guess lol) -

SO ANYWAY, basically the styles listed above in the buildings but add onto them,, a lot of metal stuff, since something they’ve always done, especially in their more traditional architecture is lots of metal detailing with stone as a base (so the house may be carved stone but all the windows, doors, some of the interior walls, etc. are all fancy metal work) , even though the designs in these pictures are not exactly the same patterns they would use , again all of these are just kind of an estimate, the most similar-ish things i could find on google since i am awful at drawing actual buildings,, but like, in general, just think… a lot of kind of muted colored stone and brick and rocks and stuff,, usually ornate and kind of fancy,, but also with a ton of metal everywhere all the time lol

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Even when new buildings are made they’re created to mimic older styles, since they feel like everything should be uniform (not exactly the same, but uniform in the sense that there is a theme, you wouldn’t have some fancy ornate  dark colored stone building right next to a modern flat square-shaped apple-store-esque glass-front white building.. which this does mean… yes… they are modern and have stuff equivalent to McDonalds but all of them still are in fancy looking stone buildings lmao.. they’ll have like a three story building with an elaborately carved stone staircase and shit when it’s just a neighborhood grocery store like a Walmart or something. Though they do occasionally have more modern looking storefronts in cities , they're always in the bottom of fancier looking buildings (kind of like in the fourth image of city buildings above. ). It doesn’t matter what it is, it usually has to fit a general aesthetic for it to be approved because of them wanting everything to have harmony and aesthetically pleasing surroundings. Though each city may have it’s own differences and little elements that have changed, it will generally have a similar look.

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In the lower half of northern Navyete right past the middle of the country is where most of the council families live, since northernmost Navyete is where the city is located that is the major hub for politics and government and the meeting place for the families (where they go every 3 months to decide on things).

It depends on the size of the family, but ‘royal families**’ usually have quite massive homes, with 30+ family members on average, including usually about 35 + various workers, from maids to chefs to scholars that are hired to live there and give continued information and council to the council members in that family (like they’ll often have a resident scholar just in case old texts need deciphering or if they need someone to help find connections to information on a particular thing that someone in the family is planning on presenting to council during the next meeting, etc.).

It depends on the family, but usually if you work for someone in that sort of way , then you live with them as well (especially since they’re a bit away from the main cities, so a staff member is not going to travel miles and miles back and forth all the time when they could just live there at their place of employment), so some homes of Council Families have like 100+ rooms on average. Staff/hired scholars/etc. very very rarely live separately, they usually have a room in the main house just like everyone else, as they are required by law to  live with the main family and dine with them and use the same areas and etc. (unless they choose not to of their own will, but like, a family can’t legally force the maids or scholars or mages working for them to live in different conditions than they do, or give them smaller rooms or different food or etc., especially since council family members (basically government workers who make decisions in a huge council) are held to a vaguely higher standard than the general population, given they literally have people’s lives and well being in their hands, and even smaller scale (in the sense that it’s not murder or something) things like underpaying your staff or mistreating your children or etc. will get you kicked out of the government immediately and permanently). So they can end up having pretty large houses depending on the size of the staff and the family itself, the size of the property, and what sort of resources are needed . These can be in the style of mansions or sometimes look more like castles, though they’re usually similar in architecture to most buildings in the cities and etc.

(** They’re called ‘royal families’ sometimes by outsiders, as their style of government is uncommon and most outside people think that if there’s like, family lineage ruling stuff involved that it must be some sort of royalty system or etc.. But it’s not like they really have much of a title. There are  no kings or princesses or anything, main government leaders just have the title of ‘council member’ (or ‘Arra’te tu jyasa’ , literally ‘Important person of the council’), and they’re usually collectively just called ‘jyasa vata’ (council families) instead of ‘royal families’ or something (there are like..almost 600 of them so they use pretty general collective titles) ..  

Though when speaking to outsiders or explaining their government system to them or sometimes when vampire affairs are reported on in other countries' news or etc., they are referred to as ‘royal families’  or will be called ‘princes’ or etc. But that’s more just like how they similarly allow people to call them ‘vampires’ even though that’s not actually how they refer to themselves, it’s like a thing that they’ll do or let it pass with outsiders even if that title may not be exactly accurate  (BUT more about them when i actually explain the government system lol, not here). I just wanted to explain that even though they're referred to that way by outsiders who don't understand them, there isn't actually a legit system of royalty in Navyete and they would never consider themselves with those titles personally. )

((Also, another note: Most of the general population branches off from their family and owns their own homes or apartments in the city, Council Families are really the only group who still have the tradition of living with your entire extended family for your entire life (which used to be more common when the vampire population was smaller and tiny concentrations of communities were essentially how you lived, like 3-5 families all centered in the same area with about one home each, working on a community farm and stuff). It may be done to a more minor degree sometimes in larger homes right outside the walls of major cities, and it is actually uncommon to live alone (most have at least 2-3 roommates, family, friends, etc.) but for the most part, everyone  prefers to have a smaller group they live with, sometimes friends or maybe one generation of family, but never really to the same extent as the council members. Council families will have like, aunts, grandparents, great grandparents, like EVERYONE all on the same property lmao, which is why they're usually such huge collective living spaces. ))

These estates are kind of arranged in a network of areas, there’s three main ones, with 5 homes each being organized maybe a little closer to each other than the others, and they usually distantly connect to a sort of small park with a local school and maybe a transport center (so their kids can go to school in a place a little closer than traveling all the way to the nearest major city, and also so that goods can be transported and left in a sort of middle area, like you can bring a large amount of goods to the little central hub area, then those can be split amongst the families who are concentrated around that area, and taken on the main path back to their estates, rather than small amounts of goods being taken the whole distance individually all the way back and forth for each family).

like this... kind of (very sloppily made in paint in 3 minutes but, this kind of shows what I mean in that they all live in one area, sort of)

There’s also usually an inn here and maybe a local general goods shop, for workers or people who are travelling back and forth (like scholars who come from out of town to temporarily meet with the family but maybe decline the offer to stay in a guest room and would rather stay in an inn, or weird family workers who refuse to live on family grounds for some reason and would rather travel like an hour to work everyday instead of just living with the family. etc.), and usually one or two homes may be in the general area, mostly of members of a council family who wanted to move away and have their own much smaller property but still stay kind of close, or for workers who were visiting one of the families so often they decided to just relocate their home near them (like a visiting alchemist who keeps getting called to them for council every few months and is tired of travelling all the way out there, but also doesn’t want to live on their property because they want their own privacy), etc.

So anyway, most of lower-north Navyete is like.. just... council families. The weather is more inhospitable further up and the terrain is also rocky and frozen and harder to build on, so most people always have just kind of preferred the middle of the country. The council families really only live in the North because their main meeting city is in the very very northernmost mountains. If the council had been established in recent times instead of like 15,000 years ago, then it probably would have been build more centered in the middle of the country instead (basically, council families only live there because they have to lmao, everyone who has a choice has already moved out of the north bhbb) -

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In northernmost Navyete, there is hardly anything, other than the city where council meetings are held, which honestly is just called a city but isn’t really a city it’s like, literally just one massive.. structure?? With a wall and guards around it just like any other city, but it’s only one place ( carved out of basically one large constant bit of stone, like they just carved into the side of  a mountain lol). Everything is literally connected and basically made out of the same bit of stone,  so it's not really a city but more just like “large house with thousands of rooms and huge dining areas and meeting rooms and etc. all built into one place along the same circular levels of hallways.")

It’s like a five story stone building with probably well over 1,200 different rooms, (there’s around 600 main family council members in total, plus the entire staff and guards, plus sometimes they have to invite outside advisers if they’re discussing a matter that none of them have experience with somehow, PLUS all council members are technically allowed to bring one single “personal staff member” (usually people use this to bring their trusted scholars , or maybe their favorite chef, basically if you feel someone on your personal staff at home is important enough to need to have with you for some reason you can bring them, despite them not being an actual council family member, though they’re usually kept away from important secret discussion and also are extremely screened before being let in) if they choose, so it ends up being a ton of people who all basically get their own room when they come to stay there every few months, and there’s also like 100 different meeting rooms and then bathrooms and dining halls and libraries and rooms for the staff to wait in when they’re not allowed to be around to overhear a private conversation and etc etc etc.

There are a few small homes outside this one area, but this is really the only thing in northernmost Navyete, just a one huge ass walled in stone structure with practically a mini-city inside of it except it’s all connected as one building, where people come to meet every 3 months (and there’s always others there keeping guard in ‘off times’), then a few shacks maybe… the rest is just.. ridiculously cold mountains and ground that has been iced over for hundreds of years and varying levels of endless frozen landscape stuff with nothing else around lol. There's sometimes a few trees or plants but this is also the type of area where there stops even being forest and it's just.. plain white landscape all around as far as you can see (though the flat blankness is disrupted a bit by it kind of being rocky so you see hills and mountains and stuff which adds at least a little variety to how barren it is.).

Beyond this, there are some small fishing communities that live on the Northern coast of Navyete, and the islands right off of or around it, but due to the climate it's not a very popular place to live, even amongst generally cold-loving vampires. like.. generally.. everywhere in Navyete is pretty cold, it's just that northernmost Navyete is The Most Cold Of All The Other Coldness Permanently Frozen Winter Fun Time)

- - -

Nanebae:

The one name that has kind of stayed the same over the years, aside from being shortened into ‘Anba’ occasionally by foreigners from Asen (which was started by the elves though because they have the need to shorten and give cutesy easy to say names to everything UwU, meaning most vampires downright refuse to call it ‘Anba’ and would rather fucking rot than play into the elves' constant remodeling of  e v e r y t h i n g ..anyway lol) .

Nanebae is also the collective name of the mountain range that takes up most of the middle of the continent, though many individual mountains will have their own names as well. Due to how mountainy and interrupted it is, not many people live there, and also not many people are too interested in the land. Though it used to belong to the elves, it was sold many years ago so that the elves could fund some of the things they were working on to ‘further the elven species’, so it’s currently owned by an outside government of another country to the south. It’s commonly thought of as an in between point, despite how large the land is, it’s conceptualized as more of a place between places, that you may stay for a while but you’re likely heading somewhere else. There are many inns and food places and touristy things, and A TON of trade routes and stuff where food or goods are transported back and forth (since Nanebae is right in the middle of the three major countries of the area), but doesn't have many actual homes and hardly any actual cities,  mostly just scattered trade towns and rural communities. Most all traffic in Nanebae is people coming to or from the Elven lands (and sometimes vampire lands but… they don’t really have many outsiders) from Asen.

There’s not much of a government or enforcing body around Nanebae, due to the low population, lack of people who actually settle down there, and the fact that it’s technically owned by an outside group who don’t live on the land themselves. Most law enforcement or people who decide things about the land are sent from other places, such as a few ‘watchers’ from the Fanyin Elves to keep tourists safe and ensure quality of their travel, and some government workers sent overseas from the country that actually technically owns the land.

Otherwise, it’s mostly people looking out for themselves, and there’s no official president or anything, and if something legal has to occur it’s usually moved to larger courts in Asen or Fanyin (like if you had a land dispute with your neighbor and you couldn’t work it out in just the council of the other few people in your community and you actually wanted to sue them or something, you’d probably have to travel to somewhere else for them to take care of that).

Though it would be thought that this would make the land a good area for crime, and sometimes it is, the few groups that live there do harshly protect their lands, so if outside people come looking to just do crime and get away with it, they’re often confronted/attacked/punished by fierce civilians themselves rather than any law enforcement body (kind of like a "Hey there fucko you think you can just come into MY lands and use them for whatever weird shit you want to do??? not gonna happen lmao, how about you and the three people who work on a farm with me go have a little chat,,, you know the good thing about not having laws is it works both ways,, you think anyone here is gonna do shit right now if we kill you? that there’s some sort of court we’re going to 'fairly’ try you in before we rip your limbs off? get away from that person you’re trying to rape and get the hell out of my country right now before we show you how a society without laws is allowed to handle criminals like you, there’s no police to protect you here, bitch! "  sort of thing).

So Nanebae in general is kind of just in a weird situation as a country, it's very "anything goes". Over 60% of the people there at any given time are just travelers or tradesmen on their way to somewhere else or to popular merchant cities and trading points in the area. And out of the small amount of permanent residents, its usually a pretty mixed bag. 

Of course there are many elves since the entire continent used to be ran by them, but they're usually rogue elves escaped from Fanyin, or ones who never even were a part of the Fanyiniri in the first place because their group split off from them long ago before they started all this dictatorship stuff. A few Avirre'thel that never went with the rest of their people back to Navyete and have been chilling since the early days when they first got kicked out of Fanyin, and maybe some Jhevona who originally came to the area to help the vampires in wars against the elves but didn't like how cold Navyete was so they settled down in the warmer part of the continent, even though it's really rocky, etc. And because it's such a traversed area, you of course get tons of random people, children who are going to be sold to the black market in Fanyin and end up escaping whilst on the trade route and going to hide in the woods, random people from thousands of miles away who are fleeing responsibility and drawn to a place that's so diverse and unstructured that they don't think they'll ever be found there, merchants who fall in love with one of the permanent residents who works at an inn along a trade route and they end up staying around for good, etc. etc.

But despite this each community generally has good unity, despite them all coming from different walks of life usually and generally any trade city (or even small residential towns in the middle of nowhere) being made up of completely random people who wouldn't have had much in common otherwise, the general sense of lawlessness and lack of care that any outside group has for Nanebae kind of fosters a stronger group mentality for people to take care of each other and give out free  medical care and  take criminals into their own hands and etc. etc. The people just create their own structure, regardless of whether outside governments give them aid or invest in their infrastructure or etc. or not, they'll do it all themselves, together.

(Though like obviously there is some outside interference. The random country from the south that actually owns the place does use the land for resources mining (they've attempted to collect tax from the citizens or like, tell them to follow their country's religion and kings and etc. but everyone in Nanebae was just like "You guys live like 300 miles away, what the fuck are you gonna do about it? have you ever even set foot here? if you want to enforce laws upon us then actually come the fuck over here and do it, cowards." to which the royalty of the country was just like 'okay... uh.. allright just keep doing your thing I guess as long as you don't bother our resources.. have a good day"),

and of course Fanyin can't keep it's grubby little elven hands out of shit so you see Fanyiniri soldiers and stuff along trade routes a lot to protect their cargo or just hassle random locals when they feel like going on a power trip (though, again, the locals are very out for one another and have been known to kick the complete shit out of an elven guard lmao, like... your laws don't apply here, fuck off ),

and Navyete has positive relations with the area in the sense that occasionally groups in Nanebae will come to ask something of the Council (like asking for money to repair damaged bridges or medics to help at a local village or etc.) and they pretty much always offer help to them. Especially with court cases and stuff (like out of all the outside legal systems someone in Nanebae could go to, Navyete would be the best choice since the Avirre'thel legal system is generally very fair and forgiving and un-corrupt, Asen would probably be second since they're pretty good but because of all the huge cities there and what a broad area it is there is some corruption with local merchants or politicians tampering in things, Fanyin (& Mippya by extension) would be the absolute worst because all of their laws are conditional on what class you fit into so you get shit like 'murder is technically legal if the murderer was higher class than the victim, no other context needed" bhb)

Likewise Asen is usually open to helping people in Nanebae, though they can tend to be a bit more busy and bogged down with their own problems since Asen is such a populated area with like multiple global cities and etc. to worry about.

SO ANYWAY, like.. it's not like the surrounding areas refuse to have any contact with Nanebae or anything, they're not ENTIRELY on their own, it's just that like.. largely they very much function that way and still handle most of their local laws and etc. entirely internally without any realm form of centralized government or etc. in the area. )

The high mountain areas of Nanebae are also a common area for outcast or hunted elves to live. It’s not uncommon for the Elven Government to come after it’s own people, usually for stupid shit like ‘you went on international TV and talked shit about your own people’ (basically 'you said something factual’) or ‘you wrote a history book that accurately portrayed how much we’ve fucked with everyone else, especially the vampires, and we are definitely in the wrong about it but how dare you point that out and Attempt To Tarnish Our Beautiful Reputation UwU’. Though some of them flee into vampire lands as they feel more protected there, many feel they’d rather stay on their own or in small groups with each other, and utilize a lot of the seemingly uninhabitable landscape, usually with magic , to make very hidden areas they can live in peace.  

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Fanyin & Mippya :

Previously all of which was just one country named ‘Vanyen’, before language changes made by the elves (like the V becoming F) , and the addition of their newest country Mippya. Fanyin (or ‘Vanyen’) about 18,000 years ago used to cover most all of present day Navyete as well, as in ancient times the land was just either Vanyen or Yansha Vanyen (New Vanyen), with the Nanebae mountains in the middle. Now it’s much smaller as elves have sold or “”””””graciously given away”””””” their lands to various people and governments, but the land of Fanyin (and Mippya) is still prosperous.

(side note: The Avirre'thel, mostly in protest to the new form of Fanyiniri government and the changes made by the elves in the past 15,000 years or etc., generally will refuse to call the land 'Fanyin', and still call it 'Vanyen' (or will call it 'Fanyin' in a derogatory or sarcastic way), and also generally don't recognize Mippya as it's own country. )

Mippya is a newer separation, only established in the past 800 years, mostly as land for foreigners*. The Fanyin elves are very welcoming (or at least like to give the illusion that they are), and rely a lot on their image. They love spreading their culture and beliefs and systems to as many people as possible, and wanted a more exclusive area where foreign individuals are doubly welcome, where there is adequate housing and signs in multiple major languages and better things in place to make others feel at home (so they can get that sweet sweet tourist money to support the extravagant lifestyles of the government workers while over half of the population dies in cramped underground prisons basically.. i mean.. uh,,, because they uh,, they 'love to share their culture and definitely value tourists very much').

This is also thought to be part of their whole thing about spreading the elven way of life and etc. and maintaining high public image of elves being benevolent and superior and positive, kind of as if the whole land were a giant advertisement for the elven people (at least those within the alliance). They want to be seen well, and they want the public's only idea of them to be like 'those perfect people who live in complete paradise', so part of the entire purpose of Mippya is also kind of just like, "Hey foreigners, come over here to these vacation lands specifically catered to you and see how great we are!! Look at how luxurious and clean and perfect everything is!! Support the elves, by the way.. I mean just look at the prosperity we bring to everything we touch!" etc.

(( *This is similar to the original purpose of when they first separated off Navyete (or ‘Naviyethe’ at the time). It was supposed to be a nice property where they could build a lot of fun things, since they saw the northernmost Fanyin lands as cold and gross and inferior, not as Beautiful, and they had plans to reshape the landscape with their magic and etc. But this was just around the time that  the Avirre'thel retaliated against them for some prior antics, burning three of the major cities in Fanyin among other things, so they totally dropped the project to instead rebuild their cities and focus on starting a shitty pseudo war with the vampires, and ALSO were investing a lot in Asen at the time, so they just left it. Additionally, they kind of also recognized that their plans to reform the landscape and change the climate wouldn’t have worked on a broad scale anyway, even with their very strong inherent magics, they wouldn't have the power to do that unless they called on like a group of ancient demons to help or something which They’re Not The Nasty Vampires so they would never even dream of doing something as awful as communicating with The Bad Ole’ Demons lol. So after all their plans for the land falling through, Navyete was literally just empty land for a long time that elves hated**  and were afraid to go into because they saw some mysterious creatures there this one time. Mippya is like them trying the same thing again, except under better circumstance, and also using their Already Best Land, rather than trying to modify existing land into a different climate))

(**thus, despite them framing it as a generous sacrifice out of sheer Elven Kindness, they were actually pretty glad to give it all away to the Avirre'thel because they just saw it as stupid shit land that they could never do anything with since it's just cold barren ice lands or rocky mountainy woods, and apparently no elf would ever want to live in such a place. They were just like 'oh thank god, now the fucking vampires can deal with trying to make this idiot land inhabitable and we don't have to think about it anymore' lol)

Mippya is the Fanyiniri government's biggest project to date (it's kind of where they put all their money and resources once they realized that their investment in Asen wasn't working out because Asen wanted to establish it's own government rather than just being an extension of Fanyin), and it is like, extremely beautiful and likely one of the most idyllic places on the entire continent of Aviinine. I guess it would be kind of equivalent to if a theme park or whatever spanned an entire country? Like everything is extremely maintained, pristinely upkept, to the point that even "wilderness" areas or "natural" parts of the land have a strange artificiality about them. It's generally very modern and clean but also pretty "artisan" looking, in that there's flowers climbing up like every wall, elaborate colorful wall murals, bright patterned stone walkways, elaborately designed silk curtains in every window, etc. etc.  

It's also very technologically advanced generally, with almost every single element of the country being run by specialized magical technology unique to the Fanyinri (or not really, but I'll explain all that later when I talk more about them, their utilization of magical technology is one of the main things that brought them to power as a group in the first place, and now what they're most known for, though they didn't necessarily invent it themselves lol). So many things are magically automated (doors open by themselves, etc.) and also just many weird things exist, like being able to ride around on floating platforms and restaurants where the food seems to make itself, etc.)

The reason many people consider Mippya to be an extension of Fanyin rather than a country of itself is just because, like.. it functions that way? Mippya does have it's own government and 'elected president' but, usually the people who run the place just coincidentally end up being close connections of elven royalty in Fanyin lol. Mippya also has different laws than Fanyin does, and a different legal system than Fanyin, but any important case (or just something that the royal class in Fanyin might  have an invested interest in) usually ends up being exported to being handled in the Fanyin courts instead because "Mippya doesn't haven enough legal resources, as a small country ; ) " , or etc.

Additionally, Mippya itself basically produces like.. nothing, and has no resources or exports, and basically just pulls in money from tourism industry type things and different attractions for outsiders. There's not even a native population of Mippya (aside from tourists who settle down permanently and vacation forever or whatever like how it is when some people retire), or any jobs for outsiders in Mippya (aside from opening your own shops or bringing business there.. but like you can't get a local job that you didn't create yourself, it mysteriously just lacks a local population and local economy, as if it doesn't really even exist outside of the tourist shops and attractions, there's not much evidence of non-tourist housing or local traditions or family owned small businesses or something.).

Which is because most everything in Mippya is exported directly from Fanyin.. The resources for the magical energy used there are gathered and produced by people (usually prisoners) in Fanyin, the staff who work in shops in Mippya are not native to the area (like they pretend to be) but are just working class children trained from a young age and brought from Fanyin, all resources for building and etc. are harvested by laborers in Fanyin and brought to Mippya, etc. The only exception to this is that there is plenty of farms and food produced in Mippya, mostly double utilized as a tourist attraction ("Come see the happy local  farmers pick apples! Look at the culture! they've definitely lived here their entire lives for generations and weren't just shipped here a few months ago! wow! want to buy some fresh picked apples? you're so connected to nature!"), and the ones that aren't "touristy farms" are generally kept in the hidden part of the country where tourists/outsiders aren't allowed  (most of Mippya is open but maybe like 30% of the land or so is basically blocked off from all outsiders since it's stuff they don't want them to see, similarly to how no outsiders are allowed in most regions of Fanyin either, and anyone who enters the country is extremely controlled in where they're allowed to go).

So anyway, Mippya is generally very cool and amazing and a great touristy place for outsiders to go and get a taste of luxury and how great elven culture is, but there's also some controversy about it not even really being it's own country and kind of just being like.. a giant country sized amusement park owned by Fanyin that only gives the illusion of being independent, considering that it's entire native population and resources and culture are pretty much just manufactured by Fanyin. But considering that the elven alliance (which Fanyin is a major part of) is one of the most dominant political forces in the world, and journalists generally aren't allowed to investigate anything that might make them look bad, Mippya has been widely successful in raising positive sentiment for the elven people (and making Fanyin a lot of money), as people generally just go there and have a fantastic time and don't ask too many questions lol.  

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Now about Fanyin,,

In northernmost Fanyin the farther up you go, the more “”disagreeable”” people you will find (aka.. elves that speak out against various systems in Fanyin ,  or who are “disgraceful citizens” by elvish standards). There isn’t really a solid border between north and south Fanyin, but there is a big forest, with many many many signs saying things like “Keep out! It is too cold up here, and very easy to get lost in these woods!” or etc. and a pretty reasonably sized group of guards making sure people don't sneak in who aren't supposed to be there (like normal elves fleeing from cities or something). Pretty much the only people who are here are troublemakers that the government doesn't feel like dealing with but has some reason they can't simply be killed (like they're the son of a noble or something), or those who are too disabled, old, or young, to really get much use out of labor-wise, but they also don't want to make themselves look bad by killing children or people with disabilities or etc..

Most often it's like children or etc. who are being too disruptive in school despite discipline (thus too unruly to be placed into typical societal labor roles), who are too ugly or weird (by elven standards) to sell off to some forigner for marriage or whatever, don't have enough magic to simply be killed and have their soul harvested for energy, and who are too unskilled to be purchased by nobles as entertainment or servants and etc., so since there's no productive use to them and people can tend to get angry if they find out about you killing kids, they usually just , out of "Mercy and kindness" , send them like, up into the snowy woods to randomly fend for themselves with all the other "useless" folk who aren't capable of serving a concrete purpose to the government (though of course the propaganda assures the population that they're merely being sent to live in nice apartments in the north with caretakers who will help them "outgrow their difficulties", as obviously it'd look bad if they were like "yeah we just threw them into a pile of snow in the woods and said 'good luck'" lol).

Usually by the time you're an adult you've been through "schooling" and already have been assigned your role in society, so it's more rare for adults to get sent there (it's also much more acceptable to randomly kill unruly adults or send them to prison than it is to do the same with children), so typically people are brought to the woods as children, since early childhood is usually when the staff at the boarding school education centers would begin to pick up on the traits of students, and weed out the ones that they can tell just "aren't going to be successful".

So  most of northernmost Fanyin is just small rural villages or tiny shacks in cold wooded areas. It’s mostly empty land with a very scattered population, and not many modern things. Usually people are just  left in the dividing woods and told to keep going north, so it's totally random when and where they'd end up stopping to settle down. Some stay at the egde of the woods for a few days crying and asking to be let back in until eventually they realize they guards aren't going to help them and they just wander out somewhere (though occasionally the guards sneak them food, or even try to take the children home with them, but it's something a guard can lose their job and be sent to the prisons (or killed) for so most of them have to just stay stoic about it.).  

It’s common for people to live together who are not family (like two random 10 year olds come across each other in the deep woods and pair up because the’re both scared, then someone who’s like 18 happens to find them and starts travelling with them as well, to keep them safe, etc etc. Kind of how small groups and communities start. It’s rare for a whole family to be  sent all at once into northern Fanyin, it’s usually just scattered individuals. Most all small villages in northern Fanyin are made up of elves who were once complete strangers or just happened to come across each other somehow in the woods looking for food or a safe place to sleep. There are even some pretty settled areas, small self-sufficient towns with like 100 town members, who regularly send out scouts back to the main gate area, to kind of wait around for new people to be sent into the woods and welcome them when they get there, telling them "don't be scared, I can bring you back to a place where we have food and everything and you can live with us", but even despite this some people don't trust the already established towns and would rather fend for themselves and just build themselves a cabin and live alone for the rest of their lives, or just out of bad luck some end up never crossing paths with anyone and dying alone in the snow unable to hunt food for themselves or etc.

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The middle of the country pretty much exclusively houses boarding schools (children are not raised by their families, they're usually taken straight from hospitals upon being born and directly into large schooling centers where they'll be raised by staff and taught skills and etc., rarely ever even leaving the grounds of the facility once until they're about 14-15 and can be assigned a societal role based on the personality traits and skills they've displayed and enter the labor force), so this is where all children live basically. You will rarely see a child in the southern part of Fanyin unless they belong to upper classes or royalty, as a majority of children aren't allowed to leave to the broader world until they're at least young teens. The  middle of the country also houses most of Fanyin's prison facilities, though obviously they're kept separate from the schools. This is mostly because there are more natural resources in the middle of the country, so it makes sense for the people doing most of that type of labor (prisoners) to be located closest to their work.

Though of course because it's the Fanyiniri, everything still looks incredibly nice and clean and decorated, even prisons have flowers growing on the ceilings and etc. (since they don't call them prisons at all, and instead frame them as just alternative housing centers for at risk citizens), and the school facilities are always beautiful. Despite all this decoration though, it still is probably the most barren and boring part of the country (aside from the north I guess), since there aren't any actual cities, businesses, housing, etc. It's like.. JUST a bunch of school centers a few miles apart each, and a bunch of prison facilities on the other side pretty evenly spaced out near mining operations and stuff. There's barely even any roads since the only places you'd be going are schools or prisons, and it's pretty much empty land aside from this.

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Further down to south Fanyin , you will find beautiful examples of traditional elvish architecture, well kept streets and homes and city buildings, and happy elves prepared to welcome you to their great lands. Modern luxuries and technology and beautifully landscaped constantly maintained areas. Governmental and official districts are mostly located in south Fanyin, along with most areas for the richest elves, and the closed off spaces exclusively for the royalty. In the main city areas there are plenty of businesses and a lot of nice clean professional centers, alongside bright cities and homes for the foreigners and higher middle class elves, and then a few smaller (still well maintained) communities for lower class elven workers kind of farther away.

The nicer homes are closer to the main cities in Mippya, "lower class" people usually live farther out because they have to live in sections based on classification, and thus may have to travel farther for work (at least for the ones that get assigned homes, many of the primary worker class can get taken to prison over very minor things so that the government has an excuse to not pay them for labor but, usually some of the workers can live in homes, especially higher level ones (idk i can elaborate Fanyiniri societal levels and etc. later but, for now just know, while there are homes for average people in these places, there’s really not as many as you’d expect there to be, as most of the living conditions and areas for workers are tightly closed off from the touristy side of things and kept out of view so nobody suspects anything bad may be going on (or moreso, just so they don’t have to see it face to face)). Farms are usually after these communities, right outside the border of cities but still close for local produce and ease of transport.

The ‘public’ (those who are non-native to Fanyin, and even some natives) is only allowed in specific areas of cities and specific cities themselves, usually larger southern cities where royalty and business mingle. Smaller towns of workers and etc. outside of cities or  more in the middle of the country generally are barred from outsider access. Despite a majority of the land in Fanyin being blocked from anyone ever seeing it, it's still largely neatly maintained. Obviously if people's government assigned housing was just shitty moldy shacks or something, the people would be more likely to rebel against the royal class, so even in lower classification areas everything still follows the typical elven style of being clean and perfect with flowers everywhere and beautiful clean streets and etc. Though it's definitely amplified in city areas that outsiders are allowed, as they have to show off more for them lmao, it's still present even in the more rural private areas for workers.  

Similar to Mippya, Fanyin has practically no un-maintained land. There are some rural not-close-to-any-major-city farms kind of in the middle south of Mippya near it’s border with Nanebae, but even those are still looked over. There’s no extra land or unkept country backroads, literally everywhere is constantly landscaped and perfected, even areas that appear to be empty natural open space are not, they’ve just been manicured to look that way. The elven cultural focus on beauty and perfection and image and ignoring or pushing aside all bad to immediately replace with ‘good’ has kind of led to a surreal hyper maintenance of everything.

Everywhere is supposed to look perfect. Abandoned homes are immediately attended to within the week, and either torn down or cleaned up and resold to a new property owner. People can be evicted from their homes/businesses/properties or punished if they don’t keep up with the standards and Guidelines Of Property Ownership, which mostly outlines things about maintaining the area and keeping it Beautiful at all times.

There are also no open lands left that aren’t monetized or turned into something touristy in some way. If there’s a forest in the middle of nowhere, they immediately fence it off, clean it up, give it a name, add some park benches and some bathrooms and luxuries, and proclaim to everyone ‘Here’s the new nature park!! Isn’t it beautiful? Come visit!!’  , like basically nothing is left alone and despite the size of the land there is no ‘Wilderness’ necessarily. All 'wilderness' is really just areas maintained to "look natural yet still beautiful" and is owned/monetized by the government (probably as a tourist attraction of some sort) . Of course Northern Fanyin is the only exception to this, past the dividing forest there is nothing but unkept wilderness lol. But everything to the south of that is meticulously maintained.

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Asen:

previously ‘Yansha Vanyen’ (or ‘New Vanyen’), before it was shortened into Asen by foreigners (and the elves who talked to the foreigners) a long time ago when it first was growing as a major area. 7 out of 10 of the biggest cities on the continent are in Asen, mostly around the coast.

Asen’s cities are very similar to many of the more Global or International cities in the supernatural realm, with usually a highly mixed group of different people and business from all different species and countries and realms kind of coming together for good business opportunities or the amount of resources and things there and etc. A very different and much more diverse and modern culture, when compared to more specialized or group specific areas (like lands predominantly inhabited by just one species or etc). Usually have many different styles of buildings and stores and restaurants (unlike places like most cities in Navyete for example, where the building style is very specific, restaurants are mostly specialized in vampiric food, etc.) and provide access to many things you wouldn’t find in more specialized or group specific cities/countries.

You can still see heavy elven influence in some of the architecture and city planning, and elves (though really only groups with in the elven alliance) still hold a lot of political and financial control over most major cities in Asen, as they originally were the ones who put so much into building the cities and making them popular. But today, the Fanyiniri are not the majority population of the major cities of Asen, and are much less involved than they used to be, now focusing more on their own lands and tourism to places like Mippya.

Though elves (mostly of Fanyiniri origin) are the largest group of the population that inhabit the lands in rural areas outside of the major international cities. With again, a few small pockets of vampires or demons or humans or other groups, but mostly fanyin elves. Also this is one of the few places that other races and cultures and groups of elves live as well, coming back to these lands to live in the major cities of Asen after splitting away from the elves of Fanyin in the past, and living in other areas. These elves are usually quite different in appearance and culture from the Fanyin Elves, but are still recognized as members of the broad elven species. Though a few may like visit Fanyin or something they usually don’t stay long because they “feel oddly unwelcome there”, so major cities of Asen are still like the only places on the continent you can really find other types of elves rather than just the Fanyiniri.

Because of all the global cities and trade and etc., Asen is the most diverse country in the entire continent (with Nanebae being second, Mippya being 3rd (if we count it as a country, since the population is mostly foreign tourists), Navyete being fourth, and Fanyin being last).

The government in Asen is generally pretty good to it's citizens, kind of in the middle I guess.  Navyete would probably have the most freedoms and comforts (free healthcare, housing, food, everyone has a lot of rights and the people have an extremely heavy say in any law that is passed and etc., a mostly collective community based government by the people, even though they do have the council member families, they mostly serve as negotiators and diplomats and people who help communicate the competing needs of the different groups and provide structure, rather than people who actually have the ultimate final say in anything), Nanebae could be good or bad depending on your view (it's also pretty collective and everyone has a say but also very uncentralized and with little infrastructure often leading to resource struggles or inability to handle larger scale things when needed, though there are no actual laws so for people who value absolute freedom above all else it could be worth it, though you're still beholden to the "laws" of the people in your local community and they'll beat the shit out of you if you go around stealing or something lol), Fayin & Mippya are obviously the worst for reasons that have probably already been gone through in the text lol, rights being entirely class based and the government (royal families)  having complete control of everything in the most oppressive and unhelpful way possible, while also being as corrupt and financially motivated as possible, etc. So Asen obviously isn't as bad as Fanyin, but may also not be as beneficial for the people as somewhere like Navyete.

To explain it in a very very simplified way, basically, there are 16 established districts in Asen, which are pretty large and are meant to have an even number of people in them (1 million people per district). Every 8 years the people will vote to elect a leader for their district, then all 16 of those leaders work together  on making important decisions about other parts of the government or handling concerns of the people and etc. everyone has pretty good rights, especially since there are multiple global cities in Asen, meaning there are like probably at least 100 different species groups there at any time, all with different background and needs and etc., so there's a definite focus on people being treated equally and fairly. But due to all the massive cities and business and etc. in the area, there are still plenty of opportunities for corruption (merchants trying to influence things in their own interest, etc.), and despite trying to allocate some resources to help, there can be issues with economic inequality and people (especially outside of the main cities) living in pretty poor conditions. Law enforcement is also pretty varied, so in some areas there may be way too much of it (everyone living under really tight controlled and restrictive rules), and others there not being enough of it (people being able to like trade illegal goods or beat children out in the open with nobody doing anything about it). Asen is a "newer: country, as it hasn't been too long since the Fanyiniri let them develop on their own, so especially due to the massive population, there's still a lot of things they have to balance and work out.

Otherwise though it's a pretty good place to live, especially in terms of having such a wide variety of occupations, lifestyles, and educational environments available. Additionally if you're a member of a persecuted species or just part of a rare group who wants to be able to like.. not be attacked by random people, some of the global cities are a good place to go where you'll be fairly protected and safe (though some people who collect blood or bodies or rare species tend to loiter around global cities for this reason, so you'll still have to look out a little bit lol). Especially anyone looking to start a business, as Asen is a really primary place for trade and exchange of various goods, especially in the cities around the coast, where there's easy connection to other continents in Nanyevimi. So aside from a few housing/income problems and the government being kind of weird and not really figured out uniformly yet, it's a decent global and business/trade minded place to live (certainly much better than some of the other places you could choose to settle down on the continent lol).

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CLIMATE/WEATHER IN NAVYETE

Despite going over the other areas in the region, this post is still about the Avirre'thel and their land lol! So lastly I'll just put a little bit about the weather there and stuff, since I guess that's also related when speaking about land. I'll go over some of this more when I make a post about their holidays and calendar (like specifically how many days are in seasons and what they're called and etc.), but here this will just be pretty broad. (also, I know absolutely nothing about climate/weather and what the official names for these climate types would be called or if they can all exist next to each other or etc. etc. , this is just how I imagine their country being... it's.. a fantasy realm.. just pretend it all makes sense lol)

Pretty much anywhere in Navyete is going to be... very cold lol, but there are some differences between parts of the country. (also sorry I use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius lol, it's just easiest to use what I already know when writing things like this really quick rather than looking up conversions). Also I'm going over three areas as if they're all entirely distinct, but obviously there are like transitional areas between them and etc. , it doesn't just go sharply from one to the other as soon as you pass some arbitrary land line or something lol.

Southern Navyete has the most variation in weather, it can actually get up to like 75F in the warmer parts of the year (though it hardly ever goes above that), and in the coldest parts of the year can get down to about 10F, or sometimes in the negatives (but rarely). The average temperature usually ranges  from about 20F - 55F, give or take it being like 10 - 15 degrees  colder or hotter depending on season (Navyete doesn't really have much of a fall or spring, even in the south they really only distinguish like 'vaguely warm-ish season' and 'colder season' (basically like if somewhere just had summer and winter, with just short transitional periods in between)). Warm seasons in southern Navyete are usually pretty rainy and humid, and they get a good amount of snow in the winter (maybe 2 - 4 feet every other week or more on average), but not as much as they get in the middle of the country. The forests here are also less dense, and there's more plant variety than there is up further where barely anything grows due to the cold, especially since the snow actually fully melts here and there are some short times of year it's not on the ground. It's also generally flatter with  some decent land for farming in the short period of warmer months, as the mountains that run through the middle of the continent kind of curve more around a lot of southern Navyete, so it's not as rocky and uneven as the ground in some of the rest of the country is.

In the middle of Navyete it's usually just pretty snowy uneven land with mostly just thick forests of cold hardy trees and a few other plants. It usually doesn't  go much above 60F in the warmer season (though it can be 65 sometimes, maybe), and can get to -10 in the coldest seasons, but average temperature most of the time is around 10F to 35F, give or take some depending on the season. They usually get 3 - 8 feet of snow when it does snow, and even though it snows less often here than it does in the south, the snow and ice tends to stay around longer (since it just doesn't usually get warm enough for it to melt, even in 'summer'), so despite the longer period between snows, because of how much they get and how cold it is, there is snow or ice or something on the ground basically all year around. The snow in the south is also usually more in shorter bursts, but in the middle of the country it can snow for multiple days sometimes.  

In northernmost Navyete there aren't as many trees or plants, it's pretty much just barren mountainy snow lands. The ground is permanently covered in snow and ice and deeply frozen all year around and really doesn't change very much at all. It doesn't really ever go above 35F in the warmer months and can get down to -45F or more in the colder months.  The average temperature is usually -20F   to maybe 10F or 20F or so, give or take a little depending on the season, but a lot of the time it's pretty low or in the negatives. It doesn't snow as much as other places and is a pretty dry area in terms of not having much precipitation of any kind,  but there are fairly occasional snow storms where it snows for days with harsh winds and will end up accumulating like 10 - 12 or more extra feet of snow on top of the already always snowy frozen layer of ground. It can also sometimes seem like it's snowing when it's not, because it's fairly windy there, and the surface layer of snow can end up blowing around and making it seem like the snow is moving.

On the northern coast and beaches (and islands off the coast) it can be a bit warmer, but is still pretty icy and snowy. It's pretty much the same as what I wrote for the rest of northernmost Navyete, but is maybe about 10F - 15F degrees warmer on average. They also get  more snowfall generally, and the coasts are probably the windiest place in all of Navyete. The ocean around the islands and on the coast and etc. is generally at least partially covered in a thin layer of ice for much of the year, and is completely covered in a layer of ice in the coldest months. People are still able to do different types of fishing and harvest things here though.

(also, it's pretty windy in Navyete as a whole (though it's most windy in the northen coast and other northernmost areas), so it often feels colder than it is because of wind chill and blowing ice/snow into your face and shit lol)

They used to have slightly warmer summer months in Navyete when they first arrived there (like, it still got just as cold as it always does, but it used to warm up more in the summer, so they'd have long cold winters but would at least have decent summers that can thaw stuff), but for whatever reason summer seems to just get colder over time (obviously not dramatically, it's not like they used to have 100F degree summers and now it's gone down to like 30F degree warm months, but over the past 15,000 years or so summers have gotten like 10F - 15F degrees cooler than they used to be, even in the northernmost areas).

Also, just for reference Navyete is considered the coldest place in Aviinine as a whole. Though in some parts of Northern Fanyin and Nanebae and Asen you may see temperatures closer to those in Southern Navyete, it's generally warmer in the more southern parts of the continent. Though Aviinine as a whole is still pretty far north so it would really never get too hot or anything, it can be a bit more moderate and warm with more seasonal variation in the lower parts. In places like southern  Asen and Mippya and lower Nanebae it can get to maybe 30F or 35F in the colder parts of the year, and is generally around 70F or 80F in the warmer months, with it usually being like 55F to 70F on average. On the southern coastal areas you may even find like prolonged 75 - 85 degree weather or something with actual summer months, but again it'd be rare for it to EVER be over 90F or 100F or something. In northern Fanyin and Asen and upper Nanebae (especially in the high parts of the mountains) it does often snow and they have reasonably cool winters, but definitely not to the degree seen in Navyete.

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*(Now a tiny bit about the aforementioned language changes that went into naming stuff :

(note: I'm of course planning to make an actual updated post about Avirrekava specifically and like go over basic sentence structure and how to pronounce their language and etc. etc., but this is mostly just old text that I wrote like over a year ago as part of the original post about the different countries, because I wanted to explain why the names of the countries had changed lol, so this is really just a short simple language difference explanation, rather than an actual in depth look at Avirrekava itself or etc.)

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A majority of Avirre'thel natively speak Avirrekava (their own language), but they additionally may know other languages, like some of the various jhevona languages of from the main cultures of humanoid demon that now live in Navyete. Many of them have some form of understanding of some ancient elvish words, given that that is where Avirrekava originated from, and the vampirirc language is actually more similar to ancient elvish than ancient elvish is to modern elvish**. And some Avirre'thel (especially those in government or business jobs) may also know or have knowledge of modern Elvish too (mostly referencing specifically Fanyiniri elvish), as due to the influence of the Fanyiniri in the areas around Navyete, it’s one of the most common trading languages in areas like Asen and Nanebae. 

 (**like with many things, the Avirre'thel pretty much in a lot of ways are more similar to ancient elves overall than the current day elves (specifically the Fanyiniri) are, due to lifespans and the rate of evolution of culture. Like there are still some Avirre'thel alive today that natively spoke ancient elvish, and likely remember the first hundreds of years the vampires were even around, whereas no elves from that time exist, not even the great great great great grandparent of the oldest living elf was around at that time. The elves forget things and introduce new things and move on from historical periods much quicker than vampires do, since due to the not aging thing, time just kind of almost moves slower for the Avirre'thel. Similarly to other extremely long living species, they kind of just operate on a different scale)​

​Jhevona in Navyete usually know more languages than vampires, due to having many of their own languages as well. Though the Avirre'thel do place a focus on usually making an effort in school and etc. to learn multiple languages, many of them may just know like, Avirrekava (vampiric, native language of all vampires and main language used on everything in Navyete), probably modern Elvish, maybe some form of Jhevona language depending on their job, etc. Whereas Jhevona usually know like, their native cultural language and possibly one or two other demonic languages (vampires are a very homogeneous group at this point as they’ve hardly spread out (and even when they did once they all,, came back together eventually lol), but many other species like demons/jhevona have  A LOT of different cultural groups and sub-species and different variations to their culture and etc. so it’s not uncommon for Jhevona to speak a few of the niche distinct demonic languages that there are, some culturally mixed Jhevonacities may have like 4-5 different languages from different groups spoken all at once, so depending on where they lived before moving to Navyete the person may already know like, multiple languages just from growing up) , then they’d likely learn Avirrekava , probably Elvish as well, etc. etc.

 So like, average for a native vampire would be maybe 2 - 4 languages, many demons in the area know like, 5 - 7 or more lol

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And now more about the actual language changes referenced in the part about the different countries:

So, I don’t have much planned out in terms of languages yet (I’m only working on the vampiric language (Avirrekava), the stuff I have for the others is literally like, me working backwards from what I have for Avirrekava (to get Old Elvish) or me working backwards and then forwards again from Avirrekava (for Modern Elvish)) so this is really just an early idea of things, I may still change some stuff (like the writing system or especially some grammar stuff (since I’m really bad at planning grammar lol) or etc.).

 ​But, some of it is relevant in the context of Avirrekava and also in terms of planning places and place names, such as like obviously the places on the map would have names from Old Elvish, or maybe some were modified over the years, or etc etc etc.

SO! anyway

This is one of the short examples I made for myself just as a reference of Old Elvish compared to the modern languages of the vampires and the elves. The sentence is “Thanks. He was probably not reading”. I wasn’t really sure how to write the individual parts, which is explanation for the odd more literal part by part translation at the bottom. 

(note: the sentence orders have changed a bit since i originally wrote this, and I also changed what some of the characters in the Avirrekava writing system look like, but for the most part the image below is still accurate enough for it’s purpose, like it shows enough of what I’m attempting to show in terms of comparison, even if no longer exactly correct lol)

(( The structure of all three is mostly the same (at least in this example.. in some others with more complex sentences there are a good deal of grammar differences kind of), which is basically: (The word for thank you) + (The word for ‘He’) + (a base verb for ‘read’ and then the ending that makes it in a past negative tense***) + (a short thing that indicates an unsure or questionable mood to the sentence, used when making uncertain statements or to hint the idea of ‘probably’ ‘maybe’ etc. Instead of having a direct translation for a word like ‘Maybe’, they all use an general uncertainty indication instead ).    

(also in this photo I have ‘Q’ written but I actually mean 'k’. Years ago apparently I wanted to find some excuse for them to use a Q for their K sound when , I guess writing 'romanizations’ of their words (like.. whatever it would be called to, not translate it, but just write the sounds of their words with the english alphabet instead of their own), but I just wanted to use Q because I thought it looked cooler lmao but like, practically there would be no actual world lore reason for it so I changed the K sound back to just… being represented by a 'K’ .. but yeah thats why in the photo it foolishly says 'qyevaena’, it should be 'kyevaena’, officially (see… I said… i would probably end up changing things around a million times before settling on stuff lol)) )​

*** A note about the verb thing: I don’t know how to describe this or what it would be called in like… advanced official terms, I’m just explaining very basically and I hope it’s understandable lol. Like you start with a main verb (in the above example ‘kye’, for ‘the act of reading’) and it can have six different endings depending on whether it happened or not and when,, so for example if you wanted to make it that he WAS reading, you could instead do : ‘kyevae’ (’-vae’ as an ending meaning: 1. it did happen, and 2. it happened in the past, like past positive, basically “did read”), or like if you wanted to say he WILL read, you would do ‘kyevaeri’ (’-vaeri’ future positive, “will read”), or you could do ‘kyevaeka’ (present negative, “Is not reading’”), and etc etc etc. Anyway I don’t know what this is called or how to talk about it in linguistic terms but I know the listing of ‘”read-wasn’t” possibly seems odd, so this is the simple explanation for why it’s written that way. All these languages have the same sort of mechanism it’s just the actual word for the verb and attached endings vary. )​

The previous photo might be too big but I’ll provide smaller more zoomed in examples when I talk about the languages individually.

Here’s close up of old elvish, I don’t have much to say about it since it’s more a comparison (like I would talk more about how the newer languages differ from it than about this language itself, nobody speaks this anymore). The writing is a bit ridiculous because I can’t make cohesive clean looking lines to save my life and my hands are just too shaky and i always draw too sketchy but:  1. just pretend in your head that they're a little bit neater , 2. the ancient elves didn’t write much and their writing system mostly existed for ceremonial or special occasion things, like writing down key moments in history or writing spells or words during an important event or religious celebration or etc. so they can be overly complicated and impractical to write quickly or simply since, they didn’t use them daily and didn’t need to be able to read or write fast, and 3. ancient elves are ridiculous so their writing system can be ridiculous… And those are my excuses for being utterly horrific at text design but still trying to make it make sense in lore lol​​

(also note, they really wouldn’t even be called ‘Old Elvish’ , ‘Modern Elvish’ and ‘Modern Vampiric’ because elves and vampires don’t even use the term ‘elf’ or ‘vampire’ unless speaking like, with foreigners who have lived in places where they’ve been culturally influenced to refer to them as elves or vampires. Though it is a popular name for them to be called in pop-culture and from outsiders, and they recognize that, they would never actually call their language ‘The Vampiric Language’ or something, I’m just doing that shorthand bc 1. it’s easier for now, and 2. I don’t have a name for their language as a whole yet lmao  ( year later update: I do now, it’s named 'Avirrekava’ ) )

Then here’s closer for modern elvish and modern vampiric. I’m going to do them together and just kind of go over differences for both in bullet points 

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Vampires (Avirre'thel) have lost sounds in their language. Old elvish has stuff like ‘la’, ‘lu’, ‘lo’ and ‘yan’, ‘yin’, ‘yun’ , a lot of which current vampiric has dropped. Also things in old elvish that can be shortened into one sound have been , kind of like ‘ni ye’ just becoming ‘nye’ and ‘vi ye’ becoming ‘vye’ in vampiric. Also old elvish has ‘the’, ‘thi’, ‘thu’, which has been replaced in vampiric (except for in the case of some old family names or city names where it may still be spoken that way) by just plain ‘te’, ‘ti’ , ‘tu’ etc. (though the ‘th’ type sounds can still be made in vampiric,  they no longer have separate characters to represent them in the writing system and etc. and they’re kind of not used in the same way anymore but it’s hard to explain lol, like it’s still a doable and minorly common sound combination but it’s… used and written.. differently???? ahhHHHH. I can go over that whenever I make an actual post about it lol)

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Modern Elves haven’t lost much, if anything they’ve added things, and changed a few. All of the ‘v’ sounds in old elvish have been changed to ‘f’ sounds (so like ‘viti’ becomes ‘fiti’). They also dropped the idea that every word ends in a vowel, and now have a lot more plain consonants that can be added together in things. Vampires only have 3 independent consonants and they can never be added at the end or beginning of a word, only in between consonant-vowel pairings. Plain consonants don’t exist independently in vampiric or old elvish, and are only there to be added to other things but never alone (though a word can start with a consonant it just has to be in the pairing, like a word could start with the pairing ‘Ka’ but could never start with JUST ‘k’ . You could also take one of their single consonants (h) and add it in the middle of a consonant-vowel pairing (ge) to get 'Ghe', but you could never have something like 'Geh' (since it has to end in a vowel). But modern elvish has adapted away from this feature of ancient elvish and instead has many single consonants you can place wherever you want. And also modern elvish now doubles certain consonants, which both old elvish and vampiric never do (other than ‘Rr’ i guess but idk if that’s even a double as much as it is just rolling out the regular r for a bit longer, but is way different….)  In modern elvish you actually pronounce both of them, so ‘Mippya’ wouldn’t be ‘Mee-pya’ it would be ‘Mee-p-pya’, and like ‘Bbani’ wouldn’t be ‘Bah-nee’ it would be ‘B-bah-nee’,  almost like someone stuttering or something. Modern elvish doubled consonants like this are something totally unlike anything in old elvish or vampiric (and some Avirre'thel do make fun of this of course lol, they think pronouncing modern elven words like 'Mebbyippine' (meh-b-byi-p-pi-neh) sounds silly like you're trying to beatbox or something).

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Elves also have dropped the whole weird middle added consonant thing in their writing system (like, in the word ‘klu’, how it’s actually written ‘L KU’, but it’s understood that the ‘L’ goes in between consonant and vowel in ‘KU’ , making it ‘Klu’. Both old elvish and vampiric use this, like they have a few consonants that you can write before a consonant-vowel pairing, and it’s just understood to go in between them, even multiple (though vampiric only has 3 consonants that can be added like this, so not many), like if the symbols for ‘H’ and ‘Y’ were written directly before the one for ‘Te’, it would be spoken like ‘Thye’, they get added right between ((you can see this in the vampiric text sample where the stuff is written out below the symbols, in ‘vye’ and ‘kye’ it’s actually written like ‘Yke’ and ‘Yve’ but moved in between))). So of course in an effort to simplify their language and writing system, this is one of the first things modern elves got rid of, which also means they’ve modified many words, and in some ways expanded them (like ‘Vla’ would instead be ‘vi la’ so they don’t have to have a consonant in the middle (or actually ‘Fi la’ since they no longer use ‘V’)) .

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Vampiric is actually more similar to old elvish than modern elvish is, in terms of words sounding more similar and being written more similarly and etc. Elves have a much much more open culture, and significantly lower life span (they only live 200-300 years whereas vampires can live indefinitely), so things are being cycled out or introduced or changed much faster, and there’s also a wider variety for them to pull from (since they trade everywhere, and integrate other groups into their culture , and are also a larger population meaning that there may be elves in one place who speak one way and elves in another who speak differently, etc.)   But vampires are largely closed off, and isolated (and widely disliked due to elven propaganda),  and also live much longer (so like someone who spoke a certain way 1200 years ago is… still going to be alive, speaking that way), so there’s not as much change.  Though all three of course have distinct similarities (mostly in structure) and differences (mostly in the form of sounds and writing), it’s still the case that vampires can understand old elvish much much easier than they could understand the modern form spoken today, and for those who speak modern elvish, both vampiric and old elvish would seem nearly equally strange to them, though they might have a slightly better understanding of old elvish, they’d be just about the same.

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In terms of writing, i guess old elves had a lot more time to just sit and write (writing also wasn’t necessary for communication for them, they only really wrote on special occasion or for artistic things), since their syllable characters (+ a few random consonants lol) are a lot more complicated, whereas both elves and vampires have simplified. Elves writing became more squished (like it would fit perfectly in squares, but old elvish and vampiric could fit in long rectangles (though it can sometimes be stylized as more square)) and more simplistic, but kept a lot of the rounded swirly elements of old elvish. Writing is really one of the only areas that current elvish is actually more similar to old elvish than vampiric, or at least appears to be, as they kept the traditional spirit of elf things, which is to focus on the pleasant, to have things be magical and artistic and interesting looking, to avoid anything that could be considered too harsh or too abrupt, to focus mostly on lightness, and in writing to keep mostly rounded and light very soft swirly looking things.  Vampires on the other hand really elongated the writing, and made it jagged and simple. Though the sample alone doesn’t show it really (they have like 80 or so characters in the writing system, much more than is presented above), they do still have some of the swirls and loops of old elvish writing, but in a largely simplified way, and most of the writing is just straight kind of simple looking shapes, with a few curves and loops or jagged points in certain areas. Being able to write quickly and efficiently is important to them, so they didn’t like the idea of all the swirls and etc. Modern Elves’ writing sort of evolved the way it has a little naturally (with some intentional changes), but vampiric writing was mostly deliberately modified, as a simplified and faster to write version of the old elvish writing (at least the characters that they used at the time, some had gone out of use already). Even with loops and such included, there’s hardly any character in vampiric that can’t be written in a single stroke, maybe two or three for some, but the majority can be done very quickly.

-

ALSO note lol of course there’s various dialects and accents and changes within these languages themselves, but I’m speaking very generally about like their standard language, as it would be used and understood in most all settings broadly.

Okay i think thats mostly all for the language background thats necessary, idk lol i might be forgetting stuff but there’s a vague amount of context for when I speak about places on the map and old names and etc.  I really don’t want to like get super heavy into language stuff yet since it’s still the beginning planning part and I still have a lot to work out lmao, I’m only giving what’s like necessary at this point to understand a few of the names I mentioned in reference to locations. Which is.. probably unnecessary since nobody cares about why precisely a country name dropped a vowel or something but, lol.. I love... useless details

[feynites]

Do the Evanuris have a tax system or a tribute system of sorts? Or is it that everything belongs to the Evanuris and is redistributed according to rank and utility? Or a blend of both? It sounds like your ancient elves focus more on quality than quantity when it comes to goods and services, which makes sense in an immortal land with population control! #sorry for the economics questions D:

No worries! I like answering this kind of stuff!

Though I’ve mostly answered it in bits and pieces elsewhere, most of those posts are earlier and a bit hard to dig out. So:

Basically, you’re right on the second count. Everything belongs to the evanuris, including their followers. Followers are basically given permission to use stuff, to ‘own’ stuff, but everything they own also belongs to their respective evanuris. One of the dramatic aspects of being traded to a different leader lies in that - because everything you own is actually your boss’ property, if you get traded, you can only take stuff with you if they also agree to trade your stuff too. 

In amicable trades or if the person being traded is still favourably regarded by their evanuris (and depending on the evanuris themselves), usually this means that they do get to take at least some of their belongings with them. But in a lot of cases, being traded means you have to start over from scratch with only your reputation to go by.

(For example, in one of @scurvgirl‘s recent stories, Guidance gets traded from Elgar’nan to Sylaise and gets to keep most of her personal effects. Given that Elgar’nan is currently pissed at Sylaise over the trade, this is likely because he favours Guidance, and not because he’s feeling generous towards his daughter.)

This is one of the reasons why merchants and traders are such prominent people in Elvhenan, though, because they have the certifications and permission needed in order to trade goods between the evanuris, acting as proxies for their leaders and representing their economic interests. Elvhenan operates mostly on a barter system between traders (exchanging goods for other goods, services, or information), but also has a credit system whereby individual servants of the empire can accumulate a certain amount of wealth based on commendations or other avenues of compensation, and exchange it for, y’know, goods and services. And finally there are tokens, which are an Arlathan-only currency, and can essentially be ‘donated’ to the city in exchange for credit, or be collected and redeemed as some modest property rights (Ess got her tavern, for example, by accumulating enough credits to get the rights to own the shop - as Arlathan is neutral territory among the evanuris, technically none of them own the whole place, so property distribution works a little differently than it does everywhere else.)

Social classes are mostly enforced in Elvhenan by way of restricted access to certain goods or services. For example, some dyes are limited to use by high-ranking elves. If you’re a low-ranking elf you could maybe ‘own’ some things that were dyed such a colour, if they were given as gifts or payment for something, but you couldn’t wear them or use them. If you had enough credit you could maybe commission a very fancy artisan to make something for you, but they’d be limited to using materials that were within your rank. (Basically how commissioning works is you have to be able to purchase the materials for the project, or else reimburse the artisan/crafter for them - if, say, you’re a low-ranking elf who isn’t allowed to wear rubies, you’re probably also not allowed to buy them, so you wouldn’t be able to commission something with rubies in it either.)

Labour is technically free in Elvhenan, but so are necessities. You don’t really get paid for just doing your duties, but food is widely available, and housing is provided (where and what kind usually depends on your rank and leader). Some services are also just considered a given, i.e. you can get clothes befitting your rank from any similarly-ranked crafter, you can get healing from a healer, if you’re a musician you can get basic instruments from their makers, and none of it costs any currency. Luxuries, however, do require currency - if you want something nice to wear or you want, like, a fancy lute that impress everyone at a recital, you’ll need to shill out.

Compensation mostly comes from a system of commendations that’s organized by elves in managerial positions. The higher your rank, the more your commendations can be translated in worth. In theory, the idea is that if someone does really great at their job, a bunch of elves will say so, and they’ll basically get bonus points they can spend on nice stuff or on expanding their operations or whatnot. In practice, though, it mainly just means that all the most highly ranked elves can make or break everyone else and pass around the majority of commendations among themselves.

And also that there’s very little incentive for service providers or crafters to ever prioritize lower-ranking commissioners, because their commendations aren’t worth as much as their higher-ranking counterparts. So any time a high-ranking elf wants something, it generally shoots to the top of the to-do list, even if it’s objectively not as important. The exception would come from elves who make a concerted effort not to do that and to just do their jobs very well, but that usually means that, ironically, the elves who are best at their jobs can lag behind those who prioritize sucking up.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 73

 “Care if I do some scouting now that we’re away from Ashengarde City?” asked Rona hopefully.  Having a character name that matched her actual name was convenient, but I still had her on my list.  When she had asked me to join her and some friends on a quest, I didn’t really expect anything as grandiose as this, nor as time-consuming.

 “Good plan.  I’ll cover the ground.” replied Holly Wood, who appeared to be a River Elf.  She had a bow and several types of swords.  Though Forest Elves were constantly fighting my people for land, River Elves were too far away to care about Muckbluck Goblins.

 I scanned my list for the player name that Rona had provided me.  “Doc” was what she had told me.  Was she actually named that?  If not, why would they call her a doc?

 “Anyone willing to carry my pack?” questioned Rona.  “Gets in the way if something attacks me.”

 “I’ll take it.  Perseverance can carry a lot.” I told her, having my character accept the moment she offered.  On one hand, a Paladin was guaranteed to be the most trustworthy ally, but handing over these ridiculously expensive packs with their even more expensive contents was insane.  Though Rona and I have been texting, we only met two days ago.

 My jaw dropped open as Rona changed into a black bird and flew away.  I’d have never guessed that her character was a shapeshifter.  Was that racial or a spell she knew?  Actually, I didn’t have a clue what any of these people could do.

 “Where’s Holly?” I questioned, realizing I couldn’t see her.  “I was going to assist her, since my stealth is decent, despite my armor.”

 Damien’s laughter was easy to recognize, despite being muffled from the coffin he was in.  “You’d never keep up.” he insisted.  I certainly hadn’t expected several characters to be vampires.  They all had very stereotypical coffins, hauled in a wagon covered by a canvas.

 “What Greythorn is trying to tell you is that Holly is a Ranger, as in the title.  She’s the best tracker and scout among us in the wilds.” explained Peredur, a tall fairy-like boy brown hair and gossamer wings.  He looked like a type of melee combatant with several weapons strapped to him.

 According to my list, that was… Four?  I really hoped his parents hadn’t numbered him.  I was fairly sure my clan had a NPC Ranger, but I didn’t have a clue what a player had to go through to get the title.

 “That does sound advantageous.” I admitted, wishing I knew more than that these were Four’s friends.  None of them sounded like adults, but did they all know Damien in person?  “If you don’t mind my asking, how did all of you meet?” I questioned.

 There was a brief pause before anyone replied.  Then Anima said, “Excluding Rona, we’re the children of Best Friend For Hire.  We all grew up playing this together where our parents work.  Since you’re going to see some strange things from my character anyway, I might as well tell you that my mom is the game’s developer, giving my character a unique inheritance.”

 Anima looked like a human priest.  She wore a perfectly white robe with silver trim and a black belt that held her morningstar and a dagger, so I assumed she was a healer, though most people focused on healing also carried a shield.

 “She means to say we inherited some admin-like abilities.” asserted Justine, sounding giddy.  Justine was probably human, though her skin and hair were perfectly white.  She wore a short skirt and a tight-fitting top, both in black.  The gold stripes on them made her look like some sort of superhero.  Lifting the enormous hammer strapped to her back would take inhuman strength outside of the game.

 Messy and Crazy were the supposed names of these two.  Was Rona just messing with me, or did they really call one another that?

 “So you’re sisters?” I asked, trying not to say anything embarrassing as my brain struggled with the idea that I was playing Ancient Tribes of Earth with the creator’s daughters.

 As Justine laughed, Anima said, “No.  Technically, she’s my niece, but we’re about the same age.  My sister is older.”

 “When you say admin-like, what sort of abilities do you have?” I asked hopefully.  Realizing she might not want to tell me, I quickly said, “Sorry.  I am curious, but you don’t have to say, though knowing what all of you can do might help if we get into a fight.”

 “Just listen to Ella or Four.  Ella probably remembers you exist by now.  She’s our de facto battle master when Four doesn’t take charge.  He’s our leader.” explained Kyduan, whom Rona named Aid.

 “Remembers I exist?” I prodded, not sure what to think of that.

 “Ella has very poor short-term memory.” explained Anima.  “As for my abilities, I can do things like this.” she stated just as an elephant appeared next to me.  “I ran into some trouble a few months ago, so I’ve been working at leveling my unique skills.  I can summon a large variety of the game’s creatures now.”

 “I spawn weapons, not creatures.” asserted Justine, using the shrug emote.

 “Okay…  so Anima is a healer with beast summoning, and Justine is a fighter?” I asked to confirm.

 “Yes, I primarily heal, so good way to think of us.” replied Anima.

 “I’m working on a Wizard title, so I have a very large number of diverse spells.” supplied Kyduan.

 “What’s that one give you?” I asked, feeling curious.

 “A flat twenty-five percent off on spell cost, twenty-five percent increased effect, and a number of unique spells.  The real trick to getting it is keeping all spell skills balanced for an extended period.  I have to do non-combat spells constantly to keep them on par with my other spells.” he explained.

 “If we explain what we can do, will you be able to remember which is which?” questioned Ada, who was walking by Adele, Adeline, and Adelaide.  The only distinct difference between the Elven girls were their weapons.

 I wasn’t even certain what type of Elves they were.  “I’ll certainly try, but… why did you make your characters so similar?”

 “We’re quadruplets.” stated Adeline, though she sounded exactly the same to me.

 Then Adelaide said, “Identical quadruplets.”

 “We’re used to matching.” added Adele.

 “I go to school with identical twins, but I haven’t met quadruplets before.” I admitted.

 Before I could say more, Holly came running toward us, calling “Hármann raiding party coming our way on blighthounds.”

 “How many?” asked Peredur immediately.

 “Around thirty.  I didn’t take the time for an accurate count, but I didn’t see any Pride Marks.” she replied.

 If I remembered right, Hármann painted their bodies as displays of their previous victories.

 “I took count!” exclaimed Rona as she came swooping down to land on Peredur’s shoulder. “Thirty-three of them.”

 “Can you control your minions from the air?” asked Four.

 “You bet!” she exclaimed.

 “Try to get them around to flank while flying circles over the Hármann party.” ordered Four.  “We’ll move to intercept, so Megwrn can see what we can do.  Ella, ambush plan.”

 Seemingly without even needing time to think, Ella said, “Right.  Mounted Hármann.  Aid stay with the cart and give the vampires cover on my mark.  They’ll charge in from the side after we engage.  Doc will create a trench in front of their charge, aiming to trip their mounts.  Then standard wall and assault formation.  Rona, use your magic to keep them funneled after the trench is deployed.  Some might try to escape the open side of our formation.  Messy, summon something ferocious if any get through the walls.  Layla, you’re part of the wall, so front line on the left, please.”

 “Wait.  My duty is to first try to make peace first.  As violent as they are, Hármann are intelligent.” I explained, knowing my new friends weren’t experienced at playing with a Paladin in their party.  “Also, what minions?”

 “Rona’s a Necromancer.  Don’t worry.  They’re not inherently evil.” supplied Justine.

 I had no experience with necromancers at all, so I had to take her word for it.  I was a little disturbed that I missed the fact we had Undead following us somewhere nearby.

 “In that case, hurry off to meet them.  When diplomacy fails, charge toward that thicket.” ordered Ella as she made her character point.  “We’ll reach there in time to hide.”

 I replied with the nod emote and hurried off.  This wasn’t how I was used to playing, but the experience would be good.  Small parties of my Goblin brethren rarely accomplished much compared with guilds like The Garde, and my solo play was largely just role-playing with the game’s NPCs.

 Spotting the raiding party, I rode out toward them, reigning Perseverance in a good fifty meters from them and casting Divine Presence to make me more noticeable while increasing my voice range.  Then I activated diplomacy and called “Please, stop and speak with me!”

 The riders turned as a group toward me and started speeding up.

 “If you do not slow yourselves, I’ll take that as a sign that you’re looking to fight.” I told them, frowning when there wasn’t a reaction.  With a sigh, I charged toward the thicket.  Diplomacy rarely worked on raiding parties, but I still hoped to pull it off eventually.  As I rode, careful not to outpace the raiders by too much, I pulled Hamchopper to the ready.

 When my mom decided to retire from the game, she had gifted me her giant cleaver, Hamchopper, as well as her armor and other gear.  Nekopawpaw had made Hamchopper a couple years ago as a special order through Uncle Mick, and the cleaver had proven its worth through countless fights.  Without the great gear, I probably wouldn’t have managed becoming a Paladin.

 Hearing the sounds of Hármann screaming behind me, I glanced back to see the back lines crashing into the front as a large pit opened in the ground.  By the time I was looking ahead again, spells and arrows were flying past me.  I hurried around to take my place, jumping off Perseverance as I reached the end of the line.

 A moving cloud of darkness charged into the Hármann raiders from the side, and the screams intensified.  When a zombie leaped onto the back of a Hármann who had attempted to flee, I realized that the fight wouldn’t even reach me.  I had seen some similar one-sided victories from the great warriors of my clan, but I never expected such a feat from other kids.

[immaterialgirls]

🏰 The Winter 2017 issue of Faerie Magazine arrived at my doorstep a couple of days ago, but I’ve only just peeked into it today.   The theme was the Mediaeval era, which I adored as I was growing up as a child, but fell out of love with - or out of touch with my love for - somewhere along the way.  

I enjoyed this issue as a whole more than I’ve enjoyed an issue from this magazine in a long time (there’s even an article in it about the mediaeval garden at the Cloisters in NYC!), but felt especially inspired by a short article by Rona Berg about mediaeval beautifying practices, and wanted to talk about the things in my life that put me a bit in touch with that old love for this historical period.

Roses everything In the article, Berg discusses the immense popularity of roses as a healing balm and a fragrance, and it’s certainly true that roses are, in addition to being a love I associate with most anything, an incredibly appropriate mediaeval scent.  In addition to rose-scented perfume, many skincare brands have rose-themed lines.  There are a number of rosewater toners and facial mists, but the Fresh deep hydration rosewater toner, and Rose face mask, are both full of real rose petals, for an extra luxurious, yet rustic feeling.

The Cloisters in NYC If you are ever in NYC and have the opportunity to visit, the Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted solely to the Mediaeval era: they have tombs, glass windows, real castle architecture, the most beautiful garden, and of course, the Unicorn Tapestries, and in the springtime the scent of hyacinths wafts through the hallways as you near the garden.  This is really one of my favorite places in the world to be.

Ornate jewelry I don’t find the “clunky jewelry” trend flattering, but it’s hard to resist the details of a really beautiful piece of jewelry.  I can’t wear rings at work, but I wish I could wear them more often. My two favorite rings, and two of my favorite pieces of jewelry, are a silver-colored rose ring, and a silver-colored ring with a large yellow-orange gemstone - this is one of my favorite color combinations for jewelry, since I prefer silver over gold, and it’s impossible to find warm-colored stones that are set in something silver-colored.

Ornate packaging Rituel de Fille’s little magic-looking bottles of eye soot are for those moments when you want a fantasy version of the mediaeval era, to feel a bit like a witch in a painting.

Mementos from loved ones In keeping with several themes here, beloved friend and fellow mod Jamie sent me a little sachet of rose petals from her very beautiful (and fragrant, at the time - the scent is gone now, but the whole box she sent them in smelled like roses!) rosebush over the summer.  I cherish the gift as well as the memory, and recall it every time I look on the sachet, which I keep on my (crowded) dresser.

Skincare rituals Like the pairing of a rosewater toner and mask, the pairing of a good lip scrub with a thick lip balm is a beauty ritual that makes me indulge in a fantasy of feeling like a princess (instead of a modern day feudal peasant, as capitalism often makes me feel).  I love the brand Herbivore Botanicals and really want to get my hands on their lip conditioner, now that I’ve tried their lip scrub, a tiny little bottle of coconut-rose scented scrubby sugar granules.  (I know that you can make lip scrubs, and I’ve done so in the past, but I’ve found expensive purchased ones are truly better than my own homemade scrubs, so whatever.)  Until I commit to the Herbivore coco rose lip balm, though, I’m still in love with Osmia Organics lip repair with myrrh and honey. Doesn’t really smell like those things, but is so comfortable on the lips. 

Perfume Perfume can put me in mind of all and any things, and the mediaeval era was full of scents. To paraphrase Rona Berg, when she thinks about this period and place in history, smells are one of the first things that the imagination conjures.  For me, roses, herbs, resins, gardens and forests are the primary scents of my fantasy memory.  Some of the perfumes I’ve tried that have instantly put me in mind of the mediaeval era are: Sarawen Elf Princess (rose, lavender, sandalwood, lily and herbs): This truly is like the scent of a mediaeval garden, and one of the only scents with sandalwood in it that my skin can appreciate.  I wore this one to the Cloisters in March, where it was most fitting, so now I have an atmospheric memory with which to associate it! BPAL Elizabeth of Bohemia (the perfect rose oudh): This is an Elizabethan poem, but you will pry this scent from my cold, dead, rose and oudh scented fingers.  This is one of my favorite perfumes of literally all time.  I buy a lot of perfume every year, and have loads of infatuations, but this blend - which applies seamlessly to a mediaeval mindset and feels best in velvets and big rings - is a one true love. BPAL Parlement of Foules (white roses and resins, including frankincense): This Lupercalia (Valentine’s Day) limited edition scent, which has shown up a few years now, is meant to evoke “mediaeval romance and courtly love”, and for me, it very much does.  Wearing this one, I want to be lost in an labyrinthine garden in early springtime, when it has very recently rained.  The past feels very close to the present when I’m wearing it. CutieMonster Upon a Dream (lavender and roses, milk and honey): As sweet and dreamy as the animated film on which it’s based, I enjoy wearing this gentle and unobtrusive scent on days when I want to feel dreamy and uncomplicated. BPAL Bewitched (blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and musk):  Faintly witchy, extremely wearable, evocative of sweet berries and dried herbs and tea - a scent for beautiful peasant maids on the edge of a forest, mediaeval without limiting the archetype of elegance to princesses. BPAL Othello (Arabian musk, two roses, and spices): Another technically-Elizabethan contender, this is a surprising scent for Othello.  This is the sweet charm and warmth that won Desdemona’s heart, not the cold rage that stopped it. Alkemia Midnight Garden (tuberose, honeysuckle, gardenia and lily): As gorgeous and fresh a white floral as this is, I love to wear this one to bed and fantasize about what palace I am falling asleep in.  A versatile evocative blend that does not always involve a mediaeval castle in my mind, but works for it perfectly. BPAL Morgause (night-blooming flowers, violet, purple fruits and mediaeval incense): Sweet incense burning amidst the ancient tomes of a witch’s library, with a delicate window open, outside of which is... you guessed it! A mediaeval garden!  BPAL Bess (rosemary, orange blossom, five roses, grape, lemon peel and mint): And yes, another Elizabethan scent, but that note list. I get all of them on my skin, and the way they balance each other out is just beautiful.  Sweet fruity grape is balanced by mint and lemon on one end, the nearly spicy unmistakeable note of rosemary, and a hint of beautiful flowers. 

And everything else I’ve left out.... How can I do a mediaeval post and leave out Lipstick Queen’s Medieval lipstick?  It’s simple: I’ve, sadly, lost my tube. It was battered and squished and in general a mess, but I loved it, and now it is gone.  However, any fine wash of red pigment will do to look pinched in a pinch!  I would also be remiss to leave out the beautiful music of Hildegard von Bingen, who was an idol to me as a child and teenager, the much more recent music of the Mediaeval Baebes or Katharine Blake’s other, much more gothic project, Miranda Sex Garden, or any of the iterations of Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris I am wholly in love with.  I recommend both beautiful musicals highly - the Cocciante musical is, like the novel, especially concerned with dating the story to that particular vibrant, crumbling, awe-inducing era in history, while the adaptation of the Disney film is much closer to a character study of its intensely sympathetic cast of characters, and they are both two of my favorite things.  Last but not least: it is the perfect time of year for drinking mulled wine, which never fails to taste, or feel, especially when heated, like something out of a previous century.