thediffidence

[thediffidence]

imagine a goat with a hat

STOP-

what hat did you give the goat what is the instinctual hat you gave to this goat

[thediffidence]

bards, in any setting, are always so much fun. i think putting those costumes in front of an actual game dev team (under typical working conditions) would be animal cruelty, though. all those separate fabric layers ...

is that why no orlesian companion in DATV? too fancy??

Adonique Lefevre - Lo Lione de Sang

Through their fairly drastic (violent, but creative) means of work, their usually red ensembles, and their preference for lion masks (to especially provoke the idea of taking Orlais back from its rulers), Adonique is known to most as Lo Lione de Sang - The Lion of Blood.

(Background, Recruitment, Application, Fighting, Goal, Choice/Path, and a summary of the Orlesian Bards faction under the cut!)

BACKGROUND: Adonique had been raised by poor elven parents in the alienage of Verchiel. When they were quite young, their father stole some food from a well-to-do but lonely carriage… which turned out to have belonged to Grand Duke Gaspard. He was summarily executed, and Adonique and their mother were put into indentured servitude, later to be personally claimed by Grand Duchess Florianne.

Florianne found some amusement in the tiny child, perhaps because they somewhat reminded her of Celene - and began to (rather cruelly) mentor them in bardsmanship, moreso when their magic began to manifest (she would, of course, find a personally loyal mage to be incredibly useful). This went on for several years, up until the night of the grand ball at the Winter Palace.

Adonique was there in Halamshiral, but did not know Florianne’s plans beyond ‘making a grand splash’ that evening. Before the final showdown, they were warned by... a member of the Inquisition... to get out while they still could. They took the warning to heart and escaped back to the estate of De Chalons in Verchiel by breaking into the palace stables and riding a horse out.

Upon arrival, they found that what remained of the house staff - including their own mother - had been killed by the Empress’ still-loyal chevaliers, though all were already gone. They raided the estate for as much as they could carry and fled.

Some little while after the defeat of Corypheus, they were barely scraping by in a little town in Orlais (they’d held onto most of the goods they’d taken, both for emergencies and fear of being discovered trying to pass off such finery) when they encountered Solas. His promise of a better life for elvenkind was too good to pass up, and their own training in bardsmanship was fruitful - they became one of the Dread Wolf’s agents.

They proved to be a great asset, bringing information back to Solas, and in turn learning much of his plans, the agents’ movements, and the working nature of the Crossroads and the Eluvians - as well as mastering more of their own magic under his tutelage. Word had begun to trickle through, however, of growing unrest in Orlais - the aftermath of the civil war, and the uplifting of the Bards.

This was enough to convince them to leave the agents, though they attempted to do so in secret. Solas caught them, of course - but after hearing their explanation and their plea to try and save Orlais, he let them go with the warning, “you will regret it”.

They threw themself wholeheartedly into the Bards’ chaotic nature - bringing prosperity and power to the elves was one thing, but doing so for the lesser of Orlais is entirely another. Through their fairly drastic (violent, but creative) means of work, their usually red ensembles, and their preference for lion masks (to especially provoke the idea of taking the country back from its rulers), Adonique is known to most as Lo Lione de Sang - The Lion of Blood.

RECRUITMENT: The Divine and what remains of the Inquisition have secretly been helping the Bards. Harding knows that they may be able to help fight against the Evanuris and goes with Rook to meet them. The leader, on hearing the entire exposition, recommends talking with Lo Lione de Sang. Rook and Harding encounter this person in the midst of killing a noble, who had been begging Rook for his life. Depending on the conversation choices, Adonique reveals that the noble had been assaulting his staff. 

As they leave, Adonique takes a few select clothing pieces, then pretty much firebombs the fancy penthouse they were in. This alerts the city guard and chevaliers, who take them all on a merry chase through the rooftops of Val Royeaux. This eventually leads to the house of the lord in charge of the arrondissement, which is the final boss battle. 

Adonique obviously takes the red robe that will become the basis of their Lighthouse fit, explains the concept of bards taking trophies from the nobility they kill or embarrass, and invites Rook to take whatever they want as reward for help. This gives Rook a new weapon, new pieces of decor (wall and table), and a new vanity outfit.

APPLICATION: Foreknowledge of the Dread Wolf’s agents and how best to either implement them in the fight against Ghilan’nain and Elgar’nan, or eliminate them outright. Also serves as attaché to the Orlesian Bards, a functional faction (and possible Rook background).

FIGHTING: Moveset is basically “Spellblade+”, using ballet moves and acrobatics (very Cirque du Soleil meets Pro Wrestler Mizuki) in rapier fighting and shooting off spells via Orb™. Magic is fire-focused.

GOAL: Having felt helpless for most of their life, Adonique wants that life to have meaning - and if the skirmishes and revolutionary work they’ve been engaging in still aren’t enough, they’re willing to sacrifice themself for the sake of the freedom of their people.

CHOICE: Do they let their persona ‘die’ (very huge and dramatic faked death before a large number of people in Val Royeaux) to elevate their symbol and allow that to fuel the fight, or do they reveal themself and become an outspoken leader of the revolution?

××× MARTYR: Lo Lione de Sang is no more. Outfit becomes something akin to “Heavenly Bodies” MET Gala 2018, with a multi-faced mask - they are, more or less, a Saint in practice and a ghostly legend to Orlais. In combat, offensive magic capabilities are strengthened.

××× LIONHEART: Lo Lione de Sang leads the fight… barefaced, bucking the most long-standing Orlesian tradition as proof of their commitment for change. Outfit becomes sort of a mix of Napoleonic and Revolutionary Girl Utena. In combat, they can rally a downed Rook back to full health.

ORLESIAN BARDS: 

In the aftermath of the incredibly damaging civil war, the loss of pretty much every single upper hierarchy in the Chantry, the rumors of a puppet government (Pina forced a public truce), the installation of such a radical Divine (Leliana), and the mounting cruelty of the chevaliers in an effort to regain control, Orlais is a powder keg

Rumours abound that at this point, Orlais is the only country in Thedas that wants to be entirely rid of their monarchy - it hasn't escalated into all-out war yet, but it feels inevitable

These flames are both fanned and stifled in equal measure by the Bards, who have now become a sort of entity all their own rather than being informal mercenary spies

Given the history of the founding of Orlais, a population desperate for a sense of identity and trust turned to their most vaunted and uniquely Orlesian tradition - that of the Bards

Bards, who have always been largely comprised of commoners hoping to make a decent living, elves wanting to leave the alienages, non-inheriting nobility, the bastardborn, and mages hoping to avoid detection anyway, certainly did not turn up their noses at the idea of becoming a symbol of rebellion

It has now become sort of a point of pride for the Bards to effectively target and slaughter the nobility and chevaliers as creatively as possible - whether that be in the literal or social sense (the Great Game is still held in high regard)

A Bard then has the opportunity to take a trophy from their claimed victory - this trophy is usually whatever fanciful finery that noble owned

As a result, Bards have become increasingly easy to spot because they patchwork pieces of items from their defeated quarry into their ensembles. The more variety and asymmetry to a given outfit, the more targets that Bard has taken

(It’s deeply frowned upon to wear more than one piece from a given victory, or to wear something taken from the estate of someone that particular Bard was not responsible for dealing with)

Basically making a mockery of how important style and flamboyance have always been to the Orlesian nobility by stealing their shit and turning the dial to 11

Some Bards have taken this to mean entirely different materials, textures, and colours - the most 'decorated' of them can look like Alexander McQueen meets Bisa Butler

The really dangerous ones manage that patchwork design, but also look cohesive - meaning they've taken down enough nobles and chevaliers to be able to start matching pieces

Anything not taken as a trophy by a Bard is then free game to be raided and distributed among the people, so tensions are HIGH and security is VERY EXPENSIVE

[thediffidence]

Big piles of murder money could also be used to dick with Gortash. Maybe Durge found out about the Cobbler Trauma and gave Gortash the ugliest and most complicated magical boots in existence.

I've seen the idea of Durge basically being Gortash's sugar baby in a way with Gortash using his money to spoil them. But I haven't seen anything about the idea of it being flipped which I think could work too(also I just find it amusing because it would completely subvert any outward expectations).

Durge literally kills people for a living which is very lucrative, as shown by how rich you can get by just being a murder hobo who loots the bodies of those you kill in game. There's also the possibility of Durge taking bounties or being hired for assassinations. If I remember correctly Bhaal also encourages his followers to seek out the wealth that they can gain from murder.

So Durge could definitely be secretly loaded up on cash. Also it would make their possible "murder hobo who lives in the sewer" appearance even funnier since they'd definitely be rich enough to choose to not look like that but just don't for some reason. Maybe they just don't feel any need to use any of their wealth, since they don't need to use much if any of it to survive and they may not have any interest in buying stuff for themself to enjoy for various reasons. So they could easily just have a ton of gold piling up

It's also shown in game through letters and stuff that Gortash basically manipulate mansplain manwhored his way to power and did things like sleep with people to get money(so essentially already a canonical sugar baby). So there's full possibility that he could have power more through influence and manipulation rather than through actually being extremely rich. And even if he's rich at this point he could still be a sugar baby to durge

And it's just overall really funny to imagine this politician/archduke in all of his fancy filigree and clothing be like "oh actually I'm the sugar baby in this relationship. They're the sugar daddy" and he points over at this feral, blood covered murder hobo who's eating someone's severed arm in the corner of the room

(Also Gortash getting a chance to be pampered and spoiled and cherished for once in his life without really even having to do anything other than exist as himself is such a great concept. I imagine durge would give him stuff casually and seemingly arbitrarily. Maybe Durge would feel very pleased seeing Gortash doing speeches and stuff in public while fully dressed in clothing that they got for him)

i am completely normal about this idea i am completely normal about this idea i am completely normal about this idea

in all seriousness, i am NOt normal about this idea because holy shit the potential in this?? the hilarity of durge choosing to look like a gory street rat when they can definitely afford clothes?? gort being showered with gifts just for existing bc he's that hot and cute and endearing?? gortash probably thinking he achieved this by smooth talking durge over, but in reality durge just likes seeing him smile when he gets a new gift?? also just, Lord Gortash proudly parading around wearing the trendiest clothes and Durge watching from the sidelines like 'I'm so proud of you sweetie' IM CRYING ANON THIS IDEA IS PERFECTION

[thediffidence]

I'm thinking about getting into mini painting. May as well, it seems more interesting than adult calming colouring books, and I have friends who would paint with me.

Been watching tutorials online and all the colours have names like "death reaper". Fellas, that's charcoal.

Word Alternatives: Colours

BLACK atramentous, charcoal, coal, crow, darksomeness, denigration, duskiness, ebony, funereal, jet, inkiness, melanism, melanotic, midnight, niello, obsidian, pitch, raven, sable, singe, sloe, smirch, smoke, sombrous, soot, swarthiness, swartness, tar

BLUE aquamarine, azure, berylline, cerulean, cerulescent, cyan, cyanosis, cyanotic, electric blue, ice-blue, indigo, lividity, midnight, navy, Oxford blue, pavonian, pavonine, peacock blue, robin's egg blue, royal blue, sapphire, turquoise, ultramarine

BROWN adust, auburn, beige, biscuit, braise, bay, bronze, brune, brunette, buff, burnt umber, burnt sienna, caramel, castaneous, chestnut, chocolate, cinnamon, cocoa, coffee, drab, dun, embrown, fawn, grege, hazel, henna, infuscation, khaki, mushroom, ochre, paper bag, pumpernickel, raw sienna, raw umber, roan, rubiginous, rufous, russet, rust, scorch, seal, sepia, sorrel, suntan, sunburn, tan, taupe, toast, umber, walnut

GRAY ashiness, canescence, cinereous, cineritious, dullness, ecru, fuscous, glaucescence, greige, grisaille, gunmetal, hoar, iron, lead, mousiness, oyster, pewter, slatiness, smokiness, steel, taupe

GREEN aerugo, aestival, avocado, beryl, chartreuse, chloremia, chlorophyll, chlorosis, chlorotic, emerald, foliaged, glaucescence, grass, greensickness, ivy, jade, loden green, holly, olivaceous, olive, patina, patinate, pea-green, smaragdine, springlike, verdancy, verdantness, verdigris, verdure, vernal, virescence, viridescence, viridity

ORANGE apricot, cantaloupe, carotene, carroty, ochreous, ochroid, pumpkin, saffron, tangerine, terracotta, Titian

PINK carnation, coral, coralline, flesh-pink, incarnadine, peach, primrose, roseate, rosy, salmon

PURPLE amethystine, aubergine, bruise, empurple, fuchsia, lavender, lilac, lividity, magenta, mauve, mulberry, orchid, pansy, plum, puce, purpure, purpureous, raisin, violaceous, violet

RED beet, blowzy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, carnelian, cerise, cherry, copper, crimson, damask, encrimson, erubescence, erythema, erythematous, erythrism, erythroderma, ferruginous, fire, floridity, floridness, flushing, gules, hectic, henna, incarnadine, infrared, laky, lateritious, lobster, lurid, magenta, mantling, maroon, miniate, port, puce, raddle, rose, rosiness, rouge, rubefaction, rubicundity, rubor, rubricity, ruby, ruddiness, rufescence, rufosity, russet, rust, sanguine, scarlet, stammel, vermeil, vermilion, vinaceous

YELLOW aureateness, auric, aurify, banana, begild, bilious, biliousness, cadmium, canary, chartreuse, citreous, citrine, citron, engild, fallowness, flavescent, flaxen, fulvous, gildedness, gilt, goldenness, honey, icteric, icterus, jaundice, lemon, lutescent, luteous, luteolous, mustard, ochroid, old gold, primrose yellow, saffron, sallowness, sandy, straw, sulfur, topaz, xanthism, xanthochroism, xanthoderma

WHITE achromatic, alabaster, albescent, albinic, besnow, blanch, bleach, bone, calcimine, chalk, cream, cretaceous, eggshell, etiolate, ghastly, ivory, lactescent, lily, lime, milk, pearl, sheet, swan, sheep, fleece, flour, foam, marmoreal, niveous, paper, pearl, phantom, silver, snow, driven snow, tallow, teeth, wax, wool

VARIEGATION (diversity of colors) spectrum, rainbow, iris, chameleon, leopard, jaguar, cheetah, ocelot, zebra, barber pole, candy cane, Dalmatian, firedog, peacock, butterfly, mother-of-pearl, nacre, tortoise shell, opal, kaleidoscope, stained glass, serpentine, calico cat, marble, mackerel sky, confetti, crazy quilt, patchwork quilt, shot silk, moire, watered silk, marbled paper, Joseph's coat, harlequin, tapestry; bar code, checkerboard

variegation, multicolor; parti-color; medley or mixture of colors, spectrum, rainbow of colors, riot of color; polychrome, polychromatism; dichromatism, trichromatism; dichroism, trichroism

iridescence, iridization, irisation, opalescence, nacreousness, pearliness, chatoyancy, play of colors or light; light show; moire pattern, tabby; burelé or burelage

spottiness, maculation, freckliness, speckliness, mottledness, mottlement, dappleness, dappledness, stippledness, spottedness, dottedness; fleck, speck, speckle; freckle; spot, dot, polka dot, macula, macule, blotch, splotch, patch, splash; mottle, dapple; brindle; stipple, stippling, pointillism, pointillage

check, checker, checks, checking, checkerboard, chessboard; plaid, tartan; checker-work, variegated pattern, harlequin, colors in patches, crazy-work, patchwork; parquet, parquetry, marquetry, mosaic, tesserae, tessellation; crazy-paving; hound's tooth; inlay, damascene

stripe, striping, candy-stripe, pinstripe; barber pole; streak, streaking; striation, striature, stria; striola, striga; crack, craze, crackle, reticulation; bar, band, belt, list

mottled, motley; pied, piebald, skewbald, pinto; dappled, dapple; calico; marbled; clouded; salt-and-pepper

Source: The Concise Roget's International Thesaurus, Revised & Updated (6th Edition) More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[thediffidence]

You've been cast into a fictional setting, and you don't get to pick your genre. This wheel picks it for you.

[thediffidence]

i really like these spin-a-wheel polls. quizzes take too long and i can't resist trying to game them.

You discover that you have control over a certain thing, as determined by spinning this wheel. We're talking full-on magical girl/superhero/supervillain/your label of choice control.

[thediffidence]

FOUND IT! Trying to persuade my DM to drop with this thing in a game.

Dust kitties :)

[ID: fist image: a digital drawing of a black fur ball with tiny triangular legs, triangle kitty ears, one cat eye in the middle of it’s face and a small tail.

second image: the same creature as described before drawn with pencil, there are five of them, in the upper left corner it is yawning, showing off the sharp cat teeth it has, in the upper right corner it is looking up, looking interested, in the middle it has a “smiling” eye, lower left corner it’s playing with a yarn ball, pupil dilated, lower right corner it is sleeping, curled up, eye closed. end of ID]

[thediffidence]

So the reward for the Larian advent calendar today is wallpapers, and I gotta say the Halsin one is once again giving werebear

[thediffidence]

i'm feeling nostalgia for a game i've never played, looking at these. (love how astarion looks a touch grinchy, as he often does in-game. important character element, do not leave out).

oldschool babey 😎 prints | patreon

[thediffidence]

the creature of all time, on my mind 24/7, 365.

Oddish

[thediffidence]

i complain sometimes that Zevlor's story arc is a bit unfinished, but WOW am I glad larian didn't go ahead with the traitor plot idea for him.

As always, @vicarfriedrich draws this character so well. the colours here are really evocative and spooky.

Happy Halloween...💀

[thediffidence]

the song is guided by angels by amyl and the sniffers. and this picture FUCKS.

GUIDED BY ANGELS

BUT THEY’RE NOT HEAVENLY

THEY’RE IN MY BODY

AND THEY GUIDE ME

[thediffidence]

one day I'm going to run a DnD game and put @littlestpersimmon pictures in front of my players. (if artist permits).

Harilunan, the last of the mechanical gods

[thediffidence]

he moonlights as a skyrim restaurant reviewer, too.

incredible video thumbnail and so true. fuck that guy

[thediffidence]

I'm very curious about something and so I'm making a poll about it obvs lol

If you're making an official phone call, for example calling to make an appointment, enquiring after a flat, hiring a service etc. that type of call, do you begin the call by introducing yourself?

For example: Hi, my name is X and I'm calling to make an appointment.

I'm curious to see this because I lived in another country and had a brain fart and accidentally began a call by introducing myself, like I would in my home country, and the recipient sounded very amused and I knew it was weird and it really is because the service person will do absolutely nothing with this knowledge.

[thediffidence]

i've been laughing for 2 straight minutes my god

got that gale dialogue in act 2 the other day