coconuttystorage

[coconuttystorage]

Rules to follow when at sea

The ship should be treated with kindness.

Not all waters are good.

Don’t look deeper than you absolutely have to.

A sudden shallow means something is beneath you.

Never sail alone at night.

There are things best left unseen.

Whales are wise. Do not anger them.

You are very, very small.

There may be eyes in the fog. Don’t make contact.

Some ships sail under no flag. They are not real. Not anymore.

Occasionally, you will get a distress transmission from the Atlantic. Don’t answer it.

The sound of motors in the fog is never, ever, a good sign.

Some lighthouses move. Don’t depend on them.

Make as little sound as possible whenever your chest feels strange.

It is entirely possible to lose time at sea. Do not worry. You will remember eventually.

If the water goes murky, leave the top deck.

There may be blood in the water. Don’t look.

If you startle at nothing, it was not nothing.

There are some kinds of fog your lights won’t shine through. When you encounter it, take a different route.

Some fjords are not for human travel.

The singing is most likely not sirens. Pray that is is not.

Never dive and expect nothing strange to happen.

If something feels off, check your ropes.

If someone shouts to you in the dark, do not reply.

Sometimes curious things knock on the hull. They will usually leave.

Nothing is ever entirely as it seems.

Moonlight on the ocean has a hypnotic effect. Don’t stare.

There will always be something watching from the coast.

When the sky turns strange colours, close your eyes. It is best not to see.

If your compass does not work, let yourself drift on the current. Something wants you gone.

[coconuttystorage]

19! a sweet skeleton pal 

[coconuttystorage]

Glacier Drake

“Feather Dragon” © deviantArt user Kuroi-Kisin. Accessed here

[Not 100% satisfied with the art, but that’s what happens when you homebrew. One of the major inspirations for these guys were the weirdo pterosaurs and fuzzy gliding dinosaurs from Dougal Dixon’s The New Dinosaurs]

Drake, Glacier Swooping down from the sky is a dragon-like creature covered in a thick coat of white fur with bone-white scales peering through. A long tongue laps eagerly within its toothed beak. Its long tail is tipped in a cluster of smooth spines, from which drip a bluish fluid.

Vampires of the frozen north, glacier drakes descend upon lone travelers and remote villages alike to slake their thirst for blood. They tend to feed on megafauna, but will incorporate humanoids and giants into their diet as well. It is rumored that glacier drakes prefer the blood of children, but this is unconfirmed—it would make sense, however, for the canny predators to focus on weaker targets. Being top predators, glacier drakes are in competition with other carnivores of the icy climes they prefer, such as winter wolves and yetis. The rivalry between yeti and glacier drakes exceeds that of simple competition, however; for reasons unknown both species will go out of their way to kill the others’ young, disrupt their ambushes, and raid each others’ treasures.

The most social of the drakes, glacier drakes live in large groups, with several families living in association. Despite their cruelty to other creatures, glacier drakes are excellent parents and care for wounded or sick individuals, regurgitating blood for members of the family too weak to hunt. The caves and crevasses where glacier drakes live are perilous places; they are chosen for inaccessibility, and many are laden with pits and other crude traps. They also reek of ammonia—glacier drakes urinate constantly due to their need to stay light and their all-liquid diet. Glacier drakes love treasure, especially red gems, and take what they can carry into their caves.

Keep reading

[coconuttystorage]

Critical Role is a fashion show

[coconuttystorage]

Normal Horoscope:

Aries: In a crisis you dont rise to the occasion, you sink to your level of training plus a little extra from fear and adrenaline.

Taurus: Give flesh to your will. Specifically roast beef. Sandwiches dont make themselves.

Gemini: Invent that new sport youve always wanted to invent. Call the fire department first, youll need someone on hand.

Cancer: Semi-sentient growths caused by biological experiments are in vogue now consider pairing it with a nice dark fabric and minimal accessories. 

Leo: Beauty is rarely delicate. Your art is an enemy to be conquered. 

Virgo: All is revealed, flee to your jungle palace!

Libra: Why worry about skincare when you could be a massive obscure mound of cloth and discarded clothing with no discernible silhouette? Is your skin clear? who knows!

Scorpio: Today you will hear a baritone sax solo with no origin. You will get the sense that it is important. It is, but not to you. You will know when to mention it.

Ophiuchus: Oh you know the gourd.

Sagittarius: When home feels empty its time to exit the comfort zone. Just make sure you have the proper class of hazmat gear.

Capricorn: When you see the sodden corpse rise from the lake and ask for her umbrella back. Give her the umbrella. She wont reward you, its just polite.

Aquarius: You are reaching critical amounts of swing.

Pisces: Dont get on the train unless you know where its going. It may not actually be a train.

[coconuttystorage]

And yet another homebrew race for DnD 5E.  I’m done for a while now, I promise!

[coconuttystorage]

Actually the Vikings had dreadlocks so black people didn't invent the hair style

Vikings had dirty matted ass hair because ancient Europeans were a filthy people who would shit in their drinking water and wonder why they got sick

[coconuttystorage]

Daughter of a gun (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ No idea if such a thing existed but surely there had to be girls born on board in the Age of Sail?

[coconuttystorage]

Celtic Folklore ask

@kurttheyrebeautiful asks:

Could you tell me some good books to read if I want to get into Celtic folklore?

That’s a question with a years-long answer, but I can get you started. First of all, the term Celtic can be iffy since the regions I assume you are interested in have a variety of backgrounds, and not all of them are Celtic. However, I will give you some starting ideas when it comes to the folklore of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the British Isles in general.

First of all, look into the concepts of othering and Orientalism as posited by Edward Said. This gives you a good starting reference point with dealing with cultures, that is, romantic ideas about them are often harmful and also wildly inaccurate.

Secondly, check out the work of Alan Dundes, one of the greatest folklorists of recent times. Avoid any and all things relating to Joseph Campbell. If there is any name folklorists grit their teeth on hearing, it’s that one. Dundes will steer you in the right direction. One of my friends and colleagues, Jeana Jorgensen, is also a folklorist and was his student. She has a lot of fascinating things to say as well.

Now, these are some basic building blocks from which to critically examine folklore. There is a LOT of garbage out there, partly due to the aforementioned othering of nations like Ireland and Scotland. Another good book to look into is Then Invention of Tradition. Once you are in a position to look at these things with a clear eye, then you can move on to studying the folkloric traditions of these nations. 

I recommend Stuart Piggott’s The Druids, a light academic read where you will discover that we know very little about Druids and never have. Most of the current pop culture ideas about these things are no older than the 1970s and have no basis in history or folklore. Folklorists often encounter difficulty with people who are so firmly enmeshed in their romantic notions of how things were or ought to be that nothing we say will get through to them. Briefly, it’s not a good look to demand an entire nation bend to the fantasies of people from other countries. Real people live in these places. This is cultural appropriation and it’s not even accurate. Moving on.

When it comes to the folklore itself, there are a few names you can look into. Sandy Hobbs is one; I have had lunch with him several times and we’ve discussed many things, including the current proliferation of the Sawney Bean narrative (this is technically an urban legend, although it is many centuries old now). Another great folklorist to check out is Bill (W.F.H. Nicolaisen), who sadly passed away last year. His lectures were the most popular when I was studying at the Elphinstone Institute of Aberdeen, which is considered the ‘Harvard of folklore’. Lizanne Henderson is in charge of the Scottish folklore MA at Glasgow. Any work relating to these names will be a reliable source, and probably lead you to further information.

As with all academic pursuits, consider the source. You’re going to find far more reliable books and articles from academic researchers and professors who have made it their life’s work to study these subjects, as opposed to someone random on the Internet who has a particular agenda when it comes to romanticizing these nations and cultures.

When I was teaching at Glasgow, I encountered a lot of people who had been filled with a lot of nonsense information that had no relation to history or folklore at all. It’s a lot harder to unlearn and relearn, so remember to question everything you read. Question academic work as well, of course; that’s the purpose of it, after all.

So, to sum up/TLDR:

Edward Said, Stuart Piggott, Alan Dundes, Bill Nicolaisen, Lizanne Henderson, Sandy Hobbs. Researching folklore is based more on folklorists than particular books, and you’ll probably have better luck with journal entries associated with those names. This is what I teach my students. I hope it will help you to learn more about folklore, and also to think critically about the information you encounter as well as how you are treating or interacting with the nation in question.

[coconuttystorage]

Dracula, by Arantzazu Martinez

[coconuttystorage]

Design concept for my new DnD character, Robyn! An (unexpected) cleric from a small gambling town.

She’s a mess. A beautiful mess, but still a mess.

[coconuttystorage]

[coconuttystorage]

I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. (via riverran)

[coconuttystorage]

Heaven Gaia S/S Paris 2019 | Designer Xiong Ying / xiur 熊英 | PartⅥ

[coconuttystorage]

Nyadhour Deng

By Brandon Hicks

[coconuttystorage]

Victorian Sapphire, Diamond, and Enamel Ring

[coconuttystorage]

Vox Machina as Lemony Snicket Quotes

Vax- “Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.” 

Vex- “People who say money doesn’t matter are like people who say cake doesn’t matter—it’s probably because they’ve already had a few slices.”

Scanlan- “The best way to keep a secret is to tell it to everybody you know but pretend you are kidding”

Pike- “Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.” 

Keyleth-  “Every new promise was like something heavy I had to carry, with no place to put anything down.”

Percy- “The word “haunted”, I’m sure you know, usually applies to a house, graveyard, or supermarket that has ghosts living in it, but the word can also be used to describe people who have seen and heard such horrible things that they feel as if ghosts are inside them, haunting their brains and hearts with misery and despair.”

Grog - “Anyone who thinks the pen is mightier than the sword has not been stabbed with both.” 

Taryon- “Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.”