eyranbelanore - Tumblr blog

[eyranbelanore]

*Imagining a professional barber in apron and all, pouch full of combs, scissors and conditioner doing Drizzt up in the middle of the store.*

Look who I found in a game store in New Hampshire. Hope he’s enjoying his jerky sticks

I fucking love how every drizzt statue i've seen out in the wild has been dressed up in some way. Fantastic use of him, tbh

[eyranbelanore]

I have a question. A stupid question, perhaps. But a question. A question I've been asked by another for reasons I do not know...yet. I've read many, many Forgotten Realms books and spent a shameful amount of time on the wiki, but there's one thing. One tiny, tiny thing that is bothering me and I cannot find an answer...

...

...

...

It' Gromph's eyes.

What eye color does Gromph Baenre have?!

So SPOILERS ahead for several FR book series, but I do remember specifically that, in the Daughter of the Drow, his eyes were explicitly described, at least once, as amber. His daughter Liriel inherited hers from him, in fact, if I remember correctly. Yes? Then, in War if the Spider Queen, he was blinded and had his eyes chewed out by his rat familiar Kyorli and had to get replacement eyes from another drow male via a transplant of a sort. Still with me? Am I right so far?

So, when he appears again in the Drizzt books after the Silence of Lolth, is his eye colour mentioned to have changed? Are they still amber or are they red? Do they change in the light, being red in the dark and amber in the light, kind of how Malice's eyes are described as being red in the dark and green in the light? I think??? Not sure on that one...heard it somewhere, though. I think that's also why Drizzt's sisters held a candle up to his eyes when he was born to see if they changed from lavender to something else in the light. Maybe that's a normal thing that drow have? I know not all drow have red eyes, even outside of Drizzt, though it does seem his are unusual for not being red in the dark. Curious...darkvision/infravision behind this maybe? I don't know... Just brainstorming here.) Is it not even touched upon in later books? Has the amber eyes trait been mentioned in any other drow other than Gromph? Do any other Baenres have it? Quenthel? His brothers? Did he inherit it from his mother Yvonnel or perhaps his unknown/unnamed father? Is it ever mentioned if Jarlaxle has eyes similar to that of his elder brother? Does Yvonnel 2.0 have them?

I've tried flicking through the books, but have found nothing thus far. (Then again, I don't have all the Drizzt books. I have up to Hero. I have yet to read the last six.)

I know it's such a minor detail, and it's understandable if nobody cares. But I'd love to know if anyone actually knows an answer to anything I've just rambled about. It would be very appreciated! :)

Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk. Have a wonderful evening/day/whatever time frame in which you're reading this! :)

[eyranbelanore]

It's not an obsession, she says.

I like it in a very healthy way, she says.

Meanwhile, her reading corner;

...and with every season of the show but eight and a book of storyboards of each episode kicking about somewhere, it's safe to say I've fallen down a rabbit hole of no return!

[eyranbelanore]

Lilluth De Lanmere;

Lilluth De Lanmere is our party's main wizard and is of the school of Necromancy. She was human, is now a Dhampir, and was born to the noble De Lanmere family in Athkatla, capital of Amn.

Her father was Escher De Lanmere, her mother Yvane De Lanmere, and she had a twin brother Lothaire De Lanmere. Her family was a very wealthy and ancient line, going back almost hundreds of years, almost to the founding of Athkatla itself. However, with so much wealth and history in so wealthy a nation, it should come as no surprise that her noble lineage had many a dark side. Her family was one corrupted by pride and shaped by ambition. A ravenous hunger for the acquisition and maintenance of the highest power in the city, in the world even. This manifested clearly in her mother, an eternally bitter and cold woman who always wanted more and looked to use her family whenever she could to get what she wanted. Thus, Lilluth grew closer to her father, who was much calmer and kinder a parent, and was the only member of the family who could reign her mother's scheming in. Despite what corruption her family occasionally dabbled in, her life was overall a happy one, filled with luxury and decadence. However, this peace and family was not to last. Her father would often travel to trade in other regions, and one day returned from such a journey to Calimport deathly sick. It was clear that, from his symptoms, he had contracted the Shaking Plague, one of the Three Plagues, and would not survive for long. His wife, losing all reason and becoming distraught, threw him and her children from their home for fear of contracting the disease herself. At this time, Lothaire was not in Amn, but had become a steward and court wizard in Cormyr leaving Lilluth alone to care for her dying father, being only fifteen at the time. She ended up having to do terrible things just to afford to eat and keep her father alive just a day or two longer, she begged, and stole, and mugged, and lied, got into street fights and sold herself to a brothel. One night, her father's condition grew dire, worse than anytime before. In her desperation, Lilluth attempted to approach her mother for help, but was instead met by her mother's new husband, a tall dark man of the De Lanmere bloodline named Angharad. Angharad was a cruel man, and a dark wizard who was renowned for practicing Necromancy. Despite knowing this, Lilluth still begged him for his help, which he surprisingly agreed to, but on one sick condition, that he got to own Lilluth and do with her as he pleased. Lilluth reluctantly agreed, so desperate to save her beloved father. Angharad kept his word, but in a twisted way. He cured her father of his plague, but only by biting him, drinking his blood and giving him his own, ''gifting'' Escher his vampiric state of undeath, and leaving Amn all together with his daughter, who he would take as an apprentice, teach the arts of Necromancy, and brainwash until she had no memory of her family and past. No memory of how Angharad had also fed upon her and changed her. (Though not fully. He needed a servant who could walk safely in the light of the sun.)

No family and past, just her master and Lord...forevermore.

(The image on the right is Lilluth when her family was in its prime, before her father caught the Plague and she and him were sent to live in the slums. The picture on the left is her during and after her time living and working in the slums, and is also how she looks during most of the campaign.)

(Oh, and in the image on the left, you'll see that she is holding a black rabbit. His name us Kaz (short for Kazimir) and he is her familiar. He died later on in the campaign, but cane back reincarnated as a black cat, also called Kaz, and became her familiar all over again! Not even death will do these two part! Their bond is stronger than, and thus shapes fate itself! :D

[eyranbelanore]

So, I got King of Scars for Christmas and I'm LOVING IT! It has nothing on the Crows duology but it's so good! Nina's chapters have been breaking my heart as expected, and I've fallen in love with both Nikolai and Zoya all over again!

Best part of the book so far;

This had me fucking wheezing at 4 in the morning! Pretty sure my roommate hates me now! Brilliant!

[eyranbelanore]

Blythe Liore;

Blythe has been mentioned in previous posts and is something of a comfort character for our table. She is genuinely one of the least traumatized character we've ever made and we're all very proud of siring her from our normally very dark, twisted minds! Ayway, to her story! Blythe is a halfling rogue who grew up in the small halfling village of Potabello, (which after our homebrew world merged with an alternate Abeir-Toril, we agreed was in the Luiren area.)

It is a small mainly agricultural village, very peaceful and Hobbiton-esque. She lived with her family the Liores, her father being a former adventurer and monk of Yondalla called Edryn. (Her entire family is still alive and well, BTW. Yes. A rogue whose, not just parents, but ENTIRE FAMILY is still alive! Shooketh!) Blythe grew to love baking and help her small family business in that field. (Almost all of them worked in food, her mother Catelyn/Cat is an all round chef, her elder sister Zoey made dairy, her little brother Milo loved to garden and farm, and her younger sister Lily loved condements and spices. Edryn did not work in good, but as a former adventurer he was something of a village guard, a protector of his family and community. He did like to see himself as an honorary taste tester for his family's products. He just liked to eat, in other words!) Blythe also took a liking to and made a hobby of alchemy, medicine and the study of other cultures and histories, often being given herbs from her sister to experiment with and further her interest. One day, her father went out to the borders of the village to make sure nobody had gotten lost out in a snow storm that day. He came back safely as usual, but bearing a surprise. In his arms, he cradled a young tiefling, who had been caught out in the storm and found unconscious, wounded and I'll in a nearby cave. Though initially cautious of him and his fiendish nature, they all agreed to save him, all of them working hard to nurse him back to health. (This tiefling child was Locke, of course. You can see his story in a previous post!) They soon grew attached to the little devil child and adopted him into their family. Blythe was very quick to trust and befriend him, seeing him as something of another little brother. He was just as reckless and outgoing as she was cautious and mild, though they balanced each other out perfectly, and began to both desire more adventures, to test their bond in the ultimate test and set out from Potabello and adventure to new lands, experience the excitement those places held, as Blythe had read in her history books she had shared with Locke. Her father saw their longing and, though somewhat reluctantly, let them go on a right of passage of sorts, and see those new and faraway lands together, on one condition; that they promised to stay together, look after each other, and one day come home safe, with many wondrous tales to tell!

[eyranbelanore]

Another D&D Character; Edenvra/Eden Hyluan;

Eden is a wood elf Circle of the Moon Druid/Fighter. (The art above is just her as a Druid. I'll get those with her as a fighter later! These ones are nice, though. Quite Christmassy, so timing couldn't be more perfect!) Her story is not as deep as the others, but does have more room to explore, I'd say.

So, she was born in Phynren Llyn, a small wood elf village on the outskirts of Vohri in Noshara. (Homebrew places in the far north of Icewind Dale after our homebrew world Tayrul kinda got mish-mashed into Abeir-Toril, making it now Tayrul-Abeir-Toril! Mouthful, I know, but we love it!) Her father died when she was young, being killed in a hunting accident involving barbarians coming down from the nearby Valley of Rime, a ring of mountains that sits at the very north of the continent and separates the country/kingdom of Noshara from that of Ceileoceannys. Her mother turned to the druids of her grove to help her raise her daughter whilst she was so taken by grief. (It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but her grief ran so deep that it weakened her badly and eventually kills her. Her death was actually during the campaign, near the beginning too!) This left her alone to be tsised by the head of the Circle Laurian, with her closest friend and foster brother Rolan. Rolan eventually takes an interest in taking on a path of adventuring and leaves the Circle to spy on an enemy cult known as the Heirs of the Phoenix. (These guys are VERY significant in our world! To be explained in more depth later!) Anyway, in short, he leaves against Laurian's wishes and doesn't return. He used to send letters to Eden for a shirt while, but they eventually stopped with no explanation. Eden begins to worry for him, and dreads losing part of what she sees as one of the last members of her family. She confronts Laurian, appealing to him to set out or send Druids to go find him and rescue him, bit he refuses. Frustrated by his inaction, Eden abandons the Circle and heads to the nearby village/town of Vohri, where she joins the Reindeer's Rack, a mercenary company, using their resources and skills she us taught by them to go and find Rolan herself.

Also, on a lighter note, Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a great Christmas! I really did, my current Game of Thrones addiction has been fed gloriously well today! :)

[eyranbelanore]

We got snow! Merry Christmas from the Highlands! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year! :)

[eyranbelanore]

Locke Art and Lore!

Locke/Damakos is a tiefling rogue/monk. I did picture him with slightly paler skin with a tiny bit of a gray tinge around his ears, lips, eyes and jaw, but oh well. Beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

Anyway, the rest of him is pretty on point. He is a tiefling born to human parents, who made an infernal pact with Mordai, a devil from Cania, the eighth layer of the nine hells. They tried to cheat the bargain, so their child was cursed and warped by the hellish powers before birth. When Locke was born, his parents were understandably horrified. Despite their fear, or perhaps because of it, they could not bring themselves to kill him. Not directly, anyway. They settled on the decision to abandon him as a little bundle in the street, and await his fate of being trampled to death, or succumbing to illness, starvation, thirst or cold. He was taken to an orphanage by a stranger who pitied him, but did not wish to or could not afford to raise him. As he grew, he went through a hard and lonely time, with everyone in the orphanage and around town shunning and bullying him. Eventually, he ran from the orphanage and town, and took to the life of a street beggar, travelling from town to town, stealing and begging for whatever scraps people were willing to give him. He arrived outside the halfling village of Potabello, but during a hard and violent winter. He took refuge in a nearby cave, though not before becoming sick and exhausted. He collapsed in the cave and was found by Edryn, a wealthy halfling monk and farmer. He took in the tiefling, him and his family nursing him back to health and growing attached to him, eventually coming to love him as another son. He decided to keep him and raise him as his own, teaching him in the ways of a monk of Yondalla. Soon, however, Locke grew to desire more from the world, adventure and things that his family in Potabello, despite how much he loved them, could never give him. One of Edryn's daughters, Blythe, felt the same way, and also was very close to her adoptive brother. Edryn sent the two off into the world, hiving him their blessing, not knowing that they would eventually be driven to cause much mischief as well ad join an underground thieves guild, known as Serpent's Blood...

[eyranbelanore]

All I'm saying is you know when you have an iconic, true D&D trio when, in the scenario of two of them are given sparklers, and one of them gently waves it in carefully ordinated patterns and appreciates it for it's beauty, while the other is dashing behind him waving it in the air, screaming at the top of their lungs ''SOMEBODY GAVE ME FIRE!!!'', whilst they give into their intrusive thoughts about committing arson, and the third person and only girl of the group sits back and films it whilst trying with all their soul not to laugh. Yes, Arvayn, Locke and Blythe are the personification of that kid with sparkler meme and it shall never change in my eyes.

Headcanon based on this;

[eyranbelanore]

Arvayn Bryvaris;

The time hath come! I cannot wait another second; it's time to talk about my son! My boy! My first ever D&D character! Arvayn Bryvaris! Here's his back story;

Arvayn was born in the town of Saylen to the noble lord that ruled over it; Mihill Bryvaris, a human nobleman of the lesser, though beloved Bryvaris noble family of Vradia. His mother Demoriel Arrilyn was a high elf (a half moon elf, half sun elf), from Nyllensari, the elven isle. (Think Evermeet from Forgotten Realms, or Valinor from Tolkien. It did become one with Evermeet in a weird little world-twisting event I've explained elsewhere.). It was clear, however, that she took more from her sun elf heritage, and left her human lover to raise the halfbreed she had accidentally conceived with him, viewing the baby Arvayn as a disgrace upon her family name due to his half human nature. His father felt the opposite towards him, and loved him more than anything, seeing only the beauty and other traits of his mother that had drawn him to sincerely love her, raising him more or less happily for years. Sadly, it was not to last. Vradia fell onto war with the neighbouring kingdom of Kemmaweth, and his father had been called by the king he served to take up arms and lead his troops into war for the king. His army was small, however, and he thus turned to hiring mercenaries to fill the gaps in his fleet. The mercenaries he hired turned out to be duplicitous, and had been bribed by a Kemmawethian noble house to turn against their Lord. They did such, sacking Saylen and burning it to the ground, killing Mihill in front of his eight year old son. Arvayn fled from the carnage, only to be caught by a slaver, taken to a black market in Ostaviel, and sold to a man called Jourdain who owned a traveling show. He trained Arvayn as an acrobat for a few years, but was abusive and Arvayn fled from him at the age of twelve. He was chased by guards who worked for Jourdain across the marshland of Garmeydia, until he reached Kriggan, the city of smoke and blood. He was caught by the guards, badly wounded in the struggle and eventually left for dead. He was saved however, by the lord of Kriggan, the Assassin King Malarin. From then on, he served Malarin as a thief, spy and assassin, much to his own moral grievances, all in order to pay his debt to Malarin for saving his life, and to survive the crooked, lawless streets of Kriggan. (Kriggan and Saylen became part of the Moonshae Isles, as did Vradia, which was originally a Netherese enclave that fell and was renamed. Ostaviel was near the Neverwinter area, and Kemmaweth was near Thay.)

[eyranbelanore]

Hi! First ever post on this blog...wow I really am awkward! I really have no idea how to start this... Anyway, here we go; I wrote a poem of sorts. It's not necessarily super deep. It surrounds the idea of a chessboard being used as a symbol of war, and how the higher figures in society have to fall in order for the sacrifices of the smaller folk to be even significant...dark, I know. It really is just my first ever warm up work, and is actually based loosely on something my DM said during a D&D session as one of the main antagonists. I really liked it and found the sentiment quite powerful. If you'd like to use this or reblog, feel free! :)

Chessboard

They all stand the same,

Eight small men, one on each square ,

Of their second rank.

With eight more across from them,

Though they are clad in polished dark.

They all stand the same,

Mirrored by one another,

Though stood on opposing sides.

They stand in wait for the puppeteer to move them,

To doom or to glory.

They all stand the same,

Those greater than them behind,

Taking refuge in a smaller shadow,

Those eight that stand in front.

They all fall the same,

To one that could be their twin,

If not for the side on which they were placed.

They clatter down to lay on the board,

Before they’re swept away.

They all fall the same,

They disappear so far beneath,

The noses that they serve,

The kings and queens who still remain,

Upright, proud and unmoved.

They all fall the same,

When bishops have not yet tumbled,

When knights are still behind,

When castles stand at borders still,

Their gates closed and walls high.

Some stood long enough to see the bishop fall,

To watch a knight be swept away,

And a castle crumble to the floor.

But few are they who see the king,

Fall or call checkmate.