master-of-the-elements

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Arcane really fucked up making Ambessa a big bad(TM) in season 2. Her ambitions and drive coming off as an omniscient person pulling certain strings are terribly misaligned with what we have learned of her character in season 1 and her book.

It is yet again another case of the character of black women in stories being misshaped and inflated to be perceived as the villain of the story when her story is one that cannot be reduced to villainy for the sake of driving the overall story. It doesn't make sense.

In my opinion she, and by extension Mel, are case studies of generational trauma. Women who move and sacrifice for the sake of survival, care for their family and loved ones, and suppressed emotion.

All of those parts of Ambessa that make her a compelling character were completely ignored. And it is a damn shame.

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Ambessa was the one who held Kino as he was dying. She woke up one day on campaign, knew something was wrong and rode home as fast as she could to find her little boy slashed across his stomach. She held him together and tried to save him. She screamed a mother's scream that night. Not a warrior's. Her son's blood drenching her uniform. As her baby boy was held in the same arms he knew as sanctuary, as mother. And the last thing that Kino Medarda knew as he died, was that his mother loved him.

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do you have any advice about writing racism in a modern setting. I know there’s a lot of ways to get it wrong and I was wondering if you have any tips or advice.

Thank you for making this blog, it’s super helpful both as a writer and as a person who lives in a systematically racist world. Your lessons and reading recs are always super interesting. I know running a blog like this is probably super emotionally draining, and I’m glad you’re taking some time for yourself after your birthday.

Meme joke aside, that's really all I got as an answer 😅 that is a broad ask, tbh. Everything I've made lessons out of so far encompasses racism in the modern day, just using history as a base. The books I've linked, good booklists on racism- get specific, 'environmental', 'psychiatric', 'medical', whatever- is key. Following people that talk about current events involving antiblackness and other forms of racism.

I think one specific thing I can say for writing racism in a modern setting, is never underestimating the power of a microaggression. Especially in a "color blind" society. The good majority of racism that goes unchecked is through underhanded comments, racist political beliefs disguised as "progressive", general ignorance manifesting as malicious commentary... The list is endless. Endless microaggressive situations, like death by a thousand cuts, day after day.

I've been called slurs, but it's almost easier to deal with an overt slur because at least you can skip to the fighting, whereas the most effective and sickening racism I've experienced has been from people who made themselves sound "smart, kind, and logical" as they spoke racist rhetoric that literally anyone who actually CARED would know. They make you look like the bad guy by reacting "poorly" to what is "just a conversation". And that's because everyone else is so comfortable not addressing it at all.

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i hate when rich people condescend with the whole 'money can't buy happiness' argument like listen. just because buying your fourth car didn't fill the void in your deluded disconnected-from-reality life doesn't mean not having to worry about food/ bills/medicine wouldn't greatly improve the mental health of literally everyone else on the planet

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I wanted to take some pretty pictures, and I got completely caught off guard by this moment when Assan lay his head on Davrin's and Rook's joined hands and made me want to start sobbing uncontrollably.

This happens mostly off-screen. Flowersforthemachines has already pointed out and showed how Davrin and Rook hold hands in this scene, and you can see there's a lot of clipping going on here - at this point Davrin's hand's sinking into Rook's thigh, but it's so precious, either way.

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sorry but i'm ordering a complete shutdown of heterosexual jakeyism until we figure out what the fuck is going on with these women

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The Folly Of Ambessa

Ambessa was a child soldier, like canonically. By the age of 15, she already seen her fair share of battles, and it was considered one of the more promising young warriors in the clan. And whether she meant to or not, she spared her children from the same fate. In by protecting them, she wondered if she made them soft.

This dichotomy of protection and self reliance, warped Ambessa and by extension her family. Azizi wishes for her to be home more. But Ambessa knows that glory cannot be found at home. She also understands in order to protect her family. She must be away from her family. She attempts to send Mel away first to Rokrund then later Piltover, because of how precious Mel is to her, even though she knows it will break Mel’s heart. She at first was going to send Kino with Mel as well, then thought against it, but Kino’s and Ambessa rift doesn’t come until Azizi’s death. In order to protect Kino she tried to leave him the dark about the Black Rose, but instead it left him not being able to consult or count on Ambessa about this. It left him isolated and in turn he was able to be “picked off” by Leblanc.It was this love for her children created a chasm of which she could not cross.

Her family was her purpose, and yet the love for them was her undoing. 

[master-of-the-elements]

Where would Rook's eluvian go?

Thanks to @rooks-dagger for the tag, and to @dudewheresmynug for creating this game! Loved reading about Ember and Lydia's eluvians.

Rules: Post a picture of your OC and 4-6 pictures showing where in Thedas their eluvian would take them. Then, write a little (or a lot) about why!

Tagging @themildmahariel, @maagisterpavus, @dancing--lights, @master-of-the-elements, @fenrelmercar, @mildlyupsetzebra, @waxlyricalmoon, @librarydilf, and @serjory

Esha Mercar - The Minrathous Circle

Listen, I know Neve's eluvian goes to Minrathous already, but I think it would be really fun a. to explore Minrathous Hightown and b. for the more visually lower-class woman to have the deeper link to the Altus parts of town.

Would Esha be pissed that this was where it went? Yeah, probably. But then I don't think there's anywhere in her past that she's got uncomplicated feelings about, so.

(is this an excuse for me to finally put my 'Tevinter Vibes' Pinterest board to use? maaaaaaaaaybe. but also an excuse to do a massive Esha lore dump, so popping that under a cut!)

It doesn't seem too much of a stretch that one of the oldest, most prestigious centres of magical learning in Thedas would have an eluvian tucked away somewhere at its heart. Like Ember, Esha would avoid the place for as long as she could - hey, she's still technically in exile, and while people in Dock Town wouldn't necessarily know her, the right people in the Circle absolutely would.

But if there's an unguarded eluvian near a Venatori hotspot (and let's face it, Hightown Minrathous is full of the bastards), then sooner or later, Esha's going to have to deal with it. And face up to everything she left behind when she took the Nessus job, too.

When her magic first came in, she traded in life as a soporata for a series of increasingly gilded cages: first the Circle in Marothius (the only one which her family could afford which would accept an elf for a student) and then, when her talent for force magic was discovered, the Circle in Minrathous.

There she spent three years apprenticed to Magister Aurelian, who considered himself something of a progressive. After all, he could have kept the elf laetan as a slave - it would have angered her Legatus father, certainly, but a little sabre-rattling from the soporati is easily handled. But no, he's above that sort of thing. Magical talent ought to be rewarded, whomever it is found in.

The fact that he used Esha as a walking blood magic power bank was a normal part of life at the Circle. A simple quid pro quo, for his sponsorship of her. He used his human laetan student, Cassius, the same way; Esha and Cassius ended up bonding over the way they were being treated.

(Cassius genuinely seems to like her, too - he also thinks magical talent ought to be nurtured, and has strong feelings about reforming Tevinter to make it a proper mageocracy, where all magical talent is nurtured regardless of the wielder's background. All mages should hold power. All of them.)

Aurelian eventually, mostly stops using them both for blood magic. Magister Alexius and his student rewriting the laws of magic with a very public insistence on not using any blood magic at all does far more than the legal outlawing of it ever did. Suddenly the other Circle mages are like... 'well, if I use it and achieve anything less than they did, then that's a sign of weakness on my part'.

Esha will one day have an extremely awkward conversation where she thanks Dorian for this, postgame. In true Tevene 'allergic to feelings' fashion, they will never speak of it again afterwards.

This state of affairs continued up until 9:41, when Aurelian and Esha were caught out on the road to a client site as the Breach opened and rifts began to appear in Minrathous. A passing liberata, Reva, saw a magister using a young elf woman for blood magic to defend himself and saw red.

Once the chaos calmed down, Esha made it back to the Circle. Aurelian never did. Cassius gave her an understanding look, took up Aurelian's seat in the Circle (while Aurelian's son took his seat in the Magisterium), and if he suspected anything, he never said a word. He was very busy around this time. Lots of letters headed south.

Esha didn't really notice much - she was mostly keeping her head down. Finished her studies, started working as an engineer in her own right, and also got rather thoroughly distracted by her tumultuous, on-again-off-again relationship with Reva. And then Nessus happened, and she hasn't been back since.

Until now. She sneaks into the old study, and finds Cassian up late working on something. He's surprised to see her, but greets her fondly. Whoever she's with will remark later that they hadn't expected that warm a reception, from what Esha had said about the Circle, to which Esha tells them he was the one thing that made it all bearable.

Beyond Tevinter, as Esha starts working with the Wardens, she starts learning more about what happened at Adamant. And some of the details of the Venatori involvement feel - odd. There are names that sound weirdly familiar, and she can't place why until she's standing in the old Engineering department office and remembers hearing them there. Why in the Void would that...

...oh. Oh, no.

[master-of-the-elements]

There's this Black creator going by Tasselfairy and she got known for her colorful style and apartment called cloudland. She just made a video where she revealed that she had to move out of her iconic apartment by a certain date without a reason why, and it turns out Lisa Frank opened a pop up hotel right across the street on the same day she had to move out and the buildings were managed by the same company. And Lisa Frank had been following and commenting on this creator's post before this all happened. Sending this to boost not to support Lisa Frank and send love to Tasselfairy instead. (apparently there is more dirt on Lisa Frank on this new amazon docu series but i haven't watched it yet)

I heard what you're talking about! Once again, she joins the iconic list of "Black Creators Stolen From". Lisa Frank was the rage when I was a kid, but ofc capitalism is gonna rear its ugly head.

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windrider 🌪️

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Storm & T’challa by danniscomics

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“We made it—”

For Dragon Age Kiss Week - Day 5: Battlefield

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How funny would it have been if Wyll's dad actually was in that fire and we saved him tho

You banished ur son, you thought you'd never see him again, then boom, he's pulling you from a random tavern fire and he has so many weird friends with him looting all the breads and snacks.

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Happy 2 years Baldur's Gate 3!! This year I included my tav Náð in the fun! 🎉

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Went back to a previous save to pop Wyll!Rook into the coffee with the crows scene, and his expression here... 🥺

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(last for random banter posts but this is actually a conversation I was wondering if ever happened with Wyll at some point with someone...)