sir-gawain

[sir-gawain]

thnksgvng

I hope you all have lots of tasty leftovers.

[sir-gawain]

NovelAI really can't do Griffons. All attempts have resulted in utterly cursed beings.

There are two primary NovelAI Diffusion models. One was trained primarily to recognize tags and terms via anime art (this is the model I've been using for character art). The other is trained using furry art. Both anime artists and furry artists are good at tagging artwork, which is how the folks at NovelAI taught their model how to recognize the use of tags and how they relate to images.

Neither model is any good at generating art of Griffons, Dragons, etc.

The first hurdle to clear is whether to spell the tag 'Griffin,' 'Griffon,' or 'Gryphon.' Using 'Gryphon' got me closer to the desired results than the others. 'Griffin' and 'Griffon' resulted in wingless creatures that looked kind of like shaggy dogs. After selecting the correct spelling for that part of the prompt, the Anime-Trained model still has extreme difficulty generating the correct number of limbs or the correct shaped beak.

Here are the best results from the "NovelAI Anime Diffusion Full" model, out of around 100 images:

The furry-trained model had slightly better results, but it was still pretty bad. It resulted in fewer creations with not-enough limbs, but more that had too many instead. On top of that, the way it drew leonine hind legs and the eyes was... suspicious. Even once I added and blocked tags to get rid of the "come-hither eyes" and the overly-detailed, overly-shiny legs, the model still spit out creations that often had Disney-Face syndrome and looked too anthropomorphized in the face area. Most were also drawn with proportions that made the Griffon look like it was the size of a small dog, rather than the size of an elephant or large truck.

Here are the best results I got from the "NovelAI Diffusion Furry" model, out of around 100 images:

In conclusion, I don't think the AI is ready to make art of D&D Monsters like Griffons quite yet. Valentia will have to wait awhile before her art can be replaced with something original.

[sir-gawain]

You went to canada?

Yep! Took a trip with my sister and a couple friends. Needed a vacation and had never been outside the US before.

[sir-gawain]

Valentia needs a character post

I'll work on it, but in terms of producing the art, the AI is pretty terrible at any non-humanoid creatures. I'll see what I can do.

[sir-gawain]

So is the new lore from AI then?

I'm not sure what you mean. I made the character art using the AI. But the lore for these characters remains unchanged.

[sir-gawain]

Hm, you know that's something I've always wondered, had you ever considered asking any of the other muns for help with that? Like, one or two of 'ems gotta be artists.

Part of it is looking for the right artstyle to suit the character. I don't know anyone personally whose artstyle lends itself to most of mine, and I wouldn't ask those people to do art of my characters pro bono. But that just puts me back to square one of not being able to bankroll commissions.

[sir-gawain]

So, things been good? You've got some new AI art, new lore.

Things have been pretty good. I just took my first-ever vacation (a whopping two days) and went up to Canada for a bit (first time outside the US). Aside from that, business as usual. Still designing apartment building HVAC systems and still living on my own. Housing market is still shittier than it's ever been in recorded history so I don't expect my living situation to change any time soon.

The AI Art thing is via NovelAI. I'd been anticipating their image generation model for awhile since they'd been releasing previews of the stuff they were making behind the scenes as they developed it. I really enjoy being able to finally get something approaching my mental image of my characters and putting it out there where other people can see it. I'm not rich enough to commission art of all my characters, and I hate scouring google images for existing art to basically steal for the purposes of helping my friends visualize my characters, so AI art is a real boon from my perspective.

My sister's a real artist, but I never had the knack for it. I'm pretty sure my art teachers all expected me to be good like my sister, because despite the fact that they'd always say their grading was effort-based and not based on how good you were, I nearly flunked out of the mandatory art classes back in school.

AI can never really get as specific as a real artist without the added touch of someone who knows their way around at least photoshop. That said, I've been learning my way around NovelAI well enough for my purposes. It's very much a google-fu style of skill that takes far less time to develop than the skill to physically draw something from a fuzzy mental image.

[sir-gawain]

My shiny seated Sire! It's been entirely too long!

Good to hear from you again too, pal.

Yeah the blog would have continued to accumulate cobwebs, were it not for a smidge of renewed discussion in the ol' Conspiracy Club with the other blogs.

[sir-gawain]

YOU

Me.

Still alive, same old same old. My life basically doesn't change.

[sir-gawain]

Magran, Moon-Druid of Lyanka

Magran's origins differ from most of my other characters in that she has never been to Eberron, Toril, or any other published D&D universe. Magran is a Firbolg, a type of Giant outside the 'Ordning' that classifies most of giantkind. Her tribe guards the forests of Lyanka, a region in the Southern Hemisphere of my friend's custom setting celled Arnen.

Magran's tribe was present when settlers (mostly humans) from a distant nation landed on the shores and began building a colony. Many of the Tribe argued that they should destroy the colony and drive off the settlers, but Magran spoke out in their defense. The settlers merely did not know the ways of the tribe, and could be taught to respect the land they lived on. The Elders decided to allow Magran to reach out to them without revealing the tribe's existence, as a test that would either prove her right or teach her a valuable lesson.

Magran soon established herself as a Wise Woman in the settlement, which the colonists named New Camden, using her natural magical talent as a Firbolg to disguise herself as an Elf. Between working as a healer and showing the settlers how to care for the land, such that they could take from and give back to the ecosystems of the area.

Magran served her own people and those of New Camden for the next hundred years, growing her druidic talents and earning the respect of her tribe and the settlers. It was around the end of this time that New Camden, completely unprepared for armed conflict, would be attacked by an army of Drow Elf corsairs arriving on warships. Magran, aided by other fledgeling adventurers from New Camden, led the surviving settlers in an escape through secret paths into the forest, to finally discover her people.

The Firbolg tribes and the settlers were wary of each other at first, but the presence of a common enemy and their common respect for Magran helped calm their suspicions of each other.

It was while fighting scouts from the Drow invaders that Xavier, the Ranger of Magran's group, missed his intended target and pierced Magran instead, while she was in the form of a panther. Those who followed the Blooming Dreemurr blog posts might note that this is the point where I chose to start using her in that story.

I named Magran after the Goddess of Fire, War, and Trials in the Pillars of Eternity setting, Eora. She shares very little with her namesake, save for having fiery red hair and knowing a decent amount of fire-based spells.

Magran is a very traditional druid. She has a focus on Wild Shapes with the Circle of the Moon subclass, she cares deeply about nature, she makes minimal use of metal tools, and she is part of a tribe that dwells in hidden forest enclaves. She left her tribe for a time to pursue the Drow invaders and thwart their efforts wherever possible - in doing so, she honed her magical skill significantly and acquired multiple magic items that aid her in casting spells and enhancing her Wild Shapes.

[sir-gawain]

Jaela Daran, Keeper of the Silver Flame

Jaela Daran is the Keeper of the Silver Flame, and leader of the Theocracy that governs the nation of Thrane. As the Keeper, she acts as the High Priestess of the Church of the Silver Flame, and she is the only known person currently able to consistently and directly hear the Voice of the Flame. The Voice is the immortalized spirit of Tira Miron, an ancient Paladin who re-sealed the Rakshasa Rajah Overlord, Bel Shalor, back into the essence of the Silver Flame, which acts as a prison keeping many such Overlords bound and unable to subjugate the Material world.

Around the year 991-993 YK, the Voice spoke out to a four-year-old girl living in the city of Flamekeep. Tira whispered warnings of catastrophes through the girl's dreams and nightmares, leading her Father to bring her to the Cardinals. When the Cardinals brought the girl before the flame, the Voice spoke through Jaela, revealing a cabal of disguised fiends under the umbrella of the Lords of Dust. Once the cult was destroyed by Thrane's knights, the Keeper at the time, Lavira Tagor, was replaced by Jaela Daran, a girl of only six years. By the time most Eberron campaigns and stories are set (998 YK), Jaela is eleven years old.

In my Eberron, Jaela proves a much stronger leader than most around her expected to be. Even when she was a child, she acted with more wisdom and foresight than the most experienced Cardinals, Generals, and Nobles. It is largely thanks to her efforts and outreach in the aftermath of The Last War that have ensured the war has not reignited.

The church has long been frought with problems, from corruption to zealotry to tribalism. Many officials such as High Cardinal Krozen, whose actions caused harm to many and went against the tenets of the Church, were either reined in or excommunicated. In Krozen's case, he concluded of his own volition that he would serve the flame better by simply adding his soul to the fire, and he submitted himself to be executed for the crimes he would then confess to.

Jaela observed that the Theocracy of Thrane brought with it incentives for the Cardinals and Bishops to serve their own interests, rather than to serve the values of the Church. Since Jaela became Keeper, the structure of Thrane's government has seen much reform, and whispers of abdication and a new form of government for the nation have been abounding.

For the groups such as the Servants of the Pure Flame, which have proven themselves to be violent fanatics espousing Machiavellian ideals to justify evil deeds, Jaela offered an ultimatum. Repent and look inward to see the corrupting evil that had festered in them, or be excommunicated and branded as heretical terrorists. The Puritans, as they called themselves, were split. By the words of the one who communicates directly with their god, some were convinced of their own wrong. But many, including a handful of Cardinals, doubled-down and were cut off from the Church. The removal of such violent zealots, whose hearts were corrupted by the Shadow in the Flame, was most felt in the city of Thaliost, a formerly-Aundarian city that changed hands between Aundair and Thrane multiple times during The Last War. Jaela has even begun negotiations with Queen Aurala of Aundair to discuss ceding the territory to put an end to the animosity between the two nations.

By 1020 YK, Jaela has grown into an extraordinarily powerful woman, and has been the cause of much growth in the Church of the Flame. She continues to lead, being seen by the people of Thrane more and more as she grows more able to see the will of the Flame done. As a high-level cleric in her own right, she is unmatched when within the Grand Cathedral in Flamekeep. Even if an assassin or other opponent could match her, they would be too distracted by her to see that she still keeps Skaravojen the Dragonhound by her side.

In the brief time I wrote Jaela on this blog (I believe it was only a post or two), my image of her has solidified and intensified. She's easily one of my favorite characters in any D&D setting, and I hope future publications of Eberron have more of her and her faithful Dragonhound.

[sir-gawain]

Valesthenes Hagar, Archmage of Caer Lleuad

Some 10-11 years ago, myself and a group of friends first gathered around a table to try out the Starter Set of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. One of my friends arrived late, just in time to save us from the Guard Drake that a pack of goblins had tamed. This timely arrival and impressive Burning Hands damage roll cemented Valesthenes Hagar, the Moon Elf Wizard, into my memory.

The player has a twin brother, who decided to play the adopted brother of Valesthenes - Hassan Hagar. Hassan was a human Assassin, but his player soon changed to a different character. And then another one. And another one.

The story of Valesthenes in this continuity is pretty much all original to me, though I wanted to stick with the original character concepts for Valesthenes and Hassan, just taken further with time and experience. While Hassan is more of a spymaster these days, Valesthenes became a figure somewhat akin to the legendary Wizards Mordenkainen, Elminster, or Bigby.

When I thought about how powerful a figure Valesthenes would be, I eventually decided on him being what's called "Epic Level," which is something that goes beyond the ordinary D&D maximum level of 20. In 4th edition, Epic Tier was included in the standard content - and by the end of Epic Tier at 30th level, a character has typically achieved some form of limited immortality, become the servant of a God, or similarly become 'untouchable' by smaller concerns. Such characters concern themselves with the machinations of Gods, the rumblings of ancient Fiendish Overlords, and the rampages of Greatwyrms.

My first two characters in 5th Edition D&D were Aur (an Aarakocra Monk), and Abelard (my Human Wizard). Both of them lived in Khorvaire in the Eberron setting, and both had pieces of crucial information relating to interplanar travel. Valesthenes, as a Wizard not native to the Eberron cosmology (but rather the Points of Light campaign setting), was interested in this information.

Eberron is ordinarily more closed off than the other settings of D&D. It's more difficult to intentionally travel to and from the planes of Eberron than between say, the settings of the Forgotten Realms and the Planescape setting (city of Sigil, etc). But in 4th Edition, the Nine Hells of Baator (and their ruler, Asmodeus) appeared in Eberron's new cosmology model - and promptly disappeared afterward. I took this as an opportunity to have Valesthenes and Hassan's arrival on Eberron have been via the use of the Nine Hells as a passageway.

Now, Valesthenes resides in Caer Lleuad (pronounced Care Say-Yahd), also known as The Tower of the Moon. It is a tower of his own creation, made in a similar manner to the Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion spell. Caer Lleuad is located in the empty, idyllic countryside of Thrane, Gawain's home country. From his tower, Valesthenes teaches students (like Aur and Abelard), guides key people to objectives he deems important (like directing Abelard or his old associates towards cabals of the Lords of Dust), performs magical research (like investigating the old lost demiplane of Kalandurren), or simply hosting people he knows.

Valesthenes is a somewhat known quantity to Jaela Daran, the Keeper of the Silver Flame and leader of the Theocracy that governs Thrane. To most other governmental bodies, such as the King of Breland or the Queen of Aundair, he has yet to extend so much as a greeting - after all, it's not their territory he is imposing upon. His brother Hassan operates in Khorvaire and gathers information for him, but isn't tied down to any specific location.

Valesthenes' personal motivations, other than further study and advancement of his own magical abilities, are sometimes unclear to those around him. Despite this, he proves an excellent person to have on one's side, and doesn't jealously hoard information that can help those who approach him for it. He has assisted Keeper Jaela in an advisory capacity on occasion around matters involving arcane magic, and has taken in several people as students.

[sir-gawain]

Lord Draxius, a Bard's Bard

Lord Draxius was a Half-Elf Bard once played by a friend of mine in a campaign that only lasted a few sessions, many years ago. The idea for using him came when I decided to create a 'bard anon' character back on the old blooming-dreemurr blog. I wanted to stop being anonymous when participating in that, so I wanted to find a way to establish the character of "Knight Anon" by giving him a foil. I'd only ever played with one bard at the time, and that was Draxius. I asked my friend if it was alright to use his character, who had never really been fleshed out, and so the Bard Anon became Lord Draxius.

We never really established much about Draxius before I started writing him, except for one thing: He was always referred to as Lord Draxius, despite nobody knowing what he was a Lord of, or if he was even a lord at all.

Draxius was originally from the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, so I never went too much into his backstory - since I was connecting him to a character from Eberron, and Eberron typically has a relatively tightly-locked cosmology. I had a different set of characters in mind for dealing with Planar Travel.

At some point, I decided to give Draxius' Lute something special, too. I decided it should be a Sentient Magic Item, which is a concept I've always been enthralled by. The Eldeen Reaches, a forested region in the West of the continent of Khorvaire, was a perfect place for this to occur. Since Manifest Zones (places where the barrier between planes is thin or absent) can occur just about anywhere, Draxius encountered a Manifest Zone to Thelanis (basically Eberron's version of the Feywild). He encountered the lute, which contained the trapped soul of an ancient Eladrin Bard by the name of Elisvan Andorethil.

Elisvan had made a deal with powerful Fey within Thelanis to enhance his own longevity and fame, by allowing him to continue playing music forever. Fey being the way they are, however, the one in question decided it would be most fun to satisfy his desire by turning him into a lute himself. One that plays the most amazing and beautiful music. Being trapped with nobody to play music to eventually gave him the "grumpy old man" personality he displayed when carried by Draxius.

When generating the art for Draxius, the toughest things to get right were the Lute, his clothes, and trying not to make him look extremely feminine. The AI has a tough time with most objects intended to be held in the hand (swords, shields, staves, firearms), so a 25-string Baroque Lute is a big ask. For his clothes, the AI seemed to want to constantly put him in either puffy English university student clothing, tuxedos with bow ties, or golden plate armor. The leather armor even sometimes generated looking more like the paper armor work by Samurai than leather. As for the face, it's just rather difficult for "Elf," "Half-Elf," "Ponytail," and "Sharp Face" not to result in something looking very much like a woman. What you're seeing here is the best of a couple hundred generations.

[sir-gawain]

Abelard, Evocation Wizard

Abelard is one of my favorite characters I've played. Eberron has a cosmology that is mostly locked out from others, and Planar Travel is extraordinarily rare. So when a Wizard studying it was killed and his tower destroyed by a mad mage, his student Abelard took what notes he could and resolved to complete the research and avenge his teacher.

Abelard was always an irritable and condescending person throughout his adulthood. He looked down on others, particularly those who hold power and fail to use it in productive ways. As he travelled Khorvaire, he encountered many such people.

Abelard specialized in evocation, and found that when faced with danger, or violence, the most expedient and most cathartic way to deal with the situation was to incinerate the problem. Eventually, he applied this to Kariah, the rogue Wizard responsible for the death of his mentor (who had ended up cavorting with Devils to accrue power).

Some time after, Abelard was contacted by a powerful mage operating out of Thrane. Somehow, this person had learned of his mentor's research, and was interested in helping him carry it to completion. This person would later introduce himself as Valesthenes Hagar, Archmage of Caer Lleuad. It was through Valesthenes that Abelard met Gawain and Draxius.

Abelard's personality never really changed much until a singular event, where he encountered a little orphaned Half-Elf girl in pain on the street of what he would consider a backwater village. After learning more about her, and her condition that caused her pain in the presence of magic (which is practically everywhere), he adopted the girl as his daughter and chose to teach her how to use magic and alleviate the problems with her condition. I won't share much more about that character, as she doesn't belong to me, but suffice it to say that he finally found a reason to be happy in his life.

[sir-gawain]

Sir Gawain Lotsson, Paladin of the Silver Flame

I may as well start with the man himself: Gawain. My biggest Mary-Sue of a character, but one I enjoyed portraying nonetheless. A Paladin in the setting of Eberron, serving the Church of the Silver Flame around the year 1020 YK. Son of a Cleric and a Paladin who also served the Church, losing their lives saving countless others from the supernatural evils the Silver Flame's devotees are sworn to fight.

After a crisis of Faith brought on by witnessing corruption within the Church of the Flame, he renounced his service to the Church and Theocracy, but continued to serve his nation as a Knight of Thrane, under a commander by the name of Osric.

After some years, he would return to the Church and meet the Keeper of the Silver Flame herself: Jaela Daran. Meeting Jaela and seeing the manifestation of the Silver Flame itself within the Grand Cathedral at Flamekeep helped renew his faith, and he would go on to do the will of the Keeper in service to his Faith, his Nation, and the world at large.

In the art here, there are a few things that I was unable to get consistently right. Swords are difficult with AI, but not as difficult as including both swords and shields. Not to mention that 'tower shield' or 'kiteshield' in the prompt tend to result in towers in the background or the character holding an actual kite. Silver Flame Heraldry is similarly difficult without simply resulting in regular, orange-yellow fire being prominent throughout the piece. As for his armor, Gawain wears Mithral Plate, which is silver with a bluish tint. My colorblindness doesn't do me any favors here, but I can tell that it's not keeping the color the same throughout the different images. Despite such details, though, I think they turned out very nice.

[sir-gawain]

It's been a long time since I've posted anything here. My friends from the 'old days' reminded me that Tumblr exists, and I figured this would be a good place to share some art of the characters I've played and discussed on this very blog.

I've been learning to use NovelAI's Stable Diffusion Image Generation tool to create character art, with stunning results. I've shared some of this art elsewhere, too, but this is probably a good place for me to continue posting it.

Don't call it a comeback - I don't know if I plan on returning to text-based RP, but I feel like commemorating my time doing so at the very least. I hope those of you who still take a look over here from time to time enjoy.

[sir-gawain]

Can you tell us some backstory on magran?

I would love to!

Magran was a D&D Character I made for a campaign in a friend’s custom setting, a world called “Arnen.” Arnen is a world much like Earth in terms of its geography, though smaller. The same gods you’d find in the Forgotten Realms setting are mirrored in Arnen.

Magran is a Firbolg. Firbolgs are a race of Lesser Giants with a natural penchant for Druidic magic and communion with sources of Primal Power (aka Spirits). They typically live hidden from other humanoid races, protecting forests, swamps, or other natural biomes. Their natural magical talent assists in keeping them hidden, or allowing them to disguise themselves among humanoids. They prefer indirect means of keeping civilization away from their lands, rather than the “GET OUT OF MY SWAMP” approach.

Magran’s tribe lives in an area of the world called Lyanka, located on the main Eastern continent in the southern hemisphere of Arnen. around 100 years ago, humans (and some members of other races) landed an exploration ship on the coast of Lyanka and began to establish a small town called New Camden - a colony of a faraway nation. Magran was the main voice among her people who called out for coexistence with these settlers, rather than killing them or forcing them out to sea. Thus, she was selected to join the settlement as a guide, to gently push the settlement, from its founding 100 years ago until now, in the direction of sustainable coexistence with the natural environment, without tresspassing on the tribe’s land. 

The tribe was kept secret all these years by Magran, who had set up on the outskirts of the town, magically disguised as an Elf, to avoid suspicion of her not aging. She served the town for a full century as a Wise Woman, providing counsel to the people of New Camden on how best to survive in this territory (i.e. how to not push the Firbolgs’ buttons and get themselves slaughtered by the tribe).

Just before the centennial of the town’s establishment, New Camden was attacked. Enormous Man O’ War ships with siege equipment appeared as if from nowhere and bombarded the town with flaming artillery, while invading soldiers rampaged throughout the town, nonchalantly killing the town guard as though they were no challenge at all. The invaders, an army of Drow reavers, were after a certain material with magical properties that had been falling from the sky in meteorites, all around the world. Magran helped guide the survivors of the attack to safety along the secret forest paths known only to her tribe, and she broke the secrecy of her tribe’s existence, as well as her own disguise, to keep them safe.

She, and other capable people who either were established in town, or simply happened to be there during the attack, joined together on a journey to discover how to facilitate events that could bring a stop to the rampage of these Drow invaders.

Most notable among her allies were a Dragonborn named Bayard, a Storm Giant Runt named Ilikaan, and a Half-Elf Noble by the name of Xavier. The same Xavier who, while Magran was in her Wild Shape, shot her with his greatbow.

This was the event where I decided to cut off from the events of the campaign for Magran’s introduction to Blooming Dreemurr. One, because I don’t remember much of the events of that campaign which came afterward, and two, because I thought it made for a much more interesting and attention-grabbing introduction for Magran.

Being a Druid, Magran was very in tune with the woodlands she had called home for over a century. Upon being cut off, it felt to her like finding oneself suddenly naked and alone in the dark, where just a moment ago she had been comfortable, in her element, and with allies (albeit allies with terrible aim).

For Blooming Dreemurr, I brought in Magran as a higher level Druid than she was during the campaign, mostly because I simply enjoy seeing how Vee’s world reacts to various magics from a setting with a different set of rules on its magic.

In terms of how she acts, I’ve always thought of Magran as a motherly figure to those around her, particularly those who are very young. Of course, to her, an adult human is young, but she is a very warm and caring person. After all, she was the one voice in her whole tribe who saw trespassing settlers as an opportunity to nurture life, rather than a threat to it.

Magran’s name simply came from a video game. When I made Magran, I gave her a lot of fire spells initially, in addition to her blazing red hair - so I named her after the Goddess of Fire in Pillars of Eternity.

Magran was the first female character I ever played in D&D or in any roleplaying experience. Another I’ve played is a Dwarf Arcana Cleric named Balinda Flameheart (whose name is an amalgam of names from the Markus Heitz book series, The Dwarves). The only other is a Half-Orc Barbarian (flavored as a Fighter) named Droka.