#3E-Commitment

[nulfaga]

sending you 4 or 8 as you prefer for the prompts :) & i would say lavinia <3 if you’re looking for character suggestions but if you have someone specific in mind….

4: "Hey, it's fashion."

Falcar’s golden magelight makes the guildhall basement a little more inviting, but the smell of mouse droppings persists—so too the stale, still air. No wonder the Guild keeps wine down here, thinks Lavinia. A few feet above is a beautiful Nibenese spring day, humid and fragrant, and down here the cold is rattling her bones. He’d put a muffling charm on the room, Falcar, which had made her uneasy; then he’d made her cast one too and watched her technique, the old goat, which was comfortingly, irritatingly familiar.

All told, she’s confused.

“If you’re here to kill me, wizard,” says Lavinia flatly, “I want you to know it wasn’t me who filched your reagents.”

Falcar smiles. “Wasn’t aware I was missing any.”

“The root pulp and bog-caps, bog-lanterns. . . you’re drawing me out.”

“Bog beacons. I’m not trying to kill you, daft conjurer. I’d be cleverer about it than this.”

“Should hope so.”

“Could I please come out, now?” says an unknown voice, with no source. Before the first thought could put itself together in her head, Lavinia has warded herself and Falcar, and her fingers have sparked with leashed lightning, her hand drawn back to throw—

“Lavinia,” says Falcar in that paralyzing tone he reserves for guild disputes. As if hexed, her hand goes limp. To the empty spot beside him he snaps: “I told you to wait for my word.”

“I beg your pardon, sir,” says the young man—he is, as far as she can tell, a young man—and drops his spell. The air wavers and he appears in full effect, a weird creature, lithe and pale, with hair the color of nightshade petals and wrapped in the most outlandishly rich robes imaginable. “I thought I was dealing with a mage, not a nervous dreugh.”

She chokes on her fury—considers throwing the spell anyway, thinks marginally better of it—instead she gasps, “Bite me you fucking peacock popinjay cunt.”

The young man freezes for an instant, open-mouthed, then bursts into laughter.

His laugh is supernaturally pleasant; rich and rebounding, like that of a nymph. “Pop—popinjay?” he says, placing a hand on the front of his robes, shaking with glee. “It’s fashion, thank you very much. Bespoke, even.”

Lavinia, at a loss, stands there and watches him.

“Let’s try this again,” says the young man, a little breathlessly. “P. Copperhart Darkworth of Wayrest at your service, but just Copperhart will do. I apologize for my outburst, and for appearing unannounced, and I thank you for not incinerating me.”

“Lavinia Marciana Caridenius,” she says tersely, ignoring his outstretched hand.

“A pleasure.”

Falcar seats himself in one of the damp basement chairs and motions for Lavinia and the interloper to do the same. “You know I met with the Council a few days ago, conjurer.”

“Yes,” says Lavinia.

“And you know that an official end has been called to the Simulacrum.”

“Yes, wizard.”

“Well. . .Jagar Tharn, during his reign, compromised the Battlespire. Left it open for the Daedra.”

Lavinia grits her teeth. “What do I want with the Battlespire? I’m a University mage, not a Legion suck-up.”

“Listen,” says Falcar, and follows it with nothing. He puts his head in his hands, the grey hair spills between his fingers. Then, sitting upright, he continues: “The Mages’ Council and the Elder Council deliberated together. It was decided that someone must go to the Battlespire and determine whether there are any surviving battlemages, and whether the facility can be retaken in Tharn’s absence. The guildmasters each put forward a handful of names. You, conjurer, and you, master Darkworth, are brilliant, resourceful casters. . .”

“But young and dispensable, if the worst comes to pass,” says Copperhart coolly.

“And who the hell are you, anyway?” Lavinia presses him. “You’re not even Mages’ Guild. Why are you involved?”

He lowers his glasses, peculiar little spectacles with red lenses and jeweled rims, and peers at her over them. “My family is in town, so to speak, for the celebrations. The Darkworths are known to His Imperial Majesty and the Elder Council, so the matter reached my ears by and by. I was asked to step in.”

Both brilliant casters?—it dawns on her. Arkay’s eyes. “You want us to go to the Battlespire together.”

Falcar looks miserable. “So the two Councils have decided.”

“Lavinia Marciana Caridenius,” says Copperhart slowly, as if reciting a poem. “That is a mouthful. What do your friends call you? Liv? Nia? Vinnie?”

She stiffens with outrage when she hears ‘Vinnie’: a mistake. Copperhart perks up like a wolf smelling blood.

“Vinnie!” he declares.

Lavinia catches Falcar’s eye. He knows her. He’s always tut-tutting about her temper, he knows she’ll throttle this purple bastard if he carries on like this, assignment or no assignment, But all she manages is to groan, “Falcar.”

“Take a little time to think. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow,” says Falcar, and the corner of his mouth twitches. “Master Darkworth will accompany you into the Imperial City at the end of the week. Until then, not a word about this to anyone, please.”

He rises from his chair in his usual way, pushing himself up from the armrests to spare his knees. Copperhart follows suit and excuses himself from the room with a bow. Lavinia goes to the stairs.

“Conjurer,” comes Falcar’s voice.

She turns around, fuming and a little giddy.

Falcar folds his arms and glances aside.

“What?”

“I. . .I was against this whole undertaking,” he says quietly.

Lavinia closes her eyes. All she wants now is to nap in the afternoon sun. To take the carriage to Gold Leaf, maybe. . . “I should see my family.” She holds Falcar’s gaze. He seems exhausted; he has dark circles. There is a tremor in his hands. “This is a lot to ask, wizard.”

“I know.” Falcar sighs. “Take very good care of yourself.”

“I thought I was dispensable,” she says, petulantly.

He glares at her, the Guildmaster’s glare that stops unruly apprentices in their tracks and withers wizards of lesser authority. “Think again.”

[vounoura]

anyways vounoura as an idea and tradition is deeply interesting in the manner of how it utterly disrupts typical dunmer funerary practices and in that function completely others the Tong from the rest of society

[talenlee]

3e: Psychofeedback

In game making we’re often talking about feedback loops. That is the idea that when something happens, in a process, it influences that same process the next time it happens. Feedback in audio is a problem you want to avoid. Feedback in marketing is something you want endlessly so you can always make a new excuse for why you need more feedback before committing to an optimal strategy. Feedback is everywhere in every interaction because if you weren’t getting feedback, you weren’t interacting.

TTRPGs are in many cases built on feedback. In most story-run games, ie, anything with what we call a DM or GM interchangeably unless you’re really persnickety about rules language, the game is fundamentally a feedback loop where that story-runner provides a stimulis and the players respond to and incorporate that feedback. Feedback is not a problem, feedback is the whole experience.

Art Source

That’s not what this is about.

This is about a single specific power in 3e D&D, called Psychofeedback, which was so broken I may have gotten it errata’d.

The rules system is 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons. The book is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Psionics Handbook by Bruce Cordell and I assume a lot of other people. In this book, we have the power Psychofeedback, and since you’re not in a position to get this book, here’s the relevant rules text, verbatim:

You can use power points to boost your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution modifiers as a free action. While the duration lasts, you can use power points on a round-by-round basis to boost any or all of your ability score modifiers (not the actual ability score) by a number equal to half the power points you expend for that round as a free action. For example, you can boost your Strength modifier by as much as 8 points (if you spend 16 power points).

That’s the important rules information. It lets you convert psionic power points to stat modifier at a 2:1 rate. Note that it’s not converting to stat points, but to stat modifier. Now, this means you don’t change things like your strength score (relevant for carrying capacity) but your strength modifier (relevant for single acts of strength like breaking objects or attacking people). This was a level 4 power, available for a Psion at level 8, or Psychic Warrior at level 10. It was also, largely, a completely unusable power, as designed, because the conversion rate didn’t really work out very well. It could be useful for a short burst of strength, but you couldn’t, for example, use it to temporarily inflate your hit points, because when your Constitution decreased, you’d lose those hit points you gained first. You could ge tougher, but you’d have to stay spending power points until you were healed. Neat effect but not amazing.

Interesting power, no real application.

Except.

In the same book we have the Mind Feeder weapon property. By level 8-10, it’s very reasonable to expect a character to have access to this weapon, whose rules state:

A mindfeeder weapon grants its wielder temporary power points equal to the total damage dealt by a successful critical hit.

How often do you get critical hits?

In this case, using core rules available items, a scimitar crits on 3 numbers (18, 19, 20). With improved critical, it crits on 6 numbers (adding 15, 16, 17). With Sharpness, it crits on 8 numbers (adding 14 and 13). That means that a mindfeeder weapon could critically hit just under half the time. What this could lead to was a character who dual-wielded small weapons like these and made five attacks a turn at level 10 (because of ubiquitous buff haste).

You can open with a Psychofeedback buff to your attack of, at that level, 26 power points, all you had. That means +13 to your strength modifier, meaning your attack would do something in the district of 1d4+your strength+magical mods+that extra 13 strength. There’s also this feat from the Player’s Handbook called power attack. Power attack let you exchange a penalty on hit for a bonus to your damage rolls. Remember how you spent those 26 power points for a +13 strength modifier? You have therefore, a +13 extra to hit. So without needing to change how likely you are to hit, you’re suddenly getting another +13 extra damage on that attack.

Now double it.

That meant that your first crit, which cost you 26 power points, is going to be like 2.5 dice-roll damage, +1 from the magical weapon, probably, +2 from a totally reasonable base strength mod, +13 from the new strength mod, +13 from power attack, doubled. That’s 63 power points. The next turn, you can turn those 63 power points into strength, for a +31 strength mod. Critting in that turn on five attacks is very reasonably likely, and that gets you 135 power points back. And that’s +67 Strength modifier. That would be equivalent to a strength of 145. While this is going on, your character is stronger than multiple gods of strength, combined.

You have ten rounds to do this, and every single high roll pushes you further ahead. And this is the thing at start; you don’t need to go much further for the wheels to come off this very fast. And this is level ten where you don’t have a lot of ways to build for ridiculous recovery, or forcing more chances to critically hit. Remember, this is a game system that’s meant to scale up past level 20 infinitely!

This is dumb. It’s also 3rd edition so you can even be mobile and do this, haste letting you make a partial charge to close on a new subject and then ginsu it with your full attack. But hey, at least those power points are temporary, so you can’t just spend all your time doing this in every encounter, right? At least you’re not ending every fight on full power points, after having a strength stat somewhere in the triple digits at some point, Right?

Art Source

Normally with these balance problems in the sprawling game system that is Dungeons & Dragons the problem is the intersection of systemic components that were not designed to necessarily know about one another. It’s usually about using parts from two different books, brought together in a way that resulted in something unintentionally powerful. This is different. This is using two things from the same book whose application to one another seems to be pretty reasonably obvious. This is almost as egregious as the problem of the Spelldancer, another 3e all-star with an internal feedback loop that worked with its own features in the most obvious way.

See, the thing is, now Psychofeedback says ‘temporary’ power points. When the book was new, it didn’t say temporary. It didn’t say that and I wrote a treatment on it for the Character Optimisation board showing how the whole thing broke with core material only, and then one of the website writers for the book showed up in the thread and said ‘oh, that shouldn’t work that way.’

Then we got an online errata for the rulebook, and then in the next edition of the book the rule was changed.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[inaconstantstateofchange]

I come to you on my hands and knees (relevant to the topic right lol) begging for any and all info on Bane, Banites and how it all ties in with Gortash. I love you in advance. <3

Bane and His Cult

Alright, so after twelve and a half hours of research I still don’t fully feel like I have enough, but at a certain point I just need to get this out there, and if there is anything you – or anyone else – would like to see explored in more detail, please feel free to ask! 

Note: I love getting asks like this! There is such a vast quantity of Realmslore that having some sort of specific focus for my deep-dives is a huge help, and knowing the topic is of interest to others is a huge motivator. I also greatly enjoy getting to put my training as a historian to work, as there is so much to interpret and archive alike. 

As ever, these writeups will align with current 5e lore, and draw from 3.5e for additional supporting information. On rarer occasions – and always noted – I will reference 1e and 2e, but with the caveats that there is much more in those editions that is tonally dissonant with the modern conception of the Forgotten Realms, and thus generally less applicable.

We’ll begin with one of the most recent conclusive descriptions of Bane, from the 5e Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, an overview of the current world-state of, well, the Sword Coast: 

Bane has a simple ethos: the strong have not just the right but the duty to to rule over the weak. A tyrant who is able to seize power must do so, for not only does the tyrant benefit, but so do those under the tyrant’s rule. When a ruler succumbs to decadence, corruption, or decrepitude, a stronger and more suitable ruler will rise.  Bane is vilified in many legends. Throughout history, those who favor him have committed dark deeds in his name, but most people don’t worship Bane out of malice. Bane represents ambition and control, and those who have the former but lack the latter pray to him to give them strength. It is said that Bane favors those who exhibit drive and courage, and that he aids those who seek to become conquerors, carving kingdoms from the wilderness, and bringing order to the lawless.¹

This gives us the briefest summation of what draws people to the Cult of Bane: the desire for power and control, often deriving from a sense that they lack exactly those two things. Bane is the quintessential deity of lawful evil, which – if you’ve read any of my previous posts on the sociology of the Nine Hells – bears a striking similarity to Baator itself, the realm of lawful evil, and the place where Enver Gortash spent at least a portion of his formative years. 

The majority of the following excerpts derive from 3e, which went into far more detail on the specificities of the Faerûnian gods, including their dogmas, holy days, et cetera. One important point to note, however: any discussions of Bane’s scope of power are no longer accurate, as the time period in reference is about one hundred and twenty years before Baldur’s Gate 3 is set, at a time when Bane had just returned to life – and godhood – as nothing less than a greater god. By comparison, during Baldur’s Gate 3, he is a quasi-deity, having abandoned most of his previous godly power in exchange for the ability to directly meddle with Faerûn – forbidden to the gods by the overgod Ao – and gambling that he would be able to regain his lost power and prestige in so doing.²

The dogma of Bane – that is, the core tenets and philosophies that his followers seek to emulate – is as follows: 

Serve no one but Bane. Fear him always and make others fear him even more than you do. The Black Hand always strikes down those that stand against it in the end. Defy Bane and die — or in death find loyalty to him, for he shall compel it. Submit to the word of Bane as uttered by his ranking clergy, since true power can only be gained through service to him. Spread the dark fear of Bane. It is the doom of those who do not follow him to let power slip through their hands. Those who cross the Black Hand meet their dooms earlier and more harshly than those who worship other deities.³

Even were there nothing else to go off of, this would tell us a great deal about the group dynamics of any followers of Bane, whether established church or fragmented cult. Just as in the Hells, hierarchy is everything to proponents of lawful evil. Any cult of Bane would have a strict order to its power structure, and there would be limited – practically nonexistent – tolerance for any questioning or insubordination of that order. To the minds of Banites, such is simply the natural and superior ordering of the world. These interactions are detailed below: 

Within the church, the church hierarchy resolves internal disputes through cold and decisive thoughts, not rash and uncontrolled behavior. Bane’s clerics and worshipers try to assume positions of power in every realm so that they can turn the world over to Bane. They work subtly and patiently to divide the forces of their enemies and elevate themselves and the church’s allies over all others, although they do not fear swift and decisive violent action to help achieve their aims.³ 

The manner of tyranny that Bane holds to is similarly calculated – he is not interested in mere shows of force, but rather in insidious plots that twist and make use of existing rule of law to legitimize tyranny wherever possible. A social tide operated ostensibly within the laws of the land is far more troublesome to fight back against than a simple army.⁴ 

As far as specific ritual and day-to-day workings of the cult, some can be evidenced here, in broad strokes: 

Bane’s clerics pray for spells at midnight. They have no calendar-based holidays, and rituals are held whenever a senior cleric declares it time. Rites of Bane consist of drumming, chanting, doomful singing, and the sacrifice of intelligent beings, who are humiliated, tortured, and made to show fear before their death by flogging, slashing, or crushing.³ 

In this sense, rituals seem most likely to be used as a display of power and a test of subservience, leaving lower-ranked members of the cult at the whims of their superiors, expected – as noted previously – to attend to their commands with the same alacrity they would use were Bane himself to speak. The rites themselves are designed to reinforce and glorify the primary aspects of their god’s domain: the tyranny of forcing submission and pain from the weak. 

Faiths & Pantheons, published a year after the Campaign Setting supplement, provides a similar description of the rituals of the cult of Bane, along with some intriguing and flavorful additions (noted in bold for ease of comparison): 

Their religion recognizes no official holidays, though servants give thanks to the Black Hand before and after major battles or before a particularly important act of subterfuge. Senior clerics often declare holy days at a moment's notice, usually claiming to act upon divine inspiration granted to them in dreams. Rites include drumming, chanting, and the sacrifice of intelligent beings, usually upon an altar of black basalt or obsidian.”⁴

As, in the “present day” of Baldur’s Gate 3, Bane has lost much of his foothold on power and his Faith’s old domains, the specifics of architecture of Banite keeps are no longer quite so relevant. However, in times past, when his Faith worked far more openly and held much greater power, the philosophy of Bane was expressed through the architecture of his churches and strongholds: 

Tall, sharp-cornered stone structures featuring towers adorned with large spikes and thin windows, most Banite churches suggest the architecture of fortified keeps or small castles. Thin interior passageways lead from an austere foyer to barrackslike common chambers for the lay clergy, each sparsely decorated with tapestries depicting the symbols of Bane or inscribed with embroidered passages from important religious texts.⁴

The social capital of a Faith – a broad term used to encapsulate all followers of a single deity – is often heavily intertwined with the power of its god, a mutualistic relationship that runs in both directions. More social weight behind the Faith means its god’s name and will is conveyed to more people, some or many of whom might apportion some worship or act in alignment with that god and empower them by so doing. More power for the god means more divine actions that can bolster their own image and the reach of their clergy. At its height in the late 1300s, the Faith of Bane was one of the most prominent and powerful, with comparable might to that of a small kingdom.⁵

Something that is important to bear in mind in a setting such as the Forgotten Realms, not only polytheistic, but an environment where the gods being worshiped are demonstrably existent, is that the followers of evil gods are not likely to be obtrusive with the less savory aspects of their dogma. Not only would that, in the majority of cases, do more harm than good to their deity’s long term goals, in the words of Elminster: 

A dead foe is just that: dead, and soon to be replaced by another. An influenced foe, on the other hand, is well on the way to becoming an ally, increasing the sway of the deity.⁶

All of this aligns with what we see of the Cult of Bane and its operation in Baldur’s Gate 3. While it does not have the same sway and might behind it as it did a hundred years before, through manipulation of law and carefully applied pressure – of whatever form most likely to yield the desired results, be it threats, bribery, blackmail, or use of hostages – Gortash has enacted a steel web of delicate, ensnaring tyranny across the entire city. 

We can even find present-day expressions of the interactions of the cult members, and find that they hold true to what their forebears experienced, further proof of the consistency of lawful evil. A personal note found on the body of a dead Banite guard at the Steel Watch Foundry calls the Black Gauntlet in charge of the Foundry Lab, Hahns Rives, a “disgrace to the Tyrant Lord”, and notes the writer’s intent to “compile a list of Rives’ shortcomings for the Overseers.”⁷ These shortcomings include: 

1. Rives failed to reprimand Polandulus for making jokes about Lord Gortash! 2. Rives missed the morning mass to Bane - twice! 3. Rives didn't punish Gondian Ofran when she missed her gyronetics quota merely because she'd lost a finger that day in the punch press.⁷

We can see evidenced here the constant scheming for position and recognition consistent with this manner of lawful evil hierarchy. Both devils and Banites orient their day-to-day lives around how to prove themselves to their superiors, while also undercutting them at any chance they have to prove their own superiority, with hopes of being raised above them. 

This is only reinforced further by another text found within the Steel Watch Foundry, Bane’s Book of Admonitions. Its text is not written out for us, but described as such:

A book of adages and precepts for Banites, providing the basic tenets of worship of the Lord of Tyranny, with suggested prayers for common situations. The heart of the book is Bane's Twelve Admonitions, a dozen rules for proper Banite conduct, with punishments specified for failure to comply. The book opens easily to a page with two of Bane's most popular admonitions, number six, the Reprimand for Leniency, and number seven, the Rebuke for False Compassion.⁸

The most likely scenario is that this book was used by the “Overseers” referenced by the anonymous Banite writing of Rives above. The exact position of the Overseers is not made clear, but from context and knowledge of Banite hierarchy, we can infer that they inhabit a place in the hierarchy above both the guard and Rives himself, and that their role is to ensure all those below them uphold the tenets of Bane at all times, never losing sight of his will. 

In that context, it makes sense that they would both have a book of specific punishments for specific infractions – rule of law, after all – and that, given the attempted report on Rives, punishments (“admonitions”) for the crimes of leniency and false compassion – and all compassion is false when your conception of the world does not allow for its existence – would be those most referenced. It would be incredibly important to the unity of the cult, as well as to Gortash’s plans, to harshly punish any observed leniency or break from Bane’s law among members of the cult.

Not only would failure to control the situation at the Foundry potentially spell failure for the schemes of Bane’s Chosen, any unpunished step out of line by members of the cult would be seen as tempting others to do the same, a trickle of dissent quickly becoming a flood. Better to ensure that all adherents live in merited fear of the consequence of failure. 

After all, it is said of Bane himself: “He has no tolerance of failure and seldom thinks twice about submitting even a loyal servant to rigorous tortures to ensure complete obedience to his demanding, regimented doctrine.”⁴

And, in an appropriately lawful hierarchy, the same rule must apply from the bottom, to the top.

¹ Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. 2014. p. 26.

² Descent into Avernus. 2019. p. 231

³ Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3E. 2001. pp. 237-8

⁴ Faiths & Pantheons. 2002. pp. 15-16.

⁵ Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3E. 2001. p. 93

⁶ Ed Greenwood Presents: Elminster’s Guide to the Forgotten Realms. 2012. pp. 135-6.

⁷ Rives’ Failures as a Banite. Baldur’s Gate 3. In-Game Text.

⁸ Bane’s Book of Admonitions. Baldur’s Gate 3. In-Game Text.

[unknownhomosapien]

finally got time to draw my ocs 🫣

short bio under cut

Eyheilig Sedalu

Got on the thief path very early, in an attempt to protect younger brother from difficult realities. It cost him their relationship as family, although he considered himself deceived and betrayed in the first place, which is why they stopped speak with each other until the Oblivion crisis. After the events, he changed his view on many things, and now holds a large load of guilt, regret, and deep hatred for most Aedra and Daedra, with the exception of I'ffre and Mephala.

Complex nature. Basically, Eyh prefer to live by his own rules that lead him straight into troubles, but has the ability to learn from mistakes and give preference to thinking, telling the truth and lying when needed, although he still an extremely careless and heavily stubborn person. But Elfmer was not afraid to be responsible for the actions he can commit in extreme cases. Somehow for long life malice and the ability to have fun was still with him, but it was the only thing that kept him from wanting to surrender to society.

Supports Green Pact, BUT is not a member of the Aldmeri Dominion. In addition to the Bosmer traditions, he also considers the worship of the saints of Morrowind as his own, as well as to the Tribunal. He continued to worship them as saints in 4E.

Fluent Danmeri, Bosmeri. Knows Nordic quite well.

Eystomand Sedalu

Patriotically served the Tribunal, nearly died from Mannimarco ritual and was in army against Mehrunes Dagon. He literally devoted his life to fighting the House of Troubles and Dagoth Ur, and did it well, but that didn't stop others from treating him like a dirty half-blood anyway.

Avoiding his double nature (which was reflected both in hermaphrodism, mental issues and mixed blood), he was distinguished by extreme conservatism and impatience, which was reflected in his poems as an Buyoant Armiger, in the form of unsentimental, but patriotic lines. That can be a reason why he in a fragile relationship with older brother.

For unknown reason he lost his memory and ends up in the prison of the Imperial City. According to rumors, he died during the Oblivion crisis, but other sources for some reason refer to the Daedric prince Sheogorath. At the time of 3E 433 he was 814 years old. Ironically, he repeated all he did before memory incident, but as new person called Tolin.

Fluent Dunmeri, learned Bosmeri on a bet, but speaks poorly. Also has some knowlege in Chimeris and Daedric.

[ulanxxxs]

Lucien Lachance x Antoinetta Marie［ Fanfic ］

The Elixir of Death

This story is set in 3E 428, five years before the Oblivion Crisis, on the night before Antoinetta’s first contract. (For the background and prologue of this story, please see this post.)

I’m deeply moved to have finally turned something so dear to me into a story after holding onto it for so long 💖

Before you read, please note:

CW: Violence, Murder, Abuse, Imprisonment, Suicide

- I’m still learning English, so there may be some awkward expressions.

- I have a preference for dark themes, so this and future works may contain violent content.

Please read with that in mind🥺🙏✨

-----------------------------------------------

A month had passed since Antoinetta Marie was welcomed into the Sanctuary. She had begun her new life as a novice assassin. Her dedication to training brimmed with vitality, and her blue eyes shone with hope.

On this day, a small party was being held in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. It was a modest dinner gathering to celebrate Antoinetta’s birthday, but the family members were in high spirits, congratulating her on her new life and enjoying each other’s company in lively conversation. Even more special, her first contract awaited her the next day.

The candlelight gently illuminated the dining table, making the smiles of her brothers and sisters shine. Antoinetta had not received such blessings since her early childhood. The scene before her eyes brought back memories of days once filled with unconditional love. However, those recollections were fleeting, gradually dissolving into nothingness.

Yet, in this special gathering, the presence of someone Antoinetta dearly respected was missing. The one who had saved her life when she was on the brink of death, her life-saving benefactor who gave her a miraculous opportunity for a new lease on life. The one she wished to express her deepest gratitude to before her first contract, the one she had quietly fallen for.

The absence of Lucien Lachance, the Speaker who governed this Sanctuary, cast a shadow over her joy.

The silence of the midnight hour spread throughout the underground space. Antoinetta lay on the bed in her room, staring blankly at the light. Watching the flickering flame somewhat eased her tension about her first assignment, and her eyelids grew heavier. She wanted to extinguish the light before falling asleep, but she surrendered to the comforting blur of drowsiness.

Antoinetta was anxious. The fear of failing her mission and being killed was undoubtedly terrifying, but unknown fears were merely products of the imagination. However, it was the pounding heart, the stiffening body, the halting of all thoughts that were caused by the familiar fears.

She would rather choose death than be taken back to the Imperial Prison. That was Antoinetta’s fervent wish. The harrowing memories of her past continued to gnaw at her heart, casting a single dark shadow over her otherwise hopeful new life.

Antoinetta did not precisely remember how many people she had killed up to that point. Killing had been a means of survival on the harsh streets, but it was fear that drove her to murder. The countless abuses she suffered in prison had pushed a young girl to commit ruthless serial murders.

“I could do it again,” Antoinetta thought as her consciousness began to fade.

To overcome fear, one must kill—each time she plunged the rusty knife, each time she struck with a sack filled with stones, each time she sank her teeth into and tore at the filthy flesh, the voiceless whispers of Sithis echoed in her ears.

“You are guided because you followed that revelation,” said Death’s emissary who saved her. The hand the man extended to her was cold, yet somehow warm, and Antoinetta never forgot the thought that this might be what death felt like.

“My savior... ”

Whether it was a dream or reality, she murmured these words and then noticed unfamiliar footsteps coming from the hallway. Half of her consciousness had already drifted into sleep, but she could tell that the sound was gradually approaching her. It couldn’t be, she thought, opening her eyes. This was no dream.

Antoinetta’s heart began to beat a little faster. A small hope that had begun to sprout was desperately suppressed by the fear of disappointment. Despite her internal struggle, the footsteps came closer and finally stopped in front of her room. A sharp knock echoed through the room.

In a high-pitched voice, Antoinetta responded and jumped out of bed. Holding her racing heart, she hurried to the door, took a deep breath, and slowly opened it.

“Speaker—you’ve returned!”

He had likely returned to the Sanctuary and headed straight for her room. Lucien was still wearing his black robe, the hood not yet removed. Antoinetta tried to discern his expression hidden in the shadows, but as soon as she caught sight of his prominent nose and the area around it, she was overcome with embarrassment and hastily let her gaze wander downward.

As if to escape, she shifted her eyes to his hands and noticed a sleek red fabric. His black leather-gloved hands held it, and it had a slight thickness, indicating something was wrapped inside. While she stood frozen in surprise, Lucien slowly extended the bundle towards her with both hands.

“This vial has been filled with a most deadly poison. If ingested, it will likely cause death, probably instantly.”

He moved his hand closer, encouraging her to open the bundle. With a tense expression, Antoinetta reached out towards the bundle and gently pulled at the edge of the fabric. Revealed from the luxuriously glossy silk was a golden pendant. At the end of the softly shining chain, there was a small vial.

“If you seek salvation and drink this poison... death.”

As Antoinetta raised her face at these words, Lucien nodded gently. She carefully took the vial in her hand and stared intently at the liquid inside. It was clear and colorless, but it shimmered like a jewel. A strange liquid indeed. Without being told it was poison, no one would ever suspect it.

“Thank you very much. With this, I can...”

To overcome fear, one must kill—Sithis has no words, but her unconscious mind chose this. The leader of the Sanctuary knew that death would be an elixir more powerful than a hundred consolations or encouragements. That method would give her strength.

Antoinetta clasped the vial with both hands, bowing her head and closing her eyes as if in prayer. The story of the lonely girl who decided to kill her aunt, after what seemed like an eternity of darkness, was finally moving into a new chapter. Her intertwined emotions coalesced into a single tear, which fell down her cheek.

“I heard tomorrow is your first contract. Try not to get yourself killed... I wish you luck.”

Through her tear-filled eyes, Antoinetta saw Lucien’s smiling face. The faint light from the room flickered in his eyes. She remembered that this same gaze had enveloped her on the night he saved her from her fading life. Her eyes did not waver as they remained fixed on him, but time did not stand still.

Lucien gave a slight nod, then quietly turned and left the room.

His absence accentuated the silence within. It felt as though a spell had been broken, and Antoinetta stood there in a daze in front of the door.

Unspoken emotions swirled within her chest. It would likely be several weeks before she could see him again. She desperately wanted to see him one more time, to imprint his image on her memory, so Antoinetta impulsively dashed out of her room.

The lanterns mounted on the walls faintly illuminated the hallway. Looking ahead into the dim light, she caught sight of the black-robed figure.

She wanted to call out, “Speaker,” but no further words came. Antoinetta wordlessly watched his receding back.

The outline of his black robe gradually blurred, blending into the deeper shadows. Soon, his figure became a mere shadow and vanished into the darkness.

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Ivan Dilisnya

Domain: Dorvinia then Borca Domain Formation: 715 BC Power Level: 💀💀💀⚫⚫ Sources: Secrets of the Dread Realms (3e), Domains of Dread (2e), Realm of Terror (2e), Domains and Denizens (2e), Ravenloft 3e, Ravenloft Gazetteer IV (3e)

Ivan Dilisnya is the Darklord of the former Domain of Dorvinia and now the co-Darklord of Borca with his cousin and aptly named “Dark Twin”, Ivana Boritsi.

Dorvinia was a small region of mountains, evergreen forests, and valleys without any form of formal rule. How it managed to survive for 25 years based largely on the decisions made at the whims of a small, petty man with a love for overacting and toxins is beyond me.

Dorvinia functioned much like how a child would rule a courtroom – bribe the child with the right “toy” and you would find whatever justice they felt like dealing out. Of course, said justice changed from day to day much like a child who enjoys broccoli one day then decides its the absolute worst thing you could put before them the next.

The Dilisnyas’ history in Ravenloft is as old as the first Darklord (but decidedly NOT the first vampire), Strahd. The family was present at the von Zarovich wedding where Strahd thought it was a wonderful idea to murder his brother, then attempt to woo his would-be sister-in-law. We all know how that worked out, but perhaps some of the Dilsinyas had a bit of foresight into these matters, for some claimed illness and left before Strahd’s transformation and murdering of the majority of the wedding guests.

Ivan was born on the same moonless night in December as Ivana. This day is known as the Night of Dead Man’s Get in Borca and every year these cousins celebrate their birthday by inviting everyone to their birthday celebration. Their separate birthday celebrations. It is a way for these jealous, bickering cousins to determine where their subjects loyalties lie. I wonder if anyone has attempted to attend both parties in one evening?

Ivan was cruel at a young age. He enjoyed torturing animals as early as 6 and committed his first murder by 10 by poisoning a young serving girl for the crime of taking a pastry from the kitchen. At 12, with no real motive, he committed matricide by poisoning his own mother in such a way to make it appear that she died of an unknown disease. I, personally, would have named this disease “Ivan”.

Ivan seemed to only show affection towards his elder sister, Kristina. This affection was more akin to obsession than actual love and drove Ivan to acts of violent jealousy. Kristina truly loved her brother and was blind to obvious evil little poisoners ways. Something she would come to regret once she married Edgar Leskovich.

Ivan was the sort that would destroy anyone or anything that stole attention and affection away from him, so Edgar was an obvious threat. The jealousy seethed inside him over the course of their courtship and marriage. Once they had a child, Ivan finally snapped, poisoned them both, adding sororicide to his ledger. The child was saved by their midwife before Ivan could get to them.

Ivan, unable to conceal his crimes from his family, fled into the Mists to avoid their wraith and Dorvinia was formed. A year later he married Lucretia Marzeya. Somehow he managed to go four years without committing uxoricide and Lucretia had three children with Ivan. All of which, he was told, were stillborn. Though, far more likely his wife spirited the children away before Ivan could add filicide to his murder bingo card.

Dorvinia was a short lived Domain, surviving a mere 25 years before it was absorbed by Borca during the Grand Conjunction. Ivan loves to wave his fingers and pout while throwing an overdone and far too dramatically acted temper tantrum and say this is my fault, but he was the one who decided to leave Dorvinia to visit his dear cousin because he was scared of a few tremors.

Ivan now co-rules Borca with Ivana. Ivan never learned how to share, so instead of working with his cousin, Ivan despises her and does all he can to gain favor from the many poisonous peacocks that make up the Borcan nobility.

Ivan surrounds himself with lavish plays, ballrooms, and feasting halls in the Degravo estate, which is well guarded. I suggest never asking Ivan about his “Playroom” unless you want a first hand demonstration of some of his favorite torturing devices.

As a Darklord Ivan is known for his subtle manipulation hidden behind his foppish demeanor, over the top temper tantrums, and, naturally, the ability to poison any object he touches. He is cursed to no longer have a sense of taste. Not to be confused with his love of “acting” and dressing in costumes, this sense of taste is quite literal. Food and drink hold no actual taste to him and turn to ash upon his tongue. This drives him to hold lavish parties where he enjoys serving both delicacies and rotten, maggot covered food. He takes great offense if someone appears to enjoy the food too much or not enough.

One may wonder how such a person manages to maintain loyalty. As Ivan has solved all things in life with poison, it should come as no surprise that he uses poison for this purpose as well. Most of his servants have been poisoned with “Borrowed Time”. These servants will die unless they are administered an elixir, Mercy, each day before sunset.

Ivan continues to age whereas Ivana does not. This leads our jealous, overgrown child to believe Ivana is hiding the secret of mortality and eternal youth from him. Perhaps she is. Who am I to give away such secrets?

Despite his child-like and foppish mannerisms, Ivan should not be underestimated. He holds a powerful position in Borca and can make or break anyone with the wave of his hand. His ability to poison any object has been the downfall to invading armies. Though it was Vlad’s army, so we can’t give him TOO much credit for defeating that failure mercenary. Though, if anyone ever gets a hold of the recipe for Mercy, I feel Ivan would quickly have a rather large uprising to deal with.

Domain: Dorvinia then Borca Domain Formation: 715 BC Power Level: 💀💀⚫⚫⚫ Sources: van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (5e)

Ivan’s ties to Dorvinia are not mentioned within Dr. Ricky’s new guide, nor is he named Ivana’s Dark Twin, but is referred to as her elder cousin. I’m sure Ivan is very pleased by that development and isn’t throwing a temper tantrum right now as he reads this.

His beginnings are similar to previous accounts, though we a few less “cides” checked off on his frequent murderer club card during his childhood. Instead, it was the Dilisnya’s pets and servants that fell to his murderous ways as his parents covered them up.

Ivan had no desire to grow up. Honestly, I can’t really blame him there. Growing up is very overrated. I can’t remember the last time I felt that naïveté of youth that we so often take for granted. Anyway, I digress…Ivan surrounded himself in fantasy to escape responsibility. He indulged in child-like behaviors and crafted toys and games he forced his sister, Kristina, to play with him. His parents, ever the enablers, allowed this behavior to continue and even set up whimsical rooms and diversions for him throughout their estate.

Being a very stable individual, when he discovered that Kristina was being sent away to a boarding school, Ivan snapped and murdered his entire family in a single evening with his toy creations. Perhaps he wanted to fill up his murder club card before it expired.

As the co-Darklord of Borca, Ivan is a feeble, ancient man who uses a large spider pram to get around. The spider pram carries him throughout his estate, which now mostly resembles a demented child’s playroom full of murderous clockwork toys, animals that would be better off in Markovia, and toy-enacted operas. Well, at least he still retained his curse of having “no taste”.

Ivan is afraid to leave his home, so our Tormentors gifted him with the ability to deliver letters to anyone anywhere he pleases. Ghosting him doesn’t work, so try not to get the attention of this childish stalker or after sending you hundreds of letters he may set forth in his trusty spider pram and greet you in person.

He’s also very good at convincing other’s that he’s a helpless child. Well, they say that the best lies are closest to the truth…

Lastly, he can make any toy he desires. Mostly this amounts to servants and fake versions of the family he killed because he’s a sad and lonely man with only a spider pram to keep him company.

He still retains his hatred of Ivana, though it’s more because she now holds the position he was supposed to inherit. Ivan…you did inherit it. Perhaps spend a little less time writing fan letters to everyone and a little more time investigating this little tidbit.

A childish toy maker in a spider pram makes the creepiest of stalkers, but not an overly powerful one. Although Ivan’s toys are immune to Ivana’s poison, his overall presence and influence over the realm of Borca no longer holds the same force that Ivana holds. Despite the lovely spider pram, this new Ivan does not appear to be as powerful as his predecessor. 2/5 Skulls, mostly for the spider pram.

[invinciblerodent]

1) Will your OC get married and with who? 2) Will they have any children? What are their names?

OC Ask Game!

I think I’m gonna go on for a long (long, long, LONG) time about Iona, and mention the others kind of as a footnote, because I think Iona’s answers to these are just… the ones that are most interesting to me, lol

(fair warning looking back, this got PROFOUNDLY away from me- the TL; DR of it is that for Iona marriage is "yes, eventually" and kids are "no, never", for Arvid marriage is a "yes, of course, sure" and kids are "well if you want it", and for Petyr both are "hah! no. nope. no.")

So, this whole “what now” issue in Iona’s case, it’s… all a bit muddled.

As a little background to it, in 3e, it’s said that courtships between elves often take a very long time, sometimes decades, before a commitment is reached- which is understandable, especially considering that elves are also said to seldom fall out of love with one another, and don’t typically remarry after the death of one spouse. A commitment that’s meant to span a lifetime of centuries (whether the life of one has a natural endpoint or not is irrelevant), it makes sense that they’d take it seriously, and not jump into soul-bonds willy-nilly. (An albatross is definitely going onto her moodboard now, lol.)

I think both Iona and Astarion would still be kind of... feeling themselves out, by the end of the game, and neither of them would be drawn to the thought of “blissful mutual domesticity” just yet.

I mean, on top of being a quite young elf, she’s spent a good 80% of her life among humans: her experience with life is colored by the perceptions of a people who are constantly trying to outrun the rushing of a clock that might as well be standing still for her. So exploring what time even means to her, that’d be a very exciting prospect. While Astarion, he was even younger than she is now when he had the “elven” part of his identity taken away from him, only to be made into someone that’s seen as a tool first, monster second, and person a distant third. He’s eager to re-learn personhood and live again, so they’re both sort of… (re-?)discovering themselves and their “feyness” together, and in each other. 

My little idea is that after the Brain’s defeat, they’re going to spend one or two decades on solo adventuring: primarily looking for a way to allow him to walk in the sun again, but that… proves itself to be something of a wild goose chase. The travel itself is annoyingly cumbersome (either they have to shelter during the day and cover no ground, or he has to be polymorphed and be both unable to communicate and practically defenseless [can’t risk fighting, if his form is dismissed he’s dead]). But also, there are just… too many disappointments. Too many dead ends. Too many times they’ve gotten too close only to find out that they were either late, or misled, or just plain wrong about something.

I think he’d grow frustrated with it first, and grow reckless: strain against his limits, start pushing his luck with the Sun, start making dangerous mistakes, and it’d be her who’d start gently encouraging (cajoling, bargaining, eventually pleading with-) him that maybe they should return to the Gate. To regroup, try to find other avenues, head off in a different direction. And while he'd know she's right, agreeing… it'd still feel like he’s admitting defeat.

Of course, he’d try to put on an unbothered face, but she would still obviously be able to tell that he’s upset: primarily with himself, but also a little bit with… everything. Of feeling both free and trapped, both bursting with the desire to DO something, but also being… powerless.

Which (stay with me, we're a third of the way!) is the context in which the thought of kids and “marital bliss” would rear its ugly head.

Because I headcanon that vampire spawn are naturally sterile. (I know full vampires can sire mortal offspring, but since spawn can’t create new vampires via bite and the bite is almost always a penetration-allegory, I like to think that translates to them being just… unable to reproduce, period.) And elves in general already have far lower fertility rates, so even if he wasn’t sterile because of the vampirism but just maybe less fertile than usual, the chances of conception between the two of them would still be infinitesimally small.

And I mean, the topic really wouldn’t come up naturally, so I think Astarion would likely think that she’d eventually want children. I mean, he knows very well that she had been previously married to a human- humans usually want kids, so it’d be a natural assumption that she’d be on the same page as her ex-husband, and the fact that she doesn’t have kids now wouldn't be for a lack of wanting. (It is. It is for a lack of wanting. But both of them being ~excellent~ [pejorative] at communicating, he definitely wouldn’t ask- if only for fear of the answer he thinks he'd get.)

So it'd kind of… eat at him, for a while, the thought that at some point, she might grow to resent him. There'd be a small, niggling part of his mind that'd worry that at some point, the limitations would all prove too much, and she’d grow frustrated, tired of always having to work with and around his… shall we say, conditions. Beyond his partial reliance on her pain and literal body for sustenance, the physical differences between them, and the messiness of healing (the times he startles awake screaming, the times he can’t bear even the thought of being touched, the times he’s frustrated with himself and takes it out on her), this is just one more thing.

He can’t take her out for a nice day in the city. He can’t warm her body at night, wine and dine her (or just share a meal like a regular person), or love her as brazenly as he did starting out, out on the street for all to see because… well, he can’t go out into the streets. Can’t even travel with her during the day, not without taking the shape of a stupid animal that can’t communicate with her, joke with her, or even delight her with the looks he had thought for so long were the only thing he was good for.

Though secure in her love of him, he’s not stupid, or an idealist who’d think that love alone is enough for a happily ever after. While enjoying the time while it lasts, naturally there’d be sort of a running tally in his head of all the ways their lives chafe against one another.

Watching her face grow paler and paler as she’s deprived of the sun and has her blood drained, he’d never quite stop wondering at what point is the scale going to tip, at what point she’d finally realize that she had bet on the wrong undead horse by choosing to love the vampire who asks her to sacrifice so much, and not only doesn’t want to, but isn’t even able to give her what (he thinks) she wants.

Which, she doesn’t want it, of course. She has not even one maternal bone in her body.

Iona is well aware that she would make a terrible mother, and she absolutely does not want to be one. So it wouldn’t even occur to her that this would be something on his mind on top of all else. When he’d be having his little personal crisis about this, she’d be busy trying to make the impossible happen and circumventing the need to find a way to give him back the Sun by inventing one herself. That’d be why she'd lock herself into her study alone for longer and longer periods of time, why she sometimes wouldn’t come out for days, why she'd sometimes steer the conversation away from certain things- she wouldn’t want to give him false hope in a project that’d quickly prove so far beyond her abilities.

But, she'd still obviously recognize his occasional bouts of melancholy- I mean, it’s very unusual for someone to look at another so fondly and happily one moment, and then get quiet and forlorn the next. That distance she'd see behind his eyes sometimes when she'd tell him she loves him, that’d be rather worrying to anyone.

It’ll take a while for this particular cat to work its way out of the bag, but it would happen eventually, of course.

In reality, none of that would bother her.

She delights in being the sole person deciding what, when, and how she wants to eat. She loves the coolness of his touch- it soothes the heat of the draconic blood running through her veins better than any balm. Sure, going to markets and doing all that domestic pish can be fun, but... well, she’s always been an indoorsy person. Being bitten is no burden (she wouldn’t offer if it was), and there being no risk of a pregnancy, even after the tadpole’s death? At the risk of sounding crass, that’s an incredible perk, with no downsides. Feeling him find his pleasure while buried deep inside her, with no pang of fear or worry? It’s absurd how perfect that is, how happy she is with the fact that with the man she loves, that fear of being impregnated against her will can be put completely to rest.

And the rest, the messiness, the less “pretty” parts of it all, the evenings spent soothing his pain that’s either real or real only to him, that’s… just what happens if you love someone. Sure, she worries of course, but even when it’s inconvenient, when it’s ugly, when the old scars feel like they’re on fire and she can’t even being to think of a way to help… she still loves him just the same.

So no, no children necessary. It’s not in the cards for them, and even if it was, I don’t think either of them would really want it, or be good at it.

... She’d probably like to overwrite the memories of her first marriage (and speak the word “husband” without rancor) though, but only eventually.

And I like to think that that’ll have to happen with an item I’m tentatively calling “Taran Tal’hondnor” (The Gift of True Love), and it’s an enchanted ring that she will finally be able to create after many years of study, and even more miserably failed attempts at creating an enchantment that’ll let a vampire walk in the sun.

I like to imagine her proposing to him, on her own terms this time, with one such gift.

Because she loves him to the point of invention.

Quickly on the others, Arvid… might like fatherhood, if he were so inclined. He’s a very caring, kind, nurturing person, and if he were to be in that position, he would probably be a very good dad. He’s generally in a nurturing role already, and Gale being in a teaching role, they could prove to be excellent parents, if that were what they wanted.

But they… probably wouldn’t want that. Gale being the age that he is (“canon” says 35, I see ~38-40, minor difference) and a human, yet saying that he’s “not ready”, I personally interpret that as a rather telling thing. His past of having spent such a long time in a "monogamous" (I'm fairly sure that part's one-sided, no time to go into that now) relationship with a goddess who had no intention of having kids with him, and his present willingness to be with an illithid who can’t, that to me is implying that it’s not something that’d be that important to him. Like I personally see that as him not actively preferring to have kids if it’s up to him (he likes peace, and quiet, and downtime, and a nice glass of wine with a quietly romantic evening meal- very much the quintessential childless millennial, 100% part of the appeal to me lol), but he’d be happily willing to do it if his partner wanted it themselves.

But in my world, his husband (I like how I skated by the first part of the question, I mean they already ARE married lol)… doesn’t really have such strong feelings about it either. So, since two "maybes" don’t make a "yes" (and for this kind of thing, you need two enthusiastic "yes"-es for it to no longer be a no), it’s a "no".

But I think their marriage is going to be very happy and fulfilling to both of them nevertheless. <3

And since I don't yet have any kissy-shots of them (☹️), have an "are you seeing this shit" silent exchange for these two <3

Honestly? I would sooner give a baby to a pack of feral wolves and hope for the best than have Petyr become a father. He'd absolutely be the kind of dad whose kids become DnD characters. He's someone's tragically emotionally distant boomer dad just waiting to happen. (I mean, come on. My guy felt inadequate once, and coped with it by fucking off to the woods for 20 years? Yeah, sure, father of the year.)

And Shadowheart, she basically didn't have parents growing up, she has a TON of cult indoctrination to process and unlearn as an adult, and -let's be real- likely has no fucking clue how motherhood would even really work. Like the woman whom she used to call "mother" pretty much straight-up tortured her. C'mon now.

I like to think that, though they are the only two in my lineup who are physically able to have kids by accident, they (with their 8 and 10 INT scores respectively) would still be smart enough to smell that particular disaster before they'd barrel into it head first, and either actively decide not to have kids, or put it off so far into the future as for it to be meaningless. Maybe the discussion can be tabled in a few decades' time, but since by then their home will be surrounded by, god, so many animals to take care of (including a barely not feral, adult owlbear) (and their mutual boyfriend who sometimes shows up for like a month to fuck nasty on every available surface of the house and surrounding wilds), I doubt it'll result in a resounding "yes".

In the same vein of things, if a big, beautiful, traditional wedding is something that she wants (which I... kinda doubt would be super important to her), she definitely bet on the wrong horse, because this guy is not one for pomp and circumstance.

I like to imagine that after their departure from the Gate (and their bidding of not exactly "farewell", but "see you later" to Halsin), he'll just... take her "home" to his little shack in his corner of the forest, and then, sitting under the canopy of his favorite woods, enjoying the balmy evening breeze and the undisturbed night sky with his favorite person, he'll look up at the moon, take her hand, and silently, in his head, give his thanks to the Moonmaiden for this peace.

And... that'll be it. From that point forward, it'll be easy to fall into a kind of sweet, quiet domesticity that is essentially a marriage in all but name.

I definitely like- and relate to the idea of them foregoing the "2.5 kids, white picket fence" idea of a happily ever after not out of a conscious rejection, but rather just by... being themselves. Together.

[academy-x]

wednesday textbased ttrpg starting july?

you didn't realize it the first time. you thought it was a dream.

you were standing on a road that did not look like a road. it stretched forever in both directions. you could only go forward. you had to.

you thought it was a dream. you kept dreaming it. kept seeing the same faces. kept moving forward.

it's different from other dreams, but the dream isn't real. is it?

q&a

what game? songbirds 3e <3 d20 osr weird fantasy. i will teach you

textbased how? asynchronous chatting once a week on discord. type up what your character does, make rolls, i respond as gm. NOT LIVE. just check in a couple of times (or more) mechanics and rolls only allowed on wednesdays!!

weekly on wednesdays starting july? yes but it can be another day i dont care. and you can take weeks off. starting formally in july but we can chat before then, maybe do character creation and a tiny bit of gaming if i have the time

grammar? i encourage you to use as much grammar you want as long as you arent mean to me when i use no capital letters >:3 also some sort of out of character brackets i think we need

who can apply? anyone even if we dont know each other at all. but i give preferential treatment to friends if somehow 12 people want to join

wtf is the game plot? like a cool shonen about going sleep and waking up in this strange collective unconscious/different world where you work together with other dreamers, travel forward, help people, try to solve the mystery, come into opposition with other dreamers. and then chilling in The City (normal) where you live when youre awake and dealing with any possible consequences slipping over from the dream

is this a campaign? in theory yes in practice my campaign track record is so so bad

how much time have you spent planning this? this tumblr post represents the full extent of planning that i have committed to writing

[transterasakagang]

the terasaka gang and uniform

man i lied ill post another i didnt post before

anyway an interesting thing to consider wrt the terasaka gang is their uniform design - specifically, how terasaka always has two buttons undone where yoshida + muramatsu only have one, hazama has no alterations, and itona wears his turtleneck as opposed to a shirt. the clothes characters wear are often subtle indicatives of characterization yk?

terasaka yoshida + muramatsu having their buttons undone and forgoing ties is obviously to present them as “delinquents” (the same reason karma also has this) BUT specifically terasaka having two buttons undone where yoshida + muramatsu have only one each imo connotes their respective commitment to their delinquent personas. terasaka is a lot more attached to his as a defense mechanism than the other two are which is reflected most heavily in vision time - where yoshida + muramatsu begin to breach their previous distance with korosensei because of the differing ways he reaches out to them, terasaka remains firmly distrusting and it takes Much more for him to consider too closing that distance

hazama wears hers without alteration because she sees no reason to announce to the world through something like a school uniform her opinion on the system as she conveys her thoughts potently enough through her simple manner + through her association with terasaka yoshida + muramatsu. it certainly may appear odd for a character so tied to nonconformity to be compliant with a uniform, but for hazama it shows her lack of reliance on what others think imo + not being shaped by perception

then finally itona wears his turtleneck as opposed to the uniforms shirt. but the difference is he now wears the school blazer over it making it a pretty powerful means of reclamation of identity for him imo. the turtleneck was something he wore under shiro, but by continuing to wear it in e class and by wearing it under his blazer it demonstrates the plastering over of his time with shiro with his time time with 3e

food for thought!!!

[tugoslovenka]

While I personally disagree with the Forgotten Realms' strict interpretations of their vampires as this anon wishes that BOTH angles could be possible (a vampire struggling and mourning their loss of humanity and vampires who embrace their newfound monstrosity). Especially since they've done it before.

One of Strahd's enemies, a sun elf turned vampire in the older Ravenloft editions named Jander Sunstar, was never directly given an Evil alignment and was clearly empathetic and remorseful regarding his condition. He shows up in 2e as a CN vampire with noticeable CG tendencies, 3e labelled him CE but his personality reflected that less, I feel. He technically is a CR13 creature in 5e as well (Monster Manual after all).

All that said... Ascended Astarion is clearly the latter example. He wanted power. He got power. Power doesn't corrupt---it reveals a lot of the time. If you, Tav, don't encourage him to see that you DON'T need to be a dominating power hungry monster (aka. all he's known and seen from Cazador)... then he becomes a power hungry monster. 🤯🤯🤯 SHOCKING.

It feels like a lot of woobifying and wanting him to still be better than he actually is. Having your cake and eating it too, if you will. Plenty of vampires can be neutral or even good in behaviour with enough discipline and they have been in the setting. If anything, they are probably just the Planes and Detect Alignment spells always pinging them as Evil. But... Ascended Astarion is not that LMAO. I'd even argue he starts the game as NE or CN, and no shit he does. Why would he think to show any vulnerability when he tells himself that killing SEVEN THOUSAND INNOCENT SPAWN IS JUSTIFIABLE because HE had no power and he DESERVES to do this. In a lot of ways, I can still see someone being sympathetic and wanting him to have that chance, not perhaps realizing the gravity of what that does to his soul.

Almost like... he committed a horrendous act and became a worse person for it. The curse and added Infernal component just adds to it and as interactions are as they are ingame for Act 3... like, WHY are people so shocked by the consequences of their own actions?

Sorry for filling your box with random thoughts. Your takes are thought-provoking and fun to read so I hope this is okay!

oh god i see a big anon message and start sweating but i'm so glad you're at least here to discuss and not preach kkjgkshg

i feel like the point of vampires being monsters isn't just a d&d thing, its just a general mythos thing. the good thing about d&d is that you are well within your right to create whatever story you want with your group, the rules and guides are there to just give you some basics. but obviously there are outliers within every race/monster/class. that's what makes stories exciting. so yes having someone like sunstar is an interesting juxtaposition to strahd but he is also an outlier, an exception if you will.

do i believe vampires can be good? no. do i believe they can be neutral and work towards a better alignment/not becoming genocidal dickwads? absolutely. there is nothing that says vampires can't drink animal blood for sustenance, there is nothing that mentions they will die if they don't fuck with humanoids, there is nothing that makes it so they have to have spawn/consorts/puppets. so with that in mind, do as you wish with your own vampires.

some races are meant to be evil for lore/gameplay purposes, that's just part of it. drow are naturally going to align to evil, but that doesn't mean drizzt can't exist to break the stereotypes and work towards something "better". goblins are also the primary evil bad guys in every low level campaign, but that doesn't mean they can't work for something "better".

my point was more general there, that people like to take away everything that makes vampires vampires (in every universe, not just d&d) and twist it just so their little babyboy can be slotted into the "good ones" category which is what i despise. astarion will never be good aligned no matter what happens. he is a chaotic neutral at best.

but yes, exactly as you said. not only does the game constantly hint to, point to and expressely tell you what is going to happen when he gets these souls, and give you very clear answers POST ascension/spawn of who he is and what he would have/has become, but you would have to be willfully ignorant to deny it. you can understand why he would want to get power, you don't have to approve of it or encourage it. i feel like people are missing that difference, it's as though they are trying to convince others of why astarion wants this outcome, and i feel most people can understand that. the problem is what happens after it and what it causes not only to him but to others around him.

ty for the morning discourse, i'm typing this with one eye open.

[liz-lil-oc-corner]

Magisterocusta the dorm of responsibility

Founded after the sense of duty of the grasshopper leader towards his band. Students of this dorm have a strong sense of commitment, they follow suit in their responsibilities and don’t go back on their word as well as having a natural talent for leadership.

They excel at schoolwork with most students having excellent grades.

Dorm students:

Skipper Meadow (Twisted from Hopper)

Grade/Class: 3E no. 06

Birthday: 29/Aug

Age: 18

Height: 154 cm

Dominant Hand: right

Homeland: Glowing Falls

Club: Soccer

Pet Peeves: Extremely loud noises

Best Subject: Defense Magic

Hobbies: Reading

Favorite Food: Green Beans Amandine

Least Favorite Food: Bacon

Talent: Organizing

Spring Meadow (Twisted from Molt)

Grade/Class: 2C no. 18

Birthday: 13/Jul

Age: 17

Height: 149 cm

Dominant Hand: right

Homeland: Glowing Falls

Club: Light Music Club

Pet Peeves: Overexerting herself

Best Subject: Art

Hobbies: Playing mobile games

Favorite Food: Roasted brussels sprouts

Least Favorite Food: Sardines

Talent: Climbing 

Bop Brin (Twisted from Thumper)

Grade/Class: 2A no. 24

Birthday: 12/Nov

Age: 17

Height: 156 cm

Dominant Hand: left

Homeland: Primrose Forest

Club: Spelldrive

Pet Peeves: Rainy weather

Best Subject: P.E.

Hobbies: Room decorating

Favorite Food: Humus

Least Favorite Food: Onion rings

Talent: Crafting

[melancholia-ennui]

Finally got around to reading Paizo's statement on the OGL fiasco (available here). I have Thoughts™, mostly good ones.

Before we begin, let me just say this opening is absolutely balling:

We believe that any interpretation that the OGL 1.0 or 1.0(a) were intended to be revocable or able to be deauthorized is incorrect, and with good reason.

We were there.

Power moves aside, the announcement of the Open RPG Creative License (ORC) is very encouraging. Two particular points stand out to me in the discussion.

The Good

First, a quote from the statement (emphasis in original):

the release of a new open, perpetual, and irrevocable [license]

The emphasis on 'irrevocable' suggests that Paizo are very aware of the major flaw in the original OGL, namely that while the text of the license started it was perpetual and that any version of the license could be used, it did not include the word 'irrevocable' anywhere in the text, which allowed the legal loophole that WotC are using to abuse that very license.

Second, the statement tells us that the ORC License will be 'system agnostic'. This is a very good sign - the original OGL was very much designed around D&D (originally 3e), and it was never intended to carry the burden of being the single license by which almost all TTRPGs that want to cultivate third party content are released.

Thirdly - and this is the bit I find most exciting - we get the following little tidbit:

The ORC will not be owned by Paizo, nor will it be owned by any company who makes money publishing RPGs. Azora Law’s ownership of the process and stewardship should provide a safe harbor against any company being bought, sold, or changing management in the future and attempting to rescind rights or nullify sections of the license. Ultimately, we plan to find a nonprofit with a history of open source values to own this license (such as the Linux Foundation).

This is excellent news - when I heard Paizo are spearheading the attempts to develop an alternative open license for TTRPGs outside of the scope of WotC monopoly, my immediate worry was: what's to stop Hasbro performing an aggressive buy-out of Paizo, and then we'll all be back in the same soup?

By guaranteeing that they do not own the license, Paizo hedge against this possibility - and if they do get it into the hands of a committed non-profit like the Linux Foundation, that would work as a fairly robust buffer against any attempts by Hasbro or any other would-be monopoly to get their hands on the license and pull the kind of BS that WotC/Hasbro are trying with the OGL.

The Bad?

That said, I still have some concerns, and I will definitely be waiting to see the final details of the ORC license.

My greatest worry at this point revolves around how whether the ORC license will follow the structure and scope of the OGL, particularly when it comes to the delineation of Open Game Content vs. Product Identity in the context of non-copyrightable material.

One of the major problems with the old OGL - discussed at length in this EFF article - is that it claims to be giving you the right to use 'the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines' of the d20 system, but as a matter of fact, game mechanics are non-copyrightable. As such, all the license really gives you is the right to reproduce the exact wording used but WotC in the SRD to describe the game system, and in return you sign away any rights you may have had to using the content delineated as Product Identity. As the EFF article puts it (emphasis added),

For most users, accepting this license almost certainly means you have fewer rights to use elements of Dungeons and Dragons than you would otherwise. For example, absent this agreement, you have a legal right to create a work using noncopyrightable elements of D&D or making fair use of copyrightable elements and to say that that work is compatible with Dungeons and Dragons. In many contexts you also have the right to use the logo to name the game (something called “nominative fair use” in trademark law). You can certainly use some of the language, concepts, themes, descriptions, and so forth. Accepting this license almost certainly means signing away rights to use these elements. Like Sauron’s rings of power, the gift of the OGL came with strings attached.

In short, the original OGL is kind of a lie - it makes it seem like you need a license for content that is non-copyrightable, and then offers you the opportunity to sign away your rights to use other content in return for the right to use content you already had the right to use. All you gain from signing the OGL is the ability to use some exact wording used by WotC in the SRD, plus the reassurance that you know some of the terms on which WotC will not sue you. It's as much a threat as it is an offer.

Now the one thing that does give me a bit of hope for the ORC license in this regard is that Paizo's statement does seem to suggest that they are aware that the main value of the OGL is in being able to exactly reproduce the original language - see the following quote (my emphasis):

When we needed to quickly bring out Pathfinder First Edition to continue publishing our popular monthly adventures back in 2008, using Wizards’ language was important and expeditious. But in our non-RPG products, including our Pathfinder Tales novels, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and others, we shifted our focus away from D&D tropes to lean harder into ideas from our own writers. By the time we went to work on Pathfinder Second Edition, Wizards of the Coast’s Open Game Content was significantly less important to us, and so our designers and developers wrote the new edition without using Wizards’ copyrighted expressions of any game mechanics. While we still published it under the OGL, the reason was no longer to allow Paizo to use Wizards’ expressions, but to allow other companies to use our expressions.

If this mindfulness of the actual value of the OGL translates over to the final wording of the ORC license, then we can hope that this license will be more explicit about what it covers and what it cannot cover, about what rights you already have and what rights you would be giving up by signing the license.

However, until I see the actual wording on the license, I will still be worried that it'll end up reproducing this basic problem of the OGL - i.e. obscuring the rights third party creators already have without any license, re non-copyrightable content, in order to coerce third party creators into signing on to the license even if they don't need to "just to be safe".

While I'm sure this will not be Paizo's intent, I still won't be entirely satisfied until I see the final license in all its glory.

Summary

All told, I would still rather see TTRPGs move onto Creative Commons or other well-established open licenses, but I do understand the desire to create a license that's particular to the needs of the TTRPG community, and from everything I've seen of it, the ORC license seems well situated to satisfy this niche. I will need to see the final license before all my concerns are laid to rest, however, and a number of further concerns remain - in particular, given Hasbro will never let D&D fall under the ORC license, will the brand identity of D&D and the financial power of Hasbro be able to win out over the good of the community? Or will enough new content growing out of the ORC license be able to swing the scales back away from Hasbro and lead to a diversification and return to the community of TTRPG content?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[asknarashikari]

[crossover with ansatsu kyoushitsu (adult class 3e)]

Karasuma: Thank you, Ritsu.

Ritsu: Is it really necessary, to put him down?

Karasuma: He’s become too dangerous, Ritsu.

Ritsu: We know Beroba and Kekera gave the drivers to those terrorists right and sabotaged his wish.

Jelavic: He’s still become too dangerous.

Jelavic: I’m sorry Ritsu.

Karasuma: Of course if Ukiyo wants to save Sakurai, despite the atrocities he’s committed…

Jelavic: I wouldn’t go that far yet.

Jelavic: While he’s currently a mob boss equivalent.

Jelavic: He’s kept the gang riders in check.

Karasuma: That is true…

---

Ace: No, Tycoon’s not that low yet, just trust him.

Win: Oh, so the Ministry of Defense is now getting themselves involved.

Michinaga: Ministry of Defense?

Michinaga: Oi, Geats!

Ace: Companies such as the Kurama Zaibatsu has been giving the government hush money so that the DGP could continue its operations.

Win: And Na-Go’s father so happen to be the convenient scapegoat, hence he was the only one arrested.

Win: They’re going to send their assassination squad?

Michinaga: Assassination squad?

Karma: No, not just yet.

Karma: But they will soon.

Nagisa: Hello, Azuma-kun, how’s it been?

Michinaga: You! Hebiku!

Michinaga: I thought I crushed your ID core!

Nagisa: I’m not here as a Rider, I don’t think Ace-kun could bring back the ID core that I let you destroy.

Ace: So you were holding back while a contestant?

Nagisa: I was entered because the Ministry of Defense wanted information on the DGP.

Nagisa: Didn’t even write something for the wish.

Nagisa: And yes there were a lot of us that were entered into the DGP before.

Win: So they’re waiting for our god of creation to decide whether to kill Tycoon or not?

Ace: And I’m saying no.

Karma: Welp, Ritsu you heard the godly person on this planet.

Ritsu: I’m telling Karasuma-san!

----

Goon1: There she is, Head, she wants to see you.

Keiwa: Who are you? And What do you want?

Kekera: Oho, Sakurai Keiwa, a beautiful girl wants you and you’re treating her that way?

Jelavic: I want to talk to you oh handsome head.

Keiwa: Go away, I have no business with you.

Jelavic: Oh but I do.

Jelavic: *glares at Keiwa and brandishes her guns and fires at him.*

Keiwa: Henshin *transforms into Bujin Sword and cuts down all the bullets coming at him.*

Kekera: Oi, oi! Help out your head!

Keiwa: No need, I can handle this myself.

Keiwa: No need to get everyone else involved.

Jelavic: Should you really talk like that to the assassin assigned to kill you?

Kekera: An assassin! You’ve really gotten to the big leagues! Sakurai Keiwa!

Keiwa: I didn’t realize that the ministry of defense employed assassins.

Jelavic: Oh, how’d you know that I work for the ministry of defense.

Keiwa: Just a hunch.

Jelavic: You’re a lot smarter than people give you credit for.

Keiwa: Kekera, Beroba, if you want to make yourself useful, why don’t you turn away the people that are about to jump at me from above!

Jelavic: Abort the mission boys, it seems Ritsu’’s information is accurate.

*A lot of men jumped down from the second floor and went behind Jelavic.*

???: Well take those.

Multiple shadowed people stole Beroba’s and Kekera’s cards.

Beroba: Wha-

Kekera: How-

Jelavic: Good work girls.

???: It was our pleasure Bitch-sensei.

----fastforward: basically, Ritsu fires BBs at everyone and releases smoke at the same time, courtesy of Itona’s invention, while Nagisa stuns Keiwa before Isogai and Maehara grabbed Keiwa’s hands and ran somewhere where Beroba and Kekera aren’t around.----

Keiwa: *detransforms out of Bujin Sword*

Keiwa: You got me out of the hideout, what now?

Keiwa: if you really are sent to kill me, you would have already done so earlier.

Jelavic: Like I said smarter than given credit.

Nagisa: Can’t you be persuaded Sakurai-kun?

Keiwa: If I don’t do this, I lose my only chance at reviving my family

Isogai: Even at the cost of everyone else’s family?

Keiwa: I TRIED DOING THE RIGHT THING?! WHAT DID THAT GET ME?! IT KILLED MY SISTER!

Keiwa: I’m not going to be a door mat any longer.

Keiwa: They wanted me to fight for my desires so I’m doing it.

Maehara: But the sacrifices.

Keiwa: As long as my family gets to live, I don’t care what happens after.

-----

Karasuma: What now?

Ace: Give me one last shot.

Ace: I do hope that you won’t resort to killing him.

Ace: The punishment doesn’t fit the supposed crime that you’re pinning on him.

Karasuma: We’ll see.

----

Geats cast react. The cast are when after they yanked Keiwa’s out of Kekera’s hold, so yes Keiwa is among the reactors XD

I'm just smiling at the thought of this being the live action versions because Karma was played by Masaki Suda (aka our resident human search engine Philip)

Anyway, I kinda think everyone will be a bit speechless at the government going that far to pull Keiwa out... and definitely a little suspicious, because in canon the government was well aware of the DGP shenanigans and were actually in on the conspiracy in a similar fashion to Kurama Kousei- keeping their existence a secret from the public in return for wish(es). While getting Keiwa away from the influence of Kekera and co is a good thing, the government involvement stinks of a coverup from above. They're probably doing it only for their own benefit, i.e. to erase their own involvement in this sick game.

On the other hand, Keiwa being supposedly perceptive enough to read through the deception and knowing they were there to "rescue" him rather than eliminate him may surprise them. Though they'd be disappointed with his stubbornness.