#Ex. Resolute Dragon

[the-nomadicone]

Ex. Resolute Dragon // United States Marine Corps

[kingdomoftyto]

...BIG FEELS AND BIG PLOT DEVELOPMENTS AT THE END OF THAT BOOK, HUH

[torpublishinggroup]

Celebrate Pride with Tor Publishing Group!

Rakesfall by @adamantine

They met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. Later, in a demon-haunted wood, an act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey through the ages. As they reincarnate ever deeper into the future, a truth emerges: Some stories take more than one lifetime to tell.

Running Close to the Wind by @ariaste

In this queer pirate fantasy, Avra Helvaçi has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world. To avoid capture, he flees to the open sea, where only his on-again, off-again ex aka pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār can help him survive, profit, and become a legend.

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Something evil is buried deep in the desert. It wants your body and wears your skin. Welcome to Camp Resolution, a queer conversion center where everyone leaves a different person. In 1995, seven queer teens were abandoned here by their parents, but survived. Sixteen years later, they’re scarred and broken, but back to face an evil that threatens the world. 

Kinning by Nisi Shawl

In this alternate history where barkcloth airships soar and former colonies claim freedom from imperialist tyrants, the identity of the island of Everfair still wavers. Victorious in the wake of the Great War, a new threat looms. Can Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope for anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces within and without? 

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by @rebeccathornewrites

Can one of the Queen’s private guard and the most powerful mage in existence leave their lives behind to settle down in their new bookshop that serves tea? This cozy fantasy is steeped in sapphic romance and nestled on the edge of dragon country. 

The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab

Once there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power and connected by a single city: London. After a desperate attempt to prevent corruption and ruin in the four Londons, there are only three. Now the worlds are going to collide anew—brought to a dangerous precipice by the discoveries of three remarkable magicians.

Now available in paperback!

The Archive Undying by @emcandon

This is a story about misplaced faith, complicated love, so much self-loathing, and yeah—giant robots. Plugged into his AI god when its apocalyptic corruption renders him unfortunately immortal, sad gay disaster Sunai takes a die-again-or-die-trying approach to things. Unending life’s tough when intimacy is somehow scarier even than either of the warring police states set on turning you into a weapon or the rogue undead mecha-fragment of your old god that wants to eat you. 

Now available in paperback!

The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen

A dazzling historical mystery that dives into the shadowy, closeted world of the Navy, emerging in the gay bars of the city. It’s a whirlpool of missing people, violent strangers, and scandalous photos in 1952 San Francisco. 

Now available in paperback!

Celebrate Pride with more titles from Tor Publishing Group here!

[felassan]

[source (Senior Reporter at Kotaku), linked Kotaku article, two, 'FC 24's performance link', three, four, @/N7SeveranceDay (source of the last two images, "Account supporting BioWare employees laid off in 2023."), five, six, Polygon tweet, Polygon article]

"BioWare Continues to Refuse to Pay Severance" statement transcript:

“BioWare Continues to Refuse to Pay Severance On August 23 of this year, BioWare eliminated “approximately 50 roles at BioWare”. Following the layoffs, seven ex-BioWare employees engaged the services of R. Alex Kennedy to represent their interests, stating that the amount of severance offered was insufficient under Alberta common law. Counsel for the employees has attempted to reach a compromise that would avoid requiring lengthy court proceedings, but BioWare’s lawyers refused any offers to negotiate and settle out of court. The basis of Kennedy’s claim is that according to Alberta precedents and under Canadian law, these employees should be receiving approximately 1.7 months of severance per year of service they gave to BioWare. BioWare has now filed a Statement of Defence, which argues that the seven terminated employees are only entitled to two weeks of severance per year spent in service to BioWare, because of a contract provision that Kennedy says is not enforceable. The filing means BioWare will be taking these former employees to court rather than working towards finding an out of court resolution. The developers involved in the suit have expressed their disappointment: - “We are disappointed that BioWare prefers stalling and intimidation tactics to fair dealing with people who have given years, and in some cases decades, of dedication and hard work to the company.” - “We believe they are using intimidation and stalling tactics to try and get us to drop out. A lot of the more junior employees and those with families, who had more monetary pressure on them, could not risk waiting on a court case that may take many months more to resolve, and have already had to drop out.” - “At the time of the layoffs, BioWare offered us professional assistance in finding new employment, and an additional payment, but ONLY on the condition that we signed an agreement saying we cannot talk about any details of the settlement, and that we would completely waive any right to legal action or even to complain in any way about anyone associated with BioWare now or ever in the future. Tactics like that sure make me think that BioWare knows it is in the wrong.” - “Despite what they publicly announced when they laid us off, this process has been anything but empathetic, respectful, and communicative.” The latest BioWare layoffs were the third round so far this year, and many of the developers affected even in earlier rounds are still searching for work, though some have started to find new positions. Regardless of employment status, the members of the current lawsuit state they remain determined to pursue BioWare in court, regardless of their employment status: - “We strongly believe that if Dragon Age: Dreadwolf does not do as well as BioWare or EA wants at launch, there will be more, even larger layoffs. Therefore, regardless of our own well-being, we believe it is important to hold BioWare responsible and get a clear decision on what settlement amount is legal. We’re no longer part of the development team, so the best way we can help our former teammates now is to hold BioWare accountable and ensure that the next group who is laid off are not treated as poorly as we were.” November 7th marks “N7 Day”, which is a fan celebration of BioWare’s Mass Effect games featuring Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. The developers involved in the lawsuit are hoping N7 Day this year will be a reminder to BioWare of the importance of loyalty to your crew, and hope fans can have a little fun and help express their support with memes and images using an #N7SeveranceDay hashtag. The ex-employees involved in the suit are all based in Canada and have an average of 14 years at BioWare.”

[source]

You can express your support using the hashtag #N7SeveranceDay.

Edit: [Part 2/update] [more on the Keywords topic]

[ja-khajay]

hiii! In regards to the "Guillermo del Toro Says “We Have to Rescue” Studio Animation From “Emoji-Style Behavior”" article/statement, do u have examples of animation that specifically is & is not this type of expression/animation? Bc it's rly hard for me to actually picture this and like I need examples ahaha

Disclaimer - I was not at this specific talk, so I don't have the full context and I know from reliable sources - friends of mine that DID attend it - that it's not all he said there, so that article is pretty much only relying spicy chosen bits. That being said, I will focus on this paragraph.

Getting more specific, he went on to detail what he despises about certain lazy proclivities in commercial animation, notably how characters and emotions are “codified into a sort of teenage rom-com, almost emoji-style behavior.” He added, “[If] I see a character raising his fucking eyebrow, or crossing his arms, having a sassy pose — oh, I hate that shit. [Why] does everything act as if they’re in a sitcom? I think it is emotional pornography. All the families are happy and sassy and quick, everyone has a one-liner. Well, my dad was boring. I was boring. Everybody in my family was boring. We had no one-liners. We’re all fucked up. That’s what I want to see animated. I would love to see real life in animation. I actually think it’s urgent. think it’s urgent to see real life in animation.”

What he talks about here is something I find omnipresent in modern American animation, or from studios that are funded by and/or trying to sell to americans (ex: Illumination McGuff). Here del Toro specifically mentions characters and emotions and how they are codified, which would include how characters are written, how animated their emotions and body language are, how they interact... He also mentions studio animation, an important distinction - this does not include indie animators!

A few things, adding * to those he's specifically calling out here, and more of my own that are not stated but I feel match the style

*one liners

*the "dreamworks face"

*sassy attitude

*quick banter

*taking poses

looking into the camera

overtly smooth, cartoony body language

characters explaining their emotions, plot resolutions around this

I will now get to examples, starting by a comparison between two animated films. Both of these films are contemporary, family-audience, french animated films. They share similarities in setting, being medieval fantasy fairytales about female heroes. One of these films was made with an american audience in mind (Pil), and the other caters to a french audience (Dragon Princess). You can compare how the characters act in both trailers:

Try and only focus on dialog, body language and expressions, barring art style and story!

Feature films that, in my opinion, also fit that "emoji style behaviour" (* for those I have not fully watched) any why:

Turning Red: the sass, the one liners, body language, camera looking, quick banter, plot resolution with characters explaining their emotions. The whole film fits

Puss in Boots: The last wish: sass, one liners, body language, banter, characters explaining their emotions. Scenes like Puss meeting his past lives and the dog's dialog are strong offenders

The emperor's new groove: sass, one liners, posing, banter

Encanto: sass, posing, banter; the explaining their emotions to drive the plot is ridiculously present to the point where I'd say del Toro was vagueing that one with the family example

Klaus: posing, banter, body language, explaining their emotions

*Nimona: sass, posing, banter, expressions...I only watched the trailer so can't say much but it leans HARD into the rapid fire quip territory with emotional resolution

*Trolls: sass, posing, banter, body language, camera looking...

Regarding films that do not do this, the quick answer would be...watch foreign (=not american) and/or older films. Nowadays with internet a massive catalogue is available, although the USA has such a monopoly on animation via its advertising budget other countries don't have that those films can be harder to find especially if you only use english-speaking internet.

As most studio animation is for a young or family audience and my entire example list above is, I will give some recommendations of films that are also for such an audience, but with older and worldwide picks. Some of these films are fully available on YouTube (although not in english always), so I'll be linking that when possible!

Mom is pouring rain (France, 2020s) (trailer): A shorter film about a little girl sent to live with her grandmother while her mom heals from depression. Has emotions front and center but expressed and animated in a way typical of modern french animation, with cartoony designs but subtler, more "boring" acting

The little prince and the eight headed dragon (Japan, 1960s): Beautifully animated in a style distinct from anime, this is a simple folktale adaptation. Fully on YouTube, albeit in its original english dub who's quality is frankly not great.

Next! (UK, 1990s): Stop motion short by an animator who specifically explores subtler, harder to animate expressions, as well as the art of theater, represented here by a Shakespear puppet playing out his works as a one-man show.

Ramayana (India, 1990s): Animated version of the legend of the same name, coupling a Ghibli art style with your ancient legend's large scale battles and polite heroes.

Ne Zha (China, 2010s)(trailer): that trailer is dead serious, it's actually a pretty damn silly movie! Including this one because as a big CGI animated film it's interesting to compare to what Pixar/Dreamworks/etc is doing.

...I'm realizing that I included a whole lot of animated folk tales so for modern chinese animation I'll also name Legend of Hei (2020s)(trailer), an original fantasy film with indie origins and a whole lot of over the top action.

As for films from the US that do NOT match that style? As a country the US has a rich history of animation asides of Disney! I personally grew up on Tex Avery and Looney Tunes cartoons who (pre-90s) are great examples of this.

For more adult films, I'll link my list of mature animation recommendations!

My ask remains opens for any clarifications :) have a nice day!

[solarkindred]

Sun Wukong x Dragon!Male Reader

An idea stuck in my head. Tempted to make a fanfic(i am considering it as i write this lol) but imma do this first so i get into some kind of flow. Reader will have a name(sorry) but human appearance is up in the air somewhat for you guys.

————————

Wukong couldn’t help but stare. He never could control his body when Huanglong was involved. It was naturally attracted to the dragon. Be it of awe or affection, he was just had to have Huanglong in his mind.

And now was no different. Sun Wukong, Huanglong and kids were in Pigsy’s Noodles shop. The kids were having an eating competition with Pigsy aggressively scolding them (that by no means is stopping them) while the Monkey King and the Yellow Deity sat in one of the more secluded booths, drinking a soothing tea. Not that it was working since Huanglong was glaring daggers into Sun Wukong’s form.

Sun Wukong glanced away from his… ex-lover? Wukong certainly didn’t consider Huang to be that but it would seem the dragon did. With an avid fury too. Sun Wukong slid further down the seat, face reddening. He took a cup of lukewarm tea and brought it to his lips, biting back a groan of disgust, afraid that if he spoke Huanglong would kill him on the spot.

The stone monkey looked back to Huanglong, taking in the dragon’s human form. His H/C hair was pulled into a messy man bun while the other half cascaded off his shoulders like beautiful waterfalls, bright yellow streaks came from the roots near his forehead. He wore clothes similar to Wukong’s, only black with yellow and gold accents and much more scaly in texture. Huanglong had four orbs floating behind his head, the highest orb being black, the left being blue, the right white and bottom red. Sun Wukong knew they represented Huanglong’s four younger brothers; Ao Shun of the Northern Sea, Ao Guang of the Eastern Sea, Ao Ji of the Western Sea, and Ao Qin of the Southern Sea.

Now, where would Huanglong fit into this family? Well, since his brothers took to the seas, Huanglong took the lands. All of Earth is protected by Huanglong.

It was hefty task that he probably couldn’t take on himself, no matter how hard he tried, Sun Wukong admitted to himself.

“Sun Wukong.”

The stone monkey jumped at the sound of his name, straightening in his seat and curling his tail properly on his lap,”Y-yes?” he squeaked.

“You wanted to speak with me?” Huanglong said slowly, a quiet entrancing hiss in his words. Wukong had will himself to not jump across the table and kiss Huanglong. Gods he missed the sound of his name coming from those lips. “Yes.. yes I did, ahem..” Sun Wukong cleared his throat, once again flushing at the feeling of having Huang’s attention on him. He didn’t notice the tip of his tail swinging.

“I.. I wanted to talk about that day.” Huanglong’s already sour mood turned several degrees more sour, electrifying E/C eyes glaring holes into Sun Wukong,”What about it? There is nothing to say.”

“Come on, Huang. We both know that’s not true..” Wukong tried, already itching to completely change the subject that he brought up. ‘Deep breaths, Wukong. He hasn’t torn your head off yet, you can still do this.’ he comforted himself. Taking a breath, he clutched the cold cup in his hands,”We both have things to say about then. A-and I plan to say them.” He spoke resolutely despite the slight stutter, warm gold eyes steely but wavering, his inner coward was begging him to stop. To run away again. Sun Wukong had always listened to that voice. But today, today was the day he would ignore it and face at least one of his problems.

“… I see.” Huanglong whispered, leaning forward onto the table and placing a gentle hand onto the teapot. His hand glowed slightly and before long the pot was steaming again. He poured the tea into his cup and took a sip,”Then how about we start with you, hm?” The dragon said, half lidded eyes unmoving from Sun Wukong’s.

Sun Wukong gulped, words of retreat bubbled in his throat but he swallowed them down before they could come out,”… Okay,” he cleared his throat and shuffled,”First things first, I want to say I’m sorry.”

Huanglong simply blinked. And Wukong already felt exhausted from those few words. He felt heavy, his armor felt more weighty than before, as did his eyes. He blinked the fatigue that tried to settle in his bones away, sitting up taller and gulping down his chilly tea.

He forced words to spill out of his mouth,”I know… I know a simple apology won’t suffice. It never will and I… fuck, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to leave you there, to fight that demon on your own. I… I’m a fucking idiot. And I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you, even if it takes millions of tries and millions of years to do so.” Sun Wukong felt like throwing up. Those few sentences felt like sandpaper on his tongue and sticky bile was climbing up his throat. It wasn’t that he was disgusted by the situation, he was just so violently uncomfortable that he felt sick. The cold tea wasn’t helping…

Huanglong, basically being an expert on Sun Wukong’s behaviors, saw the discomfort in the tan furred immortal. Huanglong’s finger twitched against his cup, hands wanting to cradle Wukong’s face and pepper him in kisses, forgive him for his act of abandonment and just return to how life was before. But his still wounded heart won’t let him, afraid of being hurt again. Instead, Huanglong made a compromise,”I accept this apology.” Wukong seemed to light up at that,”But,” the monkey’s shoulders drooped,”I do expect numerous attempts to fix what you have broken. You broke much more than our relationship. This apology is but a beginning, the end is far.”

Sun Wukong let out a resigned hum but nodded. He went stock still when he felt a warm hand on his. “But, knowing you, my King, the end is never far.” Huanglong smiled fondly as the red that burned brightly on the ear he had whispered to. Leaning back and removing his hand, Huanglong stood from the booth,”Thank you, Pigsy, for your hospitality. I will have to repay you.” he lightly bowed to the short pig, who was holding two noodle-stuffed kids by their throats. The pig smiled,”Ah, don’t worry about that! You’re welcome here anytime.”

Huanglong nodded,”Thank you. I bid you all a farewell.” With that, the legendary dragon disappeared in a sparky display.

MK tilted his head back to wiggle his eyebrows at his mentor, who was still sat at the booth like a statue,”Oooo, someone’s got a crush!” He teased. MK’s tease seemed to bring Sun Wukong back from whatever plane of existence he was, he chuckled, face blooming red,”Hah. I wouldn’t call it a crush, kiddo… it’s complete infatuation.” Wukong hummed dreamily, hearts in his eyes.

MK grimaced,”Ew. Get that look off your face. You look weird.” Wukong didn’t hear him. He was too busy thinking about kissing Huang again.

——————

“WITHOUT A HEARTBEAT”

Im only on episode three and im already gay for an immortal monkey lmao

[corpium]

Of Madness & Reason (Of Dragons & Chickens) muddled plot ideas that may or may not happen

Maybe I will finish this fic one day. Maybe I won't. Last time I took a one-year hiatus from a long fic I actually did come back to it. Buuut I know as a reader myself how frustrating and unresolved WIPs can be, so here's some semi-resolution for you in the form of a very loose timeline of events.

I will use the pronoun 'he' for this because of reasons I've previously expressed in the comments on the fic.

Full disclosure, SI and I as the writer Have a Plan, but I write the other characters off the cuff, and they often come in and fuck up my plans for the plot because I try to write them with as much agency as possible. This is how Snape became such a pivotal character despite me disliking him.

But I digress. Here are my rambling plans for this story.

Harry goes back to Hogwarts for Year 2 and Voldemort comes off REALLY strong in the first dream, so Harry manages somehow to get in and obliviate him. I'm guessing this happens by persuading Snape to let Harry see Quirrelmort to make sure he's still knocked out via Draught of Living Death, but Idk yet how difficult Snape makes it for HP.

Deciding that Voldemort far outmatches our SI, right after obliviating LV, Harry kills the diary Horcrux, which merges with our obliviated LV. In the next dream, Harry meets the now very confused 16y.o. TRJ and takes advantage of TRJ's vulnerability to legilimize him and learn all his secrets, mainly that of Horcrux creation.

Tom is very Not Thrilled about this and goes on the offensive. I'm not totally sure what this entails yet; perhaps he does the same and breaks into Harry's mind and learns all his secrets, including his SI history, which Riddle finds intriguing and very exploitable.

Harry inevitably tries to obliviate Quirrelmort again, but Snape makes it much more difficult. He might even bring Dumbledore into the picture. That, or Harry does because LV is getting too dangerous. Or maybe even Sirius does it. Either way, somehow Dumbledore gets involved, and lo and behold, despite all the Dumbledore bashing vibes, it turns out he is not evil, though he is very ambivalent towards Harry, who he has concerns about. Not sure if Harry tells Dumbledore just the 'I'm-a-seer' narrative or the whole SI deal. Might depend on how nosey/pushy Dumbledore is and if he tries his own legilimency.

One of the things that might turn Snape more towards Dumbledore is a beat I really want to happen - you know how Harry is starting to sorta kinda like SNape? Yeah that doesn't last. He finds Neville crying because Snape fed his toad one of his (Neville's) crappy potions and Neville panics because he thinks Trevor's dying. Harry LOSES HIS SHIT and confronts Snape about it. Snape silencios Harry, which Harry can't silently finite, so Harry sets some of Snape's papers on fire. End the scene with HArry being like, oh, yeah, this is why I hated you.

Either way, Harry ends up telling Dumbledore about the Ring Horcrux, and probably tells him not to put the ring on lest he wish to die a painful death. Not sure yet if Dumbledore caves to temptation or not.

With the ring Horcrux destroyed, somehow Harry gets ahold of it from Dumbledore (maybe Dumbledore knows the whole SI story and suggests this) and they use the ring for a little Deus Ex Machina to find out how SI became Harry. SI!Harry ends up summoning MOD!Harry from another universe who says he tried to go back in time to stop Voldemort, but he, being MOD, could not "fit" in baby Harry's mortal body, essentially shattering poor baby!Harry's soul, thus screwing with Fate itself. The universe, in an attempt to right itself, pulled the most compatible soul nearby into HArry's body. SI, having a shattered soul herself, and having died at the exact same moment, was the most convenient option. Basically, MOD!Harry fucked up and SI being SI!HArry was just a silly fluke of the universe.

MOD!Harry doesn't know if he approves of SI!Harry's methods, but basically says to go for it and do whatever you wanna do. This is just one universe of many and SI!Harry's life is his to do as he likes. This makes SI!Harry live a bit more guilt-free.

Scamander owls HArry to tell him he and Tina have successfully begun the creation of a sanctuary for the sea serpent and its young out in international waters, and Harry's like "Hey so now that you've done that, want to expand it for another crazy deadly serpent?"

Scamander ends up coming to Hogwarts and meets the basilisk. Dumbledore probably inserts himself into this meeting because he's the Headmaster and Newt's his friend. The Parseltongue translator he and Tina made for HArry partially works, enabling the Scamanders and Dumbledore to kinda talk to the basilisk. Dumbledore would have killed it otherwise, so thank god for that.

There's a moment when Harry convinces the basilisk to join Scamander where Harry's like "omg my plans are actually coming into fruition, i can't believe it but i actually i can believe it. fuck you voldemort i'm better than you" and remember Slytherin's sword hanging on the wall in the Chamber? It falls down with a clang and SCamander and Dumbledore (if he's there) are like "um? I guess this is yours?" and Dumbledore's all suspicious because oooo only a true Slytherin can pick up the sword and MC's just like "Lol Slytherin just really loved snakes :)"

Scamander takes the basilisk away to the sanctuary. Maybe this sanctuary gets more public recognition? Maybe it doesn't? Maybe people find out about the basilisk's existence and are like wtf? But Lucius and his crew are like "Oh it's a relic from the founders' era, let's give Scamander money and support to build that sanctuary" Idk. would have to get further into the weeds.

The Parseltongue translator becomes more functional over time and the SCamanders and their friends figure out how to duplicate it/make more. Suddenly PArseltongue has become a lot more accessible and Mundane. Voldemort probably finds out about this and is pissed because it was his Special Talent, which SI thinks is funny.

LV & HP's relationships is ever-evolving and threatening. LV is always trying to figure himself out and why this random Muggle chick is in "his" mind - or is he in her mind? It's like they're circling each other and for now, Harry just barely has the upper hand.

So far the Horcruxes that have been destroyed are: 1) the diadem, 2) the locket, 3) the diary, and 4) the ring. Nagini doesn't exist yet. The cup is still up in the air. Sirius may destroy it during second year while Harry's at Hogwarts, or I may decide to draw it out. I'm thinking I want to draw it out, but who knows.

The time before Hogwarts, Harry beefed up his Potions skill. The summer after first year, he beefed up his legilimency skill. The summer after second year, he focuses on learning the Animagus transfiguration and working with the Scamanders on their creature reserve.

Turns out, the basilisk and the sea serpent make up great "natural" defenses for the reservation. We got land and sea covered. Now all that's left is the sky. Enter the dragons. With Muggle drones and air travel becoming more prominent (I think, not sure when drones became such a big deal) the dragons are more at risk of being discovered. But guesssss what?

Newt's been talking to one species using the Parseltongue translator, which has opened the door to speaking with other dragon species. He, Tina, maybe some of their friends - maybe even Dumbledore??? - and now Harry work on expanding the unzoned/international Creature Reserve. SI!Harry may start to show some of the real Isekai OP tropes. He might be planning to create his own islands so he can finally live in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of chickens -- and also dragons. Depends. idk how over-powered I wanna get.

End the summer with Harry finally achieving his Animagus form: a coyote. American like SI - some nostalgia for their past self and their life experience, and an adaptable, clever creature with excellent survival skills. Also I love them and this fic is largely written out of self-indulgence.

Y3-? ----

Some plotlines:

Sirius Black and Harry recruit a leadership board to run their nonprofit, The Potter Black Foundation for Orphans and Troubled Children. The leadership board probably includes Molly Weasley for her experience with parenting and frugality and Narcissa Malfoy because money. Also probably a half-blood and/or Muggleborn adult OC (or named character with no background) to balance out the pureblood perspective.

Harry continues working on the Creature Reserve and makes it his own thing. Ends up going all Minecraft and building the skeleton of a city in his spare time "just in case". The place just keeps growing and growing. Multiple different islands with their own unique ecosystems and environments and every natural resource. Might decide the Fae mythology doesn't exist in this world, so Harry nicknames the place Underhill to be funny. But also maybe foreshadowing.

I'm not sure how long I want to draw out the LV & HP dance, but given the breakneck speed of the plot in this fic, it will probably happen sooner rather than later. LV legilimizes Harry back and finds out EVERYTHING. He's pissed. So pissed. But he also realizes he's trapped and at Harry's mercy -- and he knows HArry's a Horcrux. He tries coaxing, tempting, growing close, and using Harry's past as Kenzie to his advantage. It probably sorta kinda works. I love my villains, man, ok? Eventually, probably galvanized by the destruction of Hufflepuff's cup, aka the final Horcrux except for Harry, he ends up possessing Harry and releasing Quirrelmort/himself.

Realizing how badly he's fucked up, Harry races to remove the Horcrux in his head before Voldemort gets his body back, and, even after three+ years of research, and probably a couple failed attempts, the scar Horcrux is still firmly attached.

But remember how Harry legilimized TMR to learn how he created a Horcrux? Harry knows one surefire way to split off a piece of soul, and that's a Horcrux ritual, and Harry, as we have come to find out, is no stranger to death. He visits the Dursleys. They've outlived their use. (He makes sure Dudley's not there first.)

I'm not sure if I reveal the Horcrux ritual or not. Might be something super horrific I leave to the imagination. Or it's one of the theories I've read: the Horcrux creator legilimizes their victim as the victim dies and essentially commits ritual suicide. Harry uses this ritual on Vernon to split off the LV Horcrux into some relic or other, maybe a Black one or something cool from the Room of Lost Things, idk. In my headcanon, the object has to have sentimental and/or cultural value. Then Harry destroys that Horcrux - ha, take that, LV. Then, maybe on a whim, maybe now that creating a Horcrux has just made Harry a bit colder, Harry kills Petunia to make his own Horcrux with Slytherin's sword, because spite.

There are repercussions that Harry might realize right away or later. STill not sure what those are, maybe the loss of smell, or the loss of his emotional reaction to music. Maybe animals/nature/creatures don't bring him joy anymore. It depends on what I've planted/emphasized in the writing before.

Voldemort gets a body and confronts Harry to secure Harry and therefore the scar!Horcrux only to be horrified and enraged by its destruction. Harry's even more like "fuck you, asshole," which makes LV try to kill him. LV probably almost succeeds and disarms Harry, but psych, Harry's got not one, not two, but three wands. And maybe a gun as a callback to SI's prior Life Event with her ex. Not sure how crazy I wanna get. LV getting shot with a gun is a bit of a crack!trope. But this fic is constantly teetering on the line of crack so maybe I could make it work.

Anyway, LV dies, hurray! (Right? He didn't have enough time to make another Horcrux before killing Harry, right? Right?!?? Where did Dudley go? ;)

As an epilogue, maybe, or an end to this "book", LV comes back and kills Harry. But psych! HArry has the sword!Horcrux so is a floating spirit. Maybe he turns to Kreacher for help. Or Sirius, depending on how close the two got. Because Sirius would be hella pissed. But he might do it, idk. ANyway, whoever helps HArry come back to life, they're like "omg how are we gonna do this?" and Harry's like "Look in the xyz compartment of my satchel for a shiny red stone. That's the Philosopher's stone. Yeah, I stole it just in case. And look, just in case happened! Good job, past self."

The end.

OR maybe not.

HP graduates Hogwarts and retreats to the Creature Reserve. Goes ham with building it out. As tensions rise between wizards and "dark" creatures, as they might have done even without LV's involvement, Harry invites the more isolated werewolves to come live on one of the islands. This scene may happen before or after he and LV have their first showdown: Greyback tries to smooze and reveals some creepy shit with the kids, so Harry casts the killing curse for the first time, and it's successful. Harry's like "huh, I didn't know if that would work. Anyone else want to try it? No? Don't hurt kids if you want to live :)"

At the same time as this is happening, LV's back in action in the UK - but he can't go as himself or TMR because someone revealed his identity and tragic backstory to the entire wizarding world. (Fuck you, Harry Potter.) Also a lot of people have Parseltongue translators so he can't even use his --his-- language for secrecy and intimidation. (again, fuck you, Harry Potter.) He probably tries the more subtle politician route, maybe. Or a new terrorist identity, idk.

I'm very vague on the details now. Just how long do I wanna keep this going? Idk. But years, decades down the line, the Muggles begin to suspect. LV's rising to power and maybe Harry tries to stay out of it because he has Underhill, but characters like Sirius try (probably successfully) to pull him in because Britain is their home. Maybe there's a bit of a cold war between Underhill and magical Britain as both LV and HP build their forces. HP's pulled dark-ish creatures away from LV by offering each species their island - maybe he gets Hermione and other smarties to research the best, most sustainable government types in history. Point is, Underhill is growing.

(Harry reflects on Slytherin's sword and LV not getting it and, like the egotist he's becoming, he looks down on LV. Why put so much effort into forcefully reshaping the world when you can simply create your own?)

LV probably pisses off the Muggles or they find out on their own thanks to technology, and he goes to war with them. Underhill becomes a sort of magical asylum. Maybe they figure out how to use water as a shield to hide it from satellites like Atlantis. OR they declare it as a sovereign nation to Muggles and are like "we have magical weapons of mass destruction in the form of sea serpents, basilisks, and armies of dragons, don't fuck with us" and the Muggles are like "aight" grudgingly. Maybe SI encouraged Arthur Weasley & the twins to learn about and experiment with Muggle technology and we get a bit magical cyberpunky. Maybe Underhill's a bit isololationisty like Wakanda. Idk. Maybe they snatch Muggleborns and replace them with with Squibs to mirror Fae changling mythology. Maybe not. Idk. But they certainly try to incorporate muggleborns more than wizarding Britain does.

Maybe LV & HP grudgingly come to respectfully ignore each other. Maybe LV dies to Muggle warfare like he feared he would as a child. Who knows? Not me.

Honestly I don't think the fic will ever get this far because all of this would be like a million+ words and I want to put my writing efforts into other things. But you never know? :)

Also, sidenote: In an AU of this fic, Harry tries to feed Quirrelmort to a dementor and due to crazy soul magic, LV and the dementor fuse into an Eldritch abomination. Decided that simplified my villain too much and also was too dark.

[thecreaturecodex]

Paaridar, Manticore

"Manticore!" © Fur Affinity user iLeomaru, accessed at their gallery here

[It was awfully nice of Paizo to make a canonical way of making monster girls for Pathfinder 2e. The paaridar feels like it should be a template, and in fact should be multiple templates. I might go and do more at some point. So the CR 7 manticore paaridar that we get in Bestiary 3 is what I was aiming for, but you can make a whole monastery by using this template on a variety of different monk stat blocks. I didn't use the canon art for it because that art is missing the tail; maybe the art was commissioned before the stats were finalized]

Paaridar, Manticore CR +1 Acquired Template This woman has clawed hands, a long tail ending in multiple spines, and a pair of leathery wings. She grins resolutely with fang-like teeth.

Paaridus was a monk obsessed with shortcuts for gaining power. Rather than develop his own ki by focusing on his chakras and personal growth, he developed a technique to steal the ki from other organisms. Envious of various monstrous life and ashamed of the limitations of human flesh, he focused on monsters, and his followers, known as paaridars, have mastered the technique. But the more chakras are replaced, the more the mind of the original person is lost, replaced with a feral personality. The root, sacral and naval chakras are the ‘safe” ones, but even this is seen as a profane and disgusting act by most monks. The “donor” survives the process, barely, a husk of its former self, which is usually put out of its misery as an initiation ceremony for the new paaridar.

Different types of paaridars exist, each one drawing from the ki of a different magical beast or dragon. Each type of paaridar is its own template. These templates are similar to the template below, with the following adjustments. Most paaridars has one offensive ability, one defensive ability and one type of special movement. Swap out the claw attacks for another natural weapon, if appropriate, but retain Feral Combat Training as a bonus feat. A paaridar typically gains a +4 bonus to one physical ability score, a +2 bonus to another physical ability score, and a -2 penalty to a mental ability score (usually Intelligence or Charisma).

Creating a Manticore Paaridar “Manticore paaridar” is a template that can be added to any creature with a ki pool, typically a monk or ninja. CR +1 Alignment any non-good. A paaridar must still maintain the alignment requirements for its class (lawful for a monk, for example) Type change the creature’s type to monstrous humanoid if it is a humanoid. Do not recalculate HD, BAB or saves. Armor Class increase natural armor bonus by +2 Defenses/Qualities gains darkvision 60 ft. if the base creature doesn’t have it, and the following defensive ability: Sharp Disruption (Ex) a manticore paaridar can block an attack with its claws as an immediate action. It gains DR /- equal to its HD, and the creature that hits it takes slashing damage equal to the paaridar’s claw damage plus its Strength modifier. A manticore paaridar can use this ability once per day, plus an additional time per day per 3 HD. Weakness a manticore paaridar gains the following weakness Disrupted Ki (Su) whenever a manticore paaridar uses a ki point, it takes 1d6 points of damage. It cannot reduce the damage taken from this ability in any way. Speed the manticore paaridar gains a fly speed equal to ½ its land speed, and clumsy maneuverability. Its flight gains the following quality: Limited Flight (Ex) a manticore paaridar can fly consecutively without penalty for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier. Unless it then lands and doesn’t fly for a number of minutes equal to the number of rounds it flew, it gains the fatigued condition. Melee the manticore paaridar gains 2 claw attacks that deal damage as if it were one size larger than its actual size category Ranged the manticore paaridar gains the following ranged attack: Spikes (Ex) With a snap of its tail, a manticore paaridar can loose a volley of spikes as a standard action (make an attack roll for each spike). A paaridar of CR 4 or lower can fire two spikes at a time, one of CR 5 to 10 can fire four spikes at a time, and one of CR 11 or higher can fire six spikes at a time. This attack has a range of 180 feet with no range increment and deal 1d6 damage (assuming a Medium paaridar) plus the paaridar’s Strength bonus on a successful hit. All targets must be within 30 feet of each other. The manticore paaridar can launch a number of spikes per day equal to 4x its Hit Dice. Ability Scores Str +4, Con +2, Int -2. Feats A manticore paaridar gains Feral Combat Training (claw) as a bonus feat. Skills A manticore paaridar gains Fly as a class skill.

Sample Manticore Paaridar Aparajita Varman                CR 7 XP 3,200 Human manticore paaridar monk 7 (hungry ghost monk) LE Medium monstrous humanoid (augmented human) Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +10 Defense AC 19, touch 16, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural, +3 monk, +1 armor) hp 63 (7d8+18 plus 7) Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +7; +2 vs. enchantment Defensive Abilities AC bonus, evasion, sharp disruption (1d6+4, 3/day), still mind Weakness disrupted ki Offense Speed 50 ft., fly 25 ft. (clumsy); limited flight (3 rounds) Melee unarmed strike +9/+4 (1d8+4), 2 claws +4 (1d6+2) or flurry of blows +7/+7/+2 (1d8+4), 2 claws +2 (1d6+2) or 2 claws +9 (1d6+4) Ranged 4 spikes +8 (1d6+4) Special Attacks ki pool (5/day), ki strike (cold iron, magic, silver), life funnel, spikes (28/day), steal ki Statistics Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 8, Wis14, Cha 8 Base Atk +5; CMB +11; CMD 27 Feats Alertness, Boar Style,Deflect Arrows (B), Dodge (B), Feral Combat Training (claws )(B), Punishing Kick (B), Step Up, Toughness, Weapon Focus (spikes) Skills Acrobatics +8 (+23 when jumping), Escape Artist +8, Fly +7, Intimidate +5, Perception +10, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +8 Languages Common, Vudrani SQ mighty leap, slow fall (20 ft.), Gear bracers of armor +1, brooch of shielding, muleback cords, elixir of dragon’s breath (blue dragon), potion of bull’s strength, potion of cat’s grace, potion of cure moderate wounds, dagger (x3), 196 gp Special Abilities Life Funnel (Su): A hungry ghost monk can steal a creature’s life force to replenish his own. If the monk has at least 1 ki point in his ki pool and scores a confirmed critical hit against a living enemy or reduces a living enemy to 0 or fewer hit points, she heals a number of hit points equal to her monk level. A monk with this ability cannot steal both ki and hit points at the same time Steal Ki (Ex) A hungry ghost monk can steal ki from other creatures. If the monk scores a confirmed critical hit against a living enemy or reduces a living enemy to 0 or fewer hit points, she can steal some of that creature’s ki. This ability replenishes 1 spent ki point to the monk’s ki pool, as long as the monk has at least 1 ki point in his pool. She cannot exceed her ki pool’s maximum.

[the-nomadicone]

Ex. Resolute Dragon // United States Marine Corps

[bearpillowmonster]

Dragon Age Origins

Those darn PS3 era games can be so annoying on Steam, you have the ones without subtitles, you have the ones that will only use an Xbox controller, then you have the half way broken ones, this is one of them. With FFXIII, it would stutter unless you plugged a controller in for me but with this one, it doesn't even take a controller.

Upon start-up, it informs you that the dlc in the ultimate edition needs to be ported via the cd keys page on Steam but that doesn't exist anymore so I started thinking I got hustled but there it is in the menu, already there, false alarm. I go through character creation and- crash. Try it again, go through character creation and black screen. Skip what was supposed to be a cutscene and it's still black. Troubleshoot. It's because I have another monitor (drawing monitor) but that's never been a problem before so I unplugged it- crashes again.

Troubleshoot again and others had this problem but usually after playing it already with mods installed, which I hadn't even started the game at this point. Disabled V-sync, disable frame buffer effects, disabled all online stuff. Went to the cutscene but still black. Was it because I picked human rogue? Because that means it blocks me off from experiencing certain stories, even if I chose it random. At this point a mod might actually save this game like it did FalloutNV but there isn't one that does that really.

Uninstalled, reinstalled, changed resolution settings, went for an elf run. Worked. Which one, dunno, but it did.

Now I want you to understand, this is a roleplaying game. Not an RPG or JRPG that you're used to, it's straight up something you could see in Baldrs Gate, you can do the top down perspective, equip stuff in the bottom menu and click on where you want the character to go. One handed. Now these are options, you can also get behind the character and play it more like you would The Witcher but it's not a Fantasy Mass Effect just because it's Bioware. You more or less heal after each encounter though which is cool and you can pause it to give commands.

I named my character Daelin and got about an hour in after rescuing some girls from a douchebag in a castle. Aaaannnddd it crashed again, couldn't get it to get past the menu. You guys know me, I hate prerequisites. I downloaded a 4GB patch which is supposed to fix crashing, that's when I got that error picture (yes, I'm just as surpissed as you that it's real). Then I resorted to the ancient ways of the manual .exe boot-

And hear ye, it worked!...And it crashed again...Son of a-! I put this game off now, officially. I enjoyed what I was playing of it and I had a fun time but I've had it, I've tried all these home remedies but nothing wants to work to make this an enjoyable experience. Good thing I got it on sale. Buy it anywhere else but PC. (for all I know, it's just as broken) This is that Bioware brokenness I got with KOTOR, I don't blame them, surely it was EA and porting but who decided it was acceptable to leave it like this?

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2951: Charizard (Dragon Majesty)

Charizard has always been a popular Pokemon, and Dragon Majesty was around the point where it was decided that a Charizard card every few sets was probably a good idea for sales. From a player standpoint, this wasn't as exciting, as Charizard cards rarely accomplished a lot. This Charizard was the sort of attacker where it was kind of like a 1 Prize GX, but it made you use a Stage 2 and you needed something spectacular to get by with using one of those when quicker Pokemon were everywhere. The card tried to make up for it by punishing heavy Pokemon-GX (and in Expanded, Pokemon-EX) use by the opponent. This created something of a match-up prone Pokemon that required help to make it through.

160 HP was a good number for a Stage 2 that gave up a single Prize, as it would usually be enough to take a good hit. The Tag Teams sometimes even needed a boost, though it wasn't hard to just use an Electropower on a Pikachu & Zekrom-GX or find a bigger attack with a Mewtwo & Mew-GX in a lot of cases. Pokemon V also typically got the job done, with the obvious note that Charizard was worse by that point with the lower amount of Pokemon-GX. The Water Weakness could have been a lot worse, as Water wasn't that great then. Sometimes you'd see a Keldeo-GX or a Quagsire to worry about, with neither being top tier. The Retreat Cost was 2 in case you needed to switch Charizard out for a more suitable attacker, and having switching cards was nice but could be hard to fit in a deck revolving around a Stage 2.

Resolute Flame was the type of Ability that helped in a good number of matches but not all. Charizard's attacks did 30 more damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon for each Pokemon-GX and Pokemon-EX they had in play. A loaded board of just Pokemon-GX put even the bulkiest Pokemon in OHKO range, which could make the opponent go for sub-optimal plays overall to keep their high HP Pokemon alive for longer. The other side to this was that decks like Spiritomb or Blacephalon tended to be 1 for 1 trading with their Basic Pokemon against Charizard, a Stage 2, which was not in Charizard's favor. GX decks with small Benches and the later Pokemon V also did better against Charizard to an extent, and match-ups were all over the place as a result.

Fiery Blast, at its base, was solid, at 130 damage for 2 Fire and a Colorless Energy. Discarding a Fire Energy from Charizard to use it was a bit annoying, but was likely to make up for potential damage boosts against Pokemon-GX. The unboosted attack was a little below average considering it was on a Stage 2 but still made progress against a lot of things.

Charizard was one of those in-between Pokemon. There were absolutely decks that wanted to pile a ton of Pokemon-GX in play, which Charizard could deal huge damage against if it could get into play and have enough Energy attached before being overwhelmed by Pokemon that were easier to set up. There were also decks that didn't need much, in the way of those, and most of those decks were also running a lot of Basic Pokemon. While Charizard got a KO on the 1 Prize Basics that were popular, those could often hit right back and keeping up with all the requirements just wasn't a winning formula when those other decks had a much easier time setting up. Charizard's peaks were really high, but the lows came often enough that this wasn't a card people took to a tournament. Better Charizard cards would come in the not too distant future, at least.

[crackinglamb]

OC Name Meanings

Tagged by @pikapeppa, thank you! 🥰

Tagging @ir0n-angel, @lilbittymonster, @bogunicorn and @espressocomfort. No pressure!

Rules: Search and post the meaning of your OC's name (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! bonus if you can find something for their last name too.

Right, so...I have a lot of OC's. Holy crap, did this get long. I'll go by fandom to keep them organized, and listed here are just the main player types, not background characters. And if you want to know more about any of them, they can all be found here.

Fallout 4

Nora Howard (Junkyard 'Verse series): My first SoSu. Nora is the default name and I struggled for a long time to come up with a last name for her. At the time, I thought it would be funny for her to share a name with Todd Howard, and then it stuck.

Valara Thorsgaard (Set to Repeat, Subject to Change): Lamb the Younger gave me the first name and I liked it. Val, for short. The Scandinavian last name was just...I dunno, it felt right?

Honoria Wilcox (No One Knows): 'Honoria' is a version of Nora. Her maiden name was Beaufort, because it was slightly pretentious and so was Honoria's mother. Wilcox was her late husband's name and she was glad to take it.

Eleanor (Nights series): Another Nora variant, no last name.

Joan Whitfield (The Bargain): I wanted something different for this OC since she ends up with Kellogg. (All my Nora variants end up with Hancock.) The first name comes from my extended family, and the last name sounds lawyerish. 😆

Tien Xu (Unexpected): Ahh, the SoSu from my first real AU. She's a Chinese prisoner of war who ended up in the Vault. No real reason for her given name, but 'Tien' was my favorite chemistry professor's last name back when I was in college.

Alice Monroe (Amends to the Dead): My most recent SoSu. From the get go I wanted her to be a badass, because let's face it, you get pretty OP'd with some of those skills in-game. 'Alice' is a nod to Resident Evil. 'Monroe' is just because it sounded good.

Mass Effect Trilogy

Jayne Shepard (Soldier, Spectre, Savior series): It's the default FemShep name, but I changed the spelling. That's really it.

Jehanne Shepard (Some Kind of Resolution): Henna, for short. Jehanne is a phonetic variant of Jane.

The Wayhaven Chronicles

Aya Batra (Little Things): Batra is one of the surnames you can choose when making your Detective, but Aya was my own invention. It's a variation of an old D&D character (Aeo, who in turn is a variation on Io). Someday I want to write more for her.

Dragon Age

(oh boy, here we go)

Da'Fen Carlisle Mayers Lavellan (Until It Squeaks series): Carly, to her friends. My first MGIT. When I created her I wanted her to be a 'just some person' kind of character, so she needed a name that didn't stand out much. Tbh, I don't even like it. I think I was halfway through writing Twist when I decided it was short for Carlisle, which eased my meh a little. Then as time went on in the story, she earned the rest. Abelas was the first to call her 'Da'Fen' because she was the Consort of Fen'Harel, and she was formally adopted into Clan Lavellan after the events of the main game.

Imogen McLean (Wicked Things series): My ex wouldn't let me name Lamb the Younger Imogen when she was born, so I decided I would save it for a character someday. And so I did. 'McLean' because she's of Irish descent, and I knew a girl by that family name when I was a kid.

Eliana Hawke (Wicked Things series): I tend to give my F!Hawkes unique names, I guess. But this one was for the purpose of Imogen getting to call her Elly and Elly getting to call her Genny. It was a deliberate 'the names you use denote intimacy level' kind of thing.

Terisin Mahariel (Wicked Things series): It means 'Flint-like'. I wanted something hefty for the HoF, something that would give the impression of gravity and determination. And then everyone in the fic shortens it to 'Ter'. 🤣

Mira Foret (Driftwood series): This is actually a nickname, her full name is Almira. Her family name on Earth was 'Wood', and upon being transported to Thedas, she changed it to 'Foret', which is the Orlesian version of the word. There is actually a reason she has these names in particular, but that gets into level 40 IRL stuff, so I shan't say.

Carmilla Hawke (Maker Damned Fools): Cara, for short, and only if you have her permission. Back when I first wrote MDF, I had a notion that Leandra wanted to give all her children names beginning with the same letter. "How'd Bethany happen?" Varric asked. Because they didn't know they were having twins and had to come up with a name on the fly and Malcolm had a twisted sense of humor. It makes more sense in the fic. Anyway, she hates the name, and thus goes mostly by Hawke.

Hera Trevelyan (No More My Heart Beats Without You): I just liked it. Didn't even know it was the default name of F!Adaar. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ellisora Lavellan (Flowers For Fen'Harel series): Everyone uses Ellana. It's the default. I don't like defaults (usually) and will twist them around any which way until I find something I do like.

Sa'vir Lavellan (No Strings): It means 'the First Path' or, more precisely for her character, 'the Only Way'. It was both to give some backstory to her and was a nod to her being inspired by The Unending Wake's Vir.

Lahalaan Lavellan (My Blood On Your Hands, Your Teeth In My Skin): Ahh, my poor Laani. She kicked around as an OC for a long time before I finally was able to write something for her. She was always meant to have a longfic, but it never happened. It means 'Like the Foxes', and it suits her as a redhead and a rogue class.

La'Vise Lavellan (Just Like Fire): The title of the fic is the definition of the name. She is my one canon story. I am utterly unsurprised at myself for not finishing it.

Lark Cadash (All the Earth and Air series): Again, default is bleh. Malika > Lika > Lark. Then I leaned into the bird symbolism.

Shae Cadash (Destiny Is Just In the Timing): This is apparently a popular name for a Cadash, lol. In order to set her apart (both in fandom and in my head), it's actually a nickname. Her full name is Shaelgat, meaning 'Unto Shale', and it has Lore(tm). A daughter of every generation is named this, and will be until they find the golem they're named after.

Banal'ras Nydha, the Twice-Born (Hope Is a Fragile Thing): She's actually a MGIT, who was given the name 'the Shadow of Night' by Solas in the Fade before she became corporeal in Thedas. She has a shtick that goes with it, the ability to use Fade cloak even though she isn't a mage otherwise. Ya know, like Cole. Her story and name are part and parcel with each other and mostly because I wanted to make an OC who was Deeply Mysterious(tm) without ever explaining it. The legend-mark comes from the Avvar, among whom she lives at the start of her fic.

(we're almost done)

Virlas Lavellan (I'll tell you my sins (and you can sharpen your knife)): Default, bleh. Symbolically fitting name, yay. It means 'the Way That is Given' or something like that. This was a giftfic turned treat for the Solavellan Hell Exchange, and I didn't think too hard about the name other than something that would fit for a post-canon Lavellan.

Rinna Cadash (What Lies Beneath): Another giftfic OC. Dwarven names tend towards being short and this one just felt right.

Eshali'nan Lavellan (A Wolf Named Vengeance): This fic is a modern AU collab with my beloved Angel, and someday we'll finish it, lol. Esha, for short, was another OC that kicked around for a long time like Laani. She has quite a backstory that will likely never get told because frankly, I'm tired of writing DA retellings. Originally she was a Sentinel in Arlathan, who spent most of the intervening years in uthenera like Solas, but woke a generation ago. She lived with the Lavellan clan and was chosen to go to the Conclave. The name means 'Daughter of Vengeance' and was chosen for her at her elevation to Sentinel status.

Great googly moogly, I have too many OC's...

[torpublishinggroup]

Tor Books EPIC Holiday Gift Guide For Your Oddball Family

Hello hello, and welcome back to our annual TOR BOOKS HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE, where we give you what we think are the best gifts for the hyper specific, super chaotic individuals in your life. From your childhood BFF to your mildly traumatized game master, we have a whole slew of bookish picks for you this holiday season. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays, y’all!

by Rachel Taylor and a cat

For your long suffering GM (Game Master) who just wants a break from your party — via tenor

Anyone who acts as game master for Dungeons & Dragons (or any other TTRPG, to be frank) deserves an award for powering through all the shenanigans their party puts them through. From attempting to fight a dragon with a fork to accidentally leading your party off a cliff, your deeply stressed out GM deserves a cozy novel to help them decompress. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree is out now and, for an extra little something, you can submit your receipt to get an adorable acrylic charm, a perfect addition to your gift!

For your cousin who remained loyal and never left Tumblr — via GIPHY

You remember the Tumblr exodus of 2019, and for shame—you were part of it, you fragile soul. But not your cousin. Resolute, they stood by their blog and posted through the long, long night. Three years later, Tumblr is resurging and you need a gift for the one who never lost faith. What’s more Tumblr than magic danger-nerds alternatively hooking up with and hating each other as they conduct research and mainline caffeine and/or alcohol? Redeem your past mistakes with the perfect bookly gifts for your cousin: Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six and thrilling sequel, The Atlas Paradox.

For the enthusiastic players who got their GM Legends & Lattes — @lookhuman via GIPHY

You love the players at your table, but even after years of collaborative TTRPG storytelling, you’ve never once anticipated the many ways they have conspired to unravel every plot thread you’ve ever written. How then could you ever predict what they might like as a gift? Easy. Just listen to us: Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald is a fantastic epic fantasy about a girl who can A) see ghosts, and B) turn people into them with an expertly placed arrow, if she takes the mind. Of course, if anyone finds out about her power, she’s dead, and circumstances have led her to become a ward in the monastery of the very warrior-magi that would execute her. Oops! What gamesplayer can resist a quick-paced and twisting tale of magic, adventure, and deceit?

For your ex-boyfriend who’s still blowing up your phone with House of the Dragon TikTok’s — via GIPHY

So your ex-boyfriend (who you’re still friends with, DESPITE THE ADVICE OF OTHERS) just finished House of the Dragon and he won’t stop texting you about how much it sucks to have to wait 2 years for season 2. He’s right, but you can still give him a new epic fantasy to obsess over with The First Binding by R.R. Virdi. At over 800 pages, it’ll keep him busy for quite a while AND it also doubles as a premium bludgeoning weapon for you if he doesn’t appreciate your gift. Win win!

For your chronically-online uncle who needs to stop doomscrolling for his own health — @dualvoidmania via GIPHY

He’s mister doom-and-gloom. If there’s an upsetting tweet, you’ve seen it because he’s retweeted it. You don’t quite know him well enough to be comfortable with direct intervention. You need to gift him Last Exit by Max Gladstone. It’s a book about the death of idealism and the rot that creeps through the cracks of reality like so many corrosively fecund vines. It’s about a generation who thought they would transform the world and failure’s fallout. He’ll still be very DOOM-ful, but in an artistically fun, yet still scary way.

For your brother who is OBSESSED with The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime — via GIPHY

So your brother watched The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime and has fallen down the 14+ book-deep rabbithole that is Robert Jordan’s timeless epic fantasy series. Help him delve even further into the lore with Origins of the Wheel of Time by Michael Livingston! He’ll be able to learn even more about all the mythology and legends that inspired Robert Jordan’s universe and you’ll get some peace and quiet while he’s absorbed in his new book.

For your sister who always has at least 5 open browser tabs of Ao3 fics — via Gfycat

Who among us hasn’t spent some time reading fix-it fics on Ao3? Well, no one compares to your sister, who currently has 30 tabs open on her iPhone filled with her favorite OTP falling in love 30 different ways (IF THE SHOW WON’T GIVE THEM A HAPPILY EVER AFTER, THE INTERNET WILL). You can’t buy her the perfect 100 chapter slow burn coffee shop fix-it fic of her OTP, but you CAN buy her Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell! It features all the choicest tropes like mutual pining, slowburn, and fake dating and will be sure to put a smile on her face for the holidays.

For your estranged mother, to subtly let her know that your relationship still requires some Conversations — via GIPHY & tenor

Do you want to give your mother a gift that’s also a hint about how you feel about your tumultuous parental relationship? Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey is the gift for her! It’s got great thriller vibes, with a daughter coming back to her family home for the first time after her father was arrested for being a serial killer…which she kind of caused. And mom’s still holding a grudge over a DECADE later. It’s got drama, monsters, and enough parallels to make your mom go ‘Wait, is this f*cking play about US?!’

For the loved one in your life who waited 2.5 years to finally see My Chemical Romance live in Fall 2022 — @KyleeConriquez via GIPHY

A million years ago (Or two and a half. Whatever. Time is meaningless mush) your loved one planned to attend the My Chemical Romance reunion. A show that would eventually be put off and off and off due to ongoing events until earlier this year. It was epic, but you know what else is? Book of Night by Holly Black. Your loved one won’t have to wait 900~ days for this literary event, and just like an MCR show, they’ll want to acquire (more) goth clothes and tattoos after.

For the childhood BFF everyone called a ‘voracious reader’ growing up / anyone who was ‘a delight to have in class’ — via Goodreads

Did your childhood BFF simply devour every book in front of her? Is she still That Person whose TBR pile is precariously stacked in the corner of her living room, a threat to anyone who brushes too close? Give her a book to really whet her appetite for reading in The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean, where a very special family literally sustains themselves entirely by eating books. Did we bite a book while reading this to see if we were book eaters? Who’s to say.

For your college best friend with at least one historical quote tattoo — via GIPHY

Does your college best friend have an encyclopedic knowledge of historical retellings? Do they have, at minimum, one historically linked tattoo that prompts a 20 minute lecture whenever someone asks what it means? Do they have five different editions of The Song of Achilles on their shelf? And most importantly, do they crave a new, queer retelling to sink their teeth into? Look no further! Neon Yang has a Joan of Arc inspired, post-apocalyptic sci-fi story for you. Check out The Genesis of Misery, ​​starring a queer and diverse array of pilots, princesses, and prophetic heirs.

For the ambiguously LGBTQ+ niece whose fashion sense you try to understand, but ultimately makes you feel insecure about how fast you’re aging — @yifan via GIPHY

You love them, but no one makes you feel old like your nebulously but definitely queer niece. They’re so cool, and are very helpful in keeping you up to date on the hippest trends, but every time you talk to them, you feel the pent-up years in your joints. Get your niece A. K. Larkwood’s The Serpent Gates series, including The Unspoken Name and The Thousand Eyes. It’s about a gay orc death priestess who rebrands herself as a garbage wizard’s personal assassin and picks up a gods-cursed, magi-baddie mid-adventure. There are cosmic gods, ancient ruins, devious machinations, and a lot of awesome gay stuff.

For the sibling on their third+ rewatch of The Expanse — via GIPHY

We get it. Your sibling buddy is bummed that The Expanse has finished its TV run and is still hopelessly in love with its marriage of adrenaline-flooding action and introspective parsing of human expansion / empire. Again, we do get it, and what you need to get is Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus.

For the nephew who you gifted The Way of Kings to last year — via GIPHY

Your nephew reads through books at speeds generally known only to muscle cars and lightning, and he needs long fantasy books now! The time required to produce the next installment in an epic series is often as long as the books themselves, which is unfortunate since it’s time for you to gift your nephew another book. Here’s the good news: Brandon Sanderson writes as fast as your nephew reads, and his long-awaited continuation of the Mistborn series, The Lost Metal, is the perfect gift. And then next year you can get him the next Brando Sando, and the book cycle of giving goes on and on and on.

We hope you and your loves ones have a happy and safe holiday season! Did we miss a super niche friend/family member that you want to see a gift for? Let us know in the comments! 

[tenderloinfillet]

ART FIGHT 2024 WRAP UP

Soul the Brephlosion 05.07.24

@neonhuo

I was learning the basics of clip studio and had lots of fun with the stamps and shading. Correcting the sketch in mirror mode was actually fun and I ended with a lineart that looks natural and good.

When drawing a feral creature from this pose I end up in a fish-eye lens. I embraced them for this picture.

Background ironically took most of the days with this. When making that small cityscape I had to color my citybrush and add green screens for the windows. I made a distorted sky layer and overlaid it on that greensceen so it looks like they're reflecting. I downloaded an entire 3D model of countryside from Sketchfab but it can't be seen at all through the foliage.

I took inspiration from classic Ukiyo-e prints in the red color of the ground. I'm proud of the autumny/brown-grass-summer the nature at background has. I constructed the forests rock formations with the idea this cliff was an ancient seaside beach millions of years ago.

I did not use a single gradient layer in this image.

Alex Sokolov 24.07.2024

@chocodile

I had a small trip and a whole con when I was drawing her, so it took two weeks from start to finish.

I learned how to make the most use out of the 3D reference tools. I rendered the mountains by hand, but it was unfeasible to repeat with mansion. I don't have Clip Studio Ex, so I did my own "LT-Conversion" at Krita. I used the window reflection trick again.

Alex's pose ended a little stiff because it was my first time both drawing her and using the 3D mannequin tool. Next time I would use more lively brushes. In this piece she is drawn with the same feng shui brushes I used for the background.

There is enough shading to count as "fully shaded" in artfight, but it is mostly in the brush strokes or implied in things like the hallway having a darker color. The shading would only be noticeable if removed. I went for a rendering style with vibes of an 2010s Hasbro cartoon through the pastel colored outlines and overall flatness.

I was using the default resolution so the piece looks kind of pixelated. It would look very different with a 600dpi resolution.

Alex isn't exactly the happiest person, so I gave her a camera stare that fits the early 1900s style setting. I used lots of gradients to soften the colors so they would not look too digital. The sky had a grading issue so.

This piece feels like something that I could revisit in the next year or four.

Dragon Boy Kam 01.08.24

@drabonboykam

I don't remember how I found him, but I chose him since I just wanted a hot anime boy that would be easy to draw. My first idea was to draw him flat colored on simple temple background. Then I added the magic soap bubble wings. They took so much effort I decided to not draw the temple background.

Instead I chose to make it an Y2K undersea cafe. That added to some 7 hours of work to finish it all. There are 10s of gradient, mutliplication, glow addition etc layers. The backgrounds chrome color itself comes from overlayed color gradients.

I added an infobox and overlays so it kind of looks like an reference sheet. However, it's not functional as one. It's more like a big trading card in design.

I like how cohesive it turned out. I switched to using 600dpi and that made things a lot smoother.

Madame Tilly 03.08.24

@trashcamell

I wanted to give this a playful kinky aura and I think I succeeded in capturing a mix of both foreboding and exciting aura. I made the little torment toys look so colorful to make them to look both inviting and cute.

I put a desaturating gradient on the right side of the background to make your eyes focus and move to the Madame. The background still lays out the details of the scene, there's a pillory and there is an open closet where Madame Tilly has taken her implements from. The closed door gives a sense of being enclosed in the playroom with her.

The eyes are supposed to look down on the viewer, but to me it looks like she's kind of looking at the ground and I sort of painted myself against a wall with that. At least I can pretend she's making eye contact.

I posed her with the 3D planner but it feels like i have shed that obvious look at this point.

I added a lot of small fixes to the final merged layer. One of those I didn't notice until the last second were the horns.

I shocked my friends when I told them I rendered this for 24 hours straight.

The Trio of Orphans

0.3.08.24, 1 minute late

Alanita belongs to @DexieWu

Nala belongs to @jimen_salad

Trilogy belongs to @draciformes

At the last minute, I realised that maybe artfight could be more fun if I sketched a lot of new characters instead of spending days just rendering these megaprojects. So I sketched and "inked" three busts in just an hour. Characters I really wanted to draw but did not give the proper time.

I only had 5 minutes left to scan and crop and post these all. I only got one of them sent before the event ended.

In the end, making 4 big attacks made the event a little uneventful even though I learned a lot. I had a very good incentive to learn every nook and cranny of Clip Studio Paint and don't regret my unconventional playstyle because I had so much fun with it.

Maybe I could do one unhinged 300€ surprise gift art every month it's not artfight? I will think about that.

[undefinedscribble]

My DA:O Modlist

(this post is likely to keep changing. I don't imagine if anyone's looking at it, but in case you are and it's been less than a month since it was posted)

It is 2024, and I'm starting a new game of Origins after almost 8 years, and I'm starting from scratch on mods. A good part of this is just for future me to look back on, tbh, to stop me from looking at all these redundant mods I've been combing through just because "well, I remember I used to use that." It's messy and I'll clean it up as I go, I hope. I'll be using Kinlochhold's list (who I'll be referring to as "kh" if it's necessary to do so later on) as a jumping off point. Historically, my intentions have been to fix things and add mostly-lore-friendly stuff (I'll be trying to adhere to the visual style for hair and things - probably) as well as trying to keep from making the game too easy (via either avoiding certain tweaks or trying to add difficulty-increasing mods - though if anyone ever creates a "skip the wilds" mod, I'm jumping on that one cuz early-game nightmare mode is hell).

I'm noting things I would not even start the game without installing with 2 asterisks.

Tools: **Not a mod but LAA patch to allow the game to use more than 2gb of memory and the unencrypted game exe to allow LAA to work.

**DAO Modmanager - I tried the DAUpdater that comes with the game this time around, and it was not being friendly, so here we go. For installing .dazips.

DragonAge Face Replacer - I haven't tried this yet, got it from kh's list. For, uh, replacing your face. And also you can extract the morphs from your saves, which sounds cool.

CharGenMorph Compiler - was gonna do stuff manually, but I'm burned out rn, so screw that. Be smart and not stubborn, folks.

Fixes: **Qwinn's Ultimate Dragon Age Origins Fixpack - Renders most dialogue fixes redundant (or incompatible). Fixes, not tweaks. It fixes and restores content that the author believes was meant to be in the game but was cut for time, etc vs because it was intentionally cut content. Does not include DLC fixes. **Dragon Age Rules Fixpack - A modular combination of gameplay bug fixes and annoyance/QoL tweaks. Renders the "helmet hack" and "party command - unlock" mods unnecessary (along with many other fix mods). Includes auto-looting. I've deleted a few tweaks (XP on all deaths and VFX tweaks) but may add them back in if those effects start to bug me, lol. I also deleted the autoloot tweak (kept autoloot kills but not the basic autoloot) bc I wasn't sure it was working correctly.

Golem Registry and Shapers Life Reward Fix - fixes no-reward bug.

UI:

**FtG UI Mod - Doesn't change much in terms of overall UI usage, but it is good for such an old game as it allows you to have the menus change size for higher resolutions so you can read them as well as allowing you to change the placement of the subtitles More Detailed Tooltips - Extension of Detailed Tooltips, which gives in-depth info on what abilities actually *do.* Includes DLC. Note: Not installing the fixpack included in the description as comments have noted incompatibilities with QUDAOF.

FtG Quickbar - Can't remember if this is what I used to use or not. Shows all 50 quickbar slots at once. Is stated to be compatible with other UI mods.

Easier to Read Font for DAO - Enchantment for your eyes? Enchantment for your eyes! How do you not download something after reading that? Makes the over-stylized font simplified while still fitting in theme-wise. Specifies compatibility with FtG UI. I chose the serif version.

Gameplay: Advanced Tactics - Fixes some party AI bugs and gives extra options for the tactics system.

**Advanced Party - I always used to race to the mage tower even if it didn't make sense for my character to do so because I didn't want Wynne auto-leveling. This lets you level up abilities manually so you can roleplay without worrying about it ruining things.

**Two Specializations Sten - Gives Sten a second specialization point so that he gets two specializations like everyone else.

Quality of Life, etc: Camp Storage Chest - Puts a chest in camp to get rid of the need for the one at Warden's Keep. Keeps the limit on storage capacity (bc otherwise I'd keep everything I'd ever found).

**No Ladder Comments - "CAN I GET YOU A LADDER SO YOU CAN-" NO. For the love of all that is holy, please stop. A mod to keep you sane (removes this line from the game). I refuse to use the violent voice without this mod installed.

Lore Fixes, etc: (I have not installed any of the lore fixes but the codex one yet cuz I was just eager to start the game) Accurate Codex History of Ferelden Chapter 2 - Changes this codex entry to align with the events from the novel TSM Connor Epilogue Fix at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)

TSM Elfy Ghost Boy at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)

TSM WTF Lyrium Dust at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)

Misc: Non Alcohol Oghren Gifts at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)

TSM Better Bannhammer - Teagan tweaks and fixes at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)

maybe list:

Auto Swap Quick Slot Bar at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)

Statistic Fix - Bosses Killed at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)

Second Drain life bug fix at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com) - gets rid of a duplicate skill that doesn't do anything (need to see if this even is a problem first)

Less barking dog at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com) - May end up needing this

will probably install later (after remembering what the original looks like)

[drekasal]

JUNE 2024: I will be taking a temporary leave of absence from the 17th to the 24th, so it is unlikely I will be able to get work done during this time. However, commission requests will still be available depending on slot availability, and anything I don't get done beforehand will be resumed when I return!

—※—

At long last, my commissions are finally open once again! Note that this will be a bit of a trial run so that I can smooth over any rough spots, but apart from that, service requests are fully functional, and I look forward to meeting with you all!

First and foremost, these commissions will be done via waitlist, through which you can requested to be added via any of my social handles or drekarys.comms@gmail.com!

🎨COMMISSION TYPES🎨

Sketch will have the quickest turn around time, comprising a polished version of my rough drawings.

Clean Up has a moderate turn around time, comprising of line art and base colors, but otherwise no shading/rendering.

Shaded will have the longest turn around time, with the completed drawing possessing depth and rendering not present in the aforementioned types.

📝COMMISSION FORM📝

Email Subject: "Commission + identifier (user/character's name)

Type: (bust; clean up; detailed background, etc.)

Description: Try and make this as detailed as possible for better clarity as to your request; ideas for pose, setting, expression, etc. Visual references can include drawings, photographs, collages, etc., but if you would like me to create the design from scratch, it will be charged based on complexity (base price is $50)

Paypal/Venmo email

✒️ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS✒️

Dragons, dinosaurs, and anything reptilian in nature are my go-tos in regards to drawing. I do attempt to study all animal anatomy in general, however, and am more than willing to try out out other forms.

Humans I am also willing to do, though they do not shine as much as my creature designs.

Furry and Anthro characters I may attempt (price will not change) but bear in mind they are NOT my forte.

I am more than happy to assist in character design if needed. Price will vary depending on complexity, but the base is usually $50 as a standard.

If there is something you have in mind that isn't shown as an example, do not be afraid to ask me about it! I'm usually willing to try anything at least once! (Emotes, banners, icons, etc.)

🧾TERMS OF SERVICE🧾

PAYPAL/VENMO, United States Dollars $ (USD) — Email: drekarys.comms@gmail.com

Prices are for PERSONAL USE only. I may consider commercial rates in the future, but my commissions will NOT BE ALLOWED to be used as NFTs or other forms of cryptocurrency.

Anything below $100 USD is required to be paid upfront. (Note that this is for when the commission is started, not for when you enter the waitlist.) Full resolution images will not be provided until the payment is complete.

I don't accept works with a deadline.

I reserve the right to reject any commission which I don't feel comfortable with.

Completion time estimated a week to a month (from when I start) depending on complexity and queue.

As long as the artwork is for personal use, you are free to do with it as you will. (If you post it anywhere, please remember to credit me!)

—※—

Refunds are only valid for PayPal and Venmo payments. If you find that you are no longer satisfied with my services, a refund will be distributed based on the progress. A portion of the total price will be taken away depending on the stage the work is currently in. All canceled commissions will still receive a .png file of the artwork in the state that it is.

Sketch (-20%)

Lineart (-40%)

Base Color (-60%)

Shaded (-80%)

Final Touches (At this point, the drawing is almost complete, and a refund is no longer possible)

Ex. A commission of $100 after the PayPal fee is $96.02. If you decide that you don't want my service anymore while it is in the base color process, then it is 96.02 - 60% = #38.41 as cashback.

Lastly, please please please no pressure! These pieces take me quite a bit of time to do, and the less stress weighing on my shoulders, the better for my peace of mind.

If you have any other questions, please don't be shy, and feel free to leave comments below!