#The Archimagos

[liketwoswansinbalance]

Rhian: You've never dated anyone. Do you even have a type?

Rafal: Of course I have a type. An archetype.

Rhian: That's not—

Rafal: The magus, the archmage, the black magician, the ruler, the trickster, the magnificent bastard, the king of spades...

Rhian: [rolls his eyes]

[kissmelickmesqueezeme]

"Para nosotros era importante presentar en las Leyendas una búsqueda que no tuviera tanto que ver con salvar el mundo tal como era (como dice Par-Salian) como con salvar un alma. Todos creían que a la que nos referíamos era al alma de Raistlin pero, por supuesto, era a la de su gemelo. El archimago ya se había condenado. Lo único que lo salva al final es el amor de su hermano y esa pequeña chispa de afecto presente en su propio corazón que no puede extinguirse del todo ni siquiera en la oscuridad que hay dentro de él."

[rodrigomorales]

Tu no me gustas, tú me encantas, y no lo digo en el sentido figurado, lo digo en su sentido literal. Tus ojos tienen esa capacidad de transportarme a los lugares más agradables, tintados con la profundidad y misterio qué solo tus pupilas transmiten. Tus labios me transforman en el ser más natural, obligandome a utilizar todos mis sentidos solo para calmar mis instintos... Tu voz hipnotiza mi corazón y lo hace cantar al son de tus palabras, y tu cuerpo, como el hechizo más poderoso de un archimago, logra destruirme y luego reconstruirme, juega con mi mente, haciéndola sentir en la nubes para luego estrellarse en la realidad, hace que mi cuerpo tiemble, y mi voz se corte, congela mis sentidos, pero hierve mi sangre, ensordece mi raciocinio e ilumina a mis instintos...

Así que tu no me gustas... Tu me encantas...

- Rodrigo Morales

[bookishnerdlove]

LANM - Capítulo 236

Historia paralela Episodio 32 (Fin)   “Genial. Esto es suficiente. Simplemente regresa ahora”. Dijo el archimago de barba poblada con una sonrisa. “Pero aún no es hora de terminar…” … .” “Pasaste la prueba, ¿verdad? Eso es lo primero”. En el templo se educaba a niños con poderes mágicos. Por supuesto, no fue algo que sucedió por la fuerza. Los niños que tenían la voluntad de presentar sus nombres…

[richardvarey]

Discerning the dichotomy of devices

This comment from Archimago on his latest musing from his visit to Pacific Audio Fest 2024 pretty succinctly summarises the contemporary state of the hi-fi market: I don’t think it should be a surprise to any audiophile these days that the utilitarian purpose of “high-fidelity” reproduction has been reached for many classes of products already (prime among them transparent DACs, amplifiers,…

[karaokulta]

¡🚀 Despegue hacia el éxito sin quemar las naves! 🎮 Swen Vincke, el director de *Baldur's Gate 3*, nos ha lanzado una carcajada con su sincera confesión en el reciente evento Digital Dragons. Y es que, incluso en el reino de Faerûn, los dragones no son lo único que sopla fuego. 💬 - ✨ **La realidad del 'crunch':** Vincke admite que en Larian Studios no han ejercido un 'crunch' extremo, pero ¿quién puede evitar esos mini-maratonianos esfuerzos finales? 🏃‍♂️🕗 - 🎯 **Perspectiva aterrizada:** Menos 'crunch' que en proyectos pasados, pero aún así, los retos no anticipados son parte del juego. Esquivar imprevistos en finales épicos exige algo más que pociones de mana. 🔮 Mi predicción, desde un lado del espejo de plata: - Lo que nos cuenta Vincke es más que un guiño honesto a la cultura de trabajo en el desarrollo de juegos. Es un reflector sobre una práctica debatida y a veces criticada. - No esperen que el 'crunch' se esfume de pronto como un conjuro de invisibilidad. Pero sí anticipen que estudios brillantes como Larian sigan puliendo su magia para crear mundos sin necesidad de rituales agotadores. 🌟 ⚒️ He aquí algunas reflexiones transformadoras: 1. ✅ Calidad sin quemar el capital humano es la piedra filosofal de este negocio. Es obligación de todos los magos de la industria, desde aprendices hasta archimagos, encontrar dicho equilibrio. 2. 💡 El liderazgo empático es la varita mágica que necesitamos. Fomentar cultureas donde el 'crunch' sea la excepción, no la norma. Como videntes de la industria, sigamos conjugando conjuros para evocar metodologías más ágiles y humanas que reduzcan al mínimo el esfuerzo crítico necesario. 💖 Y tú, ¿cómo piensas que podemos respaldar proyectos ambiciosos sin caer en el 'crunch'? Únete a la mesa redonda en los comentarios 🧙‍♄️✨ y si conoces a algún héroe o heroína del desarrollo de videojuegos, menciona a tus compañeros de quest 🛡️🗡️. ¡Nos encantaría saber en qué misiones están trabajando! #BaldursGate3 #DesarrolloDeJuegos #CulturaLaboral #CrunchTime #Innovación #LiderazgoEmpático #BalanceTrabajoVida #Videojuegos

[el-principe-dragon]

(vía El Príncipe Dragón : Imágenes gif del personaje de Viren - El Príncipe Dragón - g XII)

Viren es el antiguo Gran Mago de Katolis y fue el consejero más cercano del Rey Harrow, antes de convertirse en un traidor a su reino. Es el padre de Soren y Claudia, así como un poderoso mago oscuro que sigue los consejos del Archimago Aaravos. Aunque sus enemigos lo creen muerto, sigue vivo después de que Claudia lo resucitara.

[oliviasbookshelf]

I just completely deleted Gezze from my WIP. I realized he wasn’t vital to the story and only added to the looooong and complicated list of characters.

So let me tell you about him here.

Gezze was a trickster god who lived on the Rim of the World. His crux was loneliness. He was trusted by no one and used by everyone.

He was employed by Iona to protect Purvain. It was possibly the most prestigious job he’d gotten. For once he was respected as an actual god and given something meaningful to do instead of the petty tricks he was usually asked for.

The job was to kill the human that was coming to slay Purvain. The dragon sat on a sizable treasure and the greedy human was coming to take it.

He is inspired by Archimago from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. As such, he gives Morn a dream that Dusk will betray her, causing her to flee.

Catching her fleeing, Gezze leads her to what he hopes is her doom in a ditch full of ghouls. During their hike, though, he realizes she’s actually a soft and compassionate person.

There’s a sense of affection between them before he abandons her.

When she escapes the ditch unscathed, he has to deliver the killing blow himself. At which point Dusk and Cress (representing Una and Arthur) have to save her and take her to the caelia (the House of Holiness)

[detroitlib]

From our stacks: Illustration for "The Story of St. George and the Dragon" from American Nights' Entertainments. New York: R. Worthington, n.d. (18??)

[kissmelickmesqueezeme]

"Frente a tan hilarante visión, en la memoria del archimago se avivaron los recuerdos de su juventud, unas evocaciones del pasado que tuvieron la virtud de diluir la negrura y el horror que corroían su alma desde hacía más años de los que estaba dispuesto a admitir. De nuevo era un adolescente esperanzado, lleno de sueños, de nuevo viajaba con su hermano, la persona a quien más indisolubles lazos le habían unido a lo largo de su existencia. Nadie le importaría tanto, tampoco en el futuro, como aquel botarate que le dirigía improperios."

[exxo-potato]

Forbidden Fruit

Relationship: Platonic to Romantic

Ship Type: Orc!Bodyguard (man) x Royal!Reader (gender neutral)

Time Period + Setting: Medievalist Fantasy

Chapter 1 (SFW)

You panted as you held the point of your sword to the orc’s neck. His piercing emerald eyes held your gaze, a subtle act of defiance despite his disadvantaged state. Orcs never truly backed down, but neither did royals like yourself who were martially trained--well, in your case, royals who were being martially trained. You had by no means acquired mastery of the art, and you knew that day was far off, but it seemed that you had finally bested your long-time opponent. Just as soon as a smug grin graced your features, it vanished. Your lips pursed in annoyance. The skirmish happened too fast, and you were easily able to overcome him. Of course, overcoming an orc in solo combat was never easy in the usual sense of the word. But you could not allow yourself to believe that your victory was hard-won.  

Sighing heavily, you lowered your sword and slid the blade into its scabbard in one fluid motion. “You let me win.”

“Ever the observant one.” Fauldush relaxed his posture and gave you a lopsided smile. As he did so, you took in his supple lips and asymmetrical tusks. The right tusk had been broken long before he was assigned to you as your primary bodyguard, but the left tusk was whole, roughly three inches high from his bottom lip, and adorned with three rings of various sizes. Two of the rings were copper, while one was silver. The copper rings were crude circles that were placed around the bottom and top of the tusk. The silver ring was of finer make than its companions and sat a short distance between them, so that each one was an equal distance apart from the other.

 It seemed incredulous to believe that orcs were considered ugly and undesirable by the nobility. You knew that was why your mothers, the Sovereign Queens, assigned one to you as a personal guard. They felt that an illicit, reputation-ruining affair was one less thing to worry about. Not to mention, orcs were trained from childhood to be brilliant fighters and were raised in cultures that valued fierce loyalty. The queens must have felt that these traits made for the perfect protector. “You were never going to relent, Your Highness, and if the match had continued for much longer, you would have been late for your thaumaturgy lesson.” 

“Need I remind you that you are my bodyguard and not my keeper, Fauldush?” You chided him gently as you removed your leather armor and handed it to him piece by piece. You wished that he would call you by your informal title and name instead of by your formal title, but he always insisted that anything less would be improper. “If I am late for a lesson that is taught by a stuffy old man who is as uninterested in teaching me as I am in learning from him, then only I am to blame.”

Fauldush walked with you as you made your way to your next session.“Archimago is a mage of high renown, Your Highness, and I am sure that he is honored to teach the future of the kingdom. His knowledge and skill in the mystical arts are unparalleled from here to the very edges of--.”

You cut him off. “I am already on my way to a lecture, Fauldush. I do not require an additional one.”

Fauldush cleared his throat and adjusted his grip on your leather armor. “Yes, of course. Forgive me.” He averted his gaze in concession. That was another thing you loathed. Everyone around you  apologized if they thought that they had offended you even in the slightest. One noble went as far as to kneel on the floor and bend his head low in submission, and all he had done was slip on your long, trailing ceremonial cloak when you had suddenly slowed down in front of him. Most of the time, you took no offense to anything that anyone had said or done. And, in this case, you hated making Fauldush feel sorry for speaking his mind--something that you frequently encouraged--but he did not know Archimago like you did. Even so, he said nothing so egregious that he needed absolution for it.

You sighed under your breath. You sorely craved normal interactions with other people, but your royalty had robbed you of that. “You are forgiven.” The rest of the walk to Archimago’s study was silent.

[bookishnerdlove]

SNCRM - 235

◈Episodio 235. 3. El Archimago y la Creadora de Villanas (74)   La sonrisa desapareció lentamente de su rostro inocente.   Me puse rígida.   No, pensé que no lo mostraba por fuera, pero los ojos de Rize se abrieron como si lo supiera.   Esos ojos no sonreían en absoluto.   … Era como si ella fuera otra persona.   “No sé de qué estás hablando, Rize.”   “Sí, yo supongo que sí. Puede pasar.”   Rize…

[richardvarey]

A hierarchy of audio system domains

Archimago muses on: source recording quality audio reproduction hardware room acoustics and correction listener’s mental engagement He offers a ranking of importance of audio system chain components for listening experience. There’s something of an antidote for gear upgrading in this! http://archimago.blogspot.com/2024/08/summer-musings-what-are-most-important.html

[onlylonelylatino]

The Shining Knight gets a sidekick, Butch Boyle.  And Merlin pulls them back to the past to defeat Archimago.  Art by Chuck Winter

[sublimegentlemanalpaca]

Pondering Crests and stuff for the FoE Academies. Because that's a fine thing to ponder and to figure out.

Archimago Academy: the Silver Tower, Woods, and a Grey Phoenix.

Dom Daniel: Cave Mouth, a Dragon with an Axe, Book, staff, and Sack.

Beowulf Academy: A Vampire Spear (like a Boar Spear, but for Vampires) crossed by a Sword and a severed Monstrous Arm.

Suleyman Academy: A Compass Rose with each direction having some sort of Creature, monster, or some such (don't know quite yet)

the Russian Academy (still figuring out a name, probably Vasilisa, Veles, or Yaga?) A Skull Lantern on a Stick, three Riders above it And trees beside it.

Tomoko Academy: a Grey Phoenix perched on a Scarecrow dressed in grey, with a White Fox attempting to play with and generally annoy thr bird.

Leeds and Kidd: Symbol is basically a figure of Captain Kidd hanging out with the Jersey Devil over a camp Fire.

Make of this what you will.

Al, the Chronographing Cottager and Prince of Naming

[vector-xd]