#Valenth

[miraphoenix]

Right off the bean, this is not a callout post. I'd talk to the person this is about 1-on-1, but a) he's had me blocked for 4 years, and b) it's mutual. This is me venting on my personal blog, something that he decided to vague about me doing back when I had my first blog.

With that out of the way. I'm really fucking tired of people stealing from Valenth/Revecroir, and from its creator.

Years and years ago, when they were a literal child, my bff/queer life partner--for the purpose of this post, their name is Leupai--made lizard-critters with hands on their tongues and called them leupaks. Eventually, they ended up splitting off from Subeta where they worked at the time, making an affiliated petsite called Valenth where the leupaks featured quite prominently as creatures in a fantasy-meets-steampunk world.

Unfortunately, their boss was a piece of work, and following a rather large kerfluffle involving another petsite lifting other elements of my partner's work (namely, a dragon concept and a companion concept), my partner was fired by the Subeta head boss. The leupaks were renamed into leupai, and Valenth expanded into Revecroir. This was in 2014, give or take a few months.

Through about half of the Valenth era and into the Revecroir era, Leupai was dating someone else, who went by Sixar at the time, later Kismeti, and the two had a long-distance open relationship. Kismeti also did a fair amount of site art for Valenth, and described himself as Leupai's biggest fan; when he'd met Leupai originally, his username referenced leupaks, he had a bunch of leupak characters, and a leupak sona. I met both of them in 2013-2014, right around the close of Valenth, and started chatting with them both. Leupai was more responsive, Kismeti was more reserved, but I did the best I could.

Over the years, I kept trying to reach out to Kismeti, but found that Leupai was honestly more willing to talk with me, so I did become better friends with them. Note that I was friends with Leupai, and trying to be friends with Kismeti. We chatted, we sent memes, we played World of Warcraft, I bought folks pizza across the Pacific Ocean, you know the drill.

Through this, I became really familiar with Leupai's world, at that point named Revecroir. I got to know their lore, their worldbuilding, their current projects, and the leupai creatures themselves.

The leupai were--and are!--still fat lizards with paws on their tongues, who can open portals between worlds with acid in their claws, who transfer their consciousnesses to other bodies if one is destroyed, and whose strength comes from the realm of dreams and creativity. In the early days, in lore that wasn't publicized, leupai were roaming around to find a world to live on after Valenth. This was a project that was supposed to be worked on with Kismeti, but nothing really ever came of it. Eventually, Leupai kind of moved on from that storyline to write more about Revecroir itself.

At the same time, I tried asking Kismeti about his worldbuilding, because he had characters and allegedly a world of his own, but didn't really get a lot in the way of answers. I saw a lot of Sonic fanart, I saw a lot of homestuck, I saw a lot of MLP:FiM, I saw a lot of Captain Planet. Eventually, I kind of... Gave up asking? And that's on me, but frankly, if you ask someone to share their stuff and they don't share their stuff, I figure that's the signal to stop asking.

As time went on, though, I was seeing some cracks forming in the 10-year relationship between the two, and I was helping Leupai through a lot. I watched as he yelled at my best friend for not responding to messages fast enough. I watched as he made plans with Leupai and then fucked off to do other things for hours, leaving Leupai in the lurch and worried about his physical safety. I watched as he gaslit Leupai about their ability to use a computer. On one memorable instance, when Leupai's internet was unstable while we were all playing WoW together, Leupai left the voice call to go reset the router, and Kismeti decided that it was a great time to shit-talk Leupai's intelligence to me. For a half hour straight. Until Leupai rejoined the call.

Eventually, I visited Leupai in person and watched as they were broken down to tears by Kismeti failing to respect their boundaries for literal hours, until Leupai caved to Kismeti's preferences. That was a rough night, and I remember wondering why the fuck my best friend's partner was treating them so badly.

About a month and a half after I visited Leupai, they decided to break up with Kismeti, because they'd had enough of him verbally berating them for not responding fast enough to memes sent over instant message, among so many other things. He, to put it mildly, lost his shit.

(For the record, I know what went down, because Leupai had me read the messages sent back and forth, to make sure they were grounded, and were reading things right. I've seen logs going back 10 years. His original vague accused me of not knowing what I was talking about, but boy howdy I was either there, or have read the raw logs.)

Anyway, he begged for Leupai back. Leupai gave him a chance that he fucked up within a day. Leupai said goodbye and blocked him. He then started messaging me about this on discord, clearly trying to use me as a go-between to get to Leupai.

At the time, I was going through some Complex Feelings about my own abuse by various people in my life, triggered by his behavior, so was reblogging a lot of support stuff on my original blog. I guess he decided this was vaguing about him, because he made a vaguepost accusing me of not knowing all the details (unbeknownst to him, I'd read everything) and finally blocked me.

I figured this chapter in my life was done at this point, and moved the fuck on. Made a new blog because I didn't feel like getting all his shit off my old one, moved across the country, got a new job, the whole shebang. Leupai and I entered our odd QPP/partners/bffs/???? phase, and I genuinely didn't think much about him, unless I was helping listen to Leupai talk about stuff they'd gone through with him.

Until this year. When I saw some comment of his break containment and end up on my dash, under the name "riftclaw". I had a bit of an inkling, so I broke my "don't look" rule and looked at the linked toyhouse to confirm it was really him.

Turns out, riftclaws are... Lizard creatures. Who open portals between worlds with acid in their claws. Who are looking for a new world to call their own. And who have some divine properties, that may involve body switching.

And all of Kismeti/riftclaw's old leupai characters are now riftclaws.

Oh, and he was planning to make them into a closed species. To make money off them.

Now, leupai were decently popular back in the day. I still have leupai characters, and make some periodically from time to time. There's a tag on tumblr and everything; if you're reading this, there's a decent chance you remember Vee yourself, as a fair number of my followers were there too. People still talk about Valenth from time to time. Leupai still has a folder of old fanart from back in the day with some 800 pieces of art in it. They were, by all accounts, successful until they weren't.

But the height of popularity was back when Vee was still around, in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The only new stuff in the tags is from an archive blog of old Vee assets.

Despite that, though. And I know this from messages between the pair, I know that Kismeti tore into Leupai repeatedly for "being more popular" and "having more eyes on their work". Even though "those eyes" didn't keep Leupai fed or housed, or really give them any income. Even though "those eyes" meant getting 50 notes on a tumblr post as opposed to 20. Even though "those eyes" just increased thievery and the constant pressure to be a Content Creator(tm), and were a major part of what drove Leupai off the internet entirely starting in 2018.

So imagine. Imagine for a moment. Being so hungry for clout and attention. That you steal your ex-partner's species concept that they've had since they were literally 8 years old, barely file off the serial numbers, and then make that your entire online persona four full years after your partner broke up with your ass twice for being an abusive piece of shit over a 10-year timeframe.

To borrow my own tags from this post, which got me thinking about all of this again?

#This is all to say; if you're jealous of someone else's success? Fine. Go have your emotion. But don't lift their shit.#Your emotions are valid; your actions aren't.

(Oh, and this is the smallest thing in the world, the least important piece of this? Riftclaws are already a thing from a game released in 2016 called Grim Dawn.)

[joshuasentaro]

TLDR: Unofficial Leupai Discord Server, See Bottom of Post

Auia, everyone.

Do any of you guys remember a game called Valenth? Or perhaps Boundless? Does the name Leupai bring back memories?

I am devastated by Leupai's permanent departure from the internet. I was never able to experience Valenth, and by the time I was able to experience Boundless, they were already on their way out. Honestly, I think I may be incredibly lucky to have been able to meet their partner, Mirapheonix (formerly Weredrakka). Leupai is alive and better than ever, according to Mirapheonix, and while work on the Revecroir universe is still undergoing, it will not be revealed to the public eye any longer. As much as I would love to see the story unfold, I must respect their wishes.

But, enough sad talk. For those of us who remember and cherish Leupai's work, I want to invite you all to join my Discord server, the Caves of Crypts. The server is dedicated to discussion of Valenth and Revecroir lore, fanart, and even roleplay.

Please fill out the form pinned in the "verification" channel and read all of the rules. I will try to respond as soon as possible.

May you all have pleasant dreams.

Signed, Lyreniet Songefoi

[thetrinketeer]

Adoptables 160-163 from Valenth, including alts and shinies.

This one features another western zodiac -Libra- and an NPC who was a varworg (werewolf).

[dinopuncher]

[frittercrittern]

Solidifying some redesigns! Part one. Reth is a big crybaby, but one of my favorite noodles to draw.

[airship-full-of-dragons]

holy shit how did i not realize you are one of ghe first 300 fr accounts wtf?? ancient??

KHJDSAKJ yup. I've literally backed the FR kickstarter by begging my mom to use several months of my Online Petsim allowance to pay for it

[whywolfprincess]

Need... name.

Puby 🥺

[nynehells]

Mayumi preparing her cauldron - sketch commission for Zez! Thank you for your support~

Commissions OPEN | NyneHells @ CARRD

[rose-of-iron]

The closest I’ve been able to get to my very first OC, (mad) scientist Veul McLannon.

[veul-mclannon]

I couldn't get this image out of my head so I doodled my Mercurial Leup, Myara, meeting Viktor, the albino weasel, for the first time~ Leupai belong to @leupai 💞

[artsyaxolotl]

Stack Saturday 12/1/18

I feel like I maybe missed one of these? But anyway here's the most recent Stack Saturday Subscriber Sketches that I doodled up on stream last week! A couple of these are "drawing pokemon without reference. That was really fun!

[joshuasentaro]

Ever since I realized I was otherkin, I've definitely been craving meatier foods a lot more. Leupai have to consume the blood of sapient creatures to stay sane, and they usually do that by eating their meat, so I guess I really am starting to act more like my kinself. <3

[thetrinketeer]

Adopts #149-151 from Valenth, including alts/shinies

[grundos-cafe]

Back in 2009 Valenth held a creature creation contest. This was my entry.

These were living musical organs.

I won a clockwork Leupak for my efforts.

[frittercrittern]

Getting in some silly emotions practice with this meme ! Drakath faces bend a lot differently than humans do, so it's nice to be able to play around with them a little more than usual.

[lavender-hemlock]

Timeline 1

a slightly altered timeline. 

1. The timeline in which they live an ideal life, had no opportunities taken from them, were subjected to nothing terrible, where they grew up to fulfill their full potential. 

With determination in her stride, nothing could get in the way of Ianthe Valenthe. The young woman flicked through her notes to refresh her mind on the day’s tasks as she went, while the other hand simultaneously moved to keep the white coat of her uniform closed from the blistering chill in the air. 

Ishgard always was colder than usual during this time of year, even with all the warm decorations that came with the season. The Arc of the Venerable was a sight to see. From her place of work, to the Athenaeum Astrologicum, there were lights pinned to the buildings. Royal red ribbons and garlands to paint the stonework in color for once, a tradition that Ianthe had heavily enforced so that her fellow neighbors would join in. Though the stubborn old man that ran the bookstore just nearby had been terribly reluctant to her good cheer. 

In one flex of her hand, Ianthe snapped her book closed before any of her notes could pour free from their place holders and ushered herself into the little building that had long been a medicinal facility funded by the Valenthe family. The renovated doctor’s office had long stood successful for a cozy eight years, growing in staff and expertise for Ianthe’s prowess in botanical solutions. While Ianthe was not trained as a conjurer, there was not a illness she could not figure a cure for when the moment called for it. The public adored Ianthe as a true citizen of her city and the Valenthe family was honored for their support in allowing their sole heir to find her purpose and passion in life. 

“Oh, good morning Ianthe.” Isabelle chirped as she passed from one door to the next, a stack of books in her arms. Ianthe chuckled faintly at the girl, half her own age of just sixteen, Isabelle was her young pupil. Inspired in the same way, the young elezen wished to seek her own future in the same manner Ianthe had. To which possibly encouraged the stern hyur to relent to such a heartfelt request just a few months prior. 

“Good morning Isabelle.” Ianthe replied dryly, her voice thick with amusement as she walked down the hall and passed the room the young elezen had entered into just a moment prior. Not even a minute passed before a clatter of books hit the floor.

 “A bit more than you could chew.” Ianthe remarked in the same heart beat as she made a swift right into her office. The first to be set down was her large book of notes and the bag around her lithe frame. However, the glint of a golden ring on her left hand caught her eye in the sconce’s light. A smile tugged at her lips before she caught her reflection in the small mirror by the door. 

Amber eyes stared back at one another. Brunette hair was pinned neatly into place with small wisps of curls to frame her face. Lines just barely began to appear under her eyes in signs of age, more would appear if she dared smile of course. Much to her chagrin to show signs of age at all. Perhaps if she scowled less, her mother had teased once or twice. Yet, those were her mother’s eyes and heart shaped face. Her father’s hair color about her mane. She could see the similarities without shame, but pride. 

Her heart was full of contentment. From the life she had lived, and the time she had spent on her pursuits. What more could she want? Each day she made new leads in her research to help the public of Ishgard, even those of lower class families. It mattered little the status of who walked in her door, and that was the driving point of her work. 

Often it was remarked that she worked too much, even though she would insist it brought her joy. Yet, it would have to change soon. With a raise of her hand, a gentle rest on her stomach would linger just before she would force herself to start the day. Soon, more exciting things would occur, and she looked to the future with optimism she could not imagine being without. 

Thank you for the ask @fairwindsandblueskies