#Valquist

[my-sims-story-private]

Valquist Family

[jakeekiss]

Hearts of Heimir, diary 5

It has been many millennia since Ragnarok, long enough that most people without a deep knowledge of religion wouldn’t even recognize that term (and those who do recognize it as describing the birth of the world more often than the death of a previous one). The Nyungir (new gods) have been around for thousands of years while the few remaining Vanir and Aesir (almost all forgotten now) are tens of thousands of years old. Heimir is an old world made new by water and fire.

Chapter 5: Noble Houses

As the party is uncovering the lay of the Land in Palace, Aeraval goes to meet her would-be suitor, Count Bragi Olander, half-elf captain in the king’s navy. They convene at Pálmi’s Pavilion, and Aeraval is surprised to come upon Bragi playing a viol. The two find they have quite a bit in common, Bragi having seen much of the world as a sailor, and Aeraval finds his demeanor more humble than the man she’d expected to meet. She finds that Bragi seems genuinely interested in the match, though he admits the idea was put forward by his mother, the Countess Verna Olander. Bragi, it seems, is quite loyal to King Fortinbras and his family, despite having not seen the king in some time. This isn’t altogether unusual, as the king is beginning to age, and his Lord Panopticar Kalibarbos serves as the primary intermediary for contact with the king. At the end of their outing, Bragi asks Aeraval if she’d attend the new Rattlepike play coming to the Red theater in 5 days time with him, and she accepts. On the way home Aeraval is stopped in the street by Weylund, the dark elf she saw entering the city the day before with a cart full of weapons. Weylund seems to know the Donlotarine family and asks if Aeraval would inquire with her mother Anastrianna about a dagger he left in her care some time ago. Aeraval agrees and proceeds to ask her mother about the encounter. Anastrianna, though seemingly taken aback at first, says that the dagger is an heirloom Weylund left in her care some years ago and asks where he is staying so that she might return it to him. Aeraval lies and tells her mother that the dark elf is staying at an inn in town, rather than reveal that Weylund is actually lodging at the temple of the Brotherhood of the Unbreakable Ribbon. Aeraval is suspicious of her mother’s intentions and wishes to intercept this dagger to see if she can glean more about her situation.

The following day Aeraval sets up one of her contacts within the inn to retrieve the dagger when her mother has it delivered. Once the item is in her possession, Aeraval inspects it closely. She finds that the dagger is of elvish make, as Weylund described, and displays a blue topaz in the pommel. The blade is engraved with unusual script that Aeraval takes as dark elvish writing, but the engraving seems soft and unfocused. Aeraval takes the blade to the Brotherhood’s temple to deliver it to Weylund and finds (as Griselda and Daytien had earlier in their explorations) that the temple is bustling with activity. The Brotherhood seem to be stockpiling and forging weapons at an incredible pace. Aeraval delivers the dagger to Weylund and in return for her hospitality Weylund gives her a simple gold ring. 

That same morning Daytien travels to his extended family’s home in High District and with Petaldorf’s help has formal introductions made. While there he meets his grandparents, the Count and Countess Diarmond, as well as His aunt Suina, her husband Rushford, and their daughter Angelic-Genteause. Also in attendance are the Valquists, another local noble house. Daytien’s greeting is cordial if somewhat tense, but his cousin Angelic takes to him quickly. After some discussion the Count agrees to help Daytien present his concerns about the outskirts of Palace to the king, but warns that the king proper has not been keeping open court for some time, and that it is likely any requests will have to go first through Kalibarbos, the royal spymaster and Lord Panopticon.  At the same time Griselda, Shayln, and Saga make their way to the city center (Pálmi’s Pavilion again) in search of work. There they find a riotous crowd gathering around an Askarǫk priestess of Grár. The priestess (who it seems is an Aasimar like Griselda) is attempting to foment violent revolution against the noble classes (especially the king and local law enforcement) within Palace. She makes an impassioned speech about the injustices the people of Palace have suffered and extols them to rise up against their oppressors. She incinerates several city guard and exchanges words with both Griselda and Shayln before escaping into The Anvils, a mostly dwarven district of the city. The group reconvenes and decides to follow the priestess. After some searching they discover a makeshift altar erected in catacombs beneath the city which is guarded by fire elementals. Griselda removes a holy text devoted to Grár from the altar, and discovers a stash of peasant’s clothes (perhaps a disguise) among other clues that the priestess has been living beneath the city for some time. Though they avoid combat thanks to Winsys’s familiar, two more city guard are killed during the search, and the group helps return their bodies to the watch commander above. 

Upon returning to the inn, Griselda sets Saga about the task of translating and gleaning information from the Grár text. Shayln meanwhile discovers hiding in her room a badly injured Rent. It seems Rent has executed the previously mentioned job for her noble employer, but not escaped unscathed. She asks Shayln to deliver her stolen goods to her client. The goods, it turns out, are a copy of the guard rotations ledger which details patrols for most of Palace. After some debate about what to do, Shayln opts to hand copy the ledger (albeit intentionally inaccurately) and turn the forgery over to Rent’s employer. The original, the group hopes, will come in handy avoiding local law enforcement as the priestess’s actions have lead to a mandatory curfew and tightening of all restrictions on magic use and weapon carrying.

The tension in Palace increases daily, and it’s only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, makes the wrong call at the wrong moment, and the city erupts. 

[simnostalgia]

Lmao that one comment from the survey makes me laugh. "I don't hate gays or anything but they could do their business without being visible in society or my game"... Imagine being so off put by one of the, like, two whole gay couples in like, an entire franchise that it personally offends you that they'd DARE to put in two good boys and their dog

It’s interesting because people forget that they weren’t the first gay couple in the game. They were just the first ones to receive attention. In fact, let’s look at a summary of gay themes in each game.

In The Sims 1, LGBT people weren’t mentioned or shown. Gay relationships could happen but that was about it. Townies couldn’t autonomously be gay. All Hot Date “dates” that were player directed were heterosexual. Etc.

The Sims 2 allowed “joined unions” but nothing else. Joined unions weren’t worth as many points as heterosexual relationships and there was no cinematic. A few people have said that it’s said that Pascal and Nervous have a hinted at a relationship but that’s a major stretch. Most of Veronaville’s men are determined by the game to be bisexual so at least that’s something. But that’s hardly anything.

The Sims 3 allowed gay marriage but had a hard time with themes of homosexuality. With the release of the console version of The Sims 3 we had our very first gay sim! His name Leonard Ryan. His husband was dead at the beginning of the game, this was likely so that EA could have it’s inclusivity cake and eat it too. 

The Sims 3 was the first game to allow for gay marriage but actually had a troubled relationship with LGBT people. For example, it’s obvious that the game is making gestures towards Gobias being gay but only through very broad stereotypes. That was when the game released in 2009. When the console version finally came out in 2011-ish we got our first gay sim (!!!) but his partner had died before the beginning of the game (Very convenient EA).

The closest they ever got to actual gay representation during the TS3 era was in the Store exclusive worlds. There was an attempt at gay sims in Aurora Skies with the Valquist household but they did everything short of having the men be in love. They lived together, the had a child together, but they weren’t in love with each other. Roaring Heights got a little closer. It included the first gay couple where nobody was dead and everyone was clearly in love, however, EA did a very EA thing and decided that Lesbians were a safer choice. 

Pro: That marks our first same sex couple where everyone is alive! Yay Progress!

Con: EA is still afraid of gay men! If they’re living in town they’re either not actually in love or they’re dead.

However, that same town included a second secret gay relationship between two men that didn’t live together and wasn’t mentioned in family descriptions. So the first REAL gay couple that wasn’t hidden in some way was a lesbian couple. The Sims 3 could never seem to make the plunge into having two gay men who were actually in love with each other. 

So that’s four attempts at gay men where they were either based on stereotypes and nothing else, dead, not TECHNICALLY in love, or hidden away. And a single lesbian couple. Sadly, since EA was afraid of gay men but not lesbians, our realest representation in The Sims 3 that was explicitly stated to be gay man was a sim from a pretty obscure console port and his husband was dead.

The Sims 4 was the first time that two gay men would show up in a game. They were in the main neighborhood that came with an expansion, they were explicitly in a gay relationship, and they were both alive this time, and they were married. It took 18 years to get gay sims that EA didn’t have to try and hide in some way.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that… That one anonymous survey taker can have Brent and Brant when they pry them from my cold, dead, gay hands.

[ghostnoir]

D I R G E // kale valquist

When I said that Mercy stood Within the borders of the wood, I meant the lenient beast with claws And bloody swift-dispatching jaws

[keithamassey]

You can start to explore the Andrew Valquist series with the origin story A Place of Brightness. A family tradition of fighting tyranny is dropped upon Andrew and his twin brother Stephan in the most unexpected way. They will travel to their late mother's native Romania on a journey searching for answers to questions that have burdened them their whole lives. What if it all was real?

You can also travel back in time to the dawn of Faith itself. A neglected ancient form of prayer still awaits you with treasures of blessings, Learn the story and the secret behind Ancestral Intercession in the book Praying Our Fathers: the Secret Mercies of Ancestral Intercession.

[facefacts45-blog]

Dramatis Personæ: Derrida

Having given life to countless fictional characters it is time I start sharing some of them with the world, Up first is Isis Derrida: competitor, fighter, athlete, terrible friend. I had a concept of the character in 2011 before a well known terrorist cell began to operate out of the Middle East, so that was unfortunate. What it did though was help elevate the name to be more gritty and taboo which is a strange circumstance, and I never wanted to compromise on the name.  The following extract was used as the opener in an online writing competition during the bygone era of 2013, of which I won. Derrida was written in first person to really sell his attitude. I really liked exploring the characters twisted mindset and extremist outlook on the nature of human life. Isis would have been a terrible dinner guest.  

______________ An origins story sets the table for how you dine on the feast of life, you either get stuck sitting outside on the floor hungry, or inside with family and friends with plenty of food and drink to share. Others spend this time with few people, or none at all. At one time my table was full with company, family who would smile and support me, my friends who stuck by me and backed me up when I most needed it. Only of those people is here today, I call him Valquist, but he just liked to be called Val. We understand the sacrifices anybody has to make to climb to the top, and yet again I am here at climbing another mountain as people attempt to use my foundation as their personal ladder. So many people who I meet act sweet and innocent on the surface, but they possess the hearts of monsters beneath a shallow layer of skin. All manner of monsters bore me. You know what I’m bored of most? Having to explain myself to every person, life has become more about validation to others than it is about validation within yourself. Why do I have to spend time explaining my moral compass to people who will only end up ignoring me. People like to play games but only listen when it has benefit to them. It is one of the many reasons why I have lost faith in fellow man, that is why I evoke the mantra of Full Measures. You’re either committed to a purpose, or you are not. 

My humanity was stripped from me, idle threats fall upon deaf, uncaring ears. After enough time you end up realising that if you can’t make people listen then you have to give them a reason to pay attention. You can’t convince a stone to open up with applying brute force, that is what I’ve learnt. Val thinks I am too extreme, too motivated, he thinks I’ll be hurt. Good, that’s exactly what I want. Monsters are meant to be defeated, Val will come around to that epiphany soon enough, I expect to see him at my table.  - -

[fakeplasticlily]

33 ^_^

33: Talk about what you do when you are sad.

i get really withdrawn when i'm sad. if i'm around people who don't know me that well, i try to act normal, and if i'm with someone who'd be able to tell something's wrong, i tend to avoid them and make excuses to leave. i mostly like being alone and lying curled up in bed and not doing anything lol. that mostly leads to me crying myself to sleep if it's particularly bad, and usually when i wake up after that i feel okay! i'm a pretty positive person in general and after the initial slump i like to try and actively make myself feel better by having chocolate or wearing my cutest clothes or going out shopping or something!

thanks for asking ^^

[4tivan]

where did you get photoshop from? give me a link please

I use Pixlr Editor :)