#Victoria Gate

[hsundholm]

Victoria Gate Evening by Henrik Sundholm Via Flickr: A cityscape view of Valletta on Malta. I got this from Upper Barrakka Gardens just after I arrived on the island.

[wellen-katze]

Not the religious type - bg3 astarion comic

hope u enjoyed

[niccoguedes]

BABY SAID...

ty!

Hello, thank you for the support on my BG3 fanart. 🔥❤️

Some of you asked for individual full shots of them, so I decided to make it. There's an interesting suggestion with Shadowheart and Karlarch I might do as well...

"Can I use it as wallpaper/screen cover?"

Sure. Just don't remove my signature or modify the drawing.🤘

"Can I print it on my own?"

If possible, please consider supporting me via INPRNT. If you can't, ofc, I won't hold you, go on, print it and later drop me a coffee at ko-fi, darling! You can also share some cents via paypal. Send pics as well of your achievement. For personal use only. 🔥

"Can I print it to sell, use commercially?"

No. Unless you pay me 100kUSD.

🇧🇷"Tem print?" Sim. Só me enviar comprovante de 50$ no pix: 51648094000140 e endereço de preferência para o e-mail: niccoguedes @ gmail.com . Envio no tamanho A4 com rastreio.

[eurydia]

Inferna Victoria (Portrait of the Archdevil and Archduchess Supreme of the Nine) a royal portrait of Raphael and Tav in the style of a Van Dyck for my fic, The Lover's Gambit. it's now my most popular fic, thank you so much for your support! you all have exquisite taste ❤️

Raphael's outfit was inspired by a beautiful gifset by @cherriesandsulphur

details, context below

[Solo Raph painting]

Baroque is one of my fave art movements. the in-game art looked inspired by it, and I wanted to do a piece that combined my love for it and royal portraiture. this was inspired by the works of Flemish Baroque master Anthony Van Dyck.

this is one of the most ambitious and detailed pieces I've done so far: the fullsize is 22 x 32in, and it took over 50+ hrs. royal portraiture usually has extensive detail, so I wanted to make it as detailed as possible. it was challenging and time consuming, but a lot of fun!

framed version (Cassetta frame from the Met website:)

process

spoiler details (for the game + fic)

- their ship came about because I wanted to give Raph a chaotic evil counterpart to his lawful evil. basically he’s the “mansplain, manipulate, malewife” to her “gaslight, (Baldur’s)gatekeep, girlboss” lol.

- I hc this Tav’s ending is the “In my name” one. though I hc she says “In our name” instead ;)

- visually, it looks like Raphael has more power but I hc it’s actually Tav for several reasons: many elements of the composition lead to her (Raph’s sash, arms, the curtains), she’s wearing her crown and is seated, and is also foremost while Raph is in the back.

- Raph’s crown is ceremonial/for vanity only while Tav’s tiara has enough fragments of the stone to be fully functional.

- The crown’s design is based on concept art, and if you look closely it kinda looks like it has hearts on the sides. I added the red gems.

I hc that Raph is a romantic and some of his lines seem to allude to this (code phrase of “my heart’s desire”, the Amulet of Greater Health, which Tav is wearing here, in a prominent place in his house, and his words to Hope in a transcript: “…serve me with your whole heart”)

- I hc they’re married at this point. Tav’s ring has two additional gems, and her outfit in general was inspired by the canon design of the Crown of Karsus.

- there’s a lot of red because according to Hope, Raph’s favorite color is “blood”. my hc for the painting overall is that it was done by his personal painter, maybe a debtor who has to paint for him for all eternity (not a bad deal right? /s) so it reflects his and Tav’s requests.

- I picture this hanging either above Raph’s fireplace in the dining room. or bedroom - much to Haarlep’s dismay ��

[astarions-wife]

I’ve made several posts about Lady Incognita/Amanita Szarr, and all the vampire spawn (Astarion’s Siblings)… so I felt it was good to put it in one place.

Introducing my labor of love, perhaps the biggest sign of my autism diagnosis, the vampire spawn archive 💕🫶🏻 where I have documented ALL the known lore, and popular theories. Yes, this includes all the notes, books, and photo references!

Think I’ve missed something? Message me here, send me an ask, or comment below—I prefer having proof of anything canonical, but if it’s a theory or something, send me your ideas! Nothing is too wild or outlandish, considering the game.

Share, reblog, and have fun!!

[fangsandfeels]

Don't come at me, but I am confused why whenever there is a plot about one of Astarion's siblings going full villain, this sibling is almost always Petras. I agree; he is a jerk and a bully. But he is also the guy who gobbles up Cazador's bullshit about getting freedom with ZERO suspicions. Aurelia and Leon are hopeful, but it doesn't take them long to realize it is yet another way for Cazador to break them, and of course, he never intended to let them go.

Petras is oblivious to the point he is already making plans for the future and composing his menu. He is also the guy who flirts (badly) with the first person who approaches him without even considering the risk of the said person being a vampire hunter. Like, Tav can be wearing full plate armor and have a hugeass war hammer slung over their shoulder, and Petras would still go "Yes, this is the perfect naive victim to seduce. They will totally fall for my charms" with Dalyria cringing and trying to do damage control at the back.

Petras makes Astarion look like a criminal mastermind.

And no, I'm not saying that he can't be an antagonist to Astarion at all.

He can be dangerous by deciding to go his own way, gathering the group of spawn who share his views, and making a part of the Sword Coast his hunting grounds. But don't I see him plotting complicated schemes or even trying to recreate Cazador's rituals. He may try, but in my opinion, he will fail hilariously. No intervention needed.

Now, speaking of a more dangerous and tragic potential adversary, Leon is right here. He is a sorcerer. Moreover, if the nature of the spell he used to protect Victoria is anything to go by, he is experienced with Necromancy (I may be wrong; the blood thing could have belonged to the Transmutation school, though).

He is the top performer. And, he is a desperate father who did it all to keep his daughter safe. Now, I still assume that he managed to smuggle Victoria out of the palace -- which would keep him his calm and reasonable self. But if Victoria is really dead?...It would mean that everything he did, all these victims, all that suffering, all the measures he took, all the hurt he inflicted on his siblings/inmates - it all was for nothing. He was ready to die for Victoria to live. He was willing to sacrifice an orphan to save his girl. And he failed.

He failed her.

Wouldn't that push him over the edge? The desperation, the devastation, the horror? Wouldn't that create a void in his undead heart and put him into denial and resentment for his fellow spawns (he didn't know HOW she died, but he had seen enough hungry looks from Dal and Violet)?

Wouldn't he become obsessed with "fixing" it somehow because he already went so far to protect his daughter...why not go even further to bring her back, let her live the life that was so unfairly taken from her? He doesn't care about power, about sunwalking, he doesn't give a shit about anything and anyone -- he wants his child back. And he will make it happen.

At any cost.

[asidian]

Ghosts in the Halls

by: Asidian

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Pairing: Gen, Astarion & Victoria, Leon & Victoria

Warnings: unreliable narrator, dramatic irony, implied/referenced torture, outsider pov

Excerpt:

Some nights, while Father is out working, Victoria hears screams through the lovely wallpaper, somewhere deeper in the building. Sometimes it's a lady, but more often it's a man; he has a higher pitched sort of a scream, quite distinct indeed, and it goes on for hours on end.

"I think Lord Szarr has a poltergeist," Victoria tells Father one day, as he slips in around sunup.

"Oh?" says Father, and he sounds tired and a touch distracted. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," says Victoria. "They're meant to be loud, aren't they?"

"Yes," says Father, and he draws the word out, slow and a touch uncertain. "That's so. Has someone been talking to you?"

"Oh, no," says Victoria. "But there's always a man screaming. He's quite loud about it."

And Father looks at her for a long moment before he reaches out to set a hand on her head. It's not a hair ruffle, not quite – he just rests it there. "A poltergeist, surely," says Father. "Best try to ignore it, if you can."

[missygoesmeow]

what if Raphael pretended to be a fancy lord and Tav was unwittlingly indebted off to him. what then. huh??

[captainsavre]

We are tasked by the city of New York to protect its people. Sometimes that task comes with a cost. I know what they call me, Detective. ‘Iron Gates’. I hear the whispers. ‘She’s from IA, she must hate cops.’ Well, the truth is, I love cops. My daddy was a cop. My uncles were cops. But the sergeant who assaulted my patrol partner under the cover of authority? Who holds him accountable? We do.

[do-it-for-the-fandom]

Mistletoe.

5x09 - Secret Santa.

The boys peered around the corner simultaneously trying to get close enough to see their targets clearly and stay out of sight themselves.

They had a clear view of the elevator, of the little surprise they had hung right in front of the doors, all they had to do was wait.

Half the bullpen was in on the bet - will they, won't they? - but given the advantage Ryan and Espo had (the knowledge of Castle and Beckett's actual secret relationship) they felt pretty confident that a friendly little 'Christmas kiss' was out of the question. The risk of outing themselves was too high. Beckett wouldn't risk giving Gates a reason to boot Castle from the precinct.

"- and I love the feeling, that sense of hope," they heard Castle say; a sign that their targets were approaching. And, sure enough, the pair stepped into view. "It's crazy, you know. On the shortest, darkest days of the year people of all faiths celebrate the light."

The boys looked at one another, rolled their eyes at their friend. He couldn't just say "I love Christmas". No, he had to make it poetic, make it beautiful. No wonder he had won Beckett over - they could see the smile on her face as she listened to him talk, absolutely enamoured. Honestly, how anybody was still in the dark about this relationship confused the boys to no end!

"Plus, who doesn't love presents?"

"There it is," Ryan whispered and Espo stifled a chuckle.

Castle glanced up, noticed the hanging ball of mistletoe directly above them. Kate's focus shifted almost immediately, searching for whatever had so quickly captured her partner's focus.

Espo looked across the bullpen, locked eyes with Karpowski and LT who stood by the breakroom door trying to look totally uninterested in whatever was about to happen. However, subtlety was not a skill Karpowski had honed and her intent focus had apparently drawn the attention of their captain.

Espo nudged his elbow into Ryan's ribs. "Gates alert," he whispered.

Ryan looked toward the captain's office, saw Gates standing at her door studying Karpowski. He watched as her gaze followed Karpowski's across the bullpen before landing on Castle and Beckett in front of the elevator.

He looked back over to Castle and Beckett, who had apparently entered the world's most intense staring competition. And... was that a smile on Beckett's face?

"Are they-?" Ryan stopped. Surely they weren't.

They all waited with bated breath, watched as their friends stood hesitating, wanting but not quite willing to take the risk. Beckett shifted her weight from one foot to the other, moving barely an inch closer, but it set the wheels in motion. Castle reached out for her - inevitably to pull her closer, to kiss her under the mistletoe - and Espo practically pushed Ryan out from their hiding place.

"Yo, Castle!" Espo called out, a desperate attempt to stop something he had never thought would actually happen.

But it was too late. Castle had so delicately cupped Beckett's face, pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Mr Castle," Gates' voice billowed across the bullpen. "What makes you think that that is appropriate behaviour for a precinct?" she demanded.

"Oh, I- th- just-" Castle stuttered and stumbled over his words, pointing to Beckett, to the mistletoe, to the various other decorations around the bullpen.

"'Tis the season?" Espo tried to defend his friend's behaviour without refocusing Gates' wrath onto himself.

"'Tis the season?," Gates repeated. "So I should just allow such tomfoolery?"

Espo looked around, all eyes on him. "Yes, Sir. I believe a certain amount of tomfoolery, as you call it, is good for morale. Especially at this time of year."

He waited, expected the scolding of a lifetime, but it never came. Gates simply smiled, like she knew something he didn't.

"In that case, I believe there is something you owe Detective Ryan."

Espo looked at Ryan, who seemed to be just as confused as he was. Karpowski walked toward them, her phone in hand, and began to play a recording from earlier in the day.

"Oh please," he heard his own voice echo through the speaker of Karpowski's phone. "You think a little bit of mistletoe is gonna make Beckett wanna kiss Castle?"

He groaned as he realised exactly where this was going.

"Sure, I'll take that bet. I'm in for $20. In fact, I'm so sure of this I'll make it $50. A hundred, even!"

"I didn't agree to a hundred bucks!" Ryan complained.

Karpowski laughed. "Oh, just you wait."

"You know what?" The recording continued. "If you win, we won't even take your money, that is how confident I am."

Ryan glared at Espo. "Dude!"

Esposito hung his head low. "It gets worse."

"If I'm wrong-" Esposito's laughter burst through the phone speaker. "I'll even kiss Ryan under the mistletoe."

"Nope," Ryan declared with a firm shake of his head.

"I was obviously joking!" Espo insisted. "And he only kissed her on the cheek!"

"A bet's a bet," Karpowski countered immediately.

"And it's good for morale, right?" Gates added with a smile.

Esposito looked over to Beckett and Castle who both looked entirely too pleased with themselves.

"You set me up," he concluded.

"Seems to me you set yourself up for this one," Beckett replied. "But maybe we can let you off the hook. Just this once."

"On one condition," Gates said. "No more nonsense bets on my time."

"Yes, Sir," they all agreed.

___

Once almost everyone had cleared out and only the skeleton staff pulling the holiday shift remained, Beckett made her way to Espo's desk and sat on the edge.

"You know that when Karpowski and LT came to me with that, I couldn't say no, right?" she asked as he filled out the last of his paperwork from their case. "They'd already gotten Gates involved."

"I get it," he assured her. "I shouldn't have run my mouth like that, anyway. That was just asking for trouble."

Beckett laughed; he wasn't wrong. After looking over her shoulder to make sure they were still practically alone, she continued.

"I appreciate that you stood up to Gates, tried to pull the focus from us."

Espo looked up from his paperwork and gave her his most sincere smile.

"I've got your back, Beckett. Whether it's on the street fighting criminals or in the precinct taking heat from Gates, I got you. And I know you got me, too."

"I do," she confirmed. "Thank you."

[jemmaasimmons]

CASTLE - 5.07, ‘Swan Song’

[elvenwomen]

Shadowheart cosplay by Victoria Lirell

[shadowhearts-wife]

I finally made all the Vampire Spawn (and Victoria) to live in Cazador the evil landlord’s townhouses

[kotori-mochi]

"Karlach Christmas: censured" by victoria Dickinson on INPRNT

A heads up all my patreons get 20% off on all prints in my shop with code provided on my patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/KotoriMochi

[astarions-wife]

Trying to decipher why Cazador would ever turn Yousen, a gnome into a Vampire Spawn. Like what was the point. What audience was he catering too? Like everyone else I can find a reason for:

-Astarion and Petras were conveniently attractive men. They’ll both use similar flirtatious language, so this one isn’t surprising.

-Violet, who I presume to be a singer, makes perfect sense. A young, beautiful woman is perfect for luring people back, and we know she was doing pretty well—considering she was on the favorited spawn ledger one year.

-Aurelia, a naive tiefling woman. It breaks up the species ratio a bit, but it makes sense that he’d want more than just elves and humans, it appeals to a larger audience after all.

-Dalyria, unconfirmed, but quite possibly a drow? Like Aurelia, she would appeal to a larger audience, and plus she’s a doctor. I’ve previously posted my theory (here) on how she was probably “tortured” by being the one to tend to her siblings injuries…

-Leon is self explanatory. He made favorited spawn almost every year. He’s the only one to be recruited into this mess with a child of his own. His clearly was able to do enough to have a child, so this isn’t much of a surprise.

-And then we come down to Yousen. Who just doesn’t fit the criteria I mean, people are canonically so racist towards Gnomes—Astarion barely views them as people, considering he suggests feeding off of them. Like what. Was the point. Where did he come from. Why Yousen. He used to have dialogue saying he was recruited in the last sixty years, so it wasn’t even like he was the last one 💀 I just. I want answers.

[thrythlind]

Yeah, that biting scene ruined any chance Astarion has of being in my good books.