#also ALSO as a little thought on Vhaeraun???

[illithilit]

That moment when you realize that Mourndax is so flippant about everything bc ofc he is. Man's barely had any agency in his life under his parents' control, and he's less than five years removed from that. He hasn't exactly had time to learn how to make decisions of his own, and acting like you don't give a shit what the outcome is, or that you've simply changed your mind about it for no particular reason is a lot easier than admitting to still remembering how much the leash hurt when pulled on.

[meanbossart]

Hello! Been seeing great stuff about DU Drow's opinions on other drow, but I haven't seen his opinions on specifically Eilistraeeans or other surface drow with no connection with the Underdark/Lolth. Since they're much more egalitarian sex-wise, and also typically good-aligned, what are his thoughts there? Especially since Eilistraeean men occupy an equal station to women, and Eilistraeean women are encouraging of that.

YOU SEE, THE THING ABOUT THIS BIG IDIOT is that he left the Underdark when he was a child. He had no real knowledge of other types of drow besides lolth-sworn growing up (and I don't even think he knew what that was, at the time) and lived up on the surface for the next two decades of his life. His culture, perspectives, and opinions are solely shaped by those you find up on the surface, and provided by a very limited sample of people due to the badly isolated life he lived.

He vaguely knows of the existence of different types of drow, though I doubt names like Eilistrae or Vhaeraun ring any bells to him if you just throw them out there in the middle of conversation (his religion checks are... Unfortunate). So, because he simply takes after the surface's general distrust of the race as a whole instead of basing that around an in-depth understanding of their culture, saying you follow a different drow-god means very little to him. Also, he largely believes their nature is instinctive rather than taught, anyways.

TLDR: DU drow isn't just a fantasy-racist, he's an ignorant fantasy-racist.

[lunastrophe]

Drow Lore 🕷️ Sorn and Nadal, Drider Brothers (part 1)

Yet another deep dive into drow / drider lore - this time inspired by two drider characters from Icewind Dale 2: Sorn and Nadal, formerly sons of a noble house from drow city Rilauven.

As driders, they guard the entrance to one of the Underdark locations and they can be talked to. In fact, Sorn does practically all the talking, often showing wry, somewhat bitter sense of humour. Nadal's change, on the other hand, left him a little less drow than most - he has trouble with articulated speech, as well as with controlling his thirst for blood.

Sorn, when asked about his past, can share his and his brother's story. Scraps of information about their fate can be also picked up from other sources in game, giving them an interesting background - here is my attempt to reconstruct it.

So, if you like (sad) stories about driders... here is the first part:

🕷️ Before Transformation - Sorn and Nadal are brothers and former members of a noble drow house ...which shall remain nameless. They were both sons of the Matron Mother of their family, so their social status was probably quite high, and they had at least two sisters.

They lived in Rilauven. It is a drow city located in the Northdark, below the region of Icewind Dale, somewhere under Dorn’s Deep – the ancient dwarven stronghold.

Rilauven is neither as big, nor as old as Menzoberranzan, but still, it seems to be quite prominent. It has the academy of magic (Sorcere), the academy of martial arts (Melee-Quartha), the society of merchants (Belaessar) and at least several old noble houses, collectively known as Ultrinnan Qu'ellar.

To 1282 DR, Rilauven was a typical Lolth-sworn drow city with matriarchal society. Then the local followers of Vhaeraun conducted a successful and relatively bloodless coup, overthrowing Lolth's matriarchy and altering the local power balance.

The brothers did not participate in these events, though.

🕷️ Wizard and Warrior - Sorn and Nadal - given their station and the abilities they managed to retain after transformation - probably graduated respectively from Rilauvenian Sorcere and Melee-Quartha.

Sorn was most likely a wizard since even as a drider, he is an arcane spellcaster. His name means literally "enchanted" or "spell". Nadal was likely a warrior. His name, possibly reflecting his character, is assembled from prefix Nad- ("cunning", "genius", "mind", "thought") and suffix -al ("lunatic", "maniac", "manic", "rage").

Their mother and sisters apparently deemed them competent enough to entrust them with executing their plans - at least until...

🕷️ Scapegoats - sometime before 1282 DR, the noble house Sorn and Nadal belonged to became ...involved in a botched attack on a rival house. The house they attacked could not identify theirs to retaliate, which was a small mercy, but still, the whole operation was considered a fiasco.

According to Sorn: To cover up their poor tactics, our sisters blamed their failure on the execution of their plans. Naturally, we were responsible for that. Our beloved Matron Mother did not question their judgement and promptly had us transformed.

🕷️ Among Lolth-sworn drow, transformation into a drider is associated with failure and punishment - but apparently, it is also possible to be changed into a drider because of someone else's incompetence and intrigue... especially when you are a male 😔

For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️

[neoncat666]

extremely long shadows over welde character analysis post

by extremely long i mean its fucking 3k words cause I go too silly.

Spoilers up to ep 8 and its mostly rambles so apolocheese. I also posted this on my twitter so if u saw it there here's an actual text version LOL

Argentum:

Oh my god. You are soooo…… First of all, in the story we’ve gotten this. Argentum is a strong headed, curious person who is a bit stubborn and holds themself at a bit of a graceful appearance on the outside. They are smart, witty, but also a bit of a temper especially when it comes to frankly a little stupid ideas. They are also kind and care for others. We were shown from the beginning that they enjoy their work and meeting fans and even with people they just met are willing to help them stay safe. Also they’re a little dumb. Sometimes curiosity overrides rational thinking and that was shown when they touched the weird fucking webbing in the cave and also that ENTIRE plan when there was the confrontation between Vhaeraun and Lolth which was fucking actually crazy. This isn’t even beginning to talk about the head friend. I am constantly thinking about that voice and who that could be. Brings us speculation around them. Argentum is not human, or at least fully human. Their eyes are def not human and Hayden is a silly lil guy who would pull a trick like that. There was one speculation on them possibly being a Kalashtar and I think it could fit but honestly for now it hasn’t been on my forefront. I also bought the inscriptor class finally and was looking at how possibly they were built. What stats what subclass ect. I don’t fucking know.. Now you might be asking “Hey why don’t you just ask?” CAUSE IM SCARED. But honestly cause I wanted to see if I could figure it out myself lmao. It boiled down to either Mystery or Historian subclass is what Snail helped me narrow to. Could be wrong tho. There’s also little tidbits about Argentum that have come from outside the sessions like when I asked if they had a canonical birthday cause “celebrating fictional characters birthdays is cringe” “fuck you happy birthday argentum” is funny. Still honestly wanna know if any of the party has canon birthdays. I got hit with the “Oh they don’t know their own birthday.” and then swindled. There was also the discussion on Hayden’s pcs never really having parents or family and Argentum was included in that list which more or less got confirmed in session this episode (7). I still don’t know their motives, still don’t know their relationships with others because it seems everyone is connected to someone except Argentum, and I still don’t know who their patron is and if that is the same as the voice in their head. Love the silly though

Phoenix:

Fifi….. Not much was known about you until today and holy shit did it rock my world. Before we had known he was the apprentice to Ipswich and was sent in his place as guest of honor. We also then found out he was a spy working on tailing Lolth and that’s kinda all we knew about Phoenix for a bit, at least heavy lore wise. He’s a sarcastic, witty, bitch and I love him so much. I could never surpass Snail as Phoenix Enjoyer but it’s close. We learned a bit more during the nightmare drink sequence where he met his patron and got his powers fucking zapped. A couple things stood out to me from it. How his patron looked and specific wording from Phoenix. We know Ipswich isn’t mortal anymore but Phoe had said something along the lines of “I’d get my ass kicked and be right back here the next day.” He is surrounded by death or even just the undead. His patron deals in undead magic and I don’t think if Phoenix gets knocked down he wouldn’t be back again looking all fine the next day. We don’t know his patron’s name which like. Fuck. but lmao. Anyways Ipswich is tracking him like crazy and says he has this important quest although we don’t know a lot of Phoe’s thoughts and feelings on what he’s doing. To me it almost seems like he’s a tool or pawn for others and idk if I can fully call him a good person. Doing a bit of research into his pact and such it seems that he’s just going to possibly lose more and more humanity as he gets stronger but also i couldn’t tell you how much he has already. There’s also the whole cousins and throne thing that got dropped this episode. It seems his family is also involved with this whole scheme but Phoe is the favourite of the bunch. The idea that he could possibly be royalty was also thrown around and i think if he was like secret prince it would be from a large family all vying for a throne or he is working with Ipswich and others to usurp the current ruler and take the power for himself. Although knowing Fifi it’ll probably be like a secret third option. Not much except he’s so 90s movie older sister to me and the fact Ipswich runs a school for swindlers which is kinda funny.

Sunder:

Babygirl. Pookie. Love of my life who I want to kill me. God. This is now my love letter to you. I saw you across the bar and thought you were sooo scary and I’ve been enraptured ever since. Anyways that’s a freak. He’s not the most talkative and seems more lonely despite everything. They’re funny, loyal, kind, and ruthless. We didn’t get much for Sunder for a bit until mostly the shopping episode. We learned a bit through Kelly and the nightmare drink of what makes up Sunder but it didn’t really culminate until the head crushing I would say. Honestly I don’t even care I just fucking love the way Sunder is played. Like I’m sitting here trying to find words that aren’t just I think he’s neat cause I do think analyzing him is intriguing. They’re going to get angry and they’re going to get violent and you are not safe. It’s something that was so surprising at first because of how much Sunder kind of fell into the background. The nightmare drink gave us the first look at this, that Sunder had apparently killed someone, a kid even, but a lot of their violence was played off as a joke by the community, I know I did. Learned today that the person in that nightmare was Ilmater and it shows that she wasn’t lying when she said that visions and nightmares of this accident are a plague. I believe them when they say it was an accident and idk how young they were but to harbor that from a young age will fuck you up. Their morals are something that intrigues me i would say the most. No trouble in murder although I assume that’s more or less towards people who piss him off or are generally bad people. He’s kind hearted and that’s shown a lot especially with this last interaction I’d say. I still need to like rewatch a lot of parts of it but “we were just kids” genuinely fucking rocked me to my core and it got me i won’t lie. We’re still very early in but idk, I want to see Sunder truly happy and not haunted by the ghosts of their past. I feel this was most likely the first step but it’s hard to say as we go forward. I think violence and blood will always follow it’s just how they choose to take it.

The Wall:

I think now Wall is the character we know the least about, at least to me. We know his duty to Eilistraee and his duty to Zephrael and also his little foodie quirks (love him dearly) but outside of that I don’t think we know a lot. He’s the character I have the least notes for now but I do know this. He is loyal to a fault, a little dense, kind, and revels in battle and violence. I think about his nightmare and the fear of losing her and the sword then what happened to this episode. He’s had this since he was a child and then he had this dream, this trip to the beastland plane and looked Eilistraee in the eye and fought her. I believe he still loves her, cares for her, but I also think it has changed since that episode no doubt. Rewinding a bit, I think a bit about him being told he has to be pure of heart in order to wield the sword. What does pure of heart truly mean? Wall loves fighting and murder. He actively committed torture. Also he’s the bodyguard for an objectively bad man. There’s the argument of his intentions are pure although I doubt you can do a lot of what he did and have those intentions be fully pure. It’s just something I think about more than probably a normal person should teehee. Anyways the conversation he and Rae had at the beginning of this session should classify as psychological warfare cause I genuinely do not think I’m ever going to recover. I have been talking about it for weeks how they are the chosens, favored, by literal enemies and seem to have some sort of hit on them by a couple of deities now. I thought about how it might affect relationships and how Wall views them. We know he’s very loyal but I always wondered how far he would need to be pushed before that is broken. Seems like an extreme amount. His morals are probably what intrigue me the most tbh. I’d kill to know what his alignment is LMAO. Most of all I just really love the Wall because he is goofy and silly but he also isn’t a stupid brick wall that doesn’t know anything and I really enjoy seeing the times he gets to explain things. Fuck it we Wall.

Zephrael:

Okay so this will be the longest one cause I’m biased and yes Zephrael is my favourite. I always feel a little bad when it comes to that and showing that favouritism because I truly do love the entire party so much. This hit me the most when the show was just starting out and I did feel like I needed to show how much I loved each character and not just focus on Rae lol. I hope this thread can at least show that (if you even make it this far) Anyways Zephrael is a fucking freak and I love him so much. I’ve done multiple posts on him before and yeah Im gonna repeat some of it here i wont lie. Right out the gate we probably learn the most and yet the least about Rae’s past and present. He is an emissary for the reformed church of Lolth and an honored guest. He had known about Edo’s work before and talked about how it had helped with relations between the public and the reformed church. This means everything and nothing to us. But it does show that despite Rae’s… oddness, he is extremely well spoken when he wants to be and I think about that speech a lot. The next few episodes gave us some more information yet also a lot more questions. These weird pains that seem to predict disasters, the extreme phobia of spiders despite being a paladin of Lolth, and his both egotistical yet self deprecating attitude. It was fascinating to watch him because he clashed but never in a way that made him irredeemable and I’ll go more into that at the end section. A few early things I thought about a lot before the catalyst that was the nightmare drink were who the reformed church was, where did Zephrael come from, why was he chosen as this ambassador, and why he didn’t know undercommon but knew abyssal. These are still questions I have to this day LMAO. The nightmare drink vision I possibly overanalyze the most next to Phoenix’s. It stood out due to the fact that it wasn’t, bad. Rae could see again, he saw his father and best friends again, he got told he was going to learn the truth again. Why was this considered a bad thing? Everyone else experienced horrors and regrets yet Zephrael got sorrow. It jumpstarted the part aasimar Rae theory tho. Angel imagery Rae makes me clinically insane I won’t lie and his father having these large wings and bright white light did not help. There’s the big question of what he is and also how he joined the church. Hell, even how he feels about the church as well, truly at least. During one of the hiatuses fandom went crazy and Snail Snailmuds dropped out of nowhere that the runes on Rae’s body weren’t just random but fucking translated abyssal that said “PAIN CHAOS POWER” which first of all goes hard second of all what the fuck.

Theory crafting for Zephrael always feels like climbing uphill and also being constantly shot at cause every time something happens with that man it turns out to be a secret third thing going on oh mygod. Anyways I’ve discussed whether or not he was forced into this church, was kidnapped, born into it, ect because at the end of the day, he seems to very much be a tool or pawn for this church and/or Lolth. Also the whip being an artifact of Lolth or whatever they’re called again I forgot??? What the fuck dude. ALSO HIM SLEEPING IN BATHTUBS????? Grizzly has said this will make sense later but genuinely what the fuck there is something wrong with him. Moving on, revelation about the tattoos comes out and we get the torture episode. Well we get the holy shit they just killed those guys begining and then torture. First of all, I cheered louder than anyone else when Rae actually did fucking combat instead of running away and also the fact he can use his whip. Anyways dumb and dumber torture a guy and first of all the lay on hands to keep him alive during torture was insane and I hope to see it again in anything and it’s also where it’s learned that the tattoos on him were “forcibly engraved” which was honestly brushed off and a lot happened that I think most people forgot but I didn’t cause I’m crazy. Anyways moving on from THAT we get the typical Rae. Dodging questions when Argentum tries to interrogate him and also dunno if he’s just fuckin lying or not when he does actually answer them.

Episode 6 and 7 are where I think Rae slightly pivots. Not really noticeable but he feels a little more, close. It was also a change I noticed with the cast and I think that helped a lot of character dynamics as well. Rae’s stupid beef with Argentum was so fucking funny and I do think about him wanting to heal Sunder before himself after the Bulette because if he heals Sunder, how would that help him. Yes they’re his bodyguard but the monster is dead and it’s not like Sunder can heal him back. It was a decision that I think was the most different for Rae because he was shown to care deeply for Wall but not so much the others as much. He still doesn’t care for the others as much as he does The Wall but I do think he has grown a fondness or care for the others whether he wants to or not. And thats the thing, I could not tell you if he does actually wanna care for them or not. Yes they are allies and help but he seems to try and keep things at a transactional level or how much power it may bring him. He still does but like his dynamic with Argentum seems closer cause the antagonizing feels more like siblings getting on each other’s nerves rather than a growing distance. I think Sunder also displaying that brutality may have put him more into Rae’s good books too. Anyways he read a fucking book huge day. Now he has even worse mommy issues. Ep 7 killed me with hammers but that was spoken about. His relationship with Wall is something that fascinates me though. Rae is selfish, it’s not hidden at all, yet he does seem to care deeply for Wall and almost defends him more than he would defend himself. It’s nice to see for this bodyguard and his charge dynamic but ep 7 spread some light on it and I do think their bond will outlive the will of the Gods but what do I know, I’m not anyone at that table. Zephrael is rude, odd, egotistical but also masochistic and does care deeply when he wants to and you don’t see that kind of character as much I wanna say. He’s my favourite cause his weird gnc swag enraptured me thats all he is post over.

Not actually over cause there’s one last thing. These characters would not be these characters without the wonderful players behind them. Each episode brings out better and better performances that have me actually going crazy over them. I genuinely wouldve had nothing to write about if it weren’t for the fact everyone brings so much life into these characters and loves them so much that they feel so fucking real. They don’t feel flat or simple but very nuanced characters that I love to study and even be wrong about (i actually hate being wrong and every time im wrong i get so ashamed) but Argentum’s flourishes and talks to get out of situations, Phoenix’s wit and holy shit that dread form voice, Sunder during the market fight and then the softer scene with Varic, Wall’s humor and even talking about the more serious stuff, and Zephrael’s ability to balance harshness and endearing at the same time. That’s Hayden, Leizu, Juzo, Ben, and Grizzly and I genuinely cannot fucking talk about the performances enough. I’ve thought about making a post just about it but I fear I just wouldn’t be able to articulate what I wanna say enough. Then obviously it wouldn’t even be possible without the fucking amazing world building and npcs Jonah has provided. Everything is so immersive and I find myself caring for each and every npc we meet whether caring for their safety or caring too much cause I dislike them. Every npc sticks with me and I grow so attached so quickly because they feel so real in this world that also feels so fucking real. It feels like we are just peeking into another world and I actually can’t multitask when watching sow cause I get too sucked in. It’s really hard to do that and I talk about it a lot but never really publicly so I thought I would here.

Anyways for real this time post over, this ended up way longer than I thought it was gonna be so ur a real one if you read this all the way through lol. I’m off to go think about sow merch again as I wait for permission and stuff cause im crazy. See ya later

[coffee-or-murder]

So AWHILE ago now a buddy asked:

“If you were to build a BG3-esque game using only your own OC’s (with the option of a custom protag) who would you use? (bonus points: recruitment order and/or notes about those who refuse to work together) ((bonus bonus points: include the personal questline for each character))” So because that’s the first thing I read when I woke up, my brain has latched onto it like a cat who found a hotdog on the counter. My brain being the cat running ahead with the thought while me, the cat owner, tries to chase the cat down to get the hotdog back. AnYwhO, a very long slightly too in-depth multi-part explanation of what OC’s I picked, little notes on them, and a Bad End and Good End romantic character arc :D Because apparently my brain chose insanity :D Also, everyone is bi, because that makes custom protag romances WAY easier to deal with, and they are my characters so most of them were already bi to start with lol. I have been at this for months now it's mildly embarrassing lol. ANYWAY part one!

Instead of mindflayer worms this game would focus on Vhaeraun and Lolth, them both struggling to plot against the other all while Vhaeraun makes an attempt on the surface. The party is captured originally as slaves for Lolth as they’re each traveling to their various destinations (with the exception of a handful of characters), but Vhaeraun meddles to set them loose and weaken the Lolth supporters that are keeping his people from making a move on a large port city. Act one is the party escaping captivity, stealing an important artifact during said escape, going against the Lolth supporters in the Underdark, and moving between Eilistraee supported cities and Lolth controlled. Act two ends with the Lolth group heavily damaged and the party finally reaching the surface, but the Vhearaun group beginning to make a move on the city. Act three is getting to the city, meeting previously made allies, and beating back both groups OR choosing to side with Vhaeraun or Lolth’s group instead.

So in the opening scene, your origin character of choice or custom protag wakes up in a dimly lit stone jail cell alone, with no memory of exactly how you got there. There are no windows, and all you can see across from you are more single person cells. All empty.

If you chose Olly or Lemon, you can hear your cousin calling for you, and you know it is your cousin but not how you got there.

If you chose WARFORGED you wake up in a small storage room instead, and can hear people outside in distress.

If you chose anyone else OR the custom origin character, you can hear two other people calling for each other who sound distressed but unharmed.

Your cell is Unlocked. You do not know why. A high enough investigation roll (10+) on the lock shows it’s been tampered with.

Characters listed in order of appearance, assuming this is an custom character playthrough: Oliver “Olly” Bakhouzin - Mammon Tiefling - Soul Knife Rogue Recruitment: Act One- Jailbreak

The PC will find Olly a few cells down attempting to pick the lock on his cell with a crudely made shiv while cussing in halfling/infernal, occasionally yelling out a “Lemon! Lemon you alright! Fuck I’m comin!”

Olly will pick the lock himself and get out if the PC doesn’t reach him quick enough, and will race down the hall to get to Lemon. (helpful if your PC can’t pick locks). If your PC can get to him fast enough he’ll ask who the fuck they are and if they can help him get out.

The PC can pick the lock before him if AND make it down to Lemon to open the lock themselves if they’re quick enough. This will gain points with both of them.

Olly offers to team up with the PC to escape, under the condition they help Lemon too. They’re a package deal. After the jailbreak the party will be working together to escape the Underdark and the people hunting them down.

If the PC turns down their offer, in Act Three the player has a much harder time getting the support of the Bakhouzin Family and Three Families Syndicate. Lemon and Olly are no longer seen in the game if the PC turns down their offer to team up, and can be presumed dead or captured somewhere in the Underdark.

Little Character Notes

Male, 32 years old, Bisexual, he gets around

Overprotective of his cousin Lemon. They may not always agree, but if you choose a dialogue option in conversation with her that is Rude to her you’ll automatically lose points with him.

Super tiny detail, but he will automatically target the creatures Lemon is afraid of if he is in the same party as her.

You’d be able to sleep with him fairly early in his approval, but he won’t form actual romantic feelings for you until later. When he does though he is very devoted.

The man has piercings everywhere, and other characters will comment about them in overheard conversation from time to time. Olly makes a joke about having the room on his dick to have multiple piercings, which if Lemon is in the party she will sigh and reply “Ew Oliver” and get a laugh out of him.

Romantic Character Arc Good End

Will tell the PC he’s pretty damn lucky to have run into someone like him, and offer to either follow them on their journey or maybe if the PC wanted, no pressure or anything, but maybe if the PC wanted to…come live with him? The PC will have the option then to continue to travel with Olly, move into his place with him while he manages the bakery, or break off the relationship. If choosing to travel or move in with Olly, the PC will also have the option to propose, which Olly will enthusiastically accept.

If the option to travel is chosen, Olly will lament that his bees will have to find new homes, and asks for the time to get them sorted before leaving on their journey. If the PC declines this condition, Olly will instead break off the relationship. Yes the bees are more important. No this is not a bug.

Bad End

If you side with the Vhaeraun or Lolth sides in Act Two or Act Three, he will either attempt to assassinate you himself (if your approval rating is not at max or too low), or take Lemon and leave (if your approval rating is at max). There is no romance option for Olly if you choose to side with Vhaeraun or Lolth’s groups, and you will lose both him and Lemon as companions. This is locked, and neither of them will stay if you take Vhaeraun or Lolth's side.

Assassination (low approval) - You can either kill him yourself, let him escape, or trap him in one of Vhaeraun/Lolth’s prisons to keep as a pet. Either way you automatically make an enemy out of Lemon (if she escapes/survives the fight) and the Bakhouzin Family and Three Family Syndicate. All members of those factions will attack on sight.

Leaving (high approval) - If a romantic relationship was established, Olly leaves behind a letter saying that he can’t believe that this person is the person he fell in love with. He renounces his love, but admits he can’t bring himself to attack the PC. If no romantic relationship was had but his approval rating was high enough, he will instead renounce their friendship, and mark the PC as an enemy of the factions Olly is a member of. He ALSO takes all of his equipment, all of Lemon’s equipment, and will steal back any equipment gifted to the PC by the Bakhouzin Family and Three Family Syndicate.

[gallowswhump]

If you are my one DnD player who knows about this account move on this post is not for you. If you are the other DnD play that I know has a tumblr stop when you realize who I am and well I'm sorry you had to find this blog this way.

CW: mentions of slavery, sexism

Hello so I want to talk a little bit about an aspect of my DnD homebrew world because I feel like some people in the little community here would really love a truly tragic god of madness. Now this is no way 100% within any cannon of any official material so if there is something that doesn't match official cannon. Homebrew is the fan fic of the D&D world who cares about cannon? This is also relevant to OC Calcifire as he is a Pyromancer but there is a lot of lore changes between this and what I will be doing for his world.

So origin, my god of madness is the world eater. Typically depicted as a snake but the true goal is that of the end of the world to start the cycle new. Now one thing to understand about my world is that all of the gods exist and different pantheons are worshipped by different countries peoples and regions. All the pantheons on the table though are Forgotten Realms, Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Eberon, the Dark Seldarine Pantheon and of course whatever else I want because I am the DM fight me.

Our world eater and god of madness actually starts as Vhaeraun. The god of male drow, thievery, and bringing evil to the surface. Vhaeraun while triumphed by male Drows who are basically a slave class he is still very evil. Now the Drow in my world are very isolated from the main land. (Yes I was making a land down under Australia joke for my drow.) So their gods are separated from the main pantheons as well. That is until Vhaeraun wanting to topple Lolth's rule decides to find the other gods in search of their help to free the Drow from the domination of Lolth.

Now lore wise it doesn't mater who his first interaction was with and it's pretty fuzzy on order but for the sake of this post we'll say it was Apep. The soul eater of the afterlife according to Egyptian myth. Vhaeraun proposed the idea of combining. Two unknown gods coming together to make themselves more powerful to respectively achieve their own goals. In my world this was something previously thought impossible because of how worship and the gods work and many still to this day do not understand that these gods unlike the Greek and Roman counterparts are not separate but are now the same god. Both worshipers of Apep and worshipers of Vhaeraun now pray to the same god.

It's not enough power though and slowly the newly created world eater either consumes or convinces each of it's counterpart from each pantheon. Dendar the eater of nightmares, Tharizdun the eternal darkness, The Devourer, Erberous and Scotus the Primordial Darknessess, Nuitari of Evil Magic, and Jormungander. Along with the concept that some worship which is of the Ouroboros. Most of these gods with the goal to restart the cycle. Now not all of these gods are outright evil. Some of them see the world as unjust and corrupt and wish to restart for the hopes of something better or it's just the nature of their godhood.

This slowly goes under the noses of the other gods. Most of the ones joined into the world eater minor or forgotten. Until Lolth comes looking for Vhaeraun. Finding the state he's become and concerned that the accumulated power would be enough to over throw her she comes to the other gods for help. Most wouldn't dare to help Lolth but a select few understood the danger of a god like this. The Raven Queen the ruler of the Shadowfell, the leaders of each of the Fey courts, and the powerful dragon protectors of the astral plane. Killing a god with so many followers was impossible. So they created a prophesized mortal who would slow the progress of the world eater during their lives empowered with the fire of life and knowledge. (A neutral 3rd party was the only way they could come to an agreement to do anything anyways.)

When the first Pyromancer faced off against the world eater he was forced to retreat into darkness. Something there drew his attention a terrible great gift from a primordial time a power no god had laid claim to. There they found suffering all of suffering and it latched onto the world eater like a parasite. The ability to hear and revel in all suffering made the world eater powerful but not all of the gods folded into the one god were inherently evil and even the blackest of hearts have a hard time listening to the suffering of every single creature of the world. Slowly the world eater turned from reveling in the suffering of the world to being maddened by it. The suffering was now a justification, 'See why the world needs to start a new? It's filled with evil and suffering and I can make a world where no one has to suffer.'

This idea mixed with the inherent evil of most of the gods folded into the world eater means that the world eater along with his followers are cursed. No matter how good their intentions start the end will always lead to a corrupted sense of how far to go with those good intentions.

---

You can stop reading there below this break are some examples of followers of the world eater who had the best of intentions but slowly.

Sethos was previously a follower of Set and a Kitsune who had faced nothing but prejudice their entire life. Forced to hide their race behind magic and with the slow turning of Set from a champion of the poor and the people to a god of chaos and storms Sethos chose to take power from the world eater. No longer seeing worth in the world he wanted to make a new one that lacked hatred. However so blinded by his fear of others and his hate for a system that turned him into a villain lead to a bloody destruction of a major city and the start of the collapse of an empire.

Scales is a tiefling whos culture is very early Mongolian and also one of the few that doesn't pay much head into the worship of gods. When he came across an old artifact of the world eater he used it in hopes of using the power to make his father proud. Scales intention was to bring the tiefling tribes into power and take land that they see was rightfully theirs back from the ever expanding empires that stole it. If he wasn't killed by his father Cadaver (see below) this would have turned into a bloody unending war that would have seen casualties in the millions.

Cadaver also a tiefling joined the world eater after hearing the gods ideas on suffering and madness. His intention was to actually help the world eater out of his state of madness where the only option they could see of ending suffering is ending the world. This shifted into the idea of untethering the world eater from this plane and leaving this cluster of planes entirely. This has lead to reckless plans with little concern of the safety of those he has dragged into them. To the point that he is going to start tearing down walls between planes as a way to try and force a way out.

[sunnysojourn]

Bridging The Gap Between Two Realms

Full thread below the cut.

sunnysojourn: 

Nadal had come along as a bit of an accessory for Poppy today, though he’d add on one little detail to his plan’s recap before they approached the forest where she had these rendezvouses with her as-of-yet unknown dark elf friend.

“Let me speak to him for a moment first,” he offered, holding his hand out as if the offer was of a physical item. “I believe there are things I can say to him that you could not. Then, you can begin to try to-- softly-- put your perspective forth. I may have to translate this into terms he will understand.”

@themaryiestsuetoeversue​:

It was just her and Nadal, like she promised - well, Noir was sort of in the rough area, with the rest of the party, she assumed - boy, not having a link to these three was annoying - but not in the designated meeting clearing. She couldn't stop herself from looking for his birds, before looking at Nadal's offered hand, too nervous to take it.

"That's a good plan. The best plan. Explain everything - because I think all I can do at this point is apologize, still. He'd believe you over me..."

She didn't even have the bag of stuff nor her crossbow, in an attempt to both be nonthreatening and avoid the eyes of bandits.

What was she saying, though - they'd discussed this! Damn her nerves for erasing everything...

"I'm gonna try to do what we talked about. Gonna...gonna plant a seed..."

@vassarazorclaw:

The sparrows knew first, chattering about new faces amongst themselves.  Gossip was a past time of the forest's residents, so it wasn't long before the the ravens knew, and by that rote, Ran also became aware.  He consulted his spellbook and took his skinning knife with him...just in case.

He made sure his steps were light and silent as he followed Salmon's flight from tree to tree.  Better to leave no trail back home.  The raven perched himself in the high branches and Ran felt Soup's talons prick reassuringly through his tunic.  The ranger breached the tree line silently, tense as he took in the pair.  Where was Noir?  Was this an escape on Poppy's part or was this a trap?

"Hello again.  Hello."  The second greeting was for Poppy's companion.  One of the brothers no doubt.  The elderboy maybe?  Then where were the other two?  Ran's fingers twitched.  <Are you well?  Are you safe?>

sunnysojourn:

Nadal snapped to attention, and starkly took a defensive stance. Though he carried no weapon and only wore his bright red clerical robes, he could still defend himself in a pinch-- but he eased upon the sight of the ranger. "<She hardly knows our tongue,>" he spoke, in the language of their people. "Nice to meet you. <I am Nadal Hun'ar, Seventhboy and First Daughter.>" He gave a respectful curtsey to the ranger, then continued, "<I will explain the latter half of that title in due time; all you need remember is that you and I are equals and this small meeting was at my request.>"

Now, he pointed a confused raise of the eyebrows in Ran's direction. "<Now, why should I be unsafe? You have seen the two of them, haven't you?>"

@vassarazorclaw:

Ran shifted back, ready to bolt back into the woods.  But the other elf relaxed so Ran relaxed.  Slightly.  What a strange introduction.  Why would the seventh boy be here as a speaker and not the elderboy?  Something was up.

Poppy was the one that offered to "bring him along" so why was he claiming he asked for the meeting?  Where was Noir?  Soup pushed off his shoulder, off to scout for the moon elf.

<I've seen them.>  Was he meant to be saving Poppy from Nadal then?  Ran flexed his fingers.  He could...maybe get the spell off in time?  Or not?  This wasn't going how Ran had imagined.  <It's really just the one I'm worried about, really.  But if you're safe, that's good.  I thought you might be...uh, very, very out of favor...with Matron Hun'ar.>

The slave market could have gotten dark elves UP just as easily as they dragged surfacers DOWN right?

sunnysojourn:

Nadal frowned, appraising the strange ranger's words. Out of favor he may have been, but his mother wouldn't waste resources like that unless-- Unless she found out about him, he imagined.

"<I was. Horribly out of favor, in fact. You see, I was one of Vhaeraun's people. I still revere him even now, to some extent. But you see, Poppy and Noir rescued me from the slavers' chains. Mostly Noir. Poppy had also been captured.>" Truth was like water. Just enough of it would keep him alive. "<I have allowed them the use of my surface home since then.>"

He straightened up tall. "<Morennil, our eldest, followed me out. Vyth, I dragged out myself. Speaking of, I have been informed that-- because these people don't understand our ways-- you might be under the impression that you would be punished if you are not unreasonably nice to Vyth whether or not you like him? Disregard that notion. If you become his friend, that is your choice.>"

@vassarazorclaw:

There was that Vyth again.  Ran scowled.  <How was Vyth dragged with you exactly?>  Ran had a guess but it didn't speak well of Nadal's character.  The story explained spoke better of Morennil, really.  Vyth just seemed to be along for the ride either way.  Must be tough.

<If Vyth and I become friends that's...also dependent on him.>  One sided friendships apparently weren't real, after all.  <...but yes, I had been informed that I had "better be nice" to him, or else it would upset Poppy.  And given that I may be on thin ice with Noir I...feel it's in my best interest to not upset Poppy.>

sunnysojourn:

If only Nadal's back could get any straighter, he'd do that now. "<I returned to the underdark and took him with me,>" he answered. "<If being Vhaeraunite was enough to get me sold, and Vyth is himself an enemy of Lolth, would you not agree that it was in his best interest to come with me before someone found him out?>" Even if he didn't trust himself for the longest time--

His composure broke completely once he heard the exact words Poppy had used come out of Ran's mouth. "<I'm sorry, she said what?> Poppy, you didn't tell me-- <When she came crying to me about how she thought you didn't want to be her friend anymore, she had not told me she used explicitly forceful language to address you. I apologize on her behalf. I have no idea what she was thinking when she said that. You are not going to be punished if the two of you do not end up in an amicable relationship.>"

@vassarazorclaw:

Going back was certainly brave.  Ran had to commend Nadal for going back to get his brother.  He nodded.  That sorted out the first part of the Vyth conundrum.   <That makes sense.>

He relaxed even further as Soup confirmed for him Noir's location.  Out by the river, preoccupied with chores.  Still, Salmon continuing his lookout couldn't hurt.  He blinked, focusing back on the view in front of him.  <Oh.  She was crying?>

That couldn't be good.  He fidgeted, fiddling with his own fingers.  <It's fine.  Not that she was crying!  I mean, I want to be friends with her!  It's simply that I may have made overtures at her without knowing her exact relationship with Noir who--don't tell her I said this but she is awful at watching Poppy.  When we met Noir was not so graceful in reacting to my greeting?  Neither was Poppy, actually, thinking on it.  But uh, I feel that sort of, well, I feel like Noir may have it out for me but has not acted because I have Poppy's favor?  At least a little.  I mean, it was nice before the uh, the whole thing where I thought maybe she was collecting dark elves.  But she isn't!  Which is great.>

sunnysojourn: 

Nadal straightened up again, hands at his sides where Ran could see them. The look on his face returned to its usual half-lidded neutrality, and it seemed the tension had simmered down a bit, despite Ran's lengthy ramble.

"<Your footsteps are whisper quiet. You even startled me for a moment.>" That was as much as he needed to say about that. Nobody needed to dwell on the fact that he got scared by a noodle with messy hair. "<Noir is harmless once she meets someone. The two of them... really, they're the furthest from graceful I've ever seen, but they mean well and they'd like to improve.>"  One hand hovered over his belt's purple buckle, a color that didn't quite go with the bright red target he wore. "<I, too, have made overtures in Poppy's direction. As it turns out, she's only interested in female bodies.>"

He flipped the switch from purple to pink, and let everything shift-- regained his balance-- then bowed his head all the same. "<This...>" His voice, though starkly feminine, still resided in the low range for his sex. Just as it did before. "<This is a longer story and I'll explain it later. When I'm not trying to bridge the gap between you two.>"

@vassarazorclaw:

When was being part of the background bad?  It was better not to attract attention!  Safer!  Just quietly go about your work.  Ran likewise didn't agree that Noir was harmless.  She definitely had the potential to do harm.  Well, the potential for intent to harm.  Well...she was quick to consider violence as a solution.

Ran's train of thought stalled.  What.  OKAY.  First daughter now made sense, but--WHAT.  His eyes slid to Poppy.  Poppy was safe to look at.  "Salmon."

The raven landing on his shoulder was a comforting weight.  Ran reached up to dig his fingers into thick feathers.  Right, he could do this.  He took a breath and looked back at Nadal.  <Right, okay.  That's fine.  So, to be clear, no one is being held hostage and no one was actually enforcing a hierarchy?>

sunnysojourn: 

Noir would be harmless soon and that was what mattered. Shame Nadal couldn't say they'd speak to her about this, or risk losing favor with Ran-- so he just added a qualifier to the word 'harmless'. He offered a second curtsey to Ran as the ranger finally gained the nerve to look upon him again.

Maybe he wasn't quite as far gone as Nadal's practice runs would have suggested. Only one way to find out:

"<To be clear?>" He repeated, as a question. "<The surface is not the underdark. These people have no idea why you'd make either of those assumptions.>"

@vassarazorclaw:

Ran took in a breath.  <Okay.  Fair.>  His eyes flitted upward.  Ah, there she was.  He held out an arm for his second raven to land on.  Feathery comfort.

<It may have also been...a language barrier.>  Ran understood more than he could string together, but what he could string together wasn't always received how he intended.  <And I guess I wasn't very outspoken in my worries?  I'll have to expand my vocal-bulary.>

He turned his face, briefly hiding it in Salmon's feathers.  Dictionary and diction needed improvement for sure.

sunnysojourn:

Commoner, then. Any noble would have been taught how to taunt his surface enemies and appear intelligent while doing so... His advice, were Ran a noble, would have been to ask more questions about their intent, but that wouldn't be possible as long as Ran's common wasn't up to snuff.

He nodded, stifling a smile at Ran's little pun. "<You have a choice, then. You can wait for us to tutor Poppy and Noir in our tongue, or one of us could stick around and tutor you in theirs. Poppy, she's intelligent, but we have many pressing matters that tend to get in the way. I'd like to do this, personally, but logically, I would ask Vyth-- he understands native speech better than I do-- if he would teach you.>"

@vassarazorclaw:

Tutoring?  It would be helpful.  Really, he just needed time to practice.  Market trips were good, but hanging out bothering merchants seemed a bit like asking for too much.  He hummed, fighting to keep from grinning.

<I wouldn't want to hold you up from your travels?  Given the gaps between visits, I assume travel is important to Poppy.>  Having someone over for longer than a visit might be nice, but... <Also my house is rather small?  I guess I never really foresaw having guests my size over, really.>

sunnysojourn:

"<Travel is very important to Poppy,>" Nadal confirmed with a nod to punctuate the statement. "<However.>" He folded his arms behind his back, to stand firm at attention. "<The others would continue to travel.  We would leave one person here, temporarily. Then retrieve them. I'm certain Vyth wouldn't mind the stability.>"

Neither would he, if he was being honest about things. "Poppy, he tells me that he has been particularly fearful with regard to Noir, who he sees as not only dangerous, but as potentially vengeful, considering he acted outside of his assumed station. That she had not acted due only to your favor."

@themaryiestsuetoeversue:

Poppy sighed. Yeah, that made a lot of sense. "She did kind of point her sword at him when we first met..." She shook her head. "Noir's okay with him now, though! Since, like, he hasn't tried to hurt me or anything and honestly..." She didn't trust Nadal to NOT directly translate this, but he'd definitely read between the lines anyway. "She knows I know how to refuse, even if I feel bad about it..."

Ran was so nice, was the thing. It wasn't like turning down a raunchy squire from back home or a leering bard from on the road.

"Noir only acts if somebody's gonna hurt me, and we're both pretty certain Ran will never do that. She kinda thinks his attempts at courtship were, um..." Oh, this would sound so insulting... "Funny? Because she knows how loyal I am and what my answer would be." Sorry Ran, you never had a chance to begin with. Maybe if she were single and you were a woman, but only then. The situation with Nadal was, uh...

Different. Poppy could only handle so many lovers, and knowing that Nadal could basically function if she ran into a streak of not much free time to spend with him went a long way in making this work.

"He doesn't have to be afraid of Noir, she won't hurt him."

sunnysojourn:

Nadal nodded and kept his expression flat, even when Poppy told him about how Noir was... basically making fun of the poor commoner over his crush. "<Noir only harms those who are a definitive threat, she says. Noir has determined that it is not in your desire to commit assault against Poppy. That is all that matters.>"

@vassarazorclaw:

Wow.  Ran stroked his fingers over Soup's back thoughtfully.

"Si siofme coi ui diwhafup batobot ihk creolna nouhaia mrith wer tokeqwim di jacioniv thurirl, jaciv ui gethrisja vi sumf."  Soup mused.  Salmon laughed, bobbing on Ran's shoulder.

"Lemon, wux jalla visp jacioniv batobot!"  Ran...was clearly missing something.  He gave both ravens a pat.

[I'm not telling her that.]  The response was in yet another language, and maybe four tongues on the table was a little too much.  Undercommon could at least be understood by everyone but Poppy?  Ran shook his head.

<I wasn't exactly a fighter down below, and I'm not too keen on picking fights up here, so no worries on that front.  I think I'm pretty over it.  Being friends is fine.  Uh, if Vyth really wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind having a tutor.  It's really just getting to practice and having time to do it.>

sunnysojourn:

Nadal leaned a bit more toward Poppy as he translated Ran's words to Common. "He claims he has gotten over his crush, if that helps you in any way. He is also worried that there was too much of a language barrier between the two of you, and I have offered to ask Vyth if he might stay and tutor Ran or help him practice."

To Ran, he added, "<If everything is well between you, might I ask a personal question? Just from me to you.>"

@themaryiestsuetoeversue:

"It makes me feel better that I didn't hurt his feelings, yes." Claims, though...poor guy. You'll find someone eventually, Ran!

"That's okay but make sure Vyth actually wants to stay, of his own free will." And then maybe they could come back in a month, see how the tutoring went... Heck, she should've been practicing Draconic somehow. "Learning Common will help him beyond being able to communicate with me, so if Vyth's up for it, I don't mind. This place isn't too dangerous for people like Vyth."

@vassarazorclaw:

Ran honestly wasn't looking.  It just would have been nice.  Poppy wouldn't have been an ideal partner, really, if he was pragmatic about it.  What with her lust for travel and all.  Enough of one to drag at least four others along with her it seemed.  Though...maybe some of that was Noir.

<I don't mind personal questions, ask away!>  This was nice, talking in his mother tongue.  Though maybe he just thought that because Poppy and Nadal were talking at a hard to follow pace.  Too many new words  among familiar ones or ones he knew well.

sunnysojourn:

"If Vyth decides not to, then I'll do it," Nadal replied in Common. While that succinct response hung in the air, he turned his attention wholly on Ran, keeping his arms folded behind his straightened back.

"<There is this surface custom surrounding courtship... A...> date, <I believe it's called. Where two people come together and determine their compatibility, as in, how well they would do together if they knew each other intimately.>" His face heated up and he found himself thankful for two things. First, Poppy couldn't see him blushing. Second, Poppy couldn't understand how awkward the lead up to this question was. "<Would you like to try that?>"

@vassarazorclaw:

A "date"?  Ran blinked, tilting his head as Salmon tugged an errant leaf from his hair.  Nadal wanted to spend time with him?  Ran suppressed a giddy laugh.

<Okay!>  Wait, no, cool it.  <Okay!>  Nailed it.  Soup gave him a look, whispering in his head that maybe he shouldn't seem too over eager.  Little late for that.

sunnysojourn:

Gods, if Ran wasn't like an excitable little puppy... So cute.

Nadal nodded and bowed his head slightly at the end of it. "<Wonderful. Do you have a preferred day...?>" His face felt warmer than before, and he found himself blinking down at the ground a lot. He did it. He initiated an encounter and got an affirmative response. An enthusiastic affirmative response.

"<Would tonight be too soon? I need to refresh myself on how that works.>"

@vassarazorclaw:

A day?  Ran didn't have anything pressing matters on any day, really.  He set Soup on his other shoulder, smoothing down her fathers.  She huffed anyway.  Salmon gave him a pat with his beak.  <Any day is fine!>

Ran shook his head, grinning.  <Tonight is good!  I mean, if that's fine with you!  It's fine with me!>

sunnysojourn:

Tonight. Tonight was good. Okay. Nadal could prepare for that within the day, he was sure. "<Could we meet here again? It should only be a few hours.>"

"Poppy. I think I have a date tonight." He still continued slow blinking. "I am going to need to look that custom up again."

@vassarazorclaw:

<Oh yes!  I can be back here in a few hours easily.>  That was enough time to wash up and look presentable.  Check on his chickens and plants and maybe a few of the traps closer to home?  How did you prepare for a date?

<I'll see you in a few hours then!>  Ran waved, trotting off with the same quiet steps he'd entered with.