#asura personal story

[gw2-correct-quotes]

"That's my invention, Kudu. You're no genius, you're a derivative thief. And you dress like a ninny. Tell your tailor that other colors exist"

~ Asuran Commander

[ratasum]

Qirri Tinkerfirst: Early Timeline

Qirri is the youngest daughter of four to their parents, Pazz and Tixzi. Pazz is a very successful asura in his own right, heading a respected medical krewe and actually having been tapped for a council spot at one point before Qirri helped him decide he wanted nothing to do with it but we'll get to that.

No brothers, and Pazz and Tixzi had a life contract, so they were outliers within their society. Staying together instead of practicing serial monogamy. The two oldest girls are twins, Pyrria and Izza, and they're both ten years older than Qirri. Next is @wall-legion's Rissia, at seven years older than her.

Qirri herself was an "oopsie baby," as Tixzi wasn't supposed to have any more kids. But she did anyway, and their youngest was born dangerously premature, with underdeveloped lungs and a weak immune system.

(The albinism runs in their families. No one was surprised by that.)

Qirri actually got sick a lot in the first few years of her life. Their family doctor was worried she wouldn't live to even see toddler age, let alone growing up at all. But Qirri's stubbornness apparently just was a thread she'd have rolling through her whole life, as she just kept surviving. Maybe not thriving… she was underweight and got sick easily. By the time she was six, she was the size of a toddler.

But she was alive. And more than that, she was a genius in every sense of the word. A true prodigy.

Her very first invention was modifying a toy Wintersday golem to carry her nebulizer and all her medications.

She was four.

When she was six, that's when Pazz was nominated for a council seat (one that would end up going to Yahk). Seeing that this was a big deal, Pazz took his whole family to the kind of "meet and greet" in the Arcane Council chambers. And of course, he was introducing his partner and daughters around to all the councilors.

So here Pazz is, introducing this little thing around, and he gets. To Councilor Phlunt. Phlunt gives this tiny little thing a very scrutinizing glance, then says "Awfully small for six, isn't she?" before going to pat her head.

Now something you should know about Pazz and his daughters: Pazz loves his daughters with every fiber of his being. He cares about their safety and their personal autonomy. He taught every single one of his daughters that should they feel threatened, should someone be entering their space that has not asked permission, they are permitted to do everything in their power to stop the unwanted interaction.

Including biting.

So when this strange old man reached out with the audacity to pat her atop her curly little head, she reacted exactly as her daddy told her to: she bit the everloving FUCK out of Phlunt's hand.

And boy did that go badly. Tixzi freaked out, Phlunt obviously reacted badly, Qirri got a swat on the ear that got Pazz yelling at Phlunt for hurting her, and Tixzi was handed Qirri to take her and the other girls all home.

Pazz, obviously, wasn't upset with her. Tixzi wasn't either, not really, but this was a very important event. And Qirri, being all of six years old and very sheltered, was horrified, thinking she'd just ruined her dad's chances of ever getting to be a councilor and their family was going to get booted out of Rata Sum and be exiles forever.

So she IMMEDIATELY hid under her bed crying. It took Rissia sitting next to the bed with snacks to coax her out, eventually.

They weren't going to get kicked out. The ALERT Krewe was still very highly respected. Pazz passed on the council opportunity and went back to krewe leadership. And Qirri moved on in her tiny little life. Which is where we get to: Qirri never got to go to a traditional progeny school!

Part of her being so frighteningly premature, other than her lungs being underdeveloped, is that her immune system also didn't cook as well as it should. Tixzi was concerned that being around a bunch of other progeny could wind up with her getting sick. After all: we all know that schools are basically petri dishes, so she wasn't ENTIRELY wrong.

Instead, she hired a tutor to come in and teach Qirri in private one on one lessons to minimize her exposure to potential pathogens. Qirri very quickly outpaced her teacher, but they did their best. But it had the tragic side effect that she just… never got to interact with other progeny her age. She only ever really had her sisters… who, again, are considerably older than her. When Qirri was six, Rissia was thirteen and the twins were sixteen.

(Worth noting: Qirri's relationship with the twins was always rocky. They saw her as more of a doll than a kid sometimes. And gave her a complex about her ears for a little bit as a kid because they told her Rissia swung her around by them when she was a baby, and that's why her ears were so weird and big.)

It is worth noting here: Qirri's relationship with her mother growing up. Tixzi is… protective. She loves all of her daughters, but Qirri… wasn't really supposed to even be there? And it's not like she makes difference. She doesn't regret having Qirri. She decided to keep her for a reason. But Qirri's health is fragile, and she knows it. And she gets… tetchy about it. Every interaction is a potential risk. Be it to her lungs or to her immune system.

So she just… she did everything in her power to keep her baby safe. And it unfortunately meant that sometimes Qirri just… didn't get to have experiences other progeny her age did.

Qirri was a child that didn't get to be a child. Qirri, don't wander too far. Qirri, don't eat that. Qirri, stay away from there. Tixzi hobbled her without meaning to. And it was just to try to keep her safe! She didn't MEAN anything by coddling her like she did; she wanted her to live!

But this bled into Qirri's life growing up. She only ever saw the outside of Rata Sum ONCE before she was fifteen.

She was eight. Pazz had a meeting and Qirri had a doctor's appointment on the same day, so he offered to take her so Tixzi could focus on her project. And while they were out, Pazz let it slip to Qirri that… he had a lot of time between her appointment and his meeting. And he knew about a restaurant that did deep fried lightning bug bulbs, just outside the city in Soren Draa.

And deep fried lightning bug bulbs have always been Qirri's very favorite food. So he took her out there to get her a big basket of them that she could eat to her heart's content. Tixzi was upset for being duped, but Qirri got to sit in the ALERT Krewe workshop and eat lightning bug bulbs. And get doted on by the rest of the ALERT Krewe, who loved having Qirri around when she was a kid because she was sharp as a tack and would sit and work on things with them.

It would eventually come to pass, however, that it was her private instructor that suggested they look into getting Qirri into college early. She was brilliant for her young age, always eager to get her hands on things, clever and inventive. A perfect candidate for Dynamics. Which was a shock to the rest of her family: her father, mother, and sisters all went to either Synergetics or Statics.

It was around this time as well, going on when she was 10-ish, that her intelligence and stubbornness caught Zojja's attention… leading to her approaching Pazz and Tixzi with interest in taking Qirri on as her first apprentice. True, Qirri had interests in a different college than she attended. But Qirri was a young prodigy. Brilliant, angry, and stubborn. The sort of bullheaded stubborn energy she had herself, once upon a time. (And still did, let's be real with ourselves here.)

It was from Zojja that Qirri learned to hone much of her bull-headed stubbornness into a battering ram. Refusing to back down when people tried to tell her she couldn't. (This is a surprise tool character element that will be useful to us later.)

She was also where Qirri learned the lesson that she can't let anyone think she's weak, because Rata Sum would eat her alive otherwise. Qirri unfortunately took this entirely the wrong way and spent the next 15 years basically trying to ignore her disability and power through even at the worst of times.

And it was under Zojja's direction that Qirri took her old modified golem and turned it into one of her own. Her first invention was a modified nebulizer carried in a floating storage unit meant to travel with its owner, with sensors to determine when the user was in need of medication. It's the invention that got Qirri into college at age 12.

College, however, wasn't wasn't a good time for her. She had never been around progeny her own age, really, and while these students were closer to her in age, she didn't exactly get a lot of experience socializing outside of her family and any cousins she may have interacted with.

As a result, when she started college, it was… rocky. She wasn't sure how to interact well with fellow students and misstepped more often than most. Her young age meant she was talked down to and treated like a child by more than a few of her classmates. Enough that it was stressful and dishearetning for a young prodigy.

People she easily outpaced in lessons treated her like she was some kind of oddity. None of this was really her fault: is it fair to blame her for being as intelligent as she is? She wanted to make friends. But connecting with anyone was blisteringly hard, especially when they all just saw her as a novelty that would wear off with time.

It didn't help that her health was still fragile. While years and exposure therapy did give her some defenses she didn't initially have as a small child, she got sick easily, and fell behind in classwork not because she couldn't do it but because she was too damn sick to do the work.

She could've graduated by the time she was fifteen, but her entire college career at that point was fits and starts. Even with the support of Zojja and her family, she couldn't keep up. And for someone with a mind like hers, it was devastating. Immensely frustrating. Everyone had lauded her as this super intelligent prodigy when she was growing up, so why couldn't she do this one simple thing?

The friends she thought she made often just leaned on her for her intellect, and once they were done they faded out of her life as quickly as they came in. It was a painfully lonely experience. She'll talk about how good college was now, but most of it is to avoid talking about the very real fact that she hated it.

She hated having to posture like she didn't understand things, that she was held back by the speed of other students and her own poor health.

Rata Sum is not kind to the different, or the disabled.

So Qirri struggled. And she pushed herself through so hard, and it resulted in her getting sick a lot more frequently than anyone would have liked.

But it did mean that by the time she turned fifteen, she was set up to be ready to graduate. Three years! A fifteen year old prodigy who kept falling behind, fully ready to get that damn graduate certification.

This was not good or inspirational.

This was not to be lauded, even though her peers did praise her for it.

This was a chronically ill child being forced through a system that was built for the able bodied because everyone, even those who meant the best for her, didn't realize how badly it was destroying her.

And then it happened. All that stress, all that pushing herself, it finally broke. She collapsed in the middle of a presentation in one of her classes, fully out cold, with a wicked fever and struggling to breathe...

[guardian-instincts-bad]

okay none of this is new information but as usual i am thinking about gorrik and arenanet just. really never considered the timeline of his life and the implications of that at all, huh

like, okay, for eod you needed him to have a relationship to ankka and you needed ankka to have connections to the aetherblades, so you threw them both in thaumanova, fine

except. thaumanova. which blew up in 1324.

and no, we don't have a canon age for gorrik. but we know taimi's age, that she was friends with blish, and that blish is older than gorrik

now. taimi didn't know that the brothers had joined the inquest. which means either they'd kept it a secret from her, or more likely, it happened after they lost touch

taimi was born in 1313, meaning that the absolute oldest she could have been when she last saw them, is ten

now sure, taimi skipped a couple years, she's a prodigy even among asura - but age really matters when you're in single digits. for blish to be a friend, rather than a mentor, he can't be much older than maybe four years above her? i'd put that as the reasonable upper limit, they could be closer

(i'd also honestly guess that gorrik is a bit younger than taimi, given a) how much he looks up to blish, and b) that taimi prior to s4 only thought of him as blish's weird little brother, they weren't friends. and again, at that young, age matters - if you're 7, your friend is 10, and his little brother is 8 or 9, your first connection to him is probably not "oh, the little brother", because he's not little to you)

but assuming im wrong on all of that, just going back to our facts, that puts gorrik at the most about 2-3 years older than taimi

which means that the age we're looking at, for joining the inquest, thaumanova, all the stuff with ankka... he was somewhere between 9 and 13. could be even younger but im giving him the benefit of the doubt

gorrik says he never thought about ankka romantically and i believe him, but if there was ever anything there from her side, it was definitely a kiddie's first crush kinda thing, like oh we are a boy and a girl who are best friends clearly this is what romance means

because both of them were so fucking young

god knows spending her teenage years in the aetherblades was not great for ankka's everything, and by the time we find gorrik and blish in bug in the system, they've been working for the inquest for at least 8 years

that's almost half his life, at that point. working for an organisation that the thaumanova fractal and rata primus make incredibly clear does not value the lives of its workers in any way at all - they'll feed you to their latest experiment just for standing there, and gorrik wasn't just keeping his head down and going along with it, gorrik was actively sabotaging their research when he morally disagreed with it

(and this isn't even getting into why they joined the inquest in the first place, which i will bet anything i own on being because of blish's illness and needing the technology to save him)

and to their credit, i do think this comes across in bug in the system! because if you go back to early gorrik, first half of s4, having played through the rest of the story? the difference is shocking, like he is so distrusting and snide and defensive as hell of his brother, he talks like he expects you to attack him or blish at any moment

but then they never do anything with that ever again, and like, i love all the new gorrik content, genuinely i do, but arenanet there are layers to this character that you have entirely forgotten about, and god i wish we had a story that actually explored that

[rizardofether]

Thinking about Reiss again. He's an artificially created asura. The inspiration came from a manga I was reading, where the protagonist got reincarnated in another world into an artificially made new body and at some point one of the other characters finds out about it and brings it up by saying: "Your face has such a gentle smile. You wouldn't think it was the face of an artificially created human." Which sounds really fucked up to say to someone in my opinion...

Anyway so it inspired me to make my own artificially created character, and asura were the perfect target, since they would be the type to do something like that. I was unsure if I wanted him to be basically the clone of his creator or just a mix of genes he got his hands on...

But then this happened:

For the first time I got the doppelganger targeting me and it just happened while I was playing on Reiss. Which then led me to think about if Reiss was a clone, then seeing a doppelganger of himself would feel very uncomfortable.

Reiss' story is that his creator wanted to try his hand at artificially creating asura, and used his genes to make clones. Reiss was the first successful one, though he ran out of funding for his secret project so he remained the only one. Though he had plans for more, he had to put the project on pause to secure more funding.

In the meanwhile, he began raising Reiss as his son/test subject. He was a messed up fellow who would have treated his actual children terribly as well and he never got anyone to consent to having children with him he was that rancid.

Reiss was made to be very intelligent even by asura standards, as well as physically stronger than any normal asura. It worked for the most part, though he ended up with poor eyesight, having to wear glasses. Reiss quickly learned to act in a way that pleased his creator, hiding his displeasure at his treatment, secretly working towards escaping from his lab.

Then one day he was caught in the Inquest attack to take over the golems, getting killed by one of them. Reiss who had secretly built and planted a listening device on him, learned of this and took it as a chance to escape and be free.

While Reiss is a clone, he is a younger version of his creator, who was already an old man, so at most people would only recognize him as his son, since he kept his project secret from everyone else. The name Reiss is one he came up with for himself, his creator only ever used a test subject number name for him.

[commanderjuni]

[OUTDATED]🦋SRABBA TALK | PERSONAL STORY AND LWS1

SOOOO guess who just finished living world season ONE today? that's right. this guy. first and foremost I LOVED IT? i played through it before but sorta blew through everything, but actually taking time to experience the story was very fun

and now, the even funner part... writing about what srabba was up to during it all! i'll be doing this for each part of gw2's story for fun, and to articulate my thoughts about it!

⚠️ MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONAL STORY (1-80) AND LIVING WORLD SEASON ONE BELOW THE CUT

Beginning with the personal story, Srabba actually has no involvement with the war and eventual death of Zhaitan.

Srabba is only 13 when the events of personal story take place, and thus she has no real place to be at on the battle-field. However, she kept tabs on the new research and theories springing up as more was uncovered about the elder dragon of death.

While she was doing pre-college studies in Metrica Province, Srabba kept up to date on the situation mainly through research papers, news articles and word of mouth. Zhaitan wasn't exactly a quiet affair, so there was plenty of hubbub about the dragon and the three orders— the Vigil, Priory, and Order of Whispers— coming together (for once) to take down the dragon.

The breakthroughs during this time: the confirmation of one Professor Gorr's theory— the dragons consume magic, thereby taking it out of Tyria and growing stronger in doing so— has monumental affirmations and implications, and Srabba finds herself more and more fascinated in the topic.

Because of this, she sort of... nudges her other projects aside. Chaos magic can be put on hold, she'll keep her hearing aid development on the back-burner— this, this dragon research... It was incredible, and Srabba was eager to know more.

Thus, Srabba decided that after turning 14 and enrolling in the college of Dynamics (after proving herself with a clever invention called the Transatmospheric converter— a blend of asura intellect, mesmer chaos magic, and elemental magic), she'd make a name for herself in becoming an expert in dragon magic. Alongside chaos magic, of course. You can be a genius in two things, after all.

Srabba's choice in enrolling in Dynamics was a success in keeping aligned with her goals. Statics only focused on what they already had, and Synergetics... bleh. Too theoretical and philosophical for her tastes. Dynamics got things done in new and innovative ways, and Srabba made a name for herself in her class with her bright, cutting-edge ideas. She was regarded positively by her professors, albiet some of her peers found her a bit... egotistical... and some of her professors found her a bit too smart.

Nonetheless, Srabba was thriving in college.

And then... Scarlet happened.

First it was Dragon Bash. Then it was the Queen's Jubilee. Then it was the wretched tower in Kessex Hills. It didn't take long for word to travel back to the asura side of Tyria, and Srabba once again found her putting her projects aside for a new interest: Scarlet Briar.

Now, Srabba could care less about Scarlet as a person. As far as Srabba cared, she was a crazed Sylvari who liked explosions and bombs a little too much. It was her machines— her alchemy and magitech and gizmos galore— that Srabba really cared about. Srabba found Scarlet to be a genius, and she needed to study some of this genius' work.

Thus, Srabba sort of... Oh.. Y'know... Snuck out under everyone's noses and onto one of the sites of Scarlet's latest monstrosity: the Clockwork Marionette. She wasn't there for the fight, personally, but was found by Logan Thackeray snooping around in debris and fancy shiny bits and rubble. Not only did he have one nosy progeny to deal with, but now two nosy progeny.

Srabba and Taimi had no prior interactions, and as far as they knew before this moment, the other didn't exist. However... If it meant annoying some dumb human...

And with that, a beautiful friendship was born.

Upon being dragged back to Lion's Arch to be sent away to Rata Sum upon a guardian taking ownership of them, Srabba and Taimi got to actually chatting, and found they both had quite a lot in common.

One, they were both orphans. Two, they both were disabled and hated getting pitying looks because of it. Three, they were both brilliant prodigy progeny, and hated even more when people doubted them for their age. And four, they both were fixated with Scarlet and her work.

... As far as Srabba figured, though, Taimi was more curious about Scarlet as a person, and the two had plenty of slight bickering about who knew the most about her or was going about thinking about her the right way— much to everyone else's dismay.

It is around this point Srabba begins to become not the leader, but a facet in the budding new guild, composed of Marjory Delequa, Kasmeer Meade, Braham Eirsson, and Rox— Oh! And Frostbite, too.

In canon, the Commander eventually brings everybody together, but fate somehow managed to gather all of them in one place, and it didn't take the group long to bond.

They have two brawn, two investigators, and now two brain. A perfect even number!

... Odd, if you count Frostbite, though. But Srabba doesn't like odd numbers, so it's an even number now. Hmph.

However, the guild doesn't have time to frolic around. Scarlet clearly is planning something, and the group is determined to figure out what. Srabba manages to participate in some evidence scouring with an asura by the name of Vorpp, and Kasmeer and Majory. To everyone's horror, they all put together that Scarlet isn't just planning something big, she's planning to strike Lion's Arch, and she's about to strike it hard.

Scarlet soon unleashes her greatest atrocity on Lion's Arch: an all out catastrophic attack.

Lion's Arch is gunned, bombed, and a thick miasma soon takes over and claims anyone who is exposed to it for too long. All forms of terrible enemies— Flame Legion, Inquest, Aetherblade pirates, Krait, Dredge, and Nightmare Court— lay siege to Lion's Arch and kill anyone who doesn't escape or tries to stand in their or their leader, Scarlet Briar's, way.

The attack reaches Srabba— who away tending to her studies and research— and the news mortifies her. Although she's dealing with college and papers and exams and her own mini research projects, she feels a strong calling to head out and help.

She has a rendezvous with Taimi at one of the refugee/rally camps nearby the Vigil headquarters, and to see all the damage up close... Survivors recounting the horrors and losses, resources spread thin, people dying with little hope to save them... It takes Srabba out of her comfortable bubble of research and onto the field, and the sight not only horrifies her, but it sparks something in her usually cold heart— forget all about studying Scarlet; the only thing Srabba wants to study is a way to put that wretched sylvari down for good.

However, the rest of the group makes an effort to keep Srabba out and away from danger— they don't want to bring anyone else in to the battle, where the probability of death for a 14 year old with only three years of magical experience and little to no combative experience... Eh, it's better if one doesn't say the exact numbers. (NOTE: They aren't high.)

This enrages Srabba, but despite her anger she knows they aren't exactly wrong.

After Scarlet is slain, something... Happens.

Srabba was in the midst of studying artificing when even she heard a wretched noise— it was a loud, rumbling sound on par with a growl, or a howl, or a roar.

It didn't take long until Taimi urgently contacted her via digitized mail, and despite initial suspicions, Srabba came to the same conclusion as Taimi: that was the roar of a dragon.

Srabba didn't take long puzzling why the roar happened in the first place. Scarlet had descended upon Lion's Arch with some horrible platformed drill that struck into Lion's Arch's sea. Previous discoveries unveiled that Scarlet had been toying and pin-pointing and probing for ley-lines, and Lion's Arch had been the main target on her maps.

Synergetic research dictates that all of Tyria is loaded with ley-lines: rivers and streams of (usually) invisible magic. Wherever magic travels, it travels along ley-lines that dot Tyria's entire expanse. Scarlet Briar had dug up a ley-line, and made a racket so loud it may have drawn the attention of a dragon.

Srabba had plenty of papers to back it up, but not even she wanted to believe it. She knew Zhatian— with it's risen minions and death magic— was bad enough, but what Scarlet could have woken up... It could be much, much worse. What was worse was that Srabba couldn't figure out which dragon Scarlet's infernal drill had woken up, and this put her on edge... Thankfully, her newfound friends could try and soothe those nerves after calling everyone to the Dead End Bar for some food, drink, and light celebration in taking Scarlet down.

However... Srabba knows something lurks on the horizon.. Something bad.

To be continued...

[idrawtoomuch-gw2]

I forgot the base jade bot is unlocked per character...

Time to drag Deff through early EoD at least to get it

[0carkki0]

Mysterious Stranger (Asura)

In the Infinity Ball story line the Mysterious Stranger has different voice actor, or am I just hearing things? Wouldn’t it make sense the possible future version of the Commander (Snaff Savant at the time) to have same voice? The devs might have chosen different voice actor to make the evil Commander sound more... well evil, but I would have liked to hear Steve sounding evil. ^^ 

[sombredancer]

Asian dramas and Love tropes

There are my favorite characters and their love stories as a list. Enemies to lovers

Drama: Her Royal Highness/长公主在上 Characters: Gu Xuanqing x Li Yunzhen Screentime: Main A boy is sent to be a servant in the unruly princess`s palace in order to find some dirt about her and to help his master to overthrown her, but something goes wrong... The HE is attached.

Drama: The Legends/招摇 Characters: Li Chenlan x Lu Zhaoyao Screentime: Main A leader of a demonic sect died trying to get demonic sword. Her soul returns to the world full of wish to get revenge on the current leader of her sect, who, as she thinks, killed her in the past. Found the way to be close to him, she learns that he wasn't the reason of her death and, moreover, desperately in love with her for many-many years. This is an adaptation of the novel "Ostentatious Zhaoyao", which I love more than a drama, but it's a good story in both variants. The HE is attached (although it`s a little bit obscure in the drama).

Drama: Till the End of the Moon/ 长月烬明 Characters: Tantai Jin x Li Susu Screentime: Main A boy who is destined to become a Demon God and to destroy the World tries to fight his doom. In a process, he falls in love with a transmigrator, who was sent 500 years back in the past to prevent his transformation into a Demon God. The irony is,making him falling in love is the only way to kill him for good... It`s an adaptation of the novel "Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script", which I like way-way-way more than the drama, not the least because the drama has BE and the novel has HE. I just watched it as a visually beautiful fanfic to the novel.

Drama: Love Between Fairy and Devil /苍兰诀 Characters: Dongfang Qingcang x Xiao Lanhua Screentime: Main My favorite drama of all times! Trying to save her love, a girl accidently falls into a secret prison for immortal criminals, revives the most fearsome demon of all times and heals his ability to feel. Later, forced to spend his time together with the girl from the enemy camp, the demon finds out that he actually likes her... The HE is attached. I wrote A LOT about them and made recap of the whole drama from the point of their relationship development in these posts: one, two, three, four, five and six.

Drama: My Journey to You /云之羽 Characters: Gong Shangjue x Shangguan Qian Screentime: Secondary In order to destroy the martial artist's clan, a female assassin was sent in there. While she is trying to seduce one of clan's young masters, he tries to expose her lies, but, eventually, falls in love with her. Unrequited. Maybe. This story has an open ending. My analysis of their relationship is here.

Drama: Butterflied lover /风月变 Characters: Ling Changjin x Bao Zhu Screentime: Secondary A wicked nobleman marries a princess because of her miraculous blood: it`s able to bring his zombie sister back to life. The princess allows him to treat her bad because she has been in love with him for a long time and believes he is a good person. Bit by bit he starts believe in it himself and begins to cherish his wife more... The ending is obscure (in a traditional Chinese way).

Drama: The Blue Whisper /与君初相识 Characters: Li Shu x Xue Sanyue Screentime: Minor A cat demon prince infiltrates the valley of demon hunters in order to set free the great demoness, but falls in love with one of demon hunters. Mutually. The ending is traditionally Chinese - they met again in another life. Т_Т

Drama: Immortal Samsara / 沉香如屑 Characters: Xuan Ye x Ran Qing Screentime: Minor An Asura king infiltrates the Heavenly Realm in order to steal the artifact that can help him conquering the world. The keeper of this artefact is a brave and honest goddess and he can't help but fall in love with her. After, he needs to choose: to be with his lover or to rule the world. He wants all at once, but there is no way to get it all. No HE for this pair. Pride and Prejudice

Drama: Lighter and Princess / 点燃我 Characters: Li Xun x Zhu Yun Screentime: Main A girl from a rich family with an anxious type of attachment falls in love with her classmate from a poor family with an avoidant type of attachment and tries to win his heart. It`s a problematic ship in a full meaning of these words and I like it this way. Yummy! The HE is attached.

Drama: Derailment /脱轨 Characters: Qi Lian x Jiang Xiaoyuan Screentime: Main A boy accidently meets his school sweetheart after many years of radio silence and understands that something is wrong with her. It turns out that her body is occupied by a transmigrator from a parallel world. At first he hates transmigrator for replacing his lover, but bit by bit he learns, that a transmigrator has not only the same appearance but the same habits and way of thinking, and falls in love with this new personality again... The story ends with HE but not in a way that you may think it would.

Drama: The Love by Hypnotic /明月照我心 Characters: Li Qian x Li Mingyue Screentime: Main In order to build relationship between two countries an emperor arranges marriage for his son. His fiancée is from a barbaric tribe: she is good at horse riding and archery, but knows nothing about palace etiquette and ladies stuff. It`s a light and sweet story about finding a path to each other's heart. The HE is attached.

Drama: The Long Ballad /长歌行 Characters: Hao Du x Li Leyan Screentime: Secondary A tsundere of a low background with a poker face does his ruthless job in a court, that's why a young princess thinks he is an awful man and is scared of him. But in reality he is a loyal servant and son and, moreover, secretly in love with the princess, who can't stand him... The HE is attached.

Drama: Miss the Dragon /遇龙 Characters: Xue Qianxun x Qingqing Screentime: Secondary A very naïve bird demon girl accidently meets a tsundere god of netherworld and turns his well ordered life into havoc. He starts liking it, though. The HE is attached. Forbidden love

Drama: A Frozen Flower /쌍화점 Characters: Hong Rim x No Guk Screentime: Main A gay king needs a heir, so he forces his lover to conceive a child with a queen. In a process, a boy, who was groomed as a king's lover from his childhood, finds out that he likes women much more than men. A traditional Korean tragedy. Very beautiful and full of feelings, though. (No GIFs because they all would be erotic ones).

Drama: 100 Days My Prince /백일의 낭군님 Characters: Moo-yeon x Kim So-hye Screentime: Secondary An assassin who is working for a wicked court official is secretly in love with a wife of a crown prince, who happens to be a daughter of the killer of his parents. Forbidden love doubles! But it's mutual, unfortunately for him. It's a very beautiful and full of desperation and feelings story. No HE, we die like Koreans. More detailed story of their relationship is available here, here and here.

Drama: The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity/晴雅集 Characters: He Shouye x Zhang Ping Screentime: Secondary A woman, who is destined to restrain the undying evil within her body for eternity in solitude, falls in love with Yin-Yang master. Her love is mutual, but her lover can't be with her forever, so he leaves with her his guardian demon to brighten her loneliness. Protecting her for ever starts being the only goal of demon's life... A tragedy, but a beautiful one.

Drama: The Legends/招摇 Characters: Gu Hanguang x Shen Qianjin Screentime: Minor "The Legends" once more! The main doctor of a demonic sect is in love with a leader of a righteous sect. A girl is not allowed to love anyone, otherwise she will suffer from the poison, so he anonymously sends her packages of medicinal herbs. She is curious about anonymous sender, too. But nothing can be kept in secret forever... Unfortunately, no HE for these two. In the novel he is safe and sound, but he has no love plotline at all. So is a price of love Т_Т.

I will talk about my other favorite characters and tropes in the next post.

[leodraws3]

NAMIVIVI AU

Vivi is a princess of ancient Egypt in times of drought and prays to Tefnut (Nami), the goddess of rain, as a last resort. Nami comes down from the heavens to visit her secretly at night and even takes human form just to hang out with her. Crocodile along with his subordinates conspires against her and the Pharaoh Cobra, they take advantage of Vivi's situation to turn the population and the government against her and sentence Vivi to death for religious blasphemy/witchcraft.

Nami is tefnut a lioness goddess that was often described with a solar disc above her head, which I decided to turn into zeus/prometeus, its basically zeus that can shapeshift and stays with the same personality. Nami's tatoo is optional.

the rest of the strawhats are gods or demons, this is what we have for now:

Luffy (Nika) visiting Nami and playing lightning-pong with her.

Robin demon gossiping and having fun with Nami.

Zoro (Asura) appears in the story because he is lost and ends up becoming friends with them, he hangs out with Luffy and Robin.

Usopp helps Vivi talk to Nami secretly (ally 🌈).

Brook is with Robin and Zoro just chilling, sometimes he pretends that he is a mummy to scare people and create a distraction for vivi.

Yamato is also a demon who is kind of in the background with Ace who is the god of fire.

I'm attempting to write a fanfic, but for now this is all I give you 🤭

[kogji]

tsctir's writers insulting reader's intelligence

The reason that I find this insultive is that Yoojin himself takes advantages of public's empathy for F classes. Why didn't Yoohyun's enemies do the same? Yoojin wasn't just a brother. He was the brother who sacrificed himself for Yoohyun and raised him single-handedly after the death of their parents. If I were Yoohyun's enemy, I would be thrilled that this brat doesn't know the value of family, and I would destroy his reputation so that he can't show his face anywhere and his company's stock is as worthless as dirt.

The bespectacled S class has a private life to keep his family safe. Other top hunters do anything to protect their families. Yoohyun put Yoojin in danger for his greed for fame and power and then turned his back on him. What is heroic, honorable, or lovely about this?

I think the writers are right to think so little of readers. Because I've read the comments of Asura scan and Mangabuddy, Naver. comic except for two persons, everyone else saw Yoohyun as an devoted brother. Those two persons were furious that why others couldn't see the obvious truth.

I wrote in this post about the dangers of being a fan. It is really dangerous to love a story/character because apparently it makes it impossible to think clearly.

I am going to write a post about devoted brother like Itach uchiha from Naruto and compare their sacrifice's to Yoohyun's selfishness.

[gw2-correct-quotes]

"Sure. We'll subtly punch their faces, crack their golems, and take what they stole. Mr. Sparkles here was just made for subtlety." ~Zojja, peronal story

[system-architect]

handy cheat-sheet for asura roleplayers of some various Lore Words for what to call things btw

computer/pc ----> console (used various times ingame)

tablet/other handheld touchscreen device ----> datapad (used here); i also personally use dataslate

email (or some kind of chat) ----> inter-terminal communication (used here); i tend to refer to email as "ITC" for short

phone/phonecall ----> comms, comms device, communicator, comms call, comms channel, 'scrambled comms', etc-- this one is used a copious amount of times within the main story itself. they seem to be earpieces that nebulously work like both a phone and a radio, utilizing different channels and frequencies, and they can have voicemail left on them

other interesting things of note:

the asura or at least the inquest do have some sort of parabolic antenna or satellite dish technology, used for communications

there's no specific word for it, but asura do also have TV with news stations/reporters. i tend to use holoprojector or holoviewer-- the latter can be shortened to HV!

if you choose the transatmospheric weather converter storyline, your character's own invention is just (H)VAC

[pyreo]

was sweeping up some map completion for a gift of exploration and just got reminded of so many cool things I like about original gw2/worldbuilding

I love Orr and how weird and alien it is. The ambience of sitting there with everything damp, dripping, made of coral, literally a lost world that doesn't fit above water any more. I love how oily the sky is and that occasionally a huge shadow sweeps over you as something like Blightghast/other risen dragons go by overhead. I love that it looks like this

It's so otherworldly. I especially like the eerie birdcalls (I know it's just a real bird I'm not used to, but it's so unique and strange)

I like that the end of the Pact storyline doesn't feel... hopeful. At all. Orr is blighted and diseased, mottled with decay, with lost journals from people who were never going to survive. I like that the story culminates here, grandiose but mournful. You're trying again but this place you're in was already lost, with thousands of lives, and it doesn't feel like triumphant reclaiming. I like that none of the game through these >10 years has really framed oncoming war, and fighting to survive, with glory. I like that the fight through Orr doesn't really feel righteous. It's no clash against a tyrant or something with belief in good over 'evil'. It's just sad. Trying to get through and survive it.

I like the clearly LOTR-emulating Orr music, particularly how this one goes into a male chorus at the end-

I like how an entire map is called Malchor's Leap and that clues you in to it being named after something and then you can go find out and it's just even more depressing. But at the same time, it reiterates the history of Orr - that human gods lived there and it must have been full of incredible splendour and that's gone and you will never see it, you can only try to imagine based on the wrecks of cathedrals.

And speaking of the human gods, I just like how each race has their own take on religion and they all get something tailored to their outlook. Nobody disputes one religion over the other like in our world - each one is generally assumed to be true on some level, and in some cases, provably real, but each race gets something different from their history and belief system anyway. Humans used to live alongside their gods but have been abandoned and none of them know why (and we eventually do find out what happened). Norn can invoke a governing spirit from any creature alive and choose the one that they'll serve best, but these spirits can be killed and you can see what happens when they mourn them. Sylvari have a stone of commandments from their long-dead benefactor that has completely fucked up their society because they aren't sure if following the tenets is wise or brainwashing. Asura actually believe there is an equation that can solve the entire universe and everything is part of a grand scheme beyond knowing, which is something more like a philosophy than religion but deserves mentioning because it means the Intellectual Goblin Race weren't made into cut and dry atheists as a cliche. They believe in something and have personal interpretations about it. One of them even made a machine to make the Eternal Alchemy viewable that drove someone insane when they used it and I just like how things asura do tend to backfire.

And the Charr. I mean. They're the atheists and it's all because they were duped into technically following a human god for a while and they're never going to get over-- no, wait. They started getting over it and the Flame Legion integrated with regular society again after their leader was deposed, because things moved forward and changed, and I like that too.

I feel like I can talk and talk on and on about this fictional history because it... just.... works? It's all part of a tapestry of cause and effect and meaningful characterisations. And they deliberately set up the basis for their playable races and then made the story NPCs generally turn those expectations around - Caithe being a grief-ridden assassin, Rox being a superstitious oddball, Zojja being irrational, Canach starting out as a pompous asshole.

I like the Ceera is still around in HoT and if you took the personal story route where her husband died, she still hasn't forgiven you and never does.

I loved Zafirah (bring her back!) showing that badly rooted spirituality can be redirected into something healthy and healing without being negated.

I like how many NPCs show up as part of a story step and you can ask if you know them and they'll say oh, yeah I was in the Pact with that whole thing? Or 'I saw you from a medical tent in maguuma and didn't think I'd make it', constant callbacks and the sense that minor characters have a continuous existence independent of you.

I like how solemnly the game takes its wins. The initial campaign against Zhaitan makes sure to kill characters off and made bringing Destiny's Edge along to it feel like its own entire obstacle. Heart of Thorns smashes any confidence the Pact has after the base game and takes an intentional sacrifice to be won, and I still think about him. Going after a literal god in Path of Fire costs you your life. Going after Kralkatorrik, with Destiny's Edge's guilt weighing on you, costs you your own child. Saving the fate of the world by fulfilling the exact conditions for Aurene to ascend costs you your child again, being taken from you so that the whole world stops rocking on its axis, losing your baby as she turns into a deity. Icebrood Saga puts you in the shoes of a relatable, easygoing crew on the opposing side, then sits back and waits for you to kill them all to continue. When you fight the final dragon as the final boss in Dragon's End you don't want to kill her at all, and she begs you to leave and get away so she won't harm you while you try, in bitterness and desperation, to end her unfathomably long life.

And the entire short but brilliant arc with Joko made sure we don't really feel empowered or just about the choices we've made.

It's just. Been really fucking good.

[vedicastrology-thestarsguideyou]

💠The Nodes Rahu & Ketu 💠

Rahu - known as North Node.

Ketu - known as South Node.

💚 In Vedic astrology, Rahu Ketu play a pivotal role in the inner psychology of an individual. They represent the subtle deeper desires and apathies of the soul developed over a long series of past lives of the individual. The Push & Pull axis of the Chart.

💚 They are essential to know the inner drive of the person we are dealing with. Ourselves.

💚 In the ancient allegory of our Vedic history & our divine legacy, the story of how the deep cosmic ocean ( Unconscious + Subconscious) was churned by the Devtas (our light aspects) and the Asuras (our shadow & dark aspects). Thus their combined effort and their integrated strength ( integrating our light & shadow within ) led to the the search and attainment of the Amrut ( of our true essence , our true self )

💚 Shri Vishnu ( Personification of Pure Sattvic essence )personifying himself as Mohini was serving the Amrut to both the groups starting with the Devtas. One of the Asura Swarbhanu came and stood between Sun & moon and also drank the Amrut by impersonating himself as a devta. The moon & sun objected but he had already drank the Amrut. And Shri Vishnu on account of deception used his chakra ( weapon ) to cut Swarbhanu's throat, And thus survived the Head known now as Rahu and the headless body known as Ketu as the Amrut had already been drunk. 💠🦋

So Rahu ketu are in reality one and they drank the nectar, the Amrut, the true essence of our immortality. They experienced that our duality is illusion and We are more than we perceive ourselves to be.

🌼 Thus deeply searching and integrating their energies in ourself is the only way towards the deeper truth of our reality that is beyond birth & death, beginning & ending, happiness & pain of our human life. 🌼

So the deepest desires, our past talents, our deep experiences our joys & regrets of so many lives are represented by these nodes.

🌾☘️They subtly and deeply influence our psyches. Rahu represents present inquenchble desires that only give momentary satisfaction & Ketu represents all that we have experienced fully and thus are indifferent to. 🌾☘️

[commanderjuni]

❗CHARACTER TALK: MESMER LAFF (PERSONAL STORY)

SO.. finally finished personal story (still gotta do the long lvl 80 part but i'm essentially done) and am now ready to talk about mesmer laff!

do note that for these character talks i'll be talking about the character PER STORY as a more coherent way of describing what happens to them, their development, blah blah blah.. this has taken me about FOUR redos to write SO i hope whoever reads this enjoys! :]

❗SPOILERS FOR GW2 PERSONAL STORY (LVLS 10-80) BELOW THE CUT

During the events of Personal Story, Mesmer Laff is a 13.5 (She's really just 13, but she insists on the point 5) year-old asura beginning to find her footing in the world.

A basic prelude to her character however is as follows!

sort of headlining it here, but laff is hard of hearing AND non-speaking! i was inspired to make this choice after hearing about glade from soto. i myself am NOT hard of hearing/non-speaking, so PLEASE let me know if i got anything incorrect or accidentally wrote something that may be offensive! (while i've done my fair share of research, that can only go so far)

laff's hearing loss is moderate: she cannot hear anything below regular talking, and struggles even then at that volume level, and she struggles even more with background noise interference. she DOES have hearing aids, which remedies these factors a bit

while laff CAN actually speak, she ultimately doesn't like to, nor does she really... feel compelled to for lack of better words? she has no interest in talking-talking, and prefers to use sign language, writing, or gestures to communicate.

ok.. onto actual character stuff now!! /lh

Mesmer Laff (She/Her)

13.5 years old (She insists upon the 0.5 for the purpose of "specific numbers") during the events of Personal Story— do note however that because of this, Laff isn't an "active" participant in the war on Zhaitan.

By legalities, Laff is a ward of the Progeny Protective Service. Her parents perished in the infamous Thaumanova Reactor meltdown when she was about 4 years old. She misses them terribly.

Her legally appointed guardian is Hronk (yes!! personal story hronk). Hronk actually was brother to Laff's mom, and the closest relative the service felt comfortable leaving her with. Better than a complete stranger!

Hronk and Laff's relationship is.. alright? It's not bad, but they aren't close or anything. Laff sees him less of an uncle and more as just somebody who makes sure she's okay. Hronk sees Laff less of a niece and more as this progeny that's sorta just in his house and has conversations with. They're sort of like two animals in an enclosure that don't really LIKE each other but they aren't hostile. It's better than being alone, from both partie's perspectives.

Laff and Zojja soooorrt of meet during the personal story? Not AS directly as how it actually happens, but with Hronk being in the golemancy community and his krewe earning the Snaff Prize, the two did bump into each other once or twice. Zojja finds Laff full of promise and a good kid. Laff finds Zojja admirable and manages to keep in contact with Zojja.

They aren't best friends really, but have more a distant sister-sister relationship. Zojja is busy dealing with golems and council politics and the Inquest and dragons, and Laff is busy being 13 years old in college. /lh But! They both are in good terms with another.

As the war on Zhaitan grows into a bigger and bigger dilemma, Laff sort of diverts her research into studying Zhaitan and dragonic energies (as, suggested by lore on the thaumanova reactor wiki, chaos and dragon energies sort of function the same? which is VERY interesting to think about).

This leads her to contact Zojja and ask if she has any resources for study. Zojja offers the Priory as a resource, and upon realizing the Priory is all about exploration and research, Laff like. CLAWS all over the Priory's door trying to get in. However, neither Zojja nor Gixx want an asura so young to be exposed to the dangers the Priory gets involved in. Laff HOWEVER is allowed to go to "safe sites" to physically research dragon stuff. She's safe, she's supervised, and there is no possible way she'd ever be in danger.

... Huh. ... Wh. What do you mean magic attracts dragons. WHAT DO YOU MEAN MAGIC ATTRACTS DRAGON MINIONS AND MAKES THEM STRONGER WHEN CONSUMED? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE DRAGONS ARE EATING MAGIC??!?!?!?!?!?!??

Laff's first face-to-face encounter with the Risen occurred during an attack on one of the Priory's facilities. I'd have to figure out the location, but Risen HAVE shown up as far as Caledon Forest, so i feel it wouldn't be absurd to say it was in the areas of Brisban Wildlands or Caledon. Hronk of COURSE accompanied her as a parental supervisor, though.

Now. The attack itself was because the Risen minions were drawn to a yummy magical artifact(s) the Priory unwittingly had been carrying around. They attacked in a not fearsome but very worrisome number, and although Laff and Hronk managed away and much of the Priory group did too, there were some casualties.

The fact that Zhaitan's minions were hitting so close to home and not only killed but converted the dead into Zhaitan's ranks mortified Laff, yet Hronk had made it a personal mission to keep her out of harm's way. No more Priory shenanigans. She was to stay home or where she'd be MUCH SAFER than hanging around with the dragon's direct enemy.

This. sorta pissed Laff off though, so she got into contact with Zojja AGAIN, and while the two had some back and forth over the matter, but Zojja eventually relented and worked something out where Laff, FAR OUT OF HARM'S REACH HOWEVER, would be able to actively contribute in a sort of. 'krewe' like thing? Where she'd be collaborating with some others on contributing to the bigger picture.

After this I can't really imagine anything else really bad happening. Laff is busy now researching dragon magic, creating solutions to quell Zhaitan's numbers, and yadda yadda you know the drill.

THIS IS A BIT ANTICLIMATIC SURE but! Zhaitan eventually is defeated by the pact, and although Laff isn't out fighting risen hordes or whatever, she still helps bring Zhaitan down for good! She is VERY pleased and proud with this, annnddd until LWS1 kicks off, Laff resumes her studies with Dynamics.

SO!! yup! that's where the personal story ends with Laff! Trying to work with her young age in a reasonable form was a biiit of a challenge but if there's one thing I learned, it's that the commander can be ANYBODY and their beginnings can be as grand or as minuscule as desired. fate has MUCH bigger plans for laff LATER in her life, and im pretty excited to experiment with how this story goes or how that story goes! :3

im VERY proud of what i've gotten done for laff, and i am even MORE proud that i managed to only make this post. err. LESS LONG than previous renditions >_< /lh

i'll probably draw laff pretty soon actually! ^_^ i find her design very cute (even her. yee yee ass haircut. /aff) and i cant wait to share my design notes

err.... idk how to sign off on posts. BYEEEE i guess >_< giggle 

[hiinosakusaku]

SSR "Amanojaku, the Prison Guard of Hell" Ushio Kurama Card Story: The Student Staying Up Late and The Teacher Working At Night (Part 1)

　Location: HAMA HOUSE OX ROOM

Ushio: 7 seconds left until midnight... 6...

Here you go... the latest news from Midnight Radio "WEB DIVE"...

..., ....

A... PatiBato collaboration cafeeee!?!?

(yikes, I ended up yelling, hopefully Mu-chan won'tー)

Muneuji: zzz...zzz...

Ushio: (ーoh, I didn't wake him. Thank god he's a deep sleeper...)

*sighー... so? When is it? Where is it being held? Is there any new merch? Why is that information always kept a secret for later? Actually, won't these small bursts of information be better for my heart...?

.... well, time to let it all out on my private account.

(Though, I wonder if any of my otaku buds would want to talk about it together...)

(Wait, but there's probably no one as excited for it as I am. They might misinterpret and things would just end up awkward)

Heh... got so riled up my throat ended up dry. Might as well go down for a drink.

　Location: HAMA HOUSE DINING HALL

Ushio: (...? The lights are still on. Is there someone there?)

Sakujiro: This goes here and that goes there and down here, hehehee...

Ushio: (Ka-Karigane-san....? He looks like he's making clothes again but his hands their leaving afterimages so fast he look like an Asura... That's terrifying, let me just slip away...)

Sakujiro: Hm... seems using this material would leave some skin exposed when being worn

Kurama-kun, what do you think?

Ushio: Wh-wha!? You found me out so fa-...., how you could notice I was there even without looking at me is gross...

Sakujiro: There may be no test tomorrow, but staying up all night when you don't need it is poison for your body.

Ushio: ...there was just something I need to do. Not like midnight counts as late nights anyways.

Sakujiro: Then it was my mistake. Forgive me for being a nuisance

Ushio: Well, there's no harm in knowing, I was just stopping by the kitchen before going back to my room.

Sakujiro: Is that so? Then I presume you were taking a nightly walk for a fresh change of pace? I was also about take some time for myself as well

Ushio: Huh...

(I can't see past him so I shouldn't bother... but, the outfit he's making now...)

Um, is the outfit you're making of.. that popular TCG character? From "Malice of the Guardians"... if I wasn't mistaken.

Sakujiro: Oh, are you aware of it?

Ushio: Rare and popular cards fetch quite a high price, collectors also have the card locked up...., ....so I haven't even seen it on spine.

Sakujiro: Indeed. The "Crying Red Demon" came from "MotG"... this is a cosplay outfit for that blood red demon.

Ushio: Huh... being able to know things I don't even know of it is something.

Sakujiro: Thank you very much. It's just that thin fabric is quite worrying to me.

I also need a way to cut down the budget needed for the weapon, thought I haven't found a way how.

Ushio: Eh... You're not only making the outfit but the weapon too? It's a metal bat so it should be metal... right...?

Sakujiro: Oh! So you understand? The feel of the material is its most important point this time. A cosplay without any sort of familiarity are but clothes that don't catch eyesー

Ushio: Not really.. I was just interested is all...

(Yikes, ended up talking too much about otaku stuff...! Gotta change the subject somehow..)

Why do you need to make this kind of outfit anyways? Will HAMA TOURS be needing something like this or...?

Sakujiro: Au contraire, this here outfit is solely a personal project of mine.

Ushio: !

(A cosplay of a TCG character, for a personal project...? No way...)

Uh... Karigane-sanー

Sakujiro: Speaking.

Ushio: Are you, by any chance... an otaku...?