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julemmaes · 4 years

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"OH you are jealous" for nessian please❤️❤️❤️

Jealousy - October 10th

Nesta Archeron x Cassian

A/N: LOOOOVE THIS. Nessian is kinda competing lately for the second place on my top 3 otp (yeah I know what otp means, no need to correct me) and I think by the end of this week they’ll probably get the place yk. Hope you like this and again, sorry if they’re all coming by extremely late, but I have a life;)

Word count: 2,374

Nesta was shouting from the stands while Azriel passed the ball to Cassian and her boyfriend started running to reach the touchdown. Helion and Rhysand were protecting him, tackling and pushing anyone who tried to steal the ball from him. Lucien had entered the field to replace one of the defenders who had been suspended and was now running alongside him.

Halfway through the game, Eris, who was one of the best players on their team despite his bully temper, had seriously injured one of the players from the opposing school and the game had to be interrupted for about twenty minutes.

Nesta and her sisters were shocked to see the injured boy's leg bent into an unnaturally angle and she was so sorry when what must have been his girlfriend ran out onto the field on the verge of tears. The boy's heartbreaking scream had been horrifying and Nesta knew that if anything like that ever happened to Cassian she would beat up whoever tried to hurt him herself.

The opposing school, Adarlan High School, was struggling a bit and Nesta was really sorry that the players couldn't properly focus on the game. She realized on her own that the concern for their friend had to be greater than winning the championship. It was a huge displeasure, also considering that until that moment they had proved to be worthy opponents and that both teams had given a hard time to the other.

Even without Eris, however, their team was doing very well and when Cassian finally reached the extreme in the opponent's part of the field before the last quarter of time ended, the stadium exploded in chaos between screams of joy and chants to exalt the players.

Feyre hugged Nesta with enthusiasm, while they too joined in the chants and the girl managed to see Cassian shouting as he crossed the field and threw himself at his teammates. They all started laughing wildly and when the students began to take to the field to cheer the players and celebrate, Nesta did not hesitate to join the crowd.

She kept her gaze fixed on Cassian, who was getting pats on the back and hugs from everyone as he yelled to his friends how proud he was of them. She saw Tarquin jump on him and throw him on the ground and not a second later, the whole team was throwing itself at him. Nesta burst out laughing, imagining her boyfriend crushed by all those smelly, heavy bodies. Cassian always told her how much he hated that part of the games where everyone was attacking him since he was captain, but she knew how much he really loved his team.

Once on the field, Nesta was scrambling to make her way through the crowd, Elain's hand wrapped around her arm so they wouldn't get lost. The noise was deafening, but she could still hear Feyre loud and clear when she said, "Oh fuck, here they are."

She didn't need to ask who it was, she knew very well that her sister was referring to the cheerleading team.

She saw Amarantha's red hair and Feyre snickering sarcastically when she hugged Rhysand from behind, who stood oblivious to everything while talking animatedly to Helion, "Oh, hell, no."

Elain giggled amusedly when another one of the girls threw herself at Azriel and he jerked aside, looking at the cheerleader confused and stepping away, raising an eyebrow and inspecting the crowd around him. The middle sister didn't even say anything before running towards him.

As soon as Azriel saw her, he opened his arms wide, smiling widely and letting the force of the impact of Elain's body overcome him, throwing them both to the ground. Nesta could not help but smile, seeing them both laughing carefree as they rolled around in the field. She gasped when Thesan threw himself on them and Azriel had to move quickly to avoid him hitting Elain.

Feyre laughed, "Jeez, they are so stupid." then she looked her in the eye, smiling, putting her hand on her arm, "I'm gonna go to Rhys, I'll meet you later." she warned her waving.

Nesta nodded distractedly, focusing her gaze on the people around them, in search of that familiar bun of his. Her stomach twisted when she saw two equally familiar black braids flying in the air. Two braids that she well knew belonged to Emerie.

The girl was hugging Cassian like every time after a victory. Nesta knew full well that Emerie had been Cassian's friend long before she even got to Velaris, and her boyfriend had reassured her several times that there was nothing between him and Emerie, but there was always that bit of doubt in her mind that prevented her from making friends with the girl. That made her wonder if they were not meant to be together. After all, it was not so unusual for the quarterback of the football team to get together with the captain of the cheerleading team.

Everyone was always questioning how Cassian could be with a bitch like Nesta and not with Emerie who had a body to envy even the most beautiful model.

Looking at the three from the outside, you could not understand why the guy had chosen the perfect schoolgirl with a stick up her ass instead of the nice and always available perfect girl next door that everyone would want as a girlfriend.

Cassian seemed to be having so much fun and didn't seem to be looking for her and Nesta, not wanting to bother him and risking to burst that bubble of his, possibly precarious, decided to go back and get on the sidelines, watching him for a while longer. He was smiling so light-heartedly that she couldn't hold back the smile that popped out on her lips shortly after.

Coach Drakon was congratulating the other trainers and when she turned in his direction, only realizing at that moment that she was alone on the sidelines, he smiled at her, apologizing to the coach of the opposing team and going towards her.

Nesta kept her arms crossed at her chest, hoping to look confident, and not indignant and uncertain about what she should do. Hoping not to seem desperate that her boyfriend hadn't even noticed her absence on the field.

Drakon put one arm around her shoulders - just as Cassian held his on Emerie's shoulders and the other tightly around Tarquin's shoulders - looking her in the face with a curious expression, "What are you doing here all grumpy?"

Nesta loved Coach Drakon with all her heart, but sometimes she would have preferred him to mind his own business. When she didn't answer, the man looked at his players, looking at Cassian. He clicked his tongue once, "I see."

Nesta arched an eyebrow, looking at him sideways, "You do?"

Drakon laughed, giving her a quick squeeze on the shoulder and dropping his arm, putting himself in front of her, so as to cover her view of the entire crowd. "You're not as discreet as you think you are, my dear Nesta."

The girl grunted, "I'm not doing anything."

"I can see that for myself." replied the coach, trying to hide a smile, "And that's the problem, don't you think?"

Nesta looked him in the eye, gritting her teeth, "I think Cassian is enjoying the glory of his victory and I don't want to bother him."

"I've known Cassian for four years, darling, and I can assure you that he has never shown an ounce of how he feels for you to that girl over there." he placed his hand on her shoulder again, squeezing, "And as little as I know cheerleaders," he continued, "Emerie is harmless."

Nesta grimaced, "How do you know for sure?"

"Must I remind you who trains them?" he asked her laughing with that deep laugh that made half the teachers in their school drool. She shook her head, knowing full well that Myriam and Drakon had been married for more than ten years and were in charge of cheerleading and football teams respectively.

"Well," he muttered, "because those girls do nothing but gossip during practice, just like my boys, and Myriam and I know exactly who likes who. Trust me when I tell you Emerie is not a threat." Nesta nodded, sighing.

Drakon smiled at her as a father would with his daughter, "And Cassian would never do you such a wrong. That boy loves you too much to disrespect you in like that," he reassured her. She was about to thank him, when a more than familiar voice caught the attention of both of them.

"Coach!" cried Cassian, "Sir, have you seen Nest-" Drakon turned around, revealing Nesta hidden behind him and Cassian's distressed expression shifted. He smiled at her, standing next to the man and then frowned, shifting his gaze between the two of them, "What are you doing here? I've been looking for you for half an hour."

Nesta had to refrain from correcting him. The game was over no more than ten minutes earlier. She shrugged, "I stopped to talk to the coach and didn't want to bother you." she smiled lovingly at him. He reached out his hand to her and Nesta took it without hesitation, letting herself be pulled against his chest.

Cassian was looking closely at her face and Nesta closed her eyes when he pressed his hand to her cheek, "Are you sure? Everything okay?" he muttered when she opened her eyes again, looking at him in turn. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him, nodding slowly.

Drakon cleared his voice, congratulating Cassian and telling him that they would talk later in the locker room about what happened with Eris and the other player.

Cassian didn't even look at him, too focused on Nesta's face, looking for something that would make him understand what the problem was, but he answered affirmatively, assuring him that he would go to the opposing team to apologize for his teammate's unsporting attitude.

As soon as the man was gone, Nesta smiled sincerely, bending her head back, inviting him to kiss her. Cassian, however, did not seem inclined to accept her invitation, "What's going on, sweetheart?"

When Cassian called her sweetheart, the tone in which he uttered it, said a lot about his state of mind and from the way he had just said it, Nesta knew that he was really worried, so she chuckled, stroking his back and stopping immediately under his shoulder blades, where the shoulder protection started, "Nothing is going on, Cass, don't worry."

"So you're telling me that I found you on the sidelines talking all serious to my coach after we won the most important game of the championship instead of with my friends and with me because nothing is upsetting you?" he asked her, arching an eyebrow. Nesta freed herself from his grip, sliding a thumb over the wrinkles on his forehead. His expression relaxed for a moment before it grew hard again.

Nesta sighed, "I saw you with Tarquin and Helion and..." she mumbled, without meeting his eyes, "And Emerie and I didn-".

Cassian interrupted her, "Oh." he made a surprised face, then tilted his head back, bursting out laughing. Nesta was startled, "What is it?"

When he stopped laughing, he looked at her much more relaxed than a few seconds earlier and had that cocky smile on his lips. He leaned forward over her, taking her lips with his own, kissing her passionately. When Cassian's tongue caressed her lower lip, Nesta let go a breath out of her nose and opened her mouth slightly, letting him in.

Cassian's hands slid down and he bent down even more, grabbing her under the thighs and pulling her up so that she tied her legs around his hips. Her arms instead tied around his neck and her hands ended up in his sweaty hair, now left loose on his shoulders.

When Nesta ran out of breath she broke off and Cassian went after her, trying to catch her mouth with his own. She laughed, bringing her hand to his lips, pushing him back.

Cassian smiled at her, squinting, "So you are jealous."

Nesta closed her eyes, grimacing, "Don't say it like that."

"Like what?" he asked, sniggering and making them both tremble. One of the hands clasped around her thighs gave a light squeeze.

Nesta leaned her forehead against one of his shoulders, "As if it were something to be proud of." she complained. She settled her head better, so that it was placed between his neck and shoulder. Cassian held her tighter, kissing her ear.

"Yeah, sorry," he told her amusedly, "But it makes me laugh."

"And why should my insecurities make you laugh?" she asked, only slightly offended. She pulled herself up, looking him in the eye. She found a spark of love there that warmed her chest.

Cassian gave her a quick peck on the lips, "Because I love you so much that I don't even see the other girls and you feel threatened by Emerie," he chuckled, glancing across the field, "Emerie who's clearly been trying to get Tarquin in her bed for months now."

Nesta shifted her gaze to the crowd of students and the second Cassian put her down so he could turn around too, Emerie jumped forward, grabbing Tarquin by the shoulders and pulling him towards her.

Nesta gasped, "Oh, wow."

"About time!" Cassian shouted, loud enough for his friend to hear. Emerie raised a middle finger in their direction, but the gesture was soon pulled back when Tarquin grabbed her face in his hands and the kiss grew more passionate. Their teammates were cheering them on, jumping on each other.

Cassian turned towards her, holding her hand, and began to walk towards his brothers. He was stroking the back of her hand with one thumb and each caress was a burst of energy for her. When he bent over her, bringing his mouth closer to her ear, Nesta had to suppress the chills.

"See? I'm all yours." he looked at her with glistening eyes of emotion and Nesta felt every worry slip over her.

All hers.

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enddaysengine · 7 years

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Exploring the Manifest Zone - The Last War

Here's Episode 2 and man have I been looking forward to this one! It's been a while since life kinda happened in between this being released and now, but I'm okay with playing catchup. Today we are talking about the Last War.

https://manifest.zone/02-the-last-war/

I like that Wayne's bringing up the civil war aspect of the Last War. The fact there are no recent civil wars in Europe or North America certainly does alter our vision of what war looks like, although it is worth pointing out that we are still feeling the shock waves of the American Civil War today, even in the not-United States parts of the continent. Imagine what it must be like for those who are only two years removed from a century long civil war.

The tension of having no winner in the Last War is a plot point that you can spin multiple campaigns out of. It was an excellent call for the setting not to resolve the problems that nations are facing. It adds a level of dynamism because everything is so unstable and can collapse into multiple potential futures.

Huh, I never really thought about the Dragonmarked Houses having terms dictated to them by the Empire of Galifar. Maybe that's because I always saw them as being partnered with the royals, but then again, alliances come and go. Just because Galifar I got them on his side doesn't mean they still had a cozy relationship by the time that Jarot rolled around. It makes sense that the Dragonmarks would be screwed before the Last War if the Empire didn't want to play ball. Stormreach was a minor economic player, and while the Lhazzar Principalities were technically autonomous, but they still bent a knee to Thronehold. I could easily many Dragonmarks feeling that the war was horrible, but that in many ways it saved and freed their families.

I'd love to get an entirely in-universe book that shows the history and contents of the Korth Edicts and the Treaty of Thronehold. It probably won't happen anytime soon and would be more likely as a product produced by fans (or Keith) in the DM's Guild once Eberron finally gets allowed.

I hadn't considered that the creation forges might have been shut down because Cannith came in with a weak hand. It always seemed to me like the forges got closed because of escalation fears. The fact that some Cannith heirs may be resentful towards that poor leadership is an interesting perspective.

Warforged leases or rentals. Excellent idea. It makes perfect sense for Cannith to try and extract payment for warforged soliders multiple times. They may even try and argue that this wasn't so different from pain a soldier salary, and to structure their lease agreements to make it look like you paid less for the warforged.

The separate culture of Valenar from Cyre is something that's come up a couple of times, but I don't ever think got the attention it deserved. Take a look at the pre-War map of Galifar:

What is now Valenar is cut off from the rest of Cyre by the Blade Desert. They were nominally part of the nation and the empire, but they were both distant from the heart of its power and geographically isolated. I highly doubt this is the first time they tried to break away and rebel. I also note that as I compare maps, it does look like there is a piece of old Cyre that escaped the Mourning, the south shore of Lake Cyre. It's now part of the Talenta Plains, but I expect this may be one of the last remnants of the nation that still looks much like it did before the war. There could be interesting plot hooks there.

So, Droaam. One of my favourite nations out there, but Keith's suggestion that the Five Nations treats Droaam like Westerns treat Daesh is fascinating. It's not a perfect comparison because Droaam isn't actively at war with everyone around them (can you even got to war with the Shadow Marches), but it does inform other types of attitudes and plots you could use in stories.

The distinction between Droaam and Darguun's political situations is important listening if you want to use either of those countries in a campaign. The goblins were more involved with the war and had gained allies. Essentially, they played the game of politics and came to the table at the Treat of Thronehold with enough clout and chips to offer to gain legitimacy. They also had a past president. For a very different analogy, consider the relationships that Christians and Jews had with the Roman Empire. Both were disruptive to the state religion, which demanded that homage is paid to the Roman emperor and his ancestors. Both Christians and Jews refused, but the Romans allowed the Jews to practice their religion because they saw that religion as being a fundamental cornerstone of an ancient civilization. To the Romans, the Jews had enough historical legitimacy that they would be tolerated, even though they disrupted the religious status quo. The Christians, on the other hand, were a recent phenomenon for the Romans, so they were not seen as having the same pedigree and same legitimacy. Darguun is like the Jews in this scenario. The goblins not only had nations but empires before humanity conquered them. A goblin nation could be seen as a revival of that tradition and be more socially/politically acceptable than a gang of monsters trying to build a state.

Another important note on that legitimacy thing is the age of elves. An elf's lifespan of 750 years for an elf being about the biological equivalent of 110 for a human (before magical enhancement). The Dhakanni Empires collapsed about 5000 years ago, an extremely extended period for humans on modern Eberron, but more like 1283 CE for them the historical memory of elves. Given that countries like Israel and Greece in the real world were able to garner enough recognization using historical memories from the first millennium BCE, it doesn't seem very far-fetched for the elves to view the rise of Darguun as the return of an old but hardly forgotten nation.

The Mournland being in the centre of the continent create some challenges, particularly in the east to west movement, but the payoffs you get are much larger. I've had several campaign hooks hinge of off Breland and/or Darguun trying to restore overland (or underground) transportation routes to Talenta, Valenar, or Karrnath. There's a lot you can play with there. I also really like having the wasteland in the middle of everything. The whole "World's Largest Dungeon" schtick plays well. The Last War is also useful in justifying dungeons beyond modern structures. Large magical explosions could easily have exposed previously hidden ruins, and now that there is peace, those dungeons can be explored.

The Last War is a great story hook for building a character. I really like the idea of starting a group during the war as a prologue/flashback, then skipping ahead to 998 YK. That helps to give a sense of the significance of the Mourning.

Kalashtar can be tricky to include in the War, and I've never really given them much thought in that context. Their culture is a bit isolationist and it has more than a bit of a superiority complex. Why would they get involved in a quarrel between warring siblings when they have all of reality to save? I like the idea "orphaned" kalashatar who have lost contact with their culture. That does not mean they have to be literal orphans, it could be the result of Kalashtar who fled East from Sarlona and ended up in the Shadow Marches or Demon Wastes, or whose Kalashtar parent renounced the shadow war with the Dreaming Dark to live amongst humans. Of course, that the Dreaming Dark may have been one of the groups trying to engineer the Last War is logical and would be a perfect reason for Kalashtar getting involved. That gets lots of cloak and dagger, espionage, and spycraft stories going.

Thinking about the effect war has had on you is interesting. I've dealt with PTSD (not from combat, but still) so I know there's a balance to walk with your character between having the War impact the way you act without crippling your character. I definitely appreciate Scott's perspective. He's given very good advice on how to get inside a military mindset. Handicapping vs storytelling is also an important discussion to have.

Scott's storytelling advice is excellent in general, not just for warfare, but for everything. Get into more senses than just sight and give your players choices of what do, even if it doesn't change the immediate plot to get them to engage in the moment and the emotions. Then let the ongoing plot further develop from those choices. The experiences shared by a party who served in the war together is a great place to start. I like Keith's questionnaire a lot. Definitely going to steal it.

The idea of a party trying to rebuild their bar after it burned down in the war is a great take on how to tie everyone together. I should write some fiction around that. The impact of the war doesn't have to be all angst and devastation. The war can impact people in other meaningful but relatable ways too.

The reignition of the Last War is something I haven't actually played around with much. That said, I have messed around with the breaking of the balance of power. My games have tended to either be localized to specific cities if they deal with politics. I do want to develop Thaliost and a couple of other cities in the future and it would be a good idea to bear in mind some of the potential local sparks that could set the continent back on fire.

The Lord of the Blades leading a warforged nation is something that I have wanted to do, but haven't had the chance to yet. One idea I had was House Cannith and Orien trying to reattach the east-west Lightning Rail trade routes by going under the Mournlands through Kyber. The Lord of Blades doesn't take to kindly to that, claiming that the caverns are part of the warforged's sovereign land and that it was effectively a declaration of war. I love the question of "Is the Lord of Blades Magneto or Doctor Doom?" It gives a nice touchstone to the personality of LoB.

I know this is beating a dead horse, but Eberron's ability to handle issues from the real world is amazing. Cyran refugees is an easy one since it is a hot topic in global politics. You could pretty easily pull up any newspaper, leaf through it, and use any given article about the current plight of refugees to get yourself a plot hook. If you are looking for something a bit more complicated, I suggest reading into the current controversy around Safe Third Country agreement between the United States and Canada.

Above and beyond that, I've plotted a couple of campaigns revolving around Cyran refugees. On is a straight up adaptation of Pathfinder's Kingmaker adventure path, substituting the Stolen lands for Eastern Breland. The general idea was that between the Mournlands and Darguun, Brelanders were fleeing their lands westwards, so New Cyre was allowed to send out companies of refugees to resettle the abandoned lands. It works well and maps pretty nicely to the geography if you flip Kingmakers east and west. The other one was similar in concept but comes from the original ECS itself. Aundair, not wanting to take in any more refugees, instead resettles them in the abandoned town of Desolute in the Demon Wastes. Effectively, Desolute becomes both a frontier city and a high-functioning refugee camp.

I would be all over a book about wartime technology in Eberron. Technological advances in war have driven a lot of Earth's history, so seeing a magical counterpart would hit my sweet spot where science and history overlap. Treetrunk artillery is a wonderful mental image.

Next Up - Dragonmarked Houses. I'll be quicker this time, as long as the Traveller doesn't steal my keyboard.

#manifest zone #keith baker #eberron #wotc #worldbuilding #3.5

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