#commoner dwarf

[biancadavri]

I know it would have been a nightmare for the devs to juggle two different player characters but I still wish these two could have been recruited at the same time tbh. I needed to see what kind of headaches they would have brought to the Ferelden nobility and to each other :/

[chick-it-out]

rue anemone is so so small...

but it shines like a star on the forest floor 🌟

[lemohn-the-cat]

reuniting 🌸🌿

[dragonagecinema]

With only 16 days left until Dragon Age The Veilguard, let's go through history.

Have you played them all?

[snototter]

A common dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula) amongst the grass in Kruger National Park, South Africa

by Bernard Dupont

[edandstede]

Love that I grew up as a very small child watching Red Dwarf when my brothers would babysit me. We’d drag a mattress onto the floor and I’d curl up under a blanket and fall asleep to the OG intro music, and we’d often just watch the early series on repeat. I still have all of S1 basically memorised. It was one of the first theme songs I learned all the words to. It was one of my first fandoms when I finally got internet access, one of the first things I read fic for on old sites and forums, found art for on dA. I’m almost 30 and it’s a love that comes back to me over and over again like an old friend. It’s so nostalgic and comforting and I love the characters as much now as I did then. Ain’t it neat when we have things like this <3

[dunmeshistash]

Why is Senshi so against magic?

I believe he mentions it somewhere but it's basically prejudice against something he doesn't really understand, it might also have something to do with his general distrust of elves.

There's this part I really like where he says resurrection magic isn't normal, and he isn't wrong, Laios and the other adventurer's have just become numb to death because of resurrection magic, and don't realize how bizarre the situation is anymore.

That's probably somewhat how he feels about magic in general, something unnatural he doesn't understand so he doesn't want it being done to him

He does come around to it if I remember correctly but I can't recall which chapter or extra he mentions it (he does accept Marcille doing water walk on him in the kelpie chapter but I think there's somewhere where he talks about it)

[pilkypills]

Hey other people who like fembagginshield when you picture it do you also imagine the other members of the company genderswapped or nah or like a little of both

[stickyfrogs]

This evening we have been recording frogs for #FrogID Week at Greenhills Wetland organised by Sutherland Shire Council Bushcare! We heard at least 4 species calling very loudly, including the Peron’s Tree Frog and a brand new species we haven’t seen before - the Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog! 🐸

[tanadrin]

Dwarf Fortress really needs finer control over item decoration jobs, because I'm sick of finding out that my craftsdwarves have wasted time and resources decorating a xcow leather shoex with star sapphires and platinum studs because somebody decided to drop all their old clothes while hauling stuff to and from the stockpile. Having fairly rigorous stockpile and workshop settings don't help, because any item on a stockpile tile counts as being *in* the stockpile for job management purposes, even if it's the wrong type. And of course sometimes they just leave their crap lying around in the workshops.

[lizzybeeee]

"No, unless you find a way to save us all from darkspawn and become a Paragon, we're pretty much on Beraht's leash for life."

[biancadavri]

[victorie552]

Ok, so Noldolantë, "The Fall of the Noldor" is a lament composed by Maglor about what happened before, during and after First Kinslaying at Alqualondë. It's such a good song that it's played regularly in Aman and Valar listen to it often (I swear, I swear it was in the Silmarillion I just can't find it now).

It's also a more or less common fanon that Maglor continues writing Noldolante through the whole First Age. Makes sense - it's about fall of the Noldor, and Noldor did a lot of falling back then.

Headcannon time: So my first thought was that Noldolante must a long, long, long epic of a song. So it probably has many parts, right? Iliad has 24 books/parts, somehow I think Noldolante would be at least just as long, and there are longer epics. And again, just like Iliad, unless you're a scholar, in the daily life you don't really listen to/read the whole thing, just reread and repeat the most dramatic fragments. What I'm trying to impress upon you all is that the story would have different segments, or chapters, if you will.

And if Maglor continues to write the story during the FA, there would absolutely be a moment in the lament where the OG Noldolante becomes Noldolante 2, and even Noldolante 3. There may be the same musical motif or something, I decided that Maglor IS that good of a bard to keep it all consistent enough so you know it's all the same story, but the style changes a lot - it's been 400 years in the making, let The Music Elf have fun!

So, Point 1: Many, Many Parts, basically Maglor's FA WIP

My second thought was that, while Feanor invented his alphabet, elves learned their history mostly through oral tradition aka songs and spoken stories. Noldolante is definitely a historical record, where a historical event was archived for future generations.

(It was a also a way to deal with grief, guilt and blame Maglor and all Noldor have faced regarding First Kinslaying - free therapy! But that's not what this post is about)

Archived.

My 2.5 thought was that Noldolante isn't just recallings of how pretty and horrified the beach looked during the murdering or how mad and sorrowful the sea was at everyone during the voyage or even how awesome and charismatic Feanor looked during his speeches that every single Noldo was ready to fight Morgoth barehanded in his name - no, this is a record of who killed who, who got killed by whom, and how.

Noldor and Teleri knew each other (were friends, even!) before the First Kinslaying, so I'm confident that after a lot of interviews, detective work, and cross-referencing, Maglor could and would create a very good... name list. Practically every Noldo and Teler present during First Kinslaying would get a stanza in a song, more if he killed someone, most if he killed many people. Killers and killed would show up twice, first in a fragment listing the killers and their victims, then in a part listing the victims and their murderers. Basically it's the same thing twice, but from different POVs. With when, where and how included.

(It was seen to be in bad taste to compare kills during Maglor's Regency, when most of his interview-part work happened. People did it anyway. There were a Saddest Kill, Funniest Kill, and Weirdest Kill discusions. There was a Tier List. These were weird times to be a Feanorian Noldo.)

(It WAS in Bad Taste, but at least people talked about it. I cannot stress enough how much free therapy this lament provided)

(Little did they know, when Teleri started getting reembodied in Aman, they had very similar discussions, but more in a "I can't believe he killed me like THAT" way. Long, long, long after the First Age. Noldolante is a gift that keeps giving)

So, Maglor had all the historical grith and no common shame to create a "We Killed All These People And We Feel Bad About It" banger of a song, and every Noldo had a very personal reason to at least remember the fragments they are in. It's a hit on a scale never seen before.

(I'm not sure how to tackle the issue of Nolofinweans and Arafinweans learning about Noldolante after crossing the Ice. But there were discussions. There was anger, there was "????", there was controversy. Basically, the song got bigger and bigger rep no matter what your opinion on it was. By the time of Mereth Aderthad it was an important cultural and political piece and at least Fingon's forces were included in the main song. It had parodies.)

Point 2: Archive Function/Kill count storage. Cultural phenomen, every Noldo included

This is where my personal nonsense begins: Main Noldolante was done, there was nothing more to say about First Kinslaying, all killings and deaths were well documented.

But the Siege started. And the Noldor kept dying.

It was less dramatic than it sounded - between the big battles the siege was maintained, but orc raids also happened and sometimes one to few Noldor died in skirmishes. The legal procedure was to document the death of a fellow elf and send a word to king Fingolfin. The cultural procedure, technically started by Feranorians but adapted by many more, was to send the name, common characteristics and cause of death to Maglor's Gap. After few months, King Fingolfin would send reinforcements, short condolences and financial compensation if they had family. After few months, family of an elf would also receive a personal lament for them and a place for them in a Noldolante.

Yes, every lament Maglor created in that time was technically part of the Noldolante. Noldolante 1.5, if you will. Laments make in that time were very customized, and simpler than Noldolante Main, but were still considered a part of the same song. Of course, nobody was expected to know and remember laments for every single Noldo, younger Noldor born in Beleriand could even only know fragments about their family members. Only Maglor would ever know Noldolante in full, but it was understood that everyone had their place in The Song.

The results of Great Battles were harder to document, but Maglor did that. Of course, Dagor Bragollach was hard on him personally, but he worked his way through.

(High King Fingon forbade creating laments for his father. There were no songs for Fingolfin. Apart from in Noldolante, of course. Of course. Maglor did not share the lament with anyone, but he sat long hours and many nights with a blank paper before him, looking at the candle flame and thinking of the past and the future. The song unsung, but there)

Nirnaeth was... Maglor was never more hated and more approached at the same time than then. Still, Noldolante grew and grew, as if people knew the end was near.

It was Second Kinslaying that destroyed the myth of Maglor's song. Feanorians didn't know the Sindar they killed, but surely, they couldn't just left their names unmentioned like they did with orcs? So, Noldor talked, but the battle happened in caves - it wasn't uncommon to find dead bodies in empty rooms, with no witnesses to what happened. Surviving Sindar didn't want to share any names, even when Maglor strong-armed some into talking with him, and good for them. Maglor made a big lament anyway. Maglor, wild, with no shame and dead brothers, with legacy crumbling around him. Noldolante, with holes.

After Third Kinslaying, Noldor didn't want to talk. Lament for Sirion didn't have any names. Clearly, songs weren't a way to go anymore, it was always about live witnesses. And so Maglor raised the twins.

Lament for Maedhros was sung repeatedly. There was no one to hear it.

Point 3: Only Maglor knows Noldolante in full. But that doesn't matter, because everyone knows the important part: the Noldolante is finished. The Star of Hope rises in the West and the story goes on. The Fall has ended.

[a-crowcats-nonsense]

I love otocincluses they’re legit the perfect fish… eat algae real well, very polite, big doll eyes which make you want to give them a litle kiss on the head… and most importantly…

TRIPODDING.

They do this to rest, they pop out their back fins and balance on their tail and those, like a sleepy fish telescope. It’s adorable and they can and will do it on any flat surfaces. A leaf as shown here. The sand floor. A rock. The stem of a pathos plant, of which they will tilt to the right making them look like a pole dancer mid-routine.

Please consider welcoming otocinclus into your tank, your heart, and your mind.

[illusivesoul]

Something I hadn't considered until now is how brutal the mission to kill Jarvia and most of the Carta in Orzammar is for Brosca. I'll never forget the emotional gut punch that was having to fight and kill Leske, who is probably only true friend Brosca has ever had in all their life (I remember desperately searching if there was a dialogue option or something to let him live but there is none), but I also just thought that Brosca must have known most, if not all of those Carta members that we fight through the mission.

And knowing how the casteless are pretty much cut off from the rest of Orzammar's society and most are forced into a life of crime, Brosca must have known and possibly have been friends or at least care for for a lot of the Carta members, and also possibly have worked with them often under orders from Beraht and Jarvia.

Then after becoming a Warden, returning to Orzammar and under orders from either Harrowmont or Bhlen, they have to go to their old home in Dust Town and kill Jarvia (who was alledgely planning to use her growing power in Orzammar to force the Assembly to recognize the rights of the casteless), Leske and pretty much everyone else they knew during their many years growing up and while being a part of the Carta.

Just another bit of tragedy for Brosca's story.

[snototter]

A dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula) in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania

by ted smith