#desert dark jak

[woelfin-sheeps-clothing]

Dark Jak in his heavily modified desert outfit. Took me till the end of the game to realize some of the members of Spargus did not, in fact, wear pants, and Jak totally could have gone pantless if he wanted. Yes I know I should be working on literally anything else but Jak and Daxter fan art.

Base pose from @posereference ‘s volume 6 book of poses.

EDIT-March 4, 2023: Jak's modified Precursor Legacy outfit is now complete!

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippets Thursday: Meddling Mar (part 2 of 2)

(Jak is back from Haven and in so much trouble)

PREV

"Gate pass."

Two words, absolutely devoid of emotion, were all it took to shatter the facade of defiance Jak had crafted. Nausea churned his stomach, and he bit down on the insides of his cheeks until he tasted blood. He'd known there would be a price to pay. But this-

With a shaking hand, Jak drew the gate pass from his pocket and silently cursed the trembling limb for betraying his weakness as he held it out for Damas to take.

Damas didn’t look at him.

"Three weeks." His voice was a little too calm. Jak could feel anger underneath the words, waiting like vipers under the sand. "You left for three weeks without a word to me, to Phobos. To anyone. And in that time the only word from you I had, I had to get secondhand from Sig."

He didn't look at Jak.

"What have you to say for yourself?"

Jak tried to swallow around the boulder in his throat and wondered why this, of every scolding or reprimand he'd ever received, terrified him beyond words. He wanted to tell Damas that he'd tried to come back the first day, only to be stopped by the force fields. He wanted to tell him how Veger had paid for signal jammers around the walls, fearing that other city-states might take advantage of Haven's compromised capitol. He wanted to beg for forgiveness. But it all fell short, didn’t it? Pathetic excuses from a pathetic excuse for a hero. A runaway. A deserter, that's what he was.

Jak’s throat closed around his words, stifling them. He swallowed, felt the muscles of his neck tense and pulse. But the panic had a stranglehold on his throat and he just couldn't.

Damas wouldn't look at him.

Damas couldn’t see.

Look at me! Please, please look at me! he silently begged.

"Haven's-" Daxter's voice squeaked into the air between them, faltering and guilty. "They...made it real easy to get in and near impossible to get out. We got caught in the lockdown, just a couple hours after we got there. It wasn’t supposed to be three weeks. It wasn’t even supposed to be three days."

"And that somehow excuses you slipping out like thieves in the night, unsanctioned and unaccompanied?" Damas demanded, finally turning his eyes to them. "Do you know how many people were searching the city and desert for you? We did not even know you had made it to Haven until Sig went back to look for you! We feared Egil had taken you!"

Jak physically took a step back. Damas looked as though he hadn't slept in days. Deep, dark circles ringed his bloodshot eyes, and his face was haggard.

I did this.

He opened and shut his mouth uselessly, then fell back on SparSign on instinct.

"I didn't think-"

"You didn't think," Damas interrupted, "Full stop. Haven is a hotbed of our enemies, Jak, and you just walked into the vipers' den. I had no idea where you were! What if you'd been injured? Or arrested? Hm? What if they’d framed you for something else and tried to kill you?"

A little confused, but afraid to further provoke the man, Jak kept his head down.

"It's never mattered before that they tried to kill me."

"Because I didn't know you were there!"

Even Damas seemed surprised by his own cracking voice.

"You run from one danger to the next like you think it doesn't matter if you live or die. It. matters. Jak. You think you're the only one who suffers if something happens to you?"

Jak cringed. He knew he wasn't. Daxter was always there. Daxter was always in danger because of him.

And he'd left Spargus down one person for three weeks, which meant someone else probably had to do his share of the work-

And Mar was alone that whole time-

Shame, hot and acidic as dark eco, burned in his gut. It reached up with long claws to pin his lungs shut.

"I- I'm sorry. I'll go. I'm sorry," he signed, utterly dejected. "But don't make our brother leave. Don't blame him or Daxter for what I did."

"Go?" Damas demanded, stepping closer, "And where, exactly, did you think you would be going?"

oh gods, he's going to make me say it. He's going to make me pronounce my own exile-!

Jak couldn’t speak. He just gestured to the gate pass resting in Damas’s clenched fist.

Shock colored the king’s eyes for an instant, softening his face into something sadder. Wearier.

"You-" he seemed to be choosing his words carefully. "You think I- I'm exiling you?"

Jak kept his eyes on the floor and twisted his fingers into his tunic.

"I understand why," he answered, short and to the point.

A strangled noise startled him enough to drag his gaze upward, meeting Damas’s eyes.

"You-!"

He inhaled sharply through his nose and shut his eyes for four seconds.

Then he stormed down the steps and caught Jak by the shoulder. Before Jak had time to think, he'd been yanked into Damas’s arms, all but crushed against his chest.

Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't this.

"You stubborn, frustrating child-!" Damas croaked next to his ear. "Exiled?! After I spent three weeks barely knowing if you were alive, you think I would let you out of my sight?"

Jak stiffened. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. He screwed up, he got rejected until he earned some kind of redemption. That was the script life followed. He didn't have a script for this.

"Mar told us you-" Damas swallowed. Gritted his teeth. "You thought you had to lead enemies away from our walls. Alone! Have we done nothing to earn your trust, even after all this time?"

Jak couldn’t answer. He could barely move. He wanted to protest that he fought his own battles, that he didn't want his past screw-ups to come haunt his only real home. But his mind caught on Damas’s words and rang in his ears.

Mar

Mar.

He knows.

Jak’s jaw worked in silence, and his eyes darted left to meet the same panic in Daxter's eyes.

Damas pulled back and gripped Jak’s face between his hands, forcing his gaze back to him.

"Jak, I lost you once before. I cannot endure it a second time. If you will not heed caution for your own sake, then at least think of your brothers first. Think of Phobos and me."

What.

Tongue finally loosened, Jak choked on questions and only managed inquiring noises. A second time? What was Damas talking about? Why was he hugging him instead of yelling at him?

"I don't...I don't understand-" he tried to breathe around the tightness still gripping his lungs. "I don't- Mar told you?"

Damas’s eyes glimmered, the only evidence betraying how close to breaking down he truly was. "No, son," he said quietly.

The word seemed weightier than usual.

"I knew."

Jak pulled back. "You knew?! How long?!"

"In truth? The day I found you in the desert." Damas blew out a breath that was just barely shakier than it should have been. "I knew in my heart who I had found, but after two years I was afraid to believe it without proof. That proof came sixteen days ago."

Sixteen days. While Jak was gone, then. Damas had been looking for Mar before Jak had come from the past? Why? He was nothing like the Underground, so Jak couldn't imagine that he'd meant to use Mar's powers for his own gain.

Swallowing hard, he tentatively asked, "What proof?"

Damas looked away for a moment, reaching for something in one of his belt pouches.

"The results of a cheek swab when we found you. A...computer test. One that can show us the building blocks of a person's blood, and who their parents were."

He knows I'm Mar! Jak realized, and excuses and justifications crowded behind his teeth. He knows we aren't blood brothers-!

Having apparently found what he was looking for, Damas opened his hand and held it out to Jak.

An amulet of Mar, far older than the one Jak shared with his brother, lay on his open palm, and the last pieces began to click into place.

"I see you, Jak," Damas whispered. "You don't have to keep fighting alone."

"You're...you're one of us?" Jak asked, "Like, from the- the future?"

"One of you?" Damas laughed, a little brokenly. "I'm your father, you ridiculous boy!"

His father?!

In the secrecy of his heart, Jak could easily admit that he saw the man as a father-figure, if an idealized one. And as he and Mar had started to ease up and let Damas closer, he'd pretended sometimes that their relationship was more familial than mentor and student. He knew Mar thought of Damas -- and Phobos a little moreso -- as "his" grown-ups.

Had they, somewhere deep inside, remembered them? Was that bond instinctive, picking up something that had always existed? Or had they built it themselves?

Jak wanted to apologize -- for leaving, for not explaining, maybe for existing in this form and not his childhood shape -- but what came out of him was only a noise. Soft, pained. He squeezed his eyes shut as if that would help him keep his jaw clenched.

"Oh, oh-"

Damas pulled him close again, shushing him as if he were a child.

"Oh Jak."

His voice was hoarse, and full of pain.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I waited so long for proof. I should- I should have confronted you the first time I saw you using Mar's sign name."

He pressed Jak's head against his shoulder and held him tightly. "I'm- I'm sorry I made you think you might be sent away. I was- You scared me, Jak. I thought I was going to lose you before I could find out if you knew-"

Over Jak's shoulder, Damas looked down at Daxter and sighed. "Thank you," he said, "for going with him. If you say you got caught in a lockdown, I- I believe you, Daxter."

"You...do?" Daxter asked in a very small voice.

He didn't know what to feel. Relief? Confusion? A bitter envy?

"You've never given me a reason not to trust you," Damas answered simply.

Daxter swallowed twice. "So uh...does this mean you ain't mad anymore?"

Damas scoffed wetly. "No, I'm furious. But I'm so relieved that you're both safe."

He arched an eyebrow, though the stern look was softened somewhat by the tears in his eyes. "But. As the oldest, you should know better than to sneak out like that. You're as grounded as Jak is."

"Grounded?!" Daxter sputtered.

"So grounded." Damas nodded. "You two aren't- aren't getting this gate pass back for weeks."

Jak wanted to protest, to tell him all the responsibilities on his shoulders that required him to be able to go back and forth between cities. But he couldn't catch his breath long enough to form even a syllable.

He had a father. They had a father. Parents. That wanted them! All of them! But he didn't deserve it! Especially not now, after deserting the way he had!

"M- m- Mar?" he finally managed to force out.

Damas shushed him again and clicked his tongue. "He's alright. He's with your mother."

Your mother.

"I'm- I'm not...him, the right him-" Jak tried to warn Damas -- he ought to have known, he'd seen what Jak was like-

Damas’s arms trembled against his back.

"No. I don't want you to be your brother. Be you. Be my reckless, impudent, war-sage son, as you are." He gave a choked sob, wrapped partway around a chuckle, and added, "Though perhaps- perhaps so that I can sleep at night, a bit less reckless?"

[hecketernal]

Everyone Thinks Jak Is Dying AU (Aka everyone miscommunicates to some pretty ridiculous and angsty levels but Jak's totally fine) ((pls read I swear I still have some comfort with this hurt some funny with the tragedy pls hear me out))

Explanation: I had had this weird impression that Jak was flat out dying from dark eco poisoning, when I was a kid. It seems kid me had made some assumptions from listening to Baron Praxis' propaganda stations where he flat out says, "The dark eco inside you will eventually kill you, Jak," and the way Jak first reacted to getting light eco.

Everyone else seemed to die in the Dark Warrior Project. Hell, they flat out acknowledge Jak should be dead himself from the amount of dark eco pumped into him. Even if a slow death via eco poisoning isn't what the games were going for, it would still make sense lorewise. The game will insta kill you for falling into the stuff.

Buuuuut for a moment just consider...applying that misconception to Damas and Jak's growing paternal bond.

Jak, in his freshly betrayed wariness, decides to hide his dark eco abilities. He's tired. He can't trust anyone except for Daxter, but Daxter is The Exception in capital letters and everything. Jak has found a force he can't or isn't equipped to beat within the long, hot stretch of the desert with no Keira to build a contraption to get them out. He doesn't even know... if Keira cares enough to build some zoomer with a heat shield or whatever would come to her mechanical mind for them anymore. None of his "allies" spoke up very loudly to defend Jak, so Jak stashes his otherness away. Well, he hides it to the best of his abilities. He'll never be a spy, but he can manage a few marauders in some Arena of Death with just a gun and some effort. Transforming had always been last resort anyways. With fear from his betrayal instead of anger leading him, he never transforms in front of all of Spargus to see. He's doesn't want to be Baron Praxis' renegade weapon, the man made monster that slipped its leash. He wants a moment without that. He can't go back to the kid from Sandover. He doesn't want to, but the idea of being just another exile like everyone else is...heady.

Jak doesn't know that he can't hide what's already been seen. Dark eco scars are distinctive, and Jak's were very visible during his stint with unconsciousness and heatstroke. The monks had attended to the two boys, but they had not done so silently. Precursor monks did not care to censor their muttering about dark eco corruption. Their prayers for salvation or less pain for the boy were easily overheard by the alert King of Spargus. It's likewise impossible to hide the way dark eco skitters towards Jak. The way it sinks into his skin. The way his pallor goes white. His face pained. The way the newest recruit sometimes clutches an arm, angling it away from view. Jak does manage to hide the growing claws with this action, so good for him. Bad for Damas.

Damas is under the impression that Jak is dying. Dark eco poisoning is an unpleasant but often inescapable death sentence for even the strongest warriors. He's known good Wastelanders that had to be buried after just a brush with the energy. It might be slow with this new recruit, but it will come all the same. Won't it? Damas tries his best to remain distant. His heart has already been shattered from the loss of one child, but it seems those broken shards are destined to break a little more. Jak is so damningly earnest for someone who tries to act jaded and tough. Damas can't remain distant. Every wall Damas builds is blasted away by the young warrior's newest actions. Damas is doing his best to hold himself together, but inside he is a mess. He doesn't want to lose another son. When Jak spoke of not knowing his father, Damas realized there was one thought more agonizing than losing another son, a lonely son dying fatherless. It catalyzes the father for he cannot stop thinking of himself as anything but a father. Isn't this what he always told himself he would do anything for? Another moment with his child? Damas will not squander the time they have left. Besides, the desert is rough and fickle, and violent death has come for all of Spargus' other kings. He might worry for naught. His death might come for him sooner than Jak's.

[troblsomtwins829]

This was the AU that came before StrayCat. The Desert Cryptid, also known as "Feral!BBY" for...i hope obvious reasons. Instead of being offed in the fortress, The Baron has Jak sent out to the wasteland to die.

Along the way, Jak goes dark and ends up making the ship crash. He survives, and doesn't ever go...back to normal? Instead just slowly changing over time as the limited food options in the wasteland have him eating metalheads and even people just to have something to eat after so long with nothing. He survives with limited mobility and the most vague idea of what a person is and that he used to be one.

Rumors spread across the sands, between marauder bases and even to Spargus, about this mysterious creature that will attack anything and everything.

Sig is the one who ends up finding and sticking with Jak, could not for the life of me remember why, something about being ill or injured, and Jak saves him rather than kills him because Sig "smells like home." "Home" being some nebulous feeling he can barely recall after spending two years surrounding by concrete and feeling nothing but pain.

Daxter's a hu'men in this AU. Can't remember how it happens, just that it does, and he's still looking for Jak even after all the crap in Haven takes place.

Oddly enough, this AU was also inspired by the NOVEL of Dracula in terms of pacing and the amount of withheld information from the reader.

[mistresskayla-blog1]

Heart-scorched in the Desert

Lyn's Writing Event - Day 7

May 7th: Week 1: Mummy                                                 

Characters: Guy of Gisborne x OC Egyptian peasant - Navaneeth

Fandom: Guy of Gisborne – Robin Hood (post S2/ pre S3/ AU) – Richard Armitage

OC - Guy of Gisborne was created by Dominic Minghella & Foz Allan and adapted for television

Robin Hood is a folk hero of England from the time of the Crusades

**some spoilers if you haven’t watched the series**

Warnings: mummies, violence, swords, potential smut, angst, heartbreak, rescue, brutality.

Word count: 2k

Location: Holy Lands

              Two days after Marian has died, Guy tosses and turns in his bed, a commotion of the villagers occurring outside. He rose his dark colored tunic hanging loosely on him, his trousers creased from being slept in. He responded quickly with his sword in hand and pressed himself against the clay wall. Guy peaked around the opening of the doorway and saw fire in the courtyard.

A billowing smoke rose, and a figure wrapped in gauzes loomed, swaying toward the temple building across the courtyard. People ran and screamed past the hut. Guy ducked out of it and into an alleyway, positioning himself north of the creature. It was a foul looking thing, like the walking dead. Guy had never seen anything like that before. He didn’t even know what to call it, since when do the dead rise like this? (he mumbled under his breath). He knew the Saracens had strange burial rituals, but what in the hell was that thing? Guy saw a woman in the courtyard, the creature bent down and grabbed her by the throat, a skeleton hand wrapped around her soft flesh, she cried out and pushed him away. Guy ran briskly towards the creature and the woman and flashed his sword against the creature’s throat. The creature flinched and turned its hallow sunken face towards Gisborne. Guy quirked a grin at him, and grabbed the woman by the shoulder, “Come on, let’s go!” Guy practically carried her away, as the creature gave chase. Guy pushed the woman ahead of him through the alleyway.  She was silent and moved as swiftly as he did. They reached the end of the building and darted inside another.

Panting, Guy held her to him, smelling her wild scent, it reminded him of Jak’s spices and feeling the silken scarf about her head against his jaw. He closed his eyes a second, momentarily, caught up in the sensation of holding a woman that wasn’t struggling against him. The creature groaned and a deep resonating whine came from it as it grew closer.  She held him closer, shaking in fear from the creature, not from him. Guy looked down at her, her eyes large, and dark and beautiful peered up from her headscarf towards him. Guy softened his stare, and spoke softer to her, “We just need to stay quiet; do you know what it wants?”  She mumbled in her native tongue a moment, than shifted, “he.. wants.. flesh to renew himself”. Guy looked up as the creature passed by the hut they were hiding in. Its scent putrid, Guy put his hand over his mouth with his arm, but without his leathers it just couldn’t cover the stench of burnt and decaying flesh. Guy waited for the creature to pass, and then took the woman by the arm and led her to back to his hut to retrieve more clothes.

              They entered his hut and he shut the door, “What is that thing?” he asked her, grabbing his coat and putting it on, he grabbed his gloves and whipped his hand though his hair as she answered, she was somewhat speechless, he was so tall, and lithe and handsome.

“A Mummy, that’s what my people call him”, She said. Guy looked at her, as the word ran over his lips mimicking her speech, but not audibly.

“And what is your name?” he said, his mouth quirking up in a smirk a moment, the woman looked away from him as she answered, “My name is Navaneeth”.  Guy spoke her name as quietly as the creatures, stepping towards her now, his gloved hand inches from her scarfed head, “Navaneeth—its nice to meet you. I am Guy of Gisborne”. Navaneeth nodded in custom.

“Gisborne,” she spoke it back to him, “And why are you here, surely not to fight, the mummy”.

Guy shook his head, “No, no, definitely not. Though I will if I have to”, he touched his sword at his side, “Our mission here was foiled by my enemy, well, in such a term,” Guy stepped away from her, looking off through the window and then back to her, sizing her up, “And I lost someone in the fight, someone I cared a great deal about”. He looked down at his sword again, still in its scabbard.

Navaneeth went to touch his shoulder, moving closer to him. She could see him trying to steal his wits, “You must have loved her, yes?” Guy smirked again, looking off, “I thought so yes, but if that is true, then I do not understand why I killed her”.

Navaneeth stepped back a moment, gasping, “You killed her?”

Guy looked at her, “Oh, I mean, I’m not of any harm to you, it was a long time coming”.  Guy looked to her, his eyes were a brilliant blue against the black of his jacket and the white clay of the room. Everything about him was sharp and hardened and haunted. Navaneeth was completely hypnotized by this frank. She couldn’t look away, even though every other part of her told her to run. Guy sensed her tension, “Really, (he smiled charmingly), I’m not going to hurt you. Why would I, I don’t even know you, and, honestly, (sighs), I was just trying to help you from that, thing out there (gesturing towards the mummy still stumbling around the village). And frankly, if its him or me, I think you’d prefer me?” he winked. Navaneeth did not know how not to blush in that instance, so color raised in her cocoa skin, and Guy noticed. He smiled again, “that’s what I thought”.

Navaneeth pulled down her shroud revealing her dark hair and soft features, all Guy could really see before was her eyes. Navaneeth revealed those crisp dark eyes, her rosy lips, a jewel adorned her nose it glistened in the light of the hut. Guy moved towards her again, taken by her features. Navaneeth put her hand up, as he approached and it landed on his chest, he looked at it, charmingly, then met her gaze again, she spoke first, “You are pretty bold for a frank, Guy of Gisborne. How do you know I’m not a proper lady?”

Guy, “Well I don’t, but I’ll bet you will tell me,” Guy stood his ground but didn’t move to touch her. Navaneeth held her ground too, her hand just pressing into his shirt, feeling his heat under the cloth, sweat forming as his leathers warmed him in this arid climate.

Guy boldly asked, “Do you want to stay with me? Or go back out there?” he said, looking out to the courtyard again. Navaneeth dropped her hand and broke the gaze, “I will stay here until I can return to my home. I owe you nothing more than that”.

Guy smirked, “And are you a proper lady?” his English brogue was teasing, as his eyes darkened.

“And what if I was?” Navaneeth bid him. Guy looked unimpressed as he moved about his room undisturbed.

“And that means what to me, I don’t know your customs. I am merely passing through”, he said, gathering some things and shoving them into a saddle bag.

Navaneeth heart sunk a bit, somehow wanting more, “I am not”, she said, her head down again, she moved to put her scarf back on. Guy moved towards her again, “That doesn’t matter to me, I may be cold hearted to some, but that doesn’t mean I’m a brut” he chuffed. Navaneeth allowed herself to smile, as he breezed past her to grab a sheathed knife off the table and set in his bag. “Well, I never know what to expect other than brutality from a frank”, she mused.

Far off cries still echoed through the window to his hut. But neither of them seemed to care much.

Guy looked at her plainly, “You keep referring to me as a frank, what is that, like a crusader? I’m far from that level of military. What do you call, a mercenary, here?” he grinned darkly and breathed the last word very near her cheek. Navaneeth raised her breath to him, and went silent, “routier”, she whispered. Guy moved past her, and around her, as he spoke then, “ah, French like my mother, well I am not routier, or frank. I am English, and I am a black knight”.

Navaneeth gained bold prowess as she went to wrap her hair again, Guy gripped her arm in his gloved hand, “You don’t have to do that for me, who I’m going to tell. Everyone back home wants me dead, here too. Guess I’ll find my own way” he sighs and looks back to the courtyard out the high window. Navaneeth flinched, but only slightly as he relaxed his hand and she dropped her scarf, it landed ever so gently to the dirt floor. She moved to pick it up and Guy stood on it, his boot pressing it into the dusty floor. He grabbed her chin in his hand, and searched her gaze again for something, he wasn’t even sure himself what he wanted.

But, he thought, maybe this woman could give it to him. His heart was broken, yet again, by his own doing. He was such a fool to think Marian would choose him. Again and again he fell for her, and again and again she destroyed him. Lost in thought, Guy had closed his eyes, his grip tightened on Navaneeth’s chin, sliding down towards her throat. Navaneeth grabbed his hand with her own, and he snapped back. Looking at her horrified, taking several steps back. Navaneeth back away from him, banging into a table. She grabbed her scarf and nearly ran to the door, but Guy stepped ahead of her, blocking her path.

“Wait, wait, (his hands up), please, I’m sorry,” his hands dropped in defeat. Navaneeth looked at him quizzically, “Give me a reason, besides the mummy is out there, it seems you battle monsters in your own head, why should I stick around to see how that plays out, hmm?” She wagged her tongue at him in tone and intonation. Guy looked down, and nodded, “Your right. I am giving you no cause to trust my word, let alone my actions”. Navaneeth moved towards him again, “If you want out, (he cleared the door), be my guest,” Guy stood and leaned against the wall next to the doorway. Navaneeth put her hand to the doorway, stepping up to the threshold, “I’m sorry for your loss, and I wish you the best on getting home.” Navaneeth sighed, “Goodbye Gisborne”.  Guy nodded; his hands folded over his chest.

Navaneeth stepped out to the alleyway, and looked both ways to see where the creature was. Dawn was breaking over the buildings and for now, the mummy seemed to have gone. She sighed and walked across the courtyard to her hut. Her eyes scanning, but the village was all but silent now. She turned back as she reached the other side of the courtyard and saw Guy staring after her. Navaneeth put her hand to her heart, and nodded, as she tucked into her doorway and vanished from his sight.

(part 2 coming soon - comments appreciated)

Tag list:

@scariusaquarius @legolasbadass @middleearthpixie @enchantzz @lathalea @littlesweetdressmaker @sweetestgbye

@riepu10 @evenstaredits @talesfuzzy

Thanks to everyone who has been liking and reblogging!

[miqojak]

Character Associations: Jak

(Funny, I had this same prompt in two different versions saved in my drafts from the last two times I did it in past years, intending to do it again since it has been years! Good time to tag me...even if I took a month or so to get to it! xD )

I'll smash together these two old ones and put them into this one, resulting in a bit more things to fill out: "5 Things" and "Character Features" - with 3-5 things per category.

✴EMOTIONS/FEELINGS✴

✧ Paranoia ✧ Disdain ✧ Curiosity ✧ Confidence ✧ Arrogance

✴GREETINGS✴

✧ Silent Nod ✧ Clipped wave or nod ✧ Silent, judgemental stare: first impressions don't always go over well ✧ Faint smirk, almost as if she knows something you don't ✧ Fanged grin, if she likes you

✴COLORS✴

✧ Red ✧ Black ✧ Gold ✧ White

✴SCENTS✴

✧ Handmade, perfumed oil (Spiced and earthy/citrusy) - a connection to her past, and the family she lost ✧ Well-oiled leather - what she's often garbed in ✧ Campfire smoke - another reminder of her family/past ✧ The scent of a savory meal on the stove/in the oven - she loves to cook! Having suffered with hunger and near-starvation, the ability to cook good food now is something she relishes.

✴CLOTHING✴

✧ Leather mini-skirt/pants/clothing in general - good for sneaking, or for drawing the eye where you want it...away from where thieving hands might be wandering ✧ Loose-fitting cloth fabrics - the better for the hot places she likes to live/dwell in ✧ Sandals - for when it's hot! (Boots or sneakers when practicality + comfort is the goal.) ✧ Lots of piercings - in her face, and ears.

✴VICES/BAD HABITS✴

✧ Drinking - She drinks now and then, and no longer tends towards being an alcoholic ✧ Drugs - She no longer abuses somnus, and smokes moko a little now and then to relax ✧ Works out too much/pushes herself too hard, out of the paranoia associated with having been a Garlean prisoner of war. If she's fit and fast enough, no one can catch and cage her again! ✧ Holds herself (and others) to incredibly steep, almost unachievable standards out of a belief that one should always be bettering themself. ✧ She loves breaking and entering as a hobby! She doesn't even steal things, most times - maybe moves things around, or breaks things, and just makes herself at home...it's about the power and control, not the stuff.

✴OBJECTS✴

✧ Throwing knives - often coated in non-lethal toxins, and sheathed in hidden holsters in her clothing. ✧ Lock-picking tools, if she's out to do some B&E ✧ DRK soulstone set in a bangle on her tail

✴BODY LANGUAGE✴

✧ Languid, but alert - in the manner of many a large, feline predator; she may seem to be completely at ease...while simultaneously ready to act at a second's notice ✧ Shoulders squared and chin lifted, a stance of stubborn pride ✧ A tail that lashes in anger, or sways slowly when in thought - this body part betrays the otherwise carefully controlled actions of the rest of the little woman. ✧ Feline ears that are almost always on a swivel for sounds that are out of place, or words spoken softly - seeking things meant to go unheard. ✧ Examining her nails - either truly bored, or trying to project disinterest

✴AESTHETICS✴

✧ A weathered, leather-bound sketchbook ✧ A desert campfire, as the sun sets on a sandy horizon ✧ Piano music drifting from another room ✧ A dark, viscous, canine shadow with too many eyes and teeth that hungrily slinks across snowy wastelands ✧ Opposing aesthetics of dark leather, and gold jewelry set against pale, flowing cloth; the street rat, and the empress, juxtaposed

✴SONGS✴

✧ Cold-Blooded - Zayde Wolf ✧ Somebody's Watching Me - Madelyn Darling ✧ Knife Under My Pillow - Maggie Lindemann ✧ THAT BITCH - Bea Miller ✧ Here Come the Wolves - Lola Blanc (An especially poignant and multi-layered song for Jak!)

Tagged by: @hares-and-hounds

Tagging (a bunch of people from my notifs, but do it if you want to, and tag me so I can see!) - @briar-ffxiv @xmimiteh @wpip-raham @uldahstreetrat @captainqster @shieldandarrow @merlwybs-wife @alannah-corvaine @madalyn-maeve @ashenbun @thedawnforged @why-raven @ivyffxiv and...anyone else! YOU, reading this! Do it, and go ahead and tag me so I can read about your OC! (This took me ages to think about and finish, so no rush on knocking it out - in some categories, I even had a hard time coming up with three things, much less five!)

[faunrasthewinterelf]

2024/07/23 - MAP VERSION 1.4!

fans of Jak and Daxter, I need help!

I have access to Inkarnate, and i keep seeing people attempt to cobble together the various maps from the games and try to make sense of it, so i figure I'd try out my version, and I'd LOVE some feedback!

PLACES

HAVEN CITY/SANDOVER

WASTELANDS/SPARGUS [Desert Island, apparently??]

KRAS CITY [never played Jak X, concept art has it as a Floating City on water, has to be far enough from a coast to be safe from metal heads, but close enough for Krew to operate in both Haven and Kras regularily?]

Icelands [again, in Jak X, only seen via race track? most people put it far north, but feasibly, it would also have to be close to Kras for the Grand Prix Race thingy. If my map building goes as it is, perhaps it is actually far South? Antartic vs Arctic? COULD also be West of the Precursor Legacy, via the snowy area off of the Lava Village place]

INITIAL THOUGHTS

KRAS CITY IS DIRECTLY EAST, OFF THE COAST OF WHAT USED TO BE ROCK VILLAGE. EARLY MATERIALS/STUDY OF THE FLOATING CITY CAME FROM THE FLOATING BIT OF THE LOST PRECURSOR CITY.

ICELANDS are a Maurader territory atop the same mountains that we originally see the Yeti Babak in from JaD:tPL. The Babak village up there is gone? trading with the Marauders? dont know yet. ICELANDS are up along the spine of that mountain area!

BABAK VILLAGE should probably be moved closer to Haven! where ever it ends up it should also determine where the Eco Mine will be! [also potentially close to the original Blue Eco Temple on the other side of Sandover? I know those are Eco Vents, but its still an area with an over flow of Eco? dunno, theres not much room there for more things XD

I put SPARGUS/WASTELANDS to the far west of both the ICELANDS Mountains and Haven for three reasons!

A La using Australia as a 'prison colony / exile' via the british, you wouldnt Exile people somewhere close by, even if it IS an island? (pls correct me if that's wrong btw) Spargus SHOULD be far from Haven, and it makes sense that you'd need an 'air train' or whatever they call it in the games, to get there, beyond it just being an Island

the ruins from the city that you run around anc corral Reapers in! I have it between the Marauder Colony/Strong hold and the general area where they came from to give reason to why it failed! I don't know the canon around that ruin, but i like the idea that it was a Spargan Colony that fell to Marauders a long time ago, BUT was avenged years later, and the Marauders were forced further into the desert, cut off from their home land after losing that area. It's particularily dangerous to travel, and also why not a lot of people travel past the center volcano, or to the temple in the South East of the Wastelands!

the Catacombs/Subrail thing! please correct me if im wrong! but you enter the Subrail from the Catacombs of said beforehand mentioned temple! and those catacombs/subrail connect to haven, going in a West to Eastern direction, under the mountains, in my little world now!

HAVEN IS HUGE - like, no matter how you put it, Haven is a MASSIVE area??? like, this is wild to me! it makes a little more sense if you consider it a massive area that was claimed by Mar and his Acolytes? (no idea if that's canon) and then the city was built within the walls.

There's potentially to much space between Haven and the Mountain range to its west, and Spargus. [It could all be Metal head infested jungle? But that's on the opposite side of where I head canon the Metal Head Nest to be. The Rift Gate is originally found in the Citadel, but is moved to Sandover for the start of Jak 2, however, this doesnt make sense during the game itself, so i believe that the Metal Head leader (Kor, probably) after emerging 300 years in the past through the gate and wreaking havoc, moved it to the new location that we find during Jak 2. I like to think that the Metal Head nest was moved *back to* Gol and Maia's Citadel [Dark Eco Silo nearby, YUM!], and Mar's Gun, built with the salvaged remains of the gun that helps you get to Klaww, is moved closer, but is unable to be moved. HOWEVER, that puts everyone WAY outside the Walls of Haven, So. I dont actually know at the moment! I'd LOVE feedback please and thank you! gimme ideas that I can use to modify and add to the map, throw headcanons at me, discuss where the Wastelands adn Kras should be, and what sizes they should be?

I love this game series and I wanted to be able to flesh out where exactly everything is in the world out of shear curiosity! [Yes, the clouds are a hint at the areas in the Game-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, The concept of that area is *way* to cool to ignore it!]

[princess-polls]

This is mostly a very bare bones plot summary mixed with me pretending to be funny.

Alright. Let's talk about Jak.

This is Jak.

This is Daxter. You can ignore Daxter.

Except not really cause they're best friends who should never be separated. Seriously. Don't split them up. Bad things happen otherwise

One night the two decided to ignore the Sage's warning telling them not to go to the spooky island by...

going to the spooky island.

While they're there they get corned by a monster and while fighting it off Daxter falls into a vat of dark eco. Vile stuff that will melt the flesh from your bones then melt your bones as well.

But instead of dying a horrific death Daxter turn into...

this.

He takes it well.

And so that's how Jak's heroic journey begins. Searching for the sage, Gol, who can turn Daxter back to normal. Except it turns out that Gol is the villain who is trying to taint the world completely with dark eco and Daxter ends up sacrificing his chance to change back in order to stop the villains.

Anyways, while the ashes of the Gol are still smoldering they search his lair and find a mysterious item that if you are playing the game for the first time you don't actually get to see because cliffhangers.

But I am talking about the sequels so I'll spoil that what they find is called a "rift gate". After moving the large heavy item from one end of the land, across mountains and volcanic craters and ok they probably just use the teleport gate but my version sounds better to the other side they tinker with it and get sucked into the rift and I should've grabbed more screenshots but I was focusing on Jak.

Jak and Daxter are separated from their friends and end up in Haven City, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Jak immediately gets captured by the guards and Daxter escapes.

Remember how I said Jak and Daxter shouldn't be split? Well, this is why. Jak spends those two years apart being tortured with dark eco.

He's not the same.

(For those of you unaware, Jak is mute in the first game. This is the very first thing you ever hear Jak say.)

And then it gets worse.

But don't worry, the power of friendship wins and Jak snaps out of it before anything bad can happen. But friends are together again and they can escape the prison.

See the old man trying to mug Jak? See the kid behind him? The kid is important, the old man is not. In fact, punch the old man, it'll make everything a lot easier.

Anyways, why is the kid important?

Because he is literally the only person in the city who likes Jak from the very beginning and that makes him the smartest person in the city.

Just kidding. It's actually because he's the lost heir of Haven City and Jak must help him regain his rightful place.

Just kidding again. The kid is actually Jak from the past. Except they're in the future.

Basically the kid will be sent to the past where he'll grow up as Jak and then Jak and Daxter and their friends will go to the future so Jak can do all the actual work in defeating the bad guys. Like the old man who was trying to mug him earlier (see I told you to punch him).

So Jak sends himself off to the past so he can become the gun-toting badass he'll be in the future. After giving him some life advice.

Anyways, in the third game the city proves that the majority is made up of ungrateful jerks who proceed to

strand Jak and Daxter and Pecker out in the desert wastelands. Jerks.

But they get rescued by Damas. King of Spargus. Also a wretched hive of scum and villainy. But this one is made up of all the people who got thrown out of the first one.

Anyways there's a lot not in screenshots but Jak proves himself in the arena and just in general and Damas takes a liking to the kid. Treats him like the son he would've had if he hadn't lost his son years ago. Even gives him the armor he had been saving for his son.

So, plot happens and I was never very good at 2 or 3 cause I can't shoot the broadside of a barn so I'm leaving a lot out but

Damas lies dying in Jak's arms, asking one thing of him. Find his son. And he hands Jak something to help identify him. An amulet

One that is completely identical to the one the kid from 2 was wearing.

That's right Damas was Jak's father the whole time and they never knew. And, unfortunately, he dies before Jak can tell him the truth.

I won't say what happened to the guy who kidnapped Jak as a boy in the first place cause that's a whole other thing to get into but it's assumed he got eaten.

So, yeah, that's Jak's story. Small town boy who finds out that he's royalty. And a time traveler. But the third game ends with him deciding not to rule, instead wanting to go on more adventures.

It also ends with him cheating on his girlfriend. But it's the writer's fault cause they wrote her out. But don't worry, they get back together in the racing game.

!!!

[artstar1997]

Here’s my Jak and Daxter OC, Jakleen.

Name: Marella “Jakleen”

Age: 15 (in the Precursor Legacy), 17 (in Jak II), 18 (in Jak III), 19 (in Jak X)

Gender: Female

Nickname(s): Jakkie, Princess, Nightingale, Desert Rose, Miss Starshine in Light, Little Miss Starshine

Birth Date: ???

Race: Human

Occupation: Leader of the Demolition Team

Affiliation(s): House of Mar, Underground, Brutter’s lurker tribe (honorary), Wastelanders, Sky Pirates (honorary) The Character’s Appearance Appearance: She has a curvy, athletic build, dark tan skin (compared to Jak’s tan skin), and signature long, green-blond hair. She wears a golden yellow top or shirt, beige pants or shorts, a steel ring in the center of her chest held up by leather straps, a large right shoulder plate, and a pair of goggles.

In The Precursor Legacy, at 15 years old, Jakleen has a more youthful look, with her hair in Afro puffs and she wears a backless turtleneck top and beige capri pants. In Jak II, her hair grew longer and she wears a midriff-length tank top with pants, shoes, and fingerless gloves. In Jak 3, she wears a customized crop top with precursor armor, fitted pants, and a matching sarong with her hair in twist braids. In Jak X, she wears her hair in pigtails, a midriff-length corset with a leather jacket, skinny jeans, and knee-high boots. In The Lost Frontier, Jakline wears a yellow long-sleeved jacket with a matching bikini top, and several arm accessories, and her hair is tied in a half-bun.

When she was young, her hair is fixed in an afro, and she wore a yellow and beige dress. She notably wore the amulet as a necklace, which allowed others to identify her as Damas' daughter.

Height: 5’6” (TPL), 5,7” (Jak 2), 5’8” (Jak 3-Jak X)

Weight: ??? About the Character

Personality: Jakleen is confident, hardworking, generous, open-minded optimistic, caring, ambitious, and a strong leader, but she balances it with her love for beauty, music, arts, and fashion. She is the born leader of the team because of her integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, and gratitude, despite Jak being five minutes older than her. She is also organized, with a knack for forming strategies, studying and applying different tactics, how to act in control, and take calculated decisions without getting carried away. Her traits and skills in being the leader of the team made her good friends with other characters with strong leadership skills like Captain Phoenix, Torn, and Ashelin. She is also talented and she would try different talents to see which one fits her but all in all, she just wanted to try new things. Don’t let her good girl side fool you, Jakleen is also protective, fierce, courageous, and hotheaded, especially with her loved ones, her friends, and family.

Fear(s): Being attacked by or becoming a dark eco monster like Dark Jak, failure, and being rejected

Likes: Music, art, fashion, singing, teasing Jak, hanging out with Keira, Ashelin, or Tess, boys, shopping, organizing, keeping things in order, arranging her weapons based on the eco colors

Dislikes: Anyone who hurt, tease or harm her friends and loved ones, Daxter’s constant bragging, Erol or Razer’s advances on her, her suitors, drab colors, the lack of style, art or color

Habit(s): Styling her hair, humming songs, customizing her outfits, and throwing insults at enemies.

Flaw(s): She can be vain and egoistical, often centering herself as the main attraction. She is also arrogant, dramatic, sharp tonged, often puts others down due to being bossy and stubborn and is prone to losing her temper. Certain annoyances like Daxter’s ongoing storytelling nonsense would lead to her knocking him off Jak’s shoulder or any high platform like a bar table or Jak’s short temper would made her snap him out of him by slapping. Many enemies end up being insulted by her when she fights them.

Talent(s): Singing, dancing, fashion designing, painting, hairdressing, cooking, baking, and organizing

Hobbies: Singing, dancing, fashion designing, painting, hairstyling, doing makeovers, shopping (much to Damas and Jak's annoyance), spa days, makeup, and pranking anyone (including her brother, Jak).

The Character’s Relationship With Others

Reputation: Jakleen is an empath who loves helping everyone. She finds joy in assisting others around her, and becomes popular because of her optimism.

Love Interest(s):

Captain Phoenix - Jakleen is smitten with Captain Phoenix when she first saw him because of his well-mannered and level-headed personality. He had a clear attraction to Keira, at first and showed frustration when she favored Jak over him, but he later moves on to Jakleen, who returns her attraction to him and they became an item, something that Jak tried to prevent from happening until they decided to put their differences aside for her sake. She was able to save Phoenix when the Phantom Blade was about to collide and they are able to continue their relationship.

Friend(s):

Daxter - Jakleen had been friends with Daxter for years but not as close as Jak. Despite her occasional scolding or slaps, she cares for him and would keep him safe from danger with her psychic powers whenever they go on adventures.

Keira Hagai - Jakleen had been friends with Keira for years, ever since they live in Sandover Village. She was also there for her when she started having occasional nightmares and migraines due to the pain she felt in Jak when he was subjected to the dark eco experiments. Keira was horrified when she found out that Erol was just using her to get closer to Jakleen, but this made their friendship closer than ever.

Ashelin Praxis - She was unsure about her at first because of her relation to Baron Praxis, being his daughter. After getting to know her more, Jakleen slowly warms up to her and becomes friends with her.

Torn - She was intimidated by him at first but later warms up to him when she helped him organize strategies and tactics.

Tess - She became very close friends with her when she and Keira first arrived in Haven City. She also comforts Jakleen when she is in pain from the occasional nightmares and migraines due to the pain she felt in Jak when he was subjected to the dark eco experiments.

Vin - Jakleen would use her telepathy to communicate with Vin but she would occasionally visit him when needed. He was forever grateful to her for saving him from the crashing metal head.

Enemy(ies):

Gol and Maia Acheron - She only heard of them until she encountered them in the Red Sage’s hut. She became furious when she heard their plan and wanted to even the score.

Baron Praxis - Jakleen hates him for his tyranny and because he experimented on her brother. Despite the hostility, she is willing to forgive him when he was dying.

Erol - She has a love/hate relationship with Erol due to the fact that he tries to flirt with her. When he was turned into Cyber Errol, she is glad that their relationship is over.

Krew - Jakleen doesn’t trust him, not even once because she could see what his intentions are through her psychic powers.

Count Veger - She hates him for banishing her brother and slinked off with him to the wasteland, where she met the wastelanders. She called him a monster for his misdeeds when he revealed himself to her and her family. When he was turned into an ottsel, she snickered at his new appearance and thought of selling him to Kleiver.

Razer and the dream team - Jakleen finds them abhorrent because of their infatuation towards her.

G.T. Blitz - She has been keeping her eye on G.T. Blit, Kras City Racing Commissioner and host of the G.T. Blitz Show, who is constantly accompanied by floating cameras. She often uses her psychic powers to know more about him until she knew that he is Mizo.

Duke Skyheed - Jakleen never trusts him at all because she used her telepathy to read his mind and find out earlier than Jak about what he is doing.

Klout- She never trust him at all and she wants to warn Captain Phoenix about his upcoming betrayal.

Relationship(s):

Jak - Jak is her twin older brother, because of the seal of mar amulet on her neck and the psychic link she shares with him. Despite being younger than him, Jakleen would boss him around and try to keep him in line but he is also protective of her. He would let her join the racing circuit but he would try to keep her away from Captain Phoenix, whom she had a relationship with. Jakleen would style or braid his hair, and she often has a playful attitude towards him.

Damas - He is Jak and her father. She was scared of him when she first arrived in Spargus but she is able to hold her own, even if she defended Jak, Daxter, and Sig in the arena. She is able to save him in the catacombs and reveals the truth to him by showing her amulet. Jakleen loves him and tries her best to make him proud.

Hera - She is her and Jak’s mother. She first encountered her when she arrived in Spargus, where she is disguised as a servant. When the twins revealed themselves to their parents, they were happily reunited.

Sig - She sees him as her uncle figure due to their encounter in Haven City.

Jinx - Jakleen doesn't like him due to the fact that he tends to flirt with her.

Samos Hagai - Jakleen respects him and listens to his advices a lot.

Pecker - Jakleen trusts him because he has been trafficking information and advising important people. She had been snickering about how he is at odds with Daxter, as both have tendencies towards sarcasm and a short temper.

Seem - She respects her for her knowledge of the precursors. Despite the mistrust at first. She eventually grows to respect them and displays several signs of gratitude and impression.

Kleiver - Jakleen is on neutral terms with Kleiver because of his rivalry with Jak. Despite this, she would threaten Count Veger by saying his name.

Rayn - She is neutral at first, due to the shocking fact that she heard about the poisoned wine that she knocked off the table while she slept during the meeting.

Tym - Jakleen was wary of him for his laugh, but she slowly becomes friends with him for his knowledge and for being compassionate and level-headed.

The Precursors - Jakleen was able to hear their voices through her telepathy until she was surprised to see their true forms when she, Jak, Daxter, and Count Veger arrived at the precursor core. The Character’s Abilities

Fighting Style: Hand-to-hand combat, weapons proficiency, martial arts skills Eco Channeler: Yes

Other Power(s): Psychic powers, healing powers, telepathy, telekinesis, light eco psychic shields, dark eco psychic blasts, teleportation

Weapon(s): Eco weapons, morph gun, gunstaff, precursor sword

Extra(s): None

(On a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being terrible and 10 being the best)

Eco Channeling: 10/10

Hand-To-Hand Combat: 10/10

Weapon Handling: 8/10

Defense: 7/10

Offense: 10/10

People Skills: 9/10 The Character’s Familial/Biographical Information

Birthplace: Haven City

Family:

Jak (twin brother)

Damas (Father)

Hera (Mother)

Familial Background:

Marella is the last to be born among the twins. With their eco powers, Jak was the heir to Mar's legacy, and believed to be the Chosen One, one of the privileges that Jakleen shared with him. When her parents were banished, Marella's teleportation powers went haywire and transported her to the place where her brother was held. She was able to escape with him when her untapped powers transported them to the streets.

Character Background:

She and Jak were found by a young Samos, who found him wandering the streets and recognized them for the amulet. The Underground kept Jak hoping both that he could be placed on the throne to depose Praxis, and in the hopes, he could open the Tomb of Mar and find the Precursor Stone. Meanwhile, as Damas ruled Spargus his banishment from Haven, Damas hoped to one day find the two again, keeping an amulet identical to Jak's, and preserving Mar's armor for when they met again. She was kept safe by her older self throughout the ordeal. After the old twins defeated Kor, the young Samos took her and Jak back in time to Sandover Village, where they would be trained to have the skills he used to defeat Kor that day, completing the cycle.

Growing up in Sandover Village, the twins became best friends with Daxter and was watched over by Samos and the Explorer, called himself Jak's uncle. Jakleen was adopted by a beautiful singer who taught her music and other talents and skills that she would later use when she grew older. She also became close with Keira, who would go on to become her brother's love interest. Over time, Jakleen saved young Jak from the wumpbee nests on his ninth birthday.

Jakleen first appeared when Jak and Daxter returned to a disappointed Samos, who directed them to seek help from Gol Acheron, the dark eco sage Keira offered to help, providing her zoomer to travel north to see him provided they could find power cells to power the heat shield needed to cross the Fire Canyon. Venturing up north, they witnessed Lurkers' increased attacks on the villages, with Rock Village under siege, and both the blue and the red sages were kidnapped.

At the Red Sage's hut, Gol and his older sister Maia arrived to taunt Jak, Daxter, Jakleen, Samos, and Keira, revealing their plan to open the dark eco silos and reshape the world to their liking. Daxter was dismayed that the one they had sought for help was now the foe they had to defeat, but the group persevered; no longer trying to cure Daxter, but to save the world. At the silo near the citadel, four surrounding pipelines opened up and an accident light eco appeared, which Daxter believed could have changed him back, but reluctantly gave Jak permission to use it to stop the precursor robot and save the world, causing Jak to nod enthusiastically in agreement. When the four sages and the group celebrated, Jak leaned in to kiss Keira, only for Daxter to interrupt them, which caused Jakleen to snicker in response. Using their 100 power cells, the two found the Rift Gate and Rift Rider, hidden behind a Precursor door.

Jak, Jakleen, Daxter, Samos, and Keira activated the Rift Gate, opening a portal for the Metal Head leader to appear. In desperation, Jak then activated the Rift Rider, following its preset coordinates to Haven City, many years in the future. There, Jak was captured by an already waiting Erol, and sent to be experimented on for Baron Praxis' Dark Warrior Program while Keira and Jakleen escaped with Samos and Daxter. Jak remained there for two years, which caused Jakleen to have migraines and nightmares, thus gaining psychic attacks of her own. Upon escaping, Jak and Daxter reunited with Jakline, who found Kor and his younger self (unbeknownst to him) outside, and after protecting Kor from the Krimzon Guard, the three were directed to work for the Underground and ask for Torn.

Torn refused to let Jak speak to the Underground's leader, and sent Jak, Jakleen, and Daxter on increasingly dangerous missions out of his dislike for them. While Daxter protested this, Jak revelled in the opportunity to hurt the Baron, more-so than to help the Underground but Jakleen elbows him to keep him in line. Torn's missions led them to work for Krew in order to gain favors with Krew and leverage his connections, something Jak was willing to do in his quest against Praxis, and was rewarded with the Morph Gun and upgrades. Torn and Krew's missions also led the team to meet Vin, Ashelin Praxis, Onin, and her interpreter Pecker, Sig, and Tess with a reunion with Keira at the Mar Memorial Stadium. Jak competed for her NYFE racing team and she provided the JET-board, although the two were at odds due to Jak's friendship with Krew and Erol’s attraction to Jakleen. Meanwhile, an oracle taught Jak to control his dark powers.

Shortly after, the trio discovered Dead Town, and realized Haven City was in fact his own world's future. Furthermore, the Underground's leader finally agreed to meet with Jak, Jakleen and Daxter, only for them to find the leader was Samos, but a younger Samos, who did not recognize them. Between Samos and Onin's missions, Jak now directed efforts to find the Tomb of Mar so his younger self could obtain the Precursor Stone; when they did so, his younger self was forbidden from completing the tomb's tests of manhood forcing him and Daxter to take them instead, only for Baron Praxis to capture most Underground members and take the Precursor Stone for himself. Jakline was able to run into her younger self, who managed to escape with her untapped powers, so that she can give them the location of the Underground members.

At Torn's direction, Jak and Jakleen freed the Underground members from the fortress; in there, Kor and the child Jak were missing, but the older Samos of his time was found locked up beside his younger version. Learning from Samos that the Baron's plans to use the Precursor Stone with the piercer bomb against the Metal Heads would destroy the world, Jak raced in the NYFE championship to enter Haven Palace, in the meanwhile helping Keira rebuild the Rift Rider, as the two reconciled. Jak's win helped him reach the palace where he clashed with Ashelin; revealing his stake had gone above mere revenge. Jakleen, on his behalf, pleaded with her for help to save the world, which she obliged when Vin confirmed Samos' vision. Jak defeated Krew at the weapons factory and stopped the piercer bomb, after which the city was invaded by Metal Heads, entering when Kor sabotaged Haven City's Shield Wall and Sig opened a door in the Underport at the behest of Krew, double-crossing the Baron.

At the construction site, Jak, alongside Jakleen, who is trying to protect her younger self, learned that Kor was the Metal Head leader, having used a human disguise to infiltrate the Underground. Kor then killed Baron Praxis, who with his dying breath called Jak the "supreme weapon" and revealed to him a second piercer bomb, and the Precursor Stone. Jak, Jakleen, and Daxter took the stone and, with the Metal Heads preoccupied with attacking the city, used the opportunity to storm the nest, and after using Mar’s Gun to blow a hole in it, revealed his intention to stay and fight for Haven rather than abandon it with Keira's Rift Rider. When confronting Kor, Kor revealed to Jak and Jakleen that the twins were their younger selves, and they defeated Kor. He and Jakleen sent the twins alongside the younger Samos to the past using Keira's Rift Rider, completing the cycle and ending the three-hundred-year war with the Metal Heads.

Jak and Daxter were banished to the wastelands by Count Veger but Jakleen slipped off to join them using her teleportation powers. When Jak came to, Damas ordered that he and Daxter prove themselves worthy to gain citizenship of Spargus, or be cast aside.

In spite of an antagonistic relationship with Kleiver, one of the high-ranking Wastelanders, Jak performed well and proved himself in his missions for Spargus and his performance in the Arena of Death. Damas also warmed to Jak and Jakleen, showing (but attempting to hide) paternal pride in him and concern for their safety, and giving them fatherly advice. The relationship soured when Jak encountered Sig at the Arena of Death, and both Jak and Sig refused to fight one another, defiling the arena. Damas threatened to exile both, but Jakline defended them. He gave them a chance for redemption due to Sig's service as a spy in Haven, which both were able to achieve by destroying a nest of metal-pedes nearby. The twins also met Seem and the Precursor Monks, who showed hostility to him at first, but through their temple in the Wasteland he was able to obtain light eco powers and gained the ability to transform into Light Jak, much to her amazement.

Partway through Jak's time in Spargus, Ashelin arrived and pleaded Jak to return to Haven, only for Jak to harshly defy her, consigning Haven to doom due to their treatment of him and Jakleen tried to convince him. Nonetheless, Jak and Jakleen eventually did return via the catacombs in the war effort, motivated by vengeance against Veger. Jak and Jakleen linked up again with Samos, Keira, Torn, Tess, and Ashelin to battle both the Metal Head and KG Death Bot fronts, fighting for the Freedom League. During the war, they learned that a now-cybernetic Errol, working with fallen Precursors known as the Dark Makers, was behind the war and commanded both forces.

The war against the Dark Makers required the two to find artifacts to use the Astro-Viewer, learn more about his new enemy. While in Spargus to find the artifacts, Sig told Jak and Jakleen that Damas had planned to ensure Spargus survived the war, believing Haven was doomed. Jak rebuked him and Spargus for "playing with peoples' lives", and continued to fight the war against Errol. The twins confronted Errol at the KG War Factory, where he declared he would stop Errol and the Dark Makers' plan destroy the world, before shutting down the factory and weakening the KG Death Bots front. After this, when the Dark Makers attacked Spargus, Jak and Jakleen fended them off, earning their citizenship of Spargus, receiving a piece of Mar's armor that Damas was saving for his own son (not knowing Jak was his son) as well as a war beacon that he could use to summon Wastelanders whenever he needed it.

She and Jak then went to the catacombs to reach the Precursor core so he could activate the Planetary Defense System and stop the Dark Makers. The path to the catacombs was riddled with Metal Heads, causing Jak to use the war beacon to summon Damas. Damas helped Jak fight through, only to be fatally wounded by a missile and Jakleen was able to heal him with her powers. Jak realized that Damas was his father, and he and Jakleen revealed the amulets they carry, but they were also met by Hera, their biological mother, who was disguised as a servant in the palace when they came. Veger taunted them for this, causing Jakleen to call him a monster but Hera held her back to prevent her from causing more harm. This caused Jak and Jakleen, with Hera and an injured Damas to chase him there down the catacombs in anger.

When he reached the Precursor core, the Precursors offered Jak and Jakleen the opportunity to transform into a Precursor themselves, only for Veger to take it himself and be transformed into an ottsel against his will. The three Precursors then sent Jak to the Dark Maker ship to prevent Errol from awakening its cargo and told Jakleen to conjure a portal to send herself, a recovering Damas, and Hera back to Spargus, before the leader privately expressed lack of confidence in them and wish for a "backup hero".

Jak successfully stopped Errol and the Dark Makers from destroying the world, turning the tide in the Precursors' universe-wide war with the Dark Makers. Jak and Daxter returned to the place where Jakleen and Ashelin were waiting. As soon as Jak arrived, Jakleen ran to him and they both hugged. The Precursors, after thanking the people of the planet, told them there were more adventures in the future, asking him to join them in fighting the Dark Makers in other worlds. Jak obliged at first, but declined last minute due to his loyalty to Jakleen and Daxter, choosing to stay in his world. The now-reunited family was happily spending time together, catching up with the times they lost.

A year later, Jak, Jakleen, Daxter, Keira, Torn, and Ashelin traveled to Kras City on the invite of Krew's daughter Rayn, to attend the reading of Krew's will. Jakleen slept throughout the toasting of his death, and knocked down the glass of wine. She woke up when they were informed they had been poisoned, and that the only way to obtain the antidote was to win the Kras City Grand Championship for Krew's racing team. The group turned on Rayn, who claimed to be unaware as she had drank from the same bottle, though Jak chose to believe her, and agreed to race for their survival. When the team learned that Krew and Kras City crime boss Mizo had bet each other's business against who won the championship—meaning they were unwittingly caught in the middle of a gang war—Jak told the team to sit tight and keep racing while pledging to think of a way out. Jakleen would drive in Keira’s place due to not being allowed to race.

Jak got off to a slow start, berated by the show's announcer G.T. Blitz poor ratings on his first race in spite of his win, but gained notoriety as he racked up good points for the season, eventually attracting the attention of veterans of the sport, something that Jakleen is worried about. When Pecker became Blitz's co-host, in addition to investigating the crime ring behind the sport, he tended to hype up Jak on-air, only for Blitz to discredit him. Jakleen became more worried about her brother as he continued to race but she continued to race with the team.

In the race against Razer, Jakleen became more angry when she heard that her brother's car was sabotaged in a race preventing him from firing weapons; but nonetheless, he won anyway. She even complained about it. When Jak won the final race, G.T. Blitz revealed he was Mizo, and stole the antidotes, leading Jak to chase and destroy his car. Mizo chided Jak's tendency to leave his foes to die, which Jak shrugged off as Mizo's car exploded.

After celebrating his win, Rayn ran off, leaving behind a note that she had betrayed them all as she had never been poisoned, but had been using them to take over Mizo's business, meaning Jak's trust in her had been misplaced. Nonetheless, the group agreed not to worry in the short term, and after the celebration, Jakleen screamed in excitement as she watches Jak (with encouragement from Daxter) kissed Keira.

In the future, an eco shortage caused Jak, Jakleen, Daxter, and Keira to travel to the Brink a Hellcat IV search of new eco. Along the way, a group of sky pirates by Captain Phoenix, attempted to raid them for their eco, causing Jak to try to transform into Dark Jak to defend them, but doing so unsuccessfully due to the eco shortage making it unstable. Captain Phoenix therefore mistook Jak for one of the aeropans, his enemies, and tried to kill him, but Daxter scared him away with the gun turret placed on their aircraft, inadvertently forcing them to crash land on the Brink.

Keira was able to repair the ship, and after another run-in with the Sky Pirates where they attack the ACS Behemoth, Jak fought them off and was welcomed to Aeropa by its leaders, Duke Skyheed, and Chancellor Ruskin. Despite Jakleen being distrustful towards the duke, Skyheed gave Jak the eco seeker to help them find more eco, though the device was broken.

Then, Captain Phoenix attacks the building and steals both the Eco Seeker and Keira but Jakleen sneaked in the Phantom Blade. Jak and Daxter were able to get to them but, on board, Jak and Phoenix argue and tip the Eco Seeker overboard accidentally, so both return to the island once more to retrieve it from a volcanic crater. Keira intervenes and makes them call a truce and shake hands. Jakleen fell head over heels for Captain Phoenix, who became interested in her, and Jak would try to prevent it, only to cause tension and a sour relationship between the twins.

While working to repair it, Jak and Jakleen learned that the Aeropans had their own Dark Warrior Program creating dark mutants, causing him to become vengeful as he remembered what had happened to him. A castaway named Tym, whom they had met earlier, remembered that he had once worked on the program and regretted it, and told Captain Phoenix that Jak was not one of the Aeropans' dark mutant experiments but evidence that dark eco could be controlled. Jak and Phoenix then put aside their differences entirely for Jakleen and to fight against the Aeropans to stop the experiments, which made him reconcile with his sister.

In a siege on Aeropa, Jak finally met up with Skyheed, who also turned into a massive Dark Warrior while Jakleen stayed with Keira. Jak's battle with Skyheed forced him to retreat to his shielded flagship, where he attempted to drain eco from the eco core. While Jakleen used her teleportation powers to save Captain Phoenix, Jak was finally able to kill Skyheed, using a new light eco weapon made by Keira. The storms were then calmed due to the realigning and activation of the eco core, and the world was no longer in want of eco.

[strawberrywindow]

I'd actually love to know your Top 5 video games? <3

Ooh, thank you for the ask! ❤️

I'd say my top 5 video games are

1. and 2. Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Soma (these two definitely switch placement often between 1 and 2 for me 😂) both masterpieces of storytelling, atmosphere ominous enough to keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time even when monsters aren't present, characters you WILL get attached to, lore that keeps you thinking about it years later. Frictional Games is just incredible in every game they make lol.

3. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - i've played this game a million times and loved it since childhood. It's a great feel good game, super fun mechanics, great art design, and the music in it slaps too. One of Naughty Dog's best 😂

4. Journey - absolutely gorgeous game, no dialogue, story told entirely through still images or brief cutscenes in between exploring windswept desert ruins. The music in this game is some of the most beautiful i've heard in any i've played. I come back to this game if i'm feeling anxious often because its such a soothing atmosphere. You also sometimes get paired up with another player to journey with and you communicate with each other through little musical trills! 🥹

5. Dead Space - Dead Space is the first game that really introduced me to cosmic horror and i will love it forever for that. Great monster designs, great storytelling, great main protag in Isaac Clarke who is a silent protag in the first game, great weapons that make sense with the story. Isaac is an engineer so all weapons are repurposed engineering tools 😂 its a great game.

Honorable mentions to: the rest of Frictionals games, Dear Esther, the GOW reboots, the old Hercules PS2 game, and the old Shrek 2 PS2 game - GOATed games as well 🤣

[shadowcatzone]

a rant

I could have imagined a bunch more things for a bunch of games

I wish they didnt discontinue pokemon contests those wouldve been great for the new red games

I wish they had included contests in x and y the way the anime does it. You dress up 3 pokemon, play a random minigame, and then have a little dance

Fantasy life shouldve had dating sim elements. And more classes i always feel like somethings missing. Like musician. Or interior decorator. Model. I wouldve liked something like sage where you could use both light and dark magic. More dlcs.

A prequel to jak and daxter and i dont mean jak 2 i mean literally who is damas? Whys he in the desert? What happened to his son? YOU KNOW.

Balan ww shouldve been an open world nights game

Stardew valley needs more customization. I have crystal paths, why cant i have crystal fences? Or crystal braziers? I think those exist actually. WHY CANT I LEARN MAGIC

Riviera the promised land needs a direct sequel in which it turns out nobody actually died (except malice and hector) is that too much to ask

Kh2: make a beach, bi--ch!

They should remake the disney magical racing game i loved that. With an online mode for which you need to be over 13

So many games could be remade

What else did i even play

Edit: farming. Fantasy life shouldve had farming.

[xadoheandterra]

Series: Semblance Title: Patriciate Fandom: Jak and Daxter Chapters: I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI Characters: Jak, Daxter, Samos, Keira, Kid!Jak, Ashelin, Torn, Tess Tags: Worldbuilding, Accidentally King of Haven!Jak, hurt/comfort, things go wrong, things get better, things get worse again, slow build, slow burn, slow to update, cross posted, fantasy racism, canon divergence, been meaning to share this here Summary: “It’s yours,” Jak said softly. “Keep it…remember where you come from. At least one of us should remember….”

If Jak knew the consequences of that one, selfish choice…well, he’d probably have made the same decision either way.       

The desert is harsh and unforgiving, but sometimes a light in the darkness could be found. Sometimes.

Sometimes though there are more steps before a resolution can be met.

 The excavation work of the eco crystal would take time. Seem knew that they didn’t have all the necessary tools for the removal of crystal without it blowing up in their face. Mar knew that Damas might just attempt it despite the risk and lack of proper materials in the sudden urgency Seem saw him filled with once they began to return to the surface. Damas marked the position of the crystal that presumably housed the Acheron's. Seem worked to map spotted safe routes from Damas' back as they returned to the sands above.

“I need to speak with my Order,” Seem said, voice quiet. “The Council of Elders needs to know.” Seem frowned faintly. “I also need to see how the envoy to the Marauder Clans is doing. I haven’t received a report yet.”

Damas nodded. “We shall reconvene at a later point then Master Seem.”

With the agreement and understanding reached Seem and Damas went their separate ways. Seem headed over to her Monks purposefully. The materials they would need were with the Marauder Clans, and that meant she would have to prepare to enter their domain. She tended to avoid the Clans whenever need of them came up. Instead Seem sent proxies to deal with the barbarians and criminals. Recently the young Warrior Master Talin had become her proxy of choice.

Talin caught Seem’s eye rather quickly. He wasn’t as old as most of the Masters of the Order were for one thing—he barely crested his twentieth year. The Sage’s and Elder’s reported only good things about Talin, too. A calm and level head surprisingly unseen for someone born of Marauder ilk. Seem’s interest piqued there and crested when she learned how well the boy had taken to civilized folk. She could barely see a lick of Marauder in him, and yet he still knew their traditions by rote. A true young prodigy, and so well taken to the Warrior role.

When Talin came to request a team to work with, Seem found herself pleased with his choices. Irma, while in her thirties and only just a Master, had a good grounding in the work required of one of Seem’s Guardians. She’d taken on a Novice in young Finn, and Talin wanted to take upon Liren for Apprenticeship. Liren had more of a hot head than Talin, but Seem wondered if Talin could prevail in getting the boy to embrace a cooler form of thought. Then Talin approached her with the final member of his team—a Sage.

Kira worked as a Healer for as long as Seem knew her. She worked near exclusively within the medic division during the time of Seem’s mother, as she cared for the Monks until dark eco took her. Kira looked after Seem too when her father couldn’t be bothered, and her grandmother found herself lost to Prophecy and uncaring of the world around her. Already Kira approached the position of Elder, and with her gentle but firm nature Seem felt she could do well to direct the otherwise young and impressionable team under an equally young and impressionable leader. In private Kira informed Seem that she looked to the assignment as a vacation.

Seem did not understand how Kira could take the fact that the team would work closely with the various Marauder camps in keeping the peace as a vacation. Still the fact that Kira felt comfortable with the position and was willing to follow the lead of Talin Seem allowed the reassignment. As long as she didn’t need to deal with the Clans and none of her Monks were harmed, Seem could care a little less about who settled as part of the diplomatic envoy’s. Of course Kira had leeway anyway being so close to the position of Elder to make her choices in assignments with or without Seem’s say-so. Seem herself was only a Master for all she led the Monks as a whole.

The Precursor Monks portion of the camp outside the crevasse was busy as Seem anticipated when she stepped into their midst. Healers moved back and forth between the injured that they’d worked to rescue, settled into a make-shift tent for delicate work. They were only the stabilizing force until the Spargans could be transferred back to their city where their own caretakers would continue treatment for their injuries. Further still several Guardians worked to shift barrels of eco off of transports for the medics to use—blue to stimulate nerves, green to push regrowth, red to rebreak and resettle, and yellow to burn away what could not be conducive to green’s gentle touch. Each eco had its own use to the medics, after all, as each affected the body in different ways.

Healer Elder Fors oversaw the various Apprentice’s, Master’s and Sage’s that worked with the eco and the injured. Fors had always been a rather crotchety old man in Seem’s memory, but well suited to the role to bark orders at the younger members of the Order as they rushed around and worked themselves until Fors demanded rest and breaks. He rotated out his team of medics, which had grown from the initial ten sent out with Seem to the full contingent of twenty—and those were only the medics still active and capable of using their gifts. There were several more that Seem knew were back with the Order working in a more managerial series of roles if only because they weren’t trained enough, were healing from an injury, or just could not handle the strain of channeling anymore.

For a moment Seem watched the Healers, Guardians, and Warriors bustle about. She watched as Fors barked orders with her bones weary from exhaustion and the discoveries of the past day. Still more needed to be done, so Seem squared her shoulders and made her way toward Fors, dirty, tired, but determined.

“Master Seem,” Fors greeted, voice like reed paper with how faint and cracked it sounded. The sand soaked air did not do the man justice, but he bore the burden well.

“Elder Fors,” Seem deferred with a slight dip of her head. When she raised it her gaze darted back over the tent and the bustling medics. “How are the efforts?”

Fors grimaced, lips pulled down in a way that only seemed to amplify the wrinkles in his cheeks. It made him look gaunt and hollow as he spoke in grim tones and even grimmer facts. “We’ve lost at least five, and another five look to be on their way. We’re running low on water to provide and the resupply from Spargus is late.”

Seem pressed her lips together, brows furrowed down in contemplation. “An attack, do you think?”

Fors scoffed. “From the Clans? With how much of a struggle they must be in? No. No, child, but perhaps the Hora-Quan, perhaps another creature. Who knows? Perhaps Spargus deigns not to listen to their Lord when He speaks?”

Seem doubted that. Spargus may not believe in the tales of Mar in the way of Havenites, but that didn’t mean that they could deny Damas had power and the means with which to wield it. The blood of Mar ran strong in the exiled monarch; stronger than the King before him, and the King before that even if what Seem had been told were true. Still in this desert and heat, with the chaos of the incident, a delayed resupply could be the cause of many things—but always a question and a concern.

Eventually Seem sighed and murmured, “I would hate to drag you away from your post, then.”

“But you must,” Fors replied.

“I must,” Seem agreed. She waited, and then cautiously prompted, “Do you have someone to oversee in your absence?” A moment of silence before Fors called for one of the apprentices and spoke in low tones with the girl. Seem didn’t bother to listen in to the conversation; her thoughts drifted through the various causes behind a delay in the resupply. She worried her lip as each concern coiled within her gut like a lead stone snake.

“Master Seem,” Fors interrupted her thoughts and Seem jerked her head in his direction. He laid a wrinkled hand upon her shoulder and began to steer her from the tent. “It is handled. Come.”

“Yes, Elder,” Seem mumbled, and allowed Fors to lead her away.

Damas peered over the maps of the crevasse cobbled together from several members of the rescue efforts from underneath the tent, but found his attention drifted from the conversation around him. His mind moved constantly back to the crystal deep down into the earth, and the pulse that he felt beat out from within it. The combination of dark and light eco intertwined into one another had never been considered to be possible—what could the effects be, Damas wondered. Could it have preserved the Acherons life? Or perhaps their remains in some pristine condition? When even did the eco crystalize? Had that been when the volcano erupted or was it a result of the two severely different types of eco interacting? A part of Damas itched to gather up Mar’s journals and read through the thoughts of his ancestor. Mar had quite a bit to write about the Acherons in his later years; thoughts on their research, how things ended up the way they went, and regrets on their fate and what happened to them and to the Sage that stopped them.

Quietly, at his side, Dag murmured, “Lord Damas,” and drew Damas’ attention away from his thoughts. The tent had cleared; whatever discussion between the leaders of the rescue efforts already completed without Damas’ input. Damas didn’t mind—he trusted the Spargans to do what they needed, and he trusted Dag to relay his own findings appropriately if he were to be so lost in his own head.

“Can you repeat that, Dag?” Damas asked.

“What has you so troubled?” Dag quarried. “You barely paid attention to the casualty list, and you didn’t even react when the supply run was noted to be late.”

“Walk with me?”

“Of course, if it helps with your thoughts…” Dag said, and together they stepped out of the tent.

Damas watched the young man that his wife thought would do him good in silence for a moment as they walked through the desert air. Dag’s Spargan native blood was apparent in more than just his name; he had the dark skin of the city’s native denizens, and the hair that locked and braided neatly. Dag walked straight backed, and even with his diminutive height he seemed to tower over most people; this included at times even Damas. Damas glanced away, looked out over the camp, and gathered his thoughts.

“We need to build a barrier over the crevasse immediately,” Damas said eventually. Dag tilted his head slightly but said nothing as he listened. “Master Seem and I reached the bottom—any who dare to venture that far need to also be warned. A majority of the ground is eco crystal,” Damas frowned. “Dark eco crystal.”

Dag sucked in a breath and rubbed a hand over his face. “Shit,” he said plainly, and Damas nodded.

For a moment they said nothing as they reached the edge of the camp, and then Damas sighed tiredly. “How many of our beacons have been recovered?” he asked.

Dag snorted with a grumbled, “So you weren’t listening?” and ducked under the playful slap of a hand that brushed against the tips of his fiery hair knotted on the top of his head.

“Impudent brat,” Damas said, a small smile on the edge of his face, and Dag laughed. A second later the air turned somber again.

“Truthfully, we’ve found most of the beacons,” Dag said, and he turned his gaze away from Damas and out over the desert landscape as he spoke. Damas frowned. “Our search parties have marked the locations of each beacon without a body for further searching.”

“How many of our people…” Damas trailed off, a knot of worry deep in his gut. How many died in this disaster? How many Spargans? How many children?

“We’ve recovered close to twenty-five,” Dag said slowly. “Of those only…only eight are surviving. We lost five in the night, according to the Monks, and another five are severe enough that we don’t anticipate survival by days end.”

“The rest?”

“Already gone.”

Damas closed his eyes in grief and bowed his head down. Mar the ripple effect of the mess caused here Spargus would feel for days. He didn’t want to think how many of the Clans were lost—their numbers were smaller than Spargus, and they were spread far out into the Wastes. Some might not be affected, but the closer Clans that had taken to the area for the season—such a waste of life, Damas thought. The desert was a cruel place; harsh to live in and some days the reward didn’t seem worth it to Damas. He wasn’t Spargan born, however, and he knew they would never give this life up for anything else. Not even the Clans would do so, Damas knew now after years spent among the desert people.

“We’ll recover the rest of the beacons,” Damas said, and from Dag’s look he already knew that the meeting he paid no attention to had decided so without him, “but we’ll put the search for any further survivors aside. They are…likely already gone.” It hurt Damas to say, but it was the truth in the end and Damas and Dag both knew it.

“What would you like us to do instead, then?” Dag asked.

“Begin building a cover for the crevasse. We are in thunder season,” Damas said grimly. “One wrong strike….”

Dag sucked in a breath. “There is that much crystal?” he said, tone just the bit on this side of faint.

“Enough to possibly reach Haven.” Damas pressed his lips together and rubbed at his temples. He could feel a headache building. “Furthermore there is…something at the bottom. We need excavation equipment.”

Dag blinked, opened his mouth, and then closed it with a contemplative look. “This is near the underground molten rivers,” Dag said. “According to old maps there was an entrance into the heart of the Volcano nearby at one point; and if the stories are to be believed…the Citadel?” He looked to Damas, who looked to Dag and the nodded. “The Acherons?” Damas nodded again. “Are you sure?”

“I saw their machine,” Damas agreed. “It looked as Mar described only…covered in crystal.”

“You think they are recoverable?” Dag said, and his hands clenched into fists as he looked at Damas with eyes as dark as his skin.

“It is crystal,” Damas said, “but it is still eco.”

Crystal, Damas figured, could be channeled like anything else of eco. If a properly trained channeler could manipulate liquid eco into vapor, then why could one not manipulate crystal back into liquid? Sure they had no clue as to how eco crystalized in the first place—in the crevasse it looked as if the eco boiled first, so perhaps heat could be applied to part of the catalyst for the change—but that didn’t mean the process wasn’t undoable.

“Your mad,” Dag said.

“Maybe I am,” Damas agreed; he wouldn’t deny the thought. Mar seemed quite mad after all, learning to control dark eco in a time where it was taboo—still taboo, really, despite the mess they’ve made of the world with it. “Now,” Damas murmured a minute later, gaze on the horizon, “who is that?”

Dag turned his gaze off into the desert and reached up to the goggles settled over his eyes. He twisted and manipulated the lenses to grant himself more of a zoom to his vision off into the distance. After a moment he stood straighter, arms dropped and clasped at his back in a practiced motion that Damas recognized from whenever one of the Precursor Monks were present.

“It’s one of the sand riders,” Dag said, “but a Monk is astride it.”

“One of Seem’s ambassadors, then,” Damas sighed, a bit of his tension leaving him. “Let us hope he bears good news for us.”

Talin downed the drink offered to him in the tent to soothe his parched throat. The ride from the camp had been long, and the struggle with the Clans to get a hold of a rider took too much time in Talin’s not-so-humble opinion. One of the few things he honestly didn’t miss about Marauder life had been how unnecessarily complicated they made what should be simple things.

The water dribbled down his chin and Talin quickly wiped it away with a grimace, well aware that he’d probably messed up his own face paint but beyond tired enough to really care about it at this time. He glanced to Lord Damas from under his eyelashes, then to the Spargan ruler’s attendant with a tilt of his head.

“Master Seem will be here shortly,” Dag uttered.

“Seem called a Council meeting,” Damas explained as he poured more water into the cup which Talin quickly squirreled back close to his chest to swallow more. “I take it your expedition bore fruit?”

Talin set the cup down with a soft breath and said, “After a fashion.” He looked at the cup and wondered if he should wait for Master Seem to arrive before he explained, but then he thought about the long drive and the mess of the Marauder Camp and sighed. “The Chieftan will only entertain the idea of a truce as long as you are there to present it to him, Lord Damas.”

Damas pursed his lips. “Aermsmin said that?” he questioned, and Talin nodded sharply.

“The Clans are not in a good way.” Talin bit his lip, comfortable in the presence of Damas despite how initially he’d been raised wary of the idea of the man. “The crevasse tore near through the main encampment. There’s been plenty of loss and injury on their end as well.” It didn’t take Talin much to conclude that Spargus’ own losses were significant either; not if Master Seem was in a meeting with the Council of Elders.

“It’s even worse,” Damas said, gaze off in the distance. “We’ll need the Clans to help cover the whole of the crevasse.”

Talin blinked. “Cover it?”

“Master Seem and I made a discovery at the bottom,” Damas looked right at Talin, gaze sharp enough that Talin shivered from its intensity. “The entire of the desert is at risk if we leave the crevasse as it is.”

Talin carefully set down his cup and looked at Damas with his brow pinched down. He wasn’t a fool; Talin could read between the lines easily. He’d spent his whole life on this desert. He knew this place better than most even with time spent mostly among the Monks these past handful of years. After a second Talin nodded and murmured a faint, “I see,” in time for Master Seem to enter into the tent.

“I apologize about my delay,” Seem said shortly with a dip of her head in Damas’ direction. “Master Talin, was your trip a success?”

Talin glanced to Seem and quickly stood to his feet. He made a short gesture with his hand in greeting and ducked his head. “To an extent it can be viewed that way, Master Seem,” Talin replied, “however Chieftan Aermsmin has some caveats before he fully agrees to a truce or armistice at this time.”

There was a flash across Seem’s face, quick enough that Talin couldn’t quite decipher but Damas could. Still, once pressed back into composure expected as the Head of the Precursor Monks Seem tilted her head back in acknowledgement of the news Talin brought.

“Very well,” Seem uttered, hoarse whisper just the slightest bit covered in steel that made a shiver run up Talin’s spine. “Let us hear the Chieftan’s demands.”

[radioactivepeasant]

Free Day Friday: Viper continuation

Picking up from Here

Thrax scarcely recognized the city anymore. In the five years since his banishment for questioning the research into dark eco, he'd sort of assumed nothing would change, not really. But the Haven he crept through now was barely half of what he'd left behind. The slums were gone, replaced by gleaming modern architecture and locked behind force fields. He'd thought it was to keep the displaced rabble out until he saw the first metalhead lounging on a filthy street corner. Until he saw the crushed remains of the Stadium, the Grand Hotel, the museum-! The Palace District of Main Town was destroyed.

How far Praxis must have fallen before the end! Thrax found himself, to his surprise, hoping the old fool had met a hideous death at the hands of Damas’s pet demon. The count was right, he was an abomination, but that was more Praxis's fault than the monster's, to his mind. Praxis made it out of some kid who didn't get a say in the matter. In his own way, Thrax felt sorry for Jak. But sympathy for demons didn't get you far in life.

Bitterly cursing the cold, Thrax pulled his scarf higher and found himself turning down an alley in search of things to burn. He should have been home by now. Well, not home, his old penthouse from his days in the Guard had a support beam impaling the top three floors now. Somewhere better, perhaps, in New Haven. He'd even have accepted military barracks if it came with the proper pay and respect! That had been the promise, that was to be his reward: all that Praxis had stripped from him restored. And all he'd had to do was kill that weakling Damas.

Only, Damas wasn't a weakling anymore. He was as harshly pragmatic as Praxis had ever been. Ruler of a land of barbarians! It was madness! Honestly, Thrax would have been relieved to have Haven destabilize and assume control of the city. But now...now, he doubted Haven had anything close to the manpower that would require. No wonder assassination had been suggested instead!

And he'd failed, pure and simple.

Thrax was no fool, he knew his glorious homecoming was contingent on him holding up his end of the bargain. Still, he couldn't help a sullen thought that he might have succeeded if Veger hadn't sent the monster straight to Damas’s doorstep like a housewarming present.

There were two other people huddled around a barrel at the end of the alley, burning garbage for warmth. They didn't acknowledge him at first, until the light flickered off his tattoos. One of them swore and kicked at him.

"Get out of here!" The kick unbalanced him and his friend caught his elbow. "KG scum! Metal-lover! Go back to hell!"

Something grated high above their heads. The sound of a boot on a slate shingle. Even with the heat of the fire in his face, Thrax suddenly felt cold. What forgotten instinct warned him not to look up? That he had no time to look?

The shingles cracked.

Thrax ran.

For once, he was grateful for the grueling, brutal training Damas forced candidates to endure before he allowed them to enter the desert alone. A Havenite -- gods, when had he stopped thinking of himself as a Havenite? -- would never have been able to clear the fallen masonry, or the burnt-out husks of hellcats that littered the streets. A mantis-head took a swipe at him from the shadows of a fallen archway, and Thrax lost his footing as he dodged.

He landed hard, skidding down a short drop that had once been part of the road. In the two seconds required to pick himself up, Thrax saw what his instincts had been warning him about.

The monster. The child-soldier. Jak.

He leapt from the awning of what used to be a racing memorabilia shop, landing with a predatory grace that momentarily froze Thrax. His creepy talking Teacup Mine-rat hunched on his shoulder -- everyone said there was no such thing as Mine-rats having a teacup breed, but they were the only animal he'd ever seen with those proportions and that nauseating shade of orange -- watching him with those beady little eyes. In an almost careless move, the rat pointed out the mantis-head that had knocked Thrax down. The monster shot it in the head after only glancing in its direction.

The spell was broken. Thrax ran down the cracked and sunken crater that the road had become, desperately scanning the horizon for a place to hide. He was too far from New Haven -- not that the elite would have any compunction to help him when he'd failed his mission -- and he could see metalheads and those Krimzon robots blocking many of the avenues he could have used for escape. Stopping to shoot them would give the monster time to catch up.

Thrax knew what the abomination was capable of. He'd seen what happened to his co-conspirator. Dropped like a stone as they tried to flee, obsidian claws buried in the base of their skull while watched by the pitiless eyes of whatever evil spirit the boy had become. Would those same claws paralyze him, too? Drag him back to the desert to die or worse? Or would death be swift?

No, no he couldn't think like that. He had to escape. He had to hope for a way to kill the thing. Thrax charged into another alley, hoping against hope that a door would be open or unlocked. If he could get inside, his chances of survival would dramatically increase.

The Precursors, however, did not favor him that day.

The alley ended at a wall of twisted rebar and half melted plastics, fused together with foul acids secreted by the metalheads. A panicked whine escaped Thrax's throat as he whirled, already knowing what would be behind him.

But there was nothing.

That did not calm his nerves. Where was the creature? Thrax's eyes rolled back and forth, scanning every shadow. His breath came in shallow pants as he backed up, fumbling for his morph gun.

Then came the sound of boots on shingles again.

He had forgotten to look up.

Jak dropped silently, driving his knee into the fugitive's back. Thrax fell with a cry, gun clattering from his hand and onto the ruined cobblestones. He was under no obligation to bring Thrax back alive -- they'd gotten most of the information they needed out of the monk, Nadab. Damas had given him explicit permission to kill the would-be assassin if the situation warranted it. But at the same time, Jak had a suspicion. He was catching on to a greater trend of treachery within Haven, and he had a feeling Thrax knew who was behind it. All he needed was confirmation.

"Do your worst, abomination," Thrax gasped, clawing for any shred of courage he had left. "I do not fear death."

"Captain."

Thrax faltered. "What?"

Jak flipped him over so that their eyes met. His eyes were cold, and in the darkness, Thrax wondered in a daze how they could look so much like Damas’s.

"It's Captain Abomination. If you're going to insult me, do it properly."

The rat snickered and nudged his head encouragingly.

"Now you have a very small window of opportunity here," Jak growled. "You tell me who put Nadab in contact with you, and you get a chance to give up your beacon with a shred of honor intact. If you have a shred of honor left."

"This is a limited time offer," Daxter warned.

Trembling, Thrax repeated, "I do not fear death!"

Jak smiled, but there was no humor in it.

"Yes you do."

He was right.

[aces-to-apples]

for the wip meme: wait or mean

Wait

Jango/maul, pre-tpm, omegaverse

Jango levels the whole of the bar and it's shady, spineless patrons with a challenging look and waits.

JnD, Jink

Peace is not something found in the desert unless it is of the most final kind, but the sands of the wastes are calm for now. The interloper is silent beside him, and so for just a moment, Damas can pretend that he alone awaits Jak's return.

"Milady", Padogmakin, star-bright 'verse

She's even intrigued by him herself once they finally meet: kind and strong and brave and honorable, with a slight hint of awkwardness when addressing her and a harshly suppressed sense of humor that she suspects verges on wicked when he's with his brothers.

But Anakin never so much as alludes to anything more than friendship with him, so Padmé waits.

Almost two years later, she answers a holocall from her husband to find him bright-eyed and flush-cheeked, grinning ear to ear.

Dogmakin

Captain Rex stands in the middle of the hangar waiting to receive them. He looks foreboding to Dogma's eye but after a brief welcoming speech, he hands the shinies off to a lieutenant with an almost indulgent wave of his hand. Then he turns to Dogma and he straightens to pristine attention, feeling naked without his armor.

JnD time-stream shenanigans

So, as long as they're together, Jak won't fuss much about the whys or hows of what's going on. At worst, they'll wait around 'til the Dark Makers attack and then ask Dax's older cousins to take them back to their own time.

Hell, they can just wait it out the old-fashioned way.

He grins through the acidity of the fruit at Dax's furious little expression.

DA:O, sex-worker!alistair

Cailan doesn't normally frequent such establishments as The Pearl.

Not out of spite or disdain for the good and honorable profession therein, but 'Nora generally prefers a more personal sort of discretion than gold can ensure, and as his wife, her word goes far. So, it's with some slight uncertainty that he settles into a corner table to wait until an opportune moment.

His hood does little to disguise his height, but cheery requests for food and drink throughout the night seem to dispel any unease his presence brings. He even makes a friend, of sorts, as he waits: a rather thrilling Rivaini woman by the name of Isabela, who captains a pirate ship called the Siren's Call.

Sevakin smut

The next time Delta Squad ends up under the 501st, Sev corners Skywalker in his office.

He pushes Skywalker down into his chair, climbs on top of him, and waits until they're both squirming for a good hard fuck to growl, "I want to fuck you," into the Jedi's ear. He feels Skywalker's cock twitch against his cunt, and grins.

Mean

JnD, Jink

So Mog likes Jak, and Grim had admitted after the mission was done that he was glad Jak was there, and Jinx had said that he likes Jak too. So Mog shouldn't need to be worried right now.

Just because they just got back from another one of Krew's jobs that hadn't gone nearly so well as the one with Jak. Just because Jinx had spent the whole time getting meaner and meaner, the way he always did when he was scared. Just because Jak had already been drinking at the bar when they got back, and Jinx had said some more almost-mean things to him, and they'd disappeared into one of the back rooms behind the bar. Mog shouldn't need to be worried, but he is.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Fateless One/Bloody Bones

"This is not the way of the Telling, Sagrell," Farrara says at last, frowning. Not quite protest, but neither acceptance. "It is no time for jests. We are meant to battle Bloody Bones. He slays me, you slay him, and then you revive me. This is not how the Ballad goes."

Rexakin sex-pollen

Another movement, a half-turn as if to survey the room, and he’s put a few more feet between them. It doesn’t go unnoticed.

General Skywalker gets unsteadily to his feet, stumbling toward Rex as if pulled on a string. His face has gone very pink, his breath heavy, his pupils blown. Rex has a terrible feeling that he knows what the mist and forced confinement is meant to accomplish. In the broadest strokes, at least.

Foxakin aphrodisiac morning-after

Jedi General Anakin Skywalker had sauntered up to the two of them with a smile that failed to be as mean as it probably wanted to, but made up for it by being all challenge. He'd tilted his head with a gleam in his eye that made Fox think wildly of an angry Alpha-17 and said, "Wow, I don't think I've seen this particular 'vintage' since the last time I was on Nal Hutta. Mind if I have a taste?"

Avvar!Cullen/Dorian

That didn't mean he was inclined to let himself be further bullied into performing feats of magical skill for the judgment of others, however.

Later in the same fic:

It took Dorian, distracted with trying to figure out why he sounded nearly Fereldan, a long moment to understand his meaning.

Off to bed with me, he'd said, after being pressed up against by a friendly barbarian wearing too little clothing. Vishante kaffas.

[troblsomtwins829]

I just realized I'm going to have to make myself a full colour reference for Normal Jak, Normal Dark Jak, and StrayCat!Jak. Because his StrayCat design is based on a desert cryptid AU I dropped where he's kid of stuck halfway between the Normal and Dark.

...

I'll be back.

[somethingclevermahogony]

A Few of The Peoples of Kobani

This by no means represents the full span of diversity in Kobani and indeed only represents a small handful of ethnic groups stemming from the Eastern World (Macia and Pyritia). There are approximately 300 human ethnic and cultural groups and forestfolk tribes in these places alone.  

1. Humans

Kishics

The Kishic People belong to the peoples of Western Macia. Their origins are a mixture of the native tribes and groups and Shabalic settlers. The Kishic peoples history begins with the settlement and conquest of the peninsula which woud come to be known as Kishetal by the Shabalic Demigod, Tamel. There are three primary divisions within the Kishic People; Mountain, Plain, and Coast. The average Kishic human man tends to measure in at about 170cm(~5ft7) and 68kg(150lbs), Kishic women in general are slightly shorter at an average of 162cm(~5ft4) and 55kg(~120lbs). The average Kishic skin tone ranges from a light olive similar to the complexations of their northern neighbors in Shabal to a russet brown. Brown or black hair, with curling or heavy waviness, is most typical. Brown and hazel are the most common eye colors. Kishic mothers are slightly more likely than average to birth sages.

Shabalics

The Shabalic People belong to the peoples of Western Macia. They are among the oldest civilizations on Kobani and are the first individuals, aside from native forestfolk, to inhabit the region. The Shabalic Family is separated into three divisions, the largest of which is the Shabalan, followed by the Akashadi and the Daruzi. The average Shabalic human man tends to measure in at about 165cm(~5ft5) and 60kg(~132lbs), Shabalic women in general are slightly shorter at an average of 160cm(~5ft3) and 55kg(~120lbs). The average Shabalic skin tone olive, ranging from quite pale to beige. As with Kishics, Brown or black hair, with curling or heavy waviness, is most typical though particularly among the Daruzi there are some with blonde and red colored hair. Eye colors vary with brown and hazel being the most common. Shabalic mothers are seem have the highest proclivity to birth seers of any western group.

Apunians

The Apunian People belong to the peoples of Northern Pyritia. Along with Shabalics they are among the oldest civilizations on Kobani and are the first individuals, aside from native forestfolk, to inhabit their region. Ethnically they are heavily influenced by both the peoples of Eastern Pyritia and those of Western Macia. Typically those in the north show more physical similarities to the people of Western Macia, while in the south and east, Namutian and Pyrian influence is most evident. Apunians have historically been divided by what side of the Putla River they dwell on, East or West. Apunians are similar in height to and weight to Kishics. Skin tones typically range from a deep umber to a light reddish brown akin to terra-cotta. Apunian hair is dark, typically black or brown and heavily curled. Many Apunians shave their heads in order avoid lice and other parasites. The wigs of Apunian nobility are often quite extravagant.

Namutian

The Namutian People are the predominant ethnic group of Eastern Pyritia. The Namutian ethnic group comprises several competing tribes and kingdoms, the largest of which is the Upper Namut Kingdom or Namutikeb. Namutians are connected by language and religion, but in lifestyle, they vary wildly from coastal traders to desert hunter-gatherers. Namutian temple complexes are massive, sprawling structures, often mistaken for entire villages and cities by visitors. Namutians, on average, are slightly taller than their Apunian neighbors. Namutians are typically dark-skinned ranging from a deep umber to an ochre brown. Namutian hair is dark, typically black or brown, and very heavily curled. Namutian hair is often the subject of great envy for Apunians.

Central Macurian (Utan Jak)

The term Macurian is somewhat problematic, originating from the Kishic word for the east, Macur. Macurian is a term that can refer to over 60 separate ethnic groups spread over an area of millions of square miles, stretching from forests to mountains to deserts and, most significantly, the massive Macian Steppe. The Utan Jak people are counted among the Khadu Bur People of Central Macia, north of Sinru. The Utan Jak are pastoralist nomads renowned for their skill on horseback and with sheep-rearing. The Utan Jak are relatively short people, particularly compared to their Sinrian neighbors to the south. However, they are also typically stronger in build and well-suited to life on the steppe. The Utan Jak typically have a tawny complexion with long straight black hair.

Aanqinese

The Aanqinese belongs to lands of Eastern Macia, and their lands are among the oldest occupied lands in the region. The Aanqin Theocracy is a powerful land run by a council of female sages known as To Qwa. The Aanqinese descended in ancient times from the Khaj Mountains, settling in the valleys and foothills. The Aanqinese state is highly isolationist and hostile towards outside forces. Aanqinese agriculture revolves around large terraces. The Aanqinese are relatively short people when compared to the people of Mu and Mi Qin. They are similarly quite slight in build, leading to the belief among some that the Aanqinese may actually be forestfolk. Skin tone is largely dependent on class; peasants typically have darker golden beige tones, while the elite are far paler, this is only further heightened by the use of skin-bleaching creams and potions. Aanqinese hair may is typically black and may be straight or slightly wavy. The Aanqinese have a higher-than-normal chance of producing sages.

2. Forestfolk

When humans are affected by wild magic they become forestfolk. Each forestfolk group is the unique result of that particular patch of wild magic.  Forestfolk may exhibit supernatural or magical traits, but this is relatively rare. In essence, the soul is unchanged, despite what may be claimed by certain people. Though their bodies and, at times, their behaviors are different, the forestfolk are, on the level of the soul/het, still human and can produce viable children with that human.

Ikopeshi

The Ikopeshi are the most populous and powerful forestfolk group in Kobani. They reside in the Ikopeshi Islands to the west of Kishetal. While primarily native forestfolk, there is some minor genetic influence from Kishic and Shabalic settlers. There are many distinct clans and kingdoms of the Ikopeshi, which operate under the loose control of one central monarch. The Ikopeshi have unusually large lungs allowing for extended diving. As such, the Ikopeshi are renowned pearl and sponge divers. The average Ikopeshi man tends to measure in at about 170cm(~5ft7), and 68kg(150lbs). Ikopeshi women, in general, are slightly shorter at an average of 162cm(~5ft4) and 55kg(~120lbs). The average Ikopeshi skin tone ranges from light olive brown to a deep russet brown. The most striking feature of the Ikopeshi, and the result of their magical nature, is their hair. Ikopeshi hair may range from navy blue to deep magenta.

Ikopeshi have an average to below-average chance of producing sages, though Ikopeshi sages tend to live longer than their peers.

Hitiya

The bull-horned Hitiya people are the second most numerous Forestfolk population after the Ikopeshi. The Hitiya are a private people almost entirely isolated to the hills and mountains of northern Makora. They are believed to have developed there before the arrival of humans from the north. Both male and female Hitiya grow horns starting with puberty. One out of every ten Hitiya will not grow horns. The Hitiya decorate and carve their horns, often inlaying various semi-precious stones. Artistic depictions of the Hitiya often show warriors fighting lions and other beasts. This has led to the false belief, among those that have not traveled to their lands, that Hitiya are giants or at least larger than the average human. In truth, Hitiya are, on average shorter and leaner than the average human living near the Green Sea. The Hitiya typically have a terra-cotta-like skin tone, far darker than the inhabitants of Makora. In general, the Hitiya more closely resemble the peoples of western Macia in hair, eye, and skin color than those of southern Kallistera. Hitiya have an average chance of producing sages.

3. Other Races

The other races of Kobani are the descendants of the other Awakened Races. Please excuse my art work I just could not get these people to come out in any sort of generator.

Giants (Rukuk)

Giants or as they know themselves, the Rukuk, are the descendants of pre-Calamity Giants. Like their ancestors they grow to massive sizes however over the ages their bodies have changed shape becoming largely quadrupedal. Giants do posses fully functioning hands and rather walk on their knuckles akin to some great apes. This lessens the stress on their massive bodies. Giants may move bipedally for a short period. When seated Giants have full use of their hands. Giants are limited to the far norther reaches of Kallistera, typically inhabiting the Tundra and Sea Ice. Giants are well-suited not only to the chill of the tundra but are also well suited to the polar seas. Giants are capable of closing their nostrils and are capable of diving for up to an hour at a time. Much of a giants diet is composed of marine mammals and fish. While their environment does not allow for regular agriculture, giants do practice underwater farming, growing various seaweeds and shellfish. 

Giants wear clothing made of fur and hide, including Gorukuk, the large mitten like coverings worn over the hands while walking. Despite their at times brutish appearance, Giants are the intellectual equal to humans. The Giant language, Ruk, is highly guttural and difficult for humans to reproduce, as are most human languages difficult for Giants to reproduce. As a result, Giants and the human Sumimi tribes which share their territory communicate via a language of hums and whistles. 

When on all fours giants average at 8ft at the shoulder and may weigh upwards of 2 tons. Giants have a slightly grey skin tone, their skin is thick and includes an insulating layer of fat or blubber which allows for their underwater activities. Giant hair is typically black and straight and may be worn cut or long.

Giants are incapable of magic and do not produce sages.

Hillfolk (Ipik)

The Hillfolk are the descendants of a pre-calamity Awakened Race. They are practically identical to their Pre-calamity selves, though they have grown slightly. The most striking feature of the Hillfolk is their thick fur which grows across their bodies; this fur may vary from blonde to black in color. Hillfolk are nomadic hunter-gathers, traveling hundreds of miles in pursuit of herds. Most group consist of fifteen to sixty individuals. 

Some groups in Central Macia have domesticated goats and sheep and live pastoralist lifestyles. Hillfolk regularly dye their fur and may also paint their face with various colors for religious and social reasons. Hillfolk religion is highly dependent on ancestral worship. Hillfolk burial sites in the Macian Steppe are composed of large rectangular burial mounds called Tupi. These Tupi are regularly used by humans as land marks in the otherwise featureless steppe.

 Interestingly Hillfolk typically have six fingers on each hand as well as six toes on each foot. Hillfolk are intellectually equal to humans. There are over a dozen Hillfolk languages spread across Macia and Kallistera. Hillfolk are highly secretive and avoid humans at all costs. When they are seen by humans, they are most often mistaken for forestfolk. There are forestfolk who descend from Hillfolk though they are far rarer than their human counterparts.

 Hillfolk are quite small, typically reaching no higher than 4 ft. tall. Hillfolk skin tones vary depending on region, typically reflecting that of the humans around them.

All Hillfolk are capable of minor magic, though the extent of this magic will vary from individual to individual.