#divine storm

[mortifiedandawesome]

[jasvvy]

[sunderwight]

Thinking about a bingqiu Dreamling AU where Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua are both bored deities, just sort of taking a brief sojourn through the mortal world to shoot the shit and see some interesting monster or other that Shen Yuan has heard about, when they come across a tea house and decide to take a break and do some people-watching instead.

Shen Yuan is well into something of a shut-in phase, which Shang Qinghua doesn't like, mostly because when Shen Yuan is in those phases he doesn't do particularly well either. Shen Yuan's a social butterfly, for however little he cares to actually acknowledge it about himself, and his critique of Shang Qinghua's literary masterpieces gets so much harsher when he's not getting enough enrichment.

So when they overhear one of the kitchen boys solemnly insisting that he is going to do everything in his power to never die, and Shen Yuan laments that the boy would probably regret such a wish if it came true, Shang Qinghua decides to bestow a rare bit of godly power onto this mortal and grant his wish.

He doesn't make him a god, of course, that wouldn't even be in his ability. At least, not without using up more time and effort than he's prepared to expend on this one random kid. But immortality on its own is not that difficult. The boy will still finish growing up, and will still be able to be harmed, to know hunger and pain and illness. It just won't ever kill him.

Shen Yuan sighs that it's a cruel thing to do to a mortal, especially one with such low odds of ever cultivating other skills to mitigate the potential torment of it all. But Shang Qinghua just shrugs and they place bets, that this boy will ask for the immortality to be revoked in a hundred years, or two hundred, or so on, or else he won't. Shen Qingqiu approaches the kitchen boy and flusters and bewilders him by telling him to meet him back here again in a hundred years time.

A hundred years later, the tea house is larger. The boy has grown to be a striking young man, who looks at Shen Yuan with wariness and something else, something almost like awe, as he asks what manner of creature he's made this bargain with. Shen Yuan assures him that he has no nefarious intentions, and instead asks Luo Binghe how the past century of his life has gone.

Horribly, at least at first. Binghe's mother had already died by the time they met, but afterwards he managed to earn enough money to travel to a nearby sect. Working in the tea house's kitchen was just a minor stopover along the way. Shen Yuan was wrong, it seems, about his odds of becoming a cultivator -- Luo Binghe earned entry as a disciple.

Yet, he had no success. The master who took him on was unaccountably cruel and mercurial, and Luo Binghe's attempts to cultivate failed. Looking back he sees now that there were many times when he should have died but didn't, but when it was all happening he just thought himself lucky. At least until an enemy sect attacked a cultivation conference, and he suffered mortal wounds that absolutely should have killed him (or anyone) but still didn't die. (No demon race or abyss in this AU, but there are still demonic and fantastical creatures.)

His cruel master, upon witnessing this, accused him of heretical practices and tried to kill him as well by flinging him off the edge of a gorge. The fall was terrible. Binghe lay at the bottom in a horrifying state, injured beyond reason and yet, still, he didn't die. Eventually his body recovered enough for him to drag himself out, and once he did the only thing on his mind was getting revenge. For the next several decades he managed to ingratiate himself to all manner of potential allies, forging alliances, accumulating blackmail, and convincing people that he had to be some powerful cultivator through his supernatural resilience, lack of visible aging, and a lot of bluffing. He got revenge on his old teacher, drove his first sect into ruin, and rose to prominence as a feared and respected leader of the cultivation world.

Shen Yuan listens with clear interest, asking plenty of questions and seemingly quite taken up with the story. At the conclusion, Luo Binghe admits that his actual cultivation is still mostly a matter of smoke and mirrors, and wonders if -- now that the hundred years have passed -- Shen Yuan means to strip his immortality from him.

Shen Yuan asks if Luo Binghe wants that. When Luo Binghe says no, he accepts the answer, and tells him to meet him back here again in another hundred years. Luo Binghe calls after him, but before he can ask anything more, Shen Yuan has disappeared again.

A hundred years later, Binghe arrives back at the tea house with an entourage befitting of an emperor. The tea house has also expanded. Luo Binghe orders a lavish feast from them, which everyone hastens to provide. He's spent the past several decades consolidating his power, forging alliances with key political players via several marriages, producing heirs, and crushing his enemies. As he brags about the state of his massive harem to Shen Yuan, the deity's eyes begin to glaze over. He doesn't seem impressed. He also doesn't seem to care much for the food, and eventually his attention is stolen away by a conversation at another table. The diners are discussing the exploits of a promising new poet and novelist. Try as he might, Luo Binghe fails to regain Shen Yuan's attention before the evening is done. Shen Yuan doesn't think it's a big deal -- after all, if Binghe is still riding on top of the world, he's probably not going to want his immortality gift revoked just yet!

Another hundred years go by. The tea house has returned to a more modest situation, the next time Shen Yuan sets foot in it. He waits an unusually long while for his guest to arrive, and when he does, he's almost stopped at the door by the tea house's servers. It's only when Shen Yuan bids them let him through that Luo Binghe is able to come to the table, almost collapsing against it and desperately falling onto the arrangement of snacks with obvious hunger.

Shen Yuan wonders if this, now, will be when the boy (no longer a boy) asks for the immortality to be revoked. Surprisingly, he finds himself resistant to the idea, even though it's also clear that the game has run too long. Maybe hundred year check-ins were too short? He doesn't like the implications of what's gone on, even if he's not really surprised about it either.

Between desperate mouthfuls of food, Luo Binghe explains that without mastering inedia, going hungry but never dying is a deeply unpleasant experience. Shen Yuan orders more food. Once Binghe has finally eaten his fill, he begins, haltingly, to explain his situation. His clothes are ragged, he is painfully thin, and his gaze is haunted.

Apparently, several of his wives conspired to assassinate him, despite his reputation as unkillable. Realizing that most poisons and such didn't kill him, but that he could still be incapacitated, they hatched a scheme to dose his food with a powerful sleeping agent, and then walled him up in a famous ancestral tomb. They went to great length to ensure that it was impossible to escape from. It took Binghe decades to do it anyway, digging away at the floors, and when he got out he found that his power base had collapsed. In-fighting and the incursion of his enemies had led to the deaths of all of his children, and what wives had survived had either fled or remarried. Not that he particularly wanted them back at that point, since the ones actually most loyal to him had also been killed early on after his own "death". His face marked him, to the eyes of his enemy, as a surviving descendant of himself. He was hunted down, chased across the continent and back again, until he managed to fall into enough obscurity that his pursuers abandoned the chase. Except that he has nothing, and any time he tries to regain something, he runs the risk of being hounded again. Those who might see some potential in him still remember the collapse of his recent "dynasty" and slam doors in his face, or else try and turn him over to those now in power in pursuit of a reward. Those who don't know that much see only a dirty beggar, and usually run him off on that basis instead.

Shen Yuan, almost hesitant, asks if Luo Binghe would like to have his immortality revoked.

Luo Binghe declines. How will he be able to take revenge on those who wronged him if he is dead? He has a hit list a mile long by now.

Which is definitely not the most noble of reasons to persist, but Shen Yuan finds himself reluctant to ask twice. Instead he orders more food, and then even reserves one of the traveler's rooms above the tea house for several days. By then the sky is turning grey, and Luo Binghe is losing his apparent battle with exhaustion. Shen Yuan presses the key into his hand, thinking it's probably not enough, but there are limits to how much gods are supposed to interfere and Shang Qinghua already stretched them to the breaking point with this entire scenario.

He leaves, not seeing the hand that reaches after him just before he is out of the door and gone.

Another hundred years pass. This time, Shen Yuan arrives to find Luo Binghe already waiting for him. He isn't surprised to see that Binghe's situation has visibly improved -- maybe he was keeping closer tabs on him, just a little bit, for this past while. If only to be sure he wouldn't have to warn the tea house workers to expect an unorthodox visitor again! But no, Binghe has been doing well enough for himself. No more harems or thrones, though. He dresses more like a well-off merchant now, deliberately posing as his own mortal descendant rather than as a great immortal cultivator. The food at the table looks far more delicious than usual too (Binghe commandeered the tea house's kitchen himself this time). As they chat, Shen Yuan is regaled with the exploits of Luo Binghe's travels and adventures, how even though he initially set out to claim revenge on those who overthrew him, by the time he was in a position to actually do so they had already died of the usual causes (time, illness, their own schemes backfiring, etc). Subsequently, only their children and grandchildren were left with the scraps of power they had obtained, and when one of those children employed Luo Binghe as a bodyguard, his initial plan to assassinate them eventually fell by the wayside. After all, the wrongdoings weren't actually theirs. From that point, Binghe was able to restore himself to a more comfortable life, joining his new employer on their travels until he had set aside enough earnings to take his leave before his youthful good-looks earned him suspicion. He then began investing in travel and trade, specifically cargo ships, because never spending too long in the same place or around the same people helped disguise his immortality. He had found that, at least for now, this served him better than playing the part of a cultivator. It also gave him time to try and actually repair his ruined cultivation base somewhat, and fighting pirates proved very diverting.

Binghe is midway through recounting his adventures with a gigantic sea monster, while Shen Yuan hangs on every word, when they're interrupted by the arrival of a brash young mistress, clearly wealthy and trained in cultivation. The young lady declares that there is a rumor that a fallen god and a demon meet in this tea house once a century, that they wield strange powers, etc etc, and she intends to interrogate them both with the assistance of her hired muscle and her own spiritual weapon, and discover the truth of the matter. Then she whips out, well, a whip!

Before Shen Yuan can deal with the matter, Luo Binghe is already on his feet, disarming the goons and breaking a few arms in the process. Shen Yuan is so distracted that he almost misses the whip aimed right for him, but before Binghe can catch the barbed weapon with his bare hand (wtf, Binghe, no) Shen Yuan deflects it with a wave of his fan, and then efficiently knocks the troublesome young lady unconscious. The hired muscle flees, Shen Yuan arranges for their assailant to be placed in a room upstairs until she regains consciousness, and he and Binghe resume their meal and conversation in relative peace.

Even though it's clear that Luo Binghe has not yet reached the end of his tolerance for life, Shen Yuan nevertheless finds himself strangely reluctant to part ways at the end of the night. Still, he does, because that's what is expected of him, gently denying Luo Binghe's suggestions that they find some other establishment to continue their conversation at. He also has to investigate these "rumors" that the young lady mentioned. It's probably nothing (Shang Qinghua has a loose tongue when he's drunk, and a lot of imaginative storytellers have frequented this tea house over the years) but he doesn't like being caught unawares like that. Heavenly politics are... complicated, it's best not to court unwanted attention in any capacity.

Another hundred years go by. This time, when they meet at the tea house, Luo Binghe asks Shen Yuan why he keeps it up. Why did he pick Binghe? What is he really after? When Shen Yuan fails to give any kind of clear answer, Luo Binghe shoots his shot and makes a (very obvious) move on him.

Shen Yuan, flustered, gets up and flees. Ignoring Luo Binghe's calls after him. It just doesn't make any sense! Why would Binghe do that?! He's a man who once had a harem of wives in the triple digits! Clearly he's not gay, so what was that all about? Was he just messing with him?! How dare he! Etc, etc.

Another century passes. Luo Binghe waits at the tea house, which has fallen onto hard times again. With the construction of some new roadways, travelers no longer pass through as often. Binghe listens, worried, to the proprietor's laments that this old place will probably not be around in another hundred years. He listens because he has no one else to speak to, because Shen Yuan has not shown up. Not that morning, not during the day, not come evening, and not now that it is closing time. Binghe nevertheless charms and bribes the proprietor to let him stay even after the place has shuttered.

It seems damning, of course. He pressed too hard and now his mysterious benefactor wants nothing more to do with him. Except, no, he refuses to accept that. He's still immortal. And he has gleaned enough of Shen Yuan's character by now that he thinks that even if he was rejected, he would be let down more clearly and gently than this. The more he thinks about it, the less willing Luo Binghe is to believe that he has been deliberately stood up (also, since the tenor of his confession was different from Hob Gadling's, he never delivered an ultimatum about what it might imply when they met up again).

Over the centuries, Luo Binghe has built up a few contacts with similarly strange and supernatural stories. Cultivators, sure, but also others, fortune tellers and people of strange ancestry, questionable abilities, those who have interacted with powerful beings of mysterious provenance. He makes his way to a certain gambling den, frequented often by such people, and while he flashes around enough money to draw curiosity, he collects information. Shen Yuan wasn't the only person who started paying more attention to the kinds of rumors surrounding the two of them after their confrontation with the young cultivator a couple centuries ago. And in fact, Luo Binghe has been spending many, many years trying to find out more about his mystery man. Though, too many potential deities and immortals fit his description for him to have ever conclusively figured much out.

This is how Binghe gets wind of a rumor that an eccentric occultist has somehow captured a god in his basement...

[therealjasonx]

Absolutely no one:

Me:

[godbirdart]

「 ADRIFT 」 🌊

[aurelion-solar]

Chroma Splash Art from LoL CN

Star Guardian Syndra - Rose Quartz

Crystal Rose Swain - Tiffany & Co.

Inkshadow Kai'Sa - Catseye

HEARTSTEEL Yone - Citrine

Cafe Cuties Jinx - Pearl

Cafe Cuties Lulu - Obsidian

Storm Dragon Lee Sin - Ruby

Immortal Journey Zed - Ruby

Divine Sword Irelia - Unflinching Zeal

Conqueror Varus - Golden

[artofshinga]

My OCs have varying levels of taste in erotic fiction

[tryingonametaphor]

just saw the northern lights from south london

[psychopomp-recital]

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Let’s talk about working with the Water Element; divination, magical waters, workings and cultivating a relationship with it and its spirits.

🎶Sharing my experiences and thoughts, don’t rely on just this make your own experiences and thoughts.🎶

How do I grow my relationship with Water itself?

Begin opening yourself up to it more and incorporating it into your daily life. When I began building my relationship with it this is what I did:

To be done over a months period

Washed my hands & face with cold water when waking up and letting them air dry as much as possible.

Brushing out my hair and braiding it, picturing my hair flowing like a river with every movement of my fingers.

Beginning my day by intentionally drinking a glass of water, sitting down to really appreciate it and how it aides your body. I like cold water because you can easier feel it flow through you, I also like charging it beforehand.

Visit as many water sources as possible during this period. I am lucky enough to live by the pacific ocean and I would go and swim in it everyday to cultivate my relationship. However, if that is inaccessible for you there’s options such as sitting by a public pool, taking a bath, standing in the rain, eating your lunch by a river, etc.

While you’re spending time with water just talk to it. Tell it stories, sing it songs, ask it questions, water is living and it longs for a connection.

Record your progress throughout the month either in written journal entries, scrapbooking, or digital trackers. Just have a way for you to look back at how you’ve changed during this period.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Examples of Magic that can include water:

research topics

Magical or Blessed Waters

Baneful Folk Workings

Release / Banishing Spells

Water Plant Workings

Elemental Spirit Magic

Death Work

Charged Sprays

Travel Magic

Weather / Storm Magic

Meditation

Shell Magic (like crystal magic)

Hydromancy

Carromancy (wax in water)

Magical Baths / Showers

Glamour Magic

And Much More...

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

What can I benefit from working with water?

Regardless on where you are from, what path of life you are following or anything else we are connected by our need for water. It is not only our connection to other humans but our connection to the natural world as well. It makes up 3/4 of our planet and 60% of your body. You can get a better understanding of yourself just by going back to that fundamental need to sustain yourself with water as a life-force. The element itself is well known to be a very introspective force and most spirits representing or associated are similar (spg). When you are inviting it into your home you are inviting that connection and energy in too.

Water takes life without discrimination, just as it gives life. Working within that provides a confidence and at least in my experience a sense of balance within ones self. If you are feeling like you are being tossed by the path of life, as if you are a lone ship at a storming sea, this might be your sign to stop fighting the current and start moving with it. If you can make the waves move at your asking then what is there to stop you.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Hydromancy

hy·dro·man·cy /ˈhīdrəˌmansē/

noun

divination by means of signs derived from the appearance of water and its movement.

Some argue this is the first form of scrying Hydromancy is a very useful tool. It can be done with natural bodies of water, or things like tubs, cups and bowls. It can be frustrating to begin so this is how I would begin if I were you: (works better with an established connection to water)

Go somewhere quiet and still, I prefer outside at night but do what is safe and comfortable for you.

Prepare your space and yourself however you normally would set the tone for a divination reading. Some choose to say a blessing prayer, drink a divination tea blend, or anoint themselves with particular salve or oil. I will usually ritually prepare myself (let me know if you want me to go more into this).

In a shallow dark colored bowl (or scrying bowl), pour your preferred water of choice. I usually go with waning moon water.

Relax and begin to gaze into the water. Let yourself open up to messages. Sometimes it comes as scenes of images, or a shape or even words that can come through.

Write down anything you receive to interpret later on.

If you are struggling try this ritual but use the light of a candle or the moon to interpret those shapes. Or meditate with the bowl and pour it out onto the ground and scry the shape it leaves behind.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Magical Associations

✦ Death & Life ✦ Duality ✦ Change ✦ Rage ✦ Grief ✦ Peace ✦ Creation ✦ The Moon ✦ Ice ✦ Emotions ✦ Mental Health ✦ Cleansing / Purification ✦ Storms ✦ Distaster ✦ Dreams ✦ Cancer / Scorpio / Pisces ✦ Psychic Abilities ✦ Shape-shifters ✦ Travel ✦ Corrosion

Irish Divine Beings Associated

✦ Brigid (keening mother & keeper of the sacred well) ✦ Boann (river personification) ✦ Aengus (The Young Son) ✦ Lir (sea personification) ✦ Manannán mac Lir (son of the sea)

[y-rhywbeth2]

Considering the cast has grand ideas like "all of us are down to become immortal, tbh Jaheira", "I am at risk of dying from being burned alive from the inside", and "I'd like to be a god", you don't necessarily need to fuck around with ancient unstable magics for that (although in the later case, it does take a lot more time and work and risk of death).

There are generally easier ways to gain these things (except for apotheosis), but in 5e you can still solve these problems with insane amounts of XP: you need to reach level 20, when the ability score caps are raised from the mortal limits of 20 to 30, and instead of levelling up "epic boons" are put on the table (which is basically the equivalent of epic levels).

"[Boons are] extraordinary and represent the gradual transformation of a character into something resembling a demigod."

(This is the point where you're warming up towards getting ready to pick fights with the gods*; find yourself a chunk of divine essence and welcome to the start of the divine ladder, mx new quasi-deity... also it may start to alter your physical appearance as you become something more than human[oid])

Depending on DM fiat, you can get these due to plot events whenever the DM feels like awarding you one, or you gain one every 30,000xp acquired (the equivalent of levelling up). I believe beating a Solar to death will net you one, slaying an ancient red or gold dragon will net you two...

The growth in power allows various things ranging from mundane stuff like increasing your ability scores (so stuff like an almost perfect memory, the ability to process information at superhuman speed, being literally the most interesting person in the world, superhuman reflexes, or bench pressing an elephant would be within your reach) or becoming eternally healthy (immune to poison and disease of any kind)...

...over to more esoteric stuff like having permanent truesight, and hopping between the planes of reality at will, or ageless and irrevocable immortality, or turning invisible at will whenever you stand in darkness, or hacking magic. Also full immunity to specific forms of damage: Karlach's engine can't kill her if she's immune to fire. There is no boon on paper for immunity to radiant damage such as may be inflicted by the sun, but it's easy to imagine one existing.

The level cap in-game is 12, but I know the actual XP total is higher. I think I've seen people have it at least up to 15 with mods to remove the cap, but I'm not sure. Either way, I think the party is one decent campaign away from level 20. (And if we need epic level threats, Mephistopheles is clearly up to something, and it's bugging me; I think we should have a party reunion. In Mephistar. With silver weapons.)

[anxiously-sidequesting]

STORM WIZARD ANALYSIS PARALYSIS REAL!!!!!!!!!!!

[angoryt]

I here by announce that I have learnt haw to do meme.

So here’s one for Infinite and the Devine

So I would just like to remind everyone of that Orikan is a fully capable wrestler

I also made another one

Spoiler warning for the fanfic, The silence and the storm.

This is a simplification of events but once I saw it I could NOT not do it.

[fishareglorious]

Constantine what are these fuckass buckles on your shoes😭😭😭

[12pt-times-new-roman]

I thought Matt name-dropping Laerryn was a fun little easter egg because Aabria was at the table, but.... no. If the Great Tree of Atrophy really is the remnants of the Tree of Names, then Chetney could use grim psychometry on it, he could see Laerryn casting blight, hear her name being called, and connect her to the name in Ludinus' notes.

[aurelion-solar]

Battle of the Golden Spatula - Summoner Icons Irelia, Divine Sword Irelia & Prestige Edition Talon, Enduring Sword Talon & Prestige Storm Dragon Lee Sin

[artofshinga]

A bit ago I did a whole-ass set of warlocks based on D&D 5e subclasses - mostly for fun and also because my RP group was planning a warlock game. I didn't HAVE to draw one of each but doing so DID help me decide which one I wanted to play (this is, to note, why the characters are all pretty fem-coded - because that's my favorite to RP) Anyway, after I drew them all, folks asked if I'd do other classes too. And I was like, maybe? But, sorcerer did sound fun to do this with so over the last few months I've been working on them kinda on the side while I put most my energy in, like, the commissions I need to finish lol. But here, a bunch of theoretical sorcerers I'd personally play in a game:

Let's start us off with Iris, a half-elf who'd be living a pretty normal life in a normal job (I was thinking she was probably a waitress or somethin) until she finds something weird - a piece of a meteor or something, you know how it goes. Suddenly she has powers, and that's where her adventure would begin More sorcerers under the cut!

Tally I struggled with because, as it turns out, little mechanical fairy wings are complicated to draw. BUT also fun - I liked the idea of a fairy who's lost her wings and while she's trapped in the material plane she befriends a clockmaker who builds her little wings for her and eventually her magic ends up kind of syncing up with the mechanical way he teaches her about the world

Elysia was actually the last one I drew, since I have a DIFFERENT Divine Soul sorcerer I've already designed and want to play as a priority, but then I happened to see something about Greek gods while watching TV one day and thought, oh hey, that'd be a fun way to play with a divinity-themed sorcerer - maybe a musician that caught the affections of a god who blessed her with magic

Cherish is a cheerful tiefling working at an inn with her former-adventurer mother. We can guess what sort of things her mother got up to in her adventure since she ended up raising a child with some mysteriously draconic features

NGL Aine was just a way for me to play with some of the inspirations I used to cling to as a kid. Sailor Moon and other various bits of anime and JRPGs and such that I loved in my youth and used a LOT to inspire art. I wanted to remember that - and a catgirl wearing too many belts sounded perfect for that

Leila is probably my weirdest - she's SPECIFIC, like if there's a campaign set in the Shadowfell or something, I imagined a maid working in a mansion that gets magicked away to this realm and her gaining that shadow power when it happens

One of my first 5e characters was a storm sorcerer - more focused on rain and lightning and thunder. I used the same hair color and close to the same skin color to make this new storm sorcerer as a bit of a nod to that character, and wanted this one more focused on winter storms (including making her a winter eladrin elf)

and last but certainly not least, Gemma the halfling cursed with wild magic. I think she started off her adventuring life with a thieves' group before they found the wrong magic artifact. You know how it goes