#generic fantasy setting

[doks-aux]

I could make a Harengon bard based on Spring Bonnie, and no one could stop me.

[fshoulders]

Went to the local indie music shop again today, and felt like...very much a halfling with one cross-class level in bard visiting the Dwarven Music Store.

I scan immediately for the nice dwarf who sold me my mandolin of course -- he plays the mandolin himself, in several human styles, not just the steppegrass that's so popular! -- but he isn't there. It's a Saturday: maybe he is playing dwarf-guitar in a gig with his anti-deathcult punk band.

The dwarf behind the counter greets me and asks what I'm looking for. "Picks!" I squeak, well aware that the only other customers, dwarves very at home in this milieu, are busy about the pick section. I station myself where the customer won't back over my woolly feet with his wheelchair when he's done with the picks, and wait. Counter-dwarf asks if I'm looking for anything in particular.

"Well, I'm a novice mandolin-player -- only started in February! I just got a mandolin method book, and the elf that wrote it has a whole section on pick selection. I realized I've only been playing with the one pick I got when I bought the mandolin -- bought it here, in fact!" I babble. "I have a few guitar picks I got at the same time, but I want to try a wider range, particularly with more of a point --"

“We carry one mandolin pick. That's the one there.”

“It is! It is the one I have, I mean. But, don’t you know? Many picks for dwarven guitars also work for mandolin. Metal strings, and all that. I have a list!” I brandish my list.

"You should get a felt pick. They're good for mandolins."

I look somewhat blank, I suspect. None of the online mandolin discussions have mentioned this and it sounds a bit specialized for a beginner. "Very interesting!"

A few minutes later, as I've collected a little stack of picks, I hazard to ask about a Gibson pick on my list, and infer from the dwarf glower accompanying "We don't carry Gibson" that that is a goblin brand.

Once again, the counter-dwarf scoots open a little drawer. "You should get a felt pick. Makes a mandolin sound DARK."

Dark for dark business. "Of course! Certainly! At once!"

I scurried home with my selection of picks and have not yet tried them, because obviously I had to sit down for a minute and have some tea.

[sunlight-shunlight]

anyway dai solas you will always be famous to me. nothing but respect for my boy who wandered off mid-cutscene in the hinterlands to go help out refugees, is extremely good at Lies Of Omission™️, has a whole spy/agent/informant network of elves who followed him, fervently argues that it's unethical to be happy about killing bandits bc they had lives and loved ones, describes his own temple(?) prison(?) as having "indecipherable" elven writing, has ferocious debates with dorian and iron bull about slavery, set himself on fire once by mistake, and within about a year of his 10000 year lifespan, went from seeing all the world as disposable emotionless husks, to developing actual friendships and even falling in love.

and then! still thought it was necessary to destroy and reset the world! but he would treasure the chance to be wrong again!!

[bacchuschucklefuck]

truly this one's just for me. I can do what I want foreverrr

[sysig]

Divided minds of the same thought (Patreon)

[teeth-cable]

I don't know how to feel about Viv not mentioning historical events in Hazbin.

On one hand, I can respect that she probably had the foresight to realize she isn't responsible enough to write those topics, but on the other hand, it feels off.

Beside still referencing time periods through the character designs (Vox's retro TV head and Val's 70s pimp uniform) and Helluva Boss referencing modern pop culture memes, there's the fact that the majority of HH cast are POC characters who lived during the 20th century.

It's strange not to mentioned what those community went though during those times, seeing how those events were big historical moments that changed and shaped many POC communities forever. Ex: Niffty would realistically grown up in an incarceration camp during her teen years, or how the Harlem Renaissance would have helped Alastor as it did for many black entrepreneurs at the time, etc.

It feels like an erasure of history, as well as, the characters' identities. It's just weird not to even acknowledge what struggles or victories these POC characters would have goes through for a show trying to be "serious" and "deep".

Also, HB explores (albeit badly) themes of racism, discrimination, classism, cultural taboos of interracial relationships, inequity, prosecutorial misconduct, and other systemic and social issues that people of color faced and fought against or for during the 20th century. If Viv felt comfortable enough to explore these themes in HB, I don't know why they couldn't be explored in HH too, especially since they're more applicable in HH than HB.

[acursedhalo]

Touch.

[mastercrownmonday]

some traitor mags gijinka concept stuff (from the same creative effort as this post)

[princeoftrashy]

Another project I did for class! I made the image of the desert dunes very quickly, as I needed something to put the quote over. There are many imperfections, but let's hope it adds to the charm 😂

[dirtytransmasc]

Knight!Spider anyone?

Spider who was born within the borders of a great kingdom, to the man that sought its end, who sought to crush an empire, and nearly succeeded. Spider who was taken as a ward upon his father's death, his mother killed in one of the many great battles. the punishment for his father's sins, the consequence that should keep the boy from following in his footsteps; becoming the sworn knight and armed protector to the children of the kingdom — the Sully children.

he was raised with the intended purpose of protecting the Sully's, of being loyal till his last breath, so he could never question the opposite, never take the path his father did. the order was given out of fear and resentment, misplaced anger, and that slowly faded as the boy grew, as he took the role with ease and pleasure.

and he takes in stride.

after years of being raised next to the Sully children, with the intent on breeding good nature between the boy and them during childhood, he was honored and giddy with excitement when his seventh birthday came around, and he was made a page to some knight or another— perhaps it was Tarsem, a knight close to the royal family, the should-be heir to the throne, had his brother not died in battle. he had the loyalty and the position to keep Spider close and be a good influence —even if it meant chores and busy work.

he runs messages around the castles and mends clothes and carries meals. but he also sits close and listens to stories from his knight and feels pride when his efforts against training dummies with his wooden sword are praised. he enjoys the time he spends around the other knights, learning from them, partaking in the rough housing and the training and the stories and all the things of that nature. even his classes, as a knight must be educated.

all the years as a squire, the grueling training, the long hours, the early mornings, the scrapes and bruises, the aching muscles, the hazing of older knights and warriors. he keeps his chin high. he tends the horses (and maybe the dragons too? if we go for fantasy route) with care, polishes the armor, trains against the dummies, gets thrown around by the knights, follows their beck and call... but he always gets up. every morning. every hard fall. every tumble. every collapse of frustration and exhaustion. he gets up. he keeps his smile one his face. he loves it despite the hardships.

he earns his armor, mends his old leather gear, his golden curls in braids, carries his sword. he proves himself. he rises the ranks and above the rumors and through the fears. he proves himself to be loyal and good. he earns respect and reverence. by the time he is reaching the end of his tenure as a squire, he is beloved, or at the very least, respected, by his kingdom. not even Neytiri hold ill-will towards him.

he partakes and tourneys and hunts, through all stages of his journey to knighthood, in different capacities. sometimes he stays with his knight and helps him prepare. sometimes he is meant to watch over his siblings and keep them from too much trouble (Neytiri and Jake are desperate parents at the end of the day), and when he's old enough, he partakes in the games themselves, earning some valor in the public eye, impressing other houses and lords and ladies.

and every moment he is allowed, he spends by the Sully Children's sides. they're his siblings. he took his duty to heart before he was even knighted, when he was just a page or a squire.

he'd stand over them, higher on the hill of the creek bed, alert, hand on his dagger or short sword, depending on his age, ready to take down any foe, even if there was no threat of one.

He is even worse in crowds, or during events, kept close to the family's side, always ready. nothing can soothe him, truly, he just waits, even as his siblings rope him into fun and mischief, part of him is still waiting.

at ten or so, he has an infant, a baby girl, Tuktirey, a fragile little thing, pressed into his arms, arms strong enough to lift a sword and take a life if need be, he has to be careful she isn't hurt by his arm guards, shifting her around softly, before petting his calloused fingers, fingers trained to hold a weapon, over her soft face.

"you will be sworn to protect her, do you understand?"

and he does. he wants to. he would never need to be sworn. she's precious and perfect. even as she pulls at his golden hair and tugs at his armor. that's his baby sister. his responsibility. he'd die for her.

he trains beside his brother's. Neteyam is only a few years behind him, and being a royal, he manages to skip most of the page and squire hazing. He goes through the motions, but it's not as thorough as Spider's training was. he serves his own mother and father. and so does Lo'ak, a few years after him.

and Spider is the boy they train with. had he been a bit older, they probably would have been his pages, and because of the fact that Jake and Neytiri aren't as active as fighters anymore, he definitely takes up the slack in their mentorship (outside of his own knight and the other knights and teachers assigned to him)

he teaches them and duels with them. they spend hours in the training yard. Spider learns their habits and techniques so he can always be a step ahead of them, so if worst comes to worst, he can get between them and their would be target. so he can protect them.

they spend so many afternoons sparring, hour after hour. when they're thoroughly bruised and sore and exhausted, they'll sit in the dust of the training yard and laugh. Spider will critique his brother's, and they'll pout about it. he'll praise them too, and smile when their face's light up.

Lo'ak will ask if they'll be knights together, and he promises they will, they'll be the best knights anyone has ever seen in any kingdom. Neteyam asks him if he'll always be his King's Guard, he promises that he will, and that he'll always keep him safe.

and Kiri is the princess, as odd and quirky as she is, to Spider's knighthood. Spider watches over his little sister and her antics, watching over her in the forest when she wants to go on strolls or rides on horseback. he carries her things for her, she puts flowers in his armor, and flower crowns in his hair. he places his cloak over her when she space's out in the grass. he'd fight if someone so much as looked at her wrong.

and Spider always stands close to the King and Queen when they're holding little Tuk during events, even if their own personal guard, already knighted, stands by as well. he just wants to ensure she's safe. Neytiri and Jake struggle to not look at the small golden boy fondly when he does so. it's nearly impossible. after years of fear of whether or not the boy would be like his father, he had proved them so wrong.

he is knighted young, having more then proven himself, by sixteen, it is made official. Neytiri knights him, as she had been the one to agree to let the infant live within her walls on the condition of knighthood, so she is the one of officiate it. Spider feels no fear when the sword touches his shoulder. or crosses over his head. he just feels bliss.

his siblings, a good majority of his kingdom, his knight, other honored knights, the King and Queen and Queen Mother, even some close Lords and Ladies. they're all in attendance. they all watch him be honored with this title. given his armor. given the cloak that marks his status as a Kings Guard.

when returned enemies return to their gates, he will be his siblings shield, even if the fates demand another life...

[sarafangirlart]

I got so excited then I read the tropes and blurb 💀

[eachuisge-cc]

I almost regret making a Bruma patch at all because all it does is give everyone and their dog an opening to ask me if I'll put the generic barb/warmblood looking model in skyrim which is the exact opposite of why I even made the mod

[hyperlexichypatia]

The evolution of the word "rawdogging" to mean asceticism is genuinely so fascinating to me.

About 5 years ago, in January of 2020, "rawdogging" had one commonly-accepted meaning -- having sex without a condom. It was sometimes used in other contexts, but the metaphor was for having sex without a condom. That is not a particularly ascetic activity.

When COVID broke out and people started routinely wearing masks, people started referring to going maskless as "rawdogging," and this made sense as a logical extension of the concept -- a recreational interpersonal interaction without benefit of a protective barrier to reduce disease risk.

Then, this tweet went sort of viral.

It's from 2019, and maybe it was going around widely then, but I didn't start seeing it and variations everywhere until 2020. I would argue that the concept gained usage and cultural currency in the context of the maskless usage of "rawdogging" and a general cultural focus on disease risk and barriers.

Rawdogging-as-forgoing-drugs is a little bit more metaphorically removed from the original rawdogging-as-forgoing-condoms meaning, but the structure of the concept holds up -- drugs and therapies can be a barrier or a protective layer between the self and experienced reality, sure. That checks out. It's clever, and it's intuitive, and it evokes the "going out there with no layer of protection" sense.

But what's fascinating to me -- as a cognitive liberty absolutist, who believes that the distinction between "medicinal" and "recreational" drug use is largely arbitrary and at best situational -- is that the framing of "no therapy, not taking any prescribed or illicit drugs" provides a rhetorical bridge for "rawdogging" to leap from "forgoing a protective safety barrier" to "forgoing a recreational activity." It's all a barrier between the self and reality, whether it's considered "necessary" or "unnecessary."

This bridge of "rawdogging"-as-sobriety, and forgoing of potential enjoyment rather than potential safety, allowed the concept to be picked up by the "dopamine fast," anti-pleasure, hedonic Calvinist culture. From there, the door was wide open -- if "rawdogging" means "no relief from suffering" rather than (or in addition to) "no protection from disease", then "rawdogging" can mean not reading on a plane, and if it can mean not reading on a plane, than it can mean any kind of ascetic self-denial, until it gets picked up by Christian writers who completely omit the sexual meaning.

I wonder if something in this shift is "rawdogging" evoking the word "dogged" and differing connotations of dogs -- dogs-as-horny and dogs-as-loyal-and-hardworking.

There's probably something in there about gender, too; about how "rawdogging" was a term largely (but definitely not exclusively) by and about straight men having sex with women, and terms for condomless sex more common in the queer community, like "barebacking," don't have that crossover appeal, and how rawdog-asceticism is masculine-coded, because it's about being enough of a Manly Masculine Real Man to not need any sissy airplane reading, while feminine-coded cult-of-suffering culture is more about relentless reflective self-policing.

Or something.

The important thing is that a term to refer to wild, reckless, fucking like an animal is now used to refer to austere, somber self-denial.

[likeabxrdinflight]

tired of early 20-somethings acting like harry potter was never good or had no value in its day like shut the fuck up half of you weren't even there when it peaked

[vnsbian]

drew some characters I've been rotating in my mind for a story idea I want to work on Left is Sinéad, who's a princess turned werewolf, and on the right is Babh, her knight (and her to-be girlfriend)

[huh-enheim]

I'm no medievalist so most of the anachronistic fashion fantasyisms fly straight over my head but it does amuse me that chilchuck owns a shirt with a fully modern attached soft collar. pretty much just a normal ass dress shirt