#godly fear

[judahmaccabees]

greater possibility you demanded, twas for greater hope commanded, there's your Peace And Security ™ granted

Naming a thing idolizes it, separating it from itself

Force, stay off my Boundaries

Thought and Doubt,

Imagine,

Not

Delicacy of Touch

Duty of Wisdom

End of Ignorance

Beginning of Future

Cause and Effect,

Shifting Responsibility,

Faltering Rising,

Walking Death

-

[tom4jc]

July 12, 2023 Promise Of God

[trappedinafantasy37]

There are multiple gods in the game that you can directly interact with and they all have ties to the narrative. You can interact with Shar via Shadowheart. You can interact with Mystra via Gale. You can interact with Myrkul via Ketheric when he takes on the avatar form. You can interact with Bhaal via Durge and in the fight with Orin. You can interact with Bane after killing Gortash and using "Speak with Dead" in which the soul you speak to is not Gortash, but Bane himself. I would include Vlaakith in this list but Vlaakith is not a god, she is a lich presenting herself as a god. And, of course, there is the Absolute which doesn't really become a god until it ascends into the Netherbrain (although that is debatable).

But, did you know that Lolth will also interact with you? As far as I am aware, Lolth is the only non-story related god in which you do have interactions with. One of them is only available if you are a Lolth-sworn drow, and the other is only available if you are a Cleric of Lolth (you do not need to be Lolth-sworn for it).

The first instance is in the goblin camp with the spiders in the pit. This does require that you are a Lolth-sworn drow and that you have the ability to speak with animals. When talking to the spiders, you will have the option to present yourself to the spiders as Lolth herself. If you fail the persuasion check, Lolth gets pissed off as she was listening to you and is not happy that you tried to present yourself as her. And she tells the spiders you are an imposter and they attack you. But if you succeed the check, Lolth doesn't do anything and the spiders will think you are Lolth. So, Lolth doesn't really have a problem with you pretending to be her. But if you are going to pretend to be her, you better do it right. If the spiders think you are Lolth, you can ask them about what's going on in the goblin camp and the spiders only talk about one thing. They immediately tell you that there is another drow in the camp who has forgotten her way and that she is forsaken. And, as I said, Lolth is here. She heard the spiders admit this. Lolth does nothing about it.

The second instance is in the Underdark with the Phalar Aluve. When you interact with the sword, you have two different checks, a Strength check and a Religion check. If you do the Strength check, you can just pull it out of the stone and be on your merry way. If you perform the Religion check, the narrator will tell you different things depending on certain conditions. If you are a Lolth-sworn drow and/or a Cleric of Lolth, the narrator will tell you that the religious rite to pull the blade from the stone is blasphemous as it pays honor to the weak. If you are of any other race and/or cleric of any other god, the narrator will tell you that the sword is of Eilistraee and the rite pays honor to the fallen. The religious rite is that you spill a little bit of your blood and the sword will rise out of the stone on its own. If you do this as a Cleric of Lolth (you don't need to be Lolth-sworn) you will feel hundreds of spiders crawl all over you as Lolth is warning you not to do shit like that ever again. Not only did you perform the religious rite of another god, you performed the religious rite of a god she hates. And she is letting you know how much she hated that.

These are the only two instances in the game that I have found in which Lolth interacts with the player but there are plenty of other moments in which Lolth could interact with you, but doesn't (such as with the Phase Spider, the baby spiders in Grymforge, Kar'niss, or the dead spider in the Gauntlet of Shar). Of these two moments where Lolth does interact with you, one of these instances is in the goblin camp, and the other is in the Underdark not too far away from the goblin camp. I don't think it is much of a coincidence that these two interactions occur in close proximity to Minthara. Almost as if Lolth has a reason to be in that area specifically to watch and monitor things, and you just so happened to be there. And the only things that compel her to interact with you is because you pissed her off. But, as long you don't piss her off, she will do nothing and she will say nothing.

When Minthara was being tortured by the Absolute, she prayed to Lolth and begged Lolth to give her the strength to fight her enemies. But Lolth does nothing and Lolth says nothing. In fact, that was the full extent of Lolth's "punishment" for Minthara, nothing. All Lolth did was not answer Minthara's prayers and not show up when Minthara needed her the most. Lolth did not torture Minthara like the Absolute did, Lolth did not turn her into a drider, nor did Lolth eat her. All she did, was nothing. And yes, Lolth is known for abandoning drow and no longer interacting with them. A drow has to do something incredibly awful in order for Lolth to just back away from them entirely. But you cannot convince me that Lolth is going to let one of her Baenre's go so easily. It's not as if Minthara has done anything truly awful either to make Lolth that mad.

According to Minthara, she herself has sinned against the Spider Queen, but it's not as if she chose to abandon Lolth, she was forced away and mind controlled into being devoted to another god. But would this make a difference to Lolth? Does it really matter if Minthara was compelled to have faith in another god besides Lolth? It isn't until Minthara is freed and feels the absence of Lolth that she chooses to no longer follow Lolth. Minthara even mentions how turning against Lolth is a big no-no in Menzoberranzan. Minthara herself at one point has hunted down and killed those who turn their backs from Lolth so she knows the same will be done to her if she were to ever return home. In fact, if you are a Lolth-sworn drow or a Cleric of Lolth, you are given unique dialogue options with Minthara to kill her because she is a traitor to Lolth and these options continue to show up until you recruit her into your party and she joins your roster. Despite all of this, Lolth does nothing. Minthara spews anti-Lolth rhetoric left and right, and Lolth does nothing. If you take Minthara to the tabernacle, she will spit on a shrine to Lolth, and Lolth does nothing.

Minthara is also able to walk through the Gauntlet of Shar, which is in the Underdark, and Lolth does nothing. Sure, you could argue that its connection to the Shadowfell and the fact that Shar is there via Shadowheart is enough to keep Lolth away. The lore of DnD does not make it quite clear what the relationship between these two goddesses are. But I am willing to bet that Lolth is smart enough not to step on Shar's toes because Shar would annihilate her. However, there is a small little section of the Gauntlet where it actually does spit you out directly into the Underdark and into Lolth's territory. Minthara can walk right out there just fine, and Lolth does nothing.

But most importantly, Minthara's default ending is her returning to the Underdark with the sole purpose of destroying House Baenre and then killing Lolth. Destroying House Baenre could lead to a chaotic and political disaster in Menzoberranzan, and Lolth does nothing. Minthara quite literally wants to kill Lolth and has intentions to do so after taking House Baenre, and Lolth. Does. Nothing!

If Minthara goes into the Underdark and destroys House Baenre, this will cause chaos and death. And the Baenre's won't be the only ones she has to destroy, but any and all allies of House Baenre in which they do have a lot. And Lolth will feed off of all the death and carnage and chaos that Minthara is about to bring to Menzoberranzan because Lolth loves chaos more than she hates traitors.

Maybe, Lolth has not abandoned her as Minthara thinks she has. Maybe, Lolth has done nothing and said nothing because Minthara has not actually upset her. Maybe, Lolth has done nothing and said nothing because Minthara is already doing everything Lolth wants her to do. And all it took, was making Minthara think that Lolth abandoned her. There was no need for Lolth to answer Minthara's prayers, because Minthara always had the strength to fight her enemies.

[canisalbus]

forgive me if this has been answered previously, but what were the circumstances around vasco finding out about machete's death? i'm heartbroken but fascinated to think about what his immediate reaction could have been

They don't live together, Vasco was at home in Florence at the time. Either someone who knew of their relationship managed to alert him of the murder, or he showed up in Rome to visit him just like countless of times before, and one time he was just gone. He would've missed the funeral for sure, and since Machete doesn't have family, his belongings would most likely end up escheated and subsequently liguidated by the church. He certainly wasn't remembed fondly, for the most part it was like he had never been there in the first place.

I don't want to get into the details but of course he was devastated. The threat of death was a constant presence in Machete's later years, he survived at least a couple of assassination attempts and his health kept getting worse. I think he tried to keep Vasco in the dark about how bad things were exactly, but Vasco didn't miss how his fear of death ramped up in intensity towards the end. So it wasn't a complete surprise when he found out they had finally gotten him. For a long time he had hard time not blaming himself for it, thinking whether he could've done something to prevent the outcome, whether his presence would've changed how things played out. Over the years he learned to live with the sudden and violent end of their relationship, but the first few years were extremely rough, the whole ordeal broke him in unprecedented ways and he never fully recovered to his previous state.

[tagthescullion]

Hi. I really like your headcanons I've read about the di Angelo family. I think you mentioned in one of your fanfics Maria's parents outliving her, so I was wondering if you think they knew she was dead? Do you think they looked for her or bianca and nico?

ohhhhhh man, di angelo family time :D

in my hcs, the di angelos were aristocracy, and, not shitting you, up to the early 20th century, some people truly believed aristocrats/nobility were put in the world to rule by God, so why not make that godS? I hc that some aristocratic families have a godly ancestor, in other words, making them legacies

now, whether they know that or not.. it's a fable some people believe and some don't. maria's parents being legacies is a thing I need in life (specially if it's one family descended from romans and the other from greeks), so I hc maria's parents thinking it's all bullshit until they meet hades and then they're like "y'know, this fellow seems strangely powerful, maybe it wasn't as mythical as we thought" (I think I wrote that into the last chapter of ancestors, that they do recognise hades, too tired to check, but self promo time yaay)

I do think they'd find out maria's dead. let's not forget her father was a diplomat in the US, meaning he had contacts there, we can guess they would've told him about the situation if hades himself didn't

the question is, what did hades tell them about the kids?? bc they were alive, yet hades could've lied.. frankly, I think hades told them the truth "I'll hide them bc my brother is trying to kill them". if he had lied, then the di angelos would've made an effort to get proof or the bodies, while if they were told the truth, it would hurt but it would mean the children were safe and had to be kept in hiding

that and I want nico to inherit everything, that way he can make his grandparents' giant ancestral house into a home for demigods in europe/the mediterranean who can't get to the US for whatever reason (bc let's face it, CHB only works if you're USian and/or rich)

[bread-wizards]

If the Hells really want to stop Ludinus, they should just try unionising the workers against him

[kozuki-hiyori]

I love LuZo where Zoro is so endlessly devoted to Luffy and he acknowledges this fully himself (I mean that's basically canon) but what gets even better is when fanfic writers/fanartists/etc. will have this careful balance to it, where Zoro knows it's gone possibly a bit too far (again also pretty canon) and he doesn't want Luffy to find out about it

Those works where Zoro doesn't want Luffy to find out about Thriller Bark because he knows he wouldn't be happy about it... oh those drive me so insane

(And with Nika Luffy, now... oh, I don't know how to express the multiple directions this could be taken in and just to what extent every single one of those would ruin me)

[wolfblood-of-anubis]

Nina Martin, daughter of Hades, god of the dead, and ruler of the underworld.

Fabian Rutter, son of Athena, goddess of wisdom, warfare, and battle strategy.

Amber Millington, daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty, sexuality, and passion.

[duncanor]

It's really interesting how Nightow talked about humans being some kinds of Gods to Plants because they created them. (Thus playing around with the trope of Man vs God)

And then having Knives describe himself and his kind as Gods or angels.

In a way, his goal was the exact same as humanity. Building a paradise for his kind to thrive in, free of the horrors and errors of the past.

However, like men were created in God's image, Knives is as human as he gets. Repeating the same mistakes and furthering the harm he and his kind received. Perpetuating the cycle of never ending violence.

[odetokeons]

Hannibal, 3x02 “Primavera” | Malevolent, Part 31 “The Nightmare”

[justaz]

thinking about god!merlin

the boy who did not know what he was or why he was born, questioning if he was a monster. the boy who heard of a destiny too heavy to carry on his own but doing so regardless because it gave him purpose. growing into his own power that seemed to get stronger and stronger every day. warlock!merlin noting that the druids revere him to an uncomfortable level, as if he were their messiah, their saving grace. which, according to the prophecies, is true. he is emrys and emrys is to save them all. the young man who does not abide by the laws of nature, who can create life without taking, who can speak a butterfly into existence, who commands nature with a yell, who can heal any and all ailments without punishment for avoiding death. the man who has died over and over again but keeps waking up, just a little bit off. he can feel his mortality burning away, with every spell, with every druid prayer and offering, with every death. the young boy searching desperately for his purpose and growing into the young man who kills without flinching because what is one little mortal life to him? who answers to emrys more than merlin now. who desperately craves to be young and naive and just. merlin.

[somany-fandoms-solittle-time]

Martin Blackwood's debilitating crush on his boss v. Eldritch gods of Fear trying to kill one twink insomnia that won't stop asking questions (because GODDAMMIT they just wanna take over the world 🫠)

[spotaus]

Coda and Ichor! (Catacombtale Style!)

These two don't have a *ton* of interaction in the Main story, but since Ichor and Balance are the only two characters I've fully designed, Coda gets stuck next to him, haha!

BONUS art jumpscare:

These two actually exist in another project I'm working on too called Codex, which is basically just removing the UT aspects of Catacombtale and doing a lot more worldbuilding and character design!

Coda is older in Codex and is marked by an old God (which should get him jailed or killed, as it means for everyone else) but he hides it for years and years before he finally flees the complex he's living in to go confront the gods and stop their destructive path. Meanwhile Ichor is much the same, only he's much more ready and willing to help Coda without much prompting. Here he's also sort of a Koi Fish! (His brother is a Betta Fish)

[saintofanything]

kinda hard to take the panthers/oilers hatred seriously because they are the same team different fonts like your man did all that too

[sorieba]

starlight thief

[urlocalwreck]

I wanna see who would win in a danceoff, o'saa or marina (they CLEARLY both know what they're doing)