#husam lore

[modgryphonrambles]

Had a vision for a piece of Egypt art that is probably a bit too ambitious for me to make myself, but I wanted to share the idea anyway.

It would be the characters all walking in one direction like a parade and show off a lot of their personalities. Here's the order and some basic ideas of what they'd be doing.

Edward at the front of the line, but he glances back at everyone else, looking off put by just how many people are following him.

Abayomi and Szuzhi following just behind him, clearly on guard and making sure Edward is protected.

Umbra behind them, trying to catch up to walk beside her brother.

Razzie running forwards, laughing and dragging an ever stoic Rubio behind her by his wrist.

Husam, looking cool and confident, though one hand is lightly rested on the hilt of the weapon on his belt.

Bastet, with multiple cats trailing around her ankles.

Bennu, with a cat running behind him, trying to bat at his unravelled bandages.

Memphis running behind the others, trying to catch their attention, an overflowing box of statuettes in his arms, some of them spilling out on to the ground.

Fukayna, trailing behind, purposely crushing a statuette of Edward under his foot.

Should I tag people in this? It's not exactly art or anything, just a silly idea.

[prideful-khopesh]

A training dummy, battered and slashed, straw spilling from cuts in the cloth.

Just sit down and concentrate, it’s not that hard.

A slash to the stomach.

Why can’t you just behave? 

A backslash to the throat.

Why are you late, wait, don’t tell me it was another detention?

A stab to the chest.

You’ll never amount to anything if you keep this up.

Twisting and wrenching the blade free.

I’m very disappointed in you.

Another wild stab, a scream of rage.

The others aren’t like this, where did we go wrong with him?

A hit with the pommel to the side of the head.

How hard is it to just walk away?

A blade dropped, a punch to the face.

What are you even planning on doing with your life?

A second punch, another raged scream.

Why can’t you be more like them?

A missed punch, red smears across a wall.

Well, look who it is, the family disappointment.

A rake with a clawed hand. The sound of panting and hissing through clenched teeth.

“I’ll show them. I’ll show them all.”

A dummy left toppled in the yard, battered and slashed, speckled with blood.

[s4rainbows]

I wanted to give a little bit of background on my writing process behind Tooth & Nail, and als Penumbra!

The Base idea

T&N started out as a D&D campaign, set in a modern day zombie outbreak, plus D&D magic, back in ye olden days before I understood that other TTRPG systems exist. It evolved into a campaign idea for VTM after I got into it, but I never managed to actually realize it. Then later, I started telling a zombie story under that same name with strictly human sims, and later decided to go back to VTM + zombies... and here we are.

Penumbra is a little more complicated. The origin of the lore is in how I started developing my regular gameplay save's lore, explaining why most of my sims are berry, and why they have occult elements without actually being occults. That turned into proximity magic radiation from the fey that change a regular sim's genetics into the Feytouched. And then I started adding lore onto it. Penumbra, the world, started with a royalty collab in the Berry Storyteller's Guild that sadly never really saw the light of day. I let myself be inspired by Kingdoms of Amalur, and the conflict between Seelie and Unseelie, with that melancholic memory of a better time, when the courts were friendly to each toher. Penumbra's first iteration had the same characters, but very different. The central conflict played out between Umbrae and Dreamdust, with them eventually knocking each other into a coma, and leaving their Children to navigate the issue. The Consorts, as well as the two Crown Princesses played relatively minor roles, and Blackwood was actually just a spoiled brat that occasionally got into Nocturne's way.

I completely reworked it for the actual story i ended up writing.

The Process

I usually start with a very broad, base Idea. Penumbra already had some baggage, from its previous iteration, but with T&N, I just went "I want a young vampire and a human sibling". I kind of wing it throughout CAS, and just see what vibes the character gives me - For example, Amias' usually reserved nature is mainly because I decided to dress him very formally, starting out, while Cara's more laid back narration (and her swearing, actually) comes from me deciding to give her a vague alt-aesthetic.

Other characters, I went in relatively blank, too. I wrote down what Clans would have a primogen in this city, and just made a Sim that looked cool. Exceptions apply, such as my Salubri primogen having control over the Tremere too, but I initially had Iofel be a very kind person - he even has the goddamn Generous trait! I'd later decide to subvert and complicate that, as you can read in his journey.

Then, when I have everyone, I typically begin by writing a prologue to set the scene, and leave the game again.

I outline major story beats, and storyboard important scenes, in writing, I'm not an artist (lol). Back to the game, and I start going through the poses that I have, and the poses that I need, make a list, and go scour the internet for what I'm missing. (Searchable Pose Player has saved my sanity fr)

I usually "write" the story as I take my screenshots, trying out poses and sets as I go. Such as, the scene where Husam decides to sleep on the bathroom floor was brought on by some floor sleeping poses I found! Same thing for the dialogue scene on the porch... I found some poses for leaning and sitting on a fence.

Some character dynamics are also entirely spontaneous. I like to say that the characters decided that, not me. Like, Iofel and Medea being friends was completely out of the blue for me. Rosa and Medea being romantically involved was, too. Chase and Amaranda being close came on by my structure of the chapter - each character got a little segment, of where they are post evacuation, and I decided on the fly that they'd go together.

Once I have my screenshots, I crop and (minorly) edit them (I use Photoscape Pro), and then open up my post editor and get to work. I filter out screenshots as I work, because sometimes, I don't need 57 reaction shots of the same character, and just pick the best one.

Format, tag, and post.

Afterward, I usually copypaste and post my updates in two sims discord servers I'm in, and if I finish a chapter, i also painstakingly post it in my forum thread on MTS.

Then, it's usually a few days of gathering inspiration, until i start working on the next batch of story posts.

Resources I use

TMEX Searchable Pose player

@occult-cc-finds

@ts4-poses

Spinningplumbob's Fairies vs. Witches mod, which i used heavily in Penumbra

And, I use @losieee 's Fledgling Gshade preset, which was modeled after VTM:bloodlines. I also use some of their buiids, Like the Arcade Medea and Rosa hide out in, which is also a location from VTMB, as well as Medea's safehouse she carted Iofel off to I also have Club Asylum in that save, but I haven't gotten to use it yet

If you like my writing consider tipping me on kofi <3

[modgryphonrambles]

I'm bored and tired which means Incorrect Quotes time. Egypt edition because the brainrot is unending.

@star-on-a-beach @scrybe-of-death @the-mod-from-elsewhere

[modgryphonrambles]

I did a silly.

@scrybe-of-death @shot-of-hopes-and-dreams

[modgryphonrambles]

Here have a little ramble about Husam and the way he thinks when it comes to his bosses and his opinions on them. Because Husam only ever treats people with the amount of respect he thinks they deserve.

Hope it's okay if I tag you two, @scrybe-of-death and @star-on-a-beach, just this is about Edward, Fukayna, and Rubio.

Edward has not earned Husam’s respect, but also he has not earned his disrespect. Husam is very neutral about the Pharaoh and mostly just treats him with as much respect as is needed for him to keep his job. Also, since I’ve not had a chance to truly talk about it, Husam does treat his job as one of Pharaoh’s guards pretty seriously. Mostly, the way he acts on the job is a direct response to what guard he’s working alongside at the time. If it’s someone who’s slacking or chatty, he’s more likely to be casual and interact with them. If it’s someone who is being super serious, then he will be too, standing at attention in silence. He does tend to be more casual when talking to people who approach the temple, but as was seen with Carbine, he’s more than willing to use force when he feels he needs to.

Husam isn’t really sure what Fukayna is to him, the dumbass never read the contract he signed, and Fukayna never left him a copy (though honestly if he had, Husam probably would have torn it to pieces when he went on that little rampage afterward). But Husam does not respect Fukayna in the slightest, and if he’s ever ordered to do something, he will actively be disobedient and might even try to sabotage things. Fukayna kinda messed up with Husam. If he’d played his cards right and offered better regular pay than what the Pharaoh gives him, or offered a better house for him to live in, or even just a higher rank than some of the other guards he has, then Husam could’ve been a decent guard at least for a little while. Instead, he brought Husam’s family into this and immediately made himself Husam’s enemy.

Then we come to Rubio, who in a very short time has done something very difficult. He hasn’t just earned Husam’s respect. He’s earned Husam’s loyalty. Husam wouldn’t just kill for Rubio, he would die for him, something he wouldn’t do for pretty much anyone else. Not that Husam would admit that out loud, and not that Rubio would ever order him to kill or fight for him. Now, granted, Rubio and Husam have had a lot of one-on-one time together, and Rubio is far closer to being Husam’s equal than Fukayna or Pharaoh are, which has helped a lot in gaining Husam’s trust. But with the respect, trust, and kindness Rubio has shown Husam, it would take a lot to make Husam betray him or Razzie, he’d rather die than have that happen.

Also, a little off-topic, but it is so funny to me that for Husam it’s only been 6 days between meeting Fukayna and the current RP with Bastet. This poor boy has been through a whiplash of emotions in less than a week.

[modgryphonrambles]

Y'know what, since I have it and Hope mentioned in a DM about Ammon and Husam being friends-ish, here's a screenshot of Husam's current relationship chart.

"Would die for" is kinda a combination tier, it would include best friends, lovers he's particularly fond of, and both blood and found family. But it gets combined because in terms of Husam's loyalty and respect and love, they all are equal.

All the guards get lumped into neutral until Husam has an actual RP with them. I'm fairly certain he probably gets along okay with all the named guards, but I won't split them out until an RP happens. There's also probably some NPC ones he would put in like or dislike, but they aren't really important, so *shrugs*

Technically, there is a hate tier between dislike and "wants to tear into pieces" it's just no one is in it yet. Someone in hate could potentially improve their relationship with Husam if given enough time and positive interactions. But once someone hits "Wants to tear into pieces" there is no coming back from that.

Also fun fact: Carbine, Bastet, and Rubio all were in dislike after their first interactions with Husam. Didn't take long for those relationships to improve, though.

Oh, also, character order in each tier is just chronological for when Husam met them, it doesn't have any meaning beyond that.

Grif also has a relationship chart, but it is a lot longer and more complicated, so I'm not really in a rush to try and explain it. Though, if people are interested, maybe I will post it at some point.

And Curious doesn't have one, because Curious is a simple thing and only considers people one of two things, friend or not friend. Everybody it's interacted with is in the friend category.

[modgryphonrambles]

Husam, and it's not even close.

Curious doesn't feel hate, at most it would be absolutely terrified of me. Grif would sit back, and weigh up both the good and the bad that's happened to him, before ultimately settling on dislike and distrust but not outright hate.

Husam would immediately jump to white-hot fury. There would be no reasoning with him, no talking him down, he would try to tear me into bloody pieces without a second thought. Especially if he learns what exactly happened to him and the pain that's caused his family.

hopes nondaily question sorry I’m very tired AND bored

Based on what you’ve put them through, which one of your characters would hate you the MOST?

[modgryphonrambles]

So I had this Twitter conversation about home cooking and how meal prep has changed over the years appear on my dash. And there was one part that immediately drew my attention, because it is so Husam coded.

Husam, my boy, who lives in a single room house with no oven and what is essentially a beer cooler as a fridge, doing this while defending himself by saying "I'm just livin' how ma ancestors did."

Husam would also like to make a petition to the Pharaoh that all paychecks should also include booze along with the cash, because "Ain't that how Pharaohs paid their staff back in the day?"

[modgryphonrambles]

Sees the new pin for Rubio on the Pinterest board, about him having a quiet kind of rage. Of course, my brain immediately compared it to my angry boy, and here's what it came up with.

Rubio’s rage is a sniper rifle. It’s quiet, it’s precise, it’s aimed. When and how it's used is thought out carefully. The only ones that feel it are the ones that woke that rage, but there's no doubt that they will feel it.

Husam’s rage is a shotgun. It’s loud, it’s dramatic, it’s inaccurate. A trigger pulled at a moment's notice with no thought. There will be collateral damage, it will be messy, and the target might not even get hit at all.

[modgryphonrambles]

I'm making a post because Husam brainrot, especially Husam backstory brainrot, and I keep playing a single song and imagining an animation to it. And because I don't know when/if I'll ever reveal this in RP, I'm going to ramble about it now.

I have a song on Husam's playlist that is honestly very important for his backstory. It's called "Crossing The Line", and I very much imagine Husam Kamil and his older brother Nadeem while listening to it. Unfortunately, the cover version I associate with them the most isn't on Spotify, so I've had to substitute with the original.

This is annoying because the original does not have the same emotion as the cover, which is here:

Yeah, this would be an argument that the brothers had once Nadeem realized that Kamil was signing up for the military. Nadeem telling Kamil to wait, to think, to not do this.

And Kamil getting annoyed that Nadeem isn't really listening to him, is just telling him what he should do. Him running off, getting frustrated thinking about how his family have treated him and always compared him to Nadeem, and becoming even more sure of his decision to try and do things his way, even if it means leaving his family behind.

And the ending! Nadeem shouting for Kamil to wait, the quiet heavy breathing and the whispered last line from Kamil, like he's unsure of his choice but is still going to do it anyway. Ah, it breaks my heart, and I love it.

[modgryphonrambles]

Yes!

Concept: "Here Comes A Thought" from Steven Universe as Rubio and Husam, teaching Husam how to not get worked up and spiral himself into a rage

[modgryphonrambles]

Pinterest, I love you, I really do. But you have to stop recommending pins for Husam that punch me in the heart.

Does Husam actually think about this trope? No, not at all. Did it still make me sad because of Husam's backstory? Absolutely.

[modgryphonrambles]

Since Star keeps making my Husam brainrot worse, I added I'm Still Here from Treasure Planet to Husam's playlist today, partly because of Rubio.

God, I love these two so much.

[modgryphonrambles]

*Husam standing behind the counter in a McDonald's uniform with the most exhausted expression on his face.*

This is not what I signed up for when I decided to become one of Pharaoh's guards.

I need this image on this blog NOW

[modgryphonrambles]

I realized I never posted Husam's playlist, only stuck it at the bottom of his pinned post. So here it is if anyone is interested!