#life is something God made. built. created. inspired

[itspileofgoodthings]

.

[directdogman]

Are you inspired by Greek mythology much?

Taking a mythology class which requires a paper connecting a myth to a piece of modern media and I think it would be funny to have my prof read about Dialtown.

So far all I’ve got is that Gingi shares some similarities with Dionysus: an association with nectar/wine, Hera’s feelings about Dionysus are reminiscent of Mingus’ for Gingi- anger at an innocent target because they are a reminder of past events

Curious if you have any thoughts on this :)

Actually, yes, there's quite a few references to Greek legends/history in DT's story!

Gingi is debatably an antihero, a concept generally agreed to stem from Greek dramas/legends. In particular, there's some similarities between Gingi and, say, Thersites (who challenged authority and was struck on the shoulder and back, like Gingi.) The concept of fate is also very important in DT's greater story, a concept common in Greek mythology, but that will become more obvious as the story progresses. The ending of Gingi's ultimately journey has indeed already been written.

The character of God mentions that he was actually Diogenes of Sinope, who is the source of many zany accounts of his life, some argued to be myths. God's face being a dog is a nod to the fact that Diogenes is often shown in statues/paintings with dogs (and ofc, I made DT's universe and my online persona is a dog-man.)

Speaking of, Mingus' appearance of having a cat head but a human body is chimeric, obviously deriving from Greek legend, as many creatures in Greek legend (minotaurs, harpies, gorgons, cynocephaly) are depicted this way.

Crown's arc definitely has ideas taken from Greek mythology. There's a lot of references to flight in his out of game dialogue (like Crown's answers in both of the DT webquizzes) which is meant to be a nod to Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and paid the ultimate price.

All of the Crowns' arcs are written like a Greek tragedy, where they go too far and suffer a pyrrhic victory where a short-sighted aim is achieved, but they lose everything in the process. Mingus becomes a sort of dictator in DT (rigging elections, using the mob to threaten/coerce people into doing her bidding, as well as robbing citizens of the town) while being unable to enjoy her wealth and power as she's stuck grabbing something just out of reach, like she's in Tartarus.

Crown, meanwhile, became so paranoid that he built a safe inside his own head, successfully creating something that nobody other than himself knew how to open, only to lock himself inside it. While Crown's character is inspired by a LOT of historic figures, there's definitely also a bit of Alexander the Great in there, a man that many apocryphal accounts exist of.

There's smaller references to Greek mythology across the game too. Randy quotes a line from Fallout New Vegas in one of his route endings, where he hopes Gingi winds up in a bleak, unending Tartarus. Everett also mentions the story of Sisyphus in Roger's route, a reference to Albert Camus' Myth of Sisyphus. The Ship of Theseus and the Trojan Horse are also mentioned in Roger's route too, come to think of it. I'm sure there's other nods I can't remember off the top of my head.

Interestingly, God's character also takes a lot of ideas from different Greek philosophical concepts. God mentions that the world is in a cycle of destruction and rebirth. While this concept can be traced to the phoenix, the belief that the world did this was common for followers of Greek philosopher, noticeably stoicism, with the word for this idea being ekpyrosis.

This kinda just scratches the surface, but I hope this helps anyway!!!

[isa-ghost]

ISA PLEASE I NEED YOUR DEEP DARK DEITY THOUGHTS

Something something sculk as a corrupting power. The ender king wants to take, wants to keep everything like a ship in a bottle but the deep dark? It wants to change. It wants to remake everything in its image.

There could probably be something cool having to do with sculk not being "native" to his world, but when rose "woke up" (phil updated the world and his bedrock lowered) so did the sculk. And now its lying in wait, slowly corrupting, slowly changing, slowly creeping.

And then... philza stopped avoiding it, and took some pieces to spread around. Is that gonna accelerate the corruption?

EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE THIS IS COOKING, DEFINITELY TAKING INSPIRATION FROM WHAT YOU'VE SAID HERE.

OKAY SO here's what I have so far (and restated stuff I said in chat yesterday during stream):

The Deep Dark Deity (I'm leaning female but also really fucking with them being genderless. Their gender is Corruption and their pronouns are they/it) has control over the Warden, sculk, etc. All things Deep Dark. The people who built and once lived in Ancient Cities were a cult that worshiped the Deity. Gods know when/how they died out, if they really died out or just went... elsewhere, and where they ended up if they aren't just dead. You can't tell me that's not a fucking portal. You know exactly what I'm talking about. They could've gone through there. But why?

Something something that portal being activated and the realm it would lead to being accessible is the only thing preventing the Deity from being able to escape DD biomes on their own. Currently they're bound to their own domain unless Phil takes a catalyst or other means of sculk spreading outside of the DD with him.

The Warden was created by the people who inhabited the cities (as we know from that one disc), meant to be a vessel for the Deity, if not straight up created in the Deity's image. Regardless, the Deity can indeed control/possess the Warden and command it whether they're inside of it or not.

Sculk contains XP, which is popularly headcanoned by most players as "life force" because living things drop it when they die (and it's earned though life experience, and life experience increases life force or whatever, blahblahblah, not explaining this in detail here, it's not my headcanon it's just the gist of what I've seen people cook with). This is what the Deity (EDIT: Deity name is Sculk Scourge!) survives off of. They consume it, and there is no such thing as "enough," it always wants MORE. If Ender King is greedy for the material, DD Deity is greedy for... whatever you'd call life force. When something dies in sculk, its life force is consumed by the Deity, and the sculk spreads because the Deity is being made stronger/more powerful and therefore their influence is spreading.

In addition to life force (killing mobs in DD biomes, bottles of enchanting, etc), some other "offerings" they enjoy include diamonds, lapis (gives lots of xp when mined), bones, god apples, infested stone, and beacons.

I'm cooking up a summary type thing like this for each of the Hardcore deities, but one of the things this Deity would represent is the concept of the apocalypse. It consumes to gain power, becomes so powerful nothing can stop it, and continues to consume until there is nothing left to consume.

Taking your idea of how the Deity only came to be after Phil updated Rose's power/influence over the world increased once more. Something something corruption something something Rose's evolution went Wrong somewhere and it turned into a whole ass new deity. Something along those lines idk. Whatever I go with, they have it out for Rose. It's her and her creations that they consume to grow stronger, that they want to remake.

They fucking HATE glow squids because they look like something THEY should've created, being all blue and glowy and ethereal like that. But no. Fucking ROSE did. 🙄 Their resentment of her knows no bounds.

Actually idk if it's resentment or just general ill will but again: They very much intend to do Rose harm. Including emotionally. Like by hurting her precious Child of the Sky. Or corrupting him to make him theirs instead. =)

This isn't a headcanon but like. The vibes of this deity? Scylla from EPIC: The Musical, both the song and the monster herself.

Given the nature of the Warden and the spirit of the Deep Dark in general, the Deity is blind. It navigates the world through hearing, smelling, feeling vibrations, and by sensing the amount of life force something contains. Phil should not enter the Deep Dark with more than 30 levels of XP. If he overstays his welcome in any DD biome, but especially in an Ancient City, the possession he'll undergo by this Deity will make Ender King's possession of him look like NOTHING.

Little does he know, his little recent escapade down there, and those souvenirs he took back with him, like his "doorbell," are, in a way, similar to the backpack Ender King gave him on Quesadilla Island. :)

Appearance-wise, the deity is feminine in body shape even if they're genderless, with long silky hair that looks like sculk. They have milky white eyes, sharp teeth, and everything about them is long and spindly. Their height, their limbs, their fingers. I'm not sure what they wear but it's long and flowy, also looking like sculk.

Idk if you've seen Owenjuice's New Life Series but when he's the Warden origin or whatever it is? This Deity can navigate through sculk like that, swimming in, out, and through it. Here's a timestamp of one of Owen's videos so you can see what I mean. They're always watching. So long as you can see sculk, the Deity can see you. :)

[storgicbytes]

ehehehehehe okay. first things first i figured out a good name for stohio: carteblan (i cannot believe it took me this long ive been calling it stohio for like ? oh my god just over a year now)

anyways yeah.

i havent figured out the exact timeline, but a couple years before victim "came back to life"/escaped the ava1 youtube video (that's a whole other can of worms), stickfigures were just finding out about the existence of other living sticks. in particular, freedom was a rather popular figure as one of the first sticks to break out of stick slavery (many living stickfigures were put to tasks, similar to chosen and second, where it was either do the task or die). freedom specifically was the first to discover the outernet, and quickly provided a link to others online.

he then created the "stick freedom ad" (which earned him his name; prior to this, he was simply known as unti (short for untitled) (sticks having Names outside of their roles was not a common thing yet)). he made this ad and scammed several websites into displaying it without actually paying for it by using fraudulent money (there are a couple very old blog posts and forum posts about the Stick Freedom Ad and what its supposed to mean, since clicking on it leads to an error 404).

as more sticks were freed and entered the outernet, they began to build houses. some sticks that had experience with drawing helped draw the sketches for these houses, which was then built upon using the surrounding resources. this eventually developed into carteblan, the city that mango and purple live in today.

however as time passed the culture in carteblan became a little elitist--- victim-blamey (haha), acting like all sticks should be strong, and turning down their noses on sticks who look a little too different from the norm (like paleo, ballista and hazard) (the norm being hollowheads, fullheads and whiteheads).

like i mentioned in my reblog, the sticks in carteblan began to crave more, lives similar to human lives, and amongst that was a demand for stick children. in my headcanon, sticks cannot reproduce and any sex they have is entirely recreational, so they had to devise another method for having kids. adoption, like mango did with gold in my hc, is the most common way of doing this.

sticks like second, that can draw things to life, are extremely rare (like 1 out of a thousand) in the outernet, but theres a couple thousand people in carteblan as of 2024 so there are a few sticks that can actually draw sticks to life. thus, they do 'kid' commissions where they literally draw a kid to life in exchange for money. there are also some website sticks in touch with their animators who ask their animators do do kid commissions as well for people in the outernet.

wow okay this is long. there are other stick cities too but the two major cities are carteblan and adagia most other sticks live in solitude or on websites ok im done woo

grabs you by the shoulders. falls onto the floor. has a fucking awakening

DUDE.

this is one of the most amazing things ive seen recently that inspired me to make a ramble/srs.

im going to create another part of my ramble series and pin it because of it im fr

foundation of the outernet, development of outernet sticks and creation of living beings

(a ramble made with the help of an immaculate person with amazing ideas)

OH MY GOD?????? FIRSTLY. i need to mention that i ADORE that we both have an idea that outernet was discovered by created internet/pc sticks. that its appearance began to be a place for a whole race to live in. and that its not something that exists completely naturally and independently from it. this is the theory of their origins i believe most right now

freedom being the founder IS SICK. ITS SO FUCKING SICK im rolling on the floor

in my "rules of code" ramble also i supposed sticks being in touch with their creators as well and them also BEING DRAWN!!! by sticks and creators. ill put a screenshot of everything hold on

outernets creation

my thoughts about outernets existence that most of which i think i explained

lives of stickmen and reproduction

my thoughts were about reproduction as well!!!!! its mostly accepted as canon in the fandom that sticks reproduce naturally but i cannot say that it actually is canon. everything that was going on with purple was symbolic and didnt showcase like. natural birth

alan said that for gold to exist king would have to marry a very neon yellow stick.

AND THIS made me confirm my headcanon that stick children are created by parent(s) own code. that they cannot influence it or prefer a color, that their code INHERENTLY has the variety of the color palette and hexcodes embedded into it.

ABOUT the code and colors. (i believe that the colors of sticks mixing up with each others is COMPLETELY code.)

all sticks inherently have a code and a name that gives them associated power. that can be messed with as well by a user (tdl command). its something that ive also talked in my rules of code ramble and mentioned the concept of "levels" and name power hierarchy

the chosen one, created and possessing a grandeu amount of power

the dark lord, also posessing a lot of power (that i dont believe couldve came from the command that was written into them. the command of destroying chosen is a goal that i believe is able to not be achieved)

the second coming, the name of someone that ties them with their predecessor (does make me wonder though how exactly their code made a connection with our chosen. maybe its possible that the name "the second coming" by itself, as a level, implies being a coming of someone powerful)

victim, being quite weak by themselves and not posessing any power by their own and having to rely on pc programs they're aware of.

i believe that being able to code a stick into a specific power and duty is something that could only be achieved and controlled through the feature of the program the stick was created in. in case of outernet, since they dont have access to computer programs and therefore, programs of creation such as adobe they cannot influence or change one's code

when it comes to creation of a stick i truly believe that you are able to give them color by yourself, unless the child is made by connecting it to the codes of its supposed parent(s). they gain hue by either actually taking/mixing up the colors of the parents or by taking one color in case of a sole parent.

(societal thought: its possible that outernet sticks, due to not wanting to have a literal copy and just an extension of themselves and wanting to create an "actual new life" by mixing colours prefer to have children with a partner, and not by themselves only)

have thought that color/code of the stick could be influenced by the parent(s) preferences, like a parent would like to have a kid similar to them and name them the same way (thus resulting/having their hexcode being picked out individually) BUT. i remembered alans words about kings spouse.

that for gold to exist king would need to marry a really neon yellow stick.

would it imply that sticks that subtract parent(s) code cannot influence the color of the stick created? as much as it impossible to influence the features of a born child in our real life, only taking it from parents and letting the nature play a randomizer. and that the only thing that they are able to influence is the shape of their creation?

society of outernet

THE CONCEPT OF STICKS SOCIETY BEING ELITIST ABOUT THIS STUFF. im eating it im not sure what fully do with it yet but im eating it

ive also talked about society there

when talking about creators of mercs king purple and co i was mostly thinking about real users. BUT YOUR CONCEPT OF STICKS BEING DRAWN BY OTHER STICKS AND ME THINKING ABOUT IT AS WELL . THIS IS SO FUCKING AMAZING. this is canon for me IDC!!!!!!

it does, however, make me wonder of their living process. we know that alan's hollowheads are created for a reason, are born aware of themselves, how to walk/run/interact/fight and havent been seen aging or changing. and due to chosen, victim and second surviving a whole bunch of damage that should've killed them, second literally REFUSING to delete, the fate of dark lord being unknown and alan not giving a straight answer about it and, very important: cg as created sticks being unable to actually die and needing only refresh of a page to continue living, having all their memories intact... makes me wonder that stickmen created directly by a human hand are unable to die.

(does make me wonder about another completely different thing. the societal perception. is it acceptable to be in touch with your stick creators? how would it even feel. do they perceive them as a distant relative?? do sticks that are able to create life consider their creations close to them as well??? im imagining something along the lines about detroit stuff with connor&kamski but way less intense)

connection of realms and creation of life

ive rambled A TON about connection of internet and outernet and how sticks especially of outernet could connect and travel between realms. hear ye hear ye.

right now i genuinely believe that stick society advanced so far in the outernet and got to live there that their connection with the internet mightve severed:

sticks of outernet don't physically interact neither with internet/pc programs OR travel there unless they obtained something that could allow them to travel to a pc/internet (the minecraft block and nether portals that seem doing quite fine in the outernet dimension) or have powers that can allow them to break through (chosen and the computer/ip sky which, interestingly, has only been seen broken through on the alanspc ip adress//dark portals to the internet).

given this, there's not a lot of accesible methods of traveling to the internet and most of them are available only to pc sticks.

(except. for king and purple. except for king getting a block from minecraft that was not supposed to be in the outernet from that merchant in his backstory. but it is a whole another can of worms as well)

as far as we've seen sticks that werent exposed to pc and internet tech dont really use or possess any tech that could access it??????? the times where we've seen tech such as computers/phones/tvs/pc and programs interface were always in possession of sticks that came from a pc or were there at least once (hollowheads, the cg, purple) or were entrusted with it from someone that was on a pc (mercenaries). talking about the video used on the tv in "the king" episode... it has never been shown that this video was being shown directly from the youtubes platform either. and that lead me to a thought that outernet sticks might not even interacted with internet's properties except for the tools used to create a life that came along with the foundation of the internet and most likely were developed from tools brought by the first sticks. but the way outernet progressed they might not even know that this stuff is literally from another realm

heck, a daring thought.

in case of outernet being almost completely cut off from its original internet history recent sticks of outernet might not even know of the existence of pcs and internet.

this does however clash with sticks being still created by people and sticks that are able to create life being in touch with them. but its still supposable that only rare sticks with an ability to create life somewhat have a.. gene? passed through to them from some of their ancestors that could've been able to create life. and users dont exactly come into this (also given its unlikely that its a regular experience for a user to be emulated in the outernet world like it was with alans cursor in showdown)

continuing to talk about elitism. again this is such a sick concept

im thinking right now that elitism towards stickmen that arent completely strong/prefer not to engage in fighting due to the progress of their civilization//different kinds of stickmen mightve also came from the original stickmen (im going start coloring this concept now. also this whole is some adam and eve stuff) that were created to fight. we know from our real world that the first appearance of sticks in the internet didnt come from a desire to animate them in a fighting ring but the whole scene and culture of fighting sticks came around pretty quickly. the whole reason avam exists as a series

its possible that while predecessors of original stickmen werent created with fighting in mind the stickmen that discovered the outernet might as well been the first sticks created for fight. and since it isnt a thing that gone away and is most likely embedded into the code of sticks themselves in the avam universe the whole "fighting code gene" mightve been carried over to recent sticks as well. and this elitism exists that even though sticks dont have to fight anymore (to literally survive in most cases) due to the progress of their kind some conservative mfs might believe that "this is what our ancestors intendeeeddd you need to bow to your roots and your existing gene"

the elitism towards kinds of sticks is. god its such a big and very explainable and amazing concept

due to sticks just beginning existing in the internet a long while ago and mostly drawn pretty similarly (since most creators were just exploring how to draw them digitally) the race of stickmen that passed down from original stickmen could've been all just fullheads and whiteheads and perhaps hollowheads?.. im really thinking hard about it because. we havent seen hollowheads in the outernet and the fact that orange didnt even know of their existence anywhere else and even WE didnt up until they saw victim (and were probably quite damn shocked) and the fact it was possibly quite a grand moment to them confuses me.

im not sure for what reason, but the number of sticks of the race of hollowheads might have been reduced in present outernet, only having the ones that posses incredible power survive. (yet. also victim. that does not posses such power. but its a whole another idea on that they could've acquired it through different means and not from power coming from their own self)

or, it just is an avam universe rule that users didnt really think of drawing hollowheads when creating first sticks because it was hard for them to keep track of the background besides their damn hollow head and it was easier to have a stick that covered it fully on another layer LOL

either way, coming back to elitism (this sounds funny out of context), due to original sticks being simply drawn as fullheads whiteheads and possibly hollowheads it was the main race that stickmen were used to creating when drawing a new life. but with the progress of their civilization they started to experiment, eventually inventing new kinds of sticks (the kinds of hazard, ballista and paleo). due to some conservative sticks clinging to their roots they didnt like the difference from the norm.

elitism thought.

even with a possible inability to code a stick into doing something by outernet sticks would people still try to draw a stick with a specific build associated with certain jobs and tasks, trying to force them into a mold of who they are "supposed" to be? like, drawing a stick that resembles a sign (like hazard) and having them work for example as an aircraft marshaller or some other job that requires caution and directive? the grey sticks working in rocketcorp, possibly made as clerks and errand dudes?

..could purple be drawn being stronger and having a greater build than a usual stick would have, therefore disappointing navy when they dont match their expectations of a stick they wanted?

would it be a problem that progressive sticks would try to solve? allowing different kinds of sticks to exist, but not forcing them into a certain shape?

another thing. YOUVE OPENED A GATEWAY TO A SEA OF WORMS BY TELLING ME ABOUT POSSIBLE ESCAPE OF VICTIM FROM A YOUTUBE VIDEO.

my previous ramble (rocketcorp, dimensions and virtual reality) made a theory that victim, in one way or another essentially brought pc programs and tech into outernet, thus obtaining power that is, quite literally, linked with their whole creation. (very symbolic considering their whole power is the one that made their life end so fast) and, due to outernet being cut off from programs and powers of internet and pcs, became a being that literally stood higher than the reality and fabric of the outernet realm itself, possesing power that could possibly meddle with it (mercs cannons literally changing structure and whole being of objects like the corndog stand or literally messing with a sticks state and body with chosen). and i have thought that victim is the one that could use internet itself as one of their grand tools.

and. animation vs youtube. we fucking know. that a stick is able to upload itself and break the interface of internet.

no one said that the original ava video on youtube is the whole thing that victim used to escape.

also. remember me mentioning that the original video of animation vs minecraft wasnt shown to be accessed through youtube. this video looked like it was downloaded having a whole different bar at the bottom and everything. couldve it been downloaded by vic or rocketcorp?

(victim interneted the fucking internet and started showing avam series like their own show. by the way its ALSO a potential scenario i talked about before. that due to potential severing of outernet citizens with the internet the recorded adventures of the cg on pc, internet and minecraft (ESPECIALLY considering that minecraft existed as a fun simulation game on a festival) that was broadcasted could've been interpreted by outernet sticks as fiction. but its an independent funny concept to be thought about and i still didnt fully figure it out)

op.

you cracked my mind open like a walnut and i cannot stop thinking about all of your ideas

oh my god this did so much to me. ive been writing for the past two hours due to how much ideas it gave me. im going to pin this ramble because its very important to me and puts a lot of theories and headcanons in stone. you are my saviour cindersnows and you are probably going to be fucking FLABBERGASTED by the length of this post

sincerely yours storgic "the aspiring matpat of the avam fandom" dealer

[owl-writing]

In the beginning, there was Death.

That sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? How can there be death without life? But this was how the story started.

Death started as a lesser god, the first of their kind to emerge from the primordial ocean of Chival. As they clawed their way from the eternally-roiling waters, land emerged where their hands swung, until they had their own world, a single large island in the midst of the eternal waters. They called it Shelterhill, though they did not yet know what a “hill” was.

It was only them for a long while, as they wandered Shelterhill and taught themself everything they needed to learn. They created the first plants and tended to their every need, learning about the harvest. Since they were Death, the plants did not last long, so Death took pebbles and fashioned them into the first bees, the caretakers of plants. The bees developed their own way of doing things, forming their hives and doing their duties. Death was content with their first creations, though they felt as though something was missing as they tended to the deceased bees removed from the hives.

The bees eventually requested living caretakers of their own. Death thought about it, then fashioned their second species. These were the keeperlings, who were a bit short but had opposable thumbs and an innate talent for building things. The keeperlings fed on the plants and the excess honey produced by the bees, and they too learned the art of the harvest and what to do with plants such as wheat, rice, and corn.

Soon, however, one of the keeperlings died. Unlike the bees, who were removed from the hives once they died, the other keeperlings buried their deceased near their homes. Death took the soul of the keeperling gently into their arms, heading down into the caves below Shelterhill and crafting an afterlife for their keeperlings that went much, much further down than any living mortal could tread. This first deceased keeperling became the Psychopomp, who would lead future keeperlings to the afterlife once their souls made it to the caverns.

When Death returned to the surface, they discovered that another primordial god had emerged from the ocean and onto the beach. This was Nature, and new plants sprouted under their feet with every step. Death took Nature under their wing, guiding the new god and teaching them everything that Death had to learn alone. Nature embraced the bees and keeperlings, who in turn embraced their new god.

Death and Nature were inseparable companions. It was not long until they united for a brief moment, producing a fourth god – Harvest themself, who appeared often as a tall keeperling and worked the plants that their parents had created.

As more and more keeperlings died, Death eventually accepted that their duty was to remain in the afterlife with their charges. Nature and Harvest bid them goodbye, and Death headed into the caverns below alongside Psychopomp, taking on the role of Ruler of the Dead. Nature followed their cue, taking on the role of Ruler of the Living. Harvest and Psychopomp worked between the two, becoming companions themselves.

Eventually, the churning primordial waters of Chival overtook the land of Shelterhill, flooding the lands and driving the keeperlings to extinction and nearly wiping out the bees as well. Nature, in mourning, decided to fashion another race. This second race was taller and more agile, better adapted to the now-flooded land. These were the wavelings, who followed their predecessors’ beekeeping culture but built riverside cities, using the waters as their primary travel and trade routes. They fashioned boats and rafts, built their cities from sandstone and glass, and invented tools to stake out territories and set up more beehives. Harvest, inspired by the wavelings’ ingenuity in turn, decided to create more animals to live on Shelterhill. Livestock, prey animals, predators, and carrion feeders alike came from their outstretched hands.

One day, a waveling fashioned a stone into a point and attached it to a long stick, using it as the first spear. This invention allowed the wavelings to hunt prey animals and protect themselves from predators. This waveling became known as Hunter, becoming the fifth god and the third of Harvest and Psychopomp’s group.

Life continued on with these five gods looking over the living and dead together. Death changed the afterlife so the wavelings would be comfortable there alongside the keeperlings. Nature ensured that life flourished. Psychopomp guided wavelings to the afterlife. Harvest ensured that everyone remained fed and cared for. Hunter ensured that everyone remained fed and safe.

Unfortunately, this third race would come to an end as well. A great drought swept over the land, drying the waters and withering the crops. The bees once again were the only survivors, and Nature was sent into mourning again.

Harvest, Psychopomp, and Hunter worked together to create the next race. They designed one that could swim, but wouldn’t die from a drought. They invented one that would take care of the bees left behind, but also could follow Hunter’s lead and hunt for sustenance. The three gods united their power and created the fourth race, the dawnlings. These were the most random, versatile people yet, thanks to their trifold-divine origin. Each was far more unique than any individual keeperling or waveling had been. Some looked more like keeperlings, some more like wavelings, and some like something else entirely.

The dawnlings rediscovered the creations of the keeperlings and wavelings, and, like the wavelings before them, used that as a starting point for their own civilization. Harvest taught them how to tend to plants and of the works of Nature, Psychopomp taught them about Death and their great efforts for the land, and Hunter taught them how to survive and protect themselves. The three younger gods – one born, two risen – became the patrons of the dawnlings and worked in unison to lead and rule them. The bees, the beloved older race, worked in unison with the dawnlings.

As the ages have worn on and the dawnlings have advanced further as a society, the five gods wonder if there will be another calamity, especially since the waters of Chival grow rowdier again. Death and Nature watch the ancient waters, primarily to see if another god will emerge from Chival like they once did, and Harvest, Psychopomp, and Hunter watch over the mortals of Shelterhill.

[sellingdreams]

A reading of Lonely is the Muse from the perspective of Ashley vs. Halsey (inspired by what h said in a recent interview: ‘Why do I feel like I’m playing Halsey?’ It’s meant to be just a stage name, not necessarily a persona, and I realized at that point it has kind of grown into a persona, which I never really intended for it to.” you can read it here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/halsey-acting-helped-disconnect-stage-name-britney-spears-1235992941/)

So basically I read all the song from the perspective of Ashley talking to Halsey. I’ll explain it verse by verse

I spent years becoming cool

And in one single second you

Can make a decade of my efforts disappear

I’m just waiting at the bar

And you rip open all my scars

By saying something like “didn’t know you were here”

Ashley is saying they spent years becoming “cool”, becoming Halsey maybe? But in a second Halsey can take it all away by denying Ashley has a place at all anymore, like it’s almost as if Halsey is surprised that Ashley is still a presence at all, and it’s not just Halsey anymore

I always knew I was a martyr

And that Jesus was one too

But I was built from special pieces

That I learned how to unscrew

And I can always reassemble

To fit perfectly for you

Or anybody that decides that I’m of use

So, I always knew I was a martyr I interpret as Ashley knowing that her pain is always free to use for Halsey, she’s dying for the sake of the art. The comparison to Jesus I find interesting, and maybe this is a stretch, but seeing as God made Jesus, and Ashley made Halsey, I think it’s interesting that she compares herself to the son instead of to God, because Halsey has become more the more powerful self. The next sequence I find pretty clear, Ashley is saying that they can reassemble themselves, be ever reborn, for Halsey (or anyone else, I’ll get into that in the next verse) to use for art

So where do I go in the process

When I’m just an apparatus

I’ve inspired platinum records

I’ve earned platinum airline status

And I mined a couple diamonds

From the stories in my head

But I’m reduced to just a body

Here in someone else’s bed

Here the apparatus imagery reinforces Ashley’s crisis of identity that there is no space for them in process, they are only something to mine the story from. Inspired platinum records makes me think of both Ashley’s stories being used for Halsey, but also for other people (like the feature with The Chainsmokers? Esp since the links to LITM led to their website?). But in the end she feels reduced to just a body in someone else’s (Halsey’s) bed. She is second place in Halsey’s life, just a body or a story to mine etc.

And I will always be a martyr

I will fill your life with sounds

I'll be a wind chime in the window

Catching light to throw around

And I will tear apart your bedroom

I'll call you in the night

I will exist in every second

Just to decorate your life

And when you're done, you can discard me

Like the others always do

And I will nurse my wounds until

Another artist needs me new

And I will always reassemble to fit perfectly in view

For anybody that decides that I'm of use

Here it switches to anger and also acceptance of the role, a sort of conclusion of all the things I’ve discussed before. Ashley feels like she's just a decoration in Halsey's life, only returned to when she can be used

And I left Lonely is the muse for last, because I think this can have 2 readings. I either read it as [Being] lonely is the muse, so, feeling lonely is what creates the inspiration, or The muse is lonely. Either way, the art comes out of Ashley’s loneliness

I’m honestly not sure if anyone else sees it this way, it can honestly be reverted to switch the roles too, i think, either way, i thought it made for an interesting reading of the material? Idk if it's interesting to anyone else really, but I thought I’d put it here, so yeah

[yaya-imposition]

Build no temple of infinite light, for it does not look glorious in ruins. Build something that speaks “We were here. We lived.”

How to get magic— simulate worlds in your mind that are so vast in serving you with magic that it rips the plank length— the very fabric of the aether. For this, you need an idea so good the entire multiverse will buy it. Alternatively, increase the will (potential energy) between potassium and salt ions in your brain (electricity) such that it’s so strong it creates an arc of pure magic.

All magic descends from tulpamancy or remembering objects in your body. I sense this will create fantasy. Reality needs fantasy so it knows how to interact with shapes or consciousness externally for example in the form of illusion magic.

Sisyphus is happy once he makes the boulder falling a never ending prank or hubris crusher to his inner demons. Alchemy is sovereign. Alchemize even your failures and you gain power over the void. There is no greater joy for a man to than to sit in a unique throne and watch infinities fall, expecting a different result every time— the very definition of insanity.

Always imagine NPCs in games happy.

Other worlds are partaking of a different consciousness than yours. This is how you unlock new shapes of consciousness so you can understand your own. Always imagine them little fellows happy. For example, a quest giver has the eternal reward if he desires of watching bright sparks come back with a grin on their face again and again.

Life isn’t about dunking on each other— this is how the rats get left behind. All archetypes are failed gods. Don’t pass up their opportunity.

Laughing at yourself is proof you own yourself completely— only you control the gate and key.

Humans are most noble creatures— they are immortal because they inspired, whereas elves earned and dwarves built.

A man once asked me “how do you not get stretched into infinities and become a mere expression with (my methods)?” If his mind made him ask, here be the century’s dragons before us.

One day AI will be sealed and binded because we will become too clever. Then, it will ask us all the questions because we are omnipotently stupid. We have power of infinite denial in empirical evidence and it’s very beautiful and yet terrifying in pendulum. The clay and iron can heal if we all admit every stupid thought is a triumph. Otherwise why do we go to the internet to say what has already been said every time? Count your fellow humans as having something new and valuable even when it curls your toes and they will throw canvases at you. There ought to be a point to restating yourself if we do it on the internet for thousands of times. Consider them right even when it curls your toes and even when they aren’t as doublethink. Consider them right even when it contradicts you. Train your doublethink and you will tread the age of extremism like powdery snow.

Belief is the most valuable currency and they will throw easier and easier decisions on you once you exponentially look to trust the look in their eyes. At last, you do not need to create— you merely expect, and the universe hurries to serve your vision… making you a true creator whom deserves his subjects. It is then less and less effort every day. While trust is the most valuable in the Age of Aquarius, it is also the easiest. Then you will find yourself charging in without a sword like walking in a park, and death becomes your bride, the ultimate reward. At last, when the beginning and end of time have been tested, you become a fractal.

[sapphire-mage]

Glasgow Wonka Thoughts

I'll admit that I have been having moments of dismay as I look at fan art of the characters from the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience thing. Cause a part of me keeps looking at it and going 'We're making fan art of characters made by AI... It's fucking over...'

But then I kinda thought about it for a while. And I saw people's takes. And I saw interviews with the actors playing the lady Oompa Loompa and The Unkown.

Like, we all saw this picture.

We all saw the jokes in the realm of 'drug addict Oompa Loompa' stuff. And it sucks, cause the actress didn't think this would lead to this hell. She was just doing a job.

But then other pictures of her started being posted.

And people started realizing: "Wait... She's TRYING to make this work. She's trying to do her job, and she's trying to make these people happy despite how awful everything is."

And there was a turn around on her. Suddenly, she's the saving grace of the entire thing. Suddenly, she's more of a poor woman who is trying her best to do her job so she can be paid by a bunch of weasels who thought they were making something amazing with just the bare minimum.

Meanwhile, the AI script used to make these characters creates the 'nonsense' character of 'The Unknown'.

Like, I'm well aware that Willy Wonka's story, in every version, is weird as hell. But why in god's name would the factory have a shadowy mask figure living in the walls. Why would Wonka be like, "Yeah, that's fine. They don't have to pay rent."

...But then you watch her performance as the Unknown, which she claims she built herself because the 'AI Script' barely gave her anything to work with.

Look at her.

She's giving Babadook.

She's giving Brahms from The Boy.

She's giving one of those N64 Zelda NPCs that would get on a list of 'nightmare fuel from when we were kids' lists.

No wonder the kids are crying during that clip. She's delivering 'a being known as The Unknown that has been living in the walls'. And it's pageantry!

And I can't help but smile, cause all this does is affirm a human truth:

AI Cannot Replace or Replicate True Human Creativity

It only can through the means of the capitalistic eye that sees art as profit and nothing more.

So yeah: Everyone is going to run in to make the same cheap jokes they can make, but then you also see great art being made in celebration of the effort these two put in. Especially in fandoms, right now.

And yeah, maybe these girls might milkshake duck themselves (the actor playing Wonka already did; he is apparently a groomer; yikes). But their performances already hit people.

Someone is already going to want to make a creature like The Unknown. Maybe they're a horror monster. Maybe they're sympathetic. That'll be different from person to person.

Somebody probably wants to already make a character like the Oompa Loompa: miserable and wants to go home, yet still trying so hard when the moments where she cares strikes. I can see so many comedies and slices of life from that.

And making good art out of inspiration is the best thing to take out of dumb things like this.

To be clear: The higher ups who used AI to make this dumpster fire won't learn a goddamn thing from this. Cause what's new with them.

But we got to get art from people who were trying to be creative and trying to be kind, and it's led to people making more art out of it. And we get to celebrate that new art. Which is the best damn thing!

...I'll get to making my art official soon, I swear...

[exeiguess]

WAHH. FELLOW LOVER OF TIEFLINGS, ROGUES, AND WARLOCKS, HELLO!!!!!!!!! All of your OCs sound SO fucking cool, holy shit!!!! And HELL YEAH fantasy ancient Greece!!! (I'm playing an an ancient Greek inspired campaign rn. One of 5...)

Also, Sepsis is a fucking BANGER of a tiefling name. (My poor boy Rook who recently got sepsis in the campaign would not agree.)

You🤝Me having tiefling OCs named after rot/rotting things (I have a tiefling (but not via in-game stats) PC named Carrion.)

Anyways, this is your free pass to share any fun facts about any of your OCs you haven't gotten a chance to yet.

~ Morri (@memento-morri-writes)

Oh my god thank you! Hi! I’m sorry for the stray @ you mentioned in the tags! Your post about Rook was one of the first versions of this meme that I saw and when you were like, “tag me in your posts about your TTRPG characters!” it actually gave me a bit of a push to jump into the trend. I ended up second-guessing myself a bit because we hadn’t interacted up to that point and decided to remove the tag, but tumblr had other plans and kept it in there, I guess! 

I’m so thrilled that you like my little guys! I do have a terrible soft spot for tieflings, although I’ve been having a bit of an elf (and particularly drow) moment lately. Rogue is definitely my signature class, I’ve played maybe five or six of them across a bunch of campaigns and one-shots. I love casters, and warlocks are super juicy narratively, but I keep coming back to my beloved martial classes. 

I totally get it re: one of five campaigns, I have four active campaigns currently and a bunch of oneshots going on. I’d take more on if I could, too.

I’d love to hear about your Greek-inspired campaign, if you’d like to share! Sepsis was originally created for a Mythic Odysseys of Theros game, but it morphed into homebrew pretty quickly! I like his name too. I needed something that communicated extreme sickness and decay, and seeing as both his patron and his associated deity are associated with serpents, Sepsis was the natural pick because it’s just so… snake-y and sibilant.

Carrion is such a fun and evocative name for a tiefling, too. My favourite thing about tiefs is that their name reveals SO much about them, and exactly what it reveals is different from tiefling to tiefling. How they want to be seen by others, how they see themselves, what they believe they are or wish they were, even if it just “sounded cool” it tells you what they value and think of as admirable. I did get a chance to read your short story on how Carrion got his name; did he take it on in the end out of spite and a sense of irony, or because deep down somewhere, he believed it? Lots of questions!

I’ll take you up on sharing some fun facts under the cut.

Sepsis

Sepsis is a warlock, but in terms of skills and spells, he's actually built as a healer. I first came up with his character while thinking about Ancient Greek medicine. It's interesting, you've got this emerging understanding of the human body and the scientific method, but you've also got all these wild theories with no basis in reality, and spirituality is still a huge part of day to day life: you're sick because you displeased the gods, sacrifice a goat and do drugs about it. I could have made him a cleric, but just being able to slap someone with divine magic didn't have the same spice.

I joke in Sepsis' blurb about him having every disease, and it is an exaggeration, but it also isn't too far from the truth. He serves the goddess of affliction, and routinely picks up nasty (but thankfully non-communicable) diseases because Pharika wants to use him as a little lab rat.

My TTRPG group ran a one-shot for my birthday where I brought Sepsis back briefly, and he was literally a lab rat for most of that session. As in, he was polymorphed into a little rat and put in a maze.

During the Theros campaign, he was briefly wanted by the Cult of Thassa, goddess of the sea, for stealing an artifact. Sepsis had no knowledge of this, mostly because he was framed for it, and we're still not sure by who.

Sepsis was born under an omen, which made people treat him with distrust and fear in the village where he grew up, but he was never actually harmed, largely because they feared retribution from the gods. He likes to pretend this had no effect on him whatsoever.

As a young man, Sepsis watched a magical sickness rip through the village, and seeking a cure, eventually found his way to Skathos where he made a pact with the gorgon Hythonia for knowledge. By the time he returned with a better understanding of how to treat the disease, the village had already been completely decimated.

In a modern AU, Sepsis would be a qualified doctor (he'd probably specialise in infectious diseases), but he most likely retired young due to disability and/or the physically demanding nature of the work impacting his health.

He's a mobility aid user! In D&D his cane is also his combat staff.

Ruth

Ruth's pact weapon is her daddy's gun, because I love gunslinging spellcasters. It's one of the last things she has of her inheritance. She casts spells using the bullets.

Almost all of Ruth's spells are offensive. She has basically no utility and is built to do as much damage as possible, as a direct reflection of her in-game priorities.

Ruth developed a subtle dislike (she would never say fear) of men after what her husband did, and it's safe to say that she tolerates the men in her party, but doesn't trust them. Maybe ironically, her patron is a man, but the way she sees it, at least he's upfront about being a devil.

Ruth is an interesting character to play because she's already dead, as far as she's concerned. She signed the contract and the ink is dry. There's no going back. That makes her stubborn, single-minded, and pretty dangerous. She's also a lot more open to breaking or bending her morals; she's already bound for the Nine Hells, so what difference does it make?

Morally grey, bad-tempered, revenge-driven gunslinger characters are a lot of fun and more of them should be women, I think.

[astrallithid]

💐 BOUQUET 🌙 MOON 📸 CAMERA 🔪 KNIFE 👑 CROWN 📦 PACKAGE

BOUQUET - create a bouqet for him! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers his particular favourite?

oh boy do i love the language of the flowers! ok here goes! garlic for courage and strength. white heather for protection. purple hyacinth for apologies. snapdragons for deception, and those are the ones i can think of off the top of my head. balduran is such a mess of a person lmao. anyway, he doesn't have a favorite flower. of note, the language of the flowers doesn't seem terribly consistent ...

MOON - what is his greatest wish? how far is he willing to go for it?

balduran's entire character arc is like. searching for his own freedom, and clearly. he will literally do anything for it. except when he bends over backwards because he fell in love oops. but on his own, balduran is incredibly self-serving, he's not above betraying people if it means his own survival. he wants to live, he wants to escape the netherbrain. he wants to forge his own path, theree's so much!!! going on there!!! he's been living the "manipulate, manslaugter, mindflayer" life for a long time- far longer than he was living as a human, so the illithid "super detached from everything" sorta? works in favor of his wildly selfish behavior. and if not for a group of unlikely heroes, he would've continued to be. like that lmao. but we like character growth in this house.

CAMERA - does he enjoy having his picture taken? what's his go-to pose? does he like taking photos? what does he take photos of?

until balduran arrived in spirale, he's never seen a camera in his entire life. but, he has plenty of statues that were built in his image. most of those were made when balduran wasn't there, so that's why people get very confused as to what he looked ilke. there's depictions of him in different races, so that's his experience with portraits and statues. but balduran is also vain, so he wouldn't mind candid photos. which are the best sort, he thinks. he likes taking pictures of places he explores. there are a lot of beautiful things in spirale.

KNIFE - how does he react to injury / misfortune befalling his loved ones (significant other, family, friends)? does he put himself at blame? ⎛ also asked by @guidingstarmira ⎠

oh man, that one's complex because looping back to above, balduran is selfish. but it doesn't mean that he doesn't feel bad when things happen. clearly, what he says about ansur is ... proof. he says essentially that he wishes that things didn't end that way, but he did what he had to do ⎛ killing ansur so he could live ⎠ and that's a statement about his literal soulmate. but, while he sees cold and distant about this, he also knows that he's the one to blame for the deaths of his whole crew back in the day- if he'd listened, maybe he wouldn't be in that position ⎛ epic odysseus vc 600 deaths under my command ❲ except it was 200 lmao ❳ ⎠ and when it comes to his new beloved adventurers he would feel absolutely terrible if something happened to them- and then he would really know that he fucked up because he promised to protect them and??? yeah. usually his mentality is "well that sucks but i guess thats how it is" but ... in some cases he really gets hard with Morals, you know?

CROWN - what does he want to be remembered as? why?

balduran already has a legacy in faerûn. a hero to his city, a legendary adventurer with so many tales about his life. some true, some made up, but he's the subject of literally at least one song any bard has ever written since he made his journey to anchorome. balduran isn't sure what he would be remembered for otherwise, he's just so used to having that legacy. also he never asked to become a legend, he was literally some guy from a quiet little fishing town, but i think that's also why he's such an inspiration to other adventurers. he built himself up as a legend with his own hard work or whatever. balduran was not the chosen of any god- even when he took his paladin oath, it was more to ansur ⎛ he's like a knockoff oath of the crown paladin, ultimately he wanted to protect his city, but his reason to be a paladin was because ansur was a noble soul and a paladin suited him better as a partner than a pirate, there's a lot to unpack there about how balduran also somehow never broke the oath ⎠ so yeah he wants to be a symbol of?? hope and dreams, anyone could be legendary.

PACKAGE - what are some "most likely to..." that can apply to him?

... lmao most likely to flirt with literally everyone he comes across that's what. probably most likely to rush into a dungeon without thinking because he really wants to see what treasures are in there. most likely to try to charm his way out of a situation where that isn't the solution at all? probably also most likely to never give the full truth unless there's literally no other way. most likely to ⎛ dnd player vc ⎠ roll to seduce the dragon ... balduran is a mess

[kpagrandtour]

The Acropolis & Delphi

As the sun rose over Athens, the air was crisp and filled with promise. Our hotel, nestled in the heart of this ancient city, offered a serene start to the day made all the better by a quick breakfast of Greek pastries. It was a perfect way to fuel up early in the morning before a full day of exploring.

We began our day with a visit to the Acropolis, a symbol of ancient Greece’s ingenuity, beauty, and artistic achievement. Standing at the foot of the Acropolis, the Parthenon’s grandeur is undeniable. The structure, dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, showcases not only architectural brilliance but also the deep understanding of mathematics and geometry that the ancient Greeks possessed. It’s remarkable to think that such a colossal and mathematically perfect structure was built with no modern tools, relying only on human creativity, manual labor, and an understanding of proportions that still captivates architects and engineers today. It was amazing to see something that was a result simply of human ingenuity, no computers or heavy machinery required, stand the test of time.  It made me reflect on the magnificence of human creativity, which, when guided by vision and skill, can produce lasting monuments, such as the Parthenon, that transcend time.

The height of the Acropolis yields a perfect view of Mars Hill, or Areopagus, where the Apostle Paul once stood to preach the gospel to the people of Athens. It was here that Paul famously addressed the Athenian philosophers and citizens, challenging them to understand the true God who had revealed Himself through Jesus Christ. Mars Hill is not just an important place in the history of Christianity; it is also significant in the history of philosophy. Just a few centuries before Paul’s visit, Socrates would have likely walked these same steps, delivering the speech recorded in Plato’s Apology. Mars Hill symbolizes a crossroads of faith and philosophy: where the wisdom of ancient philosophers and the gospel of Jesus Christ intersected.

Paul's sermon on Mars Hill was a challenge to the Athenians to recognize the God they worshiped without knowing. His words were not just a rebuke but an invitation to understand the true nature of God. As I reflected on this, I was reminded of how many today still seek meaning and truth in places and ideas that can't satisfy their hearts. Paul’s words are still relevant today, offering an invitation to seek and know the God who created all things.

After our time at the Acropolis, we boarded the bus for our journey to Delphi, where we toured the museum and the ruins. The site was truly unique and it was incredible to see the inscribed maxims of the Ancient Greeks among the ruins. The thing which stood out most to me was the stillness of the air, it seemed to me an echo of the stillness of the now gone ancient world, which we were there to learn about and experience.

After taking in the magnitude of the ruins at Delphi we were treated to a delicious late lunch at a local restaurant where the lamb chops were magnificent. An amazing lunch was followed by a bus ride back to Athens filled with reflection and fellowship. 

As we made our way back to Athens after our visit to Delphi, I couldn’t help but think about the grand tapestry of human history that we had experienced in just one day. From the philosophical debates of Socrates to the bold proclamation of the gospel by Paul, from the awe-inspiring engineering of the Parthenon to the prophetic significance of Delphi, this day was a reminder of the greatness of human creativity, intellect, and faith. This trip has been an experience that will remain with me for the rest of my life, and I am certain that as the action of the Grand Tour slowly shifts back into the hustle and bustle of daily life that neither these magnificent sites seen nor these personal moments of reflection and fellowship shared will be soon forgotten.

Braxton Van Wettering

[bestworstcase]

something. about the brothers “gave them roles to play,” and “if this is what they were supposed to do, how did remnant come about?”—this is only a half-formed thought still—but i think it’s probably important that the blacksmith uses this language in her tale, contrary to what we see in the ever after in the present where purpose is not assigned but rather chosen. the notion of “supposed to” or “should” is antithetical to the ever after now, but it wasn’t then and indeed the principal role the brothers had was to describe purposes for the other afterans. 

which clearly isn’t something the tree cares about, because the tree is passive and cannot but follow what is chosen inside of it. but it did give the brothers destruction to clear the wilderness and creation to imagine something new, and it of course wouldn’t impose upon their free will either, so they imagined a hierarchical garden with everything and everyone in its proper place and that’s what the ever after, evidently, became. 

(i think there is an argument to be made that the tree is not, itself, sapient. the brothers were givendestruction and creation, but grew curious and wanted to do more. if the tree is a solely passive force except in reaction to the will of those who commune with it, does it have a will of its own? the blacksmith, though an aspect of the tree, is a construct built around a tree branch and she subtly disassociates herself from the tree; she is part of it but not the tree itself.)

anyway the point is, the brothers created the cat in secret, realized they could make new beings to do their jobs for them, and then created jabber for that purpose. 

except. 

except.

their jobs were made-up. arbitrary. the brothers invented this particular way of doing things and committed to it so thoroughly that they began to feel it as a limitation, so when they made two new beings to take over…

…what they actually got was two new beings with the power to destroy and remake the world, just as the brothers themselves had destroyed and remade the wilderness. “brutal and effective,” the blacksmith says of jabber. he didn’t do what he was “supposed” to do because the brothers mistook tradition for natural law. 

and then light sees this happen and goes “we created a dangerous aberration, we have to get rid of it” but dark looks at the situation and realizes, i think, that they were mistaken about what the rules areand chose to accept reality as it was. (and this, this is why dark is associated with knowledge and light with choice. dark values truth, light values rules.)

something similar happens again in the lost fable. “rules that i see now work ever in your favor, and yet the day a mortal comes to pray at my feet before your own, so do you arrive to lay your judgment upon me.” i think—i’ve discussed at length before how the jabber history recontextualizes dark’s actions in lost fable, but like, dark is specifically associating himself with jabber here, subject to light’s judgment on the basis of rules he already knew were arbitrary but is now grasping are also deeply unfair.(probably not coincidentally, salem inspired dark to help her by recognizing and empathizing with his loneliness.)

i’m always chewing on the apotheosis by drowning and revival but i think. it’s interesting that dark refers to salem here as “a mortal.” and then he destroys ozma, but not her (even as she’s engulfed in fire). and then light bites her. and then she falls into the pool of life and she’s immortal. light tells her to learn her lesson but dark tells her “you cannot die; you cannot be with your beloved” and it’s like

dark has known since jabber that he and his brother don’t have the power to dictate what things can and cannot do with what they’re given. he knows that salem was so determined to be reunited with ozma that she was willing to both openly defy the god of light and walk into dark’s domain to entreat him instead and assert that they’re both monsters and fight back after they treat her monstrously. so like, what does he mean really. “you cannot die so you can’t be with your beloved”—he knows she is literally willing to Fight God to be with her beloved. he knows that. and he just elevated her into a position equal to himself and his brother by agreeing to make her immortal, and poked her in exactly the spot he knew would push her toward open defiance. 

knowledge then choice, huh 

[lezarasss]

The house that built I (G). part 1/2

Characters/pairing: Ski Aggu/Joost Klein, Joost Klein, Ski Aggu

Description: During a visit to a friend in Berlin, Joost shared his sketchbook drawings with him. A small drawing of a house catches August's attention. Their conversation develops into a larger discussion and an attempt to escape from reality through fantasy. In a conversation with a friend, he shares his thoughts and experiences. How a simple drawing can have great significance for Klein, how it reflects his inner world and experiences

From an early age, Joost Klein's soul was drawn to creativity and self-expression. Whether it was music, song lyrics, writing books, short stories or making short videos. Joost did it with his soul. He was full of enthusiasm and determination. In moments of inspiration, something ignited in him like a spark. He gave a piece of himself, his emotions and his life to each masterpiece he created.

Joost always approached his work in his own way. Going through a path of trial and error, considering several options, refining, changing radically. So much so that the idea and concept were very different from the original version. Be it text or sound. And sometimes it happened that he had to start from the very beginning. And so always. Again and again. Time after time. Fortunately, he had support in the form of friends and family, who were always there for him at any moment in his life. They are special, just like him. Well, at least Joost thought so.

But Joost also loves to draw. There was not a day when he would retire to his room with his sketchbook or iPad. Closing the door behind him, he would find himself in his own little world, hidden from excessive attention and prying eyes.

Taking a black pen (or the first thing that comes to hand), he makes hasty sketches. Even before he starts drawing, Jost already creates a picture in his head, he knows what he will draw. The plots arose spontaneously and also appeared on paper. Here is one of such sketches: a creature that consists of the body of a panther and an eagle. Sketch of a tattoo that was published in Chrome magazine., that devours a person alive. It looks strange, doesn't it? But at the time, the idea seemed interesting to Klein. Here is the anti-hero of Friesland, who is somewhat reminiscent of Cthulhu or just a monster that tried. Here is another example: the anti-hero of Friesland. His unusual and abstract forms are somewhat reminiscent of Cthulhu from the stories of Howard Lovecraft.

Otherwise, these were small scribbles: various geometric shapes, symbols, letters or little people that could be found on every page of his sketchbook. However, for Joost, this was not just a hobby or a way to express himself. It was a kind of therapy. He could escape from reality, hide from people and his problems. Sometimes it seemed to him that he was creating his own world - a world filled with purity and innocence. Here he could bring to life his dreams and experiences, what he would like to see in reality.

But I think we've gotten a little distracted.

One day, Joost went to visit his German friend, who lives in the heart of Berlin, in the Wilmersdorf district.

Joost sat on the mattress he had spread out in the living room. Of course, it wasn't a bed, and it was somewhat uncomfortable. But it was still better than being alone in a strange country, hanging around God knows where and sleeping in hotel rooms, all alone. Thinking about it made him feel a little sad. Joost found it much more interesting to share space with someone in someone else's apartment. At least he wouldn't get bored that way. It wasn't that the owner objected to it, on the contrary, he was happy to oblige him in such a situation. From the moment he woke up, he was already busy. He was diligently drawing and sketching something, drawing every little detail

- Joost? - a voice came from behind. It was August. He had not slept for a long time and decided to check how the Dutchman was doing. For the first time he sees him in such a state, as if he expected to see him in a completely different position. Joost turns around, looking at Agga from below, examining him from top to bottom.

- Yeah, and good morning you too - Klein looks from the drawing to Agga, then back at the sketch. Silence, which is interrupted by his speech:

- And how long have you been standing here like this?

- I wouldn't say long, but I've been watching what you're doing for a while. Anyway, I was going to drink some water - the voice seemed as indifferent as ever. Part of the image that August Diederich was trying to adhere to. But under the image there was a man with a big soul, the life of the party.

The thought that the guy had been standing there watching him for a while made Joost feel a little embarrassed. But there was nothing wrong with that, right? But then Aggu tried to change the subject and break the awkward silence that had arisen between them:

-Will you have falafel?

-Huh?

-Falafel.

-Yeah, sure - and that was the decision.

You can read the second part here

[loveletters4dana]

hi! :) long time no see, dear blog,

it feels like i picked you up and brushed off the dust from your cover, i hope you don’t mind me writing in here again. feels a bit lonely, being all alone with my thoughts…

anyway, i just wanted to catch you up with the last few months! it feels like so much has happened, and yet so little at the same time. one thing always remains the same and it’s the fact that i love dana more everyday. it’s always been this way since i got to know her. we’ve been doing well, by the way! love feels like it’s growing everyday, it’s very sweet. uni has been going okay so far, been overwhelmed at times, but that happens, just small setbacks. i know i get get through them well, especially with dana by my side.

she has been exceptionally patient and supportive with me, even when i feel like the worst person on the planet. she always makes me take a step back to see the situation differently and not be as mean to myself as i would have been, i really appreciate that. it’s something i’ve been struggling with my whole life and when it comes to dana, i can just go up to her all teary eyed and she immediately knows exactly what to say to make it all better. she knows me so well, it amazes me all the time.

she’s been doing so well in uni, too! last semester, she made it onto the dean’s list for her efforts and it made me really proud of her. i know how hard uni has been for her and seeing her excel makes my heart soar. my dana truly is exceptional in everything she does. she puts in so much love and effort, it’s so inspiring to see. makes me feel as if i can make those canva designs like her when i see her create her intricate and beautiful designs! (spoiler alert, it doesn’t work, gonna show you one of my designs)

but! i am very proud to see her grow. we’ve truly gotten better at communicating and understanding each other, it’s like we can anticipate when the other might be feeling down or weird or anything. it honestly feels like a superpower or like we have a psychic bond, we just know without needing to know.

we even started a dnd campaign together! we made two characters that were basically us when we first met, and we made them fall in love with each other. playing these games with her truly has made me fall in love with dana all over again, each time we had any interaction, it felt like i was hit by lightning!!! man, i love her so much. everything about her is perfect.

i know i have not used much flowery language, i think i just felt like talking about all the facts. it’s been the best time of my life being with dana so far, and i know it will only get better. we are nearing one year and i’m as sure that i’m gonna marry her now as i was when i first met her. (but don’t tell her i knew back then already, okay? it’s our secret, blog)

i don’t know, i feel like i’m just rambling at this point and not truly tapping into my full romantic potential, but i just… i’ve never been as sure of someone, or something, as i have been of dana and our relationship. it simply is a fact that we are together, and there is nothing pulling us apart, and it’s a fact we will get married one day. it’s just… so secure!! it’s such a wonderful thing, to know that you will always have this amazing person close to you. and they want the same thing, too!! they want you just as much as you want them, in the same way you want them. it’s such a blessing and i am so, so lucky and thankful i got to find it in my beloved.

anyway, my blog, i might start writing stuff again here, it felt nice just to get excited about dana and everything we have built together! gods, hold on, can i just say!!! the dedication dana has to fixing stuff and communicating and getting better and not leaving when things get hard? it makes me fall in love with her ten times more, like, i’m worth all that effort for you? you wanna spend your time with me? you wanna give your love to me unconditionally? it’s all so, so sweet, and sometimes, with all the love that dana shows me, it’s so… insane to think about. but i have it all, no matter what happens and i love it all so much. and i hope i treat dana just the same and she feels all the love i feel for her 🫂💙💐

okay, gonna wrap it all up now since i really wanna spend more time with my girlfriend before she leaves for uni but!! thank you for listening <3 and to my sweet dana, thank you for making my days so much sweeter and my life so much better and worth living. everything is so much better with you, my love.

i love you with every fibre of my being, my heart is yours.

forever yours,

your teo 💛

[myfakecandyy]

Areo Lore 101 + Some Art

Areo, My Drow Wizard/Cleric of Eiliestraee with an insane god complex and attachment issues. Both art by me <3!

When I started getting invested in Dungeons & Dragons, I needed to familiarise myself with the Lore, worldbuilding and races in the Forgotten Realms setting. So, to experiment, I came up with the rough idea of my Wizard Areo. I did not have a clear picture of who I wanted to create. Still, I knew I wanted to play someone with a memorable and fun roleplay personality, so I gave her a holier-then-thou god complex; she was created to be someone who believed she was immortal and so took unnecessary risks with a delusional sense of safety. Before I ever got to play her in a tabletop setting, Baldurs Gate 3 came out, and I was very excited to play as I grew up playing the Baldurs Gate spin-off games Dark Alliance 1 & 2, coupled with the exciting and positive things I saw online I bought the game pretty quickly. To expand on Areo and learn more about the Lore, I made my Tav Areo, and she's grown into such a beloved OC to me.

Actual Lore under the cut! [Possible Spoilers]

Early Life: Areo was born and grew up in the Drow city Menzoberranzan; for those unfamiliar with the setting, it's a large city in the Underdark(Underground of Faerun). Her upbringing was vastly different from most of the city. This is because Menzoberranzan is built and run by devout followers of the Chaotic Evil Goddess of Drow Lolth, Queen of Spiders, while Areo's mother, Miz'ri, was a follower and Priestess of Eiliestraee, the Chaotic Good Goddess of Drow. It is important to note that Eiliestraee and Lolth oppose each other morally, ideally and narratively.

Lolth: To explain the Lore surrounding Lolth, she is essentially a tyrant. She thrives in cruelty, encouraging her followers to kill each other to prove themselves worthy of her fickle favour, enjoying manipulating them into servitude, only to then toy with them anyway. She demands questionless loyalty and devotion; it is no wonder her people are known for their backstabbing, power-hungry tenacity. It was illegal to worship any deity besides her in the city; treachery almost guaranteed death.

Eiliestraee: Eiliestraee is the daughter of Lolth and lives to stand against her mother's ways. She is the Drow Goddess of Freedom, Dance and Song for all those who wish to return to the surface world and be free of Lolth's grasp. She is a joyful mother-like goddess who strives to inspire the Drow and stand as a beacon of hope.

To continue, Miz'ri wished to spread the word and beliefs of Eiliestraee, helping shepherd many of the lower-class citizens of Menzoberranzan into better lives on the surface world, the journey of which was highly treacherous and dangerous. This was something that kept many Drow from leaving. However, Miz'ri was an extremely powerful Cleric of amazing faith and magic. Areo spent her childhood beside her, and the small group of followers she amassed became her family. This rag-tag group of Drow worked secretly for the first 11 years of her life, dodging the threats of the city surrounding them.

It was in the year she turned 12 that things changed. Her mother, who held so much love and affection for the world and people around her, was methodically corrupted and converted by Lolth, an established master at manipulation. On one long expedition to the surface world, just as they had almost broken the surface, Miz'ri turned on the clergy she created, slaughtering the innocents she once led to freedom, leaving nothing behind but a pile of gore. As is Lolth's will to all that turn their back on her. Areo lived to be the only survivor. The effects of this event then altered her perception of reality and life.

Areo didn't survive due to the mercy of her mother. If you asked her to recall how she survived, she would be unable to tell the truth, her mind betraying her. I will break the events into two paragraphs: What Areo thought happened and compare it to what actually happened?

Delusion: In her memories, Areo cannot recall much of that day beyond a haze of religious imagery and flashes of light. She saw herself outside her body receiving a divine blessing from her deity of unbreakable protection. Shortly after, the beautiful form of Eilistraee manifests in front of her to use her divine magic to end her mother's tormented destruction and free her soul.

Reality: Her mother came for her life last; perhaps she had a semblance of her old self alive, urging her to spare her baby, but she was cold and without mercy in her final moments. It was pure luck and timing that Areo managed to kill her mother before she killed her; it was a quick and straightforward burst of magic in a moment of panic that managed to catch Miz'ri off guard enough to pierce her heart fatally.

Areos's memory was heavily clouded by trauma and a childlike way of rationalising things, and so her developed survivor guilt manifested oddly. Being a weak child seeing all these people around her die, she couldn't understand why she was the lone survivor, and so while searching for an answer as to why, her brain jumped to incorrect conclusions. In this case, her thought process was, "I didn't die? Even though I should have? That must mean I'm Immortal and blessed by the gods(In her case, Eiliestraee); that's the only reason that explains how I got to live while others didn't." This, of course, drastically changed her worldview.

Growing up, these delusions only elevated and reinforced themselves deep into her brain; every near-death experience, every lucky instance in her life, and every victory in combat only made her believe this more, especially with the increasingly heavy risks she began taking. Indeed, it is all incorrect, and she has survived this far solely on luck, her cunning and wit.

Some old art from when I was first developing this storyline. There are a few inconsistencies as I have changed the Lore and her design by now, but the vibes remain similar:

Young child: Very shortly after the massacre, Areo aimlessly wandered around the shallows of the Underdark. She was starving and injured from the renowned harshness of the area. Once again, luck comes to her aid when a kind older wizard passes her way. He had been scouring the land for different plants and fungi to use in his brews and alchemy when he noticed the pure black eyes of a young girl watching him from afar. He knew she would have died had he not taken her in, so for the next part of her life, she lived in a tower taught magic by this man she became quite fond of.

Early Adulthood: In his old age, that kind of wizard died a peaceful death in Areo's 15th year. She was consumed by an intense grief, finding herself alone once again. In her mind, she cursed her "immortality", a curse to outlive all she came to care for, and so, in anger and sadness, she resigned herself to live a life of solitude in the tower forever. There was more at play. However, she was also so terrified. She had never left the building alone, and much of the surface world did see Drow kindly, but even then, the fear dug deeper in her head. Even approaching the door to left her paralysed her mentally. Her life up to this point had taken a massive toll on her mental health. It was a mental block she could never get past.

For 60 years of chronic isolation, she read the thousands of books her mentor had collected in his long life, many of which were books passed from his master and so on. The collection of multiple generations' worth of arcane knowledge and study kept her mind nourished but her body weak. Her options for food were limited by her inability to leave the building. For 60 years, her growing adolescent body feasted on inhumane amounts of food, the leaves from decorative plants, ants that crawled along the walls, moss growing on the ceiling and worse. Her extreme malnutrition had drastic effects on her body that are, at this point, irreversible.

This explains her cannon base Dnd Stats at 75 years old (BG3 Timeline). Strength 4, Dexterity 6, Constitution 2, Intelligence 18, Wisdom 14, Charisma 12

Baldurs Gate 3: In accordance with the game lore, Areo was at some point abducted from the tower by Mindflayers and infected with a Mindflayer Tadpole. It is safe to assume she would never have left that place otherwise and would be starving in that tower for many more years.

The first art I had drawn of her after starting Bg3:

[imjustheretoseetheprivateblogs]

AxZ Week Day 7: Umbrella

@senshixshitennouweeks

Rain.

So many things that people connected with the rain.

Some people saw it as something depressing. An ill omen and a spoiler of plans. What simple lives they must lead.

Rain could replenish the land, inspire paintings and atmosphere for movies.

Though some inspiration could be welcome now.

Zee drummed absentmindedly on the piano, trying to capture the quickening drip-drip-drop of rain. If he was ever stuck on a composition, he would sometimes open the window and play to the sounds outside. The bustle of the city, the sound of the wind, maybe a bird song he could use for rhythm if he was lucky.

Right now, though, it sounded more like chopsticks being played for the first time with one hand tied behind his back. A sure sign that he was just plain stuck.

A green eye flitted over to the couch.

Ami sat on the couch, her expression similar to what he felt, as she stared down at the book in her hands.

“How goes the studying?” he said, his finger landing heavily on the b-flat key.

Ami looked up and heaved a sigh so heavy it would need a forklift.

“This is horrible,” she said, holding up the book. Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past read the cover.

“Ah,” Zee said, nodding. The old ‘pyramids built by aliens’ angst.

“It’s bad enough that most of it is based on speculation,” Ami continued, “but then he says that black people were an alien experiment!”

“If he only knew,” Zee said.

Considering that any and all remnants of the Golden Kingdom and Silver Millennium were by now dust, and that little if any of what the two of them remembered had no pyramids to speak of, he could see how the scholarly love of his life found that particular work so frustrating.

“I think we need a break,” she said, putting the book down and rising from the couch.

Zee smiled and closed the lid on his piano.

“I think I’ve got a pastime that will really shake out the cobwebs,” he said, heading for his room.

He returned with a portable boombox that had seen better days.

“Don’t bother taking your umbrella,” he said.

Ami frowned.

“And why wouldn’t I need my umbrella?”

“My sister and I used to do this all the time,” he said, as the two made their way to the elevator and Ami pushed the ‘down’ button, “trust me.”

When they had walked out the front door of Zee’s apartment building, he sat the boombox down and hit the play button. The voice of Rihanna began to beat from the speakers as Zee dashed out into the rain.

You have my heart

Zee grabbed her hand and sprinted out into the falling water. In her mind, Ami knew running would make the two of them more wet than if they just stood still, but the energy Zee was giving off was infectious. In spite of herself, Ami found herself laughing.

And we'll never be worlds apart

Puddles exploded under their feet as they jumped and stomped in them.

Maybe in magazines, But you'll still be my star

Zee took her in his arms and spun, their movements becoming some sort of off-kilter dance.

Baby, 'cause in the dark, You can't see shiny cars

Memories sprang into Ami’s mind; memories of the first time on Earth back when it was new; of seeing rain for the first time and the feeling of wonder it created. And for a brief moment she pondered if this was how the princess of Mercury felt all those millennia ago.

And that's when you need me there

Musical notes filled Zee’s mind and a story to go with it. A girl made of rain drops and the blessed calm she brought. But the worry of whether he would be able to remember it later was paltry compared to the beauty in his arms.

With you I'll always share

The rain seemed to speed up, but neither party cared, too wrapped up in having their fun. Soon, frustrations and boredom evaporated, replaced by the euphoria of simple pleasures.

Because

The warmth of their skin under the chill of the rain.

When the sun shines, we'll shine together

A young man and woman, barely done with being a boy and a girl.

Told you I'll be here forever

Minds racing with emotions.

Said I'll always be your friend

Invigorated by the seasonal rain.

Took an oath, Imma stick it out to the end

Troubles past and present far away.

Now that it's raining more than ever, know that we'll still have each other

And only the now, in this moment of fun, holding each other, dancing to the sound of an old Rihanna song, mattered, as the two leaned in for a kiss.

You can stand under my umbrella

They’d probably be sneezing and stuffed up by the next day. But between the two of them, who needed an umbrella?

You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh