#lore reblogs

[oobbbear]

She’s the brightest pearl

[kururukua]

My beloathed

[un-local]

Ad Inferi!

digitized version of a sketch from my lunch break.

@thebandghostofficial

Happy Re-Imperatouring!

[deuxaeonn]

Elbows on the balcony railing, leaning out facing the ocean, is a man. He’s tall, curly brown hair whipping around his angular face in the sea breeze, eyes closed in serenity. Every part of him, faintly, glows silver. “Took your sweet time,” he says, not opening his eyes.

I Sit By Myself (Talking To The Moon) [tumblr link] by negativefouriq/@autisticlancemcclain

zoomed in:

[tomthefanboy]

Last week I made a simple post saying I wanted a D&D version of this chart with a gnoll in the middle. I know that most of the time if you want something on the internet you have to make it yourself, but I couldn't figure out what each axis would be.

I wanted the D&D chart SO BADLY that I started boosting the posts about it with tumblr Blaze... Post 1  EVERY Post 2  TIER Post 3  OF BLAZE Post 4 

and after spending $250 I had a very wild week...

...and had a lot interactions to sift through!

Before I go too deep into the feedback and my reactions, I would like everyone to know that only ONE tumblr user out of.... (3604 plus 19895 plus 25938 plus 63883... cary the tens...) ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY interactions actually had the combination of empathy, creativity, and reading comprehension to HEAR ME.

@emptymanuscript made me not one, but TWO D&D versions of the chart!

LOOK AT THEM!

Gnolls in the middle and everything! Fantastic.

This gives me the catharsis of being heard and a level of closure fitting with a $250 purchase on the internet. Especially when combined with all of these new friends (whom I will be spending the next month getting to know)!

Hoooooowwwwwwwwwever... I still want a version that has the D&D creature types Humanoid on one side and Beast on the other side of the gnoll. so lets slip under the cut and take a look at the suggestions.

So first off, Axis 1. The X axis if you like maths. This is where I felt like Human to Beast would fit. That changes the chart into something like this.

This will be the basis for most of the charts going forward, meaning that in addition to the top and bottom creatures we place at the extremes of Axis 2 (the Y Axis) we will also need to consider monsters that are "half-humanoid" or "half-beast" versions of those types.

Since I started with creature types, lets start with the two groups of suggestions that actually involved the Rules As Written (aka RAW) D&D monster types.

Fiendish - Celestial got a lot of hate from comments due to the lore of gnolls. Gnolls are the spawn of the demonlord Yeenoghu and reproduce through a wicked ritual. People claimed that this meant they could not be placed in the center of the chart this way. They were too hung up on the top of the chart being a celestial type creature, if you make the top of the chart a creature that's halfway between a demon and an angel (such as a chaotic neutral pixie) and the BOTTOM of the chart a creature that is full blood, bad-n-nasty demon (like say, Yeenoghu itself) then gnolls serve a pretty good middle ground. Then the corners would be creatures that are mixes of each of the sides (demonic beast, demonic humanoid, fey beast, fey humanoid) and you get a pretty solid chart like this;

A smaller group considered the mortal natures of both Beasts and Humanoids and chose a different set of criteria...

These don't have a unified voice but generally it was about an axis between what was natural/organic/normal and what was un-natural/in-organic/aberrant. Multiple creature types fit this bill at each end. Plants and fey are tied to living things while Undead, Constructs and Aberrations are based in inorganic and un-natural processes. We've already got fey in our last chart, so lets see how that looks on an axis against Constructs and Undead (both of these a created via magic like gnolls, so we'll leave out the alien aberrations and try not to think about them reproducing).

Before we continue, let's take our first side bar.

There were some fools out there thinking they could shame me for spending my money on this, proving they don't understand budgets OR the internet. Only ONE of you out there thought to ask me for some money and I respected their hustle so much I gave them enough to blaze one of their own posts. Don't think the rest of you will get some though, even if you come at me with charities or shit, so don't try it. That time has passed.

Such foolishness. Weep for them. Don't tag them. Definitely do not interact. I DO hope they get this blaze post as well though. (Hey @staff​, you can do that right? It's not like any of them would have the mental fortitude to read this far after all)

From here we get into the more esoteric groupings. This is where the people who are VERY into D&D and the people who are completely unfamiliar overlap. Let's look at the physical descriptors first.

Size categories are a thing in D&D and Gnolls are medium creatures like dwarves or elves and most humanoids. There's plenty of small monsters and plenty of big ones as well so it is relatively easy to find Large or Small creatures on the humanoid side and the Beast side and then a Tiny creature for the top and a Huge creature for the bottom.

This makes for a satisfactory chart, but not one that captures the complexities of the original animal meme.

The Softness and Hardness of a creature can be reflected in they shape and their stats. It may be acidic but the gently curves of a black pudding are pretty soft, just like the fists of an iron golem are hard. The corners of a chart like this are a bit trickier, there's all shapes of armored things you need to find softer partial-beasts and partial-humanoids. Oozes don't come in half measures so a different creature might be needed.

Let's take a look at another side bar before we continue. There were a lot of people with something to say that were unhelpful in new and different ways.

I'm sure there are dozens of you out there who had been thinking about a Third Axis (the Z axis) this whole time. That stops being a "D&D version of this chart"! Not applicable to this discussion! Same with anything that doesn't have gnolls in the middle!

Next up we have some suggestions for metrics along SOCIAL lines instead of physical ones.

The lines here are very blurry. Gnolls work in packs but are not really social creatures. The destroy civilizations brutally but they do use weapons and magic items they find. They can speak language. The cuddle-to-kill spectrum is as skewed as the fiendish - celestial axis discussed earlier. Aside from player characters, gnolls want to kill and destroy things. I know the savagery is attractive to the monster-fuckers out there but they are 100% kill you. to go further down that axis you'd have to start looking into undead or outer planar beings that destroy the body, the mind, and the soul. So lets look at the Feral to Civil axis instead. Gnolls don't have as much infighting as some creatures. They are at least capable of teamwork to achieve their goals of mayhem so lets focus on that as a metric. Modrons exemplify orderly cooperation for a group cause but there's no CULTURE there. Just Law vs Chaos. We need a civil creature that is neither/both humanoid and beast and an utterly feral creature for the other side that will even turn on its own kind. Even more feral and unthinking than your average beast... But we simply can't ignore sexiness and willingness to cuddle in the equation... Metal to Cottagecore sums it all up best I think, so let's look for that.

When you practice for an exam a lot people will tell you to trust your gut. I'm here to tell you to trust your first Blaze results. As much as I loved the thrill and attention of the higher tiers, the roller coast ride of the $25 tier was enough to get me where I needed to go. Let's see one of the first suggests and the most popular.

Gnolls are a combination of brutal warrior and arcane origin story. There are certain gnolls with magical powers but in general they are not relied upon. This makes them a good middle ground. So we need a creature at one end that is a cunning spellcaster and an opposite that is a muscle-bound brute.  A number of arcane outsiders fit the first while half the giants fit the latter. But anything with a language is not quite dumb enough for an extreme. So there may be a need for outsiders on both ends if an unthinking/non-magical outsider can be found. BUT are outsiders by default eldritch magical creatures? Also, should I listen to the person that posted my face in their reblog more than the others? That seems important...

As much as I'd love to have different creatures on every single chart as a weird flex, but the Tarrasque literally REFLECTS SPELLS and is one of the few creatures dumber than an ogre without being an ooze, construct or undead. On the other end, I had considered that the Death Tyrant or the Demilich with its Strength of 1 might represent the ultimate embodiment of mind over matter, but nobody has as many MAGIC spells and MIND powers as the Illithilich!

As we reach the final side bar, allow me to slap down a block of tags for all the people who left notes specifically asking to see how it ends. that way they get an alert even if this blaze doesn't get to them. @tricksterchesi @kippkap @musings-of-an-avimancer @thatwingeddaydreamer  @smokenmoths @queuest

If you did a CTRL-F and just scrolled down to your name, I don't take it personally. I applaud your efficiency!

Let's see all the "none of the aboves" that my Blaze Train awoke as it shrieked across their dashboards!

Not all comments are created equal.

Out of all the excellent ideas there was one that stood out to me early on and only got a few more people fully on board through the entire Blaze Train.

Yes. That's right. We come all the way back around to physical descriptors. But it's not that simple! On the original chart, the rat, weasel, and raccoon are also mischievous and unpredictable with their grabby little hands. Meanwhile the quadrupedal Horse has evolved just as far in a different direction. Solidity and strength are in their hooves. Llamas and goats benefit from this power and stability but use it for wildly different purposes. There are also easy D&D creatures to pick out for each side without dabbling in lycanthropy or shifters.

And now I can rest, knowing that I have the chart that I wanted all along. Now I just need to blaze this and see which chart people like the most and how many ideas people have for the Z axis on them. (you sick bastards)

[ffc1cb]

i’ve always found it peculiar how during meeting the chargers cutscene the game just assumes your character automatically understands what krem is talking about when he mentions binding (though, granted, it’s all very unsubtle). like, this is a roleplaying game. what if i want to play a character who just doesn’t get it

[selenealwayscries]

fuck you *puts your fairydog in hanfu*

[glasspunkart]

Part 3!! Thank you for all the love on parts 1&2!!

[kizilodak]

Hehe Cyborg Gregory lore

[0vergrownruins]

TFW your brother comes to drag you back into the depths but you got stuck in a soda ring again 

(late mermay contribution whoops)

[moonstones-and-mangoes]

☆hi i have a dreamtale au im working on. I offer. A child

☆he's 12 years old (six seemed a little young, too little years for The Plot tm to play out properly?? So i doubled it)

☆the villagers are like. Really, really awful to him. They see dream not as a person but as a concept, as a tool they could use to solve their problems, do work for them, and use for a quick boost of positivity, as one of his abilities was being able to alter someone's emotional state and temporarily give them a burst of euphoria. (Nightmare could do this too but with despair.) Some of them groomed and sexually abused dream as well.

☆the cloak is Nightmare's! Originally, Dream had a white one, but he failed to complete a task the villagers gave him and they burnt it as punishment.

☆When he went back to the tree Nightmare got suspicious, and it turned into somewhat of an interrogation (which Dream deflected out of shame and guilt)

☆"what happened to your cape?"

"Your face is bruised, let me heal you!"

"That's not important right now, you'll freeze and get sick!" Etc etc etc so on and so forth, and in the end Nightmare ended up giving up, and giving Dream his. (dream gets cold easily btw, it's like a whole thing)

☆bonus: Dream's adult design!

☆the au is called apple tree history :] Nightmare's design(s) + a general info post are on the way!

[blorbocedes]

Okay I'm deep deep into the brocedes rabbit hole here and on ao3. But please do clarify one thing for me - I saw the AD16 press con and then I fell upon the Cannes 17 pictures of brocedes with Vivan? Where they did seem like they were getting on? How did it go from to now? Am I missing something in the timeline?

This took me 3 business days to answer cause I am deeply normal about them

alright sweet bestie anon... let's do a quick rundown of the post 2016 brocedes

january 2017, IWC gala nico had the post pregnancy (wc) glow, vivi had actual pregnancy glow, Lewis' questionable styling choices

We know around March, Nico was in london and literally gout out of his car to RUN after lewis who was on a jog and they chatted a bit

Then in May, they were at Cannes!

very happy go giggly

They even did a Mercedes event together where they were being reasonably charming, Lewis aired him on his German translations and Nico was in war crime denial ☺️

What I'm trying to state is even though fandom like to makes it out that they HATE each other -- they don't really? at the end, if you take lewis' final press con in 2016 he said he was proud of nico, all their childhood memories etc. nico has stated multiple times after 2016 he understood what lewis did in AD16 by slowing down and it was to win the race, so they didn't have any bad blood when nico retired. but the other thing to note is these were all professional events, work events even -- hanging around the millionaire gala events, and I'm pretty sure Vivian's presence (who has also known Lewis since she was 18) helped ease that. they were NOT like hanging out on their own, or being anything more than coworkers being pleasant at work events

now Nico followed Lewis on social media almost immediately after 2016, and has wished him for every WDC win

https://twitter.com/nicorosberg/status/1056670317957922816?s=21&t=HES4xJgj4Pzjkq64MhQAEQ

https://twitter.com/nicorosberg/status/1117461452707725313?s=21&t=HES4xJgj4Pzjkq64MhQAEQ

https://twitter.com/nicorosberg/status/1191094863099551745?s=21&t=HES4xJgj4Pzjkq64MhQAEQ

https://twitter.com/nicorosberg/status/1327945878238359552?s=21&t=HES4xJgj4Pzjkq64MhQAEQ

all of which went ignored, (this one kills me particularly, in light of 'we're not friends')

https://landoavocado.tumblr.com/post/635028012501450752/amgroscoe-baby-steps-fam-baby-steps which is the only one Nico didn't tag him in so he presumably found it on his own going through the lewis tag

There's a podcast with Prost where he sort of tells them to get the band back together like he managed to do with Senna, and Nico hesitates saying that someone needs to make the first step.

BUT

At the same time, at Niki Lauda's funeral weekend when the Monaco GP was happening and everyone was somber -- Lewis won... and remember Niki was hugely important for the current Merc success, as well as a mentor to both Lewis and Nico

and here's Lewis in 2019 spraying champers DIRECTLY at Nico Blobsberg https://inlovewithmullez.tumblr.com/post/185156306232/lewis-nico-and-champagne

I wish I could explain this event. i can't.

Look at nico RUNNING to save his cream coloured suit https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx7w3TnALZf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by FORMULA 1® (@f1)

And then the besties took a selfie at Niki Lauda's funeral. none of this I can explain but it happened and we have to bear witness

In 2019, when Lewis won his 6th title at the US GP, Nico came to his car and they talked about it (have a whole post dedicated to it here)

Lewis has a thing where he won't publicly mention or acknowledge Nico but then at 2021?? they were at the same yacht in Monaco with Toto, Susie and others???

which sort of makes sense they still hang around the same rich people circles and Monaco is TINY esp for millionaire circles

They can even have a nice little chat about pitwalls without murdering each other -- granted it's not a sky interview (is that better??? worse???)

In AD 2021, Lewis also admitted he's a better teammate now, completely unprompted, when the question had been if he's a better driver now and that's the first time he admitted he might've been not great to nico too. And Nico was WATCHING and basically stopped functioning, with jenson live slug reacting. It's a Treat

In 2022 was Lewis saying how Nico's family had been the first place he'd stayed in Monaco (where he still lives now. same building as blobsberg)

And Nico saying how things are neutral, they share a lift sometimes where Nico takes his daughters to the pool and Lewis goes to the race track and how he'd never given Nico a present that he can remember but he did give his daughters! something!!! while Natalie Pinkham tries to play marriage counselor, and the definitive final word is "neutral"

https://bibibitch1308.tumblr.com/post/685806605859700736/ill-just-leave-this-here

Nico does commentary for Sky, where he's asked about Lewis a lot and despite what you may think about his bitchiness, most of it is very complimentary and clearly respects Lewis as a driver.

In 2023, Spain, Lewis name dropped Nico and how karting was some of his best years, and a year later he would be teammates with Nico (!!!)

And 2023 Spain, Nico interviewed Lewis who was p2!!! And they were both stuttering and giggly about it!!!!!!

This list is by no means comprehensive but it paints a more accurate picture than the fanon idea they wanted to murder each other post 2016 (which is why seeing the 2017 pix can be bizarre)

Tldr; they're not friends, but they're also not enemies (not how it was at the peak of their rivalry) and they're still neighbours 😭

[lethalhoopla]

The new trailer has injected hype straight into my veins (rip everyone who is tired of Varric narrating trailers feat. Solas, but I'm a sucker for both) and the art is just gorgeous as always so I took screencaps - figured I'd share in case anyone else wanted them!

[yugiohio]

Geordi La Forge. Reblog if you agree.

[bigboobyhalo]

for anyone who struggled to understand it, here’s a full transcript of the egg’s speech from the finale, courtesy of rurus (sparklingco2 on twitter and the person who actually wrote it!)

[doodlerh]

diversity win! new doodlerh sameface male oc is wrong in the head

LORE !! there’s gonna be some mention of child abuse/mutilation, so if that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to Not Read :’) however, if u do still wanna know what gehen gets up to after, skip to the line of [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[s. see u there king

gehen’s father is the demon king’s younger brother, who was kicked out of hell for being cringe idk. anyway this guy took on a human disguise (how? idk idc) and ended up falling in love w a human woman, and they had a kid (gehen) and then the demon king’s brother . idk left. he dipped. he went to buy milk

gehen’s mom was unfortunately part of a cult that worshipped angels to a freaky level and thought of themselves as the angels’ chosen destroyers of demons who escaped from hell. demons don’t escape from hell, so sometimes they’ll just accuse ppl of being demonic and kill them to appease the angels (who, btw, do Not care)

when gehen was 9 yrs old, his horns and tail started growing in. the villagers always thought his ears were goatlike, and they start to think that this boy is actually a demon. they kill gehen’s mom (who is just as mortified and willingly dies out of disgust with herself and her monstrous son) and torture him for evading them for so long; they try to tear off his horns for an offering to the angels, and they succeed with one of them. however, fueled by panic and mb a sudden adrenaline burst of demonic power, little gehen escapes, then loses consciousness in the woods from blood loss. SAD! he’s probably found by some shaman or other who performs a Ye Olde Skin Graft with her own arm to save him, hence why that patch of skin on his forehead is a different color from the rest of him

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

omg hey! ok so

recap, gehen lives with a shaman who saves him from a pretty bad injury that made him flee the anti-demon cult he was born in. gehen is grateful and stays with her, healing while also helping her w her daily chores. she tells him that his horn is special and that he is not a monster who must be destroyed as the villagers said he was. he is a living being who deserves love and life just like everyone else. instead of becoming an all-loving pacifist, gehen begins to harbor an intense hatred towards the cult that raised him. when he turns 20, he asks the shaman for some help...

with the shaman’s aid, gehen returns to his village amidst a storm of terrifying supernatural occurrences. the stars go out (smoke from the shaman’s special incense), the temperature rises (heat/fire magic), he appears larger than life (illusion magic); gehen wreaks havoc in the village and destroys the shrine where the angels are worshipped, setting fire to it and shattering the angelic idols housed within. the villagers recognize him in the firelight, and he recognizes them; he cuts off the hands that held him down and stole his horn, and he forces all the villagers to worship and obey him as their new god. he is thence known as the one-horned demon king. not to be confused with the actual demon king, who has four horns and two awful kids

that would’ve been great awesome, however, gehen doesn’t stop there. to repent for harming their master, gehen has the villagers sacrifice a 9 yr old every fifteen years. however, the night before the sacrifice, the 9 yr old always escapes; gehen frees them and sends them to safety in a far away settlement, acting as the person he needed to save him when he was their age. brings the guy comfort. but also like the kids have “was about to be a human sacrifice to a demon god” trauma forever now. at least the demon god was nice abt it

btw gehen helps and visits the shaman until she passes away a happy and healthy old woman :’) once she’s gone tho he kind of starts to spiral deeper down into a self-hatred cycle where, even though he is now these people’s god and they fear him, all they DO is fear him. they don’t like him, they don’t accept him. they’re just scared of him, and there’s nothing he can do to change that NOW. sure the kids he rescues don’t hate him but they’re not gonna come back and say it sldhgskdg GOD. now that the shaman is gone, gehen has nowhere he can just be himself (a demon) without being feared/hated!!

except for hell.

gehen wants to go to hell /pos. however, he has no way of doing that because first of all where is hell. second of all he wants the villagers afraid for their lives at all times. gee what’s a guy to do!!

(on the other side, abaddon wants to escape hell but doesn’t want to leave his 4 yr old half brother as the sole heir to the throne. gee if only SOMEONE of royal blood who DOESN’T LOOK ANGELIC really WANTED TO TAKE HIS PLACE!!!

-

gehen doesn’t spend all his time in the village, he’s just there to strike fear in the ppl’s hearts and usually spends his time elsewhere striking fear in everyone else’s hearts. he’s learned to embrace how intimidating he is and thus never has trouble dealing with people, but he has now pretty much lost his humanity (pity/mercy/morality etc.). he really only saves those 9 yr olds to heal the ache of his old old wounds, he doesn’t care what happens to them after he “rescues” them. after 1000 yrs of being feared, gehen doesn’t know how to accept kindness anymore. not a problem, since he doesn’t receive any, but still

i think gehen longs for a family and a place to belong, but he doesn’t know how to deal with this feelings. carving out a place for himself in the blood of his tormentors worked for a couple decades, but that only lasts for so long. bloodshed is the only thing his heart can handle, it hasn’t betrayed him yet. he suffered from violence too, but he had to survive in this cruel hateful world with a ton of pain and isolation. by ending his victims’ lives, they have it easy!! win win!!

idk what gehen expects when he finally gets to hell, taking abaddon’s place. he’ll probably do whatever it takes to be accepted, maybe even loved. he is most likely respected due to him actually looking like a demon, but he only knows rule by fear. the demon king is gonna have a lot of teaching to do if he wants his new (very obedient and desperate to please) heir to not order sacrifices every fifteen years and kill people just to feel something and such