#nightsongs au

[optiwashere]

A third chapter for the modern/band AU in two weeks? I spoil you.

But really, I think I just needed to carry myself through the momentum of this. That led to a whirlwind of emotions for this chapter and a follow-up to the cliffhanger that the previous chapter left us on. I want to spend some time tinkering with the chapter after this one, so that may take a while to post!

Either way, I hope you enjoy the ride.

Rating: E for the occasional smut scene

Category: F/F

Ship: Shadowheart/Trans Fem Tav

[nebby-stardust]

HAH YOU FELL FOR MY TRAP I was in fact being suspicious and I fell for Velvet (he's pretty)

Velvet and Fell Nightsongtale by @skitteringjunbug

[frightnightindustries]

Nightsong (Nightheart) Changes |

His name is now Nightsong, because this version of Bramblestar had an idea and thought it was good.

Nightsong's beef with Sparkpelt is exacerbated by the stress of him feeling like his home is falling apart, and everybody is pretending it's fine, and many issues.

He has ADHD, and the RSD that accompanies it causes plenty of issues.

As for NightSun, I'm going to do a whole other post on that, but I'll just leave it at "Nightsong asked to fake date so he could join ShadowClan, Sunbeam agreed, and they end up adopting and coparenting."

He has a fight with Sparkpelt that made choose to leave, about his name choice and disillusion with ThunderClan.

[recitedemise]

@sunderdust asked: (ward): sender is a ward at the receiver's house/home. / Royal, Fantasy Romance, and Spice: still accepting.

In ways he's to hesitant to admit, Solomon's company has become a balm. At the same time, however, as though by tragedy's permission, the man affords his heart with a terrible aching. He'd come on as a helper, an assistant in his home by Morena's suggestion. Yet, as time so faded, the gold heat of summer surrendering to fall, he'd grown in his importance toward something more considerable. All at once, he's a staver, a chaser of his home's grave dark.

Gale, newly blighted, moves mountains for a pittance of a spell. He's been soundly spurned, tattered in his heart and brined in grief, and what company has such a man so wanting in station? Better yet, what soul beyond these walls would seek him out? There's little but the quiet, little in his halls but some festering terror. However, with Solomon here, he'd granted the illusion of normalcy... That is until his chest aches have grown to split skin and gums. Damn. Gale, discreetly bleeding, knows it's time.

"It's been a couple of months now, hasn't it? I've hardly noticed, to be honest, but I suppose it's best to take that as a testament to your invigorating company." Gale spoons his dinner, both of them sat with plated fish. Solomon sits there, the afternoon light trickling gold his dark, dark hair. House Dekarios, very decadent, colors him a born noble. "There are few things as rewarding as bartering words with a clever mind. Unfortunately," here it comes, "it's time we parted. Your help with my condition has been invaluable, of course, but I've come to realize your brilliance is better placed elsewhere. Besides, being a wetnurse is too much a turn for a thrilling adventurer. As it were, there's only so many surprises my tower can provide."

Gale smiles amiably, Tara watching the two all too sharply. Beneath his sleeve, his bandaged arm cracks like a fissure. He averts Solomon's gaze to pick at his trout. Lonely, will be, doomed, doomed, doomed—! "Should I leave my payment to you this month by your bedside? Feel free to finish dinner with me. I won't deny you."

[spicyraeman]

Shars favourite bassist huh? So she hasn't broken out yet? How would the nightsong stuff play out in band au?

There isn't really a one to one for the nightsong stuff but I guess the closest is her decision to renew her contract with her current record label SHAR, she can continue to renew it (dj path) or break ties (selunite path)

Going the SHAR path lets her shoot to the top of the charts but at the cost of pretty much all of her creative liberties, they control her aesthetic, her sound, and her life. The "selunite" path on the other hand gives her complete freedom but at the risk of SHAR now looming over her shoulder and threatening to spill all her secrets

There's a bit more to it than that but its all in bits and pieces and would require me to go on several tangents cus im more of character guy than a plot guy

[maegalkarven]

AU where Dark Urge didn't loose memories and the events in Moonrise Towers in act 2 went a tag differently. Or very differently.

Fucking everything up in a new, interesting way.

Characters: m!Dark Urge, Enver Gortash, Orin the Red, Ketheric Thorm, Isobel Thorm, Dame Aylin, Wyll Ravengard, Ulder Ravengard (mentioned), Karlach.

m!Dark Urge x Enver Gortash.

It was a stupid fucking plan from the very beginning of it.

To go to the Moonrise Towers to – what, confront Ketheric? Confront the Chosen of the God of the Dead?

Nemo knew better than the others what an idiotic idea it was.

But Nightsong already took a flight, and harpers moved to attack – and what was Nemo supposed to do?

He was a wreck, a shadow of his former self, weak as a kitten, clumsy as a newborn owlcub. He was the failed Chosen of Bhaal going to a place what was his demise.

Swooped by the currents of events unfolding, he had no plan.

But again, Nemo was never the plan guy; it was Gortash’s forte, it was his work. He was the brain of their plan, the brain of all of their operations. He thought things through as Nemo sliced around, creating chaos, bringing havoc, painting world in blood.

But it was before. Before Orin took her swing, before Nemo’s once great abilities were reduced to dust, before he became weak. So weak he had to depend on others, so weak he required, no, needed allies.

The voice of Father dull in his head; illithid parasite had to do something with it, had to change the rules the same way it changed them for Astarion.

Funny, before that whole mess Nemo would never put himself and a vampire spawn on the same page. But now? Oh, how alike they were, the spawns of unrelenting cruel force commanding their will, puppets of someone else’s play.

Waking up on nautiloid was akin to waking up from a fewer dream. The Urge...subsided. It was pushed back, held at bay. He was almost alone in his own head, more alone when he ever was with Father’s constant will moving his hands.

But what good did this free will do if he was about to die anyway, probably in the same damn place he died the first time? Would Orin be the one to slice through him one final time?

Nemo was never the one for plans, as clever as he was. Gortash always claimed it drove him mad, for Nemo had all the intellect, but rarely put it to good use.

“You have to exercise your mind the same way you train your body,” his unexpected ally would say. “Otherwise what use is it to you? You, my dear murderer, is capable of much greater things than your father foresees for you.”

These thoughts were atrocious, they were heretical, they were...compelling. Flattering, warming some deep corners of the soul Nemo didn’t know he had.

No wonder lordling ended up luring Nemo into his bed.

No wonder Orin saw her brother’s newfound weakness and used it against him.

Clever little thing, his slaughter-kin, to shift into Gortash to approach him. He was a fool to lower his defenses, of course he was.

He paid for it greatly.

“We’re moving down,” Isobel acknowledged. She, a daughter of a man who turned his back to two gods for her sake. She, the priestess of a goddess Ketheric Thorm forsaken. She, a child brave enough to confront her father.

Nemo hated her before he knew her.

He hated her for the way Ketheric turned the world upside down for her to live; he hated her for how ridiculously loved she was.

She hated her because even after being corrupted by Myrkul’s unholy powers, she still dared to stay unstained. Holy. Good.

He hated her so much his whole body hurt.

She who denied her father’s love, she who had love so selfless, so unconditional-

Father’s love was always conditional. Father’s love was always a leash and never a caress.

Father’s love hurt no matter how much Nemo craved it.

Oh, how he wished he could stifle the light of her life; oh how he wanted to see Ketheric’s face as he would tell him, in every gruesome detail, how his precious daughter died the second time.

How everything Ketheric did, everything he betrayed was for naught.

But Nemo was not what he used to be: he was weak, and Isobel was his advantage in a fight against her father. Her and Nightsong, but Nemo wasn’t even sure if aasimar was alive; the last he saw of her was when Elder Brain dragged the woman down.

Down, down, down-

Down they went.

Nemo didn’t want to go down there. He didn’t want to confront anyone, he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t strong, he-

He wanted to go home.

Home, such a strange concept it is.

Bhaal’s temple was never his home, even if it was the only shelter he has ever known.

No, home was...

Home was a mechanical clicking of devices operating in Gortash’s workshop. Home was the dim light and the huge table covered in papers; the smell of hot iron and smoke, and the man with fingers stained in ink.

The bitter bile rose up his throat at the thought of it.

The Chosen of Bane was never supposed to be his home.

The Chosen of Bane was his enemy.

Nemo has failed his life’s purpose in more ways than he could count.

And yet he wanted to go back; to the security of that place, to the delighted glint in the other man’s eyes, the mad plans, the notes on the table, the open books, the diagrams, the warmth of his skin as Nemo dragged Enver away from his work:

"Rest, you need to rest. It’s unbecoming of you to run yourself ragged like that. Sleep, your machines will not disappear overnight."

The way he struggled, tried to argue as exhaustion overtook his body. The way Lord Enver Gortash, the tyrant in the making, looked vulnerable in front of him in a way, Nemo suspected, he never looked in front of anyone else.

The way Nemo went to bed with him and expected to wake up in a pool of blood, but never did.

Because some part of him resisted Father even then. Some part of him claimed Enver Gortash for himself.

And it cost him greatly.

Nemo wondered if returning to Moonrise Towers could be classified as ‘coming home’.

He wondered if his home would meet him with windows shut and new lock on the door. He wondered how quickly he would be discarded by a man having no use for him anymore.

Turned out, Nemo was a fucking idiot.

***

It happens faster than it has any right to be; Ketheric spots Isobel, Wyll sees his father, Karlach lurches at Gortash, and Orin...

Orin steps away from the Elder Brain and smiles.

“My poor slaughter-kin,” she coos. “Came back so I could finish what I’ve started, did you not?”

And then the moves.

And fuck, Nemo forgot how fast she is, and he is so out of it, he is but a shell of his former self; his body is weak, feeble, damaged-

Orin knows it. Orin was the one who damaged it in the first place.

Nemo is vaguely aware of Isobel reaching out to Nightsong and freeing her from the bonds, he thinks he hears Gortash trying to reel Orin and Ketheric back in:

“Orin, we haven’t finished, the Brain didn’t receive command yet, come back here- Ketheric, two stones can’t hold it down, we need the third, Ketheric, forget about your daughter, come right here and make yourself useful for a change-“

But Ketheric doesn’t listen. Orin doesn’t listen. Everyone is too wrapped up in their own issues, their own grudges, their own fights. Karlach slices through the undead servant and knocks Gortash into the ground, only to be pushed back by a force of small explosive detonating right into her face. It doesn’t damage her much, but pushes back a significant amount.

“My poor brother,” Orin taints as Nemo tries to dodge one of her slices and comes out short. Blood oozes from the new cut and his murder-kin giggles. “So out of it, so pathetically weak. I did a good job on you, brother dear. But,” another smile, another attack. Nemo barely parries it in time. “I can do better. Father knows I can do better, Father knows you have failed him. He loves you no more, my failure of a brother. He has left you.”

Nemo would love to argue what Father went nowhere, what he still haunts Nemo’s every waking and dreaming moment, what the only thing stopping the God of Murder from consuming his wayward son is the illithid parasite in the bhaalspawn’s brain. But he doesn’t have the time, he doesn’t have the strength, he is failing, and-

The next strike to come is fatal.

Or it would be, if not for a huge tentacle of the brain to come flying out of nowhere.

Sending Orin flying right into the Morphic pool.

To the Brain.

With her stone.

Fuck.

Nemo turns around and meets a bewildered stare of Enver fucking Gortash, the man who just successfully compromised his own plan - their plan - beyond any recovery.

A fool.

Nemo’s blood is so loud in his ears he can barely hear; his heart is throwing itself against the cage of his ribs with a force unbeknown to him before.

He feels elevated, he feels scared, but most of all he feels-

“What the fuck did you do?” he snarls and everything, miraculously, stills. Everyone freezes, staring between them in a mix of surprise and dread.

Everyone feels what something just went very wrong.

“I-“ Enver starts, but Nemo gives him no chance to continue.

“You just threw the Netherstone to the Brain! The Netherstone we use to control the Brain! And you just threw it right at it,” there’s indignation burning in him but also...confusion?

Why? Why would Enver do something like that? Why would he compromise everything? Why would he-

“She was about to kill you,” Gortash seethes. “I saved your life.”

“By dooming everyone and everything in the process,” Nemo shouts back. “By dooming yourself. By the gods, Ketheric, did you see that? How he just- Ruined everything?”

“I did in fact see that,” Ketheric, who is pretty much being held down at the fire point, states. The only thing stopping Nightsong from murdering him here and now is Isobel’s hand on her shoulder. “It was a very stupid thing to do.”

Gortash looks appalled at that.

“I just saved his life!” he repeats like this fixes everything. Like it explains anything. There’s a mad look in his eyes, of a man who just realized what he has done. Then he turns to Nemo. “I saved your life, you ungrateful little-“

“Why?” comes out so quietly it’s barely a whisper.

At first Nemo thinks he asked that, the question was definitely on the tip of his tongue. But no, the voice belongs to Karlach. She rises from the ground, shaken but unhurt.

“I know you; you’re an awful fucking person who only cares for his own well-being. Why would you do something like that,” she gestures at Nemo and Nemo makes a face at her. He knows how he looks, thank you very much. “For him?”

Gortash opens his mouth, hesitates. His eyes dart to Nemo and Nemo meets his gaze with just as inquisitive expression as the one on Karlach’s face.

“Yes, Enver,” he agrees. “Why?”

But Enver never gets to answer, for in that precise moment the waters of the Morphic pool part and a figure crawls out.

A figure of a pale woman with even paler eyes, dressed in red.

Orin.

She takes a step, then another.

And something is wrong.

Her movements are unsteady; her head dangles as if she’s held up the strings and her eyes-

They’re vacant, her eyes, almost empty. They’re...peaceful, and Orin has never been peaceful in her entire damn life.

Nemo makes the involuntary step forward and is immediately held back by Wyll, who, gods only know how, managed to not only teleport his father right next to Karlach, but also come back to Nemo, and is now holding him firmly by the forearm.

“Don’t,” he whispers into Nemo’s ear. “This is not your sister.”

“Orin?” Nemo calls out regardless, because this is his sister. It has to be.

Orin raises her head and looks straight at him. Then she opens her mouth and speaks:

“Praise the Absolute.”

“By the Nine Hells,” Karlach curses. “She got tadpolled.”

“And she has the stone,” Ketheric is the first one to move, ripping himself out of Nightsong’s grip and stepping forward.

“Well, shit.”

An overwhelming, overbearing horror embraces Nemo.

Orin, his little sister. Orin, his murderer, his torturer.

Orin, the perfect slayer. The puppet of the Absolute.

“Maybe I can use the prism,” he starts. “I can bring her back to her senses.”

“And then what?” Wyll argues and it takes Nemo an embarrassingly long time to realize his friend has already started to pull him away. “She’ll try to kill us on her own volition and not the Brain’s? No.”

“We need to go,” Gortash speaks up. “Quickly, now.”

“There’s no ‘we,’”, Karlach argues. “And ‘we’ are not going anywhere with you.”

“Karlach, now is not the time to argue-“

“You sold me to Zariel-“

“Father?” Isobel calls out. “Father, what are you doing?”

Ketheric unsheathes his sword.

“Atoning,” he speaks. The moves to rip the Netherstone from his armor and throw it at Nemo. Nemo, surprisingly, manages to catch it. “Keep it safe,” the man orders and oh, is this his general voice now? “Keep her safe.”

Nemo doesn’t need to ask who he means by that. Instead he argues.

“I am a murderer, you know that, right?” as if any sane argument would work right now. “A murder incarnate. I do not keep people safe.”

“This time you will,” and this is why Ketheric was so feared and respected; a single hard stare pins Nemo to the ground. “Or I will come back and hunt you down to the end of Toriel. To the end of every known realm, if I have to.”

“Not to interrupt this fine and lovely conversation, but general,” Gortash looks just as puzzled as Nemo feels. “What are you doing again?”

The man has some strength enough to smirk.

“What I should have done long time ago,” he sends Isobel a long, sickeningly loving gaze. “The right thing. Isobel.”

“Father,” the girl’s chin trembles. “Father, I don’t-“

“I love you more than any god could understand,” the old general speaks. “And I will never regret bringing you back, never. But now,” he turns his gaze back and manages to parry the quick, efficient and entirely deadly strike of Bhaal’s unloved daughter. “You have to live. And I...I have to take a stand. Go,” he says. “Go,” he commands. “I will hold her back for as long as I can.”

“The undying against the slayer,” Gortash murmurs as he already sprints towards the elevated platform.

The ground shakes as the Brain breaks out of its bonds, bit by bit, slowly but surely. The wave of psionic energy what comes their way almost knocks them all down.

“Go,” Nemo shouts as he and Wyll teleport closer to the exit. Thank fuck for the teleportation spells. Thank fuck for Wyll.

Karlach all but carries dazed Ravengard away as Dame Aylin takes Isobel in her arms and takes flight.

“Go, go, go!” he repeats as a familiar hand grabs him by the shoulder. Nemo doesn’t have time to think, doesn’t have time to act as he is dragged the remaining way to the platform by no-one but the tyrant himself.

The moment Karlach reaches the platform Wyll hits the control panel and they start to rise. Nemo is afraid it is not fast enough.

From the height of their ascend he sees the undying general fight off the slayer. Two Chosen of Gods against each other.

Even from that far away it is clear Ketheric will fall.

He sacrificed himself. He brought them time.

Fool.

***

Down below the illithid colony, amidst the Hell of his own creation, general Ketheric Thorm receives one last, final blow.

Blood oozes out of his wounds, painting the floor red. Above him a woman dressed in red stands; eyes vacant, empty, soulless.

But it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore.

Isobel is safe. And Ketheric...

“Melodia,” he whispers as the last breath leaves his body. “I am coming.”

Somehow he knows she is waiting for him; what she has always waited for him, no matter how far he strayed.

Ketheric Thorm dies peacefully. It feels like falling asleep.

[carlandrea]

do you have any more thoughts for the Silm Warrior cats au? It’s like crack catnip to me

oh DO I

Some scattered thoughts:

Huan is a dog. he's just like a wolfhound. Nightsong (Luthien) does still ride on his back.

I'm only giving the high kings the -star suffix, because otherwise like. pretty much everyone would get it? Because so many people are like the king of something or other. And that's just not very fun suffixes are fun. The noldor don't have a clan name yet because i haven't thought of a good one (Taking suggestions) but I do think they're less centralized and more prone to infighting than the ones we see in the warrior cats books, but they do only have one proper leader with the nine lives and the etc.

The fact that Morgoth is like. a human man with a gun in this au makes the Nirnaeth so much more fucking insane than like i think it feels in the silm proper—like we can't really conceptualize the idea of going to war with a god, but like. The idea of a bunch of feral cats attacking a human dudes house because he stole their special rocks

ALSO very funny that Morgoth stole some special rocks from the feral cats in the woods and EXTREMELY funny that he's so invested in the entire situation

The silmarils also need a fun warrior cats sounding name, but I don't think functionally they'll change that much? Like Warrior Cats has magic and starclan so like they can still be magic glowing rocks I think. And like I think we could just make them by having Fireheart (feanor) figure out how to carve and smooth either like gems or even shards of glass to make something like seaglass and then they were made magic by like. starclan. Still not sure what to call them

[seluniite-archived]

corruption au. her faith is tested. shar using it to sink dark little claws of doubt into her as a way to get back at eira for freeing the nightsong.

[dcviline]

𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐮𝐫'𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝟑 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬

basic portrayal notes in lieu of full bios atm

Katryn (tav oc): Half-elf rogue. Has some draconic heritage but not enough to really do much for her. Tiny pink menace. She never knew her father and her mother was an infiltration specialist in the Guild, but she died during a botched heist, leaving Kat as an orphan when she was seven. The Guild let her stick around out of respect for her mother, but she had to earn her keep from a young age; it started with pickpocketing, but eventually she proved skilled enough to be trusted with her own heists. One high ranking member of the Guild saw potential in her and began training her kill, with Kat being unaware that she was being initiated into the Cult of Bhaal. She would be sent by this person to assassinate supposed rivals of the Guild over the course of a year, and believing these orders to come from Nine-Fingers, Kat complied and carried out each one of them, though growing increasingly wary of the blood on her hands. It all came to an end when she discovered that her last target was not a rival criminal at all, only an innocent furrier. When she confronted her overseer about this, they revealed to her that all of her targets were, in fact, mere innocents, marked for death by the will of Bhaal. They invited her to come present herself to the Murder Tribunal, but horrified and enraged, Kat killed them and fled the city in overwhelming guilt. She was captured by Mind Flayers shortly after.

Thanatos (dark urge oc): Can pass as an elf or half-elf, is actually an eldritch horror in mortal form born from the flesh of Bhaal. Powerful mix of fighter, sorceror, and rogue, as one would expect from the spawn of a deity. Once his father's chosen, wakes up with no memories of his past, only the overwhelming compulsion to kill and a variety of markings and scars upon his body that he cannot explain. Resists his urge consistently and tries to makes generally good choices in spite of himself. Mortified when he discovers the truth about himself and ultimately rejects Bhaal.

Shadowheart: Does not kill the Nightsong and turns against Shar. Becomes a cleric of Selune. Does not turn back to Shar, instead freeing her parents from their torture and choosing to honor their memories. Embarks on her own adventures once the Absolute is defeated, intent to embrace the beauty of the world rather than stay in darkness.

Astarion: Does not ascend. Kills Cazador but frees his fellow spawn. Also frees the Gur children and the other spawn in the dungeons. Post-game he finds them in the Underdark to take responsibility for them and teach them how to control themselves. Always seeking a way to be able to be in the sunlight again.

Lae'zel: Turns against Vlaakith. Either working with the revolutionaries to depose her or remains in Faerûn to forge her own path. I typically default to assuming Orpheus was freed and became illithid.

Gortash: I don't really diverge from anything, except he can survive the final confrontation if we want to write after his downfall. I'm also interested in AUs where he turns against the Absolute and helps the MCs (for his own benefit of course).

[janeelyakiri]

How does Crow and Hound feel about their first snowfall in nightsong City? (Au)

Chamomile would wake them up first. Excited and happy to see snow again.

Crow would freeze and panic for a slight moment. But he'd step out onto the balcony and realize the snow isn't dusty. It's just snow.

Then he and Cham would gather up snow and using gravity magic, wake Hound with it

By dumping it right on his face.

In the end the three would have fun playing in the snow and throwing snowballs and making snowmen💙

[optiwashere]

So I've been meaning to post this ever since I was sent it, but I also wanted to make sure it was OK with the artist to post it.

Once again, the lovely @cfcreative gifted us something magical. Thank you so much for making this 💜

For fans of the Nightsongs AU, you might recognize this scene from Chapter four...

The first one is the crop that feels best to me, but if you insist on seeing the Denny's sign then that's the second version. Also, a full crop on Shadowheart to see the little details she added!

[litlunacy]

So I’ve been contemplating Nilofynn’s fey patron again, still trying to get a feel for her. I’d wanted someone a little flighty, maybe a little silly, but also still a typical petty, possessive sorta fey creature. But I figured I’d do a little lore digging to see if there was a canon Archfey that I could use instead of making one up because I’m lazy like that. And uh…I got more than I bargained for. (Ramble-y thoughts ahead, including evil!AU thoughts. Yay!)

I never wanted his patron to be evil, so I was looking into the Seelie Court. And then I thought, wait, wouldn’t it be interesting if his patron was actually Titania, the Seelie Queen? Cuz like, you’d have to be either mad or super sure of yourself to go making a pact with a Bhaalspawn, right? An unpredictable murder machine? But then I thought, why the hell would she want one, especially with Bhaal’s Chosen, made from his own essence?

Well, obviously she offered up the contract while Bhaal was still dead. Duh. Tried to get in there while Bhaal had minimal influence, maybe turn Fynn to the light.

Like, she sees this young man full of so much life and with so much love to give and his affinity for nature and then wham the Urges take over and he murders his adoptive family. He’s broken. So she steps in and is like, ‘hey, it’s okay, it wasn’t your fault. I can help, you know. I have power. I can use that to help, to keep you calm, to keep you grounded, keep you you.’ Of course it doesn’t always work, and it never works when he falls in love, they always die, but he just can’t stop falling anyway, and Titania is there in the aftermath, giving comfort, consoling him and trying to figure out a way to help him. But she’s not as much of a match for the dead god of murder as she thought, and then Bhaal returns, and it’s worse, it’s so much worse, and Fynn gets darker and becomes the Chosen and she thinks she’s lost him. But then he falls in love with Gortash, and it’s a terrible decision, really, but it’s him, it’s that boy full of love she’s been trying to protect. She has hope.

And then he gets his brain whacked apart and tadpoled, and he forgets it all. Even her. But it’s an opportunity. He’s not the Chosen now, Bhall isn’t whispering directly in his ear, he doesn’t know the terrible things he’s done, the thing his father turned him into. She gets a do-over. She can save him this time. Which is why she refuses to answer any questions about his past. He thinks she’s stringing him along, but she’s really trying to steer him the right way, protect him from his past. And between her belief in him, and the rest of the gang’s belief in him, especially Astarion and Halsin, it works. He does resist his Urges, he does defy Bhaal, he does get his happily ever after with the men he loves and their gaggle of critters and orphans and vampire spawn horde. And it feels like the best pact she’s ever made.

But in my lore digging, I also read about the Raven Queen. Which, the raven has very much been Fynn’s symbol to me since the beginning. He’s mutliclassed into ranger and has a raven familiar. And the Raven Queen’s domain is in the Shadowfell, and she collects memories of loss and tragedy. What’s more tragic than a man forced to kill every person he’s ever loved? So what if she had gotten her claws on him first that day he murdered his family? What if she was constantly whispering even more darkness in his ear? Well, then he’d be a hexblade warlock for one thing, and also he’d end up getting the Slayer form and telling Shadowheart to kill the Nightsong. He’d return to his place as the Chosen of Bhaal. He’d let Astarion ascend. And Halsin would be stuck watching them both feed into the worst of each other, descending further and further into darkness while he can’t do a thing about it. But he can’t kill them either, because he loves them too much and once again blames himself for it all. A big old tragedy all around.

IDK if I’ll do this evil!AU playthrough, but boy am I feeling the vibes. I’d make myself feel terrible the whole while, but it might be fun? I don’t usually do full evil playthroughs in games, but something about this compels me. (Also knowing that it’d just be and AU and in canon they’re all together and happy and being their best selves)

[frightnightindustries]

The Evil Firestar AU, or the Firemask AU, is a warrior cats alternate universe

Everything goes as normal, but when Rusty joins the clans, he is apprenticed to Tigerclaw (who is very unhappy about it). Ravenpaw is the apprentice of Bluestar. Meanwhile, Mapleshade is very interested in this new kittypet in ThunderClan (who starts talking his way in and out of trouble and saying very radical ideas about unifying the clans), and begins teaching him how to lie in the DF. There's a subplot of DF politics, but mostly things go as normal. Firepaw manages to convince Tigerclaw not to kill Ravenpaw for finding out about Redtail, and the apprentices all get their warrior names after rescuing the kits from ShadowClan.

Firepaw is named Firemask for the darker orange mask around his eyes.

Tigerclaw ends up killing Bluestar, and naming Darkstripe as deputy. Firemask kills Darkstripe. During that time, Cinderpaw has her accident in a trap that was set for Firemask. Tigerstar acknowledges the game has begun, and after that Swiftpaw and Brightpaw end up attempting to lead the dogs to Tigerstar. They fail, and both are badly wounded, Tigerstar killing Swiftpaw and leaving Brightpaw to die. Firemask and Ravencall (Ravenpaw's warrior name) bring her to the RiverClan border, telling her to run.

Firemask starts his own little group of his supporters.

With great reluctance from everyone involved, Cloudkit is brought to ThunderClan. Firemask starts worrying, and this gets worse when Graystripe and eventually Sandstorm leave for RiverClan (Sandstorm was going to have his kits, and didn’t want them to grow up there). After the TigerClan merges with ShadowClan, he stuffs deathberries in Tigerstar's prey, and that takes his second to last life. Then BloodClan attacks, along with RiverClan and WindClan. This time Scourge doesn't really care about taking over the forest, he just wants to kill Tigerstar. In the midst of the battle, Scourge and Firemask kill Tigerstar a second time, and the TigerClan cats are matched into the RiverClan camp.

Firemask manages to convince Leopardstar not to exile him, and gets passive aggressive nine lives. He is forced into picking Greystripe for his deputy (Ravencall was his first choice). He's not pissed, but not overjoyed at it.

He sort of reconciles with Sandstorm, and that's how the first arc goes. Mapleshade is clowning on Thistleclaw at the end.

That's the basic summary of the first arc, but there is a lot that I didn't go into.

This is the masterpost for those changes!

AU CHARACTER CHANGES

Major changes to characters in the AU/Rewrite.

Nightsong (Nightheart) |

Bumble, and A Little Tom

Canon LGBT+ Characters

Consequences of Firemask's Actions

Ten Major Quotes

THE WORLD AROUND

Worldbuilding, and general clan culture.

Clan-Exclusive Ranks: ThunderClan

Clan-Exclusive Ranks: ShadowClan

Clan-Exclusive Ranks: RiverClan

Clan-Exclusive Ranks: WindClan

Limbo (Kittypet, Rouge, Loner Afterlife)

The Dissatisfied

Psychiatry in the Clans

StarClan Guides

[Insert Prefix Here]Kin

DARK FOREST

I'm giving the Dark Forest a major heap of lore, this is inspired by Residents of the Dark Forest which is linked below.

Basic Politics in Hell

HOW I WOULD FIX

Issues in Warrior Cats, bad writing, all that stuff. This is how I would fix these issues.

Waterfall (Tribe of Rushing Water)

Spottedleaf's Life

Bumble's Bad Writing

Medicine Cat Ableism

Inspired by @bonefall

Check out @residents-of-the-darkforest for amazing warriors content

[silvertonguedcharlatan]

random OC ask: what is an alternate life path your OC might have gone down? how different would their life be if they'd made those decisions instead?

Siobhan could have lived many lives, this was a super fun thing to think about!

Boring one first:

- she remains a forest hermit nothing happens, when the armies of the absolute threaten the outer city she hides people in the woods and solidifies her folk hero status

More exciting option

- she moves to the lower city because she wants more out of life. she feels like a fish out of water as a Druid in the city, so she seeks out other Druids (from what I can remember there are only like 2.5? jaheira sometimes, jord, and that one by the tree by the mummy house) so I could see her becoming friends with jord and by extension the rest of jaheiras brood. I could see her realizing her dreams of doing more by joining the Harpers, Druids make useful spies and they seem to be rare in the city so she could be Really Good at it. Following this path all the way she obviously becomes the High Harper and Spymaster of Baldur’s Gate. She loves jaheiras network of rat spies.

Bad End

- dark Siobhan AU lmao, she does bad things!!! Because she’s alone and scared and her parents are dead!!!! She has the criminal background instead!!!!!! (Still a Druid tho she has an innate connection to nature) she gets tadpoled and really gets along with laezel, astarion, and shadowheart and they bond over being terrible to everyone. They join the goblins and raid the grove and they go full undercover in the cult until they sack moonrise. Minthara joins the group and they become everyone’s problem. I’m calling the shadowfell the point of no return for her because two things could happen

1) she saves nightsong because the Harpers and isobel are like the first people who even extended even a tentative kindness to her and she pursues good ends (destroying the brain, no ascending anyone)

2) she goes full Bad End, everyone becomes the worst version of themself (kill nightsong, ascend EVERYONE) but it doesn’t really matter because she becomes absolute (or if she doesn’t she and astarion still become terrifying vampire despots)

Worst end

- She’s a pretty elf, she met an even prettier elf in a tavern one night. Say, whatever happened to her?

[slverblood]

In her Nightsong AU, she remembers nothing of being Aylin, not even being Selûne’s daughter. She doesn’t know how long she was caged or, hell, whether she’d ever been free. All she remembers is the torment she’d endured (most of it anyway) and an endless string of Dark Justiciars plunging blades into her heart. Shar has spun this to convince her those Justiciars were sent to free her, but alas they all failed until the one worthy of being Her Chosen (Shadowheart) prevailed. I debate whether Shar would claim she’s her mother, but it’s ultimately irrelevant? For she is now part of Shar, the song of the Nightsinger. Which seems an incomparable honor: to not only be “saved” by the Nightsinger but raised up as part of her.

[sorcerous-caress]

I’ve seen a lot of your dark justicar Shadowheart & Dame Alyin dynamic stuff (and it’s top notch) but may I offer the idea of Shadowheart listening to the Tav and choosing to save the nightsong because of her feelings for tav and Dame Alyin giving the-not-quite-sharan so much shit about this as if she’s not just as down bad for Isobel.

If Shadowheart doesn't murder the nightsong, then shar will abandon her & Aylin won't be reborn as mortal and experience sinning for reader.

As long as the nightsong lives, Shadowheart will never be a dark justicier. It was her last ever test, and she failed. Even if she herself doesn't abandon shar, shar will abandon her herself.

So instead, let's make this idea a completely different au. Is the reader/Tav still a seluna cleric in this?

In canon, Aylin praises Shadowheart for not murdering her and giving up shar, she is very gentle and understanding with her during the whole process even before Shadowheart decides to spare her life.

I think Dame Aylin would see a mirror of her relationship with Isobel in Shadowheart and Reader, she might tease Shadowheart about it but nothing major.

Aylin saves her anger and hatred for whoever she deems a sinner and bad. Aasimars tend to see the world in black and white. Therefore, you're either her dear friend or an enemy of her. They're not very capable of the majority of human emotions.

Maybe a cute poly end?