#ntsmonthly

[rottendia]

prompt: write/draw them in a non-canon au

alright here’s rogier ace attorney AU before the day ends

some time ago i was thinking abt rogier in a modern setting, but i wanted to move away from the professor idea, and i thought, why not a lawyer? actually, it kinda suits him. then i mixed it with ace attorney and here we are!

i feel like he’d be good at it with his charm and eloquence and of course, that natural stage presence. he’d totally know how to twist the rules when needed and i see him as the type who finds every loophole in the system. plus, he’s super elegant ;)

i wanna see rogier defending his clients and yelling in ridiculous court cases

[spellblade-pua]

NTS prompt April 3. Sorcerer Rogier ~

Rogier was the first character from the first soulslike I ever played that caught my attention irresistibly. I was a baby Tarnished, completely terrified of everything, and a sorcerer dressed in strange yet elegant clothes helped me masterfully against a huge enemy that wouldn’t stop insulting me—without knowing me, without asking for anything in return. He bewitched me with his façade of kindness and sweetness, with that voice that tells you exactly what you want to hear. He seemed so wise and detached… How you love to lie, Rogier.

I've loved uncovering your lies, your interests, your secrets, your intentions, your relationships... I often think about D and Rogier exploring the Lands Between, exploring each other's bodies, purifying catacombs, and learning from one another... I could say my favorite thing about Rogier is how he deceives everyone with a veil of kindness and sweetness, only to be the most tormented person in the world. I love sad and tormented people.

Thanks to you, Rogier, my desire to create came back. Thank you for being my inspiration and my punching bag. I love you so much that all I can think about is new ways to torture you.

Thank you, Sorcerer Rogier, from the video game Elden Ring.

Here's the very first drawing I ever made of him!

[joybivision]

canon-divergent au prompt what if the twins were taken in by/born into the nox instead of the golden order (aka darian gets to be silver instead of gold so exciting)

bonuses:

[beholdthis-bitch]

Not sure when I'll finish the full piece (I'm slow at drawing) but I really like how Darian's face came out!

Day late Darian angst day. What's he looking at?

[irithylldancer]

First days in the lands between. Lanya being a tomboy lol

[cornunut]

ntsmonthly: share a headcanon you have about them.

wraith already hit the "diallos has def killed a bitch for volcano manor" which i agree on but i will add to that: old knight istvan was originally his target (his first one?) but he fucked up the mark so tanith was like "aight your turn" to the tarnished.

some other small ones:

in the fic i'm writing (god knows when that'll be published), torrent fucking hates him for reasons unknown. i am speaking from personal experience when i say that horses can be assholes for no reason sometimes.

mama hoslow is from ranah, solely because i think it would be funny if she looked similar to tanith and diallos had a crisis if he ever saw tanith's face.

his cause of death in jarburg was internal bleeding/too much blood loss (this is copium so i can fix-it fic)

[joybivision]

darian headcanon: the face of darian’s helmet is meant to resemble their mother, as best as he can remember. it’s not perfect, but it’s close enough to where he can be reminded of her every time he puts it on

[spellblade-pua]

NTS prompt April 8. Sorcerer Rogier ~ Share a headcanon you have about them:

(April 5th will be there, I promise. Give me some time, I'm just not good at organizing c:)

My first headcanon about Rogier is that he's left-handed. There's no particular reason for it, I just drew this fanart a while ago and used my hands as reference. Don't look for any deeper meaning, this is just the reason. It turned out nice, and I like that Rogier and I share that trait. He also really REALLY likes drawing his white knight :3

Another headcanon that's a bit more thought-out is that I really like to think Rogier doesn't see well from a distance, since he's spent so many hours in poorly lit archives, and over time, that damages the eyesight. Even though Darian often reminds him of it, Rogier keeps ignoring it and thus, continues to lose eyesight. Darian, on the other hand, has hawk-like vision. I really like to think that when Darian says "Eh look at that," and it's a bit far away, Rogier squints his eyes to see better. ~

[beholdthis-bitch]

Finished this for the NTSMonthly angst prompt from the other day. Not loving the shading (esp his face) but at least it's something!

[beholdthis-bitch]

day late but Darian headcanon: he has difficulty with his own emotion. That as children he had to be the parental figure for both Devin and himself, and most likely made understanding his own emotions secondary. In game he seems relatively level headed, but we see that totally break when he begins to talk about Rogiers ailment. I like to believe he has confusion as to why he feels the way he does and lacks any emotional cognition as to interpret it.

[beholdthis-bitch]

Favorite thing about Darian:

I thought this would be an easy prompt, but narrowing down to a single favorite thing is very hard....so I'm not going to do that.

His kindness and care for others - Darian is very kind despite what the fandom would like people to believe. We first meet him praying over a corpse of someone who, we assume, was killed by TWLiD. What we overhear him saying is not one of a man cursing and ignoring those who have died, but instead finding relief in the knowledge that an unknown man will not roam the lands between as a husk. Our first exchange with him is one of care and respect for us, the Tarnished, as he warns us to not approach Summonwater as its potentially very dangerous. Would a man who *only* cares about eradicating TWLiD and not for the everyday person actually warn us? And from there every interaction we have with him is very pleasant. He lets us take our time and offers to help us by offering incantations, as well as the option to summon him at two separate locations. Even his supposed "anger" with Rogier is one of a sadness at watching a friend slowly die of the exact thing you've dedicated your life to fighting. There is no malice in this man for anything other than TWLiD, and he wants nothing of you except to help

His dedication to those he loves - Look how far he goes for us, a random stranger he met maybe a day ago. He offers us help via incantations and summons, warns us to stay away from TWLiD because it may kill us, offers an introduction to Gurranq, someone very important to himself and his faith, which one could even consider an honor. But with Darian we get two separate entities that we know he holds dear: Rogier and Devin. It seems a lot of the fandom sees the "name calling" of Rogier by Darian is Darian going out of his way to berate and defame Rogier. Instead it is quite the opposite. As I mentioned above it's more inline that Darian is suffering at seeing his one-time close friend (*cough*lover*cough*, tho that's not where my loyalty lies <3) whittling away and becoming nothing but a muttering shell of himself, a once largely successful spellblade. Without even getting too much into Devin (that will turn this into a 300 page document), the fact Darian gasps Devin's name if the player kills him in Limgrave is indicative enough. That his last dying breaths aren't one of cursing, but one of longing for the one he holds closest. He also works hard to protect his brother's identity and location, by holding that information from us when we give him the weathered dagger, as why would he reveal the location of his most loved being (are you seeing my bias yet) to a stranger? Sure, he'll always try to help us, but we aren't someone quite as dear to his heart. He did give the information to Rogier, but if we take their previous relationship into consideration, it isn't too hard to see why.

His armor - Is his armor the reason I like him? No. But it'd be remiss to not say that his armor tells a further story about his relationship to his brother. It is beautifully inlaid with delicate and flowing details in a gentle fusion of gold and silver, each color representing one of the brothers. Maybe one day I'll make a massive post detailing my feelings about them two? Or just make a million posts? Idk

(less seriously) - he's hot.

Honestly could probably go on forever but I think this is sufficient enough for one post.

Edit: Trailing thought but I really wish people would see him for the gentle soul he really is rather some fanatic he clearly isn't.

[irithylldancer]

Feb 2: favorite thing about this character

Diallos is an idiot. Doesn't have any solid convictions. He's a young man with little real life experience. Running around places he shouldn't be, indirectly boasting about his family. This can easily come off snobby and annoying, but you can just tell he's a good person deep down. He's conflicted about what feels good for him. But like every 24yo stumbling through life, he makes a breakthrough after a jumble of mistakes and regrets.

[joybivision]

Prompt: Strengths & Weaknesses

Darian is motivated by a genuine desire to protect above all else. His first interaction with the player Tarnished is warning us about a nearby source of danger; before that, he is giving a dead man his last rites and a semblance of burial. He informs us of the dangers of deathroot – something unavoidable in the setting – to keep us from potentially experiencing what he sees as the worst fate imaginable. He doesn’t seek to kill TWLID for his own benefit or because he receives any kind of reward, but because to him, he is doing the best possible thing to keep others safe and keep a curse from spreading. In such a bleak setting, he displays true kindness, especially when we’ve had our fair share of interactions with people wary of our Tarnished status.

However, he cannot separate the idea of safety from the Golden Order. Criticism is, to Darian, close to heresy. He is willing to break relationships over an unwillingness to consider different ideas or perspectives, especially with respect to the undead. Though he never attempts to convert us or proselytize, he warns us about the risks that come from even being curious. He cannot handle the notion of anything being wrong with the dogma his entire identity is built upon, nor the possibility that there could be a better solution for the overwhelming undead issue. The path has long been set, by people he sees as much more intelligent than he, and he sees it as his duty to follow it without question.

[joybivision]

I wouldn’t say my backstory for him is 100% fleshed out and it’s subject to a lot of changes depending on how I’m feeling. 

I see him and Devin as coming from a coastal town that’s in close enough proximity to the Lands Between to do some trade with travelling merchants and some of the larger settlements. His father was a fisherman who went missing at sea only a year after their birth, and his mother was a fish merchant who was a devout follower of the Golden Order, having been born in the Lands Between but long since left. They were very loosely tolerated because their mother was beloved by most for having a particularly kind and generous nature, but they almost never left the area immediately around their home due to the potential of retaliation, especially when times were difficult. Being a mama’s boy, Darian inherited her adoration for the Order, wanting something higher than himself to believe in. He saw much of himself and Devin in Malenia and Miquella as well; if they could exist and be born to divinity, then perhaps they had a chance to survive after all. 

Due to its closeness to Caelid, it wasn’t uncommon for occasional outbreaks of illness to occur in town due to contaminated water and fish, and his mother died of a lesser form of rotting sickness when he was ~9. Without anyone to protest their innocence, they were hounded from the village days later, and Darian decided that he was going to sail himself and Devin to Leyndell in the hopes of witnessing the Erdtree and seeking refuge in the most sacred of places. He made as far as the shores of Caelid before dying of illness and exhaustion at the doorstep of a camp net to the Bestial Sanctum. Devin was close behind him despite soldiers’ efforts to keep him alive. It is easily the memory that gives Darian the most shame and motivates him to work as fervently he does. A part of him worries that he chose to die and leave his brother like a coward, and he promises never to let this happen again. The twins reawakened as Tarnished, but it’s not completely clear what to do at first. Their curse should make them a threat and something that violates the tenets of life, but some interpret their miraculous pilgrimage as a clear sign of divine favor. Judgment was finally given over to Gurranq, given that they died practically right next to him, and he is a holy man with considerable authority. He gave them mercy and interpreted their single soul as akin to that of Marika and Radagon and their cursed nature to many of her own twinned progeny. They serve as caretakers of the Sanctum (and Gurranq, as his mind begins to crumble) for several years until they are old enough to begin training under the Order. Darian seeks to become a Hunter of the Dead, both having witnessed them regularly entering the temple to give Gurranq the spoils of their work and having developed a special hatred for Those Who Live in Death as they so cavalierly reject the Order that he had to fight tooth and nail to become part of. Though deathroot itself painfully makes him recall memories of home, he regards it as a form of penance for his curse (and for allowing Devin to die) and embraces the discomfort willingly. He gets along well with most other Hunters although their interactions tend to be rare, but he often struggles to connect with other Tarnished due to his nature, the dissatisfaction many take with the Golden Order, and his generally sharp demeanor.