#there is a lot of husbandry lore

[kit-williams]

Golden Apotheosis

My turn to finally introduce a Sentience Custode of my own! However, with a twist! Ya'll remember that Shard I made with @sculptorofcrimson and @bispecsual? Well I'm introducing a stand in for her in husbandry... and don't worry the boy in this fic is a stand in for Valdor (or maybe you should worry).

Please big thanks to @bispecsual for also beta reading

Enjoy

WORDCOUNT: 6524

@egrets-not-regrets @liar-anubiass-blog @barn-anon @bleedingichorhearts @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@ms--lobotomy

Thank @squishyowl for the dividers

tw: Nudity, blood, death (very much on brand with 40k so far) POV shifting

The blood that ran down her naked body was still warm. Aurora trembled with fear as she knew she was destined to die today... there was a horrifyingly calm acceptance of that fact that ran through her. She opened her mouth to breathe and spit out blood that leaked into her mouth. She was blind as she refused to open her blood covered eyes as her arms were held out by large hands... her long brown hair now stuck to her back as it was heavy with blood and all she could hear was the loud booming voice of the "preacher" Astartis... Aurora felt something placed on her head as it dug into the skin of her scalp and chants and jeers flooded her ears.

Large thumbs swiped over her eyelids allowing her to finally open. Her eyes only briefly scanned the gathered crowd of Astartes as she was dragged to a raised platform and her eyes looked to her cell companion. Aurora didn't blame her even if she apologized again and again for what was going to happen... it wasn't her fault that she was being held hostage to get her Astartis to behave, she learned his name was Ari... Aurora didn't blame Ari either. Her hands were held over her head as she was strapped to a metal pointed wheel, a star of Chaos, she somehow knew... she looked over to her fast friend who was silently crying as she was held by an Astartis in black and gold. The unwilling sorcerer approached, glancing at his human.... glancing to the marine holding his bonded... who gave her a squeeze causing her to scream.

The "preacher" kept speaking as Aurora looked at who she assumed was Ari. His body unarmored as she looked over his face and for a moment when their eyes met she could see the regret in them for a fleeting moment before they hardened as he painted her flesh with symbols that made her mind hurt. His hands soon moved and glowed as his voice took on a double voice melding with his own. She felt her body pulse as warp stuff bled from her brown-gold eyes.

They thought it was fitting given the close resemblance she held to many of the depictions of the Carrion Emperor to give her a golden laurel. Several of them could see it... how swollen her soul was... and with Ari pushing more warp into it... it only made it a better sacrifice.

Ari wanted no part of this... he hated this... he was no human killer! But... but... his human was in danger.

Aurora looked up at the sky and there was silent pain that rushed through her body. Something inside of her was pulsing as, unknown to her, more and more of her soul was forced to take in raw warpstuff. Empowering her and making her ripe for an offering to the gods. She felt like the seams of her entire being were being ripped apart to the point she could no longer take it and she screamed, "SOMEONE HELP ME!" Desperately she screamed as she forced her throat raw.

But within the warp that those fallen Astartes were feeding her soul too... all that was there was the laughter of thirsting gods...

Apollo was falling. He blinked as he was indeed falling as his armor was adjusting and informing him of the calculated time till impact. His bright blue eye behind those ruby red eye lenses twitched around in their socket as he was fed information from several sources. He was about to land in a gathering of Chaos Space Marines... during the middle of a ritual... Perfect timing he thought to himself . Apollo twisted his body like a cat, unhindered by his armor, as he was made to move unnaturally. He arched and his armor braced and readied himself as his hands gripped his Guardian Spear. Where he was... will come later he had to eliminate a cancerous growth first. But, as he fell his eyes glanced towards the altar and a breath before impact his eyes caught gold.

It was a baseline human female covered in blood. On her head rested a mockery of a golden laurel that his Master was fond of. His eyes met hers for a split second and pools of gold-brown looked at him... afraid. Vines of warp like energy akin to some violent xenos flora wrapped and latched onto his soul... he was going to save her... he was going to save her regardless... but he was going to save her... for she looked far too much like Him.

Limbs and viscera exploded outwards as Apollo made impact with a traitor marine. As the smoke cleared it was already far too late for them. Before even the words "Custodes!" could leave the mouth of the traitor that spotted him... a dozen of them were already dead.

Ari's eyes widened as he knew he had only precious seconds... his eyes flicked over to the marine holding his human and all Ari had to do was twitch and their head exploded. She was opening her mouth to scream as Ari flooded his body with the lashing warp to fuel his speed. He needed to out maneuver the Custodes. He was kind enough to cut Aurora free as within breaths he was suddenly by his human as the warp wrapped around the both of them and before Aurora realized it... they were gone. They fell to the forest floor as Ari held his bonded tightly... safe.

However, Aurora was far from safe. She was still in so much danger as she scrambled to her feet after being freed. Her heart was beating wildly as she still felt like she was coming undone and her hands covered her ears as she trembled in pain, a scream ripped from her throat. The warp that had bled into reality whipped around her... it hurt! She was scared! And she poured all of her emotions into the currents around her.

Help me please... a voice in his mind pleaded as the Dread Host, Apollo, cleaved a limb free from the traitor in front of him. He danced between the ruptured metal and dying marines. He violently shoved the bubbling anxiety down, a feeling he had thought he had forgotten how to feel, as his eyes drifted towards the screaming and pained human his mind raced something screamed at him... SAVE HER... SAVERHERSAVEHERSAVEHERSAVEHERSAVEHERSAVEHER he gritted his teeth as something in his mind screamed at him in his own voice... he felt compelled to listen but he twirled watching his Guardian Spear slice through metal like it was butter. "Working on it." He snarled out to himself.

Aurora swayed on her feet as she regained some semblance of steadying herself and made to get away! The Golden Astartes could do that right? What help would she be... though she barely turned to run before a hand wrapped around her throat. Her hands looked so tiny as she tried to pry off metallic fingers from around her throat. The Feral Astartis snarled at her in that dark tongue, it wasn't Gothic, and it made something inside of her hurt. The dark apostle looked toward the custodes being swarmed before rushing off with the half ready sacrifice. It was just a minor setback... he would try again.

Aurora reached out to the golden warrior looking at the red eye lenses on that white faceplate... before she moved out of the camp at a sickeningly fast speed. Apollo's head snapped to the direction of his charge. His mind rapidly did the math at how fast he could get to her. He was finally done playing as his spear ripped open bellies before he turned on his heel like a flamenco dancer as he ran after them. Apollo needed to know why she looked so much like Him. He had joked or, now that Apollo reflects, perhaps in His own way admitted that He had many paramours over the years; both before and after the creation of the Primarchs. Apollo remembers him being young and bold enough to ask, "Should we be expecting any secret children my lord?"

He remembers the faint smile that was only in His eyes and not upon his lips as he ordained to answer Apollo, "No Apollo. I haven't had any in thousands of years."

Aurora was sobbing again, her tears cleaning the sticky blood on her skin, leaving their trails against her lightly tanned skin as she felt the hand around her throat squeeze. She was going to die... she had allowed herself to feel a fleeting sense of hope when he fell from the sky like a golden star... no... there was no golden hero here to save her. She opened her eyes as her brain had trouble registering the golden mass rapidly approaching her as... her brain told her.... it shouldn't move that fast... that smoothly... she felt sick as it moved so smoothly and so quickly that she couldn't register properly the fact he had already grabbed the dark apostle's arm and had already ripped it clean from its socket.

She only registered the sudden fact that she was falling now after a horrifyingly instantaneous sound of screaming metal. All Aurora knew was that at this momentum she was probably going to die if she hit the ground. However she blinked as the sound of leaf litter scattering met her ears as she was pressed up against a golden chest plate as she came to a stop. Her heart was beating like the wings of a hummingbird as her brown-gold eyes darted around. She looked up seeing the white facemask of the golden marine... she looked over her shoulder and could see the other dead on the forest floor.

Apollo watched as those gold-brown eyes looked around and back at his faceplate once more before she started to wildly weep against him. He normally wasn't good at handling their outbursts but he focused on the golden "laurel" on her head tangling with her hair was a bunch of scrap metal twisted and painted. His deft fingers moved it free of her scalp and wickedly tossed it at the dead marine watching the "leaves" sink into his skin. He felt her fingers grip his armor as he moves her, slightly wrapping her naked form in the black cloth he has wrapped around his waist. Apollo had many questions but as she started babbling up at him between her tears he realized he did not understand what she was saying... Apollo like all custodes was well versed in many imperial languages but this... this he did not know. He looked over her body as she was dehydrated and slightly underfed but otherwise she was healthy which soothed something inside of him. Apollo knew he wasn't good with baselines but he did his best to soothe her as now... he had to find his way to civilization.

The local Astartes were scrambling as there was a Custodes, an unknown Custodes, heading their way. Traitor and Renegade Astartes retreated from the immediate vicinity and entered hiding. A Custodes was a force of nature and would rip through a community like a tornado. Those at the wall gained confirmation as this was not one of the few that they knew of which meant this was a recent arrival... an unbonded Custodes. They would make things difficult as only bonded Custodes would allow the tentative truce between the Loyalists and Traitors continue... all by their mercy. So they were dealing with potentially two unbonded Custodes... they prayed to the Emperor and to the Dark Gods that no more were sent.

Apollo looked at the fortifications as he approached them picking up on Imperial Fist architecture mixed with Iron Warrior. His eyes narrowed at the joint project as he knew about the Ultramarine approaching him as his hand held the passed out bundle closely to him. He held his Guardian Spear at his side as the Ultramarine finally spoke, "Noble Custodes." Apollo could hear the accent as an old Mcraggian dialect and given the crusade pattern armor he was wearing... Time Displacement. Apollo theorized.

"Ultramarine." Apollo replied emotionlessly. The human in his arm whimpered softly, twitching slightly.

The Ultramarine looked at the Custodian's legs that were covered in dried blood. However his eyes kept glancing at the passed out human wrapped in the black cape of the custodian, covered in blood. He prepared to speak again but Apollo cut him off.

"When am I." He demanded.

"024.M2." He says automatically. The Ultramarine was surprised at the way the Custodian seemed to move in a way as he took a deep inhale.

"Where are we." Apollo turned to face the Ultramarine now, his grip on the spear becoming a little tighter.

"We are on Terra, my Lord."

Apollo stood there processing the conversation; he's never heard of a large time displacement going backwards. Ancient marines being shot forward in time was more common than not but... it could happen just he has no recollection of anything this severe, "When are you from."

"986.M30, my Lord." Internally the Ultramarine knew he was breaking protocols with these lines of question... they were supposed to ease in new arrivals... but then again this was a Custodes... and they had nothing ready for Custodes.

"I see." Apollo said as the silence before coming at him with, "I also see traitor marines in your midst."

"When are you from, my Lord?" The Ultramarine attempted deflection... Apollo could have killed him for such insolence.

"001.M42." Apollo said with a clipped breath.

"I... I see." The Ultramarine replied.

Apollo could see the micro movements of the armor... could see the way he was inhaling... he was clearly on the vox talking to others. He could order his machine spirit to override their encryptions to have full access to their conversation... but he refrained... for now. He glanced back down to his charge? He hardly was an Aquilian Shield to think of her as a charge but it felt right... a warmth that cradled itself between his hearts. His eyes pulled away and returned to their icy gaze as he looked around his mind playing stratagems of how he would dance between target to target he was confident even with her in his arm that he could kill them all. He had sparred with several Captain-Generals even the greatest of them all, Valdor. He was part of the host that was the Emperor's wrath... he was one of his Master's scalpels... and he saw much cancer to be removed.

"My Lord," Apollo looked to the Ultramarine, "if you will follow me... there is a lot we must inform you about." He started walking and Apollo adjusted his charge in his arms. Her golden eyes opened for a brief moment as the bags under her eyes were heavy... the way her hand shook weakly as she slurred out something in the language he did not know... how she curled against him once more before passing out again.

Apollo's eyes flicked about as they walked through the city seeing the baseline's glance about, none of them wearing any signifying colors that they were serfs or a part of some faction that Apollo knew of. The sky was a crisp blue that he knew few worlds had such a blue sky naturally and he is certain that if the Ultramarine was correct... the night sky might have a number of stars he knew by heart. But his eyes flicked to various windows as Apollo made mental notes of the traitor marines and any "loyalists" that would give him trouble should what they so desperately wanted to tell him... was unsatisfactory.

They approached the base as his eyes flicked to the defenses, far more lacking than what would normally be called for, his eyes flicked to the humans there. Negligible variables in his mind as they would die to simple flicks of his spear and they would be gone. He looked at the approaching Salamander Apothecary sizing them up, "Lord Custodes. I can take the human-" He starts slowly moving his arms to offer to take them.

"Dehydration and the beginning stages of starvation." Apollo says quickly, passing the bundle to the Salamander. He ignored the desire to pull her closer... he ignored the desire to rip her back into his arms... he ignored the desire to keep her close and have her stay with him. His icy blue eyes flicked to the Salamander... he would be a simple bump to cut through should he need to collect her; it would be easy to find her.

He followed the Ultramarine still into a meeting room as Apollo looked at the dozen of marines in the room. He stood like a statue in the doorway looking between each one of them planning out how he would kill each one and how he would move onto the next. When Apollo was satisfied with his stratagem he finally spoke, projecting his voice, "I have been here a total of three hours. And for that entire first hour I spent killing Traitor Astartes." He pauses for a moment, "In the past twenty minutes I have seen Thirty-two more. So gentlemen," He said with almost a snarl in his voice, "Tell me what is so important that should convince me to not start slaughtering you all."

It took them an hour to explain the bare bone basics. Apollo then made them stay an additional four to go into detail on every piece of information. He met with Loyalist "traitor" legion marines... A renegade marine... and one very brave Chaos Space Marine. Apollo processed the information in that painful silence, well painful for the Astartes as he was fine. He finally made a calculated move as he took off his helmet and pinched his brow. Utilizing a disarming technique to lure them into a calm but to express a desire to truly emote.

Apollo calculated the time span was roughly one of a ten thousand years with the earliest they were dealing with was one of the Uncrowned Princes fresh from the Unification Wars to the most recent which was a Primaris marine and himself being the latest to arrive from the Indomitus Era. "I'm satisfied with the explanation." Apollo said as there was a silent collective exhale of relief. "Have one of your Librarians determine if the human I brought in is... bonded to me."

"Yes my Lord." Someone said as Apollo stood up to leave the room.

Aurora feels that she's somewhere else... she's in a bed. She opens her eyes looking at the medical bed she is in as she sits in shock just remembering how she had fallen against her 'hero' as she had been calling him. Her hands began to tremble as... it... it was over? A click and a trill bring her eyes over to molten colored eyes of a large Salamander who is holding his hands open trying to look submissive, "Hello there little one." He says gently.

Aurora wanted to be brave... that she had handled being captured for the past few weeks with some dignity... Aurora wanted to be so very brave but she had accepted that she was going to die in some horrifying way... and tears fell from her brown-gold eyes. She wept as it was finally over... oh god it was finally over! "Shh Shh you're okay." She felt a hand on her shoulder and leaned into the gentle touch as she cried into his offered shoulder.

A nurse would come in eventually as she calmed down and slowly explained her ordeal and Aurora asked with a weak voice, "Can we call my mom? I've... I've been missing for awhile. My college probably called her."

"Of course Aurora. Do you want anything?"

Aurora swallowed softly, "A shower."

Aurora sighed happily as she felt fingers against her scalp. The last time she had been cleaned was in the camp by an Astartis that kept leering and getting too handsy.

"Diana." Another Nurse spoke through the door, "Big guy that brought her in wants to see her with the Librarian."

"Tell them I'm in the middle of bathing her." Her nurse said as she gently rinsed her hair.

The next voice through the door was in Gothic and sounded like an Astartes. Diana spoke it back... sounding more and more annoyed before sighing. "I swear for giants from space or whatever they really don't understand the concept of shame or that people don't like to be naked around them." She looks down at her, "They need to check something and don't want to wait I can-"

"It's fine. Just please... can... can you keep washing my hair." Aurora said with a whimper.

"Of course."

Apollo heard the whimper in her voice through the door as it soon opened as he saw those gold-brown eyes looking at him... there was shame in those eyes. He silently took in a sharp breath as he felt something painful rest between his hearts. His master needed to be taken care of. Each one of the Ten Thousand had done their part in lovingly taking care of Him before and after his placement on the throne. Apollo was no different as his eyes scoured her body... spying spots of blood still in her skin... her hair having knots in it... blood caked under her nails... all accompanying that look of shame in that golden gaze. He felt the deep aching need to be the one washing her hair... "Check." He said softly and quickly breaking himself from more thoughts.

As the librarian gazed into the warp... he did not know what he was looking at. There was a mess of "chains" and "vines" all around the Custodian. Writhing, locking, withering, pulling, coiling, unlocking... in a mess that he couldn't find what he sought. He looked to her and found the "tether" for a bond and followed it back... "Yes. She is your bonded."

Apollo turned away without another word and he threw his weight around to get what he needed as he took a "crash course" in the current local language called English. Once he grasped the basics, the noosphere was opened to him, simply called 'The Internet'. Apollo's mind rapidly took in what he learned as with what he saw made ten thousand year old memories danced across his mind. Cultures of ancient Terra became new again back home... ideas and images that are young or even old here and now cling to life and importance twenty-eight thousand years into the future and even older. Ideas were reused, rediscovered, once more lost, and once again found time and time again.

Apollo keeps watch over his new charge, he was made to kill not to coo at mortals like the Aquilian Shields or the Emissaries Imperatus often did, but he was digesting all that he had learned so far as his eyes looked to his charge and that gnawing in the back of his mind... she looked so familiar. Early the next morning an exhausted looking woman is escorted by the nurse to her room and through the window Apollo watches the two embrace and weep. Aurora, he reminds himself of her name as he replays the conversations she had with him after he saved her before she passed out.

"Captain," He voxes the appropriate leader, "Inform the bases near where she lives that I will be following."

"Right Away."

Aurora felt disappointed that she never got to properly thank 'hero' for saving her. Sure she saw him around but she also saw how everyone walked on eggshells, which would be impressive given how most of them were in that armor of theirs, around him. But she was going to be heading back home as she had found out she was a couple hundred miles away from home and where she was going to college... oh college... she started to think about college again.

"Ow." She is pulled from her thoughts as her mom gives the middle of her forehead a flick as she looks at her confused.

"None of that. I will be taking care of everything until you're ready to go back to college." Her mother said.

"But-"

"Aurora." She felt her mother hold her shoulders, "I have been living in limbo waiting to be told you were found dead. Please let me be the mom?"

Aurora could tell her mom had gotten a bit thinner... she always kept herself together even through the roughest parts of her childhood and she could tell she had taken the news about her being taken... badly. "Okay." She relented and hugged her mom smiling as she felt her kiss the top of her head. Aurora knows she wasn't planned for but her mother never made her feel like, as she put it, an oopsie.

"I'm going to finish up your discharge papers. And then I'm sure the nurse will come get you."

"Can you bring me something to eat?"

"I'll ask the nurses, kiddo." Her mom said before leaving the room and Aurora was left with her thoughts.

However, her eyes caught gold moving outside and she quickly rose out of bed and opened the door seeing 'hero' walking down the hall. "Hey big guy, wait." She called out as she moved towards him, oh sure she shouldn't be out of bed but she didn't want to miss this opportunity. She felt so small standing next to him and looking up at him as he now had a black shoulder cape that she vaguely remembers being wrapped up in... but he was looking down at her. She swallowed and smiled, "I'm probably going to be leaving soon but I've been wanting to thank you so much for saving me." She can't help but rise to the tips of her toes as she says 'thank you' just smiling up at the silent guardian.

Apollo, hidden behind the white faceplate and red eye lenses, felt something wash over him... praise. It was the same sort of warmth that he would get when He praised him. She looked ready to leave at his silence but Apollo placed his hand on her head giving her a gentle pat on the head. He removed his hand to not let strands of her hair get tangled in his servos. She smiled up at him, the smile reaching her golden-brown eyes, and once again that ten thousand year old part of him melted in the same way... that he was eager to get again. She quickly rushed back to her room and Apollo watched that waist length silken brown hair, a shade he knew by heart, sway with each quick bouncy step.

Eventually her life had to keep moving back forward and Apollo watched it all. He watched her blossom back to life, like the spring flowers she often loved to wear in the flower crowns. Her golden-brown eyes glittering with joy and laughter; sparkling in a way that stirred something within him. It made Apollo want to get closer... it made him want to touch her in ways that made him hesitate to get closer for he was disturbed by feeling such desires so intensely.

There were a handful of Custodes here and when they were from were also as varied as the Astartes. But they had a smattering of personalities and how they were handling these bonds... Odysseus; he could tell; was still in mourning and handling the bond with suspicion. Kaeso on the other hand urged him to enjoy it and Apollo bit his tongue when he wanted to remind Kaeso how to behave. However, Kaeso was behaving... behaving how he had been during the Unification wars and the Great Crusade... not to how he was used to him acting since those 'happier' times.

"It's you!" Aurora said excitedly as she looked up at Apollo whose armor was now clean and glittering in the light that fluttered between the leaves. Apollo looked at the crown of cherry blossoms on her head and could not help but think of how similar it felt to a laurel...

"Hello Aurora." Apollo finally spoke to her.

Aurora's eyes widened for a moment as she finally heard the soft masculine voice that came from the helmet, she was used to them having deep voices; and his was still deep compared to a normal human; but it was softer than what she expected. He watched her smile soon after taking steps to close the distance between them. And as she smiled at him Apollo watched the gold in her eyes glitter and glow in seeming approval of him. He took a knee and her smile grew once again, rounding her cheeks, as she bore her teeth in that very human gesture of a grin, even showing her gums slightly. "I am a Custodes. I go by many names each given to me for a deed I have completed. My deeds are numerous and my name long but you may call me Apollo."

Apollo smiled under his helmet as she grinned approvingly at his introduction and it made him feel good, but he didn't know why and part of him no longer cared. "I am your bonded." He stated and he listened to the way her heartbeat lept up as she giggled happily even bouncing slightly to show her uncontained joy at his statement. Even going up to him and giving him a hug. Apollo normally did not like mortals touching him or being close to him, but this felt nice.

Words flowed easy between them and when Apollo removed his helmet he heard her gasp. He felt something inside of him savor the way she held his face watching her eyes dart around his features. Cooing about the freckles that danced from one ear, down to the cheek below his eyes, over the bridge of his nose, and ending at the other ear. She looked over his strawberry blonde hair but it was clear she was enamored with his freckles... but she looked at him in a way he didn't know why but it made him crave for her to look at him more... to hold his face still... to look at him... to be so alive... he couldn't stop seeing his dear beloved Emperor in her.

"What's on your mind, Apollo?" She cooed at him.

"You look," He paused for a moment debating on telling her but decided it wouldn't hurt, "like someone I knew."

"Well, I'm certain you saw what my mom looked like. I do share at least half of my DNA with her." Aurora teased as she cupped his face still, running her thumbs over his cheeks.

"What of your father?" He said tilting his head, as he had quickly determined that she enjoyed him being emotive; a thing he noticed Astartes who wear their armor often with their human do... pantomime their expressions. He watched her exhale and roll her eyes as she pulled her hands away. Apollo held back a frown at the lack of contact between them.

"Never met him. Mom literally only met him once. Though it's a really funny story on how he got my mom, for context she never really randomly slept with people, to sleep with him." With her gestures and movements it was an often told story. "She was at some bar and tells me that she looked at the other end of the bar and sees the most handsome man she's ever seen. Tall, strong jawed, silky brown hair going to his... as she puts it 'nice ass', swore that his eyes had to be gold, and just had some European air about him; though... tangent we learned that he might have actually been Anatolian when I took a DNA test. But... " She waves her hand resuming the main point, "She waited a bit as she was certain that no one that good looking was at this bar alone. But he was so she decides to shoot her shot and they get talking." Aurora makes a grand gesture for the next words, "Massive nerd with many fields of interest, so my mom, also being one, saw that as a point in his favor. But that's not the thing that riles my mom up and gets her to sleep with him, oh no... so she asks him his name," She builds the suspense for a moment, "he called himself 'Revelation'." She waves her hands at the reveal. But she soon shakes her head and laughs, "My mom and I have had a laugh at that given how it sounds like she had already made up her mind to have sex with this stranger but it's funny that him being a 'mysterious' handsome stranger named Revelation. Is what cemented it for her. But yeah they had sex and nine months later I came into the world."

Apollo's pupils became pinpricks as he was, as was most of the ten thousand were, privy to many of His names and he distinctly remembers Revelation being one of them. His breathing remained steady, no outward sign betraying his emotions, but his heart was racing as time crawled for him as he finally really looked at Aurora drinking in every detail... he wasn't losing his mind as he could see it. She was his Master's child.

"I might know your father." Apollo said.

"Do you now?"

Aurora blinked as she had been doing so for the past 5 minutes digesting what was told to her after Apollo had info dumped a lot on her. She had to sit on a stump half way through his explanation of her father... "Okay so... let me go through the highlights. My dad is an immortal space warlord, who is also worshiped as a god, but heavily insisted that he wasn't a god... when apparently he liked to play god genetically. He was also a really shitty dad because how else do you get nine people who call you dad to want you dead?"

"That is a gross simplification of everything." Apollo stated bluntly.

"THAT ISN'T SAYING NO APOLLO!" She shouts. Apollo just huffs as he decides to not give her a vocal answer but he is pleased when she presses him for more, "And you want to find him because he made you when he was playing God but its not out of a familial obligation it's because you wholeheartedly serve him?"

"Correct."

She is quiet for several moments before letting out a sigh as she looks to him, "Okay Apollo I won't stop you from finding him. I'll even do my best to help you but I need you to answer something for me."

Apollo preened under her acceptance of his desire to find her father, "Gladly."

Aurora felt mean for what she was about to say but if what he had told her was true... he was like ten thousand years old... he could handle this easily. "What will you do when you find him? The man you know does not even exist yet and he might never exist. Given how he's the one who makes both you and apparently the Astartes and since you," she points to him, "are here and now and you're from the really far future and none of it includes mentions of this happening? Means that this is probably now an alternate timeline, if you believe in that of course. SO Apollo... please tell me... what are you going to do?" Her words struck at something deep inside of his psyche. His mind came to a screeching stop. "Oh God... Oh God... Apollo? I didn't mean to break you." Her voice cut through to his mind as he finally heard her again after being frozen still as a statue looking through her.

Apollo knew that this endeavor was utterly selfish... it was flawed and flimsy enough for a baseline mortal to see the holes in it... but he just wanted to serve a living Emperor again... he just wanted to see the life in his eyes once more... she was right... he wasn't the same man who had handcrafted him into what he was... Apollo felt himself mourning again as his hearts ached in pain as he looked at his bonded... his dearest Aurora... she was alive... oh she was oh so very much alive.

The golden chains that bind him and tether him to his beloved master are violently twisted apart with only few of them loosely hanging onto him as the vines dug and pushed under the claps and cuffs that the chains were wrapped around. Apollo was in that dark grief again as his mind rushed and tried to pull him out and there calling his name looking up at him concerned was Aurora. His thoughts coalesced crashed on that singular thought of how she was his beloved Master's child... and the poison blossom bloomed over his hearts as vines wrapped around his neck... around his being... holding him tightly as even the vines wrapped around the broken chain links leading back to his Master and held them in place.

"Apollo?" Aurora looked up at him concerned as he had stood there looking through her and being completely emotionless.

If he could not love and serve his beloved Master here... then the princess... this tiny Empress in front of him would have to suffice. Something deep inside of him was utterly thrilled at the thought of holding her again... her being so easy to pick up and hold... so small and fragile... her hands against his face again whispering praise to him... so small... and all his.

"Apollo? Are you okay?" She whined softly feeling guilty for causing him to shut down basically but Apollo smiled at her and nodded.

"Thank you Aurora. I needed to hear the truth." He gently took one of her hands and dropped to a knee as a practiced warm smile graced his face, "And with that... I am ready to diligently serve you. I vow to keep you safe. And to be as a bonded should be, my Lady." Apollo said his icy blue eyes watching her face as he then kissed the back of her hand before turning it slightly and kissing her pulse point on her wrist. He contained his smile as he felt it against his lips and heard her pulse quicken. His eyes drank up the blush on her tanned skin.

She squeaked as he picked her up, princess style, easily and once more Apollo regarded her blush akin to being praised! Words once more again flowed easy between them as he carried her back to where she was staying as he could tell she was excited to have him as her bonded... perhaps not as excited as he was but he was certain in time she would be.

Perhaps Apollo could see why Valdor was so enamored by the Shards he often collected... so deliciously small... and all very much his.

[scatterbrainedbot]

I AM SPINNING I AM PACING I AM FULL ON FROLICKING IM SO EXCITED

@d1sc0rd1a THANK U FOR THESE TAGS

okayokayokayokay so pretty much all of these questions will be Officially Answered properly in the character design/intro pages im working on but also i am physically vibrating with excitement about the fact that you noticed all these details and i have very little self control so! lore dump time!!!

(minor tw for mentions of leos self-harm/self-destructive anxious behaviors and unhealthy coping skills)

- mikey does indeed have curly fur! i believe he would be considered a 'rex' rat (pictured on the left) for this trait? though the curls can be more easily seen on mice (pictured on the right). or, at least it seems that way. have not delved too deeply into the details of rodent genes and husbandry, but id assume its the same sort of mutation considering curly haired mice are also referred to as rex sometimes? either way hes a extra floofy bby 🧡

-as for raphie, unfortunately being more fluff and less shell than the average rapheal comes with its downsides. especially if you and your brothers occasionally encounter things like territorial dogs, hungry cats, or sewer crocodiles while exploring places ur dad said not supposed to go. (most of his scars will have more ninja related stories, but his ear i think got messed up from something very animal. probably around age 11 ish? old enough to sneak out from dads protection but young enough to not fully know how to handle himself alone against real danger. thankfully his ear injury looks worse than it actually is for the most part, as the damage was largely to the outer ear. his hearing wasnt super affected, except that he now has a bit of a harder time being able to track/pinpoint noises origins if its on his right side.)

-also yep! dons got some glasses that just clip/rest on the bridge of his nose! theyre mostly just for home use, as they do fall off if hes knocked around. in the field he has some goggles he tends to use (theyre helpful as they have multiple additional functions like heat-imaging, extra zoom/telescoping, and recording capabilities. but also theyll give him headaches if he wears them for too long without breaks). contacts are theoretically also an option but he absolutely hates the sensation of putting them in. so sometimes when hes tired he'll just not bother with either clips or goggles and just squint and struggle. leo hates when he does that lol.

-speaking of leo, he is def an anxious baby :) he has a few patches of fur missing on his hand cos he has the tendency to tug on it while hes thinking. he yanked and chewed on his own tail a lot when he was younger too, which is why when hes older he usually wears some wraps to cover the scars left from that behavior. he finds those scars specifically to be kinda embarrassing and shameful because they werent from any battle or life-lesson, just his own 'inability to control himself'. all of his brothers have repeatedly called him out on the fact that that is not a healthy way to think about his anxiety or mental health, but leo insists hes fine. hes kinda convinced himself that a proper warrior always has control over his own body* and his own thoughts, thus he should be able to just like willpower-brute-force his way into 'being better'. (this line of thinking pisses raph off so much he has to leave and go hit something)

Splinter also tries to talk him through some of that internalized guilt/shame/everything, but splinters very metaphorical, poetic, and indirect when it comes to talking about Big Things, which combined with how much leo gets caught in his own head, makes it kinda hard to gauge how much these talks actually help

*this is made extra fun considering leos also ftm trans, so he is faced with a body that fundamentally disobeys him perhaps more than the average rat-man.

-and im still going back and forth between a few species for splinter, but im leaning mostly towards an African Spurred Tortoise! they have these beautiful if kinda subtle geometric shell patterns and are the third largest species of tortoise in the world. the only thing that doesnt fit perfectly with Splints is that (allegedly) their lifespan in captivity is around 50ish years, whereas im p sure Tortoise Splinter is well over 75, probably closer to 90 when the boys are born and hes mutated into Old Man Papa.

but maybe hes just a particularly long lasting African Spurred Tortoise.

the Hamato family has taken very good care of him for many decades after all. :)

(well. until everything all fell apart, that is.....)

[breelandwalker]

basic witch question: how can i study and research folk magic and historical witchcraft?

I've been trying to search like this: "name of country/place +folk magic" on academic article sites but I haven't found much practical stuff and sometimes I don't find anything.

thank you for your attention

Good question!

The first thing you'll want to do is set aside the idea that you're going to find overt and accurate historical descriptions of witchcraft as we define it today. VERY few people who practiced some form of folk magic would have identified themselves as witches, because up until very recently, it was something you could be arrested, fined, and executed for doing. Even just the suspicion of such was enough to cause panics and widespread paranoia. What you're most likely to find is a collection of folk beliefs ABOUT witches and witchcraft, rather than actual witchcraft practices.

There are plenty of folk magic practices that resemble things we do in modern witchcraft, but they wouldn't have been called witchcraft by the people doing them back in the day. If you nailed a cluster of broomstraw over your door or scattered eggshells in your garden, it wasn't to cast a spell - it was just The Done Thing to keep trouble out of your home and help the crops grow.

Be prepared to find a lot of Christianity blended into the practices you do find. During the Christianization of Europe, new beliefs blended with older ones and created some very interesting regional amalgamations. So you'll often find invocations of saints or the Blessed Virgin, or particular psalms or prayers included as essential parts of certain charms. (It's also worth noting that the recitation of certain prayers was a method of short-term timekeeping, since they didn't exactly have clocks or timers.)

Be prepared also to find a lot of references to the Devil and devil-worship. For several centuries, the idea of witchcraft and demonolatry (consorting with and calling upon demons for power and supernatural aid) was synonymous across much of the Western world. It's very difficult to find a mention of witches in contemporary medieval or renaissance literature that is not immediately accompanied by some mention of devils or demons or familiars. This is a record of the superstitions of the day, NOT the practices of actual witches, no matter what Margaret Murray would have us believe.

To find the folk magic practices, if you can't find them by searching the term outright, study the regional folklore of the place you're interested in. Look particularly for anything to do with healers or spirits or fairies or ghosts or local superstitions. Where you find these, you will find whatever regional protection rituals the country people used to ward off trouble from ethereal beings, and possibly references to other related practices for love or luck.

Naturally, if you go back to classical antiquity (Greeks and Romans) or further, things will look very different. It all depends on the time and place.

It's important to note that most of the books we have which document these beliefs were written during the 19th-20th century spiritualism and occult fads, and while there is an earnest effort in most of them to record things academically from good sources, they should still be taken with a grain of salt.

Here are some titles I've found useful in my studies:

British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (Sikes, 1880)

Culpeper's Complete Herbal and English Physician (Culpeper, 1850 edition)

Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (Yeats, 1888)

Magic and Husbandry: The Folk-Lore of Agriculture (Burdick, 1914)

Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics (Folkard, 1884)

The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (Summers, 1926)

The Superstitions of Witchcraft (Williams, 1865)

You can find these and many similar titles on Project Gutenberg or Global Grey Ebooks. (And since they're in the public domain, they're free and legal to download!)

One final note - If you run into anything that mentions "folkish" traditions, bloodlines, or theosophy, put it down and walk away. That direction lies the pipeline to racist hate groups.

Hope this helps!

[dwarfbehavior]

Welcome to the first edition of DwarfNotes, where instead of getting overwhelmed and quitting the game forever, I lay out what I'm working on and the questions I have at the moment (no one needs to answer unless they want to, I'm looking at tutorials and the wiki when I have a mind to).

Work Orders - Orders are beginning to pile up and my Manager still doesn't have a proper office. I think he just needs a chair in one of the rooms I designated as office in order to actually process the orders. Animals Nest box not appearing - This feels like a glitch. The nest box option just does not appear under carpentry or stoneworking despite everyone saying it should. What to do with penned animals - Self explanatory. Haven't done anything with the animals I've brought across all three forts except milk and shear a couple. I take it I need to work on animal husbandry before butchering/tanning them. Vermin catcher - I made one of these just because, nothing has happened with it yet. Hunting - I have assigned hunters but I don't think they've done anything of the sort. If you didn't notice, Meat has been None in pretty much all screenshots. Maybe I need to keep hunters exclusively focused on hunting? Traps - No clue about traps, but probably important for meat, yeah?

Strays - Seeing some stray animals in my fort. Cats I understand can be useful to let roam, but I also see a mule and llama roaming around.

Temples - I need to spend more time looking at dwarf profiles and gauging religious interest. Do I just make a bunch of temples for each religion I see in profiles, or stick to one temple for one religion?

Hospital materials - Splints, crutches, and buckets are just carpentry. Thread, cloth, powder for casts, and soap I don't know how to make. I also need a steady supply of water right?

Water - Want to make an indoor well for easier access to water and in case everyone needs to take shelter.

Crafting - I'm starting to make goods without a clear purpose. I also have those troglodyte bones which I assume are good for bone gauntlets and the like, that'd be dope. Similarly, I have a lot of gem work being done without knowing what to do next, I guess time to adorn the goods with them?

Lore - As mentioned with temples, I gotta start reading dwarf profiles and seeing what my people are up to in between jobs. I think dwarves will use unused workshops to make random stuff when the mood strikes? I should make more workshops then.

[bonefall]

How would a thunderclan cat go about caring for leeches? I imagine it would be harder for them than Shadowclan cats since I imagine things aren’t quite as like.. damp in thunderclan. I love leeches pls give me the husbandry lore 🥺

I'm taken aback at how many people want the leech lore, I did not expect this much love for Spotty's girls. But, ok!

For one, they are medicinal leeches. Hirudo medicinalis. This species is actually threatened in England, specifically because it's so rare for livestock to drink from lakes these days. So these wild leech specimens are actually found in ShadowClan territory, and they heavily rely on Clan cats!

They also do prey on the occasional boar, fox, or badger that wades through the mud. ShadowClan loves leeches, they think they are useful as medicine AND as snacks, leading to a symbiotic relationship.

(sadly this means that the expansion of the highway and the loss of the Clan cats massively disrupted the leech population. There are probably conservationists who discover too late that there were medical leeches surviving in this area and despair over how they could have saved the White Hart woods.)

Anyway, keeping leeches is easiest for ShadowClan of course, but ThunderClan can do it with some effort. Spotty has a two-part terracotta bowl (a dish and a lid) which helps keep them cool, even in summer, and she stores them in the darkest part of her den. At the bottom of this bowl is mud, wet leaves, swampy substrate.

It's not hard to feed them with worms or insects, but they have so many elders with joint pain that there's enough food to go around. Spotty also really doesn't mind just letting them nibble her arm; leech bites aren't painful or anything.

The hardest part is getting pond water when she needs to clean the bowl. You want water that's full of good bacteria that can support fish, not just any old ditchwater.

Before Yellowfang's exile, she would ask for ShadowClan pond water and usually be granted permission with an escort. Brokenstar didn't see a need to make a hard embargo with ThunderClan when he was so focused on eradicating WindClan first.

Yellowfang has a lot more knowledge about caring for leeches though. Because she can't access pondwater, she ran some experiments with the lesser-leeches (the ones that weren't Spotty's beloved 3), and found she can clean the bowl slowly using river water, but doing it all at once could shock the leeches.

But, it's not very hard. Harder than keeping mealworms, but leeches are an easy animal to keep. They're also really cute, like fat worms, with nice patterns.

[elfinbloodbag]

Here is an over-long bio for Ára, giving her history and personality mainly from before the beginning of BG3. I'll likely make small tweaks to this to improve how it reads, but for now I'm putting it out there because otherwise I'm likely to just keep adjusting for a millennia.

Full name: Áradíhena Vilyaló 

Name meaning: Áradíhena: forgiveness of the dawn, or merciful dawn – Vilyaló: of the air 

Pronouns: She/Her 

Race: High Elf – Sun Elf 

Age: 126 

Orientation: Bisexual 

Theme song: God Turn Me Into a Flower – Weyes Blood 

Playlist: Coming 

Class: Fighter / Bard 

Subclass: Battle Master / College of Lore 

Origin: Noble 

Alignment: Chaotic Good  

Ability overview: Áradíhena is a talented musician and singer, specialising in stringed instruments and having a strong preference for the lyre – through her learnings as a bard she has specialised in support and healing based abilities, as her family felt this was most fitting for a noble lady and would allow her to support a future husband. Her talent with a sword came much later in life, and was learnt very much through real-world experience. At this point in her journey she prefers to use a greatsword and other greatweapons. 

Other abilities: Áradíhena is an expert in animal handling and husbandry, as well as having some skill in painting and sketching. Survival skills were largely self-taught, but she has enough experience making her way outdoors at this stage to be proficient.  

Personality: 

Áradíhena is grappling a very deep-seated belief, and fear, that her only value is to make other people happy, and also that she can never do so and therefore will never be deserving of love. She is insecure, deceptive on an instinctual level, and, without realising it, has anger and resentment that is almost boiling over, as anger isn’t something she was ever permitted to feel for most of her life. She has a lot of strength when it comes to standing up for other people, and she has a particular fondness for those who have been mistreated by people more powerful than them, but, at least at the beginning of her journey, she has very little strength for herself. 

Her desire to please others has often led to her squashing parts of herself, the ones that she sees as negative – particularly her anger, and sadness. Anything that might make those around her uncomfortable is brushed away and ignored. That doesn’t stop it seeping through though, and means that when she is not in control of a situation, or feels that someone is going to break her shell, she can be vindictive and spiteful, but always masks it with pretty words. 

She is warm and kind to everyone, but this manifests in two ways, depending on whether it is genuine. The performance, which she has lived in most of her life and which she displays to people she doesn’t know or trust, and people who have power over her, and the reality, which through her journey she begins to reclaim.  

The performance is dignified and demure. The picture of grace befitting of a noble lady. This is what she was taught to be.  

When the mask slips and she comes into her own, after she has learnt her new friends will not abandon her for showing her feelings, she is lively, she can be fierce, she is extremely loyal and protective, she snorts when she giggles and gesticulates more than is “proper”. 

Ára is enormously compassionate, fiercely self-reliant, passionate, and holds herself to her own high standards, and will lie to ensure other people continue to see her this way. What she really needs, although she can’t admit it, is to be shown that it is safe for her to show negative emotions, and that she can be known in that way and still be loved. 

Likes: Sunrise and sunset, especially when there is frost or dew on the grass. The scent of fresh bread. Animals, especially cats. Decadence and lavishness (in clothes, décor, food, everything). Singing and dancing – she adores all music. Praise. Effective deception and one-upmanship (on her part).  

Dislikes: What she believes to be wrongful, or mainly cruel, use of power. People who don’t think before they speak. Lack of opinion (though she is very careful when expressing her own, and so is a hypocrite in this regard). Quietness, as she feels (or has learnt) it is her job to keep a conversation sustained. 

Fears: Losing control, feeling powerless, and being told she has done wrong, or not done well. Small places and confinement, especially in the dark. Most of all she fears not being enough for anyone. 

Quirks: As she becomes comfortable in a situation you can almost see her expand and fill her space in the world, using her arms and hands as she speaks, sometimes even pacing if she is thinking deeply about what she’s saying. It’s not uncommon to hear her humming in her sleep. 

Mental health:  Áradíhena has quite frequent nightmares about being found by her husband or her parents, and being choked to death. She often wakes up short of breath, gasping and wild eyed. Her self-esteem is also enormously low, having never really learnt to value herself, but also learning from experience that she is not enough to be valued by those who should be closest to her. She is also extremely claustrophobic, and even small things like struggling to get out of her clothes can cause her to panic. 

Favourite food: Sweet cheese tarts, especially served with berries 

Favourite drink: Crisp and light sparkling pink or white wines 

Favourite flower: Double Peonies and baby’s breath 

Height: 5’7”/173 cm 

Skin: Surprisingly pink skin – ever so slightly cool toned or at least it appears to be next to her hair, just edging beyond the usual skin colour range for a high elf, but nothing surprising when looking at the full spectrum that exists in Faerûn. 

Hair: Her hair is a warm toned pink/peach colour, and it reaches the base of her spine. It’s inclined to waves and curls at the bottom, where the weight of it hasn’t pulled the waves out. She often adds some intricate plaits at the crown of her head and above her ears. She says this is to keep her hair out of her eyes, and that’s partly true, but she also thinks it looks pretty, and is a reminder of the decadence of her former life – one of the few aspects she misses. 

Eyes: Her right eye is a dusty rose colour, striating from almost red to almost coral, but primarily a desaturated pink. Her left eye is a very light almost green colour, due to a past injury and subsequent infection that significantly weakened the muscles, so her iris is permanently thinned. 

Other: Áradíhena is quite heavily freckled and has moles all over, but especially over her nose and cheeks, and shoulders where she most catches the sun. She has several notable scars. One is large and jagged, running from her left shoulder up her neck and onto her cheek – this is an angry pink colour and was the result of a fight with her sorcerer father as a child. This injury resulted in the in her pale left eye. The other is a few thin lines across her neck, much paler as it healed a lot better, which was left when her husband attempted to strangle her with a necklace. 

Colour scheme: Pinks, peaches, soft oranges, lilacs, and rich reds – all the colours of sunrise! She prefers gold to silver. 

Fashion sense: Áradíhena resists retaining much from her old life, but her fondness of beautiful clothing is one thing she has kept. She loves intricacy – embroidery, beadwork, slashed sleeves and unnecessarily layered clothing. Velvets, silks, and satins will always have a place in her heart. 

She does dress reasonably practically – nothing that restricts her movement, and when it comes to armour she will take what she can get, but she likes to find small ways to customise her clothing. 

If she had her choice, she would regularly be able to wear gowns and robes, favouring low neck-lines and clothes that fall off the shoulder. She also very rarely wears necklaces, due to the strangulation incident. Where armour must come up to her neck, she makes sure there are no loose straps that someone could grab, and it’s not uncommon for her to become panicked if it is taking her too long to remove. 

Family: 

Baroness Finnaelah - mother - alive | relationship: estranged   As a child Áradíhena loved and admired her mother, but as she grew older the relationship became primarily cordial. Finnaelah would have said they were close, and had a good relationship, but that was because Áradíhena hid her resentment, and behaved as was expected of her – which was mostly cordially, great displays of affection were not proper. 

Baron Apeníthir - father - alive | relationship: estranged  Similarly to her relationship with her mother, as a child Áradíhena loved her father very much. But she was wilful, and one day wanting to continue her riding lessons rather than go inside to meet the boy who would later become her husband, her father lashed out, casting much stronger magic than was necessary for reprimanding a child. From then on her relationship with him was strained, but she never spoke back or showed her fear again.  

Viscount Fândûren - husband - alive | relationship: estranged  Áradíhena’s husband held her to an extremely high standard, expecting her to be the perfect wife on his arm. Always pleasant and agreeable. She expected her marriage to be potentially a little cold at first, though it had been arranged for close to 40 years, but she also thought it would be a place where she could, carefully, express herself, after having to bite her tongue for years with her family. This turned out to be completely incorrect, and she was never quite able to please him. She stayed in her marriage for almost 40 years, from when she was 50, to 88, but fled the night of the attempted strangulation. They are still legally married, but she does not consider him her husband. He has made efforts to find her and bring her home, as her family’s support in his business has waned, but she hasn’t had to try hard to evade him, and the rest of her family. 

Background: 

Ára was born in her family’s estate just north of Baldur’s Gate, and grew up between their house in the city, and that estate and its grounds. The Vilyaló estate is a large manor with a span of grounds and land, including some farm smallholdings and woodland where her father often hunted. This was her favourite place, where she was able to find a little freedom and as a child frequently escaped her lessons to the kitchens to play with the staff, who treated her kindly despite the way her parents treated them, and the stables, where the horses and the barn cats allowed her to curl up with them in a way her parents never would. Their house in the city was equally grand, but necessarily smaller than the manor house, and had much less opportunity for her to hide. 

When she was young, it would have been very easy for an outsider to believe that she grew up in a loving household, and in a manner of speaking she did. Her parents were truly, deeply, in love, adoring of each other, and they doted on her as well. But more as one dotes on a pet, or on a particularly useful employee. As a child she didn’t know the difference, and as much as a child can she tried to be good and proper and earn their approval.  

She strove to be the perfect daughter, learning everything she must to one day be a strategically important man’s perfect wife. She paid very close attention to her lessons in music and singing, in dancing, in history, etiquette, horsemanship, painting, managing a household – all her lessons. And she learnt her own lessons in addition: how to bat her eyes and smile just right so whoever she spoke to felt like the only person in the room; how to add the right amount of sincerity and hint of a sparkle to her voice to disguise disagreement; even how to assess her parents response to her white lies about why she was late and adjust accordingly. But of course, perfection is unattainable, and she was never quite able to satisfy them. 

At the tender age of 14, Áradíhena was finally to meet her betrothed, Fândûren, 17 at the time. This partnership between the two very wealthy families would be one of note, going a long way to repair ancient wounds from the Weeping War Ára had fled to the stables, fearing the reprimands of being disobedient less than the disapproving looks and deliberate distance from her parents when she missed a note, failed to curtsey low enough, or made another misstep in front of her new fiancé.

When her father came to fetch her she begged and pleaded and cried that she didn’t want to be married, even if she did have years, in a way she had not done since before she was able to speak. He made to drag her inside, grabbing her by the shoulder and intending to give her a shock of lightning, but in his anger at this first brazen display of anger and upset from his daughter used more power than needed. 

When she was 50 the two were married, and she moved into Fândûren’s home in the city. Finally, she would be able to experience that great closeness, that great love, that she saw in her parents, for herself. She had anticipated some initial awkwardness and coldness, but she knew what marriage looked like, or so she thought, but the coldness endured.

Again, she tried for many years to be the perfect wife. She accompanied him on various engagements into the city, helped him to charm the patriars who made up parliament. She had used her skills as a bard to lull him into sleep, and mend torn muscles after hard sparring matches. It was his great ambition to raise his already respected family’s estimations and carve out a place for himself amongst those who led the city. She saw the great warmth he offered to them, and the care he took with the women he brought back to their home – who he made no effort to hide from her – and once again was left to try desperately to earn that affection for herself. 

In the year of 1455 DR, after 39 years of marriage, he discovered one of her regular visits into the house’s kitchens. She had been taking some of her jewels to give to a kitchen maid, who had very recently had a child, and subsequently the father had disappeared. Ára had planned to gift a few necklaces she didn’t often wear to the woman, with the hope that she could sell some and comfortably raise the child alone, and maybe be able to keep one for herself, just to have something nice. But Fândûren arrived home early and caught her there. He had smiled viciously, backhanded the maid and dragged Áradíhena out by her hair. Once out of the kitchen, he snatched one of the necklaces from her hands, and ever-so-softly placed it around her neck, fastening it tightly. He had told her she looked lovely, before twisting it tight and choking her. When it broke from the pressure, gasping for breath with eyes feeling like they were about to pop, she fled. It was the first time since their wedding night her had touched her without the eyes of his peers demanding it. 

For the next 37 years until she was taken by the Mindflayers she had lived in the woodland outside of Baldur’s Gate. She had left all her belongings, her jewels, her dresses, her beloved lyre, so she eked out a living for the first few years, using what little she knew of the lands to survive. Gradually she claimed back one piece of herself: her voice, and she became known for it. It was not uncommon for travellers to hear ethereal song from deep in the forest. Some passed by not paying it any mind. others, often women or children, sought it out either in need of help themselves or hoping to help the owner of the voice. Still more, sometimes vagrants, sometimes drunken soldiers or guards, sought the lone voice for more nefarious means.  

Ára never found out what those more nefarious means were. When she saw them leer at her, or brush their hand over their weapon, they were as good as dead. Her first kill had been a messy, bloody struggle on the ground, where she sustained almost as many wounds as her attacker, but she had taken a thumb to his eye and claimed victory. Now she had his weapon, and she taught herself to use it. The stories of her helping lost children back to their families, or offering men and women without a home a meal to share, never spread. But the news of the monster in the woods killing “innocents” certainly did. And so, she became The Siren. 

Áradíhena’s signature scent has top notes of champagne and peony, middle notes of white peach and hazelnut, and base notes of whipped cream, vanilla, and cedar. She wears this religiously, and if she is unable to find this scent she will scour shops for scents with similar notes that she can combine. 

Áradíhena was born just a few minutes before sunrise - after her mother had laboured for almost three days - pink skinned and with a light dusting of downy coral hair on her head. As the sun crested over the rooftops of Baldur’s Gate, the light caught her hair which seemed to glow like the light – her mother laughed that she looked like the sun herself, and her father thanked the new day for bringing an end to his wife’s long labour – hence the name Áradíhena. 

She longs to return to the three houses she had hoped to call home, to see those few beloved servants who would still be alive, perhaps to liberate them. But the fear of seeing her parents and husband have always kept her away. 

Ára is extremely dexterous and takes to skills requiring intricate movement with her hands very well, such as card tricks and knife skills, thanks to her many years learning to play every instrument under the sun. 

She has some hoarding tendencies – she is very neat and tidy, but is also always on the edge of feeling that she may have to flee and fend for herself again, and so she likes to keep what she needs with her, and is always adding useful items to her pack when she finds them. 

[artwithoutblood]

*kicking my feet at the additional lore and getting Eri to infodump* (also at everyone teasing Eri Eri)

I’m a little confused about the experiments in particular meaning that there’s something living to melt into should something happen.

Are the experiments refining the body transfer process to reduce the incidence of failures? Are they studying something else and just have a side bonus of keeping spare host bodies on hand in case of emergency? (And as blood bags/to play with.)

Or are the demons engaged in conservation efforts and husbandry of the human race to ensure it continues to exist and be available to them indefinitely? (Like keeping livestock. Promised Neverland vibes here.) Is it to preserve knowledge of humans in case they become extinct? The last is obvious though maybe not for that specific reason. They’re seeking knowledge and observing history to directly report it. The galleria all seem like anthropologists, studying humans and documenting or participating in their culture, with Eri as head archivist being the most formalised in that role. However… they interfere a lot and change the course of events.

It’s kind of sad for Eri (and the unfortunate ‘volunteers’) that the only way he can express his creations and feelings to humans is by taking them to his lonely space and breaking them.

I’m sure Genesis would take him on tour to perform or let him help write songs… but that would mean risking his precious original body on Earth, and forgiving Genesis. And it seems Eri doesn’t want to rekindle.

(Also the shenanigans if he performed his romances. Genesis would 100% egg him on.)

"oh, love! it's good to hear you ramble."

"let me take this over. experiments isn't a good word for it, no. we need people as backup in case something goes wrong. poor genesis will get stabbed by an intruder and what will he do if you're the only person around? you don't want to die a premature death because he couldn't get to a more deserving body of such a fate, do you? he'll use a person instead to change bodies. we need flesh to be reborn. it's beautiful. you're on track with the idea of blood bags. plus, dear, i need something to keep me busy. i'll sit around in my lonesome and want to start swinging! i need to use that arm. it'll call to me. it sings to me."

"people are fascinating. they will continue their lives, and we will find ourselves useful. if they all die because of their own selfishness, we will find another species to nestle ourselves into. we're like parasites...some don't like that word. i don't think it's bad."

"there's a popular saying in my galleria. 'as usual, it was aeron's fault.' not exactly a lie. i just can't help myself when there's drama. i interfere a lot on accident. i've sat and made plenty of historical darlings in human history do things they wouldn't. not because i wanted them to. i just have a horrible effect on everyone around me! things just happen, dear!"

"i've been telling erebus this for years. he needs to let this body go. he doesn't have to deal with the pain, the uncertainty in his work, the need to force others to read his pieces only to break them....if he just died once. he thinks i'm fooling him. i never wanted him to suffer like this. i think about doing it to him myself. he'd never forgive me. i'm surprised he's not more openly hostile to me like he is with genesis. i think all of his problems would be resolved if he died once. i'm serious."

[heyheyatstarfield]

My headcanon about Sam

Basically, I prefer a lore-friendly style. So, I don't stray too far away from the original. I just add something I like in between the non-described parts, like details of his character, or his tastes in his private life.

Seems to be an animal lover As for the reaction to Atheles, he appears to love animals. Although I can't understand why I recieved some complaints after choosing Atheles instead of microbe. It seems that the reason he refuses Cora's request for pets is not because he dislikes animals, but because their lifestyle doesn't lend itself to having pets with responsibilities. I wish someone could make a mod that enables petting animals for both the spacefarer and NPCs. It would also be great if there were a mod that brings dogs and cats to Starfield. If it comes true, I will keep foxbats in my husbandry, dogs in the Lodge and watch Sam so happily pets them. (kawaii)

Seems to like keeping things neat and clean Since he tries to change the subject from Lilian to bathroom hygiene, it seems he prefers keeping things clean. His room at the Lodge isn't that messy, and the same likely goes for his room at Jacob's house. There's still a lot of the naughty boy in him, but he seems decent about it.

Seems more attentive than he looks The 3C (or 4A?) levelled curly hair that Cora has requires detangling almost every day; otherwise, her hair gets matted. So, I think Sam would comb her hair as a daily routine until she can do it on her own. Cora might still ask him to do it sometimes. As someone with very straight hair, I haven't experienced this myself, but I can imagine how much work it takes. Apart from that, just imagine Sam combing Cora's hair — it's such a heartwarming sight, isn't it?

Seems doesn't care himself much While there are dumbbells in his room, it seems like he doesn't have enough time to exercise. His body looks less toned when he wears a swimsuit. He takes good care of his beard, but otherwise, he seems to pay less attention to himself than to Cora. Though a maintenance of his beard doesn't seem to demand a significant amount of time and effort. It looks he lets his beard grow as it is and just trims it with clippers, maybe using a 3mm attachment, about twice a week or so.

Scent I remember Cora mentioning that her dad's ship was kind of smelly. However, he doesn't seem like someone who has a strong body odor. I think he wears a very classic masculine perfume, perhaps something like Aramis, with a leathery, musky, and smoky scent. In that case, my spacefarer might not prefer the scent either and could consider offering something more preferable for both of them as a gift.

My thoughts on his night life are in the next section. (It's safe for work.)

My spacefarer had no chance to know that he was bi. Sam can be flirted with regardless of the spacefarer's gender, and his voice actor mentioned that he played Sam as bisexual. So, I already knew that he was bi before I played that part of the game. But my spacefarers wouldn't know that just from his dialogue. Sam has an ex-wife and a daughter, and his confession mainly revolves around his ex. Barret is similar in this respect; he only talks about his late husband. Although Barret awkwardly tried to hit on the spacefarer on the ending of his personal quest. Since bisexuality of romantically involved NPCs is a common thing in many games, the development team may have felt that it was not necessary to mention it in the game. However, I think it would be more immersive if Sam or Barret were given the opportunities to subtly imply their bisexuality to the spacefarer, if their feelings were somewhat mutual (in game-wise, if the affinity level were enough). Nevertheless, I can assume that Sam has had various naughty experiences, including indulging in aurora, during his days of partying hard with his smuggler master. This means that the possibilities of Sam's sexual preferences are infinite.

Since he prefers cleaness (or, so I believe)... To engage in intimate relations between men requires careful preparation and aftercare to prevent any issues. You can't have it the moment you want it. As mentioned earlier, he appears attentive but less focused on self-care. Both the preparation and aftercare aspects would likely feel tiresome to him, and he wouldn't be inclined to use an unprepared space. Consequently, although he may enjoy both giving and receiving, I suspect he wouldn't engage in such activities very frequently. If there were advanced devices capable of swiftly cleaning, sanitizing, and preparing the spot and be safe to use, he would enjoy it more often, but the world of Starfield seems unlikely. Because, for instance, it has only very antiquated toilets without even electric bidet seats. Despite being a highly energetic individual, I believe Sam would find greater satisfaction in intimate connections with men through a sense of peace of mind or spiritual bonding rather than direct sexual experiences. I will explain this in the next section.

He may try to find his ideal father in his male partner With Sam taking every opportunity to speak ill of his father, Jacob's existence is of great importance to him, whether he likes it or not. Deep down, he can't hate Jacob completely and wants to make peace with him. But at the same time he knows that Jacob would never change the way he is, and neither would he, and he still suffers from flashbacks to the bitter memories of his youth. So, I believe he would be drawn to someone who listens to him, accepts him as he is, spoiles or guides him sometimes and provides comfort, which might include non-platonic forms of intimacy. Physical intimacy doesn't always have to involve penetration for him; what's most important is the emotional connection and support which Jacob never could show him.

His taste in women is unclear for me As he seems mildly possessive, and as energetic as he can easily be for 4 rounds, he is the type of person who wants to stay with his love all the time, regardless of gender. I can understand that he can't be patient with Lilian's lack of motherhood and that he wants the spacefarer to treat him and Cora well as a full package. However, I don't think he expects his beloved to be a typical mother type. If he were, he wouldn't be a partner for the woman who lives such an intense, distinguished lifestyle. Besides, he didn't have much time to know motherhood well enough to ask for it from a woman he loves, so he wouldn't expect it the way he expects fatherhood from a man. And, as far as I can tell from Lilian's looks, he likes a good-looking one. One more thing, and this is just my personal opinion, he may be obsessed with women's breasts. Not for their size, but for their touch and warmth.

About Lilian He repeatedly said that his relationship with her was an event, that it just happened. I can imagine a beauty appearing out of nowhere to rescue me when I'm in a mess, saying, 'I've seen something in you; why don't you come with me?' I'd follow her no matter what. As for Lilian, I can also picture her stumbling upon a soaked, wet puppy on a stormy night. She couldn't help but pick him up, take him home, and care for him. However, it later turned out that he was a Weimaraner, raised in poverty of love, not an obedient Labrador Retriever. Naturally, it's challenging for her to provide him with more than enough affection to be tamed. After all, she is also a fierce hound, raised and living in a very different environment. It's not surprising that they didn't get along well together.

I haven't thought much about the details of what he would be like in bed, so I'll write it down another time. I have seen some amazing articles that he plays dom. I almost agree with them, but he doesn't strike me as the theatrical type. If he tries to pretend to be a pompous master, he might burst out laughing in the middle, and the spacefarer would join in the laughter amusingly. (kawaii) I'm not sure how he manages to leave bruises during the night, and I can only assume that he plays in a kind of natural and sweet way.

[toomuchdragons]

The Dragon Cave Halloween event is just reminding me of how much their lore bugs me. DC has a lot of lore that the community takes pretty seriously, but I can’t get into it at all because they refuse to concretely answer a pretty important question:

Are Dragon Cave’s dragons people or animals?

The gameplay and encyclopedia largely leans towards “animals”; despite the little blurb about them being “highly intelligent”, breed descriptions are focused on their wild, instinctive behaviors, and the whole crux of the game is stealing wild-born eggs, raising them as pets, and breeding them. All things that would be immoral to do to sapient creatures.

But then events will have dragons existing in complex, co-species societies. The current event states that I got a letter from a Gold dragon who wants me to come to his home. This implies that dragons are both literate and capable of owning property. Does this dragon I am meeting know I own one of his kind? I kidnapped a Gold egg from its parents, and now I command it to breed so that I can trade its children away to strangers. Oh, and not to mention, I intentionally stabbed a few dragons so I can attempt to resurrect them as zombies earlier today. The dragon policeman I am working with doesn’t seem to mind.

I think this weird disconnect was best summed up in a suggestion thread debate I saw a while back where someone suggested the ability to remove dragons from the breeding pool so you wouldn’t accidentally breed them. This thread was very revealing of how different people consider the lore. If dragons are your pets, getting them spayed/neutered is responsible animal husbandry. If dragons are people, that’s called eugenics and is a war crime. So people were arguing pretty passionately in both directions

I’m not sure there’s any way they could reconcile this disconnect without overhauling some stuff, and DC players are notorious for getting upset about even the most minor of changes so I suspect they simply never will, and I will simply go on ignoring like half the canon to make it make sense in my head.

[mewrising]

Some orange dragons for orange day!

Lore tidbits included under the cut :D

Top Row: Tau'riel // Whiskey // Sere

Tau'riel is Thunder Hollow's hot-headed fire representative. She was abducted by manticores as a young hatchling but ultimately found herself leading a revolution to overthrow the manticore leaders who abducted her by the time she matured. She and her loyal followers eventually fled to Thunder Hollow as other manticore groups took issue with a dragon-led manticore pride, and Tau'riel ultimately found herself a Council liaison both to her manticore allies and the clan's handful of fire dragons.

Whiskey is one of the dragons who watches the clan's clifftop border. He helps passerby find aid and rest in Thunder Hollow, which isn't always evident to dragons flying over the Cliffs.

Sere is...well, I don't know what he is yet. I only just finished gening him but I've been looking for a good opportunity to share him because he's just so pretty! Probably my favorite completed G1 project to date :D

Middle Row: Sparks // Quilava // Briar // Yuroja

Sparks' lore has been revamped a few times because the projects he's been connected with have fallen through, but, as of now, he's a vulcanologist researching volcanic activity in the Ashfall Wastes on Thunder Hollow's behalf. The apparel edit he's wearing in the picture was done by Rinny!

Quilava is my favorite fandragon and Thunder Hollow's lead metalsmith. She mostly works on small forged items and trinkets, but she has helped fill some industrial orders on occasion. She is a very bubbly dragon who doesn't seem to speak a word of draconic OR coatl, and she is well-known for her generosity and willingness to help.

Briar is the receptionist and record keeper for Sunder's Inn. She's a kind and quiet soul who is very passionate about animals and their husbandry. Her personal lair is more of a menagerie than anything, and she often brings some of her more well-behaved companions to work with her!

Yuroja is Thunder Hollow's mysterious lamp-lighter and resident storyteller. Dragons from all across the clan often take time from their nights to stop by her bonfire and listen to the stories she spins under the light of the moon. Some rumor that her stories were once inspired by prophecies from the Tidelord (she's a water dragon beneath all that apparel, believe it or not)...

Bottom Row: Arakiba // Ainsly // Kite

Arakiba (or Kiba as she is better known) is a resident of Thunder Hollow without a lot of lore as yet. When she was a hatchling, she swallowed a fire runestone that imbued her with uncontrollable fire magic. Coming to live in Thunder Hollow has helped reduce the extent of this affliction, but she still seeks a genuine cure--or at least a solution that will give her some control.

Ainsly is a mechanic who works at the Waystation, a small enterprise in the Lightning Farm that is designed to provide shelter and skill training for exaltation to those who need it.

Kite was one of Thunder Hollow's earliest members. She gave her life to save dozens of others who were ambushed by the Shade in the clan's settlement days. She has since returned as a ghost that protects the location where she died--a place that has since become a thriving town in the midst of Thunder Hollow's Great Forest.

[hollow-knight-husbandry]

Hello and welcome to Hollow Knight Husbandry!

I’m Dr. Flouf, a veterinarian professionally trained in the care of domestic hollow knights, one of the most mistreated creatures ever. The worst part is that most owners have no idea they’re mistreating their pet, so I’m here to set things right and teach people all about the proper setups, diet and more for a happy and healthy hollow knight!

There are quite a few subspecies of H. knight, but the most common one (both in general and as pets) is H. knight ghostus. Most content reviews and information on this blog will pertain to that subspecies, unless otherwise specified.

I own a rescued H. knight ghostus named Tenebris!

This blog follows a “yes, and” model. Anything you add to the blog’s lore/facts in reblogs or asks should not conflict with the current lore/facts, but can add onto it. For example, if I say “Hollow knights like blueberries,” you saying “Actually hollow knights hate blueberries” won’t fly, but “My hollow knights also like strawberries!” is good.

If you prefer your content NOT be reblogged/reviewed on this blog, send a message or ask off anon and I will respect this.

Please do not send any more asks about the Collector, Godseeker or other people/pettubers being sexual predators. It’s getting out of control and is making many people uncomfortable. It’s fine to talk about people being bad pet owners or having affairs as well as non-graphic discussion of insect reproduction but please tone down the talk of zoosadism, zoophilia & other forms of sexual predation.

FAQ and some useful links under the cut.

FAQ

What kind of animals are hollow knights?

Hollow knights are insects. This, understandably, turns a lot of people away, but don’t be afraid—they’re nothing like the pests you find in your kitchen or basement. Hollow knights are clean, intelligent creatures who can make wonderful and rewarding pets for those able to care for one!

What do hollow knights eat?

At pet stores you’ll often see bags of hollow knight food in the small animal aisle. It usually contains a mixture of various grains and seeds. While your hollow knight can survive on this, it doesn’t have all the nutritional value necessary for it to thrive. Supplement your hollow knight’s diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, but remove any seeds from fruits first. Avoid avocado at all costs! It is toxic to virtually all pets! A tiny piece of cheese can be a good treat, too, but keep it in moderation since it has high fat content. Avoid eggs and meat, along with chocolate and other sweets, caffeine, alcohol and anything else you wouldn’t feed to any pet. If you’re not sure if your hollow knight can eat a certain food just send an ask.

Do hollow knights get along well with other animals?

NO. H. knight ghostus are very, very solitary animals, and will fight to the death if you house them together, no matter their sexes or what their personality around you may suggest. Hollow knights don’t get along well with other kinds of animals either. They fall prey to and/or feel threatened by many common companion animals like spamtons and amongi, and they can get very defensive if they feel they are in danger—despite their tiny size they can put up quite a fight, leaving both parties injured. An owner is the only company a hollow knight needs.

Edit: Occasionally a H. knight ghostus will get along fine with a member of a different subspecies of H. knight, such as H. knight hollowan and the silky hornet (H. knight hornetic), or even a quirrel (M. bleulakii) or a grimmchild (T. grimm). But don’t take this possibility for granted; let them get used to each other and keep them under supervision.

Where can I get a hollow knight?

Many pet stores sell hollow knights alongside their small pets, but I advise against buying your hollow knight from a pet store. Most if not all of them come from sketchy, large-scale factory breeding farms, which are rife with inbreeding and disease. Instead, rescue a hollow knight—yes, hollow knight rescues exist! A quick web search for “hollow knight rescues near me” will bring you plenty of places where you can adopt a hollow knight. Many of these rescued hollow knights originate from these giant farms too, but it’s better than giving money to those farms which fuels their unethical breeding.

What type/size cage should I get for my hollow knight? What should I put in the cage?

Most pet store cages advertised as being for hollow knights are actually not appropriate for a hollow knight at all. You want a glass terrarium—nothing with bars, since, being insects, your hollow knight can easily slip out from between the bars. You want a glass terrarium or aquarium that’s at least 40 gallons (even though water won’t be going in it, aside from your hollow knight’s water bottle). They need a lot of space for their tiny size, since they love to wander and discover new things. It’s also advised you switch the arrangement and assortment of the items in their cage every now and then, too, for a change of scenery so they don’t get bored. Your hollow knight should also have at least 6 inches of substrate (the coconut substrate used for most reptiles will do) to burrow in. As for items—a hollow knight needs a food bowl and water bottle, obviously, as well as a toilet (though your little guy is more likely to use it as a bathtub), various dens, nontoxic plants and other structures to hide in, and exercise toys like a hamster wheel or saucer. The more variety the better!

How often should I handle my hollow knight?

Every two to three days. A hollow knight needs its space, but you don’t want its interest in you to fade. Only pet its head—petting its body can make it uneasy and cause it to attack if it feels threatened enough.

Do hollow knights feel pain?

Absolutely. Though they lack a spinal cord, they do have a nervous system, albeit different from a vertebrate’s, and being injured or sick causes them distress.

I saw this picture/video of a hollow knight and I think it might be bad!

Send it to me and I’ll review it.

Something’s wrong with my hollow knight! You’re a hollow knight vet, can you help me?

Sorry, but I’ll need to examine your hollow knight in person to give you a diagnosis and prescribe any necessary treatments. Look for a hollow knight vet in your area.

Some helpful links:

About the Infection

Why the Pale King is bad

Blogs who have asked I not do reviews on their content, so don’t send me their posts:

silkysong

[passionesolja]

Sith Pureblood Headcanons: Civilian Life (Vol.1)

So you gotta keep in mind that we don’t see much of civilian life in games like SWToR. We just see what the military is doing.

And if real life says anything about the differences between a military and the citizens that make up a country, I think we can garner that likely many don’t live in the same world as those in the military do.

We most certainly don’t see the lives of regular Sith Purebloods. You don’t see even npcs of them walking around. I know on a non-lore level this is because humans are a default race, etc. but I got some headcanons as for lore reasons why they do this, but more importantly what they doing.

The average Sith Pureblood citizen chooses to live only around others in their species

I feel like this is obvious. They’re a very communal species and I think a lot of them are like “ew these humans don’t understand us or our OG traditions🥱we’re living with each other so we can do sith shit in peace😈”

They live in more rural areas with a commune type lifestyle

Following up on my last point, the Sith likely just like living in Sith Pureblood-only communities where they can be self sufficient and close knit. Like, there’s more than enough humans. Give them a lil city and we’ll live elsewhere.

Prior to the Jedi Exiles, the Sith lived a pretty rural lifestyle. I assume this is how they still prefer to live and likely why we don’t see them. Mfs wanna be in nature with their people living off the land—and fighting Jedi, sometimes

They wear a lot of jewelries and bright colored clothes

If you seen the OGs, you know they was dressing dressing. Gold everywhere. Jewels everywhere. Precious metals everywhere. Colorful and bombastic cloths everywhere. I don’t think this is something they would lose over a few centuries.

Yeah, maybe their military uniforms are drab —because it’s an institution now and not a bunch of atomized Circles and Lords—but I really feeling the average Sith Pureblood still dresses like that to an extent. It’s likely modernized for the setting but even in the character creation thing you can give them some elegant but minimalist facial jewelry.

They probably fr be swagging when they’re not fighting for they mf life on the galactic battlefield

They own a lot of pets and beasts

It’s no secret, sith love they sithspawn and beasts. I think that this most definitely extends to the civilians too.

And since they live pretty rural lives, they have a very “you protect me, I feed you” relationship with certain predator species.

It also would make sense for a species who had to be carnivorous due lack of viable land that they would end up being close to animals.

For centuries, the Sith had to depend heavily on animal husbandry for their survival. They gotta have great respect for creatures because of this

They have a special “sith pureblood communities only” currency

I’m not saying they not tapped into the galactic economy—they is—but stating true to their roots, I really feel like there’s some alternative currency you can only use in Sith Pureblood communities.

This would keep a steady and exclusive income in the hands of Sith Pureblood communities. You could also exchange the Sith Pureblood Bucks for Credits and the likes, but the Sith Empire gives you way more credits in exchange for one Sith Buck.

Now, this is Sith Pureblood only currency so it rarely ever leaves the hands of Sith communities. if you caught with one and not Sith Pureblood, you better hide that shit because they’ll be on your top major

[yarpharp]

The world of the Walking Dead is honestly kinda... Ridiculous?

Like yeah, we live in America where you'd be surprised how many people own guns and knives and all sorts of collectible weaponry, but also we live in an America that has—by and large—long since gotten out of touch with any survival knowledge?

For instance, Daryl Dixon as a character is extremely interesting for most of the series not just because he's got a lot of layers and angst in terms of character personality, but also he's one of the few people we encounter who actually has applicable skills in straight-up survival. The man grew up in the mountains of Georgia, staying out of his abusive home and learning how to rough it in the wild unknown. The dude is shown as skilled in bolt crafting, some herbal knowledge, animal husbandry (specifically huntable creatures), and seasonal knowledge. He's also got plenty of mechanical knowledge to jerry-rig cars, motorized machinery, etc. He can, I assume (my memories of the show are not that clear) tan hides, make some basic leather, and probably make himself a replacement bowstring from animal sinew.

Meanwhile, what the fuck does Rick have for a good portion of the series? A gun? Many guns? A supposed killer instinct? It takes Hershel to teach him anything about farming, and even that is a skill for when you manage to maintain a long-term settlement. Maybe I'm too much of an anthropologist here, but establishing a farm culture is a societal evolution that happens after a band or group of people manage to find a safe place and devise a way to store food for longer than two weeks.

And yeah, I know in the later seasons there are moments of like, abrupt survivalist clarity, but they're very randomized and used as plot points to thrust the characters into yet another violent gun-shooting altercation. And even then, like... Electricity and such wouldn't be able to stick around for long without modern infrastructure. There's all these episodes of solar-powered homes and Negan's expansive warehouse network and all that shit, but they are depending on technologies with parts that cannot be easily replicated within the United States. So many of those industries have been outsourced to other countries. America does not produce a lot of it's own technology. Eventually a few more years down the line, all of that tech is gonna be scrap. And in the few instances where we come upon settlements that look and vaguely function like old pioneer towns, they still clearly suffer from the issue of barely any of these survivors seem to know how to survive without modern means.

I don't know, I feel like there could have been a shit ton of narrative potential if they had more episodes focusing on just learning survival or puzzling out ways of ensuring sustainability for their tiny settlements/communities. Yeah, sure, let's go get violent, but what about afterwards? Where will these people go? Are they perpetually doomed to failure because NONE OF THEM EXCEPT MAYBE DARYL KNOW HOW TO LIVE IN A WORLD WITHOUT MODERNITY?

Stop with that macho-centric highway drifter thinking. Daryl gets a pass because he kinda exists as a forest-mountain man who sometimes emerges from it to ride a motorcycle. What I want to know is what happened on the Native reservations and in Native communities. You cannot tell me they all got chewed up by the zombies, and you can't tell me they wouldn't be able to survive. We still have SO MANY TRADITIONS to fall back on. Herb lore that my grandmother passed down to me from her mom, my great-grandfather's knowledge of hunting and forestry he got from his father.

I also wanna know what happened to all the wierdos, because it's the arts-and-crafts kids and the Renaissance fair nerds and the goddamn furries that might very well end up surviving... And prove to be vital individuals in society.

The Walking Dead was a cool comic, but the show feels almost mocking. At the end of the day, it reads to me like a popular parody of the American gun-toting drifters and badasses with lost causes, intermixed with bizarre extremes that do little to explain themselves. It... Honestly is just a very pro-gun fantasy made entertaining with largely hetero drama.

It's exhausting.

[tropinano]

Hey! I just discovered your clown tales (clowniverse?? idk how to call it) and it's a really cool concept that makes me think of how snake breeders act pff. Really wanna know more about the clown breeds (esp scary clowns, they probably need hugs)

OMG THANK U SO MUCH im so glad ppl enjoy the bambousio tales! i wanna get back 2 writing them but i wanna finish the hub first lmao.

I'll explain most of it in a tab in the hub, but a lot of my inspiration for the clown breeds (and the idea in general) came from the clown husbandry tumblr tag. Ive been skewing the lore a bit (to make bambousio clowns unique) but if you'd like some facts:

I have the usual Red and White clowns, and i mention Rodeo clowns and jesters as well i think. Jesters are pretty old and vintage sorta (as i take inspiration from the history of clowning) and i also created Time Clowns which i mention pretty often. my Clowncon tale explains the origin of time clowns, and theyre used in SCP-4730 as well.

Scary clowns are different to horror clowns, but i did mention in my clown park tale that they may have three sets of teeth. they also play with fake weapons and (inspired by clown husbandry) are a lot like the bulldogs of clowns if that makes sense. A mutual suggested the idea of clown fighting, which i absolutely love. also yes i agree they deserve all the cuddles and ball pits

a mutual of mine did an entire tale on Rodeo clowns here, if youd like! i save all the bambousio stuff in my sandbox, rn theres about 10 things.

-

ok this is long BUUUT ive also made sure to make a solid difference between Bambousio clowns and Herman Fuller clowns. Bambousio clowns are not human and never were, never will be. All clown breeds fall under the Corydon family (mentioned in 4730) and sapient clowns are some weird phenomenon in clowns. You can read about sapient clowns (albeit by a biased cult leader with a weird saviour complex) here!

sooo yeah! ive tried making bambousio clowns their own thing, but a lot of information i gather is usually from the clown husbandry community. its so bizarre. yeah! i hope this is good! :•]

[keyheartsia-dorm]

*Sighs*

I’m bored let’s do a lore dump

It’s a Map~

Oh Yeah I mentioned a Sprinkle of Final Fantasy and KH but I haven’t talked about that Aspect of my Canon At all have I? Well truth be told it’s cause I’m focusing on getting the more Basic Aspects of my Oc’s Before I get into that but Guess who made this Baby on a Whim!

So this is the Map of the Isle of Light well the Main Island at least there are other Littler Bits of land Yet to surface I̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶A̶d̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶L̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶h̶a̶h̶a̶ oh yeah did I mention it’s a FLOATING ISLAND!! Yeah P Sick right? Okay so I’ll go into the Island’s History and it’s Area’s but it may have some Spoilers I guess you could say but honestly I wouldn’t wait on me making a full fledged...Anything outta the Story I’ve made like I’ll sum it up (not here but like in general) but comics are hard Videos are hard Fics are hard maybe not individually but this is more of a Anime Series then an Anime movie if you feel me without further ado...Stuff

Oh god this was longer then expected

Some General Background

So The Isle of Light was Originally the Black Forest A Place of Freedom and Expression for all who lead lives who Needed to hide Such and Some Such was The Coven of the Black Forest made up of 3 sisters (not biologically also there was a 4th) they all found comfort and love with each other one being the Princess of the Kingdom nearby (The 4th and Littlest one) She had a fiancé who was Mad with a Lust for power and Control over things he Didn’t need power and control over He Treated the Littlest one Cruelly when the other 3 Decided enough was enough when he did...SOMETHING to Part of the Forest so Horrible it turned Dead and Cruel (Subtle Subtle Hint Hint Wink) When all 3 Of them saw the Ruin They went so mad they turned to Darkness and fought him and all his Manmade monstrosities there when the Princess Arrived there was so much Dark energy everywhere it was Bad like Real Bad So with her friends now monsters she Fought them with a heavy heart her heart broke so much she fell afterwards immediately Unintentionally Sending her Kingdom to somewhere nobody knows where she is though...That’s an even bigger question BUT the story would live on as a Weilder of the key blade who slayed 3 evil witches...(Oh yeah did I mention Crowley knows And that’s Why He Let the Girls Attend because he thought they might be the Black Forest Coven Reincarnated And the Prophecy that when they Awakened the “Keys to their Hearts once more” They’d Free The Princess From her Mirror Prison Oh Yeah also the princess DID Die But her Reincarnation Goes inside a Mirror and is trapped there when she turns 17 and Doesn’t leave until she dIES ALSO ITS HIS OLDEST DAUGHTER THIS TIME ALSO YES HE HAS 2 DAUGHTERS...Okay lemme just calm down..Also yeah she thought of the Princess System) but After a Wish got safe haven for all Keyblade Weilders (I have KH Oc’s other then these don’t ask Longer story they live and basically founded Fortana Haven) I guess the Isle of Light Rose from the Shadow Realm to be just that oh yeah also the Isle of light is literally that kingdom if ya didn’t know

Fortana Haven

(Some Love Nikki BGs for Visualization if I’m Wrong about this from being from Love Nikki Correct me pls and if this is your art sorry and I’ll take it down)

Okay this Place Basically a Modern Fairytale Everything is so Rustic~ but they Have Cafe’s and Stuff~ They’re still very much in Development as a City..or town..or whatever Boss of everything Locket Clover (An OG KH OC) Runs Everything Wonderfully she welcomes everything with open arms and If you wanna run a shop or want a Building for a particular Thing or Activity she’s Pretty open to the idea unless it’s Incredibly Dumb But she will make you get The Wood and Supplies and The Bricks and the Brick Stick Sauce or whatever it’s called she might get give you help constructing but dang is she a firm believer in “DIY” but I like how she’s Determined to Have a Good Balance between Industrial and Rural In fact there is a Mall (God knows how it got there) And that’s pretty much all there is for your Juicy Capitalism Fix She Runs “Hope Stir” Workshop according to Her boyfriend Ephmer It was always Called a workshop but for the longest time she did EVERYTHING Subtle Farmwork And Animal Husbandry ACTUAL Workshop things all cause she wanted to help every Weilder she knew out and made sure they had a place for food and such She is a bit of a Moneyholic but when you’ve been doing what she’s been doing I bet you’d be too overall While it doesn’t have much History yet Fortana Haven (4-Tana is how you say it btw) Is truly well a Haven

The Crowned Castle

(More Pics for Visuals I don’t think this is from love Nikki but if this is your artwork same applies I’m not gonna be the guy who Claims just cause it’s on google it belongs to everybody or something even though yeah I did find it on google)

The...Crown of the Isle of Light Before We came to the Isle for the first time Apparently Everyone In Fortana thought it was Haunted! Which..Fair enough Before we Placed the Princess Medals (Okay QUICK SUMMARY OF THIS BIT Okay so in the KH Mobile game there’s Medals and I wanted them to be in my story basically They’re Memories formed into powers when all my Oc’s Met the Princess’s Of Heart They Each got a Medal Representing them and then the Medals Restored the Castle I left out some details but basically that’s it) This Castle is the BOMB There’s Cool Pretty Princess Room’s And a Bedroom JUST FOR SLUMBER PARTIES!! And it’s just a good Place to Vibe and Hang out with your friends (I’m sorry I’m about to Lore Dumb all over this place) The Princess’s Fiancé Made a Crown for her before she could put it on he put some of his Subconscious in it poor Eden When she wanted to get stronger for Malleus (Malleus is her adoptive big brother and she was upset cause she felt she wasn’t good enough ran away to get power and found the crown) It really did almost completely overtake her I shudder thinking about it “Kachow”...Ew (The fiancé said that a lot ok) a lotta bad stuff happened here but as selfish as this may sound I feel like I earned my spot here and I wanna keep sharing it with my friends

The Matteria Deadland

(Also Imagine some Pointy Mountains and some Lite Mech debris)

Man What to say... So Much Happened here as well probably Tragedy I can’t comprehend there is a few good places about this place though Diane likes to Scavange around Here for Interesting Debris Eden doesn’t like the Air around here but she says she finds Interesting Jewels here and Latte says the same thing so there is good to be found here We all come here every so often to try to help..Anything grow but they don’t call this deadland for nothing but still ya can’t give up hope! I wanna grow some beautiful Lillies here one day! Also hey! Also pretty cool name (Matter-RI-a is how you say it btw) All the sadness that happened here it actually did make the land rich in Metal if nothing else there’s even a whole Cavern we found in the mountains...it almost killed us but we found it

Opal Cove

(also these are Gacha Backgrounds)

Is this Place an Actual Cove? Idk

Is this Place super cool and pretty? Yeah

Is this one of my favorite places in this whole Isle? FRICK YEAH

okay I love a lot about this Isle but Opal Cove!!

Our mermaid friend Mitella I guess “Runs” the Place Our KINDA merman Friend Skye also spends a whole lotta time here Basically it’s a Giant Pool and rumor has it...It’s endless Water...CAUSE IT IS SOMEHOW CAUSE I KNOW weird thing is the Sand it’s at the end of the Isle so there’s not really a beach just...Sand Near Water Odd The Coral Near the Bottom or well “Bottom” Is SO PRETTY it’s like Crystals in the morning the light shines its SO DANG PRETTY I’m glad Mitella is a Sea Witch Or else we couldn’t go so deep underwater it’s SOOO worth it!! She does NOT let a lotta people at once though Heck she doesn’t like Skye that much from what I can tell but she makes an Exception for ~friends~ So...BE NICE TO OUR CUTE MITELLA I’m glad we have a Convient Place for Blitzball practice and also Swimming around with pretty Mermaid Tails (New Nix Mermaid Action Fashion Doll only 25.99! Get it for your Child or they’ll cry!! Also a 5 dollar Boy doll take his Shirt off! That’s it!) Hyde Mi And Skye are kinda an Iconic Trio Mi Also Teaches how to swim with a mermaid tail better for the Weilders who wanna go to Atlantica Hey Mermaids gotta eat so get a Swim Lesson! (And also a transforming Mermaid Doll!)

Bianco Nero Forest

Well tbh I have the least to say because it’s Appeal is simple ADVENTURE AND MYSTERY! Lots can happen in Bianco Nero it’s Basically the Base foundation of the whole Isle! Presumably cause it’s the Black Forest or was at least though it can be dangerous it’s the only place heartless are know to appear in the whole isle (So where you’ll grind In the Video Game that’ll definitely happen :Says the girl who can’t commit to a single comic) They drop all sortsa cool stuff! Heck you can FIND Cool stuff just...Around so..Yeah!!

It’s 2 am maybe I’ll edit this later thanks for reading sorry I got obviously tired by the end goodbye my dearests~ (Seriously y’all deserve like a reward for reading this dumpster fire) I was inspired by those maps in those scholastic books like the Rainbow Fairies I think it was called (Anyone remember those?) that had lil maps in the beginning and also the map’s stickers all on PicsArt

[apprenticegamemaster]

Pern Au Lore Snippets 2

Because the last post got too long for me even under the readmore! Same deal as last time- feel free to steal my ideas if you think they fit your RP or something. I don’t mind sharing my sandbox, even if AM didn’t want to share with her fans ^^

For clarification about climate and geography, I’m using the first map that popped up when I searched “map of pern” in google. The map in my closest Pern series book only covered the Northern Continent and it kinda had half the middle get swallowed up by the spine area ^^;

Continuing from the Crafthall splits-

There’s generally minor Crafthalls wherever there’s a relevant concentration of resources, i.e. the weavercrafthall in the High Reaches, with journeymen being sent out to other holds as needed. That’s how you tend to get most laypeople for crafting- they learned just enough from a journeyman to make stuff that works for their local hold, and then passed down that knowledge after the journeyman had gone back to their Hall.

The Smithcraft hall is basically the closest thing to the Catholic Church Pern has in this AU, mainly as it’s pretty much the only major craft left to have a central authority point. Minecraft (lol), woodcraft, ceramics, glass, and the like all got mostly subsumed into the Smithcraft. Operations-wise, it’s more like Freemasonry than a religion, but the sheer fact that the Mastersmith is one of the few real continental-level authorities has meant that they’ve been able to make or break wars and inter-hold conflicts like nobody else. Sure, you’d still want a Harper to actually negotiate anything, but it’s kinda difficult to keep a war going if the Smiths refuse to make you weapons and armor to keep the war going. 

Possible, but difficult.

The Harpercraft Hall has basically split in two- the Eastern and Western halls. The Western hall is basically what you get in the Harper Hall trilogy- basically entirely focused around music with a side of espionage. The Eastern hall is more generally focused on the decorative arts as well as music, from all the different kinds of painting to lacemaking. The Western hall gets more cred for being the older one, but in general it’s a weird case where many of the small holders aren’t even really aware there’s two Harper Halls- pretty much everyone thinks that whichever one is supplying their local Harpers is the one to look to. The split is basically down whatever river Lemos hold is on- west of that looks to the Harper Hall in Fort, east looks to the Hall located just to the east of Benden Hold proper.

The Weavercraft hall has no real central figure by the “modern” day in my AU- There’s a handful of smaller Halls scattered around the continent that all have slightly different specialties. There used to be a main Hall in Boll, but due to a few spats between Weavercraftmasters and a few wars between major Lord Holders, that broke down about a thousand years prior to the meat of the AU. Leathermaking suffered a similar fate.

Farmcraft and the related crafts of brewing and animal husbandry went pretty much the same way, but did so much earlier. What grows where is so highly local that the central crafthall isn’t always going to be able to help more than your neighbor could, and as for brewing? Nobody wants a central office telling them how to make their alcohol. Nobody.

Basically every hold has their own alcohol-making scheme, especially if they’re in an area where the water can be Sketchy. Pretty uncommon for the alcohol to be of any strength, though- even Benden’s wines will get watered down for drinking with meals, much as the Romans did. Teas and tisanes is a relatively common substitute in areas where supplies for such can be grown, and can be a fairly profitable export to areas where tea isn’t grown. Klahbark trees have enough varieties and is grown in enough places that it’s a pretty ubiquitous drink, at least for the large-to-medium holds. Smaller holds kinda depend on finding a local stand of the stuff.

Bread is fairly common in areas where wheat and barley and the like can grow, but tubers (potatoes) are generally the go-to choice for most medium-to-small holds in areas that will support them. Rice only really happens on Ista and just a bit of Boll, but exports of the stuff tend to be considered a luxury food for northern areas. Corn is actually very commonly grown, frequently alongside tubers, but three-sisters style growing is extremely common around Benden. Cornbread is occasionally eaten in the western end of the Northern continent, but the West tends to view corn more as animal fodder than anything else; the Eastern end of the continent uses corn both for animal and people food, but the people food more often takes the form of something closer to how Hispanic/Latin American food tends to take it- nixtamalized flatbreads, mainly.

Meats are actually fairly common, mainly in dried/smoked/salted/otherwise preserved forms, but fresh meat is hardly unheard of. There’s pretty large swaths of land that can’t easily be put under crops, but also can’t have timber stands or orchards due to worries about Thread. Leads to lots of herdbeast farming. Which kind of meat is most common depends on the area, but sheep/mutton is actually the most common outside of Wherry, followed by beef/cow. Pidgeons are actually the most common fowl meat- chicken operations are mostly around Fort and Ruatha, but pidgeons are a bit better about avoiding the kinds of tunnelsnakes and wherries the eastern continent has.

Wherry’s a catchall term for any Pernese avian. The kind most often eaten is basically turkey, but there’s a good handful of leaner and meaner varieties that are just killed to keep them from harassing the farm animals.

 Wherrys, tunnelsnakes, and fire lizards are HARDLY the only local fauna beyond fish. Pernese ecology is just as wild and varied as Earth ecology.

Therefore, I have decided that Unicorns exist on Pern. They’re megafauna left over from Pern’s last ice age, much like a single-horned moose with six legs. They mostly avoid human settlement, but sometimes they’ll start nibbling at outlying fields of crops or newly-planted timber stands or orchards, and then you’ve gotta call in the wyer to get rid of them, because they get mean as wild boars around easy food sources. Dragons are pretty much the only way to get rid of them without getting a few holders killed trying to hunt ‘em down.