#this occupied my thoughts...always

[cellphishthekaiju]

Fan-girl Ramblings: My [1st] Custom Tav, Hestra Lumeth

Being so absorbed in BG3 as of late, figured why not write nonsense about my Tav (inspired a bit by a Twitter post about voicing their background) and since I write some 'serious' fan-fic about this woman... why not do a lengthy post explaining her?

*Usual warning of spoilers and a lot of this is made up from my deranged mind.

Hestra's 'natural' name is actually Keryx, born to Archdevil Zelinor, a succubus, and Veestan Lumeth, a high elven nobleman from the 'secret' city of Ny'nahil [in a valley somewhere within the Greypeak Mountains].

The 'story' goes is that Veestan wanted to recapture his glory days as a troubadour and decided he would seduce and bargain with a devil; specifically a native to the Fourth Layer of the Nine Hells, Phlegethos. Whatever bargain was made resulted in Keryx's birth; an Infernal contract cosigned to flesh.

*Though born to a devil, Keryx was born as a Tiefling and not a Cambion (since her mother is the devil, not her father). She does not inherit any Succubus-related abilities though does 'attain' the traits of the Fierna Bloodline, giving her a natural suave charm and inverting a tiefling's natural 'aura' to unsettle others, instead appearing alluring to most who encounter her and remain within her proximity for an extended amount of time. After her 'reforging' in the Pit of Flame, she developed a couple of succubus traits, mainly the ability for her musk and bodily fluids to behave as aphrodisiacs.

As per the bargain, Keryx was taken to Faerun to be left in the care of Veestan until her thirteenth year, but he wanted nothing to do with his bastard devil and so abandoned her in favor of reliving his fame.

For his vanity and blatant disregard for his own child, Yorilnth banished Veestan fron Ny'nahil and stripped him of all his wealth and titles, bequeathing them to Keryx as his sole (and rightful) heir once of age to utilize her inheritance. In the interim, Yorilnth, reluctantly, became mother to an unwanted tiefling child.

Yorilnth is no ordinary high elf, but an Ancient Silver Dragon that has called Ny'nahil her lair for several centuries now. Though there is no monarchy, the residents of Ny'nahil and her clan refer to her as 'queen'. Keryx was raised, mostly, by Yorilnth and Alioth, the clan's egg keeper, and experienced a relatively lovely and 'normal' upbringing. Keryx grew especially close to Razsermerjur, Yorilnth's youngest child, and the two treated each other as siblings.

Upon the hour Keryx turned thirteen, a Bone Devil suddenly arrived in Ny'nahil and dragged her down to Phlegethos, nearly killing Razsamerjur as the dragon, valiantly, tried to protect their sister from her fate.

For the next twenty-ish years, Keryx was raised in the ways of her Infernal heritage. Every day was a test of survival as Baator was not a kind place to mortals, in any capacity.

Zelinor hated Keryx, being the living embodiment of a great embarrassment yet could not cause harm to her due to the contract she, literally, gave birth to. Yet, Keryx developed a very sharp wit and talent for duplicity and seduction despite the disadvantages of her breeding... skills Zelinor took advantage of to the point Keryx found herself serving as a Justiciar of the Diabolical Courts, when not being utilized as a whore.

To ensure the contract wasn't 'accidentally' broken, Zelinor assigned one of her Cornugons to guard Keryx, with the ulterior intention to test Keryx's ability to charm and seduce. This is how Keryx and Esilith became intimately involved with each other. Keryx seduced her guardian and the two became, madly, enamored with each other.

Through the course of their relationship, Keryx picked up the moniker and stage name 'The Infernal Siren'. With Esilith at her side, the pair wracked up quite the body count. Keryx was so 'in love' with the cornugon, she put herself through horrendous physical trials and torment, such as having her body modified to be the 'perfect' lover and even endured several days within the Pit of Flame (which ruined most of her body and burned away parts of her soul). However, their relationship quickly turned violent when, in a fit of jealous rage, Esilith stabbed Keryx through the heart after learning she was to be 'married' to a another devil.

With her heart rent in half, but alive, Keryx had the brilliant idea to have a variant of an Infernal Engine grafted to her heart; an iron music box that would serve as a spell foci for her infernal bardic work, which solely had relied on her singing voice. Over the course of a year, Keryx wrote a song & performance that came to be known as the 'Song of Ruin' but required the use of her 'music-box heart' to complete the ritual; driving entire armies and cities to ecstatic destruction by instigating orgies and various acts of debauchery until all that were subjected to the song perished, either from sheer exhaustion or violent madness.

The Song of Ruin attracted the interest and attention of the Lords of the Fourth; Archduke Belial and Archduchess Fierna. Keryx served them as, primarily, a saboteur on various fronts of the Blood War as well as other layers of Baator.

At some point, Keryx grew homesick for Faerun and tried to escape, unsuccessfully, several times before entering a contract with Archduchess Fierna to return to the Prime Material Plane... as long as she fulfilled her obligations to create cults and worshippers for Fierna so the Lady of the Fourth could increase her power.

Upon returning to Faerun, Keryx immediately returned to Ny'nahil. Yorilnth, Alioth, Razsamerjur... despite her long absence, Keryx was welcomed home and her family sought to heal what they could of the scars, both physical and mental, that the Nine Hells had left upon her. Keryx struggled to adjust to being a Faerunian, however... and Fierna made her pay for her insubordination.

Archduchess Fierna tormented Keryx with nightmares until the tiefling broke and she attempted to corrupt Ny'nahil. The ritual never finished, as she fled when she realized what she had wrought upon her home.

Adopting the name Hestra while on the road (and rarely ever revealing her surname), Hestra wandered the Sword Coast for a number of years (often carrying out her contractual obligations to Fierna) before starting to settle in Baldur's Gate. She becomes a 'silent partner' with Rizare (a Deeva prostitute turned business owner), wrote and sold plays to theatres around the city and occasionally turnrf sects of the Baldurian aristocracy or common folk to the worship of Fierna.

She further hides her identity by wearing a Ring of Disguise Self that makes her appear more 'normal'; Infernal eyes hidden behind green, tattoos and scarring all smooth flesh

Despite having a string of paramours from all walks of life (though she never physically engaged with anyone, resorting to charm spells to gaslight her 'lovers' into believing otherwise), Hestra staunchly refused to intimately commit to another.

Then the Absolute Crisis happened... Which is where my fan-fic writing tends to focus with this character (with a sprinkling of post-game or AU nonsense).

Hestra was leaving Baldur's Gate, via the Black Dragon Gate, intending to take one of her plays on tour when Absolute Cultists nabbed her and imprisoned her on the Emperor's Nautiloid.

The adventure wasn't all bad, despite being infected by illithid.

Made new friends, saved Faerun and fell (very hard) in love with Lae'zel of Creche K'liir.

And the rest, as they say, is history. I drabbled very long about my Tav, hope you enjoyed. Maybe I'll do more... cause I have a few more Tavs and other OCs.

[sforzesco]

And he had great influence, both from the favours which he bestowed and the fear which he inspired, but more from the fear. At any rate, Sicinnius, who gave the greatest annoyance to the magistrates and popular leaders of his day, when asked why Crassus was the only one whom he let alone and did not worry, said that the man had hay on his horn. Now the Romans used to coil hay about the horn of an ox that gored, so that those who encountered it might be on their guard.

-Plutarch, Crassus 7

[raediggitydog]

Dragon Bros came up on my playlist shuffle the other day, n it made me wanna redraw it! Can you believe it’s been almost 5 years? 😫💀

(Original art post and Ely’s Remix)

[acid-ixx]

before i continue writing for a loving family, i need to seriously stop listening to tyler the creator because ifhy and new magic wand genuinely makes me want to write enemies to lover with the batfam but i have so many priorities that i don't also wanna neglect 💔

mainly my main series' but damn as much as i love to write pained emotions stemming from loneliness or grief, i also love writing about encompassing hatred, loathing that devours and destroys two person whole 😭 but i'll just keep my ideas in my notes app for now hahaha

[unaarista]

May I propose pastel Dror or Blurg. Dror would object be funnier, but Blurg deserves soft colour

Definitely both

oozeless version ⬇

[spacetimegoddess]

Just thought "life would be so much easier if i wasn't ridiculously attracted to myself" and then my brain immediately thought about isat. get OUT of my head this is NOT about you

[maro-postacord]

My past attempts from last year to do Inktobertale 2023 (I hadn't realized that in the second drawing the date is january of 2024, that level of desperation to finish the challenge is funny ���▽〒 )

I think I had a drawing from Inktobertale 2022, but my old laptop in which the drawing was went blue screen and didn't turn on anymore, so I lost all my drawings... I think so, I'm not sure, technically it was in the ":D" disk, and I was told we could take it out and get back all my stuff, but I guess that might be a little expensive and it isn't my priority, hopefully when I finish college or I get some money to spend I'll be able to do that, it would be a fun experience, like a time machine haha (*^▽^*)

[pleasedontcareaboutme]

It's missing my father hours rn so imma just dump a bunch of pictures here and cry

( sorry i don't know the source of anything I just had them on my phone)

(also dont read the tags i just need to let it out lol)

[anotherdescentintomadness]

YiZhan Parallels: This WYB // This XZ

Sharing parallels, coincidences, and vibes from my bsky account, because we need more love in this fandom and in the world in general.

[thegreatyin]

being a big fan of gender selectable and/or gender ambiguous characters is so hard because everyone defaults to calling them a guy all the time and it's like. i GUESS that's correct. i guess. you're perfectly free to decide that because that's the point of gender being choosable and im not one to dictate how you play or interpret your playthroughs or opinions on the game. im still gonna fucking kill you though.

[cellphishthekaiju]

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Happy (early) V-Day folks!

*I hope everyone enjoys, I put a lot of work into this an @larissel fed me so many ideas (along with then Shadzel Nation Discord)

[lorephobic]

need to get this gladiator shit out of my head dude i know that a 25 year old movie isn’t even close to the most embarrassing thing that i’ve gotten stuck on but i really can’t be doing this when there are like five other people on the planet who see my vision and all five of them retired from caring about this movie before i could even form sentences

[sparkys-ec-corner]

It's so nice to see another person who likes amostia /gen

"like" is too weak of a word, i am proud to say he's been my beloved fictional son who changed everything in my life since 2018 💖

[chewbokachoi]

I'm Gonna Win

They were screaming his name. Kung Lao could hear them clamoring for him to get up—to force his aching, blood and oxygen starved legs to move, for his shredded arms to raise his fists.

He smirked as he forced himself to stand, his vision swimming, but he could hear them clearly—they were cheering him on, calling for him to keep going—to never back down.

His bones were probably broken—at least four. But if they were all ribs, he would be fine. Bruises, where there was still skin, were going to be a pain but he could handle it. He was the best—there was no pretending.

And he couldn’t let them down. They were expecting him to win, and he wasn’t going to let them down.

The chorus of his name changed, and that just told Kung Lao giving up was not an option. He spun his hat one more time, swearing he could see a flash of cherry blossoms. An omen he would win.

Then hands grabbed him and he could hear his name one last time, only to be drowned out by a loud crack and then nothingness.

Written to "I'm Gonna Win" by Rob Cantor

I was bit by the grumpy baby kitten for helping trim his nails inspiration.

[xoxochb]

I wish people would love me back the same way I love them

[lordsardine]

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