#v; || Fantasy [Necromancer]

[tragerfcks]

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM 💭

[chromezi]

A collage of my lil (rpg) video game protagonists

Previous FO protagonists removed cuz I’m trying to replay and revising some of the concepts uwu

[akemii14]

obey me fantasy AU spoiler, maybe?

I got a dream last night. In fantasy era, Satan is human necromancer who can turns into a cat. He has human name and intersex (Like Lucifer in my dream), but prefer being called he/him (But he doesn't have a p, he have v)

He was sick and coughing blood while Lucifer explore the forest, and Satan spend his time alone in his bedroom and only comes out at night.

(No wonder Satan is missing. We didn't see him until one night)

Original picture from Solmare (I forget how to spell again. Let's just say from official Obey Me!)

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 2, Wave 1, Poll 1

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Hiccup Haddock-How To Train Your Dragon

Qualifications:

1. The man is missing a leg 2. He's bi in fanon (and in my heart) 3. Blorbo original flavor. Need I say more?

He has a prosthetic leg, and at least in my circles is quite often hcd as bi

Propaganda:

He's so cool. He builds his own prosthetics that interface with the prosthetics he built for his disabled dragon. First viking to ride a dragon. Chief that brought a new era of prosperity to Berk.

Probably one of the most popular physically disabled characters. And although I personally am not disabled, I have heard a bunch of disabled ppl say that they like him as rep. As he pretty much just exists with his disability. It is not ignored. He doesn't not always function the same as people with 2 regular legs. But it is not made into a tragedy. He just has a prosthetic leg after an accident which caused him to loose one. And nobody really makes a big deal out of it, which makes sense in the society they live in. Idk, here's a link to a video discussing the disability representation in httyd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvwRhb_ocPM

The qualifications and propaganda paragraphs correspond, @flammableengineering is the first submitter.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus-The Locked Tomb

Qualifications:

She's a lesbian and the author Tamsyn Muir has confirmed she's written as schizophrenic, based on her own experience.

Okay SO Harrow is a necromancer nun who is also a huge lesbian. She spends the books of TLT series being super gay and repressed about her emotions for 1. Butch lesbian Jesus and 2. Human Barbie the death of God. She narrates the second book (Harrow the Ninth) and is author-confirmed schizophrenic. She experiences hallucinations thru the whole book and has since childhood. She’s also WIDELY headcannoned as autistic by the fandom (me too) because. Because she IS SO FUCKING AUTISTIC (source: I am autistic too)

Schizophrenic lesbian with a traumatic brain injury

Schizophrenic and sapphic

canonically a schizophrenic lesbian. neither word is used in series, she isn't in a position to get a diagnosis and queer identities are so normalised in the universe that labels just don't get mentioned, but she is written as both by an author who is also both.

Canon schizophrenia

Canon lesbian with canon schizophrenia

She's a schizophrenic lesbian with a traumatic brain injury

Propaganda:

The Locked Tomb is pretty popular on tumblr but I might as well submit her anyway

She’s a lesbian necromancer nun. She’s a saint and also woke up the death of God, who is a human Barbie, who she is in love with, tho she’s also kind of married to lesbian Jesus. She’s schizophrenic. She’s scrungly. She puts bread in a drawer. She’s even autistic

Harrow first started hallucinating (visual and auditory) when she was ten years old! The traumatic brain injury and seizures are much more recent. Unironically gotta love a pov protagonist who makes you struggle along with her in sorting out hallucination and false memory to figure out what's going on. Also while Harrow's disability shapes the narrative, the book isn't at all about her being disabled. It's a fantasy/scifi gothic horror novel about being trapped at a work retreat with God.

so many women want her but she’s determined to be in love with the soul of the dead earth trapped in a 10ft barbie doll instead. she’s a lesbian disaster and is trying to deal with both schizophrenia and over 200 actual ghosts haunting her.

Author Tamsyn Muir has discussed how Harrow's schizophrenia is modeled after her own experiences. It matters a lot in her eponymous novel, where her inability to trust what she sees and hears is compounded by her self-inflicted lobotomy to save her girlfriend's soul from getting absorbed into her own.

Harrow is one of the protagonists of her series & both her lesbianism & her schizophrenia play major parts in the story. The author has spoken about how she wrote Harrow based on her own experiences, and the authenticity comes through strongly. Beyond that, she's a teenage gothic nun in love with a holy corpse & she's the greatest bone magician ever born. What more needs be said.

She's a lesbian, she's psychotic, she has seizures, she faints regularly and can't rely on her own memory worth shit. And the only reason she's not going to kill god is so she and her girl can escape the cycle of violence. Basically, Harrowhark Nonagesimus is the entire package.

Anything Else?:

Listen. Listen. I’m not doing Harrow justice here. I LOVE her (Submitter 2)

The author is also schizophrenic! Which is pretty cool. (Submitter 3)

The author of the series is openly schizophrenic, and has mentioned in interviews that she's drawing on that experience when writing Harrow :) (Submitter 8)

[laughroditee]

Thinking about the COD urban fantasy AU that I will be writing a fic for. I have a background in fine art and comics and have experience with video editing, so because of this, this fic came to me as a movie trailer, which I plan on making an animatic of. (If I can get my husband to learn how to voice the characters, I may include voices as well.) But it came from the idea:

What if there was a necromancer who would raise your loved one, but if you didn't pay them, they'd take control of them?

And that leads us to the

"Repossessed" Trailer Script, starring necromancer!graves

(please note that I do not have any formal training in actually formatting scripts so these are just my notes for the animatic. Filmmakers, don't come for me.)

(OPEN on a cityscape at sundown, cue music, if any.) Voiceover: "The name's Graves."

(NIGHTTIME. cut to a scene of a man, back to us in a cemetery. Close in on headshot, he turns to face the camera.) V/O: "Phillip Graves."

(INTERIOR OFFICE, DAYTIME. Graves is seated behind his desk, feet up, leaning back in his chair, maybe playing with a Rubix cube or something, speaking with a client, whom we can't see yet.)

Client: "Phillip Graves? As in 'fill up graves?' That's a bit… on the nose isn't it?"

Graves (smirking bc he's a cocky mf): "I don't so much fill ‘em up as I do empty ‘em out nowadays."

(Cut back to scene of Graves in the cemetery where a green, eldritch light glows from his hand.) V/O: "As a necromancer, I can bring anyone back from the dead."

(Cut back to Graves in office, looking at client.) Graves: "For a Price."

(Graves leans forward, cocking his head): "What would you pay?"

(Flashes of the deceased, happy.) V/O: "What would you do...?"

(Flashes of the deceased and the client together, loving etc huehuehue) V/O: "...To have them back with you?"

(Cut to Graves sitting behind his desk, holding up photo of the deceased between two fingers, looking at his client, cocky and eager.) Graves: "Pretty little thing like this? What's it worth to ya?"

(Cut to John Price seated in the chair opposite the desk, looking grief-stricken, desperate, and determined): “Everything.”

(cut to black, dramatic pause if there's music)

(Cut to first person POV, looking up at Graves, giving you a hand.) Graves: “Welcome back, darlin', to the land of the living.”

When I post the art (storyboards and eventual video) for this, it will be on my art blog @momokeen and reblogged from there. (I try to keep my 18+ stuff here separate from my main blog, even though I update more here, currently.)

Issues I know I will have:

Time - my chaotic brain always has a billion projects going at once, which is why I wanted to at least put this much out. I have at least four other fics that need attention, not to mention actual real life, and running a small business. I will be doing it though. It may not be good, but it will be done, eventually.

Finding the right music. Currently I'm looking for good epic trailer music. I have zero money to commission someone to compose something custom, otherwise I would ask my friend if he'd take the job.

Voices (because I want them 😩)

The decedent. I had planned on writing the fic as a "x you" POV, but if I'm including a visual trailer, done in the way that I want, obviously I have to pick one way the decedent looks, which I know will leave many people feeling left out. This is why I tend to make OCs, as it's easier for me to make decisions that my OCD and trauma brain won't let me make otherwise, because "this person is their own person and this is how I've developed them." (Also I'm new to fanfic, pls forgive me. I know OC x Canon is the less-liked option here. I really struggle with trying to make everyone happy, to the point that it's debilitating and I honestly don't know what to do.)

And finally, ✨mental health✨.

But yeah, that's it. That's a thing I'm gonna make. This was step one. Thanks for reading. 🖤

[we-do-bones-bracket]

Who did bones the best?

here are the finalized brackets! the tournament will be split into two brackets. the finalists of both will go up against each other to determine the winner. characters who were the most popular during submissions will join in round 2

rules & guidelines

about spoilers

matches under cut!

Abraham "Brom Bones" van Brunt (Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story) vs. Skull (One Piece)

Laudna (Critical Role) vs. Sese Kitsugai (Len'en Project)

Benny (Halloweentown) vs. Enki Ankarian (Fear & Hunger)

Stalhorse (The Legend of Zelda) vs. Skeleton Horse (Minecraft)

Skeleton Mob (Minecraft) vs. Stallord (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

Ryuk (Death Note) vs. Sam Day Break (Paradise Killer)

Adalman (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) vs. Hero's Shade/Hero's Spirit (The Legend of Zelda)

Sir Daniel Fortesque (MediEvil) vs. Skeletor (He-Man)

The Forgotten (Binding of Isaac) vs. Countess Ariadne de Winter (Til Death Do Us Bard)

Kel'thuzad (Warcraft) vs. Christopher Flores (Wayward Children)

The Lich King/Arthas Menethil (Warcraft) vs. Bones (Johannes Cabal the Necromancer)

Toro Muerto (The Book of Life) vs. Yodomi Arakawa (Skeleton Double)

Immortan Joe (Mad Max Fury Road) vs. Laika (Laika: Aged Through Blood)

Clinkz (DOTA 2) vs. Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck (Bleach)

Ianthe Tridantarius (The Locked Tomb) vs. Zenon Zogratis (Black Clover)

Palamedes Sextus (The Locked Tomb) vs. Ketheric Thorm (Baldur's Gate 3)

Ruth Fleming (Nerdy Prudes Must Die) vs. Dr. Bones Cookie (Cookie Run)

Misetani Box (Dai Dark) vs. Frank (Generation Loss)

Shimada Death (Dai Dark) vs. Bone (Warriors)

Kurloz Makara (Homestuck) vs. Mamà Imelda (Coco)

Jake English (Homestuck) vs. Hector (Coco)

SkullBaluchimon (Digimon) vs. Skullgreymon (Digimon)

SkullKnightmon (Digimon) vs. Jolly Roger

Cubone (Pokémon) vs. Ryme (Pokémon Scarlet and Violet)

Skeletal Dragon (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) vs. Boneknapper (How to Train Your Dragon)

Shinnok (Mortal Kombat) vs. Hector (Castlevania)

Lady Micte (Maya and the Three) vs. Conway (Kentucky Route Zero)

Veralidaine "Daine" Sarrasi (The Immortal Quartet) vs. Pious Augustus (Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem)

Zélie Adebola (Children of Blood and Bone) vs. SkekMal the Hunter (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance)

The Hound (RWBY) vs. Nuckelavee (RWBY)

Nina Zenik (Six of Crows) vs. Undertaker (Black Butler)

Yorick (Hamlet) vs. Pale Rider (Persona)

Skelita Calaveras (Monster High) vs. Hell Biker (Persona)

Nico Di Angelo (Percy Jackson) vs. Bone Ravage (Fortnite)

Death (Discworld) vs. Mort (Hello from the Hallowoods)

Acererak (Dungeons & Dragons) vs. Skid (Spooky Month)

Boneyard (Dungeons & Dragons) vs. Lord Hater (Wonder Over Yonder)

Necrodeus (Kirby Mass Attack) vs. Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Skelly (Hades) vs. Nagash (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)

Lady Bone Demon (Lego Monkie Kid) vs. Dry Bowser (Mario)

King (The Owl House) vs. Dry Bones (Mario)

Dyre Ode/Dyre Owed (Friends at the Table) vs. The Children of the Hydra's Teeth (Jason and the Argonauts (1963))

Qiu Congxue (Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know) vs. Death (The Arcana)

Kimimaro Kaguya (Naruto) vs. Gold Skull (The Sexy Brutale)

Death the Kid (Soul Eater) vs. Keyes (Fairy Tail)

Skull Knight (Berserk) vs. Director Bones (DC Comics) Bone (One Punch Man)

Lord Death Man (DC Comics) vs. Mister Bones (DC Comics)

Death (Horrible Histories) vs. Ebisu (Dorohedoro)

Skeleton (I Spy Spooky Mansion) vs. Skullomania/Saburo Nishikoyama (Street Fighter EX)

Skull Man (Mega Man) vs. SkullMan.exe (Mega Man)

A Real Magic Skeleton (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes) vs. Skully (Scary Godmother)

Marquis (Parahumans) vs. Morgo (Little Misfortune)

Señor Huseo (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) vs. Brian Laborn/Grue (Parahumans)

Grim (The Grim Adventures) vs. Pluto (Library of Ruina)

Queen Rohaan (Watermelon) vs. Kamen Raider Genm/Kuroto Dan (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid)

Fone Bone (Bone) vs. Smiley Bone (Bone) vs. Phonciple P. "Phoney" Bone (Bone)

[lichniche]

Necromancer Tournament

i got sick so im extending the submission period! the 15th is the new deadline!

to reiterate, here are the rules:

im not gonna define necromancy, if youre not sure if somebody qualifies submit em anyway and i will either decide or if im unfamiliar or unsure too we will hold a prelim poll

submit as many people as you want but only submit each person once

real people allowed lmao ?? but i hold veto power

no ocs (sorry)

submit to the ask box! one per ask preferable!

PLEASE INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE MEDIA THEY ARE FROM

all polls will be tagged #necromancy tournament and #tournament poll and all non-poll but still tournament relevant stuff will be tagged #tournament stuff

all polls will run for one week

NOW

here are the current submissions!

anyone in orange has been submitted by multiple people

anyone not in the no category or the maybe category is guaranteed a spot unless someone raises an objection, the orange highlighting is just informative

if you are familiar with the source material and want to dispute any of these please do. if you have an opinion on anyone in the maybe column and whether they deserve to be included please share

Magic the Gathering:

Liliana Vess

Gisa Cecani

Lim-Dûl

Ratadrabik

Elder Scrolls:

Vastarie (Elder Scrolls Online)

Mannimarco (Elder Scrolls Online)

The Untamed / MDZS

Wei Wuxian

Xue Yang

The Bible:

Jesus Christ

The Witch of Endor

Dungeons & Dragons

Acererak

Azalin Rex

Vecna

World of Warcraft:

Arthas Menethil

Kel'Thuzad

The Adventure Zone

Barry Bluejeans

Lup

Abhorsen

Chlorr of the Mask

Sabriel

Guild Wars

Zhaitan

Trahearne

Palawa Joko

Marjory Delaqua

Skulduggery PLeasant

Solomon Wreath

Lord Vile

Misc:

Henry (Fire Emblem Awakening

Ned (Pushing Daisies)

Aesop Carl (Identity V)

Xykon (The Order of the Stick)

Rasputin (real life/Don Bluth Cartoon)

Edward and Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Dorian Pavus (Dragon Age)

Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson)

Suzie Costello (Torchwood)

Herbert West (Reanimator)

Lewis Bernavelt (The House With A Clock In Its Walls)

Neferpitou (Hunter x Hunter)

Roger de Camden (Vampire: The Masquerade)

Joshua (The World Ends with You)

Pisces Jealnet (The Wandering Inn webnovel)

Malistaire Drake (Wizard101)

Mary (Trash of the Count's Family)

Delilah Briarwood (Critical Role)

Shang Tsung (Mortal Kombat)

Kotaro Tatsumi (Zombieland Saga)

Licorice Cookie (Cookie Run)

Wasp (Archivist Wasp)

Soren Baltimore (Camp Here & There podcast)

Wendell and Wild (Wendell & Wild)

Orochimaru (Naruto)

Amors (Death and the Maiden webcomic)

The Lich (Adventure Time)

Zanbar Bone (Fighting Fantasy)

Snap & Jacks (Snapdragon graphic novel by Kat Leyh)

Santa Claus (Puppet History ? real life ? its unclear)

Watcher (DeadEndia) (comics)

Ty Blackthorn (Shadowhunters)

Dr Hix (Discworld)

Maybe:

Steven Universe

Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

Maya Fey (Ace Attorney)

Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein)

Sauron (Lord of the Rings)

Takuto Maruki (Persona 5 Royal)

Claudia (The Dragon Prince)

Bart Simpson (The Simpsons)

Norman (Paranorman)

The Marionette (fnaf)

Merrin Meredith (Septimus Heap)

Uni (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Bermuda von Veckenschtein (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

No:

The Doctor (Doctor Who)

The Master (Doctor Who)

Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files) (decided by vote)

The Locked Tomb:

Harrowhark Nonagesimus

Palamedes Sextus

Coronabeth Tridentarius*****

Ianthe Tridentarius

John Gaius

if you are familiar with the source material and want to dispute any of these please do. if you have an opinion on anyone in the maybe column and whether they deserve to be included please share

here are my personal submissions (with duplicates included- if a submission is orange it was submitted by multiple of YOU, i did not take my own list into account)

Johannes Cabal (Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer)

Grimora, Scrybe of the Dead (Inscryption)

Militsa Gnosis (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Lord Vile (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Samhain Corvus LaCroix (Hold Me Closer, Necromancer)

Dorian Pavus (Dragon Age)

Henry (Fire Emblem Awakening)

The Necromancer (West of Loathing)

Novice Necromancer (Skyrim)

Xenia of the Autumn (Lovestruck: Reigning Passions)

Sabriel (Abhorson)

[typophobia-hijinks]

🔥A little about me!🔥

I am Typo!

I was born January 2008.

I am Australian.

I enjoy digital art and character design!

I aspire to be a palaeontologist!

PROSHIPPERS, NSFW, AND HATE ACCOUNTS DNI (I don't have a problem with NSFW in general I just would prefer that porn blogs do not interact!)

🔥My blogs🔥

Art/OC Blog: typophobiaart

Writing Blog: my-villain-arc

Necromancer shitposting: necromancer-posting

Reblogging/spam: typo-reblogs

🔥My OCs🔥

Ahchah

Freddie

Typo (my persona)

Gabe

Nyx

Archie

Hijinks

Jango

(I will add more once I make more Unvale profiles for them!)

🔥My interests🔥

🔥Videogames🔥

Portal 2

Doom Eternal

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Subnautica

Don't starve

🔥Movies/Shows🔥

Over the Garden Wall

Jurassic Park

Spooky Month (there was no wiki page)

Pacific Rim

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

🔥Hobbies/Activities🔥

Art (More specifically, OC/Animal/Monster design)

Furry Fandom

Archery

Reading

D&D

🔥Other Interests🔥

Dinosaurs

Fantasy Media

Vampires

Hyenas

Mimes/pantomime

🔥My Socials🔥

Twitter (mostly inactive)

Discord server

Twitch

YouTube

Art Fight

🔥My Boy🔥

[fvriva]

Heidi and Viktore?

Heidi and Viktore is a placeholder name for a top-down rpg about making food, fighting monsters, and learning how to treat yourself better.

The setting is vaguely fantasy European, centered around a monastery that particularly ritualizes the creative arts, particularly the performing arts and the culinary arts as holy, in a world where most of the monsters are nightmarish in origin.

Heidi von Glockner is one of the Glockner clerics, tasked with investigating an abandoned settlement in the heart of the nightmare to seek an origin and a solution to the blight. She goes through the map and investigates, replenishing her supplies and cooking them into magical items that will restore her stats.

Part of what I wanted out of Dungeon Meishi was a greater sense of the lasting effects of nutrition, so the game mechanics of H&V are based on something similar, with water corresponding to base hit-point replenishment, sugars corresponding to mana replenishment (both of which apply a debuff once totally depleted), proteins which decreases incoming damage (including internally), vitamins which increase the duration of nutrients, fats which increase efficacy of nutrients, and take up a bigger portion of the appetite, and then finally fiber, which increases appetite capacity overall. None of these are set in stone because I haven't playtested any of this, but it's what works for now.

In the library, Heidi finds Viktore, a sickly, uncanny shadowy apparition that she discovers is the original reason for the nightmare, but not in control of it

Viktore is the result of a terrible spell gone wrong, fusing 7 people together into a living amalgam of flesh and souls. All souls are distinct and present to some degree in their consciousness and have different wants, needs, takes on the situation, abilities, and appetites. They're in a bad way, distrustful of themself seven ways to Sunday, and are pretty much just literally being held together with necromancy by the point Heidi finds them and shares some of her supplies and some of her rituals with them.

While I'm still working on fleshing all 7 out, I do know that one of the Viktores (none of them will cop to it) is believed to be the one to summon the nightmare, contacting it from a grimoire and betraying the world. Heidi spends some time working with Viktore to figure out what precisely happened, but eventually she's taken by the nightmare, leaving it up to Viktore to get it together and save her.

I do have a few of the Viktore alters figured out as well! Francois I've been playing during one of my BG3 runs, and they're an asocial, catty necromancer with a soft spot for their childhood friend Katherine "Katydid" Durand, daughter of one of the guards taking on the family business.

[fromgallowsandgraves]

V: Name TBD (high fantasy)

When student wizard Victor Frankenstein began obtaining the remains of paupers and criminals, his intent was not to create yet more mindless thralls, but a new race of strong and beautiful immortals who would adore him as their maker.  What he got was a hideous abomination certain to make him and his prominent family the object of contempt and shame.  The new creature awakened to scalpel tearing through flesh, unable to move or scream.  A moment after he was finally able to stand, and begin walking unsteadily towards the only other living being he could see, Victor set the lab on fire and fled.

Panicked, the newly-awakened reanimant grabbed Victor’s cloak – with the journal detailing his creation in its pocket – and used it as a shield as he made his way through the flames, managing to fight his way out through a weak point in the wall. 

Rumors abound as to how the story went from there, but there are some that have it mostly right, from the sightings that always ended badly for the poor Creature, to the abandoned attempt to create another like him, to the murders, to the wizard’s attempt to chase down his out of control experiment, even if he had to go to the ends of the world.  They tell of how the would-be god died in the attempt, and the “creation” threw himself onto his creator’s funeral pyre.

What they do not mention is how he discovered that Victor had forbidden him to die.  Adam still isn’t sure if it was it was intended as mercy, or the cruelest curse the wizard could inflict.  Although the Creature believes it would be possible for someone to kill him, he’s compelled to fight against his own destruction at any cost. 

As for killing any necromancers who dared try using Frankenstein’s methods, though – and saving their victims from them, in whatever way he could – there was nothing and no one to stop him from doing that.    

[gayleviticus]

spoilery thoughts after finishing Gideon the ninth (critical of certain aspects but I enjoyed it)

Gideon and harrows relationship is v clearly the best part and interesting but I feel like it could have been milked more. I would have read a whole seven book saga about these two going from hated rivals to lovers and this book gets it done in one! wtf!

the hints of worldbuilding are cool. I find it funny but also a bit odd that were introduced to the Goth house using necromancy and think ok this is what the setting is like and then it turns out actually that's just the Ninth... but everyone else is necromancers too. like vibe wise it's just a bit. it's like if in avatar everyone was a fire bender and then the fire nation was there as just guys who really love fire

there are too many bloody characters and I don't think they're sufficiently distinguished at all, or even their houses. by the end of it I could tell you off the top of my head the Second are soldiers, Eighth are priests... Fifth or something are Wardens? but I think my problems w interchangeability of characters would have been fixed if the House identities were clearer. and I guess that's also part of why 'everyone's a necromancer' felt like a weird worldbuilding choice, even when they did allude to certain niches among different houses like bones or spirits or siphoning, cus like, in another fantasy novel you would easily distinguish ur houses by picking radically different powers

the plot had interesting moments but it felt just awkward all around. I get the point is that Gideon is locked out of the loop etc but it really feels like the story lacks any kind of forward momentum, the protagonists kinda just stop doing anything after a couple challenge rooms and wait for the plot to progress of its own accord. the fact it sorta toys w murder mystery/horror but the characters are really not that interested in solving it also contributes to this sense that the actual plot is not very well structured and consists of Gideon wandering round talking to/eavesdropping on npcs to hear exposition and develop relationships. and I guess you can say 'well it's not really a mystery, it's just a story that happens to have murders' but I think that's part of the problem; if it was more of a straightforward murder mystery it would have a driving force it currently lacks

at the same time though, it's also not like this is a slow atmospheric read w little emphasis on plot. there is very much a plot but it feels like its so oriented around minute details about keys and different house members making deals that my eyes just glazed over. it felt like too much detail to comfortably just skim the gist of it, but not actually worth paying attention to the minute detail (as it might be if this were actually a murder mystery based around interpreting clues)

I feel like from the way ppl talk I was expecting this book to be absolutely chock-full of bible/theology references. which to be sure it does hav in significant ways (the Ruth quotation when Gideon dies, Canaan house, the whole resurrected God and stone in front of the tomb). but much much less than what I'd assumed from the way people talk about it, where I was kinda imagining a constant stream of characters w names like Ebenezer, Micaiah, and Mahershalalhashbaz and theological buzzwords. I was expecting jrpg levels of theological name dropping but w actual significance behind them

all in all an enjoyable book and I'm keen to start the second, but I'm not surprised it's Muir's first novel and I hope Harrow the Ninth has some more narrative momentum w a smaller cast

[meg-james]

Last month I finished this set of clean sketches for Veo Corva, of the characters from their Tombtown book series! V is running a Kickstarter right now for their latest novel:

💀 Check out The Beautiful Decay on Kickstarter! 💀

It’s got a few more days left, so take a look if you're into queer fantasy with necromancers and dark magic and maybe fungus?

🐻 Commissions are open! 🍩 Check out my Patreon! 🧃 Buy me a prune juice on Ko-fi?

[ao3-diablofic]

by Kosho

Back at it again with Kinktober! My eventual goal is to use both the nsfw and cutesy prompts, but if not, then I’m aiming for at least getting it done.

Day 1: Elsine x Cullen Rutherford Day 2: Youkai x River Ward Day 3: Taki x Zenos Day 4: the commander x daeran Day 5: Cherish x Cullen Day 6: Arakiel x Socothbenoth Day 7: Felix Alexius x Talon Adaar Day 8: Solas x Jack Day 9: Zevran Arainai x Varadin Cousland Day 10: Paladin Danse x Leander Day 11: Female Necromancer x Kormac

Words: 13549, Chapters: 11/31, Language: English

Fandoms: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game), Cyberpunk & Cyberpunk 2020 (Roleplaying Games), Final Fantasy XIV, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (Video Game), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, Fallout 4, Diablo (Video Games)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, M/M

Characters: Original Avvar Character(s) (Dragon Age), Cullen Rutherford, V (Cyberpunk 2077), River Ward, Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Zenos yae Galvus, The Commander (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous), Daeran (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous), Original Inquisitor Character(s) (Dragon Age), Socothbenoth (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous), Male Adaar (Dragon Age), Felix Alexius, Solas (Dragon Age), Male Lavellan (Dragon Age), Male Cousland (Dragon Age), Zevran Arainai, Paladin Danse (Fallout), Male Sole Survivor (Fallout 4), Kormac the Templar, Female Necromancer (Diablo III)

Relationships: Female Inquisitor/Cullen Rutherford, V/River Ward, Zenos yae Galvus/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), The Commander/Daeran (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous), Male Inquisitor/Cullen Rutherford, Felix Alexius/Male Inquisitor, Male Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Zevran Arainai/Warden, Male Cousland - Relationship, Paladin Danse & Male Sole Survivor, Kormac the Templar/Female Necromancer

Additional Tags: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Kinktober, Pegging, Roleplay, Sexual Roleplay, Nurse - Freeform, Hate Sex, Teratophilia, Sweat, Collars, Tieflings (Dungeons & Dragons), Dubious Consent, Mildly Dubious Consent, Sex Pollen, Sex poison, Oral Sex, Sex, Vaginal Sex, Loss of Virginity, Virginity, Mage Adaar (Dragon Age), Named Adaar (Dragon Age), Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood, Blood Kink, Glory Hole, Praise Kink, Sensory Deprivation, Dream Sex

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50516668

[pointesdulac]

hi v!!! 3, 12, and 17 for the book asks :)

HI KY HELLO!!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

This is hard!! in no particular order...

Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield: a "came back wrong" story. The protagonist thought her wife was lost in a deep sea expedition, only to have her return like a shadow of herself. It alternates between the protagonist trying to figure out how to help her, and the diaries of her wife explaining what happened. At first I wanted the two characters voices to be more distinct, but overall I keep thinking about this book so really it's my standout of the year. Made me cry about an octopus. Big body horror warning.

Gideon the Ninth - Tasmyn Muir: necromancers and their cavaliers come together to compete for the privilege to serve the Emperor. You've probably seen this before. I really enjoyed the first book more than the second, and I haven't read the third yet. I personally think the author does a better job with this book, versus trying to make a complicated narrative maze in the others. However! The characters are so good that I am still very enamoured with it. I do recommend this one, YMMV with the others. It also made me cry. Body horror warning for this as well, with necromancer stuff.

The Animals at Lockwood Manor - Jane Healey: during WW2, the British Museum's collection of animals must be moved for safety, thought the protagonist worries that Lockwood Manor has threats of its own. This felt like a book they would use to show you symbolism in school-- in a good way! Very deliberate and confident symbolism and thematic imagery. It was very eerie and I loved both the main characters, Big warnings for this one, though, that I would suggest taking a look at with discretion, since it is a part of the 'finale' reveal (it's not depicted in any detail but it's heavy).

Caroline's Heart - Austin Chant: a witch tries to resurrect her lost love, and a cowboy stumbles on her work. This is a novella, but I really loved it so much. It reads like a fairytale and the characters are completely endearing. Romantic and comforting!! Warnings for period relevant -phobias.

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon: a retelling of Saint George and the Dragon as a high fantasy. This book is huge but I adored it. Every character feels so alive and real. I'm not a big fantasy person but the worldbuild is unique, exciting, and it's all about women. I wish it was an ongoing since I want to see more of these characters. Ead my absolute beloved. I think you specifically would like this!! Warnings also some 'fantasy' -phobias, very emphasized miscarriage plot.

BONUS: Silver in the Wood - Emily Tesh: a wild man lives in Greenhollow Wood, peacefully letting the years pass him by, until a curious man arrives on his doorstep, intent on unravelling his secrets. Also a novella. This is my all timer. I didn't read it for the first time this year but I'm obsessed with it. I want everyone to read it. It's a fable; it's romantic; it's lush and hypnotic. I should write this author a letter.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

Sadly, several, haha. I read The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles and that's probably going to take the cake. KJ Charles is very prolific and usually highly recommended, so when this book did so little for me, I realized that's a huge block of books that I'm just not going to bother with. There were parts of the book I liked, and the style itself was fine, but then the sexual tone was super weird and there was a little too much emphasis on the 'exotic' East.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Actually Peter Darling by Austin Chant, which I only took the leap on since I liked Caroline's Heart so much. I just imagined I would be lukewarm on the concept, since I wasn't sure how it would be executed. I was overly cautious, haha. Then there was really creative takes on the story and on Neverland magic, and it was very endearing!

TYSM KY!! I hope you've been well!!

[thetoxicgamer]

Diablo 4 Druid won’t changing anytime soon despite backlash

Following recent beta tests, the Diablo 4 Druid has drawn criticism from fans of the action role-playing game because both of its skills and the character model, which was a bigger, more rugged depiction of the classic Diablo 4 summoner, underwhelmed. I inquired about the character's physical modifications during a recent roundtable with lead class designers Adam Jackson and Melissa Corning, lead game producer (story and narrative). On a roster of slim, muscular heroes and heroines, Diablo 4’s Druid stands out from the pack. Bulky, grizzled, and unkempt, the summoner’s design fantasy has divided players, with some seeing themselves in the character, while others have claimed the class’ looks dissuaded them from playing it. When I ask Jackson and Corning about the Druid feedback – both positive and negative – Corning says “we expected a lot of different opinions about all of our classes, but the goal is for every single class to feel unique – not just through their skills and animations but definitely through diverse visual appearances as well.” “One thing on the gameplay side is that it’s important for different classes to have different silhouettes so that you can tell what you are playing,” Jackson chimes in. “If two people come up against each other in PvP or out in the world, you can actually tell ‘oh there’s a Barbarian here, a Sorceress here.’ So I know that’s really important on the gameplay side when it comes to things like gear and how all those things look on different classes.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRdcONKo_vM When asked directly if a slimmed-down version of the Druid is planned for the future, Corning confirms that “there’s no plan currently. We made this decision from the beginning because our goal was to visually distinguish as Adam said, but we have hundreds of different pieces of gear in the game, and all of it is handcrafted for every single class. So, by having a specific look we can guarantee that, no matter how you customise your character, every piece of gear is going to look fabulous.” As someone who has played far too many fantasy games, there’s certainly a recurring theme of slimmer characters – perhaps because it fits the hero/heroine aesthetic, or because the vast majority of people find it more visually appealing. However, the Druid is a Druid. They summon animals, live out in the wild, scavenge for their food, and don’t care about what the wider world thinks of them. They are unique, and their in-game model champions that uniqueness. So I’m all for it – especially when you see player reactions praising the fact that they’ve finally created a character that is representative of themselves. If you’re looking to try out the Druid in the upcoming Server Slam, be sure to check out our rundown of the best Diablo 4 Druid build, or alternatively our best Diablo 4 Necromancer build if you fancy summoning dead things instead of living ones. Read the full article

[the-hype-dragon]

Books I read in April

I started the month strong but an unfortunate decision put me into a bit of a reading slump about halfway through.

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman - 4/5

It was a weird book, felt kind of like it ran on David Lynch logic but that's not a bad thing imo. Sort of a coming of age story for a young boy, his divorced mom, and a cop (yes, for all three of them). The divorced mom and her son have a strained relationship and they don't reconcile by the end, but neither is really portrayed as being wrong for doing this. I kind of liked that. The whole book is full of messy relationships like this. I ended up really enjoying it, definite recommend.

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin - 4/5

I never read the Earthsea books as a kid and the first time I tried to read A Wizard of Earthsea, I kind of hated it lmao. So I just decided to go ahead and read this. Luckily you don't really need to have read AWoE to understand what's going on here, this book is all about Tenar. This is the sort of fantasy I like, the worldbuilding is excellent and very rarely dipped into the "show and tell" kind of thing I see (and hate) in a lot of fantasy fiction. I also liked that in spite of being a book for younger readers Le Guin does not condescend to the audience. This was her usual dry kind of prose, and the characterizations were for the most part relatively nuanced for how short the book is.

Sabriel by Garth Nix (reread) - 2/5

This was it, this was the unfortunate decision. I feel really bad saying this because I like Garth Nix's books, but Sabriel isn't very good. (I first read it when I was in middle school and am 99% sure I felt the same way back then.) It has interesting concepts that you don't see much of in YA lit but the fact that the protagonist is a female necromancer is literally the only outstanding thing about it. Otherwise it's a pretty standard heroic fantasy tale of a paragon of good defeating a dark lord, with a mysterious mentor figure and secret prince and everything. Fine for older teens imo but boring for adults. My least favorite thing about it was for being ostensibly about Sabriel, it really focused more on the male characters... which is a complaint I have about a lot of fantasy fiction in general, that's a rant for another time lmao.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (reread) - 4/5

I am a little biased because this was adapted into one of my absolute favorite movies lmao but I really like this book and think everyone should give it a chance. It's interesting because it's a fairly standard narrative with nonstandard characters: the protagonist is a unicorn, her magical companion is a (goodhearted but vain) buffoon, the voice of reason is a cynical peasant woman everyone dismisses out of hand, and the prince's romance with the unicorn in the second half is tragic not because they cannot be together, but because the world would be worse off for her fully becoming a human and loving him. Unfortunately, while the story itself is great, the writing is sometimes not great: every good simile Beagle came up with is matched by one that is silly and distracting. But I don't think that detracts too much from the story.

I also started but did not finish Tehanu (Le Guin) and Sabriel's sequel Lirael (Nix), and I'm not sure I'll finish either in May. Tehanu is written well but was dealing with too many heavy topics all at once for my tastes (I do not mind reading books with heavy topics but I have to be in the right mood for it), and Lirael is better written than Sabriel but far more whimsical and I think suffers for it. That said I don't think either book is bad but I didn't read enough of either to have a whole opinion of them lmao

And anyway that was how my April went :v