#very raven queen-esque

[nydorin]

i posted a theory on twitter the other day that everyone imogen sees walk into the storm when they die was killed with the mysterious permakill poison, so i'm going to subject you all to it, too.

people we saw walk into the storm:

bertrand bell: we don't have any information on if bertrand was killed with/without the poison, but we also don't know all of the poison's properties. all we know is that bertrand was killed quickly and easily, despite dugger not being the most powerful of enemies the bells hells faced. we don't know if dugger has anything directly to do with otohan, but treshi did get involved with the shade mother through ira. arguably, orym could have possibly detected the poison on him, but liam/orym would've had no reason to check as of this point.

the lumas twins: they were killed by otohan's shadow figures, (assumably) with the poison. (i can't remember if this was confirmed or not). on the other hand, if they were, the poison is also potent enough to keep their bodyguard, oshad breshio, off his feet recovering for several weeks, most of which he was unconscious for.

who we didn't see walk into the storm: laudna

imogen, notably, didn't see laudna walk into the storm after her death. it was at this point that orym voiced that the reason keyleth hadn't brought will and derrig back because they were killed by the otohan's shadows with some sort of poison that stopped divine magic. (it was also at this point, i believe, that orym checked if he could detect the poison on laudna and didn't. maybe. can't remember.) however, fcg did also cast gentle repose that stopped "something" from happening - we still don't know what. this could have been something to do with delilah, or the poison. not long later, laudna was revived in whitestone.

anyway tl;dr this could mean the poison has something to do with ruidus, possibly feeding their souls to something on the red moon?

[dcdreamblog]

I've heard there was a Wonder Woman active during one of the World Wars, but I've heard conflicting reports as to whether she was the current one who later held a low profile until the likes of Superman and Batman appeared and started being more active again or some predecessor to the current one.

Ok, this is one of my favorite historical fun facts. You are correct that there WAS a Wonder Woman active with the JSA and the All Star Squadron in the 1940s. And she IS related to our Amazing Amazon of the modern day. I'm sure we're all at least vaguely familiar with the Amazons, the race of semi-immortal women that Wonder Woman comes from. They make lots of prominent appearances in DC or at the UN or the like and you might be familiar with some of their more prominent members.

So you probably know Queen Hippolyta, the most prominent Amazon known to the rest of the world. You can see her here at this Amazon delegation at the White House from a few years ago, standing next to Diana in the very Roman-esque royal purple? Yea, THAT is our WWII Wonder Woman!

(Taken from a War Bond poster, circa 1943) She's since become sort of an unapproachable figure, she does a LOT of important work around the world so getting a historian like me in front of her is basically a no go so the finer details as to why she ended up in "Man's World" fighting the good fight aren't strictly known. BUT you can tell her apart from Diana (aside from the age of the photograph) by their hair. They share the same glossy raven color but Hippolyta has always kept hers in those lovely ringlet curls while Diana wears her hair much straighter.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey Raven, are you going to watch the upcoming new Disney movie "Wish"?

I've seen mixed reviews, but i'm lowkey excited since we get to see a new Disney villain, especially since Disney got really lame villains after all the old classic movies!

Have you seen the trailer for the movie? What are your thoughts so far?

I saw Wish with a friend recently! I'll give my thoughts on the trailers here (in case you don't want spoilers for the film itself) and put my full thoughts beneath the cut (if you're okay with spoilers).

Looks-wise, I think Disney was definitely trying to go for something more stylistic and painting-esque for this?? And while I commend the effort, it definitely doesn't look as interesting as Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish. The humor also definitely isn't for me, it feels very "quirky" and "so relatable" (Asha reminds me of Mirabel in that sense), and other times too juvenile (like the goat butt joke). I do like the idea of the villain passing as a good guy in-universe and actually being vain and selfish, especially since the marketing is making it clear who the bad guy is rather than making it a "twist" villain scenario. Not sure if I like Magnifico himself though??? All the ads with him in it feel like Disney is trying too hard to make people thirst for him. From just the trailers, Magnifico does seem interesting and like more of a return to the traditional "villain" rather than the protagonist having to deal with an existential dread or concept.

***Spoilers for Wish beneath the cut!***

Right off the bat, my first impression is the narrative is SO ham-fisted. Within the first 5 minutes alone we're establishing so much information and in such a clunky, unnatural way. Like... Asha says hi to her friends but then they robotically have a dialogue where they overtly call each other "friends" just so it's clear to the audience (when in reality no one talks like that). It's telling instead of showing, and this happens sooo many times early in the film.

Could not for the life of me remember the friends or their names. There were just too many of them when 1 or 2 would have been just fine to move the plot along and to help Asha. (Yes, I know they're a reference to the 7 Dwarves but it's STILL not necessary to have so many just for a reference.)

Bruh, the makeup in this movie is on point. Every time there was a close up of a character, I was staring at their eye makeup (especially Asha and the queen's).

Asha as a protagonist was... fine? She feels very close to Mirabel and at times Rapunzel in her character. I didn't dislike her by any means, but she didn't reinvent what it means to be a Disney protag. Her motivations also come off as… really “out of nowhere”. We’re told she “cares too much”, but she initially only wants to save the wishes of her mom and grandpa; she randomly decides she has to free ALL wishes midmovie and that was jarring. There could have been a smoother transition. Instead, it was abrupt and Asha didn’t change in any meaningful way. Even her “I want” song was vague (what exactly is “to have something more for us than this”?) and didn’t connect well with her character.

I do really like her design though! Her freckles, earrings, and how her hair moves are my favorite details.

Valentino was not as annoying as I thought he would be. Still didn't care for his sass and brand of humor, but at least he helped out a few times.

I called it, the film is trying so hard to make Magnifico "hot" 🤡 I don't get it but okay, Mouse. I see your effort.

Loved his fit!! Very cool cloak and diamond/star motifs everywhere! His lab and study was also fun to look at.

I quite liked the moments when the queen talked to her husband and tried to smooth things over with him. “I can fix him energy”— Their relationship seemed very genuine at the start of the movie.

NOT THE WISH NEPOTISM...

If they were going for “sympathetic” with Magnifico, it didn’t work. He gave this backstory about how he was traumatized before + left as the only survivor of a great tragedy and so now he wants to use his magic to prevent that from happening to anyone else. Thing is, we only ever know about this via his word and staring at a half-burnt tapestry. We never see the event on screen, nor what was left of the tapestry. I was expecting a twist where it’s revealed that he lied all this time about his backstory and rewrote history so he could more easily manipulate the people of the kingdom he founded and live out the fantasy of being worshipped as a “good guy”. That was such a missed opportunity!!

Something else I was thinking of (this was during “This is the Thanks I get” was??? Maybe Magnifico started off genuinely good but became worn down over time as people’s wishes grew more selfish and they became ungrateful for what they had?? Then he could have become bitter and disillusioned by the behavior of his people.

Another idea is maybe Magnifico was “villainous” only in Asha’s eyes, since they don’t agree on how to best handle granting wishes. This would be more of a clash of ideologies rather than the traditional Obvious Evil vs Obvious Good that Disney is so known for, but hey, it could be a neat evolution of their storytelling from classic fairy tale roots.

This is to say that there were so many more interesting directions they could have gone with Magnifico’s motives, character, and portrayal 😭 but the second half of the movie never commits to any of these, they just blame his complete insanity and turn to the dark side on Forbidden Magic which is such a cop-out.

The trailers gave away the twist that Magnifico was the villain. It wasn’t revealed until like the second song into the movie. Would’ve worked better as an on-the-spot reveal rather than part of the marketing, in my opinion.

When they showed the wishes, the TWST fan in my was shouting, "OMG IT'S WISH UPON A STAR, THE LIMITED TIME STORY EVENT FROM THE HIT DISNEY MOBILE GACHA GAME TWISTED WONDERLAND!!!"

As Wish is Disney's anniversary film for 100 years, there were tooons of easter eggs scattered throughout. (I had fun looking for them!) Some were visual (I saw Aurora's dress, Snow White’s well, Peter's Pan's costume, Ursula's green smokey hands, Asha's robes resembling those of the Fairy Godmother, etc.) or extended imagery/scenes (Asha recreates Mulan's dinner and “Reflection" scenes), others were more overt lines of dialogue (Magnifico says the "Mirror, Mirror" lines along with others, a deer named “Bambi”, Valentino mentions an animal metropolis in reference to Zootopia, etc.).

In theory, the wish magic sounds cool but has so much that isn't explained??? And yeah, it's magic so it technically doesn't have to be. However, there are things not explained even when it is important to the plot. For example, Magnifico crushes some wishes and seems to absorb their power for himself (including the wish of Asha's MOM, so you'd think this would be important)? The consequence of this is that the wish's owners... become sad??? Okay, what are the long-term effects??? Why isn’t this fully explored?? But then later in the film we see the same people whose wishes were crushed... regenerate their wish??? So what, he has to keep reaping them??? And why are the wishes only taken at 18 years old? What if a wish changes? Ironically, the townspeople of Rosas have a scene where they question the technicalities of this wish magic. Magnifico essentially tells them to shut up, and it kinda felt like Disney was telling us to not question their lore www

It was weird that they never fully explored the ramifications of going without your wish. You’d think they’d show us people without ambition or hope (which would incentivize Asha to return their wishes), but everyone seems blissfully happy without their wishes?? The only exception is Asha’s friend that betrays her (cannot for the life of me remember his name), and that’s namely because his asshole friends keep ragging on him for it.

I thought the movie was going to go in a “you can make your own wish come true!!” direction but NOPE, turns out it’s just magic. Felt like Disney unintentionally wrote a whole movie about "wishes not coming true unless some big powerful entity allows it to come true” (Asha literally becomes the fairy godmother of Rosas at the end, making her ultimately no different than Magnifico)… ie a metaphor for how Disney owns so many properties it practically owns our childhoods www

"The power of friendship saves the day" ending 🤣 It was very Paper Mario ending-esque...

A song saving the day though?? It’s giving the Illumination Lorax film…

I was right about the humor. Too "quirky" and/or juvenile for me.

Animation was alright? Nothing awful about it, it just didn't feel as detailed or as experimental as other films with a similar style.

Songs were mid, which checks out with the recent Disney music excluding We Don't Talk About Bruno--

Some of the lyrics however were awful. “I let you live here for free and I don’t even charge you rent” is redundant. “So I throw caution to every warning sign” means you’ll show more caution than usual, not that you’ll forego caution. The correct expression is “throw caution to the wind”. Etc, etc, etc.

There was a cute after credits scene where they reveal that Asha's 100 year old grandpa (same age as Disney omg) wrote the "When You Wish Upon a Star" theme, which was sweet since his wish was "wanting to make a mark".

THE BEST PART OF THE MOVIE WAS STAR!! It was very cute (partly because it couldn't talk and just jingled and giggled, I was dreading another annoying mascot animal voice) and reminds me of my own pet… The way Star infused everything with glitter and formed unique shapes with the red twine was so fun 😭 I'M A STAR STAN, IT WAS ADORABLE AND KINDA BRATTY AND I'M LIVING FOR IT

Decent ideas, "meh" execution. Enchanted and Shrek did it better in terms of self-aware, fairy tale defying stories. It felt as though the movie was trying to deliver a profound message but got lost in the sauce of making as making Disney references possible and didn't fully commit to actually saying something meaningful. As a result, the film feels somewhat… hollow.

That one friend betraying Asha was the biggest surprise in the film but I still saw it coming 😂 I do get where he’s coming from though (being worried that his wish won’t ever come true) but it also felt like his conflict wasn’t resolved??? It might have gone better if the movie actually fully tried to push the “you can make your own wish come true” message (to reinvigorate the traitor to make his dreams a reality on his own) but they don’t 💦

Wish didn’t end up being “the wishing star’s origin story” because not once did anyone question where Star came from or why it was different from other stars (or what the significance of Magnifico blotting out the other stars was).

I think the people that would enjoy this movie are the people that are already highly invested in Disney and the nostalgia of it.

... Anyway, stan Star 🤩 (and the talking mushrooms 🍄)

[lookslikethatsallthetimewehave]

You're right about the other villains not having as much depth as Octavian. With most of them, we don’t even know their backstories!

Oh yeah, I said that.

I should make a list of the villains that have somewhat of a backstory/motivation:

Dr. Hare: Dr. Harvey Hare was the lead scientist for NISS (National Institute of Silly Sciences). There he engineered a top-secret mind control device. The device malfunctioned during testing on a bunny rabbit, fusing him with it.

Copy Cat: Copy Cat made millions selling illegally copied music, but she was caught when she offered a bootlegged computer game to an undercover agent.

Sir Rebral: Sir Rebral believes he is descended from royalty. He was apprehended while stealing the crown jewels from the Queen of Arturus from Astro-Knights Island.

Speeding Spike: Spike was a car thief, and loved speeding.

Ratman: Ratman used trained rats to help him steal money and jewels, but his pets "ratted" on him, leading to his imprisonment.

Crusher: Crusher once stole a monster truck and smashed cars in a parking lot for fun.

Betty Jetty: Betty Jetty was a pilot who flew without a license.

Director D: He is bald and is embarrassed that he is bald, so he wants everyone to be bald too.

Vince Graves: Vince is a renegade archaeologist who is often found in Egypt looking for rare artifacts, and is willing to steal artifacts if necessary. When he finds something valuable, he quickly sells it to the highest bidder and then leaves.

Binary Bard: Mordred (Binary Bard's original name) brought technology to the Kingdom of Arturus. His unnatural experiments (aka cyborgs) led to his imprisonment. Mordred escaped prison and fled into space. His unfinished ship crashed on Pewter Moon, where he was gravely injured. He rebuilt himself as part man, part machine in order to survive, becoming the space tyrant Binary Bard.

Gretchen Grimlock: Gretchen Grimlock is the wealthy owner of Gretchen's Beauty Products, Inc. Her company uses endangered plants and animals in its products. One day while searching for a rare orchid she was attacked by Bigfoot, which caused her to start hunting cryptids.

The Shogun: He and his brother Basho trained as Samurai, but Basho decided to become good and left to be a ninja. Basho was angry at his brother for leaving, and stayed with the Samurai, eventually becoming a tyrant ruling over old Japan. 

Mr. Silva: He wanted to be a fireman. But now he's stuck as a science teacher.

Holmes: Holmes was a robot created by the scientist Dr. Harold Langley to compete in game shows. Eventually he became resentful that Langley was getting all the praise.

Henry Flatbottom: Henry was best friends with Valiant, but he also had a crush on Valiant's girlfriend Fiona. Years after Fiona rejected him, Henry used his power (he's the magistrate) to organize Valiant's death so Fiona could choose him instead.

Count Bram: He was turned into a vampire, and tried for years to come up with a cure for it. Eventually his wife died (because she's a human) and Bram lost his mind.

Mark Hertz: Used to work at Poptropica Headquarters, but left for MegaFightingBots because Poptropica wouldn't allow children to type anything in order to chat with each other.

Ringmaster Raven: Bird Boy was an orphan who was born with avian-esque features. He was used as a side-show attraction in a carnival until he was left behind at a town (accidentally or intentionally). Some time later, Bird Boy was accused of burning down a shop, although it is very heavily suggested that he was most likely framed by the real arsonist. He went into hiding until he was caught, and was driven out of the town as a result.

Myron Van Buren: MVB is the last living descendant of the legendary Van Buren hunting family. He became obsessed with proving his worth.

Scheherazade: Scheherazade and her father were poor traders. One day, her father found a genie lamp, and wished to be a sultan and his daughter a princess. The Sultan became obsessed with the genie and his new wealth, forgetting about Scheherazade, causing her to eventually run away and form the Forty Thieves.

Chthonians: The Chthonians were at war with the Mole People for centuries, but only because the Moles took one of their eggs (the Moles not knowing what it was).

Rumpelstiltskin: The Red Queen captured him and kept him locked in the treasury/prison for years.

Dr. Gramston: Dr. Gramston was a dentist on the Blandside, but her business was failing because half of the townspeople (the Goofside residents) refused to brush their teeth. One day Gramston fell through a hole in her office into the sewers, where she discovered the magical crystals that could turn things goofy or bland. She created a plot to turn the entire island bland.

[utilitycaster]

Based on that post what would you say are the most successful and entertaining seasons of D20 vs the least mechanically well thought out and boring

I plan on writing something out in full after Burrow's End completes, as mentioned, and I can't speak to what was the most successful if you mean commercially, but I think Fantasy High (both seasons and The Seven), The Unsleeping City (both seasons) and A Crown of Candy (and The Ravening War), ACOFAF, Dungeons and Drag Queens, Escape from the Bloodkeep, Mentopolis, Coffin Run, Shriek Week, and Misfits and Magic all use an appropriate system for the story they want to tell and tell a cohesive story.

I think Pirates of Leviathan is great and the cast is incredible but the story doesn't totally hold together; honestly this was the first remotely filmed sidequest and I think was pulled together very quickly so I don't hold this against it.

Tiny Heist and Mice and Murder are good stories that should not have been told in D&D, which doesn't really support heists nor murder mysteries terribly well and which I don't particularly care for in low magic (ACOC is a rare exception where lower magic makes sense and was well-integrated into the story)

Starstruck Odyssey is fun and uses an appropriate system, but I found it kind of overstuffed; there was so much going on that there was no room to let any moments breathe.

Neverafter tried to be far too much at once (horror multiverse fairy tales as commentary on the concept of narrative); I am 100% up for postmodern metafictional pretentious bullshit and found the start to be phenomenal and it did not sustain that; the thematic elements were lost in trying to overlay a standard D&D-type plot and it meandered and dragged a surprising amount for something that also paradoxically felt again, overstuffed.

Burrow's End is pending, but setting aside my professional issues with the radiation disaster elements (which, that's a whole other post because I'm not opposed to goofy suspend-your-disbelief-comics radiation stories a la Spider-man/Doctor Manhattan/Kaiju stories but the way it's been handled here has been inconsistent), a Watership Down/Rats of NIMH story that appears to be careening into a mad science kaiju-esque situation is also too many genres at once. Since the radiation reveal it's been in a steep nosedive for me despite the interesting and strong social story being told (from which the radiation element significantly distracts and detracts); I'm not saying it can't pull up out of it, but it's burned through the good will of the first four and a half episodes at an alarmingly fast rate. The marketing of it has also been consistently misleading and tonally off, which indicates they're not sure how to handle the story either.

[pomfiores]

so remember the headcanon i made of Vil not really being fond of animals and yet in spite of that, animals like him and will follow him around (very disney princess-esque despite him Not really being one aka Neige aka he’s the Queen)? OKAY GOOD, NOW, 

Vil with his unrequited acquaintanceship with these animals -- they find stuff and just Take It. to bring it to him. why? what? they take various herbs, rare flowers, small gems bc shiny, even belongings because they know it gets Vil’s attention and he does often use what they bring him (despite not really wanting to encourage them being around him) for spells/practicing his magic. animals are pretty smart and if they get a desired response, they’ll keep doing it. similar to ravens and finding shiny things for people/each other.  does Vil send them out on purpose? no. so imagine his surprise when they first started bringing him herbs (especially rare ones).  rarely will he “ask” for them to get him something. he has the outlet and means to get things, himself, and the animals that follow him know that but for the sake of getting some praise or even food in exchange, they still just. go do it. a perk and a con though since he still doesn’t want them around him. alas, they still follow him. persistent little beasts. :/

[pianostarinwonderland]

I’m seeing some drama pop up around the new event concerning Rollo, I hope the fandom will act maturely and not to blow things out of proportion this time around.

Ask 3: On a separate note, the amount of discourse surrounding him has the fandom divided and it’s kinda funny (as long as we’re not harassing anyone over diff opinions). Like some ppl love him and some hate him. My only thing is that bc he hasn’t done anything diabolical to warrant any major hate from me so he’s cool, and idk if ppl notice but twst characters are not direct copies of the villain they’re inspired by. They take notable characteristics sure but for some they change it up so much that they have two different characters. Hades is outwardly confident and has not problem socializing w ppl, now compare that to Idia. They’re pretty diff with the only exception is that they can talk fast when they want and are cocky, but w Idia it’s in spurs. Also with Vil, they were able to make a pretty static, run of the mill Evil Queen villain into a hard working, role model-esque celebrity. Either way his uniform be popping off and I would not mind wearing it. Plus their school get nice magic rings so that’s a win too.

Ask 4: tho most of the fandom, so far from what ive seen, has just been headcanoning him as a ripoff scaramouche from genshin - violently cold, the grinch, a highschool mean girl, homophobic (thats a meme i think), and aggressively catholic (i dont disagree with that due to what villain he's based on but no way to know for sure just yet). all that. like stereotypically those themes, despite us not even having a proper introduction from him yet/not having seen enough of him to see how he's truly like (we only have a few frames, non translated i dont think). the fandom just see's 1 pic of character with a frown/neutral expression and goes wild with it.. which makes me kinda sad :( just cuz their based on a villain doesnt mean their batshit evil- that goes for a lot of the cast already.

Putting the last 2 asks as text here since they are both part of much longer asks that I want to give a separate post to respectively.

Since the next part is coming out today and I have some time on my hands, I think it’s about time I give my thoughts about the elephant in the room regarding Rollo. I think the discourse died down a bit for the time being, but with the next four parts that will still come out from today till November, it's not impossible for it to revive depending on what happens next.

To sum up what has been happening in the fandom, there are a lot of mixed responses with TWST Frollo becoming real. Some are very excited about this, but others are uncomfortable due to the racism that Frollo aims at the Romani people. A few Romani people on Twitter have apparently spoken up about their sentiments and discomforts, and the discourse started from there. It doesn't help that the Kohaku article "The Disney Villains Game is Having a Horny Racism Controversy" fanned the flames further.

For starters, my stances and sentiments are very similar to @raven-at-the-writing-desk’s, which you can find over here. As the anons in asks 3 and 4 have stated, we don't know much about Rollo enough that we could make a fair judgment. Even if this event concludes in a month, I think we'll come out of it with more questions than answers since it seems pretty clear that he will make an appearance in main story (what with him having a formal introduction and an official voice). We don't know yet how much he'll resemble Frollo, nor do we know how much traits he'll share with Quasimodo. Something important to consider is that nobody in TWST is truly evil. Rather, they're people who have their shitty sides and good sides, who have made shit choices and good ones, and I doubt this will change with Rollo. All that I have to say on this matter is (a) to not define Frollo, and thus Rollo, for the racism they exhibit, and (b) to not jump into conclusions and assumptions about a character we barely know.

As for the racism, I think that the problem itself is not the presence of racism but how the racism is presented. It's one thing for racism to be presented. It's another thing for the racism to be glorified, and it's yet another thing for the racism to be condemned. If TWST glorifies Rollo's racism or even just ignores it, there's going to be a problem there. But if Rollo's racism is condemned (via the characters' disgust, etc.), then it will depict racism in a bad light. And so far, TWST has been pretty good with depicting that racism is a no-no, particularly with Sebek's way of talking to humans (Silver and Riddle would reprimand him for the way that he speaks. You can see this in chapter 5 and in Riddle's robe story). Either way, I believe that Frollo's racism should not be swept under the rug and should be something that is addressed here, especially considering the conflict that is being set up in chapter 7 with the whole fae vs humans thing.

I really do get the worries. Even I'm waiting for the next part with scrutiny because I want to see how they will handle Rollo. But I think we should be less rash about our judgments and see what happens first. Let's also be careful of where we get our translations from too since we do have some sketchy ass tlers around. If you need any clarifications on what happens in the event, ask any trustworthy tler or even me. But as the first anon said, I hope we're all mature about this and not blow things out of proportion. ^^;;

[ruby-static]

I thought that now is a better time than ever to show off my newest hyperfixation-fuelled OC: My funny little Owl House dude Raven Leucosia!

Raven is a siren and a strange wanderer of The Boiling Isles. Not only that, but he claims to be the descendant of the first and only head of the forbidden disbanded coven: the Siren Coven. A coven once known for representing voice-based magic taught by the sirens of the Boiling Sea. This man is very quiet, and a bit odd, but he has a lot more to him than his strange demeanour leads on.

Random info dump under the cut:

As mentioned, he claims to be the descendant of the forgotten Siren Coven. A coven that represented magic surrounding voice and persuasion. It was very short-lived, but in its time it was considered a ‘sister coven’ to the Bard Coven. Its establishment and its inevitable disbandment are a mystery, and the entire coven itself has been wiped out of The Boiling Isles’ history at the hands of Belos. All that is known is that what happened to the one and only coven head caused the sirens and other Boiling Sea creatures to distance themselves from the surface. (Making a fan-coven is kinda shaky, especially after recent episodes, but fuck it.)

Raven himself is one of these sirens. Creatures of the boiling sea that are known for the tales of their kind luring sailors to their deaths. But life as a siren in the Boiling Sea is all just so boring to Raven. Especially as the child of their leader/“king”. In a Little Mermaid-esque desire to explore the surface, a young Raven decides to leave the Boiling Sea to explore the isles for himself.

Being a siren, he has two forms for both land and sea. He tends to prefer his more witch-like land form because, y’know. walking is nice.

He’s one of Eda’s favorite customers! Raven is strangely interested in the weird random junk Eda would bring from the human realm to sell. She sees him as a “kinda creepy weirdo, but with a heart of gold.” Besides, the two have some history between them. Raven was childhood friends with Eda, Lilith, and Raine during their Hexside days. He never attended any school, much less Hexside, but he made a strange amount of friends from there. He got a lot of his magic education through hanging around them. (And through Eda sneaking him Lilith’s study notes.)

Alongside Eda, he also continues to be close with Raine. The two of them have always loved to perform together as a singer and musician. (Him, Raine, and Eda toyed around with the idea of starting a band during their Hexside days but Raine was a bit nervous with the idea.) 

His Palisman is a Raven named Scout. During his early days of wandering the Boiling Isles as a young siren, he came across them while lost in a forest (which turned out to be the forest where the Bat Queen and other palismen live) and they helped him navigate his way through the forest. And once they bonded as witch and palisman, the two were inseparable. In the typical corvid fashion, Scout is a very mischevious and playful little sweetheart. They typically like to play around and “prank” others around them. They are also a notorious kleptomaniac, as they tend to pickpocket random shiny trinkets from just about anyone they can get their little claws on to give to Raven. (Eda 100% approves.)

He wandered the Boiling Isles as a young witch without a name he felt was ‘his’. But his palisman being a raven is the reason he chose the name Raven for himself. (As a trans guy.)

Outside of all of his travel, Raven has also made a nice home for himself near Bonesborough! One day, he came found himself in a strange cave system by the seaside. It is notorious for its walls and pathways shifting, causing unsuspecting travellers to be trapped within it. Raven managed to use the magic-reactant walls of this cave to his advantage and form himself a cozy and surprisingly fancy little home towards the surface of the cave. He... doesn’t recommend going any deeper into the caves though. For your own good.

Outside of Raine, another coven head Raven happens to be close with is none other than Darius. (Because... shut up, I like him.) I’m not entirely sure how to write them meeting/becoming friends, but my current idea is that the two meet when Darius finds himself lost in the seaside caves where Raven lives. He is originally threatened by the sight of a siren, but Raven is absolutely unfazed by this random man in his cave yelling at him and guides him out of the caves... in his weird Raven way. Soon, Darius starts to form a weird growing friendship with this strange fish man that soon develops into... nothing else! Absolutely nothing else. No feelings here whatsoever. Nope.

Raven and Eberwolf would probably meet and just... instantly get each other. No explanation. Enough said.

Being close with both Raine and Darius (and kinda with Eberwolf), Raven is also in on the rebel trio’s plans to take down Emperor Belos. He’d definitely be with them during their plan to invade Belos’ mind. (I may or may not have screenshot edits of that-)

I’m lightly toying with the idea of him somehow becoming a teacher at Hexside, but I’m not entirely sure on that one. If he was a teacher there, though, I’d imagine Hexside students would weirdly gravitate toward the weird dude, considering him a “fun” teacher... somehow.

STRONG L from Death Note vibes with this guy. (Mainly because his english dub VA Alessandro Juliani is my voice claim for him. He even apparently has a pretty singing voice that fits Raven perfectly!)

Cannot sit properly in a chair to save his goddamn life. Somebody save this man-

He likes to give people cool sea shells he finds as gifts. Given that the sea actively boils many who even touch it, sea shells (outside of the smaller ones that may wash ashore) are a little harder to come by so they’re a typically appreciated gift.

Fun Fact: He’s actually a re-vamp of an old Gravity Falls OC I had from when I was like... 13? 14? Though he’s completely different from the original apart from being a siren and having a somewhat similar design.

[magalidragon]

Hi magali! I read you were in London for emilia’s play, I saw her last night it was the last show, she was phenomenal and we were all in tears by the end, cast included :’)

I’ll be here for a few more days and I wanted to ask if you have any recommendations for things to see and good places to eat. Thank you!

Hello Anon! Oh my gosh so lucky you could see her on the last night I am sure it was so emotional! 🥺 It’s a beautiful performance and play.

Recommendations!? Let’s see, I really didn’t eat out much just got sandwiches from M&S because I was always coming back super late and exhausted from my day 😅

TO EAT:

- Chestnut (coffee, pastries) in Covent Garden was a MUST, that’s an @youwerenevermine rec too!

- The Ivy, they have them all over. I ate brunch at the one in Marlyebone, so good

- Golden Hind Fish and Chips, this was near my hotel and was really good! It’s in Marlyebone too.

These are @youwerenevermine recs:

- Viola’s

- Megan’s

- Fabrique

- Arome

TO DO— the Queen’s death may impact the times or access on some of these since a lot are in Westminster:

- Westminster Abbey tour, I’m a total nerd and was obsessed with chasing down all the various graves throughout the abbey, lol

- British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, or National Gallery, they’re free! I didn’t go in, but still plan to since I’ve heard they’re all amazing!

- Sherlock Holmes house, I paid for the “museum” and it was a bit of a waste, but it’s fun to go up and take a picture of the sign and get a silly souvenir at the shop next door

- BATH! Depending on your time I highly recommend taking a train out to Bath or getting a tour there. It’s a beautiful regency-esque city which also has ancient Roman ruins at the Roman Baths.

- Leeds Castle, I took a tour out here and it was lovely! So beautiful and it’s out in the eastern Kent area of England.

- HP Studio Tour, I want to go again and again. I loved it. It was probably my favorite thing ever.

- Tower of London, I did this on one of my first trips and it’s a lot of fun, I just love the history and the ravens.

- Horse Guards Parade/St. James’s Palace, I didn’t go in or tour any museums or anything but walked around and found it beautiful and very historical. Loved it.

- Churchill War Rooms, I’m a WW2 snob and buff so I had to go here. It was incredibly interesting to see the small underground space where Britain fought the war.

- Just sitting in a park, honestly this was one of my favorite things too. I was very busy my few days in England and when I could I just took out my jacket, put it on the ground, and sat down and read. I stopped in St. James’s Park and Hyde Park.

HAVE FUN! I adore London and I can’t wait to go back. Next time I think I will go to Wales and then of course return to Scotland because I think I left my heart there. 😂🥰 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[forcebewitht]

✴Twisted Wonderland Theory: Overblots and their Disney Villain Opposites✴

I came to a realization just before I went to sleep last night. All of the people who Overblot are the direct opposites of those whose "souls" they supposedly have.

Although Riddle is like the Queen of Hearts and follows rules very strictly, it is not him who originally made them. He also does not truly seem to wish to do such things, but that is all he knows. So, that seems like it is all he can do.

Leona has the vast intelligence and power of Scar in spades. But unlike Leona, Scar was always consistently moving forward within his goal. He was always seen lurking about somewhere or planting little seeds of doubt in Simba there. He just kept on moving. The only time he actually stopped to "loaf around" a bit was when he won. Leona doesn't have any hope too much in terms of ever winning anything, so he just doesnt even try to apply himself.

Azul has the stage presence of Ursula, alright. But you would never see Ursula get that emotional or anything at all, would you? Especially not basically reveal her plan and what all she had done that quickly. Ursula was secluded because she was banished by Triton for unknown reasons (although widely assumed to be racially based). Azul was secluded both due to his rather shy nature as a child and because of how he looked.

It is unknown how Jafar came to be the royal vizier in the first place, although it was possibly as a long placed cover to ensure that he got his hands on the magic lamp. Jamil, however, was practically forced into his own position by his family being "slaves" and whatnot. Jafar was rather outright in what he wished, but the plans came from his sidekick, Iago. Jamil had no loveable parrot sidekick, so he came up with everything himself. Jafar's plan seemed to take only a matter of days, Jamil's intense planning most likely took years.

The Evil Queen has been known for her cruelty in the kingdom- as it is often told and retold that she actually poisoned and murdered her second husband- Snow White's father- just to become the queen of the lands. She sought to be the most beautiful by any means necessary and had little to no qualms about her actions. Vil, however, is- you guessed it! The opposite. Vil believes that through nothing but hard work and determination that you can be the best you can be/beautiful- otherwise, he would have most likely searched for a Siren-esque spell to make himself the most beautiful. Vil immediately began to realize just what he had done and retreated within himself, overloading his brain with that negative energy needed for the Overblot. The Evil Queen would have simply cursed the little ragtag group from the get go.

So, my current standing theory, taking all of this into account, is this for both Idia and Malleus:

Hades was fueled by his desire to move up and be the lone God running the show, since he worked the hardest amongst any of the others. He plotted and schemed for years and years until the planets were in alignment for his "shot" with the help of the Fates. Hades, in the end, didn't really care about Megara- the "Haha she sexy" girl that we all know and love today. She was the ends to meet the means in a way, and he probably would have either just let her go because he didn't care anymore or just put her back down in the Underworld. I believe Idia will be the opposite. He will try to move up to the pinnacle of the Olympus company with his truly stunning inventions and wow everybody thanks to encouragement from both Ortho and most likely our ragtag 1st year group. But Idia's own love and compassion for his brother will be what causes him to flip out, Overblot, and eventually put a halt to his plans.

Little to nothing was known about Maleficent within the original film- that is certain. But I have been paying attention, and I am seeing some mixed elements from both the Maleficent in the "original" Sleeping Beauty and the Maleficent from her standalone film- Maleficent. While I am not as confident about this as I am with Idia, this seems to be where my brain is leading me. The second Magift tournament shall be held with the Diasomnia arc- not the Ignihyde arc like everybody is assuming, for some reason. Why, you ask? Because the basis for over half of the plot for Chapter 2 was that the Diasomnia Dorm was the best and greatest in Night Raven College at Magift. This is literally going to be the biggest event of the year, as they are going against Royal Sword Academy again. I am suspecting that something will occur with Grim's now "normal" behavior seemingly growing worse (given that I am assuming that he shall suddenly revert back to 'normal' in the next chapter) and it will worsen. Malleus will somehow not be invited either to the event of the Magift tournament itself- or the after party. Maleficent within the original Sleeping Beauty film had no love. No compassion. She wasn't named the Mistress Of All Evil for no reason. But, as we have seen with Malleus, he is quite the opposite. The MC/Yuu will wind up possibly getting cursed by something by mistake, and the love that he has for "us" will really shine through. With the Mirror Hall most likely already ruined from his sheer outrage, his Overblot will finish and he shall be the one to wake us after we successfully view his backstory. This will already set up the ruined and recently horrendous stage for Grim to snap, take the final Blot stone, and Overblot himself.

((Hey hey, my lovely Readers! I truly hope you all enjoyed that wild ride of a theory of mine! Let me know what you think, and we shall see in due time whether my brain is headed in the right direction or not! 💖🔮

[hayleysayshay]

Time travel AU?

Okay I’m just gonna assume VM cos it’s what I’ve posted before:

Okay what i think could be interesting is if Percy makes a deal with.... something... to stop himself triggering the trap in the sunken tomb, but instead he takes the mantle of the Raven Queen. Problem is that he isn't any good at it, perma-dies, and then VM fail to stop Vecna, and Percy has to accept that what happened in the sunken tomb happened for a reason and he has to let it and turn time back. How does he make time travel? I don't know, puts a lot of residuum into a big gun or something.

So whatever, VM Time Travel Modern AU with magic!

I feel like Percy who would be the type of protagonist to just invent time travel.

Percy has been working with Cassandra for years, trying to invent a time machine to stop the murder of this family by the evil Briarwoods and Ripley

He succeeds and i feel the machine is strapped to his wrist or something, and goes alone whilst Cass stays behind. He manages to do something basic like warn his family and tip off the police and then the fire (?) doesn’t happen

But doing this was very bad and basically released Orthax who like, feeds on the time warp shit

Percy struggles to get back to his own time and ends up in the medieval period, and meets Keyleth who is a magic user who lives in the woods

They’re surprised by this random future traveller, but also the time tears mean that bad things start happening. Think Vex and Vax get involved in a fight with Orthax and are like ‘fuck this we’re going with you’

They manage to jump into the pre-modern Victorian esque period where they meet Scanlan, Pike and Grog, who are all performers in a travelling circus. I think they'd use guns, Percy and Keyleth stumble into them trying to fight Orthax, they're the only people who don't run away and try and help fight Orthax.

They follow Orthax to hundred years in a dystopian hellscape future that Percy caused by time travelling. Vex, Vax and Taryon are there. It’s basically a hell scape with the twins leading a band of survivors who try and stave off attacks from Orthax who feeds off people’s misery. Taryon still builds ruidmentary robots to help out with survival etc.

Eventually they realise and meet Orthax and old!evil! Percy who basically has combined with Orthax, and the time jump Percy made she became corrupted, evil Percy is basically future Percy.

Evil Percy shows Percy the universe where he gets to live with his family who are alive and Percy is tempted but with the power of his new time displaced friends he decides he can’t be tempted by this new world and stabs his old self in the chest or something and then the rest of VM have a fight with him. This is the only universe where Percy fights against Orthax because in this set of universe he managed to make friends.

Basically they win but another Orthax may come about because everyone is time displaced so he takes everyone back to their timelines. Vex and Percy had a lol something going on but agree they can’t make it work with their displaced times.

Percy returns to his time to be with Cassandra

The pair agree to stop being hermits and make friends and live their lives and moves on, maybe Percy wants to go get his degree in physics. He then decides to destroy his machine because it’s too dangerous

At university he bumps into modern versions of one of his friends because it was fate

[hamliet]

RWBY and Alchemy: The Birds

So remember when I wrote about the seven metals of alchemy? Well... there are also five birds, and like with the metals, RWBY seems to be associating a specific character with a specific bird. 

Birds are important in alchemy because they were viewed as symbols of the spirit, as “mediat[ors] between the earthly realm and heaven world.” Adam MacLean states:

The alchemist in observing the flight of birds, recognised in them a picture of the human soul undergoing spiritual development. The soul, aspiring upwards, flying free of the restraints of the earth bound body seeking the heavenly light, only to have to return to the earthly consciousness again.

Black Stage: Raven/Crow (Raven and Qrow Branwen)

The raven/crow/jackdaw is a symbol of nigredo, the blackening. This stage corresponds to earth elementally and symbolize decay and death (obviously).

It’s no coincidence that Qrow and Raven are focused on in the first part of the story, and while they still are under their own arcs, Qrow has been largely separated from his nieces and others during the past few volumes. His nieces and the rest need to grow up rather than depend on Qrow. See Splendor Solis 20:

The children are portrayed as playing with a crow/raven among them, symbolizing their immaturity. However, the adults in the back of the image are in red, showing that they have grown up.

The theme of growing up and maturation is very present in Raven’s arc: namely, she never did. She fled from her adult responsibilities in abandoning her own daughter and ran back to her childhood home, her childhood promise. She also undergoes a putrefaction, a purification by fire in a sense, through her daughter. When Yang confronts her in the vault of the Spring Maiden, she shreds every excuse Raven has, pointing out that Raven is selfish, cowardly, and childish, happy to sacrifice others but never herself. The daughter, here, is the mature one, and thus Yang wins the lamp of knowledge: Yang gave Raven a dose of self-knowledge in the vault, and we see Raven making a small step afterwards via going to see Tai.

Qrow is better off than Raven in that he doesn’t entirely run from his responsibilities... except he does, just in a different way. He drinks to dull the pain, and as a result, Ruby ends up taking care of him on their journey instead of the other way around. Qrow himself acknowledges that he has childish beliefs; his semblance is a self-fulfilling prophecy rather than an actual power.

For the first time in a while I thought, maybe, maybe I could be around somebody -anybody- without my Semblance making it… complicated. And now, it just feels like a childish dream. Gone... like everybody else.

Just like his twin sister, he’s afraid of truly getting close to people, which RWBY seems to hold up as the pillar of maturity and development. I’m not saying Qrow is as negative a character as Raven (he isn’t at all), but he is still struggling to grow up aside his nieces and their companions. In fact, this will be A Thing for all the characters who relate to birds.

The crow is often depicted as dying inside a flask:

Which could be seen as alluded to by Qrow’s alcoholism. Through not facing the darker parts of himself and not growing up, Qrow is killing himself. Fortunately, he’s been making some steps in the right direction.

Rainbow Stage: Peacock (Cinder Fall)

Look the girl has feathers on her outfit that are very reminiscent of peacocks feathers... without the eyes. We’ll get there. The feathers are described by CRWBY as “iridescent” which is a term alchemists employed historically to refer to the rainbow stage. 

Post-Blackening, the products of the great work are scattered in a variety of colors, colors that are all at war with each other. To quote Carl Jung,

It is commonly said of the peacock that it has an angel‘s feathers, a devil’s voice, and a thief’s walk.

NB: arrows are often used as symbols in part of this stage, and bows and arrows are weapons Cinder is, er, known for using too. 

Jung also comments this, which fits with Cinder being both a Maiden, associated with the seasons, and with her being an agent for change in the story as a whole:

Just as the Queen Mother or the mother of the gods grants renewal, so the peacock annually renews his plumage, and therefore has a relation to all the changes in nature.

The peacock is actually a flightless bird: post death in the Blackening, it cannot fly, but in order to proceed through the rest of the stages, it has to gather the disparate colors (ie parts of itself) in order to renew itself (yes, they’re linked to renewal and rebirth).

However, Cinder is not doing this. She received many call-outs, and has severed every bridge people have attempted to build with her. If anything, post volume 8, she seems more lost than ever. So what could be an impetus for her to do this? Well...

Why are her peacock-esque feathers missing their eyes?

The ancient Greek legend of Argus (which is a place in RWBY’s world; the place where Ruby hears Maria’s story of her silver eyes and asks Maria to train her in using her silver eyes) is that there is an immortal monstrous woman with snakes for legs named Echidna who they keep hidden in a cave, but she keeps finding ways to kill humans, until Argus finally kills her. After this, Hera has Argus guard a goddess with his hundred eyes, but then Mercury/Hermes/Thoth kills Argus, and Hera casts his eyes into peacocks’ tails to remember him. I wouldn’t read toooo much into this, but I do think it would be very, very fitting for Cinder to receive a call-out from her “kids”: Emerald and Mercury, the latter of whom is an allusion to Hermes/Mercury and the former of whom might be an allusion to Thoth. Until Cinder has been confronted by Mercury and Emerald, she won’t truly be able to see. 

I have said before that I think Ruby will use her silver eyes to save Cinder from being consumed by the worst parts of herself (as literally symbolized in the Grimm taking her over). The decay of the Blackening is washed away to reveal the color of the peacock’s iridescent tail, and so both a confrontation to get Cinder to face the worst of herself, and then pity shown to her by someone who has no reason to be kind to purify her (look, it’s a term in alchemy, and Ruby has been described as “the embodiment of purity”) of the Grimm will probably be the impetus for Cinder to change.

White Stage: Swan/Dove (Robyn Hill, maybe Winter Schnee?)

Robyn’s emblem is a white bird.

The swan symbolises the dissolving of impurity into ash. In Volume 8, when Robyn and Qrow are freed from prison, ash falls everywhere.

Like the peacock, a swan is a bird that does not fly. Robyn is grounded in Mantle, rather than Atlas. After the gathering of opposites in the Peacock’s Tail, the dove/swan “reconciles and unites opposite substances,” according to Lyndy Abraham. Swans swim along the surface of water, while the true colors are concealed beneath; swans dunk their heads underwater, which symbolizes a person diving deep into dissolution and purification. Robyn’s Semblance is also about this: it allows Robyn to sense their true colors and intentions, rather than what they attempt to protect at the surface.

I am also wondering if Winter is somehow connected to this as well, because of the appearance of white birds in her semblance. 

The focus on transformation that is part of the life cycle of a swan (ugly ducking to beautiful bird) is also perhaps symbolic of Winter’s internal development; this volume, she learned to fly on her own, growing up and shedding the need for father figures completely. She’s now able to fly (literally) freely and to save her people. But we will see; the connection is less strong here. 

Yellow Stage: Pelican (Hazel Rainart)

Due to the previous three all having links to a maiden, I wonder if the summer maiden will somehow be connected to pelican imagery, but for now, my inclination is to say that Hazel displays traits of the pelican as well, though there may be another person associated at some point. 

The pelican’s notable accomplishment is to stab its own breast and nourish its young with its own blood. It is a symbol of sacrifice. Hazel sacrifices himself to save the children: Emerald, Oscar, Jaune, Yang, and Ren. He does so by stabbing himself in the chest with numerous dust types, combining all sorts of elements (key to alchemy).

Red Stage: Phoenix (?)

This one remains to be determined. It could well could be Cinder (I mean, look at her name), plus the bird characters have thus far been adults like she is and possibly have a maiden association. 

But it could also be Mercury, because of his association with fire  and specifically with burning his “nest” as the phoenix does. When Cinder and Emerald find him, he’s burned his home. 

Plus, I think it’s pretty obvious Mercury will either get his semblance back or develop a new one, and it’s most likely going to be related to flying given his emblem and allusion. It would also fit with his having prosthetic legs: he doesn’t need them fixed, and his losses don’t make him any less human. It’s always been within his soul to fly. 

Ooooor the phoenix could be connected to Oscar, because of its association with the sun. It’s really too soon to say. ¯\_(���)_/¯

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Soooo, apparently a hot take, but Raven didn't "fail" to kill Cinder. She deliberately chose to leave her fate up in the air because: one, it makes tactical sense from her perspective and two, it plays into her Social Darwinist views on strength.

Think about it. Raven does not like risks. She likes being in control of a situation (hence why she usually waits until she's observed an opponent to really fight) Killing Cinder takes away an element of control. First, because it would increase Salem's ire. Raven has enough to deal with without Salem sending troops her way or figuring out she's a maiden. Second, because if Cinder dies she has no idea where the powers might go. She just beat Cinder. If Cinder is alive, Raven knows the Fall Maiden is someone she can handle. If Cinder dies, she suddenly has no idea who that maiden might be, if they work for Salem, or if she can best them. And finally, if she spares Cinder, she might have leverage in any future interactions or with Salem. Essentially the ability to say "What do you want? I spared you/your servant's life." and pull a very bandit queen-esque "you owe me/what more do you want?". Cinder dies and all of that knowledge/leverage goes out the window.

Like, don't get me wrong, I don't think she'd be too upset if Cinder happened to die down there. But if Raven actually wanted her dead I think she'd pick a more direct method? In freezing Cinder, Raven avoids the responsibility of choosing to let her live or die by leaving it in the hands of fate. There is a chance the ice will kill Cinder. But an equal chance that she might survive. So long as Cinder is strong enough, she'll live, and Raven gets leverage. If she isn't, she dies and Raven has, like the last Spring Maiden, saved her from a fate she was too weak to handle. Either way, Raven gets plausible deniability and avoids having to feel guilt because she can now hold Cinder responsible for her fate.

Is it the best choice? Probably not. (Especially given that it was a choice of inaction) But it's one that makes sense given what Raven had to work with and how she views the world.

[magaprima]

Re: your tag on that gifset, what would you say your favorite Lilith outfits are? :)

Okay, so now you’ve made me want to make a GIF set of every single one of Lilith’s outfits. 

But for now I’ll just tell you my favourites. In no particular order we have:

1. The Red Dress and Leather Trench Ensemble. Complete with Jimmy Choos.

I love this red dress in general, but when it’s with the black leather trench, it’s just peak Lilith, and not just because she’s wearing the two colours associated with the deity/spirit Lilith. It’s just it’s a mixture of soft (with the velvety-esque dress) and badass (with the leather coat) with passion (with the red) and darkness (with the black). And she looks fabulous.

2. The Iconic Black and Green Satin Nightgown

Again, peak Lilith. The materials are soft, but the design is sensual, and the colours are all very serpentine, which is a nice Eden reference. 

3. Autumn Leaves and Brown Bolero Number

Probably not a popular favourite but it’s also apparently one of Lilith’s favourites too as she wears it in several different episodes. It’s just it’s such a typically Mary outfit yet you can see how differently Lilith is wearing it. I just love the leaves on this, the bolero, the way it fits...it’s a perfect example of Lilith can be dressed as soft and low-key as possible and still come in like a boss ass bitch and be sexy af too. Power comes from within?

4. The One Pair of Trousers She Wore!

I love this outfit so much! I just love the style in general, but I love that it’s the first and only time we see Lilith in trousers (with the exception of the Resistance verse where she wears this outfit again) and it just says a lot about how comfortable Lilith is feeling and how like herself. I also love the wee leather gloves.

5. The Coronation Dress

Okay, yet again  we’re getting to see LIlith’s colours of red and black, which I love, especially as she crowns herself in this dress, but I love the burgundy of it, I love the collar and neckline, I freaking adore the black beading, and (even though you can’t see it on this shot) the way the hem falls too. It’s such an modernised-late-Edwardian-early-1920s type dress and I live for that sort of inspiration. It is definitely a dress for a ball. And it looks pulled back enough for Lucifer to see it as a servant’s dress, but it’s detailed and intricate enough for Lilith and everyone else to know it’s a coronation dress. For Lilith’s coronation. 

6. Queen’s Dress

This definitely looked like a Queen of Hell’s dress and I loved that it was blue rather than gold like the rest of Hell. I love the beading, and I loved how great the colour looked on her. I just felt this dress very clearly made it clear Lilith is a Queen and that she fits in that roll very well. And I am a sucker for iridescent embroidery. 

7. The Dress from Tommy Kinkle’s Funeral

She wears this several times in the series, the first is at Tommy Kinkle’s funeral, but this was the best shot I could find of it. But I love how this fits, I love the strong implication this is the one outfit she actually fucking stole from Mary’s wardrobe (the red one and the other black one feel like they’re Lilith’s dresses originally), and I just loved how badass she looked arriving at the funeral. This is an outfit that says I can look like a professional uptight business lady but you know I could kill you on sight. She even looks badass wearing it when she comes down the stairs in Hell with Pontius Pilate’s bowl. It’s just one of those outfits that looks so nothing but Lilith makes it everything. 

8. The Dress from Sabrina Morningstar’s Wedding

Again, I suspect this isn’t a popular favourite. But I love that it was a halterneck essentially, I loved the fringe beading and I loved that it was clearly designed to draw attention to the fact she’s pregnant (something I feel Lilith did to remind everyone of her position of power), but I love that it also is low effort enough to show she’s really not into this fucking wedding. I just...it looks like an oddly casual Lilith in a way we never really see her in Hell. Which I enjoy

9. Pregnancy Dress

One of my absolute faves. I love the colour, I love the cut, I love the neckline, I love the cape, I love the skeletal hands, I love all of it. This was peak Hell Lilith. And it’s such a crying shame that we only get it very briefly once and that for the majority of it, she’s going through the forced labour. It was a glorious dress and it hung so nicely

10. The Red Animal Print Dress

And last but CERTAINLY not least, this glorious, glorious dress that we got to see so often in Part 4 and ensured Lilith looked fantastic even when she was suffering in agonising grief, because this dress was just chef’s kiss. Again, it’s the Lilith colours of black and red, it’s also the animal print, the fur trim both serving as comforting baby holder, whilst also mimicking raven wings when she raises her arms, the button-up front for both style and comfort, the beautiful neckline. It was perfect. And I’d like to say it’s my number one favourite but I don’t like to commit haha,

[seafleece]

that campaign sounds SO COOL, PLEASE infodump about it

okay okay okay

so this is set at a time where interplanar travel has become about as widespread as flying— it’s not to the point of being universally free, but it’s available to the public and short hops are likely to be cheap (or, if you’re leaving the shadowfell, free). in terms of planar structure, the feywild and prime material plane are connected via the underdark, and the shadowfell is completely disconnected from the feywild and is totally presided over by the raven queen. the heavens still belong to and are populated by the gods, but everyone goes there after death, and the hells are just another plane, where archdevils and the like serve more of a landed gentry purpose. the outer planes are less reliable or are harder to travel to, but this is just because of distance and some reticence on the part of government bodies there to connect directly to the prime material plane.

the reserve the party works at is on the material plane, and is owned by this woman called the groundskeeper, who used to be a famous adventurer. she’s had it for decades, and has devoted enough time and money that it now has its own college on the portion of the grounds open to the public. the reserve has a bunch of firewatch-esque towers for staff use that are all connected by an underground rail system (which currently has a bit of an ankheg problem), and consists mostly of various miniature biomes that almost transition into each other neatly, but not quite.

working for the reserve, either as an employee or a student of the college, means that you’re expressly forbidden from harming the creatures on the reserve unless directly instructed to by a member of the senior staff, you have to carry and keep on a radio that connects to a network other staff and the groundskeeper have access to and carry ear protection that needs to be used when handling aberrations, which should always be reported. as a group, the party takes jobs either on site or off the grounds, and these range from collecting samples to tagging creatures to heading offsite to handle creature problems in other towns on behalf of the reserve. we use the gear system from blades in the dark, and the party brings their own equipment and/or borrows from the reserve’s stores, which are. plentiful.

i’ve mostly painted the material plane in broad strokes beyond specific cities, but one of the biggest aspects is the church, which is a network of churches in service to any of the gods, the implication being that this is a decidedly post-multiple crusades world where the worship of any god exists under at least a vague banner. the church body has grown extremely powerful being at the center of so many communities, but rarely intercedes in governments and mostly just relies on its daunting size and reputation to gain the benefits it wants. angels are sort of like immortal saints— they don’t often leave the heavens, but do so more often than the gods, and usually represent an ideal or concept. aasimar, as a term, refers both to people who are directly touched by angels and people who have devoted their life to following the example or ideal of a specific angel, like having a patron saint. the only god that presides over the main planes that isn’t part of the church is the raven queen, who instead rules over the shadowfell sort of like lord death in soul eater and refuses to engage with the other gods in any way. her followers, who brought the first ravens to the material plane, serve as her eyes and ears beyond the shadowfell and are generally received poorly by the church.

other fun miscellaneous world details:

-magical genetics is a rising field, and on the reserve the department is led by an ambassador from the hells very interested in learning evolutionary origins and how they intersect with interplanar contact.

-bahamut and tiamat aren’t in any conflict greater than the cain instinct, and are twin gods of knowledge as well as dragons. their minds are so ancient they’re essentially libraries, and a great honor among a lot of their descendants is to become a storyteller, an archivist with access to a portion of those libraries.

-rapid magical communication is available to the public, but still requires an access point.

-spells that specifically raise the dead any later than revivify rarely work properly, and undead generally don’t exist unless under extremely extenuating circumstances.

-giants are essentially planar travelers— metaphysically, they’re so large that they can simply pass from one to another like stepping in a tide pool, and are not native to the material plane.

-ravens aren’t related to corvids or any other creature on the material plane, and the only ones there come from the shadowfell, where most creatures are at least 30% raven.

-the reserve has devoted considerable resources to its sentience department, which determines sentience among creatures that might live on the reserve to avoid any more lawsuits (they’ve had. a distressing amount of lawsuits over the decades and have become very careful)

-the underdark doesn’t have anywhere close to 5e’s stigma, and is just another populated place that’s been around long enough for distinct cultures to emerge. it has some similarities to the abyss, which is accessible directly from the hells but is more of just a largely unexplored place, the bottom of which has never been found. there are some drow and duergar communities who have lived far, far below the surface long enough that they’ve adapted superior hearing and their eyes are incredibly weak or non-functional entirely, and they’ve pioneered a branch of illusion magic that relies on sound.

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E80 (October 15, 2019)

Tonight’s guests are Matt Mercer and Taliesin Jaffe!

Announcements: The collected edition of the first six-issue run of Vox Machina: Origins is available in trade paperback format at your local comic and retail shops! (The standard, hardcover edition is also now available in both the US and UK Critical Role online shops.) Pub Draw is back on Wednesday at 5 PM Pacific, featuring special guest Mica Burton! Undeadwood, the four-part supernatural miniseries featuring Brian as Game Marshal, premieres this Friday at 7 PM Pacific (VOD available immediately for Twitch subscribers, then up on YouTube on Sundays)!

Episode 80: The Folding Halls

Stats for episode 80: Caduceus received the campaign’s 40th whisper to insight check Allura. Taliesin has received the most whispers this campaign, with 17. Caduceus rolled his 10th Natural 1, disregarded thanks to Warcaster. (There’s a brief digression into the Brave Little Toaster-esque adventures the Golden Snitch must be having.) It’s been 90 days since the Mighty Nein were last in the Heirloom Sphere. Nott called Allura four misnomers (Beau chimed in with one). Matt sighs heavily. “Yeah.”

Allura’s reintroduction was mainly related to the logical development of how Yussa’s circumstances would’ve evolved, and Matt figured it would be fun to have the connection to the Arcana Pansophical... and bringing Allura in just followed naturally, of course. Of course. (Also because it was fun.)

“The minute the description kicked in, it was definitely some candy. Okay, this is nice, this is everything I needed right now.” Taliesin points out that Caduceus just loves meeting new people anyway, especially if they seem chill. He’s hoping this might be something that mellows the group a little.

Taliesin’s expression during the insight check on Allura? “I was entirely fucking with everyone at the table. I was just trying to make some weird faces to try to mess with Travis.”

Matt found it “pretty strange” to bring Allura back, particularly since 20 years have passed. “It was wild to step into her again, especially with an entirely new surrounding.” It was also a bit harder than he expected given the players’ particularly rambunctious reactions. But in the end it was like putting on a favorite coat and finding it still fit.

Taliesin: “Caduceus is like my version of Grog at this point. I can get away with a lot of things I couldn’t get away with otherwise.”

Best/worst nicknames the players have come up with for Matt’s cool shit? It’s more the NPC names that get him. Jamedi Cosko, auditors, Purvan (”but I should’ve known better; it’s my fault for not saying it out loud”).

It’s strongly implied that Taliesin may have stabbed Julius Caesar. As you do.

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Raven Queen (sacook03, photo by emi_d_123)!

Caduceus genuinely hasn’t thought about how the Happy Fun Ball is completely artificial and hence might be outside the purview of the Wildmother. “I don’t think he understands what the Ball is enough to be really disturbed by it yet.” As far as he knows, they just got teleported to a forest somewhere. The “M.C. Escher nightmare in front of us” might be enough to clue him in next episode. Caduceus typically gets his reactions from everyone else, depending on whether he thinks they might be on-base or off-base.

Brian: “You don’t have to say it so much sexier than I did!” Matt: “Of course I do!”

Caduceus feels pretty justified in all his previous assertions that the Nein should be more honest now that it’s been confirmed that the Bright Queen is spying on them. “Let’s just put everything on the table. Put stuff out there, see what happens. It sounds good in theory, I’m well aware.” Matt wasn’t expecting the reveal of the spying to happen as soon as it did.

Taliesin: “You gotta save your mistruths for the moments when it’s going to help make somebody a better person.”

Matt mentioned on a previous Talks that the Heirloom Sphere was just supposed to be a fun one-off adventure, and he wasn’t expecting the group to hold onto it and then hand it off to a more powerful mage. He realized that Yussa would immediately have been interested in it, and as time went on, he thought about what would have developed, and realized Yussa would’ve been a bit too curious and arrogant not to try wandering in. “A lot of it was just rationalizing those possibilities, and then tying in the elements of the Laughing Hand.” Matt noticed that Laura brought it up as a possibility in an earlier episode after a subtle hint.

Caduceus is hoping that this is “finally going to be the moment where everyone starts working together the way they do in his head”, which is part of why he keeps checking in on the others right now. He’s aware that there are a lot of temptations in this place.

Allura saw some similar elements between the M9 and VM (mainly that they were so quick to offer up information about themselves to help out). She’s honestly mostly fine with guiding them because it means she doesn’t have to go in the Happy Fun Ball.

Caduceus basically considers all interactions with flora and fauna a success. “Never hurts to be polite. But, honestly, it’s not about cooperation, it’s just about being polite and respectful of your environment. If the local flora and fauna are being irritable, it honestly probably has very little to do with him.”

“The frog hurt. I will admit, the frog hurt.”

Fave piece of lore Matt’s gotten to drop? “The recent episode was really fun to help Beau connect the dots between the Laughing Hand and the Halls.” He’s also really enjoyed giving information about some of the more “vague inconsistencies” with the Angel of Irons. Also anything with the Kryn Dynasty and the Luxon; he likes getting to move out of the usual lore of D&D to surprise the players.

Fan Art of the Week: Essek, Frumpkin, Caleb, and the dodecahedron (by bumblefly02)!

Caduceus sees himself as a bit of a spiritual guide to Fjord. “He’s looking for moments to have some conversation and reward some behavior.” Right now, he wants to talk to Fjord about how this is an ongoing process, not an immediate “cure”. Taliesin and Travis didn’t talk about this development ahead of time.

Matt notes that the group had a lot of options to develop closer relationships with allies, but when they said they were stopping by to see Yussa, he knew they might be “going the Allura path”, and he was secretly excited that’s the way it went. 

Taliesin: “We are the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of Exandria. We’re just hoping that we’re nobody’s nemesis at this point.”