#was to their aravel

[pandoratelenor]

*solas haunting the dreams of dalish keepers for hundreds of years*

Also Solas:

"I dont understand why the dalish are so obsessed with me, and with insulting me!"

[cairaleighexe]

💠Thora Cadash for @aravelsforariha 💠

thank you @queenaeducan for having me draw your girl!! 💐

[dalishborne]

keeper's day off :')

[ulenehlervu]

doodled some ladies from riften to end the year

more here

[pigeonwithapen]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something truly unfinished, and I want to get in the habit of posting more in general. So! Please enjoy my favorite scribble in my files lol. [ID in alt for all]

Very important bonus:

[esoteric-aesthetic-lyrics]

The Child You Were - Frances Aravel

[anneapocalypse]

I remain unconvinced that we were ever meant to think aravels literally flew through the air before Last Flight was written. That has just never made sense to me. I am much more inclined to write this off as either an in-character mistake (Isseya is not Dalish, and is operating based on stories she's heard) or simply a lore error in a book that is known to have been rushed. (According to Ghil Dirthalen's youtube series on the book, Liane Merciel has said that she didn't have much time to do lore review.)

The Codex entry on aravels includes this line:

Someone once told me that humans flee when they see the sails of our aravels flying above the tops of trees.

Which I never took to mean the aravels were literally flying. It's the sails which are "flying above the tops of trees" and can be seen from a distance. The entry also includes this line:

There is nothing more wonderful than sitting on an aravel as it flies through the forest, pulled by our halla.

Through the forest, not above the forest. Halla are also not flying creatures. Aravels have wheels, and they are called "landships," not "airships."

Furthermore, while I'm always cautious about taking game mechanics too diagetically, both the Keeper specialization in Awakening and Merrill's Wrath of the Elvhen abilities demonstrate a Keeper's ability to manipulate the land and specifically the trees and plant life. Based on those abilities, it just makes a lot more sense to me that Keepers are gently parting the trees to let aravels through than that they're magicking up both the aravels and the halla to make them fly while also giving the halla free rein to fly where they wish. Like one is Occam's Razor, and the other is overcomplicating things, and also sounds a bit like someone skimmed the Codex entry and misunderstood it.

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

100% agree with your tags on the tlt/baru reblog and thank you for saying it !!

Since you've given me the excuse to talk about it more, the other area of potential appeal that Baru has for TLT fans is that both series follow a conventional (ish) plot structure in book 1 but spend book 2 on a complex and less conventionally structured exploration of grief and trauma wherein the main character is in horrendous pain, has been cut off from anything resembling healthy support, is surrounded by ostensible allies who are completely and utterly untrustworthy, and is struggling to find any path to victory in a fight that they feel utterly unequal to but are nevertheless wholely committed. I think the thing that makes or breaks Baru for people coming to it from TLT is that Baru is much, much more grounded in the real world. Where the emotions and events of TLT are abstracted through layers of magic and obfuscated worldbuilding, Baru's world and rules are clearly laid out, extremely close to our own, and the context of the events that play out is clear and familiar. Harrow's power might metaphysically arise from the slaughter of innocents, but Baru's power is institutional, given to her as a reward for the slaughter of thousands.

I think it makes sense that it varies person to person whether the change in context makes the story better or worse for you.

[lizdoart]

helmet sketches

[danafinwefeaelenionfeanorian]

Feanorian Week Day Seven: Feanaro and Nerdanel

140 FO

"They're supposed to arrive today," I tell Mother over my tea cup.

She decided to drag me from my desk in the castle to enjoy a small break with her. At the manor, no less. We could have gone anywhere in Tirion, but we had to go home.

I'm not mad about it, but this means I could be here when they arrive. I wasn’t expecting to see them until dinner. I had time to rein in my emotions but now I may not.

I'm supposed to be Arafinwe's chief advisor and head of state. I take care of nearly everything for him like I did for Oropher and Thranduil in their respective ruling of the Eryn Lasgalen.

Father, Grandfather and Grandmother are set to arrive in Tirion today. They should go to the castle to see Arafinwe first, but I have a sneaking suspicion they are coming here first. I’d have been fine greeting them there but again I think they’ll come here.

Mother hasn't seen Father since we left in 1495. I haven't seen Grandfather since he was murdered twelve feet from me. As for Grandmother, neither Mother nor I have met her. She's been in Mandos since before either of us was born.

"That's what has you fired up?" She asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes," I gulp some tea down to avoid a longer answer.

"Dana, darling, you're getting married next week, and your Father, Grandfather and Grandmother arriving is what has you more fired up than a smithy." Mother snorts in an attempt to hold back her nervous laughter.

An understatement. I feel like I'm holding back a torrent of flames and heat, and holding it back is so strenuous that I've begun to shake.

"Yes,"

"You'd think I'd be more...more..."

"More fired up than me?" I offer loosely drawing on my skills as a wordsmith.

"Yes,"

"Dana, there are three people coming up the drive. One has silver hair like Turca," Tauriel's voice filters into the sunroom. I'd ask what could have possibly torn her away from her drawing with Nelyo, but when someone has hair like Turca, there can only be one person it belongs to.

The art room and the sunroom overlook the drive. I could see if it’s them. I twist in the arm chair and try to catch a glimpse of the three people. Sure enough there are three people walking up the drive. One has silver hair and the other two have dark brown hair.

Oh, sweet Varda, they're here.

I plop my tea cup onto the side table and stare at Mother. She looks as nervous as I feel. Oh valar.

I slide my legs off the arm of the armchair and stand. Together, Mother and I exit the sunroom. Nelyo meets us in the hall and walks with us to the front entry.

Tauriel silently walks behind us, muttering about our or rather my relatives, trying to figure out who they are. She then comes upon the answer and gasps.

At the front entry we don’t have to wait long for the doors to open. In fact it’s as we’re arriving that they open.

Standing on the other side of the doors are the very people I expected. Grandfather, Grandmother and Father. The original royal family. Finally, complete after all this time.

“Feaelenion,” Grandfather smiles.

“Grandfather,” I whisper.

Then, in an instant, he opens his arms for a hug like he did all those years ago. I surge forward, tears streaming down my face and fold myself into the hug. It's everything I've been wanting all these years.

I feel Grandfather lift his arms from my back and beckon Nelyo over. My brother instantly envelopes me and Grandfather in his arms. And suddenly, I'm fifty again.

“Forgive me, my dearest,” Father weeps between gasps. “forgive me,”

“I have. You are forgiven,” Mother murmurs. "You have been for some time,"

I detach myself from Grandfather and Nelyo to watch my parents. Father is kneeling and hugging Mother's waist as tightly as he can, from what I can tell. Mother is leaning down and murmuring into the top of his head.

Both have tears streaming down their cheeks.

I wipe my own tears from my face and beckon Tauriel over. She wonders closer in a daze as if realizing I wasn't exaggerating when I said I look identical to my Grandfather.

"Grandfather, this is Tauriel my oldest,"

"Your oldest," A feminine voice, not belonging to Mother, says. "How many do you have?"

"Two," I smile, glancing at the small female with silver hair. A clear relation to Father and the hair Turca inherited. "My youngest is Aravel. He's currently out with Nanwe,"

"As in the lord, Finwe mentioned you were courting?" Grandmother asks.

"I still am,"

"Dana, you're getting married to him in a week," Tauriel states as if it were plainer than my nose.

"Are we not allowed to court up until then?"

Tauriel sputters, then blows a raspberry at me. Delightful use of words, darling. Delightful.

"They are...your own?" Grandmother tentatively asks. She eyes me and my daughter.

It's quite clear that Tauriel and I do not resemble one another. Her red hair could have been inherited from Mother if she was my child, but he skin colour? That is far too dark to be mine or Nanwe's.

I'd have her no other way. She is beautiful as is. A perfect addition to my family.

"No, they're adopted. If I were to have a child of my own body, I'd turn out like you, Grandmother," I tell her as I pull Tauriel into my side for a hug.

"Oh,"

"How do you know?" Grandfather asks.

Oh, dear valar. So many questions, and it's not even over dinner. I sigh and tell them I was told by Iluvatar. Which is true. It just wasn't in person.

"YOU WHERE WHAT?" Father asks, tearing his and Mother's attention from each other.

"It was the night I'd accepted Nanwe as my intended," I sigh, remembering the night clearly as if it were yesterday. "He slipped into my dreams that night and said if I were to bear a child I would end up like my Grandmother,"

"Why did you not say something?" Nelyo asks. He saw me that morning after. I was shaken, and he knew me well enough then to know something happened.

He was so sure it was Nanwe that he nearly broke exile to tear Nanwe's head off. It took me sitting on his chest to get him to stop. I had to tell him I had a nightmare to get him to back off.

"It wasn't a big deal. Nanwe and I had just accepted one another, and children were so far off. It wasn't a pressing issue,"

Tauriel pulls on my sleeve. She's looking directly at Father. "Uncle Curvo wasn't lying when he said he looked exactly like Grandfather,"

"No he wasn't,"

"Did you say, Grandfather?" Father asks Tauriel. Father's head snaps to Tauriel standing by me.

Tauriel nods.

Father swears and gingerly picks her up in a hug and twirls her around while murmuring, "A grandchild. A grandchild. A grandchild,"

Mother and I share a smile. We had many conversations over the past month depicting what his reaction will be to Tauriel and Aravel. What his reaction to Mother will be. How she will react and how my siblings will react.

"She's also a smith," Nelyo mentions.

Father places Tauriel down and asks her if this is true. At her nod Father pulls her into a tight hug. Mother chuckles and attaches herself to her husband and grandchild.

[nowandthane]

arianwen trevelyan done by @ace-trash-boi <3

[simliciously]

🍃  Irileth Aravel a lookbook  🍃

[cairaleighexe]

Hi everyone!

I am currently participating in Aravels for Ariha and am contributing two [2] half-body commission slots [$60 each] for the Gaza Mutual Aid Collective!

My listing

Artist Catalogue

[ficbrish]

Estrella Shepard (ME 1 & 3) - AfA Comm

Thank you @nicanyaaaaaa for this stunning @aravelsforariha charity comm of my OC Estrella Shepard!!! Seeing her in your style is so cool!

Her personality shines through SO well here! There's something so soft and shy, but powerful and playful about her here, and that's my Essie 😍❤️‍🔥

This is her usual design from Mass Effect 1 & 3, but I imagine this is from Mass Effect 3 when she's come back to herself and reclaimed her life after the events of ME2. So for me, this piece is about her resiliency. I think that's what I love so much about the combination of vulnerability and strength in it.

But most importantly, we helped send two people off to school! Which will have a big impact on the lives of those students and their families. Thank you so much Nica for donating your time and skills! We couldn't have done it without you! 🥰

Nica is an amazing artist and is open for commissions!

[click here for the ME 2 version]

[morrigan-sims]

Morri's DnD Characters:

So, @novac2281 expressed an interest in hearing more about my dnd characters, and here we are!

First off, I have a Notion database for all my characters and concepts. It looks like this:

The columns have data on the name, pronouns, race, and class of the characters, as well as showing which campaign (if any) they are from, and how well-developed they are.

Inside is a whole page of information regarding the characters, which is super useful and also fun to make. I have a template that I use for every character. I'm only going to be showing the top portion for each character here, but you get the idea, more or less.

Now, let's jump into the actual characters...

Fully Developed Characters:

First up we have Laverna. She's a tiefling rogue (thief subclass) and was the first dnd character I ever came up with. I've been holding on to her character idea for almost 2 years now, though her background and concept has changed a bit since then. (I actually came up with their concept for a simblr thing about 2 years ago!)

They were the child of a wealthy merchant family, none of whom were tieflings. (Pesky hellish heritage popping up at random times in the bloodline...) Their family treated her like shit, and they ended up breaking ties and changing her name when she left. Now she's a successful thief who steals from merchants and nobles in her home city. Also, she's a stabby rogue, not a shooty one. (All rogues are either shooty or stabby. It's just a fact.)

Next we have Zenara, who goes almost exclusively by Zen. They're a (purple) tiefling warlock (The Fiend subclass, Pact of the Chain).

They are a direct result of the early phases of my Critical Role hyperfixation. If you're familiar with CR, especially Campaign 2, then you might be able to figure out the weird mix of character personalities, backstories, and appearances that resulted in Zen. However, there's also a healthy amount of my own nonsense in the mix. As for backstory, Zen grew up in a small town named Hunter's Crossing with their parents and no other siblings. When they were about 17, raiders came and attacked their village. Everyone was either killed or captured, and Zen should have suffered the same fate. Except that they didn't. They dreamed of a terrifying fiery entity who told them that as long as they were useful they wouldn't die yet. They woke up with powers they didn't understand and the fear of their patron taking control of their body for its own uses. Bonus fact, since they're a Pact of the Chain warlock, they get to have a familiar, and that familiar can be an imp. So, they have an imp familiar who just showed up. But of course that would attract a lot of attention, so the familiar is always polymorphed into a raven, with red eyes, of course. The raven/imp is yet unnamed, and I need to come up with one soon, ideally before our next session.

Now we have Alarion, who I actually just totally retrofitted his character. He was originally supposed to be a sorcerer, but I realized that that didn't really fit his character (plus I have another sorcerer concept), so now he's a half-drow ranger (gloomstalker).

He was found, abandoned in the wood, by his adoptive parent who is a druid who lives in the woods a few miles from a village at the base of the mountains. In those mountains is a passage to the Underdark, and sometimes creatures from there escape into the forests around the mountains. Alarion is the one who hunts them down and either kills them or returns them to the underdark. Being half-drow, he gets weird looks from the villagers, but they at least respect his involvement in keeping the village safe. He has a horse who he's very close with, and he never goes anywhere without his longbow, a dagger in his belt, and his trusty cloak. Fun Fact: I'm shocked I didn't have a ranger character until earlier this week when I changed his class and background, seeing as I was completely obsessed with the Ranger's Apprentice series as a kid. In fact, I still have all 12 books on my bookshelf at home.

Next up we have Avra. She's a Shadar-Kai rogue (assassin subclass). They aren't currently part of a campaign, but I did get to use her for a oneshot where she was at level 12! She kicked ass with a rapier of wounding. (while she is a stabby rogue, she does have a hand crossbow to use if needed...)

Avra used to be a member of an assassin's guild, where she served for 10 years. However, recently one of her missions went wrong, and she was captured and killed. Yes, killed. She woke up in the middle of the woods, half-buried. Since then she's been on a search for answers regarding her return to "life", as well as a potential betrayal by a member of the guild she belonged to at the time.

Next up (and the last of my strongly developed characters) we have Asra. They are a human fighter (champion subclass) who I used in a short-lived campaign at my university.

Asra was an orphan who grew up in a city near the coast. Upon turning 18, she moved to the kingdom's capital in search of new opportunities. Once there she was recruited to be essentially a bodyguard for a secretive organization. She was kept in the dark about the group's motivations and goals, so she did not know that the group was a cult to the god of war and tyranny, who were trying to provoke war between two kingdoms. She had a girlfriend who was also a member of the "army". At one point the cult decided to attack some important buildings, but failed. Asra's girlfriend was killed, and most of the cultists were captured. They fled across the ocean to another country and another city, where they have been pit fighting, taking some of the betting pool as winnings.

My favorite character to date is named Rook, and is a half-elven Swashbuckler Rouge. (I'm currently playing him in a campaign, and he is my Most Blorbo Of All Time at the moment. As you can maybe tell by all the edits I've done of him.)

He's the bastard son of a nobleman who ran away from his shitty father. He joined the crew of a pirate ship and excelled at it. He was named first mate at the age of 22, which made a lot of the older crewmembers jealous, so they plotted against Rook, drugged him and sold him to another pirate captain (who, unbeknownst to Rook has beef with his former captain, Zara...) who kept Rook as a prisoner for 2 years, torturing him until he escaped, setting the ship on fire in the process. Needless to say the captain, Kora Wolf, is not pleased. She vowed to hunt him down no matter what. He'd been hiding out in the Feywild, doing mercenary work until he met the party. He's an excellent duelist and exceptionally skilled with a rapier. He uses self-confidence as a shield to protect his very traumatized heart. He's impulsive and reckless to the point of self-destruction, and he would do literally anything for anyone who shows him the slightest kindness. He's currently really going through it in-game, both physically and mentally. From two deaths in 3 days to a demon's lord curse to sudden reveals about his former captain, he's been having a rough time. But of course that's what makes it fun...

My other currently active character is a fire genasi path of the storm herald barbarian / champion fighter multiclass. (We're doing Gestalt leveling, so we'll get to 20 in both classes.) Their name is Cyra, and she's a lot of fun.

She grew up in a Mad Max-style warband-cult after being captured during a raid on her village when she was a child. They were raised to be a soldier for the group, and they were very good at it. As a teen and young adult, she entered a relationship with the cult leader's daughter, a young woman named Talia. As Cyra grew disillusioned with the Brotherhood, they dreamed of leaving, and bringing Talia with them. But after witnessing proof that Talia would never leave the cult, Cyra stole a sand skiff fled, ending up on the dwarven continent of Terramor, where she met the party. However, she still has complicated feelings for Talia, which is something they will have to face when the party makes it to their home continent of Pyrothos. Especially now that Talia might just be the leader of the Brotherhood. Perhaps unusually for a barbarian, Cyra fights with a solid metal quarterstaff that she is able to summon from her chest. She has no idea the staff's true origins as it randomly showed up in her possession shortly after leaving the Brotherhood, but recently discovered that it was made using an Elemental Fragment, and might play a key role in preventing another explosion of the elemental nexus.

My next developed character isn't actually a DnD character, but rather a character for an eventual Pathfinder game that is who-knows-how-far-off. Her name is Morana Novak, and she's a fetchling witch.

She's an orphan and was kicked out of her home city as a teen after she was caught experimenting on corpses she dug up from the cemetery. After that she was apprenticed to a necromancer who was hell-bent on turning himself into a lich. Her familiar is a raven named Miro, who she rescued from being chased by a cat. Morana's naturally chilly demeanor, as well as her bluntness and lack of empathy often cause people to find her unsettling. Morana doesn't mind this in the slightest, as she'd much rather be left to her own devices in her cottage than have to deal with people. She's no stranger to gore, and is more comfortable around corpses than the living most of the time. (Fun Fact, her first name is the name of a slavic goddess of death and winter, and her surname is one that was traditionally given to people who were new in town, making Morana my only character with a name that actually has character-relevant meaning. She's also going to be a lot of fun for me to play and explore because as an autistic person with essentially zero empathy who has to mask that a lot, I'm thrilled to get to play a character who can just say the weird things that pop into her mind, no matter the consequences.)

My last developed character is Aspen Vale. They're a half-elven (wood elf) college of glamour bard / archfey warlock.

They wandered out of the woods near a small town about a year ago, with no memories. All they had with them were their clothes and a well-made pan flute. They named themself after the first thing they saw, an aspen tree. Though they remember nothing of their life before or during the woods, they have a talent for glamour and illusions, and the songs they know are haunting and utterly alien to the human ear. People are often disturbed by their unnaturally bright green eyes and "eerie" presence. They have the Feylost background, and unbeknownst to them, they were Pied-Piper'd into the Feywild as a child. They were there for years, and at some point while inside they met their warlock patron. But upon leaving the Feywild, they lost all their memories of their life up until that point, and have no idea that they even are a warlock. Their pact is Pact of the Talisman, and the "broken" compass they wear around their neck serves as their talisman. They follow the compass, which is influenced by their patron from afar. They also have a small woodland creature that travels with them that is actually a fey, and the patron uses it to spy on them. Also, they're autistic. <3

Semi-developed Characters:

I also have an aasimar (scourge) oath of vengeance paladin named Asola Riava Ashmark (or Sola for short). I used her in a campaign that was cut short for various reasons.

I never really got super in-depth developing her, but she didn't know that she was an Aasimar, and her powers only showed up when she really lost control of her emotions, which had only happened once to date when the campaign started. It happened again in the campaign, and she got force-shut-down by a god.

The next character is Elira, also known as Ellie. She's a high elf abjuration wizard.

She's rather naive, but incredibly smart and very academically talented. She's used to being the best and definitely going through some Gifted Kid Burnout. Also way too pure for this world and when she finally has to kill someone, she's going to have a very rough time. Oh, and she's autistic and has a grey cat familiar.

My next semi-developed character is Commander Saber, who goes by Sabe. He's a warforged fighter (battle master subclass).

[insert pic when it's done]

Sabe was made for the military, made for battle. But following his "escape" from the military with the assistance of his friend, a humanoid artificer, Sabe found himself without purpose. So now he's trying to find one. One that is entirely his own, not that of higher powers. He's tired of being a piece on the game board.

That's all the fully developed characters but I also have the following ideas:

a tiefling bard (college of swords) with the charlatan background named Havoc. (They're the red tiefling from my "creatures of legend" post.) (ended up getting turned into a bg3 character.)

a fire-based sorcerer named Orion. (maybe a custom subclass?? idk for sure)

a cleric to a death god who has zero issues with killing bad guys (or anyone, really) because "either I kill them now or they die of natural causes in 10 years. either way my god is happy."

a black Tabaxi monk (shadow subclass)

an older dwarven artificer armorer

a changeling thief rogue

a changeling lunar sorceress

an elven fey wanderer ranger

a shifter (lycanthrope-ish) moon cleric/stars druid bc I thought it would be funny to have a werewolf character who worships a moon goddess

If you made it this far, congrats! I love you!! Thanks for reading all about my silly little guys. I hope you found this at least somewhat interesting!!

[pigeonwithapen]

OC-Tober Day 1: Favorite

Aravel is my first DAI inquisitor and holds such a special place in my heart 💕

[ID in Alt]