thedragonwriter42

[thedragonwriter42]

If Pratchett were alive, he'd make a thing about Troll boba tea, which would literally contain marbles, getting really big, and all of the dwarves being too embarrassed to admit they like it

[thedragonwriter42]

Karlach... 🥵 i love u so much!!!

my god, I thought I wasn’t gonna make it!!!! out of her, astarion, and shadowheart, she was definitely the hardest to draw... especially the frame! but like… damn, I loved how it turned out! I could seriously feel her fire right up my a** 🥵

support me on patreon: patreon.com/TesIlustra

[thedragonwriter42]

[thedragonwriter42]

I think I'm in love with the Fool and the Sage... My babies!!

✨️Baldur's Gate Oracle Cards✨️ 17 months of work, 22 characters, and more than 500 hours spent. Love this game to bits! 💜

I have spent 445 hours in the game itself so far, what about you? Which character and card is your favorite?

[thedragonwriter42]

A message from Rob Wilkins.

Shortly before he died, Terry Pratchett assured me that, if there is an afterlife, he would give me a ring and let me know. That was ten years ago - and still no call.

From which, incidentally, I draw no firm conclusions. What if there was an afterlife, but with no phone signal?

But of course there is one place where Terry indisputably lives on: in the pages of his books and in the minds of the millions of readers around the world who turn those pages and continue to find them funny and true. For, while his words live on, so does Terry, and that will be the case, no question, not just for this one decade so quickly gone, but for many further decades to come.

So let me join Lyn and Rhianna in raising a glass today to the magical persistence of books and to Sir Terry; gone but still so very firmly with us.

Rob Wilkins

[thedragonwriter42]

TW: Blood

its finished!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've seen a few artists reimagine historical paintings with baldur's gate characters and I wanted to try with this one because I thought it fit so well with karlach

Judith Beheading Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi, 1612-13, oil on canvas

[thedragonwriter42]

He DRUGGED MC??? Oh I hate him. He has to have a really good explanation for this or I don't see him becoming a love interest any time soon.

Am I the only one who wanted to slap Caleb the moment MC reunited with him? He was being an absolute asshole in that interrogation room for no reason! Also, and that's a very personal thing: I hate being told what to do and Caleb gives orders every time he opens his mouth. I need him to shut up and apologize. Maybe not in that order.

If there are explanations or apologies in the future, I will gladly change my mind. But for now, he on thin fucking ice.

[thedragonwriter42]

Am I the only one who wanted to slap Caleb the moment MC reunited with him? He was being an absolute asshole in that interrogation room for no reason! Also, and that's a very personal thing: I hate being told what to do and Caleb gives orders every time he opens his mouth. I need him to shut up and apologize. Maybe not in that order.

If there are explanations or apologies in the future, I will gladly change my mind. But for now, he on thin fucking ice.

[thedragonwriter42]

So many negative reactions to Bell's Hells are a great example of how there's a broad admiration for the aesthetics of punk and watered down versions of rebellious punk philosophies or art, but also broad disgust at punks as people. The kind of folks who feel community in real punk spaces because they're alienated, angry, unpalatable, and have tons of baggage are not welcome elsewhere. Even among people who borrow bits of the aesthetic and listen to (mostly mainstream versions of) the music.

They're abrasive, they're too angry, they disrupt good order, many are mentality ill or neurodivergent or disabled, they're abrasive and like getting a rise out of people, they're not deferential, they're often the kind of queer people who liberally call each other slurs as reclamation and embrace being seen as dirty degenerates, many have substance abuse issues, many have or are experiencing homelessness, unemployment or underemployment or lack of work ambition is common, they're often very disorganized people, arguing and even physical fights are common, they've given up on being likable, and they're done apologizing for their existence. They've usually been alienated and excluded from society for a reason. Punk cultures are about embracing that alienation as a mark of pride instead of smothering themselves to earn being invited back.

But since that's not how people are "supposed" to behave in a "civil" society, they're seen as unacceptable and in need of shunning until they fix themselves. Things like liberty spikes and political jackets are a way to intentionally provoke a negative reaction in peopleat first glance to screen out people not worth a punk's time trying to be nice to. It's like brightly colored frogs warning their poisonous before anyone even tires to fuck with them.

Frankly, most people do not want to see themselves as square normies enforcing violent norms on others through exclusion and disgust. Our society worships the idea of the underdog, and everyone wants to view themselves as the the put upon arbiter of true morals being suppressed by bad guys. But it mostly serves to just mask the hegemony of restrictive cultural norms about who counts as an acceptable person that deserves to be tolerated and allowed to affect unfolding events. Most people are completely unaware they're doing this because we've been trained to see it as simply having good standards that protect society from the influences of obviously bad people.

Personally I think they did a great job at showing how a particular kind of person in a particular kind of group genuinely react when swept up in that kind of rapid societal change and power. I enjoyed their oppositional messiness and constant renegotiation for the next direct step charming. They had so much character development without giving up who they are how they most want to be. It wasn't in moments of big revelations, it was thousands of tiny ones between other moments.

Ultimately they just asked those with a massive power imbalance to step down and let mortals have their own agency without that constant control (some benevolent and some harmful but crucially only what the deities want to happen). For power to just become part of the people instead of dominating it. That's a pretty soft outcome overall. Yet still very much a punk fantasy.

[thedragonwriter42]

While I think the execution could at times have been better I really enjoyed the imodna arc which, to me, was both verbalized and problematized with the 'maybe it’s our destiny to harness it'/'maybe it’s our destiny to fight it'/'together either way' exchange back during their first kiss. No moment better crystallized their likenesses, but also their differences. They were both lonely figures tempted by dark powers who found a kindred soul in the other but, crucially, their responses were polar opposites. Laudna, with her lack of self-worth and seeing herself as a dead end, was seeking comfort that Imogen wouldn’t judge or hate her when she inevitably gave in. Imogen, meanwhile, was seeking comfort that Laudna understood the temptation and likewise wouldn’t judge, but ultimately had no plans to give in to predathos. She saw the temptation for the self destruction that it was, and as she came to love Laudna she wanted to live. Laudna saw her own survival and happiness as an impossibility, and her love for Imogen became an excuse to embrace self destruction in the name of self sacrifice, not understanding that this harmed not only her but Imogen as well.

This dichotomy became more pronounced throughout, and was in the end something they had to face and grow out of. When it became clear Laudna was barely fighting back against Delilah anymore, endangering both herself and the party, Imogen all but broke up with her. She could not make Laudna see sense, but she could stop enabling her. She could show that, were Laudna to continue in this direction, Imogen would no longer follow. Still love, and never hate or judge, but not follow. Through this, Laudna was forced to see Imogen didn't want her self-sacrifice, but rather for her to allow herself to be a burden, to accept help to deal with Delilah. In the end, she chose not to die for Imogen, but to live for her, allowing herself the vulnerability of seeking happiness and self worth.

Later, Imogen asked if Laudna would be prepared to fight her if she was corrupted, showing she wouldn’t want Laudna to follow her if she ultimately gave in to temptation either. And Laudna does help fight her in the predathos fight, just like Imogen helped fight when Laudna was overtaken by Delilah in Aeor. But that fighting was also what helped them pull the other back out. If they had simply accepted that their loved one gave in to evil temptation for power, they truly would have lost each other. Only by challenging and demanding growth (admittedly mostly from Imogen towards Laudna) could they actually hold true to their promise to be together either way.

[thedragonwriter42]

as i watch the suffering and devastation taking place in divergence, it's not lost on me that 90% of the gods, betrayer and prime alike, were doing their best to destroy the divine gate and bring this horror back to exandria.

these gods, rather than take the enemy threatening them on themselves or even just running, were making the deliberate choice to pay for their continued way of life and comfort with the misery and death of millions of uninvolved innocents. again.

because it's not even the first time they've made this choice. let's take a moment to think about the millions the primes condemned to die by focusing on destroying aeor instead of working with the people undergoing genocide to stop the betrayers. and let's think about the city of living, breathing people they sacrificed to seal predathos the first time. how many have died to save their lives? the answer is literally: countless.

but two of them found the compassion and empathy to confront what a horror it was they were about to inflict on the world. to accept that it was on them to stop it from happening again, because no one else would. who were rightfully terrified of what their siblings might do to them if they found out and who had only the vaguest idea what the consequences to their own lives might be.

but they found the courage to do it anyway because it was the right thing to do, because turning a blind eye to and surviving off the suffering of others is never the moral or ethical choice no matter how many rationalizations you come up with to justify your self interest.

it came down to two people who made a different choice this time, who did the right thing even if it had to be in secret, who defied their peers at great risk to themselves out of compassion and conviction, and in doing so saved the lives of so many.

and isn't that a hell of a metaphor for the times we're living in right now.

[thedragonwriter42]

Windswept 🍃

[thedragonwriter42]

If anyone wants to know why I love and appreciate Taliesin Jaffe so much, here’s another reason to top off a very long list of reasons. 

[thedragonwriter42]

Personally campaign 3 ended beauitfully. I genuinely cannot WAIT to see the consequences of Bells Hells and their choice to mortalize the freakin gods in campaign 4. We've seen them fight dragons, then gods, and now god eaters. Campaign 4... will they become gods? Or at least, their mortal counterparts? How will the betrayer gods react to being mortal? What happens to Predothos? What defines divine magic now? How will the Bells Hells be painted, heroes or villains? So many fun questions we'll likely see the answers to next campaign and the only thing I can feel is HYPED.

[thedragonwriter42]

After war vignette

[thedragonwriter42]

An early painting of Bag End from 2020, vs a new painting from the latest chapter of my comic adaptation of The Hobbit! <333 Turns out when you paint a lot you slowly get better at it.

(You can find my webcomic adaptation of The Hobbit here, and support me on Patreon/help vote on my next comic projects here!)

[thedragonwriter42]

Today's hot take is that actually, in the main (Arabella survives) plot, Halsin handled Kagha's punishment perfectly, and that exiling her actually would have been the wrong move.

Yes, exiling her would have been amazing and a huge check on her ego. You know what else it would have done? Made her a martyr, and possibly inspired her to start her own circle, or go back into the arms of the Shadow Druids (especially if she hadn't been convinced to turn on them already). She had clearly won the loyalty of quite a few of the Druids- if she left, it is very possible quite a few would have joined her, causing her influence over the other Druids to expand instead of be reduced.

Demoting her may make her angry, but it reduces her reputation a lot. No matter what the Druids' feelings towards Halsin, they still respect the order/hierarchy within the Druids (which is why Kagha didn't attempt anything until she was made First Druid by Halsin's disappearance). With Kagha demoted to a novice, she loses a lot of standing in their order, has been shamed, and further, with a new leader coming who has no relation to Halsin, they are being guided by someone who can show them how Kagha was wrong. Shame is a powerful motivator and social tool, and demotion is even more shameful in many regards than exile. There's a sort of admirable "rebel" quality taken to exile, but demotion? It carries so many connotations of shame and incompetence. And this goes for Kagha herself, too: "I was exiled for protecting the Grove" is a lie she can tell herself easily in isolation, creating the feelings of victimhood that would leave her easily influenced in future, but being forced to stay and learn all over again denies her that chance and forces her to accept/live with the shame her actions should bring her.

Demoting her rather than exiling her also gives a chance for Kagha to be "deprogramed" so to speak. Deprograming from a cult is extremely difficult, but the key is that it doesn't happen alone. It requires other, non-cult influences. Kagha could never be deprogrammed if she was exiled (and, as noted above, if she was, many others would follow her and in turn lose their own chance at deprogramming). In a scenario where she hasn't actually caused any deaths yet, it makes sense, acknowledging her talents and the person she was before the Shadow Druids, to give her a chance to unlearn the harmful cult ideology and find her place again.

In short: keeping her in the Grove removes her standing both by stripping her of her rank and by using social stigma to make her less appealing to the other Druids, while also removing issues exiling her would cause (IE making her a martyr and making her impossible to deprogram, thus making her a potential enemy later on, along with the other Druids who probably would have followed her).