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[zemnian-newcomer]

HEY CANDELA OBSCURA PEOPLE!!! taking a poll because im genuinely curious!

[zemnian-newcomer]

THE DAY OF LANGUAGES!!!

This 7th of May, 2024, we use our own language again!

If your language, native or not, is something other than English, on May 7th you can speak that language all day!

You’ll blog in your chosen language(s) all day: text posts, replies, tags (except triggers and organizational tags).

Regardless of what language people choose to speak to you, you can answer in your own.

Non-verbal, non-written languages (like sign language, dialects, otherwise non-written languages) are more than welcome! See my FAQ for tips

English native speakers can participate in any other language they're studying/have studied/know.

The tag is gonna be #Speak Your Language Day or #spyld for short.

Please submit me some language facts for me to share on this day <3

Pinned post and FAQ

[zemnian-newcomer]

I love Essek for the fact that he's doomed from the moment he arrives in the story.

I have a lot of thoughts about how there isn't the same fatalism in actual play as there is in other storytelling mediums (we've all seen the quote about everyone in a film being doomed from the start), but the thing is—he's already condemned himself.

His fate isn't set, sure, but he will never get what he wants; we know the Assembly's character before we ever meet him, and we know that they are not in the habit of giving an inch to the people they use. So the fact that he is who and what he is, the fact that he's already done what he's done by the time he shows up on screen, means that he is never going to get the thing he starts out wanting. He will not be allowed to stay in his home; he will not be allowed to do the research he wants; he will not be able to have his cake and eat it.

And that never changes! He does have to leave home if he wants to live; he will never have enough control over Wildemount's known beacons to research them.

It isn't the life he envisioned, and it's not what he has sacrificed for. But this is why it's so astounding that he gets a happy ending, and it seems to be something that, by that point, he wants. He's a character who is introduced with a footnote—he's marked for death or discovery from the moment we meet him.

And ultimately, even though he is found out, even though he never gets what he wanted, he gets to be a hero in the end, largely because he lets go of what he wants in a way that virtually no other NPC, let alone an antagonistic one, is able to achieve.

[zemnian-newcomer]

Bell’s Hells as textposts 56/???

[zemnian-newcomer]

for the ask game: 🧡🖤💚

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

Until I see definitive proof that Ludinus is in fact as old as he wants people to believe he is, I will not believe it. I don't even really have an opinion on how old he is; I just don't think he's as old as he tries to suggest. And lest it be said that I am playing favorites, the thing about Ludinus is that he talks the way Essek talks in 91—and there are a lot of things Essek says at that dinner that I take with a good heaping of salt. It's this sense that they're talking around things that they would rather people not question; they're both very skilled at talking around things in a way where they aren't outright lying, but they'd rather you not think too hard about it because there's shit they're not saying. To be clear I also won't be mad if there does turn out to be some evidence in canon that he is that old, but thus far, there is nothing definitive, and I do not take the word of unreliable NPCs at face value.

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

I don't think this is really an unpopular opinion at this point, but Jester. Nice =/= good. I don't think she's evil, by any means! But her morality is a lot more complex than it's given credit for and I think it's one of the things that is most interesting about her. I'd actually consider her largely amoral; it's just not really an axis of consideration that she worries about. She doesn't want people to hurt her or her friends and she doesn't want something to destroy the world, but otherwise she doesn't really care much about what someone's morality is. "Just don't be evil to me" is an incredible sentiment for a reason. She cares more that Essek said they were his friends than the fact that he's the traitor they've been looking for. Ludinus is so insignificant to her despite his literally world-spanning evil plots that she has basically forgotten him six years later, even though two members of her friend group have spent the last six years trying to pin him down. Jester is hilariously amoral and I love that for her.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

[cracks knuckles] OKAY, this is where I've got receipts, because hooo boy do I have an opinion and I will be proving it.

Essek does not have an opinion on the Prime Deities. He does not really have much of an opinion on religion. He actually does not by the end of the campaign have any real issue with the Luxon, and frankly he primarily expressed issue with the Dynasty's worship because, until he got to Aeor, he wasn't certain that the Luxon was a real entity at all—which he contrasts against the Prime Deities, in fact!—and he seems to believe there is compelling evidence in Aeor that categorically disproves his hypothesis that the beacons are simply constructed Age of Arcanum devices.

Originally he is mostly concerned that the Luxon religion is used as a "crutch" which is "distracting them from what other good things they could do with the time and focus". He does specify that any religion can be used as such, but he only remarks upon the one he knows. His theory about the beacons, as of episode 91, is that they may be "artifacts designed in the Age of Arcanum that have been misread" that could be put to even further use.

He also does parrot the Dynasty party line in their first meeting about the Luxon being "the basis of how we've been able to free ourselves from the binds of the lineage the Betrayer Gods left for us", and while I do not take him at face value here (see the above commentary about unreliable NPCs), I doubt the truth of this statement is lost on him, considering his familial connections to Bazzoxan, which I can only imagine would not exactly endear one to the Betrayers, though this is only conjecture. If we do care to take him at his word here, it's not unreasonable, since he obviously has a lot more interest in the power offered by the beacons than anything else.

With all that being said, his tune on the Luxon itself has at least changed by the time they get to Aeor. He discusses iconography found in Aeor and when prompted by the Nein about whether the beacons were created by mortals, says, "I do not believe that they are made by anyone but the Luxon. They are of the Luxon. But they've been around since the Luxon's been in Exandria, which is the beginning."

So we started with him largely apathetic to religion, uncertain if this god was real, and by the time we circle back to him, he has now sided fairly definitively with the fact that the Luxon is an entity that has been around since at least the Founding. (For those keeping track at home, this is longer than Predathos has been around. In the Dynasty's creation myth, it may also have been around before the Prime Deities arrived, which is technically not incompatible with the creation myth of Exandria at large, but I digress.) Like most of Exandria, and as is perfectly reasonable for both his culture and his region, he probably doesn't have any love for the Betrayer Gods, but doesn't express much opinion if any on the Prime Deities. He has no time for religion, but frankly, he doesn't have time for much except for his own research, so it's hard to really ascribe any noted contempt to that.

Like, look, I've written plenty of religious trauma Essek fic, and I don't doubt that that element of it exists, but overall, in terms of canonical statements, it's pretty tame.

With that being said, I do want to fast forward a bit to draw attention to something else. Because I actually do think he ends the campaign with some measure of respect for, at the very least, the Wildmother.

In 140 after the Raise Dead fails, he talks briefly with Fjord about the unfairness of it. Fjord passively directs him to "if you were to ask my wise friend Caduceus..." Immediately after this exchange, Essek challenges Caleb to not accept defeat, and admits he wishes there was more that he or any of them could do, but concedes that, "Unfortunately, this type of magic is beyond my purview."

Immediately after this exchange, Caduceus asks for divine intervention.

Of course, he then spends several weeks gardening in a temple to the Wildmother, and seems to find some genuine clarity and perspective there, but I think this alone is enough to argue that, for a person as driven by empirical evidence as Essek, this sequence of events in 140 would be plenty to earn a wizard's respect.

So my formal belief is that Essek is not in fact anti-god or anti-religion, let alone against the Prime Deities. My opinion is that it's very easy to imagine him on his post-campaign travels leaving a small offering at any shrine of Melora he might pass, not out of actual worship but as a sign of respect.

[zemnian-newcomer]

listen so closely to me i think liliana temult is a fascinating character and she’s really fun to examine morally but also nothing will ever come fucking close catharsis-wise to watching ashton and orym fucking cross examine her ass in episode 92. the sexiest shit i’ve ever seen “your worst fear is probably my worst fear, and i think we just got a little sample (my worst fear came true because you weren’t fast enough, what will you do when it’s her head on the line?)” and “keep wrestling (you must bear the weight of their deaths on your conscience and know it will never be enough for what you took from me)” like holy SHIT you guys

[zemnian-newcomer]

My new YouTube video: A DM’s Guide to Ranged Combat is now live! Please go give it a watch!

If you’re a DM looking for a way to challenge your overspecced crossbow player, or just generally make mixed-range combat more interesting and enjoyable, it’s full of helpful tips and visualisations. Plus, supporting these long videos really helps keep my channel alive and funds more future content!

[zemnian-newcomer]

the way liam weaved the story of this circle together. we started looking for these bones, took a little detour to visit an old friend and discovered he was FUCKED and corrupted with some weird powder. then back to the bones and the discovery of the ancient sorceress they belong to, who ties BACK into their old friend and his circle and the powder, all of which lead them deep into the abyss. it all lead into that cavern, that vault, and depth. they had no choice but to end up there.

[zemnian-newcomer]

Bell’s Hells as textposts 55/???

[zemnian-newcomer]

previous parts: [1] [2] [3] [percy edition]

tips

[zemnian-newcomer]

Something about Grimoria, who was afraid that one day while interacting with spirits she'd meet the lost souls of her parents, reaching out to the souls of Malcolm and Edgar and finding comfort and strength in their freedom as she feels them move on

[zemnian-newcomer]

Edgar to his team: finally! you're all in one place at the apartment and you can't dodge your check-ups. I might as well do them all now

Edgar to his team: I don't have any idea what's going on with any of us btw

[zemnian-newcomer]

The Mighty Nein as textposts 45/???

[zemnian-newcomer]

fresh batch of Chucklefucks and Co.

[zemnian-newcomer]

kudos to the Circle of the Wyrm for actually creating the path to the vault, however tragic their end. Like maybe they had some initial info from Candela's prior efforts when they went exploring, but that moment in game when it looks like the professor Alessandra just "jumps into the void" but she lands on a specific roof, or counts arches to the right turn, or we see endless rope ladders on countless 20ft stairs, or the way she's fearless traversing the slot canyon. How close they all must have been to each other to be able to navigate their way through that abyssal darkness when it was new, and so brave, with apparent compassion for the specters they encountered, all of them staying on the same frequency of step where I step, walk where I walk, the language of a path they alone are fluent in. They achieved the primary objective that their circle formed around: finding the vault and beginning the cataloguing and quarantine of its contents. They really had something going on until the fungus amongus ruined the party. Pour out a pouch of fungus powder for the Circle of the Wyrm

[zemnian-newcomer]

While it would have been very poetic for Grimoria to survive alone and find Leo's letter for her in his apartment, leaving her everything, I think it's absolutely perfect for Leo's big dramatic (earnest, thoughtful) gesture to get an inconvenient wrinkle in its neatness, which is that he survives. Sorry Leo there is spilled wine on the tablecloth of your plans and it's you. You do have to figure out how to keep going actually

[zemnian-newcomer]

They really are covering the full spectrum of phobias in this one, huh?

- Confined Spaces

- Falling

- Creepy Crawlies

- Fungus

- Elevators

- Drugs

- Creepy Children

- Betrayal

- Ghosts

- Body Horror

- Liam's Terrible Mouth Sounds