graymarketblackdiamond

[graymarketblackdiamond]

unreal experience

i have been absolutely consumed by WvW, even though im not very good at it. the current matchups have not been sparking me joy but in the past month or so ive had some incredible moments such as

RP walking through the whole map

RP walking to red base to die

Turning into snowballs to RP walk to blue base to die

Witnessing a guy build 40 siege golems and leaving them in Jerrifer's Slough

Using said golems to build a zerg to storm SMC

Promptly dying at the gates of SMC because the golems were defeated by a single oil cauldron

its the little things, you know

#wish i had capped being smoten by their golem powers but i was too busy living and dying the moment #only in guild wars 2

[graymarketblackdiamond]

going back to this post and i really love reading everyones takes and thoughts in the replies and tags. maybe we can all take a walk with our leaf lads and heal together

okay hear me out. i want to talk about playing soto from the perspective of a sylvari player. spoilers of course under the cut

it makes me so sad to listen to other sylvari npcs talk about mordremoth and what happened during and after the call. like... this is the first time i feel like we're actually hearing a lot of perspectives on what happened and how it affected the individual people. im here with my merry little salad man going around and hearing these sylvari talk about how they were found screaming or had no sense of self until after they joined the astral ward and im like... that's actually heartbreaking. that would definitely make my commander stop and think about that for a long while. these people felt they were so beyond repair that leaving their birthworld felt like the only option for comfort again. and only after are they done healing (which i firmly believe is a sort of like... deep soul healing in this context. you know. like an inner emotional catharsis. surely it must mean that) do they actually talk about it.

like... have we ever talked about it? (perhaps barely, in few places ive missed or in dialogues ive skimmed over, but especially in ithil's account, it really hit me for some reason) do any of the other sylvari talk about it? the trauma of an entire people that lingered on even after the main threat was gone... do they even know how to talk about it?

#lads of course being an all inclusive term

[graymarketblackdiamond]

i have been absolutely consumed by WvW, even though im not very good at it. the current matchups have not been sparking me joy but in the past month or so ive had some incredible moments such as

RP walking through the whole map

RP walking to red base to die

Turning into snowballs to RP walk to blue base to die

Witnessing a guy build 40 siege golems and leaving them in Jerrifer's Slough

Using said golems to build a zerg to storm SMC

Promptly dying at the gates of SMC because the golems were defeated by a single oil cauldron

its the little things, you know

#also shout out to the guy recently who kept backdooring red by sneaking into SMC and portalling up to the roof #even though nobody else was really following along it was funny building siege up there and getting promptly floored #only to do it again #funny times at fort asspenis #gw2

[graymarketblackdiamond]

okay hear me out. i want to talk about playing soto from the perspective of a sylvari player. spoilers of course under the cut

it makes me so sad to listen to other sylvari npcs talk about mordremoth and what happened during and after the call. like... this is the first time i feel like we're actually hearing a lot of perspectives on what happened and how it affected the individual people. im here with my merry little salad man going around and hearing these sylvari talk about how they were found screaming or had no sense of self until after they joined the astral ward and im like... that's actually heartbreaking. that would definitely make my commander stop and think about that for a long while. these people felt they were so beyond repair that leaving their birthworld felt like the only option for comfort again. and only after are they done healing (which i firmly believe is a sort of like... deep soul healing in this context. you know. like an inner emotional catharsis. surely it must mean that) do they actually talk about it.

like... have we ever talked about it? (perhaps barely, in few places ive missed or in dialogues ive skimmed over, but especially in ithil's account, it really hit me for some reason) do any of the other sylvari talk about it? the trauma of an entire people that lingered on even after the main threat was gone... do they even know how to talk about it?

#gw2 #soto spoilers #but not really. kinda sorta just in case #sylvari #today on: its probably not that deep but i got caught up in my emotions while playing just now #really felt my commander pause in that moment to go like #my god. i felt that pain too. i heard that call too. and it still haunts me. #and i never knew how to tell anyone until i heard it from someone else #anyway this is me rambling. im going back to the game now #im completing achievements! yippee!!

[graymarketblackdiamond]

okay jeez louise. SoTO ate all my time up so I forgor to keep up with @asura-appreciation-corner 's appreciation week. let's catch up, shall we? do i have any inquest ocs? i have exactly one that you may have seen before.

Texxun is a mysterious fellow who talks in a way no one in tyria has ever heard before. he always goes on about how "they" always do things differently "down south" (nobody has quite figured out what this means) and above everything else, he insists that Rata Texus is real and that its his home. is he telling the truth? who can say! i personally like to keep it a mystery even for me. >:)

#gw2 #gw2 oc #asura #gw2 asura #gw2 inquest #texxun #i made him for a laugh and frankly he still makes me laugh even though he's been sat there #also yeah he was on my old blog but its SO old i was like yeah i'll remake #im changed. i can solo t1 fractals now

[graymarketblackdiamond]

soto

#everything was good thanks for checking in

[graymarketblackdiamond]

well, if anyone is going to be fashionably late to the trend, its certainly her.

it's asura appreciation week, ran by @asura-appreciation-corner and i wanted to give it a shot! i have a lot of asura OCs that i'll cover more on day three (hopefully), but for now, meet the menace herself.

Yinnshen. Born in Lion's Arch and raised in Rata Sum, she's a thief daredevil and a Priory-Whispers double agent, but most of all she's a master as getting her hands on objects she shouldn't be touching. She flunked all her exams and was flung straight into exile before she was caught stealing bits and pieces out of Zojja's garbage, and has mainly followed the plot of the story since then...

She has her own krewe that she affectionately dubbed "The Midnight Krewe", and while none of them are really the smartest bunch of the picking, all of them are skilled at things very unconventionally asuran... except for her sister, Korsikka, who just seems to be good at everything (Yinn is only a little jealous).

shes my only character in the game equipped with two legendary weapons, and i like to think she's stolen at least one of them. just for fun!

would my brain spill more! but its 6am in the morning. there will be more to come soon!

#gw2 #gw2 asura #asura #gw2 oc #gw2 art #yinnshen #silly girl who is a bit dear to me

[graymarketblackdiamond]

This is a little personal project i've started early this year. A full Asura house! I wanted to practice with interiors since i do have a job dealing with them but not dealing with the design part.

What i noticed is that designing the spaces is hard, really. It's not just about filling the rooms with items, that's kinda straight forward. But designing the actual spaces was a problem for me and a carefull look can spot several problems :'D

But i decided it was ok, I was more interested in the final look and I had fun with all the tiny items in the rooms.

I had fun inking. Even if it was an endless process and it really got me tired ad the end. But i'm satisfied by looking at the b&w lines!

In the final version, each line was coloured. First, with a trick to bulk color them. And then manually, where it was necessary. The final result is a bit messy if you zoom 100% but it works just fine at web-sizes.

I decided to publish the final version as a small file for reasons u_ù buuut this doesn't stop me from doing close-ups! I also posed the asura inside according to the light source, it was fun ;3

Overall, I tried to stay faithful to Asura designs, taking lots of ingame references and designing extra items based on them (like the bath tub (even if I think an asura would rather bathe with a little golem model rather than a quaggan one xDDD). That was the most fun part! I love asura culture being so tribal (inca-like, stone and garish textiles) and yet full of advanced magitech. That's the very first thing that won me over to the master race ;DDD

#so in love with the vibe on this

[graymarketblackdiamond]

making the Trahearne fanart I want to see in the world... and I want to see his flat ass folded up like a lawn-chair on the floor of the Priory library

#i love a man with a hyperfocus he can't shift #so alluring of him to fully embrace the knowledge he finds most fascinating in the world #trahearne

[graymarketblackdiamond]

a doodle of my main leaf lad, raharjo, and what i still think is the coolest longbow skin in the game... i know. i play ranger longbow main. very original of me.

id love to do a proper intro for him sometime. he's commander, he's captain, he's a cat enthusiast, and man he loves fishing. maybe one day... when im not farming DE for levels.

#gw2 #gw2 oc #sylvari #gw2 art #gw2 sylvari #raharjo #i will never be immune to men who have jock brains and dress like they should be teaching math #brave idiots rise up! (and he trips out of the chair)

[graymarketblackdiamond]

based on that silly bug post i made yesterday. i like to think that a handful of "magic bugs" like this actually do happen, and everyone is just as confused about them before they magically disappear. invisible water definitely seems like an asura thing.

#gw2 #gw2 oc #gw2 art #asura #gw2 asura #my art #yinnshen #ichthyologist mola #the midnight krewe #my sort of first time doing comics. is it obvious #i am doing my best with them

[graymarketblackdiamond]

THAT’S ME!!!

Art party drawings a month late?

It's more likely than you think!

Was really busy this past month with life and art fight, but hey better late than never! As always it was super fun drawing everyone

Ysaac belongs to @commander-winterberry

Beatrix to @bonethot (I think?)

and Kynwyl is from @creativebrainrot

If you know who the other people are please tag them!!

#MY DARLING GIRL!! she looks so amazing in your style AUGH... THANK YOU... #im such a sausage im so mad i didn't show up to augusts art party. september watch out #really in love with the softness in your style. belissima. #yinnshen

[graymarketblackdiamond]

every now and again i stumble across the odd bug in the game.

this one was pretty funny, though. has anyone else tried swimming in sandswept isles? its pretty fine overall. i was out there with my new fishing main, going up and down the strait of panbue in my skiff... (more under the cut)

time to get up off the chair!

and i clip right into the floor!

really caught me by surprise the first time around. i was like... okay! im stuck here. if i teleport im just going to lose my fishing bonus stacks. how do i get out of here... but then i thought, ah look! i can mount my skimmer!

like pulling a rabbit out of a hat!

although it doesn't always work... perhaps this could be a concept for a new airplane mount. just saying!

all documented in good fun, of course. these are minor things that don't really get in the way of experience for me, but still funny to spot in the wild.

its better than getting your feet wet by the invisible water.

#gw2 #does anet even like people posting about bugs #oh well. i think they're funny #and i like to talk about them like they're magical anomalies happening to my characters in the game

[graymarketblackdiamond]

..........................does that move work on other guys? 😐

#sylvari dialogue is genuinely so funny to me #these guys come straight out of the pod thinking they can just smooth talk their way through life #like the guy who's always like i want to leave a handsome corpse #do you think before they awaken they're in the dream in front of a mirror practicing their pick up lines like #yes. im going to awaken with a silver tongue and words that strike like a sirens call #and then its just this #genuinely such an amusing concept to me

[graymarketblackdiamond]

A couple Asura from the recent VS art party (July)

Yinnshen - @graymarketblackdiamond Teekzi - @leafofkudzu

#OH I DIDN'T SEE THIS!!! #AHHHH SO LOVELY SO LOVELY!!!! #thank you so much i am sobbing and crying into my hands as we speak #yinnshen

[graymarketblackdiamond]

a very quick doodle of my main charr, Taistel the Unforgiving, which got me thinking about her and her frozen heart, and how delighted i was to discover the frost legion for the first time

some ramblings underway (its a bit long. whoops!)...

taistel was the second character i ever made on gw2, and was my gateway into the charr themselves. she's a blood legion order of whispers combo, so she's a bloodthirsty warrior with the open nature of a stuck glue jar. i didn't dabble with the idea of her being ice themed until way later, but it seemed to fit her pretty well. the idea of her being like ice, cold and frigid and certainly deadly when you aren't careful around it. the cold is often described as fierce, and blizzards are unruly and unforgiving (much like her name!). it all tied in so well with her.

(an old image. i loved taking pictures of her in frostgorge)

the juxtaposition of her being a guardian sat very well in my head. guardians of course have means to protect, but she isn't protecting others by any means. her selfish, guarded and frankly quite nasty nature shined through all these little tidbits of storytelling that really just told themselves as i played the game. something clearly happened to her that really was so unforgiving that it twisted her deeply, her mentality driven to this state of being constantly on the attack (or in this case, on the defense. haha).

then HoT dropped, and i classed her into a DH, which i still can't quite let go of (im sure firebrand is better in some respects, but boy do i love smacking buttons and doing instant damage)

dragonhunter has a bit of a ring to it. in her story i had so far, she was friends with my main commander and his funny rat-tag group of friends in their in-canon guild known as Vagabond's Trek. now my commander is a sylvari dude, chipper guy who's a bit goofy. Taistel herself isn't easy to win over, but when faced with an idiot who dives into danger head first and comes back with trauma and a funny quip to go with it, it's hard not to want to see him a little safe. my hardened characters can have a soft spot as a treat.

so when the threat of mordremoth comes about... becoming a dragonhunter feels like a direct threat toward the threat itself. its like a command, a promise, a sworn seal of vengeance for corrupting (or, attemtping to corrupt) a friend. ice burns arent common, i dont think, but boy would she burn the jungle to its knees if it came to it. kill the pest and torch its house, so what if the pest is a dragon?

PoF brought its own issues and problems, of course, but man. the icebrood saga. mordremoth and kralk were easy to mash like mincemeat

but jormag would have been a real problem for her.

(i wish i had this permanent infusion in the game ): its so cool)

whipsers and promises of power and glory must be like gold candy for charr. whispers of protection for people you care for would have been exactly what taistel would have wanted to hear. nevermind that her friend had already nearly fallen to corruption, this was different, you see. for her whole life she knew that slithers of ice could cut the skin and make you bleed out, chunks of ice could bludgeon you and leave you concussed...

but jormag's ice could fortify and could protect. what a wonderful change of pace that would be, to go from this ferocious, deadly weapon to the protector she always could have been. an actual, true guardian, one that could live up to the name of the class she picked up as a young cub. well, it would have been perfect! it would have been the perfect path for her to follow. her vision of ideal couldn't have been colder, couldn't have been more perfect. the dragons claws were at her shoulders...

but of course, we all know how that eventually turns out for the other charr, like the unfortunate ryland. its a good job she had people to fall back on when it all fell apart. so much shame she would have felt after that. so many allies she had slain in the process, too. (the cache champs being charr you met along the way still pulls at my heart tbh...)

... but anyway, i just love how some of the stories in this game tell themselves. its easily why ive been playing it for so damn long.

#guild wars 2 #gw2 #charr #gw2 oc #doodles #art #taistel the unforgiving #its so nice to get these thoughts down #i love this game sooooooo much

[graymarketblackdiamond]

i missed the august vs art party because i was engaging in some very important key business...

... i did those fractals solo on my DH, who's build i still havent touched since HoT. they say if it aint broke...

still, i may try and doodle a few things based on some screenshots floating around. i definitely need to get more involved in the gw2 community, even if it just means posting about all the nonsense i get up to in that game.

i'll definitely be trying that hellish jumping puzzle again, though.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #if all else fails i will just post about ocs. people love ocs right