#DISABLED ESSEK IS BEST ESSEK

[aeor-is-for-reccing]

Shadowgast Works in Progress

This week, we have eight of our favorite works in progress to rec! Check them out under the cut, and don't forget to comment and kudos if you like them!

Monsterchen by drow_skies (22239, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Something is very wrong with Essek. He has far too many limbs, is sporting claws and sharp teeth, hisses and growls, and can probably fit inside Caleb’s component pouch. But Caleb is certain he can reverse this strange Aeorian magic.

Reccer says: Long Essek fic treated seriously. Not updated in a while, but still super fun!

Coping Skills by eldritchmochi (251061, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: None

BDSM fic starring a disabled Essek and service top Caleb

Reccer says: Startlingly realistic depiction of both the bdsm community and the realities of disabilities. Also super hot.

Kintsugi by Chekhov (83853, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: Major Character Death, Dementia

It's a story about Caleb's keen mind break in apart with age, coming back together after an accidental consecution and his way back to Essek..

Reccer says: The process of Caleb and Essek losing and then finding each other again is so beautifully written. At times the story is very sad, but in the best way.

Starling by kaiannae (226460, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Bren escapes Vergesson, snatching a fairy -- small humanoid-like beings kept as pets and arcane focuses by mages -- on his way out. Now he just has to survive whilendealing with both his own trauma and the fairy's. He is, however, starting to suspect fairies might be more than hes been led to believe

Reccer says: Fairy!Essek au, dealing with the effects of trauma and survival. Lots of little hints as to fairies being more intelligent -- more human -- than they seem.

The Melody of Your Gravity by sarahlizzie (22887, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Caleb and Essek are musicians navigating fame, fortune and a newly added relationship.

Reccer says: The Popstar AU I needed in my life. It is sooo good.

Cascade Effect by firefright (6867, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: Omegaverse

part of a series of omegaverse. Essek travels with the Nein to Aeor, while trying to navigate his twnse situation after the exposure of his betrayal, and Caleb and his strained-at-best relationship.

Reccer says: Such a wonderful take on omegaverse w an omega Essek and alpha Caleb. The whole series is well written and Cadcade Effect is no exception!

tether the lark by duckbunny (7433, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Choose Not to Warn, under-negotiated kink; it's a part of a series

Caleb and Essek develop their relationship admits the deadly dangers of Aeor and their own relationship with pain.

Reccer says: It's very well written, poetic and gloomy. The way Caleb and Essek's complicated relationship with each other, with kink and pain is really captivating.

Reports of my safety have been greatly exaggerated by ghosttopiary (7595, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence

essek is caught as bait, but he refuses to lead his friends into a trap.

Reccer says: Its so heartbreaking and intense! Leaves you wanting more!

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be back with Science Fiction!

#shadowgast #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #critical role #cr fic recs #works in progress

[otdderamin]

Fiction C2 Post-Campaign Essek’s Mobility Aid

I appreciate that Matt didn’t want to make Essek disabled and fall into the disabled villain trope, but as a disabled person I love the idea that Essek’s floating is a disability aid and that ableism played a role in isolating him and pushing him into over-achieving at all costs. Essek’s such a complex character, I don’t think he falls into simple tropes like that.

Story

After Essek goes on the lam, he often has to walk without magic. He was partly lying about floating being a trick he got stuck with as an expectation. It was also that, but the real reason he learned to do it was the debilitating joint pain he developed in early adolescence. Having to walk again rapidly exacerbates it again, with an extra century of age on top.

He tries to keep it to himself since he was accused of faking it as a kid, punished for it, pushed harder, or excluded for not keeping up. Especially compared to his athletic brother. The doubt in his overall ability was one of the things that had pushed him so hard to prove himself at every turn, and ultimately led him to some really awful behavior he didn’t want to return to. But eventually, it becomes so debilitating he can't hide it. At least not from Caleb.

He'd get to Caleb’s house and more than anything just need to sit down and rest. The pain was cascading into general nerve pain that made all touch into an over-stimulated agony. A silent internal war from nerves that want no sensation, and a heart that wanted the soothing grounding of being held by this man who somehow loves him so deeply. But the pain in his face and the flinching he can’t stop eventually give him away.

Caleb is gentle with him and understanding. He opens up about the torture Trent put him through with the embedded residuum. Going to class with long sleeves pretending to be fine when he could barely hold a pen. Sometimes the scars still have a stabbing ache. How lonely it was when touch of the only people who knew and cared was too much. They talk about inadequate pain scales. There is comfort in that shared understanding.

They brainstorm what Essek could do. On the road alone he can still float. It's cities that are the problem. For his safety he already tries to stick to solitary remote research but supplies and contacts are always needed. They consider different mobility devices. Essek's only hesitation is that the ones that meet his needs would be expensive, custom, and distinctive, making them more identifiable even as he changes disguises and personas and could give him away. The same reasons why he's had to give up the sleek and fashionable clothes he loves for plainer ones people don't notice.

That leads them to the idea of modifying Essek's floating magic to essentially function like a series of braces. He could still look like he's walking without aid, but the magic would take the actual weight off his joints. It proves trickier than just floating, with more concentration and more exhaustion, but it’s harder to detect and easier to disguise to keep his cover. It’s harder to keep his balance this way and does find a plain cane makes it much easier, even if it rarely supports his weight to protect his arms.

Caleb asks for Essek's help with a second kind of slower cover. Now that he knows the floating was a mobility aid, can Essek teach it to him so that Caleb can teach it to his disabled students and others in the community? It could help many of them with quality of life (especially the Academy's inaccessible buildings). And over time if they teach the technique and encourage it to be retaught, it will be less unique and identifiable. One day it will be safe for Essek to float in public again, and he'll get his best mobility tool back.

Slowly things get easier. Essek is able to travel more easily again with fewer bad pain days and come back to the house of green beans without wanting to collapse. The brace magic gets easier for him to manage over time. It’s still a little easier to use a cane, but he can forego it for short periods if he needs the extra stealth. Caleb and Essek teach both the floating and the bracing and find each works for different disabilities and injuries better. It takes some decades for it to be widespread, but his floating technique is eventually widespread enough as a mobility tool that it’s safe to use. While he still prefers floating, he uses both with different personas to throw off the trail.

Every time he comes across another disabled person using this magic he developed in his room, alone in pain and trying to hide through an impressive trick, and now commonplace, it’s a reminder that for all the lives he hurt causing the war, there are now many others his magic has helped to live fuller more accessible lives. And that is a great comfort through the rest of his life.

#critical role #critical role fanfiction #Essek Thelyss #Caleb Widogast #Shadowgast #Disability #Disability Fanfiction #fanfiction #critical role C2 post-campaign

[autistic-beshelar]

my. Opinions. on trans gener mighty nein

fjord: trans man. didn't have any inkling he was a trans man until he was almost an adult. i feel like i dont belong? oh that is because i am disabled. oh i feel like i dont fit in with the other girls? that is bc i am a half orc. yes. realising he was trans was BIG fucking freak out times. one of the many reasons he was so fond of vandren was bc vandren was one of the first people that fully supported him in transitioning. also he picked fjord bc it was a sea themed name and he's a fucking dweeb. 

beau: trans woman. knew real young. super fucking adamant about it. her family was accepting, but in a very 'but you have to act like a Proper Lady' kind of way. got super angry about being made to wear dresses and make up all the time and swore she hated anything girly whatsoever, in a very 'fuck your expectations of me' kind of way. one of the things that made her feel a little more at home than she expected with the cobalt soul in the early days is that they never cared about her being trans outside of making sure she had whatever she needed to transition safely. she also got to talk to other trans folks which she'd never had before. 

caleb: his gender. is dirt wizard. if you ask him he will say that he is a man. that's as much of an answer as you're getting. but actually his gender is more kind of ??? ehh... probably not. but is he a trans man u ask. did u transition caleb. whats ur agab. well wouldn't you like to know weatherboy.

nott: haha cissie (except maybe not but shh she’s too busy having her identity wrapped up in being a Wife and Mother)

jester: her gender is SPRINKLES! her gender is STARS! her gender is UNICORNS! jester is behind every single one of those wild fucking gender lists you have seen on tumblr dot com. her gender is a fairly steady experience of 'girl adjacent but with lots of sparkly bits on top'. it's okay if you just see her as a girl. that just means you're sadly not cool enough to see all the sparkles. she is very very confident in her gender and always has been, and though she's felt the same pretty much since birth she's always had fun finding different ways to express herself, and marion has always helped, and suggested things, and celebrated how confident and creative jester is 

caduceus: agender. what's a gender? he does not know. he knows it exists, because one does not simply have so many siblings* without knowing and supporting and loving trans people, but he does not understand it in much the same way that he has not fully grasped how condensation works. he is positive gender is very real. he is also positive he does not have one. gender is simply not made for caduceuses. the wildmother did not think he needed a gender so she did not give him one. he will call himself a man and use he/him because it is simpler and because he really does not care, and has never really cared what people think of him anyway. if you asked him if he'd prefer they/them he would do a big grin and say oh that's nice because really it is thoughtful of u to ask! but no he is fine. he is simply vibing. 

molly: a kaleidoscope of gender. he’s a man, and a woman, and both, and neither, and something else all together, and he’s always a mixture of some or all of those things all at once but never just one at a time. a lot of gender happens to mollymauk. do not ask him specifics that requires introspection and that is scary. he simply knows gender is happening and that today is a skirt day

yasha: demigirl. she's never felt much of a connection to womanhood. she's not... not a woman, and she's not something else, and she's not nothing, but she is a woman in the way that rain is a storm - something approaching it, but not really, not completely.

bonus npcs:

yeza: sorry so sorry i lost my gender in a lab accident uh oh dear um i think it must be around here somewhere 

essek: hahahaha. you think a cis could pull off that cloak? u think hot boi mcgee with his 12 step skin care routine is cis? you say ‘hey what’s ur gender’ and he says ‘oh probably’ and you go ‘what?’ and he says ‘oh sorry you misheard. my gender is probability.’

dairon: she is bigender. she is a woman and agender at the same time. that's how cool she is. 

marion: the best trans mom to the best trans daughter. growing up trans was not easy for her and she made damn sure her child had a much better experience.

#matt mercer told me all of this in a dream so it is canon in fact #critical role #mighty nein #i simply cannot tag every character here i am just small

[star-byrd]

12, 24, & 25 for the fanfic asks!

12. fave character to write fic about!

just answered but Still the one and only wizard caleb widogast from critical role!

24. favorite fic i read this year

the honor of this goes to but i'm keeping hope alive, a modern au critical role series about essek and caleb featuring disabled essek; it's amazing - but also top of the list is the bug collector by princexn and the double agent vader verse on ao3. ALSO special consideration to your pacific rim fic about herman (is that his name?) in college; i don't know pacific rim but the line about trading attention for pain in walking down the stairs of the lecture hall echoes in my mind everytime i go to class

25. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

double agent vader verse, hands down the best star wars thing i've ever seen (mostly because i don't love starwars lol). it has disability, it has taatoine culture, it has stories, it has droid rights, it has flower language, it's perfect. incredible. read it right now.

(thanks mac! i know we have very seperate fandom interests but it means a lot to me that u sent this in!)

[aeor-is-for-reccing]

Spanking: A Shadowgast Rec List

This week, we have spanking!  Check under the cut for 7 fics that feature spanking with a hand or toy for sexy reasons, and don't forget to comment and kudos if you like them!

Break Me, Mend Me by kaiannae (21835, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Dubcon/Consensual Non Consent

Caleb's finds himself in a pit of self loathing, Essek offers a nice long session of punishment and debasement to help him get past it

Reccer says: This fic is so wonderfully cathartic to read, and the character writing is incredibly on point. Caleb is a self-loathing mess, but Essek cares for him so well here (even if that caring involves spanking him until he cries)

Are you hurting the one you love? by TheatricArcana (2341, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Choose Not to Warn

Caleb and Essek both get really into a scene, only for Caleb to unexpectedly slip into the wrong headspace. Essek takes notice and uses their safeword on Caleb's behalf and does his best to comfort Caleb.

Reccer says: I liked it!

Discipline (Catharsis) by RoseArcaneum (4168, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek is experiencing a lot of self-loathing guilt feelings during the aeor arc, and Caleb spanks Essek over his knee.

Reccer says: One thing I really liked about this fic was the inclusion of both the negotiation and the aftercare of the scene, its like the cherry on top of some good emotional smut!

If nobody knows, tell me, what’s the crime? by MarsBar2019 (53612, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence

From author's summary: "For a master of subterfuge, Essek hasn't been so great at hiding that he might have some specific interests in the bedroom. Caleb is more than happy to oblige."

Reccer says: It's glorious! I love how Essek starts out constantly telling himself to keep it together, keep it cool, only to slip up and panic. And, of course, it's delicious that Caleb is into the very things that Essek was nervous about. And the wizards love each other very much!

Coping skills by Eldritchmochi (251061, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: None

Disabled Essek meets Caleb at a munch and ends up entering a dynamic with him. aleb shies away from impact play but it's what Essek craves.

Reccer says: I myself have EDS and have wanted to engage with the BDSM community. Until reading this fic I really wasn't sure what would be possible! It is a fantastic and accurate depiction of EDS and how disabled people want to be treated.

the golden thread around your neck whispered visions of my undoing by MarsBar2019 (177218, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes, Drug Addiction

Caleb becomes secretary to the wealthy CEO Essek Thelyss, an accidental kinky relationship forms

Reccer says: The tension is just amazing, in both buildup and payoff. The way they tease each other is so fantastic and theres a lovely wide range of kinks featured

There were two recs for the following fic:

Harnessing Gravity by TiliaC0rdata (12338, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Dubcon/Consensual Non Consent

Caleb and Essek decide to do a little sexy roleplay- Caleb as the helpless exchange student, Essek as the arrogant bully who's decided to take advantage of him.

Reccer 1 says: Features a lot of really hot CNC roleplay between the wizards, mixed with some very tender and sweet boundary negotiation

Reccer 2 says: A+ roleplay with Essek domming empire student Caleb. I love that Caleb does safeword, they discuss what went wrong and are able to continue the scene

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be back with polymorph shenanigans!

#shadowgast #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #critical role #fan fiction rec list #cr fic recs #aeor is for lovers #cr fic #cr fics #critical role fan fiction

[ao3feed-shadowgast]

to melt the gilded seams

by contrequirose

Crown Prince Caleb Widogast, formerly Bren Aldric Ermendrud, is less than thrilled to be married. He has his duty, and he will fulfill it, but it is less than ideal. Firstly, because he has plans, and doesn't need distractions to stop him from changing this country for the better, and secondly, because he's been in love with his childhood best friends for years now, and has no intention of stopping just because he's getting married for the cause of peace.

Lord Essek Thelyss, former traitor to his country, is less than thrilled to be married. He has a role to play, and by gods he will play it, but it is more like he is dancing with his shoes turned into knives. A single misstep, and he will be back in the Dynasty, serving out his sentence til the end of his days. He's not sure if he could hate his husband more than he does before even meeting him, but no one said he had to love the man. Simply marry him.

To the surprise of no one, this is a story about falling in love. And about treachery, and betrayal, and found family, and politics, and magic. But - mostly about falling in love.

Words: 6622, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Characters: Essek Thelyss, Caleb Widogast, Astrid (Critical Role), Eodwulf (Critical Role), Bertrand Dwendal, The Mighty Nein, Original Characters, Background & Cameo Characters

Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Astrid/Eodwulf/Caleb Widogast, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Courtship, Politics, Miscommunication, Emotional Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Mental Health Issues, Disabled Character, (s), Caleb is the crown prince of the Empire, Essek is ... well, Essek - Freeform, Worldbuilding, obscure background characters given life, Religion, Magical Theory, misuse of dnd mechanics, Polyamory Negotiations

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/25253305

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #Shadowgast #Caleb Widowgast x Essek Thelyss