#I don't care if they draw a longsword or a great sword

[parttime-creative]

I recently made a post about how I love gideons different depictions in fanart and on the cover (x) in which I mused about how I still wasn't sure if she was wielding a long sword or a great sword and several people have made good points of arguing that she is wielding a great sword not just a long sword.

Now that I've started to read Harrow for the first time (yes I am late to the party I am sorry. But I finally got the second and third book) her sword is more often described as a "two hander" or "great two hander" (which btw STILL doesn't make it clearer for me because Harrow is arguable so tiny and scrawny that she'd probably call a dagger "great" in comparison to her noodle arms... But that is beside the point xD) however the cover art (as I've not yet finished HtN) does look like another weird mixture between a longsword and a great sword and I remain confused.

The handle is much longer than for a usual longsword, however would fit a federschwert (a different type of longsword especially made for fencing, not so much for the battlefield. It's blade is usually much thinner tho, so I doubt it is a federschwert) it's crossguard also is kinda too big for the usual longsword, yet not entirely unseen. I did wield longswords with a crossguard like that.

However judging from nothing but the cover I do still think Gideon wields a longsword. Because the cover sword is just TOO SMALL for an actual greatsword.

I dont believe people realise HOW FUCKING HUGE an actual greatsword is. Like, yes Harrow is supposedly small so the sword on the cover DOES look big on her. But it is diagonally on her back and now reaches almost her knees. An actual GREATSWORD wouldn't even fit that way or her back (yes it's a fantasy drawing, yes usually swords like that can not be carried to draw on the back regardless if it's a long or great sword. We're gonna ignore that, cuz magic and necromancers and lyctors)

So I remain with my headcanon, that Gideon wields a longsword and not a greatsword.

To summarize:

A longsword is made for dueling AND for the battlefield

A longsword has several similar and adaptable techniques to a rapier in wielding.

A longsword is however heavier than a rapier, so a life long longsword fighter would have habits that would make their rapier fighting style uncanny ("you wield your sword like someone who is used to a two handed weapon")

A longsword CAN be wielded with one hand (a great sword 100% can't. It's just too damn big)

A greatsword is literally made to swing around yourself to makd room on the battlefield. Its slow if you want to hit something and it needs A LOT of momentum to be wielded. It was made to slay horses and break spears and knock people off their feet. If someone is used to wielding a greatsword all their life, learning the nimble techniques of a rapier in several days maybe a few weeks is.... hard to say the least. Their muscles wouldn't even be made for that.

A longsword is also called "zweihander" in german so harrow or gideon calling it a "two hander" is absolutely legit.

And last but not least, Harrow calling it a "great two hander".... Is just because she is DAMN tiny. I am 165 cm / 5' 4'' and my longsword reaches to my chest and it is not one of the big ones.

In conclusion: FOR ME IT IS MOST DEFINITELY A LONGSSWORD AND NOW I CAN COSPLAY/IMAGINE BEING GIDEON EVERYTIME DURING MY FENCING LESSONS EHEHEHEHEH

#I do however have a pet peeve with how some artists draw gideon sword #I don't care if they draw a longsword or a great sword #But please #If the balde is thicker than gideon forarm than it's neither a great nor longsword #Than it's an anime sword #And unwieldalbe sword #A sword that might as well be just a club #I would have no idea how anyone should wield those #But i guess that's another pet peeve i have with sword depictions #I love me some anime like thd next person #But some swords maaaan.... #Looking at you berserk #And you cloud stripe #They LOOK awesome... But my sword loving heart is bleeding #Anyways i am getting of track #The locked tomb #Gideon the ninth #Harrow the ninth #Tlt

[quicksilverdrabbles]

Khash: *running away from wolves just outside of Riverwood, bow broken and out of arrows* I'm so dead I'm so dead- *shrieks, a wolf snapping at her ankles just barely out of reach* Leave me alone! I am almost positive I don't taste good!

Saturn: *whistles, catching the wolves' attention* 'Ey! Leave the kid alone, ya' tuskin' mongrels! *draws her bow as the wolves turn, downing one with a glass arrow*

Khash: Whoa..

Saturn: *turns and launches a containment sphere into the pack, releasing a Dwarven Venator and letting it kill the rest* Phew. *hops down from the ledge she'd perched on, jogging towards Khash with a worried smile* Hey, kid. You okay?

Khash: I-I... I'm fine.. *staring up at Saturn with starry eyes* ... You are very strong.

Saturn: *chuckles* Y'think so? Quite the compliment from such a brave warrior. What're you doing out here?

Khash: I was hunting... What is that? *points at the Venator, quite literally ripping a wolf apart*

Saturn: Oh, that? That's my... *turns to look at it, seeing the mess it made* Oh for Gods' sake, we talked about this. *returns the Venator to its containment sphere* Sorry, it's a bit restless. Haven't gotten a chance to use that one in a while.

Khash: Do you have more of those things??

Saturn: Automatons? Yes, I do.

Khash: How do they work? They really just listen to everything you want them to do?? *gasps, seeing her longsword strapped to her back* Is that your sword?! Why is it so big???

Saturn: *smoke rising from her ears, overwhelmed by the questions, remembering why she doesn't do kids* High Elves need bigger swords than humans. Longer limbs.

Khash: Are you an adventurer?? You have to be, right?!

Saturn: I am, yes.

Khash: Can I come with you???

Saturn: *freezes, staring down at the child with a look of shock* Absolutely not.

Khash: What?! Why not?

Saturn: I'm not going to risk bringing a kid with me. It's dangerous.

Caryalind: Saturn??

Saturn: *looks over her shoulder* Oh, hey guys. Took you long enough.

Kaidan: *hunched over, panting* Gods you're too fast- Where did ye go?

Gore: Uh. And what's with the kid?

Khash: *hiding behind Saturn*

Saturn: Uh.. She was being chased by wolves.

Khash: *staring at Caryalind and Kaidan with a look of shock* Is everyone in your group super tall??

Saturn: Hah. No, just look at Gore.

Gore: Hey!

Kaidan: Well, best we get her home then, ey? I've never seen an Argonian child in Riverwood, though.

Khash: I am a mercenary.

Saturn: ...

Gore: ...

Kaidan: ...

Caryalind: I beg your pardon?

Khash: I am! I can fight very well with a bow!

Saturn: Not.. that I doubt that, kiddo, but where are your parents?

Khash: Dead.

Saturn: (Shit.) Er- a guardian?

Khash: Also dead.

Saturn: ... Yeah y'know what I'm just gonna stop asking questions right now.

Khash: So.. can I go with you? Please? I promise I will not get in the way!

Caryalind: Saturn. A word. *tugs on Saturn's arm and pulls her away, speaking in a hushed voice* You cannot seriously be considering this??

Saturn: Who said I was?! That kid's better off being taken care of, not getting dragged all across Skyrim!

Gore: Not like we can just leave her here, though. A kid by herself is far worse off than a kid with a band.

Caryalind: You would know.

Gore: Yeah, and you wouldn't.

Saturn: Boys, please focus.

Gore: I say let her come. If she decides it's too much, she can leave with no more said.

Caryalind: It's outrageous! Kaidan, please be the voice of reason here.

Kaidan: *already getting along with Khash, checking out her bow* Don't worry yourself none about it, lass. Saturn's a great smith, she'll make ya' a new one.

Khash: Awesome!

Caryalind: *deadpan* Absolutely no help.

Saturn: Look, how about this. *takes Caryalind by the shoulders and faces him towards her* We bring her along, then the second we get a chance we bring her to Riften.

Caryalind: I can't help but feel like that's a worse idea.

Saturn: Have any better ideas?

Caryalind: ... No.

Saturn: And there we go. *pulls away, walking back towards Khash* Alright, kid, you can come. Let's bring you to meet the others.

Khash: Tusk yea!!!

Saturn: Pfft. That's some mouth, kiddo.

Caryalind: Like any of you are any better.

Saturn: Rude.

~

Khash: *Meeko laying in her lap, petting him happily as she listens to stories from Inigo*

Taliesin: *sitting some ways away with Saturn* You are absolutely insane.

Saturn: You're not the first today to tell me that.

Taliesin: It's one thing to just bring her to an orphanage outright, but it's a cruelty even I can't stomach to lie and say she can come with us.

Saturn: She would have fled if we did tell her.

Taliesin: Why bring her along in the first place, then?

Saturn: Kids shouldn't be that young and out on their own. She deserves a safe place.

Taliesin: And are you so sure that orphanage is a safe place? There have been unsettling rumors..

Saturn: ... *sighs, watching Khash interact with her family with a frown* We'll just have to see.

#skyrim #tes #the elder scrolls #modded skyrim #dragonborn #ldb oc #kaidan skyrim #skyrim taliesin #inigo skyrim #caryalind thallery #skyrim gore #khash skyrim #khash the argonian #Saturn oc

[bekahdoesnerdshit]

ask Two for the angst ones this time: 13 for raini, 5 (possibly will be pertinent come the end of this minicampaign) & 29 (she literally has Any Weapon w/ her pact so it's fititng) for ayen, 7 & 10 (hehe I know there's trauma in this one) for cog, and then mix and match 4, 17, 18 between Caspian, Ryker, and Brilliance bc I don't know them as well and I would Like To

My life is just below readmores now, I guess. Will I ever learn to shut the fuck up? No! And that is a promise 

Raini

13. What does it take to make your character cry? Oh boy. Raini definitely isn’t a big crier, because she a) doesn’t really let herself get to that point and b) hard pivots into “angry” over “upset” and she isn’t an angry crier. She’s cried twice in game so far, and probably not many times before that. In both in game cases -and likely the always alluded to but never seen “before times”- the catalyst for her crying was being overwhelmed. In a good way, bad way, whatever, but that’s the trigger. Just- Looking at something, not knowing what else to do but let yourself cry about it, and not seeing any reason to stop yourself.  (shfjsdjkfh the funny answer is: during sex. But can you IMAGINE jskdfskjdf)

Ayen

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? Oh for sure. Without question. Not without guilt, in fairness, but without question. She’s pretty well adjusted, pretty “go with the flow”, but she did grow up in a pretty cutthroat world. She was spared from having to make those kinds of brutal decisions from a super young age by Shadow Mom, but she definitely saw the fallout of those choices and learned that, while it’s all well and good to do the “right” thing, it’s much more important to do the right thing for you. If that means condemning some stranger to die so you and yours don’t have to? So be it. Better people have done worse, because that’s sometimes just how things go.  I’ll be honest! This character decision was a completely on the fly one when we were having that debate in the library about what we should do with the information we learned in the library. But I stand by it. In character, Ayen 1000% sees whatever’s going on as Not Her Business. It’s fucked up, sure! But, you know. Not her monkeys, not her circus.  29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? Bro I love that Ayen doesn’t have A Specific Weapon SO much. Especially because Pact of the Blade specifically makes it so that, whatever weapon she summons, she’s proficient in while wielding it. So she sees somebody using a weapon, goes “oh! cool!” and summons it herself, and then just. Intuitively knows how to use is. How fucking funny is that conceptually??  Her go to if things are serious or she doesn’t have time to pick something obscure is a longsword. Dad uses a greatsword, and a longsword is pretty close to that! Image how cool they looked fighting off assholes, back to back, with two bigass swords? Is that the only reason it’s her favorite? No of course not!!!! That would- that would be silly. And childish. Swords are just cool is all.  She hasn’t used any in game, but I think she honestly just doesn’t like any kind of polearm. It’s like, is it technically safer to be a little further from your enemy? Sure. Does it give you a small tactical advantage? Maybe so. But they’re so uglyyyy and they look weird and you have to use both hands and the balance is weird and >:( Spears can stay because you can throw them but you’re on thin fucking ice.

Cog

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? Thank GOD Alex I wanted this one for Cog SO bad!!! Valentine WastelandGame! If you can read this! You’re a dead motherfucker!! This is for a variety of reasons including but not limited to: - Is responsible for the deaths of at least 3 separate world leaders! Uh oh!  - Asked for my blood one time! To do Science on! Not cool! - Ace doesn’t like him. Enough said.  - Called Ace “hotheaded” and “brutish” keep his NAME out of your MOUTH - Is fucking Maelo’s ex I think? Honestly I lost that plot on that one a little bit - Keeps taking Sunny on dates! We’re protective and Jealous?? Hard to say! We don’t have time to unpack this one let’s keep moving - Is convinced aliens exist? And are coming to attack the world? OKAY  - Talks in fucking circles about philosophy and the greater meaning of “good” and “evil” in the context of the world. Like, no sir! Good is when you help people and evil is when you kill them! Except unless it’s me killing you which is going to happen because I can cast Finger of Death now and you better believe that spell has your fucking name on it. Freak boy. - Just like. Eats straight raw steak. Not Evil but really weird and probably not great for you? - Overall just a very bad slimy manipulative and stinky dude. 0/10 I’m gonna put an arcane bullet in his skull. Like. Everything Valentine does, everything she learns about him, convinces Cog more and more that the world would be a better, safer place if he wasn’t allowed to exist in it anymore. She was kinda neutral on the guy until he gave his grand speech in Cormir about how the only way to save the world is to ‘conquer and subdue it’ and tried to talk her in circles enough that she had to agree with him or seem like a hypocrite. Since then, it’s been a slow creep from “I don’t trust this man and don’t want to work with him again, even if it makes our lives harder” to “he’s dangerous and needs to be stopped” to “...if given the opportunity, I would kill him myself”. And now that she has our new friend the Shadow Demon whispering in her ear, telling her that “the world will tremble and change before her” and that she should “stride boldly, and fear not the consequences that may follow” honestly? The next time we see Valentine, he might be in trouble!  10. What were the character’s parents like? What was the affect the parents had on the character? Oh, is there trauma in this one? Is there? Alex? Is there? Maybe so!! We’re gonna talk about Cog’s dad first, because he’s a) still alive and b) I KNOW you’re fishing for more mom angst. Cog’s dad name is Conrad Grace! He’s the head of Lafaroh’s town guard, whatever that means for a town of maybe a hundred people. I feel like his day to day really consists more of making rounds to check on people than dealing with criminals, although he likely has to break up the occasional disagreement or toss somebody in the drunk tank for the night. He’s also in charge of making sure the Guardians -the gods that live deep in the swamp outside Lafaroh and protect the town in exchange for food, building supplies, the occasional corpse, and other resources- get their offerings (This is Important, because he does Stop doing that soon). He married into he Grace family (that’s RIGHT he took his wife’s last name because it’s 2021 and he’s Woke not because her family like runs the town okay moving on), initially because I genuinely believe he fell in love! They were probably pretty young, because Lafaroh is very much a Deep South Swamp Town Analogue, but I don’t think it was just a social power move. The most important Conrad fact? He told Cog that he became disillusioned with the Church when she left home, because he couldn’t imagine continuing to support something he could now see had so clearly been hurting her. And I, Rebekah, a homosexual who has had Words with my Christian parents about the way their religion has hurt me? OH buddy we were a little bit of a mess about it. DM Ryan! Don’t you know I’m projecting!! Please be more careful! (Editor’s Note: This is the moment that made me realize I was projecting. Whoopso!!) Cog’s mom name is Charlotte Grace Sr. because, I guess, we’re freaks. I hate that this makes Cog technically a junior because the thought of anyone calling her Charlotte Jr. makes me break out in hives, but it is, technically, correct. The distinction while Cog was growing up was, instead, “Charlotte” and “Charlotte Olivia” because, again, we’re southern as hell. Charlotte Sr. is, unsurprisingly, the head of Lafaroh’s church, which means she very much has more actual power than her husband does. She did love Cog, I think, but in a way that very much more felt like someone guarding an investment than raising a child, especially when Cog became a teenager. She had high, exacting expectations, and grew more distant from Cog the older she got. Whether this was an unintentional side-effect of Charlotte Sr. becoming more engrossed in the preparations necessary to allow Cog to become the “Conduit”, or whether it was a purposeful decision because she knew she would lose her daughter and wanted the sacrifice to hurt less is unclear. Cog’s dad is kinda just a dude, but we KNOW this bitch has mommy issues. I also think an important distinction to draw between the two is that while I’m willing to give Conrad the benefit of the doubt and say that he may have just wanted Cog to stay in Lafaroh when they party returned because he was worried about his daughter and wanted her home, Charlotte Sr. wanted Cog there because it was Where She Was Supposed To Be, because she had a destiny to fulfill. More than that, when Charlotte Sr. found out that Conrad had stopped sending supplies to the Guardians when Cog left and had instead been selling them to Bandits to get money to rebuild the town, she was not nearly so understanding. She accused him of heresy, and ordered for him to be, uh. Flayed alive. Which wasn’t great. It’s what got her killed ultimately; Cog had to choose between her parents, and after watching her Mama summon a shadow demon that very nearly choked the life out of Sunny? It was a choice with only one possible outcome. 

Caspian

18. Would society call your character a good guy or a bad guy? What would they say they are? Caspian is. Caspian is Just a person. Like she is just out here doing her best, trying not to get killed by, idk. Pirates or ghosts or w/e. This is an endeavor that, statistically, could be going a lot better.  I think the more interesting angle to look at this question from is the fact that she’s a monk from a well known monastery, and that there’s Expectations on how she conducts herself in the world as a result of that. She is Just A Person, but that’s not good enough. Not when she’s running around wearing Pelor’s holy symbol, representing his monastery, reflecting on him. For a long time, I think Caspian resented the expectation that put on her! Why can’t she just be a kid? Just a person? She didn’t ask to be raised by these monks in this kind of life. But when she left home and realized how suddenly lonely she was, there were quiet, sad moments it was easy to soften with prayer. Rekindling her relationship with her god was her way of staying connected to home, and I think it also made her want to go from being Just a Person to actually wanting to take pride in being a Good Person.  And then her campaign lasted for two fucking seconds lmao so it didn’t even matter hahah! :)

Ryker

4. Has your character ever been hurt or betrayed by someone they thought they could depend on? What happened? YEAH BOY rye-bread got his SHIT handed to him lmaoooo His whole “why are you adventuring?” deal is that he fell in love with the noblewoman he was hired to escort across the country to her betrothed’s estate, and she played him like a fucking fiddle and convinced him -after her wedding, after she was pregnant with her husband’s first child and therefore heir- that she was in love with him too. But of course, because she was married, her husband would never let them be happy together. She talked Ryker into killing her husband, and promised to meet him the night he did it with horses and supplies for both of them. Anyone reading along at home with even a shred of common sense probably just said, “uh oh!” And uh oh indeed; she fully sold his ass out. There’s something emotionally devastating about slipping out of the bedroom of the man you just killed, his blood still on your hands, to find the woman you love standing between two enormous guards, but I can’t quite put my finger on what.  Ryker figured out her plan in the following days he spent in a cell, awaiting execution. She didn’t love her husband, but by playing the role of grieving widow and anxious mother-to-be she could ingratiate herself with his family enough to be allowed to take control of the estate while her son, the true heir, grew up to run it. It was cruel, and clean, and if Ryker hadn’t managed to escape it would have gone off without a hitch.

Brilliance 

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Brilliance isn’t afraid of death, she’s afraid for what she’d leave behind. One of the songs on her playlist really leans into this (and I’m very excited to be posting her playlist soon! Stay tuned!), because she is terrified of what her death might do to Sienna. She never planned to become an adventurer, much less travel to the Hells to try and save an entire city. She was content, more than content, to guard Sune’s church, to help the people that came seeking her goddess’ blessing and guidance. When her city faced a sudden influx of refugees from Elturel after its destruction, she was even happy to volunteer to help the Flaming Fist keep order and root out would-be troublemakers. She never meant to get caught up in a job that would take her out of her home city, much less out of her home plane entirely. Every fight she got into in Hell, every time it seemed like she may be staring down something that might kill her, Brilliance had to swallow down the overwhelming guilt of knowing that if she died here Sienna would never know what happened to her. The image of Sienna, worried and pacing, looking toward the door to their apartment every time there was so much as a whisper in the hallway, desperate for any sign that Brilliance had come home-- It wasn’t delusions of self-importance or self-preservation that had Brilliance taking Glasya’s deal to save her from the narzugon’s clutches; it was the image of Sienna collapsing onto their bed and sobbing because she finally admitted to herself that Brilliance was never coming home. Still. Sienna needs her, but her party needs her too. They’re counting on her to be there for them, to take the big hits that they can’t handle. First one in, last one out; she doesn’t leave until everyone else is safe. She wants to survive, she wants to go home and marry the woman she loves, but she couldn’t live with herself if she did it at the cost of the life of someone who was depending on her. Brilliance isn’t afraid of death; she would die for her party members, even the ones she doesn’t particularly like. She just knows exactly what the cost of her death would be. 

#sometimes.........i am a prose boy. sometimes....i write answers like 7 for cog. depends #rainivere #amnesia campaign #ayen morwraek #creepy campaign #cog #wasteland campaign #caspian #gos #ryker #brilliance #dia #syn-odics #answered #also idk if i've mentioned it before but it's very important to me that y'all know the bit about it being 2021 wasn't a joke #canonically wasteland game takes place in 2021 so folks things are Really gonna go to shit in the next four months lmao #uh oh!! #word count: 2633 #mine