#The wizard steel

[thewizardspinosaurus]

If there are two types of character I love, it's a Wizard With a Sword and a Brennen Lee Mulligan Mom, which is why you'll never hear me speak a word against The Wizard Steel

#wbn pod #worlds beyond number #wwwo #the wizard the witch and the wild one #the wizard steel

[tin-tweezers]

I HAVE HAD

A REVELATION ABOUT THE WIZARD STEEL

Or at least, a theory SO GOOD that I stopped dead in the middle of a crosswalk while listening to “Bring Them To Me”.

Spoilers?

Red hair. Golden armor. She honors spirits. She will move heaven and earth to protect the ones she considers her responsibility. For her, protection is not just a love but a duty. She mentors Eursulon and teaches him to be a protector.

When the Wizard Stripe tried to steal Sir Curran’s armor, IT WAS IN THE CITADEL.

She’s descended from Sir Curran.

#worlds beyond number #the wizard steel #the wizard the witch and the wild one

[sexybedhead]

“you feel like you’re giving very chill vibes for like the beginning of the war” is a sentence I will be thinking abt often

#wbn #worlds beyond number #the wizard the witch and the wild one #the wizard sky #the wizard steel #suvirin kedberiket #erika ishii #aabria iyengar #lou wilson #brennan lee mulligan

[chillinglikeashilling]

In Defense of Wizard Steel

I may be under reacting because I can't think of an extremely terrible immediate result off hand from getting someone- not even specifically a Witch by the wording- to sing where a magical artifact might capture the sound.

The geas and the mind wipe are much more concerning, but I would be more concerned if Suvi was more concerned. Suvi knows a lot more about the laws and rules of magic than we the audience do, and Aabria often turns to Brennan as the source of those laws and rules to confirm Suvi's knowledge.

Not only did Steel give Suvi the option to back out of the whole thing in narrative, Brennan gave Aabria a chance to resist the mind wipe mechanically. Both the PC and the player declined (for different reasons of course but still).

I don't think it's going to be inconsequential at all! I just don't think it's going to blow up the way we might expect, if only because we know how Wizards operate. Wizards are slow to move in a way that most Witches and Spirits are not. It's the exact reason Ame ended up fleeing the Citadel right? Wizards are slow to get going so if anything I think the successful completion of this mission (should it happen) would come back to bite them in an arc or two.

And besides that Brennan is already toying with our ideas of what we (and the Witches) expect from Wizards and vice versa. Part of Ame's panic is that she expected Steel to bar Suvi from coming but it was a Witch that refused Suvi.

Also addressing Steel's actions and thoughts directly here:

Steel was told by Ame and Suvi that the Witches are going to destroy Ame

She was also informed that when the Witches reached out to Ame, they did so in a manner that either broke through or avoided the Citadel's defenses

Steel is also aware of the danger of Witches in a way that other Wizards are not even though that's still very limited

And lastly Suvi is important not only to Steel but to the Citadel. I don't think she's worth burning over what seems like a very hastily put together plot.

So, at this time, it seems like Steel and the Citadel are reacting to the information they have been given and are responding in proportion. Whatever the artifact does or the aim of this mission I don't think it's meant to be any active danger to the people at the Castle so much as a fact finding mission, and I don't think it would be anything that the Witches might kill or even hurt Suvi over if it was discovered.

The Citadel is already dealing with a war, it does not make sense from what we know to antagonize an enemy that they don't know anything about (yet). It definitely does not make sense to endanger the Apprentice Archmage, or the only Witch fron this coven they have access to, to do so.

#the wizard steel #the wizard sky #wwwo #the wizard the witch and the wild one #Wwwo arc 3 #wbn pod #worlds beyond number #Listen I think there's a lot of potential for things with Steel to go wrong #But I think part of the guilt Steel was feeling is that she doesn't like operating like this! #Steel actually seems very disdainful of the ways Wizards can hoard and hide secrets and information to avoid accountability #She said to Suvi she does not like that shit!! #So I think acting like Steel is this master manipulator hiding tons of personal information from Suvi is coming at it from the wrong angle #If or when Steel becomes a danger to the Party I think it will be heartbreakingly direct

[icbrothers]

Some more Worlds Beyond Number scribbles for the wizard Steel.

Steel's descriptions in the podcast immediately made me think of Kushana from Nausicaa, and Miquella from Elden Ring, so I wanted some of their influences in the designs. As she is the Sword of the Citadel, I wanted her armour to mirror her own sword, as well as the architecture of the Erien itself.

(Sorry for all the sketchbook stuff lately, my 10 year old laptop desperately wants to die)

#character design #wbn #worlds beyond number #wbn fanart #twtwatwo #the wizard the witch and the wild one #the wizard steel #wbn steel #armor #armour #the sword of the citadel #sketches #wip

[whoopseydaisy]

But one of them, to the right, could almost be described as family. A woman who is as close as your mother has to a sister.

She's so pretty, even stressed and in this weird orange glow. She's got long, just incredibly shiny auburn hair and sort of ruddy freckled features and pale skin but she's sort of glowing in this room that's so dangerous and hot and wrong but she looks like she's in her element.

She looks down at you and says, "Don't be afraid of him. I've got you."

featuring: transcripts from the wizard the witch and the wild one from worlds beyond number, wanderhome by possum creek games + into the woods by stephen sondheim

#the wizard steel #worlds beyond number #wbn #the wizard the witch and the wild one #wanderhome #into the woods #wbn spoilers #shes always rotating in my mind like a microwave #troubled red headed milfs my beloveds #the accordion notebook #(thats what im calling this collage project i think) #(like ame's accordion notebook about suvi)

[formerlyofyourlocallibrary]

Just got called a “Henry Hopclap truther” (correct) by a proud “Wizard Steel Hater” (my wife)

#dimension 20 #Henry hopclap #worlds beyond number #the Wizard Steel #d20 #time will vindicate one of us! #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy

[stardustedknuckles]

It would just be so easy for Steel to start behaving overtly controlling and War-minded at literally any point (seeking control and owning up to what that means) and at that point it would become easy to dislike her and her sway over Suvi but that's not the POINT, she is GENUINELY wise and so, so brilliant and she loves Suvi so truly and she is infuriatingly level headed and sincere in her efforts to help and so very kind, and I love her character more than I can adequately put into words and the inevitable clash of ideals, the rift that will and must develop, is going to destroy me. Because I genuinely don't know if Steel could choose Suvi over the empire and in fact I think it's pretty clear that she wouldn't, but that does not diminish the love she has for Suvi and the two things being true simultaneously have me biting the air. Steel is a goddamn masterclass in examining characters who act from fundamentally kind intent within a twisted framework of lifelong indoctrination and beliefs that have taught her a distorted view of what that should look like. Bringing the empire's light to the world is the ultimate kindness to her, and she wants nothing more than to be a key part of the mechanism by which that will happen. Because it will happen. And we're not told this, we're shown a brilliant and devoted mother figure who will stop at nothing to make a better world in the image of the empire her life belongs to.

Every single time something goes wrong with Ame and/or Eursulon (and even Suvi) I brace for the kind of overbearing "us VS them" mentality that never comes. She genuinely wants collaboration and answers so she can help. she very much means well, as do they all. It compels the absolute hell out of me.

#I want steel to come with Suvi on this eventual journey #But she has been installed as the very right arm of the establishment #And though she more than most wizards would hear out the turmoil the empire's existence is causing others #There is no future where its dissolution is something she agrees to #If not dissolution is the empire itself the removal of its place of authority #She means so well to be balanced and fair but she will be blind to the inherent threat and imbalance going on here #And it's very likely nothing will move her #So basically I'm setting myself up for abject heartbreak but I love her so much #wbn spoilers #Wbn #suvirin kedberiket #The wizard steel #Steel wbn #I'm learning I might be a tragedy enjoyed #I never thought that was possible bc I found tragedies depressing for no reason #But what I'm starting to see is that the efforts are what make the tragedy hit the way it does #It only matters because everyone cared so much #Everyone was doing their best #It was inevitable it could have been avoided at so many points but everyone cared too much #Ugh god okay sleep time

[thelockedhour]

Ahhh Grandma Ren would give Steel SUCH a talking to for this. I don’t know if their friendship could have survived Suvi’s adolescence if Steel and Ren had kept in close contact.

Imagine loving Suvi and seeing her come back to the cottage summer after summer as this little tiny child soldier who dosent understand her own boundaries and thinks obedience is love and safety. I know maybe there wouldn’t be consequences for Suvi if she had refused the mission at the North Pole, but idk I just don’t think it matters if Suvi doesn’t act like she has a choice. I feel so sad for her and I’m so sad that Steel loves Suvi so hard, but their love can’t shield either of them from what it means to be an Empire Wizard.

I wonder if Grandma Ren pulled back from Steel and the citadel after Soft and Stone died. I wonder if it was all grief or in part a way to avoid looking at the evil machine Steel was building of the citadel.

#worlds beyond number #wbn #wbn spoilers #suvi #the wizard steel #the wizard sky

[ananxiousgenz]

here have a steel doodle I did while listening to the arc 2 finale

#worlds beyond number #wbn pod #wbn: www #the wizard steel #the wizard the witch and the wild one #wbn art #worlds beyond number art

[tin-tweezers]

And now, some meta about the witches of Umora

I’m mulling over how the witches’ mission statement is to serve as mediator between powerful entities with conflicting needs to prevent disaster.

Right now, the powerful entities in questions are exclusively identified as Spirits. But by definition, mediation is not one sided — in fact, the witches are called in to mediate because the mortals in Umora are a significant power unto themselves.

This skillset is not limited to working with Spirits with a capital “S”. In fact, the witches are well equipped to take up mediation between powerful entities beyond the world of spirits at all.

Consider:

On the scale of unfathomable power, destructiveness and exquisite grace, the Citadel might as well be a Great Spirit of Umora - perhaps a vassal of a greater entity in the Empire, perhaps its own independent creature.How about the others? We haven’t seen much of Ruhv or Gaothmai yet, but we know they’re powerful - powerful enough that the war has lasted decades.

Moreover: the entity of a state lives on even as individual members of it dies. They don’t live forever but they have the capacity to live for a long ass time- so too with spirits. And it goes without saying that the firepower controlled by just one of these factions outstrips the power a single mortal commands by unfathomable orders of magnitude.

So: the Citadel drops bombs and commits genocide because it values power above human life. Orima stands poised to destroy an entire city (an entire region) in revenge of her husband. I don’t think those motivations are equivalent, BUT both entities prioritize what THEY want over the wellbeing of the communities they act upon. Worth noting that there are spirits who act by nature in ways that are extremely evil by our value system, far less justified than Orima— let us not forget that Pomeroy is not the only one of his kind, and certainly not the most powerful.

So, independent of my personal beliefs about the empire (death first to tyrants and imperialists), the witches BY THEIR STATED ROLE must find balance between hostile parties and not to pick one side to fight for over the other. The most important lesson Grandmother Wren taught Ame is that witches must not force people to change just because you don’t like how they act.

Right now: we don’t know precisely what the other witches want. But if they join the war on the side of any faction? They’re hypocrites.

Witches are so quick to pass judgement on the arrogance of wizards. It bothers me.

More to follow, but that’s something I’m thinking about right now.

#worlds beyond number #wbn spoilers #wbn meta #the coven of elders #tales of Umora #Ame the witch #the wizard the witch and the wild one #the wizard steel #the wizard sky #The Kehmsarazan Empire

[oksneasnake]

Brennan is so good at what he does. Steel may be my favorite NPC he’s ever given voice to, but I cannot figure her out for the life of me. I love her with my whole heart, but I can’t help but feel as if betrayal lurks in the shadows.

#the wizard the witch and the wild one #wwwo spoilers #the wizard steel #steel #brennan lee mulligan

[angrycanadiannerd]

Fully caught up with wbn, including the children’s adventures.

Steel definitely killed Suvi’s parents, right?

Like I’m not the only one who thinks this, right?

I’m not being overly paranoid, right?

#i don’t trust her #i fear for suvi’s wellbeing this arc because MY GOD #that geas scene unsettled me deeply #a wizard is known by their secrets #theory: Eioghorain found out that Steel was feeding info to the Citidel/Empire hence why he disappeared #wbn #worlds beyond number #the witch the wizard and the wild one #suvirin kedberiket #the wizard steel

[plantmommoonbaby]

... I wanna believe Steel. I really, really, really do...

... and yet.

#wbn: www #wbn spoilers #worlds beyond number spoilers #worlds beyond number #the wizard sky #the wizard steel

[whoopseydaisy]

Thinking so much about Steel and Grandma Wren as foils. About their positions on the spectrums of knowledge and understanding. Secrets and trust. Authority and responsibility.

#wbn #worlds beyond number #the wizard the witch and the wild one #the wizard steel #grandma wren #when the ep 23 transcript drops i’m going to make some quote collages

[juha-art]

Suvi & Steel look like such badasses in the new art. but we know what's really going on there

@quiddie

#worlds beyond number #wbn pod #suvirin kedberiket #aabria iyengar #wbn fanart #wbn spoilers #wbn steel #steel wbn #juha-art #IM SOOO EXCITED let's goooo girlies. have fun. princess warcrimes (and her mom- general warcrimes) are done with your spirits bullshit #they're coming to fuck you up wizard style