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acre-of-wheat · 1 year

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Everyone ready for an unhinged theory about The Gales from Willow 2022?

So obviously they’re a dark mirror for our protagonists, and they function like a lot of teams of baddies in media-- they tie up each character in combat scenes by either having skills that subvert what the heroes are good at, or are simply just better at the same skills the heroes have.

Have a fast and dexterous fighter like Kit? Throw the Scourge at her and it overpowers anything she throws at it. Have a knight commander in full armor? Toss the Lich at him and have it bamf out of existence every time he swings his sword at it.

But I think there’s more to them than being battle foils for the characters. When Elora and Kit are hemmed in by the Gales and Airk, he tells them that the Gales are, “not what you think they are.”

So much of Willow has to do with the past, and choices, visions and alternate futures, recursions and cursed blood. I think that the Gales actually are our heroes, from a time when they gave into the Crone’s temptations.

Spoilers under the cut.

The Lich / Graydon Hastur

There’s a lot going on with Graydon.

First, his scar. I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s something magic going on here, and my guess is that it is a seal meant to prevent whatever possessed Graydon in the first place from popping out again.

I’m going to hazard a guess that whatever is still inside him is where his magic comes from. Magic apparently comes in several colors, but it does seem to at least partially relate to who is casting it, and what the spell is.

Willow and Elora’s natural colors are green, which you can see in the training montages and in Elora’s battle with the crone. Red appears to be pretty obviously bad.

Something happens to Elora’s magic color when she casts a Nekotic spell the Crone taught her though. The color turns darker, and goes blue.

Graydon’s “natural” spell color seems to be purple, and it doesn’t change based on what he casts, even when he fights the Crone and uses a spell that sounds very Nekotic.

I think it’s only a matter of time before the influence of the Wyrm makes Graydon’s spell work go fully red.

I also think his scar/seal is spreading. During the trek across the shattered sea, Graydon begins to learn magic. We know from Willow that magic takes a toll on the body, and we see that a bit with Graydon during a conversation with Elora.

She tells him not to scratch at something, and Graydon pulls his shirt aside to look, very carefully not revealing what it is. It’s worth noting that this is not on the side that he was injured on, so it’s not that “acting up.” Instead, I think it’s the seal spreading as he uses more and more magic, thinning the line between him and whatever possessed him.

If the scar continues to spread, perhaps Graydon might come to look like the Lich that we know-- covered completely in scar tissue.

The Doom / Jade Claymore

This is the one that initially got the gears turning, and all because of the weapons involved.

Throwing stars are only used by two characters in the show, and it seems like such an odd choice. Not daggers, axes, or javelins, but throwing stars. The Bone Reavers and the Tir Asleen knights don’t seem to use them, so they’re not a cultural practice that Jade might be familiar with. They aren’t used in the original movie either. Jade uses them once in battle, and then once during a training scene which doesn’t seem to have any story significance other than to remind us that she has them.

The only other character to use such a distinctive weapon is the Doom, when attacking the silt sleigh.

Because we’re talking about weapons, it’s worth noting that the Doom dual wields metal whips. Until the last episode, the only one of our heroes to dual wield her weapons is Jade, when she uncouples her sword from its staff/sheath

Speaking of distinctive, the Doom’s dark metal face plate is pretty unique, but we do know another character who wears a face mask into battle-- a battle that took some of Jade’s innocence with it.

I also really like the symbolism of the Doom’s first fight being with Kit and Sorsha, the very people Jade is most adamant about protecting.

The Dag / Kit Tanthalos

This one feels like a fairy-tale curse. What does Kit’s dream mother offer her? Freedom, a chance to go wherever she wants. In the usual wicked twist of irony, why not make that freedom both symbolic and literal by transforming her into a bird creature? Rootless, homeless, chasing after who she used to be and the girl she used to love.

The Scourge / Thraxus Boorman

This one doesn’t have much to go on-- they’re both tall, beefy dudes? The only thing that might be symbolic is that we know Boorman would rather jump off the edge of the world than have an intimate conversation-- what better way to avoid intimacy than to have a spiked cage around your head?

#willow #kit tanthalos #jade claymore #elora danan #graydon hastur #thraxus boorman #willow spoilers #willow 2022

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holdmecloser-gandydancer · 11 months

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@blupjeansweek May 30th: Bones

Note: please be aware this particular piece deals with character death and extended observations on human decomposition

Humidity hangs heavy in the air as the river lazily moseys by. The sky’s marred by a bloated cloud full of discontent. All life in the area seems to have better things to do than bask in the dark, sunless afternoon. Certainly, the lich floating by doesn’t help with their unease.

He’s been growing fonder and fonder of the slow life, living on the edges of civilization. Fewer people interrogating him on what kind of discord he plans to sow. (None. He’s just a lich. Leave him alone). However, he grows weary of seeing only the few hundred feet of the cave he’s taken to calling home. There’s only so long he can study his tomes; his whole life was devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, to becoming an accomplished wizard. The preeminent necromantic scholar. A lich.

What all the writings fail to mention is what you’re meant to do after. He was so consumed by seeing if he could do it that he failed to have a plan for when he did. He supposes he never really expected to succeed. He supposes now he ought to keep testing and honing his power.

He prefers taking walks in the sun-dappled woods.

On days like this, he can almost feel the wind on his skin.

What he can definitely feel is this odd pull downriver. It’s been creeping on him like kudzu all morning; gently at first, but now all encompassing. It’s hard to describe, this pull. The best he can liken it to is how the first tome that held information about becoming a lich felt in his hand. Like whatever it is he discovers at this source will fundamentally change his life.

Preposterous.

But can it really hurt to follow this pull? Not like his calendar is overflowing with appointments.

So he does. For some hours, it feels as though he’s just wandering aimlessly through the woods; maybe that’s what he’s doing, chasing some phantom sensation. But he has to believe that it’s something more than that. He’s got an awful lot staked on the strength of his belief now, might as well test it.

He becomes less sure of himself the closer he gets. If he were corporeal, he’s certain his feet wouldn’t let him go any further. There’s some kind of tangible pressure on his chest, as though some unseen force is trying to keep him at bay. The unseen force beckoning him forward is stronger.

And so he continues his pursuit of the unknown.

But as he comes upon a pond that the river feeds into, he’s convinced he was better off ignorant.

Back by the treeline, he sees something at the far end of the pond, floating on the glassy surface. His stomach twists; it looks like a dead swan. Beautiful creatures. He’s not sure that he’s ever seen one this close.

He’s at the edge of the pond when he realizes his mistake. Floating serenely on the pond’s surface is a pallid corpse.

If he doesn’t look too closely, it isn’t a corpse. Could just be a sunbather. But no. No.

He has half a mind to turn back immediately. But that damned force that has been dragging him here all day won’t let him leave that easy.

He can’t leave her there to the elements. Gods only know what kind of creatures lay below the surface, ready to make a meal out of her. He supposes that’s the circle of life, but he can’t be party to that. His mother raised him better than that.

It’s with a great deal of effort that he gets her to shore. Clever spellwork only slightly improves the ordeal; he’s trying to be delicate, as well. No, she can’t feel a bump or scrape now, but shouldn’t we all be given some softness in death?

Maybe becoming a lich has also turned him into a loon. But she’s out of the pond, laying waterlogged on the bank. After a moment’s hesitation, he gathers a handful of orange and blue and pink flowers growing in small clumps near the water and places them around her.

This whole thing feels perverse. He doesn’t know her. He knows nothing about her. But it feels important, not letting her go unacknowledged in death.

So he sits near the bank beside this unknown corpse. He makes several false starts at a speech, but decides that he ought not to.

He sits beside this unknown corpse for so long that time goes a little soupy. He’s not sure where this kind of unflinching duty to sit sentinel at her side has come from, but he’s hardly the type to question.

It’s after a few days that her hair appears to fall out in clumps.

And a few days more when she’s a myriad of colors not unlike the flowers Barry set beside her.

And more days and more days and more days until Barry is no longer sitting next to a pallid corpse or an exquisite garden or decay, but a collection of pale bones.

He’s staring again, he’s certain. The smattering of bones look like inkblots to him. A ladder here, still a damned swan there, a fiddle here still.

Because it’s remarkable how easy it is to go from breastbone to fiddle. Perhaps you’ve never considered.

Barry had certainly never considered that.

There’s a first time for everything, though.

There’s something to be said about wanting to remain a student forever. We all like to believe ourselves to be great students of the world, never tiring of learning.

That’s all well and good when learning botany or woodworking or poetry.

Less good when you're a student of death magic.

He likes to think he was normal once, though when you devote all your time to ghastly rituals with ghoulish components, you likely relinquish your right to normalcy.

However normal he was once doesn’t matter, now that he’s staring peculiar in the eye. Rather, the neck. And the body. And other fiddle pieces.

He’s crafted a fiddle from the hair and breastbone and other bones of that poor woman. Which sounds exquisitely bad just saying it outright. But it’s part of the bylaws of lichdom, collecting and creating macabre memorabilia.

He’s certain that this takes the cake and not just for the sheer fact of what it is.

This fiddle he has crafted is cursed.

That’s impolite. Cursed probably isn’t the correct adjective. Barry knows he’s no great violinist, however he doesn’t believe that a lack of skill is the source of his unease regarding the instrument he has created.

This fiddle he has crafted only plays a single song.

He’s tried little lullabies his mother used to sing to him, catchy earworms he’s heard bards perform in taverns, depressing funeral dirges. Nothing sticks. Everything is this dreadful song that sounds like the howling wind and pouring rain.

This fiddle he has crafted sings a mournful song of how she died.

The song is slow and haunting, it tells tale of a man she and her brother traveled with and trusted for over a year. Their trust was misplaced. They all worked odd jobs together. Evidently his plan was to poison them both and escape with all their money and belongings, but his plan didn’t quite work the way he planned.

This fiddle he has crafted was overcome with grief at the loss of her brother.

She did all she could to make him well. To bring him back. And it was all in vain. The traveling companion long gone, she simply wailed and wailed until her heart gave out. Her wail still rides the wind. Her tears fell like rain.

This fiddle he has crafted succumbed to a broken heart.

This fiddle he has crafted has unfinished business.

This fiddle he has crafted will only sing a single song.

It takes time to acquire all the necessary components.

Each night, before his facsimile of sleep, Barry plays the fiddle. And each night the fiddle repeats its mournful refrain of the dreadful wind and rain.

And one night, when each and every ritual requirement is met, his fiddle is no more.

On that night, he meets an elf named Lup.

He listens to her story, a reprise of a now familiar tune.

On this night, he makes a promise to her. A promise to help restore her brother.

And it is a promise he intends to keep.

#blupjeans #blupjeans week 2023 #blupjeans week #reese writes #barry bluejeans #lup #taz #taz balance #i really like this one i think :3

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owlpellet · 9 months

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*Eyes emoji* what kind of books does Niram like? Does he have any phobias/triggers because of his upbringing? How did he and his mother handle/react to being separated, and how old was he when it happened? How did he get the scar on his lip? What is Niram passionate about? (Of course feel free to disregard or pick and choose if too many!)

!!!

ANSWERS EM ALL

Niram likes all books. Going in with an awareness that authors can have biases, he sees value in every text as some kind of insight into the world around him, which was pretty necessary to have when growing up in captivity. All he had to do as a child was read. Even though he's still young, I gave him the Sage background because of his voracious readership and ability to navigate shelves to find what he's looking for. Historical texts are his favorite, especially first-person journals, because these are often where the most interesting details are hidden. Even though he enjoys fiction, he's kind of put himself on an educational crunch that doesn't allow for much time to sit back and enjoy a novel for a few hours. Being that he plans for immortality, he probably has a mile-long reading list for when he finally has the time.

Aside from the obvious fear of premature death, which would both end his plans to save his family and return his corpse to the liches for raising (maybe, he has contingencies with friends)... needles take a lot of convincing for him. Or they would, if they ever came up, but luckily he hasn't had to deal with that yet. He's not the type to panic and melt down over something but he will clam up, withdraw, and get very terse if he's nervous. He mostly embraced the macabre outlook of his keepers, as fascinated by their experiments as they were to some extent, but a needle in his direction has too many times lead into something traumatizing.

Neither of them handled their separation well and both of them pretty quickly made their own resolutions to take control of their lives. He was around 10 when they were separated, which left him very impressionable to his surroundings-- he got into his head pretty quickly that the most powerful thing you can be is a lich, and if he was ever going to stand toe-to-toe against them, he would have to become one of them. This goal hasn't wavered. They were not the first to be separated, and I think Amygdala has been trying to coax other captive drow into doing something from the inside, because the biggest difference between Niram and every other drow separated from their parents in the Tower is he's a ✨player character✨.

His scar came from a bone devil they summoned and perma-killed with Yuri's axe (the perdition blade consumes fiend souls, meaning they die-die and don't return to their plane if he gets the killing blow). I forget the name of the ability because we just kept yelling BOOONE STOOORM but it was a swirling bone shard AOE, and it ended up catching him with a crit. He has a few more slicey scars from it not on his face, too. The things he does for love. And also because he wanted the bones.

Niram's passion is his academic pursuits, although he does suffer a bit from maybe being too passionate about too many pursuits and struggling to commit to just a few. I think digging in a little deeper one might find that his passions are specifically for patterns, waves, lines, shapes, movement, math/geometry, etc.-- magic came easy to him because he was able to intuit the flows of energy and the patterns of spellwork, he is a gifted artist, and he recently picked up music very easily. He would probably be great at coding and textiles.

#thank you wow!!!#much to think about

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monstersdownthepath · 1 year

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Spiritual Spotlight: Orcus, the Prince of Undeath

Chaotic Evil Demon Lord of Death, Necromancy, and Wrath

Domains: Chaos, Death, Evil, Magic Subdomains: Demon, Divine, Murder, Undead

The Complete Book of the Damned, pg. 84~85 The art, however, is from Magic the Gathering, since Orcus’ illustration in the BotD is... laughable.

Obedience: Grind a half-pound of bones from the skeleton of a sentient creature, mix with water to create a gray paste, and then eat it at the end of a long recitation of prayers to Orcus. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against death and negative energy effects.

Bet a few of you are surprised to see this lad make it to Pathfinder, eh? Orcus is one of the very few Demon Lords that survived the transition into Paizo’s creations roughly intact without any significant changes, though to Paizo’s credit they’ve stepped further and further away from using OGL content as time has gone on. Orcus suffers a bit from this, as his presence on Golarion is noted to be “remarkably low” due to the prevalence of more popular gods of undeath like Urgathoa, Kabriri, and Zura. Not helping his case is the fact that Orcus holds liches in the highest regard, zombies and skeletons and Constructs made of undead parts in second place, most other forms of undead in one big lump in the middle, ghosts below that lump, ghouls below ALL of those... and vampries in dead last, the “parasitic” undead seen as vermin, creatures to be mocked and shunned as though they were lepers, by Orcus and his flock.

But we’re not here to discuss the unique philosophies of the Prince of Undeath, are we? We’re here to examine the statistical benefits of worshiping a god who wishes to extinguish all free thought and lord over a nation of silent dead! And we start off with quite a benefit here for not much effort! Just a little smack of cannibalism, because it wouldn’t be a god of undeath without it. The average human skeleton weighs roughly 20 pounds (I bear the burden of this question in my search history so you don’t have to), which means one complete pile of bones will last you over a month if you need it to. Half a pound of bones is quite lean for an Evil god, letting you get away with carrying around sacks of bones without anything really identifying them as humanoid. Just a bag of vertebra, or long bones from the arms or legs, or a fractured ribcage and skull fragments, and even inquisitive town guards will have little to go on when they’re waved off as bones taken from animals for soup stock or crafting material. Hell, take up scrimshaw to really sell the illusion AND make your character cooler in one go!

The best part? They don’t even HAVE to be human bones! They can come from ANY sapient creature! Dragons, Magical Beasts, Aberrations, anything with an Int of 3 or more is your Hearty Breakfast! And there’s even LESS of a chance of you being outed as an evil monstrous freak because of that! And, to top it all off, the recitations to Orcus can be easily disguised as prayers to a more mainstream faith if someone crawls up to you and listens too closely.

The benefit is decent. Death AND negative energy effects crop up only occasionally, but having protection from them isn’t something you should ever turn down, given the fact death effects tend to... well, be deadly. However, this benefit loses almost all of its bite in an Evil vs Good campaign, as Good-aligned creatures aren’t likely to be throwing around Inflict Critical Wounds and Finger of Death... but if you’re regularly going up against other Evil creatures--and ESPECIALLY Evil Undead--this bonus will give you an incredible advantage against them.

Boons are acquired slowly: the first once you reach 12 hit dice, the second at 16, and the third at 20. However, the Evangelist, Exalted, and Sentinel Prestige Classes can be entered as early as level 7; doing so grants you the Boons at levels 10, 13, and 16 instead. Servants of demons may also take the Demoniac Prestige Class; you don’t get the Boons any faster than E/E/S, but you may select which set you want, and you get cool demon-related powers!

------- EVANGELIST -------

Boon 1: Power of Death. Gain Inflict Light Wounds 3/day, Death Knell 2/day, or Animate Dead 1/day.

We’ve been over the likes of Inflict Light Wounds and Death Knell before, with the latter having a function that’s too overly narrow for my liking. If you want to use a standard action to execute an enemy, just walk up and stab them! Though, like every time I’ve mentioned before, Death Knell does shine against creatures with Regeneration or abilities like Ferocity and Diehard that you otherwise have no means to easily kill.

Inflict Light Wounds is basically worthless as damage by the time you get it, useful only as a quick patch-up job for any ally of yours healed by negative energy... Like the veritable army of zombies you’re going to create thanks to Orcus being kind enough to give you Animate Dead as a spell-like ability. Without the restriction of the expensive material components cost, you can freely raise an endless number of zombies in your thrall and completely, utterly shatter action economy for the rest of the campaign, something you may want to consider NOT doing for the sake of your DMs sanity.

Animate Dead allows you to command 4 HD of zombies or skeletons per caster level you have, typically allowing you 36 HD of additional allies by the time you achieve this spell, more than enough to raise the bodies of all the hapless commoners you just slaughtered and unleash them upon the survivors. The standard action casting time is especially heinous when it requires nothing more than a thought to activate the spell, letting you immediately turn the site of an enemy’s slaughter on its head

If you want to be a bit more economical (and more game-breaking), you may be able to convince your DM to use the expanded rules and double the HD of a specific corpse or two to make them rise as Bloody Skeletons, unkillable Undead that rise from their mangled remains an hour after being destroyed. They make excellent recurring siege engines, rising from their destruction again and again to work at a single task until it’s complete. The same expanded Animate Dead rule allows you to create Burning Skeletons, which set all they touch alight, Plague Zombies, which carry a lethal infection that creates more free zombies for you, and Fast Zombies, which move with supernatural swiftness and can attack more often.

It boggles my mind thinking of all the uses for Animate Dead as a spell-like, especially for a character in service to Orcus, who wouldn’t have much of a moral stance against killing small villages they cross to add to a hideous undead army. The only limit is the HD leash, but even that just means the zombies and skeletons wander off to do their own thing, they aren’t destroyed!

Boon 2: Destined for Undeath. You are damaged by positive energy and healed by negative energy, as if you were Undead; the bonus on saving throws granted by your Obedience applies against positive energy effects instead of negative energy effects (you retain the bonus on saving throws against death effects). In addition, you gain immunity to exhaustion, fatigue, and nonlethal damage, and you gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against death effects, diseases, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poisons, stunning, and effects that cause damage, drain, or penalties to your physical ability scores.

hm.

y’know, maybe working with a demon isn’t bad, actually.

The negative healing is a pretty hefty downside if you’re trying to pretend to be a good person, though. If you’re not AND you have access to an Evil Cleric or similar, you’re perfectly fine. Antipaladins can give you a big chunk of health via their Touch of Corruption, and you no longer have to worry about being caught in the blast of your friend’s Channel Energy. You can even heal yourself with the Inflict Light Wounds from the first Boon, if you need!

It is, honestly, just a small roadbump when compared to getting... well, what is basically a +4 flat bonus to your saving throws. The sheer number of status effects this ability protects you from covers almost every indirect avenue of attack an enemy could possibly level at you, and since it’s an UNTYPED bonus it will stack with everything else you grant yourself (which means you have a +8 to saves versus death effects!), making it VERY hard to get any ailment to truly stick if you use even minor additional enchantments. Constructs and Undead are typically balanced by the fact they die at 0 HP instead of going unconscious, but you have the benefits of undeath without the downside!

The most important note here is that it guards against any status ailment that would affect your physical ability scores, anything that affects mental ability scores can slip under this ability’s protection! ... provided it’s not mind-affecting, of course, since you ARE warded against those as well.

This is an incredibly strong defensive bonus kept in check by its lack of scaling, preventing you from relying on it alone. As you level up you should be scaling it up through other sources, because again, an untyped bonus will stack with everything! The biggest downside is that if you ever DO become an Undead, as your god encourages, this becomes a blank Boon. But by then you’re an intelligent Undead with an army at your disposal, so it balances out.

Side note: immunity to nonlethal damage technically means you no longer have to eat or drink (or at least can fast without consequence), so take that as you will.

Boon 3: Word of Finality: 1/day, you can cast Power Word Kill as a spell-like ability. However, it becomes a Necromancy [death] effect, not an Enchantment (mind-affecting) [compulsion] effect.

Power Word Kill is an interesting spell. especially if you get it two levels earlier than other casters. With no saving throw, you instantly snuff out the life of a living creature with 100 or less HP, letting you bypass any normal death-prevention the creature may have (Diehard/Ferocity, Regeneration, etc). As most NPC people won’t have HP approaching that amount, using it as an intimidation tactic is especially viable if you don’t mind blowing a powerful 1/day for style points.

Side note: while normally spell-likes have no components, Word of Finality’s description states it requires you to speak “a single word of unfathomable dark power,” so people WILL know you’ve used it.

The downsides of Power Word Kill, and all the other Power Word spells, are painfully known and talked to death. The biggest one is that, aside from extremely specific and narrow-use spells or magic items, tracking an enemy’s HP is more or less impossible. The best you can do is ask the DM how rough the monster’s looking or keep a running tally of numbers you’ve dealt in combat so far and take a guess (HINT: Most creatures hovering around CR 15~16 range have between 150~250 HP, with it rising by an average of 40 per CR), but as many will note: 100 HP is not a lot to cut through by the time you’ve reached level 12 or so and have a decent few DPS players. At level 15, 100 HP represents approximately 1 round of work once the team sets up, but sometimes you NEED to shut down an enemy at 100 HP immediately and with no saving throw, such as if its turn is coming up next and it’s about to kill everyone else in the room. Don’t think of it as saving just one round, think of it as saving the turns of your 3~5 allies so they can deal with any OTHER hazard in the room.

There was also the fact that, as a mind-affecting effect, almost every creature worth using it on likely had some level of defense against it, especially since Mind Blank starts showing up around this time. Changing it from a mind-affecting effect to a Necromancy effect is a double-edged sword, as it allows the spell to affect far more creatures than it could before... But, as a death effect, it’s actually easier to defend against (with Death Ward) and has a harder and harder time striking down boss-level enemies as your power grows. It’s best used for mopping up lesser enemies during big battles and, again, intimidating civilians.

------- EXALTED -------

Boon 1: Necromancer’s Secrets. Gain Detect Undead 3/day, Command Undead 2/day, or Vampiric Touch 1/day.

As is the usual for Evil deities based around death and destruction, these first few gifts are only really useful if you yourself are frequently fighting other Evil creatures. If you’re in an Evil vs Good campaign, you’ll likely never actually get to use Detect/Command Undead, seeing as how creating zombies is typically something Good people don’t do. They also require a bit of foresight; you’re unlikely to know exactly what you’re going to face in a given day unless you have advanced information (or are, like, heading into a tomb), meaning there’s a chance you may simply take the wrong spell.

Command Undead’s name isn’t exactly indicative of its function; it’s more like Charm Monster in that intelligent Undead suddenly become your bestest friends forever for the spell’s duration... which is one DAY per level, meaning getting an extremely lucky shot on a Lich or a Nightshade may simply bring a climactic encounter to a crashing halt as the party gains a new weapon. Just... just don’t let them cast Dispel Magic on themselves.

UNintelligent Undead receive no saving throw and are entirely dominated by the spell’s effect, but can’t receive orders more complicated than “go here” or “attack that thing.” I do appreciate that commanded zombies can be ordered to destroy themselves before the spell’s duration runs out, but with its massive duration and the option to just recast it over and over, that likely won’t be much of an issue.

You can’t really go wrong with Vampiric Touch, in the end! A simple melee touch attack siphons 4d6 (+1d6 per 2 levels you have) damage and grants you half of what you deal as temporary HP. It works against everything and tends to give you enough HP to afford tanking the AoO to leave the enemy’s threat radius (unless you want to be there in the first place).

Boon 2: Invoke Death. 1/day, you can cast Slay Living as a spell-like ability. A creature slain by this spell immediately rises from death as a Juju Zombie. The Zombie is not under your control, but it will not attack you.

I mean... Slay Living is alright. It’s 12d6+13 typeless damage which grows by 1 per level. It works against any living target and the fact it’s typeless lets it bypass elemental resistance... but it’s a touch attack AND a successful Fortitude save (which is often the highest save a given creature has) cuts its impressive damage track down to 3d6+level instead, damage that’s okay but hardly worth writing home about. It’s also a death effect, making it utterly useless against many higher-tier foes you’ll begin facing at this point (consolation ribbon: it only works on living creatures, so you never have to run into the frustration of wasting it on Constructs or Undead).

And it’s even a once per day for the extra kick in the teeth! The second half of this ability isn’t even particularly juicy; Juju Zombies retain all of their abilities, memories, and even their personality, and get a suite of new powers, resistances, and ability score increases on top of it all. Since the resurrection happens immediately on death, it can actually be a huge disadvantage to use in combat, because all you may end up doing is giving your enemy a phase 2 as they pull themselves back to their feet with a new healthbar and new powers. The stipulation that they can’t attack you has no expiration date, presumably meaning they cannot harm you directly at all, but they have no reason to serve you and in fact may still hate you viciously. They can’t attack you, but they can attack your allies, and they can certainly escape to set up a plot that allows them to kill you without ever directly attacking.

Good thing you have Command Undead, right? That’ll go a long way to swaying your enemies to your side... or you can skip out on all that nonsense entirely and realize that you now have the power to raise your allies as Juju Zombies that are incapable of betraying you. Remember what I said about your enemies getting a Phase 2? Well what about giving one to your Fighter, who’s on his last few drops of HP? Your service is not yet over. Blast the last few bits of HP off them and give them a second health bar, a new coat of paint, and a tireless body. Then, if they for whatEVER reason don’t like the body you’ve so graciously given them, they can be slain again and raised as normal later when the team is safe. Really, using it on an enemy feels like a waste.

... Y’know, as written, there’s nothing stopping you from using this ability on yourself.

Boon 3: Call the Dead. 1/day, you can summon a Nightwing, 1d3 Devourers, or 1d4+1 Advanced Mohrgs as if you had cast Summon Monster IX.

A Nightwing is a terrifying, bat-like phantasm and member of the Nightshade family of monsters, horrors born in the deepest reaches of the Negative Energy Plane. They are pure death incarnate, and it says something when the weakest Nightshade, the Nightprowler, is CR 10. Nightwings are CR 14, monstrous flying creatures with a swath of powerful supportive spell-likes and an incredibly damaging bite attack (4d10+18 +4d6 Cold and a dispel attempt on any creature or item they bite) that vastly amplify how effective even a small army of zombies can be.

All Nightshades produce an aura of desecrating magic that empowers Undead in the area and vastly amplifies the number of Undead that can be raised with a single spell, AND they’re able to channel negative energy as a Cleric; Nightwings specifically can channel 7d6 points of negative energy eight times a day, letting them patch up your whole army at once. Even if you don’t have a party or army of Undead, the Nightwing can still offer bonuses like Haste, Greater Dispel Magic, Deeper Darkness, Invisibility, and 1/days like Cone of Cold and Finger of Death. The problem is that you’ll have to make your army the old-fashioned way, as Nightwings cannot create Undead and you don’t get Animate Dead for free by being Exalted. You gotta spend actual money!

Of the options presented, the Devourers hardly factor in. They only stick around for a few rounds, certainly not enough to take advantage of their spell-likes like Animate Dead, Bestow Curse, and Suggestion, and especially since they need to eat first. Given they come into play with an empty tank, they’re basically melee-only creatures who, at their best, deal 12d6+18 damage to a living target... and at worst, deal only 3d6+18, which again is restricted only to living targets. Typically, by the time they snap up a worthwhile soul that lets them use their powers effectively, their duration is almost up. The fact you could end up only summoning one is also a major factor, because when that danger is possible, why not summon the Nightwing? It’s more powerful and it doesn’t need fuel to run.

Which leaves the Mohrg... 1d4+1 of them. That’s upwards to five bodies to get in the way of your foes, each of which can force a DC 23 Fortitude save to paralyze a target for minutes at a time? Even boss-level foes can fail those when they’re having to make five of them a round. Mohrg aren’t especially resilient creatures, but they’re basically two to five castings of Hold Monster every round for nearly two minutes, and really, that’s significantly better than anything the Devourer can offer you. Plus, their ability to create Fast Zombies out of anything they kill means you can loose them on a hapless population to stir absolute, unholy chaos... all without revealing it was you, because remember: Spell-likes have no components!

------- SENTINEL -------

Boon 1: Abyssal Rage. Gain Doom 3/day, Sound Burst 2/day, or Rage 1/day.

Nnnnot an especially strong showing to start. The first two are negated by saves, and spell-likes all scale off Charisma; unless you’re dumping points into your Cha as a martial character for some reason, that means Doom and Sound Burst are unlikely to make the impact. While I’m not normally harsh on spells like this being given to the Sentinel, the fact of the matter is the impact they’d have even if the enemy somehow did fail its save is too low to matter anyway. If you had to pick between the two, the potential mass-stun from Sound Burst surpasses anything Doom could ever do.

I’m not the biggest fan of Rage, either. The combat bonus it gives will stop mattering in another level or so, though in the fairness to the spell it is a morale bonus, thus stacking with enhancement bonuses, alchemical bonuses, etc. It’s hard to be mad at +1 to attack and damage rolls and +1 HP/level across all your front- and midliners, though it’s not likely to turn the tide of whatever battle you’re in. It’s more of a tiny, useful bonus than the game-changers I like to see as 1/days.

Boon 2: Aspect of the Prince. You can cast Divine Vessel 1/day as a spell-like ability, but only to assume a Fiendish Aspect. Instead of gaining two claw attacks from this fiendish aspect, you gain a gore attack that deals 2d6 points of damage.

Now this is a game-changing 1/day! Divine Vessel is a spell that ONLY Oracles get to use naturally, and for a damn good reason: because giving it to a martial character like yourself would be downright bonkers. I mean, +8 to Str, +6 to Con, +3 AC, Spell Resistance 12 + your caster level, AND you and all of your equipment increased by 1 size category. Your space and reach go up, and the Fiendish Aspect specifically grants you a fly speed, See In Darkness, DR 10/Good, and 10 Resistance to Acid, Cold, and Electricity.

You go from a warrior to a titan, unburdened by the Oracle’s lack of heavy armor, 3/4ths BAB, and lack of weapon proficiencies. For those who don’t want to do quick math, the spell gives +4 to attack and damage rolls, +3 HP per level and +3 to Fort saves, SR 23 (+1 per level), 10ft of space AND reach, plus the added damage from your weapon size going up (melee only; ranged weapons aren’t affected), AND FLIGHT... You’re a problem that’s impossible to ignore, and perhaps impossible for some foes to surmount, considering DV is an 8th level spell that you’re getting five levels early, at a point where 20+ SR gives you around a 25% to 50% chance to ignore a spell outright, including any attempt to dispel your buff.

With a duration of “one entire boss battle,” I can think of few weapons more terrifying in the hands of a full-martial character like the Sentinel, and it’s a hell of a step up from most 2nd Boons that Sentinels get from the majority of deities we’ve seen! How generous! What’s the catch, Orcus?

Boon 3: Wand of Orcus. 1/day as a swift action upon successfully hitting a creature with a melee attack with a heavy mace, you can cast Slay Living on that creature. You must be wielding a heavy mace when you utilize this ability—while the heavy mace can itself be magical, it can’t be one that bears any form of lawful or good magic (such as a Holy Weapon) or one that has particular power over undead (such as an Undead Bane or Disrupting weapon).

Wow! That’s quite the catch! So once a day you can tack a burst of 12d6+16 damage to one attack against a living creature? And a successful save reduces it to just 3d6+16? How... generous of our Lord of Death!

It’s ironic to me that the Sentinel’s third Boon is essentially the same as the Evangelist’s second (with the small but still notable bonus of taking your swift action rather than standard), and coming off the heels of such an impressively powerful buff, too. It feels... well, it feels bad that your ultimate reward for being a warrior of undeath is a 5th level spell once per day. It’s an alright spell, sure; the dice average adds up to about 44, plus a flat amount equal to your level for a total average of 60 damage. But... once a day. AND the victim can make a save to make it go from 44 average to 12 average. Power Word Kill is, technically, a flat 100 damage with no saving throw allowed. and the summoned Nightwing or the swarm of Mohrg are a huge force multiplier.

Oh, and it only works on living targets. Compared to those two, this Boon is a severe letdown. You don’t even reanimate the idiot you kill! Terrible way to treat your most devoted warriors, Orcus!

You can read more about him here.

#Spiritual Spotlight #Sinister Spotlight #Pathfinder #Dungeons and Dragons

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maybemanyskeletonhats · 2 years

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Idk if this was done but the elves love languages? Also love your writing lol.

Can't wait for people to make connections...insert buzzfeed meme.

Sotha Sil would likely be acts of service. Even doing things he knows the person he cares for won't notice. He'll fill their drink for them, fold something for them. Maybe even warm a towel for them. He can be hard to understand sometimes due to his godhood. But he understands them and that's all he needs.

Vivec thrives on physical touch. After everything he and the hero has went through. He can't help but be close by. Whether it be leaning against them or putting his hand on their shoulder or back. He can be withdrawn and cryptic at times...but his heart is open.

Almalexia enjoys words of affirmation. Nothing motivates her more than words encouragement from her better half. She considers herself and her partner stronger together. Godhood aside. There's no other she believes in more.

Voryn Dagoth is quality time. There's much he can gain by just sitting silently with the person he cares about. No words, touches or gifts needed to tell them he loves them.

Mannimarco is best at gift giving. The rest this lich has a severe lacking in. But make no mistake if they are in a relationship with him of all mer...the Mannimarco...he loves them. Have no doubts. He'll move the earth bones if he has to prove it.

Neloth is also quality time. Although he occasionally grabs their hand or rests his head on their shoulder. He spends much of his time experimenting, and as far as he's concerned their opinion beside his own is most valuable.

Divayth Fyr is acts of service. He'll tend to their workspace. Tidying up for them, watering any plants they may have, making sure they eat and drink water. Begs the question of whether the hero is more reckless or him?

Teldryn Sero absolutely goes for physical touch. Indoor or outdoor matters little to him. Whether it's him linking their ankles when they sit. Leaning against them or letting them lay on him. Doesn't matter, he has a partner he cares greatly for.

Indoril Nerevar strives on acts of affirmation. Finding there is nothing more rejuvenating than his partner helping him when even he feels nervous. He wants to be able to lean on them, as they can lean on him. They are stronger together.

Ondolemar is gift giving. Everything he does may be reported to his superiors. But he doesn't care. He'll leave jewelry around for them all expensive and beautiful. (Don't know how he pays for it.) but good luck on him acknowledging it.

#the elder scrolls #elder scrolls morrowind #sotha sil #vivec #eso #almalexia #neloth #divayth fyr #teldryn sero #voryn dagoth #mannimarco #ondolemar #indoril nerevar

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tiefling-with-a-gun · 6 days

Text

Margot Thoughts #50

Hot or Not? The leaders of the 8 ranked from least to most attractive! By Margot Leroux

8. Bones Malone

Talk about unrealistic body standards! Not to mention the age gap between Mr. Malone and any mortal who might want to court him. Don’t trust him to come running to your aid when you need him, the only thing this lich fears more than commitment is his own mortality.

7. The Wire Witch

I’m not against voyeurism, but this may be a bit much. Now, there is something to be said about a woman who has become all but omnipresent over an entire building. But what do you do if you don’t want to come over to her place?

6. Eight Eyes Matriarchs

Being honest, I don’t have any strong opinions on these ladies. They’re a bit old for me, but I respect what they’ve got going on. That being said: trust is important in any relationship, and so the high priestesses of the goddess of treachery may not be the ideal partner for many.

5. Aurelia Ivoryclad

Listen. I like a big strong woman as much as the next girl, but there’s such a thing as too intense. With just a few sentences whispered into her ear from someone she should have known not to trust, this woman ended up declaring war on two gangs at once, for different reasons! When I think of my partner, I imagine someone who won’t kill me for saying one wrong word around them.

4. Captain Nessa

Now, this is a woman who knows how to get shit done. The captain strong, dependable, and knows how to take charge. Unfortunately, she’s a slaver, so if you have a strong sense of decency you might be put off. But if you can get past that, I’m sure you can’t go wrong with this badass pirate!

3. Damien Fire-Breath

Coming in third on this list, Damien is the highest ranked drow! He’s a pyromancer (the hottest form of magic) and he’s passionate about the city and its future! The only thing holding him back is that, unfortunately, while everyone likes a commie, nobody likes a cop.

2. The Ashen Ringmaster

I may have my own disagreements with him, but nobody can deny the Ashen Ringmaster has style. This is a man who knows how to give people what they want and, for a while, he can give you what you want too! Just be careful to read the fine print.

Astrea Lamplight

This Aasimar radiates perfection in every way! Charming, beautiful, passionate, smart, it boggles belief! Now, obviously there are some downsides. Her goal to take over the entire city, for example, could be ungenerously described as megalomaniacal. Her savior complex is also concerning. But, of all the people we’ve gone over, she’s by far the most attractive candidate.

#ladsposting

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ourobororos · 2 years

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so. bc its halloween season. what does everyone go as. i think that would be silly to know

GOOD QUESTION this took me so much thought.... so sorry for the long delay. im forcing them all to celebrate halloween <3 also open to suggestions

gio stumps me the most idk what he could be.. vampire is always a classic. something elegant and classy... what if we put cat ears on him (i am shot to death)

maxie and archie are so devil and angel to me. im convinced though BECAUSE BECAUSE maxie reminds me of a lizard and there is a desert lizard called the thorny devil.. and archie is a fish and theres little weird sea slugs called sea angels.. they could either dress as those animals or normal angel devil with those funny motifs <3 i think it would be cute and inchresting

cyrus would be a ghost with a sheet over his head idea courtesy of my good friend cy arcyrus... illustration provided

ghetsis should be something over the top and dramatic like a lich or warlock... more excuses to wear big flowy robes and laugh evilly at people and cast evil shadow skull curses on them

lysandre already has glowing bones so he can be a wraith or some ghastly thing wandering the halls mournfully... a phantom of the opera kind of thing would also suit him well LOL

#asks #apologies for how long it took to get to this ask i took so long plaguing over it and then i forgor abt it. sorry #at least i answered it before halloween </3

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francostrider · 1 year

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‘The Last of Us’ Was Not the First of Anything

With The Last of Us the Game the Series released, the conversation of whether or not this is the greatest game that ever gamed has come up once again. Its position was called into question due to the mixed reaction of its sequel in 2020, and while it still had defenders, people were a lot more open to discussing the original’s flaws. But there are still those who call it the greatest game ever, and award shows (a cancer upon entertainment) love to push that narrative.

As I maintain, this is subjective, and declaring anything the greatest is a shallow viewpoint of any medium and only serves to invalidate the whole rainbow of other works that are, ultimately, not comparable. The sequel was incredibly divisive for that simple fact. You cannot compare The Last of Us, a cover shooter with some expensive cutscenes, to more complex RPGs like Divinity Original Sin 2, or high octane action games like Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, or investigative titles like The Return of the Obra Din. Comparing them is like comparing a lawn mower to a cookie tray. I have not played The Last of Us, and while it may be a competently made game, it holds zero value to me. I’ve heard the praise (the cutscenes), and the criticisms (Ellie not being a factor in gameplay, gameplay is pretty derivative, etc.), but I’m not going to rip into it because it’s not part of the my world.

And fans of TLOU, don’t take that personally. Final Fantasy VII Remake also holds no value to me. As does Lisa: The Painful RPG, most Final Fantasy, Valkyrie Profile, Call of Duty, Fortnite or a lot of other popular franchises of today. I am occasionally surprised by something out of my usual repetiore, like Dawn of War, but with my limited time, I want to put my time to something I am interested in, and I’m well past the point of caring about hype. The games I criticize are the ones I wanted to care about (Fire Emblem Fates) and wanted to do better.

But let’s make something clear: The Last of Us was not a first on any given level.

We all know the meme of someone on Twitter saying that Video Games have been nothing but coin crunchers until TLOU. From my research the “showrunner” quoted (who had been left anonymous) does not exist, and the post was a joke to anger people. But I have gotten into arguments with people who claimed that The Last of Us was the first to be really “narrative focused”. Sadly, this was not the only example.

And, say, aren’t we forgetting a few? If you want to go back to narrative driven games, the earliest I can think of are adventure games, like the Monkey Island series. You know, back in the 80s, early 90s. RPGs (both western and Japanese), have been playing with dialogue and settings and character arcs since the NES days. But the one that comes to mind for myself is a little old game on the PS1 by Hideo Kojima.

Metal Gear Solid for a lot of people (including myself) was the first to put a lot of effort into its cutscenes. Not only that, but it was the first I played to put the voice talent onto center stage. When introduced to a new character, you are given the name of the character and the name of the voice actor behind it. As a kid, I did not think of the voice talent much before that game. Kojima not only wanted you to know the characters and their story, but the voices behind them.

On the shoulder of that game, you have Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. I was more aware of the voice talent coming into this game, but there are some significant details that marry gameplay with the story. Raziel is a fallen vampire, turned soul devouring lich. The bones were torn from his wings and he was cast into an abyss, killing him before an ancient being brings him back. In this form, he needs to devour souls to maintain himself in the living world, or else be forced back into the spectral realm. His torn wings can be used as an impromptu parachute to glide. Devouring greater vampires leads to new powers to allow him to progress further. The vampires need to be killed in specific ways, like water or fire.

The point is Soul Reaver matches the gameplay and story with very little segregation. You feel the world and Raziel’s character in ways most games neglect. There is no forgetting the narrative during its gamplay. This is not the only example of this, but it is one that will always stand out in my mind. And this was all the way back in 1999. This is a classic example of a narrative driven game.

The Last of Us was basically a logical next step of the trends of the time: cover based shooting, refinement of cutscenes and voice work, graphical touches, and so on. It did not break trends or set them. Spec Ops: The Line is very often compared to TLOU, and that came out the year prior, specifically to deconstruct the modern military genre of shooters. We’d seen zombies before, we’d seen main characters fall apart, we’d seen character arcs and we’d seen some real downers up to that point.

This is not to say you cannot enjoy The Last of Us or that the game itself is toxic. By all means, have fun. But what is toxic is the narrative surrounding it. Calling it the greatest does nothing for the gaming industry except decide an arbitrary standard (like the Oscars) of which games are worth looking at. It decrees that only when you’ve worked your animation staff to death will you draw the greater collective’s attention. It implies that every other kind of game is a waste of time. It erases gaming history for the sake of Oscar fueled spectacle.

And most of all, it harms the legacy of The Last of Us itself. This myopic, elitist attitude toward gaming does nothing for a game about the desperate and downtrodden. Because the buzz and hype has become so important to the game, it muddies the message. We do not live in a vacuum: Timing and exposure of a piece is important. One of these days, we’re going to look back on this game more soberly and call into question the culture around it.

Maybe we can finally quit this Oscar bait nonsense and spread the attention around. That would be a first.

#the last of us #sony ps4 #Legacy of kain #spec ops the line #Metal Gear Solid #Hideo Kojima

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sleidog · 1 year

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Questions for you!! Do any of your OCs have unique / special weapons that they always use, and if so what’s the backstory behind them? Also, is there any OC you’re especially proud of / happy with? ( — @astralarias )

yes! quite a few of them do, sometimes it's tied in to plot [Tai] other times it's tied into it being gifted or taken as a 'trophy' i'll go through the simplier ones first; Slei uses the warden's weapons [sylvari cultural tier 3] specifically a longbow and greatsword, though you'll rarely see me use them in combat since his in game self is specced to use a shortbow and axe/torch, which aren't pecific to him at all! he also can be seen with pact weapons sometimes and he has a bow gifted to him by De [bright inquisitors longbow] that he has mostly as a 'for show' weapon that he hasn't fired much Teo's weapons are all stolen or reclaimed/repurposed! in game he has the untamed hammer, but in my head it's literally just a chunk of metal that he's grown branches and vines over and turned into a weapon. that's the only weapon that he always has De's weapons are all gifts from clients, his favorite being a ritualists staff! he also has the endless ocean sword and dagger Aereus has a zodiac rifle that she LOVES but unfortunately a particularly grumpy crab grabbed the barrel and bent it during an excursion into Orr, now she hates shellfish lol Tai under the cut because it's a DOOZY

Tai's weapon/s have plot! he starts out with a simple staff, much like the common skins you see in tyria, a crystal on a stick basically! but when exploring Orr after Zhaitan's death, he comes across a dragon bone staff, it was incomplete, lacking the source of the glow in the eyes, but he thought it interesting enough to add to his growing collection of curios. during further excursions into Orr, the staff starts to rattle and shake in his hands as it it sensed something nearby. On further exploration, it found the body of a fallen dragon champion, reacting to something within it. Tai isn't shy about getting elbow deep in a corpse, and lost his sense of smell around the same time he was lich-ified, so eventually he unearths a rough gem stone that seems to be practically magnetized to the staff, it immediately wants to sit in one of the skull's eye sockets. intrigued, Tai lets it, and alter researches into the staff and it's possibly origins. he can't find anything remotely similar, and instead starts to research the presense of stones of power being formed inside immensely powerful creatures. finding nothing quite as remarkable with tyria's usual threats [besides some promising subjects from shatterer and the claw of jormag] he eventually shelves the project and intends to come back to it later. when he does, it's during the seige on Mordremoth's domain, and tai finds a second stone in the corpse of Adryn, fitting that they were the stavemaster! again, the gem magnetizes with the staff, and Tai goes on to work out what this means for him. years of research later, leads him to find that the two stones are related to the dragons that the champions came from. one stone for death, the other for mind. this results in tai having a staff that can, effectively, control weakminded undead [awakened are uneffected, unchained risen, however, are] and also the ability to steal the soul from a living or undead subject at the point of death. the souls held inside the staff can never outweight Tai's own power or the staff starts to get a will of it's own and turns on him! this ended up being his undoing when he went on a bit of selfish rampage in cantha, resulting in him abandoning his staff to the ocean and instead leaning towards the approach of a harbinger with a pistol to take out his intended target. later, my ex mortician character, Rui, comes across the staff during a fishing trip with his husband, rescognising it as Tai's old staff. Rui then makes it a personal mission to release and 'rehome' all of the spirits still trapped in the staff

#slei #teo #aereus #de #taibhseil #thank you for the ask!#i just did the weapons because it's already a lot x)

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kingcadaver · 11 months

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( CLAYTON CARDENAS, CIS MAN, HE/HIM ) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that SANTIAGO QUIJADA is a FORTY year old CULT LEADER that has been in Chicago for FORTY YEARS. According to government files, they’re a MUTANT on LEVEL THREE with the powers of LICH PHYSIOLOGY and NECROMANTIC POWER BESTOWAL. That must be why they’re METICULOUS and NARROW-MINDED. If you ask me, they remind me of RESENTMENT FESTERING LIKE AN INFECTED WOUND, SILK SHEEKS DRAPED OVER EVERY SURFACE, AND A THRONE MADE OF BONES. They are affiliated with THE CULT OF THE BLESSED.

background.

( tw: death )

when santiago was born, there were no signs of the darkness that was to come. by all accounts, he appeared to be almost perfectly ordinary, and was taken in to a family that was prepared to love him for that. the illusion for normalcy broke early on. at three, he resurrected a plant that had been killed by the drought, surprising ( and thrilling, for a time ) his parents. the power to give life had to be something holy, right? that illusion also died fast, when that same plant crumbled to dust after strangling the others in the garden with its thorny roots. when the rats returned with heads hanging by a thread. they didn’t come back right, as christ had—this was something evil.

both mother and father tried to instill some restraint in him, fearing it the devil’s taint. santiago pretended to heed his parents’ wishes, but secretly sought out opportunities to flex his gifts. he would trail for roadkill, pulling them back from violent deaths to return to navigate without the certain pain that would wrack them in life. deformed and rotting. while not dangerous to others, his creations sewed fear into his neighbors, many of which gave the supposedly cursed family ( and especially their freak of a son ) a wide berth. his only friends remained the creatures he brought back from the beyond.

it all came to head when he brought back a person. mangled from a car wreck he witnessed, he helped them out of a slower, more painful death and into the joys of unlife. but just as with everything else he brought back, they came back ill at odds with the world around them. the family of the victim, horrified, called for the restraint ( imprisonment, even ) of what they saw as the responsible party. before that could happen ( there was no precedent of this that they could find ) a different group butt into the situation—this time, in favor of the cursed child. they would take him under their wings to teach a responsibility that humanity had failed to instill.

although they didn’t realize it at the time, the sanctum of the stars reached out too little, too late. by that point, santiago didn’t care if what powers he bore were of the devil’s mark—the power he wielded was beyond the limiting mindsets of good and evil. all he craved was more, more, more. at first, this was a boon. he showed an interest in the history of mutation and what it could mean in his situation, and excelled at their attempts to hone in on his strange abilities... but when it came to responsibility, things began to fall apart. the sanctum and its teachers began to grow wary of him.

knowing of their mistrust ( seen as a refusal to accept ) santiago took matters into his own hands. he pulled away from the friends he had outside of the sanctum, growing darker and less pleasant to be around. everyone was an enemy, a snake in the grass waiting for the chance to pull him down into the mud. the creations he pulled up from the land of the dead grew equally as erratic... even aggressive toward the living. the sanctum knew that they had to act fast, before he could dare to sink his influence into humanity again... and do something truly dangerous.

he was locked down on the grounds, far enough underground that they thought he might not be able to manipulate his way out. a temporary measure, but one santiago took to great offense. for days, he refused any form of hospitality, focusing on the earth beneath him for anything he could use to escape. he found it in the skeleton of a creature almost as old as time, using its bones to break the foundations of his prison and escape into the night. from there, he went the only place he could think of —back home.

fearing the worst, the sanctum sent people after him. he was too dangerous to leave unchecked, even more so now that he had been locked away as he had. though they found him quickly, santiago had no intention of coming quietly. he fought and was struck down by the blows of someone more experienced, refusing to surrender... or to consider a peaceful resolution of the conflict. seemingly the end of a long tragedy, he was buried in a plot home to many of his family... but he didn’t die long.

santiago tore himself from the grave not long after his untimely death, changed for the worst. his blood glowed gold, the same color as his eyes. wicked claws replaced his once-smooth fingernails. any remaining light in his soul died when he was struck down, corrupted with hatred. he hunted down and killed the two agents that had been responsible for his death, taking their resurrected corpses into his own fold. now to do the same with the rest of their allies... and then, who knows? maybe the world.

quick facts.

the first creature he ever raised from the dead was a mouse that his parent’s cat had decapitated. fun times!

his phylactery is a necklace with a small emerald in it. he wears a fake around his neck, while the real one is kept somewhere safe.

has a cult he runs in his spare time! it’s a grift, as all cults are, so that he has a steady stream of souls to feed on. and also, fuck the living and whatever.

...bi ;)

has two thumbs on each hand, each ending in a wicked talon.

possible connections.

childhood friends: one or two people in the same age bracket that hung out as kids and bonded before... well, things happened. might end up submitting an official connection for this because it’s IMPORTANT! they would not be aware of his recent activities and probably assume he skipped town at some point post-sanctum.

liaisons: a few people that, for whatever reason, help him out. they may or may not know what he’s up to and his overall goals, would totally be up to the person!

enemies: pretty self explanatory, me thinks. priority to anyone with the sanctum. <3

anything else?: please love me.

#intros #i must hate myself

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