#doing everything he can to be a hero that Skyrim needs (he has no idea what he's doing. he's in panic 24/7)

[arrgh-whatever]

a little comic about my (and Pauk's) Skyrim experience

#in my mind Lydia is a voice of reason forced to do stupid things #and Pauk is a desperate guy trying his best to live up to people's expectations #doing everything he can to be a hero that Skyrim needs (he has no idea what he's doing. he's in panic 24/7) #and Barbas is just a four-legged douchebag (there's no way I'm going to return him)

[unseelie-grimalkin]

Updating the Record

Another "Episode" of Triona in Skyrim

So last time Saarthal happened and uh, it KEPT happening to our short Breton-

Book research about Saarthal is something Triona's very comfy with, and she starts to make some leads, going to confer with Tolfdir. He notes his observations to her, and she pens them down alongside her own notes when Ancano bursts through the door to the Hall of Elements

He's pissed beyond belief that someone from the Psijic Order wants to talk to Triona, specifically! How dare! Tiny mage, are you PLOTTING

no sir, no plotting not a plotting bone here-

come with ME, and we shall make this monk ACCOUNT FOR HIMSELF THEN

quick scrambling to follow this angry pointy elf and not trip on his long cloak up the stairs, past the Arcaenum, up to the Arch Mage

Now, last time, I didn't really...decompress or explain many of Triona's feelings about the Psijic vision in Saarthal. That was on purpose because they hit you like a drive-by hit, just out of nowhere, and tell you you're the only one who can save the world because of circumstances outside your control.

And remember, that like. Triona ran away from Whiterun the minute a guard called her Dragonborn, a prophesized hero?

But the difference between now and then is that, like...she's overcome many unique challenges since then, even outside of this. I haven't recorded every brawl and fight, but Skyrim is toughening Triona up, making her find a backbone that is kind of really fascinating to me wrt Triona's characterization: in a lot of timelines, unless she's fussing over someone else or encouraged otherwise, Triona's usually very...meek. But there's something about an environment constantly out to get you. Still, you have people to get home to, people that do care about you in some capacity (the College members do care, in their own ways, about Triona: she let another apprentice experiment on her to help them with their independent study, she retrieved a family heirloom for another, she brews tea and sits with you and lets you talk about everything and anything. They care about that warmth returning, and they've made it known, in their own ways) that just...tempers you, takes you from raw vulnerability to something same-but-different, not quite stronger. But. Something has seeped in the cracks of your wounds, and that bond and healing is stronger than who you were specifically because you've healed. And that's done something interesting to someone whose personality is usually passive and submissive and a wallflower and turned her into someone with teeth, entirely just by the idea alone of "The world is full of dragons and undead and gods know what else that would all take a swing at me, and the only two ways I'm going to live are swinging back or running away. And...running away doesn't solve the problem in the long run."

So when the Psijic Order rep gives Triona a very grounded set of very vague instructions in another time distortion...she's ready not to run this time.

She finds the Augur and stands before it, playing into its knowledge and its speech and finding out two things:

(1) they need the Staff of Magnus

(2) Ancano came to the Augur about the Eye himself

From there, a lot of it is a blur: the investigation, Mirabelle giving Triona the lead for where the Sinod were looking for the Staff of Magnus, Triona getting to these Dwemer ruins and experiencing the sheer horror of running/skulking through the dark, knowing you are on a timer, facing horrors of not one but two different, extremely distinct varieties (dwemer constructs, powered by soul crystals older than most histories you've studied. falmer, fallen and outcast and hateful in their evolution from their fall. both are damn near inexplicable to you, but you have to fell them the same way you did your first draugr, the same way you did your first dragon: flames first, questions later).

And you finally, after finding bodies strewn about, bitten into, you find another living being who is guarded towards you but at least won't try to kill you on sight: the sole Sinod mage who locked himself away in the orrery of the ruin, slaving away over it, preparing it for a focusing crystal he didn't know his contemporaries would be able to bring back. But you just...stumbled on it. Showing it to him makes him lower his spell-ready hands and lead you inside.

He gloats and glowers at you as you do all the work to finish his damn project: getting the starlight to show you where powerful magical artifacts are. And...unfortunately, the very thing you're terrified of (the Eye) is what's pissing in the results, making it hard for the Sinod to see where the Staff is. And what makes him...aggressive towards you, an apprentice of the College who he views snubbed him and his (honestly, rightfully so, if Mirabelle spoke true: if the Sinods were more interested in politicking than magic, Triona has little sympathies for them. Politics don't exactly save you when you're stuck in the cold dark with things skittering about, after all). And, well...all that time in the dark, he outright attacks, just to try to keep the information you helped him unearth all to himself.

He wasn't Triona's first sapient life taken: there were Stormcloaks who would not be reasoned with in the middle of a supernatural disaster (Alduin attacking Helgen), and there were bandits who would've killed her first, but...he's the first one that feels like it matters? No, not matters (all of them mattered, in some shape or another), but the first to give her a haunted train of thought, as she exited and headed back with information in tow. Had he not attacked, she would've left him alone and maybe he'd healed from his experience, but he was greedy for reputation and glory, and that always makes for a bad mindset.

She comes back to Winterhold and it's all gone to shit: Ancano's messing with the Eye, the Arch Mage quickly dies in a magical explosion, Mirabelle is injured to the point she cannot walk, arcane wisps are attacking civilians in Winterhold below, and to top it all off: another dragon attack.

After everything was settled, the college just got accessorized with not only the first dragon skeleton (from last time):

But also now the second dragon skeleton from now:

Fuck's sake.

#tríona in skyrim #there are parts of this that are extremely poetic prose and I don't know how to explain how it formed but it did #i blame skyrim's effect on me #makes me a wordy bastard as i like reflect on the order of events and go oh fuck from the actual perspective of someone living through this #this is all extremely fucked huh

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E138 & 139 (May 25, 2021)

Hello, you lovely people! It’s Tuesday and it’s time again for TM! Tonight’s guests: Marisha Ray & Liam O’Brien! The first picture that pops up when you google his name to check the spelling for the thousandth time is him with a shaved head, which is a wild look.

Ah! According to Dani, this is likely the last Zoom Talks! I’m so happy to hear this! They complain about Laura’s internet freezing constantly whenever she was about to say something exciting.

This episode is sponsored by The Elder Scrolls Online. As I’ve recently resumed my Skyrim run, this makes me crave it all over again.

Liam talks about having to drop everything to start the Zoom call, then having 27 minutes of technical difficulties before they could even begin recording. Augh, same hat.

Beau navigating the Astral Sea & Cognouza was empowering and unsettling. “This is the coolest! Uh oh.” It’s like seeing a new piece of RL tech come out and thinking about how it will change everything, then immediately thinking about how it’ll be abused, like deepfakes.

The first interactions with the Somnovem was overwhelming. They started fighting gnolls in a medieval towns and are now fighting interstellar beings. For Beau, it felt like talking to a really drunk friend. I actually love how she phrases this. “To me, it definitely felt like when you talk to one of your friends when they’re really drunk, and you’re like, ‘oh, I see what version of this person I have right now.’ And then you catch another version of that person on a shit day, and you’re like, ‘ah, I get it, you’re having a shit day.’ But then you catch them when they’re all put together and holding it down, and you’re like, ‘okay, you only hate yourself on the fringes.’ I get that. I found the Somnovem relatable.” Dani: “I too am just a collection of different emotions just barely hanging on by a thread.”

Marisha was able to put the pieces together of the ninefold emotions pretty quickly.

They do a whole tape-review bit after Brian mispronounces Yussa that is amazing. Aside from that, the M9 are glad they got him out of the city. It felt like a die-in-the-Matrix situation for him.

Liam kind of always suspected Matt would dangle the time-travel carrot in front of him. He honestly doesn’t know which way he’d go now. “For a long time, Caleb was like, ‘this doesn’t exist, so it doesn’t matter.’” It’ll probably be a mental coin flip if it comes down to an in-game decision.

"The dice are a CW producer,” when it comes to Beau & Yasha fighting each other.

They can’t remember another prolonged encounter bleeding into another encounter directly since Thordak/Raishan & Kevdak/the herd.

Cosplay of the Week: cattheterrible on Twitter with a beautiful Yasha.

Liam thinks Matt did a great job making it feel like a pressure cooker in terms of balancing their approaches between Lucien’s party & Cree. They’re also both very pleased that their plan with the threshold crests worked - it’s one of the few plans they’ve had across two campaigns that worked. (Honorable mentions they pull: intuit charges, Gelidon, Yenk/Vorugal from C1. “Will Friedle was a better [tactician] than all of us that entire campaign.”)

As far as the nine eyes on everyone go, “we’re all just one metaphysical garbage disposal.” Omar starts barking and they joke the dog will be SAG-eligible before Dani. Ha!

Just the idea of Aeor as a relic of history is massively important. They might die at any point, but if they live, Caleb thinks it’s so important to preserve that history Indiana-Jones-style, especially since it was obviously more advanced as a civilization.

Marisha wonders if they can bring forward the piece of Lucien that is Molly. “It’s a fractal. It’s that full molecular crystalline structure that’s repeating and recurring, and even if it’s several times removed, it still feels like part of the same thing. But maybe a different version, a different timeline of what Lucien is was more or less Molly, and can we Spiderverse the fuck out of this? Can we somehow recall that programming from whatever’s buried? [...] It’s like how moving things to your Recycling Bin doesn’t really clear them from your hard drive.”

Fanart of the Week: mellifera38 with a beautiful Lucien pre-tentacles. The card award shenanigans come complete with massive fireworks green screen display, a rainbow unicorn, a cease and desist letter, eagle wings, lasers, and a PHYSICAL CARD in his hand oh my gosh, to celebrate the final Zoom Talks.

Liam is glad Essek was there to help out with the dunamantic elements of their fights. He’s doing a lot to redeem himself. Liam is also thinking a lot about endgame, long-term repercussions of how this would affect the kingdoms.

Marisha finds the weasel being Artagan adorably traumatic and hilariously tragic. Not only was this poor weasel getting dragged to hell and back, sometimes his personality gets shoved to the side to allow Artagan in. Poor thing, ha! Liam talks about one aspect of the game is that you learn things about your character as ago and then apply it backwards; “We ragged on this weasel so hard, that Matt was like ‘fuck you guys, he’s alive because there’s a fey prince inside him’ and made it retroactive through time.” He’d noticed it for a while, but because there was no downtime in Aeor, there was never a chance to casually bring it up. Beau’s confirmation of seeing something weird about the weasel was a relief that he wasn’t crazy.

It’s a lot of pressure to be the “face” of the party, especially considering Beau’s CHA stat is low. Now it feels like siblings deliberately pushing Lucien’s buttons, except with the full recognition you’re poking a nuclear bomb. It’s honestly been fun, though - she loves being a smartass to people she should ABSOLUTELY not be saying things to. In Caleb’s mind, Beau is the closest thing the group has to a responsible hero. Cad is a great sage, but Beau does what she thinks is the right thing that needs to be done.

They both laugh at this being Matt’s love letter to FF games. They should have been ready for the transformation and the amazing spectacle of the whole thing.

And that is that is that! Brian thanks the guests, Dani, and the crew. “We did it! We did Zoom. Thank you Marisha especially, and our amazing production team for figuring out a way for us to be able to do this from home and make all the artwork and everything so awesome. Thank you to everyone who has touched the show in some way and helped us do it from home.”

Is it Thursday yet?

#talks machina #talks machina spoilers #critical role #critical role spoilers #long post for ts

[strigital]

Do tell about Nim, I couldn’t find much info about her through your blog and I am dying to know more about this werewolf lady

well grab a pint and sit yo booty down, cause our bard of the evening tonight is Nim and she's drunk as all hell and ready to weave some outrageous stories!! 🍻

in all seriousness, thank you for asking! 😭💗 she came about back in ye oldie days of hype over the 11th of november 2011, and since then refuses to give up the title of my fav oc!!

now, a Paarthurnax would say: lets-a go!

a quick recap of the events in Skyrim:

Naali Saryn was born sometime in 4E 130 on mainland Morrowind as a result of a quick fling between an unknown Dunmer girl and Lucien Lachance and Kassandra Saryn's (The Hero of Kvatch's) son.

Sometime in that year, the baby was found aboard a ship bound for Raven Rock and when no one came forth to claim her a couple of elderly and childless ash yam farmers decided to take her in until her family was found.

The family, of course, was never found, and so they raised her as their own for the next sixteen years. They called the girl Nim - short, sweet, meaningless, and easy to shout out into the fields where the little brat is out adventuring when the house chores are yet to be done.

Nim grew up alongside her best friend Teldryn (don't believe his tales about his past, there's a reason why he wears a helmet in his hometown). For years the kids dreamt of leaving Raven Rock behind and making it big in the big city. And idea which really annoyed Nim's ol' Nana, who believed that everything needed for a simple happy life was right here on Solstheim.

After one particularly nasty fight with Nana about the ordeal, Nim gathered a bag of things and slipped out in the dead of night to catch an early morning ship with Teldryn.

They stuck together for a while then went on their separate merry ways. He - to Blacklight, she - to Leyawiin. Once in the wild, Nim had to quickly figure out her place in the pecking order. The romantic life of crime seemed to be the most attractive for her, but getting on top could never be easy. Especially for a young, inexperienced, and naive girlie. So she ended up running with the wrong kind of crew. Ended up in some truly dark places. Barely got out alive. Learned from her mistakes. Wore the scars of abuse like armor and made sure that since that day no one in this world or any other would play her for a fool, use her or put a finger on her without her permission.

By the time she turned fifty, Nim was well known amongst certain circles as the kind of scoundrel, thief, bard, and wench one should not trifle with. But her luck had to eventually run out, and so it did on the night of the fabled Umbacano Mansion heist, which failed so badly Nim had to either leave Cyrodiil or end up in a Thalmor owned torture chamber.

Skyrim seemed like a perfect place. After all, in a kingdom torn apart by the civil war, no one would even notice yet another greyskin refugee, right? Well, the Thalmor did. And so she ended up on a cart bound for Helgen to have a date with an executioner. But then Alduin showed up to crash the party before he himself got rudely interrupted by another dragon, who swooped in to save the Last Dragonborn.

After the narrow escape, Nim concluded her duty to warn Balgruuf of the dragon threat and went on to start a new career as a merc with the Companions. She and Aela became fast friends and when the prospect of joining the Circle came up she gladly accepted a sip of her new sister's blood. To never again be helpless and weak? To rip apart any fool who'd take her for just another elf wench who can't put up a fight? Well of course it was worth giving up the ability to sleep and having to get used to all smells suddenly becoming ten times worse!

After that Mirmulnir showed up and ended up as another ornament above the throne in the Dragonsreach. And Nim got stuck with a title which she would wear with great discontent for years to come.

Eventually, she ceased trying to run away and hide from her destiny, accepted her role as the Last Dragonborn, and begrudgingly began her quest to save the world. On her journey, she met and became tight friends with Yollokmir and Alasil who taught her how to speak, fight and fly like a dragon. With their help she inherited Konahrik's legacy: his mask embued with his soul, his citadel far up in the mountains - the NebenLok Zeikangaar - and the right to revive and lead the order of dragon riders sworn to defeat Alduin - DovahDein.

As she gained power and the word of her great many deeds spread across Skyrim, she managed to get quite the following of fellow men, mer, and Dov, willing to follow her into Sovngarde and beat the hell out of Alduin. Alas, she failed. Twice.

At that point, Alasil informed her of a special someone who might be of help in their quest against Alduin and who might prove difficult to convince to join her cause. That was the first time in fifty years that Nim got to visit her home. Unfortunately, Solstheim had changed. And upon arrival, she learned that her Pa passed onto the realm of Azura soon after her departure, and her Nana... well, she wasn't young anymore and suffered greatly due to all the ash ruining her lungs... and when the islanders got called to the All-Maker stones night after night by a mysterious spell, she just worked herself to death. That was the only thing Nim wouldn't forgive Miraak for, not until he swallowed his pride and sincerely apologized for being responsible for his potential mother-in-law's death.

And with Miraak's help, they finally sent Alduin back to his Maker, enjoyed a few peaceful years until High King Ulfric became a bit drunk on his power and needed a good ass whooping as well. Then Miraak suddenly found himself as the new king and Nim... she just did her own thing. As always. The end?

Oh and all the while running about, gathering forces, growing her Dragonborn powers, hunting Dragon Priests and Alduin's henchmen, she also meddled with the Thieves Guild, put Karliah in charge and became her right hand, managed to become an advisor on all things dragon at the Mage's College, ended up teaching lute and songwriting at the Bard's College (she's taking a break since Viarmo can't seem to handle her teaching tactics), earned the title of Thane in every hold and became a good friend to the Dawnguard fellas (Isran is more than happy to teach her kids the ropes of monster hunting) after kicking Harkon's ass into Oblivion. In what little free time she has Nim also manages the Lakeview Manor and leases the ash yam farm back in Raven Rock for some extra cash. All in all, a busy woman!

and some tidbits about the dovahmom:

Although Nim is perfectly aware of her real name, she chooses to use the one given to her by Nana. Both as a sign of respect and because, frankly, she dislikes both the Sarynes and the Lachances, who are, in her humble opinion, just a bunch of pricks. Somehow, the ghost of her murdered grandad finds this opinion of hers kinda funny.

Her friends sometimes describe her as "cyrodiilic brandy in a cup of tea": she's this small elf girl with pretty blue eyes and a smile on her face and you think that she'll be very pleasant and cute and shy and then... then you realize she drinks like a sailor, swears like one too, can beat anyone into the dirt (thanks, Hircine) and doesn't take shit from nobody. She openly speaks her mind and doesn't give a shit about what someone might think of her. She does what she considers the right thing to do, never plays nice with those she dislikes, never pretends to be someone she isn't. She's feisty, sassy, brassy, and, quite honestly, just doesn't give a fuck.

Nim is in almost complete control over her inner beast, partly thanks to her draconic blood, partly - to the ring she got when she and Sinding had that little party on a moonlit night in that grotto. She only loses control over herself when both moons are full and thusly will travel deep into the wilds a few days before the magical night. This way the only people that might get hurt are bandits, necromancers, hags, and the like. She and Aela also managed to get a small werewolf pack going, named the Whitemane Pack after the old man himself and dedicated to those who wish to take control over their inner beast, hunt with honor, and cause the Silver Hand as much grief as possible.

Nim is raising Blaise and Sofie as her own since they both were just wee lil' war orphans (the babes are in their teens now). She never quite really knew why... Nim was never a wifey nor a baby momma kind of woman. In fact, she can't even have children in the first place and, honestly, always thought of this as a blessing - never having to worry about contraception like all those other girls and just having fun without a care in the world! Her friends sometimes joke around, saying that she might've finally "ripened" for the motherhood, but she doesn't care. She loves Blaise, Sofie, and Sissel (thanks, Miraak, you're so good at kidnapping children!) and is content with being their famous Dragonborn mom. Post-Alduin Miraak, however, is secretly annoyed for not being able to get her pregnant. Oh well, the man can dream...

Oh yeah! Nim plays the lute and sings too! It's a skill she picked up across taverns all over the continent when she realized that bards get free drinks and a bed, as well as ample opportunity to sniff out and seduce prey. And even though her days of hunting for good-looking rich fools are long behind her, she still performs in inns and taverns across Skyrim. Firstly, it brings in a fair amount of money, and secondly, it's good for her Voice! And also just plain and simple fun.

Also, people get terribly surprised when she, a Dunmer, doesn't act like one at all! Nim might've grown up in Raven Rock, a Dunmer settlement, but she spent the rest of her life traveling the continent and then living in Skyrim. She's more Nord-ish than some Nords! And the Nords actually really love it! It's so so easy to just get plastered with the homegirl, punch some faces and pass out on a heap of hay behind the inn, just happy to be alive on this fine snowy day. The only truly Dunmer thing about her is the occasional "n'wah!" which escapes her potty mouth. I mean, she doesn't even like sujamma all that much and would rather have a pint of mead! Whatever Ancestors she has must be spinning in their graves fast enough to generate electricity.

uuuhhh I think that's all the important stuff? i might've forgotten, in which case, I'll add it later... meanwhile, have some more Nim content:

^^^ the fanfic is slow, but it's moving... at a snail's pace. my advice: don't expect updates, so that when they do come, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

#thank u for asking abt the dovahmom #i am deeply touched uwu #💞 #the elder scrolls #skyrim #dragonborn #ldb #dovahkiin #konahrik #oc #naali 'nim' saryn #bethesda #ask #my art #sketch #traditional doodle #ballpoint doodle

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

651 MODS.

800 PLUG INS.

THE STAGE IS SET, FOR MY MOST AMBITIOUS PROJECT YET.

AN ACTUAL FUCKING SKYRIM LONG FANFICTION.

THREE PEOPLE.

A NORD WARRIOR. AN IMPERIAL MAGE. A BRETON THIEF.

THEIR DESTINIES WILL INTERTWINE, IN THE FRONTIER CITY OF HELGEN, AS THE ADVENTURE TO END ALL ADVENTURES OPENS BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES.

THEIR GREAT JOURNEY IN THE EMBERS OF A STAGNANT WORLD.

FOR AT THE TURNING OF THE WHEEL, AS THE WORLD EATER RETURNS TO USHER IN A NEW AGE, AS THE BRASS GOD RUSTS AT THE FEET OF THE GODDESS OF TWILIGHT, AS THE DOOM STRIDER LOOMS RIGHT BEYOND REALITY, AS THE FIRST DRAGONBORN SELLS BREAD IN WHITERUN SQUARE...

THREE HEROES WILL BE BORN IN THE FIRES OF THEIR ASCENSION.

AND SKYRIM WON'T EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

-

Ok, bunch of details:

Project Proteus, it's a mod with a bunch of dependencies, anyway, it allows me to turn previous Dragonborns into NPCs with minimal issue.

This sets up a perfect 3 way story without having to sacrifice myself into playing something that isn't a mage.

So, here's the set up:

1) Imperial Mage: Servius Callidus. Dragonborn. He's my standard mage character obviously, Son of Great Way Veterans, They wanted him to go through the military cursus honorum but he's into the whole arcane mystery shit, "It's not a phase mom!", The mom is Legate Cassia from Legends btw, anyway he runs away from home and bang, gets himself into a cult because Cyrodil is terrible at teaching magic in the 4th era with the Synod, except the cult is actually a Thalmor Psyop, and the leader, his teacher, attempts to sacrifice him to achieve some sort of dread ritual to grant herself immortality. It fails, because a Dragon Soul can't be held in a Black Soul Gem, and overcharges the room, destroying the cult, and achieving the whole "Doesn't need to drink/eat/sleep also he can save and he can eat 100 cheese wheels in the fraction of a second by pausing time and also he can skip ahead in time by simply standing still in a place for hours because Time has pretty much frozen to him by now" thing. As a side note, this kind of attracts lots of attention on him from the Thalmor, who want to dissect him to discover how the ritual ultimately affected him. This leads to the Sinister Seven, a terrible mercenary group, to be hired to capture him dead or alive. As the name implies, despite being the titular last Dragonborn, Servius will be thought as the squire, the counselor of sort of the "real" last dragonborn, the Nord Warrior, who will get all the glory to much of her bewilderment and his relief. The imagery of a "Wolf protecting the flock" will be used at one point.

2) Nord Warrior: Ragna (Rag-Na) Will-Breaker. First Era War Maiden, Shield Maiden to Kyne, and a member of one of Morihaus cohorts who descended to Cyrodil to aid Alessia during the Rebellion. She dies during the taking of the White Gold Tower, and is interred with the other fallen in a crypt, the same crypt where the Cult is doing their dread ritual. The ritual, the same one who pretty much removed Servius from time, also happens to shoot her full of energy, resurrecting her on the spot, her soul mysteriously still trapped within her remains after her death, as of she was just slumbering. Her first sight after waking up is a room full of dead elves and one alive, very terrified Nede, suddenly coming face to abs with this gigantic Proto-Nord war maiden 3 times his size, so of course she just decides to stick to the guy for the time being until she gets a better idea of what the fuck is going on.

Ok, when you think about her, you need to imagine not Thor from the first movie, tho the comparison is not unwarranted, as much as that one Narnia Book where the Witch is suddenly in early 19th century London and she just goes around both completely bewildered while also acting incredibly smug about everything. Like, "Unroot a lamppost with my bare hands to use as a bludgeon to beat the shit out of cops" kind of Energy. Also it creates some great opportunities for situational comedy such as the always classic "What the fuck is a Talos?"

3) Candle. They/Them. Breton Thief from the Island of Alcaire, Who changed face and names many time in the course of their life, much like a Moth molts their skin, and is now, by sheer, dumb luck, on a one way trip to Helgen. Helgen, where the Warrior and the Mage are right now, Moving north to lose their pursuers and to have Ragna witness her homeland once more, as they get a room at Vilod's and Matlara's Inn, and plan on their voyages, as the rickety cart gets into town, as a tear in time and space opens on the top of the world, where the Sky meets the Heart in their final embrace, where an old Dovah slumbers, and as everything, finally...

Starts.

#skyrim #tes #elder scrolls #sse #skyrim oc #elder scrolls oc #(Indeed yes all 3 of them are NOT ONLY Constellation Coded #NOT ONLY Talos Triad Coded #NOT ONLY Tribunal Coded #BUT ALSO HEARTH GODDESSES CODED)

[ladydaedra]

The Next Move

Part: 7/?

Pairings: Ulfric x Dragonborn; Brynjolf x OC; Cicero x OC; Ondolemar x OC

Warnings: Descriptions of violence and gore; Skyrim takes on a bit of 'Game of Thrones' feeling; may contain controversial themes

Wordcount: 1886

~~~~~

Ayla walks through the gates of Windhelm, stopping momentarily as she looks around, studying everything in the area. The wind blows through her hair as she notes nothing notably different from the last time she visited months ago.

"This way, ma'am," the soldier says and heads off towards the Palace of Kings. As they walk, Ayla can feel the citizens of Windhelm's gaze on her, whispering that she is the Dragonborn and wondering why she is here. She looks to her left and sees a small crowd, watching her with curious eyes. It is no secret that her victory against Alduin has made her a renowned hero throughout all of Skyrim, making her a legend amongst the people.

She sends them a small smile before looking back at the looming palace ahead of her. She glances back at the city and an idea strikes her. She wants to walk Windhelm's streets, visit with its citizens, get to know them a bit more, "Sir, might you be so kind to let the Jarl know that I might be awhile," she says, stopping in her steps and the soldier turns to stare at her, "I wish to explore the city a bit. If he wishes to speak with me now and if it is as urgent as he says it is, he can find me in the city. Or he can wait until I return to the palace,"

But before the soldier can stop her, Ayla turns on her heel and walks back the way they came as a slight breeze blows. She walks down the steps, cloak flowing behind her as she stops there, glancing to her left and right, trying to decide where to go.

She ends up going to the left, knowing that is where the infamous Grey Quarter is. She wishes to see it for herself again, wondering if there were any improvements to the area housing the Dunmer. She walks down the set of steps leading to where the shops and tavern for the Dunmer and Argonians are located.

She smiles as a passing Argonian couple, who return the smile before turning completely, shocked when they recognize who she is. She can't help but smile to herself when she sees the people ahead of her slowly start recognizing her, "it can't be...the Dragonborn?" a Dunmer woman asks as she watches Ayla walk by, a few children hiding behind her, peering up at the Dragonborn.

Ayla stops and smiles at the woman before her gaze goes to the three children, who immediately retreat to hiding behind their mother's dress, "it's alright," Ayla says, bending down and sending the children a gentle smile, "I won't hurt you, I promise," one by one, the children reveal themselves. The eldest, a girl, gives Ayla a toothy grin as her younger brothers come to a stop beside her, "I'm here to help," Ayla adds, handing each child five septims.

"Ma'am, you didn't..." the mother goes to object as Ayla stands up again.

Ayla shakes her head, "I won't be bothered with the loss of fifteen septims, miss," she explains as the children giggle amongst themselves, eyes glued on the gold in their hands, "like I said, I am here to help in any way possible," the woman smiles at her before looking down at her children.

Ayla continues on her trek through the Grey Quarter, glancing up at the buildings and down at the streets. It's been a while since she has traversed these streets, but from what she remembers, they look better than they did before. The buildings that house the Dunmer and Argonians have received a touch-up, mainly to the structural part to keep them from falling. Random holes in the streets have been fixed, weeds popping out through the cracks have been removed.

Ulfric did keep his word. She was impressed, maybe the thought of losing the Dragonborn and two dragons as an ally was what pushed him. Ayla walks into a large, open area with a giant gate to her left that leads to the docks. To her right is another street leading back to the Palace of Kings.

She goes straight and turns left to walk up a flight of stairs to stop in a small courtyard surrounded by three houses. She takes a sharp left and walks down the street that has a large house to the left. If she remembers correctly, that is Aventus Aretino's house. She remembers Taliyah telling everyone the story of how she came to be a part of the Dark Brotherhood and how this little boy hired her to kill an old woman in Riften.

With a sigh, she continues forward, under the little walkway connecting it to the other half of the house and stops on a bridge, in front of a railing overlooking the Grey Quarter. From up here, it doesn't look as large as it feels down there. But it sure looks pretty cramped.

"When I went to Sovengard to fight Alduin," she starts, knowing that she has company, "I went knowing that I might die trying to defeat him. I...struggled with accepting the fact," she pauses as she watches Aaryah fly in the distance. A black dot in the vast snow-covered landscape surrounding Windhelm, "but as I stood, waiting for Alduin to arrive, I told myself that if it took me dying to save Skyrim from the World Eater, then so be it,"

She turns to look to her left to see Ulfric standing there, gaze on her. She takes a deep breath as she returns to watching Aaryah fly, "I think of it now," she pauses as Aaryah swoops down and lights something on fire before flying off again and coming back for another hit, "I will gladly lay my life down to rid Skyrim of the Thalmor. I would willingly die so I can ensure that my rebellion lives to fight another day," she then looks back at Ulfric as a gust of wind blows around them, "will you do the same?" she questions him.

Ayla studies his face for the few seconds it takes for him to answer. She notes how he is standing tall, gaze hardened as he looks at her, blue eyes scrutinizing her; sizing her up, "gladly," is his response and Ayla turns to look back at the dragon.

"The bear is the symbol of leadership, strength, and courage," she starts, hearing him take a few steps towards her, stopping only when she looks over at him, "that is the banner of Windhelm and your rebellion," she pauses as she turns to her right and starts walking back the way she came, stopping only to make sure he is following, "you are the Jarl of Windhelm and right now, during this war, they need to feel safe and secure,"

"Are you saying they don't?" Ulfric asks as he walks beside her, glancing down at her as they turn the corner and walk past the gates to the city.

Ayla looks up at him before looking ahead again, "I'm saying that they don't know what is going on," she explains, returning a smile to Torsten Cruel-Sea, "they don't know how you are faring against the Empire and from simple rumor, they don't know about the alliance,"

"I don't want to drag them into this war,"

"A good excuse to keep the alliance a secret, but it doesn't assure them that they are safe," Ayla replies as they walk through the market. Ayla glances over at the group of people shopping and sees a few of them giving her and Ulfric confused glances, "if they knew that their Jarl agreed to an alliance with the Dragonborn and her dragons, I am sure they would be more...supportive of this war knowing that they are safe,"

"If I announce the alliance, the odds of both the Thalmor and the Empire finding out is pretty great," he reasons and looks over at the Dragonborn to see her shrug.

"They would have found out regardless when both our soldiers attack one or both of them," Ayla says as they return to the courtyard in front of the Palace of Kings. She turns to him, "now you asked me here to discuss something confidential,"

~

"The Jagged Crown," Galmar says, setting a heavy helmet, no crown, on the table in the war room of Windhelm, "retrieved by a group of Stormcloaks and ripped from the power-hungry hands of the Empire,"

Ayla studies the helmet, head tilted slightly as her index finger rubs her chin, brows furrowed in thought, "this is what you called me here for?" she questions, sparing Ulfric a glance then looking back at the crown, "a spiky helmet?"

Kharjo holds back a laugh while Ulfric sighs, arms crossed in front of his chest, "not just the crown, but the next step in the war," he explains and Ayla looks over at him, raising a single eyebrow and waiting for him to continue, "we plan to attack Windhelm,"

Ayla remains silent for a few moments, looking over at Kharjo, a million thoughts racing through her head. Whiterun. She remembers how Jarl Balgruuf aided her on her mission to stop Alduin. She would prefer not to attack his home, "and why are we attacking Whiterun?" she questions, meeting Ulfric's gaze head-on.

"A week ago I sent a soldier to take my ax to Balgruuf," he explains with a deep breath, "he sent the soldier back with the ax, meaning he has sided with the Empire," Ayla looks back at the crown, her thumbnail now running across her lower lip.

"From what I understand, Balgruuf has remained uninvolved with the war by not choosing a side," she starts, glancing at both Ulfric and Galmar, "why now? And why the Empire?"

Galmar chuckles, "that is a question you will have to ask him yourself,"

"Myself?"

"Whiterun will not be easy to take," Ulfric states, "with the whole Whiterun guard plus Imperial forces as well as Thalmor protecting the city, I doubt my army alone will make a big difference,"

"You need my army and dragons," Ayla says softly, mainly to herself.

"Precisely," Ulfric replies, his hard gaze on her, "without your help, we will not be able to take Whiterun,"

"It'll be the perfect time to reveal the alliance," Kharjo points out and Ayla can practically hear the smirk in his voice, "the Stormcloaks charging in to take Whiterun out of the Imperials grasp with the Dragonborn and her dragons fighting alongside them. Sounds like something out of a storybook,"

"So, Dragonborn, what is it?" Galmar asks and Ayla stares at the crown as she debates the risk level of this attack. No doubt there will be casualties, as there always is in war. But this will bring them one step closer to the fall of the Empire in Skyrim and closer to chasing the Thalmor out as well, tail between their legs.

Ayla smiles, looking up to meet Ulfric's gaze, "alright, I'm in. On one condition," she replies and waits a few seconds, "Jarl Bulgruuf isn't killed. He helped me on my quest to stop Alduin and I owe him big for that,"

She watches as Ulfric shares a glance at Galmar and the two nod, "deal," and with that, the war just started.

#Skyrim #Skyrim fanfiction #Dragonborn #Dovahkiin #the elder scrolls #Brynjolf #Cicero #Imperials #thieves guild #dark brotherhood #Thalmor #Fanfic

[curiouscarllee]

Hello, I'm making a list of my OCs with a bit of art and information! I am doing this because I feel as though I post a lot about my characters without ever providing any detail, so, here you go :) On top of this, I'd like to state that I am always intrested in hearing about your ocs as well, you are more than welcome to send me an ask about them or about my own characters :)

Fairlynn: My Main

Fairlynn is a bosmer, he is the Hero of Kvatch and also Sheogorath. He is a tad unpredictable and has some mental issues in regards to mirroring the mad god and myself. Fairlynn was 28 when he started with saving the world, only 29 when it ended and full of grief with Martin's passing. This drove him to the Shivering Isles in hopes that he could persuade a daedric prince to revive his beloved. That's not at all how it went down, upon noticing this realm was not one of a stronger prince, Fairlynn was tempted to leave the plane but found himself infatuated with it instead.

After a few years, the princes sensed a danger approaching, one in the form of an imperial male that had the possibility of defeating them. Therefore, they agreed to send one of themselves down to nirn in an attempt to stop it. Unfortunately, they chose Fairlynn to get the job done and yeeted him down where the bosmer began to gather enforcments in the form of other people which he thought would become allies when they grew older.. But what he didn't expect was the imperial managed to befriend every. Single. One. Of the people Fairlynn had set on course to hate the man, none of them truly did. That's the exact moment where he went, "if you can't beat em' join em'." And promptly joined the group in his mortal form without revealing to them who he was. Instead the group thinks he's just a skooma addict that is talented in the ways of fighting. They have no idea.

Ragnar

This is that imperial male stated in the last description. This man is destined to destroy the influence of the daedric princes on the mortal people, however, he has the intelligence of a box of rocks and everyone doubts this prophecy to be true. The only time one can possibly think this true is when he displays his power in the midst of battle, he was blessed by the divines at birth, each giving him power to defeat the evil of the world. He his bound to use it.. But he never uses it for good, I mean,, why would he? He could kill anyone he wants! No way he's gonna be the "good hero"! (Basically, this was my brother's character and he used mods to make him op so I had to improvise.)

Past wise, my brother and I decided to intertwine him with the lore. You rememeber the song Ragnar the Red? That was Ragnar's father. In truth, his name should be Ragnar the second or Ragnar Jr. but his mother, Matilda, said "hahahaha, no, your father was a mess and you shall not be him." and removed the second part. After his mother died of a sickness, Ragnar hesitantly moved towns in search of work. He missed his mother greatly and would give anything to have her back.

S'arra

Meet S'arra, she is a khajiit female and the heart of the group (along side another who you'll meet shortly). S'arra is the youngest, she may be sweet but she'll rob you blind if she sees a chance. S'arra came from a happy family in Elsywer, she was the child of F'awn and Ja'zaka, two khajiit with completely different sets of morals. Ja'zaka was a born bandit, he was wild and carefree, F'awn (My friends oc :)) was a gentle and caring woman, she loved to live. When F'awn got pregnant, her brother, J'ar, lost his mind. J'ar was fueled with anger towards Ja'zaka and at one point made an attempt at his brother-in-law's life. It was at that moment J'ar was kicked from F'awn's life, he ran from his home and joined a vampire clan/bandit group in Skyrim.

Only months after her birth, Ja'zaka disappeared. He ran and never came back. F'awn tried her best to raise S'arra, but one morning S'arra was taken from her by a rabid animal that invaded the town. The creature took off with S'arra and lead the small khajiit to it's den where a caravan traveling to Skyrim would soon find her and take her with them, raising her as their own on the roads of Skyrim. The caravan was killed and attacked by a certain bandit group/vampire clan (hahaha, yup, the one J'ar is in). S'arra joined the group in hopes of revenge, although, she'll keep that bit to herself. ;)

Adoren

Now this orc, oh he's amazing. He is an old man, a precious old man with a past of pain and betrayal. In order to introduce his past, we need to introduce his adpoted brother first:

Zanik

This is Adoren's adopted brother, Zanik (grandson of Nellie), a not so nice older man. Zanik was thrown out by his father a young age, more precisely, he was thrown in a river by his father in one of his father's crazed fits. Zanik can't swim, he hates water more than anything else in his life. The dunmer was washed to shore near an orc stronghold where he was picked up by Adoren and adopted by the orcs family. Zanik and Adoren lived happily for many many years, one day they went on an exploration to scout for different hunting grounds. It started to pour causing the two to take shelter in a dwemer ruin. That's when they heard soft groaning and sounds of pain coming from down one of the halls. Hesitantly, they explored. Only to find:

Kidawe

My most lore breaking character! Meet Kidawe, a small snow elf from one of the last remaining villiages of falmer! Now, yes, I am breaking the lore because, since when has canon lore stopped me? Kidawe lived on top of the mountains to the north of Cyrodiil and the South of Skyrim. His village is small and portable, in case they need to move, the tribe of elves is shrouded in mystery, they've managed to live this long and refuse to leave their mountain. Kidawe doesn't listen to that, he runs off each night in search for dwemer ruins, things he find more then interesting. The young elf holds no fear when he's in his element, and he loves to explore. One evening, while in a ruin he is attacked by a vampire/bandit named Raeferth (the leader) who pushes him to join the group, trying to convince the snow elf that his expertise is needed. Kidawe refuses and then engages in battle with the nord, he looses and ends up pinned under a fallen pillar that crushes his arm.

Upon waking up after falling unconscious from the pain, Kidawe is met with the sight of Adoren and Zanik standing over him. After many many months of trust building, the two get Kidawe to befriend them. Kidawe uses their help to fashion himself a new arm from dwarven parts found in the ruin. After a few years, Kidawe disappears. He was taken by force by Raeferth (the others do not know this). Adoren and Zanik are heart broken. They miss their friend greatly.

Adoren/Zanik Pt.2

After losing Kidawe, these two go off and join a bandit group.. Yes the same vampire clan group. Adoren thrives in the group, he his strong and more then willing to get his hands dirty. Zanik.. Not so much. Zanik is only kept around because of Adoren. They all know not to mess with Zanik or else they mess with Adoren.

After spending a few years with them, Adoren decides he can't continue this. Zanik begs him not to leave, trying to make the orc realize that this group will not let them go without hurting them. Adoren doesn't listen and leaves the bandits, later that day the stronghold is burnt to the ground. Adoren looses everything in the fire, his parents pass away, his friends and family. Instead of processing lose normally, he makes it up in his head that the reason Zanik was warning him was because Zanik had a hand in it. Therefore the two fight and Adoren punches Zanik, he's wearing a ring that catches under Zanik's flesh and pratically tears off his cheek leaving the dunmer with a horrible scar. Adoren warns Zanik never to speak with him again.

Which of course doesn't stand because after they grew up into old men, they cross eachother's paths once more. They both join up with the good guy group at different times, Adoren joins first after he finds them in his house, and Zanik joins when he is once again found washed up on the shore.

Zorlin

Not much on this boio, he was my first oc in the Elder Scrolls. He's an argonian heavy set warrior. Zorlin is silent and cut throat, he is a part of the Brotherhood and only joins the good guy group after his brother, Tu'ru is 'murdered' by Raeferth.

Tristane

There is so much on him. I'm just going to do bullet points:

Born in Skyrim 200+ years ago. He never knew his true parents and was instead brought up by a wealthy noble family. They more kept him around for labor.

He befriends 3 local kids, Mayrn (breton like him), Raeferth (nord trouble maker), and Lynik (Raeferth's brother).

They all cause problems and Tristane falls in love with Raeferth :D

One day Raeferth claims to have found immortality, Tristane instantly says "No, I'm not doing this." And leaves the friend group, trying to focus on himself.

He is then framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to Cyrodiil's Imperial Prison. Then he is bailed out by the Emperor and sent to Morrowind.

Morrowind happens, Tristane changes from whining child to even whiner child with the ability to cast spells.

After Morrowind, Tristane travels to Solstiem where he is confronted with Mayrn and Lynik (both as bandit vampires).

Mayrn and Lynik try to force him back to Skyrim to see Raeferth and join them. Tristane, as he said before, says "no". So they kill him.

Now they don't really kill him, they use a method I made up called Soul Gem Reflection. This is something I completely made up but I like it so sue me. I can write an entire post on this alone so we're just gonne say, "Soul gem reflection is a method in which the targets soul is directed towards an object they held dear in life instead of dying. They're life essence is held in the soul gem, but they live in the object."

In this case, Tristane was reflected in his journal.

Lynik felt horrible for doing this to his friend, he felt guilty and returned the journal which he unknowingly relfected the breton in, and gave it to Tristane's family who in turn stuffed the journal in the basement.

Fast forward 200+ years and Adoren buys the manor, finding Tristane's journal inside and opening it. Surprise! Out springs a ghostly figure of Tristane who then convinced Adoren to take him along with the group!

Other Characters:

This is J'ar. He's mentioned above.

Also, here's some more character that aren't affiliated with the group:

-Baendil and Baendal are bosmer brothers, they were abandoned by their parents and instead found by cranky altmer father Kornan. They're bandits (not related to vampires at all). They're bad, not morally wrong but actually just bad at being bandits. They couldn't rob you even if you asked them to.

-I will add more later I'm sure.

#tes #the elder scrolls #skyrim #my art :) #oblivion #khajiit #bosmer #morrowind #dunmer #orc #nord #imperial #argonian

[shitpostcompulsion]

Pandora's box

I feel a sense of childish freedom running through me. Let me tell you about Pandora's box = my phone's memo app

I will list some thing i wrote down (probably at 3am)

"How do you spell advantages but said like advant ayy ges" (advantageous)

"How do blind people dream"

"A story where the villain understand comedy and uses it to manipulate society" (Like joker but people actually like him)

"A story about a shapeshifter, the last of his species, but he forgot what he looks like and must go on a journey of self discovery"

"Media should be reviewd by enjoyability/10 + Craftsmenship/10" It can be well made but boring and vice versea

"Ghosts should be naked"

"Andy Warhol said geting shot felt less real than watching tv, probably because there was no character arc and badass music to denote the mood. If someone shoots me he better play badass music"

"A game where you have to actually learn the language system to use magic, dragon language from skyrim isn't it. Grammar improves spells and stuff"

"Make a buzzfeed style quiz but in reality it's a poll to harvest information e.g What your tax bracket says about your personality " Unemployed , definitely infp

"If you get your tounge split in half (like the body modification) can you say letters that were previously impossible with the inferior flat mono tongue"

"A hero that's so unlucky that he has to come ridiculously prepared questing, like he's got a potion for everything and expect the worse thing to happen every time because he knows shit will happen."

"Rick roll but rick doesn't show up" I think this is actually a thing

New idea from the last quote, "Rick roll but it's actually pickle rick rolling off into the sewers.

"Story idea where... normal guy is the hero he seems op but everyone else is just incompetent "

"Story: A boy learns a martial art style from his dojo sensei and they have a wonderful father son relationship then the dojo master dies but before he dies he tells his student that the fighting style was made up. It was never used historically or is it very effective. But the boy strives to make it works and he then becomes the strongest fighter in the tournament through sheer determination and by making tweaks to the style. "

"Politician's need theme music that's super identifiable and relates to their character and values" i think i'm part of the problem

"Warfare should be quick and efficient"

"Just put AI in charge of government" Might be quite effective and might actually make communism somewhat viable

"What music do aliens listen to, would they like our music" probably

"Pod" good name for a character from modest upbringings

"Villain who keeps doing good on accident" Not very inspired now that i look at it.

"Funny 2 panel comic: 1.) Picture of the moon, beautiful 2,) Picture of the moon through my phones camera and it looks like a blurry golf ball"

"Moto Moto workout meme photoshop thumbnail" This is verbatim and to this day makes zero sense to me

"Your days of ... are coming to a middle (insult)" I plagiarized this don't think i'm original

"Story where Adolf Hitler realizes what he did was wrong and get isekai'd back in time where he decides to become a role model for young Hitler(himself). Young Hitler even get's a Jewish girlfriend with a phat ass. Old Hitler tries to get him into art school" Big yikes. I wonder what Hitler's theme song would be though

"Isekai hero where the main character has no powers in a world of very over powered magic, but he wins battles anyway because he doesn't fuck around with flashy magic and sticks to the conventional"

There's kind of more but these are the highlights

These tags make me feel very try hard, i swear i'm not. Will i get into trouble for misleading tags. I suppose we will find out

#random #thoughts #funny texts #pandora #funny post #writing #tv #anime #interesting ideas #ideas #politics #gaming

[baebeyza]

26, 17, and 4 for the salty asks~?

Thank you ~

26. Most shippable character?

Oh I think I’d say Mercy from Overwatch - she works with a lot of characters and while I haven’t consumed much content of them, I like the idea ~ Examples of peeps to ship her with that I like are Genji, Reaper, Soldier, Mccree, Widowmaker and Reinhardt :D Not to mention ships with her that exist and I don’t personally like much

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

Gotta make a list here:

Transformers:

G1: Not bring Optimus back and let Rodimus have his friggin’ story about learning to be a confident leader

Headmasters: NOT write Cyclonus like a fucking buttmonkey

Beast Machines: would have changed the heroes from constantly fighting with each other to fucking making up and being friends again. And make the Jetstorm=Silverbolt conflict be in an internal struggle between these two personalities, instead of Blackarachnia being a hypocrit and solving it herself by vile means.

Robots in Disguise 2015: Would rework the whole thing to make sense with the premise it has, corrupt cybertronian goverment and all, instead of that just being ignored til the last 3 episodes. And bring the main villains into the thing maybe before the finale?

Transformers Prime, Predacon Rising movie: Let Megatron stay fucking dead 

Prime Wars: Actually explain what the conflict and situation is at the beginning of the first season, not the second season. Also not bring Optimus back, like wtf, can the twunk just stay dead for once? It’s not like his ressurection made sense or was in any way needed, it happened in the last two minutes!

To put it simply - stop ressurecting characters when their story is done!

TES:

Skyrim: Remove the whole Blades plotline, just remove everything about them. They don’t matter, nothing they do helps defeat Alduin and they are just annoying

Temeraire:

Tongue of Serpents: Let Kulingile stay disabled - would have made for a better narrative and message in my eyes than “Don’t kill the baby that is born disabled, he might turn out to be a really big dragon afterall!” I don’t believe that Novik wrote this with that idea in mind, but I would have enjoyed it more if the message was “Don’t kill the baby that is born disabled, because disabled people are people and don’t deserve to be killed.” Like him overcoming the bad physique he hatched with ruins that message for me.

League of Dragons: Remove the Laurence/Roland romance, don’t have it be about forgiveness, Laurence didn’t need forgiveness from her, I truly did not believe he ever craved her forgiveness either. The only context she had appeared in the previous 3 books was as his letter corrospodence.

And maybe give the characters besides Laurence and Temeraire an end to their arcs? I know last books are hard, but I feel like a 10th book would have been better. I was also disappointed that Junichiro, who was really well developed in the previous book, was only in one scene and only used to further the plot. 

I could list more things, but these are the only ones I care about. Like what’s the point of ranting about Voltron when I don’t give a shit about it anymore?

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

Nah, nothing of the sort. In no fandom, when it comes to shipping I really do not care at all and never once encountered a ship that made me mad or feel bad.

#asks #tes #transformers #temeraire #overwatch #fandom questions #SALTY fandom questions #sammiyaslife

[paigesturning]

Race in 5e: Who Is at Your Table?

I had to write an argumentative essay for one of my classes this semester. I was really into the idea I had, and gave it a shot! I think this might be one of the best pieces I’ve ever written.

Word count: 2995 TW: Discussions of race science, orientalism, and references to white supremacist rhetoric

Writing is difficult, and it’s even more difficult to write collaboratively. This applies to TTRPG as much as it applies to novels. Sure, the DM could simply railroad the players into sessions of combat, lock them into a certain path, or make their other options so terrible that they simply must go the way the story is leading, but it’s bad practice. After all, though it’s not a traditional story, written down in book form for distribution, TTRPG relies on the interplay between the DM’s idea for what should happen in the story, and the players’ ideas. Unlike writing a book, however, TTRPGs rely on another influence, rather than just the set of people who have agreed to tell a story. There’s always at least one other person in the situation, who might be completely unknown to the DM and players. I refer, of course, to the game designer. TTRPGs have far more freedom than video games, but the decisions made by the game designer have the same amount of weight in both mediums. In Skyrim, for example, this looks like a prioritization of combat mechanics over puzzle solving mechanics or relationship mechanics. Though both are implemented in the game, there’s not nearly as many options in playstyle for relationships, or variation in puzzle types, for it to be considered a romance game, or a puzzle game. In TTRPG, the influence of the designer is often far less apparent. In 5e, your character can do basically whatever they want so long as the other people at the table agree that it’s something they want to interact with. However, with some exception, you will not be able to run a game set, for example, in real-world Chicago or on a transport vessel in space. Players tend to be locked into a fantasy setting. Like Skyrim, 5e is a system that prioritizes combat in a magical, pseudo-European medieval setting. It’s a mix of mechanics, and built-in worldbuilding that can allow us to come to this conclusion - each spell, if it doesn’t explicitly add or remove hit points from a target, changes the rules for when and how combat can happen, and each class is described in their flavor text in high fantasy terms, often opening with the examples of ways each one can be useful in combat. True as all this may be, it is, at its core a neutral thing, and I find myself blessed to occasionally be at the tables of others as a game designer and homebrewer. All games must make assumptions about the kind of game players want, and must do their best to fulfil those expectations, the same way a speaker might attempt to predict the thoughts, previous knowledge, and counter-arguments of their audience. However, in 5e, there lies a certain set of assumptions that I personally find troubling, and in fact in need of some serious reworking. The way that race functions in 5e represents an old-fashioned way of viewing the world. In the most direct terms, yeah, it’s kinda racist. Therefore, the assumptions 5e makes in their race system, represented in mechanics that both promote archaic ways of thinking and force the narrative in directions the players and DM may be uncomfortable with, means that it is time to either dramatically change the way race works, or pass over the system entirely.

When a DM is preparing to start a new game of 5e, one very good place to start is the Dungeon Master’s Guide, or DMG. In it, theoretically, are the tools for DMs and players alike to better understand exactly what the game they are playing looks like. In many ways, it’s a behind the scenes look at what goes into planning a session. For example, each “encounter”, or a portion of the game in which the players fight enemies or find ways around them, there’s a bit of calculation which can tell you what enemies will be appropriate for your party size and level. However, in a new game, before even doing that, you should go to the beginning of chapter 1, on page 9. It lists the assumptions the rules make about your setting, which is a helpful tool for anyone attempting to rectify the base rules with a far-out, high-concept world. They are as follows: “Gods Oversee the World”, “Much of the World is Untamed”, “The World is Ancient”, “Conflict Shapes the World’s History”, and “The World is Magical”. On paper, that’s all you need to know (though it might be worth noting that on page 43 the book contradicts this and gets more specific about what sort of multiverse is required to support the rules). These are five basic rules anyone can follow, rules that most people working to create a fantasy setting would have followed anyway, especially in such a combat-focused system. However, in the Player’s Handbook, (abbreviated as PHB) there are additional assumptions about the setting you’ll be playing in, most notably in the section on the different races that appear in 5e. For starters, each race has a small box that explains how the other races in the game are likely to view them. Taken from page 37, when the book is discussing how Gnomes (a small race of humanoids with large heads and thin limbs) think about their place among other races, “It's rare for a gnome to be hostile or malicious unless he or she has suffered a grievous injury. Gnomes know that most races don't share their sense of humor, but they enjoy anyone's company just as they enjoy everything else they set out to do.” They give no explanation for why gnomes tend to be “Good”, in terms of 5e’s morality system. Perhaps this isn’t an oversight, and instead they are allowing you to fill in the blanks yourself? Do the gnomes perhaps have free healthcare, while some others do not? 

I am of course being facetious. I am certain the creators didn’t think quite so far ahead, and instead just wanted to paint a picture of the world they envisioned. It’s not some great sin of design, of course, to do this, and I will admit I am guilty of it in my own design. However, this is just one of the smaller examples of 5e making decisions for the DM and the players. Unlike some other portions of the rules, that brief note can be ignored with little to no need for creating a replacement. You could just as easily scribble the note out of the book, and leave a black sharpie stain where it once sat. Unfortunately, there are other decisions made about race that are much harder to ignore without a level of homebrewed (or player-created) mechanics. For example, a little later, on page 43, the book tells you about the specific mechanical benefits that half-orcs get. Two in particular stand out to me as disturbing. The first, Menacing, means that “You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill”. The other is Savage Attacks, which reads “When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon's damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit”. There is no way in which these cannot be seen as narrative decisions on the part of the creators. Exactly what is it about an orc’s presence that would mean it is more intimidating than any other person? One could surmise that, perhaps they are much larger than most people, or that their rarity means that people are not used to their size and tusks. Perhaps I only speak for myself, but I do not often find myself intimidated by people who look different from what I am used to. The explanation the rules provide is that full-blooded-orcs are barbaric raiders, who wantonly destroy and kill, and are considered evil. Why is it, however, that there’s an entire group of people, people with thoughts, feelings, social structures, who can produce viable offspring with members of other groups of people, that the book deems evil? I submit that, in the minds of the creators, there is some sort of orientalist mystique behind the savage barbarian, one that is physically superior, and yet is still no more than fodder to be torn through by the heroes of the story. This isn’t even the worst example of racism built into the game, but to explain this next portion, I will need to explain a concept. 

At its base level, phrenology is, as per the Encyclopedia Britannica, “the study of the conformation of the skull as indicative of mental faculties and traits of character, especially according to the hypotheses of Franz Joseph Gall”. Gall, born in 1758, measured the heads of his colleagues, convicts, and people in asylums, in order to determine traits such as intellect and potentiality for criminal behavior. As with many things invented in late 18th century Europe, this practice was used to fuel European imperialism. The article Of ‘Native Skulls’ and ‘Noble Caucasions’: Phrenology in Colonial South Africa, by Andrew Bank, explains very quickly that “The leading proponents of the new discipline almost uniformly adapted their science of the brain to issues of racial differentiation”. I assume that from here it isn’t difficult to see the direction I am heading with this. Elves, Tieflings, Humans, and Gnomes are given bonuses to Intelligence. Dwarves, Humans, and Elves are given bonuses to Wisdom. Elves, Half-Elves, Humans, Tieflings, Dragonborn, and Halflings are given bonuses to Charisma. Of the races present in the PHB, Half-Orcs are the only ones that don’t get any bonuses to the so-called “Mental Stats”. Physical stats, on the other hand, include Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and Half-Orcs get bonuses to Strength and Constitution. In mechanical terms, this leads to a fairly good balance. The other classes serve as either well-rounded jacks-of-all-trades, or are specialized for certain casters, or help fit an archetype of dexterous fighter/caster combinations, while the Half-Orcs are specialized for non-caster tanks, such as the Barbarian or the Fighter. This makes narrative sense as well; if Half-Orcs are raised by the orcish side of their family, they are far more likely to be brutal in martial combat, trained to fight and kill anyone who might have supplies or treasure for them. 

However much this might “make sense”, I have to ask why this was an addition to the game. I see three possible answers, and by my approximation, they are likely to all be true. The first is that the creators wanted more narrative control than they let on. The second is that they needed those stats to be stand-in numbers to represent various types of spellcaster and are simply ignorant to their implications. The third is that the creators simply find race science unobjectionable. Earlier, I suggested that the game designer joins the players and the DM at the table, through their work. At my table, ignorance and suggestions that some races are simply more intellectually powerful than others is not tolerated, and I should only hope you feel the same way. 

At this point, you’re thinking so loud that I can practically hear it, even in the past. “Ignorance isn’t tolerated? What if the ignorant person in question is willing to change, and well-meaning?”, but if this is what you were thinking, I say with the deepest respect that you’re being just a touch too literal. Of course, if I’ve sat down and agreed to play with someone I know, I am willing to go over why what they said made me uncomfortable. TTRPG is a dialogue, one where the players and the DM must negotiate, not battle, for the story they want to tell, and where everyone must speak up when something happens that makes them upset. The difference between a literal player’s presence and the game designer’s figurative presence is that there is no arguing with a book. In some ways, it’s easier to change a book’s mind. Simply write your own rules, and move on, there’s no need to debate an actual person. You may also be thinking that 5e simply utilizes the mechanics of previous editions. While that is technically true, what is the point of creating a new edition if you can’t change things moving forward? And what’s more, each of my criticisms can be moved onto 1e. The biggest criticism I expect against my argument however, isn’t any of this. Obviously, only one of the races in 5e is human. Nothing in 5e indicates that one race of human is significantly better or worse than any other race of human, and so surely it can’t be racism. Again, you may be thinking a little too literally. In the world supposed by 5e, each race is seen as a person, and (depending on the setting and narrative your group constructs) has the same rights to freedom and life, and yet some are just more mentally skilled than others as soon as they are born. How often in reality do the dregs of society say something along the lines of “it isn’t that I think [members of a certain race] aren’t people or should be enslaved, it’s just that I think that white people are inherently smarter” to make an effort of sounding more reasonable? It isn’t that I think the races in 5e are 1:1 parallels to real-world racist stereotypes. Instead, it’s a matter of philosophy, race-based pseudoscience, and ideology that makes 5e (and previous editions) racist, without major rules upheavals. 

However, in some cases, it would require such an overhaul of a system that it isn’t worth it. Most people would look at the rules for 5e’s races and pale at the thought of changing it completely. Do you get rid of stats completely? Do you select whatever stats you want by yourself? Perhaps you instead get certain bonuses when you select your class, rather than your race? These are all possibilities, and I have played games that utilized some of these options. Aside from the strength of reducing the amount of racism in 5e, it also increases the amount of choice a player has when creating their character. It isn’t unheard of to have a dwarf that uses Dexterity and Charisma as it’s primary abilities, but it is poorly optimized in comparison to the options of Half-Elf or Tiefling, and though it takes a bit more work than just handing a player the PHB, I believe it is worth it in the end. There’s no shame in admitting defeat, though. It’s not every day that I feel like fixing another person’s game, and I design games. And I do it for fun. It is the talent I am blessed with, and my lifelong burden. I understand not wanting to put in the effort. However, my suggestion isn’t that you walk away from TTRPG forever, scorned by the problems in 5e, never to roll a die again. Instead, it might be worth your time looking into other systems of play. Whenever I recommend a system to someone who has only played 5e and is looking for a similar aesthetic, I always turn them toward my personal favorite, Dungeon World (abbreviated as DW). DW is, in many ways, the game that I thought I was playing when I first started playing 5e. Looking through the PHB, it seems very comprehensive to incoming players. But to go back to the example of Skyrim, there’s a suggestion when you start it for the first time that you are about to enter a world of endless possibility, only to be shoehorned into a game that directly prioritizes combat. Dungeon World, while it has far less comprehensive rules for combat, one of its biggest strengths is that it has far fewer rules in general. That isn’t to say that it’s harder to follow. Instead of having intense, complicated rules for combat, every moment in the game is subject to “moves” in which, when you say that your character is doing something, the GM - Game Master, in contrast to the Dungeon Master of 5e - can tell you that the outcome is uncertain, and that it might be difficult. When this happens, you roll two six-sided dice, and the game provides very comprehensive rules to help you resolve it. When you choose a race, you get one extra move and nothing else - an option easily alterable, if one finds it uncomfortable. Blades in the Dark, a similar fantasy system, resolves roles in a similar manner, once again, with a much lesser emphasis on violence, and a much stronger emphasis on magic heists. It’s races have no mechanical benefit, and can be completely ignored if so desired. 

Creating a system is difficult, I know. Playtesting aside, it’s a combination of finding something special that you want to create, deciding what the players will be looking for, and editing draft after draft. It’s also difficult, both logistically and emotionally, to kick someone out of a campaign. It’s my belief though that a line should be drawn when someone in the game insists on adding not only social, but biological inferiority to characters of certain races. It’s a privilege to have your work at someone else’s table, and it’s a privilege that can be revoked. Once again, playing 5e isn’t some ethical failing, or mortal offence. However, it is worth evaluating what changes can be made to 5e’s race system, and if it’s worth it to you to not switch to another system. If you have found any of this compelling, consider your other options. In addition to what I’ve already mentioned, there are designers out there who can bring you into space, cities filled with dark magic and/or under control by cosmic monsters, or honey conventions where there are a few bears trying to steal stuff. Next time you get the urge to roleplay, just consider what I’ve said here, and think about who you’re inviting to your table.

Bibliography

LaTorra, Sage, and Adam Koebel. Dungeon World. 1st ed., The Burning Wheel, 2012.

Harper, John. Blades in the Dark. Evil Hat Productions LLC., 2017.

Works Cited

Mearls, Mike, and Jeremy Crawford. Player's Handbook. 5th ed., Wizards of the Coast LLC, 2014.

Mearls, Mike, and Jeremy Crawford. Dungeon Master's Guide. 5th ed., Wizards of the Coast LLC, 2014.

“Phrenology.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/phrenology.

Bank, Andrew. “Of 'Native Skulls' and 'Noble Caucasians': Phrenology in Colonial South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 22, no. 3, 1996, pp. 387–403. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2637310. Accessed 26 Mar. 2020.

#D&D #5e #D&D 5e #racism #Phrenology

[gezelligheiid2]

     Skyrim Era Sulkan for @dragxnsfire!!

     - Sulkan actually lived in the Clockwork City until a few years before the Red Year occurred. He mainly stayed to watch over the other Apostles who remained, to watch over them and oversee the population as they migrated back to Nirn. He viewed it as his duty: he was a Redoran, he was meant to protect and guide those he watches over.      - After Seht died, he really wasn’t sure what he was suppose to do with his life. He had lived all that time in service of SI, he had never been a true Ordinator or even a soldier: how was he suppose to go back to a life he never had in Vvardenfell? He did return, but never really reintegrated himself back into society. He mainly worked odd jobs, collecting things for people: artifacts, ores, and other odds and ends.       - The Red Year was incredibly scaring for Sulkan. He had lived his life attempting to be a hero, but had never actually been involved in any large scale crisis: the Red Year was the kind of event he always believed he was meant to serve in, but nothing could have truly prepared him for it. He had always seen himself a savior, almost immortal in a sense. The sheer amount of death, all the people he couldn’t save, the visceral panic in the streets as the mountain erupted and Baar Dau crashed. He left people behind that day, people that might still be alive if he had tried to save them or if he had just come a moment sooner. He did help a number of people escape, but he couldn’t save everyone.       - People notice Sulkan’s tattoos, but no one really knows what it means: he always just says it was his guild and leaves it at that.       - You can tell Sulkan is older, but he hasn’t aged as much as he should have. Honestly, he had no idea why. Most likely explanation was his exposure to the Second Heart.      - All that time in the Clockwork City doing maintenance had left him with some nasty burn scars, mainly on his forearms; especially near his hands.       - He really wants to go to Solstheim, but stays in Windhelm due to his obligations as a Redoran: he’s meant to protect his people, and this is where they need the most protection.       - He continues his work doing odds and ends for people, getting tips for doing escorts from time to time.      - Sulkan has gotten in trouble with the Law only god knows how many times. He was never very violent, he would talk a big game but never fully follow through on those threats, but the Red Year changed him. If there’s a Nord heckling some Dunmer, Sul will lay down the law real fast. He’s never killed anyone in Windehelm, he’s still very careful to make sure he doesn’t cause unnecessary harm,  but he’s much faster to act. He’s spent a fair few nights in the jail.       - god he just. hates the snow so much.      - Funny enough, even though his whole Temple collapsed, he still has an amulet of ALMSIVI Intervention. Oh sure, he knows it won’t ever work again, but he can’t part with it. and who knows maybe it will work       - He just... he has a really hard time coping with everything that’s happened and the sudden change in gods. He still follows the Tribunal faith, but it doesn’t mean what it used to. He has a rough break up with religion basically.

#uuuuuuuuuuuuuh here are some things my brain spat out! #also i need to add that amulet to his bio #and i want to write about it #its honestly so cool ALMSIVI intervention was an awesome idea #i love that spell ngl #aNYWAY thank you!!! this helped me focus my thoughts lol #and of course grandpa bel is always included in his headcanons #he loves grumpy grandpa #『 🛠 ᴬ ᴸᵒʸᵃˡ ˢᵒⁿ ᵒᶠ ᴿᵉᵈᵒʳᵃⁿ 』;; sulkan headcanon. #tw: death #tw: burns

[kansasvenomoth]

Fanfiction Friday: Fire Emblem Awakening x Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Chapter One

Like it would most any other morning, the sun had slowly risen over the ashen streets of Raven Rock. For the most part, the settlement was fairly quiet; with the exception of the Redoran Guard wandering the streets, it was silent. No one had yet left their homes or their beds in the Retching Netch Cornerclub, though in the Severin Manor not far from the center of town, the owner had been wide awake doing his usual studies. Ja'vassa, the Khajiiti Dragonborn famed for his skills as a mage and mercenary was preparing to do some field research on the island. His aim was to learn more about Miraak, his uprising, and to see if his uprising had anything to do with the way the other Dragon Priests treated their subjects. After gathering a few journals, along with stocking up his satchel with a number of potions, poisons, food, emergency clothes, soul gems, and a few coin purses; once everything was together, he would focus on getting dressed; throwing off his old robes and throwing his travel robes on along with his ebony gauntlets, boots, and of course, the mask of Nahkriin. Throwing the mask on along with his dual ebony war axes, he was about to head outside, though was interrupted by an unexpected force.

Out of nowhere, slimy tentacles and disembodied eyes began to materialize around the Khajiit, though it was unexpected, Ja'vassa kept his composure as he realized it was the Daedric Lord he called master; Hermaeus Mora himself. It was a bit surprising that Ja'vassa would be contacted before he even left town, though he figured it had to be important. After several moments of the disturbing materialization, the Daedra had spoken. "Come closer, my Champion... bask in my presence." He spoke in a disembodied, metallic sounding voice. "I've got a new task for you, one I believe you'll find comparable to your skills. Return to the Summit of Apocrypha where you defeated Miraak and the path shall be revealed. Complete this task for me and you will be richly rewarded, Dragonborn..." As quickly as the Prince appeared, it had disappeared, leaving Ja'vassa confused, but curious at what his new task would be.

Fortunately for him, he already had his things ready and all that was left was reading the Black Book he kept hidden in the Manor. After reading the book, he had been transported to the tower where that fateful battle with the First Dragonborn occured, though that ordeal was long behind him and now it was time to focus on the new task. Moments after dropping into Apocrypha, his Master had shown up. "What is it that you need me to do, my Lord?" Ja'vassa asked, keeping his usual monotonous, serious tone. Usually, Hermaeus Mora's work often led the Khajiit into exciting, but dangerous adventures; the life risking ventures with amazing rewards... the first encounter led him to visiting his first Dwemer ruin in the pursuit of the Falmer Blood and more importantly, the Elder Scroll. Eventually, that expedition in Blackreach not only rewarded him with an Elder Scroll, but with the Oghma Infinium as well. Months later, Ja'vassa found himself on Solstheim, again in the presence of the Daedric Prince of Fate and Knowledge, that time in pursuit of the First Dragonborn.

"As you are no doubt aware, the planes of Oblivion are infinite.. Mundus is infinite.. Aetherius is infinite. Not many are aware that more hide beyond these realms, though difficult to access, it is not completely impossible. Being an immortal Prince has its perks and I've had plenty of time to figure out how to access it." Hermaeus Mora started; while the Dragonborn was an incredibly intelligent Khajiit, the stuff being explained to him was effectively flying over his head. He mostly, or at least he assumes he understands the realms of Mundus, Oblivion, and Aetherius, but this was new. Despite his lack of understanding as to what was being said, he nodded anyways, interested in this realm beyond Aetherius. "I will be sending you to this realm, I cannot tell you what you'll find, but I can assure you that you'll arrive there alive. You are to go and collect any form of knowledge you can find... books, scrolls, journals, anything you can find. Study it and return it to Apocrypha through the Daedric servant you obtain prior to Miraak's defeat. Do this for me and I shall see to it that you're richly rewarded."

Thinking about it for a moment, Ja'vassa weighed his potential options. It usually isn't a good idea to argue with a Daedric Prince, especially in their own realm. If Miraak was to be an example, arguments or rebellions would likely end in a painful death. There was also the idea of him leaving behind every single person he's ever known; his fellow mages in the College of Winterhold, his Family in the Dark Brotherhood, his Volkihar Vampires, and the many others he's formed bonds with. The fact that his Lord hadn't a clue about what waited for him was a bit alarming, but that was likely the least of his concerns. On the upside, this new world would likely be more accepting of his kind, and maybe he'd be able to start over. Since losing his little sister all those years ago, Ja'vassa has gone down a less than favorable path, with his connections to the Dark Brotherhood, Clan Volkihar, and the Thieves Guild putting a huge stain on his reputation. This new world might give him what he needs to start fresh, to be the hero his sister would want him to be. Not to mention, his curiosity was getting the better of him; it wasn't everyday someone got to explore beyond Oblivion and he wasn't about to let this opportunity slide away. Weighing his options, thinking of the risks involved and the potential rewards that come with it, Ja'vassa nodded in confirmation. "I'll.. I'll do it." He said, wondering if he made a mistake with that. His response seemed to have been favorable with his Master as a strange, violet portal had slowly opened up.

"Prepare yourself for whatever awaits on the other side. When I deem your progress satisfactory, I will bring you back to Apocrypha." And with that, the Khajiit had cautiously entered the portal, his left hand resting on the handle of one of his axes. As he entered the portal, a brilliant flash of light enveloped him and rather than dropping him in some terrifying realm like he had expected, rather he landed in what appeared to be an expansive desert. Once the light disappeared, he looked around curiously; "It's almost like I landed in Hammerfell, but.." He muttered, though his attention was stolen by what appeared to be an army approaching from the north; all clad in blue and to the south, a number of what he could only assume to be mages dressed in red. "Stormcloaks? Imperials...? Is this just an alternative Tamriel?" He asked himself, deciding to hang back to see just what would happen.

#crossover #fanfiction #skyrim #fire emblem awakening #lore breaking

[karazor--el]

Nicole Maines once offered lessons in becoming herself. Now, she becomes someone else for a living.

The Maine native first made headlines as an anonymous student who sued her school district in 2013 over bathroom discrimination. School officials had barred Maines, who is transgender, from using the women’s bathrooms. She won her case, and eventually went public to describe the experience in the family memoir Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family.

Maines’ activism also led to on-camera appearances in television and film discussing her experience as a transgender American. Her natural charisma also led to acting opportunities, including appearing as the first transgender superhero on American television with her role as Dreamer/Nia Nal on The CW series Supergirl, produced by Greg Berlanti. Last year, she also earned acclaim (and a Queerty Nomination) for her work as a vampire in the indie horror film Bit.

With her star on the rise, Queerty snagged some time to chat with Maines about the unusual trajectory of her life, her newfound acting career, and her survival lessons for the COVID-19 lockdown. Supergirl airs Sundays on The CW.

So, I must say, with everything going on I feel obligated to ask: how are you right now? Are you ok?

Thanks for asking. I’m really good. I came down to Austin; I’m staying with my parents. I try to keep myself busy any way I can. I’m playing lots of video games. I just re-downloaded Skyrim.

Oh yes.

I’m doing a playthrough. Always fun. I got Disney+, and they released the final season of Star Wars: Clone Wars, which was a big show when I was a kid. I love it, so I’m rewatching. It still holds up. It’s amazing. And I’m doing art with my tablet. I sit in bed and doodle away.

Maines as Dreamer in ‘Supergirl’

Sweet. So you’re one of the most prominent trans actors on television. I don’t want to call you a trans action hero; that makes you sound like an ATM.

[Laughter]

Trans superhero, yes.

What kind of responsibility is it to play a character like Dreamer, the first transgender superhero on TV?

I feel like being the first for anything has a certain amount of pressure. You’re setting where the bar is going to be. You want to set it as high as possible because you don’t want to be the one that messed up. It’s like oh, she messed up. No more trans superheroes!

[Laughter]

Right.

So I want to do so well so we can continue to have trans superheroes. Fortunately, the response has been responsible. People love Nia, the character. People who aren’t trans love the character, which is almost cooler than hearing that trans people love Dreamer. I was pretty sure that the response from the trans community would be very positive. My own reaction was so excited, so I knew the community would love it. But the number of cisgender people that come to me and say “Dreamer is my favorite character. She’s my favorite superhero.” Aside from her transness, she’s a really special character. She’s just awesome, and its been amazing to see people love her as much as they do.

It’s true. In looking at the show, what strikes me—you’re right—is that it’s not about her being trans. It’s about a woman in an extraordinary situation, who happens to be trans. It’s her relationships with characters like Kara and Brainy that are so relatable. She’s a woman finding her purpose.

Absolutely. It’s a true coming of age story. Her transness isn’t the biggest part of her story. Coming into Season 4, the biggest problem on her mind wasn’t her transness. It was seeing the future in her dreams and not knowing how to handle it.

She’s just trying to get through the day, yeah. It’s so simple that way. Nia has obviously been a huge part of defining your career. And you’re not even old.

Can that please be the headline?

[Laughter]

I’ll keep it in for sure. But this role, by the way, will follow you for the rest of your life. You will be forever associated with her. Is that daunting?

I mean, I think it’s exciting. It’s very exciting to craft this original character and see her thriving among all the major DC players. Crisis [a storyline that crossed over on The CW superhero shows] was so crazy for me. To watch it and see Dreamer, the first trans superhero, up there with Batwoman and Supergirl and The Flash. That was so cool. So I’m excited to have this character follow me. I’ve had so much fun. And I’m so attached to the character personally. I’m protective of her. She’s my baby.

That’s wonderful. You’re an actress who specializes in playing characters with extraordinary gifts. I want to ask about another character you played in a film called Bit.

Yes! Let’s talk about Bit.

It’s a cheeky, fun comic book horror film that you carry as the lead. You were nominated for Best Performance at the Queerties. I hope you are aware…

Yes, and I was so shocked, first of all, because it’s a genre film. So often, genre films don’t thrive in that kind of environment.

It took me by surprise at Outfest last year. I talked to Brad Michael Elmore, the director.

He’s one of my favorite people ever. He’s so smart and talented. He did such an amazing job writing this script. It’s so special. He’s very aware—and will be the first person to say–”I’m not the person who should be telling this story. I’m the straightest, cis guy out there. But I don’t see anyone else telling this story, so I’m going to.” And he did. He’s using his platform and privilege to lift people up. And he did a f*cking cool movie starring queer women.

Totally.

We had a female DP, which is huge. The whole movie was so amazing. The script was brilliant. Instantly, reading it, I fell in love. I hope people get to watch it soon. It’s just cool.

It’s cheeky fun. It’s kind of a female version of The Lost Boys, and I really related to the characters.

Yeah.

So it’s your first movie.

My first and only movie. I’m always on the phone with Brad. “Bradley, when are we making another movie? I’m getting bored.”

[Laughter]

So was it intimidating carrying the whole movie your first time out?

Terrifying. Dreadfully terrifying. I don’t know if anyone knew this, but I have no idea what I’m doing up here. I don’t have formal acting training. I’m not a Julliard actor. I haven’t been doing this for years. I show up and it’s like playing dress-up, you know? And on Supergirl too, I’m acting with juggernauts. It’s my first major [job] and I’m doing scenes with David Harewood. Cool, no pressure.

[Laughter]

I have to live up to something. I have to keep up with that. All of it is very scary. With Bit, trying to keep up with Diana Hopper and James Paxton. Most of my scenes are with them, and they are both so phenomenal. Acting is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever had to do. I have virtually no control over anything. I just try my best. And I’m really happy with Bit, and the response has been better than any of us could have asked for.

That’s marvelous.

It was supposed to be coming out soon, but the virus sort of threw that. I hope people get to see it soon, and I hope they get to see it in theatres.

It’s a film that I think will have a following. When I talked to Brad, he mentioned that he had read your book and consulted you doing research for the part. Then he decided he should cast you in the lead.

Yeah.

Were you at all reluctant to appear in a very queer film written by a cis straight man?

I didn’t really think much of it. The writing spoke for itself. It was phenomenal, well written, well researched. He’d talked to trans folks and read books. He knew what he was writing; he’d done his research to make sure it’s done well. And he made a movie where the trans character, like Nia, where her transness is not the only interesting thing about her. Brad knew: queer people are more than who we sleep with or where we use the bathroom.

Yes.

I found that very refreshing.

Well, and I’m not sure I should say this, but I did tell Brad: the first time I saw the movie I didn’t even catch that she was a trans character. I just thought Laurel was a woman played by an actress who happens to be trans, and that was it.

And that’s the beauty of it. It’s not something a lot of people are going to catch unless they’re looking for it. You catch it in certain places. It is there, and if you know to look for it, you understand. But otherwise, it’s not really pertinent to the situation. When we first meet her, with Laurel driving to Los Angeles, she’s passed a point in her life where her transness is her biggest issue.

Exactly.

Her biggest issue is her selfishness, and that now she has to kill people. She doesn’t want to kill people. It’s a story of a sort of amoral teen trans lesbian vampire.

I love it. When I talked to Brad, it was obvious he had this world very defined in his mind. Have you talked about doing another one? He hinted…

Yeah. It’s a possibility. Of course, I’m like yes, let’s do a trilogy. I want Bit Part II. I want to do all the movies. I have a running joke with him and James that Brad will be like 80 in a wheelchair, and James and I will be in Bit 16. We’ll never stop.

It worked for Star Wars.

I think it has the makings for a sequel, but first we need it frigging released.

So what else do you have coming up? I know Supergirl is coming back for Season 6. Are you part of it?

I believe that I can say I am, yes. I’m not going anywhere.

Beyond that? Other movies?

My life has just been Supergirl and Bit the past couple years. It’s funny: I see other folks doing other projects while they’re a regular on a series. And I’m like how do you have the time? It’s all I can do to get a night’s sleep. So right now it’s Bit coming out and Supergirl Season 6. I talked to the showrunner, and he told me what the plan is. I’m really excited. It’s a cool concept.

And I’m sure you can’t tell us what that is.

I can’t say anything.

It figures. Anything else you’d like to add?

Stay indoors. I feel like this could all be over sooner if people would just. Stop. Going. Outside. For stupid reasons.

Right?

Supergirl airs Sundays on The CW.

Queerty.

[nathalie-sancoeur-assistant]

I can see Ladybug loosing the Butterfly miraculous. It'll be interesting to see Lila trying to distract Ladybug only for he to accidentally gain the miraculous, and using it to destroy her

Hehehe oh yeah. 

Just don’t let her get the peacock too. I feel like it should be returned and fixed. 

I REALLY want to see how that reveal would go down

Cause I can see both Ladybug and Chat being totally shocked. 

Ladybug, because Gabriel Agreste is someone she has followed and admired for a very long time

And Chat because...its his dad. 

And I do think that they’re going to be furious, especially Chat, because of all the things his father has done. I do think he’ll be softer on the idea if he is told exactly WHY Gabriel was doing all this, why he did all the bad things he did- and if actually seems to regret it at least a little.

It’s at this point where the show is going to have to make a really big decision- does Gabriel pay for everything he’s done, or is he given the opportunity to redeem himself? Because on one hand, he’s a bad person. He deserves to be punished for what he’s done, he clearly knows he’s wrong and has said some extremely villainous things in regards to our heros. He knows he’s wrong, and he’s essentially a terrorist. But on the other hand, his mind was clouded by grief and desperation, that’s something anyone can fall prey too and he’s justifying his actions by telling himself its for the good of his family. Anyone that could even be a semi-decent person/actually has an okay family would want to put it back together if they had the opportunity, so you can’t criminalize him for that, though he is a criminal. 

I suppose in the end it would all come down to “what will happen to Adrien?”

Because this kid is famous- and people will definitely suspect he was in on the whole thing if his father is imprisoned and revealed to the world. He’s going to receive death-threats, be a huge part of conspiracy theories, and be overall shunned by a big portion of the world simply because of something his father was doing. I read another post that said he would likely be put into the witness protection program, given a new name and identity and shipped off to live somewhere where no one knew his face- at least, realistically speaking. So considering how dark it could end up being in the end for him, I can easily see Gabriel getting a redemption. Nathalie’s sacrifice and previous constant reminders to be a better father and his desire to honour her wishes could easily be an influencer on Gabriel to act better as a father to his son, and if he is to be redeemed I could see him actually getting a more minor miraculous so he can act as a hero and really prove that he’s on their side now (if this happens I think it’ll be the rooster) but even if that doesn’t happen (probably won’t) so long as he actively tries to be a better person, I won’t mind it at all. 

But if he doesn’t, he needs some form of punishment. I think a frayed relationship with Adrien (if nathalie is MIA) would be even worse than prison for him, since Adrien would literally be the only person he had left in the world.

Idk. Ive thought about it a lot- I want him to be redeemed, but I want him to have to work hard for it. (skyrim spoilers) Like how Paarthurnax used to work for Alduin on Skyrim, but then ended up being a key factor in his defeat. 

#mlb #miraculous #hawkmoth #ladybug #lila #lila rossi #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste

[dumbfinntales]

I’ve done everything I felt like was worth doing in Morrowind and gotta say, despite its age it was really fun. Certain things took some time getting used to, like no conventional fast travel or having to find your own way but in time I started to really enjoy these aspects. To a degree, at least.

Let me start by saying that the combat is a little bit stupid, alright? Your fatigue and weapon skills play into whether or not you can hit things. You really need to dedicate yourself to a single weapon type because if you try to pick up a weapon that you got only 10-20 points in you ain’t gonna hit a damn thing. Hitting things and just seeing your weapon go through them is frustrating. I mostly used the Long Blades and eventually got the skill to 100 and I rarely miss, except if I’m out of fatigue. But still this system is pretty dumb and I’m glad they got rid of it later on.

Morrowinds world is amazing. I have no idea what happened between this game and Oblivion, because Oblivions open world is dull. But Morrowind is fascinating and very different. The world is full of interesting locations and fun encounters with colorful characters. Like all those naked Nords that have been tricked by witches, what a coincidence that there’s so many. Or the famous flying mage Tarhiel. This game also has something revolutionary. Loot. Loot that isn’t randomized, like in Oblivion and Skyrim. There’s set loot in each cave and ancestral site that you can find and it made exploring them fun because you wouldn’t know what riches you could come across. You’d think that making loot random would create the same effect, but nope. When you explore dungeons you just get random garbage. In Morrowind I’ll never forget when I ventured off to a random tomb and found a few pieces of the Orcish armor in a chest. That armor is there ALWAYS, it’s not random. Finally I was able to ditch my ugly mould armor and rock something much cooler. So yeah, exploring the dungeons in this game felt a lot more fun and satisfying than looting randomized chests with soulgems in them.

But my favorite part of Morrowind is just how utterly broken the game is. There’s so many systems and little things you can exploit to basically ascend to godhood. Who needs the heart of Lorkhan? Create a spell for 100% magick resistance for 1 sec, cast it and put on the boots of blinding speed and BOOM! Now you’re Sonic the hedgehog speeding across Vvardanfell. Not to mention alchemy and enchanting. Enchantments in this game rock. You don’t need to recharge them with soulgems (you can), they recharge on their own making enchanted items actually useful. In future games I’d always run out of charge after killing a couple enemies and then run around with an empty weapon for several hours until I was able to charge it at an NPC. I get why the self recharging items changed, to balance things, but y’know. I liked that system in Morrowind. Enchanting equipment and rings was great too. I made a ring for flying. And a shield that can open any door in the world. The possibilities are limitless!

Morrowind also has in my opinion the best main quest out of all the Elder Scrolls games. Everything involving the Sixth House, the tribunal and Dagoth Ur was so utterly fascinating. And cool. The lore this game provides is just so fucking cool. I especially fell in love the Almsivi. In past games the main story is kinda there. They try to be grand and flashy, but end up being a little short and underwhelming. The story in Morrowind doesn’t rush you and it isn’t necessarily a world ending disaster. Daddy Dagoth is just up to no good and you, as Elven Jesus need to go teach him a lesson about spreading dangerous diseases. After you beat up Dagoth Ur and the heart he’s hoarding you become a hero and everyone loves you after spitting on your face. Seriously, when you start the game everyone fucking hates your guts.

The game is rad and all, but there are a few things that weren’t so good in my opinion. For one, the directions. I was fine with no quest markers when the directions that were given to you were informative. At the start of the game the NPC’s would go into detail about where you need to go. Later on? Just head South from here and you should find it lol. Then you proceed to run around aimlessly like a chicken until you emotionally collapse and consult a wiki while crying your eyes out. I did this multiple times because fuck giving me good directions, right? The Bloodmoon expansion was the fucking WORST in this regard. I had to look up everything because all the directions I was given were vague as fuck and I just spent more time hopping around like a bunny rabbit. And a second thing. The quests. I’ll be honest with y’all, many of the side quests are just boring. Especially the faction quests. I completed three factions in this game, fighters guild, house Redoran and the east empire company. All of them were just you doing busy work until some climax where you need to kill the former leader, or replace them for whatever reason. Compare this to the faction quests in Oblivion where they tell a larger story. Not all of them are super interesting, but at least they’re better than what we got in Morrowind. Hell I’d go as far as to say that Skyrim did factions better. Yeah, get mad. There were very few side quests worth remembering. Most of them follow a boring routine and they never stray from a safe path. At least try to tell some kind of a story when you send me to kill a bunch of bandits in a cave. There were a couple neat quest in the game, but that’s just it. Neat.

So yeah. Morrowind is one strange RPG from 2002 and probably the most beloved entry in the TES franchise, and I can see why. It’s quirky, it doesn’t hold your hand and there’s a lot to roleplay. Plus it’s just damn fun with good lore. I’m glad I gave the game a chance. Morrowind gets YOU N’WAH out of ten.

#morrowind #a review type of deal

[krahka]

The KleskizhAUs and their Poetic Styles

Under read more because lomg

SWTOR Kleskizhae

Ridiculous Sith Juggernaut. Excessively proud of his Sith ancestry but also ridiculously light side and somehow doesn’t see this as a problem. Loves lightsabers, loves the Empire but is a little less clear on whether he likes the Empire as an institution or the Empire as the people, and hint, it’s the people, he’ll pick the people if he had to.

Poetry: ALL CAPS HAIKUS FREE VERSE ASTRONOMY METAPHORS EXTREMELY VIOLENT REFERENCES TO ANCIENT SITH HISTORY BEAUTIFUL WORDS BEATEN STRAIGHT OUT OF HIS HEART OF DARK PASSION

DS!SWTOR Kleskizhae

Ridiculous and awful Sith Juggernaut. Believes himself morally and genetically superior to all others. Delights in toying with his inferiors, especially in breaking their hearts with his charm and facade of kindness. 

Poetry: Flowery and romantic and flattering. More or less copies of ancient Sith poems, but with the words changed a bit. They’re mostly for showing off how cultured he is and how much he loves you babe, so he doesn’t put in much effort. 

ESO Kleskizhae

Altmer Battlemage. A scion of the Direnni but not on great terms with his family due to his allegiance to the Aldmeri Dominion and his marrying a Bosmer because of Spinner shenanigans. Ambassador of the Queen and definitely not one of her Eyes nosir. Got pressganged into the Buoyant Armigers after impressing Vivec by exemplifying all of hir favorite virtues and vices just by accident.

Poetry: Sonnets. Ballads. Sexually explicit but it’s so purple that you can hardly tell just how sexually explicit it really is. Mostly about his own adventures and the people he knows. Melodramatic as fuck. The stuff he wrote when Vivec specifically was taking an interest in him is his best work, since he starts getting more experimental and tones down the silliness without losing that red hot emotional core that really elevates the verse to something that so many people try and fail to replicate in the future that it’s become its own genre. 

DS!ESO Kleskizhae

Altmer Battlemage what dabbles in necromancy. Believes himself the rightful king of all of High Rock with the Bretons as his rebellious subjects. Allied with Mannimarco because he promised him that when Planemeld happened, he could have his ancestral holdings all to himself, with all the people there living only to glorify him. The kinda guy you end up killing in the Daggerfall Covenant quests or in a Balfiera focused dungeon DLC. 

Poetry: Pretty similar to light side ESO!Kleskizhae, but if he thinks you didn’t appreciate his work he’ll torture you until you do. Try and critique it and he’ll just plain murder you and raise your corpse to grovel for his forgiveness and admit that you were wrong. Also his poetry is his annoying boss mechanic somehow. Didn’t read the books in his dungeon? Too bad because that’s how you defeat him. 

GW2 Klejskizae

Norn Herald. Skald, champion of Wolf, Lightbringer of the Order of Whispers. A Delight unto all people of Tyria! Your new best friend who is not using your friendship with him to learn your secrets! Come and listen to him channel the spirits and the Legends next Dragon Bash!

Poetry: Actually more into prose. Veddas. Stories about heroes, exaggerated for effect. Tales that he keeps in his mind that he tells differently each time he’s asked to tell it, depending on what he thinks his audience needs to hear. The poetry tends to be more personal, often taking the form of prayers to the Spirits that are between him and them. Also will write songs, also about heroes, with calls to action for the Pact. 

TES!Specifically Klejskizae

Nord Skaald. Traveling yeller. Delighter of audiences all throughout Tamriel. Follower of the Old Ways. Probably also in the Blades. 

Poetry: SCREAMING TAVERN SONGS. Great heroes, sometimes gets kicked out of taverns in Skyrim because he’s performing songs about non-Nord heroes but how can you not be excited by EVERYONE

SWTOR!Specifically Klejskizae

Mandalorian what will scream battle poems in your ear as he faces you in glorious hand to hand combat. Has some very weird ideas of what being Mandalorian is, but they’re closer to reality than his Sith version’s ideas of being Sith. 

Poetry: You thought Sith Kleskizhae’s poetry was gory and violent? You haven’t heard Mando Klejskizae. They are ridiculous. Everything ends with lovers embracing for the last time as they die in battle and their death is described in excruciating detail.

FFXIV Kleskizhae

Ishgardian adventurer. Dragoony Bard. Got kicked out for being way too scandalous for the theocracy and for talking too much about how he thought that maybe we should just smooch the Dragons? 

Poetry: The poetry isn’t why he’s not liked back in Ishgard, though that poetry was a means to transmit his unpopular and scandalous ideas and activities. The poetry specifically is why he’s distrusted in Gridania after he met an elemental and challenged it to a rap battle and it went very poorly. (Kleskizhae won and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise or that that’s not the point and there is no winning because he definitely won)

West Coast Fallout Klaus K. Zheng

Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel. Sort of into the whole BoS thing of keeping dangerous tech out of people’s hands but also he’s into protecting people in any way he can, since they must protect those who will inherit the past, yes? That is what we’re doing, right? Right?

Poetry: He found a book of poems about Arthurian legends and they changed his life, as did Grognak the Barbarian which he’s sure is in the same canon. He’s also read a bunch of Shakespeare and only sort of understands it. So yeah, sonnets that are Shakespeare ripoffs. Casting modern topics into medieval terms. Sometimes it’ll get weird and his BoS worldview will come in and make them anachronistic but it’s unintentional because he just wants to write like the knights of yore. 

East Coast Fallout Klaus K. Zheng

Enclave soldier, later deserter once he sees that oh shit killing everyone wasn’t supposed to be what they were going to do! He wasn’t listening to the quiet part! Ends up aiding synths because it pisses off the BoS and also saves lives. Still believes in America but it’s one that maybe never existed. 

Poetry: The Enclave did preserve a lot of good American literature in their databanks, though they’re kinda sketchy about distributing it to their soldiers since even before 2077 they realized that a lot of the American canon contains like, anti-war, anti-corporate ideas and they couldn’t have that in their new society. He read Leaves of Grass once and it blew his mind. He might just surrender to the Brotherhood if they let him have access to their books, because he needs those. But also he might not because they would probably kill him and he’s also spending his post-Raven Rock time helping synths out of the Institute and that’s something they’d kill him for. And probably also kill a lot of other people if they realized that the Railroad had ex-Enclave in there. And the Institute doesn’t care for the humanities, which is why they had to create machines to teach them how to be human and then proceed to do such terrible things to the humans they’ve created; because they are less machine than they are and they resent them for it. 

Modern Vlogger Klaus K. Zheng

Relationship advice vlogger, specifically as a counter-voice to all those shitty misogynist PUAs that are targeting lonely straight men. Also here for the lonely women and the lonely queers since he’s a queer man himself. 

Poetry: He’s got a Master’s in Poetry and he feels it was time well spent, even if he didn’t care as much for academia as he did for the writing and the reading. One of the rewards for donating to his Patreon at a higher tier is a short poem written just for you about whatever subject you wish. (Assuming that it’s not extremely objectionable. He’ll gladly write poems about all sorts of sex acts, but he won’t write one about the virtues of white power.)

HZD Kleskizhae

Carja Warrior. Participated in the Red Raids because that was what the will of the Sun was but he couldn’t take the violence and the genocide and ended up joining with Sun-Prince Avad to overthrow the murderous king literally as soon as he could. Has been on a tour of goodwill ever since. 

Poetry: Overuses the words “glinting”, “scintillating”, “resplendent”, “radiant”, “brilliant” and other words that mean A LOT OF LIGHT because he’s really into writing ridiculous songs about the Sun. A lot more personal and emotional than a lot of Carja poetry, since it’s more about love than about praising the Sun or the King. It’s a new dawn, and what the world needs is love’s shining rays to heal her wounds. With the help of some Oseram who wanted to promote the newly invented phonograph, manages to become the first real pop star after the apocalypse.

DA Kleskizhae

Tevinter Battlemage. Was sent off to the front lines against the Qunari to keep from embarrassing his family and his master. Accidentally ended up embarrassing them anyway. 

Poetry: So he’s really into bringing up the Old Gods in his poems. He doesn’t worship them, he’s a good Andrastian, but you know how in the Renaissance everyone was a huge Greeceaboo? Yeah, it’s like that. 

WtA Klaus K. Zheng

Fianna Galliard. He’s a werewolf poet who sings ballads of his pack’s glorious battles and lifts their spirits in the name of Gaia and Stag!

Poetry: He’s got a soft spot for dirty limericks. All of the Kleskizhaes will make improv poems upon request when they’re drunk enough but Fianna!Klaus is the master of the drunken on-the-spot poem. Like they get way better when he’s drunk and they’re improvised, as opposed to the usual thing where they’re charmingly bad.

VtM Klaus K. Zheng

Toreador. Got the vampire bug some time in the Victorian era, I dunno if he was actually British or what.

Poetry: Lord Byron himself once called his poems “a bit maudlin.” His sire was certainly fond of his work, but if he had more time in his peak living creative years he would have probably been a better known figure in the Romantic movement. As it is he’s fairly irrelevant and forgotten by all but a few intense scholars of the period, and even they consider him a minor figure. 

Shadowrun Klaus K. Zheng

Elven Street Samurai. Just wants to make the world a better place through the power of love and also katanas. Probably unfortunately involved with Aztechnology which is gonna end badly for him probably. 

Poetry: Machines and corporations have not yet conquered the metahuman soul, and that is why he writes. Has been banned from a couple of Runner BBSs for constantly posting about his latest runs in the form of epic poem, and that’s not what these boards are for, @GLORIOUSSAMURAI, please turn off your caps lock

Star Trek Kleskizhae

Romulan Tactical Officer. Fought in the Dominion War, joined the Romulan Republic after Romulus asplode, because they wouldn’t let him quietly desert and because he believes in the true Romulan spirit that can never be repressed!

Poetry: He’s trying to revive ancient pre-Awakening Vulcan poetic traditions whilst failing to recognize that lots of it doesn’t work in the modern Romulan language. He’s always been super into poetry but after the destruction of Romulus, he becomes obsessed with writing the perfect series of poems to describe it for the future, so that people will remember what it’s like long after everyone who remembers it is dead. He hasn’t been successful yet and it’s upsetting him but he can’t just not do it. He owes it to the dead. 

Bionicle Kleskizhae

He's a proud Skakdi warlord of Fire who is trying his best to unite his proud and noble people against the wicked deprivations of the Makuta and might also be in the Order of Mata Nui because sometimes Kleskizhae is a spy? But always he is very loud. 

Poetry: Extremely long and elaborate war chants with 40 verses that he’s trying to get his guys to chant into battle but no one else but him can remember it all and he keeps adding more verses. But also he’s written love poetry that’s gone all the way around Greg and made romance canon again! He’s done it! With the chiseling of the tablets he’s made love real!

#oc: kleskizhae #all screaming together in perfect harmony #long post