#knightly combat

[we-are-knight]

My friends,

It has begun. ⚜️

#the knight himself #MAC armor #harness fighting #HEMA #WMA #knightly combat #plate armour #armour #armor #fencing #longsword #poleaxe #spear #lance #sword #knightcore

[thy-golden-knight]

It's funny how different are the vibes I give off on here vs how I actually look irl; I would even say they are polar opposites. Here it's the image of benevolent, larger than life person donned in gold armour on a white horse with long blond hair. While in reality it's combat boots, all-black outfit with chains and leather, military haircut and satanic imagery with a perpetual frown.

But it's alright; I can be and am both of those things at the same time.

#knightly musings #combat boots are so sexy actually #if I see a man wear them there's 90% chance I'll want to fuck him

[swordmaid]

i like the idea that shri’iia (esp before she fully commits to the oathbreaker role - which imo lines up well with redemption paladin 🤔 hmm thoughts abt that later…) isn’t as powerful as she was when she was a vengeance paladin just because her convictions aren’t as resolute. she’s able to do less smites than when she was in her prime, and it takes a toll on her both physically and mentally much quicker than before. the other paladin feats (like the healing, the buffing, etc.) are harder to do and she can only do a few at a time before she gets exhausted, so she ends up relying more on physical combat rather than on her paladin talents. hence why i think she will start to learn how to fight like how surfacers fight bc drow combat are mostly stealth based and designed for quick skirmishes rather than full length battles.

shri’iia being weaker than she was before is soooo delicious to me just bc of how much power and strength is coveted in drow culture, and now she has to bear with the shame and the knowledge that she’s weak bc of her own failure. it also makes the idea of swearing an oath to something/someone else more tempting bc she knows she’ll more empowered when there is something that validates her conviction - whatever they may be. like it’s really the easy way out but doing so will just make her go back to her old patterns, and she’ll just regress instead of grow as an individual bc she’s back to being a trained dog again who heels and sits on command 🤭

#but when she fully commits to the oath breaker role and commits to this strange freedom i think her power and strength will return to #her eventually… not all at once but with time. I also think training a diff kind of combat helps too #but anyway i like the idea of that instant gratification being an option for her in exchange of her regressing bc she’s not thinking #for herself again.. she’s back to being that hound kept in a cage again … and she won’t care abt herself or anything in #the matter bc all she cares abt is her oath again…! #i rlly do like that concept of like the knightly convictions but turned up to a T and it’s like this #sickening obsessive devotion… like that’s rlly shri’iia to me…!!! #shut up about bg3.

[tritoch]

i know a lot of people (very understandably) dislike the paladin job quests in ffxiv, particularly HW, but i do think it's fun that, now that the pre-ShB MSQ revamp is complete, paladins now have a very cool and thematic in-game storyline that happens without a word being spoken: the development of passage of arms.

none of the below is directly stated in the script, but imo it's a fairly obvious gloss on what the game presents, if you assume a paladin warrior of light. spoilers for all expansions through the end of 6.X.

in the new version of steps of faith, as vishap breaks through each ward protecting ishgard from attack, lucia mounts a final desperate effort to hold him back, with a very familiar looking animation:

but even lucia can't hold back vishap's flame alone, so the temple knights surge forward to assist her. their efforts make the shield visually more powerful and larger. the temple knights here band together in defense of ishgard, and their knightly resolve to protect their home is the difference between victory and defeat.

lucia and the knights do ultimately succeed in defending the last ward, as you have to defeat vishap before their shield falls or you lose.

later in heavensward, obviously, we will get ffxiv's most famous (failed) attempt at blocking something with a shield.

this moment can be read as fairly impactful on the warrior of light's development; as i've noted elsewhere, after the trauma of watching haurchefant bleed out in their arms at level 57, at level 58 paladins learn to channel their magic into healing (and it's called "clemency," or mercy. mercy for whom? who was guilty?), and as someone pointed out on that post, at level 58 dark knights used to get "sole survivor", letting them heal in response to a marked target's death.

for a time, you literally carry haurchefant's shield with you, and 3.3 very much literalizes in genre fashion the idea that even when you are standing alone, your fallen friends stand with you. you don't need to call any allies to stand at your side and raise their shields with you because they are already there, in spirit.

stormblood marks a pretty important turning point in the warrior of light as a combatant, in my opinion, and the text makes this clear in several ways. first, in pretty much all your jobs, you've now far exceeded your trainers and are pioneering new techniques. this is no less true of paladin, which for 60-70 abandons any trainers at all for you to show off your peerless skills in a tournament.

second, stormblood is straight up a story about you getting stronger. at level 61, zenos kicks your ass. at level 70, you kick his ass. why? because you fought and got stronger and developed incredible new techniques and became a one-man army.

for a lot of classes, this story lines up nicely with the big rotation changes or flashy new finishers on the way from 60 to 70. SMN is now busting out bahamut and casting akh morn; RDM gets verflare and verholy; DRG starts harnessing nidhogg's power directly through dragon sight and nastrond.

the tanks are divided in two: warriors and gunbreakers get huge damaging upgrades at 70 in the form of inner release and continuation, each of which lets them hit the same button many times for lots of damage and satisfying animations. paladin and dark knight get more protective abilities; dark knight gets the blackest night, and there's been plenty said about that already by pretty much everyone.

paladins get passage of arms. instead of a relentless new attack (and you get requiescat at 68, which is a way bigger deal for your dps rotation), your big reveal at 70 for zenos in your fight in ala mhigo is a superior way to protect your party, a shield that lets you stand for your allies so they never have to fall for you again. it's lucia's same shield, except you need no allies' shields to reinforce you, proof of your martial prowess and your ability to transcend limits, and perhaps in truth a reminder that you never really stand alone.

in many respects passage of arms should really feel like a paladin signature move to you now if you are playing it at this point, because you should be popping it in pretty much every fight (you are using your mits, right...?). basically every FFXIV fight has at least one big AOE with downtime that warrants passage of arms usage, usually after the mid-fight add phase with slowly filling bar. since that AOE usually drops during downtime, there's no reason not to pop passage of arms (which otherwise restricts your movement and actions), and even on normal, sometimes every little bit counts on a damage check even if it means dropping DPS (thinking here of harrowing hell P10N on release, which was...less consistent for a lot of roulette parties than you might hope).

so from 70 onward, passage of arms is in a sense a paladin warrior of light's signature move, and certainly the one a player gets to most actually enjoy (since if you're using it, you're by necessity not doing anything besides moving your camera and admiring your sick animation). it doesn't have any competition in terms of spectacle until confiteor, and those you're usually throwing out in the middle of movement.

it's such a signature, in fact, that the only other person shown using your one-person version of passage of arms is your greatest admirer, who studied your legend for over a century.

and it's when he fails (should've popped arm's length, bud) that the warrior of light decides they can't let their friends fall for them, and sends them away with the transporter beacon. this is all wrong: you were meant to die for them, not the other way around. yours is the shield that stands between your allies and defeat. it is you who will win this passage of arms and break your opponents lance. and you do.

and then later, when they need to quickly establish zero's domain as a place of fallen grandeur, the home of someone who once believed in heroes but is now a cool and cynical vampire hunter d, what do they use? a decayed statue of someone in the paladin endwalker gear doing the passage of arms animation, of course.

from a visible instantiation of knighthood as a joint effort to defend what is sacred, to a tribute to the fallen friends whose memories stand by you and animate you, to a symbol of the wol's power as emulated by their allies or darkly mirrored in other shards.

not bad for a mit button you hit once per fight and otherwise never think about!

#the one-handed passage of arms animation is from a mod that afaik is no longer available #it was junjou laina's eikonic paladin mod but the creator appears to have pulled the version i used #pld #ffxiv #the new steps of faith is a solo duty and there's no way i'm doing all that NG+ for two screenshots #so i got those from youtube (sources in the links) #haurchefant greystone #g'raha tia #lucia junius #tbh i'm corny so i was slightly miffed when g'raha jacked our paladin swag to do passage of arms in an important story cutscene #so placing it in context as him emulating you made me enjoy it a lot more lmao. i'm petty!

[tothesolarium]

Questing Beast

Simple metal cared for so well it’s said to harbor every color in its cool grey tones. Even if the Questing Beast is new to the public (criminal) record there is already some dreaming of what knightly person is the pilot of such a beautiful machine.

Few are prepared for the man who’s spat on his knuckles before breaking a skin head’s jaw, taken several beer bottles to the face, and shat on the grave of one of the most highly adorned Captains of the United Core. For someone who was dismissed from the Core Military with high honors (and a Purple Heart). He seems to have doubled in sourness since. Warraun is dangerous in close combat and easy to provoke. You shouldn’t have a problem with him. Mech seem’s to be using the Black Beard frame for two licenses and one in Tortuga

- Manage P’s report to Kol

#IM SO PROUD OF THIS BAD BOY #finished on the 15th of January #questing beast #mech #Warraun #lancer #lancer rpg #mecha #lancer ttrpg #my art #art #digital #color #painting #digital art #concept #creature #illustration

[theres-a-body-here]

Scumtober- Day 14 (Marking)

Guts x Male!reader drabble

Sequel post

Guts found himself intrigued by your presence.

You were no warrior; your nature was one of kindness and gentleness.

Recalling that day when the Skull Knight rescued him and Casca, Guts couldn't forget the image of you, clutching tightly to the enigmatic knight, your eyes firmly shut. You had arrived with the mysterious knight, seemingly playing no direct role in the battle, yet offering moral support. It was evident that you had never wielded a weapon in your life.

But, despite your non-combatant nature, you had a strange ability that disrupted the boundary between this world and the Astral World.

Guts found this out the night you had begun to travel with them. You offered no explanation as to why you left the safety of your Knightly guard to travel with him. You were stubborn and there was no changing your mind. Guts was certain you would die once night came. But to his surprise, the monsters that hunted him each night seemed disgusted by your presence, causing them to maintain a safe distance.

For the first time in a while, Guts was able to relax during the night. It didn't take long before Guts found himself further enamored by you.

Honestly, you had done it out of kindness, but maybe you shouldn't have poked the dragon. You simply wanted to know if your abilities could remove his brand mark.

They can't.

But it helped dull the pain when evil spirits were around, causing the brand to bleed and writhe with agony. Especially when you kiss it. You figured that one out by catching Guts off guard while he was undressed, much to his embarrassment. You just wanted to be helpful.

Guts was not amused. And as he pinned you to the cold ground, you wondered if maybe you pushed him too far.

It was only when you felt Guts's mouth pressed against your throat, that you realized maybe he wasn't mad at you.

Feeling Guts's hot breath on your skin sent chills running down your spine. As he began to suckle on your delicate flesh, a low moan escaped your lips. Instinctively, you wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders, drawing him closer.

Your heart beat wildly in your chest, making you aware of just how close Guts truly was—his powerful body pressing down upon yours, his scent filling your nostrils, and his eye boring into yours with raw intensity.

You felt yourself growing flushed underneath Guts's intense gaze. Unable to bear the weight of his gaze any longer, you lowered your eyes, focusing instead on the night sky.

Without warning, however, Guts cupped your jaw firmly between two calloused fingers, forcing you to meet his fierce gaze once more. Then, before either of you had time to think twice about it, he leaned forward and claimed your lips with his own.

The kiss started out tentative—a mere brush of lips against each other. But soon enough, Guts deepened the connection, slipping his tongue into your mouth to explore its depths while occasionally using his teeth to nip playfully at your bottom lip.

Guts suddenly pulls away from you. Feeling his lips leave yours brought an unexpected wave of disappointment crashing over you. But it didn't last long, for he quickly moved on to kiss your neck once more.

"Does that skull fucker ever enjoy you like this?" Guts mutters darkly between kisses, referring to Skull Knight, whom you seem close with. His hand slithers behind your back and grabs a handful of your ass.

Somehow, amidst the stimulation, you managed to find your voice. "N-No..." you muttered, embarrassingly breathless. "Never."

At those words, Guts releases a primal growl of satisfaction as he begins to kiss your neck more feverishly.

Guts pressed his open mouth to your pulsing veins, suckling gently at first before applying more pressure. You let out a loud moan as you cling to his head, pulling him closer to your neck. The sight of your submission drove him wild, and he couldn't help but groan loudly as he continued ravishing your throat.

"Mine," Guts growled between kisses, his voice thick with desire. "Only mine now."

Each word was punctuated by another hungry kiss, each touch more desperate than the last. Each word echoed inside your head, causing you to arch your back in response to his dominance.

Each successive kiss left behind a swollen reminder of Guts's possession. Soon, purple marks covered your neck, shoulder, and chest—all bearing witness to the claim he had over you.

How the hell were you going to explain this to Skull Knight?

Scumtober 2023 Masterlist

#berserk #guts berserk #guts x reader #male reader #male!reader #marking #scumtober #scumtober 2023 #kinktober 2023 #kinktober #guts x male reader

[donovaneagle2098]

A Complete Encyclopedia of the Lore of Every Witcher School

This is a project I've been working on for a long time. The Witcher Schools in general have lore spread across 3 or 4 different sources, so it's very easy to find inaccurate details about each school due to a person only going off of one source without even knowing of the others. Hell, I've been guilty of this in the past. So I've gone out of my way to find every source available for the various Witcher Schools and compile it into one master post, mostly pulling from the standalone Gwent game, and the Witcher TRPG. Without further ado, let's start out with the original school, the Order of Witchers.

Witcher schools are like the Clans of Skellige, subtly different, but largely united by their common ground, and that common ground is the Order of Witchers.

The Order of Witchers began as an experiment by the rogue mages Alzur and his mentor Cosimo Malaspina. They "recruited" tests subjects from orphanages, buying them from neglectful parents, or outright kidnapping street kids.

From Cosimo's Gwent Card:

"Children keep asking him for gifts. He doesn’t know why, but it really helps with finding subjects for his experiments."

The main goal of this project was to create an order of knights artificially mutated and imbued with extreme levels of magic to protect people from a world where, at the time, monsters were often literally around every corner.

The mutation experiments were grueling, and most early candidates died horribly, the girls especially, as the mutagenic compounds the mages were working with at the time were better suited for a boys physiology, and they quickly stopped trying to find a mixture that worked well with women, instead refining the more successful candidate pool. Even with these refinements, however, the Witchers couldn't actually generate much in the way of magical power, at least not nearly as much as those funding the project had hoped for.

These early candidates were encouraged to stick to political neutrality, were told of their duty to protect the common people, and their sword instructor tried to encourage them to take on knightly virtues to live their lives by, though only a few candidates actually bought fully into these particular knightly ideals.

The school developed a training regimen that all later Witcher schools would put their own small twists on. They perfected the whirling sword style, practiced on the Pendulum and Gauntlet training courses. They learned the Witcher Sign magic, created by Cosimo. They were taught hunting and monster lore from experts hired from across the world, and master alchemists crafted the famous Witcher potions.

Ultimately, funding from this school would be pulled due to the Witcher candidates lack of truly powerful magic ability, and the order would start to fracture. Witchers dissatisfied with their lot in life after being forcibly mutated, and railing against the Order's enforced ideals began getting combatative with other Witchers over petty contracts. At this time, contracts were so plentiful that there was no real need to fight over them, but these dissident Witchers did so anyway out of a desire for autonomy and to be free of the Order's code, which they saw as having no practical purpose to prepare new Witchers for the road ahead, and hypocritical as it was forced on them by the mages who never cared for the Witcher's lives. This culminated in one such outspoken Witcher, Arnaghad, attacking another Witcher who poached a contract from him.

After being forced into the painful life of a Witcher, Arnaghad loathed anyone who imposed their will upon him, the Order and it's codes especially. He led an attack on the Order proper, aided by fellow Witchers who respected his defiance towards authority. Once they were beaten back, these dissidents fled to the Amell mountain range to start the next Witcher school, the School of the Bear.

The School of the Bear is one of the most misunderstood schools of them all, owing to the first major lore drop about them being largely in-universe rumors and conjecture surrounding the school, and as such I may need to go more in depth. The two major misconceptions stemming from this is the rumor about their armor, which claims that they don't bother dodging like the other Witchers and instead take blows head on (generally a bad idea, according to Geralt in the books), and the rumor about them attacking most Witchers they meet.

I contacted Cody Pondsmith, who wrote a great deal of this lore, and he mentioned that Bears do often threaten or even fight other Witchers, but in a very Skellige way, only to ward off the other Witcher from contracts they want. The Bears just want to live lives where they aren't commanded by others, and were trained especially brutally, and so will fight for what contracts they want. However they will NEVER kill another Witcher, just draw first blood (outside of duels to decide who runs the school, which occasionally turn deadly. It's unknown if Arnaghad has ever lost these duels) and if that other Witcher stands up to the Bear, they'll let them have the contract and if they meet up and work together enough even maybe become a lifelong friend.

To quote Cody himself: "I like to think of the Witcher Order as a big family in which the Bear School is the blunt, no-nonsense brother. He can be prickly and a bit of a bully sometimes but he takes his job seriously and he can be a good drinking buddy if you get to know him. Not the friendliest of people but far from evil. If you stand up to him and show him you're not afraid of him, he'll respect you."

The other rumor is also an exaggeration. The Witcher TRPG mentions that the Bear armor was designed with flexibility in mind, and while they trained to take on weaker blows with their armor and "mastery of the Quen sign", they also trained how to move quickly in their armor if they needed to dodge a fatal blow. The Bears also still trained on the gauntlet and pendulum like the other schools. Cody Pondsmith also confirmed that the Bears are just as agile as the other Witchers.

The Bears' core philosophy is almost very Lambert like, viewing Witcher's work not as a duty, or knightly virtue, but as difficult, brutal work. The only reason they stick to this work is to do a job where no one else commands them and they're left in peace. They focus only on the practical aspects of their profession, and as such discourage their students from working together in training, since Witchers work alone. As Arnaghad said, "We pass through life alone, better get used to it!" As a result, Bears are very isolated, preferring their own company to that of other Witchers, and were encouraged to value their autonomy and self care above all else. The Bears' final trial involved climbing to the top of Mt. Gorgon and back, and any who died from the cold were left "as a sobering reminder of the dangers of their trade". Despite this, the TRPG has a list of random early training events Witchers from all schools can have, and Bears could sometimes make friends amongst their fellow witchers in training just like members of every other school.

Once the new Bear students left their keep of Haern Caduch, most wouldn't return to winter there, unlike the other schools. They developed a reputation as being terrible to fight, and for being firebrands, often speaking very bluntly, not matter who they spoke to, authority included. Once such Witcher, named Gerd, was asked by a Duchess to help kill her father. He insulted her so badly he got a warrant for his death placed on him, though all the peasants he met spoke rather highly of him. As a result, Bears found it easiest to make friends amongst the similarly minded Dwarves and Gnomes of the Amell mountains, and people of the Skellige Isles. According to Cody Pondsmith, this is the main reason the Bears stayed together as a group at all. They valued autonomy above all else and so long as they functioned as a Witcher school, they were left alone and no rulers would try and command them. They also take their ideals of free will and apply it to others, never seeking to rule over others. They simply wish to live their lives free.

One of the original Witchers to side with Arnaghad, Ivar Evil-Eye, had extra mutations done to him by the Order of Witchers during his trial, allowing him to see into other worlds. In these visions he saw the Wild Hunt rampaging across them, conquering them. Ivar became obsessed with stopping them, and tried to kill Arnaghad to take command and lead the Bear school against the Hunt. This failed, so he and his supporters left to form the Viper School.

The Witchers of the Viper school, based in Gorthur Gvaed, were said to be the most secretive, taking contracts as both assassins and witchers. They at first dedicated themselves finding a way to stop the Wild Hunt, amassing a massive library on the subject. Fighting with an unpredictable, ambushed based variant of the Witcher fighting style, Viper Witchers employed poisons, brewed by skilled Viper alchemists, on both their swords, and a dagger in their offhand, their biggest deviation from typical Witcher combat techniques.

Vipers, for an unknown reason, eventually forgot their purpose. In his time, Letho of Gullet could only guess at why the school had been founded. Instead, they became famous for their skill at political killings, dealing with the nobility of the southern countries before Nilfgaard had even become a large-scale power.

Viper students had a different type of trial, after more grueling than typical training. Instead of any physical task like the other schools, the Viper students were given a pet at their induction to the school. And to graduate, they simply had to hunt it down and kill it, showing their lack of mercy.

While most of those who supported Ivar followed him to the Viper school, one group broke off and west east, across the Korath desert, to Zerikania, founding the School of the Manticore.

The School of the Manticore was founded by the Witcher Iwan, from the School of the Bear, following Ivar's assassination attempt on Arnaghad. They got work in the Korath desert as caravan guards, earning the attention of the Zerrikanian Queen after a deadly battle with a manticore. The Queen sponsored the Witchers of the Manticore, making them the only school to be officially backed by any government. They were experts on potions and anti-toxins, a necessity of dealing with the poisonous creatures of the Korath desert.

A unique adaptation to the monsters of the desert also had Manticore Witchers employ shields into the whirling combat of their Witcher training. Given their extra support, the Manticores held two keeps, Behelt Nar and Bailsuf Alsarea, on opposite sides of the desert, so that they might better patrol and guard those within it.

The Manticore is the final school to come from the schism Arnaghad had led. The other voices of dissent against the ideals of the Order would soon hear of these new schools and decide to break off as well to form the School of the Cat.

The School of the Cat was founded out of a response to the hatred and distrust Witchers received. They desired to be seen in a better, more respectful light. Ironically, they would end up doing the opposite. The Cat School stole away with several of the mutagens needed to make more Witchers and headed to Ebbing, and Stygga Citadel, where they would begin to experiment on human-elf children in an attempt to perfect the mutations. Its possible that the mages at this time furthered experiments on making women Witchers, but this is not confirmed yet.

Attempting to make a name for themselves, the Cats hired themselves out as spies, assassins, and mercenaries, genuinely earning them some respect from common folk for killing bandits.

In their attempts to perfect the mutations and further dull the emotions of their Witchers, the Cat school experimented harshly on a group of children that resulted in the opposite, giving these Witchers hightened emotional responses instead. These students, cast aside and left for dead, fled into the arms of a group of elves, who agreed to support them if this branch of the Cat School supported the elves' fight for freedom.

This branch, led by Gezras of Leyda, attached itself to the Dyn Marv caravan and traveled the continent, lending their services mostly to those nonhumans who could pay, while the main Cats at Stygga ended up getting assaulted by angry royals incited by their political maneuvering. This left the Dyn Marv branch as the only functional element of the School of the Cat. These Cats would train students' agility in a light, fast Elven take on Witcher fighting style, and would train their balance by making students walk a tightrope, starting low to the ground at first, but getting higher and higher each attempt.

The Cat school's breaking of Witcher neutrality and reputation for bloodlust earned Witchers such a bad name that those in the Order who most cherished their old swordmaster's knightly virtues would leave to form the School of the Griffin.

The School of the Griffin, led by Erland of Larvik, wished to truly achieve the dream of the original Order, and Gryphon, the Order's sword instructor. They traveled north to Kaer y Saren, an old fortress the Order once used, and cleansed it of the spirits of those who died in the first Witcher mutations. From there, they began a Witcher school focused on respectability and honor, believing in their knightly duties. And it worked, somewhat. The Griffins were sometimes advisors to nobility, and seen as honorable, but the prejudice against Witchers would never leave, and most would never see a Griffin Witcher as anything more than a monster playing at being a knight.

These Witchers tried their best to cushion their students against the pain of their lives on the Witcher's path, and were more brotherly than the other schools, though their knightly virtues and brotherhood were oftentimes cold comfort to Griffin students.

From the Witcher TRPG Sourcebook:

"Witcher I knew couldn’t really remember much ‘bout his past. Heh, too young to really form a lotta memories when they took him to Kaer Y Seren. Told me that the memory he did have made the mutations easier. Poor bastard clung to a memory of his pa takin’ him on a horse for a ride in the fields. Don’t know why he chose that one. Probably the only normal memory he had."

The Griffins amassed a huge library of magical knowledge, though they could only push sign magic so far, and the books were likely wasted being in a Witcher library. The library held several incredibly famous tomes on magic within, and was the envy of full mages across the Northern Realms. Despite all their efforts, they never could achieve their goal of bringing about the Order of Witcher's vision. The Griffins even had their own breaches of Witcher tradition in pursuit of their knightly heroics. An often said mantra of the Griffin school in Gwent is "To slay dragons! Tis our knightly duty!" despite dragons being largely innocent, intelligent beings who mostly wish to be left in peace.

Code Pondsmith had this to say about the Griffins:

"The Griffins stuck to the knightly traditions that the original witcher order tried to uphold. As a result it's safe to say that the Griffin school taught that monsters were the enemy of mankind and must be defeated. I don't think they would all be blindly overzealous but they wouldn't have any qualms about slaying sapient monsters if they believed it was for the good of mankind. Similarly, it's likely that they would side with humans in any conflict between monsters and humans. In a way, the Griffins' knightly virtues made them easier to manipulate than the other witcher schools. They were bound to protect humanity and thus were more likely to be convinced to hunt a monster if a local noble or alderman claimed it would be for the good of the people. This is the case with the dragons. The kingdoms and jewelers guilds of the North convinced the Griffin School that dragons were a blight upon humanity and the Griffins started slaying dragons regardless of whether all of the dragons they slew deserved it. Additionally, the knightly values might make Griffin school witchers more likely to take pity on desperate humans and work for free."

Those few Witchers remaining in the Order by now traveled to northern Kaedwyn, and started a school based on their tempered, traditionalist, and realistic view on the Order's goals. They based themselves in Kaer Morhen and dubbed themselves the School of the Wolf.

The School of the Wolf is the most famous Witcher school, known for their professionalism and efficiency. They don't kill humans like the Viper or Cat. Aren't bold or brash like the Bear, or put Knightly virtues above Witcher ideals like the Griffin. I mean, anyone reading far this knows who the Wolf Witchers are, so I'm not going to get into to much detail. They're Geralt's school. Ciri's school.

They took a balanced approached to Witcher life and as such trained Witchers who were the best adjusted out of the schools, with neither the Bear's harshness nor the Griffin's egocentrism. For this, Wolf Witchers were lauded all across the Continent.

With all Schools formed, the Golden Age of Witchers began, at first with the Bears and Griffins making peace. From Erland of Larvik's Journal (The TRPG's monster manual):

"Surprisingly enough the fracturing of the witcher order had lead to a more effective organization for us witchers. Spread across the Continent and each making more witchers independently, it was no longer the task of 60 or 70 witchers to patrol the entire Continent from Nilfgaard to Kovir. Each school patrolled their own path and when a Gryphon met with a Bear each knew they had their territory and any infighting wouldn’t be worth the bloodshed. We managed to broker peace and live as somewhat estranged brothers rather than bitter enemies"

Witchers at this time were seen largely as heroes, with their detractors' voices largely simmering underneath. With Witchers around to kill monsters, people felt safe and so ignored any misgivings they might have.

Witchers, no matter the school, aren't too dissimilar from each other, and so the Cintinent at large formed an overall opinion of the Witchers based on the traits they all shared. From the TRPG:

"In the heyday of witchers there were many many seperate schools, which all mutated new witchers and taught them the neccesary skills to hunt monsters and lift curses. While it’s generally agreed that there is a core set of skills required to a be a witcher,

each school taught its students differently and focused on different aspects of witcher training. Thus, witchers from different schools often act differently and go about their jobs in similar but varied ways."

During this time, the Schools all produced hundreds of Witchers, and each was their own person, With their own preferences and personality, despite the schools themselves having reputations for Witchers with only a few certain traits. For instance, the Bear Witcher Ivo of Belhaven fought like a Viper or Cat Witcher, but in personality was a perfect fit for the Bear School with how standoffish he could be.

They also all customized their gear in different ways, usually keeping their gear in similar fashion to their school's, as its what they trained in an were used to. For example, Bear Witcher Junod of Belhaven wore what appears to be a set of Wolf School armor he had modified to fit Bear Witcher style.

Witchers also at this time experimented with signs. The Griffins obviously focused on making them more powerful, and the Bears pushed Quen to a level beyond any other school. But the most interesting case is that of Warrit, a blind Viper Witcher who used the lesser known Somne sign as a form of echolocation.

The Golden age lasted for around 150-200 years or so, ending around 1160 when the monster populations had been hunted down enough that people's main concern stopped being the monsters, and became the Witchers themselves.

The Griffin School, refusing to share the knowledge of its library, was destroyed by jealous mages. A group of peasants and mages attacked the Wolves' keep out of nowhere. The Bears failed to destroy a powerful cabal of vampires and, when peasants rioted and came for their keep, chose to disband rather than engage in needless slaughter. The Cat's keep of Stygga is destroyed, but the Dyn Marv chapter may still be alive and well. The Manticore School failed to protect an important prince from a fire elemental, and so lost their funding and closed. The Viper refused to support the Nilfgaardian usurper and were destroyed.

If you've made it this far, holy shit, thank you! I hope you have a great day!

#the witcher #Witcher schools #Witcher lore #as if anyone needed more proof I am a huge nerd #I hope this genuinely does help people though #School of the Cat #School of the Bear #School of the Wolf #School of the Griffin #School of the Viper #School of the Manticore #Wrote this because I have writer's block for my fic #geralt of rivia #lambert #eskel #vesemir #Ciri #arnaghad #Erland of Larvik #Ivar Evil-eye #Iwan #Gezras of Leyda #Witcher Role Playing Game #Witcher TRPG

[tamaotomoe]

moving observation threads from twitter to here because site's on fire now lmao.

i think its interesting that don quixote’s current ids are all two sides of an extreme that comes from her current incarnation’s middle ground of deluded, but not mad, yet still deaf to the reality of the city and its fixers.

disclaimer that i haven't finished don quixote yet, i'm still partway through reading, but i have seen and listened to summaries.

first, w corp and shi association

this is the don quixote that has been swung too far and too hard into reality that it breaks her (admittedly, one much harder than the other, but still). much like throwing a child into a whirlpool to teach them how to swim, don quixote is plunged deep headfirst into the innate cruelty and suffering that the city runs on.

w corp don shows us the moment where she breaks. (a note, the way the narrator reads here is quite perfect for the city, no? the truth behind the carriages is something to be abhorred and disgusted by, but because this is the nightmare hypercapitalist hellscape that is the city, it is merely something to take disgust at once and learn to deal with it.)

shi association don quixote is the one that's already far, far too deep in the hole to ever go back to her old self. just took several baseball bat hits to her psyche for years and years. of course, how could this not happen? it takes a maniac to think that assassinating people on the whims of whoever pays you no questions asked is how an idealized hero of justice should act.

she can still act like her usual, jovial self, cracking jokes and being happy, but this mask is much thinner, and is such; just a mask hiding her true, broken self. she cannot unsee what has been seen, and her ideals have to contend with the reality that she is seeing. she can try to abide by those once lofty, knightly ideals, but in these ids, the city will crush it over and over again.

(hey fun fact i did this study/observation because i noticed that w corp don quixote's out of combat passive is called "broken spirit". for a long time i assumed it was n sinclair's until i looked closer lmao)

and now we have n corp don quixote!

this is the delusion cranked to an absolute maximum, uncaring, unhearing, unseeing of everything but whatever justice she deems fit. there is no person more terrifying than one who commits atrocities fully believing that they are in the right.

how don quixote could even end up like this, i think is quite possible. i would think that for someone who idealizes justice, just the right words, the right kind of manipulation can easily sway her into nagel und hammer's fold. i certainly find it a likelihood that the one who grips faust could just go "heyyyy we're good guys trust us we're the true justice :)" but like you know with more tact and manipulation and don quixote would probably fall very hard into that.

ironically, by falling, she betrays the ideals that once guided her, but being fed nagel und hammer's doctrine like this, i imagine that she still wholly believes that this is justice, this is the ideal, not noticing that what she once was is dug so far and deep into her delusion that it is not even by her own will that she walks, it is now the one who shall grip faust that will tell her call her to heel or run or attack.

for a bit of fun symbolism, in the story for nagel und hammer donqui, she still wears rocinante (her sweet sneaks bro!!!) under her armour.

if don quixote states as such, that they are comrades that bring justice together, then she has failed. that justice is long gone and buried under doctrine, and the final remnant of that justice, rocinante, has been covered up in the armour of an inquisitor, never to tread the earth nor see that ideal justice enacted ever again.

with all this, i conclude that i think that what don quixote's story will be about is the balance of seeing reality in front of her for what it is, learning how to accept this and yet still stand strong and sturdy despite it, holding onto those hopeful ideals that guided her so far and continues to guide her without straying from her path.

i think she shall grow into someone who the city can harm her as much as it likes, but no matter what, she will not bow nor break.

#limbus company #don quixote #don quixote lcb #Emile begins casting Coherence. #oh this is. long. i'm uh. im sorry. #lcb #observations #they be uh. they be observing and shit. man. uh. #on a side note i would love to discuss shit like this. like deep character study. #but also i am shy.

[tinyozlion]

“Tallgeese”: Why Is It Called That?

Okay, so, I have a theory. 

 Bear with me a moment.  As far as I know, I’m the only person who thinks this might be the reason why the Tallgeese is called Tallgeese; I don’t know if it’s the RIGHT reason, but at least it's an explanation I think is etymologically and contextually feasible:

--If I may draw your attention to my man Tallgeese’s shield for a moment: you will see that it is a small, round buckler. Tallgeese is styled with a very fetching crest reminiscent of a Greek hoplite, and hoplites did indeed carry a round shield called an aspis. 

(Image from the Harvard collection)

However! There is another kind of small, round shield that was used in less ancient times called a targe, or targa, or the diminutive target, where we get the word “target" from. The targe was a shield used largely for jousting and dueling– something the Tallgeese excels at!

When full plate armor was developed around the late 14th century, knights switched from using large, triangular shields, to the smaller and variously shaped targe shields, specifically for the sport of jousting¹. If you're looking at shields from medieval Europe in a museum you'll see a lot of fancy-shaped ones labeled targes.

Much later, it became synonymous with the Scottish targe, which is a regular combat shield and not a jousting shield, but it shares the same name and more importantly, is a small, round buckler typically used with a sword-- like the Tallgeese uses!

(A Highland targe exhibited in the National Museum of Scotland)

--Which leads me to my main point:

If you were looking up cool words for round or otherwise knightly shields, you might well come across the word “targe”. And if you pass the word “targe”(especially if you pronounce the final ‘e’) or “targes” through a Japanese phonetic filter, you might well get something close to “Tōrugisu” (トールギス), which is the name of our mobile suit.

…It might not be the canonical explanation for the Tallgeese’s name (to the best of my knowledge, there isn’t one²) but at least it’s slightly more relevant to its theming than is a waterfowl of alarming height-- though perhaps only a tenth as horrifying on the field of battle. 

...Still I hear it in my dreams; the fell slapping of orange feet, the distant honk, the snapping beak...

________________

1) "The Seven Shields of Behaim: New Evidence": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 30, Nickel, Helmut (1995)

2) The Gundam Fan Wiki states in its Trivia section that: “The name Tallgeese is derived from the word "theurgist" (トールギスト), a ritualist who attempts to channel divine power to work miracles”. This is apparently from one of the SD Gundam games? Anyway, I find this source to be INCREDIBLY DUBIOUS.

#gundam wing #Tallgeese #Mobile Suit #GOUS -- goose of unusual size #gundam wingtionary #parsing post

[nerdyqueerr]

Willow Month day 1: favorite character

To absolutely no one's surprise.

Now! To be fair! Jade was a close second (the yearning, the complexities, the Strong Woman With Sword), and i do find Boorman absolutely delightful but in the end it has to be Kit. Blorbo material of all times for the following reasons:

Girls (gender neutral) Who Are Their Father gotta stick together

Jade won my heart in the fighting department (due to polearm/sword combo and general Knightliness) but Kit has some really strong and hot combat moments, particularly when she gets clever and cocky about things. She may not have brute strength or full military training but she does have an attitude and some fancy footwork!

Nothing like a bravado loving yet insecure little weirdo to pull on my heartstrings

Because lets face it as cool, confident, and cocky as Kit can be she is also my pathetic queen. From Skellin onwards shes kinda just going around covered in grime with the worlds biggest saddest eyes. And im here for it.

^get her warm drink and forehead kissies right the fuck now

Anyways #1 blorbo factor tho is obviously her Funky Little Gender. This post is long already so i will not be writing my Kit Tanthalos Gender Thesis but listen to me. Listen to me. Kit hates dresses. And social expectations of ladylike behavior. And all she wants is to be brave and loved and not be a princess!!!!

Done screaming now. Butch icon Prince Kit Tanthalos my beloved

#i too qant to be brave and loved and. not a princess. #i think that overconfident to pathetic arc where it becomes increasingly clear that the confidence was mostly bravado in the first place is #chefs kiss. drives me insane #jade is sooo good for like raising all the important questions wrt chivalric devotion. and also bc she is big and strong and has cool weapo #her ballantine arc also. waugh #kit is just more a girl* after my own heart #she is a Prince to me <3 #willow 2022 #my shit #kit tanthalos #non willow followers. look at my blorbo and rejoice #willowmonth2023

[we-are-knight]

The Knight now has a Squire.

They're a scrappy young woman with a love of daggers, and invested into all small stabbing implements, wrestling, and short swords.

She's doing an excellent job of aiding me in teaching combat, but also in drawing others into learning the art of using the humble dagger as a focused weapon.

Enough so that she even convinced Knight himself to invest in a new dagger...

It's nice to be a knight, accompanied by a rogue for a squire, that plays her role well and with such infectious joy that it makes you want to be a noble knight to cheer her on as well. ⚜️

#knight #chivalry #dagger #HEMA #fencing #martial arts #knives #daggers #wrestling #knightly combat

[sl33paholics]

Royal Jonathan Headcanons

Writer's note: Not even joking, it's 2am as I write this, and the idea just struck my mind. I might make a drabble oit of this I love it a lot.

Prince!Jonathan, who went through rigorous knightly training and courtly manners. With all that paid off, JoJo becomes a skilled swordsman, and his proficiency in combat is matched only by his sense of fairness on the battlefield. Alongside that, his interactions with other nobles are marked by politeness and sincerity.

Prince!Jonathan, at a young age, participated in fence tourements. His father always wanted to show off his sons skills and engage in friendly competition with other knights.

Prince!Jonathan is the type of guy who has a special connection with animals. After a long day of work, JoJo is always seen surrounded by loyal hounds. Perhaps even seen sometimes by the forest near the realm surrounded by wildlife. He's having his Snow White moment.

Prince!Jonathan can always resolve conflict quickly due to his skills through open communication and compromise. His genuine nature earns him friends across different kingdoms. Which in favor of him can create new alliances.

Prince!Jonathan embodies the essence of chivalry. JoJo leads by example, always putting honor and justice at the forefront of his decisions.

Prince!Jonathan delivering inspirational speeches during advisory, rallying his subjects with messages of unity and resilience. His words resonate, instilling hope and courage in the hearts of the kingdom's inhabitants. Could honestly use this to his advantage tho.

Prince!Jonathan, who surprisingly got a lot of scrutiny from his father for dating Erina, since she isn't of status and was a young lady that he came across while she was selling her crops at the market. JoJo defended her and swore that he won't trade Erina for anything else.

Speaking of that, Jonathan establishes charitable initiatives, ensuring that the less fortunate in the kingdom receive aid and support. Though King George Joestar is so stuck up in his own right, JoJo wants to prove him wrong.

Prince!Jonathan's noble deeds and unwavering sense of justice become the stuff of legends, creating a lasting legacy that echoes through the annals of the kingdom's history.

#anime #jojo no kimyō na bōken #black writers #female writers #poc writer #fluff #yandere jojo #jojos bizarre adventure #jjba part 1 #phantom blood #jonathan joestar #Jonathan joestar au #headcanon prompts #headcanon #royal au

[tildeathiwillwrite]

Tag Game: OC Interaction (Round... 4?)

(idk why I keep trying to count these)

Thanks for the tag @illarian-rambling! I immediately knew who I wanted for this one lol

Tagger's OC: Mashal Darezsho is a towering robot man with bronze plating, a human looking face, and baggy clothes. He is incredibly strong and fights with a sword. As a person, he's kind and honorable, even knightly, and enjoys nothing more than helping people in need. He loves listening to folk talk and takes pleasure in the simple beauty of the world, translating this to sketch art. He is quite orderly. His main issue is that he has a strong sense of right and wrong, but he also extends his morality to others, making choices for them whether they asked for it or not. In addition, he tends to be rather naive due to his inclination towards seeing the best in people. Sometimes, this works out and he helps people to become a better version of themselves. Other times, not so much. However, beneath all this is a hidden violent streak. Mashal doesn't remember his past. He doesn't remember how he came to be broken on the side of the road. All he knows is that there is someone out there he must kill, and that anything magic-adjacent causes something deep within him to freeze with horror and rage. He tries not to give in to this dark current, to remain honorable and helpful, but every so often, he slips up.

My OC: Jarsali Fortus is an Ilunian Tinker with red-blonde hair, pale violet eyes, a creative streak, a sense of humor and a big stick to wack people with. She forges strong bonds with those she trusts, and if that trust is broken there is little hope of forgiveness. She wants nothing more than to build a world where Mages are as widely accepted as where she grew up, but she has to settle with helping Mages on the run. She is good with her hands, always working on one new project or another. A Storm Mage, she has the ability to change the weather and generate lightning, something she makes use of in combat or with her clockwork inventions. Because of this, she doesn't carry around metal objects. Sometimes she wishes that her eyes weren't such an unusual color, it's the second-most-obvious giveaway that she's a Mage (the first being altered hair color, although that's incredibly rare). She hides a lot of trauma behind her usually sunny and joking demeanor, and prefers to bottle up any negative emotions (side effect of being an eldest daughter). Most of those emotions are guilt over something she had no control over. Naturally, keeping such a tight rein on her emotions has caused them to burst out, producing unexpected, electric results.

Interaction: I can tell you right away that Jarsali would be all over Mashal, trying to figure out how he works and if she could replicate it (unlikely). She would back off if he expressed discomfort, but she would still probably pepper him with questions. Poor guy. She also knows someone who also doesn't remember his past, so she might not be able to relate to him but she'd suggest some tricks that helped her friend instead (might not work, but it's the thought that counts, right?). Curiosity aside, I think they would bond over having creative minds and strong moral codes. Finally, Jarsali would be careful to not use her powers around Mashal, even in combat situations, because bronze is a really good conductor and she doesn't want to risk accidentally killing him with a lightning strike. This may or may not work, due to the aforementioned unhealthy emotional coping mechanisms. If that issue ever comes up, who knows, they may bond over that too! (and/or find better ones together)

Gently tagging @imsoveryveryconfusedatlife @fourwingedwriter @phoenixradiant @pluppsauthor @scaewolf

@somethingclevermahogony @diabolical-blue and open tag! :D

#writeblr tag games #writeblr #oc interaction #oc interaction tag #others ocs #my ocs #jarsali fortus #trials of the six

[viiioca]

day 21 - gods / miqo'te pal

From the journal of Estelle de Laussienne, 25th of the 3rd Umbral Moon, 6 7A.E. Faith has always been a struggle of mine. That's how the Orthodox Church enjoyed it, I think -- that we ought to fight it, fight with it. Strength in victory, victory in combat; when brought low, rise to the battle again. The Fury would not accept one whose faith was never challenged to blows in some arena of the spirit. Oh, and such blows we all took. Through it all, I wondered -- where is She, then? Surely She was not present when I watched Inquisitors drag my neighbors from their home, as no paragon of warfare would brook the slaughter of innocent non-combatants. And She could not have possibly been there the day my parents burned in dragonfire, either. What honorable soldier ignores the call for aid? What knightly discipline leaves allies to die? It was kinder to believe She wasn't real all these years; I did not want that hate in my heart. That anger. I'm trying my best.

[roevember 2023 prompt by boreal tempest & roe fizzlebeef] [roevember 2023 prompt by wintertitania]

#ffxiv #my wol: estelle #roevember #roevemberxiv #roevember 2023 #femroe #roegadyn #gpose #my writing #myths of the realm spoilers #endwalker spoilers #completely incidental two-for-one today #the incredibly specific feeling of having a complete crisis of faith surrounded by people who have zero religious trauma

[thatbiologist]

Homebrew Regiment Heraldry

Here's the heraldry of my homebrew regiment for Turnip 28, the 28th Stonetoad Irregular Infantry, aka the "Garth Vipers".

Baron Lysander Fredrick Brian Tybalt Von Stonetoad the Third, is the toff commanding this regiment of irregulars. He rosed to command after the suspicious death of the previous Baron of Stonetoad.

The Vipers, an all-women's unit of chaff. They're often positioned as the vanguard of the regiment and frequently combat against numerous foes.

The Order of the Toad, the regiment's unit of brutes. This knightly order has abandoned their swords and taken up muskets.

The Stonetoad Peasant Militia, the regiment's unit of fodder. They're often the first through the breach and seldom live to see the glory of victory.

Drakefire, the regiment's stump gun. They are constantly positioned at the rear of the regiment, providing artillery support for the fodder.

#turnip28 #homebrew #heraldry

[sturmovik]

A mecha detail I really love about Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

I’m sure multiple people have pointed this out already but I’ll say it again. You’ll notice the mecha in the Asticassia school tend to have more colorful paint jobs, fancy antennae/horns, and put a lot of focus on melee combat, which all help to give their mobile suits a noble or knightly air.

But outside, like on Earth or on Plant Quetta, the exact same models of mecha we see in the school are also being used by the military and corporate security forces, except they are up-armored, painted in dark or drab colors, have no fancy horns or embellishments (they’ll have extra optics/sensors/armor instead), and are bristling with long-range weaponry like extra beam cannons or rocket launchers. They are just built purely for war. 

It’s such a great detail that not only makes the world feel more realistic but also accentuates just how detached from reality the school has been.

(compare the Demi Trainer, Dilanza, Heindree, and Zowort to the Demi Garrison, Dilanza Sol, Heindree Sturm, and Zowort Heavy to see what I mean)

#gundam #the witch from mercury #gundam the witch from mercury #g-witch #details #mecha #anime #writing