Three Goblin Art
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
blake kathryn
$LAYYYTER
todays bird
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
Not today Justin
Mike Driver
Kaledo Art
ojovivo
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Stranger Things
trying on a metaphor
No title available
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Xuebing Du
pixel skylines
Product Placement
@theartofmadeline
taylor price
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@astralscrivener
hi everyone! i’m elias (he/they, 26), i am finally making a pinned post. i write fanfics, am working on some original fiction, and play dungeons & dragons!
✨ fic directory ✨
outside links:
ao3
stealing our own place in the sun (22/45 chapters as of 12/25/2022)
at skyfall (8/? chapters as of 09/02/2023)
ko-fi
important tags:
elias speaks
elias answers
my writing
have a good time!
pinned last updated 01/25/2026
this “bon appetit” meme has turned into some sort of bizarre telephone game where each incarnation sounds more and more different than the original. in what way does “bon appetit” sound like “osteoporosis”
i don’t know but it’s cracking me up every time i even think about it
bon appetit -> bone apple teeth -> bone ??? ??? -> osteoporosis
this has layers, man
Campaign 4 episode 1 // episode 28
[Image ID: 5 screenshots from Critical Role Campaign 4 with captions. The first three show Valeus and Thaisha speaking to each other, with Murray sitting between them. The captions read: "THAISHA: I don’t know if an elf like yourself has experienced enough loss to know that the way you are speaking is incredibly rude and will not be tolerated." / "VALEUS: That’s true, I haven’t experienced any loss in all of my years" / "THAISHA: Well other than your god, 70 years ago." The last two show Valeus speaking to Hannan. The captions read: "HANNAN: Who did you lose?" / "VALEUS: I lost them all." end ID]
this was just an excuse to stare at ashley johnson for a couple hours <3
Thaisha Lloy Lore drop from @quiddie on her instastory.
crazy how if you do your chores and obligations first thing on a day off you can enjoy your free time more than if you feel like you’re procrastinating your chores and obligations the whole time. i will not be learning from this experience
You. It's been a hard day, hasn't it? Clench your jaw. Lock your knees. Stiffen your arms and tighten your shoulders. Curl your toes into the earth. It's not gonna be okay. Pretty soon this day will be a pleasant memory of how much less painful it all was ❤️
Hey, you, cis girl that's very (correctly) vocal about women being allowed to talk about their periods, do you include trans women in that?
I ask because every single time I've tried to talk about it to anyone that isn't a trans woman they get fucking angry. Which has caused me to have to just suffer in silence every single month. So I really relate to cis women when they talk about literally the exact same thing; being shamed by everyone around them their whole lives for talking about their periods, so they just suffer in silence every month as it negatively impacts their work and social lives. But I don't even feel like I can voice that I am literally dealing with the same exact thing because most of y'all react like you want to throw me in front of a bus for saying it, even those of you who act like your such big great transfem allies.
I guess I'll take this opportunity to talk about trans women periods. The first thing any tme person thinks when they hear this is always "how can trans women have periods? They don't have uteruses!"
The answer is: the uterus isn't what causes your period, it is effected by your period. What causes your period and what causes trans women's periods is the same thing: the endocrine system.
HRT changes the sex of your endocrine system. Feminizing HRT makes it a female endocrine system, giving us a 28-day hormone cycle just like cis women. At the end of that cycle, the hypothalamus floods the body with prostaglandins. Those are what cause all but one of the period symptoms, because they make muscles inflame and contract. They are what make the uterus shed its lining, they are what cause intestinal cramps, they are what cause body aches, they are what cause headaches and migraines. The only period symptom not causes by the release of prostaglandins throughout the body is depression, and that is caused by your endocrine system simply not processing as much estrogen and from simply feeling like shit.
So, the only symptoms trans women don't get every 28 days is menstrual cramps, because yes we do not menstruate since we don't have uteruses. But migraines, depression, body aches, intestinal cramps, and the infamous "period shits" don't exactly add up to us having any better of a time. Except we have to pretend that we're fine and nothing is different because no one believes that we get periods, not even cis women.
"But you can't call it a period then because that refers to MENSTRUATION!" is another one I hear all the time. This is incorrect. You use the word "period" instead of just "menstruation" because it doesn't just refer to menstruation. It refers to a period at the end of the hormone cycle where we experience a host of symptoms. And not all cis women experience all of the symptoms that encompass the period. Not all cis women get migraines, or body aches, or have severe depression. If a cis woman gets a hysterectomy she doesn't menstruate either! In that instance she experiences an identical period to what trans women experience. Yet, I doubt you'd insist that cis women who've had hysterectomies don't have periods.
Oh, another thing that I personally discovered after bottom surgery: vaginal odor changes for trans women during our periods too. I was not expecting that because I always thought it was just from menstruation. But nope, the ph levels of a trans woman's vagina are the same of as a cis woman's vagina, and it changes during our periods just the same.
honestly the talk vaelus had with hannan not only made her motivation for continuing to be with the group click a lot more for me than before. but it recontextualized her bond with thaisha as well. thaisha who has such steady and strong convictions of her beliefs, and recently gone against her circle's rule (by not letting occtis go through the path) because she listened to her instincts. who now delayed a hearing with her circle (the letter) and chose what she believes is best and more important for the greater good. we have vaelus who has already pre campaign having doubts about her own faith and struggling in stasis, meets this woman who while staying true to her core beliefs forges her own path forward. only a conversation with hannan could've brought that out of her but i'm so curious now to see where that goes.
(nods sagely) (nods basily) (nods rosemarily) (nods saltly) (nods star anisely)
You've mentioned in a few recent asks how Julien, as a character and party member, has been working for you, and you enjoy his character.
Which, same! I enjoy him a lot, too!
Doylist-wise, what would you say are the most important aspects of what Matt's been doing with Julien (narratively, rp-wise, even mechanically) that allows for a character whose got a shit personality and who started the story as an antagonist to most of the main group and Thjazi to remain likeable to the audience as a whole and a good teammate in collaborative rp?
Good question! This is probably going to be a non-exhaustive list, but still, hopefully, pretty detailed. I'm going to split this up into sections.
Backstory: because Julien is an asshole at odds with people he needs to have a pretty involved backstory that causes him to have history with people so that he's not just "that asshole" (even if he is, on some level, that asshole). "Vassal knight to Thjazi's wife AND guy who caught him in the Falconer's Rebellion" is a hell of a backstory with tons to work with in terms of conflict that isn't just "oh he's a dick". He also has connections, however, to the Barrowguard, which means Thaisha and Hal have some shared interests, and in that Julien is someone with a professional relationship with their son Alogar. The fact that Julien is in the Sundered House societal echelon gives him reason to have crossed paths with Occtis and Wick (and, notably, both Occtis and Wick socially outrank him) as well as Bolaire and Tyranny. As someone affiliated with House Royce and fairies, he and Thimble have history; and as a veteran of the Falconer's Rebellion and again, guy who caught Thjazi, that ties him to the Torn Banner (minus possibly Kattigan, who left before the end of the war); we know that Teor and Azune and presumably Thimble were all present at Maharlian falls. Finally, Julien does in fact genuinely care about his family, particularly his sister Alba, and Lady Aranessa; the Barrowguard; honor/duty/etc; and he cares about his parents' approval deep down despite being in many ways extremely disappointing to them. In other words, there's a relationship already present with every character except Kattigan, Vaelus, and Murray. That is more pre-existing relationships than I think most of the cast has, and so it pretty firmly places him in this world and part of these people's lives even though a lot of them don't like him.
Personality pt 1: he is also kind of pathetic. His parents are mad at him all the time and as stated he really doesn't feel good about this; he pretty transparently hates himself, quite possibly for something having to do with his capture of Thjazi; he's canonically considered very attractive but he's mostly going to brothels and he doesn't really have friends outside the Barrowguard; he is hungover for most of the overture and cursed for even more of it because he spat on a dead man. He apparently is a crier when high. You can play a guy who sucks or you can play a guy who is cool but it's really, really hard to play a cool guy who sucks and not play an outright villain everyone genuinely hates, or like, mean girl Mary Sue (or another gendered equivalent).
Note: all of the above is pretty much established from the very start, before we get a subclass, or before the plot really kicks off.
Don't fight the plot: you can take an unexpected direction, to be clear. That's great. But Matt doesn't try to like, stop the giant fucking bomb that drops on Julien in particular (and unlike Alex he did not know something to this effect was coming). He very much reacts in the moment as Julien during the Palazzo Davinos massacre, which gives him a great deal to work with going forward. Obviously, Brennan does a huge amount of the work here by blowing up Julien's whole life (which, tbh, has to happen for all the Sundered House-connected folks for this campaign premise to work out, so props also to Alex, Sam, Whitney, and while we're at it Laura, for having characters who really got their shit rocked by that necessity and handling it beautifully) but Matt yes-ands it at every single turn. It's not the story he imagined - Matt said he'd very much thought the story might turn into reconciliation with Raimond, which clearly isn't really likely (though idk. we can talk to dead people in this campaign) - but he's doing a great deal with the story he does have. I know this is advice often given to DMs but it's true for players; if you want the story to go exactly as you envision it, write a book.
Share goals: If you are playing a guy whom a lot of people find really annoying, have shared goals and be extremely dedicated to them. I've mentioned this a few times but the Seekers level of conflict is like. if that's too hot for you enjoy your unseasoned chicken. It is remarkably tame and a big part of this is that Julien and Thaisha have pretty much the exact same goal re: Alogar/Barrowguard (further cemented once they stop at Castle Torch), and everyone hates House Tachonis. Julien is very confrontational, but he is also very interested in not getting his allies uselessly killed. Which brings me to...
Personality part 2: Julien is the least intelligent of the group but he's not stupid. He is, in fact, brutally pragmatic. This is a great trait to have if you are an asshole, because the thing is, you are also kind of right. Like yeah actually it is important that he and Thaisha know exactly what brings Occtis and Vaelus here outside the meta-level "we are the Seekers table". It's important he know that Dr. Talter can handle being threatened by a man with a sword because she's going to encounter undead. It's important he handle the Einfasens, both Otto initially, and Ingrid's flirtations later, with some degree of diplomacy regardless how he actually feels. I think he walks an excellent line of being mean, but not cruel nor spiteful. He is cold to his mother, but he also thinks he's in the right (and like, narratively, in a D&D game? He might die in a dark hole somewhere, but yeah, marrying Ingrid Einfasen won't save him. He's gotta get a gem from a Tachonis and kill the Tachonis to save Alba or die trying). Matt described Julien after the Seekers arc as realizing this is bigger than just him, and very much plays him that way. Convergence Julien is still a dick but he's not going to withhold information from Thimble, who is undergoing the same sort of grief he is, and instead recognizes her as another person who has lost their home and someone they love, despite their past animosity. He is not holding grudges against the Torn Banner, either, which means he's had excellent scenes with Thimble, Teor, and Azune. He's not going to full Leroy Jenkins with House Tachonis. He even tells Cyd that he is, at this point, effectively a commoner, which is remarkably low on ego.
The meta level of Convergence: some people in Convergence are much more central than others: Hal is very central. Wick and Tyranny are very central. Thimble and Thaisha are both quite important. Murray and Azune have a lot going on in the city. Julien is not one of these people. Matt is playing Julien as though he is not one of these people; like Teor, Kattigan, and Vaelus, he's often just going where they need a martial character as backup.
Finally, Mechanics: Fighter is always a useful class and Julien especially is built to take and deal a huge amount of damage. This means he is pretty much always useful in a fight, which gives people a reason to bring him around (see above). I happen to really like his build and I do think it underscores the fact that he really fucking hates himself, and the whole "booed and living man" vibe which is also a core part of his deal (and is really funny in that he is, simultaneously, built to survive at all costs and also built to uh. ride the edge of death all the time. But anyway point being I do think that if you are a fucking asshole character you better be support or a tank in combat and give back a little, and Julien is indeed a tank.
HAPPY PRIDE I LOVE BEING MENTIONED AND INCLUDED AS AN AGENDER PERSON
What are the flags in the bottom middle and bottom right on the second image? I've never seen them before and would like to know. Also happy pride.
The bottom middle is the achillean flag, which represents men/masculine-aligned people who love men. It’s an umbrella term for gay, bi, pan, and queer men.
The bottom right is the sapphic flag, which represents women/feminine-aligned people who love women. Again, it’s an umbrella term.
Obviously, the definitions vary from person to person but Happy Pride!
It seems like a uniting theme of C4 bad guys is treating people as objects. You get this with the Shapers obviously - Azgra treated the orcs as weapons, Sylandri treated the elves as toys, but both of them fundamentally regarded the people they shaped as not people.
But you see the same thing with the Sundered Houses, specifically Tachonis and Halovar. Primus treats other people (including his children) as expendable resources, as tools towards a goal.
It's more subtle with Yanessa, but despite designing the Creed for mass appeal she doesn't seem to understand why Wick could find value in its ideas even after learning the horrible truth. She doesn't seem to understand why the things that make it appealing are appealing. Like, she knows "treat your neighbor with kindness" gets the suckers in line but doesn't seem to realize why people would treat their neighbors with kindness other than external reward.
This has...interesting implications for several of our PCs.
Campaign 4 Episode 28: Chasing Shadows
Bonus Robbie:
The entire scene between Hannan and Vaelus was obviously fantastic but I especially loved the line "I think when you love a version of a person that isn't real it makes you hate the version of them that exists in the real." I made a post a few months ago about the elves' relationship with Sylandri being akin to an abusive, controlling parent; Sylandri didn't want children, she wanted - exactly as Hannan said - dolls she could play with in this perfect paradise world she had created, and the whole point of playing with dolls is they do whatever you tell them.
ok so its a pretty good story but you know what would make it better? a liar. a character who lies. maybe two.
