Nightblue Manga

PLEASE CREDIT ME | They/them | 30+ Read Nightblue | Tip Jar | Commission  Minors DNI | Community Guidelines | FAQs 🏳️‍🌈◯🩷💛🩵

[briarpiranianart]

Set in Faerûn, Nightblue [link] is a D&D/BG3 manga following the story of two slaves: Nightjar Helviduis and Astarion Ancunín. A Seldarine Drow Elf, Nightjar [link] (he/they) is born with unusual characteristics that make them a target of violence and violation. Far above the Underdark where Nightjar first encounters their enslaver, Astarion (the widely beloved pale Elf introduced in Baldur’s Gate 3, [link] finds himself in a startlingly similar situation. A chance meeting in Wyrm’s Crossing sets the pair on an intersecting path, wherein they eventually regain their autonomy, find love and discover reasons to live. 

Chapter Index [link]

Bonus Content [link]

Lore & Characters [link]

BG3 Captures [link] (nsfw is paywalled)

Behind the Scenes [link]

About Me [link]

Support Me

Art Commissions [link]

Tip Jar [link]

Subscribe [link]

Official Stuff

FAQs [link]

Community Guidelines [link]

Find Me Elsewhere

AoT [link]

WordPress [link]

Art Fight [link]

Tumblr @briarpiranian [link]

This Is A Safe Space

I believe everyone in my community deserves to be treated with dignity. To keep it that way, please abide by my Community Guidelines [link] when interacting with my content. I do moderate accounts/comments that blatantly disregard these rules.

Please note: As a semiverbal autistic person [link], I struggle with tone. I sometimes come across colder than I intend and may not register jokes. Please provide context when you message me [link]. Thank you for your patience 🙏🏼

Intellectual Property

Share/repost WITH CREDIT only. Do not use my dividers.

Do not edit, crop, or alter my art in any manner.

Printing, selling, and commercial use of my work is not permissible.

Do not use my art to train AI or for any other AI-related purpose.

Fan art is welcome (tag me!) and Nightblue characters are available for ArtFight attacks [link]. However, please don't send me art that contains major photosensitivity/eyestrain triggers [linked guide] as I have a seizure disorder.

Thank you for respecting my art!

Dividers created by other artists are credited via post tags. If I forgot a credit or listed the wrong name (I have major brain fog), please let me know so I can amend my error!

Well met! I’m Briar Piranian [link], a 30-something intersex artist (they/them) and disabled mochi connoisseur. You're welcome to join my merry band of followers on Ao3, WordPress, or ArtFight [links].

[briarpiranianart]

Guys, I pulled Nightjar out of the closet

[briarpiranianart]

Tactically Cropped Nightjar

From Nightblue, Chapter 1.2. More on my website [link] :D

[briarpiranianart]

Okay I fully understand now why codpieces were traditionally detachable separate pieces

(hardest curves I've ever sewn and through so many layers 😅)

[briarpiranianart]

I'm Making Astarion's Clothes

[I have a lot of side-projects]

My in-laws are gonna judge me so hard for wearing pants with a codpiece but I do not care. Also, whoever says you can't put cosplay elements into your daily wear just doesn't know how to find joy and playfulness through clothing, and likely a lot of other things too.

I am handsewing Astarion's camp pants because I decided I need them in my wardrobe. My found-family pooled together and purchased all the supplies (they are the best) just so that I could have a project to keep me sane during a shitty time. Without them I couldn't afford to do projects like this rn.

I made Astarion's camp shirt last year (with secret pockets a la rogue) and it's one of the most comfortable shirts I own. I thought it would mainly be a fashion piece, but I constantly reach for it purely for the comfort factor. Made it with french seams so I don't get overstimulated and it was a definite success.

Current stage in the project is: ready to cut materials but haven't started because I'm nervous to mess it up and I'm holding off on most new projects since most of my things are in boxes atm.

Up to this point, I've been gradually refining the pattern. I didn't like any of the commercially available pattern options, so I custom made my own. I recycled old materials to do several mock-ups and then put everything on paper. It's all ready to go, I just need to start.

P.S. please wish my fingers good health. Sewing leather will not been nice to them (speaking from experience).

P.P.S. I mostly post digital art on this blog, but I am also obsessed with textile art and have tailoring know-how with which to satisfy that obsession

[briarpiranianart]

So do you ever just have the sense that you have a dark cloud of autistic overstimulation hanging over your head?

If anyone is wondering, it's from the BG3/D&D manga I'm drawing.

𝕹𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖇𝖑𝖚𝖊 𝕸𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖆

[briarpiranianart]

Theme of this playthrough is Nightjar getting flung across the screen in every combat

That and "Hey, Nightjar, love, I stole too much and my bag is sooo heavy. Can you carry it for me, pretty please?"

[briarpiranianart]

I now have a Gallery page with some of my favorite shots from my dabbles in BG3 Photomode. It will be updated periodically. The mature themed ones are locked behind a paywall, but the rest are free to view :)

[briarpiranianart]

I'm designing a [commissioned] tattoo for someone I really love, and oh how I want it to be perfect, how I want him to love it and feel validated by it and know how much I cherish him

[briarpiranianart]

Sassy face :D

Check out my bg3 manga: 𝕹𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖇𝖑𝖚𝖊

[briarpiranianart]

Why are his eyes like that? Head over to the Nightblue manga to find out 😉 The series is ongoing! Content warnings marked at the beginning of the chapter.

𝕹𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖇𝖑𝖚𝖊 𝕸𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖆

[vancunin]

Hey everyone! I’m back after a pretty long break.

Taking this pause was absolutely necessary for me because I’ve been dealing with massive theft of my work, due to people selling it as merch across various platforms. It completely crushed my motivation and took a heavy toll on my mental health - something I never expected to face while just doing what I love. A hobby should bring joy, not be surrounded by the stress caused by someone else's greed.

I’m not going to post any links here, it’s still too painful for me to look at. The most important thing - if you buy merch featuring your favorite characters, please, check the authorship. So often, people buy a beautiful print of Astarion without even realizing it was stolen from an artist who poured their soul into it and got absolutely nothing in return. Please, support real creators, not pirates.

Also, a quick reminder that I do not sell my work anywhere, and any commercial use of it is strictly prohibited.

With that, I want to close this chapter and never bring it up again. Whatever was stolen is no longer my concern. I’m letting it go and moving forward.

As for what I've been up to, I tried to distract myself and not let this time go to waste. During this period, I focused on improving my skills just for myself, and learned to do what I’ve dreamed of for a long time - making mods for BG3. Now I create custom clothing, textures, and accessories all on my own. Yes, alone, yes, it's hard, but the Vampire never stopped inspiring me to achieve new things.

Thank you to everyone who is still here with me 💕 Showing the first results soon. (The hint is on my character) My English still ain't the best, sorry not sorry.

[thisis--ableism]

Since the Artfight season has started I've been facing so many difficulties on the website when it comes to other users not being considerate of us people with photosensitivity and/or photophobia. There are many many people's pages I can't safely access because they chose to make the color of their fonts lime green and neon purple, and have flashing gifs between each lines of text. Or they have all their fonts to be colored in pastels so now anyone on light mode cannot read any of their text. Or they decide to make all their character refs be super eyestraining with no alternative pictures that are desaturated. And also, it feels like nobody on this website filters their stuff correctly. I've already had to report people for not filtering things correctly for eyestrain. Look people, I get that you want your aesthetics, but until ArtFight themselves implements accessibility features (which they only will if we all pay them enough money), you need to make your pages accessible. People will not even be able to attack you if your page is inaccessible. There have been many ocs I've seen that I thought would be awesome to draw, but their description is unreadable for me, or the persons character permissions I cannot read. Sorry if this is a long one, but ooooouff I'm a little upset and hoping maybe some other ArtFighters may see this and check their pages for accessibility.

This is ableism. Unfortunately Art Fight is extremely corporate and slop and I don’t like how they handled the controversy regarding Takaia, so I try to play smaller art games myself if I want to draw people’s characters. I’m doing art fight this year, but only because my mutuals are doing it so I can just attack them.

[briarpiranianart]

Thanks to @whimsical-coyote for this tarot themed artfight attack of Halriina!

[briarpiranianart]

[briarpiranianart]

I send this gif to my D&D group chat whenever somebody says something wildly out of pocket

[briarpiranianart]

My origin astarion build is doing some nasty worrrk. He is rolling 39+ on lockpicking and trap disarms in act 1 and it isn't even due to mods

[briarpiranianart]

In response to a request, I'm sharing the build. It's one I've arrived at via numerous BG3 runs. It's DEX heavy and he averages between 20 and 40 on lockpicking/disarming by the end of act 1 while also being a force in combat.

This is the short version. If you're interested in the mechanics of why this build works, later-game items, and build components that go beyond just lockpicking/disarming, a longer version is available for Bloodless tier subscribers on my WordPress blog.

Class

Multiclass with 4 levels of Rogue and 3 of Fighter (8 of Fighter by endgame). Prioritize earning levels in Rogue first.

Subclasses: Thief/Battle Master.

Boost Dexterity Wherever Possible

(More below the cut)

I don't modify any of his base stats at the start of the game, but I boost his DEX via strategically selected items, feats, and companion bonuses.

Early-game DEX Items:

You can find most of these in Act 1 and they retain their usefulness through Act 3.

Ethyl's hair (permanent +1 increase to DEX).

Smugler's Ring (+2 stealth, 2+ sleight of hand).

Gloves of Thievery (+5 to sleight of hand) and/or Gloves of Dexterity (set DEX to 18).

The Graceful Cloth (+2 DEX and Cat's Grace).

Feats:

Ability Improvement (+2 to selected ability)

Resilient: Dexterity (+1 to chosen ability)

Dual-Wielder

Savage Attacker

You can't get all of these with this build, so you'll have to choose your favorites.

Bonuses:

Happy (roll with advantage)

Enhance Ability: Cat's Grace

Guidance

[briarpiranianart]

He just rolled a 52 sleight of hand