Cas

They/them | 22

[casimminent]

About the Zephyriel

I got a question about sharing the homebrew race that so many of my posts are based around right now, so here! Links are under the cut (let me know if any are broken) plus some bonus information about the race and how it came to be

The truth of the matter is that my character was the first to BE a Zephyriel. I had initially written Peregrine as an Aasimar that is part of a tribe, and then I flavored his traits (with permission) in my art. My Dungeon Master (Jay) presented the idea of making a whole homebrew race for the species - and offered to make the entry on D&D Beyond, which we use for our main character sheets. So we sat down and he asked me to write up some information about the tribe my character comes from - as it is one of the only tribes of the Zephyriel. So first and foremost, here is that document. Keep in mind that its mainly me yapping about cultural life (as it was really only made intended for my small group of friends) and less about the actual 'D&D rules' side of things, though I did write a mockup of those in. Using this document, Jay then made a Homebrew entry on D&D Beyond! Here is the link to that. We aren't masters at using D&D Beyond so it might not necessarily be optimized on the website, so you might end up having to keep track of some things on your own. On the bright side, I constantly use this entry for my character and I've never noticed any issues - so let me know if it does have something wrong and I can relay the info! If anyone is interested in any of the lore or the mini writings that I've done for some of our campaign's Zephyriel, maybe I'll post those here too haha. Lastly, thank you @okami-117 for asking! I hope this answer is to your liking :)

[casimminent]

Peregrine dancing

This took... a lot longer than it should have, and I didn't even do a background LMAO Last week we made our way back to Usoa, Peregrine's home village, and we got to see him in an example of their cultural dance clothes.

Little details: - Usoa's sigil on Perri's black-and-yellow sash (It's the same mark as carved on Arvid's necklace/choker). It's intended to be a bird-like shape in a curled position. - An Oriole feather as part of his dangling headpiece! I think about this a lot, but I like to imagine that the Zephyriel keep many of their preened/molted feathers, repurposing them: burning them as fire starter, creating jewelry or talismans or otherwise, using them as arrow fletchings, etc. I think it'd be pretty normal in their culture to trade feathers for cosmetics/creations. Bonus social norm, or something lolol - Sun imagery is big for the Zephyriel, as it's what they use to represent their 'god', The Origin. The paint on Peregrine's forehead and chest are common warpaint marks of Usoa. Similar spiked imagery representing the sun is on his sash also, around the Usoa sigil.

[casimminent]

Meet Barbatus and Nina!

Barbatus is a young fighter from Peregrine's village (Usoa) who got to travel with the party for a short time, while he did his hunt trial. His patterns are based on a Bearded Vulture.

As for Nina, she's the owner of a shop called The Goodarmor Alchemist, and is a very renouned potion maker in the region, despite how closed off Usoa is from the outside world. Her patterns are based on a Western Bluebird.

[casimminent]

May I present Peregrine's grandmother, Falke!

...back when she was alive, anyway BAHA

Little lore drop: all of these characters are a homebrew race called the Zephyriel!

In the world that our campaign is set, the dm has altered some world building from the 'base game' rules. In this case, Aasimar are the outcome of HUMANS and celestials, and the Zephyriel, one of many cousins to the Aasimar, are the product of ELVES and celestials crossbreeding. All of the Zephyriel are based on a real life bird!

Peregrine, my character, is of course based on the Peregrine Falcon. His father, Arvid, is a Harpy Eagle and his mother, Valerika, is a leucistic Saker Falcon. As for Falke here, we get to see the Ornate Hawk-Eagle.

I'm working on a few other quick drawings of some other briefly-met Zephyriel NPCs, so when I drop them I'll also reveal what they are based on :)

[casimminent]

Younger!Peregrine and his ghost-buddy Mirthkin

(sorry if they look like the same image, I promise one has a warm filter overlay and the other doesn't)

The lore:

Throughout the course of the campaign the party (before meeting Peregrine) meet a trickster child spirit who is stealing vessels of power that were born into existence by a beholder, and are forced to chase him down. The reason? He's using the vessels of power to cause a big calamity, causing the moon to fall towards the earth, and throwing nature into disarray globally.

Eventually, the party encounters Peregrine.

Peregrine is from a village up in the mountains that is, for the most part, widely removed from the outside world. Because of the events revolving around the trickster spirit, his village, once a temperate-to-warm climate, has been plunged into permanent winter. Where animals in the forests were once abundant, most species have migrated out of the cold and left little for the tribe to hunt. They have begun to freeze and starve. In hopes of finding out why the disaster is happening, as well as possibly finding a fix to the issue, Peregrine breaks many of his cultural rules and leaves home at the first opportunity he gets.

Peregrine learns similar problems are occuring throughout his island-continent homeland, and hears word of a riverland becoming a swamp overrun with monsters. It is here in the swamp, seeking his answers, that he meets the party, who is also looking to resolve the problems, whilst tracking down the trickster-boy spirit. Peregrine joins them, provided that they are all ultimately seeking the same thing, and they set off into the swamp for a vessel that has been located nearby.

After defeating it, they find that the swamp is now restored to normal — and strangely, the moon is 'falling' slower. Gaining a new lead on another vessel, the party heads to the mountains where Peregrine is from, and encounter another creature who the trickster gave a vessel to, Peregrine is forced to fight a hag who takes on the image of his own father — and in facing his internal struggles in the fight, the vessel becomes his own: much like another party member had received a vessel in the fight at the swamp.

Upon attaching itself to Perri, the mask shows him a 'dreamscape' replica of his home. Within it, Peregrine finds a young boy weeping inside the hollowed-out stump of a fallen tree. The boy introduces himself as Mirthkin, and that he's been lonely for a very very long time: questioning Peregrine, "Why have all my friends left me?"

While little is revealed to explain the dreamscape or even what Mirthkin is asking him, Peregrine offers to become the boy's friend in the stead of those who have 'left' him. Through a game of hide-and-seek, Peregrine realizes that this boy resembles the trickster child that the party had informed him of.

At the end of the game with Mirthkin, Peregrine finds himself back in the area they battled the hag, now with a wooden mask that seems to be bound to him: reappearing at his side even when thrown far away.

The party decide to trek the last of the trip to Peregrine's village to rest and recover — but also to see if the condition improved as the swamp's had. (Spoiler alert, it did.) During the trip, Peregrine is drawn to a stump in the woods- recognizing it from his dreamscape. Putting the mask on and stepping inside, he returns to the dreamscape to find Mirthkin.

While we haven't ventured too much further into Mirthkin's story, our DM has heavily hinted at the fact that the trickster boy is Mirthkin, in search of people to 'play a game' with him after the 'abandonment' of his friends. We believe that Mirthkin died a sudden death (likely a fire, given that the DM described his body to resemble wood after fire: charcoal-like cracks forking fissures over his face) and his spirit believes his friends left him, when the truth is that they can't see him.

This drawing is simply my interpretation that Mirthkin's log (and possible resting place) is close to Peregrine's home. That, in another life, perhaps they would have grown up as friends, as they are now in the dreamscape. It's a very bittersweet image :)

Sorry if this explanation is lengthy and all over the place haha, I totally cut out so many details to keep it 'short'.

[casimminent]

mmm more dnd characters

I present: the dilf Arvid and his mini-me Peregrine (the actual pc)

[casimminent]

I love my stupid fucking bird people. I love my stupid fucking D&D campaign and getting to be a stupid little bird man.

I don't know how bird patterns work though, go easy on me 🥺

[charliewashere666]

It’s sad to see writers give up on their stories because it doesn’t get a lot of recognition..

Like what happened to the art of being passionate about this fantasy you created inside of your head because it’s fun and excited you? What happened to the countless hours of daydreaming you’ve spent to pouring your daydreams into writing, only for those daydreams now to be blurry and unclear of what might happen next?

Remember that this wasn’t your story’s intended purpose. Remember the feeling of joy you felt at the thought of creating your daydream into a piece of writing, a piece of art. Yes, that’s what your story is: art. So what if your art isn’t pretty enough for others? Let it be pretty for you.

Now, of course, constructive criticism is good and trying to improve the story can be good, however, changing something that likely doesn’t quite fit to appease others, or obsessing over trying to improve your story will only lead to burnout.

If you’re feeling this way, ask yourself this: what lead me to this story? Why was I so drawn to this fantasy world I created inside my head that I wanted to start writing it? When was the last time I got excited imagining what could happen next in my story?

And most importantly: how can I take one step backward and three steps forward instead of the opposite happening?

When you feel this way, remember why you’re doing this. Remember how much you loved putting your fantasies into the art of writing.

Don’t give up on your writing, but more importantly, don’t give up on yourself, lovely.

Take care of yourselves. 💜

[demilypyro]

ADHD is so embarrassing. I ran out of conditioner and I've been too busy to go buy more so I've been showering without for like 2 days. I just turned around and finally noticed four bottles of conditioner on my shelf. I stocked up. I always stock up. How did I even forget that I stocked up? The bottles just faded into the background. What's wrong with me

[demilypyro]

They should put yellow paint on objects in my house so I know I can interact with them

[greatlordfluffernutter]

The yellow paint will also fade into the background

[demilypyro]

GGGHRRRRR

[casimminent]

is it socially acceptable to post my genshin ocs? oh well, here you go <3

[casimminent]

Yes. This is another drawing of one of my Roblox skins. It's funny this way.

Proof

[casimminent]

Someone send me an intervention I can't stop beating up my ocs

This is Torryn, pay him no mind. He can't help but be a little melancholic

[casimminent]

— Marauders Map themed headers/dividers —

Just some fun Harry Potter themed headers/dividers I threw together for myself. You don't need to credit me to use them, but I'd love to see any posts that do use these! :)

[curioscurio]

i can’t wait for when chatGPT and ai image generation also crashes and each prompt cost $50 an attempt. oh you can’t get your stolen big tiddy anime ghibli art for free anymore? you want to buy real big boy art from real artists now? beg for it. beg for it like a dog.

[kushblazer666]

[sm-baby]

[dream-about-dancing]

"Sousou no Frieren"

New Anime Illustrations by Ayaka Minoshima for the "Frieren Anime Exhibition" Merch in Osaka