Layer of The Demon Envoy @drudragonrose - Tumblr Blog

Baldur's Gate 3 Custom Characters

The Heros ~

Sestri ~ Matched to Karlach

Age ~ 35

Race ~ Asmodeus Tiefling

Class ~ Artificer ~ Battle Smith

Life before the tadpole ~

Sestri ran from Avernus along with the other Teifling, She worked with Dammon in the forge but had been there longer. Long enough to lose her legs in an accident. The others in the forge made new legs for her and accommodated her as she learned to use them to get around. She learned then started to improve upon them. Her legs make it so she can go further than most but they will always clank or make the sound of heavy footfalls making it so you can hear Sestri coming before you see her. She learned to work with Infernal Iron which is a passion for her. Transfem.

Personality ~

She’s a hyper orange cat type, always rushing to see what she can study or repurpose. She will always say what she means, even if it hurts someone’s feelings. She’s not trying to be mean but she just doesn’t see the point in sugarcoating. That and she’s a horrible liar, it would be the only time that she stammers and seems unsure of herself. Well, one of the only times. Karlach also brings her to a loss of words.

Lavender ~ Matched to Shadowheart

Age ~ 46

Race ~ Half Elf, Half Drow

Class ~ Paladin of Salune ~ Oath of Devotion

Life before the Tadpole ~

Lavender was doing recondense work for her enclave. Even before she knew what it was, there was a large influx of people that seemed to change faith overnight. She had vowed her sword to Salune and no one can shake her from her belief though she is a bit unique about it. Because of her drow mother, she believes that without Shar there would be no Salune for they are the dark and light side of the moon. It’s what drew her to Shadowheart in the first place. That and the fact that the woman needed more help than she was letting on. She lived with her elven mother, her drow mother having gone back to the Underdark a long time ago. Lavender hopped that she got off easy but she knew that the woman was most likely dead given what she knew of Drow culture.

Personality ~

She can come off as brash at times but with a winning smile and a joke she can play it off. Like the moon that she warships she has a darkside that she works to keep in check. She isn’t foolish about it though, sometimes for peace there must be war. There is a calculating side to her that she used to the benefit of those on her side. She can be pushy when she thinks she’s right and stubborn to a fault like a steamroller when she has set her sights on someone.

Iris ~ Matched to Astarion (Spawn)

Age ~ 150

Race ~ Glasya Tiefling Dhampir

Class ~ Warlock ~ Hexblade

Before the Tadpole~

She was the personal guard to the archdevil Megara, a powerful necromancer and an advisor to Asmodeus. Her father was a vampire lord who wanted to use her to replace his lost love. She signed the deal with a devil to get away from her father and creator. Megara gave Iris her sword and her new look. She was working on hunting down a devil that stood to go against the tyrant of the Hells. She had almost found his place in Balder’s Gate when she was kidnapped.

Personality ~

Iris has one master and make that abundantly clear. Rebellious by nature with the poise to back it up. She had a talent for causing chaos. As bombastic as she is, Iris doesn’t like to be in the spotlight. She learned something from her days as a lord’s daughter. Intelligence is her game and she is good at it. Iris knows how to talk to others in order to gain secrets from them. With all her skills in manipulation, which only grew with her time in the Nine Hells, she tries to her best to be honest with the people that she’s close to.

Tsubaki ~ Matched to Gale (Human)

Age ~ 40

Race ~ Wood/ Astral Elf

Class ~ Cleric of Mystra Lurue

Before the Tadpole ~

Tsubaki comes from a family touched by the divine. While her grandmother was druid, her mother had turned her talents to healing through The Weive. She said her vows to Mystra and used her blessings to take care of the people in the small town she had lived in outside of Neverwinter. She was on her way to Balder’s Gate on a feeling that she got. There was trouble and her goddess wanted her to look into it it was on her way that she was snatched up.

Personality ~

Tsubaki is endlessly giving both to her benefit and her detriment. She loves to cook and make potions. Anything to sustain those around her. She’s the type to give someone a bigger piece of a sandwich to someone else. The whole of it if she sees their need is greater. She takes people at her word but, even with the short time that she’s been outside her village, knows to keep a wiery eye on them until proven wrong.

Opal ~ Matched to Wyll (Blade of Avernus)

Age ~ 24

Race ~ Styx Tiefling

Class ~ Collage of Spirits Bard

Before the Tadpole ~

Opal comes from a family that lived on the River Styx. Her heritage allows them to be able to map out the chaotic river and be immune to the river’s effects. Even when she’s not on the waters, guiding souls to their hereafter, she can see spirits which happens when the gift is particularly strong in her bloodline. She can also get visions of the past when she touches things or people. She was following a trail set by spirit who could not move on until a great wrong was set right. The tadpole has broken down some of the barriers that she had been able build up, making her powers more erratic for a while.

Personality ~

She gives off the appearance of being quite spacy but she is observant to the point that it can be insulting at times. She loves music and will often hum to herself when nothing is going on. She cultivates a persona of being soft-spoken until she’s cornered or has to perform, She will always give a small song while on a river or ocean as a beacon for those dead while on the water.

Thempeth ~ Matched to Ly’zel

Age ~ 39

Race ~ Amaphyst Dragonborn

Class ~ Way of the Four Elements Monk

Before the Tadpole ~

The dragonborn came from a high mountain top where the Order of the Jade Dragon. Those who can find it are welcome to train in their ways. Thempeth was allowed to travel after she completed her training and she started her mission to learn from everyone she came across. She experienced the world’s cruelty and its kindness. She chose to try and help as much as possible to keep the scale that seems to be ever tipping towards darkness. Investigating a disappearance is what lead her on the path to Moonrise before she was picked up.

Personality ~

She a chipper soul, just happy to be alive. She does take her physicality and the balance within herself very seriously. Being dragonborn she doesn’t really understand human emotions though she does try and empathise. She lives for coffee and is a rather grumpy dragon without it.

Sunako ~ Matched to Halsin

Age ~175

Race ~ Astral Elf

Class ~ Star Druid

Before the Tadpole ~

The family line is blessed by Lurue, goddess of magic and healing. Sunko was taught to go were the stars guide her which lead her to Moonrise at the moment of the first war against Kethric Thorm. She had been much younger then and much more inexperienced. She vowed to come back when the time was right and finish what was started. She diudn’t expect to run into her granddaughter along the way, more over she didn’t expect to meet up with Helsin again.

Personality ~

The stars rule her, the moon is her guide. Because of how she grew up she’s detached from others but she does care in her own way. Fiercely protective of those she considers her family, she has to be with the dangers in the Astral. While she tries not to show it she’s a bit sensitive about her looks, wrinkles and age having caught up to her all at once when she crossed over to the Material.

#bg3 #my ocs #baldurs gate 3 #Sestri #Lavender #Iris #Tsbaki Watanuki #Opal Spiritsinger #Thempeth #Sunako Watanuki #my tav #bg3 ocs

sim-novels

How to install the Sims 3 and make it run smooth

With DXVK and S3SS living their high days, older Sims 3 installment guides are rapidly starting to become outdated. So here's a brand new and up-to-date step-by-step guide to go through when you do a fresh install of your game that will help you get the best performance you could possibly imagine for this old and laggy gem of a game.

Have Sims 3 installed, but is it performing abhorrently? I highly recommend a fresh install. You don't have to delete your saves or mods. Just get yourself a fresh bin to work with by uninstalling, going into your program files The Sims 3 folder and deleting any remnant files still in there. Then follow my guide!

All of the steps to follow are below the line ->

ocprompts

how sick does/would your oc have to be to stay home?

drudragonrose

Tsubaki and Milton don't do sick. They have invented potions that either treat the symptoms or help the body get rid of several sicknesses faster. That being said Tsubaki would have to be on her death bed and even then her brothers and sisters would have to strap her down in order to get her to rest.

Ai believes in healthy rest for body and mind but it would have to be serious for her to basically cancel the day.

Kikio has been "sick" all her life so it would take an act of the gods in order for her to even notice something she can't push past.

Genkai is like her mother though Bennett would at least attempt to get her to slow down.

#oc asks #oc development #The Gales

ehlihr

coming up with aus for your own ocs is so funny like yeah these are my guys i made up but in a different circumstance. yeah no i also made that circumstance up

justanothersimsblog

Hehehe yes

My favorite AU to play with is "what if Lori had been born sooner?"

drudragonrose

Sooo I may have a Victorian AU in which Genkai and Bennett go up against grotesque lovecraftian abominations with study, wit and the hiring of skilled individuals.

#AUs #Genkai Gale #Bennett Deadwiler

peascrabbles

So, as I've gotten deeper into writing as a hobby again, all the reasons that made me stop doing it years ago have shown themselves once again. Bafflingly enough, it's way more difficult for me right now than it was as a rusty beginner weeks ago. Something something the learning curve:

I am totally somewhere in the "This is hard!" or "I don't know s***" zones right now (and it's where I stopped last time.) On this second go-around, I won't let it defeat me, though! Been reading little advice tidbits here and there that have been really, really helpful.

A few gems from a great discussion about the purpose of a draft that spoke to me:

Q. What makes you keep writing your first draft even though it's a complete mess?

I. Being a complete mess is the one and only job of the first draft. Proof of life. Keep going. It's like moving, which is the world's single worst activity. You box up every fucking thing in your head, and set it all out in your new space, and it's the worst day of your life when you do. And the satisfaction of moving all those boxes and finishing the laborious work is fleeting because now your new space looks like absolute garbage, and it will keep looking like a cluttered unlivable mess for months and you know it and you wonder why you even bothered moving. But you slowly unpack and organize and hang things on the wall until one day you're living in the home you always imagined.

II. Think of the mess as a puzzle that you get to have fun solving.

III. It's only a mess compared to other things you've read. But other things you've read are finished.

Stop comparing your work in progress to finished works.

It takes months or even years to finish most stories (excepting short stories and maybe novelettes). You're not going to get there on your first draft, or your second, or even your third. So, according to the words of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, "Don't be afraid to write crap. Crap makes great fertilizer."

IV. Writing anything is an accomplishment. So many people think about, talk about, post about writing… and never do. (shush, I know I'm guilty of that at this moment!!)

Set a daily goal (words, pages, whatever). Hit it each day and take pride in JUST THAT accomplishment. It will get easier each day to reach that goal it as it becomes a habit rather than a chore.

Your story can't just exist in your head, it has to be given form. Writing it will gradually, eventually reveal what you can keep, what you must refine, and what you need to mercilessly cast away. If it's only in your head, it ALL exists, good, bad, and mediocre. Putting it in words starts the process of separating it from your mind and ego, and will start to give you some detachment and perspective for further drafts. It might start as a mewling little lump of words that drools and vomits and shits itself but by GOD you are going to raise… er, revise… that story into a fine figure of a tale.

As the sayings go, all writing is good writing. And all writing is rewriting.

#non-sims #writing

So because I need to break the writing dry spell I've been having.

Meet the Cheshire twins. Crow, the broodie, mentally unstable one and Raven, who hides her unstableness better than her brother. Both because they are not the ones to inherit the house, moved out and are now starting their own experimentations in another town. Crow wants to make the perfect flesh golem so there will be body horror and zombies involved.

#the sims 3 #Raven Cheshire #Crow Cheshire

bookishdiplodocus

The Neurodivergent Writer’s Guide to Fun and Productivity

(Even when life beats you down)

Look, I’m a mom, I have ADHD, I’m a spoonie. To say that I don’t have heaps of energy to spare and I struggle with consistency is an understatement. For years, I tried to write consistently, but I couldn’t manage to keep up with habits I built and deadlines I set.

So fuck neurodivergent guides on building habits, fuck “eat the frog first”, fuck “it’s all in the grind”, and fuck “you just need time management”—here is how I manage to write often and a lot.

Focus on having fun, not on the outcome

This was the groundwork I had to lay before I could even start my streak. At an online writing conference, someone said: “If you push yourself and meet your goals, and you publish your book, but you haven’t enjoyed the process… What’s the point?” and hoo boy, that question hit me like a truck.

I was so caught up in the narrative of “You’ve got to show up for what’s important” and “Push through if you really want to get it done”. For a few years, I used to read all these productivity books about grinding your way to success, and along the way I started using the same language as they did. And I notice a lot of you do so, too.

But your brain doesn’t like to grind. No-one’s brain does, and especially no neurodivergent brain. If having to write gives you stress or if you put pressure on yourself for not writing (enough), your brain’s going to say: “Huh. Writing gives us stress, we’re going to try to avoid it in the future.”

So before I could even try to write regularly, I needed to teach my brain once again that writing is fun. I switched from countable goals like words or time to non-countable goals like “fun” and “flow”.

Rewire my brain: writing is fun and I’m good at it

I used everything I knew about neuroscience, psychology, and social sciences. These are some of the things I did before and during a writing session. Usually not all at once, and after a while I didn’t need these strategies anymore, although I sometimes go back to them when necessary.

I journalled all the negative thoughts I had around writing and try to reason them away, using arguments I knew in my heart were true. (The last part is the crux.) Imagine being supportive to a writer friend with crippling insecurities, only the friend is you.

Not setting any goals didn’t work for me—I still nurtured unwanted expectations. So I did set goals, but made them non-countable, like “have fun”, “get in the flow”, or “write”. Did I write? Yes. Success! Your brain doesn’t actually care about how high the goal is, it cares about meeting whatever goal you set.

I didn’t even track how many words I wrote. Not relevant.

I set an alarm for a short time (like 10 minutes) and forbade myself to exceed that time. The idea was that if I write until I run out of mojo, my brain learns that writing drains the mojo. If I write for 10 minutes and have fun, my brain learns that writing is fun and wants to do it again.

Reinforce the fact that writing makes you happy by rewarding your brain immediately afterwards. You know what works best for you: a walk, a golden sticker, chocolate, cuddle your dog, whatever makes you happy.

I conditioned myself to associate writing with specific stimuli: that album, that smell, that tea, that place. Any stimulus can work, so pick one you like. I consciously chose several stimuli so I could switch them up, and the conditioning stays active as long as I don’t muddle it with other associations.

Use a ritual to signal to your brain that Writing Time is about to begin to get into the zone easier and faster. I guess this is a kind of conditioning as well? Meditation, music, lighting a candle… Pick your stimulus and stick with it.

Specifically for rewiring my brain, I started a new WIP that had no emotional connotations attached to it, nor any pressure to get finished or, heaven forbid, meet quality norms. I don’t think these techniques above would have worked as well if I had applied them on writing my novel.

It wasn’t until I could confidently say I enjoyed writing again, that I could start building up a consistent habit. No more pushing myself.

I lowered my definition for success

When I say that nowadays I write every day, that’s literally it. I don’t set out to write 1,000 or 500 or 10 words every day (tried it, failed to keep up with it every time)—the only marker for success when it comes to my streak is to write at least one word, even on the days when my brain goes “naaahhh”. On those days, it suffices to send myself a text with a few keywords or a snippet. It’s not “success on a technicality (derogatory)”, because most of those snippets and ideas get used in actual stories later. And if they don’t, they don’t. It’s still writing. No writing is ever wasted.

A side note on high expectations, imposter syndrome, and perfectionism

Obviously, “Setting a ridiculously low goal” isn’t something I invented. I actually got it from those productivity books, only I never got it to work. I used to tell myself: “It’s okay if I don’t write for an hour, because my goal is to write for 20 minutes and if I happen to keep going for, say, an hour, that’s a bonus.” Right? So I set the goal for 20 minutes, wrote for 35 minutes, and instead of feeling like I exceeded my goal, I felt disappointed because apparently I was still hoping for the bonus scenario to happen. I didn’t know how to set a goal so low and believe it.

I think the trick to making it work this time lies more in the groundwork of training my brain to enjoy writing again than in the fact that my daily goal is ridiculously low. I believe I’m a writer, because I prove it to myself every day. Every success I hit reinforces the idea that I’m a writer. It’s an extra ward against imposter syndrome.

Knowing that I can still come up with a few lines of dialogue on the Really Bad Days—days when I struggle to brush my teeth, the day when I had a panic attack in the supermarket, or the day my kid got hit by a car—teaches me that I can write on the mere Bad-ish Days.

The more I do it, the more I do it

The irony is that setting a ridiculously low goal almost immediately led to writing more and more often. The most difficult step is to start a new habit. After just a few weeks, I noticed that I needed less time and energy to get into the zone. I no longer needed all the strategies I listed above.

Another perk I noticed, was an increased writing speed. After just a few months of writing every day, my average speed went from 600 words per hour to 1,500 wph, regularly exceeding 2,000 wph without any loss of quality.

Talking about quality: I could see myself becoming a better writer with every passing month. Writing better dialogue, interiority, chemistry, humour, descriptions, whatever: they all improved noticeably, and I wasn’t a bad writer to begin with.

The increased speed means I get more done with the same amount of energy spent. I used to write around 2,000-5,000 words per month, some months none at all. Nowadays I effortlessly write 30,000 words per month. I didn’t set out to write more, it’s just a nice perk.

Look, I’m not saying you should write every day if it doesn’t work for you. My point is: the more often you write, the easier it will be.

No pressure

Yes, I’m still working on my novel, but I’m not racing through it. I produce two or three chapters per month, and the rest of my time goes to short stories my brain keeps projecting on the inside of my eyelids when I’m trying to sleep. I might as well write them down, right?

These short stories started out as self-indulgence, and even now that I take them more seriously, they are still just for me. I don’t intend to ever publish them, no-one will ever read them, they can suck if they suck. The unintended consequence was that my short stories are some of my best writing, because there’s no pressure, it’s pure fun.

Does it make sense to spend, say, 90% of my output on stories no-one else will ever read? Wouldn’t it be better to spend all that creative energy and time on my novel? Well, yes. If you find the magic trick, let me know, because I haven’t found it yet. The short stories don’t cannibalize on the novel, because they require different mindsets. If I stopped writing the short stories, I wouldn’t produce more chapters. (I tried. Maybe in the future? Fingers crossed.)

Don’t wait for inspiration to hit

There’s a quote by Picasso: “Inspiration hits, but it has to find you working.” I strongly agree. Writing is not some mystical, muse-y gift, it’s a skill and inspiration does exist, but usually it’s brought on by doing the work. So just get started and inspiration will come to you.

Accountability and community

Having social factors in your toolbox is invaluable. I have an offline writing friend I take long walks with, I host a monthly writing club on Discord, and I have another group on Discord that holds me accountable every day. They all motivate me in different ways and it’s such a nice thing to share my successes with people who truly understand how hard it can be.

The productivity books taught me that if you want to make a big change in your life or attitude, surrounding yourself with people who already embody your ideal or your goal huuuugely helps. The fact that I have these productive people around me who also prioritize writing, makes it easier for me to stick to my own priorities.

Your toolbox

The idea is to have several techniques at your disposal to help you stay consistent. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by focussing on just one technique. Keep all of them close, and if one stops working or doesn’t inspire you today, pivot and pick another one.

After a while, most “tools” run in the background once they are established. Things like surrounding myself with my writing friends, keeping up with my daily streak, and listening to the album I conditioned myself with don’t require any energy, and they still remain hugely beneficial.

Do you have any other techniques? I’d love to hear about them!

I hope this was useful. Happy writing!

#reblog #on writing

Day one of living in Dowon: It's Sunday, so there's no reason to look into getting a job just yet. Iris was a bit concerned by the McDreamed near her apartment but going down to the park made things better. There was healthier food at the stands and while she couldn't flirt with the woman behind the counter, the food was good. She did have more than enough money to have her own treadmill so this takes care of her exercise needs when she can't go outside.

#inzoi #my zois #early access #Iris Von Zarovich #game play

Meet Iris. She's a young woman who has escaped her father's house and is trying to make it on her own in the big city.

#Iris Von Zarovich #inzoi #my zois #early access #I'm going to check over the next few days for mods

tenderwatches

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

stories-by-hails

For anyone who needs this

writing-prompt-s

!!!!

xortstories

I'm working on it, I swear!

justanothersimsblog

Ibis and bachelor parties

Since I'm posting/rebloging Eti+Troy’s it made me think of this.

Ibis would offer, nay, insist on throwing all of his siblings' bachelor/ette parties. Even though he'll deny all of them reciprocation on account of "I'm never getting married"

Ari won't take him on the offer because she'll have a courthouse wedding, so he'll insist they must have a celebratory party instead. Had he had the opportunity he would've offered Xavier to do his bachelor party too.

Ash would allow him to do whatever party he wants, she doesn't care about the bachelorette, the wedding itself its what's important since it's the romantic part. He'll also offer Matthias to do his bachelor party so perhaps he'd get to do both.

Benny I think will allow him. Ibis is already preparing for some themed party, either aliens or robots. (I was gonna ramble on more about this but I shall spare ya'll). He'll, once again, also offer his services to the other half but I'm thinking she'll decline. @drudragonrose

Blaze will once again not give him the opportunity and this one in particular will annoy Ibis because it would've been his excuse to go to a lesbian bar or club.

Timmy will allow it, whenever it'll happen. Of course, Ibis' plans for this one includes fairies. He’d even go as far as try to bribe the actual fairy princess he knows to give the groom a lap dance. I'm thinking she says a big fat no to this, but at least internally, she's laughing at the request.

(Will we see any of these weddings or parties in my game/story? Idk)

drudragonrose

Oh she would accept just to see what happened.

#reblog

characterdesigninspiration

Character Development Questions #5

Did your character have a favorite stuffed animal, blanket, doll, etc. as a child? If so, at what age did they stop playing with it? Do they still own it or has it gotten lost or destroyed over the years?

If your character were given $1,000 (or their country’s equivalent) to spend on non-necessities (i.e. no food or clothes or rent, etc.), what would they buy?

How would your character describe their own appearance? Is it in line with how the other characters view them and/or how they’re described in the narration, or is it skewed (for better or for worse)?

Does your character dye their hair? If so, do they still go for a “natural” look (like blonde to brunette), or bright/unnatural colors?

Does your character have any bad habits or compulsions that are genuinely detrimental to their health and/or safety (smoking, drug/alcohol abuse, reckless driving, etc.)? If so, is it something they’re trying to change, or do they not care?

Is there anyone in your character’s life that they would be willing to die for? If so, does that character feel the same way about them?

Is your character vegan or vegetarian? If so, is it for moral or health reasons? If not, how do they feel about vegans and vegetarians?

Is your character charismatic, or does it take people some time to warm up to them? What is it about their personality that makes people react this way to them?

What is the longest romantic relationship your character has had, if any? What about platonic relationships?

Is there any special object that your character never goes without? If so, is it because of sentimental value (like a family heirloom) or practical use (like a pocketknife)? Or maybe both?

Just for Fun: Think of your the last TV show, movie, or book your watched or read. Who would be your character’s favorite character? Which characters are most like them?

#character development