#keptolo

[beebookmagic]

Lolth's Sacrifice/ Keptolo's Chosen

I am really proud of how this one came out. and shhh I'll even share a small little snippet of this fic that I've been working on for months now. (I swear I'll finish it, I just have bad brain disease currently)

( more below the cut)

“Kneel boy.” Surrounded by priestesses, Altonin stood naked in the center of house Coborel’s private temple to Lolth. Cold stone floors numbed the bottom of his feet as he gazed upon his soon to be Matron, Thalra Coborel. Her statuesque features turned up into a sneer when their eyes connected. Altonin quickly looked away. He must obey. Slowly, he lowered himself to his knees, keeping an eye on the edge of Matron Thalra’s robes that barely dusted the floor. “Do you know why you are here?” Altonin froze, unsure how to answer her question. Veldrin had informed him mere hours beforehand that in order to not only properly join the House, but to remain by Veldrin’s side, he'd have to pass some sort of test within the sanctuary. Where his only options would be acceptance as a low ranking foot soldier or death. His prospects weren't looking high if he couldn't even respond to his Matron. “Nod, jaluk!” Altonin nodded fervently. Behind him he could hear the snickering of Aunrae and Jaelryn, Veldrin's younger twin sisters. Worse, he could feel Veldrin’s cold stare like an ice knife being plunged into his back. He was embarrassing Veldrin. “Good,” A thunderous snap of fingers, “____ begin the ritual. Let's see if Veldrin’s pet is worthy of being one of us.” Altonin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep his breathing even as the collective voices of the priestesses harmonized into a pulsing chant, echoing off the smooth stone walls. It was nauseating feeling their voices resonate on a level that made his bones want to vibrate out of his skin. His vision blurred. Sweat beaded along his forehead as the chants increased in volume. He couldn't make out the words, only Lolth, Lolth, Lolth and then- Snap His body went limp. Altonin felt himself fall. His head swayed back and forth and his body followed shortly after. But before his head could collide with the ground his body lurched. Jolting upright once again, he found himself within the Coborel sanctuary, alone. Confusion washed over the young drow. Where had everyone gone? The priestesses? Matron Mother Thalra? Veldrin? Altonin attempted to push himself to his feet when he felt a cool, strong arm wrap around his middle. “Calm yourself, my sweet boy. You are safe.” The voice cooed in his ear. Altonin felt his body relax against his instincts as a pair of ghostly lips pressed and fizzled against the nape of his neck, like one one of the many drinks he had tasted over the years. It was comforting.

This one is based on the sculpture: Young Tarentine by Pierre Alexandre Schoenewerk.

idk I just thought it was a really nice pose for Altonin. 😊😊

Also all the spiders on him are based on real tarantulas. They just look like that. That's so cool

[drizznt]

Sometimes I like to imagine Keptolo as a superfan if there were a modern AU

[zaudrathir]

Eager Consort

Tools: ReShade, Otis_Inf, Lighty Lights, QSAT Mods: Coranzan's Outfit, Face/Hair Mods, Dye, Pose, Keptolo's Outfit

[astrahannah]

This kinda silly Keptolo headcanon just formed in my head, where he's kinda the god of mushrooms???

Like, his symbol is a mushroom. I get it, fertility symbol for the drow, okay. But in one of my fanfics, Keptoloan clerics grow these aphrodiziacal mushrooms, and then I noticed that Keptolo has Nature domain, together with the Trickery you'd think of first...

And then it just all came together when I was looking at some jewelry in a store today, saw earrings in the shape of spiders and thought "oh yeah, we're worshipping Lolth with these" and right after, I looked a bit lower, saw mushroom earrings and thought "aaaand we're worshipping Keptolo with these". Then it came. God of mushrooms.

Like, I just imagine. Keptolo is a god of mushrooms, but it's like a side gig, the whole malewhore malewife thing is the main, but then the mushroom part somehow spreads and suddenly he hears a bunch of human mushroom hunters praying to him just like, hoping to find some good damn mushrooms and he's basically just like "what the actual fuck"

[mushroomdungeon]

My DnD Drow

With WOTC going back and rewriting the evil races, I feel like shooting out my remake of them I uses for my worlds.

I uses the Forgotten Realm drow deities as a base and connection point for my players to get a feel for who is who.

~~~

Lolth: 

I couldn't think of a whole reason to keep Lolth around. She left such a sour taste in my mouth how she was written in DnD canon and her past self   Araushnee didn’t have much to work with...

So she was a mortal elf who courted Corellon and had Vhaeraun and Eilistraee (as twin Celadrin not dark elves). She lived out her mortal life never becoming a deity by still known throughout elven religious history to modern times. She had no knowledge that  Vhaeraun and Eilistraee were born demigod and rose to full on deity-hood.

~~~

Eilistraee:

Not a nudist, but known as the Queen of Drow. She is the deity of home, festivities, and music. General shown as a female (though having no gender) with long hair (which in my world long hair is general correlated to statues) and wearing light blue, silver, and gold clothing (favorite colors of Corellon.)

She is the only one to have current connections to the Seldarine and avicates for the Dark Seldarine to reintegrate to the  Seldarine pantheon. But has little to no sway in her pantheon, but a strong belief in followers.

She generally keeps to herself in the pantheon, but can leverage power over most other drow deities if need be. She is a female himbo basically; strong, kind, and oblivious to most things outside her domains.)

~~~

Vhaeraun:

Still not a nice guy, but better. Rules as the top deity in the pantheon though rules along side Eilistraee, but blatantly has almost full control. Drow deity of wealth, freedom, thieves, and darkness; has ties to people outside the Dark Seldarine mainly as the God of rebellion and shadow magic.

He believes in an anarchy like rule over all elvenkind, however holds drow society together our of blackmail from the rest of the pantheon as well as some pressure from the Seldarine. Generally believes elves are drawn to different types of magic and that no magic should be forbidden (Seldarine doesn’t like shadow magic making them at odds.) He steal things not related to wealth, like stealing statues or followers of other deities.

~~~

Selvetarm:

Still Vhaeraun and  Zandilar kid. Drow deity of power, control, battle, and loyalty.

Had rough time growing up and killed a demon lord to get favor in the Cosmos... but got taken over by the demonlord. He regand control of himself after a millennium. Still looks slightly demonic. 

He serves as military power within the pantheon and to the whole of drow society. However is not very smart and just listens to higher deities within the  Dark Seldarine.

~~~

Kiaransalee:

Still a lich, but a  Baelnorn lich (basically a good variant of a Lich though she is CN.) Drow deity of the afterlife and judgement.

Her clerics are known to bury and holy water drow graves and tombs to keep from making undead. However also make unholy water to uses as a battle tacit.(Think of canon orc/elf relationship, drows will pour unholy water on orc graveyard to have undead attack the orc encampment.)

Her judgement is very petite and not fair is anyway. If you slighted her in life, your going to have a bad time in the afterlife is she get a hold of your soul; which she sometimes barters with other deities to get a hold of someone who slighted her to make them suffer.)

~~~

Keptolo:  

Not consort of Lolth, just a general consorting person. Drow Deity of lust, courting, love, and betrayal. 

He looks over relationships within drow society; male drow are still more submissive and females more dominate in drow society. He keep male drow to a courting standard that men should show their worth to a female if lust or love is wanted, but heavily want female to have the final say in courting. Generally quiet and loyal to the pantheon and liked by most of Elven deity-hood) 

~~~

Malyk:

Drow deity of magic and knowledge. DnD canon doesn’t have much on this guy, so I also kept it simple.

Supports and encourages unknown, chaotic, and forbidden magic. You can do any magic or study as long as it is arcane in focus, you are in his favor. 

~~~

Zinzerena:

Unchanged from DnD Forgotten Realms version. Just under Vhaeraun’s rule instead of Lolth. Basically drow goddess of  lies, assassins, and illusions still.

[beebookmagic]

Give Me Your Desire

Have some Keptolo and Altonin based on the painting "The Love Potion" by Milhaly Zichy

I really liked the pose in the painting and thought it suited Altonin and Keptolo SO well. Altonin swearing his allegence and his life to Keptolo to be his cute little Chosen. He is all too ready to spread the good word of his little known god. Too bad Keptolo was a terrible, forgetful god who forgot all about his pretty little Chosen later. He should have kept a tighter leash on his pet. 😔

Fic will come at some point, but it's definitely a Dead Dove, Do Not Eat in content.

[beebookmagic]

I'm still thinking about This Post that I reblogged earlier. and I know I talked with Mog about this a little, so sorry Mog a lot of this is just the same as what we were talking about earlier. lol But it's still rotating in my mind.

I'm firmly in the camp that Lolth-sworn drow simply don't know the word for romantic love in the drow language. I think drowish likely has several different words for love to differentiate the different forms of love.

Such as the love of an activity (Thrill of a hunt, worshipping Lolth, the feel of fabric etc.) They all know and understand that word easily. That makes sense. It's for their enjoyment. But when it moves into platonic love between comrades/friends (abbil Is the word for friend from the drow dictionary wiki, which notes that it's used sarcastically except by Jarlaxle.) or a familial love or even moving into a romantic love, (Which uh sometimes these overlap.) I feel as if the word becomes unknown to them.

Lolth doesn't need love circulating in her circles, because love can bring peace, and she needs chaos through paranoia. Despite this, the feeling absolutely still persists, but to acknowledge it is a weakness. You have made a target for others to strike and try and take you down. So why would anyone bother acknowledging the feeling? Why would they keep it within their vocabulary?

Meanwhile Eilistraee has a word for love (alurlssrin) which means an unselfish love, but she also is aware of other drow words for love, and I 100% think that she passes that on within her followers. They are all of course aware of the emotion they feel is love or some form of it, and they are perfectly aware that yes, even a Lolth-sworn drow can feel that love, everyone can.

I think Vhaeraun is probably a mix of those who do and don't know the word, but my grasp on him and his followers is limited to say the least, so it can go either way.

However, I think male drow who worship Keptolo, specifically those within the church, do know the drow words for a romantic or even platonic love. The catch is they are using it for manipulation. They acknowledge that the feeling is real, but the goal isn't for them to experience it, but rather the person that they are flirting with, to either gain trust and information or to try and secure their role at the side of a powerful woman.

Hitting them with something like "Lolth has given Keptolo the right and knowledge to name and experience such an emotion. My Lord has deemed it fit to pass that feeling on to me, and now I exist to pass the experience and sensation on to you." It's the acknowledgement that those feelings exist, while also using them to gain power or information.

So I think the idea that "Drow don't have a word for love" (Which came from RAS in the Drizzt novels, bc Drizzt was struggling with his feelings for Catti-brie pre-spellplague) and Drow absolutely experience love and there are words to describe it, ie Ed Greenwood's Eilistraee tweets, can quite easily coexist. It shouldn't be read as a one or the other, it should be read as these two truths exist simultaneously due to cultural differences between drow within certain factions.

And Also I will continue to put out Keptolo propaganda U uU

[beebookmagic]

Lolth's Trophy. The Eager Consort. Keptolo

I finally did it... I've designed Keptolo, with the help of @mogruith. I somehow grew attached to the one drow god who doesn't really seem to exist anywhere T_T But this is him the man of the hour.

Some A lot design notes below the cut

So first thing I wanted to do was include Mog in on this process, as the idea behind it was I do want to draw their Coranzan with my Altonin, as both of our boys were once worshippers of Keptolo. (We're ignoring that Keptolo doesn't seem to exist in the Forgotten Realms. This is Keptolo propaganda.) When designing what Keptolo looked like I pretty much had free range, as there's very little description of him, and my main reference is from Here.

So the only thing I had to keep in mind was that he enchantingly beautiful, has violet eyes, and is male. The rest was up to me. So with that in mind, I decided I wanted to heavily reference and work backwards from our already designed boys. So his skin tone and his fringe are in reference to Coran. While Altonin influenced his jewelry (both design and color), his eye makeup, his hair length, as well as the color of the small mushrooms on his brooch and necklace. (blue is Altonin's skin tone, green is his eye color.)

That's about where it stops for references to our boys. The rest was trying to figure out what he would wear. It was mentioned in the description I was referencing that he was extremely fashionable, and preferred the color red. He also liked to wear hunting cloaks. Well. I threw the cloak out in favor of a robe. Specifically, I did this because he is Lolth's consort, he wants nothing more than to love and support his giant spider wife. And with that thought in mind, I thought he would then try and emulate what her girls are doing, specifically her priestesses. Their fashion and tastes would influence his because they are influenced by Lolth.

I ultimately decided to give him two looks, an informal and formal one. These obviously would change as fashion trends would. but I knew when I was looking for reference images I needed something high end, bare minimum it needed to be designer, but I was also willing to go couture. In the end I settled on referencing both Jean Paul Gaultier's 1995 European MTV music awards show look for his robe and boots.

And I also drew inspiration from one of Chappell Roan's most recent tour looks. As he *is* a bard as well as a thief and fighter.

For his more formal look I referenced Dior's Fall 2020 menswear collection. Specifically this coat

The next thing I needed to include was his mushroom motifs. Lolth has spiders, Keptolo has the very phallic mushroom. We know what he's here for. What a king lmao. So with that, I decided I wanted to give him a small crown. Originally I was gonna do something bigger similar to Thranduil's but with mushrooms, but I couldn't get the design of it right. I even tried using like shelf mushrooms to give a sort of Christian halo effect, but that also didn't work. So I tried a mushroom crown similar to flower crowns, but that came out too cottagecore. So in the end I gave him a wreath of lichen.

His necklace is... exactly why you think its like that. lmao (and to explain the joke: it's dicks.) and I wanted his brooch to be a combination of Lolth and his symbols. I gave him a spider with some mushrooms. But my personal favorite one is this

This I would imagine is embroidered on to the robe. Based on the Inky cap mushroom. I wanted it to be dripping and the drips to morph into Lolth's web. But I also wanted it to yet again be a reference to Keptolo's only real use: pleasing Lolth. [Insert dick joke here]

The rest like his boots and gloves, I just like those aesthetically. That's for me. Honestly I loved designing Keptolo a lot. Do I think canonically he'd look this queer? Absolutely not. He's like the God equivalent of a Republican White Woman. He's traditional and conservative, but in the way *drow* are. and I think that's neat. It was a challenge to sit there and go "Okay I know what's conservative for *us*, but what would be conservative for *a drow*?" And even if I don't think I entirely hit that (There probably should be more medieval fantasy elements to him) I do think something like this would work for him.

This is for me mostly, and I had a fun time and that's all that matters!