#mystgarde

[phoenecia]

I might have mentioned this before, but years ago (when I was still a part of a dark fantasy text roleplaying community) when I was developing my writing skills, I used to write smut. I was very good at it. I also got to know a couple of published authors who made a killing writing smut.

When I started writing and publishing my own stuff, I made the conscious decision to not write anything explicit in anything I officially published for my Mystgarde and Errant Chronicles works. I did this for several reasons.

1) I wanted to distance myself from that kind of reputation. Not sure if you're aware, but once you're known for producing that kind of content, it often affects the rep of anything else you do. This works the same way in other creative fields too like art or acting. If I write anything smutty officially, it's likely going to be under a pseudonym.

2) The style of stories I write feel more suited to Young Adult fiction. Yeah, YA has a bit of a reputation but the themes of what I tend to do seems right up that alley. I wanted to have a broader appeal and not risk potentially alienating too many people with super mature subject matter. Not that I'm averse to writing subject matter or themes regarding sex or sexuality, but when you're a good writer, you find ways of sneaking in or hinting that characters did stuff without being super obvious about it. >_>

3) People get weird when it comes to NSFW stuff; not 'haha awkward' kind of weird. More like 'creepy sexpest' levels of weird or 'uncomfortable fixation' levels of weird. It's especially bad if you're a woman in this space writing smut because people tend to interpret it as you being a nympho freak or a slut not deserving any shred of dignity or humanity. Dealt with that kind of attitude and bullying before - not dealing with it again.

That being said, I'm not averse to writing smut. Like I said, I'm pretty good at it. Funnily enough, a friend didn't believe me and challenged me to write something. And I have been. >_>

But I'm very discerning. If I'm gonna write something like that, I want it to be a proper story with build-up and chemistry to make the pay-off even better. Not gonna judge people for just wanting the dirty stuff, but when it comes to literary porn, I want quality. :P

Will I show off said writing at some point? Maybe. It's not fanfiction, and it revolves around two of my OCs, and I know most people don't know or don't care, so it's whatever. >_>

But maybe. We'll see.

[phoenecia]

Last year I started a short 'villain' Pathfinder 2e campaign in my Mystgarde setting, which ended a few months ago. Why do I use the term 'villain'? Well, the player characters all start out as members of the main bad guy organization, but end up defecting and going rogue by the end of the campaign story.

The Suits are my favorite recurring villains in my setting. Their parent organization, GenCorp, is essentially the fantasy setting equivalent of the Umbrella Corporation, so you know they're up to shady stuff. The Suits are their enforcers and field agents that assist in doing their dirty work.

My favorite part? They're all themed after cards. Names are card puns, their designs are always fun to do. I've always left it open for people to make their own Suits OCs, so I ended up making a template.

If anyone ends up making one, I'd love to see. :3

The example above is actually my friend Dg's character (he's the dude you can hear with me on my Best Served Cold streams), Finny Stroke, the Eight of Hearts.