idk about y'all but lately I feel like the tumblr mobile app genuinely might have been developed during the stone age. first of all why the fuck did they decide to throw ads in the background BEHIND the posts when you scroll. like who's the mf genius who came up with that idea. my app lags really bad and then crashes every. single. time when those bitches pop up. and then it's just like. oh, you want to make a post or save something to drafts? haha crash. trying to view someone else's blog? crash. wanna ask someone a question? crash. switching to another app for a second and then returning? CRASH. like i kid you not i can make this thing shit bricks fifteen times in a minute just by trying to use it like it was intended. aha. guess i'll go fuck myself
would you... nay, i shan't... would you perhaps like to tell me a plethora of facts about the Aasimar Riz AU, perchance?
alright!!! I will admit I don't know what facts exactly you're looking for, so let's have a variety of behind-the-scenes info!!! here's a little look behind the curtain, and also some general headcanons that may or may not become relevant for junior year. I will put them below the cut for anyone who maybe hasn't finished sophomore year yet
- Riz's multiclass paladin arc was planned before I even started writing freshman year. from more or less the conception of this au I knew that he would eventually be multiclassing as part of his arc. however, in my earliest ideas, he was originally supposed to be exclusively a paladin of Cassandra, and his paladin arc was going to happen during the Night Yorb summer. after I started writing freshman year, though, I realized that his paladin arc was going in a different direction, ie. his "I choose Everything and I worship many gods but draw my power from my own love and determination rather than deities." this ended up being a more natural (and, imo, more interesting) arc for him, and it happened sooner. however, flickers of this alternate arc are definitely haunting the narrative in his complicated relationship with Cassandra and Kalina post sophomore year, and his relationship to Cassandra's divinity will DEFINITELY be expanded upon during junior year with one of the arcs that he is going to be having
- speaking of Cassandra and Kalina, those two and Pok and Riz and Sklonda are just. soooo sticky. Sklonda and Pok straight up do NOT feel kindly toward Cassandra, and Kalina is persona non grata number one. they hate her SOOOOO much. Kalina will be making a more substantial reappearance in Aasimar au JY than in canon, because I miss her and she makes things fun for me. Sklonda and Pok (and, importantly, Kristen) are VERY unhappy with this. (Yvoni is also Not Thrilled with Cassandra and Kalina but she's also less involved in the divine plots of JY.) Sklonda and Pok both want so badly to support Kristen with her goddess but at the end of the day, the Nightmare King killed and permanently traumatized their kid. Cassandra is kind of never fully forgiven for that by any of the significant Gukgak parent trio. (Kristen is also struggling with that JY, something that will be not at all plot relevant, no sirree.) this situation is made even more complicated by the fact that Riz is genuinely and consistently reaching out to Cassandra in earnest. That's his friend's god!!!! but Cassandra and Kalina both have a weird thing going on where they are aware that Kristen's loyalties and priorities lie mainly with Riz, so there's conflict there, but they also feel a weird amount of like. almost possessiveness about Riz? Kalina is more open about it, definitely, but both of them have the idea that Riz happened Because Of Them. that part of the credit for Riz goes to them. this idea, as I'm sure you can understand, would not go over well with literally anyone in Riz's life, and probably especially not with Kristen. anyway, rest assured that the clusterfuck of relationship complications between Riz-Kristen-Cassandra-Kalina and the parents will continue to be an absolute clusterfuck in JY
- this is Aasimar au brainrot at its finest, but we will be seeing a return of Helioic religion in JY because of Bucky and Buddy, and in the depths of my musing this thought occurred to me and it made so much sense that I immediately incorporated it into not only my Aasimar au canon but into my normal headcanon thoughts as well. Helio, in canon, was supposed to be the son of Sol that he had with a mortal woman (and ohhhh boy we are gonna be talking about that as well) which makes him, in theological thought, sort of like a demigod. but what does that make him in the world of DnD mechanics? that's right. a fucking Aasimar. so part of why everyone in the churches of specifically Helio and Sol are so fucking weird about Riz being Aasimar is that he is technically existing in the same category as one of their deities, pre-ascension. it drives them CRAZYYYYYY. bucky will be. normal about this. maybe
-the side-characters that exist in the insta fic (which I am currently working on the sophomore year version of) have turned into fully-fledged characters in my head. they have names. they have friends and partners and family. in particular, the group of students from the aguefort adventuring academy (Tira, icecreamismypatron; Anna, annabling; and Ali, their internet-recluse sorcerer-bard) are called the Multicrew because they're all multiclassed in some way. I think that at the AAA, certain parties are known for doing certain things. Like, some parties specialize in undead cases, some specialize in extraplanar activities, some specialize in environmental population control with the ranger organizations of Solace, etc. etc. The Bad Kids are known for being a catch-all adventuring squad, which is a bit rare, but their specialty is unilaterally agreed among all members of the school to be Divine Nonsense. those students that continue adventuring post-graduation, if they run across any kind of quest that is super divine in nature, eventually just start calling up the Bad Kids like "heyyyyyy, so I've got a quest for you." very far post-canon, when they are all adults, the Bad Kids become more or less the unofficial interplanar diplomats for Solace as a nation, in the same way that Adaine inherited the Elven Oracle title. they're all very grumpy about it but unfortunately too good at it to stop. but anyway, the Multicrew specializes in Faewilds encounters, and they're one of the only upperclassmen adventuring groups that the Bad Kids really respect. In terms of highest world-ending shenanigans, the top three adventuring parties currently at Aguefort in sophomore year are 1. The Bad Kids, 2. The Seven Maidens, 3. The Multicrew. if anyone cares to know more about the Multicrew I will gladly ramble about them in a separate ask
-now that Riz has multiclassed into paladin and Fig is an archdevil, there is no escaping the Friendship Rash. they enter a room together and break out into hives. the hives are thankfully harmless but they get asked several times a day if they need to go to the nurse and they're just like "no <3333 this rash was a gift from my friend <3333"
-by the time the bad kids hit junior year, Adaine and Gorgug are having to work in tandem to develop a constant nondetection device for Riz, because he registers so powerfully as a divine energy source that even when he's hiding, a Detect Evil and Good can pick him right up, and it drives him CRAZYYYYY.
-fun fact, most of the things in aasimar au are mechanically sound in dnd terms. I'm very interested in the limitations of dnd mechanics, and particularly fascinated with how people chose to adhere to/break the mechanics with feats and multiclasses. the one thing that I did have to change mechanically because it made the most sense story-wise, is actually riz's multiclass. canon riz's strength and charisma stats are actually low enough that he isn't supposed to even be ABLE to multiclass into paladin. it's not mechanically possible. so aasimar riz actually has a higher strength and charisma score that canon riz. some things, we do bend for the story.
-another fun mechanical fact, aasimar Riz is operating off of old 5e species mechanics, meaning when he reached third level (though he used it for the first time much later than that, because of magical-repression and self-hatred issues) could choose between the three Celestial Revelation options, Radiant Soul for Protector Aasimar, Radiant Consumption for Scourge Aasimar, or Necrotic Shroud for Fallen Aasimar. In the earlier rules, you can only pick one of these options, and then you have it for life. I initially toyed between Scourge and Protector Aasimar, but settled on Protector because I thought it married better with his paladin arc. However, in the new 2024 rules, Celestial Revelation is not a permanent feature. You get to choose between all three every time you activate it. I've mostly committed to the Protector Aasimar bit, but there is a version of this fic in my head where Riz operates under 2024 rules, and gets to choose a different revelation every time. perhaps I will make some art about it if I get inspired
-this is a personal headcanon, and part of my multicultural gukgak family agenda, but I tend to think of Pok's family as from the northern part of Solace, and Sklonda's family is more from the southern range. so the difference in foliage and camouflage in those two environments means that Sklonda (and consequently Riz) both have darker skin than Pok does
-more personal art-related headcanons, but since goblins are more subterranean than orcs, I tend to draw goblins with more blue and purple tones, and orcs with more yellow and orange tones, something that you may spot whenever I draw Riz and Gorgug together
-I am of the firm belief that Bastion City has an underground portion of the city that actually predates the topside. it's a super historic, multicultural set of underground neighborhoods and markets and schools etc. etc. etc. that actually goes all the way down to meet up with the Underdark. the historic version of the city had mostly subterranean species (goblins, drow, dwarves, gnomes, etc.) living in the deepside, and halflings living on the topside. the existence of that city is why the old monarchy of Solace decided to put that city there, as it was an example of the kind of community the idea of the nation was founded upon, but ironically the construction of the new Bastion City itself destroyed a lot of the interconnected culture of the old city, and now the topside and the deepside exist as two technically connected but VERYYYYY separate cities that actually don't get along super great. Pok's family, when they moved to Solace, settled topside, and Sklonda's family settled deepside, and Pok and Sklonda had accordingly VERY different experiences growing up. (side note, I think Pok actually demonstrates a lotttt of internalized racism that he isn't super aware of, but I don't clock that in Sklonda as much, which in-AU I am attributing to that difference in where they were raised.)
-in aasimar au, part of why riz leans so hard into jewelry during JY is because he's always really liked Yvoni's jewelry, and when he was little he would play with it a lot. that returns in JY when he starts playing with his own jewelry kind of as fidgets
-mini-spoiler because it doesn't matter long-term but I think it's cute, but kristen and riz do end up with some matching piercings during the Night Yorb adventure. because they're sappy like that
FrogTai because I’m addicted to DaiTai, inject her directly into my veins.
But also a series I’m actually gonna do featuring my favourite girls as my favourite amphibians/reptiles. Starting with DaiTai as a RedEyed Tree Frog, striking, vibrant and full of life letting you know the rainforest is at full health much like my fav girl comes in and checks the health of Heaven.
I made her real babydoll/bettyboop styled but she looks adorable anyways. AHHHHH I love her
