#wokestone posts

[wokestone]

This Lich has fuckin... human faces stitched into his cloak??

Did some of them fall off or is he wearing those faces and trades them out when the latest one falls apart

[wokestone]

thinking of how in DD2 blood and the soul are equivalent to each other, and crystallizing blood.

You have the loading screen tip of:

"The blood of the Arisen has been known to remain in the form of crystals"

And you have the Godsbane Blade description:

And what Rothias tells you of the blue shards:

And Ambrosius of wyrmslife crystals and the godsway:

All of it is saying outright - the crystals are both soul and blood of an Arisen and dragon/drake. Blue for Arisen, red for drake. And combined, they make the godsway.

It's interesting to think about that the soul isn't seen as just a separate entity, it's a part of every drop of blood. Every time your Arisen bleeds, they lose a bit of their soul, but so is it replenished when the body makes more blood. The power of an Arisen and wyrm is in every drop of blood.

When your Arisen bleeds, it's red blood that spatters off their body, as does it with wyrms. But then does it dry into crystals, and an Arisen's turn blue? Rather than coagulating blood and brown scabs, does your Arisen's blood crystalize on their skin as it dries, turning blue with age in the way blood turns brown?

I like imagining your Arisen being disturbed at the first time they're hurt after becoming Arisen. At seeing reflected on their wounds the fact that their body has changed in more ways than just lacking a pulse or heart. Do they think how close they are to wyrmhood knowing their blood crystallizes like a drake's? How must they feel when they realize that a drake is a dead Arisen? At how a lesser dragon is a warped and reanimated dead Arisen living in constant agony?

(Someone please make art of your wounded Arisen with blue crystals on their skin.)

[wokestone]

RHEA'S HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT TRAINING IS BACK!!!

C'mon, Wyd (@dd-wyd). You gotta take off the cloak too. We have monsters to punch to death through naught but the sheer strength of our muscles.

The gang on the prowl.

^This conversation and then the pause and looking at each other lmao

^The boys vibing while Rhea's getting her shit rocked by goblins

^Griffin beat down

^"You know I had to do it to em" Beckett

^Rhea not appreciating the Enemy Spawner mod

^Rhea taking a nice lil nap in the middle of the fight :)

^Holy shit Beckett your neck

^Wait a minute

^Kassandra (@muralikesgames) looking like she's gonna use Beckett as a deadly weapon lmao

^Success! Some of us had more fun than others.

^Wyd and Beckett having a questionable time with the Cyclops and Chimera

^The enthusiasm is appreciated, Beckett.

^Finishing it off with a nice camp dinner where no one wanted to sit next to each other </3

[wokestone]

excited for when emote dogma gets to adding the face bones so I can take a crack at expressions. especially when some of the default emotions can look wonky

double excited that you can already share the custom pose files so other ppl can use them

I'm defs gonna make some poses and try and share them so other folks can use them. spreading the love and whatnot. :)

[wokestone]

Appreciating the purgener beasts' fucked up de-brined faces

[wokestone]

Was running around the Vernworth castle analyzing statues for lore posting, and I realized that all of the statues located in the gardens and courtyard are exclusively of pawns, with the Rift symbol located behind their head like a halo.

I can't help but imagine past Sovrans commissioned statues of their beloved main pawn to add to the castle.

[wokestone]

Depictions of Past Arisen (and various thoughts)

Was walking around Bakbattahl and noticed this mural depicting Rothias, the first Sovran (left), and a second figure (right). Considering they too are standing triumphant on top of a dragon, I assumed they must be Arisen too.

I had also collected some photos of the throne room's stain glass windows depicting the past Sovrans: a humanized Rothias, the 2nd Sovran (presumably the Arisen that Rothias said sealed him under the sea), the 3rd Sovran (the one from the Bakbattahl mural!), the 4th Sovran, and the 5th Sovran.

This makes us (or Darraugh/"Arthur"), the 6th Sovran in line.

Based on the dress of the 3rd Arisen and their appearance in Bakbattahl art, I can only assume Bakbattahl wanted to pay tribute to the Sovrans that originated from their land, so the rest are likely of Vermund origin.

The only other lore that I am aware of exists about past Sovrans is that with the underground library crypt, Waldhar says it was sealed by a Sovran "of generations past" that "in a bid to pass the throne on to his own descendants, this Sovran attempted to consign our kingdom's histories to oblivion" and that this "Sovran's line ultimately fell to ruin." Considering how forgotten this library is, I'd estimate maybe 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Sovran did that? 5th Sovran might be of too recent memory, because based on ambient NPC dialogue at the masquerade, it's been "decades" since they last had a true Sovran.

(This is speculation, but perhaps the beastren were run out of Vermund after blaming Mad Sovran for killing random people he thought were the Pathfinder, and thus the kingdom split in two? Perhaps the 2nd Sovran didn't help matters either.)

Interesting of note is each Sovran depiction hints at the types of vocations they might have favored.

Rothias - Greatsword (Warrior), Stave (Mage/Sorcerer), Duospear (Mystic Spearhand). The depiction of him over the throne appears to be have just a regular longsword, so Fighter too perhaps? Would make sense that Rothias would be an accomplished Arisen who mastered multiple vocations.

2nd Sovran - Stave (Mage/Sorceror); makes sense if they had the magick to seal away Rothias

3rd Sovran - Sword and Shield (Fighter) and Dagger (Thief)

4th Sovran - Stave (Mage/Sorcerer)

5th Sovran - Greatsword (Warrior)

I also had the thought - had any of these Sovran taken the Dragon's deal like Edmund did in Dark Arisen, which extends your life? Considering we aren't aware of any prolonged longevity past Rothias, they might have all successfully slain the Dragon and reclaimed their hearts. Rothias for sure did since he rose to Seneschal, and if the 2nd Sovran did indeed have the power to seal Rothias under the sea, I can only assume they were of strong enough will to be able to defeat their Dragon too. It is possible that perhaps any that took the Dragon's deal might have perished through other means (murder, accident, disease, etc.). While Ser Brant says Disa poisoned/cursed you and sent you away because an Arisen "can't be killed by mortal hands", I assume this to be meddling by the Pathfinder or a deeply believed superstition, and perhaps once an Arisen has claimed Sovranhood through a deal with the Dragon, Pathfinder stops caring about protecting their immortal ass lol.

Other miscellaneous depictions of Sovrans at the palace, and in the world:

Above the throne itself. Another human depiction of Rothias, along with (presumedly) kneeled pawns wielding weapons.

2. Rothias' statue as depicted in Battahl, with the head of the statue preserved and not knocked off to hide Rothias' true heritage like in Vermund.

3. On top of the Vermund palace. I can't fit this one to any one specific Sovran, so it might be a symbolic representation of one wearing the Stygian Omen armor because they're missing Rothias' beard. Considering Darraugh was wearing the armor, I assume it to be a flawed recreation based on the statues of Rothias' armor (considering the actual Sovran's Plate is a very similar but slightly different set).

4. Fountain of the 1st Sovran - a human Rothias wielding a duospear and wearing the Stygian Omen armor.

If any of you know any Sovran lore I'm missing, please let me know!

[wokestone]

Emote Dogma's 'secret talk' emote proving to be top tier for the arisen x pawn shipper