Randomness

Basically my own personal tumblr, so have fun, grab some food and enjoy!

[jonsibn]

take it.

[curioscurio]

THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOADABLE PDF OF THE BOOK BTW you don’t have to pay for it!!

[wedobonesmotherf-cker]

since the link about is fucking dead, i took the liberty to provide a better one. You’ll need to copy and paste the passphrase, though >> kitten-mutual-refinance

[autistichalsin]

Some of my favorite, understated moments with heartbreaking implications for Halsin

1. Halsin threatening to turn into a mouse in the epilogue if the player brags about his achievements- he's so shy and humble that just being acknowledged for LITERALLY BUILDING A COMMUNE HIMSELF makes him want to hide. A mouse is a very symbolic choice here: not only easy to hide, but also easily overlooked and forgotten. The idea of his accomplishments being acknowledged is so terrifying for him that he wants to turn into an animal no one will notice, instead of his usual strong, large, noticeable bear.

2. "Sometimes, I think people look at me and imagine my feelings can't be hurt." This isn't the kind of thing that happens after one or two people act like jerks. This is years and years of cruel treatment, of his emotions being demeaned and mocked because of his size. Of people judging him before even meeting him- and forming an entirely wrong view of him. Halsin is a bighearted, tender, sentimental man, yet because he's big... Well, big people don't have feelings, surely. /s

3. "You and I may struggle to go unnoticed in such environs, Karlach[...] Folk of our stature can be a lure for drunkards seeking a brawl, I have found," combined with, "There is a particular discomfort to besting one you know to be weaker than yourself - even when needs must," from a different scene. People have sought him out and fought him because of his size (which had to have been terrifying, especially the first time), and he feels guilty when he takes out someone he knows is weaker, even if they STARTED it. How many times has the poor guy been traveling and then had to defend himself against someone 1/2 his size, making HIM look like the asshole to onlookers, and reinforcing that whole "people think I can't be hurt" thing?

4. "It was always destined to be so, if we prevailed. But the foreknowledge makes it no less bittersweet..." (About the players' paths diverging post brain battle), combined with "I see... After all my years of living, I know all too well that nothing lasts forever. Yet a parting can sting, nonetheless," if the player breaks up with him in the ending. This poor guy was having the time of his life adventuring with the group (and possibly falling in love there) yet never believed it would truly last (because of his abandonment issues). And then to have it confirmed.... he must have felt so awful in that moment, even if he was being dignified about it.

5. "You came for me... thank you. I feared Orin's accursed smile would be the very last sight I beheld," when Halsin is freed from Orin, combined with, "Orin's blades. I hoped my friends would save me..." If he is killed by Orin instead and Speak With the Dead is used on his corpse. The tone of his voice in the first line, especially added to that bit in the second... he never thought the player was coming to save him. He HOPED they would. Not "believed". Hoped. He thought he was going to die there- just like how he was in the Underdark for THREE YEARS and no one came to save him. And if it's confirmed... Yeah. That. (Sidenote: if you ask his corpse if he has any regrets, he says not telling Thaniel and Oliver goodbye, and not getting to see their land flourish. :( My heart. :( )

6. "I... have not had true confidantes for some time. The Shadow Curse robbed me of almost all my peers, and replaced them with the weight of responsibility. Perhaps that caused me to gild undeserving memories of my youth." Halsin was so miserable and stressed being Archdruid that he romanticized his past as a sex slave, viewing it as a safer, even happier alternative. There were actually times when Halsin thought he might rather be a sex slave than continue to be Archdruid. In a sense, for the 100 years the Shadow Curse was around, Halsin was just as much a prisoner as Thaniel was in the Shadowfell, but Halsin's prison had invisible bars. The Shadow Curse took away his entire support system, and being Archdruid forced him to be the strong one, always, never allowed to be weak or scared, forced him to take control of situations when he hated it, forced him to spend his time sorting out people instead of being in nature. And he was MISERABLE. For 100 years.

7. "You understand me almost perfectly. Only my late mother may have bested you." (Said if you get one question wrong at the love dryad test). He misses his mama. :( Especially when you consider that if you steal Balthazar's "Mother Dearest" and taunt him about it, Halsin disapproves (and is the only one to do so), while returning her gets you approval (which only Halsin approves of). And then the line when you look into a mirror while controlling him, "more like my father, with each passing day..." He really misses them. :(

8. "I am loathe to see anyone behind bars. It reminds me of my time as a guest of the goblins." He is, secretly, still quite traumatized from his time in the goblin pens, but he brushes it off. Just like every OTHER time he is hurt.

9. "I am aware [of having a habit of getting captured]. Perhaps I put too much faith in my skills of negotiation, or want to see good where there is none. It would be easy to resort to nature's fury whenever something stood in my way, yet I cannot help but feel I would be sullying the Oak Father's gifts. Naive perhaps... but I still draw breath." Halsin is aware he gets hurt often because of his desire to see good in people until he has no other choice, but refuses to give up anyway (which is backed up by that letter Gut had on her where she reveals Halsin TRIED to help the goblins, saying he could cure them of their tadpoles, only to be thrown in the cage, with Gut threatening to have his stomach cut open and maggots placed inside it.) Further, even though he is an Archdruid, and one of the most devoted, and explicitly has Silvanus's favor (Halsin says that gaining his favor was the only way he was able to open the portal to the Shadowfell), he still constantly worries about using Silvanus's powers, to the point of wondering if an actual threat to his safety actually merits using his powers. Which... combined with some other stuff, reads like one hell of a problem with self-worth.

10. "At least you were not present. Grim as [the ruined battlefield] is now, it was worse on the day of the battle. A vivid wound upon my memory[...] I was lucky - I lived, when so many did not. It would take me a day and a night to recite the names of all the friends I lost" combined with, "I was [present when the Shadow Curse was unleashed]. Part of my spirit was shorn away from me here, and never left," and, if Last Light falls, "All gone... devoured by the shadows. Oak Father preserve us, it's just like a hundred years ago[...] We are [still standing]. Yet there is a burden to being the survivor... the witness to others' tragedies. It only grows heavier with time." He has so much PTSD and survivor guilt from the Shadow Curse. :( No wonder it's all he can think about- to the point that some of the other companions even get annoyed at him for his obsession.

11. "I never quite realised how burdened I was, until I met you. The threat of the shadow curse, the politics of the grove... I was forgetting who I was, but you lifted the fog. Thank you." Not only does this tie in with the above, with his PTSD from the curse and his utter misery at being Archdruid, but this HEAVILY implies Halsin had depression. Like... that "fog" line hits HARD if you have or have had depression, because that's exactly what it feels like. And the "forgetting who I was" bit too. Not just losing his sense of self to the depression, but to the neverending responsibilities of being Archdruid. I keep repeating myself, but damn, this guy has really and truly spent an entire century being absolutely MISERABLE. :(

12. "Forgive me. I... lost the run of myself. Sometimes, if blood runs hot enough, it's difficult to tame the beast." With that little disgusted groan/sigh, the fury and disgust at himself visible on his face, and the way he rushes to get out the rest of it- he thinks he fucked up so badly that you're about to leave him, maybe forever. And then if you reject him after this? "Ah... I see. Well, of course. Back to camp then." He has the most heartbroken look on his face here, and the way he says "of course" like he just... knew this was coming the instant he accidentally wildshaped. He felt that the first time he let ANY of his imperfections show, the player would leave him. :(

13. "Death is nature's final slumber - it awaits us all. Do not punish yourself over those lost, or give in to despair - not while there are still folk in need of your help." (Said to a Dark Urge if they tell him they're not much of a hero and most people needing them end up dead) Not only is Halsin speaking from experience here, but it's very clear he is STILL doing exactly what he tells Durge not to do, to himself- punishing himself over those who were lost, struggling with devastating survivor guilt.

14. "The grove has cut itself off from the world, to jealously guard its own little pocket of nature. No one shall ever enter or leave again. And I have been evicted from the very place I was charged to safeguard. A telling summary of my time as Archdruid, perhaps..." If the Grove is sealed and you ask him about it later, this is what he says. Interesting that he views being evicted from the place he was in charge of protecting to be a "telling summary." He was forced to take the leadership role there, and yet it was clear he wasn't wanted or respected by a great number of the Druids (exempting Nettie, Rath, and Apikusis). He got a truly thankless job that took damn near EVERYTHING from him emotionally/mentally, causing him to develop depression and causing him to backslide in his previous healing from his trauma from his time as a sex slave, he still gave EVERYTHING to the Grove, and in return...... almost none of his Druids appreciated or even liked him. (I could seriously write at least five metas about how obviously miserable Halsin was at the Grove, despite caring for it deeply).

15. "You could have done anything, gone with anyone... yet you chose me." Said at the epilogue to a solo romanced player who went to the commune with him. There's so many layers of heartbreak here. He is still surprised, six months later, that the player chose him. He even thinks the player will regret it, and will decide they want an adventurer's life after all after seeing everyone else. He doesn't think he is good enough- doesn't think he deserves the player, and yet at the same time he loves them so much that he is heartbroken over the possibility they might agree with him. He thinks that given a chance, there is little chance they would actually choose him again. (He is put at ease quickly when the player promises they picked him for a reason, but even the explanation he gives for why he was so worrie is heartbreaking- that he's so used to a tumultuous life that he thinks something must go wrong. He has been so traumatized so many times over the years that he just has almost no ability to think that true happiness is possible [or deserved] for him.) Something about that is just heartbreaking, even though his ending is one of the happiest of any of the companions.

Someone give this sweet bear man a hug, please :(

[funnytwittertweets]

[thenightgaunt]

I ran an Aliens rpg years back. But the players didn't KNOW it was an Aliens game until halfway through the first session.

They thought it was a sci-fi game but they also thought the monsters were going to be zombies.

Over a period of 2 hours they then proceeded to make EVERY Aliens movie cliche "mistake" known to man. Because at the time they all made sense.

The characters in a story don't know they're in a story or what kind of story it is.

They might think their in a romcom instead of a slasher movie. And if you're not in a slasher movie, why the fuck would you search through every closet in your house just because a cup mysteriously fell off a table in the dining room?

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

reading a book with a medieval setting and i was v excited for it BUT these characters have such modern hangups about touch and personal space that i keep forgetting it's meant to be the fourteenth century. lads. get in bed together, it's cold.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

like this man is freaking out about sleeping next to someone (for warmth) because he has never shared a bed before

sir??? you are from the fourteenth century??? surely this is not such a novelty to you

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

also so far christianity does not exist in this book. we have not even so much as mentioned passing a church while travelling.

i repeat: sir, you are from the fourteenth century,

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

#I know there’s suspension if disbelief #but why make that the setting if you’re just going to ignore all the rules? #why not go in for ‘and there was only one bed with five other people in it’ debauchery (via @cardboardcupcake)

honestly i need somebody to write "there was only one bed with five other people in it" immediately, that sounds like it's either going to be incredibly full of repressed yearning, incredibly funny, or just an orgy, and i would love to see it go in any and all of those directions

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

#ok five people in the bed. the two on the outside are in the one bed trope #the two on in inside are also in a one bed trope #but they’re separated by the middle person #who's genuinely dying of hypothermia and it’s kind of bringing down the vibe

@fis-paprikas this made me snort-laugh, thank you

[autistichalsin]

Also a follow up on my last ask, I don't understand why people are so upset having to choose between the two characters, they both represent two thematically different playthroughs, of course you can't have both.

I was actually surprised to learn there was a way of having both Halsin and Minthara that didn't require the sheep exploit.

^

There's also people who are upset that Halsin is the only one who can break the Shadow Curse, which shows they have been paying no attention to the story imho

[autistichalsin]

Reminds me of that cut dialogue for the Shadowfell portal where a player can ruin it by touching the portal (I think?) and Halsin is angry and asks why? And player can say “I wanted the glory.” Like how dare Halsin, the man who has suffered and toiled to cure the shadow curse for a CENTURY, be the one who does it? 🤦 fans can be so insistent on doing everything just cause they’re the player

@catch-all Yep, if the player tried to enter the portal, originally it was going to collapse it and make Halsin leave for good. If the player says they wanted the glory Halsin SCREAMS at them that it was never about glory, that he had specific skills that made him the only one able to do it.

Piecing together hints and various dialogues he gave in that instance plus the things that made it in the final game, it was the combination of: years of research into the curse, empathizing with and suffering with the cursed lands and its people, years of doing rituals to gain Silvanus's favor, wisdom and understanding, Halsin's power as an Archdruid, and (it is hinted) him being there when the curse was unleashed in the first place.

The only other person who could possibly fit all of those other conditions is MAYBE Jaheira, but she was never as devoted to Silvanus as Halsin and it's not likely she would gain his blessings the way Halsin did.

[cassandrasimplex]

Years of research might be an understatement. It's been a century since the war ended and the Shadow Curse began. Even if Halsin hasn't spent the entire time studying the curse and trying to figure out how to lift it, remember that at one point he says he tends to get so focused on things people call him "obsessed". He hyperfocuses. It's probably several decades, half a human lifetime at least. My own belief is that he's so driven by the combination of remorse and a sense of duty that he's spent the entire century thinking about this and researching it, only making time for other things when they manage to invoke that same combination of guilt and obligation (like rebuilding his former mentor's circle at the Emerald Grove). He's pursued that research with a doggedness that gave him a reputation for being obsessed.

If Tav asks him about it in camp in Act 1, he says that everyone else who might have been able to figure it out is dead now. The other people who survived the war and who might have been able to do this have died in the century since it began. If they weren't one of the longer-lived species, there's been time for the children of adults who fought in that war to die of old age.

But there's a larger point to make note of here. Most of the "happy" endings for the Origin characters require the player to see and treat them as autonomous people who are the sole experts on their own experiences, capable of making good decisions on their own. I don't want to just throw out half a dozen spoilers, but Origin companions whose storylines resolve "best" if Tav consistently just stands back and says "I trust you, believe in you, and will support whatever decisions you make for yourself" include Astarion, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Gale. Karlach and Wyll have thornier dilemmas, but both of them make firm, clear statements about what they want and what they believe in.

Every one of them has at least one major individual Choice Moment, and arguably they each have two. Each "good" ending involves that Origin character making a huge personal sacrifice -- and so does each "bad" ending. One of the major distinctions that makes each outcome feel like the good one or the bad one is whether that Origin character is losing something they voluntarily sacrificed or something they held dear and fought for and ultimately lost anyway.

I get the sense that Astarion's final choice is probably the one that's best known and most often spoiled, so I'll use it in vague terms as an example. He talks about how much he loves walking in sunlight, wading in streams, and being able to just walk right into people's houses. He never wants to give those things up again, and he has the chance to be free of those restrictions forever. But that's not the entire sum of things that define "freedom" to Astarion; they're emblematic of freedom to him, but ultimately he can keep those things and still lose his freedom -- and arguably himself (and Tav) in the process.

Being a good friend (and lover) to Astarion means allowing him to prioritize his own goals and ethics, and this is maybe most clearly visible in his storyline because he's had the least agency in his own life to date and therefore has the least sense of who he is and who he wants to be when the story begins. Tav has to let him sort this out for himself: making his own choices is the thing Astarion, more than all the other Origin characters, has been most explicitly, constantly, brutally, and directly deprived of.

Wyll's agency is constrained by Mizora -- he's still in that position for more than half the game. Karlach's agency was constrained by Zariel and even after her escape the infernal engine Zariel had implanted restricts her choices and threatens her life. Gale has a bomb where Karlach has an engine, and the one trying to control him is Mystra. Lae'zel effectively grew up in a cult and her loyalty to its leader and hierarchy dictates her goals and priorities until she begins to see through their lies, and the same is true of Shadowheart.

All the Origin characters are facing a trio of challenges: the immediate issue of the tadpoles and looming ceremorphosis, the struggle with whatever object or condition is being used to control or manipulate them, and whoever is ultimately pulling the strings they long (or learn to wish) to be free of.

If Tav tries to make those decisions for them, Tav simply replaces the entity trying to control them. They are not free if Tav decides for them because Tav becomes the new manipulator. They are only free if Tav supports them in deciding for themselves.

This is. This is so central. This is so central to every one of these story arcs. This is so central to every one of these story arcs that it cannot possibly be a surprise, to anyone truly paying attention, that the only way to help Halsin is to trust in his expertise and experience about his own life and goals. Because he's a companion but not an Origin character, his story arc is quite a bit more compressed. It was never intended to span from the beginning of the game to the end. Instead of having two major decisions to make, Halsin has two major tasks he asks for help with: to kill the person whose life sustains and protects the Shadow Curse, and perform the ritual to heal the land. He doesn't need help deciding what to do.

Halsin still fits the pattern, though, just in a condensed form. The entity constraining him is, arguably, himself; I especially like this interpretation because it suits so much of what little we learn about his struggles over the century since the war. He's already made his Very Difficult Decisions by the time we meet him. He's watched his mentor die and then had to kill him again himself. He's had to abandon people and land he cared deeply about in order to fulfill his responsibility to the survivors of the war. He's had to balance the responsibilities of founding a new grove with his dedication to studying the curse in order to rescue what he can from the ruins of his past sacrifices. He's faced alcoholism to become and remain sober. He bided his time while imprisoned by the drow until circumstances gave him the opportunity to be free of their domain entirely, not just of the literal chains that held him. When Tav rescues him, we discover that he could have broken the bars of his equally-literal cage at any time -- but he couldn't have fought his way out of the whole goblin camp after doing so.

(And yes, I wonder if that means he could have broken the drow's bedroom chains, too. I wonder if finding himself back in that same situation in the goblin camp, physically strong enough to break out of immediate imprisonment but not capable of attaining true freedom alone, without friends or allies, was triggering for him. I cry over this. Shut up.)

The only one who can truly restrain Halsin is Halsin.

And he does. Over and over, we see small, quiet examples of that self-control -- and we see him worry over the possible consequences of losing or relinquishing it. In the goblin camp, he knows he won't be able to refrain from attacking the goblins. At the party, he knows that drinking means a loss of inhibitions. In the romance scene, fans giggle over the transgressive possibilities of sex with a shapeshifter, but tend to lose sight of the fact that this too is described as a matter of self-control -- and even if Tav tells him that he doesn't need to exert such self-control with them, that Tav accepts him in his wildshape too, he insists, "Nevertheless, I will be gentle." He'll relax his self-control if Tav makes him feel safe enough, but he won't abandon it entirely.

But to fit the pattern more exactly -- a thing used to constrain him and a person who controls that thing, the perspective shifts slightly. The thing that causes him to constrain himself is the Shadow Curse, and the person who controls it is $spoiler. Here, too, Tav is asked to help him with two goals: to kill $spoiler in order to make it possible to lift the Shadow Curse, and to support him while he conducts the ritual to end it.

Of course interfering with either of those goals generates an unpleasant resolution. Compared to the Origin characters, Halsin is damn near done with his personal story arc. He's not still under, or shaking off, the influence of a manipulator. He's not bound by any contract but his own conscience. His only ticking time bomb is whatever he fears he'll become if he loses his self-control. He's already decided what needs to be done. He's already researched how to do it. He's sacrificed and suffered losses and then grieved them for a century.

Once again. Once again! He finds himself in a position where he cannot act alone with any hope of success. He needs to travel to the Shadow Lands to be sure his suspicions are correct, and he knows he won't survive that alone. He knows he can't kill $spoiler alone. He couldn't even retrieve the $maguffin alone; that's why he accompanied those others to the goblin camp in the first place. He was seizing yet another opportunity to make use of allies to take one small step closer to his goals. All Halsin asks, all Halsin needs, is a little backup, over and over, just a little help while he does what he already knows needs to be done. He's so competent. This elf is competence porn with bonus biceps.

So for this character, of all the characters Tav must trust and allow to make their own decisions, to surprise everyone by getting cranky if Tav tries to take over and do his job themself? This guy. This stunningly competent person who had done literally everything possible to do alone, who only asks Tav & Co. to keep him from being killed or stranded while he completes the last step?

Seriously.

I know it's just a video game. I know most people playing it aren't doing so for the chance to do literary analysis of the plot(s); they're just filling a few spare hours with fun. But the writing in this game is so good it does stand up to some pretty exhaustive analysis with its coherence and cohesiveness intact -- it's written on holographic film, with the structure of the whole still fully represented in any isolated minor part. And that means that anyone who manages to guide even one of these "support your new friends from behind, let them lead, and respect their autonomy" arcs should be able to expand that insight to the other arcs as well.

I don't know what game people are playing if they're upset they can't make themselves the main character of absolutely everyone else's stories too, but it's not the one I've been enjoying for *checks stats* embarrassing-hundred hours now.

[autistichalsin]

I don’t even have anything to add besides- spot in analysis. This hits absolutely everything the game tried to tell us. The best way to help a trauma survivor succeed is to let them make their own choices.

[daughter-of-sapph0]

college bully girl: you're such a teacher's pet

kinky nerdy college girl: how did you know?

[daughter-of-sapph0]

"hey op what does this mean?"

it means I think my sociology professor is hot and I want her to pull me around on a leash!

[thatonefan02]

[debelice]

Autumnal

[ralfmaximus]

“An old god comes.”

“What? No. That’s just a cold front. It’s Autumn.”

“Yes, one of the oldest gods of all.”

[bebx]

so rude that fantasizing about writing alone is not enough to actually get the fic done. you have to actually sit down and write it. insane.

[aplpaca]

That rabbit/hare post is messing me up. I’d thought they were synonyms. Their development and social behavior are all different. They can’t even interbreed. They don’t have the same number of chromosomes. Dogs, wolves, jackals, and coyotes can mate with each other and have fertile offspring but rabbits and hares cant even make infertile ones bc they just die in the womb. Wack.

[aplpaca]

These

are more genetically compatible than These

and that’s why morphology-based phylogeny has Issues

[thellamamongler]

@aviculor

[aviculor]

The problem is perspective. People always think dogs are the ‘standard’ animal, the metric to use for whether or not two organisms “look like” they’re related. When in fact they’re a massive outlier due to the fact that we fucked up this lineage of wolf beyond recognition with selective breeding. It’s why people always say “breed” when they mean “species”, especially when talking about groups like lizards which can’t even be defined cladistically since some of them are closer to snakes than each other. To say nothing of fish.

[thetinybutimportantthings]

I once read an article that emphasized there is no such thing as a fish. Sharks and rays, lamprey, lobe-finned fish like lungfish and coelacanth, bichir and sturgeon, and of course the multiple infraclasses of more “modern” fish groups are all only very distantly related to one another. They’ve maintained semi-similar body structures only because there are limited ways to efficiently move through water as a vertebrate. 

This

And this

Are more distantly related from one another than you and I are from a lungfish

Which is absolutely fuckin wild.

[bogleech]

Not only that, but all of us air-breathing land vertebrates, all the lizards and chickens and people and frogs, are closer to one another than those three “fish” are to one another as well.

[i-have-approximately-4-bones]

these

are genetically closer than these

[i-have-approximately-4-bones]

and…

these

are genetically closer than these

[i-have-approximately-4-bones]

and my personal favorite, it really fucks with people…

these

are more genetically similar than these

[augustdementhe]

COOL. 

[iwilleatyourenglish]

i’d just like to add that this

is more related to this

than this

this is not a joke—elephant shrews, ends up, are not shrews but are actually closely related to elephants.

[headspace-hotel]

Convergent Evolution—where it turns out to be so helpful to be A Shape that unrelated animals can become the Shape and wind up looking really similar

[autistichalsin]

Halsin, to ascended Astarion when he is worried Astarion is abusing the player:

To give oneself wholly, and to have a lover totally in your thrall...? A harmless game, until it becomes real. I worry for the two of you, Astarion. For your sake, I hope some of it is just a fantasy, deep in your heart.

Halsin to spawn Astarion as Astarion falls in love with the player:

Astarion, I am astonished. To relish in intimacy again after such hardship is a wound many never recover from.

Halsin, to player if the player sleeps with Mizora, then says they were manipulated into it:

Oh. Then I'm sorry to hear the encounter left a sour taste in your mouth. It can be... an unfortunate reality. I just hope it doesn't dissuade you from exploring nature's bounty. If you ever want to talk, my ears are all yours. Any part of me is yours, should you wish.

All of these are sweet, kind, supportive comments, expressing sympathy at either the player's or Astarion's trauma depending on circumstances (even understanding Astarion's behavior as a fantasy), hope for their healing, and giving solidarity. (In fact, in the latter, he hesitates before "an unfortunate reality" like he's considering saying something else.)

But what does Halsin have to say about himself when discussing his sexual abuse?

I was a foolhardy young druid, intent on seeing the beauty of nature's unworldly fauna and subterranean glow for myself..

And

It was not ideal... but not without its positives either. I did what was necessary to survive. And perhaps a few things that were less than necessary.

In other words- everything to downplay and victim-blame himself. His fault for being a "foolhardy young druid" who went exploring, and it didn't count because of him "doing some things that were less than necessary," and he thinks he should be grateful because he wasn't one of the elves killed and made into a decoration or put to work in the mines.

He has so much love and empathy for everyone, even the elf who likes to snark at him, but precious little for himself.

[cedar-west-deactivated20230408]

If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?

[mishkatelwarriorgoddess]

Thank you so much for this!

[starlightshadowsworld]

As always, the Irish speak nothing but facts.

How many more innocent civilians have to be killed by Israel before you condemn that for it?

That is a genocide.

That this is a crime on all accounts.

And deserves to be punished to the full extent off the law.

[drivemysoul]

fun fact! sex workers, as the name suggests, are working a job!

you are not entitled to free content just for being “nice” to us! (by the way, we can tell that’s what your intention is, and you’re usually not actually nice, just flirty and uncomfortable)

you are not entitled to any kind of personal relationship with us just because you engage with our content!

we are working a job! it’s not a typical job, but it’s still a job! you are a customer, we are a worker. you’re not entitled to us outside of work, in any way shape or form.

get a fucking grip. learn to treat people with basic respect. you’re a grown adult, start acting like you’ve been socialised like one.

[drivemysoul]

not only is this fine to reblog i actually actively encourage people to reblog this can we please be treated like any other fucking person trying to pay their bills

[midorioftheflowers]

"[...] I somewhat envy this naturally beautiful man He never knew or encountered the hatred and shame that I bear The doubt, the cloak of disgust and the all-devouring dread And if I told him about it He might only shake his head With kindly amused, melodious laughter He then would perhaps merely smile at my... Oh, so stupid silliness... And the beast that is raging inside."

In Der Palästra, Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows

[moffnat]

#HE'S SO SAD???? #no listen #this man has NOBODY #his family is dead #the grove was a burden #his homeland is swallowed in shadow #he turned to alcohol in his grief #a grief so palpable that it fused itself to a weapon #he brushes off his trauma in the underdark like it's nothing #BECAUSE HONESTLY? WHEN DOES HE ACTUALLY LET HIMSELF BE VULNERABLE #PROBABLY NEVER #UNTIL NOW #'I've taken many lovers. My heart does not stir lightly.' #sounds a lot like a man using sex to cope #the same way he used alcohol i bet #grief is easily one of the top causes of addiction #and if you let him down here he says 'but i was sure we had a connection...' #case in point: halsin decides in this moment that he will be vulnerable for you #you are not just a lay to him. you are someone worth fighting his own grief for. #he wants to love and be loved no matter how scary it might be #and larian had better give me more options to show him bc i swear to god #if i have to sit here and listen to the 'i only want you, but you can be with whoever!' line one more time WITHOUT the option to tell him that he's all i want too #i will be sad forever #/endrant

[naariel]

I LOVE HIM SO MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH

[the-tired-tenor]

So uh….some dude apparently recreated Adobe Photoshop feature-for-feature, for FREE, and it runs in your browser.

Anyway, fuck Adobe, and enjoy!

[adv3nturelust]

Give credit to the 30-year-old who worked on this for free and offers this service for free!

[marsh-mallow-adopts]

WHAT?!

[triona-tribblescore]

I study graphic design and my tutor recommended and used this in his classes at art college last year, it’s so good it has SO many features for free, I really recommend it, even if you’re just trying to learn the basics of PS, such a wonderful thing <3

[breadinanutshell]

Ok little rant here because I keep seeing this kind of comments pop up.

Let’s talk Halsin and polyamory.

Because apparently making ace characters allo and gay characters straight is a crime against god, but nobody seems to care when poly identities are erased. I hate starting drama but it's honestly heartbreaking seeing how many people are happy to disregard Halsin’s polyamory entirely.

Does Halsin need better writing? Yes, he’s been done dirty by a rush job and Larian leaning a bit too heavily on the horny. But I think it's very telling that what some of you consider bad writing is the fact that you can't have a monogamous relationship with him.

I see people very hung up on this line:

Like this is some proof that Halsin secretly longs for monogamy but he’s too traumatized to admit it. Which is. Very insulting. He’s traumatized. He’s poly. The two things need not be related. If the only way you can conceive Halsin being poly is out of trauma, I don’t think I need to tell you just how yikes that sounds.

I’m personally not a big fan of this line. I always found it a little fetishy, like the game is giving you the go ahead to build a harem. But I’d also like to point out that the line doesn’t preclude the possibility he doesn’t want other partners right this moment, but might in the future.

People seem to conveniently forget the other instances where Halsin states his position on polyamory.

But all of this keeps getting brushed off in favour of that one line, because for some of you it’s inconceivable that a person would be capable of romantic attraction towards multiple partners. Like love from a polyamorous person is somehow lacking, weaker, less meaningful, inferior.

And it’s not just him, I’ve seen people pull this shit with Astarion and Shadowheart too, claiming that they’re lying when they say they’re ok with Halsin joining your bed. “He’s insecure!” “She’s lonely!” “They’re scared of being abandoned!” The implication here being that polyamorous people are broken, because nobody in their right mind would be ok having multiple partners, right?

Polyamory rarely if ever gets any decent representation, but god forbid you don’t take away the only scrap we get just because it makes you uncomfy.