the whumpmancer's tower

she/they * 33 * slow whump enjoyer

[whumpmancer]

I go by many names, but here I simply wish to go as the whumpmancer! Welcome to my tower! ^^ I've been a longtime lurker in the whump community, and only now I have decided to ease into participating. I'm a decently experienced writer, roleplayer, and DM, currently on the lookout for people to chat, collaborate, and RP with. I prefer to go slowly though, and build relationships first, so I'll be more than happy with whatever comes organically <3 For RP, I prefer folks over 25 (21 minimum), even if the RP we do is SFW Here's my likes and nopes - perhaps some will resonate with you! I love:

High fantasy and space opera kind of SF settings (mostly DnD, Star Wars, Mass Effect)

well set-up scenes, well-rounded characters (tho reading something with placeholders for inspirations can be good!)

good endings, hurt/comfort

caretaker/whumpee romance/smut

slow burn, caretakers having to earn the whumpee's trust

captivity/rescue/escape plots

burns, poison, broken bones

environmental whump, trapped under wreckage/rubble scenarios

whump happening as a result of whumpee's arrogance/overestimating their abilities. They have just enough experience and humility to have a good reason to believe they can handle something - but then it turns out they weren't even close, and they pay dearly for it

trope subversion - evil kings and good usurpers; fallen paladins and noble warlocks or rogues; benevolent schemers working through intrigue and deceit; culture fixated on moral purity leading to atrocities

intimate/creepy whumpers

My favourite kind of whumpees are:

not super young. Between 25 and 50 years old, or the equivalent depending on the character’s species (though I usually prefer the more mature side of that spectrum) 

experienced through life, but not remotely ready for what awaits them - still, they're doing their best to endure it

villain-coded and not exactly morally pure, but not necessarily rotten, nor written as villains

physically not very imposing to downright weak - spellcasters/rangers/finesse fighters are my favourite

generally good-looking, but not super idealized. well-groomed to contrast with the later mess

sometimes arrogant, but not obnoxiously so

isolated through the secrets they have to keep, and/or their ambiguous morality. Bonus points that isolation leads them to believe no one will be coming to help them

either dumbstruck and desperate in the face of impending whump, or defiant and proud before the reality sinks in

capable of heroism, but in touch with their fear, which later actually helps them connect with people and recover

elves in high-fantasy settings. with all the baggage of their imperfect cultures in various settings. I love them bastards to an embarrassing extent x')

Not my cup of tea:

real-life-coded/mundane settings.

hurt no comfort, bad endings

heavy miscommunication drama between whumpee and caretaker

caretakers being overbearing, patronising (deliberately or not), or otherwise disrespectful of whumpee's boundaries. Instances of crossing boundaries e.g. to save someone's life can work for me tough

caretakers having no needs or boundaries

ladywhump and gender dynamics in general. I can enjoy fem (and other non-cis-male) characters as caretakers or whumpers though!

too many stimuli for the whumpee at once. Several awful sensations can really work great together, but piling too much onto them make it difficult for me to engage with them and appreciate them all

excess themes of racism/discrimination. Some tensions e.g. between characters of different species in fantasy/sf are more than welcome, but I'd rather not go to the extremes and focus on that aspect as the main thing

nsfw stuff in active RP. I like reading and writing about it, but probably not playing it out. Having some things implied can work though, it's all a matter of talking things out!

anything pregnancy related (tokofobia go brrr)

kid whump (hats off to all who can write kid characters well, but they just don't work for me in whump or RP)

(on rare occasions, in certain contexts, some of the stuff that I generally dislike could be genuinely appealing - though I'd probably only be happy to write/RP it out with partners I've known for a long while)

Very nopes:

toxic relationships (fine in backstory), pet whump, super unhealthy coping mechanisms, conditioning, stockholm syndrome

dead dove stuff, major character death (unless in backstory)

focus on body waste (some emeto is OK though!) Also nope: any kind of ai generated content --------------------------------------------------- [edit] I just wanted to thank everyone for all the lovely comments and responses! I do not know how to respond to reblogs (or if I should) for the love of fuck, but seeing you guys interact with my stuff really makes my day! Also! I do not expect credit for using my prompts, but if you ever write something based on them, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to read it! <3

[whumpmancer]

Whump scenario: A proud, brilliant military strategist surrenders to the new victorious regime. He gave it his best, he fought valiantly, and he takes the loss with grace. He believes in mind over matter, and knows his value - if he plays things right, he could have a place in the new order. Maybe he could teach new generations of commanders. Maybe he could test battle-plans to make them watertight - anything meaningful, anything that would still bring him pride in who he is.

But none of this comes to pass. He is, instead, discarded.

He is thrown into a cell and almost forgotten. Sometimes, the enemy officers ask him things he has no right or reason to know, and they're not being gentle. Nobody listens to his desperate pleas for reason.

Maybe the new regime has no more need for war - they have already won, and plan to reign forever. Maybe they consider owning anything to their enemy, or someone of his heritage to be beneath them. Maybe their failure to acknowledge him is an act of revenge.

With no maps, no paper to put his thoughts onto, no one to truly talk to, no purpose - it becomes more and more difficult to formulate even the simplest of thoughts. And although he is not young anymore, the commander begins to understand that his body will outlast his once bright mind.

[whumpmancer]

Whump scenario: A sorcerer or wizard turning to evil not for the sake of power alone, but in search for vengeance against a magic user more evil and powerful than him - someone who has been terrorizing the land for a long time, and who had once grievously wronged him. He believes that only by setting aside moral boundaries can he become powerful enough to defeat the evil mage - and refusing to cross them is why so many others have failed. He doesn't want to become like his enemy, but he's alright with being evil - as long as it's different kind of evil.

And still, he is defeated.

Power is power, with morality or sentiment behind it utterly irrelevant - and he simply didn't have enough. Despite all of his plots and machinations, he wasn't cunning enough. Despite sacrificing what he had hoped to never give up, he has not sacrificed enough. It was all for nought.

And having pushed away anyone who could have truly cared about him, he is now alone at the mercy of someone far worse than himself.

[whumpmancer]

Whump scenario: A high-ranking cleric of an evil deity interrupts a ritual sacrifice to another, rival evil deity with his party. Killing or subduing the rival cultists is the straightforward part - but in order for the ritual to not complete, the sacrifice, bleeding out on the altar, must survive - and he is barely clinging to life. His heart rate, erratic from fear and pain, significantly lowers his chances - and if he dies, bad things will happen. To save him, the cleric not only has to heal him, but he has to be gentle and calming. Will the sacrifice survive? Will the cleric ever recover from being kind? (or will he wake ancient feelings that he had sealed in the deepest pit of his black heart?)

[whumpmancer]

Whump scenario: A villain working for a powerful entity who puts a magical brand on him - the more time it takes him to bring the entity's plan to fruition, the more the brand burns.

The party fighting the villain would begin to notice that he becomes more desperate and angry each time they interfere with his plans. Each time they see him, he looks just a bit thinner, the shadows under his eyes darker. Finally, when they deliver a blow that could crush his plans for good, he breaks down. There's denial at first, but surprisingly little anger. He has no more fight left in him - the pain becomes so overwhelming he just wants it all to stop.

With the discovery of the brand, deciding his fate proves to be not as straightforward as the party had expected.

[whumpmancer]

Whump prompt: Shrapnel from a silver/holy frag grenade hits a vampire (or any other kind of an "unholy" being). There are many bits, and they sink deep into his flesh - too deep to extract them right away. Some could even get lost between his internal organs. They're sharp and irregular, they burn, and they do more damage with his every move - possibly even sink deeper.

There are so many ways this could go;

The vampire could have to fight whomever launched the grenade, a hunter possibly - feeling white hot pain with every move, almost blinding when their blades cross

He could lose and have the shrapnel used against him as a means of torture

He could win or flee, but become increasingly weak - too weak to get to safety before his state becomes too severe for him to do anything meaningful about it. He could walk, then crawl, then collapse - fearing slow, painful death if nobody finds him, or he doesn't manage to get the silver out by himself

Getting the shrapnel our could be a hell of its own, either self-inflicted, brought on by a well-meaning caretaker, or by the whumper themselves, if they still have use for him alive

[whumpmancer]

Whump scenario: A mage/psychic tasked with using mind magic to ensure that the former enemy of their faction, who betrayed his superiors and offers information - is indeed truthful. There is a catch, though - the traitor had been found out before escaping, and tortured by his former masters. He also accepts the mind probe as necessary evil, but he is not exactly willing. Venturing into his mind is going to be both morally squicky, and a hell of a ride.

The traitor is asked questions during the procedure, so that his thoughts stay close to the matters at hand - but the lingering pain, and the memory of torture cannot be fully pushed into the background. Even dipping in the shallows of the his mind is vastly unnerving.

When the mage focuses on the reasons behind the traitor's actions, his feelings and emotions, the traitor feels as vulnerable and broken open as during the past interrogations - painful memories flare up, causing the mage to recoil. At first, it is a reflexive reaction on both ends - but when the mage apprehensively resumes, and again they poke around the intimate spots in his mind, the traitor deliberately uses his own pain to push them away. Despite wanting to cooperate, he is angry, fighting to keep the last shreds of his dignity. The mage, still deep in his mind, feels and understands this anger whether they like it or not. They have to make a choice - push further and inflict irreversible trauma on them both - or pull back, announce failure, and go from there - wherever it may lead.

…

OK, this is a serious, possibly tragic scenario full of tension and drama, let's acknowledge that-

BUT!

On another note

HEAR ME OUT:

[whumpmancer]

Whump prompt: A droid leaking cooling fluid, slowly overheating to the point of feeling its circuits burning. The effect may be localized (only an isolated part of the cooling system is damaged), or systemic. It could also start out localized, and become a systemic issue over time.

The liquid dripping within the hull could cause small, painful short-circuits (or a big dramatic one if you fancy!).

Drying and then slowly being baked onto the droid's overheating parts, the liquid could produce a distinctive smell - and a droid with olfactory sensors and proper programming could very much associate this smell with its demise, becoming adequately distressed.

The overheating could also cause the data to be processed less and less efficiently, making it increasingly difficult for the droid to do anything meaningful about its situation.

Bonus points if the damage leading to the leak was a result of something violent/dramatic.

[whumpmancer]

Magical healing in whump, a re-balancing

I really enjoy whump in fantasy settings - but I know many folks feel like magical healing can get in the way of good whumping and meaningful caretaking (because of how easily it fixes things). Thus, I thought I'd share some ideas on re-balancing it for whump-centric writing and RP! ^^

(note that this is still in regard to a rather vanilla kind of healing, that's supposed to bring relief without any horrific, long-term consequences. There are some cool ideas out there for magical healing that can be downright dangerous or traumatizing, but this is something different!)

there is only as much magical healing the patient's body can take, because the magic works through forcing biological processes - but without providing much additional energy for them to occur. That way healing can be taxing on both healer and the patient, drawing on their body's resources - and thus has to be done in more than one phase if the injuries are serious. The amount of additional energy provided by the spells could vary depending on the healer's skill, but giving more than absolutely necessary would always be very inefficient

the longer the injury exists, the more difficult it is to heal with magic - which makes battle-healing somewhat viable, but leaves a lot of room for injuries to linger if that narrow window is missed.

the nervous system may fail to catch up with magical healing - and the patient may still feel pain despite the flesh no longer being damaged. Then, they may still need to give their body some quality time, so that the nerves and the brain "believe" that the healing was "real".

healing can feel different for the patient depending on the healer's skill and source of power. It can be jittery and uncomfortable if the healer lacks experience or they're under strain, or it can feel very soothing in opposite cases (enter the scenarios where the caretaker struggles to make things as comfortable as possible for the whumpee).

if curses or magical corruption are being cleansed, it could feel like a tug of war within the patient's tissues - either painful or just really freaky and uncomfortable, before it gets better

magical healing does nothing to clean wounds of debris or contamination. A mostly clean wound healed by magical means could possibly be safer from infection, but to a varying extent - so it's always better to manually clean it before mending.

healing potions are similar to spells in how they force the body to heal - thus chugging too much at once can cause someone to get real tired real fast, or even outright faint (adrenaline could probably keep that from happening, but not for long). Also, drinking too much in one go could prevent the potion from being absorbed effectively, thus leading to some of it being wasted - always better to go slow

with alchemical means, it might also be most efficient to have the patient drink some of the potion, and put some of it onto the wound as a compress, creating more opportunities for caretaker/whumpee interaction. Again, going slow, touching wounds grass... I hope some of you will find this useful! :D If you have thoughts or more ideas, please let me know in the comments! ^^

[whumpmancer]

Whump scenario: A not-so-evil advisor goes against an evil ruler behind their back, actually trying to prevent their people from needlessly suffering (but somewhat compromising the ruler's plans). He thinks himself smarter than the allegedly indolent monarch, but in reality, the monarch knew more than they'd let on for a long time - and this time, they are finally done with the advisor's meddling. There is no amount of begging, explaining, and pleas to reason that can save the advisor from the cruel punishments that await him - ending with a very cruel, very humiliating, very public execution. Some part of him desperately hopes that someone knows the truth, and that they'll save him - but with how well he always covered his tracks, with how he took care of the monarch's public image, sacrificing his own - he knows that those chances are extremely slim.