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khorren · 1 year

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Celestial Order

Humans Left to Right Ridley, Alexis, Madison, Calixae, Ruby, Serenity, Xunlau, Allianora, Kyra, Kesni, Fae Sun, Natalia, Sienna Norn Left to Right Aoife, Astrid, Aesa, Aisling, Fia, Siobhan, Isla, Roisin Sylvari Left to Right Amarilis, Khorren, Kaidalis, Nierithi, Teaghaann, Faebrynn Asura Left to Right Yhalea, Viianna, Blixie, Aloreca, Nokomai Charr Left to Right Oxia, Reyna, Prima

Hello. This took way too long but was very fun to do, and I remembered to save all the files so I can change it easily later. I'm smart! I said I Was going to document when the kids all joined the guild, so here we go. Have a version with Aoife 2 + Seb on too just for completion, but since they're AU, they're not in the guild :)

1325: Personal Story start. Aoife forms Celestial Order to aid the Commander. Guild consists of herself + Serenity

1326: Aoife tells Siobhan of the guild, she joins up. Ridley learns Serenity has a guild so joins up via Ruby. Aisling and Roisin join up via Aoife but stay mostly hands off, got their own thing going on. Ruby brings Natalia + Sienna into the guild while they're still in hiding. Ruby connects with Mist being friend (Xunlai) to help with logistics of supplies.

1327: Khorren joins aboard prior to the Summit, and tells Aoife she has other sylvari friends who would join the cause. Amarilis, Faebrynn, Teaghann.

1328: Kensi comes back to Tyria, Ruby brings her aboard. Siobhan recruits Aesa + Fia via Vigil ties.

1329: Khorren looks after Nierithi after coming out of her pod, brings her into the guild. Aesa tells Astrid of the guild and she joins up.

1130: Alexis + Madison are both running around Elona. Ruby introduces self and says "Hey, come join this guild. No scary evil cousins here."

1331: Prior to going to Rata Primus, Amarilis reaches out to asura krewe she knows. Krewe joins up with guild. Aloreca, Vii, Yhalea, Nokomai, and Blixxie. Fia meets up with estranged daughter, tells her of the guild and protection/allies are there to welcome her.

1332: Kyra returns to Tyria (oh no). Learns Madison + Alexis are part of CO and decides she's going to swing the name around. She's not actually a member but tells everyone she is. Aoife is now commander and she befriends the Ember Warband as they lose faith in their Imperator. She snatches them up immediately and Oxia, Reyna, and Prima are now part of the guild.

Some of the guild are very hands off or help out behind the scenes. Kensi rarely shows up to things on the frontlines. Roisin is in the Whispers Priory. I mean Priory. Totally normal Priory researcher.... Amarilis will always help out Khorren when she calls, but is often doing her own thing.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #celestial order #character babbles

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cerberussyndrome · 2 years

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[celestial order] shinobi: broad strokes + relationship with humans

Celestial Order ‘verse blurb: Shinobi are not, and have never been, fully human. But the wise ones say even the kami have roles to play and obligations to honor — shinobi are no different.

Founders' Era-focused at the moment. There aren't any fucking aliens because they make me want to scream. I’m mostly doing this for self-amusement. I don’t even have a fic concept I like the idea of using for this one.

Standard disclaimer for this setting is that you’re free to play around with it as long as you credit me. Just, y’know, don’t repost it without my permission.

Welcome to fantasy feudal Japan, I hope you enjoy your stay.

The Tokugawa Period is the specific era I use for historical references — but let’s be real, Naruto is a Frankenstein’s monster of different time periods. (Don’t even get me started on the timeline.) Go wild.

The specifics of the fantastical elements is, hmm, vague. There’s a realm where all the spirits live and there’s a realm where the humans and shinobi and everything else lives. There’s other stuff, but that’s the only thing really set in place. I’ll get around to it eventually. Probably. This is an authorial hand wave, is what I’m getting at.

So, in practice, a weird arbitrary amalgamation of Eastern and Western fantasy tropes. I take very heavy inspiration from Shinto, and to a lesser extent Buddhism. There’s Japanese folk tales all over the place here.

In general, “spirits” is a catch-all term for magical stuff: kami, Buddhist deities, elementals (in the Western, D&D style, kinda), etc. etc. “Demons” are just a ruder word for the same concept.

I have. Opinions about how the tailed beasts show up in canon, and also here. I’ll get into that later, but suffice to say, I found the Part One concept of the Nine-Tailed Fox and Shukaku (i.e. actual demons that have nothing to do with each other except for the fact that they get stuffed into human children containers) interesting and fun to play around with, but for obvious reasons, I don’t see a whole lot of that version of the concept in fic.

But then also ... it’s a little weird to take a creature that canon says is a full person with thoughts and feelings and just be like, nah. It’s a chakra monster. End of story. IDK, I’m still wrestling with that.

Anyway let’s get into the juicy stuff.

Shinobi

In fancy words:

Spirit-borne, yet too earthly to reside in the realm of your ancestors. Alas, you are too mortal — you require air and food and drink and warmth.

Essentially, the offspring of ~magic~ people and regular old humans. Can’t fully reside in the spirit realm, but are also conspicuously magical. Like, generally humanoid, but the closer you look, the more monstrous they seem to be ... There’s some of this in canon, too, obvi (Kisame comes to mind), but I dial it up. It’s not all Sasori levels of body horror, but, y’know, also that.

(Is this AU an excuse to make all my favorite characters look kind of feral? Who can say.

God, I can’t wait to get to the character designs.)

Relationship with Humans

Attitudes

Shinobi attitudes toward humans vary wildly, from benevolence, to indifference, to disdain. Love and outright hatred are equally rare; most shinobi can only muster middling emotions when faced with humans or human problems. Occasionally, contempt, pity, or admiration may move a shinobi to target or aid a specific human.

For their part, the vast majority of humans are intimidated, disdainful, and resentful of shinobi. Those who deal directly with shinobi — typically as clients or suppliers — have gentler opinions. In general, the most open-minded and accepting humans are at best indifferent toward shinobi. There is something of a taboo or social stigma around interacting with and/or hiring shinobi, so those humans who do business with them tend to do so illicitly.

Standard disclaimer about how all of these people are, y’know, child soldiers raised in like a mercenary cult? Their sense of morality is kinda fucked, even in canon.

Here, I make it more explicit how little shinobi care about humans who aren’t currently aiding them in some way. This is a story about shinobi. This is a story where none of the characters would bother criticizing the idea of founding your society on murdering random nobles or rioting farmers or whatever, because it wouldn’t occur to them to give that much of a fuck about the people they’re killing.

This attitude rightfully scares the shit out of humans. ... Which in turn leads to retaliation against shinobi communities (often ... not the actual perpetrators of the crime in question, because it turns out if you’re not in a group it’s kindaaaa hard to figure out their internal politics and identities, if you even care to try), leading to more disdain-fear-contempt from shinobi, etc etc, cycle of violence, stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

But again, we’re not (or at least, I’m definitely not) here to talk about shinobi conflicts with humans. I want to talk about infighting — which intra-shinobi conflicts both are and are not. I’m getting there.

TLDR I make no narrative promises about anyone realizing they should be nicer to humans. Not even one promise. No.

Practicalities

However, shinobi live on a knife's edge. Though they are spirit-borne, they are ultimately spirit-made-flesh, and therefore too earthly to reside long term in the spirit realm. As such, they must make do in the material realm — a realm in which humans dominate, and in which humans vastly outnumber them.

Some shinobi communities have attempted or even succeeded in becoming completely self-sufficient and avoiding the human world entirely.

Most other communities have bowed to necessity and carved themselves a niche in human society.

The name of their kind, "shinobi", refers both to the former — who hide away from the human world — and the latter — who endure the human world.

Those who endure have mostly positioned themselves as mercenaries. Their mastery of chakra makes them especially suited to carrying out assassinations, infiltration, and sabotage. More rarely, (generally groups) of humans will pool their resources and ask for community assistance, such as eliminating bandits, large-scale work altering the environment, or even healing. By and large, however, the humans with the means to hire shinobi are nobles, gang leaders, businessmen, or government officials.

Ok, so it’s not all bad. Sure, the general tone of inter-species interaction is bleak, to say the least, but there’s variation! Neither side is a monolith! Shit’s complicated!

Also, I play some word games, big surprise.

To be more explicit, this is how I explain the use of the term “hidden village”. We’re gonna be focusing on “those who endure” (because. that’s where are all of our cast is.), but even the shinobi communities who have decided to tough it out with humans have a tendency to keep themselves separate, veiled away.

Even with weird magic nonsense, I imagine it’s hard to be entirely self-sufficient (in a relatively small area, and only so long as it stays completely secluded) that you never have to interact with the outside world or venture outside your territory for any reason. Otherwise, the majority shinobi would absolutely leave for the woods and never return.

More importantly, let’s talk Shinto.

There’s basically this concept in Shinto that every kami has their own place, their own function. The kami, by and large, don’t seem to give a shit about humans, and in fact range from ‘will brutally kill you’ to ‘will moderately annoy you’ to ‘is helpful, actually’ — but they have roles to play. If you know what to do, what to say, how to act, you won’t see any trouble from them. That would be against the rules.

(There’s a real fey vibe, if that’s a reference you’re more familiar with.)

Why do shinobi serve humans, even though they’re indifferent to human suffering and much more powerful?

Because they have a role to play. And though they may roll their eyes or scoff, if a human has the right things (e.g. money, and a job, and the sense to pay them afterward) ... they will perform that role. There’s a balance to be kept with humans at large. There are rules that no shinobi will break — for fear of reprisal from their fellows, or for some dark magic that would break them in turn ... who can say?

Some Historical Context

In the Warring Clans era, some shinobi clans in minor countries were able to wrest control of their territory away from whatever human power (e.g. shogun) was in the area and rule over a human population directly. Generally, this worsened local attitudes toward shinobi. Though there was at least one case in the Land of Rain of humans and shinobi more or less successfully cooperating and living peacefully alongside each other, if not co-mingling.

In major countries, the existing influence and power base of the local daimyo rendered this impossible. Shinobi, faced with inter-clan warfare and competition for jobs, found it unwise to attempt to start a second front of conflict with their local lords. This usually precipitated an alliance between the local lord and their shinobi enemies against them.

Instead, shinobi clans in major countries sought to ingratiate themselves with their daimyo. The daimyo's patronage — especially towards clans of 'noble' status — was useful socio-economic leverage, as it signaled a social acceptability around offering that clan work.

Indeed, the Warring Clans era greatly benefited the human lords. Kept relatively vulnerable from fierce, unending inter-clan warfare, shinobi clans were easy for the daimyo to play off each other while they built their own power bases — an ease only checked by the knowledge that, pushed too far, their employed assassins might turn on the hand that used to feed.

My answer to “why tf don’t they just kill the daimyo and take over the country”. Because it would be risky, and if it failed, you would die.

There are many, many, many examples of one subsection of a larger ‘group’ sides with people whose interests seem to be directly contrary to those of their group in hindsight. Group identities form when confronted with outsiders. Before new people show up and threaten the status quo, there’s no real reason to think you (and your kin group) and your neighbor (and their kin group) are somehow part of some broader socio-political organization.

In the Warring Clans era, shinobi get that they’re a distinct species from humans — but ultimately that doesn’t matter as much as local rivalries and alliances. Oh, you’re a shinobi clan that’s robbing the human traders that bring supplies to my clan? Yeah, we’re gonna fight now.

The “noble” status thing is just another ploy (intentional or not) to pit shinobi against each other instead of letting them all decide to overthrow the daimyo.

Is this part of the impetus for Hashirama’s goal to unite the clans of Fire and build a village? Why, yes. Indeed that will come up.

(JC this got long)

Join me next time when I talk about ~~~samurai~~~~

#naruto #celestial order #long post #there's gonna be a lot of stuff i post about this concept y'all #magic ninja politics #is my background in history showing yet

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mysaldate · 4 months

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Some gifs I snipped from the Order and Chaos cinematic for y'all + the thumbnail ^^^

I am uploading all of these and more on Tenor under the tags AFK + character name (or Eugavus)

I have them fighting in one gif that's unfortunately too big for Tumblr. I can try to compress it but it might come at the cost of losing quality, let me know if you'd like me to try regardless.

Similarly to the previous duo, I have these two put together as well but the size is an issue for Tumblr.

Also have these two connected up on Tenor!

These are connected too!

And just for those who also want the other characters (+Daimon and Talene on Tenor):

And a two misc:

Happy Eugavusmas!

#afk arena #afk gavus #afk eugene #afk eugavus #eugavus #chains of the covenant #order and chaos #afk order and chaos #afk chains of the covenant #webcomic #afk liberta #afk lucilla #afk war of truth #war of truth #afk lucretia #afk eironn #afk celestials #afk hypogeans #afk event

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notbecauseofvictories · 18 days

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there is a mourning dove and a brown-headed cowbird circling each other at my bird feeder this morning and I have created an elaborate backstory that ends with them falling in love despite the enmity of their families and also how she's quite a bit larger than him, all before my morning coffee.

#last night I took my mother out to dinner at a fancy place with a tasting menu and it was phenomenal #why does anyone order anything. why do people not bring you tiny exquisitely delicious dishes they have chosen for you.#truly #TRULY #the only way restaurants should work.#celestial emporium of benevolent knowledge

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ask-cupbros-parents · 1 year

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Introduction of The Legacy of Inkwell Isles AU world

Locations:

Intergovernmental international organization:

Characters:

King of Games (The King's leap), Baroness von bon bon, Rumor Honeybottoms, Mayor of Inkwell Isles..., etc.

The major societies :

Characters:

Sally stageplay, Dr. Kahl, Hilda Berg, Captain Brineybeard, Beppi the Clown (Maybe ?) , etc.

Characters:

Chalice (Charlotte the loving cup), Walter Watterson, Utena Teacup, E. Kettle, Saltbaker, Ludwig, Wolfgang, Silverworth(Forkington?), Tipsy Troop, Chips Bettigan, Mr. Wheezy, Pip and Dot, Pirouletta, Mangosteen, etc.

Characters:

Ribby and Croaks, Grim Matchstick, Wally Warbles, Werner Werman, Cala Maria ( Mermaid/sea monster), Hopus Pocus, Phear Lap, The Howling Aces, Esther Winchester, Porkrind, etc

Characters:

Cagney carnation, Deadly Daisy, Murderous Mushroom, Terrible Tulip, Toothy Terror, Aggravating Acorn, The Root Pack, cactus girl, etc.

--------------------------------------------

*Some of the Inkwell Isles bosses that I haven't shown, are from other societies (smaller than the major four ).

♣️ Previous ♥️ Next

♠️ First ♦️

Please do not repost or trace my artwork!

Support me on Patreon ( I got wips and exclusive designs over there ~~~)

#cuphead #plot #lore #the legacy of inkwell isle #cuphead dont deal with the devil #world setting #Calix Animi #Calix Order #Inkwell Isles #Inkwell Hell #Heaven #Corona Circle #Human #Celestial Clan #Beastia Clan #Ocean and River Clan #Flos Garden

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gearbroth · 1 year

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[concept-dump] Space-au - (main(?) Antagonist) Skal, enemy of sun and mentor to iron

#spaceau #tf2 space au #gordon freeman #ironstar gordon #skal the chimera #my ocs #myart #yes theres homoerotic tension yes youre reading that right #skal was initially a one-off antagonist to 100years ago/pre-team sol and boone #but i decided to keep him alive and he somehow got involved with gordon and now theres so much stuff between them aksdjhad #skal helps indirectly shape gordon into his own person while gordon breaks skal down from his skyhigh ego #human helps alien accept he's not human and thats okay while alien helps human accept he's only human and thats okay #you dunno what they do to my brain was possessed by them the whole ass move #he also changes the most throughout the whole story like visually i mean x'D this is all the same guy i swear #he's just veeeeeeeeeery old and goes through a lotta ego death jkhfdsfd #he's originally an outcast astronomer from the 1500s #turns into a deranged alchemist who figures out how to eat celestial cores in order to make himself into a star #yknow how it is khsjdffsd #anyway i told my friend about skal and they said he reminded them of an owlhouse character #and now ive watched the show and im lookin back on this guy and im sdjfkhfsgd yeah yeah he does have that vibe #also he's dutch and his voiceclaim his sigma(overwatch) bc that guy was squandered and i love his voice still #a lot of these pics are panels from a lil voiceline compilation thing i didnt finish kjhdsfsk #maybe ill post it if i can finish editting it

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churchydraws · 1 year

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“People that are taller than me should be illegal.” -CSS Eclipse, probably

so @artoutoftheblue made me start thinking about how tall most people make their Daycare Attendant designs and thought it would be fun to pit the ones I know the most about against each other.

Red’s allowed in the short people club because Sunny’s Lunar is still taller than them. They’re allowed to have one tall person.

from left to right on the top, we got @madcatdaderpydrawer-blog‘s Eclipse, Sun, Moon and Lunar, followed by my Sun, Moon, Eclipse, Lunar, and Red

at the bottom from left to right we have @eclipsedcrystalstar‘s oc Lunar, followed by @artoutoftheblue‘s Lunar, Sun, Moon, then Eclipsed’s oc Solar, and Sunny’s Eclipse!

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kallister14 · 8 months

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@pillowspace weeeee

i think my brain died when it was time to render but eh

#i don't care how little gods actually sleep in this au #its been established that i require sleeping fanart in order to survive #i live laugh love sleeping fanart #stfu #fnaf au #fnaf sb au #fnaf dca #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf dca au #dca au #celestial sundown au #art #artwork #fanart

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tlwebb · 4 months

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#world of darkness #mage the ascension #society of ether #akashayana #verbena #cult of ecstacy #celestial chorus #dreamspeakers #euthanatos #order of hermes #virtual adepts #ttrpg stuff #ttrpg memes #council of nine traditions

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fennelockley · 4 months

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The Giggle is actually interesting as a premise because the Toymaker choose to affect only Earth.

He chose Earth purposefully because he was after the Doctor for a rematch, because he was still salty that an ephermeral could best him. But choosing a singular planet was easier to catch the Doctors attention, especially one of his favourite planets.

But he's a being of great power that could play with planets like marbles. He mentioned specifically toying with galaxies in his speech when he was shuffling cards.

And obviously, he has his own sepereate reality entirely.

There isn't a point to my ramblings, I'm just spitting ideas. But how much further could he push that? How far could he meddle with the universe before either he or the universe hits a limit?

My understanding of the character is that he essentially doesn't care to push those limits, he's not interested. He doesn't care for domination or ruling so ruining the one place he can get endless entertainment is counter productive.

But I'd love to know if there's any limits in power. From what the Giggle has declared, he's one of the most powerful characters in the whole franchise, they've even placed him firmly above the Guardians. (Which is hella interesting, as its their job to ensure the universe is balanced and safe. So you would assume they were the most powerful around)

So what could you even do if a character like him is like, "actually I'm bored, let's reset the whole playing board", and completely wrecks the universe. Who can stop him? What can stop him?

#the toymaker #doctor who #the celestial toymaker #i adore extremely over powered characters #because in order to make a good one you really need to think about what other limits they would have #because nothing and no one can stop them except themselves #the only reason he doesnt do anything is because he chooses not to #like no wonder hes a freaky concept to the timelords #imagine knowing about an entity with the power of god that could wipe away exsistance entirely and you have to live with the very thin #comfort that the only reason this maleviolent entity chooses not to wreck havok is because it doesnt align with his interests

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melverie · 2 months

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THERE'S A CONNECTION HERE SOMEWHERE I CAN FEEL IT

#WHERE IS IT THO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#barbatos. solomon. nightbringer. mc. michael. the agreement. angel's trial. celestial realm. adam. “our time”. solomon's past.#solomon's 'you reduced me to this'. little d's & barb as no 8. the gates to the celestial realm. the need for the pacts in order to return.#they're all connected somehow but idk how yet #i'm either gonna figure this out or i'm gonna go crazy. the only two options atm #time to bust out the flash cards and treat this as if i were a detective about to solve the biggest murder of their career i guess #mel's descend into madness

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khorren · 11 months

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Despite the fact I don’t actually raid pretty much ever, I still wanted to have a raid group within the guild. I was aiming for 2 of each race for the team but since my charr roster was so small, I could only find a reason to have 1 of them in the raid group, so I got a bonus norn out of it.

The raid group can play multiple roles within the group with the exception of Kaidalis who always plays a Druid healer/support type role, Calixae who plays support roles, and Reyna who will always be DPS and never support.

Top row: Reyna - Elementalist / Aoife - Guardian / Orathali - Elementalist / Viianna - Necromancer / Siobhan - Warrior

Bottom row: Aloreca - Engineer / Kaidalis - Ranger / Kensi - Revenant / Calixae - Mesmer / Amarilis - Thief

Aoife is the guild leader, so she’s the raid leader. Her main function in the story is a sort of bodyguard role to the commander, but during downtime she’ll go off and raid with the guild. Whether it’s for bringing in intel, or good old fashioned spelunking and discovery, the raid group will raid pretty much anything.

Reyna’s with the raid guild as Oxia thought she needed better social skills and interaction with people outside of the warband. Yes, she’s like a feral cat who needs to be socialised. She reluctantly went along for the adventures as long as she didn’t need to play support.

Orathali learned that not one but TWO Ulvstrom sisters were looking for a 10th for their raiding adventures and she begged and pleaded to be let in.

Viianna knew Aoife from the Priory and Aoife asked her along.

Siobhan - Vigil representative for raiding fun times and gets to help out her sister.

Aloreca - Viianna dragged her along, insisting she get out of the lab once in a while.

Kaidalis - Went to keep Amarilis company. Also needed something to focus on after pact decimation.

Kensi - Keeping an eye on all the allies of the Fae family.

Calixae - Since her mother wouldn’t let her go on adventures with the commander, she pestered auntie Kensi into tagging along with her adventures. Not the most experienced fighter but wants to learn.

Amarilis - Needed something to focus on after not so happy fun jungle adventures.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #celestial order #raid guild lol

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artheresy · 5 months

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Yingxing Appreciation 🎉🎉

hi, hello, it's Yingxing appreciation time and I'm dragging you into it bc he is my baby and I need more ppl to talk about him

Y'know I see a lot of people like in awe and hyping up DF and just giving him tons of appreciation while analyzing him specifically as an individual which is all so so valid, DF is amazing and very intriguing as a character and I love him sm, but I sadly don't see the same for Yingxing despite him I think also being so interesting. I also see him more so dismissed in the "literally God and some guy" kind of fashion sometimes

So I'm here to rant just a little bit about Yingxing, why I love him, why he's epic and why he ruins my day every single time I think about him! This is for any of my fellow Yingxing lovers who are also starved of any content of him

Firstly, this man is a genuine genius, like lest we forget this is from Baiheng's travelogue in which she met a young Yingxing who was still a child by this point.

He was a young boy but had already become a craftsman, a sign of his ability to learn exceedingly quick under Huaiyans tutelage. And his ability to work and progress incredible fast continues into his time as a young man on the Luofu.

We know he arrived probably somewhere around 18-21 (in my personal estimate) and by the time he saw Jingliu again (which itself was likely early into his stay on the Luofu given HCQ ages and timing), he had already impressed the Master Craftsmen of the Luofu's Artisanship Commission and earned himself a title.

There are also multiple things in game that emphasize his achievements and creations he crafted, some offhandedly mentioned in a readable or item while others are emphasized with importance.

Casually mentioned in the Discarded Ingenium Parts is his feat in the Great Trial of the Furnace (perhaps that trial is for gaining the furnace master title? Once again signifying an earlier achievement in his legacy) where it took him only a day and night to create a whole mechanical lion that moved and looked just like a real live lion from a bunch of defective parts and waste.

More recently in 1.5, they released a readable, the Ten-Lords Criminal Directory, which mentions an imprisonment method designed by Yingxing that keeps “Mirage” in a perpetual state trapped within a hallucination of their own making. Utilizing it’s own powers in order to keep it imprisoned. Something that with proper maintenance seems to have lasted for around 700 years so far.

And of course, how can we forget his most famous creations

The beautifully crafted weapons of the High Cloud Quintet, from Jingliu’s incredibly heavy sword remarked as being as heavy as three thousand catties, to Dan Feng’s Cloud Piercer with the ability to even cut through dragon scales, and the Devastator Glaive as well as Baiheng’s recurve bow. Each impressive in their own ways and seemingly crafted pretty early as well into his time on the Luofu with the HCQ given the distinction of Jing Yuan who (even if he likely was more a teen than a boy) still wasn’t an exact adult yet. So once again, let me emphasize this man’s skill here. With how many things he managed to do so so early into his time on the Luofu. A genius craftsman who deserved all of the praise he had garnered with his works.

Additionally, I know they keep harping about “ugh arrogant craftsman, ugh he’s so full of himself” but every single time we’ve seen his personality, he just seems like a genuine joy to be around. Bright, charismatic, sure he’s cocky but he also gives the impression of being incredibly fun and a bit silly if you ask me.

His behavior as mirrored by the mirage echo in Scalegorge Waterscape is distinctly playful even in what might be a more tense situation, lightly bantering with Dan Feng and even chuckling in certain languages.

In Jingliu’s character stories, it even furthers this bright, playful attitude he gives off with his distinct cheekiness shining through especially with that “toothy grin” of his. And if you listen to Jingliu’s (at least her English) voice lines during Clouds Leave No Trace when she speaks about Yingxing before getting into his transformation, there is a distinct fondness or amusement in her voice as she speaks of him especially that cocky nature of his despite her distaste for it at first.

While Baiheng is hailed as this kind figure in the High Cloud Quintet, perhaps their sun even casting light upon them, it doesn’t seem too far off to say Yingxing was a shining star among them in his own right. His easy going nature with them bringing about a bubbly playfulness similar to Baiheng given their closeness from when he was young. I could go into way more especially in regards to the casualness at which Yingxing seems to speak and treat others allowing for a more equal formation of relationships especially with Dan Feng but I’m saving that for another rant.

And all of this about him especially how expressive he seems at certain points he’s been mentioned, really just makes me so incredibly sad when thinking about Blade now. How severely separated he is from this identity. A division that exists from not only his death but from the way his mental state has been severely warped from his time with Jingliu and being affected afterwards by the mara.

The sheer dehumanization and lack of a personal identity in place of seeing himself as a solely a weapon when put next to Yingxing, with such a clear bold individual identity, really makes the transformation of one into the other all the more jarring and tragic. Especially with the emphasis on how Yingxing hated the abominations of Abundance only to become one himself, something that is still implied to have not been by his own hand. Blade is an immensely tragic character, but that tragedy only holds weight because of the life and identity Yingxing had. It is only with Yingxing’s light which shined despite the circumstances of his life that his descent into darkness hits harder, and it makes me so sad that I haven’t found many others talking or expanding upon this despite my searches because he really is such a well written character with so many details in his story that are both interesting and utterly heartbreaking.

And additionally, I want to say that I think there is a lost potential in examining the Xianzhou through Yingxing. Specifically in the way he is treated as a short life species. We know how the relationship between the Vidyadhara and the Natives, especially as it’s changed after Dan Feng, but there is a very interesting relationship to be explored between the Xianzhou and the Short Life Species the end up there, especially through Yingxing’s relationship to the different Artisans guilds whether on the Luofu or the Zhuming.

In the end, it becomes another sad element to Yingxing’s story. Yingxing managed to change his attitude regarding how the Zhuming masters treated him and even grew more of a confidence, but even in the Luofu's Artisanship Commission, he can never truly get as far as he deserves. Just as Jingliu says

Even with his work impressing the master craftsmen of the Luofu, even after more than showing his skill and earning the title of Furnace Master for that skill, he still would be denied higher positions and could only prove his true worth by the High Cloud Quintet.

And just let me say it again, him being a short life species allows for such an interesting examination of the world and people around him based upon that. While we don't know exactly how they met, we do know that Yingxing was Huaiyan's personal disciple and the only one he mentions of the celestial masters to treat him with respect and believe in his capabilities despite knowing he's a short life species. Through his treatment of Yingxing, we learn quite a bit about him. Through Baiheng's treatment of him as well, we learn a lot about her, more than anywhere else.

He's just UGH I need more exploration from Yingxing's perspective, the lack of it feels as if I'm being starved. He's so interesting, he's so fun, he's incredibly tragic, and he makes me cry every single time he crosses my mind. Please do yourselves a favor and think more about his character so you'll end up as sad about him as me. Or don't maybe. I dunno. All I know for sure is that you absolutely need to read Views of the Universe From a Starskiff: The Zhuming if you haven't. Anyways bye, thanks for listening to this rant, I gotta go cry over him.

Peep the tags also for a rant about my own characterization of YX if you wish to witness my insanity

#Let me rant about my own personal characterization of Yingxing based on this and its OVER #It's OVER #Firsy off We need to acknowledge before we get into anything that YX is severely traumatized #Before becoming a teen (we don't know exactly how long he was at the Zhuming before he met BH so he could have been p young)#He had already lost his entirely family in an incredibly brutal fashion to the Borisin #His home planet was conquered destroyed and turned into a weapons nursery for the Borisin #And he ended up somehow on the Zhuming (it's my hc that Huaiyan himself found him but we don't know the canon details)#And on top of that seemingly only Huaiyan his master was kind to him as the rest of the celestial masters on Zhuming degraded him for being #A shortlife species to the point he A CHILD tells BH he doesn't know if he'll live to see his parents avenged #So yeah he's gone through some shit #And we know his arrogance begins after Baiheng says kind words to him but ngl I don't think he switched up so fast from a few kind gestures #I think that arrogance of his begins as a coping method inspired by her especially given the exaggerated nature of it as jingliu describes #When he was a child #Kind of a fake it til you make it #And by the time he ends up on the Luofu I think it's half genuine confident half fake it til you make it #Specifically in that he does really see the people around him as equals no matter their status or species including someone like HE IL #And in that he's probably pretty judgemental all things considered #But I think the more exaggerated parts especially his outward declarations are played up a bit by him to give off a certain facade or image #In order to garner respect when paired with his actual genuine skill and talent #That's just a reduced summary of my characterization of him tho with his relationship to his confidence I have more to say but #ALSO YINGXING WITH SURVIVORS GUILT #WHERE IS MY YX WITH SURVIVORS GUILT CONTENT *bangs my fist against the floor*#That 100% plays into my personal characterization of his relationship with his confidence #Also I view YX as being AuDHD for so many reasons but esp with what we know in canon of his obsession with crafting and his #Overworking himself tendencies regarding it #Yingxing #Hsr blade #Hsr #Honkai star rail #Don't let me mention how this affects his relationships I'll be even more annoying than I already am

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ruckis-vandalizes · 3 months

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"Pretty lights don't shine so bright down here. Neon fades until only dark remains."

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a-zif · 2 months

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tumblr and pinterest aren't cutting it anymore i need an in character physical leather journal

#writing zif's cryptic visions and messages from celestial beings >>>>#im this close to ordering a journal to do this #I need to practice my cursive handwriting though rip #˗ˏˋ ʚ🩷ɞ ˎˊ˗⠀ooc.

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justavulcan · 6 months

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Backgrounds with Class: Azorius Functionary

I'll be honest: Ravnica has always fascinated me. I was a high schooler when the first set came out, and I was immediately consumed creating characters for the setting. Now that we've actually received my long-awaited crossover, I thought it would be nice to write a love letter to the setting in the form of another Backgrounds with Class series. After all: some guilds have natural class choices tied in, from a conceptual standpoint. Boros and Fighter, Izzet and Wizard, Selesnya and Druid. But guilds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every guild background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Izzet and Barbarian, or Gruul and Artificer. So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with. Some character concepts for each class, and each Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica background for each class.

Azorius Functionary

The Azorius Functionary Artificer believes wordsmithing and armorsmithing are both arguments. One is simpler than the other, and he wanted to protect people anyway- paper is too frail to keep lawbreakers away, and anyway he has pretty serious social anxiety. He was a soft lad from a young age, but the inside of the armor is inscribed with the proofs of his determination- dense legalese referring to the crime of assault and the many degrees, qualifications and punishments therefore.

The Azorius Functionary Barbarian is walking proof not everybody can stay aloof from the laws and their consequences. Still, the law is a labyrinth, and a labyrinth is always pleasing to the mind of a minotaur. Legal assistant and debater extraordinaire, her wild temper (which she comes by naturally; her parents both have severe anger management issues) is still bordering on uncontrollable, with occasionally regrettable drawbacks to her career- and the rare boon, as that kind of steep and genuine passion sometimes can stir the hearts of even Azorius legislators.

The Azorius Functionary Bard finds that the Senate is as much a forum for performance as any concert hall, even if it’s less musical. The eloquent may always find a home there, even if their love is less of the law they defend and more the intricacies of the debate- for those who would put their word to the trial like this, there’s no greater thrill. This kind of thrill-seeking has always been part of this bard’s makeup- talking himself into and out of trouble has been his modus operandi since he grew up on Tin Street, looking for kicks that didn’t cost him a zib.

The Azorius Functionary Cleric is actually wildly unsuited for the adventuring life- at least at first. To this vedalken legal assistant, every part of putting the law into practice the hard way is miserable except the rush of adrenaline. However, given the opportunity to take the law from paper to practice, to legal theory to reality, they jumped at the chance- and their confidence is growing by leaps and bounds. As no gods lay power before Ravnican clerics, their ability to enforce the law by thought and spell grows only with their conviction, feeding their addiction to testing the law’s power on the street.

The Azorius Functionary Druid tends to the owls and horses the Azorius senate leans on for their messenger and enforcement capabilities. Drawn to the freedom of the owls and their calling to fly far with the Senate’s decisions clutched in their talons, this centaur found her way to tending stable and owlery alike. Like the horses they resemble, she prefers to know where her next meal is coming from, and the stability the Azorius offer goes a long way toward meeting that goal; besides, she has a natural gift with the animals that the human tenders can’t match.

The Azorius Functionary Fighter was once a riot squad trainee, favoring a staff and shield for their crowd-handling capacity. After requesting a transfer out of the more authoritarian and frankly oppressive new prison, he was glad to hit the streets again, only called out for the most extreme of circumstances. He’s good at keeping his head, and a lifetime of navigating the frankly byzantine halls of Azorius beaurocracy has lent him more subtlety than the average head-cracker.

The Azorius Functionary Monk is a practitioner of the Azorius arts of ectomancy- unknown to many, the Azorius are as skilled as the Orzhov at binding spirits to service, particularly the posthumous wojek as protectors of the Living Guildpact’s uneasy peace. While many favor necromancy for this undertaking, this ectomancer handles this magic in a more personal manner, binding spirit to flesh and serving proudly as avatar of the spirit he binds. While he still studies the discipline of mind and body necessary to bind an astral self, however, he serves meanwhile as a personal assistant and sometime bodyguard to a public prosecutor.

The Azorius Functionary Paladin is walking proof that it’s not uncommon for the most ardent of the Azorius’s lawkeepers to be motivated by personal history as much as duty. She has sworn before all the courts and Isperia herself that her vengeance will follow the law- a stricture she dares not bend, lest it cost her the means by which she pursues her revenge. Whether this is against the Rakdos or Gruul for the cost of their reckless savagery and destruction or the Golgari or Dimir for their scheming, she faces these foes in the fields they’re least equipped to meet her- Rakdos and Gruul in the court, Golgari and Dimir on the battlefield.

The Azorius Functionary Ranger is an oddity. It is a rare thing that one with the blessing of Trostani herself leave the Selesnya conclave, but when she did so, the ripples fouled her relationship with the Conclave forever. Still, she’s one of the Azorius’s preferred ‘inter-guild liasons’ to handle guilds more concerned with the growth of living things than the tomes of the law. A certain civic-mindedness is at the heart of her motivations, one that was drawn to the order of the Azorius over the more naturalistic structure of the Selesnya.

The Azorius Functionary Rogue is a creature of the library and courtroom, not the street. She’s well-versed to take the measure of others, provide research and assistance for legal precedent and even take the case herself. She’s a natural socialite with a guilty pleasure for roaming far from the areas meant to actually contain the party, getting a taste for other people’s homes and personalities from what she can glean looking into their possessions. After all, a home is like a mind, and both lay out their secrets if you know how to look.

The Azorius Functionary Sorcerer is walking proof that if the law is a process, it would follow that sometimes that process has byproducts. Sometimes those byproducts are unintended legal interactions needing to be tied up, and sometimes the heiromancy that the entire guild leans on to enforce their will is concentrated into people by happenstance. Son of a long legacy of lawyers, public defenders, senators, and research assistants and sought after by precognitives and lawmages alike, he has a lot to live up to if he’s to fit his talents into the ticking mechanism of the city.

The Azorius Functionary Warlock is motivated by an uncommon passion for her work. Goblins are usually a chaotic element in Ravnica’s extensive cityscape, but this would-be arrestor has nothing but law on the mind. Having made a deal with a being of pure celestial law and keen on the Azorius’s new surveillance-heavy attitude towards law enforcement, this warlock is nevertheless more the threat with blade and spell than administration and legislature. Her intimidating bearing and uncompromising mindset promise to make her a legend among Ravnica’s law enforcement, and she takes to the title of lawmage with enthusiasm. (this particular warlock was a creation of a friend of mine; their initial thoughts and character art can be found here).

The Azorius Functionary Wizard was a member of the Sova column. The motivation for their transfer was as emotional as logical, and consequently an uncharacteristic move. Skilled as vedalken sometimes are in the delicate arts of calligraphy and magic both, the wizard recently put in for a transfer of department to the Lyev column to serve as a lawmage. Their motive was less than logical, though- to keep an eye out for a recent friend, a warrior from the Gruul Clans who showed them uncertainty that anarchy was the right path for her.

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