#i just gotta make that specific sort of paladin | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

selfdiagnosedeyemotif · 8 months

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little thing i've been thinking about as of late:

How could one make the Octopath Travelers II in Dungeons and Dragons?

the rules i've set for myself are as follows:

no variant human. that is boring.

we're going for flavour over optimization but my stupid optimizer brain will nonetheless be the architect behind this all so Watch Out

Unearthed Arcana and things of that sort ARE allowed. UA is my dear wife and to leave her out of my house would be a crime most unforgivable

stats will be calculated using the point buy method, simply because that is much easier than working with the other methods

in a similar vein to the previous, pre-Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse stat increases and abilities for races will be used (my best friend the Air Genasi gets burnt by this but sacrifices must be made)

characters will range from level 10 (agnea) to level 14 (osvald)

this is what the characters would look like at the END of their journeys, so abilities like the One True Magic would be taken into account

i'll link pages describing all of the things i use, all of which will be from my dnd site of choice, the DND 5th Edition Wikidot Site

that being said...

Ochette, the Hunter

Race:

Tabaxi (+2 DEX, +1 CHA)

Class(es):

Revised Ranger - Beastmaster Conclave - Level 8 Paladin - Oath of the Ancients - Level 3

Feats (if any):

N/A

Stats:

STR - 14 (+2) DEX - 19 (+4) CON - 15 (+2) INT - 10 (0) WIS - 8 (-1) CHA - 13 (+1)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Tabaxi - Race: Ochette, while more of a fox than a cat, notably has many animal features similar to cats (namely her claws and ears), so the cat race fits her quite well

Cat's Claws - Tabaxi: ability most akin to Ochette's latent power ability Beastly Claws

Animal Companion - Beastmaster Conclave: this is the space for Akala or Mahina, since the BM is the only class/subclass that lets you have an animal companion in any way, not counting the wizard spell Find Familiar (which just doesn't fit Ochette. she aint a wizard)

Oath of the Ancients Paladin - Class/Subclass: at the end of Ochette's story she is touched by the Flame itself, bestowing upon her the power necessary to continue her immediate mission of Stop That Shadow Beast and ongoing mission of protecting the wilds of Solistia. serving something greater than oneself for a specific purpose (divine or not) is how 5e paladins have been flavoured, and the OotA subclass is explicitly based around being the light for the world, and has a general nature theme (see: green knights)

Castti, the Apothecary

Race:

Water Genasi (+2 CON, +1 WIS)

Class(es):

Artificer - Alchemist Speciality - Level 9 Paladin - Oath of Redemption - Level 4

Feats (if any):

Resilient (Wisdom)

Stats:

STR - 12 (+1) DEX - 9 (-1) CON - 14 (+2) INT - 13 (+1) WIS - 20 (+5) CHA - 12 (+1)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Water Genasi - Race: first off, Castti obviously has a water motif. that's a guarantee. however, i also think that Water Genasi has some good flavour to it because before MMotM, it gave resistance to Acid damage. you know, like trosseau's poison rain. Castti was INSANELY resilient against that shit, and i think it could be fun if that was like. just a thing she did.

Class/Subclass - Alchemist Speciality Artificer: this is the place to go when it comes to apothecaries. i really wanted to make her a warlock of Malaya as well but the best fitting subclasses (Fathomless, Celestial, and Undead) didn't have abilities that fit her very well. regardless, you've gotta be an Alchemist if you wanna be an apothecary

Class/Subclass - Oath of Redemption Paladin: PLEASE go read the tenets of the Oath of Redemption. like yeah its about redeeming yourself but more importantly its about pacifism (that's castti), patience (that's castti), and protecting the weak (that's castti). shes SO Oath of Redemption that it isn't even funny

Experimental Elixir/Restorative Reagent - Alchemist: this is Concoct, to a T. Experimental Elixir allows you to bestow a variety of different effects onto an ally, ranging from healing to haste to defense. just. like. Concoct. also the Restorative Reagent feature that castti would get at level 9 just adds to the healing aspect of EE so like. yeap that tracks.

Lay On Hands - Paladin: Sounds an awful lot like a mix between castti's Healing Hands and Rehabilitate abilities, with a mix of healing damage and disease specifically via touch.

Resilient - Feat: you'll notice that i made Castti's highest stat her Wisdom, which a keen-eyed D&D player might mark as strange, since Artificers are an Intelligence-based class, and Paladins are Charisma-based. well, this in conjunction with Resilient giving her proficiency in Wisdom Saving Throws (basically making her very good at holding on against fear, mind control, and things that affect sanity), are all because of one of my personal favourite Castti moments: she has canonically read the Book of Night and it couldn't do jack SHIT to her. her mind is made of IRON.

Throné, the Thief

Race:

Shadar-Kai (+2 DEX, +1 CON)

Class(es):

Rogue - Assassin Archetype - Level 11 Fighter - No Subclass - Level 2

Feats (if any):

Shadow Touched (spells gained: Invisibility, Silent Image)

Stats:

STR - 11 (0) DEX - 20 (+5) CON - 10 (0) INT - 14 (+2) WIS - 12 (+1) CHA - 14 (+2)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Shadar-Kai - Race: grabbed simply because i think that being a Dark Elf™ fits Throné really well. technically it also gives her teleportation which would be a cool in-universe explanation for Aeber's Reckoning but honestly this one's for the funsies

Inflitration Expert - Assassin Archetype: she straight-up does this in the first chapter. like full stop. that is the thing that this ability does. also i know it's very much not one-to-one but i also think this is how she would use Disguise but that ventures into headcanon territory

Action Surge - Fighter: the SPECIFIC reason that i gave Throné fighter levels. Action Surge allows the user to, once per short rest, USE TWO ACTIONS IN ONE TURN. THAT IS LEAVE NO TRACE. EXACTLY.

Shadow Touched - Feat: flavour for infiltration stuff but also sort of works as an expy for Veil of Darkness. Silent Image can be used to create a fairly large illusion, including but not limited to a quick and easy way to throw enemies off their game in terms of their attacks. Disguise Self was also considered as an option for the spell to take (Invisibility is always given) but i passed on it because she was already getting Infiltration Expert from her subclass.

Osvald, the Scholar

Race:

Goliath (+2 STR, +1 CON)

Class(es):

Wizard - School of Evocation - Level 14

Feats (if any):

N/A

Stats:

STR - 12 (+1) DEX - 10 (0) CON - 16 (+3) INT - 20 (+5) WIS - 14 (+2) CHA - 8 (-1)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Goliath - Race: Professor Osvald V. Vanstein is, amoungst other descriptors, fucking MASSIVE. that man is canonically like 6'7" or something. goliaths, the Biggest race in D&D 5e, are absolutely the best fit for him. as a bonus, they give him resistance to Cold damage, a fun reference to that teeny little stay on Frigit Isle

School of Evocation - Subclass: Osvald is canonically very much an offensive caster. that's clear. the School of Evocation, in D&D, is the one with the easiest access to Spells like Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Cone of Cold, meaning that Osvald "Fire-Ice-Lightning" V. Vanstein simply MUST be one

Overchannel/Sculpt Spells - School of Evocation: neither of these two abilities, on their own, would equate to anything Osvald-y. Overchannel allows the user to make one damaging spell do max damage (and do it more at an HP cost), and Scupt Spells allows them to exempt certain targets from AoE spells. together, however, they form a decent expy for Concentrate Spells, Osvald's latent power

Prismatic Spray - Spell: this spell is a seventh level evocation spell. level 14 is the first time wizards have access to seventh level spells, and Osvald is an evoker. this spell is also a MASSIVE FUCK-YOU RAINBOW BLAST. i won't go through its actual abilities because they dont line up to the One True Magic very well, but aesthetically they're damn-near identical

Partitio, the Merchant

Race:

Human (+1 to all stats)

Class(es):

Paladin - Oath of Devotion - Level 6 Bard - College of Eloquence - Level 5

Feats (if any):

Inspiring Leader

Stats:

STR - 15 (+2) DEX - 11 (0) CON - 14 (+2) INT - 12 (+1) WIS - 10 (0) CHA - 18 (+4)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Oath of Devotion Paladin - Class/Subclass: mostly based around how Partitio is just. endlessly all about that helping people. you dont need to worship a god to be a paladin, folks, you just need to have a cause that you stand insanely firmly by. that's why they're Charisma-based. anyways Devotion fits Parti best so he gets it

Silver Tongue - College of Eloquence: half of this ability (bonus to Deception) is positively worthless to Partitio because he really doesnt lie much, but the other half (bonus to Persuasion) is DEATHLY important to this build. Partitio is a man built on being extremely good at talking to people, and it really shows in this. also, SILVER Tongue. Oresrush silver. get it? huh? huh?

Inspiring Leader - Feat: genuinely the most Partitio feat ever. it literally has the user make an inspiring speech for a mechanical benefit and if that ain't Partitio i dont know what is

Agnea, the Dancer

Race:

Spring Eladrin (+2 DEX, +1 CHA)

Class(es):

Bard - College of Glamour - Level 10

Feats (if any):

Mobile

Stats:

STR - 8 (-1) DEX - 16 (+3) CON - 12 (+1) INT - 11 (0) WIS - 12 (+1) CHA - 18 (+4)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Eladrin - Race: this is the most whimsical and fun race ever and i love it. spring Eladrin are the joyous and celebratory version of this race, so it fits Agnie pretty damn well. it also offers a teleportation option in the form of Fey Step (the season-themed version of Throné's teleport), which i feel like she would incorporate into her shows

College of Glamour Bard - Class/Subclass: this is the main performer bard for performers that dont use musical instruments, so it simply had to be Agnea

Enthralling Performance - College of Eloquence: this ability is effectively a make-your-performances-better card, which is exactly the kind of thing that Agnea would pull out if she needed to really bedazzle a crowd (see: Agnea chapter five)

Magical Secrets - Bard: this allows the user to gain two spells from any spell list. Agnea's would be Control Winds (Windy Refrain) and Beacon of Hope (Song of Hope). the latter is a much rougher expy than the former, but it's got hope in the name and i am nothing if not predictable. see the links below for what those spells do

Mobile - Feat: this is meant as an expy of the Dancer ability Ever Evasive, and to a degree Agnea's high base Speed and Evasion, since the Mobile feat both makes it more difficult for enemies to land hits on you, and improves your movement speed

Temenos, the Cleric

Race:

Changeling (+2 CHA, +1 WIS), pretends to be Half-Elf

Class(es):

Rogue - Inquisitive Archetype - Level 4 Cleric - Knowledge Domain - Level 9

Feats (if any):

Keen Mind (+1 INT)

Stats:

STR - 8 (-1) DEX - 10 (0) CON - 8 (-1) INT - 18 (+4) WIS - 18 (+4) CHA - 16 (+3)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Changeling - Race: i think it would be really cool because Temenos is such a goddamn liar. im so normal about it. sososo normal about it. i just feel that he would lie persistently about his identity lie that because just. i am hopelessly in love with the aspect of Temenos that he does not let anyone know anything ever

Inquisitive Archetype Rogue - Class/Subclass: one will note that this is the first class listed rather than his actual in-game class of Cleric. this is because i think that before he was a cleric, before he was found by the church, Rogue was a deeply fitting class for him. i think it was his base class, and grew into the Inquisitive subclass AFTER taking Cleric levels

Channel Divinity: Read Thoughts - Knowledge Domain: this is the equivalent of Temenos's Coerce path action; both are obviously magical in nature and involve to a certain (albeit different) degree looking into the target's mind. not a lot to say it's just a very good stand-in for Coerce

Legend Lore - Spell: this is the expy for Temenos's doubt-is-what-i-do mystery solving sections (like when he's in the cathedral with Crick investigating the death of the pontiff). it's not exact since Legend Lore targets an object and Temenos's thing targets a location, but i think it's close enough to be good enough. also it's a free spell you get for being a Knowledge Cleric so i think it's a good fit

Expertise - Rogue: this ability allows you to take two skills and become SUPER good at them. this would be Deception and Insight for Temenos, and i think it was important that i bring it up

Hikari, the Warrior

Race:

High Elf (+2 DEX, +1 INT)

Class(es):

Fighter - Samurai Archetype - Level 11 Sorcerer - Shadow Origin - Level 1

Feats (if any):

N/A

Stats:

STR - 18 (+4) DEX - 16 (+3) CON - 16 (+3) INT - 10 (0) WIS - 10 (0) CHA - 10 (0)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Shadow Origin Sorcerer - Class/Subclass: homeboy's got the blood of D'arqest in him, so he simply MUST have some kind of spooky class. the other class in the running was Hexblade Warlock, but Shadow Sorcerer ultimately won out mostly for mechanical reasons (SO's Strength of the Grave was considered more flavourful than HB's Hexblade's Curse)

Fighting Spirit/Tireless Spirit - Samurai Archetype: these abilities are about the user powering up by sheer force of will and that's literally the most Hikari thing i have ever heard in my life

Fighting Style: Superior Technique - Fighter: this fighting style allows the user to gain one Battlemaster Fighter maneuver. the one selected for Hikari is Riposte, which serves as an equivalent to Hikari's Vengeful Blade ability (both of them are counterattack options)

Extra Attack 2x - Fighter: fighters are the only class that gain access to more than two attacks per turn, similarly to Hikari's Aggressive Slash ability giving him access to the greatest number of hits out of any class in-game

Links:

Ochette, the Hunter

Tabaxi

Ranger, Revised

Beastmaster Conclave

Paladin

Oath of the Ancients

Castti, the Apothecary

Water Genasi

Artificer

Alchemist Speciality

Paladin

Oath of Redemption

Resilient

Throné, the Thief

Shadar-Kai

Rogue

Assassin Archetype

Fighter

Shadow Touched

Silent Image

Osvald, the Scholar

Goliath

Wizard

School of Evocation

Prismatic Spray

Partitio, the Merchant

Human (yeah im linking that)

Paladin

Oath of Devotion

Bard

College of Eloquence

Inspiring Leader

Agnea, the Dancer

Eladrin

Bard

College of Glamour

Mobile

Control Winds

Beacon of Hope

Temenos, the Cleric

Changeling

Rogue

Inquisitive Archetype

Cleric

Knowledge Domain

Keen Mind

Legend Lore

Hikari, the Warrior

High Elf

Fighter

Samurai Archetype

Sorcerer

Shadow Origin

Riposte Maneuver

#octopath traveler 2 #octopath traveler 2 spoilers #d&d #ochette #castti florenz #throné anguis #throne anguis #osvald v. vanstein #osvald v vanstein #partitio yellowil #agnea bristarni #temenos mistral #hikari ku #iris originals

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vaporeonisland · 2 months

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HOW THE IOTS MAGIC SYSTEM WORKS

this post is going to act as a sort of first draft for the part of the journal wherein I... well. explain the magic system. There's a lot more to it and i'm sure this will raise a handful of questions about voltron and the alteans and whatnot, but in due time those will be answered. For now let's just focus on alteans.

A little bit of background first. Earlier i wanted alteans to be a bigger part of voltron, and i ended up scrapping the backstory from the show's canon with the paladins of old creating voltron and whatnot, and making nearly all the main characters altean. I'm using the word "alteans" for these characters because i'm honestly too lazy to just invent another name for the magical species situation we've got going on. They're honestly closer to demigods, but that's a can of worms for later. I've been stalling for too long let's just get into the meat of it now.

What you need to know right now is that alteans have the ability to manipulate quintessence, and this gives them cool magic powers. Now this magic has two different types: Individual Magic and coursebook magic.

Individual magic: the magic that youre born with. This is usually elemental powers or just control over stuff that occurs in nature in general. So you've got stuff like pyrokinesis, electrokinesis, chlorokinesis, geokinesis, photokinesis, etc. It is possible that you're born with odd powers here and there though. Like Tara, for example, was born with the ability to create flames that don't actually burn anything.

Coursebook magic: the magic that you learn. Usually alteans try to learn more man-made types of magic that involves specific systems you create from yourself. This is stuff like runes, morphix (an idea i deadass stole from winx club and edited to fit the magic system), whatever the hell piper has got going on, etc. (I'll elaborate later). You can learn elemental powers or just powers that are typically associated with individual magic, but they're difficult to learn if you aren't born with them.

On that note, it isn't possible to learn all different types of magic. Every individual is attuned to a specific type of quintessence manipulation, which makes it easier for them to learn some types of magic, and harder to learn others. You just gotta figure it out for yourself.

(Sometimes if you learn two contrasting types of magic, you get side effects like developing spomtaneous allergies, because I think its funny. Other times you get a bonus power like poison resistance though. It's a gamble)

Some people are born with no individual magic and use coursebook magic exclusively, some prefer to hone the magic they were born with and some do a weird mix of both.

Now onto some other important stuff- Saturation Percentage and Power Rate.

Saturation Percentage: the amount of magic that you've used up. You can't learn every type of magic in the world, because everyone has a limit to how many different types of powers they can learn. Learning some types of powers (like traditionally those associated with individual magic) saturates more of your magic than others. It depends. Like, for example, learning like, geokinesis or pyrokinesis would saturate far more of your magic than something like advanced hearing or vision. The loophole to learning more types of magic is giving yourself restrictions- like you can teleport, but only within a certain radius, or you have super strength but only in tense situations. The restriction cancels out the actual power, and less if your magic gets saturated!! Hooray!! A lot of people learn these extra powers for convenience, though, so they can't always do that.

Power rate: Simply put, it just measures how powerful you are. Ideally, one would have a low saturation percentage and a high power rate, but that's pretty rare, because generally more powerful types of magic have a high SP. back to power rate. It is measured in a quantity called Estiels. Named after the scientist I made up, D.Estiel :)) like how force is measured in Newtons, you get me? The average altean has around 50-60Els of power.

There's a LOT more to say but honestly I'm this close 🤏 to becoming one with my pillow so I'll just rb this with an addition.. some time in the near future. The board exams are sort of kicking my ass and I haven't studied NEARLY as much as I should. I hope this answers any questions you have for NOW at least (o´･ω･`o)

#lore #i am very proud of how this came out and i am also equally exhausted #this week has been kind of a mess if im being honest!!! i just want to glue myself into bed

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marcholasmoth · 2 years

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OSRR: 2885

today was. not good.

got up, totally exhausted. didn't eat breakfast, didn't take my meds. but didn't need to go to windham. folded laundry, some of it is wrong bc mom folded it and it's bad times for my brain to have things folded wrong. went to see my aunt for her birthday - she loved the blanket i made her! my mom wants one too. so she's gonna get yarn and i'm gonna make her one too.

had to leave to nh etc to my eeg. went to the wrong place. got to the correct place too late. rescheduled. so i'm stressed and cranky and tired and things are shit bc i also still haven't heard back from the school.

i go home. i take a nap.

i wake up, i go get joel. i struggle but complete everything i need to get done, send emails and clean my inboxes and process paperwork so there's nothing left on my plate - it's all northeastern now.

had a frustrating discussion about student loans, about how i have a deadline for this school registration shit. not happy. joel gets upset. i get upset. so it's all shitty, all around. lisa made dinner. i didn't have much of any of it. later talked to joel when we'd both calmed down about what he wanted. i went on a wild goose chase for my beloved.

worth it.

picked up food and ice cream and food and came back and watched joel play a new spiderman game that he just got. it's really cool. also my echopraxia is 100% active watching video games. fucking wild. me moving like i'm a goddamn joystick while joel plays. it's actually really funny.

anyway, i worked in my planner a little bit before coming upstairs. i need a pink pen. i don't know where my pink pen is. i need it. it's gotta be a specific texture. i'm considering just getting a new set of the pens because the others are different textures when writing. it sucks. so i'm hoping to get some sort of consistency.

bleh.

i have a joel. i go to work tomorrow. i go to barnes and noble tomorrow with children. tomorrow is tuesday so i can feasibly drop off joel and go look for those pens at staples or whatever. i just. i need em. can't write without em.

or i could just go home, grab the other stickers, and look for my one pen and the rest of the pouch where i used to hold them. i don't even remember what i kept them in. i think it was my red paladin zip pouch? i don't remember.

i'm hoping i can sleep okay tonight. i'm beat.

petition to not have joel roll over on me in his sleep.

#molly rambles #operation srr #osrr #2000s #2800s #sunshine boy

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radbeetle · 4 years

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|Call to Arms|

wow these screenshots are so old. do you know why i’ve been sitting on them for so long? because i wanted to finish the writing about this mission before I posted them

AND I DID. Check it out on AO3 or under the readmore.

“These robots were assaulted by institute synths.”

Katherine scrunched up her face and shielded her eyes as she looked up at Danse , who insisted on keeping his headlamp on.

“Um, sorry, I - I gotta ask… what are… synths?” and what’s the institute, for that matter, she thought to herself, but one question at a time.

“Technological abominations created by the institute, and let loose to run rampant throughout the commonwealth.” Danse’s voice was heavy with disgust, even through the buzzy modulation of his power armor.

“Danse. That’s… I get that you don’t like them, but what are they?” Katherine pleaded. “Just… in simple terms? Please?”

He scoffed. “I would have thought you familiar with them. Most in the Commonwealth seem to be.”

Katherine deflated, shoulders sinking. “Well… just… I’m out of the loop. Let’s leave it at that.”

The blank stare of the T-60’s helmet concealed Danse’s puzzlement. Regardless, he provided explanation. “Robots, built in the shape of man. A mannequin brought to life by machinery. They’re a mockery of humankind at best, and a blight upon this world at worst.”

Katherine bit her tongue, and suppressed her curiosity. As much as she wanted to know more, it was obvious Danse was biased. “I guess things have come a long way from the Mr. Handy, huh.” There was still a little bit of awe in her voice - she very much wanted to see these synths. Truly humanoid robots had always been a lofty goal of the industry… she had heard of RobCo’s Assaultrons, but they were still miles away.

Danse scoffed. “Unfortunately. Keep your eyes open as we move deeper into the facility. It’s highly likely that the Institute’s forces still have a presence here.” The paladin was already moving on, and Katherine was quick to follow.

“Mmm-hmm.” She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Part of her was brimming with curiosity about these synths… and part of her knew that if they could take down those protectrons, they could take down her.

“This place has really been trashed, huh? What do you think it was like back in the day?”

“Filled with men making poor decisions, I’m certain.”

Katherine pressed her lips. So much for small talk. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the hallways opened up into another room. Two dust coated windows framed a sliding door, which Danse was quick to investigate.

“This is the way forwards, but it seems to be locked tight. There’s no apparent way to open it from here.”

Katherine straightened up, and holstered her 10mm. “Oh, if there’s no visible controls on the door, they’re likely wired into a local terminal. It’s technically required for them have a way to bypass the lock through the hardware, in case of emergency, but they never make it easy. Security stuff. Uh…” she trailed off for a moment, glancing around the room. There were a few desks still standing on the opposite wall, terminals still intact. “Um, give me a moment.” She kicked a toppled chair away from the desk, and bent over the keyboard. “Mmm, this one’s still logged in. I guess there’s not really time to properly disconnect from your workstation when they’re bombing the city.” she muttered as she scrolled through the inbox.

“Any luck over there?” Danse inquired.

“I’ve got access to the internal mail system, uh, lots of reminders about security protocols and - ah-heh. Automated password change reminder. Looks like it’s for the lab access?” Katherine had a gnawing feeling in her gut that she was over-explaining things. Surely the paladin didn’t care about the specifics.

“That’s where we’re headed.”

“Great, yeah, uh.” She scanned the room again and scampered to the other still functional terminal. “Let’s hope…” she trailed off.

Danse took a few steps away from the laboratory door, turning to watch Katherine with mild curiosity, hidden behind the power armor helmet. She seemed quite at home amongst the terminals and technology. An unusual trait, compared to most of the wastelanders he met. Though he was initially skeptical of her claim to being a Vault Dweller - the Brotherhood had no record of a Vault 111, after all - he wondered if perhaps there was some truth to her statement.

“Hey!” Kate’s head popped up over the top of the terminal. “Got it.”

“Excellent. Let’s not waste any more time. If you could open the door?”

“Oh! Yeah, yeah.” A swift keystroke and the door opened with the whnk-hsss of pneumatics.

Paladin Danse formed around, set once again to lead the way onward, through the facility - but the incandescent blue laser bolt that buzzed his power armor brought those plans to a standstill.

“Hostile detected.” The matter-of-fact statement and computerized voice carried no overt aggression, a sharp contrast to the flurry of laser fire passing through the now opened doorway.

“Synths! Take cover!”

Katherine didn’t need to be told - she dove for cover behind a fallen file cabinet the instant she caught sight of the laser’s flash. Her grip tightened around her pistol as she heard Danse shout - a cautious glimpse revealed that the synths - that’s what he said they were? - were prioritizing the Paladin as a target, paying no attention to her. She wasn’t sure if they had even noticed her.

A dozen thoughts all raced through her head, tangling together as she stared at the machines. Mannequins was the comparison Danse had drawn. He wasn’t too far off. They were battered, damaged, rubber skin torn to reveal steel skeletons and plastic components. Only a moment had passed before one of them turned its gaze to Kate. The faint yellow glow of its eyes and the exposed grimace of its metal skull was an eerie sight - and one that quickly exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.

Danse had taken it out with a single headshot.

The moment was enough to jolt her back into action, and she followed up by returning fire. Her 10mm pistol wasn’t nearly as effective as the AER-9 laser rifle Danse carried, but it did the job.

“Hmph. Sent them to the scrap heap.” He noted the laser weaponry carried by the synths, and had a realization. He glanced at the pistol carried by his current associate, and offered her the backup laser rifle he had brought. “Take this. I’m certain there’ll be more of them, and they’ll be carrying microfusion cells. Energy will be more effective than a weapon of a ballistic nature.” The Paladin tossed the rifle towards Katherine, who caught it with a startled yelp. She turned the weapon over in her hands. She had a passing familiarity with the AER-9 - though she had never personally handled one, she understood the basic mechanisms, and microfusion cells were something she was well acquainted with.

She fastened her 10mm pistol to her belt and kept the laser in hand. Danse had already stepped over the smoldering wrecks of the synths, but her curiosity was too strong. She stopped in the middle of the room, and crouched down over one of the robots.

They had been shooting at me only minutes ago, she thought, and there was still part of her that was worried they might spring back to life. Yet despite that lurking fear, she had to get a closer look.

The situation struck her as a little morbid, perhaps. Moreso than examining a broken-down Mr. Handy, at least.

It was the faces, she thought. The eyes.

The Institute. That’s where Danse said they had come from. Katherine had seen how the world was torn apart, still ruined from the bombs dropped so long ago. But it seemed that somewhere out there, something had not just survived, but thrived. Moved on past the limits of the world she knew, developed things that General Atomics could only have dreamed of.

A weight settled somewhere deep in her chest as she turned one over. An aching sort of sadness.

She didn’t have a chance to process those feelings, to figure out the why behind them.

“What are you doing? Hurry up. We can’t waste any more time.” Danse snapped, irritated by what he saw as Kate’s dawdling.

“Oh.” Katherine’s response was quiet. She got to her feet, gaze lingering on the remains of the synths, before turning away to follow Danse once again, through the ruins of ArcJet.

Katherine was worn down by the repeated encounters with the institute synths - after the first firefight she stuck closer than ever to the paladin - and stayed behind him, too. The power armor could take a laser much better than she could.

She was sure Danse was scowling at her cowardice, under his helmet.

“This way leads to the engine core. We’ll have to pass through here to reach the location where they’ve likely stored the transmitter.”

Danse looked back to find Kate dragging her fingers through the dust on a long abandoned desk, staring at a box of long faded files and folders.

“Everything here stopped so suddenly… how many people do you think made it out?”

He hesitated. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“When… the bombs dropped.” Katherine clarified, her voice tinged with sadness.

Danse cocked his head. “I couldn’t tell you, and I doubt anyone in the commonwealth has that information, given how many years have passed since those events.” He scoffed. “Regardless, I would suggest against concerning yourself with the people of the past. Their actions brought the war upon themselves.”

Her only response to Danse’s declaration was to go very quiet.

The elevator ride that took them to the engine core was awkward; Katherine pressed herself into the back corner of the car and wondered how much a suit of T-60 power armor weighed. Every time the elevator creaked, or groaned, she flinched. The thought that it had gone two centuries without maintenance scared her.

Kate’s knuckles went white as she clutched the pitted railing, just leaning barely enough over to stare down to the depths of the room. Her eyes followed the length of the rocket booster back up, and turned to look back at Danse, whose attention was drawn upwards, assessing the staircase - and the massive gap where it had broken away over the past two centuries.

It wasn’t filling Katherine with confidence, that was for sure.

–

It was only a short few flights to the floor of the test chamber, thankfully. The ash crunched under Katherine’s feet, and she walked a line around the edge of the room, idly looking over the footprints she left.

Danse placed an armored hand on the cowl of the engine, which had laid dormant for over two centuries. He wondered briefly if the brotherhood would have a use for it.

Maybe if it were smaller. As it stood, there was no way to transport the thing.

“See if you can find a way to turn the power back on. Perhaps redirect it from other parts of the facility.”

“Yeah - yeah sure.” There were only two ways out of the room, aside from the stairs. An elevator, unpowered and unusable, and a set of heavy steel double doors, halfway open and leading to what looked like a maintenance hall, judging by the wires and pipes running along the concrete. Seemed promising - or so she hoped.

There was a… she supposed it was some sort of control room, judging by all the consoles and buttons present, but she didn’t pay much attention to it - another doorway at the rear of the room exposed a fusion generator, and that was much more promising when it came to potential power systems.

Not just one fusion generator, but two - and a terminal at the back of the room. She nudged the chair away from the desk, wheels leaving a trail in the dust. As she settled in, Kate’s fingers ran across the terminal keys. There was no elaborate security down here in the depths. It didn’t surprise her. But it did make her current task easier - and she was glad. She tapped her way through various options, scanning every choice and setting .

Ah. There we go. Auxiliary power. A few confirmations and…

She could hear the power systems coming to life in the walls around her, the faint buzz of electricity through wires, and the hum of mechanical systems powering up. That should have done it, if everything was still connected.

The fusion generators she had passed has turned quiet, and her gaze lingered on the fusion core left inside. Well… if that was no longer connected, no longer needed.

Push, turn, and a click as it disconnected, slipped into her pocket on the way out.

It was the sound of gunfire that made Katherine snap to attention once again. Or, more accurately, laser fire. Flashes of blue and red through the reinforced glass window of the control room.

The paladin’s shouts confirmed her assumption.

“Synths!”

She froze up, eyes darting across the room, tracking the barrage of blue bolts in front of her.

It felt like hours before Danse called out again, directed at her. “Do something, Vance! Don’t just - urgh - stand there!”

It was enough to jolt her into action.

She slammed her open palm down on the big red button on the console in front of her.

The sounds of laser fire weren’t enough to obscure the pre-recorded countdown that initiated.

“Command accepted. Test fire commencing in five… four…”

Katherine’s heart was doing backflips in her chest. “Test fi- oh god oh no job on that’s not -” She pounded on the window. “Danse!”

“Three… two…”

Danse didn’t have time to muster a response, under the onslaught of synths.“

"One. Engine firing.”

The roar of the engine was deafening, and Katherine’s immediate reaction was to cover her ears. The sound was matched in intensity by the engine’s output - even here behind the safety of the blast shield, she still felt the wave of heat.

Danse dropped to one knee, arm raised to shield his face. The steel of his power armor picked up a faint red glow around the edges under the engine’s flames.

The synths weren’t nearly as durable. Any of them immediately under the test engine were swiftly reduced to ash, and those with a little more distance crumpled to the floor within moments.

“Test firing completed with an efficiency rating of ninety-six point seven percent.”

Katherine was already at the blast doors by the time they swung open. Her footsteps crackled in the ash as she ran to Danse.

He hadn’t moved since going down, and that made her fearful.

But as she approached, he groaned, reaching for the laser rifle he had dropped.

“Danse? Oh my god I’m - shit, shit I’m sorry I didn’t know - I didn’t think - *are you okay?!” She was on the verge of panic.

“I’m fine.” Danse grunted, getting to his feet with a little more effort than usual.“Thanks to my power armor. Without it I would have fared no better than those damn synths.”

Katherine reached a hand out, a gesture of support, but as she placed it on his arm…

“Ouch!” She yelped, flinching backwards. The metal still held quite a bit of heat. She shook her hand - that was gonna leave a mark.

“I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Maybe it wasn’t the wisest decision, but the results are acceptable enough.” The paladin gestured toward the elevator, where the call buttons were now lit up. “I strongly suggest we keep moving on. I don’t know how many more synths are in this building, or if they’re on their way to us again, and I’d rather not stand around to learn the answer.”

Perhaps it was more of a command than a suggestion, as he didn’t wait for a reply before heading towards the elevator.

“Um…” Kate hurried after him, still worried, though now for a different reason. “How much does that power armor weigh…? Is that going to be within the weight limit? I don’t - that elevator is two hundred years old and I know it hasn’t had regular maintenance, what if it -”

Danse turned around to look at Katherine. Even with his helmet obscuring his expression, she could sense his disapproval.

“Sorry.” She offered lamely, before going quiet and squeezing into the elevator car beside him.

It was a tight fit.

“All the information I’ve gathered indicates that the deep range transmitter is most likely stored in this control room,” Danse explained, “and there’s almost no evidence of scavenger activity in these parts of the facility.”

“What about the synths?”

“They arrived not long before we did, from the looks of things. If the deep range transmitter isn’t in the control room, one of the synths may have taken it. If that’s the case, we should hope they haven’t yet left the facility - if they’re still here, recovering the transmitter will be a simple task.”

“… more gunfights?”

“Very likely.”

Katherine clutched her laser rifle just a little tighter as they made their way towards the control room.

She was very conscious of her choice to keep behind Danse. The power armor protected him - and anyone behind him.

The tinny statement of “Hostile detected.” was the first sign of synths ahead, followed by the pchew of laser fire overhead.

“Contact!” Danse was the superior marksman between them and was quick to take out a trio of synths. They crumpled to the ground in rapid succession, and the third found its plastic skin burnt to ash as it fell.

Katherine was quick to offer fire against the last two synths as Danse reloaded - though none of her shots missed, she was far less accurate. It took more than twice as many shots for her to take them down.

“Well done.”

“Oh - um. Thank- thank you.” She never was great at handling praise, and was quick to scamper off in search of the transmitter, investigating the destroyed synths while Danse searched the room.

A few recovered microfusion cells found their way into her pockets, before a larger item caught her eye. She nudged the synth aside with her boot, uncovering… well, she wasn’t certain it was the deep range transmitter but it did have the look of a very complicated and very expensive piece of technology.

Katherine made her way back to Danse with the device slung under her arm. “Hey - I found this and um. Is this what you’re after?”

“That would be it, yes. Excellent! And it doesn’t appear to have sustained any damage.”

“Yeah, that’s good news.”

“There should be a way to exit the facility from here, so there won’t be any need to backtrack. Follow me.”

Danse wasn’t one to loiter - Katherine found it hard to keep up with him.

“… oh, another elevator.”

The service elevator led to an exit behind the ArcJet building, up a hill, sheltered inside a concrete structure. The commonwealth was quiet - there were no signs of any synths lingering outside. They were both equally relieved by this.

Danse took a few steps past the aged, rusting fence, and turned back to face Katherine. With his rifle holstered he reached up to remove his helmet, tucking it under one arm as he spoke. “well, I’m certain that could have gone smoother, but mission accomplished.”

Kate winced. She really had no frame of reference here. “I’m - I’m sorry. I didn’t…” She trailed off, deflating.

“While the operation was flawed, your contributions were still invaluable. Without your assistance I would certainly have been overwhelmed on multiple occasions. I’m not certain I could have retrieved the transmitter on my own.”

“Oh…!” There was surprise in Kate’s exclamation. She shuffled her feet a bit, awkward. “I’m… glad to hear that. I think.”

The paladin continued onward. “With that said, I believe we have two important matters to discuss. First and foremost is the deep range transmitter. If you’ll hand it to me, I’d like to compensate you for your assistance during this operation.”

“Yeah, yeah okay, here, this is, um. This is yours.” Kate offered Danse the device, which was swiftly packed away and secured.

He unholstered the rifle at his side, presenting it to Katherine. “Here. You clearly have an aptitude with technology - and with energy weapons. I think you’ll benefit from this; It’s my own personal modification to the standard issue AER9 laser rifle.”

“…really? Don’t you need this?” Katherine gingerly accepted the weapon, scanning it. She could see evidence of tinkering - and, of course, the brotherhood’s symbol stencilled along the barrel. She ran a thumb across the paint.

“It’s not the only weapon at my disposal. Besides, I believe in paying my debts.”

“Well then… thank you.”

“You’re welcome, civilian. Now, onto the second matter.”

Kate bit her tongue, unsure of what to expect.

“I wanted to make you a proposal. We had a lot thrown at us back there, and for the most part, you handled yourself exceptionally.”

She found herself wanting to disagree, but said nothing.

“Our op could have ended in disaster, but your determination kept that from happening. I believe that with a bit of training, you could be a valuable asset to the Brotherhood.”

“Erm.” Was she being recruited? She would have flunked out of the pre-war military almost instantly.

“The way I see it, you’ve got a choice. You could spend the rest of your life wandering the commonwealth, scrounging for supplies and trading your skills for a meager reward. Or, you could join the Brotherhood of Steel and make your mark on the world.” Danse shifted his weight, grip tightening on the helmet he still held.

“So, what do you say?”

Kate bit her lip. “The Brotherhood of Steel, huh? You guys are… aren’t you military?”

“Essentially, yes.”

Her hesitation was obvious. “Is this something I can think about? I don’t think I know enough here to, uh. to make a decision so quickly.”

“Of course. It’s a big decision. The offer still stands, and when you’ve made up your mind, you know where to find me.” Danse took a moment to put his helmet on once again, and his voice crackled out from within. “With all that said, I need to return to the police station. The deep range transmitter ought to be installed sooner, rather than later, so we can get in contact with the rest of the Brotherhood. Thank you again for your assistance, Vance. I wish you the best.”

Katherine found herself staring after Danse as he turned and left, heavy footsteps echoing off the hills around them. She shook her head as if to clear it. This whole thing had taken her off track, and she sighed. She had always been praised for her willingness to help, but so often that kept her away from her own tasks.

She certainly wasn’t going to make it to Diamond City today, she realized - the sky was still light, but she knew that wasn’t going to last much longer.

There weren’t enough hours in the day. That had been true two hundred years ago, and it was still true now.

She wasn’t looking forward to setting up camp for the night.

#fallout 4 #screenshots #paladin danse #fallout oc #sole survivor katherine #radbeetle screenshots #beetle's ocs #radbeetle writes #i might have to start just linking to the longer things on ao3 because wow this one went long #katherine's memories

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voltrontranscript · 3 years

Text

VLD S6E5: The Black Paladins

Season 6 Episode 5: The Black Paladins

Transcript by @dragonofyang

Summary: With Lotor kidnapped and Shiro seemingly turned traitor, the Castle of Lions is undergoing critical failure of the controls, and the team has Lotor’s generals to contend with on top of it all.

[Google Doc]

Coran: I’m headed your way!

Keith: Coran, no! The Castle of Lions barely survived the first time we fought one of those ships. You’ll only--

Allura: Keith is right, Coran, the ship’s defenses will never hold!

Pidge: Guys, we can’t take this much longer!

Lance: Do you guys have any ideas?

Keith: Coran, fire just below our position!

Coran: What?

Keith: Destroy the rock we’re pinned against. Now! Lance! Pidge! I need you to get us some cover.

Lance: Right!

Pidge: On it!

Keith: Who’s got eyes on Shiro?

Pidge: What just happened? Is that…?

Lance: A wormhole?

Keith: They’re trying to escape.

Allura: Haggar. It has to be Haggar. She must have gained the ability. But how?

Keith: We can’t worry about that now. We have to make sure we get Shiro back.

Hunk: But Shiro’s not Shiro anymore.

Keith: I know, but something is wrong with him. The Galra or Lotor have to be behind it. You all know he would never give up on us. We can’t give up on him. Guys, one of my thrusters is down. Can you compensate?

Pidge: Those beams torched our power core. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Hunk: We’ve got maybe thirty seconds of over-clocked burn time.

Keith: Hit it!

Hunk: We’re halfway through our burn! Twenty-five percent! Fifteen percent! Eight percent!

Lance: We’re not going to make it!

Pidge: We’re too heavy!

Keith: Disband!

All: What?

Keith: The energy from disconnecting might create enough thrust to propel me through the wormhole.

Allura: You’ll be the only one on the other side!

Keith: Do it!

[Scene change as Keith enters the wormhole where a massive Galra fleet awaits.]

Keith: Alright, gotta play this smart.

Ezor: Wow. I can’t believe he made it.

Zethrid: I’ll take him out.

Acxa: No. You two escort the package back to Honerva. I’ll take care of this one.

[Scene change to inside the hangar of one of the Galra cruisers.]

Lotor: Zethrid. Ezor.

Zethrid: We’ll take it from here.

Ezor: Um… is it broken?

Zethrid: Just leave it. We’ve got orders. Ezor!

Ezor: Coming!

Honerva: You are to lead the Black Lion away from the fleet. Is that understood?

Shiro: Yes. But how am I to lure them away?

Honerva: The Red Paladin’s connection to you runs deep. Deeper than the others. He still believes there is good left inside you, which leaves him vulnerable to persuasion. You will exploit this weakness.

Shiro: I understand.

[Cut to Black Lion attacking the fleet.]

Keith: Think. Think. How are we gonna get in there? Shiro! Shiro, come in. I know you’re there! I don’t know what’s wrong, but I know we can fix this. Let me help you.

Male Galra Officer: All ships, dock immediately, and prepare for hyper-jump.

Keith: I know you’re hurting. We just need to keep it together a little longer.

[Scene change to the Castle of Lions at Daibazaal.]

Pidge: Okay, all the Lions are in their hangars and their power cores appear to be recharging.

Hunk: Structurally speaking, the Lions are at about sixty percent. Whatever those ships hit them with really did some damage.

Lance: Any luck yet, Princess?

Allura: No. I’m afraid not. I fear that the wormhole may have deposited them beyond my ability’s reach.

Coran: I’ll try to contact some coalition forces to provide assistance. Hm?

Lance: Whoa.

Allura: Coran, what’s happening?

Coran: It appears the castle’s systems are shutting down one by one. It looks as though someone hacked into the ship and let loose a kill protocol of some sort.

Pidge: Have you tried an override?

Hunk: Or maybe counteracting it with a live protocol? Is that a thing?

Coran: The virus is moving too fast.

Pidge: Okay, I’m in the system. Subroutines eight through nineteen have me completely locked out. But if I can just skip ahead... Come on, come on, come on.

Coran: Spectra generator down. Stabilizers are down. Main turbine also down. Crystal matrix offline! Particle barrier generator down!

Pidge: There! I’ve got it isolated. Now I just have to lock it down with a multi-layered tri-tetragonal quarantine. And… Almost… Ha! Yes!

Coran: Well done, Pidge.

Pidge: What? How? The virus has countermeasures that specifically targeted my quarantine! It’s like… it knew.

Coran: If this shuts down the teludav’s mass regulator, the ship, along with everything in the neighboring subsystem, will be destroyed.

Hunk: Uh, where are you going?

Pidge: No time!

[Scene change to the Galra fleet.]

Honerva: Prince Lotor. My son. The anger you feel toward me is to be expected. But understand that the events that transformed me into the witch Haggar also shrouded any glimmer of maternal instinct I may have had for my one and only child. However, you’ve continued the work I started all that time ago and have indeed seen it through to heights I could have only imagined. Your never-ending pursuit of knowledge is truly--

Lotor: Enough. My mother ceased to exist when Honerva drew her last breath. Do not believe for a moment that I would ever accept you as kin. You are an abomination. A twisted perversion of what was once so pure and beautiful. The end is near, witch. I know you can sense it. If you beg for your life now, maybe I will take pity on you when the time comes.

Honerva: Take him away.

Ezor: Did you just kill her?

Zethrid: Are you working with Lotor?

Lotor: I can explain everything, but I assure you she is not dead. If you’re with me, we need to get to the Sincline ships and leave now.

Ezor: Um, sure?

Zethrid: We’re good.

Lotor: Right, then. We’re headed for the Castle of Lions’ last known location.

Acxa: Sir, the wormhole deposited us on the far side of the Thizonian system. We’ll need to make multiple hyperspace jumps and even then, it will take some time.

Lotor: Then what are we waiting for?

[Scene change to Black Lion flying to a grayscale planet.]

Shiro: Hello, Keith.

Keith: Huh?

[Cut to the Castle of Lions.]

Coran: Pidge, what have you discovered?

Pidge: Protocol’s countermeasure. I recognized it.

Lance: Recognized it? How?

Pidge: From the code I scanned from Shiro’s arm while we were looking for Galra installations.

Allura: Wait, are you saying Shiro is responsible for this?

Pidge: Yes.

[Cut to Keith and Shiro on the base of Project Kuron.]

Keith: Shiro, it’s gonna be okay.

Shiro: Yes, I know.

Keith: We just have to get back to the castle.

Shiro: We are not going anywhere!

[Cut back to the Castle of Lions.]

Allura: The teludav, it’s reaching critical mass. Pidge!

Pidge: I know, I know!

Lance: This thing’s about to blow any second.

Hunk: Uh, Pidge, how did you do that?

Pidge: When I was scanning Shiro’s arm, I also made a copy of its programming. I created a virus that could terminate all its command prompts, in case something like this ever happened. I never thought I’d have to use it.

[Cut to Keith and Shiro at the Project Kuron site.]

Shiro: That’s the Keith I remember.

Keith: Shiro, I know you’re in there. You made a promise once. You told me you’d never give up on me.

Shiro: And I should have abandoned you just like your parents did. They saw that you were broken. Worthless. I should’ve seen it, too.

Keith: I’m not leaving here without you.

Shiro: Actually, neither of us are leaving.

Keith: Shiro! Shiro, please. You’re my brother. I love you.

Shiro: Just let go, Keith. You don’t have to fight anymore. By now, the team’s already gone. I saw to it myself. Keith…

[Transition through several flashbacks before settling on one of Keith in the garrison.]

Woman: The only reason this kid is here is because you vouched for him. You need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.

Shiro: Understood. I’ll handle it. Hey.

Keith: Look, I know I messed up. You should just send me back to the home already. This place isn’t for me.

Shiro: Keith, you can do this. I will never give up on you. But more importantly, you can’t give up on yourself.

End.

#vld #voltron #transcript #voltron transcript project #keith #shiro #lance #hunk #pidge #allura #coran #lotor #honerva #acxa #ezor #zethrid

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years

Text

5e Viego, the Ruined King build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Pan Chengwei. Made for Riot Games.)

What? Did you expect me not to make this? It’s the goddamn Ruined King! He’s finally out after all these years! I mean sure he’s a goddamn twink but still; he’s finally out! Also Samira build is coming out 35 years from now.

And even though I put a Warlock TikTok meme in my last video, here’s a whole bunch of them because... yeah no shit he’s a Hexblade... Of the Ruined King.

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GOALS

Ruin to all! - MIST'S EDGE: Basic attacks deal a percentage of the target's current health bonus physical damage on-hit.

Serve me in death - If you ever wanted to play as the enemy for a bit Viego will let you take a ghost or two; as a treat.

The mist is my great unending sadness - Foggy days are typical for an edgy boy, and King Ruin is so edgy he wants to cover the entire world with fog! Yeah that “mist is sadness” quote is real; I got it from the Wiki.

RACE

Viego is a human... but he has a great degree of variance. We’ll be going for yet another Variant Human because we’re not allowed any monster champions anymore. As a Variant Human you get a +1 in two different stats of your choice: increase your Charisma and Strength by 1 for the strength to be beautiful for your queen. You also get proficiency in a skill of your choice: Perception will let you see through the mist and search far-and-wide for your queen. And you get a language of your choice: Abyssal seems reasonable to speak to the mist.

Of course the main appeal of Variant Human is the feat at level 1, and to swing the Blade of the Ruined King Great Weapon Master will let you cut through a percentage of the enemy’s health! When you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon (such as a greatsword), you can choose to take a -5 penalty to your hit chance. If you do hit you’ll do an extra 10 damage with your strike! And as an added bonus when you score a critical hit (with a melee weapon) or kill a creature, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action!

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - League of shirtless anime boys amIrite? Gotta look good for Isolde.

14; DEXTERITY - Repeat after me: “something something Medium Armor.”

13; STRENGTH - This is a requirement for another one of the classes we’ll be taking. Yup this isn’t just straight 20 levels in Hexblade!

12; CONSTITUTION - A ruined king with a blackened heart is still allowed to have some health.

10; WISDOM - Destroying the entire planet just to simp for your wife isn’t the wisest move.

8; INTELLIGENCE - Nor is it the smartest.

BACKGROUND

You were the king of a long-forgotten nation, so unfortunately noble wouldn’t work. But you still have servants! The Knight background grants proficiency in the History that you lived through as well as Persuasion to get Isolde back. You also get proficiency with a Gaming Set and Language of your choice, which I’d say pick your fancy.

But the main reason we’re taking Knight (and not Noble) is for Retainers! You get three knights sworn to your kingdom (Kalista, Hecarim, and the third one) who will do mundane tasks for you. While Hecarim may be up for a slaughter unfortunately your retainers can’t do anything in combat and won’t follow you into dangerous locations. And of course if you treat your subjects poorly they will leave you. But it can always be useful to have more spirits in the mist to search for her!

(Artwork by @thejenneralchen on Twitter)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - PALADIN 1

Hah! Did you think we’d be starting with Warlock? Put simply we need things from Paladin more, notably the proficiencies as well as starting equipment. Dude imagine having to spend 3200 gold to buy the sword literally named after you? But for now you might just want to grab a Longsword to start. Regardless Paladins get proficiency in two skills from the Paladin list: Athletics are required in the jungle, and Intimidation will let everyone meet know that you will stop at nothing for her! You fucking simp...

You also get Divine Sense to sense the beasts of the mist, or your queen. As an action you can know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the creature type, but not its identity. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated. (Have a feeling you’ll find a lot of desecrated areas.) You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier plus 1, and regain all uses at the end of a Long Rest.

And you can restore a bit of health thanks to Lay on Hands. You have a pool of healing equal to 5 times your Paladin level that comes back at the end of a Long Rest. You can heal a creature for any number of hitpoints from that pool as an action when you touch them, or cure a disease / poison affecting them with 5 hitpoints. Man that would’ve been useful a couple of thousand years ago, huhn?

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

Time to pick up the Sword of the Ruler of the Mist. Hm... There has to be a better way of saying that. Regardless Warlocks get to choose their subclass at level 1 and to get a comedically large sword that saps peoples’ lifeforce we’ll be opting for the one, the only Hexblade patron! As a Hex Warrior you can wield martial weapons as well as medium armor (which you already could cause Paladin), but can also choose to swing a sword with your Charisma instead of your Strength or Dexterity. Which is great because you’re not exactly the buff sort. Unfortunately you can’t use a two-handed greatsword just yet, which is why I said you’d do good to grab a longsword instead.

But if you are locked in combat Hexblade’s Curse will make sure that you can dispose of them quickly. As a bonus action you can mark a target for 1 minute. During that time you do bonus damage equal to your proficiency bonus to the cursed target, crit on a 19 or a 20, and regain hit points equal to your warlock level + your Charisma modifier when you kill them. The curse ends early if the target dies, you die, or you are incapacitated.

And of course as a Warlock you get Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips and two leveled spells: Eldritch Blast will let you manipulate the mists for a ranged attack, and Prestidigitation will help you keep clean and kingly despite all the black mist flowing out of that gaping stab wound in your chest. As for leveled spells Armor of Agathys will let you put on some Thornmail to keep your health up and hit your foes back, and I mean Shield is on the Hexblade expanded spell list anyways so we may as well use it.

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations as the mist manipulates your body and soul. For now take Devil’s Sight to see through your Harrowed Path with your dumb human eyes, and we’ll be leaving the other invocation slot open for a level.

You also get another spell but all the other first level spells don’t really interest me. Yeah we’re not taking Hex you’re going to have to live with it!

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon for a particular tool of the Warlock trade, and to wield a weapon of spectral steel grab Pact of the Blade! The long and short of it is you can make yourself any melee weapon, and Hex Warrior affects any weapon you summon with this feature! This means that you can actually wield a two-handed Greatsword, but feel free to choose other options. Especially now that you can take the Improved Pact Weapon invocation to turn that Cutlass of the Twink King into a +1 weapon, and also summon yourself a gun (shortbow / longbow / light crossbow / heavy crossbow) if you so desire. But I mean, why would you when you have Eldritch Blast?

You can also add some second level spells to your list like Darkness to walk a Harrowed Path through the mist, though remember that even if you can see through the mist your allies probably can’t. And Misty Step, because something something Flash.

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 4

4th level means the first of many Ability Score Improvements. Charisma is used for everything that you do so... maybe increase that?

You also get another spell and another cantrip! For your cantrip Mage Hand is helpful to manipulate the mist to grab things from high places. As for leveled spells Blur is on the Hexblade list... but why would you take that instead of Mirror Image, which doesn’t require Concentration.

(Artwork by @WetHamster1 on Twitter)

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get more Eldritch Invocations. To knock a foe down with Spectral Maw take Eldritch Smite, letting you channel a spell slot into a particularly deadly slash of your Viego’s Edge.

If you want an extra attack early you can also replace Improved Pact Weapon with Thirsting Blade, which is now available. But we will be getting Extra Attack from other sources later.

You can also now learn third level spells like Vampiric Touch for a bit of lifesteal. As a treat.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Hexblades can put their passive to work, and have spirits serve your Sovereign's Domination. Accursed Specter lets you use the soul of a humanoid you killed and make it serve you, using the stats of a specter with temporary hit points equal to half your Warlock level and a bonus to hit equal to your Charisma modifier. The specter remains in your service until the end of your next long rest, which is good because you can use the ability once per Long Rest. The specter rolls initiative separately from you, and obeys your commands.

And hey: you’ve already got ghosts fighting for you, so why not summon your depression to fight as well? Summon Shadowspawn from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (requires a 300 gold gemstone containing tears and) summons a spirit of Fury, Despair, or Fear to fight alongside you. There’s a lot of specifics to this spell that I don’t want to go into (its actual description does a far better job than I ever could) but the important thing to note is that it’ll give you another loyal follower.

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 2

Time for a few levels in that other class we have. Second level Paladins can choose their Fighting Style and of course to swing a Shank of the Former Blessed Isles Great Weapon Fighting (style) will let you reroll low die to more reliably cut through the mists.

Paladins also get Spellcasting at level 2, and unlike with Warlock casting you actually get some spell slots! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level (rounded down.) Divine Favor will let you do a bit more damage with your titular blade, and if you want more of a burst of damage then either Thunderous Smite or Wrathful Smite will do some more damage along with additional effects. To protect yourself from the mists and others who’d want to keep you from Isolde take Protection from Evil and Good. And to borrow a death realm from the other world-ending lord of Runeterra take Compelled Duel.

Of course you could ignore all that spellcasting stuff for even more Damage of the Ruined Blade! Divine Smite will let you do 2d8 damage with a first level spell slot, plus an additional 1d8 per spell slot above first, up to a maximum of 5d8 (with a 4th level slot.) Additionally if you hit an undead or fiend you’ll do an extra d8, meaning that with a 4th level spell slot you can do 6d8 damage!

The real neat thing is that this works with Smite spells as well as the Eldritch Smite invocation, allowing you to effectively use two spell slots at once to smite if you so desire.

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 3

3rd level Paladins get to choose their Divine Oath and nothing will stop your Oath of Conquest to save your queen. You get to add the Command spell to your spell list, as well as Armor of Agathys... Uh woups. Uh we’ll address that when we go back to Warlock.

You get two Channel Divinity options: to keep others from stopping you from reaching your queen Conquering Presence will let you force a Wisdom save on units of your choice within 30 feet to frighten them! Alternatively Guided Strike is like Great Weapon Master but in reverse, giving you +10 to hit. This means that if you use Great Weapon Master as well you’d have a +5 to hit and do +10 damage! But remember that you only have one Channel Divinity per short rest.

You also get Divine Health, because simps don’t take sick days.

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement, and we still use Charisma for basically everything so with this you can cap it off completely!

You can also prepare two more spells but... there isn’t much I want from first level? I mean you can take Cure Wounds for a bit of healing... as treat.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins get an Extra Attack. If you took Thirsting Blade from Warlock you might want to replace that too.

You can also prepare second level Paladin spells now! As a Conquest Paladin you get Hold Person to stun with Spectral Maw, and Spiritual Weapon for more soldiers from the mist. You can also prepare Aid to strengthen your army and Branding Smite to see your foes through the mist.

(Artwork by @vmatbox on Twitter)

LEVEL 12 - WARLOCK 7

Back to Warlock to replace a lot of things. But firstly you get another Eldritch Invocation: take Trickster's Escape for an emergency QSS.

You also get 4th level spells like Shadow of Moil to become a creature of the mist, and also to get an upgrade from the Darkness spell (which you might want to replace.) Speaking of replacing spells: you got Armor of Agathys from Paladin so replace it with Hallucinatory Terrain to cover the land with mist.

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. We’ll be taking the Eldritch Adept feat for more Eldritch Invocations. Which Eldritch Invocation? Why Undying Servitude of course, for more servants of the mist!

D&D Beyond tip: Replace Devil’s Sight and then give yourself 120 feet of Darkvision on the sheet.

You can also get another 4th level spell like Dimension Door, to travel far and wide in a flash to reach your queen.

LEVEL 14 - WARLOCK 9

Hey more Eldritch Invocations! Whispers of the Grave will let you speak to the fragments of Isolde’s soul.

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 10

And hey: 5th level spells finally! To strike a foe with Heartbreaker take

Negative Energy Flood, sundering their health and making them rise to serve you if you end up killing them.

10th level Hexblades get Armor of Hexes. If the target affected by your Hexblade’s Curse hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to roll a d6. On a 4 or higher, the attack instead misses you, regardless of its roll. Naturally this ability makes you particularly good in a 1v1 with whoever you target for Ruination.

You don’t get another spell but you do get a cantrip. Take Toll the Dead to deal with enemies who have high armor, for the mist comes for all.

(Artwork by @stingrae36 on Twitter)

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get their 6th level Mystic Arcanum, which looks like a spell slot and acts like a spell slot (IE it comes back after a Long Rest, not a Short one) but can’t be used to upcast your other spells. You can only use it to cast one spell, and for an AoE Heartbreaker take good ol’ Circle of Death.

Also more spells known from your regular Warlock slots: Banishing Smite is on the Hexblade list, and can be used to send any demons back to whence they came.

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 12

12th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. I have no idea what else to grab so take the Tough feat for a much needed 24 hitpoint increase to a primarily melee-based character.

You also get another Eldritch Invocation so it’s finally time to get the true Blade of the Ruined King damage with Lifedrinker! This will make any foe struck by your Pact Weapon take an additional 5 necrotic damage. This means that you should be doing 2d6 + 11 damage with every swing of a (+1) Greatsword!

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 13

More Mystic Arcanum, this time at 7th level! Power Word Pain will let you subjugate the weak.

And more regular spells: Danse Macabre lets you get more servants forever loyal at your side!

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 14

14th level Hexblades are Master of Hexes. Put simply: when a creature affected by Hexblade’s Curse dies, you can apply the curse to a different creature you can see within 30 feet of you. (Though you won’t be healed for the last foe’s death.) This will let you bounce your curse around and reap all its benefits constantly, becoming a master of your own blade.

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 15

Our last level is the 15th level of Warlock for a handful of benefits. Firstly we can get an 8th level Mystic Arcanum: Feeblemind is the ultimate tool to truly sunder the weak and discard the chaff.

Secondly you can get your level 15 Eldritch Invocations, and to never mistake Isolde’s face Witch Sight will let you see through any illusion that may be hiding her!

You may also want to replace Improved Pact Weapon as by this point you’ve likely found something better than a regular old +1 greatsword. Visions of Distant Realms and Shroud of Shadows are both very good options.

And we can finally get our last spell: as you gather enough information on the new world Scrying will help you expand your search further beyond!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Surrender to me! - Two smites plus Great Weapon Master on an already deadly blade results in absolutely devastating spikes of damage with your sword. God forbid you crit!

The black mist flows from me like a tide - You also have plenty of tricks to give you an upper hand in longer combats. Hexblade’s Curse of course, but also Armor of Agathys, Shadow of Moil, and Spiritual Weapon.

Fight, puppet; fight for your king! - You can summon all manner of ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, zombies, and everything in between to serve in your search for your queen.

CONS

The world denied my happiness - Low ability scores mean that your skills won’t be amazing. The ones you’re proficient in are alright but you aren’t much help outside of being deadly and being royal.

Answer for your crimes, death; answer me! - We didn’t take the 6th level of Paladin which means we didn’t get Aura of Protection. As a result your saving throws are rather low, and while I tried to avoid grabbing too many Concentration spells yo do still have quite a few, which is not at all helped by your meager +1 to CON.

She remains in this world; I can feel it - All the melee tools in the world don’t mean much when you lack any proper way to get close. You have Eldritch blast sure but beyond Dimension Door (which granted is very strong) enemies can easily keep their distance from the mad king with a big blade. Even if you want to use Dimension Door you have a very limited amount of spell slots.

But the world can only hide from the Ruination for so long. The black mist comes, and with it you come to search for your queen. Nothing can stop you; nothing will stop you until you have her again. The world shall be torn to shreds and shattered beyond repair, as long as you can have your queen... Or like, just find a Wish spell or something? Shame you’re a couple thousand years old because True Resurrection doesn’t even work anymore.

(Artwork by Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Made for Riot Games.)

#dnd #dnd build #dnd guide #League of Legends #League of Legends Viego #League of Legends Ruined King #Ruined King #LoL Ruined King #Blade of the Ruined King #dnd warlock

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ashedink · 3 years

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RPG story time/Pictures

So I am a gamemaster for a pathfinder group that’s been my reliable RPG gang for years. I wanted to make this as like a small gallery of pictures I’ve drawn for my most recent game, titled Red Gold.

As per usual it’s a long one, so I’ll put the bulk of things under the cut:

It was a simple RPG starting point, everyone was bounty hunters in a prestigious organization called the Hall of Red Gold. They deal with prison escapes, grave robbers, train robbers, necromancers, dangerous animals/creatures, and all other sort of variety of unlawful or evilness.

The founders of the Hall of Red Gold, they had a large painting made of a much smaller photograph taken just before their last battle.

Their center organization is in one of the largest cities in the country (population over 1.5 million) called Mkali (top picture) specifically that’s an area called the Canal Promenade. The canal serves to water their fields, prevent disastrous flooding, and allow for steamboat traffic and it’s a huge and central fixture. It’s almost always filled with merchant cards and street performers, and the city itself is brightly painted.

Their first quest was to cull a pride of man-eating lions and collect the tails for bounty proof. Through their Lion encounters they ended up with multiple critical decapitations. So they cut off the heads, cut off the tails, and quickly solidified their name:

Heads and Tails

They’ve come so far since then. They’ve made NPC allies in their organization, several of whom traveled with the party until they started taking on quests that were just too dangerous for them.

Their first companions were a goblin bard who mostly went by his stage name: Corpsebeater, and a Alchemist Halfling half-fiend who was *mistakenly* rescued from a demon cult under the assumption that she was a 5 year old tiefling. Both of them wonderful companions now retired. Corpsebeater changed his bard name to Venomblood after surviving a dozen scopion stings. He retired from the group shortly after that, but continues to build percussive music to shout exploits to. And for Zippi, after her time experimenting on the party (and herself) she got accepted as an apprentice in a shop called The Basilisk’s Eye.

The way I did it is Red Gold has a number of NPCs who can be invited along, and I’ve made it fairly easy for characters to flow in and out of the party without changing the game up too much. When VB retired Zippi stuck around just long enough to nearly die (she was like 2-3 levels behind the party at that point) and the party had some downtime, enough downtime to get up to a Fun Side Non-Bounty Related Thing.

Performing in the COLOSSEUM OF COURAGE! A temple to a minotaur/cervine god of battle and martial prowess. It trains warriors and also hold grand events in the tradition of old colosseums as a way of generating money. And this temple is run by the Grand Paladin RHEMBOL IRONHIDE!

The number of PCs I expected to hit on Rhembol was 2 higher than the 0 I thought it would be I could not stop snickering to myself I make this big old banged up greyed minotaur but he’s just got so much personality that everyone loved him. And of course he was glad to have Red Gold Participate in THE GRAND MASTER’S MAZE RUN! (Sorry, he is inflicted with SPONTANEOUSLY PROJECTING STAGE VOICE! meaning when I think in his headspace sometimes YOU JUST GOTTA ALLCAPS IT!)

But there was one little condition. You see, Rhembol has four wonderful lovely daughters that he would give the world for, three of whom are mostly like him: charismatic, gregarious, boisterous, always up for a fight but not looking for conflict.

And then, there’s...

Chesvah Ironhide, his awkward, unsociable, perpetually on auto-pilot daughter. She doesn’t like the performative aspect of her father’s temple, never has, but has never known anything other than Be A Paladin/Performer. So Rhembol spoke with Red Gold and allowed their teams into the games if Red Gold agreed to hire his daughter.

She joined a group that had formed just to compete in the games with plans to dissolve afterwards- and boy did they.

The 6-person team she was a part of contained a lot of other NPCs the party could bring into Heads and Tails, but only one of them is relevant- that being Tulio. Tulio is a catfolk who is a crack shot with a rifle, but also a LOT of other problems. He was almost always some variant of high, and showed many concerning behaviors. Red Gold kept him around because of his skill...

But, when in a drugged stupor he opened friendly fire in the colosseum with a crowd of tens of thousands in the audience, Red Gold had had the last of it with him and he was kicked out.

The party picked Chesvah up shortly afterwards.

And they probably didn’t expect Tulio to ever come back.

And certainly for a while he didn’t. Things ramped up, the party had been tasked with wiping out a Lamashtan cult, their leader Jiyaki who was a very prolific murderer, and stopping them from whatever their mysterious and bloody Goal was.

Pictured above is not the cult leader, but a demon bound to her service by another caster, and perpetual game wildcard. A powerful concubus who goes by the name of Kel. Yes, the same two members of the party did hit on them, successfully (depending on your definition of success here). Kel repeatedly showed no interest in obeying their master’s wishes, especially if they got in the way of fun, but its soul-bound sword “Shiver” had a number of contingencies in place to ensure Kel’s behavior.

Around this time they also were contacted by a blue dragon. You see, the last time they were investigating this, they had been told it was bandits, not a cult they were after. It was an inside-attempt to throw potential bounty hunters off their trail.

When they investigated the city one of the things that stood out was that there had been a break-in at a greenhouse called the Greenbriar Reserve. Upon investigating, Heads and Tails comes to the discovery that the Greenbriar Reserve had a dragonsbane plant. Dragons have been known to raize entire cities or countrysides over even a HINT of dragonsbane, because it is one of the few things that challenge their supremacy, and this greenhouse in a massive, populous city just happened to have one. The owner of the reserve kept it secret- for obvious reasons- and didn’t even state the name of the plant or 100% confirm he had one to the party. Hints and innuendo and nothing more. But he did ask them to please keep looking for the snip of plant which was taken- and his missing daughter as well (Kel kidnapped her and many others to use their faces for infiltration)

And then a blue dragon arrived at Red Gold HQ. Hushand the Gardener.

It had been over a month and he wanted to know how they were doing at finding HIS dragonsbane plant.

Because you see, he was working on a cure.

More and more things pile up on this city, culminating in a huge battle.

Someone pulled many strings to create what could have been (and honestly still was) a disastrous chain of events which involved red dragons attacking the city, Hushand the Gardener coming to the city’s defense. And there being two active shooters in the crowd with dragonbane poisoned weapons.

And one of those shooters was

Tulio swift, former Red Gold member, suspected veteran of the 27 year long surriedan civil war, habitual drinker and drug user and over all fringe NPC to the game.

In the heat of battle one of the PCs killed Tulio- but with the intent of getting him raised afterwards, to interesting effects.

Meanwhile under the cover of the military battles above, the party begins fighting the demon cult in the secret vaults below the city. Down below in the vaults where they had learned a lamashtan Artifact lies which turns sacrificed souls into conduits for summoning powerful demons.

And I’ll continue this when I get back from a walk. I’ve got more to add, but this has gotten long enough as it is.

#pathfinder #D&D #rpg story time

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queen-scribbles · 4 years

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Bless Me With Your OTP

Rules: answer as many of the following questions as you want, and add art/screenshots to show off your OTP!

Tagged by @starsandskies, tagging @haledamage, @storyknitter and @allisondraste, if you wanna ;) Also anyone else who wants to do this; I didn’t wanna go overboard with specific tags.

Gotta do Tragen/Jaesa, because I’m having feels again.

(fab art by @the-upper-shelf)

Do they fight often? If so, what is their dynamic like?

Not really. They’re of the same mind on a lot of things, so really the only thing they fight over is when one is planning to do something self-sacrificing and dangerous and the other is worrying about them.

Who is the most skeptical of the two?

Tragen, only because he spent his teens growing up through the Sith Academy on Ziost and saw the very darkest side of sentient beings’ nature. Not to say everything was roses for Jaesa as a handmaiden(especially on Alderaan, OY), but even the shrewdest of political maneuverings can’t really match the savagery of a Sith who wants something. Considering his experiences, he’s still surprisingly optimistic, but he’s also much quicker to write a person off as a lost cause than she is. He wants to reform the Empire, but first of all realizes that’s probably just a pipe dream; they’re fighting an uphill battle against millennia of tradition, and second figures the way to effect change is through a new generation of more light-leaning Sith, not “redeeming” the ones already in power.

Who would be most likely to suggest a night of dancing?

Both of them would love to dance, and they would be amazing at it. Tragen would be the more likely to suggest they do it, though, simply because he’s the bolder personality of the two. Jaesa’s more quiet/shy, and would happily accept if he offered, but would be too hesitant to suggest it herself and now I want art of them dressed to the nines and slow dancing ohno

What would they do if the other was injured in battle?

If Tragen gets hurt, Jaesa becomes laser focused on getting him out of danger so she can heal him. Even if the threat is still out there, as long as she can get him away from if, that’s good enough for the short term. They can deal with it later, it’s more important to make sure he’s safe.

If Jaesa gets hurt, Tragen’s gonna throw himself even more fully into whatever fight they were waging so he can kill anything that’s a threat. He’s not good at anything healing related at all, so the only way he’s gonna be able to even attempt to help her himself is if there’s no threats to worry about nearby. He’s still more likely to try and get her to a medic than do anything himself for fear of making things worse. .

How do their fighting styles complement each other?

They’re both very skilled... saberists(?), though they focused on different weapons: Jaesa has a doubleblade and Tragen dual wields. The different techniques they’ve each learned work very well for watching each others’ backs. Jaesa’s also fairly skilled with Force healing, which is good bc Tragen is very much a frontline defender brand fighter; he wades in and tries to keep the enemies’ attention on him so they’re not hurting other people. He’s more focused on melee combat than using the Force, she’s very attuned to the Force but still relatively skilled at melee combat. Add in their Force Bond and the two of them almost literally move as one when fighting. They can pretty much read each other’s mind/emotions, so always know exactly where to be.

Do they want children? Does it frighten them? How many do they want?

It’s not something they’ve talked about yet. (can you imagine how gorgeous their kids would be? Just A+ gene pool right there) Them as a couple is a fairly recent development that kinda caught both of them off-guard, so they’re still working through all of the Stuff(TM) that comes with it. HOWEVER. Neither of them would be opposed to kids, for sure. Tragen might’ve been more reluctant when he was Wrath, just because of the danger and any kids being one more things that could be used to hurt him if his true... uh, beliefs were discovered(it was real fun playing a LG paladin Sith lemme tell ya xD). But now that he has some level of autonomy as Alliance commander, he’d be very open to the idea. He loves Jaesa so much, the idea of having a family with her would delight him.

Jaesa would probably likewise love to have a family with him. She’d be a little more hesitant just due to the basic state of the galaxy. Even knowing things will never completely calm down, it’s nerve-wracking to think about bringing a child into the mess that is the current state of affairs. But it really isn’t ever going to be “safe” and she’s grown more comfortable with being bold and taking risks for the things she wants, and this would be something she wants.

Both of them would be ferociously protective parents; RIP to anything that tried to hurt their kid(s).

What happened when they took them home to their families? If their families aren’t in the picture anymore, how do they feel about it?

Well, fun fact, the very first time Tragen took Jaesa with him to visit his family was before they were a couple. Before the Wild Space Expedition, even, not long after he was made Emperor’s Wrath. His parents and sister all like Jaesa immensely, and his mother can TELL there’s Something there with this girl, but she doesn’t say anything bc they need to figure things out on their own. Whenever he gets around to telling them about the change in relationship status from friends and master/apprentice to lovers, he’s gonna get a round of “Saw that coming” and “Took long enough”s

Technically, so far, the only time Tragen’s met Jaesa’s parents is during the SW quest arc on Alderaan. He was polite, and merciful, and told them he only wanted to talk to their daughter, he meant her no harm. They took some convincing, their Jedi guardian even more so, but he did talk them into cooperating before instructing them to go to Dromund Kaas. When he found out Baras was poking around them, he kept an eye on the situation, but thankfully things with Baras came to a head before that particular problem got too dicey. He’s currently hoping things resolve enough with the Alliance/Republic/Empire that he and Jaesa can track them down again, make sure they’re safe, and that they’re okay with their daughter dating an ex-Sith. (Jaesa’s an adult who can make her own decisions, so it’s not really asking permission; more he doesn’t want to be a point of contention between her and her parents after they’ve been apart for so long)

How does each person show affection towards the other?

There’s a lot of affectionate touching, and I don’t just mean hugs and kissing, though there are plenty of those.

Jaesa tends to brush her fingers against his arm whenever she walks past him, lean her head on his shoulder whenever they’re sitting/standing next to each other, that sort of thing. Tragen likes to slide an arm around her waist or hold her hand. Both of them have a history of being forced to repress feelings for various reasons, and finally being in a position where they don’t have to, where they can say I love you and kiss each other whenever they feel like it and be touchy-feely affectionate... why would they pass up any chance to take advantage of that?

On top of the physical affection, they’re both big fans of encouraging and reassuring each other. They’ve been doing that since well before they fell in love, so it’s only natural it gets folded into their romantic relationship as well.

Who cries the most? Who is better at comforting?

Jaesa for both. She’s so very tender-hearted, and one good thing about being trained as a Jedi rather than a Sith, compassion’s not seen as a weakness. So while Tragen’s super accustomed to burying the vast majority of his emotional vulnerability(other acolytes would’ve torn him apart, forget about full Sith after his summoning to Korriban), she’s more willing to show it. When Tragen’s feeling sad etc he tends to just go sit somewhere alone(preferably with a good view of the stars) and work through his feelings inside his own head.

BUT since Jaesa’s such an empathetic person, she’s really good at picking up on the more subtle signs he’s feeling down and their Force Bond only makes it easier. So she usually gives him a little while to have some privacy, then offers to help with comfort or company or whatever he needs if he wants her to. (He always wants her to. But she always makes it his call, even if she thinks she knows the answer)

Who is the bigger flirt?

Neither of them are all that flirty, actually. The two of them are more earnest declarations of love and support than attempts at seduction. (Neither of them is particularly good at it, either. Jaesa’s tried being coy a time or two, and Tragen will occasionally pitch his voice lower bc apparently that’s “sexy”, but since they both realized independently they were in love with each other and confessions were made so fast in relation to being reunited, any flirting is more joking/playful “I’m so lucky and glad I have you” teasing than anything else. They’re dorks. Vette rolls her eyes at them even as she grins.)

#tagged #otp meme #tragen/jaesa #otp: my north star #tragen xo'ric #jaesa willsaam

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overplannedbutunnamednpc · 4 years

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Amnesia Campaign Lore Time! To help us make it to next week 😔 19 for all because that feels like tasty shit? Then: 2 for Glade, 17 for Coriander, 3 for Ecstasy (take that bitch down a peg 😤) and 16 for Iris!

19. What was their first impression about their partner/person they are courting? Glade: oh i wrote about it. just a sec lemme Fetch her. okay i’m back. “He won’t ever forget the first time he met her. Hymn is a gleaming sort of girl riding on the back of a royal carriage, her horns almost clanging against the helmet of her companion, another Crown paladin giggling with her as they wait for the carriage to make its way back to the palace. She does not see him.” then we also have, also pretty good, “One good thing, though, about living in a city with problems with population: You tend to see the same face twice. And what a face. Glade has seen plenty of the Crown sporting the golden tattoos that intricately adorn their face. He’s never seen someone wear them so lovingly. The gold catches the sunlight when she smiles at him, and the coppers in Glade’s pocket that he stole out of a tip cup inside the market feels like it’s burning a hole in his pocket in the face of it.” so like. long story short: he thought she was fucking gorgeous and way too good for him. and he was right. but he was also .... wrong? much to consider.

Iris: hmmm. okay so I THINK iris and cylthia met post demon siege. probably not immediately post so its not like cylthia was covered in demon sludge or anything? but like still maybe the both of them were pretty harried just by virtue of. most of the palace still covered in demon guts and whatever. so honestly I don’t think iris took much notice of cylthia specifically the first time? her first impression was very likely “attractive tiefling who is number Two in the order of the people I need to personally thank for their service to this city.” it was only after she and her father looked into the backgrounds of who mfu actually Were that she really took note of cylthia because she was the best candidate for the propaganda they want to do. iris waited another meeting or two before actually approaching cylthia, to get a better impression of her and whether or not she’d be a good choice, but her First impression was rather stark.

Coriander: big. like, aliviva had told her that she was sending her a creature similar but different to how she herself was, but that didn’t do SHIT for how BIG yocheved actually turned out to be. it was also rather difficult to communicate with them. she’d sort of forgotten the nereid language since divorcing aliviva, and yocheved def speaks a different dialect, and she’s not great with people at the best of times, so it was like. kind of a weird time? they ended up figuring it out though!

Ecstasy: it basically shook out to “yeah she looks like she has the lowest ac.” like was she attractive yes but it kind of didn’t matter until she talked back with a gun to her proud chin and then it was kinda like

2. When they have a crush on someone, how do they let them know? glade will try and find any excuse to See them. i mention again the aladdin au where he lifted lent’s holy symbol from her just to try and make sure she’d see him again, and he meant it as a joke but also like. he Did seek her out when he could! he liked her! he liked seeing her! she seemed to smile when she saw him so he brought her hot drinks while she was on guard duty when it was cold out and he took walks that took him past the crownsguard barracks twice. which sounds like. sort of creepy but lent very explicitly liked it and invited it and he mostly did it when she was on shift so he could see her and she wouldn’t get in trouble for being distracted. so its okay.

17. What sort of characteristics or quirks draw them to someone? coriander likes... i’m gonna say intelligence different than her own. she wouldn’t like someone with intelligence too similar to hers because she’s too competitive for that! but I think the reason she fell for aliviva and yocheved were that they were and are very socially/emotionally intelligent. she doesn’t have that sort of intelligence so she doesn’t feel competitive about it, but she does like intelligence and displays of it and that does attract her to someone!

3. Tell us about a time they were rejected. so like. ecstasy for sure was not cool enough to have any sort of relationships before she had the guns and shit to back it up. however!!! I don’t think that stopped her. ecstasy is the PINNACLE of “fake it until someone actually believes that you’re really sexy and cool and probably the youngest first mate ever and decides to sleep with you for it”. the trouble is that actually you’re the cabin boy at best, and you were kind of counting on going to their place? but they’re really insistent about seeing “””your””” ship and like. you don’t have that. so you’re kind of in the middle of a side street and you gotta really awkwardly explain that hey you were totally lying and you don’t have a ship actually. and then obviously they do Not take you home with them. f.

16. Do they have at least one bonding activity they devote to doing with their partner exclusively? ;p no she does. i think the things that are exclusively for iris and cylthia: family planning, soft romance, and any inventive spellwork that iris is currently coming up with. there’s just something about like. when everything else is in the public eye or at least the eye of your family, you specifically try to put things aside to do exclusively for yourself/your partner. and that’s okay!

#misscleverlesbian #glade #coriander #ecstasy #iris

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some-cookie-crumbz · 5 years

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Collector’s Edition

Collector’s Edition - Kidge Month Day 13 Prompt Fill Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: When Kolivan assigns Keith to go collect an important artifact the Blade has been tracking, he’s initially excited because it means he gets to spend time with Pidge. But when he gets a third and fourth wheel tacked on? Not so much. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.

Despite his parting from Team Voltron, Keith was grateful that he still had times where he could collaborate with them. With how much they could all grate on his nerves, he still cared about them and valued their skills. Lance, despite being brash and arrogant, was a fast learner and rather skilled tactician, when the mood struck him. Plus, he was rather skilled at rolling with a last-minute plan pretty well. And Hunk, though a bit of a coward, was a powerhouse with a heart of gold. He would put his own fear aside to protect innocent people. Allura, despite being royalty, was far from someone who feared the idea of getting involved in the fray. Her diplomacy skills were just as honed as he fighting capabilities, which he couldn’t help but admire. He and Shiro had a history and he knew his qualifications quite well. Excluding him, he had to say that Pidge was probably the person he enjoyed interacting and working with on the team the most.

And that wasn’t just because the two of them had started a relationship underneath everyone else’s noses.

So, when Kolivan asked him if he’d mind working with Voltron for the mission, he had jumped at the chance. He suggested Pidge specifically, since it sounded like it was a more covert operation. Green Lion would be incredibly useful in the situation, and he wasn’t going to complain about getting some much needed one-on-one time with Pidge. They hadn’t been able to take the time and catch up on what was new in each other’s lives lately, after all.

Instead, he’d been crammed into the Green Lion with Pidge, Hunk and Lance. And forced to suffer through Lance singing the entirety of “99 Bottles” two and a half times.

"Okay, see, this seems a lot more like a potential black market!" Lance said, gesturing widely around them at the small shops and booths set up around them. All three of them had been decked out in Blade garb to help keep them from standing out. The last thing they needed was to be wandering around a market like this with the three decked out in their full Paladin armor.

Hunk was a few paces behind him, looking incredibly uncomfortable as he peered around at the various liens around them. "Is that really something we should be celebrating about? Aren't black markets supposed to be, you know, super sketchy?"

“Considering there's a Blade informant around here, doing Blade tasks? Probably," Pidge chimed in. Then, with a small huff that Keith knew meant she was smirking, she turned and walked backwards along. "Probably super dangerous, too. I mean, Kolivan said the agent that that agent they assigned out here had to be put through rigorous, intense torture training."

"Wait, what? Nobody told me that!"

Keith could feel his eye twitch as he peered around himself, trying to look for any sign of a Blade nearby. "Pidge, stop trying to freak Hunk out," he said flatly. He then tilted his head back and to address the other man. "She's exaggerating, Hunk."

"Exaggerating? So he did have to be put through torture training?"

Lance snorted a bit, a clear indication that he was going to join in on Pidge’s game, too. "Wouldn't surprise me. I mean, have you ever actually listened to some of Nihaar's stories?"

"Oh, did she tell you about the Blade who ripped one of his own teeth out?"

"Oh God!" Hunk choked out.

"Would you three knock it off?" Keith barked as he wheeled around to face them. They all skid to a stop and turned to look at him. Part of the problem with having Lance, Hunk or both of them around was that the three of them tended to feed on one another. If one of them was riffing on one of the others? Then the third one had to join in so it was a game of two against one. It was exhausting in situations such as this. He couldn’t see their faces, but he took comfort in knowing they were paying attention to him. "Look, Nihaar tends to embellish some of the stuff she's seen. I've been working with the Blade a while and, aside from the initial trials I went through, I haven't had to do any extra training like pulling out teeth or being tortured or whatever else you're thinking goes on."

"Well of course Keith would say that," Lance said, leaning over to faux-whisper to Hunk "since he’s had to take the Blade of Marmora vow of silence."

"That or they put a device in his head to control his thought process," Pidge chimed in, her voice surprisingly chipper. "Did you see any surgical scars by either of his temples? That's how we'll know for sure."

"Oh, God, I’m pretty sure I saw one!"

"I am so sick of all of you," Keith snarled lowly, throwing his hands up and turning to stomp away.

"Aw, Keef~! Wait up!" Pidge called, all giggles as she chased after him. It took her a moment to catch up, given he was taller and had gotten a head start. "Chill out, dude. We're just teasing."

"What you're doing is being obnoxious and making this mission way harder than it needs to be! And attracting tons of attention!" He hissed out quietly, indicating the crowd around them with a nod of his head. A few of the other patrons wandering around had started glancing over at Hunk, Lance and Pidge’s theatrics, their eyes glued to them. When Pidge lifted her head and peered around, though, they all quickly averted their gaze, trying to avoid getting caught.

"Oh, come on. We're just having a little fun with you," She said, stepping closer so that she was beside him. "I mean, we don't get to tease you like we used to anymore. We gotta get our fill when we can find the time."

"Gee, thanks. I feel so loved," he quipped sarcastically.

Pidge laughed outright at his dry response. "As you should! We only do it because we care and miss you,"

"You have a real funny way of showing it," He paused to turn his head and watch as Lance and Hunk started trying to catch up, flailing their arms and shouting gibberish at them. They had gotten a decent breath of space between them. "Well, when these two are around, anyway."

"It's not my fault we're keeping things on the DL," she huffed as they started the trek again. She peered around at a booth that seemed to have some kind of glass wares available. "I take it that the rumor is true, though?"

"Rumor?"

"I overheard Shiro and Coran talking. You originally asked Kolivan to approve me alone for the mission?"

He could feel his cheeks flushing under the mask. "Oh, that," he mumbled shyly. "Well, yeah. I figured it'd make more sense to go in a small, covert group. Plus, Green Lion has that cloaking device, so she's good in situations like this." He explained. He caught the subtle droop of her shoulders and shifted, nudging her with his hip. "And, you know, I thought it'd be nice to spend time with you, one-on-one."

"Aw, you're a big softie," she hummed, reaching out to shove his arm playfully. Her hand lingered, though. It was the most they could do with Hunk and Lance with them, after all. "But I'm surprised Kolivan didn't agree. I mean, that's some pretty sound logic you were using."

He shrugged. "He said it's because whatever we've been sent to collect isn't going to be an easy fare. I'm assuming that, whatever it is, must be pretty important if he wants so much extra coverage," he said. He wasn’t completely sure on the details, as Kolivan had implied it was a rather sensitive situation. His lips twisted down in a small scowl as his mind whirled with another thought as to why his commander had picked a slightly larger group. "Well, either that, or he thinks we need babysitters."

"Jokes on him; none of us here are mature enough to keep the others in line," she scoffed, stretching her arms above her head. There was a small pop of her back followed by a soft sigh. "If he wanted people who behave then he should have sent, like, Shiro or Adwru or someone like that along."

Keith opened his mouth to say something else when they heard a loud, alarmed shout behind them. They turned to find Lance and Hunk, both in cuffs, surrounded by a small group of some kind of guards. They weren’t wearing Galran armor, but the armor they did have had some kind of strange, bright orange symbol on it, like an opened eye surrounded by sun beams. Three more guards had turned to look at them.

"Hey, you two! Come with us!" One of the guards shouted, lifting one hand to reveal something that resembled a cattle prod in their hand.

"Run!" Keith snapped, shoving Pidge’s shoulder in the direction they’d been going.

The guards darted after them, snapping about how important bringing them in was. A pit formed in his stomach. Were they aware of what to expect from Blade members in regards to dress? Or had they figured out who, exactly, Pidge, Hunk and Lance were? He knew that some time back Pidge had gone snooping around from underground swap to swap, chasing leads on where she could find Matt and Sam. Had word of her movements traveled and left security at these sorts of places on high alert?

It would be something he’d need to loom in to later, he decided. Right now, they had to figure out how to shake their pursuers and free the other two. Seeming to be on the same page as him, Pidge called out her bayard and flipped around. She fired her hook shot out, slamming right into a large chandelier. It came crashing down, narrowly missing hitting the guards chasing them, and making a decent mess between them. "Ha! Nice shot!" He praised.

"Thanks!" She said, turning to start running again before freezing. She lifted her bayard again and prepared to launch it out again. "Keith, duck!" She shouted, but before she could let the shot fly, she was seized up by two sets of large arms. She started thrashing, flinging her head back in an attempt to headbutt her captor. "Let go of me!”

"Pidge!" He shouted, pulling out his Blade dagger and starting to charge forward. He was tackled from the side by one of the other guards who had found their way around the smashed chandelier. He threw his elbow behind him, managing to clip the other in their trunk-like nose, in an attempt to get his Blade free enough to make a move with it. Instead, the guard grabbed the wrist and pinned it down.

The one holding Pidge fished out a laser gun with one hand and held it to her head. “Stop fighting, or your little friend here is gonna suffer the consequences,” They snarled at him.

Keith glared up at them but didn’t say anything or try to fight it as they looped the cuffs on the wrist still clutching his dagger. The guard pinning him perked up, leaning over to get a closer look at his dagger, before letting out a small hum. “These are definitely the ones boss told us to keep an eye out for,”

“Good,” The one hold Pidge said gruffly. Another guard approached and helped him to cuff her as well. Once the two were cuffed properly, the guards that had caught Hunk and Lance approached, leading the duo along with guns to their backs. “You all are going to have the delight of meeting the big boss himself for your actions. You should feel honored.” He sneered.

All the vendors and patrons around them watched in wide-eyed intrigue as the group was led away. They were loaded up into the back of a small vehicle and driven out of the main bazaar, out towards a large building a few miles away. Judging by its placement and the other vehicles coming and going, Keith was willing to wager this was the building where seller’s permits, security agents, and other such matters were handled. Once they entered the building, they were taken past a reception area in the front, down a long corridor, and into an office. A figure settled at a desk in the room perked up at their entrance, a toothy grin turning up on their lips.

"Ah, so you lot are the group Kolivan sent, hm? Pretty impressive struggle you put up out there. Been a while since my men were given a run for their money like that," he said with a laugh, waving one hand at his guards as he pushed out of his seat and approached. He was clearly part Galra, given his pupil less yellow eyes and the purple-blue hue of the fur he had. His ears were reminiscent of Sendak’s, being large and wide and attached completely to his head, though they grew more narrowed and furless leading up towards the tips. His nose pointed out a bit, somewhat like the snout of a rodent, and was furred all the way up to the tip. The fur along their head had been grown out and down, leaving them with fur that functioned much like sideburns, but were clearly well-maintained and groomed. Unlike the normal Blade or Galran armor, or even the more simple robes most merchants sported, he was wearing a burgundy colored suit with silver detail work along the lapels and cuffs. At his indication, the guards set to removing the shackles they’d placed them in just moments before. “Though I certainly hope that none of you were harmed. We have to put on an impressive, believable show for the other merchants, but that doesn’t mean we go out of our way to hurt you.”

Keith blinked as his wrist were freed, reaching up to gently rub at the left one. "Wait, you're our informant?"

"Indeed I am. You may address me as Reylt," he said, offering him a hand.

While Keith shook his hand, Hunk poked his head over, unbound and seeming significantly less unnerved. "Wait, you're the Blade guy? But you don't look like you've been through rigorous, agonizing torture,"

Reytl cocked his head in confusion before shaking it. "I... I beg your pardon? I am a Blade who was ill-suited for combat, but excelled in other fields that are just as necessary," He then turned and indicated they follow him to yet another elevator at the other end of the room. Three of his guards followed along while the rest fell back and took watch by the main office entrance and elevator respectively. "Though I can't blame you for being confused. Those who know of the Blade tend to only know about the main activities they engage in." He clicked the lowest button and, after a small cream of gears, began its descent.

"Information gathering seems pretty commonplace for the Blades, though I'm sure you get a pretty diverse selection, given your location," Pidge chimed in, waggling her fingers at her sides.

Reytl hummed before holding one hand up and waffling it side to side. "It varies, if I am honest. Information also isn't my expertise, though I will offer up anything of notoriety that I find," The elevator dinged as it reached the floor, the door gliding open smoothly. They were greeted with huge, large shelves filled decorated with various goods decorating them. "Come along. My men will help you transport the goods back to your vehicle."

“Goods?" Hunk asked skeptically as they all slipped out.

The young Blade cast them a quick, curious glance over his shoulder. "Yes. Kolivan did explain what, exactly, he sent you to retrieve, did he not?"

"Well, he said it was vital equipment we were coming to get," Lance scoffed.

"Equipment, goods, feh. It's a yularis, yularis matter at that point," Reytl snorted, emphasizing an ‘e’ sound the first time he said the word, and then emphasizing an ‘i’ sound.

"Uh... What?" Lance drawled out.

Hunk hummed quietly, tilting his head. "I think that's their version of tomato, tomatoe,"

"Ah, brilliant," Pidge said flatly.

“So, where is this item? We really need to get going before they start thinking something bad has happened to us,” Keith cut in, walking alongside Reytl and his guard.

“Right this way. Also, I must say, Kolivan has exquisite taste. Finding this little number was not easy, but I’m sure that it will be well worth it,” He commented, leading them through the shelves of goods until he reached one of the larger items. A huge grin turned up on his lips as he pulled out a tablet, clicked in some information, and then smiled as one of the larger items from the top shelf was slowly pressed out on a moving platform and lower. “Tahdah!” He held his arms out with flourish at the item before them.

“... U-Uh,” Hunk trailed, looking from the item to the others.

“Oh, my God,” Pidge choked out, the noise sounding like a cross between a laugh and a groan.

Keith swallowed hard, looking at the item and then Reytl. “Is… Is that… A desk?”

“Well, it isn’t just a desk! It is a desk made of the finest windeler wood, crafted by the craftsmen Quin’clu’tarf! It’s a one-of-a-kind antique!”

Lance let out a low groan, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Are you serious?”

“Um… Are you sure this is what we were sent here for?” Keith asked, shaking his head a bit. He couldn’t believe that this was what they were sent for.

However, Reytl nodded, a serious scowl forming on his face. “Oh, absolutely. I have been trying to find this desk at his request for ages now!” He turned to look at the item again, then back to the team. “Now, do you need any equipment to help you with transporting it?”

The ride in Green Lion to return was incredibly quiet and tense, leaving Keith almost wishing the others would start acting up again.

#Voltron legendary defender #Keidge #Kidge #Peith #Kidgemas #MonthofKidge #MonthofKidge2019 #KidgeaPalooza #KidgeaPalooza2019 #Pidge Gunderson #Keith Kogane #my fics #Yall can't convince me Kolivan hasn't pulled something like this before #It's just not possible

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dragonofyang · 5 years

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ABTV Feb 25 Transcript

A complete transcript of the ABTV Voltron interview with Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery on February 25 2019 is under the cut.

@crystal-rebellion @voltronisruiningmylife @felixazrael @leakinghate

KC: The series is over, but we’re not quite done. We are the Afterbuzz TV Voltron: Legendary Defender after-show and we’re here to talk to you guys about season 8 as a whole. We’re gonna talk about character arcs. We’re gonna talk about the end of reality. We’re going to talk about some of our favorite moments, and we’re gonna talk about them with two very special guests. So let’s get this ball rolling and team, it’s time to form Voltron!

KC: Hello, everyone! Welcome back. We are the Afterbuzz TV Voltron: Legendary Defender after-show. This is the season 8 review. We are gonna talk about season 8 as a whole. We are going to have a grand old time doing it. I have with me a green lion, Megan Salinas.

MS: Hey, everybody!

KC: I’m black lion, Katie Cullen, and we have two wonderful, fantastic, returning guests that we are so thrilled to have in studio. Our showrunners: Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim dos Santos.

JDS: How’s it going?

MS: [cheers off-screen]

JDS: It’s nice to see you guys.

LM: Yeah, thanks for having us. We’re happy to be back and talking about the final season.

JDS: Yeah, and we have to sort of give a pre-warning that we haven’t really watched it in a while, so we aren’t really sure what season 8 is anymore.

LM: Yeah, I did, I refreshed myself on the, uh, episode thumbnails on Netflix, so at least I have like, a slight reminder.

JDS: Yeah and they spoil everything for you.

KC: No, just me.

[laughter]

KC: Things I will never be over: when Netflix marketing screws up that bad. Well, welcome back. Before we get started we are gonna do a little bit of housekeeping. As always, we have the livechat going for those of you who are watching live on YouTube. We have the hashtag for those of you who are watching live or listening later. That hashtag is #ABTVVoltron. If you’ve got something to say, throw it in the hashtag, throw it in the live chat, you may well get a shoutout. I will say that we do check the hashtag throughout the week, and it lasts longer than the livechat does, so art, links, fun stuff, throw it in there if you want it to be a little more permanent. And as always, we have our tavern of lions house rule: be nice or get out. We--[laser sound effect]--there we go. Yeah. Everyone has opinions. I firmly believe you can express your opinions in a respectful manner and if you find yourself unable to do that, you will be banned from the channel. No more Afterbuzz animation for you. Buh-bye. Most of you have been pretty dang good at that, which I appreciate. Keep it up and we’ll continue. Season 8, though, you guys.

MS: Oh my goodness.

KC: The series finale. What was releasing this last season like for you?

LM: It was…

JDS: Exhausting.

LM: Yeah. Releasing it was really easy because we were, like, out of, you know--

MS: It’s done!

LM: --out of work for, like, a month and we were like, [noncommittal noises]. We were relaxing, we were kind of like--things were nice and slow. Making it was a whole different scenario. This was where we really procrastinated a lot on a few things, like, we thought we had this beautiful idea that we’d have all this time at the end where there’s no new episodes coming up that we’d have to make and like, we’ll have all this time to, like, reboard all these things that needed to be reboarded and focus all this attention. And we had none of that time, and I don’t even know how that happened. I think what we forgot to realize was doing our regular producer duties takes the whole day, and the end of the day was when we did all of our storyboard stuff.

JDS: I think, I don’t know how the math worked in our head, but I think we assumed that, like, as soon as season 7 was done, we reverted back to being, like, storyboard artists or something, and then we’d just be like, “yeah, we’ll just, like, draw and stuff again.”

LM: Yeah, we’ll have all this time to just, like, make the finale the best it can be. Like, I remember us talking with Eugene, like, “Oh my god, Jean. Eugene, when we’re done with, like, this last batch of episodes can you imagine how much time.” And he’s like, “Yeah, it’s gonna be so great!” And then, like, there was none of that because we were still making the frickin’ show and finishing, like, episodes just in editing and in post.

JDS: Balancing act was still happening, you know, like three spinning plates at a time.

LM: One day, I’m gonna figure it out.

KC: Sending it in at 11:59 before it’s due.

JDS: We’re gonna be, like, 80-year-olds like, “We figured it out!” And they’re gonna be like, “What’s this crazy old person doing here trying to make a cartoon?”

KC: That’s what we’re all trying to do collectively. We’re making a cartoon.

JDS: That’s right.

KC: So you had a lot of story threads to bring together and resolve as well as a lot of new information to give us. Was there… was there anything that got lost in the shuffle? Was there anything you would have liked to emphasize a little more that there just wasn’t time for it?

JDS: A lot, I mean yeah. It-it’s tough. We had this massive Honerva backstory to sort of really set up and queue up, and-and we were able to do that a little bit, sort of, leading up, but season 8 was really our big push to-to get that all set up. I think, you know, that came at the cost of, like, I would have loved to have spent more time with the MFE pilots and sort of figure out what made them tick. And we got a little bit of that with, you know, like, “Day 47”, but…

LM: Yeah.

JDS: I don’t know. There was stuff like that, like incidental side characters that we just were-we were super fond of.

LM: Yeah, it’s one of those really tricky things about having a show this big. As you introduce all these characters, and we had all these great ideas of, like, they’re all gonna come into play in these many different ways. And-and so you would be, kind of, in the writers’ room with the writers, like, talking about all these things. And then slowly but surely as we needed to just kind of whittle it down and make it understandable and get the strongest points across, like, these little things would fall away and so suddenly you’d lose that-that kind of side character involvement. Like, we had this idea of, like, Slav was gonna kind of be, like, with them and figuring out all of these, like, crazy interreality traveling stuff and like he would know all the realities, he would know exactly where to go, he’ll be in the cockpit with them--

JDS: Right, right, right.

LM: --it’s gonna be crazy. And then we were like, “Oh, no. We need to just, like--do we really need Slav in the finale? Like--

KC: Yes you do.

LM: --with all the paladins? Like, we love him, but that might be a little awkward. So, uh, yeah. And honestly, just, like, the finale itself, just that last episode, like, we’ve always…

JDS: Yeah.

LM: With every finale we’ve done, um, in-in our three, like, big seasons, we--you know, Zarkon we consider to be one season, Lotor is the second season, and then this big, like, Sendak Earth/Honerva arc--each of those had a big finale and every time we would write that big finale and we would run out of time. Like, we would overwrite it and I would always try to say, like, “Guys, we need, like, at least an act of wrap-up.” And then for the big series finale, like, it would have been awesome to have an entire episode where we could just dedicate to, like, tying up loose ends, but you can’t do that. We-we wrote an episode and then we got notes like, “Hey, there’s only action in act 1, can we have action in act 2 and 3?” And we’re like, “No! No we can’t!” Like, like, we gotta wrap up 78 episodes! This isn’t just a, uh, a 26 episode wrap-up. This is a 78 episode wrap-up.

JDS: But when you-when you look at that final episode, it really is just the first act of, like, fight stuff and the rest is pretty much wrap-up. Uh, I mean, we were just saying to each other, we wished that the conversation in limbo almost could have had its own episode. How awesome would that have been to really, like, explore, deep-dive into Honerva’s POV and make that transition when she, you know, sort of decides to go along with Allura. Sell that. Uh, but, you sort of deal--

LM: It was--there’s a ton of stuff that just hit the-hit the, kinda, cutting room floor, storyboard-wise, just because we didn’t have the time and so we’re looking like, it’s a kids’ show technically still, even though we’re trying to make it more than that. You have a-a scene that’s basically an act long that’s just in a white floaty space with people talking about, like, you know--

JDS: Bigger emotional stuff

LM: Yeah. And, uh, you know, letting that go any longer than that is just like, “You can’t do it!”

KC: Yeah.

LM: “Kids are sleeping right now!”

JDS: No it’s, what’s interesting, though, is that it seems like we’re in a--I don’t know--sort of social situation now where those types of shows are becoming more and more of a reality. And we were on this, like, weird precipice where we were always working on shows that were pushing the boundaries, and maybe Voltron was on the tipping point. It seems like now animation is way--it’s broadening, like, every day, so hopefully we’ll be able to see more shows that can, like, lean in and get really, really character-centric and still have all the sci-fi, like, big action stuff to go along with it. Um,

LM: I was telling Joaquim how, you know, we were just talking about how during our time on Voltron we-we started in a very specific point in the industry where we were very used to working inside of our boys toys animation box and trying to push the boundaries. And those were literally the only jobs that were available to us because those were the only shows that studios had in animation and during our time on Voltron, like Castlevania came out and changed the landscape and now suddenly there’s all these studios. Netflix opened its own studio here. We were making a show through DreamWorks for Netflix and now, you know, we could have just gone straight to Netflix and made a show that was more geared towards, like, young adults and-and more, but that wasn’t available to us when we started.

JDS: We were, like, trying to, like, like, sneak it in the back door like “this is secretly a much deeper show, everybody.”

LM: But it’s exciting that--because that’s--it’s a reality that we didn’t know if it would ever be a thing because we were working on Korra and we would say to ourselves, like, “This is the last time we’re ever gonna get this chance, you guys.” Like, Korra is, like, a crazy creature where Nickelodeon knows they’re not making it for kids, it has no toy tie-in, has no consumer products tie-in, it’s just meant to be kind of an art project at the studio. And so it was allowed to be this very mature, different show for an audience that they didn’t really understand. And-and so when it was over we were like, “Alright, well, back to the old way.” Uh, you know, we were prepared for it and we, you know, we definitely had more of, like, a fun campy vibe to Voltron, but we still wanted to try to push those bigger themes--

JDS: I think we maximized as much of the, like, sort of pathos and-and sort of hero’s journey and sort of deep character introspective stuff as we could.

KC: Yeah.

JDS: But, you know, it’s-it’s funny too because it just seems, maybe even to ourselves, but it seemed like the lines got blurred even in how it was, uh, uh, received by the fandom and received by, even like, the media outlets. It was-it was sort of, like, on the cusp of being talked about, you know, with other shows that were way more mature like, “Oh, the Game of Thrones of it all” and it’s like “[hesitant honking noise].”

[laughter]

KC: “We didn’t kill that many pe--oh we did kill that many people. We ended reality!”

MS: [indistinct] way more people than Game of Thrones.

JDS: So we did. We did-we pushed the boundaries.

LM: Yeah, and we would--we’d find ourselves getting compared to shows that we were… like live-action shows where, like, “Oh, they should have done it like this,” and it’s like, “That, that would be awesome if that were an option at all--”

JDS: Right, right, right.

LM: “--in any way.” But, uh, us-us to consider our, like, little robot lion show being made, us trying to make this show for as many people as possible under the guidelines of a “boys toys” show, it’s never gonna be able to have, like, quite the ability to push farther that, like, a live-action, like Walking Dead on AMC that’s at 10 o’clock at night specifically for adults where you don’t have to worry about “how are my kids gonna do with this?”

KC: If your kids are watching Walking Dead, you have other problems.

MS: Either that or you’re the best parent in the world.

KC: Uh, disagree.

MS: Agree to disagree!

KC: Disagree!

MS: But was it that sort of desire to push the boundaries that, sort of, resulted in this climax where, “Yeah, we have the big action set piece leading up to it,” but ultimately the resolution is one that’s brought up from empathy and understanding.

JDS: I think so. And I think--I will say DreamWorks was incredibly patient with us with regards to us broaching a lot of these subjects. They were, you know, maybe still figuring things out in terms of how they would approach, you know, other topics that we can-we can get into a little later. But I would say the finale is almost--I don’t know, I don’t want to say unlike anything you would see in other like-minded shows, like, let’s say Transformers or Power Rangers or something that, like, Voltron was by outward appearances being compared to--but it was something, I think, really exciting for us to be able to explore because we did create villains and create heroes that worked within this very, kind of like, shades of gray spectrum. There was-there was-there was black, there was white, but we played in this really weird, morally-ambiguous zone a lot of the time and that was, I think it’s important for, kind of, audiences of every age group to see that.

LM: And, you know, we also came from working on shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra which very much pushed those boundaries as well, and were extremely groundbreaking for, you know, children’s programming and it was not something that was coming out of western animation. So, uh, I mean we, I would say we learned an insane amount from Mike and Bryan.

JDS: We just had to reverse-engineer that into the goofy cat lady. [Hosts laugh] You know what I mean? That was, like, that was our, like, little-little trick to the industry. It was like, “How do we do all that cool stuff that-that we were able to do in those shows and sort of cram it into this package?”

LM: Yeah, and honestly, like, a lot of it was just us knowing that our ability to, like, show everything on-screen, like, every type of representation we might have wanted to show. We might not get our way on everything, but at least through having these larger lessons we can-we can still push those messages of acceptance and of understanding and of, like, looking beyond. And you know, those are just important messages. I think, like, everyone kind of learns them in their life in their own way and, uh, I don’t know, like, I was such a little, like, asshole kid [Hosts laugh] that, like, I, like, didn’t understand empathy. I didn’t understand why people cried when they were happy, I was like, “Why would you cry when you’re happy? Like, you’re happy.” And then, of course, now I’m the woman who watched a T-Mobile commercial today and friggin’ cried, so--

JDS: I want to know what this commercial was.

LM: It was beautiful. I’ll describe it to you after because I don’t want to take time.

[Laughter]

LM: But uh--

KC: Advertising other brands, uh, [concerned noise].

LM: But uh, you know, there-there are things that come through, I think, life experience and through learning and our paladins had that, kind of, on steroids with their whole Voltron journey, so you know, to really show how that manifested and how they learn from it was… it’s important, and it-I think it’s just important for kids to see it, even if they’re not there in their life yet, to know when they get there they look back and, like, “Oh, I-I saw that, like--”

JDS: “I saw that happening to that character.”

KC: To be able to see it happen to someone else and someone that you’re invested in because, “Oh, it’s Lance! He’s my favorite!” and then you watch him grow from this brat to the right arm of Voltron. Yeah, actually I think this is a good point to start talking about character arcs in this season.

MS: I think so! Yeah!

KC: Let’s talk about Honerva. Let’s talk about this horrorterror! She’s-she is amazing and horrifying and not the villain I expected to make it to the very end. Here we are, I’m impressed.

JDS: Let me ask you, though, were you at all sympathetic to her and her, sort of, cause [indistinct]?

MS: 100%. Um, it-it’s so--she was one of the most fascinating characters to watch because once she gets her memory back and she realized--you know, contextually-speaking we as the audience find out who she is at the same time she does--uh, you, you slowly start to realize how much of this entire scenario she’s responsible for whether inadvertently or not. And so it’s so fascinating watch her refusal to take responsibility for her part in it but still desperately wanting that sym--you know, the human connections that she was denied. You know, human, so to speak.

JDS: Sure.

MS: Altean!

JDS: Altean.

KC: It’s telling that the perfect world that she found to slot herself into is the dimension where she died. [MS makes an agonized noise] Where-where this whole--

JDS: She was taken out of the equation?

KC: Yeah, it’s possible that it’s a dimension where the comet never happened because Voltron was obviously a surprise. The alliances were still there but the giant robots were, “You’ve brought this monster down upon us, what are you?”

JDS: Right.

KC: So it’s-it’s telling that that’s the perfect dimension that she found is the one where she died super early on.

MS: And correct me if I’m wrong, but her--to obtain the perfect world--she was also basically willing to kill infinite versions of her son and her husband in order to get what she deemed she was worthy of.

JDS: Well, I--that’s, and that’s sort of like the misdirected love, right? Like, she was in one hand looking for the acceptance and the love of family that she never had, but she was blind to everything else, all the other chaos that she was causing as a result. That to me is-is interesting. I feel, you know--

LM: Yeah. It’s an interesting character. It’s not necessarily, like, the most honorable by any means, but you know, characters, when you can understand why they want it but then you see them doing things that are absolutely unacceptable to get it, it’s like you know it’s wrong but you know, you can-can kind of understand--

JDS: We’re hearing crackle in our ears, everybody. [Hosts laugh] That might be me, I’m just gonna go ahead and put it on the floor.

MS: It’s probably mine.

KC: It’s--your phone case doesn’t like the table. It-it’s, no seriously, it’s super weird and I’m pretty sure it’s your phone case. Sorry, I was trying to do that silently so I didn’t interrupt you.

JDS: I was going to call attention to it, please carry on, sorry.

LM: Oh no, we were talking about Honerva, or something.

KC: Great podcasting.

LM: Yeah, there-there’s something really incredible, like, interesting to me about her, kind of victim mentality where she-she really won’t accept that, like, a lot of this is her fault. She just looks at, basically, like, she’s lost her whole life. She’s witnessed it not knowing that it was hers, realizing looking back on all the things she should have done differently, that she could have done differently and it’s kind of, you know, she’s kind of trying to point that blame. I was like, “Well, if I--the quintessence hadn’t, uh-duh-duh,” you know, she-she’ll turn it on everyone except her, even though she was right there, you know, kind of diving into this whole quintessence research and bringing this whole thing about.

KC: “It’s Voltron’s fault.”

[MS laughs]

JDS: But it was also cool, I think, you know, one of the things that I was really surprised of in the room--I don’t really remember how it came up--was the notion that when she shows up in this reality and then Voltron follows, they’re like, “Why have you brought this, like, demon monster to our world?” It’s a-it’s-it’s a-it’s a crazy, sort of, flip of the script where really, you know, Voltron was doing good, but in a lot of people’s eyes and it’s, you know, in a certain people’s eyes, it could be seen as--

LM: I mean, you wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t know any better.

JDS: --bringing chaos.

MS: Voltron was the robeast in that scenario.

JDS: That’s right!

MS: You know, it’s like, “Look at this giant monstrosity that’s gonna wreak havoc on our planet.”

KC: Because Honerva parked hers out back.

LM: She was smart enough to store it off-planet, wink wink.

JDS: And we were talking a little bit before this about, you know, how there’s this portion of the fandom that’s like, “How could you, like, justice for Lotor!” and-and where, you know, “where is his redemption” and “how could you kill him off?” and obviously, you know, we feel we’re coming from a point of, you know, he’s gone so far off the deep end that-that death was really the only, sort of, salvation that he had on some level. But it’s interesting that it was-it was Lotor in that reality, there was a version of Lotor that was, you know, unaffected and uncorrupted, and-and you know, doesn’t come from that-that kind of horrific background that our Lotor did that, uh, was in essence, kind of kicked off everything being turned on Honerva’s plans.

KC: Yeah.

MS: It really does highlight how a person’s, like, the circumstances that they find themselves in really do have an effect on the person they become.

JDS: Right.

KC: But it’s also a matter of choice. Like, this up--these awful, awful things happen to him, like there’s no question that Lotor would have turned out better had his parents been physically capable of empathy. They’re kind of zombies, so it’s an issue.

JDS: There’s nature versus nurture.

KC: That’s not the weirdest thing I’ve said today.

JDS: Aww.

KC: That’s not the weirdest thing I’ve said today. Um, but even after all that happened, he made the choice to go, “You know what? Fine! Violence it is!” And lean super hard into that curve, even while he was still going, “Oh no, I don’t want to mess with my Galra heritage. Oh no, I’d rather be an Altean. Oh no, this.” Like…

JDS: Right. And-and that’s--I think that noncleanliness of, like, where he fits in and, like, the villain category, or the hero category, or the character that’s going to be redeemed, or… That is an area that we like to play in and sometimes does not have the answers that everybody’s sort of hoping for, you know.

LM: We’d like to blur those lines, but sometimes, you know, the lines are blurred, therefore the fans have their own interpretations, but ultimately it’s a story, guys. And not everyone gets to have a happy ending in the story.

JDS: I will say he was beautiful.

[laughter]

JDS: He had beautiful hair.

KC: He did!

JDS: And him and Allura together look beautiful together.

MS: Mm-hmm!

KC: This is very true.

LM: Oh, you’re treading into some dangerous territory there, buddy.

JDS: But, you know, I will--that, you know, that isn’t from a story perspective, sort of, place to, uh--

LM: Yeah.

JDS: --to work back from if that makes sense.

KC: Yeah, but, you ever see those beautiful flowers and then you go to smell them and they smell like death itself? That’s kinda that.

JDS: Hell of a point. MS: I still ship it, but no! It does not work within the framework of the narrative in any capacity.

JDS: Sure, sure.

KC: Look, there is a universe in which it happened and it was fine, this is not that universe.

MS: And that’s the--

JDS: And that’s the beauty of more--

MS: Multiverse stories! There’s an AU where it totally worked out and everyone was happy.

LM: Yes, and there’s comics to be written, fanfics, go crazy.

KC: Yeah.

MS: Yeah, well, and ultimately it’s the memory of what he was trying to do that brings Honerva around.

JDS: Exactly. Yeah. And so there was, there was goodness in him, like, you can’t-you can’t deny that. But, um, some actions are, you know, really your only way out.

KC: You kinda gotta--

JDS: From a story perspective is you gotta, you gotta kind of pay that ultimate price.

KC: Well, for Lotor there was some good in him, but uh, cool motive, still murder.

MS: So much murder!

KC: Lots and lots of murder!

JDS: Totally involved a ton of murder.

KC: Yeah, pretty sure all of the battery Alteans are super dead because I don’t think anyone else found that moon.

MS: Yeah!

JDS: Right.

MS: Talk to Bandor if you wanna hear about why Lotor doesn’t get a redemption arc.

[KC makes uncomfortable noises]

MS: I’m sure Romelle would love to hear your thoughts on that.

JDS: By the way, when that episode came out, and when we were getting, like, the recording, we couldn’t stop saying to each other, “Bandor! Bandor!” Like, we loved that read so much, like, and we love that name.

[Hosts laugh]

LM: Bandor.

JDS: Oh, Bandor.

MS: Well there were-there were a lot of fun--talking about that--there were a lot of fun references to the original series in this season. Like at the very beginning we actually have a clip from the original series playing.

KC: We did! “I don’t sound like that!” God bless Bex and their ability to sound like that.

JDS: Yeah.

LM: We, uh, we love the original show and we always had this silly idea because we played with so many different realities that, like, what if in our reality the show it’s, it’s technically live-action to them and it’s being made about them. And so it’s like, because here we are making a show that’s based on that show, and I was like, “Ooh, what if that show was based on our show?”

JDS: It’s super meta, it’s like inverse meta.

LM: It was just funny to us that, like, we could work it in. And we always wanted to work it in in some way just because, you know, we love it and we like to pay homage to it. But that, like, we-we joked about it and we actually had a few more references, like, in the episode. I ended up way super-overwriting that episode, so we cut a bunch of stuff, like, you know like the rookie writer mistake. Um, but, uh--

JDS: It was all gold, it was all gold. It just had to go.

LM: Yes.

[Hosts laugh]

LM: I paid him to say that.

MS: You have to kill your darlings.

KC: Yup.

LM: But, uh, there was a scene where they were gonna see, like, the Sven dies scene. Shiro wasn’t there, though, but like, Eddie was like, “Hunk and Keith were, like, at little viewing party with, like, Hunk’s family.” And uh, and then they see the scene, they’re like, “Wow, they’re really taking some liberties” like--

[laughter]

LM: “--they were making their own story about the paladins.” And it was just--

KC: There wasn’t a space hospital!

JDS: That’s right.

MS: I would have expired. I would not be here right now if that had happened because I would have died laughing.

KC: I would’ve been doing this show on my own this season.

JDS: There-there was a version of it.

LM: It never made it, it never even really made it past, like, the roughs and storyboard, ‘cuz again, like, I so overwrote that episode that we just started hacking stuff out.

JDS: There was also, Tim Hedrick did an amazing Pidge in the room and a lot of, like, us being so obsessed with him was just going like, “Waaaahhhh?” If ever something was, like, confusing he would just go “waaahhhhh”. Bring in more OG Pidge. Bex.

KC: Yeah, Bex’s ability to emulate that voice.

JDS: Oh, she nailed it.

KC: Oh yeah, they are just wonderful.

MS: They’re amazing.

LM: Yeah, we got to do that, we got to have the little nod to, like, Pidge’s outfit and Allura’s outfit that, like, kind of goes by real quick.

MS: Those are so fun.

KC: That was pretty great.

MS: That montage. And then we got Chip at the end, too! And Vehicle Voltron!

LM: I know! Like, we’re the biggest trolls ever, like, “here’s a show we’re never gonna make!”

KC: That and the epilogue about, “They made the next generation of Voltron!” and it’s like, “it’s happening. It’s happening!”

JDS: We queued it up real nicely for whoever wants to do it, by the way.

LM: Yeah, you know, if anyone wants to take that. But, uh, we, you know, I, so, I’m just gonna admit I never watched Vehicle Voltron.

JDS: How dare you.

KC: Same, I had to google what Chip was.

LM: But, uh, you know, like, I did my research. Like, there’s a cool idea to-idea to it there and-and my husband and I were originally recently watching Patlabor--how they call it, that’s what they call it on the thing--Patlabor.

JDS: That’s probably close.

LM: They call Labors. Patlabor was what we always called it, but they’re called Labors and it’s this, like, cop mech show and it’s really clever, like, it’s fun because they have mechs and they’re cops and they just, kind of, episode to episode do cop things. And I was like, “Well, if you’re gonna make a vehicle Voltron, you’ve got these three teams, they could basically be, like, cops in mechs.” And it would be a lot of fun.

MS: You just described my dream show, oh my god.

LM: But, uh, yeah, we queued it up and then-and Chip I just, I loved the idea, like, Pidge’s one goal in life, you know, going out into the world and seeing sentient AI, like to create one of her own and she’s doing it, like, with her brother and it’s this, like, nice bonding moment. And then the fact that Chip was, like, what, Pidge’s cousin or something?

JDS: Yeah, that’s right [indistinct].

MS: I think it was her brother. I believe it was brother in the loosest--it was really just--

JDS: I thought it was just cousin.

MS: It was--it might’ve been cousin.

KC: Well, I mean Sven had “a brother” that they found later on.

MS: It’s a little hard because they started cutting together different series to continue Voltron, so it’s hard to say.

LM: It just made a lot of sense that, you know, she would pursue that and that would be her passion. Technology is her passion. And then you’re with her family and then obviously being such a huge part of the Galaxy Garrison with Voltron, kind of, you know, taking itself out of the equation, they would then--

JDS: Sort of take up the mantle.

LM: Yeah, and then really--

JDS: I do think there’s a pitch, though, where Chip ends up taking over Earth as, like, a sentient AI and becomes the villain a thousand years later.

MS: And it’s the singularity!

LM: Hey man, I was just about to say, like, the dark version is that, like, the Voltron that Sam and-and everyone creates ultimately is, like, you know, the police and then they--yeah--they become the power-hungry, power-hungry Earth.

KC: And there’s a scrappy Galra resistance.

JDS: And they flip the script and become the good guys.

LM: There you go.

KC: Living long enough to see yourself become the villain.

MS: Oh my gosh, I love it.

KC: I don’t have time to get into how much I love this AU because we are gonna run out of time here in a hot second. I--there’s so much I want to talk about and I’m having such a hard time deciding things.

MS: Let’s talk about Allura.

KC: Oh, Allura. She had such a rough season. Incredibly well-telegraphed, very rough.

LM: For sure, I think, you know, we-we knew, like, coming down to it that with Honerva being the final villain, and basically we have two female Altean people who have had a very similar thing happen to them. They’ve lost their families, they’ve lost, like, the life they knew, and it’s just two very different ways of how they handled it.

JDS: That’s right. They’ve had very, in a weird way, similar circumstances and come-and approached it from very different angles.

LM: Yeah, it’s a storyline we wanted to originally do, kind of with Keith and Lotor back when, like, our kind of original story pitch where Shiro was gonna, kind of, exit the show, Keith was gonna be here, he was gonna stay with the team so he wouldn’t have jetted off and gone into the Blade of Marmora, and it was gonna be a big, like Lotor season where you got Lotor, half Altean and half Galra, Keith, half Galra, half human. And it’s like, you’ve got--

JDS: They sort of were--

LM: --yeah, the duality of those two and, like, how does it work out? And, you know, you see Lotor seems like the guy who has it all together in the beginning, but then ultimately Keith evolves and becomes a better person. So we got to play a little bit of that here with Allura and Honerva, who… very similar situations, but Allura going about it, like, the way that it’s-it’s painful to her. She did lose her entire family, she lost her planet, her home, and even now there’s-there’s a sense in the first episode where she realizes once this war ends, she might not even have, like, her Voltron family. It’s like, they have families--

JDS: They’re all gonna go on their ways.

LM: --like, “what are they gonna do? They don’t need me anymore.” And it’s this, kind of, very--it’s selfish in a way, but it’s beautiful because she can feel that way, but she’s not acting on it.

JDS: Right. She’s allowing herself to feel it, but she’s not acting on it.

LM: She’s not sabotaging the war effort to keep them, which, I would have loved to do that. That dark, sick, twisted version of, like, Allura sabotaging the war effort to keep her Voltron family, but, uh--

KC: There is a universe where that happens.

JDS: Yeah, sure.

LM: But uh, but yeah, it was just beautiful to kind of see how much she was willing to take onto herself

JDS: And at the end of the day, like, you know, we keep sort of using this term “boys toys show” because that’s sort of the reality of what we came into. We sort of were taking on this--this franchise that was very merchandise-based and trying to sell toys to young boys essentially. And at the end of the day it became this story, almost Allura’s story solely when you-when you really sort of, like, step back and look at it, but it was-it was this, sort of, face-off of two strong women that were approaching these problems from very different angles and who the heck would have known that that would have, you know, that would have been the--

LM: Yeah, we didn’t even really know it at the beginning.

JDS: We didn’t. We really didn’t. It evolved.

LM: But, but, yeah. It was nice. It was nice because when we-we told Kimberly, and of course she was sad and like, listen, we know it’s--we never--it’s never personal, we’re not like, “You know, I don’t like that Kimberly, let’s kill Allura.” It’s never that.

KC: At the very last minute.

LM: But it’s, like--

JDS: We also told Neil when--

LM: We told Neil, and we try to be kind and, like, let people know and so we let her know ahead of time and so she’s not just reading the script like, “What the hell?”

KC: “What?!”

LM: And she was sad, but we just let her know, like, “Listen, this is Allura’s story, like, she is literally the hero. She’s not dying to further another hero’s story, she is the hero. Like, this war ends with her.” And then I made her a completely, um, fake promise that I couldn’t really make her. But it--

JDS: I think I know what this fake promise is.

LM: Because I have no control over what they do with Voltron, but I was like, “Listen, if we do any more episodes, I’m bringing her back. We’re not--I’m not making this show without her.” But then, like, I have no control.

MS: But there’s no Voltron without Allura.

LM: I have no control after this point.

KC: Eight seasons, now we need a movie.

JDS: Honestly that the, sort of, post-credits thing was leaving that door open.

LM: Yeah.

JDS: The Lions taking off and seeing the, you know, Allura nebulae, I think, in our minds, it was sort of her quintessence coalescing and--

LM: Reforming. It’s, like, kind of coming back together, so you can do whatever you want with that, like--

JDS: Yeah, but it was--

KC: Have fun, guys!

JDS: Honestly it was-it was a door left open. Like, there’s nobody ever really dies in comics or animation.

LM: I mean, yeah. I feel like comics and animation and sci-fi in and of itself is a door left open.

JDS: Right, right, right.

LM: If the word sci-fi exists in a definition of your show, there is a door left open.

JDS: This was like one step back from the ending of Iron Giant. [hosts going “ohhh”] Like, we didn’t actually, like, show all the pieces going and the thing.

LM: Yeah, like there isn’t an Allura hand that’s just, like, crawling through space.

JDS: Yeah, there’s no hand, like, jumping through the snow.

MS: That would have been terrible! Oh my gosh. But yeah! I think there’s this misconception because Allura is a woman of color and so I think a lot of fans only looking at it superficially were like, “Oh, the woman of color was killed off.” And it’s, like, yeah, there is a trope of people of color dying to save the stupid white people around them, like I understand that trope. But the problem with that superficial interpretation is that they’re ignoring the fact that she’s the main character here.

JDS: Well, there’s that and also just to put it on the table, our original pitch was that they were all gonna die.

KC: Woah!

[Hosts scream and cackle]

JDS: And that got taken off the table.

KC: I love it!

LM: It’s teamwork! Voltron! And honestly, in my opinion, that would have been an easier, like, window to bring them back. If they all disappeared, you could pop them all back anytime and you got the team again. Easy-easy spinoff. But, uh--

JDS: Sorry if the board is blowing up.

KC: So it wouldn’t have been, like, literal bodies, it would have been just disappeared.

LM: Yeah.

KC: Okay.

JDS: We’re not showing, like--

KC: We’re not showing Lotor.

JDS: We showed, like, the melted, like, Lotor body, but--

LM: It would have been the same--

MS: Nobody’s getting Cronenberged in this scenario

KC: Except Lotor.

LM: --same scene except that we, you know, instead of Allura taking it upon herself, they all would have agreed to do it together and-and they would have gone in and essentially taken Voltron out of the equation.

JDS: Right.

LM: That was something we actually really believed for even from early on, we introduced this idea that Alfor had helped to create this thing, not realizing how dangerous it could be; kind of like, you know, the person who created the atom bomb, and, like, having that guilt. And so having Allura be part of the team that took Voltron out of the equation and now that weapon isn’t available to anyone, that was a big deal. We were told that was too sad.

[Hosts laugh]

KC: Uh, you broke chat. Alexis is in chat going, “*rocking back and forth, broken*”. Like, congratulations. Everyone, take a drink of your nonalcoholic beverage of choice.

MS: Oh that is-that is a line of gibberish that she typed.

KC: Oh yeah, no. Everyone’s just losing their noise, it’s great. I love it.

JDS: It was, you know, in a strange way I think, a beautiful sacrifice that Allura is allowed to make. And also really when you think about it, if it had to come down to any one person, she’s from, like, a logistical standpoint she’s the only one powerful enough and we’ve sort of through, you know, being a life-giver.

LM: So, we’ve had a lot of characters, like, who’ve been on, like, the death table. We’ve thrown them all out there at some point.

JDS: Right.

LM: But they all had to, kind of, get thrown out at a point in the story where it made sense that their death would have been worth it. Like, for Pidge, it would have been saving her family. Like if she had died to save her family. For Hunk, it would’ve been saving Earth, which almost happened. Um…

JDS: Hunk was, like, inches away.

[Hosts go “ohhh” and laugh]

LM: We got a yes, and then, like, you know, they were like, “Who’re you gonna replace him with?” And we were like, “A lady,” and then they said, “No.”

MS: Ohhhh.

KC: Would Romelle have been the pilot?

LM: It would have been, it was gonna be Acxa. Yeah, it was gonna be a redemption arc that takes place over this last season of, “It’s not about who you were, it’s about who you are,” and the fact that she’s done some bad things. But she truly believes in doing the right thing and moving forward and she could have been a viable part of that team.

JDS: But I-I also would argue that, like, there’s no--there wouldn’t have been enough time, I think, for everybody to, like, absorb that. If we had, like, a three season run at, like, bringing her in, getting her settled, and then having her, that would have made more sense.

LM: Yeah, that was a hesitation.

JDS: But Hunk’s was especially tragic, like, it was the moment where they were gonna--where they were taking robeast up and there was, like, that ticking time-bomb going off. He literally sees his family, but he’s never actually, like, interacted with them. So he only gets to look at them and see that they’re alive, and then he’s like, “I gotta get this thing out of here.” Sorry everybody!

LM: But he didn’t die! We didn’t kill anyone.

MS: And speaking of dark storylines, princesspony in the hashtag did some fanart of evil Chip.

JDS: Oh wow!

[laughter]

KC: They are very fast.

LM: World domination.

MS: Check out the hashtag #ABTVVoltron to check that out, it makes me very happy.

JDS: Are there red glowing eyes?

MS: No, it’s black and white, but he does look very happy.

LM: But Allura’s death was the only one that made sense from a power standpoint and even from a story standpoint that we were setting up with Honerva. And then also just on--I know, like, it’s probably gonna be highly contested--but on a feminist level from my standpoint, the-the man is always the one who gets to be the hero. Like Armageddon, Bruce Willis sacrifices himself to send, you know, friggin’ Ben Affleck back. And if-if basically Keith had gone like, “I’ll do it,” and then, you know, Allura had to stand on the sidelines and say, “Good thing Keith saved the day! I’m happy!” Like no. I want my women to be able to save the day, too, and even if it’s about making that ultimate sacrifice, if people want to interpret that as sexist, then that’s fine. But we’re just gonna have to agree to disagree.

KC: I mean, Keith tried to do the heroic sacrifice at one point and it didn’t work.

MS: They went, and you guys went, “No! Don’t do that!”

KC: Lotor was just like, “Excuse me.”

LM: We tried to kill Keith, though.

MS: This was--

LM: That’s not a lie.

MS: You guys apparently tried to kill everyone!

LM: We did. It was because we were told we couldn’t kill Shiro. Like, well, we don’t need two leaders, we’ll kill Keith. And they said, “You can’t do that.”

[Hosts laughing and sputtering]

JDS: Also by the way, we’re not kill-happy people. We’re not. We don’t kill for the sake of killing, like, there’s something--it’s a journey and there’s something meaningful, I think, to everybody’s death. And-and so when you even look at, like, melted Lotor corpse. Like, he basically had done to him what he had done to so many other people, so there’s, like, a sort of a give and a take there.

MS: And like a show where--I don’t want to rag on any other shows that skirt around death or anything like that, because again, they are writing for certain demographics--but I always appreciate when shows have, you know, actions have consequences. And sometimes character death is a really good way of conveying that. And I think for a lot of other people, people forget that Allura in season 1 is the same character that picked up Shiro, threw him out of a room right as the doors were closing, and basically could have died in that moment. She was sacrificing herself, so it’s not like this is out of character for her.

LM: Yeah, and Coran said, like, 15 different times, like, you know, “What about the risks? You could-you could not come back from this. If you give all your quintessence to the balmera, if you give all your quintessence to making this gigantic wormhole to transport Zarkon’s ship.”

JDS: “If you take the darkness into yourself.”

LM: And every time, she would say, like, “I know the risks.”

KC: Yolo.

[laughter]

MS: Until she walks into the west with the other elves.

KC: Or into the void with Honerva. I love that she had to do a hard reset on Honerva’s brain and then we could fix things. Like, she’s the only one that would have been able to do that in any capacity.

LM: Yeah.

JDS: Yeah, and it’s allowing Honerva to maybe experience the consequences that came as a result of her actions and really understand what those--

LM: It’s allowing her to get past, like, the cloud of all of the pain she’s felt, realize, like, remember the good things because sometimes you can get so bogged down with the negativity that you can forget what it was that you loved about a thing in the first place. And she was Altean and she loved discovery, she loved knowledge, and she-she reached out with Alfor and she helped multiple people before, you know, they started this quintessence project that kind of messed everything up. So she just kind of had to show--

JDS: She had hopes, she had dreams, she had heart.

LM: Yeah. At one point.

JDS: [quietly] At one point.

KC: Is there anything else that you--’cuz we’re hitting the end of our time--is there anything else you guys want to touch on now or should we save a few things for next week?

JDS: Uh, yeah, I mean, you know, look, we, I think, Lauren made a really good point in that, you know, sometimes you sort of lose sight of the good things for, you know, some of the negative things. We’d only hope that, you know, the sort of big post-mortem from the fandom at large-- even those that are super unhappy with the way season 8 turned out--sort of looks back on the series with positive feelings because I think there’s, while feelings might get hurt and feelings might--people might feel betrayed by, like, story decisions, like, the show was made with nothing but, like, love and good intentions and positivity and yes we told some hard stories to tell and characters came to certain conclusions that weren’t, like, the most popular decisions, but we were just trying to tell a story that, like, looked beyond the campiness and beyond the colorful robotic silliness to tell something that felt a bit more true and a bit more real and had, as one of our execs would always say, stakes and consequences.

LM: No, stakes and urgent stakes.

JDS: Stakes and urgent stakes.

LM: That was gonna be a restaurant.

KC: That’s one of Vrepit Sal’s new chains. It’s part of Hunk’s food empire. “Steaks and Urgency.”

JDS: But we can, you know, leave all the other stuff for our other show.

LM: Good times.

MS: Yeah, and princesspony has made a new version that’s got red eyes.

JDS: Ah! Red eyes! Red evil eyes!

KC: You asked for red eyes and in-chat they went, “I’ll add red eyes!” All for the red eyes. Well, yeah, thank you for joining us this week. This has been absolutely lovely. Are there any other projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?

JDS: No.

KC: Okay! NDAs it is!

LM: I am working on getting my floors re-done, and I’m getting the popcorn scraped off my ceilings, which is a lot more expensive than I realized it was gonna be. And-and moving all of my crap out of the house so that these people can do this work and that is a hell of a project that I would not wish on anyone.

JDS: And I just took a week off with my wife to Marie Kondo our entire house.

KC: Dang!

MS: Nice!

JDS: She didn’t come over or anything, but we definitely--

LM: Did you actually put it all in a pile?

JDS: She did with her clothes, and it was pretty epic, like, my pile went to your sister to eBay off, so that was. And my pile of toys.

LM: Oh, right, right.

JDS: Her sister is a sweet human being and like, will like, yeah. During the course of Voltron, during the production, like, super weighty dark times, I would just go on, like, eBay and be like, “buy, buy, buy, buy” and a pile of toys stacked up behind me that I never opened up.

LM: Yeah, me too. We had a cardboard box fort.

JDS: Yeah.

KC: Oh, goodness.

LM: And then he had a kid and said, “Oh no, I don’t need all this stuff.”

KC: And return to sender.

JDS: Yeah.

KC: Sounds fun.

MS: eBay.

KC: Where can the people go on social media if they would like to keep up with you?

LM: Um, all of the same places: @artofLaurenM on Twitter, @thebestlaurenmontgomery on Instagram, though I will say the Voltron posts are kind of over at this point. So maybe don’t follow me now if you’re just coming for Voltron. You’ll probably be a little disappointed.

JDS: Same for me. Um, @jds_247 on something and @jds_77 on the other thing. There you go. Underscore in between those. Sorry.

KC: So I’m gonna follow you guys now for Voltron. [laughter] No, no!

JDS: That’s fine!

LM: But if you like any of my other artwork, you’re more than welcome to stay.

KC: I like all of your other artwork.

MS: It’s so pretty!

KC: Alright, thanks again for coming, you guys.

JDS: Thanks for having us, you guys have been awesome this entire time.

LM: And we’ll be back next week.

JDS: That’s right.

KC: Yes we will! I was gonna save that announcement for a little bit. Uh, Megan, where can people find you?

MS: You guys can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at @themenguin. I was gonna say, I wanted to give a quick shoutout to Mark and Emma and Alexis who all were wearing the hashtag tonight. We miss you guys and we love you and we’ll be seeing you soon!

KC: And on the live chat in Alexis’ case.

MS: Love you, Alexis!

KC: You can follow yellow lion Mark Donica at @MarkBDonica, co-red lion Emma Fyffe at @EmmaFyffe, and blue Lauren--blue Lauren--blue lion [unintelligible]. I am Katie Cullen, you can follow me all over the social medias as well as on YouTube and Twitch at kiaxet, I am also on Overwatch podcast called “On the Point”. Guys, we will be back for the final episode of ABTV Voltron. Next week we are doing a series retrospective. Same lion time, same lion channel, thank you so much for watching and we’ll see you next time.

Voiceover: Our founder: Keven Undergaro and me, Megan Menounos, would like to thank you for tuning in to Afterbuzz TV. Remember, we’re not just the first, we’re the biggest in the world and we’re the only destination for all your favorite TV shows. Whatever you crave, we’ve got it, so go to afterbuzztv.com and check out our lineup. Buzz you later!

#dragon's ramblings #TeamPurpleLion #ABTVVoltron #abtv #voltron #vld #jds #lm #joaquim dos santos #lauren montgomery #voltron legendary defender #voltron: legendary defender #afterbuzz tv #strafe

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tbonechessor · 5 years

Text

Next time I have to come up with a new D&D setting I'm just doing whatever the hell I want.

Races:

Elves are either nonexistent or mostly tabaxi-like feral wood-dwelling weirdos

Combine Gnomes and Dwarves into some sort of rock people.

Combine halflings and Goblins into one race as a catch all for small bastards

Combine Orcs, Hobgoblins and Bugbears into a catch-all for big ass beast people.

Basically combine, cut, and economize all the races that would be superfluous for the setting

Have it in a sci fi-ish world. Something with guns and maybe lasers as an option. Set on a singular world so keeping track of the politics and stuff isn't too hard. Connect cities with a rail system so traveling between major quest areas isn't such a fuckin hassle.

Use damage counters and round to 5 to keep that shit actually trackable cuz God I hate writing and crossing out so many goddamn numbers per encounter.

Unfortunately magic is still a pain and it's really... idk, not my cup of tea when running or playing this game. You either get a working knowledge of most or all the spells or you surrender to the ordeal of having your magic using players effectively be wild-cards which makes them hard to plan around. Not that I don't want spontaneity. It's just weird when you make a specific obstacle like, "Here's some GOO!" and a player is like "i cast anti-goo spell". Then it's like I gotta make like a big ol variety pack of traps n puzzles to make sure I entertain and challenge instead of being thematic or specific.

Kinda makes me wish the spellcasting classes were all a little closer to the cleric/wizard in that your class more or less defines what TYPE of magic you use and less how your magic works. Like I can always expect Paladin's to have an easier time with devils 'n' Demons n whatnot and rangers usually have a specific monster they hunt. But aside from that it's pretty up in the air.

Also kinda wish spells were more nuanced. I don't NEED 5 different spells that shoot fire some way or another. Just give me ONE spell which cost VARIES depending on what I DO with it. Like if it comes from me and is smaller it could cost nothing. But if it's used/originates from a range and is bigger it costs more slots or something.

But by the time you overhaul all that its basically not 5e anymore is it?

#DnD #D&D #5e #5th edition #dungeons and dragons

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sillygurl1021 · 5 years

Text

Plance Mega Meta

Attention all Fellow Gardeners! LOOOONNG Post Ahead!!!!

This was a pain in the butt to make but well worth it! It's all over the place but it still presents my point of the many reasons why Pidge and Lance is most likely Endgame. Some may be a stretch but most of them have meaning! I know I missed some but it was hard to fit all this together and still remember everything lol

Ofcourse, whether your for Plance or just scrolling around, it's your opinion to agree or disagree! It's fine! This is just an analysis of mine and other gardeners of why Plance may be endgame in our eyes! :)

Alrighty Then!

Okay, I’m starting off with all the comics of them that I know of!

“Lance’s Guide To Falling in Love” explains that you need activities that you both like to do each other. That sounds a lot like Pidge and Lance with the Game Console they both got! That’s a similar activity they always do! “Love is about feeling vulnerable. [. ] finding your best friend. That’s why you have to create opportunities to fall in love.” That whole line pretty much explained Lance and Pidge’s relationship. They are pretty much best friends and I’m so sure they have been vulnerable towards each other in many ways that I will explain later on as well.

That second image on the right is just so cute because Lance is holding her shoulder for reassurance as she plays that chess game they’re lives depend on!

The second two images I put an arrow on so u guys can see which scene starts first. On these two panels, first, Pidge had forgotten a lot of things when she put on that crown. I think it was that it gave her too much knowledge that it made her forget things or something but slowly started remembering and the first thing she remembered was Lance. If that doesn’t show she cares about him, aside from her actually saying she’s glad he’s not dead, then I don’t know what is! I'll also add that the last bit where he said "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me" and she replies "Is that true?" maybe made her question herself because maybe she thought, Why would I be mean to him if I know I like him? Who knows. Lol.

So the third row of two pictures with Pidge, we all know she super smart and loves intelligent puns and Lance, well he tries to catch on. On the second picture he made a pun that Shiro caught onto so what is his reply? To not tell Pidge lol That just shows how much of an influence she’s become in him!

The fourth picture going down, we have Lance and Pidge saying some sort of jokes where they switch it up the next time they use those phrases again but I just love how close they seem and how gentle of expressions they seem to give each other on the second half of the panels!

As for the famous picture where Lance and Pidge are playing their game, well, Lance says that after seeing his family and so on that the next thing he will do is be with Pidge, and not just that! Take her her favorite cookies as well! That’s a great boyfriend right there! ;)

The last picture all the way on the bottom left is just cute banter and oh gosh. They are so cute!

Now, the final picture on the bottom-right, we have a page of Kaltenecker. But wait, his name is colored in a shade of Cyan… Cyan is a greenish-blue color, the color of the two Paladins who own her! Pidge and Lance! That’s just so darn… ugh! And the fact that Lance replied “Moo” for all the answers and the part where he said “we presume” only means they did all this together! That’s just so boyfriend/girlfriend of them!!! Lol

I’m sorry ahead of time if this gets confusing. I added what season/episodes some are in that I remembered.

The first four I want to talk about (First Two Screen Caps on the first and second row) are from 1x1 (Season 1 x Episode 1) where they are talking about a ship entering earths atmosphere. The fact that they didn’t say spacecraft or shuttle but chose SHIP makes it feel that DW (DreamWorks) did this on purpose because as soon as Pidge says it’s a ship then Lance snatches the goggles, that she is still holding, and uses them! And then she says “We gotta see that ship!” and Lance FOLLOWS! Only Lance! Hunk stays behind!

Top Right>> Okay so now I’m doing this to make it easier lol. This SC (Screen Cap) is Lance noticing that the Kurboros Mission is a touchy subject for Pidge. He’s been close to her since they met so that only makes their bond stronger. That and Lance has amazing Intuitive Skills that we all know of which I will bring up again later!

R2 SC3 (Row 2 Screen Cap 3)>> Pidge is annoyed of Hunk touching her equipment. You know who she isn’t annoyed of touching her things? Lance. 😏

R3>> This whole row is just dedicated to their lack of personal space towards each other! Just a few from many SC! This has to be another foreshadowing man lol

R4 SC1-2>> 7x6 The episode that gave us all heart attacks lol I’m sure you all have heard this already but this episode had so much Plance/Kallura. The cinematic perspective of this whole episode just yelled Plance and Kallura. In these two scenes both couples specifically grab onto each other, there being SC of only when Keith grabs Alluras hand and Lance grabbing Pidge's. The shot where those light creatures come around them, you see Pidge, while holding Lances hand in the sweetest way in the back and same with Allura with Keith. Its just so… so… cinematically pleasing if you go for either ship lol

R4 SC3>> This was just a cute shot of them I put in to fill in the gap lol but its great!

R5 SC1-3>> 1x4 This episode was when Lance saved Coran from the explosion the fake Rover made. When Shiro and Lance are captures by Sendak, Pidge goes to save them only to be captured by him but Lance suddenly woke up from his unconscious state to shoot Sendak and save Pidge. He then falls back to the floor. I think this shows so much. Sure, he has yet to know Pidge was a girl at that time but he’s so close to her that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, even when he’s unconscious lol.

R6 SC1-2>> 1x1 Going back to this episode. I had seen this since I started watching the series but didn’t think much of it until I really put attention to the scene the second time around. Lance was showing off to Pidge, calling himself “The Tailor” and what not. Pidge in response gave a small blush, even of he did fail the simulator test. Sure, he obviously has yet to know she’s a girl but whose to say that’s just how their relationship has unknowingly built up? ;)

R6 SC3>> 2x6 This is interesting because Lance made fun of Pidge first saying her fancy Galra Finder didn’t work, then her showing her annoyed face. It then changes the scene to Shiro talking to one of the Aliens telling them the Galra were there only to change the scene back to Lance and Pidge, Pidge saying “So the Galra were here, Lance.” With a smug expression causing Lance to blush. Why would DW go back to this scene? It’s just playful banter BUT playful banter of them hinting us of a relationship to be maybe!

R1 SC1-2>> It’s cute how Lance is all excited telling Pidge “That’s my thing!” when she didn’t believe he was a good shot haha like he gets excited telling her things!

R2 SC1-2>> These both are from different episodes but are of both Lance and Pidge blushing. Lance from him acting cocky and Pidge from seeing Lance in a body suit (at least that’s what I think) where she can see all the toned parts of his body ;) She is a teenager after all lol

Top Right Down Three>> All these SC are symbolic to me. A foreshadowing because these are a few of many where it shows them together in a single scene or doing the same. This shows me that they can’t be any more similar than they already are! They are one in the same honestly.

Last Three Down>> 5x6 This scene is one of my Favorites! Allura and Lotor had left to check out where Altean Alchemy is held along with the knowledge of Alteans and Lance is freaking out talking to everyone asking if she will be alright or if they are doing anything as Pidge and the rest try to turn the Castle back on. This whole time Lance interrupts them as Pidge works on the castle. Sure it sounds that she’s simply annoyed but if you listen to the tone she sounds more than annoyed! It’s like she’s annoyed, not just because he’s interrupting them, but because he’s over exaggerating about Allura. Obviously everyone is worried but Lance just goes overboard causing Pidge to also go overboard as everyone just stares at both of them back and forth. Haha.

Last 3 Second Row Down>> These three shots are from different episodes but you can see that it’s Hunk and Pidge doing their Team Punk Bump as Lance watches. I don’t exactly remember the order of it and some scenerios are different than others but you can see that he’s not always keeping a big smile. Almost like he’s jealous that they have a ‘Thing’ while he doesn’t have one with either of them *cough* Pidge *cough*.

Last 3 Third Row Down>> This could kind of be related to the last point. 6x3 When they are done playing M&M, Pidge and Hunk got out of their stump from what they are doing, make an explanation of what to do next and run off. Meanwhile Lance looks somewhat annoyed, saying that he doesn’t understand the science words as much as the fantasy ones but his expression from looking at them then look away seems to show otherwise!

R1 SC1-2>> These two scenes have Lance with Pidge’s stuff! Her headphones and some of her pillows! Strange that she’s okay with Lance getting her stuff but not Hunk lol

R1 SC3>> 1x6 Where Pidge reveals she’s a girl and everyone BUT Lance knew. It’s weird that he didn’t know because he has amazing intuition. It kind of feels to me that maybe he’s playing dumb? Maybe he DID know? That’s why he’s always been ‘show offy’ with Pidge. Maybe… just maybe… that’s a big stretch right there but an interesting thought lol.

R2 SC1-2>> These two are a little different. The first one, Hunk and Pidge are teasing Lance because Allura is with Lotor but Pidge is kind of teasing in a ‘Haha she won’t return your feelings’ kind of way because she likes him. In the next one Lance and Pidge are teasing Hunk with Shay but her expression is more playful. Hmm. Interesting. ;)

R2 SC3/R3 SC3>> 7x1 “Wow. They’re a lot uglier than I thought they’d be.” “I think it’s cute. You know, in a creepy hideous sort of way. Like you Lance.” The fact that Pidge acknowledged Lance was even remotely cute shows she likes Lance! C’mon y’all! The look that Coran gives Pidge after that comment just kills me haha. He’s like “Ahhh. I see you Numbah five.” 😂 but really. The fact that Pidge says that right after Lance talks shows it even more!

R3 SC1-2>> So I actually have these two flipped wrong but the one with him by himself is when Pidge calls him the goofball of the team. At first it seems like he didn’t care much, since it’s their usual banter but then when Lance talks to Allura, it seems that Pidge’s words do somewhat get to Lance. Not in a mean way but Lance is vulnerable when it comes to Pidge.

R4>> 2x4 It’s taken me a while to figure this scene out because it was always strange to me how Pidge’s tone is. (Also, sorry I cut off some of the subs 😅) Pidge is amazed by how beautiful the tech is while Lance replies saying “It’s not a sunset Pidge” because maybe he loves sunsets. In that, Pidge replies “Your right. A billion sunsets just happen every day” with a kind of somber tone. Maybe she’s never really cared for sunsets? But in that third SC in the row, there is a small picture of a sunset on a beach on her wall. Maybe she’s coming to enjoy sunsets because of Lance? Maybe he’s talked to her about it? Maybe it reminds her of him? Interesting. There is also one more piece I will bring up in the next set of SC’s.

R5>> These! 1x4 Lance sees Rover but right away wonder where Pidge is because he knows she’s close to it. 7x4 The third SC is from The Feud when Lance is trying to remember Rolo's name. Interesting that right after trying to remember Rolo he says “Yeah. Pidge loved that Robot.” Not “Nyma was awesome.” Or “They tricked us”. He could have said any of that but chose something that reminded him of Pidge!

R6>> 2x2 Lance mentions he likes mermaids (maybe because he’s always loved the beach) and in 4x2 in Pidge’s room, she has a stuffed Mermaid!

Out of context but I just realized that for the whole Rover thing, its on Ep 4 of S 1 & 7. For the mermaid thing it’s on Ep 2 of S 2 & 4. What a weird coincidence lol.?

R1 SC1>> 6x2 Chulatt and Chuchule making a heart with their cute little mice tails! This scene is where the mice tell Allura Lance’s secret of him liking her. What I feel gives away plance, and is ironic, is that those two specific Space Mice create the heart! The little one (Chulatt) is Pidge and the pink one (Chuchule) is Lance. We know this because there was a photo of the mice in Paladin Armor and they were in those specific colored armors. If anyone wants to add that picture in the comments, knock yourself out lol.!

R1 SC2-3>> 2x7 Hey look! Another sunset! And not just that. In the store they got a game console that they worked hard to get together, along with their Moo Child, Kaltenecker! 😏 Lol. This episode really brought out the relationship they have in full bloom! First! Lance was originally going to go with Allura and get her something pretty and shiny BUT instead, he stopped flirting to go and help Pidge get something she really wanted! Plus, had a blast doing it! The tender look he gives her when she’s holding the game is so heartwarming and he’s just as excited as she is to start the console up! Remember what he said is a point to falling in love? “Love is about finding your best friend.” Welp. There ya go Lance.!

R2 SC1-2>> 4x3 Before this scene Matt had complimented Pidge for being smart, so she responded with a goofy smile. Lance also compliments her intelligence right after Matt. She gives him this soft look. I rest my case. Lol.

R3 SC1-2>> 7x9 The Paladins arrive back on earth where their loved ones await them. The most anxious is Pidge as she jumps to her mom and who, you may ask, does it change to right afterwards? Lance. The shot has Lance and Hunk but it’s more zoomed in on Lance with the gentlest look that I believe he’s ever gave honestly. He then gets interrupted by his family running to him, him in tears of the joy in seeing them. THIS is another reason why I believe they are endgame because both love their family so much, who reside on earth. I can’t imagine them wanting to stay in space once the war is over. They are made for each other honestly haha.

Top Right going Down SC 2-3>> These two scenes are parallels. They both have strong feelings for eachother and are extremely protective of one another. 7x3 First Lance with his “Don’t you touch her!”. His choice in words just scream I’ll kill you! Because of how protective of her she is. Knowing he is tired up and unable to do much, he still tried to rescue her. 2x10 Pidge’s “Lance! No!” Just tells me she has liked him for so long. Her feelings were already strong since the beginning. This scene didn’t need to emphasize on her wanting to save Lance and showing emotion but DW did it this way on purpose! ;)

R4>> 6x3 Ahhh. Monsters & Mana again! You know how we’ve all found out that the filler episodes aren’t actually fillers but a foretelling of future things? Well, look at these cuties once again having lack of personal space! And then the second SC is of Pidge looking up at Lance instead of looking at the view like the others but still enjoying herself with her big smile! The third SC is now of Lance giving her that gentle look once again. Instead of looking at the view, he looks at Pidge as she is having the time of her life!

R5 SC1-2>> 5x1 I kind of messed up on my choice of SC but I’m sure you all will still understand. This episode is when Matt and Pidge failed in saving their dad. Pidge is there hugging her legs from the thought of her dad not being around anymore. Lance is the first to turn to see her and then Hunk. What I see though is Hunk having a worried expression and Lance looks a little worried for her as he is turning but once he is standing and looking her way, he looks more determined. Determined for her to get her father but for her to also be safe maybe? Last thing is that on the SC where it shows her hugging her legs, Lance is still in the shot. I would say that this is a vulnerable scene for Pidge because she is so in distress because of her father.

R5 SC3>> 6x7 Just a simple SC of Pidge looking back at Trash Lance as they get ready to leave the Castle of Lions. Trash Hunk is there too but she looks over Trash Lance lol.

R6>> 4x3 This whole row scene is just so cute. Lance and Hunk run to Pidge as she lands. Lance being the first one to get to her just smile at seeing his girlfriend back lol. She gives them all a smile as she holds her little space mouse.

R1 SC1 Down First Two SC>> 1x10 I don’t think many think much of this scene but how can you not? The first SC Pidge messed up the robot and said “Whoops” but the second one was after Lance was asking about Allura, giving off a goofy smile until Pidge’s robot smacked him in the face. Afterwards she said “Whoops” again but in a more sarcastic tone. That’s jealosy at its finest lol.

R1 SC2 Down First Two SC>> Lance is showing off the pictures of him with the alien girls but to Pidge. I sometimes wonder if he did it on purpose to get a reaction from her because she was smiling before he showed her the picture. Jealousy moment numero dos! Lol

R1 SC3 Down First Two SC>> 1x10 I love this scene because as soon as Keith leaves after Lance told him to not leave, he glances over to Pidge who is very unimpressed. Afterwards he turned his head with a smug expression saying “I think I told him” and Pidge responding with the most sarcastic “You are the paragon of leadership, Lance” with him still being all proud. Its all just ugh. I love their relationship hahaha.

R3>> Dancing buddies? I think Yes! Lol how much more perfect can they be for eachother? Hahaha

R1>> 2x4 Yet another scene I love because in this scene Lance and Pidge are kind of moving in sync. Lol. It’s so them haha.

R2&3 First SC>> 7x10 This is another scene that I don’t think that a lot of people take too in depth but Allura and Lance just had a moment where they both blush. Afterwards, all the paladins head out to their destination as they concentrate but Pidge looks like the only one that’s a little… sad? Distressed? The little lines under her eyes show a different emotion than the other paladins. She looks like she’s just thinking. I think she may have seen Allura with Lance and now is torn by her feelings because Allura might reciprocate his feelings. Right after her shot of the green Lion arriving to her, it turns to Lance who is calm and ready but we all know that scene that red showed up just in the Knick of time. I think red knows that Lance is meant to be with another, not with the one he wants but someone he will need.

R2&3 Second SC>> 6x2 This is where Lance is trying to get Alluras attention but she’s too into Lotor to care. Lance says “She’s smart, courageous, and makes me want to be a better person”. Adding on that aside from being an alien princess, she’s those things but that he isn’t a prince like Lotor so what does it matter. The first SC he honestly explained Pidge so if that’s what he is looking for in someone then maybe that was a hint to us. And then he goes on saying that Allura won’t take his feelings seriously and that he has nothing to offer. Maybe this is another foreshadowing that Pidge is going to take it super serious and he doesn’t need to offer anything with her because the way is is already everything she wants ;) That is a stretch though lmao.

R2&3 Third SC>> I’m just going to show you guys and not explain to much with this haha The Plance Nebula! We all know it but I don’t think we all yet know that it’s been in front of our faces all this time! In the intro of every episode when the screen pops up. That’s the nebula just on its side! Now answer me this. If it wasn’t important then why would it be right after Pidge’s Nebula in the trailer for S8???? That’s the only different nebula aside from all the others being the Paladins themselves!

I’m telling Y’all that alllllll this is what makes me think that Plance is Endgame!

This I needed to add alone because they are so cute! They are the only onea that did this lol

7x13 If these scene itself isn't enough to have you think they are foreshadowing them together then man. I don't remember seeing any other two Paladins do this when they use their bayards at the same time on voltron. Its just such a powerful scene for a super power couple!!!

Omg guys I can't believe I finished this. If you read all this then kudos to you! Please let me know what you guys thought or what your opinion is because I put alot of work into this for everyone to have their plance super watered lol

Thanks for the help guys!!! :) @callmesath @ohfishwall @truegryffindorforever2 @gracekogane

💦💚🌱💙

#voltron #plance #pidgance #lidge #honeydew #seasalt #pidge #pidge gunderson #katie #katie holt #lance #lance mcclain #pie #plance is endgame #kallura

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secretgamergirl · 5 years

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RPG Campaign Setting Thoughts - Alignments, Death, and Outsiders

Continuing on from this post here, tonight we have some VERY sketchy notes about the Outer Planes and associated stuff, which is going to spill over from world-building into mechanics and this is all too loose for me to bother with anything resembling in-book presentation.

The Outer Planes have traditionally always served two purposes in this cosmology of D&D and its derivatives which are honestly somewhat at odds with each other. They are both the actual afterlife of the setting, where the souls of the dead end up, theoretically for eternity, and they’re where all the demons and devils and daemons and angels and maybe gods and a bunch of other really weird things that exist mainly for the sake of symmetry generally hang out when they aren’t being summoned so they tend to prominently feature as a way to go bigger and more epic late in a campaign. It’s also very much a tradition (which is weird because I can’t think of a single religion that actually works like this) where all of these supernatural creatures are what the souls of the dead BECOME in the afterlife. If you’re neutral good, when you die you become an angel. If you’re lawful evil, you become a devil, etc. (and there’s a lot of weird exceptions because there’s way more outsider types than alignment combinations, and that’s before also factoring in undead and reincarnation and so on).

The problem here of course is that sometimes, the PCs are going to end up dying, and having friends who die, and when you’ve established that that turns you into one of these cool types of monsters, and that those monsters can be summoned, dying turns into this weird sort of power-up, and this was fixed with a very... game designer sort of solution. Namely, when you die, you completely lose all your memories, skills, personal connections, and really by any reasonable standard straight up cease to exist, being replaced with some new outsider springing into being on whatever other plane who��s really just a different character doing their own thing. And, yeah, that solves that problem, but it creates the new one that WOW, THIS AFTERLIFE REALLY SUCKS!

Now, I did already establish for this setting the concept of a layered prime material plane, where you can essentially have your high level alternate universes as weird little pocket dimensions you can honestly just walk right into without even using magic... but I mean, visiting the outer planes is still a cool fun thing to do, and fighting demons is a cool fun thing to do, and your soul transforming into some weird thing in the afterlife is just neat. So I don’t want to drop any of that, but I want to make some tweaks.

Also? Death sucks game mechanics wise. Players, as it turns out decades down the road from when this whole RPG thing first began, tend to be really attached to their characters, and don’t want to just rip up their sheets when they die. They want to cheat death. Which is fine. But the way you cheat death is you pay a bunch of money and either have your cleric cast a quick spell (or rush back to town to find one) and tada, you’re back with some temporary experience penalty you either kinda walk off or buy off. Which is all very... weightless. And straight up losing cash sucks if you’re saving up to buy fancy magic stuff. AND you don’t even get to visit the afterlife really.

So... the standard raise dead spells? They’re gone or at least getting alterations (gotta keep reincarnate in some form because I have a soft spot for it). Plane shift? Also gone. Instead we are going to dust off our old pal Astral Projection, have it at a reasonable level, and no, when someone gets killed, you have to cast that sucker, chase them across the astral plane, maybe to one of the outer planes, and have this whole mini adventure of rescuing their soul and shoving it back in their body.

Also? I am sticking to a hard and fast rule that the material plane is the physical plane, and all the outer stuff is all souls and magic. Nobody gets to bring their body with them which also means you don’t get to bring all your fancy equipment. You’re either a ghost getting sucked into hell or you’re a demon that used to be a ghost or you’re still alive but effectively a ghost tethered to home by a silver cord.

By the same token, outsiders can’t just physically come over to the prime material plane. This is kind of a big fundamental shift in things, but at the end of the day, isn’t it just freaking weird that there’s never really been a place in D&D for demonic possession?

So, tada. That’s a thing now. Outsiders on the material plane need to borrow something to use as a body. A willing person to possess, or an unwilling person subjected to a proper ritual first, or a recently sacrificed corpse, maybe some kind of magical focus stone. This is one of the sketchier parts of the idea here, but no matter how it works out it’s a built in adventure hook, and it doesn’t really change a ton because obviously being possessed by a whatever dramatically transforms the host into the standard existing stat block until its defeated. Summon spells kinda need a material component or a focus I guess, or maybe even not because like you’re calling up a whatever but you can’t really anchor it so it just has this unstable body made of dust and debris and temporarily conjured matter.

I’m also tempted to straight up invent a new divine caster class to fit in with this theme that’s all about having some outside pal they let possess them in combat. Get the whole Devilman sorta thing going, Maybe in a little subsection with a really dex-y fighter and a different take on an arcane type and a rogue type for a really non-standard but complementary core 4.

Back on the side of dying and visiting the other planes though, I say this is a good place to wedge in a good ol’ corruption mechanic. If you die,and your friends manage to catch up to you while you’re streaking across the astral plane, cool, no harm, no foul. Once you end up in whatever plane though, you gradually start to turn into whatever sort of outsider. Subtle cosmetic stuff at first, sprouting horns and getting weird colored hair and maybe a tail first, some slight shifts in personality, and over months or years you just kinda naturally lean into that, and your class levels fade away, and you just kinda naturally go all in on being a mephit or an azata or whatever the hell thing.

And then when your friends do get your soul back and shove it into your body again, that weird metaphysical transformative soul corruption deal doesn’t just go away. That’s partially demonified you possessing your old body now, so, you keep the horns and the flaming eyes and stuff as a permanent reminder of that time you died for a bit and you can be all angsty about it and maybe rededicate yourself to something because that’s not an afterlife you want to go back to, and honestly if you’re the sort of person with a real thing for dramatic mid-campaign transformations and you want a character to look all furry or glowing or be a hot demon gal at higher levels without the mechanical baggage of transformation magic, hey, the door’s open a crack for you.

Also speaking of succubi, while I’m playing around with outsiders, this one has always bugged me. Say we’re going all 7 deadly sins. We’ve got our wrath demons- big angry spikey jerks, maybe on fire. We’ve got our sloth demons- big gross sluggy things who can barely move. Our gross-Kirby gluttony demons, etc. But then we get to lust and it’s this super hot seductress. That breaks the pattern and I hate it. I am definitely kicking them out of that niche and replacing them with proper lust demons, evoking super creepy long-fingered horny dudes.

And really there is room from there to expand into a two-tiered system of outsiders for every plane where there’s the things that are there because they’re what happens to the average person who had this alignment as their reward/punishment, and then there’s the things that are their to make sure things run the way they’re supposed to, are generally more powerful, and are formed from the souls of people who really actively served their patron deity in life. I’m mainly looking at this from the angle of “do the members of the cult of this demon lord realize that in the afterlife they’re all going to become lemures and realize how much that sucks?” but even on the good side, you have to figure the average paladin doesn’t want the blissful retirement package after death, they want to do the whole holy avenging archon sort of thing and continue to kick evil’s ass, right?

Which segues me into alignments. A lot of people absolutely hate the traditional law/chaos good/evil alignment system, but I find as long as you’re careful to use it descriptively rather than prescriptively and you don’t use really messed up alignment definitions (AD&D 2nd ed had some DOOZIES), it’s cool. There is one missing element I would like to formally add in though- An extra variable for mundane and divine/committed/radicalized versons of each. Breaking this down with specific examples...

First and foremost, I am a big big fan of neutral as the default alignment nearly everyone falls into, with everything else being a bit of an outlying extreme. On the good/evil axis then, neutral if for people who you would generally describe as basically good people. They know right from wrong, and generally always try to do the right thing, but they have a strong sense of self-preservation. Truly good people go past that and will, as a general rule, really stick their neck out and take major personal risks or do full-on self-sacrificial things to help people. Evil people are all about looking out for themselves first. Or put more simply, seeing someone being attacked/persecuted/in great need, a neutral person will think “someone should do something,” a good person will think “someone should do something and I’m that someone” and an evil person will think “sucks to be that person” and try not to think about them much.

Meanwhile on the law/chaos axis, lawful people have an unflinching commitment to some form of faith in the system/some particular authority/a rigid personal code of some kind.and will always work within that framework. If that’s always obeying the law, any plan that’s explicitly illegal is off the table, and if the law is unjust, working to change it is the way to go. If they’re super religious, doubting their own deity is never on the table. If they’re strict adherents to a code, they don’t make exceptions. “I’ll never allow suffering” never gets a quiet clause of “unless the person suffering is a scumbag who deserves it” they’re really going to intervene over that.

Someone who is chaotic meanwhile actively has a chip on their shoulder about any sort of bureaucracy, full stop will never “have faith in the system,” generally assume any sort of authority figure is a power hungry scumbag, and while it’s hard to translate this into fantasy terms, be the sort of person who always jailbreaks their phone and has a strict no-DRM stance on all their software.

The vast majority of people are, again, neutral, falling between those extremes. Follow the law, trust that calling the cops will usually get things sorted out, but when push comes to shove, most rules are really guidelines and you can make exceptions where you have to.

All of these represent real, realistic attitudes normal real-world people have. Most are true neutral. The corner alignments are the rarest (always going by the book and always sticking your neck out is demanding, looking out for number 1 without bowing down to the powers that be really requires a certain sort of lifestyle, etc.) but there should be people you can point to at all 9 points on the grid, and none of them should really clash so hard that people can’t be friends or live in the same society, and they should all be functional alignments for adventurers since a good adventure should have a mix of personal stakes and rewards and a good party should all like each other enough to stick together through whatever comes up.

Then there’s the more extreme versions of these alignments. Where neutrality becomes about “maintaining the balance” or actively rejecting society as a whole, evil is actively causing harm for harm’s sake, chaos is constant change, law is absolute rigidity and caste structures and such, and good gets really extreme about scope. These are still worldviews actual humans CAN hold, but more typically these are the sort of things supernatural forces get bent out of shape about and have as sources of constant conflict.

Again, lots of loose sloppy notes here, but you can hopefully see where I’m going as far as moral philosophies and cosmology driving games in fun directions, right?

#game design #worldbuilding #rpg campaign setting #D&D

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