#is that title a reference to harvest moon the game
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The hands that hold you
Part 7 of my SatoSugu x Gn!reader series is here! And yes it finally has an official name!
I'll put together a masterpost with links to all the parts and the title soon and have it linked in my pinned post. This is another soft chapter. There was more I was considering including but I really wanted to get this update out here. There's also art to go with it that will be at the end that you'll also be able to find on my art blog when I post it. For now enjoy a really fluffy chapter before things get rough again. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
CW: Reader is referred to with they/them pronouns, chan is sometimes attached to reader's name. Polyamory though that's part of why you're here i'm sure
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It’s been roughly two weeks since the failed mission when you find yourself called into Yaga’s office. When you make your way in and sit in front of him he places a new ID in the middle of the desk and pushes it toward you. You blink at him in confusion before taking it. It’s just like your curren’t ID until you notice a key change. “Wait… I’m being promoted to second grade sorcerer?” You look at him, surprise pushing your eyebrows toward your hairline.
Yaga sighs but then smiles. “After that last mission, despite it ending how it did, Suguru and Satoru recommended you for promotion. Apparently you managed to impress them which is uncommon for the two of them”
You turn the ID in your hand before slipping into your pocket. “I suppose it is.”
Your hand is in your pocket thumbing over your new ID as you walk. In theory you should be happy about the promotion but you wanted to be sure you actually deserved it. You weren't sure you did honestly. You wonder if you should text either of your boyfriends about it. Your boyfriends… you feel your face heat up and you stop walking and lean against the hallway wall. You were not used to being able to think of them that way yet. It was so new. It was also the source of your current worry of whether or not you actually deserve the promotion. It felt a little too much like nepotism that the two of them endorsed your rise in grade.
Suddenly someone’s arm is resting on your shoulder and you and you don’t even need to look to see who it is. “Goodmorning, Haibara-kun.” You smile.
He leans forward with a grin. “Good morning! It’s good to finally see you up and out of bed.”Nanami and I were starting to wonder when you’d be joining us again. “
“You know how Yaga is about me. He honestly made me stay on bed rest longer than I needed to be. At least I think so.” You push off from the wall and from under Haibara’s arm.
“It’s good he cares so much though. It’s better to be safe than sorry by going out into the field before you’re ready,” He reasons.
“I suppose… but it was painfully boring. Especially when everyone else was busy. I hate staying still for so long. Even if it was kinda nice to catch up on playing games…”
“You were playing harvest moon or drawing most of the time when Nanami and I would come in and visit.”
“Speaking of.. Where is Nanami? Normally the two of you are like a set,” you prod despite knowing its potential to backfire.
Hairbara hums. “I’m actually about to go meet him. There’s a new bakery opening up he wants to go to. Wait, I know! How about you go with me. He’ll want to see that you’re up and moving around too.” And oh no he’s looking at you with those excited puppy dog eyes and you can’t find it in you to say no. Besides, you'd missed hanging out with your friends.
“Yeah okay, I’ll go with. As long as you don’t think Nanami will mind.”
Haibara gives a lil cheer and gives you a thumbs up. “Like I said, he’ll be glad to see you up and on your feet again.”
Which is how you found yourself in a cozy little bakery, decorated in warm and earthy tones. The smell of all sorts of baked goods floating through the air. “You know you didn’t have to pay for me, Nanami.”
He gives a small huff, his bangs coming loose and falling in his face so he has to push them back. “It’s fine. Think of it as a ‘glad you’re doing better’ gift.. Or something.”
Haibara pipes in. “See I told you he would be glad to see you.”
“That you did,” you say with a small laugh.
“Annnd now that you’re fully recovered, on the note of I told you so’s…” Haibara’s grin threatened to split his face.
“Oh no..” You feel your face heating already knowing what he’s going to say.
“So you’re really dating both Geto-senpai and Gojo-senpai now? I knew they liked you!”
You groan. “Yeah yeah, you were right and I was oblivious.” You pointedly take a bite of your sandwich to try and spare yourself from saying more on the topic.
Nanami makes a small sound before speaking up. “I mean I get Geto-senpai but I’m surprised you like Gojo-senpai too. Is it just because they’re a package deal or-” You cut him off, a small flare of irritation sparking in your chest as well as another emotion you can’t quite place in the moment.
You swallow your bite a lil too soon so you can interject. “I like them both.”
It must be something in your tone or the look on your face, you’re not entirely sure, but Nanami rubs the back of his neck glancing away, suddenly looking abashed. “Sorry.”
“It’s-” you sigh “It’s fine. Just.. Don’t insinuate that I shouldn’t like Satoru just as much as I like Suguru okay?” Your shoulders sag slightly.
Nanami nods and Haibara looks between the two of you with a bit of confusion.”Am I missing something?”
You shake your head. “No everything is fine.” You pause. “Actually can I get your guy’s opinion on something?”
Both of them look at you. “Of course!” “Sure…”
You take your new ID out of your pocket and place it in the middle of the table. “I uh.. Got promoted. Apparently Suguru and Satoru made the recommendation. But it just feels kinda off since I’m dating them now. I’m not sure I actually deserve it-”
Nanami shakes his head. “I doubt that. Why would they recommend you for something that would put you in more danger if they didn’t think you could handle it?”
You blink. You hadn’t thought of it that way. “I suppose that makes sense...”
Nanami folds his hands on the table next to his half eaten lunch. “Think about it. Being a second grade means that you’ll not only take on harder missions but will also be sent on some solo. If I cared about someone I wouldn’t recommend them to do dangerous things they couldn't handle for what.. A pay raise? Clout? If they recommended you be promoted that means they think you deserve it and more importantly can handle it.” Haibara is nodding along enthusiastically as Nanami talks.
You nod, your doubts about the situation lifting. “Yeah that.. Thanks, Nanami.”
He shrugs. “Just telling you what makes the most sense.”
“We should go do something to celebrate your promotion!”
“I mean we’re already out to eat…” You feel a bit bashful at the idea. “And Nanami-kun already paid for lunch for me because of my recovery.”
“Well then I can like.. Pay for ice cream ooor… we could go to an arcade! We should do something before you start getting sent out more.” Haibara suggests while giving you his best puppy dog eyes.
You sigh and smile. Really how can you say no to those big brown eyes and that pout. Nobody had bigger golden retriever energy than your friend. “Yeah okay, we can go to an arcade and maybe get a treat after.”
Haibara cheers and pumps a fist into the air. It draws the attention of other patrons and Nanami lowers his head looking a bit embarrassed but still has the slightest smile curling his lips.
The arcade is all lights and chimes of game music, the chatter of teenagers filling the space. The three of you lose several hours there with even Nanami being full of his share of smiles and laughter. How often do the three of you get to just be young like this? Not often enough surely. Never enough. The three of you are contemplating where to go for icecream when you spot the claw machine. It was a nicer one, charged a bit more than the others. That’s not what caught your attention about it though.
You wander over to the machine and almost like they were meant for you to see there’s a white cat plush with a blue ribbon and a bunny that’s such a dark shade of purple it’s nearly black with a gold ribbon opposite it across the machine. You’re taking out your money without even thinking about it.
Nanami cuts into your thoughts. “You know it’s probably rigged right? In some of these machines the claw only properly grips things after so many attempts before it resets.”
You turn toward him with a pout. “I wanna try anyway.”
The blonde boy lets out a sigh. He knows that look on your face. You’ve already decided to throw your money away at this machine to get whatever it was you were fixated on. “What are you gonna try to win anyway?” He raises a brow when you suddenly look away from him bashfully and focus on putting in your money. “Well?”
“It’s two things actually” Oh so they were probably gonna be here for it a bit. And then you point at the white cat with blue eyes and bow then towards a similar dark purple rabbit with a gold bow.
He blinks slowly, gears turning in his brain leading him to a conclusion that Haibara voices. “They kinda remind me of Gojo and Geto-senpai!”
The silence is deafening between the three of you as you duck your head and send the claw toward the cat, the machine making a low buzz with the movement. The claw lowers and grips the cat by the bow, it raises, the machine buzzes lowly as it’s brought toward the chute and dropped in. You quietly lean down and take it out, and you hide your face in it.
“That’s exactly why you want them, isn’t it?” Haibara nudges your shoulder with a smile. At your slight nod he speaks again. “Well I think that’s super sweet of you.”
You glance at him for a moment, he doesn’t seem like he’s making fun of you, though being Haibara he’s never made fun of you in a way that would actually hurt. Just light teasing. His smile is earnest and you decide he means it. You hold the cat plush out to him. “Can you hold this while I win the other one?”
“Of course!” He takes the plush. He can understand why you wouldn’t want to set it down anywhere in here. It’s a pristine white.
The rabbit is harder to get unfortunately. You manage to pick it up several times but the claw always loses its grip or your aim is just slightly off. It’s been a half hour of attempts and you’re low on change and the energy around you is getting increasingly gloomy. Nanami hates being right sometimes. Which is why he gently nudges you aside.
“Here let me try for it.” He doesn’t look at you as he says this but he still catches how your face lights up out of the corner of his eye and can’t help but smile a little.
When he gets the plush on the first try and successfully drops it down the chute he is not expecting you to jump up and hug him. His cheeks go pink and he stands rigid. “H-hey-”
“Thank you thank thank you!” You chant as you hug him tight before letting go and dropping back down to retrieve the rabbit. Haibara is laughing at your antics and Nanami gives him a half hearted glare. Truly it was nice for them both to see you so excited after everything that had happened recently. You bounce on the balls of your feet and retrieve the cat plush from Haibara. “Sooo icecream?”
The sky is painted in brilliant hues of oranges and pinks as you and the other two first years finish ascending the steps to jujutsu tech, the summer heat having only broken somewhat by the time the three of you had to make the climb. You and Haibara collapse shoulder to shoulder on the ground. Nanami looks at the two of you as if to say ‘really?’ even though his bangs are clinging to his face with sweat and his face is flushed. “I really hate these stupid stairs.” You say this and there’s multiple reasons why that’s the case but at the moment it’s because of how much worse they make the heat seem.
The three of you rest in silence for several minutes before you speak up. “Thanks a lot for today you guys.. I had a lot of fun.” You stand and brush yourself off.
“Of course! We’ve all been so busy lately and you were stuck in bed so long we needed to get out and do something fun.” Haibara says as he hops to his feet. “Hopefully we’ll get a chance to do it again soon.”
“Preferably without you throwing your money at a rigged machine next time.” Nanami prods but you can tell from his voice he’s only teasing you. You stick your tongue out at him and shortly after you part ways from them.
It’s only after you’ve showered and placed a gift each in Satoru’s and Suguru’s rooms that you finally flop into your bed dramatically. You were exhausted. Today was the most active you’d been able to be in two weeks. You wished that even one of your boyfriend’s were on campus so you could curl up with one of them but they’d both been being sent on back to back missions after those first couple days of your recovery. Summer really was a terrible time for sorcerers. It didn’t seem fair that the two of them were tossed right back into the field.
You pout and roll onto your stomach. You only got to see either of them in passing when they’d stop in to check with you between missions so you could physically see they were both alright. Otherwise you’d just been texting or calling when they had the chance.
You perk up slightly when you hear a knock at the door, and now that you’re looking for it you feel Satoru’s energy. “You can come in ‘toru.” you’ve hardly finished speaking before your door slides open and Satoru enters your mostly dark room. He closes your door as an afterthought before making his way to you. Before you say anything else he’s flopping all of his lanky weight on top of you. “Satoru, you're too big for this! Ahh! Did you just get out of the shower?!” You try very hard to squirm away from him.
He ignores your protests and squishes you against the bed, his hair dripping water onto your face and pillow as he kisses your cheek obnoxiously and laughs when you try to shove his face away. “Stooop at least go dry your hair off first!”
“I don’t think I will~” he sing songs though there’s a slight tiredness to it. He squishes his cheek against yours, his wet hair rests against your face and pillow.
“Satoruuuuuu” You draw out his name in a whine.
He hums and props himself up on an elbow, just looking down at you with bright eyes. Even in the moonlight you can see he’s tired though. He sets something on your chest you hadn’t noticed him bring in before given how he’d immediately smothered you in his affection. “Found the gift you left for me.”
You feel your cheeks heat slightly as you scoot to sit up, catching the plush cat before it can tumble off your chest. “Do you like it?” You worry that the gifts you got for Satoru and Suguru would be seen as too childish despite your earlier determination and enthusiasm to get the plush toys.
Satoru begins to tangle his legs with yours and curl around you. “Of course. It means my sweet ___-chan is thinking of me while I’m gone.” He takes the plush cat and places it on the bed next to you as he drags you down. “It’s cute. Also liked the box of sweets you left with it.”
“..Did you eat the sweets already, Satoru?’
“I was hungry when I got back…”
You sigh heavily but smile a little. “Well, I’m glad you liked what I got for you.” you bask in his presence before you speak again. “Two things though, you’re going to make us both sick by laying in my bed with soaking wet hair, and two my bed really isn’t big enough for both of us. You’re going to fall over the edge and drag me with you.”
“What a romantic way to go then. Falling to our doom tangled together,” His tone is dramatic but there’s a boyish grin splitting his features, teeth bright in the moonlight. You swat him on the chest drawing an “Oof!” from him as well as a laugh. It makes warmth bloom in your chest.
“I mean it. We should either go to your room or to Suguru’s room so we’re there when he gets back. Also let me dry your hair if you’re too tired to do it.” Because honestly you’re pretty sure that's why he hasn’t done it yet.
He hums, seemingly considering your suggestions. “I suppose.. “ He pecks your lips before disentangling himself from you. Really he’d never turn down a chance to have you take care of him, and you do take care of him. You direct him to your blow dryer and you spend the next stretch of time drying his hair into a cloud of fluff, gently running your fingers through the strands and massaging his scalp. When his weight settles heavy against your legs from his place sitting with crossed legs on the floor you wonder if he managed to doze off. You click off the dryer and set it aside, continuing to card your fingers through his hair.
“You still with me?” Your voice is soft and filled with affection.
He nods and then yawns. “Yeah I’m awake.” He tips his head back to smile at you tiredly. “You sure we can’t just sleep in here?”
“My bed is way too small for you even if you were alone let alone with us both on it. So pick, your room or Suguru’s? I’m sure he’ll be glad to see us waiting for him even if he shoves us over to get in bed.”
Satoru huffs. “You mean shoves me. He’d never push you out of the way and you know it.”
You smile. “I know.” You lean down and rest your chin on top of Satoru’s head. “So what’s the verdict?”
“Suguru’s room is closer than mine,” he states sleepiness lacing his words.
You nod before sitting up straight and giving him a nudge to get up. You don’t point out how the difference in distance isn’t that much. Satoru stands and turns toward you with a long and languid stretch, his t-shirt riding up to expose his stomach. You poke his stomach making his muscles jump. When he glances down at you with narrowed eyes you blink up at him innocently.
You know what he’s about to do so you quickly swipe the cat plush before darting around him to the door. Unfortunately for you in the time it takes you to open the door he’s got you and the two of you tumble into the hall with him viciously attacking your sides with tickles. You squeal and kick trying to escape.
“And what are the two of you doing?” A tired voice yet still amused voice drifts over the two of you.
You’re still wheezing with giggles when both you and Satoru look up to see Suguru standing in the hall with a towel and a set of clean clothes over his arm. One can only assume he was on his way to the showers. His hair is half free of its bun and on the side where his hair is falling loose his face is smeared with grime.
“Suguru!” You cheer, or are you pleading for assistance?
“They’re being punished for the most grievous of crimes.” Satoru says all too seriously as he lets his face fall to your soft stomach drawing a grunt out of you.
“I poked his stomach while he was stretching.”
This makes the dark haired boy snort. “Guess you get to deal with the consequences then.” He says with a smile as he steps around the two of you.
“Noooo Suguru! Save me-” You’re cut off by another fit of laughter as Satoru resumes his assault.
Suguru throws you a wave over his shoulder, leaving you at Satoru’s mercy. Chuckling when after he turns a corner he hears Satoru yelp indignantly. “You bit me!”
“I-I” you gasp and giggle. “-I couldn’t breathe!” is the last thing he hears before he’s out of earshot.
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When Suguru returns from his shower it’s to Satoru sprawled half on top of you across his bed while you sit up playing on your phone while propped up against his head board. Apparently Satoru had forgiven you for biting him if the way his face was pressed into your stomach was any indication.
You stop what you’re doing to greet him. “Feeling any better after your shower?” You were glad to see there was only minimal irritation on his face where the grime had been.
Suguru makes a noise that you interpret as confirmation. His hair is half wrapped in a towel as he makes his way into the room. He’s going for his blow dryer. At least he intended to dry his hair before bed unlike someone.
“Do you want me to do it?” You ask, you’re tired yourself but for fun reasons unlike either of your boyfriends.
Satoru whines, surprisingly awake. “Nooo then you have to move if you do that.”
“Or I can just sit on you,” Suguru says dryly.
“You wouldn't.”
“Oh I wouldn’t just like __-chan wouldn’t bite you.”
Satoru turns his head and narrows his gaze at Suguru for a moment before making a grumpy sound and rolling off you so he’s no longer sprawled across you and the bed, allowing you to shuffle to the edge. You repeat a similar process to what you had with Satoru, though Suguru’s hair takes more time since it’s longer and because you work some product into his hair. You lean down and kiss the top of his head once you’re done. “All set.”
Suguru turns on the floor and wraps his arms around your middle before pressing a kiss to your sternum. “Thank you,” the words are murmured gently against your sleep shirt and you card your finger through his hair. The soft moment is only somewhat broken by Satoru snoringloudly on the other side of the bed. Suguru rolls his eyes and then stands. He urges you toward the middle of the bed so he can flop in, slinging an arm across your middle. “You didn’t have to wait up for me, you know?”
“But I wanted to,” you half cut off at the end in a yawn.
You think Suguru sighs before he presses a kiss to your hair. “You’re too sweet, you know that?”
You hum sleepily, not confirming nor denying. “Did you see your gift when you got back?”
“I did, it’s cute.” He smiles against your hair.
“Not too kiddish of a gift?” you ask shyly.
Suguru squeezes you with the arm he slung across you earlier. “Not at all. Definitely helps prove my point that you’re too sweet. Saw the stuffed cat too when you and Satoru were flailing around in the hall. So you got us matching gifts. Did you get yourself one?”
You shake your head. “No, just for the two of you. I gave the machine enough money as it was.”
“Hmm?”
“Ah, I uh won them from a claw machine game today while I was out with Nanami and Haibara. I got the cat pretty easy but you can ask Haibara and Nanami how well getting the rabbit went. Nanami felt so bad for me after a half hour of failed attempts that he actually won it…” you trail of embarrassed. You’re not sure why you admitted that.
“Went to all that trouble to make sure I got a gift too.” He kisses your forehead and gives you a moment to react and close your eyes before kissing your eyelids, then gently kissing your lips which you reciprocate, smiling into the kiss.
“Of course, you deserve it.” You glance away from him and he feels warmth swell in his chest. He gives you another gentle kiss before shuffling down the bed slightly so he can lay his head on your chest above your heart, listening to how it beats rabbit quick at his actions. He falls asleep like that, not even caring that it leaves his feet partially hanging off the bed. You absently card your fingers through his soft hair as you lay there, waiting for sleep to take you as well.
Art by me of the stuffed animals reader won. My art account is @rossithepixie
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And here it is! I hope you guys enjoyed this one. It was getting pretty long and I really wanted to get out the next chapter since it's been a couple weeks because I got too sick to write very much. I've already started on chapter 8 so hopefully as long as my health holds there won't be as much of a delay.
Tag list: @strawberrystepmom @nanamikentoseyebags @gojoest @icy-spicy @sleezzsister @moonsua1 @yuuuumii @yokaimoon @chibiizzy @porridgesblog @suhmie @defacatestenderly
#gn!reader#satoru gojo x reader#gojo x reader#suguru geto x reader#jjk x reader#satosugu x reader#satoru gojo x reader x suguru geto#gojo x reader x geto#jjk x gn!reader#gojo x gn!reader#geto x gn!reader#rossi writes
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TLDR: A very long ramble about Harvest Moon: Magical Melody’s social aspect and how the gameplay can have the social sim aspect interwoven in so many creative ways. Keeping it below the cut because it’s long
I’ve been so obsessed over Magical Melody, it’s insane. Genuinely, I believe the game has an amazing framework for character rich interactions and sense of community. You enter this fading small village where it used to be bustling with people. Where the goddess who watched over the people has turned to stone, because people forgot to care for one another and forgot about her?
Where in order to “beat” the game, you live your life doing every day tasks and by connecting to others. Where once you’ve saved the goddess, she tells your rival that why the player was able to save her because the player truly opened up to other people!!!
I absolutely adore the game, but my god interacting with villagers is so boring because they all say two or three sentences of dialogue per heart (excluding events or weather). The game pushes for you to interact with the community (characters moving out) and pay attention to events (a festival being cancelled because you didnt donate the item needed for it), yet the dialogue is so one note and boring!!! Have people talk about one another, make them mention Jamie’s farm (Jamie’s products are the sole reason why the village is still here.) or during festivals (I know Jamie donated a lot of eggs, but they’re acting like they’re the only one who donated!).
Have the community feel more like a community that’s working together! Incorporate it into the gameplay itself!! For the top scores for shipping out goods, why not have Blue Sky Ranch or Springfield Farm also be rivals alongside Jamie!! Have Blue be initially stand-offish cus he sees you as competition or have Nina be excited because shes happy that theres a new guy to shakeup the farming scene. Maybe even add a special end of the year festival where Theodore would round up the different farms and see which farm had the best profits!!!
Have there be juicy gossip at Moonlight Cafe, where the villagers would talk about certain characters, or what the player is getting up to or drop lore about the goddess and maybe even Jamie. Have the inn actually feature other characters from previous games, we already have Nami visiting town and she even mentions Mineral Town and Forget-Me-Not Valley in a letter!!!
Have characters imply or explicitly reference previous titles or characters: Joe mentioning how he and Kurt moved out of their old home to Flowerbud Village, or an event where Nami is asking Alex if the two met before!!
Actually add heart events for the characters, give them more personality or even personal struggles that you help them overcome by befriending them! Give characters actual relationships with one another or have them be actively hanging out together!!! Make festivals interactable instead of just being go to the beach or town square and talk to everyone and its over
Alright, brainrot over hghghghhghghg :’]
#unova speaks 📢#harvest moon#harvest moon magical melody#hm mm#i will never forgive natsumes ass translation of the dialogue#except you calvervtutrp youre perfect <3
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Graveyard Keeper Review
I couldn't post this on Steam since I technically don't own it there (even though I paid for the DLC) but I wrote this all out for a Steam Review and I am not wasting it.
ANYWAYS. Here's my review of the game Graveyard Keeper under the cut.
Warning, it is negative, and I did not like it very much. I don't hate it though. I gave this game a solid 40 hours with all the DLCs.
Really thought I'd like this game, but it gets old and it gets old FAST. I wouldn't say it's a terrible game by any means, I legit got some entertainment out of it at the start, but it quickly falls apart when you realize you just never…. do anything. I played this game with all the DLCs installed and I think that give it a feeling of lots of 'content' and made it addicting for a while when I wasn't quite sure what awaited me.
This is like baby's first Factorio/Stardew Valley game but you get the worst of both worlds.
You're tasked to be a Graveyard Keeper, but honestly, that's like 10 percent of the game. You very rarely do any graveyard keeping. And when you do, like everything else in this game, it is extremely poorly explained. The thing you'll be spending more time than anything doing is just… walking back and forth. You're given a clunky teleport pretty early on and maybe later you'll find out you can keep buying speed potions if you can't live like this anymore, but that seems to be it. There's no mounts, there's no better system of travel, no upgrading that.
The gameplay revolves around your standard Factorio / Stardew Valley type things… gather resources, find a way to min/max gathering those resources etc. It's a bit addicted at first because min/maxing them is incredibly easy when you understand the game. Sadly, when you understand the game, you also realize there is nothing awaiting you for doing any of these tasks. The 'rewards' you get are mediocre at best.
The soundtrack is also just… not good. You get maybe 2 songs on a 2 minute loop for this intensely long grindy game. Bring your own music.
I'd say by far the worst part of this game though is the writing. I don't think this matters to some people and that's fair, but the writing here is just bland, boring, dry, and riddled with typos and spelling mistakes. There's some sort of spelling error in almost every scene.
The plot and the characters are way worse than I expected. The plot turns out to be an ISEKAI. Yes, that's right. This is a cut and dry ISEKAI somehow. You play as John Milk Toast Normal Guy and get hit by a car and end up in this boring world that makes you a Graveyard Keeper. That was a red flag off the bat, but I tried to be open minded.
Throughout the game though, you'll learn that not a single one of these characters is likeable in any sense. They're all vaguely buttheads and kind of rude. They have a lot to say, but it's never fun, it's just bad stale jokes and quips without any kind of style or flair added to them.
(Note: I LIKE rude characters. But they're ALL weirdly low level rude and dull as dishwater.)
The OTHER red flag should have been noticing all the DLCs just titled after popular TV shows. Stranger Sins, Better Save Soul, etc…. none of these references have literally anything to do with DLCs. It is just, "Hey this one is sin related, let's make the title look like Stranger Things."
And tying in with the rewards sucking, your rewards 90% of the time are just waiting through these incredibly dull scenes that feel like they were written by a 15 year old boy going through an edgy phase (but also doesn't want to upset Mom)
Final Bit: This game is just sadly mediocre. It's not a terrible game, but it is certainly not good. It has no strong points. Play Factorio, Oxygen Not Included, something like that if you need the grind. Play Stardew Valley or Sun Haven if you want that Harvest Moon farm feel. This game does not scratch the itch of either. If you can get the full game and the three DLCs all at once for extremely cheap? I guess it's not the worst, but it is still not fun enough.
#review#Negative#sorry if somehow someone looks up this tag#and is like Wow! New Graveyard Keeper fandom takes!#and it is just me#hope you will heed my warnings and not look if you like the game#i love and respect you as a person#unless you're a dickhead#bye
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I was referring to Japan’s Heian period! I really like the style from that era, especially since the Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book were written at the time by women. It does lean more towards luxurious stuff, though. But a lot of etiquette, I imagine, would be part of Scara and puppet reader’s mannerisms since they are quite old. Maybe puppet reader has an archaic way of speaking? Scara would have adapted to a more modern language but I do like the idea that these immortals have habits from long ago that didn’t really leave, yea? Because I do enjoy the thought that if Scara has a house built for him and puppet reader, it would be similar to how he envisions the world he wanted to create for them. Him possibly using a bunch of mora from his time as a Harbinger to either save up, or go straight ahead with building it.
What I enjoy most about these two is how their relationship works and what goes on in the setting outside of their interactions with other characters. How would Scara continue to provide for them as he had adopted the role of the provider and they have somewhat adopted the role of house spouse? Thoughts like that. At the same time, I lean towards there not really being a perfect label for them because there just… so much that is left unseen and unsaid because there’s so, so much history and fondness there. A bond that one cannot name and limit with titles. Because to name it is to give it definition, yes, but it then it limits what it is. And that doesn’t seem to fit them. (Philosophy class hit me hard, ig.) But they are immortal (like lobsters) and there are many things about their relationship that are just 💖.
Anyway, I was reading into the Heian era and I just enjoy how the arts flourished and now the thoughts of Scara and puppet reader playing these old, aristocratic games while the rest of the audience (Paimon) has no idea what the game even is or why it’s complicated. Reciting poetry while looking at the moon. (Or just playing simple games for fun and being happy.) Scara personally harvesting plants and making his own pigments to paint puppet reader’s nails and draw their red eyeliner. Think about the stories they could inspire together.
I am… overwhelmed with feelings. Like, yes plot is important but I always want to dig and see the characters outside of it. Who are they? What makes them “them” and why do they do things a certain way?
Red Eyeliner of Fate: Tales of Scara and Puppet Reader in Liyue? A new adventure guide coming to bookstores near you!
🌸bloom anon🌸
Oh yeah, I do understand that part but I was just unfamiliar with the era and its aesthetics haha thank you for elaborating here tho! The luxurious and elegance (etiquette) part I'm positive that the both of them were subjected to before they were abandoned, and I think it's more apparent with Scaramouche with how he talks and acts canonically (his gestures are honestly so smooth and expressive)
Puppet Reader has a hmm I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, because as implied by the story, their speech patterns were heavily influenced by the years of worship and prayers when they were staying by the sakura tree village! Respectful usually, flowery and taciturn
Scaramouche definitely got most of his caring, breadwinner attitude during those days when Reader is fragile. You can also call it projecting his insecurities of being considered worthless and useless so he made conscious effort to be needed, and it then turned into a part of his personality around them. Now that they're in good condition and have no Fatuus to do everything, they now have to deal with overprotective Scara insisting to do everything while they want to carry half of the work because they CAN and they really WANT to haha
And you're right about the label thing! Mostly because they don't feel the need to label it, it just feels natural, meant to be, probably a connection they realized that do not parallel most human relationships and so, unable to worded properly. They are everything. I've also made sure to lengthen the first part at best to establish how they are during their wandering days but I did miss some scenes sadly
Red Eyeliner of Fate is definitely what we can call this alternate timeline where it revolves around the good ending of them still being together hahaha
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#AnthonyHopkins#CharlieHunnam#CharlotteMaggi#EdSkrein#netflix#RayFisher#RebelMoon#SofiaBoutella#ZackSnyder
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Fresh Crops! October 16 - October 22, 2023
This week's newest stories and chapter updated for Harvest Moon and Story of Season on AO3!
Catching the Next Ferry Home - by Anonymous; Complete, 1/1, 2.1k
Rating: Explicit; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandom: Pioneers of Olive Town
Relationship: Female Farmer/Jack; Characters: Jack, Female Farmer
Additional Tags: Romance, Fluff, Returning Home, First Time, Sex
Summary: After a prolongued absence, Jack returns to his girlfriend. It is a big night for both of them.
The Egg Thief - by dicelady20; WIP, 14/19, 54k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Dragon Ball GT/Z, Friends of Mineral Town
Characters: Trunks Briefs, Claire the Farmer
Additional Tags: Harvest Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Romance, Slow Burn, Martial Arts, Cussing, Crossover, Healing, city vibes, dark scenes, POV Multiple, POV Third Person Limited, Mild Gore, References to Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons Games, Supernatural Elements, First Meetings, story of seasons, Alternative Perspective
Summary: Claire decides to give the city life another chance, but as she does, she is haunted by her nightmares & her past. Mr. CEO of Capsule Corp., Trunks, is haunted by something else in his life; juggling between his CEO work & saving Earth from vindictive dragons. As their two worlds collide, what could possibly go wrong?
Of Arabians and Friesian Appaloosas - by SymphonicFantasia; WIP, 40/50, 5.9k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Save the Homeland, Magical Melody, Hero of Leaf Valley
Relationship: Bob | Kazan/Gwen | Sara; Characters: Bob, Gwen
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Fluff, Fluffy Ending
Summary: Bob has always loved Gwen. She was his life and his sunshine. His day wasn't the same if he couldn't see her smile. Ever since they were kids it has been this way and Bob wouldn't trade it for the world. And the descendant through their relationship was never an easy one.
And one Not Safe For Tumblr story by Thefallen1986 titled "Chris and her toys"
#fresh crop monday#harvest moon#story of seasons#friends of mineral town#pioneers of olive town#save the homeland#magical melody#hero of leaf valley
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I've been watching a lot of "What Happened?" series by this YouTuber, which talks about what happened to flopped games from the past.
I was wondering why a certain game company isn't making Megaman Legends 3 or a reboot of the said series. Unfortunately, the one creating the stories behind the character left the said company. He tried to revive the concept of Megaman by creating Mighty Number 9, but that flopped as well...
From there I hopped on to other titles like, What Happened to Harvest Moon, etc..., and after watching a video, I feel at peace for having closure about what happened to my favorite IPs.
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🎮 — favorite video game(s)? 🗒 — what is/are your favorite genre(s)/theme(s) to write? 😗 — what are some of your favorite things to do when you have some time to yourself?
munday asks!
🎮 — favorite video game(s)?
When I was growing up it was basically either Pokemon, Harvest Moon, or Super Smash Bros. I sunk so many hours into the Gamecube Harvest Moon games (and now I play them, the original brand that's now Story of Seasons, not the crappy other ones bc Natsume refused to release the HM franchise title). But now I play a lot of JRPG's too.
🗒 — what is/are your favorite genre(s)/theme(s) to write?
I'm definitely someone who enjoys a lot of slice of life stuff because I find that the day to day stuff is what helps build up relationships with other writers muses and leads to other things and gives the muns fun things to reference in the future. Plus it's fun to inject random tidbits from my own day sometimes to keep things more interesting for the muses so it's not just 'oh every day is a perfect day'.
😗 — what are some of your favorite things to do when you have some time to yourself?
I watch a lot of Youtube, I've been getting back into crocheting again finally after taking like half a year off from it so that's really nice, and I'll hopefully be playing my Switch more again soon because I finally broke down and bought a big SD card for it (it was either 512 GB or 1 TB and the latter seemed a bit like overkill so I went with the former lol) so I can actually have all my games on there and not have to delete anything anytime soon just to make room for new games.
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somewhere over the rainbow (under a harvest moon)
(you never set out to forge one of the most loved love stories in the world.
that’s a lesson she knows very well.)
irides is the name she chose, once upon a time when the world was younger that it will ever be again. it’s the name she sought, the name amongst the many she tried that seemed to fit.
they call her the spirit of rainbows. they say her eyes are clear as crystal and that her pupils are shaped like diamonds; they say her hair is the colour of freshly fallen snow and beams of coloured light reflect off it. they say she dances during rain showers and that her joy creates the multicoloured arcs of light she’s known for.
they’re not completely wrong about the dancing part, but attributing all rainbows to her happiness seems… like something of an overstatement, maybe.
irides knows she can’t be present for every shower of rain, that’s just not feasible, but the romanticism of it charms her. she knows many spirits look on the way the humans know them by in amusement, or disdain, or even apathy, but she finds it whimsical and magical and utterly charming.
she delights in the reactions her rainbows bring, delights in the smiles she sees, delights in the laughter. it’s why she creates rainbows, with her own intent, whenever she gets a chance, regardless of season.
spring rainbows are fitting for the season of rebirth, fitting for the awakening flowers and stirring animals.
in summer, she makes them especially vibrant to make up for the rain that heralds their arrival in the season of life.
autumn, season of giving, she wanders fields and orchards ready for the harvest, ready to decorate the sky.
the season of death brings with it a desire to lighten the air for even just a little while, to make the rain seem more bearable.
she dances barefoot wherever she goes, ignores the burn of sand warmed by the sun, ignores the burn of ice and snow in winter.
(you never set out to forge a love between spirits of different domains.
that’s a fact he knows well.)
messis was the name he was created with, etched into his soul and his mind and his being. perhaps he’d change it, perhaps another name would call to him, but the likelihood of that is slim when he considers how long he’s existed.
messis, spirit of the harvest. giving beast who brings the wheat and the corn and the apples. amber beast who guards the fields and brings prosperity.
they say his eyes are dark as treacle and gilded with the colours of autumn. they say his teeth are sharp and his nails are closer to claws. they say he stands in the fields when it comes time for the crops to be gathered, waiting for the harvest to start. they say he walks through the orchards in the form of some great beast.
in part, they are right. in part, they are wrong.
shapeshifting has never been one of his capabilities. his body remains the same with its too many teeth and its sharp claws, with its dark eyes and scowling face, with the voice that rumbles and growls and reverberates depending on mood. he can understand why they call him a beast, at least when he’s angry.
and he doesn’t stand in the fields waiting. he wanders from town to town, with their corn and their wheat, and observes as the harvest starts in that one town before moving onto the next one.
standing in the fields would take up far too much of his time, because do you know how many fields there are compared to the one spirit of the harvest?
the humans and their views on what the spirits do when it comes to their domains continues to baffle him, even to this day.
but still he finds himself more fondly bemused than anything else, unable to work up true irritation or anger at the ideas that they spread.
unlike some spirits he could name.
(you never set out to forge a love story between two spirits of vastly different domains, never expect it to become one of the most loved stories in the world.
this is something they both realise.)
the stories never go into the specifics of their meeting, never in any way that matters at least.
they never talk about:
irides dancing in the midst of an autumn shower, weaving her way through the rows of apple trees with a smile on her face to put the spirit of the sun to shame. a rainbow follows overhead, bright and clear in response to her joy.
messis stalking his way through the orchard, watching the rain fall down through the leaves, unaware of the rainbow forming overhead. rain showers are never his favourite, he’s never been fond of the effort needed to dry his hair.
neither are aware of the other spirit, neither know that when messis turns a corner he’ll be met with the spirit of the rainbow. only irides knows that she’ll be laughing and smiling and dancing, only messis knows that he’ll stop to watch in a burst of curiosity and amusement.
neither know that they will continue to have meetings like this, in rain and in autumn more often than not, but the locations change as do the seasons and the years.
what they will talk about is this:
they will talk about declarations of love under full moons, at a time when neither have reason to be where they are. there is no rain, there is no harvest, but there are two spirits who’s domains were never meant to collide.
they will talk about a spirit who dances and drags her companion along with her; they will talk about a spirit who walks through forests with another at his side.
they will talk about vows spoken in a village between the forest and the sea, with no one but the rain and the autumn leaves as their witnesses.
they will talk about a curious event. they will talk about wheat that grew in all the colours of the rainbow. they will talk about corns with kernels coloured in pastels. they will talk about apples growing in far more colours than green and red.
they will talk about how a spirit of the sky wed a spirit of the land.
they will talk about irides and messis, the rainbow and the harvest.
they will always talk, because the reminders will always be there.
#writing#tsenpha#this got so long what#is that title a reference to harvest moon the game#or did i just want to reference both spirits with the title#it's both probably#i don't know at this point#anyway
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All about the Dullahan
Thomas Croften Croker’s Fairy legends and traditions of the south of Ireland (1825-1834) seems to be the main – if not only – written source of full folktales about the Dullahan. It contains a section titled “The Dullahan” which consists of four folktales, one ballad, and some research notes that refer to further stories.
Not all these stories actually even use the name Dullahan, but Croker seems to have gathered them together on the basis of them being headless. Explaining: “Headless people are not peculiar to Ireland, although there alone they seem to have a peculiar name” (1928, p. 98). So which Dullahan does Mr Croker have on offer? The answer is: a set of very different creatures which he all calls Dullahan, but which are not always referred to as Dullahan and who are, from story to story, revenants, fae, death omens, and a restless spirit.
I will sum up their characteristics for every story and give a verdict on their supernatural nature under the cut (this got very long):
The Good Woman (1928, p. 85-98):
Type 1:
A short woman in a large cloak that conceals her completely who is:
Headless, and isn’t carrying her head
Shows up in twilight, seen only by a man riding home alone
Very quick and nimble, can leap onto a horse and over a wall, seem to glide rather than run
Does not speak, does not make a sound when jumping on the ground
Is corporeal, as she can be touched
Is described as a “merry wench”
She allows a man to give her a ride before jumping off his horse and running away from him, clearly making a game of letting him chase her
She runs into the ruins of an old church near a pool to meet with:
Type 2:
A crowd of “well dressed ladies and gentlemen, and soldiers and sailors, and priests and publicans, and jockeys and Jennys, but all without their heads”
These Dullahan are having a party, where they dance around a torture wheel set with skulls (unclear if these are their own heads) amidst the ruins of the church, to the music of ringing bells and rattling bones
Accompanying them, but not dancing, are:
Type 3:
Skeletons with loose heads that they bowl and throw around as a game
They have bleached bones covered by moth-eaten shrouds
These Dullahan speak, but only in unison “as with one voice, that quavered like a shake on the bagpipes”
One of them carries his head under his left arm while he offers the human protagonist a drink
All three types are referred to as Dullahan
They all leave in “a great hurry scurry with the noise of carriages and the cracking of whips,” presumably making off with the protagonist’s horse as well, who accuses them of being “the horse stealing robbers of the world, that have no fear of the gallows”.
VERDICT: Revenant. Having wild parties, tricking people, and stealing from them is definitely fae behaviour, but apart from that these Dullahan seem to be playful and rather powerful undead, that once were human.
Hanlon’s Mill (p. 103-109):
A great high black coach drawn by six headless black horses, with long black tails reaching almost down to the ground, and a headless coachman dressed all in black sitting up on the box
Possibly heralded by strange sounds during twilight: “such blowing of horns and hallooing, and the cry of all the hounds in the world and “the golloping of the horses, and the voice of the whipper-in”
They appear near a pool of water, bringing darkness with them that blocks out the moon
Neither whip, nor hooves, nor wheels make any sound
The day after a hitherto healthy man has fallen ill and dies
Not called Dullahan by name
Verdict: Omen. Specifically the ghostly coach-a-bower, the death coach. The image of a black coach (or hearse) riding by to foretell someone’s death is quite a common occurrence in folklore.
“Another legend of the same district (as Hanlon’s Mill)” (p. 109):
A black coach, drawn by headless horses, drives to and fro every night, both through the countryside and through a town
It stops at the doors of different houses, but anyone who opens the door to it gets a basin of blood thrown in their face
Not called Dullahan by name, but the story is not told in full
VERDICT: ??? Supernatural prankster? No mention is made of this coach foretelling death, so this seems to be mischief for mischief’s sake. Throwing blood at people is also not very spectral, nudging them a step towards fae in my book.
A legend from Dublin (p. 110-111):
A coach, sometimes driven by a coachman without a head, sometimes drawn by horses without heads, drives furiously past a castle where a clergyman hung himself, possibly with supernatural aid
Not called Dullahan by name, but the story is not told in full
Verdict: Omen. The coach-a-bower again, but this time not to foretell a death but to announce that an (unnatural) death has taken place.
The Harvest Dinner (p. 112-128):
A great old family coach, drawn by six headless horses, driven by a headless coachman
There are headless passengers inside and four fine footmen standing behind the coach, also headless
They emerge from a moat with a great rumbling noise and go towards an old church
They are driving at the rate of a hunt and make sparks fly out of the stones of the road (which implies their horses were horseshoes!)
Even with the whole coach they are faster than a man on horseback
A gate opens for the coach as by magic
Not called Dullahan, but referred to as “fairies”
Ahead of them in this procession are other fairies: “the prettiest little fellows you ever laid your eyes upon. They were all dressed in green hunting frocks, with nice little red caps on their heads, and they were mounted on pretty little long-tailed white ponies, not so big as young kids"
All are seen by the light of the (full) moon, by a man going home alone at night, but he is not afraid of the headless fairies after he notices they have no eyes to see him with
VERDICT: Fae. They are clearly taking part in a fairy procession and are minding their own business, possibly going to have a party at the old church.
The Death Coach, a ballad (p. 134-136):
A coach decorated with a shroud, with headless horses, headless driver and headless passengers
The wheel spokes are thigh bones, the pole a spine and the lamps sculls
They drive at great speed and the coachman cracks a whip
They stop at a churchyard where they speak with the dead in the ground, arguing with them to let them rest there for the night
They plan to go on tomorrow: “for having no heads of our own, We seek the Old Head of Kinsale" (this is a place in Ireland, the whole ballad is full of puns like this)
VERDICT: More rowdy revenants. They have a very gaudy death coach, but do not foretell death, and are clearly accustomed to sleeping in graves.
An anecdote from Cork (p. 136):
Dullahans “drive particularly hard wherever a death is going to take place”
They come in a great crowd, with a large procession
The coachman has a long whip “with which he can whip the eyes out of any one, at any distance, that dares to look at him”
VERDICT: Omen?? Fae that are into death for the goth of it??
The Headless Horseman (p. 138-150)
A headless rider who carries his head under his right arm or in the pocket of his coat, on a headless white horse, who has its head floating in front of it
The head is gaunt and ashy pale, with “depressed features” that look “like a large cream cheese hung round with black puddings” and has two large, fiery eyes, matted black hair, and a mouth that reaches from ear to ear
He wears a scarlet single-breasted hunting frock with “a waist of a very old fashioned cut reaching to the saddle, with two huge shining buttons at about a yard distance behind”
He appears to a man on horseback, at night, in the rain
The head speaks in a hoarse voice, but only sparingly, most questions only get a “Humph”
The horseman rides without use of whip, spur or stirrups
The ground shakes under the weight of the hooves, which make a fearful clattering noise and stir the water of nearby pools into waves
Gladly enters into a race with the protagonist and he even promises the man that his horse will be safe
He is never called a Dullahan but just “the headless horseman” and even refers to himself in this way
After the race the headless horseman reveals that ever since he and his horse broke their necks at the bottom of a hill he has been trying to find a man brave enough to ride with him, he gives the man his blessing, promising him that he will never desert him nor the old mare he is riding (and supposedly helping him to win horseraces)
VERDICT: Restless spirit. To me this fellow has very little in common with the other stories. This is very much a doomed rider type of figure, although the curt conversation has a striking resemblance to a similar headless rider in the story A Queen’s County Witch (Yeats, 188, p. 151-154), where the figure is a witch in disguise.
Croker collected his stories in the typical 19th century folklorists’ style, through correspondence, interviews, and borrowing from other authors. He also rewrote the stories quite extensively, and has been criticised on his attitude towards “the Irish peasantry” as he did so. Yeats was one of these critics, (while he did still consider Croker an expert), and as he is the only other 19th-century source on Dullahan I thought his short notes are worth quoting too. He refers to the Dullahan (or Dallahan) both as “headless phantoms” and one of the “solitary fairies” (p. 81), and mentions them in the section “The Banshee”:
“An omen that sometimes accompanies the banshee is the coach-a-bower [cóiste-bodhar]—an immense black coach, mounted by a coffin, and drawn by headless horses driven by a Dullahan. It will go rumbling to your door, and if you open it, according to Croker, a basin of blood will be thrown in your face. These headless phantoms are found elsewhere than in Ireland.” (Yeats, 1888, p. 108).
CONCLUSION: If it’s Irish and headless and walking or riding around ominously, it’s a Dullahan. Which may be a fae, a ghostly omen, or a revenant, just as they please. There clearly is no one coherent definition to be found.
I still insist on putting the cursed headless horseman in another category though. Dullahan clearly have some shared preferences, like a love for twilight and moonlight, horses and coaches, ruined churches and pool. And, interestingly, they seem to always show up either with a coach or a whole company. So I feel justified in saying that the spectre of a solitary person who remembers his own death and knows his reason for still roaming the earth, does not embody the Dullahan sprit.
#well#that was a lot of reading#and I shall now put this delightfully obscure piece of folklore to bed#irish folklore#dullahan#revenant#ghosts#fae#laura babbles#I will blame Azura for all this at least in part to justify myself
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SpellJammer: Shadow of the Spider-Moon
Player’s Packet (ver 1.3)
for use with the First Edition Pathfinder Role-Playing Game
by Clinton J. Boomer
with special thanks to Andy Collins, Scott Schomburg, Chloe Michelle, Dennis Detwiller, David Gerrold, and George Loki Williams
additional campaign materials may be found here
The broad theme of the campaign is simple: “outsiders — criminals, rejects, freedom fighters, the lost, the abandoned, the desperate, and the mad — go balls-out, nothing to lose, against corrupt authority and nightmare monsters, surviving on the razor’s edge of the known & the unknown”.
It’s meant to have one foot in Serenity/Firefly, one foot in Pirates of the Caribbean, one foot in Guardians of the Galaxy, yet another foot in Princess Bride, plus little dashes of steampunk / dieselpunk pulp-action high-fantasy on top: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Aliens, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, The Mummy, The Fifth Element, The Rocketeer, and/or Big Trouble in Little China
RACES
Dwarf: a scattered people born of Moradin’s Forge*, 80% of whom now exist solely as slaves beneath the whip and bootheel of the illithid and their grotesque creations. Dwarves in captivity are stripped of their names, titles, and family lineage; for this reason, free dwarves often cover themselves in dense tattoos, transformed into living repositories of their clan history. Dwarves no longer have a homeland but make small communities on Fenris, the Crown-Moons of Garl, Gelth, and Callarduran, and across the Chain of Tears (especially the city of Discord).
For human occupants of Pyrespace, the illithid invasion – which the Church of Yondalla officially denies occurring, under pain of incarceration, transportation, and excommunication – happened ten years ago: half a generation past, when the very youngest of human spacehands were still in diapers.
For dwarves, it happened approximately last Tuesday.
Shepard Book, Zoe Washburne, and Drax the Destroyer are good examples of dwarves.
*NOTE: The Church of Yondalla, which does not recognize the divinity of Moradin, refers to the dwarven home-world instead simply as ‘the Adamant Forge’ in all official documentation.
---
Elf: an elegant race in slow decline, born of Perianth, still recovering from the Unseelie War that split and decimated the species a millennium ago. For the elves, long-lived as they are, the wound is still very fresh: fewer than seven generations have passed since the end of the war, after all (for a human, this is perhaps comparable to a tragedy that occurred less than a century and a half ago).
Elves consume food, water, and air as Small-size creatures. Drow are a playable race, although they suffer a great deal of distrust from everyone … including other drow.
Inara, Simon Tam, River Tam, the Operative, Nebula, and Gamora are good examples of elves.
---
Gnome: engineers and technologists born from the Circle of Gold, greatest moon of the Crown of Sapphire, now scraping-by on the Crown’s remaining moons and across the Chain of Tears: the devastated shards of their destroyed home-world, shattered two-and-a-quarter centuries ago.
Like the elves, of course, gnomes are fantastically long-lived: the very eldest gnomes can recall the true glory of their home world, seen with their own eyes; some of the most ancient were already well into their venerable years, over two and a half centuries old, at the time of the cataclysm. Even for the very youngest of gnomes, those who have never known a home-world other than the Chain of Tears, only about three generations have passed since the destruction of that moon (in terms that a human might understand, this is perhaps similar to an event that occurred 60-70 years ago).
Gnomes may choose to gain +2 Intelligence in place of their standard +2 Charisma; most have the Gear Gnome subtype. Nearly half of all gnomish pregnancies result in twins, and triplets are as common among gnomes as twins are among humans.
Kaylee Frye, Niska, Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne, Rocket Racoon, Miracle Max (from Princess Bride), and Twigg (from Pirates of the Caribbean) are good examples of gnomes.
---
Hin: Undisputed rulers of Quelya above the waves, thanks much to their ingenuity in social organization & their bountiful harvests even in the most barren of lands. The vast monotheistic religion of the Hin offers prayers to Yondalla and to her Saints, including Davian and Asmodeus; all Hin estates contain a shrine to Yondalla. The priests and nuns of the Church may not marry, though their laity is expected to produce many, many children. Status within the Church is of paramount importance for all Hin; donations to the church can buy writs of indulgence, favorable legal judgment, and even sainthood.
Lord Beckett, Governor Swann, Elizabeth Swan, Captain Barbossa, and Commodore Norrington (from Pirates of the Caribbean), Badger (from Firefly), Buttercup, Prince Humperdink, Count Rugen, Vizzini (from Princess Bride), and the Collector and Grandmaster (from Guardians of the Galaxy) are all good examples of Hin.
A BRIEF NOTE ON HIN NAMING-CONVENTIONS
Hin identify, for the most part, as members of the Church of Yondalla first, as part of a culture second, and as citizens of a nation third.
Thus, a Hin living in Arvoreen, Beshaba, or Brandobaris can be expected to have an Arvorean, Beshabite, or Brandobarin name. However, a Hin living far away from the shores of Green Fields -- in Cyrrollalee or in Urogolan, for example -- with always retain a “proper” Arvorean, Beshabite, or Brandobarin name.
Hin with Urogalandic names, simply put, do not exist.
“Invented” Hin names, which are relatively common everywhere except on Quelya, are the major exception to this general rule: occasionally, a young Hin living off-world will choose to reinvent himself -- and, thus, rename himself -- often, but not always, as a means to get out from under the thumb of a particularly oppressive (or shameful) family.
Venturing forth into the unknown without the benefit of a longstanding lineage is, in fact, a tradition among Hin significantly older than modern Arvorean or Brandobarin society.
As such, a young Hin in Lagas going by the name of “Morgan Drake,” “John Smith,” “Alastair Chapman,” or “Sebastian West” -- for example -- might be looked down upon as a probable criminal or even as a pirate ... but on Ashen, Verdura, or out on the Chain of Tears, such an individual is likely to earn a mark of respect from all but the most conservative and close-minded of Hin.
Invented Hin Male Names: Thomas, Morgan, Smith, Hunter, John, Price, Bennet, Chapman, West, Tanner, Spencer, Walker, Jackson, Clarke, Parker, Mason, Drake, Corbyn, Everett, Garret, Simon, Alastair, Sebastian, Elliot, Fletcher, Graham, Ethan, Oliver, Felix, Callumn, Stanley, Richmond, Lennox, Ford, Jensen, Gabriel, March, Ellis, Wellington, Reginald, Chesterton, Alex, Solomon, Carter
Invented Hin Female Names: Beatrix, Cressida, Gemma, Joclyn, Scarlett, Elizabeth, Rhonwen, Maisie, Isla, Kaitlyn, Briony, Jane, Charlotte, Adalaide, Ivy, Gwendolyn, Kenzie, Finlay, Audren, Haley, Theodora, Abigail
Invented Hin Last Names: (any invented Hin male first name)
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Human: Humans come in many different colors, in many different sizes, and worship many, many gods – usually in the guise of Yondallan saints. Most humans pay at least some lip service to St. Davian, the great champion of Yondalla (who intercedes to deliver the prayers of humans to Yondalla), but humans very often also worship older, more-private familial gods. Humans may not, of course, marry into Hin families nor join in any Hin merchant house as a full partner; the best that a human can hope for, in many cases, is to be a servant remembered fondly by the children of the family he serves.
This, of course, leaves humans permanently at the bottom of the Quelyan (and thereby system-wide) economic food chain.
It is accepted fact, by those who study the pre-history of Pyrespace, that humans were once scattered across the system for unknown purposes and by unknown means, presumably at the whim of the mysterious Precursors. For this reason, the Church of Yondalla is active in seeking-out lost civilizations of humans who have spent unknown centuries far from the light of Yondalla’s mercy.
Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Captain Jack Sparrow, Westley the Farm-Boy, and Peter Quill are good examples of humans.
HUMAN OFFSHOOTS:
al’Zihad: Despite their bizarre appearances and hostile overtures, it is passionately believed that the curious ifrit, oread, sylph, suli, and undine populations native to Ashen were once human: servants of the Precursors adapted over the course of centuries to their alien environment. It is because of this belief that the Church of Yondalla has extended such a warm and generous offer of camaraderie to the “native” al’Zihad population, hoping to reintroduce them to their divinely ordained role as servants … this time, to the Hin.
Aasimar: Human families who commit themselves to the performance of good works in the name of Yondalla occasionally produce an angel-blooded or archon-blooded heir: born to serve the Church as beatific instruments of peace.
Dhampir: Some human children born beneath the Spider-Moon, along the Chain of Tears, or in the wilds of Fenris are infused with strange energies of death-magic. These children are claimed by the Church, for their own protection.
Fetchling: A strange subspecies of human – thought to originally hail from the lost forest-moon of Baervan (circling the Crown of Sapphire), infused with energies from the forbidden Library of the Eremite – these creatures are kept secret by the Church of Yondalla.
Ganzi: The children of humans exposed over-long to the energies of the Crown of Sapphire have been known to exhibit bizarre mutations; such creatures are taken-in by the Church of Yondalla to be kept safe.
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Half-Elf: Increasingly common throughout the system, originally the products of union between a male elf and female human: while elven females will often take human lovers, both male and female, pregnancies resulting from such unions are unknown: elven women must maintain a strict, meditative state of concentration to actually achieve pregnancy. As such, accidental fertilization is impossible, and even the act of impregnation is discomforting enough that no elven female would perform the act without sound – usually political – reason.
Elven men, therefore, are often shocked to discover that a brief rendezvous with a human woman has produced a bastard child.
Half-elves now breed true and have formed small communities in larger cities like Discord, Zionil, Dallah, and Lagas. Half-elves have no place within Elven society and possess little group unity.
Will Turner (from Pirates of the Caribbean) and Inigo Montoya are good examples of Half-Elves.
Half-Orc: True orcs (and their off-shoot species, including ogres, goblins, and hobgoblins) are not born and possess no gender: they are fungal creatures that emerge fully-grown from vast, reeking pits. Humans exposed to this fungus occasionally produce half-orc offspring; half-orcs are most-commonly born from humans captured by the illithid and taken to Moradin’s Forge (where airborne spores of goblin-fungus are dangerously common).
Half-orcs are prized by the illithid as a more perfect slave-stock than dwarves, orcs, or other monstrous humanoids, and have escaped their bondage to breed true: the product of any mating involving half-orcs (human/half-orc or half-elf/half-orc) is nearly always half-orc: their bizarre, altered fungus-genome is nearly viral in this regard.
Populations of “native” half-orcs intermingle with “native” humans across the wastes of Fenris, representing – to the Church – peoples long separated from the light of Yondalla.
Jayne Cobb and Niska’s leg-breaker Crow (from Firefly), Fezzick (from Princess Bride), Yondu (from Guardians of the Galaxy), and Bo’sun (from Pirates of the Caribbean) are good examples of Half-Orcs.
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Kuru: A bizarre subspecies of island-dwelling human driven all-but-extinct by the combined might of the Arvorean navy and the Church of Yondalla; kuru who bend the knee to the Church and denounce the worship of Dagon are given the same rights as other human offshoots (which is to say, not very much and certainly not as much as main-bloodline humans).
Skintwister: A vanishingly small percentage of humans – when directly exposed to alien fauna and extreme environment – rapidly adapt at a cellular level, taking on the most useful traits of a local native animal species within a generation. Human families on Quelya occasionally produce shark-blooded skintwister, while humans on Verdura can produce bat-blooded, bird-of-prey blooded, boar-blooded, crocodile-blooded, or tiger-blooded offspring, and humans on Fenris can produce bear-blooded, bird-of-prey blooded, boar-blooded, rat-blooded, tiger-blooded, and wolf-blooded young. These ‘near-humans’ are much prized by the Church as useful resources.
Tiefling: Human families who commit wicked deeds, marking themselves for eternal punishment in the bowels of Hell, occasionally produce a devil-blooded heir: born to serve the Church as weapons of war. In addition to the devil-spawn tieflings recognized by the Church of Yondalla, demon-spawn tieflings occasionally appear among the hinen (human servants) of Perianth; kyton-spawn appear among those humans on the Chain of Tears who venture too close to the forest-moon of Baervan, and rakshasa-spawn appear with alarming frequency among those humans assigned to toil the plantation-fields of Verdura.
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Warforged: Creations of the gnomes, the original warforged were long ago the original deciding factor in the wars against the ysoki. Redesigned in later centuries to act as adaptable, dependable assistants for gnomes, including the best possible defense against Hive (and later, illithid) incursions into gnome-space, the warforged were manufactured in the tens of millions.
All warforged, under the dictates of the Church of Yondalla, are property: they do not, and cannot, possess souls.
Each warforged is “born” from a generation creche; not a single such creche is known to have survived the destruction of the Circle of Gold (the gnomish home-world), and the technology to repair or re-fire a damaged creche – if one could even be found! – is utterly lost. For this reason, warforged are no longer treated as the expendable resource they were in the days of the Rat-Slaughter or the Hive Marches.
Data (Star Trek), C3-PO (Star Wars), the T-800 (Terminator), K2-SO (Rogue One), Baymax (Big Hero 6), David (Prometheus), Cameron (Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles), Bishop (Aliens), GLaDOS (Portal), Wall-E, and the Iron Giant are all good examples of possible warforged archetypes, but many other interpretations are possible.
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Others:
In addition to the major races and civilizations of the system, two dozen or more other sapient species make their homes across Pyrespace.
Inhabitants of Ashen:
Kasatha: Swift and dangerous hunters adapted for the open desert, a rare few kasatha have left the holdings of their clans to seek bounty beyond their world.
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Inhabitants of Verdura:
A huge number of native species make the wilds of Verdura their home, many of them armed with Precursor technology and decidedly hostile to strangers. Among them are the Catfolk (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, cheetah, puma), Giff, Ghoran, Gnoll, Grippli, Kobold, Lizardfolk, Nagaji, Orang-Pendak, Reptoid, Tengu, Vanara, Vishkanya, and Wyvaran.
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Inhabitants of Quelya:
Gargoyle: A strange species of living stone that laired near – and among – the Urogalandic people for unknown millennia, gargoyles struck a deal with the Church of Yondalla during the Siege of Mordheim to assure their own survival; now, more than four centuries later, these hulking devils serve the Hin as bodyguards, elite scouts, heavy infantry, and unstoppable delivery-mechanisms.
Locathah: The curious and grotesque locathah – who are said to intermingle freely with the humans of many remote island communities – are treated with grave suspicion by the Church of Yondalla, as they often act as spies, seducers, and saboteurs for the cults of Dagon. The few locathah able to earn the trust of the Church are still watched closely for any sign of heresy.
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Inhabitants of Perianth:
Gathlain: In the deepest woodlands of Perianth, far from the oversight of Elven noble houses, the bizarre gathlain wander the twilight; these odd entities claim to originate from an “adjacent” reality, one to which the doors have been shuttered.
The gathlain whisper that older, hungrier, and infinitely more powerful spirits of “the Forest Behind the Word” also lurk in the long shadows, slowly rebuilding their strength after a humiliating defeat -- and centuries of enslavement -- at the hands of a nameless elven witch-queen.
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Inhabitants of the Chain of Tears:
Ratfolk: Nearly exterminated a dozen times over by the warforged armies of the gnomes, with whom they once shared a home world, the ysoki are a cunning species of survivors who have adapted to life across the Chain of Tears with endless tenacity.
Goblin-Spore (SQ): Some percentage of ysoki are carriers for a curious strain of the goblin fungus (which births goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and ogres) to which they alone are immune.
These special ysoki gain low-light vision, are immune to disease and poison, and are treated as Plant creatures -- in addition to being treated as humanoids with the ratfolk subtype -- for the purposes of a ranger’s favored enemy, for bane weapons, for feats, and for purposes of spells such as antiplant shell and horrid wilting, and for all similar effects, although these ysoki do not gain any other normal immunities, benefits, or traits of a true Plant creature.
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Inhabitants of Fenris:
A fair number of native species make the wilds of Verdura their home, many of them armed with Precursor technology and decidedly hostile to strangers. Among them are the Catfolk (tigers and snow leopards), Kitsune, Syrinx, and Tengu.
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Inhabitants of the Adamant Forge
Duergar: engineered slaves of the illithid, built via a foul twisting of the dwarven genetic code, duergar are not a common sight anywhere in Pyrespace except, perhaps, in the company of their horrid masters. That said, some duergar -- such as those dwelling on the Forge-Moon of Duerra -- have shattered the chains of their bondage and now walk free.
Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Orc: various subspecies born of the same strange fungal blooms (all of which possess the Goblin Spore Special Quality, above), sapient members of these races are rare in the extreme. That said, it is not completely unknown for an individual goblin, hobgoblin, or orc to “wake up”: becoming something significantly more complex than a mere weapon of genocide and extermination.
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UNIQUE RACES: Verdura, Fenris, the Chain of Tears, several moons, and even the wilds of Quelya are doubtlessly home to additional sapient species, still as yet undiscovered.
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SETTING
The setting is a single solar-system, Pyrespace, with several major & minor worlds.
WORLDS & NATIONS
The Pyre: an incalculably vast stellar engine of incandescent plasma; small dark shapes — rumored to be ancient artifacts of the long-vanished Precursors — orbit the star tightly, flickering low across the endless ocean of flame (burning at an average of 6,000 degree Kelvin), diving through 13,000-mile-tall solar flares that routinely reach 10-20 million Kelvin (up to 100 million); these eerie & barely-visible shapes, whatever they may be, are utterly inaccessible to any modern space-vessel.
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Ashen: A storm-wracked world of dust & salt drifting upon an ocean of vacuum, covered in an inhospitable white desert slashed-through with low, jagged, slate-grey mountain ranges; this world hides strange ruins & wondrous treasures of the Precursors beneath its oceans of dust; it is considered strategically valuable both for its rare natural resources; dotted with Hin refineries, forts, border towns, resupply depots, and mining operations; home to strange native populations of kasatha, alongside clans of ifrit, oread, sylph, suli and undine (collectively known as the al’Zihad), who claim to have come to Ashen while bound in the service of the Precursors: inscrutable masters who once dwelt in a mysterious city trapped deep within the Celestial Pearl.
Ashen has two moons:
Anachtyr the Shining: A blinding-bright tempest-world of endless, boiling amythest-hued ocean studded with towering fumarole-vents dozens of miles in height; mighty coils of eye-searing azure lightning leap eternally between titanic these waterspouts, and the steam of this roaring planetoid can be seen drifting into the void: a haze that glitters like diamonds.
Lessinor the Masked: A world of heavy fog, dripping rust, creaking black tourmaline, and unending gloom, mantled in long shadows which writhe with ancient echoes and whispers, it is said that visibility on this planetoid has a maximum of 100 feet. Vast keeps, palaces, and even lightless cities of cyclopean gold-draped skeleons have been reported dotting the curious surface, but not one has ever been found a second time.
Approximately 10% of Ashen is actively subject to mining, exploitation, extraction and terraforming operations.
Major Cities of Ashen:
Acheron: a dug-in black-site military base / fortress-city / arcane research facility controlled by the Hin nation of Brandobaris
Core: a city-sized, semi-mobile mining and oil-rig facility controlled by the Hin nation of Arvoreen; a joint project with gnome & warforged diaspora from the Chain
Salt Lake: a religious-outreach community controlled by the Church of Yondalla, which seeks to convert the native al’Zihad to the worship of the goddess; this is by far the largest city on Ashen, and the central hub for all rail-travel on the planet.
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Verdura: a world of shallow oceans, towering mountain peaks, massive waterfalls, sprawling cave-systems, boiling mud-flats, impossible plateaus, icy ravines, echoing jungles, smoldering volcanos, bewildering river-systems, ancient lost ruins, and — above all — rainforest seemingly without end; home to an uncountable number of near-human species all-but-universally hostile to outsiders, many of whom are armed with ancient Precursor tech.
Hin rubber plantations, lumber mills, exotic “safari” hunting lodges, and industrial logging-facilities are therefore sprawling, heavily-militarized affairs
Although it boasts no truly massive cities, Verdura is host to the Hin colony of New Arvoreen, the center of Covington Farms – soon to be the breadbasket of the Pyrespace system – and a mountain-set Brandobarin research-station known as Thaumir. In addition, a small community of gnome diaspora have established the technological-marvel nation of Markovia, named for its Founder, Monarch and Supreme Leader, Dr. Adlai Markovitch (and his three nieces).
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The Three Moons of Verdura:
Tiamat: A darkly-glittering, iridescent jungle of venom and razor-sharp glass, a shimmering wilderness of fog-shrouded valleys, viridian mire, and steam-wreathed peaks laid beneath a sky of eternally wheeling stars. Home to many of the deadliest insects and reptiles in the system, this endless deep-emerald hell is yet rumored to contain that most fantastic of treasures: the legendary la fonte della giovinezza: a mystic source of endless youth and vitality, guarded by an ancient knight – Sir Azharul of the Thorns – devoted utterly to the service of Yondalla … and to the execution of all unworthy seekers.
Bahamut: A golden moon of shifting desert sand and sky-rending thunderstorms, of dark clouds howling over rain-spattered platinum dunes, this world is sacred to many of the reptilian monstrosities that lurk in the jungles of Verdura. Priests among these creatures claim that once, long ago, doorways opened from their sacrifice-sites to a huge city of bone, a fantastic place fed by the twin rivers Luar and Kath, ruled-over by a red-skinned, leviathan humanoid: a grotesque thing, serpent-like, with four eyes and four ears, that shot flames from its mouth when it spoke. No true evidence of this fabled city, said to lie “behind the east wind,” has yet been discovered.
Chronepsis: A small, silver-grey ice-moon, this airless and barren world is riddled with vast doorways, leading down into bone-white palaces of titanic, cyclopean design. What treasure might lie within these pleasure-halls is unknown, as few who have ventured beneath the surface have ever returned. It is sung, by the heretical faith of Dagon, that two great serpents lair here – named Null and Faluzure – and that these creatures know, between them, the fate of the dragons … and time of their return.
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Quelya: a world of archipelagos, reefs, marbled sand, dark cerulean waves, and tropical island chains boasting only a handful of sizable land masses, dominated by the Hin (halflings) and their servitor-race, humanity; the hungry, expansionist, colonial-minded nations of the Hin are united only by the rule of a massive corrupt Church and a single vast, hyper-complex monetary system; the planet boasts but a single continent — the Green Fields of Yondalla – which are ruled-over by an ever-shifting array of Hin merchant-houses; in the furthest reaches of the world, shark skintwisters and locathah are rumored to bend the knee in loyalty to the strange and beautiful malenti, and to make horrid sacrifices to the coiling serpent Dagon.
HIN NATIONS / CITIES / HOLDINGS
Acheron: a Brandobarin military base / fortress-city / research base on Ashen
Arvoreen: an aggressive, militaristic nation noted for its perpetual war-footing, it maintains the finest navy in the system; the Arvorean Academy of War is famously egalitarian, admitting humans, half-elves, near-humans, and even warforged into its officer-training corps; national colors of red & gold.
Arvorean Male First Names: Alejandro, Fernando, Santiago, Antonio, Maceo, Francisco, Joaquin, Marco, Cristian, Javier, Rafael, Carlos
Arvorean Female First Names: Yamilet, Carmen, Valentina, Paloma, Lucia, Esmeralda, Alicia, Maria, Sofia, Luna, Catalina, Vida
Arvorean Last Names: García, Fernández, González, Rodríguez, López, Martínez, Sánchez, Pérez, Martín, Gómez, Ruiz, Hernández, Jiménez
Beshaba: The Hin holy city on the banks of the Rio Provendor (and its surrounding hills), most sacred site of Yondalla’s worship, currently self-ruled; the place where Gol-Kaa (the Last Human King of Beshaba) was slain by Saint Davian in single combat; national colors of white & sky blue.
Beshabite Male First Names: Dvir, Asaf, Asher, Elazar, Uriah, Reef, Aryah, Ofek, Yaheli, Arbel, Yinon, Idan
Beshabite Female First Names: Maayan, Danya, Liv, Shoshanna, Alean, Annael, Carmel, Eden, Avitel, Avia, Naama, Ofri
Beshabite Last Names: Ngaere, Zerbibi, Mishayev, Qablan, Magadla, Berdugo, Yayin, Sasi, Sharabani, Akiyva, Hagge, Siyvan, Tzviy
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Brandobaris: an elegant, cultured nation noted for its arts and refinement, it maintains the finest academies of learning – in alchemy, wizardry, engineering, medicine, mathematics, law, history, and space-flight – in the system; national colors bright yellow & light grey; home to the three bitterly warring institutes of higher learning:
Archives Timmestre-Falco: home of both the finest telescope array and most complete orrery in the system.
Sincomakti School of Sciences: known for the deep pockets of its alumni – for use in funding elaborate expeditions – and a particularly notorious library.
Universidad de Lepidottero: specialists in medicine, mathematics, and forensic investigation, on the cutting edge of xenobiology.
Brandobarin Male First Names: Luca, Filippo, Marco, Pietro, Giovanni, Nicolo, Davide, Diego, Giuseppe, Edoardo, Tommaso, Andreas , Cosimo, Lorenzo, Ottaviano
Brandobarin Female First Names: Chiara, Nicole, Ludovica, Gaia, Matilde, Vittoria, Francesca, Alessia, Camilla, Bianca, Arianna, Elena
Brandobarin Last Names: Rossi, Berlusconi, Ferrari, Brambilla, Ricci, Greco, Esposito, Marino, Bianchi, Morelli, D’Angelo, Piazza, Caputo
Chaldira: a massive mining-city on Fenris; although it is ostensibly self-ruled under the auspices of a gnomish coalition from the Chain of Tears, in practice the city bows to the “supervision” of a Brandobarin wizarding-circle.
Core: a city-sized, semi-mobile mining and oil-rig facility on Ashen, controlled by the Arvorean armada; a joint project with gnome & warforged diaspora from the Chain.
Cyrrollalee: former home of the last human king; an enormous, incredibly-fertile nation noted for its high population of humans (mostly farmers); rumors persist among the superstitious peasantry of “fairy circles” in the woods that lead to other realms; national colors of green & dark blue
Cyrrolaelan Male First Names: Odhran (Orin), Rory, Tadhg (Tag), Senan, Cathal (Kat-hal), Rodnan, Aodham (Aiden), Callum, Eion (Ow-en), Rian (Ree-an), Fionn (Finn), Cillian (Killian), Declan
Cyrrolaelan Female First Names: Aoife (ee-fa), Caoimhe (kwee-va or kee-va), Saoirse (seer-sha), Ciara (kay-ra), Niamh (neev), Roisin (ro-sheen), Cara (ca-ra), Clodagh (clo-da), Aine (on-yah), Aislinn (ash-lin), Alys, Avalon
Cyrrolaelan Last Names: Murchadha (Murphy), Ó Ceallaigh (Kelly), Ó Súilleabháin (O’Sullivan), Breathnach (Walsh), Ó Broin (Byrne), Ó Conchobhair (O’Conner), Ó Raghallaigh (O’Reilly), Ó Dubhghaill (O’Doyle), Mac Carthaigh (McCarthy), Ó Gallchobhair (Gallagher), Ó Cinnéide (Kennedy), Ó Muireadhaigh (Murray), Ó Cuinn (Quinn), Ó Mordha (Moore), Mac Lochlainn (McLoughlin)
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Dallah: a sin-soaked island city of gambling & revelry, part of the Tymoran island-chain; currently under self-rule; “national colors” of black & white
Gixx: a floating city named for its watery host-moon, under Brandobarin control, orbiting the Crown of Sapphire
Lagas: capital city of both Arvoreen and Brandobaris, existing along the border of both nations at the mouth of the Rio Provendor; a sacred city of the faith of Yondalla second only to the City & Lands of Beshaba
Important Sites in Lagas: The Rusted Sun Theatre, Parrish Place Bed & Breakfast, Café Molise, The Shuttered Door Academy
Important Hin residing in Lagas: Lord Mayor Emilio Dioceres, Archbishop Quirino Stephanos, Minister of Finance Alessio Villanova, Trade Minister Lazzaro Calistoga, Assistant Trade-Minister Dario Adalberto.
Moander: capital city of Cyrrollalee, built on the ruins of Dún Ailinne.
Mordheim: capital city of Urogolan, former home of “Uric, Last Human King of Urogolan”; this cold and half-tumbled fortress city, towering high above the treacherous stone of the Baía da Loucura, is choked in near-constant ice
Perryroyal: massive island city at the far end of the Tymora island-chain that serves as the legendary “gateway to Xhiaae-La,” currently under the control of the Arvorean navy
Salt Lake: a religious-outreach community on Ashen controlled by the Church of Yondalla, which seeks to convert the native al’Zihad to the worship of the goddess; this is by far the largest city on Ashen, and the central hub for all rail-travel on the planet
Thaumir: a mountain-set Brandobarin research-station on Verdura
Tymora: a particularly fertile chain of islands inhabited mostly by humans, currently ruled by the city of Dallah; the islands stretch from Lagas to Perryroyal.
Many traditional Tymoran names -- especailly those found in Dallah -- sound vaguely Greek to 21st-century human ears, but the islands are home to over 7,000 unique human cultures and no single list could possibly home to capure the length and breadth of the names used by Tymorans.
In addition, put bluntly, many people of the island chain simply do not think of themselves as “Tymoran,” but, rather, as members of a distinct culture under foreign occupation.
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Urogolan: grim, north-most Hin nation, noted for its vast mineral wealth, dense coniferous forests, fatalistic populace, and bleak weather; national colors of grey and black.
Urogalandic Male First Names: Ander, Hans, Johan, Ulf, Lars, Sven, Ivar, Leif (layf), Magnus, Ragnar, Sigurd (see-gurd), Herleif (her-leaf), Hjalmar (hyal-mahr), Njal (nj-al), Ødger (ed-ger), Roar (ruw-aar), Rune (ruw-n-eh), Sten (stehn), Trygve (trig-vah), Uhtred (oof-tred), gil (ee-yeh-gil), Einar (eye-nahr), Frey (fray), Geir (geyr), Gudbrand (good-brant), Gudmund (good-moond), Gunnar (guhn-nar), Hagen (hah-gen), Haldor (hahl-dawr), Halvar or Halvor (hahl-vahr), Jarl (yahr-al), Kåre (kehr), Aric (aar-ih-k), Arkyn (aar-khin), Brynjar (brin-yahr), Cuyler (kiel-ehr)
Urogalanadic Female First Names: Áma, Åse, Astra, Astrid, Borghild, Brynhild, Eir, Elli, Embla, Erica, Liva, Ragnfríðr, Revna, Rúna, Saga, Sigrid, Sif, Freya, Heidrun, Hildr, Hrefna, Hulda, Kara
Urogalandic Last Names: Any of the above Urogalandic male first names, with one of the following added to the end: sen, son, sson, søn, datter, dotter, or dottir
Xhiaae-La: legendary islands of gold & jade just beyond Tymora, source of human unarmed martial fighting techniques highly valued by Hin employers; currently under Brandobarin control
Xhiaae-Lan Male Names: Liang, Haoran, Zhen, Shufen, Ling, Lan, Kaihong, Taio, Shui, Qui, Jin, Chun, Ai, Bao
Xhiaae-Lan Female Names: Annchi, Baozhai, Changying, Chao-Xing, Chuntao, Da-Xia, Daiyu, Ehuang, Fenfang, Genji, Hu, Huian
Xhiaae-Lan Family Names: (spoken & written first) Shao, Long, Wàn, Zhāng, Qián, Tāng, Yǐn, Lí, Yì, Cháng, Wǔ, Qiáo, Lài, Gōng, Wén
Zuzadlara: an Arvorean military-base and floating “port city” on Perianth, established to assist Elven forces in maintaining peace across the system.
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Perianth: the elven home-world, a mist-wreathed, twilight-draped bioengineered “forest of prosperity” constructed by the Precursors via unknown means; the deep woodlands are said to hold terrifying gateways to other realms of existence; the courts of the elves are closed to outsiders, and non-elves are permitted access only to a vanishingly small number of sky-ports; the elves of both the Western Courts and Eastern Courts alike do a brisk trade in humans bought from the Hin, and some reports suggest that only 3% of the planetary population is actually elven.
Perianth is “ruled” by House Larethian, although the high throne of that House – that of the Phoenix Emperor (Western Court) or Moonlight Dragon (Eastern Court) – stands empty, as does the throne of his bride: Lolth, the Beautiful Eclipse (Western Court) or Lolth, the Crimson Empress (Eastern Court).
The favor of House Larethian is a currency traded by the other noble Houses; the Western Court name is given for each House first, followed by the Eastern Court name:
House Fleuris / House Kaika: painters, vintners, and rose-garden keepers.
House Sanglante / House Chimanire: the most-expert sword-smiths and sword-saints.
House Chanceux / House Kōun'na: Imperial record-keepers, known for their prodigious luck.
House Illustre / House Kagayakashī: the most beautiful and honorable house, known for their mastery of dance.
House Assombrir / House Kage-tsuki: the lowest of the noble houses, experts in medicine.
Perianth is not known to have any major cities, although each House maintains a number of holdings.
Western Court Male Names: Baillieu, Ménétries, Bachelot, Peletier, Bocuse, Marius, Théophile, Roland, Ancel, Thibaut, Sylvain, Médard, Chauve, Rémy, Maret
Western Court Female Names: Solène, Élisa, Émeline, Joséphine, Ameline, Neri, Mélanie, Coline, Émilienne, Iseult, Asselineau, Eulalie, Roxanne
Eastern Court Male Names: Hyotoki, Gatane, Yamitsu, Dainaga, Akihiko, Yori, Hideaki, Kazuhiro, Wantaro, Anoye, Gezushi, Sesuki, Teitada, Hiroaki, Noboru
Eastern Court Female Names: Haitsuke, Narino, Reinatsu, Maera, Benomi, Kohaku, Kayo, Miyako, Aya, Shizuka, Komina, Jionuye, Kakura, Amiri, Reiko, Yuki, Emi
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The Spider-Moon
The sole satellite of Perianth, a massive labyrinthine ruin to-which one third of the elves — the drow — were exiled long ago; the drow are no longer trapped beneath the surface of the Spider-Moon due to the hideous gifts of the illithid. This oversized nightmare realm is ruled by House Lolth and her loyalists: exiled members of all five noble Houses and their servants. This inhospitable world boasts only a single major trade-hub: the Dark City of Xogotha.
Any type of direct approach on the Spider Moon must find a way to navigate the tens of thousands of floating dead (and undead) – casualties of the Unseelie War – still drifting in orbit around the planetoid. For their part, the drow use this corpse-field as a blockade, employing necromancy to bypass the horror-show whenever necessary.
Drow names are identical to elven names.
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The Celestial Pearl: a mysterious planet-sized anomaly bearing what appears to be a perfectly smooth, bone-white surface: this ghostly pale sphere has no atmosphere and no magnetic field, no geographical features, no marks consistent with any meteoric impact, no evidence of historical habitation, a surface temperature of 3 Kelvin, and a core temperature zero Kelvin. The curious surface itself – which appears to be an impossibly-thin crystalline latticework of monomolecular razor-ribbons covered in a few drifting inches of ice-powder, white sand, ash, and stardust – cannot be landed-upon or even approached: weird, invisible, immovable “arches” — made of something harder than adamantium — protrude in a strange, coiling web of whorls into space, reaching up to 500 miles away from the surface.
Zionil: Largest space-station in the system, nearly a moon onto itself, this massive gnomish facility serves as an informal way-station -- a respected, nearly sacred neutral ground -- between the “inner worlds” of Ashen, Verdura, Quelya, and Perianth; and the “outer worlds”: the Crown of Sapphire and the Chain of Tears, Fenris, and Moradin’s Forge.
It also serves as the ultimate melting-pot of cultures across Pyrespace: here, humans dressed in fashionable gnomish top-hats & tails rub shoulders with dwarves travling to jobs on Ashen & half-orcs en route to Verdura.
Dominated by the enormous Cathedral of St. Deneir the Scribe and House of St. Mili, the Voice of Heaven, sprawling centers of worship for the Church of Yondalla, Zionil is also home to a huge Xhaaie-Lan population; the Lantan Shipyards are without a doubt the finest facilities in the system for the design & construction of Hin-built spelljamming vessels.
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The city is unofficially under the control of Baronet Giancarlo Lugocelli of Fenris, a devout human aristocrat admired across the system for his shrewd buisness accumen and unbridled civic spirit.
This artificial moon also serves as home to The Thirteenth: an emergency garrison of specially-designed warforged kept in reserve to make a surgical-strike wherever the threat of Hive activity is detected outside the heavily quarantined moons of Segojan (Hive Colony Euclid), Baervan (Hive Colony Keter), Baravar (Hive Colony Thaumiel), and Urdlen (Hive Colony Apollyon); this force is led by Inquisitor Francesca DiAccursio of La Universidad de Lepidottero as part of a massive anti-xenos taskforce.
An increasing number of dwarves from Moradin’s Forge also now make a holy pilgrimage here to the Muamman Duathal: a library of dwarven law, history, technological innovation, achivement, literary scholarship, and art nearly the equal to the catacombs of lost Dugmaren.
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The Crown of Sapphire & the Chain of Tears: an enormous, shining, many-ringed cerulean gas-giant, host to a dozen moons (listed below) and the long trail of an asteroid belt which follows behind it; the Crown roars with low heat and mild radiation, serving as a “second sun” to the system. As to the means by which the Precursors performed this “stellar uplifting” and manipulated the interior of the Crown, it is impossible to say.
About 70% of the “chain” following behind the Crown was originally the home-world of the gnomes – once known as Kruug od Szlatta, or the ‘Circle of Gold’ – and their many miraculous inventions, which was shattered utterly as the result of a run-away hyper-energy reaction; big money can be made out here, sifting the clockwork wreckage and mining interplanetary debris for rarities; the finest technology in the known universe can be found here: powering the cities, foundries, refineries, sky-docks, casinos, space stations, laboratories, and bio-manufactora which float together in complex nets through the wild void.
Moons of the Sapphire Crown:
Garl: now the largest of the moons, a gem-studded planetoid home to a huge number of scattered mineral-mining operations, including Blistavo Zlatta: now the default capital-city of the gnome people, formerly known best as a decadent, lawless, off-world trade-hub town full of casinos, amusements, cunning illusions, and other cheap entertainments.
Gelth: second largest of the moons, a dark spheroid of endless seething lava-flats, smoldering radioactive pools, toxic black smoke, and jagged obsidian blades miles in height. Home to a small number of mining-colonies (which are outnumbered 10-1 by the destroyed remnants of exactly such facilities).
Callarduran: third largest of the moons, a place of icy-cold wind whistling through thousands of miles of smooth stone tunnels, home to the finest stone-crafting workshops in the system.
Flandal: a hot, near-barren planetoid rich in iron and a number of other valuable metals … but, very specifically, boasting neither water nor arable land. Successfully cleared of all Hive infection after the eradication of Hive Colony Nehemoth in 1463; classified as safe.
Gixx: a fog-shrouded shallow-sea water-world currently occupied by a floating Brandobarin city.
Segojan: a smog-shrouded death-world of fungus and alien monsters, home to Hive Colony Euclid.
Baervan: a lost moon, once a twilight forest-world, now home to Hive Colony Keter; also home to the mysterious, floating Library of the Eremite.
Baravar: a shadowy crystalline moon now home to Hive Colony Thaumiel.
Urdlen: home to nothing but an icy, red-tinged ocean that flows silently between towering black spires, this bleak world now plays host to Hive Colony Apollyon.
Gaerdal: a heavily fortified workshop-moon, now 99% destroyed; original “birthplace” of the warforged.
Nebelun: the still-smoldering remains of a desert laboratory-world, dotted with blackened pits connected by a vast webwork of now-shattered elevated railways.
Rupa u Beskonačnom (the Hole in the Infinite): although not a true moon, this small artificial wormhole drifts in orbit around the Crown of Sapphire, occasionally spiting-out weird horrible alien monsters: the nearby moons of Segojan (Hive Colony Euclid), Baervan (Hive Colony Keter), Baravar (Hive Colony Thaumiel), and Urdlen (Hive Colony Apollyon) are infected with a terrifying strain of bizarre alien life; the wormhole is currently orbited by a small armada of mysterious githyanki ships native to another solar system.
Major Cities of the Chain of Tears:
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Discord: The largest city adrift in the Chain is also the largest city system-wide; in terms of sheer population, only the holy city of Lagas on Quelya even comes close. Discord is a sprawling affair, composed of innumerable asteroids and earth-bergs lashed-together with sparking remnants from hundreds – if not thousands – of derelict and damaged SpellJamming vessels. Although the gnomish population of Discord is lightly smaller than that of Blistavo Zlatta, on Garl, gnomes and their warforged security units run much of the city: High Master Artificer Krenlin maintains strict order among the scoundrels, spacehands, and fortune-seekers … at least, in the neighborhoods capable of paying for his protection. The black markets of Discord’s underbelly are run by gangs of ysoki (ratfolk), dwarves, half-orcs, half-elves, more bizarre human-offshoots, locathah, kasatha, unique creatures from the wilds of Verdura and Fenris, and even drow. Significantly more uncommon are goblins, orcs, and ogres – ancient enemies of the dwarves – and Perianth-born elves; although Hin are occasionally spotted here, it’s incredibly rare to see one without an escort … such as a lumbering Church-sanctioned gargoyle or a heavily-armed mercenary crew.
Serenity: Known better by its inhabitants as ‘Scarcity,’ this ugly warren of trash and filth is – to those with the keen eyes to see it – a goldmine of opportunity. If the ysoki can lay claim to a home-world, this is it: the majority of the population here is ratfolk, and their laws guide the city … for good or for ill. Part of a dense asteroid-field known for dangerous gravitational eddies, the port of Serenity is a haven for pirates and criminals wanted in every other metropolis.
Linger: The last glorious remnants of the Circle of Gold are kept here, a city-sized museum dedicated to the memory of that devastated world, and to honoring the uncounted millions who perished in the flare of its destruction. It is a place of quiet luxury and high technology, where the very wealthiest of those who do business in Discord can pretend – if only for a few hours – that the Circle of Gold was never broken.
Gnomish Male Names: Andrija, Nikola, Luka, Marko, Aleksandr, Jovan, Nemanja, Matija, Miloje, Miroslav, Rodavan, Vlado, Zivko,
Gnomish Female Names: Aleksandra, Teodora, Jana, Katarina, Petra, Malina, Milena, Maja, Hana, Anja, Milica (miy-LIH-ts-a), Sara, Nina
Gnomish Last Names: Jovanović, Petrović, Nikolić, Marković, Đorđević, Stojanović, Ilić, Stanković, Pavlović, Milošević, Katić, Sinđelić, Nedić, Marić, Višnjić, Janjić, Sarić, Miličić, Milenić, Natalić, Zorić, Smiljić, Anđelić
Warforged Names: any; names of warforged are self-selected, are not derived from family, and may be drawn from any culture.
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Fenris: A frozen, rocky world of icebergs & fathomless oceans, mighty fjords, roaring hot springs, steaming river-valleys, shrieking tundra, rolling steppes, drifting ice-floes, frigid marshland, deep emerald forest, and seething volcanoes; it is “ruled-over” by a minority population of warring giants, who tear themselves fully-formed from the simmering ley-lines of the living planet; in their long shadow, bold survivors face the fierce wrath of endless winter; some clans scratch out a meager, subsistence-level hunter-gatherer existence, while others build great longhouses, fortresses, and onion-domed cathedrals of wood & stone, defying the giants; beneath the surface of the world, enchanted mechanical castles — home to slumbering vampire lords — wait in silence to be called-forth for the night-hunt.
Humans and half-orcs “native” to Fenris tend toward Cyrrolaelan and Urogalandic names, suggesting some truth to the legends of doorways in the deep woods leading between Quelya and Fenris.
The massive, smoldering, heavily-entrenched mining-city of Chaldira employs tens of thousands of workers, including innumerable indentured humans and near-humans imported from Quelya by the hundreds through the Church-sanctioned penal transportation program; most such workers are branded, upon arrival, to prevent their disappearance into the local human communities. Specialized squads of “workforce retention agents” operating under Brandobarin authority maintain an uneasy peace with nearby human enclaves … though both groups wisely fear the fury of giants, who on occasion choose to assault the veritable fortress of Chaldira seemingly out of pure malice.
Beyond humans, dwarves comprise the bulk of Chaldira’s employees; outright violence in the barracks between dwarves and their orc-blooded coworkers is frowned upon, punishable by both monetary fine and loss of privileges, but is still not uncommon. Gnomes, warforged, and even ratfolk form the Chain of Tears are also common sights, as are Hin mages and their gargoyle bodyguards, although the only thing rarer than a native of Verdura here is an elf.
For their own part, the native catfolk, kitsune, syrinx, and tengu give Chaldira a wide berth: the huge, heavily militarized mining-city has, for the most part, nothing to offer them.
Moons of Fenris
Bahgtru: A hot, dark, ash-swept landscape of dense black forests, broiling deserts, flinty badlands, murky rivers, and foreboding seas, all bearing the ravages of constant war waged beneath a coal-streaked and starless sky. A dozen or more major orc-blood nations vie for control of this resource-rich, twilight-lit world; the largest single military force – the Broken Skull Clan, led by a hulking creature called Moragrek – dominates less than 10% of the planetoid. In the deepest woodlands, orcs fly crude marrow-stained, gut-stitched banners above fallen towers still sparking with ancient Precursor-tech.
Ilneval: Floating mountains, coiling moebius-spiral waterfalls, serpentine valleys filled with boiling fog, forests of glass, a series of artificial rings, cities of broken fractal room-recursions, walking Precursor-tech “transport-facilities” the size of nations, and stranger landmarks dot this bizarre world. Worse still, the goblin-fungus of this moon has underdone a wild number of dangerous mutations, producing varieties of dangerous goblinoid entities unknown anywhere else in Pyrespace.
Luthic: A damp, echoing, rain-drenched world with a low-burning core, this windswept planetoid sees surprisingly few dangerous meteorological events – considering the near-constant cloud cover -- and features only very mild tectonic activity. As such, impossible caverns filled with warm mushroom forests abound, grazed-upon by bizarre, blind half-fungal elk. This world is by far the economically valuable of the Fenris-moons, a veritable goldmine for its Brandobarin investors; transportation to this moon is a sentence dreaded by every human living under the Church of Yondalla’s laws.
Obould: Miles upon miles of long-fallen ruins – twisting, elegant citadels of what appears to have been ancient elven construction – crisscross this rime-coated world, buried in miles upon miles of shattered ice; unfortunately, whatever strange process causes the planet Fenris to vomit-forth giants from its ley-lines is also active here: titans of frost wander the wastes, obedient to three mysterious warlords: the Shogun of Crimson Snowfall, the Shogun of the Endless Dark, and the Shogun of Winterblind.
Shargaas: High above the roiling toxic cloud-cover, cold mountain-peaks spill miles-long waterfalls from smoldering calderas; far below, falling ash and acidic sleet fall silently on the dark glass libraries of the Precursors. It is said that nothing moves here, in the realm of dead furnaces: a planetoid fallen to night. In the winding passages beneath the dormant facilities, however – the strange passages linking the long abandoned “colleges” of Hopelorn, Cold Fever, and the Citadel of Vanished Audience – somethingold and unclean can be heard clicking-away … hungry, and drawing ever closer.
Vaprak: Trolls are an infectious, predatory presence known across Pyrespace: Verdura, Tiamat, the forests of Cyrrollalee and Urogolan, the wooded isles of Tymora, the Crown-moon of Baervan, and upon most of the Fenris-moons & Forge-moons; in fact, it is believed (but not confirmed by the elves) that trolls may even be known in the wild places of Perianth. No place, however, can be said to have been conquered by the trolls like this horrid planetoid: an endless morass of sinking stonework and icy-cold swamp, a place of stench and the low whine of blood-mad insects.
Yurtrus: Miles below the Brandobarin military research-facility of Khin-Oin, a planet-sized city of war-ravaged, long-overgrown Precursor-tech glitters in the cold sunrise … while another neighborhood, connected by monorails that blur between districts faster than the speed of sound, shines like an ocean of light on the other side of nightfall. The city – nicknamed “Fleshslough” by the researchers who drift in orbit high above, perpetually examining the curious urban properties – is a vast thing of austere, ever-moving wonderment: whatever incurable, perversely-contagious disease hangs in the warm air reduces skin to boiling crimson horror in mere moments.
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Moradin’s Forge: this hyper-dense, heavily volcanic planet is just over half the size of Quelya, yet it commands a significantly more massive gravity well. Although it boasts a minimal surface atmosphere, it serves as the home world of dwarves, goblins, ogres, hobgoblins, and orcs; it is also the staging-ground for an illithid invasion-force with control over a supermassive wormhole situated somewhere beyond the edge of the known solar system; illithid forces include any number of alien monstrosities (many mutated or bio-manipulated by the illithid) stolen from a hundred different systems, of which orcs are the newest prize; 80% of all dwarves system-wide live in bondage beneath the heel of the illithid.
A single rebel city, secret in the extreme, is hidden in the shadows of otherwise-absolute illithid dominance: Veil, last hope of the Forge.
Dwarven Male First Names: Hakk, Osrick, Drok, Brut, Muls, Grold, Urbrik, Aandrak, Buulrol, Kigrer, Fraysik, Korvin, Vog, Bellbaarg
Dwarven Female First Names: Yorgwyn, Urgwan, Rren, Inngva, Kledgeg, Lonnvull, Urrgvi, Kalbri, Khora, Sro, Ohlih, Hyylkis, Memrii
Dwarven Clan Names: Grandmaul, Stonehall, Winterstride, Thunderhand, Icevein, Wargold, Blackstone, Runelore, Heartstrong, Ironblaze, Steelfist, Greysky, Shieldhorn, Axetusk, Proudburn, Stormedge
A NOTE ON DWARVEN NAMING CUSTOMS
Dwarves are hardly a monoculture, and each dwarf has dealt with the loss of Moradin’s Forge in an intensely personal way. Some dwarves have taken to answering only to their Clan name (their first name forever, abandoned), while others refuse to speak their Clan name aloud until they stand once more in the re-taken hall of their ancestors; some dwarves have founded entirely new off-world lineages -- such as Clan Dustblade of Ashen -- and some have adopted themselves into existing bloodlines: Clan Malov, the “dwarven branch” of the Malovitch crime-family is, of course, the most famous of these.
Orc, Goblin, Ogre, Hobgoblin Names: Wurgoth, Gradba, Azuk, Speghat, Cagan, Wilaktug, Sbghat, Omegugh, Fogugh, Braugh, Oggugat, Yegoth, Oogorim, Vothug, Nildud, Golag, Bugharz, Zguk, Ombilge, Zudagog, Tothag, Sogg, Narfug, Ergoth, Xorag, Orpigig, Agronak, Orakh, Xulgug, Fudagog
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Moons of the Forge AKA “The Morndinsamman”:
Abbathar: A shimmering world of vast iron pyrite slabs floating across a seething ocean of molten lead, shot-through with veins of plutonium. Extreme weather events triggered by mega-scale Precursor tech embedded at the moon’s poles – still barely understood, even in theory – routinely cause the surface temperature and atmospheric pressure to reach or exceed 4,000 degrees Kelvin and 18 gigapascals (2,610,680 pounds per square inch): converting portions of the atmosphere into solid, crystalline “red oxygen” while shattering the vast methane-plumes into sheets of pure diamond.
Berronar: A temperate world of steep valleys and winding natural cave systems, with a craggy mineral-rich surface marked by broad streams and small hardwood forests, this served for nearly seven centuries as the “second home” of the dwarven people, founded soon after first contact with gnomes from the Circle of Gold. The early loss of this quiet paradise-moon, along with the entirety of its population, to the illithid during their invasion was a brutal blow to the Clans of the Forge.
Clangeddin: A storm-wracked world of mighty fortresses and massive iron-foundries, this was the very last of Forge-moons to fall: its bleak surface is still marked with endless fields of the unburied war dead, broken banners, and mighty siege-engines half-buried in seas of ash. The endless lightning strikes are said to illuminate black rivers of goblin-fungus running between the most hallowed halls and treasure-filled tombs of the ancient dwarven kings: funerary-stone and pale gold circlets trod into the grey mud.
Duerra: In some ways, on certain battle-fronts, it can be said that the dwarven race yet stands: roaring in open, bloodthirsty, unrelenting defiance of the illithid and all their servants. On this inhospitable planetoid, a vast labyrinth of toxic metal-tainted pools, rusted razor wire, and dizzying mineshafts once used to extract silver, iron, gemstones, and titanium by the cubic ton, two rogue creations of the illithid – the duergar and the dark naga – wage endless war in the dark, focusing the psychic energies of their cold anger on killing anything that so much as looks at them sideways … and plotting, always, to escape the oubliette and shackle the universe as their slave.
Dugmaren: What was once the center of all dwarven scholarship – the eternal echoing repository of some thirty centuries of discovery, poetry, engineering, innovation, and invention, the epicenter of all history recorded by the Clans of the Forge, the memories of a people writ in rune – has been lost. None can say how many tomes and testaments were lost during the Battle of Dugmaren, put to the torch and the axe … nor how many of the great, austere library-moon’s sacred record-keepers were devoured by the rapacious illithid, their minds stolen to be used as horrid weapons against the living. For those who treasure the knowledge of ages, the fall of Dugmaren was perhaps the greatest loss of all.
Dumathoin: A lightless world, shrouded in constant slate-grey cloud-cover, riddled with dangerous – yet fantastically lucrative! – gemstone cave systems of seemingly limitless depth. In the many centuries of its exploration, it yet continues to reveal strange new secrets: some treacherous, some fantastic, all of them beautiful and curious in the extreme. Legends suggest that the winding passages here are truly limitless: that the halls curl back on themselves, leading to tunnels beneath the surface of the Forge, the Spider-Moon, the sands of Ashen, the tombs of Chronepsis, the vampire-castles of Fenris, and even the strange armor of the Celestial Pearl.
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Gorm: A cruel planetoid, a howling nightmare of treacherous, winding obsidian passageways, covered in goblin-fungus and lit only by the low blood-red flickers of a hateful molten core, the Gauntlet of Gorm was once the final testing-ground of the greatest dwarven warriors and the finest dwarven armor: here, unstoppable heroes and unbreakable shields alike were forged. Fallen, now, to the illithid, the retaking of unassailable Gorm may yet represent the last, best hope of the dwarven people.
Haela: The imposing mountain peaks of this glimmering moon are carved with the likenesses of the great clan leaders, the eternal Kings and Queens of the Forge. Beneath their austere gaze, feuding clans have, for centuries, set aside their hate and their bloodthirst to settle generations-old grudges through honorable challenge: tests of skill-at-arms, bravery, strength, endurance, mettle, riddling, drinking, cunning, and even the gift of poetry. The halls here have fallen silent, picked-at now by lean, faceless nightmare predators: misshapen things born under unclean stars.
Laduguer: A hard world wrapped in chill grey mist, a moon of foul reputation and terrible whispers drifting on the winds beneath the stone. Under a steel-grey sky flickering with impossible darkness, bottomless pits sparkling with adamantine and black diamonds rend a jagged landscape of petrified Precursor tech: shattered alien weapons, armor, engines, towers, biological experiments, and massive shipwrecks of sea, star, and air, all transformed to iron. Vast, gaping holes in the surface – some miles across – open into mazeworks of silver and mithral, precious blood-onyx and fantastic skymetals, the tunnels lit by the twisting glimmer of an unwholesome and unnatural flame. The icy peaks of this foreboding moon are home to three long-abandoned dwarven strongholds: the Citadel of the White Rose, the Fortress Hammergrim, and the Throne Perilous.
Marthammor: A wild and far-wandering forest moon of geysers and thermal vents, known for its near-constant earthquakes, its towering native flora and fauna, its softly luminescent gemstones, it extreme and unpredictable weather, and – perhaps best of all – for its sprawling subterranean woodlands: vast, steaming caverns filled with trees adapted to survive seemingly without need of sunlight. Legends speak of doorways in the deep woods to other worlds, and ancient elven runes – some millennia old – can be found carved alongside incomprehensible alien glyphs on the many moss-covered marble pillars, stairs, ivory archways of long-fallen ruins.
Sharindlar: A dusky, crimson and rose-gold planetoid of impossible buttes, wide mesas, abundant hot springs, and huge naturally occurring stone “monuments” interlaced with warm shallow seas, all brushed with glittering, coral-pink sandbars, echoing grottos, and wide white beaches. The rare minerals and exotic plant life of this moon are said to possess a variety of astonishing medicinal properties, capable of restoring life, joy, and vitality to even the most crippled form. A massive temple – seemingly of dwarven construction, yet over 7,000 years old – rises from a golden hillside surrounded by circles of great standing-stones, marked by runes of indecipherable origin.
Thard Harr: Thought to be the ancient origin-point of goblin-fungus, the so-called Labyrinth of Life is home to terrible, primordial beasts seen nowhere else in Pyrespace. This bizarre, sweltering jungle world is stacked in “layers” of independently-floating, constantly shifting plateaus, all orbiting a single boiling ocean: the destination of all waterfalls and the source of constant warm mist and heavy rain. For reasons yet unknown, the maddening complexities of this moon are well-recorded in the oral histories of many monstrous species dwelling on Verdura, who claim to have walked star-paths to this place – for purposes of tending to a mysterious “Temple of the Deceiver / Serpent-Father” – in ancient days.
Vergadain: A small planetoid of gentle hills and clear lakes with a wide orbit, this moon was – for nearly seven centuries, since 1051 A.D. – the preferred meeting-ground to facilitate trade between the races of gnome and dwarf. In the wake of utter cataclysm befalling the shattered gnome home world (in 1492 A.D.), a number of wealthy and prominent gnomish merchant-families established permanent residence here at the heartfelt invitation of their friends among the Clans of the Forge; the casual annihilation of those families by the illithid at their outset of the invasion was a horrific shock to both races.
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Japanese divinities ✨
Shinto✨
Major kami✨
•Ama-no-Uzume (天宇受売命)
Commonly called Uzume, she is the goddess of dawn and revelry, instrumental to the "missing sun legend" in Shinto. She is also known as The Great Persuader and The Heavenly Alarming Female.
•Amaterasu-ō-mi-kami (天照大神 or 天照大御神)
Commonly called Amaterasu, she is the goddess of the sun as well as the purported ancestress of the Imperial Household of Japan. Her full name means "Great Goddess" or "Great Spirit Who Shines in the Heavens"; she may also be referred to as Ōhiru-menomuchi-no-kami (大日孁貴神). Due to her ties to the Imperial family, she is often considered (though not official) to be the "primary god" of Shinto.
•Ame-no-Koyane (天児屋命 or 天児屋根命)
A male deity, he is considered the "First in Charge of Divine Affairs", as well as the aide to the first Emperor of Japan.[1] He is also considered to be the ancestor of the Fujiwara family.
•Fujin (風神)
Also known as Kaminokaze, he is the Japanese god of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto gods, said to be present at the creation of the world. He is often depicted as an oni with a bag slung over his back.
•Hachiman (八幡神)
Also known as Hachiman-shin or Yawata no kami, he is seen as the god of war. Originally an agricultural deity, he later became the guardian of the Minamoto clan.
•Inari (稲荷)
The god of rice and fertility. His messengers and symbolic animal are foxes. He is often identified with the Buddhist deity Dakiniten. Though traditionally represented as a male, there are records of Inari appearing as a female as well.
•Izanagi (伊弊諾 or 伊邪那岐)
The forefather of the gods, he is the first male as well as the god of creation and life. He and his wife, Izanami, were responsible for the birth of the islands of Japan and many kami, though she died in childbirth. Later, after his failed attempt to retrieve her from the underworld, he sired Amaterasu, Susano and Tsukuyomi.
Izanami (伊弉冉 or 伊邪那美)
•Izanagi's wife and sister, she is the first female as well as the goddess of creation and death. She died shortly after the birth of Kagu-tsuchi, and Izanami followed her to the underworld, but failed to bring her back to the living world. A marital spat between the pair caused the cycle of life and death for all living beings.
•Ninigi-no-Mikoto (瓊瓊杵尊)
Commonly called Ninigi, he was the grandson of Amaterasu. His great-grandson was Kamuyamato Iwarebiko, later to be known as Emperor Jimmu, first emperor of Japan.
•Raijin (雷神)
Commonly called Raiden (雷電), he is the god of thunder and lightning, and is often paired with Fujin. As with the latter, Raijin is usually depicted as an oni.
•Ryūjin (龍神)
Also known as Rinjin, he is a dragon, as well as god of the sea. He resides in Ryūgū-jō, his palace under the sea built out of red and white coral, from where he controlled the tides with magical tide jewels. His great-grandson would become Emperor Jimmu.
•Susanoo-no-mikoto (須佐之男命)
Alternately romanized as Susano-o, Susa-no-o, and Susanowo. He is the god of storms as well as in some cases the god of the sea. He is also somewhat of a trickster god, as Japanese mythology extensively documents the "sibling rivalry" between him and Amaterasu. Susanoo also was responsible for the slaying of the monster Yamata-no-Orochi and the subsequent discovery of the sacred sword Kusanagi.
•Tenjin (天神)
The god of scholarship, he is the deified Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), who was elevated to his position after dying in exile and subsequent disasters in Heian-kyō were attributed to his angered spirit. See Dazaifu, Fukuoka
•Toyotama-hime (豊玉姫)
Also known as Otohime (乙姫), she was the daughter of Ryūjin and the grandmother of Jimmu. It is said that after she gave birth to her son, she turned into a dragon and disappeared.
•Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (月読の命 or 月夜見の尊)
Also known as Tsukiyomi, Tsuki no kami, Tsukiyomino mikoto, and Tsukiyumi no mikoto, he is the god of the moon. He killed the goddess of food, Uke Mochi, out of disgust and anger in the way she had prepared a meal. This caused Amaterasu to never face him again, causing the sun and moon to be in different parts of the sky.
Minor kami✨
•Amatsu-Mikaboshi (天津甕星), the kami of all evil and stars who existed before Ama-No-Uzume
•Konohanasakuya-hime (木花之開耶姫), the wife of Ninigi and daughter of Ohoyamatsumi, and great-grandmother of Jimmu. She is also known as the goddess of Mount Fuji.
•Ohoyamatsumi (大山積命), an elder brother of Amaterasu, and an important god who rules mountain, sea, and war, as well as the father of Konohanasakuya-hime.
•Sarutahiko Ohkami (猿田毘古神), a kami of the Earth that guided Ninigi to the Japanese islands
•Uke Mochi (保食神), sometimes called Ogetsu-hime-no-kami, a goddess of food. After she had spat a fish, vomited or defecated game and coughed rice, she had been killed by a disgusted Tsukuyomi, or in some other versions, Susanoo.
Buddhism✨
•Amida Nyorai (無量光佛 or 無量壽佛)
Commonly referred to as Amida-butsu (阿弥陀如来), he is the primary Buddha of the Pure Land school of Buddhism. He is also believed to be a Buddha who possesses infinite meritorious qualities; who expounds the dharma in his pure paradise and is likely the most well known and popular of the Five Wisdom Buddhas.
•Daruma (ダルマ)
He is traditionally held in Buddhist mythology to be the founder of Zen Buddhism, as well as the founder of Shaolin. One legend reports that after years of meditation, Bodhidharma lost the usage of his eyes and appendages. The Daruma doll was created in honor of this legend.
The Seven Lucky Gods✨
•Benzaiten (弁才天 or 弁財天)
Also known as Benten, she is the goddess of everything that flows: words (and knowledge, by extension), speech, eloquence, and music. Said to be the third daughter of the dragon-king of Munetsuchi, over the course of years she has gone from being a protective deity of Japan to one who bestows good fortune upon the state and its people.Derived from the equivalent goddess in Hinduism Goddess Saraswati.
•Bishamonten (毘沙門天)
Also called Bishamon or Tamonten, he is the god of fortunate warriors and guards, as well as the punisher of criminals. Said to live halfway down the side of Mount Sumeru, the small pagoda he carries symbolizes the divine treasure house that he both guards and gives away its contents.
•Daikokuten (大黒天)
Often shortened to simply Daikoku, he is variously considered to be the god of wealth (more specifically, the harvest), or of the household (particularly the kitchen). He is recognised by his wide face, smile, and flat black hat. He is often portrayed holding a golden mallet, seated on bales of rice, with mice nearby (which signify plentiful food).
•Ebisu (恵比須, 恵比寿, 夷 or 戎)
The sole member of the gods believed to have originated in Japan, he was originally known as Hiruko (蛭子), the first child of Izanagi and Izanami. Said to born without bones, he eventually overcame his handicaps to become the mirthful and auspicious Ebisu (hence one of his titles, "The Laughing God"). He is often depicted holding a rod and a large red bream or sea bass. Jellyfish are also associated with this god and the fugu restaurants of Japan will often incorporate Yebisu in their motif.
•Fukurokuju (福禄寿)
Often confused with Jurōjin, he is the god of wisdom and longevity and said to be an incarnation of the Southern Polestar. He is accompanied by a crane and a turtle, which are considered to be symbols of longevity, and also sometimes accompanied by a black deer. The sacred book tied to his staff is said to contain the lifespan of every person on Earth.
•Hotei (布袋)
Best known in the Western world as the Laughing Buddha, Hotei is likely the most popular of the gods. His image graces many temples, restaurants, and amulets. Originally based on a Chinese Chan monk, Hotei has become a deity of contentment and abundance.
• Kichijōten (吉祥天)
Also known as Kisshōten or Kudokuten, she is the "eighth" member of the Seven Gods of Fortune, a Taoist deity often combined with the traditional members. She is considered to be the goddess of happiness, fertility, and beauty.
• Jurōjin (寿老人)
Also known as Gama, he represents longevity. He is often seen with a fan and a stave, and accompanied by a black deer.
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Someone you like (part 6)
This is the final chapter of my “Someone you like” inspired fic. It’s also available on AO3 in case you prefer that platform.
Special thanks to @rueitae for betaing this chapter and to @onlysilvy for being a darling this whole time. Your support means everything. Also, sorry, Rue, I have no self-control.
Summary: Lance falls in love with Pidge on two different occasions. They eventually figure it out.
25 and 23 years old
The end of Lance’s first year as an MFE fighter saw him standing in front of Pidge’s room, wringing his hands. Anxiety clawed at his chest, but he had made up his mind to finally confess his feelings. With the anniversary of Allura’s death fast approaching – it was only two months away –, both Keith and Hunk had advised him to either spill his guts soon or wait for the new year. Lance had taken this to heart.
His work in the Garrison didn’t put him in direct contact with Pidge, but the two of them always made up excuses to see each other after hours. They would spend evenings in his apartment, playing video games or watching movies, or they would go over to Shiro’s for a round of Monsters and Mana, enjoying how excited Curtis got over the storylines.
Most of the time, Lance felt like they were already a couple, with how much they bantered. Even Veronica assured him that they were insufferable. So, every day it got harder for Lance to control his instinct to pull Pidge to him and kiss her, to finally let her know how much Lance wanted her in his life, forever.
But he was getting ahead of himself.
Before Lance could make up his mind to knock, the door slid open to reveal Romelle. She stood there with a hand on her hip, her blonde hair pinned in a bun at the top of her head.
“You do realize there’s a sensor on the door?” There was laughter in her voice. “And a camera. I’ve been staring at your distressed face for almost five minutes.” Alarm must have flashed through his expression, because she snorted. “Don’t worry, she’s not here right now.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Romelle,” he said with little-to-no enthusiasm. The girl continued to grin at his misery, stepping aside so Lance could walk into the room. “When did you even get here?”
She moved to the bed, where several books were scattered around, and plopped back against the pile of pillows. Around the room, machinery parts and clothing pieces battled for the floorspace. It was an aspect of Pidge that never changed, the organized chaos of her room that no doubt reflected that brilliant mind of hers.
“Keith stopped by Altea to pick me up. Hunk wanted me to bring some produce from that quadrant, because Colleen’s last harvest was apparently jeopardized by a flood a junior botanist caused.” Romelle shrugged. “Katie didn’t know the specifics.”
Her use of Pidge’s given name no longer surprised Lance. People around the Garrison usually referred to the Holts by their titles, since their ranks within the organization demanded a certain level of reverence, but many of their colleagues from the war still called her Katie. Especially those who spent their time with Sam and Colleen, like Romelle.
“Have you seen Hunk and Matt yet?” Lance took a seat on the couch. It was old and gray, but comfortable enough. He and Shiro had dragged it into Pidge’s dorm after one too many nights of eating dinner on the floor.
The blonde shook her head. “Hunk and Shay are grabbing me for lunch and Matt is busy with his girlfriend.” She leaned against the headboard and, although her posture remained relaxed, the look in her eyes spoke of mischief. “Katie said I could chill –” she made quotation marks with her hands – “here while I waited, but if I’m interrupting something…”
Lance gave a spastic wave of his arms that probably did nothing to deny her suspicions. It was just his luck that Romelle was there again. She’d already witnessed his struggle when asking Allura out and now she could see right through him.
“Interrupting?” He forced a laugh. “Nah! It’s fine! Always good to see a friendly face!”
Romelle didn’t have the skill to emulate Pidge’s unimpressed look, but being best friends with Matt had certainly helped her get close to it. However, she also didn’t seem invested enough in his drama to pry, going back to digging through the books.
“I’m sure it was not
face you had hoped to see,” she commented nonchalantly, still looking down at the different covers. “Alas, it is what it is. Katie is in a meeting, so you might as well keep me company.”
Lance frowned at her, but chose not to follow through with the subject. “What are those books for?”
“It turns out that an education based around the teachings of a megalomaniac prince did not actually cover as much astrology as I had hoped.” Romelle looked down at her palms. There was an edge to her smile that Lance was sad to recognize as self-deprecation. “Hunk helps with what he can, but Matt and Katie are the real connoisseurs, apparently, so they gave me some material from when they were younger.” She heaved a sigh. “It’s a lot.”
“I’m really proud of you.” Lance smiled at her, a little awkward. “Allura would be, too.”
“What? Where did that come from?” Romelle made a face at him, but she was smiling as well. “I am simply trying to do my best. There is a lot I don’t know.”
“Yeah, but you’ve done your best since I met you and it’s always been enough.” Lance shrugged, shifting his gaze to the whiteboard that hung over Pidge’s bed. The equations there meant nothing to him. “Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to stop Lotor or Honerva. Besides, the Holts are very selective of the people they like. They don’t just take on hopeless cases.”
Romelle blew out a breath. Their eyes met tentatively, as they were both embarrassed by the situation. “You know, it is surprisingly easy to forget that you are a good person.”
“I’ve been told,” he deadpanned, much to the Altean’s amusement.
“Look, I do not need you to cheer me up. I appreciate it, but you can keep your compliments for Katie, who we both know would enjoy them more.” Even as she said this, it was clear that Romelle felt a little better. She picked up one of the books. “If you want to help, just quiz me on chapter ten.”
Lance got up from the couch to accept the book, grinning when he recognized the title. “Hey, I know this one!” He sat back down and flipped to the table of contents. “Yeah, I had to read this for a summer course I took when I was fourteen. That’s when I met Hunk,” he added for Romelle’s benefit.
“Hm, funny, that one is Matt’s.” She kneeled on the bed to look at the cover. “And there was one of Katie’s ribbons in it, so I believe she also read it.”
“One of her ribbons?” Lance frowned at her in curiosity. He had never seen Pidge carry ribbons around, but what would have been a ridiculous image in their teen years was now utterly charming. It was lovely to find out these small details about her.
“Yes. She used them to mark the pages when younger. There, there!” Romelle pointed to the book until Lance reached a page where a green ribbon laid across the words. She grinned. “Isn’t it adorable?”
It was.
At the same time, it reminded him of the difficulties Pidge had undergone during middle school and how she had only had Matt and her parents to rely on. Had she read her brother’s book as a way to escape the words of her colleagues? Or had she loved space so fiercely even then that her time of leisure was spent going through Matt’s training material?
“Do you think this is when their little feud over color-coding started?” Romelle broke him out of these thoughts. She had opened another one of the books and was flipping through the pages absent-mindedly. “I swear to the moons of Cobturg, if I have to listen to their arguments about this one more time, I–”
There was a beep and the door to the room opened once more, shutting Romelle up at once. Pidge took a second to look them over, before dropping her purse down at the coffee table.
“Why do you look so guilty?” She narrowed her eyes at Romelle, who let out a noise of protest, as if to say ‘Who? Me?’.
Lance went to her rescue. “She was telling me about the ribbons you used to collect.” He held up the green fabric, grinning. “Who would have thought? Our Pidge Gunderson was actually a normal, little girl once.”
Her hair was short again. It looked different, though, more put-together than the hairstyle she had used during their time in space. He supposed her responsibilities in the Garrison demanded a more polished appearance, but he kind of missed the disarray.
She looked very pretty like this. In fact, the overall effect of her wide-legged slacks, light-blue blouse, the hair and the boots left him feeling a little dazed.
Pidge rolled her eyes and made a grab for the ribbon, but Lance stood up and pulled it out of reach. She almost lost her balance from his sudden movement, putting a knee up on the couch to keep in place.
“Did you really come in here just to test my patience?” she asked, still standing in front of him.
Lance clicked his tongue playfully. “Nothing makes me happier than seeing you blush in anger.” He waved the ribbon around, smirking. “You make a beautiful tomato.”
“She’s more of a strawberry, really,” Romelle pointed out from her perch on the bed. She gestured towards her face. “It’s the little dots.”
“Those are called freckles.” Pidge pushed away from the couch and towards the Altean. “You were supposed to be studying, not ganging up with Lance to bother me.”
Romelle’s face dropped into an impressively effective look of anguish. “But it’s boring to study by myself.” She grabbed Pidge’s hands, swinging their arms lightly. “You promised I could do your hair before I left!”
Pidge glanced at him over her shoulder. Whether it was because she thought Lance might help her or simply because she was mortified by the idea of doing something so girly in front of him, he couldn’t tell. Before he could intervene, however, there was another beep from the door, then a knock.
“That must be Hunk,” Pidge declared, jumping away from Romelle.
The blonde rolled her eyes, but slid out of the bed and opened a small panel on the wall, where a screen was hidden. From behind her, Lance could see Hunk and Shay talking on the video feed.
“Saved by the bell,” he heard Pidge mutter under her breath.
“Aw, come on, Pidgeon.” Lance aimed a shit-eating grin at her, knowing it was easier to taunt her into things than to simply ask. “Now I want to see you looking all primped up!”
The girl did not back down. She puffed up her chest, lips set into a line, and turned to face him fully. “You’re supposed to be on my side here!” Then, in a lower voice, “I don’t want to set miss excitable over there loose with a brush!”
“I will have you know –” Romelle waggled a finger in the air – “that everyone in our crew thinks very highly of my styling skills. Is it not true?”
She whipped around to prod at her two teammates, who had just been let into the room. Hunk looked doubtful, but Shay nodded her head solemnly.
“Her hair is widely regarded as the most luscious and well-kept of our ship,” Shay declared with all the straight-faced earnestness that could be expected from a rock-person.
“She and Hunk are the only ones who have hair!” Pidge threw her hands up in frustration.
Lance felt himself chuckle. He barely ever got to see the interactions between this group. During his time at the farm, the only occasion when he saw everyone together was on the day they celebrated the end of the war. It hurt a little to think of all the events he’d lost while in Cuba or on his travels.
“How much harm can she really do?” He approached Pidge and ran a hand through her hair, letting the ends curl around his fingers. “I’m sure you’ll look beautiful.”
Pidge eyed him carefully and, though her countenance betrayed nothing, Lance was sure he’d felt her shudder at his touch.
“My hair is too short to do more than stubby ponytails,” she continued her objections. “It would be far from beautiful.”
“I don’t know…” He gave her a wink and, this time, red flooded her cheeks. “I’m pretty sure there’s nothing anyone could do to make you not beautiful.”
“I changed my mind.” The interruption froze him in place, hand still on the nape of Pidge’s neck. “Get me out of here,” Romelle said to the other two, ignoring the glare Lance sent her way. “Before I scream.”
Hunk choked out a laugh. “Elle, you haven’t seen the worst of it.”
Lance pulled his hand back quickly. He hadn’t meant to act so impulsively, not in front of their friends at least. The only excuse he could find was that their antics had filled him to the brim with affection and now it spilled out, untamed.
“Don’t you three have a lunch to get to?” Pidge pushed her glasses up, moving away from Lance and further into the room. She stopped by her bedside table and fiddled with a tablet that had been lying there.
Surprisingly, Romelle let her avoidance pass without comment. She gave Pidge a long look, before voicing her agreement. “I’m taking these two to that coffeeshop you and I go from time to time.” There was something strangely emphatic about how she was speaking. “They have a new dessert I want Hunk to try and replicate.”
Pidge tensed, still not looking up from the tablet. “You mean the one we discovered with Allura.”
Lance and Hunk shared a look of confusion and dread. From the way Romelle’s expression twisted, it didn’t seem like that kind of despondency was what she had been trying to evoke. And Shay, bless her heart, appeared to be at a loss and kept shifting her gaze between the four of them, waiting for an explanation.
“Should we go, then?” she asked, uncertain. Romelle gave a quick nod and turned her face away from them. The frown she sported appeared out-of-place in the usually bright Altean.
“I’ll see you all tomorrow.” Pidge had sat down on her bed and her eyes zeroed in on Romelle. “We can talk more then.”
The two girls nodded at each other.
As they traded goodbyes, Hunk sidled up to Lance, giving him an all-enveloping hug. They had talked earlier that morning, but Lance’s impending confession put him out-of-sorts. It was a nice hug, another aspect of the Garrison life that he’d missed: his friend, the support he gave, his unyielding belief on the people he loved.
Hunk held him in the hug for a second. “Don’t let her get away, dude.” They separated, but his friend kept going. “Not like this.”
And then he and Shay were gone.
Romelle stopped at the door. She turned to give Lance a considering look. “You mentioned Allura earlier. Wherever she may be, she would have wanted nothing but your happiness.” Her eyes shifted to something behind him and Lance could almost feel Pidge’s uneasiness at the stare. “That goes for the both of you.”
The door closed behind her, leaving those last words to hang in the air.
“Will you tell me what that was about?” Lance crossed the room to sit by Pidge. He poked her knee until she looked up at him.
“Can I pretend that it was just Romelle being Romelle?” Her eyes were sad as she said this. He almost gave in, but his worry spoke louder than his sympathy.
“I might not know her as you do, but I doubt Romelle would say anything to hurt you.” He grimaced. “Not intentionally.”
“Intentional or not, I just think she’s meddling where she’s not wanted.” The sharpness in her voice made Lance flinch.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I am sick of people acting like they know what’s best for me.” Pidge wrapped her arms around herself. It was such an uncharacteristic gesture for her that Lance wasn’t sure what to say. “I am happy. Who is she to doubt that?”
“Your friend?” he offered, keeping his voice soft.
Pidge normally handled obstacles with a bull-headedness that most feared. She and Romelle had this in common, the fierceness that had sent them travelling through the galaxies to ensure justice was made for their families. His friend couldn’t see the hypocrisy in her claim that the Altean was being meddlesome when Pidge’s own curiosity had often led her to intrude on other people’s matters.
She was a very private person and almost completely indifferent to gossip, true, but she went above and beyond for what did spark her interest.
“Romelle being my friend gives her the right to question my judgement?” Pidge sent him a fulminating look, before turning her eyes away.
“A little.” Lance chuckled to himself, despite receiving an elbow to the side for his answer. “C’mon, don’t act as if you guys didn’t question my actions after the war!”
“Aren’t our circumstances a little different?” Her voice was dry as the Arizona desert. “It’s not like I’m burying myself in work or something. I just…” She forced out a breath. “I’m satisfied with my life. I have friends and my family is safe and I’m respected in the Garrison. What more does she want from me?”
Lance just looked at her. In many ways, Pidge was right. She was still very young, despite having lived through so much, and there would be time for adventures or romance or whatever Romelle had wanted for her.
Still, the notion caused something to ache in his chest. He wanted Romelle’s words to be about him.
Since his return, many of their colleagues had insinuated that there was something more between him and Pidge, and Lance had allowed it. He loved her sincerely, but he’d spent the past year swallowing flirtatious remarks, afraid to scare her off. The rumors about them had seemed like a good way to put the idea into Pidge’s head, even as she grew more and more upset with the comments.
“She mentioned the coffeeshop because she wanted to remind me of a conversation we had when we first went there,” Pidge confessed as the silence stretched between them. “About something I wanted all those years ago.”
“What was it?” Lance frowned at her.
“Nothing that matters. I couldn’t have it then and I can’t have it now.” She didn’t look away from him, this time, and their locked gazes sent electricity down Lance’s spine. There was a heaviness in her eyes that made them look dark, even in the well-lit room.
Lance reached for her hand, pulling her arm away from her middle and onto his lap. He played with her fingers; the ribbon lied forgotten over his thigh.
“Pidgeon, I’ve never known you to give up on what you want.” He smiled at her, feeling a wave of fondness shoot through him. Her hand twisted in his grip, as if she’d meant to close it into a fist.
“I thought I was over it,” Pidge whispered, more to herself than to him.
Lance worked his jaw, hoping he hadn’t misinterpreted the look she was giving him. He could swear her eyes had lowered to his mouth for a fraction of a second. It made his whole body feel hot, like a burning star had settled in his chest and turned the blood in his veins into pure heat.
The implication was not lost in him. Had Pidge liked him back then? Had that affection survived the years of his self-imposed isolation?
“I think –” he started, eyes unable to leave her face – “that some things are worth the wait.” And then, without breaking eye contact, Lance lifted Pidge’s hand to his mouth and kissed her pulse.
The reaction was instantaneous. Color rushed up her complexion, an uneven redness that Lance had taunted her about in their younger years and that now seemed disproportionally attractive. In this bubble of heat they created, Lance felt he could see her brilliance clearer than ever.
Pidge was beautiful, not only because of how she looked, but because of who she was.
Because he was looking so closely, Lance could tell the exact moment her bewilderment dwindled. Her eyes hardened, her mouth curved down.
“Can you not?” she snapped, shaking away his grip to stand up.
“Not what?” Lance stared at her back as fear welled up inside him.
“Not stand so close. Not touch me like that.” Pidge waved her arms around as she spoke. “Not get my hopes up when I know you don’t mean it.”
“How could you possibly think I don’t mean it?” It was his turn to sound indignant.
“Because you’re loverboy Lance! You go after these bombshell women, with their long limbs and their poise…” She struggled to finish her thought, groaning. “I don’t want to be another one of your conquests!”
“Is that what you really think of me?” He felt angry at the possibility. This was Pidge, someone who should know Lance better than the average, Voltron-show-watching acquaintance. She knew he hadn’t really gone into relationships in the past few years, still healing from Allura’s death.
“I don’t know what to think.” She stopped moving, letting her arms hang at her sides. Despite the defeat in her stance, when Pidge looked at him, there was pride in how she held her chin. “I know who I am. I am intelligent and brave and reliable. But I’m not nice,” she said the word with a hint of repulse, “or patient or charming.”
“Of course I know that!” Lance had to hold back a grimace. That hadn’t come out quite right. “But you wanna know what else you are?” He didn’t wait for a response. “You’re the girl who always called me out on my bullshit. The one who has saved my ass more times than I can count, who helped me study for my piloting exams.” He lowered his tone, calming down a little. “You’re the girl who came to meet me at the farm every month to bring all the games I had missed in the US.”
Pidge still didn’t look completely convinced, but she didn’t dodge him when Lance approached.
“The releases always came out late in Varadero,” she interjected with a frown.
He laughed at her excuse. “You came because you wanted to make sure I was okay. Then, after I was done wallowing, you were the one who flew out to meet me in Greece and Korea and Chile.” He took her hand, feeling more confident. “And every time we met up, it was like my body relaxed. Ah,” he acted out, “I’m finally here. With my best friend.”
“That’s just it, Lance. I’m your friend.” Pidge studied his expression with furrowed brows. “You may be feeling – I don’t know! Moved by how close we’ve gotten?” She shook her head. “But I was in love with you for three years before I could accept that you’d only ever have eyes for Allura.”
“We’ve talked about this, Katie.” He kept his grasp on her hand, even as Pidge tried to move away. She had grown uncomfortable with his use of her name. “I did love Allura, but she’s gone. I deserve to go after what I want, too.”
“And what you want is me?” she sounded unconvinced.
“How can you be so smart and still so dense?” Lance threw his head back in frustration. “Everyone sees it. Hunk, Shiro, even Keith!” He sighed. “Even Romelle. Today, she wasn’t making fun of you or scolding you or whatever that exceptional and traumatized brain of yours came up with.” Lance had to hold up a hand to stop her from interrupting. “Romelle was trying to encourage me.”
Pidge stood there and, although she was quiet, her eyes remained sharp. Lance feared that he’d gone too far, but he knew rationally that Pidge had already exposed all she had to say and that it was up to him to erase her doubts.
He raised his unoccupied hand to cup her cheek. Pidge’s eyes fluttered shut.
“I don’t want to lose you.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “How can you be so sure that we will be fine after this?”
Lance leaned down to press a kiss against her eyelashes, then her cheeks, then the corner of her mouth. He heard her inhale sharply and hold the breath. Feeling her reactions to him right under his palm was a kind of inebriation he’d never experienced before.
“I know,” Lance let his lips drag against her skin, “because I’ve committed myself to seeing you happy.” He put some space between them so that he could look into her eyes. The flushed vibrancy of Pidge’s complexion made an image that stupefied him. “Even if that means I turn away right now.”
Her hands snaked up his chest to rest on Lance’s neck, pulling him down. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” he couldn’t resist asking, a smile tugging at his lips. Pidge rolled her eyes but didn’t push away when Lance rested his forehead against hers.
“Don’t go.” She was the one to kiss the corner of his mouth, now. “Stay.”
They met in the middle.
Lance felt her hands curl into the collar of his shirt as they kissed, her lips pushing softly against his. The touch was unbearably tender, starting a tingle that ran up and down his back. In return, he used the hand that wasn’t on her cheek to hold Pidge against him. He drew circles on the fabric of her blouse, thankful that it was fine enough to feel the give of her skin underneath.
Pidge’s lips moved slowly on his, drawing out the sensation of that first contact. It was Lance who could no longer curb his want and he licked into her mouth, once, twice, until she was chasing his tongue with her own. Pidge sighed into the kiss, dragging a hand down over his chest.
He’d had kisses before – soft and passionate and frenzied and meaningless –, but the feel of Pidge’s body against him and the affection Lance held for her had ignited a spark inside of him that spread heat all over. It was the star, back again, now that there were no more secrets between them.
His smile broke the kiss and they parted, panting.
“So…” Lance let both of his hands rest on her waist. The smugness that grew within him must have shown in his expression, because Pidge looked immediately on guard. “When did you fall for me?” He traced a line down her back with his thumb. “I’m pretty sure I heard something about liking me for three years.”
Pidge pushed at his chest, walking him backwards. “Not telling.”
“Can’t I convince you?” He was trying to go for seductive, but the girl merely laughed.
“Don’t you have more pressing matters to focus on?” She continued to move them until Lance’s legs hit the edge of the bed. He blinked down at her.
“Think you can distract me?” He shot her a smirk. Despite the more sensual undertone it carried, challenges weren’t new between them. It comforted Lance that their dynamics had adjusted so easily to this new aspect of their relationship.
Pidge gave a final push, making him sit down on the bed. He had to brace himself against the mattress.
“I’m sure I can think of something,” she said, sarcasm thick on her voice. And then she climbed into Lance’s lap, a knee on each side of his thighs.
He felt his throat go dry and swallowed instinctively. The new position put her mouth just a little higher than his, making Lance tilt his head back to capture her lips.
“You know…” His voice came out strangled. “I always did like the way you think.”
When Pidge leaned over him, the feel of her hips lowering on his almost made him choke. A more conscious part of his brain was not surprised by her boldness, but it did nothing to calm his stammering heart.
“Just shut up, loverboy,” she muttered against his lips, even as their smiles made it difficult to really get into the kiss. Laughter bubbled up in him and Lance continued to kiss Pidge as her own giggles erupted. There was joy in her mouth and in his chest and in every point of contact between them.
--
“Oh, I’d forgotten about this.” Lance picked up the green piece of fabric that peaked out from behind a metal plaque.
Pidge glanced up at him, but her attention quickly shifted back to the code she’d been working on.
“Mom left a bunch of books for Romelle here. I think that’s where the ribbons are coming from.”
Lance smiled. He loved how casually they’d fallen into their relationship. As a young boy, he’d fantasized about girlfriends who fawned over him and his accomplishments, but, after so many years as an intergalactic authority, he had learned to appreciate how domestic they had become.
On moments like this, when it was just the two of them behind a closed door, each preoccupied with their own responsibilities, it was their friendship that he valued the most.
“They’re cute,” he exclaimed happily.
Pidge gave him a look of suspicion. “I can’t tell if you’re making fun of me.”
“I’m serious!” Lance squirmed on the bed until he sidled up to her. “My first love also liked ribbons. It’s one of the things I remember the most about her, the green ribbon in her hair.”
“Are you comparing me to your first girlfriend?” Pidge sounded completely done with him and Lance couldn’t really blame her. “Even I know that’s a no-no in a relationship.”
“I’m not comparing anything!” He waved his hands defensively.
Pidge knocked their shoulders together in teasing. They’d only been together for two weeks, but Lance doubted he would ever see her truly jealous, not due to his mindless chatter at least. She and Hunk had told him that Pidge had shown signs of jealousy during their time in the Castle, but Lance couldn’t recall them for the life of him.
It was endlessly frustrating.
“You’re lucky I like you.” Pidge lifted his arm and put it around her, burying into Lance’s side.
“Do you think I don’t know that?” He ran his fingers up and down her skin, feeling the goosebumps that formed at his touch. “Fate was kind when it put you in my life.”
Lance dipped down to nibble at her ear, then trailed kisses over the column of her neck. Pidge giggled in his arms, ticklish and embarrassed at her reactions.
“Down, boy.” She pressed a finger to his nose, pushing him back a bit. He pouted at her, trying to entice Pidge into another kiss. “Are you gonna be this tacky every time I say something sarcastic?”
“For as long as you keep finding it attractive,” he retorted. Lance knew he was being conceited, but he couldn’t help it. There was no ego-boost quite like the sounds his girlfriend made when she was underneath him in one of their beds, mouths and hands fervent in their paths.
In a quick movement, he’d captured the tip of her finger between his teeth, biting playfully. It sent Pidge into a bout of laughter, which had her pushing Lance’s face away as he continued to pepper kisses on her palms, her arms, anywhere he could reach.
“You’re so freaking silly, sometimes!” Pidge draped her legs across his, locking him in place. “Why are you trying to catch my attention, anyway?”
Lance leaned back against the headboard, putting his hands on her calves. She was still in her pajamas; an oversized t-shirt and blue shorts that reached mid-thigh. It was more skin than Pidge normally showed, just another sign of how comfortable she was with him.
“I’m a little bored.” He scrunched up his nose, knowing that wasn’t a reason Pidge would accept. She tried to kick him on the arm, but Lance held on. “Hey! I’m done with the flight plans and you’ve been on your laptop since I got here! I’ve been good!”
“You just tried to make out with me,” she pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him.
“I was being good and now I want attention,” Lance corrected shamelessly.
Pidge narrowed her eyes at him, but closed her laptop and settled it next to them on the bed. She scooted a bit closer, until she was sitting on Lance’s lap with her arms around his neck.
“So quiet,” she taunted. One of her nails scraped just underneath his ear, making Lance groan. “And sensitive.”
“You’re a little devil.” He dropped his head on her shoulder.
“I finally found a way to shut you up.” Pidge’s carefree laughter rang right in his ear. Since their days as students, it never failed to bring him a sense of accomplishment. No one could distract Pidge quite like him. “I’ll use it how I see fit.”
She pressed a quick kiss to his nape.
Disgruntled, Lance straightened his posture and caught her lips more firmly, tracing the roof of her mouth with his tongue. Pidge responded with no hesitance and her hands dug into his shoulders to hold him in.
Despite the ease with which they fit, this was as far as Lance had tried to go. Kisses and small touches and gasps that left his entire body burning. Although Pidge had gone on a few dates while he was away, Lance was achingly aware that she was still somewhat inexperienced.
More than that, he knew two weeks could not erase insecurities that were born from years watching him flirt with other girls. He felt ashamed of how crass he might have been in front of Pidge, but he had been young and stupid and copying behaviors from men he’d once admired.
He was thankful for his teammates. Lance knew he was a better man for having known Shiro’s integrity and Hunk’s warmth and Keith’s honesty. Coran had shown him there was pride in being genuine. Allura had taught him about the reality of love. Most of all, he was thankful for Pidge and how she’d kept him in line.
They parted slowly, and Lance surged forward one last time to give a peck to Pidge’s lips. She smiled in amusement.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” She ran her fingers through his hair. “We don’t have to be at Shiro’s until dinner.”
Lance checked his watch. They still had a few hours, but he wanted to get something to eat before then. He’d come into Pidge’s room at noon to find she had just woken up, and his girlfriend had refused to go out before she made some progress on a program for Chip. She’d devoured a bag of chips while she worked, but that was not real food.
“We should grab a late lunch somewhere.” Lance disentangled himself from Pidge, much to her discontentment. “And then I need to get you some fruit or granola bars or something for this room.”
“If I need anything, I usually go to the cafeteria or one of the vending machines.” She shrugged, but accepted the hand Lance offered to pull her up.
“And you have the audacity to question my eating habits.” He sent her a sidelong glare.
“You might be able to cook, but it doesn’t count when the only thing you actually prepare is pasta.” Pidge continued to rifle through the clothes on the floor. Then, not finding anything she wanted, she moved to the wardrobe. “Before entering your pantry, I had only ever seen so much tomato sauce on supermarket shelves.”
Lance wanted to defend himself, but Pidge chose this moment to take the edge of her t-shirt and pull it out. It left her in only a bra and shorts, a sight that Lance couldn’t look away from. Her breasts were small but proportional to her petite frame and her skin was even fairer over her chest, ribs and stomach. The overall effect had Lance choking on air.
Pidge laughed as she pulled a dress over her head.
“That was on purpose!” Lance accused, once he’d found his voice.
“You wouldn’t take off my shirt yesterday, so I thought I would give you a taste, then leave you hanging. See how you like it.” She went to look herself over in the bathroom mirror.
“I was being a gentleman!” He puffed out his cheeks. Pidge loved to make things difficult for him, didn’t she?
“Lance, I love you.” She momentarily turned away from her reflection to look at him. “I have trusted you with my life and my heart. Do you really think I don’t trust you with my body?”
When Pidge said things like that, it always sounded completely logical, but relationships weren’t something one could rationalize their way through.
Lance went to stand behind her, resting his hands on the line where her grey dress flared out. Pidge looked very sensible and very beautiful in the high neckline, with how it left her arms exposed.
“I think I want you to believe how much I love you,” he answered, turning her around, “before we do anything you haven’t done yet.”
Her amber eyes were narrowed as she looked at him, but Lance didn’t back down. She eventually heaved a sigh and he could tell he’d won the argument.
“I can’t believe I’m dating a sap.”
“Hey, you knew who I was before!” Lance let her walk past him and back to the bed. “You signed up for this, Pidgeon!”
“Are you ready to go?” She pulled on her sneakers, glaring at him half-heartedly. At her side, Lance caught sight of the green ribbon again.
“Sure, but I think you’re missing something.” At Pidge’s look of confusion, he marched up to her and picked up the ribbon, waving it in the air.
“Really?” she deadpanned at him.
Lance chuckled, already gathering her hair with the fabric. “I just want to see how it looks.” He tied a bow on top of Pidge’s head, snickering. “That really is adorable.”
She frowned up at him and raised a hand to feel what he’d done, then groaned.
“That’s not how I used to wear it!” Pidge protested, already fumbling with the style until the fabric slipped down her short hair.
“Show me, then.” Lance propped his chin on his hand.
Pidge huffed, but laid the ribbon across her hair like a headband, tying a knot on one side and letting the excess fabric hang loose. “There!” she stated with a flourish. “Much less childish.”
“Huh.” Lance stared at her in puzzlement. “That’s… Huh.”
“Does it look that bad?” She patted at her hair. “I haven’t done this since I was thirteen.”
“No!” His answer was hurried. “It just… looks exactly how Italian girl wore it.”
Pidge blinked at him. “Italian girl?”
“My first love. I think I told you about her.” He couldn’t really shake the familiarity of the green ribbon against her reddish-brown hair. “We met in this Space Camp I went to in Miami. Ronie had a research position there and she dragged me along.”
“You’re talking about the Bouman Aeronautics Research Institute.”
Now it was just getting freaky. Pidge, too, looked at him like he’d grown a second head.
“Yeah…” Lance scratched the back of his neck. “How do you know that?”
“Because my father was a lecturer and Matt was also in the research program.” She sounded just as bewildered as he was. “You’re Spanish boy.”
The two stared at each other for a moment. Now that they were talking about it, Lance could see the similarities that he’d missed so far. It was no wonder he’d always liked Pidge’s eyes; he could still remember how they shone in the sunlight.
“Are you actually Italian girl?” He sat down, still in shock.
“I cannot believe that we’ve known each other this whole time.” Pidge threw her head back, laughing. He soon joined her. The situation was just ridiculous.
“And you didn’t want me to believe in fate.” Lance grinned at her. Pidge still wore the green ribbon in her hair and the color contrasted nicely against her features. Maybe it was because he still remembered how she had been as Italian girl, but the image made him feel unexpectedly soft.
“Oh good grief,” she exclaimed suddenly, eyes wide, “I’m the reason you believe in fate!” He burst out laughing again while Pidge swatted at his arm. “It’s not funny! It’s actually awful!”
“Well,” Lance said once he was able to control himself, “at least you can stop thinking you’re not my type. I fell for you twice!”
“You fell for a pretty girl in a dress that you met when you were a child.” Pidge snorted, standing up to grab her purse. Lance clutched her hand with gentle fingers and stopped her from turning away.
“I fell for a smart girl who helped me realize my worth. Twice.” He winked. “Though it certainly didn’t hurt that she was pretty.”
Pidge shook her head disapprovingly, but still leaned down to kiss him, lips moving in a tempting pace against his. When she pulled back, Lance tried to follow.
He felt dazed by their discovery, but not completely blind-sighted. Pidge had always intrigued him, even right at the start. It had taken time for Lance to recognize the feelings he developed for her, like it had with Italian girl, and then he was already in the middle of it, too into her to stop himself from acting stupid.
It might have been the quintessence stored in him or just wishful thinking, but he thought Allura, too, would be cheering for them.
Pidge pulled at his hand until Lance stood up. She looked a bit red, a bit breathless.
“We’ll finish this later, you Casanova.” And she sealed the promise with another kiss.
#plance#pidgance#flirtyrobot#lidge#cyance#voltron#pidge gunderson#katie holt#voltron legendary defender#vld lance#lance mcclain#vld#vld fanfiction#vld syl verse
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So the most obvious Fic Association is Shy Newcomer, that was the first one of yours that I ever read. But if you happen to be short on secrets for that one, the next runner up is The Roommates.
Announcer Voice: Previously on "That Scene"...
New Ask game. Send me one of my fic titles and I’ll tell which was THAT SCENE for that fic.
Initially writing The Shy Newcomer, I had been dying for the moment to write Gray confess his feelings (or rather, lack of them) to Claire. Claire’s attempts at wooing him were done in traditional Harvest Moon style - stalking and giving gifts. I wanted to kind of poke fun at that and show how easily it can come off as uncomfortable to do those kinds of things.
My later “that scene” was broken into several bits, delving into Cliff’s hometown and his past. There was a lot of content, so I ended up sneaking in bits here and there as his friendship with Claire grew, and Pandora’s box opened once he was hospitalized.
Now that his backstory’s been pretty fleshed out, there’s another landmark I’m eager to hit, but that one’s a secret. ;)
Announcer Voice: And today's episode!
Firstly, thank you so much for your patience on the reply!
I'd be happy to talk about The Roommates! It's a fic that hasn't been updated in a long time, yet I think about it an awful lot. I had been waiting to update it, as I plan on making a lot of references to Cliff's backstory in The Shy Newcomer. When I initially wrote The Roommates, I was so eager to write a confrontation of Cliff calling Gray out for being aware Claire is very interested in him, but not really accepting or rejecting her for the longest time. I wanted to make a dramatic moment of a usually quiet character losing their temper and having the two of them finally face the problem straight on, ending it with Gray calling Cliff out on his jealousy toward the subject. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, as the story’s undergone a lot of changes since I first wrote the draft, but I still think it would be fun to write him saying something about Gray’s behavior.
Writing out the origins of Gray’s jealousy over Saibara and Cliff getting along was so satisfying to reveal. They seem like such an unlikely duo, but I had heaps of fun having Cliff and Saibara go back and forth with each other as they haggled. Gray’s confusion/jealousy during the scene was just the icing on the cake, haha.
Ahhh, I need to get to writing that story again. There are some other parts I am sooo eager to reveal, such as Cliff's initial introduction to Carter. XD
#i am so sorry this has been in my ask box since like.... April#ask box games#beck a leck#thank you for playing!
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This is the gorgeously weird Super Blood Harvest (2020), by @DirkwithaVengeance, a serious contender for most beautiful RPG book I’ve gotten this year. The book consists of three standalone-but-thematically linked scenarios – Escape the Blood Ship, Crashed on the Moon, Killbot Guardian Gods – and a set of very light rules, cheekily titled Dirk Rules!, for use in play.
There is a vein of videogaminess running through SBH. That “Super” in the title is the first hint. Each scenario had a kind of meta vibe of being part of an old school game franchise, with each sequel being familiar yet increasingly bizarre. Each scenario ends with a “game over” screen. Quiet nods to Castlevania, Metroid and other videogames abound.
And plenty of other references, too. They’re not the star of the show though – Dirk’s decidedly non-Euclidian art is and it does most of the heavy lifting, with the text being fairly terse (which is good, because terse, I increasingly find, also mean extremely usable). I don’t honestly have words that do his art justice, so just flip through the images here and revel.
All of the scenarios are accompanied by a set of six pregenerated characters, each set as increasingly bizarre as the adventure they are to star in. The first scenario involves being kidnapped by space vampires who needed to refill their ship’s blood reservoir before hibernating behind the moon. The second sees the ship crash on the moon, where new characters discover the vampire temple and the god they imprisoned there to worship (and some Venusians). The third, my favorite, moves the action to Mars after the fall of the vampire empire (hundreds of years later?) where humanity, insane machine entities, vampires and less easily described entities crash into conflict. SBH3 is the most ambitious and sprawling of the scenarios, reminiscent of the way Vault of the Drow sketches out a sandbox campaign setting. Though a pretty fast read, there are hours and hours of very strange play awaiting you here.
#RPG#TTRPG#Tabletop RPG#Roleplaying Game#D&D#dungeons & dragons#Super Blood Harvest#Swordfish Islands#Dirk Leichty
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Fresh Crops - Week of July 12 - July 18, 2021
All fics found under the General 'Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons' tag on AO3
Grandfather - by EmeraldHaze15; Completed, 1/1, 1.4k
Rating: General Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: Gen
Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town
Relationships: Barley | Mugi & May | Mei, Barley | Mugi & Joanna, Joanna & May | Mei; Characters: Barley | Mugi, May | Mei, Joanna, Hana the Dog
Additional Tags: Abandoned Child, bad parent, Good Grandparent, Yodel Ranch, Mineral Town, Extramarital Affairs, broken relationship, Strained Relationships, Father-Daughter Relationship
Summary: It's been years since Barley last set eyes on his daughter, but this is far from what he expected to find on a windy night...
(100) words to make you mine - by indoorsy; Complete, 1/1, 1.1k
Rating: Mature; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town
Relationship: Claire the Farmer/Doctor Trent; Characters: Claire the Farmer, Doctor Trent | Torre
Additional Tags: Drabble Collection, Fluff, Light Angst, Slice of Life
Summary: Doctor and Claire go on a picnic and other slice-of-life drabbles inspired by unusual English words.
Aurora Borealis - by durotos; Complete, 1/1, <1k
Rating: Not Rated; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town
Additional Tags: characters will be revealed as plot advances, Angst, Family, Drama, Broken Love, Married Couple
Summary: Neither the cold nor the late hour could stop them from making their solemn journey.
Winter's End - by ModernTsunami; WIP 42/70, 210k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town
Relationships: Claire the Farmer/Cliff, Ann the Innkeeper | Ran/Cliff, Claire the Farmer/Doctor Trent | Torre; Characters: Claire, Cliff, Ann the Innkeeper | Ran, Carter the Pastor, Duke, Manna, Doctor Trent | Torre
Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Grief/Mourning, Slice of Life, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Pining, Found Family, Eventual Romance, Love Triangles, Cliche, especially in the beginning, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags
Summary: Cliff's life in Mineral Town changes with the arrival of a new farmer in need of guidance. As his relationships grow more complicated throughout the year, he finds himself grappling with the doubts of his past and present.
Sakura Sisters - by LuluRuru; WIP, 1/?, 2.6k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town
Relationship: Ships will be revealed soon!; Characters: Claire, Female Farmer | Naomi, Brandon, Cliff, Doctor | Trent, Gray, Kai, Rick, Elli | Elly, Jennifer, Karen, Mary the Librarian | Marie, Popuri, Ann the Innkeeper | Ran
Additional Tags: Slow Burn
Summary: Mineral Town is the destination for these two sisters. Claire appears dainty and sweet but really is childish and a loudmouth. Naomi appears shy and uncaring but is perceptive and a go-getter. The two of them are here for different reasons, but both of them have to manage Sakura Farm together. Will Claire be able to find her childhood friend and the boy who saved her? And will Naomi be able to find her true calling in life? The road ahead will be tough, but these two can do anything if they put their minds together. After all, that's what sisters are for, right?
Lady Of Grasstrail Farms - by FromADenOfBeasts; WIP, 35/?, 45k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Pioneers of Olive Town
Relationship: Female Farmer/Lars; Characters: Original Female Character(s), Female Farmer , Lars, Laura, Angela, Clemens, Damon, Jack, Emilio, Reina, Victor, Gloria, Simon, Jesse
Additional Tags: My First AO3 Post, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, spoilers obviously, Slow Burn, Fluff and Angst, Supportive Big Brother, honestly the best big brother ever
Summary: Pioneers Of Olive Town AU where Lars is single. That's not all that happens but it is the reason I wrote this. A young woman named Vallon quits her job and follows her heart to Olive Town, where her family has roots deeper than she ever thought. Now she has to contend with new neighbors, ancient magic, and getting the hang of farming a wild land. Can she cope on her own, or can she at least find someone to share it with?
Here You Come Again - by SeasonSuite; WIP, 15/?, 62k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Trio of Towns
Relationships: Female Farmer/Wayne, Minor or Background Relationship(s); Characters: Farmer, Wayne, Frank, Lisette, Ford, Ludus, Trio of Towns ensemble
Additional Tags: Crushes, Falling In Love, Love, farming, Fluff, dolly parton references, Friends to Lovers, cowboy aesthetic, idiots to lovers, Day At The Beach, Flowers, Romance, My First Fanfic, Bonding, Feelings, Humor, Slow Build, Did I Mention Fluff
Summary: On the first day of her new life, June meets a handsome, smooth-talking postman. Caught between his seemingly earnest words and his philandering reputation, she writes him off as bad news. Over the year, as June struggles to build her new farm, Wayne proves her wrong—then right—then wrong again. or, Westown's charming postman is known for being perfect, and he's usually happy to play the part. But when a new farmer tries to get to know the real him, Wayne learns that to be loved, he has to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.
Forest Stroll - by konbini_kitty; Complete, 1/1, <1k
Rating: Mature; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: M/M
Fandom: Pioneers of Olive Town
Relationships: Iori/Male Farmer
Character: Iori
Additional Tags: Making Out, First Time, Neck Kissing, Biting, Grinding, Dirty Talk
Summary: A stroll can turn into anything when you're with the one you love.
Seedlings and Sprouts - by TheBeckster; WIP, 10/?, 8k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Categories: Gen, Multi
Fandoms: Friends of Mineral Town, Story of Seasons (2014), Trio of Towns, The Tale of Two Towns
Relationships: Carter/Doctor | Trent, Claire the Farmer/Cliff, Fritz/Raeger, Gotz/Vesta; Characters: Cliff, Claire, Doctor | Trent, Carter the Pastor, Fritz, Raeger, Gotz | Gotts, Georgia, Iluka
Additional Tags: Tumblr Prompt, prompt collection, I'll figure out tags later
Summary: A collection of tumblr prompts I've filled over the last couple years based on Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games.
Every chapter is a different prompt. Should be posted in chronological order from oldest to newest. Prompt themes and ships will be included in the chapter titles.
Sugar and Spice - by Chibimiie; WIP, 16/?, 20k
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Animal Parade
Relationships: Chase/Molly, Angela/Luke; Characters: Molly | Hikari, Angela the Farmer, Chase, Luke
Additional Tags: first fic, Slow Burn, at least molly and chase are, oh god how do you tag fics, beginning is kinda rough, angela chapters tend to be shorter, mentions of eating disorders, ya girl was making it up as she went along, alternating povs, Friends to Lovers
Summary: Wanting to get away from past hurts of the city, sisters Molly and Angela decide to respond to a flyer advertising an abandoned farm on the faraway island of Castanet. Leaving behind their closest friends and brother Kasey, the two take a chance and move to the tiny island hoping for a new chance at life.
Red Velvet Valentine - by Juliko; Completed, 1/1, 5k
Rating: General Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Story of Seasons (2014)
Relationship: Lillie/Raeger; Characters: Raeger, Lillie, Maurice, Melanie | Meruti, Angela
Additional Tags: First Dates, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Valentine's Day, Domestic Fluff, Cute, Awkward Romance, Romance, Short & Sweet, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Summary: Raeger wants to give Lillie, Oak Tree Town's local weather girl and celebrity, something nice for Valentine's Day to show how much he likes her. But nothing he can make or buy can come even close to showing how much he loves and appreciates her. What to do?
Winning the Hammer competition Manuela’s special reward - by Thefallen1986; Completed, 1/1, <1k
Rating: Explicit; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M
Fandoms: Pioneers of Olive Town
Relationship: Eiji/Manuela; Characters: Manuela, Eiji
Additional Tags: [See Fic For Full Tag List], Cheating, Older Woman/Younger Man, Kissing, Braids
Summary: Manuela gives Eiji her own reward for winning the Hammer Competition
#fresh crop monday#harvest moon#story of seasons#pioneers of olive town#sos1#animal parade#friends of mineral town#trio of towns#tale of two towns
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