Blueinkedfrost

Gold paten decorated with carnelian and turquoise, from the Treasure of Gourdon uncovered near Gourdon, France in 1845. Dated to the late 5th - early 6th century AD

Three cercolons. Literally translates to "big circles", cercolons are decorative wall plates and a specialty of Andalusia. These are ceramic and hand-painted. The first two depict the Temple menorah (with seven branches), one in various shades of blue and one in a variety of colors. The other depicts a Magen David lined with leaves and flowers.

Humans hate vampires because they eat humans.

Humans also hate Forgemasters, because they're humans with the special ability to reanimate corpses into monstrous looking creatures with various deadly superpowers and a soul drawn out of Hell ("night creatures"). That hatred seems more like bigotry than hating vampires does. In justification for this hatred, night creatures are bound to obey the Forgemaster who made them, which sounds an awful lot like slavery, which is bad. However, Forgemasters have their mitigating traits:

Most night creatures don't seem very sapient.

In the first Castlevania series, the two Forgemasters Isaac and Hector were written as likeable, sympathetic characters. They were both abused by humans before they signed up with Dracula to kill all humans. Hector preferred night creatures to be pets, reanimated animals rather than slaves. Isaac had long, respectful conversations with one of his night creatures, a reincarnated philosopher from a thousand years ago.

It's implied that pretty much everyone goes to Hell after death. Doctor Lisa went to hell after using her last breath to plead for her murderers' lives to be spared, thus if she was judged into hell there's no hope for the rest of us. So, returning from Hell to be a night creature is probably better than the alternative.

It's a tactical error for humans to persecute Forgemasters. This forces Forgemasters to team up with vampires. A vampire has a major strategic weakness: direct sunlight kills them. But, if a Forgemaster makes them an honour guard of night creatures, they will be protected.

One of the most interesting aspects to me is that while the night creatures we largely see have been created by the forgemasters, there is some dialogue by Hector in season 2, where he confirms that before Dracula's war on humanity and the conscription of the night creatures into it, there were night creatures living in the world that just naturally reproduced. So while the night creatures we see largely are souls put into bodies by a form of necromancy, it does still seem they are also a species of their own capable of reproducing nad just doing their own thing. Which I find interesting.

Also, in regards to hell, my main interpretation of it is this: it is not that "everyone goes to hell" but "there is no heaven". More specifically I do not actually think that the hell we see is actually "hell". After all, we know at least one vampire who we see in the series (Morana) is older than the human concept of hell. Because hell as a concept is fairly recent (and even more recent, obviously, from the perspective of the series). By the time the main series takes place, the concept of hell is well established for about 1000 years. Morana is 3000 years old. Which kinda brings me to: "Why would a heaven/hell concept be real, when we know that there are people around who remember a time when this was not even the way people thought about it?" And it also makes the interesting possibiltiy of: the afterlife kinda is what you expect it to be.

One pet theory of mine also is, that a lot of souls will kinda degrade in the afterlife. This is why so many night creatures do seem to be more instinct driven than sapient. Though given also that we kinda know that FlysEyes has to have died likely around 700 years ago (from what he tells us) it does seem that the time since death is likely not the main factor.

"The closing words of The Book of St Albans, a compendium of three texts on hunting, hawking and heraldry printed in 1486, attribute one, The Boke of Hunting, to ‘Dam Julyans Barnes’. There has been much discussion of the identity of this woman, now conventionally known as Dame Juliana Berners. According to the antiquary John Bale, writing in 1549, she had been alive in 1460, while William Burton (1575–1645), in a note that he wrote before 1612 in his copy of The Book of St Albans, now in the Cambridge University Library, identified her more precisely as ‘the Lady Julian Berners, daughter of Sir James Berners, of Berners-Roding, in Essex, Knight, and Sister to Richard Lord Berners . . . Lady Prioresse of Sopwell Nunnery neere St Albons’. Further independent corroboration of Dame Juliana’s existence is provided by Chauncy in his History of Hertfordshire (1700). Therefore, even though the fitful records of Sopwell Priory do not record any prioress of that name, the identification is not totally without foundation. The priory was associated with at least one literary woman; the translator Dame Eleanor Hull lived there from time to time during the 1420s. It is ironic that she, a laywoman, might have been working on her translations of religious texts not long before one of the nuns, if not the prioress herself, started to versify this practical little poem on a purely secular subject.

A prioress could very well have composed The Book of Hunting. It is not an original composition but rather a versification of two prose treatises: William Twiti’s L’Art de Venerie, originally written in Anglo-Norman, of which two Middle English prose translations survive; and Gaston de Foix’s Livre de Chasse, which Edward Duke of York, younger son of Edward III, translated as The Master of Game at the very beginning of the fifteenth century. The poem did not therefore require any personal knowledge of, or even interest in, hunting. It might appropriately be compiled by someone engaged in the elementary education of upper-class children, as the subjects covered include what one might now call natural history, domestic science, and etiquette as well as the sport itself.

Nor did the fifteenth-century printer of The Book of St Albans find it inherently implausible that a woman should have written this poem; he no doubt knew that medieval women took part in hunts, particularly in hare coursing and rabbiting. It has recently been argued, however, that Dame Juliana Berners should not be connected with The Book of Hunting at all, but was rather the compiler of the miscellaneous material, of the sort often preserved in commonplace books, found at the ends of both The Book of Hawking and The Book of Hunting.

It is interesting that a woman should have composed, or at least been credited with composing, a textbook on such a practical subject. This suggests that medieval expectations of the breadth of a woman’s knowledge and areas of expertise were perhaps higher than we today allow. The text itself again shows the medieval woman writer as a transmitter of traditional wisdom, a compiler and adapter of the ideas of others, usually men."

Seeking pinch hitters for the following. Exchange reveals will come when everyone has a gift. To claim a pinch hit, please message me.

1 - Baldur's Gate 3 - Claimed!

AO3 name: grovestep

Halsin/Tav (Baldur's Gate); Halsin (Baldur's Gate); Tav (Baldur's Gate)

Baldur's Gate III - some steamy Halsin/Tav action? Or something focusing on Halsin as a bear.

Fanfic only please. No DNWs.

2 - Baldur's Gate 3 - Claimed!

AO3 name: Halfing_Madmax

Halsin/Rolan (Baldur's Gate); Halsin/Shadowheart (Baldur's Gate); Halsin (Baldur's Gate); Rolan (Baldur's Gate); Rugan (Baldur's Gate); Kar'niss (Baldur's Gate)

Hi!! I’m super easy-going and happy with basically anything soo it could be a cute ship, a soft “awkward buddy” dynamic, or even just characters being adorably awkward together!

My main ships are:

Rugan/Halsin

Rolan/Halsin

Kar'niss/Halsin

Shadowheart/Halsin

…but if that’s tricky, I’m totally fine with:

Halsin/Abdirak

Halsin/my tav girl Ar’lane (happy to send extra info if needed!)

I’m open to fluff, funny moments, or awkwardness. Smut is cool if you want, but if you don’t do NSFW, absolutely no worries, I’ll still be thrilled!

Types of fanworks I’d love: fanfic, fanart, fanvid, crafts… basically whatever you enjoy making EXCEPT mods (I cannot run BG3 on my computer ;-;).

Content to avoid: Non-con, underage stuff, somnophilia, and other NSFW tags that are… uh… very niche. Also anything involving Gale. I just… really don’t vibe with him, no hard feelings to anyone else, promise! Also heavy angst or major death for characters is a nope for me!

Sooo some prompts (it is okay if you do not want to use them btw!):

Rugan teaching Halsin something mundane (cooking, dancing, tying boots) and Halsin keeps failing adorably.

Halsin accidentally giving Rolan a really sweet, awkward compliment and immediately panicking.

Ar’lane sneaking Halsin tiny gifts or treats when he’s not looking.

Characters trying to teach each other hobbies they’re REALLY bad at.

A quiet moment where Halsin or Ar’lane comforts the other after a bad day with hugs or silly distractions.

Halsin trying to flirt with Rolan but using way too many metaphors or weird phrases.

Rugan and Halsin getting stuck in a literal or metaphorical “trap” and bickering while waiting to be saved.

3 - Baldur's Gate I/II - Claimed!

Tamoko, Tamoko & Yoshimo, Sarevok/Tamoko, Imoen, Edwin, Faldorn & Jaheira, Garrick, Viconia DeVir, Safana/Skie Silvershield

AO3 name: Seika