So how are you feeling after that mighty nein episode?
bc I'm in shambles
I literally just watched it less than an hour ago with a friend, and I'm SO HAPPY. I mean, I know that sounds absolutely insane, but Caleb has always been my favorite and I was more or less vibrating with excitement when I found out his backstory in-campaign. So getting a full hour-long episode focused on my boy... GLORIOUS.
major Mighty Nein Animated spoilers under the cut!!
(also tw for violence, immolation, and animal death.)
And I love that they pulled absolutely zero punches. Caleb was complicit. Caleb was both a victim and he committed atrocities. He did it all willingly. Him forcing a man to literally gut himself (and with a little joke, too)... MWAH.
Side note: Getting to see all of this and the Essek stuff side-by-side is fucking glorious. My wonder beautiful beloved traitorous wizards. They're such perfect mirrors of each other.
(Fun fact: I actually had an edit WIP from literally years ago of my sim versions of Caleb and Essek. Maybe I'll have to revive it sometime.)
The contrast between Beau telling him he's the "good monk" and then her chickening out and him TORTURING Owelia... amazing.
Augh, it's all so good.
I will say, Frumpkin pawing at the window did make me lowkey nauseous because while I will clap and cheer for humans getting hurt, I do actually have semi-functional empathy for animals, and my two worst fears are 1) my home burning down, and 2) my cats getting hurt (which feeds into #1). So um. Yeah. That specific note of Caleb's backstory is always slightly distressing to me. (If Frumpkin wasn't inside, it would be fine, lmao.)
(I very much can understand and appreciate the choice. Trust me, I can. I've done all kinds of horrible fucked-up shit to my OCs, and I even am considering taking inspiration from the Frumpkin thing (in a less graphic and much more passive way) for my lead-in to Carrion's backstory. But that hyper-specific combo does make me a little upset.)
And I absolutely love him just fucking OBLITERATING Owelia. It's both in contrast to his early-game mechanics with the WIS saves, but also not, given that he passed out directly afterwards.
Speaking of passing out: Fucking phenomenal whumpy shit this episode. Fjord in the background dying of poison!!! (and giving a chance to hint at parts of Nott's backstory, which as my friend pointing out, there's no way they're letting that linger until the equivalent of Episode 50-something in-campaign.)
(also, added side note, someone on here pointed out that two of Trent's torture victims have been played by Travis (just for screams), and I think that's fucking hilarious. They really just said "let's torture this dude". I mean, I know he's one of the EP's on the show, so it makes sense that he's just... always there, but still, very funny.)
btw, idk if you follow it or not, but my personal blog (where I talk about CR and also my own dnd adventures, among other things) is @six-improbable-things
(and please!! feel free to DM me here or on Discord to chat about CR / D&D stuff!!! I'm always down!)
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srry I'm late to the ask game party, but if you want: "Hide", "Mask", and "Midnight" for a character of your choice!
Ahhh, hi!!! Thanks for the ask. And it's never too late! Besides, as the saying goes:
"A void critter is never late. Nor are they early. They arrive precisely when they mean to."
I'm going to answer these for Rook, Cyra, and Carrion! Putting it under the cut because I don't know when to shut the fuck up. Also, tw for mentions of cults and torture.
hide: What does your OC hide? Why do they hide it?
Rook uses a magically enchanted ring that projects a minor illusion over his appearance. It serves two purposes. The original purpose was to hide the physical symptoms of exhaustion from his party members, back before they found out about his demon curse. (Which they thought they had helped cure him of, but he took on willingly to spare the others.)
Now that they all know, it has the added benefit of hiding the marks of his most recent encounter with Wolf from his new crew. (For example, it shows his old whip scars on his back, instead of the absolutely shredded mess left by the keelhauling.)
He hides things from the party because he doesn't want them to worry about him, and doesn't think his life is worth all that much. He hides things from his new crew because he does not want to appear weak in front of them. They've only been sailing under him for a few weeks now, and he is using all the tricks he learned from Zara, Wolf, and Sigmar to earn and keep their loyalty.
(I've had extensive conversations with my DM about how because he is able to pull from all three of them -- each of whom are incredibly successful leaders in their own right, for different reasons -- he has the chance to be perhaps the most famous pirate to ever live. That is, if he can survive the campaign.)
Funny story: The crew saw him without the ring on once, while he was unconscious after dying in a nighttime attack on the ship* and they immediately started a rumor that he's a revenant, returned from the dead to take down Captain Wolf. (A rumor that is extra funny given that in my other campaign with the same group, I literally play a reborn (Avra) who has been called "little revenant" by several NPCs.)
*out of character, I fully blame the crew for this, because they rolled like 8 perception checks and failed ALL of them, so the DM had to DM-Ex-Machina a way into alerting the party Rook's unconscious body was about to be dragged off the ship and into the sea.
Cyra hides the fact that she used to be a member of a cult known as the Sunborn. They're a bit of a doomsday cult, and have been known to use rather violent tactics at times. (You could more or less call them a religious terrorist group, I suppose.)
On top of that, she hides her former (unwilling) role as a living weapon in the hands of an Iron Maw ravage. (A traveling band of raiders very much inspired by the world of Mad Max.)
In both cases what she hides is for her own safety. Both her parents (leaders of a wasteland Lighthouse) and her former "master", Nelne, are looking for her, and would be willing to go to great lengths to get their hands on her.
Carrion hides his monstrous transformations. Up until he met the party, every single person who has learned of them has fled from him, tried to kill him, or both. (This is actually why he latched onto Valeska, the party warlock, so strongly. She was the first person to react in a totally neutral way to his transformation.)
This is getting especially interesting since last we left off, the party was potentially going to encounter a group of paladins, members of the same order that Carrion belonged to prior to taking that name. Even if none of the people in this specific party recognize him, he doesn't dare call attention to himself, as he knows that his former mentor is the commander of the entire army stationed near Drakkenheim, and would certainly be intrigued by any descriptions.
mask: Does your OC wear a mask, literally or figuratively? What goes on beneath it? Is there anyone in their life who gets to see who they are under the mask?
Rook wears a figurative mask whenever he is playing the role of captain. The captain cannot falter. The captain cannot be weak. The captain must always be confident in his decisions.
Underneath it, Rook is extremely doubtful and anxious about his ability to 1) protect the crew, 2) protect the ship (which he still considers to be on loan from Zara), and 3) be a person that Zara would be proud of.
The other, near-constant mask that Rook wears is a mask of "I'm fine". He's an expert at hiding pain and injury, and his skill as a liar rivals a trickster god.
The only person who is consistently able to break through any of this and get him to tell the truth is Zara herself.
(I have a joke with the DM that Zara has a special skill called "Rook Bullshit Detection" and she has a +15 and permanent advantage, which seems like overkill but is absolutely necessary given Rook's +13 to Deception and eerily good luck on Deception checks.)
(Side Note: This question in general makes me think SO hard about Sigmar & Dr. Purity, the former being a corpse controlled by the latter via a magical mask. The #1 song on his playlist is literally titled "The Mask". Ugh, he's so terrible, but I love him sm.)
Cyra is a relatively open person. She's not very good at hiding her emotions. Aside from pretending to be a person with a Totally Normal Past, she doesn't hide much about herself.
I suppose in the past she wore the mask of "loyal cultist and daughter", and Eris was the one who got to see beneath that mask. But turns out Eris was wearing a mask of her own.
Carrion likes to pretend that he is Totally And Completely Fine. He tries to hide most of his thoughts and emotions behind the world's grumpiest resting bitch face. However, he's a pretty shit liar, and both of his party members are able to read him pretty easily. He doesn't really let anyone under the mask, though. They kind of have to pry it off his face.
midnight: What keeps your OC up at night? Do they have nightmares? Fears? Anxieties? What do they do in the small hours of the morning when they should be sleeping?
Oh, this is perfect for Rook, my baby boy!!! He was cursed by a demon lord with terrible nightmares that leave him literally unable to sleep. Wolf made frequent appearances, up until she captured him again and he learned the reality of what she would do is worse than any nightmare.
Other than that, it's a lot about hurting or failing to protect his party members. Getting his crew killed. Being called a failure by Zara. And in one particularly memorable hallucination, being berated by two people he loved very much who had recently died. I was also very very proud of the time loop ship in a bottle nightmare that I wrote and read aloud in the campaign. Very fun.
As for what he does when he should be sleeping, he spends a lot of time thinking. And he really shouldn't. Because he fixates on the nightmares (or the real-life memories that are worse than the nightmares) and obsesses over them.
Now that he's been on the Tide Breaker (Zara's ship, now his) for a few weeks, he's been able to enjoy the rocking of the ship and being able to look out on the water, both of which he finds relaxing. And also, having his own cabin, which is a whole floor above the rest of the party, means that he can slip out on deck and take the helm or climb up to the crow's nest or do whatever his heart desires without the party waking up and/or talking to him.
(He actually doesn't even sleep in the bed. He sleeps on the window seat at the rear of the captain's cabin. He feels more comfortable there, having many good memories from when he sailed with Zara, and also being able to look out the window. The fact that he nearly got stabbed to death on the same window seat less than a week ago in-game time has not diminished this comfort.)
Cyra just generally suffers from insomnia as a result of the conditioning and schedule she was held to when she worked for the Iron Maw. She spends her time awake either reliving old memories or fantasizing about rescuing Eris and the life they could lead together. (As you can tell, she is not aware that Eris is (willingly) the reason everything went to shit 3 years ago.)
Carrion does have frequent nightmares, but he's mostly able to sleep through them, albeit fitfully / not very restfully. He tends to roll around a lot in his sleep and end up with more of a nest than a bed.
Just last night in-game time, though, he was unable to sleep because he was under the impression that Valeska had been kidnapped and it was all his fault. (She had not, she was merely avoiding him.) On top of that panicked worry, he was also dealing with the realization that he considers her something close to a friend, and now he's fucked up the first real friendship he's had in over 5 years, before he even knew he had it.
(Valeska would argue that they were never friends, even before the argument, because "Mages can't have friends". We're working on it.)
Hi Jay! Thanks for the ask! (I loved your answers about Cade, btw!) Let's do these for Zen!
๐งธ - Do they have any stuffed animals? If so, are they decorative or do they sleep with them?
They don't have any stuffed animals, at least not anymore. When they were a child they had a couple, but they were destroyed along with the rest of Zen's village a few years ago.
๐ค - What do they absolutely need to have to fall asleep?
A sense of safety. If they're nervous or afraid, it's nearly impossible for them to fall asleep. The one exception would be if they're so exhausted that they just pass out.
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4 & 5 for the ask prompts, any character of your choice!
and 17 for you!
Hello!! Thank you for the ask, friend! ๐
4. Is your oc's environment supportive about their identity? How does this impact them?
Considering that all of my D&D characters live in fantasy worlds in games where in every single group at least 1/2 of the group is queer in some way (me included), generally they don't end up facing a lot of queerphobia. The closest I can think of is probably Cyra's mother being extremely opposed to her dating Eris, but that's mostly because Eris is a member of the rival sun cult (and thus "the enemy"), not because she's a woman.
Cyra and Eris ended up plotting a Romeo and Juliet-esque trick to get away from their respective families/cults. It ended in disaster (as was (kind of) Eris's plan, unbeknownst to Cyra), and Cyra ended up alone in the desert. She believed (and still believes) that Eris was captured by her own cult and forced to return to that life. (In reality, however, Eris was doing the whole thing in order to gain trust and approval from her cult.)
Putting the rest under a cut because I talk too damn much. (Especially about #17. I can yap for AGES about my weird perspectives on gender and sexuality and how that (and my decades-long assumption that they were the default) bleeds into every character I create at least a little.)
5. How did you figure out your oc's identity?
For most of my characters, their identity just kind of pops into my head along with the rest of the character. It's not usually something I spend a lot of time dwelling on. For example, Morana being aroace was one of the first things I knew about her. Same with Cyra being lesbian, Val being nonbinary, etc.
Sometimes it's based on my own personal experience / wanting a character that I can relate to (e.g., Morana), other times it's a vibes-based thing (e.g., Rune, who is a changeling and can change their body at will. Why wouldn't they want to experiment with that?). Occasionally it just kind of strikes me on a whim, like "Hm. It would be cool if [character] was [identity]" (e.g., Luca or Kai being trans).
There are sometimes where I don't even really think about a character's identity until either I'm asked about it, or it becomes relevant to the story or for a bit. (For example, I decided Odynia was ace and sex-repulsed because that makes the fact that she was the bodyguard for an extremely slutty (affectionate) bi guy much funnier. Carrion and Avra, on the other hand, just kind of inherited my default aroace-ness from me, because their sexuality is of no relevance to their stories.)
17. Do you share identity with any of your ocs? Which ones?
Yes! Many of them!! Since I'm aroace (and especially since I spent a solid portion of my life assuming my lack of attraction was the default experience and romance was something made up for fiction), a lot of my characters end up being on the ace/aro spectrum, even if I don't intentionally design them that way. (For example, Carrion and Avra.)
Even for characters who I didn't intend to be aro/ace, my own disinterest in sex/romance does tend to bleed into them on occasion. A good example is Rook, who is technically bisexual, but has never once displayed an ounce of interest in anything or anyone, past or present, simply because it feels weird to me.
(I'm too attached to him, I think. At least it does make sense that give his backstory he's more than a little bit traumatized and thus reluctant/unwilling to trust people, as well as emotionally unavailable in that way.)
There are some cases where me projecting my aroace-ness onto my characters is very intentional, though. Morana is probably the best example of that. She was very much designed to be a lot like me in many ways (Autistic, no empathy, aroace, etc.), but pushed to the extremes. No empathy, hyper-logical, and struggles with understanding human emotions and relationships, but not uncaring or unkind... You can perhaps see why the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories were so dear to me as a child (and still are!!).
Somewhat similar to the unintentional aroace default that a lot of my characters have, due to my own experience with being agender (and again, about two deacdes assuming that a complete and utter ambivalence to the concept of gender as a whole is the default) a lot of my characters also experience a lack of strong views/feelings about gender, regardless of their canonical gender or pronouns. Like, sure Carrion and Rook are cis men, Avra and Cyra are cis women, etc. But they don't really have strong feelings about it, nor does it really impact their character all that much.
(This was actually part of how I realized I was agender. I realized that of my TTRPG friends, I played the widest variety of genders/pronouns. Doing a bit of thinking, I realized that was because I didn't actually perceive the characters as different from each other (or myself) in any way. Sure, I may not use he/him pronouns, but there was nothing that felt fundamentally different about doing so for a character, or that made it harder for me to connect to / RP as them. Which, apparently most people actually do feel a connection to SOME gender, be it their assigned one or not, and find it difficult or awkward to act as another, even in a fictional setting. Wild!!!)
*graciously hands u this meme in appreciation for your appreciation*
Also hello!!! I haven't been very active lately but I'm doing well!! Hope you're doing good too friend ๐ค
asdkasdjsadkaj, this is AMAZING. You always have the best memes for your OCs, I love it so much!!!! I love that hilda's username is "not an arsonist". That sounds like something they have to convince people of a lot, aksjdksajd.
And I'm glad to hear you're doing well!
I'm also doing pretty well!! It's almost the end of the semester, so I'm kinda-sorta drowning in assignments, but it's fine. I'll live. (Though I do know more about feline teeth and skulls than I ever thought I would need to know.) On Tuesday I get to finally go home and see my cats again, even if it's only briefly before I come back for one more week, and then home for winter break. (A whole month!!!!!!)
I'm still obsessing over my own dnd characters, and I'm now in 5 campaigns, though the most I'd ever play in one week is 4, unless my friday group does a split session between our two campaigns.
I've also been obsessing over Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous again, and I'm super duper hopeful they fix the bug that's making me stuck soon, bc I don't wanna risk fucking up my save with a cheat mod to fix it, but I also really really want to finish the game by December 31st so I can say I finished it twice in one year. (I started playing on Jan 1st of this year.)
After that, might play a Divinity: Original 2 save, either solo or with my friend who's gotten super into it this past week.
I've got a stack of WIP renders in various states of completion, so I'd love to get some of those finished up over winter break.
