kathraak

Latest Posts by kathraak

Posted with permission from the artist @ByTwistwood. Story by Matthew Wisner.

Can we step back for a second though and look at this twitter thread without any blinders whether that be on any level concerning representation in media, to realize how aggressively presumptuous the Twitter OP is being?

Outright, the focus is on ‘their’ culture. On ‘their’ tiny little aspect of this vastly creative effort that has been almost universally loved by those who’ve seen it. Things like this, people trying to control creators, to punish those who want to make something if it isn’t made to ‘their’ specifications, are the modern equivalent of the old Catholic Church arresting artists who made things the organization found “untasteful”.

Outrage culture is just a thing we have to deal with for now. People are going to flip their lids and go on childish vendettas against people that don’t fit their vision of a good artist or media maker. But preemptively throwing an aggressive and accusatory tantrum about something no one has even SEEN yet is where I draw the line.

You want to see representation for your culture? Right now that’s you. And by that example your culture is whiny, self-interested, and narrow minded.

High fantasy worlds based on real life geography and culture amazes me every time! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SENSEI

Frasier and Niles Become Demon Lords

I’ve considered this at some length before. The Minotaurs were a proud people that were reduced to little more than beasts on the edge of society by a fanatical religion. There’s certainly a regal nature to them that is sadly lost in the games.

As the whole ‘dragon blood’ thing goes, it’s hard to say because Alessia’s bloodline were the original Emperors. They were eliminated only to be replaced by the Septim line. Both were able to wear the amulet, both may have consisted of Dragonborn.

So then is Dragonborn an inherited trait at all?

Okay weird lore observation. Heirs of the dragon blood are capable of wearing the amulet of Kings. Traditionally that refers to the heirs of the imperial throne. It's been inferred by some that all of the heirs of dragon blood are technically dragon born and could absorb dragon souls. One of the first (if not the first) MINOTAURS was an emperor and the son of Alessia no less. Thus it would stand to reason that not only could a minotaur wear the Amulet of Kings, but could also absorb dova souls?

it hasn’t been clarified whether the dragonborn who can wear the amulet of kings are the same as the dragonborn who can absorb dragonsouls. nonetheless the idea of minotaurs being able to wear the amulet of kings is… very interesting ngl 

Fargoth’s hiding place is a hollow stump in a small pond in town.

i guess this isn't really lore but in the minute amount of hours i've put into morrowind it's the thing that bugs me the most - what the fuck is the deal with fargoth? And his 'hiding place.' i'm too scared to find out for myself

i really, truly, do not have a clue. fargoth scares me 

Clench your assholes lads we’re on the hunt for pirates

Friendly reminder that:

Qunari are empowering Saarebas with lyrium so that they can become stronger, open temporary Rifts, slow time down, and use mysterious spells, all through unknown means.

Tevinter is terribly weakened, corrupted, and will not last in the war against the Qunari.

Fen’Harel, now incredibly powerful, is planning to eliminate the corrupted parts of the Qun (good thing), but also to tear down the Veil (not that good, depending on the consequences). He will probably help the Tevinter slaves in rebelling against their masters too.

Titans are awakening. They are enormous beings living deep underground, whose blood has been consumed for millennia by mages and Templars alike, shaping the world as it is today. They also seem able to influence events above ground and they are very angry with the world or at least with the elves. They will probably re-establish their contact/link with the dwarves.

Something is happening in Weisshaupt, the Wardens have gone silent, and a new Blight is most likely coming.

The Evanuris are still locked away, but it’s obvious they will get free soon. They are a bunch of homicidal assholes who will not think twice about conquering Thedas again. They might be also tainted by the Blight, if the theories “Evanuris locked away with the Blight in the Black City” are true.

If Kieran was born, Flemeth/Mythal took the Old God’s soul from him, planning to do something with it. We still don’t know what it is, but it’s unlikely she will stay “dead”. She still has to have her revenge, her “reckoning which will shake the very heavens”.

Either Morrigan or the Inquisitor drank from the Well of Sorrows and the consequences of that act are still unclear, but whatever they are, they are going to suck or at least be mildly disturbing.

Mysterious Dalish elves live in the Tirashan. They are violent, cruel, and worship the Forgotten Ones.

Strange people from the Volca Sea are returning after a long absence, claiming a terrible calamity struck their lands.

We still don’t know what lies beyond the Amaranthine Ocean, but whatever it is, it makes people go insane and suicidal.

Basically Thedas right now:

list of characters that would be weirdly sexualized if they were made today

Like looking in a mirror after I finish a test.

When you finish a major arc/ campaign

Mara as the Glamorous Enchantress, from Diana Wynne Jones’ “Dark Lord of Derkholm”

Shona is not impressed.

It was only when Shona, in sheer fury, turned the carnivorous sheep among them that they moved. They ran, some of them with charming little white sheep attached to their legs or backsides and the rest shouting about monsters.

Diana Wynne Jones, The Dark Lord of Derkholm (via inlittlestars)

Probably not what the ask was inquiring about but the book, Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diamna Wynne Jones (who was the author behind Howl's Moving Castle) depicts a family of two human parents and their two human and five Griffon children.

It's a delightful and emotional read of satirical high fantasy, blending light interpersonal drama and interdimensional intrigue.

Not to mention the endearing interactions between griffon and human siblings that are constantly astounded by other people's confusion.

"Yes, this is my brother/sister. Why is that so hard to believe?"

Oh and grumpy, sarcastic old dragons.👍

Do you know of any good books or manga that have wholesome human and monster relationships? Also, magnificent blog, my friend~

hmmm, besides for the very basic ones that a lot of people know about - I don’t really have anything. >.< i’m a bit busy and i’ve got a very long reading list. But! I’m sure someone who follows me can give you a good list! 

#SENDHELP#NEEDMEDIA

:p and also thank you bunches!!

Imagine with me...

Orcs discovering makeup.

Orcs finding the boldest red to coat on their lips because, "It's supposed to make it look like they're flush with blood."

Orcs circling their eyes furiously with eyeliner to bring out the PURE FIREY FURY within and terrify their opponents.

Orcs of all sexes and ages doing their daily things, talking, fighting, all with their faces done up and not one of them finding it unusual.

Orcs being touchy on the subject with outsiders because, "How did the humans find this before us? This is so much better than warpaint."

Orcs swarming high society shops whenever they raid or trade with a city and terrifying the noble customers as they march out with arms full of the highest fashions.

Orcs complimenting each other on a particular style or color as screaming people run by and surroundings burn.

Orcs pitching a fit when they can't find their favorite brands.

ORCS

If you notice, it's similar to what a sustained arc of electricity looks like. Both change in similar fashions as they seek the path of least resistance.

Since Khajiit are born under very specific Lunar cycles, I'd say their celebration is less individual and more of a group effort.

I can imagine a small army of similar looking specimens gathering in celebration every phase for loud and raucous celebration of their particular phenotype.

Also it's fun to imagine a birthday party for a hundred housecat sized mages.

lets have a headcanon thread to clear the air. reblog this with your favorite TES race + if/how you think they celebrate birthdays 

Hey guys, drink your water alright?

Like, just 2-3 cups or bottles a day, at any time throughout the day. Doesn’t have to be all at once. Just sip it if you want.

Your body doesn’t just hurt out of nowhere, it’s telling you something. Not nearly enough people drink sufficient levels of water a day.

In addition to letting you sweat and not burn up, water is active in the smallest aspects of your body, the respiration of cells. Not to mention it’s use in maintaining blood pressure and keeping your organs from sticking to each other. (Yes that can happen and it sucks, feels like a dang heart attack)

Please just drink water, it’s such a small thing you can do to make your life and health that much better.

You have the power to emulate sounds that you've recently heard, perfectly mimic voices, animal calls, gun fire, as long as it was within about an hour.

You also absorb light on contact, you do not reflect. In shady or dim conditions you may become almost invisible, in direct light it has much less effect.

What is it?

Rolan Quarn is the greatest turian ever

So I’ve been doing some research for my story.  Which led to me to do a google search of Rolan Quarn, or as most people will probably know him, the turian con ‘artist’ from the Citadel DLC.  

Turns out the guy’s actually been involved in the series since August 2010 where he popped up on Cerberus Daily News, after he stole the identity of Delumcore System’s CEO after he died of a heart attack a week into a holiday.  Rolan then ran the company successfully for two years before getting caught by a routine traffic stop noticing discrepancies in his geneprint.

After his capture, police then released evidence that Rolan had previously passed himself off with dozens of other disguises, including a stunt driver, sous-chef, martial arts instructor, ambassador, varren tamer, news anchor and stand-up comedian.

Three days after, he slipped free of a tracking bracelet and police escort and escaped the planet, but only after leaving a recorded message thanking many of Delumcore’s employees by name and giving advice for the future, ending the note by saying: “Sorry about the bail.  I wish everyone the best.  I’ve never been prouder of the people I’ve worked with, and that’s saying something.”

Then, on New Year’s Eve, he steals the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball (which is four metres in diameter and weighs 5185kg) from the Citadel by himself, before returning it later with a note saying “C-Sec needs funds.  You can smuggle anything onto this station.”

adsfhjaksldfhsajkdfha

Then he shows up in the Citadel DLC with the sexiest voice ever and basically tells you how he’s future Robin Hood.  But turian.  

He may only show up for five minutes in the game, but my god, what a legend.

Astronaut readjusts to life back on Earth

> Don’t give him a baby for a while.

I've never seen anything from lip sync battles before but MY GOD!

Tom Holland on Lip Sync Battle

Fuzzy and kind little things.

Personally it's my belief that Sid grew up seeing all the other Turians with colony markings and ran up to Vetra "I wanna paint my faceplate too!"

And of course Vetra being the best big sister ever agreed and helped her. Then let Sid paint her markings too. Every so often they repaint the markings, even after Sid found out what they mean. It just became a thing for them.

Why do Vetra and Sid have colony markings?

If they left before Vetra went to basic and presumingly Sid was very young? If their sisters wouldn’t they have the same markings? When is a Turian given their markings? I guess you can keep them if you are no longer apart of the colony… I’m in Turian hell talk to me about Turians….

After the absolute fiasco that the Mass Effect books culminated in, I had no interest in remembering anything from the otherwise wonderful and illuminating literature.

the lack of attention the comics and novels get from not only the fans but bioware themselves makes me really sad cause everyone assumes nyreen was the first female turian ever but that’s not entirely true

nyreen was first in-game, yes, but the first visually depicted turian in the whole franchise was lieutenant abrudas, from the comic mass effect: evolution:

and even before abrudas, ambassador orinia [link] has the distinction of being the first female turian in the franchise anywhere, from the novel mass effect: retribution, in which she’s actually a major character.

like idk man i love nyreen but she’s not the first female turian, and it makes me sad that other awesome characters fall by the wayside just because bioware cares so little about its supplementary material it doesn’t even bother letting people know it exists after it’s published

Khajiit don't really 'admire' Lorkhan. They revere him the way the people of Vivec (the city) revere Bar Daau. Sort of, "Holy hell, please don't crush us even though you probably totally could with like, 0 effort."

Lorkhan's particularly interested in the Khajiit it seems for whatever reason, since he gets their 'bent' dead.

here’s some tea

the three factions that worship lorkhan or at least view him in a positive light all belong to the pact  

Darth Traya (Ayem) or Kreia as she referred to herself in game was meant to be the betrayer. (Oh damn you Star Wars and your ever so clever wordplay) However, she was betrayed. The others, Nihilus (Seht?) and Sion (Vehk?) turned on her for not entirely certain reasons. Some believe it was because Traya wanted to kill the force itself, which would make the others weak or possibly just kill off all life. It could also have been simple Sith malice we see so much of, subjugating the weak because they are weak and you are strong etc.

Regardless, the story of Traya is a Jedi that hated the Jedi and became a Sith. A Sith that hated the Sith and became 'nothing'. And it seems 'nothing' quite suited her, as her primary interest in the player character was always their ability to help in destroying the force.

But rambling aside there are a lot of small parallels to be made between the two groups. I imagine if the Tribunal had taken a much different approach to godhood, if they'd come back from red mountain as monsters instead of benevolent Gods, the Triumvirate is quite likely the form they would have assumed. Feeding off the world and it's people, always cautious as to the others.

Not sure if this falls in your circle of interest, but in the Bioware game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 we meet a Sith Triumvirate with each member exhibiting immense, godlike power. A lot of their personalities and styles (though more obviously malicious) seem to overlap with the Tribunal, from the young warrior, the reclusive seeker, and the deceptive queen. I'm wondering if you've ever read into these characters and if so, what similarities you may have found.

i know NOTHING about star wars so reading over their wiki articles i think a lot is going over my head haha. 

i do think it’s interesting that, assuming i’m reading the right triumvirate, the queen was betrayed by the other to? that could be somewhat of a Parallel 

Demons aren't just misguided, they're deeply corrupted, their very values made into malicious and aggressive aspects. In their state, the demons don't want to spend all the energy to cross the veil simply to occupy a weak, rotting corpse. They want to have considerable influence and ability, very difficult when you're trapped in a bag of bones. A living mage host provides extraordinary power, a much easier method to cross the veil around the already thinned aura of the mage, and a form that can not only endure physical trauma but grow in power. A living host could become stronger, a dead one cannot.

CONFESSION:

If a spirit can possess a tranquil or a dead body and restore even partially their connection to the fade (Doing this by force in the lore is called Necromancy). Why do demons take such disinterest? In that, spirits and demons are the same. Demons are the description of spirits who were once innocent and have been misguided by their own or others intentions (Such as the Fear Demon in the fade DA:I)            

Oh my goodness. Breaker warband was what I called the one for my Charrgeneer, Kathraak Cogbreaker! Also she is lovely!

Destrier Dealbreaker is a young Iron Legion soldier in the Breaker Warband. While they all joke that, given her small size, quick wit and skill with a blade that she fell out of the Ash trash apple tree, her ability to garner various parts and equipment at great prices and strike up good deals is incredibly beneficial and they wouldn’t have Destrier any other way. 

To her Warband and close friends, she has the affectionate nickname Desti.

It's probably got some syntax or other that we haven't clarified, my bet is that it's a way of referring to themselves as children of the moons. (Having their form determined by the lunar lattice could have that effect) Similarly, it is said that the desert was made by Y'ffer in to harm Khajiit. But their philosophies and even the Riddle'Thar seem to demand that they accept the hardship. Odds are they take pride in their ability to survive in the harsh environments.

I rly wonder about the ethymology of Ja'Kha'jay too? Literally, it would mean “baby moon”, “mooncub” but that’s weird? Also, is the semblance between khaj (desert) and kha'jay (moon) something intentional, despite them being two different things and the apostrophe in kha'jay indicating a potential root from two separate words?