It Seems Like People In Chat Don’t Get That The Idea Of A Magician’s ‘true Name’ Having Power

(1/3) In my fantasy world, I have humans, elves, and dwarves. I’m trying to give them all a wide variety of races and cultures, though we only meet a few of them. They all have pretty different approaches to gender. The humans in the area I’m focusing on have I guess pretty Western conceptions of gender, but I have multiple trans characters, including some nonbinary ones later one (one of the main characters is a human trans man).

(2/3) The dwarf cultures we encounter have pretty set gender roles but they don’t care who fulfills them/their ideas of gender aren’t tied to biology like humans’ often are, so there’s a really large percentage of trans dwarves. The elves don’t really have gender at all. They don’t have gendered pronouns. They can also change their appearance at will, and obviously sex and gender are different and also both socially constructed, but the elves as a whole don’t really think about either one.

A lot of elves do prefer a certain presentation, but the only ones who ever really gender themselves are the ones who live among humans or dwarves and have to choose pronouns in those languages. Some of them choose pronouns that “match” their presentation, some deliberately don’t, and some ask that people just change it up, the way that a lot of humans also do. Is there anything I should avoid or anything I need to think through better in all of this?

(I submitted that before saying so but the elf pronouns ask was 3/3)

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Honestly, I have never come across an ask about fantasy gender stuff that was more evidently thought through or knowledgeable about gender and gender systems. You seem to have really gone through the work to make this a diverse and beautiful world. I think you’re doing great, but here’s some things I’m thinking.

I would keep in mind that the term ‘trans’ doesn’t necessarily translate across cultures. Using a different word or label doesn’t make it any less representation. It’s more in the portrayal and the way of getting across how different people relate to their own gender identity. Dwarves might be free to ID as trans in a translation, or maybe they have a similar or identical term but it just means something different. If there aren’t gender assignments the same way as in the cultures our contemporary definition of trans* had in mind, it might feel like a compromise for a dwarf who has grown up their entire life free of the same constraints to feel like trans (in our definition) is an accurate label. Or maybe not, or maybe it depends on the individual or the place they grew up or who they grew up around or their own specific culture.

In cases where terms/labels change, the key to making it actual representation is to focus on concepts of relatability. There’s no one way to be trans of course, but there are some things that I see in other cultures that I relate to because of my relationship with my gender. 

Another idea on something you could use to add more depth - gender is seldom just gender. For some people, their gender identity is tied in with their sense of kinship. Like, someone might really love being a mother, and that’s a large part of how that particular person relates to their gender identity. There are also a lot of cultures (including most of western-colonial gender systems as perceived through most of written history) (subcultures can have this too) where things like orientation might be a big part of how someone relates to their gender identity. For example, I know a lot of people who identify their gender as lesbian. These kinds of things exist in pretty much every culture (that I know of). I think more people feel this way too than most of us really think about - we have our gender identity label in its simplified form and then we have other terms and ideas associated that we relate to; ways of interpreting our relationship with other ideas and feelings and social and societal ties. Or whatever else.

I would also think a bit about the third culture folks and how nomadic people may develop identities. (Nomadic cultures exist on nearly every continent in our world. Some of these cultures did the whole ethnogenesis thing within the past 300 years, though most of the nomadic peoples I am familiar with go back at least a thousand. Some nomadic people aren’t part of nomadic ethnic groups but may have a subculture, like military families and carnies. I’m mainly thinking about how the subculture folks would develop identities and what that would be influenced by because otherwise folks just have their own regular cultures.)

I’d also think about maybe making up pronouns that are meant to refer to someone with a dwarf or elf etc gender identity. I know some folks who want the pronouns they use in their ancestral or native languages to be the ones used in English as well. Maybe instead of choosing an English (or Common, idk your world) pronoun, some folks opt to just keep using the same pronouns as always, regardless of the language they are using.

All in all, most of my advice and tips are just, “here’s how you can get even more creative with it if you want to, and add more depth.” There’s a lot to read on these topics but it can be hard to research because people don’t typically get to this level of depth. (I definitely don’t mean to knock at anybody - there is not a soul out there who is not learning and growing in some way.)- mod nat* The definition of trans I’m referencing here is identifying differently (either wholly or in part) with a gender (or lack thereof) than what was assigned to you at birth. That kind of hinges on the idea of birth assignments being a thing. I do have a feeling this definition will change a bit once people stop gendering infants based on genitalia shape. But y’know, that’s something to think about. Maybe have a lore-based definition. Maybe it varies in different cultures. I dunno - go with the flow! Get creative with it.

⚔️  Disney & Dragons  2 ⚔️

Turned some more Disney Heroes into DnD characters for this week’s speedpaint! These designs have probably been my favorite ones so far to put together~ °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

(I went into detail in the video about what class I made each character into and why, but if you haven’t seen it yet then feel free to make your own guesses based on these artworks!)

(DON’T EDIT OR REPOST TO OTHER SITES)  //  FULL SIZE VERSIONS ON MY DA (<-link in my blog header)

CHAIN OF ACHERON, HELLTROOPER CHERRY REPORTING

“The Chain will be unbroken. None shall be slaves. The truth is my pursuit.”

“The Chain is my family now. My honour is tied up with theirs.”

- Mountain Dwarf War Magic Wizard.

- 3′9″, she/her, biromantic asexual.

- Lawful Neutral.

- Her nickname comes from both her red eyes and puffy red nose from years of drinking. Inspired by this, she has taken to using cherries in her brewing.

- She keeps her chestnut brown hair short and her face bare, though she does have some sweet sideburns.

- She is a practiced brewer and an expert cardsharp, and often can be found in her downtime taking other Chainlink’s money in games of chance over drink. To Cherry, the Chain is her family.

- She hates the ways of her fellow Dwarves in capturing and keeping slaves, and despises Ajax for facilitating such injustice. If she didn’t hate Ajax before Blackbottom, she sure does now.

- As a Vaslorian, she is devoted to the Chivalric ideal of Truth, and strongly believes in the maxim: “The Truth will out.”

- Cherry is crass, and speaks her mind even when it is not to her social advantage. She is practically minded to a fault.

- She joined the Chain in Blackbottom around the same time as Sweet. She is extremely hesitant to speak on her past, even more than the other Chainlinks. Once, while extremely drunk, she shared that she had left her past behind after waking in a shallow grave, seemingly resurrected after the explosion that killed her family.

- During her service to the Chain, she became an assistant to Staff Sorcerer Nails, developing evocation and abjuration magic useful for combat on the battlefield and protecting her fellow Chainlinks.

- During the Siege of Blackbottom and the Fall of the Chain, Cherry was not one of the Chainlinks who boarded the Rosso Cielo, instead meeting up with another group independently to make their way to Capital on their own. Currently looking for a captain willing risk the wrath of Ajax in taking them across the Bale Sea to the meetup in Capital.

I don’ think this is true in any way shape or form, but I thought it was funny.

The Adventure Zone but with Percy Jackson style episode titles

Merle Studies His Cantrips

We Have Tea With a Bugbear

Taako Steals Some Shoes

We Meet Magic Brian

Taako Tries to Eat a Robe

We Hide in a Well

We Drink Magic Jellyfish Shit

Magnus Takes up Arms

We Shop At Fantasy Costco

Magnus Gets Naked

We Get Hosed By Tom Bodett

Jenkins Saves a Spell Slot

We Get Crabs

Merle Plays Diarrhea Cop

Magnus Gains a Lot of Weight

Taako Steals Some Silverware

Magnus Eats Unicorn Dick

Merle Seduces a Plant

Magnus Chops a Treant’s Butt Off

We Fight Weeds on Floor Twenty

Merle Finds Some Extreme Teens

Can You Nonlethally Cleave an NPC in Twain?

We Create Our Fursonas

Merle Swims With the Fishes

We Meet Garyl, the Phantom Binicorn

Taako Enlarges a Motorcycle

Hurley Drives Off a Cliff

Johann and the Voidfish Have a Jam Session

Lucretia’s Necklace Ruins Candlenights

We Are Serenaded By a Rock

Taako Eats a Sandwich

We Quiz a Robot

We Meet the Hugbears

God Lies

Merle Gets Wood

Taako Invents Hentai

Merle Unmakes Some Souls

Magnus Eats the Philosopher’s Stone

We Create a Spiral Mantube

Magnus Goes Rogue

We Get a Shopping Montage

We Die

Taako Meets a Fan

We Blow Up a Locker Room

We Have a Talk With a Skeleton

We Rob a Bank

We Receive a Ball, a Sack, and a Tool

We Chat With the Dishware of Christmas Past

We Flee the Worm

Taako Accessorizes

Magnus Packs a Box of Shrunken Boys

We Play Monster Factory

We Find a Severed Head

We Try to Date a Mannequin

Merle Does Some Healing

Magnus is Skinjacked by the Marketing Department

We Discover Some Very Familiar Pants

We Visit Garfield’s Secret Evil Lab

Merle and Taako Trip Balls

Magnus Wrassles the Power Bear

Griffin Breaks Travis’s Universe

We Get a Beach Episode

Merle Plays Chess With the Final Boss

Taako Does Inspirational Plagiarism

Lup Burns Down the DMV

We Create the Seven McGuffins of Doom

We Have a Family Reunion

Taako Gets in a Foodtruck Explosion

We Found the Cult of Jeffandrew

Epilogue: Magnus Gets a Dog

Part 2: The Adventure Zone: Amnesty but with Magnus Chase style chapter titles

If you don’t believe being asexual has any negative affect on people I was told by a psychiatrist that none of my relationships count because we didn’t have sex, and I can’t say I’m gay since I don’t want to have sex with girls.

and I was taken off my antidepressants because they may be lowering the libido I never had in the first place (plus various other reasons, but still immediately, cold turkey, which should NEVER happen unless they’re switching you to something else)

But aphobia doesn’t exist and asexuals are privileged, right?

“When i die, bury me with a headstone etched with cryptic text that heavily implies my grave is cursed or that i’m a vampire. just to give future generations something to have fun with, you know?”

-mollymauk

When you learned of the god of war, you thought he’d be tall and muscular and angry. When you were about to meet him, you braced yourself for the worst.

You weren’t quite expecting the short, scrawny, shy kid you ended up getting instead.

I’ve had this sitting around for ages without posting it. Here is my chain OC along with his notes

Sgt. Chapel

Tiefling Fighter

Background

Chapel is a lifer in the Chain. He has been in the Chain since before he had to shave. His mother found refuge from their extensive personal debts in Alloy by marriage to a retiring soldier. Though not a kind man Chapel’s new father taught him everything he knew about fighting. Every dirty trick , every easy scam and every story about the only people you could count on. Childhood was tough as he and his mother were the only tieflings in the village he grew up in. Having realized that there was precious little good will for a half devil child Chapel turned to petty theft and vandalism early on.

When he was a teenager his mother became gravely ill. He read the writing on the wall and in the eyes of his neighbours. He stripped the new thatch roof off the local church and then sold it to a travelling merchant. Chapel used the proceeds to make his own way eventually finding the Chain. 

Chapel has found a peace of sorts and now he lives his life for his comrades. He used to have side businesses going while the Chain was in any given place. A habit he learned from his adopted father. But he has long since given up on a life outside the Chain.

While in Alloy Chapel settled a few old scores with some Chain buddies.

Appearance

A big powerfully built tiefling with a mischievous crooked grin. His jaw has been broken and reset slightly off. His left eye socket is covered with an eye patch. His horns are covered in recent sword and claw marks from the escape from Blackbottom. He’s missing parts of several fingers.

Personality Traits

Loyal

Indulgent

Tribal

Ideals

Be direct but be prepared to win before the fight

Win if you can, lose if you must but always cheat

Bonds

I would die for the Chain

The Chain are the only family I have

I always have time for my family

Flaws

I can’t make a life for myself anywhere else

I don’t want to be an officer

bring back ghost autographs or perish.