This One Is For The Tiefling Tav's Out There 🫵 Astarion Would've Definitely Gone Commando Just To

ANTI-CAPITALIST AFFIRMATIONS

i am allowed to spend my time creating things, even if they are not beautiful.

there is no such thing as a "real job." all forms of work are real and valid.

there is nothing that i need to accomplish to be worthy. i am already worthy.

doing nothing is good for my soul.

i am not defined by what i produce.

my worth cannot be measured by my paycheck, my job title, or a list of professional or academic achievements.

i do not need to monetize my hobbies, it is enough to spend time doing something i love.

i will not let society decide what success looks like. i can define what successful life looks like for me.

Character Designs For Wings Outstretched - Part 2

First one here!

This part is for Bingemir and Hush the Noise, who are introduced in chapter 3. Only one character left after them, and then you won't have any more names to remember, I promise!

Again, it's under a read more because oh my god I wrote a lot about these guys this time, and again, I'll be listing the names of mods used (available from the in-game mod manager unless stated otherwise) "like this" (and authors).

Now, just a little note about these two - it was supposed to come up in the chapter but the way things ended up being structured I couldn't find a place to fit it without it seeming weird and out-of-place, but anyway, the point is - they're both asexual, as a point of interest.

And their relationship is very much fully platonic. They could be considered as siblings, I suppose, because they grew up together, but they don't really think of each other as that, they wouldn't call each other siblings, they just think of each other as like very close friends. Like, the closest they could possibly have, especially considering Hush generally needs Bingemir to interpret for them when they want to speak to someone else. They have been with each other their whole lives (or thereabouts), and neither of them have any inclination to change that.

Bingemir -

He's using a half-elf head even though he's a human because all the human heads suck shit don't quite fit the image I had of him - which is he's a pasty pretty body with the most terrible boy band hair you could imagine - from "More Hair" (by eleanorros) (not insulting the mod, just making fun of Bingemir, he actually thinks he looks cool).

Bingemir's one of those people who permanently looks kind of exhausted, and I put a little more purple under his eyes to emphasise that. He's also been on the road with only one friend for company a long while, so he's got some nasty scars to show for it (his shirt's only off in the close-up to show how his tattoo is joined with his neck scar - some of those scars have been there longer than others, and that one's been there long enough for Hush the Noise to convince to make something pretty of it).

He wears red, he loves red - believe it or not, red's his favourite colour. I love his little outfit, I think it looks so good. It actually came about naturally over the course of the game for the gloomstalker character I used in my second run - so just using base game equipment and dyes - and I've been slavering for a chance to show it off since, and, happily enough, it fits him perfectly.

Well, mostly perfectly. The one difference between this and the original outfit was I swapped the Gloves of Archery (which looked even better, in my opinion) with some full gloves that fit his character more - because he considers himself a professional who likes to stay distant from the job and also because it's bloody cold out! It's cold out here! Put your mittens on!

I've also included a image of his shield on purpose to show how that fits the rest of his outfit as well, because of course it does. Image is important, Bingemir understands that well.

Hush the Noise - (They are nonbinary - specifically agender, they just don't feel like gender is a thing they experience, same as sexual attraction)

They're using the 'Devana' head from "HW_HeartsHeads" (by modiouser2079995), because, again, the base tiefling heads didn't seem to fit them all that well. It makes their horns look a little funky at the base, but that actually goes pretty well with their tattoos, so all's well.

They're a Mammon tiefling (in terms of story, unfortunately that's not an in-game option), which normally have bright yellow skin, but I found the options for that either looked like the least subtle thing in the world or pretty much like normal boring human skin.

So I went fuck it and leaned in to more of the human skin option, but I still wanted them to look slightly off and not completely regular human, so they're actually the 'vampire tone' to give them a bit of an unnatural undead tint, and I added a hint of yellow tint to their lips to bring that sort of colouration back in. Their hair is from (not available through the in-game mod manager, requires external modding) "more dreadlocs and curly hairstyles" (by Bububull), which I risked fiddling with external mods to use because I really wanted something that fit the more human side of their skin tone that wasn't exactly the same as Wyll's hair, so they've got this cute but practical style going on.

Their eyes are still properly Mammon yellow, though, which match quite nicely with the little beads they have, using the Beshaba dye from "FaerunColors" (by techroot) - and their boots use the Ao dye from that pack to make them nice and dark like the rest of their outfit - muted dark purple with the complementary yellow of their Mammon heritage, but they try to lean into the heritage of the tabaxi they were raised by - mostly by the two centipede tattoos on their face to honour that connection - the same purple as their scars like it comes from that same place, as deep as their blood.

One thing about them I did describe in the story but I couldn't find a way to replicate in game (and I didn't trust my editing skills to try to paint on) was that they paint some triangles on their horns to replicate tabaxi ears, which - along with their tail as an additional physical similarity - further emphasises how much closer they feel to the tabaxi they were raised by than Bingemir, who shows none of that connection at all.

Together I think they make a fun and coolly contrasting pair - they might not look closely allied at first glance, but that's because they're both quite happily settled and comfortable in their own style. They work to fill in each other strengths and weakness - Bingemir is a nice bright target with Burning Hands and a shield he can hold-out behind, and Hush the Noise can use that distraction to come from the shadows and go for the kill. Together, they're deadly - and that's the power of friendship :)

i’ll be chillin and then all of a sudden i literally turn into this thing

You couldn't take Astarion to see Nosferatu in the theater. Not because it'd be triggering for him or anything. But because every five minutes, he'd turn to you with the saddest eyes imaginable and hysterically ask, "I don't look like that, right?! Most vampires don't look like that!" And you'd have to reassure him through the whole 132 minutes run time.

forcing every character into romance or found family ruins character discussion imo

May I offer you some Gale memes in this trying time.

I ❤️ self-loathing characters, characters who struggle with monstrosity (either fearing or embracing it), characters who are so lonely, who have a gaping hole in their chest, who bottle up & repress their feelings, who claw their way up & have ambitions, who fall down & lose everything, who search for identity & purpose yet can’t see themselves outside of what others want from or expect of them, who are hurt & hurt others, who long & grieve, who lie & pretend. characters who are messy & flawed & human

T-shirt that says “I’m not the trans man, im the trans that manned up”. Is that anything

inside me there are two lungs. and one liver. one stomach. a few meters of intestine. there's a lot inside me actually

do you all see my vision here