Cultural Quirks For Fantasy Country 📜

The Spirit Of The Samurai is a 2.5D side-scrolling samurai action horror game where you slay grotesque stop-motion monsters!

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Dantioch and Polux, a love, not of Eros, but of brotherhood

Today’s recent budget commander sleeper is one that made a bit of noise on release with the latest set precons, but ended up drowned in the constant noise of magic these days.

Ramp is good in commander. That’s not news. And it’s hard to come by in white, at least cheaply. Knight of the White Orchid is still the gold standard of white (catch up) ramp, able to fetch nonbasics, and coming on a solid body on turn 2, it’s a white Rampant Growth that sometimes doesn’t work.

This is similar. It’s a turn slower, because it has a tap ability, the land enters tapped and the body it’ll leave behind will end up being a 1/1. However, that’s where the downsides end and the upsides start. Just like Knight of the White Orchid, it can fetch nonbasic Plains, which is even important on a budget nowadays with the two cycles of common typed duals in Kaldheim and Dominaria United.

Scholar of New Horizons also works even if you’re not behind. Granted, it only tutors to hand and doesn’t ramp you then, but hitting every land drop is oftentimes more important than ramping, since you don’t have to spend resources on it. It can also be used cheekily with this with the cycling typed duals (and triomes) to draw a different card. Oh, and the ability can be activated at instant speed which most of the time won’t matter, but will be very appreciated when it comes up that you’re going first and an opponent ramped on turn 3 and suddenly unlocks your own ramp instead of the land draw you’d resigned yourself to.

Beyond that, Scholar, by itself, can be used multiple times for no extra cost, as long as you have counters in your deck, which most decks do, even if incidentally. Have a cathar’s crusade? A Felidar retreat? A luminarch ascension? You’ll have a plentiful supply of counters to feed this turn after turn then, and those are just for mono-white.

In some cases, removing counters might even be an upside, if you expect -1/-1 counters, or, much more importantly, have any saga in your deck. Having the scholar out with the saga allow you to not only keep ramping or making your land drops and keep the saga forever, it also allows you to repeat any chapter from that saga every turn, even the last one should you so wish. It gets absurd with many of them, from Urza’s Saga tutoring every turn and sticking around to the Cruelty of Gix being a free tutor or reanimation every turn. With a Luminous Broodmoth, it’ll make any creature be able to die every single turn and come back.

Don’t get me wrong, this card doesn’t NEED synergies to be good. I’d play it in any white deck as ramp even if no other card in the deck ever had counters, right behind Knight of the White Orchid and in front of Loyal Warhound. On a budget or not. But it does much more than it would in a vacuum, and basically any deck will have some tools to synergize with it. It might actively up the number of incidental sagas I include in white decks just by existing. (But I’m mostly looking for an excuse, I love sagas.)

The card currently retails for under $1 (with the extended art version where you can read the name and artist for half of that), and I’d encourage you to snag one as soon as you find the occasion, in case this doesn’t get reprinted. It’s just staple-level good, much more than any other card that has been featured on here so far.

Now that these monsters are posted… check out the concept sketches and the final version + quick background (because Tuz wants to have the transparent PNG be exclusive).

Done as a commission for DM-Tuz.  Check out his stuff, he has some good DnD 5e homebrew content!

Monster Hunt: The Ruiner Prince

On his first name day, the faeries approached the king and queen to ask what gift they would have for their son. They could have wished that the prince would be wise, or that he lead a long and happy life, or that he bring prosperity to his people. Instead they wished him be strong, stronger than any who would challenge him.

The heir to a kingdom faces many challenges, and only a fool, or a monster, could think that strength could solve them all.

- Braidbrook’s Fables

In the husk of a once grand palace, a wretched giant squats among squalor and bones awaiting the champion that will slay him. Surrounding villages have been abandoned for decades for fear of the giant’s rampages, and all in the realm dread the day that boredom or some mad fool’s promise of tribute bring the giant to their homes. It will take more than blades and bravado for the party to overcome this foe, as they will not only have to face off against an invincible opponent, but an awful and irrevocable curse.

Adventure Hooks:

For generations the counts and countesses of Galinae have borne a blade handed down since the founding of the kingdom, a mark of their steadfast and indelible honour. This tradition has become a problem for the countess Orana Galinae, since her brother lost the sword and got himself killed trying to slay the Ruiner Prince thirty years ago. Only recently ascended to her ancestral seat, Orana is already hearing rumours circulate that the blade’s absence is a dire omen for her reign. The countess is sure to bestow great rewards and honours for any who return the heirloom to her, though the party’s attempt at a stealthy extraction might be hindered when they realize that though the castle is littered with scattered weapons, many of the choicest ones have been impaled into the meat of the giant’s back, where he is sure to notice their theft.

Fairy gifts are not easily returned, even when the fairy in question could wish nothing more  Over a century of watching the boy she was supposed to be godmother to go feral has filled the fey known as Mossmaven with regret, and seen her doting on the mad giant in those few moments where his brimming rage gives way to confusion and loneliness. She may take on a disguise to request the party’s help in undoing the magic she has done, or attempt to intercede should she discover them skulking about the ruiner’s palace. Should the party agree to help her, they’ll likely end up on a journey through the feywild in search of a partiularly introspective mirror.

Keep reading

𝑲𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑭𝑨𝑼𝑵𝑨 - 𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑴𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑺𝒀

Khorne lacks the whimsy of his siblings and so does not find it prudent to actively design life forms for his Kingdom, especially not when the mutating energy of the Warp does this anyway. Thusly, almost all fauna and flora in Khorne's kingdom are not the Blood God's doing. That being said, Khornate daemons interact with these creatures in ways important to their culture and traditions and so the Blood God makes no move to exterminate most of them. This list is not exhaustive.

Blood Worms - An invasive species originating from the lands of Nurgle, Blood Worms were Bloodletter parasites that have grown fat on the death and gore of Khorne's realm. They are massive beasts able to swallow a Bloodthirster whole.

Flesh Hounds - The Sole Creatures created by Khorne's hand, Flesh Hounds are fiercely territorial daemon-dogs whose packs can number in the hundreds. The hunt overground when hungry and sleep underground in nests of bones when inactive. Like mortal dogs, Flesh Hounds come in a wide variety of breeds and even species.

Brass Ticks - Another Nurgle-devised parasite unique to Khornates.

Blood-Flies - Tiny crimson insects that feed on the blood-nectar of black-petaled Death-Flowers near the Tree of Souls. They lay their eggs in the bodies of the fallen, which give rise to Blood-Fly Maggots. Though called flies, they serve a purpose more similar to bees and are aggressive as wasps.

Brazen Bulls - Brass-furred daemon-beasts and one of the few obligate herbivores in the Aethyr. They consume the twisted, gnarled vegetation of Khorne's realm. Brazen bulls are ritually hunted and killed by daemons and, when they fin their way into the mortal realm, by men. Their prized brass skulls are offered to Khorne and their blood and bones are used in rituals and rites. They resemble bulls of various species. Their horns are often turned into war-horns or drinking devices.

Drownscale - Living in the myriad Blood Lakes and rivers snaking through the Realm of Khorne are the Drownscale. These reptilian horrors snatch the unsuspecting from the banks of their territory in the manner of giant, bloodthirsty daemon-crocodilians.

Drowndrake - Similar to the Drownscale, Drowndrakes are massive creatures that make their homes in the abyssal blood-oceans of Khorne's realm. They are more draconic than the Drownscale and can breath blood-fire onto enemies, but prefer snatching daemons from the sky and dragging them to a watery doom beneath a sea of boiling blood. Drowndrake skulls, when acquired, may be worked into Daemon Lairs.

Furnace Beasts - Furnace beasts are creatures of twisted metal; the remains of slain Juggers and battle debris pulled together and reanimated by the hatred and bloodshed abound throughout the Realm of Khorne. They affect no one shape, but tend to have a discernable mouth, body, and be-weaponed limbs. Some are covered in a layer of stolen flesh and sinew, while others are purely daemonic-alloy.

Gorger - Another massive creature, Gorgers are heavy-jawed knuckle-walking daemon-animals important to Khornate culture. A beast of sinew, multiple mouths, and endless hunger, they are common targets for enterprising Bloodthirsters. When Slain, the skull of a Gorger is made into or worked into the lair of a Deathbringer and it's host. The larger the Gorger, the more prestige the Deathbringer has.

Bonestealer - One of the more unwelcome daemon-beasts in Khorne's realm, Bonestealers are bipedal, therapsid looking creatures with spinal crests. One of their hands ends in a long scything bone and the other in obsidian claws. As their name implies, they steal and horde skulls and bones from battlefields-- Blood Hosts often busy themselves with finding, slaying, and retrieving these stashes so that they may be added to Khorne's throne.

Skull-Lairds - Skull-Laird are a variant of the Bonestealer, the result of several lairing together and one gaining primacy over the other. This larger beast is called a Skull-Laird and is a fair challenge to a Daemon Prince. These creatures never stop growing, commanding a nest of Bonestealers, and every so often grow to massive proportions. Such beasts are Greater Skull-Lairds and the most infamous of them is Vah'lruhk, the Skulls Thief, who has many Daemon Prince, Herald, and even Greater Daemon skulls in its horde.

Butcherboar - The Butcher Boar is a disturbing creature which broadly resembles a wild hog, but there is a vaguely humanoid quality about the animal as well. They are hooved nightmares with a bladed mess of tusks and overlong claws on their front limbs. Like the Gorger, they walk on their knuckles. Butcherboars are often hunted by Flesh Hounds and vice versa.

Kharndrill - The Kharndrills live in the dense jungle-wood near the Tree of Damned Shades, in the Forest of Damned Shades. They are dog-ape creatures with long fangs and dominant among them have large horns and brightly colored faces of red and orange. Kharndrills eat bloodfruit, but will snatch up and eat daemons who venture through their forest. They can overpower a Bloodletter and will snatch Chaos Furies from the sky if they catch them. When the forest is barren of fruit, they raid the gardens of Daemons who tend Khorne's meadows.

Bloodsteed - Bloodsteeds are equine-like creatures kept by daemons and used for work and war. On occasion, they are granted to mortals as godly gifts. Bloodsteeds have black or deep-crimson fur, fiery eyes, and flaming hooves. Their temperament is more fit for work, but they are warbeasts just as any creature of Khorne. Wild herds of them run above Khorne's lands, eating the coarse vegetation or flesh when they cannot find it.

Brand Ant - Brand Ants are so named for their superheated mandibles, which leave last marks in flesh when they bite a victim. They are hyperaggressive eusocial insects that create large mounds from the red earth of the realm. Brand Ants war amongst themselves, attacking rival mounds. They are fearless and will not even hesitate to swarm a Bloodthirster should it step on their home. Though typically not dangerous in small numbers, Brand Ant venom has an agonizing sting-- this species has found purchase in some Slaaneshi and Nurglite circles for that reason.

Wrothsire - A Wrothsire is among the largest of beasts found in Khorne's realm. They thick, leathery skin that can turn aside blade and spear and a 'Y' shaped horn on the end of a beaked nose. The slumber beneath the earth, and may awaken during a particular vehement rage by Khorne. Wrothsires bring fell storms and burning rain when they rip their way from the ground, able to toss about bloodhost as a child might several small toys. The biggest Wrothsires require a coordinated effort from several daemonic armies to fell and by the time the beast is killed, the death-toll is high. The Daemon who struck the killing blow is accorded the skull of the creature and the most sought after Skull-Fortresses are made from the heads of these beasts.

Lorn's Lure is a sci-fi free-climbing adventure scale a massive megastructure in search of a glitchy ghost owl!

Lorn's Lure is out now on Steam

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Unbound Monsters - Moon Vagrant

Seemingly following some purpose, the Moon Vagrant wanders the North mostly peacefully. However, should anything interrupt its path in any way, the Moon Varant will react less than peacefully.

Very fun to think about the few mutants allowed to live in the Imperium, and the even fewer who may be considered for the Astartes in the first place. And the even fewer who choose to forsake it all...

Commission for Orcspit

Haven't updated the transition timeline in quite a while. No huge changes or anything really. Nothing that screams at me to write. So let's update some small things I guess.

My tits are way bigger than they used to be! Like it's hard for me to boymode! Significantly harder!

I wore a "bra" for the first time and it felt great. A purple strappy lingerie piece I put on for my husband. First time wearing feminine under-wear that made me feel euphoric. I wore it again to a friend's place just to see how it'd feel and I tell you what that shit was uncomfy and I was happy to take it off despite how euphoric it made me.

I've been keeping my nails painted pretty regularly. I like blue. Pink or feminine colours make me panic and feel dysphoric, reason as of yet unknown.

Similarly, my hand/nail dysphoria has pushed me to continue growing my nails. They're getting long enough that I can probably cut them to shape and start taking care of them nicely. My husband LOVES how well I scritch and scratch every inch of him now. Though he wants me to shorten two in particular...

I'm gonna move in with my husband soon. Very excited!

He took me to a "fill-a-bag" event at a thrift shop today, we got a few new skirts, a purse, a wallet, two dresses, n some other stuff! Very excited.

I've never worn a dress before. For some reason they make me uneasy. Maybe because so many of them are shoulderless. My shoulders are wide and not something I wanna draw attention to. Idk. Whatever.

I havent come out to anybody new yet. Fucking annoying. I really wanted to before Christmas. But. Idk how. I'm struggling really hard to do it. It's such a good time. I need to.

I've found a cute hairstyle I like. It's literally just a ponytail tied at my neck. It let's loose hairs fall and frame my face. I like it when they do that. Makes me look like a disheveled mom if I let it go unkept for too long. But I enjoy looking like a mom.

Next appointment is in February. A ways away. It'll be 6 months on hrt. Fuckin crazy. I hope I get to up my dose. I love being like this. Sometimes makes me a lil crazy but it's okay because I have a human that loves me and understands. Very excited that we are transitioning together. He's the best.

Anyways. Night night friends.