Forgot To Mention Robb/Nell Art Is For Their Coronation Lol

> sees complaints that a female character looks "too masculine" or "like an ugly lesbian"

> ask if we got an actual butch character or if shes just a normal looking woman that isnt wearing make up and a dress

> person is visibly confused, i start explaining the difference between actual butch presentation and dress and a woman simply dressing comfortably to avoid indecent exposure

> person laughs and says "she straight up looks like a guy, i can barely tell her apart from the actual men"

> google the character

> shes just a normal looking woman that isnt wearing make up and a dress

I think some people forget that some literature and some media is meant to be deeply uncomfortable and unsettling. It's meant to make you have a very visceral reaction to it. If you genuinely can't handle these stories then you are under no obligation to consume them but acting as if they have no purpose or as if people don't have a right to tell these stories, stories that often relate to the darkest or most disturbing parts of life, then you should do some introspection.

Daenys and her baby Balerion

You can't convince me he wasn't spoiled.

besties who hate each other so bad (aka sisters)

Dana sketches, my glorious queen @dwellordream

You've mentioned how one thing GRRM could have done in terms of world-building to add distinctiveness to each of the 7K would have been to come up with different cuisine for each region. Could you elaborate on that? After reading your amazing posts on military doctrines and burial customs I'm interested in your take on that. Thanks.

When it comes to designing regional cuisine, the things you have to think of are, what foods are available in that region? What vegetables grow in the soil, what game are in its wilderness, and whether or not the area is suited for pasture. Anybody who’s a grower, a farmer, or just likes old school au naturel foods feel free to add anything, I’m a rank amateur when it comes to this stuff.

The North: The North is cold, so sheep would be the primary animal crop instead of cattle, and oats and barley would take the place of wheat. I’d imagine the commoner would typically eat boiled roots, herbs, wild onion, and other hardy winter vegetables in a pottage. Meat would be rare except when the herd needs slaughtering during long winters, and the bones would be left to flavor the soup as stock. Blood sausages and hearty roasts of mutton, venison (elk if you can get it), and cold weather birds like grouse. Meals would be filling, so they stay with you longer when rations are tight. The crannogmen would be eating swamp vegetables and frogs, primarily, with a lizard-lion if you could catch one.

The Vale: You’ve got rich black soil for tasty, hardy vegetables, and mountain valleys for cereal grains and pasture, so I’d imagine a healthy mix. The Vale would probably produce fine sheep and goats. Space is a premium, so more ‘efficient’ animals are desired. The soil is rich and dark (probably peaty), so legumes, mushrooms, root vegetables, and some dark leafy greens that can handle a chill. All of that makes a fine hearty, brown stew. I’d imagine the Vale, snooty learned and cultured that they are, would produce exceptional cheese, as well as whiskey.

The Riverlands: Given how large the Riverlands is, there’d be a lot of variety between different regions. The colder climate of the Twins would be different from the warmer climate of the Blackwater Rush, after all. But given the plentiful water resources. There’s plenty of food and forage for a wide variety of meats, so you’d expect different places to have beef, pork, venison, and boar, with a nice variety of ducks, geese, and chickens for poultry. Fish would be salmon, trout, pike, carp and perch. In lands with little in the way of arable land, you’d have fish and wild game, while flatter, richer lands that can support large-scale irrigation works would have fine wheat. Anything that doesn’t require the hot climate of Dorne can be grown in the Riverlands. Viva variety.

The Iron Islands: Since space is a premium, most of the bounty comes from the sea. Saltwater fish is the primary delicacy, caught fresh and poached with a light sprinkling of salt, or salt-cured, even fermented like rakfisk. Other sea creatures would find their way to Iron Islander tables, too, I can’t imagine the Greyjoys worship krakens so much that they wouldn’t pass up good octopus, and who doesn’t like a good dish of clams and oysters? Hardy, shaggy sheep call some of the smaller islands their home, and they’d form a place to, in warm stews and meatcakes.

The Westerlands: The soil of the Westerlands is probably has chalk and/or clay in it, but that wouldn’t stop the early First Men from growing fruit trees and summer vegetables like cucumbers, squash, and eggplant that thrive in that good clay. Good grains like millet, rye, and wheat, cooked into porridges and baked into breads would be the common fare. Nobles would eat warm roasts and sauteed vegetables. Some of the more southern Westerlander houses probably have a fair hand at making crisp cider.

The Reach: The verdant fields of the Reach mean a wide variety of crops, and a wide variety of flavor. More than any other region, the Reach would turn cooking into an art form, with prized chefs being valued and well-compensated servants. Crisp fruits are simmered and stewed, vegetables are chopped and arranged, and seasonings are bountiful. A Reachmen might think other regions as frightfully bland (except Dorne and their love of spice), even their breads would baked with herbs to give it a unique regional taste. Wheat is the primary cereal crop, so lighter breads than the darker North. Once you go to the Reach, you might never want to leave.

The Stormlands: As we might expect, the Stormlands is rainy and heavily forested, so primary meats would be game: boar and red deer. The heavy rains means that farmers need to worry about drainage, but that also means that a wide variety of crops can grow in the Stormlands. You’d probably have dishes made of meat, spinach, onions, and bread, served in a dark broth, which keeps you warm on those wet, windy days. Commoners probably make do without meat, eating hard bread and milk.

Dorne: Lucky for us, Dorne has been well-developed already in terms of foods, with olives, citrus fruits, and spicy peppers for a fine Mediterranean diet. Lighter fare is essential in the arid deserts of Dorne, and those on the Greenblood would probably prefer fish to meat. Foods fried with the native olive oil and spiced with peppers, tart red wines on the side, and blood oranges as a midday snack, Dorne’s palate jumps from one flavor to the next.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

10 Non-Lethal Injuries to Add Pain to Your Writing

While lethal injuries often take center stage, non-lethal injuries can create lasting effects on characters, shaping their journeys in unique ways. If you need a simple way to make your characters feel pain during a scene, here are some ideas: 

Sprained Ankle

A common injury that can severely limit mobility, forcing characters to adapt their plans and experience frustration as they navigate their environment.

Rib Contusion

A painful bruise on the ribs can make breathing difficult and create tension, especially during action scenes, where every breath becomes a reminder of vulnerability.

Concussion

This brain injury can lead to confusion, dizziness, and mood swings, affecting a character’s judgment and creating a sense of unpredictability in their actions.

Fractured Finger

A broken finger can complicate tasks that require fine motor skills, causing frustration and emphasizing a character’s dependence on their hands.

Road Rash

The raw, painful skin resulting from a fall can symbolize struggle and endurance, highlighting a character's resilience in the face of physical hardship.

Shoulder Dislocation

This injury can be excruciating and often leads to an inability to use one arm, forcing characters to confront their limitations while adding urgency to their situation.

Deep Laceration

A cut that requires stitches can evoke visceral imagery and tension, especially if the character has to navigate their surroundings while in pain.

Burns

Whether from fire, chemicals, or hot surfaces, burns can cause intense suffering and lingering trauma, serving as a physical reminder of a character’s past mistakes or battles.

Pulled Muscle

This can create ongoing pain and restrict movement, providing an opportunity for characters to experience frustration or the need to lean on others for support.

Tendonitis

Inflammation of a tendon can cause chronic pain and limit a character's ability to perform tasks they usually take for granted, highlighting their struggle to adapt and overcome.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

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When you come up with a title for a fic and later it only solidifies it

I am a huge high cloud quintet enjoyer so it may surprise you to learn that I absolutely hate the quest “Clouds Leave No Trace”.

let me explain. I will admit that a lot of it stems from my issues with Jingliu as a character. I appreciate that she’s meant to be cold and detached, but what bothers me is that although she says considers herself to be a sinner alongside Yingxing and Dan Feng, she constantly acts like she’s better than them, criticising them, acting as if their choice was an easy one while hers wasn’t. Her humility feels incredibly insincere, and she becomes very difficult to empathise with as a result.

then there’s the quest itself. I split it into three parts.

one: redundant infodumping

For the first part of the quest, Jingliu, Dan Heng and Yanqing travel to different parts of the Luofu so Jingliu can bid farewell to her past home. It’s basically a plot device for her to drop some lore about Yingxing and Baiheng, which is fine on its own, but the problem is, none of the information she gives is new. All of it was stuff we could already figure out from character stories and other in-game text.

the second issue with this part of the quest is Dan Heng’s presence, or rather, lack of it. Considering he’s the main character tying the quintet subplot into the main story, you’d think he’d be important to the quest focussed on them. But he’s just… there. He says and does pretty much nothing. You could cut him from the whole quest and it wouldn’t be any different.

In fact, Dan Heng also suffers greatly from the timing of the quest. If we look at the voice lines for IL, it’s obvious that he’s a snapshot of Dan Heng shortly after this quest, since he knows Blade is the one who made Cloudpiercer. Ichor Of Two Dragons also seems to take place at the end of this quest. This is an issue because both release in version 1.3, making the quest which takes place in version 1.4 feel like a regression in his character development when actually the story was for some reason out of order.

part 2: Dan Feng gets mischaracterised to hell and back

This is the worst part of the quest by far. Jingliu does her self-righteous monologue and nails the coffin shut by giving the most biased description possible of the Sedition.

she first says that Dan Feng was trying to revive Baiheng. Dan Heng’s and Jingliu’s character stories reveal that this is probably not the case, and that his actual goal was to create another high elder,

she also says that the reason Dan Feng did what he did was selfishness and an inability to accept Baiheng’s death. She fails to mention the fact that the Xianzhou treated him like a convenient weapon instead of an actual person, that he hated how many innocent people died in the war between Aeons, that his people were going extinct because of said war, that he hated how he gave the Xianzhou the power to cause so much death, that he had probably attempted less dramatic rebellions in his past lives to no avail, that the high elder succession was incredibly screwed up and he didn’t want to have to pass that burden on to his next incarnation (granted that lasts part’s only implicit). Not to mention that she didn’t actually bear witness to any of the events she described, only the aftermath.

part 3: Blade monologue

This is the only redeeming quality of the entire quest

he acknowledges that Dan Feng and Yingxing weren’t simply upset with Baiheng’s death, but with the unfairness of everything in general

he expresses genuine regret

and the way he looks up to Jingliu after she tortured him is the only time where that story genuinely presents her as someone who’s done terrible things, showing how she managed to break Blade so badly that he feels thankful for it

in conclusion, do not play this quest if you want to actually understand Dan Feng as a character

Okay guys… I PROMISE this is the last Haunt/Hunt fanart (for now)

Mainly Nell +Robb (also some Dana and Lysara) for @dwellordream

“Why does Nell look so different now? Didn’t she have bangs before?” Uhhhh