@celestieu​​ : ❝ I Am Different. I Do Not Belong. ❞ | X

I said that early hours would be my time for loveposting but no. Actually I think I DO want to talk in broad daylight about how ridiculously touchy Veric can be sometimes when he’s in love with a partner that doesn’t mind it

𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄 & 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄

A short, but bound to expand, list of some important places and concepts derived from Veric’s lore.

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 & 𝐂𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

⦿ The Great Continent — informal/colloquial name for the landmass housing many locations and structures central to the arcane sciences; regionally, the continent is formally referred to by a number of various names, most commonly Atoi in southern regions, Rembron in the furthest northern settlements, and Atar in some of the larger cities on the far western coast, along with a number of names given from other civilizations across the wider world. In the Mirror Basin, whose residents are a mixture of travelers and immigrants from around and without the continent, the name Great Continent is most often used so as to avoid confusion. ⦿ The Mirror Basin — a large impact basin home to a number of cities and smaller settlements, resting near the east coast of the Great Continent. The largest of its boroughs, Magai, is a common destination for travelers the world over in search of education in or practitioners of the arcane sciences, a “floating” city held aloft over the basin’s drainage by the last remnants of a large, hollowed boart deposit first uncovered some thousand years ago. Dotted around Magai, which lies near-center in the basin, can be found the smaller cities Lovo, Arca, and Ambis.The easternmost edge of the basin sees conflict from time to time, the result of outside aggressors seeking to claim the last of Mirror Basin’s greatest and most valuable boart deposit. ⦿  Arv-En Institute of Arcane Science — most often shortened to “the Arv-En Institute”, or simply “Arv-En”, and considered the foremost academy of arcane sciences on the Continent, and possibly in the world. A school that teaches every major discipline of arcane science: from more practical and widespread studies such as alchemy, arcane runology, arcane biology, and common enchantment; to more esoteric or specialized departments comprised of the likes of divination, attunement and artifice, and the more theoretical spiritual arcaea. Students of all ages are accepted for various courses of study that differ in length and intensity dependent on the subject matter. Those who graduate from the school with honors are often granted annual research stipends if any or all of their work is contributed back into the institute for educational purposes, and a great portion of professors and instructors of the institute receive both a regular salary for teaching work in combination with smaller bonuses for independent, outside studies, though there are also some few graduates who delve instead into confidential research without funding or other interference from the institute. Located within Magai, in the Mirror Basin. ⦿ Artuz School of Morphology — once considered a school of heretical teachings, after a faction of former instructors from Arv-En left the institute to embrace and teach practices more akin to grounded, modern sciences, the Artuz School is now considered a sister school that provides an alternate path of education for those less gifted or otherwise entirely unable to perform arcane science, though the wider world outside of the institute still appears skeptical of the practices of biology, medicine, and other important areas of study without the application of arcane sciences or other foreign systems of magic.

𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 & 𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐒

⦿ Arcane power — the innate power found in all things, generated autonomously by living bodies and bound into the inanimate upon an object’s creation. Arcane power can be manipulated in a number of ways, and those that do so are practitioners of arcane science, though due to the potentially dangerous and volatile nature of manipulating the base makeup of a living being or inanimate object, the practice is bound by a number of rules and regulations that all practitioners must follow at penalty of confinement and, for the worst offenses, the binding of their own arcane power—a restriction that forbids a scientist from establishing contact with and manipulating the arcane powers of people or things outside of their own bodies. ⦿ Arcane science — overarching designation of any practice that utilizes western methods or systems of magic, particularly those that originated from or were adapted within the Great Continent. While there are a number of forms that exist without label, those that are common or dangerous enough to be labeled are often heavily regulated outside of times of war. Arcane science, notably, is not the only designation of magic practice, and even within the Continent there exist mages who utilize other systems that do not fall under this designation. Those who study or operate within the bounds of known arcane science are referred to specifically as scientists or arcane scholars, never as ‘mages’ or ‘wizards’ in polite society. The main vehicles of arcane science are as follows:

     — alchemy, the purification and transmutation of materials by altering the patterns formed by the material’s arcane energies;      — arcane runology, imbuing written words and symbols with arcane power for specific purposes, usually by means of an arcanely-charged medium (for instance, special ink created to store arcane power);      — arcane biology, the practice of modifying the living bodies of humans and animals by altering patterns within their natural arcane energies, permitted only for the sake of healing illness and injury;      — common enchantment, an unspecific umbrella term meant to catch any forms of scientific methods or practices that combine elements from any two or three of the above vehicles

While these designations serve nearly 87% of the population of known arcane scientists, there are some lesser-known or more specific practices and areas of arcane study considered esoteric or otherwise underutilized by the wider community of scientists, including:

     — divination, the observation and recording of celestial arcane energies, often used for predictions such as weather conditions and atmospheric changes, though also used colloquially (and somewhat controversially) as a supposed method for predictions of future events;      — attunement and artifice, in theory two separate arts that greatly overlap in practice. Attunement is similar to arcane runology in that arcane power is being channeled by written instructions to serve a particular purpose; however, arcane attunement utilizes the specific powers found within the base material itself, rather than requiring a vehicle such as enchanted ink to imbue power into the rune, and requires highly-specific knowledge of the base material and the patterns of its arcane power in order to be utilized successfully, hence its general disuse by the wider community of scientists. Artifice is an evolution of attunement, in which the base material is shaped or physically modified in order to better suit an intended purpose, i.e the creation of a pencil or pen that is then enchanted to write, rather than simply marking a chunk of lead or charcoal with a rune that is already enchanted.      — spiritual arcaea. a number of practices related to observing and interacting with a theoretical ‘spiritual world’, such as observing or communing with spirits of the deceased, or other entities that exist on a different or separate plane. Largely theoretical, with its only known proven science to be the now-forbidden art of necromancy. ⦿  Arcane Tenets — a list of commandments supposedly bestowed upon mankind by the Enlightened when arcane science was first discovered three thousand years ago. There are many, and they serve as the basis even of some common laws in cities and regions where arcane science is prominent, though the primary tenets speak to the uses of arcane science as a benevolent force meant for the protection of the planet and the overall betterment of mankind. Many schools of arcane sciences, including Arv-En, require their applicants to name some or even all of the tenets in order to be admitted for instruction—which, in its completeness, numbers just under a hundred specific rules and guidelines for practitioners of the sciences.

𝐕𝚬𝐑𝚰𝐂 𝚨𝚬𝐒𝐓𝚮𝚬𝐓𝚰𝐂𝐒 ❪𝟏❫ (please do not reblog)

Ridiculously early in the morning will be my time for romance posting instead of NSFW posting here we go

Veric has a number of ways in which he tends to show his affection through letting people into his ‘spaces’ —he’s a private person in general, so coming into his home, or being told specific things about his life or past, sure. But... probably the biggest, I think, is when you see him without any kind of glamours, or makeup, or obscuring who or what he really is, in a sense.

Sure, appearance is kind of important in most mage societies and arcane scientists aren’t that different in the end, even though they like to believe they’re more about the pursuit of knowledge than anything so superficial. But for Veric specifically, it’s because... he’s known for the image of strength he presents, and how frail and lifeless he can look at times when he’s overexerted himself and not using glamours to obscure it can be a startling contrast. His skin goes pale, he looks sickly, even his hair and eyes lose their luster and he gets a little more sluggish, a little more irritable than he already was (sounds hard to do, I know lol) not to mention he usually doesn’t wear his prostheses just because it takes less energy to simply use his wheelchair when he’s feeling that way, since he won’t be leaving his home in that state.

So if he willingly allows you to see him that way? I don’t think there’s a more grand show of trust from him, if I’m honest. He doesn’t like being vulnerable when it can be helped, so many of his formative years were spent learning to hide any and all signs of weakness so that he can survive.

I’ll be reblogging this periodically, like a number of the calls I post, but please like this if you’d like me to come harass you @ you in IMs for plotting! Where I can go over the verses I have (both already on the blog and unofficial/unlisted ones) and we can figure out how best to interact for some full-fledged threads 😌

Me: don’t come here expecting romance with Veric, he doesn’t often fall in love very easily

Me sitting here at almost 4 am already thinking about romantic or borderline-romantic shipping:

witcher: the last wish starters

❝ oh, what’s the point of explaining? you wouldn’t understand anyway. ❞ ❝ don’t grin like an idiot. there’s nothing funny about it. ❞ ❝ you’re losing your reflexes. ❞ ❝ they say the wisdom of ages is to be found in fairy tales. ❞ ❝ this sword can always be drawn again, faster than you can imagine. ❞ ❝ if i’m to choose between one evil and another, then i prefer not to choose at all. ❞ ❝ i don’t have anywhere else to run. i don’t know where i could hide. ❞ ❝ i’ll fill your evenings with tales of ever more astounding events from the past few years. ❞ ❝ i killed to avoid being killed myself. ❞ ❝ the world is changing. something’s coming to an end. ❞ ❝ are you really not frightened of me? ❞ ❝ talking and regretting won’t get you anywhere. ❞ ❝ don’t come back. never come back. ❞ ❝ how much of the rumours about you are true? ❞ ❝ people like to invent monsters and monstrosities. then they seem less monstrous themselves. ❞ ❝ it’s got nothing to do with you and that’s that. ❞ ❝ you need more than words to frighten me. ❞ ❝ what’s going on here? can’t i leave you alone for a minute? ❞ ❝ there’s something not quite right with you. i can sense that. ❞ ❝ am i supposed to give you advice and teach you how to live? am i your mother or something? ❞ ❝ evil is evil. lesser, greater, middling, it’s all the same. ❞ ❝ i’m not surrounded by any vortex or fate. ❞ ❝ i was beginning to worry. you didn’t regain consciousness for so long. ❞ ❝ the forest isn’t the safest of places at night. ugly things are heard and seen. ❞ ❝ there’s a grain of truth in every fairy tale. ❞ ❝ yes, i deceived you. i’ll deceive anyone if i have to, why should you be special? ❞ ❝ you’ve made your choice. are you sure it’s the right one? ❞ ❝ for some time now i’ve had hideous dreams. ❞ ❝ virtue is rarer today than a rock dragon. ❞ ❝ i haven’t got anything sharp on me. have a look for yourself. ❞ ❝ the day will come when people will learn, and get the better of you. ❞ ❝ it would be great if the cruelty of rulers could be explained away by mutations or curses. ❞ ❝ and to think that there are people who don’t believe in destiny. ❞ ❝ if you think i feel sorry for them, then you’re wrong. ❞ ❝ you’re talking nonsense while making wise and meaningful faces. ❞ ❝ i’ll confide in you, if you like. ❞ ❝ look at you — ethics, codes of practice, morality. who are you to talk? ❞ ❝ now, that, should really be of damn little concern to you. ❞ ❝ you look as if you are already a corpse. ❞ ❝ there’s no shame in fear. ❞ ❝ what do you desire? immortality? riches? fame? power? ❞ ❝ you underestimate my strength. ❞ ❝ do you want to burden your conscience with blood and death? ❞ ❝ now it’s as quiet as a grave. ❞ ❝ i know that, deep down, you like me. ❞ ❝ don’t leave yet. stay. a few more days. ❞ ❝ don’t do unto others what you would not have them do to you. ❞ ❝ i know my fate whirls about me like water. it’s hard on my heels, following my tracks. ❞ ❝ i’d prefer you not to make any sudden movements. ❞ ❝ help me up, please. ❞ ❝ i’ve never run away from anyone and i’m not about to change my ways. ❞ ❝ it’s my problem. my life and my punishment. ❞ ❝ the fact that you’ve arrived here exactly at this time can’t be a coincidence. it’s fate. ❞ ❝ slaughter and bloodshed can be avoided. ❞ ❝ you’ve got the devil in your eyes too. ❞ ❝ nobody’s ever called me that. say it again. ❞ ❝ humanity. that’s what you want. that’s what you dream of. ❞ ❝ what’s it to you what happens to me? ❞ ❝ you do realise that a sword alone will not defeat destiny? ❞ ❝ no, nothing’s wrong. i’m fine. quite fine. ❞ ❝ stories, well, i’ve heard them too. half are either made up or exaggerated. ❞ ❝ i could go where you’re going. i could keep you company. ❞ ❝ mistakes? of course i’ve made them. ❞ ❝ enough of this, we should go. it’s already dusk. ❞ ❝ maybe it’s customary, wherever you come from, to threaten people with swords? ❞ ❝ if it goes badly, i will defend my life. ❞ ❝ go on, thrust the sword into me. ❞ ❝ has loneliness got the better of you after all? ❞ ❝ everything can be dealt with. it’s only a question of price. ❞ ❝ you know my principle: duty then pleasure. ❞ ❝ i’ve never killed people for money, regardless whether it’s for a good or bad cause. and i never will. ❞ ❝ love and blood. they both possess a mighty power. ❞ ❝ i’ve got some medicine. we both need it. ❞ ❝ you’re embittered, hungry for revenge and conscious of your own powerlessness. ❞ ❝ what’s happening to you? i don’t recognise you. ❞ ❝ do you take me for a fool? ❞ ❝ i always get what i want. ❞ ❝ i manage because i have to. because i’ve no other way out. ❞ ❝ you can’t stand in the way of my happiness. ❞ ❝ to hell with destiny, oaths and irony. ❞ ❝ they hunted me like a wild animal as long as they could. until i became the hunter. ❞ ❝ i understand your hesitation, but i need an answer now. ❞ ❝ there are offers you can’t refuse, that the consequences are so terrible, and this is one of them. ❞ ❝ true evil is something you can barely imagine, even if you believe nothing can still surprise you. ❞ ❝ i’ve seen too much to laugh at things like that. ❞ ❝ maybe i’ve not had enough to drink. ❞ ❝ you may kiss my hand. ❞ ❝ don’t pull that face. it doesn’t suit either your good looks or your complexion. ❞ ❝ if i want something, i don’t dream of it. i act. ❞ ❝ are you in pain? what’s the matter? ❞ ❝ i prefer to look after others. it turns out better in the long run. ❞ ❝ you haven’t got enough strength left. ❞ ❝ bravery isn’t going to be of much use to you. ❞ ❝ it doesn’t rhyme. all decent predictions rhyme. ❞ ❝ listen. you’re starting to get on my nerves. ❞ ❝ don’t do this. i want to help you. ❞ ❝ you’re a very interesting dinner companion. ❞ ❝ i’ll avoid that place like the plague. i’ll never go back there. ❞ ❝ you’ll soon see what i’m capable of. ❞ ❝ i do like you, although i don’t know why myself. ❞ ❝ it’s got nothing to do with me. i’m just asking out of curiosity. ❞ ❝ have you never heard of a sense of responsibility and plain honesty? ❞ ❝ you’re going there because you have to, aren’t you? ❞ ❝ we are what we are, you and i. ❞ ❝ did you see…did you see that? ❞

Tonight really is a Wit.cher vampire verse kinda night?