[Open RP for Dragonstone, the seat of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Rhaegar is now living permanently on Dragonstone, but still visits (TPs to) King's Landing every 2-3 months before quickly returning home. Safe to assume that all threads wouldn't be fully private unless specifically stated--the Crown Prince would usually have a Dragonteeth or his assigned Kingsguard around.]
Dragonstone is a castle on the island of the same name at the entrance to Blackwater Bay, below the Dragonmont. It isthe original seat of House Targaryen in Westeros, and had been colonized and fortified as the westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. Shaped from stone to look like dragons, the castle has a eerie reputation.
After Aegon's Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, Dragonstone in the newly-created crownlands served as the seat of their heir apparent, known as the Prince of Dragonstone. In the 9th month of 274AC, marking manhood, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was named Prince of Dragonstone by his father, King Aerys II Targaryen.
The Prince of Dragonstone commands the direct allegiance of the houses Velaryon of Driftmark, Celtigar of Claw Isle, Bar Emmon of Sharp Point, and Sunglass of Sweetport Sound. Alongside their lordly vassals, the Prince of Dragonstone commands the allegiance of the knightly houses whom reside on Dragonstone: House Quince, House Bullock, House Blackberry, and House Scales.
Household
The Maestar of Dragonstone is Maester Lucas, an old Maester of two and seventy. The castle's sept is managed by Septon Gaemon, Brother Mattheus, and Sister Rhaenora. The guard of Dragonstone is led by its captain, Ser Darrold Bullock, though Prince Rhaegar maintains a personal guard, newly minted the 'Dragonteeth,' which Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Nestor Royce currently lead. There is an adequate Sea Watch led by Captain Tristimun. Other notable positions of Dragonstone's court are the Castellan and Steward, Ser Clement Scales, and the Master-at-Arms, Ser Harrold Bullock.
Architecture
Dragonstone was built by Valyrians with arcane arts, fire, and sorcery. Capable of liquefying and reshaping stone with dragonflame, the dragonlords used their magic to shape Dragonstone to look like multiple dragons.
Dragon architecture can be found throughout the castle, such as small dragons framing gates and dragon claws holding torches. A pair of great wings cover the armory and smithy, and dragon tails form archways and staircases. The citadel of Dragonstone is wrought all of black stone. Doors can be set in the mouths of stone dragons. Instead of merlons, gargoyles and grotesques serve as brooding crenellations along the three curtain walls. Designs include basilisks, cockatrices, demons, griffins, hellhounds, manticores, minotaurs, wyverns, and other creatures. Statues in the shape of dragons can be found all over the castle. Dragonstone has a castle yard and a library. There is a fishing village with a port beneath the curtain walls.
Descriptions were taken & adapted from the ASOIAF Wiki page on Dragonstone.

JULIE CAO
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Family: Mary Cao, single mom and high profile lawyer, Nike, divine entity
Age: 16 (Birthday is 10/06)
Faceclaim: N/A as of yet.
Theme Song: Ice To Never
Height: 6’1”
Sexuality: Lesbian
Gender Identity: Female
Physique: Julie is very tall and quite athletic, the kind of build that’s queen on the ice or in the boxing ring. She’s got a statuesque figure, well kept and trimmed short nails and carries herself with a sort of easy confidence that comes from being naturally gifted with incredible coordination. She also has pierced ears and exactly one scar on her eyebrow from when she got hit by a hockey stick. She keeps good care of her hands and skin, but her hands are pretty callused from a lifetime of playing ice hockey, boxing, lacrosse (long story) and she’s got really good cardio from her time on the track team. She has dark brown eyes and occasionally wears sunglasses.
Voice: Julie has a contralto and very precise, exact speech. She’s got a Canadian accent and her voice is always brimming with the pride she feels in herself.
Hair: Julie has mid-length black hair that she usually keeps in a tight, precise bun, on occasion she has it in a braid. She has the occasional cute hair clip that she gets in when she’s got her hair down. Her favourite is a maple leaf clip, closely followed by a silver butterfly clip
Clothing: Julie has a wide wardrobe, but most commonly, when she’s being casual, she’s wearing an off the shoulder sweater and jean cutoffs over tights and a pair of converse. She likes dresses on occasions where they’re warranted, and also owns a few hockey jerseys that she likes to wander around in.
Personality: Julie is a textbook overachiever who has built her identity about being the best. She’s clever, quick-witted, always has something to say in a situation and is absolutely convinced that she’s hot shit. She’s the kind of person who gets over-competitive at the drop of a hat, going straight for any chance at a win. Fair play, that’s for suckers, she’s here to win. And she always, always wins. She isn’t especially nice, or especially kind, though she does have a warmer side for people she thinks of as either worth her time, hot or actually able to beat her. She’s incredibly hard-working, incapable of giving up whenever she’s trying to figure something out or achieve something. Sunk cost fallacy who? Never heard of that bitch!
Despite her generally bitchy interior world, she’s very good at being friendly when necessary. After all, when in a team situation, it’s better for the team to not hate each other than to have the opposite occur, as long as she’s the one in charge of said team. Some people would expect she’s more terrified of being alone or failure than anything else, but no, she’s not capable of being the kind of loser without friends or screwing up. I mean, have you met her? She doesn’t exactly process the concept of failure all that well.
She’s a straight A student, a closet history geek, and absolutely a hidden delinquent. She’s not going around smashing mailboxes, but she is absolutely getting into fights and involved in shady stuff, she’s also famously been selling exam keys to other students for a little side cash. She also stole a car that one time. She’s pretty handy with tools and knows how to fix a car, really deeply wanting to restore a classic car at some point. She got her drivers licence when she was fourteen and her mother was proud, probably. Julie is fairly distant from her mother, likes to write science fiction in her secret, spare time and is very aware that she’s going to be an Olympic athlete at some point in her near future, probably after leading the Toronto Torch to a victory in the PHWL.
POWERS
Domain Powers: War
Summon Weapon: Julie can summon a labrys, a hockey stick and a shield.
Weapon Proficiency: Julie is innately and preternaturally skilled with mid-range melee weapons, especially her axe.
Combat Proficiency: Julie is specifically quite good at fighting people, and one of the ways she’s good at fighting people hasn’t become known to her, since she’s never ridden in a chariot, but her general talent with her weapons combined with her talent with ground combat has always shown when she’s on the ice.
Minor Powers: Nike
Competitive Sports Proficiency: C’mon. Julie’s good at sports. She’s always been good at sports, she’s just built different. Her training and practice pays off, sure, but there’s also just an incredible baseline of talent that she’s running with.
Legendary Speed: Julie is fast. She’s a demon on the ice and she’s just as fast on land. She might not be superhumanly strong, but with enough speed, it really doesn’t matter, does it? Try to keep up. You won’t.
Self Gratification Buff: Julie knows she shoots better, fights better and IS better when she’s around awards. She doesn’t exactly know why and generally just rolls with it.
Major Power: Nike
Victory Foresight: Julie knows she’s going to win. And more importantly than that, she knows how she’s going to win. When she gets in the zone, when she really focuses in, she can see the paths to victory like hazy outlines in her head that she can turn into plans. She knows this can be honed, she just doesn’t know how.
Backstory: Julie’s mother very rarely paid attention to her. Not her divine parent, her mortal mom, but not for any reason of dislike or disdain, but her mother was just busy. The kind of woman who was always on the clock, always working and Julie respected that more than anything else. She instilled into Julie the understanding that how you won wasn’t important, so long as you won, the finish line was what mattered, not the way you got there. She never talked about Julie’s mother, on the rare occasions she spent time with her daughter, instead she’d talk about her aspirations for her daughter. Julie absorbed them, internalized these lessons and took herself down the path of being the best. At times, she wondered if she was doing stuff for her or for her mother’s dreams for her, but in reality, it was kind of irrelevant. When she explained she wanted to be an Olympic athlete, her mother reminded her that she would need a backup plan for when she didn’t make it. And on the bottom line, you’d think this gave her some deep seated insecurities.
Not even a little bit. She didn’t miss her mom when she wasn’t around, she didn’t really care that her mom didn’t really believe in her that much, because she was the best, and that was what mattered.
Course, she eventually started making a scene, getting into trouble. Why not? Her mom had never noticed her do anything before, why start now? So she acted out in subtle ways, and she never got her mother’s attention. Again, not that she cared, it wasn’t like she needed maternal approval to stay ahead of the crowd. However, eventually, she got into trouble. Not the kind she expected to, but instead it was a girl she was hanging out with trying to actually murder her. As in, trying to bite her throat out. After a sincerely dramatic fight where she summoned an axe and dusted the girl (she was going to stress about that maybe never, she had bad breath), she went home and was filled in on a few things about her personal history. Her other mother was a deity of some kind (yeah, obviously), her mother didn’t know who it was specifically, and the goat dude in their apartment was going to take her to a summer camp to help her get a handle on her powers and heritage. It was apparently, completely non negotiable
Arriving at camp, a suitcase in her hand and a cup of coffee in the other, Julie glared up at the camp sign, the satyr who brought her here already moving past her and getting to the Big House. She sighed, with a certain professional resignation. She’d have to make the best of it, and while she knew she was going to excel here, she was deeply disappointed she’d not be able to spend the summer (or maybe even forever, apparently) getting ready for the hockey season. She crossed the border, expecting something to happen, and sighed. It was kind of a giant dud so far, odds were low that her mother was playing some kind of practical joke on her, but not ENTIRELY zero.
Her trip here had been uneventful in a way, mostly just dodging monsters according to her guide and then once they arrived in the States, she’d been in a car for the last while as they had moved towards the camp and she wanted to stretch it out.
She took a sip from her coffee, pulling the suitcase up the hill and parking it at the top, stepping through the barrier and not exactly noticing the golden laurel appearing above her head in a hologram…

Originally posted at SFF Insiders.
~Blurb:~
Arcane archivist Harper has always been plagued by dreams of grotesque creatures and bloody deaths. When she bumps into a ghostwalker in the Shambles and has a visceral experience of his execution, she knows it’s a foretelling. Yet fear of the Queen’s Guard stops her speaking out. When her vision indeed comes true, the unusual markings on the ghostwalker’s corpse, combined with his neatly excised vocal cords, send a ripple of terror through York.
The witch hunt is on. As the body count rises, Harper knows her magic is the only way to find the killer – if she can avoid being hanged as a witch. To protect both human and supernatural, Harper walks the thin line between their worlds. She and her demonhunter foster-sister form a multi-faith team with a forensic scientist, a spirit Harper accidentally summoned, and a techno-witch, to catch the killer before more people die.

~Review:~
‘The Hiding’ caught my attention while I was browsing through ‘BookSirens’ for a potential next read. First off, I must say, the cover is really amazing and stands out in quite some manner. That in itself was reason enough for my piqued interest. The description was very intriguing as well, and sounded something right down my alley. And so, I was more than eager to get my hands on the digital ARC on offer, which I eventually did without any hesitation. Hence, I would like to extend my deepest of thanks to the author, the publishers, and BookSirens for giving readers like me the opportunity to review this dark fantasy debut.
What is hidden from sense,
Will be hidden from mind,
Forgotten, unknowing,
Forever entwined.
York, famous for its ghosts, was the most haunted city in England… and was proud of it too. But that’s not the only thing it was famous for. ‘The Shambles’ was the last place anyone with sense would expect to find real magic. The twisting ginnels and alleyways branching from the street promised portals to dark adventures in other realms. Magic seemed to fizz like static in the air. Shoppers disappeared around corners, or possibly were whisked off to faraway queendoms. Each shop dazzled, selling everything from jewellery to paper, from antiques to modern art. And yet, it still gave the illusion that “fae” might be hiding in the gloaming mists… How’s that for setting-up a setting, eh?
Welcome to a world which is “infected” by “supes” (aka the ‘supernaturals’), and York, alongside England, is no exception. Humans, spirits, and the fae (the ‘Faerie’) roamed the streets here in what was like just another day. But the line separating them all was pretty thin, especially when darkness took over…
‘The Veil’ acted as the barrier between the human world and Faerie, kept strong all over England through generations. But that wasn’t the only defense mechanism protecting the people from the otherworldly. The ‘Queen’s Guard’ and the ‘Council of Faiths’ were two such institutions. The former’s official position was that no supernatural had survived something collectively referred to as ‘the Purge’, an event which ultimately had also led to the foundation of the latter. Together, by employing draconian enforcement measures throughout in the present times, they ensured that the “mortal realm” was kept separated from the ethereal one. Even now, hundreds of years later, humans patrolled the great wall surrounding York, always vigilant against incursion from those they called ‘supernatural.’ They came armed with fire and iron, dill and mint, silver crucifixes and blood red hamsa. The core materials changed little over the centuries, honed by each generation to destroy.
But the balance of everything in York was about to be shattered in the most chilling of ways…
“Never scream…”
A tangled medley of disembodied whispers, all saying the same two words, over and over.
“Never scream…”
Meet Harper Ashbury, a junior archivist and collector at the Saint Peter’s Cathedral in York. A specialist in the field of supernatural history, she helped to keep dangerous books out of the public eye, and researched ways to protect people from the supernatural. Working for the church under the guidance of the Archbishop of York himself was one thing, but Harper harbored a secret… one that was not at all welcome by anyone in York, both human or otherwise.
Apart from the horrific nightmares, the eerie visions, and the constant amnesia, Harper could “See” things… thanks to her “Sight”. Her past and her family were a complete blur to her, and she was desperate to find the answers to the seemingly dark and bleak events long gone by. Taking her in after an “accident”, the De Santos had become the family she never had. But they were not just any other ordinary family. The De Santos were demonhunters. The ones who fought against the supernaturals to protect the world from demons and the forces of evil. Curfews were for ordinary people. A De Santos was not scared of the dark. A De Santos was one with the dark.
Grace De Santos, Harper’s foster sister, was a vet by profession, and the only De Santos who wasn’t into demonhunting for the sole reason so that she could stay with Harper and make sure her archivist sister was safe. But the duo was about to be thrust into something far more dangerous than anything they had previously encountered, and their relations were about to be tested to the limits as York, the “night-safe” city, was not at all safe anymore…
The shocking and quite unusual death of a “ghostwalker” sends ripples across the city. Was it just a “death” in the first place, or was it a possible murder? Someone, or something, was carefully targeting people in the night and brutally killing them. With the police out of their depth having no cause of death and no suspects, and the Guard not willing to share anything with the Council, the Archbishop decides to take matters into his own hands. There was nothing a man as important as the archbishop could want with a junior archivist. There was only one reason he would summon her. To hunt something and kill it. And in his own words – “… In this matter, my faith in people is greater than my faith in science. You and Grace are uniquely placed to see the truth.”
The race against time begins as the bodies start to pile up in the most chilling of circumstances. With a helping hand from Dr. Saqib Siddique, a forensic supernaturalist, and a “not evil; just mischievous” spirit/demon, the sister duo embarks upon a path that is both dangerous and equally deadly if one is not careful enough. And one just can’t be careful enough in a place such as York… Can the group set aside their beliefs and differences to act as one and stop the killer in time?
All choice in the matter had been taken from her: use her abilities and risk death or bury them and remain forever lost. Magic was the only recourse left to find her home.
Most people might say they didn’t believe ghosts or supernaturals still walked the streets of England, but deep down, they were never sure.
Harper didn’t believe in ghosts, but she did believe in human evil.
To find the truth, she would need to face the darkness.

~The good:~
· To go alongside the amazing cover and the intriguing description, the whole setting of York, and the world around it in general, was superbly written and depicted throughout. It was as if I was a part of it myself! (real-life black & white pictures of York were present, which helped the cause!).
· The writing was just top notch by all means. It was vivid, highly atmospheric, and genuinely immersive all the way. The multi third-person POV was great, and a fun read.
· The story was excellent, engaging, and very exciting till the last page.
· The characters were very well written, and were memorable in more ways than one (a certain “individual” more so than the others!).
· The themes of religion and beliefs were pretty strong in general, and well depicted.
· The ending was great in my opinion, and sets up the next instalment pretty nicely.

~The “not so” good:~
In all honesty, I don’t have a single thing to complain about, believe it or not!

~Some quotes/dialogues and text to set your adrenaline rolling (as it did mine!):~
· ‘Never show fear, no matter how dark it is, no matter how strong your enemy. Never show fear.’

‘But feel fear. Feel fear. It’s God’s warning. It keeps you alive.’

· “Hurt them. Disable them. Live to fight another day. This is no honourable fight between gentlefolk. This is a fight for survival. Your survival and the survival of the innocents who depend on you. Fight dirty. Fight to win.”

· The ghostwalker removed his hat and bowed low. “Do not linger,” he cautioned his audience. “The night draws close and the mists rise. Death still walks the streets of York. Ghosts, witches, and demons watch from the shadows. No matter how many lies those in power tell, nowhere is truly night-safe. Be careful it is not your tale I tell on future nights. The bridge here is the fastest way back to your cars. Do not stray from the path, for where the ghosts do not walk, the Queen’s Guard surely will, and innocence is harder to prove than guilt.”

· Mist swirled around the car and danced in the fog lamps. The light scraped across black tarmac. Cat’s eyes gleamed, waiting to pounce, razor claws swiping at tires. The moon hovered behind naked silhouettes of trees and stars twinkled through their branches like an adornment of fairy lights. Frolicking stars, fallen from the sky, flickered around the trunk of an old oak, illuminating a skirt of long grasses. Then the tree was gone, consumed by the unending darkness. Harper clutched her shawl closer around her shoulders and settled back in her seat.

· No one comes out when it’s like this, she reminded herself, but it was a hollow comfort. No one human would be out. Everyone knew someone who had a friend whose cousin, or sibling, or child had been lost in the mist. Logic said they fell in the river and drowned, or met some unsavoury human, a quick knife between the ribs. Whispers said something inhuman lurked in the mists and stole souls away to another land. Then there were the people who came back changed, their eyes hollow, jerky movements like marionettes, a dark edge to their looks, hard and uncaring.

· The cemetery was pitch-black but for the wavering light of the guard’s torch. Even that thin beam of brightness didn’t reassure Harper, rather it created more darkness, throwing long shadows behind each blade of grass. Darkness piled upon darkness, pressing in, consuming, suffocating. Clouds overpowered the moonlight as the stars twinkled out, handful by handful.

~Final thoughts:~
A dark fantasy debut which is vivid, highly atmospheric, and sure to set your adrenaline rolling in excitement and intrigue alike. Simply put, ‘The Hiding’ by Alethea Lyons is right up there with one of my favorite reads of the year. York as a setting was so immersive and well depicted that you might end up feeling you’re a part of it yourself! The characters were great, the plot was superb, and the world was excellently put forth. Oh, and if you could not tell already, the writing was top notch by all means. An engaging read throughout with an ending so good that I can’t wait for the next installment! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you check it out!

BRIGHAM YOUNG AND JOHN D. LEE, THE EXECUTOR OF THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE, WERE JOINED AT THE HIP
THEY WERE “BIRDS OF A FEATHER”
Part III - B
Disposal of Property:
Brigham Young gave cattle stolen from the emigrants during the Massacre to John D. Lee. What to do with cattle in the possession of Brigham Young’s militia (for whatever reason) was a decision Brigham Young was asked to make and made. The Indians were supposed to have ambushed the emigrants all by themselves, yet Brigham’s soldiers ended up in charge of the spoils. Those rewards included seventeen children of tender age later recovered from southern Utah Mormon homes, where they were placed after their parents were murdered. Initially, John D. Lee had charge of Charley Fancher. “I told the Indian to let the boy alone. I took the child up in my arms, and put him back in the wagon, and saved his life. This little boy said his name was Charley Fancher, and that his father was Captain of the train. He was a bright boy. I afterwards adopted him, and gave him to Caroline. She kept him until Dr. Forney took all the children East.” (John D. Lee, “Last Confession and Statement of John D. Lee,” p. 16-17). The possessions of the Arkansas Company were a literal treasure trove of the kinds of things urgently needed on any frontier. Much of what had belonged to those unfortunate emigrants, who were beautifully equipped, was placed in the hands of Phillip Klingensmith, a Mormon Bishop in Cedar City, Utah. Bishop Klingensmith had been a prominent participant in the multi-day attacks against the Fancher party at Mountain Meadows. He would later ignore his dreadful oath and put his life at risk to publicly reveal the disgraceful details of that great American crime.
The cattle assigned by Brigham Young to John D. Lee, after the massacre, were clearly those taken from the murdered emigrants at Mountain Meadows. “At Lee’s first trial [he was saved by a hung jury], Klingensmith testified, and reaffirmed his story under cross-examination, that he and Charles Hopkins had accompanied Lee to the home of Brigham Young while they were in Salt Lake City to attend the October Conference [in 1857], and that President Young told him [Bishop Klingensmith] to give the cattle to Lee to use for the benefit of the Indians and the mission. Klingensmith added that Young also cautioned them, ‘What you know about this, say nothing about it.’” (Cleland and Brooks, Diaries of John D. Lee, Vol. 1, 319 n 18). “Charles Hopkins, a former member of the Mormon Battalion,” settled in southern Utah. “Present at the Mountain Meadows Massacre [and one of the speakers at the council held at the scene of the crime], he was also with Lee and Klingensmith when they discussed the disposal of the emigrants’ cattle with Brigham Young.” (Cleland and Brooks, Diaries of John D. Lee, Vol. 1, 320 n 22).
“If there isn’t a hell, there ought to be.” (Baskin, Reminiscences of Early Utah, 149). Young was a recipient of a carriage stolen from the Mountain Meadows emigrants. It was used by the Mormon leader in Salt Lake City as late as ten years after the crime. R.N. Baskin: “One day in 1867, when I was walking up Main street in Salt Lake city with John Chislet, one of the persons who crossed the plains with one of the celebrated hand-cart trains, but who afterwards apostatized from the church, he pointed to a carriage which was approaching at a few yards distance, and said: ‘That man in the carriage with Brigham Young is John D. Lee, the leader of the Mountain Meadows massacre, and the carriage in which they are riding is one which the emigrants had owned.’ That was the first time I had seen Lee. The carriage was accompanied by Brigham’s mounted, sacred guard. The next time I saw Lee was at his first trial, and I recognized him as the man whom I had before seen in the carriage with Brigham Young.” (R.N. Baskin, Reminiscences of Early Utah, 138-39).
Young lied again, under oath in an affidavit, when he “denied any knowledge of the disposition of the emigrants’ property.” (Baskin, Reminiscences, 116). Brigham Young Affidavit, under oath, July 30, 1875: “Eleventh: Did you ever give any directions concerning the property taken from the emigrants at the Mountain Meadows massacre, or know anything as to its disposition? Answer: No; I never gave any directions concerning the property taken from the company of emigrants at the Mountain Meadows massacre, nor did I know anything of that property or its disposal, and I do not to this day, except from public rumor.”
It was claimed that “Young as Utah’s Governor failed to have Lee arrested . . . oversaw the church appropriation of the spoils, and allowed Lee and Haight to act in the legislature despite his knowledge of their guilt.” (Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, 393). “Lee claimed Brigham Young told a Cedar City congregation that members of the Fancher party had persecuted the Saints and ‘killed our prophets in Carthage Jail.’” (Bagley, Blood of the Prophets, 249). With hundreds of head of cattle and stolen spoils, the Church’s acquisition, all by itself, puts lie to the claim that the Indians, and not John D. Lee and his minions, did the dirty work. “ . . . ‘Young had the benefit of the property of the murdered Emigrants and defrauded the United States’ by claiming it as his gift to the Indians.” (Prosecutor Sumner Howard informed the U.S. Attorney General “of his belief,” cited at Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, 396).
The First Trial – Joined at the Hip:
George Hicks, a brave dissenter in a sea of Saints, was excommunicated for “sending a letter to the Salt Lake Tribune noting that Lee rode his horse ‘by the side of Brigham’s carriage.’” Hicks implied that Young shared in Lee’s well-known guilt. (Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, 391). An 1874 meeting, after Lee’s excommunication, was the last time the old warriors met. For all of his life – John D. Lee’s life, at least into the 1870s – Brigham Young protected him from apprehension. Lee knew secrets which, if once exposed, threatened the life of Brigham Young, and the future of the Church he ruled from about 1844 to 1877, the date of his death.
Marshall William Stokes captured Lee, found hiding in an animal pen near his house in Panguitch. “Young was clearly worried about his own legal jeopardy.” He “asked Daniel Wells to find the copybook containing his September 10, 1857, letter to Isaac Haight ‘and put it into a safe where it will be secure and at hand if called for.’” (Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, 391). It is not noted that he requested the same disposition for Haight’s September 7, 1857, Letter to him. He would later deny, under oath, that he could produce his letter to Haight, even after a diligent search, probably because it tacitly encouraged the Indians to do as they liked. The letter to Haight, which was never produced during Young’s lifetime – though he clearly knew exactly where it was – was produced in 1884, after his death. Isaac Haight’s September 7, 1857, Express to Brigham Young, the Mountain Meadows equivalent of the eighteen-and-a-half-minute gap on the Watergate tapes, has never been produced. That letter, perhaps the most important letter the prophet ever received, has been destroyed, concealed or suppressed (like the 1832 first and only Holographic Account of Joseph Smith’s First Vision of the Son without the Father “brought to light” from Joseph Fielding Smith’s office safe in 1965). The loss of Haight’s Letter bespeaks the absurdity of the claim, made by the authors of Vengeance Is Mine, the long-awaited apologetic Church-aided publication of the history of the cover-up, who say that they have received, unlike anyone else ever on earth, one hundred percent of the documents, many held from public view for more than a century by the less-than-transparent Church. Documents seen to pertain to the cover-up of that great American crime. When the Government tried to ascertain in the nineteenth century where the bear hid the honey, pages were removed from dozens of histories and documents, including some from the diaries of John D. Lee. And most particularly Haight’s Express to Young prepared and sent before the final solution at Mountain Meadows ever occurred.
The Second Trial – Brigham Young Betrays His Most Obedient Servant:
“Brigham Young gives unsuccessful order to prevent massacre but becomes accessory after the fact. He later tells participants that he approves of the massacre and lets them know he expects them to exonerate each other in [a] court of law. He publicly intimidates anyone who is inclined to give evidence against Mormon participants. He refuses to give federal authorities information that would implicate nearly all [of the] adults of [a] small Mormon community in [the] massacre and division of victims’ property. Then, when total denial becomes impossible, Young scapegoats three men through excommunication and arranges for participants to testify against (and jurymen to convict) only John D. Lee, Brigham Young’s adopted son and Council of Fifty member.” (Quinn, Extensions of Power, 755-56). Lee challenged the excommunication and asked for a hearing. Young promised him relief. In a letter from Apostle Erastus Snow delivered by one of Snow’s sons, that Lee “knew” had been “written by orders of Brigham Young,” Lee learned that Brigham Young didn’t mean what he had said about the excommunication. He had told his colleague, “I am your friend and not your enemy. You shall have a rehearing.” (Lee, Confessions, 265). The letter, however, told Lee, “You will not press an investigation at this time . . . . Our advice is to make yourself scarce, and keep out of the way.” (Ibid., 266). “When I read the letter, I knew I had nothing to hope for from the Church, and my grief was as great as I could bear. To add to my troubles, Brigham Young sent word to my wives that they were all divorced from me and could leave me if they wished to do so. This was the greatest trouble that I had ever had in my life, for I loved all my wives.” In consequence of Brigham’s advice, “eleven of my wives deserted me . . . .”
A verdict in a second trial, following a hung jury in a first trial, convinced Lee that Church leaders had selected him to be the “scapegoat.” “In Lee’s mind, Young had decided to offer his blood [Lee’s blood] as an atonement for the sins of all those complicit in the massacre.” “The verdict dissolved the fidelity Lee had long maintained toward his surrogate father.” (Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, 394). Daniel H. Wells, a weasel, close to the prophet and the militia, traveled south to superintend the cynical process, reporting the facts back to his boss. The deceitful plan was intended to direct criticism (and punishment) elsewhere.
Lee insinuated Brigham Young’s guilt for the Mountain Meadows Massacre in a brief but fiery speech delivered to the crowd assembled to view his execution in 1877. Two weeks later, at the dedication of the St. George temple, Brigham Young worried that he too might be arrested “after Lee’s insinuation of his guilt.” (Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, 404). Lee’s intransigence surfaced at the execution, and in his end-of-life account, Mormonism Unveiled. Brigham Young noticed, and was shaken by, his adopted son’s criticism. Approximately six months after the execution of his previously trusted servant, Brigham also passed the torch. Perhaps, in the halls of a Mormon heaven, a disentangled John D. Lee, who dismissed his previously precious Master on the day of his death with an embittered reprisal, may have something further to say.
As evidence of the final break between the two old warriors, as reflected in Lee’s end-of-life concerns, Young and Daniel H. Wells gave an interview to a New York Herald correspondent. Lee is dead, and Young and Wells can say whatever they like without fear of rebuttal. “Lee,” they said, “and a few other sinners took advantage of the emigrants’ boorish behavior and the unsettled state of the territory to gratify their desire for plunder.” (Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, 397). It was an ultimate insult, the unkindest cut of all. A cruel and thoughtless postmortem. Young’s biographer, John G. Turner, noted, by way of response that, “No amount of friendly journalism or further statements by church leaders would have removed the dark stain the Mountain Meadows Massacre had left on Young’s reputation.” (Ibid., 397). There had been no punishment for two decades, and when the reckoning came, one fanatic paid with his life for the deaths of one hundred and twenty emigrants, men, women and children. Every other offender skated, avoiding responsibility for that great American crime. There was no impartial investigation. There was no ecclesiastical punishment for more than a hundred people implicated one way or another in the atrocity at Mountain Meadows. And until, and even until some time after 1870, Brigham Young protected his subordinate from efforts to bring even him, one man, to justice.
A Final Analysis:
John D. Lee, because of his privileged access to Brigham Young, was not just a local leader. He was Young’s southern Utah alter ego. As the southern Utah emissary of the supreme leader, his jurisdiction, like that of Porter Rockwell (another notorious enforcer with notches on his belt), may be seen as that of a deputy at large, as an agent without boundaries. No southern Utah leader – not Haight, Higbee, Dame, Klingensmith, or any of very many others – had John D. Lee’s “cojones,” or equal access to the prophet’s ear. The bonds between the violent leader, and his most obedient servant, were eternal. The thought that these two men were ambivalent about their shared objectives, at odds with each other and dishonest in their personal communications, one with another, is farcical. As is the notion that the sly fox was deaf and dumb and blind for more than a decade. Lee was Brigham Young’s strong southern Utah competence, the man among men who knew what his master required. Young’s harsh rhetoric, violent to extreme, George Albert Smith’s harsh rhetoric, equally ugly, Young’s incitement of the southern leaders and chiefs, his invitations to Indian allies on the northern and southern routes to steal the emigrants’ cattle, martial law, the Prophet’s restrictions on overland travel, and his indifference to his militia’s murders and beheadings of Indians and dissidents hardly bespoke tender feelings capable of ever being “harrowed” up.
After it became apparent to everyone that the old story (the Indians did it, the Mormons did not) had no legs, that longstanding “official lie,” told to everyone everywhere many thousands of times until 1869 was abruptly abandoned. “The Salt Lake Tribune later noted the policy change. For twelve years [1857 to 1869] their voice [the voice of the Church] was one of indignant denial that any Mormons were engaged in the affair.” By 1869, any person who believed that tall tale was deaf, dumb, blind or devious. “[After a few hesitating admissions in 1871], ‘the whole Mormon people [turning on a dime] changed front as suddenly as a well-drilled regimine,’ the paper noted caustically. LDS newspapers had furiously denounced the Tribune for accusing Mormons, but the denunciations were now aimed at Haight, Higbee and Lee. ‘The defense they then had for all the Mormons they now reserve for Brigham Young and the heads of the Church,’ the Tribune noted.” (Bagley, Blood of the Prophets, 270-71). To understand that ignominious policy change is to understand the central theme of the new book on the cover-up, Vengeance Is Mine. Blame anyone else for whatever you will, but protect the tyrant Brigham Young. The book, by faithful Mormon authors, with the assistance of the Church, is just the latest effort to put that burr on someone else’s saddle. The Tribune spoke the truth to the Saints in 1873. “If they were so badly mistaken in the former case, is it not just possible that they are mistaken as to Brigham’s innocence?” (Salt Lake Tribune, cited at Bagley, Blood of the Prophets, 271).
“Called to be the presiding elder of the branch at Harmony on December 22, 1861 [four years after the massacre], he [Lee] was sustained with the typical unanimous vote and invited everyone in the settlement to a great Christmas feast. Before the celebration ended, it began to rain. It would not stop for forty days . . . . The upper story of Sarah Caroline’s house collapsed and crushed two of Lee’s sleeping children, killing them.” “Lee, who saw the hand of God in everything, blamed himself for the catastrophe.” (Bagley, Blood of the Prophets, 299). “Great torrents ripped through the fields of Mountain Meadows and cut the trace of Magotsu Creek into a deep arroyo. The resulting disruption of the water table changed the valley from a luxuriant oasis into a sagebrush plain, a transformation that helped to inspire the local belief that God had cursed the place.” (Ibid., 250). “[Juanita] Brooks reported that 857 families had lived in Cedar City in 1857, but two years later only 386 were left. Official church records indicate the depopulation was even more dramatic, that only about twenty families remained in Cedar City in April 1859.” (Ibid., 242).
In the final analysis, this buck stopped with Brigham Young, and with the right-hand man attached to his hip in a Mormon temple. And to the shared history and experiences of two fanatical rascals. To those a disappointed George Hicks, a man who had weathered many storms, was heard to call, for the best of all good reasons, “Birds of a feather.”
Website: MormonismUnderTheMicroscope.com

What is this?

This is a weekly crowdfunding roundup of new projects launched last week and projects that end the coming week.

Google Docs

As an alternative format, the lists are now also available as a Google Docs found here: Weekly Crowdfunding Roundup

Updates

Expect new lists every Sunday between 00:00 and 23:59 CEST on the following platforms:
Mastodon: @danielpervan@mastodon.social
Discord: https://discord.gg/dN4P4PZcU9
Reddit: /boardgames

Selection criteria

The criteria for the lists are as follows:

Ending soon

• Sorted by number of backers
  
• Kickstarter projects ending in the next 7 days, that have at least 100 backers (or marked as "Project we love" by Kickstarter), will have reached more than estimated 95% of their goal by their deadline and passed the filters:
  
  • No DnD books
  • No zines
  • No 3D printing
  • No dice sets
  • No magazines
  • No shirts
  • No playmats
  • No furniture
  • No events
• Gamefound projects ending in the next 7 days, that will have reached more than estimated 95% of their goal by their deadline and passed the above filters.
  
• (beta) Backerkit Crowdfunding projects ending in the next 7 days, that will have reached more than estimated 95% of their goal by their deadline and have a matching BGG page.
  

Newly launched

• Sorted by number of backers
  
• Kickstarter projects launched in the last 7 days, that have had at least average 15 backers per day, have at least 100 backers or is marked as "Project we love" by Kickstarter and passed the filters (see above).
  
• Gamefound projects launched in the last 7 days and passed the filters (see above).
  
• (beta) Backerkit Crowdfunding projects launched in the last 7 days and have a matching BGG page.
  

Notable filtered projects

• Filtered projects from above lists that have more than 1000 backers.

Tags

🎉: Staff pick/featured
💰: Funded
🔥: More than average 200 backers/day
🌱: Creator's first project
🌳: Creator's >5th project
🔄: Money back guarantee (Read more)

FAQ

I live in Peru/Canada/Bahamas/USA, why are you posting on a Saturday?!
Because I'm writing this from Europe in the future where it's already Sunday. Timezones be crazy.
Why are there a bunch of non-board games in the board game list?
Because the Tabletop games category on Kickstarter includes anything remotely related to board games and sometimes things slip through my filters.
Why is this future award winning board game and literal saviour of humanity missing from your list?
Sometimes my filters get a bit overzealous and discard actually valid projects. If you feel something is missing for this reason, leave a comment and I'll add it (maybe).
Can I donate all my money to you?
No
Can you help me promote my game?
Please no. I make lists. Nothing more.
Your list is full of errors and now the Internet is full of cats!
Indeed, this fine piece of code runs purely on satanic rituals, so anything can happen. Leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.

Ending soon (21)

Name	Description	Backers	Pledged	Ends	Information	Tags	BGG
Munchkin Big Box	Dive into 25 years of chaos and monster-slaying, all in one gigantic box, the Munchkin Big Box! Kill the monsters, betray your buddies, and hoard the treasures like never before.	6749	$974,166.00 (1299%) in 25 days	2024-05-16	💸 Backerkit 👥 3‑6 players 👶 10+ ⏱️ 60-120 min.	💰🔥	BGG
Fractured Sky: Rift	A kickstarter-exclusive reprint and expansion campaign for Fractured Sky. Painted minis, magnets, and more 🚀	4160	$335,262.00 (671%) in 12 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑5 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 45-75 min.	💰🔥	BGG
Euthia: Cruel Frost	The highly-rated and Kickstarter exclusive fantasy board game, Euthia, returns with its chilling climax, Cruel Frost!	3816	£586,105.00 (1172%) in 10 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑4 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 60-480 min.	🎉💰🔥	BGG
The Sixth Realm - A Highly Strategic Euro Game	The Sixth Realm is a strategic euro game stuffed to the brim with combos, bonuses, engine building and interaction!	2937	$284,587.00 (711%) in 18 days	2024-05-15	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑4 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 90-180 min.	🎉💰	BGG
One-Hit Heroes – Co-op Boss Battles With Only 1 HP!	Pick your hero and take down bosses to unlock card packs and power up your team. Save the world with just 1 HP in this co-op card game!	2735	CA$237,381.00 (791%) in 26 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑4 players ⏱️ 15-60 min.	🎉💰	BGG
Black Sonata: Strange Shadows	The second expansion (and reprint) for Black Sonata, the award-winning solo game of hidden movement and deduction	2695	$48,953.00 (1632%) in 20 days	2024-05-17	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑2 players 👶 12+ ⏱️ 20-40 min.	💰	BGG
Corps of Discovery	Lewis & Clark ... and Monsters! The Ultimate Cooperative Deduction and Survival Game!	2499	CA$344,726.00 (689%) in 19 days	2024-05-14	💸 Kickstarter	🎉💰
House of Fado by Vital Lacerda & João Quintela Martins	Manage your Fado restaurant, promote musicians, and send them to the starlight in this medium-weight worker placement game.	1693	$78,703.00 (375%) in 10 days	2024-05-17	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑4 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 30-60 min.	💰	BGG
HISPANIA. The Roman conquest	Year 201 BC, Rome has defeated its greatest nightmare, the Carthaginian Hannibal, and sets already its sights on the next prey: the destiny of Hispania is in your hands!	862	€33,219.22 (1107%) in 26 days	2024-05-16	💸 Gamefound 👥 1‑4 players ⏱️ 60 min. Wargame Area Control Cooperative	💰
Neon Reign	Neon Reign is a fast-paced card game that combines the excitement of arcade-style fighting games with strategic dueling!	740	$25,657.00 (171%) in 12 days	2024-05-14	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑2 players 👶 8+ ⏱️ 10-15 min.	🎉💰	BGG
Amazing Journey in Worlds of Emotions 💎 Books & Board Games	Hey Feelings: Engaging Read & Play Adventure that Entertains & Develops Emotional Skills	713	€44,112.00 (490%) in 26 days	2024-05-18	💸 Kickstarter	🎉💰
Firesiege | Siege-themed board game for 1-4 players	Defend your citadel, rally your allies, defeat fearsome bosses and break the enemy siege in this epic tower-defense cooperative game!	576	€39,165.00 (261%) in 19 days	2024-05-14	💸 Kickstarter	🎉💰
The Adventures of Conan	Join Conan and his allies as they battle across the Hyborian Age, where darkness plagues the land. In this asymmetrical dice game, the legendary barbarian will battle monsters sent by his foes, whilst his allies battle by his side. Can Conan ascend to become King, or will he fall to his enemies foul…	556	$114,773.74 (230%) in 12 days	2024-05-16	💸 Gamefound 👥 1‑4 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 90-120 min. Dice Game	💰	BGG
Table Golf Association 'Meeple Beach' Edition	Meeple Beach is everyone's favorite customizable tabletop dexterity golf game. Design and play the oceanside course of your dreams!	434	$51,694.00 (115%) in 26 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter	💰
Franklin 1864	Refight the Battle of Spring Hill and Franklin in Hood's Tennesse Campaign in 1864. Playing time 2 hours. 1 to 2 players.	320	$28,418.00 (1525%) in 8 days	2024-05-18	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑2 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 120-180 min.	💰	BGG
Prowl: Clans & Cunning	Control the clans, seize the throne. A quick, competitive card game of scheming and intrigue.	232	SGD 6,160.00 (103%) in 18 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑5 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 15-25 min.	💰	BGG
Attack of the SNACs	Join the Huntmaster in a multiplayer piedventure through Pieland's tasty terrains. Defeat the evil SNACs, earn loot, and save Pieland!	217	CA$19,071.00 (95%) in 26 days	2024-05-17	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑4 players 👶 8+ ⏱️ 45-90 min.	🎉	BGG
REDLINE: Payday - Mech based expandable card game!	Epic mech battles in an expandable card game, fusing war gaming with streamlined strategy on a dynamic battlefield. New factions added!	183	$16,998.00 (243%) in 26 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter	💰
Inroads - a road building card game	An easy to play, competitive road building card game for families, friends and foes	147	£3,665.00 (489%) in 28 days	2024-05-14	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑4 players 👶 4+ ⏱️ 5-15 min.	💰	BGG
Spellstorm	A magical battle royale! Eight wildly asymmetric wizards fight for the power of the Spellstorm.	137	$10,340.00 (103%) in 25 days	2024-05-17	💸 Kickstarter	💰
ダンジョンダイスオンライン / Dungion Dice Online	ダイスを使ったボードゲーム『ダンジョンダイスオンライン』の増版＆新拡張プロジェクトです。 This is a project for "Dungeon Dice Online", a board game using dice.	116	¥806,159 (269%) in 42 days	2024-05-13	💸 Kickstarter	💰

New this week (24)

Name	Description	Backers	Pledged	Ends	Information	Tags	BGG
I C E Unlimited	Explore I C E, lead your archeologists to uncover artifacts on this tile mining adventure where you excavate a magnetic multi-layer board for real.Now comes the Second Edition! ❄️	2809	€358,147.06 (1433%) in 5 days	2024-05-27	💸 Gamefound 👥 1‑5 players ⏱️ 90 min.	💰🔥
Vicious Gardens - A Brutally Fun Gardening Game	Combine the joy of gardening with the thrill of being a total jerk. Strategically grow your garden while sabotaging your neighbor's	2249	$130,498.00 (1087%) in 5 days	2024-06-06	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑6 players 👶 10+ ⏱️ 20-45 min.	🎉💰🔥	BGG
Regicide Legacy	Lead your party through 12 unique missions, unlock exciting rewards and discover the secrets of corruption.	1091	NZ$181,579.00 (519%) in 4 days	2024-06-07	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑4 players 👶 12+ ⏱️ 20-60 min.	💰🔥	BGG
Children of Morta: The Board Game	A fast-paced, co-op, shared bag-building adventure about a family of guardians standing united against corruption!	966	CA$102,410.00 (205%) in 5 days	2024-05-30	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑4 players 👶 12+ ⏱️ 45 min.	💰	BGG
Warlord: Saga of the Storm CCG	Journey into the Accordlands with this brand new age of Warlord: Saga of the Storm, the trading card game you already know how to play.	806	$343,647.00 (859%) in 5 days	2024-06-06	💸 Kickstarter	💰
Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome! and expansion	A co-operative scenario based pick-up-and-deliver game for 1-5 players about resistance during the Second World War.	661	€51,000.00 (510%) in 5 days	2024-06-06	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑5 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 60-180 min.	🎉💰	BGG
Light Speed: Arena, Smart Tabletop Battles 📸🚀	A cosmic competition for 1-6 pilots: Aim lasers in real time and snap a single picture to let the app unfold the battle.	597	€26,914.00 (538%) in 5 days	2024-06-08	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑4 players 👶 8+ ⏱️ 5-15 min.	💰	BGG
Wicked Cribbage	This is a card game for people who are into Cribbage and comebacks and risky math and sometimes pegging backwards.	372	$18,079.00 (241%) in 5 days	2024-05-31	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2 players 👶 10+ ⏱️ 30-45 min.	💰	BGG
Tramways Engineer's Workbook Volume 2	A Solo Duo Standalone game where you visit 24 cities with your pens. Draw line, pick up actions and play each time with a new twist!	309	€15,617.00 (104%) in 6 days	2024-05-31	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑2 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 15-45 min.	💰	BGG
Shrink the Shelf: a TBR building game	Is your next 5-star read sitting on your shelf? Roll the dice, draw prompts and take on bookish challenges while selecting your reads.	307	$23,406.00 (59%) in 4 days	2024-06-07	💸 Kickstarter
Dino Dynasty	The Definitive Dinosaur board game:Defend, Develop, Diversify and Dominate! Illustrations by Johan Egerkrans. Game design by Jon Manker	258	€18,752.00 (188%) in 5 days	2024-05-27	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑6 players 👶 10+ ⏱️ 30-60 min.	💰	BGG
Nanga Parbat: Animal Powers	A promo pack for Dr. Finn's Nanga Parbat to add even more strategy and fun to an already awesome game.	251	$3,318.00 (332%) in 4 days	2024-05-22	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2 players 👶 14+ ⏱️ 30-40 min.	💰	BGG
TOOTHEAD	Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!! Sneaky moves and a lot of fighting in an innocent setting. A family-friendly game, also great for parties!	226	€15,307.00 (191%) in 5 days	2024-06-10	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑8 players 👶 10+ ⏱️ 40-180 min.	🎉💰	BGG
Eye of Zamrock: Invasion	Eye of Zamrock: Invasion is a competitive, epic fantasy board game with elements of strategy, adventure, city building and resource management.To win, your Kingdom must balance the pursuit of personal ambition against the need to cooperate with other players to achieve a common goal – fighting off…	203	€27,634.60 (138%) in 4 days	2024-06-04	💸 Gamefound 👥 1‑6 players ⏱️ 180 min. Area Control	💰🌱
The Shackleton Series - Interactive Puzzle Adventure	Solve your way through a true survival story. A 6-episode puzzle game that blends escape rooms and board games with historical fiction.	200	CA$30,004.00 (100%) in 6 days	2024-06-06	💸 Kickstarter	💰
Greenlight	A game for people who will never make it in Hollywood.	190	$7,316.00 (73%) in 5 days	2024-06-10	💸 Kickstarter
The Darkness at the Brink of Ohio	A horror journaling game about a parasocial relationship with a late night radio host who transforms into something inhuman.	182	$7,020.00 (88%) in 5 days	2024-06-06	💸 Kickstarter	🎉
Dungeon Rooms with FLAVOR	A deck of geomorphic dungeon rooms cards with... flavor!	145	€1,781.00 (178%) in 3 days	2024-05-24	💸 Kickstarter	💰
Potion Crafter	Alchemy calls! Fill the shelves of your magic shop with unique potions in this roll and write, print and play strategy board game.	123	€1,328.00 (1328%) in 6 days	2024-05-21	💸 Kickstarter 👥 1‑6 players 👶 8+ ⏱️ 20-40 min.	💰	BGG
Atlanta Traffic: The Card Game	An original, unfriendly game for 3-8 players based on the daily perils of commuting in Atlanta, Georgia.	93	$2,610.00 (33%) in 5 days	2024-06-01	💸 Kickstarter
Mercenaries of Gridaris	Conquer the land of Gridaris with ridiculous mercenaries: the hilarious, strategic, fantasy board game for all skill levels!	92	$6,749.00 (52%) in 5 days	2024-06-06	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2‑5 players 👶 10+ ⏱️ 20-30 min.	🎉	BGG
Scrapbots - Bot battling deck builder	A fast-paced 1v1 card duel in a robotic wasteland. Build up your bots, gear up with gadgets, and wreck your rival!	83	$3,729.00 (75%) in 5 days	2024-05-28	💸 Kickstarter 👥 2 players 👶 13+ ⏱️ 30-60 min.		BGG
GotchaCards	a thrilling rock-scissors-paper dueling card game for all ages by Pat Casao & pabloKM	71	$3,528.00 (19%) in 3 days	2024-06-08	💸 Kickstarter
Backyard Butterfly	A cozy, educational board game that ‘grows with you'. Multiple gameplay variations for the young and old.	52	$2,440.00 (41%) in 3 days	2024-06-07	💸 Kickstarter

Notable filtered projects (7)

Name	Description	Backers	Pledged	Ends	Information	Tags
Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game	Experience your own adventure in the Land of Ooo in this epic 5E RPG based on Cartoon Network's Adventure Time!	4934	$1,041,630.00 (1042%) in 27 days	2024-05-15	💸 Kickstarter	🎉💰
Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins	In the 5E tradition, Dungeons & Ruins offers deadly risks and great rewards. All it takes is a torch, a sharp sword, and great courage…	3062	$240,465.00 (601%) in 26 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter	🎉💰
MekBorg and Steel Psalm	A MÖRK BORG-Compatible Tabletop Roleplaying Game Featuring MEK-KNIGHTS	2589	$198,763.00 (2472%) in 26 days	2024-05-16	💸 Kickstarter	🎉💰
13th Age Second Edition | Storytelling Action Fantasy Game	The tabletop RPG incorporating the best parts of d20-rolling fantasy gaming with story-focused rules gets refreshed and modernized!	2285	£229,577.00 (459%) in 5 days	2024-06-06	💸 Kickstarter	💰🔥
The Halfbeards' Daughter: A Lewd Dungeon Adventures Module	An adult tabletop RPG requiring real-life intimate actions to move the story along. Can be fully converted into a drinking game.	2265	$37,881.00 (1263%) in 30 days	⚠️ 2024-05-12	💸 Kickstarter	💰
The Secret of Oki Island: A 5e Solo Adventure	Pick your own path in this 5e solo adventure on the high seas.	1526	CA$77,367.00 (387%) in 25 days	2024-05-17	💸 Kickstarter	💰
Shadows of Esteren - A Medieval Horror RPG: Dearg 2	Heavy on roleplay, light on rules🌹The most awarded French TTRPG returns with new releases & the final season of the official campaign	1087	$112,987.00 (1130%) in 19 days	2024-05-17	💸 Kickstarter	🎉💰

My last few sessions my party has been in the midst of a lot of action and some dungeon crawling. They have a lot of gold stock pilled and I think deserve a bit of a break, so they'll be visiting a Magic Item Fair, where sellers from all over come to show their creations or finds to sell. Help me make a list of different types of vendors and what items they have! Some specific sellers or ones selling just one treasured item will work super well, along with any general ideas! I made a list of 10 to start things off. And for reference, it's a high magic setting with a lot of wild west themes, so stuff like fire arms do exist! And if you want to come up with a 1 off seller, with a specific magic item, my party just hit level 9 so they can handle some stronger stuff.

Magic Vendors

1. Magic Seamstress, sells magical clothing items
2. Potion Maker
3. Spell Scroll Collector
4. Magic Weapon Smith
5. Magic Armor Smith
6. Mythical Pets Raiser, selling exotic and magical animals
7. Magic Jeweler
8. Charm Collector, selling magic knick knacks and smaller magic items
9. Arcane Book Seller, selling tomes with magical secrets
10. Arcane Tattoo Artist, able to imbue their work with magical affects
11. Petty Diviner who can help find small scale items (u/mel-alt)
12. A Fabricator, who can help make small scale items and buildings (u/mel-alt)
13. Artificer offering weapon upgrades (u/mel-alt)
14. Living Toy Vender (u/snakebite262)
15. Magic Snack Salesman, offering snacks that provide small magical effects (u/snakebite262)
16. Bookmark seller, Sells bookmarks with living pictures, or a magically updating counter for words left in the book/total books read, and minor magical effects like light that can be tapped back and forth between natural and florescent (u/azul_plains)
17. Knife Specialist, Knives with exotic metals, custom handle wraps, and edges, most expensive piece is a knife enchanted to return to you after being thrown; also sells magical oils to add temporary elemental affinity during combat (u/azul_plains)
18. Seasonal Tailor - Only stocks clothes relevant to the current season. Sells slim winter coats with warming enchantments in the liner, in all kinds of patterns and profiles, scarves that prevent your breath from fogging glasses, most expensive piece has extra large pockets (think bag of holding), and hats with enchantments to keep rain out of a person's eyes (u/azul_plains)
19. Astrologist- Will create a birth chart and provide a horoscope, for a fee, and provide a neutral perspective/insight into a single event from the character's past based on the celestial alignment of the planets at that time. (u/azul_plains)
20. Beast Artist A painter who specializes in monsters in motion, who has several small peaceful pieces of non-violent grazing/hunting creatures and a large dynmaic canvas of an unusual enemy (such as a mindflayer or gnothic); will share the story of how they got inspiration for the work and give a little information on how the creature fights. (u/azul_plains)
21. Herbologist A component seller that specializes in twigs, leaves, spider webs, and other pieces useful for magical spells. Also sells healing salves and compotes, and a beautiful multicolored magical orchid in a sealed drop-resistant glass case that can be set in any position desired. (it functions like an immovable rod). (u/azul_plains)
22. Wand Specialist- Has a wide assortment of wands, most of which are cheap and designed as gifts for fun (sending out colored sparks, multicolored smoke, joke wand that makes a creepy laugh when tapped three times...); most expensive pieces are single use of a cantrip or spell like light (functions as a safe/lightweight one-use torch), create water, and goodberry.(u/azul_plains)
23. Madame Ruby - Sells rubies of different clarity and sizes, in intricate golld/silvemythril settings, in dagger handles, in woven handkerchiefs, and as carefully packaged spell components; most expensive piece is a blood-red ruby beaded necklace with several beads (each bead is a single-use cast of Fireball) (u/azul_plains)
24. Druid offering magical seeds and saplings (u/World_Of_Ideas)
25. Enchanter offering temporary enchantments on armor, weapons, and gear. (u/World_Of_Ideas)
26. Fortune teller offering a glimpse of your future
27. lluminator offering various magical lights (gems, head bands, lanterns, torches, etc) (u/World_Of_Ideas)
28. Magical appraiser. Will appraise and identify any magic item for a price. They can also find a buyer if your interested in selling (u/World_Of_Ideas)
29. Magical potter selling enchanted pottery (u/World_Of_Ideas)
30. Magic carpet salesman (u/World_Of_Ideas)
31. Magic mirror salesman (u/World_Of_Ideas)
32. Music shop. Sells magical musical instruments (u/World_Of_Ideas)
33. Origami mage selling magical paper constructs (u/World_Of_Ideas)
34. Smoke shop. Sells magical pipes and magical tobacco (u/World_Of_Ideas)
35. Summoner selling bound elementals or spirits (u/World_Of_Ideas)
36. Necromancer offering skeletons or zombies (u/World_Of_Ideas)
37. Rune carver, specifically for little amulets and talismans that imbues magic into the object. (u/smiles__)

It has barely been a week since early access was released but I am so stoked about the amount of content that's already in the game and can't wait for more. That being said I want to talk about potential hidden aspects for the 5 Nocturnal arms we have so far, I also wouldn't mind hearing some of your ideas too!
The main gimmick of the Hidden Aspects in the first game was that they were based on figures outside of Greek mythology, preferably some new mythologies maybe but nevertheless mainly not Greek.
Descura (Witch's Staff):
-Morgan Le Fay (Arthurian). I initially thought of Merlin but realised since witches play a huge role in the game that Morgana would be a better fit, also unintentional on my part but it'd be fun if both Zagreus and Melinoe's first weapons had aspects who opposed each other. Possibly given by Hecate
-Baba Yaga (Slavic). I saw some other people on this subreddit mention this and thought it was also cool and unique, can't think of anyone besides Hecate granting it
Lim and Oros (Twin Blades):
-Osiris (Egyptian). Mainly because I can easily imagine the sickle and dagger becoming his iconic crook and flail. If anyone here knows the game SMITE (I haven't played it but think some of the designs are neat), Osiris' crook and flail is just a sickle and whip, so maybe the hidden aspect could do something similar. Could be given by Chronos given his design reminds me of Egyptian gods tbh, similar to how Asterius gave the Aspect of Gilgamesh, but instead of giving it before the fight you have to defeat him first.
-Anansi (African). I randomly thought of this and realised it would be really cool to have a spider-based aspect ability, like having the blade special pull enemies towards each other with webs. Given by Arachne
Ygnium (Umbral Flames):
-Iblis (Islam). I struggled to think of good ideas for this one, also the torches are maybe my least favourite weapon atm tied with the skull, but I thought it'd be really cool to have a jinn-based aspect, although they already did Lucifer but I still think it'd be cool. Could be given by Hestia or more likely Hades.
Zorephet (Axe)-
-Thor (Norse). Given the other 2 aspects of Zorephet aren't axes, it isn't out of the question to have the most iconic weapon in all mythology, Mjolnir. Probably given by zeus
Skull of Revaal:
-Kali (Hindu). Known for wearing heads. could be given by Nemesis
-Yorick (the skull of the jester Hamlet holds). Given the way Melinoe holds Revaal, I was reminded of the iconic Hamlet line, I looked who the skull was and when I found out he was a jester thought it would be so cool to have a jester-themed aspect. maybe given by Hypnos if he ever wakes up.

The Times has a provocative story (paywalled, but if you can read the first few paragraphs at least) saying some people on social media are claiming it.
You can hear the theme in this video of the arrival of the Olympic torch in Marseilles.
What do you think?
I'm not sure I buy it. I wonder if people are referring to using similar intervals with different rhythm? I don't know.
Either way, I don't think it holds a candle torch to any of Williams' Olympic themes.

Hi All! Shipping is $6. All prices negotiable as I really just want to clear out this stash! Please feel free to low-ball me 🙂
__________________________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~PERFUME~~~~~
Nui Cobalt Designs full sizes:
Bee You Tiful (Honey-roasted pistachio and chestnut, pink magnolia, and sweet apple blossom.) - 5mL, decanted 2mL with clean pipette, so ~3mL left. $9 PENDING
Bee Kind to Yourself (White copal, blooming peony, honeyed tea, pink amber, and sheer summer-weight cashmere.) - 5mL, decanted 2mL with clean pipette, so ~3mL left. $9
Nui Cobalt Designs sample sizes: $2 each, all tested once.
Samba (Ripe golden starfuit, tart açaí berries, cocobolo wood and cool water lily in an infusion of bold hibiscus and Yerba Mate.)
Charleston (Crisp champagne, sugared bourbon, ginger root and birch bark, blonde tobacco, lemon creme and dry hinoki wood with the delicate flirtation of neroli.)
Victorian Burlesque (Indigo musk, sparkling plum wine, night blooming jasmine, blackcurrant jam, green cardamom and cinnamon crème brûlée.)
Cancan (Lavender lemon cupcakes and a touch of true cognac under ruffled red satin, sugared absinthe, and a wisp of fine tobacco in the footlights.)
Disco (Champagne, juicy purple plum, black styrax, creamy non-indolic jasmine, ylang ylang, and a twist of mandarin.)
Ecstatic Dance (Ceremonial cacao, rose-gold musk, raw honeycomb, pink grapefruit, glowing amber, and a trace of palo santo.)
East Coast Swing (Lush, genderless rose, pink peppercorn, bronze musk, copaiba balsam, antique oakwood, and a twist of yuzu.)
Saturn (Black oudh, imperial iris, bergamot, myrrh, patchouli, cypress, scorched poplar, tonka bean, and Moroccan musk.)
Melophilia (The rich mahogany, pale maple, and spruce woods of a violin, rosin on its bow, a vase of white heliotrope, dry vanilla, and French lemon verbena.)
Sphynx (Golden plum preserves, amber resin, warm santal, guaiac wood, frankincense, and a slender twist of yellow mandarin.)
Fairy Garden (Cool dewdrops cupped in clover leaves, early purple orchid, a porcelain thimble of green tea with oat milk, and frosted almond cakes served in an acorn cap.)
Sleeping Beauty & the Importance of Consent (Night-blooming flowers, white amber, Hawaiian and Australian sandalwoods, olive leaf, and Madagascar vanilla.)
Pele’s Fire (Sacred ʻōhelo berry, torch ginger, ʻōhiʻa flower, lehua honey, skin musk, and woodsmoke.)
Canoodling in a Cove (Salty skin, aquatic musk, Nag Champa, tiare, blue amber, and still-warm sand.)
Comfort & Joy (English tea, frothy vanilla creme, smoked ambrette, wood musk, tonka butter, and a blush of ripe apricot.)
STONE & WIT SAMPLES - all tested once, $4 each.
-Wandering Star (Pear, cashmere, iso e, guaicwood, brown sugar, white musks)
-Blackberry Heartwood (Blackberries, warm greens, sandalwood, amyris)
-Ashara (Nilgiri tea, black ink, white agar, palm dates)
NAVA
-Lilac Kobalt (Egyptian Lilac, Water Lily, Rare Pink Lotus, Studio Limited Kobalt (Vanilla Orchid Leaves) along with Blue Amber. 2021 blend) - FULL SIZE tested 3x. $20. PENDING
-Eternal Tut Ankh Amun (Bourbon Vanille Absolute, Crystalline Absolute, Tonka Absolute, Bastet's Vanilla Bean Absolute accord, and White Amber) - 2ml, BNNU, $10.
Deconstructing Eden
-Gymnopedie (Cold stone, raindrops, fog, and pale amber lights.) - 5mL, tested once. $12
-Augusta (Dark green leaves, cool night air, and, glorious gardenias blooming above it all.) - 5mL, tested once. $12
-Star Jasmine (Narcotic jasmine blooming on a rainy night.) - 5mL, tested once. $12
Alkemia
-Apsara (Dark purple hyacinth flowers and Darjeeling tea dance together in a sensually alluring spring pas de deux.) - 5mL extrait, roller ball top added by me, used once. $15.
BPAL SAMPLES - all BNNU, $4 each
-Mouse's Sad Long Tale (Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood.)
-Tweedledee (Ridiculous! Kumquat, white pepper, white tea and orange blossom.)
-A Rovin’ (Sultry red musk, heady jasmine, tobacco leaf, red sandalwood, hay sugar, golden honey, sweet carnations, and warm leather.)
~~~~~MAKEUP~~~~
Sydney Grace Lucky Peach - full pan eyeshadow, swatched only. $6
Rituel de Fille - Ghost Light rare light creme luminizer (used twice). $30
LINK TO NAIL POLISH DESTASH if interested!

Hey everyone, the May release cycle is about to begin and so it's time for the monthly list! This month is big like April was but in a very different way, focusing on originality and hype rather than sheer size. This month is defined by the release of some of the most wishlisted projects in existence, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th most wishlisted metroidvanias to be more precise, all at once! In general, the first half is dominated by pixel artstyle highly original metroidvanias while the second half is dominated by big mainline releases. Anyway, lets begin!

• ANIMAL WELL - 9 May: This retro artstyle metroidvania is one for those of you who mistakenly think the genre is going stale. You want originality? You got it. This is a metroidvania unlike any other. The only game even remotely similar to this is Rainworld but that game is not even a metroidvania. i think you need to just click the link and see the trailer for yourself (EPILEPSY WARNING). This is the 4th most wishlisted metroidvania on steam for a reason and after a very long period of development it is finally coming out. update: confirmed to be the biggest indie metroidvania success story in at least 2.5 years.
• You are Peter Shorts - 10 May: An 8 bit metroidvania where you play as an armless man who got captured by the government, sent to Area 51, and cloned. You have to rescue clones... and also fight clones. Yeah, this is quite silly but also VERY original and features a sound track that is authentically 8 bit (2A03+FDS) and incredibly good (seriously, listen to the music in the two trailers). According to the game's description the combat in this game is going to be similar to FIST. It also features a co-op mode for up to 2 players. It also features a super smash bros style multiplayer for up to 4 players, a postgame randomizer, and even unlockable bonus games. This has the potential to become a modern classic comparable to shovel knight (but a metroidvania). update: Appears to be really similar to tres-bashers, for better or worse. reception is mixed as a result of this and the game containing too many faults from the 8 bit era of video games. The dev should probably have watched episodes of "angry video game nerd" before releasing this game.
• Realm of I - 15 May: As a finnish indie metroidvania I suppose it is not too surprising that this 16 bit metroidvania feels so much like environmental station alpha and Noita, two other famous finnish indie games. This has a focus on an oppressively dark and isolating world full of secrets to unravel and explore along with ranged combat focusing on spell casting.
• Arcane Assembly - 17 May: Speaking of spell casting, Arcane assembly is coming out this month as well. In this highly original 16 bit metroidvania not only will be casting spells, you will be CRAFTING them too!
• Genopanic- 17 May: Out of nowhere, another metroid-like has suddenly gotten a release date.. and its in May! This 16 bit metroidvania has previously been featured in a steam next fest where it got a middling reception but there is reason to believe the full release will be significantly better. This is also another project that has been under development for a significant amount of time. update: not a metroidvania!
• Gestalt: Steam & Cinder - 21 May: At long last, Gestalt is finally coming out. This gorgeous 16 bit steampunk metroidvania has been under development for an ungodly amount of time, becoming one of the oldest games in many people's wishlists. It was featured in the October 2022 steam next fest where it was widely considered to be the best metroidvania demo of that fest. Since then it has grown to become the 5th most wishlisted metroidvania on steam and the 6th most followed one. delayed.
• Venture to the Vile - 22 May: After so many releases with an 8 bit or 16 bit artstyle you may be wanting something else for a change. This victorian 2.5D metroidvania will provide that change. In here, everyone is wearing animal masks for some reason. these masks do however do a great job of subtly projecting the personalities of their characters. This game is most similar to the last case of benedict Fox, but with less Lovecraftian themes and a simpler artstyle.
• Nine Sols - 29 May: The second final metroidvania to come out this month is none other than the third most wishlisted and third most followed metroidvania on steam. There hasn't really been a release with this much anticipation behind it since at least 2021. With that in mind, it is important to note that this gorgeous game inspired by taoist mythology and based on chinese culture is a SOULSLIKE metroidvania, one inspired by Sekiro. Yeah, sure, it doesn't have the same copy paste themes and graphics you find in most soulslike metroidvanias and it looks very original, but it is a soulslike metroidvania nonetheless. As such, you are advised to play the demo before you buy this one if you're not a soulslike fan.
• Overbowed - 31 May: Rounding up this month we have overbowed, a gameboy inspired 8 bit metroidvania that has some of the best graphics I've ever seen in a gameboy inspired metroidvania. The music is pretty great as well!

Aside from these releases we have a few interesting things happening in the indiesphere: A zeldalike/dungeon crawler hybrid called Pampas & Selene: The Maze of Demons is coming out on the 21st of May. Meanwhile in the experimental retro FPS realm, MULLET MADJACK is coming out on the 15 of May along with SELACO which is entering early access on the 31st of May. Speaking of early access, a metroidvania called Cosmic: a Journey Among Shadow has just entered early access.
And that's it! See you in the next list which should be coming in around a week.
Edit: added Overbowed to the list. And before you ask: All dates are in central european time.
Edit2: striked out Gestalt following an unfortunate delay
Edit3: Genopanic has been confirmed by both a early reviewer and the developer to NOT BE A METROIDVANIA. As such it has been striked out as well.

I googled, but didn't find many people talking about this, so I decided to make a thread myself. To start, the Halo Devices come from, as the name would imply, the Halo Stars.

Halo Devices are so named because they come from worlds within the volume of space known as the Halo Stars—a dangerous and illomened region that is bordered by several barbarous voids of space as well as a number of Imperial sectors including Scarus and Calixis.

• Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

An interesting detail we see in the 3rd edition codex for the Necrons is that during their first encounter with the Old Ones, they were pushed back to a specific system.

The Necrontyr were pushed back until they became little more than an irritation to the Old Ones, a quiescent peril clinging to the outer dark among the halo stars, exiled and forgotten.

• Necron Codex, 3rd Edition

We are told that the Halo Devices are from a xenos race that's older than the Eldar.

The race that made the Halo Devices is believed to have existed thousands of millennia ago and may even predate the Eldar.

• Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

And the only races we know of that are that old are the Old Ones, and the Necrons.

Just as the stars gave birth to creatures fitting to their ilk, so the planets eventually gave rise to life which began the long climb to sentience. First to cross the sea of stars was a race of beings called the Old Ones.
... As the Old Ones spread across the galaxy, younger, fiercer races struggled in their wake. The Necrontyr were such a race, born under a fearsome, scourging star, which uncaringly Grove their evolution forth with atomic winds and plasma storms.

• Necron Codex, 3rd Edition

The race that would become the Necrons began their existence under a fearsome, scourging star, billions of years before Mankind evolved on Terra.

• Necron Codex, 8th Edition

So the Necrons seem to fit both the location of where they are found, and general time time frame (I use that term loosely).
One of the Necrontyr's characteristics is that their raison d'etre is their all consuming search for immortality. Which they sought to extend through their sciences to no avail.

What little information is known of the Necrontyr tells that their lives were short and uncertain, their bodies blighted and consumed by the searing caress of their cruel star. They were a mercurial, morbid folk, their precarious lifespans riven from cradle to grave with constant loss.
The Necrontyr sought control of their destiny through science, but learned that they could not conquer the curse that had been encoded into their bodies. They persevered, yet still their accomplishments gained them naught. Their star still reigned over them as life-giver and death-god combined. Their cities were built in anticipation of their demise, the living becoming temporary residents hurrying through the sepulchres and vast tombs of their ancestors.
Unable to find peace on their own world, the Necrontyr blindly groped outward to other stars. Using stasis crypts and slow burning torch-ships, clad in living metal to resist the age-long Journeys through the void, they began to colonise distant planets. Sometime into their slow expansion, the Necrontyr encountered the Old Ones. The colonisation of these ultraintelligent mystics had been immeasurably swifter than that of the Necrontyr. That, and their immense longevity (nigh immortality) kindled a burning hatred in the Necrontyr, which ate at them spiritually as much as their hideous cancers consumed them physically. Why should one race be granted such long lives while their own were cut so cruelly short? Jealousy begets hatred and the Necrontyr turned their entire civilisation towards destroying the Old Ones and their spawn.

• Necron Codex, 3rd Edition

And one of the main properties of these Halo Devices is giving immortality to it's user.

The truth, however, is that the devices will indeed grant their possessor what he seeks—youth, vigour, and undying power, but in such a manner only the most deranged would choose.

​

They are believed to come from ancient and dead worlds and are said to grant immortality to those who possess them.

• Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

Although whether this is their intended effect, an unintended side effect by fusing to an organic being it wasn't made to be fused to, or something else, is unclear. It does, however, at least hint to us similar themes to the Necrons.

Whether the effects of these devices on human tissue is deliberate or not is unclear; if they were deliberate, it would indicate a callous genius as well as a farsighted malignancy. If the effects of the devices are accidental, it speaks of a terrifying power that could cause such a by-product unrelated to their true purpose.

• Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

One small detail caught my eye in regards to the shape of the Halo Devices.

The form a Halo Device takes has no influence over its powers. Some commonly encountered forms are spheres (also called “halo oculus” for their resemblance to eyes), flat ovoids the width of a human palm, broad hoops varying in size, or small scarab or fossil-like objects.

• Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

Which is a peculiar detail, considering the scarab is a very Egyptian-esque symbol, and Necrons are abundant in Egyptian aesthetics, not to mention scarabs. Though it could mean nothing.
Another interesting detail is that the Halo Devices seem to be a very anti warp technology, as they cannot bond with someone who is corrupted by chaos/uses the warp.

A character with a Dark Pact, who is possessed, or who is a psyker (or the like) cannot bond with a Halo Device—the device will accept no master or influence but itself.

• Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

Which is very interesting, as the only race that we know of that's known to be anathema to the warp are the Necrons. To the extent that their grand plan is to seal the Warp completely from the Materium.

At the same time, and in response to the opening of the Great Rift, anti-Chaos protocols have released a long-imprisoned sect of Crypteks known as the Technomandrites. It was the command of the Silent King himself that saw these beings interred, for their sheer brilliance eclipsed that of all their rivals and - by forming a single, united guild - they risked becoming a power bloc that could eclipse the Triarch themselves. Yet now Szarekh seeks to implement a plan so vast in scope and ambitious in scale that he has chosen to treat with the Technomandrites and attempt to win their favour.
In the case of many - though by no means all - he has succeeded, for the Silent King’s scheme is a master stroke. By employing arrays of immense, negatively polarised noctilith pylons, he seeks to create zones that Humanity - in their dawning terror and ignorance - have christened Pariah Nexuses. Each of these regions span interstellar gulfs, their malign energies radiating out through the webs of pylons from one world to the next, and blanketing swathes of the galaxy in a shroud of soul-crushing energies.
Where the cyclopean pylons rise to the skies, entire regions of realspace are cut off from the warp as though by a fractured wall of glass. Though the effect is not absolute, warp travel and translation, astropathic messaging and the manifestation of daemonic or psychic energies become vastly more difficult. Should the scattered nexus sites extend until their fields merge, Szarekh believes that the threat of Chaos could be defeated for evermore.

• Necron Codex, 10th Edition

Now that I, have hopefully, established a plausible enough connection between the Necrons and the Halo Devices, brings me to the crux of what gave me this idea in the first place.
The way the Halo Devices work, is that, when they bond with you they cause you to go through various stages, each degrading you more and more. You begin to act erratically, develop an uncontrollable taste for flesh and even your finger bones grow into large talons.

He no longer sleeps, eats, or drinks normal food, but as he slips further into madness, he develops strange addictions and insatiable hungers that he must regularly indulge or grow increasingly unstable and sickly. These addictions often include spending long periods in total darkness or immersion in solar radiation, and the hungers are often for substances like human tissue—such as blood, flesh, and cranial fluid.

​

Instances of burning, radiant eyes, corpse-like flesh, distorted gaunt features, mottled or armoured hide-like skin, and even a fine beetle-like carapace are all recorded, and almost invariably the fingers of the hands transform into long talons of exposed bone.

• Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

Which, consequently, is exactly what happens to the Necrons cursed by Llandu’gor's plague, when they turn into the Flayed Ones.

Their curse was the parting gift of one of the C’tan: Llandu’gor, the Flayer. It is said that when the Necrons turned upon the C’tan, the Flayer was not merely splintered as were his brothers, but utterly obliterated. Yet, in his dying moments, he called down a terrible curse upon his betrayers, tainting them with an echo of his fearsome hunger. ... A Necron over whom the flayer curse has taken hold suffers a slow and tortuous erosion of sanity. It begins to revel in the bloody ruin of fleshed foes, and is driven to claim gruesome trophies of skin, sinew and bone. As the madness progresses, the victim becomes compelled to feast upon the fallen. It cannot actually digest or consume flesh in any sense – the blood simply seeps through the gaps in its exoskeleton to clog its joints and pool at its feet – yet still the Necron is driven to gorge itself upon gore in a doomed attempt to sate an unquenchable lust. Physical changes occur shortly thereafter, wracking and twisting the afflicted Necron’s form into something as warped in body as it is in function.

• Necron Codex, 8th Edition

The living metal of their bodies becomes corrupt, working physical changes that usually include the emergence of long metallic talons.

• Necron Codex, 10th Edition

There's too many coincidences for me to look past here. I like to think that the Halo Devices are a result of a cult of Necrontyr devoted to Llandu’gor, or maybe remnants of experimentation the C'tan did to his Necrontyr followers.
What do you guys think?

Did anyone actually side with her on Footfall? And if you did I'm just curious as to what you/your characters thought process was to follow her?
I was playing this last night, first playthrough and I get to footfall. To which of course I already knew Xavier was there so I figured things were probably going to have changed a bit sure. Head guy of the inquisition, he's probably gonna clean up a bit because, hell, he's there and trying to clean up the Koronus expanse.
When I actually entered the atrium I actually said out loud. "Holy shit." Once I started to see everything. Up until this point in the game I've been almost totally even in iconoclast and Dogmatic. Completely on accident but to the point I haven't even reached Votary in either of them but I'm close to votary in both.
Then I see her torch some people for food theft. Little harsh, but hey, I had to supply the station with food so maybe depriving the extra food killed other people idk.
At that point I also couldn't say I fully disagreed with her extreme methods. Especially under the eye of Xavier.
Then my character noticed she was twitchy and hopped up on stimulants to keep going. But I genuinely physically recoiled when it described how she was holding a silver spoon with the guy next to her having his brain exposed to air. I also said out loud. "Oh God no."
Only for moments after, her to scoop some up and eat it only to nearly yell. "OH GOD NO."
So, people who did side with Incendia during this part.
1.) How-? 2.) What was your characters motivation to do so?
Also, what are you all's thoughts about the possibility of her having fallen to Slaanesh? There is repeated themes of people falling to chaos without even realizing. Like with the technomats on the space hulk. Seeing as Calligos was a full fledged Khornate worshipper. It seems to me that her degenerate actions like eating bits of someone's brain. (Which just thinking about that still turns my stomach. 😂 well written.) Seems to indicate to me that either she has fallen or is in the process of falling toward Slaanesh worship.
Just curious about anyone who sees this thoughts on the topic. Thanks!

Finished the First Law Trilogy 1.5 months ago, then finished listening to Best Served Cold a month ago, and then The Heroes a couple weeks ago (took me just 11 days to finish Red Country I was THAT invested in it). I gave my thoughts on all of them here, now I guess I’ll do the same for RC. Steven Pacey once again ACES every voice he does, what a legend.
Red Country has easily become my favourite standalone and perhaps my overall fav book too in the series alongside LAOK. Mainly because it had two of my top 3 fav characters in the series (Lamb and Cosca). I also loved the Western theme, even though it’s not like I’m a huge fan of Westerns. Joe Abercrombie absolutely nailed everything in this one, probably some of his best work yet imo. I thoroughly enjoyed the story overall, and liked the plot more than the previous two standalones. Even though we got just 2 main POVs and some minor ones, those minor POVs were brief, but very informative, like we got to know what’s going on inside each side’s character’s head and they all felt like real people. Joe wrote them all so good. Especially the Fellowship, most of them were so lovable and their relationship/bonding with each other was so wholesome. The characters were just AMAZING, not just the main ones but some the side ones too. I’ll rank and talk about some of them now (btw major SPOILERS regarding the characters’ fates [and Lamb’s actual identity so pls don’t read further if you don’t know]):
Major characters: 1-Lamb/Logen Ninefingers “The Bloody-Nine”. Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he’s the GOAT. The main reason why I loved Red Country SO MUCH. He was already my 2nd fav in the entire series (by an extremely narrow margin), but after this I’ll have to put him at Number 1, tied with Glokta. Seeing the Bloody-Nine from different POVs was absolutely terrifying. Unlike in the original trilogy where we knew exactly when the personalities were switched, here at times I had had no clue whether it was Logen or it was the Bloody-Nine. He was soo unpredictable and unhinged here, and I absolutely loved it. He had so many memorable moments. The first one was that tavern scene: “The ends of your f#cking legs”, I already made a post on it here, to summarise: I got CHILLS seeing the Bloody-Nine at work after 13 years. And then that moment where he attacks Sangeed and his ghosts was brutal. But perhaps my favourite Bloody-Nine moment was his fight against Glama Golden. The way he maniacally smiled at Golden, looking at him through his missing finger after eating some of his best shots/punches, and Golden recognising who “Lamb” actually was, and realising he’s totally screwed and that it was indeed gonna be his last fight ever… I was smiling throughout that chapter with GOOSEBUMPS all over my body. Another bone-chilling B9 moment was when he told Jubair: “God? Gone. But I’m here” from the shadows and Jubair feeling FEAR for the first time, wow. I loved his friendship with Savian, those two put up a great fight against Cosca and his men. Overall, I felt like Logen had finally come to terms with who he actually was, instead of giving himself false solace. Though I still think there is a lot of good in him, but that darkness inside him always ends up getting the better of him. By the end I felt like he had totally accepted who he was. He just couldn’t escape from his past, and left his new family in order to protect them. At the end he rides off into the sunset, which I consider to be the happiest possible ending for him and the perfect sendoff, I’m totally satisfied because, well, you have to be realistic about these things. Much better than killing him off. Still alive… he’s still alive, thankfully. I don’t think any human can kill the Bloody-Nine in combat, at this point he’s like some supernatural force. Also, I may sound stupid but whenever he spoke some of his iconic quotes I teared up for some reason because I missed them so much. “Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live with the fear of it.” is still my fav quote from the series. I just absolutely love this guy. (Sh*t I’m sorry guys this got longer than expected. Used up all my energy for Logen, I’ll try to keep the rest shorter.)
2-Nicomo Cosca. The famed soldier of fortune. My 3rd fav character. Woah, he was a straight up villain in this one. Seeing him from a different POV as an antagonist was very interesting. His fall from grace as he got older was brilliantly executed imo. Even though he wasn’t a nice person before, his charm and good wits and humour made him extremely likeable. Here he’s just a washed up old man trying to relive his glory days, caring less and less about everything else. His mercenaries were worse than animals, and he didn’t do anything to stop them despite Temple’s objections. All he cared about was that gold, and he was willing to do anything necessary to get it, even if it meant killing children. That last scene where there’s a standoff between him/friendly and Logen’s group, my heart was in my mouth. Temple beautifully exposed Cosca on that whole gold business. He just wanted all the gold “just because”, even Cosca couldn’t answer why. And then his anticlimactic and tragic death at the hands of Sworbreck was shocking and well deserved. I remember almost tearing up when he was about to die for Monza back in BSC. But here I didn’t feel anything but pity. Hats off to Joe Abercrombie’s writing here, one of the best characters I’ve seen in all of fiction.
3-Temple. His character development throughout the book was some of the best in the entire series, 2nd best only to Jezal’s progression imo. His POV and inner monologues were awesome. Temple went from repeatedly failing trying to be a better man, always ending up taking the easy way, to finally succeeding and taking the hard way when he was ready to sacrifice himself to Cosca to save those children, was amazing, just like how his mentor Haddish Kahdia did. He’s definitely one of the nicest characters in the series, and had some very wholesome moments. Him happily building Abram Majud’s house was so wholesome. One of the most heartwarming scenes in the book was when the entire fellowship is reunited under the roof of the house built by Temple, and they’re all partying and drinking there. Then when him and Shy finally made out, was a satisfying moment. Lamb’s reaction to that was hilarious, and Temple’s reaction to finding out that everyone knew what was going on between the two was even funnier. Him and Shy had some amazing chemistry. I was rooting for them right from the start when Shy found him half-drowned. And was so glad when they ended up together. Joe finally giving our characters a happy ending? A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
4-Shy South. I really liked her POV too. Her changing dynamics with Lamb were very interesting. Going from thinking of him as a coward to fearing him, and then eventually accepting him as her father that she never had. I chuckled when she started calling Lamb “his majesty” after learning he was King of the Northmen. She’s now my 4th fav female character in the series after Monza, Ferro, and Ardee. Her banter with Temple was top-tier lol. Shy and Temple made a really cute couple. I’m glad they got a Happily Ever After.
Honourable Mentions: •Caul Shivers. For some reason I just had that feeling that he’ll be in this one for sure, and I got soo excited when he appeared, and got reunited with Cosca and Friendly. He’s now officially the main character of these standalones for me, appearing in each one. Such an intriguing character. I’ve already talked about him so much in my previous posts, but I still can’t prevent myself from going into some details here. That last chapter was phenomenal. That Wild West standoff between him and Logen, Shivers looking at Logen’s new family realising that Logen is trying to be a better man. He was fully prepared to fight the Bloody-Nine, but at that point he decided to drop it. I think this was because he himself was trying to be a better man too back during BSC. He proved it here by forgiving Logen in a way, because he stopped trying to avenge his brother, and became a better man. An interesting thing to note was when Shivers looked at Ro, he saw hatred in her eyes. But ironically, Ro had hatred for Lamb and wanted Shivers to kill him. Shivers probably took that as hate for him, like if he had killed Logen, the cycle of hatred wouldn’t have ended, he thought maybe she’ll come after him later for revenge. This is what I gathered from that scene (btw no way Shivers could’ve killed him lol, the Bloody-Nine obliterates him 10/10 times). Another interesting thing, both Shivers and Logen had the Maker’s swords. In a way it also felt like a passing of the torch too, especially since Shivers has Logen’s former sword. Shivers is such a fascinating character. I already said it in my previous post, and I’ll repeat it again: Joe is cooking up something special with Caul Shivers. I think I’ll definitely see more of him in the next trilogy.
•Dab Sweet. Cool old dude. Really enjoyed his character throughout the story. Though he did do some shady stuff such as teaming up with the Ghosts, and inadvertently causing the death of Leef (ik he specifically told the Ghosts not to kill anyone, but he should’ve expected it). At least he somewhat redeemed himself at the end. That grand entrance with all the released horses running straight at Cosca’s men was absolutely brilliant. The hero finally lived up to the legend.
•The MayoCarlot dan Eider. I don’t think it was ever confirmed it was her but I always got that feeling from the start that this Mayor lady had to be someone we’ve known before, and Eider was the only one that came to my mind. My suspicions were raised when it was mentioned she had marks around her neck (thanks to Shylo Vitari), and finally confirmed when she came face to face with her old frenemy Cosca and had that brief conversation. Whenever something crazy is about to go down this lady is always present there lmao. I wonder if we’ll ever see her again.
•Iosiv Lestek. The man, the myth, the LEGEND. I remember he played Bayaz literally in front of the actual Bayaz back in TBI, and the First of the Magi was so annoyed lmao. And in RC, he did always claim his best performance was ahead of him. He played the Imperial Legate Sarmis to perfection, casually slapped Temple, and then made fools out of inquisitor Lorsen and Nicomo freakin Cosca himself LMAO. Saved the town, and Temple in particular. I guess this was him repaying his debt to Temple, who brought him into his own tent to give him a place to sleep. Temple’s kind-heartedness paid off at the end. Also, his line about appreciating happy endings more and more as he got older was beautiful, and fitting since Red Country did have the happiest ending compared to all the previous books.
Dang it, my posts keep getting longer than I intend them to be. I apologise if I bored you again. Thanks for reading this far. Let me know your thoughts and your favourite characters in Red Country! Next up I’ll be starting Sharp Ends, and I think I read somewhere that it’s a collection of short stories, interesting…

I'm working on a horror movie music playlist and looking for some more really good music to add to it. With the exception of A Nightmare Before Christmas, I have nothing from the 90's, so any good soundtracks from that decade would be particularly appreciated.
Here is the music on the playlist so far:
1408 (Gabriel Yared) - Room 1408 / Inside the Vent
A Cure for Wellness (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Clearly He Has Lost His Mind
A Field in Englad (Jim Williams) - Metallic Fields 1 / The Damp of Hell
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Chalres Bernstein) - Dream Attack
A Quiet Place (Marco Beltrami) - Rising Pulse / Old Man / It Hears You
A Quiet Place 2 (Marco Beltrami) - Training Day / Entering the Station
A Tale of Two Sisters (Lee Byong Woo) - Wistful Memory / Dark Corridor version 3
Alien (Jerry Goldsmith) - Main Title / Eos
Annabelle (Joseph Bishara) - Annabelle Soaring / Not My Blood / Broken Needle
Annabelle Comes Home (Joseph Bishara) - Hauntings Compel
Annabelle: Creation (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Jannabelle / Demonquake
Antichrist (Kristian Eidnes & Lars Von Trier) - Credits part 2
Antiviral (E.C. Woodley) - Hallucination
Antlers (Javier Navarrete) - In a Box / Those Who Destroy the Earth
Autopsy of Jane Doe, The (Daniel Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans) - Tingling / Stigmata
Babadook, The (Jed Kuzel) - Don't Let It In - Ruby's Party
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Gordy Haab) - This Is Really Happening
Berberian Sound Studio (Broadcast) - Found Scalded, Found Drowned
Beyond the Black Rainbow (Jeremy Schmidt) - Forever Dilating Eye
Beyond the Gates (Wojciech Golczewski) - Under the Bed / Gordon's Dream
Bird Box (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) - Undercurrents
Black Phone (Mark Korven) - Main Title / Flashback - Don't Go Upstairs
Blackcoat's Daughter (Elvis Perkins) - Incantation / Roseblud / His Majesty
Blob, The (Burt Bacharach & Mack David) - The Blob performed by 'The Five Blobs'
Bodies Bodies Bodies (Disasterpeace) - Sophie
Bone Tomahawk (Jeff Herriott & S. Craig Zahler) - The Den of Boar Tusks
Bubba Ho-Tep (Brian Tyler) - The Ancient Curse / Elder Hole / The Mummy's Eye
Byzantium (Javier Navarrete) - Clara Immortal / Secret / An Empty Island
Cabin Fever (Natrhan Barr) - Main Title - Infectious Dog / What to Do
Cell, The (Howard Shore) - Main Titles / Victim Dioramas / Emperor Stargher
Color Out of Space (Colin Stetson) - Contact / Taken / It Burns / Reservoir
Conjuring 2, The (Joseph Bishara) - As Close to Hell / Tented Entity
Conjuring, The (Joseph Bishara) - Witch Comes Through
Conjuring, The: The Devil Made Me Do It (Joseph Bishara) - Wilds of the Devil
Constantine (Brian Tyler & Klaus Badelt) - Lucifer
Crimes of the Future (Howard Shore) - Brecken / Body Is Reality / Future
Crimson Peak (Fernando Velázquez) - Ghost III / Ghost I / Ghost II
Dawn of the Dead (Goblin) - Zombi
Dead Don't Die (Sqürl) - This Is All Gonna End Badly
Descent, The (David Julyan) - The Bone Dam / The Lair / The Tunnel Collapses
Devil's Backbone, The (Javier Navarrete) - This Is Me
Evil Dead (Joseph LoDuca) - Rape of the Vines / Automatic Writing
Evil Dead 2013 (Roque Banos) - Abominations Rising / Natalie Hunting
Exorcism of Emily Rose, The (Christopher Young) - The Exorcism / Third Possession
Exorcist, The (Mike Oldfield) - Tubular Bells excerpt
Friday the 13th (Henry Mandredini) - Overlay of Evil
Gaia (Pierre-Henri Wicomb) - Lives Separated / Mushroom Apostles / The Offering
Get Out (Michael Abels) - Surgery Prep / Mental Prep / Jeremy Attacks
Goodnight Mommy (Olga Neuwirth) - Torching / From Field to Village to Church
Gretel and Hansel (Robin Coudert) - Burn / Doom / Kids
Hagazussa (MMMD) - Hagazussa Madichon
Halloween (John Carpenter) - Halloween Theme
Halloween 2018 (John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, Daniel A. Davies) - Michael Kills Again
Halloween Ends (Daniel A. Davies) - Where Is Jeremy? / Evil Eyes / Kill the Cop
Halloween Kills (Daniel A. Davies) - Payback
Hellraiser (Christopher Young) - The Cenobites
Hereditary (Colin Stetson) - Party, Crash / Aftermath / Seance-Sleepwalking
Impetigore (Bembi Gusti, Tony Merle, Aghi Narottama, & Mian Tiara) - Bloody Puppet Story
In Fabric (Cavern of Anti-Matter aka Tim Gane of Stereolab) - High Street Spasm
It Follows (Disasterpeace) - Old Maid / Heels / Company / Doppelganger / Father
Last House on the Left (David Hess) - Intro, Opening Credits
Let Me In (Michael Giacchino) - Los Alamos / Acid Test Dummy
Lighthouse, The (Mark Korven) - Filthy Dog / Why'd Ya' Spill Yer Beans?
Mandy (Jóhann Jóhannsson) - Black Skulls / Waste
Men (Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow) - Runaway-Crash / Fuck This / The Green Man
Midsommar (Bobby Krlic aka Haxan Cloak) - Hålsingland
Mother! (Alec Johnson & Kathie Talbot) - Trauma / Greed Pendulum / Puzzle
Night of the Demons (Dennis Michael Tenney) - Theme
Nightmare Before Christmas (Danny Elfman) - This Is Halloween
Nope (Michael Abels) - Progressive Anxiety / Blood Rain / It's in the Cloud
Nun, The (Abel Korzeniowski) - Corridor of Crosses / Anything but Holy
Omen, The (Jerry Goldmisth) - Ave Satani
Only Lovers Left Alive (Jozef van Wissem) - In Templum Dei / Sola Gratia Part I
Pearl (Tyler Bates) - What About Your Dog / The Whole World Is Gonna Know My Name
Psycho (Bernard Herrmann) - Main Title / The Murder
Rosemary's Baby (Krzysztof Komeda) - Main Tile with vocals by Mia Farrow / Through the Closet
Shining, The (Weny Carlos) - Main Title / (Kyrzysztof Penderecki) - Utenja Ewangelia / (Bela Bartok) - Music for Percussion, Strings, and Celesta / (Ray Noble) - Midnight, the Stars, and You / (Henry Hall) - Home
Slice (Ludwig Göransson and Nathan Matthew David) - That's One Way to Do It /
Smile (Cristobal Tapia De Veer) - Laura Smile / Believe / She's Gonna Die
Stonehurst Asylum (John Debney) - Electrocution & Lamb's Story Revealed
Studio 666 (John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies)- Studio 666 Theme
Suspiria (Goblin) - Susperia
Suspiria 2018 (Thom Yorke) - A Choir of One / Olga's Destruction / Volk
Tenebrae aka Unsane (Claudio Simonetti) - Darkness
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Wayne Bell & Tobe Hooper) - untitled
Thelma (Ola Fløttum) - Heksemontasjen / Thelma og Anja / Rulletekst
Thing, The (Ennio Morricone) - Contamination
Tombs of the Blind Dead (Antón García Abril) - Theme
Train to Busan (Jang Young-gyu) - Daejeon Station / First Attack
Tumbbad ( Jesper Kyd) - Hastar / Family Business / The Initiation / Descending
Us (Michael Abels) - Anthem / Run / Battle Plan / Home Invasion
VVitch, The (Mark Korven) - A Witch Stole Sam / Caleb's Seduction
Wailing, The (Dalpalan) - The Strangers
X (Tyler Bates) - Tell Me I Was Special / I Was Young Once / Our Secret / Dolls

Have an MCP lot im looking to trade or sell. Painted in a hologram theme.
Looking for Paypal, malifaux, sw legion or shatterpoint, and most any Warhammer. Let me know what you have!
https://imgur.com/a/wCP1Uf7
Whole lot $250 shipped
BLACK ORDER Thanos Ebony maw Corvus glaive Black dwarf Proxima midnight
SENTINELS 2 sentinels apocolypse (3d)
SHIELD and CABAL Red skull Zemo Cross bones Sin (3d) Ultron Black widow Fury and coulson (3d) War machine Winter shoulder Falcon
MIDKNIGHT SONS Ghost rider (3d) Daredevil with ninjas Moonknight (3d) Blade (3d) Dr voodo (3d) Iron fist (3d) Punisher Dominio Dr strange
AVENGERS and FANTASTIC 4 Ant man Captain america Iron man Thor Hulk Mr fantastic (3d) Invisible woman (3d) Human torch (3d) Thing (3d) Dr doom (3d)
XMEN Professor x (3d) Iceman (3d) Magik Cable Multiple man (3d) Deadpool Bob Psylocke (3d) Ice man 3d
Beast Jean grey 3d Rogue Colossus Cyclops Storm Gambit Wolverine Night crawler 3d Archangel 3d
BROTHERHOOD Magneto Mystique Juggernaut Blob Pyro Quicksilver Scarlet witch Sabertooth Toad Sinister

Hello, everyone!
My name is Ian, and I'm a seasoned DM (3+ years) looking for a handful of players to adventure in the cursed land of Barovia! It'll be weekly on Roll20 (which I'm still pretty new at, I'm used to being in-person), at a specific day and time that I'll figure out once I get a sense of who is available and when. The campaign will most likely start on May 17th, 18th, or 19th, and then once a week from there. This is open to new players as well! We will likely be playing using a Discord voice channel.
Basic information: Start at 3rd level, using any official material you care to. If you want to roll ability scores, that'll happen in a Discord group I'll start. I don't keep track of ammunition/food/torches, or encumbrance so long as we're all reasonable about it. It will likely be milestone leveling.
Anything homebrewed has to be run by me first. If you want to change some features regarding race/class/background, just ask! You can assume swapping racial ability score improvements around (getting +2 Int and Wis on a Mountain Dwarf instead of +2 Str and Con) or background skill proficiencies is fine by me, but again, just ask! Also, I'm certainly open to homebrewing something to fit an idea you have, or if you like something but feel like it just isn't good (cough Four Elements Monk cough).
Fair warning, Curse of Strahd does include a number of dark themes, including obsessive and abusive 'love', child abuse/death, and lot of other terrible things! It's not a nice place . . . but you can make it better.
If you're interested, comment or PM me!

We now know that Hi-Rez plans to go back to the drawing board a bit with Hecate, and I wanted to know what exactly the community is expecting them to do this time around.
My friends and I compiled our own hopes for Hecate below, depending on what exactly they mean by going back on her kit and themes. Our own personal hope is that they decide to roll back on her visuals and kit both, because we do not think she really delivers "Hecate" very well at all.

Kit Changes

Changing the portal ability, the purple debuff ability, and the utimate are probably the best way to go. They seem to be the least interesting and least related to Hecate overall. - Tartarus Cell: They could honestly keep this almost exactly how it is, a circle that opens up and does damage, but maybe make it more interesting. Rather than it just opening up and bursting and immediately going away, maybe she summons ghosts from Tartarus? Maybe a titan's hand comes out and hits people? There really is a lot you can with it already just being based on Tartarus. - Traverse Worlds: Arguably the worst of her abilities, they kind of overembellished what it does when in reality it doesn't really do anything. Hecate was known for protecting the crossroads and this ability seems to be in reference. We think they could spice this up with one of two ideas primarily: the first being to simply copy Seris from Paladins where Hecate enters her own realm, removing map walls temporarily for herself and walking wherever she pleases. The second would be some kind of buff stim where she separates into three bodies, allowing her to cast her abilities three at a time at reduced damage or something, maybe she just buffs them to do cooler stuff. - Open The Gates: Which doesn't open any gates or relate to it at all. We think this ability could honestly just be ditched entirely. Mage ultimates that are just "giant beam" or "giant ball" are typically not the best thematically for the character they're on and seem out of place and kind of lazy sometimes? It sucks that Hecate, someone with such potential, has also gotten "giant beam" as an ult. We didn't even come up with an ult because there's genuinely so many ideas they could go with that we can't list them all.

Visuals

Her visuals have also been a big talking point. Many people have brought up that she doesn't really look like Hecate either, which is both fair and up for debate. It is true that Hecate does often show up in singular form and is often just wielding torches and looks pretty simple. She is also known as Hecate the Bright or Guiding, so the color scheme isn't the worst option. It is more common, however, that Hecate shows up in triple bodied form with three faces and six arms. She is often referred to as dark, spooky, and sometimes wearing crimson, which is a symbol of the underworld. It's what tends to make her unique and stand out, and for Smite the characters are often designed to do just that. They've also been on a kick lately of giving skins huge back pieces and wings and giant embellishments, so it's bizarre that they chose to do almost nothing for her. It's also a little bumming that her familiars essentially don't show up at all aside from a ring on her finger. Let them show in her idle animations, maybe as the symbols for her passive.
Hecate's visual effects and themes also seem to have skewed the wrong way; while it's true she is related to the moon and stars, Hecate is primarily associated with the Earth, she is a cthonic goddess. The design, colors, and effects they went with evoke more of a star goddess, you could honestly call her Zorya or Astraea and it would be more fitting than Hecate currently. We also bothered making edits of Hecate based on what the community has been suggesting visually (the render is from SmolWolf/@M_MRL_Paladins on Twitter!) and we think some of these would be neat to capitalize on. They're very simple changes and would bring the goddess to life how she is meant to be.
What are you guys' thoughts on her and what you hope they should do?