/uw Did you know? One classic literary inspiration, of the barbarian. Conan the Barbarian. He may not be that smart in terms of academia or the sciences, but then, he's portrayed as sharp, observant, adaptable and capable of sophisticated reasoning.

He frequently survives in situations where strength won't work. He lies. He sneaks. He disguises himself. He steals. He sets traps. He observes people and figures out their motives. He exploits political conflicts.

He is also educated. He isn't an illiterate caveman. In fact, he can perfectly read and write. He's traveled through an enormous number of cultures and has picked up languages, customs, religions and political knowledge along the way. And his education is practical. So, strategic, street, and survival smart, adapts fast, reads maps and environments, with intuition, and all of that.

Funnily enough, the way he's a barbarian is that he's one in the cultural and political sense, someone outside the "civilized kingdoms". But eventually, well, he became king. But eh. Yeah. Though he might not be academia and university smart, he isn't a dumb stereotype brute.

---

Anyways. For a random thing but for Thorne, I've imagined him being barbarian/fighter, but he's less than the dumb brute type, but the ye olde martial archetype like Conan the Barbarian. The example I've told.

So he's like, he's a physical type, yes, but he's quite literate, and smart in other ways. Strategic, street, and survival smart. Adapts fast to unfamiliar environments. Skilled in reading maps, with situational and environmental intuition. And he's also literate. He can read, definitely, and would raise an eyebrow if you assume he can't just because he's supposed to be the "I hit the monster with a greatsword" guy.

Although, he's not that kind of a big academic achiever. He's just going to stare for a few seconds, if you give him some high university-level algebra, then just leave as he has other things to do.

- The Infinite Multiverse -

The infinite multiverse, of the worlds, and beyond, that kind of stuff.

• By the infinite multiverse, I genuinely meant the infinite multiverse. It is truly infinite, without any beginning nor end. The true infinity. Any greater structure, hyperverse, outerverse, omniverse or any such terms are meaningless oxymoronic shams. Any word or classification that tries to circumvent these by semantics is utter stupidity.
• Since the multiverse is truly infinite, any claim that tries to establish itself over all of existence or the multiverse is similarly bogus. Infinite power within one being, is a logical fallacy and does not exist, I shall not elaborate. Anyways, something may interact or affect a part of it, but the totality of it, is an impossibility. Asgorath did not create all of the multiverse. The Lady of Pain's words of creation did not truly alter everything. Chaos and Order aren't concepts that apply in the infinite creation. Sigil, while truly connected to many places in the multiverse, cannot be the center (although you can try to argue everything in the multiverse is technically the center anyways). And so, and so.
• Multiple or even contradictory cosmologies can exist, in the infinite multiverse. Planescape's Great Wheel cosmological model exists, containing its infinite Outer Planes, Inner Planes, Material Realms, and such. Eberron's Celestial Orrery with its differing model of the planes might exist. The Far Realm might as well also contain infinite realms that way. Within the infinity, another infinity might as well be inside it, so differing cosmologies, is just another part of the infinite multiverse.
• And within the infinite multiverse, perhaps, other worlds, many worlds can be reached. Of the DnD settings of Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Dark Sun (albeit quite hard), and many, many more. Or even, outside DnD, such as Golarion, might be visited one day. Or perhaps, Earth. Or perhaps, sometimes, something more esoteric, unique, and different, such as the World of Darkness, World of Pandemonium (Not necessarily DnD's Pandemonium, but the worlds of Runes of Pandemonium and Witch Hunter Izana), Heavenly Frontier (my original sci-fi setting, would post on the sub sometime in the future.), and beyond, anything with my right vibe, when the time comes. And my works can perhaps, sometimes, cross with each other.

- The World of the Lord of Madness -

The world where Vaelion, the Master, the Lord of the Theatre, resides. Of A Twisted Failed Campaign. I'm not going to name the specific world due to personal reasons. But a lot of lore sprinkled here are smoking guns.

• It's quite a few years after the war that ravaged The Continent ended. The party were born a few years up to a few decade after The Treaty held. There are still vestiges of war, the world's advancing, but there's still a few worries.
• The events take place a few decades after the canon "present year", so there's room for the setting to move on a bit, and thus, have that period play out for the four's backstories. Before the castle, the four adventurers moved around the main continent, coming from multiple nations, adventuring, scraping by, and generally living their lives before the last, ill-fated delve onto the castle.
• The castle itself, Castle Gylvarie, or the Mad Playwright's Castle, exists in a dimension inside the setting's underdark analog. Not your typical underground cave system in the usual DnD settings; this underdark analog is, in this setting, a more or so a higher-dimensional superstructure beneath the planet, full of pocket realms and hidden dimensions. The castle itself sits on one of these planes, and the stage itself is alive. Also, there's a lot of other Lords of Madness sealed inside the Underworld. At least six, plus the Lord of the Theatre. So.
• The campaign of the band of four started in the 1036th year, and eventually failed in the 1040th Year, when they delved into The Underworld, to seek the treasures of the Castle Gylvarie.

- The World of the Dragon-Archmage -

The world where Yiakhzmat, the Dragon-Kaiser resides. Of The Dragon's Transmuted Consorts. If you want a name and being more specific, The Forgotten Realms, Realmspace, the world of Toril, and Faerun.

• The Citadel of the Dragon-Kaiser is located within Chult, in one abandoned ruins of the Sarrukh.
• The Dragon-Kaiser himself arrived from another reality, around the 14th-Century Dalereckoning, cleared the ruin of all the undead that infested it, then went on a mass-migration and movement of their former territory and population, epic and high magic. Such as the gate, genesis, wish, and epic seed: transport spells. Then made it so that it looks like just another inconspicuous ruin in a monster-infested forest in nowhere.
• The campaign of the troupe of four started in 1501 Dalereckoning, and eventually failed in 1505 Dalereckoning, when they took a dragon-hunting mission from Port Nyanzaru.
• Funnily enough enough, the dragon hunting mission was not targeting the Dragon-Kaiser in question, but another dragon and their kobold servants which is apparently terrorizing the area at the moment, so they got transformed to monstergirl consorts instead after raiding the wrong dragon lair.

--- The Canon ---

The most meta, and out-universe layer. Which personally, I have pet peeves with, and I don't like 4th-wall-breaks and similar stuff because it breaks my immersion, but a few bit of things might be clarified, so. Notes within notes.

• Canon does not exist. Well, a strict one anyways. I am whimsical and might rewrite or retcon at my own pleasure. But if it's featured in memes or art, probably true in canon, unless said otherwise.
• The Dungeons and Dragons editions I reference for my DnD works, is primarily 5x. Note, primarily. In actuality, it's actually a composite of DnD editions throughout history, whether ADnD, ADnD 2nd-edition, 3x-edition (3e, 3.5e, errata, and such), 4th-edition, 5x-edition, or whatever may be. So, lore and information from multiple editions may stack, compound, and contradict, even if the world is primarily modern 5x. For example, Yiakhzmat can use epic spellcasting, and Adostra is so ancient, she can use actual 10th, 11th, and 12th-level spells from before the modern times. And such funky things, may exist in my greater lore.
• When I make statblocks or anything similar, or if there's lore that is associated with statblocks, it's just an abstraction. In-universe, they are not comprehensive models of a character’s actual power or capabilities. Especially in DnD, where RAW, RAI, and lore can conflict like hell. Mix the problems across 3x and 5n and you get fall-damage discrepancies, infinite-wish-glitch builds, Pun-Pun, simulacrum spam, and all sorts of other bullshit. Yet the setting isn’t some wizard hellhole populated by infinite cosmic assholes exploiting the rules to arbitrarily insane degrees. Then you get into the actual lore, and the scale gets even more absurd. Dragons threaten entire regions. Deities wield power over abstract concepts. Great wizards pull off cosmic-scale shenanigans (see lore uses of epic spells) And yet there are still commoners, adventurers, monsters, kingdoms, and ordinary people, and somehow the world keeps running. Because it's still a world unto itself. It has lore, history, stories, and internal context that exist beyond strict mechanics and whatever happens to be printed in a statblock. That's the point, these statblocks are abstractions. They are not, and were never meant to be, a comprehensive model of their fantasy, their full and lore-accurate capabilities, or everything they could plausibly do in-universe. My DnD-esque worlds aren't meant to be something like a LitRPG, but actual fantasy worlds themselves.
• Contradictory, multiple-answers, outdated, updated, and such kinds of DnD lore would be addressed in each of their would-be individual posts. Or if they're vague enough, I would give a similarly vague answer.

Image sources for where I did get them:

• Edrin [The Fighter], Lucian [The Cleric] (before), Kayl [The Rogue], Silas [The Wizard]; Average adventurer party brain cell distribution:.
• Lauria [The Cleric] (after), Vaelion [The Master], Yiakhzmat [The Kaiser]; tf_why succubi?_irl.
• Thorne [The Warrior]; tf_glint_irl.
• Riley [The Druid]; tf_afraid_irl.
• Elias [The Bard]; tf_would_irl.
• Caldwyn [The Sorcerer]; tf_awesome_irl.

Also for a note, is Yiakhzmat [The Master] or [The Kaiser]? Whichever is more convenient on context honestly. But here, the latter, to make it so he's distinguished from Vaelion. ANyways.

For legends, as in, what the icons mean:

• Crowned-purple-heart, characters from A Twisted Failed Campaign.
• Green-gold-red dragon, characters from The Dragon's Transmuted Consorts.
• Red-blue, sphere, applicable either before or after the transformation.
• Gray, sphere with shining eye, the transformer, transformation inapplicable.
• Red, crescent-moon, applicable before the transformation.
• Blue, gibbous-moon, applicable after the transformation.

Tl;dr, on their alignments and why, in a brief,

• Edrin [The Fighter]; True Neutral, very slightly good, slightly lawful; highly pragmatic, practical, and reliable. If you're going to describe his morality and ethics, he's basically a mercenary, but with still a functioning conscience, so he has still some moral lines. Loves things to be reliable and to have plans, and to have structure, and he does, he makes a lot of contingencies, backup plans, trying to make things into order, but otherwise, he likes also a degree of flexibility and adaptability, applied to himself and others.
• Lucian [The Cleric] (before); Lawful Good, middle of the square; genuinely good person, wants the best for others. Being the moral brake of the party and why they're, as adventurers, not the utterly amoral merciless mercenary-grave-robber troupe. Would willingly sacrifice their own self for others' good, well, maybe too much, extreme repression of the self and the belief that to deny himself is a virtue, is, yeah, rather unhealthy. But to that, at least it expresses in himself having structure to it.
  • Lauria [The Cleric] (after); Chaotic Good, bordering neutral morality and neutral behavior; with her transformation, realization of herself, and maybe a slight bit of eldritch corruption and stockholm syndrome to a Lord of Madness, she finally stopped repressing herself to live with her own desires, happier than ever. But even then, she's still a good person, she still wants the best, she still recognizes morality and ethics, and would prefer the world to be a better place. Still, she practically worships her eldritch lover, and if he requests anything of her that breaks past her morality, she would do it with all her heart. She does though recognize he is still dangerous and evil, so in a neutral encounter, she might warn someone of him, of that he can do a lot of harm, so don't give him a reason to.
• Kayl [The Rogue]; Chaotic Neutral, middle of the square; the archetypal free one. The street fox. The fox if they were a human. Their chaos here is less than them believing in freedom as a thing, but with their behavior being unfettered in being himself. Though when he's basically adopted by the party, and as they feed him and give him security, they're basically his family and in-group now. But outside of it, he can casually kill without hesitation nor remorse, but not because he's malicious or has a sadism, but because more or so, they told him to, and he trusts them enough. But otherwise, he has no particular desire for beneficence or malice, and does as he wants.
• Silas [The Wizard]; True Neutral, bordering evil morality; I mean, sure, he lacks affective empathy, doesn't feel sympathy and remorse, unhinged, egomaniac, narcissist, sadist, and morally questionable. The reason he wasn't outright evil is because for him, committing to actually being evil would be bothersome, along with the risks it would bring. But even, with that, with respects to good, he also does have a happy feeling to it. Same with evil. So, either way does bring him joy, so he'd cherish someone, or make someone suffer, the same. He still has a method and still a wizardry researcher, and believes in knowledge and understanding, so, still not truly chaotic.
• Vaelion [The Master]; Lawful Evil, slightly neutral morality and borderline neutral behavior; he's straight up a Lord of Madness. An elder evil. An eldritch being. He's perfectly aware that some of his acts create suffering, but for passion, for art, his higher theatre, these are as acceptable, or even, preferable, if it makes so then. Although he won't object to good, joy, love, or happiness, when that aligns to the stageplay. He still would gladly violate a person or civilization for that artistic purpose though, so, definitely evil. The lawful-chaos side, why he's lawful, well, he actually has a grand design behind his acts, and he would not violate that structure to the play, even if it would be detrimental to him. But the play is of a higher existence, so even to outside observers, might as well appear not that lawful.
• Thorne [The Warrior]; True Neutral, slightly good, very slightly chaotic; he's got good conscience, a good sense of morality, and would contribute people and the community as a helping hand when he's there. But outside of his circle or his immediate surroundings, usually he doesn't care and let them do, enjoy, or suffer their own things. He's more or so a survivor. Anyways. He quite enjoys himself as an individual, and to be reliable, to be self-sufficient, and to stand on his own, but he still does have respect to traditions, cultures, and such, but not out of its structure, but out of his typical respect for the people. But if they don't, or they disrespect him, he'd gladly go the chaotic side.
• Riley [The Druid]; True Neutral, bordering good morality, very slightly lawful; he's quite good-hearted, a sympathetic and empathetic person, would provide and help people when he can, feed and heal with his magic, donate to people when he can, prefers the world to be better, dislikes tyrants and slavers, and acts as the voice of good and moral reason once in awhile to the party. But, for why he isn't truly good, he lacks true commitment to good. He's kind, good-hearted, and wants the best for people, yes. But if he's truly put to pressure, he prioritizes themselves. If he actually would get threatened, he would have very low hesitation to just bail out. For the law side, well, has a preference for structure and planning, but not as paranoid and layered as [The Fighter] is with it, but if pushed, he can still be flexible. And he does value the rights and freedoms of individuals, so.
• Elias [The Bard]; True Neutral, bordering evil morality and chaotic behavior; Quite self-centered, narcissistic, sociopathic, and a bit misanthropic as a person, even if he postures otherwise. Ideological or personal disagreements can spark flames in his head. And he has a lot of emphasis on his own self and his own grandiosity. Definitely has a streak of selfishness. Otherwise, don't provoke him, he's neutral. Can be kind to people or animals though, well, just don't piss him off. And he does got a very slight bit of sadistic and indulgent streak to himself. But again, he lacks commitment to actually being a bad person, considering what's at stake for him and his story.
• Caldwyn [The Sorcerer]; Chaotic Neutral, slightly evil, bordering neutral behavior; rather mentally unstable. Offend him in a personal way enough and he would fantasize you being harmed in many ways. And then the next minute, he might be remorseful about these thoughts. At another side, liking things he likes or having similar experiences can gain his favor. And at another, if you call him out of his immoral actions or his impulses, there's a chance he would doubledown and get to it. So he does have a bit of selfishness for slight evil, but yeah, his conscience, even if unstable, typically counterbalances that. Would actually perform charity or help a stranger on need if he can, out of his heart, if it calls, so. And chaotic, well, for himself, he's pretty unstable, behavior, self, personality, and likes his own freedom and power, without the responsibility for it, so.
• Yiakhzmat [The Kaiser]; Neutral Evil, bordering neutral morality and lawful behavior; He has no inherent malice and sadism, despises unnecessary suffering, considers torture barbaric and distasteful, genuinely cares for his consorts, maintains a near-utopian kobold commonwealth in his citadel, and advocates for knowledge, science, magic, and understanding. So why is he still evil? Because he is willing to commit considerable evil in pursuit of his Great Work, to put it mildly. And for another case, say, present him with MKUltra, and he would be offended by its existence, not for violating human rights and its goal of mind control, he's perfectly fine with it, but for being scientifically sloppy. Furthermore, subjects treated humanely, given proper medical care, and studied under controlled conditions would reduce confounding factors, improve cooperation, and produce better research. So, yeah. His evil is of instrumentalization, others are subordinate to his objectives, and morality becomes irrelevant when it stands in their way. But nevertheless, he is pragmatic, rational, methodical, and seeks the optimized path, while being adaptable with it.

The Wyrmling's First Lair

Yiakhzmat was born in the Elemental Plane of Water, or, more specifically, within an island. An elemental pocket of air elemental substance nested inside yet another pocket of earth elemental substance. The pocket itself was not necessarily small, it might as well have been an island in its own right. It was, however, a hostile place, teeming with dungeon life and other dangers, and not somewhere a civilization would willingly settle without first clearing it out. Yet, in one of its corners lay the wyrmling's first home.

It was a grotto situated within an irregular chamber roughly 120 feet in diameter, with a few smaller vents leading into the greater island or out toward the surrounding waters. These openings were kept just large enough to allow for airflow and for things to leave, but too narrow for anything substantial to enter. Even then, the chamber was far from an empty room, with rocks, obstacles, uneven terrain, and natural walls filled its interior, giving it the character of a proper natural cave rather than a hollowed-out chamber.

The small cave was protected by numerous spells, illusions, and traps, many of which had been made permanent through various magical means, all set in place by his long-gone and distant begetters. Among the more notable enchantments were private sanctum, which prevented scrying and magical observation, as well as hallucinatory terrain and a part of mirage arcane, which concealed and altered the appearance of its eventual perimeter. There were also many, indeed, very many, animated weapons and magical foci, set to repel, incapacitate, or, if necessary, kill any intruders who came with the intent of harming the wyrmling.

At the time of his hatching, however, the grotto was still surrounded by soft rock. The illusions and other protective spells had been arranged to take effect once he inevitably dug his way out, and, eventually, he did. Over time, he carved passages toward the waters surrounding the island, connecting his home to nearby tunnels and, eventually, to the endless sea beyond. He was careful to conceal his movements, covering his tracks and resealing passages behind him with stone. Once a route or chamber had been abandoned, the permanent illusions and reinforcing magic would take hold, restoring the area to the appearance of solid, untouched earth, indistinguishable from any other portion of the earthen island.

Yi's Wyrmlinghood

Yiakhzmat hatched alone in his chamber, without a sibling and with both of his draconic parents away for purposes of their own. Yet, of course, as a wyrmling, he was far from helpless. With his inborn instincts, draconic genetic memory, and all the perks that came with being a dragon, he was able to fend for himself and begin learning within his first few hours. And even then, alone as he was, his sires did leave him with a few gifts. Rather than taking care of him directly, they had left quite a lot for him to figure out on his own.

Some of the supplies provided to him included an unusually well-made and reinforced backpack, a barrel, a chest, an iron pot, flint and steel, a pickaxe, a hammer, a shovel, quite a lot of chalk, lots of pitons, hundreds of feet of rope, a large steel mirror, and a spyglass. There was also a pile of coin, copper, silver, and gold, along with a few bits of gemstones, worth approximately 5,000 gold pieces in total.

And then there was a small treasure trove of technique and knowledge: a few dozen works, whether books, scrolls, manuscripts, or otherwise. They covered practical skills and crafts, survival and exploration, languages and writing, mathematics and natural philosophy, the history and civilizations of worlds beyond his own, planar cosmology, creatures and natural history, magical theory, psionics and mental disciplines, engineering and the natural sciences, philosophy, poetry, plays, stories, and much more. There were pictograms, diagrams, and maps as well, along with a few carefully selected images that would serve well enough for scrying. And one special detail, of a guide to his draconic, and his kind's nature, so he may learn from it and practice his own abilities before he really uses them.

The wondrous items left behind included an everburning torch, two field provisions boxes, a helm of comprehend languages and read magic, a necklace of adaptation, a pearl of the sirines, and a crystal ball. Among them was also a special psicrystal, imbued with a degree of independence and an intelligence of its own, though still programmed for its purpose. It acted as something of a designed mentor for the wyrmling, albeit one whose magic eventually waned after a decade or so. There was also a small menagerie of tiny servant constructs to aid and serve him, though, of course, their comparatively limited capacity eventually waned as well, leaving them inactive after a few decades.

Despite having all that, and despite having every opportunity to grow complacent, his draconic pride, instincts, and inborn desires prevented him from doing so. He spent his wyrmling years within the chamber, practicing how to, well, be a dragon. To live. To use his natural abilities. To discover his powers. To understand. Although on another note, funnily enough. "Yiakhzmat", was a name, that he, himself, made for himself, after learning quite a bit about draconic profiles, and eventually deciding to give himself a proper set name.

Born intelligent and already literate, alongside his training, he went on to explore the library he had been given. And his emerald draconic heritage, with all the inquisitive, careful, and paranoid tendencies that came with it, made its way into his own nature, only reinforcing those traits further. After a good few years of living undisturbed, he eventually dug his way out of the chamber and finally began exploring the island around him, and then, eventually, the surrounding waters. And more, and more.

And yet, even as a wyrmling, something began to grow within him. A seed of ambition took root. He grew, and he learned to be ambitious for himself, to achieve, to possess, to claim even more greatness. And that ambition would only spiral further. To plan. To learn secrets. To gain power. To discover more, and then more still. Eventually, it would lead him toward his great work, and, ultimately, toward what he would become.

---

Notes:

• In Dungeons and Dragons' Draconomicon, a newly hatched wyrmling is described as becoming ready to fly, fight, and reason after roughly an hour, with a substantial amount of practical knowledge inherited instinctively from its parents. The draconic genetic memory moment. So, highly intelligent, magically empowered juvenile predator with built-in instincts. Like even the average true dragon statblocks say wyrmlings have outright with human-level or greater intelligence. Yeah, even dragon babies are jacked. For emerald dragons, they're actually, normally, usually nurture and take care of their children. Also Yiakhzmat before the mutant wyrm was an emerald dragon, if you don't know. Anyways. So Yiakhzmat's parents just leaving him to be is rather abnormal, though they did give him that whole trove. Though to compare with some other types, chromatics typically let their clutches fend for themselves, metallics typically care for, well, look up the wiki anyways.
• Oh yeah, also another fun thing but the emerald dragon size featured at the supposed Forgotten Realms wiki article refers to ADnD-2e sizes, which, are quite bigger than the modern iteration of the dragons. So what's Yiakhzmat's current, final, Mutant Wyrm size? Good question, haven't thought about it a lot, but definitely very big. And with his unnatural progression, I'd say it's more red dragon than emerald dragon.
• I think I've read somewhere that as magic items are magic, equippable magic items readjust their size and fit to be able to accomodate itself to their wearers. I think it's mentioned somewhere in one of the Dungeon Master's Guides. So anyways, yeah, the size and fit of the magic items as presented here would readjust themselves as the wyrmling grows older.
• The existence of the psi-crystal is weird in DnD lore. At one source, it's a manifestation of the psion's powers, an extension of their mentality and psionic powers as a manifested thing. But at another, it's some weird purple crystals that can give telepathy and power mindflayer interdimensional ships. Maybe both are the same, but eh, if they're not. I'm referring more to the former in this entry.
• With my DnD stuff, I'm using the composite editions, as in, combining and mix-and-matching lore from various editions, so have fun which is which. It's not supposed to be crunchy anyways, and more treating its lore like an actual thing.
• And I rule here that crystal balls can also scry general locations as per the modern/lore interpretation, than just one interpretation of it. Just as the spirit of what magic crystal balls do.

Homebrewery page right here. Enjoy. Don't forget to read the disclaimers. Enjoy my last few days of pure 'tism being poured into this obsession.

If you're wondering, why I'm so aggressive and obsessive with the lore of the dragon-archmage (The Dragon's Transmuted Consorts) than the one of the eldritch-lord (A Twisted Failed Campaign)? Well, time for some meta lore! Anyways.

Both, are fundamentally, DnD fanfictions. Like, actually set, and derived from, the classic worlds set within the Dungeons and Dragons setting and continuity. Except, the difference. Both are on different worlds. The dragon-archmage is based on the Forgotten Realms. Toril. Faerun. That stuff. And the eldritch lord, actually, I'll omit it's name. I have quite the feeling for it, I won't name it explicitly, but I'll mention why I'm not so keen on going so far as the dragon-archmage, with the eldritch lord.

The eldritch lord's world, is how I actually got into DnD. Not in playing it, I don't play TTRPGs that much for life reasons, but for the lore. To be honest, in the ye olde days, I dismissed DnD as the generic fantasy thing, the archetypal fantasy. Just some knights, elves, dwarves, wizards, dragons, medieval kingdoms. Generic fantasy. (Yes, I lumped all of it, honest mistake). As something not that worth it to see, but then, that DnD world, is, quite fresh for me, for that time.

The setting itself has its quirks that makes it unique in its own way. Magic is infrastructure, integrated into industry and daily life. Peoples are defined more by politics and nations than by race or gods. Alignment isn't cosmic, and instead messy and ambiguous. The world isn't frozen in medieval stasis; it evolves, and having recently survived a large-scale, continent-wide struggle and tragedy. It has a more modernized vibe compared to the usual run of the mill setting, and the world thrives on its unique feel and a more don't make assumptions note, which is, quite lovely. The world feels alive, with its deep systems, something that is dynamic, something so much, well, living. The world's identity is so connected, coherent, cohesive.

So, in the moment where I started delving into the whole adventurers-to-monstergirls thing, I've chosen this world. It was, and well, perhaps, is still, my favorite DnD world. But then, it has quite some reasons. Partly because it's concrete enough to anchor the story. Partly because the recent catastrophe provides fertile ground for backstories. Partly because alignment is flexible, frontier weirdness is plausible, and moral weirdness fits the tone of the tale. And partly, well, because it's my favorite, and I like it enough to write a story inside it. Uh, however perverse it may be.

But then, the Forgotten Realms? Then, after I actually looked into the mainstream, the popular, the Forgotten Realms. I've found that it's more than I expected. Like, after the facade of the generic fantasy setting, it's quite unique and well-developed. So I dug deeper.

And after I've dug deep enough, compared to that world, it feels like a larger fantasy. A world that has been accumulating. It's philosophy is more mythological than historical, civilizations rise and fall beneath the weight of older civilizations, gods intervene in mortal affairs, and the present is haunted by the enormous shadows of things like Myth Drannor, the Crown Wars, Netheril and its fall, the Spellplague, the events of Baldur's Gate games, and all of those are the surface legends. It's a vast mythic map, each with its own stories, legends, peoples, and buried past. So much more flexible and free with its lore.

And so, then, there's the difference between the two. That world, feels like living through history. More modern, causal, densely interconnected, restless. It's less like a book of legends, and more like a civilization's account in history. While Forgotten Realms feels more vast, it's legends so deep, it feels so ancient, mythic, and expansive, with a lot of contradictions and forgotten (pun intended) corners.

So, developing expanded lore for the fetish stuff, in the similar way I've did for the dragon-archmage's girls, feels rather intrusive, improper, invasive to that world I've been obscuring the name of. And that's why, even then, it's a failed campaign. It's something that would stay as a historical footnote, as something that exists in the weird corner of the world, where it's supposed to be weird, with the lore eventually being its own contained corner. While in Forgotten Realms? Just another weird thing, to the weird world. And that's why I can get more expansive, greater in its power and implications, and it wouldn't feel so wrong in that world.

Though, mm. For the failed campaign girls. Perhaps. I mean, the multiverse is a thing in DnD, and both worlds of the failed campaign and the transmuted consorts can perhaps cross over, or have more fun shenanigans in the other ways. Fun.

Also, Forgotten Realms has more wacky horny stuff anyways. See the genderbending of the archmages of Shoon VII and Elminster's younger years, breastmilk lore, the entire society of the Drow, a green dragon has naked men lathering her in oil for some reason, yeah. Or, just look at the lower rung of 1d6chan's article on the Forgotten Realms. What's one more weird kinky fetish stuff in the corner of the world would do anyways? But yeah.

. . .

Anyways, feel free to enjoy these haphazardly made statblocks out of pure 'tism.

ADVENTURERS TO MONSTERGIRLS!