lebateleur | Snowflake Challenge 2023: No.'s 2, 5, 6, & 8 (Reply)

Who do we appreciate? (Or, hello. A three day weekend means I have time to catch up on these challenges with an omnibus post. Let's see if I can keep on track for the rest of the month.)

Challenge #2

In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for your fave character, ship or fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

So I waffled a lot on how to answer this prompt, because there are so many things I'd like to promo, primer, or manifesto. Then I realized I could do that for a favorite fandom, character, and ship all in one fell swoop. Allow me to introduce Rasaad yn Bashir, is a new NPC added to the Enhanced Editions of Baldur’s Gate I & II and their DLSs and expansions (i.e., Tales of the Sword Coast, Siege of Dragonspear, and Throne of Bhaal).

Fandom: Have you played Baldur’s Gate? No? Then you should.

Do you like fantasy tabletop or computer RPGs? Television series? D&D 5e? Critical Role? Some other D&D- or fantasy-adjacent podcast, game, or series? Baldur’s Gate is one of the progenitors that helped make them possible. They were some of the first games that prove dthat this sort of entertainment could be both complex and well written, and commercially viable. For that reason alone they are worth playing (especially since they’ve been updated with the excellent enhanced editions), but they are also just really damn good games.

Character: Rasaad is one of the new NPC introduced in the Enhanced Editions. He's a Sun Soul monk, which means he is squishy as hell until about level 7 at which point he becomes an unstoppable OP killing machine who will quickly account for 90 percent of the party’s kills and total XP unless you deliberately nerf him during combat so that the other characters can get some hits in. This means that he will require some coddling throughout the entirety of BG I. (Alternately, you can use his enhanced movement speed + hide in shadows abilities to open up the map and kite enemies back to the rest of the party for slaughter with ranged weapons before they get within 60 feet of you. Totally your call.)

But it’s worth getting him early in BGI, and then in Siege of Dragonspear, and then BGII, to get the whole arc of his storyline. It’s a damn good one, and it kills me to write this primer without spoiling anything, but that’s what I’m going to do because it really should be experienced.

Here’s his introductory character background from BGI:

When asked about his past, RASAAD speaks sorrowfully about losing his brother, Gamaz, to the Shadow Thieves of Athkatla. Both Rasaad and Gamaz grew up in the Monastery of the Moon in Calimshan after a Sun Soul monk rescued them from the streets of Calimport. There the young boys had barely eked out a living as pickpockets after their father died in the Arena Efreetum, where he had been consigned for his debts. Despite the tragedy of his upbringing, Rasaad seems to have found peace in his order's teachings and their worship of Selûne, the Moonmaiden.

Now, I’ve always loved me an angsty, tortured character with a dark past. Give me an Alex Krycek, a Bialar Crais, a Genjo Sanzo, or a Severus Snape, and I would be yours. Rasaad yn Bashir is…

...not that. Here is a character with some really dark, heavy shit in his past—much of which is very much unresolved when we first encounter him in the game—but who has not fallen into the standard-issue angsty misanthropic brooding that tends to accompany backstories like that.

Instead, Rasaad has already done a fair bit of learning from these experiences before the player character (i.e, Charname) encounters him, and man, it, um, kinda put paid to my longstanding assumption that characters had to start from that nadir to be interesting, that maturation and equanimity were the “happily every after” at the end of the story instead of something that it could start from and build on.

In case you need any more convincing, Mark Meer (aka male Shep) does his voice acting and it is, in a word, stellar. Hard won wisdom? He conveys it. Comedic timing? He has it in spades. The conversations with Charname are extremely well written, and the banter with other party members—so far, all of the other party members I’ve played through with this character—is excellent. And that is even before you get to...

The Ship: Rasaad is a romanceable character for female Charnames (right off the bat) or any gender of Charname (with an easy to install mod). In fact, he is, IMHO, one of the top three romance options, along with Jaheira and Viconia. As someone on the Beamdog Forums put it, “Rasaad is like your best friend who becomes something more” and, Yes. Precisely that. And it's wonderful. Think Aang as an adult. Think Gen with more dorkiness. Think Cho Hakkai with a little less over the top woobiness.

And, as with the Jaheira and Viconia romance options, holy crap, the character development. Compared to Anomen, the only other canonical romance for female Charnames prior to the enhanced editions, it is just night and day (and I say this as someone who has a far kinder take on the Anomen romance than many female Charname BG players). There is a real give and take going on here along with the pathos and humor, and oh man. When shit hits the fan, the payoff. Oh my god, the payoff.

To be sure, there’s a pretty big incongruity between the end of Siege of Dragonspear and the start of BGII, but the SoD interactions up to that point are so good I’m entirely willing to overlook it (and look! I've already written a fix-it fic to handwaive it away here).

Just, gah. Play these games. Play them at least once with Rasaad in your party. Romance him too, if you’re inclined. It’s worth it.

Challenge #5

In your own space, tell us about 3 creative/fannish resources, spaces, or communities you use or enjoy. (One or two is fine, especially if you're in a smaller fandom or like many people at the moment, fannishly adrift right now) Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Here be the list:

Hate Windows, microsuck, and the entire ~~rent-to-never-own~~ software as a service model? Still want to write fic that’s compatible with the ubiquitous programs controlled by these tech overlords? Why not give LibreOffice a try?

Are you into K-Pop, J-Dramas, or C-Novels? Do you want understand what The Hu are singing about sans subtitles? Do you dream of engaging in any of fandoms directly, without needing the intervention of a translator or interpreter? Or are you just someone whose family Duo threatened to murder, too? In that case, A Language Learner’s Forum might be just the resource you need to help you rely on translations less.

Want to replay all those games from childhood, or new indie games or major releases? See what the big deal is about KOTOR or Mass Effect or Witcher? Offline, even? On all your devices, without DRM? Why not give Good Old Games a try? (NB: This is a commercial site, but I have zero association or relationship with them aside from having happily lobbed money at them to play a bunch of cool stuff.)

Challenge #6

In your own space, post the results of your fandom scavenger hunt. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Hurrah, picspam!

1. A favorite character

Have a Magic: The Gathering Commander card for Rasaad yn Bashir, subject of my primer for Challenge #2, above. I was stoked as soon as I heard these decks were coming out, but did not believe for a second that Rasaad would get his own card. Spoiler alert: he totally did, and I am all over it.

2. Something that makes you laugh

Since my last birthday I have been the proud caretaker of my very own Smallen. They sparked joy for this player from the moment they first appeared in Destiny 2, and this little guy brings me joy whenever I see it. Plus, its eyes glow in the dark.

3. A bookshelf and 4. A game or hobby you enjoy

Here's a twofer. I wrote about my joy in acquiring the first two of these bookshelves here. Since then, we've done well filling them up, as well as acquiring two more. The books, and the hausplernts, are obviously the hobbies. I love engaging in both.

5. Something you find comforting

Since 2016 I’ve eaten this Food52 recipe for one pot kale and quinoa at least once a week while Meyer lemons are in season.

6. A TV show or movie you hope more people will watch

I’ll be doing a Fannish50 post on this next month, so stay tuned for that. But in the meantime, You guys, Dredd is good. It’s really good. It is a superhero film done right, in all the obvious ways and in the should-be-but-aren’t ways that make edgelords hate it. Watch this movie.

7. A piece of clothing you love

I love this Russian Circles shirt. Yes, I am a huge fan of this group. But even if I weren’t, this is pretty much my platonic ideal of dark fantasy graphic art. To reiterate: I love the hell out Russian Circles and this shirt, and I wear it all the time.

8. A thing from an old fandom and 9. A thing from a new fandom

Here's another twofer for you. Dai-totoro, Chu-totoro, Appa, and Momo all count as old fandoms (with Poohbear a pre-fandom childhood love). MCU Thor is also an old fandom, but as Love and Thunder only came out about a year ago, I'm counting the goats toward the "new" requirement.

Challenge #8

In your own space, create a quiz or a poll (or tell us your thoughts about answering quizzes/polls). Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm not a paid user and I try to avoid third party websites with a gazillion tracking scripts and cookies, so we'll do this old school. English-language fantasy? Yes! But which one?: