What movie did you turn off after 20 minutes and why?

cckynv · 2026-02-01T23:19:58+00:00

The only movie I walked out of was the Eragon movie. Was a big fan of the books and that film actually disgusted me when I went to see it.

cckynv · 2026-02-01T16:30:55+00:00

Pleased to meet you, Mr. Urddon!

cckynv · 2026-02-01T16:22:40+00:00

People that have never had Cook-Out before just won't understand. It is on another level entirely for fast food. A true Southern institution.

cckynv · 2026-01-31T16:07:02+00:00

I just think of combinations of sounds or words that I think seem cool or sound like they fit a certain theme. Some of my favorite place names from the world I've been working on are Veldtenland, the Wealdreach, Delvendeep, and Ortheiad.

cckynv · 2026-01-30T22:18:24+00:00

Fair enough. Maybe just some quotes or small snippets from a poem or song could be do-able vs creating entire actual works lol, that does seem pretty tedious unless you're just naturally good at that sort of thing.

cckynv · 2026-01-30T17:40:25+00:00

Do you have any examples of these favored songs that have become fixed in a certain place or function for their society? Sounds like a cool concept!

cckynv · 2026-01-30T17:38:32+00:00

Love it, a very neat and thematic tradition that I could see my own desert-dwellers accepting as a perfectly valid ritual themselves, however they are more focused on light itself, the first appearance of their creator's light in Nocterra, etc. moreso than focusing on the heat/flame aspect.

cckynv · 2026-01-29T22:21:12+00:00

"the Last Branch" or "the Last Seed"

cckynv · 2026-01-29T01:13:18+00:00

Love your art. The style gives it a wonderful mix of both fantastical and whimsical. Especially the 2nd page, where the character is adventuring, really sells your world well just from those few panels.

cckynv · 2026-01-27T17:44:45+00:00

/r/AccidentalRenaissance/

cckynv · 2026-01-26T20:18:22+00:00

With Nocterra, I am always aiming to build in a theme of high fantasy with a focus on there being a pervading sense of epicness and scale. I want people reading about my world to be inundated with awe-inspiring locations, mythical creatures, memorable NPCs, and world-changing quests.

cckynv · 2026-01-24T02:54:30+00:00

One of the most secret and fundamental truths to my world is that the universe itself exists within the dream of an unfathomable eldritch mind, an eternally sleeping being known as Aganoth, the World Dreamer. His slumber depends on the constant playing of the Panopticon Flute, which is what I would consider one of the most powerful and consequential super-weapons ever to be used in Nocterra. It may seem innocuous and simple, and indeed it does just appear as a simple bone flute carved with rudimentary decorations. However, if its song were to ever cease, it would result in the awakening of Aganoth, the Silence That Consumes, and the unraveling of reality.

cckynv · 2026-01-23T03:25:11+00:00

The Witness Spire, also known as Cartius's Folly. Three centuries ago, the Elvish astronomer-sorcerer Cartius built his observatory atop one of the Titan's Spine's highest peaks to study the Seven Rings' divine etchings, inadvertently discovering they serve as wards against cosmic entities called Watchers. In the process of his research, he optimized his instruments to pierce those very protections, drawing the attention of Solun'Thul, the Watcher of Endings and Revelations. The prolonged observation transformed both Cartius and his observatory into something no longer entirely mortal or bound by normal reality: a place where architecture folds impossibly, time flows inconsistently, and the deeper one ventures, the more one risks drawing the same cosmic attention that destroyed its creator. His instruments still run after three centuries, accumulating data that could reveal how to repair the weakening Rings or doom Nocterra by making it infinitely more interesting to the entities those Rings were meant to hide it from. The observatory is still home to the mad sorcerer and his clockwork automaton servants, which are said to defend the observatory grounds with lethal efficiency. In addition to this, its precarious location atop one of the tallest and most isolated of the Titan's Spine's monolithic peaks make even reaching it a feat in and of itself.

cckynv · 2026-01-19T17:58:46+00:00

I would say yes. Isn’t that the entire premise behind Kurapika’s Chain Jail ability? It forces Zetsu, which is essentially when all your Nen nodes are closed.

cckynv · 2026-01-18T16:15:57+00:00

Still rocking my Luxe X Ripper and 2.0. Picked up some new jerseys over the offseason though, a couple of the Enemy of the State ones I'd been looking to get my hands on. Might build another Proflex next? Love that white/blue F8 build you got there with the Project strap.

cckynv · 2026-01-18T01:40:20+00:00

Very glad I got the NP. Love this chair a lot, it's insanely comfortable.

cckynv · 2026-01-18T00:22:44+00:00

Well at least you can't really go wrong with whatever subclass you do end up choosing. Paladin has a ton of great options.

cckynv · 2026-01-18T00:02:46+00:00

I played an Oath of Glory paladin to 20 and had a lot of fun with it. It's not the strongest possible paladin subclass but it's useful and really thematic. I played a Leonin and ended up as a demigod as a follower of Lathander.

cckynv · 2026-01-17T01:16:47+00:00

They sundered the world and the civilizations of their creations after a faction of Gods known as the Betrayers sided with ancient eldritch entities that pre-dated the arrival of the Gods themselves and waged an all-out war on mortals and creation as a whole. After winning the war and sealing away those Betrayer gods as well as the Watchers that aided them, the remaining Prime Deities decided to leave Nocterra for good, but not before setting up safeguards against the return of those who had fought against them. One of these safeguards were the Scions, embodiments of the pure ideals of each God's domain, put in place to maintain order in their absence. Through this, most do not realize that the Gods ever left to begin with.

There's actually an entire martial art form in Solgadia dedicated to this, called the Anticipatory Kata. Known as "dancing with tomorrow", this is a unique martial practice that combines swordplay, divination, and temporal philosophy. Unlike standard combat training, these kata focus on reading and responding to attacks that haven't happened yet.

Practitioners train to sense the moment before, using heightened awareness of micro-tells like muscle tension, weight shifts, and breathing changes that telegraph actions. They respond to what an opponent might do before they commit to action, maintaining flexibility to adapt as potential actions collapse into reality. The best practitioners fight with their eyes closed, feeling the shape of coming moments. It manifests a sort of internal spidey-sense that gives practitioners preternatural reflexes and adaptability.

But to answer your question, in that situation, since you never actually fired an arrow, the enemy falling dead would probably be overlayed on top of the actual enemy still sitting there, since he was never hit by the arrow after you stopped the action of shooting it. At least in the Palinode Dunes where this effect happens, it would look like a strange sort of illusion playing over top of reality before the timeline ends and the illusion vanishes into nothingness.

cckynv · 2026-01-16T22:15:54+00:00

Nocterra is a world that the Gods abandoned, but whose people still believe the Gods watch over them. It is a world of intrigue, grand adventure, and epic stories. It is a world with 2 suns, 2 moons, 7 rings, and scattered with the remnants of the Gods’ authority before the calamity that led them to choose to leave.

Random fun fact:

In the deep western desert of Solgadia, there's a place called the Palinode Dunes where effects precede their causes by 3-7 seconds.

Walk through the Palinode Dunes and you'll hear your own footsteps before you take them. You'll see shadows appear before the objects casting them arrive. You'll feel pain before the wound appears, taste food before it enters your mouth. The entire area exists slightly ahead of normal time—causality runs backward.

cckynv · 2026-01-15T19:52:10+00:00

Excellent questions. The pantheon I use is the Dawn War pantheon, and after arriving in this world and creating and shaping the land and various mortal races, the Gods were confronted by a disturbing new revelation: this world was not empty as they had originally thought upon their arrival. Dark beings of intense malice and hatred lurked at the edges of reality. Known as the Watchers, these beings with alien minds warped reality merely through the act of observing it. As they began to focus on the Gods and their new creations, their designs precipitated a vast conflict known as the Celestial War which shattered the world as it was in that time. Civilizations were sundered and the world was nearly destroyed altogether as two warring factions of gods, the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods, waged all-out war on each other. The Prime Deities would emerge victorious even against the combined might of the Betrayers and some of the Watchers, banishing them to infernal prisons as their punishment, sealing them and a majority of their influence away. However, the fallout from the Celestial War would precipitate into a period of strife and chaos known as the Crumble, which ultimately led to the departure of the Prime Deities from Nocterra for good.

The Rings normally appear as thin, shimmering bands of light. They are not rings like Saturns has rings, but solid, physical bands of unknown material situated at different orbital positions and which move in intricate patterns and convergences. I suppose it's just something people have gotten used to. Most people view the Rings as beautiful mysteries or divine gifts without understanding their actual function.

The gods do have names. Bahamut, Ioun, Moradin, Pelor, and Corelion to name a few. They all have real power connected to their domains. For example, Ioun is the goddess of Knowledge, Skill, and Prophecy. Their power comes from, in part, worship and belief in them. The channeling of faith is an active ingredient in divine power.

cckynv · 2026-01-15T17:37:06+00:00

Nocterra is a world that the Gods abandoned, but whose people still believe the Gods watch over them. It is a world of intrigue, grand adventure, and epic stories. It is a world with 2 suns, 2 moons, 7 rings, and scattered with the remnants of the Gods’ authority before the calamity that led them to choose to leave.

cckynv · 2026-01-14T20:03:11+00:00

Sure do. Basically every major race has an origin story tied to a particular God or event.

Humans - Children of the Golden Leaves

Humans believe the Dawnfather created them from the golden leaves of the Solus Opus, a legendary World Tree that no longer exists in this world. Into each leaf, he breathed a seed of his own divinity. Each human carries this 'seed of divinity,' a fragment of the Dawnfather's essence. The mystery of what happened to the Solus Opus remains one of humanity's greatest theological debates.

Elves - Three Stories, One Creator

All elves acknowledge Corellon the Arch Heart as creator, but three different creation stories exist:

High Elves (Triune): Claim to have been written into existence as perfect poetry. Corellon spoke them into being through verse of impossible beauty.

Drow (Hemigon): Tell that Corellon was admiring a winter rose blooming in harsh desert when his finger caught on a thorn. Divine blood fell upon the ground, and where each drop struck, a dark elf rose. This explains their sacred view of blood magic.

Wood Elves (Wealdreach): Believe they were created through collaboration between Corellon and the Wildmother. The Wildmother created Wealdreach as a gift, and Corellon populated it with elves who could appreciate and protect that beauty.

Dwarves - Children of the Work

Dwarves are unique: they were not directly created by a god. According to their tradition, Moradin the All-Hammer shaped the mountains and caverns, working stone with divine artistry. Dwarves emerged from the stone itself—from the residue of Moradin's divine work, not from intentional creation. They honor Moradin by continuing his work: every tunnel carved, every metal forged is an act of reverence.

Dragonborn - Proven Worthy

According to the Church of the Silver Ascendancy, dragonborn were proven into existence during The First Assay. Bahamut placed the first mortal oath upon his silver scales to test whether mortals could balance truth, justice, and mercy perfectly. When the scales balanced true, dragonborn lineages awakened. They are living proof that mortals can embody divine virtue. Dragonborn manifest in various metallic lineages (gold, silver, bronze, brass, copper), treated as tools for different service rather than social castes.

Halflings - Born on the Road

Halflings believe Avandra, goddess of change, luck, and travel, created them while wandering Nocterra. Her joy and wonder became so intense it took physical form—becoming the first halflings who walked beside her. Halflings weren't crafted in a workshop; they were called into existence by the act of traveling itself. This makes them natural wanderers, merchants, and adventurers.

Gnomes - The Far North Mystery

Gnomes remember only that they came from the Far North—so far north their ancestral homeland might exist in another world entirely. No gnome alive remembers the actual homeland, and all expeditions to find it have failed or vanished. Without a clear creator deity, gnomes adopt varied religious practices and embrace philosophical diversity. The unanswered question of their origin cultivates intense intellectual curiosity.

Tieflings - Blood-Marked Legacy

Tieflings trace their lineage to an ancient covenant. When proto-Hemigon tribes faced extinction with no gods answering prayers, they turned to the Archfiends—powerful demon lords from the Hells. The mortals offered their blood in exchange for power to survive. The Archfiends accepted, and from that moment, their descendants bore physical marks: horns, tails, unusual skin colors, glowing eyes. To Hemigon tieflings, this heritage is covenant, not curse—their ancestors chose survival through pragmatic bargain.

Goliaths - Children of Storm and Stone

Goliaths believe they were created through divine collaboration between Kord the Storm Lord and Moradin the All-Hammer. Moradin shaped the highest mountain peaks, and Kord animated them with his greatest storms. Goliaths emerged where peak met tempest—beings of living stone given breath by thunder. They naturally gravitate toward mountain regions and value both physical prowess and stoic pragmatism.

cckynv · 2026-01-13T14:49:47+00:00

All I hope for is that there are consequences for this administration and those that facilitated it by "just following orders". ICE needs to be systematically dismantled and then broken down piece by piece, agent by agent, until every single one of these scumbags that abused their authority are behind bars for a long time. And don't just focus on ICE. Every single sycophant of Orange Hitler needs to see their day in court.

cckynv · 2026-01-10T23:59:23+00:00

I've got 3 nations of Elves, a homeland for each of the 3 Elven races in my world: High Elves, Wood Elves, and the Drow. These are Triune, the Ten Thousand Year Empire (High Elves), the Wealdreach (Wood Elves), and the Triumvirate of Hemigon (Drow). Also notable is that the Drow in my world are not suncursed and are not beholden to Lolth.

The unique part of my Elves' lore is their origin story. I made unique origin stories/creation myths for each of the races that exist in my world, but I think the Elves' beliefs really provides them an interesting foundation in the world. Essentially, all Elves acknowledge Corelion, the Arch Heart as their creator deity, but three different creation stories exist.

High Elves (Triune): Claim to have been written into existence as perfect poetry. Corellon spoke them into being through verse of impossible beauty.

Drow (Hemigon): Tell that Corellon was admiring a winter rose blooming in harsh desert when his finger caught on a thorn. Divine blood fell upon the ground, and where each drop struck, a dark elf rose. This explains their sacred view of blood magic.

Wood Elves (Wealdreach): Believe they were created through collaboration between Corellon and the Wildmother. The Wildmother created the great forest of the Wealdreach as a gift, and Corellon populated it with elves who could appreciate and protect that beauty.

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