Civilotterneer - Civil Otterneer - Tumblr Blog

Sometimes, even sewer infrastructure can be pretty, especially when it's in a pretty place.

Supai Village Sewage Lagoon, Grand Canyon, AZ, USA

Photo by: Civil Otterneer

The Search for Civ - Bonus Renders

Bonus Renders from Page 12

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The Search for Civ

I followed the Civ-like devil into a valley-like area of cliffs, very similar to the red rocks of a city not far from home, but feeling much more hostile. This strange brick bridge went through the crevice of the cliffs, continuing on passed corners in one impossibly long structure.

"So, Cliffs of Callous Imps?" I asked, "I see the cliffs, but how worried should I be about the imps?"

"Oh very," Livic responded, "As far as I've heard, they're pretty dangerous in packs...which they hang out in within these cliffs."

I strengthened my grasp on my staff as we entered the canyon, eyes darting to the surrounding rock face.

"So, any thing we can do to avoid them?" I asked.

A piercing screech rang out, bouncing off the canyon walls.

"Not anymore," Livic said with a grin, "Let's see those magic skills of yours!"

Imps flew out of cracks and hidden caves, as if the cliffs themselves spawned the red winged creatures. Several came up from below, flying nearby or landing on the stone bridge. Evil grins came below glowing eyes, barbed tails whipping in anticipation with grabby, clawed hands. Strange, humanoid screeches sounded out from them.

"Time for some fun!" yelled Livic.

I saw Livic lift into the air and quicky produce a flame from his hand. For a moment, I was confused, having thought most devils are immune or resistant to the fire, but the screeching, blackened imps that resulted from his attack told me otherwise. He quickly followed it up with extended red claws from his hands, engaging in a melee.

Several descended towards me. I whipped my hand in a quick 'Magic Missile' spell, and started firing bolts of necrotic arcane energy at the imps. It didn't seem like much, but each bolt was easily capable of destroying or sending-flying the creatures that approached me.

A few moments later, and with about 20 of the creatures dead with magical wounds or burned skin, the tide suddenly stopped, with the remaining imps quickly retreating to the cliffs again. Not even one had gotten close to me nor Livic, which felt greatly uneasing.

"Is that...is that it?" I asked Livic.

"For now," he said, landing next to me, "Imps are pretty cowardly little guys, and the fact that I showed them who's the bigger devil clearly is enough to send them fleeing with stingers between their legs."

I looked around at the 13 dead to magical bolts and only 7 dead to fire and claws, but decided not to press his ego and let him have it.

"And..." Livic started, "You're magic's pretty good, bet they didn't like that either."

Thanks goodness, it knows even the slightest bit of humility.

"Will more of them come?" I asked.

"Not likely, but we'll probably need to be careful," Livic said, starting to walk away, "There are way worse devils we'll probably run into, so keep those spells handy!"

I stared at one of the bodies of the imps at my feet. It was slowly metling, as if becoming a black ichor and seeping into the stone itself. The strange effect seemed to happen to the other bodies as well.

"Huh, that's a piss-poor way to go," I said, reaching down and pulling out a vial, "I doubt devils have funerals anyways, but..."

I quickly dipped the vile into the metling flesh, and quickly retrieved a sample of the black ichor.

"It'd have to be closed casket."

"Hey Lye! Come on, we got to get through here and cross the Chasm of Chaos before we rest for a while!"

I stowed the black ichor before turning and following Livic, but my eyes never strayed from watching the curious eyes from the cliffs that shined malice at us.

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<<Bonus Renders>>

The Search for Civ

We walked along the brick bridge, passing by cliffs and eventually crossing a lava lake, pillars of black bricks impossibly sticking into the molten surface below.

Eventually, after the lava lake ended and the brick bridge approached another cliff face, I stopped.

"Livic! We've been walking for nearly an hour, and you've said nothing! How do you know where we're going?" I asked with an harsh tone.

"Oh, I thought you'd just fully trust me to take us there. What, think you know the way?" he asked.

"No, but I'd like just a little bit of info on where we're going," I retorted.

"Well, I'm not supposed to show mortals this...but," he started.

A red flash appeared in Livic's hand, before a map rolled out in front of him.

"So, first, we had to cross the Lake of Agony. Luckily, no one lives here. But now, we're entering the Cliffs of Callous Imps. It's infested with these terrible imps that are insane and just attack like animals. Then we'll cross the Chasm of Chaos and hopefully dodge Khorne while we're there. Then it's a hop skip across the Open Wastes and we'll be at the other focal point!"

He continued on, giving details of these locations he brought up in a strangely-familiar fervor. This form of obsession and excitement towards a particular subject reminded me greatly of Civ, so maybe there are some similarities between these two other than physically.

Regardless, the obsessive information actually brought me a bit of piece of mind. Such detail is unlikely to be entirely fake, though I won't be surprised by an embellishment or two.

"Oh, we can totally stop by the Circle Gates! The second level is easily accessible there," Livic said excitedly.

Livic turned with a wicked smile that strangely almost seemed concerning.

"But....you probably won't like it there," he continued.

"Why's that?" I asked, not being well versed in the Hellish circles.

"Well, let's just say they don't like clothes and it'd be very...distracting," he said with an evil grin before turning and continuing down the stone bridge.

"Yeah no..." I responded, assuming, given his proclivities so far that he meant the 'lust' circle, "Let's just make it a straight shot. This isn't a sight-seeing trip."

"Fine."

The map phased out in a flash of red, and on we continued, entering into the mountainous region Livic referred to as 'The Cliffs of Callous Imps'.

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is livic on any other websites?

perhaps blue and polygonal ones

Hehe, unfortunately, I am not.

Lye has said that I'm 'not allowed' to do that. Apparently Civ has some kind of 'image' he wants to uphold, so until he decides to get over that, you will not be seeing the more interesting shots...yet.

I bet I can convince him. There's nothing wrong with that kind of art, Civ's just a bit too modest to let us have this kind of fun right now. And Lye's been quite the buzzkill, saying that "You have Civ's body, which means it's some kinda consent thing," which I think is stupid.

Booty McTooty

Uh oh, I think that specter has returned again. I'll see if I can excise it...again.

The Search for Civ

Stepping through the portal, I first felt the familiar vertigo-sensation of teleporting, followed by unexpected blast of hot, dry air.

And wow, I had many theories on what Hell would look like, but it's nothing like seeing the real deal.

"Welcome to the Valley of the Damned," Livic said with a scheming smile, looking like he perfectly fit in with the volcanic-looking background.

"Well," I huffed, "At least it fits the usual description for 'Hell': fire, lava, seering heat, an unkind landscape."

"Yep, home sweet hell," Livic stated, "I prefer to call it the 'Valley of the Damned' however. More poetic, feels more hostile and sad for those souls trapped here."

Looking around, a myriad of unpleasant sights were scattered about. We were currently up on a cliff, standing in some dark-stone brick bridge on precipice overlooking the land below. The rough terrain at the bottom of the cliff seemed hardly traversable, looking like an extreme rock-hopping adventure. A lake of lava stretched out to the horizon, with volcanoes leaking more viscous rock into the terrain. Floating motes of dark red stone dotted the red-haze sky, with a few housing dark-brick structures.

"Well, the 'Valley of the Damned' isn't getting any colder. Show the way, devil-man," I waved him forward.

Livic smiled evilly.

"Of course, this way" he said, beginning to walk further down the dark-brick structure.

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Have you played the visual novel "Remember the Flowers"?

I have not yet. It's on my list to read, though I will admit I've had little time to do so recently. I plan to start reading some FVNs, including RTF, as soon as I finish DMing my current Starfinder game.

I've seen a TON of art about it (especially the yellow wolf guy), but I haven't heard anything about what its all about. Does someone wanna give me a spoiler-free taste or would that ruin it?

The Search for Civ

Lye's Personal Log: 10/4/2024

Today is the day we start our trek. I've gotten all my gear together to make this journey and Livic has...done nothing to prepare. He says he'll be fine. I have my doubts.

Livic has tried to tell me multiple times that all will be well. "You've got a devil as a guide", "I know what I'm doing", "I'll protect you". All fall on deaf ears due to my lack of trust.

However, one thing he did give me was a surprising amount of detail about our trek. Our path will be starting at a Hell Gate for our local galactic area, and we'll be traveling to another Hell Gate that's much closer to where Civ is, hellishly speaking.

The good news is that this journey should only be a few days.

The bad news is that we'll be traveling in open hell terrain with little protection for most of that.

God's save me.

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Hmhmhm! Expanding on anon's post about fav songs......do you have a song in mind for ur ocs that could be like their theme?

I'm not sure. I haven't thought of one as of the moment.

It's an interesting thought tho.

Electric/Synthwave is probably my core music group, especially synthwave that tends to be very emotional. I'd have to boil it down to Help - EP Version by Gallantis, but I could have my mind changed somewhat easily. An alternate could be Time Travel Kool Aid by Half an Orange for the same reasons.

I'm a sucker for 'powerful sounding' music, so Lye is easily Noosphere by Guillaume David (Warhammer 40K Mechanicus). It's got all the necromantic vibes, dark undertones, and unease I'd expect to hear from an overview of her doing some magical stuff (and organ music fits her style too).

Livic is supposed to be this strange perspective on mortal creatures, so for character reasons, I like to think it's Pass the Knife by No/Me. Either that, or some other clearly hellish-sounding music like Metal or something, but I don't typically listen to that outside of Rammstein.

You FAILIURE of a otter, How could you mess up one simple song??? All you had to do was remember! Sure he didnt go through it all with you but you should have asked the AI. It would have helped you. Now that Albino Twink Is 1 step closer to razing your ass!

Uuuuuuhhhhh.........

I'm...not sure what you mean by this. Did you mean a single song from the other anon ask? Like, is there some kind of magic where we have the same favorite song and Lye can...cast something? I'm super confused, nevermind the fact that we don't share musical tastes.

AI? Like, the computers here? Com? I thought it said it clearly 'wasn't' and AI? Besides, what could he have helped me with? Better understanding the local custom? Sending an attack drone on me?

Lastly: albino twink? I was under the impression that twink was a male term, so I'm not sure who you're talking about unless you mean Lye? Razing me? Huh? Is she gonna destroy me? Why?

Anon, I'm super lost.

Is Livic supposed to be portrayed as really hot? Because 😳

Well, yeah, I am. Glad you agree.

I'm pretty hot in a lot of ways: physically, literally, seductively...

Sexually...

Hey, what's up with this? Is that a censor? I was trying to post sexy nudes on the internet!

Lye: NOT ON MY FUCKING WATCH. AND DEFINITELY NOT WITH CIV'S BODY! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT WEARING SOMETHING?! PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON.

Suckable paws ngl bro 😵‍💫

And...... you've lost 'looking at my paws' privileges.

The Search for Civ

Lye's Personal Log: 10/1/2024

I've made sure to keep Livic on a short leash, but mostly just to keep myself (and my neighbors) safe. He is a literal devil, afterall.

Livic has informed me that the easiest way to retrieve Civ will not be through typical magic. Teleportation directly to Adastra would be extremely difficult, requiring an amount of magical power equivalent to a Municipal Protection Spell. Since I'm sure that I won't be able to get those kinds of resources, Livic suggested another idea:

To travel through the Hells.

Livic explained that while many planets follow the rules of location and distance, the home plane of Asmodeus is purposely non-conforming to spatial physics. Once can travel across the universe in a fraction the time by finding the right focus points, but its one full of dangers.

While Livic assured me that many of my people's researchers already knew of this, it was generally agreed that any form of Hellish travel was deemed too dangerous. All attempts at Hellish traversal ended in disaster across history.

So, I guess that's the way we're going. Great idea Lye, follow a devil to literal Hell. He insists he can lead us through the Hell Gates, otherwise known as the pathways through Hell to other sections of the universe, but I still don't know how capable he actually is. It's not uncommon for devils to kill each other for power or fun.

I've taken a few days to prepare, but I don't think anything I can do will be enough. I'm taking a charm that would typically teleport one home in an emergency, though I'm unsure if it'll work cross-planar. I also took every ingredient possible and backups to cast Invisibility as much as I can, as I suspect staying unseen will be paramount. Otherwise, I'll just have to hope Livic is a capable travel acquaintance.

As annoying as he is...

Gods, he's worse than Civ sometimes...

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Fine, I guess I can give one a try. How bad could it possibly be?

1 Major Mistake Later....

And this is probably the only way Civ will ever breath fire, lol.

how well does civ do with spicy food? :3

It might be heresy for an Arizonan, but my spice tolerance isn't the highest as many others. Maybe higher than many non-Arizonans, but for a state with so much good Mexican food, I'm considered low tolerance.

I have a tolerance for some spicy food, but I don't like deathly spicy. I have roommates and friends who eat like the hottest sauces at B Dubs, and could eat the spiciest a Mexican mom-owned restaurant could make. However, I have the lowest spice tolerance in my friend group because of that.

In my case, I can handle jalapenos pretty well as a topping, and my favorite taco meat has habanero peppers in a light amount. There's a mango habanero salsa at my favorite Mexican restaurant that I love, but have to eat in moderation. I can't eat their hotter dishes, but I can eat everything else on the menu. I've heard many a tourist remark at how spicy the food is when I'm not really effected and we have what looks like the same dish, so my spice tolerance is higher than the average but not "I wanna eat Carolina Reaper Wings".

Hwats the soonest🔜 we can get 🍆🙌 some civ 🌆 paws 🐾 🥸🧐???

Hehe, right now.

Unless you meant something else. This kinda of hieroglyphic text can sometimes confuse me.

how well does civ do with spicy food? :3

It might be heresy for an Arizonan, but my spice tolerance isn't the highest as many others. Maybe higher than many non-Arizonans, but for a state with so much good Mexican food, I'm considered low tolerance.

I have a tolerance for some spicy food, but I don't like deathly spicy. I have roommates and friends who eat like the hottest sauces at B Dubs, and could eat the spiciest a Mexican mom-owned restaurant could make. However, I have the lowest spice tolerance in my friend group because of that.

In my case, I can handle jalapenos pretty well as a topping, and my favorite taco meat has habanero peppers in a light amount. There's a mango habanero salsa at my favorite Mexican restaurant that I love, but have to eat in moderation. I can't eat their hotter dishes, but I can eat everything else on the menu. I've heard many a tourist remark at how spicy the food is when I'm not really effected and we have what looks like the same dish, so my spice tolerance is higher than the average but not "I wanna eat Carolina Reaper Wings".

is evilciv like "grrr I HATE WATER AND ENGINEERING!!" or is he more like gremlin?

I wouldn't say I HATE water....I just prefer FIRE.

It's way cooler. But it also has to be well controlled. Even devils (who are heavily resistant to fire) can burn.

And no, engineering is stupid. Leave that kinda math and malarkey to the subservient and lesser smart people.

Now, taming fire? That's where it's at. If I had to have a job in the mortal world, it'd definitely be a wildland firefighter. That kinda job takes some guts and know-how. Plus being able to control it would be super helpful.

How! Hiya!

did you maybe have an idea of how Lye(and maybe any other ocs) sound like? maybe like a vocal claim?

stay swagalicious Civ (wherever you maybe...)

Voices are another interesting question.

Civ, of course, has my voice, which I'd probably describe as upper tenor for a man, general upbeat, changes pitch drastically depending on inflection, and has a southwestern accent. You can kind of figure the accent from the fact that I use 'yall' and other typically country words, but the accent is actually more closer to a Californian 'normal voice' with western verbage and southern inflections. I also tend to talk VERY fast. I'm not sure there's a person or character who talks like me, as southwest, smalltown, autistic nerd is not a very common trope. I'd describe him talking as "Like riding a high speed rollercoaster with a kid high on sugar but emphatically telling you about their favorite thing."

Lye, since she was originally a DND character, also has my voice, but was an attempt at a british, refined-yet-piercingly-sassy woman's voice, probably a touch older Victorian. I'd say you could think of a younger Professor McGonagall but with more sass and a touch Victorian/Shakespearean. Of course, her form here is supposed to be more modern, so the above description is still accurate, but way less strong due to it being modified by modern southwestern speech. I've gone to describe talking to her as "Like being interrogated but somehow not antagonistically, while also somehow feeling like she may be insulting you without saying anything."

Livic is as per Civ, but a touch deeper, way less tonal shifting, and full of way more mischievous sass and slickness, as per his devilish origins. Talking to him should feel "Like talking to a surprisingly young lawyer who's clearly speaking ill of you while negotiating a contract in his favor."

There's a few other characters coming in the future, but one I've mentioned is Kerry, who is supposed to be Lye's coworker. She's a golden lab who's that bubbly person in the office, but I haven't nailed down exactly her tone other than friendly and bubbly.

So Livic, what can you do that Civil can't? Aside from being naked, of course.

Well, let's just say...a lot.

I mean, we may be the same strength, but I look better strong. We can agree on that, right? I got all the best parts of hellish handsomeness, so I can probably pick up guys and gals better than he can. Probably satisfy them better in bed too. (Lye Note: this one might be true on account of things I saw when he was first summoned that I can't unsee, though I doubt his behavior would keep anyone for long.)

I can fly, as per these wings. They aren't just for show. I'd like to see Civil do that. I'd consider myself a 'learning' flier (Lye Note: which is totally not cope because he crashes a lot) so maybe I'll fly you out for a fun time.

I have access to magic from the Hells, which is pretty cool. Fire, portals, enchantments, trickery, if it's hellish I can do it. However, Asmodeus says that I should 'learn over time' so I can only do the important and low power stuff, not any awesome things like blowing up a city...yet. (Lye Note: It should be noted that Livic's most powerful feature is his access to hellish magic, but he is clearly limited to prevent wild devils like him to run amok. He is capable of teleporting at will to the hells, but that is pretty much his most powerful magic.)

And finally, I can do something Civ could never do: go over the speed limit. I am truly the better of us two, am I not? (Lye Note: Livic clearly has an ego, take what he says with a grain of salt. While he may be a devil and have magic, I doubt he is much better than Civil in the mental department. I asked him to do a math problem and he repeatedly tried to avoid it, so I assume he has basically no proper education and runs entirely on charisma alone.)

These new posts are awwsoomee i am fucking ENTHRALLED

I'm glad it's been enjoyable for yall! It's a great compliment!

This has been a fun little adventure so far, and I'm excited to keep going and see this story to it's end. Stay tuned, the main story will be staring back up sometime next week!

do civ and lye have a favourite song?

Favorite song. Favorite song.. Favorite Song...

I don't really have a favorite song, moreso a favorite for a while. It would be more accurate to say I have a favorite 'selection' for a period of like 3 months.

I have a really funny pattern where I remake playlists every few months, taking my favorites from the last and slowly accumulating the next one. Eventually, my 'favorite' songs no longer get taken to the next one, so I have an actual record of my evolving taste with time. Oh, also each 'Volume' I make has a different Star Wars meme for the cover image.

General speaking, I like synth and vaporwave, pop, club music, and mixes of those. Currently, my 'favorite' selection includes a lot of Fox Stevenson, specifically 'Bruises', 'Victory over Truth', and 'New Amsterdam'.

Lye likes a lot of older pop (which btw, is still IRL me's taste as well, lol). Katy Perry, Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, anything from them before 2015 typically. You'll catch her singing 'Applause', 'No Lie', or 'I Kissed a Girl' sometimes when she's working and forgets I'm cooking or something.

Evil Civ sure is handsome! I respect him being bottomless. 👀

Call me Livic, or just Vic, and I'm glad you like me! I'm sure many mortals do and will. I promise to do many terrible things in the future 'bottom-less'.

Maybe I'll even do terrible things to you bottom-less, if you know what I mean.

Although, killjoy Lye said I have to wear "At least something" for this whole log of hers, so only so much bottom-less fun for the time being.

civ for emperor!!! lets overthrow adastra's government!! put this otter in charge !!!!!!!!!

Hehehe, look at me! Emperor Civ sitting in the big chair!

Ok, imma get out of this before I get in trouble. I don't think the local wolf people will appreciate an otter Emperor. I'm here as a guest from one of the other dignitaries visiting the palace, so I probably shouldn't get on the Adastran's bad sides, at least for my dignitary's sake.

Besides, I heard that they're about to start the trials to choose their next Emperor, and I'm not sure I could successfully complete them. I've heard that it's two brothers that are vying for the position. One of them, 'Amicus', has a super rare pet called a 'simian', but the other, 'Cassius', is like a great debater. I don't think I could beat either of those two points unless there's a contest about designing city water infrastructure.

Oh well, one can dream, but I appreciate yall's support for plans for otter-world domination.