Paragon - Tumblr Posts
You know what? Crisis would've been 1000% better if the Starkid Batman, Robin and Superman were referenced in any way
Bonus is Brian's Superman was the Paragon they were looking for
Week 4: Festivals and Fear
Paragon Creature Preview
Some of you may remember a while back I mentioned a I was working on a “Sub-Legendary creature” I was referring to as Paragons. The idea is starting to take shape a little bit, though it may not look like much.
The idea here is that these creatures produce more interesting encounters than a normal creature by reacting to the things that the party does, but because these reactions have specific triggers, clever parties can deny them the opportunity to take extra actions.
In lieu of legendary resistance, we simply have the ‘Resist’ paragon reaction. This lets Paragon Creatures have some means of resisting the most debilitating effects, but they can’t simply say no in the way that legendary creatures can. There’s more tweaks coming to this idea for sure. You might notice the little blurb on ‘Force Actions’ near the bottom of the page. I’ll be playing with these later, but the general idea is to represent monsters with the backing of an army or force that is not taking direct part in the battle. I’m imagining Siege Weapons, Archer Volleys, or (on a wildly more specific note) a ship captain having his helmsman suddenly tilt the ship to unbalance boarders. There’s only one stat block for now, because this is more a dry run of an idea than anything. Tomorrow: The School of the (Ethereal) Border for Wizards.
Week 4: Festivals and Fear Paragon Creature Preview (With Approximately 200% more statblocks) All right, all right, I’m cheating a little- I’m going to have to break schedule this week. The School of the Veil (formerly of the Border) isn’t quite working out for me just yet, so it’s being delayed. It might be better off as a sorcerous origin, but that’s for another time. Today, I offer you Two Additional Paragon Monsters to ease any potential frustrations and keep up that breakneck Brewfest pace. This serves as a sort of proof of concept- that concept being that Paragons are both a quick and dirty alternative to Legendary monsters, and one which offers a slightly different experience. I knocked these two additional statblocks out in roughly 30 minutes, because I generally just expanded on the existing abilities of the monster. The Centaur took the most work because it lacks existing special actions, so I had to expand on its skirmishing themes. I hope you Enjoy- our Final post for the October Brew Festival is going to be a compilation of monster statblocks, including several that have already gone up, but potentially many more. Enjoy! (Fixing a typo on my phone appears to have annihilated the formatting on this post- I’ll have to fix it when I get off work, sorry folks!)
Interceptors and their (hc) default expression. Idk, just a thought that came to me randomly
"Name your children after your favorite things"
Me: good night "the subplot from Paragon where Alana gives Will's dogs up for adoption and then Will hates her in a petty way for the rest of the story"
“What good is setting an example if no-one ever follows it?”
Andrew Horton/Brandon Sampson
“I wasn’t going to let him kill you…”
“I know, dad.”
Andrew Horton for @abookof
Photographer: @josephsinclair
Jupiter’s Legacy s01e01
“He’s way too emotional. He’s distracted. He’s not even close to being ready. Maybe he never will be.”
That's so freaking cool!! I'd love to know more!
What is a Paragon?
I have answered a lot of asks on this blog and talked a ton about these characters but I am now realizing that I never explained a very key part of this story: what is a paragon?
So let’s remedy that, shall we?
In my current WIP, paragon are people who have the ability to control one of seven elements: fire, water, earth, air, electricity, darkness, and psychic. They also possess a coin that, when flicked into the air, transforms into a unique weapon. Every paragon miraculously receives their element and coin (known as an arma) on their eighteenth birthday. The coin appears next to them wherever they wake up that morning and a tattoo depicting the emblem of their element appears on their left wrist.
Paragon have been demonized and scapegoated for centuries. Many humans believe that because of their abilities and arma that they are all violent and dangerous. Because of this, many paragon go to great lengths to hide their element tattoos, but most of them fail as the image is made of energy, not ink, so simple makeup or paint or whatever does not cover the mark. Some have found ways to turn the energy invisible, but it is very difficult and has been kept secret for generations.
This is just scratching the surface of the nuances of being a paragon in this story, but I thought I’d share to give those following me here a better idea of what I am talking about! If you’re interested at all, send me an ask and I’ll elaborate some more!
What a sweetheart!!
Ryan Reese
Element: Earth
Weapon: Battle axe (Kay named it Penelope)
Personality: Protective, gentle giant of the team who constantly worries about the health of others way more than himself. Wicked smart when it comes to hardware and is a huge car and sports nerd.
Backstory: given up for adoption at six months and taken in by two humans. Grew up in the suburbs of Philly with Nate. They went to the same school and everything. Didn’t learn he was paragon until he met his parents at the age of seventeen. Made his eighteenth birthday a bit of a shock, but he adjusted better than most.
Nickname(s): RJ (childhood), Reese (everyone), Ry-Ry (Nate's little sister when she was really smol. If anyone else called him that he'd break their arm), Big Lug (given to him by Kay)
We stan one (1) gentle earth boy
He sounds like he'd be fun to hang out with. Just be in the company of and just sit in silence
Shaun Accardi
Element: Water
Weapon: Crossbow (Kay’s name: Enedina Marie)
Personality: an anxious, over protective introvert who loves skateboarding and music. He values his alone time and will scorn anyone who ruins it for him unless that person is Matt. He plays guitar and bass and he has a calming singing voice, although he’s self conscious about it :)
Backstory: grew up in the city as an only child, just him and his mom after his father left him when he was eight years old. Became very close to his childhood friend Darren until the day Shaun chose Nate over Darren as leader of the faction.
Nickname(s): White Mage (given to him by Kay because he is the team healer), Shaq (given to him by Sky)
We stan one (1) oblivious water boy
I WANT TO BE HER FRIEND SO BAD
Katrina Curain
Element: Electricity
Weapon: Chain (that effectively works as a whip. She named it Florence)
Personality: An energetic, bubbly, very affectionate nerd who doesn’t know when to quit. Buries herself in fiction, sarcasm, and jokes to avoid dealing with her past and present trauma
Backstory: grew up in Philadelphia with a human and paragon parent and her sister, Sky. Father taught her everything she knows about paragon behind her mother’s back. Got along extremely well with her mother, which made leaving her after a tragic incident even more heartbreaking.
Nickname(s): Kay (everyone), Pikachu (given to her by Reese as payback for all her pop culture names)
We stan one (1) sassy lightning girl
Poor babi
Skylar Curain
Element: Darkness
Weapon: Sniper rifle (Florence’s twin, Clarence)
Personality: A down to earth, level headed, sports nerd who loves nature and staying active. Uses workouts, sports, and training to avoid dealing with her past and present trauma
Backstory: grew up in Philadelphia with a human and paragon parent and her sister, Kay. Father taught her everything she knows about paragon behind her mother’s back. Got along extremely well with her father, which made leaving her home after his death absolutely devastating.
Nickname(s): Sky (everyone), Dr. Doom (given to her by Kay), Sky Rocket (given to her by her dad)
We stan one (1) traumatized shadow girl
Oooooo she seems cool!
Nicole Hadad
Element: Psychic
Weapon: Modern Pistol (Kay’s name: Charleston)
Personality: a closed off, strong-willed, hard working prodigy in the areas of technology and paragon. Also a huge car and science nerd.
Backstory: First generation American who grew up in the suburbs with her mom and dad, basically lived at the family mechanics shop until one day, when she was 10, Nic learned that her parents had been killed. Afterwards she was taken in by a human family that did not accept paragon. Nic was able to keep her race a secret since she hadn't turned 18 yet, but she lived in fear for years...
Nickname(s): Nic (everyone), Magneto (given to her by Kay)
Um, excuse me? Who gave you the right to create such amazing characters each with a unique and in-depth background? The audacity you have to have this much talent!!
Matias Alcazar
Element: Air
Weapon: Quarterstaff (Kay’s name: Prescott)
Personality: a funny, caring, extremely affectionate extravert who loves music, travelling, reading, and nature. Knows how to cheer everyone up like it’s his job and is constantly singing weird songs he made up on the spot. Just an absolute joy to have around.
Backstory: Born in Argentina, moved to Austin, Texas at the age of two. Grew up in the Texas suburbs with his paragon parents and older brother. Learned quickly and cruelly that humans do not accept paragon which led him and his brother to join the Knaves right out of high school. A careless plan that ended with Matt injured and his brother dead convinced him that maybe it was time to switch sides.
Nickname(s): Matt (everyone), Aang (given to him by Kay), Tise (pronounced “Teese,” given to him by his brother), Little Alcazar (given to him by family friends who knew his brother)
We stan one (1) cheery air boy
Bonding over friends denseness in regards to love. Amazing
"I don't think he heard a word I said."
Dialogue Prompt | Paragon | Nate Teagan & Ryan Reese
-----
"Did you get a chance to talk to Shaun?" Nate asked, stepping into the kitchen.
Reese turned around, dish towel in hand. He slung it over his shoulder and leaned against the counter. "Yeah, I talked to him."
"And?"
Reese laughed without humor. "I don't think he heard a word I said."
"Of course he didn't," Nate sighed, shaking his head. The fire paragon sat at the kitchen table and wondered, "What the hell are we going to do with those two?"
"I'm not sure, Teags. Maybe we could just let them figure it out themselves."
The silence lasted about three milliseconds before the two men busted out into full on laughter. It was a miracle the cabinets didn't rattle with the force.
"Figure it out themselves, that's a good one Reese."
"Yeah, I guess after four years it's unlikely, huh?"
"Just a bit."
"Well, we can't force them to ask each other out."
"But god, wouldn't it be so much easier if we could?"
"Yeah," Reese chuckled. "Yeah, it would."
Thus concept never ceases to amaze me. It's just so cool!!!
Day 2: What is Paragon?
@the-wip-project
After doing my intro post yesterday I realized that I should probably start simple. So today I am just going to explain the basic premise of my WIP.
Paragon is a modern fantasy story based in a version of the world where there are two races: paragon and humans. Paragon look essentially the same as humans, the difference comes in their power. When a paragon turns eighteen, they gain the ability to control one of seven elements- those being fire, water, earth, air, electricity, darkness, and psychic. They also receive a coin that, when flipped into the air, transforms into a unique weapon.
Set in America in the year 2011, our story follows seven specific paragon at the heart of a conflict between two groups: the Paladins and the Knaves. These are more labels than anything, although they are very coordinated and organized so I may refer to each as an “organization” on occasion, for lack of a better term.
However, the main difference between these two lies in ideology. They both fight for paragon rights, but Paladins encourage a “work together for equality” approach while the Knaves have been pushed too far, embracing a “attack them ‘til they fear us and give us the respect we deserve” mentality.
Our seven heroes catch wind that the Knaves are planning to make a game changing move in this underground war they fight and, as one of the strongest teams the Paladins have trained, they are tasked with finding out the details of this master plan and putting a stop to it.
So that's the story I am going to be rambling about for the next 98 days! I have a lot of worldbuilding and character explanations and a bunch of other stuff I'm super excited to share! Thank you for your interest and support for this silly little story that only lives in my head for now 🤗