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aleksanderscult · 4 months

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Analyzing "Demon in the Wood" (book) - Part 3

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 4 and Part 5 🫶)

⚠️TW: BULLYING⚠️

I managed to squeeze more than 20 images in this (yay!🎉) so prepare yourselves for a loong meta this time.

That's both amazing and creepy.

Imagine being so ancient that you have actually met those figures. While children in the future were being told fairytales at night, the Darkling lived inside those fairytales. He was part of them.

(It's like saying: "Oh my favorite fairytale is Cinderella!" and a guy next to you says: "Oh that girl? Yeah, met her. Not as pretty as they all say". And in the meantime, the story of Cinderella takes place at 1600s💀💀)

Baba Anezka appeared in "Little Knife".

Petyr of Brevno is a freaking Saint. The patron of archers.

Magda of the Black Woods appeared in "The Witch of Duva" and is a Saint as well. The patroness of bakers and abandoned women.

And Eryk has met them. (let that sink in)

Besides that, the obvious secretive life of Grisha is so painfully clear that antis seem to purposefully miss it. They need to seek each other by listening to rumors and looking in secret while most Grisha try to not be found at all.

Antis: "The Darkling forced Grisha to become soldiers and go to war!!"

And then accuse us for not reading the books.🙂

Before the Little Palace was built, the Grisha had no lives, with dignity and normality. They were living hidden in whatever they could find. Nothing was "permanent", like Eryk said in the Graphic Novel, always on the move and in fear. Trying to not draw attention to themselves out of fear of being exiled, killed, imprisoned, sold, tortured or experimented on.

Then the Darkling convinced the then-King of Ravka to allow him to build a home for them (after going to war for him). And when the Darkling went to find the Grisha, they were afraid of coming out of their hiding.

What if it was a trap from the King? What if they were killed?

Very few went with him and became soldiers because it was the only way for Ravka to accept them. Ravka was constantly involved in wars, so for Grisha to be soldiers was the only acceptable position they could have in this kingdom.

So no, Aleksander didn't make them soldiers because he didn't care for their fates. But because there was literally no other duty they would be allowed to carry. Become traders? No one would board their ship. Instead they would be captured. Become merchants? No one would buy from them. Instead they would be killed. Soldiers? Well yeah, because with their powers they would prove that they could be trusted with the safety of the kingdom. A safety the otkazat'sya needed. To fight the wars that the First Army couldn't win. Becoming servants of the Crown was their only option (and yes, the Darkling was also a servant of the Crown).

Okay I got this out of my chest 😭

Eryk seems really resigned that things will change. He's thirteen and hope for a change is bleak for him. He has seen first hand how low Grisha are in the "food chain". An ethnic group forsaken by everyone else.

His love for animals is so cute!!

I just imagine him standing down hidden and admiring wild animals from afar.

He just wanted to satisfy his needs. Stay at one place and go exploring and looking for tigers.

(The Darkling with any animal: "I just think it's NEAT!")

Also, his mother's "lessons" really annoy him. And it seems they do this wherever they go and with whoever they meet(?). Nevertheless, Aleksander was a brilliant child that grew to become a clever tactician and leader. Whenever his plans didn't work out in the Grisha trilogy, it was because he was letting his heart and feelings rule over his mind (aka: the whole Alina situation).

Baghra: "Aww you seem to really grow accustomed with power"

Baghra when her son gained power and position: "HELLO?? 911??"

Besides Baghra's hypocrisy, LOOK AT MY BABY'S SARCASM

"Your true name is written here. Tattooed on your heart. You don't let just anyone read it." - DitW.

"I want you to know my name. The name I was given, not the title I took for myself. Will you have it Alina?" - Ruin and Rising.

He didn't let just anyone read it. Only to the girl he fell in love with. Perhaps he did it to gain her trust back. Or out of his love of her. Or because he thought of her worthy to know it. She proved to be strong and also caring. She wouldn't betray his trust and let others know it.

"It's my own name I'm afraid of forgetting." - DitW.

"Aleksander. A boy's name, given up. Almost forgotten." - Ruin and Rising.

Or perhaps she gave his name to her so it wouldn't be forgotten.

All his life, his mother kept telling him "Don't say your name anywhere. Just don't. Don't let them touch you. Don't."

And yet he allowed both to Alina. It's not about him forgetting what his mother had taught him. But giving in to his feelings out of a desire to love and to be loved.

He loves evergreens 🥺

And let's not forget that he loved the forests so much that he decorated his room with it:

"The chamber was hexagonal, its dark wood walls carved into the illusion of a forest crowded with slender trees." - Siege and Storm.

Leigh explained in a Tumblr ask why she had the Darkling's room decorated with trees. I'll repost it one day for you.

Oh! And here's a fanart of the Darkling's bedroom from the books:

(art by @feyspeaker)

Beautiful and way better than what we got in the show. 😍

"It felt like summer was still alive", is this confirmation that his favorite season is summer??

GUYS HE TRIES SO HARD 😭😭

The way he was socially awkward as a kid and no one talks about it. When you have your mom telling you to stay away from people and peers then you don't socialise that much and (after a while) you don't how to properly do it.

Is he supposed to be friendly?

Is he supposed to be aloof?

His mother's constant warnings have made him confused about how to talk with other children.

"He'd stopped trying to make friends"

So he was making efforts to make friends and play but Baghra fucked this up and then he simply stopped trying. Reminds me how Leigh said that after losing his lovers, he stopped trying to be in relationships.

*that's your cue to cry*

Eryk: "Great. Another day for other children to run screaming from me. Just another lovely morning."

SYLVI IS SOOO CUTE (another baby to adopt 🥹)

And Eryk's certainty that she will be afraid of him.

STOP!! STOP RIGHT NOW!!

He smiled with her innocent curiosity. She didn't run. She liked it. And he was so relieved.😭

That sneaky, little baby 🥹

OH NO STOP--

"He should be used to it by now"

He couldn't get used to people's aggressiveness towards him. It hurt him, bro 😭

I feel sorry for Annika, man

She's not my favorite character in this book but I find her one of the most intriguing ones.

She has seen things. Lev hasn't. It's probable that he spent all his life inside that camp. But he definitely hasn't seen the way drüskelle hunt Grisha. Annika has and the way she's so overprotective with her sister shows how she can't afford to lose someone else too 😔

The evil villain was ready to defend a little otkazat'sya girl that he barely knew from a bully that insulted her.

Yup. We must hate him.

That just confirms my previous thoughts about how some Grisha only let the strong ones inside their camps. They can't afford to take anyone in. They only need more strength and protection not just random people.

Of course it's a possibility that the Ulle allows them to live there because he feels sorry for them. Throwing out a family is no easy thing.

The way he seems to care for the underdogs. Perhaps because, even though he had great powers, he too felt like one.

How he wanted to sound like: "LEAVE US ALONE!!"

How he probably sounded like: "leave us alone, okay?"

The Darkling is confirmed that he was a victim of bullying as a child.

It's such a far cry from the man that is portrayed in the trilogy. As a child we see him defending two girls (one of them otkazat'sya), he was bullied, he seemed giddy in the prospect of having a stable home and friends and showed regret and sadness when an otkazat'sya village was destroyed. As an adult he's a terrifying leading figure that inspires loyalty and respect and rarely shows his emotions.

It seems that somewhere down the line he hardened his heart, matured and learned and repressed any emotion that could sabotage his plans and heart.

Fuck immortality.

And he's so worried that he fucked up his hopes to stay at camp. He always worries that he'll ruin things. That he's a failure and a disaster for his mother and her plans.

Also, the way he's so afraid that they will fear him and run away from him. He does it "warily" so he still hasn't gotten used that. 😔

SYLVI IS MY ADOPTED DAUGHTER

Look at her being all cute!! Instead of being frightened of him, she wants to be like him 😭

His surprise 😭

It's so clear that he isn't used to this kind of treatment.

Just imagine how many times he's heard Baghra's scoldings to the point that he already knows what he is about to hear from her.

He had one hope and now he thinks it vanished. And he blames himself. For the danger that he'll bring to himself and his mother. He's so hard with himself...🥺

“It was hard not to pull away”

MY HEART IS ACHING

HE JUST CRAVES LOVE

“The unfamiliar pressure of her palm against his”

The feeling of someone holding his hand is strange to him. He doesn't know the feeling and hasn't been accustomed to it.

He wants to trust her and keeps finding good things in her as if he's trying to find reasons to do it.

"He had so many secrets. It felt good to share one"

So, contrary to popular belief, I don't think the Darkling was thriving and cheering inside of him for having so many secrets in TGT. Secrets are burdens you have to carry. He gave a personal one to Alina (his name) and he revealed some of his plans to her in S&B and S&S. He was a secretive person because he had to (and because he wanted to be one step ahead) but not because he enjoyed it.

That could have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship (or even a future cute romance, who can say?) but, alas, Grisha were living shit lives and were too desperate and scared.

(More in part 4)

#we need to address more how socially awkward the Darkling was #the Darkling meta #demon in the wood meta #demon in the wood #the darkling #pro darkling #baghra morozova #grishaverse #shadow and bone #aleksander morozova #pro aleksander morozova #annika #sylvi #meta

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therectoress · 3 years

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Till Human Voices Wake Us (And We Drown)’s timeline so far:

Tissaia:

Year 696, Crown Princess Skylark is born in the late hours of the night during the Winter Equinox to King Lestyn and Queen Amicia of the Kingdom of Acaidal aka “The Continent’s heart” aka "The Golden Kingdom” with a mark in the form of a lilac on the nape of her neck. This alerts everyone that she was blessed with a soulmate, which means that by holy and mortal law she can never enter an arranged marriage; this also confirms she is the prophecy child and is destined to destroy the world.

Year 708, Since infancy Skylark’s strange behaviour has caused rumours to circulate and because of this and her parent’s refusal to accept any and all offers of betrothals, Acaidal is attacked during the ball hosted for the Princess 12th birthday (”the age of consent back then,” according to Tissaia). When their army is defeated and the castle surrounded, the palace is set on fire with her family and the courtiers inside, effectively trapping them. After her parents and her grandmother say their (rushed) goodbyes to her, the Queen takes off her signature pendant and gives it to her daughter, instructing a soldier to try and take the Princess out through the tunnels below the castle. Once outside, the building collapses on itself, triggering her conduit moment and the complete destruction of her kingdom by their attackers’ hands and her own.

Year 709, Skylark is saved from unknown captors, from an unknown location by Rectoress Depraysie after months of physical/psychological torture. Upon reaching Aretuza she tries to kill herself and sometime during the week she spends in recovery (after the Rectoress saves her), she argues with the woman and is forced to endure her Enchantment prematurely in retaliation. Depraysie changes the colour of her hair (her most famous feature) and makes her indistinguishable from Princess Skylark’s remaining portraits, lastly erasing all evidence of what had happened to her during her time in captivity. She is, however, unable to get rid of the mark on the girl’s neck, much to her frustration. – The trauma produced by the fall of Acaidal, her imprisonment and her Enchantment would soon cause her to develop PTSD and worsen her depressive/anxious tendencies. Depraysie also suspected that a throat infection she had contracted during her stay in the dungeon would be to blame for instigating her genetic predisposition towards OCD into violent existence. – Afterwards, Rectoress Depraysie procures a body that is similar in build to her already favourite apprentice and “proves” by various methods to several monarchs that it really is her, successfully tricking people into believing that Princess Skylark is dead. After spreading some more rumours, she gives Nilfgaard’s Emperor, the late Queen Amicia’s brother, the corpse for safekeeping. Centuries later that same skeleton would be returned to its “homeland” when the first king of the newly restored and named Kingdom of Cintra was anointed. Occasionally, new monarchs are known to ask mages for confirmation that the bones are indeed Skylark's and it is always given.

Year 714, She meets fifteen-year-old Lytta Neyd aka “Coral” aka “The overbearing, nosy friend she absolutely just tolerates”. At first glance, the redhead tells her that her name is now meant to be “Tissaia” and she embraces it, going by it from that day forwards. With time she grows to love the medium like a sibling and trusts her with the truth and the many painful, distressing side effects of the bond (both things which Coral already knows due to her psychic gift).

Year 718, Tissaia meets fourteen-year-old Margarita Laux-Antille aka “Rita” aka “The bane of her existence”. At first, she considers Rita “needy” and “annoying” and thinks that she “weeps too much”, but she’s a girl recently orphaned, afraid and alone, so Tissaia takes pity on her and threatens a younger student into changing rooms with her so she can take care of the blonde, who insists on sleeping in the same bed with her when Rectoress Depraysie is particularly horrid. With time she grows to love the blonde like a sibling and trusts her with the truth and the many painful, distressing side effects of the bond.

Year 720, Stregobor asks for permission to court Tissaia, now a gorgeous twenty-four-year-old young woman, but is denied and warned off of it by Rectoress Depraysie. This second-handed rejection causes the man to turn on Tissaia and the sorcerer tries to punish her for his humilliation for centuries.

Year 721, Coral is allowed to depart for Temeria’s court after her Enchantment, leaving a distraught, resentful and confused Tissaia behind.

Year 723, Rita “steals” Feyre’s assigment after their Enchantment and departs for Kadwen’s court. Tissaia de Vries finally departs for Redania’s, determined to succeed and prove Rectoress Depraysie wrong.

Year 832, Tissaia commits her first premeditated murder. It is an act that will slowly change her magic in a brutal, unknown manner.

Year 810, Tissaia is sexually assaulted by the grandson of the first king she served, killing him is self-defence and “slaughtering” him in revenge. Margarita makes the scene seem like an accident, and Coral and her take her away to – hide her in – Skellige “for many, many months” so she can recover.

Year 846, Falka’s rebellion commences and what first was a “noble” war changes into a peasant one, further degenerating into a massive witchhunt in which Mirthe, an ancient city of mages, is burnt down.

Year 860, She founds the Chapter of the Gift and the Art, and the Brotherhood of Sorcerers with the help of four other mages, amongst them future Rector of Ban Ard/Arch-master Stregobor and future Arch-master Artorius Vigo. Three centuries later, she’d still be the only woman in the Chapter.

Year 870, The prologue - In late October Tissaia has one of her worst episodes to date, instinctively making a mess of her office and later getting high on a concoction she stole from Rita, who in turn bought it from an elf, to try and negate her powers (which tend to be unpredictable and escape her control during those instances). Amidst the delirium and a high fever she is still able to subconsciously summon an incredibly aggressive thunderstorm to the isle of Thanedd.

Year 1188, After 477 years of being constantly “tormented” by their bond, Tissaia finds her soulmate in Yennefer of Vengerberg when the girl stumbles at her feet in Tor Lara. In her desperation to not be parted from her, she strikes a deal with the girl after she expresses her desire/duty to go back to her family. She subsequently wins their bet and when they return to Aretuza the strategy she used prompts the girl to have a breakdown where Tissaia has to stop her from dying after she slits her wrists. That same night she abducts the girl’s father and portals to an abandoned barn in Cintra where she taunts and proceeds to torture the farmer, ultimately killing him after his body gives out by having him eaten alive by wild boars to cover up her tracks, locking all exits and setting the place on fire when she’s certain he’s passed away.

Yennefer:

Year 1173, Yennefer of Vengerberg is born in the early hours of the morning during Beltane to a half-elf father and a human mother after over 18 hours of labour with a crooked spine and a mark in the form of an orchid next to the deformation in her back.

Year 1788, Her conduit moment is triggered by a teenage couple whose almost assault causes her to create a portal to the Tower of the Gull. Immediately enchanted by the stranger who finds her she almost follows her through another one but stops herself when she realises she’d be abandoning her family. She strikes a deal with the “lady”, where either she’ll prove that Yennefer is deeply unwanted in her home or she’ll fail at doing so; in the first scenario, she is to come back with her and in the latter “her chaos will be bound and she’ll never hear from her again,” which Yennefer simultaneously does and doesn’t believe. Hours later she is cruelly bought from her father for four marks by the witch (as her mother calls her), losing their bet. After being locked in a room, she breaks a mirror and in a desperate attempt for control tries to kill herself by slitting her wrists with a shard of glass – “four cuts for four marks” – but is immediately stopped by her “new master”.

#yennaia #yennefer x tissaia #tissaia de vries #writing*#thvwu*

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rockislandadultreads · 4 years

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2020 Fantasy Releases

The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag

Once upon a time, a demon who desired earthly domination fathered an army of dark daughters to help him corrupt humanity . . . As children, Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea dreamed of a strange otherworld: a nightscape of mists and fog, perpetually falling leaves and hungry ivy, lit by an unwavering moon. Here, in this shadowland of Everwhere, the four girls, half-sisters connected by blood and magic, began to nurture their elemental powers together. But at thirteen, the sisters were ripped from Everwhere and separated. Now, five years later, they search for one another and yearn to rediscover their unique and supernatural strengths. Goldie (earth) manipulates plants and gives life. Liyana (water) controls rivers and rain. Scarlet (fire) has electricity at her fingertips. Bea (air) can fly. To realize their full potential, the blood sisters must return to the land of their childhood dreams. But Everwhere can only be accessed through certain gates at 3:33 A.M. on the night of a new moon. As Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea are beset with the challenges of their earthly lives, they must prepare for a battle that lies ahead. On their eighteenth birthday, they will be subjected to a gladiatorial fight with their father’s soldiers. If they survive, they will face their father who will let them live only if they turn dark. Which would be fair, if only the sisters knew what was coming. So, they have thirty-three days to discover who they truly are and what they can truly do, before they must fight to save themselves and those they love.

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry

A sweeping tale of revolution and wonder in a world not quite like our own, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians is a genre-defying story of magic, war, and the struggle for freedom in the early modern world.

It is the Age of Enlightenment -- of new and magical political movements, from the necromancer Robespierre calling for revolution in France to the weather mage Toussaint L'Ouverture leading the slaves of Haiti in their fight for freedom, to the bold new Prime Minister William Pitt weighing the legalization of magic amongst commoners in Britain and abolition throughout its colonies overseas.

But amidst all of the upheaval of the early modern world, there is an unknown force inciting all of human civilization into violent conflict. And it will require the combined efforts of revolutionaries, magicians, and abolitionists to unmask this hidden enemy before the whole world falls to darkness and chaos.

Highfire by Eoin Colfer

In the days of yore, he flew the skies and scorched angry mobs—now he hides from swamp tour boats and rises only with the greatest reluctance from his Laz-Z-Boy recliner. Laying low in the bayou, this once-magnificent fire breather has been reduced to lighting Marlboros with nose sparks, swilling Absolut in a Flashdance T-shirt, and binging Netflix in a fishing shack. For centuries, he struck fear in hearts far and wide as Wyvern, Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie—now he goes by Vern. However...he has survived, unlike the rest. He is the last of his kind, the last dragon. Still, no amount of vodka can drown the loneliness in his molten core. Vern’s glory days are long gone. Or are they? A canny Cajun swamp rat, young Everett “Squib” Moreau does what he can to survive, trying not to break the heart of his saintly single mother. He’s finally decided to work for a shady smuggler—but on his first night, he witnesses his boss murdered by a crooked constable. Regence Hooke is not just a dirty cop, he’s a despicable human being—who happens to want Squib’s momma in the worst way. When Hooke goes after his hidden witness with a grenade launcher, Squib finds himself airlifted from certain death by…a dragon? The swamp can make strange bedfellows, and rather than be fried alive so the dragon can keep his secret, Squib strikes a deal with the scaly apex predator. He can act as his go-between (aka familiar)—fetch his vodka, keep him company, etc.—in exchange for protection from Hooke. Soon the three of them are careening headlong toward a combustible confrontation. There’s about to be a fiery reckoning, in which either dragons finally go extinct—or Vern’s glory days are back.

A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane

A generation past, the western realms were embroiled in endless war. Then the Destroyer came. From the blood and ashes he left behind, a tenuous alliance rose between the barbarian riders of Parsathe and the walled kingdoms of the south. That alliance is all that stands against the return of an ancient evil - until the barbarian king and queen are slain in an act of bloody betrayal.

Though forbidden by the alliance council to kill the corrupt king responsible for his parents’ murders, Maddek vows to avenge them, even if it costs him the Parsathean crown. But when he learns it was the king’s daughter who lured his parents to their deaths, the barbarian warrior is determined to make her pay.

Yet the woman Maddek captures is not what he expected. Though the last in a line of legendary warrior-queens, Yvenne is small and weak, and the sharpest weapons she wields are her mind and her tongue. Even more surprising is the marriage she proposes to unite them in their goals and to claim their thrones—because her desire for vengeance against her father burns even hotter than his own…

The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Davidson

Ever since her father was killed when she was just a child, Miranda Crabtree has kept her head down and her eyes up, ferrying contraband for a mad preacher and his declining band of followers to make ends meet and to protect an old witch and a secret child from harm. But dark forces are at work in the bayou, And when the preacher makes an unthinkable demand, it sets Miranda on a desperate, dangerous path, forcing her to consider what she is willing to sacrifice to keep her loved ones safe.

The Unwilling by Kelly Braffet

A penetrating tale of magic, faith and pride... The Unwilling is the story of Judah, a foundling born with a special gift and raised inside Highfall castle along with Gavin, the son and heir to Lord Elban's vast empire. Judah and Gavin share an unnatural bond that is both the key to her survival... and possibly her undoing. As Gavin is groomed for his future role, Judah comes to realize that she has no real position within the kingdom, in fact, no hope at all of ever traveling beyond its castle walls. Elban - a lord as mighty as he is cruel - has his own plans for her, for all of them. She is a mere pawn to him, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. But outside the walls, in the starving, desperate city, a magus, a healer with his own secret power unlike anything Highfall has seen in years, is newly arrived from the provinces. He, too, has plans for the empire, and at the heart of those plans lies Judah... The girl who started life with no name and no history will soon uncover more to her story than she ever imagined. An epic tale of greed and ambition, cruelty and love, this deeply immersive novel is about bowing to traditions and burning them down.

#fantasy #fiction #reading recs #reading recommendations #book recs #Book Recommendations #tbr #currently reading #read these books #booklr #book list #library #public library #new books

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Warrior Nuns Through TV History

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

TV nunning is a broad church. Sometimes, it’s all gunfire, demon-dissolving punches and running through walls, as in Netflix’s latest comic book adaptation Warrior Nun. In that show, a mystical artifact gives a non-believing teen superpowers passed down the generations from holy sister to holy sister. Defeat the demons, protect the world, praise the Lord, and so on.

Other fictional TV nuns lead quieter, more cake-focused lives, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also fighters. You might say that like superheroes, not all warrior nuns wear capes. You’d be wrong – nuns definitely wear capes. They’re called mantles and though roomy and practical, likely represent a significant time commitment with regard to ironing.

Warrior Nun‘s superpowered teen follows in the echoey footsteps of a whole conventful of fictional TV nuns remembered here – some good, some bad, some inordinately fond of biscuits, but all, in their own way, warriors.

Sister Mary Loquacious in Good Omens (2019)

Played by: Nina Sosanya

Allegiance: Satanic nuns of the Chattering Order of St Beryl

Warrior level: Novice

Weapon of choice: Infantilising baby talk of hoofikins and widdle demonic tails

Specialism: Biscuits with pink icing

Most likely to say: ‘Fancy me holding the Antichrist! Counting his little toesy-woesies!’

Getting into heaven? Absolutely not

Demon Crowley and angel Aziraphale may have been Good Omens’ major players, but Sister Mary Loquacious kicked off the whole mess by accidentally confusing the infant Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Prince of this World and Lord of Darkness with the human child of a couple from the Oxfordshire village of Tadfield. Easily done.

Sister Agatha in Dracula (2020)

Played by: Dolly Wells

Allegiance: The Army of the Faithful, St Mary’s Convent of Budapest

Warrior level: Intellectually? Top Tier. She’s Dracula’s ‘every nightmare at once: an educated woman in a crucifix’

Weapon of choice: Wooden stakes and double-barrel wit

Specialism: Scientific rigour and one-liners

Most likely to say: ‘A house of God is it? Well that’s good, we could do with a man about the place, eh sister?’

Getting into heaven? Ja, if she cared to grace it with her presence.

Unfazed, brave, funny and intellectually curious, Dutch-born Agatha put both her faith and folklore to the test when she took on Count Dracula, meticulously gathering research on his powers and learning the rules of the beast to try to use them against him. A true scientist and quite a woman.

Sister Michael in Derry Girls (2018)

Played by: Siobhan McSweeney

Allegiance: Our Lady Immaculate College/Rawhide

Warrior level: Untested in battle but doubtless lethal

Weapon of choice: Apathy, withering sarcasm and eye-rolls

Specialism: Judo (on Fridays)

Most likely to say: ‘Sweet suffering Jehovah’

Getting into heaven? I wouldn’t be the one to stop her.

You won’t find an ounce of sentiment beneath this wimple, Sister Michael’s dry disdain for the pupils at Our Lady Immaculate is expressed only through cutting remarks and declarations of boredom. Not a fan of priests, the French, love songs or… most things, she’s an authority figure for the Derry Girls. Every so often though, like when she turned a blind eye to Erin and co. distributing their banned lesbianism-focused edition of the school magazine, she’ll surprise you.

Sister Jane Ingalls in Orange is the New Black (2013)

Played by: Beth Fowler

Allegiance: Catholicism

Warrior level: Basically nil as she’s a committed pacifist, though she does punch Gloria in the mouth at one point for PR

Weapon of choice: Civil disobedience and the Good Book

Specialism: Activism

Most likely to say: ‘I was afraid nunning was going to be boring!’

Getting into heaven? Sure

As a young novice in the 1960s, Ingalls fell in with the bad nuns and got a taste for non-violent activism. A bunch of protests and a memoir later (full points for the title: Nun Shall Pass), and the church didn’t want anything to do with her, neglecting to cover her legal fees after she handcuffed herself to a nuclear facility, landing her in Litchfield.

Sister Harriet in Hunters (2019)

Played by: Kate Mulvany

Allegiance: Anti-Nazi, Pro-Quip

Warrior level: Top level. A highly capable operative.

Weapon of choice: Gun, blowtorch, you name it

Specialism: Threats of extreme violence delivered in the voice of a Downton Abbey marchioness.

Most likely to say: ‘I will set you aflame, child’

Getting into heaven? There’s some intrigue as to her real deal but she certainly seems to be on the right side of history.

This MI6 agent/Nazi-hunting nun from Amazon Prime’s Hunters is something of a Scary Poppins. She does an excellent line in death threats and action-movie quips. She’s deadly, has a shady backstory, speaks in a cut-glass English accent and is fond of biscuits. In other words: our kind of nun.

Matron Casp in Doctor Who ‘New Earth’ (2006)

Played by: Doña Croll

Allegiance: Sisters of Plenitude

Warrior level: Merciless eugenicist

Weapon of choice: Cat claws and science

Specialism: Incinerating conscious and begging-for-help human cloning experiments without a spark of fellow-feeling.

Most likely to say: ‘Who needs arms when we have claws’

Getting into heaven? Nah. Space prison more like.

The Sisters of Plenitude, healers on New Earth, may have called their work ‘the tender application of science’ but ‘the incredibly painful application of bastard cruelty’ better sums up their human cloning farm. This order takes a lifelong vow to help and mend, but clearly not to do no harm. And their hospital doesn’t even have a shop.

Abbess Hild in The Last Kingdom (2015-)

Played by: Eva Birthistle

Allegiance: Uhtred of Bebbanburg/the Lord

Warrior level: Advanced (but retired)

Weapon of choice: Dagger

Specialism: Throwing buckets of cold water on a sleeping Uhtred and sawing through the necks of dead Danes

Most likely to say: ‘I have killed, and I will kill again I’m sure, but hopefully not today’

Getting into heaven? Big yes.

Hild’s journey in The Last Kingdom took her from nun to warrior and back again. Rescued from attack by Uhtred, Leofric and Yseult, she swore to become a fighter and more-than earned the title. Eventually, her vocation called her back to the church, where she now remains as the Abbess with whom you don’t mess.

Sister Jude in American Horror Story: Asylum

Played by: Jessica Lange

Allegiance: Catholicism and the teachings of Monseigneur Timothy Howard

Warrior level: Complicated

Weapon of choice: Forced commitment to an insane asylum,

Specialism: Guilt

Most likely to say: ‘All monsters are human’

Getting into heaven? Bad things happened under her watch but she does try to atone

The head of Briarcliff, an institution for the criminally insane, Sister Jude is a complex character with a complicated trajectory. She mistreats, but is also also gravely mistreated.

Sister Monica Joan in Call the Midwife (2012-)

Played by: Judy Parfitt

Allegiance: Raymond Nonnatus, patron saint of childbirth

Warrior level: Yoda

Weapon of choice: Forceps and fey literary quotation

Specialism: Sniffing out and emptying hidden cake tins

Most likely to say: ‘My first responsibility is to ensure the consumption of this cake’

Getting into heaven? Hundo P

AKA the best Call The Midwife nun, and an OG resident of Nonnatus House ever since the BBC One series began. Owing to her advanced years and developing dementia, Sister Monica Joan is now retired from midwifery, but in her prime there wasn’t a birth canal in Poplar that hadn’t welcomed her up to the elbow. She’s highly educated and extremely well-read with an instinctive love of beauty, poetry, cake and Doctor Who, which makes her the patron saint of all our hearts.

Sister Sybil in Camelot (2011)

Played by: Sinéad Cusack

Allegiance: Shady but ultimately loyal to Morgan

Warrior level: Witch

Weapon of choice: Dark magicks

Specialism: Child sacrifice?

Getting into heaven? Nah.

When Uther Pendragon banished his daughter Morgan in Chris Chibnall’s 2011 Camelot, she was raised in a nunnery by a sister who was no stranger to the dark arts. When Morgan (played by Eva Green) returned to claim her birthright, Sister Sybil was the one whispering poison in her ear and teaching her how to channel her powers.

Sister Bertrille in The Flying Nun (1967)

Played by: Sally Field

Allegiance: El Convento San Tanco in San Juan

Warrior level: Negligible

Weapon of choice: Not so much a weapon, but her flight-enabling cornette was the big thing.

Specialism: As the title suggests, flight

Most likely to say: ‘When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly.’

Getting into heaven? Si señor.

A creation of Tere Ríos’ book The Fifteenth Pelican, Sister Bertrille was the fresh-faced nun-next-door whose cornette combined with the Puerto Rico coastal winds allowed her to fly in the 1960s TV series. According to Sally Field’s excellent memoir In Pieces, the whole experience was more drag than take-off.

Miss Clavel in Madeline (1988-2001)

Voiced by: Judith Orban & various

Allegiance: An old house in Paris/the Catholic church

Warrior level: more sentry than prize fighter

Weapon of choice: Education! (Read: day trips to the circus)

Specialism: Waking up in the middle of the night with a nagging sense that something’s off kilter with her young schoolgirl charges, then singing a song about it.

Most likely to say: ‘Vite, vite mes petits’

Getting into heaven? Mais oui

The headteacher at Madeline’s Parisian boarding school in the Ludwig Bemelmans’ books and their various TV and film adaptations, Miss Clavel is a kindly sort. She gives her young boarding school pupils warm moral instruction and generally manages to extract Madeline from the mouth of whatever tiger she’s crawled inside that week. Not ferocious, as warriors go, but kind and dependable.

Septa Unella in Game of Thrones (2015)

Played by: Hannah Waddingham

Allegiance: The Faith of the Seven

Warrior level: High Bastard

Weapon of choice: Wooden spoon and ignominy

Specialism: Torture and bell-ringing.

Most likely to say: ‘Confess!’

Getting into heaven? Not in one piece she won’t after what Cersei did to her

The Geneva Convention didn’t reach the Seven Kingdoms. If it had, then the supposedly holy Septa Unella wouldn’t have beaten Cersei Lannister with a water ladle and made her drink from the floor like a dog before parading her naked to jeering crowds around the city. Not a nun to mess with, unless you’re a Lannister.

Also-Nuns

Sister Assumpta in Father Ted (1995)

Sister Boniface in Father Brown (2013)

(Briefly) Olive in Pushing Daisies (2007)

Mother Superior in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)

Kassia the Byzantine nun in Vikings (2019)

Warrior Nun is available to stream now on Netflix.

The post Warrior Nuns Through TV History appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2YVNZkS

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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kob131 · 5 years

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Morgan Le Fay Profile

Name: Morgan Pendragon AKA Morgan Le Fay

Class: Avenger/Caster* (Double Summon)

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Origin: England (Arthurian Mythology)

Title: The Fairy Witch

Appearance: Tall, beautiful young woman with long pale hair and blue eyes wearing a black and blue dress revealing her red markings on her chest, navel and abdomen

Personality: In her younger years, Morgan was an intelligent noble woman who originally had no interest in succeeding the throne of Camelot, only to attempt so to honor the dying wish of her twin sister. She is hard working and diligent in her studies of both politics and magic, even working under the powerful Magus Merlin. In time, she became well versed in social and political interaction, having a surprisingly cunning side. She mirrors her sister Arturia in being emotional but also knowledgeable about people.

Alas, upon the defeat of Vortigen and Arturia’s succession to the throne, Morgan became increasingly jealous and vindictive of her sister, feeling spurned and wronged by Arturia’s very existence as a king with seemingly no barriers in her path, not even her gender which had burdened Morgan for so long.

Eventually, she grew to habor a deep hatred for the King of Knights and became obsessive in her quest to tear down her sister. This obsession warped her personality, her cunning turned brutal, her determination and diligence becoming obsession, her love for her children becoming entitlement, her eloquence becoming snide and hateful, her nobility rotting to arrogance. In the end, she became a monster in human form, to the point of seeing Mordred, her final child, not as a person but rather a weapon against Arturia.

However, even in her corrupt and malicious state, remnants of the woman she once was linger. She holds a deep melancholy in her heart over the death of her father Uther and her twin sister Morgause and she truly loved her children, Gawain, Agravain, Gareth and Garehis and even now yearns for their love. She has a soft spot for children and on some level, deep down, respects her sister and the ideals she holds.

But, these aspects pale in comparison to her ruthless, unyielding, catastrophic resentment/hatred of her sister, defining her very existence.

Lore: Morgan was born as the proper child of Uther Pendragon alongside her younger twin sister, Morgause. She herself had no interest in the throne, reinforced by her father’s insistence on a male heir, but was utterly devoted to helping her sister take down the evil king Vortigen, being the dream of Morgause. Thus the two sisters worked tirelessly, Morgause in swordplay and Morgan in magic. However, one day at age 15, her beloved twin was struck with an unknown illness and died. With her dying breath, Morgause pleaded to her sister to accomplish their mission and secure the throne.

And thus, Morgan worked harder than ever before to find a form of magic to kill her draconic uncle. She even went as far as to seek out the wandering mage Merlin for his guidance, prostrating herself before him. Amused by her dedication, Merlin accepted her as his pupil and began her training, eventually allowing her to match her teacher in magecraft. All the while, Morgan took steps to ensure she could take the throne in some manner, marrying King Lot of Lothian and bearing his children, Gawain. Agravain and her own twins Gareth and Gareis. With all that she needed to succeed the throne and kill Vortigen-

-Only to find out that in her trials, someone else had already killed him.

Morgan was shocked that such a person could exist, after having tried her hardest to prepare against him. Even more so, she learned that the person who had slain her evil uncle had been an illegitimate child of her father’s (Arturia/’Arthur’) and was going to succeed the throne from him. Morgan felt a deep bitterness towards her supposed half brother, cursing him for arriving out of nowhere and depriving her of her then lifelong goal’s completion.

But, she tried to bury these feelings for the sake of her father and sister’s wishes and offered her services to Arthur’s newborn court. Accepted as a sort of ‘Secondary Court Magus’ due to Merlin’s unreliability, Morgan worked under ‘Arthur’ for a year before discovering the truth about how her brother, rather sister. was. From that, her buried bitterness burst forth as unbridled hatred at the so-called ‘Once and Future King’ for taking away all that she had worked for and vowed to take down this ‘fake king,’

From there, she schemed to take down the ruler from the shadows. Her first attempt was the destruction of Caliburn, when she had enchanted a training dummy to become as hard as diamond and caused the blade to shatter. With the magic keeping the young girl youthful gone, Morgan hoped it would reveal her gender and get her outsed from the throne. From there, she could ascend her husband Lot to the throne and finally succeed. However, her teacher Merlin whisked Arturia to acquire the sword Excalibur and the sheath Avalon, the later preserving her young self. Morgan’s first attempt failed and was revealed to be the traitor by her teacher, even before her eldest child Gawain. From there, she fled the court and back home.

Her second attempt involved sending her second child Agravain to act as her spy in the Round Table and kill the king. The mage thought this plan to be perfect, as there was no way for her own flesh and blood to fail her. However, upon seeing the king for himself, Agravain decided to loyally serve her alongside his elder brother. And upon hearing about her treacherous deeds, cut ties with Morgan.

Spurred by her second failure and the loss of yet another one of her children, Morgan went on to steal the scabbard of Excalibur. Though she had meant to find a means of dispelling the magic of the sheath, she instead used it to create a fake Excalibur and convinced a seduced Accalion that he too was chosen by Excalibur and had the potential to take the throne if he killed the other wielder, Arturia. Alas, Accalion had failed, her decit had been revealed and as punishment for her unfaithfulness and malicious acts, Lot banished her from his kingdom. From there, her twins Gareth and Gareis both trained to be knights and became fellow Knights of the Round Table.

Her schemes failed thrice and her children all on the side of her despised sister, the witch’s hatred reached a fever pitch and went into hiding to formulate her last plan. During this time she gained knowledge of Arturia’s troubles with producing an heir and Merlin’s solution. Delirious in her madness, Morgan snuck into Camelot and... ‘stole’ the sperm meant for Guinverie and conceived a child, Mordred. She trained Mordred in secret before sending her to the King as her final pawn in taking down Arturia, whispering words of hatred and violence into the young homunculus’ ear, all while treating the child like trash. Then, she finally sent Mordred to the king, instructing her to usurp her at the first opportunity. At first, her plan seemed to fail as Mordred idolized her king. However, after Lancelot’s betrayal and the death of Agravain, Morgan revealed the truth of Mordred’s lineage to her and in turn, caused the downfall of Arturia.

It is unknown when Morgan died, due to her nature as being part fairy giving her a longer lifespan than most. It is expected that she hide away from the world and lived in solitude, cursing Arturia even after the king’s death.

Parameter:

Strength: D Endurance: E Agility: D Mana: A+ Luck: E NP: A++

Skills:

High Speed Incantation B: It is noted that she was equal to Merlin in life and likewise matches him in incantations. However, unlike Merlin, she does not make common mistakes like biting her tounge due to decades of training.

Territory Creation B (EX): Again, due to her matching Merlin but lacking his laziness, she is much more capable of creating a workshop. However, due to her Noble Phantasm, her rank can increase drastically.

Item Creation D-: Morgan can only create a single sword through one of her Noble Phantasms. And even then, said sword is the result of her legend mixing with the Heroic Spirit Arturia Alter.

Avenger C++: Due to Morgan’s inner conflict, her ability to convert hatred into power is average as a whole. However, she is much more capable at converting the hatred of knights and especially her sister Arturia into magic.

Memory Correction A (D): Morgan’s hatred of her sister burns brightly even after all these years. But again, due to her inner conflict, she finds it hard to hate her children.

Self Replenishment (Mana) B: Morgan’s determination to torment Arturia is matched by very few and thus forces her mana to regenerate quickly.

Divinity D: The result of Morgan being part fairy.

Seductress A: A corruption of the Charisma skill. Morgan seduced many men in her life and her name has become one of quintessential examples of a seductress.

Noble Phantasm:

Excalibur Morgan: The Disillusioned Sword of Victory

Type: Anti-Unit

Rank: A

The result of Arturia Alter naming her then black blade after her sister along with her creation of a fake Excalibur, Morgan can create a replica of the Excalibur Morgan. The fake holds the same property as a sword that can cut anything, except now becoming a blade that can phaze through armor and slice the flesh beneath. However, should it come into contact with Excalibur or Excalibur Galatine, the blade will dissipate.

Ruins of Camelot: My Everlasting Heaven

Type: Anti-Army

Rank: A++

The Reality Marble of Morgan Le Fay, resulting from her tutelage under Merlin and her unending hatred of her sister. It manifests as a burning, razed Camelot with mountains of corpses surrounding it. While active, the Reality Marble weakens those who are considered ‘allies of Arturia’ (and especiall Arturia herself) while greatly empowering those labeled ‘Enemies of Arturia’ (Like Morgan herself.)

Relationships:

Arturia

... What do you think? Morgan loathes Arturia for just about every event in her life and wishes nothing more than the worst for her. Her hatred of Arturia is so intense that it’s been known to unnerve Berserkers in it’s intensity. The most friendly she can be to Arturia is being snide, rude and passive aggressive as opposed to outright murderous.Her favorite insults is to call Arturia by her true name, mention her gender constantly, make subtle threats against her loved ones and goat her into attacking Morgan.

Arturia Alter

Morgan is unusually dismissive of the Alter servant, not even summoning her usual ferocity and instead addressing her in a cold, disinterested tone. She finds the Alter to be nothing but an inferior version of her self, amplified by Arturia Alter’s fear of Morgan.

Arthur

Upon first glance, Morgan feels a deep sadness at the sight of Arthur, due to his resemblance to her father Uther. As the moment passes, her sadness is consumed by her hatred and she proceeds to blindly attack him for his supposed transgression against her.

Gawain, Agrvan, Gareth and Gareis

Despite her hatred of their king and thus being an enemy of theirs, Morgan does love her children, to the point that one of her many reasons for hating Arturia is getting their admiration and attention instead of her. As such, she remains uncharacteristically silent and fragile around them. Even so, there is no chance of reconciliation as they are loyal to their king and Morgan will never let go of her hatred.

Mordred

Unlike her other children, Morgan holds no feelings of love or attachment to Mordred, partially due to the degradation of her mind at the time of Mordred’s birth, partially due to Mordred being a homonculus and thus a ‘thing’ in her eyes and partially due to Mordred also being Arturia’s child. She abuses and manipulates Mordred to try to make her hate her king, thus making her kill Arturia again. Because of this, she is perhaps the only person capable of making the normally lively and fierce Mordred meek and timid.

Merlin

Once Morgan had the upmost respect for Merlin, having been her teacher for years in the way of magic. In turn, Merlin admired her dedication and determination in her studies. However, she sees her former mentor as nothing but an admittedly huge obstacle in her quest for revenge while all Merlin feels is lamentation for her fall from grace.

Guinievre

Morgan also loathes the queen of Camelot, feeling that she too stole her place on the throne. Unlike Arturia, she wishes not to kill Guinievre but break her mind and use her as a tool against the Saber. Morgan also mocks her as an unfaithful wife and a failure of a Queen for being unable to stay true to Arturia.

Lancelot

Once she lusted after Lancelot, now Morgan is disgusted by his presence as the murderer of most of her children, desiring his blood in exhange for theirs. She is just as hostile towards him as Arturia and has been known to lose her cool against him.

Kay

Morgan regards Kay as her rival, baffled by how he too could live in Arturia’s shadow and yet not hate her. In turn, Kay loathes her as a failure of a sister and as a servant of the King. He’s also the only person who consistently matches her in insults and wordplay.

Jeanne D’arc

Morgan loves tormenting and ridiculing Jeanne for her failures as a Ruler Class Servant as well as the fall of her friend Gillies. In turn, Jeanne tends to try and avoid Morgan.

Jack The Ripper (Assassin)

Having been mistaken as her mother, Jack often seeks Morgan out for companionship. Likewise, Morgan is unusually gentle and kind around the child, most likely due to her buried maternal side.

#fate series

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rai-knightshade-art · 5 years

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Mac Ever After Metas

(With a bonus Lily Story doll of Bradán!)

(Warning: long post)

Don't have any art at the moment so here's some metas I had for the Mac x Ever After High crossover au I've been playing with, divided into Character Metas and Story Metas. Enjoy!

Character Metas

Macgyver characters at EAH:

Mac: Professor Angus Mac Cumhaill (pronounced mack-cool), the latest Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Science and Spells teacher at EAH. Has received several warnings over "accidentally" blowing up parts of his lab (infinite wisdom but he's still kinda a dumbass). Is generally the preferred science teacher of the students. Is also nicknamed Blondie, presumably for the irony (because Fionn just means light haired).

Jack: Sir Jack Dinadan, the latest Sir Dinadan of Arthurian legend. He runs a home security business located in Bookend that serves many of the area's royalty. There's rumors that he's the mysterious "boyfriend" that Professor Mac has mentioned in passing but no student has ever seen. Got turned into a stag once, did not enjoy it, Mac just laughed at him.

Riley: professor of experimental fairy math by day, white hat hacker by night. The next Paul Bunyan (she hacks trees). Was previously rumored to be dating professor Mac before he put the rumor to rest and mentioned the infamous boyfriend. She helps Jack with his business by testing security systems for their hackability

Bozer: Drama teacher, professor Mac's best friend, role unknown. He's the faculty advisor for the costume department during play/musical season. Might be Dr. Coppelius??

Matty: advisor to the Royal Student Council by day, leader of the Phoenix Round Table team by night. The current Goll Mac Morna (aka the guy who killed Fionn's dad) with the Phoenix as the Fianna. She's actually still in charge even though it should technically be Mac cause of the story but he wants to be in the field more than he wants to be the leader at HQ (Oversight doesn't exist in this one cause he actually did get killed and instead Sam and Desi taught Mac how to improvise).

Sam: witchness management 101 teacher, is Druid mom from Fionn Mac Cumhaill (played more of a protective older sister role in this telling)

Leanna: creative storytelling teacher, Bozer's girlfriend, role unknown

Desi: works at Jack's security firm, is Warrior mom from Fionn Mac Cumhaill (played more of a protective older sister role in this telling)

Murdoc as that one bad dude that cursed Fionn's wife? Fer Doirich? Maybe? Plot twist he's the one that cursed Jack temporarily ("When I said I was going stag tHIS ISNT WHAT I MEANT MURDOC!")

Nikki: offscreen character cause she already completed her role as Sadhbh and got turned back into a deer, was in love with Mac but left to complete her story and because she wasn't ready for the married life (which. Fair enough I suppose)

Bradán: Mac and Nikki's kid aka the next Oisín; he showed up in the Enchanted Forest one day while Mac was gathering potion ingredients. Approx. 7 years old (Nikki left about 8 years in the past and he would have been born sometime in that first year) and more than a little feral but he's learning. Can escape pretty much anything (Jack wants to put a bell on him cause he keeps escaping to visit Mac). Is learning English and asl congruently because he wasn't really taught how to speak before coming to Mac.

Some Dialogue Snippets:

Mac: No Brady you can't have a knife, they're dangerous.

Brady: but daaaddd! Papa Jack says you gave a knife to a monkey once!

Mac: one) that was a monkey, if it gets hurt it doesn't matter as much to me as if you get hurt, and two) that was a Swiss army knife. You had a SHIV. One of those is significantly more dangerous than the other in your hands

Mac: Brady you really need to stop ditching Jack; he knows I don't mind you visiting me, he'll bring you over if you want him to.

Brady: yeah but sneaking out is more fun!

Mac: *sigh* I know but you're gonna give him a heart attack one of these days and then he won't give either of us cuddles

Brady: ....no Papa Jack cuddles?

Mac: nope

Brady: ....ok maybe I'll let him bring me over

Mac: that's my boy. Now let's blow some stuff up

Brady: YAY!!!

Alternately--

Mac: stop that

Brady: shan't

Story Metas:

(or, how the plot of Mac Ever After goes)

Slice of life story featuring Mac finding Bradán and learning how to raise him, but before we reach the end--psych! This is still action adventure and now eah is under attack. Again. Not sure on a villain yet, maybe Captain Hook? Murdoc as Mac's villain gone hardcore? Not a wonderlandian again there's been too many. Anyways the school's under attack and now Mac and Jack have to do their thing (probly with help from Riley and the others from outside) and save all the students, teachers, themselves and Brady. The students get out with the help of Arion's little magic pool (portals are closed but the villain didn't realize this one existed and so didn't think to check if it was closed) and the power of merpeople kisses (Arion and the other mers kiss each non-aquatic student so they can breathe underwater; Tempis goes first as a guinea pig and so she can warn Pacifica that they're coming cause the telescreen is down). Meanwhile the teachers are fighting goons, Mac's improvising and Jack's guarding the kids. But towards the trail end of the kids suddenly they get attacked and Brady gets taken by the villain themself, with Jack helpless to stop it. (Cue super emotional moment where for the first time Brady calls Jack Papa but it's while he's being torn kicking and screaming from the man himself.) Mac comes in immediately after to find several very shaken up kids (who he tells to continue leaving and not to stop until every last kid is out) and a distraught Jack. Cue another emotional moment where Mac affirms that Jack isn't at fault for Brady's kidnapping and that he IS Brady's Papa just as much as Mac is the kid's Dad. They vow to get their kid back by any means necessary and start making a plan while the other kids continue leaving. Arion and Anteros are the last to leave, with a passionate life-affirming kiss of course, so now it's just the teachers, the villain/minions, and Bradán caught in the middle of it all. All the teachers plus Jack bind together and come up with a plan that involves several distractions, more than a few explosions, and Mac and Jack personally fighting the villain, which they do and succeed. Now cue the heart warming moment when they gather Brady in their arms and just. Just hold him. Their little family has been through a lot in a few hours it's what they deserve. They then go to work fixing the comm room so they can start sending messages, starting with Pacifica and then extending to the families of the students.

Meanwhile speaking of Pacifica, Tempis arrives breathless to tell King Aeolus about the attack and the mass of teenagers coming for the kingdom, to which he responds by immediately making accommodations for all of them. Arion meanwhile leads everyone home, where they're welcomed warmly and given temporary tails by the court alchemists so they'll be a little more comfortable. Arion finds and hugs his dad and stepmom tightly, needing the comfort (they've all been through an ordeal and his parents are right there, can you blame him?), and then sheepishly introduces his boyfriend to them for the first time (possible subplot from earlier about meeting the parents). Soon the telescreen crackles to life and shows Mac and Jack with Brady, banged up but grinning in relief that the fight is over and that comms are back up. They explain the situation, when it should be close to resolved, and thank the king profusely, to which he informs them that HE should be thanking THEM for sending his son back home safely to him. Everyone's happy and relieved to be safe and go back to ever after high and the day is saves thanks to the Powerpuff girls--wait. Wrong show.

(explanation available upon request for those who don't know the backstory and stuff for my Ever After High OC's. Or ever after high in general.)

#macgyver #ever after high #macdalton #angus macgyver #jack dalton #au: mac ever after #oc: bradan mac cumhaill #myposts #long post #metas #headcanons and metas #story plots that ill never write

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thatboomerkid · 6 years

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Welcome to Ustalav: the Quick-&-Dirty Carrion Crown Player‘s Packet

Within this text, you’ll find everything (most of the stuff, we certainly hope!) you need in order to play in the upcoming Carrion Crown game, setting our grand stage for a proper Session Zero & character creation.

If you have any additional questions, send them to me and I’ll happily edit this document to answer them!

Soundtrack here.

This project made possible by the fine folks of my Patreon.

image from here

Seven Bits of Folk-Wisdom (AKA stuff that everyone knows):

Magic is most-certainly known to exist, but is barely understood even by academics & university-educated scholars (of whom there are terrifyingly few). Amongst those with the gift of spellcraft, superstition and secrecy are the law. Although the practice of sorcery is not illegal, technically -- and is not strictly forbidden by any major religion -- most small towns still will not abide a witch to sleep within the confines of their city.

True miracles are all-but-unknown in much of the world, and the average member of the priesthood in Ustalav possesses no real faith: the great power of the Church of Aroden is in their special protection from the law, as any clergyman may ask for their trial to be conducted by Church court. Average people are left terrified at even a hint of true deific power, and those rare few souls with the ability to channel holy -- or unholy -- power are not immediately associated with religious organizations.

The common trade-language of the world is Taldane; it is the primary tongue spoken in Ustalav (see The Seven Ethnicities, below). The economy is based on the strength of the Taldan gold-crown, a coin that you can think of as worth approximately $100 USD, divisible into ten silver crowns ($10) or one hundred copper ($1). Ten gold is also worth a single platinum coin ... although most citizens will go their entire lives without seeing such a rare and valuable object. Common folk spend about 3 gold ($300) a month to eat, clothe themselves & maintain their homes, while skilled laborers might spend 10 gold ($1,000) a month.

The average citizen of Ustalav (over 80% of the population) makes about 1 silver to half-a-gold a day at a mundane & menial job like farming, fishing, a subsistence-level trade or any common Dark Ages craft. About 1% of the population are blooded & landed aristocracy: they control 60-70% wealth in the country. Wealthy nobles typically spend 100 gold per month to maintain their lifestyles, while royalty and the extravagantly rich customarily spend 1,000 gold or more per month to fund their courts & cotillions, banquets & balls. Nobles (and, by extension, royals) also live under a separate set of laws, by benefit of their station: for example, any member of the nobility may demand exile to her own homeland and may further request trial by combat ... before naming a champion.

Humans are the most common race, making up more than 95% of the population. Sentient non-humans are known to exist, certainly, but they are deeply feared, little-understood, and rare in the extreme; the people of Ustalav possess what can perhaps best be described as a certain horrified fascination with non-humans, although this morbid curiosity takes on a somewhat romantic air regarding elves (and, by extension, half-elves). The mysterious elven pantheon, about which quite little is known, is of particular interest to Ustalavic poets and artists; of their ranks, only one deity is spoken-of amongst humankind and other outsiders: Calistria, ancient goddess of wasps, jealousy, sensuality, seduction and revenge. No laws of the land protect non-humans, and no known members of the aristocracy are inhuman ... or, if they are, this is kept as a carefully-guarded family secret.

Every city, by law, must contain a church dedicated to Aroden; since the events of 4606 AR (see below), many such churches have found new use as temples to Iomedae the Inheritor ... or to Razmir. In addition, every city by law must be adjacent to a graveyard dedicated to Pharasma; most also contain at least a single building -- or a small roadside shrine, if nothing else -- dedicated to Desna, to Erastil, or to both. All courtrooms and stages for public execution are dedicated to Achaekek, as are most prisons and counting-houses owned by the crown. Most other religions are either poorly tolerated or are outright illegal.

Wondrous machines -- up-to and including late-1800s technology such as electrical lighting, revolvers, steam engines, printing presses and zeppelins -- can be found scattered throughout the thirteen counties of Ustalav, although the average peasant farmer still tills his field by hand and eats his evening meal by dim candlelight. While the cities hold strong to the trappings of civilization and offer safety to the masses, outside the cities -- in the dark & quiet of the deep moonlit night -- various creatures, monsters, ancient horrors and far less tangible dangers lurk.

image from here

The Roll of Years: a Brief Timeline of Ustalav

???: Varisia is established as a far-eastern colony of ancient Azlant.

???: Elves depart our world (and their homeland of Kyonin).

-5293 AR: Earthfall; the shattering of the continent of Azlant to the west and the onset of the thousand-year Age of Darkness.

-5102 AR: Orcs first emerge from beneath the world, slaughtering all that they encounter and establishing dominance in many places.

-4363 AR: The so-called ‘Rain of Stars’ falls upon Numeria, bringing the shattered and burning remnants of another world to our own.

-4292 AR: The Age of Anguish begins as humanity restarts from zero.

-3923 AR: Festering Ulunat, the Unholy First, Herald of the Rough Beast Rovagug, emerges from the west to prey upon the lands of Garund.

-3729 AR: The horror of Ulunat falls upon the realm that will come to be known in later centuries as Osirion.

-3708 AR: Orcs claim total control over the Hold of Belkzen.

-3470 AR: The Age of Destiny begins as true civilization emerges once more, establishing the first true kingdoms and cities. Ulunat is slain by the First Pharaoh, Azghaad the All-Seeing. The nation of Osirion, Land of Pharaohs -- far to the south -- is founded. The grand city of Sothis, the Stormhaven of Osirion, is built around the remains of Ulunat.

-3116 AR: An unknown chieftain in the Felldales of Numeria triggers a catastrophic explosion while exploring wreckage from the Rain of Stars. This blast destroys his tribe, sending a mushroom cloud and shaft of light into the sky, poisoning the region for miles in every direction. Now fearful of such technological wonders, most Kellid tribesmen (even to this very day) subsequently bury or destroy any new discoveries.

(circa -3000 AR): Ruled by a succession of self-proclaimed god-kings, Osirion achieves its first Golden Age.

-2764 AR: Osirion destroys the last of its major rivals on the continent, ruling-over most of what is now known as Garund.

-1768 AR: With the imprisonment of a Pharaoh, the murder of his regent by unknown agents and the subsequent disappearance of that regent’s unfinished tomb, Osirion falls into rapid decline.

-1498 AR: The Four Pharaohs of Ascension become joint rules of Osirion, ushering-in the Second Golden Age of that nation.

-1439 AR: The rule of the Four Pharaohs comes to an end; Osirion falls into slow decline once more.

-1281 AR: Taldor is founded by remnants of Azlant in the south-east.

-632 AR: The great Armageddon Engine, Herald of the Rough Beast Rovagug, tears open the Porthmos Gap in the World's Edge Mountains, entering Taldor and laying waste to the capital city of Oppara.

???: The Armageddon Engine vanishes and is presumed defeated.

-447 AR: Pharaoh Ahabaris I of Osirion is torn-apart by a frenzied mob after a short rule marked by inhuman decadence and cruelty.

-212 AR: The bloodthirsty Queen Yazanova consolidates her dominion over the Hold of Belkzen from her citadel in the Tusk Mountains. During her final bid to assassinate her own demonic master and take his throne, the Queen and her armies are slain en masse by Achaekek.

-21 AR: The Pharaoh known as Kamaria the Brazen ascends to the throne of Osirion. She is the only known ruler of that land to openly worship Rovagug, dedicating her people & her lands to the service of the Rough Beast and his cult.

1 AR: the return of Aroden, the Last Azlanti, to Golarion and his founding of the city of Absalom; the calendar of the civilized world -- and the Age of Enthronement -- begins.

159 AR: Kamaria the Brazen is personally slain by Aroden; her dark reign is finally ended and she is laid to rest in an empty black pyramid.

??? AR: Lady Arazni, the Red Crusader -- formerly a Taldan commoner -- ascends to godhood and service as the Herald of Aroden.

499 AR: Taldor fully explores all of the lands from their modern borders to the Hold of Belkzen, including Lake Encarthan and modern Ustalav.

???: The Whispering Tyrant, then still a mortal necromancer, consolidates his rule over Northern Avistan.

896 AR: Aroden personally slays the Whispering Tyrant at Gallowspire.

???: Varisian families first immigrate east into Avistan, crossing the Hold of Belkzen to settle upon the untamed shores of Lake Encarthan.

1532 AR: Osirion collapses to civil war, natural disasters and other turmoil; the nation is reborn as a grand colony under the rule of Taldor.

(circa 2200 AR): Intermittent religious wars trouble the nation of Osirion, a situation which continues for several millenia.

2361 AR: The grand nation of Ustalav is founded as Soividia Ustav unites his people into a single glorious kingdom, swiftly becoming both the most advanced & the most prosperous nation in the world.

2397 AR: The first Varisian settlers take up residence near the former Kellid holy-site called ‘Carrion Hill’.

2497 AR: The demon-lord Treerazer emerges from the Abyss and gains dominion over long-abandoned Kyonin.

2499 AR: A cult of Urgathoa in Osirion spreads the so-called ‘Plague of Madness’ as a direct attack on Taldor’s rule; an estimated 60% of the population of the grand trade-city of Wati dies from the disease.

2632 AR: Elves return to our world, sealing Treerazer in the Tanglebriar and reclaiming their ancestral homeland.

2862 AR: To prevent a civil war, King Kaldemov splits the nation of Ustalav into sixteen counties, dividing up the land and assigning each parcel in perpetuity to a noble family. Each count and viscount gains significant autonomy, but each -- in turn -- owes their allegiance to the monarch (descended from Soividia Ustav). This leads to an Ustalavic golden age of growth and prosperity for several centuries thereafter.

2953 AR: Servants of Pharasma -- drawn from Ustalav, Taldor and from native regions -- establish a major temple to their goddess in Wati to honor all those who died during the Plague of Madness.

3007 AR: Cheliax is founded as a far-south-western colony of Taldor.

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3203 AR: The Whispering Tyrant returns from the grave as an unliving witch-king, amassing an army of orcs, demonic monstrosities, ancient unclean spirits and the walking dead. It is said that many of the horrors he awoke in his rise still stalk the countryside at night.

3204 AR: Prince Ardurras II, son of King Ardurras Virholt, rides to face the Whispering Tyrant and is slain. The family’s blessed blade Corpselight is lost in the battle.

3205 AR: All of the armies of Ustalav, aided by holy warriors from the Church of Aroden, launch a single concentrated assault upon the Whispering Tyrant. Named as a “bishop” by the Cult of Pharasma, Prince Adamondias Virholt leads the charge to Gallowspire bearing the mace Raven’s Head. All are slain by the undead archmage. The bastard son of the King, Prince Andriadus Virholt, is royally recognized by the crown but flees his responsibility to face the Tyrant.

3206 AR: King Ardurras, the Last King of Ustalav, is slain at the Battle of Dawnmarsh. Reanimated as a crude undead beast called the ‘Shrieking Sovereign,’ the fallen king precedes the Whispering Tyrant’s legions into Ardis and hangs himself from the Palace Tower. Ustalav falls utterly to the Whispering Tyrant.

3754 AR: Taldor launches the Shining Crusade.

3801 AR: The Shining Crusade establishes a beachhead within Ustalav in the city of Vauntil.

3818 AR: The Knights of Ozem, vanguard of the Shining Crusade, call for the direct aid of their patron goddess: Arazni, Herald of Aroden.

3823 AR: Arazni is humiliated, defeated and captured by the Whispering Tyrant. Later in the same year, the mutilated body of the goddess is flung at her worshipers during the Battle of Three Sorrows. The Cult of the Red Mantis officially joins the Shining Crusade in-force.

3827 AR: The Whispering Tyrant is finally defeated by the forces of the Shining Crusade, led by the then-mortal goddess Iomedae. The nation of Lastwall is founded as a Taldan province from the remains of several lost Ustalavic counties. The body of Arazni is interred by the Knights of Ozem in their new citadel in the capital city of Vigil.

3832 AR: Iomedae ascends to full godhood, becoming Aroden’s new herald. Ilmhost Vheist, the acting regent of Ustalav, initiates a nationwide census with the aid of the Cult of the Red Mantis to search for surviving noble -- and royal -- bloodlines.

3834 AR: The census ends with the discovery of heirs to the Ordranti and Caliphvaso bloodlines. Andredos Ordranti ascends to the throne as the first Prince of the newly-restored nation.

3859 AR: Orcs and other monstrosities of the Hold begin regular raids upon western Ustalav.

3890 AR: The body of Arazni is stolen from her honored sepulcher by agents of the Whispering Way.

3898 AR: The city of Lepidstadt is founded, as is its University.

3985 AR: Count Aldus Canter of Vieland, famed explorer and gentleman adventurer, disappears while on safari in Osirion. He is given up for lost when a pyramid-plundering expedition vanishes during a sandstorm.

3985 AR: The missing Count reappears in Lepidstadt, claiming ancient knowledge of lost angelic rites and founding the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye: a private mystic society of young, power-hungry nobles.

3999 AR: Public sentiment turns against the Order; the Count is forced to abdicate his title to a distant cousin and retreat from polite society.

4028 AR: The Esoteric Order officially disbands with the mysterious death -- or disappearance -- of the former Count Aldus Canter; popular legend holds that the society closed ranks and grew more secretive, now set to rule over Ustalav and lands beyond from the shadows.

(Circa 4040) AR: Orcish raids -- originating from the Hold of Belkzen -- upon the county of Canterwall (then called Tamrivena) escalate in both frequency and in intensity.

4042 AR: The mercenary warlord Kazavon comes to the aide of Count Andachi of Tamrivena, reorganizing the Count’s small militia into a brutal fighting-force and pushing the fight back across the border.

4043 AR: The orc menace has been fully driven off of Tamrivenan soil, with all inhuman warriors retreating into the foothills of the Kodar Mountains. Kazavon builds a stronghold at Castle Scarwall and gathers greater forces. Diplomats bearing tributes and words of congratulations arrive from Lastwall, only to be tortured, mutilated and executed.

4051 AR: Count Andachi turns against his general, raising an army and marching against Castle Scarwall. The Count is easily defeated and publicly executed; his officers are impaled alive on a massive thorn tree at a site now known as the Battle of Screaming Tree.

4058: Kazavon is personally defeated by the hero Mandraivus of Lastwall.

4081 AR: Cheliax peacefully secedes from declining, war-ravaged Taldor in the Even-Tongued Conquest, establishing a new empire. The Church of Aroden relocates the center of the faith from Oppara to Westcrown in Cheliax. Lastwall formally declares its independence from both Taldor and Cheliax, refocusing upon the Hold of Belkzen.

4137 AR: Cheliax begins the Ever-War, claiming dominion over much of Avistan (including Varisia and the Hold of Belkzen). During this time, Ustalav serves as a favored trading-partner with that expanding empire and the two cultures exchange a great deal of wealth & influence.

4410 AR: The Ever-War finally draws to a close; the modern borders of Cheliax are set, and their time of expansion ends.

4433 AR: Aroden personally arrives at the haunted Northmounds in Sarkoris, driving the Cult of Lamashtu into the Lake of Mists & Veils.

4568 AR: Dr. Leupahn Quolorum of the Sincomakti School of Sciences launches an expedition into the deepest Parched Dunes of Osirion, which vanishes without a trace.

4594 AR: Harrowstone Prison is built, and the city of Ravengro founded, in the county of Tamrivena. It soon becomes the nation’s most notorious jail, as criminals from across Ustalav are transferred twice a year to the maximum security penitentiary.

4606 AR: The prophesied return of Aroden to Cheliax does not occur. Storms wrack the continent for weeks and many of the spiritually-gifted go mad or die. The Worldwound opens in Sarkoris and the long-awaited ‘Age of Glory’ fails to manifest. The Age of Lost Omens begins: the gods — always distant & mysterious — become ever more-incomprehensible, their miracles fading to rare, whispered legend.

4609 AR: Osirion finally overthrows the foreign rule of Taldor, establishing Pharaoh Khemet I as the first native Osiriani ruler in over three thousand years. Thus begins the Third Golden Age of that nation.

4639 AR: With the rise of House Thrune, Cheliax falls to corruption.

4661 AR: Razmir claims the former Arch-Duchy of Melcat (a large swath of the ever-shifting River Kingdoms) as his own, founding Razmiran. That same year, Harrowstone Prison is partially destroyed in a massive fire and left abandoned by the county government to crumble.

4662 AR: The worship of Razmir is forbidden in Ustalav.

4669 AR: The worship of Razmir becomes legal once more when Count Tiriac of Varno cedes hundreds of acres of land to Razmiri missionaries along the southern border, although immigration is limited.

4670 AR: Ustalav is fractured as three north-western counties overthrow their hereditary governments, becoming the Palatinates.

4674 AR: Prince Valislav Ordranti moves the Ustalavic capital from Ardis to Caliphas and dies shortly thereafter.

4675 AR: The current Monarch of Ustalav, Prince Aduard Ordranti III, ascends to the throne under the shadow of a rival claim from Reneis Ordranti (who was born the same year).

4687 AR–4693 AR: A civil war, known as the War Without Rivals, rages in the east leading to the formation of the wasteland called the Furrows.

4707 AR: Khemet III, the Ruby Prince of Osirion, opens the mysterious lands of his nation to foreign explorers and re-establishing trade-routes.

4710 AR: King Noleski Surtova of Brevoy in the far north sends a group of foreign mercenaries south to explore -- and ultimately settle -- the so-called “Stolen Lands” of the northeastern River Kingdoms.

4711 AR: The twin baronies of Khalseraag (in the north, ruled by the Garundi sword-mage Ransom Dayne) and Wolf-Pit (in the south, ruled by the mad Taldan witch Alexandre du'Colere ) arise in the eastern Stolen Lands, swiftly becoming the two largest of the many River Kingdoms.

4714 AR: The expansionist kingdom of Khalseraag violently lays claim to the conquered lands of Pitax to the west, installing their own brutal High General -- a cruel Numerian-born Kellid-blood worshiper of Rovagug -- as a puppet leader after publicly executing the former king. The nation of Wolf-Pit seals its borders, allowing no further entry or exit.

4717 AR: The great necropolis of Wati, the Half-Dead City, is opened to foreign explorers, archeologists and tomb-raiders.

4720 AR: the current year.

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The Seven Neighboring Nations

The Worldwound: As of just over a century ago, the lands directly north of Ustalav were a surreal forest wilderness ruled-over by backwood Kellid spirit-binders: a place of madness, savages and wonder. With the death of Aroden, however, the ancient thin-spots in reality there have torn open completely, turning the nation into a blazing pit of supernatural horror held back from further spread by holy relics of Aroden’s church.

Numeria: To the northeast, the barbarian badlands of Numeria are ruled-over by warring clans of Kellid berzerkers, unified only in their hated of the Black Sovereign Kevoth-Kul and their fear of ancient alien technology. Cities are rare ramshackle affairs, closer to prospector tents and a few clapboard out-buildings surrounding a semi-stable rural crossroads than any modern Ustalavic metropolitan center. The vast majority of the items scrounged from the millennia-old wreckage are beyond useless, and most do not function outside the borders of Numeria

The River Kingdoms: Across the surging West Sellen River, more than twenty independent kingdoms, settlements, city-states, fortresses and lawless baronies vie for power, prestige & gold among themselves in a swampland of poorly-explored criminal wilderness. The blood-feuds of the various pirate River Kings are legendary for their cruelty, although the people of Ustalav do little to follow the shifting politics of the region.

Razmiran: What was once a large and prosperous -- although famously unstable -- River Kingdom became something very different about sixty years ago. The nation of Razmiran is now claimed as the holy land of a living god, run with military precision by his all-powerful Church. Although the cult is poorly-tolerated in the more rural & remote sections of Ustalav, members are highly in-favor among the noble courts.

Kyonin (south of Razmiran): Although the land of Kyonin shares no true border with Ustalav, strange tales of this wondrous place have enchanted the imaginations of the Principality for centuries. It is here that elves rule supreme, although they comprise less than 3% of the sparse population. It is said that none may enter -- or depart -- the forest without their leave, so stories brought out of the misty woodland are rare & coveted.

Lastwall: In Lastwall, there is but one faith: in Iomedae, she who bound the undying Whispering Tyrant to his restless grave at Gallowspire. From the remains of that monster’s unholy empire, the nation of Taldor forged a new nation, devoted to the single task of rooting-out and destroying evil wherever it may be discovered. In recent centuries, Lastwall has focused on establishing & maintaining the Hordeline: a fortified border separating the Hold of Belkzen from the civilized world.

The Hold of Belkzen: West of Ustalav stretches an eternity of barren, windswept wasteland, home to countless orcs, goblins, ogres, giants and nameless, titanic & misshapen beasts of the pit. The soulless horrors here are united by a hunger for the flesh of humanity, marching beneath ash-stained and blood-caked banners. It is only by the combined military might of Lastwall & the Crown of Ustalav that this menace is kept at-bay.

Across the civilized nations of Avistan, criminals found guilty of non-capital offenses may petition for their sentences to be commuted to service at the Worldwound (or in Lastwall); additionally, offenders of various types may be sentenced directly to such service.

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The Seven Classes:

As an aside, our campaign will use the Feat Tax-Reduction system & the Variant Multiclassing rules; ability scores will be determined by d100.

Fighter: Rough and tumble, build for war, versed in every weapon & in every style of armor. This is the most common class of castle-trained soldiers, crusaders, bodyguards and knights.

Oracle: Although the vast majority of people worship a god, even their most pious servants cannot perform true miracles. You, however, are favored (or cursed): chosen to directly manifest the power of a deity.

Rogue: Snipers and con-artists, smugglers and cut-purses, thugs and thieves, certainly. Pickpockets, burglars and assassins, as well. But also musicians and aristocrats, circus-folk and treasure hunters.

Slayer: Combining the fighting prowess of the fighter with the swiftness and subtly of the rogue, while adding-in a great deal of skill at tracking, the slayer is a expert survivor, hunter and wilderness-guide.

Sorcerer: The power is in your blood. You were born with magic flowing through your veins and greatness -- at your command -- waiting only to be grasped. If the witch is Doctor Strange, the sorcerer is Harry Potter.

Unchained Barbarian: There is power in rage, even blind and mindless. The unchained barbarian fights without discipline or fear, unencumbered by armor, doubt or those dusty laws which guide civilized warfare.

Witch: A witch is not chosen by any god, nor is she born to some kind of inherent mystical potency. Instead, each witch is self-made: through a combination of study, discipline & communion with entities far beyond our reality or comprehension -- neither demons nor angels -- the witch is a genius of self-transformation who claims the universe for her own.

Note that The Witch is the most mechanically-complex class.

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The Seven Races: Although humans account for 90+% of the population, there are other sentient creatures living secretly in the long shadows of Ustalav. For their own sake, most have learned to hide their ancestry.

Constructed: A combination of mad alchemical genius & blackest magic has brought some of these scientific marvels to strange life, rising from the slab and assembled from severed parts of the dead. Some religions even claim that such misshapen creatures are still “human” -- a view not shared by the crown -- which leaves such monsters little family.

Dhampir: Although they are hunted by every church, the ancient undead still dwell in Ustalav, hiding amongst the nobility and slaking their dark thirsts upon the innocent. Children infected by their bloodline are rare but are not unknown, and are usually treated with superstitious awe.

Half-Elf: True elves are inhuman, unnerving and alien. When, on isolated occasion, they deign to leave the forest palaces of Kyonin, some choose to take a partner for their own inscrutable reasons. The results of such a union are universally beautiful in the extreme and are often granted the unofficial status of humanity within more progressive communities.

Half-Orc: Orcs are monsters from beneath the earth; they do not breed and they do not have souls. Rising full-grown from infected pits made profane in the name of Lamashtu or of Rovagug, orcs kill only for the joy of slaughter and to take what they can hold. Half-orcs, however -- their sad, bastard spawn -- do have souls and are capable of breeding true in small and often desperately impoverished communities.

Human: 90+% of the inhabitants of Ustalav are human, and are the only recognized citizens under protection of the crown.

Skinwalker: Born primarily amongst those of Low Varisian stock, there are also rumors of the loup garou breeding with noble Taldan families and amongst the wild Kellid clans. These creatures, more than any others, are gifted at passing for human and -- as such -- the keen eyes of werewolf hunters are always peeled for evidence of their shifting kinfolk.

Tiefling: There are no bloodlines more strange or damnable than those which intermingle with literal fiends of the Outer Darkness; those born with the mark of demonic or diabolical heritage are feared, hated and hunted throughout the thirteen counties of Ustalav by members of every sane and legal religion.

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The Seven Faiths: The gods are distant and unknowable. However, there are some who may draw forth miracles and blessings in their name ... and nearly every king & killer lays claim that they serve of one god or another.

Aroden (Lawful Neutral) & Iomedae (Lawful Good): The disappearance and presumed death of Aroden -- god of humanity, culture, prophecy, destiny and wizardry -- shook the world, certainly, but Ustalav has most assuredly endured greater hardships than these. In modern times, the faith has largely re-focused upon Iomedae, Light of the Sword, and little has changed for members of the Church within the last half-century.

Achaekek (Lawful Evil): Ancient god of assassins, bodyguards and royal executioners, the dark cult of He Who Walks in Blood is insular, cruel and exclusionary: conversion to the cause is rare, and outsiders comprehend little of the faith except that ordained members of the priesthood are often the only ones allowed to bear weapons in court, for a true follower of Achaekek may never allow a single drop of royal blood to be spilled.

Desna (Chaotic Good) & Erastil (Lawful Good): These are the old gods of the pre-human world, worshiped in antiquity by the first Varisians and by their unknowable Azlanti fore-bearers; many modern Kellid share these intertwined faiths, whispering prayers to the Song of the Spheres for safe travel and to Old Dead-Eye for good luck upon the hunt. Temples to the faiths are rare, but dedicated standing-stones are not; while the informal “priesthood” of this faith is disorganized, certain worshipers may conduct legally-binding weddings, funerals, blessings and baptisms.

Lamashtu & Rovagug (both Chaotic Evil): Very little attempt is made by most serious scholars to draw any real line of distinction between these two bizarre, obscene and illegal “religions,” as each is concerned only with the performance of acts that might best be described as monstrous in the extreme. However, there apparently exists some enormous enmity between the warring worshipers of Grandmother Nightmare and of The Rough Beast, with each faith attempting to utterly annihilate the other.

Pharasma (True Neutral): A cosmic entity personifying the finality of death, the mystery of birth and the orderly procession of both the soul and the seasons, the Lady of Graves is not so much worshiped as she is recognized, feared and placated to whatever degree that prayer might sway her infinite power. Because her will is utterly incomprehensible to most mortals, those rare few who have been chosen to channel her power are feared and revered in equal measure, often living quiet lives far from polite society: secluded in dim libraries, crypts and forest shrines.

Razmir (Lawful Evil): Less than a half-century ago, the God Who Lives was well-known across multiple nations as perhaps the most potent living witch in all of Avistan. Today, his church loudly attests that Razmir has achieved full divinity; as yet, none have successfully disproved this grand claim. Although his faith is small, it is wealthy and ambitious in the extreme, establishing new temples wherever it can & charging ludicrous sums for the working of “miracles” in Razmir’s name.

Urgathoa and Her Four Horsemen (Neutral Evil): In life, some untold millennia ago, the Pallid Princess was mortal: an Azlanti noblewoman of unearthly beauty, hideous willpower, dark cunning, exceptional brilliance and breathtakingly obscene tastes, said to have committed uncountable atrocities in her bid for immortality, binding the cosmic spirits of Death, War, Pestilence & Famine permanently to her own twisted service. Not long after she was buried by her worshipful followers, Urgathoa re-emerged from the grave as the first undead: goddess of hunger, power, sadism and disease. Although her faith is illegal in Ustalav, many are said to whisper prayers to her in their darkest hour ... and her “chosen” are rumored to be legion.

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The Seven Ethnicities:

High Varisian: These are the founding folk of Ustalav, descended from the conquering hero Soividia Ustav and his armies; those of High Varisian blood comprise approximately 70% of the population in Ustalav, and they regard themselves, one and all -- from the lordliest Prince to the lowliest pig-farmer -- as noble, strong and cunning.

Low Varisian: These “people of the road” comprise approximately 20% of the population of Ustalav and the majority of the unemployed, under-employed or criminal lower-class; they remain true to the wandering spirit of their west-born forefathers, refusing to settle or work the land they now occupy. These scatted people still speak Varisian, hold to the ways of the old country, and often interbreed with other ethnicities; folk with mixed Kellid blood are referred to as ‘Low Varisian” by those who wish to condescend more politely to their inferiors.

Taldan: At one time, the nation of Taldor to the south and east was the most powerful empire in the world; today, it is slow decline. However, much of their culture still influences Ustalav, and many noble families are proud to name cousins and associates of pure Taldan blood. Amongst those of High Varisian ancestry, Taldan culture has a certain romantic flair and is often aped or mimicked at bacchanals & festivals.

Kellid: The lowest of the low, barbarians and savages, the Kellid people were the original inhabitants of the cold, nameless hills and deep echoing forests which have become modern Ustalav, and these hardy folk remain the majority population in Numeria and throughout much of the River Kingdoms. Thousands of Kellid refugees streamed into Ustalav after the opening of the Worldwound in the north just over a century ago, a most unwelcome influx: the newest immigrants still speak Hallit.

Chelaxian: There are two kinds of Chelaxians: those who arrived before the rise of House Thrune and those who arrived after. Old and powerful merchant families with Chelaxian roots who settled during the Ever-War, although not noble, control many of the eastern counties in Ustalav; in the wake of House Thrune’s ascendance, however, most modern travelers from Cheliax are powerful witches loyal to the Infernal Majestrix ... or are refugees fleeing from the persecution of her dread Hellknights.

Garundi: Avistan is not the only civilized continent upon the Inner Sea, and ancient empires stretch far south of Taldor, beyond even the fabled city of Absalom. The mysterious folk of these strange places share many of the same gods as the people of Ustalav, but their ways are curious and foreign, unwelcome in all but the most progressive of urban enclaves.

Far-Lander: Rarest of all, there are some who journey to Ustalav from Vudra, Tian Xia and further continents beyond. Regarded with as much superstition and fear as any inhuman monster of the night, very few Far-Landers travel openly or without protection.

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Random PC Background Generator (roll d20):

Most people in Ustalav are impoverished, uneducated farmers or day-laborers of pure human stock and High Varisian ancestry who make halfhearted prayers to Aroden each Sunday and worry over taxes, weather and war.

Of course, most of the people in the Harry Potter universe are boring mundane muggles, almost no one in the Song of Ice & Fire saga owns dragons or rises from the dead, and fewer than one in perhaps a billion might survive multiple consecutive Hunger Games.

The people in stories are special. You are special. A hero or villain born, yet to ascend to the fullness of your own legend.

You are empowered by an evil god, although you are not evil

You are empowered by Pharasma herself

You are empowered by Iomedae, Erastil or Desna

You are a witch, passing as a scholar of history & medicine

You are a criminal, wanted for hanging in the River Kingdoms

You are “made” within the Sczarni

You are an ordained priest of Achaekek

You are an ordained priest of Aroden

You are an “ordained priest” of Desna, of Erastil or of both

You are an ordained priest of Pharasma

You are a trained warrior of Lastwall or have personally faced the demons of the Worldwound

You are a Kellid, with family native to Numeria or the Worldwound

You are full-blooded Chelaxian

You are full-blooded Taldan

You are a Garundi or a Far-Lander (your choice)

You are a seventh child born into a lesser noble house and are thus technically a member of the aristocracy

You are a half-elf, beautiful in the extreme

You are a member of an inhuman race, capable of passing for human even upon close inspection

You are a member of an inhuman race, capable of passing for human at least when cloaked and in dim lighting

Roll 3d6 twice, taking both results; you may choose to re-roll any one of these two rolls

—

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#pathfinder #Carrion Crown #campaign #players guide #Action Horror

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greedy-fox · 4 years

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Friday

King's Raid: Ishi wo Tsugumono-tachi

The story is set in a world after the great hero who is now King Kairu of Orvelia, killed the Demon King Angumundo.

A century has passed and we come across an ordinary young knight in training named Kasel. But it seems destiny has more in store for the young knight when he hears of the demons re-appearing in an area closer to the kingdom. But what Kasel doesn't realize is that Azar is leading a group young dark elf mercenaries are slowly preparing to revolt against the kingdom of Orviel.

Will both Kasel and Azar be able to work together and finally get rid of the Demon Kings Army once and for all or will Azar’s personal hatred for the kingdom get in the way of everyone’s survival?

Majo no Tabitabi (The Ashen Witches Journey)

Is a pretty interesting go at your own pace type of anime. Which is nice every once in a while.

The story outlines Elaina aka the Ashen witch who is the youngest to ever become full-fledged witch. Inspired in her childhood reading a book series about a certain witch’s journey. She sets her sight on seeing the world and what it has to offer.

I suggest this one if you guys wanna take it slow especially with Covid-19 still running amok in the world.

100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru

Another interesting anime that I have come across while looking through this seasons catalog.

The story in this anime follows your run of high-schooler, who is pretty dissatisfied with his life on earth as seen within the first minute of the episode. Our male lead Yuusuke Yotsuya unexpectedly gets transported to fantasy game like world with two female classmates (”Yes, I know its another Isekai storyline” is probably what you are all thinking.) But this is where the story skews a bit.

In this Isekai, with every quest they complete, the characters are actually able to return back to their original world without missing a beat. There is also the fact that the so called “god” of this world will answer any question too. Not to mention they will also be able to gain a new member in the near future.

And let me tell you the answer that our main character got has made this anime a little more interesting.

Tonikaku Kawaii (Fly me to the Moon)

Fly me to the moon is a basic rom-com anime, but its cute in it own way. The plot of this story is basically being viewed through the thoughts of our main character. His name is written with the characters for "Hoshizora" ("Starry Sky"), but instead it gets pronounced as "Nasa" by everyone growing up.

Something interesting then happens the night before Nasa’s high-school exams, where he meets (but more precisely sees across the snowy street) Tsukasa. To Nasa who thinks he has found true love at first sight, without realizing it crosses the street in front of a speeding truck and get injured.

Tsukasa who witness what happens helps injured Nasa, as she help he confesses to her in an adrenaline like state. Shocked and embarrassed at the sudden confession of love she agrees (Yay!!), but under one condition (well that sucks!!) they have to be married 😶😶

After year of rehab and studying for our injured Nasa, he passes the high-school exams only to end up working at a convenience store employee in hopes meeting his “fiance” Tsukasa. Thankfully all his patience gets rewarded when Tsukasa herself shows up at his front door with a marriage license for him to fill and hand in that very night.

Will Nasa and Tsukasa be able to pull off such a young and impulsive marriage or will things go down the drain in a heartbeat? 💞💞

Jujutsu Kaisen ( Sorcery Fight)

I am so glad that this manga has become an anime!! The story is pretty simple and to the point.

In the dark side of Japan there are supernatural forces called Curse made of people strong emotions (which ironically can only be cleansed by harnessing a Curses power). The only people with the abilities to defeat such powers are the Jujutsu Kaisen. Now in the middle of it all with a war brewing is Itadori Yuji, born with unimaginable physical abilities yet raised normally. Yuuji comes in contact with one of the members trying to find a very powerful Curse thought to be within his possession (only to be with the other members of the occult club).

Realizing that Yuji’s fellow Occult clubmates might be in serious danger make rush back to the school ground in hopes of stopping them. Fortunately they were just in time to stop the demon before any serious damage was done. Unfortunately not only did fighting said demon take a toll on the Jujutsu Kaisen members body. But it also led to Yuji swallowing the Curse, becoming a walking container for the strongest demon know in history!!

I wonder how far they will be able to go with the storyline.

Haikyuu!! TO THE TOP 2

Part 2 of our favorite volleyball anime is back!! And the tension has gone a whole level higher than before!

Our favorite team the Crows are now up against the Foxes. Not only are the players basically at National level. But the Crows are also having indirect problems with the cheering squad messing up their good rhythm. But never fear!! Why?? Because Ryuunosuke's elder sister shows the ultimate support by having her traditional Japanese drum group in tow to help the Crows!!

Very excited for how they will animate the important plays that gives each team that edge that they need.

Updates

Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou (Fire Force season 2)

Fire Force has begun its knew arc!! Continuing the story where they left off!

After Fire Brigade company 8 had its own issues with fighting the Evangelists, they realized two pretty important things. One that Shinra and Shou are more important gears into the Evangelists plans. Two ever since their trip to China was a success, because not only did they realize who is in charge of creating the great burning that first created combustible humans.

But that might also be a living human who is also has their Adolla Burst user inside the nuclear reactor at the center of Tokyo. This might also explain why our hero Shinra has such deep connection to this female figure everytime he uses the Adolla burst.

While in other news there was an unexpected team up between Fire Brigade 7′s Captain Benimaru and our dark-hero Joker. As they blast their way through the Fire forces main HQ the Latὸm church! There we also discover Jokers very dark past.

Without further ado I must stop here since I don’t want to spoil things for people who have not caught up yet. 😁😁

#anime #lifestyle #fallseason #fridaypickings

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aporeticelenchus · 6 years

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Gilbert and Sullivan three-sentence plot summaries

I’ve been promising @oceannocturne a brief Gilbert and Sullivan guide for a while, but it turns out that the “brief” part is tricky. I wanted to make a post with short summaries – no more that three sentences each – and a few song recs for each opera, but that quickly grew way too long for one post. So, here’s a post that’s just three sentence summaries for all the extant operas, for anyone who wants a quick idea of what’s going on in each of them. I’ll try to do a series of follow-ups with some specific songs linked and put in context.

The Sorcerer (aka The Love Potion AU) Alexis is marrying his beloved Aline, and he only wishes everyone else could be as happy and as in love as he. In fact, he wishes it so much that he hires the sorcerer John W. Wells to drug the entire town with a love potion! Chaos, predictably, ensues.

HMS Pinafore (aka Class Hierarchy and Boats) Captain Corcoran is the well-bred and well-mannered captain of the Pinafore, and he’s delighted when Lord Admiral Sir Joseph offers to marry his daughter Josephine and elevate the family station. But Josephine loves a member of her father’s crew, the simple sailor Ralph. Fortunately, love can level all rank (but not that much), and a British tar is any man’s equal – or so Sir Joseph always says!

The Pirates of Penzance (aka Look You All Probably Know This One Already) Frederic is the slave of duty, and in duty’s name he has served out an apprenticeship with a band of pirates, despite passionately longing to lead an honest life. When his term is up, he seeks out new love and plots to destroy his old piratical associates (in the name of duty). But the pirates still have a claim on Frederic, and he’s torn between his duty as pirate apprentice and his loyalty to his fiancée Mabel and her family.

Patience (aka ~*~Aesthetic~*~) The ladies of town all love the tragical aesthetic poet Bunthorne, who has in turn sworn his love to the milkmaid Patience, the only maiden in town who dislikes him. When Patience’s childhood friend (also turned poet) Archibald returns and confesses his love for her, Patience falls in love for the first time – but as she’s been told that love is completely selfless, she believes that she must love the odious Bunthorne rather than the too-wonderful Archibald. Meanwhile, a regiment of dragoons, who were all betrothed to the local ladies a year ago, are stationed in town and can’t figure out why the ladies are chasing a pair of poets instead of them.

Iolanthe (aka Parliament Fairies) The Arcadian shepherd Strephon has a secret – he’s half-fairy (from the waist up), and his mother Iolanthe was banished from the fairy court for daring to marry a human. Strephon loves Phyllis, but her guardian the Lord Chancellor is determined that she marry a peer (and secretly wishes to marry her himself!). A misunderstanding between Strephon and Phyllis leads to clash between the fairy court and the House of Peers, and the angry fairies makes Strephon a member of parliament and head of both parties, able to pass whatever legislation he chooses!

Princess Ida (aka #misandry) Twenty years ago, the infants Princess Ida and Prince Hilarion were betrothed, and Hilarion’s father Hildebrand is threatening war if Hilarion’s bride doesn’t appear. But when Ida’s father Gama arrives, he brings word that Ida has foresworn the company of men and converted Castle Adamant into a women’s college where no man is allowed. Hildebrand plans to march on Ida’s castle college with an army, but Hilarion hopes to infiltrate Castle Adamant himself and win Ida’s love first.

The Mikado (aka William S. Gilbert Discovers That Japan Is a Country That Exists) Runaway prince Nanki-Poo disguises himself as a wandering minstrel to escape an unwanted fiancée and search for his true beloved, Yum-Yum, only to find that she’s engaged to marry the village executioner Ko-Ko. Ko-Ko’s never performed an actual execution, and he’s been given notice that he’d better find a victim soon – and Nanki-Poo’s considering volunteering if it means he can marry Yum-Yum before he dies. And that’s all before his father, the Mikado, shows up in town with his “daughter-in-law-elect” in tow!

Ruddigore (aka SpooooOOOOOoooooky) The Baronet of Ruddigore suffers a terrible witch’s curse; the bearer of the title must commit a crime every day or else die in horrible agony. Lord Ruthven Murgatroyd should have inherited the title, but he faked his own death and lives as simple Robin, a timid and conscientious young man who (timidly) loves the beautiful Rose Maybud. But when Robin’s foster brother Richard becomes his rival for Rose, Robin’s true identity is revealed and he must live as the Bad Baronet he was born to be – or die a terrible death!

Yeomen of the Guard (aka The One That’s Almost a Grand Opera) Lord Fairfax, consigned to the Tower of London thanks to scheming relatives after his fortune, contrives to marry a random woman in the hour before his execution so that his wealth will pass to her instead. Poor Elise Maynard, fiancée of the wandering jester Jack Point, accepts the offe and marries Fairfax sight unseen, with a blindfold on. But Phoebe, who loves Fairfax, schemes with her father to free Fairfax and disguise him as her brother and a yeoman of the guard, leaving Elise torn between her old fiancé, her unknown husband, and the handsome new yeoman who’s started courting her…

The Gondoliers (aka Problems With Monarchy) Marco and Giuseppe are brothers and gondoliers, who have just chosen two beautiful ladies to marry. Right after their weddings, they’re informed that one of them (though no one knows which) is in fact the lost heir to the Kingdom of Barateria – and unbeknownst to them, that one was married at birth to Casilda, daughter of the Duke of Plaza Toro. The two agree to rule Barateria together until they can discover which of them is the true king, and as lifelong republicans they struggle to reconcile their ideals and their positions as monarchs.

Utopia, Limited (aka Corporations Are People) King Paramount of the island nation of Utopia is a king of autocratic power and absolute rule – aside from the minor fact that his two Wise Men have the authority to blow him up with a keg of dynamite if he steps a toe out of line. Paramount has decided to reform the entire nation of Utopia to be exactly like England, the country he admires most, and when his daughter Zara returns from her studies in England she brings back several Englishmen known as the Flowers of Progress. The Flowers devise a set of schemes to make Utopia more English than England itself, including turning the entire island and everyone one of its inhabitants into limited liability corporations!

The Grand Duke (aka A Not Very Good Revolution) The actor Ludwig is, along with his entire theatrical company, engaged in a revolutionary plot to assassinate the penny-pinching, hypochondriacal Grand Duke Rudolph and put their manager in his place. When Ludwig misinterprets their secret sign and spills the whole plot to the Grand duke’s detective, he pretends to inform on his fellow conspirators and convinces Rudolph to become legally dead for a day while Ludwig takes his place. But once Ludwig is in power, he changes the law to keep Rudolph “dead” and himself in charge forever, and has to deal with the ensuing tangle of obligations and commitments.

Bonus: Trial By Jury (aka The Short One) Edwin is being sued by his ex-fiancée Angelina for breach of promise of marriage after he threw her over for another woman. A completely impartial jury and wise and learned judge solve the ensuing legal tangle. This one is too short to even merit three sentences!

#GetS #the three sentence thing hits a SUDDEN DIFFICULTY SPIKE towards the end #Elenchus chats

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coldalbion · 7 years

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Norse Readalong Week 2: Feeding the She-Wolf

I’m not gonna recap this week, just air my thoughts on major events and themes. Siggeir’s revenge really requires Volsung to show up - to genuinely assume that the fellow is trying to repair the web of reciprocity and kinship. Volsung probably has suspicions, but this is Volsung, one of the greatest hardasses there is. He’s got his men, his sons, and is the wronged party here.

By all the rules of propriety, the disrespect Siggeir paid him by legging it early from the wedding celebration is huge. Not only that, but he tried to buy the sword As others have remarked, there is a complex fertility angle regarding swords/hammers and brides. This is not just about having kids, though obviously that’s part of it - the weapon is a symbol, imbued with potency, which benefits the wielder, but also his line. I’ll just stick this quote here: “Thus it was possible to transfer an ancestor into a sword blade. If we consider the possibility that a famous warrior after his death had his cremated bones transferred into the symbol of power par excellence, the sword, his strength, spirit and luck was passed on to that weapon and it became personified. The meaning of named swords suddenly takes on a new significance.”

- Lotte Hedeager, Iron Age Myth and Materiality: An Archaeology of Scandinavia AD 400-1000 (2011)

Later in the saga, we’ll find out how important this sword is, because it crops up again and again along the male line of the Volsungs, and actually gains, or has originally, a name. As we see above, the personification of such a weapon has multiple layers of meaning. It’s interesting to me, then, that Signy tells Volsung not to take Siggeir up on the offer, because her/their kinfylgia warns her that disaster will follow. Whether the kinfylgia is an actual spirit which is tied to the family line, or merely that luck-destiny-power which follows and/or emerges from the actions, deeds and circumstances of a kingroup (I’m inclined towards both myself) is immaterial.

Something is trying to warn the Volsungs that this is a bad idea, and it’s manifesting to the female line. This part of the saga, and next week’s, are sort of about emphasising how freaky things get in the Norse magical milieu and in a sense, show that despite its patriarchally structured society, the magical is all about interconnection, intertwining and blurring of the lines - even the supposedly hyper-masculine male Volsung line is constantly and cyclically initiated into Odinic strangeness - just as the saga itself is cyclic, in a sense. But Volsung, being Volsung, overrules his daughter - he points out that if they dissolve the marriage and don’t show, they break the agreement, and thus can’t bind Siggeir in alliance, he won’t trust them, and would do them as much ill as he could in revenge. The honourable thing, and hence the necessary thing is to follow the thing. A word about honour: Many people think that for the folks in pre-Modern societies were all about honour, because honour is all about macho chest-beating and silly rules. That’s a pretty shallow take though. Imagine, instead that you live in a world without a central authority - or at least one so distant as to make law enforcement and enforcement of social mores and social contract a local concern. In a society bound (and there’s that word again) by reciprocity, social currency is paramount - there’s no centralised bank saying what money or goods are worth, what a fair day’s pay is etc (And even when there was, like Rome or other empires, messing with currency can cause major problems. When your currency gets debased, Legions start revolting.) Imagine then, that one’s honour is kind of a social credit rating and that kin-groups or families are like corporations today. Personal honour is your personal credit rating - it measures how much people trust you, what you can ask for, how much people will come to help you. It also contributes to the credit rating of the entire corporation. This doesn’t just last one generation, either. The trading power and ability of what becomes the Volsung dynasty derives first from Sigi, the outlaw son of Odin. He’s a rulebreaking mofo like his spiritual father, and yet he still manages to create a kingdom from scratch. What’s more, Odin gains kudos from Sigi - when you’re the god and patron of a king, your cult is going to benefit by gaining more prominence. Rerir manages to survive murderous kin, is still a king worth note but is infertile. Frigg and Odin fix this by application of handy “wish-maiden” - magical female Odin-related powers infused into the line. So magical in fact, that Volsung has his freaky birth, and then marries the same magical girl, doubling down on the dual streams of godly power in the line. The line is potently fertile - the nameless siblings, and Signy and Sigmund. Just as they’re about to do another fertility related thing - who shows up but the Cosmic-Shit-Stirrer aka Stabby McOne-Eye, The Murder Hobo, who as @edderkopper noted, may actually be performing a wedding ritual, but in a way that makes Odin the groom.

The fact that in that rite, it’s the groom’s sword and that Sigmund pulls it out, suggests, not only that Siggeir isn’t really the proper groom, but that Sigmund is, to the saga’s audience at least, kind of an Odinic-stand-in, and also receiving an ancestral weapon. Thus Odin has, (if I read between the lines correctly) in his own particular way, once-again asserted that these people are mine. He has claimed all the Volsungs, even going so far as to symbolically also take Signy as his bride. Thus, Odin, the rest of the magical milieu and the Volsungs become even more tightly entwined through a series of ritualised interactions that would be hard to miss, to the saga’s audience. The Volsung Dynasty stock has gone through the bloody roof, but it means next to nothing if they gain a reputation as dealbreakers. The positive bits of their strange history become liabilities if people think they can’t be trusted. The name would become associated with negative social capital, and that in turn, would reflect badly on the names of their ancestors by whose deeds they ended up with large amounts of kudos in the first place. The honour of the family as a whole, reaches back and forward through time - a descendant can redeem an ancestor, just as an ancestral name may redeem a descendant despite harsh circumstances. We see this isn a sense, in Rerir’s earlier utiseta. The mound-wisdom enables the fertilising apple - the dead connect to the living. So, is Volsung being an arrogant shit? Or is it that plus the fact he’s actually stuck between a rock and hard place here? If they don’t go, they gain reputations as deal-breakers, don’t get the alliance which would bind Siggeir to them, and thus lose something which will probably benefit the kingdom and family as a whole? Perhaps Volsung, with his experience, has started to regret the match, but he’s confident - he has enough numbers, social propriety on his side, and a good alliance to make. So the whole party ups and heads over to Gautand. Siggeir is planning to straight-out butcher the whole lot of them with an unbeatable army. Signy warns her kin, begs them to go home, but as Volsung says, he made a vow never to flee, and if he flees, the damage to his reputation, to the entire family’s would be nigh irreparable. Whatever happens to them, he says, she should go back to Siggeir. I suspect Volsung’s thinking here is close to what happens eventually. Any children Signy bears will be of the line of Volsung, and even if they lose, that name will be untarnished because it is the Volsungs who are being betrayed. Those children can theoretically take revenge and rightfully unite both kingdoms. The Volsung name is enhanced either way, and as to paraphrase the Havamal, the only thing that lasts are a man’s deeds and reputation, and hence the glory and social capital his kin gain via the family name. This is such an odd way of thinking to many modern folk; that it it is not only the individual that matters, but how their deeds affect those around them - almost transpersonal in a way. But back to the saga:

Siggeir wants to slaughter the whole bunch, but Signy convinces him to save her brothers for humiliation purposes, and so they’re put in stocks out in the woods, to die of exposure (a death which even Siggeir admits is harsh). Here’s where it gets odder, and in many respects, the action switches over to the ladies for a bit, and if you suggest that Signy might have been kind of spaewife, or seer, given the kinfylgia appearing to her, what you might call a sort of indirect magical war occurs. Each night, a she-wolf appears and devours one of the imprisoned Volsungs, while Signy works out what to do. This is interesting, because in Norse lore she-wolves are often associated with witches and giants (See Fenrir). When Sigmund, after nine of his brothers have been eaten, and with help from his sister, manages to rip the she-wolf’s tongue out with his teeth (thus, in a sense, being more of a Wolf than she, eating her) Siggeir’s mother drops dead as the wolf dies, indicating that she was a shape-shifter. Sigmund flees deeper into the woods, becoming an outlaw. In this, he returns to the family’s “area of origin”, echoing Sigi. He lives in an earth-house - a prince living like a common poor person, but also with the potential implied meaning that he is “like the Old Men of the Forest” by which Odin refers to burial mounds in another lay. In a sense, Sigmund has “gone back to his roots” freed after nine nights bound by the stocks which Bycock’s translation notes, are made from one “great trunk”. While not literal, it’s fairly obvious that the skald was playing on Odinic motifs here - and perhaps the themes might reflect some echo of an Odinic cult.

Sigi sends her boys to Sigmund, each in the hope that they can be used as weapons to kill her husband, and both are not “stouthearted” enough - twitching at a wyrm, or living thing in the meal. They do not have the guts to do as ordered, so Sigi tells Sigmund to kill them both. Of the two twins, as we shall see, in chapter 7, Signy seems the more horrific trainer of children, but it’s she who levels up in the vengeance stakes, breaking a taboo, or performing a supremely magical act, given the way IE cultures seemed to feel about twins - regarding them as somewhat divine or supernatural. It’s interesting that in their own way, none of the female figures in this saga are shrinking violets. They’re all pragmatic, hardcore people - even Volsung’s mother is hardcore enough to survive pregnancy for six years for goodness sake! While there are obvious gender differences in the way things are done, Signy is no princess-in-a-tower. It is she who masterminds the vengeance of the Volsungs on Siggeir. She who takes Siggeir’s heirs and attempts to fashion them into weapons. She’s a terrible mother. But a damn good Volsung.

#norsereadalong #week 2 #volsunga saga #norse polytheism #black bird magic

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