Ive seen your posts about dragon reader and all the cool courting stuff. kinda curious as to how it would work with ghost.

cause either ghost is just normal and has no clue whats going lmao, like he's just chilling then reader is just like "fight me bitch" and randomly giving him shit from their pile of jewellery and gold. and ghost would just be like "....thanks?" and he's not sure wether reader is being nice or a prick.

or

with the whole monster au thing, would wraiths have different courting?

I doubt it. Wraiths are just humans that were too angry to die and got turned into shadow monsters, they don't have very many 'monstrous' instincts like other monsters have.

I feel like Simon wouldn't be as oblivious with dragon reader, mainly bc Price is a dragon and Simon has been around him enough to figure out some of dragon practices. But he's still clueless as fuck why this new dragon is constantly urging him to fight and having them exchange insults or horrible dad jokes. He definitely thinks you're a prick, meanwhile you're slowly falling in love with the bastard that squares up to you without a single drop of fear in his eyes.

a massive massive peeve of mine in fanart is when a character is brown-skinned and fanartists just draw them dark-skinned white.

I do feel like the author is at fault for some of this for refusing to commit to race or literally any further description but. they probably don't fucking look like that.

I actually can’t believe I’ve never done this before but please look at my Small Characters next to human children that are about the same heights that they are, which is to say, a statistically average three, four, and five year old

With such a God-focused season, one day, once Junior Year is finished and I have both the time and energy to do it, I want to make a Fantasy High God AU zine. It'd be from the pov of a mythologist/theologian in Spyre who's found strange links between minor deities throughout different regions' pantheons.

Half-Elves have a God of Dance and Flames who has been said to have defeated a Tiefling vagabond (and tamed his Hellhound mount) and charmed Fire itself with only a dance and his silk battle sheet. And if you look deep enough into his history there are rare depictions of him wearing an oddly shaped pendant and riding into battle with a sling-wielding Goblin peeking out of his rucksack. Interestingly enough, there's a minor Goblin God of Justice and Mysteries, the son of a Goblin Folk Hero and the Goblin Goddess of Knowledge, Laws, and Justice, who famously wields his father's enchanted sling. Though he and his father are often shown with angelic wings. So, why would he dally with a God so closely associated with Fiends?

Tieflings have a trickster Goddess of Music, Rebellion, and Devotion. The daughter of an Archdevil and a Wood Elven Goddess of Archery & the Wilderness. She's said to be a paramour of a Half-Phoenix Pirate Goddess of Wizardry and Knowledge and once toured the lands, performing with a Half-Orc companion. A lot of artistic recreations of that tour depict the Half-Orc companion with flower motifs that correspond with a Gnomish/Half-Orcish God of Tinkering and Rage. One that once outwitted a Sphynx and regained his spurned Saytr paramour's love by speaking to/reaching the stars with the help of a band of Tinkerer Gnomes.

There are tales of a Twice Risen Goddess who was once the chosen one of the Demigod Helio, but took one look at him and thought she could do better. With the wisdom to raise Gods from the dead and remove unholy rites without any divine power other than her own, this God-Saint of Doubt travels across Spyre not to spread her own religion but to inquire about others. This deep curiosity is probably how she ended up in some Fallinel depictions of the First Elven Oracle, who upon death ascended to becoming the Goddess of Sight, Intelligence and Righteous Fury. There are even short hymns written about the Oracle foreseeing the God-Saint's rise (against the Elven Moon Goddess' wishes) and of the God-Saint banishing some dark entity from possessing the Oracle with only a profane curse of its name.

And even more stuff connecting them all. Like the fact that all of them have tales of them defeating an Ancient Red Dragon. Or the tales of The Festival of the Crab King: a strange, delirious story of mortals witnessing a euphoric revelry of the deific kind that involved all these Gods from different pantheons.

If you could keep an eye out for salamanders and gnomes, those are what I like to see

sure! here are four salamanders i've encountered so far:

the salamander as a ram-like animal in a fireplace, in a copy of the 'book of nature' by konrad von megenberg, alsace, c. 1440

Stuttgart, Landesbibl., Cod. med. et phys. 2° 14, fol. 239r

(this library's website is buggy. you need to download the entire manuscript to look at it -> "Ganzes Werk herunterladen")

the salamander as a dragon-like creature on fire, in thomas of cantimpré's 'liber de natura rerum', bavaria, c. 1424

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1066, fol. 132v

the salamander as a dog-like, winged creature in a fireplace, in a bestiary, flanders, c. 1270

Getty Museum Collection, Ms. Ludwig XV 3, 95v

the salamander as as a two-legged red animal and as the corresponding animal to the element of fire, in a treatise on the four temperaments, styria, mid-16th c.

Augsburg, Staats- und Stadtbibliothek, 2º Cod 25, fol. 16r

Legends and myths about trees

Forest myths, Estonian traditional beliefs (1)

The Forested country, Estonia

Estonia is one of the most forested countries in the world. Forests cover nearly half of the mainland in Estonia, 30% of which is currently under protection.

Forest is recognised as a recurring theme in Estonian folklore, inspiring storytellers and painters that have produced beautiful landscapes. The largest forests can be found in northeastern and central Estonia, stretching from as far as the north coast to the southern border with pine, birch, spruce and aspen being the most common tree species. Estonian forests are home to a surprising variety of wildlife, often seeing hares, foxes and deer, and rarely even a wolf, lynx, bear or an elk. Rarer still are the European mink, dormouse and flying squirrel, which are unfortunately close to extinction.

In ancient forests and woodlands, the cycle of life left in nature can be observed up closely. Barely marked by any human activity, Järvselja ancient forest in southern Estonia is a home to species of owl and a gracefully aged 360-year-old Kuningamänd pine tree. Poruni hiking trail in northern Estonia winds along the 10-metre banks of Poruni river, where a mix of fallen tree trunks giving life to new and at times rare plant species can be found.

In the harsh northern weather conditions, trees have been the source of livelihood for centuries. While some trees were used for building houses and saunas, some were considered holy and remained untouched.

A sacred grove usually consists of deciduous trees and attracted offerings for gnomes, fairies and other supernatural forces of past times. Kassinurme Fort and sacred grove were established around 2000 years ago, making it one of the oldest remaining sacred places in Estonia. Nearby Rakvere has centuries old sacred oak grove.

Little is known of medieval Estonians' spiritual and religious practices before Christianization. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia mentions Tharapita as the superior deity of the then inhabitants of Saaremaa (Oeselians). There is some historical evidence about sacred groves, especially groves of oak trees, having served as places of "pagan" worship.

(The Livonian Chronicle of Henry offers a Latin narrative of events in Livonia (roughly corresponding to today's inland Estonia and the northern part of Latvia and surrounding areas) from 1180 to 1227 by a priest named Henry. it is one of the oldest known written document about the history of Estonia and Latvia.)

木にまつ��る伝説・神話

森の神話・エストニアの民間伝承 (1)

森の国エストニア

エストニアは世界で最も森林の多い国のひとつである。エストニア本土の半分近くを森林が占めている。そのうちの30％は現在保護下にある。

森はエストニアの民話に繰り返し登場するテーマであり、語り部や画家にインスピレーションを与え、美しい風景画を生み出してきた。最大の森林はエストニア北東部と中央部にあり、北海岸から南部国境まで広がっている。最も一般的な樹種はマツ、カバ、トウヒ、アスペン。エストニアの森には驚くほど多様な野生動物が生息しており、よくノウサギやキツネ、シカを見かけるが、稀にオオカミやオオヤマネコ、クマ、ヘラジカを見かけることさえある。さらに珍しいのはヨーロッパミンク、ヤマネ、ムササビで、残念ながら絶滅の危機に瀕している。

太古の森や森林地帯では、自然の成り行きに任せた生命の循環を間近に観察することができる。人間の活動がほとんど見られないエストニア南部のヤルヴセルヤ古代の森には、フクロウの一種や樹齢360年のクーニンガマント松が優雅に茂る。エストニア北部のポルニ・ハイキングコースは、ポルニ川の10メートルほどの川岸に沿って続いている。ここでは、倒れた木の幹が混在し、新しい、時には珍しい植物種に命を与えているのを見ることができる。

北国の厳しい気象条件の中で、木は何世紀にもわたって生活の糧となってきた。家やサウナを建てるために使われた木もあれば、聖なる木とされ、手つかずのまま残された木もある。

神聖な木立は通常、落葉樹で構成され、ノーム (伝説上の小人) や妖精、その他の過去の時代の超自然的な力のための供物を集めていた。カッシヌルメ要塞と聖なる森は約2000年前に設立され、エストニアに残る最古の聖地のひとつとなっている。近くのラクヴェレには何世紀もの歴史を持つ神聖なオークの木立が広がっている。

キリスト教化以前の中世エストニア人の精神的・宗教的慣習についてはほとんど知られていない。ヘンリーのリヴォニア年代記では、当時のサーレマー住民（オイセル人）の上位神としてタラピタが挙げられている。聖なる木立、特にオークの木立が「異教的」な崇拝の場として機能していたことを示す歴史的証拠もある。

(ヘンリーのリヴォニア年代記とは、1180年から1227年までのリヴォニア (現在のエストニア内陸部とラトビア北部にほぼ相当とその周辺地域) の出来事を、ヘンリーという司祭によってラテン語で記したもの。エストニアとラトビアの歴史について書かれた最古の文献のひとつである。）

All the versions of Celegorm and Curufin's actions during the Bragollach, for my own future reference. I mean to write a meta on them at some point, but that might morph into a broader one on the Bragollach as a whole.

Takeaway: Celegorm and Curufin always head towards the Finarfinians and never towards their brothers, even though they would have been able to (in the versions where they head south then west in particular, where they would have numerous options for further travel). In many versions, this is explicitly because of their friendship with Orodreth. (I say versions, but the actions are pretty consistent - defend Aglon till they need to retreat, head towards Orodreth and/or Nargothrond)

I think this is very interesting and has implications for various intra-Finwean and intra-Feanorian dynamics.

The textual history of the material that became the Silmarillion is... complex. I present the different versions in the order they appear in HoME, which semi-corresponds to when Tolkien probably wrote them. I omit the very earliest version, "The Earliest 'Silmarillion'" in SoME.

The Silmarillion: For the war had gone ill with the sons of Fëanor, and well nigh all the east marches were taken by assault. The Pass of Aglon was forced, though with great cost to the hosts of Morgoth; and Celegorm and Curufin being defeated fled south and west by the marches of Doriath, and coming at last to Nargothrond sought harbour with Finrod Felagund. Thus it came to pass that their people swelled the strength of Nargothrond; but it would have been better, as was after seen, if they had remained in the east among their own kin.

Shaping of Middle-earth pg 128, the Quenta: Then Felagund went South [after being saved by Barahir during the Bragollach], and on the banks of Narog established after the manner of Thingol a hidden and cavernous city, and a realm. Those deep places were called Nargothrond. There came Orodreth after a time of breathless flight and perilous wanderings, and with him Celegorm and Curufin, the sons of Fëanor, his friends. The people of Celegorm swelled the strength of Felagund, but it would have been better if they had gone rather to their own kin, who fortified the hill of Himling east of Doriath and filled the Gorge of Aglon with hidden arms.

SoME pg 357, the Earliest Annals of Beleriand (in this version, Orodreth holds lands in Dorthonion, right next to Celegorm and Curufin): Here were Bregolas slain, and the greater part of the warriors of Bëor’s house. Angrod and Egnor sons of Finrod fell. Barahir and his chosen champions saved Felagund and Orodreth, and Felagund swore a great oath of friendship to his kin and seed. […] The sons of Fëanor were not slain, but Celegorm and Curufin were defeated and fled with Orodreth son of Finrod. Maidros the left-handed did deeds of great prowess, and Morgoth did not take Himling as yet, but he broke into the passes east of Himling and ravaged into East Beleriand and scattered the Gnomes of Fëanor’s house.

LR pgs 132 - Later Annals of Beleriand The sons of Feanor were not slain, but Celegorm and Curufin were defeated, and fled unto Orodreth in the west of Taur-na-Danion.

LR pg 147 - in the footnotes, Christopher notes that his father changed the above line on pg 132 to: Celegorm and Curufin were defeated, and fled south and west, and took harbour at last with Orodreth in Nargothrond.

LR pgs 282-283 - Quenta Silmarillion For the war had gone ill with the sons of Feanor, and well night all the east marches were taken by assault. The pass of Aglon was forced, though with great cost to Morgoth; and Celegorm and Curufin being defeated fled south and west tby the marches of Doriath and came at last to Nargothrond, and sought harbor with their friend Orodreth. Thus it came to pass that the people of Celegorm swelled the strength of Felagund, but it would have been better, as after was seen, if they had remained in the East among their own kin.

LR pg 289-290 Christopher’s commentary on the previous paragraph where he’s comparing different manuscripts. Inglor is Finrod. It is said in QS 117 that after the founding of Nargothrond Inglor Felagund committed the tower of Minnastirith to Orodreth; and later in the present chapter QS 143 it is recounted how Sauron came against Orodreth and took the tower by assault (the fate of the defenders is not there mentioned). The statement here that Celegorm and Curufin ‘sought harbour with their friend Orodreth’ — rather than ‘sought harbour with Felagund’ — is found also in an emendation to AB 2 (note 25); the implication is that Orodreth reached Nargothrond before them, and that their friendship with him was the motive for their going to Nargothrond. This friendship survived the change of Orodreth’s lordship from the east of Dorthonion (‘nighest to the sons of Feanor’, AB 2 annal 52 as originally written) to wardenship of the tower on Tol Sirion. The sentence ‘the people of Celegorm swelled the strength of Felagund, but it would have been better […] if they had remained in the East among their own kin’ goes back to Q ([HoME] IV 106), though in Q Celegorm and Curufin came to Nargothrond together with Orodreth.

WotJ 53, 54 - the Grey Annals (Celegorm is referred to as Celegorn throughout; Cranthir, Damrod, and Diriel are Caranthir, Amrod, and Amras. Inglor is Finrod) Celegorn and Curufin held strong forces behind Aglon, and many horsed archers, but they were overthrown, and Celegorn hardly escaped, and passed westward along the north borders of Doriath with such mounted following as they could save, and came thus at length to the vale of Sirion. […] Morgoth […] sent a great force to attack the westward pass into the vales of Sirion; and Sauron his lieutenant (who in Beleriand was named Gorsodh) led that assault, and his hosts broke through and besieged the fortress of Inglor, Minnas-tirith upon Tolsirion. And this they took after bitter fighting, and Orodreth the brother of Inglor who held it was driven out. There he would have been slain, but Celegorn and Curufin came up with their riders, and such other force as they could gather, and they fought fiercly, and stemmed the tide for a while; and thus Orodreth escaped and came to Nargothrond. Thither also at last before the might of Sauron fled Celegorn and Curufin with small following; and they were harboured in Nargothrond gratefully, and the griefs that lay between the houses of Finrod and Feanor were for that time forgotten.

WotJ pg 239-240- the Later Quenta Silmarillion. Christopher is presenting the emendations his father made to the Quenta Silmarillion manuscript published in LR. Celegorn and Curufin … sought harbour with their friend Orodreth > ‘… sought harbour with Inglor and Orodreth.’ > ‘sought harbour with Finrod and Orodreth.’

Thought for a Ancient Gnomish Divination Wizard

I wanted an incredibly ancient gnome granny. BUT. I wanted an incredibly ancient gnome granny who has only started learning magic in the last decade or so, because she was bored out of her tree in semi-enforced retirement and decided learning to be a wizard would be a great, non physically demanding hobby in her elder years. Because you see an ancient wizard, you expect an archmage, someone who’s been wizarding their whole long life, but you can start learning magic at any age. So I wanted a granny who’s level 1, because this was just her hobby she started this last little while.

I also specifically wanted her to be learning magic via correspondence course. By letter. Because she’s not going to get up and toddle off to some strange new city and sit in classes with all these kids a literal fraction of her age. She’s not able for that. So she found a (potentially dodgy) old wizard willing to teach magic by letter, and set up a correspondence with them.

And then. While these thoughts were percolating. I love the gnomish massive extended family thing, I love the idea of a four-hundred year old gnome matriarch. But I was thinking what her background would be. What she’d spent those four hundred years doing. What her massive extended family was likely still doing. And I thought.

What if they’re a massive crime family. What if her background is criminal?

Because. In Ireland there’s this thing called the mammy mafia, which is the cultural idea of the small-town coalition of grannies who know everybody’s goddamn move, on account of all the ‘little birds’ that told them. And. Make that a literal mafia, or at least a literal criminal clan. And this horrific old biddy at the root of it. She’s four hundred and something years old, thrice widowed (once by her own hand), with an absolutely ridiculous number of cousins and descendants and assorted relatives who stayed in the family business. Her criminal contact is that one grand nephew who knows how to get in touch with everyone in the family, and who’s friendly enough with gran to pass her ‘suggestions’ along.

Because. See. She’s ancient. She hasn’t been a direct part of the business in decades. Not all the family are willing to listen to the old biddy. But she still has enough of a spider’s reach to make life difficult for a lot of people. Especially since her specialty, back in the day, was blackmail. And that much she’s only gotten better at. A word in the right ear does wonders, even when you’re about as physically lively as a four day old corpse.

Which is why her school will be divination. Because she’s a nosy old biddy.

And. She’s also lonely. She wanted someone to talk to who wasn’t one of those innumerable relatives who are all, aside from her favourite grand nephew, varying states of fed up with her, the family’s moved on, gran, it’s not your day anymore, let me run my murder-and-blackmail ring my way, I’ve only been doing it for two centuries at this stage! So. So she decided to learn magic, and she found some perhaps financially struggling hedge wizard, and she’s spent the past decade or so exchanging incredibly vicious and snarky letters with someone who is a genuine wizard, and who does have opinions on the correct way to learn/do magic, but is stuck in a circumstance where he’s teaching some ancient harridan by correspondence course to make ends meet. And she’s become sort of genuinely fond of him. She’s never met the young man in her life (though naturally she’s had some great-great-grand-whatevers spy on him and steal all his information, just for safety’s sake), but their letters have become sort-of-friendly in between arguments and increasingly exasperated ‘lessons’, and she’s just become a bit fond of him.

Which makes it both a) inconvenient and b) worrying that he’s recently stopped responding to her letters. Or any letters. And her familial spy network can’t find any trace of him anymore. He’s up and vanished, and possibly in the wizard way, or possibly in the buried in a shallow grave way, and she’s deeply upset about it.

Upset enough to actually get up and go out and find out what the hell happened to him. Herself. In person. Because she may be only a starter wizard, and she may be an irrelevant old biddy so ancient that her bad shoulder and bad knees and bad lungs won’t let her murder people the good old fashioned away anymore, but she has four hundred years of evil experience of the world, and nobody gets to ‘disappear’ a friend of hers and get away with it.

And if it’s his own magical idiocy that’s done this, then she’s gonna find him, dig him out of it, and laugh in his face about it while saying ‘I told you so’. Because that’s what friendship means for wizards, right? And ancient old harridans.

(Some mechanical character notes:

Is it blasphemy to have a wizard who isn’t proficient in arcana? Because I feel like four hundred years of criminal and blackmail experience will incline her more towards insight and investigation. And, well. This is a hobby to her, that only got serious when her teacher slash pen pal slash best friend went missing. I think I want her to pick up the Observant feat as well at some point.

For her subrace, I’m going deep gnome, because they’re stealthier. So imagine this vast, occasionally genial clan of greyish gnomes who are involved in the criminal underworlds of like half the continent.

I did debate both illusion and scribes for her subclass, but, well. She’s a nosy old biddy, so divination. I think there’ll be a healthy amount of practical spells among her actual arsenal, though, good old Knock and Misty Step and Invisibility, because she’s not ideological about her school, she just likes having tools, and blackmailer instincts die hard.

She will also have Find Familiar. Purely so she can have a literal ‘little bird’ spy. The preferred form would actually be like a sparrow or a house martin or equivalent, a ubiquitous small urban bird, but maybe I could reskin a raven for it?)

I just wanted an evil old biddy who picked up magic as a hobby in her twilight years, and then had a reason to go out and about with it. You know?

Earth, the root, the belly of the world, the energy that nurture and gives stability. We live on the earth and within its fertile surface we grow our food, and we bury our deceased. We couldn’t live on this planet without earth and thanks to it humans were capable of cultivate and build and travel. Rich deposits of metal ores are found throughout the earth’s crust and these metals are used in the production of machinery, tools, buildings, and weapons. Underneath the soil, through roots all plants communicate between each other and take the necessary nourishment. Earth represents home for most of the creatures on this planet and its energy is supportive and grounding for all the living beings.

Some of the most common earth spiritual correspondences are:

Orientation: North

Qualities: Stability, Nurturing, Growing,

Magical Weapon: Pentacle, Crystals

Rituals: Prosperity, Fertility, Abundance, Stability, Money, Grounding.

Places: Mountains, Woods, Forests, Caves, Mines, Canyons, Valleys, Fields.

Natural elements: Rocks, Crystals, Stones, Soil, Sand, Dog, Worms, Ants, Horses, Cows, Trees, Plants, Seeds, Dirt, Flowers, Leaves, Mushrooms, Moss, Wildlife, Fruits, Vegetables, Roots, Bears, Wolves, Hares, Gemstones, Minerals, Metals, Stags, Boars, Wolverines, Goats, Ungulates Animals.

Tarot: Pentacles

Rune: Jera, Ur, Othala

Zodiac Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

Spirits: Goblins, Trolls, Gnomes, Giants, Brownies, Dryads, Elves, Fairies, Pixies.

Deities: Geb, Gea, Gaia, Demeter, Ceres, Cupra, Cybele, Artemis, Diana, Dionysus, Bacchus, Liber, Libera, Osiris, Cernunnos, Pan, Ariadne, Kore, Persephone, Rhea, Rhiannon, Adonis, Tammuz.

On Thursday morning several volunteers were the first people to experience Detroit's new experimental new public transportation system known as "DBUB". A group of 17 commuters were handcuffed and trapped inside a giant soap bubble blown by a child who still believed in magic, while scientists monitored their brainwaves from a safe distance. After floating up up and away, over the tallest mountain and the lowest valley, beyond the tranquil meadow and the boundless plain that comes after, into untouched lands of ancient wilderness, passengers arrived at a strange and whimsical section of forest inhabited by the Hungry Tree Gnomes. According to the scientist's analysis, the commuter's brain patterns corresponded at first to wonder, followed by an adjustment period of profound terror, before finally settling into a calm so serene that it could only be compared to an unimaginably deep sleep. In an official statement released this morning, the department of transportation called the experiment a "resounding success", with mayor Figleaf Bonecleaner adding that "The full implementation of this project should result in pedestrian traffic reductions upwards of ninety percent". The city hopes to fully implement the new system by 2024, with a predicted cost of only seven dollars allocated for buying the children some sweets and treats. The mayor could not be reached for comment. The scientists could not be reached for comment. The passengers could not be reached for comment (sleeping). The Hungry Tree Gnomes could not be reached for comment. The bubble could not be reached for comment (it popped).

@miguel-owhora’s cult au and your COD demon au gave me an idea. Hear me out… COD cult au… Do whatever you want with that.

Okay I see 3 paths with this.

A: Reader is a cult leader in some type of apocalypse and persistently keeps summoning the demons 141 for boons and help keeping his flock alive. And all the demons ask in return is blood and sex, both that reader is happy to provide.

B: The world has gone to shit from a zombie apocalypse and has been like that for a few years, and the reader is some kind of very old forest god that watches from the sidelines. The reader kills the zombies but keeps the humans alive because they can't be bothered to kill them. Cue the humans becoming worshipers and the 141 are like priests, because they are the only ones who have ever come in contact with you. Funny enough I actually have a VERY old draft about this exact scenario.

or C: Reader is a demon hunter. Reader is kidnapped by a cult, not to be a sacrifice, but to be the 'bride' of demon Ghost. Reader is a man, Ghost did not want this marriage, the worshipers just misconstrued his words and through a very botched ritual, woopsie poopsie mama made an upsie, your and Ghost's soul is now bound together. Happy Honeymoon :D

Just spent about half an hour working out my answer to the question, "so, if I were to regard the plot of Gravity Falls as part of a chess game played to put Bill in check...who would fill all of the roles?" Because this is obviously a sensible use of my time after midnight...Plus, by sheer coincidence, I actually have sixteen characters who can logically compose Team Good Guys! To demonstrate, with explanations below the cut now that I know how those work on this site:

Pawns: Filbrick, Caryn, Shermie, Shermie's wife/girlfriend/whoever Shermie had a kid with, Dipper and Mabel's parents, Robbie, and Pacifica.

Knights: Dipper and Wendy

Bishops: Fiddleford and Gideon

Rooks: Stan and Soos

Queen: Mabel

King: Ford

Those last two should not be read as implying any weird ships, because...ew. Rather, it's all in how their actions correspond to the relevant pieces/the fact that they are in fact arguably both ex-royalty (Ford's the ex-king of the Finger Dimension, one could interpret Jeff the Gnome's comments as meaning that Mabel was, briefly and on a technicality, Queen of the Gnomes before she busted out the leaf blower). As for the more relevant bits:

The information in Ford's head makes him a vital piece for Team Good Guys: if Bill extracts said information, the game's over. Ford is also very limited in his options (the piece can move in any direction, but only one square at a time) and is just as easily trapped into check by his own pieces - it's his attachment to Dipper and Mabel which nearly allowed Bill to pull off a ‘smothered mate’-like situation.

Mabel is a strong piece with a very respectable track record of violence toward Bill. She can also move in any direction in a very literal way (grappling hook!) and this ability is what gives her uncles time to execute the twin switch which 'won the game.' On which note...

I think I read that it's different now (full disclosure, I'm a lousy chess player), but at one point in the history of the game, castling rules allowed an unmoved King to swap places with one of his unmoved Rooks. The Rooks, meanwhile, are moving buildings that flatten pretty much all in their path. Seemed like a description anyone Stan ever punched would agree with. Soos could go here or as Knight II; I stuck him here because he takes over the same role as Stan at the end of the series (plus, you know it would make him so happy).

If Soos is with the Rooks, then Dipper and Wendy become the Knights. Look at them in Weirdmageddon I! And in general (Dipper was pretty much born not moving the same way as anyone else in the game: ‘ladder shoes’, anyone?), but in that episode, when the two of them work together, they go from "surviving out here, which is already impressive and indicative of unusual skills" to "have decimated Bill's ground forces by flipping Gideon and are gearing up to take on a magic trap directly." Plus, Wendy customarily carries an axe; if she wanted to, she could go very medieval on folks.

Speaking of medieval (sort of) - our Bishops, Fiddleford and Gideon. Aside from both being at least religion-adjacent in supplementary materials (Gideon reads Preacher's Digest and behaves like a televangelist, Fiddleford is specifically stated to make the sign of the cross when he steps over a grave), they also fit well enough with the incomparable Terry Pratchett's description of the role in chess: "Bishops move diagonally. That's why they often turn up where the kings don't expect them to be." Certainly both Fiddleford and Gideon end up in places Bill didn't expect them to be, and they both go the long way about accomplishing their goals, too, preferring manipulation and ranged tech (robots, science guns, proxies, etc.) to direct confrontations, though they will if they must and may well show slightly disturbing glee while they’re about it - rather like the mace-wielding bishops of yore, no?

Which just leaves our eight pawns: Filbrick, Caryn, Dipper and Mabel's parents, one set of Dipper and Mabel's grandparents, Robbie, and Pacifica. The first six fit the role well: they are the 'front line' which made initial moves (had kids, raised kids, screwed said kids up something awful on occasion) and allowed the more powerful pieces to 'develop' long enough to get to Weirdmageddon/have the mental health issues that create their circumstances at that time. Pacifica's season two arc also makes her fit nicely into the role of Promoted Pawn: at first, she may compete for everything as the 'face' of the Northwest family, but she has so little real power of her own that she is cowered by a bell. Later, though, after fighting her way through Lilliputtians and aiding in the capture of a Category 10 ghost, she breaks the bell conditioning and saves the town. During the endgame, she is in the right place at the right time to first get the sweater Mabel made her and then to realize it meant she was part of the Destiny Circle. I'd say she made it to the other end of the board.

And then there's Robbie. Who I just stuck in here because he wasn't cool enough to be Knight II and nothing else fit at all. Sorry, Robbie.

News for the Week

Anti-Bard Riots Begin, Hostages Taken

Cam Camcam

With the revelation that the Missing Day Thief (aka Dame D'Lune) may be a bard, the upper-class of the allegedly classless City of Towers have been whipped into a frenzy. Multiple bardish taverns and studios have been raided and burned. The occupants of the Stellar Lounge have been taken hostage by a wizard identified as Johnilud "Blaster" Sheard. We hear reports of resistance among the hostages, but contact is thus far slim.

Universal Incursion and You

First Wandsperson of the City of Towers, extraversal correspondent.

When you encounter something from another universe, or even another multiverse, you may be confused or even frightened. It's not uncommon for something from another universe to force itself into yours, or fall through on accident. In fact, just over a week ago an entire country that did not previously exist fell into this one through unknown means, by the name of "Exclamania".

In any case, here are some basic steps for when you encounter something from another world.

Stay calm. You can't do anything if you panic.

Ascertain stability. Check if the object or entity is degrading or showing unexpected visual or auditory effects. Do not come into contact with an unstable object or entity, instead keep a safe distance and call a representative of your local Council immediately.

If stable, ascertain reason for coming. Did they fall through accidentally or were sent? Common signs of accidental incursion are time dilation and chromatic abberation.

Be gentle. Just because they're currently stable doesn't mean they'll remain so. A soft touch helps ensure a firm anchor.

Gnomes on the March

Goodman Boris

An armada of gnomes hav been seen making their way along the countryside, recruiting along the way. They were headed towards the Exclamation Kingdom, and should be arriving about two hours ago.

Last Bank Closes

Clarkii Kelp

The last bank in the City of Towers, The Last Crimson Bank of The City, has closed. The proprieter, a shrivelled corpse known as "Banker", could not be reached for comment, as it had withered into dust.

Saccharine's relationships!!! A lot more explaination under the cut :)

Here's more of my thoughts when it comes to Saccharine now that I've had time to sit with him as a character and put myself "in his shoes" per-se.

-He's attracted to danger and selfishness out of pure instinct. This is why Astarion, Gale, and Rolan are so captivating to him. All in different ways. His time as the Chosen of Bhaal didn't magically go away after being tadpoled; it waned and yearned and evolved to reflex. -His sense of loyalty is often odd. Lae'zel, being the first person he meets after having his brain absolutely scrambled causes him to sit, stay, heel, and bark at her every command. It's just natural to him to follow her order. Another reflex, curtosy to Enver Gortash, who trained him very, very well. This causes him to have a strong distaste for Shadowheart out the gate. He doesn't understand why he feels this way towards her, other than Lae'zel is his territory, Lae'zel is his priority. (This instinct slowly deterriorates the more he pushes his urge away). -He's kind of a romantic at heart? He doesn't really understand what he's feeling any time of the day, especially when it comes to love and lust. He can't recall his past relationships, but he does know they were heated. He can't really help himself but fall for Astarion and Gale the more time he spends with the two. |-> His attraction to Rolan comes out of nowhere. He finds his selfishness attractive and later finds the way he speaks to him degrading in a way that fuels Saccharine to want to be around him. It's odd, but he loves it. He actually finds that he's fully attracted to Rolan after he learns more about his own past in Moonrise while hes rescuing his siblings and all those Gnomes. After he saves Rolan from the Shadowcurse and talks to him in the bar, they have a vicious and heated night in Last Light Inn. They promise to meet in Baldur's Gate after everything is finished. Then, he frees Rolan from Lorroakan and they sort of tip-toe around each other afterward. Saccharine hardly knows what Astarion and Gale think of each other, let alone what they think of Rolan. They exchange letters frequently after the Netherbrain is defeated.

More on interpersonal relationships between Gale, Astarion, and Rolan: -While all of this is happening, Astarion and Gale become close to each other due to proximity as well as their shared enjoyment of their leader. Gale truly, at first, doesn't want to share Saccharine at all. Astarion isn't up to fully open himself up at all to more than a single person, so they argue and butt heads frequently. Reaching Baldur's Gate and defeating Cazador all while being constantly by Gale's side, (Saccharine always insisted on the two being permanent party members) Astarion opens up to Gale one night about the trauma he endured at the hands of Cazador. He lets down his guard and all Gale does is stroke his hair and comfort him. After this, they worm their way into each other's lives more and more all while bickering very lovingly to one another. -After the epilouge, Saccharine had kept in touch with Rolan, constantly writing to him from Gale's tower in Waterdeep with both men by his side. He confides in them that he truly misses his other wizard, having developed a strong bond with the tiefling over the course of their journey as well as during their time writing. Saccharine writes to Rolan about his and Gale's desire to make a ring for Astarion that would grant him the ability to daywalk as a vampire. |-> Gale and Rolan begin correspondance and a plan: connect their towers with similar portals to the ones already inside Ramazith's tower. Quite a simple feat with two, very skilled, wizards in control. Gale and Saccharine spend quite a while travelling between both towers as the two wizards study and craft their saught after Ring of Daywalking. After months, the idea is scrapped for a simpler, less Lich-eon way of making a vampire immune to the sun. A cloak of Darkness. Of course, Astarion would still need to ask for permission to enter new homes and wouldn't be able to swim, but it was something. Something to take the edge off while they continue the search. |-> Astarion often can only visit Ramazith's tower at night. Too many windows. He talks to Cal and Lia whilst Rolan sleeps, helping around the tower out of sheer boredom. Cal and Lia are quite fond of the vampire, bringing in oddly new bottles of blood for him to eat during his visits in. It takes quite a bit of time for Rolan and Astarion to become more than just acquantinces to one another due to the time difference, but after Astarion is gifted the cloak, his visits boost in frequency. He surely doesn't mind one wizard anymore, and Rolan isn't annoying like Gale is (lovingly, of course). |-> Rolan visits by Waterdeep when he isn't reorganizing Ramazith's Tower and maintaining Socerous Sundries. He often leaves Cal and Lia in charge while he takes breaks and weekends in Waterdeep to relax with his newfound additions to his family. I want to write more about these four guys and their weird, weird, WEIRD relationships they all have with each other. Just imagine the four most unbareable men living in two kind of combined wizard towers together.

Quick update and a love letter to the LBRP

Hello! It's been a while. I had been quite a bit more busy than I thought I would have been when I first made this blog, and naturally my work, both mundane and magical, had to come first. However, I do now have a bit of time on my hands. To update everyone, I have also done work with a Sylph and Gnome, which completes the little series I had started to become more familiar with the elements, those posts are coming soon. I do also still plan on continuing my work on the game Clavis Elementorum, I should have a true "dev log" of that a bit later on.

With that said, I have had a lot of time to think about my initial inspiration as to why I wanted to make this game to begin with: "Why make a game that so accurately (I hope) showcases the personalities of the elemental spirits, and the nature of the elements themselves?" And the answer is to help give others who were starting out the same kind of nudge from words on a page to effective practice. I'm not saying my understanding of these things is anything special, but rather that I simply recognize and have recognized in my conversations with other practitioners and aspiring practitioners that some really seem to understand what's 'really going on' versus not, and that I shudder to think how subtle and easily missable the point of it is, since no author I've seen has really given it the detail it deserves, though a lot of them do hint at it. So with all this pretense out of the way, I will showcase these hidden lessons that help to unlock imagery based magic, through the example of the LBRP, but of course what I say applies to any act of magical imagination.

First are the skills required before you can make use of the formula. A lot of times in writing, these skills are obfuscated behind flowery words or trying to force-fit the skills to correspond to the Powers of the Sphinx or whatever else, but this obscures the supreme simplicity of the skills.

The first skill required is focus. This is not simply paying attention to something, nor is it hyping yourself up. This is the focus of preparedness, letting the world fall from around you, to still the mind toward just the task at hand. Many writers describe the LBRP with the magician making their own "Magical Universe". This is a good description in regards to philosophy, but it obscures the practical action of the magician in the circle. The key is in single-edged focus, focus keeps your eye on the goal, it keeps all your mental and spiritual energy directed on the aims of the work you are doing, and without focus, a lot of what you put into any working will not be effective.

The second skill is imagination, or imagery. It is the syntax used to communicate. The purpose of this is to both give form to your focus, and also to set up a place of communication. This is not just communicating with the forces you are working with, but communicating with the parts of yourself who are doing the actual reaching out, to tell the unconscious what you wish to be done. I say that imagination is communication because while at first the main purpose is to give form to your desire and communicate that *to* your unconscious, Higher Self, and the forces you are reaching out to, the other half is to learn to receive these messages through the same canvas of imagination.

The third skill is reaching out, and must be done on every level of the operation. What I mean by reaching out is acknowledging and striving toward the forces you are working with. You should be actively willing yourself to come into contact with the forces you are contacting.

This is how all of this looks within the context of the LBRP

Before starting, you should be in a state of focused concentration. The first task is to stop thinking about what your day was like, or what you're going to do after this, or whatever is not focusing on the imagery you're about to form. This is clearly something easier said than done, and you should take some time before the ritual to put yourself in a more relaxed and focused state. I have found what is best is to first let your thoughts play themselves out, as you sit in the silence and let them naturally fall to a close, moving toward a state of stillness without fighting against the ideas.

Then, when ready, stand facing the East. The first action of the Qabalistic Cross is actually an act of reaching out. You are reaching out to the Source of All Sources, Hypsistos, God Most High, Ein Soph, The One, The Monad. In short, your first action physically is reaching out with your right hand above your head. Imaginably, you are growing, up out of your room, up above the planets, above the stars, breaching into a realm of pure white Light, Standing within the realm of the Empyrean. Before even the first word, your actions are truly embodying the ethos of the Magician, to aspire toward the Highest, and to stand, not grovel, not kneel, in the Presence of The King. (and yet, the path is open and, dare I say, ideal, for those who yet wish to remain in service, the Parable of the Prodigal Son comes to mind for the full proper mindset as far as my path is concerned. The Son returns, willing to be but a servant of the House, but none the less accepts the hug of his Father, and accepts the freely given Inheritance)

Let us take the next segment in whole, and then discuss it. "Atoh, Malkuth. VeGeburah, VeGedulah, LeOlam, Amen." "For Thine, is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, World Without End, So Mote It Be." These words alone are very potent, and of course so is the imagery, the simple thing is to simply construct the Cross in Light, and for some added symbolic attachment, you can of course add the colors of the Sephirotic correspondence, Kether, Malkuth, Geburah, and Chesed, in order.

Of course, the most interesting thing to note after the initial Kabbalistic correspondence is the fact that the placement of Geburah and Gedulah are inverted. This is by design, at least as far as the original makers of this ritual are concerned. If you look at the Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life, you would of course see Chesed on your right, and Geburah on your left, but that is exactly opposite of the truth if you imagine the glyph of the Tree of Life as a mirror image, as the founders of the LBRP would imagine. If you 'back into the tree', to see the Tree as a mirror image of the Self, then you see Gedulah (Chesed) as your left, and Geburah as your right. Certainly, this little part of the ritual can in of itself hold great depth, It is the crossing-point of Highest and Lowest, Kether and Malkuth, and of that other great binary, of Mercy and Severity (of course, this bit on "backing into the tree' is rather unique to the Golden Dawn, if you decide to read some more traditional Kabbalah, you won't see this idea at all. Whether you decide to leave the concept for just Golden Dawn work or not is your decision). This midpoint which is the essence of the Rose-Cross is of itself the Heart of another good ritual, the aptly named ritual of the Rose-Cross, which is the essence of the place of meditation and peace, but that is its own conversation piece.

By the end of the QC, you have touched the Highest and united it back with Materiality. You have touched Strength and Mercy, and have united it all within your Heart. Touch is certainly the key word, because to go beyond a simple tap on the shoulder of these Giants is in of itself the realm of an entire life's work. The QC is a stabilizing factor, its presence at the start and end of the LBRP is to make sure the practitioner is in a stable state before and directly after working with the Elements, it bookends the ritual, as if to make a separate space, to separate the mundane from the magical.

If the QC is about leaving the mundane and entering the magical, the initial setting up of the Circle with Divine Names is laying the foundation of this magical world. You are ridding your Sphere of Sensation from the mundane, imbalanced, impure elements, to then in the next part fill your Sphere with the pure element of each Archangel. Stepping forward, around the altar, to the East corner, with the right hand, whether it be with a tool in hand, or the oft cited "sword mudra", or the sign of the benediction, tracing in the air a Banishing Pentagram while also imagining light blue fire (though also cited is simply white fire) tracing along this pentagram, piercing the center (this time either the same color, or also red light as possible images) and vibrating the Divine Name "YHVH" while imagining the letters glowing brightly in golden light, then repeating after going to the South, keeping the arm held out, tracing the circle in fire, this time with the divine name "Adonai", the West with "Ehyieh" and the North with "AGLA" before returning first to the East station, then back to the Center, facing still East. The blue flame of the Pentagram is to correspond it to the "flame of spirit" that is seen as a representation of the Inner Flame, and it as a symbol is used as a symbol of Spirit within the Golden Dawn tradition. White light is an acceptable substitute, because of its correspondence with purity, Kether, etc. It is a useful substitute if you are using blue within your practice for another correspondence. The red piercing ray corresponds to Geburah, utilizing the restricting quality of the Sephira as a way of pushing away the impure elements.

The next segment is more a matter of invoking than banishing, now calling into yourself the form of the Archangels, who rule and represent the Elements in their most pure and balanced form. What I also find interesting is that with our more common imagery, of imagining each Archangel in robes of their color, with flashing colors, and holding a symbol of their element, we see the Wand and Sword flipped from their usual Golden Dawn correspondence(and usual Tarot suit correspondence), where usually we see Wands with Fire and Swords with Air, it is Raphael who holds an airy Caduceus wand/staff, and Michael holding a fiery Sword. We do see another current, examples being the "Practical Magick" series by David Rankine and Sorita d'Este, and the system of Franz Bardon, which does have this flipped correspondence, of Air with the Wand and Fire with the Sword. This I am not entirely sure what to make of in the grander scheme of things, but I would be remiss to not bring it up. With that wrinkle said, there is a lot of potential that lay within having these Archangels invoked, outside of their purpose in the ritual as heralds of their respective elements.

"Around me flame the pentagram, and within me (or 'in the center column') shines the six-ray-star." This line makes more explicit the whole purpose of the operation. The Pentagram is representative of the microcosm, and the Hexagram that of the macrocosm. In this line, they are inverse, the Microcosm displays itself about you, and the Macrocosm is the shining light within. This is the alchemical operation of the LBRP, You take High and bring the light to the low in the QC, you bring balance on all these levels. The version of the line that says the Central Column invokes the idea of the Middle Pillar in the Kabbalah, and the version that says within me invokes the idea that "The Kingdom of God is Within You" (Luke 17:21).

At this point, this is in essence the birth of a new world, the imbalanced structure of how things were is gone, and now you have laid a new, firm foundation from which to start, whether it be a magical operation, or just the start of your day. This is, frankly, only a summary of my thought on the LBRP, there is of course much more that can be said on the topic, but I think this gives enough of a nudge in the right direction on all the different levels that the ritual may be understood, so that other students of the occult may bring their own thoughts to the discussion.

THE MIXED MEN [aka MISSION TO THE STARS] by A.E. Van Vogt (Reading, PA: Gnome Press, 1952) Cover illustration by Ed Binkley. 5,000 copy edition.

(New York: Berkley, 1955) Cover by Richard Powers.

This space opera is an early example of "fix-up" literature, the combination of several separately-published stories into a cohesive novel, a practice van Vogt not only pioneered but informally named in the early 50's. Nominated for a Retro-Hugo Award in 1996.

Contents

"Concealment" (Astounding, September 1943) Illustration by Elton Fax. [adapted as the prologue of the book]

"Lost: Fifty Suns" (previously unpublished) [corresponding to chapters 1 through 7]

"The Storm" (Astounding, October 1943) Cover by William Timmons; illustration by Orban. [chapters 8 - 15]

"The Mixed Men" (Astounding, January 1945) Cover by William Timmons; illustration by Orban. [chapters 16 - 22]

"Is it True?" (previously unpublished) [chapter 23; not present in all editions]