Do we just keep telling the same story forever? Meta on OFMD S1E7 "This is Happening"
In this S1E7, two characters--Ed and Jim--have to answer a simple question: Am I ready to tell a diferent story?
At the start of the episode, Ed's framing his time on Stede's ship as "sitting idle." He's thinking about preparing for the next adventure, whatever that may be--the next chapter in a story he knows and understands. Because there are rules. A ship has only one captain.
When Stede tries to prove that Ed can tell the next chapter in that story without leaving the Revenge, Ed is pretty unapologetic in his disdain. But he does come along, even while moaning and complaining.
And Stede's just trying to tell the same story, too. What he imagines a pirate's tale is supposed to be, not what it actually is. He doesn't recognize the difference between nonsense and truth, he's so caught up in "entertaining" Ed that he doesn't realize he needs to feed Ed.
But in fairness to Stede, Ed has a poor grip on what he really wants as well. When he fantasizes as he flirts with Stede, he's not imagining a swashbuckling adventure. He's imagining opening a restaurant. He's half in his old life, and half out.
Lucius, the unemotional observer, figures all this out of course.
He sees that Ed is absolutely very receptive to Stede, and that Stede is crazy about Ed. But Ed is caught up in who he's been, without seriously considering how to move forward in this story he's in now. So Lucius confronts Ed. He points out that Ed's story as it is going now ends one way: pain and loneliness. And he asks if Ed wants that.
Stede didn't want Ed to leave, so he told a story about treasure hunting. And Ed doesn't want to leave and be alone again, so he tells the story too. And by telling that story together, Ed and Stede find their way to the same place: beginning a new chapter. Imagining a life they can live together, without devaluing or overwriting anything that came before.
It sounds nice, although it's shallow (Ed's not going to be happy as a pirate, Stede is bad at telling this pirate's story and he'll never be a successful traditional pirate). But it's still a hopeful story, because they're still moving forward. Right on the edge of telling a different story.
And resolving in the opposite direction is Jim's plot. Jim's story is relentlessly upbeat and funny in this ep, but it's a tragedy through and through. Jim, like Ed, is half in their old life and half out. Has been with Olu for more than a year, without actually doing anything, while keeping him at a distance.
And it turns out they were "raised by a nun to be a killing machine." That Nana projected all her own trauma and righteousness onto Jim, and passed cruel judgement when Jim says that they already killed "the only one that matters." When Jim suggests that they might have moved on, and be ready to tell another story.
Jim regresses in this episode. They let Olu walk away instead of telling a new story with him, one where he's their family. They take the petrified orange as a sign that they should go back to being who Nana told them they were, to being obsessed with revenge. But really, it's more like a warning of what they'll become if they cling to the same old story.
It's sad. And it's a painful foreshadowing of what awaits Ed and Stede when they falter on the path forward, when they think their past defines their future. When they tell someone else's story, instead of their own.
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Ahh, I just cought up with The Apothecary Diaries manga, or at least the fan translations, and now I am very tempted to start on the anime.
Well, kind of. I know the anime will never be on par with the manga's visuals as I've seen a clip of the scene were Mao Mao puts lipstick on Jinshi and he didn't look as pretty there, buuuut I am really curious as to what Jinshi sounds like animated.
That and I'm curious how far along the anime is since I took a break from the manga a while before the anime was released.
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Clarent has found an egg!
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Draw your blorbo(s)
I have too many but I consistantly go back to drawing and refining my first ever oc, Harmony the Fennec Fox
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I want to talk about magic systems in The Spiders Song (and it’s sequel) and explain ideas I have that may or may not make it into the actual book.
Let’s start with sigils.
Sigils are the common name given to magic in written form. They are a manifestation of the Squids magic, and it’s servants are able to tap into its abilities to write their own sigils. It is, however, a lot more complicated than that.
See, the Squid is the god of writing. That’s pretty much it. It’s magic is manifesting other magic in written form, for communicating ideas to later generations or giving you an experience or warning strangers of something. Inflicting an ill will on them. Whatever! Sigils are versatile as a result. They can communicate a wide range of things, channel a wide range of magics. Every single strand of these magics has a source, and not a single one of those sources is the Squid itself.
Basically, sigils have their own language you need to learn in order to channel magic correctly. The language is not random; it could be called the gods tongue, if gods had their own physical form and spoke. You make a sigil by writing down the god in question who’s magic you want to channel, and then twitching and tweaking it to fit the specifications best.
Mmmm say you wanted a sigil for encouraging strawberry growth in your garden. Why wouldn’t you? Strawberries are delicious. To do this, you’d want to channel the Deer - god of nature - and then tweak the name, so rather than the full force of nature coming down on your little garden, you have the magic target strawberries specifically. How this is done is a matter of opinion. Maybe you’d have it target red plants, and accept blooming roses into your life as well. Maybe you’d target the shape of the leaves, the abundance of seeds, the creeping vines… whatever. More complicated sigils may target multiple factors, to narrow it down to a strawberry.
So Deer + specification of a strawberry - and hey, you’re good to go!
Well - provided the Deer doesn’t notice.
Gods have servants, see. People who, from birth, gods sponsor and give them use of their magic. So they do share magic… but only with certain people. Servants to the Squid are at risk of a god noticing their magic going somewhere they don’t intend it to go, and unleashing their wrath on the unlucky bugger who caught their eye. In this example, the servant would very likely be fine - the Deer has a lot of servants, and so doesn’t notice when a stray hand may be pulling magic in another direction. But there’s always that risk, and more private or attentive gods would likely notice if their magic is drifting in places it doesn’t like.
You may be wondering why anyone wants to be any other servant if a servant to the Squid can just use any magic. Beyond the two stated reasons why - servants being chosen from birth with no input from them, and the risk they run using their magic - there’s also the factor of weaker magic being channeled through sigils. It’s not as pure, not as perfect, not as direct as a servant using magic. Like.
God —> servant is how it works for a typical servant. Direct flow of magic.
God —> Squid/sigil —> servant is how it’d work for sigils. Less direct, interference in the middle. The magic is still, yknow, magic… just a bit more patchy.
So sure, you get a wider range of magic, but there’s a constant risk to using it, plus the less direct results, plus limitations by what you can write and tweak… mmm
What else. Mmm. The study. You have to know a gods name to be able to use its magic, and it is a very exact science. You have to write it exactly, no room for unique handwriting or whatever - and that’s not even mentioning the fact that a lot of gods names aren’t even known! Or that you’ll want the tweak the sigil to your desired effect! You have to get the exact shapes and depth and size of the sigil perfectly exact, and figure out what can be tweaked in order to make your sigil work how you want. It’s laborious work compared to servants who look as if they just “poof!” And make a thing happen.
(they do not just “poof!” And make a thing happen, all servants have to study various things to various degrees, but servants to the Squid often have a poorer deal).
I do think it’s worth mentioning that you can have multiple gods in one sigil. Moth (warmth) plus Axolotl (biology) could give your body a boost of warmth in a cold environment, or something similar to that.
A lot of servants to the Squid often have tattoos of useful and frequently used sigils. This does require the sigil being made for repeated uses - some are one-use only.
Oh, obviously you also have to write out the sigil you want to use. You can do it Luz-style, where you pre-write a bunch and activate them later, or you can do them on the fly.
Any servant to the Squid can activate any sigil, unless specified otherwise in the sigil. They can also specify that non-magical folk, or non-Squid servants can activate or deactivate a sigil. A common example of this is locking sigils, to keep doors locked - a cheap one may just lock a place, and the more advanced ones specify that X and Y can unlock it, and only those two people.
I think that’s all I’ve got for you today. Peace
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i'm curious to know how long do you guys have your original series? i love the passion and dedication you all put into this story. can't wait for more of it!
Hiya, Anonstar, thank ya so much for your compliment! Means a whole world to us!!! Ahhh, so we have Antineon Hieraeon since January 22, 2022! Although we didn't really have a strong clear idea of where we wanted the series and universe to be like until October 20, we revamped the series and created the first four characters of Antineon Hieraeon: Micah Xenowake, Adoniram Bloodburn, Sweetsilence, and Steelstorm. Warlock Moonglade, Bluebreak, Angelparadox, and Devileye a week later. Antigods and the Metaeide and Saints were the first three lore pieces we thought of.
I think about this text, like, a lot. I can't believe it's been almost a year now since we wrote this and soon, we'll be reaching to the second anniversary of this series. We did try to bring our series ( the " beta version " as we were still fixing and finalizing our lores and characters ) with the Starwake System in late October to early November before we went on hiatus and returned to the rpc in early April 2023 with a more fleshed out storyline and universe. It's been an amazing journey and we're most grateful for those who're still here with us and the Starwake System and ANHA. ♡
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Okay, now I'm curious about how IK's dad would fare in the past Devildom. Specifically, IK's dad and baby IK.
oh god that poor man. he was already so incredibly stressed out by his first appearance in the devildom, now he finds out he's in the fucking past and no one here knows him and he just has to cope with that, all while trying to protect his tiny daughter from all the evil things around here??? he's in tears already
he spends his first two weeks in the past just looking like a kicked puppy at all times. he still does his job of managing the brothers with surprising efficiency, but he looks like a physical embodiment of the 🥺 emoji the entire time
little ik is having a Time of it. zhao doesn't exactly know how to communicate to a toddler who still can't count past fifty that they went back in time, much less that the familiar demons around her aren't, in fact, the uncles she likes so much even if they look identical
i imagine he just tries to keep ik with him at all times, but every now and then she manages to wander off and thoroughly confuses the demons with how friendly she is. how is this tiny child more confident than her father
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Hi so I have not been around much today because the truck (which my family live in rn) died, we got the part we needed and seem to be good now but understandably I would say, we're a little shaken up, anyways I am gonna be sending stuff I owe and working on my drafts & putting them in my queue.
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growing up is realizing the weak ending of your original-universe story from jr high was actually only the middle of a much grander, more satisfying tale
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highly educational and informative and academic discussion of the potential awareness of xenoblade characters on the deep mechanisms of their own worlds
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currently working on chili fic like
*after the two fought an electro vishap on a frozen river & Zhongli got into ice cold water*
Hu Tao, concerned: Zhongli, you look ill, you should take some rest.
Zhongli, actually sick: thank you, Master Hu, but I’m fine. Besides, we have some work to finish-
Childe, in passing: Zhongli, you don’t look well. Please take some rest.
Zhongli, immediately: Of course. Thank you for your concern.
Hu Tao, observing it all happen:
Hu Tao:
am I a joke to y’all-
*Hu Tao will remember that*
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playing kingdom hearts for first time ever. its a cute game, but my big issues is that i give negative shits about a find the girl plotline when the girl in question has the character agency of a cardboard cutout
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Rauuagadjsjdsk help I'm getting ready to post this week's chapter of my kylux fic (The Unforgivable) and idk if I should also post another chapter of my Codywan fic (The Last Lost Continent) or if I should wait on that one for now and post the next chunk all together. I have like 2.5 more chapters of my kylux fic all edited and ready to go for the next few weeks and the first half of act 3 done up in a rough draft, but while I have the next like 5 chapters of my codywan fic mapped out like that I only have up to chapter 7 actually written in my clean draft.
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You’ve discovered MDZS hell I see. Welcome!!!
I'M VERY MAD ABOUT THIS!!!! it is not my fault. @isaakandreyevs got @ipreferfiction into mxtx novels, and so then they were talking about it in the group chat, and then @sith-shenanigans started sending me screenshots of wwx's shenanigans in the cloud recesses as a teenager, and then they SENT ME THE FIRST VOLUME, so of course i read it, and then i read the other two available volumes in like 3 days (and also a 140k word fic but no one's paying attention to that), and now i'm like. obsessed. i can't stop thinking about them. i'm pretty sure i dreamed about wwx last night. he's my new blorbo i am rotating him in my brain constantly.
the WORST PART is, back when the untamed came out, it flooded my tumblr dashboard and i, out of spite, as one does, went ha. fuck this shit, i will Never watch that, ha ha ha, what is this even about, why do people care, i refuse. i will block all the tags if i have to.
wanna guess what's queued up on my netflix literally as i answer this ask
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The way viserys loves alicent but is incapable of selflessness / the way alicent doesn't love viserys but is struggling through this godawful oppressive situation performing extremely emotionally costly selflessness on the daily
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