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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 17 days

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Quick world lore question; does the game ever specify what kind of potions/poisons exist in twst? Like, since it's technically a fantasy world, would things like health/stamina potions like you'd see in rpg's exist? Or would it be closer to reality, like home remedies and basic pharmaceutical stuff?

I'm only an EN player and I havent read all the pomfiore student's vignette's so if they answer this there then im sorry for the bother ; ;

Potions aren't talked about in the only Pomefiore students' vignettes! (In fact, if we're talking just strictly Labwear vignettes... Vil and Rook's don't really focus on potions at all; only Epel's sort of does.) There isn't actually a ton of lore about potions, and in the times when they do become relevant, the writing tends to focus more on the ingredients and/or the preparation process rather than what kind of potion would be produced. For example, the entire Labwear series of vignettes frequently brings up rare or dangerous plants that require the application of magic in order to safely harvest, such as the mandrake and the lantern blossom.

I wasn't able to check all vignettes (since that would be like... what, probably a few hundred at this point? If not that, then at least over 100.), but there's definitely mentions of potions with various effects. From all lab vignettes alone and combing through the main story, here's what I could glean:

transformation/transmutation potions (prologue, book 2, Beans Day, book 6, etc; this is probably the most often mentioned type of potion)

voice-changing potions (Leona Labwear vignette)

color-changing potions (Epel Labwear voice line)

plant growth potions (Epel Labwear voice line)

sleeping potions (Silver Labwear vignette)

awakening potions (Silver Labwear vignette)

magic enhancing potions (book 2)

a potion that changes one part of your body to that of an animal's (book 3)

On the subject of poisons, no specific kinds are mentioned as far as I'm aware. There's a Poison Refining class (Cater Labwear vignettes), but we don't really get specifics. When poisons are talked about, it's usually in reference to the Fairest Queen or the Pomefiore dorm leader being skilled in making potent poisons, or it's Kalim talking about the many attempts on his life and unnamed poison antidotes. There may be more mentioned in other places, but at this time I don't have the capacity to check every single event and vignette. If you know of any more that aren’t listed here, please let me know and I can update the list!!

It should also be noted that "potions" can also be used for other purposes. This includes creating special effects for movies (mentioned in Vil's Labwear vignettes) and enhancing the effects of skincare (book 6, Azul Ceremonial Robes, etc.).

You'll notice that the effects of these potions can also be achieved via regular spellcasting. (In fact, we see Adeuce practicing color changing magic in Floyd's Labwear vignettes + Vil using color changing magic to help himself hide from paparazzi, etc., Jack's/Malleus's/Azul's UMs also allow them to do things without the help of potions.) Because of this, I believe that potions are meant to be an alternative way of spellcasting without actually needing to use magic. This makes already prepared potions usable by mages who don't want to expend energy/build blot as well as by NON-MAGES.

Within the world of TWST, there is an occupation known as the “medical mage”, who appear to combine magic and medicine into their practice. Furthermore, what is called “Potionology” in EN is written as 魔法薬学 (literally, "magic pharmaceuticals") in JP, implying that there is, in fact, an intersection between magic and medicine. This is similar to how "technomancy" is described to be the cross between magic and technology.

In terms of a "healing potion", there are instances which show that a magic potion may heal or at least speed up the body's natural healing process. For example, in 7-68 of the main story, Baur gives Lilia something to drink to help him with the dire blow he just took. It doesn't appear to restore him to full health though, as Lilia states he still needs rest afterward. In EN, they use the term "potion" but in JP they use "薬" (kusuri), which is "medicine". Baur qualifies the character with "魔法" (maho), which is "magic", so the term he's using is "magic medicine". This is probably the closest thing to a "healing" potion that we know of in the TWST lore.

So technically, yes, TWST has "healing potions". I wouldn’t say there is one blanket cure-all potion though; based on what we know of potionology and how it’s very similar to irl chemistry classes, we can assume that there are generalized “healing potions” but that there must also be far more specialized and targeted ones, similar to medicine irl or non-enchanted or non-magic infused medicine. I would imagine that, like transformation potions, “healing potions” would have to be highly regulated since they’re basically a drug 💀 (There would probably be OTC types too, given proper governmental approval!)

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scotts-takes · 5 months

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"Black Out See Saw" is the Climax Alkaloid Deserved

Top Songs from Enstars 2023 Number 1

I was blown away when the album art for Alkaloid was released a few months ago...

This art is such a sharp contrast from their first album art, that shows how they have grown. The basic military style unit outfits have been replaced with regal commander-style ones. The basic emotions that are shown in the original are now much more refined- in particular, Aira has evolved from someone simply happy to be on a stage to someone who is confident in his place on it, Mayoi is putting himself more in center, and Hiiro's confident smirk has become more stoic, as he now has the experience to go with his skills.

All of this went away, however, when we actually got the Alkaloid Climax song...

Sigh...it was the seasonal Halloween event for the year. Yes, the idea of incorporating hospital/illness and Tatsumi's relationship with it is an interesting story to tell...but Alkaloid deserved so much more, especially as the "Protagonists" for the !! era of Enstars. I was frustrated that the end of this era of Enstars for Alkaloid was wasted on a seasonal event, but was at least able to take solice in that Alkaloid gets 200 chapters of the main story dedicated to them, and we still had solo songs for each character to come from the album. December rolls around, and the album releases. After jumping through hoops to buy it, I throw my headphones on to give the album a listen. The first track, "DiZZineSS" is a weird 30 second preamble with no singing, not something I was expecting. However, it rolls directly into the first new song on the album

Bam

Black Out Sea Saw is a violent wall of sound, unlike anything else that has been done for Enstars before, and I can understand fans not liking it. The reason it sounds so different is because it was produced by TK of Ling Tosite Sigure, a 20+ year going Prog Rock group. I listened to the song 3 times before moving on, and waited for the MV release to come, as is usual with the "B" side track from Albums. And what we got was one of the most well constructed videos for Alkaloid fans, and the climax that I was looking for that wasn't provided by the Halloween song.

The video opens...strangly, especially if you haven't heard the song before. The opening is intentionally choppy and rough, almost like it was an unfinished song that still needed production. There is a weird reverb effect happening- which you can especially hear when Mayoi hits the high note, that led to a friend saying "it sounds like they recorded this in a bathroom or something". The other thing that really jumps out is how robotic and synchronized the movements of all 4 members are. This is a BIG deal. In just about every Alkaloid video, you can find little inconsistencies at various points- Aira is sometimes a bit slow to do something, Hiiro is sometimes a bit too fast, Tatsumi's movements are less athletic, etc. The robotic movements are all in perfect unison, especially at points where characters do things together, like make hand bridges. It's a sign of Alkaloid's growth as a unit- they started as a collection of rejects, and now they haver come together and become a great unit together.

As we go to the first chorus, the intensity of the song ramps up- it becomes FAST, yet every member is in perfect harmony. The dancing becomes more intense- and everyone stays perfect. And then we get to the final line "It's Error-Error", and things start to change- we start to see more finger movement, the motions become more flowing and less robotic (the robots are malfunctioning! error! error!), and more personality is shown by each member.

We then get a wonderful effect of feathers raining from the sky, before, and then we get to see everyone smile, including Hiiro with this soft and expressive look. (that I wish I was able to time slightly better when I took my screenshot!)

Why is this important? Lets take a look at the first Introduction of Hiiro, in his first close-up in Kiss of Life

It's a look of focus, of determination, and NOT one of joy. Hiiro NEVER smiles at any point in Kiss of Life except during the SPP- he maintains a focused look the entire time. Additionally, you can look at just about any Alkaloid video, and Hiiro rarely smiles- if anything, he just physically assaults the camera in every one of them! The final chapter of the main story is titled "Smile", which is a discussion between Hiiro and Rinne on what it means to be an idol, and Rinne telling Hiiro "Whenever I see you smile, it makes me smile too", with Hiiro responding that he will do whatever it takes to make people smile

Hiiro wasn't able to smile in Kiss of Life, as his focus was on putting smiles on the faces of others. It's weird, because when he isn't preforming, a smile is basically plastered on his face permanently. He has a very loud and infectious laugh, and he's just happy to be doing anything at any time. On stage, for him, its different. And Black Out Sea Saw is the first time that Hiiro is able to not just smile, but show kindness in it, as opposed to simple joy or excitement. It's a MASSIVE step forward for him- the kind of thing that, you know, you might build a Climax story around?

And then, we come to the end, where the intensity of the song does not let up, before it all crashes to an end as the lights go dark and Alkaloid go still

To me, this is the Alkaloid Climax, the song that I will remember. They have gone from a group thrown together to a cohesive unit with a sound unlike anyone else in the franchise, and all of whom have had character growth. It's the one that they deserve going into the new era that is upcoming, and even has a level of finality to it, seeing as how it was released right at the end of the year.

Alkaloid deserved better than Undying Holy Love, and boy, did they get it...

#ensemble stars #alkaloid #hiiro amagi #tatsumi kazehaya #aira shiratori #mayoi ayase #black out sea saw #mv analysis #Enstars Climax #Best of 2023

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phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing · 9 months

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Some people need to understand queer coding opens character identities and relationships up to a solid queer interpretation, but that doesn’t equal “this character 100% fits my headcanon and if you disagree you’re a [REDACTED]”

From a literary analysis perspective, as long as your interpretation is reasonably evidence-based it’s valid. As this is fandom, I’d add “sincere” to that since unlike an academic setting we get bad faith actors but that’s it.

So, to have a valid “interpretation” you have to do the work in good faith, and you have to be able point at the text to support your interpretation. If you can’t, or don’t want to, that’s a headcanon, and it’s totally fine.

“But this character is a lesbian she likes a girl!” There’s more to queerness than straight and gay. You could reasonably interpret a girl who likes another girl as plenty of different things:

Lesbian

Ace/aro and something else

Straight and closeted trans

Straight and lover is closeted trans

And so on.

So when you have an interpretation, someone might tell you, “I think this other thing.” The polite way to handle this if you don’t like it is to say “that’s so cool we can see different things in the ambiguity of art”. Maybe blocking each other if you dislike their interpretation that much.

That’s of course unless you both want a debate to further refine your understanding of the text or just like to argue or whatever. Which is fine! As long as it’s not overly bitter or whatever, it’s fun to discuss.

“So how do I know which interpretation is more canon than another?”

See, that’s the thing, you can’t. Canon is kind of shaky in the first place. The canon is just what’s written that’s recognized as true/correct text, not the way to understand it (and not what the author says is true, some people take Word of God as canon because it allows the following of one concrete interpretation instead of acknowledging multiple, but strictly speaking it is not). You can only interpret the canon.

For example, 4-komas bonuses of serialized manga are usually non-canon because they are jokes and not meant to be taken seriously as a part of the story’s text. That’s what canon actually is for, originally it’s to talk about which books are genuinely part of the Bible and which are to be deemed offshoots that shouldn’t be taken as a Catholic Church-endorsed religious text.

I guess that’s what gets people confused? That there’s no actual truth to imagined worlds, only what happens in the eyes of the beholder when they interact with art?

Because that’s what it means, canon often has nothing to do with who’s “actually a lesbian” short of them saying it directly. An onscreen wedding is said to “make a couple canon” precisely because there’s only so many ways you can interpret a wedding, but all that means is that the text says they’re together at a point in time. One way I can think of having a canon sexuality would be a canonical character sheet, or an omniscient narrator saying so, but everything less is basically an interpretation.

Note that interpretation obviousness can go from “that’s a stretch but I like it”, to “you only need eyes to see it”, they’re both still interpreting. Even a character talking sexuality technically only makes canon that they’re willing to say so, but that’s when critical thinking comes in.

If you hear a character say “I’m a married lesbian” and think “they’re just confused” with no evidence, you look like an idiot. You absolutely can argue which interpretation is more valid or likely by pointing out inconsistencies, stretched evidence, or that one interpretation has a higher volume of evidence/etc. This is how you avoid relativism and “nothing the text says matters” trolls.

Occam’s Razor is another way you might be tempted to try and determine whose thesis is stronger. This technique works through figuring out which interpretation requires the least amount of assumptions (saying something arbitrary is true as a basis) but it doesn’t make anything canon, or more interesting, it’s not a concrete sign of superiority. Just means it has stronger fondations.

However… your interpretation being stronger, more popular, better worded etc. or you thinking someone else’s is immoral, stupid, etc. doesn’t give you license to be a bully, to call people names, to dox them, dig up dirt to make them look worse, and so on and so forth. Thinking you’re right and they’re wrong does not make you above basic respect, politeness, or consequences. You’re not better than everyone else.

As a child, I used to think I was always right because I was logical, and I clearly made logical sense so there was no way for there to be a logical reasoning that arrived at a different conclusion. (Newsflash: Child me was very wrong! Sometimes multiple things can be equally valid! And even if they were not equal, that didn’t give me license to deride people publicly!)

Queer coding is by its nature interpretative. Coding is the author leaving hints about their characters by using a “code”. Some hints, almost everyone in your section of fandom might have the exact same interpretation about. Some hints might be dead obvious. Some hints might leave you overjoyed. Some hints you might ignore because they make you uncomfortable.

Some people will disagree with you about how they interpret the coding, or might even just state that they believe people have a right to interpret the canon however they want, even in ways you don’t like. That is normal. That is not a threat to your interpretation.

Don’t be a petty cunt about it.

Essentially,

#literary analysis #honkai impact #hi3 #phoebe rambles #the amount of people who decry the mere possibility of sushang not being a lesbian when she had a crush on a dude once #when they also ADAMANTLY refuse to acknowledge how queer coded the Seele’s are with one another #stop putting your moral agenda in my literary analysis what are you. 12

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a-witch-in-endor · 1 year

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i have a religon question. we all have indigenous gods, right? especially in 'the east.' do abrahamic religions see these gods as fake, or just another part of god, or djinn and demons? I know there are people who are jewish or muslim or christian living in places with a large population that follows the kind of religion that respects ancestors and hometown gods; do those people also get to pay respects to those deities? do they get a pass for that because they, too, are technically protected by those indigenous gods even though they technically converted, but they're still of that land?

(could that be applied to earth kingdom spirits, bc there's so many of them?)

Hi! You are going to get a MONSTER response here, and it might not even fully answer your question, so... apologies in advance.

I want to start with your premise about indigenous gods. I think there are two elements that strike me as needing some kind of definition or clarification.

The first is: what does "indigenous gods" mean?

Please keep in mind that I am going to discuss indigenous RELIGION here, not "indigenous" as a political term.

I think there is a faulty assumption often applied to conversations around indigenous vs global religions that assumes that "indigenous religion" is polytheistic and "global religion" is monotheistic. One issue with that, in my opinion, is that "polytheistic" and "monotheistic" just aren't as meaningful as Western academia has historically stated. They are, in my opinion (though not only my opinion!), terms laden with Protestant ideology.

Protestantism and "Polytheism vs Monotheism":

Protestant religious scholarship tends to want to divide religion into the more primal, physical religious expression vs the more otherworldly, spiritual expression. Polytheism is, in Protestant academic mindset - excuse my language here, I'm making a point - a kind of barbaric, pre-enlightened, base form of religious expression. When religion gets more refined and intelligent and articulate, it sheds those earthly elements and ends up being monotheistic. This is Protestant in origin, specifically, because it is not only about how Protestant academics viewed religions like Hinduism or European indigenous religion, it's also about how they felt about Catholics and Jews. Catholics and Jews, from that mindset, might be "monotheistic", but they're holding onto the base, unrefined physicality of the old world. Catholics and Jews like physical rituals, physical prayer, rules around eating, etc. So yes, sure, they're monotheistic, but they haven't quite understood monotheism yet.

This is obviously not a nice thing to think about other peoples, but that's not what is interesting for our purposes. What's interesting is that Protestant academia has left much of the West with the above as their understanding of how religion functions. Even many atheists, by the way, will describe atheism as just the next step on that wrung; religion starts with polytheism, which is steeped in physical ritual and is obsessed with the earth, etc, then people became monotheistic and slowly let go of those earthly things, and then people got truly enlightened and realised there's no God at all. You can hear this in how some atheists will talk about believing in "one fewer god" than monotheists - that sense of the arc of progress and development.

Now, I hope you've already realised that I don't believe that's true. But let's break it down a little:

What is monotheism, and what is polytheism?

Judaism often has ascribed to it being the first monotheists. In some ways, that's true; in some ways, it isn't. There were One-God-isms that occurred elsewhere, too. Famously, in Egypt, the pharaoh Akhenaten led a religious reformation which narrowed worship down to Aten, the sun god. Nobody can agree on exactly what this was, but it was at least a focused religious expression. Likewise, Zoroastrianism was talking about a dual nature of reality in a way that could be read as monotheistic before the Jews were.

And when the Jews began to worship God as One, it wasn't exactly a clean break. It's actually fairly clear that the worship of the one we now just call God was really a slow development of theological focus, which we might now call henotheism: belief that multiple gods exist, but only worshipping one. Then that God slowly came to represent a kind of universality, especially with the experience of worshipping a land-based deity while in exile (first exile, starting c.586BCE).

So the Jewish belief in One God is a bit like Atenism: a focusing in on a particular god. Except this time, instead of one big religious revolution, it was a very slow religious development.

And if we want to divide not only into "monotheist" and "polytheist", but also into "indigenous" and "global", we're in very murky waters.

Indigenous Religion and Global Religion

Noting again that this can get politically tense because classifications of indigeneity are politically fraught. I'm interested in what makes a religion or culture indigenous, not in what that means for us politically.

Indigenous religion is difficult to define in a sentence, and so I will not try to do that. Here are multiple things that come together in indigenous religion in general instead: Indigenous religiosity is not distinguishable from culture itself. It's born of a land and developed over time. It might have its own myths about its origin (it likely will!), but those are often contradictory in some ways, because they are descriptions of important cultural narratives rather than histories. It tends to be uncentralised and is often slightly different depending on where you are in the land. It tends toward agricultural spirituality and concepts of holy soil. It is tied to an ethnic group and is generally uninterested in ideas of conversion (either into the group or out of the group); it may even be hostile to outsiders joining.

Global religions, on the other hand, tend to be much more planned-out. A global religion is born from a person or a group of people. One can see its birthplace and origin. It is devised in order to spread, and therefore is not attached to one land or to one ethnic group (so that it can move both geographically and through conversion of others into the group). It tends toward centralisation in an organisational capacity.

So. Is Atenism indigenous? ... Well, kind of yes, kind of no. Worship of Aten is born from the land of Egypt, but having a specific historical revolution makes it seem a little outside the "indigenous" definition. But it's definitely not global either. So we've immediately located something that doesn't seem to work well in a binary sense.

Is Judaism indigenous? ... Pretty clearly "yes". It's a land-based agricultural religion born of a particular land, with strong ethnic ties, that developed over time (rather than being born of a historical moment), that isn't interested in spreading or converting and wants to be in its holy land, is uncentralised and disorganised in nature, etc. But people don't tend to talk about Judaism that way, because Judaism has survived a 2,000-year exile, which is pretty unheard of. Once you've been kicked out of the land that long, it feels like it should be a global religion. But it doesn't fit any of the critera for that.

I think that Judaism being an indigenous religion that learned to survive outside the land is part of the reason that people have such a hard time understanding what Judaism is. It seems, from the outside, like it should function more similarly to Christianity and Islam. But in most ways, it just doesn't.

(Also, it would be remiss of me not to note: there's also a lot of political discomfort around calling Judaism an indigenous religion, because most indigenous cultures haven't reclaimed sacred land after being colonised, and the Modern State of Israel a) exists and b) is acting as an oppressive force. Some people will define groups as indigenous specifically only if they are currently being oppressed within their land of origin. As an academic, I think that's a poor definition, and it's certainly not helpful for defining indigenous religion. But I understand the political discomfort.)

Hinduism is also a really interesting example of this. Hinduism is similar to Judaism in some ways, as it's an indigenous, land-based religion that learned to exist outside of the sacred land. It often gets miscategorised on the basis that it's spread geographically (and unlike Judaism, that spread was not simply by outside force). In some ways, Hinduism acts like a global religion, but it doesn't really fit the bill.

Therefore:

a) "Indigenous religion" isn't always polytheistic (if that's even a meaningful term)

b) Some religions fit into neither category (such as Atenism)

c) Some religions fit into one category but aren't categorised that way by outsiders for various reasons (such as Judaism)

And to add another point: Buddhism is a great example of a global religion. Born of a historical person and moment, ease to spread and convert, not tied intrinsically to land. But try defining Buddhism according to the Protestant theistic categories. I dare you. So:

d) Global religions aren't always monotheistic

"Monotheism" and Global Religions

With that in mind, let's talk about Christianity and Islam. They are the major religions of the world. Christians make up around 30% of the world, and Muslims make up around 25% of the world. And frankly, the 15% of the world who call themselves secular/atheist/etc... I think meaningfully belong to Christianity and Islam, too. I know people often don't like that, but the idea that you have to believe something to belong to a religion is a specific religious idea that I don't ascribe to.

A lot of the time, the way that religion is conceptualised is therefore through a Christian or Muslim lens. (See: my point just above about "faith" in religion.) This has completely muddied the waters of how we discuss and conceptualise our own religions and cultures, let alone other peoples.

Your original question was about Abrahamic religion, so I'm going to try to address that here, but please keep in mind: in a question about indigenous gods, putting Judaism in the same realm as Christianity and Islam is dodgy territory and we need to walk it carefully.

"we all have indigenous gods, right? especially in 'the east.' do abrahamic religions see these gods as fake, or just another part of god, or djinn and demons?"

Judaism: Judaism is an evolution that occurred within Canaanite religion. It started with narrow worship of a local god and slowly universalised, especially when the Israelites were trying to survive outside the place of the local god. The seeds of that universalisation already existed before the first exile, which is likely why it worked. It had a confused relationship with the other local gods; outright worship of those "other gods" was frowned upon but still existed among the peoples, and that worship kind of melded into the narrow worship of the One God. You can see this in how many of the names of God that appear in the Bible are actually the names of the local Canaanite gods.

After the first exile, Judaism became more solid in its sense of theological universalism. Jonah is a great example of this as a book; Jonah was written post-exile (though set pre-exile), and it starts with an Israelite trying to run away from God. It seems absurd to us now, because we know that the Jewish God is universal, but the character of Jonah seems to honestly think he can escape God by leaving the land. The rest of the book is about Jonah's struggle to understand how his god also has a relationship with the people of Nineveh. It's a great example of the struggle of universalising theology.

(By-the-by, I think "universal theology" is a much more useful term than "monotheism", but that's a rant for another day.)

What began as a narrowing ("henotheism"), which was both pushing out and incorporating other local traditions, then had to contend with the worship of the oppressive forces of outside religion. Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans are all peoples who attacked, colonised, exiled, etc - and they all came in with their gods. The Greeks even instituted worship of their gods in our Temple. Our worship was made illegal by the colonisers. Relationship with "idol worship" was about relationship with those outside forces.

In short, the literature itself is very confused about what those gods actually are. Jews were certainly not supposed to worship them, and should go to great lengths to avoid them. (If we didn't, we probably wouldn't still exist, so: good shout.) Sometimes they get talked about like neighbouring gods, which is a holdover from the narrowing-days (where those other gods existed, but we worshipped our own native land-based god). Sometimes they get talked about as false idols created by people who are either misunderstanding reality or deliberately trying to have control over the divine (which developed more as the God-worship was universalised). The more universalised our theology became, the more we started shrugging of ideas of neighbouring gods that actually existed, and the more it became about the latter.

(Note: When Jews met religions that call a universal God something else, they would then tend to conclude that it's not idol worship. This developed when Judaism met Islam in more peaceful moments. The idea that non-Jewish religions could be something other than idolatry then came to include Christianity - but only kind of, because of the worshipping-a-person issue - and then religions like Sikhism much more easily. It's even arguable that religions like Hinduism aren't exactly "idol worship" for non-Jews, because many Hindus will describe what they believe in in universal terms - Brahman is first cause and all emanates from him - even if their worship includes references to "multiple gods". This does not mean Jews are allowed to worship that way.)

Christianity: Christianity was born in a specific historical moment, utilising previous Jewish and Hellenistic thought. It almost immediately became a religion of conversion (I would put that distinction at the year 50, with the Council of Jerusalem). Since it was born from a universalised theology, it already had the bones of the idea of a universal God; now, it also had the will to spread, both geographically (shrugging off major religious ties to the Holy Land) and religiously (not only could people convert, but people should convert). While Judaism was all about avoiding worship of other gods, Christianity became about converting those peoples.

Islam: Islam was born in a specific historical moment, utilising previous Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, and pre-Islamic Arabian thought. It immediately became a religion of conversion. In this sense, it's a lot more like Christianity than anything else, except Christianity developed most significantly after the death of Jesus. Islam got a lot more time in development with Mohammed. In some ways, I think this really benefitted Islam (though that's not to say some things didn't get... complicated, upon his death). It inherited from Christianity the sense that worship of other gods was something to be responded to with conversion.

"I know there are people who are jewish or muslim or christian living in places with a large population that follows the kind of religion that respects ancestors and hometown gods; do those people also get to pay respects to those deities? do they get a pass for that because they, too, are technically protected by those indigenous gods even though they technically converted, but they're still of that land?"

Short answer: no. Jews, Christians, and Muslims do not believe that those deities exist as separate to the universal God.

Longer answer for Judaism, because... well, I know more about lived Judaism than lived Christianity or Islam*:

(I recently said to someone IRL: I do have a degree in Catholic Theology, but I don't know anything about what Catholics ACTUALLY believe.)

It would be absolutely disallowed in Judaism to participate in worship of "other gods". Modern Jews will not believe those gods exist (at least, I've never come across that either IRL or in studies). However, Judaism does still hold that worship is a powerful thing and that Jews are not allowed to participate in worship of "other gods". Many Jews will say it's not worship of "other gods", it's just worship of the one universal God that is understood differently by different cultures. This does not change the fact that Jews are not allowed to participate in it.

(In fact, it's one of the three things a Jew should rather die than participate in. It's a little murkier than this, but basically: even under duress, even on pain of death, a Jew should never murder, commit sexual violence, or worship an idol.)

"(could that be applied to earth kingdom spirits, bc there's so many of them?)"

Yes, I think the Earth Kingdom in ATLA is supposed to function in an indigenous manner, specifically in indigenous religion as it acts over a wide spread of land. That is to say, like Hinduism, or like when you compare different arctic indigenous cultures or African indigenous cultures. There isn't a centralised force (like with the FN); it's local gods - or here, spirits - that have their own myths, etc.

Please note, I have avoided talking about nomadic cultures here on purpose, because this would be twice as long! This is not exhaustive at all. I hope it makes at least some sense.

#jew on main #judaism #christianity #islam #buddhism #hinduism #it's a world religion extravaganza #canaanites #not the kindest post to protestants #atenism

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teafuelledwriting · 6 months

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How do you go about setting up a chapter? Do you plan ahead or just start writing and see where it takes you? Or do you do both?

Hey and congrats, you are my first anon and my first asker! Thank you~ Grab yourself a drink, this got wordy.

Short answer: I plan enough to have a guide for where I’m going and then explore away, so a little of both.

Long Answer: Out of necessity I’ve learned to be a planner with my writing. Having a guideline to follow that tells me where I am in the story and where I’m going and what I need to do to get from story-beat to story-beat helps me stay excited, focused and avoid any kind of writer’s block.

I think of it like a roadmap. The story’s end is my destination and in the meantime I have all the information I need to get there via landmarks (story-beats and character arcs) and points of interest (cool scenes that I’m excited to write). It’s not set in stone and allows me to be adaptable and explore while still giving me a framework to work with (think theme, structure, etc).

Usually this ends up being a big document of dot-points organised into story-beats (Inciting Incident, Point of No Return, etc) and then very rough groupings that make up the chapters.

I do this for any writing project I tackle (including this ask) and apply the same process to my chapters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dived into a chapter with only a few details and found myself stalling or forgetting that I was supposed to foreshadow X or include scene or conversation Y. Let me know if you want me to talk about my planning process.

Also I’m a big believer in iterative writing and planning. I start with big broad ideas and refine until I have enough ideas, and write then rewrite until I’m happy. You'll see what I mean.

Here’s how I do Chapter Planning.

As an example let’s say we’re a few chapters into a project. We have our protagonist Dan, a fairly badass hero with a dark past who lives in an apartment building next to Laura, a mysterious supporting character that eventually becomes his friend and ally.

In the previous chapters Dan has met Laura, learned a little about her, and noticed a few odd things like eyes that gleam in the dark and strange bruises. The last chapter Dan overheard Laura return home in the early morning via their shared fire escape, weapon in hand. Suspicions aroused, Dan has decided to follow Laura the next time she leaves by the fire escape and find out what she’s up to.

The first thing I do is check my outline which at its simplest form, looks like this:

Chapter 4 - Ben is suspicious and follows Laura - She is aware and they have a confrontation and are overheard by monsters - Fight - reveals they’re both not as they seem to each other - Decide to trust each other, return to Laura’s home to patch up and talk - Start of friendship. Reminder: Suggest Laura’s back story. Highlight character similarities.

The plan is for these two to become friends triggered by an extreme situation and the uncovering of secrets, and while this can be enough to start with, I prefer to have more detail before I start writing. How do these things happen? What time is it and what’s the setting like? Where do these events take place and exactly how?

At this point I have at least a scene in my head that I want to include, so I note that down and build from there, starting broad and elaborating as I go.

My notes end up looking like this:

Chapter 4: -Dan waits for Laura in a dark apartment, tipped off by the last chapter’s phone call. It’s 2am and cold. -Laura leaves and Dan silently follows at a distance through quiet streets that grow more empty. Dan gets a bad feeling. -Laura arrives at an empty boarded building frequented by squatters and seems to investigate, sniffing the air. She then enters the building and Dan follows. -Something is wrong. There are bad smells like urine and blood and rot. -Laura is waiting for Dan and she confronts him, telling to leave. They argue, Dan wants answers, Laura wants him to go. -Too late, they’re surrounded by monsters (Gaunts, skinny and human like at a distance but stretched and gangly with long limbs, claws and needle like teeth) -Laura passes Dan a weapon and they start to fight back to back and help each other. -Dan’s enhanced strength is revealed, as is Laura’s skill and yellow eyes. -Fight done, they have a stare down and lower their weapons. -“What the hell are you?” “... A werewolf.” “Wait what?!” -They dispose of remains and decide they need to talk and patch up. - Laura tense as they walk back and Dan muses on his options. - He enters her apartment for the first time, it’s warm, inviting and colourful. - Laura welcomes him and boils water for clean up and gets her advanced first aid kit. Many vials and things like suture and burn kits. - Talk - go over what they have in common, what his deal is and hers. Hint at Laura’s back story and trauma. Hint at Dan’s. - They share some food (Laura is big on Old School Hospitality) and Dan realises he enjoys her company. - He offers friendship, she accepts, and he leaves.

And this is usually enough for me to start writing. As I go I refer back to these dot points but I also give myself room to elaborate, divert and explore interesting ideas or things that make more sense than my guidelines. I let myself be very rough. I try not to worry about editing beyond fixing spelling mistakes and typos, and if a section isn’t working, I cut it out, go back a bit and try again. Afterall, writing is rewriting. You can always fix things.

Once the chapter’s been drafted, I give it a read, make a mental note of what I enjoy, what bores or confuses me and do some tweaking and rewriting. At this point if I’m on a third or fourth draft, I poke at my Very Amazing Alpha/Beta reader to try and catch anything I’ve missed.

And then I do it all over again for the next chapter, checking the story outline, adding any notes for future events or adjusting anything that needs adjusting and starting to write at least enough that it’s easy to pick up the next session.

Hope you got some ideas from this, anon! <3

#on writing #writing tips #writing resources #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writeblr #writing advice #writing advice: chapters

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h0tpiink · 3 months

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SO?? TWISTED WONDERLAND OC??? Not my MC, but a pom student!! Her name is Primrose Aurore! (it means first rose at dawn lol. or it would.)

art by me, for me! lol. anyways, I put a lot of effort into it so pls support me (by sending me good vibes. but if you want to commission me i can make a commission page or something idk)

I based her off of Belle (she went to NRC due to it being more "exciting" than RSA. lol)

PRIMROSE AURORE!!

Grade/Class: Sophomore, Class C (no.?)

Birthday: October 9th (Libra)

Height: 165 cm

Dominant hand: right

Homeland: Queendom of Roses

Club: Book club

Best subject: Animal linguistics

Hobbies: Reading, gardening, caring for others

Pet peeves: Judging, lack of common sense, bad live action remakes.

Favorite food: Roses

Least favorite food: Wild game

Talent: Reading while walking

Raised in the Queendom of roses in a smaller town, due to her being "different" (autism spectrum shenanigans, as well as ADHD) she was made a social outcast and bullied (like, egged on so that she would get angry, alienated from peers, etc. she found an escape in books! happy to read her days away, finding escapism in the stories people would tell of heroes and knights and princesses.

She was put in pomfiore because, well I originally drew this as a little self insert thingy, since I got sorted into pomfiore, but I wanna make her a legit character so I found who I could and belle seemed like a good option tbh!! Only thing we have in common though is being seen as a social outcast 💀.

This twisted version of Belle isn't too similar to the original, fun fact. As Belle's "weirdness" only goes as far as her being well red and not wanting to marry gaston lmao. So I put her on the autism spectrum, and had her "weirdness" be a general lack of social skills, issues with communication, etc. Only finding peace in fictional worlds that she imagines. She's rather awkward!! All of her life, she was forced to try to "fit in", and any time she would share her hyper-fixations or interests, she was put down and insulted, therefore she is rather shy when it comes to talking to people, and keeps her nose in a book at all times. Since she's in pomfiore, she's expected to keep a certain appearance, however, she lacks any aspect of self care, having sensory issues that don't take too kindly to it. Despite that, she's still gorgeous (i don't expect the og belle to have very many skincare routines. lol. so her beauty was just from washing her face with water (possibly dirty water lmao)). She gets all hyper when talking about her books though, her smile lights up the room when she talks about the prince who wakes the princess with a kiss, or the battle scene between the two dragons, one fighting for good and the other evil. Curious lady!! always poking her head where she's not supposed to, ending up in situations that could easily be avoided if she just kept to herself. nosy. Is always looking for quiet places to read in peace. She often finds herself in isolated locations that have a surreal feeling to them.

still working on her unique magic, tho o7

ANYWAYS. SHE'S HERE!!

She's pals with Epel( both of them are pushed by vil to care for their appearances. Prim has it a bit worse off though, as the sensory is too much for her 😭). Prim and Epel have an alliance since they're both country bumpkins. However, Vil is tough on both of them. She and Epel are in the same spot as beauties that need refining.

Vil is like another mother to Prim. Vil often makes sure that she remembers to do her skincare etc. Vil is harsh on her when it comes to self care, but he knows that she has a hard time with it, so he tries his best to accommodate for her struggles. Prim cares a lot for Vil, and confides in him with her daily struggles, and Vil is happy to listen since he knows that it makes her a lot easier to deal with in the morning.

she's in the same class as floyd leech. Despite being a little afraid of him, they surprisingly get along. Floyd is sometimes happy to listen to her gush about her current hyper-fixation, thinking it's funny how such a reserved and quiet girl can end up so excited over something so silly.

She often bumps into Malleus while looking for quiet spots to read, or when she's poking about school grounds. At first she was scared of him, but then learned that he's not so bad, and that he would listen to her gushing about her books. Eventually, she'd gift them to him to read. (she's happy he's not as scary as she thought he was. after all, judging a book by its cover is bad.)

#twisted wonderland #twisted oc #disney twst #twst #twst oc #pomfiore #oc #oc art #artwork #oc lore

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mdhwrites · 5 months

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I've seen a fair share of posts speculating about what Amphibia would be like if, instead of having strictly Anne as the main character, it made Anne, Sasha and Marcy all main characters. Specifically, the Calamity Trio being given equal screentime.

I've loved pondering over this myself, and I was wondering what you think would change if Amphibia was written this way. I know you said more screentime for Marcy in season one would be pointless, given her lack of a supporting cast or growth as a person, but what if the writers could make it work? e.g. Marcy making actual bonds with the newts in Newtopia and getting over some of her issues (while of course not getting over her biggest issue, that being her fear of losing her friends, until season three)

Do you think Amphibia would be better or worse for being the story of the Calamity Trio rather than the story of Anne? How much of what was set in stone in the original canon would have to be changed to make a more purposeful story? Sorry, this is kind of a handful of questions, I just get carried away thinking about this stuff.

In short, what kind of story would Amphibia be if the Calamity Trio were all main characters? And if it could be just as good or better than canon, how do you think that could work?

So this kind of like anytime someone asks for a major change to TOH's plot and why I assume the S3 we got is at least structurally the same to any sort of S3 we would have gotten for TOH (and why it's BS that a full S3 would have fixed the show). Writers, at least good ones, don't make decisions randomly. Who they decide to focus on, how they focus on them, the roles certain characters take, etc. like that is all important to how a story functions at a basic level. That doesn't mean we can't make unintentional mistakes or have unintended choices by how we frame things but that any truly major shift like this presents a very, VERY real problem.

Is this still recognizably the story that was being told in the first place?

This is why people have asked me how I might rewrite TOH to try and fix its split identity issue but I can't. Not in good faith at least. The split identity is still part of the story's identity and that combination of elements is still part of what people enjoy about the work. It was still a choice that makes the foundation of the work. Deciding to spread the focus is a lot like this for Amphibia.

The story is of a big city girl not just getting teleported to a different world but as different as is potentially possible. Not only are these not humans but they're farm folk. There is no way for Anne to properly have a foothold amongst them to begin with and that's part of why she has so much to learn from them and why it takes so much for her to connect with them properly. The contrast, both in magical and grounded ways, is part of what makes Wartwood work so much better as a setting than Newtopia where it's a little too close to what Anne is used to and you can feel that in the tales being told. Some of the wonder and friction is missing, especially as Anne treats it more as a comfortable place to be.

And comfort is a major driving force behind both Sasha and Marcy's places in the narrative. Marcy is still in the big city and actually gets a level of prestige and respect that she's never had before. She is quite literally friends with the most powerful man in Amphibia. Meanwhile, Sasha spends a while in a cell but she can roll out the red carpet for Anne because the toads ADORE HER. They may be less refined than the plebeians she's used to manipulating but they're still dumb and give into base desires, both traits she can exploit, just like she did with Anne.

These are stories that can be told mind you... But they're also the stories we got already. Marcy's flashbacks still give a good grasp on how easy of a time she had it in Newtopia. Sasha's two episodes in S1 are quite literally all we need to understand who she is, why she was able to take power so effectively and sell us on her being someone who's really good at manipulating others, especially the lazy and hedonistic. They could be expanded but...

With Sasha, anyone giving her friction actually starts harming Anne's character. The more unstoppable we think she is as a manipulator, the more we are allowed to fill in the minor gaps in our knowledge with Anne's beliefs, the more she comes across as a genuinely dangerous antagonist. The more we believe that she can control an army of toads, change things with their regime and be the one who knows how to potentially pull Anne back into her worst habits. That she could take what was earned and with one hard yank make it all come tumbling down. More time with her would very easily become detrimental. As a note: This is why big bads don't often get a lot of episodes where they're doing things, instead of their cronies, because the more they're challenged, the weaker they look.

So that's one character who's story being expanded can very easily damage the very foundation of the MC's character arc while also cheapening that character's skill set, what about Marcy? She is a bit more complicated. See, she is actually far less harmed by more time with her as she has plenty that she can learn and the like as a person... But Newtopia doesn't want a person. They want a mind. And not just the Core. Even Olivia makes it clear that she only treasures Marcy for her mind. The other advisors are friendly with her but not friends. They just... don't care about her.

Worse yet is that from the perspective of Marcy as a main character, Newtopia is a TERRIBLE setting for the sort of stories that Amphibia excels at or tries to tell. She is literally friends with the King. She is smarter than almost anyone else in the city and not pushed to really interact with its populace, just the city itself. She also shouldn't be actively seeking its populace because Marcy is not a people person. She wants Wartwood to like her because they like Anne and she doesn't want to be a weird outside compared to Anne there. She is still liked in Wartwood though so without someone ushering her out the door... What is Marcy doing?

And I can come up with things. I could tell you that the way to make Sasha's story work with more time is show different forms of her manipulation as she gains a band of loyal toads. You can give Marcy a non-royal friend who's interested in the oddity and come on, don't you want to see the non-shiny parts of Newtopia and Amphibia? But that's adding more and more to their stories while taking away from the core.

Because suddenly, you have one girl in their element just flexing on everyone around her while another big city girl is... In another big city. You are now spending much less time on the big city girl coming appreciate different, substantially different viewpoints, realize their way of life is just as valid as her lazy way of life, growing and changing into a better person who genuinely values those around her instead of just wanting someone who lets her have fun and do as little else as possible, etc. like that.

For the sake of the trio... You're losing Amphibia.

That is a big sticking point for me and why I still refuse to call Sasha and Marcy main characters. They're important supporting characters, don't get me wrong, but the story is about Anne and Amphibia. Anne and Wartwood. The choices to spend the VAST majority of our time with her and these settings is not an accident. It's not like Matt chose to just devalue the other two main characters. They were used incredibly effectively, they do a lot to help highlight Anne and her growth and act as milestones for it effectively, and Sasha has a LARGE impact on who Anne is at the beginning of the story.

But it doesn't make them main characters because this isn't their story and there is no way to tell the story of Amphibia with them as the main characters. Focusing purely on the friendship and needing to repair it, or destroy it, is likely going to reinforce different themes, or at least different elements of the themes. After all, you can still talk about change but paradoxically, focusing in on the trio like this, even if it means spending more time in different parts of Amphibia, excludes the community element that is so important to Amphibia. After all, now you're splitting focus between three communities and focusing the story on the arcs of these three human girls. That's going to require a lot less time fleshing out these side characters. Diminishes the impact any of them can have on any character. The Plantars do a lot for Anne after all but we understand that it is WARTWOOD that changes her, not just the Plantars. Would we get that if you now had to split the focus this much?

Also, we lose Reunion in any way it is right now because with Marcy taking a more prevalent role, S1 HAS to end with a confrontation of all three. The first time they meet together. To leave any one out would be to diminish their role. Marcy isn't as important, especially to Anne's character, as Sasha is in the version we got so it's fine for her not to be present for Reunion. But... How do you handle Sasha's arc if all three have to come back together at once?

And to justify having brought up TOH earlier, how likely does all of this start a split personality problem for Amphibia? With Anne as the focus, you only get a handful of episodes that aren't genuinely Amphibia. Capital letter Amphibia. You know know what to expect and you know what sort of story is going to happen and that creates a nice, fun, comfortable status quote you can enjoy from week to week. Now imagine if Marcy's writing is still weaker like it was in the show, or the toads fail to be compelling because in order to keep Sasha as the antagonist of the group, they keep just setting themselves up to be knocked over by her and by the third time, it's getting kind of boring? Suddenly, one third of the show is causing friction with someone, especially since all three, due to DRASTICALLY different settings, would cause inherently very different storytelling just because the sorts of issues are so different. This is part of why the vibe of S3B is so different because finally we are not at peace, we are at war. Even the shifts from a guard tower that exploits people, a big city where the MC is treated as effective royalty, and a small farm town is enough to cause some amount of friction to happen between settings.

I'm not saying that this story is literally impossible to tell well but... Man, it'd be INCREDIBLY hard. And, of course, it still wouldn't be Amphibia. It would look like Amphibia, some of the notes would sound like Amphibia, but it would just be a very, VERY different story.

Because like TOH found out after Yesterday's Lie, you can't just change who your character fundamentally is without MAJOR consequences to your storytelling. Splitting your main character three ways is going to yield similarly discordant results without writing the entire thing from the ground up.

But it's not the same story and as I LOVE the story we got, I would say trying to force Amphibia into this mold would only make it worse, if I could compare it at all.

======+++++======

This is by no means a comprehensive list btw of all that would potentially be lost, need to be changed, etc. like that so as to even make this sort of shift for Amphibia work. Like someone in my Discord when I mentioned this ask brought up how the impact of Sasha coming into Anne's life and the tension of Reunion would kind of be lost if we already know Sasha fairly well. It is... Complicated to put it mildly.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past.

I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead.

If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#amphibia

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skaiind · 11 months

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A lot of your work has really inspired me to take a shot at making comics. I know it's a lot to ask but I was wondering how to go about the process. Do you write and refine scripts before illustrating pages or do you just have a general plot in mind? Big fan of your work, your artstyle is magnificent.

first of all, that's amazing! comics are one of the best ways to learn art, because they challenge every aspect of your skill, it can be frustrating, but very very rewarding and worth it! and i am deeply moved that my work has inspired you to do so! thank you very much!!

my process has several steps, an each one sort of refines the last one as i revisit the same page over and over (which is great because i look at it with fresh eyes and manage to make it even better!!) but it turned out long, so get comfortable:

first i write a rough draft, trying to write as fast as possible with no stopping as much as i can, just so you can get the story (chapter) out. once the whole thing is finished, i edit it to make more sense! fix any mistakes, format it sort of like a script and also i try to be as descriptive as possible when explaining a scene - not just the vibes of it but i try to write out what i want the panels to look like or have, what POV or angle they're in, what details should be visible, describe the page design alltogether, etc. for the scripts i use notion.to because it was the most comfortable to organise all the chapters and notes and stuff in one place!

once the script is completed, i plan out the panels - that means i get a bunch of sketch paper (a3) and one by one as i reread the script, i draw out the panels and use little post its to shortly describe what should be in each panel (ex.: wide view of room, Michael in middle looking angrily at the clipboard). during this i also can edit the script a bit again, as with fresh eyes maybe i managed to think of something BETTER for the scene. i usually plan out about 15-20 pages in one sitting this way, because it's mostly just drawing rectangles and visualising the page in your head.

then we move on to ACTUALLY SKETCHING inside those panels, and with this i start from backgrounds first, then characters, then added details. at first i used just the red lead pencils, but then i began adding different colours like layers for the beforementioned categories. and when doing this i try to do as many pages as possible in one sitting, because the first page always comes out wonky, but then you get the flow of the story going and it gets easier (also good practice!!) and again, here i can refine the script, because maybe the post it i placed earlier doesn't make as much sense anymore and the scene might look different. so i sketch it how i think is best at the moment. i try to be as clear as possible, so the lining process later doesn't frustrate me too much.

now it's time to scan everthing and because i have a smaller scanner that means i must do it twice for each page. that's okay though because at least it comes out high quality when i photomerge them on photoshop later on. i apply autocontrast+autocolor to the picture, and the page looks more legible, and then transfer some to procreate on my ipad.

then you test out what lines/brush look best, and once you've got a chosen one - you LINE IT. Starting with defining the panels better, so they're not wiggly unless they look better that way. i again start from backgrounds because they're tedious and hard, then the characters, add some more details and then the speech bubbles. each on a separate layer so i can edit each one later if needed.

then all that's left is shading everything and exporting that bad boy out into the world!

what is common in most of these stages, is that i keep editing as i go. when i think of how i want the panels to look, i try to imagine it not just as a comic panel but like a scene in a movie (if specifically - horror movies and other times a one-camera comedy tv-shows or just a combination of both) and that really helps me visualize the panel.

another thing to keep in mind when writing a bigger/longer story is to know where it's going or at least what are you trying to show through it, but even that isn't necessary because in comics you can just keep exploring an idea or a concept without going really anywhere and it can still end up being amazing.

in the end you must remember that the comic you're making for YOU first and audience second. because when you start thinking about what other people will think, it'll become frustrating very fast and lose the fun. an creating comics is already frustrating in on itself, there's no need to bring in any more to it.

i hope you will make comics! i hope they will be fun for you and i'm very happy you want to put out more of this fantastic media into the world!

i also hope the long answer helped :))

#long post #asks

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loreaday-fr · 4 months

Text

ESSENTIAL LINKS

Daily Questions || More links to come!

Welcome to Lore-a-Day!

Loreaday-fr is intended to be a community lore-building project for players of Flight Rising! Each day a question will be posted intended to help you think about possible lore connections, offer ideas for dragons and characters, and engage the FR Tumblr Community in embracing their creativity and talking about their lore, as well as Serve as a Repository for Players interested in reading Clan Lore created by other members of the community!

While things will be further refined over time, at-present, please do your very best to observe the following guidelines!

PLEASE ONLY REBLOG THE QUESTION OF THE DAY FROM LOREADAY-FR! Reblogging the Question-of-The-Day is completely acceptable and encouraged- That's how you'll tell us about your answer to the question, after all! But in order to keep things neat and tidy, please only reblog the question directly from Loreaday! Chronicle and Lore can deal with a thousand-and-one notes, but it's rather rude to bury your fellow players beneath a pile of reblogs that aren't related to them at all!

Warn for Your Triggers! Please be mindful of others when creating your replies to the questions! If your response to the question may contain triggering content, please warn at the top of your post as well as in the tags of your reblog with "cw [trigger]" or "tw [trigger]" to allow for blacklisting.

All lore is welcome! Is your clan based in lockstep with Site Lore? That's great! Is your lore simply using the dragons of Flight Rising to tell a wholly unique and different story specific to you? That's just as wonderful, and you have a home here on Lore-a-day! Don't feel as if you must follow the story of the site itself to join in on the fun!!!

Please send out asks on ask days if you're going to reblog the posts! Some days, we'll have ask-me-anything posts you can reblog to your blog, for the community to send you asks instead of simply relying on Lore and Chronicle to think everything up! This is only fun so long as EVERYONE plays along though! So please ensure you send at least one ask to as many people as you can in the notes!

THE SONGBIRD REPOSITORY

Among the strange, moonlit aqueducts, there sits a grand library staffed entirely by Eyewings of a glorious rainbow of colors- and personalities. Their Heads of Staff are Lore (purple) and Chronicle (red)- who will serve as this blog's mascots, providing prompts, questions, and even little interviews for dragons you want to talk about! They'll also be keeping track of any and all lore clans interested in having their stories held within the hallowed halls.

Users with an interest in having their Blog and/or Clan added to a future list of players who write their own lore/short stories/comics/etc will be given a post to reblog at a later date and place the pertinent information on, and a masterlist link will be added here!

We will do our best to feature as many answers to the daily questions as possible! but this can get a touch annoying, and so, if you would like to only be shown the question of the day while following, please blacklist the tag "#respositoryreblogs" as this will be used on every reblog of lore/headcanons/etc!

More may be added in the future, but for now, Welcome to the Songbird Repository- We look forward to your participation... And we're going to need more parchment...

#flight rising #FR #Flightrising #Flight Rising Lore #Flight Rising Community Blog

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khruinedimeanismylife · 2 years

Text

So, thought I’d put this school tip on here because it has really helped me make it through long papers, and I figured it may help some of you.

When you get a prompt for a paper, or a series of questions to answer in a paper, don’t attack it like it’s a 5 page paper. Because when you attack it like the full paper then you start feeling overwhelmed and start to worry you won’t get all of your information in those pages. It seems too big, right?

Here’s my suggestion: attack it in parts.

Now, I don’t mean by using an outline. (Not bashing that way of working, it just doesn’t work for me.) What I mean is that you pick apart the prompt or questions and answer them individually. Then you string those parts together, refining the wording and structure to a paper format, adding a conclusion, introduction, and lead-ins for your paragraphs.

Example:

This semester, I’ve had to do a series of comparison papers for my Shakespeare class comparing his plays with adaptations. For each play we went over, there were one or two adaptations that we had to read, and then we had discussions in class about them. We usually got 5-6 questions to discuss in class, and those discussion questions became the prompt questions for the comparison papers. We could choose any number of questions to use for the papers. These papers had to be at least 5 pages long with direct quotes from the plays.

For my Hamlet paper, I was super concerned about not getting 5 pages when I can barely write 2 on a normal basis. So, instead of trying to answer the questions in the form of a paper (trying to think about the paper as a whole, where things needed to be placed, how I was going to lead things into another, all the stressful paper crap, etc.), I just separated each question and answered them as is. There were 6 questions to answer, so I took them one at a time and answered each question directly, as much as I was able to. That way I didn’t have to worry about writing it like a paragraph in a paper, I was just writing as much information as I could about it. And at that point I didn’t have to worry about a page or word count either. I had gotten 3/6 questions answered before I decided to type up what I had already. (I prefer to write by hand rather than type, I’ve just found it to work better for me for any long answer type of assignment) Without all of my quotes, I already had 3 1/2 pages done. I didn’t even need the other 3 prompts. Once I typed up the quotes, too, I had 5 pages no problem. And it was a lot less stressful than I thought it would be.

If you have an overall prompt for your paper, I would start by picking the topics that you want to talk about in the paper. Then go to town with each topic. Just write as much as you want on each topic. I had another prompt for a paper talking about entertainment in Covid. I wanted to talk about theatre, music, tv, film, loss of production, changes in production making, etc., so I answered as much as I could for each topic before stringing it together and editing to fit the paper.

Now, I understand that this won’t work for every paper, nor will it work for everyone. But, I thought it might help some of you!

(Also trying to write this on my phone was weird, so the formatting was weird for me. I apologize if it’s formatted weird on the post)

#school #finals #kill me #English papers #papers #advice #students helping students

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travelingue · 1 year

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Naples (6): Elevation

The story so far: on the morning of our last full day in Naples we found the genteel part. And we began to suspect that the nicest bits were on the hills, looking down on the grimy centre.

As we boarded a bus climbing up to Capodimonte, home to Naples' main art museum, I flashed Lesley's phone at the driver who waved us through before I could conjure up both e-passes.

This relaxed attitude provoked the ire of a woman sitting at the front.

Throughout our 20-minute journey she harangued the driver while glaring at us. You didn't need to understand Italian to get her drift: fare dodgers were an insult to regular users and bleeding the transit system dry.

The driver occasionally responded with sighs of impotent sympathy: "Lo so, lo so..." All the while, people were getting on and off freely. For all we knew, the only fare-paying passengers on board were that bitching woman and us.

As we alighted at the top of the hill, she said in English: "For the return, make sure you buy a ticket at that shop over there."

The gardens of Capodimonte Palace confirmed our hypothesis about the correlation between elevation and refinement in this city.

The museum cafeteria was located in the grand courtyard. Sparse attendance, swift service, tasty food: our lunch experience had everything the Museo archeologico had failed to provide a day earlier.

The gallery itself is fabulous.

The women in various states of rapture (such as Titian's Magdalene and Botticelli's Madonna below, left and centre) are so over the top that an atheist may wonder if the artist is taking the piss.

I am certain, however, about the pout of scepticism Raphael put on God's face as He crowns His son (above right).

We were looking forward to admiring The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio – painted as he passed through Naples while running away from murder charges. I asked the staff where I could see it.

"At the Louvre," the man said. "It's on loan until December." "Are you telling me," I thundered, "that I flew across Europe to see a painting that has been shipped to my native city?" "Le mie scuse signore."

I quickly checked the Louvre's website. In "a dialogue between the masterpieces of the two museums", the French were getting their hand on not just on Capodimonte's Caravaggio, but also dozens of pieces by Michelangelo, Titian, etc.

Dialogue? I call that a plunder of Napoleonic proportions which, from my point of view, was no less invidious for being temporary.

"Lo so, lo so," The man sighed in impotent sympathy.

Our afternoon to the museum, however, was far from wasted. Among the marvels on display was the piece at the top of this post: Scuole diverse ("Different Schools", 1890) by one Augusto Moriani.

Another underrated local genius, Achille d'Orsi, crafted this 1877 sculpture of two men asleep on a park bench. I find the title, Il Parassiti, refreshingly brutal. Nowadays it might be marketed as "Helpless victims of neoliberalism".

On our final evening we decided to explore another hill. We made our way to the funicolare we had spotted that morning.

The ride itself was disappointing: you can't see anything as the carriage rattles through tunnels.

Once we got to the top, though, the Vomero district bore out my altitude theory of desirability.

We wandered through opulent streets. A few tasteful streamers overhead quietly honoured the Napoli football club, which had just won the Serie A - nothing like the garish bunting and images of Saint Maradona that were ubiquitous downtown.

From the medieval fortress of Sant'Elmo you had a clear view of Mount Vesuvius.

We knew there must have been at least one area in Naples where people hung out, a place where you could dine on something else than good pizza and drink wine. We were happy to have found Vomero on our final night.

We returned to our hotel by metro. The escalator at Duomo station was down. We had memorised a complex succession of lifts that got you to the surface.

During the day, you had to dart from one to the next ahead of other passengers. At 10 pm, there was little competition.

But the final lift was "not in exercise", and we reached the empty street via the stairs.

Previous entries on Naples:

1. Ryanair 2. Neapolis or Nablus? 3. Daylight robbery 4. Sybaritic afternoon 5. The benefits of being bombed

#naples #capodimonte #vomero #italy

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sammysdewysensitiveeyes · 1 year

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“Another drink just to pass the time?”

“Don’t mind if I do, Shaw!” Pyro reached out, and managed to clumsily wrap his hand around the glass that Sebastian offered. His hand-eye coordination was not the best at the moment. He and Sebastian were several glasses in to the bottle that Shaw had asked for Pyro’s help in “taste-testing.”

“I gotta say, I never thought we could have a good time together, but I guess the booze helps.” Pyro tossed back a hearty gulp, feeling the pleasant burn travel down his chest.

“We just had to find common ground, obviously,” Sebastian purred. “My tastes may be significantly more refined that yours, Allerdyce, but we both like whiskey. And this particular batch, I intend to sell to a lower economic class than usual. The common man. For that, I need to be sure that this beverage will have mass appeal. And you are the commonest man I know.”

“Well, it ain’t Pappy Van Winkle,” Pyro said, swirling the liquor around in the glass in a show of sophistication, and ignoring a bit that sloshed out onto his leg. “But it’s damn good for the price.” It was good whiskey, and Pyro was in an excellent mood, even in Sebastian’s presence.

“Mmm….perhaps you can write me a few slogans for the sales campaign in Australia.” Sebastian sipped thoughtfully.

“Absolutely! I’ll write you something that we Aussies actually say, none of that ‘Shrimp on the barbie’ nonsense, that – “

Pyro was going to explain the whole history of the phrase, which, in fairness, had actually been part of an Australian tourism campaign, using the word “shrimp” in place of the more authentic-Australian “prawn,” in order not not confuse the American audience. But he was interrupted by a loud crash, and a low, guttural grunt.

“Wha’ wuz that?”

“Nothing, nothing, don’t pay it any mind, Allerdyce. Probably just Shinobi…..playing some video game.”

The grunting was replaced by a shrill hiss, and there was some muffled shouting.

“Just one moment – “ Sebastian held up a finger, and turned away. He dialed a number, and began to speak in a terse undertone to whoever was on the other side.

“What’s goin’ here, Shaw?” Pyro staggered to his feet.

“Sit down, Allerdyce, you’ve had too much to drink. This doesn’t concern you!” Sebastian snapped. But even if Pyro had been inclined to listen (which he never was), he was already stumbling out the cabin door.

On deck, two workmen in coveralls were chasing around a very angry emu, attempting to shoo it back into a wooden crate. Two others were carrying a large piece of eucalyptus with a koala clinging to the branches off the boat and onto the dock.

“Wha’ the hell is going on here?!” Pyro demanded, already lighting up and letting a ball of fire whizz around the deck like an angry bee. It didn’t help with the emu situation at all.

“We’re just loading up the shipment, that’s all! Calm down, buddy!” One of the workers held his hands up pleadingly, while the other dove into the wooden crate to hide.

“What shipment? Those are my animals! You two, get that koala back up here, now!” All of them had been collected from dangerous situations – failing zoos, wild-life hoarders, etc. – and would be delivered to the animal refuge that Nature Girl had started on Krakoa.

“Are you Mr. Sebastian Shaw? Because these animals were sold to Stasis Labs by a Mr. Sebastian Shaw. We’re just picking them up, that’s all! Here’s the paperwork, right here!” The workman held the clipboard out in front of him like a shield.

Pyro didn’t even need to hear the name to know who was responsible, and the man himself appeared on deck behind him.

“Well, I’d hoped to make this easier by occupying your time for the afternoon, Allerdyce, but never mind about that. Oh, do grow up. We can’t support this menagerie onboard the Marauder, I thought we could at least put the animals to good use and make some profit on – “

“Shaaaaaaaw!” Pyro roared, charging towards Sebastian, now fully on fire.

The workman helped his coworker out of the wooden crate, and they locked eyes for a moment. The other two had already fled, leaving the koala contentedly munching leaves on the deck.

“Fuck this, we’re not getting paid enough.”

“There’s not enough money in the world.”

They both jumped off the ship and ran.

OOC: I have to laugh about Pyro talking about “how Australians really speak,” given that writers have given him some of the most ridiculous “Australian” dialogue over the years. Also, in this story, let’s just pretend Nature Girl established an animal sanctuary on Krakoa instead of murdering a bunch of oil workers.

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starryevening · 1 year

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2023 resolutions & goals

lol i post these for myself so they’re easy to find and archive. took me a month to think of the big hits but here we go.

Life & Living

Better Manage Deadlines This is probably the biggest ongoing goal-but I want to see you improve your time management this year and generally hit more deadlines. It was really rough last year and we wanna try to improve.

Explore More You’re still struggling with social anxiety and reverting from some hermit like habits you gained over 2020. Try getting out there more, even a little.

Leave your apartment at least 4 days a week prioritize consistency even if it’s brief.

Try dedicating one day a month to go on some kind of ‘outing’ by yourself to get more comfortable with your own company (such as going to an art gallery, music show, movie etc).

Initiate Socialization More Try to be more proactive in in-person hang outs this year. Offer game nights or go out of your way to see more folks in person. Also don’t be afraid to initiate discord calls/hangouts-we did a little better last year but we can do more this year.

Add Good Habits to Your Free Time Now that you have a pretty regular schedule with work, try reintroducing things you used to love and set aside while too busy in college/post grad. Aim for at least one of the following;

Read a book on nights before work in office

Read at least 12 new books ( comic & novels )

Sing more often, even if it sounds bad

Settle into your Apartment We’ll be moving this year to a more long term place, so take some real time to make it home as soon as you move in. Don’t wait half a year this time for the love of god-prioritize it asap.

Health

Maintenance Medical Appointments I'm glad you’re finally set up with your new health insurance - now it’s time to actually use it. There are some regular maintenance things you haven’t done need to prioritize this year.

Go to a Dentist

Go to An Eye Doctor

Get a General Practice Doctor

Discuss Birth control, Discuss Pap Smear, Discuss Mammograms, Possibly Discuss Metal Ankle implant, Possibly that other thing.

Find a Reliable Physical Activity Post covid you've still had a lot of trouble with keeping active, especially given that you don’t live in a super walkable neighborhood. Try finding a physical activity of any kind that you can tolerate and do on a weekly basis. Some ideas are:

Walking in the park ( Photograph nature )

Yoga inside ( to podcasts etc. )

Renew YWCA and Swim again

Improve Hygiene Routines I’d like to try to make some reasonable additions to your personal hygiene this year, you grubby backwoods creature. Some suggestions include:

Start a daily skincare routine

Wash your face daily

Look into better skin and hair care methods.

Continue Maintaining Mental Health

You’ve done a great job of managing your mental health in the past year-honestly I don’t have any improvements to suggest, just want to encourage you to keep up the pace.

Art & Profession

Create New Portfolio Work Generally an easy task, but Considering putting additional focus into some of the ideas on the below list

Create at least Three new Pieces

Experiment with color, & more dark / dramatic shading

Experiment with Mock Comic / Book Covers, Posters

Experiment with Prop or Background focused pieces

Experiment with weird comic paneling & composition

Experiment with Product Design ( Pins, Patches etc. )

Revise & Overhaul Your Portfolio This is going to be a pain in the ass but it’s long overdue. Move your site to a new host that’s less expensive and take some time to get feedback from peers to retune and refine your Portfolio site. Create a Commission Site / Carrd and Open them Again Add a small commission side-site as well and use that to set aside funds for fun events or bigger future projects. This is kind of gonna be your play money. Plan a Larger Scale Project Try planning out, in a tangible form a larger scale project. This could be a longer mini comic, creating some enamel pins or organizing a zine project. But I’d really like you to make headway on some of your many larger scale projects this year.

#personal #resolutions #2023

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petrichorvoices · 2 years

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🍎 👠 💥

🍎: what are y'alls favourite foods?

Jon's favourite food is butter chicken and hel was elated when we learned how to cook it. judging by the chanting last thanksgiving i think at least one person here would say its favourite is nalysnyky, something we grew up eating and literally just learned how to spell. i {Cecil} like bacon cheeseburger mac & cheese, cause it's fun. we're all pretty inclined towards sushi, and three cheese pizza pops were our samefood for a good long while

👠: how difficult is it for y'all to agree on one cohesive outfit?

not very tbh. we have a collective fashion sense that we're still refining but generally agree on. this fashion sense is very much influenced by us three hosts {myself {Cecil}, Mim, and Kevin}, and we've been building it for years. it features a LOT of patterned button-ups and aloha shirts from Mim, a lot of layering and "weird" accessories from Kevin, and a lot of jewelry and clashing colours from myself. stuff like black sweatpants comes from previous hosts. the black lipstick comes from me but i got it from my predecessor, so, maybe it's his fault

i know the Mechs are trying to add more steampunk and pirate-y themed clothing to our wardrobe, which the rest of us are on board for. we're planning to go as Jonny for Halloween, one of the reasons for that being that it gives us an excuse to get more of that sort of stuff for our wardrobe. we went to Value Village and let Jonny go hog wild. he got like four belts

i think a big part of this is that while we're individuals, yes, we're also simultaneously a collective, and that can't be ignored/discounted. when it comes down to it, we're a cohesive unit with a collective name, pronouns, orientation, interests, etc, even if that collective identity isn't very cohesive to others

💥: how much in-system fighting is there?

most of our fighting, at least among us fronters, comes as a result of what to buy, or to a lesser extent what to spend our time doing. as a way of working through this since there's so many of us, and because we work better when there's an internal hierarchy, we have a couple fronters who are the de-facto leaders and responsible ones in these sorts of situations

those would be.. Mim, Ashes, and Cogs i think? don't get me wrong, Kevin and i still have some sway as hosts, and Jonny as the leader of the Mechanisms cluster, but when it comes down to being responsible, those three typically take charge. every time we enter a store, Ashes appoints Cogs to be in charge of ensuring that we don't purchase anything unnecessary, as ze tends to have a pretty good grip on the body and doesn't really get swayed by our pleading. ze's suspectible to the pleading of the Ices, though, which is why Mim and Ashes back hir up. Cogs usually takes charge when we need an authoritative voice to tell us what to do, especially when it comes to switching tasks, and Mim typically takes charge when we need a softer voice to get us to take care of ourself

we.. don't really know how Ashes got to be in charge. Mim and Cogs both have authority positions as it's been here for ages and both have extensive experience fronting. plus, Mim is one of our hosts. Ashes, though, just kind of decided that they're in charge, and they're good enough at it that we let them do it. they do have to deal with Gunpowder asking to buy edibles every time we see a cannabis place, or Jon's requests that we go wandering downtown, or-

#ask #polymechs #ask games #long post #rambled more than i intended to but eh. we like talking about ourselfves #Cecil's tag

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