#this was supposed to be a simple post but I DUMPED all that lore on you lol
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Some concepts and ideas for Castor and Ronan’s story called Starchild. Some of these are… hard to get to drawing, specifically Ronan’s younger siblings, might redesign them, but they’re all very young. Ronan left to join a crew so he could make money for them while his parents physically can’t work, and he made sure that his 12-year-old brother is very helpful. Then some random character ideas. A first mate on Castor’s pirate crew, two important characters named Rigel and Esther, castor as a young boy, and random scene ideas I have.
There’s a lot of crap I’m rambling about under the cut so go there if you want to know more about the characters, lore, and spoilers
I also have an idea of a deity or something of the sorts. It’s bascially a “Star God”, something with incredible power that was given to them from the heavens, and it is responsible for the starchildren that have shown up around the world, hence why this series is called Starchild. The whole thing around the Star God is a mystery, but people do know it exists thanks to the star children. This is a little dark but some explanation on Starchildren:
Starchildren are born every few hundred years or so, it’s unknown how often a starchild is born, but people believe that starchildren are the star god’s children, and that when they reach a certain age, they are sacrificed to deal with all the problems the world is having. They believe that if a starchild is not sacrificed, demons from hell will arrive to destroy the world. I hinted at this on my last post, but starchildren turn into strange creatures, the main one being the Leviathan. There’s also the Kraken and the other one who’s name is so complicated I’m not even going to bother with it dhskdbsk.
Long story short, the whole thing is a lie. Starchildren have incredible power when they become adults and are “awakened” as Starchildren. They remember the person that gave them that power (the Star God) and their purpose, which is watching over the people. However, centuries ago, someone in high power believed that Star children were too powerful, and out of fear, he came up with an excuse to kill starchildren before they grew too powerful, because no one should be more powerful than him. So they killed starchildren when they were young and weak, hiding behind the excuse of it being a sacrifice to the world or something, using the blood to cleanse the world and keep the demons at bay. That way, if the starchildren escape, and inevitably take on the role of “deities”, people will believe that the demons have arrived to punish them for failing, and will try to kill the awakened starchildren.
Starchildren cannot escape their fate, however, because they cannot hide unless they are far away from people. They have blue hair that shines in the darkest fog, blue hair that cannot be hidden, and a star birthmark somewhere.
I suppose there’s no reason to hide this now, but Castor is the starchild of this era, originally called Orion, but he changed his name for safety. He ran away when he learned that he was going to die, trying to escape on a boat. The people almost caught him, but the kraken appeared, seemingly saving his life. As Castor tried to hide from people, he tried to hide his blue hair, but it constantly shines through whatever he hid it in. The best he could do was to wrap it up and put a thick hat on, which helped, but even so, you can see in his wrapping the blue hair. He tried to dye it, hide it in mud, even shaving it, but the blue cannot be covered up, so hiding in plain sight was nearly impossible to him. He left to sea to avoid people, but accidentally became captain of the pirate crew. He’s a very jaded man who is intimidating and skilled in sword fighting. People respect him as a captain, so he is in high status on his ship (obviously 💀). Problem is, there is a very, VERY high bounty on the star child’s head, so even the most loyal crew members may turn on him if he is found out.
Castor trusts no one, but he seems to have a soft spot for Ronan for some reason. Even when he eventually finds out that he is the starchild, he can’t bring himself to kill him. He’s just a boy…
Obviously, Esther and Rigel are starchildren as well. Rigel is an ancient starchild, who lived a good life before the starchildren sacrifices. He roams the ocean, punishing anyone who threatens the innocent or disrespects the ocean. There were a lot of starchildren too, but the creatures of starchildren were hunted and killed, leaving Rigel, Esther, and Castor the last three starchildren. Esther was a starchild who escaped the sacrifice, who is far more cruel and jaded than Castor, and when Castor is “awakened”, she goes after him to use him to punish everyone.
Rigel is that turtle Whale island thing, Esther is the kraken, and Castor turns into the Leviathan.
The star god is no benevolent being, and is not a god at all. He’s a regular human who got magic from some meteorite, idk, there doesn’t need to be any specifics lol, and he grew immensely powerful. He resides away from the ocean, but he is not a good person. He’s greedy, selfish, and does nothing to help the innocent starchildren he “created”. He would love to have the starchildren to do his bidding, but if they die, it’s no matter, cuz he doesn’t need them. Idk maybe he’s not greedy lol. Either way the star god is not a good person, but I kinda want the star god’s role to be similar to Davy Jones in pirates of the Caribbean. There must always be a star god.
Anyways I hope that all makes sense 💀💀 Ronan is just there, being roped up into this nonsense, but he’s a good boy with a good heart and wants to help the starchildren, and he and Castor grow close.
#this was supposed to be a simple post but I DUMPED all that lore on you lol#I mean… at least the lore is easy to explain#unlike Clover’s story good GRIEF#my brother asked why his story is called ‘golden clover’ and I couldn’t begin to explain it 💀💀💀#it’s so complex#but I’m proud of it#this story is easier to explain tho and I like it a lot!#I felt weird combining the ocean and stars together#but idk they’re kinda connected in a way you know?#space and the ocean are very mysterious and unexplored#but space is more explored and more safe to travel through lol#but regardless there’s a lot of similarities between the two so maybe it’s not weird to combine them#poor Ronan will struggle through a moral dilemma through a lot of this#Esther is an interesting character so I’m hoping to explore her more#ocs#original characters#starchild
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Daes dae'Mar theory: What has been proved so far ?
So, in this post, i'll just add the proof I found that confirms or consolidate some parts of the theory.
It won't be as long as the theory itself of course, so no need to worry about as there isn't much to explain just proof to provide.
SPECIFIC LORE SPOILER ABOUT THE WT AND MINOR BOOK SPOILER (we kind of know this already but some might have not picked up on it when Min foresaw it in S1)
Part 1 : Proving the content of Liuan off-screen talk and plan
I claimed that the person who helped Lan with Moiraine's powers was Siuan all along and not Verin like many seems to think is the most logical and probable explanation.
Well, it's true that Verin being trusted enough to know the truth about Moiraine being stilled that them staying with them for the last 6 months makes it hard to imagine anything else.
But,we were wrong, we got fooled by the writers. As we weren't supposed to realise that there were multiple plans unfolding DURING Daes dae'Mar but only after. A lot of us did not even know what to expect or suspect with the title. I for one did not question the ep until after I went on twitter and learned that the title suggested it.
We've been shown this already thanks to episode 8. They did not want us to see the betrayal coming nor did they want us to know that Bayle Domon knew Lanfear as Selene; Knowing this, It is safe to assume that everything that seems to be the obvious answer when it comes to these plans are debatable. They did hinted at the truth throughout the season though, we just did not pick up on them.
Simple instance of this, that must now seem to stick out like a sore thumb to everyone is that in E01, when Bayle Domon comes and talk to Mo :
When did this come into your possession?
[DOMON]
Couple of months back.
[MOIRAINE]
Where?
[DOMON]
Outside Cairhien. The old moon dial there shattered one night this spring. I know you have men following me. I want them gone, too. I don't take kindly to unwanted company.
[MOIRAINE]
Your enemies are your own. It seems there's something written on this.
[DOMON]
Aye. The whole dial was covered in a poem when they found it. Written in blood. Old Tongue. I have a copy, actually.
[…]
Ah, serves me right, I suppose.
[MOIRAINE]
These men you say are following you, what do they look like?
[DOMON]
Only caught a glimpse from a distance, once, when we, uh, left the dock at Whitebridge. Two men in black cloaks on horseback.
[MOIRAINE ]
Did you see their faces?
[DOMON]
No. Their hoods covered them.
Moiraine's reaction after towards Bayle Domon was an indication, there's a mention of Cairhien which we know is where Rand is, most only realised that something was off with Selene or though that she would be Lanfear (for book readers) but how many made the connections thought that the fades, Bayle Domon going to Moiraine with crucial pieces of information followed by them but never attacked and them only attacking Moiraine once he's left and given her the poem was part of some plan before episode 8 ?
Now that this is established, let's provide the proof.
Remember when I asked that you take a mental or physical note of Lan mentioning the Tower Records ?
Well, this is the show telling us implicitly that he has been working with Siuan, and misleading us into thinking that surely what would explains his knowledge on these matters when he info dumps to Moiraine about the Forsaken was that he worked with Verin, a brown sister with whom he was living with for the last 6 months or so.
It is also a really good way of diverting our attention from the incoherence this assumption would cause, like the simple fact that Lan never learned that Verin knew about the Dragon Reborn before he got separated from Moiraine and that Verin couldn't have known about his and Siuan's plans that most of us thought was about Rand, the Dragon Reborn and not about Moiraine. How would she know (if she was in on it) about something unexpected even for Lan and plan an escape for it in advance?
This lead us to assume that after Lan told Siuan about Mo's stiling she decided to go to Cairhien mostly because of Rand, to meet him and then decided ALONE to finally start following the tower rules after meeting him. No matter that they had showed before that Moiraine and Siuan's dynamic regarding their mission did not rely on having a leader even though dominance naturally oozes out of her and in spite of her position in the Tower as Amyrlin seat.
Even book readers fell for it, outraged and worried that the show was turning Siuan into Elaida. ( still not a book reader, just I obviously constantly spoil myself anything related to Liuane ( Mo, Lan, Siuan) ) but it's normal, even for book readers.
As this little piece of information is a specific Aes Sedai/ White Tower part of the lore of The Wheel Of Time.
To instantly pick up on this you'd have to have memorised it or been obsessed with the Aes sedai's when you read the books and even then, you'd have to be looking for it to catch it.
So, obviously, I went looking for it.
After digging into WoT WT laws, customs and systems. I can now assure that the show itself (apart from the writer saying that they planned "a sort of intervention" for Mo in the bonus) already confirmed my theory about Liuan having a plan for Moiraine.
Mo'an in the Sun Palace
[LAN]
I have a question for you. And I hope someday you'll forgive me for asking it. ( a single question huh ?)
After you were stilled by Ishamael, has there been a time… in all these months when you thought about ending it?
[MOIRAINE]
Killing myself?
According to what I've found, the WT library has a categorisation system in place that hierarchies information.
Starting from "not sealed" all the way up to "Sealed to the flame".
When something is “Sealed to the Flame,” it means that by law, it can only be read by the Amyrlin Seat. “Sealed to the Hall” means that it can only be known to Sitters and “Sealed to the Ring” that it can only be known by Aes Sedai. If something is not sealed, it is open for even the newest novice to know (ACoS, Ch. 12).
Lan, thanks to his time spent with Verin only knew that being stilled was like the most brutal form of violation one could endure and that most women died because of it. So, rather vague and general knowledge. Yet, he later tells Moiraine:
[LAN]
I read the Tower records. There have only been two women in history who were cut off who didn't. Most did it within the year.
It begs the question : Which level could Tower Records be at?
Thanks to my research I learned that :
By Tower law, the official histories of the White Tower are unavailable to all but Aes Sedai (TWoRJTWoT, Ch. 9).
So, I digged a little more as it was too vague to prove anything and looked for something more specific, as I remembered that stilling was apparently something taboo in the Tower ( I read it somewhere on twitter and remembered) I directed my research toward a minimum level of "Sealed to the Hall", as Lan knew specific things about the age of legend and Forsaken but also most importantly he said himself (again a clue we missed):
[LAN]
There's a story from the Age of Legends about the Foresaken's powers… a skill that's been lost for thousands of years… to tie off weaves and leave them in place.
I thought there's no way this kind of knowledge is available to any Aes Sedai and so it had to be a minimum of "Sealed to The Hall" to "Sealed to The Flame" and here's what i found :
(About the Keeper of the Chronicles)
She has access to the Thirteenth Depository (CoT, Glossary). Included within the Thirteenth Depository are the lists of those who have been stilled and executed (ACoS, Prologue).
The Thirteenth Depository, containing secret records of the history of the White Tower, is hidden by law. Even the fact that it exists, and the law that conceals it, are hidden (ACoS, Ch. 11).
So, obviously, if just stilling records are kept in the Thirtheenth Depository, Information about skills that the forsaken used and that most believed to be lost which are actually documented in the Tower Records, surely kept in the Thirtheenth Depository.
If not Siuan, it only could have been Leane as the only other people allowed in there are the Sitters of the Hall, and even then they have to be accompanied by the Keeper otherwise they won't be allowed to access it.
"These are the secret histories, containing information that, by law, on The Amyrlin Seat, the Keeper of Chronicles and the Sitters of the Hall and the librarians who keep the records have access to."
Now that this as been proven, apologise to my client people, thank you.
About me believing she did not need to go back to the Tower to know I just refered to this thing I stumble uppon while researching :
MINOR SPOILER AHEAD (we kind of know this already but some might have not picked up on it when Min prophecised it in S1)
Egwene thinks that Siuan "must have spent a good part of her years in the Tower burying herself in the secret histories," because she "seemed to have every detail at her fingertips" (TPoD, Ch. 16).
Proving that Siuan was the one that made Moiraine gaining her powers possible, also prove that Verin probably turned to the dark at some point, which I believe was when she left with Liandrin but also :
"Compulsion is a weave that forces to do as they're instructed (TSR, Ch. 46). During the War of the Shadow, it was a potent weapon. People were forced to serve the Shadow against their will. Others were converted to undercover agents, to betray the Light at the most damaging times (TWoRJTWoT, Ch. 4)."
Reference :
https://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Tower_Law#Miscellaneous
https://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Thirteenth_Depository
https://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Keeper_of_the_Chronicles#As_Secretary
https://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Compulsion
(Part 2 : Do I really need to prove Lanfear lol ?)
proof : S2E08
#the wheel of time#wot season 2#wheel of time#siuanraine#siuan sanche#moiraine damodred#wot on prime#wot show spoilers#torashi's theory#wot speculation#siuaraine#liuan#Mo'an#Liuane
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Herrscher of Origin 2.0: The Purposeless of Mei’s Growth
Spoilers for 6.3 and 6.4.
Talks of Anti-Elysium Everlasting & (anti) Elymei.
Well, here we are I guess. Welcome to the culmination of the disappointment and decline of the Honkai universe’s writing and execution.
Mei’s Growth Pre-Flamechaser
- Was the most “grown” and self-sustaining in terms of maturity and power (because of HoT persona and their bond). However, she put restraints on herself, thereby making her weaker as time went by. She was unable to do anything because of the shackles she tied to herself. Eventually, this led to a break in her character (Lament of the Fallen) where she in turn sacrificed herself to save the light of her life. She became the concept she hated, and she full fucking sent that shit! That’s our girl! When it became too much, she had to make that decision, and she took it by the throat and made it her personality. It was even better because it made sense for her to finally, finally let go of her own conviction because the ends justified the means to her, for Kiana.
The Flamechaser Arc
- Mei: *angry about girlfriend dying to terminal radiation and her sacrificing herself* Flamechasers: Okay but have you heard about our lord and savior Elysia? Elysia (EE version): 🌸 👼🏻 ✨ 🌈 “by the way, I’m god”
- Elymei. Uhhhh-
Moon Arc
- Can we all just agree that this arc so far has been a complete flop (besides Seele, because I’m biased)? Seriously. Why do I need to become a PhD in astrophysics and electromagnetism to understand this chapter. Why dump exposition sentence after sentence that amounts to nothing but “I know you are but what am I?” It takes so much momentum out of this chapter that I scratch my head and think, “maybe I should just wait for all the chapter to be done”. It feels so padded out with philosophical nonsense pushed into a package already ready to burst. All we (at least here on Tumblr) wanted to see we’re our trio back together and kick Kevin’s ass. We’re simple people, I think. We don’t need our brains melted out with these lectures to enjoy a good, compelling story.
- Also, thanks for the retcon of Bronya no longer being a child soldier/assassin. No reason for that, so thanks for making the lore even more complicated for no reason.
- A shoutout to the translation team making me want to work for them instead because why do they not do quality assurance anymore.
- Open World is getting old. My phone shrieks in binary every time I have to load in to that stupid fucking god damn dog shit ass moon map. :)
Herrscher of Origin 2.0
- I said in an earlier post that this is a rare battlesuit that I highly dislike. Where do I even begin with this development for Mei? While I do love that Mei is the new HoO, as HI3 started with her, that’s really the only thing I actively enjoy with this development.
- Anything else about the battlesuit? I dislike. The “heavenly” theme of her suit, the lighter colors, the emphasis on Elysia, I actually hate it.
- And I hate to say I hate it, but I do. Elysia is supposed to be ka-put, gone, her and her comrades stories are O V E R. Let them rest for once.
- It feels like they’re trying to override Mei with Elysia, and it just doesn’t work. This entire shift in her personality, especially with the leaks of Mei saying she basically does not care if Kiana sacrifices herself, goes against the entire reason for her growth in the first fucking place!
- Why does Mei now have flower themes when it was never entirely relevant to her character? Bronya has technology and “coldness”, with a focus on blues, whites, and grays. This continues in her HoTr battlesuit. Kiana has her outgoing, tempered liveliness and hope, symbolized by whites, oranges, and blacks. Her symbol being the stars and fire actively fits her suits in at least some capacity through all of them. This has been her theme up to Flamescion. Now why I’m sitting here wondering why the hell Mei got this “heavenly angel” looking schtick that makes no sense. Her themes were red, black, purple, and white. And of course, lightning. This about-face turn around of punting these themes into the stratosphere isn’t growth, it’s a complete erasure of her journey and efforts to become stronger. What’s with the light blues and golds? The pinks of her eyes? Why flowers. Again? Also, the parallel between HoO Mei and Raiden Ei… how similar their battlesuits are. 🫠 end me. Mihoyo stop introducing Genshin to Honkai pleASE.
- Mei isn’t Elysia and she never will be. I need everyone to read this again. And another time. Mei might be the inheritor of the title, but Mei will not and can never be Elysia. To make Mei seem closer to Elysia is to erase everything Mei is and has done. Removing Mei’s autonomy in exchange for an Elysia cameo is downright ridiculous. Why can’t her bond with Kiana and Bronya be the trigger? Why does it have to lie in people long gone? Why can’t it be love? Love for humanity was the inspiration for Elysia, so why can’t it be love for her friends (and girlfriend)? Why, why, why does it have to always be Elysia?
- Mei’s growth has and will always be focused around learning from others. From Kiana saving her life at the very beginning of HI3, to learning the beauty and importance of life and sacrificing it with the FCs, Mei is always the mirror of another’s actions. To make Mei this… almost lassiez-faire to Kiana sacrificing herself is actually infuriating. They just got back together after half a year apart, where their parting almost meant killing each other, to now Kiana waving sacrificial-offering flags like a Naval officer, and Mei suddenly not caring anymore?! Just because you grow doesn’t mean you suddenly don’t care about things anymore! The beauty and anguish from Lament of the Fallen is due to the circumstance that Mei had no other choice but to leave to find a way to help Kiana. If she had to be the bad guy, she would be. So where the fuck does this “yeah I might’ve just reunited with my girlfriend after she tried to shoulder everything by herself, but now I couldn’t care less what she does” attitude come from.
A Little Ending Blurb
I’m just, I’m so tired. After the Everlasting Flames Arc, I feel that the writing team is just blasting us to the end of this saga and not caring unless it’s a cool animation or battle scene. As someone who has been playing since global launch in 2018, it is more than just disappointing to see the quality nosedive to the level it’s at now. It’s, in my opinion, heartbreaking (as cringey/cheesy as it might sound). I’ve loved this game with so much passion and intrigue, it’s become a large point in my life. “Protect all that is beautiful in this world.” It’s served as a way to reflect on myself and my growth, especially compared to the girls who all have their threads of relatability and genuineness. I cherish these characters. I’ve laughed and I’ve most certainly cried at the art Mihoyo has created in the past that ripped out my heartstrings and played them like a harp. Honkai has really, truly touched my heart. It’s not something that a lot of media is able to do, but this one has, and it’s magical. It’s beautiful in its anguish and its sacrifices. It’s maddening in the way that it crawls underneath your skin with how human these characters are. But I hate how much it seems like this past year, that feeling has been pushed behind a curtain. Nothing seems earned or deserved or meaningful. Characters just do because they do, particularly in Mei’s case. She’s constantly ham-fisting her recollections of the Flamechasers, telling her memories to characters who’ve never heard, let alone cared, of simulations of a bygone era. Everyone’s just like, “Oh? Yeah? Mhm, sure.” And move about their next dialogue. There’s no real significance to her exposition, there’s no drive to explain what’s been happening on her end. And it sucks to see.
Sorry I’m ending it like this, but I’m frustrated. I’ll try and make another addition to this in a more eloquent way, but I just needed to get these thoughts out there.
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Lore dumping my fnaf au
I just remembered that I inserted myself and my best friend into the au for funsies (you'll notice I do that a lot. This is how cringe I am)
In my first draft I went on a rant abt how much I hated Wilbur's face but after going back to fix it I just needed to add his glasses LMAO. Initially I forgot about the face paint until I stared at my ref LMAO it's supposed to look faded and I think I did a pretty damn good job
Other than that the rest is fine. Erm. I didn't think I'd yap so much about that the actual lore is below the cut lawl
This is Maya!!!! (she/they) she's the mechanic in the pizzaplex, is addicted to caffeine, and is my bestest friend !!!!!! In the au we live together and also work at the same place that's so funny ‼️‼️
They usually work the night shift but if there needs to be emergency repairs during the day they're always on call for that. Nights usually consist of checkups and clean up of the animatronics and androids (will get into that later).
Clearly, I have a favorite, so he's also my favorite in the au itself LMAO cSoda works in the daycare but often leaves to bother the animatronics ☝️☝️‼️‼️
the daycare has an art station so that's where they work, they also help clean up and watch over the kids with the daycare androids !!! Who are *drumroll* Mumbo and Grian !!!!
(I forgot the makeup in this doodle,, and apparently the white stripe on the red part of the dress uggghh) the daycare androids are supposed to be more human looking to not scare the little kids, but cartoony (and tall) enough to differentiate from the human coworker. I like to imagine their faces are rly simple bc they're LED screens with projected expressions to make emotions n stuff. Plus I wanted to keep their faces similar to their skins with an in universe reason for it pfsjshgdhdh
Tumblr keeps bugging out every time I wanna post and it's DRIVING ME INSANE !!!! half this post got deleted and I'm SO MAD ABOUT IT but anyway here's the refs I made like 2 years ago. Their designs haven't changed since I made them so I probably won't remake them unless I start hating my old art enough LMAO
The canon heights I never wrote down so here they are: Ranboo 8'0, Wilbur 7'2, Maya 5'4, I'm 5'7, Grian 7'0, Mumbo 8'0, James 7'0, Tommy 6'6, Jimmy 5'5 and Schlatt wasnt in the AU at the time but he's 6'4
I didnt really make this au for anything except silly scenarios and because making the designs were fun pFF ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION Sneeg is dj music man !!!! I never got around to drawing him before since I just figured out recently I wanted him to be dj music man so yeah !!
I know this isn't that much of a lore dump but I think I got all my thoughts out for now lawl everything will be under the animatronicfication au tag :v
I have GOT to draw Wilbur the way I used to. The biblically accurate animatronic eyes do NOT look good in my art style 😭😭 also I just noticed I basically painted the same thing into my sketchbook wtf I completely forgot about this doodle until I found it after digging for au art 🤯🤯
#animatronicfication au#bursona#animatronic wilbur#fnaf au#mcyt au#fnaf security breach#this au is so old i think i made it in 2021#it started out with just mumbo and grain and now look at it#not even my favorite mcyters just like.. creators i like that seemed to fit#although a few of them ARE my favorites
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Lore dump at 00:08am? Hell yea! Anyway-
TW: Death, blood (represented), mentions of murder and suicide
I've been doing some thinking recently, mainly about the absolute fuckton of spirits around Sodor and how they even exist and stuff. So I decided to do this post about that in the middle of the night!
-So how (or rather why) do spirits exist in this universe?
The answer is rather simple, at least to me: those who die before their time's up for whatever reason (let that be murder, an accident, or """"""science"""""", which is literally the same as murder but felt like I should mention it-) come back to the island as spirits, normally until they were supposed to die of natural causes. Mind you, Wingmen live many times longer than us, regular humans, so this could be centuries, maybe even millenia! When a spirit reaches this set date, they can choose to go on to the afterlife or stay in the mortal world. Most choose to move on, but there are those who stayed.
-What do these spirits look like?
There is no set "look" for a spirit, as their premature death dictates their appearance. For instance, Proteus and Godred (Also Timothy and Rusty's ghost engine, but I haven't drawn them yet lol-)
No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, Proteus is literally just a floating head. I won't go too much into detail about his death, as that's a big fat spoiler, but to summarize: he was cut up by someone. This included being decapitated, which is actually what caused his death, therefore, his head is all that's left of him.
He chose to stay on Sodor to help those like him find a place in this strange purgatory of sorts before they can move on to the afterlife.
Another great example of death affecting appearance is Godred, whose whole left side is constantly fading into gold dust, due to his accident absolutely fucking it all up beyond repair, but it wasn't all cut off, which is why the gold dust still somewhat resembles a humanoid figure.
No one knows why he's still on Sodor, as he could've moved on a long, long time ago. But he's still among the living.
General trivia:
-Spirits and the living can and do interact, mainly Edward, Toby, Skarloey and Lady.
-Lady is quite literally god of this universe, responsibile for looking after the many spirits of the island and help them move on to the afterlife. She also has a say in who lives and who dies. Lady herself is immortal.
-Spirits are often found lingering around where they died, trying to get any passerby to help find their remains, hoping this could somehow help them come back to life. (This isn't possible in this AU as of september 16th, 2022, but I'm not completely sure yet. Stay tuned, just in case I change my mind!)
-If you paid attention to the artworks of Proteus and Godred, you might've noticed that their eyes are different! While Proteus' are pure gold, Godred's are black, both oozing gold dust, almost like tears.
This is because a spirit's eyes say a lot about the life they lived and their intent as a spirit.
Proteus lived a good life, even if it was a short one and now wants to do nothing but help others in a situation similar to his own.
Godred, on the other hand, didn't live the best life, to say the least. He was arrogant, boastful, egotistical and selfish. Nowadays, no one know what he exactly wants, but pretty safe to say that he's not on the island for the same reason as Proteus.
-How would suicide affect a spirit's appearance and eyes?
Suicide usually takes form in smaller scars, depending on how one took their own life. Their eyes still work the same way, being pure gold if they lived a good life, being a good person and have good intentions as a spirit, and they're black otherwise.
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Special thanks to @fabianvalencia561, @new-york-central-guy, @trainqueen379 and @ladychandraofthemoone for helping out with some of the concepts explained above! (Mainly the eyes)
#ella's rambles#ella's drawings#ella's aus#art#drawing#ttte#ttte au#ttte humanized#ttte proteus#ttte godred#rws godred#tw blo0d#tw death#tw murder#tw sui implied
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So it's finally time to talk about Megaman's first jump in 3D huh? :P
Talk about a mixed bag. Where do I begin?
Honestly, calling it “Mega Man” is very misleading: you could replace Rock with Link and nothing would change. There is absolutely nothing that connects this game with the main franchise except for the fact that the protagonist is a blue robot: you can’t choose which level you can beat first, there’s no rock-paper-scissors system, there's not even a villain until the very end. This is very much a Legend of Zelda tribute, with a little Metroid sprinkled in for good measure. Not a bad thing, but I can understand why this game took years until it became appreciated.
That being said, this game is utterly charming. I adore the graphics and the genius idea of leaving expressions and face movement to texture rather than create those ungodly abominations typical of the era. The anime style gives it an unique charm. I also enjoy the very dated voice acting :P it’s cheesy, but not unbearable like MM8′s or X4′s. Not much to say instead about the music, because there are very few tracks in this game and not all of them excel. I liked the theme of the Main Gate, the Sub City (that whole place was so cool), the final boss and especially the Bonne theme :P speaking of which, the story is fairly simple and nothing to write home about, but it’s the main characters that make it enjoyable: Rock Volnutt (no I’m not calling Megaman it sounds stupid) and Roll are both adorable, Telsei is delightfully hammy, and I perfectly understand why Tron got her own game :P or gets shipped with Rock
Well. The story is nothing to write home about until the end. Then an insane machine appears and rants about Carbons needing to be purged, and Data (who until now was just your checkpoint) is hinted to be much important than you'd ever think. Bold choice to dump your lore in the last 10 minutes of the game.
(random but I love Juno's design and serene personality, he's very... wrong and eerie)
The world is interesting to explore. I like the idea of the world covered by endless water, the setting is clearly dark and post apocalyptic already but the whole tone is fairly good hearted. The city has this Sonic Adventure-esque feel, with all the people you can talk to. I liked that at the end the game gives you the chance to say goodbye to everyone :) although I imagine it has more impact if you bothered with the sidequests lol. My favorite section was the Old City - going from this tone to this tone was jarring to say the least, the clear blue sky and bright houses replaced with factories and pollution and aggressive stray dogs, and while the area is supposed to be old, I got the feeling that it was poor and degraded.
The ruins in particular got a huge breakthrough once I got the Spring Jump. They open up, and that’s when you discover that they’re all interconnected, and it almost feels like going back to Metroid 1 or Metroid 2, the former because it’s so easy to get lost but also so easy to find rewards, and the latter because of the creepy ambience and I won’t lie, sometimes I saw a scary enemy and I noped the fuck out of there :P also you get the weapon that destroys walls in the endgame, meaning that this game introduced the Final Victory Lap™ 5 years before Metroid Fusion did
But holy fucking shit the controls ruined everything.
I genuinely can’t decide if this game has worse controls than X7. Obviously X7 as a PS2 game has zero excuses for feeling like a nightmare, and to be fair Megaman in Legends is pretty fast, even before getting the Spring Jump and Jet Skates. But the camera is unbearable - the ruins are fine since they’re mostly tight corridors and small rooms, but navigating in the main world is awkward due to having to constantly reorient yourself, the camera doesn't autoaim and if you do use the aim mission you can't move, when you get hit the camera flips for no reason, and most of all it makes stupid bosses a steeper challenge than they have any right to be.
Honestly, I dreaded every single boss. Who thought it was a good idea to make you chase aggressive machines, with a camera that you either have to slowly turn around or keep pressing Circle to reorient yourself? Who had the brilliant idea of that stupid boat battle, where you have to manually aim at both the torpedoes and the missiles and the ships in the air, spinning around like you’re drunk while Roll takes her sweet time to get to the destination? That stupid bitch boss of the second dungeon would be a piece of cake in any decent game, but here, oops it dived a little early and you can’t jump away in time because there’s the slightest teensy tiny delay and you have to jump to hit its only weap spot and the jump is as stiff as the rest of the controls, fuck you retry the entire sub gate again :) The only reason I beat Bruno was because the game was kind enough to give you a shield, i.e. the Gate entrance. Yeah okay this game is old, I get it, it was meant for controllers without an analog stick, this was the norm at the time and I understand, call me spoiled but it was an exercise in frustration I just wasn’t expecting!
The final boss was a whole experience and a half. I wrote this post 9 days ago, and it took me 3 days to beat the beast that is Juno. By the time I was finally done, my hands were shaking. The thing is, this boss would have been a great challenge in a good game, ngl dodging lasers was almost fun, but a fast hard hitting enemy combined with a camera that hurts just to be moved? Yeah. Pretty miserable.
Speaking of the bosses! This game really wants to have its cake and eat it too. I'm okay with a Metroidvania style of "once you die you're kicked back to the last save point". I also accept "if you get a game over you have to retry the whole level again". But both of them together? Why? Those sub gates can get quite long, if not in structure it's because plot happens and you can't skip it. You have to go through all the dialogue, collect all the necessary items, then you die in a couple of hits at the boss because you have no idea of its strategy, and welp time to do it all over again! I swear, adding Data before a boss or having a number of lives would have helped a lot. Well, Data appears right before Juno, at least - thanks. I was annoyed at ZX for the amount of backtracking you had to do if you game overed but this is way worse!
This game pissed me off. With X6 and X7, I kinda knew what I was getting into, they’re both pieces of trash with little redeeming qualities. But here, I can see a good game! It’s good, it's funny, there’s love and passion put into it! But for every fun cutscene and exploration, there’s am infuriating battle that is infuriating for all the wrong reasons, and I wanted to like this game but I couldn’t, I’m sorry, maybe it's because I’m too spoiled or too inept. I know that Legends 2 has better controls... but I really don't want to touch another Legends game for a while.
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One ship exposes everything wrong with TRoS
Heaven help me, I’m back on my bullshit.
Alright, so, I enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker when I watched it. I actually watched it twice, once on my own when I rushed to see it as soon as possible in order to beat spoilers, and once with my family, in what was a semi-annual new year tradition for us during those four years that a Star Wars film released.
But that doesn’t mean it was good. I enjoyed Transformers: Dark of the Moon the first time I watched it, and that movie’s still a steaming pile of shit. I was admittedly fifteen when I saw DotM, but still.
My point is that I’m fully capable of enjoying crappy films.
But there’s one thing, one thing about TRoS that exemplifies so many of the problems with TRoS as a whole, if not everything (And by that I mean with TRoS specifically, the woeful treatment of John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran is a Whole Trilogy Problem). And it’s a ship. Specifically this ship.
The Resistance Y-Wing. I hate this ship with the fiery passion of an exploding star, and to talk about why, we need to first go back to The Last Jedi and its conspicuous lack of Y-Wings.
One of the things that I disliked most about the Sequels before TRoS put all the other problems into stark light was the lack of new ships. Instead of new vehicles, we got shinier, sleeker versions of the ships from the original trilogy. And I disliked this because it’s the opposite of what the Prequels did.
Episodes I-III don’t feature more primitive versions of the X-Wing and TIE Fighter, but instead have similar vehicles that evoke the classics while still having an identity of their own.
The ARC-170 looks kinda like an X-Wing, but it’s bigger and has more weapons and crew, and you get why the well-funded Republic can afford things like this while the scrappy Rebels can’t.
The Eta-2 is a predecessor to the TIE Fighter, but it being employed exclusively by Jedi makes a lot of sense, of course a precognitive wizard with superhuman reflexes can do well in a light, unshielded ship, while in the hands of the Empire’s military they’re just expendable swarm fighters.
But then in the Sequels, rather than evolve the ships into new forms, they just made new incarnations of the X-Wing, TIE Fighter, A-Wing, TIE Interceptor, B-Wing, and of course the Y-Wing.
Well, except for one movie: The Last Jedi.
At the outset of the film, we’re introduced to this ship.
This is the MG-100 StarFortress, AKA “That ship all the Star Wars Youtubers hate”. It’s designed to be a much heavier and bulkier version of the B-Wing Starfighter, and is even made by the same people.
From questions about how the bombs “fall” toward the Dreadnought (The answer is magnets) to claims that they’re completely useless because most of the ones in the film died so easily, these things have been put through the wringer by the fandom, and honestly they don’t deserve it? What destroyed the StarFortresses in the film wasn’t their own weaknesses, but them being deployed in too tight a formation. It was a tactical fuckup, not a problem with the ship’s design.
And given that the whole point of the battle over D’Qar is that Poe makes a tactical fuckup to kickstart his development into the new leader of the Resistance as a whole, adding another layer makes sense to me.
But we live in a post-CinemaSins world of media consumption, where every plot-point that isn’t spelled out with a flowchart and an audio commentary by the writers is actually a plothole.
We also live in an era where Star Wars fans pine for the days of the Legends canon where everything about new ships, species, and worlds was explained in background lore and books, and are angry that the new Canon is... doing exactly the same thing?
Seriously, how much exposition and lore dumping is actually present in any of the Star Wars films? Not a whole lot. And that applies to all three eras.
So the StarFortress’ appearance in the film and the lack of Y-Wings led to a bevy of armchair writers demanding to know why the Resistance weren’t using Y-Wings and why they were using those “Resistance Bombers” that are just ‘terrible’.
Answer? Because the Y-Wings sucked shit.
Seriously, go back to the Original Trilogy and try to keep track of the Y-Wings, and see what they actually do, and you’ll find that what they do is “Explode, mostly.”
We’re first introduced to the Y-Wings in A New Hope, and they’re supposed to be the ones performing the Trench Run while the X-Wings cover them, and to their credit, they try.
And then they all get blown up by Vader and his wingmen before they can even take a shot at the exhaust port. Well, except that one that appears with the rebel ships flying away from the Death Star.
Where the fuck were you when the X-Wings were doing the attack run?
The Y-Wings got absolutely wrecked.
Ancillary media would go on to explain that the Y-Wings were beat-up old vehicles that were no longer fit for purpose, but the Rebels had to use them anyway because they had basically no money. They’d stripped down the ships and removed a bunch of their more costly features just to make them viable, and the results of that were pretty clear.
Of course, the Y-Wings were still present in the later films. They don’t do anything in The Empire Strikes Back, but they play a role in Return of the Jedi.
Naturally, that role is mostly “Get blown up while the other ships do the important stuff”.
Despite supposedly being a fighter-bomber that was designed to do significant damage to capital ships, does the Y-Wing play a role in the destruction of the Executor? Does it fuck. Destroying the Imperial flagship’s deflector shields and the subsequent suicidal ram attack on the bridge are tasks that are both performed by the goddamn A-Wings. Y’know, the light interceptors?
The Y-Wings get shown up at their own job by the ships that are there to protect them from TIE Fighters.
Ancillary media again explains why they’re still there. While the Rebels have a newer, better fighter-bomber in the B-Wing, the B-Wing is expensive as fuck and also really difficult to fly.
A non-centreline cockpit that rotates will do that to a ship.
Still, the B-Wing was a better bomber than the Y-Wing ever was (And the StarFortress was better than them both at that role).
All this adds up to a simple fact: There were very good reasons why the Resistance weren’t using Y-Wings. And there were even reasonable reasons to choose the StarFortress compared to the B-Wing itself, given that the Resistance are still undermanned and under-funded, especially with the New Republic getting nuked midway through The Force Awakens. It being easier to fly and having more armaments would have made it a viable choice for the Resistance.
Buuuut oops, people didn’t like the StarFortress and we can’t make the Internet angry at us again! Better put the Y-Wings back in for Episode IX, and show them destroying a Xyston-class Destroyer, that’ll make them happy!
And sure, okay, giving the Resistance a fighter/bomber is probably a good idea. And they already have New X-Wings and New A-Wings, so where’s the harm in a New Y-Wing?
Alright, alright, sure. But why the fuck does it look like this?
If this is a new ship, why is it already stripped-down like the ones in the Original Trilogy? Why doesn’t it look like the actual brand-new Y-Wings we saw in The Clone Wars?
Now that’s more like it. Still visibly a Y-Wing, but with more of an identity of its own.
Seriously, “Literally the same ship but without its armour pulled off” has more of a unique identity than the crowd-pleasing New Y-Wing.
And that, in and of itself, is the essence of The Rise of Skywalker.
It’s blind, empty fanservice, rushing to include as much nostalgia-pandering as possible to try and get the fanbase back on-side after The Last Jedi didn’t do what the fanboys wanted it to do.
This is a whole near- three hour movie whose only message is “Yes, Youtubers making TFA critiques longer than an entire season of TCW, we hear you, we’ll make it for you, please love us!”
And, almost entirely predictably, it was shite.
It was riddled with plotholes and none of the scenes had any time to breathe because the movie was too desperately trying to rush itself to the next crowd-pleasing scene in a desperate attempt to wank off as many disgruntled fanboys as it possibly could.
Luke with his green saber! Jedi Leia! Chewie gets a medal! Lando! Luke raises his X-Wing out of the water! The main villain is a testicle in a bathrobe again! Snork origin! Original-flavour Star Destroyers! Rose doesn’t exist! Rey had a super-special secret magical bloodline the whole time and Luke and Leia totally knew even though Luke has literally no idea who she is in Episode VIII! Luke actually was just afraid of the bad guys in Episode VII, none of that self-imposed exile for his own mistakes nonsense! Y-Wings.
I mean fuck. Disagree with Luke’s portrayal in TLJ all you like, I certainly have my issues with it, but I lay those at the feet of JJ for making Luke’s absence into one of his fucking Mystery Boxes, and then deciding that, even though last time Luke sensed Leia and Han might be in danger, he abandoned his Jedi training, hopped in an X-Wing, and flew halfway across the galaxy to try and save them, he wouldn’t do shit when the First Order pointed a star-powered System-Killer 9000 at Leia, and Han got himself killed trying to redeem Kyle Ron. Like how in fuck was Rian supposed to explain Luke’s inaction in VII?
But regardless of the problems with that Luke portrayal, at least Mark Hamill gave it his all. Hell, it might be his best performance in the Star Wars franchise!
In TRoS, he shows up in a bad wig, waves a middle finger at TLJ, and ascends to his final form as a Lightsaber Delivery Boy, because apparently all you need to kill a Sith who literally clawed his way back from death is two lightsabers. Haunting Kyle Ron? Nope. Providing guidance as a ghost? Not really.
And y’know what the kicker is? It didn’t fucking work. Lucasfilm and Disney fucking gutted this trilogy, sliced out the integrity, surgically removed the soul of Episode IX in a desperate effort to make the Internet’s most unpleasable fanbase happy, and it didn’t work. They still hate it! Now they just concoct hour-long videos about how much they would’ve preferred to have the Trevorrow script (Which is admittedly much better, albeit still with it’s far share of giant flaws), which was probably thrown out because it wasn’t fanservicey enough!
The Rise of Skywalker is an awful film. It’s a loose collection of nostalgia-baiting moments, roughly stapled together around the skeleton of a plot that was never properly developed. It’s a Frankenstein’s Monster of a movie, but, and I say this with full offense, the Victor Frankenstein in this tragic story isn’t Lucasfilm or Disney or Kathleen Kennedy or Rian Johnson, or even JJ Abrams. It’s you, Star Wars Fandom. It is your monster.
#Star Wars#The Rise of Skywalker#Disney#Lucasfilm#Episode IX#Episode VIII#Episode VII#The Last Jedi#The Force Awakens#Y-Wing Starfighter#B-Wing Starfighter#MG-100 StarFortress
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youtube
I'm not sure if I should make this the finale post or not to be honest because I plan on playing some of the DLCs soon, so I'll make this a 'light' finale post because I'm sure I've said more than enough through my playthrough.
Morrowind genuinely surprised me. I heard all the oldguard TES fans saying it's way different and some claiming it was miles better.
Specifically I remember when Oblivion came out I heard from somewhere that Oblivion was just "dumbed down Morrowind" and kid me was like "What the heck are you talking about, Oblivion is the best game in the world (right now)???"
But man, they weren't wrong, but that's hardly what I'd point at in Morrowind in comparison.
Then again my memory of Oblivion is all rose tinted nostalgia and half memories.
What Morrowind is to me today is a fantastic fantasy game with some really interesting lore, a villain I love, a world that feels alien, troubled, imperfect and intriguing, and a gameplay cycle that felt really satisfying to me from the very start to roughly level 20 or so.
I REALLY like how pitiful and overwhelmed I felt at the start of this game- it felt fucking awesome to me and I know for some that's a weird statement and others it's the most obvious thing in the world but man is it true.
Level 1 in Morrowind as a newbie who doesn't know up from down is like waking up in the woods naked with the sound of hungry wolves all around you.
It's brutal, and exciting- every little victory- a potion, a new dagger, a new piece of armor- feels like the world to you.
I LOVED the early game in Morrowind, more than I ever liked it in Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout NV, Skyrim, or Fallout 4 (yeah I'm looping the bethesda engine NV in).
Because I constantly felt like I was punching up at a behemoth but I was getting away with it from time to time until I started to feel more on par with the behemoth, and eventually I overcame and hit end game and really became the behemoth and that was fun in its own right.
But I've been "mega end game god" in like 900 dang games at this point, it's always fun! And feeling like I earned it (like here) makes it feel better! But the journey often beats it and Morrowind's journey was so fun to me.
But yeah, beat the main quest. I did a lot in this game, and barely scratched the surface.
Beating it immediately made me think of how fun it would be to challenge myself to beat it- or another objective- right from the start without dumping hundreds of hours into leveling because that early game is a treat.
About the only things I didn't fully love were most of the quest designs showing their age.
Nothing super egregious, but there really was a lot of extremely simple "fetch thing" "Kill thing" "Walk to place" quests that didn't hold additional story value to make up for it.
Not to say simple is bad, but to say having a LOT of my playtime being killing various creatures for no real story reason beyond being asked to makes some actions feel pointless and like busy-work.
There were also quests that DID tie story in, which was really nice to see- things like inter-guild relations becoming a thing for some quests, or some quests having consequences further down the quest chain depending on how you completed it, and of course (as implied) some quests having multiple solutions with some of those solutions being interesting in how you find out about them.
I mean I think it's really neat how the fighter's guild has like 4 quest givers and if you blindly follow them you'll be doing all kinds of questionable stuff with questionable end goals, but if you talk to each of them you'll find that one of them is much more trustworthy and honorable than the rest, and it becomes a common loop to be sent on a quest for the FG and swing by him to ask if the quest sounds legit- AND MANY AREN'T! AND HE OFFERS ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS! THAT'S COOL AND LET'S YOU MAKE THE MISTAKE OF BEING TOO LOYAL AND FORGETTING YOUR MORALS BECAUSE YOU ARE "JUST PLAYING A GAME" BUT REWARDS YOU FOR QUESTIONING THAT LOYALTY AND SEEKING ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS! THAT'S AWESOME! Though the solution almost always being "just talk to the good guy before you do the quest" was slightly lacking, but such a cool idea.
But there wasn't a ton of this, but there also wasn't not a lot of this- it was an idea they clearly considered playing with and did when they could- I just wish there were both more and that it was used more on the menial tasks you're asked to do as well. I'm a sucker for multiple solutions is all, and consequences appearing later and altering how events play out or quests line up is always cool and I think it only happens a couple times in some guild quests if I'm not mistaken-
But again, I didn't do much in the grand scheme of things lol.
A TON of time invested and still, a metric fuckton to do including 100% of both expansions lol.
So- Morrowind. I really like this game :)
I think it's my favorite TES game, though I might change my mind whenever I revisit TES4, but I can at least say it's my favorite early game BY FAR and PROBABLY my favorite TES game.
I wonder if I can get buff enough to kill Dagoth Ur with like potion abuse. I haven't looked into it, all I know about him (and I knew before this gameplay also, I was just attacking out of curiosity) is that phase 2 rapidly regens health at like 2 billion a second or something, so you have to one shot him if at all possible.
Also I knew that he was supposed to be weaker depending on how many ash vampires you killed, but that that wasn't properly implemented (and I don't think the morrowind code patch bothers fixing it?).
Anywho- great game. I've been playing a lot of good games lately now that I think of it. I mean most of this blog is me playing good games, but I feel like, and I could be mistaken, but I feel like there was a stint there where I was playing "complicated" games and "games I don't enjoy but want to see the merit of so I'm being a sourpuss while I play".
Now I feel like the last 10 dang games were strictly good and or great. Can't say that's a bad thing :)
If you haven't ever played Morrowind before but you're familiar with say Skyrim, I'd honestly say give it a look. A look first- because it's a thick game to begin and you might be able to discern it's not for you based off a look- but a look none the less.
It's Skyrim with more RPG nonsense going on and a more brutal "rags to riches" hero story for your protag. Might be up your alley as much as it ended up being up mine :)
So up next is EITHER an entirely different game with some ocassional Morrowind posts as I touch on the expansions, or more direct Morrowind content as I emphasize the expansions until I finish them, but I'm leaning towards the former.
I think beating the main quest has earned Vaksten the Idiot a short break.
#RetPlays#Morrowind#TES#The Elder Scrolls#Also maybe I should make a new character for the expansions so I'm not OP but I dunno#might just crank the difficulty to max instead of leaving it unaltered and say that's good enough :P#Youtube
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My Thoughts on Carry On
I usually only make posts like this for anime but I have some thoughts after reading the book. I’m aware there are other covers but this was the cover of the one I bought. So yeah...
I’ll be doing this the same way as I make the anime posts. No pictures though cause it’s a novel.
Story:
Simon Snow is the chosen one of the magical world according to the prophecy. This is his final year at Watford School of Magicks where he has to deal with the complicated things in his life: his girlfriend Agatha, his roommate and enemy Baz, and their enemy the Insidious Humdrum. On top of it all, he has to think of his future after Watford.
Characters:
Simon Snow - an orphan who was admitted to Watford School of Magicks as a child who is said to be the Chosen One and is now also the Mage’s Heir.
Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch - Also knowns as Baz. He’s Simon’s roommate and rival/enemy and the son of a powerful magical family. He’s also a secretly a vampire and Simon has been trying to prove this for a long time.
Penelope Bunce - A smart and capable magician and is Simon’s best friend. She takes studying seriously but would do anything when it comes to helping Simon.
Agatha Wellbelove - Simon’s girlfriend whose having doubts about the things going on in her life. She prefers the life of a Normal better and is starting to question her role in the events of the story.
The Mage - The school’s headmaster, an important figure in their world, and the closest to a parental figure Simon has. He was the one who found and brought Simon to Watford.
There are other characters but it feels like they’d be spoilers if I had to describe them.
Thoughts:
I liked it a lot. The book was fun to read although it felt kinda slow at the beginning before it started to get exciting (the murder mystery needed to be solved got me). The book is one of those that switches POVs and it was fun reading the thoughts of other characters and not just our protagonist’s.
Okay, so the story felt like a fanfic of a series that doesn’t exist and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I know people usually say that as an insult but as a fic reader and writer, I can’t do the same so I’m not saying it in a bad way. It just feels like the way the first couple of chapters were written the way canon divergent AUs are made - those fics that follow the events of canon but deviate one way or another. Their beginning is like how the beginning of this book is: lore dump for people who need to catch up on how we got to the events of the story, the “here’s what you missed!” stuff. Plus the focus on character’s thoughts and emotions on the things that happened and are happening in their lives reminds me of character-centric fics. I love it! It made me like the characters even more and care about them despite the main story being like, the finale of an entire series we barely got to know.
I know this story is sort of like supposed to be a “Harry Potter” parody for the book “Fangirl” (which I have read before) so that the MC of that could have a fandom to fangirl over which the audience could relate to but Carry On is more than just that now. It’s no longer a parody and is not a rip-off but it felt like the author’s own take on the “chosen one at magic school” story. If that’s confusing then I’d liken it to the modern isekai genre - many creators decided to make their own version using what the main components of such stories have and put their own spin on it. Like, I can somewhat pinpoint some story/character information that Carry On has in similar to HP but it’s not entirely the same. It was like a familiar mold but so many other different things were put in it that they are their own selves. It’s pretty cool, really.
The way their magic works seem simple and kinda weird at first but the explanation made it make sense in the story.
I like how the story progressed and even the ending but I was left with many questions that probably got answered in the sequel books. Still though, it would’ve been confusing had I read this before when those sequels didn’t exist. Like, I’m wondering if Simon would ever know the truth about his parents or what the heck happened to Nicodemus (he was important enough to get his own POV chapter and then he isn’t mentioned in the end) among other things. I’d have to get the sequels someday.
Spoiler Stuff and Random Whatevers:
Character Thoughts-
-> Some short ones: I liked Penny and how much she cares about her friends and that she’s also a rule-breaker if she wanted to be. Agatha was interesting as a character who is like this person stuck in a story they didn’t want to be in. I was happy for Agatha in the end.
-> I found Simon to be kind of annoying at first lol. Simon is kinda the opposite of Agatha (as he’s like the character who was placed into a story he thinks he needs to be in cause those around him made him feel like it’s all he’s got) but it can’t be helped. He had nothing and still questions his origins and then many of the things he does love which make him happy are at Watford.
He’s at Watford and the world of magic as a chosen one and the Mage who he respects and think of as an important adult in his life has expectations of him as the chosen one. It makes sense many of his actions and thoughts connect to this - being with Agatha and the happy ever after he wants after the chosen one duties are done because that’s how it goes, right? And there’s his obsession with defeating (or at least exposing) Baz cause he’s the hero and Baz the obviously antagonistic (to him) vampire is the enemy.
-> My favorite character in the book is Baz. I thought he’d be a brooding, arrogant, jerk but then his POV chapters came in and he’s actually a pretty fun guy (still a kind of a jerk though lol). I love his thoughts and commentary on the things that happened and are happening. He’s in love with Simon despite them being enemies so he wasn’t trying to hurt him really bad but if asked if he was, he’d say “Fuck yeah!” cause he still has a reputation and he does enjoy pissing off Simon lol. His entrance to school at the beginning made me laugh too - it was a waste of magic but he looked cool and that’s what’s important.
One of the other things I liked is that he wasn’t the one who didn’t know what their plan is. Usually in a fight between the protag and the enemy, the enemy is the one who has to think of what would be next after their plan succeeds. But here, Baz knows or at least have plans of what to do for the future and it’s Simon whose confused about what then after doing his chosen one duties.
He’s also like Simon, I guess. He believed in his own role in the story: he’s Simon’s enemy and one day they’re gonna be fighting seriously and one is probably gonna die (and he believed and held onto the idea that it would be himself who dies). But even still, like I said, it seems he’s got plans for what if that doesn’t happen which I think is nice.
-> The Mage is a complicated and confusing character to think about. He had points and good ideas but he strayed badly due to his ambition. It sucks cause many of his intentions definitely would benefit many and had given so many others a chance but the way he did everything is definitely not good.
I like the twist about him and Simon though. The story is still about the chosen one but the Mage created his own for it. So, I wonder: did the prophecy mean Simon and it knew the Mage would create the chosen or is there someone else out there but it’s just never found out who?
-> Ebb was an interesting character so it’s too bad there’s not much of her own POV. I wish it was shown what happened in between her being taken away and the final battle. I wonder how her brother is and what he did after her death?
-> Baz’s aunt Fiona is cool. Despite being his aunt, she seemed more like an older sibling to him in the story.
The Romance-
It was cute lol. Especially in the Baz POVs. Just, I wish their first kiss went differently. It would’ve been better if Baz was the one to kiss Simon first and not the other way around. Don’t get me wrong, it was still cute and I still squeed over it but the progress just bothered me, I guess?
Simon has been hung up on Agatha and what his feelings for her must be in almost the entire book so it felt weird that kissing Baz at all would even cross his mind. Especially since he has been and sort of still a bit suspecting Baz of being evil (and Baz doesn’t want to prove it otherwise). Meanwhile, Baz’s feeling for him had been revealed already and his thoughts on Simon are shown on his POVs. I wish Baz kissed Simon instead - he already thought it will be the end as he didn’t want to go on but he still wants to believe they were enemies. What better time to kiss Simon, right? He’d get his kiss and confuse Simon as he ends it all. It felt like it would’ve made more sense if Simon would think of Baz differently after this event and their relationship would slowly change after when Simon slowly accepts they could be something else other than enemies.
But like I said, I don’t hate what happened in canon. It just felt like it suddenly went there too fast.
Other Stuff-
I have read “Fangirl” before this one. I didn’t really like that book’s main story (sorry!) but I found myself enjoying the snippets of Simon Snow’s story in it. It’s why after I read Fangirl in 2019 (on March that year, too!), I’ve hunted for this book in the sale events I went to. I’m not rich and a lot of things are on the expensive side in the country I live in - a book in it’s regular price is the same price as at least two days worth of food for my big family. I can’t afford it at it’s normal price so I had to find a discounted one and it was difficult.
Frustratingly enough, it seems the same event that sold the copy of Fangirl that I have also had Carry On and I just didn’t find it. I actually didn’t find my copy of Fangirl either and someone I saw who had it in their cart gave me theirs after I asked where the stock was. I decided to look online at secondhand sellers and everyone is still selling it at a price I can’t afford (it’s popular so they won’t just sell it for a low price). It was only a few months ago when I finally found someone online selling it at an affordable price. I was lucky to get it before someone else did. The same store was selling a copy of “Eleanor &Park” which I also want a copy of but couldn’t buy yet. I thought I’d buy it next time but it got sold out the same time I bought Carry On lol. I read E&P already so I let it slide - it was borrowed from a relative who no longer has it. I want my own copy cause I wanna reread it plus is sort of one of the reasons I became a bookworm in the first place so it’s important to me.
Anyways, it was worth it looking for this and not giving up on getting it. This is a really fun book I know I’d reread again someday. Now I guess I’ll look for the sequels. They’re only a few years old so it’d be a miracle if anyone sold them for cheap.
*sigh* The sad thing about novels are they usually don’t have any character photos though. I know there’s descriptions on the story itself but I have trouble imagining outfits especially school uniforms (I’m not really into fashion either so I don’t know exactly what some of the outfits were supposed to be). The two main characters do have official photos from the other book covers but they don’t seem to be wearing their uniforms though and the manga version of Fangirl (which I found out exist yesterday) apparently didn’t have their canon outfits/appearance from what I understood from the interview with the author. There’s also no official photo of the other characters as well. I wanna draw fanart but I can’t if I don’t have a reference. :P
Anyone know if the author released any reference photos or something?
----
This was hard to write. I’m not used to writing my thoughts on books (at least, not this long. I write shorter than this thoughts on goodreads). Well, that’s one book on my ‘want-to-read’ list crossed out. I also do the book challenge on goodreads and this is like, the 6th book out of the 10 I’m planning to read for 2022. XD
Lastly, in the book Fangirl where Simon Snow is a popular novel, it’s sad that Simon/Baz is a popular ship (non-canon, I think) and I can’t really blame anyone: they’re rivals/enemies which makes things interesting plus they’re roommates. lol
Well, that’s all I guess. This was long but I’ve written longer (the ToA one is longer than this, I think). It was fun and if anyone had read this far, thanks and I hope that had been an okay way to kill time.
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of mice and artblock
So, midterms happened and I abandoned this blog for a while. But now I’m back, and I come bearing mice.
*
I’ve been really struggling with finding subjects I like to draw. I’m happy to work on skeleton studies until Judgment Day to better understand anatomy, but I know I need to balance “homework” art with “for fun” art, or else risk losing motivation for learning to draw -- and I’m so used to writing fiction at this point that no subject really appeals to me artistically unless it’s got 5,000+ words of story attached (or at least some narrative/character ideas, yanno -- something for my brain to pick at). The obvious solution is to draw concept art and characters from my written stories, but I feel really intimidated by that because I’m such a beginner artist that nothing I create now will do justice to the vision I have in my head.
I need art OCs and concepts – things that I will only draw art of, and have never written a story about. Stuff that doesn’t have to match a previously established, written story, and that I can change as I learn more and my skills improve.
I ended up drawing a bunch of mice.
This was initially just a whim. Human anatomy requires a lot of skill to pull off, especially faces and hands, but mice felt more beginner-friendly to me. Admittedly, I was going for a more cartoony style as opposed to photorealism, so if you’re looking at this from a realism perspective then these are pretty poor mice. However, I don’t feel ashamed of them, which I am taking as a good sign.
I kept drawing one mouse over and over. I ended up calling him Leo just because it was funny – “leo” refers to lions, but here Leo is just a little mouse. But of course, giving him a name (and a gender, incidentally) is the start of a story. Via a flight of fancy, I got it into my head that I wanted to do a painting of Leo trying to catch a big snowflake. I made some thumbnails of what I wanted the scene to look like, and then cut out a roughly 7 inch x 7 inch piece of watercolor paper from a big sheet that I had under my bed, sketched the scene in pencil, and then finished with watercolor pencils (and a white gel pen for the snowflakes). The process probably took 2.5 to 3 hours.
So, now the lore is that Leo is a mouse living in a little house in an old tree at the edge of the woods, and he wears a red scarf. I did not like this painting. It seemed over-saturated and the colors didn’t quite work the way I wanted them to. I ended up watching a tutorial on color theory, and decided to redo the painting using my newfound knowledge of color schemes. I used this color palette tool to get an idea of what kinds of colors would look good together, and settled on a complementary scheme with bluish green and brownish red.
And then, everything went wrong.
I tried to redo the painting, still working traditionally. I rushed the sketch because I was so eager to get right into working with color. This time, to avoid over-saturation, I used watercolors out of a pan rather than in pencil form. Mixing the colors in the lid of the pan took a really long time because I was so picky about shades, and because I continued rushing I didn’t allow the layers enough time to dry. Leo’s scarf (now green instead of red) bled into his russet fur, and the mailbox was the wrong shape, and I tried to erase a pencil line and created a dark blotch over an area that was supposed to be white with snow – and then I gave up.
I had downloaded Krita, a piece of digital drawing/painting software, a while ago, but hadn’t had any success using it because my desk isn’t big enough to accommodate both a laptop and my small tablet. Using my lap to hold the tablet was an exercise in frustration, and I knew so little about how digital art works that I just felt really overwhelmed and lost whenever I opened the program.
However, Krita (like most digital art software) has an undo button that I find very alluring, so I decided to try it again, now on a shiny new desk from Ikea that is actually big enough to support tablet and laptop together. I think just the space on the desk really made all the difference, but also I was determined to get this artwork of a mouse to a place where I felt satisfied with it.
I spent a solid 5 hours working on what ended up being a very simple colored drawing of a mouse catching a snowflake outside his little house. I barely blended anything at all, and there’s no light source that required me to shade anything – it’s just flat color. However, I really like these colors, and I think I did well (for an absolute beginner). I want to go back and add textures/shading to give an impression of depth, but I'm not sure how.
Leo – like all of my figures – feels really stiff, so I also want to work on gestures/studies of mice doing things. And, thanks to the popularity of mice as lab animals and pets, there are way more reference photos of mice than I expected! Most refs depict the house mouse, Mus musculus, but I did find the work of a wildlife photographer named Dean Mason who spent 15 years photographing harvest mice (micromys minutus).
Unfortunately, all of the prior artwork in this post I had drawn almost purely from imagination, and I think it shows. I studied two mice from photos in pencil, then erased the lines until they were barely visible and tried to do the fur texture in ink (with a dip pen, so there is some unevenness when the pen was extra inky).
Left is my first attempt doing the fur texture. I was more cautious with layering pen strokes, so you can see the lines of strokes fairly evenly. Right is my 2nd attempt, where I was bolder with the pen. I like these mice more than the one I created in the digital painting; these ones (especially the right) feel more Beatrix Potter-ish, which is a vibe I like.
Do I want to go back and fix the anatomy in my digital art of Leo? Yes. I also want to take another stab at doing this piece traditionally, but this time, I'd go monochrome and try to do everything in brown. However, part of me is exhausted from drawing ten million snowflakes and does not want to relive that experience with a gel pen -- I've already done it once with a tablet pen, and that was enough.
I have a hazy, far-off goal of creating a comic of Leo having adventures with another mousy friend, but that’s so far in the future that it’s not worth spending time considering right now. In the nearer future, however, Leo’s friend might become a reality – I know he’s an albino mouse (name TBD) who either escaped from a drug-testing facility (I loved The Secret of NIMH movie as a kid) or else is a pet who was dumped into the wild by a human owner who no longer wanted him. Leo is outgoing and adventurous, and this friend is shy and cautious.
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Felassan/f!Lavellan: Ancient History, Part II
Chapter 25 of The Love That Grows From Violence (post-Trespasser Felassan x Tamaris Lavellan) is up!
In which there is more lore dumping and hopefully no huge glaring holes, kjghkg. Part I of the lore dump is here.
It’s a long one (>9300 words), so only the first little bit will be here. Formatting on Tumblr just takes soOoOoO long you guys. Read the whole thing on AO3.
***************
There was a brief stunned silence, which Tamaris eventually broke. “It didn’t work, though,” she said. “Putting their dragons in the deep roads to keep the Blight in was pointless. If Ghilan’nain already had a piece of red lyrium from fucking Andruil—”
Felassan cut in. “The Evanuris didn’t know it was futile. They didn’t understand the nature of the corruption that red lyrium would bring.”
“But we know that now,” she argued. “We know now how red lyrium spreads. And by ‘we’, I mean the whole Inquisition, including Solas. We know red lyrium can be grown like fucking plants in a garden, so why the fuck was he so mad about the Wardens wanting to kill the archdemons if all the archdemons do is lead the Blights?”
No one replied for a moment, and Tamaris realized with a jolt that she’d been yelling.
Then Felassan laughed.
Tamaris’s belly twisted with guilt. His laughter sounded so weary. Here he was, trying to lay out thousands of years of ancient history for them, and how did she repay him? By yelling at him.
He rubbed his face tiredly, and Tamaris sighed and leaned into his side. “I’m sorry, Felassan,” she said quietly. “I’m not mad at you, I’m just…” She waved impatiently at herself. “I’m being a bitch. I’m sorry.”
“You’re not being a bitch,” he said. “You’re frustrated. There is a difference.”
“Yeah, there is, and I’m definitely being a bitch,” she retorted.
He lifted his head from his hand and smiled at her. “You are a master of charmingly crass apologies.”
She smiled faintly in return and laced her fingers with his. “Fuck off.”
He laughed again, and it sounded more genuine this time. “All right. Maybe Varric can summarize what I’ve shared so far.”
Varric nodded. “Ghilan’nain’s crazy gets rewarded by making her an Elvhen god. Meanwhile, Andruil found some red lyrium, probably from the Titan’s heart, and brought it to Ghilan’nain as a present. Chuckles finds out too late about the red lyrium and warns Mythal, who goes looking for proof and comes back with some well-warranted worries, and she gets all her god buddies to donate their dragons to guarding the Titan’s heart, since that’s where the Blight comes from.” He lifted an eyebrow at Felassan. “Or so you think.”
“A fine summary,” Felassan said. “You have my thanks.”
Varric scoffed at his faux formality, and Dorian sighed. “Well, if you think the Blight came from a Titan’s heart, I suppose it’s a good thing that the Titan we saw with Valta has mysteriously sealed itself off since our visit, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Tamaris said grimly.
Varric scratched his chin. “But I don’t get it. How can the Titan heart be the source of the Blight? It didn’t have the Blight when the elves first found it, did it?”
“Not to my understanding, no,” Felassan said.
“Then how could it be the source of the Blight?”
Felassan rubbed his mouth before replying. “I’m honestly not sure. But I do have a theory, if you’d like to hear it.”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Varric said wryly.
Felassan gave him a faint smile. “The theory concerns the nature of magic. Or I should say magics, plural.” He looked at Tamaris. “Tamaris, Dorian: you both know the feeling of magic – the hum of power that you can feel in your body and your blood when you draw from the Fade.”
“Yes, of course,” Dorian said.
Felassan nodded. “Magic drawn from the Fade has a certain… a certain vibration, for lack of a better word. Or a pattern of vibration that is unique to the Fade.” To Varric he said, “You could even call it a song, if you were being fanciful. Magic of a dwarven nature — that is, that’s tied to lyrium — vibrates, or sings, in a different manner that is difficult for non-dwarves to control. I’ve spoken of this to Tamaris already, but when Templars ingest lyrium, they are forcing themselves to perceive this song that was never meant for them. It gives them powers, but it changes the way their minds and bodies work.”
Varric’s eyes widened. “That’s what makes them addicts.”
“Yes,” Felassan said.
“But if that’s the case,” Dorian asked, “why are mages able to use lyrium? How does lyrium enhance our abilities without making us ill if it sings in a different frequency than our magic?”
Felassan pulled a little face. “I’m not entirely sure. But I think it’s possible that lyrium-based magic and Fade magic can, um… damned common tongue.” He muttered to himself in Elvhen for a moment. “They might… resonate?” he said. Then he frowned. “Is that the word I’m looking for? Ah, I’ll have to use it for lack of anything better. I think these forms of magic are able to resonate if the lyrium is tamped down by being in a diluted form. If it’s diluted, the two forms of magic can sing in harmony to make an even stronger song.”
“Hm,” Dorian said thoughtfully. “A plausible theory. I’ll have to think on it, but I like it at first glance.”
“I’m thrilled to please you,” Felassan said with a smirk. He released Tamaris’s hand and leaned back casually on the couch. “Now, we know that lyrium is actually the blood of Titans, and that Titan hearts are a source of enormous power. Tell me something, all of you: did you hear a pulse from the Titan’s heart? Was there an actual heartbeat?”
“Absolutely,” Dorian said.
“Yeah,” Varric agreed. “It was slow, but really obvious.”
Felassan nodded in satisfaction. “That’s what I thought. I’ve never seen a Titan’s heart, you see. But I’m fairly certain that the song of lyrium is generated by the Titan’s heart. And…” He chuckled and rubbed his chin. “May the Dread Wolf never catch my scent. He’d surely gut me for telling you this. Especially since it’s just my suspicion and I could be wrong.” He smiled at them again, but his smile held a hint of a grimace. “Let’s be sure to keep this among the four of us, shall we?”
“Certainly,” Dorian said.
“No problem, Jester,” Varric said, and Tamaris nodded her agreement.
Felassan exhaled slowly and rubbed his mouth. “I would hypothesize that what you call the Blight is actually a corrupted vibration pattern or ‘song’ caused by a damaged Titan heart.” He looked at Varric. “That’s why I thought it interesting that Valta called herself ‘pure’ once she connected with the Titan — an undamaged Titan, I should say. The lyrium from the damaged Titan became impure and corrupted.”
Varric frowned. “But why would a damaged heart mean that the song makes people turn into crazy fanatics? Why does it make them so much sicker than regular lyrium ever could?”
“Now, this might sound like even more of a stretch,” Felassan said, “but I wonder if it might have something to do with the Titans having feelings. You know, seeing as they’re alive.”
Tamaris’s gut jolted. How had she not thought of that? “Oh. Fuck,” she said blankly. “Yeah, I suppose if a parade of strangers came out of nowhere and experimented on your people and started tearing out pieces of your heart, you’d be pretty pissed.”
“Stands to reason, doesn’t it?” Felassan said drolly. “And as we all know, rage can be a corrosive, noxious thing. The Titans feel rage, their rage changes the song, the song makes people into the worst versions of themselves...” He shrugged. “But that’s all conjecture.”
“It’s extremely well-considered conjecture,” Dorian said.
“Thank you,” Felassan said brightly. “I have had a little bit of time to think about it. Just a couple thousand years, you know.”
Tamaris sighed. “Fuck. All right. Well… well, all right. This tells us what the Blight is, then.”
“What the Blight possibly is,” Felassan corrected. “It’s all just hypothesizing.”
She nodded, then shot him a little frown. “Why did you say Solas would gut you for telling us this?”
“I suspect he wanted to keep the so-called ‘root of all evil’ away from you,” Felassan replied. “And I meant you specifically, avise.”
She blinked. “What? Why me?”
“Because he loved you,” Felassan said.
She frowned. “So?”
He gave her a chiding look. “He watched red lyrium corrupt Ghilan’nain, who was once one of his dearest friends. He watched it ruin our entire empire. Can you really not see why he would want to hide the knowledge of its source from the woman he loved?”
“That’s a paltry excuse,” Tamaris retorted. “All that tells me is that he didn’t trust me not to misuse the information.” She wrinkled her nose at him. “How are you defending him about this? You’re the one sitting here telling me all of this information!”
“I am, yes,” Felassan said. “But remember, avise: I am explaining him, not defending him. As for why I am telling you, the reason is simple.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “I am not Solas.”
Her heart squeezed at the seriousness of his expression. She understood what Felassan meant in the context of this conversation: that unlike Solas, he trusted her with this information. But this was not the only way that he and Solas were different.
Where Solas had been a fluctuant wave of hot and cold, Felassan was a constant wash of warmth. Felassan was certainty and humour and openness, and Tamaris did not need the reminder of how different he was from the Solas she had once thought she loved.
“I know you’re not Solas,” she said quietly. She squeezed his knee. “I know, Felassan.”
His expression softened. Then Varric cleared his throat. “So, uh… so we think we know what the Blight is, and the dragons were probably there to keep it in check. What happened next?”
Felassan looked away from Tamaris and smiled at Varric. “Unfortunately, this is when things started to go downhill for our poor Rebel Wolf. For indeed, this is about the time when he started being called by that infamous moniker.”
CLIFFHANGER, SORRY. Read the rest on AO3!
#felassan#save felassan#felassan romance#felassan/lavellan#felassan x lavellan#the love that grows from violence#pikapeppa writes
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I've noticed you really like your lore for MC/TC. Can I ask then, what's the timeline of events? I know when they were created, but like a short timeline, starting when how the world was made to present day, if that makes sense. Thanks!
Ohhh I haven’t thought about @crystalfloe ‘s and my Canon Minecraft Lore in a while, it’s been touched up quite a bit since my last lore post.... I’ll be basically rewriting it as I go !!TL;DR: Sage makes Steve who turns into Herobrine, Sage and his Devs make True/SSundee/Lox/Seto, Herobrine makes Bajan/Husky, Sage makes Jerome to kill Bajan, and Steve/Sage simoultaneously fuck up and make Sky as an overpowered child and nerf him together.-Long ago, the world was a seething mass of untamed code. Some of this code pulled itself together into sentience: an entity named Sage.-Sage began manipulating the code for the first time. He was the first Player to access creative mode. He created:A dimension (grass, stone)Simple mobs (pigs, cows)
-Sage wanted to share his creative-mode capabilities, and so made slightly more advanced mobs. Endermen were simple creatures, capable of basic neutrality and hostility, and could interact with the world by moving one block at a time.-Sage realized that these were not the Players he was trying to make, so he set out to make an actual Creative Mode Player.-Sage made Steve, who lived in the single dimension and was capable of building great things.-Steve wanted to create new mobs, much like Sage did. He created:Creeper (aw man)SpidersThe Ender Dragon-The Ender Dragon destroyed the single-dimension world, leaving it barren, broken into pieces, and yellowed out (the End).-Sage managed to trap the Dragon on a single island. Sage then banished Steve to a second dimension (the Overworld, which had a bedrock layer below it, separating it from the End), and made a new gamemode for him: Survival Mode.-Steve wanted to right his wrongs, and so began searching for a way to get back to the End.-Sage didn’t want Steve back, so continued implementing coding changes:Monsters (creepers, spiders) would appear at night to hunt Steve and hinder his progressZombies and Skeletons, that were only just Steve’s former bodies, to continue to push his progress farther back-Sage attempted to remove Steve’s coding from the game entirely when he got too close-Eventually, Steve was “deleted,” more or less-No he wasn’t. He was a “ghost” of code, able to still grasp some of his prior Creative Mode abilities; to prevent Sage from finding him, he made the third dimension, the Nether (between the Overworld and the End, covered on both sides by bedrock), where Sage would be unable to find him-Sage tried to make two Creative-Mode Players again: the Devs. He created Jeb and Dinnerbone.-The three of them began populating the Overworld, realizing the End was almost unsalvagable. (This is the point where our canons and AUs start splintering, so it might get a little messy)-Sage made TrueMU first. This was the start of most Players being Survival-Mode only: he had no Creative-Mode abilities. -True was more or less on Sage’s side for a while, until, after a series of deaths/respawns, he realized how little Sage cared. True left at this point to escape to the Farlands (an area of the Overworld the Devs hadn’t yet tamed).-A long period of time passed, during which many other Players were created. (for those Yogs fans, Xephos was made very early, and was a pseudo-dev, until he also ran away from Sage to go do strange experiments on his own).-Jeb made SSundee during this time (traumatic backstory tbd)-Dinnerbone started creating more hostile mobs to provide extra challenge to the Players. Jeb started creating more passive mobs to populate the world and make it more interesting for the Players.-Signs of Steve started appearing again, as a half-glitched ghost. To prevent people from siding with Steve, Sage created Villagers. Villagers firmly believe Sage is true and correct all the time, and spread this ‘doctrine.’ They also tell the tale of a murderous entity known only as Herobrine (a name Steve would later whole-heartedly adopt).-Villagers have no hands, so they can’t build or create and potentially turn against Sage. Instead, their arms are conjoined in front of them.
-Some Villagers don’t believe Sage is the best, and break away from society to either form patrols or live in large, communal mansions. These Illagers practice things normally Villagers aren’t supposed to; many of them break their arms into two separate pieces. They hold weapons, build mansions/monuments, and practice magic.-A Player named Seto, originally made by Jeb, somehow found himself subsumed into Illager culture. He was raised in a Woodland Mansion and learned various magic from an Evoker.-Herobrine saw all these players being created. He knew he couldn’t enter the Overworld without being hunted, so he decided to make a Player of his own: Bajan.*Note: Herobrine has made other Players besides Bajan (notably Hypixel and Honeydew)*Double Note: in almost every other set of Lore we have, Bajan was either made or adopted by Xephos (I have no idea why)-Bajan was designed to master combat and, ultimately, defeat the Ender Dragon. His dogtags read HB002, marking him as Herobrine’s second creation. -However, Sage discovered Bajan, and wiped his memories/mission statement to prevent him from reaching the End.-Sage created a “monstrous” Player to hunt Bajan down and prevent him from respawning: Jerome-Naturally, this failed spectacularly, and though they were designed to destroy one another, they’re now best friends. Due to their combatative natures, they enter tournaments like the Survival Games often.-Realizing this approach was flawed, Herobrine took a different approach. The Stronghold he had been building, with a half-finished portal to the End, was underwater. So HB created a Player who could guide people to the Stronghold: Husky. He wasn’t extraordinarily combatative, but it was his job to find Players who could be and bring them to the Stronghold.-Sage did not like this, so had Dinnerbone create the Guardians to deter players from deep-sea exploration.-Herobrine wanted to try something new: he wanted to make his own Dev.*Note: it’s been discussed (but not solidified) that “bad end” Yogscast members, like Israphel/Lalna, are HB’s Devs, created later.-Sage was also developing a new Dev at this time.-Herobrine waited until Sage wasn’t paying attention (all players must be created at the Overworld Spawn to prevent complications), and began interfering with the code.-Sage and Herobrine fought for a while over this new Dev. However, when fully-formed, this Dev went on an uncontrollable creative-mode rampage.-Sage and HB teamed up for the first and only time to stop this Dev. They gave him an amulet (made of endstone and blaze rod) to suppress his powers, and created the Hardcore gamemode just for him. They wiped his memory (they knew what happened if you tried to delete a Dev, as evidenced by Herobrine) and dumped the newly-named Sky in a village.*Note: in at least one AU, Sage made Alex, who was then “used” by HB. After a series of corruptions, Alex’s code was repurposed and turned into Sky ala reincarnation.*fun fact: Sky is the only Player who cannot access his inventory. he’s gotta carry everything with him. always-Around this time, Dinnerbone created Lox (traumatic backstory TBD).-The “Plot” begins when Sky’s amulet becomes separated from his body, and he inadvertently teleports himself and Lox out to the Farlands. They are immediately interrogated by True.-True, knowing how Sky works, decides to initiate the Quest (which he won’t tell them too much about). This Quest has them meeting the various other members of the Team, becoming closer, and just bein real good pals.-No we don’t know how it goes or how it ends-sometimes they kill the Ender Dragon and Sky just resets the entire world with his Dev powers because Sage has gone nuts? -we really genuinely have no idea and we wrote it
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Checkout our new post over at https://lichlair.com/daily-monster-28-glabrezu
Daily Monster #28: Glabrezu
Only a couple of days before the holidays! What better way to get warm this cold winter than to talk about some demons? Time to grab some hot chocolate and huddle under your blanket as we discuss…
Glabrezu
The basics
Is it just me or do we usually end up discussing monsters that are either extremely overpowered or strongly underpowered? Today’s monster definitely falls into the first category at least by numbers alone. We’re talking about a +5 to CON and STR, a +4 to INT, and matching +3s to WIS and CHAR. Glabrezu have exactly zero dump stats, with their lowest number going to their +2 DEX.
Not only do these creatures incredible constitution, but they are also resistant to Cold, Fire, Lightning, and the standard non-magical weapon attacks. On top of that, we also get immunity to poison, an AC of 17 and a very meaty pool of 15d10+75 hit points.
Glabrezu are considered large fiends of chaotic evil alignment. They have a lightly superior speed of 40ft as well as a range of 120ft of Truesight. They can communicate in Abyssal through their Telepathy up to a range of 120ft.
This monster has a few aces up his sleeve too, the first of them being that they have a magic resistance that gives them advantage on saves against magical effect. On a similar vein, Glabrezu also have access to a list of spells they are able to cast innately, including Darkness, Confusion, Fly, and Power Word Stun.
Your main attack action with this creature will probably be making use of its Multiattack, which can either be a Pincer-Fist-Fist combo or a Pincer-Pincer-Spell combination.
Glabrezu are CR 9 monsters.
The lore
These creatures come from the abyss and specialize in temptation. Their goal is to manipulate as many beings as possible into their control. Which is why they are very easily summoned by anyone seeking to make a deal with a demon. In fact, unlike may other creatures, they are likely to come willingly.
Through the various editions they have kept a few of their features, the two most important being their deeply intelligent purple eyes and their 2 sets of arms. Other than that they’re also described as having somewhat canine features and two protruding goat horns at the top of their heads. While initially portrayed as a small, fragile looking creature back in 2nd edition, the Glabrezu has certainly continued to hit the gym since then.
Despite their extremely menacing appearance, these demons tend to avoid combat whenever possible and prefer to use words, cunning, and manipulation as weapons instead. They are master manipulators who will make promises of wealth and power to anyone who will listen, which, considering their high mental stats, it’s a long list of people. They are incredibly good at unveiling other creatures’ true desires and often use this insight to for temptation. Glabrezu are well known to hold grudges against anyone foolish enough to cross them and can develop schemes that might last for generations as payback.
Although these monsters are still very powerful casters, it’s interesting to note that, in previous editions, they also had the ability to cast the Wish spell on behalf of mortal creatures once per month as long as the end result of the spell was of large evil proportions.
Glabrezu make fine advisors for corrupt kings, and evil wizards while in the Material Plane. Although they have many lower tier demons under their control, most of the time when they are found in the Abyss they tend to stay away from the battlefield and instead focus on the behind the scene schemes. If they are forced to battle however, it is likely that they will summon some of these lesser demons to deal with the problem instead.
Also? Glabrezu x Drow Priestesses? That’s a thing, apparently. Yeah… I’m going to need some bleach for that one. Definitely skipping that baby shower.
The execution
Let’s workshop some possible encounters so we can get that image out of our heads. First off, I want to say, Glabrezu patron? Sounds kind of cool if you ask me. No Warlock in your party? Fear not, we can always have them approach other party members. I’m sure at one time or another we have all experienced some trouble when trying to hook the players into adventures or at least giving them hints as to how to proceed next. Now here we have this creature whose whole shtick is offering the players whatever information they might need. The trick is, well, tricking them. Chances are that if this creature were to simply walk up to them at the tavern your party would slay them on the spot before it could finish ordering a drink. Luckily for us, Glabrezu are extremely smart and know exactly what they’re doing. Although they lack the ability to change their appearances (heck you could give them a magic item for it, I suppose) they do make a point of not directly contacting their victims until it’s already too late. Instead, they make full use of their Truesight and Telepathy to communicate this way instead.
But okay, having this demon contact the party just as they’re questioning their next move might be just a tad too deus ex machina. But what if we make it a more gradual thing? Perhaps one of the party members begins to hear voices in their head every night as they set up for camp. At first the voice is merely helpful, at least to a small extent, before it starts offering help in exchange for small and seemingly harmless favors that grow in magnitude until it’s too late to escape the Glabrezu’s grasp. After all, these creatures are known for their patience when it comes to their plans and schemes. It’s not unlikely that they would be willing to put in the necessary to fool a player character.
If that’s still not quite your cup of tea or you fear your players would never fall for it, consider the simple alternative of having this monster be the true mastermind behind some other trouble in the land. Remember that, because of their nature, the longer that a Glabrezu remains in the Material Plane, the more and more it corrupts the people around it.
When it comes to combat itself, I would definitely make use of this creature’s Summoner Variant to showcase the demon’s preference for controlling others. Have it summon a few lesser demons as it watches menacingly for a bit before joining combat. That said, do keep in mind that, despite having access to magic, a Glabrezu will most likely use their spells for utility and melee attacks for damage. Don’t be afraid to make good use of that superb constitution and long list of resistances!
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ZOOPHOBIA CHAPTERS RANKED BEST TO WORSE
Hey hey hey! (*jumps off counter* ImGaY)
So, quick update. I'm no longer doing votes as no one appears to care what I post anymore. Which is a shame. Honestly, you people have no idea what evil you have unleashed upon this world. I've also been busy, so while I work on bigger posts, have some totally not filler.
For today's....thing, I will be ranking the 5 zoophobia chapters from best to worst. HOWEVER, I will only be discussing the writing aspects of these chapters. Art isn't my forte. If you want an art critique, I'd recommend bugging @rzphhs
Feel free to disagree with what I say here. I'm not some omniscient god who is perfect at everything. This is simply what think are the best and worse zoophobia characters.
If you'd like to request me to do something else, go ahead.
And of course, let's get the usual disclaimer in there. Zoophobia is by this fandom's Lord and savior, Vivziepop. This post is not a critique of her current writing abilities since zoophobia is kinda old. I believe that when we analyze stories we love and find flaws within them, we can all learn something and improve our own writing abilities. I also don't do this because I hate Vivz. I love her work. This is not an attack on her what so ever, so any wannabe edgelords who think otherwise can get off my front lawn.
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THE BEST
CHAPTER 1.
Yeah, I legitimately think chapter 1 is the best. It's no surprise that this chapter was the one Vivz worked on the most. She had people read rough drafts and give her advice on how to make it better, something she stopped doing for the rest of the story. Cameron has a wonderful introduction.
I know I said I wouldn’t talk about visuals, but I love the contrast of the grey human world to the colourful safe haven. Having Kay cee lurk around, hidden in wide shots where's she's barely seen is great. She defiantly sells the creepy shady character shtick like nobody's business.
There were a lot of great character introductions in here two. You got a good sense of each character's personality. I also like a lot of the visuals here too. A lot of characters were introduced, yes, but each character got a few lines each so it didn't feel too over the top. You could argue as well that the amount of stuff being thrown at us was fitting since that would be how our audience surrogate is feeling.
I do think, however, that we should've gotten introductions to all of the main cast. Kayla doesn't say anything, neither does Penelope, and Taylor. .basically says nothing. Yeah, did you guys know Taylor and Penelope are apart of the main cast? That, and I feel that Cam should've just gotten an explanation about what safe haven is by Zech sooner.
Apart from that, I loved this chapter.
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SECOND BEST
CHAPTER 4.
Ok, let's address my main complaint about this chapter that is basically the elephant in the room. Ever hear of the "show don't tell" rule in writing? It's commonly known that it's better to show something as opposed to just having a couple characters talking about it. This chapter....well....it's wierd in this regard. It's not abhorrent, but this chapter is an exposition dump where we're both shown and told info about Jack. I feel as though some of these things, like the Zill and Jack as children section could've been just shown. We don't need Jack explaining everything to the audience. I also feel that this chapter should've been placed earlier since it has info on certain characters that would've been nice to know earlier, like the context of Zill and Kayla's relationship.
Apart from that, I liked this chapter. It had nice pacing, and there's not too much going on. We're not hopping from one thing to another (like another chapter ), we stay on topic, and this feels like a nice, easy read. Admittedly, I don't have much to say on this because. ....it's just a nice, simple chapter. It gives Jack some great character depth, and his character motif of wanting to be happy despite his curse. The ending is also nice and the entire chapter just feels.....peaceful.
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MEH
CHAPTER 5.
Okay, this one I’d put in the middle no matter what since it’s kinda hard to evaluate something that’s unfinished.
Much like the character who stars in this chapter, I'm split on this chapter. I don't hate it....but it's nothing to write home about either.
Let's start positive. Unlike the next chapter I'm talking about, this chapter stays on one central problem for the most part, and we don't randomly jump back and forth between Addi and Mackenzie doing completely separate things. Mackenzie's thing appears, but doesn't take center stage away from the central character. Autumn and Rusty's moment on the stairs feels a little random, but it's not completely distracting. The character interactions are fun too. I loved the interactions between Addi, Dame, and Sahara, and between Autumn and Rusty. Tom and Gustav were a little weird in this chapter, but they weren't the worst thing. Oh no, the worst thing.....
Was Addison.
I'm sorry @zoophobiapika , please have mercy. I will send you cute Addi pictures to make up for this.
But HOLY FUCK, was Addison annoying! I've ranted before on the problems I have with him (go see my least favorite character list to get the full rant), but to shorten it down, Addi makes a stupid decision when he blows off his friends and goes out with a stranger because. ...that makes sense, I think. He also attacks somebody, and no one appears to be worried for Mackenzie or worried about Addi's mental state.
Also, before someone says " oh he has PTSD",
I have PTSD as well. It's a minor case, and it's hardly as severe as some other cases, but it has affected my life and the people around me. I don't feel comfortable going into detail about it, but in times of stress, I'd hurt not only myself, but other people. I almost punched a guy once.
A reason, however, is not an excuse. I still hurt other people, and I had to make up for that. Just because you can explain why a problem is there doesn't make that problem go away.
I'm just going to leave it at that and move on.
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SECOND WORST
CHAPTER 3
......what? Did you think thst just because Dame is my favorite character I'd put his chapter higher in the ranking? Yeah, nope.
Now, fangirls, put down your pitchforks, this chapter doesn't suck.......but This chapter is weird.
You know how the other 3 three chapters I talked about stayed on topic? Whenever people tell me Zoophobia, plot wise, jumps around a lot, I think of this chapter. There's just too much going on. Instead of having this chapter solely be an introduction to Damian, one of the main cast who'll play an important role in the story, we get an exposition dump about how safe haven works and demon politics. Characters like Bozzwick are introduced only for them to do nothing, and this chapter feels like it's rushing, like Vivz just wants to get this chapter over with.
Damian's freak out feels rushed and out no where. Also, when he does his best Cuthulu impression, does he cast a spell that just makes everyone stand around and do nothing? No one's screaming, no one is trying to calm Dame down, nothing. And this place is apparently full of people. Yet no one does anything but just stand around and look surprised. This chapter just feels like it doesn't know what to do.
The first book was supposed to introduce us to the characters, and a following book was supposed to go more into the lore. Why not just have this chapter be like Jack's where all we get is a simple introduction to a character? The two or three plots also keep switching back and forth randomly and it feels disorganized. Cameron (as well as everyone else during Simon’s interrogation) had nothing to do with Dame’s situation. Seriously, just shove that scene to a later point in the story and nothing would change. Actually, here’s a fun game. Count how many characters you can take out with little to nothing changing.
This may be me putting on a tin foil hat here, but it’ like Vivz couldn’t figure out how to introduce Dame in a way that would ensure that the chapter would focus on him, so she just shoved a bunch of other shit in.
All in all, this chapter has way too much going on, and is all over the place. BUT, at least all the shit that happened in here was interesting and kind of contributed to the story, unlike....
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THE WORST
CHAPTER 2
*inhale*
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Fuck. This. Chapter.
Ok, first of all, this chapter didn’t need to exist. Skip over this chapter, and nothing would change....except maybe Simon being in chapter 3, but hey, that fucker didn’t need to be in chapter 3 either.
Second....let’s go through each character....in alphabetical order.
Cameron: Doesn’t develop, doesn’t do anything, she just goes around and does....things. She feels like a character that could be taken out with little to no consequences, which isn’t a great look for someone who we’re being introduced to the world of safe haven through.
Carrie: Feels like she could’ve not been introduced. I love Carrie, but when people say we were getting too many characters at once in this story, this chapter is a prime example of why. Jesus Vivz, introduce us to the main cast, THEN all the lovable and huggable side characters. Seriously, the entire Vengenza thing could’ve been moved to a later chapter.
Damian: Long story short, this little shit had to turn into a sociopath for the sake of plot. I like Damian, and he defiantly made this chapter entertaining for me, but I hate the fact that the story had to have him give Kayla and Zill a problem as opposed to the problem coming about from their own flaws. Also, I don’ t think I should’ve been rooting for him to win.
Fabian: See Carrie
Gustav: See Carrie.
Horris: See Carrie
Jack: I liked him, but was he seriously the only one who knew about the anniversary? We see that Sahara knows about it, so clearly Jack isn’t the only one who knows about it. And yet no one brings it up to Zill. Either Zill is the most oblivious fucker on the planet, or Dame somehow locked nearly everyone who knew about the anniversary in a locker. Those are the only explanations I can think of.
Jackie: Not terrible, but she kinda annoyed me. I’m not sure why though, so I won’t say too much on her.
Kayla: For some reason we follow this character even though she got no introduction, and we have no context to her relationship with Zill, and we learn almost nothing about he. Great. I don’t agree that Kayla is a mary sue, but this chapter makes me know why people see her that way.
Malcolm: See Carrie
Percy: See Carrie
Sahara: See Carrie
Simon: See Carrie
Spam: Despite being apart of the main cast, he does nothing. He doesn’t contribute anything, he’s just there for no reason.
Vanex: See Spam
Vagenza: See Carrie
Zech: He’s barely in this chapter, and he feels like a complete none presence. Why was he here?
Zill: Ohhh boy....Now we get to the meat of my issues with this chapter. Okay, despite this chapter revolving around him and Kayla, we learn almost nothing about Zill. What is his character motivation? Dunno. What is his personality outside just “he’s a good guy”? Dunno. The chapter revolves around a relationship we have no context of, and this chapter feels like a fucking soap opera. The problem doesn’ t come from a fault in Zill’s character. He needs Dame to give him a problem, which for me cements how boring of a character he is. And him getting back with Kayla isn’t something he causes to happen. A vampire shows up and Kayla just happens to have a change of heart. That’s it. He doesn’t. do. anything.
Finally, like with ch. 3, the topic of the chapter jumps around between Cameron and Zill’s “plots” with no cohesion and no connection. Overall this chapter sucks.
Thanks for reading, and tell me what your favorite or least favorite chapters are!
I apologize for wasting your time.
- ATOUN
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Spell jars and the like.
People assume that my interests lie in ceremonial magic only, however, I have an interest in folk magic and traditional witchcraft which is the original reason I joined tumblr- because the traditional witchcraft community was much larger on this platform.
I see lots of recipes for spell jars and other herbal or crystal mixtures which are supposed to bring about effects, but often these posts just list herbs and give no instructions. Now, I do believe these materials have a natural sympathetic link to certain energetic principles, and that they have a ‘power’ or force of their own, but that this force is weak and unpatterened.
I can pile basil into a lasagne, it doesn’t mean I’m going to manifest money through eating it, nor is anyone else. Why then do people assume that you can manifest things by dumping herbs in a jar and doing nothing else? That isn’t magic, that is laziness and stupidity. Unless of course you are storing the mixtures for further use or using the herb in a larger ritual at a later date. If not, then congratulations, instead of storing your basil in the cupboard, you now have it in a jar!
People then say, “But it’s all about intent.” That is bullshit. I don’t know where people have got the idea that magick is all about intent, intent plays a pivotal role, but so does imagination. Don’t get me wrong, the intent should be there, but that is just a small part of the magick- you can intend to ward off enemies by having a large dog, but the dog may have other ideas and merely want to lick them to death. The herbs may be placed in a jar with the intent for protection, but if you have not patterned them or programmed them to do so, they may just not do so.
Instead of going on about metaphysical theories and writing more arguments, something I despise doing, I will below tell you my personal operation in crafting spell jars etc. utilising natural physical items.
Step 1: Selecting Materials.
The first thing I do is write a list of the materials I need. I decide on a number of materials I want to use, it is normally 3, 7, or 11- I prefer odd numbers and those numbers have occult significance to me personally. Sometimes I will utilise numbers according to any planetary aspects I may be using for example, if I was crafting a jar to hold the energies of Jupiter I would make it with four ingredients because 4 is the number of Chesed on the Tree of Life.
I then turn to your normal resources for choosing materials- I use Scott Cunningham’s books and I also use Culpeper’s collection of Herbal lore- he was more interested in the medicinal side of things but there is mention to planetary energies, folklore, and I believe herbal medical uses can explain some of the folkloric use too. I also utilise Liber 777 when I am working with elemental, planetary, or zodiacal energies in the charging. Some people dislike Scott Cunningham, however, I find his works to be a great launchpad for your own individual study.
One important thing is not to use another’s associations blindly critically analyse why this herb is associated with each energy, what makes it so? Why is it a natural receptacle to emanate such effects? What is it’s histoical use, it’s scent, it’s medicinal use, it’s taste, where does it’s folk-name come from? These are all good questions to ask.
Step 2: Cleansing the materials.
I am a simple magician, I don’t like elaborate ritual scripts and the like, I think it takes away from the real magic. I simply hold my hands over the materials visualise white light coming down through the crown and down through the middle pillar. I then channel this energy through the hands into the herbs and say a prayer that these herbs be cleansed. I then draw a banishing pentagram over them in the same white light and it is done. Of course, if using fresh herbs or crystals which can be washed, you should wash them- that in itself can be turned into a magical cleansing act given a bit of visualisation, intent, and energy work.
Step 3: Unlocking the Materials.
The next step I take will seem odd to most ceremonial magicians, they seem to be obsessed with the idea of magic being elaborate form of psychology that they forget the animistic roots of magic. I speak to the herbs. I hold each item in my hand and I ask that it release and channel the energies accordingly to achieve my goal. I whisper to them and visualise the intention too, channeling the energy of the visualisation (i.e. the mental energy created from visualising_ into the material and I blow my own personal energy on to them so that there is a form of a magical link created between the materials and I. After this I place them into the container which they are to be housed in and I mix them- visualising my intent all the while.
Step 4: Consecration.
I am not going to share my consecration methods however I invoke some form of energy- be it a spirit I have a connection with, a God, a planetary energy etc. and I ask that they lay their hands over the jar and consecrate it for purpose x I then channel the energy of the invoked being or planetary energy again through the middle pillar and visualise once more my purpose. I also utilise ritual imagery to enhance my consecration such as appropriate incense and candles. Sometimes, particularly if working with a spirit, I will place the item in the centre of a solomonic triangle and ask the spirit to charge it for me with their essence. I normally then also channel the planetary energy appropriate myself so that the jar gets a dual charge.
I then address the jar directly because now you have created a talisman, which on the astral, is a living entity in its own right, a vehicle of energy which has a purpose. I tell it it’s charge and welcome it into my service.
Step 5: Sealing.
Some people like to use some candle wax to seal jars, I do not, but I do see the symbolism in the action and appreciate it. Personally I astrally draw an equal armed cross over the jar in black energy which I see as sealing it and rooting the energies to the physical plane. Normally I have this equal-armed cross present on the lid of the jar anyway which is obviously sealed upon sealing the jar.
I then make a statement of sealing and give thanks to the spirits involved in the work. I then leave the jar for 24 hours, that is I do not banish the room as to let the astral energies soak in. I also do not wrap the jar in silk or any other such as Golden Dawn drivel because I don’t feel that is necessary. I then place the jar in an appropriate place e.g. a love spell jar in the bedroom, a protective witch bottle buried near the front and back door.
Another use for the contents of the jar is that you can take some of the mixtures out and use it as incense or carry it or burn it in flames as it is now charged with energy. If you cannot think of an appropriate place to keep the jar perhaps a talisman you can carry would suit better or a small cloth bag. Jars, in my opinion, are more useful for things you want to bring into your home, such as money, love, protection, and peace. If you want protection on the go or love in the middle of a night club you would be better carrying a small bag.
If you this far, thank you for reading. Please note that I believe once you reach the end of step 3 you have worked magic and the herbs will be useable. Step 4 simply boosts the naturla ptency of the herbs. Step 5 is necessary in my opinion. That is the important thing about this post, it is all my opinion, I would never state my techniques or beliefs as facts.
#magick#spell jars#herbs#crystals#witchcraft#traditional witchcraft#magical instruction#ritual magick
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Monthly Project: January, Week 2
So if you read my last post you’ll know I kinda fell behind this week. I’m not very happy with that considering I’m supposed to be sticking with this all month, and then all year, so screwing up this early isn’t that great but I’m trying to catch up. Last week I said that I would be spending this week on Lore, and I certainly did: here’s how much I have done so far on the outline (first draft) and hopefully by the end of the month I will have been able to edit it and finished it enough to put it in a D&D style PDF.
Most of the work this week was in the Lore section, and a little bit in the Map section. I’m looking to have the way Lunosians view magic to be mechanically entwined with D&D’s core aspect to make it more interesting. You’ll notice however, that while there’s about 4 pages on the Domains themselves, there are in fact 8 pages on the gods who represent them. This took the longest and more than I thought; I wanted to be clever with naming so that took a lot longer than I expected, and after I finished the first God’s general bio, I was like “Oh wait shit, what about his symbol, his values, his temples, how to worship him, his conflicts, etc.
So there’s about a page on each for that.
Let’s overview:
The Magic of Lunos
“Wow C: 8 Domains of Magic sure sounds like you’re doing elemental rock paper scissors bullshit that’s in every RPG ever”
A little, yeah. No single one of these has an advantage over another, but it’s more a classification system made up to reflect what life would be like, and it creates some conflict and makes it easier for me to isolate D&D’s alignment system with strictly rational behaviors that I would take myself.
So it’s broken into two halves: The Physical, which consists of what we would see as the four states of matter but they call Energy, Breath, Flow, and Force, and the Conceptual, Life, Death, Logic, and Ego.
“Wow, that sounds real tacky”
Ye.
They each have a god associated with it, who each sort of influence how people view the domain due to their own personal natures, for example the God of Energy is also the god of luck, and is therefore quite chaotic in nature. Giving an offering to him involves playing a short dice game where you gamble a number of your rations and sacrifice how much the dice determined you lost to the fire. Meanwhile the Logic god also believes in preservation, and would never demand you waste food in his name, but would appreciate you leaving what you consider helpful life knowledge in a short book or scroll at the step of his temple. And honestly, if you give a part of yourself to a god of Ego, you’re not really embodying his values of the self being more important than anything else, are you?
I also spent a little time on each of the continents and on the basics of each city, such as where typical races can be found and such other than just spread about in random settlements, including the new one I made up for the setting. I’m sure someone else has thought of it or a similar race before, but eh. I think it’ll be interesting.
So yeah, a bit short as I play catch-up; nothing really of substance until I get it formatted properly, but then it’ll be a massive content dump so stay tuned!
I guess I could go into what I said about my worldbuilding design philosophy last week. One thing I always thought would be cool to do one, single fantasy element that made everything make sense within its context. Sort of a “Give me one miracle, and I’ll use it to explain the rest” sort of deal. Star Wars kind of does this with the force and an understanding that future tech could get their at some point. But I wanted to take it a step further.
I wanted a scenario where an advanced android robot humanoid could meat with a medieval style magic user, and not have either one see the other as particularly impossible.
Silly right? I came up with this idea several years ago. The basics of it is if the laws of the universe are broken or an irrevocable paradox is created, instead of the typical “Oh well it just works” or “we retreat to a point in time where this paradox can’t happen,” It rips into the fabric of reality, breaking into the dimension that lies between multiverse until it tears into a universe whose laws can permit it.
Yeah it’s convoluted. Yeah, it’s silly. But I think it can be interesting. For example: let’s say a civilization gets powerful enough to the point where they can start spreading across the galaxy and mining planets for resources. Say this civilization found a good planet to spread to, and set up a lab and mining facility to further its research. Let’s also say that while this civilization is powerful, it’s very young with this power, and it’s more radical members decide to start experimenting in this isolated planet environment because they’re very far away from repercussion. Perhaps they begin messing with the idea of using their limited technology to peer into the future.
What would they see? Maybe they’d see the same planet; barren and near lifeless. Or maybe they’d use what they saw to determine if it’s worth terraforming. These scientists could abuse their power, looking into the future and seeing that they evidently attempted to terraform it to make it easier to mine, but spectacularly failed and it turned into an Earth-like environment with oceans covering valuable crustal entry points. They would hate that, and use this newfound information to halt and destroy all terraforming research on the planet. It would be pretty simple right? It was only a small glimpse of the future.
But that means that the future they saw would never happen, despite them knowing they were responsible. Some outside force would have to come into play, and that future is both cemented in time and yet impossible the moment they destroy the terraforming engine beyond repair. So what does the universe do?
It breaks into a universe that will solve this problem for it. The skies rip open and reveal new stars; vast cracks appear in the planet as water and ice flood out of holes in reality. The air becomes charged with the power coming from whole other realms of existence, where gods actually rule over their domain and are oblivious to these developments; advanced technology dead due to it’s inability to work in an environment being influenced by entirely new laws of physics at once.
What if this
Exerted its power on this
“Wow C; another plane of existence invading mars sounds *really* stupid”
I mean, it worked for Doom.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, just some fun thoughts. Ultimately this is a pet project to keep me active and entertained, and at best this can be used for a D&D map I might run sometime in the future, which would be on such a small scale it wouldn’t be relevant anymore.
Anyway, thanks for reading this far! Next week I should have something a lot more solid.
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