#*death

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[thewindowofthesummerhouse]

Frank Mcoy Harshberger

[incognitopolls]

"Painfully/in distress but not violently" could include death as a result of an accident, illness, etc.

–

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[illustratus]

The Plague in Rome by Jules-Élie Delaunay

[pratchettquotes]

Death was never quite sure why he allowed the Death of Rats to have an independent existence. After all, being Death meant being the Death of everything, including rodents of all descriptions. But perhaps everyone needs a tiny part of themselves that can, metaphorically, be allowed to run naked in the rain,* to think the unthinkable thoughts, to hide in corners and spy on the world, to do the forbidden but enjoyable deeds.

Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

*Quite an overrated activity.

[palaeosinensis]

"Vitality" - Pulled a piece from the sketchbook and finished it digitally in a way that would be straightforward to turn into a linocut. I don't have plans to make one right this second, but I think this one would do beautifully as a two color print.

[mychemvampires]

From this article: https://time.com/photographing-the-dead/

[whump-galaxy]

God, I had this image of a sci-fi setting, where caretaker/leader is a well known warrior/mercenary/soldier. The enemies know this, maybe even made them like this with brainwashing and technological modifications.

In their rush to recapture their best combatant, they find and capture the caretaker’s charge. Some weak little runt that they have no problem roughing up. They use the kid for ransom and demand an exchange.

So the caretaker meets at the rendezvous with murder in their eyes. Till they see their charge, all bloodied and beaten up. The kid knew it was a possibility when they came along, but now it’s real. It’s real and they’re trembling.

The caretaker, knowing they’re being surrounded, asks that they be able to hug their charge one last time. The captors know they’ve got the upper hand, and so, toss the runt towards the caretaker. The caretaker catches them in an embrace.

“Close your eyes.” They whisper, protectively putting the kid behind themselves.

Their charge is frightened but obeys, covering their eyes.

And the caretaker rips through their enemies, decimating their forces, slashing and destroying without a thought, every enemy eviscerated in mere moments.

The caretaker stands above the bodies, hands shaking, blood that isn’t theirs dripping from their face. They turn to their charge, who clearly didn’t listen when they said to close their eyes.

Between their hands, their eyes show nothing but horror. True fear. They’re frozen to the spot.

The caretaker slowly approaches without a word, and cups the kid’s cheek in one hand.

“You’re safe.”

[caveundertree]

This...

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[celipa23]

My body's on the line now

I can't fight this time now

I can feel the light shine on my face

Did I disappoint you?

Will they still let me over

If I cross the line?

[stele3]

Someone has a very specific fetish. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But commission an artist instead of cranking it to planet-destroying AI, fuckwad.

[voidic3ntity]

the many teary iridescent irregularities of misguided infliction:

the murmured whispers, sung in unison, as bolts of luminosity,

beginning to ignite the sky, endowed with passionate lightness,

threefold vision glimmering forth, as an act of treeline measures;

etched within arches with many tracks of tragedy, so akin death.

[hyperions-light]

A home in life, a berth in death, a house of many mansions: the Necropolis fucks

Before the game came out the Necropolis was one of the top five places I was hoping they would let us visit in Thedas and I'm so thrilled it did not disappoint! The architecture, the atmosphere is impeccable, the reactivity everywhere (cleansing the Vault of the Beloved, the secret room that appears, the skeleton workers that begin cleaning different areas as the game progresses), the detail in everything. Did you know that in the room where you get the codex entry about the flesh-eating beetles, you can look down and see them running across the floor? Love it!

But the environment itself is only an aspect of what makes the Necropolis so much fun; the insight we finally get into Nevarran culture is possibly the most important thing that comes out of it. The only Nevarran we've really met before was Cassie (love her, she was not very informative, though), so to actually get to meet people who serve as stewards to one of the most sacred cultural rites is incredible and exactly what I wanted from this game. I loved discovering their unique perspective on magic, and how they handle their Templar Order.

It's also a fascinating lore point to discover that Emmrich can speak to the dead; we've never actually encountered a REAL ghost in DA, I don't think. There have been things which appeared to be pieces of once-living people, but it could always be explained by 1) weird magic causing them to live past their normal lifespan 2) a spirit acting as a dead person. Emmrich makes a distinction between speaking with real dead people and imbuing a once-living body/articulated skeleton with a spirit. This is so cool and interesting! And they've been doing this consistently and regularly, to talk to the late King Markus! All the magic applications in this game make the South seem so boring lol (but that's for another post).

And I love that the Necropolis itself is considered alive by the Watchers! It moves and rearranges its own configuration in accordance with some sort of unknown will; is it partially built inside the Fade? Is it imbued with magical energies, like Arlathan was? How old is it? Is the reason it functions this way because it's so old that it predates the separation of the Fade from the material world, or is it just that the Veil is thin there? Are the Lichlords the ones directing the Necropolis? How? So many interesting implications and questions brought up by just the building itself!

I think my favorite thing about the Necropolis and the Watchers, though, is how they present death. Most of the cultures that we've encountered so far in Thedas view death as a universally negative thing, but the Nevarrans celebrate its place in the cycle of existence. In the gardens, which are such a beautiful, peaceful location, there's a puzzle you can do where you have to turn on a series of meditation bells in a specific order to get into a treasure room; when you put together the poetry accompanying each bell in the correctly, they describe (metaphorically) the movement of a person through life and into death. It's such a gorgeous little detail, and I love the way the Necropolis is designed to encourage the player to think about death (it also folds in so neatly to Emmrich's personal plotline!), especially since it is so integral to the game as a whole (yet another different post).

Visiting Blackthorne Manor and picking up mementos in the Necropolis shows that, this death positivity is, in fact, a pervasive cultural attitude. Nevarrans believe that they have a duty to each other that persists after they die; that the body can keep being useful; that the living should honor the dead. It's such an interesting perspective that was missing from the DA series; people die all the time, and, of course, it's intended to make the player sad, but DA has never seriously discussed death, its implications, what it truly means or how it affects those left behind. They've never really made you sit and look at it as the player. There are some sad lines after Leandra dies in DA2, but it's mostly in the narrative to give Hawke a reason to hate blood magic and stuff. There's no funeral. There's a few lines from Gamlen, Hawke, and your companions, and then the game moves on. It's always like that; the game gives you a moment to be sad, and then it moves on. There's no mourning. But this game is partially about mourning! It's about people being gone, and it being too late; it insists you look at death and deal with it, and the Necropolis is the epitome of this.

The game asks the question over and over what you think the characters should do in response to their own losses, and the Necropolis represents are really interesting, nuanced, answer to that question. They're not gone; they're right there. They're still with you. You can go and visit them and celebrate who they were in a place that honors and cares for them, still. It's so beautiful and interesting and full of love, for the living and the dead.

I didn't even talk about Emmrich's plotline or the class differences in the Necropolis, or how everyone there is a weird goth nerd and I love it so much, but I think that's really the important point: the symbiosis. The living; the dead; the spirits; the corporeal, all finding a way to be together.

[todayinhiphophistory]

Today in Hip Hop History:

James Tapp Jr. better known as Soulja Slim died November 26, 2003 R.I.P.

[honoringthor]

Summery

A bunch of rich people try to hide from a plague and party. Death shows up as a part guest and kills everyone. It’s one of my favorite short stories.

“Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all”

John Byam Liston Shaw (1872–1919) - The Masque of the Red Death

from 'Selected Tales of Mystery by Edgar Allan Poe', 1909

source