#150 Legion

[elgaberino-mcoc]

the PATRIOT mantle has been added to the MCOC Wishlist

winner of #MCOCWishlistNameGame is @Indiana_max Best wrong guess: @knullspaces (Bucky). Wrong answers also included Jack Flag, Nomad, and U.S. Agent

Thanks for playing! Watch for the next game!

[endawn]

so, the replacement for vampires in his da verse would be hunger abominations. so, what led to his undeath was him and his men walking into a trap set by what remained of the mythic dawn cultists. who willingly allowed themselves to become possessed by demons in order to have a change to fight the detachment of legion soldiers pax brought with him. keep in mind, one abomination is a massive problem for multiple templars. in this case, the bulk of what they fought were abominations. the mythic dawn no longer had the numbers, so they turned to other means. pax and his men walked to their slaughter.

[yandere-daydreams]

I love when a yandere has an equally, if not moreso, fucked up guy on the side supporting their evil deeds to the reader. Thank you Malleus for sponsoring Silver's villain era

tbh i think that malleus is so deranged on his own about love and relationships that he would just,,, simply not clock it if his adoptive father/siblings were also getting weird about the fairy peasant they're keeping in their basement. sebek wants to get married to a human he met 3 weeks ago and who can't stop crying long enough to get through their vows? yeah whatever he can officiate this saturday. silver need an acre of land to build a cottage on bc his spouse keeps trying to go to the other knights for ""help""? of course, but he gets to visit at least twice a week to play with the kids you will inevitably have/find. lilia's been keeping a secret captivelover in some tucked away cottage for the past 150 years and they're now on the doorstep of his castle begging for refuge? no worries, he'll dedicate an entire wing of his summer castle and an entire legion of guards to making sure you never get away again and lilia doesn't have to hide his romantic life away from his beloved family <3 he's a deranged little guy and unfortunately that also extends to his platonic relationships.

[thebrookesnook]

okay call me crazy and I know the newest chapter of Wind Breaker just released like over an hour ago, but hear me out: I think I know the deity Nii Satoru used to represent Takiishi.

Part 2: Umemiya Hajime and Fudō Myō-ō

So let's talk about it. Spoilers for Chapter 150!

I believe Takiishi is being represented by a Karura (迦楼羅, かるら). Here's my evidence to this theory:

[Karura (Left) & Karura (Right) were sourced from the same page on Japanese Buddhist Statuary: A to Z Photo Dictionary]

According to my research, karura are said to be a race of mythical fire-breathing bird-men (demigods) originating from Hindu mythology and was later adopted by the Buddhist into their pantheon as a protector deity or in accord. to legends were converted into Buddhism by Buddha and are considered one of the Eight Legions.

While going through my research, I found some interesting connections that may or may not apply to what we know of Takiishi and the imagery of the deity depicted:

Bird-like figure = appearance wise, the deity's depiction looks very similar to that of the karura.

"In Japan, Garuda is an enormous fire-breathing eagle-man with golden feathers and magic gems crowning its head."

- Schumacher, M., Karura

"They are humanoid in appearance, with the heads and wings of eagles. They have red skin, and red and gold feathers. Karura are fearsome. They breath fire from their beaks. The flapping of their wings sounds like thunder, and creates gusts of wind so strong they can dry up lakes, knock down houses, and cover entire cities in darkness. Their gigantic wingspans are 330 yojanas wide, and they can leap 3,360,000 li in a single bound. (The lengths of one yojana and one li vary greatly from country to country and era to era—a yojana can measure anywhere between 1.6 km to over 13 km long, and one li can measure anywhere between 400 m and 3.9 km.)"

- Yokai.com, Karura

Fire symbolism = Karura are said to be fire-breathing creatures. In Takiishi's lastname (焚石), it consists of the characters that roughly translates to "burning stone" (焚, taki = to burn; 石, ishi = stone). Also, his hair. (Note: Need I say more?)

The original Hindu deity's name is Garuda (sanskrit: The Devourer). The name comes from the fact that karura are known for feeding on dragons, more specifically naga or malicious serpents who have not been converted by Buddha, due to a fued between Garuda's mother (Skt. Vinata) and her sister, mother to the naga. Relating this to Takiishi's bloodlust and extremely violent tendencies during fights, perhaps Umemiya is the dragon he wants to "devour", 🤔. (Note: @yellow-gardenia-48 made a really interesting point in the replies about Endo's signature animal being a snake.)

Conclusion: While I'm not 100% certain that this deity is the exact one the mangaka used for the panel, I'm 95% sure that it is. If anyone would like to add anything more in terms of connections between Takiishi and Karura, feel free to do so! Or disagree with me, that's also cool too. I definitely would like to see more discussions on the symbolisms and cultural references Nii Satoru uses in the series so if I can be a jumping point to that, I'd be happy to do so.

(P.S. I am not Japanese but I have been deeply interested in the culture and history. I do my best to use credible sources (both in English and Japanese) and credit them accordingly. However, I am prone to slip ups so if there is anything that requires correction in my post, you may notify me directly through the post via reply/reblog.)

(P.S.S. I have a blog specifically made for wbk content for further post like this so feel free to visit me there @transient-winds )

[brechtian]

(Mostly Signed!! YA + Sanderson) books I own and am extremely willing to sell for cheaper than average listings bc I don’t want them anymore. a lot are hardcovers (heads up most are signed but some include personalization with my name sorry. if ur name is Ella congrats tho). All are very very good quality or like new bc I was delicate with my books when I was younger (prices are for the lot of every book described in a listing and all are negotiable!)

Six of crows & crooked kingdom (1st/1st) both signed - $90 + shipping

Shadow & bone (hc) and siege & storm (pb) both signed and original covers - $75 + shipping

divergent books, all signed with inscriptions - $100 + shipping

mistborn second gen (wax and wayne), bands of mourning is a signed 1st/1st, alloy of law is a used 1st/1st, shadows of self is a used 1st/1st. $150 + shipping SOLD

Alloy of law 1st/1st former library copy - $45 + shipping

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson trilogy, firefight & calamity 1st eds hardcovers; steelheart just paperback. $35 + shipping SOLD

hardcover signed copies of first dragonsteel editions of legion and legion: skin deep by Sanderson, rare - $75 + shipping SOLD

Darkest minds trilogy + companion novel, first two books signed, all except first book hardcover - $80 + shipping

All of lunar chronicles and fairest signed; cress, winter, & fairest are hardcovers and 1st/1sts as well. Winter has an exclusive stamp. All include personalizations “To Ella” - $125 + shipping

heartless and renegades by meyer signed hardcover 1st/1sts with inscriptions - $50 + shipping

First five books & companion novel for throne of glass, all first ed hardbacks except the first one I believe. Queen of shadows is signed and has the empire of storms signature tour stamp, empire of storms is signed, and heir of fire has the empire of storms tour stamp. Lot is $500 + shipping, individual book prices vary. SOLD

First two acotar books with original covers, both hardbacks. Acotar is first printing. Acomaf is a special signed first edition/printing with a page insert declaring its special binding, first edition status, & signature. Together $250 + shipping SOLD

Literally the entire The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney none are signed but I own all fucking thirteen and the companion book in original covers, mix of paperback & hardback - $100 + shipping

Grave mercy (paperback) & mortal heart (hardcover) both signed - $45 + shipping

The Entire selection trilogy & sequel trilogy all signed. Sequel trilogy are all hardbacks, original trilogy paperbacks. - $185 + shipping

Boys I loved before trilogy + summer I turned pretty, all signed except for always and forever Lara Jean. Mix of hardcover and paperback. - $100 + shipping

Anna and the French kiss trilogy, last two books are signed, all paperback and the colored cityscape covers - $50 + shipping

Everything everything by Nicola yoon signed paperback + sun is also a star signed hardcover - $95 + shipping

Unsigned lot of 5 rainbow Rowell books, four of which are hardbacks; carry on & landline are 1st/1sts - $95 + shipping

Ember in the ashes first three books by sabaa tahir, first two signed paperbacks; third one unsigned hardcover - $60 + shipping

Brandon Mull: signed hardcover holographic copy of the first beyonders book, all the fablehaven books (all paperback mix of new and old covers, but all are signed except book 5, and book 1 is double signed.), and signed hardcover first ed of dragonwatch - $110 + shipping

Not signed but I do own the entire Artemis fowl series minus the time paradox: $70 + shipping (mixed paper and hardback)

Daughter of smoke and bone trilogy by Laini Taylor all signed paperbacks in original covers - $125

Scythe & thunderhead, thunderhead is signed - $60 + shipping

Original pjo covers all paperback, the lightning thief and battle of the labyrinth are signed SOLD for $200

I also have pjo hardcover the ultimate guide with the holo cover and all of the trading cards like new and demigod diaries both 1st/1sts! - $60 + shipping

Heroes of Olympus series original covers, son of Neptune is signed. Last four books in the series are all hardcover 1st/1sts. - $125 + shipping SOLD

Pjo greek gods and Greek heroes hardcover. Heroes is signed by Rick and John Rocco, both first editions - $100 + shipping

Kane chronicle trilogy original covers, serpents shadow is 1st/1st hardcover, other 2 paperbacks - $40

Illuminae files trilogy first two books signed, all three books hardcover first editions - $200

Way of Kings signed hardback like new/unread - $100 + shipping

Hardcover signed copy of Oathbringer - $130 + shipping

Well of Ascension signed hardcover like new - $150 SOLD

Elantris signed no printing number - $150 SOLD

Warbreaker signed and inscribed w/ my name, former library copy - $95

Arcanum Unbounded signed hardcover first edition - $150 + shipping SOLD

Rhythm of War 1st/1st SOLD

Okay um there’s more but these r the main listings for now, see my reblog with the more comprehensive Sanderson listings if you are interested in his signed books (I have a lot!).

[shithowdy]

Please tell us more about fallout Oliver (falliver?) did you like the show by the way?

You could say it made me... falliver in love....

That sucked, I'll workshop that one.

I loved the show!! I even did some fanart for it, I never do that! Like a lot of people it was my impetus to actually Play A Game, despite people insisting for years it would be up my alley and getting the old 'I'll add it to my list'. Seeing Cooper run around like a yeehaw maniac had me continuously thinking "oh he and Oliver would be such good friends" and once you start imagining an OC within a setting it's all over for you.

Considering they are both prewar ghouls who served in Alaska as power armor operatives there's a significant chance they do know each other (in WoW, he was a Silver Hand paladin before becoming a DK-- how could I resist the parallels). Maybe one day I'll draw them getting trashed on coke together.

Unlike in WoW, where he deserted on conscience in the middle of the Stratholme culling, he stayed with the military right up until he met an abrupt "retirement" in 2070 after a psycho-induced heart attack inside his armor, an incident that left him deeply traumatized and mistrustful of any sort of organization where you can't say 'no' to a command, which is why he refuses to fully affiliate with the NCR. The "good boy" payout he got for the incident allowed him to retire and purchase his dream ranch in the Jemez Mountains, which he and some fellow hands maintained for seven years until the bombs dropped.

My headcanon is that northern NM didn't get that cooked in the blasts (Alamogordo is presumably a barren field of trinitite, though), but his area was so remote that when communities tried reforming into city-states and pooling their resources, no one could justify the back-and-forth with limited transport options. So he released his small livestock and they all packed up and attempted a cattle drive toward Taos with other ranchers. But winter was setting in, and an irradiated storm from the north blew through in what would be the event that began his ghoulification. Most died, the cattle scattered or also died, and as an absolute husk of an individual he decided "fuck it" and went west with his horse to find the hidden vault that is his son's tomb instead.

And for 200 years he's chased that delusion, not knowing he's been looking in the wrong city the entire time. 👎 He did meet and fall in love with a woman (hi, Senkha!) about 150 years before this RP; they spent decades together and through her he gained experience with psykers and how to wall them out of your surface thoughts with constant music, but he also gained experience with the eventual understanding that most humans grow old and he doesn't. When she passed, he began distancing himself from people.

When he's not scouring the old LA metro haystack for a nonexistant needle, he does mercenary work to support his hobby as a scavenger for prewar memorabilia and civilian tech. His prized possession is a turntable he repaired (and the vinyls he's scavenged for it), and he also has a truck he's completely restored save for the fact that he has no power core for it. So he just sits in it and pretends.

Some mercenary work he did close to their formation put him immediately on the Legion's shit-list, a status in which he takes pride and now goes out of the way to cultivate to the point that he's earned the nickname "Matador" within the NCR. Now that he is traveling with the deserter son of a high-ranking individual in the Legion, life is about to get spicy!

So yeah, I'm having fun. I've joked that this is actually the setting he's supposed to be from and WoW was actually the AU, because my boy was made for this.

[thequiver]

Why do we ship Tom/Cain? - A Reading Guide

Cain Marko and Tom Cassidy are X-Men affiliated characters from Marvel comics. Full reading lists for each characters can be found by clicking on their names in the previous sentence. The two are officially a platonic partnership but as the two are deeply connected, openly physically affectionate, have essentially coparented, and try to share their powers with each other....they are often seen as a romantic couple. But don't just take my word for it- read their story yourself!

Below is a complete list of their mutual appearances (some with issues for just one character added for context)!

X-Men (1963) #101-103, 122

Spider-Woman (1978) #37-38

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #229-230

Marvel Team-Up (1972) #150

Uncanny X-Men (1981) #217-218

X-Force (1991) #1-5

Deadpool (1993) #1-2

Venom: The Madness (1993) #1-2

X-Force (1991) #30-31

Deadpool (1994) #1-4

X-Men (1991) #88

Uncanny X-Men (1981) #369

Generation X (1994) #60-61

Uncanny X-Men (1981) #411-412

X-Men (1991) #158, 160-164

New Excalibur (2006) #6, 7, 13

Juggernaut (2020) #5

X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (2021) #15

Legion of X (2022) #2, 5

X-Force (2019) #39

[radioactive-earthshine]

i hope this isn't too big of an ask but i have an idea for a fic with jenni and bart and i really want to get jenni right. is it possible that you could create a jenni specific reading list? i basically want to read only the comics she shows up in. im not saying that legion of supers is bad i just dont have the time to read everything for one person.

Post-Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes but it's only Jenni Ognats Reading List (you're still reading a lot of comics anon).

** NOTE ** Jenni is a reoccurring character in two comic series that run simultaneously for a long time; Legionnaires and Legion of Super-Heroes (1989) - you will be flipping back and forth between series. For my sanity, I am grouping the series separately and listing just the issues she appears in.

Suggested LOSH reading.

Legionnaires

#0 - Her first appearance #19-#27 #29 & #30 #35-#43 #45 #50 #53 #55 & #56 #58 & #59 #61 & #62 #64 & #65 #76 - #81 Annual #2 Annual #3 - Jenni centric, this is her journey back to the 30th century after she leaves Bart in Impulse #12

Legion of Super-Heroes (1989)

#62-#69 #72 #75 #80-#84 #88 #91 #100 #104-#106 #108 #120 #122 & #123 #125 Annual #6 - Her origin story Annual #7

Once these series end you will no longer be flipping back and forth.

Teen Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes: Universe Ablaze

#1 & #2 #4

Legion Lost (2000)

#1 - She doesn't really say anything or do anything so this may be skipped honestly.

Legion Worlds

#1 #4 #6

The Legion

#4 #6 #10-#18 #20 #22 & #23 #25 #27-#29 #32 & #33

Teen Titans/Legion Special

Single issue. The 'end' of her primary run where she and her team are flung into the Void to become the new Wanderers.

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds

#1-#5 - Where Geoff Johns retconns her origin (it's his primary thing) and gets multiple things wrong but she does play an important role.

That is it for her primary 'team' appearances, there are many other comics however that she appears in!

Suggested Flash reading

Impulse (1995)

#9-#12

The Flash (1987)

#108-#111 #145 - #150

The Flash 80 Page Giant (1999) #2

Single issue. Jenni uncovers some history concerning Wally that leaves her hopeful...

Other suggested comics

Young Justice: Our Worlds at War Special

Single issue, not much happens but she does meet with Bart.

Green Lantern (1990)

#98 - Jenni meets Kyle Rayner and talks about how Green Lanterns and Speedsters go together, Kyle nopes out.

[cast-you-dxwn]

Do the Legions of Heaven employ flamethrowers?

The Model 331 ‘Purgatio’ man-portable flame projector is a area-suppression and fortification-clearing weapon utilized by the 778th Legion. It is a two part system, consisting of an armored 10-gallon fuel tank and pumping system as well as a hose assembly affixed to a handheld projector nozzle.

With a maximum range of 150 feet, a firing capacity of 30 seconds in constant flow, and a fully filled weight of nearly 80 pounds, the Model 331 is not standard issue amongst the Legion, instead being special-issued upon request or depending on mission parameters, largely due to the questionable psychological effects that frequent operators* have experienced.

The standard fuel mixture for the model 331 consists of little real flammable material. In reality it is mostly holy water, thickened into a near-gel like state similar to napalm. The molecular structure of this mixture is then imbued and excited with holy energy from the Legionnaires armors power source, such that when it makes contact with the air, it releases this energy in a manner visually similar to that of fire.

*See Recovery report 1-12-1983, Cultist Writings on so-called Angeli Ridentes

[chryza]

you keep mentioning making money off of games like hsr but how? im dying to know

All right I'll make a proper post about this lmfao. May I present

The Invalid's Guide to Making Money Off Mobile Games

(Please note I'm using my affiliate links, so if you click through and join up I will get rewarded at no cost to you.)

The primary way that I make money is through Swagbucks. (I also use Inbox Dollars, but I tend to use Swagbucks more for different deals. They're both owned by the same parent company.) Swagbucks is a survey website, but they also offer affiliate deals with mobile games. For proof that I'm not grifting, here is my profile.

Each swagbuck (SB) is a penny, so 100 is a dollar, 1000 is 10 dollars. As you can see as of posting this, I've earned 121, 297 SB or $1,212.97 since I started in January. I play various mobile games for a few hours every day, but I took a break for about a month and a half since I was getting burned out. I cash out to Paypal usually, but you can get a bunch of different gift cards, it's nice to be able to directly get people gift cards for their birthdays through the website.

There are a ton of different offers to choose from, from various sponsors of varying levels of credibility. They'll offer to complete different checkpoints within the game for SB within a certain amount of time.

When I'm looking for an offer to start, I'm looking for a few things in particular. The amount on offer has to be worth my time. Usually, I'm looking for offers in the $40-$150 range. Anything above that is likely to have a catch, require massive amounts of in-app purchases to complete, or is downright impossible. I always consult the swagbucks reddit to check out offers beforehand, so I don't waste my time. I also consider the time investment I'm putting in. Usually 1000 levels of a puzzle game for $35 is the minimum I'm looking for. For idle games, I'm looking more in the $50 minimum range.

This is one of the offers I'm currently working on. (the game is Klondike, for $110 total offer)

Typically with an offer in this range, I know I'm going to make a few purchases. I always try to go for stamina boosters on the cheap. I've spent about $5 so far and I'm only a week into this and already about 1/3 of the way done. I log in multiple times a day since I am, as I've stated, disabled, so I have the freedom to do so. If you do not have the ability to be so on top of things, I recommend looking at the second to last goal point, and making that your target.

Other offers are like this

(This is Ant Legion, a game I've played before). As you can see the amount on offer is significantly higher. $340 to be exact, though keep an eye out for things like "purchase X"--typically those are 1:1 rebates, so you get a boost for free. With these types of games, you're going to be making substantially more in-app purchases. When I try this offer, I'm going to budget about $40-$50 so that I'm still making a profit of about $285. Understand that there is risk involved--if I spend that money and I *don't* make it all the way to 31 in time, I'm SOL.

Swagbucks also offers gambling games. Just stay away from those. I did one and spent about $70 to make a profit of about $150, but none of it was from the app itself. They're predatory and meant to funnel in-app purchases, though again, check the reddit. There might be a couple that are legit.

Typically with Swagbucks, I like to be doing 3 offers at a time--two idle games, and one puzzle game. I'll check my idle games throughout the day to make progress, and sit and binge the puzzle games to get to the level checkpoints (Usually about 1000 levels, which isn't as bad as it sounds.)

Before I get into the next section, this is very important, please listen to me.

If you cash out for more than the minimum threshold for taxation in your country, you will owe taxes on the money you make.

You'll need to do research for your individual situation. For USAmericans, the threshold is $600. I budget about 10% of that to go into taxes, and I have a spreadsheet with receipts for in-app purchases which qualify as business expenses in this case. Here is the SB page for more info.

Next, I've just started using Mistplay after being bombarded with ads about it. generally, I like it. I'm also not saying that it's possible to double-dip SB and Mistplay rewards, because I would not do that because it's against terms and conditions, but it might be possible (though I definitely don't recommend it).

Mistplay works differently in that it offers 'units' for playing games for a certain amount of time. I've earned about 500 units in a day playing mobile games for a few hours, and minimum cash out starts at $5 for 1800 units. Overall it's a nice system that allows me to make money on more "fun" games that I'd otherwise be playing anyway without making money, such as for instance, Honkai: Star Rail which I'm planning on starting tonight. And if you do join Mistplay, this is my recruit link ;).

Overall tips:

be prepared to watch ads. I have my shit set up on multiple devices, I have a phone and a tablet with different games on each and I usually have ads going on on one screen while I'm playing merge what the fuck ever on the other. That's how they're making the money to give to you, pussy up etc.

It does take some dedication to rack up big numbers. I consider myself on a fairly relaxed grind and usually play mobile games for about four hours a day. You can try out your limits and whatnot

RESEARCH. you can download a game and test it outside of the SB tracking to try it out, or check out the subreddit. Mucho helpful information.

IF YOU DO AN OFFER and it DOES NOT TRACK CORRECTLY do not panic. Complete the offer to the best of your ability, take screenshots, and use the SB help center to request your missing SB credit. They usually get back to me within a business day with my shit in pending.

It's a slow crawl to victory. You'll be like "i am not making fucking ANYTHING." and then the next week you'll be like. pending for $100. Be patient.

Check out the other shit on the SB and Inbox Dollars websites. I occasionally do surveys for over a dollar (though I use Forthright for surveys because overall it pays better for my time.)

Good luck gamers!

And. Please don't like. blow me up about this being a scam or whatever? I see people press x to doubt but the proof is in my bank account. Or well. My medical provider's bank account now because I've been using the money to slowly pay off bills.

[thisloveforyourmom]

longform here but on rereading the lost hero camp jupiter is so. fucked up.

like don't get me wrong, i love new rome and the idea of it and how utopic it must seem to percy and the other young demigods, but there's a fundamental mismatch between camp half blood and new rome.

camp halfblood's problem is that there are no adults. being a demigod is very, very dangerous. we don't see many members of camp half blood surviving into adulthood or coming back as camp counselors. one of the oldest at the camp is luke, who's only college aged. and so what you get is a society of teenagers - of course there's a pecking order, because it's a society of teenagers. of course the rules are blatantly unfair, because it's teenagers making them and policing them. the only two adults who are in any way intimately familiar with the demigods are chiron and dionysus, neither of whom are mortal and understand the true struggle that's happening here.

and so yeah, you get this situation where it's not safe to be a greek demigod, and you probably won't live to adulthood. but it's not because they're not trying. it's because teenagers just aren't always capable of protecting and raising and safeguarding each other while trying to do the same for themselves.

the problem is that that environment is mirrored in new rome, where the legion is a protective force but also a very, very dangerous one. quests are dangerous. monsters are dangerous. even war games are dangerous - gwen would have died before percy had even slept one night at camp jupiter if not for the doors of death. they explicitly mention that the incident where the fifth cohort lost the eagle was "a massacre." except that while camp halfblood is this way because they don't know there is another way, camp jupiter is just....not. assuming a fourth of new rome - population around 300, according to hazel - is too old to fight and a fourth is what would reasonably be considered too young, you have a community of around 150 grown, capable adults, who grew up in the legion, who were trained to fight, and who have the perspective of age to see how barbaric it is that there are 200 teenagers being used as their front line.

but the thing is that new rome kind of quietly just....pushes that away. pushes that thought to the side. see, the thing is that camp jupiter isn't actually within the safe haven bounds of the pomerian line. they have the little tiber, but it's clearly not as powerful as, say, the camp half blood safe havens - it took percy using the river to stop the gorgons. but most of the legion can't use the pomerian line for protection because you have to be unarmed to enter it. they protect the pomerian line, not the other way around. in any other society, it would only make sense to take the 10 years spent serving in camp jupiter - the 10 years it is explicitly most dangerous to be a demigod - and shelter children during that time. if you come to new rome under 18, you should be housed. you should finish your education without worrying about which of your friends will die in the week between now and exams. you put your years of service into keeping that community alive after it's nourished you through the worst part of your adolescence. And you could probably halve the years of mandatory service if demigods weren't dying at 11 years old so often.

and the thing is, that's actually how camp half blood operates. The point of it IS to provide young demigods a safe place in the absence of adults who can meaningfully help them. It's dangerous to be there only because it's dangerous to be a demigod. Should Greek demigod adults maybe be taking more responsibility here? Yes. But camp half blood's resources aren't prioritized to them. Their purpose is to shelter teens, not adults who have passed the worst of it and can reasonably support themselves. They're not safe because the resources available are not adequate to ensure full safety. at camp jupiter, instead, the teenagers are removed from daily life and put on the front lines - why? because they're disposable. there are resources there, but they aren't for the teens. they can't be members of the community, because it's too dangerous to rely on them, to count on them, to absorb them fully, until you can be sure they're not gonna get killed. not to mention, you can keep them in the legion because they have nowhere else to go. where camp halfblood said "we can't guarantee your safety unless you stay, and we have things that need to be done," new rome only allows members to muster out of the legion if you've served ten full years. imagine how someone like nico would have been treated if he truly was a child of pluto. he wouldn't just be a runaway, he'd be a deserter - there'd be none of the 'showing up every now and then for a hot meal and vanishing' thing. he'd be gone for good. "you give us your life in exchange for the safety we can provide. if you leave you can't come back."

and that attitude, that the rule of law at camp jupiter reigns supreme and those who fail aren't worthy of staying, permeates into everything involved with the camp. camp half blood has satyrs who explicitly search for and protect demigods until they realize who they are, and it's implied the punishments for failing to do so are relatively severe. at the very least, they don't like sending out satyrs who've failed to try and protect more children. jason, leo, and piper meet annabeth for the first time because the camp knew there were demigods there and came for them to bring them somewhere safe.

but roman demigods as a whole are just built different, right? all of them find the wolf house and get prelim training with lupa and then end up in new rome. except...it's not all roman demigods. it's just all the demigods new rome knows about, and not even that, because hazel herself hasn't been to the wolf house. her cover story is that nico found her in new orleans and brought her personally to the camp. it's all the roman demigods who didn't die on the way down from the wolf house. it's all the roman demigods who didn't die trying to find it.

and yes, i know it's big stupid to try and apply adult rules to YA novels. of course the real reason for all of this is that it's more fun this way to a younger audience, and for that i have no complaints.

it's just fun to think about.

[hurlumerlu]

Extending the same level of courtesy: 9, 12 and 22 for dragon age

Sorry about the delay, I started to think about my answers and promptly went insane. Then the trailers for DA4 droped and despite having 150 grievances and 236 fears - or maybe because -I went insane some more. I did get a few somewhat coherent thoughts out, though !

9. worst part of canon

So I typed like half a LibreOffice page on why the way Inquisition deals with the mage/templar conflict was an incredible example of setting things up for almost no payoff, and then I went on a tangent about my frustrations with how Orlais in general is written, and then half another LibreOffice page on the fact that so much of canon is in supplementary material and how that does negatively impact my enjoyement of the games, with a long parenthesis on how Alistair being a half-elf makes the lore actively worse, all the while taking numerous breaks because I was not being normal about all of this and I wanted to be normal about all this, but clearly I cannot be normal, about any of this. Anyway, worst part of canon is still the use of the term Tranquil Solution in DA2. Pretty sure we already talked about that but it's just. It's so bad. Why.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Well, as you pointed out this fandom is big enough and discoursey enough for pretty much all characters to have their ardant defensers - which is actually a good thing I think. I also think that the nature of the games necessarily means that a playthrough can never cover every aspect of a character and that you might easily miss an interaction that could nuance or improve your opinion of them. Vivienne is kind, warm and extremely straightforward with her goals if you take the time to befriend her. I didn't like Blackwall in my first playthrough, and never brought him anywhere, but his romance turned out to be my favourite of all Inquisition. It's pretty obvious Fenris and Sebastian don't fear all mages if you have Bethany in your party. If you don't blame Aveline for your mother's death, she gives you a speech on grief that I personaly find deeply touching. Sten often approves having his views challenged. Oghren is not just a walking crude joke, if you try to view his character with just a bit more grace, etc. So rather than pick one character people should like more I'll just say that if someone ever replays the games, they should try to put aside everything that annoyed them about whichever character they dislike the most and spend some time interracting with them with fresh eyes. It's often worth it. (I did write a love letter to Aveline, though)

22. your favorite par of canon that everyone else ignores

DWARVEN SOCIETIES. okay, i'm exagerating a bit. Idk that it's my absolute favrite part, and I know the dwarven lore is enjoyed by at least 20 people worldwide. But the fandom as a whole does not seem to care about the dwarves, except to ask if Varric is fuckable (no judgement, I get it). But there is so much there! Their rigid cast system and conservatism that are fucking everyone up, their disconect from the fade/lack of dream (and yet they can be made to dream, as shown by a dwarven warden or inquisitor), how that helps them handling lyrium but only to a point, their especially high resistance to the taint because of their proximity with the Darkspawn, their proximity with the Darkspawn, THE LEGION OF THE DEAD, the paragons and the Stone, the Titans, Sandal? And surface dwarves are also deeply compelling. Cut from their roots, otherized by what everyone else around them insist on calling "their people". When Varric tells a story of his brother blowing up at him for breaking a plate and ends with something like "that plate was the whole city of Orzammar to him", does that get to no one else? just me?

Chose violence ask game (I did not particularly chose violence)

[incorrect-mtg]

Flavor Text Highlights

So, one thing that I did two years ago (and have kept updated since) on twitter was my flavor text thread, where I went through each set in Magic history and picked the top 4 (or, for some exceptional cases, 8) best pieces of flavor text in my opinion.

Since then, I have regreted some choices and very much dislike the fact I can't edit the original tweets to reflect changes on the rules I followed for card selection... So I might as well use Tumblr as the place to correct all that.

Every day from now on, I will re-post a set from the list until I catch up to it, then eventually update it as new magic sets come out. The rules for selection can be seen after the linebreak below (as well as a full list of sets I've already gone through, with links). The first one can be found here.

1- Categorization

I will always try to select a diverse list of cards so as to fill the following 4 categories of flavor text types:

Cool - Boasts and descriptions that serve to make the subject matter of the card seem powerful and/or interesting.

Funny - Dialogue, descriptions or epigrams meant to get a laugh out of you

Worldbuilding - Flavor text whose biggest strength comes not from what it says on its own, but how it helps build upon either the world the set takes place in or the story of the set in question

Emotional - This one could conceivably be separated in two whole categories, but it encompasses cards that would fill the same niche as the "Cool" category but with a specific focus on either sadness or horror.

However, there will be situations where there might be a number of good flavor texts within a certain category while another is found lacking of any truly great options. In such scenarios, I will simply remove one (and in rare cases more) of the categories and repeat one of the remaining options. For an extreme example, the first Un-sets barely had any non-Funny options, so when picking cards from those sets most/all of the picks will be from the Funny category.

2- Card Selection

Cards will be reviewed only if they have new flavor text (using scryfall's "new:flavor" filter) and only if it's original flavor text (aka no real world references or quotes from literature) while sets will either be reviewed alone or grouped up depending on the amount of eligible cards in the set. Although I don't have a hard cut-off point for how many new flavor texts a set needs to be reviewed alone, the general range is around 150.

For sets that don't reach that number, they will either be bundled with an associated set (i.e. reviewing Commander precons with their associated Standard set) or bundled with a lot of other smaller products until a suitable number is reached (i.e. bundling all early Masters sets and Duel Decks together, since the amount of new flavor texts in those products is very low).

2.1 - Cycles

For some sets, a collection of cards (usually a cycle) will have flavor texts that work together, expand on each other or combine into a single theme. If said interaction is particularly good or if there isn't already a good flavor text that can stand up on its own, a cycle might be picked for a specific entry. Below, I will try to set up a list of every post for this, in order:

Alpha/Beta/Unlimited

Antiquities

Legends

The Dark

Fallen Empires

Ice Age | Homelands | Alliances

Mirage | Visions | Weatherlight

Portal

Tempest | Stronghold | Exodus

Portal Second Age

Unhinged + Unglued

Urza's Saga | Urza's Legacy | Urza's Destiny

Mercadian Masques | Nemesis | Prophecy

Invasion | Planeshift | Apocalypse

Odyssey | Torment | Judgment

Onslaught | Legions | Scourge

Mirrodin | Darksteel | Fifth Dawn

Champions of Kamigawa | Betrayers of Kamigawa | Saviors of Kamigawa

Core Sets (4th Edition - 10th Edition)

Ravnica: City of Guilds | Guildpact | Dissension

Coldsnap

Time Spiral | Planar Chaos | Future Sight

Lorwyn | Morningtide | Shadowmoor | Eventide

Duel Decks

Shards of Alara | Conflux | Alara Reborn

Magic 2010

Zendikar | Worldwake | Rise of the Eldrazi

Magic 2011

Scars of Mirrodin | Mirrodin Besieged | New Phyrexia

Commander Precons (Commander 2011 - Commander 2019)

Magic 2012

Innistrad | Dark Ascension | Avacyn Restored

Magic 2013

Return to Ravnica | Gatecrash | Dragon's Maze

Masters Sets

Magic 2014

Theros | Born of the Gods | Journey into Nyx

Conspiracy + Conspiracy: Take the Crown

Magic 2015

Khans of Tarkir | Fate Reforged | Dragons of Tarkir

Magic Origins

Battle for Zendikar | Oath of the Gatewatch

Shadows Over Innistrad | Eldritch Moon

Kaladesh | Aether Revolt

Amonkhet | Hour of Devastation

Ixalan | Rivals of Ixalan

Unstable + Unsanctioned

Dominaria

Battlebond

Magic 2019

Guilds of Ravnica | Ravnica Allegiance | War of the Spark

[aroaceleovaldez]

interesting Romans thing: so, we know each cohort can fit 40 members, but we’re never actually told how many members are in each cohort at a given time.

this is notable when you look at the known recent centurions of the 5th: Presumably at some point Jason (and possibly Reyna), Gwen, Dakota, Frank, Hazel, and Lavinia. Frank is a bit of an exception because we know he was promoted under unusual circumstances, but we know Hazel and presumably also Lavinia are relatively new to the legion (Lavinia most likely having joined after the war, as far as we know). This means 3 of the 5 recent known centurions of the 5th all became promoted within absolute maximum two years of joining the legion.

Whatever cohort Reyna was in, she also logically became a centurion at some point, and given the timeline we know for her backstory, she has only been in the legion for 3 or 4 years at most. Given she was praetor by HoO, this means she had to have been elected centurion also within two years of her joining the legion (and elected praetor within 3 years of joining the legion). (We can also guesstimate that on average, most Romans are in the legion for ~6 years total, joining at 12 and retiring at 18, so Reyna is basically speedrunning)

Given we know that a decent amount of Roman demigods are raised in New Rome, and presumably the legion itself numbers 200 maximum (maybe closer to 150 average, if we’re presuming it’s about equivalent to CHB), that’s... a lot of demigods who have been in the legion probably significantly longer who are being overlooked in favor of new members being promoted. The only other option is that the 5th is just. Absolutely barren and there’s only like 8 kids total and they’re basically just promoting whoever’s left to centurion. Which likely means in comparison to the other cohorts the 5th is absolutely tiny.

This also means 4/5 of the most recent praetors of Camp Jupiter were all elected within 3 years of joining the legion, 3/5 of which were elected within under 2 years of joining.

[quietbluejay]

Praetorian of Dorn 1

I'm feeling...weird about this one like I shouldn't post it? it's probably irrational. This is also probably why I procrastinated with this tab open for like an entire week

it's about Horus Horus feels…very different a lot more ominous this is post-Molech, though

"ooooo i'm horus let the galaxy burn"

and now we hit what seems to be a major POV character, Imperial fist dude who's served for at least 150 years his hair is starting to go white

atmospheric i know he's a major character because i read reviews lol

also sounds like the Fists can be as obnoxious as the Ultramarines lol this is very fragmented so many short different POV segments

lost in the sauce OH YEAH THE RAD WOLVES rad wolves my beloved

GW where are the radwolf plushies

huh

i didn't think Dorn was on the up and up about Chaos at this point mission impossible music plays as what is presumably the alpha legion infiltrates the palace

very archaic feeling

oooof ohhhhh nooo SURPRISE NIGHTMARE FUEL i thought this was just going to be industrial depressing stuff not

BUGS UNDER PEOPLES SKIN like this was literally a horror movie scene i did NOT expect this kind of horror okay! maybe I shouldn't have been reading this at night this is one of my nopes

you can slap "cyber-" on any word! we're 60 pages in and they're still being coy about saying this is the alpha legion

innnteresting

given stuff I've seen about Dorn already in other books/short stories, I'm really interested on if this book is going to dig into this

dorn 🤝 guilliman but dorn gets angry in a very different way huh much colder

oh, so the bugs were a hallucination saying this she calmly threw away a large can of bug spray

before the war began, alpha legion was planning this? owo

sir are you going to elaborate on that or just leave after saying a cryptic one liner

okay but like its not a binary here your options aren't "hide everything" vs "reveal everything" …we could be saying something about dorn with that lol

is this child alpharius

okay, nvm the kid has gotta be a space marine aspirant (term?)

that's a fun line

Man French really likes playing with stuff like this as recurring motifs, heat and cold in this book, light and darkness over in Ahriman series

INTERESTING

it's a child's response but there's a truth in it

dorn: i knew what i was doing and the implications

dominion over all the galaxy huh okay a lot more about dorn is making sense he's a lot like guilliman huh

"but sorry kid, you have no choice whether or not to walk that path, and if you survive, well then, there's zero other options available to you!"

This isn't just theatre to Dorn, that's not his style at all.

annnd we get a whole breakdown of the making of a space marine from the POV of this kid French really enjoys this stuff, huh. Digging into choice, loyalty, obligation, honour. But also the boys who became space marines.

(manifest destiny! take a shot!) but also, this is like the most coherent argument presented in the text of any of these books that shows why the idea of the great crusade is appealing to people

seriously tho this does remind me of some early American rhetoric

we're going to the moon! Heliosa is…interesting very creepy but, interesting this is another scene where I can hear the music lol

yeah, making warriors with high anger levels, what a great idea! we also saw the result of this in the whole training sequence with Kye

Andromeda's introduction will have to wait til next time

[pwlanier]

Borisov Alexander Alekseevich (1866-1934). Northern landscape. Kon. XIX - beginning. XX century. Oil on canvas.

Author's signature in the lower right corner.

Alexander Alekseevich Borisov (1866-1934) - Russian artist, the first painter of the Arctic, writer, public figure, researcher of the polar lands, who made a significant contribution to the development of issues of transport and economic development of the North.

Alexander Borisov's parents were peasants. At the age of fifteen, he came to the Solovetsky Monastery, where he worked on a fishing tone in the Savvatievsky Skete. Soon he got a job as a student in an icon painting workshop. The archimandrite of the monastery, seeing Borisov's pencil drawings, took him to the main monastery. As a novice, Alexander studied drawing and icon painting. Borisov's works were noticed by the President of the Academy of Arts Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and the famous collector of paintings, General A.A. Bogolyubov, who served at the headquarters of the St. Petersburg Military District. They helped Alexander: he was awarded a scholarship, and on September 20, 1886 he came to St. Petersburg. During the period of study at the Academy of Arts (1888-1892), Borisov's creative achievements were awarded two small and one large incentive silver medals. For "good success in art classes," the Academy Council granted Borisov's request, and since June 1892 he has been awarded a scholarship "as a state peasant." In 1895, Borisov was engaged in the workshop of I. I. Shishkin, and a year after his departure from the Academy - at A.I. Kuindzhi.

In the summer of 1894, he accompanied Sergei Witte on the steamer Lomonosov on a trip to the North. Borisov's duties included sketches of the harbors and bays of the Murmansk coast. Borisov fulfilled his dream of visiting the Arctic Ocean and began to nurture the idea of a high-latitude artistic expedition. From the trip, he brought about 150 sketches, some of which were exhibited in 1897 at the academic exhibition in St. Petersburg. These works caused admiration of V.M. Vasnetsov, approving reviews from V.V. Stasova. P.M. Tretyakov bought Borisov's works for 8,000 rubles for his collection. In 1900, Borisov and eight of his satellites went to New Earth. The expedition lasted 14 months, during which time Borisov and his comrades had to overcome many difficulties. They surveyed and mapped the shores of the bays of Chekin, the Unknown and the Bear, giving the bays, straits, mountain peaks and capes the names of artists, scientists and those who contributed to the development of the North. Thanks to Borisov, the Capes of Shishkin, Kuindzhi, Kramsky, Vasnetsov, Vereshchagin, Repin, as well as the Tretyakov glacier appeared on the map of Novaya Zemlya. The Kazi Mountains are named after the organizer of shipbuilding in Russia M.I. Kazi. In addition, travelers conducted meteorological observations, collected geological, botanical and zoological collections. One of the main results of the expedition was hundreds of sketches and sketches, which formed the basis of the monumental paintings created by Borisov upon his return from Novaya Zemlya.

The artist's works, exhibited at the spring St. Petersburg exhibitions of 1900-1905, attracted the attention of art connoisseurs not only in Russia, but also abroad. In 1902, at the invitation of the Vienna Society of Artists, Borisov organized an exhibition in the capital of Austria. Borisov's success allowed him to hold exhibitions in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Paris. The French government awarded the artist the Legion of Honor. In 1907, the famous polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen visited the Borisov exhibition in London and presented the artist on behalf of the governments of Sweden and Norway with the Order of St. Olaf, and the British government awarded the artist the Order of the Bath. In 1906, Borisov took an active part in the creation of the Northern Circle of Lovers of Fine Arts, participated in the development of the charter, and then in the organization of all exhibitions of the circle (1905-1919). In early 1908, Borisov came to the United States. An exhibition of his paintings in Washington was held at the White House. Borisov became the first Russian artist to be accepted by the President of the United States. Returning to Russia, Borisov settled in his homeland, near Krasnoborsk. In the following years, he created works dedicated not only to the Arctic, but also to Solovki, Pechora, Severodvinsk lands. In February 1914, the artist organized a major exhibition in St. Petersburg.

Currently, Borisov's works are stored in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Arctic and Antarctic Museum, the Arkhangelsk Regional Museum, the Vologda Art Gallery, the Nenets Museum of Local Lore and other museums in Russia.

Litfund