#5 many people did multiple translations of certain sections and its cool to read and compare.

[mejomonster]

Guardian Translations

I heard Yuka’s translation is now finished, so I wanted to post some links to various Guardian translations!

How to buy Guardian 镇魂 by priest and support the author:

How to use JJWXC guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lNXe9a7D8GKPPJVVALmITaRUPC5PPGlh/view

Priest’s account page where you can buy priest’s webnovels: http://www.jjwxc.net/oneauthor.php?authorid=145956 (at the moment  镇魂 is not up on jjwxc, see below for print editions)

You can also buy print editions of  镇魂. The website books.com.tw sells them (as well as others). I recommend this website if you need English (it has an English language option on the site) and if you need international shipping. There are 2 volumes: https://www.books.com.tw/products/CN11643960?sloc=main The print edition I’ve linked has some additional scenes and altered scenes compared to the original webnovel, and includes the Prologue, Extras, and Shen San Extra. There’s also another print edition with different covers that is in traditional chinese, which includes largely the same content as the original webnovel, it is sometimes for sale on books.com.tw

Guardian carrd links: https://readguardian.carrd.co/

~

Yukacchi’s​ translation (completed): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qKseO4eG3W5AgPrIgDhClCRKxE0YVr_B

yukacchi’s tumblr: https://yukacchi.tumblr.com/

yukacchi’s translation (translations are locked until you send yukacchi your proof of purchase of Guardian): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qKseO4eG3W5AgPrIgDhClCRKxE0YVr_B

Main Story and Extras, collection. Translated by: RainbowSe7en, ineffablebfs, fandoestrans, foxghost, and deeperfriedkoi; edited by Fangirlishness and Solo. This is the translation with edits on names (Shen to Shen Wei etc.) and various edits to add some details. The last time I saw the epub collection version, it did not have the additional edits the google docs version has. This Google Docs version is the most complete translation compilation. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1J7rTcFYHt71SbwCzkBO2BPmriX-RprCb

Guardian Prologue, translated by alyson_trash

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RIOUArIkDblo8rh0o08aCvrXD1_tc0rWHdMOpLCpUio/mobilebasic

Shen San Extra (Wattpad),  translated by Dawnmist31

https://www.wattpad.com/839604740-guardian-zhen-hun-%E9%95%87%E9%AD%82-translation-from-chapter83

Shen San Extra (Google Docs),  translated by oubings; contact littleyaoji for the link

Additional Translations and Meta (tumblr),  translators credited on site; compiled by dtriad. This masterlist includes several excerpt translations done by dtriad, foxghost, motleystitches,  in_the_bottle,  Tanyavvvvvv, and many others. Foxghost did a full translation of the extras.

https://dtriad.tumblr.com/post/179416163366/%E9%95%87%E9%AD%82-translations-etc-masterlist

Terminology Guide (Google Docs), compiled by littleyaoji

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10JQhCM7FT5Hg916XIy0IS_pINf3LxaZgNlNgbEX3ax8/edit

~

Spanish Translation Complete, translated by Nugudo

https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=i8n

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Korean Translation Complete, official translation,  translated by 김은성

https://ridibooks.com/books/3144001886

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Japanese Translation, official ongoing, translated by Subarusya/Pleiadies 許源源

This is the official site, and has various links you can purchase the translation from at the bottom of the page: https://subarusya1.com/pleiades/p-guardian

The ebooks are available on Amazon.co.jp (which is the easiest to purchase from) along with other ebook selling sites. https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Priest-ebook/dp/B0978QP5QM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3NGIXUI2276XK&keywords=%E9%8E%AE%E9%AD%82&qid=1649693756&sprefix=%E9%8E%AE%E9%AD%82%2Caps%2C113&sr=8-3

There was an announcement for print editions of the Japanese translation, so print editions should be for sale at some point

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Deltarune asks

Did you ever end up going back to do the card suite puzzle in Deltarune? Just so you know, if you didn’t you can still go back to do that since the last save in the game is before you fight King. I’d recommend checking the prison elevator again before doing that though.

I haven’t gotten around to it yet, or replaying the game in general. That’s a good point about the save, thank you!

As for the prison elevator: Since finishing the game, I’ve been hanging out in the Deltarune channel on Lore’s Discord server, where I found out about Jevil. I’ve heard he claims he “can do anything”, is based on some clown stickers, and I found out yesterday how you find him. Apparently his fight is supposed to be pretty good, making up for some of the flaws in the King fight? That’s definitely another thing I want to check out, yeah.

After reading your Deltarune post, I'm so upset that you didn't mention Kris's soul getting sent to the Birdcage at the end.

Pfft! I certainly missed an opportunity there, yeah. :p

Maybe I would’ve made that joke if I had been in less of an “I just want to finish the game and go to bed” state of mind at that point. And in more of a Worm mindset.

"Heroes of Light? I don’t know, I don’t think I’d peg either of them as having that aspect." Foreshadowing the tweest ending much? Heroes of Light have a certain, ha, 'passion' for not losing.

Hehe.

Y’know, if the theory I’ve seen going around about Kris ripping their own soul out to stop us from stealing their agency and their story is right, I could actually see that as having to do with the Light aspect. I’m not sure what class it’d be, though. Maybe that reflects more on the player than on Kris, making us Vriskas Thieves of Light.

You know what did foreshadow the ending, though, that I totally called? The character overview specifying that Kris’s body contained a human soul.

Toby Fox had some things to say about Deltarune you may or may not want to read: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqn3p9

Alright, let’s see what the Fox has to say:

1. "Is this a sequel? What's going on?? I'm scared..." Please don't worry too much about that. Actually, I'm worried if people worry too much about "what it is," they might not be able to properly enjoy it... (laugh) I will say that basically, what you're seeing here is not the world of UNDERTALE. UNDERTALE's world and ending are the same as however you left them. If everyone was happy in your ending, the people in the UNDERTALE world will still be happy. So, please don't worry about those characters, and that world. It will remain untouched. To rephrase that, DELTARUNE's world is a different one. With different characters, that have lived different lives. A whole new story will happen... I don't know what you call this kind of game. It's just a game you can play after you complete UNDERTALE, if you want to. That's all.

...alright, fair enough. I don’t trust that it’s not connected, especially through Sans (metanarrative timeline agent that he is) and maybe Chara, but it does seem to be an alternate world.

2. "I have questions I want to ask about the story..." There's a lot of questions I'd like to answer, too. That's why I have to make the game. Please wait until then.

A game dev’s equivalent of Robert Jordan’s “read and find out”.

3. "When will the next chapter come out?" This is a difficult question. When I made the demo of UNDERTALE, I made it to prove to myself that it was possible to make a whole game alone (with some help with the art). Because I was able to make it in a few months, I felt that I had proved that it was possible. However, making the demo of DELTARUNE... took a few years. So, given the length of the rest of the game, and how long I'd be willing to spend on a project (7 years maximum) I think the answer is that it's actually impossible to make this game.

I wonder how many people he’s working with. Maybe that’s the solution to this issue, to outsource some of the work to people he trusts.

Lots of things make this game harder to make than the last time. - The graphics are much more complicated and don't play to my strengths (black and white battle graphics were easy...) - The battle system is much more complicated due to multiple characters (I'll write about this later) - The overworld and other sections are more complicated due to multiple characters - Having multiple main characters is much harder to write especially introducing everyone properly in chapter 1 - The entire town had to be created correctly on the first try to set up properly for the rest of the game And further things outside of those: - Trouble starting tasks/concentrating and general difficulty paying attention - Travelling / other responsibilities like translation/ports - Self-doubt / burnout regarding the creation of the game Essentially it's not possible to make this game as one person (and Temmie).

Oh jeez, it’s only him and Temmie Chang?

Also, “Trouble starting tasks/concentrating and general difficulty paying attention” sounds like ADHD to me. I can relate heavily to this point.

However, it MIGHT be possible to create the game if I'm able to make a team. So I'm going to try making a team. Because I really want to make this. But I may not be able to succeed because I have no experience successfully directing a team and I have no idea who I'm going to work with.

Yes, good. That sounds a lot healthier.

I’m sure he can do it. In a pinch, I know he knows people who can probably give him pointers on team leadership, too, over at What Pumpkin.

Since I haven't started assembling the team yet I have absolutely no estimation of its completion. It could take up to 999 years depending on the efficiency level. By the way, I currently plan to release all of the chapters at once after we complete them. I'm not sure how long that will take. You'll buy all of the chapters at once as one purchase. That'll be the only option. I'm not doing pre-orders because I don't like those. It just seems like the best way not to burn anybody. Price is unknown. It depends on how long the game is, and how much it costs to make... I don't know anything about what consoles, etc. it'll come out for because by the time it comes out we might be on Playstation 14 or something. So... in short, I have no idea.

That’s all very fair.

4. "Is this the game's final design? Will you change anything?" It's possible I could change things. This is basically a demo. I might even change this first chapter before release depending on how development goes. This is really an excuse to talk about the parts I think had issues. THE BATTLE SYSTEM: I think the battle system could be explained better. I had a super duper long explanation of things here but really it boils down to: 1. UT's system is incompatible with multiple party members but I wanted to do it anyway because it's cool 2. I'd like to make it so for pacifist players, characters won't have to "defend" so much Oh. The people who tested the game thought that the TP system and animations were cool so it's not all bad. By the way, did you notice that getting close to bullets makes enemy attacks end faster? It doesn't work for every attack, but...

I didn’t notice that detail, but I do appreciate the way it adds to TP without having to defend. But I found myself defending a lot anyway just because it was the only thing there was much point in doing with the characters in question sometimes.

I do feel like there wasn’t enough to use the TP for, but that seems like something that might change as the characters develop more skills over the course of the full game.

EVERYTHING ELSE: I thought everything else was OK. Actually some parts were kind of lazy, like finding the key pieces, but oh well. The UI had some things that could be changed too. When making a game, there's so much to do you have to draw the line somewhere. That's why I need other people to help me (laugh) Oh, and I have no plans to add more content to the first chapter.

5. "Will there be multiple endings?" No. No matter what you do the ending will be the same. (Honestly most games are like that, but for some reason it feels really oppressive to say here...) I think that's part of the reason why the ACT / FIGHT system feels so vestigial in this one. Oh... I'm just talking about the battle system again...

Toby sounds a lot like Napstablook in this thing.

A single ending, huh? Interesting, considering the contrasts between Deltarune and Undertale regarding whether your choices matter and whether fighting is sometimes necessary, and the fact that Ralsei explicitly asks you to do a pacifist run.

6. "I found some kind of bug, will you fix it?" Hopefully an e-mail for that exists on the website by now. Or, it would be better if you could tweet it with #deltarunebug . That would really help us and make our lives easier because tweets are easier to ignore than e-mails

Ahaha!

7. "Can I be on the team?" I'll ask you first!!! (Total silence)

The humor is picking up here. :p

8. "What's the progress on the rest of the game so far?" 0%!!! Nothing!!! I've done nothing!!! I mean, I've done some songs and written the whole story, but... Since no programming or final art has been done, it's best to just think of it at 0%. 9. "Will you do a Kickstarter?" I still haven't finished that damn Alarm Clock, are you kidding me? There's no way I'm doing a Kickstarter this time.

I assume he’s referencing a pledge reward from the Kickstarter for Undertale (that was how I first found out about Undertale, actually, though I then forgot about it until it came out) that hasn’t panned out, or something like that.

10. "The game doesn't work" / "I don't like the game" / "Will there be a version for (platform)?" Because it's a free download I'm surrounded by a forcefield that destroys all complaints and platform requests. There might be more platforms for the DEMO but I don't want to make any promises. (At the very least it'd be nice to do something for the people who bought the game on console.) By the way at the time of writing I haven't even rendered a Mac version whatsoever at all. I hope I can release it... (laugh)

I have a friend who was unable to play the game himself because (as far as I can recall) he’s on a Mac. But yeah, this is fair.

11. "Can I buy the soundtrack for Chapter 1?" Yes! You can buy it at [ http://tobyfox.bandcamp.com ] And other forms of distribution will be in the works too. I'm writing this in the past so I don't know what I just said. 12. "Any closing remarks?" (No one asks this, but...) Thanks for playing my game. I hope you liked it. For the past 3 years I've been waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep because I've been thinking about the scenes that happen in the game. Even though so many details are still hazy, I really want to show you the things I've been thinking about. That's really my only reason for making this game. If I don't show you what I'm thinking, I'll lose my mind. (It was actually a totally selfish motivation...)

...interesting. Looks like we’re in for a ride when the full game comes.

Not that I was really doubting that.

By the way, I was really worried at first about making this. The expectations for my next work would be really high, so high that I knew that no matter what I did, I felt like people would be underwhelmed. If you played "UNDERTALE," I don't think I can make anything that makes you feel "that way" again. However, it's possible I can make something else. It's just something simple but maybe you'll like it. See you in ?? years... OK? Don't forget.

My audience probably won’t believe me if I say I won’t, due to my history of bad memory, but I don’t think I will.

And yeah. Especially when you’re connecting it to Undertale and its characters, people are going to compare the two. But even if Deltarune isn’t quite the same hit as Undertale was, it’ll be worth it, I’m sure.

[to-learn-of-living]

This Bible Passage Proves God is Cool With Same-Sex Marriage

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4:1-5‬ ‭(NIV) - emphases mine‬‬

Source: Google Images

Clearly this passage speaks directly to our modern age. Paul was obviously saying that the opponents of same-sex marriage are hypocritical liars who forbid LGBT people to marry. They have abandoned their faith and follow deceiving things taught by demons.

If you are reading this and hold a ‘biblical’ view of marriage, you're probably jumping out of your chair screaming ‘blasphemy’ right now. You're probably preparing a three point rebuttal in your head to prove me wrong. You may be dying to hit the comments section and explain why this passage can't possibly be applied the way I've used it...

...and you're probably right.

Sorry-not-sorry about the click bait.

But here's my point: Christians on both sides of this debate take scripture out of context. It is impossible to prove biblically if God is for or against same-sex marriage because it is a 21st century question that was never posited to the bible’s authors!

This particular passage is in the genre of ‘prophetic writing’, which by its nature makes it extremely hard to pin down the exact meaning (though many claim to ‘know’). This could have been written prophesying today's events, but it also could have been written about inter-racial marriage 50 years ago, inter-class marriages of previous eras, something yet to come, all of the above, or none of the above. We don't know! We need to study this text through meditation and prayer to decipher it, and even then we can never be 100% certain we’ve come to the right conclusions! That’s the point of faith!

But many people who would cry ‘heresy’ at my former reading of this passage are advocating for a similar ‘straightforward reading’ on all passages relating to LGBT sexual acts. They claim we need to stick to ‘biblical marriage’, and denounce same-sex-marriage activists for taking the bible out of context.

So let’s look at the bible passages on same sex relations in context.

There are only 6 or 7 passages in the bible that reference gay sex. 

This is hardly the be all and end all that many of today’s Christians make it out to be. If anything it’s an afterthought.

Importantly, there are no passages that mention same sex marriage.

That’s right. Zero. 

Therefore any biblical text used to prove anything in this debate has to be taken out of context and applied to modern life!

So what did these LGBT passages mean in their original contexts?

The story of Sodom is probably the most well known of the lot - after all we get the term ‘Sodomy’ from this story. But read it again in Genesis 18:16-19:29. God tells Abraham he will destroy Sodom. Abraham begs for mercy. The townsfolk try to gang rape some angels. Then Sodom is destroyed. 

There are 2 main takeaways from this story. First, the passage never says what Sodom’s sin was. Yes, there was an attempted gang rape. But this happened after God said he would destroy the city! However, God does clarify his reasons later in the bible:

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭16:49-50‬ ‭(NIV‬‬)

An argument could be made that sodomy was the ‘'haughty and detestable things’ God describes here, but once again we resort to speculation to figure that out. The obvious teaching of this passage is that God cares far more that the Sodomites didn’t help the poor and needy, than any possible sexual sin they may have committed.

Secondly, like a similar passage in Judges 19, this incident is specifically about gang rape. That is a very different social issue to two men wanting a monogamous marriage. To apply these passages to same sex marriage is to take the texts as far, or perhaps further, out of context than I did with my opening statements!

Pieter Schoubroeck, De verwoesting van Sodom en Gomorra

Leviticus 20:13 says “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” (NIV). This sounds like an open and shut case. But once again we need to look at it in context. 

This passage is found in a list of sexual sins (which are pro-polygamy by the way, I'll get to that later). Many people argue that because the death penalty is advocated here, gay sex is far worse than other sexual sin. But adultery is also given the death penalty in the same passage, and Jesus specifically said that anyone who divorces and remarries commits adultery. Yet so many of our churches give divorcees leadership positions they deny to gay Christians.

The chapter opens with an explanation of why these rules have been set. Pagan people all around the Israelites worshipped their gods by performing these sexual acts. So the Jewish people were commanded not to practice them. It is possible that this rule should still apply, but making that assumption requires taking the rule out of its context (a law for the Jewish people to not practice pagan worship) and applying it to today's world sans the religious meaning. By the same logic, we could take Paul’s 1 Corinthians 8 acknowledgement that there is nothing wrong with eating food sacrificed to idols out of context, and say there is nothing wrong with same sex relationships. Even if we hold onto this Levitical law as necessary for today, it should be acknowledged that it is a rule specifically for God’s people - and therefore it shouldn't bother Christians if gay non-Christians want to get married!

Romans 1 seems to be the most damming passage against all same-sex practices (and possibly the only mention of lesbianism in the bible), yet it's actually anything but. Paul uses it to illicit disgust in his Jewish audience, who he knows feels morally superior to the Romans living around them (much like many Christians today), only to turn it back on them in Romans 2 by reprimanding them. He tells the Jews they are far worse than the Romans for judging them. This should not be used as a justification to condemn the LGBT community, it should be used as a reprimand for anyone who thinks themselves morally superior to others!

But more than that, Romans 1 shows a logical progression. People knew God. They refused to worship him. They turned away from him. They replaced worship of God with worship of natural things. God gave them over to their lusts, and they degraded each other with their bodies.

I don't know about you, but I don't know any LGBT folk who have followed this progression. In fact, many are committed Christians, although a lot no longer attend church due to the awful experiences that've had there.

This passage makes much more sense in relation to the Roman mystery cults of the day, who literally praised idols and held group orgies as forms of worship. As with the leviticus passage, it is dubious at best to say that this text which deals with cult orgies should be applied to monogamous relationships.

Fresco from the Sala di Grande Dipinto, Scenes in the Villa de Misteri (Pompeii).

Finally we have 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10. The problem with these passages is we don’t know the meaning of the words used! Entire books have been written trying to understand the meaning of the two Greek words often translated as ‘homosexuality’ in these two passages. What does seem clear is that they refer to some sort of male to male sexual act. Yet many ‘Christian Marriage’ supporters argue that these words definitely mean all homosexuality is a sin, and base their entire sexuality theology on this ‘fact’. That isn’t just isn’t just taking a passage out of context, it’s deliberately changing the bible to suit your own point of view - exactly what many same-sex marriage supporters are accused of doing. 

So to be clear, we can't prove that same sex relationships are either right or wrong using the bible in context. But what about marriage? The main argument of the ‘no’ campaign is to advocate for ‘biblical marriage’ after all...

...but that's not actually what they’re advocating for...

For starters, the idea of ‘biblical marriage’ is inherently flawed.

There are hundreds of marriages mentioned in the bible, and the overwhelming majority of them were made up of one man and multiple women. So if you want to fight for ‘biblical marriage’, you need to start by ‘redefining’ marriage as ‘one man and one or more wives’.

This is perhaps too simple. By the new testament era most Jews had adopted monogamy as the standard form of marriage, probably from the Roman influences of the time. But the bible never forbids polygamy! In fact passages in the Torah, including the levitical passage on homosexuality, prescribe polygamy as law! 

As for the new testament, all mentions of marriage I can think of could easily be applied to polygamy or monogamy, barring one possible exception: “...I asked you to choose church leaders in every city. Their lives must be so that no one can talk against them. They must have only one wife.” (Titus 1:5b-6, NLV) - and even this wording is only present in certain translations.

So clearly, using a straightforward reading of scripture, a biblical definition of marriage must recommend polygamy, unless you aspire to be a church leader. 

Over the last 2000 years we've changed the definition of marriage to be ‘one man and one women’, despite having no biblical support for this position!

So a fight for ‘biblical marriage’ is a fight for polygamy! Let’s lobby government to allow multiple wives for all men! (Sorry ladies, as with much of history you get the short end of the stick with this one).

On top of that, throughout the bible, and most of history, marriages were almost exclusively arranged by the couple’s family. A husband and wife sometimes wouldn't even meet until their wedding! Marriages were not commitments of love, they were a business contract. The couple might eventually come to love each other, but it wasn't guaranteed.

So let’s abolish love, and go back to ‘biblical marriage’, by selling off our daughters to the highest paying man, even if he already has 6 other wives...

Source: christiansforequality.com.au

...Or we could stop with this crazy assumption that marriage has always been between one man and one woman, and realise that it is a constantly changing social construct that continually evolves with our culture. That's a good thing. A vote for same-sex marriage is not a vote against heterosexual marriage. It is a vote against ‘biblical marriage’, but I don't see ‘biblical marriage’ as anything to aspire too.

Do you?