#Animal spirits are a lot of fun to write because animals in general are fun to write so it's like the best of both worlds honestly

[carionto]

Human sciens is simply fuck around and find out

So when the humans give a tour of the labs so alliance members see what the crazed apes are up to, suddenly BOOM the halls shake and lights flicker but the tour group is fine while the one giving the tour says something like "Ah thats the sound of progress" all while there's people rushing by with guns and extinguishers yelling about a code Red and subject escape

[22/09/23] Nice, that is a fun trope to work with. I think I'll leave the dinosaur crew be, and have some other questionable research station make a debut with an "accident". [23/09/23] Idea pops in my head after several rejections - Human-alien hybrids (because you can't cross-breed because that's not how biology works, but Humans are still curious, because of course we are) [24/09/23] Actually, no, I don't like that: 1st - fairly common as is; 2nd - doesn't feel right with the Humanity I'm writing out. No, I think a better avenue is, since Earth in this verse is gonna collapse in on itself in under a century, experiments towards terraforming methods, since that's a requirement and thus a literal blank check for any- and everything. Yes. (mad scientist voice) Yeessss, I can see it taking shape! [25/09/23] It took some kind of shape indeed.

_____________________________

Biology is the most diverse and complicated field of research with literally no end in sight. We will eventually discover every law of physics, and, yes, chemistry also has the potential for limitless combinations, only in biology can you find and create circumstances where trillions of different organisms co-exist and co-operate, compete, and can create a stable and self sustaining system. Not to mention mutation and evolution across generations, as well as the myriad of changes and adaptations a single organism can undergo in its singular lifespan. The potential is truly beyond the bounds of imagination.

Since biology is an omnipresent field in every civilization, it is only natural that it didn't take long before a Human led joint Coalition Flora research station was established - the Efflorescent Sneezewort Yarrow.

It is also natural that not long after that the non-Human staff sent this panicked message:

The Humans are insane! First, there is no regulation for anything beyond decontamination, which would be fine, if - IF - they didn't sometimes just bring the test materials out with them anyway for, and I quote: "Let it experience the outside world" or "Introduce it to my other plant buddies." The head researcher, instead of reprimanding this clearly dangerous behavior, just lets it happen. As a matter of fact, he almost exclusively and constantly ingests a plant-based gaseous substance through a device he calls a "bong" and locks himself for days on end within a random lab and, as he put it while looking at the ceiling: "Feel out the connections. We're all part of one whole, and only by becoming one with the roots of the soul can you truly attain the understanding of the spirit, and unlock the true calling of each sapling." As I draft this emergency message, there is a shuttle going through decontamination with two squads, one is an extreme disaster containment unit, the other a full on military special forces unit. With heavy duty weaponry. The worst is what they had to say: "Yeah, sometimes one of these nutcases gets the idea to combine plants with animal genes, and, to be fair, with access to the whole Coalition database and samples, I get it. There's a lot of really weird and cool creatures out there on each planet, makes most people at least think about playing scientist. Anyway, it's gonna be fine, the code said it was just a Mini HoH, so we'll be done in under an hour and you can all go back to doing your thing. I just hope we don't have to burn the thing this time, the prof said it's something like a dandelion and a small rainforest actual almost-lion from one of the real far out planets, but it's got bunny ears and the nose of a German shepherd, sorta. I think that's kinda neat." By the way, HoH stands for, and I am not making this up and the translator did get it right - House of Horrors. They claim it is just an homage to a piece of old Human culture. I don't believe them. I refuse to be a part of this madhouse for any longer than I must. Send a vessel and return me to a normal laboratory setting. I will now incubate myself in a cryo-pod to prevent any more exposure to these "scientists". Thaw me out in clean garbs and with two interns already doing real work on new medicines.

[various-spirit-animals-brackets]

How I'm thinking it's going to work (for now, subject to change):

General:

THIS BRACKET IS NOT ABOUT WHICH CHARACTER IS THE MOST MORALLY GOOD! MORALLY SHITTY CHARACTERS CAN STILL BE WELL-WRITTEN AND INTERESTING, WHICH IS WHAT MAKES A CHARACTER A GOOD CHARACTER. I just want everyone to understand that going in.

I am doing my best to collect every single canon character in this entire series. I will release the full list soon. Having said that, I am only human. It's possible I'll miss someone. If you have an attachment to a very minor character that I happen to miss, send me an ask, either to here, or to my main @dark-night-star-light. Anon asks are always on!

You can only submit canon characters. No OCs allowed, sorry. But you can submit a canon character regardless of how irrelevant or minor they are.

Voter fraud* and bribery** are not allowed. I know, I know, other fandoms allow them. I'm not, because the small-scale size of this fandom means that could actually make a dent in our results. I won't actually know if you do it, but if I find out you did, your vote will be eliminated.

This is meant to be fun! Try not to get too butthurt if your fav gets eliminated in the first round. I know a few of mine will, since they're such minor characters.

The unique tag is #best spirit animals character 2024. So if you want to participate, but don’t follow this blog, you need to be checking that a lot. Everything will be also tagged #spirit animals, #spirit animals books, and #spirit animals series. If you want to campaign, I recommend using the unique tag.

If you have any questions, or disagree with a rule and want to take it up with me, both my asks and DMs are open, both here and on my main.

Propaganda:

I am allowing propaganda. I am going to put it to a vote whether to allow anti-propaganda or not. Stay tuned for that.

I have still not created the full list of characters yet. That may take a while. In the mean time, you may start to submit propaganda to me. Ask box is open!

I will accept your propaganda if you make it about a ship (ex: Vote Shane, he’s so in love with Abeke!!!), but I don’t recommend it. In fact, I discourage it. But it’s allowed.

You can submit headcanons about a character as propaganda. Propaganda doesn't have to have any basis in canon (giving the more minor characters a fighting chance).

You are not allowed to submit links to analysis posts (or any kind of post) as propaganda, even if it's yours. Everything submitted needs to be something you wrote specifically for the bracket. If you send me a link to a post, it's an automatic delete.

Other than the above, there are no restrictions on what can be submitted as propaganda. It can be as short or as long as you want and as serious or ridiculous as you want (you could literally submit, like, "Vote for Rollan, he's so funny and he needs a hug" as propaganda and I would accept it, or you can go deep and start talking about his parallels and arc and motifs and backstory and personality and hardcore analysis stuff, and that would also be fine).

If you're unsure what to write, I'm going to release a piece of Shane propaganda I'm writing soon. Hopefully it inspires you. But again, there are no restrictions! Your propaganda doesn't have to resemble mine.

If I allow anti-propaganda, there will definitely be restrictions. More on that later.

If multiple people submit propaganda for the same character, I'm keeping them all. My goal is to have most characters have at least one piece of propaganda, so in the interest of that, as we approach the beginning of the tournament, I'll make a list of every character with how many pieces of propaganda each currently has. This is so that if a character has no propaganda, it would be a warning to everyone that it's your last chance to submit for them.

Propaganda is submitted through asks or DMs! You can submit for as many characters as you want. You will be allowed to be anonymous or not. If you choose not to be anonymous, you're signing up to be tagged in the poll that features the character you submitted for. So be aware of that. I may decide to open up a Google Form if I'm not getting any submissions. But we'll take it as it comes.

You will be allowed to submit propaganda throughout the tournament! If you decide to submit propaganda during the tournament, it will be added in the next round. Unless the character gets eliminated, in which case it won't be added at all.

This isn't really a propaganda thing, but it's propaganda-adjacent: campaigning. Campaigning is 100% allowed. There are no restrictions on campaigning except "Don't be rude". You will be allowed to campaign, and light-heartedly bash your vote's opponent (just make sure it doesn't get out of hand). You're allowed to spam the main tag or the poll with "Vote for [character]!" posts and reblogs. You're allowed to send people asks begging them to vote for [character]. In the end, it's their choice, but you can campaign as hard as you want. In fact, if you go into a poll and don't immediately know who to choose, because you like or dislike both characters equally, I recommend not voting for a while. The campaigners may be able to sway you to one side or the other.

I will submit propaganda for multiple characters. I may or may not choose to credit myself, it all depends! I will definitely be campaigning for some characters. Hopefully, this will encourage other people to campaign, too. That's half the fun of best character brackets.

Format stuff:

There may or may not be comeback rounds. It all just depends on where we're at and if I need characters to come back to create an even number. Don't count on them, but don't count them out, either.

It seems some people here haven't read the entire series, but I would still like them to be allowed to participate fully. So, I'm going to put an official description for every character, maybe a sentence or so long. This is meant to be objective, canon, and not propaganda (ex: Rollan is the Amayan Hero of Erdas that summoned Essix the Falcon).

Every poll will last one day, then we'll move onto the next for the next day and so on.

There will be preliminaries, because or else we are just going to have too many polls. The preliminaries will cut out the majority of the characters, probably including mostly minor characters.

I'm going to do my best to save the polls I feel will divide the fandom for last. So we won't see any Rollan vs. Meilin polls right off the bat. This might make the first few polls boring, but it'll get more interesting later on. Trust.

*Voter fraud is enlisting non-fandom mutuals or friends to vote for your fav, or voting from two different accounts. (Like I accidentally did in the interest poll. Whoopsie. I promise it won't happen in the real polls!) If you happen to do this by accident like I did, tell me and I will remove the extra vote(s) and you will not be penalized.

**Bribery is where you go to someone, either within the fandom or not, and offer to draw or write something for them (or do some other favor) if they vote for the character you want.

[bcbdrums]

For the fic writer ask?

🥭🍐🍇

From this ask game.

🥭 Rank from most enjoyable/fun to write to least: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Crack.

Angst, fluff, smut, crack. Crack is hard because I don't know how to do humor. And the humor I do occasionally write doesn't fit the crack-vibe. Smut... Becomes kind of one-note after awhile, for me. Fluff is a delight. They DESERVE to be happy and I will write all those warm fuzzy feels that may not be entirely in character but gosh darn it, the blorbos deserve them!!! And angst... Ah, angst, my wheelhouse. They're already suffering in canon. I will make it worse, I will drag it out for thousands of words... And I'm good at it. Definitely the easiest, and the most fun.

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a bad characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

I wouldn't say hate. If I hate something I tend to dissociate from it. Like, I won't watch Star Trek Generations at all. Never seen it. Trekkies know why, probably. If I didn't see it happen, it never happened! (I still don't hate it - can't hate something I haven't seen.) Or Soul Eater NOT, again don't hate, but hate certain choices so I just...dissociate and disavow. Especially when it heavily contradicts established canon, it's easy to disavow. But if I'm just mildly annoyed by something, or frustrated, I'll write like...missing scenes. Things that answer the unanswered questions or clear up confusion. Or when a thing ends too soon, I may write a missing scene thing that fleshes out more of the details and emotions. But as a canon purist I never change things. Now, if we wanna be specific about a specific canon... Honestly, nothing is leaping out? Just that missing scene/fleshing out details, thing.............. WAIT. I've got one. In the Soul Eater manga. Maka should have hugged Spirit. Like. I get that the author needed to wrap things up fast, and comedy is a good way to do it. But.... That...... What the author did there. That was wrong. Which makes me think of the Soul Eater anime. A specific thing I would have changed is, all of Crona's lines in the final scene in the Death Room should have been spoken by Spirit (and changed to make more sense). Honestly, that part makes me cringe. It ruins the final episode for me. I won't keep going about it because it'll make me upset, but yeah.

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

Well............... I've technically written over 200 fanfics about Drakken/Shego in Kim Possible. Just....those two. Aaaaaaahhhhh yesssssss making a villain romance work. That hits the spot. Like. How many love confession fics can I write? A lot, apparently. In Soul Eater, basically any moment Stein and Spirit are together onscreen I want to write about. 😅 Same in the manga. I'm not obsessed, I swear-- Other fandoms... I do have those moments but they aren't leapint out at me right now. If I think of them I'll edit this post to include them. Was trying to think of Star Trek and Sherlock Holmes (book and TV) canons. Hmm...

Thanks for the ask!!

[thatgayash]

okay this explains the info behind that story I randomly posted: (it’s a lot of writing so be prepared)

What are spirits?: 

Spirits are mysterious soul creatures that have been around for centuries. Believed to come before humans. These spirits can fuse with humans *physically and/or psychologically

These are the main umbrella categories all spirits fall under

Elemental Spirits: 

The most common and fused with type of spirit. They usually always have to do with nature and the elements.

Animal Spirits: 

Again, very self explanatory. These spirits have the characteristics of animals. They are not animals however. Just spirits. *I know confusing*

Humanoid Spirits: 

While all spirits have the intelligence of humans these spirits just have the physical appearance of them.

Sub categories:

Dealer Spirits:

Spirits that make deals or contracts with the user. Like the user gets the spirit's power but they have to give something in return. Be wary of these spirits as some have been scammed and betrayed by them.

Demon/Shadow Spirits: 

More known as demon spirits, they’re what they sound like. Mysterious, dark spirits who are looked down upon. Known for their immense power, they have the highest extermination percent which is 1% They are most common in Salem’s Valley.

Lunar/Solar Spirits: 

These are one of the most strongest spirits, balanced out by the shadows spirits. Faelen is the strongest of them, and one of the most feared in general.

More research is to be done as these mysterious beings have many secrets…

Important places

Lunes Islands: 

A very well populated chain of islands, this is one of the most visited places. Known for its beautiful stargazing and environment. It’s home to the dusk-blossom trees.

Canine Cove: 

A cove full of dogs, wolves, you name it. Faelen is known to watch over all the animals in this place. They all follow his orders in return for his protection. Many owners abandon unwanted dogs here who are soon to become one of Faelen’s servers.

Salem’s Valley: 

A valley that’s home to a town full of witches. About 99% of the population is female. This place is home to many demon spirits, however the witches call these spirits shadow spirits. This valley is between Lolian’s Mountain.

Lolian’s Mountain: 

One of the tallest peaks in Anima, home to Salem’s Valley. Named after the last name of the first man to ever climb it.

Anima: 

Another word for spirit, is a vast land full of many different cultures and spirits. 

Tercer Ojo Casino: 

A casino located in a city called Pueblo. Full of dealer spirits. 

Pueblo: 

Meaning “the people” in Spanish, lives up to its name. 18% of most profits that are made in Anima are made here. Many people here speak Spanish.

Ester’s Swamp:

A swamp that has many trees, mushrooms, and wildlife. You’ll find that many Therians live in this swamp. This swamp is also visited because of its scenery. 

Fun facts about spirits: 

-Spirits have no gender, some just prefer specific pronouns 

-Spirits almost always impact the user psychologically

-Spirits do in fact have personalities

Important terms

Witches: 

Witches are spirit users who prefer a more “outdated” version of bonding with spirits. Almost all witches are female. Because most of them are female, they reproduce asexually. Almost all of the witches reside in Salem’s Valley. Witches take their bonding very seriously, which is why most of them are extremely powerful. The strongest shadow spirit, Wanderer, resides in Salem’s Valley.

Spirit User:

The person a certain spirit fuses or bonds with.

Spirit Bond:

The connection a spirit has with someone.

Energia: 

The amount of spiritual energy that a spirit or user has.

Therian:

A spirit user who fuses or bonds with an animal spirit. These spirits usually have a connection to their past lives as animals.  Most known for their beautiful masks you can buy. You can find most Therians in Ester’s Swamp or in Canine Cove.

Band: 

Not as in music, but as in a group of spirit users who travel together. The first band that ever was formed went by La Viajeros, which was a group of teenage boys from Pueblo.

Balanced Duo:

Faelen & Wanderer are known to balance each other out. Faelen being the strongest Solar spirit and Wanderer being the strongest Shadow Spirit. They bicker a lot. Faelen being the more talkative one while Wanderer is more quiet

Dusk Blossom Trees:

These trees are similar to cherry blossom trees, except that they’re a grayish purple/blue and bloom (strangely) in the fall. These are found mainly in Lunes Islands. People also make tea with the petals of these trees.

Dusk Tea: 

This tea is made with the petals of Dusk Blossom Trees. A popular beverage dranken in Lunes Islands where the trees are found. People usually put lavender and other things in their tea.

Extermination: 

When a spirit has to be severely weakened because of any trouble or displeasure it causes. Spirits like Faelen have been attempted to be exterminated

Laws of Spirits: 

Spirits cannot be killed or created, only fused with or weakened.

Council of Anima:

A large council that rules over almost all lands in Anima except Salem’s Valley. This council decides which spirits are deserving of extermination, how spirits may be treated, and other things.

Main Characters: 

Hizuki Naoki:

A girl who comes from the Lunes Islands. In a fit of desperation, she accepted to make a deal with Faelen and fused with him. What she didn’t know is that he’s been hunted since the dawn of time…

Willow Arc:

A hot headed boy who was born in Ester’s Swamp and lived there until he was 18, now lives in Pueblo. Wields a bat with vines covered all over it. He’s fused with a spirit who goes by “Yami”. He has horns that change based on the season.

Fall: More brownish horns with orange, yellow, red, and brown leaves.

Winter: Bare horns with nothing on them

Spring: Vibrant horns with cherry blossoms on them

Summer: Dandelions 

Noelle Smith:

A quiet witch who was banned from Salem’s Valley for unknown reasons. She fused with Wanderer. She’s a very strong witch.

Basic info

Name: Hizuki Naoki

Gender: F

Age: 17

Comes from: Lunes Islands

Her Spirit: Faelen

Personality: Energetic, hopeful, confident

Favorite food: Rice with cheese and meat

Favorite drink: Dusk Tea

Her friends: Willow, Noelle(?)

Status: Alive

Parents: Dad is unknown, and mom is missing.

Goal: Find her mother, help Faelen find what he’s looking for.

Name: Willow Arc

Gender: I

Age: 19

Comes from: Pueblo

His spirit: Yami

Personality: Hot headed, timid, knowledgeable

Favorite food: Any kind of pasta

Favorite Drink: Hot Cocoa

Friends: Hizuki, Noelle

Status: Alive

Parents: No documented parents 

Goal: Find what he wants to live for, survive 

Noelle Smith: 

Gender: F

Age: 18-19

Comes from: Salem’s Valley

Her Spirit: Wanderer

Personality: Neutral, Quiet, Intelligent 

Favorite Food: Lemon bread (pound cake)

Favorite Drink: Coffee

Friends: “Are they really my friends”

Status: Alive

Parent(s): Rose Smith

Goal: ??? 

Some side characters:

Name: Emi Rodriguez

Gender: F

Age: 21

Comes from: Pueblo

Her Spirit: No spirit *yet*

Personality: Caring, sweet, stubborn

———————

btw I’m still working on this little reference so it is lacking a lot of info!!

[seventeenlovesthree]

You know, one thing about getting older, at least for me, is the realization that keeping up that whimsical spirit is hard. Very hard.

I have spent the past four years trying to maintain routines in regards to self-care and, while it worked out well for a period of time, the "noise" out there is very persistent to break your habits. By "noise", I don't just mean the world out there, the constant stream of social media providing you with news and tragedies, a ruthless algorithm that is very hard to avoid if you're seeking that little serotonin streak out there. Yes, I agree that our attention spans have been pretty much messed up and that it's VERY difficult to get back to some... Quiet.

That's why the noise basically refers to everything - your social life, family, friends, partners, acquaintances, colleagues, all the people out there, but also the things you surround yourself with. Habits, food choices and sleeping rhythms, once again, the media you consume while trying not get consumed by it...

I keep going on about how I had re-started drawing back in 2021 after a rough 10-year-break in which I simply didn't feel like drawing at all. I was occupied with other things during time - and if you're familiar with my tumblr, you know that that's been heavily related to football. I loved my clubs, I loved by NT and for the longest time, I could get by despite the set-backs and bad developments surrounding it. Right now I am staring at my PC and am slowly but steadily realizing that basically all the players that led me towards football have retired. Either just from the NT or completely. There are players, relatable figures, people I (used to) look up to, that inspired me, that brought be through the day, week, month, year. It was a fun time. But then the "noise" took over. The people I rambled with ended up just as frustrated and left. Only a few of them are left, but the majority - me included - has moved on to other things. Why? Because it had become too draining, too negative. The bubble had popped, several figures in the business had turned out to be unbelievably "bad people" (I'll keep this PG), things were so commercialized, unfamiliar and just... Opportunistic. The "whimsical spirit" was so hard to maintain and even if this Summer provided a little spark, it still feels alienating. There is still a glimpse of hope, but, again, you REALLY have to hold onto that.

The same goes for my other "fandoms" to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I still have fun sitting in my little corner and draw, write and create little things - even if it's mostly for myself, sometimes I do wonder why interactions have become so scarce. The atmosphere on social media is incredibly... Empty sometimes. I'm not just saying that because a lot of people have not grasped the reblogging system on this site. You may have heard the concept of people being overexposed by the neverending stream of art, "content" being thrown at them from all sides... It's become more of a product to consume than a thing to look at and enjoy and savour. And I feel that myself. I used to save fanart to my phone and computer and find myself looking at it countless times. I still do that with several art pieces, but... I assume it's because the brain has become somewhat tired that we cannot appreciate it like we used to.

Everything is just... Happening too fast and I feel like I need to have a detox every now and then. My brain still craves the serotonin of seeing new, beautiful art. But to get there, I have to get through a sea of things that get me anxious. Even with filters, even with blocking things I don't wanna see... It's not the same.

The same also applies to media in general - I'm currently in a fandom of a series that's kinda "walking on air". There is the possibility of a new animation being planned out there somewhere, somewhen, maybe... But a part of me isn't even sure if I want something "new". Consider myself "old" when I say this, but a lot of things that come out these days, sequels, reboots, remakes of things I used to enjoy as a kid... Simply don't hit the same way anymore. There's a reason why I find myself rewatching the old stuff over and over again and often have quite a mixed relationship with more recent things. EVA is one of the few franchises that, in my opinion, managed to get to a satisfying ending after ALL these years, but I am TERRIFIED for the new Madoka movie. I haven't even dared to look at Sailor Moon Cosmos, simply because I know my brain is tainted by how much enjoyed the 90s anime and how much of a clusterf*ck Crystal/Eternal/Cosmos has been for the past ten years... On the same note, do we really need a One Piece remake? And Digimon? I would loathe the idea of an Adventure remake... Because it would not only contradict the messages of the previous entries of the series; move on but keep the things you love close to you... It would simply not... Satisfy me. A part of me wants to see how the OG timeline goes on, but what if there'll be things to contradict it all even more? Do I want things to go on for the sake of keeping the nostalgia alive, even though the fear of mischaracterizations is very real? Do I really want the milking of the cash-cow to continue? To hunt for breadcrumbs? The commercialisation and... Opportunism? And why does it feel like I've heard that before...?

I don't want to end this post on a negative note. I'm gonna turn 34 in a few weeks, I've been into TV shows and had my hyperfocus topics basically since I was like 7 or so. I might always find things that keep the whimsical spirit alive to some degree. But I need to remind myself to not let the "noise" get too loud every once in a while.

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

How do Players interact with the world, anyway?

In my last post I said I'd either talk about this or combat. Well, combat's not here yet so. Attributes, Skills, and Characters it is. All-in-all, the fundamentals of how players actually interact with the game (and why they are the way they are).

Lots of ttrpgs have different ways of having players interact with the world. I already talked about dice mechanics, and how they interact with the Attributes and Skills in a previous post, which is the basis of how every system in the game works. I won't rehash that post here, so I'm mostly going to talk about the specific Attributes and Skills that exist in the game, and how Character Creation works.

The Attributes in the game are meant to symbolize general things about a character's body or mind. Some Attributes, like Strength and Dexterity, are probably in most ttrpgs that exist. Others I hope are more unique, like Alchemy. Skills exist underneath an associated Attribute. Brawl is associated with Strength, Metaphysics is associated with Knowledge, and so on. Anyway here's Wonderwall a list of the Attributes and Skills that are currently in the game.

Strength

Athletics

Brace

Brawl

Labor

Dexterity

Acrobatics

Dodge

Sleight of Hand

Stealth

Cunning

Animal Handling

Cooking

Glibness

Insight

Intimidation

Vitality

Endurance

Perception

Resistance

Survival

Knowledge

History

Religion

Machinery

Medicine

Metaphysics

Alchemy

Chemistry

Magical Constructs

Potioncraft

Spellcraft

Toxicology

The main reason it's set up like this is because I personally like the Attribute / Skill way of representing characters in adventure type ttrpgs, and it's also what I'm used to for the most part. The reasoning for tying Skills to Attributes in an explicit way like this is largely due to the kind of dice system that I'm using, which means Attributes and Skills need each other to work and you can't actually roll any Attribute on its own.

There are some skills in interesting spots, as well as some more enigmatic skills that I'd like to point out here. Cooking being a Cunning skill rather than a Knowledge skill was quickly pointed out by one of my friends when I came up with this list, and while I do see a world in which that makes sense, the way I personally cook is by "feel" more than following specific recipes. I like to make up new dishes and work with weird stuff when I can, and so Cooking makes more sense under Cunning to me.

One of the more enigmatic skills is Metaphysics, which is one of the fun "your GM will let you use this skill but only if they're cool" skills, like Religion and History. Here's the explanation of Metaphysics straight out of the PDF.

Metaphysics is your ability to identify and understand metaphysical phenomena, and your general knowledge thereof. This includes understanding and identifying bridges to other universes, what happens to spirits when they are rent from the body as well as what they are made of, and wrapping your head around phenomena and forms of magic that can bend the local laws of physics.

I will say nothing of Alchemy except that it is the magical skill and most of the skills under Alchemy are used in various Alchemical disciplines to craft very interesting magical things. I will cover this in excruciating detail in a future post, as it's one of the parts of the system that I personally am the most excited about.

Characters? In my Fantasy TTRPG? It's more likely than you think.

Characters in Prima Materia are a collection of statistics, narrative writing, and skills. - The PDF

We've already talked about some of the statistics that make up a character, being the Attributes and Skills, but this is one of the last things that goes into making a character. The first thing that you do when making a character is choosing a species. Each character also has an age, size, speed, and fine manipulators (Hands or hand-like appendages). They have unique traits based on what species they are as well, for example, Narud have an exoskeleton and thus natural armor. Ternaki are more resistant to diseases and poisons. Sepia can trick people into thinking they're objects. I think a fun way to talk about this would be to talk about how I made Dr Hugh Mann, the character that I'm currently using in playtesting. Dr Hugh Mann is, of course, a human. He gets all the goodies that humans get from being human. Actually, here's one of the unique traits that humans get because I think it's neat.

Social Creature: You may choose a creature with which you believe you have bonded. When taking a course of action to help or defend this creature, you gain a +2 modifier to rolls pertaining to that goal. During a short rest, you may socialize with this creature and gain an extra die to any one roll until your next short rest. You may change the creature with which you are bonded during a short rest.

Humans will pack bond with anything.

You then choose a profession, which is a suite of skills you can unlock over the course of the game. The current professions in the game are Alchemist, Magi, Martial Artist, Physician, Prophet, and Vessel. I'll talk about these in more detail in a future post; but a character's profession says a great deal about how they interact with the world. Dr Hugh Mann is, of course, a Physician.

After this, a background is chosen which gives you some more things to put on your character sheet. Dr Hugh Mann has the Carnie background, and this is where my imagination went off the deep end into backstory for him as a character.

Hugh, a he/him nonbinary human, traveled with a carnival for a while offering his Physician services both to the other performers and at a cheap rate for anyone who would come on stage with him during his performance. His act consists of dressing as his drag persona, Mel Praxis, and using his assistant (whom he may have just treated an hour ago) to engage in magic acts in which he pretends to cut them open with a scalpel and pull out, say, 100 feet of multicolored handkerchiefs that have been tied together end to end.

Mechanically, this means he has very good Medicine and Sleight of Hand skills, and while he's good at a few other things, he's fairly specialized into these skills at level 1, and there are several skills he is worse than bad at and will likely not improve much.

A few of my friends have also made characters that they really enjoy, including a Ternaki Alchemist who's in a self-imposed exile, and a Human Fusilier who worked mostly as a cook for their company.

Although the math and things are still being worked on to make the system work mechanically as intended, this is to me a very good sign. The system so far seems to make people excited about the character's they're making, and that was the foremost design goal.

As always, thanks for reading all this. Next week I'll will either be about combat or Ternaki lore (and mechanics). Contingent on whether I can playtest combat by next week.

I'm also working on a website where I can host the PDFs and some forms for playtesting, so that could be a thing soon! I was hoping to have it up today so I could release the Character Creation playtest with the Character Creation blog post but alas, technical issues ensued and things don't always work out the way I want them to.

[thesiltverses]

I have a question AND a little gratitude to express. First, The Silt Verses became my favourite podcast a few months ago because it's so validating to know I'm not awful for making awful, eldritch fiction. For the question: I know humans can't understand the gods, but how much do they understand us? Like the Watcher in the Wings, does it "get" the performance or is it only there for murder and discomfort? Do they "speak" to us or are those whispers our attempt at understanding the unfathomable?

Hey and thank you so much!

You’re definitely not awful, and I think it’s really important to affirm that awful fiction is a wonderful and powerful thing. It performs a truly valuable artistic function in helping us to interrogate and process our complicated, angry, sometimes shameful thoughts and feelings about a frequently awful world.

(But equally, awful fiction also deserves to exist beyond any of that, just because it can be fun sometimes to explore the monstrous, mean-spirited, dreadful and absolutely gross, and that should be more than enough).

So please, fuck to hell any implied ‘art should only be morally instructive, or conclude with hope, or a celebration of the human spirit, and if you create "bad" art you might just be a bad person’-style messaging you might have seen out there in the wild - it still seems to circle a lot online but so many horror creators have spoken passionately and furiously about how stifling and rotten and false it is, and long may they do so.

I really hope the awful eldritch fiction is incredible to write and is exactly as awful as it needs to be.

To your actual question - do the gods understand humans in The Silt Verses? 

I don’t know. The gods are depicted in line with my general state of beleaguered agnosticism and apophenia - the desperate need to believe that there’s something out there that understands me and knows my heart, my fear and suspicion that I could spend a lifetime seeing patterns that aren’t really there to feed that need, my wonder at ‘miracles’ or wondrous coincidences that are likely just random motions in the fugue…

Because the story is meant to be coming from that place of universal doubt, it’s important to me that there’s no ‘true’ answer in my own head. The gods could be speaking to our characters, or our characters could be fooling themselves, seeing the mechanistic, hunger-led or arbitrary actions of a (supernaturally-empowered) animal and interpreting them as something more. We get conflicting suggestions of both.

The Watcher in the Wings is quite a funny example, though, because it actually doesn’t do anything directly, other than beat its wings. 

Hembry is convinced that the wing-beating signifies applause, and that something terrible will happen if he doesn’t satisfy it, but there’s no real proof that it will, and at the end the Watcher actually flees from him - he’s created that entire ecosystem of belief based on assumption, and (horribly) it might not have even been necessary in the first place.

[chaikachi]

Hi, Chai! I've been following you for a bit, mostly for the RG content, and I've recently seen you talk about your other non-RWBY interests when I realized that I'm really curious on what other media do you like? (Be it shows, movies, music, games, books, etc.)

Oughh this is a very good question. I'll put them under a read more cause I have a feeling I took this question too literally and it might get just a little bit long because of that. 💦

I'm generally very passive with the media I consume and only draw as much RWBY as I do because RG has had me in a vice grip since V8E1 and isn't letting go anytime soon. 💀 But I do engage with lots of other stuff too! This isn't an exhaustive list, just ones I like lots or re-watch often enough.

Anime

I probably watch this stuff more than anything else. My favourite of all time is probably The Eccentric Family, both seasons. The art direction and the messages of the story just hit very hard for me and I re-watch it pretty much every year. My second favourite is Kekkai Sensen (i prefer the first over second season as they switch directors).

As for others enjoy:

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood

Silver Spoon

Yona of the Dawn

Snow White with the Red Hair

Kyousogiga (recommend if you liked Kekkai Sensen)

A Lull in the Sea

Chaika the Coffin Princess [Now why does that name sound so familiar 🤔]

Anohana

Been really enjoying this season's shows and am looking forward to the Winter 2024 lineup (Dungeon Meshi and Yubisaki to Renren at the same time!!)

Shows

Dragon Prince

The Owl House

Good Omens

Games

Nier (2010),

Transistor

Pyre

Zelda Series (Ocarina of Time & Spirit Tracks are my favourites)

Nier: Automata

Honorary mentions to Grand Chase (an old MMO i used to be obsessed with), Avalon Code (a niche DS game that I really liked), Fire Emblem Awakening (a classic) and Animal Crossing (that I played like it was my day job in 2020).

Movies

Can only think of two live actions and the rest are animated/anime 😭

Stardust

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Howl's Moving Castle

HTTYD (1 & 2)

Kubo and the Two Strings

The Wind Rises

From Up on Poppy Hill

Penguin Highway

Books

I don't read as much as I did when I was a kid, but my top three are probably Runemarks, Howl's Moving Castle, and Stardust (I like the last two a lot because I liked their movies).

Webcomics

Used to be really into these and wanted to write my own before Webtoon kinda... gentrified the entire industry. But hey, I can still talk about some of my favourites!

Shaderunners (queer heist in a roaring 20sish setting)

Witchy (queer south East Asian inspired fantasy adventure)

Kochab (sapphic story between a skier that gets lost and meets a fire spirit I think? It's final updates are going up this month!)

Lady of the Shard (all time favourite. queer polyam lovestory between a goddess and her acolyte. Complete. I reread it every year, I love it so much. The rest of the authors work is also great, you might know them from Cucumber Quest).

Then lastly...

Music

I mostly listen to indie/folk more than anything else, with a bit of jazz/R&B thrown in for flavour. Favourite artists are probably:

San Fermin

Flock of Dimes/Wye Oak

Of Monsters & Men

Maggie Rogers

Florence & the Machine

Paper Kites

Matthew and the Atlas

Halsey

This list obviously isn't exhaustive because I have the memory of a goldfish but those are the highlights that came to mind at least.

Sorry for the long list, but thank you for the question!! It was fun to put all these in one place.

[agentangeles]

hello everyone please enjoy the first post i've made in my writing blog in easily 6 months and it's just to yell about the fucking center venn diagram point for two big fixations

now you might be wondering "angeles when you start moving towards other fandoms will you still be nootboots" and the answer is yes, its my brand, but also ace attorney has a fucking vice grip on my neurodivergent mentally ill ass

as a side note i am too much of an idiot to remember to read the manga but i know Points Of Interest and when I can sit for a good bit and consume it I will, so bear with my anime main knowledge

Anyways consider the concept of family clans in JJK and the Sahdmadhis and their shit in SOJ. Obviously, we see how shit happened with maki her sister and how that works, and clearly the clans are structured differently depending on the family (what the fuck is going on with gojo. love that funky little manic twink but. What.)

And yes, AA and JJK get to hold hands because of Higuruma, which means I now get to think of both of them and daydream about crossovers, and y'know what? In the JJK verse, you can reasonably explain so much shit, especially w/ Khurai'inism and bloodlines, because Khura'in's designated holy figure being a super cool badass hundreds of years ago with an equally badass sister? Sorcerers who kicked ass. Hella sorcerers who kicked ass. would be special grades without a doubt if they were alive today.

and like cursed techniques having genetic tie ins ALSO FUCKING SLAPS because that's a huge factor! you can also explain why the feys and the sahdmadhis have spirit channeling because *it's the same fucking bloodline* and it's not a stretch to say someone was kicked out of the clan, fucked off, and then those traits started popping up again in later generations

that aside, clan hierarchy also gives a nice port over from an actual extra country that capcom decided now exists, because instead of a ruling kingdom family it's a Big Fucking Clan With A Lot Of Weight To It

(And also makes sense then why when the revolution starts up, nobody steps in to do shit. interfering with another clan's family drama? no fucking thank you. not my paygrade.)

also i just think nahyuta would be really fun as a sorcerer and their rosary beads would DEFINITELY be a weapon for cursed spirits and their title as "last rites prosecutor" would doubly fuck

Unrelated to SOJ but still on the AA train, this also means that Simon Blackquill is just. Always busting out cursed techniques. And since nobody can see it they think he just slices shit with his fingers. And that's fucking hilarious to think about, the idea that someone probably got after him for it and he went "Consider this though: who is going to ask questions with the everything else i have going on", because Simon "Definitely Uses The >:3c Emoji When He Is Texting" Blackquill refuses to fucking listen to people.

"You're going to expose sorcerer society to the masses" Wrong. Everyone is going to think he can cut shit with his fingers because he's a scary samurai man who went to prison for murder and clearly this is something that tracks for that persona.

[yurisorcerer]

I don't have a lot to say about this, especially not anything tons of other people haven't said already. I like it and think it's pretty fun, except for the one obvious thing that isn't.

Which, to be honest, I don't want to dwell on in this post because I am not in the state of mind to write a delicate and well-considered thesis on the issue of using sexual assault as the stock Bad Thing That Happens To Girl, even accounting for the extent to which this show is clearly occupied with sex and gender as a theme.

To be honest, I think a lot of the appeal here actually just lies in how gonzo and generally out-there the subject matter is, having spirits in battle shonen is nothing new but the urban legends + aliens in a blender approach is fairly novel for this genre. It's very bizarre in a clearly very deliberate way, and as someone who used to read books called things like "Monsters, Giants, and Little Green Men From Mars" as a kid I don't want to discount how interesting it can be applied to something like this. But I do think that once you cut through that, what you're left with here is a pretty good and stylish action anime. Of the two of those I'm watching this season, I think Mecha-Ude might just edge this out for me (at least for now) but they're close. I like the main characters and they've got some great banter just in these two episodes. Also the soundtrack is killer, especially the ending theme, provided by my favorite band, ZUTOMAYO.

Somewhat snarky sidebar: I do wonder how all the people who kept making annoying comments about how "THIS is how the Chainsaw Man anime should have looked!!!" because of the lack of any CGI in the trailer are feeling after episode 2. I didn't really mind, but those people tend to be fickle.

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

What degree are you studying? :D

We’re taking intro classes to decide, but the gist is social science & DTC¹. If we’re right that we like all 3, we may do a general social science degree (allows 2 to 3 majors, but you get to pick upper division classes rather than having to do every single one for every single degree) & a DTC minor (or even go for a major, it depends on how close we are).

More specifically those three are Psychology (how brains generally work & how disorders affect that), Sociology (how large groups of people affect how the brain functions), & Human Development (how personal relationships² & the aging process affect how your brain works). Basically, we wanna know how people work & why they work that way, both to improve our social relationships & to hopefully create a low-cost social space (as in, low-cost to be there & have fun).

DTC helps us understand how tech works, & also is the umbrella where you can take animation/animated film & game design classes, which we’ll probably take. And if we do make games &/or films, we’ll then be able to apply our understanding of social relationships & how brains work to those projects. We’d love to make games/films with more (and more accurate) representation—we know a lot about D.I.D. and dissociation, & we know how our experiences of autism/ADHD affect us, we know how being queer affects our experiences, & we know how being physically disabled affects us, so we can apply those lenses & experiences to characters that feel more accurate, real, & in depth.

We’d like to have opportunities to work with BIPOC/BBIMP and other communities we don’t belong to so we can include their stories & struggles & experiences, but we don’t have the experience ourselves to do those people and stories justice.

But ¡yeah! It ties into our biggest special interest category (understanding how people work, & effective communication), & DTC includes another special interest category (storytelling/art). Using categories because there’s quite a bit underneath those (communication/how people work includes foreign languages (desire to be multilingual) as well as social sciences & anthropology; storytelling includes poetry, creative writing, films, art; etc.), but they generally fit together.

We’re taking sociology and human development 101 classes this semester, & we already took the 101 classes for psychology & DTC the last time we went. We’ll likely know by December (end of semester) whether we’re moving forward with all 4 or picking 2-3 🤷‍♂️.

(¹ Digital Technology & Culture - it’s a techy major, but it’s cross majored (don’t know the specific term for it) & requires 3 upper-division classes from a different field/major; social sciences would fulfill that requirement)

(² personal relationships as in Parent-Child Relationships & Family Roles (specific classes I saw), friendships, & other close personal relationships)

~Nico (Spirit co)

[justashamwithwastedpotential]

Stardew Mod Ideas I'm Working On

(And a few I'm thinking about)

1. Skylar NPC (WIP)

This is just me adding my farmer OC into Stardew as a friendable NPC. I started it as a personal thing for fun, but then people convinced me to actually share it so

Completed Things

Ridgeside Village Compatability

Generic Dialogue

A basic schedule

Gift Tastes

Festival Additions

Festival Dialogue

Dynamic Outfits (Seasonal/Location Based)

Sprite Animations

Things I need to add

Movie and Concession Tastes

Movie Dialogue

Dynamic Dialogue

Dynamic Schedule (don't want them hanging out in their friends' houses if you married their friends)

Schedule/Animation Dialogue

Heart Events (Still working on backstory/storyline details)

A map for their farm house (Sky just lives with Victor right now)

Compatability with East Scarp?

Compatability without Ridgeside Village (I made it to work with both Expanded and Ridgeside Village. Expanded is necessary, but RSV shouldn't have to be)

Future Plans

Adding Rhys the Fruit Bat as an NPC (I see many of you are fond of him)

Adding an event with Abby post her family event

Dynamic Festival Dialogue

Compatability with following mods

2. Foods I really want rn

(Call it a working title if you will.)

This mod is me adding foods that I like to the game. Most of it being Asian dishes + a few drinks I like.

Featuring

Foods

Spring Rolls

Summer Rolls

Pho

Bánh Mi

Bao Buns

Tofu (not sure if this is part of another mod already or not)

Green Bean Cassrole

Lychee Jelly

Chocolate

Potato Soup

Drinks

Hot Chocolate

Mocha

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Peppermint Mocha

Peppermint Tea

Crops I'll probably need to add

Soybeans (Maybe? Might also be in another mod)

Mint

Carrots

Cucumber

Lychee

Persimmon

Cocoa Bean

That's all I've got for that one. It will take me a lot of research so it's very much on the back burner for now.

3. Rival Heart Events

I've gotten kind of fond of these for other characters so I figured it would be fun to do it for mine.

Featuring

Sam and Sky

Lance and Sky (Don't expect anyone to use this. I mean why wouldn't you want to date him yourself)

Sam, Lance and Sky (don't expect this to be used for the same reason as above)

Victor and Sky (but Queerplatonically)

Each of these contains a few events and schedule/dialogue changes for the characters involved, eventually resulting in them moving into Sky's farmhouse.

4. Add Lance to Festivals (WIP)

I know Lance joins festivals when you're married, but since I'm making rival heart events, I think it would be cool to add him in once he reaches 6 hearts like some of the other NPCS.

This also leaves him open for more dynamic dialogue.

Featuring

Generic Dialogue

Dating Dialogue

Engaged Dialogue

Married Dialogue

Rival Heart Dialogue

Addition to Resolution of Embers Festival

Commentary from Skylar

Here are some images from when I was testing. (Please ignore their incorrect positions and the fact they Skylar's sprite is wrong lmao)

Skylar's Spirit's Eve Dialogue

Lance at Festivals Dialogue

5. Skylar to NPC Adventures (Almost Complete)

I know I've talked about this one before, but adding Skylar as a companion for the NPC Adventures mod!

Featuring dialogue for multiple locations including Vanilla Areas and Expanded.

Currently working on adding dialogue for Ridgeside and East Scarp, and determining if Skylar should be a spiritual pacifist (keeps monsters from attacking for a period of time) or a warrior to help with combat.

6. Kent to NPC Adventures (low-key abandoned wip, but I might pick it back up)

Same thing as above tbh, but for Kent because he's a member of the Adventurer's Guild and my dad and I want to go on expeditions and fish, and he deserves it! [End rant]

Things I still need to do

Write dialogue for more locations (difficult because I don't see Kent as someone who talks a lot)

Add a fishing animation (idk how to do this, someone please help if you know)

That's all I have going right now. I hope this was enlightening for anyone who was curious.

[pumpkinnning]

Solarpunk??? Bad dog?? Also red??? Ik it’s greedy to ask all three but???

~rolling-restart

Hiii 😁 no not at all !

I answered solarpunk here.

Rest under the cut because very long

Red was a working title for the first sebchal fic i ever thought of. I took out a lot of the worldbuilding ideas for other fics so I will probably not write this one but who knows. This AU takes place in a dark fantasy post apocalyptic dystopia, in a city surrounded by malignant darkness full of monsters that is constantly trying to devour the city. The city is defended by ten magic houses that are each devoted to a minor god/spirit ; each house is headed by two Riders that work together to harness the power of their god so that they can go out and battle and push back the darkness, sometimes gaining new ground and sometimes losing it. It is said that one day one of the Riders will achieve Apotheosis by melding with their god entirely and manage to vanquish the darkness forever, freeing humanity from its curse. We follow Charles as he becomes Seb's partner and learns to be a Rider - worshipped like a demi-god by the population, but also the heavy cost of failure and learning that this power comes with heavy chains. This is a dark world full of manipulation and intrigue so their relationship starts out as very toxic but somehow they end up finding real tenderness and decency in each other. And then of course stuff goes down ! Ahhh this was fun honestly. I wish i could write three times as fast I have so !!!!! Many ! Ideas !!!

Bad dog was my attempt to write a straight up horror dead dove fic, but after putting the plot down and a few scenes I was like. This would be really interesting psychologically but i don't know if I have the stomach for it. In this one Seb works for the mob and his boss asks him to figure out who has been brutally murdering a lot of his collaborators and assets. Turns out that it's Charles, the ward of the old boss himself - known for being a dissolute party animal and a general mess, but this is probably a facade. Seb figures he's a genius with something seriously wrong with him but feels somewhat responsible because after all, they created this monster. Instead of killing him as he is ordered to, he convinces his bosses he can "rehabilitate" him and channel these violent tendencies so they can use them.

So he takes Charles to an isolated compound so he can break him down and mold him into something better but instead it's Charles that ends up getting in his head and convinces Seb to set him free so they can take down the rest of the mob together, especially as Charles shares his reasons for wanting to do so.

I think the cat and mouse psychological aspect would be fascinating ; I do love the "villains in love" thing where they're both horrible people but they get each other and descend into this shared madness, the Hannibal/Killing Eve vibes etc but honestly this would have gone into extremely dark territory and idk that i want to stay in that headspace for too long.

[guiltycorp]

jjk 236 manga spoilers !!! -

Extremely funny how the high school reunion party followed by Gojo's body reveal was framed in that way for the sole reason that this shocking resolution would have been boring as fuck if done straightforwardly hahaha... Honestly i still believe in the potential of Gojo turning into a cursed spirit (because that obvious aspect of the world-building hasn't been delivered on WHATSOEVER yet) or the next 6 eyes somehow being immediately ready to throw down, but i no longer believe that any of it will be written well.

A thing that has been bothering me for a while due to spending too much time on twitter is how shonen bros are very keen on praising the technical aspect of the magic system in jjk, how the fights are so good they balance out the lack of emotional weight. ...but was any of the fighting actually good on that technical shonen level? There are a lot of implications about how various Heian era sorcerers came up with techniques and items that are used today but none of it has any real elegance since every new technique and artifact just conveniently came up whenever characters needed to use them. Did Toji's possession of Inverted Spear make sense? Suuure, and maybe it has some ties to Angel whose technique maybe helped to make it. Doesn't change the fact that it was introduced purely to have a way to deal with Gojo's infinity and Geto's curses. And even the attempt to bring back Yuta-Rika bond in terms of Toji-Worm made no real sense since Rika was created by and bound to Yuta intrinsically while Toji just... tamed and trained the Worm off-screen somehow? Why would Geto's technique not work on it then, how is it different from some cursed spirits being loyal to themselves or the places they are guarding. His use of cursed spirits is clearly different from a regular 'taming' situation. And similar problems happen with techniques like Simple Domain or Falling Blossom, they were just ~invented~ in the past somehow so now people can use that. How do they actually work and why can't people come up with their own bullshit techniques then? Well don't worry about it, it might come up again or probably won't because there is no need for that pesky logic in our magic worldbuilding systems. You could even say that the absence of sense and balance is on purpose since the story on the whole is about how everything is Unfair, but it's not like that's communicated well either so? At this point it feels like anything can happen and not in a good way. Gojo got sealed in a poignant emotional way that im looking forward to in the anime but then... he got released by some convenient technique from a new character? Then didn't give much of a reaction to his plans falling apart in front of him, didn't acknowledge Megumi's situation beyond what it meant for the fight (nothing acknowledging how he both lost one of his strongest potential assets and how he participated in robbing both Megumi and Tsumiki of their youth - this at least might come up in a flashback alongside Nobara's situation, if Nobara is 100% dead then the writing is even shittier for not bringing her up properly), went to have a fun fight, had fun and died rip. Even his dying hallucinations were a generic pat-on-the-back 'u did well haha it's great that u had fun' rather than anything meaningful. You could say Gege is salty towards Gojo specifically but it's not like other main characters are faring any better so far... Yuji vs Sukuna is set up in a way where it's just too simple of a straightforward revenge battle with the side of getting Megumi back or killing him, the only thing we can look forward to really. And i can't be excited about Kenjaku vs anyone bc it's not like Yuji ever showed any interest in his parentage (and no mommy issues agh) or got to know Gojo's backstory or anything that would have given him a personal interest in going against Kenjaku at all and none of the other characters have personal beef with Kenjaku either... Like, Yuta a little, but much less so now that Kenjaku is just another big villain for everyone to defeat rather than 'need to kill him myself so that gojo doesn't have to'. Sukuna vs Kenjaku could also be fun if we learned about their past but a Heian flashback would probably just make the story even less engaging at this point. Plus any fight will still do a bunch of that 'actually i had THIS technique/item/skill all this time or i just came up with it even!!' Probably that's what's going to happen with unrevealed Sukuna techniques and Yuki's research. Yeahhh anyway...

[hisui-cotton]

About 4 or 5 years ago I came across a short series called Shamanic Princess and was really enchanted by it. I wanted to to do at least a small write up on it because while it is only about 6 episodes the story is fairly concise. They pack a lot of atmosphere and interesting design/worldbuilding in just a few episodes and it's just really nice. It's not a perfect series by any means but if you're looking for something with interesting character work to check out, this is one I'd recommend and say has the biggest draw because of how the characters bounce off each other. Right now it's available on Crunchyroll but if you're resourceful I'm sure you can find somewhere else if you need to!

The anime today is Shamanic Princess, a short OVA series by Triangle Staff. There was a short time where Crunchyroll had gotten a bunch of older anime and so I decided I’d check some of them out. This was one I appealed to me because of how few episodes it happened to have, I assumed it may have been something similar to Blue Submarine, where it was a series cancelled before it was done or rushed but the story seems to have a complete round out. As most OVAs go, the experimentation of animation, unique storyline, and overall production makes for a really compelling short series overall. It takes it’s own fun spin on the magical girl genre too taking the “magic” part to be almost tangible rituals.

From a very ominous start we’re introduced to the world of magic that shamanic princess is takes place in with almost persona like shadows lurking about. Tiara, our protagonist, seems to be on alert yet also a bit bratty in some ways too, almost princess like, especially so for a college student. Following what turns out to be a bad scouting mission, Tiara returns home to her “castle” to sleep. The big draw from here on is the missing parts of the story, Tiara is on a mission to “capture” Sarah, whom she almost somberly confronts in her dreams. The next morning she is transferring into a new college, meets an old rival, Lena, to whom we find is also well aware of what Tiara’s mission seems to revolve around. The most OVA like part of this episode comes in this following night. The characters have what seems like a playful rivalry and it only comes to confirm that the characters are not just rivals in this mission but enemies. They fight harshly with spirit creatures they summon and begin to ramp up the fight only for Tiara to be interrupted by Kagetsu, the man who has stolen the Throne of Yord and is using it on Sarah. He doesn’t enter the conversation, or conflict, beyond impeding Tiara. It’s after when Tiara retreats and Lena approaches Kagetsu that their alliance is confirmed and that Lena lays forth that she’ll kill Tiara if she needs to. The episode concludes with a follow up fight where Tiara finally goes to her full power.

A lot of the formula between this episode and the next is this power play. Tiara and Lena going back and forth between their fight and feelings for Kagetsu’s situation. Tiara is the obviously more powerful to Lena and yet Lena is the one standing by Kagetsu. In time we also learn that Kagetsu and Lena were is love, that something separated them and now Kagetsu has taken something from their magical society that is powerful enough to put all three in this conflict. Fairly obviously I suppose, this leads to a love Triangle of sorts, not just where the girls find conflict in love for Kagetsu but where they find the idea of love in eachother similarly. In a lot of ways this is also what kept me around in the story where I could understand each characters desire for connection and love in the way they’ve seen it through each other.

I really love the overall atmosphere through the story though. Theres this feeling of almost cyclical longing throughout the the atmosphere of the story, whether it’s romantic, nostalgic or just to connect with someone in general. Everyone feels lost in there sense of what they want and unsure, yet they know there is something they feel a longing for. In the classes there are two particular moments where this longing is somewhat reflected between Lena and Tiara. When Tiara watches Lena in class, it’s while they have a lecture on the beauty in conceptual ideas like functionalism and rationalism, Tiara even later reflecting she envied Lena, likely for that sense of maturity she emanates and natural sense for logic. Likewise when Lena looks to Tiara they have a lecture on the greek story of Daphne, the nymph turned to a tree. In it Apollo is plauged by cupid’s curse to pursue Daphne who is uniterested in him. In a final act she calls to her father a river god and asks for his help. In hopes that it will save her from Apollo’s pursuit, her father turns her to a tree. Although Lena’s power better fits the story of the girl turned to a tree, I think that Lena’s view on Kagetsu is what’s really in reference here. Lena feels this ever present longing of affection and desire and sees that in Kagestu. Yet it seems that Kagestu only has affection for Tiara and so Lena is left alone with that desire. Even when Lena’s thinking of Kagestu though, there is this feeling of Tiara being the focus of it. She knows the place of Tiara’s affection among the sibilings and recognizes that Tiara did her best to accept Lena into that space. As a result I feel both’s feelings end up being more about eachother than their situation, where they envy the other’s ability to react a certain way to their predicament and as a result pursue that for themselves in the series. They strive to better themselves by becoming eachother in some ways, they see what the other does wrong and yet also see everything that is wonderful about them.

The story definitely tries to rush it’s climax. Just as the story pushes it’s emotional confrontation it spends too much time overexplaining why it is emotional. It tries to play with it as being a taunt from the Throne but it takes so much time and limits so much of the action that it ends up falling flat. It should also be noted a lot of the reviews and notes on this series you’ll see likely say things along the lines of “watch episode 5 and 6 first then 1-4” but I’d say that isn’t necessary. In some ways it spoils the mystique and focus on the emotional story telling of episodes 1-4. You don’t truly have to understand the backstory to understand the emotional stakes of a story. Those episodes are still worth the watch, just don’t feel too pressured to do it in the “5-6, 1-4” order because people say it should have been done that way. You honestly could watch just the first 4 episodes and feel like you have a classic OVA experience of a short contained story by the same logic of watching them out of order. But I’d still recommend it if you like “dark magical girl” as an aesthetic, it’s not too dark but still carries a good maturity in it’s story telling with interesting magical elements. If you have the time and just want to try an older anime, I’d say this is an interesting one to check out.

[demonslayedher]

HI! Buriko-senpai, lately ive been to interested in japan and its whole history (one of the reasons being your blog because its so fascinating how much of kny is connected to japanese folklore and history) so i wanted to know if you would have some recs for me to learn japanese or its history... though its fine if it cant be answered bc this isnt much of a kny ask, still, thank you for inspiring me to learn about japanese culture and also throw me down the rabbit hole that is kny (❤´艸｀❤)

Sup!! So glad I can inspire aspiring Japanese folklorists/aficionados/scholars! Or weebs, that's fine, let's own that term. And that totally is one of the things I love about KnY, it has so many connections to real life culture and lore!

When it comes to learning a language, the first step is asking yourself your goals. If you want to attain professional fluency you can expect to devote a lot of time and money to serious language acquisition, but if you want to be conversational and make friends, this is easier to do through dedicated self-study. It's also okay to just want to know travel basics, and to forget them all after taking a trip abroad! I've always taken hardcore textbook routes with the languages I wanted to hardcore acquire, and I've never used Duolingo or Rosetta Stone but I've liked Mango for gaining conversational travel phrases (which I made good use of while traveling and then forgot everything after traveling). What I suggest for self-study is finding an audio-course which you may be able to find at your local library, like Pimsleur, so you can play it on repeat and mimic and respond to what you hear. If you want an app for the writing system, I liked KanjiBox back in the day, and prior to that I used Tuttle Language Library kana/kanji workbooks. And for my other personal tips on language, see here! My tips do include active listening while watching anime. As for Japanese history, bill wurtz already has you covered in nine minutes, but gaining a general image of the different times periods and their order helps to build a framework for appreciating anime set in different time periods, as well as to tie famous places and people to their context. To take it further and fill in gaps in understanding, timelines of events can help, as long as they are focused on what will aid your understanding as opposed to, say, cramming for a Nerd Test. Wikipedia rabbit holes of bios of historical figures are also lots and lots and lots of fun.

As for deeper explorations of cultural topics and the history behind them, I've got my old blog about San-in region stories and adventures but it looks horrific with the Photobucket watermark all over everything. That said, you should still be able to download the silly and educational Kojiki mythology comics to avoid those watermarks, though. (Do note that my focus was only myths which took place in the San-in region, so like, a third of them, but not the whole Kojiki/Nihonshoki/Fudoki.)* *On this note, if I could ask Gotouge one question, it would be, "Did you happen to see my drawing of Kagutsuchi and did that influence the spirits inside Tanjiro's inner space????"

As for places I recently enjoy gaining insights, two of my go-to YouTube channels for this lately are Linfamy (watch out for dirty jokes everywhere, though I find his wording hilarious) and Let's Ask Shogo (I like how his explanations are straightforward and clear for general audiences, but still rich with detail).

Something that's been fun with the KnY phenomena is that it brings out all the nerds, and I learn so much from people putting out unofficial KnY books to introduce more of their knowledge specialties just because they can frame it with a KnY focus, or theorists who see connections in canon with existing lore that don't stand out to me. Part of the reason writing this blog is fun is because I get to bridge the language gap and tell people in the English speaking fandom cool things that people are saying in the Japanese fandom!