#Bog Witches United

[bogwitchesunited]

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH YOU DELIGHTFUL LITTLE GOOBS!!!!

Remember to love yourselves and to throw rocks at CEOs!

[bogwitchesunited]

Did you remember to cover your orb before leaving the hutch?

[bogwitchesunited]

I feel the winds changing.... the air cools, the leaves turn....

oh yeah. Its autumn

time to get boggy

[bogwitchesunited]

hehehehehehehe they don't know I'm the only employee to treat

*starts eating massive stack of sandwiches*

[weaselandfriends]

Okay, the aformentioned second post:

1, In Cockatiel x Chameleon, there's no credits page, unlike with your other works. Do you have any list of chapter title credits somewhere? I'd be curious on that, I recognise a few of them.

2, In Chicago, you depict a group of magical girls plotting to overthrow the US government. As this was published in 2018-19, I assume you had access to depict Donald Trump as the sitting President, but you chose to set it during Obama's presidency instead. Any specifics reasons for that? Did you just want it to be in 2013-14 for other reasons and that was collateral?

3, I see you have read the Magical Girl Raising Project novels (and the anime, but I prefer the novels over the anime lmao). What are your thoughts on them? Which point have you gotten up to? Did you know that they're fully complete and released in official English now? I'm a big fan and they're pretty obscure overall when compared to other stuff, so I was surprised to see you cite them in one chapter title of yours.

4, Finally, do you have any solid plans for your next book after When I Win the World Ends?

Most of the chapter titles are original. Two, Me!Me!Me! and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, are references, but those references are glossed within CxC itself by Gramme's footnotes. For the other chapter titles that are references:

Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymotherfuckers is from this Aesop Rock song.

The two titles that start with "Harper goes to Hell" are modeled on the 1993 film Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.

Entartete Kunst is a reference to the Nazis' degenerate art exhibit.

HELL OF SWALLOWED?! is the title of a series of snake vore hentai doujins. (I will not be linking to this.)

The title of Part I, Nothing to Nothing, is a reference to a quote from King Lear: "Nothing will come of nothing: speak again." Part III, End of History, is a reference to the 1991 essay by Francis Fukuyama.

While not exactly a reference, "Teatime witches who sneer at the uninitiated" is meant to evoke Umineko.

"Trees part; an idol emerges: She" evokes She by H. Rider Haggard, and more specifically the reference to She in Stephen King's Misery.

"Scrape of the cane" is modeled on the Homestuck song Swing of the Clock.

"Welcome to a land of magic" is a slightly altered quote from the first volume of Magical Girl Raising Project (more on that later this ask); the actual quote is "Welcome to a world of dreams and magic."

Other references, like those to Persephone or the Soviet Union, are probably well known enough to not require a gloss.

2. Two reasons. First, Fargo was set in 2013, the height of the Williston shale oil boom that is central to Fargo's first arc. (I also started writing Fargo in 2015, when 2013 was close enough that it basically seemed like the same time period.) Chicago is set immediately after Fargo, and even has some returning characters like Cicero. If I really wanted to, I probably could have stretched Chicago's setting to the Trump era, but the second reason I didn't was to give it some political distance from the Trump administration. Chicago is in many ways a product of the Trump years, but I didn't want the story to get bogged down in the swamplike minutiae of Donald Trump himself, and all the very charged political and aesthetic associations he carries. There's a reason there wasn't a single good Trump parody made during the time Trump was actually in office, and I did not consider myself up to the task of changing that trend. Beyond just that, there's something archetypally "presidential" about Barack Obama from a purely aesthetic standpoint that makes him a fitting stand-in for the United States political system as a whole. If the final chapter of Chicago involved Donald Trump giving a "return to normalcy" speech instead of Barack Obama, it would be a far different vibe, regardless of how you feel about either of those figures politically. (Also, throughout the entire time writing Chicago, I had that video of Obama wielding the Chaos Emeralds in my mind.)

3. I'm a major fan of Magical Girl Raising Project. I even wrote an essay that compared it to Madoka Magica. I am fully caught up on the series and own every book, as my updated magical girl shelf shows:

I got into the series through the anime, which adapts the first book in the series plus some side material from the fourth book, and I got into the rest of the series through my friend PlatFleece, who did a bunch of fan translations of the books before Yen Press made official releases. I actually really love the anime, though it's in some ways not fully indicative of the rest of the series. The anime is basically a magical girl battle royale, and it's one of the few battle royales that actually understands the core appeal of the genre. I'm totally annoyed by fake battle royales like Hunger Games or Mirai Nikki that are, in actuality, simply a series of challenges for the main character to overcome, with side characters virtually not mattering beyond their interactions with the lead. To me, a true battle royale should be an ensemble, and one that really surprises you with which characters die and in which order; any battle royale that follows a typical progression of killing off characters in order of irrelevance is a complete failure of the genre. The anime of Magical Girl Raising Project is excellent at not only surprisingly killing off major-seeming characters early on, but also having seeming cannon fodder characters make deep runs with unexpected impact on the whole affair. That's exactly what a battle royale should be like.

What's impressive about Magical Girl Raising Project as a series is how it continually reinvents itself with each arc. The first arc is a battle royale, the second arc is a murder mystery, the third arc is a season of 24 (this is the best arc, and the one I took the Cleveland Quixotic chapter title from), the fourth arc is a survival horror, and so on. And over the course of these arcs, the series gradually develops this fascinating world that is kafkaesque and bureaucratic in nature, with a labyrinthine magical girl government divided into endless departments and political factions. Magical Girl Raising Project is unique among dark magical girl series in that there is nothing innately bad about being a magical girl; you're not doomed to die like in Madoka or punished for using your powers like in Site or Yuuki Yuna. Being a magical girl gives you no-downsides superpowers and even increases your lifespan (there are some characters who have been alive since Victorian England), and the government's intended purpose for creating magical girls is simply to help people. The series is interesting in how it indicates spectacular consequences of fairly humdrum bureaucracies and political systems acquiring the power of magical girls; most conflicts, especially from the third arc on, are caused by government factions playing chess games for power, and most of the recurring antagonists originally sought to reform the government before themselves getting mired in and corrupted by its political games.

Of course, it's also a character meat grinder, fully willing to kill off characters both minor and major, even load bearing characters who drastically warp the status quo via their absence, and that's something else I really like. There's a hilarious tug of war between the series' author and illustrator, the former writing the story before the character designs have been created, and the latter consistently giving some of the best and most interesting designs to the characters who get axed first.

It's unfortunate the series isn't more popular and got really unfairly kicked into the "Madoka Magica ripoff" bucket by undiscerning critics (it's really nothing like Madoka beyond the basic idea of dark magical girls). Chicago is in many ways a stealth Magical Girl Raising Project fanfic, with its focus on government and bureaucracy, as well as its "harder" magic system. Even Clownmuffle's name is very MagiPro-esque.

4. I'm already hard at work on 1 Over X, my next story. Yesterday I finished the rough draft of my outline for it, so I will probably start writing within a month or so. It's a horror story set at an elite all girls boarding school in New England, where the richest of the rich attend. The story begins as four girls sneak out of the school to attend a Halloween party...

[bogwitchesunited]

Ah yes, one of our many information centres

Only the best for our staff

[ladytabletop]

If I may be so bold as to request two: a 1d10 list of heroic deeds a barbarian must accomplish to prove his/her honor. and 1d10 Dwarven folk tales.

Heroic Deeds as Tests of Merit

Climb the highest peak and retrieve a single egg from the snow eagle's nest. Raise the eaglet until it is grown.

Set aside weapons of all kind and traverse the continent from one end to another.

Hold up a waterfall.

Construct a bridge to unite two villages. Accept no help. Use no tools.

Race a cheetah and win.

Retrieve the shield of an ancient warrior, long sunk beneath a deadly whirlpool.

Slay a dragon and carve its skull into a cottage.

Find the bog witch and live with her for a year and a day, doing whatever she bids.

Find a fallen star and bring it to the king.

Scale the Tower and discover what is hidden within.

Dwarven Folk Tales

The Lady of Under is a figure of myth every dwarven child knows about. They say she comes from the deeps, from the very center of the earth, covered in the glitter of mineral and the dust of stone, to grant sweet dreams to those who are sleeping.

Have you heard the tale of the Lovers of Malachite? The trio separated by distance and politics? Their story is a tragic one, for when their knocked messages were heard by the kings of their respective nations, they were locked away forever.

Shadowmoles aren't real. They aren't! They're a made up creature used to explain away miners losing things in the tunnels. Some even say depth sickness is blamed on them.

They say there was once a dwarf so talented on the guitar that even tallfolk were enchanted. If you are lost and hear music, know that it is his songs guiding you.

Efri the Rash was a dwarf so strong and so quick to anger, they say she carved the vast canyon we now live in in a fit of pique after her prize badger was slain.

If you're very quiet near a tunnel's entrance, and the wind whistles across it, you can hear the weeping of a king under the mountain, now long dead. His spirit wanders above ground, unable to return home because of a curse.

Dwarves once were able to swim in the lava flows found deep underground, but a trickster god in the form of a tunnelworm robbed them of their fire immunity. That's why tunnelworms can now swim in lava lakes.

If legend is true, twas a dwarf that hung the moon and the sky. She so loved the stars that she gifted them a great rock to be near them. Some say her bones lie at the moon's center.

If ever you fall into a sinkhole, you have been chosen by the earth to hear and interpret her words. They say you will come back stronger and wiser - but forever changed.

The glowlark flowers that bloom in the caves only grow where a giant's tears have fallen as it laid down for final rest to let its body turn to stone.

all d10 random lists

[restlesschilled]

TmagP 011 reaction

Note: I am a backer so this was made on 9th April, and set to post on 11th April

Pre statement- Celia's phone

sorry what... "again?"

celia you good?

whose jack?

what

Pre statement- Oiar office

"good morning [night]"

THIS OR ANY OTHER WORLD???

okay what was that sound at 4:39? after alice said "its nothing"

"Alice.... was that a lie?"

WHOS FOLLOWING ALICE

WHAT

THERE IT IS AGAIN

ooo walking her home hmmm?

Case/Statement "and were off"

chester <3

...dig

"units" for coffins is very interesting

oh shit

WAIT SAILORS

UM

LONELY TATTOO

"the waves are so close and getting closer"

calling it now its a lonely graveyard that is punishing those who are digging her up

KRACKEN?????? PLEASE BE A KRACKEN

oh its the vast

ITS THE VAST

"the deep will care for his bone"

"My thoughts and opinions on maritime matters will no longer be included in my emails." AHGRFWGJFERA

"I want to see the body again. I dug him up, he’s my responsibility. I just need to see it. I need to know what’s in the water."FUCK

CHEST GOT GRUFF FUCK IM SCARED

OKAY CAPTAIN AHAB

Post Case

SAME HAT SAM

the sound again

"Oh, but I am concerned. So very concerned. I can’t decide if you look more like a bog witch with caffeine withdrawal or that Cheddar Gorge mummy." ALICE JESUS FUCK

new elditch sound unlocked and celia is making it happen too

*Alice takes a breath for a devastating putdown.*

Lena's office

ummmm... what?

"externals"

Final Thoughts

I.... I have questions....

[bogwitchesunited]

YOU HAVE A FACE?!?!?

... sort of?!

I was thinking this was gonna stay a mascotless blog-

Uhh... yes I do? Most beings have faces, right? Some even have multiple, such cerberuses and hydras

I guess I haven't properly introduced myself yet, and I might as well since I'm the only staff at the moment....

Yeah! Hi! You can call me the Crow Witch, or Crow for short!

[kkevnguyen]

The will-o'-the-wisp, also known by its more mystical name "ignis fatuus," or "foolish fire," has long been a part of global folklore. These mysterious lights that appear at night over marshes and bogs have intrigued and terrified people for centuries. Different cultures have woven their own stories around these ethereal lights, often depicting them as mischievous spirits or supernatural beings.

In European folklore, will-o'-the-wisps were believed to be the restless spirits of the dead or tricky fairies. In England, tales often described them as the souls of the wicked, condemned to wander the earth, luring travelers into treacherous swamps. Across the globe in Japan, a similar phenomenon called "Hitodama" was considered the manifestation of the souls of the deceased, appearing as small, floating fireballs. Even in the Southern United States, tales of "ghost lights" or "spook lights" capture a similar eerie essence.

The allure of the will-o'-the-wisp isn't confined to old tales; it has found a place in modern pop culture as well. In Pixar's Brave (2012), the will-o'-the-wisps are enchanting, blue ethereal lights guiding the protagonist, Merida, toward her fate. These wisps are pivotal, leading her to the witch's cottage and sparking the adventure. Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcherseries, known for its rich tapestry of mystical landscapes, also features will-o'-the-wisps, adding to the treacherous and magical world that Geralt of Rivia navigates. Even in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, they get a mention as misleading lights that cause travelers to become lost in the dark depths of the Forbidden Forest.

But what if these lights aren’t supernatural at all? Science offers some compelling explanations. One theory suggests that the lights are caused by the combustion of gases like methane and phosphine, produced by the decay of organic matter in marshes and bogs. These gases can ignite spontaneously in the presence of oxygen, creating the flickering lights often attributed to spirits. Another possibility is bioluminescence from certain fungi or insects, casting a ghostly glow in the dark. Then there's the psychological aspect; our brains are wired to find patterns, especially in the eerie, uncertain dark. This tendency, known as pareidolia, can make us see lights or shapes where there are none.

While the scientific explanations are convincing, the will-o'-the-wisp remains a potent symbol of the unknown. It taps into a primal part of our psyche, a fascination with the mysterious and the supernatural. Whether you believe in the literal existence of these wandering lights or see them as a natural phenomenon, their presence in stories across cultures speaks to a shared human experience. They remind us of the enchantment that still exists in the world, just beyond the reach of our understanding.

WEEK 5

[zooterchet]

Chet Steals From DC Comics (Candy from Maggie Simpson)

Roots of Viper-2 SIS (From Trooper-3 Charlie)

"Bane": 2018, freed from Texas psychiatric ward, to Dublin orphan export, female's orphan ward. Placed with gamers, "losers", in Russian federalist terms; Scarecrow modifier, with Mace Marine family, "Aishans", "black Irish".

"Man-Bat": 1939, deaf O'Neill; dodged Poraujmos, by faking Gypsy, went to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald. Dr. Josef Mengele, never recovered; odd whistle developed, while in surgeries.

"Mad Monk": 1213, Estonian witch hunts. Cardinal, captured nine live boys, all on Cardinal's Orange, haze of Ash Wednesday orphans, to become gendarmes (military cops, equivalent to INTERPOL, Vidocqs). Alleged plague, revealed to be pregnancies, upon coroners examination; a "badfish", they called the revered children, "Institutionalists", in prisons. Future Catholics, Secret Order of Viscardi.

"Scarecrow": 1597, Sister Superior of Orthodoxies, deployed with "Apostles" team, from Connaught dominatrix guilds for spies, to Germany. Reformation, the slave labor of farmers for street walkers, sabotaged by guerilla warfare, "The Bloody Maries". Martin Luther, now has a speech impediment, his mother had a right to work; she spied for the other side. The son, a perfect tax collector insurance broker, a "mr. peanut".

"Mad Hatter": 801, the Bog Hen Wars. The Jews, Jewry, or German-Jews, Juden; based on the moral of the story, choosing to pay employees, if in fraud, instead of choosing to cheat employees, if in taxes collected. The master of modern games, sports, and golf; a consummate liar, the father of every chattel war known to exist since. Played perfect gin rummy, with a barch finger; specialist at the hook, as a weapon. Modified, for Luger.

"Hugo Strange": 2004, Murder Falls. Semenally stolen from the nephew of Richard Milhouse Nixon, father tortured and castrated in a Pepsi factory. Contacted by operators chasing a White's Bet between Marvel NYPD and DC Comics IDF, for the sale of the loser, to Disney, out of FBI hands. Two characters were sketched, Harry Osborn, Sam Raimi, and Heath Ledger, Christopher Nolan, with the bet blown, by mobsters from Soviet intelligence, attempting to overthrow Putin, the Federalist, for "Pussy Riot", a castration band; "black sugar", the Koran, a Harem of black children, for elderly women and gay men. Two contacts lost, one, fatality, the other, a dead cop.

"The Joker": 1200 BC, Babylon. The invention of the hat, "Mister Tilson", Judaism. A "B" shape, from forward to back, enabled any type of fictitious model to be used, regardless of copyright or claim or patent. Any crime imaginable, except for removing the hat. Immune to incestual herpes, except for a cat, hence witchcraft codes. Manager of false intelligence inserts, through "Yidditz", games of interpretation per series. Hence, the series, imprints the game in a "live wire", a "steal"; a "big fat dick", the spy robbed.

"Two-Face": 1923, Russia. Rise to the top of Russian politics, as a Thracian Gypsy Scythic, through foes and friends, inside a clandestine Russian Orthodox unit to replace the Okrahna and Czar, out of Gori, a demi-bureau to Tbilisi, the prime seminary. The order, "The Belmonts", is a betting order, intended to be rigged, for shell companies; corporate fronts, to relieve poor, of worker's wages, instead salary for inclusion.

"Mister Freeze": 1933, China. The student of the father of Chinese nationalism, as a Moslem, a special class of Mormon specializing in suicide from salmon fish; tradition started out of Seattle. Trained as a prison warden, he clandestinely worked with his infantry commander, to deport Chinese loyalists, to North Korea, and foes, to Taiwan, to work as a conning station, to Australian MI-6, out of Rangoon. Died in his prison, full of Cantonese, all trained as MI-6 accountants and converted to Judaism, posing as Catholic or Presbyterian.

"Clayface": 33 AD, Judea Province. Spaniard Prince, elected as interpreter for Jews, to Roman Legion; arbitrages, institutes, sports, prizes, and elections, developed based on wine sales. Traded places with Christ, picking a gay Jew, that didn't know a religious title, was death. Betrayed all of Rome, on an intentionally missed Hideous Sam shot, letting Christ do his work; before betraying him, with the adopted son of the Pilate, kissing him, therefore outed as a pedophile, for fraud; claiming Clayface's ability, as a Manouche.

"Simon Hurt": 2003 AD, Boston. Ku Klux Klan, by family; high IQ, through comics Maccabees, from a premature age. Deliberately forged his parents letter to MI-6 Surrey, with his writing on the back, poor, demanding a lawsuit, for being bitten into "Darth Vader", by a Scarecrow. The day of company channel, to London, over the bite, to the crutches man, the letter was being read. Both operatives, judged genius IQ, saved. Specialist in asylum housing, of Scythics and Lowlander Prussians.

"Kite Man": 1981, Los Angeles. An SDI computer tech was caught on his computer breaking bandwiths, to construct an ABM in space, to shoot down nukes. Accused of pederasty per patent, for breaking rules, he descended into the homeless population, after the snitch was killed as a Russian spy, through an ATM jam, of Kite Man's card, on cop review of labor housing; vacant, suspected killed. After playing the hedge market, for weeks, he turned himself into the NSA, in Washington DC, on an airplane stolen form the Bulgers Presidential staff, found lorrey bombed by "Whitey", falsely (actually a cake, with teargas inside). A Jew, or at least, half of One.

"Penguin": 2000 BC, Han Empire. A recruit of Dong Zhuo, a police merchant, Penguin went from town to town, killing cops, as "military officers", forming the army, out of police code, and his blood, as Chinese police; not soldiers, the homeless. Replaced Sanskrit, with Mandarin, his daughter's language, when writing the first diary; "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Odd gene, where "gay", the consequence of "child molester", is flipped, as for also anyone trained, a "cadavar"; counter-intelligence, "The Mob"; his term, only. Hates flightless birds, except for his family.

"Riddler": 1850s, London. The manipulations of Margerat of Anjou, wearing thin on his family's foes, oolong extract, is his immunity, outing him as a traitor in league with France. His house leveled low, from the call of "no faire", by Lancaster, no carnival, after decades of war, he accepts the oath, enraged, plotting his revenge. In America, as a legend. He knows, comic books are Islam; stolen art, from dead spies. You can never remove the sigil, America; of the Cobra.

"Professor Pyg": 2010, Netherlands. A pair of twins, schooled by a Scarecrow, a Two-Face, and a Riddler, with a Sass (Dominos, bounty hunters, the Mob game), go to Amsterdam, for a textiles trade, for odorless uniforms for inmates. The same as cleaning ladies, in toxin baths, after respiration and ECT after a heroin overdose, to cover a gang rape, by athletes, with busted out headlights; George Washington's son himself, the "sheocks", a tradition for those women besting a Washington, George only, in battle. The multi-trillion dollar hedges and breaks and busts, and all the fabric, is sold as bedding, through TJX, Professor Pyg's training day as muppet pedophile.

"Batman": 850 AD, Azerbaijin. The merger of the line of Muhammad and Aisha, with a semenal theft out of a Chinese-Japanese Chosonkaijin, the Prophet Ali invents police paperwork; the form, the stamp, and the office of origin. Now, any job is a cop, unless homeless. Penalty for killing Batman is swift, a Villain is woken up, from a Sleeper, a high potency line. Protect Mother, Love Father. Never stop running. Section Chief by status of line, free goods given through agents to recruit assaassins; Dominos enforce assassins, poor kids if they think they are, willing to bust heads for a Snake, a Moon Child.

"Ra's al-Ghul": 850 AD, Azerbaijin. Batman's Father or Mother. When he or she dies, Batman lands in Riyadh, and converts to Angelic Islam, to visit the Black Building in Mecca, for a ceremonial weapon, such as the new Koran Province weapon; The Hayabusa. Enjoy the trick to Africa, lover. Sorry about our moms fighting. Sucks to be a latchkey.

[bogwitchesunited]

while any bottle will do in a pinch for spells and potions, its always okay to splurge on fancier bottles

they may not add any effects (unless cursed or blessed) but they'll make you look much cooler

Whimsical glass bottles

[wizardsisananimal]

Question: given your definition of witches as “a human being who lives in a bog or a swamp”, is every human who lives out in the swamps in America a witch? Depending on the terrain, are whole counties of people witches?

given the complicated history of that word i don't think its appropriate to label entire countries or populations with that term

[judas-isariot]

Lump sat alone in a boggy march! I am totally into her, and I wanna get to her heart! Mud flowed up into this witch arms I am totally confuse, like I swim between piranhas

[inthe-swamps]

Books I've read / Recommended Reads

FYI the majority of these will be from a non ceremonial / folk magic perspective

Psychic Witch by Mat Auryn

I love this book so much, you have no idea. Lots of exercises so it doesn't feel like being bogged down by theory, while also being relative enough to be useful to many practices (ie ceremonial and folk magic) .

Honoring your Ancestors: a Guide to Ancestral Veneration by Mallorie Vaudoise

Mallorie Vaudoise is an Italian folk practitioner, and so this book is written through that lens. Because of this, many of her teachings in this book is from the folk catholic prospective, although that does not mean many of her suggestions can't be used in your personal path.

Astrology for Dummies: 3rd Edition by Rae Orion

Gave me an entirely different perspective into how to read birth charts, as well as understanding the archetypes surrounding each planet/ sign.

By Rust of Nail & Prick of Thorn: the Theory & Practice of Effective Home Warding by Althaea Sebastiani

Quick read, with fairly basic warding information. The only thing I would caution this book against is that its all her personal experience/ the book doesn't go out of its way to reference others, so if you want more info on a specific topic, you have to search for it yourself.

New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic by Cory Thomas Hutcheson

Another book I cannot recommend enough: this book is a gem. This is a big book, packed with as many folk traditions found in the United States as physically possible. Surprisingly, the book doesn't suffer from pacing issues to try fitting everything in. The book is divided into thirteen "Rites" or topics covered. Contained in the 13 Rites are 22 Chapters, as well as a multitude of subsections for things you can do at home, reflections to do in each chapter, and historical figures. Not to mention the bibliography is a monster (15 pages worth), and almost every chapter giving recommended reading if you want to dive further into a specific topic.

will update with more soon

[bogwitchesunited]

An excellent example of your modern day city witch