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x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 3 years ago

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Cristina Scabbia x Diablo: Inside metal and gaming’s most devilish crossover yet

Outstanding hack-and-slash remaster Diablo II: Resurrected isn’t just about polishing up the beloved original’s relentless fire and brimstone. In a striking collaboration with Lacuna Coil songstress Cristina Scabbia and bizarro YouTube star Mark The Hammer, it’s inspired the latest crossover between video games and heavy music, too…

When Cristina Scabbia first picked up the joypad, she had no idea she was steering herself onto a path that would still be throwing up juicy side-missions three decades down the line. A young teenager in northern Italy during the mid-’80s first generation video game boom, the future Lacuna Coil frontwoman didn’t have the spare cash for the cutting-edge equipment of the time, whose 128-colour palettes and blocky two-dimensional sprites felt utterly futuristic. When a local friend powered up David Crane’s 1982 masterpiece Pitfall! on their Atari 2600, however, it opened the doors to another world.

“I’ve been a gamer for quite a while,” her eyes light up at the memory. “I love video games. I love what you can learn from them. I love the stories they tell…”

Few games are as darkly compelling as Blizzard Entertainment’s legendary Diablo series. Bringing to life the dark fantasy realm of Sanctuary – a midpoint between the High Heavens and Burning Hells – its trio of classic titles chronicle the eternal conflict between mankind and the demonic legions led by Diablo, fearsome Destroyer Of Souls. When David Brevik’s original landed in 1996, it was a literal game-changer for the industry, raising the bar in terms of depth and detail, storytelling and character-building. 2000’s Diablo II raised it again, still revered by hardcore gamers as the greatest action-RPG of all, while 2012’s Diablo III brought the franchise into the modern era.

Fittingly, it’s against that shadowy backdrop that Cristina joins us today, to discuss Start Again, her musical collaboration with the minds behind thrilling 3D, HD remaster Diablo II: Resurrected.

Speaking from her high-backed gaming chair in front of an impressive PC set-up this morning, she looks ready for battle. A laid-back, dressed-down counterpart to her imposing onstage alter-ego, she is surrounded by stacks of proudly-displayed paraphernalia, from a plushie of Gremlins’ Gizmo and photos of her band, to figurines of her favourite virtual characters, spare controllers, and the ubiquitous energy drink refrigerator.

Anyone familiar with Cristina’s Twitch streams wondering if this might be a carefully-arranged studio space should think again. “It’s actually part of my living room,” she laughs. “There’s this big table that was supposed to be for dinners with friends, but as we would go out to eat instead, I decided to use it for something that I like, and filled it with computers, monitors and consoles.

“It’s where I play. It’s where I stream from. It’s the safe space.”

Diablo’s heroes work best when joining forces, and 30 minutes further north, in the town of Saronno, we meet Marco Arata – AKA YouTube sensation Mark The Hammer – Cristina’s collaborator on Start Again, and a playful like mind. “I was three years old when I first played on a Game Boy,” he smiles into the light of a bank of monitors, “and I never stopped.”

For readers not in the know, Mark is the uber-talented multi-instrumentalist who’s gained a reputation for uploading incisive, tongue-in-cheek videos to YouTube like Irritating Guitar Lessons and How To Create A Black Metal Song… Without Any Talent. Learning piano aged eight, he quickly graduated to electric guitar, bass and drums. He’s since been picked up as the live guitarist/keyboardist for Italian pop-hip-hop icon J‑Ax. The main Mark The Hammer YouTube channel has more than half a million subscribers, while its English-language alternative boasts close to 100,000.

Both accomplished, analytical, artistic minds, it feels key to Start Again’s success that the duo see gaming as a chance to switch off – less interested in graphics and game engines than narrative drive and world-building.

“Whenever you listen to a song as a musician, you have your brain working, thinking about what exactly is going on,” explains Mark. “I’m a big fan of acting and drama, too, and the same thing applies when you watch a movie. But when you pick up that game pad, you’re able to relax and [switch that part of your brain off]. It’s the only thing in my life that I can really say is completely relaxing.”

“I know that some people prefer creating groups or being part of a competition,” agrees Cristina, noting that Diablo, in particular, fits her play style “but I’m more of a selfish, solitary player. I don’t want to feel that competition while I play. I want to be able to relax and do things at my own pace, to have my own rhythm. I don’t necessarily think of games as an escape. For me, it’s a different world that I want to be part of, [parallel to] the real world. It’s not that I want to [run away and] live in the video game world. But when I’m playing, I want to stay there, I want to focus on what’s happening – I want to absorb all the vibes. It’s not just something that you’re watching: you’re part of it. You can choose your character. You can increase your power. You can pick your path and select your sides.

“There are things about this world that non-gamers could never really understand…”

Like all the best quests, it began with a message from out of the blue. Mark recalls the sense of absurdity, watching an email drop into his inbox that he couldn’t quite believe was real. “I remember opening the message and seeing that it was an opportunity to write [a song inspired by Diablo II] for the release of Diablo II: Resurrected. Oh, yeah, and you’ll have Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil doing vocals. I was just like ‘What?!’”

Having dropped video game soundtrack cover albums Hammer Games Vols 1 and 0 in 2015 and 2016 respectively, Mark had pedigree in the field, but he struggled to comprehend the opportunity for such a high-profile collaboration.

“This is the game that I bought as a 14-year-old when it first came out back in the year 2000,” he fishes out his original CD-ROM jewel case for an unsubtle flex, “and you’re asking me to write an official song to go with it? That in itself is mind-blowing. But to be able to do that with the greatest singer in Italian metal?! I thought it was some sort of strange spam at first. When I realised that it wasn’t, it became amazing on so many levels.”

Not a huge fan of YouTube (nor, presumably, of the hack-and-slash sub-genre), Cristina’s manager didn’t quite know what to make of the invitation. Fortunately, having followed one of Lacuna Coil’s old guitarists through a laptop screen and into Sanctuary all those years ago, and already a fan of Mark’s videos, she didn’t take much convincing.

“I was just like, ‘Mark The Hammer? I follow him!’” she grins. “Then, when they told me the project was to write a song for Diablo II: Resurrected, I immediately said yes. If you look back at interviews that I did years ago, whenever they asked me what dream I had or what is missing from my body of work, I’ve always said that I’d like to write something for a video game. When this came along, it was like, ‘Hello…’”

Cristina admits that she struggled with writer’s block over lockdown. Having watched her native Italy become one of the first countries crippled by the spread of COVID-19, she was unwilling to create music with the power to transport her back to those most troubled of times. Compared to the glacial pace of the music industry over the last 18 months, however, dropping in at crunch time in a massive game’s release schedule came as an invigorating change of pace. The first message exchanged between Cristina and Mark was on August 23, with the song due online to coincide with Diablo II: Resurrected’s launch exactly a month later.

“When you have a deadline, it can either throw you down or really speed everything up and add an excitement,” Cristina muses. “For us, it was definitely the latter. We were perhaps a little bit tense about not knowing each other. Any time you’re working with someone new, you ask yourself these questions: ‘Is he going to be nice? Is he going to be an asshole? Is he going to have the same ideas that I have? The same creativity? The same speed?’

“As soon as we started to text, though, I realised that Mark was really relaxed, really funny. He’s like me. We would send and receive messages in the middle of the night, and get immediate replies. It was like we’d opened the floodgates on an ocean of ideas.”

A high level of fandom was pivotal. Diablo’s angels and monsters – Greater and Lesser Evils – seem like characters lifted from metal album covers to begin with, and the chaotic action that spills from the streets of Tristram and the slopes of Mount Arreat that go down into the depths of Hell could hardly be better suited to metalheads who’re never happier than when throwing down in the pit. Cristina and Mark’s preferred player classes – Sorceress and Barbarian, respectively – even mirror their onstage personas. To simply phone in the sort of crowd-pleasing banger either of these musicians could write in their sleep would be to do the project a deep disservice.

Cristina reckons that if Diablo were a band, it would be either Judas Priest – all OTT outfits, pointy edges and demonic imagery – or Rammstein, spewing sheer pyrotechnic bombast. Mark contends that the larger-than-life, battle-obsessed aesthetic of Iron Maiden might be a better match, pointing out that many of the most monstrous iterations of Ed The Head wouldn’t look out of place in its deepest dungeons. We’d argue that the ominous, folky atmospherics of peak Opeth even more closely evoke the playing experience, echoing Matt Uleman’s iconic original score.

In the same way that Diablo II: Resurrected marks an upgrade for players in 2021 while maintaining the original’s dark heart – dynamic lighting, three-dimensional rendering and high-definition presentation bringing the action sharply up to date – this song needed to pay respect while still packing enough heft to make an impact on metal fans in 2021.

“Diablo is such an iconic game,” nods Mark. “I knew the original score. I knew the original atmosphere. I knew where it had to go, more or less. But it was a challenge to make something new while paying respect to the original. There were parts where I wasn’t sure where I was going, but as soon as Cristina got really into the project and added her vocals, it felt like everything [clicked].”

“Mark’s involvement was crucial,” Cristina presses. “Looking at that original soundtrack, I was thinking, ‘This is such a classic – it’s so iconic – but it’s not singable.’ It felt like putting a voice over the top would ruin it. But as soon as I heard the music that Mark had written, it changed everything. He made it singable. He created so many different parts, that offered so many different scenes, so many different moods. There are atmospheric parts, but there are also heavier parts. It’s like a journey, from beginning to end…”

Part sweeping re-score, part fan’s perspective love letter, part limb-swinging metal banger, the finished track feels like a striking bridge between worlds. Is the aim for fans who’ve yet to discover the pleasures of metal or gaming to be able to walk across it?

“The worlds of metal and gaming have always been strongly connected,” reckons Cristina, highlighting the fact that they’re both tightly-knit outsider communities fascinated by the dark and fantastical, which can appear intimidating to outsiders looking in. Although she and Mark will happily welcome new fans, the main priority was to write a great song, hopefully tightening the bond between communities that already exists. “It’s a lifestyle,” she gestures. “If you see a metalhead, there’s a strong chance you’ll be able to talk about games – or vice-versa.”

Indeed, the lines have increasingly blurred over the last couple of decades. Countless rockers found their way into the world via the legendary Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtracks. The Guitar Hero franchise brought songs as unusual DragonForce’s Through The Fire And The Flames, Lamb Of God’s Laid To Rest and Slayer’s Raining Blood – not to forget Lacuna Coil’s Closer – into the non-metalhead sphere. Celebrities as high profile as Tenacious D’s Jack Black have spearheaded their own digital-metal crossovers, while Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows cropped up as a playable character in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4. Gamers have even increasingly taken to wearing branded T‑shirts a la those of their favourite bands, enabling them to recognise each other on the street.

On the other side of the coin, bleeding-edge artists like The Armed, Refused and Run The Jewels have recently been inspired to write specifically for games. Svalbard’s Serena Cherry just started a one-woman black metal side-project called Noctule, dedicated to her favourite epic RPG. Hell, Cristina even tells us that pounding compositions by djent-influenced video game soundtrack maestro Mick Gordon are amongst the most listened on her personal playlist.

It’s down to a change in perspective, Cristina reckons, where intelligent eye for detail is now considered every bit as cool as a debauched hell-raiser attitude. Games’ intricate storytelling and epic design are recognised as on par with the finest parts of cinema, and e‑sports competitions regularly boast larger prize pots than those of their athletic counterparts.

“I was always part of the nerd world,” she says, with more than a hint of vindication. “A few years ago, it felt like it was almost something to be ashamed of to admit that you’re a nerd, as if you had this weird, ridiculous aura. But now, everybody – all these people who were never interested – seem to want to be involved in this world. I [sometimes think], ‘Nah, you need to prove you’re really into it…’”

She’s not kidding. As if that massive cache of gaming equipment – from the original PlayStation to countless Game Boys and computer components – wasn’t proof enough, Cristina has even appeared as playable character The Shadow Sorceress in Iron Maiden’s ever-evolving Legacy Of The Beast mobile game. “It was such an honour, such a pleasure to create my own character and give all the directions for the outfit, which was basically the outfit I was wearing on the last Lacuna Coil tour before lockdown,” she grins.

Going even geekier, Lacuna Coil also just launched their own Horns Up tabletop card game, where players must fight their way to the front of the stage. “It’s something we’re all really interested in, but particularly our bassist Maki [Coti Zelati],” Cristina continues. “Every card is related to metal clichés. We even gave our fans the opportunity to see themselves on one of the cards…”

Although Lacuna Coil maintained their high-drama presence with September 2020’s Black Anima: Live From The Apocalypse stream and June 2021’s live album of the same name, Cristina was keen to use the time off to introduce fans to her character away from the band, emboldened to set up her own channel on Twitch.

“I just wanted to learn new things which could enrich my baggage of knowledge,” she enthuses. “I’m already singing, already writing, but I don’t want to fixate on those. Life is made up of so many different things that can enrich my music and my creativity. I was already a Twitch user, watching other people play games, but I didn’t know what my purpose was. I almost felt scared at first. I am a singer. I am somehow an entertainer. I like to talk, which is clear. But it’s different when you’re talking to a lot of people for a couple of hours – or more!

“Eventually, I decided to keep it as informal as I could so that people could see how Cristina is at home. Cristina isn’t just the singer of Lacuna Coil: I have a house, I have a life, I have passions, I have my own personality. I just wanted people to discover that. Luckily they also like this quirky side of me, which feels like the opposite that dark goth lady that so many people know. As much as I didn’t have purpose in the beginning, there’s now such a strong community every time I go online – such a clean place to exchange good vibes!”

Even the persistent undertones of sexism and misogyny that have plagued gaming, she pushes, are a speed bump to be put in the rearview, comparable to what she experienced when first making her name in heavy music.

“In metal, I encountered the same problem,” she explains, bluntly. “[Women becoming a major presence in the community] was something new, and when something is new, people have suspicions and doubts. They don’t know how to deal with it. But there are a lot of female gamers now, and a lot of females in metal. It’s been normalised, which it should be, because games and metal are for everyone.”

As the world comes back up to speed, hectic schedules mean that attention is turning away from screens, and back towards studio and stage. Mark is churning out more and more top-class YouTube content. Cristina has a packed diary, with a tribute concert for late collaborator Franco Battiato at the spectacular Arena di Verona this week, and another secretive collaboration in the works, not to mention writing for Lacuna Coil’s 10th LP, which has just begun – her creative fires reignited by bringing Start Again to life.

Having dipped toes in the video game world, though, they’re both keen to return.

“I really hope we do,” Cristina says. “As a fan of video games, it’s such a great chance to bring together these different passions in your life. There are so many different things I’d like to do, and places I’d like to explore in this world, but time is limited!”

“I loved the challenge here, and the process of collaboration,” nods Mark. “If we could work together again when it comes time to make Diablo IV, that would be amazing. I’d love the opportunity to have my own playable character in an Iron Maiden video game, too, but I’m not sure that’s achievable!”

“I thought the same thing,” grins Cristina, ever adventurous, as we wave farewell. “Never say never!”

Diablo II: Resurrected is out now on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S and PC.

#Cristina Scabbia #DoD collaborations #2021 interviews #diablo ii resurrected

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enterprisetrampstamp · 4 years ago

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General #1 Medbay Trio (platonic)

"I love you."

"Tell me that when you're sober," Christine said, laughing, and Geoff threw his hands out to his sides indignantly.

"I've had half a beer!" He protested, slouched comfortably back in his chair. "Unlike some people--"

"Bite me," Len said, not looking up from the comm that he had-- habitually, anxiously-- flipped open to check for incoming messages. Christine surreptitiously dropped a quarter into the ever-growing pile next to the massive, fruity cocktail she was drinking. (It looked orange but tasted pink. She wasn't much of one for the color, not like Nyota was, but it had its place, and its place was getting her riotously drunk on shore leave.)

Geoff laid a hand over his heart, his tone magnanimous and arrogant all at once. "I know how to express my emotions openly--"

"You know what?" Len pointed his beer bottle at Geoff, raising his eyebrows. "Bite yourself."

"--honestly--"

"Oh, this is all from the heart, M'Benga, don't you worry your pretty little head about that."

"--and without embarrassment." Geoff laid his hand on Len's shoulder, his dark eyes wide and sincere. His grin, on the other hand, was shit-eating. "You know, we're here for you."

"You know, I'm your boss," Len muttered. He turned his chin away from the table, long fingers drumming as he glanced towards the door.

(Not waiting for anyone-- just wanting to leave. Usually you couldn't pay him to stay shipside on shore leave, but tonight was special. Just look: all three of the Enterprise's senior medical staff were off duty.)

(All at once.)

(Christine didn't take it personally; she knew Leonard McCoy considered her and Geoff his best friends-- after his two particularly notable best-er friends-- despite all of his grumbling. She just also knew that trusting the kids to man the Medbay without them, even when the ship was practically empty with 90% of its crew on leave, was taking its toll on his nerves.)

She rested her chin on her palm, her lipsticked lips tipped into a mocking smile. "Aw," she said, engaging in that time honored distraction technique of annoying the hell out of him as she stirred her bendy straw through her drink. "It's cute how he tries to hide behind protocol when we're making fun of him."

Geoff cupped a hand around his ear, leaning teasingly towards her. "What's this 'we' you speak of, Nurse? The only dulcet tones I hear dragging his ass are mine and mine alone."

Len checked his comm again.

Christine dropped another quarter on the pile.

With a sudden wide eyed look of comprehension, Geoff burst out laughing, slapping his hand over his mouth. Len looked up, suspicious, and clipped his comm back to his belt. "What?" he demanded, his eyes flicking between Geoff and Christine as he tried to figure out what joke he'd missed-- clearly, rightfully suspicious that he was the butt of it.

"Nothing," Geoff wheezed.

"Don't worry about it," Christine told him, sipping at her drink as her eyes sparkled, and Len narrowed his eyes and leaned forward to rest his forearms on the edge of the table as he folded his fingers together.

"You sayin' that is what worries me more than anything." He prodded a finger at her from avross the table. "You sayin' that's gonna keep me up at night--"

"Better find some hobbies then." Christine smiled at him, sweetly. "Find a good way to use the extra time."

Len-- finger still hovering in the air between them-- glared at her for a long, long moment. "You," he said, "are distracting me."

Christine pointed her own finger at the stack of coins. "Evidently, not very well," she said, dryly.

"You--"

"I love you, too," Geoff told him, slinging an arm around his shoulders and-- gently-- settling him back into his chair before he could lean over and strangle Christine. "Man, do you trust me?"

Len, sniffing, slouched moodily into his chair and didn't look at either of them as he muttered, "You know I do."

"And you trust Chris," Geoff said, leadingly.

"And I trust my head nurse," Len agreed, rolling his eyes. "We'd all be dead from butting heads by now if I didn't."

"Yeah, well, me and Chris, and you, who you trust more than anyone because you're an egotistical jackass just like every other surgeon in this galaxy--"

"Including you--"

"--We trained those kids, Len." Geoff squeezed his shoulder. "You, me, and Chris. We're the ones who trained them. If you can't trust them, trust the three of us."

Len pursed his lips. "It ain't that easy," he said. "You know that."

"Are you kidding?" Christine laughed. "Of course we do! Why do you think my drink is this big, McCoy? I've got to give myself an undeniable reason within the next ten minutes-- like being too drunk to pass muster-- that I can't race back to the transporters and finish this shift myself!"

"Control freak," Geoff told her, fondly.

"Can it, M'Benga; that jittery knee of yours if shaking the whole damn table."

Looking between them, Len's lips twitched into a grin. "We're a mess," he observed, tipping his beer towards Geoff like the words were a toast.

Geoff clinked his own bottle against it, grinning, and squeezed Len's shoulder again. Beneath the table, both of their stupidly long legs poked across onto Christine's side, their knees and ankles bumping beneath the battered wood of the rinky dink table of the ugly, messy bar.

"Pool?" she suggested, turning and draping her arm across the back of her chair as she heard the unmistakeable groan of someone who had just lost, terribly, and may or may not have the money to pay up.

"We'll have to win the table to get hold of it," Len pointed out, "and that tall guy's a menace. He's run off like three different people just since we sat down with our first round of drinks."

"Aw," Geoff said. He pinched Len's cheek. "It's cute how you think that worries me. I used to play pool with Vulcans; just imagine what that's like, will you?"

Len clearly already was. "Oh, god," he said, sounding disgusted and impressed all at once.

"Have you ever had a seven foot tall stranger lecture you on how to calculate the appropriate factor by which to multiply a given billiard ball's momentum in order to determine its speed and distance of rebound for a given angle of deflection? I have." Geoff clapped Len on the shoulder, draining the last of his beer, and rose to his feet. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Buy me something pretty with your winnings?" Christine asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Don't encourage him," Len protested. "Don't-- he's as bad as Jim--"

Christine burst out laughing. "Lenny, honey, no one is as bad as Captain Kirk. And I know you know that, or else you wouldn't have made the righteous and practicable decision to come out with us tonight instead of him."

"Maybe I just like you better," Len retorted, eyebrows rising as he stood and drained the last of his own beer. "You ever think of that, huh, wiseass?"

"Aw, Geoff!" Christine spun around in her seat, rising up to one knee and cupping her hand around her mouth as she called, "Len just said he loves us!"

"I did not--"

"I'm so proud of you." Geoff drew a heart in the air with both of his index fingers and blew Len a kiss.

"I'm going to fire you both and ship you off to Siberia to freeze your asses off and die of hypothermia."

Christine-- massive drink in one hand and quarters returned to her pocket-- stood on her tiptoes to hook her chin over his shoulder and wrap an arm around his waist. She sipped from her bendy straw, and then she offered it to Len. "No, you won't."

She felt him heave a sigh more than heard it, over the general din of shitty music and worse conversation that permeated the bar. "No, I won't," he agreed.

He accepted the sip of Christine's drink, and they watched the tall guy's face drop open with shock as Geoff calmly, calculatingly ran the table.

"You're both too good to me," he told her. "Keepin' me distracted when you're just as nervous."

Christine shrugged, settling down off of her tiptoes and letting him tuck her into his side, under his arm. "Distracting ourselves, too," she pointed out. "Besides, you spend most of your time playing emotional outlet for Kirk and Spock, and every other person who's ever come to you with something on their minds; only fair someone does it for you in return."

He snorted. "Don't let Spock hear you say that, or you really might end up in Siberia."

"He wouldn't dare," Christine retorted primly. "I have immunity. I'm Nyota's favorite, relevant for obvious reasons--"

"Nyota is Spock's favorite," Len agreed.

"--And I'm Janice's, too. Kirk would gave to sign off, but she'd never file the paperwork."

Geoff whistled, drawing their attention as he stuffed a wad of bills in his back pocket and then tossed a pool cue in their direction. "Who's getting their ass beat first?"

"Len!" Christine shoved him forward. "Show us what those legendary hands of yours can do, Sawbones."

Len groaned. "Never gonna live that down, am I?" and in return they chorused, "Never!'

"Has anyone called Carol lately?" Geoff asked, leaning on his pool cue and oh-so-graciously letting Len break. "I miss her. Only person better than Len or the Captain at getting a rise out of Spock."

"She's off in deep space working on some crazy secret research project or other," Len told him, frowning at the table as he studied the pattern that had unfolded in front of him. "I'm solids, by the way."

Geoff hummed. "Fancy."

"Good for her," Christine said.

They continued to wait for Len to take his next shot. Geoff shifted from foot to foot, and then asked, "Anyone want me to recite that lecture on elastomeric collisions from memory, or--?"

"No!"

(I'm currently taking prompts!)

#a tramp stamp original #leonard mccoy #christine chapel #geoffrey m'benga #med squad #fic tag #thank you for indulging me watson ❤️

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iruludavare · 4 years ago

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{Headcanon: Floaroma Town- Beliefs + Religion

This post is okay to reblog. For use, please give credit

Please note that this is not meant to represent Sinnoh as a whole, just Floaroma Town

Worlds

There are three worlds that exist—the upper, middle and lower world.

Upper world: Inaccessible by ordinary living beings, and is located at the sunrise. This is the world where other legendary pokemon—such as Arceus, which is acknowledged as a creator god by nothing else, Dialga and Palkia are thought to reside. Pokemon that can see into the future (such as the Delphox, Xatu, Gothitelle, Gardevoir and Absol evolutionary lines), are thought to be able to temporarily cross the barrier between the middle and the upper world to gain insight into all events of every timeline. Ghost-type pokemon capable of using Phantom Force are also thought to be able to cross the barrier between worlds, as they are technically spirits with a physical body.

Middle world: The world where people and pokemon live. In this belief, pokemon related to life—Shaymin and Xerneas—are thought to periodically descend from the upper world to the middle to monitor all of the middle world’s inhabitants. This is why, to the people of Floaroma Town, a creature like Shaymin is so revered—it is, quite literally, considered on-par with other legendary pokemon in regards to importance. Humans that are capable of crossing into the upper or lower world are regarded as being higher beings than ordinary ones, and in older times formed small groups to act as a guiding hand for everyone else.

Lower world: Inaccessible by ordinary living beings, and is located at sunset. This is known in more Arceus-centric religions to be the Distortion World—where Giratina was banished to for its violence. It, in this set of beliefs, is thought to be ruled over by Giratina as well, albeit to watch over malevolent spirits and control their visits to the middle world. Ghost-type pokemon that are capable of using Phantom Force, but specifically Dusknoir and Drifblim in this case, readily can cross between the lower and upper world to guide lost spirits to the one they belong in. This is why such a heavy emphasis is placed on the Drifblim line floating away at sunset, as this is when they can return to the lower world the easiest.

The three worlds are each guarded by either Mesprit, Uxie or Azelf, who work to keep all three in balance and prevent the collapse of one by the events in another. They are omnipresent, seeing everything that takes place in the world that they have been tasked to guard.

They are also responsible for giving everything in the middle world emotions, knowledge and willpower—collectively known as a spirit.

Spirit

As such, it is believed that everything in the world has a spirit, and is alive, although beings that can move were also given what is referred to as “motive energy”. Unnecessary death—be it taking another human or pokemon life, or cutting down flora—is forbidden, and any of the former requires some sort of cleansing to take place afterwards.

Due to their strong beliefs in everything having a spirit, and their close connection with nature, being able to understand pokemon—to varying degrees—is a common occurrence for those in Floaroma Town. It is a skill that requires a lot of honing, however.

While spirit exists in everything in the middle world, natural phenomena—such as lightning, rain, thunder, and so on— are also are also animated, given names and deeper meanings for their occurrence. In some cases, they are also tied back to the legendary pokemon responsible for such things, however this is a more modern belief, coming about after an attempt to merge older beliefs with the Arceus-centric religion that is commonly worshipped in Sinnoh.

In addition to living beings, the middle world is also visited by spirits that occupy the upper and lower world. They can be good, neutral or malicious in nature, and are responsible for certain events occurring. Their crossing over is monitored by the being in charge of the world they hail from, but also the lake trio in case if the former were ever to become corrupt.

Continuing on from this, there is also another sub-division of spirits that are thought to exist solely to help people. Over the course of someone’s life—be it a person, pokemon or something else--, they will gather these kinds of spirits, who will accompany them until the day they die.

Communication with said spirits, however, is almost impossible for those outside the town’s bloodlines (unless they are, for example, aura users). For those that are from there, it requires very specific and intensive training.

Pokemon-specific

The Honchkrow evolutionary line are not thought of being pokemon, but instead as the souls of humans in disguise due to being able to mimic human speech. The same belief also applies to other pokemon with the same ability, such as Chatot and Jynx.

Likewise, due to their appearance, Usaring are also considered to be very close relatives to humankind. As such, bringing harm to them is strictly prohibited.

In general ghost-type pokemon are not made out to be creatures that should be feared, or are inherently evil. Rather, they are welcomed and encouraged to do whatever it is they need to in an area. They have been, to them, sent there for a purpose.

Other

Prayers to Shaymin are done weekly—at the start of the week, Prayers to the lake trio are done at the end of the week. However, in both instances, it is never about personal wishes or anything that would be deemed ‘selfish’. Instead, they are always about the pokemon in surrounding places, the land they are on itself, or for humankind as a whole.

Arceus is acknowledged only as a creator spirit—they are never given form, or mentioned much aside from being the one in control of the upper world and mainly being concerned with what goes on with its inhabitants there.

The year starts in spring—towards the end of the year, in October, when the land Floaroma Town is on was revived. That said, the common new year celebrated in Sinnoh is something that is still acknowledged.

The first day of the new year is marked with a festival, celebrating the renewal of life. Bouquets of gracidea flowers are often left outside as an offering to Shaymin, as a way of expressing gratitude for all that they have done for them.

The hierarchy of worship differs between families, as they choose one specific creature to act as a ‘protector’ of sorts for their family. Although, this practice has become less commonplace, as now it is the oldest member of the town that decides in which order Shaymin and the lake trio should be placed in regards to importance.

#❀⊱⦃ ⏤ {headcanon.} ⦄⊰❀#❀⊱⦃ ⏤ {Okay to reblog!} ⦄⊰❀#{will reblog later}#{ghdfjk hopefully this makes sense...}#{i know while a lot of these probably won't come up in threads they still all apply to serena-- they're all things she 100% believes in}

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doomonfilm · 4 years ago

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Ranking : Martin Scorsese (1942-present)

Of all the places in the world that seem to be hubs for creative energy, New York stands high on my personal list of favorites, and when it comes to iconic New York filmmakers, there aren’t many that can hold a candle to the prolific career of Martin Scorsese. His appreciation for films, art and music blasts off the screen with the same energy as his kinetic cinematography and vibrant editing. Once he established himself as a mainstay in the industry, his list of collaborators evolved into a who’s who of acting legends, both old and new. His career spans just over 50 years, and even his latest film (his 25th in his catalog) went head to head with other contenders for the top awards of the year.

To put it bluntly, there is Martin Scorsese, and then there is a long list of imitators and those influenced by his genius. To rank his films is a true test of logic, patience and decision making, but after a few weeks of catching the 7 or so films I had yet to see, I think I can stand behind this list as my definitive ranking (from least to most favorite) of a director I hold in the highest regard.

25. Gangs of New York (2002) An honest attempt at an epic flick, but at the heart of the matter, I simply don’t care about either side in the battle Scorsese presents us. Set in New York City in the mid 19th Century during the Civil War, we are thrown into a generational battle where the two key figures have different goals... Bill the Butcher stands as antagonist in his fight to maintain power and control, while Amsterdam is our protagonist charged with a mission of revenge. In the end, neither side ends up mattering, very much like my personal experience with this all flourish, no foundation exercise in style.

24. Bringing Out the Dead (1999) Nicolas Cage was gearing up for the run that most people know him for now during the release of Bringing Out the Dead : he was coming off of Golden Globe and Academy Award wins for Leaving Las Vegas, but was quickly leaning towards films of a more exploitation-based style. This film marked a refinement of his wild-man persona, while simultaneously being one of the last high-level actor/director combinations he would be involved in before his mad dash to accept every film and avoid bankruptcy. New York is captured in a mid-transition point between the darkness of the 1970s and 1980s versus the Disney aesthetic of the new millennium, and while heavy on the entertainment factor (as well as visually striking), there is ultimately not enough on this plate to push it higher up the list.

23. The Color of Money (1986) If you had to do a quick gander at the Scorsese list and pick the film that, on paper, screams Hollywood, it’d be hard to argue against The Color of Money taking that top spot. A soft sequel to The Hustler, Scorsese picks up the Fast Eddie story in the 1980s (an era that oozes out of each and every frame of this film), and yet, despite this legendary move, the film is ultimately the Tom Cruise show. Scorsese’s trademark dollying and trucking camera shots work beautifully in the context of this film, but in a story that shines bright, the star of Cruise ultimately outshines all that remains.

22. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) After a few exploitation-based projects, it seemed that Martin Scorsese wanted to provide a slightly different change in perspective, albeit one that still dwells in the darker corners of life. Rather than deal with the streets of New York or crime, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is a study on broken homes, single parenthood and domestic violence that oscillates between the view of the titular Alice and her young son. Harvey Keitel gives another strong performance as a Scorsese regular, while Ellen Burstyn shines in a transitional role towards more mature performances. Seeing Scorsese camera movements coopted into a more down to Earth story was refreshing.

21. The Departed (2006) Many people would have assumed that The Departed would be higher on a list of Scorsese films based solely on the cast... pairing Leonardo DiCaprio opposite Matt Damon in a tension-filled triangle with Jack Nicholson is a bold combination in its own right, but surrounding this nucleus with Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Corrigan, Anthony Anderson and supporting actors of that ilk creates a rich showcase of talent. Stylistically, everything you need is there too, as Scorsese proved time and again that films of this nature were his wheelhouse. That being said, the story itself, an adaptation of the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, takes a few liberties in its adaptation that ultimately are to the detriment of the narrative. Kudos to Scorsese for putting this one together, and too bad for him that the choices of William Monahan knocked what could have been a mega-classic way down the list.

20. New York, New York (1977) New York, New York is one of the most unique offerings from the Scorsese canon for a number of reasons. Of all his films, this one is probably the one that can be considered a “style exercise” more than the rest, as it oscillates between obvious sets and real locations before blurring the lines between the two. Long gaps of time are given to fully executed musical numbers (a must when a talent like Liza Minnelli is involved), and traditional methods of songwriting and performance are given their due respect. The exercise portion, however, comes in the newer acting styles that are infused into the old school structure... improvisation and aggressive physicality are used to put a deeper, disturbing red tint on an era often presented through a rose-colored lens. While interesting at times, the nearly three hour run time of the film begins to wear on the limits of the style, which ultimate leaves the film feeling more like a personal indulgence than a statement on changing times. For the iconic title track alone (and the buildup to its release), this film is worth seeing, but in terms of its placement in the realm of other Scorsese films, it may have to grow on me a while to find a higher placement on the list.

19. Boxcar Bertha (1972) Originally, this film was much lower on the list, largely due to its chronological placement between Who’s That Knocking at My Door and Mean Streets seeming odd to me. Upon revisitation, however, it stands clear and present that this film served as an exercise in the process of directing and organizing a shoot. With its period-specific placement, ensemble cast and action sequences, it was bound to be compared to (and ultimately overshadowed by) the formidable Bonnie and Clyde, but Boxcar Bertha has a few key moments in it (including a stellar final action sequence) that places it near the middle of the Scorsese canon, even with it being his second film.

18. Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967) For all of the refinement that Scorsese found in his second film, his debut film, the stunning Who’s That Knocking at My Door?, stands as testament to the fact that Scorsese brought his many gifts to the table from day one. What started as a student graduate film grew into a speculative project, only to find 25th hour funding that allowed it a festival run and a proper release. The film took many years to complete and release, to the point that keen viewers will notice Harvey Keitel’s boyish, soft good looks morph into the sharper, edgier intense profile we came to recognize in Mean Streets and the films that followed. The energetic cinematography, respect of film as a medium, stellar music choices, defiance of youth, toxic masculinity and realistic look at relationships are all here, making this debut a hidden gem in the Scorsese canon.

17. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Seeing Scorsese retread old stylistic ground (as opposed to infusing his style into newer projects) is an interesting take, and for what my opinion is worth, The Wolf of Wall Street feels like Goodfellas for white collar criminals. In theory (and, in some aspects of the film, in reality), the experiment does work, but ultimately, this film finds its placement in the middle realms simply because we are given infinite sizzle off of what amounts to a very thin steak. Goodfellas works because it is carried by the weight of omerta, but The Wolf of Wall Street focuses on a culture where status comes from self-appointed importance, which ultimately makes for an attempted redemption story for despicable people.

16. The Irishman (2019) Seeing actors the stature of Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino combine forces for a film is always a major event, but until 2019, those combinations have been limited to duos. When Netflix announced its intention to release The Irishman in 2019, people were not only intrigued on Scorsese’s take on the Jimmy Hoffa story, but seeing De Niro, Pesci and Pacino in the same film for the first time. For what it was worth, the trio lived up to all expectations, with the only bittersweet criticism being wishes that the three could have found a way to work together prior to the twilight of their careers. The historical drama is high quality, with Hoffa’s larger than life persona captured perfectly by Pacino, and bolstered by the dramatic chops brought to the table by De Niro and Pesci. The film is a tad on the long side, and the de-aging process tips into the realm of the uncanny valley due to the older actors’ physicality, but for a 25th film 52 years into an illustrious career, The Irishman must be recognized for the triumph that it is.

15. The Aviator (2004) Much like The Wolf of Wall Street, I avoided The Aviator for years simply because I have no interest or fascination with Howard Hughes. I was very much aware of his financial stature, his innovations as an aviator, his rocky love life and his personal demons that plagued him, but for my money’s worth, I was fine without seeing it presented on the big screen. In an effort to cover all the bases for a director I hold in high esteem, however, I made the decision to finally check out The Aviator, and for every element of the film I previously had no interest in, an element was presented that won me over. Cate Blanchett and Adam Dunn put on two of the strongest performances in the entire realm of Scorsese films, and the XF-11 crash sequence is possibly one of the grandest and well executed in any Scorsese film. Leave it to Martin Scorsese to make a powerful film about an individual I care nothing about and nearly crack the top ten with that effort.

14. Hugo (2011) Up to the point of watching Hugo, I knew nothing about it. About halfway through Hugo, I had to stop and look up how the film was received, as it was simply stunning, and sure enough, it was a monster in terms of award nominations and wins. I never would have pegged Scorsese as the type to direct a kid’s film, but in all honesty, that ‘kid’s film’ title is used as a façade for a love letter to film in general, and the groundbreaking work of Georges Méliès specifically. The look of the film is otherworldly, the energy is light, kinetic and infectious, and even a mostly slapstick performance by Sacha Baron Cohen yields surprising emotional depth when given the opportunity to do so. While just missing the top ten, Hugo easily stands as the number one surprise on this list in terms of pre-viewing expectations (of which there where none) versus post-viewing thoughts (of which there are many). Knowing that Hugo exists lets me know that one day, if I have children, and they want to know why I love film so much, I will have a film on the level of Cinema Paradiso to share with them and (hopefully) help foster a love of film they can call their own.

13. Casino (1995) For a time, this film stood as the last work containing the vibrant combination of Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, a trio of high energy creatives known for putting their all into their projects. Casino felt like a spiritual successor to Goodfellas, focusing on a lavish but secretive lifestyle with high stakes and even higher consequences. An instantly iconic movie, Casino felt like the end of an era in regards to gangster fare for Scorsese, opting instead for more challenging projects, adaptations of other books and films, or personal passion projects. It would be nearly 25 years later before Scorsese would touch similar subject matter or work with these actors again, but had Casino been the last of Scorsese’s so-called “gangster” films, I believe the world would have been happy with that.

12. Kundun (1997) To make one religious-based film in a career is a bold move to some, but I am hard-pressed to think of any director that made films on two different religions who didn’t explicitly make religious films. With that in mind, it is incredibly impressive that Martin Scorsese was able to make a film as moving and objective as Kundun after making such a bold take on religion as The Last Temptation of Christ. The film centers around the discovery, growth and eventual escape to India in light of growing aggression from China. In all honesty, I had my doubts as to whether or not the Scorsese style would work for this story, especially in light of the lack of cooperation from Tibet and China, but somehow, Scorsese’s amazing signature camerawork captures the unique spirit and essence surrounding the Dalai Lama. I’d heard of this film for years, but never got around to it until it was time to make this list, but I will almost certainly try to find a copy to own in the near future.

11. The King of Comedy (1982) What an odd left turn in regards of career trajectory for both Scorsese and De Niro. With three collaborations already under their belt (not to mention The Godfather II already being a well-established classic), it would have been easy to imagine the duo putting another notch on the gangster film genre belt. What we are given, however, is the yang to the yin of Taxi Driver : our protagonist is a statement on personal conviction and the trappings of instant stardom, our antagonist is a statement on star fascination and the high costs of celebrity, and our satellite characters directly reflect the toxicity certain fandoms can be capable of. Scorsese sets aside his normal flourish and camera moves for a mixing of film and video mediums, as well as a completely new sense of freedom in regards to the highly improvised nature of the film. Its influence on recent successful films like Joker is undeniable, but I’d argue that Joker lacks the heart, sincerity and realistic bite present in The King of Comedy.

10. After Hours (1985) Of all the “new to me” Scorsese flicks I finally viewed while preparing this list, After Hours stands as my favorite discovery of the bunch. I was marginally familiar with the film, both from my younger days in video stores and from friend recommendations, but for some reason, when Scorsese time arrived, After Hours seemed to never be on the docket. That oversight, however, will now be a thing of the past. This film feels like a personal challenge to Woody Allen in regards to how one should make a New York-based romantic comedy, and I’d be hard pressed to share any shortcomings or failures present in this comedic masterpiece. One of the few films that can be both a product of its era and a timeless classic, and one that should be much more recognized in the Scorsese canon.

9. Shutter Island (2010) Me hesitating or not getting around to Scorsese films seems to be a bit of a common theme here, but there was literally no excuse for me to take this long to get around to Shutter Island. Despite knowing the premise of the story (and even having the ending somewhat spoiled for me), I still found the impact of the final moments just as powerful as I imagine I would have going into this film blind. Some people will likely argue this statement, but in my opinion, this was the best Leonardo DiCaprio performance captured by Martin Scorsese. The asylum setting is wonderfully bleak, and the psychological horrors it infers create a vibrant playground for some of the most stunning visual symbolism that Scorsese has ever committed to film. Don’t be like me if you’ve not gotten around to Shutter Island yet, because it’s a thrill ride more than worth the price of admission, and a rewarding repeat viewer.

8. Mean Streets (1973) Mean Streets may have been Martin Scorsese’s third film, but for many fans, it was the first true indicator of the brilliance that was to come. A true New York film through and through, it not only presented fans with a stronger Harvey Keitel performance than Who’s That Knocking at My Door?, but it introduced the world to the palatable tandem of Scorsese and De Niro that would go on to lead to years and years of iconic performances. The use of altering aspect ratios is something that I wish Scorsese would have continued to use more often, but in all honesty, Mean Streets has style to spare. This the film that I love to recommend when people start ranting and raving about Goodfellas, and more often than not, it impresses those unfamiliar with it just as much.

7. The Age of Innocence (1993) Martin Scorsese’s love of film is widely known and well documented, but The Age of Innocence goes an additional step further by displaying Scorsese’s love of art. The film also is one of the most touching displays of unrequited love that Scorsese has committed to film, a slight alteration from his normal infusion of love stories trying to sustain in the surrounding chaos of gangs, crime, religion and so on. Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder all give standout performances in this masterfully directed film. If Gangs of New York was meant to be the definitive old school New York film in the Scorsese canon, then The Age of Innocence is the unintended definitive New York film from Scorsese, with some European touches thrown in for good measure.

6. Cape Fear (1991) Of the many, many iconic performances that Robert De Niro has given Martin Scorsese, I’d be hard pressed not to put his characterization of Max Cady at the top by a clear margin. Cape Fear was already a classic film adaptation of The Executioners when it was first released in 1957, but De Niro pulled two fast ones with his update : in terms of casting, especially with the aforementioned De Niro, Scorsese brought the harrowing story into a much darker, recent world, therefore increasing the tension by upping the ante for violent retribution, while at the same time, paying direct homage to the original by having Elmer Bernstein adapt the original Bernard Herrmann score. Juliette Lewis also provided a breakout performance in this modern day classic, and possibly the film that provided the most tense debate in terms of placement, as we will get into with the next film.

5. Silence (2016) Despite being one of the most recent Martin Scorsese films, this one’s limited release meant that I missed it during its initial run, and the lack of streaming service placement essentially erased it from my memory. I was certainly intrigued about watching it for this list, and it ended up being the last film viewed. Going into it, it felt like a sort of religious take on Saving Private Ryan, but it didn’t take long for the film to start dealing out much heavier cards in terms of faith, belief systems and cross-cultural contamination. The Last Temptation of Christ showed that Scorsese could find nuance and secular drama from a holy tale, and Kundun showed that he could make a religious icon a relatable human figure struggling to grasp his divine appointment. Silence is the work of a wise, steady hand, however, like some sort of cinematic parable or testament to faith in the face of crippling doubt and danger. Scorsese is certainly still moved by the idea of faith, and he uses Andrew Garfield to display this in some of the most powerful moments that he has ever created or captured for his films. For those who have not seem the film, this placement may feel a bit high, but I would not be surprised if, given time and proper amounts of reflection, it makes its way higher.

4. Raging Bull (1980) The placement of Raging Bull and Cape Fear was the biggest hurdle I was forced to overcome in the creation of this list. Robert De Niro is powerfully captivating in both films, though I would personally give his performance as Max Cady the nod over his embodiment of Jake LaMotta, but when it comes down to the brass tacks of it all, Raging Bull is ultimately the better of the two films. The raw, black and white look of LaMotta’s life already provides a gritty, unflattering portrait of a savage and uncouth man looking for beauty in the world, but that beauty he searches for appears in the boxing sequences with no apologies. The airy look, mainly caught by dynamic slow motion photography, works in tandem with the abrasive first-person views of the combatants, not to mention the direct nature of the combat itself as the viewer is often placed directly in the line of fire. The involvement of the real LaMotta within the film provides a nice button to the superb acting put on display by De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty and the numerous actors used to portray the opponents of LaMotta.

3. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Call it a trope if you like, but it feels like every great (or aspiring) director has a film in them that is driven by religion in some capacity. The Last Temptation of Christ is unique in this sense because it takes the story of the accusations, betrayal, trial and eventual crucifixion of Jesus and turns it into a deeply faith-based suspense thriller. Many of the familiar beats we know from the Bible are re-contextualized as visions, mystic tests of faith, carnal desires driven by lust, and nihilistic views infringing upon deep indoctrination. Willem Dafoe plays a Jesus that is bitter in his acceptance of his fate, Harvey Keitel plays a wonderfully opportunistic Judas, and Barbara Hershey plays a very modernized version of a woman forced to use her body for survival that is suddenly trapped between necessity and passion. The film hinges on the verge of becoming a soap opera without falling into the trappings that come with such high drama, and the walkup to the film’s amazing final sequence puts you in the emotional passenger's seat while Jesus takes the wheel and steers directly into his fate. A dramatically powerful yet brutally sincere take on an iconic, revered and sensitive subject matter.

2. Goodfellas (1990) Is there any original praise left to bestow upon this movie? To focus on the imperfections of this film is an act of futility, as they are mostly non-existent. Some of Martin Scorsese’s best examples of his iconic camera movement, editing techniques, still frames, writing gleaned from personal experience, soundtrack use, loose historical connections and dark humor are found within the confines of Goodfellas. If you’ve seen in actor in any television show or film that had any connection to the mob prior to Goodfellas or since, it is more than likely that that actor was in Goodfellas, even if only briefly. Using Henry Hill as both an outsider and insider perspective is a brilliant narrative stroke, as he can get close to the top, but can never have it all, making him essentially a fly on the wall bursting with charisma and personality. They highs are as epic as the lows are tragic, and for most people, it is the first film that comes to mind when the name Martin Scorsese is mentioned. This could have very easily been the number one film on my list, but anyone who has been visiting this blog with a keen eye for detail probably figured out my favorite Scorsese film the first time they visited the DOOMonFILM blog.

1. Taxi Driver (1976) Since the day that I started this film blog, there has been one image at the top of the page : Travis Bickle in the porn theater (with his face replaced by my logo) from the iconic Taxi Driver. There’s not a single element that I can put my finger on for this film, but there are certainly a number of elements that do speak to me : the isolation that Travis faces, the journal-like narration that drives the story forward, the hypnotic nature of both Bernard Herrmann score and the repetitive taxi cab shots and the vivid camera movements are all burnt firmly into my brain. Everyone that makes up the main cast for this film kills in their performance, and the ending of the film is not only a brutal one, but an ironic one in regards to where Travis lands in the eyes of those who make up the world of the film. Martin Scorsese has made more amazing films than some directors have made, period (amazing or otherwise), but for my money’s worth, none of them are as powerful or well put together as Taxi Driver.

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polyolefinprince · 4 years ago

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What would you do for the next Pokémon region? What theme would the pseudo legendaries and legendaries be?

In terms of the actual region, I prefer fantasy lands to actual places (I'd rather explore Hyrule than NYC, you feel?) which also permits more diversity in location so there can be stuff like a desert area and a snowy area without it feeling forced. I'd also want caves to come back a bit. Places like the Ice Path in Johto allowed so much more exploration than locations like the Galar Mine which is just one path with an optional offshoot.

Honestly, I want a Breath of the Wild type of game where there is a lot more exploration and letting us approach the story how we want. Gyms would be hard to force in a more open-world game but in the past two generations they've been changing how gyms work so I think it's totally feasible to still incorporate that with badges acting as milestones to unlock stronger pokemon and areas. I still think having the region somewhat split up is a good idea, so maybe having different areas going further into the region, with three gyms per area, and you just have to beat one of them to go on but you're encouraged to beat all three so you're pokemon will on-par with the levels of the next region. This allows for a chance of a gym for each type which would give us 6 different levels of area, similar to Alola's four islands (I don't think I would want them to be islands though because the story requires more forest area than oceans). I think this works well because the first could be a classic Grass/Fire/Water trio, then maybe Electric/Ground/Flying as classic types to teach resistances, then Bug/Ghost/Poison to have a generally spooky vibe, then kick off the second half with the classic Fighting/Psychic/Dark trio, then Ice/Ground/Normal (partially because it's what is left and partially because by now you have typing figured out so a strong normal gym is a challenge) and the final one could be the stronger types with Dragon/Fairy/Steel.

In terms of the storyline, I love what Hoenn did with having two teams with contrasting views and depending on the game you chose you got to see different points of view. I want to try that again but have more nuanced arguments rather than Team Aqua and Magma's opinion on the size of the ocean. I think I'd want my two teams to be focused on Nature vs Society, where one team wants to exhaust the natural world's resources for industry and science while the other wants to push civilization back to make room for the return of forests and wild pokemon. This has definitely been done before so it isn't a new concept, but I think that it's something where arguing for the extremes can lead to disastrous consequences in either side. I'm talking Community Center vs Joja Mart but like to the max.

Playing off of that, Princess Mononoke is one of my two favorite movies and while I would love the forest spirit there to be the Nature legendary, I don't want it to be too similar to Xerneas. Instead, I think looking at the boar gods there is a good choice as they can show the wild strength of nature that I want. So the Nature legendary would be a Grass/Ground giant boar. Let's call it Boarture, even though that's not at all what it's name would be because that sounds too much like torture and I specifically want to stay away from making either of them evil, just dangerous. Still, Boarture works for now.

The Society legendary is harder. I don't want to minimize society to industry because that's harder to justify against nature. I still want industry to play a part, as well as scientific advancement but also history and art as important cultural cornerstones. There are a couple different type combos I like for this one, but my favorite is Fire/Steel, which isn't a type combo we've seen before and also pairs up human civilization really well with the myth of the first fire and cooking and shelter and stories which are all decidedly human traits and the steel incorporating technology and science. I think it would take on a more humanoid appearance while still being wisp-y, a body composed purely of a white fire fueled by ambition and hands of liquid steel that it shapes at will to demonstrate its creativity, while still being dangerous to embrace in entirety. Lets call it Muse.

It might be a lot, but I think I also want a separate legendary trio to accompany them both. With Boarture I think you should have to make a case to three disciples before you get to confront Boarture itself. Each of them composes an aspect of the natural world. I like the idea of them being bugs because there aren't enough strong bug types. One of them is Flying/Bug and it helps herald in storms, another is Rock/Bug and it presides over the desert, and the third is Water/Bug and it protects the rivers and streams throughout the region. For Muse's, I like the idea of them all being Fairies because fairy tales are a human creation, and each of them having to do with humanity and society. One would be Ghost/Fairy and presides ovrr stories and history, another would be Electric/Fairy and would be immersed in technology (like a non-tricky Rotom), and the third would be Psychic/Fairy and would deal with identity and the concept of the Self. I don't like the idea of Pokemon being version exclusive, as somebody who didn't have friends to play with growing up, so I think 3 would be plot relevant, but after the game is complete you can potentially go through a second quest to fight the second box legendary and with it in the party you could find the other 3.

Idk what I would do for pseudo legendaries tbh. I've always wanted a Fire/Grass forest fire pokemon so that would be there. I also want a Poison/Steel radioactive pokemon that would fit well with the industrial aspect of the games. I love the idea of a Water/Dark kraken-style pokemon but I don't know if it would fit in well with my idea of the region. A Grass/Fighting moose pokemon covered in bark? A Poison/Fairy witch pokemon with a special move where it throws a potion with different effects based on the type of Pokemon it throws it at? An Ouroboros pokemon that starts as just a snake trying to bite its tail but turning into a fearsome dragon?

Overall, I think it's ambitious. Making it so that the story is different depending on the version while still following the core story isn't too hard, they've done it before. On top of that, making it so you can fight between 6-18 gyms and not necessarily in order will allow incredible individuality to the games, making it feel like everybody can play their own game with a different story than their friend. It would also allow great replayability as people fight different gyms or challenges like a Nuzlocke but you can only fight one gym per area. Or fighting one gym per area and then going back with a fresh team to fight the next 6 and then a third team to be the final 6.

And then having a nature-team is a great segue into another Pokemon Rangers game which they could have done so well on the switch, with moving the controllers in a circle to catch pokemon.

The problem though is that the Pokemon Company is currently emphasizing quantity over quality. I legit don't know if we'll ever see another epic main pokemon game because they are so focused on getting smaller games that they know we'll buy just because it has pokemon in it. They are prioritizing profits over telling a good story with a good game right now, which is disappointing, but I think it's possible we are in the stage where pokemon as we knew it would have died off by now and the only reason it's still going is because there is still money to be made. This is unfortunate, but I understand that we can't have the pokemon we grew up with our whole lives.

#asks #anon #sorry that this is so much to read #if i wasnt the one typing it i probably wouldn't look at all of this #but i love storytelling and worldbuilding and pokemon so this was a good ask

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dippedanddripped · 4 years ago

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One cannot look back on 2001 R&B/hip-hop without paying homage to the fits, the fits, the fits! Designer monogrammed wigs, bedazzled denim from head to toe, the occasional inexplicable trend (Nelly, looking at you), and, of course, Destiny's Child never leaving the house without three glamorous variations of the same fabric.

"[Hip-hop fashion] was creative and custom," says Derek Lee, former stylist to R&B icon, Aaliyah. "It wasn't driven totally by designers, you could still show up with some street stuff and it'd be acceptable." Lee, who styled the beloved singer from 1996 to 2001, pioneered the "sensual tomboy" aesthetic, central to today's fashion landscape, and evident in the wardrobes of R&B stars like Ciara, Teyana Taylor and Rihanna.

Lee recalled his own customizing experiences, adding glitz to streetwear pieces for the late singer. "We were flying to Paris and I'd be bedazzling Enyce sweatsuits for Aaliyah," he explains. Lee paid homage to fellow stylist June Ambrose for her work with Missy Elliott in further establishing the craze surrounding bedazzled pieces.

Ambrose, who styled over 200 music videos, was Missy's right-hand woman, costume designing for every major Missy Elliott production including "Get Ur Freak On," "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)," "One Minute Man," and "Lose Control." She was a go-to designer for R&B/hip-hop heavyweights including Diddy, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey, and currently works as a creative director for Puma.

"We didn't have a point of reference that came before us," explains Ambrose. "We took the risk for the future." The "Rain" designer discussed the role of late '90s to early '00s designers as trailblazers, bursting through barriers between high-end labels and R&B/hip-hop culture. "I bridged high fashion with urban music," says Ambrose, "What felt so rebellious was taking a high fashion piece, and still keeping the same demeanor and swag that you wore in your neighborhood."

Dionne Alexander, the hairstylist behind Lil Kim's monogrammed wigs and Mary J. Blige's '90s updo's, agrees. "Look how free we are here," Alexander says. "It was very exciting, we were able to be extremely creative and we had to pull it from within. We didn't have Instagram, we had to go out and get magazines.

Tre Major, hairstylist to legendary celebrities including Aaliyah, Mary J. Blige, Patti LaBelle and Naomi Campbell, says the early '00s was "the best" era for fashion and hip-hop. "I was like an architect on the outside," Major explained. "Building the visuals, landscaping and making it gorgeous." Major was responsible for ushering in the lace-front wig into the world of R&B/hip-hop. "[The other stylists] were just geek because they never seen anything like it," says Major. "Now you can find a lace front wig on every corner, every boutique, every website."

On the 20th anniversary of this iconic, enduring year in fashion, Billboard caught up with the architects of the era, June Ambrose, Derek Lee, Tre Major and Dionne Alexander, to discuss some of the most memorable looks in '01 R&B/hip-hop and how these moments shaped the culture for decades to come.

Missy Elliott's Rhinestones, "Get Ur Freak On" Courtesy Photo Missy Elliott "Get Ur Freak On"

Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" bedazzled denim

In '01, rhinestones were all the craze, and we have June Ambrose to thank. "It was all about making Missy a rock star," says Ambrose. "I got her hooked on rhinestones -- and once that happened, forget about it." The 200-time music video stylist says the glittering look from Missy's Dave Meyers directed video was meant to create a dichotomy between Elvis-like glamour and sportswear. "The jean jacket silhouette was very comfortable and relatable to her, but taking a Bootsy Collins over the top approach is what made it really tangible and special."

Aaliyah's Catsuit, "More Than A Woman" Courtesy Photo Aaliyah "More Than A Woman"

Aaliyah's "More Than A Woman" Chanel catsuit

Aaliyah's Dapper Dan-designed faux Chanel catsuit from the "More Than a Woman" video is one of the late singer's most iconic moments. "I knew that it was going to be a feature, that it would be striking, if it was different from anything she has done before," says Lee. The decision to choose Chanel was a step away from edgier brands like Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli, which the sweet singer was typically dressed in. But why not have Chanel design the piece themselves? "[The major brands] didn't want to be associated with rap music and this street culture," explains Lee, "That's why we had to create our own stuff or have it knocked off by [Dapper] Dan." When Aaliyah saw the design, Lee says she was feeling it. "I had decided to move Aaliyah into almost a cartoon character," he tells Billboard. "I was going down to Little Tokyo and getting all these anime books and had this entire idea."

Lil Kim Steve Wood/Shutterstock Lil Kim photographed at the Versace Haute couture show, Spring /Summer 2001 in Paris, France.

Lil Kim's monogrammed wigs

Monogrammed tresses have popped up on the heads of the rap's most iconic first ladies, including Nicki Minaj and Cardi B -- but similar to countless other signature hip-hop trends, it started with Lil Kim as the blueprint, and hairstylist Dionne Alexander the architect. "The inspiration totally comes from [Lil Kim] and who she is," says Alexander, the mastermind behind Lil Kim's Versace wig and equally iconic blue Chanel wig. "It was such a flow of creative energy, like a power that was coming through."

Alexander recalls coloring the Chanel wig Lil Kim wore for Manhattan File Magazine late into the night, until 5:00 in the morning. "I went to the art store and got trace paper and created the logo, then I cut it out." And her secret? Black magic marker. "With the Versace wig," Alexander says, "She called me and left this message on my machine that I literally kept for years. She went nuts, and it was the same with the Chanel."

Alexander says the present-day response to both wigs is surprising. "It's more of a buzz now than it was then. I'm so shocked at how many people call me about it now."

Outkast "So Fresh, So Clean" Courtesy Photo Outkast "So Fresh, So Clean"

Outkast's 'So Fresh' and 'So Clean' looks

The evolution of men's fashion in hip-hop is inextricably linked to the genius duo best known as Outkast. The pair defied longstanding tropes of how rappers were expected to present themselves and sent the media into frequent frenzies, with their delightfully shocking red carpet looks. In the "So Fresh, So Clean" music video, the eccentric Georgian duo rock a myriad of hairstyles, from a sleek, flipped perm, to a combed out, asymmetrical afro.

"That's some Southernplayalistic s--t right there," says Lee, in reference to the pair's '01 look. Alexander says Andre 3000 and Big Boi "revolutionized male confidence" through their unapologetic expression of creativity. Of Andre 3000, Major says, "He took a real gamble and went for it, just being his true artistic self and everyone loved it."

Macy Gray Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect Macy Gray arriving at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City on Sept. 6, 2001.

Macy Gray's Vocal Dress at the MTV Video Music Awards

It was the dress seen (and read) around the world. Macy Gray, a performer known for her unconventional style and music, decided to transform her award show dress into a walking billboard. "That was totally Macy's idea, I just had to execute it," says Ambrose, the designer of Macy's immortal dress. "Working with Macy Gray was so much fun because she was an anomaly," Ambrose remembers. "In that moment, it was important that she sold albums, and she had she wanted to capitalize on the moment. It's like, where's the return on the investment? I'm getting hair and makeup and spending money on wardrobe. Is it gonna help me sell records? We wanted to just make sure that it did."

Destiny's Child "Survivor" Courtesy Photo Destiny's Child "Survivor"

Destiny's Child's coordinated camo

There are few things more memorable about the late '90s and early '00s than DC3's coordinated looks. Whether it was award shows, music videos or MTV appearances, you caught the trio out and about without perfect coordination. "Tina Knowles strikes again," says Ambrose, of Beyonce's mother and the group's resident designer. "Utilitarian was such a celebration of being tough and dominant," Ambrose explained. "It showed females in military can be sexy, that it's not just a man's game." Major drew comparisons to another always coordinated, ever-influential girl group. "Every time I looked at them, I saw the modern day Supremes," he said. "Everyone wanted to follow the camouflage trend."

Nelly Charles Sykes/Shutterstock Nelly photographed on Sept. 7, 2001.

Nelly's inexplicable face band-aid and double headbands

There are countless rumors circulating the World Wide Web about the explanation behind Nelly's little white Band-Aid and criss-crossed headbands. But regardless of the backstory, Nelly's creative face accessory was all people could talk about. "He created his own thing, like a left-eye kind of moment," says Major, who remembered considering rocking a Band-Aid himself. Ambrose says the bandage symbolized a "thug badge of honor," as iconic to Nelly as eye black is to football players.

Alicia Keys Anthony Barboza/Getty Images Alicia Keys photographed in New York in 2001.

Alicia Keys' beads and cornrows

Before Alicia Keys arrived on the scene, cornrows and beads were seldom seen in mainstream music. Ambrose, who styled Alicia in the early years of her career says the pianist extraordinaire's team always kept her identity in mind. "We wanted to always keep a sense of that New York girl and celebrate all the things that that spoke to her Blackness," says Ambrose. Not only was Alicia's hair aesthetically striking, it also played a roll in representation of Black women's natural tresses. "Universally, it told other young Black girls and it's okay to wear your braids and your beads," explained Ambrose. "That this isn't a Bo Derek moment, this is an African moment."

Mary J. Blige "Family Affair" Courtesy Photo Mary J. Blige "Family Affair"

Mary J. Blige's avant-garde "Family Affair" wigs

It's hard to say what part of the "Family Affair" experience was most unforgettable. Was it the futuristic outfits? Iconic choreographed moves? The fact that Mary basically invented three new words? In the world of fashion, it was most definitely the wigs. Tre Major, Mary's long-time hairstylist, says the chart-topping singer was ever-evolving, setting trend after trend along the way.

"I gave her edge and femininity," says Major. "I named that wig the Marvin Martian," Major says of Mary's salt and pepper avant-garde wig, a nod to the Looney Tunes character. Major says he custom made the wig on the R&B diva, since her head was "so small" compared to the mannequins. "She was the best muse because she was so daring," he explains. "She trusted me."

#missy elliott #june ambrose #derek lee #nelly #hiphop fashion #tre major #streetwear blog #fashion blog

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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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OPINION: WandaVision, SSSS.Gridman, and the Beautiful Prison of Nostalgia

Just to warn folks: this article contains spoilers for WandaVision and SSSS.Gridman.

In 2021, in the middle of a pandemic and floundering movie theaters, the most discussed show of the year so far is Marvel's WandaVision. Fans and culture writers have been busy diving deep into what the show is about. Is WandaVision a successful portrait of the process of grief? Does it successfully humanize Wanda, a character who’s so far evaded the spotlight given to characters like Iron Man or Captain America? Is “what is grief but love persevering” a good or a bad line? Where was Mephisto in all this? Most difficult of all: in allowing Wanda some relief and kind words after she brainwashes an entire town into doing exactly what she says, does the show let her off the hook?

Listening to my friends and coworkers argue over this show over the past few weeks reminded me of one of my favorite anime of the past few years — a series that tackled themes of grief, nostalgia, and whether a monster can be redeemed. A series that predates WandaVision by three years and has a sequel coming out next month. That’s right, I’m talking about SSSS.Gridman!

Like WandaVision, SSSS.Gridman is a show about a girl (Akane) who escapes to a bubble world when life becomes too much for her to bear. She uses special technology to manipulate people’s awareness, and through the power of a mysterious entity known as Alexis Kerib, summons giant monsters (kaiju) to murder those she doesn’t like. Our heroes, a trio of her classmates who join forces with the space cop Gridman to defeat the kaiju endangering their friends, eventually turn their attention to saving Akane, the “god” of their world, from herself. They do this over the course of 12 episodes and many exciting, well-choreographed battles.

While Yuta (Gridman’s friend and partner) is technically the protagonist, Akane quickly steals the show as the most developed and layered character in the series. She’s capable of astonishing violence in the pursuit of her own happiness, but just as easily bruised when her plans fail and her creations turn against her. We see the moments when she regrets her actions, but also the moments where she makes terrible decisions despite knowing their costs. Just like Takeshi, the villain of SSSS.Gridman’s live-action predecessor, Akane is defined by weakness as much as strength. Even when her actions put other people at risk, they are driven as much by anxiety and fear as they are by hate.

Just like with WandaVision, there was plenty of discussion as Gridman aired about whether or not Akane could be redeemed. Like Wanda, Akane has hurt and even killed many people. At times she even attempts to manipulate them. Yet at the end of the series, when she “opens the door” to Yuta and her friends and escapes Alexis Kerib’s influence, I was overjoyed. How could this be?

Here’s my guess. Like WandaVision, Gridman isn’t just a show that attempts to humanize a villain. It is a show about nostalgia. As each episode of WandaVision is an obsessively detailed homage to American sitcoms, Gridman is a 12-episode love letter to live-action dramas and giant robot shows. Obscure alternate universe Transformers tie-ins, past episodes of Ultraman, Gridman scripts and guidebooks that were never produced — it’s all there, packed in not just by the dedicated staff but presumably through scriptwriter Keichi Hasegawa, himself a legendary Ultraman writer.

Unlike Takeshi, Akane is a cool, stylish teenage girl. But deep down, she’s as much a geek as Takashi was, fiendishly dedicated to kaiju and robot shows. The kaiju she creates aren’t just a means by which she exerts control over the world, but an expression of her love. When Gridman destroys these kaiju to protect Yuta’s friends, Akane can’t help but take those losses personally. It’s not just the desecration of her favorite hobby. The failure of her creations is a consequence of her own lack of imagination. She can’t imagine any other way to manage her problems than to create a bubble world where everyone loves her.

The trick of SSSS.Gridman is that while Yuta and his friends are the heroes, Akane is the true audience surrogate. How many of us also feel as though we are ostracized nerds with low self-esteem? How many use our favorite shows or games as an escape? In WandaVision, we see how Wanda watches sitcoms as a child as a way to cope with daily uncertainty. There’s nothing wrong with sitcoms; the creators of WandaVision clearly love them, having built such an elaborate homage to them. But if you spend the time watching sitcoms that you could be using to sleep or to eat (or, say, turning a town of people into a sitcom to avoid dealing with the death of your lover) then something will inevitably give.

In Episode 9 of Gridman, Akane traps Yuta and his friends within their dreams in a last-ditch effort to turn them to her side. Each rejects her, choosing their responsibility to their friends rather than their god. At the end of the episode, we see that Akane, herself, is trapped in a dream. Despite holding unlimited power, all she can do is retreat further and further into a shell that she has built out of her own self-loathing. It is a shell that not even a superhero like Gridman can break. In the end, at the very last moment and with the help of her friends, Akane breaks it on her own.

You could point at other similarities between WandaVision and what SSSS.Gridman did back in 2018, if you really wanted to. For instance, the way that both series (through Vision and Anti) approach the question of personhood and what it means to be a “monster” or a “robot.” You could parallel the efforts of Yuta, Rikka, and their friends to pull Akane out of her hole with the way Monica Rambeau becomes an empowered hero surrogate in WandaVision. If I would point at one way in which Gridman differs from WandaVision, it is how Gridman’s embrace of live-action superhero shows and giant robots better lends itself to a finale where human evil is punched into submission. By comparison, by the time Wanda starts throwing energy balls around in WandaVision, it jars with the sitcom homage and character study of earlier episodes.

All things said, at the end of the day I prefer Ultraman and giant robots punching each other to Cheers and Marvel films. That’s not to say the latter is worse; it’s more a matter of personal taste. Either way, I’m glad that art continues to be made that grapples with the messy contradictions of human behavior. Though I’ll suggest: if you’re looking for genuinely challenging, ahead-of-its-time source material for a Marvel adaptation, X-Statix is right there!

Did you watch WandaVision as it aired? Are you looking forward to SSSS DYNAZENON? Will we ever see an animated adaptation of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye? Let us know in the comments!

Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he is not loudly shouting the praises of John Allison and Max Sarin's Giant Days, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? You can find him on Twitter at: @wendeego

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Adam Wescott

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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gardenofgods-a · 4 years ago

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It was a beautiful summer day today, and Celebi intended on capitalizing on that by paying a visit to his friends in Ecruteak. He bounced along the path to the small town, flowers and grasses sprouting up from the soil with every step. The sunshine felt good on his skin, and the sky was such a deep blue he felt as if he could fall up into it.

Celebi saw the tops of Bell and Brass Tower looming over the horizon as he continued down the dirt path. It took him another few minutes before he reached the town, waving to the people who were out and about on such a nice day.

As he neared the towers, however, his head began to pound, and he felt himself being pulled. It’d been a bit since he last had a vision, and the fact this one came on so suddenly surprised him. He sat down on the ground and held his head in his hands, eyes beginning to glow as the scene before him shifted and changed wildly.

The once blue skies were heavily clouded over, full of the darkest clouds he’d ever seen in his life. A bolt of lightning cut through the heavens and down to the ground below, narrowly missing Bell Tower. The strike that came after the first, however, hit the top of Brass Tower. The old wood instantly went up in flames, and he could hear screaming and shouting from the people in town.

Black smoke billowed out from the top, and those inside Brass Tower were rushing out, some coughing and wheezing as they did so. The fire was spreading fast. The upper half was already consumed in flames, and a crowd had gathered a distance away. People were murmuring to each other, some were even in tears.

The noise of shouting filled his ears as he saw someone getting pulled out by several men, burns and soot covering their figure. It took him a moment, before terror gripped him. That was Lugia. The crowd around them grew uneasy as he shouted about how there were still children inside, begging and pleading. There was nothing that could be done, however. The fire was too intense for anyone else to even get close. A loud creak and a groan filled the town as wooden support beams came crashing down, followed by the mighty walls of Brass Tower. It was falling apart.

Celebi gripped the sides of his head tight and shut his eyes, tears spilling down his face. He didn’t want to see anymore. He didn’t want to be here anymore, but he couldn’t pull himself out of his vision. He never could.

The sky above them opened up as rain began to come down relentlessly, the fire licking up the sides of the tower hissing as it was snuffed out by the sheets of rain. Maybe there was a chance Lugia’s kids survived. Maybe none of the falling debris hit them. Maybe, just maybe, the rain fell in time and they were spared. Please, please god let them be spared.

A shrill cry filled the air as Ho-Oh descended through the clouds, his radiance enough to make the stormy day seem like a sunny one. Celebi looked at the other legendary, and he saw nothing but anguish in his iridescent eyes.

In a single moment, it felt as if he’d had the wind knocked out of him and a bucket of ice water poured over him at the same time. No, Lugia’s kids weren’t inside the tower. His children weren’t the ones he was shouting about, begging someone to save.

It was Ho-Oh’s.

“Stop! STOP!” He’d shout, hitting his temples. No one could hear him but himself. “Oh god, oh god, please-” The mighty fire-type perched on the wreckage of the tower, shimmering and glowing unlike Celebi had ever seen. The rain came to a slow halt and sunbeams pierced through the clouds, one of which landed on the smoldering foundation of Brass Tower.

Three charred bodies were lifted from the rubble, glowing with the same intensity as Ho-Oh. Celebi almost missed what happened entirely, but in an instant, the three were brought back from death, as if they’d never been touched by the fire at all. To anyone else, it may have seemed as if Ho-Oh rewound time itself, bringing his children to the state they were in before the fire. That wasn’t it. He took them back from death itself, reviving them and bringing them back to life.

Ho-Oh soon slumped slightly, on the brink of unconsciousness after using so much power. Celebi could hardly believe what he just saw, and it seems the townspeople were just as shocked. There was nothing but silence in the area for a moment, until an angry shout shook Celebi from his stupor. Someone had thrown a rock up towards the newly revived trio, followed by another person doing the same thing. Why? Why were they doing that? Celebi found himself moving towards the crowd, standing in front of them.

“What are you-” He’d stop as a rock passed through him. Right, he was in his vision. There was nothing he could do. The trio didn’t take kindly to the abuse, and the three of them leapt off of the tower and scattered in different directions.

Bright sunlight filtered back into his vision, and warmth settled onto his skin again. Celebi crawled over to some bushes and threw up the moment he got control over himself, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

He hated this power of his. It burdened him with knowledge of the future, and he knew he wasn’t allowed to speak of it to anyone but his father. He couldn’t warn Ho-Oh or his kids about what was to come, and he couldn’t warn Lugia either.

Hands balled into fists as he pressed them into his eyes, letting out a shuddering breath. Celebi couldn’t even face them knowing what he knew now. They were doomed. All of them were.

#🌱 headcanon ➤ celebi.#✨ drabble.#long post #death tw #i rly did like the generations ep w the burned tower when all the ppl were like OH MY GOD!!! -throws rocks-#like. bro why r u doin that. u SAW ho oh revive them. why throw rocks at the kids n not him. it's HIS power #suicune getting hit w a rock: ok. i just lost all the respect i had for you people. good luck drinking dirty water! bye!!#that's another reason y she didnt visit ecruteak for like 100 years. bc ppl were shitty for no reason to her n her brothers #emetophobia tw

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drinkingdeadpeopletea · 5 years ago

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Btw if you're in the mood to share more of your thoughts about this wonderful wizard it would be awesome. In ep51, among many great things Alanis said and done there was something along the lines of "I've met a bunch of gods, but don't make them rule your life. Know your own truth". This brings up the question: in your opinion which gods in naddpod pantheon could Alanis have met in the different phases of her long journey? And with which deity would she vibe the most or even feel impressed by?

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT LINE OOOOOOOOOOOH

okay okay okay so we know for sure that they all met the Watchman, so there’s one. and also, Asmodeus was a god, so there’s two that we know for sure. killing him counts as “meeting” him, right?

i also definitely think Thiala has met Pelor face-to-face. I didn’t imagine that the others were with her when this happened, but they could have been. I don’t think Alanis would vibe with Pelor, but I bet she had respect for him based on the things she saw Thiala do with his power. but I also bet she was a little suspicious--like, Alanis was always nudging Thiala to rely on herself instead of Pelor, “it’s not just because of Pelor that you can do all these amazing things, it’s you, too!” and oooooh boy did Thiala take the wrong lesson from that.

now a god that i totally think all three of the Legendary Heroes could have met together would be Moradin. in every dnd campaign you get to the part where you have to confront everybody’s backstory and from what we know about Ulfgar i would FULLY believe that his personal quest involved climbing that mountain up near the Gash and speaking to Moradin there. and honestly we don’t know much about Moradin but from what we know of the bahumia dwarves, I bet he rules. I bet Alanis would like him.

I think it’s possible too that Alanis encountered Erathis at some point, who is a deity we haven’t heard much about beyond Tonathan’s brief mentionings but honestly I don’t think Alanis (at least not my rebel/scoundrel Alanis) would like them very much.

I think Alanis would love Melora, but I tragically can’t think of what occasion they would have had to meet. (unless, omg....all those timelines where alanis spent big chunks of time in the feywild.........Much To Think About.) Melora’s line in the latest episode that’s like “you mistake me not taking your side for indifference” is VERY Alanis, and I think they share the same philosophy about not meddling with peoples’ free will as much as they can. If we’re drawing trio parallels, Alanis is the Melora of her trio.

I also would be fascinated to see Alanis interact with Telaine, because on the one hand they have a lot in common: friends with dragons, being isolated on separate planes, dope aesthetic, lesbian, etc. That said, Alanis has never been power-hungry, like, at all. Even her making the wish stones and literally taking control of the timeline itself, it was never meant to be a power grab, it was always just “how can i fix this.” So Alanis would either sympathize with her or really dislike her and I can’t quite decide which.

and again i can’t think when they would have met but Alanis would love the Duskmother because, come on, who wouldn’t love the Duskmother? thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#naddpod #naddpod spoilers #Anonymous

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dramioneasks · 6 years ago

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Dramione Series:

A Familiar Place Series by AnneM.Oliver:

A Familiar Place - M, 40 chapters - She looked outside the train window & everything seemed familiar, it felt right. She was going home, back to Hogwarts. One question needed asked, why was Malfoy on the train? The answer, he was leaving home,and he had no where else to go. Dramione

A Familiar Place: Part II The Founder's Story - M, 41 chapters - Draco & Hermione are teachers at Hogwarts. An excavation of the castle's grounds & artifacts of the founders may bring more trouble than they realize. How will they handle the turmoil? Will they be able to deal with the past & still have a future? Sequel

A Familiar Place III: A Future Untold - M, 40 chapters - Sometimes the most familiar place is with someone you love. Set during their 6th year at Hogwarts, Draco has to go back to the worst year of his life to secure his future with Hermione Granger. 3rd in a series. This story can stand alone w/out reading 1&2

A Familiar Place Christmas - M, 5 chapters - Hermione Granger doesn't have any Christmas cheer this year and is searching every where for it. Maybe if she searched A FAMILIAR PLACE, Christmas cheer might find her instead. Part of the 'A Familiar Place' Series

A Moment of Splendor Series by daswhoiam:

A Moment of Splendor - M, 2 chapters - Domestication is not always bliss. Sometimes you need a moment to break up the monotony of life with a sexy grey eyed man. “Does he know?” Draco asked. Hermione just shook her head ‘no’, taking in a shaky breath she nuzzled his neck. His intoxicating scent, clean and earthy, having a calming effect on her. Warning: Lemons. Sequel: Seven Years After the Splendor

Seven years after the Splendor - M, 6 chapters - This is the sequel to my FanFic 'A Moment of Splendor’. Seven years after Draco and Hermione’s affair the two of them meet again under a different set of circumstances. Will they rekindle the passion they once shared or will the secrets of their past ruin any hopes of a future. Warning: Future Lemons

A Slow Cruel Descent Series by Senlinyu:

A Slow Cruel Descent - M, one-shot - The war grinds on and Hermione Granger, the lead intelligence for the Order of the Pheonix, is captured. Unable to crack her through interrogation without risking her mind, Voldemort conceives a cruel method of breaking her that involves a reluctant Draco Malfoy.

A Fragile Ascent - M, 2 chapters - Sequal to A Slow Cruel Descent.The War is over. Voldemort is dead. And Hermione Granger is broken.

A Sudden Awakening Series by AnneM.Oliver:

A Sudden Awakening - M, 14 chapters - He saw her sitting in the chair across from him. The last time he saw her,she was lying on the ground, and he thought she was dead. He didn't save her that night for her, he did it for himself. So, she didn't owe him anything. She's still just a mudbloodA Life Not Loved - M, 15 chapters - Companion piece to ‘A Sudden Awakening’. Hermione just wanted to give Draco his life back, but somehow she felt she lost hers along the way. Now it was up to him to find her life for her & to prove that she is worth his love. Read A Sudden Awakening first

A Writer of Fictions Series by eilonwy:

A Writer of Fictions - E, 52 chapters - A new term in a new place offers unexpected surprises and challenges.

Second Chapter - E, 20 chapters - Newlyweds Draco and Hermione leave their student days at Oxford behind and begin a new chapter of their life together– in London.

Baby Days - E, oneshot - Draco and Hermione embark on a uniquely life-changing adventure together.

Baby Days 2: The Turning of the Wheel - E, 17 chapters - Draco and Hermione bring Rory home from the hospital, and now the real fun begins.

Family Album - M, WIP - In this story, we'll be revisiting the young Malfoy family, whom we last saw at the birth of baby Kieran at the end of Baby Days 2: The Turning of the Wheel. Each visit will be a snapshot of a particular moment in their lives. In this first installment, Kieran has just turned two and big sister Rory is nearly four.

After the Battle Series by WaitTilMyFatherHearsAboutThis:

After the Battle - E, 4 chapters - The Battle of Hogwarts is over. Not ten minutes ago, Harry Potter defeated Tom Riddle once and for all. As the initial cheering and celebrating dies down, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger look at each other from opposite ends of the Great Hall and visibly sag with relief. He’s alive.. She survived..

Harry - E, one-shot - Harry Potter looked around the Great Hall and expected to see mistrust, disgust and sneers, maybe some tired resignation, at the revelation that not only was the ‘Gryffindor Princess’ in love with the 'Slytherin Prince’ (rude snort), but that Queen of the Muggleborns Hermione Granger was in love with prejudiced Death Eater Draco Malfoy. But instead, everyone seemed to be in a state of pure shock. He couldn’t blame them.

The Survivors - E, 8 chapters - “Well.. That was unexpected,” said George.

An Unlikely Pair Trilogy by AnneM.Oliver:

An Unlikely Pair - T, 42 chapters - They were an unlikely pair. He knew it, so did she. Everyone did. It didn't matter,they were merely friends, hardly even that. There was certainly no affection, no romance. Just friendship. Neither wanted more. Honestly. Well, maybe. Nominated fiction.

An Unlikely Pair, Again - M, 42 chapters - Sequel/An Unlikely Pair/They were married for two weeks & were to spend the weekend at their parent's. Crazy, to date one day, & then marry the next, since they were such an unlikely pair. He was rich & pureblood. She, Muggle-born. It was love, of course.

An Unlikely Pair, No Longer - M, 30 chapters - 3rd in the "An Unlikely Pair" triology. Married after one weekend together, everyone claimed they were an unlikely pair, but after 14 months of marriage, they were out to prove, at least to themselves, that they were an unlikely pair, no longer. Dramione.

Bathwater Series by xXBeckyFoo:

Bathwater - T, 31 chapters - It’s their 7th year,the Dark Lord’s dead and the Death Eaters are all rounded up. Nothing could go wrong, right? There’s a sense of peace in the air, but how long can it possibly last when the Ministry’s throwing people together for all eternity? Curse the new Marriage Law.

Simple Kind Of Life - T, 32 chapters - The story goes that they lived happily ever after, right? Well, it’s been fifteen years since the Marriage Law passed and Draco and Hermione were forced to marry; finding love along the way. Now, someone has began to tear the peace of the once arch-enemies apart and began to destroy what they thought was meant forever. Will they fight to keep it together or this time let it slip?

Charon’s Gift Trilogy by Philyra912:

Charon’s Gift - T, one-shot - PostHBP. On a joyless Christmas Eve, Hermione goes to visit the graves of the fallen. There she meets the man who destroyed her hope, and perhaps the only one who can give it back to her.

The Year of the Rose - T, 12 chapters - A chronicle of the year following the events of Charon’s Gift.

Dante’s Love Song - T, one-shot - Third installment in the Charon’s Gift trilogy. With a year of war behind them, Draco and Hermione must find a balance between endings and beginnings, and face the past that has made them who they are.

Children of the Dark Series by cleotheo:

Children of the Dark - Year 1 - T, 12 chapters - It’s time for Harry, Hermione and Draco to start school. But what happens when two of the golden trio aren’t who they appear to be and are best friends with a Slytherin? Dark Hermione! Dark Harry! First in a seven part series.

Children of the Dark - Year 2 - T, 16 chapters - The trio are back for their second year at Hogwarts, and this time they’re armed with the knowledge of how to open the legendary Chamber of Secrets. Things are about to get dangerous at Hogwarts. Dark Hermione! Dark Harry! Part two of a seven part series.

Children of the Dark - Year 3 - T, 22 chapters - It’s third year for Hermione, Harry and Draco. With Voldemort preparing to return to full strength, he has no mission for the trio. But it’s hardly going to be a dull year with an escaped prisoner of the loose and a new Defence Professor, both of whom seem to have a connection to Harry. Dark Hermione! Dark Harry! Part three of a seven part series.

Children of the Dark - Year 4 - T, 28 chapters - With Voldemort back, and the Triwizard Tournament taking place at Hogwarts, it should be an exciting year for the trio. As the trio face their fourth year at Hogwarts, romance blossoms for Hermione and Draco, while danger lurks for Harry. Dark Hermione! Dark Harry! Part four of a seven part series.

Children of the Dark - Year 5 By: cleotheo - T, 40 chapters - It’s fifth year for the trio, and it’s finally time for Voldemort to strike and get rid of Dumbledore. But before that changes are afoot in the wizarding world. It’s time for a new Minister of Magic, and of course, a new Defence Professor. Then of course there’s the matter of one final year undercover for the trio. Dark Harry! Dark Hermione! Part five of a seven part series.

Children of the Dark - Year 6 - T, 36 chapters - It’s sixth year and the truth is finally out about Harry and Hermione. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a quiet year for the trio as the Order are still out there, vowing to take down the dark. Dark Harry! Dark Hermione! Part six of a seven part story.

Children of the Dark - Year 7 - T, 40 chapters - It’s seventh year and the trio are entering their last year at Hogwarts. With the dark in control and the Order all but defeated, things should be plain sailing for Hermione, Draco and Harry. But their final year of school, will be just like the previous six - full of adventure and excitement. Seventh and final part of a seven part story. Dark Hermione! Dark Harry!

Children of the Dark Collection - T, WIP - Companion pieces to my series - Children of the Dark. A series of collection pieces all set in the same universe as Children of the Dark. Features stories from before, after and during the series and containing various pairings and characters. Any requests welcomed. Dark Hermione! Dark Harry!

Choices Series by Ares.Granger:

War’s End - M, one-shot - A prequel to ‘Choices’, beginning the moment the war has ended. Hermione and Draco reunite and then face having to tell friends and family about their relationship. Not necessary to have read 'Choices’. Oneshot, AU, some language and suggestive situations.

Choices - M, 2 chapters - Sometimes the person asked to choose regrets their decision. But what do you do when their decision isn’t the one you wanted them to make? A chance encounter leaves Harry questioning one of the biggest decisions of his life. Dramione and a guilt-ridden Harry. AU, Post-Hogwarts, Twoshot. Hard to summarize without giving away everything here.

Second Try - T, one-shot - Set in the Choices Universe, AU, Oneshot. A short little story in which Hermione casts a pregnancy charm and Draco learns the results.

Healing Draco - T, one-shot - An interlude between parts 1 and 2 of 'Choices’ but a standalone oneshot at the same time. This is how Draco gets through the trauma of Hermione’s miscarraige and near-death experience. AU, Dramione.

Christmas with the Malfoys Series by NJ Coffee Queen:

Christmas with the Malfoys - T, one-shot - With the annual Malfoy Christmas gathering coming, Draco will do anything to get out of it, including asking Hermione Granger to be his date.

Christmas with the Malfoys, Volume 2 – K+, one shot - Five years after their first Christmas together, Draco is ready to give Hermione the best gift of her life. Companion piece to “Christmas with the Malfoys” Christmas with the Malfoys, Volume 3 – K+, one shot - Ten years later, Hermione returns to Malfoy Manor for the annual Christmas party.

Condemned Series: A Dramione Trilogy by writerspassion18:

Aurors vs The Condemned - T, 12 chapters - He blew another kiss at her and she turned her head, more than disgusted. She caught Draco’s eye once more and instead of scowling, he mouthed two words to her. “Good luck.” In this twisted little game, Hermione would sure need it. *Part One of The Condemned Series - A Dramione Trilogy*

Condemned with Reason - T, 24 chapters - A storm must be coming… She thought to herself, and then chuckled at it, thinking that it was the proper sendoff.Draco was running free when he was supposed to be in Azkaban and Hermione had let him go. That little secret won’t be secret for long… *Sequel to Aurors vs. the Condemned, Part Two of The Condemned Series - A Dramione Trilogy*

Beyond Condemnation - T, WIP - For sixteen years Hermione’s lived in bliss, but her past isn’t quite finished with her yet. Or with her husband for that matter… *Sequel to Condemned with Reason, Part Three of the Condemned Series: A Dramione Trilogy*

Femme Fatale Series by cleotheo:

Femme Fatale - M, 26 chapters - Draco Malfoy's new position as an Auror for the British Ministry throws him head first into a hunt for a serial killer. Working with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, he sets out to catch the killer as well as entering into a romantic relationship with their other colleague, Hermione Granger. Murder mystery with a side helping of Dramione romance.

Buried Secrets - T, 18 chapters - When writer, Cho Chang, is found dead in her house, the investigation team of Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger must unravel a thirty year old mystery if they are to solve her murder. Mystery story set in the same universe as Femme Fatale.

His and Her Bruises Series by Lezonne:

His and Her Bruises - M, 43 chapters - “I congratulate your ability to leave a mark on me, Granger. Although I must make a point of it that my bruises on you are far larger than yours on me. When competing, you should always aim to win, yes?” Fractured timeline from fourth year up; will eventually look into their lives after school.

His and Her Scars - M, 32 chapters - Sequel to HAHB. Hermione thought after the trial that life would be trouble free, but it doesn’t seem that things will work out that way. After discovering Narcissa in a disturing state in one of the corridors, Hermione can only guess what other terrible secrets Draco has hid inside his home. The problems have only begun! Rated for language/lemons

His Little Bird Series by TheWanderersWanderingDaughter:

His Little Bird - M, 20 chapters - Birds should be watched and not kept, but Draco never was one to obey rules. It’s their sixth year. Draco still hates Hermione, but finds he’s becoming obsessed with her.“Have you ever read any of those fairytale books as a child?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “The dragons always hoard beautiful things like gems and gold and princesses. Well, pet,” he said, leaning in closer still, brushing his lips against hers as he spoke, “you’re my princess.”

His Persephone - E, 30 chapters - Sequel to His Little Bird. He’s waited for months while she’s slipped out of his sight, but now she’s back at Hogwarts, and Draco Malfoy will stop at nothing to claim his ultimate possession.

His - M, 5 chapters - How it all ends.

The Education of a Lady - E, WIP - Fourth part in the His Little Bird series. The story of survival, betrayal, and tragedy. A monster took everything from her. Now she’s expected to be a willing participant in the world he’s built for them. They want her to become one of them. She only wants vengeance. Warnings for violence, rape, language and gore apply.

Hogwarts Revisited Series by purpleheart72:

Hogwarts Revisited - T, 21 chapters - Hermione Granger makes the decision to return to Hogwarts for her final year after the Wizarding War has ended. Alone in this decision, she finds herself feeling very out of place until she finds solace with the most unexpected of students…Draco Malfoy.

Hogwarts Redux - T, 24 chapters - Well, they’ve gotten together, but can they make it work? The unlikely couple of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger have embarked on the riskiest adventure since the end of the War of the wizarding world…each other. **Sequel to Hogwarts Revisited!**

Hogwarts Respite - T, 24 chapters - As Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy manage to stay together against all odds, an unexpected obstacle comes up that throws the both of them for a loop…an invitation to Malfoy Manor! **Third in Hogwarts Series!**

How To Train Your Auror Series by MrBenzedrine89:

How To Train Your Auror - M, 34 chapters - Summary: After the tragic death of Ron, Hermione decides to take up his torch and become an Auror herself, despite Harry’s protests. When she discovers that Draco Malfoy has also made the decision to apply himself to be an Auror, she must come to terms with her distaste for him in order to pass training. But what dark secrets does Malfoy hold? COMPLETE. Rated M for lemons and adult themes. *2nd Place: Fall 2016 Dramione Awards (Best Crime/Mystery Fic)*

How To Train Your Auror 2: Family Ties - M, 43 chapters - Draco and Hermione are back at it again in the anticipated sequel for How To Train Your Auror. 2 years have passed for our OTP. 2 years since their world was ripped apart by Bastian Cane. Questions rise: where is the Pandora Stone? Who is attacking the students of Hogwarts? And what does Draco’s father have to do with any of it? Sequel to HTTYA. Rated M for sex, violence, and dark adult themes. COMPLETE.

HTTYA Christmas Special: Traditions - T, one-shot - Christmas Special to the How To Train Your Auror series! Takes place between books one and two. This year is Draco and Hermione’s first Christmas together, but things aren’t going as well as Draco would like. The memory of Ron Weasley still haunts the both of them. Can Draco survive Christmas dinner with the Weasleys long enough to make Hermione a very Happy Christmas?

How To Train Your Auror 3: Dead On Arrival - M, WIP - The 3rd and final installment of the How To Train Your Auror saga. Follow Hermione, Draco, and all of our HTTYA brethren as they balance a Malfoy wedding, a gravely ill Astoria, a new Diggle, and a torturous serial killer as grim as their name!

Goddess of Vengenge Series by cleotheo:

Goddess of Vengeance - M, 51 chapters - When Hermione Granger discovers she's really the daughter of The Dark Lord and that The Order of the Phoenix were behind her kidnapping as a baby and her parent's murders, she sets out to gain revenge against everyone who had wronged her. Dark Hermione!

Goddess of Victory - M, 36 chapters - Sequel to Goddess of Vengeance. With her vengeance achieved and her enemies brought to their knees, Hermione is looking forward to her future with Draco. But between a surprising figure from the past returning and her old friends unable to leave recent events alone, it's going to be quite a while before Hermione can get her desired peaceful future. Dark Hermione!

M for Murder Series by Dramione84:

D for Draco - K, 2 chapters - Drabble charting Draco’s cases, first as Harry’s partner and then as the lead Hit Wizard. Prequel of sorts to M for Murder

M for Murder - M, 38 chapters - A unique Murder causes Head Auror Harry Potter to pair Hit Wizard Draco Malfoy with top auror Hermione Granger and she is NOT happy about it. Ties in with Afternoon Tea at Malfoy Manor and Welcome to Venice which can be read as a stand alone fics or in sequence. Prequel fics R for Ronald and D for Draco fill in the backstory

Afternoon Tea at Malfoy Manor - K, 2 chapters - Theo Nott accepts an invitation for Afternoon Tea with Narcissa Malfoy, meanwhile a week into their first assignment for Head Auror, Harry Potter, things are not going smoothly for Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. #SuggestionSunday prompt Must contain Dramione as #OTP with Theo Nott having tea and rich tea biscuits at Malfoy Manor. Part of the M for Murder Series

Welcome to Venice - M, 4 chapters - A 3 part drabbled ficlet that charts an afternoon encounter between a frustrated Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger who are in the middle of their first assignment for Head Auror, Harry Potter. Part of the M for Murder Series #SuggestionSunday prompt Must include Dramione as the #otp and a naked Blaise Zabini holding biscotti

The Venetian Affaire - M, 12 chapters - Follow up story to M for Murder-Auror Granger and Hit Wizard Malfoy head up a joint task force between Italy and England to investigate Dark Wizards coming in from the Middle East. Chasing shadows proves far more arduous than chasing a murderer however, and Hermione and Draco soon learn they need more than each other to scratch the itch that the frustration brings (HG/DM/BZ)

Wizarding Law and Order: Major Case Squad - M, WIP - In the fight against the Dark Arts the Wizarding community is represented by two separate by equally important groups. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement who investigate crimes and the wizengamont who prosecute the offenders. The worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Auror Department: Major Case Squad, headed up by Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger.

Vows in Venice - T, 3 chapters - One shot: Part of the M for Murder series The invitations have been sent, the venue is ready, are our favourite couple ready for their special day?

The Brotherhood - M, 18 chapters - A sinister collective of Dark Wizards are making their way from Persia into Europe in search of an artifact, smuggled out of the Ottoman Empire, and that may hold the key to immortality. Will Hit Wizard, Draco Malfoy, and Auror Hermione Granger be able to stop their infiltration before it’s too late? Sequel to M for Murder

The Slytherin Carousal - T, 2 chapters - A rowdy gathering leads to an eye-opening piece of information…that leads to an even bigger argument. With emotions running high, can Hermione and Draco comes to their senses? Can be read as a sequel to The Brotherhood or as a standalone one shot

Never Mine Series by RynStar15:

Never Mine - M, 18 chapters - I knew that night on the battlefield would change us forever. A sudden hesitation, a hasty decision, and our lives as we knew it were irrevocably altered. What I didn’t know was that night was the beginning of the end of everything. Because before I knew it, he was everything. And how can you have everything when you have nothing at all?

Always Mine - M, WIP - Sequel to Never Mine: When the darkness comes and all else has been stripped away, I will embrace the end without regrets. Because I had her and she was everything, and who can fear death when you have had everything?

Of Course, Love Series by Claudi Skies:

Of Course, Love - T, one shot - “I love you.” “No, you don’t.” “Yes, I do.” “No, you don’t. Now go away before I hex you.” Arguments, tears, make-ups, kisses, Gryffindors, Slytherins, proposals, Dramione!

Of Course, Dear - T, one shot - “I love you.” “Yes, I know. I love you too.” “I love you more.” “I seriously doubt it. I love you the most.” Sequel to “Of Course, Love.” Banters, showdowns, Astoria bashing, kissing, Gryffindors, Slytherins, engagement party, Dramione!

Anything for You - T, 3 chapters - “Why don’t I hear you singing?” “I should have never vowed to do anything for you…” Third and final part to “Of Course, Love.” Plans, Muggles, wizards, kisses, compliments, feminists, Gryffindors, Slytherins, weddings, children, Ginny/Blaise, Dramione!

One Night Stand With Consequences Series by ruthy4vrsmoaked:

Clueless - E, one-shot - “Maybe the sex was not satisfying enough, for the weasel rat. I can imagine the know-it-all following the step-by-step instructions on her dummies book.”A tap on Draco’s shoulder startled him, “If you really want to know, Malfoy, I’m not shy of a good shag against the wall, or a little bit of spanking. But then again, I didn’t ask you for advice.”Solving the mystery of who murdered Neville, Draco and Hermione compete against each other beyond the game.

Consequences of Clueless - E, WIP - One night stand has consequences. He wants to do the right thing. She has other plans.

Phoenix Series by speedy:

Karma - G, one-shot - Four months after opening his apothecary, Draco Malfoy was beginning to think he'd made a mistake. No one wanted to buy potions from a couple of ex-Death Eaters and a crazy old seer.

Bonfire Night - M, one-shot - "You damn well know I don't tolerate traitors, Smith. What I did to Marietta Edgecombe will be nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you."

Master of Puppets - G, one-shot - If anyone had told him fifteen years ago Hermione Granger would end up the most powerful dark wizard in Britain with him as her number two, Draco Malfoy would've had them committed to St. Mungo's as they were clearly insane.

Sexcapades Trilogy by Emerald-Kisses:

Morning Shower - M, one-shot - Draco and Hermione are Head Boy and Head Girl. What happens when there’s only one shower and both need to take one? Two-part oneshot! Please R&R. Enjoy. COMPLETE! First of the: Dramione Sexcapades Trilogy!

Revenge of the MuggleBorn - M, one shot - Hermione was planning the best form of revenge yet. After Malfoy’s stint a few weeks back, Hermione planned on getting back at him using her wits and her body. Sequel to Morning Shower. ONESHOT! Part two of HG/DM Sexcapades Trilogy.

Spontaneity and Excitement - M, one shot - I want more spontaneity, try something more…exciting.” So, she wanted spontaneity? She wanted more excitement? Well, he was Draco Malfoy, so he would do his damned best. - Finale of Dramione Sexcapades.

Shattered Trust Series by cleotheo:

Shattered Trust - Betrayal - M, 10 chapters - A mindless threat from Voldemort during a fight with Harry leads the Order down a dark path which will shatter lives, ruin friendships and tear families apart. Among those most affected by their rash actions are Harry’s best friend, Hermione Granger and her secret boyfriend, Draco Malfoy. Part one of a four part story.

Shattered Trust - Separation - M, 12 chapters - After losing the love of his life, Draco Malfoy spirals down a dark path. But unbeknown to him Hermione Granger is very much alive and fighting her way back to him. But is it already too late for the young couple? Part two of a four part story.

Shattered Trust - Reunited - M, 12 chapters - With Draco and Hermione reunited, they must deal with the repercussions of their separation and the effects it’s had on them both. They also have to start dealing with their plans for the future, which includes plotting revenge on the Order, and making a final decision on whether or not they’ll be standing with Voldemort. Part three of a four part story.

Shattered Trust - Victory - M, 18 chapters - With the truth about Hermione’s fake death out in the open, her captors are languishing in Azkaban and The Dark Lord is taking control of Wizarding Britain. But Hermione and Draco aren’t done fighting, and they will do whatever it takes to have their happy ever after. Fourth and final part of a four part story.

Show and Tell Series by NeverNik:

Malfoy’s Problem - M, one-shot - Malfoy is acting in a very un-Malfoy-like manner, and people are noticing. Could it have something to do with Granger? Part One of the Show and Tell series. M for sex scenes and swearwords. Updated December 2017!

Show and Tell - M, 13 chapters - Draco and Hermione want their friends to know about their relationship. Trouble is, some may not take it very well and may end up being scarred for life - emotionally or physically, take your pick. So our lovers put their heads together and work out a plan… or three. Final part of the series starting with ‘Malfoy’s Problem.’

Swear Jar - M, one-shot - Since Hermione and Draco became lovers, their swearing (particularly in the throes of passion) has reached epic proportions. So Hermione decides to introduce a swear jar. Part three of the Show and Tell Series. Updated December 2017!

Silencio Series by AkashatheKitty:

Silencio - E, 15 chapters - One late night, hate turns to lust.

Secrets - E, WIP - Nine years after Voldemort’s defeat, Hermione decides to take a holiday from her life to work out who she is and what she wants to do with herself. She soon gets the feeling that Draco Malfoy might be the key to her salvation, but Draco seems to be consumed by a need to keep secrets that are destroying him and does not want her interfering. Armed with a determination to save someone who doesn’t want to be saved, she sets out to see how he might fit into the oddly shaped puzzle that is her life. Sequel to Silencio.

Sometimes It’s Good to be Bad Trilogy by Lady Lynn:

Sometimes It’s Good to be Bad - MA, 53 chapters - *completed* re-editing finished. Set directly after H. Hermione aligns herself with the Dark Lord. No good can come of this… or can it? (Warnings: Dark!Hermione, a/r, lemon, torture, gore, character death, m/f, m/f/f, f/f)

The Bad Life - MA, 5 chapters - *finished and edited* The multi-chapter Epilogue to Sometimes It’s Good To Be Bad.

The Good Life - MA, 10 chapters - **** After Sometimes It’s Good to be Bad and The Bad Life comes The Good Life. Join the Malfoy’s on their search for a pureblood mistress to bear an heir and watch as Alex grows into her powers

Stargazer Series by Rashka:

Someone Else’s Star - T, one shot - “You’re with the Malfoys now. And what do Malfoy’s do?” “Survive.” It’s easy to deal with emergencies. It’s when life picks back up again that you can fall flat on your face. She was there too. She knows. *10/9: Due to overwhelming support, now Part 1 of 3 of the Stargazer Series

Black Star - T, one-shot - First she had to break free. Now she has to find her feet. Part 2 of 3 of the Stargazer Series.

Keeper of the Stars - T, one shot - Part 3/3 of the Stargazer Series. She’s happy now. Just one more thing to make it all perfect.

Strange Mercy Series by TheWanderersWanderingDaughter:

Strange Mercy - M, 43 chapters - Early on he discovered that nothing comes without cost. Silver and gold, he was used to. A few times, blood. He gave his oath to a Lord who demanded it and pledged his loyalty to the cause, but what happens when it begins to demand more and more of him? The Boy Who Had No Choice–will he let it ruin him? Or can he trust a former enemy to save him?

Power and Control - T, 15 chapters - Few people are born within power. Some are given it. Most have to fight for it. This is a darker retelling of Umbridge’s short reign at Hogwarts, and how it came to an end.

Summer in Sweden Series by Sagaoosh:

Summer in Sweden - M, 55 chapters - The Malfoys has some unexpected ancestors that they visit once in a while, and this summer Draco finds someone staying there as well, someone that has been missing for months. Short chapters, slow development, M for later chapters.

Forever and Dead - M, 20 chapters - This is the sequel of Summer in Sweden. Hermione and Draco have returned to England and Hermione is faced with letting the world know that she’s alive but really not. How will her friends (and the world) react to her absence, her condition, and her somewhat relationship with Draco? Short chapters!

The Bounty Series by gracediamondsfear:

The Bounty - E, 3 chapters - The war has been raging on for years. Draco is on the run and hiding out in Monte Carlo and Hermione is an Order bounty hunter sent to retrieve him from a Wizard Strip Club. Now they're stuck together in a hotel room for a few hours and have to do their best to keep from driving each other crazy.

The Bounty Part 2 - Hawaii - E, 5 chapters - By request...a continuation of The Bounty, the first part of this series.When last we left Hermione she was handcuffed to a bed in Monte Carlo after a night with Draco. But wait, he left her a note:“Better luck next time Granger! I’ll be waiting. I hear Hawaii is nice this time of year.”He’d drawn a ridiculous little heart and the initials DM at the bottom. She swore and pulled at the unbreakable cuffs, screaming his name in a much different way than she had a few hours before, but when she looked up at the ceiling in defeat, all she could do was smile.

The Bounty Part 3 - The Black Tentacula - E, WIP - When last we left our star crossed lovers:“I want you to promise me you’ll give me one more chance. If you ever find me again I want you to promise to come with me one more time, for a weekend. No, for four days. And not just for sex…although I promise at least seventy percent fucking.”“I promise, Draco. If I ever find you again, no matter where, I’ll go with you again. For three days.”He put the scroll in her hand and pulled out his wand.“One last thing, love,” he said, pulling her hair back away from her neck. “I’ll play fair this time…to a degree.”He pointed the wand at the soft patch of skin behind her ear and she felt a tingling warmth as he removed the tracking glamour, soothing the spot with a kiss. He wasn’t going to look for her. This time it was up to her.

The Divined Intelligence Series by TheMourningMadam:

The Art of Divination - M, 8 chapters - Hermione consults a magical mirror to try and locate Ron Weasley when he runs during the search for Horcruxes. Instead, the mirror shows what-or rather WHO-her heart truly desires. A certain blond-haired individual, with haunted eyes and a broken spirit. Rated M, for now.

The Princess and the Pariah - M, 40 chapters - SEQUEL TO THE ART OF DIVINATION “It is exceptionally lonely, being Draco Malfoy.” What he doesn’t know is that it is equally lonely being Hermione Granger. But Hermione is determined to bring him closer to her, to make the visions she saw in the scrying mirror become their reality. AU, 8th year, Dramione.

The Dream Trilogy by HelenJay:

The Dream Trilogy Book One: To Dwell On Dreams - T, 49 chapters - Harry is lost. His parents are alive and Draco Malfoy is banging on his door. What is this place, how did he get here? And, most importantly, does he really want to leave? Follow Harry during his Fifth Year at Hogwarts into an alternate universe, where his parents survived that fateful night in Godric’s Hollow, but he soon finds out they weren’t the only ones. Lord Voldemort still looms over the magical community and it seems his interest in Harry has not waned after fifteen years. Events quickly spiral out of hand and Harry must rely on some unlikely friends if he is to survive this strange world and get home. But with everything he has ever dreamed of there, at his finger tips, which reality will he chose? “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that Harry.” J.K. Rowling.

The Dream Trilogy Book Two: Tread On My Dreams - T, 53 chapters - Draco is lost. Harry’s is the world in trouble now, but it’s Draco’s past that is catching up to them. Fast. After the events of last November everyone is left reeling from Harry’s journey into a parallel universe, but apparently destiny isn’t done with him and his friends just yet. The doorway between worlds is weakened and it seems near impossible for anyone to stay where they belong. Or, is it just that where they belong is a little further from home than they thought? “But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” W.B. Yeats.

The Dream Trilogy Book Three: What Dreams May Come - T, 74 chapters - Everyone is lost. The boundaries between worlds are crumbling and dreams are rapidly turning into nightmares. Will Harry and his friends find the strength to save everything they hold dear, or will darkness claim them all forever? Thrown to the different corners of the Multiverse, Harry, Draco and their friends soon discover that this is much bigger than any of them could ever have imagined, and that the cost could potentially be higher than anyone ever feared. “To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil.” William Shakespeare

The Muggle Games Series by CindyBarnard:

The Muggle Games - Book 1 - M, 46 chapters - A World if Voldemort had won. Ten years later, a thoroughly damaged Hermione gets picked as a tribute in the annual Muggle Games, but this year something went wrong, and unexpected tributes are chosen. Hermione teams up with fellow district tribute, will they survive? Warning: Hard Hermione AU HG/DM

The White Lady (Book2 of The Muggle Games) - M, WIP - 2nd Book of The Muggle Games. DMHG. Draco is a prisoner and the order is stalling with his rescue, follow Hermione as she does what is needed to save him. But other secrets are being revealed, a second prophecy that will throw their whole lives even further into darkness. Can Hermione really leave Wizarding England to its own dark fate? Darkish Hermione. Don’t like, don’t read.

The Risk-Reward Ratio Series by MissiAmphetamine:

The Risk-Reward Ratio - M, 47 chapters - Set during TDH; a maimed, disillusioned Draco surrenders himself to the Order after he earns Voldemort’s displeasure. Hermione’s pity for him blooms into something more and he stops seeing her as just a mudblood, as they both discover there’s far more to each other than they ever thought possible. Angst, smut, FEELS.

The Just World Fallacy - M, 26 chapters - Sequel to “The Risk-Reward Ratio.” The weight of the war begins to break both Hermione and Draco as they struggle to survive capture, betrayal, isolation, the consequences of their actions, and other perils and scars of war, with their lives and relationship intact. Nothing is ever easy, or even fair, but there’s nothing they can do but keep fighting.

This is Everything Series by MotherOfBulls:

Hot for Teacher - M, 26 chapters - Draco is a single dad trying to raise a teenager on his own. When he notices his son's newfound interest in girls, he takes it upon himself to give him some fatherly advice. Little does he know that his son's crush is none other than his own childhood nemesis, who has taken up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts. Draco tries to juggle awkward situations, parenthood, and his own budding interest in Hermione Granger. COMPLETE!

An Indefinite Amount of Forever - M, 18 chapters - SEQUEL to HOT FOR TEACHER! Draco and Hermione are about to embark on the next adventure of their lives together. They find that falling in love is easy, but relationships are tricky. Through their friendships, insecurities, and love for each other, they learn what it means to be someone's Forever.

Say 'Merlin Help Me' to the Dress - T, WIP - Concerned about his wife-to-be's mental health, Draco employs Blaise Zabini's assistance in helping Hermione choose the perfect wedding dress. With Albus Potter tagging alone for whatever reason, it's sure to be a boisterous, champagne-soaked experience with absolutely zero productivity.

Twisted Canon Series by Musicangel913:

Circumstances of an Unexpected Trio - T, 22 chapters - The first has a dead father and a psychotic madman out to kill him. The second has lost everything except his tainted family name. And the third learned the truth more than three years before she was technically supposed to. Lily and Sirius have their hands full - once these three turn eleven, Hogwarts won’t know what hit it. Twisted canon.

Secret of the Serpent’s House - T, 17 chapters - Harry, Draco, and Hermione had quite an eventful first year at Hogwarts. When a sinister monster of legend starts attacking their classmates, their second year quickly proves to be just as interesting - and dangerous - as their first. Twisted canon, sequel to ‘Circumstances of an Unexpected Trio’.

I Smell a Rat - T, 20 chapters- Harry, Draco, and Hermione are back for their third year - time is not on their side as prophecies, dark creatures, and traitors come to call. Will they make it to fourth year unscathed, or will their ever-growing problems finally catch up to them? Twisted canon, part 3.

When Foreigners Come to Call - T, 21 chapters - It’s the trio’s fourth year, and a tournament that hasn’t been played in years will attempt to unify three of Europe’s most respected schools of magic. Will it succeed, or will rising tensions, both in school and in the Wizarding world, cause more trouble than anticipated? Twisted canon, part 4.

The Year of the Toad - T, 22 chapters- Still reeling from the disastrous aftermath of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry, Draco, and Hermione begin their fifth year at Hogwarts. As they delve deeper into the prophecy, Ministry interference and an awful new professor who insists that their fears aren’t real make it increasingly difficult to stay afloat in an ever-darkening Wizarding world. Twisted canon, part 5.

The Enemy’s Ignorance - T, 24 chapters - Harry, Draco, and Hermione survived fifth year, but it wasn’t easy, and it’s only about to get worse. Facing unimaginable loss before the summer even starts, they have to face the fact that time is running out. Can they find the missing rings and solve the rest of the Sorting Hat’s riddle before it’s too late? Twisted canon, part 6.

Three, Four, Six, One - T, 7 chapters - Three Hallows. Four rings. Six Horcruxes. One winner. Twisted canon, part 7.

Wedding traditions Series by cleotheo:

Wedding Traditions - M, 3 chapters - In the week leading up to their wedding Narcissa Malfoy expects Draco and Hermione to honour a Black family tradition and refrain from being intimate with each other. With the couple and their wedding party spending a week in a luxury hotel, will the normally amorous couple be able to stick to the tradition? Fun, light-hearted 3 part story.

Christmas Crackers - M, 3 chapters - Hermione, Draco and their group of friends attend two very different parties over the festive period. Three part festive story set in the same universe as Wedding Traditions.

Caught Out - M, one-shot - Wedding Traditions Universe. During a girls night in Hermione and her friends share their embarrassing stories of being caught in a compromising situation with their partners. Fun One Shot.

Weekend Break - M, 5 chapters - Wedding Traditions Universe. When Lucius and Narcissa are going away for the weekend they invite Draco, Hermione and their friends to accompany them. Draco and Hermione along with Blaise and Ginny and George and Angelina take up the offer and the four couples head to the south of France for a few days of fun in the sun. Fun, light-hearted, five part story.

You Gotta Breathe Series by Kyra4:

You Gotta Breathe - M, 18 chapters - 6th year. Hermione is brutally attacked by Voldemort and left barely alive, leading to a mission of revenge by Harry, Ron...and Malfoy? ***COMPLETE!*** Rated R for adult themes, angst and swearing. D/Hr/R love triange, but ultimately D/Hr.

Sometimes When We Touch - M, 31 chapters - 7th Year, Sequel to You Gotta Breathe. DMHG fic. Angst and trauma galore, for everyone. And I do mean everyone. Character death [not in main pairing though.] Ch. 31: A Dramione Wedding, continued! This fic is now COMPLETE!

The Ties That Bind - M, WIP - Someone's got it in for Draco Malfoy. Nearly two decades ago he killed her mate. Now she has a secret weapon and fully intends to return the favor... with interest. DHr future fic, sequel to "You Gotta Breathe" and "Sometimes When We Touch" WIP

#series #dramione series

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grimelords · 5 years ago

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I’ve finished my September playlist, only almost a month later. It’s got everything, The Weeknd, desert psychedelica from Niger, and Australian yodelling from 1941. What more could you want!

listen here

and if you’re interested, sign up for my tinyletter to get these playlists delivered to your inbox here

XO / The Host / Initiation - The Weeknd: First of all Trilogy is a masterpiece. The Weeknd is a legend forever for this alone. Back when he was an anonymous character and before he tried to pivot to being a proper pop star and started beliving his own bullshit. This trio of songs for me is one of the highlights of the whole thing because this is where things really take a turn and it serves as a nice flipside to earlier songs like Glass Table Girls (even quoting some of the lyrics from it in a very cool reprise). Where most of the songs from House Of Balloons are about his own descent into this hedonistic life, by the time you get to Echoes Of Silence he lives there comfortably, and he's turned from cool, dark and tormented to coldly evil and calculating. He's the master of the dark palace and he's drawing this woman in. The chorus of XO is straight up cult language 'all we ever do is love, open up your mind you can find the love'. She's broke and addicted trying to escape her life and he offers her this community. Which is where Initation comes in and things get really dark. This song feels like the real truth of those stories you hear of Drake flying instagram models around and it's a masterpiece of the dark underside of the drugs money and models bragging you're used to.

Sociopath (feat. Kash Doll) - Pusha T: Get a load of this new Pusha song where he's got Rodney Dangerfield ghostwriting for him. I got a bitch that'll master your card.. my wife ova hea!! Also the funny gritted teeth way he says it cracks me up. He also says boop bop be boop bop. There's so many good moments in this very silly song from a man that is normally terrifyingly serious.

Ice Cream - Muscles: I suddenly remembered this song the other day and I'm so glad I did. A good example of how you can get so much feeling out of music that has no relation at all to the lyrics. In the right mood this song makes me so emotional and I can't even pin down why. The way he sings 'ice cream is going to save the day' somehow just makes the urban alienation of the verse even more pointed. It's such a silly little dance song and that's what's so strong about it. It's dancing at night and unsuccessfully trying to forget what happened today.

Running - Gil Scott Heron & Jamie xx: It’s extremely strange that this remix album ever happened, thinking back on it. Stranger still that a Gil Scott Heron song got remixed by Jamie xx and then remixed again by 40 and turned into a Drake song in I’ll Take Care Of U and all three versions rock. Anyway, this song and this whole album remain fantastic - it still sounds futuristic in a way where nobody else really followed Jamie’s sound, everything else went a different direction so this an In Colour feel more and more unique to me as time goes on.

Boyfriend (Repeat) - Confidence Man: I’m in love with this album. It’s the closest I’ve found so far to the level of absolute fun in dance music since Duck Sauce’s album. I love the the attitude of her lyrics, which carries through the whole album. I love when her Australian accent peeks out for a second on a few words. I love his rebuttals that almost but not quite put it over the edge into a comedy song. I love the big fading out leadup to the drop near the end where a huge throat singing drone just swallows the whole song for a second.

Ever Again (Soulwax Remix) - Robyn: Extremely hot remix alert!! Thankyou to Zan Rowe's Monthly Mixtape playlist for putting my onto this.Sometimes all you need is one ferociously hot bassline to make a life complete.

$50 Million - !!!: !!!’s new album has one of the best covers I’ve seen recently, I advise you to check it out. It’s interesting to be so far into your career (this is their 8th album since 2001) and still be writing songs about selling out, a concept which has largely disappeared from music discourse since musicians started making no money post napster. I vaguely remember the turning point being when Kimya Dawson, after blowing up via the Juno soundtrack, turned down a coke ad for a ludicrous amount and the blogosphere at the time turned on her and said she should have taken the money because she was living in a van at the time. Nobody gives a fuck about selling out anymore because bands make more from tshirts than streams so you’ve got to act like a brand just to make a living. Anyway I’ve gotten off track. This song rocks, especially for the breakdown near the end.

Tipped Hat - The Paper Scissors: A song I haven’t heard in over ten years that suddenly popped into my head the other day. I love the way this guy’s voice sounds, just completely committing to sounding like a hand puppet. I’ve been playing bass a lot more recently and so have developed the worst man habit of becoming more sensitive to and pointing out extremely hot basslines to people, so I’d be derelict in my duty to not share this one.

Heimsdalgate Like A Promethian Curse - of Montreal: I love this song about literally pleading with your brain to come good. Here’s a good quote about this album “I went through this chemical depression, and that's when I was writing a lot of the songs for Hissing Fauna. They're all songs about that experience. And I was experiencing it in the moment that I was writing the songs, and sort of asking myself: What the hell is going on? Why are you all of a sudden totally paranoid and plagued by these anxieties? And why is everything so distorted and confusing and fucked up? My lifestyle hadn't changed that much. And then I realized, well, there's something going on inside of me that I don't have control over, and then you realize how vulnerable you are to these things, these elements that you can't understand, or unless you go on medication and get it under control. It's like you're being betrayed by your body.” Something I really admire about this album is that the lyrics reflect black metal levels of mental anguish, he was absolutely going through it the worst anyone can go through it “I'd gotten to that point where nothing was working. I was borderline suicidal, and my relationship with my girlfriend had totally eroded and she'd gone back to Norway with our daughter and everything was totally fucked, and I was just like, What can I do? "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" is about that.” But the music is one hundred percent committedly twee and I really admire the effect that that split mood gives. “The lyrics tell the story of what was really going on and the music sort of represents this other emotion that I wish existed. The music was really happy because I wanted to make something that would lift my spirits.”

Jesus Rabbit - Guerilla Toss: I love the wobbly weird bass sound in this weirdo UFO cult song. I love the bleepy bloop melody that runs through it and I love how fundamentally unstable the whole song sounds, like it’s made out of paperclips and foil and papier mache.

Suburbia - Press Club: I can’t believe I didn’t know about Press Club for so long. I only found out about them this performance https://youtu.be/bCmtc-T5Unk which I’m shocked to learn has less than 5k views considering it’s one of the very best TV performances I’ve ever seen.

Come For Me - Sunflower Bean: I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this song before and I’m probably going to say the exact same thing but who cares! This song fuckin rocks. I love how assured it is, like “if you’re gonna fuck me then stop fucking around and fuck me already.” It also feels so musically similar to I Can Hardly Make You Mine by Cults to me, which is a great excuse for me to listen to that song every single time I listen to this song.

Thousands - Club Night: This Club Night album is really really good. It's like a really nice middleground between midwest emo and Cymbals Eat Guitars. The way this song blows up halfway through with 'what if we want it!!' is so good. This whole band feels like they're from 2009 but in a good way, the tail end of indie and twee with these prog or postrock structures where the songs just go and go, and you can just get completely lost in it.

Cemetary - Brutus: The first thing you've got to know about Brutus is the drummer is also the singer. Normally who plays what is not really important but in this case I think it's very important because it makes the drums a lead instrument more than they normally would be. When she's not singing my focus is still on the drums because they're linked and I absolutely love it. This song is great and every song I've heard of theirs is just as good, I love Brutus and they're one of the best new bands I've found recently. Someone in the youtube comments said 'there's something really special about hearing a song for the first time and just knowing you're going to listen to it hundreds of times in your life.'

Enter By The Narrow Gates / Spirit Narrative - Circle Takes The Square: I think that I think of Circle Takes The Square as a household name just because they have such an outsized importance in my own life when they're definitely not at all. They're legendary for making The screamo (good kind) album in As The Roots Undo and then taking 8 years to make a followup, which is this album Decompositions, but I don't really know if they're well known outside of like, people who have opinions about what were the hottest music blogspots in 2010. I chose both of these because you can't really have one without the other, the whole album basically runs as one long piece of music and so this just kind of jarringly ends at the end of Spirit Narrative, sorry about that please listen to the entire album. Because of the status As The Roots Undo enjoys I feel like this album was kind of ignored, or overshadowed by the reputation it was trying to live up to, almost exactly like The Avalanches with Since I Left You and Wildflower, when just like Wildflower it's a more expansive, developed take on the original sound that trades some of the rawness for a more polished and considered approach and comes out arguably better than the orginal. I feel like I have so much to say about this album but I don't really know where to begin, just listen to it.

Vitrification Of Blood (Pt. 1) - Blood Incantation: I am by no means a metal scholar, but I know that when the word 'blood' is in both the song title AND the band name that means it's good metal. I love this song, and this whole album is great. It's very 'classic' death metal but there's touches (beyond the extreme length) of psychedelica as well that puts it on another level you can just get lost in. The way the guitar goes to space at 3:40, and again properly into orbit at 6:50 is just magical. The more I listen to this band the more I understand those guys who only listen to metal, there's a whole ecosystem in here and it's really got everything you need.

Out Of Line - Gesaffelstein: This whole song is basically intended as an intro for Pursuit on the album but it’s so powerful just on its own. I love imbuing weirdo lyrics like ‘a bitter sunken love in a bleach blonde submarine’ with such ominous power through the commanding delivery. I love the way the big grunting vocals on the offbeat build to sound like a summoning ritual. I love making a big processed bell the centrepiece of your extremely evil sounding song. It’s sort of a shame that Gessaffelstein has never really gone back to the vision of his first album and has spent his time since diluting it down for guest production on Weeknd songs and the like because it feels like there’s still so much more to get out of this sound. That he hasn’t gone back and dug deeper makes Aleph stand out more and more as a singular masterpiece as time goes on.

Kamane Tarhanin - Mdou Moctar: Turning to Mdou Moctar after the new Tinariwen album kind of disappointed me, with all it’s big name guests nothing really hit me. I love this song though and I think a big part of it is the sort of loping, 6/4 rhythm that combined with the drone gives it this feeling of endlessly tumbling over itself in place, especially as the guitar heats up.

Achabiba - Fatou Seidi Ghali: I know very little about Fatou Seidi Ghali except that I saw she was supporting Sarah Louise at a show. From some googling it turns out that she’s the leader of a Nigerois band called Les Filles de Illeghadad who you can probably look forward to seeing on next month’s playlist. I also learned that the demonym for someone from Niger is Nigerien or to minimise confusion with Nigeria, Nigerois (said in a french way). They play a sort of desert psych in the realm of Mdou Mocter or Tinariwen, but this song (also the only solo song she has on spotify) shows her acoustic side. I love the swirling melody over the drone as the hand percussion keeps it in place and I love the very delicate vocals, but a probably unintentional thing I love a lot about this recording is the unmistakable iphone locking sound near the very start that instantly removes so much of the mystic exoticism that these sorts of artists are often written about with and places it firmly in the same sprawling modern world we all live in.

Floating Rhododendron - Sarah Louise: I love Sarah Louise. She’s a phenomenal guitarist and has such a big love for traditional folk music with her side project House And Land, but unlike everyone else in the genre is also very interested in pushing guitar forward to new and strange places. Her latest album was super experimental layered electric guitars and voice that still managed to maintain the deep connection to nature that runs through all her work. I would also highly recommend following her on instagram because her passion runs over. She’s regularly just out in the woods somewhere explaining how wonderful a particular mushroom is. This song one of the first ones I ever heard from her, and it’s back when she was just doing very beautiful 12 string acoustic work, but she recently added it to spotify and it’s a very nice reminder of where she came from and how far she’s gone in such a short time.

Lark - Angel Olsen: The new Angel Olsen is absolutely great. I love how much she is just completely going for it on this album, absolutely unleashing. Taken against earlier songs of hers I’ve loved like White Fire, where the majesty was in her quiet power and the ability to absolutely command silence with a whisper quiet song, this song feels like the direct inverse, an about-turn into all the gigantic majesty of swirling strings and top of your lungs vocals - going all out and leaving nothing on the table. The way this song blows up about three different times until by the end you’re caught in this gigantic swirling maelstrom of screaming sound is just out of this world.

Door - Caroline Polachek: Caroline Polachek’s brain is huge. When I first heard the chorus of this song I couldn't believe it. Are you allowed to have a chant that runs in a spiral like this be the chorus of your pop song? Is that allowed?

North, South, East And West - The Church: The Church feel like they don't get enough respect. They don't seem to be in the same league as Cold Chisel and The Angels and all the other dad rock Australian bands from that era for some reason. They're very good though and I've been really getting into this whole album and this song specifically lately. Maybe what's working against them is just how much his voice sounds like Bono's in this song but surely that was a boon at the time!

Western Questions - Timber Timbre: This has become one of my new favourite songs to sing. The way the words fit together is my favourite kind of poetics where they just sound incredible, phonetically, and can mean anything you like for large chunks. Like “the gelatinous walls of the seeds that seldom remain / while the bulls are browsing needles through computer casinos / honour the name”. Especially “bulls are browsing needles through computer casinos” is just extremely nice to say. I love the character of this song and am yet to completely understand what it’s saying other than personifying some worldwide blackpilled spirit of nihilist evil. What I love is the experience of all encompassing evil in this song, like a worldwide conspiracy connecting everything together that makes it all make sense. It doesn’t make you happier but it makes it make sense. I also love the finality of the big fill near the end that ushers in the outro riff that ties everything up.

Cold Cold World - Blaze Foley: I got heavily into a country music thing this month and spent a bit of time trying to find ‘real’ country, which of course turns out not to exist at all. The entirety of country music is built on a false nostalgia for an imagined time long past when things were real, some unspecified time in the collective consciousness between cowboy times and coal mine times. I don’t say this to say ‘country music is a fraud’ but that it’s built on a foundation of myth and that’s what’s so good about it. It’s constantly reframing the past as it relates to the present and is energised by the friction between them. Blaze Foley is a good example of this in the modern era because he seems to exist more as a myth than a man. He had three studio albums, the master tapes of which all disappeared through various means (lost, stolen, seized by the DEA) and so the majority of his surviving material is live recordings or long-lost studio recordings that resurfaced decades after his death when his fame and mythology already preceded him. He also thankfully lives up to the myth, he was truly a great artist and it’s a shame more of him hasn’t survived.

Where The Golden Wattle Blooms / Why Did The Blue Skies Turn Grey - Shirley Thoms: Further to what I was saying about country music before, Australian country is a whole other thing. Transferring the myth and the mythmaking to a new location adds another layer of abstraction. Shirley Thoms was the first female solo act to record country music in Australia in 1941 and was most notable for her yodelling of which she is damn fine. This is a great song and a good a starting point as any in trying to trace the origin of country music in Australia. That it's so english in its identity, so evidently imitating an american style (which is in turn imitating a german yodel) is just more good evidence that nothing is 'real' and traditions of the past and future are malleable at all times.

Talkin’ Karate Blues - Townes Van Zandt: Townes Van Zandt is widely regarded as a songwriter’s songwriter and one of the best country songwriters to ever live, but like a lot of great country songwriters also has one or two songs like this - strange comedy songs about learning karate and getting your arm ripped off.

Strange Tourist - Gareth Liddiard: This album is a masterpiece on the level of Ys and it feels criminally underlistened in my opinion. Luckily in the last week or so some renegade has done up the wiki article on it to a couple of thousand words so that's a start. Because this is a song I've listened to one million times and love a lot, it's hard for me to write about it in a general way so instead I'm going to talk about something very specific and new that I've only begun to appreciate recently. The way he uses the vowels of the japanese words to create these assonant runs in lines like "Koda Kumi sang a coda pink as sarin gas / I took a trip to Nagasaki in a rented Mitsubishi / Then went camping in the Jukai under Mount Fuji" and "They found him frozen in a hollow in Aokigahara forest where them harakiri weirdos go" is really something, and a nice illustration of the two sides of Liddiard's songwriting: densely technical poetics in a song about living with a housemate who was a real freak.

I Dream A Highway - GIllian Welch: I’m not even going to go into the lyrics of this because it’s such an out of this world perfect song but I’m going to say this: it’s really something that this song goes for nearly 15 minutes, sits on the same three chords the whole time and never ever feels long. This song is longer than Emily by Joanna Newsom but doesn’t feel like an epic of the same scale at all. It’s just a mournful slow ode to change and decay that goes on forever and could keeping going on for twice as long if it wanted to.

Deep Water - The Middle East: The way the vocals in the verses are delivered, trailing off and mumbling bits and pieces is somehow magical, like it’s more interested in communicating the gist and the feeling than the actual words. You can just pick whatever part of it you like. Petrol stations and a copper mine, the kind of place I think I could die. This song also has two minutes of silence at the end for album reasons so enjoy that.

listen here

#playlists

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theonyxpath · 5 years ago

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Our next Kickstarter is for the Legendlore RPG, and starts on this Thursday, March the 12th, at 2pm Eastern US time!

From the Kickstarter:

Legendlore was originally a comic, first published by Arrow Comics in 1986 and since procured by Caliber Comics, about four people who fall through a Crossing into the Realm. The Realm is home to fantasy creatures from elves to dragons, and the characters discover they too have ‘fantasy powers’ – the jock becomes a Fighter, while the bookish one becomes a Wizard, and so on. They go on adventures and some of them eventually find their way back to Earth.

This is the basic premise of the Legendlore RPG. You Cross into the Realm, where you become a hairfoot Bard, or maybe an elven Sorcerer. You can change any characteristics you like. For example if you have hay fever and glasses, you choose if your Legendlore self keeps or drops those. Your identity might not always match your outward physique, but your Legendlore character does. We’ve also updated the 1980s setting so Realmborn characters represent all ethnicities, genders, and sexualities. No one in the Realm will bat an eyelash at your agender panromantic self.

This comes hard on the heels of our fantastic Kickstarter campaign for Hunter: The Vigil 2e, which ended up at over 500% of the funding goal and just a couple of folks away from 2000 backers! Truly, the Vigil was a rewarding one, and we’re thrilled so many folks came along with us on the hunt.

Even though we’re jumping right into the new KS for Legendlore, Hunter 2e‘s campaign left us with a number of Stretch Goal projects to continue with, and, for us, Legendlore is such a different kind of project that creatively it is a nice break in our recent string of Kickstarters in the Chronicles of Darkness and V5 game worlds.

Legendlore will also be our newest game line to use the d20 system for 5e fantasy gaming, along with Scarred Lands and (much-simplified) the Realms of Pugmire, so that also gives us a chance to stretch some system creative muscles we like to keep toned up.

If you’re a fan of D&D, etc. then I think you’ll find a lot of fresh spins you’ll enjoy in how Legendlore treats genre expectations and tropes while still providing a sweeping setting ripe for adventuring in. And if you aren’t so much, I still think you may find value in supporting developer Steffie de Vaan and her creative team’s 2020 take on this multi-decade saga and setting.

Like almost every one of our Kickstarters these days, Legendlore is pretty much finished in the writing stages, and backers will get sections of the finished text during the course of the KS campaign. Steffie is working with at least one Twitch streaming group to create actual play episodes showing how Legendlore plays at an actual gaming table, and we’re really looking forward to airing those (and they’ll be linked on the KS page).

So, anyone interested is going to have multiple chances to check this project out in a way that works for them, as we’ve been working to set up with each of our KSs. And, James Bell, our Kickstarter Concierge will be back for this KS to once again provide information and guidance, as well as his patented affable banter!

V5 Chicago Folio art by Felipe Gaona

Items From Our Monday Meeting:

In no particular order, which is a lot like our meeting style!

DriveThruRPG‘s massive GM’s Day Sale has another week to go, and hoo-boy are there a lot of our PDFs for sale over there! All of our game lines are represented, as well as offerings from the Community Content sites!

This was a Twitter note sent out during our meeting by Eddy Webb:

“Thanks to Justin Achilli, I got to be in a work meeting where we talk about the aesthetics of urine and throwing bears at the moon.”

Which is pretty much true.

Mighty Matt McElroy was scheduled to attend Emerald City convention this coming weekend, but the whole con was postponed due to concerns about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). He’d already had a bunch of meetings cancelled out from under him and was figuring on cancelling, when boop! the convention cancelled instead!

You folks all take care of yourselves out there! We’re a virtual office, so aren’t going to infect each other, and we don’t have anything currently being manufactured in China, so I’m just encouraging all our folks to stay in and work 20 hour days at their computers. (I’m kidding.) (But not really.)

Mirthful Mike Chaney wonders how that’s any different than his usual day, anyway?

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Heroic Land Dwellers art by Brian LeBlanc

We’re still getting folks asking about whether projects that come out as Advance PDFs will be released in PoD versions or if Backer PDFs will be sold to the public, along with PoDs, on DTRPG. First, we’re always glad to answer folks’ questions, and second, yes, our sales strategy has always been to deliver PDFs and PoDs of projects on DTRPG and so we have been releasing them that way for the whole time we’ve been in business.

The only caveats to that are projects we might do like printed Screens offered on Kickstarters, which DTRPG can’t create in PoD form, and recently with the V5 Cults of the Blood Gods Stretch Goal rewards which will only be available in PDF as the V5 managers at Modiphius do not want PoD versions made available.

We’ve scheduled a nice surprise for the backers of Exalted 3rd‘s Dragon-Blooded KS that should put some folks’s concerns to rest about getting their rewards. So keep your eyes open for that, DB backers!

I’m out next Monday, so Dixie Cochran will be in as our guest MMN blogger! Please be nice to her as she wrangles the rusty and arcane controls for this blog, and I’ll talk to you in two weeks about our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

On Thursday, March 12th at 2pm Eastern US Time we start the Kickstarter for Legendlore!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday the Onyx Pathcast Terrific Trio take a deep dive into Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Spilled Blood! Messy, but fun!

As always this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

We’ve got a stupendous number of shows on Twitch this week! Tune in for V5, Chronicles of Darkness, Scion, Pugmire, Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition, Scarred Lands, MORE Vampire: The Masquerade, Changeling: The Lost, Mage: The Awakening, even more Scarred Lands, Werewolf: The Forsaken and a third Vampire: The Masquerade game! We’ve even got Eddy Webb’s Workshop, which takes you through the development process of our books! Hail Ming!

A big shout-out to our three Vampire: The Masquerade games running this week, which have been running week-in, week-out! You can subscribe to our channel over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath to catch up with any episodes you missed! This Ming’s a psycho.

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find the following videos uploaded last week alone:

The Onyx Path News: https://youtu.be/zKo1h7bLPE0

Scion: Behind the Screen: https://youtu.be/v9Wo38rl5-Y

Changeling: The Lost – Littlebrook Reunion: https://youtu.be/hxSbemynBLs

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale: https://youtu.be/gKAm-zGxTW4

Even more Scion: Behind the Screen: https://youtu.be/QDSIS_ClFbE

A special shout-out to the Scion: Behind the Screen series, which has provided a wonderful entry point for people new to the game! Flying blind on a rocket cycle!

Do subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online! Spare me the madness.

In case you missed it last week, the Story Told RPG Podcast continue with their excellent Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition chronicle right here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/the-78-laments-episode-3-riders-in-the-sky

And back once again, the Story Told‘s review of Trinity Continuum: Aeon http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-40-trinity-continuum-on-overview

Red Moon Roleplaying‘s V5 Cults of the Blood Gods “The Family” chronicle continues on their YouTube channel, Spotify, their website redmoonroleplaying.com and everywhere else good podcasts and New York City girls might be found! https://youtu.be/J1qCIhMPn7Q

Now, the tributes from Ardentia.

Even more shows from Occultists Anonymous for all you Mage: The Awakening fans out there!

Episode 86: Risky Business Wyrd the Seer prepares to found a legacy and shape her soul. Songbird makes contact with the Carthian Movement. Atratus meets with the Phantasm Society who have a daring plan.https://youtu.be/9XWLaxl_B-Y

Episode 87: New Lives Wyrd the Seer pays the price for tying herself to the Rookery. Songbird makes himself useful at the Arrow Armory. Atratus kills Emily Miller.https://youtu.be/ZZklb6-fC7o

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

Update: the devs are working on the updates for the roller in both Android and iOS – here is the rundown from them:

1) Redo the UI for system for android. It will look the same as the current design. My goal is to have something ready by Saturday to send out to the Facebook users, asking them if this fixes the issues. This will be a beta type thing. This will break several of the fancy dice.

2) If the above worked out and the android users give all the clear, we’ll redo the graphics system to fix the fancy dice that got broken. We’ll do another android beta through Facebook. This might take up to two weeks, as my schedule allows.

3) If everything worked well, we’ll release to android for real at that point.

4) Port all of the existing stuff to iOS and release on that.

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero AND Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

The massive GM Day’s Sale continues for another week with huge savings on PDFs from all of our game lines!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/rpg_gmsday.php

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we will be releasing the Advance PDF of Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed for Mage: The Awakening 2e AND the electronic, PDF, and physical book PoD releases of Haunting Shadows: the Wraith20th fiction anthology on DTRPG!

Conventions!

Assuming these conventions are not postponed due to plague, here is our current list:

UKGames Expo: https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

GenCon: https://www.gencon.com/

Tabletop Scotland: https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/

Gamehole Con: https://www.gameholecon.com/

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

RUST (Working Title) (Scarred Lands)

Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

The Book of Endless Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Second Draft

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Editing

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Indexing

They Came From Beneath the Sea! (They Came From…!)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant – Awaiting replies to pings.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e (KS)

Cults of the Blood God (KS)

Mummy 2 – Starting to contract the rest of it.

City of the Towered Tombs

Let the Streets Run Red – Some finals in.

Deviant

Legendlore (KS) – KS prep of bits.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS)

TC: Aeon Terra Firma – Contracted.

WoD: Ghost Hunters (KS) – Cover in, getting rest of KS art set.

Tales of Aquatic Terror

Pirates Extra Adventure – Loboyko lined up for this one.

Scion Titanomachy – Contacting artists.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad – Ongoing.

Contagion Chronicle – With Josh, interior proof coming.

Vigil Watch – Ongoing.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

TCFBtS! Screen and Booklet

Ex3 Lunars – Yep, pretty much my March right here.

Scion Companion

Proofing

Dark Eras 2 – Sending back to Aileen for errata input.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

Chicago Folio – Creating PoD files.

Pirates of Pugmire – Fixes in, working on cover.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – At WW for approvals .

Geist 2e fiction anthology – Backer PDF out to backers for errata.

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 – The Silence of Our Ancestors (Exalted 3rd Edition) – Backer errata being gathered.

Distant Worlds – Errata being gathered.

VtR2 Spilled Blood – Errata being input.

At Press

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Prepping to go live with PDF/PoD versions on DTRPG a week Wednesday (the 18th).

DR:E – Shipping to backers, PoD files uploaded.

DRE Screen – Shipping to backers.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties

Memento Mori – PoD proof ordered.

Scion Mythical Denizens – PoD files uploaded.

Wraith20 Anthology – ePub, PDF, physical book versions all live Weds on DTRPG.

MtAw2 Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Advance PDF on sale this Weds on DTRPG.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and that’s certainly worth celebrating today as well! (Especially since here in the US we lost an hour from yesterday due to the return of our Daylight Savings Time. Typical).

Today, we heard of the death of actor Max von Sydow at 90. The man who played chess with death, acted in just so many roles in mainstream and genre films that I’m not listing them here, and, just for Matthew Dawkins, starred as Ming the Merciless.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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