#Citadel Universes

[thespoonisvictory]

also idc I love the citadel and all its wizard hubris I love the intersection of innovation and horror and progress and crushing others underfoot AND also clothes that magically put them on themselves and Citadel Made bouncy balls and secret societies and universities!!! and espresso and arcane discovery and and and

[visenyaism]

the theory that all the maesters have been conspiring for hundreds of years to destroy the targaryen dynasty and eliminate all traces of old valyria from the planet theory is corny and fake. however vaegon targaryen definitely joined because he thought it was real

[internetskiff]

something something It's very interesting to me how Aperture is consistently a sort of mirror to the Combine Citadel. Two buildings built by entirely different hands, one not even of earthly origin, yet both fulfilling the same purpose - dehumanize, control, conceal.

Both facilities treat humans as a resource. As some kind of cargo to be stored as efficiently as possible, later to be processed and discarded. They both cram people picked off the streets into tiny boxes where they're then preserved for god knows how long, denied even the dignity of death.

They both shift restlessly, uncaring for who or what their many writhing arms may crush They build themselves out of themselves, countless corridors and chasms built seemingly for no one to ever traverse. The buildings feel as if they weren't even built with humans in mind, sparse catwalks scattered about as a mere afterthought.

Even the people who are meant to be in control are barely accounted for. Offices feel like either the bare minimum, or a strange alien approximation of an environment a human could work within. In neither cases were they built for comfort. Only for utility.

Aperture as both a company and a facility shows that humanity, under the right conditions, would have come a little too close to becoming a perfect mirror image of the Combine. If things hadn't gone wrong, it's safe to say humanity was on track for exactly that. Black Mesa wanted to exploit Xen, just like the Combine wanted to exploit Earth. Hell, while those two were at it, Aperture was too busy exploiting itself, and doing a damn good job at it. Both Aperture and the Universal Union are systems where literally no one was benefitting from the status quo, because they were too busy slaving away maintaining it. The Combine is just what Humanity would have become if it wasn't stopped at the very first hurdle. Flesh and machine, living and functional - both turned synonymous.

[sun-citadel]

Old art, still cute

[humblegoatart]

daily sketch 1.16.24

some juni fashion (as is my fascination) and then a slew of lil margin doodles from saltmarsh tonight

[rhymeswithfart]

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[pocket-mortys-doodles]

murder patrol rick & s4 morty

[birdricks]

i find the dimension codes in rnm sooo fascinating bc like… how are they decided. if ricks are the only ones capable of interdimensional travel its safe to assume they are the ones who decide on them right …. and based on prime being the one to distribute portal tech perhaps his dimension really is considered the Origin. dimension 1.

[spamalie]

i feel like people take rick calling beth “rick’s daughter” in season 3 in a super chauvinistic way but i honestly always read it as his way of emphasizing that beth is an incredibly smart and capable person. like i feel like it’s fair to say “rlck sanchez’s child” holds a certain kind of weight regardless of gender as opposed to necessarily being about ownership esp in the context he was saying it

[impossible-rat-babies]

/showleft anyway it’s all of eyrie’s children !

from L to R: aoife, sver, ol’ver, bijou, bisha and halvi

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Without defending the citadel of the mind, how can we build a beautiful city? Without the conviction of true propositions, whence do we think beauty will come?

- Sir Roger Scruton

La Sorbonne was named for its founder, Robert de Sorbon, chaplain and confessor of Louis IX. The history of the institution has always been closely linked with that of the University of Paris, one of the most important medieval universities of the French capital. Throughout the centuries, la Sorbonne became and remained a prestigious symbol of the university, training and teaching many of the great philosophers and masters of theology and history.

The University of Paris opened its doors in the 13th century. It was formed from a conglomeration of all of the colleges of the city's left bank. It was here that training occurred for all of Paris' clergy, administrators of royal institutions (courts of audit, courts, parliament, the council of state), as well as agents of ecclesiastical institutions ((bishops, abbots, education and hospital agents). Young students of the Four Nations at the time (French, Normandy, Picardy and English) came there to study law, medicine, theology and the arts. Thus, the University enjoyed unmatched prestige and international renown. In 1253, Robert de Sorbon opened his school on the Parisian Mountain, Sainte-Geneviève. The institution was primarily meant to train the poorest students (like many other colleges on the hill), but soon the Collège de Sorbon acquired a reputation, gradually becoming the famous theological faculty La Sorbonne .

The 17th century brought change. In an effort to bring new life to the old buildings, Cardinal Duc de Richelieu appointed architect Jacques Lemercier to undertake updates to the Sorbonne's structures. Cardinal Richelieu was very involved in the life of the Sorbonne and would go on to become headmaster in 1622.

The turmoil of the French Revolution would force the doors of the Sorbonne to close for a time. Starting in 1801 the Sorbonne housed simple artist workshops. During the Restoration, Louis XVIII decided to restore the buildings of the Sorbonne to their original purpose: education. In 1821, the Paris Academy and the École des Chartes (which trained students in archival conservation and preserving written heritage) took possession of the Sorbonne.

[cameatslemons]

(visibly frothing at the mouth) so. disability in mad max fury road and furiosa huh

[bug-ina-rug]

Happy Pride Month!

I present to you: some of my favorite canon queer characters!

The Owl House: Luz Noceda (Bi), Amity Blight (Lesbian), Raine Whispers & Masha (Non binary), Willow Park's Two Dads

She-Ra: Adora & Catra (Lesbian), Double Trouble (Gay and Nonbinary) Sea Hawk & Bow (Bi)

Steven Universe: Ruby, Sapphire & Pearl (Lesbian), Rose & Sadie (Pan), Lapis, Garnet, Setvonnie (Nonbinary), Peridot (Aro/Ace)

Heartstopper: Charlie (Gay), Nick (Bi), Elle (Trans), Isacc (Aro-Ace), Darcy & Tara (Lesbian)

Good Omens: Muriel, Aziraphale, Crowley, Gabriel & Beelzebub (Unlabeled and NB/Genderqueer), Nina & Maggie (Lesbian)

Helluva Boss: Blitz (Bi & Polyamorous), Stolas (Gay), Sallie May (Trans), Fizzarolli (Gay), Ozzie (Pan?)

Hazbin Hotel: Angel (Gay), Vaggie (Lesbian), Charlie & Cherri Bomb (Bi), Alastor (Aro-Ace), Husker (Pan)

POCASTS!!!!

Welcome To Nightvale: Cecil Palmer, Carlos, Charles, Kevin (Gay), Earl Harlan, Jackie Fierro (Queer), Josh Crayton (Bi)

The Magnus Archives: Jonathan Sims (Asexual/Biromantic) Martin Blackwood (Gay), Melanie King (Lesbian), Georgie Barker & Timothy Stoker (Bi)

Red Valley: Gordon Porlock (Gay), Aubrey Wood & Hester Hiyashi (Cant find canon identities for them but they're a WLW couple lol)

[The Penumbra Podcast]

Junoverse: Juno Steel (nobinary/trans/bi) Peter Nureyev (Gay), Jet Siquliak (Aro-Ace), Rita (Aromantic), Vespa Ilkay (Trans), Buddy Aurinko (Lesbian)

Second Citadel: Lord Arum, Sir Damien (Bi, Polyamorous), Rilla (Polyamorous), Sir Caroline(Lesbian), Quanyii (Lesbian & Genderfluid), Sir Talfryn (Aro-Ace), Ale & Sir Angelo (Queer)

[internetskiff]

I'm such a sucker for the Citadel and how it changes over the course of Half Life 2 and it's episodes. I'd argue it's almost like a character going through it's own arc, in a way. The Citadel is (quite literally) a massive organism, a parasite planted into the soil by an unseen force from the skies, spreading it's cords to consolidate it's power over City 17. It's the Combine embodied in a single towering, shrieking and hateful monolith. It's cold and clinical voice decides the fate of entire city blocks. This is the thing that ordered the slaughter of an entire apartment block simply because Freeman happened to go through it. In it's eyes, Freeman is a cancer that must be eradicated as soon as possible.

And it fails. Time and time again Freeman slips away from the Combine Soldiers - the Citadel's Killer T Cells. And all it can do is ramp up the intensity with which it tries to destroy him, ravaging City 17 first, before eventually resorting to tearing itself apart in the hopes it's final dying shriek will bring the full might of the Combine down onto earth.

The Combine love to incorporate biology into technology. The massive translucent veins strung about the Citadel's entire structure have already been brought up a lot, but I've never seen anyone bring up the Reactor. It's like the nucleus of a cell. Or a heart, one beating out of control as the body housing it rapidly deteriorates. This isn't something Freeman caused - this is the Combine's attempt at retaliation. This is the Citadel destroying itself in hopes it can bring Freeman down with it. The Citadel is gradually leaking radiation into it's own body as it's reactor slowly breaks down it's own containment - all culminating in one final blast that would hopefully cleanse City 17 and the surrounding environment of all life.

And even when it's dead, it's carcass charred and splintered open, it still poses a threat to the resistance. The Superportal looms over humanity's head as one final echo of the power the Citadel once held over them. At this point, humanity was as good as dead in the Combine's eyes. The moment the Superportal blossomed open and the first Dropship came through, everyone's fate would be sealed. And even though it's body is dead, it's voice somehow survived, continuing to command the stranded remnants of the Combine's skeleton crew in order to ensure the Superportal could reach maturity. It kept raising the stakes until it completely destroyed itself. It's sort of sad the Citadel basically takes it's leave from the story in Episode 2. Even if a third installment were to happen, the Citadel simply can't play a role anymore - it's arc is finished, leaving behind nothing but a ruined city and chunks of red hot radioactive metal. It really shows how the Combine truly operates - it doesn't give, it only takes, and what it can't take it burns to the ground.

[carbondated]

 ❝ Oh come on Edward, admit it, you've missed me! ❞ Her lips curled into a grin. ❝ It must've been a few terribly dull years for UNIT. ❞ No one breaking back into the archives to retrieve a pair of Louboutins for starters.

@strtravels / accepting.

[malusdomesticaprime]

The best part of alternate universe hubs is looking in the background for alternate versions of people. There is always a cowboy, ninja, or pirate version.