#Creator Of The Multiverse In Essence (The Cosmic Entity)

[ask-the-friendly-ink-demon]

Inkwell Hell, Chapter 1- The King Of All Demons

Plot: every story has a beginning, and a end. but how do they all start out? how do they end? From an world that was united as one, to a whole multiverse being created as a result of an war gone wrong, everything has to start somewhere, in this universe though, is where the story truly begins for someone, and a certain little demon. The Past can never truly Go Away. welcome to how it all begins welcome. to the start, of the terrors, of the inky past within Joey Drew Studios.

Chapter Summary: For Eons ago before the multiverse was created, they were all one entire universe, where everything was conjoined as one, and there was only one being in the whole universe at that time that was the only life, The Cosmic Entity. Though eventually after life slowly began on earth thanks to a meteorite, the Cosmic gets a idea and uses the remains of the meteorite to create the very thing that would eventually become the demons, but it all started, with the very first ones in the universe, with the last of the originals, becoming the King of all demons itself, Arzaxoth. ---

It is finally here, i’ve been waiting forever to show this. but seeing how i only got three chapters so far done ever since i made it in 2021 to mid 2022, i feel like i can show you all this so far for the time being, this and the next two chapters afterwards that i’ll also be linking after this post, are mainly backstory stuff for the demon within prowler, with any other characters mentioned OVERALL IN THE AU ITSELF AS EITHER PHYSICALLY APPEARING OR SIMPLY CAMEOS belonging to amazing friends of mine, mainly @sammys-sanctuary @ask-soul-bendy @outcast-shadow @tkvulturez @thesoftbean  @core4lost and a few others that i sadly do not remember or do not interact with much anymore bUT YEAH, here IT IS FINALLY. well, here is the LINK! That is right, i am not going to be doing what i did with the last one, cause one, way to time consuming, two, i don’t want to suffer FJDKGHDFKHK and three. i’ve seen others do the same thing with their fanfics of their aus so YEAH. this is just something im trying out, that is all! enjoy the first chapter of the prologue to terrors of the inky past! and the LORE  enjoy :) https://archiveofourown.org/works/33117046/chapters/82212157

[dailycharacteroption]

Creature Corner: Outsiders (Monitors) part 1

 Intro

 It’s been a while, but we’re finally back covering outsiders as a creature type in Pathfinder/Starfinder!

For those of you who missed or don’t want to go back and reread my coverage of celestials, outsiders as a whole are beings that both dwell on and are made up of the quintessence of the outer planes, often forged from the very souls of mortals that traveled to that plane upon death, though there are some outsiders that were clearly made of planar essence without mortal influence, or even outsiders that purely exist on the material plane, despite being made of extraplanar essence.

However, while celestials lean towards benevolent behavior where all help all, and fiends are selfish creatures that seek dominion and self-serving vice with no regard for the mortals involved, monitors lie somewhere in the middle, quietly maintaining the cycle of the multiverse in their own way, even if that isn’t quite what is on their official mission statement.

Generally speaking, monitors do not concern themselves with morality, only with structure. In the way, they are less concerned about mortal souls in the same way as other outsider types aside from their help in proving their system works and is the one truth in the multiverse, however, even that blanket statement has some holes in it.

Like celestials, most adventurers are not as likely to fight a monitor as they would, say, a fiend, but it is certainly more likely than a celestial on account of the zealous, sometimes alien drive with which monitors pursue their goals.

Monitors are also much more visibly diverse between types as well, since unlike celestials or fiends, monitors do possess exact opposites in their categorization.

On the lawful end of the spectrum we have inevitables: cosmic pseudo-constructs forged from soulstuff to defend a universal (or at least common law or orderly concepts in the multiverse), their logical and mathematical axiomite creators, as well as other Axis-denizens like scrivenites. Each of these dwell in the city-plane of Axis in an ordered society where they monitor the condition of the multiverse and push back against the forces of chaos.

In the middle of true neutral, we have both the deathly psychopomps, guardians of the dead who are willing and capable of anything to make sure the cycle of death and life are maintained. It is they above all else that destroy or coax the undead to move on, guard souls on their way to the boneyard for judgement, and fight those who seek to subvert the cycle from their citadel/graveyard plane of The Boneyard.

Similarly in the middle are the Aeons, fragments of the entity Monad that show up wherever they are needed to correct the balance, and often resembled multiple limbs coming from a single spiraling shape that is at once vaporous and extremely solid. Each aeon seems to represent two diametrically-opposed (or at least, conceptually related) concepts, which the aeon often has a hand in maintaining balance between. Aeons do not have a home plane per se, since they simply break down and return to the whole that is Monad when their task is done, though they do have a role in guarding the antipode, which is the river of raw quintessence that flows from the very bottom of the Maelstrom back to the positive energy plane, recycling all of the quintessence of the multiverse to be used anew.

Then, on the chaotic side of things, we have the proteans, serpentine figures based on the feminine serpent-headed half of the Ogdoad of Ancient Egyptian mythology (the other half being toad headed, perhaps the basis for D&D’s own chaotic outsider, the slaad?) are serpentine beings that blend aspects of snakes, crocodiles, birds, and more together, and seek to break down reality into a much more fluid morass of concepts, where ideas and entities form, merge, and separate with no concern for orderly concepts like logic or causality. However, despite how dangerous they can be, they are not inherently hostile, and can and will treat with others if it seems fun or there is some opportunity to cause chaos and spread the ever-changing quintessence “waters” of the Maelstrom. Proteans are perhaps tied with aeons as the most alien monitors, but at least Proteans can string together a sentence, albeit one that may take some logical gymnastics to interpret.

There are also other outsiders out there that could be considered monitors, such as the pseudo-psychopomps like Shinigami and Valkyries, who guard the dead but with the agendas of law and chaos, gibbering chaos beasts, the strange astral outsiders that PF2 would come to call Ennocites, including shulsagas and other thought-form entities, as well as possibly kami, spirits employed to guard various aspects of nature and of the sacred parts of civilization. (Even if those last two categories are not given the monitor subtype in PF2). Even more odd than those are the siktempora, denizens of the poorly understood dimension of time, which might be more akin to a symptom of strong emotion rather than custodians, unlike their fellow time-denizens like time dimensionals and the irii.

Like I said, monitors are an extremely diverse lot, each one pursuing their own philosophy and goals, even if doing so only perpetuates the cycle that both chaos and law are bound to, even if they both would like nothing more than to see their side truly ascendant. Interestingly, law and chaos seem to ebb and flow through the ages, which explains why aeons have become lawful neutral (I almost said lawful good again like in the Monad entry, hah!) in 2nd edition, but have gone back to being neutral in the era of Starfinder. However, neither one can truly become ascendant because of that very reason.

The diversity also extends into their real-world cultural inspiration, with proteans being loosely Egyptian, inevitables, or at least maruts being derived from Hindu mythos, and so on. The point being is that it is easier to see the non-Abrahamic roots in this outside type than it is with celestials and fiends since while Christianity rules the roost of inspiration in Pathfinder and D&D’s fiends and celestials, it really doesn’t have a place for such neutral beings in it’s mythos, letting the games draw from other sources, as well as entirely original creations more easily when filling that gap. Of course, it would be nice to include more non-Christian religious inspiration overall, as long as it is done in a respectful way.

 That about does it for today, but tomorrow we’ll talk about monitors in context as allies!

[fantastical-cosmicism]

The Cosmic Pantheon

Regarding the next major topic that I shall expand upon in this archive, it is worth an emphasis upon the fact that this information was far more-so gathered through esoteric means, rather than strictly scientific measurements and technological means of traversal. It is through the use of a certain relic, used in conjunction with instructions found in certain ancient texts, that I have found the means to secure knowledge of the lore that I am about to convey to you. Via the relic known as the Silver Key, which I have secured and kept safe since its previous keeper passed from the physical planes into the existences beyond, I have managed to converse with certain entities who were surprisingly willing to imbue me with the knowledge that I sought, even if I and others would not immediately comprehend the knowledge given. 

After each visit to the Ultimate Gate and its Keeper, I have spent much time mulling over what had been shown to me (once I had first gathered myself, as such escapades for knowledge possess an indescribable mental and physical intensity that must be undergone), and each time wrote my interpretations and conclusions into my archives here. In the following entries, which I will first list below with a brief description of their functions, I will go into the hidden details and lore of each member of the cosmic pantheon of Powers that oversee the multiverse which we inhabit. There are two (technically, three) primary categories of these Ultimate Gods, denoting their degrees of freedom, reach, and purpose. Though they all take on various avatars and forms to fulfill their purposes, their core essences are far better understood as fundamental aspects of reality, principle forces of nature that enable all of reality to exist and continue to function as is known (and perhaps still unknown) to us.

The Ultimate Outer Gods

The title of ‘Outer God’ generally is used to describe those that dwell within or hail from locales whose perspectives lie outside of mortally familiar time and space. This encompasses both lesser Outer Gods, such as the Servitors of Azathoth, Hypnos, Morpheus, and Abhoth, who are known to dwell within the Court of Azathoth, as well the more important focuses of this discussion, the so-called Ultimate Outer Gods. These gods are, by their natures, products of the invading Angreloth’s corruption infringing upon their original selves, and thus are possessed of an integration of two fundamental cosmic qualities: Astral and Aberrant. The lesser Outer Gods will be covered in future entries.

-Ahura Mazda/Angra Mainyu/Azathoth: Creation and Destruction

-Ish-nak’ath/Shub-Niggurath: Abundance, Life, Fertility, Necessity

-‘Umr at-Tawil/Yog-Sothoth: Space, Time, Information, Possibility

-Nyarlathotep: Unique from the three above entities, Nyarlathotep was born of simultaneous Astral and Aberrant natures, spawned directly from Azathoth itself. He is known as the ‘Soul’ of the Outer Gods, Messenger of the Pantheon.

The Astral Gods

Also known as: the Ahuran, the Archetypes, the Elder Gods

Due to not being locked outside of familiar Space and Time, these Ultimate Gods were left untouched by the corruption of the invading Angreloth before our current universe existed, able to retreat from losing battles in the ancient cosmic wars before they could be tainted by such corruption. In various ancient texts, they have often been called by the title of the “Elder Gods”. They have all served their own purposes by the will of the Creator god, both in the laying of the foundational laws of reality at the beginning of all time and in overseeing more delicate and intricate matters of the cosmos and its civilizations that the Outer Gods do not really involve themselves in. By the faint, whispering will of the Creator aspect of Azathoth, their ultimate and most important design and goal is the preservation of reality and the multiverse by not allowing the upset of Azathoth’s delicate slumber, which is in part maintained by keeping the vaguely-understood ‘balance’ of reality. This also involves the upkeep of a steadfast defense against the hungering Angreloth and their demonic descendants imprisoned within the dimension of the Abyssal sphere, a fierce and unmatched war that rages to this day.

-Tyche: Fortune, Chance

-Moirai: Death, Fate

-Ashmodai: Protection, Carnality

-Nyx: Darkness, Necrotic Magick, the Vacuum

-Dia: Light and Radiation, Radiant Magick, Starlight

The Angreloth Lords

Also known as: the Chaos Harbingers, the Annihilators, the Antibodies

An unspecific amount of time long after the creation of the ordered First Cosmos, the Angreloth invaded, seeking to disrupt, corrupt, consume and annihilate the cosmos. Esoteric visions of the primordial ancient past have shed a modicum of light on their motivations to destroy: that they were spawned as a primal hostile reaction of infinite Chaos against ordered Creation, which was perceived as a cancerous growth of order that would continue to expand infinitely through Chaos if not intercepted and destroyed. The Angreloth as a whole have taken on a vast variety of forms and abilities, and have undergone great lengths of evolution throughout the passing aeons, yet all still possess the same motivations: chaos, discord, entropy, and annihilation upon creation. The vast majority of the Angreloth Lords and their descendants were long ago locked into the Abyssphere by the decisive efforts of Ashmodai, though a few others were banished into the Antisphere as well. The most major Angreloth of note is the incarnation of Destruction itself, Angra Mainyu, an entity who ruled as commanding divine to the other Angreloth. Angra Mainyu, in its corrupting assault upon the Creator god Ahura Mazda, was trapped in a state of fusion with the Creator, having only half-way taken over its cosmic adversary. This corrupted fusion resulted in the birth of the Nuclear Chaos, Azathoth, whom we already have discussed. This has since resulted in the most fundamental laws across the multiverse itself having been corrupted and altered, with entropy and all related physical processes having been integrated as a fundamental aspect of reality itself. Accompanying Angra Mainyu were two other Angreloth Lords, who acted in the proverbial footsteps of their master in the act of similarly corrupting two other ancient cosmic deities. These processes were stopped by the actions of the Astral God Nyx, which were briefly explained in an earlier entry.

-Magnum Innominandum (the Nameless Mist): Creeping into the plane of the Astralsphere, this entity wormed its way into the domain of ‘Umr at-Tawil and began to seep into the Ancient god’s essence, as well as the essence of its domain. This corruption resulted in the broader Aberrant manifestation of ‘Umr at-Tawil, known to us now as the Outer God Yog-Sothoth.

-Magnum Tenebrosum (the Unnamed Darkness): In similar fashion to the Nameless Mist, this mysterious entity of darkened chaos infiltrated the Primosphere, seeking out the Ancient god Ish-nak’ath as its target. It corrupted the domain and essence of Ish-nak’ath, resulting in the Aberrant manifestation of the Outer God Shub-Niggurath.

As each entry is complete, I will weave together a complete account and narrative of the origins of all reality based on all that I have learned and extrapolated in my esoteric endeavors. Afterwards, I plan to dwell into the existence and nature of relatively lesser deities not mentioned here.

[twitchesandstitches]

One thing I’ve been thinking about; I’m not shy in balancing out the boy/gal/nonbinary ratios (generally in favor of the latter two) and Transformers is shaping up to be a pretty important deal in Crossthicc, both in terms characters present in the factions, overall influence on the aliens and societies seen, metaphysics and the scale of aliens in general… so what of their main gods?

What of Primus, the creator of all things? What of Unicron, the deity of undeath and absolute extinction? And waht if the 13 Original Primes, the first true Transformers and gods to many aliens?

I had the idea; what if in Crossthicc, Primus and Unicron are fembot goddesses?

For one thing, as Transformers, visual presentation is largely a matter of personal choice, and its not as though there’s much of a reason for them canonically to not be. For another, it’s kind of awesome.

In this case, both of them still have largely the same motivations and outlooks as in canon; the biggest chance here is simply that they are giant goddesses, but still have the same significance to the setting as a whole.

Primus, here, is generally considered the mother of all life, whether in a literal or figurative sense; while mechanical life is specifically made in her image - and the argument can be made that organic life is an aberration - she still laid the seeds for organic life to evolve, and they are metaphysically her children. She tends towards a gravid, maternal shape that the big ladies of the MILF fleet often unknowingly emulate. As far as anyone knows, she may in fact BE the first MILF in the cosmos, or close to it.

While Primus is certainly present in-fic, it’s not clear where she is. Originally she had divided parts of a previous avatar into various worlds her Transformers could call home after they successfully beat Unicron in ages past, but when the corrupt Functionalist government forcibly combined all those worlds into the single planet of Cybertron without consideration for the culture clashes, their corruption and cruelty set the seeds for a massive civil war. Cybertron has long since been inactive and dead… but Primus herself lives.

Primus is a gentle and noble soul, who loves all living things regardless of what they are, and is largely an incredibly passive figure. While she may act on her own, she will do nothing of the sort until there is no other option. She would rather act by inspiring others: “It is best that mortals win their battles without being sure if I did anything at all. It is the best way for them to grow.” In particular, she endorses growth, change and mutation of all sorts, and her blood, the material known as Energon, induces the growth of life and transformations of all kinds, which is considered sacred to her. She is the goddess of Transformers, after all.

Primus is worshiped by countless entities, across the multiverse, though they may not be aware of it; many a robotphobic civilization has revered a creator god and unknowingly been giving homage to the machine-goddess herself. Appropriately, she takes whatever form she pleases, manifesting in the dreams and making herself clear to a thousand prophets, and the greatest of those who speak in her name is the Prime of Cybertron, with the Matrix of Leadership a token of her very flesh, given to anoint her chosen ones and convey her will to all living things, who are her people; from the tiniest micro-organisms, to the mightiest sapient war machines. However, her power to manifest into the material planes are limited, and she is highly reluctant to do so again and risk more disaster as she has in the past. She is so distant, in fact, that many other gods and goddesses act on her behalf, making her something of a greater good paragon even by the standard of genuine deities.

The 13 Primes are all alive and well - even if this seems completely impossible - and are flat out gods, though not on the same scale as Primus herself. Generally, assume that they are all non-binary or fembots, with the notable exception of Megatronus and Solus Prime, who are definitely male and female respectively. Of note is Onyx Prime, who is usually referred to by masculine pronouns but can be changed up to suit the way the AU shapes out. Onyx is the progeniator of beastformers, or Transformers who assume monstrous and animal-themed alternate forms, and is named for the pure black shade of their metal form; they were the most ferocious of the Primes, the most monstrously horrifying in appearance… and the wisest, and kindest, of them all. They gave rise to the world of Eukaris, which became the land of beastformers, and later the nation-state of Simfur on Cybertron. Grimlock is the last king of Simfur, and a fervant worshiper of Onyx Prime, which may have gotten the attention of this long dormant deity of honor and civilization.

Uncron has a bit more of a femme fatale vibe, and her habit of devouring entire planets is more strictly vore themed, and done in her humanoid mode rather than her planet form. Sort of a combination of Galacta, Daughter of Galactus, with elements of a truly malicious goddess of death and destruction. While her physical form is a gorgeously curvy fembot, she is incredibly bad news; she would devour all the multiverse if she could, for unknown reasons; as it is, she may well be a personification of the idea of cosmic extinction, and undying hatred. Some rumors suggest that Unicron and Primus were originally components of a more ancient titan, and that Unicron was originally that titan’s cancerous sickness, and to this day Unicron acts as such.

Unicron’s sole goal appears to be spreading death and ruin, and to a lesser extent making Primus irritated by making life miserable for the mortals she cares so much for. However, she is fundamentally a creative entity, and appears to be making something with all the death she has made. Perhaps she devours planets and is recycling them into new creations, or is compelled to outdo Primus at her own game. One such creation are the mysterious Reapers (of Mass Effect fame), here the vanguards of Unicron and her attempt to improve on the idea of the Transformers. When she devours entire species, she shapes their digested essence into a Reaper and endows it with her own essence, and thus she is surrounded by a vast fleet and living temple to her own insatiable hunger and bloodlust. Eternally they worship their mother-goddess, praising her and living solely for her twisted world-view. She finds this… pleasing. This may yet explain her true motivations; to erase the multiverse and replace it with something that reveres her, alleviating the chronic loneliness and isolation she has suffered through eternally, and the torment she may experience from existence just… being there, in spite of her.

When all is silent, and existence itself simply stops save for that which is like her, than she will be pleased, when all is Unicron.

[studentsofshield]

The Confusing History of Mantis, the Newest MCU Guardian of the Galaxy

By Vincent Faust

This was originally published on April 22, 2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is just around the corner. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are rabid to bask in the glory of another James Gunn written and directed classic. Gunn has struck gold with audiences by concocting the perfect superhero film franchise. His Guardians combines the epic scope of cosmic science fiction with the witty script and natural charisma of a talented cast. Throw in some genius nostalgic soundtrack choices and tons of fun Easter eggs, and you get something truly magic.

Unlike certain other superhero directors (cough Bryan Singer cough), James Gunn wears his admiration for the source material on his sleeve. There are stories of him mandating cast members to read specific comics. Whereas other directors have bafflingly tried to ban comics from their sets. What is hilarious is that Gunn has also been rumored to explicitly tell his cast to not read certain comics. Issues and storylines that he thinks did not effectively capture the characterization and core essence of their characters. That’s a true mark of a fan.

Gunn has been able to respectfully alter the histories and personalities of certain characters for his films. Dave Bautista’s Drax in the films is an alien with no concept of sarcasm or metaphor. In the comics Drax the Destroyer is Arthur Douglass, a human selected by a cosmic entity and placed into a new body to serve as a messiah figure to defeat Thanos. It’s still just a tad annoying, but the changes for the film are inoffensive. He’s done similar things to the backstory of Star-Lord. One of the only things to be truly annoyed by in the Guardians films is his representation of the Nova Corps. However, there is still room to remedy that.

One of the new introductions to Guardians 2 is Mantis. In trailers she is shown possibly developing some kind of platonic or romantic connection with Drax. She will be played by the French and Korean actress Pom Klementieff. So who is this character?

Part I: Celestial Madonna

We can thank the imaginations of Steve Englehart and Don Heck for this character. Mantis had her first published appearance in Avengers #112. The character is a half-Vietnamese, half-German woman (so, somewhat close to Klementieff’s ancestry). She is the daughter of Libra of the Zodiac crime organization that often clashes with the Avengers.

From her childhood (abandoned by her father), Mantis has been foretold of a prophecy that she will become the “Celestial Madonna.” This figure is predicted to mate with the eldest Cotati (a plant-like alien race) to give birth to the Celestial Messiah. Which in turn will be the “most important” being in the entire universe. So that’s surely creepy to be told about as a young girl.

She trains as a martial artist but then gets her mind wiped when she reaches adulthood (ouch). I guess because it was written in the 1970s, she then becomes a prostitute at a Vietnamese bar. Which is where she meets and befriends the villain-turned-hero the Swordsman. The two join the Avengers and Mantis bares witness and assists in many battles and adventures.

Mantis becomes romantically interested in the Vision, but he turns her away. In a fateful encounter with time traveler Kang the Conqueror, the Swordsman is killed. This triggers Mantis to realize her love for him. So of course he gets resurrected and the aforementioned Cotati sort of parasitically merges with him. Mantis and the Swordsman get married and leave the Avengers to start their messianic family.

Part II: Inter-Company Drifter

What follows in her history is some nonsensical shenanigans. When writer and creator Steve Englehart departed Marvel comics, he actually tried to take Mantis with him. But you can’t really do that in work-for-hire comics publishing. So it gets fishy.

Mantis pops up in Steve Englehart’s Justice League run (first in Justice League of America Vol 1 #142). Since her name is copyrighted, she is presented as “Willow.” She sticks around awkwardly for a tiny while and then leaves to give birth.

Englehart then carries her over to some stories at Eclipse Comics. Going by Lorelei, she has finally given birth to what one can assume will be the Celestial Messiah. For one more wrinkle in this story, Image Comics later published a story originally planned for Eclipse that continues this thread. Which makes her fourth publisher.

Part III: Return Home

Now back at Marvel in the late 1980s, Englehart slots her into his ongoing stories of the Silver Surfer. Over the course of some confusing stories, she eventually turns green and gets additional powers. Oh, and her son was taken from her by the Cotati. She lives with them for a while. Her body splits into multiple beings representing her fractured psyche. Not much of it makes a ton of sense.

Sadly, her first really consequential story back at Marvel is a massive dud. She plays a crucial role in the universally despised Avengers and Iron Man crossover The Crossing. Mantis has come back as the wife of Kang to seek vengeance on the Avengers, her father, and the Cotati race for manipulating her. In the process, Iron Man Tony Stark is revealed to have been a double agent of Kang’s for years. He dies and is replaced by a time-displaced teenage version of himself.

But then Kurt Busiek retconned most of that mess away with the multiversal Avengers Forever story. The Mantis in The Crossing was revealed to be a phantom imitation of the real article.

Englehart then wrote a sequel years later to the Celestial Madonna Saga called Avengers: Celestial Quest. In the decades between the original and its belated follow up, Englehart’s writing abilities and grasp of Marvel continuity had waned. Not much is said about this book nowadays, or when it was released.

Part IV: Guardian of the Galaxy

Keith Giffen kickstarted a renaissance of cosmic storylines for Marvel in 2006 with the Annihilation crossover event. Space faring characters of all kinds and alien races were jumbled together to face a threat on a scale impossible to imagine for many of the heroes confined to the tiny rock that is planet Earth.

Other writers like Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning took up this cosmic torch and carried it for several years thereafter. Mantis was seen again (still with her green skin tone) as a prisoner of the alien Kree empire. She volunteers to participate in a mission led by Star-Lord in the Annihilation: Conquest event.

In the conclusion of that story, a new team of cosmic heroes is formed and dubs themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy as a tribute to the team who had in the past teamed up with the Avengers (though who originate from the future 31st century). Mantis served as the team’s counselor and communications leader.

After Abnett and Lanning concluded their critically acclaimed cosmic meta story, the reigns of the franchise were handed to Brian Michael Bendis. He quickly wrote out Mantis and a few other minor supporting characters from the Guardians’ adventures. His run has been…divisive to fans of cosmic Marvel.

Part V: Blockbuster Film Star

Now up to date on the intricacies of her history in comics, where does she go next? Into a multimillion dollar Hollywood film, of course! James Gunn is obviously a fan of that Abnett and Lanning era of Guardians history. And maybe not so much of Bendis’. Mantis will be introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Her appearance seems to be taking more inspiration from her early 1970s Avengers tales. However, there is a slight pink hue to her skin that may be an attempt to make her look more alien. Just like Drax, Gunn is likely to alter her dense and confusing backstory to make her an alien. I highly doubt they will hint at her Celestial Madonna role. Which is obscure and could be perceived as sketchy nowadays.

The original Avengers: Celestial Madonna Saga was just recently reprinted in a paperback. Her late 2000s Guardians of the Galaxy appearances can be checked out in the complete collections for Abnett and Lanning’s run. Annihilation: Conquest may be trickier to track down, but is definitely worth it.

I’m going to be seeing this film with my friends here at school before I go back home. Opening night, of course. Cannot wait. Let me know how crazy you think Mantis’ history is and how excited you are to see her on the big screen in the comments below.

[deffinitelynobody]

On the Divine

The Divine Truth as according to the Seekers of Truth

Religion is arguably one the most influential forces in the world of Haakha, and the most prevalent form of religion is worship of the gods. The true nature of the gods is unknown, but the Seekers of Truth have managed to unravel a number of factors by deciphering the Xulzrrem Texts (believed to mean “Divine Truth” when translated to a mortal tongue) over the course of many centuries. However, the divine tonge (Xulthriiim) is difficult for mortals to comprehend. This, combined with the fact that the various planar beings and the gods themselves give conflicting answers as to the true nature of divinity, means nothing is known for certain.

As such, the Seekers always recommend a healthy dose of skepticism when one reads through their works. They are able to piece together recurring elements together to form the current enlightened view on the nature of the divine. What follows is their “truth”.

The Nature of the Gods

The Gods are truly mighty entities farther along the scale of existence than mortalkind; unimaginably powerful beings that have the power to shape reality as easily as an artist can shape a drawing with a pencil and eraser, limited only by their imagination (which is immense indeed), transcending a mortal’s understanding, yet willing to aid those who serve their enigmatic goals. These beings are for all intents and purposes ‘gods’ since mortals are too limited and transitory to comprehend their vast purposes.

They are as old as creation itself, if not older. There are rivalries between the ‘gods’ like their mortal servants, though mortal moral terms do not apply to these alignments’; the boundaries which separate these positions surpass our understanding, and various aspects of a ‘god’ may appear as members of different ‘alignments’ in different times or periods. This means that separate deities in one land can be combined into one and in another one god becomes many. What the ‘gods’ disclose is all that can be known with certainty—and even this can be only partial and beyond a mortal’s ability to grasp.

However, the gods are not individuals. At least, they aren’t in the same sense that a mortal individual is; rather, they are archetypes or incarnations of universal forces. They arise from the strength of their priests and the cosmos, and the one god can look and act entirely differently to many different places and people. The beliefs of the faithful vary from place to place, even among those who purport to worship the same deity. Many gods go by multiple names, have variant domains or local titles, and even switch gender and appearance when it suits. As a result, the gods are unknowable and mysterious, and their faiths embody shifting channels of power. Their forms are variable and protean.

Beginnings

The gods origins are not truly known to mortals. The Xulzrrem has given no insight into the creation of all, so the Seekers of Truth  have needed to turn exclusive to mortal myths and legend to piece together some understanding, which has borne them no fruit as of yet. What follows are the basics of the most common creation myths upon Haakha that they have found.

Creation Myth one: “In the beginning, there were two, and these two warred, the desires in their hearts for the fate of the existance to come. As they fought, their blood that was spilled began to mix, birthing new gods who hid from the titanic battle. Eventually, one of the gods succeeded and slew  their sibling, two lesser children born from their death screams, and the victor slept, letting their children shape the the corpse into something new.”

Creation Myth two: “A Primordial Deity languished in emptiness, but they eventually began to shape Creation. First they crafted two others of concepts and ideas, and together they formed more meanings out of the nothing. These elder meanings then began to make more meanings with their parents, and these in turn made more and more, some much greater than others.”

Betrayal, Shackles, and the Divine Civilwar

Regardless as to how creation was made, the peace between the gods did not last. They squabbled and bickered with each other. Adámror slew, feasted, and raped ceaselessly, his dark desires knowing no bounds. Crommhor and Shir-ír fought for the sake of fighting, drawing strength from the conflict itself, aiding and betraying every divinity, large and small at least once, their searing light and scorching lightning burning opposing forces to ashe. Finrufin provided services to all, acquiring favors and gifts from every deity, his web of influence growing. Jeha died defended her husband-brother Jhielah, who used his powers to forge her anew based on her own plans and schematics, turning her into the Machine God.

Others gods rose by striking down weaker gods, demigods, and nature spirits. The stories and slanders run together, each god accusing the others of murder, rape, cannibalism, and theft of divine power and prestige. Adrah slew many minor (and supposedly some major) divinities to bolster her own power, influence, and wealth. And it was never enough, with her true targets always out of reach.

The war grew so violent that the multiverse threaten to tear asunder due to the wanton use of divine powers. This worried even the elder gods, who had abstained from the god slaughter. In order to solve the problem, they opened the way for powers elder still.

The War’s End

Together, the Sisters Three, Azaer, and Jopha gathered their strength and called upon the primordial Ur-beings, their creators, who had already begun to notice the the war growing out of control. As they entered the multiverse, Whuîrmüroth called for peace, their words nearly shattering the multiverse. As the gods halted, unsure as what to do against foes of such magnitude. But Adrah, the creature of passion she is, lept to attack them. However, before she even struck a blow, Whuîrmüroth Struck her down and fed her to his stomach, Aza-uloth. After this, the gods new better than to strike at these mighty beings, and sued for peace.  And so the open war of god against god evolved into a quieter struggle, so as not to rouse the Great Serpent to further action

The Ur-beings formed Monad and Aeons by combining their power with that of the other divinities, so as to maintain the balance and prevent further god slaughter. This lead the gods to no longer make war openly, and induced them to wear masks, that they might not know one another.

Yet, Adrah is enslaved to Whuîrmüroth aftering vomited by Aza-uloth, her essence mixed with his own and her will subservient to his, so the old ways may not be over yet.  Now oracles, heroes, and demigods fight on the god’s behalf, and the gods meddle in mortal affairs whenever the accords permit it. Now that the gods cannot hold the sword that slays their rivals in their own hands, they give their favored weapon to their priest-heroes, and take satisfaction in their great deeds.

Masks

This explains why the gods seem eager to hide their true identity from worshipers and remain a mystery. Their names are various and shifting. They wear masks, the better to show themselves as they prefer to be seen, and to avoid being replaced entirely. According to the Seekers of Truth, their are approximately 30-60 true gods, though this cannot account for the many lesser deities. They say that these are not true gods, that they have fallen from the pantheon proper and become little better than demigods. The other reason though, and the one most Seekers believe, is that they are divergent masks of the Pantheon Proper.

Why so few true gods though, and so many masks? No one is sure. Despite scholarly entreaties, the Xulzrrem, and the investigation of generations of mortals, the gods of the world are a mystery. They are a changing family of alliances and betrayals, to whom mortals are regarded as useful tools. The gods are friendless, and yet the greatest allies of mortals. But above all other concerns, they are turned to face one another, and to most of them the voices of mortals are faint. Their wars and loves are among their own kind.

All mortals should know this and be wise, before they choose to walk the path of the priest and the petitioner.

The Use of Masks

Behind the names and temples lies a secret of the gods’ creation: gods are not individuals, but archetypes or universal instantiations of cosmic forces. They aren’t people in the same sense that a mortal individual is; rather, they arise from the strength of their priests and the cosmos, and the same god can look and act entirely differently in different places. The beliefs of their followers vary from place to place. Many gods go by multiple names, have variant powerss and local titles, and even switch gender and appearance. As a result, the gods are unknowable and mysterious, and their faiths embody shifting channels of power. Their forms are variable and protean.

The gods are involved in the world, speaking to their priests through oracles and visions. They are also largely disassociated from mortals, because they rarely explain themselves, and their divine concerns seem unrelated to mundane or mortal troubles.

The gods seem eager to hide their true identity from worshipers, and sometimes pretend to be other gods entirely. The Seekers frequently notice such things: Crommhor turning into multiple others, Adámror’s many names, Finrufin has more names than are stars in the night sky, and Eldest three’s countless names (though few ever notice this).

Why so much Confusion

Why are the gods eager to disguise their identities? The Seekers don’t truly know, but three reasons have been theorized by them and the priesthoods.

First, adopting a new name and a slightly different avatar helps the gods steal their way into new regions and absorb new followers. In this way, the gods can be worshiped under several names and avoid the difficulty of overcoming regional or racial hostility and prejudice.

Second, it provides a form of insurance against the decline of any particular region or nation. If all the temples of Ayailla are burnt out by a rampaging horde, and yet the Septs of Laura remain untouched, then she is better off than if her worship had vanished entirely.

Third, the gods use avatars and masks for purposes of their own, and they want to retain some degree of deniability. This is why the exact relationships of the various masks remain in doubt. They might use masks to assassinate a god “behind the scenes” and take over his temples and worshipers wholesale, for instance. The deceased god’s worshipers still pray to a divinity and are happy with the results, even if, over time, the god’s demands shift.