#Crescent prism

[hungry-skeleton]

Happy 10 years of games from my favourite indie dev ever, Torch60! I discovered these games pretty late in their lifetime but I love each and every one so much! Please play Torch60's RPGs THEY'RE ALL FREE!!

Itch.io page - Steam page (less games then the itch.io page)

[audart]

Characters from my partner's upcoming game Crescent Prisim

[bugfragged]

I'm guessing that later chapters would have been structured as Lunita's POV followed by Nova's POV. Maybe we would have been able to fight Lunita's party as the Sundown Squad?

INVERT THE MOON - Let's Play 「 Crescent Prism Chapter 1 (Hard) 」 - 4

[sailormoonnoir]

🌙

[impscreation]

Crescent moons always make me think of sailor moon.

[sterlingssuncatchers]

Handmade window cling suncatchers available here 🌈

[voldkat]

guess who figured out how to do botched 3d modeling . and continued doing so for the entire day . to feed the shape autism

this was inspired by the fact that i have hyperspecific headcanons for how the geometry of their heads and antennae . like every time i draw them i picture their shapes in my brain and rotate them . it's so fucked up /silly

also note that none of their face patterns are dented into their heads !!! the website just kinda fucks up and gets confused sometimes when merging shapes lmao all of these mfs have flat faces

sorry unparalleled innocence fans inno is not here again because i am Still trying to figure out its colors ( getting distracted and forgetting to ) . i might make a follow up post with its model if i ever get around to it ( and might model my ocs along with it )

closeups of each iterator ( sorted by age ) + design notes for all of them + the tinkercad project link below the cut :3c

LOOKS TO THE MOON

MEWNIE !!! a fairly normal looking iterator head . spherical shape . flat cylindrical earpieces with slots to support the antennae . doesn't get any more standard than that WEHBHJF

her antennae are very much standard too !! average height , average width , rectangular little things with singular yellow strips near the end . just an average old model during a time when the ancients were still in the middle of figuring things out

and also the circle mark on her forehead looks more like a crescent moon or a pearl in my design . which is very cool ( symbolism for both her name having "moon" in it and the fact that she's in the scholar passage )

SLIVER OF STRAW

ok . her design is also fairly standard but her antennae are a bit Strange . i figure this might be around the time the ancients are starting to experiment a little , but not as intensely as they do with the second gens

the rest of my iterator designs with antennae have sharp bends and are usually flattened prisms or extruded shapes , with the silly color patterns clear and visible on the side faces . sliver however . she's got ROUND !! almost like some sort of stretched out cylinder !!! AND her color patterns are on the top face and actually dented into the antennae , making it hard to spot them !!!! what a fucked up design . why is she like this /silly

nothing else of note to say tho so we're moving on :3c

CHASING WIND

WE'RE IN GEN 2 NOW GUYS !!! i actually Don't have a hyperspecific headcanon on what their antennae look like so i just eyeballed it based on how i usually draw them . they're certainly a weird shape . rectangular-ish prism thing that gets wider at the top with an ellipse cut out of it . and the color patterns are at the base of the antennae instead of near the top like they usually would be . they look like fucked up bug horns almost

you see the front of the antennae ? where the oval cutout doesnt reach ? yeah . that's not a modelling mistake . that's intentional . there's one little section where the top is nice and flat . what the fuck is up with these tennas /silly

i may give them a secondary pattern on their face later like suns' Lines On Face (/ref) if i feel like making that a signature design choice for gen 2 iterators . but for now all you get is Peculiar Antennae

NO SIGNIFICANT HARASSMENT

OH BOY . EASILY the one with the weirdest head shape . extruded rounded square for a head . screen face . no antennae at all . fucking Gamer Headphones . he was built WAY too different . built correctly ( fit for his purpose ) but also not ( breaks every single known iterator puppet design convention ) /silly j

on a more serious note , his earpieces are significantly thinner ( more flush with his head ) than average , and don't have the antenna notches !! that's the only reasonable comparison i can make tho because he looks SO Fucking Different

there are other little details that i feel i have to mention . like his screen is dented inwards a little . his 'mic' thing isn't touching his face but only by a slim margin . his fucked up eyeball isn't flat or dented in but actually extends out in the shape of a semicircle ish thing . yeah that's about it honestly

SEVEN RED SUNS

okay back to relative normalcy . except the shape of their antennae fucked me up SO bad that it was the sole reason i decided to model these fucks in the first place

they're almost triangular prisms but the outward facing triangle is like slanted inwards slightly . which makes the upright lateral faces weird right trapezoids instead of rectangles . but also they have extra joints at the base of their antennae which allow for more movement !! Thankfully those joints a pretty normal shape ( ordinary cuboid )

also another detail i want to mention is the Lines On Face . the lines bend at 90 degree angles . the left / right sides disappear below the earpieces but the bottom sides kinda just . Stop . after some point . idk that's all i have really

FIVE PEBBLES

AAAAND with gen 3 we've looped back to fairly standard looking !!! he looks just like his sister but with the colors swapped around , and longer thinner antennae . and the fuckass stripes on his face i guess . one of the newest models , yet with little to no thought put into customization , since his creators are getting tired of waiting

it's interesting to me how he's the only design without a symbol logo thing in the middle of his forehead . perhaps the ancients ran out of feasible forehead symbols ? or maybe just a staple of gen 3 iterators ? who knows . all i can do is speculate and make shit up

AND !! as promised , the link , except you'll have to make an account to see it for some reason :

[chaos-cousins]

[A video is embedded.

You can hear Ene chanting from Ren's phone. "Do it! Do it! Do the pose!"

Ren sighs, and scowls. "Finnnnne."

He raises his hand towards the ceiling, then shouts, while fighting off a smile, "Moon Prism Power! Make up!"

And then a crescent moon shaped bow appears in his hand.

"WHAT," Ren shouts.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ene shouts.

"HOW DID I DO THAT?!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SUMMONED THE BOW! YOU SHOULD KNOW!"

"I DON'T!"

There's a pause, before Ene responds again. "Wow. That's totally useless."

Ren sighs. "Yeah. It is. Elena's better off having this than I am."]

[pocketramblr]

that sailor moon au part one

Holy shit, a talking cat!

“Holy shit, a talking cat.” En breathed, squatting down to look at the animal that had broken in and taken his futon.

“Yes.” It said, amused and batting at his finger when he tried to poke it. “I am Midnight. I’ve been looking for you, En.”

“And it knows my name.” Why had it been looking for him? Was he on some sort of animal hit-list?

“I wanted to thank- oh, I use she/her pronouns actually.” The cat corrected.

En pinched himself. It hurt but maybe that didn’t mean anything. “The talking cat knows what pronouns are.”

“Of course I do; human gender- and sexuality- are so fascinating! Ah, but that doesn’t matter right now, don’t distract me! I wanted to say thank you for helping me out earlier this morning, even though it made you late to your class.”

En would have been late anyway.

“No problem.” He shrugged, fully accepting this was a dream.

“And, I want to give you something.” She spun around, and then held out a golden pin between her teeth.

En stared at it.

Midnight waved her face at him a bit, tail flicking.

“Where did you get that?” He asked, like an answer would make sense if he asked the question out loud, like a dream would have consistency other than just being confusing. “You don’t have any pockets, you’re naked.”

The cat dropped the pin on his futon.

“I’m nude, actually.” She corrected, again. “But take it and put it on, En!”

“So pushy.” He muttered. “You’re just like Nana-nee.” But he put it on anyway, fastening it to his jacket near the collar.

The silver crescent moon stood out against the red fabric, almost shining. It didn’t look bad, and it wasn’t his normal style, but for some reason he didn’t feel the desire to remove it. Probably the weird dream logic.

“Now, repeat after me! Moon Prism Power, One For All!” Midnight said.

“Moon prism power, one for all?” En repeated.

And then suddenly, he was glowing.

An energy raced through him, cold and electrifying, though it didn’t hurt. His heartbeat raced in his ear to a strange rhythm, and stars raced past his eyes.

When they faded, he felt taller.

He looked down to see he was wearing boots with a bit of a platform- oh, and completely different clothes.

In a blur, he darted from his room to the bathroom to look in the mirror.

He was wearing a jacket like his old high school gakuran, except in dark blue instead of black. He had matching blue shorts and high socks tucked into the almost-as-high boots. The buttons and buckles shone silver like the band sitting cool across his forehead, mostly hiding by his hair, which had a moon crescent in the center- it matched the pin Midnight gave him, and so did the earrings dangling from his ears.

Wait. Only one of his ears was pierced.

Dream, right.

It was getting harder to believe that…

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” he asked.

Midnight jumped up onto the bathroom counter and shook her head.

“No, En, it’s all real. And I need you to become the Moon Scout.”

“The moon what?”

“The pretty guardian of love and justice.”

“The what?”

Midnight didn’t get a chance to answer his question- instead all he could focus on was a sudden ringing in his ear- well, just under his ear.

“Help!” a voice echoed. “We’re at the jewelry store off Besupin and 8th, she’s- ah!”

“Shimura-san?” a different voice asked, tinny, through a phone, “Are you still there, Shimura-san?”

En heard Midnight’s voice, but not what she said- he was instead remembering earlier when he’d gotten home from class, heard Nana and Sorahiko talking in the kitchen as they microwaved lunch. Something about an outrageous sale going on, and Nana and her boyfriend heading there after their own classes.

En had asked if they’d been going out long enough for an engagement ring to be considered, and after laughing at how Nana had nailed him in the head with an empty takeout box, Sorahiko had gotten his own jab in: “Do you really want a discount engagement ring? That’s not really romantic is it?”

Nana had sniffed and declared that a wedding she could actually afford to feed herself and her husband afterwards was the most romantic one. Then En had fled before she could aim another throw at him for saying that he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be the one cooking and feeding her spouse.

But now, if Shimura-kun was at the store, and calling for help-

“Tell me how to get there.” He told Midnight, who nodded and leapt from the counter without a word.

En’s heart was racing the whole way, audible even over the pounding of his boots.

The store wasn’t far, but any minute delay-

Sirens, red lights.

The police surrounded the place, a crowd of people by them.

“Maam, stop!” One raised his voice. “You cannot go back in there!”

“My boyfriend is in there!” Nana- oh god that was his sister, she was fine- but Shimura-kun wasn’t.

En blew past the crowd, and the officers.

“Hey, wait!” Another tried to call after him.

“Is that the Deku Scout?” another asked.

En didn’t even turn around. He didn’t want Nana to see his face, because if she knew he was in there she wouldn’t let herself be held back anymore.

He pushed open the door, and almost collapsed against it, panting.

There were a group of people huddled against the back counter, and more strewn across the floor, unconscious or- he didn’t want to think about it.

In the middle of the store, a figured held up a person with one hand, the other glowing on their face.

“Let them go, now!” He demanded, straightening up and walking inside.

The figure turned to look over their shoulder at him- and then kept turning, the neck bending and contorting in ways it shouldn’t.

En’s stomach dropped.

The door shut behind him.

Suddenly he felt cold.

It was hard to swallow.

“Who are you?” The thing demanded, dropping their victim.

“I’m-“ En wasn’t sure what to say- “the Moon Scout.”

“The moon scout?” The thing repeated, and suddenly words were pulled from En’s dry throat.

“Yeah, the pretty guardian of love and justice, if you want to surrender now.”

“Love? Justice? Surrender?” The thing laughed more with each word, and as they laughed their body stretched and bulged, sharp and jagged. “I think not, little boy.”

Then they lunged, arm stretching to claw at him.

En threw himself to the side.

The ground he crashed into shook, and tile cracked under the thing’s claw.

That had almost been him.

“Moon Scout!” Midnight’s voice echoed from one of his earrings. “Fight back!”

“How do I do that?” He asked, racing behind a counter of jewelry as the thing got back up and growled at him.

“Repeat after me, Midnight Shroud!”

“Midnight Shroud!” En screamed, and suddenly dark smoke billowed from his uniform, filling the room in seconds.

He blinked, and realized he could still see the outline of things and people, if not much else.

En began to move, staying low, edging the length of the counter.

Something slammed into the glass where he’d been.

It shattered, some hitting against the back of his coat.

He froze.

“Not so brave are you now, moon boy?” The thing asked. “Come out, let me see where you are… I bet you have lots of energy and individuality my master would love to take.”

En… wasn’t even going to try and parse that. He looked back to where the hostages who were still awake sat. Maybe they could at least leave, under cover, but where was Shimura-kun?

“Midnight, I could use a little more help!” he hissed, and tried to crawl as silently as possible.

“I’m closeby, but my legs are shorter than even yours!” The cat answered. “I’ve called for more backup too, just hold on! And if you can get a clear shot, throw your tiara at the monster!”

As the realization of how bad an idea it had been to trust some random talking cat when she said she turned him into some kind of hero sunk in, the monster shattered another glass case. Eventually, it would find him, and he wanted to be on his feet when it did.

En grabbed a piece of glass and necklace of many hefty gems, and slowly stood up.

He crept around the monster’s back, then threw the necklace.

It hit the thing’s shoulder and snapped apart, and then the thing was turning on him, eyes aglow.

En leaned and slashed with the glass-

Sharp pain in his hand-

Then all over, thrown back. His back, crashing into a wall, out of breath.

The darkness was fading, light beginning to show at the windows, the door, and it cracked open.

Midnight stepped in.

En was looking at her when the monster moved again, and he was too slow to dodge.

“Moon Tiara Action!” The cat cried.

Then something hit the monster’s arm instead.

A rose glimmered in the low light.

“What the hell?” En asked, looking around for where it came from- and the monster did the same thing.

A figure in one window that wasn’t getting as light, a shadow cast.

“Who are you?” The monster demanded.

“Tuxedo Mask.” The figure answered- and yeah, En guessed he did have on a tuxedo. And a mask. The suit was fitted to a tall body, silhouetted sharper in the yellow lining of the cap he wore over it. The mask shaded his eyes, but didn’t hide the strong nose and smirk on his face. “Hey, Moon Scout, hiding and running won’t win this battle for you.”

En blinked. Seriously?

“It was doing a great job at keeping me alive.” He responded, and ‘Tuxedo Mask’ nodded once, as if giving him the point. It didn’t feel like much of a concession. “Anyway, where did you come from?”

“Moon Scout, don’t take your eyes off your opponent.” He said instead of answering.

“What do you-“ En looked at the monster, which was now lifting both arms, even with one bleeding at the rose stuck in it, waving them down towards En and to Tuxedo Mask.

En tugged the silver band off his head. What had Midnight said?

“Moon tiara action!” He said, flinging the circle forward.

It glowed bright as it spun, hitting the thing in their chest, which caved inward- and inward, and inward, their entire body crumbling to dust that barely hit the floor before it faded too.

“You did it!” Midnight cheered.

“Not bad for your first time.” Tuxedo Mask was still smiling as he lifted his cape and turned.

“Wait, are you really going to leave without saying goodbye?”

He left without saying goodbye.

Huh.

“Who was that?” Midnight asked, from near his ankle where she held his fallen tiara.

“I dunno but he’s hand- wait. You didn’t send him?”

She shook her head.

“I wish, he is easy on the eyes. Oh, right. Stellaris, cancel that emergency backup. Moon Scout is fine!”

“How many people are involved in what’s going on, exactly?” En asked, beginning to feel a bit dizzy. The cut on his hand where his attempt at using the glass had failed wasn’t big enough for it to be from bloodloss. Probably.

Unless he’d been bleeding out this whole time or something, everything from the talking cat onward a hallucination as his mind dealt with… he wasn’t sure, getting hit with a truck or something this morning.

But he was pretty sure isekais didn’t work this way, so…

“Let’s get home first, then I can answer your questions… and we need to get you a bandage.” She frowned, but then flicked her tail and went to the window Tuxedo Mask had made his entrance and exit from. “Hurry!”

He followed, shaking his head.

“We have to get back before your sister and her boyfriend do!” Midnight reminded him, and En went double time.

As it was, Nana still got back before En had finished cleaning up.

At least he was in his own clothes, Midnight having taught him how to un-moon-prism-power.

“Enkun, I’m home!” Nana called. “You wouldn’t believe what-“

“Are you ok?” He interrupted. “I, uh, saw the news and I was worried, since you went to that store, and-“

“I’m fine.” She said quickly.

“What about-“

“So is he.”

“I am indeed fine.” Shimura-kun’s voice joined Nana’s. “Just a really weird day. Passed out on the floor and missed the vigilante battle though, apparently.”

“Oh no, that’s too bad.” En tried to sound nonchalant, but the both just laughed.

“I was scared out of my mind, but it was alright in the- Engetsu-chan, what is that.” Nana stepped out of the kitchen and saw him attempting to bandage his own left hand.

“Um, well-“

“Are you bleeding, is that a cat, where- don’t sit on the couch like that you’ll get blood on it, here,” Nana moved in a flurry, tugging him off the back of the couch and pulling him to stand, focusing on his hand as she kept talking. “What happened?”

“Um…”

Midnight meowed.

“Um, there were some kids messing with this cat, and I stopped them.” En said, which was technically true.

“These aren’t from the cat, are they?”

“No, no! She’s fine. Sweet. Her name’s Midnight.”

“A good name for her.” Nana glanced at her. “But you have to be the one to buy cat food. And kitty litter!”

En had expected more pushback than that but was just glad he wasn’t hearing a ‘how dare you almost die so stupidly’ conversation instead.

Nana finished wrapping his hand. He realized hers were shaking.

“Are you okay, Nana-nee?” He asked.

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah. Just glad we’re all alright.��

He nodded. “We are. Hey, how about instead of us forcing Shimura-kun to cook dinner for us, you call Torino and he brings us something for us to eat in instead.”

“Instead of making me what?”

Nana’s smile got a little less even, and a little more true.

“Yeah, let’s do that. I’ll go text him. You start looking for cat things.”

“Got it.” He saluted, then returned to the back of the couch, pulling out his phone. “Hey, Midnight, what do talking cats eat?” he asked, a little quieter as she curled up next to him.

“Caviar.”

“Wet cat food, got it…”

“En!”

[i-am-a-megalodon]

Whimsigothic home decor on a budget

Lights.  Not everyone has the money for a Tiffany stained glass lamp nor a fringed Victorian-style lampshade, and that is ok.  Try a typical string of white fairy lights, or nature and fantasy themed lights.  You can also get a stained glass lightbulb.  https://lavenderconstellation.store/collections/home-decor/products/magical-mushroom-lamp-led-night-light

Speaking of stained glass, window film is a good option for bringing color into your home.  There are several stained glass design options, or you can go for a prism-like option that’ll shower your room in rainbows.  https://www.amazon.com/rabbitgoo-Privacy-Rainbow-Decorative-Non-Adhesive/dp/B01N20YR6B/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7IuzOBu9keKshTNN3mkd-N8tpWAFsYRIV0ouHNdEeeuFQnxmfPWSlIj5AOINltgujXJL350fjcuPUqvkA7qE8EV1jRIp3Cb7SS2E_3ensZDC7YGrIUJUDuFoXyJUzoAaubOT4MHDFyxAGa0O0KJwLJrcka1cbIBBm6sqvWoPlmqYUfWb8Y3oQgzmLpqKP4JPQewDsYs5zoCzWcJwRlsZe-XMkEKHkIV98glPdYzd9X4VADl3IciKUs5lbNxqpoC3jFFKBPHnXHYxVJIFsY2jXvZb2m7XpyYM6uFeAZX_GCs.vV9V3wtusdEYUCL87IAKODkjErjag0hvIDXX576-Ppw&dib_tag=se&hvadid=557208947650&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9004664&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=9072085278713993898&hvtargid=kwd-408635345190&hydadcr=7467_13183976&keywords=amazon+rainbow+window+film&qid=1712327956&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Tapestries! Could have celestial prints, tarot cards, dark nature prints, or a mandala.

Plants! Real ones, fake ones, doesn’t matter. Find some celestial themed planting pots.  Hang some vines. 

More tips:

DIY! Paint your mirror frame.  Paint an old box.  Have fun!

Don’t do a big shopping haul at once.  Pace yourself. Slowly incorporate decor elements into your home.  Let the vibe grow naturally.

[hungry-skeleton]

Sun polycule come back...,, come back to me..

[bugfragged]

This game got discontinued, but according to my totally real uncle who works at Torch60, the full game would have ended with Maru destroying the moon in order to defeat Count Chroma.

CHROMATIC CHAOS - Let's Play 「 Crescent Prism Chapter 1 (Hard) 」 - 3

[summerroseart]

So apparently if a partial eclipse shines through a prism it makes crescent shaped rainbow flares!

(Vs normal sunlight through the same prism)

[good-morning-czernobog]

Necrozma, Light, and Divinity: A Very Weird Sun and Moon Theory.

I don't think the alchemical connections in Sun and Moon were ever really discussed in-depth enough for my satisfaction. There's no god damn way they'd just base the starter's first forms off the 3 primes and name one of the factions the Aether Foundation just not go anywhere else with that. Sun and Moon were pretty wild games, and I think maybe we got distracted with all the other bells and whistles, like Lusamine's bullshit, the UBs, and ya boy Guzma. Buckle up.

Before we get onto the main bit, I wanna talk a little about Mesopotamian deities. Observe this boundary stone from 12th century BC.

It's Wikimedia Commons details are as follows: Kudurru (stele) of King Melishipak I (1186–1172 BC): the king presents his daughter to the goddess Nannaya. The crescent moon represents the god Sin, the sun the Shamash and the star the goddess Ishtar. Kassite period, taken to Susa in the 12th century BC as war booty.

We've seen this 8-pointed star before, right on Necrozma's back

The star, as the description says, represents Inanna (called that by the Sumerians, and Ishtar by the Babylonians). She is a deity of love, war, fertility, and divine justice. She is associated with the planet Venus (we'll talk about Venus more in a bit). Inanna is referred to as the "Queen of Heaven", described as powerful but capricious.

She is also described as having some ambiguity to her gender, even having the power to alter people's gender, especially in relation to her cult. This ties into another figure Necrozma may be based on, as well as it's alchemical ties. But before I talk about that I wanna walk about the time Inanna died.

Gods die all the time in mythology. Inanna is one of the few who came back. For a time, she was trapped in the underworld by her sister Ereshkigal. Similarly, it's Sun dex entry reads "Reminiscent of the Ultra Beasts, this life-form, apparently asleep underground, is thought to have come from another world in ancient times." Whole it's entry in Sword for gen 8 is "It survives by absorbing light. After a long time spent slumbering underground, impurities accumulated within it, causing its body to darken.". Inanna is eventually saved when "sexless" or androgynous beings are sent to rescue her.

Bulbapedia's trivia section for Necrozma offers a different idea: Lucifer.

Ultra Necrozma, a being of light, four wings, draconic yet angelic, who's battle music begins with a fucking organ absolutely invokes imagery of Lucifer.

In this form, its head becomes the 8-pointed star.

Lucifer, who's name means "light bringer". Lucifer the morning star, associated with Venus. This figure is eventually absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil, a being who himself was once an angel. It's not uncommon for media to depict him with a mixture of secondary sexual characteristics, though most are male. It's entirely possible this is because of confusion between Satan and the figure Baphomet, though I had a harder time finding info on this one. If that were the case I wouldn't entirely fault Gamefreak for it. Even I have a hard time separating the two. Also probably worth noticing that dragons come up several times in the Bible, usually in relation to Satan. Ultra Necrozma does gain the dragon type after all.

Two figures, sometimes of ambiguous gender, both associated with the 3rd brightest object in the sky? Interesting. Very interesting.

If you're still reading, congrats, we're talking about alchemy now.

It was pretty hard to understand where they were going with this until we got USUM. USUM introduced Team Rainbow Rocket, Giovanni's attempt to gather past evil the leaders into a league of supervillains (who you demolish). Seemed simple enough. Haha, Necrozma is a light god. Z-Crystals are shards of its light because it's a prism. Cool.

But maybe not the whole story. I introduce to you: The Prima Materia.

In alchemy, Prima Materia is a substance that acts as the base form of all matter. It is similar to aether. a book called the Theatrum Chemicum contains the following passage about it.

"They have compared the "prima materia" to everything, to male and female, to the [redacted]*, to heaven and earth, to body and spirit, chaos, microcosm, and the confused mass; it contains in itself all colors and potentially all metals; there is nothing more wonderful in the world, for it begets itself, conceives itself, and gives birth to itself.

*the word used here is considered a slur against intersex people, so I excluded it

Furthermore, the Lexicon Alchemaie (which i would have checked more in depth but I don't speak Latin), lists names alchemists have used for the Prima Materia. Ones that stand out to me are: heaven, the dragon, heart of the sun, spittle of the moon, Venus, the rainbow. The Prima Materia is required in the creation of the Philosopher's Stone.

In USUM, instead of Nihilego, Lusamine beings forth Necrozma. The Aether Foundation's name comes full circle here. Aether as an alchemical element is frequently associated with light and gravity.

What I'm saying is, Necrozma isn't just light. it's alchemical light. it is the Prima Materia. The energy it emits becomes other things (in this case, the Pokemon types).

Now let's take this a step further, with Type: Null and Silvally. They don't directly relate to Necrozma, but I do believe they have an alchemical inspiration that ties them to Necrozma's mythological position in comparison to Arceus.

According to Bulbapedia, Type: Null was created using cells from all known pokemon types. It was supposed to be able to change types with RKS system, inspired by tales of Arceus. There were complications with them going berserk and the project was deemed a failure.

Type: Null is a failed Philosopher's Stone, until the power of love completed it.

With high friendship, Type: Null evolves into Silvally. It breaks free of the limiter attached to its head and regains use of the RKS system, this time without going berserk. Gladion, a kid, achieves what a bunch of detached adult scientists could not.

It seems love and light are very similar concepts, at least in the Pokemon world. The fairy types are heavily associated with light, super effective against dark types, and a certain pokemon repping them when they first got revealed evolves when it loves you (and has a fairy type move).

Now, it's still difficult to say where Necrozma stands in Pokemon's mythology. It's from another world entirely. The question is whether or not Arceus has influence in those worlds. It's God. It should, right? I think there's a few possibilities, but I don't have enough information to decide for sure

-Necrozma is equivalent to Arceus in its own world. Ultra Beasts may not be described as pokemon, but they have types and use moves like them, so they must be something similar but adapted to a different environment. This one's a bit of a stretch.

-Necrozma is a creation of Arceus like everything else and plays an important function, it just made a home in a different area of time and space, or much like Giratina (another Satan inspired pokemon who is dragon type) it was sent there for some reason.

-Less likely, Necrozma is above Arceus, not as a god but a primal energy gained beast-like sentience, the divine Chaos from which Arceus came

One potential hint at this relation may lie in Arceus' name. It's likely this is a coincidence, and they didn't intend this from the get-go, but it did just happen to fit the alchemy theme. There is another concept: Archeus. Archeus is, according to Wiktionary: "The vital principle or force believed by the Paracelsians to be responsible for alchemical reactions within living bodies, and hence for the growth and continuation of life." It is another name for Anima Mundi, the soul of the world. The divine spark. Archeus has four aspects: Life, Light, Chemical, and Reflective.

I haven't worked out yet what this means, unfortunately. I could be connecting a bunch of weird mythological coincidences. But it was very fun. I would like to discuss some less grand alchemical connections in Alola sometime. Those would require a bit more research and milling over however. I genuinely wish I could give you a more satisfying conclusion here.

Altogether, I hope this gives you food for thought.

UPDATE: more thoughts

there's something I wanted to talk about that I forgot when previously writing this, and I've had more time to mull over previous thoughts.

This next section will start with the elements of gender ambiguity with Inanna and Lucifer, and how that connects to alchemy. Rebis.

An end product of the Magnum Opus (creation of the Philosopher's Stone), the Rebis is a fusion of spirit and matter, imbued with male and female qualities. (Lot of the use of that word I omitted earlier here so be advised if you look into it more). While lacking in the two heads, that certainly lines up with the element of gender ambiguity. Ultra Necrozma is the being at its strongest, when it is full of the much needed light its body had been starving for.

Another interesting bit regarding the Rebis is it is considered the result of "reconciliation of opposites", and imagery around it is called a chemical wedding. This is symbolized by the coming together of a king and queen, the king in red and the queen in white, each symbolizing the sun and moon respectively.

While Solgaleo and Lunala do not fit so neatly into the references to mesopotamian myth (Shamash and Sin are both male, Shamash is Ishtar's brother and Sin their father), this might add some ideas for how Solgaleo and Lunala connect to Necrozma. They are all beings of light after all, and Necrozma is able to siphon it from them when fusing with them in USUM.

I believe Necrozma may be a possible evolution of Cosmog. Bear with me, please.

Obviously, this isn't reflected in gameplay. What Cosmog evolves into depends on your version of the game. But Solgaleo and Lunala are framed as mates. You can get a second Cosmog in both games, and when you do, the other game's legendary appears. They are also referred as appearing to be male and female respectively in their Pokedex entries despite having no gender in the actual game data.

But what is Cosmog and Cosmoem in this case then? Well besides being based on nebulas, I think it may be another concept called filius philosophorum, "Philosopher's Child". One of the Filius' ways of being represented is by the Rebis, as well as a direct child of the red king and white queen. Many sites mention an egg as a symbol but don't elaborate further (like baby name websites they often feed off each other indefinitely).

Now Cosmog's name is the same in all languages, but Cosmoem's is not. It's Japanese name is Cosmovum. Cosmos and ovum. Ovum as in egg. The -em in Cosmoem's name may also be for embryo. whoever wrote the trivia section for it's Bulbapedia stage thinks it has elements of both the sun and moon in its design, and I'm inclined to agree. It also mentions something called the world egg.

The world egg is a mythological concept that spans across multiple cosmologies, but because alchemy often takes from the Greek cosmology I'll stick to that. Within Greek myth we are given the Orphic Egg, from which the primordial deity Phanes is born. Phanes' name meaning "to light, or to shine". He is described bearing a helmet and golden wings, largely referred to as male but sometimes as androgynous. His parentage varies, with having no parents at all, to Chronos (time), to Chaos, to Nyx (night). He is described as creating all other gods, or creating the day depending on the telling.

Necrozma is also Phanes, a being of light, born from a divine egg. Necrozma is a more perfect path of evolution than it's parents, but this is likely triggered by something far beyond the control of the player.

(Addendum: If you think this also sounds similar to books about Arceus in the Canalave library, you'd be right. That myth was applied to Arceus first, which makes some interesting implications.)

Now you may be thinking "wow a lot of these concepts sound like ways to talk about the Philosopher's Stone", and you'd probably be right. The Magnum Opus had many names and many ways of representing it visually, mostly alchemists wanted to keep their trade secrets. But there is an interesting one.

The ouroboros. A symbol of unity, eternity, and endless cycles. The beginning and the end are intrinsically connected.

What is Necrozma doing when you meet it in USUM? it's desperately looking for light. It can't make it on its own anymore. It's base form dex entries describe it as craving light, going dormant when it can't find it.

Ultra Sun: It looks somehow pained as it rages around in search of light, which serves as its energy. It's apparently from another world.

Ultra Moon: Light is the source of its energy. If it isn't devouring light, impurities build up in it and on it, and Necrozma darkens and stops moving.

Necrozma is burning out like an old star. Necros, death.

The Philosopher's Stone is often visualized in modern media as a gem, much like it's body in this form. When the power is expended, Necrozma will be just another rock. It is a transient being. Much like the Great Work, perfection is not sustainable in practice.

But it's not all bad. Phanes, again, is also described as creating other gods. In time, it's body will break down and may become a new Cosmog. The end begets the beginning. The Prima Materia is after all, important in the Great Work's culmination.

There is another being described as creating all else though, in Pokemon. Once again it rolls back around to Arceus.

In Platinum and HGSS Pokedex entries, Arceus' goes as follows: It is said to have emerged from an egg in a place where there was nothing, then shaped the world.

These beings are connected somehow, but after more research from my first version of this I've come to the conclusion that while Necrozma and Arceus are similar (remember, Arceus can be any type, Necrozma's light becomes the differently typed Z-Crystals), Necrozma is inherently more flawed and impermanent.

It's important also to remember that the Philosopher's Stone is the work of humans. It's not divine but comes from a desire to come close to it. I can't say the same about Solgaleo and Lunala, but it's possible that Necrozma isn't natural. Necrozma was made. By whom? Who knows, but probably someone from the Ultra Recon Squad's dimension. This is merely a guess. It could just be a natural but rare occurrence. From what we've been given, this anyone's guess. Maybe were not even meant to know. Whatever the case, Necrozma is a transient being, Arceus-like but ultimately imperfect. The cycle continues eternally.

BONUS ROUND: tria prima

In the very introduction of this post I mentioned the 3 primes, and the starters's first forms having similarities to their symbols. I'm aware there are likely many alchemical connections in the story that I haven't noticed yet but I wanted to discuss something more with that.

Paracelsus described the primes (sulphur, mercury, and salt) as materials from which all things are made. This is not entirely literal. Alchemy wasn't just chemistry, it was spiritual. Each prime has a different quality.

Sulphur is combustibility, soul, the divine spark

Mercury is volatility, spirit (mind), consciousness

Salt is neither, it is the body that holds them

One of the biggest examples for this is that in say, burning a piece of wood. The fire was sulphur, the smoke was mercury, and the ash was salt.

The tria prima sound a lot like prima materia don't they? It's kind of poetic the way this is implemented in USUM. You begin your journey with a prime material and it's biggest climax is with another prime material. Just as the end begets the beginning, the beginning begets the end.

~

Note for potential future update: Two substances were added to this later on: phlegm and caput mortuum (Latin for "dead head"). Caput Mortuum was waste product in a reaction. Phlegm, in the alchemical sense is "A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution.", to quote Wiktionary. Phlegm was also considered a waste product. CM was produced by sublimation, and Phlegm by distillation. Phlegm doesn't appear to have a symbol but CM does: a skull.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Bruce McArthur: The shopping mall Santa Claus who murdered eight men

It was January 2018 in Toronto, Canada, when residents of Mallory Crescent peered outside to see an influx of police activity in their middle-class neighbourhood. Between the years of 2010 and 2017, a total of eight men vanished from Church and Wellesley, Toronto’s LGBTQ-oriented district that is also known as the Gay Village. However, the nation was blissfully unaware that they had found themselves victims to a prolific serial killer that had gone undetected for almost a decade.

Bruce McArthur was born in Lindsay, Ontario on 8th October 1951.He later settled down with his wife, Janice, and had two children. Unbeknownst to McArthur’s family, he had begun having affairs with men in the 1990s. In the mid to late 1990s, McArthur came out, and by 1997, he and Janice had separated. He moved to Toronto because there was a much more prevalent gay scene. Here, McArthur became a familiar face in the Gay Village, where he met Skandaraj Navaratnam, originally from Sri Lanka, and the duo embarked on a romantic relationship.

In 2001, McArthur pleaded guilty to attacking a man with a metal pipe. After the guilty plea, he saw Dr. Marie-France Dionne, a psychologist, who prepared a report for his sentencing on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and assault causing bodily harm. She noted he was embarrassed by his arrest, and that he had no recollection of it.  He was also ordered to not be in the presence of male sex workers and to not visit a specific section of downtown Toronto that included the Gay Village. That did not deter McArthur, and he took to setting up profiles on online dating apps.

During the holiday season, he moonlighted as a Santa Claus for local malls. With his white hair, beard, and outwardly jolly demeanour, he looked the perfect part, but behind that façade of normalcy, McArthur was concealing a deep and dark secret.

In 2010, Skandaraj inexplicably vanished, but it was not until two years later that ‘Project Houston’ was set up to investigate his disappearance, alongside the disappearances of Majeed Kayhan and Abdulbasir Faizi. All three men were frequent visitors of the Gay Village, and all had disappeared between 2010 and 2012. Skandaraj was last seen in the early morning hours of 6th September 2010, when he was spotted leaving a gay bar with an unknown man.

The following year, an anonymous tip came to investigators about McArthur’s relationship with Skandaraj. This same tipster suggested that McArthur had also known Majeed. McArthur was questioned, and while he admitted he knew both men from the local gay scene, he denied that he was ever in a romantic relationship with Skandaraj. However, he did acknowledge that Majeed had once worked for him in his landscaping business and that they had once had a sexual encounter. He claimed to know nothing about either disappearance and after an 18-month investigation, Project Houston was closed due to a lack of evidence that anything criminal had taken place.

Then on 26th June 2017, Andrew Kinsman disappeared. He was observed on surveillance cameras climbing into a red van and this surveillance was handed over to investigators. They were able to identify that the red van was a 2004 Dodge Caravan. A town hall meeting was held to discuss the disappearance of Andrew as well as another gay man, Selim Esen. The meeting brought in an influx of media attention to the disappearances and curiously, just two weeks later, McArthur purchased a new vehicle. As investigators would soon enough learn, he was the owner of a red 2004 Dodge Caravan.

Another task force was set up to investigate these two disappearances, Project Prism. Investigators began looking into Andrew’s background, and they discovered that on his calendar, he had an engagement with ‘Bruce’ scheduled. Investigators now knew the brand of the car involved and a potential suspect’s name. They just needed to somehow connect the two.

Investigators sought from the provincial Ministry of Transportation a list of 2003 – 2006 Dodge Caravans registered in Toronto. There were 6,181, but only five were linked to the name Bruce. They quickly discovered that Bruce McArthur was the only one who owned the 2004 model. One of the investigators who worked on Project Houston recognized the name immediately.

Investigators embarked on McArthur’s apartment, where they obtained surveillance footage of him driving the red 2004 Dodge Caravan. They were able to trace the license plate and track it down to a wrecking yard where they seized it. A forensic examination was conducted of the vehicle, and it revealed traces of Andrew and Selim’s DNA. In December, investigators acquired a search warrant for McArthur’s apartment where they found graphic photographs of several men, all of whom were deceased and posed.

The investigators had searched the apartment covertly, and after the grim findings, they placed McArthur on surveillance. On 18th January 2019, they were watching over his apartment when McArthur appeared with a man. He unlocked the front door and welcomed the man inside. Investigators feared that this man could be an intended victim; they broke down the door, arrested McArthur and found the terrified man, nude and tied to the bed.

With McArthur behind bars, the investigation would finally uncover the truth about him, that he was a predatory serial killer that had been killing men since 2010. He had been using his landscaping business to conceal human remains. In total, eight bodies were found buried in various locations that were connected to McArthur, including the bodies of Skandaraj, Majeed, Abdulbasir, Andrew and Selim.

Many of the remains were found hidden inside large plastic planters at a home on Mallory Crescent. The homeowner had allowed McArthur to keep items on their property in exchange for lawn care. He was completely unaware that McArthur was using it as a dumping ground for his victims.

Many of McArthur’s victims were immigrants of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent. While they were all members of the LGBTQ+ community in Toronto, some of them were not openly gay and lived that aspect of their lives in private. Ontario Superior Court of Justice John McMahon commented on this, stating: ‘There is evidence Mr. McArthur sought out and exploited these vulnerabilities to continue his crimes undetected.’

Bruce McArthur pleaded guilty to all eight murders. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.