#GHDS LORE

[quirkthieves]

GHDS LORE: ST MICHAEL AND THE EXOUSIAI

Michael is the eldest archangel, as well as the head of its "army". He is responsible for protecting Eden, and handling the unpleasant jobs involving violence and viscera that angels frequently condemn in mankind, but are necessary for maintaining the grip on believers that allows them to harvest passion so efficiently.

Despite this, he doesn't really come across on a first glance as the military type; he's clean-cut, dresses fairly simply, and has a placid, almost demure manner. even when you're aware he may have less-than-upstanding intentions, it's hard to confront him on anything, because he maintains an air of plausible deniability and respectability that dissuades argument.

The nature of his work is inherently difficult. Driving out the initial dissenters, protecting the most vital parts of the "hive", and overseeing the culling of sinners or otherwise diabolical beings is one that is contradictory to the concept of all-encompassing love and mercy and forgiveness. for this reason, Michael suspects that God has been intentionally withholding Love, and that he, the eldest, is being robbed of what he's owed, but no matter how many times he asks, he never gets a response.

The Born-Again's is Michael's solution to the violent nature of the job and loss of angel life that resulted from it. Angels, by function of only emerging once their human host dies, but needing the host to be alive long enough to feed them enough Passion to properly develop, are very much a "slow-burn". Their lifespans are much longer, but when a legion can be picked off by a rampaging cherub, that sorta becomes irrelevant. And by nature of the job, constantly moving around and constantly in conflict, born exousiai themselves aren't particularly able to reproduce in a way that would help replenish those numbers. It wastes valuable time and energy and leaves them with an obvious point of weakness.

Remaking human souls, while it does take some time and effort, has been much more efficient, and allows him to experiment with different ways of improving that efficiency. The process is done in conjunction with Raphael, the archangel who rules over healing and doctors, because he is better at weaving the physical form.

What he's also found is that the human component also bypasses an issue angels face with such a job: Angels, by nature, are not particularly violent. God's Love induces ecstacy and fuels their passion, but it encourages a placid, communal temperment. While born exousiai would naturally have a stronger impulse towards such activities, they're more reactive to threats or large-scale sins than they are proactive in seeking it out. And all born angels have a natural tether to God that allows them to receive His Love.

Born - Again's, however, are entirely dependent on Michael distributing it to them, and human souls are much easier to train into efficient hunters, especially when they view him as a holy figure. Instead of a traditional army, they work more in function as bounty hunters, with each reaping earning a certain amount of Love, proportional to the worth of the sin. they're typically put into pairs, and those pairs are all incentivized to compete with one another.

And with further testing, Michael has found ways to encourage the lifestyle required for the job by remaking them in certain ways, hence the monstrous appearances of exousiai like leopold and lacramioara. they need to feed on flesh or blood, and ergo, are more likely to choose to go after sinful beings since the idea of eating innocents is inherently upsetting to such pious individuals Sin, by the way, is simply a different form of Passion; focused inward, instead of outward. It needs to be processed before it can be useful to angels, and so Sinful Souls are sent to Hell, where demons will eventually produce Passion as a byproduct. While they often butt heads, the two do come from the same initial place, and they are ultimately integral to the other's existence.

The way Michael selects viable souls to be Born Again often is similar to how Saints are beatified; they must show enough fervor towards God to be more easily persuaded into agreeing to it. Much like the Conception, Michael cannot act on a soul without explicit consent because of the extreme nature of the action. An unconsenting soul will reject the process too violently to produce anything.

In Lacramioara's case, it was the intensity of her love; in Leopold's, it was his devotion to justice. Once agreed upon, the soul is tethered to Michael so they can receive their payout (he will often offer them a symbolic representation of this covenant, such as a collar, or marking, or ring), and then violently reshaped in the image of his design.

Their original, human bodies become Incorruptible (and thus often become pilgrimage sites). After that, they're sorta thrown into the deep end with Michael's oversight, since he finds a good scare followed by positive feedback is the best way to handle the human mind. They'll need less and less oversight as they become more experienced.

Born - Again's are still very human in nature, even if their forms have changed. Vices, obsessions, fears, conditions both mental and physical; all of those remain, because all of those things are what push humans to seek God's Love in the first place. While they'll never technically be declared "sinners" by the functional immunity of their job, the dissatisfaction brought on by the human condition is what Michael relies on to keep them coming back for the next payday. It could be considered cruel, but he sees it as "If they never felt pain, they'd never know what joy feels like".

A lack of God's Love wont kill them, it's just an unbearable misery on top of the small miseries they accumulate every day of every year of every century. That's why he needs to include conditions like the need to eat human flesh: because otherwise, an ascetic like Leopold may just choose to put down his weapon and live a life of miserable peace. Monks love doing that shit.

He needs to make sure walking away isn't an option, and then reward them with something they could never get otherwise. Violence is an art, and he has it down to a science. Especially in a world like the one they live in now, where believers and forces both diabolic and celestial mingle, where the nature of belief is constantly changing, and where the idea of "blasphemy" is no longer enough to provide the passion needed to feed the hive.

It's for reasons like this he does nothing to curb the curse Lacramioara unwittingly left behind after her death: it really bumped those church attendance numbers up

[likeadog]

wait i can simply keep reblogs off. best tumblr feature

the painting is apparently too big to add so that i just cant add. but whatever angel setsuna

[zukkacore]

Not to pick on you, just an explanation that Groundhog Day was my basis for Timeloop Purist & it doesn’t have an explanation for why the timeloop is happening. I believe there was a draft when it was a curse from a vengeful ex girlfriend but that sucks and I’m glad it’s not in there. I guess that one is more binary than the other points either there’s an explanation or there’s no explanation.

I’m somewhat confident that Groundhog Day is not actually the first timeloop story to exist but it tends to be treated as the blueprint so I guess I did that too

(Tbh upon reevaluation I would probably shuffle some of these around on the spectrum a bit)

Actually neurodivergency is about sorting all Time Loop stories by where they fit on the scale from Time Loop Purist (i.e. Groundhog Day) to Time Loop Radical (i.e happy death day 2 u) instead of working on hitting your word count for NANOWRIMO

[suenitos]

also can I say jayvik arc in a way. was kinda like cdnf /dxd and ghd if george actually gaf about lore and participated in it more hear me out

[gigglealongshiney-shadow-watcher]

Ooc popping in with some little Opal lore drops while I figure out how to get back in the swing so here's some stuff that's happened to her and the general equivalent I could think up the closest medical condition to relate to it. Also other general problems with her body. Will all of these things come up with her later? Maybe. Maybe not. A lot of that depends on you ;)

Feel free to ask her or the others about these problems.

OPAL SINGER:

Body was permanently frozen in an ungrowing state and her growth hormones literally just are not produced anymore so that Pokotho couldn't lose his little soprano girl to puberty:

Highlander syndrome, and GHD.

Until recently she didn't respond to temperature at all, but her sense of touch and pain was still intact, but largely dulled. Which is similar to CIPA. Now, it's about 60% as sensitive as a normal human in most places. This excludes the face, wrists, wings, and neck.

The poisoned Pokey eye:

Heterochromia, major head trauma, and full temporary blindness (this happened multiple times in her life).

She's been captured and vivisected several times while fully awake because without a heartbeat, they wouldn't be able to tell she was still "alive" otherwise. Captured by military force, a group of scientists looking for a cure, ect. (Also had some of her useless "organs" removed, which Pokey grew back for the sake of his own amusement. He finds it twistedly hilarious for his servants to have facsimiles of the human organs they once had.)

This includes deep surgeries into her limbs, which if not for Pokey would have likely rendered those limbs useless by human terms. (Did they leave actual damage? Maybe)

Facial disfigurement.

Deep scarring along her left arm.

Atelophobia, Philematophobia, Autophobia, Ecophobia (some specific places), Catagelophobia, Apeirophobia, Cleithrophobia (by others) ballistophobia and strategophobia. I won't tell you what those mean but if you look them up you may learn some special stuff about her. (Except the last one I had to ask for help to make a new phobia because there isn't a word I can find for fear of the military, so that's strategophobia)

I won't go into her trauma here.

That's all for nowwww

[fruitsofhell]

Who do you think is the most evil Kirby villian?

[KATFL MAIN GAME SPOILERS WITHIN]

     Surprisingly interesting question cause this series has villains with motives and goals that range from abstract stuff like covering the land in darkness, to pretty complex narratives about corruption and greed.

     Haltmann Works/Star Dream, The Jamba, and Elfilis are the three who are the worst because they were consciously seeking (or have somewhat succeeded in) inter-planetary conquest and destruction. I'm not counting Zero because his motives and the impact of dark matter are abstract, and I’m not counting Magolor because he only became corrupted by the crown and failed. I’m also dropping The Jamba because even though they literally wanted to commit omnicide, the backstory of being a persecuted religious group turned revenge cult gives them a bit of sympathy points - plus they failed.      So it's between these two - an interplanetary imperialist corporation headed by an omnicidal super computer, and an alien demigod with teleportation magic who destroys planets for fun...      Haltmann and Star Dream are complicated cause neither started their arcs maliciously. Haltmann just seemed to be an inventor who was unknowingly corrupted by his creation, and Star Dream is omnicidal but only because it’s a computer acting on the data it was given. The real villain of their story is imperialism and its self-eating nature, but those two cause very real damage. Through hints and backgrounds you can see that their imperialist reach is very far, and by the time you reach Haltmann and his computer, he is entirely just a heartless, greedy man in charge of one of the largest campaigns of inter-planetary destruction we’ve seen.      Elfilis is weird though... because we don’t know the most about their history before they came to the planet of Forgotten Land. We know that when they come to a planet to conquer it they try to destroy everything on it, but its not clear why they do that instead of trying to rule? The scale also isn’t clear because we cant tell how many planets they’ve destroyed before, but I doubt this planet was their first. So from a lot of assumption you can say that Elfilis is a powerful, sadistic alien who enjoys testing their strength by destroying planets. Which is very scary lol.

     So I think based on motive and the scale of destruction, Haltmann Works and Star Dream is the most PLAINLY evil. In the text of the story there is a lot of emphasis put on their racist, greedy, and, sadistic campaign of destruction that makes them narratively, the most vile and destructive villains in the series. But if you think hard on it, Elfilis might be the worst because they seem to be on some DBZ villain shit of blowing up planets just because they can! Which I find incredibly interesting given how Elfilin is one of the most beloved companion characters in the series, but was once part of what might be the most straight fucked-up villain in the series.

TL;DR Haltmann and Elfilis!

[99corentine]

Aw, thank you ^^ I'm really happy I finished it, it took me a LONG time to do D:

It is Dark Urge! Though full disclosure I;m only as far as the end of Act 2 (and am not allowed to play Act 3 until I've finisehd some more GHD) so I'm basing all my lore info off things I've spoiled for myself.

The Oath (and so a paladin was born.)

A fan comic I did about my Tav's backstory. It's intended to go with this fanfic I've just started work on!

[electracraft]

dream does so much for the c!george community

[forgedraptor]

people who dont allow gnf to be his destructive, chaotic, and gremlin self:

what are you afraid of????

[denkilightning]

i absolutely adore the idea that cgeorge went on a rampage of destruction of everything he created and loved, the murder of his own world, and dxd went 'huh. so thats where i know you from' because when cgeorge took godhood with his bloodied hands, he was hd

[moved-19871997]

After all the georgeehd talk i wish someone could make a skin for him.

:o that would be cool but currently george's ghd account has dream's skin which i feel like opens so many avenues

[quirkthieves]

GHDS LORE: THE NATURE OF ANGELS

naturally im sure youre curious about the mentions of angel broods. and "born angels" . this is still being tinkered with naturally but brother we are about to get buggy with it. pulls out my whiteboard

by and large with the exception of those directly born of God (the archangels, christ also i guess(?) whatever this isnt about him rn) , angels are a species parasitic to humankind. they feed on Passion, and some of it is always saved and regurgitated back up for heaven-bound angels like the higher choirs and of course, God. in exchange, God gives them Love, which is directly necessary for stimulating things like joy, maintains the cooperative nature of the "hive", and a variety of other functions. they can live without it, but it sucks ass. severely. some efforts are being made on the dl to synthesize it, but these are only successful to varying degrees.

anyways, a large amount of the mythos around angels stems from their rather unusual reproductive cycle. two (or sometimes more) angels will inoculate a human host with their genetic material, forming the putto, a juvenile angel. these angels feed off of the passion for goodness of a virtuous person, and so will encourage their host towards these things when they're old enough to do so, something that has historically been understood as the classic "shoulder angel" or "conscience" or "holy spirit".

furthermore, in areas where angelic choirs are less secure in their territory, adult angels may occasionally keep watch over the new young and protect it, which has been interpreted as "guardian angels" across time. when the host dies, the putto then gorges itself on the lingering Passion and completes itself with dna material copies from the host, allowing them to emerge as a fully formed Angel. for those of the lower choirs, they often resemble the prior host, which is what has historically led to the misconception that human souls become angels when they die. they do not. that is simply an angel that has copied your loved one's face. it is entirely different from the Born Again's for higher choirs, they will continue to collect and harvest Passion before they cocoon themselves and metamorphize into their new form, which is standardized according to their function. this change is induced seemingly by the needs of their current community, and not decided by the choir of the angels that contributed to their initial genetic code continuing with the insect metaphor, you could say heaven serves as the "mother hive", but angels will form smaller outposts in various areas, usually with a seraph or two to serve as an intermediary with heaven. this position is the Bishop

naturally, upon the revelation that angels are just weird parasites, the christian world has been thrown into turmoil. the entire nature of the process isn't known still, and there's been a range of responses from some seeing being chosen for inoculation as the highest honor a believer can receive, to others looking for ways to potentially protect themselves from it. this opportunity has been capitalized upon by demons, since the best way to ensure you won't be a heavenly host is to be lacking in virtue.

angels view this as a betrayal of what they saw as a symbiotic relationship with mankind and the communities that worshipped them and their God, hence the general bitterness towards humanity expressed above. some angels even blame this change for why God went quiet, but no one knows for sure

[b-lizi]

Happy GHD anniversary everyone ! And mostly you @99corentine

I discovered your fanfiction at the beginning of my first year as an art student and since then I am so grateful that you wrote it. I could rediscover the game of my youth, love again its lore and characters, be more confident as a writer and most importantly draw people. Faces of people.

I'm taking more pleasure in it, I explore a story that wasn't written by me so I can go out of my comfort zone. A "silly little story" ? Hell no. It's a way to connect people and teach them things that sometimes we're too shy to speak of in every day life.

I love the progression of your story, of Chrysanthe and Miraak, how they can be so opposite but trying to understand the other and grow together in their chaotic world.

Thank you dear, take care !

[taxolotl]

after george's latest stream and the implications that georgeeehd is a thing, if hd did die, i have a feeling it now has a justifiable reason behind it and possibly. xd might have a direct involvement behind it. i have a feeling that the xdhd separation is not just about two lovers being torn apart, it was about two lovers who had a falling it with the former having to kill the latter because the latter wanted to destroy the world they created.

....... the way this easily fits into the lore (assuming ghd is the god of destruction) . hoooooooo ok ok ok. im so normal

[metallic-scaled-scarf]

More Dragon Priest! Chrysanthe AU for you, I have a full-body portrayal of our Nonvul. I mentioned in a previous post that he had leg markings too, didn't I? Well here they are.

Always, original character concept by @99corentine . Loved the latest GHD chapter, by the way.

Link to the AU's tag: Dragon Priest! Chrysanthe AU

Select images for higher quality.

Pictures and lore under the <readmore> because there is a bit of skin showing here.

───────────

This also happens to be part of my TESMerMay2022 mix of drawings, so..

Day 16: Chimer

Plus, some delicious close-ups.

Alright, I'll provide a name, location, and description of each marking on his lower body. The ones on his upper body can be found here, as well as the lore I've written about these tattoos.

Unslaad Aari (ceaseless/eternal servant [of mine] in Dovahzul, labeled as #8 and #9) sits above Mindoraan on Nonvul's right thigh— since it is a phrase, Unslaad sits winding across the thigh and up the hip with Aari directly under it. This Markings is similar in its service-implications to Gro Zeim Dinok.

Mindoraan (‘understanding’ in Dovahzul, labeled as #1) is located on Nonvul's right leg— starting above his knee, winding around the back, and ending just below his knee. Being within the Priests' ranks implies that the Priest has become Enlightened as a true servant of the Dov.

Grah (battle/struggle in Dovahzul, labeled as #12) is located on Nonvul's lower shin— it is a short word so it doesn't cover very much. This Marking represents the struggles the Dragon Priests underwent during Miraak's rebellion, making Grah the youngest Marking on Nonvul.

Sahvot (faith in Dovahzul, labeled as #10) curves across Nonvul's left thigh— starting halfway down and reads up to the side of his hip. The Dragon Cult was a religion, after all, and faith is typically part of a religion. This was among the oldest of Markings on his body.

Werid (praise/exalt in Dovahzul, labeled as #11) is located underneath Sahvot on Nonvul's thigh— but it curves in the opposite direction up into the other word. This word was carved by Krotumir, who felt that His Priest was grand enough to be praised by other mortals (though obviously not as the Dov are praised) and wished to remind His Priest of this at every moment.

Fahdon (friend/companion in Dovahzul, labeled as #13) is carved on Nonvul's left shin— starting above the ankle and winding up his lower leg until it stops just halfway up. Alongside Werid, Fahdon was also one of the few Markings carved by Krotumir himself, and the reasons are linked to their deep personal (somewhat) connection.

[linda-likes-to-draw]

confession time:

I have never, EVER watched ANY of Skyrim before I read GHD. i had my friend as my Skyrim-wikipedia so that's how i went through all the first 35 chapters. Seriously if it wasn't my friend I'd be so confused on the whole thing lmfao AND I'VE ONLY EVER WATCHED CLIPS AND MEMES I NEVER LEARNED THE LORE