#I don't even get WHY like I know the Ancient Rule of ''only the first five tags count'' and I do still obey it

[moongothic]

Get excited to post OP fanart in the middle of the night and then it doesn't even appear in the tags...

[dalekofchaos]

Doctor Doom gets ruined AND WHITEWASHED AGAIN!

4 attempts to get Doctor Doom right

4

And we STILL can’t get this right

A master of magic and science. A man who rivals Doctor Strange and Reed Richards as the most powerful sorcerer and the smartest man alive. He rules an entire country with an army of Doombots. Considered to be one of the greatest Marvel villains. And they still can't get him right. They have to make him a fucking Tony Stark variant. Tony Stark is not Victor Von Doom and Doom is above Tony Stark.

Victor wearing the mask always is integral to his appeal and aura like Vader's mask. It not only hides his vain scars he caused due to his failures, but it closes him off from humanity and makes him believe he’s beyond it.

As far as I'm concerned Marvel Ultimate Alliance and EMH are the only good adaptations of Doom

Doctor Doom being a romani man with a background CENTERING his family's racial persecution. with his ethnicity at the forefront of his motivations and his tragedy. and they really just brought back Robert Downey Jr.

Being romani is INTEGRAL to doom’s character and without that he’s not doom. he NEEDS to be romani and played by a romani character. full stop, don't believe me? Read Book Of Dooms.

Since 1964 Victor von Doom has been established as a Romani character. His childhood was filled with antiziganism and his parents deaths were caused by it. This later led him to become Doctor Doom and overthrow the Latverian government to protect his people

I am so fucking sick and tired of this whitewashing bullshit and the ethnoerasure of Marvel characters.

The Maximoff Twins, The Ancient One, Moon Knight and now fucking Doom.

God fucking forbid an actual Romani actor PLAYS A ROMANI CHARACTER.

But no they pulled another fucking multiverse shit all so RDJ could return and it all feels like blackface from Tropic Thunder

I DON'T GIVE A FUCKING SHIT ABOUT ANTHONY STARK FROM EARTH-11029 OR INFAMOUS IRON MAN

If you wanted evil Iron Man so fucking bad, why didn't you just do Superior Iron Man?

The LAZIEST, DUMBEST, most CONTRIVED BULLSHIT casting ever, Marvel continues to not beat the whitewashing allegations. Doctor Doom deserved better.

Romani actor Charlie Clapman was right fucking there AND HE ENDORSED IT!

I'd even suggest Romani actor Óscar Jaenada as Doom. Again another Roma actor who's actively interested in playing Doom

And you know what? As bad as the 1994 movie was, Joseph Culp the first actor to play Doom in the Fantastic Four (1994) movie by Oley Sassone & Richard Corman. Culp was also white but he very clearly cared for the comics background of Victor von Doom

and you also know damn well they're going to erase everything about Magneto too that makes him who he is… which is his entire fucking background. how horrible of a person do you have to be to repeatedly disrespect the minorities who created these stories?

Doctor Doom is Roma Romani. He is not white. The MCU loves to whitewash its Roma and Jewish characters and it’s time we called them out for it. Dr Doom is not a white man, he is Roma!

They will never nail down the complexity of Victor Von Doom

Every year Doom goes to hell to fight Mephisto to rescue the soul of his mother. He finally won her soul with the help of Doctor Strange only for her to reject him.

No evil Stark replicant will ever fucking match the complexity of Victor Von Doom.

I don't care if this is a one time thing for RDJ. They specifically chose to do this when the fans were begging for a fucking Romani actor. It also doesn't fucking help that Marvel has erased nearly EVERY fucking ethnic character has been whitewashed.

Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver: Erased Romani heritage and whitewashed. Moon Knight & Wiccan: Casted non-Jewish actors. Sabra: Featured in anything at all, and actress is an IDF soldier to make matters worse.

The MCU is full of ethnic erasure, military propaganda & racism. it’s disgusting this is continuing with Dr Doom’s casting. remember to continue to boycott marvel, because of the genocide they support by casting an iof solider to play a character from the zionist terrorist occupation

Dr Doom is one of those villains that it should be IMPOSSIBLE to fuck up but wasting him on a cheap Iron Man nostalgia casting pop might be the way

[cobragardens]

Notes on the Scene in Job's Basement

Crowley is not tempting Aziraphale here. He's experimenting on him.

Getting Aziraphale to sin, or even getting him drunk, is not Crowley's intent in this scene. Eating food, taking pleasure in food, drinking alcohol, and even being drunk are not sins in most of Judaism or Christianity (and they're certainly not sins in British Christianity, regardless of any church's doctrine). When Aziraphale turns down alcohol, Crowley just suggests he try food instead; so it's not important to Crowley what Aziraphale tries, but it is important to him that he try something.

This scene is also the first time (chronologically) we see that Crowley likes to drink and likes to be drunk.

We know from

and from

as well as from Book Omens and Word of God that angels have no instinct beyond curiosity pulling them toward eating or toward gender. From this we can reasonably presume they have no instinct toward Beverages either.

That means that in this moment--

--Crowley is very likely the only metaphysical entity he knows on either side of the divide, or even knows of, who has ever experienced a physical pleasure.

And he probably has some Lingering Questions about it, like we all did the first time a physical pleasure blew our minds. Like,

Is it this strong for everyone?

Is there something wrong with me?

Am I going to hurt myself if I do this, like, a lot?

And it's not like the poor creature can ask anyone, because the answers for humans aren't necessarily going to apply to him.

So when he sees an opportunity, Crowley gets that one angel he knows who'll talk to him to try a human thing, and then he watches to see if physical pleasure hits the angel as hard as it hit him.

And that's why he looks so creepily pleased when it does.

Apparently it is this strong for everyone and there isn't anything wrong with him. Now he can relax and get sloshed without worrying, and he even has someone to talk to about how rad human stuff is.

A Dip Into Speculation

We know because we're shown this isn't the first time Crowley has gotten drunk that, watching Aziraphale, Crowley understands what he's seeing. I think it's really interesting that Crowley doesn't laugh at Aziraphale at any point during this scene, and he doesn't correct the way he's eating, either.

Maybe it's because this is what it was like for Crowley the first time. Maybe he got so drunk he passed out and woke up in a puddle of his own sick. Maybe he got so drunk he passed out and didn't wake up at all, and there was Paperwork and he had to get used to a whole new corporation just when he'd got the hang of having legs in the old one. Maybe somebody had to show him how to use a fork or whatever they had going on for eating utensils in Ancient Mesopotamia. I distinctly remember having to learn as a small child to chew with my mouth closed. There is every possibility Crowley doesn't consider the way Aziraphale is eating to be worthy of ridicule because whatever Crowley did the first time was worse.

Maybe he wants to leave Aziraphale set up for later embarrassment over his table manners. Aziraphale was a judgy bitch about the wine.

Or maybe it's something like Let him have this one. There can be rules to it later; let him just enjoy it, once, like a little kid with both fists in their birthday cake.

Maybe it's desire. There is some textual evidence for this. Once Aziraphale learns to eat properly, the way he does it is very attractive, and we know Crowley loves watching him do it.

I don't think it's overreaching even to interpret David Tennant's physical performance of Crowley watching Aziraphale eat as one of sensual or erotic pleasure. I mean--

I'm not saying it absolutely has to be erotic, but it's not a reach, or even a full extension of the elbow, to read it that way.

There's another meta somewhere [I'll link it when I find it again; if you know this meta, please drop it in comments!] that discusses how this exchange in Job's basement is filmed like an erotic scene.

Like Crowley, we all want to kiss this face.

Aziraphale isn't eating prettily, but he's eating lewdly, ravenously, desirously, and it's lit like romantic sex, not like gluttony. Whether that's funny or poignant or hot may depend on the viewer. Here's how Crowley's handling it:

Srs tho, any frame of this scene could have been painted by Artemisia Gentileschi.

Or maybe--and this is my favorite of the available interpretations--maybe this is what it was like for Crowley the first time and he doesn't interfere because he wants Aziraphale to come out of this as someone who's had the same experience Crowley's had so Crowley won't be so totally alone in having had it.

[comicaurora]

In your asks and other outside-of-comic statements, you seem to draw on parallels to programming a lot when talking about lacrimas.

And this makes me think as a programmer: the primordial rules that are used in Auroras to do magic and lacrimas are part of the primordial language. You are literally telling the primordial's dead bodies what to do, and they obey.

Yet, the difference that comes to my mind is that Primordial was at one point a language actually spoken. Used to communicate in day-to-day life by normal sentient beings. That's quite different from programming languages, which aren't meant to be talked in at all, and are built from the ground up purely to convey a series of precise instructions. They're very formalised and structured. There are no synonyms, no double meanings, no altering of word order, no redundant information etc. It's extremely rigid, much unlike languages people actually talk in, for which a degree of fluidity and ambiguity is essential.

And in Aurora it would seem the latter is being used as the former.

Have you ever thought about this tension/contradiction/conflict? How it affects the world, how it affects your writing, etc?

Or has this distinction never crossed your mind?

Or was this something you have noticed, but never really had the right knowledge to engage with much?

Or any other thoughts on the subject, really

So! This is an interesting thing I have actually thought about.

When the Elder Races were first created, they were born knowing and speaking a language innovatively called the First Language. Every new Young Race is also initially created speaking this language. The language then drifts over the generations, developing into regional dialects and then into separate linguistic descendants if given enough time.

The Ancients spoke a close descendent of the First Language for most of their time in existence, and made a writing system of their own very early on, which has no innate power. But in the early days of the world, the generally accepted story is that a god granted the three elder races knowledge of the written Runic language, which could command the elements. The Ancients acquired it late and used it very sparingly, only for the programming of lacrimas, but for the Elves and Humans living in the depths of the Caves, this was their first and primary writing system. It's even possible that a rare cave-dweller brave enough to venture to the surface was the one who taught the Ancients these runes in the first place.

It's posed an obvious question, of course. Why does this one specific form of writing manifest as a language of magic? Why can it command the dead Primordials? Why is it so well-suited to the phonemes of the First Language that every child of this world is created speaking?

The predominant theory - and, with two living primordials to check with, one which is potentially on the cusp of being proven - is that the First Language and its runic writing system are the language that the Primordials spoke. Its words, written or spoken, can be understood by the remnants of thought that still linger in the sleeping, dead-but-not-entirely-gone primordials that make up the world.

Primordial magic is different from programming in one key way: real computers are entirely unthinking entities. They are not in any way smart - not even smart enough to be stupid. A computer parsing a program cannot observe a missing parentheses and compensate like a human could do in their sleep - it simply fails to parse, because the mathematics don't work out.

Magic in this world is like what every programmer wishes programming could be. Tell the computer what to do, and it might be a little confused, but it'll get the gist. Tell Fire to burn in this direction - Fire, even if it's just running on an echo of a seven-thousand-year-old memory, knows what that means. Tell the wind to printf this statement to this recipient, it'll try to find them and send the message. Tell Life to make this body do what it's doing faster, it can do that. It's simple executions of simple commands, almost reflexive - things that require no complex higher thought from a being that is no longer alive enough to have them. They're not as unthinking as computers, and that means the nuances of language can actually have an effect on them. Some mages think more poetic and emotionally-charged spell invocations can lead to better, more efficient results - an appeal to a long-dead emotion might be easier for the Primordial to execute than an appeal to a half-forgotten complex thought.

When a mage takes direct control of a magical energy and funnels it into an elemental effect, their own higher thought allows the element to do more complicated things - Fire can't transmute on its own like it could when it was alive, but it can when bent to a mortal will. No need to translate a spell into the language of magic when the mage can simply use their own mind to shape the effect. This is the primary advantage mages have over lacrima-users - flexibility, complexity, and speed.

Another interesting factor. Alinua's dynamic with Life demonstrates what a living Primordial's living thought can do when in the hands of a mortal. A normal, simple healing spell cast by anybody but her just accelerates a body's own healing, but with Alinua's guidance steadying Life's hand, they can do much more complicated things of her own free will - things Life knows how to do that no mage knows how to command her to do.

[brittle-doughie]

5th time I've sent this ask sorry if I seem impatient. Beast! Y/n cookie angst based on these lyric pls.

Summary:Y/n cookie is fighting the other beasts after they've been freed from the tree and is feeling betrayed by them since their downfall.

"I don't get how you all can just move on, find your own happy end, while someone just like me who has done no wrong has to rot in fear and smog. How you face no consequence, how you can all just chill! I can't begin to imagine what your day is like when you have no guilt oh, the bliss you must feel!

I know you say it's unlike me, that everyone deserves a chance to see,

with this power I judge today and I pray for you IF YOU'RE IN MY WAY!

A NEW FUTURE I WILL INSTALL, SO THIS WORLD THEY MADE HAD TO FALL! NEVERMORE WILL THEY CONTROL ALL THIS UNIVERSAL PAIN, I'LL ERASE THE GEMETIC STAIN!

THERE'S ONLY ONE WAYY~, I CAN MAKE THIS CHANGE~!

I HAVE MADE THE EFFORT~, YET NOBODY UNDERSTANDS~.

THAT I~...

I've already changed..."

Song is called "Only one way" by jakeneutron btw.

"I don't get how you all can just move on, find your own happy end, while someone just like me who has done no wrong has to rot in fear and smog. How you face no consequence, how you can all just chill! I can't begin to imagine what your day is like when you have no guilt oh, the bliss you must feel!”

Y/N doesn’t believe they deserved their downfall, they were only guilty by association by the witches. This move of banishing them along with their peers would actually be the blow that leads to their corruption. There was unjust punishment to the innocent, why should anyone be good when they’re put under the same lens as others with evil deeds. This hatred extends to the Ancients, who have committed plenty of mistakes, yet continue to life their lives in peace.

“I know you say it's unlike me, that everyone deserves a chance to see, with this power I judge today and I pray for you IF YOU'RE IN MY WAY!”

They were always the forgiving type, to let even the biggest slights go without much fuss, this was normal for you from the eyes of the other Beasts. That changes fast.

“A NEW FUTURE I WILL INSTALL, SO THIS WORLD THEY MADE HAD TO FALL! NEVERMORE WILL THEY CONTROL ALL THIS UNIVERSAL PAIN, I'LL ERASE THE GEMETIC STAIN!”

Y/N planned to bring in a new era to this world. A world of chaos and mayhem, where justice is extinct and evil rules all. First it will be the Witches and then the Ancients who will fall. Maybe even their fellow Beasts too…

“THERE'S ONLY ONE WAYY~, I CAN MAKE THIS CHANGE~! I HAVE MADE THE EFFORT~, YET NOBODY UNDERSTANDS~. THAT I~... I've already changed..."

Nobody will understand the changes and efforts Y/N made to begin their new world. There is only Y/N’s way of changing the world, even if they have to crumble the opposition one body at a time…

[ananke-xiii]

Although I mainly see the first six episodes of s13 as an engaging portrayal of two grief-stricken people lacking the tools to deal with what has happened to them, I can also totally see them as the so-called "widower arc". Two things can be true at the same time because yes, Dean was totally grieving Cas' death. But I'll make it worse for you.

Maybe I'm biased by the many times I've read the term "widower arc" but Dean was 100% looking for a consort in Cas in s12 (yes, "consort", I'm tired of "partner" or "boy/girlfriend", they're weak terms, give me "sharing destiny" type of old words) so I think this interpretation is not so far-fetched.

We have a grieving widow(er), a desired consort who's dead and then resurrects and a son who's been defined as "the rising son". As I've already said these are some of the elements of one of the most ancient myths in Western culture, that is the myth of Isis and Osiris.

Now, of course it was not a retelling of that myth, I don't even think it was a conscious effort to shape the story that way but sometimes symbols will be symbols, what can you do?

First of all, two brothers: Set and Osiris and Lucifer and Cas. We know how it goes, one brother kills the other (As an aside in one version Set built a wooden chest and tricked Osiris to enter into it just to seal it and drown it in the Nile. We have totally NEVER seen this image in Supernatural. Not even ONCE).

Things get very interesting from here on because in the myth there's a lot of focus on the body of the deceased brother, Osiris/Cas. The most famous way Set disposed of his brother's corpse was to cut it into pieces, to... tear him apart if you will. It is then kinda WILD that AU!Michael kills "his" Lucifer the same way:

MIchael: I killed my Lucifer. Tore him apart in the skies over Abilene. But hey, can’t get enough of a good thing.

Apparently, the body must be somehow intact for resurrection to happen. In the myth Isis has to find his husband's bodyparts scattered all over Egypt in order to resurrect him. So we need to pay extra close attention to Cas' body which we are actually shown in that tragic scene where Dean prepares him for the pyre. So it's Dean who takes care of Cas' body, who "collects" it, just like Isis. Interesting.

In SPN "What gets burned stays dead", therefore Cas cannot resurrect, or so they think. The mantra is repeated by Jack in "Tombstone" when he first sees his father. To be honest, we don't really know how Cas resurrects. For the first time we see what happens to him between death and rebirth but we miss the technicalities. We can only assume that Cas' ashes were enough. Or maybe, just maybe, that's just a rule that applies in Chuck's story. Just saying.

I'm not sure if they try to discover how Jack managed to do that but the point remains: it was Jack who woke Cas up in the Empty.

And why did he do that? Well, because he can. The very first thing that Jack does is resurrecting Kelly in an episode aptly named "The Future", where Jack is sort of introduced via his mother's resurrection. He doesn't know how to use this power but he unconsciously does it again with his father. And I ask again: why?

Jack wakes Cas up in "The Big Empty", four episodes into the season. He could've done it sooner? No. Because what prompts him to unconsciously act is Dean's grief. And Dean reaches his boiling point when Sam finally provokes him. Osiris/Cas dies and his consort Isis/Dean is inconsolable. Other people like Sam can forget about it, but Dean can't in every sense of the verb.

In the myth it's Isis who resurrects Osiris and has a child, Horus, with him. But she got help. Dean's only human but there is a demi-god running around in his bunker so I think that helped. And Cas must be credited for the effort and the pushing.

Let's just say that resurrecting Castiel took three, actually four people okay? It required a team effort. Because none of them is a fully-fledged god like God or Amara or some Archangel who can just snap their fingers and boom welcome back to Life. Coaxing someone into resurrection (a resurrection with consent) takes a lot of willpower... and a lot of love.

I said four people because the last character in this little story is The Shadow. And we see this in the myth as well!

Isis doesn't "just" resurrect Osiris, she has to convince the motherfucker. Cause, you see, Osiris's heart was tired. A tired heart! Oh so beautiful! He didn't see the reason to go back to life. He was sooo tired. Isis has to literally seduce him back to life. And... this is kind of what The Shadow does, but in reverse? It tells Castiel to go back to sleep, to find peace, it's been in his mind and he wants to sleep, it knows!

The Shadow is Cas' tiredness, all his failures and regrets. But, as I said, it takes a lot of willpower and a lot of love to resurrect the dead, this is what Isis teaches us actually. To love more and then some more. And Cas loves back and he loves hard.

Castiel: You can prance and you can preen and you can scream and yell and remind me of my failings but somehow, I’m awake. And I will stay awake and I will keep you awake until we both go insane. I will fight you. Fight you and fight you for…ever. For eternity.

He didn't come back because he annoyed an ancient cosmic being. He came back because he loved.

So Osiris/Cas are back to life and that's good, right? Well... yeahhh. The thing is that Osiris will then live in the world of the dead so he kinda doesn't really really stay alive for long. And Isis will follow him. Things will likely go bad for Cas.

But the story continues!

Set/Lucifer and Horus/Jack engage in a rather disturbing (in the myth) struggle for power. The myth has different endings: in one they reconcile, in another they divide the realm, in yet another one Horus is the one true winner. So we don't really know (from this point in the narrative) how things will actually turn out for the two of them.

Isn't it interesting? Well, it's not surprising because there is a connection between christian stories and greek and egyptian ones but still? Kinda cool to see how myths keep repeating and repeating. As if we're still trying to understand them.

Anyway: yes to the widower arc, yes to love piercing through the veil of death. Both ways! It takes the love of two to resurrect.

[ender-reader]

DP X DC/Marvel Prompt 1#

sooo I've had this mind obsession about giant fluffy monsters so why not jam Danny and DC/Marvel into this mess to make a cool prompt?

Summary: Danny's been sealed away in an ancient temple. someone (could be a hero or a scientist that deals with ancient stuff, i forgot what they're called) finds the entrance but cant go past that. they call Batman/Tony and/or Constanaine/Dr.strange for help(probably along with one of the batkids or Spiderman). Chaos ensues.

What exactly happened to Danny: Danny's been sealed away in an ancient temple during a a time mission from CW that caused him to go in his eldritch horror form and getting sealed away in a temple using chains and of course: Blood blossoms but not to the extent that they continually hurt him, just enough to keep him sealed away, after all: if you hurt a baby ghost, it probably wont end well.

Note: this can be ghost king danny if you want.

and i know i got the characters wrong but im trying, its been a while since i watched marvel

onto the somewhat detailed prompt:

DP/Marvel(or DC, just change who the characters are):

Wang (i think that was his name? the guy that always doubts dr.strange but helps him anyways) has picked up a strange magic signature somewhere around Egypt, after he decided to go and investigate himself, he found an entrance to a sealed ancient temple with a few dead bodies nearly hidden by sand. When he tried to enter, he felt death magic pulse through him and he quickly moved his hand away, whatever was in there, whoever put the seal on this temple wanted to either keep whatever's outside out... or whatever's inside in. he didnt like this not one bit, he does the one thing that would make sense (kinda in his deep opinion): he goes to Steven Strange.

"So your telling me, that you found an ancient temple that's radiating 'infinite realm' kind of death magic and tried to enter it ON.YOUR.OWN?" Strange said rubbing his nose bridge with a sigh. "I dont get whats wrong with that? Death magic's still magic and you two are wizards." Tony said raising a judgemental eyebrow at Strange.

"yes thats true, BUT, infinite realm magic's not like normal magic, not even normal death magic." Wang explained raising a finger at the 'but'. "so? its still magic? or does it have diffrent properties?" Peter, tired of only listening decided to start asking some questions to understand the situation better.

"to understand infinite realm magic, first you need to know what are the infinite realms" Strange countered with a heavy tone, looking at Tony and Peter.

"Strange, we are not to speak of the dead so openly" Wang hissed turning to look at Steven. "oh come on, they're gonna find out eventually and you know it, better they know or one of them gets killed trying to find out." Strange said furrowing his brows glancing around him as if expecting something to attack him. Wang only grumbled sitting on a chair that was not there before.

"the infinite realms is a realm between worlds, like a pocket dimension. it is also known as the realm of the dead, the realm of ghosts, souls, and spirits. it is neither heaven or hell, it is were the dead go when they have too strong obsessions that keep them going, it is where the dead go when they don't want to let go of their life. it has its culture, rulers, ghost types, Gods and Goddesses called Ancients, islands of different shapes and sizes. it also has: A Ghost King, one who rules all the kingdoms, tribes and all ghosts in the infinite realms. they have the title of High King. They run on a substance called ectoplasm, which can be considered the main source of infinite realm magic.

Do not mess with the dead and they will not mess with you. Don't engage with infinite realm inhabitants because the risks are far too high. The last high king was Piriah Dark, he went mad and devoured worlds, not much is known about the new High King, all we know is that he was only around 2 death years old which in on its own baffling." Strange said crossing his arm, his voice was heavy with danger and seriousness.

"so we DON'T mess with the temple?" Peter asked curiously. "..." Wang and Strange didn't know how to answer that.

i cant help but imagine this scene happening:

Danny: *giant chained eldritch horror* *narrows eyes and hisses*

Bruce/Tony, Constantane/dr.Strange and Zatanna/Wang: "..." *intimidated and are ready to fight if needed*

one of the batkids/Peter: "...omg its like a giant kitten!" *proceeds to pet said giant eldritch horror*

the adults: "..." *horrified

Danny: "..." *purrs*

if someone uses this please tag me and maybe send the link please?

[daz4i]

could dr. ratio originally be from the laurel wreath galaxy?

this is a repost of a theory i posted yesterday, now slightly more clean and properly tagged 🙏

in case you don't know, the laurel wreath galaxy (possibly a mistranlsation of "star system", if that changes anything) was supposedly destroyed during the emperor's wars. information about it is scattered throughout the game in very scarce ways. later i elaborate on how it went down in a more detailed way!

1. so let's get the most obvious detail out of the way first: he wears a laurel wreath 👍 at least a partial one (one leaf for every phd. maybe one day he'll reach a full head 😩)

these were common in ancient greece and ancient rome, cultures that his design, abilities, and eidolons are inspired by (both in aesthetic and language)

2. the laurel wreath galaxy was ruled by scholars - the philosopher union, until inorganic life took over during the emperor's wars. to give a very short tldr, civil war between organic and inorganic life, robots killed the head of the philosopher union, due to having no leaders the organic life of the galaxy was defeated

here we already have another obvious connection - philosophy, one of ratio's phds, that he even discusses with the trailblazer in one of his daily messages

3. one of the in-game sources about this place is the curio "rationality's fall". here is the first part of story attached to it for you to consider:

What is truth? No one truly knows. Supposing that "stupidity" is an incurable disease in this world, then disseminating knowledge counts as a treatment for the universe.

hm. we got a) truth (aka. ratio's name) b) a description of stupidity as a disease, which is something he claims repeatedly and thus seeks to cure it, in part by distributing knowledge (which is why he joined the guild, and why he's a teacher).

3.5. only other somewhat relevant part of this description is its mention of books ("Through such absurd means, books cleansed a world of its impurities once more") but that's not necessarily related to him obviously. however it's worth pointing out that one of his interactions on the express is literally all about how much he loves books and implying that they are relatively rare these days ("The touch of a paper book is a sensation I frequently find myself missing"). just a little something to think about

4. in gold and gears, there is an occurrence - cogito hair salon: intelligentsia guild - that implies that ratio is 2000ish years old. afaik these occurrences all happen around the same time as the emperor wars, aka when all the shit went down in laurel wreath

now. if you've read literally any of my other ratio theories. you know i don't quite like this, bc i find that ratio being 2000+ years old kinda defeats his whole Thing as a character. but we can't deny that it's there (tho possibly a mistranslation from what i gathered, but i can't say for sure) so i'm gonna use it for this theory 👍

5. here's where i'm gonna become full-on conspiracy brain. don't say i didn't warn you

after the whole defeat of the union, there were followers of aha who rose against the inorganic lifeforms and infected them with what's described as a "troll virus" called Philosopher's poison. i can't quite tell you if it's poison *to* philosophers (bc from what i gathered the inorganic life of laurel wreath were also philosophers) or caused *by* philosophers (implying these followers of aha were themselves philosophers as well. i like this interpretation more tbh)

what you're supposed to get from all that^ is that there was a large number of followers of aha in this galaxy, and they were wise enough to stand against robots that tried to wipe out their people, and even overthrow their army.

it's a pretty common theory by now that ratio has connections to the elation (beyond just the worm theory :P tho a lot of relevant info that i bring up here was gathered by @/b1adie in said theory which is very helpful, please go check it out 🙏) which, if he is indeed from laurel wreath, may add another layer to his past

some connections between ratio and aha, off the top of my head:

a. has an owl mask on his right shoulder, close to where aha has an owl mask located as well + his eyes fit aha's color scheme

b. refers to himself as a "side character" in the sticker book - sampo and sparkle, our known fools, do as well

c. can basically instantly disappear when characters aren't looking at him - as seen in his conversations with aventurine - which i can say for sure sampo does as well (like in the museum mission chain), possibly sparkle too tho i can't recall a specific instance to back this up

d. bows to the audience at the end of his quest, same as sampo does at the end of the belobog storyline

e. known to work from the shadows and pull the strings to make things happen or for his observation, which is how aha is described too at times, as well as their followers (sparkle is literally shown pulling strings of puppets in the "it's showtime" light cone, also sampo *gestures at literally everything he does during the belobog arc* Yeah)

f. in the herta space station, he creates a bit of a panic and theoretically puts people in danger, but in the end they all turn out okay. a similar instance can be seen in the "bestial ferocity" mission, where zhongshan, another masked fool, creates chaos for her own entertainment, which does end up hurting the people involved but absolutely not in major ways. in a way, at least in her view, she solved their problems too. while ratio probably doesn't cause chaos just for entertainment, but rather for information, you can argue these cases are similar, especially when at the end of the day they do end up helping these people in their own way. you can also claim that sparkle and sampo do similar things in their own respective arcs for their own reasons (sparkle with. the bombs. and sampo with dragging tb & bronya to the underworld. i'd argue neither of them do these for entertainment but that's an analysis for another time) aka this is a pretty common behavior for masked fools!

g. a smaller thing, but, the main part of his kit is follow-up attacks, which is aha's thing in the simulated universe

h. is his headpiece considered a mask? in his first conversation with tb on the astral express, he ends by saying "With this mask on, I intend to keep the world at bay". this is in reply to tb saying "i hope you are swayed by the express", and given ratio's main uses for his headpiece (dull his senses and block out stupid people), it makes most sense that he's referring to that here. we see him wearing it in-game precisely when he is about to cause chaos, too

also he has a mask on his shoulder. as already pointed out. so. not beating the masked fool allegations

^all this was actually to make you fall for the fool ratio theory. sorry. but i swear it's related to this post's main theory

-

so to connect this back to laurel wreath. the followers of aha used a virus. one of ratio's phds is in engineering, so he could've used that to create the virus. it might even be one of the achievements attributed to him that caused him to be recognized by the university as eligible for teaching in the first place, who knows

combining everything laid out here, you can probably see where i'm going with this - was ratio one of the followers of aha who took down the inorganic lifeforms of laurel wreath using this virus?

also, just for extra spice - this could add another layer to ratio's disdain towards the genius society, given that the one who incited the emperor's wars was a member of it

that's all i have for you for now 🙏 idk if this was intended, but i love speculating about ratio's origin and backstory, and i think this is a pretty cool option for it!

[matan4il]

It's very interesting that anti-Zionists claim to be "anti-colonial" given the arguments I routinely see them use against Jews. For years, I've seen them use full scale blood quantum arguments, for one. Most recently, now that we're fully in "Jesus was a Palestinian" season again, I saw a famous economist claim that "Jesus is genetically closer to Palestinians, (particularly Christians) than to Israelis (0 connection to most groups)," which is false to begin with.

Personally, I'm very sensitive to this kind of argument because I'm a ger. These people go after Jews like us very hard because to them we have the wrong DNA and thus undermine Jewish indigeneity, peoplehood, and history. Even if they concede the genetic evidence of born Jews' ancestral origins, they still point at gerim and any of our descendants as the "fake Jews" who don't belong… anywhere, actually. We don't belong in Israel because we're "foreign interlopers," and we don't belong outside of Israel because we had the gall to become Jews.

It's one type of antisemitism I can't seem to numb myself toward.

Hi Nonnie! Thank you for the ask, and my apologies about how long it's taking me to reply these days. Real life is not currently kind... :(

Okay, I had to roll my eyes so hard at that propaganda lie about Jesus. (found the economist in question, love it when someone who is living as a colonizer on stolen Native American land, has the audacity to goysplain a Jewish man to Jews, who support Jewish native rights. There really is no end to how much Jews just don't count to such people, is there?)

And it really is remarkable how many things he could get wrong in just that one part of his tweet...

Jesus was not a Palestinian, he was a Jew.

If you traveled back in time, and wanted to ask him about being Palestinian, you wouldn't be able to speak to Jesus in Arabic, which is the language of the Palestinians as Arabs, you would have to speak to him in either Hebrew or Aramaic (which is so close to ancient Hebrew, that I can speak some Aramaic simply by virtue of being a native Hebrew speaker) for him to understand you. Because he was a Jew.

If you did speak to Jesus in Hebrew or Aramaic, and asked him about being Palestinian, he wouldn't know what you're talking about, because the Romans would only rename the land Provincia Syria Palaestina in 136 AD, over 100 years after his death. Calling Jesus Palestinian is like saying that Chief Powhatan (probably best known as Pocahontas' father) was a Virginian, just because he was born and lived on territory that would later become Virginia. It's anachronistic, blatantly untrue, and totally imposing colonialist inventions on native people.

To the best of my knowledge NO ONE has dug up Jesus' DNA to compare it to ANY group. This is how you can tell that when he gets to that part, this guy is just blatantly making propaganda up.

Israelis are not one group, but Israeli Jews do test close to other Middle Eastern groups, and closest to other Jewish groups from around the world.

I guess, why settle for one bit of bullshit, when you can go for five?

I find it so interesting that you used the term "blood quantum." For non-Americans, who may not know it, here's a short introduction:

A person's Blood Quantum is the fraction of their ancestors, out of their total ancestors, who are documented as full-blood Native Americans. The blood quantum policy was first implemented by the federal government within tribes to limit native citizenship. However, since 1934, tribes were granted the authority/ability to create their own enrollment qualifications.

I find it interesting, because I keep thinking Jews and First Nations have so much in common, as native peoples. I remember coming across at least two different stories of people being adopted into Native American tribes. Obviously, each first nation has its own rules about it, before and after the colonization of America, but the point is... there is room for someone to become a member of the tribe, not based on blood. Most of the time, membership of the tribe IS based on ancestry, but it isn't limited to that. Some people come and live with the tribe, adopt its customs and way of life, emerge themselves in the values and heritage, embrace its spiritual beliefs, become a member of this community, and then they are adopted in. It's the same with Jews. Most of us are born Jewish, some of us choose to live this lifestyle, embrace the customs, beliefs and culture, go to synagogue, get to know the community, and eventually adopt and are adopted by it. That's the thing. Converting to Judaism isn't just changing your belief system. It's joining a tribe, and changing one's identity through this process of mutual adoption. Converts to Judaism don't take away ANYTHING from the native rights of Jews. On the contrary, this process of conversion is so different to when someone moves from one religion to another (think of how much simpler baptism is, to the long journey of converting to Judaism), precisely because Judaism isn't just a religion, unlike Christianity and Islam. It is an entire, intricate identity that combines multiple aspects, as all ancient, native identities do.

And in this context, think of Americans who are mostly of European descent, and have nothing to do with Native American culture, or way of life, but they can point to having an "exotic" great great great grandfather, who was a Native American chief. From what I've gathered, they would not be considered members of the tribe by most Native American nations. But the person who lives with the tribe, and shares its ways and its fate? That person is recognized as such by the tribe members.

Jews are the same. We are not native just because our ancestors are from Israel. We are also native, because we are the people who have preserved that Israelite identity. We have carried its torch, and passed it on along the generations, and we have shared our light with those, who chose to stand with us, to share our ways, our fate, and the consequences of the horrible hatred aimed at us.

I love you, my fellow tribe member. Thank you for sharing the light, and the burden, together! *sending so much love* xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[crisiscutie]

Sephiroth's mental breakdown was nailed perfectly. The raw emotions and him realizing Gast was no better than Hojo... Oh man... Rebirth is gonna be amazing

Game isn't even out and it's already one of my favorite scenes. The music. The buildup to it. THE JENOVA CLOSEUPS. The superb voice acting. (yes, I think Tyler Hoechlin does a fine job)

The only thing that seemed iffy was cutting out some of Sephiroth's monologue about the Cetra and traitor thing.

And you know what, I like Rebirth's slight retcon. In this version, it's much more about Sephiroth, providing a clearer understanding of why he succumbed to darkness. This man and boy (since young Sephiroth is his inner child that's always with him) finally discovered the ugly "truth" about the twisted experiments that made him and the other monsters. He always wondered about his purpose, and this was it. All those years of abuse and exploitation... were done at his expense because he's a monster. The few people that did love and support him? No, no such thing. They're no different from his tormentors. He felt so alone and lost.

The Nibelheim Incident is pretty much his trauma reaching a breaking point. I can see how difficult it was for some to discern for some this nuance in the OG (and even in CC) because they focused more on Sephiroth developing an ego complex from more obviously, outdated information. This retcon is more closer to the truth, the only erroneous thing being that Jenova was an ancient. It's an amazing fix and does a great job in humanizing Sephiroth. I absolutely loved how they used the Jung Shadow. I'm a psychology nerd. You basically watched the death scene of Sephiroth's old identity, especially notice how prominent his shadow is. It's meant to show his inner conflict and then his transformation.

He became exactly what he never wanted to be.

Anyways, another thing to note: what was a bit weird in the original game and the compilation is the strange shift in Sephiroth's beliefs and motivations. At first, he believed himself to be a Cetra and had a divine right to rule over the planet. Then, he transitions to wanting to destroy the planet at the beginning of FF7, seemingly abandoning any claims to Cetra heritage. We know why his motivations changed, but it feels odd not getting more expansion on it after they just suddenly threw that bit of information at us. I believe this retcon should help smooth out that awkward transition. It's a great feeling that one item from my wish/check list might be addressed.

And you know another thing I fucking loved Rebirth's portrayal of the Nibelheim Incident? They didn't back off from Sephiroth's villainy and sadism. I already made a post about it here, but holy fuck. He is out for blood. Everyone and everything in his path had to suffer, just like he did. They don't deserve to continue to live life so happy and normal.

Sephiroth really did not deserve any of the shit he was put through, but that will never not excuse the atrocities he committed in Nibelheim. I was honestly scared to see how the writers would humanize Sephiroth, but so far, they seem to do a great job of it. Hopefully, the full game can keep it up.

The demo still has some issues with Sephiroth and how the gameplay works, though.

[nerdragenewvegas]

laying awake at night thinking about how even though every time i play honest hearts im like 'joshua graham is the hottest man alive' i end up upsetting myself when i think about how likely it is that some of the legion's culture and attitudes are probably more influenced by joshua's own lds culture and belief than caesar's read on ancient rome. like caesar straight up doesn't subscribe to the belief that women are physically or mentally inferior, he just thinks it's more practical to make sure there's no wombs wasted because minmaxxing, and we know that because the writers told us that. hell, most of the 'senior' legionaries (the dudes caesar chills with in the tent) don't give a fuck that you're a woman beyond it being a novelty. so where's the shit about women being below notice coming from? where's the aggressive misogyny coming from? where's this stuff about women being biologically inferior to men even though they're the only ones who can make more legionaries coming from? now I'm not pointing any fingers here but i did enough time in the LDS church to know that despite the PR, they're still all about the idea of women being more gentle and emotional and unstable in the face of conflict and just not as together about things outside keeping a home as men are, and i can't imagine the lds church's attitudes before the great war were much different to how they were in the 50s irl, and like even in doctrine it's pretty specific how they feel about women. so who was translating and instructing these news tribes as they were coming in and getting indoctrinated? Who was translating the rules and taking those first questions from the tribals about why the women had to go to Flagstaff and have babies? joshua bell-bottom-jeans graham. and yeah he's probably way better about that now following his burned man apology tour back to new canaan, but do you think when the courier shows up and starts kicking ass or when waking cloud smacks someone so hard with the bear claw that they go to the moon that he feels guilt knowing what he would have had the legion believe about them? that's all im saying, that's all im saying.

also while im here, we all agree hes like, on the spectrum, right?

[gemsofgreece]

Hello!

This is a genuine question tangentially related to the response you posted:

Do you think the characteristic of the God of the dead in Greek myth as someone comparatively more positive of a person (as close as a God gets to being one, at least) is something based in cultural/historical/archeological/mythological evidence or the absence of it? As in, when you view him through a more positive lens, do you base your opinion on any particular local idea of him, or on the lack of "negative" myths about him?

I know there are certain parts of the general cluster of info on him that point towards his positive traits (some epithets, seemingly positive take on H/P in Lokri area, and so on), but what do you think is the main reason for him to be viewed positively? What is your reason?

I do agree with you, by the way, that there's a lot of weird... hypocrisy in how people now treat different Greek Deities. So, my question is more to ponder with you on the topic, don't consider it a nuanced attack or anything. Thank you in advance!

Hello! This is a great question.

I do have a reasoning and it is based on the general information we have about him rather than the lack thereof.

First of all, Ancient Greeks generally did not like Hades and avoided mentioning him but this was not because of some presumed cruelty or flaw of his character. They simply thought of him superstitiously and feared that too much engaging with the worship or even thinking about Hades would bring - what else - death upon them. (This superstition is huge even nowdays - don't mention / analyze something bad or unfortunate or it will come to you). This avoidance and the fear are perhaps the reasons why there are relatively fewer myths about him compared to some other gods.

However, it seems they were also aware of this avoidance and in the back of their minds they were concerned that it would anger the god and have the opposite result (bring them death out of spite / vengeance). I believe this is why they also developed positive traits about him (the most important being that he was also the god of wealth - Pluton). The fact that this name and domain of divine authority was attributed to him a little later in time supports the hypothesis that they were trying actively to make his worship more palatable in order to appease him.

But I think there's another reason why Hades had generally positive traits and this is that... he was the God of the Underworld!!! OK, hear me out! Unlike the major Olympians, Hades was the only one who was not ruling over living beings. The other gods domineered life and all of the nature with its elements. They domineered over things that underwent changes constantly, sometimes unexpected or violent. So their personalities reflected that constant change and this unpredictability - be it in nature, in the sky and the sea, in the animals and humans themselves and the livings they led. On the contrary, Hades ruled over the dead, the unchanging eternity, the ultimate silence. It didn't make sense for him to be a noisy, lively or volatile god because this is not what death is. I bet this is also the reason why he was the only one who was viewed as mostly monogamous and interested in longterm romantic relationships - he was not a god who contributed to creation and procreation, he was associated to the exact opposite. It would be jarring for the dead to have a god that constantly has sex and has babies and births life. I believe the few partners given to Hades and his few children (three and three respectively) were likely even serving some necessary concepts Greeks had to attach to some symbolism (i.e Persephone and nature), otherwise Hades might as well be portrayed as celibate. Him ruling over the eternity of death made him stable, consistent, more sensible, generally quiet and calm and capable of more profound, undying emotions.

Hades was also responsible and decent. There are some insinuations in the myths and their variations I think that he wasn’t all that happy for being assigned to be a ruler of the underworld. He accepted his fate with dignity however, even though he was the oldest brother, out of respect for his younger brother Zeus saving all of them from Cronos and perhaps out of wisdom for deciding it’s not worth it to argue it out with super strong Poseidon for the seas. After that, he ruled the Underworld with dignity, total responsibility and great care. I think this might be some symbolism associated with the solemnity, decency and sacredness people treat their dead.

Furthermore, he was viewed as just. This also makes sense because upon observation Greeks could guess that Death is just. It comes to all, lucky, unfortunate, rich, poor, privileged and loved or marginalized. No one ever escaped or returned from death. Death was fair and absolute. Surely the Greeks would also like to imagine the Underworld as fair and equal towards all the souls of the dead [with a special treatment for extreme wrongdoers - Tartarus, rarely for normal human beings - and rare glorious legendary heroes - Elysian fields - and then all the average souls together in Hades (the place)]. Hades (the god) also employed three srict but good judges to determine how a soul was to be treated in the afterlife, based on how they had fared once alive. Despite being generally good and fair, he was stern and cold because how could the god of the dead be joyous or overly expressive and animated? And he was adamant at keeping the souls to his realm, greatly guarded, because who ever came back from the dead?

So this is why I think Hades was viewed as quiet, consistent, just and reliable. Because this is what death is - reliably it will come to us all and we will all receive the same treatment.

And now, sorry, but I have to do this:

[fallenclan]

Everything will we all right, as long as we have each other.

By Dragon Anon

Marshjump sighed, weaving his way through the set of tunnels he and Bearspring had found so many moons ago. He assumed countless apprentices had found the crevasse near their den, squeezing through the sharp opening to explore the ancient trails. 

Marshjump was nearly too large to fit now, but he knew that's where he'd find his sister. The scent of blood was growing stronger, too. "Bearspring?"

"Marshjump?" In the shadows, Marshjump could just make out Bearspring's form. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you're all right. You need to see Sagespeckle. Your shoulder-"

"My shoulder is fine," Bearspring snapped. A few moments went by, and she murmured, "Sorry. I'm not mad at you, I just..."

"It's okay." Marshjump pressed his pelt against his littermate's, an unspoken gesture of warmth. "What happened out there?"

"I hesitated."

"That isn't what I meant. Your claws were nearly in Wolfbite's throat. If you hadn't 'hesitated,' you might have killed her."

"I wouldn't have killed her," Bearspring scoffed, ears pinning against her head.

"Wolfbite looked... afraid. She only attacked you so viciously because she thought you were going to... well."

"So you're siding with her now?" Bearspring hissed suddenly, pulling away from Marshjump. The tom blinked in surprise.

"I'm not siding with anyone. Wolfbite is our clanmate. StarClan wouldn't want this. We shouldn't be fighting each other."

"StarClan," Bearspring sneered, shaking her head. "StarClan isn't real, Marshjump."

"What?" The tom recoiled, a mixture of shock and horror surging through him. "How can you say that?"

"What proof do we have of their existence, Marshjump? What good have their rules ever done us?"

"Our mother was given nine lives by StarClan, and blessed to lead this clan. This... nonsense you're speaking needs to stop, Bearspring. I get that you're upset, but-"

"Our mother abandoned us!" Bearspring snapped. "If she actually had nine lives, she wouldn't have lost every one to some mysterious illness. It doesn't add up, Marshjump. Cherrystar never had nine lives, and neither does Ravenstar. It's a necessary lie to keep the clan in line." 

" . . . I didn't know you felt this way."

"There's a lot you don't know."

Marshjump frowned, stung. There had been a time when Bearspring was his closest friend and confidant. Recently, she had grown distant. Harsher. Cruel. "Even if I don't agree, I'm glad you felt comfortable sharing your feelings."

"You sound like Quailcall."

"She's a wise cat."

"She's a pointless cat. She provides nothing for the clan."

Marshjump opened and shut his mouth a few times. Exhaled. "I think we're done talking, Bearspring."

"Fine. Leave."

And so Marshjump left, silent as leafbare's first frost.

...

Marshpaw stared, awed. Sootpaw had caught a ptarmigan nearly mid-flight, sending it crashing back to the ground and snapping its neck. "Incredible work, Sootpaw," Littleleaf purred, trotting forward to praise his apprentice.

Bearpaw frowned. "Where did she learn to do that?"

"She's incredible, isn't she?" Marshpaw was still watching the grey she-cat with open admiration.

"I guess." Bearpaw flexed her claws. "I bet I could do that, too."

Marshpaw glanced at his sister. "Why don't we go practice hunting, and next time you can be the one to catch a ptarmigan mid-flight?"

"Yeah." Bearpaw's gaze brightened. "Okay. Let's go train!"

...

"Where's your sister?" 

"What?" Marshjump started, looking up from the squirrel he'd been gnawing on a moment ago.

"She promised to go hunting with me later," Sootstep drawled. "And yet she's nowhere to be seen. Typical."

"Bearspring is still recovering from her injury. She shouldn't be hunting or--or doing anything, anyway."

Sootstep flicked her tail dismissively. "Bearspring doesn't need you to make her decisions for her. Just let me know if you see her, okay? And tell her I won't wait around for her forever. I'll just end up going with Flamefall instead."

". . . okay."

...

"Eep! It moved!" Bearkit sprang backwards, tail puffed up like a bottlebrush.

"Don't worry, I'll get it," Marshkit mrrped, scrambling forward. With a swift swipe, Marshkit dispatched the spider that had been terrorizing his sister. 

"Thank you." Bearkit bonked her head against her littermate's, purring softly. 

"Of course. Just remember, everything will be all right, as long as we have each other." Marshkit grinned. "Now, why don't we play warriors? I wanna be Cherrystar this time. . ."

...

Marshjump froze. Ripplefade, oblivious to his son's tension, continued idly chatting about clan news. 

Marshjump's gaze was locked on Bearspring, who was perched near Ravenstar and Levi. The three seemed to be having a pleasant discussion. It filled Marshjump with dread.

"...and then Frozenkit bit my tail! Tch. Pebblefreeze lets them get away with anything. I don't blame her, though. Her kits sure are cute. Not as cute as you and your sister when you two were kits, though, but... ah, Marshjump? Are you listening?"

"What? Sorry." Marshjump's gaze flicked to Ripplefade, who was watching him expectantly. "I'm listening."

"All right. So, while I was scolding Frozenkit, Tempestkit started sneaking off! I didn't even notice at first..." Ripplefade's voice became a jumble of meaningly words to Marshjump within moments. 

He sighed. Really, he should enjoy these happy moments. And yet, he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. Melancholy. Disquiet. 

Shaking his head, Marshjump settled down beside his father, forcing the disturbed thoughts from his mind. Everything would turn out all right.

He was sure of it.

-🐉

(little exploration of marsh and bear's relationship. would be a shame if anything bad were to happen to them /silly)

(beetle note: a shame indeed :3 i love love love this fic, your characterization of bear and marsh is so good!!!! and i always adore all the little details you add in,,, Pebblefreeze letting her kits get away with anything really stuck out to me. its so true)

[ramonag-if]

So this is slightly spoilery for chapter 9, but were Ahlf's letters and the lack of response from MC really the driving force for Salyra never going back for MC? Or was she really far more willing to leave that part of her life and what MC represents in all of it (namely, her failure) behind than she's willing to admit even to herself?

Because it's absolutely WILD to me that she's basically telling MC "Well, after I abruptly left you with your father who didn't actually want you to be born, already abandoned us once before, and didn't actually agree to take you in until I went literal God Mode on him, in a country that is violently discriminatory towards our people and ruled by a man with a personal grudge against me and your father, I sent letters to him and he said everything was okay and that you didn't want to talk to me, so I figured you were fine! I can't believe that wasn't the case and I'm so sorry you had to deal with that, can you play house with my new family now that you're here?" and expecting MC to be like "Understandable lets be family again :)"

Like at NO POINT did she suspect that Ahlf might be lying about MC wanting nothing to do with her? Never considered that in hindsight, the guy who her parents, brother, and bff-turned-second-husband all recognized as emotionally unavailable might not be capable of being a loving parent to an already-traumatized child he never wanted in the first place? Didn't think it was odd that her child that she intentionally made look visibly blessed by the Ancient Ones had no trouble growing up in rural Cyre? No alarm bells at all??

The driving force was Erlan. Erlan had more respect for Ahlf than he did for Salyra. If the MC was with Salyra, he'd likely have killed them both. Salyra did believe Ahlf's letters - why would he have reason to lie to her? Why do you think Ahlf didn't want the MC to be born? 👀 They used to be in love not too long before the MC was dropped off with him. He had been visiting the MC in Ishari for a while and he did in fact send letters to Salyra before she showed up.

It's only the MC's eyes that showed part of their divinity but don't get caught up on that - people would have hated the MC in Salt Bay even if they never left the cottage. Not everyone in the game picks up on the MC's divinity because you need to know what you're looking for. It's picked up by those who are aware of the divine blessings which isn't anyone in Cyre (except our merchant selling Ancient One idols).

Up until Rana is born, Salyra was still actively going against the Blood Guard. It's easier to do that without a child than one who Erlan may or may not would have wanted to kill. I mean, even after Rana is old enough to stay with Danzor, Salyra gets back to fighting the Blood Guard and even gets arrested. So yes, she didn't really think much of the MC remaining with Ahlf 😆

Honestly, I'd have chosen to stick with Ahlf too, if given a choice 😅 Who knows what would have happened if the MC returned to Ishari? 👀

[alatismeni-theitsa]

I have some questions abt hellenic polytheism and how its practiced. I myself have been practicing it for a while, but something I noticed while researching about it is a distinct lack of actual greek people in online social media spaces. It was first brought to my attention after seeing a reddit post and youtube video explaining how using “hellenismos” is considered cultural appropriation. After that, Ive noticed how the main sources Ive used about hellenic polytheism isnt really from the people whos culture were trying to practice. AKA non greeks.

I would like to know your explanations on the basics of hellenic polytheism like altars/shrines, khernips, prayers, devotees, tarot/oracle cards, pendulums, kharis, and offerings. There might be some knowledge that I got wrong and need to change, like maybe the way I give offerings needs fixing and I need to give more perishable offerings like food than handmade crafts like art for apollo. And maybe theres a spicic way to do it and not just place it on the altar. Other than websites like hellenicfaith.com, r/hellenism is usually my main source with a grain of salt because of the strange lack of greeks in discussions, and although my friend who is also practicing hellenic polytheism gives me a lot of advice, their main sources are tiktok and. Well, I dont think I need to explain why thats a bad source. (Their main justification is “of course tiktok isnt that serious” and “it comes from the pagans themselves”)

Also, Im also curious on your thoughts about people who practice in secret.

I hope this isnt too long, I just wanna make sure Im using a better source than reddit because, well, its reddit. Not the most reliable source.

Hello! If you don't mind I will also address two more questions I got on the matter, since I feel they are related to yours. They are the following:

Hello all! You did very well to seek Greek sources because you are essentially dealing with a foreign culture and it's not right to assume it looks just like your local one. I will guide you as much as I can but I am very open to being corrected by knowledgeable Greeks and xenoi alike because I am not an infallible scholar. As always, my posts are open to additions in case I missed something.

Let me start by saying I believe it's important to focus on the living Greeks as well, in parallel to your studies of ancient religious texts. Not only were our ancient people diverse with various opinions but... they are also dead and cannot speak anymore. So, it's the alive Greeks who now handle and pass down the culture. If something gives the ick to modern Greeks, it probably goes against what the culture considers appropriate or strange.

Greeks will get "the ick" even if they are not well-read on ancient Greek customs, because the Greek culture largely holds its philosophy when it comes to worship. Disclaimer: This is not an unbroken rule, as some of our cultural elements have shifted or changed, as it happens to all cultures around the globe, and also because a Greek does not know everything. But it's good to keep that general statement in mind.

An example of a practice not seen favorably by Greeks nowadays is some Western women practitioners covering their heads because of Hellenic Polytheism. The ancient faith may demand it but the veil was forced a lot on Greek women and collectively we believe it doesn't make any sense to wear it, even in scenarios of faith tied to our culture. Now, that doesn't mean that it's any of our business if a Hellenic Polytheist wants to veil but it'd be good for this person to have knowledge of the history and rights of Greek women, and really evaluate why they want to veil beyond "the ancients did it", since Greek culture is largely disagreeable to that practice now. Find a larger discussion on veiling here.

Also please capitalize the first letter of Apollo's name because this shows proper respect ;)

Let's dive into specifics a little bit. Our culture was and is practical and anthropocentric. It takes into account reality and environment, as well as human nature.

For the anthropocentric aspect: Yes, there are general guidelines because we are talking about a tradition here but no one will take your head if you do it a bit differently. As for the practical aspect: if you give non-perishable items to the gods by putting them on their altar, in 10 years you won't have a space in your house to stand. If they are non-perishable you have no reason to remove them. Because if you remove them is like taking back offerings that were meant for the deity.

The offerings of Greeks in Polytheism and Christianity included perishable items such as food, candles/oil lamps, flowers, incense, libations, etc. And since they go bad you have a reason to remove them. But you also don't want any waste on the streets or in your house. Even the sacrificed animals were meant to be eaten, and the Greek communities believed that the smell of roasted meat made the gods rejoice. In some cases, offerings that were left outside were meant to be consumed by the homeless and travelers. Everything has a purpose and a reason within that specific community. (Flowers not so much, they are just ornamental)

It's not that you cannot or should not offer non-perishable items to the gods. I'm sure a few don't hurt anyone. Just keep in mind that if the offering is a non-perishable item it is/was usually offered to the temple, so the priests can sustain themselves and continue doing their religious service on behalf of the community. We are talking about coins, clothing, jugs, animals, or whatever else.

Continuing on the matter of offerings. A small rant on how clueless some people seem to be about offerings. It would be weird to knit a winter scarf for a god and then wear it yourself because that's not how dedication/devotion works in the Greek context. Also, leaving that winter scarf on the altar doesn't make sense either because it's just… impractical in the Greek sense. You are wasting a scarf, to put it plainly. But if you make something for one deity then give it to the deity, don't wear it yourself.

I'll tackle a few more specifics now. I think you already know what they mean so I will give my opinion on them rather than explaining them. I think my opinion is shared by many Greeks.

hellenismos -> I am not sure if it's appropriation but it's surely inaccurate. Here is why, for those who wonder, with some suggestions on how to call yourself. (hint: Hellenic Polytheist is fine)

on how to be respectful and accurate: I always recommend reading as many ancient Greek texts as possible the view of the gods directly from the ancient worshipers themselves. You can read whatever texts interest you, including plays. Plays are my favourite source, to be honest. Understand on your own what the text says. The Hymn to Demeter is focused on the pain of a mother, which is pretty obvious, you are under no obligation to hear Kate the TikToker who insists on something different. You don't have to hear YouTubers who tell you Zeus is an asshole when ancient texts show us the opposite, and give a good context on why he does what he does.

altars/shrines -> The altars I've seen are usually fine, so I think western polytheists have this down. The ancient ones would be more homogenous but in our era the religion is unorganized so it's up to the individual to create an altar. Greeks still have altars in their homes as a continuation of our polytheist practices and they also have some variation. Generally, all good here.

khernips -> χέρνιψ literally translates to "washer of hands". It's a Greek practice to have clean hands before touching any sacred objects, either in Dodekatheism or in Christianity. We do not always follow it but it's important. Our old custom is also to wash hands, face, and feet before entering our Christian temples (that's why there are κρήνες outside many of them) but that's not practiced anymore because our hygiene is overall better and we already visit the temple while clean.

The cleansing part will feel natural for most Greeks and not unfit for the whole procedure. You can also cleanse items with water if the purification ritual says so. Don't lose sleep over it. Remember practicality. Khernips is just water with which you wash your hands and you can do it before a meal, like we do today. It is meant to keep you clean but doesn't bear any spiritual force - it's not like the holy water of Christians which is imbued with divine power. It's just water included in a practice that helps the religious person get ready for spiritual time.

Also! Khernips doesn't mean that you wash the whole body! It's second part, νήβω / nivo = rub is connected to cleaning body parts. For the cleanliness of the whole body we used/use "λούω / λούζω". Fun fact, on of the greatest christian temples Hagia Sofia, had a reminder outside the gate with the same verb, and it was an anagram. "ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ", meaning "wash your sins, too, not just your face". This anagram is found in other Christian sites, as well.

prayers -> Any prayer is good. There are only a few ways a prayer can go "wrong", since there's not a subscription for that. For example a prayer has to usually praise the magnanimity of the deity, even if you are just doing it to ask something, but words from the heart are also fine. Zeus won't smite you if you include him in a phrase without praising him first.

devotees -> Afaik this was a rare phenomenon in antiquity and it's only nowadays that Westerners decided that everyone is a devotee, which looks weird to Greeks because being a devotee doesn't work exactly like Westerners do it. You don't get to pick one god, talk 99% of the time about that god, or worship just them and not recognize the whole pantheon, or just give little attention to them.

Ancient Greek towns and people had gods they were closer to, for sure, but from what I know they didn't have the same concept as modern foreign worshipers today. They were not "αφιερωμένοι"/devoted, unless they devoted their life to a deity by serving in their temple. The devoted/devotees were not everyday people.

The everyday people felt closer to some gods in the way someone can have a saint or a prophet that they align themselves with, that they feel like they can see themselves on them, or that these gods see them, or that they are related to their struggles, or have given them some sort of protection. A cultivator of vineyards will probably feel closer to Dionysus, while a fisherman to Poseidon, and a warrior to Ares. It's the same for Christian Greeks, since each of the saints has one domain and we call on them depending on our needs.

I mean, it's okay if modern people want to make new things, but we should also be clear on the nature of the ancient practice.

tarot/oracle cards, pendulums -> They are unrelated to the practice. They are just recent elements of western spiritual fascination, and the ancient Greek religion is already complete without them. If Apollo chooses to reveal himself through tarot he may as well reveal himself on a toaster xD A toaster is as related to the ancient Greek religion as much as tarot cards.

kharis -> Some Westerners overhype foreign words that are, in reality, very simple terms. Kharis is just "the grace of god" and the concept is similar to the grace spoken in Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Kharis is not lost if you forget to wash your hands once, or if you are afraid that the item you placed on the altar is not good enough. You don't have to tiptoe around it, it's not something incomprehensible and mystical.

miasma -> Nobody asked for it but I am delivering it anyways because I see many new people to the religion treat miasma like they are 5th-century Greeks who will be punished by the plague if they menstruate too close to the altar. I've seen endless discussions online about what miasma is and all the detailed ways that you can avoid it, and how to cleanse everything and... as a 21st-century practitioner you are not supposed to be that fearful. In the Πλυντήρια festival, the statue of Athena goddess was washed clean but also cleansed metaphorically by people's sins. And you can cleanse your statues as well of course but not with the mindset of considering yourself unclean. Do not follow every advice from ancient people who thought women unclean when menstruating. Ironically, this post and this post from r/hellenism have a good approach to this. As one user says:

people who practice in secret -> I don't have particular thoughts for them. If they must hide their spirituality for reasons beyond their control, it's natural for them to do so. I wish them the best in their spiritual journey.

Take a look at my F.A.Q. page, and more specifically on these questions:

Can I worship the Greek gods as a xenos (non-Greek)?

What do Greeks think of people outside of Greece worshiping the Greek gods?

Reading List / Book recommendations on Greek Mythology

Are the Greek gods assholes? // What’s up with gods coupling with mortal women?

Also, when it comes to the practices of the ancient Greek religion, Google Scholar is your friend. Read a variety of scholars and please include Greek ones on your reading list. Western academia focuses a lot on what the myth means to The West today, while Greek academia focuses on what the myths meant in their time. Some classical students report that studying classics in Greece VS in the US can be night and day, and they got a more authentic feeling from the knowledge they gained from the Greek classes.

For gods, festivals, and rituals in Greece, I have some recommendations below, if you’d like to take a look! (The links open directly to them so you can read them for free)

Let it rain’, or ‘rain, conceive’: Rituals of magical rain-making in Ancient Greece, a comparative approach. In Roca, Z. et al. (eds.): European Landscapes and Lifestyles: The Mediterranean and Beyond. Lisboa: Edições Universitárias Lusófonas 2007: 285-304.

Cosmos 17 (2001), 197-251 Rituals of Magical Rain-Making in Modern and Ancient Greece: A Comparative Approach by Evy Johanne Håland

http://en.arch.uoa.gr/fileadmin/arch.uoa.gr/uploads/images/evy_johanne_haland/cosmos_17-2_haland.pdf

p.s., I call Christian temples "temples" because that's how we call them. We use ναός very frequently for our religious buildings.

I hope I covered your questions so far 💙😊 See you around, and have a great day!

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If my posts have helped you in any way, consider buying me a coffee or giving a Paypal donation. I spend many hours per day on questions and posts, so that would support me a little.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Why Pizza and Italians as a counter to food cultural appropriation?

Noticed during the whole Simu Liu thing, but what is it with particularly white people loving to roll out pizza as an example of food cultural appropriation?

I know, I'm food nerding again. But I think pizza is a terrible example, especially since the concept doesn't seem to originate from Italy. OMG, I know, someone is going to hard block on this and say, No Duh, Naples Italy.

But the first cheese on flatbread (since you can't get tomato without the new world) goes to Persia.

This is far from something like this travesty:

The core idea of kimchi was developed in Korea and later applied to Napa. Ingredients like hot pepper that came from Central Americas, replaced what is thought to be older ingredients like sichuan pepper, which is occasionally still used in some kimchi recipes and have good documentation. (Sriracha like this one is a travesty and a total WTF). There's good documentation of its development being older than the Chinese Pao Cai, which has a totally different fermentation process. So it's 100% Korean native in concept.

In fact, all of the ingredients in pizza and the concept itself originated outside of of Italy.

Haha. Pointing this very, very true fact lead someone to reporting my post even though I cited all my sources.

Wheat- Fertile Crescent. (Levant gets a ton of credit for agriculture).

milk- from cows, sheep and goats, from West Asia. Cheese, for those food ignorant comes from milk.

Pepperoni- (not required) Pigs, not Europe.

tomato- New world.

are the core ingredients that you think of in a pizza pie. All of them are IMPORTED to Italy. The concept itself, much like maths originate from outside of Italy.

Flat Bread is mentioned in ancient texts, and cheese originated in ancient texts. So cheese on flat bread isn't that revolutionary.

For instance look up lahmajouns, which originate from Armenia which does not have cheese on it, but various toppings. There are stronger origins for it in the Middle East.

This is a terrible usage for the whole, "OMG, would you be insulted if PIZZA was made by Armenians." (which I definitely saw during the Simu Liu debate. WTF. lahmajouns is older than pizza! That's a terrible example.)

Also, another example rolled out during that. was, "But Koreans run several sushi restaurants."

Look, Japan isn't the only country to serve raw fish. In Korea, the provinces of Kyeongsangnamdo and Jeolla do too. What do you think all those live octopus challenge things are? In fact, with sushi, the origin of eating raw fish, in general, is China, not Japan. The vinegared rice, though, which is what sushi refers to, is Japanese. As Koreans don't vinegar their rice nor put Mirin in it. Koreans are east Asian and were imperialized by Japan.

But every other comment was the whole "Italians". I covered this a whole, whole lot, but Italy is a poor choice for, "But, but appropriation."

Italy was an imperialistic nation.

Libya, Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia! It also... dundundun, had negative relations to China.

Stop rolling out Italy? You'd have better luck with Bulgaria? But I doubt anyone shouting this knows anything about Bulgarian food.

Once you are an imperialistic nation, imposing your rights to rule, and basically doing the equivalent of assault, you pretty much lose your right to claim that the world is appropriating when you've been imposing your culture on other people.

It's the whole school ground bully saying, "Do it my way or I'm going to give you a wedgy." and then you do as they say and then they complain to the teacher with big tears in their eyes, "They stole my stuff and are copying me."

So I'm saying here, with a side of food geekery, stop rolling out pizza and pasta sauce as uniquely Italian. The concept didn't originate there. The ingredients didn't originate from there, and I have a strong suspicion given that wheat originated from Iran-Iraq, etc and knives from Northern Africa that there is an older pasta dish we've yet to discover in the archaeology. The personal table fork originated in the Byzantine empire (Outside of Europe). The utensil used to eat pasta.

Yeah, I know a popular Youtube channel went over it, but then they failed to realize that the core ingredients came from Western Asia. !@#$ How do you think it got to the Silk road? You need chopsticks AND the ingredients in order to argue about pasta. Wheat didn't magically appear in China. You require the origin of the ingredients to make it make sense.

To make noodles you need semolina, wheat, and basically starch and a knife. None of those originate in Italy. To make die cut pasta you need a Chinese invention. Did not originate in Italy. Pasta, did rise up in Italy, though there isn't solid evidence for noodles per se. (I've done a lot of rounds of this, but people like to claim something is older and they domesticated it when it isn't--look up tamarind, for example, which has a false scientific name... it shouldn't be indicus. It should be africanus.)

What pizza is an example of is mass trade followed by colonization and a case of amnesia.

What pasta is an example of is trade, independent invention and then trade by two distant cultures over time. (And a side of imperialism if you're including the tomato).

How do you think the tomato ended up in Italy? Imperialism, colonization, and a lot of genocide?

It's not a dichotomy between appreciation and appropriation. Appreciation means you don't touch or profit from it. Appropriation means you stole it. You're missing trade, invitation, evolution and imperialization. And pizza is probably the worst example of "But, but People appropriate from Europe too." I covered what Europe would be like without trade. Not much going on eh? (BTW, what is it with white people and false binaries? ;) )

In fact, if you leave Europe out of the conversation, it's probably better... (that time someone tried to say Asians wearing jeans was cultural appropriation. You mean after mass imperialization and then cotton itself being an example of a slave good? Yeah, not the best example there.)

When Iran (Persia for those who failed History class... I've been running into those people lately) declares that pizza is actually their invention, 'cause the whole cheese on flatbread is theirs, then that's a conversation worth having. 'cause they've been imperialized and done some imperializing. Then it becomes blurry, but I doubt any white people can name a Persian dish.

A side tangent into Simu Liu

BTW, tapioca comes from the Brazilian rainforest, from the Guarani people. It came to Asia in the 16th century. This was to replace the sago pearls which are native and of Chinese origin. But the concept of Tapioca pearls themselves in Boba is Taiwanese. Both of the people attributed to originating are are Taiwanese Han Chinese (as supposed to the other ethnic groups in Taiwan, which there are people of, BTW, Hokkien and Hakka are both sub ethnicities of Han Chinese.) So Simu Liu claiming it's part of his culture too, as a Han Chinese descendant isn't far off, but also because the concept spread back to the rest of East Asia for years before it landed into white hands who said they would "solve the problem for Boba tea") What? What's the problem with Boba tea?

BTW, one of the credited inventors is Liu Han-Chieh. Liu. Liu. That's the surname. *sighs*

Yeah, gets a bit dicey with the whole imperialism thing, and Japan invading Taiwan thing, but seriously... that whole debacle was odd. And still, I'm going to say pizza is a terrible example of food cultural appropriation.