#Joseph kaiju cult :)

[orionlancasterr]

Sorry pacific rim AU

[jasper-pagan-witch]

As far as pcp goes, how would you go about creating and worshipping your own deity, if thats possible?

Hello hello!

As requested, I am tagging @alter-altars and @janhasnoplan in this answer. For convenience, I'm breaking this down into three headers - Don't Get Caught In A Cult, DIY Gods, and Religions From A Writing Perspective.

Don't Get Caught In A Cult

Cults are fucking terrible. And the worst part is, the more immune you THINK you are to them, the more likely you'll be to fall for their tricks.

The New Age to Alt-Right pipeline is a big example of this in metaphysical spaces, but many people have also drawn parallels between Jehovah's Witnesses, the Amish, or Mormons and cults - not because the model is wrong, but because groups that are cults often get away with it in many parts of the United States.

You may not be trying to start a cult for your DIY divinity, but it's important to be aware of the warning signs. People much smarter than I (or at least have the PhDs for it) have written many things about how to identify and escape cults, which brings us to:

Important Links

Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control on the Freedom Of Mind Resource Center

Mind Control - The BITE Model on the ex-cult Resource Center

The BITE Model of Cult Mind Control Explained by Joseph Sherwood on A Little Bit Human

How to Recognise a Cult; How to Avoid Cults That May Try to Convert You; and How to Leave a Cult on WikiHow

What To Do When You Realize You Accidentally Joined A Cult ​by Carrie Saum on Ravishly

How To Help A Loved One Who Joined A Cult by Stephanie Gomulka on Oxygen: True Crime

@pondering-the-kaiju's entire pinned post

DIY Gods

People have been making up gods for their needs for as long as we've had gods. Aradia (the creation of Charles Leland, fuck that dude) has one book as her source. Cernunnos appears on maybe one cauldron. People make up Greek gods all the time because there were just so many of those guys, what's one more? (Good examples of this are Mesperyian and, arguably, Makaria.) And, of course, we can't get through this without mentioning Robert Graves (fuck Robert Graves) creating the White Goddess as his wife's self-insert.

So yes, creating your own god is possible and has precedent. You could even argue that every god was created by someone at some point, because that's just how humans work. We see an idea (often because we're introduced to it by someone else), we go "Oh, that's neat!", and then we take the bits that work for us and we add new stuff that helps flesh out the divine in question. It's how Aphrodite evolved from Astarte, it's how Dionysus got developed and changed over time, and it's how we have the two Wiccan divines.

I recommend studying other religions and how they came to be, because that will also help you learn about how the gods in question came to be. Who moved where? What gods got brought along and turned into other gods? I particularly recommend looking at the Romans and how they went "Wow, everyone worships our gods but with different names! Neat!"

Important Links

Literally anything by Overly Sarcastic Productions that goes into detail about the origin of various deities (which is mostly on Red's end) - namely these ones about Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hades and Persephone and Demeter, Hermes, and Loki

Anything broadly about deity work and religion, frankly, because in the course of developing your divine figure, you'll have to come up with their offerings and portfolio and what they may help you with

Wolf Of Antimony Occultism - aka @wolfofantimonyoccultism here on Tumblr, they're creating their own religion that's really cool to see

Religions From A Writing Perspective

At heart, I am a worldbuilder. I build worlds. That's what I DO. My Kephea project is a great example of this, though I have others as well. In particular, I love building magic systems and religions.

I will accept any chance to talk about my Kephea project, but this is about building a religion. Generally speaking, religions like to talk about the following three things:

How did the world come to be?

How should we act towards one another?

What happens when we die?

Not every religion (real-world or in media) talks about all of these. Hell, some don't touch on any of them. Here's a fictional example of a religion that has some things to say: the Church of Avacyn (the plane of Innistrad in Magic: The Gathering):

Doesn't discuss how the world came to be.

Says that humans should help and protect each other from the monsters of Innistrad, which include vampires, werewolves, zombies, geists, and even other humans. Later says that humans are inherently sinful during the height of Avacyn's madness and they should be slain to save them from themselves. One archangel and her flight took that second part personally and caused a schism in the church.

Promises a Blessed Sleep that won't be bothered by undeath in either zombie or geist form. This isn't going well now that the archangel and her flight who oversees it are destroyed.

It's important to sit and think about how your religion addresses or doesn't address these questions. Is it more of a henotheistic approach, where any number of gods exist but you only worship some? Is it a monotheistic approach, where there's only a single deity? Is it a polytheistic approach, where there are many deities with a strong connecting thread? Is it an entirely different approach, like archetypes (the Mother, the Child, the Himbo), natural forces (the sun and moon, the forest, the potty pond), or something else? That's up to you.

A lot of my links here will be about polytheistic religions, because those are the ones I build the most. Yes, I have a lot of these links, because this is one of my special interests.

Important Links

On Worldbuilding: Religions [ polytheistic l Avatar TLA l Game of Thrones l Cthulhu ] by Hello Future Me/Timothy Hickson on YouTube (a written version of this video is also Part 12 in his book, On Writing And Worldbuilding volume 1)

So You Want To / Create a Mythopoeia; Fantasy Pantheon; and Stock Gods on TV Tropes

Creating a Religion Guide part 1, part 2, and part 3 on Roll For Fantasy

Common Misconceptions About Old Mythologies & Religions; Basic Tips To Create More Believable Sci-Fi & Fantasy Religions & Belief Systems; How To Create Fictional Structured Religions; and Things That Show Up In Christianity-Inspired Fiction That Aren't In The Bible on Springhole

List of religious ideas in fantasy fiction on Wikipedia

8 Tips for Creating a Pantheon for Your Novel by Jill Williamson on Go Teen Writers

How to Create God Characters for Your Fantasy World by Kathy Edens on ProWritingAid

In Summary

I didn't actually give advice, did I? I just kind of dumped a lot of my resources here. Oh well, hopefully you all get something useful out of this!

~Jasper

[demi-shoggoth]

COVID-19 Reading Log, pt 18

Man, this past month has been a heck of a year, hasn’t it? I’ve still been reading books, but my pace has ebbed and flowed, and I forgot to update this for a while. So here’s my thoughts on ten of the most recent books I’ve read.

91. The League of Regrettable Sidekicks by Jon Morris. I had no idea this book existed until I was doing image searches for this project for the other “League of Regrettable X” books. This one covers the sidekicks, minions and goons of comic history. Unlike the other books by Jon Morris, the spread is more even of Gold/Silver/other ages of comic books. After all, the 70s is when Jaxxon the green rabbit appeared in Star Wars, and the 80s had a shape-shifting penguin named Frobisher in the Doctor Who comics. It also feels like it’s a little looser about what makes a character “regrettable”. Some of the sidekicks in its pages, like Woozy Winks and Volstagg the Voluminous, are legit great characters.

92. Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen. I wanted to like this book; I really did. For one thing, it was recommended to me by @listmaker-lastcity​, who I was working with on commissions. For another thing, it was fairly pricy used. Thirdly, to its merit, it is gorgeous. Michael Page, the illustrator, is credited first, and rightly so. But for an “encyclopedia”, it makes up a lot of stuff. It opens with a disclaimer that “the creators of this book have… unlocked their own fantasies”, which means that it invents Arthuriana and Greek myths wholeheartedly. Several of the entries do not exist outside this book, and others are so distorted that their actual folkloric origins have been clouded and obscured by people using this as a source. For material I’m not familiar with the primary sources of, like Gulliver’s Travels, I have no idea if it’s reflecting the source material accurately, or making things up whole cloth. As a fantasy, it’s intermittently fun; some rather nasty misogyny does sneak in and the book is wildly anti-science. As a reference work, it’s useless to the point of actively harmful.

93. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh. I was a huge fan of the “Hyperbole and a Half” blog back in the day, and knowing Allie Brosh’s history of mental health problems, I was worried when she seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. Her release of a second book was a pleasant surprise, but also showed that some worry was appropriate. This collection of essays, cartoons and heavily-cartooned essays is sadder than the first collection, as it was written during and after a series of family tragedies. It is still very funny in parts, however, and has an overall message of self-care and love that turned out to be extra relevant in the nightmare year that is 2020. It’s the only book for this project that I read in a single sitting. Highly recommended.

94. Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. This book is half memoir, half biography. The composer Mozart owned a starling during some of his most productive years as a composer, and even wrote an elegy to it when it died. The author used this as a launching point to adopt her own starling, and to examine how this invasive species is seen in American birding culture. The writing is humanistic and charming, and very self-aware (the author worries that her starling is going to die, because that’s what always happens in “this animal changed my life” books). The message is one of respecting all other creatures and of valuing the lives of animals, which is not much of a surprise from the author’s other books (I covered The Urban Bestiary earlier in this project.

95. The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris. The subtitle says it all; this is a biography of Joseph Lister, focusing on his research into antisepsis and promotion of sterile technique in surgery. It takes ample digressions to talk about other major surgeons of the time, the state of hygiene and disease theory in Victorian England, France and the United States, as well as things like labor conditions and women’s rights. These bits and pieces are woven in successfully, so they feel like appropriate context setting. Fitzharris is empathetic despite the often grisly subject matter, but readers with a sensitive stomach and a low tolerance for gore might want to skip this one.

96. Twice the Thrills! Twice the Chills! by Bryan Senn. This is a big book, 400 pages in full sized paper. It is an overview of the horror/SF double feature, covering every movie released initially in that format between 1955 and 1974 in the United States. As such, it reviews more than 200 movies, with behind-the-scenes anecdotes, critical opinion and box office, and general coverage of trends and themes in genre cinema at the time. I enjoyed this book greatly, especially since it covered some movies I’d never even heard of. The timing is perfect, too, as I read this book just before @screamscenepodcast​ covered the first entries in it, Revenge of the Creature/Cult of the Cobra. My one complaint is that the author seems biased against Japanese films. He discredits the special effects and monster suits in kaiju movies compared to even movies like Attack of the Giant Leeches and The Killer Shrews, and complains about acting and scripts in Japanese films much more than he does for other dubbed films. He also consistently refers to Ishiro Honda as “Inoshiro Honda”, which is how his name was misspelled in the 60s. That level of disrespect for some of my favorite genre pictures is a constant low-level irritation in what is otherwise a fine resource.

97. Cursed Objects by J. W. Ocker. This is a fun catalog of objects said to be cursed, including the whys, supposed effects and current locations of these artifacts. The book is sorted into categories, like “cursed objects in museums”, “cursed furniture”, “technological cursed objects”. It takes a skeptical, folkloric look at the topic, being more interested in the stories than in any legit supernatural powers. It even talks about things that “should” be cursed because of their odd appearances or eerie provenances, but aren’t, like the Crystal Skull forgeries. The book is a pleasant and breezy read, and the author has a good sense of humor on the topic. He curses the book itself with an epigram against thieves, and buys a cursed dog statue on eBay that sat on his desk throughout the writing process.

98. Death in the Garden by Michael Brown. This book is wildly misnamed, being light on both the “garden” and the “death”. It’s supposedly a social history of poisonous plants, but is more interested in English herbals specifically. It refers to the authors by name extensively as if we should have all of these memorized, and the only place where the prose has any energy is in the biographical section for these herbalists. There’s very little information about the actual plants and their poisons. I would use the word “doddering” to describe the prose style, which is simultaneously rambling and boring. The photography is pretty, though.

99. Ripley’s Believe it Or Not! 1929-1930 by Robert Ripley. IDW puts out lovely volumes of vintage American comics, and this is no exception. Being a kid into weird facts and trivia, and an adult who is still into them, the Ripley franchise was a major part of my childhood. This is the first modern collection organized chronologically, covering the first two years the strip was in national syndication. The strips cover the typical Ripley mix of sports trivia, weird facts, word riddles and puzzles, misleading statements and the occasional outright lie. The book has a warning about the racial attitudes of the time, which is fair, but it’s not nearly as bad as I feared. Ripley’s habit of drawing from photographic references means that people in ethnic minorities look like real people. But the language is decidedly “of its time”, with slurs used to identify foreign ethnicities (particularly Asian ones). So be warned.

100. Unlucky Stiffs: New Tales of the Weirdly Departed by Cynthia Ceilan. I’m ordering material to pick up from my local library again, which is great! This book was actually recommended by the library website based on the morbid slant of some of the other books I was putting on hold. Unfortunately, this book sucks. It’s pitched as a “weird deaths” book, something like a more literary version of the Darwin Awards. But the deaths are often not all that bizarre, instead being typically sad accidents or murders. It just comes off as mean spirited and misanthropic. Not recommended.

[zagenta]

Ooooh it’s a tag

@jamieanovels lmao of Course I’m gonna do this of all tags b/c i love lists and i like being self-important by treating my favorite things as objectively good. Also a bunch of ur favs are mine too. But the rule is name 6 movies i can watch anytime, not my 6 favorites, i’m splitting hairs here but i’ll see if that makes any difference. 

The rules are simple: List 6 films you can watch anytime. Tag 5 people afterwards.

In reverse order:

(honorable mentions b/c i’m a cheat: Love Actually, When Harry Met Sally, Pride and Prejudice (2005), Zombieland, Finding Nemo, Kung Fu Panda, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Knight’s Tale, The Outsiders, Rogue One, Any of the Lord of the Rings excluding the Hobbits, Harry Potter 3, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, A Bug’s Life, Crazy Stupid Love, Steel Magnolias, The Breakfast Club, Hercules)

6. Inception - it’s my favorite not-as-deep-as-it-could-have-been-nor-as-complicated-as-people-pretend-it-is-and-is-way-too-overhyped-but-still-really-solid film. Also, I’m a sucker for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy. Chris Nolan is pretty legit despite his movies being boringly overwhelming This Is a White. (also I’ll be forever disappointed in Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar). And it’s got the dream thing i like, i think part of the reason this is on the list is that its one of the first stories that inspired me to try and create a shallow rip off of my own hereby inspiring my own creativity

5. About a Boy - its literally just a british comedy featuring everyone’s favorite jerkass Hugh Grant and a young adorable Nicholas Hoult. There’s literally no depth to my answer for this one it’s just really funny and i watch it a lot with my family. Although I think it’s a got a rly good theme that i really feel like has influenced me as a person, so i guess there is Some depth: no man is an island. Spoiler alert (b/c y’all should totally watch it): And what’s so interesting to me is that the main character has no job or hobbies, and he doesn’t have to work. The other characters judge him for not having a family, but i dont see this as a problem, the real tragedy is that he has no passions. Even if i didn’t have to work, i’d still spend my days drawing or writing or SOMETHing. 

4. Pacific Rim - listen,,,, it’s like,,, a fun visually stunning movie w/ a kickass female lead (sorta?) and i want Newt’s kaiju tattoo sleeves, and if people want to call it overhyped then my rebuttal is.... u right. But Mako Mori kicks ass and if either Newt or Hermann get love interests in the sequel i will flip every single table

3. Road to El Dorado - I had a hard time choosing between this and a Bug’s Life b/c i felt that a kids/animated movie deserved to be on this list, and while I really do love a Bug’s Life and for some reason I seem to be the only person in the world who still gives a crap abt that rly underrated pixar movie, it really isn’t anything beyond just being funny (and a comedic riff of that 7 of thebes/magnificent 7/7 samurai story w/ bugs), and Road to el dorado has a modicum of depth beyond that, so it goes here. Also, it never fails to make me laugh and I rewatched it recently and was surprised by the relatively nuanced portrayal of the citizens of el dorado, and how it doesnt shy away from portraying Cortez as the Demon he was.

2. Mad Max: Fury Road - literally this movie will never stop being badass?????? Ever???? it’s so good??????? It’s visually stunning and has like.... multiple nuanced female characters and oh look my favs Tom Hardy and Nicholas Hoult are back?

1. The Princess Bride - i know its a cult classic but i feel like people don’t appreciate how great this movie is?? I read the book and while it’s fine, i don’t actually think it’s nearly as interesting or exciting as it could be despite Goldman jokingly referring to his edit as “only the good parts”. But the movie doesn’t feel the need to pat itself on the back for being so clever, there’s no “if you start singing i’m gonna throw up” (no shade to Moana it’s quickly become one of my fav disney movies). It’s such a great family film because it caters so well to both adults and children, i heard somewhere before that kids have their own strange logic to the world, and I think the Princess Bride encapsulates that so well because as a child i watched it and took it completely seriously, it doesn’t seem any more outlandish than say, Cinderella or The Little Mermaid, or any other fairy tale. But as an adult I can watch it and get all the humor and satire because the story is ridiculous, yes, but it’s also fun and entertaining and the stakes feel real and you feel clever because Miracle Max is now funny instead of just a weirdo. Also, as far as a framing device goes an old grandpa reading a story to a child is a lot more endearing than hearing abt Goldman’s tangents abt the seriousness of the publishing industry. Also Inigo Montoya’s subplot is probably the best and most satisfying revenge story ever (and tangentially related but i still maintain that Jyn wouldve been more interesting as a sidecharacter in this father-revenge vein than as the protag of Rogue One)

this is way too long. Anyways I tag.... @paint-music-with-me-larry @grafitisonny @victhechick @antijynerso @lavanderbrwn @spaceensignglow @louisthesixteenth @frogyell and anyone else?? u totally don’t have to if you don’t want b/c i literally never do tags also if i forgot u my bad u can totally still do it consider this a tag esp if you’re a mutual

[general-kalani]

He's not going to stop booping.

Who will get tired first, only time will tell.

Surprise boop for the dash!

[general-kalani]

{ @kaiju-crimson-storyandask sent in; Joseph is getting a very interesting visit from a fellow cult leader. The Lamb, barely able to keep their head on, literally, just suddenly appeared within his general vicinity. They looked up at him with those big, seemingly innocent eyes while dark blood slowly seeped from his sliced neck. Really, the only reason it’s on right now, with the thread nearly gone from wear and tear, is because both hands are occupied with keeping it from falling off.

“Pardon my intrusion, but you wouldn’t happen to know how to sew? I need a bit of help and I’m very far away from my own mirror.” }

There's a small panic.

In his church no less?!

"The intrusion is... Pardoned." Temporarily anyway.

Brows furrowed momentarily. He couldn't even begin to fathom what caused this to happen.

"How... Never mind, please kitchen's that way. You won't drop blood on my boards in there."

Mostly because he made sure it wasn't flammable in there.

"I'll have to pop into my room to grab the sewing kit. I'll be just a moment."

[general-kalani]

[EG AU) Well, things flying around is definitely new! At least to the ex-deputy, that is.

“Joseph?” They hesitated at first. They weren’t sure if it wasn’t actually his doing, or they were once again hallucinating. Either way, they approached the cult leader and gently held both of his cheeks with their hands. “Hey. Hey, hey. It’s okay, Joseph. Can you hear me?” ~ @kaiju-crimson-storyandask

The calm voice... The gentle touch... It was more than he could've asked for while in this state.

He's unknowingly leaning into the touch. Tears freely flowing down his face.

"Please don't touch me... Please don't touch me you'll get hurt too please don't touch me..."

He could at least recognise the voice, obviously, feeling there as well. But not enough to realise where he was anymore...

And that scratching worsened at just the thought of hurting someone else.

[general-kalani]

{ @kaiju-crimson-storyandask WHAJBKDHJA OH NO LMFAO- }

"The fuck you mean no? I have the shot lined up on Joseph's fuckin' forehead right now. Take him out, this shits all over and done with and I can start drinking in peace without some cult fuck knocking it outta my hand."