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onwesterlywinds · 5 years ago

Text

One Last Step

So still this broken melody And therewith shoulder thee One last step only leaving An empty hearth down by the sea

Content warning for suicide. | Contains spoilers through 5.0.

In the weeks before the Calamity, Ahtynwyb Eynskyfwyn often dreamt of a tempest of mythological proportions. In those dreams, the storm would bring itself to bear against the mighty cliffs of Quarterstone, upon which perched her grandparents' cabin. The seas would rise in a deafening pulse with waves fit to level any lesser artifice, breaking against the wall of stone and sending their spray up into the blustering sky.

And she would stand alone at the top of those cliffs and know, even in her dreams, that naught would ever be the same again.

II.

The Cabinet of Curiosities held a trove of books. Throughout her travels, throughout her journeys through ruins long forgotten and civilizations engulfed in war, she had wondered every now and again what works she would preserve if forced to do so - if the only remaining testaments to a culture were the things that she and others like her could carry on their backs and in their minds.

She had seen Doma's answer; Ala Mhigo's, too, was becoming clearer by the day. But the Crystarium's had taken her by surprise for the sheer breadth of it: thousands upon thousands of tomes encompassing the last vestiges of mankind. Each book contained not only knowledge, but the dreams of those who had carried it to safety and given it up for the betterment of all. Each book had been entrusted to the community and its future, free for any to peruse.

And after no more than a morning of taking stock of the catalog, Ahtyn left the library to explore the Crystal Exarch's private collection.

She scanned the topmost shelf in his study, her heart pounding in her ears, until she laid eyes upon a tome she'd spotted from afar earlier in the week. Though slightly shabbier around the edges, its pages far more yellowed than she had remembered, she could not have mistaken it for the world. Her feet carried her across the room in a daze. Once she lifted the book from on high, she massaged the intact spine; as she flipped through the volume leaf by leaf, she found not a single page missing.

No book in the Cabinet of Curiosities could mean as much to her as this one, for none of the books beyond this room had come from the Source. None of them had traveled across time and worlds in the very subject they depicted - the Crystal Tower - and not a single one had been her favorite companion as a child.

Her eyes filled with tears as they rested upon the opening lines:

Once upon a time, four young Warriors of Light journeyed forth to right the wrongs of Allag.

III.

It had been bound to happen sooner or later. Looking back, she had ignored all signs from the beginning that her first-ever adventuring party had not been meant to last. One of their number had an ego; another prioritized too many commitments back home; another found fault with everything the others did. Ahtynwyb, for her part, had spent too much of her time smoothing over the fissures emerging in their group with each passing day. Regardless of how or why they had gone their separate ways, the excuses for why they would never have been a team worthy of legend brought her no comfort.

And on a more practical note, her lack of a party left her that much further from entering the Binding Coil of Bahamut.

Though if she were in the Binding Coil, she thought, she wouldn't be able to see the stars over Silvertear. She could stare at that dusk sky forever, with its gathered clouds still purple-hued over the lake and the Crystal Tower shattering the horizon.

She would be inside that tower soon enough. That had to count for something.

"Ahtyn!"

Cid made to throw her some sort of bread but then, noticing the book in her hands, jogged it over to her instead. It was a flaky pastry the size of her face, wrapped in paper and filled with spiced vegetables and cheese. "Fresh from the Toll. Figured you could do with a pick-me-up after running around the lake all day."

"Thanks, Cid."

Either Cid hadn't yet seen her teary eyes, or he had enough grace not to comment on them. "What's that you're reading? Something of the Scions'?"

She shook her head. "No, I've had this one for a while. It was my grandpa's." She closed the pages on her index finger, the better for him to see the cover emblazoned with the very tower before them without losing her page. "Just some old stories. They're a little childish, but they've always been kinda nostalgic, you know?"

Cid let out a long, low whistle, then thumped her on the back a little harder than she had been expecting. "G'raha!"

From where he sat at the center of Saint Coinach's Find, the young man's ears perked up in the middle of his swig of ale; he jumped to his feet in a single fluid motion. "Y-Yes?"

"You said the key to the tower was in legends, yes? Something that the ancients wouldn't have thought to preserve via tomestones?" Cid beckoned G'raha over with a wave of his arm. "You're going to want to see this."

IV.

"Find what you were looking for, then, hero?"

She gave so great a start that she very nearly dropped her book. Emet-Selch leaned against the closed study door, examining a nearby desk and all the clutter the Exarch had left lying atop it. Ahtyn opened her mouth to tell him he wasn't supposed to be in there, then, given the nature of her own trespass, thought better of it.

"I did," she replied, cautious of the venom with which he spoke the word "hero." "And now I'm going to stay in here and read. Alone."

Emet-Selch cast a conspicuous glance at the tome's cover and heaved another of his sighs. "Hmph. How very tedious."

She pointedly ignored him and turned a page.

"And you say this book has been in your family for generations?" Rammbroes murmured. He rubbed the back of his bald head, a sure sign that he was deep in thought.

G'raha Tia turned the book over to reexamine the front cover, even holding it up to where the tower stood to their north. It was a perfect representation, down to the positioning of each crystalline turret. "Despite the fact that the Crystal Tower has not been seen in millennia," he said, echoing Ahtyn's thoughts perfectly. He returned the book to her, bequeathing it as gently as one would hand over a tool of one's trade. "Could your family be descended from survivors of the Allagan Empire, perhaps?"

She shrugged. "I guess there's that chance, but... we're farmers on one side, and pirates on the other."

"After thousands of years, one could never truly know where one's ancestors-"

"What I meant was," she interrupted, "I think if we were descended from Allagans, we'd have way more family stories to tell about how we single-handedly saved the world."

G'raha squinted at her, then at Rammbroes, who was chuckling somewhere over her shoulder. "She's described Roegadyn culture in a nutshell for you," Rammbroes specified.

VI.

"But how can you throw together two whole worlds without things getting smushed?" she had asked her grandfather once during the climax of one of his stories. "Wouldn’t that hurt a lot of people?"

"Sometimes," he replied. "But other times, it’s just what everyone needs. Ye know what the stories say happens when there’s nothin’ but light. Sooner or later, the darkness comes back, and then what’re ye left with? Ye’ve got to have some some darkness to balance out that light once in a while, aye. Because it’s not light that brings the heroes home at the end, Liveen - it’s balance."

VII.

"What is it that so captivates you about that book, then?" Emet-Selch asked some twenty-odd pages later. She had no idea if he'd ever left the study at all - but strangely, even after his constant pestering in the Rak'tika Greatwood, she found him something of a welcome presence. There was, after all, no danger of him revealing her.

"It reminds me of my grandpa. And of a lot of friends."

He let out a noise that might well have been a yawn. "How quaint."

"I thought you were supposed to be a big fan of stories like this one."

"This may surprise you, but omniscience is not among my many talents. I'm afraid I don't know the first thing about it."

"Sprawling epics, dramatic motivations, tragic flaws. I thought Solus ate that shit up." The mention of that name caused him to stop examining his gloves and start actually looking at her. "At least," she continued, with some smugness, "that was what I heard on the Prima Vista."

Emet-Selch's lips twitched into a brief smile as he let out a barely perceptible chuckle, leaning to rest against the nearest wall with folded arms. "So my grandson's suspicions were well-founded: you did meet with Jenomis after all."

"I have."

"He spoke truly. I never will say no to a well-constructed story - particularly not from a master of their medium, as Jenomis is. It's fitting that you were able to bear witness to one of his performances. I can only imagine his resultant works will be better served for your collaboration."

Her eyes were too busy tracing the next line of text-

For why would the hero have thought to look for the villain in her own shadow?

-to immediately register Emet-Selch's words. By the time she did, they took her somewhat aback. "...I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

VIII.

"Hey. Alphinaud."

The crunching footsteps to her right slowed but did not halt. The fulm-deep Coerthan snow made it difficult for them to traverse side by side, but despite lacking her long stride, weather-resistant armor from the Crystal Tower and overall affinity for the cold, Alphinaud had always preferred to keep an even pace with her on the road whenever possible.

"You okay?"

Alphinaud did not stop, even surpassing her on the wooded trail. He made some small noise to indicate he was paying attention but otherwise did not turn to look at her.

"Don't worry. It should start to warm up once we get closer to Mor Dhona, especially around the next hill."

He gave another noncommittal nod, though he shivered a bit through his tunic.

"I wanted to ask you something," she continued. She followed in his steps, mostly so as not to leave him behind - but also, if she had learned anything over the past few weeks, it was that eyes and ears truly were everywhere, and that a misplaced shout could be fatal. "While it's just the two of us." The understanding that Haurchefant would be too overbearing to take part in such a delicate conversation would have to go implied.

"G-Go on," said Alphinaud.

"What Ilberd said, back at the Observatorium, about the prisoners he'd taken into custody." She waited. "About how they would be thoroughly interrogated."

"Do you find fault with his methods? If so, allow me to raise your concerns with him. I imagine he would be amenable to finding an alternative method of..." He trailed off, presumably to search for an acceptable word.

"Gathering intelligence?"

"Precisely."

"You're well within your rights to ask him what his methods actually are, Alphinaud," she said. "And to tell him to stop, if he goes further than you'd like. But if he's one man operating alone, without your oversight-"

"Thank you, my friend," Alphinaud snapped, "but I would rather we speak of something else for the remainder of our journey."

They continued their trek back to Mor Dhona in utter silence.

IX.

The waves over Quarterstone had ebbed since the Calamity, but the ocean still reached a far greater height than she remembered from her youth. She would never get used to such a view, even less so now that her grandparents' house no longer stood: it had been drawn over the cliffs not even a year after their family had relocated to Moraby, its foundations too weathered to withstand the constant onslaught from a changed world.

Grehswys merely sipped at her wine, looking as much at the road on which they had traveled as she was at the horizon they'd memorized throughout their shared childhood. At length, she passed the bottle over to Ahtyn, and she took as long of a swig as she could get away with.

"There's one thing I've come to appreciate about adventurers," her sister said. "You've learned how to talk about shite like this. Most of you, at least."

"What do you mean?"

"You've met folk from all over the world, right?"

"Right."

"So you've had to describe this to them, if it ever came up. What it meant to you, that is, and what it meant to lose it."

Ahtyn racked her brain and was surprised to recall several such conversations: with the Leveilleur twins, with Mupal, with Sairsel, with a full bar at the Sandsea on at least a couple occasions. For something that she had thought of as some great weight, she had brought up the topic more than she'd thought. "I... I guess so. Yeah."

Grehswys shrugged. "That's what's so horrid about staying here. We all went through it, but... we just keep it bottled up. A story everyone knows but never tells."

The void was wearing on her in subtle ways. Or perhaps it was that the creatures she'd fought here had been stronger than any others she'd encountered throughout her adventures thus far.

But the Cloud of Darkness was fading with each passing second. Devoid of its summoned monsters, devoid of immediate purpose, the air in the void was beginning to grow stale - heavy. All around and above her lay a roaring expanse of abyss. It was dizzying to be so entrenched in the dark, save for a ripple of aurora to mark a semblance of light at the end of the tunnel, or a silver lining, or some other grandiose metaphor she didn't have the energy to engage with.

"Right," said Aoife Mahsa beside her, waving a hand in front of her own face. "So... what now."

Ahtyn took as deep of a breath as she could, though the burgeoning void was constricting her lungs with a sickly sweet sort of taste. "Find a way back to Hydaelyn," she said, and ran further toward the aurora. "I'll find G'raha and Nero!"

"Yes!" Aoife replied, bounding in front of her before she could protest. "WE find a way back to Hydaelyn, with G'raha and Nero! You're really on the ball, aye!"

"But Aoife-"

"Don't you 'but Aoife' me!" the bard scolded. "I'm not leaving you alone in here! Besides - if you got lost in the void, Cid and Baithin will each give me at least one lecture!"

Her eyes suddenly stung, and this time, she didn't have any light to blame it on. "Okay," she said, and stepped straight into the oblivion stretching out before them both. "So uh... dibs left void?"

XI.

Ahtyn knelt in the black sand to gather up the last of her belongings from the camp, the better to hide a sudden spike in her anxiety - the first distress she'd felt since wandering along the coast of Valnain more than a moon ago. With Ultima defeated and the Orbonne Monastery cleared of its haunts, Hrjt would have no cause to leave her home for the foreseeable future.

And Ahtyn had yet to overcome an inability to remain in touch.

Her movements stilled over her pack as she considered her impending return to the life of a solo traveler; then a slender finger tapped her twice on the shoulder. Ahtyn turned to find Hrjt's outstretched hand, and Eternal Wind clasped in it.

"You forgot this in my robes," Hrjt said.

There was such earnestness on her companion's face, without a hint of mischief or irony, that Ahtyn couldn't bite back her chuckle. "Okay, sorry. This isn't my strong suit."

"What isn't?"

"I should've just been direct. Hrjt, it's a gift."

"But-" The ends of Hrjt's ears twitched as she frowned. "Oh, no. I couldn't. You said this book was your favorite."

"It is! Which is why I think you should have it."

Hrjt gestured outward with her other hand - the one holding her staff - toward the remaining visible stretch of black coast. Through the heavy fog, Ahtyn could barely make out the dark tides forming a powerful rip current stretching far out into the Valnard Sea - and for once, the sight did not make her wistful for La Noscea.

"Ahtyn," said Hrjt, firmly. "This is how I live. I won't be able to keep it safe or dry with me."

"That's fine," she replied, even as the wind cast a fine spray across her cheek.

"You wouldn't wish to leave it to someone? A future child, or a pupil? Besides, what if I never have the chance to read it?"

"That's shite and you know it; you'll get at least four hundred more years than me."

"And what should happen if I'm instead captured by a voidsent and become lost to the lightless abyss forever?"

Recognizing her deadpan jest for what it was, Ahtyn grinned. "That's just depressing."

"There is, as you would say, a non-zero chance."

"Okay." Ahtyn held up both palms in surrender. "If you really aren't sure, I'll take it back."

She waited, unsure if she had been too pushy from the first. As Hrjt hesitated, her eyes gleamed with a sort of shyness Ahtyn had yet to see from her. "If you're sure... I'll keep it as safe as I am able. I promise."

"I'll visit you again soon," Ahtyn said, and meant it.

XII.

She could not reconcile the sight before her with the weeks of intimacy she had come to take for granted. The aether tugged at her senses; it sparked in the air like diamond dust as Ysayle Dangoulain made her descent against the sickly green sky. She fell faster than gravity, faster than flight. And yet time itself slowed as Ahtyn watched her from the airship, with Cid's hands pulling her back at the arms and the sounds of her own screams deafened in her ears.

She had never, never been able to reconcile the vibrant woman she'd come to know with the dead-eyed primal she had once fought, so long ago, when she'd still been convinced that doing so would bring about Eorzea's salvation. For all of Shiva's conjured majesty, she could convey none of her ideals except to those already devoted. They had had countless conversations during their Dravanian journeys; they had spoken in Ishgardian and Common and tongues long since lost to other mortals, sharing in the wonder of their blessing and burden, partaking together in the joys of being understood as equals. Shiva's summoner was far more wondrous bereft of her power. Ahtyn doubted, even now, that the same could be said of herself.

It was none of it fair. Ysayle was not meant to be the one to fall-

The hull of the Agrius froze, then shattered, then exploded - and soon the flames from the dreadnought's engine melted every last trace of ice. Ysayle's aether, too, was beyond her reach forever.

XIII.

"There are so many things I don't understand," said the young Minfilia, staring out across the hillside at the ribbons of Light pouring over Lyhe Ghiah. "But most of all, I've been wondering... how you manage to do it all on your own."

It was a question she'd been asked time and time again - only this time, she didn't wave away the girl's concerns. She didn't deflect with humility, insisting that the Scions had been at her side all the while or some such. Someday Minfilia would have to tread this same path, as her namesake had before her. Honesty would be the kindest possible gift.

"Well," she began, and the word hung in the air for a little while. "It helps that I've always been the type to want to save the world. Even when I was your age. Mostly I wanted someone, anyone, somewhere down the line, to know that someone tried to make things just a little bit better." She didn't say that when she was Minfilia's age, that desire had usually manifested as an abstract, foolhardy vision of self-sacrifice. "And when it's something you've grown up feeling, when it's that innate to you-" Twelve, and she thought she'd had it bad with merely a preference for books; from what Urianger had divulged, Minfilia had spent her childhood locked in a tower with only a name and a responsibility. "-it's usually less about finding the will to go on and more about... not burning yourself out, or spreading yourself too thin. I'd say that's the hardest part."

Minfilia nodded in the direction of her knees. "It must be difficult," she murmured. "Thancred's told me only a little of what you've done, but I... I can't begin to imagine it."

"It helps when you can be yourself in the day-to-day," she admitted. "Though of course, that's much easier said than done." It was why she had never come around to feeling comfortable in Ishgard: the more Edmont and Aymeric and all the rest came to revere her, the more she wondered if any of them had ever truly known her. "Aside from that, I try to vouch for others as often as I can. It relieves some of the pressure, it helps make some real allies, and... and sometimes it gives people another hero to focus on for a bit. Much as people don't want to hear it, it's not healthy to rest all your hopes and dreams on one person."

From beside her, Minfilia took in a deep, shuddering breath.

"D-Don't get me wrong," Ahtyn stammered. "I'm not saying I think everyone has to be strong enough to look after themselves. That's not a charitable way to think about things, and it doesn't account for all the people who haven't had a choice - like people from occupied territories." She was rambling now. "And there are some real advantages to having a single hero, like being able to take decisive action when it matters most. But I've seen it go wrong: once people get it in their heads that one person, one being can fix all of their problems, they'll go to all sorts of lengths to make it true."

She breathed in deeply, staring hard at the Light. "And honestly, I thought it would be different here in the First, when I heard people resented their Warriors of Light. I thought it'd mean they'd rely less on heroes and more on each other. But I still see it with the Exarch, and with you, and-"

She took one look at Minfilia's wide eyes and finally had the sense to curb her thoughts.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to get so heavy, and none of this is your problem, and... and I don't know how much it makes sense. Long story short, it's just... it's something that gets me because it's..."

"...Because it's not fair," Minfilia finished.

XIV.

Ahtyn had come face to face with a siren before - the creatures that sang to sailors of their purported destinies. Once she had seen a captain walk into a siren's arms against the heeding of his crewmen, and the gory aftermath that had come of that scene had haunted her dreams for nearly a week. And as a song foretelling her own destiny rang out through the reaches of Azys Lla, she wished she could know its promises to be false.

The Goddess regarded her with heavy-lidded, dispassionate eyes.

It’s not light that brings the heroes home at the end, Liveen.

And then the scales tipped.

For a moment she was weightless. She fell through the golden air, watching Sophia grow ever further from her. When the others righted, she did not; with another lurch, with her own balance stymied, she tipped backward over the edge.

"AHTYN!"

A hand, small but strong, grabbed her at the wrist. It hoisted her, perhaps with the added strength of others, upwards and upwards until her feet regained their purchase on the platform and A'zaela Linh's worried face returned into view.

"Thanks!" she called. Sylvan Rain and Crimson Bull were holding off the primal in her momentary absence, pushing back against the Goddess' Daughter with their shoulders and no shortage of will to keep her from reaching Arae'sae and Nivelth. And still, for a moment, she merely stood. For the briefest of instants, the primal's call had granted her a vision clearer even than the Echo, though now it faded from her like water in her hands. She made to charge and then, in a terrifying second, realized she could not find her shield; only when A'zaela handed it back to her did she raise her sword to provoke the Goddess to face her again.

"How's that for judgment?!" she cried. "Now come and get me!"

XV.

No one spoke in the Ocular. Not even a plate of the Exarch's famous sandwiches could tempt them into conversation after their discoveries in the Qitana Ravel. For all their earlier bickering, Y'shtola and Thancred cast identical glowers of fatigue. Alisaie sat cleaning her rapier with single-minded dedication; Alphinaud paced from one end of the hall to the other. Urianger thumbed through a tome Ahtyn didn't recognize from the Exarch's private library. Minfilia pivoted her gaze from one Scion to the next, always folding and refolding her hands in her lap.

"Maybe this is hypocritical," Ahtyn said at length. "But I don't think this really changes anything."

They all turned to her.

It was wishful thinking, but if she had to continue to ponder in silence the possibility that she could be tempered, she would likely lose her mind.

"I agree," drawled Emet-Selch from out of nowhere behind her. "Listen to the hero. Continue your course." He took a bite of a sandwich and, presumably unsatisfied, set it back down onto the tray. Only Minfilia had the energy to glare at him.

"What I mean is," she continued aggressively, "if it's true that Hydaelyn is a primal, then anything we do to try to change or mitigate that fact could have serious consequences for the Source, if not other worlds."

Urianger nodded his agreement. "This matter requireth deliberations with our esteemed colleagues in the Source."

She opened her mouth to promise that she would raise the topic as soon as she could, but the Light suddenly heaved in her chest. The wave of nausea cut off any of the promises she might have made, any reassurances that the foundations of their worldview would remain intact.

XVI.

Even with the power surging around and through him, she held out a hand. She held out a hand as though doing so could undo all that he had schemed and dealt throughout the past half year, as though she could pull him from that precipice through her own sheer will.

Instead Ilberd Feare stared directly into her eyes, his eerie grin widening, as he stretched out the hands that held the eyes of Nidhogg and leaned further and further backward-

"COWARD!" Alphinaud screamed.

The Griffin gave one last tip of his head - a nod in her direction, it seemed - and she was seized with a horrific calm as he fell from Baelsar's Wall.

XVII.

The knock, quick and quiet, came upon her inn room door at nearly three in the morning. She staggered out of bed in a flash, halfway to grabbing her pauldrons. It could only be another Eulmoran attack, or some other initiative that required her urgent participation, and Captain Lyna would just have to get over her dishevelment. Then she threw open the door and found Alisaie in a robe and nightgown, carrying a pillow.

"May I borrow your floor?" Alisaie asked, conveying somewhat more consciousness than Ahtyn had expected, given the hour.

"Uh, yeah," she grumbled, albeit before she'd fully processed the question. "Of course."

Alisaie slipped inside, kicking off her slippers with enough force for them to land yalms apart. "It seems neither Alphinaud nor I can sleep. Only he insisted on making cocoa, and conversation-" Ahtyn could not determine from Alisaie's tone which of these she held in greater disdain. "-and I simply didn't have the heart to tell him I wasn't remotely interested."

Despite the proposal she'd agreed to, Ahtyn shepherded Alisaie toward her bed and took the floor for herself. There was more than enough room for them to share the mattress; then again, she had experienced all too often Alisaie's sleep-kicking during their expeditions in Gyr Abania and the Far East, when she or Lyse would have to share accommodations with her. The sight of the smallest among them enjoying her own sleeping mat was one that had never failed to bring Gosetsu to fits of his boisterous laughter. One by one, the memories of their adventures flickered through her head, bringing with them the crushing realization of how much of Alisaie's life she had missed while they had been worlds apart.

With the both of them settled and the lights long extinguished, Ahtyn whispered, "How are you holding up, really?"

She had expected a groan of frustration, or a muttered curse. Instead, Alisaie rolled over and stared in the general direction of her voice. "As always, I'm worried for you. ...I suppose that's why I can't sleep."

XVIII.

Her first thought, exhausted as she was from the interdimensional battle with Shinryu and the mere sight of Zenos lying dead in a pool of his own blood, was that Lyse looked beautiful with her arm stretched aloft. Her second thought was that Lyse had an incredible singing voice, and so did Ashelia Riot, though the latter was leaning the entirety of her weight against her husband and trying to look inconspicuous while doing so.

And as she stared out from atop the ramparts of Cotter Tor, she had never been prouder to stand among a crowd. For once, for once, all was put to rights. She did not quite know how she had come to stand here, beside Arenvald and the pennant, with a throng of Ala Mhigans far below. Between her and those people - the people whom she had played her own part in protecting - there lay a drop of half a thousand fulms.

"Ahtyn!" Lyse clasped her from behind at the shoulders, giving her a little shake to pull her from her reverie. The others behind her had begun to disperse back into the royal palace. "We're regrouping back at Porta Praetoria. Unless you need a minute?"

She shook her head. Better to look into Lyse's eyes than to peer into that empty, dawn-hued sky; better to have Lyse's hands on her than to trust in her own feet not to take her over the edge.

XIX.

It was easiest to take hold of his hand, crystalline though it was. They both needed the fresh air, but there was little to be found, even on the tall cliffs of Kholusia: she could scarcely smell the sea over the tinny smog from the dwarven forges.

But the Exarch did not appear to mind. He recovered slowly but steadily from his moment of collapse, his breathing growing more and more regular the longer they shared their simple contact.

"Construction on the Talos is proceeding apace?" he asked.

She nodded. They lapsed then into an easy, comfortable silence, presiding together over the Light-strewn sky. Soon, if all went as planned, that Light would be gone - contained amongst the vast sea already rising within her.

"It still doesn't feel right to me," she said at last. "None of this does, without the wind."

The Exarch's face gave no movement that she could see, but she could sense the smile in his words. "Then if you have a moment yet to spare, I would ask you to indulge me with a tale from your people - Eternal Wind, wasn't it?" As he turned to her then, she could see his grin in full. "Perhaps it would put both our hearts at ease, given the impending juncture."

It did not matter that he could easily have known of her connection to that book through any of the Scions, or learned it from gazing through the rift to the Source.

She knew then who he was for certain.

Her grip on his hand had grown so tight that it had begun to ache against the crystal. "Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."

And then she burst into tears.

"Oh, no no no," G'raha Tia murmured. His hood visibly shifted as his ears went flat. He reached out with his free hand, his hand of flesh, as if to touch her shoulder; instead, his hand lingered somewhere above her pauldron. "I'm so sorry, my friend; I-I never meant to-"

"I just-" She was sobbing now, as hard as she had cried alone at the banks of Silvertear Lake after she and the rest of NOAH had said their farewells to him. "Whatever happens next - no matter how it all ends - I want you to know h-how much it means to me. All hundred years of it! Everything you've done, everything you've been through... gods!"

He did not confirm her praise. As she rested her head upon his shoulder, still weeping for him alone to see, he laid his own head against her - his lips brushing mutely against her temple.

XX.

Tucked three-quarters of the way into Eternal Wind lay a strip of dyed Dalmascan paper, with words written lengthwise upon it in a hasty scrawl:

For the Ironworks.

May her light guide our journey home.

Hrjt Brotin

XXI.

"My dear, beloved sapling," Feo Ul crooned.

But she was beyond such praises now. All the different parts of her lay fractured. Here, atop the watchtower and brimming with sacrifice, she was neither savior nor warrior nor woman. She could not be anything, let alone the one thing she needed to be. She could scarcely maintain her consciousness without focus, let alone a process of thought, let alone the weight of her disparate memories. She was fit for nothing save destruction, save an Ascian's machinations.

"You are lost - confused - and have precious little time to gather your wits."

Time was not what she needed. Oh, to rule from Lyhe Ghiah forever would be a wondrous dream, a blissful reprieve - and yet it would be an ending, and one she was unworthy of at that.

"Stand very, very still," said the king. "Think not of where you need to go, but where you are right now at this moment. At this time, in this place..."

Ahtyn breathed in deeply. She let Feo Ul's words flow over her, like a steady breeze to greet the waves of Light breaking over the ramparts of her body. A single tear slipped down her cheek; Feo Ul swiped it away with the point of a single finger. The gesture, surprising in its intimacy, provoked an unexpected chuckle.

"I'm still here," she whispered. "And I still have you." And the twins, and Ryne, and all the other Scions. Her family, Hrjt, every friend whom she had ever known and loved. G'raha. "I know what comes next. But I'm... I'm so afraid, right now. And it feels silly to be so afraid." What would happen to the Light if she burst from all the fear and sadness and guilt?

Feo Ul shook their head. "It isn't silly at all at all, my sapling. But as you set off for who knows where, making even more of a mess of that aether of yours - remember that you have withstood this before, and you will surely do so again." They laid their hands upon her cheeks, flitting close enough to touch their tiny forehead against hers. "And know too that for all the miseries you have endured, you give back joy in equal measure."

XXII.

[Let us debate today the topic of our colleague's newest collection.]

The tide of Light had carried her to the deepest reaches of the Tempest, to a place where shades treated her as one might treat a misbehaving child. She sat staring at her own feet in the Hall of Rhetoric, a means of grounding herself against the aether's pull.

The masked, robed figure sitting opposite her gave a grandiose gesture with his arms. [It is an outrage, and a danger to young ones such as our guest.]

[The work is certainly unconventional,] his identical partner agreed. [Yet a danger? It inflicts no pain, and it neither incites nor promotes harmful behaviors.]

[It serves as a call to action and is therefore inflammatory by its very nature and purpose. Its themes are like to instill ideals of nonconformity within the most impressionable.]

[My friend,] the masked figure beside Ahtyn said, [it sounds to me as though you oppose the mere idea of this work. Have you yet read it?]

[Er... no. I have not. But I have heard enough from those I trust to know that it challenges the very fabric of the society we all labor so hard to uphold.]

[And yet these trusted friends and many other noble souls have read it, and are presumably no less patriotic for having done so. It seems to me, therefore, that this work is but a touchstone for a broader debate: that of censorship, and if some individual ideas deserve to be curbed in order to better provide for the needs of all.]

[What's this work about?] Ahtyn asked. She could not follow the conversation, even as she recognized each and every one of the arguments they made.

The figure across from her held a finger to his lips but otherwise ignored her. [You know I am all in favor of creation as self-expression,] he insisted. [But creation necessitates responsibility. We employ the Bureau of Architects to ensure that a patent is not accessible to those of insufficient skill and understanding. There is no such way to determine whether ideas could or should be similarly judged to ensure that those of weaker wills do not take it upon themselves to... to act upon ideas which they do not fully understand.]

[You raise a valuable point, my friend,] the specter beside her acquiesced. [Perhaps we shall discuss this matter with Emet-Selch. He is ever impartial with moral quandaries such as this.]

With their final debate settled, with their purpose served, the two figures faded into peaceful obscurity.

XXIII.

"You truly don't remember."

The more the Light surged within her, the more she wanted to, even as she feared what else that remembrance might bring. Her ramparts already threatened to crumble amidst the Ascian's private hell; were they to fall now, were the Light to overtake her, she would be lost.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, girl."

The words filled her with rage, as they always had, but neither could she tie them to any particular memory - and so she stared up, trying to summon anything more than a growl of pain in her throat.

"Well, retorts never were your forte." Emet-Selch knelt, the better to grasp her chin and tilt her face up toward his, forcing eye contact. Beads of sweat borne from pain obscured her eyes, nearly blotting out her vision. "And neither was irony, apparently. That you of all people should forget."

A new crop of Light rose in her gut, burning like bile as she spat it out onto Emet-Selch's Garlean boots. "Tell me." For words meant as an order, they rang pathetic from her lips. "Tell me who I was." Who I am.

He rolled his eyes and stood, dragging her up only part of the way before releasing her to crumple once again onto the crystal floor. "You were full of potential, most of it wasted. Just as you are now." He swept an arm wide, across where she lay half-broken upon the cold aetheric surface. "You could have been something, had you applied yourself - had you cared one whit beyond your own stupid dreams! You could have saved all of us. But no!"

"What did I do?" For whatever great sin she had committed, she had no doubt that it contributed in no small way to these people's destruction.

Emet-Selch's arms fell; his shoulders slumped. "What did you do?" he repeated, incredulous.

When he turned, he turned to face her without a hint of mischief in his eyes - only a mad grief.

"You created stories. Long, long ago, you wove a tale about a hero's journey - and from that tale sprang every other legend of heroes and journeys these sundered worlds have ever known."

The next breath she drew in was painless, steadying. Filling.

Emet-Selch drew himself up to his full height, coughing into his fist before adopting an orator's pose. "'A hero leaves her home, with the knowledge that naught will ever be the same again. She is tested, time and again - by monsters, by enemies, by allies, by the great and irrevocable struggles taking place in the world and in herself. She endures an ordeal graver than any other, something she has worked towards perhaps without ever knowing it, and in so doing sacrifices a part of herself. And when she returns home, if she returns home, she is changed - not in the way she hoped but in the way she needed.'" He sneered down at her, at the Light pouring out from her. "Is this the glorious homecoming you always imagined, my dear? Is this the necessary change you so envisioned for yourself, at long last... Sappho?"

Over the Light, over even the humiliation and fear and regret, that name triggered within her an ancient knowing. She staggered to her feet. Cold, unfeeling aether burst from her spine like wings, like a Passage of Arms given form.

The others could not save her now, for there could be no saving her. For all her insistences, she was the only one. There could only be this end - her end.

"You could have saved them!" Emet-Selch screamed, even as she transformed further into the broken creature he had sought for his own ends. "It was not enough for us to beg to you, oh, no. You decided you alone wanted no part in creating our savior, our god. And so we were left to summon Zodiark without your guidance."

He laughed so loudly and for so long that the sound doubled him over, even as she found the will to stand tall. By the time he composed himself once more, his voice was as soft as death.

"But you were correct on one point," he seethed. "My world will have no need for heroes."

XXIV.

At the end of days, the world needed a hero. Amaurot had chosen Zodiark.

Against her fears, against her protestations, the ritual would be performed on the morrow.

She stared down at the burning city, at the end of days. She wished she could evoke pity or grief for her people. She wished she could summon anything but her own worthless guilt.

A stillness emanated from the horizon, the first vestiges of Zodiark's lightless dawn. She tore off her mask to greet it.

They had used her own words to justify it. At the end of days, a savior comes. Would that she had never written at all.

With that thought etched into her mind, Sappho stepped from Amaurot's tallest cliff.

XXV.

"This world is not yours to end." Ahtynwyb Eynskyfwyn, the Queen Light, drew her sword against the Dark. "This is our future. Our story."

"Very well," said Hades. "Let us proceed to your final judgment. The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain!"

???

And when she sat down upon her bed, aching and purposeful and devoid of every last obligation but one, she opened up a spare notebook to its first page and wrote:

Once upon a time, a young Warrior of Light journeyed forth into a realm reborn.

I tell you someone will remember us in the future.

-Sappho, Sapphic Fragment 2

#Livvy Ahtynwyb

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nvgotd · 5 years ago

Text

The Non-Violent Games of E3 2019

Following requests on Twitter, I’ve compiled a roundup of all the non-violent games announced and showcased at E3 2019. Hoping this can become an annual thing.

There are 41 games here across a variety of platforms, so without further ado...

Afterparty

Developer: Night School Studios Platforms: PC, Mac, Xbox One Release Date: 2019

Milo and Lola are best buds who recently died and find themselves in Hell. There is only one way to escape: outdrink Satan and he'll let them return to Earth. This point and click adventure sees you on the bender of your afterlife where you'll play beer pong, flirt with Satan and change the very structure of Hell.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Developer: Nintendo Platforms: Switch Release Date: March 20, 2020

The latest entry in Nintendo's charming life sim series starts on a deserted island. Players begin with nothing more than a tent, but must craft enough materials and cultivate the land until they can build an entire village -- all while repaying their debt to the insidious Tom Nook, of course.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Discovery Tour

Developer: Ubisoft Quebec Platforms: PC Release Date: Autumn 2019

Following on from the Assassin's Creed Origins version presents players with a combat-free version of Odyssy's Ancient Greece. They'll be able to explore it at will, or follow tours and suggested paths that will teach them about various aspects of life and culture at the time. This time around, there are also quizzes to see how much you have learned. It will be released for free, with a standalone version for people who don't own the game.

Catan

Developer: Asmodee Digital Platforms: Switch Release Date: June 2019

The digital adaptation of this classic board game is coming to Nintendo Switch. For those who haven't played, a landscape is randomly generated, its terrain and the produce gained from it is split between players, and your task is to build the biggest settlement. Trade with players to get the resources you need to build towns and roads, but be wary of whether the items you give them are helping their own progress.

Circuit Superstars

Developer: Original Fire Games Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch Release Date: 2020

In the absence of a new Micro Machines, Square Enix Collective is publishing this toy-like top down racer. Players control stylised cars in a series of circuit races where they need to consider their pit stop strategy rather than just floor it and hope to reach the finish first. Vehicles will range from classic cars to rally and trucks.

eFootball PES 2020

Developer: PES Team Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One Release Date: September 10, 2019

The long-running Pro Evolution Soccer gets a slight esports-driven name change this year, but still aims to deliver the most realistic football available. The Master League mode is being revamped, and a new mode Matchday appears to tie in with real-world matches, calling on players to choose a side and hope that their team's victories help them in-game.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Developer: Mediatonic Platforms: PC, PS4 Release Date: 2020

Published by Devolver Digital, this colourful outing is essentially a Battle Royale game... but without combat. Players control one of 100 little blob people and strive to survive a series of obstacle courses like climbing a hill with boulders falling towards them or crashing through bricks walls that may or may not be solid. If you've ever watched Takeshi's Castle, you get this idea.

Forza Horizon 4: Lego Speed Champions

Developer: Playground Games Platforms: Xbox One, PC Release Date: June 13, 2019

The Lego Speed Champions expansion adds a whole new region to the best-selling racer where everything is made of (you guessed it) Lego. Players will also be able to hop into Lego vehicles, race around Lego tracks and smash through Lego walls and trees. Because Lego means everything is awesome (And now that song's stuck in your head. Sorrynotsorry).

FIFA 20

Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch Release Date: September 27, 2019

This year's FIFA revamps key systems like shooting and AI defending but also adds a brand new FIFA Street-style mode, Volta. This veers away from the realistic, straightforward football we're used to and invites players to be more creative in matches where teams have between three and five players rather than the usual eleven.

Flight Simulator

Developer: Microsoft Platforms: PC Release Date: TBA

Microsoft's hyper-realistic aviation simulation returns after more than a decade, this time rendered in impressive 4K visuals. Sit in the cockpit of faithfully recreated vehicles and fly around the world.

Fujii

Developer: Funktronic Labs Platforms: Valve Index Release Date: June 27, 2019

This virtual reality title allows you to explore three of vibrant and serene landscapes. As they wander through them, each with their own distinct environments, they can help bring each one to life by watering plants, touching certain objects and interacting with creatures. They can also collect seeds on their adventure and use them to grow an exotic garden of their own.

Garden of the Sea

Developer: Neat Corporation Platforms: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive Release Date: June 10, 2019 (Early Access)

In a game described as a mix between Harvest Moon and Pokémon, players are given a cottage on a small island and are free to live out their life how they see fit. They can grow plants and crops in their garden, or explore the island and meet the native creatures. Unlike Pokémon, interacting with them doesn't require you to battle them in any way -- simply stroke them, feed them and generally befriend them.

Genesis Noir

Developer: Feral Cat Den Platforms: PC, Mac Release Date: TBA

Technically, this game depicts the Big Bang that started our universe as a gunshot from a cosmic being, one that kills the protagonist's love interest... but since the gameplay does not involve violence and the goal is to prevent her death, I'm going to give it a pass. This stylish adventure sees you exploring Earth from the eyes of someone who exists outside of the universe. The emphasis is on exploration, interacting with the world and generating art as you do so.

Harvest Moon: Mad Dash

Developer: Natsume Platforms: PS4, Switch Release Date: Autumn 2019

An even more casual spin-off of the already laid back Harvest Moon series, Mad Dash is a colour matching puzzle game at its heart. Players are presented with a field seeded with blocks of different coloured crops. Combining those blocks to form larger squares helps the crops grow larger for more points -- for example, combine four cabbages to make one big cabbage, then four big cabbages to make a giant one. Rack up as high a score as possible before the time runs out, and you can call in a friend with co-op mode to help you.

Heave Ho

Developer: LeCartel Studios Platforms: PC, Switch Release Date: Summer 2019

Published by Devolver Digital, this wacky physics-based platformer gives you control of a strange looking creature with two exceedingly long arms. Use the simulated physics to build momentum and swing or flip across the screen to grab hold of the terrain. Only by mastering the mechanics will you complete each course. You can also have up to three friends join in, but coordination will be key to reaching your goal.

Hyperdot

Developer: Tribe Games Platforms: PC, Xbox Release Date: 2019

This minimalist action arcade game is all about dodging. You control a single dot (a HyperDot, if you will) trapped in a circular arena with enemies, projectiles and other hazards. Simply guide your dot around the empty space to avoid any collisions and survive as long as you can. The campaign will have over 100 different levels, each with their own dangers, and a multiplayer mode will challenge you to outlast your friends.

Just Dance 2020

Developer: Ubisoft Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Wii (no, really) Release Date: November 5, 2019

If you haven't heard of Just Dance before, it's a Rayman Raving Rabbids minigame that's got out of hand (true story). In the minigame, players copied the choreography on an on-screen characters in time with the music. Ten years, 28 games and spin-offs, and countless music licensing deals later, you have Just Dance 2020.

Lost Words: Beyond The Page

Developer: Sketchbook Games Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch Release Date: December 2019

A 2D platformer set entirely in a little girl’s diary. Players use the words on the page as both platforms and tools to solve the various puzzles that block her progress. The game also has a beautiful story written by Rhianna Pratchett.

Madden NFL 20

Developer: Electronic Arts Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One Release Date: August 2, 2019

New to this year's Madden is Face of the Franchise: QB1, a "personalised career campaign" that allows players to create their own college quarterback and lead him to NFL glory. There are ten licensed college teams, along with all the most popular teams in the league.

Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams

Developer: Frost Earth Studio Platforms: PSVR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift Release Date: Out Now

Another virtual reality exploration title set in a variety of imaginary landscapes. Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams is designed to be a meditative experience, where each world is inspired by a different mental state to help players "find their emotional balance". Environments range from a calm and lush forest to a perilous world of flames and tornados.

Mosaic

Developer: Krillbite Studio Platforms: PC Release Date: 2019

This dark and brooding adventure centres around a lonely man living a repetitive life in an overpopulated but ever-expanding city. Players experience his life, from the daily commute to working at a faceless megacorporation. All seems meaningless, until one day strange things begin to happen and the man's life changes dramatically.

Night Call

Developer: Black Muffin, MonkeyMoon Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, Switch Release Date: 2019

A murder mystery noire game where you play a Paris taxi driver. Players must assist with the police investigation by getting their passengers, including potential suspects, to talk during their journey with you. But try not to scare them off, as you still need to earn enough money to pay your bills.

Per Aspera

Developer: Tlön Industries Platforms: PC Release Date: 2020

Another title about colonisation, but this one is set a little closer to home. Per Aspera tells the tale of a mission to colonise Mars, but in addition to the management side of things there is a strong narrative about the hardships of leaving your world to build a new one. Players must explore the Red Planet to find the resources they need to terraform the environment and survive, and make decisions carefully and strategically if they want the colony to prosper.

Planet Zoo

Developer: Frontier Developments Platforms: PC Release Date: November 5

From the makers of Planet Coaster and Jurassic World Evolution comes a management title that, perhaps quite obviously, puts you in charge of a zoo. Care for your animals, customers and staff as you try to run an efficient zoo, unlocking more and more exotic creatures as you progress.

Read Only Memories: Neurodiver

Developer: MidBoss Platforms: PC, Mac Release Date: 2020

Announced this week, this is the sequel to the acclaimed cyberpunk point-and-click adventure 2064: Read Only Memories. Players will search people's memories as a telepathic detective aided by the titular Neurodiver as the pair search Neo-San Francisco for a rogue psychic who is breaking people's minds.

Roller Champions

Developer: Ubisoft Platforms: PC Release Date: Early 2020

Set in 2029, this colourful game imagines a world where the most popular sport is the titular Roller Champions. Players compete in teams of three as they race around oval tracks trying to score as many goals as they can, while racking up as many laps as possible. There is the ability to tackle, but also the ability to dodge in stylish fashion.

Skatebird

Developer: Glass Bottom Games Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux Release Date: TBA

Since we're unlikely to ever be getting a new Skate, one indie is working on the next best thing: Skatebird. This skateboarding game features all the tricks, flips and kicks you expect, but the rider is a little bird and everything he's skating on has been made from household objects. The Kickstarter for this was announced earlier this week and already passed its goal of $15,000 (currently near $24,000).

Spiritfarer

Developer: Thunder Lotus Games Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch Release Date: 2020

In this cartoonish but touching adventure, players take on the role as the ferryman carrying recently departed souls on to the next world. While the souls are of human beings, they appear as animals that represent their personalities. Players can befriend them, develop relationships, and expand and improve the houseboat carrying them to the other side in a story that drives a message of acceptance.

Spaceteam VR

Developer: Cooperative Innovations Platforms: TBC Release Date: TBC

A virtual reality adaptation of a mobile game previously covered on NVGOTD. The concept is much the same: a group of players are aboard a spaceship, each in charge of certain controls labelled in made up space jargon. Each player is given a set of instructions that relates to another players' controls, but they don't know who. The only way out to find out is to shout out "Soak the Ferrous Holospecturm" or "Set the Sigmaclapper to 0" (for example) and hope everyone else is paying attention. If the team fails to follow instructions, the ship crashes.

Starmancer

Developer: Ominux Games Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux Release Date: Q1 2020

Starmancer is a building and management game that sees you constructing and maintaining a space station, but rather than playing some invisible God-like being (i.e. yourself) like you do in The Sims, this time you have a role to play. The game casts you as the station's AI and tasks you with sustaining a crew of colonists as they attempt to reach a new world on which they can build their home. Once the colony is complete, players can send out their humans to mine asteroids, trade with other factions and even explore ancient alien ruins.

Steep

Developer: Ubisoft Annecy Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One Release Date: Out Now

Another previous NVGOTD recommendation, this extreme winter sports title from Ubisoft is still going strong. This week the publisher announced a free new map set in Japan, giving players a whole new course to master.

Supermarket Shriek

Developer: Billy Goat Entertainment Platforms: PC, Xbox One Release Date: July 9, 2019

Don't worry, that's not blood -- it's paint. I was confused too. Supermarket Shriek is a kart racer (of sorts) where you control a man and a goat in a shopping trolley. Designed to ideally be played by two people (one as the goat, one as the man), each person has a microphone and must scream into it to turn in their direction to steer around a variety of complicated courses, all set in unsuspecting and previously tidy shops. There is, of course, a two-button control scheme for players who want to try it themselves.

Telling Lies

Developer: Sam Barlow Platforms: PC, Mac Release Date: 2019

From the creator of the superb Her Story comes a fresh live-action narrative adventure with far grander ambitions. Players explore videos stored on a hard drive stolen from the National Security Agency as they try to understand why the four characters have been played under electronic surveillance. As with Her Story, they can search for keywords to access new videos but this time they need to piece together timelines and events to interpret what they have seen.

The Curious Tale of Stolen Pets

Developer: Fast Travel Games Platforms: PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality Release Date: 2019

This single player adventure game is a puzzle-centric affair set on tiny floating worlds that come from the imagination of a child and their grandfather. Players grab, push, drop and spin objects found in each world searching for clues that will reveal what happened to the missing pets.

The Elder Scolls Legends

Developer: Bethesda Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android Release Date: Out Now

This digital card battler sees you pitting monsters and creatures from the world of Bethesda's hit RPG series against each other. The big E3 news for this game is a new expansion, Moons of Elsweyr, introducing new cards and a storyline themed around the home of the cat-like Khajiit people.

The Good Life

Developer: White Owls Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One Release Date: Autumn 2019

Positioned as a "debt management life RPG", The Good Life puts players in the role of New York journalist Naomi, who has to move to a small British town to pay off her debts. The only way to do so is ben taking pictures of what happens in the town and reporting on them, but the closer she watches the local inhabitants, the quicker she realises that all is not as it seems.

The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Games

Developer: Fantasy Flight Interactive, Asmodee Digital Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch Release Date: August 8, 2019

Another digital card battler, but one based on the timeless works of JRRTolkien. Inspired by the real card game, this uses the animation and interactivity of video games to liven matches up. Players collect a deck of heroes from across Middle-Earth as they battle the forces of Sauron in card form.

The Sims 4: Island Living

Developer: The Sims Studio, Maxis Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One Release Date: June 21 (Desktop), July 16 (Consoles)

The newest expansion for The Sims 4 gives players the chance to build their dream island palace, as well as watch their Sims take part in more tropical activities. They'll be able to kit out their characters in local island clothing, instruct them to lounge on the beach, or encourage them to befriend the native dolphins. There are also water sports, like canoeing, swimming and surfing, plus occupations to train up for, like the beach-cleaning conservationist.

The Wardrobe - Even Better Edition

Developer: CINIC Games Platforms: PC Release Date: June 7, 2019

The Wardrobe is a point-and-click adventure inspired by the classic LucasArts titles like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. It tells the story of Skinny, a boy died from an allergy to plums (that he didn't know about) and became a skeleton that lives in his friend Ronald's wardrobe. Skinny secretly watches over Ronald and helps him in life, but events force him to reveal himself. Even Better Edition adds joypad support, more achievements, a new save system and other improvements.

Totem Teller

Developer: Grinning Pickle Platforms: Xbox One, PC Release Date: 2020

Described by the developer as an "antinarrative video game", Totem Teller puts you in the role of a muse seeking inspiration. They roam the land in search of lost folklore, investigating strange distortions and retelling stories to any listeners they gather around them -- or allowing the stories to be forgotten forever. The surreal painted visual style gives it a storybook feel.

Way to the Woods

Developer: Anthony Tan Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch Release Date: 2020

This beautiful game sees players controlling one of two deer wandering through a post-apocalyptic landscape in search of safety. As they explore the ruins of civilisation, they'll encounter other friendly creatures such as racoons and cats, but a black goo that corrupts everything it touches continues to spread around them. Only by solving puzzles and finding new ways forward can they hope to escape.

Yoga Master

Developer: Oxygene Media Platforms: PS4 Release Date: Summer 2019

Developed in collaboration with professional yoga coaches, this game features more than 150 different poses for players to master and a variety of serene environments to practice in. There are over yoga programs to follow or you can create your own, and the game will be regularly updated with new content.

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a-h-arts · 7 years ago

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Defective Kindle Edition (review of Kindle only) This review pertains ONLY to the kindle edition. This is cheap but very defective! NO ILLUSTRATIONS. The notes are not linked from the text, and in the Notes section, the numbers are omitted. So figuring out which note goes with which part of the text is your challenge. Go to Amazon

A fun, timeless must read adventure I love art history books but am aware that many have better use, curing insomnia. Although this book was more and two hundred pages, it was a wonderful, well researched, attention grabbing narrative about the history of color, the difference between pigment and dye , the search for "forgotten" recipes and human sentiment around the globe to color. Even the epilogue and bibliography are useful and easy to follow. Go to Amazon

NOT color-ful The kindle version of this book -- allegedly about the world's dazzling colors -- is in BLACK & WHITE!!!! Desperately trying to get my money back. Go to Amazon

Pure Magic Beyond fascinating. If you ever had a box of crayolas, love art, or just want a fascinating read - this is the book. She even had a section on the Stradivarius violin and by pure happenstance, within a week of reading the section was at a live performance with a Strad. I was sitting 3 feet from the Strad and got to see the back of it - which looks just like the photos in the book. Oh - wait a minute - the physical book had the photos, but the Kindle edition did not - although they are listed in there. Bummer!!! Demand the photos - the are about 8 of them missing from the Kindle edition. Go to Amazon

Will Make You Rethink the Rainbow A surprisingly fun read, this is the history of colored paints and dyes. These days, artists buy their paints in tubes from the art supply store, but the old masters had to mix their own. This book talks about finding lapiz lazuli from a single mining town in Afghanistan, and crushing that blue stone to create the most wondrous shade of blue, first found 7,000 years ago on Buddhist statues. Green celadon was a seaweed green porcelain that only Chinese emperors could own. When an ancient temple collapsed in modern China, secret treasure vaults were discovered that yielded the unusual tableware. Finlay describes her many trips to the subcontinent in search of Indian Yellow, supposedly made from the urine of cows that are fed mangoes. And, of course, let's not forget the purple vomit of sea mollusks, the deep red blood of crushed beetles, the demanding work of separating saffron from crocuses, and the many trials and tribulations of those artists who worked with mercury, lead, cobalt and arsenic. This is as much a travelogue as it is a vibrant history of color throughout the ages, and the great lengths that artists would go in search of the perfect color. Go to Amazon

A personal tale of color, well researched, scholarly, yet written without stuffiness or jargon. Fascinating and easy to read. Awesome book. Scholarly, yet written in a conversational style. There is nothing dry or textbook-ish about this read. Victoria Finlay manages to trace the history of color in a very personal way, and she takes the reader with her on her journey of discovery. The book is well researched and documented -- with index and bibliography . The footnotes are a fascinating book onto themselves. This was a huge undertaking -- and very successful. If you paint, color, sew, photograph, or just love the brilliance of nature, you need to read this book. If you are curious about the origin of things, the "whys" and "hows" -- and/or you're fascinated by history, this book is for you, too. Go to Amazon

An Artist's Compass. As a painter using oil paint, actually any media, one needs to know the intensity of the mineral used; colors depict distance, coolness, heat even depth, combined with perspective one achieves a visual composition. "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" is an inside look, a visual compass an artist needs to speak their language. Chemistry of a colorful nature, a text of great importance. Go to Amazon

There's more history to color than I would have imagined, and Finlay delivers it in a well-written and fascinating way I don't normally read one book over three months... At least, not a book I give four stars. But this was an unusual book, and I read it unusually (for me). It is, literally, what the title says it is: a history of color. Going through the spectrum color by color, Ms. Finlay tracks down the origins of artistic iterations of each. Her travels take the reader through history, geography, and culture in a way that provides great (but not excessive) detail and brings the palette into vivid detail. It is not a quick read (obviously). I found it, at times, to be a book that I needed to put down. It's a weighty tome, and some of the historical anecdotes are easier (and more engaging) to read through than others. I found myself needing a break for more traditional stories from time to time, which is why it took me so long to read it. But make no mistake - that time was well spent, and I thoroughly enjoyed this journey. There is much more history to color than I would have ever imagined, and Finlay's book delivers it in a well-written and fascinating package. Go to Amazon

incredibly good book. I love reading about the history of ... Very, very detailed Great Buy I'm very pleased with my purchase Enjoying, and learning some things. Never Stop Learning! Rich color history A fascinating read. Artist or not, a must-read! A surprise for any dilettante reader Fascinating Journey Fantastic!

#Historical #art #book

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therealmnemo · 8 years ago

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therealmnemo’s fic index

I finally updated my fic index page, and I know that my series all have their own post like this somewhere on my blog, but I figured I’d do a full master post of my writing that I can reblog as I update.

I write mostly around Dragon Age 2 and the characters involved. My biggest ships are FenHanders and Fenders, but I’ve written quite a bit FenHawke and Handers too. Basically, anyway I can express how much I love those three characters. I have some Isabela x Hawke and Carver x Merrill down below, and some Karl x Anders too. I take prompts any time, which fall under the Kirkwall Friend Fiction Collection on Ao3. Prompts for kid fluff end up in the Glow Dads collection. You’ll find all my fics sorted below first by ship, then series, then drabble collections.

Tumblr Only

The Truth May Vary . M . Incomplete Hawke pleads to the Inquisitor to stay behind in the Fade. In the Herald’s Rest, Varric gives Cassandra and the Inquisitor the real story, while Hawke relives it in the Fade. Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke [Part One][Part Two][Part Three]

On Ao3 as therealmnemo

Anders x Fenris

I Have Promises to Keep, and Miles to Go Before I Sleep . M . Complete Outside Jader, Fenris notices something off about Anders’ behavior. False Calling Prompt from tearsofwinter.

I Need A Hero . T . Complete Fenris is just trying to catch a suspect with his partner Hawke. Instead the house literally comes down and he’s rescued by that annoying blond fireman from the bar. Written for my @daficswap buddy @sixlilypetals

Left Behind . M . Complete Hawke slips away in the night and leaves a letter for Anders and Fenris. Fenris isn’t adjusting well, and Anders tries to help. Both mean more to each other than they realize. In which absence makes the heart grow fonder.

The Layover . M . Incomplete Anders is just getting by, on his way to Amaranthine to fulfill his quarterly requirement to the Wardens when inclement weather forces his small layover at the Starkhaven airport into an overnight stay. The stranger he meets in the concourse is so familiar, and he can’t shake the memories of what he’s lost.

Anders x f!Hawke

I Still Hope . T. Complete Hawke confronts her feelings about the life that could have been, stolen from Anders and herself. The small part of the man she loves still exists, and she clings to it as if it were her last breath.

In Search of Andraste’s Blessing . E . Complete While Hawke goes to help the Inquisition, Anders goes on a quest of his own. An old Andertale he remembered from his mother has him searching out a very specific statue on the Anderfel border.

Missing Bedtime Stories . T . Complete Hawke watches the clock and waits for Anders to get home. Prompt by committee - three suggestions to put into a fic. ‘Aromatherapy’ from rannadylin. ‘An infestation of fennecs’ from quinnlocke. ‘A skunk bath toy’ from sixlilypetals.

We’ll Hold Each Other Soon . M . Complete Prompt: The Way You Said “I Love You” - Over and over again, till it’s nothing but a senseless babble. - requested by broodywolf. Hawke brings Anders back to Kirkwall, one last time.

Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke

Flight, Sundered . M . Incomplete Prompt: Hawke is captured and made Tranquil during the escape from Lothering. The process is botched and she can feel rage under circumstances when she feels her family’s lives are in danger. Interacting with Fenris’ lyrium, or with Justice brings about a cure of Tranquility. The events of Dragon Age 2 through the eyes of a Tranquil Hawke. Most of the story will be in the secondary character’s POV with Hawke’s reflection in her journals. Infinity in Pieces . T . Complete Short story of Anders, a Mer that eagerly awaits for his soul mark to appear and deals with the fallout when his mark is different. Fic for @fenrisofseheron for my 333 follower giveaway.

Rogues Tie the Best Knots . E . Complete Hawke rents a room in a brothel so she and Fenris can hang Anders from the ceiling.

Taking Bets . M . Complete Isabela places a bet with Varric after watching Fenris and Anders leaving the Hawke Estate disheveled.

The First and (Hopefully, Not Last) Time . E . Complete On the night before leaving for Skyhold, Hawke wants to be with her lovers one last time.

When They Knew . T . Complete Hawke, Fenris, and Anders sit with their children on a hillside and talk about when they first knew they loved one another.

Anders x Fenris x m!Hawke

Santa Hawke . E . Complete Fenris decorated for the Holidays while Anders is away. Hawke stops by with a special gift for the lonely elf.

Fenris x f!Hawke

Facing Demons . NR . Complete Fenris thought he and Hawke had found peace, only to find out Hawke carries a new burden.

Morning Intrusions . M . Complete NSFW Prompt - Getting drenched while wearing white - requested by fenrisofseheron. Fenris woke up to a loud crash in the mansion, a pitiful squeak indicates it’s just Hawke.

Poker Face . M . Complete NSFW Prompt - Grinding up against each other & playing footsie during a meeting - prompted by an anon. It’s Wicked Grace night, and Hawke has picked the chair directly across from Fenris.

Very Subtle, Hawke . T . Complete NSFW Prompt- Bending over seductively to pick something up for the other - prompted by professionallilbrocarverhawke. Hawke tries to get Fenris’ attention during a reading lesson.

Isabela x f!Hawke

Alone on Satinalia . T . Complete Hawke has no family to go home to during the winter break. Her roommate Merrill has gone and Hawke is left alone with her thoughts.

Carver x Merrill

His Hands Shake . T. Complete Carver Hawke sits in Kirkwall, fighting a lyrium addiciton and lyrium supplies are running thin.. even when your friends are the Viscount and the Captain of the Guard. Hope comes in the form of a friend in Lothering. Written for 2015 Satinalia Gift Exchange for @tiz85

General

Critics Be Damned . M . Complete The world is saved, but those who fought hardest for it are now buried and forgotten. Varric remembers, and decides to give the world everything he has left.

The Healer of Darktown . T . Complete After setting Kirkwall to rights as Viscount, Varric finally makes his way to what he thought was the abandoned former clinic in Darktown. What he finds instead is that the healing of Kirkwall began in Darktown, just as it had so many years ago.

Series

Fenris, Hawke, and their Little Bird. Series about Fenris, Garrett, and their adopted daughter Beth.

A Surprise in the Snow . T. Complete Fenris finds a surprise in the snow and wishes Hawke was with him more than ever. Hawke is finished with helping those who needed him and sets off to find Fenris. Originally written for the FenHawke Secret Santa for @verticonix

She’s Not Made of Glass . T. Complete A short continuation of A Surprise in the Snow, following Hawke and Fenris as they acclimate to life with their new daughter. Just a little slice of home life, and trying to figure out how to handle their little bird’s training.

Turnabout is Fair Play . T. Complete Aunt Isabela comes into town and spends the day with Beth, but first she and Hawke decide to test Fenris’ blood pressure. Fenris, predictably, gets his revenge.

Happy Endings . T. Complete Beth spends the afternoon with Anders and Merrill, and meets a new friend. A letter comes for Fenris, and the past is closer than they though.

Happy Birthday, Beth . T. Complete Drabble Prompt - Yahoo Me, pair celebrating - for Rannadylin. Fenris and Hawke prepare to celebrate Beth’s 10th birthday.

You Better Start Swimming or You’ll Sink Like a Stone. Mermaid AU and all Side Stories. (Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke, Karl Thekla x Anders)

Dawn . T. Complete Anders, a young ocean Mer, picks a new direction to explore. He ends up spending the day with a young Marian Hawke.

Dusk . M . Complete Fenris is the jewel of Danarius’ Aquarium. A kind soul helps him escape.

The River Always Finds the Sea . M . Incomplete It all started with a young Templar recruit named Karl and a young Mer the Seekers brought into the Circle. The story of Anders’ 14 years in captivity and the man who loved him enough to let him go.

Daylight Fading . M . Incomplete Marian Hawke lives in a cottage on the Wounded Coast with her mother and twin siblings. She spends every evening on her dock as the light fades, mourning a father that never came home and looking for a childhood friend she hopes would return. Another Mer winds up on her beach and it’s just the start of her new problems.

Looking for Group Collection MMO AU and all Side Stories and Prompts. (Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke)

Looking for Group: A Modern Kirkwall Story . M . Incomplete After getting griped at to spend time with her siblings, Theatre major Marian Hawke spends her free nights playing WoW and ends up pulling together a team of 10 Kirkwall locals. They decide to throw a giant LAN party to raid the “Deep Roads” 10 man, and crazy real life ensues.

The Best-Laid Plans . M . Complete NSFW Prompt - having a wet dream and calling the other’s name during it - prompted by cloudwindwing. Fenris has a dream about that drunken night… (spoilery for LFG i guess?)

Date Night . M . Complete NSFW Prompt Meme - trying to turn to the other one on & trying to go down on the other, under the table, during dinner. - requested by fenrisofseheron.Fenris and Hawke have their first one-on-one date and leave Anders at home. A dinner after a successful graduate art show.

Streaming for Three . E . Complete Hawke is out of town helping a friend with the set on their play. Anders is able to take off the whole two weeks to be with her, unfortunately Fenris can only join for the last week. While Hawke is out, Anders and Fenris decide to put their webcams to better use.

GlowDads Prompt Collection Prompts filled for Anders and Fenris having dad time with their three children while Genesis is visiting with Bethany for a month.

When Mama Isn’t Home . G . Complete Genesis is taking a long trip to visit Kirkwall and Lothering with Bethany. As she’s getting ready to leave, she witnesses an adorable sleeping arrangement.

Lutes and Flower Crowns . T . Complete Sunny afternoons are best for weaving flowers in your hair and playing the lute. Anything to entertain the kids. Flower crowns were suggested by miss-ingno. Fenris with a lute was suggested by beammetothemoon.

Drabble Collections

I am a Question to the World . Complete . G - M . Multiple Ships My collection of drabbles for Anders Week 2016 hosted by teamblueandangry. Link to the fanmix.

You Could Be Happy . Incomplete . G-M . Multiple Ships My collection of drabbles for Fenris Week 2016 hosted by teamblueandangry.

FenHanders Week 2017 QotD Drabbles Incomplete . M . f!FenHanders My collection of drabbles for the QotDs for FenHanders Week hosted by teamblueandangry.

#mnemowrites #mnemowrites masterpost #dragon age fanfiction

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savetopnow · 7 years ago

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2018-03-15 21 SEO now

SEO

Ahrefs Blog

SEO Leads: How to Get $1K+/Month SEO Clients (with a Simple Video Pitch)

Technical SEO Mastery: Lessons from the GOAT, Wikipedia

Here’s why you can’t blindly trust keyword search volume for traffic estimations

7 Timeless Internet Marketing Strategies That Work in 2018 (and Beyond)

How to Craft the Perfect SEO Title Tag (Our 4-Step Process)

ClickZ

Creating global digital experiences for local audiences

Can artificial intelligence create content as well as a human?

Coffee, doughnuts and Big Data: Q+A with Dunkin’ Donuts VP Sherrill Kaplan

How to use online reviews to drive digital and real-world business

How new technologies will affect your marketing strategy

Local SEO guide

Who Is Next In Local Listings Management?

A NodeJS Script for Accessing the Google Search Console API

Why SEOs Will Always Have Jobs…

Are Local Businesses Ready For GÖÖber?

2018 Tax Planning for SEO Agencies & Consultants

Moz

Zero-Result SERPs: Welcome to the Future We Should've Known Was Coming

Getting Around the "One Form" Problem in Unbounce

8 Common Website Mistakes Revealed Via Content Audits

The Moz Year in Review 2017

How to Discover Featured Snippet Opportunities - Whiteboard Friday

Reddit SEO

Google Maps Ranking Questions

Do you guys use the date where you created your blog post or when you updated it?

Is SEO affected if you change the theme of a website.

SEO Company in USA

How canonical tag work on duplicate content

SEO Book Blog

Left is Right & Up is Down

Grist for the Machine

Virtual Real Estate

Rank Checker Update

DMOZ Shut Down

SEO by the Sea

Related Questions are Joined by ‘People Also Search For’ Refinements; Now Using a Question Graph

Google’s Mobile Location History

Does Google Use Latent Semantic Indexing?

Google Targeted Advertising, Part 1

Google Giving Less Weight to Reviews of Places You Stop Visiting?

Search Engine Journal

Here’s How & Why You Should Create Personalized Content by @A_Ninofranco

Google to Boost New Stories in Search Results for Paying Subscribers by @MattGSouthern

Google Advertisers Can Soon Retarget Searchers With YouTube Ads by @MattGSouthern

Google Removes 100 Bad Ads Per Second by @MattGSouthern

Google AdWords Bans Ads for Cryptocurrency by @MattGSouthern

Search Engine Land

Google adding business descriptions in Google My Business & local panel

SearchCap: Google with no results, ad removals & building links

How using search opportunities can guide link-building content strategies

Creating landing pages that convert

4 concrete ways to use images to build links

Search Engine Roundtable

You Can Edit Your Business Description In Google My Business, Again...

Bing Search Results Now Showing JSON-LD Support

New Google Search Console Doesn't Default To Mobile Friendly Index

Google Won't Say If AMP Web Standards Move Was Triggered From Media Backlash

Kirk Williams - The Search Community Honors You

Search Engine Watch

5 advanced Google AdWords features to enhance your PPC

How to plan and create evergreen content for SEO

Here are the key metrics and templates you need to create a PPC report

Google brings AMP to email: What does this mean for email marketing?

How to master copywriting for SEO

Searchmetrics Blog

Memo to the Modern Marketer: How I Saved 15 Hours a Week Writing Great Content

Ask the Experts: How Understanding the Marriage of SEO and Content Marketing Can Save Your Business

Unwrapping the Secrets of SEO: How Google’s Crackdown on Online Ads Upends Search

Memo to the Modern Marketer: How to Conduct a Content Audit in Five Easy Steps

Pulse: Challenges and Takeaways from the Google AMP Conference

Yoast

An hreflang example and how to test it

Mobile SEO: The ultimate guide

The beginner’s guide to Yoast SEO

Ask Yoast: Include WooCommerce product tags in your XML sitemap?

Yoast SEO for TYPO3 Premium available now!

#seo

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ask-de-writer · 2 years ago

Text

I would like to thank

@wanderingpie for READING and LIKING

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 26 of 83

A tale from the World of Sea

from my Master Story Index,

The WORLD OF SEA page

#@wanderingpie #SEA DRAGON’S GIFT #Part 26 of 83 #Master Story Index - WORLD OF SEA page #Written by De Writer

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haimagazine-blog1 · 7 years ago

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The best SEO influencers and resources to follow

More than any other digital marketing discipline,SEO is a game of opinions. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that guarantees success, and that leaves plenty of room for healthy debate.

Given how profitable SEO can be when done well, the industry has spawned a vast array of influencers, dispensing morsels of invaluable insight that businesses can apply to their own strategies. A few of these influencers have even gained something close to celebrity status.

It’s been a tough few months for the industry in that sense, with luminaries like Rand Fishkin, Danny Sullivan and Matt McGee announcing their respective departures from the scene in the near future.

These are all respected figures with a wealth of experience who essentially put SEO on the map. In their wake, there is a need for a new wave of dedicated SEO experts to conduct and share their findings with the wider community. Fortunately, there are plenty of worthy candidates.

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of bad advice out there. SEO provokes conjecture along with healthy debate, and following the wrong advice can have a negative impact on any business.

However, help is at hand. The below is a list of experts and resources that continually provide excellent, reliable, actionable SEO advice.

Backlinko

As the name suggests with minimal subtlety, the site is mainly about link building. This is an essential area of SEO, but yet also the one of the most difficult to master. With Google’s Penguin algorithm now functioning in real time, all SEOs need to make sure their link earning practices are squeaky clean.

Backlinko helps to bridge this gap by providing convincing evidence of the areas that drive performance, backed up by case studies and in-depth research.

The blog also contains exhaustive, permanent resources on non-link building topics, including YouTube ranking factors and a very long list of 201 SEO tips.

Backlinko provides a lesson for all SEO and content marketers. The site’s principal author, Brian Dean, posts as frequently as he has something substantial and of lasting value to share. This flies in the face of the received wisdom that content publication should have a regular cadence, but it seems to work.

For anyone looking to go beyond the usual SEO soundbites and find out what really works, this is an excellent place to start.

SEO by the Sea

SEO by the Sea is a niche blog, focusing on analysis of newly granted patents for companies like Google. It makes for a much more entertaining read than one might expect, with rare insights into the workings of the world’s foremost tech companies.

The site is run by Bill Slawski and provides more substantial information than most other SEO-focused blogs out there. Of course, not all of the patents reviewed see the light of day in product form, so we need to approach them with a modicum of caution. However, as a resource for understanding the technology and methodology behind retrieving and ranking search results, SEO by the Sea is unparalleled.

In combination with the corroborating evidence we can find on sites like Backlinko, this site helps provide a rounded view of how a search engine really works.

Lisa Myers

Lisa Myers is the founder of UK-based agency Verve Search, and is also a regular on the SEO conference scene. She has presented at a wide range of events; most of the presentations can be found here.

Lisa’s presentations have covered some fascinating topics, including the need for SEOs to inject some emotion into their content to cut through with audiences. Many of the decks are focused on how to attract authoritative backlinks through content, which is undoubtedly one of the most challenging and unpredictable areas of our work. Her most recent talk from MozCon 2017 is definitely worth reading for anyone that works in content marketing or influencer engagement.

Lisa Myers is also the founder of Women in Search, another great resource if you are looking for some SEO influencers to follow.

Dr Pete

Dr Pete is the resident marketing scientist at Moz and he has for some time been a reputable authority on the inner workings of search engines.

Recently, he has focused on understanding Google’s ‘featured snippets’, which are another huge opportunity for SEOs, but not one that we can distil to an exact, simple formula. This guide is about as comprehensive a resource on the subject as one could hope for, and following the steps it outlines can help SEOs improve the likelihood they will show up in those coveted featured snippets positions.

You can also follow Dr Pete on Twitter, where he is typically very responsive to any specific questions from the SEO community.

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is an industry veteran and is one of the most reliable authorities on Google updates. He runs the excellent Search Engine Roundtable, which is just about the best site out there for any breaking SEO news. Posts are short and to the point, containing the essential information as it becomes available. The sources for their news stories typically work in the engineering teams at Google, so it as about as reliable as we could expect to find.

This means that posts are typically quite short and to the point, containing the essential information we need to know. Search Engine Roundtable is therefore a little different to most other SEO blogs, choosing to report on very specific pieces of Google information, rather than in-depth studies. As a result, it’s a site that most SEOs should visit quite frequently to keep abreast of the latest news as it breaks.

Stone Temple Research

Stone Temple is an SEO agency and, like most SEO agencies, they have a blog. What makes theirs stand out from the crowd is their dedication to spending a huge amount of time preparing rigorous studies that tell us something new.

The recent study on how Google might rank videos differently on YouTube versus traditional search is essential reading for anyone in the industry. Past studies have investigated Google’s indexation of Twitter posts over time and the effectiveness of the various digital assistants.

Stone Temple keep a clear focus on content quality, backing everything up with a coherent methodology and a transparent view on their findings. As such, posts are relatively infrequent, but they are typically worth the wait.

Webmaster Central

So, there are lots of different guides and resources out there, but sometimes SEO questions don’t fit so neatly within these categories. Chances are, however obscure your SEO question is, someone has asked it already on Webmaster Central.

This Google help forum provides an opportunity for search professionals to ask and answer detailed questions. Everything from disavow files to international SEO is covered in a huge amount of depth, so this site is worth benchmarking in case you run into any obstacles. In all likelihood, someone else will already have encountered (and overcome) the same hurdle on Webmaster Central.

Marketing Experiments

This is not strictly an SEO resource, but it is worth adding to an SEO reading list nonetheless. Marketing Experiments contains a trove of case studies, mainly focused on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tests. User engagement factors are increasingly important for SEO rankings, so this is not an area of marketing that we can ignore. With the advent and subsequent growth of RankBrain, the worlds of SEO and CRO have converged almost entirely now.

Marketing Experiments hosts a lengthy list of use cases that can provide invaluable data to shape our own hypotheses when it comes to testing landing page variations. The Unbounce blog is also a good place to stay up to speed with the latest in CRO.

Inbound.org

You can bring all of this together, and add a lot more influencers to your own list, by signing up to Inbound.org. Inbound curates a personalized list for marketers based on their areas of interest, with options including PPC, SEO, Social Media, and Data Science.

Inbound highlights trending topics in organic search, but it also serves as a marketing community and forum for people to share ideas. There are always new voices in the SEO industry; this is a great place to hear them first.

#SEO influencers #SEO #Business #marketing

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alanajacksontx · 7 years ago

Text

The best SEO influencers and resources to follow

More than any other digital marketing discipline, SEO is a game of opinions. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that guarantees success, and that leaves plenty of room for healthy debate.

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of bad advice out there. SEO provokes conjecture along with healthy debate, and following the wrong advice can have a negative impact on any business.

However, help is at hand. The below is a list of experts and resources that continually provide excellent, reliable, actionable SEO advice.

Backlinko

Backlinko helps to bridge this gap by providing convincing evidence of the areas that drive performance, backed up by case studies and in-depth research.

The blog also contains exhaustive, permanent resources on non-link building topics, including YouTube ranking factors and a very long list of 201 SEO tips.

For anyone looking to go beyond the usual SEO soundbites and find out what really works, this is an excellent place to start.

SEO by the Sea

In combination with the corroborating evidence we can find on sites like Backlinko, this site helps provide a rounded view of how a search engine really works.

Lisa Myers

Lisa Myers is the founder of UK-based agency Verve Search, and is also a regular on the SEO conference scene. She has presented at a wide range of events; most of the presentations can be found here.

Lisa Myers is also the founder of Women in Search, another great resource if you are looking for some SEO influencers to follow.

Dr Pete

Dr Pete is the resident marketing scientist at Moz and he has for some time been a reputable authority on the inner workings of search engines.

You can also follow Dr Pete on Twitter, where he is typically very responsive to any specific questions from the SEO community.

Barry Schwartz

Stone Temple Research

Webmaster Central

Marketing Experiments

Image via Pixabay

Inbound.org

from IM Tips And Tricks https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/08/22/the-best-seo-influencers-and-resources-to-follow/ from Rising Phoenix SEO https://risingphxseo.tumblr.com/post/164482749535

0 notes

kellykperez · 7 years ago

Text

The best SEO influencers and resources to follow

More than any other digital marketing discipline, SEO is a game of opinions. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that guarantees success, and that leaves plenty of room for healthy debate.

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of bad advice out there. SEO provokes conjecture along with healthy debate, and following the wrong advice can have a negative impact on any business.

However, help is at hand. The below is a list of experts and resources that continually provide excellent, reliable, actionable SEO advice.

Backlinko

Backlinko helps to bridge this gap by providing convincing evidence of the areas that drive performance, backed up by case studies and in-depth research.

The blog also contains exhaustive, permanent resources on non-link building topics, including YouTube ranking factors and a very long list of 201 SEO tips.

For anyone looking to go beyond the usual SEO soundbites and find out what really works, this is an excellent place to start.

SEO by the Sea

In combination with the corroborating evidence we can find on sites like Backlinko, this site helps provide a rounded view of how a search engine really works.

Lisa Myers

Lisa Myers is the founder of UK-based agency Verve Search, and is also a regular on the SEO conference scene. She has presented at a wide range of events; most of the presentations can be found here.

Lisa Myers is also the founder of Women in Search, another great resource if you are looking for some SEO influencers to follow.

Dr Pete

Dr Pete is the resident marketing scientist at Moz and he has for some time been a reputable authority on the inner workings of search engines.

You can also follow Dr Pete on Twitter, where he is typically very responsive to any specific questions from the SEO community.

Barry Schwartz

Stone Temple Research

Webmaster Central

Marketing Experiments

Image via Pixabay

Inbound.org

source https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/08/22/the-best-seo-influencers-and-resources-to-follow/ from Rising Phoenix SEO http://risingphoenixseo.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-best-seo-influencers-and-resources.html

0 notes

sheilalmartinia · 7 years ago

Text

The best SEO influencers and resources to follow

More than any other digital marketing discipline, SEO is a game of opinions. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that guarantees success, and that leaves plenty of room for healthy debate.

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of bad advice out there. SEO provokes conjecture along with healthy debate, and following the wrong advice can have a negative impact on any business.

However, help is at hand. The below is a list of experts and resources that continually provide excellent, reliable, actionable SEO advice.

Backlinko

Backlinko helps to bridge this gap by providing convincing evidence of the areas that drive performance, backed up by case studies and in-depth research.

The blog also contains exhaustive, permanent resources on non-link building topics, including YouTube ranking factors and a very long list of 201 SEO tips.

For anyone looking to go beyond the usual SEO soundbites and find out what really works, this is an excellent place to start.

SEO by the Sea

In combination with the corroborating evidence we can find on sites like Backlinko, this site helps provide a rounded view of how a search engine really works.

Lisa Myers

Lisa Myers is the founder of UK-based agency Verve Search, and is also a regular on the SEO conference scene. She has presented at a wide range of events; most of the presentations can be found here.

Lisa Myers is also the founder of Women in Search, another great resource if you are looking for some SEO influencers to follow.

Dr Pete

Dr Pete is the resident marketing scientist at Moz and he has for some time been a reputable authority on the inner workings of search engines.

You can also follow Dr Pete on Twitter, where he is typically very responsive to any specific questions from the SEO community.

Barry Schwartz

Stone Temple Research

Webmaster Central

Marketing Experiments

Image via Pixabay

Inbound.org

from Search Engine Watch https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/08/22/the-best-seo-influencers-and-resources-to-follow/

0 notes

podcastinferno · 8 years ago

Audio

Welcome to Wibbly Wobbly Timey Things– A Podcast of the Ages!

This week on “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Things” we will be looking at our perceptions of violence through the lenses of literature, history, psychology, and philosophy. The violence depicted within Egil’s Saga and the period of European conquest in South America will be dissected by a panel of experts eager to share their insights in an attempt to heighten our understanding of human nature.

Works Cited

Brown, Carol. SAGE Course Companions series: Developmental Psychology: A Course Companion (1). London, GB: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2008. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 3 May 2017.

Columbus, Christopher. Journal of the First Voyage: Diaro Del Primer Viaje, 1492. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1990. Print.

De Las Casas, Bartolomé. A short account of the destruction of the Indies. Penguin Books: New York, 1992. Print

De Las Casas, Bartolomé. In defense of the Indians: the defense of the Most Reverend Lord, Don Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, of the Order of Preachers, late Bishop of Chiapa, against the persecutors and slanderers of the peoples of the New World discovered across the seas. Northern Illinois University Press: Champaign, c.1974. Print

De Montaigne, Michel. “Essays.” Harold Bloom: Chelsea House. 1987 “Violence in Literature.” Enotes.com. Enotes.com, n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.

Eiriksson, Leifur. Ed. Scuudder, Bernard. Egil’s Saga. Penguin Classic: New York, 2004. Print

“European Perceptions of Native Government.” American Eras. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.

Forgas, Joseph P., Haselton, Martie G., and von Hippel, William, eds. Sydney Symposium of Social Psychology: Evolution and the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Social Cognition (1). London, US: Psychology Press, 2007. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 3 May 2017.

Grotius, Hugo. The Free Sea. Liberty Fund, Inc: Indianapolis, 2004. Print.

Leonard, Irving Albert. Books of the Brave: Being an Account of Books and of Men in the Spanish Conquest and Settlement of the Sixteenth-century New World. Berkeley: U of California, 1992. Print.

Lönnroth, Lars, Vésteinn Ólason, and Anders Piltz. “Literature.” N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.

“The Native Peoples, Christopher Columbus, Social Studies, Glencoe.” Glencoe Online. N.p., n.d.Web.03 May 2017.

Pemment, Jack. “Psychopathy versus Sociopathy: Why the Distinction Has Become Crucial.” Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 18, no. 5, 1 Sept. 2013.

Roesdahl, Else, and Preben Meulengracht Sørensen. "Viking Culture.” (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 03 May 2017. Tether, Leah. “Perceval’s Puerile Perceptions: The First Scene of the Conte du Graal as an Index of Medieval Concepts of Human Development Theory.” Neophilologus, vol. 94, no. 2, Apr. 2010.

Cover Image:

Music:

“Heroic Age” by Kevin MacLeod

Work Distribution

Team:

Co-ordinator - Louis Dalle

Script Editor - Riley Baker

Podcast Editor - K.B.

Tumblr Editor/Uploader - K.B. & Amy Cho

Voice Actors and Script Writers:

Amy Choi - Dr. Heejung Cho (Historian)

K.B. - Dr. Helen Electra (Psychologist)

Louis - Dr. Charles Winston (Philosopher)

Louis - Gabriel de Fombelle (Host)

Riley - Dr. Gwendolyn Clouds (Literature expert)

Script

*Introduction*

Louis: Welcome to “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Things” - the place where you find conversations to propel you in time, so that you can learn for the future

Today in our show we are talking about the perception of violence within Egil’s Saga and within the clash between the colonials and the Americas. A lot of juicy stuff so to say but very important in order to understand our own attitudes towards other civilizations and a way to gain perspective in the way that we treat others. My name is Gabriel de Fombelle and this is “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Things”

Part I: Q&A Panel Discussion of Egil’s Saga

Louis: In today’s starting discussion we will follow a panel style questionnaire to try and understand the violence within Egil’s saga. We have in our panelist for the day Dr. Helen Elektra, Head of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University--[Thank you for having me]--- Dr. Dr. Gwendolyn Clouds author of the book “Literature in Viking times” & Prof at Kenyon University --[Happy to be here, Gabriel. ]-- and Prof. Heejung Cho a medieval Historian from Seoul University ----[Hello, nice to meet you]---

Louis: First I want to ask History Professor Heejung if she could tell us a little bit on the what the book Egil’s Saga is really about

Amy: We all know that Egil’s Saga is based on Medieval Icelandic history. Egil’s Saga begins in Norway in the mid-8th century when the Norsemen started to migrate to Iceland. The Saga starts out with Egil’s grandfather Ulf settling down to Iceland. This single saga contains very long history of about about 150 years. It gives a history of three generations from a family lineage, which is why Icelandic Saga is often called “family saga”, revealing the importance of agnatic or patriarchal bonds in Medieval Iceland. “Family sagas” deal with the antecedents and feuds of prominent Icelanders or Icelandic families, from the period of settlement to the eleventh century.

Louis: So you said this saga spans 150 years. How authentic is this history? Is it a true account or is it meant more for entertainment purposes?

Amy: It is pretty difficult to make a decision whether or not this Saga, Egil’s Saga, is factual. Professor Margaret Cormack from College of Charleston in South Carolina, insists in her publication--it’s called Fact and Fiction in the Icelandic Sagas--that even though the Sagas (including the famous ones like Egil’s Saga) have drawn international attention as a form of historical writings, it also has received a number of criticisms that these sagas have failed to be credible historical resources. The thing is that this word ‘saga’ literally means ‘story’ or ‘tale’ in Icelandic. The oldest record of Egil’s Saga dates back to the 13th century, and most of the family sagas are believed to be written in the same period. Axel Kristinsson, an Icelandic history expert, he says that, “the Icelandic Sagas are a strange phenomenon.” Of course, during this period, Iceland was experiencing a period of settlement, of conversion, extreme violence, and of turmoil. The violence depicted in the saga is highly based on the actual societal background of the period.

Louis: To begin our literary analysis, I would like to ask Dr. Gwendolyn Clouds about her latest work “Literature in the times of the Saga” in which you take the stance that Viking attitudes towards literature tended to be very important, would you say that it would be a coping mechanism for the harshness of the Viking way and a shield from the surrounding violence?

Riley: His reactions are usually on a grand scale to the point where they are often outrageous and entertaining. Generally, these encounters seem rather muted in the text, which may be explained by the typical Icelandic attitude towards violence. For them, gore and brutality was part of everyday society. This could be a reason that this violence, which we would call shocking today, is glossed over--it was nothing out of the ordinary. The value code by which Egil lived, one that centred around violence as retribution or recreation, was comparable to that of many Scandinavians at the time of the story's composition. Egil's saga takes place during a time of oral tradition. Poetry establishes a person's reputation--whether it be good or bad. Egil in particular is a master with his craft.

Louis: Did the nature of his reputation matter at all? I would argue it should, in chapter 14 where Egil kills the bard he does certainly retain fame but he also retains scandal. He ends up singing more than the bard establishing his reputation but flees from a kingly search party. Wouldn’t Viking look more fondly upon the quieter, calmer Thorolf? Is the Saga named after a villain?

Riley: Reputation certainly did matter, but I would argue that Egil is less a villain and more an anti hero. We’re not going to see him on the front page of a comic book anytime soon, but he’s not going to be crucified as some kind of terrible villain like Hannibal Lector or Ramsay Bolton. While an even temperament was sometimes desired in the heat of battle, Viking culture also praises the strong and effortlessly powerful warriors. In my opinion, neither Thorolf nor Egil are bad men.

Louis: You mentioned that Egil’s moral compass focused on violence. What was the role of violence in Egil’s saga?

Riley: Violence in contemporary literature is generally not as descriptive or, for lack of a better word, senseless as it is in Egil's saga. Violence in the literature of today is defined by society's violence--rape, murder, war crimes, racism, and a host of other topics. We see a more systemic type of violence today. In her influential study On Violence, conducted by Hannah Arendt, there is an explanation of the balance between institutional power structures and violence, a balance that was greatly upset as violent means were adopted to cleanse and reorder the world with means such as collectivism, fascism, and imperialism in the twentieth century.

Riley: Themes of violence shown in Egil's saga are notably different. Typically, the violence is not through some institution, it is just a good old fashioned axe murder. This shows a culture that not only accepted brutal methods, but embraced and praised them wholeheartedly. It seems a little foreign to us because we’re so unused to this kind of honest and, quite frankly, gruesome depiction of violence even between children, but we have to remember when reading that this was the norm and perfectly acceptable.

Louis: So, the question is how do we have to read these sagas? Is it okay to rely on the family saga to get accurate historical reference?

Amy: I will say no. This is another example from Professor Cormack that other famous family sagas such as Gísla saga and Njáls saga are often misinterpreted, because they appear to be easily comprehensible by modern readers. This meaning, modern readers get attached to these medieval sagas, for some reason, very easily, and they read them in their own term, not from the medieval Icelandic viewpoints. For the modern readers it is significant to be aware of the periodical gap between the modern days and the medieval days.Saga is a literature. This is not a history, but it is a historical novel, a historical reading that may help modern scholars and modern readers utilize to understand the 13th century medieval Iceland.

Louis: I share the belief we have nowadays hit a wave of pessimism in the US - Donald Trump’s slogan was “Make America great again!” implies an underlying nostalgia which reflects the North’s own as seen in chapter 10 where Thorolf brings back vast quantities of food as opposed to chapter 31 where Child mortality. As a result I would argue that we rely more and more on superheroes as a form of hope and a reminder of our values. Unfortunately the pessimism seeps into our literature, DC is trying to make heroes like Batman a controversy as a brutal vigilante instead of a enforcer of the law. I would like to ask Dr Helen Elektra if she would argue that this this is reflective of how the Vikings saw Egil?

Katie: Let’s say Egil is not written as a realistic individual. Let’s say Egil is a heightened version of a Norsemen– a superhero of sorts. If that were the case, we as modern readers are being informed of an ideal. Superman, for example, represents an American psychosis. Our ideal individual is obsessed with justice, with fighting ‘evil’ with super strength and wit. And I think we can agree that it would be unproductive to assert that Superman, and our obsession with him and figures like him says nothing of the American perspective. From a psychological standpoint, a society’s idols are specific and revealing. American superheros are most often young, white men who physically fight in accordance to their personal judicial code– and it comes as no surprise that we are, as a society, obsessed with the idea of promoting our own ideas of justice.

Katie: As post-Freudian readers, we can acknowledge that human psychology transcends our cultural timelines. We cannot say that our understanding of sociopathy is inapplicable to Egil’s world simply because his world did not possess the language that surrounds the term itself. This is, of course, a form of ethnocentricity. The modern reader is aware of themselves in a psychological context. We have an impulse to analyze Egil’s childhood is a product of Western ideology– we have a desire to categorize Egil in terms of our beliefs surrounding human development.

Louis: How would you describe the mental state of Egil? In this scene in chapter 14 he drives a thick-bladed axe through Grim who had beaten him in a game he would be seen as sociopathic yet he shows remorse in chapter 44 when he runs away ahead of any search party showing he felt himself guilty.

Katie: By definition, Egil is a sociopath being brought up in what the psychological community would call a sociopathic society. This is not a judgement of Norse cultural norms or morals. It is simply against the human conscious to kill with little to no empathy. The treatment required for the participants of the infamous Milgram experiment is an example of this– the act of killing another human even on authoritative command has internal ripple effects regardless of the setting in which the act takes place. We’re talking about hardwiring– to experience your mother-figure and childhood friend being killed at the hand of your own father is not abnormal simply because it goes against western ideology, it is abnormal on a humanistic level. We notice that the other Norse children are not committing axe murders in the text, which begs the question of how Egil’s is meant to be read– is Egil possibly a caricature of a Norse warrior?

Riley: Is sociopathy really an applicable term when violence was normalized in their society?

Katie: I believe so. Normalized or not– the human mind has norms and patterns that transcend cultural background. Sociopaths have always existed, we just haven’t always been calling them sociopaths. We, as modern readers, simply cannot relate to a kill or be killed society, yet alone ignore the ramifications of violence. That is not to say we aren’t obsessed with violence however– the modern consumer is accustomed to reading or watching violence as entertainment, and I believe it is possible that Egils Saga served as a form entertainment, one in which the human obsession with violence is capitalized on. Perhaps the violence portrayed in the text is comparable to the modern film American Sniper. It is a true story that has been dramatized, the violence has been heightened, whether or not Chris Kyle is a hero is questionable. The romanticization or even fetishization of Egil’s childhood and violent tendencies is perhaps a product of the ease at which we accept “cultural norms.” Although we are able to contextualize the violence by understanding Norse culture, we still cannot deny what we have come to understand about the human consciousness through scientific study. So, we have to ask ourselves why we can’t apply language or technical terms in order to contextualize further.

Katie: The so-called “Berserker trance” is also relevant when contemplating the mental state of Egil. The term itself is derived from Norse literature, referring to champion warriors who are described as reaching a dream-like state through violent acts. Such a state is now associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the inability to access one’s emotions as a result of trauma. It is a kind of survival response to excessive exposure to violence.

Riley: Ohh, that’s a really interesting insight!

Katie: If we were to consider an alternative psychological explanation for Egil’s state beyond sociopathy, I would say that Adult-Egil’s mental state is perhaps the end result of generalized trauma.

Louis: Egil is portrayed as a leader very involved with culture and the arts. Dr Clouds, what would you say is the significance of this? Why was it so important for an epic violent to leader to be a poet, it seems nowadays we cannot reconcile the two in a book unless depicting unsettling villains.

Riley: Poetry is extremely significant in Viking culture, so it appears in many parts of Egil's saga. Egil has a particular skill with the poetic arts, which is found multiple times within the saga. He is also extremely violent, which was another integral part of Viking culture. Despite a violent interpretation that many readers tend to get caught up in, Egil is in a man of many virtues which are central to his character. He values honor, loyalty, respect, and friendship above everything else. Egil considers it a personal insult when someone breaks any of these values and as a result he typically reacts with either physical force or poetry, which are two of the most important parts of Viking culture.

Louis: So there is a really delicate bond in between the physical force and an assertion of order. we have now grasped how from our own perspective of the violence can make us misunderstand the culture and meanings of past historical works. Now that we have spotted this discrepancy, we should look towards how it can be a problem within our modern day in the solving of conflicts across the globe. Unfortunately if this is the case - we are probably oblivious to this effect, so I want to re invite our panel of experts to discuss a past event where a misunderstanding between two cultures has been obvious and watch how we can solve this problem.

Part II: Panel Discussion of Ethnocentrism & the New World

Louis: The discovery of the New World created a culture shock to say the least - there was clear tension in between the colonialist who saw themselves as ‘civilized’ against the ‘cannibals’ and the ‘natives’ who saw the invaders as ‘violent’. We have now invited Dr. Charles Winston from Cambridge University to discuss some of the Philosophy that would have undergone in this very conversational matter. To begin with though… I must ask Dr. Elektra on whether colonialism can be purely understood as a socio-economic conquest or whether there was more within the psychology.

Katie: Our understanding of colonialism cannot be identified exclusively through the lenses of economic gain and political power. It is also relevant to consider the psychological effects of conquest particularly in regards to the native peoples. There are some accepted patterns of fear exhibited by the natives that one might attribute to the psychosis of being conquered or enslaved. I’d like to ask Dr. Clouds’ her opinion on the literary analysis of first contact accounts because I feel this is where our psychological analysis is derived from.

Riley: So, when dealing specifically with the Columbus accounts of first contact with natives in the Caribbean, we can see several poignant examples of ethnocentrism. He says the natives would be “good servants” and that they would easily take to Christianity. The first example highlights a typical attitude towards indigenous people that Europeans held during what I would call the colonialism boom. His tone throughout his Journal of the First Voyage tries to appear objective, but often little snippets of his holier-than-thou outlook are present. He described them as “simple-minded” and valuing them only on their “handsome form”. It appears that he only values them as their potential to be servants or slaves. He also mentions how they appeared poor and seems to look down on them based on their dress, which was admittedly a little scarce. It was just a cultural difference that Columbus took to mean they were not as civilized or intelligent as Europeans, a false and ethnocentric assumption.

Katie: You bring up a lot of key linguistic tendencies that seem to showcase what I would call a superiority complex. This is perhaps related to “The White Man’s Burden,” a concept coined from Kipling’s poem regarding the Philippine-American War. The term essentially acknowledges the colonizer’s particular mental state– one in which race and religion are serving as a motivating force. Not only do the colonizers reflect on the natives like one might circus animals, they also imply a sense of duty to them– a duty to civilize them, and assimilate them for their own sake. This in return grants the colonizers economic and political gain as well as affirmation in their own beliefs– conversion, more than anything, gives the faithful a power trip.

Louis: In terms of the religious force what we must understand - is that to the modern Christian it was both a convenience and a duty to undermine the Native South Americans. It was in no way their interest to attempt to understand their way of life. You must imagine… In the Christian view the land of South of America was already unholy - the pre-romantic Christian views of nature were that nature is to be tamed by man because nature is asymmetrical and God made the world symetrical. For instance this can be seen in the contemporary Chateaux de Versailles where symmetry in the gardens was key to asserting the Sun King’s dominance over nature. Therefore seeing the people living in this chaos must certainly have inspired the Spanish and the Portuguese alike to look snobbishly at the populace. In fact, the Catholic invaders thought it was their duty to own and conquer the new land after Pope Alexander VI declared it theirs.

Riley: Wasn’t that the motivation behind the Crusades as well?

Louis: Yes, and that motivation didn’t change until later when protestant Hugo Grotius wrote in a legal battle against the Portuguese that quote “seeing it is before declared by the opinion of all men of sound judgment that the Pope is not a temporal lord of the whole world -- it is sufficiently understood that he is not lord of the sea”. He argues that Papal authorization is not ‘just’ enough of a cause for the destruction in South America - a bold move for the time.

Katie: In regards to the psychosis of the native peoples, it seems that the Western world still does not care to specify our understanding of their perspective. Our own eurocentric lense, even in regards to the soft sciences, limits us linguistically. It seems that the modern thinker doesn’t feel the need to complicate the psychosis of subjugated peoples unless it is through the lense of a conqueror. This is in part a result of the way in which natives are described by colonizers–

Louis: Sinners if you read Sepulveda who argue that for their cannibalism and worshiping of idolatry should make them obliterated like the Caanites in the old testament.

RIley: Haha, all right Dr. Winston. There are also extremely inaccurate depictions of Natives in circulation. Columbus’ accounts are not the only wildly problematic depictions. If I may, I have a quote for our listeners:

On the mainland the Indians eat human flesh. They are more given to sodomy than any other people. There is no justice amongst them. They go naked. They have no respect either for love or for virginity. They are stupid and silly. They have no respect for truth save when it is to their advantage.

This account was written by Thomas Ortiz and is clearly very biased. It leaves readers with a poor opinion of natives. Ortiz didn’t believe that natives had the same basic human rights as Europeans. He implies that they’re less than. Possibly because they’re not Christian before the arrival of the colonists?

Amy: Here is another example for how biased European accounts are in a way they describe the Natives. As Dr. Clouds has already mentioned, Tomas Ortiz says that the Natives are barbaric and unstable without any justice. However, the Aztecs do not feel the same way. There’s an Aztec song written during the conflict with the colonialists that described Mexico before the coming of Europeans. It says, there was no sickness, aching bones, fever, smallpox, and it goes on to list all the negative conditions. At the end it says “the course of humanity was orderly until the foreigners had come to their land.” We all can feel how the subjugated Aztecs feel about the Europeans. To them, Europeans are the ones who brought instability to their land. While many accounts are negative, there are some less prejudiced versions.

Katie: Montaigne, for example, describes the Brazilian natives as “pure,” and uncomplicated peoples. It seems that Western academia has not only perpetuated this narrative, but has also used such language to imply an intellectual superiority.

Louis: I disagree in that I would not say Montaigne described the South American Natives as pure. In fact he does something a little more perverse… I think he twists Christian ideology to argue that in a way they are close to animals. In his essay ‘Des Cannibales’ he never denies the cannibalism but describes it as a more humane way to kill prisoners than the Spanish contemporary forms of torture which were essentially man-made and therefore further away from the law of nature. He picks up on Bartolome de las Casas ideology and argues that these people are much ‘simpler’ because they are closer to some truth about the human nature. However I believe this is an overused theory of a bored intellectual locked up in a tower.

Louis: Bartolome de las Casas on the other hand argues not that they are ‘basic’ and therefore ‘pur’e Bartolome goes as far to say in “Destruction of the Indies” that these people are humble and without negative qualities. This is not because of a lack of access to civilization but because they would be “the most blessed people on earth if only they were given the chance to convert to Christianity”.

Louis: This was because Bartolome - in his missionary work - set off to approach the Natives with a Christian mind and therefore saw the worth of the people before the wealth they represented, a vastly different approach than the conquistadors.

Louis: Unlike Sepulveda he used Christianity as a bridge to make all people - natives and Spanish Kings alike - equal as men and therefore relatable .This theory in fact is one of his four main arguments for the defence of the natives of south america.

Louis: This military dominance described explains Sepulveda theological beliefs of a just war against the people of South America. Sepulveda argued for instance that the natives were ‘Barbaric’ because they didn’t have a leader and were therefore legitimate to be wared against. Only Bartolome proves that there is an Aztec hierarchy - described by Dr Heejung - and explains that the natural (and therefore religious) law states that the wisers are appointed leaders. A nation with leader according to St-Augustine is to be respected because it is a proof of collective wisdom. Las Casas argues that the reason the Spanish failed to see this hierarchy was because they never fully exposed to the leaders who were busy performing administrative duty and instead only exposed to the uneducated warriors.

Riley: That reminds me of something important. Catholicism and Christianity in literature. Oh wow, we’re opening a big can of worms here. So, there are a host of examples on both sides of the argument--whether it be mocking Catholicism or praising it. Focusing in on the Mayan accounts of the Spanish conquest, we have several examples of our author subscribing to Christianity. We see him calling the world “completed” after Christianity was introduced to them, but we also see negative descriptions of the religion. “When misery came / when Christianity came / From these many Christians / who arrived / with the true divinity / the True God”

This shows a reverence for God, but the account goes on to express the many horrors the Spanish brought, such as forced labor, imprisonment, and village strife to name a few. This shows a sharp critique of what the author perceives to be a slight brought about by Christianity rather than the Spanish. He even describes these things as the “antichrist.” I think that the natives subscribed to Christianity, but the fact that they seem a little critical of it in this account shows that they are not blindly following something the colonists foisted upon them.

*Conclusion*

Louis: Well, time is running out for today folks and therefore we will have to end it here. I would like to thank our panelists for sharing their insights with us. [...] Overall, from this discussion, it can be understood that a way to bridge this lack of understanding towards another culture is to first travel in order to see and understand differences for yourself. At the same time it is required to go open minded unlike the Spanish Conquistador. On the contrary it is important to leave the objective of understanding and empathising with people. Even if, in a perverted way, this is done through our own ethnocentricity. Let me explain - By relating foreign bodies through our own experiences we can understand others better - for instance missionary Las Casas saw the southern american natives as religious beings of a higher potential’ and Montaigne saw them as equally animalistic and this was enough to humanize the locals. Things should not be assumed, but making informed judgement such as Dr Elektra’s analysis of Egil essentially shows he is not violent creature - instead he is like us and but a child with PTSD. Therefore can we use our own our understanding of people as a way to improve international politics? Well let us ask ourselves the following scenario… if we saw US intervention in terrorist prone areas of Iraq through the eyes of families who saw their land being destroyed in a war which they relate -correctly or not- to the US - does this affect our treatment of them? Quite a heavy question I know but...

This concludes our podcast for today - we thank you for tuning in and we will look next week at how we manage and treat time in the view of philosophers and how we can improve this. I would like to thank all of our panel members once again for their superb insight within the question. I sincerely hope the past has opened your eyes to the present - have a good day.

Gabriel signing out.

#NYUPodcast455 #CulturalFoundationsII #EgilsSaga #Dr.Goyette #Colonialism #Podcast #wibblywobblytimeywimey #LiberalStudies

0 notes

wibblywobblytimeywimeycf2-blog · 8 years ago

Audio

Welcome to Wibbly Wobbly Timey Things– A Podcast of the Ages!

This week on “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Things” we will be looking at our perceptions of violence through the lenses of literature, history, psychology, and philosophy. The violence depicted within the Family Sagas and the period of European conquest in South America will be dissected by a panel of experts eager to share their insights in an attempt to heighten our understanding of human nature.

Works Cited

Brown, Carol. SAGE Course Companions series: Developmental Psychology: A Course Companion (1). London, GB: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2008. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 3 May 2017.

Columbus, Christopher. Journal of the First Voyage: Diaro Del Primer Viaje, 1492. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1990. Print.

De Las Casas, Bartolomé. A short account of the destruction of the Indies. Penguin Books: New York, 1992. Print

De Montaigne, Michel. “Essays.” Harold Bloom: Chelsea House. 1987 "Violence in Literature." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.

Eiriksson, Leifur. Ed. Scuudder, Bernard. Egil’s Saga. Penguin Classic: New York, 2004. Print

"European Perceptions of Native Government." American Eras. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.

Grotius, Hugo. The Free Sea. Liberty Fund, Inc: Indianapolis, 2004. Print.

Leonard, Irving Albert. Books of the Brave: Being an Account of Books and of Men in the Spanish Conquest and Settlement of the Sixteenth-century New World. Berkeley: U of California, 1992. Print.

Lönnroth, Lars, Vésteinn Ólason, and Anders Piltz. "Literature." N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2017.

"The Native Peoples, Christopher Columbus, Social Studies, Glencoe." Glencoe Online. N.p., n.d.Web.03 May 2017.

Pemment, Jack. "Psychopathy versus Sociopathy: Why the Distinction Has Become Crucial.” Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 18, no. 5, 1 Sept. 2013.

Roesdahl, Else, and Preben Meulengracht Sørensen. "Viking Culture." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 03 May 2017. Tether, Leah. "Perceval’s Puerile Perceptions: The First Scene of the Conte du Graal as an Index of Medieval Concepts of Human Development Theory." Neophilologus, vol. 94, no. 2, Apr. 2010.

Music:

“Heroic Age” by Kevin MacLeod

Work Distribution

Team:

Co-ordinator - Louis Dalle

Script Editor - Riley Baker

Podcast Editor - K.B.

Tumblr Editor/Uploader - K.B. & Amy Cho

Voice Actors and Script Writers:

Amy Cho - Dr. Heejung Cho (Historian)

K.B. - Dr. Helen Electra (Psychologist)

Louis - Dr. Charles Winston (Philosopher)

Louis - Gabriel de Fombelle (Host)

Riley - Dr. Gwendolyn Clouds (Literature expert)

Script

*Introduction*

Louis: Welcome to “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Things” - the place where you find conversations to propel you in time, so that you can learn for the future

Part I: Q&A Panel Discussion of Egil’s Saga

Louis: First I want to ask History Professor Heejung if she could tell us a little bit on the what the book Egil’s Saga is really about

Louis: So you said this saga spans 150 years. How authentic is this history? Is it a true account or is it meant more for entertainment purposes?

Louis: You mentioned that Egil’s moral compass focused on violence. What was the role of violence in Egil’s saga?

Louis: So, the question is how do we have to read these sagas? Is it okay to rely on the family saga to get accurate historical reference?

Riley: Is sociopathy really an applicable term when violence was normalized in their society?

Riley: Ohh, that’s a really interesting insight!

Part II: Panel Discussion of Ethnocentrism & the New World

Riley: Wasn’t that the motivation behind the Crusades as well?

Louis: Sinners if you read Sepulveda who argue that for their cannibalism and worshiping of idolatry should make them obliterated like the Caanites in the old testament.

*Conclusion*

Gabriel signing out.

#NYUPodcast455 #EgilsSaga #Colonialism #Violence #Ethnocentrism #Dr.Goyette #CulturalFoundationsII #wibblywobblytimeywimey #Podcast

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