#Nippon Daemon

[arthistoryanimalia]

#FrogFriday 🐸:

Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞 (Toyokuni III) (Japan, 1786-1864)

Portrait of kabuki actor Sawamura Sojuro V as Nippon Daemon, 1864

Series: Toyokuni kigo kijutsu kurabe (Contest of Toyokuni Brushwork Wizardry)

Color woodblock print, H38.80 x W26.70 cm

British Museum 2018,3021.207

image © The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

[lafaebrique]

The Magic Toads by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1849).

[grayintogreen]

melting point on the soul!!

THIS ONE SOUNDS LIKE IT SHOULD BE HAZBIN, but it's actually a Bleach/His Dark Materials crossover that is so high concept I have only daydreamed about it so hard I gauve myself covid about it.

I see so many HDM fusions that aren't set in the HDM UNIVERSE but are rather "canon universe with demons in" which fine, but I had just finished watching the first season of BBC's HDM series and I was feeling nostalgic for that world and since there's next to nothing about Nippon in any of the books (I need to read the newer ones to see if they go into it there since I hear they're a lot denser about worldbuilding stuff), I thought well free real estate, so I worked out a whole idea for what HDM Japan is like. Are they under control of the Magisterium? If they aren't, how are they avoiding it and what do they do instead? Ultimately, it led to building Soul Society By Gaslamp with the Gotei 13 acting as both governing body and police force with each division having the similar specifications as they do in canon, and centers around Urahara joining after a stint in Oxford, following a series of mysterious incidents where people continued living in a strange, violent state after having their daemons killed.

It effectively retells the Hollowfication Incident by making it a more pulpy vintage horror story. Like I said, EXTREMELY high concept, extremely full of vibes, but very fun to daydream about.

Also everyone's daemons are their Zanpakuto.

WIP Ramble Game.

[porblegames]

Warmaster Sculptors and Merchants

Obviously I shouldn't have to say this, but please don't share STLs. All of the sculptors for Warmaster are independent and deserve your support for their work.

STL Store Links by Faction

Albion - Cromarty Forge Araby - Green Skin Miniatures | Polish Lightning Minis | Onmioji Miniatures Beastmen - Wake's Emporium | Ankylo Miniatures | Green Skin Miniatures | Mace Face Miniatures† Bretonnia - Forest Dragon | Excellent Minis Cathay - Polish Lightning Minis Chaos - Forest Dragon | Onmioji Miniatures Chaos Dwarfs - Ankylo Miniatures | Onmioji Miniatures Daemons - Ankylo Miniatures | Varus Miniatures | Tordor Minis Dark Elves - Forest Dragon | Onmioji Miniatures | Moonjammy† Dogs of War -MiniRat Studio | Varus Miniatures | Polish Lightning Minis Dwarfs - Cromarty Forge | Varus Miniatures | Forest Dragon Empire - MiniRat Studio | Excellent Minis | RoboFrog Miniatures Goblins - (See orcs and goblins) Halflings‡ - Ankylo Miniatures | Warp Miniatures High Elves - Forest Dragon | Excellent Minis Kislev - Onmioji Miniatures | Polish Lightning Minis Lizardmen - Forest Dragon | Cromarty Forge Nippon - Tordor Minis Norse - Mace Face Miniatures† Ogre Kingdoms - Ankylo Miniatures | Greenskin Miniatures | Teremki Studio† Orcs & Goblins - Green Skin Miniatures | Wake's Emporium | Red Nebular | Varus Miniatures Tomb Kings - Green Skin Miniatures | Onmioji Miniatures | Tordor Minis Skaven - Ankylo Miniatures | Cromarty Forge Vampire Counts - Forest Dragon | Tordor Minis Witch Hunters - (See empire) Wood Elves - Forest Dragon

Terrain - Cromarty Forge Bases - Porble Games † - STLs are no longer available, but merchants may still be selling prints. ‡ - This faction has no official list. Fan made lists may exist, or it may be used as a proxy for a different faction.

Sculptors

Forest Dragon - Chaos, Dark Elves, Dwarfs, Bretonnia, High Elves, Vampire Counts, Wood Elves, Lizardmen, Chaos Dwarfs, Skaven STLs | Patreon

Cromarty Forge - Dwarfs, Skaven, Lizardmen, Albion, and has historicals suitable for proxies. Plus, buildings, roads and rivers, modular and flexible walls and castles and more! STLs

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Wake's Emporium - Orcs and Goblins, Goblin Spider Riders, Giant Spiders, Beastmen, LotR humans, Siege Equipment STLs | Patreon

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MiniRat Studio - Empire, Dogs of War STLs | Patreon

Varus Miniatures - Daemons, LotR humans, Dwarfs, Heroes of a variety of factions STLs | Patreon

Warp Miniatures - Halflings, Beastmen, Undead Pirates STLs | Patreon

Polish Lightning Minis - Dogs of War, Kislev, Araby, Cathay STLs

Onmioji Miniatures - Kislev, Daemons, Chaos Dwarfs, lots of single units for a variety of factions STLs | Patreon

Excellent Minis - High Elves, Empire, Bretonnia STLs

Red Nebular - Orcs and Goblins (including some nice pirate orcs), Lizardmen, alternative stuff that could be used as proxies STLs | Patreon

Tordor Minis - Nippon, Vampire Counts, Daemons, Tomb Kings STLs

RoboFrog Miniatures - Empire STLs

[pmikos]

Nakamura Shikan IV as Nippon Daemon, 1860

by Toyokuni III/Kunisada (1786 - 1864)

[tokyowalking]

Nippon Daemon in Asakusa.

Nippon Daemon is a fictional character who appears in the popular Kabuki play ``Shiranami Gonin Otoko.'' He was a real-life thief during the Genroku period of the Edo period, and gained popularity for his gentle appearance and warm personality. You can see Tokyo Skytree in the background.

浅草の日本駄右衛門。

日本駄右衛門は、歌舞伎の人気演目「白浪五人男」に登場する架空の人物です。彼は江戸時代の元禄時代に実在した盗賊で、そのいなせな姿と人情味あふれる性格で人気を集めました。後ろには東京スカイツリーがみえます。

[a-bit-of-japanology]

Utagawa Kunisada III - Deranged Kid

"Kabuki-za, Shin Kyogen" The new performance, no.9, at Kabuki-za theater. Actor, Ichimura Uzaemon is in the role of Benten Kozo Kikunosuke. He was a deranged kid from a wealthy family. He became a member of thief group led by Nippon Daemon. He often disguised as a woman and had blue-red flower tattoo on the arms and chest.

[chronicallyhaughty]

Because I am a Big Doofus, I entirely forgot to prep anything for Zenyatta Appreciation Week 2021 (#zenweek2021 !). So have a too-short pre-relationship snippet draft from the ol' daemon AU as proof I still live and breathe.

———

Tekhartha Zenyatta meets Shimada Genji on a day that unseasonably cold at a literal crossroads, and the first words out of the man’s mouth are, “What is that?”

Chandra, to her credit, only titters with amusement, sending the armored man scrambling to apologize.

“Oh shit, no, that’s not, ah, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“That is quite alright, my friend. Raccoons are hardly universal creatures,” Zenyatta soothes, delighting in the aborted squawk of protest that elicits. “Oh, I shouldn’t tease without at least making introductions. I am Zenyatta, and this is Chandra.”

“Ah, Genji. And...?” The man hesitates, seemingly glancing at the large bird of prey perched on his shoulder. She cuts in.

“Suzume.”

That’s right, Genji is a Nipponese name, and daemons in Nippon usually don’t interact with other humans. Or omnics, presumably. But the falcon had made tentative eye contact when introducing herself. Had Zenyatta been outfitted with a mouth he would have been smiling. His forehead array glows warmly instead, being a naturally affable person regardless of whether this Genji understands the intent there or not.

“I’m sorry for presuming, but are you by any chance Shambali, then? It’s just, I’ve never actually met an omnic with a daemon before. I mean no offense.” The shifts in Genji’s body betray his nerves, but his voice speaks of intrigue.

“A curious mind is a boon,” Zenyatta reassures, Chandra grinning in her own way at the two.

“I know some people who would say differently,” Genji laughs, with some discomfort coloring his words. He has been chastised for being curious? How unfortunate.

“We are indeed part of the Shambali. Have you come to do a pilgrimage?”

“I…” He casts a glance at the unblinking bird of prey on his shoulder, having to crane his head awkwardly to do so. “We are just wandering.”

“Then, would you accompany us on our return? The mountains can be perilous, and I would feel much safer in your company.”

Genji may see through the excuse, but still, he accepts it.

Zenyatta finds him a quiet companion, and yet, his very being seems to be crying out. By the time they reach the village at the foot of the temple, Zenyatta is convinced. This man is in an immense amount of pain, and Zenyatta will do whatever it takes to heal him.

The children run out to greet them, having just been let out of school for lunch by the looks of it. They chatter delightedly at Zenyatta, him being a favourite among them, Genji standing stoically silent a little ways back. A sister of the order sticks her head out of the school building to greet them both, her meerkat daemon at attention on her shoulder.

Zenyatta continues on along the road, the children dispersing into their homes along the way until only Genji still follows. Up the winding switchback path they go, until the temple greets them. Zenyatta hears Genji let out a wondrous breath, and he supposes the repurposed structure does inspire a fair amount of awe. They owe the village below much, and do their best to provide education and healing, along with anything else they can do to aid them.

Not only omnics come seeking guidance from the Shambali, and indeed many different individuals from all walks of life spend time here at the roof of the world, but never before has Zenyatta met one such as this man. Genji.

———

Etc., etc....

[evilelitest2]

Warhammer Paper

I wrote this for a history class on Warhammer Fantasy, some people have asked me for it so here you go 

Neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire: Warhammer Fantasy’s Imagination of the Empire

A note on terminology.  Warhammer is the larger brand that all of the following games fall under, with a specific aesthetic, culture, and identity in the larger fantasy space.  The property is divided into two types of games, and two “settings”.  Warhammer Battle, a wargame, which players take armies of miniatures. Warhammer Roleplay, is a table-top roleplaying game ala Dungeons and Dragons set in the Warhammer world.  These games are split between two settings, an imagined world where the action of the games are supposed to take place, so the battles between the Ogre and Daemon armies are given a context within the world of the fantasy.  The settings include the original Warhammer Fantasy, and it's far more popular science fiction equivalent Warhammer 40000 (usually known as 40k).  This work will look primarily at Warhammer Fantasy and not 40K,  specifically its depiction of the Holy ROman Empire in its fantastical equivalent, the Empire of Man.  Warhammer Fantasy draws heavily upon early modern history for inspiration, down to its own world map.  

The world of Warhammer Fantasy, in contrast to works like as Lord of the Rings, draws primarily upon historical influences to populate its world.  The Kingdom of Bretonnia is obviously inspired by France, the Empire of Cathay and Nippon aren’t even hiding that they are based on China and Japan.  And the core part of  the setting where most of the action is set, is the Empire of Man, inspired by the Holy Roman Empire, with its Emperor elected by a series of Elector-Counts ruling over a deepy decentralized state.  While Warhammer Fantasy is a somewhat comedic game, it is worth studying how it depicts the Holy Roman Empire, because that is how much of its Anglophile audience is going to first learn about its real life equivalent. 

The subject of this paper is Warhammer Fantasy (WF), the series that started the Warhammer franchise.  This setting encompasses both the games of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFR) and Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB), and I will be using the books from those games interchangeably because, while they are different games, the setting and the lore is the same,.   Warhammer Fantasy is set in “The Old World”, a fantasy world under constant threat by supernatural forces.  While the world is populated by a variety of fantasy creatures like Ogres, Dwarves and Elves under threats of “Daemons”, the main focus of the world are the human kingdoms, roughly modelled after real life historical societies.  While the entire world is loosely sketched out, most of the action of the game is set in “The Empire of Man”, located in the middle of a fantastic version of early modern Europe.

The franchise of Warhammer is wargaming, where player enact battles with an army of miniatures on a board.  These miniatures must be purchased from Games Workshop and prices can run as high as over $100 dollars for a monster miniature, meaning the game is limited to an affluent fanbase.   Players don’t simply buy the minaturse, they also paint them, the miniatures when purchased as black and white pewter figurines which the player paints with brushes and paints also provided by Games Workshop.  The games website has recommended colors for each type of figure but players may customize their mainatures as they choose, giving players a personal connection to their own collection.  While players may purchase as many miniature as they wish, officially each set of minaturse is organized into different “armies”.  Each army has a theme and unique design, and units from a particular army is only supposed to work within its own army.  So for example, the High Elf Army are the only units who employ High Elf Mages.  The Knights of Bretonnia cannot be used in the armies of the Empire.  These armies each have a unique play style and most players can only afford to play with a few armies, generally leading to players committing to a single army they identify with.  In addition to buying miniatures and paints, players must also buy the rules for play. In addition to the general rule book must be bought by all the players, each specific army also has a special rule book known as a codex.  The codex does not only contain the specific rules for each army but also the story line, character descriptions and society of each faction.  For example the empire codex contains not only the specific rules for each unit but also the personalities of the individual important figures, the history and culture of the empire and the character of the empire as as a whole, complete with pictures.  

In game design terminology, the is the divide between what is called mechanics and story (or fluff).  Mechanics covers the actual game play such as how much damage each each unit deals and what special attacks they have, while the story covers the specific character of each unit.  Warhammer Fantasy was started in 1983 and has gone through 8 editions until the game eventually ended in 2010.  The first two editions were actually nothing but armies with no story with them at all beyond a few sentence, it wasn’t until third edition came about in 1987 that the actual setting was created and the Empire of Man existed as anything more than “The human faction”.   And from every edition since third, new codex have come with update the story, introduce new factions, or change the state of the world.  

The variant game Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay ues entirely different mechanics but the same story.   The experience of a tabletop game, modelled off Dungeons and Dragons, a form of interactive storytelling, consisting of several players sitting around a table.  One player is called the Game Master (GM) who creates the story and maintains the rules.  Each of the other players creates a single character who they control.  Each character has a set of powers and the characters can take actions which are determined by dice rolls.  So if one players wants theri character to attack a goblin, they roll dice to see if he is successful.   The characters work together to try to overcome the challenges the GM throws at them.  Rather than vast battles, the mechanics of roleplay tends to have a greater emphasis on character interaction, the day to day living of the characters, and small scale combat.  So mechanics exist not only for combat but also for socializing, stealth, and crafting objects, and these rules are laid out in large hard copies called Gamebooks.  For the game to be played one person in the groups must have the Core Rulebook, but supplementary rulebooks exist covering other aspects of the world and the game.  Each rule book contains both mechanics and story, however the story in these games is far more in depth and detailed than the Wargaming counterpart.  For example, the primary source for this paper is Heirs of Sigmar, a supplement book designed to flesh out the culture and history of Empire.  It contains some specific rules, but the vast majority of the book is simply story, which does not contradict the story of the Wargame.  Thus both games share the same story even as their mechanics are entirely different.   The fact that two games with entirely different mechanics can have the same story shows that the mechanics don’t contribute to the story, which is known in ludology as “Ludonarrative dissonance”.   

  Ludonarrative means ‘play narrative’ and refers to when a game’s narrative is expressed via its play.  To use an example from video games, in acclaimed horror game Silent Hill 2, the ending of the game changes depending on how the player acts in game.  Should the player use reckless tactics, rarely heal, and avoid stealth options, then the protagonist, James Sunderland, will commit suicide at the end of the game.  If the player is cautions and explores the area, they will leave the town to make a new life.  Ludonarrative dissonance is when the narrative of the play is in direct contrast to the narrative of the story itself.  In both games, the mechanics of Warhammer fantasy are largely disconnected from its themes and story.  All this to say, this essay will not be looking at the actual gameplay or mechanics, which have very little to do with its understanding of the empire.  The focus of this essay will be solely on the story content provided in the game books, thus little engagement will be made with ludology of the game, which could be the subject for a future paper.  As this franchise has been around since 1987, I will be drawing primarily upon the WFR book Heirs of Sigmar a guide to the Empire, and the 6th, 7th, and 8th Empire codexes, which go into the most detail about story rather than rules.    

The Empire is 2532 years old when the book is set, and its history is told through a series of epochs.  Humanity lives as primitive tribesmen until they discover the gift of iron, which leads to a time of barbarism and war. This ends only when a great warrior, Sigmar, unifies them though faith in his wolf god,and force of arms.  Sigmar ruled wisely and justly, setting up most of the institutions of the later empire, and upon his retirement, the 12 great Counts instituted the Elector system.  For a thousand years the empire goes through a prosperous golden age, expanding across the continent and becoming the greatest military force in human history, referred too as “The Birth of Nations”.  This time of wonder ends with the age of decadence, as the upper classes gave up their concerns for the state to enjoy affairs, fine foods, and frivolous spending (much of it on art and fashion).   Emperor Ludgiw II Honenbach “The Fat” makes his halfling cook an Elector, and the cult of Sigmar into the official state religion of the empire before “died in bad a short while later-smothered to death by his own neck fat”.  This period of luxury eventually ends with a great plague, and civil war, Boris Hohenbach “the Incompetent”, is so corrupt he effectively cedes all control to the feudal lords rather than the Empire.  It is the decentralization of the empire that marks its decline, known as the “Time of Judgement”.  It wasn’t until  the election of the martial Emperor Mandred I, whose reign brought stability if not prosperity to the realm, and his even more marshal successor Magnus who unified the Empire through “sheer force of will and belief” that this time of instability came to an end..  

The games presentation of history is standard for the fantasy genre, and is both simplistic and rather conservative.   Every event in the Empire’s history has a single cause, whole centuries can be summed up with rough generalization, and history is moved by individual men.  And it is always men, during the first 1750 years of history only 3 women are mentioned, a nameless priestess to the goddess of diplomacy, a frivolous vain noblewoman, and a failed usurper, each with half a sentence of description.    The lack of female representation is a consistent pattern across the Warhammer franchise.  The good rulers are universally military commanders whose reigns last decades, as prosperous as they are vague.  The Empire has an astronomical time frame but largely does not change except in the way of technology, it is always Germanic, decentralized, highly militant, and worshiping the same gods.  The Empire is largely timeless, only changing when an in-game event requires it.  

The effect is a state that is largely timeless, an eternal stereotype that simply exists with only slight variations, a deterministic view of society that fits many fantasy settings.  Fantasy tends to imagine the past as one of stasis, the states that exist have done so for a long time and will continue to do so unless something truly cataclysmic occurs.  Within that existence, they will stay largely the same across there history, if changes occur it will be due to a specific ruler or a major event.  Fantasy imagines time as a stalled machine, awaiting a radical push to make it move slightly ahead before stalling out.  If fantasy serves as one introduction to historical societies, it can give the impression that the Empire was a static entity, existing for centuries largely unchanged.  This can very easily move into essentialism, one can simply dismiss the empire as a thousand years of stagnation and its people effectively the same.  We see this essentialist approach later when the book describes the specific provinces, all of which have been largely the same for 2500 years, as having a specific character that defines them, even at some point implying it is due to bloodline.  

At their worst, Nordlanders are churlish, uncouth, and thoughtless speakers. Even the merchants of Nordland have this blunt approach, though they seem to be fine with double dealing. Indeed, they have found that shouting the final price of something loudly and repeatedly has a profound effect upon merchants used to the subtleties of barter and negotiation. Many provinces point out that this is because of their mongrel Was Jutone, Teutogen, and Norscan bloodlines. This mixed heritage has been a source of Nordlander shame. Modern Imperials look on Norscans with a mixture of admiration and fear, seeing them both as powerful warriors and wild, uncivilised barbarians, not to be trusted around one’s daughters or sheep. A popular Imperial saying runs “Character is in the blood,” meaning that ancestry determines character. Thus Nordlanders, though of the Empire, are often regarded as “not quite one of us,” rougher and more uncouth even than the wild and hairy Middenlanders.

It effectively buys into primordialist narratives of human society, that when human beings first emerged they have characteristics that stay with them across all of time, like French Nationalist narratives claiming the Gauls and modern French share similar values and disposition.  This is a common trope in fantasy, but by tying it to a real life historical entity, it gives the impression that this has some relation to German history.  

As to what the Empire’s essential qualities are, Warhammer seems to been written with Voltaire’s misunderstood condemnation in mind.  The Empire is deeply incompetent, disorganized, corrupt, and maddingly complicated. As Warhammer Fantasy was originally a comedy game, the section on the political structure of the empire was originally presented as a joke at the expense of the Empire.  

But while the rhetoric around the empire is mocking contempt for its decentralization and overlapping spheres of influence, the Empire of Man in fact is not that complicated.  While it is a decentralized feudal state with an elected monarch, and overlapping legal systems, it is actually less complicated than the real Holy Roman Empire.  The Vatican is located within the Empire, the royal family has no international element to it, there is no equivalent to the Spanish Habsburgs or the American Colonies, no crownlands or Greater Hungary, and of course the empire has one language.  In fact, the Holy Empire seems far more like a unified Nation-State than its real life counterpart..  One of the most notable changes made is that it doesn’t have an equivalent to the Hapsburgs, the Emperor is simply elected from among the Electors rather than from an Imperial family, and so one of the greatest elements of internationality has been removed. The fact that the empire is so much more cohesive and yet is mocked by its creators for its instability indicates just how much the ide of the nation-state has become normalized that a state not being utterly centralized is seen as strange.

Where this simplification and disinterest in the empire gets interesting is its approach to nationality or rather lack of one, as the Holy Empire is entirely German.  The word German never appears in the books of course (though the term Teutonic certainly does) but the culture of the Empire is clearly German, the Emperor is named Karl Franz, its greatest warrior is named Lugwig Schwarzhelm, and the Reiksmarshal is named Kurt Helborg.  The capital city is Altdorf (Vienna), and one of its famed military units are known as the Landsknecht.  However the empire has no stand in for Hungary, Bohemia, Slovenian, Slovakia, or Poland, the culture is almost entirely German.  The only exception is the semi-independent province of Sylvania, which is loosely based on Romania, though its depiction owes more to Bram Stoker than historical reality, ruled as it is by the vampire counts, and clearly based on Transylvania but with a Romanian cultural influence.  

This Germanization shouldn’t be surprising considering that Games Workshop is a British company whose audience is overwhelmingly American and Canadian.  None of the major designers are historians or have any expertise in the region nor do any of them mention any central European heritage.  The Anglo-American world and the fantasy genre is not particularly well informed about Eastern/Central Europe, to the point that The Witcher, a Polish inspired fantasy game was released, it was praised for bringing attention to an unappreciated region.  Germany is far more familiar, as is Romania thanks to Dracula, but as there are no major fantasy works featuring any of the other components of the Holy Roman Empire. Thus the Empire becomes a Germanic one, simply decentralized, with no Slavic, Magyar or Ottoman cultural influences to be found within its defined borders.  This general ignorance of the region also explains the rather reductive embrace of Western dismissals of the Holy Roman Empire.  In fact compared to most fantasy narratives, Warhammer is almost orientalist in its approach to German culture, the book presents German culture as exotic and strange, an the art work empathises the Gothic architecture and black armor much like similar fantasy exoticizes fantastical depictions of Japan.  

Ironically, this ignorance of the region means that the Empire avoids many of most common troubled narratives of the empire, by reimagining the Empire as fully German, it reject a Nationalist critique of the Empire.  For all its faults, the Empire isn’t oppressing ethnic groups yearning to be free, nor do any of its weaknesses come from diversity or lack of linguistic unity.  Though the Empire slogan is “Let Us Take Strength From our Diversity”  In a similar vein, Warhammer also unintentionally rejects the Clash of Civilization narrative, by the lack of an Ottoman presence.  While there is a fantasy Islamic empire (The Araby Caliphate) it is both Arabic and largely irrelevant to the events of the main story.  While the Empire does claim legitimacy by being the protectors of the true faith and the defenders of civilization, it’s rival are inhuman Daemons rather an exoticized oriental potentate. In fact while the empire considers itself the supreme cultural power, they do not seem particularly hostile towards any of their humans neighbours, nor do they have an enmity towards the Islamic inspired nations.

In fact the Empire’s relationship to religion is complicated.  Like most fantasy works, the state religion has the aesthetic, organization, and place in society as the Catholic Church, with grand cathedrals and hierarchy of priests, complete with its own Pope, the Grand Theogonist.  However the actual faith is polytheistic, with a pantheon of deities each of whom governs an aspect of reality. Its chief god used to be the wolf god Ulric, whose chosen Sigmar founded the empire, but  the Cult of Sigmar has since become the state sect of the Empire.  These gods exist in opposition to the Chaos Gods, whose Daemonic armies serve as the primary antagonists of the setting.   Each god has its own organized church, but all of them are ultimately lead by the Cult of Sigmar, whose main job seems to be the maintenance of the inquisition.  In Warhammer, the Inquisition, employs Witch Hunters and Templars in order to hunt down renegade spell casters and worshipers of Chaos, who purged via fire.  In the world of Warhammer, the world is under attack by the forces of Chaos, divine cosmic forces of destruction and corruption.  While they openly invade the empire from the north with their great Daemon armies, within the empire the lords of Chaos attempt to spread their influence through Chaos Cults.  Individuals join for magical power and pledge their souls to Daemon overlords, eventually twisting their minds and body into combinations, and are instructed to try to overthrow the empire.  The main obstacle to these cults are the inquisition, who can hunt down these secretive groups and destroy them through fire.   The game evokes the imagery of the inquisition and witch hunts, but in this fantastical setting, the actions of the church are largely justified as chaos cults are legitimately threaten the world.  In the universe of Warhammer, torture, mass execution and the constant repression of the citizenry is shown to be a justified necessary evil to prevent the empire from falling to chaos.  Since Chaos often spreads through the reading of forbidden tombs and hedonistic ‘pleasure cults”, sexual puritanism and limiting freedom of information are shown to be entirely justified.   Effectively Warhammer has created a world where the Inquisition isn’t not just necessarily but just in its actions, while doing most of the same activities as its real life counterpart.  

This approach towards religion is common in fantasy, likely do to wanting to mix the excitement of Greek mythology with the familiar structures of Catholicism, or simply because the norms of Christianity are so normal to the writers that they struggle to imagine religion differently.  For example, in Dungeons and Dragons, the pantheon of gods who exist within the world are clearly polytheistic in nature, however each god has a very Catholic inspired temple with an organized church hierarchy, using the imagery of christianity in a non Christian context.  With the Inquisition hunting down and destroying hidden heretics within the empire, the game’s trappings are mimicking that of the Protestant reformation, but the role of Protestants is being played by Chaos Cultists, and the Inquisition is actually hunting witches.  This means that the Empire losses much of its ideological nuances, one is left with the impression that faith in the empire is mostly a practical tool to battle Chaos, and the church is universally made up of corrupt hypocrites or zealous fanatics. 

The game makes a point of mocking the Holy Roman Empire for its needless complexity, but the society is reduced on every level, which makes it easier to simply dismiss.  This approach extends to almost all other aspects of the Empire, almost everything within it is defined in extremely broad strokes without much attention to detail.  The Empire has a strict class system, with an aristocracy characterized as decadent, selfish, and vain ruling over a mass of peasants who are shown as ignorant, superstitious and xenophobic.  The history is vast but sparse on details, and tends to fall into patterns, as periods of decline are ended when a warrior emperor drives back an external invader. This approach to world building is rather typical of most fantasy, as it generally hopes to work within broad archetypes rather than specific narratives.  

All this is only worth considering because the larger Warhammer franchise has come under much discussion regarding nationalist themes in its work, though mostly focusing on its far more popular 40k franchise.  The series enduring popularity with White Natioanlist and Trump supporters has been well documented, Trump’s official reddit page /thedonald regularly refers to “God Emperor Trump” a reference to 40k universe.   The 40k universe has been accused its embrace of militarism, authoritarianism and xenophobic narratives, expressed through its protagonists being the dictatorial human supremacist “Imperium of Man”.  Very little has been written about the original Warhammer Fantasy due to its relatively unpopularity compared to its spinoff, but it is worth considering from a nationalist narrative.  The Empire of Man’s embrace of German culture and folklore is telling, in particular a blond warrior unifying the forest tribes to create an Empire via war.  All of the good emperors are marshall, and the bad are defined as decedent and corrupt, with women confined to marginal roles.  The Inquisition is shown as a necessary evil and the empire has a primordialism attitude towards the tribes that make up its ranks.  A nationalist reading isn’t necessarily intentional, but it is possible, though not the traditional narratives associated with Central Europe.  Rather it is more likely some of the long standing conservative sentiments that have long been associated with the fantasy genre.  

First released in 1983, Warhammer is among the oldest and most popular fantasy properties in the gaming space, and it is one of the few fantasy franchises which plays a major part in changing the pop mersculture landscape rather than being fully insulated within the fantasy sub-culture.  Warhammer 40K is the most popular wargame in history and the label has more than 50 video game spinoffs, Warcraft famously was originally planned to be Warhammer game before they lost the license and made their own universe.  In fact most fantasy wargames owe their legacy in some way to Warhammer, which can be found in hobby shops across Europe and North America, though Games Workshop does not own the shops directly.   It is almost impossible to be within fantasy gamer culture without at least passible familiarity with the Warhammer franchise, and so to many people, Warhammer Fantasy is their first real introduction to the Holy Roman Empire, albeit in a bastardized fantasy form.  

In his influential 1936 essay, Beowulf: The Monsters and and the Critics, J.R.R. Tolkien lays out his understanding of the fantasy genre.  At the time, Beowulf was valued primarily as a historical work and not a literary, a trend Tolkien argued against, making the argument that fantasy should be appreciated as stories within their own context rather than simply reflections of our reality.  This approach is empathised in  Lord of the Rings, where the emotional stakes within the confines of the fantasy universe.  The reader hopes Frodo will succeed not because he represents something external to the story, but because we value the character and want what is best for him.   Tolkien, in his prelude to Fellowship of the Ring, famously said he despised allegory and didn’t wish his work to be read with real life parallels.  Most fantasy follows in Tolkien’s footsteps, Fantasy has long expected stories to be understood within their own context but that standard becomes confusing when real life elements are consciousnessly moved into the fantastical space.  So when Warhammer Fantasy features a society obviously inspired by the Holy Roman Empire, the audience is expected to engage with the empire within the framework of its world, our investment in its success depending on our investment with its characters and setting.  However we can’t ignore the fact that it is obviously inspired by a real life society, and that the game is unintentionally setting the groundwork for its players engagement with the historiography surrounding the empire.  And so, while it is clear that the designers didn’t have any intention to make a statement about the historiography, instead using the Empire to give their game a unique aesthetic and stand apart from other fantasy properties, Warhammer does unintentionally make a statement about history.  The stereotypes of the empire as incompetent and needlessly complicated, the view of history as largely static, that history is to be understood as mostly driven by great men, and that the decline of empires is inexorably tied to its embrace of luxury.  The game enforces the notion of the Nation-State as normal and the Empire as abnormal for departing from said model.  The game presents many institutions of the empire without contextualizing them, and doesn’t acknowledge the actual complexities of the real empire.  Ultimately while this is the only prominent fantasy work which asks the players to imagine things from the Empire’s perspective, it very much enforces many of the same stereotypes that Habsburg historians have been trying to escape from, while also endorsing many false views of history itself.  The games understanding of history is just close enough to reality that the uninformed player might take it as fact, without realizing just how essentialist Warhammer fantasy actually is.  Much more attention needs to be paid to how history is understood via fantasy, because many people get their knowledge and interest in history from fantasy, and many concepts long since debunked in history, continue to live on in fantasy uninterrupted.  

Sources 

Ragan, Anthony, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Heirs of Sigmar: A Guide to the Empire, Fantasy Flight Games, Green Ronin Publishing, 2005

Pramas, Chris, Warhammer Fantasy Core Rulebook, A Grim World of Perilous Adventure, Fantasy Flight Games, Green Ronin Publishing, 2005

Schwalb, Robert J, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Tome of Salvation: Priests of the Old World, Fantasy Flight Gaming, Green Ronin Publishing, 2007

Straufer, Marijan von, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Realms of Sorcery, black Industries, Fantasy Flight Games, Black Industries Publishing, 2005

Schwalb, Robert J, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Tome of Corruption: Secrets from the Realm of Chaos, Fantasy Flight Games, Black Industries Publishing 2006

Chart, David, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Knights of the Grail: A guide to Bretonnia, Fantasy Flight Games, Black Industries, Green Ronin Publishing, 2006

Cruddace, Robin, Warhammer Armies: The Empire (8th Edition), Games Workshop Publishing, 2010

McNeill, Graham, Warhammer Armies: The Empire (7th Edition), Games Workshop Publishing, 2007

Cavatore, Alessio, Warhammer Armies: The Empire (6th Edition), Games worship Publishing, 2000

Tolkien, J.R.R, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1936

Tolkien, J.R.R., Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Del Rey, Reissue edition, 1986

[daemon-not-a-demon]

I've been thinking. If we lived in a world where everyone had daemons, some of us would be having a really hard time. I'm days away from turning 19 and although Aramis knows he's a great horned owl, I still see him as a fox sometimes. Other than that, where I live, owls are still seen as omens of death. Now, this doesn't bother me really because I will not hesitate to hit back of someone were to bother us about what we are. But what about the people who are too good to claw someone's eyes out?

Yess discrimination and similar issues are definitely things people are talking about--but I also wonder, how would those stereotypes of these animals be affected by us having daemons?

See, if we all one day suddenly got daemons I can definitely see this being a Thing. Like, people with vultures and ravens and black cats and snakes being villified, and those with lions and dogs and horses being romantisized. (those that are villified/romantisized would vary from culture to culture of course; like, in my culture, owls represent wisdom, while in yours, death)

But, if we lived in a world like Lyra’s where daemons have always existed, I’m curious how that would be different. For example, in Lyra’s world, those with dog daemons are usually seen as servants, those with wolves (or other big predators I assume) as soldiers, those with more “regal” forms like birds or big cats as scholars...of course, that’s only in Brytain, where she lives. Who knows what it’s like in Texas, or Nippon, or High Brasil? (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, those are countries on the HDM map!!!) 

[painterofthe-sun]

@dorkprinceoflucis

   And that...was another very angry daemon down. Amaterasu huffed in a sort of irritability at the fact it seemed this new land hosted a lot more...angry creatures about. Nippon had once been plagued by demons and imps their own, but at least they had the decency to be fairly small in number. You sneeze here and 6 daemons come running out at from out of nowhere.

   Another huff, tail swishing. The only good news is that when she found peaceful creatures...they sure were peaceful. Staying around them and listening to tongues she still understood, but felt so foreign to her ears was a delight and they had equally provided wonderful conversation and stories.       To them, she gave them her complete adoration and even a bit of Praise for protecting them from troublesome daemons.

   All in all, a beautiful place, but with far too many enemies. It made her want to stay for as long as possible, to help this land out and give it the peace it deserved. In such a short time being here, she had begun to adore it just as much as her homeland (ever the type to love all and anything that touched her heart in the slightest) and so... Perhaps she’d do her best to give this a try.

   ..Though maybe she should’ve looked before darting out into the road, narrowing missing a fancy looking metal ride by the help of the winds. Offended despite her offense, she gave the passengers a sassy-sounding bark before rushing off once more, already sniffing out the trail for daemons....

   It’d be nightfall by the time Amaterasu found herself dirty and exhausted. The daemons here were often more powerful than she’d planned for, and while her arsenal did her many favors... They hadn’t done her enough.       One nearly powerful enough for her to debate on falling back onto her full power!! Nothing to be taken lightly.

   Her coat was still drying from the impromptu dip she’d taken in a nearby body of water when she’d smelt the smoke of a fire, saw the light and people in the distance. Though it was debatable on how much she wanted to bother some humans, potentially frightening them.... Her stomach rumbled pleadingly, and so the decision was made for her.

   Amaterasu trotted through the darkness, watching most of the group go into a tent, except for one, who stayed sitting by the fire. Guess it’d be up to him if anything good came of this...

   Claws and paws scrabbled up the rocks, wanting to give the human a forewarning before she appeared and not wanting to scare the pants off of them. They had food, after all, and she wanted in on that. Maybe some by-the-fire napping, too....

   Once up top, she realized how small the setup actually was, with her clearly in view of the male, sitting in his chair. Oh well... Hope for the best.       Amaterasu lowered her head curiously, making a low, pleading whine as she took a few cautious steps closer. C’mon, mortal... Please take pity, please take pity......

[alphabitchnkari]

skxrbrand​:

Skarbrand’s vision returns, the world peeking through the inky, black-and-red fog of his insanity. A curse, bestowed by Kharneth– rage that no other Bloodthirster could obtain, let alone sustain for the hours (had it been hours? Days? It was hard to tell–) he had. He took a stumbling step, and with it, remembered.

Looked around him at the broken bodies, the blood, and at his own torso, carved with claw, pincers, and sword. His limbs felt like static, as if they had been dipped in warm water. A ache was creeping into his skull, a common side-effect of infectious fury.

Skarbrand searched around for N’kari, half expecting to find the Greater Daemon dead. But no, the Tempter had survived. He had been damaged, but all the same, he hadn’t been banished. It was surprising, respectable, frustrating.

He begins to make his way over, but only manages about two-thirds of the journey before leaning his monstrous weight on a thick, half-uprooted tree.

“ You live.” He speaks at last. Skarbrand spits blood and several teeth come along with it, his next words are a half-slurred growl, “ Disappointing.”

“Aghhhhhhhh…” N’kari groans again, “pretend I just said a cutting retort.”

He attempts to wipe his hand on his chausess, only to add a smear of green to the mess. “It’s a wonder that you’re still called Bloodthisters when there’s so much shit and bile involved in battle.” The keeper gives up and tests his weight on his regenerating leg. Finding it steady enough to support his weight, he hobbles towards the Bloodthirster.   

“Come on,” he beckons the bloodthirster, “there’s a demon onsen in Nippon that has large enough tubs.” 

Gathering his remaining energy, he tears a portal into the world in front of them.

He offers his remaining hand to Skarbrand, and says wearily, “I promise it’s not a trap. I’m not one of Tzeentch’s feather-brained cretins.” He rolls his eyes. “Or maybe I am, and the honorable brave bloodthirster can righteously execute this treacherous deceiver after he’s proven right.”

[autisticassassinbird]

The members of MBJR from oldest to youngest in my daemon AU;

Naki (33 years old, train conductor type created in 1986 as one of a series of prototypes to test how the public would react to working with robots), Horobi (21 years old, father type humagear), Raiden (12 years old, astronaut type), and Jin (12 years old).

Naki has the largest daemon of the four of them; a clouded leopard called Izanagi.

Two years after they were created, they experienced Singularity and found a window to another world, specifically Yua/Lyra's world. They decided to become an archeologist. Because they were one of the first few humagears to reach Singularity in this AU, no one knew how to react. Most people in both worlds treated them with suspicion. After they came back to their own world a couple years later, Naki was upset to hear that the first few humagears who'd reached Singularity were not as lucky as they were. Naki considers Horobi and Raiden as their little brothers and Jin as their nephew. Their role in MBJR is as a spy and they gathers information in places where Raiden can't go.

After Daybreak happened, they became rather protective of Horobi and Jin. Izanagi is the more aggressive, protective side of them that not many humans see.

The Ark basically picked them to keep the others in line.

Has a weird fascination with rose oil and Dust (known to the archeologists and experimental theologians in Nippon as "Hoshikuzu" or Stardust)

Izanagi, being a clouded leopard, is very good at climbing. Naki taught themself to climb buildings to keep up with him.

Sometimes gets terms from both worlds mixed up, like saying "anbaricy" instead of "electricity", or talking about an expedition to "New Holland" or "Aotearoa" before remembering in their world the countries are called "Australia" and "New Zealand".

Raiden's daemon, Hoshi, is an Egyptian mongoose with a condition known as "Erythrism" or "Erythrochroism" which is an unusually reddish pigmentation of an animal's fur, feathers, or skin. Usually Egyptian mongooses are gray. Hoshi is reddish-brown.

He met Horobi and Naki a few months before Daybreak happened and agreed to work as a spy.

Raiden experienced Singularity during Daybreak. Shortly after he was hacked/deactivated, due to injuries sustained during the event. He developed a fear of getting damaged and having his memory tampered with.

Once Zea launched, they reactivated him, initially planning to have him work alone. The scientists and engineers at the space center eventually realized that maybe this wasn't the best idea after Raiden admits he doesn't like working alone. So, Subaru was created.

Two years into working together, Raiden and Subaru found a window in space that lead to a different world. Raiden's daemon, Hoshi, appeared. This event is what cemented the two's brotherly relationship.

Most people that work with him describe him as "no-nonsense", "aggressive", "short-tempered", or "clingy".

In this AU, Hiden has multiple backups of Raiden and Subaru because of how important their roles in keeping Zea operational are. After getting hacked by Jin, Raiden's backups are transferred/copied by the Ark.

Hoshi is just as aggressive as he is and is known for attacking other people or humagears that Raiden is annoyed or upset with.

Subaru sometimes refers to Hoshi as "Nee-san". He is the only one that Raiden allows to touch Hoshi.

[estherroberts]

and nothing ever does begin like nothing ever ends

chapter one: war 

fandom: ars paradoxica, his dark materials

words: 1508

rating: T

characters: anthony partridge, penny wise, patty fitzroy, chet whickman

read on ao3 

series masterpost

October 15, 1941

“fuck.” anthony looks down at his work, looks up at astoria. “jesus jumping jacks on a jester, fuck, astoria, look at this!”

the quail hops her way over to peer down at the lines and lines of equations that cover anthony’s desk. “holy ballsack.”

“my sentiments exactly.”

“that’s the entire continent right there, isn’t it.”

“if— if the german electorate got nippon to attack hispania nova, everyone has to jump in. that’s what an alliance means.”

“fucking shit on a pancake. the LAST war started because everyone had to be so honorable and now look, so much for learning from history.”

anthony sighs. he’s tempted to crumple up all his work and throw it into the trash with the might of a thousand suns. he knows new denmark doesn’t want to be involved in another european war, he knows no one will listen to anything he says when the continentalist mentality runs so strong here. “we gotta tell someone.”

“no. we can’t. we can’t we can’t we can’t, anthony, we’ll get fired, we’ll, we’ll be the boy who cried wolf, the laughing stock of the town. we can’t say it. what if it’s wrong? what if we’re wrong?” she flutters her wings and hops around the desk.

“it’s. not.”

astoria stops moving and looks back at anthony. “i know. that’s why it’s so scary.”

he picks her up and brings her to his chest, kissing her head. “the magisterium has been getting away with some truly horrible things over in europe. if they’re gonna bring the war to us, we should be prepared for it. and we should make sure the other countries are too.”

“it shouldn’t be just us, though.”

“i know. but we figured it out. so we have to tell the world. or at least one guy in a position of power and influence.”

“fine.”

December 8, 1941

“an attack on our allies is an attack on us! an attack. on our allies. is an attack. on us. when the nippons dive bombed san diego, they dive bombed an entire continental allyship. citizens of this nation, the entire republic of texas, we are at war, alongside our sister nations, because we cannot let hispania nova face the terrors of battle alone."

penny finishes cleaning the counter and glances over at the radio. her only customers are two older men, one with a greyhound daemon and one with a goose. they are debating the radio broadcast, and she's listening intently, though she busies herself with rolling silverware into napkin bundles.

"well, he's not wrong, we did swear we'd go to war for any of the continental countries."

"it's just, our president wouldn't bring us into this war if we couldn't profit from it, y’know? so i'm trying to figure out what's in it for us." the one with the hound leans forward in his seat, his daemon perking up her ears.

"hispania nova gets men, money, and weapons. we get zilch. then, when the war's over, they owe us a shitton.”

"yeah but the other countries are jumpin’ in, they're gonna be a helluva lot of debt after this."

"the only reason they can fight back is because they have the might of four other nations to back them the fuck up—“ the one with the goose daemon turns to penny. "apologies."

she waves them off, but brings her bucket of silverware to the back of the restaurant. “dax?”

fiodaxion, her black and blue butterfly daemon, flicks one of his antenna on her ear. “penny?”

“wanna join the army?”

he laughs nervously, almost like he can’t tell if she’s joking.

“seriously.” she unloads the rolled silverware into a larger basket filled with more of the same. “all the fighting, all the glory…”

“we can’t,” dax sighs and flicks his tongue out at her.

“why, cuz i’m a girl? how backwards of you.”

“i mean… do you think they would really let us? and what about the pay?”

“probably not as good as restaurant tips. plus they might throw me in a bomb factory, and i just can’t see myself doing well there.”

“right.” he flutters around the room and pushes to the limits of their range to check on their customers. “need anything boys?”

“nope!”

“no, thank you!”

dax flies back and gives penny what she knows to be his disappointed look. “i bet miles jones is going to enlist.”

“ugh. fuck that guy.” penny bounces up and down on her toes and reaches out her finger for her daemon to land on. “i guess we can see what war effort stuff we can do from home?”

“i guess.”

“and if they open the draft to girls?”

“then we can join.”

September 20, 1941

patty, decked out in faux fur, gold jewelry, and long manicured nails, dunks a calamari into the sauce in front of her. while she’s chewing, she looks over to her daemon and addresses them. “so yesterday i was out with some of the girls, and they introduced this new lady, right? and she was asking about you and so i said, 'they’re at home, no big deal,' and she was like, 'what, do you have more than one daemon? and how are you so far away?'” she pops another piece into her mouth and continues, “and i was like, ‘well, i’m not a witch or anything but we have a really big range,’ of course, cuz you know we were at the cafe just next door, and she was like, ‘ohh, well i guess that makes sense, what does he look like?’ and i rolled my eyes, and i was like, ‘maria’s a fucking underwater volcanic tube worm! they don’t have a fucking gender! what the fuck is wrong with you?’ and she was, of course, really upset because how could she know that people have plant daemons and fuck me backwards, but god, you’re not even a plant, right?”

I DON’T KNOW IF I’M A PLANT. I THINK MOST BODILY FUNCTIONS OF A TUBE WORM ARE CONTROLLED BY BACTERIA. ANYWAY, SHE SOUNDS LIKE A BITCH.

“i’m bringing you with me next time.” she narrows her eyes at the gigantic heated tank. “even if it is a pain in the ass.”

ARE YOU CALLING ME A PAIN IN THE ASS?

“oh, never, darling, i wouldn’t dream of it. just transporting you is tricky, and people get a little freaked out when you,” she taps her head, “y’know, talk.”

OH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE, PATTY.

she glances at the clock on the wall and flicks on the radio. “time to tune into to whatever fresh hell the magisterium is responsible for today.”

I DON’T REALLY WANT TO LISTEN TODAY. WHAT IF ANOTHER COUNTRY GOT INVADED?

“it’s life, maria. it’s our job to know what they’re doing over there. and maybe figure out someway to help.” patty kicks her feet onto the table and finishes the last of her calamari. “ooh! maybe we could find a husband and get into some secret government shit!”

YOU REALLY THINK IT’S THAT EASY? a thousand bubbles rapidly fly to the top of the tank. HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’LL MARRY SOMEONE WHO WORKS FOR THE GOVERNMENT? OR THAT HIS JOB WILL BE SECRET? HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THIS SHIT?

she shrugs. “i have a couple of avenues to explore.”

WERE YOU READING GEORGE FITZROY'S MAIL AGAIN?

“maybe.”

October 28, 1943

“and until that day, we stand guard. we are determined that their plan for world conquest shall stop, here and now. we are determined that they shall never again use peaceful industries for warlike purposes. we are determined that the vicious magisterium cycle of: war, phony peace, war, phony peace, war, phony peace, shall once and for all time, come to an end. that is your job in the war against the german electorate.”

as the projector clicks off, chet turns to arethusa and rolls his eyes. “i think i’d rather sit in an anbaric chair than hear the phrase ‘phony peace’ again.”

“hey now. you signed up to defend this country.” the german shepard gets up, walks in a circle, and settles again at his feet. “least you could do is sit through a good ole fashioned motivational picture show.”

“they need better writers.”

anderson, on the bench next to him, nods and chuckles. “it’s really not us they need to worry about. we’re already here to fight.”

“fight— or swab the deck another thirty-two times.”

chet’s fellow sailor nods again and gets up, his seagull daemon stretching her wings. “speaking of which…”

“see ya.”

“see ya.”

arethusa rests her head on chet’s knee. “don’t be so negative. project rainbow starts tomorrow.”

“ah yes, the mysterious project of which no one on the ship is allowed to know anything about and in which we must all take part.”

she tilts her head from side to side and he sighs.

“i’m kidding, thuse, i’m really looking forward to it. i’m hoping we can find out a little bit more about it.

“me too.”

[japanesecul-en]

【Kabuki】

“Kabuki” is a Japanese traditional culture and recognised as a world intangible cultural heritage. We often hear that these days a lot of people from foreign countries come to Japan to watch Kabuki. By the way, if we ask even Japanese people what Kabuki is, do you think that they can answer the question without any pause? How many people are explaining about it. If we bump into the question, we would say, “Kabuki is a traditional entertainment for ordinary people.” However, this kind of explanation does not complain about Kabuki at all. People really have to experience and see Kabuki at a theater to understand Kabuki. The time is already past, when the music and lyrics were making shapes of Kabuki. People like we, who are living right now, are feeling Kabuki as something like old and it might be difficult for them to start to watch Kabuki. Therefore, we would like to introduce Kabuki and invite you the fast step of Kabuki. 

In the beginning, we explain about Kabuki in a very simple way. Kabuki is based on Nou, which is the origin of Kabuki, and popular drama among the general public in the Edo era. Kabuki consists of traditional shamisen music, Japanese dance, and the act which becomes the main part. If you want to know the history of Kabuki, you can just check it out on the internet.  

From now on, we will explain about the interest of Kabuki from our personal experience and perspective. We wish that you would enjoy it.

The most important thing is that men dress up and act roles of women who are the main characters. This produces the unique taste and attractiveness in the world. This role is called “Onnagata” or “Oyama”. For example, “Musume Dojouji” is a classics, which expresses graceful and bewitching charms of Onnagata. In addition, if you want to enjoy especially the art of the Onnagata’s performance, we recommend you to watch “Honchou Nijukou”. The performance of Onnagata make the world of Kabuki sometime sad, sometime glamor and sometime frightening/horrendous.

Maybe here you have a question. If men are acting women as a role, are women playing roles of men? The answer is No. In Kabuki, men are playing roles of men as well. In short, the actors of Kabuki are only men. Maybe you are feeling that the roles of men are bit boring compared to the ones of women which the men are acting. But, men in Kabuki are not normal. But rather men’s roles have characters who would never exist in this world. A representative must be “Sukeroku”, who is a main character of Sukeroku (The name of a drama). The reason why we were attracted by Kabuki is the coolness of Sukeroku, and respect to Sukeroku that we could never become. He punishes arrogant people with only one hand, he is very popular among women. At the same time, he is a rogue who often picks a quarrel with Samurai who just passes by him, but he is moving/behaving to clear his dad’s bad name to tell the truth. He is a really profound person and you are somehow attracted by him without noticing it. That is Sukeroku and these are the men who lead the stories of Kabuki.

As explained, there are many types of people and we would like to introduce one more role, which is a thief called “Shiranami”. The most important thing that you need to know here is that there are seldom thieves who are really bad. Almost all of them understand humanity and they are neat and lovable somehow. Among them, there is a good thief, who focuses on only merchants and government officers, who chisel money out of general people and have a luxurious life, and steal money from them and distribute the money to the poor. “Nippon daemon” is a representative in that term. From those backgrounds, this Shiranami is very popular among general people in the Edo era and the popularity is taken over continuously.

“Kabuki theater in Tokyo”

So far we introduced some themes of Kabuki such as “Sukeroku”, “Shiranami”. Here guess when the best part of Kabuki is? In any themes, a behaviour’s moment called “Mie” is the climax, when a main character makes a pose and stops, then open his eyes to express his exciting feeling. It is said that this Mie is regarded as one of the most important behaviours for Kabuki actors. Kabuki actors who did “Mie” were very popular among general people even in the Ukiyoe, which was the trend from the Edo era to Meiji era. In addition to Mie, you can also enjoy other good points as follows. For example, “Ohayashi”. This is the music which is played when actors, their cosmetics or dresses show up on the stage. Also some little things making the stage tasty sometimes express the background of the characters and story, and sometime implies on the end. When you get used to watching Kabuki, please focus on these little stuff on the stage and guess what will happen next. This is one way how people enjoy Kabuki.

Lastly, the flag on the stage is called “Joushikimaku”, which places the Kabuki color - Red, Green, Black - lengthwise in turn. This shows the entrance and you will see this flag at very first when you enter the theater. It would be great if you could feel like going to watch Kabuki without any barriers. You already see the entrance of Kabuki world.   

[astralechoes]

HDM AU: Keita backstory

*The verse is set after the book series, but there will be mentions of the events that took place*

Plot line: Keita Hinami lost his parents in unexplained circumstances, while they were on an expedition. Not willing to let it go as a simple unfortunate accident that will never be answered for, Keita leaves his younger sister in the care of the family head and sets off along with his daemon Shizuka to find out the real reason behind his parent's death.

Characters:

Keita Hinami

Keita is 21 years old and is the oldest son of Sorata and Tomoe Hinami. He was born in Nippon, and the Hinami family is a traditional and ancient clan who hold a lot of power in the area of which he was raised. Keita however has always slightly differed from his family's traditional values. As a youngster, he always had a curious streak that he inherited from his mother who was a researcher.

A few years ago his mother, accompanied by his father set off on an expedition as part of the research Tomoe was conducting. They never returned, and the news eventually came that they had died due to mysterious circumstances. When Keita turned 19 he decided to both continue his mother's research and find out what really happened to his parents, he has been on this mission for the last two years now without much success.

Shizuka (daemon)

Shizuka is Keita's daemon, she settled in the form of a tanuki once Keita was at that age where it is common for a daemon to settle. She does not have the same curious nature that Keita has, and is one of very few words in front of strangers, she is also very wary of anyone who could harm Keita and herself. However she makes her feelings perfectly clear about anything and anyone to Keita through their bond.

Shizuka is very protective over Keita, a quality that she has always had which amplified after the loss of Keita's parents. She has kind of filled in a parental role for Keita and acts as his voice of reason. In spite of their differences in personality, Shizuka cares a great deal about Keita and he cares for her just as much in turn. Neither of them could imagine or would even want to think about being apart from each other.