#Ox-Herder

[delightingintragedy]

Hekate's Animal-Related Epithets

Agallomenen Elaphoisi ‘Rejoicing in Deer’ Arkuia / Arkyia ‘Spinner of webs’, ‘Entrapper’ Boôpis ‘Cow-eyed’ Booporos ‘Ox-Herder’ Boukolos ‘Ox-Herder’ Drakaina ‘Serpent’, ‘Dragon’ Elaphêbolos ‘Deer-huntress’, ‘Shooter of Deer’ Ellophonos ‘Fawn-slayer’ Eurippa ‘Horse-finder’ Hipparete ‘Horse-Speaker’ Hippokyon ‘Mare Bitch’, ‘Horse Dog’ Hippoprosopos ‘Horse-Faced’ Ippokyôn ‘Mare-Dog’, half dog/ half horse Ippoprosôpos ‘Horse-faced’ Keratôpis ‘Horned-faced’, ‘Horned Looking’ Keroeis ‘Horned’ Kunolygmatos ‘Doglike Howler’, ‘Who howls doglike’ Kynegetis ‘Leader of Dogs’ Kynokephalos ‘Dog-Headed’ Kynolygmate ‘Howling Like a Dog’, ‘Who Howls Dog-like’ Kyôn ‘Bitch’, ‘Dog’ Kyôn Melaina ‘Black Bitch’, ‘Black Dog’ Leaina ‘The Lioness’ Leontoukhos ‘Holding a Lion’ Lykaina ‘She-wolf’ Lyko ‘She-wolf’, ‘Wolf-formed’ Opheôplokamos ‘Coiled with Snakes’, ‘With Snaky Curls’ Philoskylax ‘Lover of Dogs’ Phroune ‘Toad’, ‘Frog’, ‘She-Toad’ Polyplokamos ‘Of Many Tentacles’, ‘With Many Feelers’ Potnia Theron ‘Mistress of Animals’, ‘Lady of Wild Beasts’ Pyridrakontozônos ‘Girt with flaming serpents’ Skylakageia ‘Dog-leader’ Speirodrakontozonos ‘Girt with Serpent Coils’ Taurodrakaina ‘Bull-Dragon’, ‘half bull/ half serpent’ Taurokarênos ‘Bull-headed’ Tauromorphos ‘Bull-formed’ Taurôpis ‘Bull-faced’ Tauropolos ‘Bull-Herder’ Taurôpos ‘Bull-aspected’ Therobromon ‘Roaring like a Wild Beast’, ‘Of the City of the Beast’ Thêroktomos ‘Beast-slayer’ Zônodrakontis / Zonodrakontos ‘Encircled by Serpents’, ‘Covered in Snakes’, ‘Intertwined with Snakes’

(Source)

[yutaan]

A chibi commission of the client's ttrpg party, in a campaign based on the world of MDZS! ⭐️ This is actually a tie-in to a chibi piece I drew a while back, wherein the gang was a fresh crop of juniors attending the Gusu lectures, but in this campaign the characters are modern cultivators investigating Mysterious Happenings.

From left to right, we have Ouyang Xing (beauty Youtuber!), Jin Baoer (sassy webnovel author!), Wen Zhi (chef with a Youtube cooking channel; his channel occasionally and unintentionally clashes with OX's), Yao Yuan (olden-timey cultivator thrown from the other campaign into the modern world! Confused, but boba tea makes time-traveling worth it), Lan Shou (also from the past! Handling it like a champ!) and Su Xiu (professional cat-herder).

[okapiandpaste]

aziraphale's hungry ass could never be an ox herder.

[blankdblank]

No one asked but here’s my 128 quidditch teams for my story’s world cup. And 13 teams for the British/Irish League Cup is absolutely mathematically horrendous for a dyslexic person to have to lay out into a playable season. One more team would have killed them? Did I make a 14th? No. Why? Sheer pettiness and already being three hours into making a playable season lineup that didn’t make my own head explode.

The format is Country - City - Mascot/Team name

If you want to have some fun with it let me know who you’d root for or who you’d love to boo while they played. 

Ivory  Coast     Korhogo Zankallala

Chad   Oum Hadjer Dittany

 Liechtenstein Vaduz Steeples

Transylvania   Sighișoara Iele

Norway           Bergen Bears

Nigeria            Enugu Troll Herders

Luxembourg   Rinschleiden Melusina

Uganda            Jinja River Riders

Burkina  Faso  Dori Runespoor

Haiti    Carice Loogaroo

Argentina 2     Mendoza Corks

Argentina 1     Rosario Boulders

Egypt 2           Faiyum Scarabs

Egypt 1           Alexandria Oracles

Syria 2 Idlib Balloons

Syria 1 Palmyra Sandworms

Brazil 1           Faz do Iguacu Charybdis

Brazil 2           Teresina Phantoms

Spain 1            Valencia Hollow Vipers

Spain 2            Bilbao Limón

Fiji 1   Lautoka Fire Crab

Fiji 2   Suva Horned Octopi

Peru 1  Ica Tunche

Peru 2  Cusco Chullachaqui

Senegal 2        Touba Ores

Senegal 1        Thies Yumboes

Flanders 2       Vilvoorde Kludde

Flanders 1       Turnhout Acorns

Canada 2         Edmonton Elk

Canada 1         Victoria Beavers

Mexico (New Spain) 2           Xalapa Alpacas

Mexico (New Spain) 1           Aguascalientes Torches

Jamaica 1        Orcabessa Sea Mahrny

Jamaica 2        Annotto Bay Pufferfish

Madagascar 2 Mahajanga Mangoes

Madagascar 1 Anatananarivo Skrewts

Japan 2            Nara Kappa

Japan 1            Kanazawa Tanuki

Japan 3            Osaka Kitsuni

Greece 1          Naf Plion Pegasus

Greece 3          Thessaloniki Cerberus

Greece 2          Argos Siren

China 1           Xi'An Eel

China 2           Hegang Crystals

China 3           Turpan Penghou

New Zealand 2            Wellington Sparks

New Zealand 1            Dunedin Ducks

New Zealand 3            Tauranga Ponies

Portugal 1       Lisbon Talons

Portugal 2       Fátima Bruxa

Portugal 3       Porto El Coco

Morocco 1      Chefchaoven Mules

Morocco 3      Asilah Jinn

Morocco 2      Essaovira Boukhencha

Australia 3      Townsville Shrieking Terrors

Australia 2      Wagga Wagga Wombats

Australia 1      Busselton Boggarts

India 1 Amritsar Rattlers

India 4 New  Delhi Goats

India 3 Udaipur Whips

India 2 Bhubaneswar Bangles

United States 1           Columbus Swamp Monsters

United States 2           Point Pleasant Harpers

United States 6           Germantown Marbles

United States 3           Orem Dunes

United States 4           Valley City Buzzards

United States 5           Hope Village Thunderbirds

Italy 4  Lucca Bombasin

Italy 2  Matera Bulls

Italy 3  Ravenna Mommotti

Italy 5  Perugia Gulls

Italy 1  Catatania Sardines

Germany 5      Ulm Nachtkrapp

Germany 1      Heidelberg Hampsters

Germany 3      Bonn Ox

Germany 2      Regensberg Knights

Germany 4      Bremen Crows

Germany 6      Stuttgart Alps

France 4          Strasbourg Lou Carcolh

France 5          Nice Tarasque

France 1          Carcassonne Gargoyles

France 6          Annency Chevalmallet

France 3          Gordes Jack 'o' Lanterns

France 2          Bordeaux Lutin

Bulgaria 6       Nessebar Veela

Bulgaria 1       Plovdiv Looms

Bulgaria 2       Gabrovo Elm

Bulgaria 4       Vidin Samodivas

Bulgaria 5       Kardzali Ripples

Bulgaria 3       Lovech Thunder

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 1     Gothenburg Huldra

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 6     Aarhus Fossegrimmen

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 2     Visby Avalanche

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 5     Odense Voyagers

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 3     Uppsala Gnomes

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 4     Esbjerg Nisser

Romania 1       Oradea Pricolici

Romania 4       Baia Mare Foam Flowers

Romania 3       Succava Giant Wolves

Romania 2       Cluj-Napoca Crones

Romania 5       Sinaia Strigoi

Romania 6       Deva Mushrooms

 Poland 5         Zakopane Hatters

 Poland 2         Malbork Storks

 Poland 3         Opole Yeti

 Poland 6         Wroclaw Strzyga

 Poland 4         Olsztyn Doormice

 Poland 1         Raciborz Razorbacks

Scotland 1       Montrose Magpies

Scotland 2       Pride of Portree

Scotland 3       Wigtown Wanderers

Scotland 4       Banchory Bangers

Wales 1           Caerphilly Catapults

Wales 2           Holyhead Harpies

Ireland 2          Ballycastle Bats

Ireland 1          Kenmare Kestrals

England 1        Puddlemore United

England 2        Tutshill Tornados

England 3        Wimbourne Wasps

England 4        Chudley Cannons

England 5        Appleby Arrows

England 6        Flamouth Falcons

Cuba    Sancti Spiritus Boleros

Bahamas         Lucaya Dolphins

Samoa             Apia Singing Mountains

Bosnia  and Herzegovina        Visoko Pyramids

Iceland 1         Akureyri Rams

Iceland 2         Vik Puffins

[nemalifowl]

Sky kid sketches! The one with the ox mask is a crab herder and a krill wrangler from the golden wasteland! The bird one is a fire dancer from the valley of triumph!

[ancestorsofjudah]

What is Shabbos?

The information discussed in much of the Melachim Part 2 has to do with the role of the King of Israel and the Court of the Assembly in what is called "pasture raised men." The process is three part, consisting of Shabbar, Shabbos, Shabbat, "gathering, culturing, enlightening" and the conclusion is something called Eshkol, "the clustering."

If Shabbat "full enlightenment" separates periods of prolonged growth and development, then Shabbos is what takes between these. Neither is performed by oneself.

I added Shabbar, which targets specific collaborative efforts that deliver from the field, the farm, the factory, the school house, church house and state house all that we need to celebrate Shabbat.

Shabbos is the linear process that moves more to less whether to the table for supper or the mind for illumination. All of these are the hallmarks of constantly developing maturity within the self.

Shub means to "turn away from evil", Bos means to herd together, to cluster in order to produce according to the dictates of the Herdsman or the Botanist.

βοσκω

The verb βοσκω (bosko) means to [put out to] feed or graze, and specifically of herds and cattle. The derived noun βοσκος (boskos) is a relatively uncommon word for herdsman and unused in the New Testament (in MATTHEW 8:33, MARK 5:14 and LUKE 8:34, pig herders are indicated by a participle of our verb). The more common word for shepherd is ποιμην (poimen).

Our verb βοσκω (bosko) stems from the Proto-Indo-European root "geh-", to feed, but is also reminiscent of the noun βους (bous), meaning ox or cattle, and the apparently unrelated Proto-Indo-European root "buH-", to grow, from which English gets its noun bush (and Dutch the equivalent bos).

Our verb is used 9 times in the New Testament, SEE FULL CONCORDANCE, possibly most spectacular in Jesus' command to Peter to feed his lambs and sheep (JOHN 21:15-17). From this verb derives:

The noun βοτανη (botane), meaning pasture or pasturage; the vegetation that grazers eat (HEBREWS 6:7 only). This word could also be used to refer to dry fodder, or herbs for human consumption, or even plants to turn into material to make clothes. This noun is the source of our English word botany, or the study of plants.

The related noun βοτανη (botane) described a pasture. Noun βοτον (boton) describes a grazer or grazing beast. Noun βοτηρ (boter), describes a "pasturer"; yet another word for herdsman. None of these latter words occur in the New Testament.

βοτρυς

The noun βοτρυς (botrus) describes a cluster of grapes (REVELATION 14:18 only). One would expect this word to fit right into the above, but the experts have deemed it of non-Greek origin, and perhaps even Semitic.

The Hebrew noun בסר (boser) describes a comparable fruit, although it derives from the verb בסר (basar), to be early, and rather describes a sour or unripe grape or date (Job 15:33, Isaiah 18:5, Ezekiel 18:2): "Everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge" (Jeremiah 31:29-30).

The noun συκον (sukon) means fig, whose tree is related to the μορον (moron), the proverbially dim berry, which came to symbolize intellectual primitivity and immaturity.

The Hebrew word for the first ripe fig, namely בכורה (bikkura), derives from the verb בכר (bakar), meaning to rise early.

The Hebrew for cluster is אשכול ('eshkol), hence the Valley of Eshcol (Numbers 13:23).

[adelleandlaura4ever]

Bridging the Distance

San-Pei Lee

Milky constellations studied for centuries by astronomers

Form a floating river separating two lovers

Every night they ponder

At which moment they could have started over

....

But not once does the daughter of the heavens

Repent on her escapade onto Earth

Nor the ox-herder regret his walk along the river

For never would their souls have stayed entwined for lifetimes otherwise

...

Was this eternal story of love always destined to end like this

But is this the end or merely a beginning

...

For if birds adorned in feathers of the night’s colors

Can be moved by their fathomless love

To craft a cosmic bridge on the seventh day of the seventh cycle of the moon

For a reunion that brings tears to clouds and smiles to the stars

...

Who is to say

That there won’t be a day

When that bridge will stay

Forever in the skies

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

My Liebling,

I found this to be a mesmerizing lesson of hope and dreams.

When soon the night sky will be full of stars and moonless,

We should both gaze upon the heavens,

from our distance of miles,

to seek the harmonious rhythm of our conjoined hearts.

It is that moment, our hearts will call out to each other.

The day will come when we will be together and fly forever in the constellations.

Forever in the skies, our love forevermore, will shine!

You are my blessed beautiful Dream Girl!

I love you deeply, Laura ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Soulmates are We!!

@dreamiingofher

@adelleandlaura4ever

[dionysius]

Finished this one today. An interesting and enjoyable read....

[iliosflower]

Hekate's animal-centered epithets

The Great Goddess has many faces; animals being a frequent apparition of them. Here's a few of Her animal-related epithets that I felt like deserve attention;

boopis; cow-eyed

booporos; ox-herder

drakaina; serpent, dragon

elaphebolos; deer-hunter, shooter of deer

ellophonos; fawn-slayer

eurippa; horse-finder

gorgo; the gorgon

hippoprosopos; horse-faced

(h)ippokyon; mare-dog, half dog, half horse

keratopis; horned, horned-faced

kunolygmatos; doglike-howler, who howls doglike

kynegetis; leader of dogs

kynokephalos; dog-faced

kyon; bitch (dog)

kyon melaina; black bitch (dog)

leaina; the lioness

leontoukhos; holding a lion

lykaina; she-wolf

phroune; toad, frog, she-toad

potnia theron; mistress of animals, lady of the wild beasts

skylakageia; dog-leader

speirodrakontozonos; girted with serpent coils

taurodrakaina; bull-dragon

taurokarenos; bull-headed

taurapis; bull-faced

tauropolos; bull-herder

tauropos; bull-aspected

therobromon; roaring like a wild beast, of the city of beasts

theroktomos; beast-slayer

zonodrakontos; encircled by serpents

[natalieironside]

The Prince of Venom announcement post (very cool and exciting)

Happy Preptober, everybody!  As I usually do, I’ve made a big change of plans at the very last minute without consulting anyone, and I’m gonna make The Prince of Venom my NaNoWriMo project.  (Don’t worry; this means the Voidsong sequels are gonna be the next serials once I’m done w/ this)

We’re returning to the setting of my much-loved In the Court of the Nameless Queen stories and hanging out with some old favorite characters like Freydis Gothi, Kristina the Apostate, and Olga Snake-Eye, and, of course, our glorious Queen, for a story that’s much, much, much lighter on the sexual content and heavier on the fantasy and adventure.  No swash will remain unbuckled.

We return to the Queendom of Corynnod, a realm of mystery and sorcery where nothing is as it seems, ruled over by the beautiful, terrible, and enigmatic Nameless Queen, where there are just so many spiders and everything’s got kind of a spidery motif going on. 

We meet Young Thorkil Eiturbur, a boy caught between two worlds. The unlikely child of two mothers, one with a deeply troubled past and the other not quite human, he feels out of place, too monstrous for the humans but too human for the monsters. His sense of being out-of-place is further underlined as he finds himself going through the wrong puberty. Seeking community, Thorkil enlists on a merchant ship with a somewhat piratical captain and crew, and finds himself embroiled in a war that he'd hoped was long over, this time with cosmic implications. It’s got everything.  Queer and trans characters, pirate adventures, evil wizards, religious fanatics, swordfights, Catholics [derogatory], and spiders.  It’s a swashbuckling tale of magic, adventure, community, self-discovery, and, most importantly of all, spiders.

***

There came a hissing, chittering sound from somewhere unseen in the darkness.  He rolled his eyes and grumbled, “I told you, I had to say goodbye to Khalid.  It took a while.  Now come on; I want to be in sight of the taiga by morning.  Mom’s expecting us.”

With higher-pitched, more agreeable chittering and the tattoo of chitin tapping against flagstones, a shape emerged from the shadows behind the bower.  It had the look of a black widow spider overgrown to monstrous size, like an ox or a destrier, each of its eight unblinking eyes about the size of Thorkil’s fist, with two cruel and gruesome fangs like sickle-blades at the front of its head.  At the sight of the creature, Toki grinned and came running over, throwing his arms around it as best he could and planting a kiss atop its head.  

The creature hissed, and Toki nodded and replied, “It went really well, actually.  He’s so sweet.  Gods, now I’m going to miss him all the more. . . . Eh? . . . I’m sorry, but I had to take the time.  I wanted to make sure the deed was done right. . . . Yes, I know it’s cold.  It’ll get warmer the farther southwest we get. . . . I love you, too, Sesheth.  Now, let’s get going.  Mom’s waiting for us.”

The warbeast crouched lower to the flagstones.  Toki checked that his sword and his things were secure and swung a leg across Sesheth’s cephalothorax, sitting astride her and leaning back against her great, bloated abdomen.  To the steady rhythm of more infernal tapping, she skittered up to the gate where a pair of the Queen’s blackguards waved them through, wishing prince and princess safe travels.

The moon and stars bathed the tundra in eerie silvery blue, and from atop the plateau, Toki could just barely make out a thin line of evergreens on the southern horizon.  He laughed aloud at the crisp, fresh air filling his lungs and the bitter cold biting his cheeks as they set forth.  Below them, he spied a band of reindeer-herders moving south, like him choosing to brave the bitter arctic night to make up travel time across the prairies.  With a grin, he tapped the spider’s carapace and asked, “Sesheth, do you see those reindeer-herders down there?”

The spider hissed in the affirmative.

“Why don’t you show them how fast a warbeast can run?”

***

U can follow my blog here on Tumblr dot com and check out the links in the pinned post if u want to follow along

[formashimataichi]

I agree with what you say about Taichi and that’s why i am trying to communicate with you, it would not be a switch up, 14 year old Chihaya “loved” Arata but 17 year old Chihaya loves Taichi. It is a mark of growing up. Chihaya said that she loves Arata but gave a boy her number, does her “love” for Arata seem serious? Ask yourself that

When has Chihaya’s love ever paralleled her age, though? Many readers fall under the impression that Chihaya is immature and naive to her own “real” feelings and has to “grow” into them, but she knows herself very well and expresses her desires candidly at near all times. It’s why her responses to both confessions from Arata and Taichi are so different—one leaves her flustered, because here is a confession from Arata, who she’s looked up to and aspired to for years now and who she dreams of reaching the lofty peak of Mount Fuji with; the other leaves her devastated, because despite the closeness of her friendship with Taichi, she never realized the nature of his feelings for her or how her own inability to recognize them inadvertently caused him pain. Chihaya has never been confused about who she has romantic feelings for. It’s very clear from the outset that Arata is who she’s reaching for, as he’s reaching for her, and the folk tale about the magpie bridge drawn between the ox herder and the weaving lady further drives home the romantic nature of their developing relationship. Her relationship with Taichi is incredibly important, too, but there’s a clear focus on them learning how not to lose their friendship with each other despite the fact that they view each other differently. Taichi has an entire conversation with Chihaya’s sister about whether loving her is worth it if no reciprocation is entailed; storytelling wise I don’t think that would be such an important conversation to have if she was going to reciprocate all of a sudden anyway. He has to come to terms with the fact that she’ll never love him like that and that it’s okay for them to still be friends in spite of that. That is what he’s come to terms with by this point, more or less. At the Qualifiers, he mentioned to Arata that his goal with winning wasn’t just to send Suou back to Nagasaki but also to see Chihaya become Queen on Oumi Jingu’s stage. There was internal narration from Harada-sensei that three would become two and one—but the latest chapters and Taichi’s decision to stay and watch and support Arata and Chihaya up close rather than from afar is in direct defiance of those notions. He doesn’t have to worry about meeting some standards to see Chihaya (or Arata) reach her dreams. He doesn’t have to be “worthy” of remaining in her presence. He loves her and he cares about her (whether as a romantic interest or now as a more comfortable friend), and if he wants to, he can watch her become Queen. The selflessness of those actions is very important, because he’s taking them with the knowledge that Chihaya won’t reciprocate his feelings or fill the void in his heart, and he’s finally okay with that.

[drxluc]

@ratphecy now has the eye of the count;

✞;;- “Mr.Bruno-- The town you live in is certainly a strange place! Vhy, I had vitnessed a young lady the size of an ox lift three donkeys with ease today-- and at the same time! And another young lady grew the prickliest looking cactuses with a single touch!” He gave pause in his words as he looked around their environment, simply admiring how this hidden village was so well put together.

    ‘And of you? Are you perhaps hiding any special abilities of your own?” The count was now of course standing a little too close to the shorter man. “I notice you have many a rat but this village harbors no sign of blight or illness. Are you perhaps a rat herder? Do you command them with a spooky voice?” 

This, of course, was simply him being his over curious self, much like a child witnessing a new animal at the zoo for the first time. His intentions where purely inquisitive. 

[stephanocardona]

Tarpan by EricSalles

[blankdblank]

Sneak peek - who are you rooting for?

Round 1

Group 1                                                          

Argentina 2     Mendoza Corks          vs        Burkina Faso  Dori Runespoor

Japan 2            Nara Kappa     vs        Haiti    Carice Loogaroo        

United States 1           Columbus Swamp Monsters   vs        United States 2           Point Pleasant Harpers        

Brazil 1           Faz do Iguacu Charybdis        vs        Portugal 1       Lisbon Talons

France 4          Strasbourg Lou Carcolh         vs        Japan 1            Kanazawa Tanuki      

Bulgaria 6       Nessebar Veela           vs        Japan 3            Osaka Kitsuni

Fiji 1   Lautoka Fire Crab      vs        Italy 4  Lucca Bombasin        

India 1 Amritsar Rattlers        vs        Peru 1  Ica Tunche      

Group 2                                                          

Germany 5      Ulm Nachtkrapp         vs         Poland 5         Zakopane Hatters      

Morocco 1      Chefchaoven Mules    vs        The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 1            Gothenburg Huldra    

Germany 1      Heidelberg Hampsters            vs         Poland 2         Malbork Storks          

Ireland 2          Ballycastle Bats          vs        Argentina 1     Rosario Boulders        

Madagascar 2 Mahajanga Mangoes  vs        Uganda            Jinja River Riders      

France 5          Nice Tarasque vs        Bulgaria 1       Plovdiv Looms          

Romania 1       Oradea Pricolici         vs        Australia 3      Townsville Shrieking Terrors            

Italy 2  Matera Bulls   vs        Scotland 1       Montrose Magpies    

Group 3                                                          

United States 3           Orem Dunes    vs        India 4 New Delhi Goats        

Senegal 2        Touba Ores     vs        The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 6     Aarhus Fossegrimmen

Germany 3      Bonn Ox          vs         Poland 3         Opole Yeti      

Ireland 1          Kenmare Kestrals       vs        Fiji 2   Suva Horned Octopi  

Ivory Coast     Korhogo Zankallala   vs        Morocco 2      Essaovira Boukhencha          

France 3          Gordes Jack 'o' Lanterns        vs        Bulgaria 2       Gabrovo Elm  

Australia 2      Wagga Wagga Wombats        vs        England 4        Chudley Cannons      

Wales 2           Holyhead Harpies       vs        Greece 3          Thessaloniki Cerberus            

Group 4                                                          

England 2        Tutshill Tornados       vs        England 3        Wimbourne Wasps    

Syria 1 Palmyra Sandworms   vs        Flanders 2       Vilvoorde Kludde      

Luxembourg   Rinschleiden Melusina           vs         Poland 1         Raciborz Razorbacks  

 Poland 4         Olsztyn Doormice      vs        Jamaica 2        Annotto Bay Pufferfish          

Wales 1           Caerphilly Catapults  vs        Egypt 1           Alexandria Oracles    

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 4     Esbjerg Nisser            vs        Bulgaria 3       Lovech Thunder          

Canada 1         Victoria Beavers        vs         Poland 6         Wroclaw Strzyga        

Scotland 4       Banchory Bangers      vs        England 6        Flamouth Falcons      

Group 5                                                          

Nigeria            Enugu Troll Herders   vs        Flanders 1       Turnhout Acorns        

France 2          Bordeaux Lutin           vs        Scotland 2       Pride of Portree          

Romania 6       Deva Mushrooms       vs        Germany 6      Stuttgart Alps

Mexico (New Spain) 1           Aguascalientes Torches         vs        Jamaica 1        Orcabessa Sea Mahrny    

Norway           Bergen Bears  vs        The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 3     Uppsala Gnomes            

Australia 1      Busselton Boggarts    vs        India 2 Bhubaneswar Bangles            

New Zealand 3            Tauranga Ponies         vs        Portugal 3       Porto El Coco

Scotland 3       Wigtown Wanderers  vs        Mexico (New Spain) 2           Xalapa Alpacas            

Group 6                                                          

Senegal 1        Thies Yumboes           vs        Bulgaria 4       Vidin Samodivas        

Romania 2       Cluj-Napoca Crones   vs        England 1        Puddlemore United    

India 3 Udaipur Whips           vs        Canada 2         Edmonton Elk

England 5        Appleby Arrows         vs        New Zealand 1            Dunedin Ducks          

Germany 2      Regensberg Knights   vs        Germany 4      Bremen Crows            

China 2           Hegang Crystals         vs        China 3           Turpan Penghou        

Romania 5       Sinaia Strigoi  vs        Bulgaria 5       Kardzali Ripples        

Portugal 2       Fátima Bruxa  vs        Greece 2          Argos Siren    

Group 7                                                          

 Liechtenstein Vaduz Steeples           vs        Egypt 2           Faiyum Scarabs          

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 5     Odense Voyagers       vs        France 1            Carcassonne Gargoyles          

Romania 3       Succava Giant Wolves           vs        Transylvania   Sighișoara Iele            

New Zealand 2            Wellington Sparks      vs        Spain 2            Bilbao Limón  

The Nordic Team(Scandanavia) 2     Visby Avalanche        vs        Madagascar 1            Anatananarivo Skrewts          

France 6          Annency Chevalmallet           vs        Syria 2 Idlib Balloons

Chad    Oum Hadjer Dittany   vs        Morocco 3      Asilah Jinn      

Romania 4       Baia Mare Foam Flowers       vs        Italy 1  Catatania Sardines      

Group 8                                                          

Brazil 2           Teresina Phantoms     vs        Greece 1          Naf Plion Pegasus      

United States 6           Germantown Marbles vs        Peru 2  Cusco Chullachaqui  

Spain 1            Valencia Hollow Vipers        vs        Italy 3  Ravenna Mommotti    

China 1           Xi'An Eel        vs        Italy 5  Perugia Gulls  

Unable to play - Injured                                                        

United States 4           Valley City Buzzards                                    

United States 5           Hope Village Thunderbirds              

[dayseternal-blog]

✨✨✨✨✨

tahahaha, if this is the same anon as 💮, I must ask if you also dislike the ⭐️ emoji.

hmmmmmmmm a bts on any one of my fics?

I’ll do a commentary on my folklore fic “The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl” - Rated M, Mythology AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete.

Image source from hinauzu on DeviantArt.

Tanabata (July 7, 7/7) a festival for an astrological legend, has been a popular art concept for Naruto characters.  It celebrates the star-crossed love of Hikoboshi and Orihime, a story that has roots in China.  The legend traveled to Japan with the trade of goods/services/religious conversions.  Japanese people write wishes on slips of paper that they tie to bamboo in hopes that the gods will grant their heart’s desires.

Hikoboshi is the star known to Westerners as Altair, and Orihime is the star known as Vega.  Both stars are part of the “Summer Triangle” with the star Deneb.

Image source from Ethereal on Aminoapps.

You can see how the two stars are separated by the Milky Way, aka the Amanogawa (River of Heaven), which forever dooms their love :(

Back to my fanfic!

I did a ton of Wikipedia on Greek/Chinese/Pacific Astronomy to come up with the world of my story :D  Please enjoy my nerding :D

The story opens with Ino, the Princess of Horn, getting her wedding shiromuku made.  

Image source from Hanami Mai’s Blog.

According to Chinese astronomy, the sky is separated into 28 “Mansions.”  These Mansions are divided into 4 Symbols (7 Mansions per Symbol).  “Horn” is the first Mansion of the Symbol called “Azure Dragon of the East.”  That’s where Ino is from :)

Naruto is Hikoboshi, who “lives across the Amanogawa in Akira, and herds the cattle of Northern Genbu.”  

Altair/Hikoboshi is the brightest star in the Western constellation Aquila (Akira).  Aquila is located in the Mansion “Ox” of the Symbol “Black Tortoise of the North.”  Tortoise reads as “Genbu” in Japanese.  That’s where Naruto is from :)

Hinata is the Weaver Girl, who sits “beside the Amanogawa, Orihime of Raira.”  

Orihime is in the Western constellation Lyra (Raira).  Lyra is also in the Mansion Ox in Black Tortoise of the North.  Hinata and Naruto are from the same place, but the River of Heaven separates them from ever meeting without divine intervention.

Naruto is recognized for his mastery of his job, which is to guide “the cattle across the fields and back to their respective starhouses.”  

The Disney movie Moana made Micronesian/Hawaiian navigation more famous, but the technicalities were not explained in the movie.  All stars rise and set from named houses.

Image source from Hawaiian Voyaging Traditions.

The compass shown has the 4 Cardinal Directions (ʻĀkau, Hikina, Hema, Komohana) and the 4 inter-cardinal directions (Hoʻolua, Koʻolau, Kona, and Malanai).  Each direction has 7 Houses.  These House names repeat.  A star that rises from Koʻolau Haka will set in Hoʻolua Haka.  A star that rises from Malanai Lā will set in Kona Lā.  A navigator memorizes where the sun and hundreds of stars rise and set during each season so that they know their position and direction at all times.  This “compass” is actually a mental map.

Image source from Pinterest.

From the navigator’s perspective, it looks like that in their mind.  So, I made guiding the cattle to their houses Naruto’s job as a herder :)

“The air is shrouded tonight.”  “How can he see where he is going?”  “Simultaneously, astonishingly, incandescent, like the solar winds that, at times, surge across his fields.”  

When navigators can’t see the sky, they use the direction of the waves/wind to tell their positions.  For Naruto, it would be the wind blowing his fields rather than waves.

According to legend, Tentei, the Heavenly Sky King, Orihime’s father, arranges for them to meet.  I have them meet at “The Pavilion of Swans.”  Altair (Hikoboshi) and Vega (Orihime) are part of the Summer Triangle with the third star, Deneb, aka Cygnus, in other words Swan.  That’s where I have them meet :)

They get married!  Hinata wears a lot of different splendid kimono throughout the story.  The shiromuku is the traditional bridal kimono, but it is common to change them!  The last one she wears with the two cranes stretching across dark fabric is called a hikifurisode.

Image source from Kyoto Kimono Rental.

Cranes mate for life, so they are common symbols of loyalty used for weddings.

Hinata gets pregnant :D  According to the Japanese legend, this doesn’t happen...but in Chinese legend, they have twins represented by the stars β Aquilae and γ Aquilae.

Image source from Star Facts.

Here you see the two children with Altair.  So that explains how I made Hinata’s plan that enrages her father :)

“It eventually became clear that what sounded to her like the river was rising, was actually the sound of numerous magpies.  They amassed over the river, a cloud of white and grey, their flock almost disturbing in its powerful show of numbers.  The azure-winged birds coalesced into one form, moving together and stretching above the river.”

Orihime and Hikoboshi are saved by the sympathy of magpies.  Tradition says that if the sky is cloudy, the birds can’t go to help them meet on July 7.  Tentei never helps them again, so it’s up to the people’s prayer and the strength of the magpies to keep the sky clear so that they can meet every year.

Image source from Wikipedia.

Image source from Wikipedia.

Magpies look different around the world!  Magpies in China look mostly like the one pictured on the top, with blue-tipped wings.  They’re known as symbols of good fortune and happiness.  Magpies in Japan look mostly like the one pictured on the bottom, with gray and light blue feathers.  Since this is a story with Japanese characters, I decided to go with the magpies found in Japan.

This is the kind of stuff I love learning :DDD  So this is all the background going on in my mind while writing my fic!

[o-craven-canto]

The Vakshamara (the maggot-bird)

The Vakshamara (Helminthornis khapravamkae, the “maggot-bird”)

CW: parasites, body horror, graphic injury

Made way back in 2016 for the Creature of the Month #69 competition (”Monster Mash”) on the old Speculative Evolution forum. The theme of the month was “Create a plausible yet horrifying monster.”

Picture and story under the cut.

From the Book of Shatrapura When the King of Bodhara boasted about the beauty and the strength of his livestock, claiming it had been bred to be superior to the original creations of the Twenty Gods, Lord Khapravamka sent a terrible plague that would bring untold suffering on both beast and man. The heavy beasts coughed and sneezed blood, foamed at the mouth, were stricken by spasms and collapsed in agony, as hideous sores appeared on their powerful neck. From these sores erupted a gruesome froth, and from this froth emerged a hellish creature. They became known as Vakshamara, which in the Bodhari language meant "maggot-bird". The veterinarians of Kashivari gazed on a naked, wrinkly, slimy body, the size and shape of an index finger, squirming on their trays. A ferocious beak gaped at one end, sharp enough to draw blood from many incautious scholars; scaly feet twitched at the other, ending in dark claws. In the middle, two stumps of wings clawed at the air as if to push the little monster forward, as it doubtlessly did tunneling through the flesh of the wretched beasts. With heavy heart, the King had his livestock slaughtered, as the horrendous infestation propagated through unknown means from a head to the other. Soon, the hunting swines of the Palace were sick, and they collapsed fast. Then it came to people. Herders and servants and handmaids felt a piercing pain run through their flesh as their entrails were gnawed upon from the inside. A few days after the beginning of the pain, the monsters broke through the surface of body, to be caught by the doctors with red-hot pincers and dropped in the holy fire. Even the King would feel the horror of a movement deep beneath his heart, and he finally ordered a servant to cut open the vessels of his wrists, that he could sate the wrath of Khapravamka. Ruin spread through the kingdom of Bodhara; men and beasts burned in enormous funeral pyres at the sides of the streets and in the courtyards of the temples. The dead parasites lay coiled on the filthy ground, driving to a frenzy the flies. Certain spirit-women of the region of Shuruksha found that certain herbs, if chewed at the earliest onset of pain, killed the parasite within the flesh, but then it had to be extracted with haste to avoid a catastrophic infection. Eventually, as the kingdom became sparser and streets were moved only by windblown dust, the plague ceased as it had begun, and the survivors began to repopulate the great city and its forlorn pastures. In the millions of years between the fall of the first civilization of Man and the birth of the second one, many animals had taken vastly different shapes. Ponderous geese and ruminant monkeys feasted on the regrown vegetation, while running pigs and armored hedgehogs took them as prey. Rabbits, which the first Man knew as minute creatures, had grown into light-footed grazers and lumbering beasts that sheared the grass with their blunt jaws. The bestial descendants of the first city-builders, now reshaped and civilized anew as the second Man, took these creatures as their livestock. On the long-broken land of Africa there once were these minute birds, that made their living by eating ticks and lice from the hide of the grazing beasts that roamed the parched savanna. They were known as Buphagus – ox-eaters. In the first age of Man they had found out that the most nourishing parts of the parasites they caught was the blood in their bellies; and so they clustered around wounds, pecking at the clots in an effort to keep the blood running free. So they had become parasites themselves. After the first catastrophe, these birds barely survived jumping from species to species as new kinds of grazers appeared and disappeared. Their life cycles grew more hectic, as they spent their whole individual existence clinging to a single beast – and so they lost flight. From blood to flesh, it was a short step. The eggs of the Vakshamara were small and pale, like grains of rice, and easily missed among the dust and the filth of the stables. They were typically laid directly onto open wounds, coated in sticky mucus, and they had a pointed shape that made them slip easily beneath the skin. The thin, soft human skin was more easily pierced than the thick hide of livestock. So the infection reached inside its next victim. When an egg hatched, a newborn Vakshamara was born with finely tuned instincts and a gnawing hunger. In that state, it was little more than a worm, a larva with minute spurs on its sides originated from degenerate wings. Wriggling between the layers of muscle, the creature carved itself a niche. Its skin, naked and extremely loose, secreted a thick mucus with the double function of lubricating its passage and preserving the life of the host with its antiseptic and coagulant properties. As the parasite developed, sharp quills - the last vestige of feathers - erupted from the back, pointing sharply backwards, thus allowing it to slide only in one direction. Its beak completely formed, the Vakshamara started shearing mouthfuls of flesh in front of itself, pushing itself foward with the claw-wings and the feet, burrowing through the body of its unfortunate host. It left behind itself a gruesome paste of mostly undigested flesh, mixed with more antiseptic chemicals. Until the point, that is, when it broke through the skin, calling to the air, the vicious beak still adorned with strands of muscle, leaving on the skin and on the ground its sticky eggs. Then it fell to the ground and expired. It was astonishing, to the doctors, to contemplate how long a beast could live as the maggot-bird carved a gallery through the powerful neck muscles that were meant to keep the head raised from the ground, preventing both infection and exsanguination. A human, on the other hand – mercifully, perhaps – could hope for far quicker an end, for the parasite had no choice but to burrow through the soft viscera of the belly. There were accounts of priests poisoned by the foul discharge of a ruptured intestine, of farmers struck down in a breath from a bite ripping open their heart, of princes wheezing silently from torn lungs, of women giving a bloody birth to a parasite that had broke through the walls of their womb. It shouldn't be surprising that the infection disappeared so quickly, having destroyed too many of its preys. If not the wrath of Khapravamka, what could have wrought such a terror on the people of Bodhara? The Vakshamara had been first seen on the tropical islands recently settled by Bodhari explorers looking for a sea route to Garmandha, where the thing feasted on huge, elephantine browsers closely related to the livestock. These creatures had evolved along with their parasites, and they were much more resilient to it; their muscle was much more abundant, faster to regrow, and they secreted chemicals that killed the vast majority of the eggs. The livestock - or the second Men - had no such protections. The Vakshamara are still objects of terror, their very name having tainted the whole regiment of birds with revulsion. Sometimes there are reports of a village lost in the jungle, where livestock stumble and cough as blood oozes from their openings. Then everyone flees, the whole herd is killed with arrows and burned, the dusty ground itself is covered in naphtha and lit on fire, and the herder must consider himself blessed if he escapes with merely monetary ruin. Such is the fear of the maggot-bird.