#Quill the researcher

[snejkha]

Quill sketches for fun and explorations/

[tawnyevergreen]

Inspired by this:

[quillpokebiology]

I'm so used to the Lucario and Gallade in Galar trying to kill you, but apparently, the ones in Paldea are a lot less aggressive. Pretty neat. My theory is that it's because the wild area and towns are a lot more connected than they are in Galar, so they're just used to seeing humans.

[misfitmagpie]

Well I will gladly take a look at the fully revealed logo! Though I will say that red-archivist pointed out some good stuff in this post. But we can take a deeper look into certain things!

Also p.s.: You will want to read the giant ramble to the end, because I noticed something as I was finishing, and it puts everything in an interesting context.

As mentioned in that post, the combination of the alchemical symbols for salt, mercury, and sulphur do indeed form the tria prima, the three primes or components of life.

⊖ or salt, which represents the earth and the human body. In alchemy it also symbolises the lower consciousness, self-knowledge, and wisdom.

☿ or mercury I already covered last time, representing the mind, the omnipresent spirit of life, and stood as symbol for intellect, imagination, moral judgement, and the higher mental faculties. The alchemical associations of mercury have a strong connection with the Greek/Roman gods Hermes/Mercury, a messenger god who also acted as a chthonic deity, a psychopomp and god of boundaries to be exact. Which might be relevant, might not. (He was also a shepherd god, just adding that detail)

🜍 or sulphur represents the spirit or soul of all materials and living things. In alchemy it is seen as synonymous with consciousness and the expansion of thought. And is seen as the bridge that connects the body with mind, thus it is seen as the key to understanding the inner workings of the soul and consciousness. It’s interesting to me that the sulphur is in the logo 4 times, connected to the circle that encompasses the salt and mercury symbols, and the chevrons (I’ll get to those in a moment). This could have been purely aesthetic, but they could have also simply opted to have the sulphur symbol instead of one of the chevrons and have pretty much the same effect. Instead they chose the alchemical symbol of the soul, also seen as what ties body and mind together, also an element that is strongly associated with heat and fire, to encompass the body and mind, together with heraldic symbols of protection. It’s an interesting choice which makes me wonder about the mindset of the people who founded this organisation. (Maybe they are the types to believe in purifying fire, or purity of the soul as a way to protect oneself against the horrors out there? Who knows.)

The double ^ are chevrons, a heraldic symbol associated with protection, and meant to represent the roof of a house. Even the name is derived from the French word for “rafter”. It is also used in military or police uniforms to indicate rank or length of service. It is interesting to me that the bottom left chevron is an inverted version of the top right. The inverted version being next to the symbol for mercury or the mind, and the regular next to the symbol for salt or the body. Without it being in full colour, I can’t say much about any particular heraldic or symbolic links that might have. At most I can speculate that maybe it’s hinting at how the mind might not be as safe as the body in such a service, of course that can also be my own knowledge of TMA colouring my interpretation.

The O.I.A.R. in the top banner has been revealed! And it’s nice to get confirmation that I guessed correctly on the R! Personally I am not very good with acronyms, but @emdashingaway correctly guessed that it would be this. In my previous post about The Magnus Protocol logo she pointed out that it might stand for Office of Incident Assessment and Response, which now seems very plausible!

Now the background has some interesting repeating symbols too.

🜏

This is the Leviathan Cross, in alchemy another symbol associated with sulphur (in particular black sulphur) and thus also the soul. However it is worth noting that Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, has adopted the Leviathan Cross as a symbol of his Church in the 1960s. Though I can’t immediately find much more about it and its origins beyond the alchemical association and the very modern Satanic association. (The name Leviathan strikes me as interesting too, but there is too much that can be said about it, especially for a symbol that just occurs in the background.)

🜇

This is the alchemical symbol for aqua regia (derived from the Latin for “royal water” or “regal water”), it is a mixture of is a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, optimally in a molar ratio of 1:3. Historically aqua regia was used in alchemy in the process of attempting to create the philosopher’s stone. It is also used to help dissolve gold and platinum within actual chemistry!

♁

Is the symbol for antimony is associated with the animal nature or wild spirit of man and nature, and it was often symbolised by the wolf.

🜘

This is the symbol for bismuth, while it does get mentioned in alchemical texts, the particular use and associations seem to be unclear. All that I can seem to find is that in early days, it was often confused for tin or lead. And that apparently Miners in the age of alchemy also gave bismuth the name tectum argenti, or “silver being made”. (Also it’s chemical symbol is Bi, which is funny given how apparently some have discovered that they are bi thanks to TMA)

I hope this is visible, but one of the symbols in the background also looks an awful lot like one of the alchemical symbols for tin. It looks like a curved X with circles at the ends of the legs. Tin in alchemy is associated with the planet Jupiter, and is sometimes called the ‘breath of life. ’ It represents the idea that the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.

⚥

From what I can find, this is not strictly speaking an alchemical symbol. Clearly a combination of the male and female gender symbols (each of which is actually derived from the symbols for Mars and Venus respectively, which do get used in alchemy actually), it is generally seen as a hermaphroditic symbol (using the strict broad biological label here, not referring to intersex, I just want to point that out). But given all of the alchemy references so far, I suspect that it might be referencing the rebis (from the Latin res bina, meaning dual or double matter), the ultimate end product of the alchemical great work. It is sometimes described as the divine hermaphrodite—a reconciliation of spirit and matter, a being of both male and female qualities. A lot can be said about the great work in alchemy, and this post is already long enough honestly.

And lastly…

Take this, flip it upside-down, and you have the shape of the logo in which all these symbols are displayed. This is the symbol for the philosophers’ stone. In alchemy it is an unknown substance sought after by alchemists, said to be capable of turning base metals into precious ones (like gold and silver), can be used to derive an elixir of life, and was even thought to bring about spiritual revitalisation. And it symbolises perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.

And while researching this, I also noticed something rather interesting. It might end up not being relevant at all, but I discovered that a famous alchemist was named Albertus Magnus who was born some time before 1200 in the Duchy of Bavaria (the flag and coat of arms of which during the Wittelsbach dynasty sports a rather nice diamond pattern, a bit like the pattern you see within the triangle of the logo). He was a saint with a deep interest in a large variety of topics including logic, theology, botany, geography, astronomy, astrology, alchemy, mineralogy, zoology, physiology, phrenology, justice, law, etc. I recommend potentially checking out the wiki page on Albertus Magnus that I shared earlier if you are interested in knowing more, there is a lot of history there. But it’s interesting that he shares a surname with Jonah Magnus, founder of the Magnus Institute.

Conclusion:

Given all that I have managed to dig up about the symbols within the logo, and the indirectly connected links with suspiciously named historical figures, in particular with the context of there being another Bouchard within the Magnus Protocol, I can’t help but be suspicious of whatever this British civil service is actually getting up to behind the scenes. In particular what they think they might be trying to accomplish using the Fear Entities.

Of course at this point it becomes pure speculation. But I am more than happy to hear everyone’s ideas, speculation, and contributions!

[shadow-the-crow]

You know these really weird moments when you don't know whether reality glitched, you're brain wired something wrong or the internet is just gaslighting you?

I was convinced that rusty quill had a podcast called "the mechanisms". At the same time, random videos about a band with the same name popped up on my tiktok fyp, so my brain somehow assumed that rusty quill created a fictional band for one of their podcasts.

Now i googled "the mechanisms" to check if i was right. Turns out there used to be a band with that name who had fictional personas or something like that. And who told stories through their albums. But i found nothing remotely related to podcasts.

I feel really dumb but... has my brain just made a wrong connection, maybe because some horror podcast fans are also fan of this band? Or... what's going on?

Update: I think this might be related to Tim Stoker from tma being compared to a certain Gunpowder Tim - and i think someone even said the... voice? Actor? Whatever, the real person behind Gunpowder Tim voiced someone in tma. Also there's apparently a Jonny in that band too, and i thought they were talking about Jonny Sims. And posts about "listening to the mechs" popped up between posts about listening to podcasts, so... i guess i just assumed it was a podcast too.

[r0semultiverse]

Why does this person talking about Instagram filters & making their face look longer make me think of Helen Distortion or the doll person entity? 👀

New entity for fear of humiliation dropping?? Or is this more The Eye’a territory? Fascinating. Influencers are a curse. Lmao

Fear of being filmed without consent is so real. That tattoo is absolutely cursed!! Similar to the snake tattoo on the artist. 👀

ITS THE IMPERFECT FLESH GUY’S ENTITY!! THE GYM BRO ONE (I’m bad at names)!!

Wonder if they’re gonna acknowledge “mewing” at some point. This is a wack ass tattoo.

Outsourcing is suspect irl & here 😂

Why is she warning him so seriously? “I’ve seen people go weird from it” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???

[sysmedsaresexist]

I sent this ask to a different blog but I don't think they're going to post it... I'm so sad, I'm screaming into the void. I'm scared. I'm sending to you because you're where I learned so much of this

Did i say anything wrong? I put so much work into this ask, I grabbed a screenshot partway through, so this isn't EXACTLY the same ask, but it's very close, I had to rewrite some.

from one DID system to another, please, hear me out, I'm desperate to be heard

Literally NO endos claim to have DID

There's like two, and they still say it's caused by trauma but they were systems first and later trauma made their system unstable

If endos want to demedicalize CDDs, why would they claim to have it? It's a roundabout way to achieve the same goal, it's just extra steps

Endos are literally fighting to get away from CDD spaces, do you actually see endos in the DID tag? The cdd tag? NO

They're in the plural tag, a word they choose to separate from the more clinically associated "multiple" of MPD, they're in the syscourse tags because they're allowed to participate, syspunk is less than a month old and it should be a meme at this point because they already had anti endo as a tag

They are literally saying they are systems that are UNRELATED to CDDs, not that they want to demedicalize being a system System doesn't belong to DID, look at IFS, psychological anthropology, or multiple theory of self, jungian archetypes, or does that mean we should be angry about "computer system" because it dehumanizes us?

And stolen terms? We know who came up with system hopping, it has never been used in RAMCOA. Do any of you actually know where tulpa came from? Like the actual word? Do you know who Alexandra David Neel is? The white woman who invented an imaginary practice that didn't actually exist (What she wrote about is not the same as Buddhist emanation), and created the word tulpa based on another white guy's mistranslation to entertain more white people during the Vietnam War?

So they have new words, they're trying to create more new words, there's so much real, actual research by real doctors into this phenomenon of nonpathological multiplicity in ways that exist outside of clinical psychopathology

The only overlapping word is "system

Plurals tend to get really upset when you use words like alter for them, they don't want to be medicalized at all, they understand what DID is and say, "| don't fit that description", and they're allowed to say that

If I, a DID system, feel I'm healed and integrated and choose to drop the DID label, no one can stop me, and we can't stop people from not picking it up to start with

Why can't anyone have actual conversations about this stuff, I'm so anxious because it seems like people are purposefully trying to misunderstand and lying about how bad the problem is

"Existing" isn't enough to qualify as misinformation, and it seems the only incorrect and unverifiable facts are coming out of the anti endo community.

I'm just so scared and sad.

I just want to know it's going to be okay

First -- I'm glad we can post this for you. I highly recommend screenshotting asks you send to people! It's helped me a lot with my paranoia in the past (did I send that on anon? Did I send that at all??) and it's a good record of your words for later.

Second.

I agree with you, I really do. This is so frustrating, and the self-described anti-endos who have recently flooded system spaces on tumblr are completely unwilling to look at the facts. They're obstinate and stubborn as mules, and unfortunately, that is not going to change. Most of them, if not all of them, are either children or caught in a current cycle of abuse with no way out. Most if not all are currently fighting for survival. They are not in a place to accept others; they can barely accept themselves.

People are purposefully ignoring information. People are purposefully avoiding it.

And it is not, and never has been, your job to fix their issues.

These are people who have always been unwilling to listen. They are children who cannot, for their own reasons, listen at the moment. For whatever reason, they are not in a position to accept endogenic plurality exists, and the more they are pushed, the more they will spit up their vitriol on the puke towel that is syscourse (or, worse, "syspunk").

It is sad. It can be scary. But it's not on your shoulders to fix them.

At the end of the day, you have to ask: what is most beneficial for me in this moment? Next, what is most beneficial for my family in this moment? Then, what is most beneficial for my followers in this moment? Then, and only then, are you getting to "beneficial for the tag to see," if you get there at all. The ask you sent them is lovely, and needed, but they are not ready to see this sort of thing, I can guarantee it.

That's why I'm glad it's here: so others can see it.

The last point I'll make is... Please make sure that you are valuing the correct things in your life, anyone reading this. If syscourse is stressing you out, please make sure to take appropriate breaks and check your brain. Remember that this is largely an online issue; the real world is quickly progressing to be more plural accepting and more accepting in general, and there are far bigger issues than an idiot crosstagging misinformation in a niche online discourse. I'm not trying to say this isn't an issue, and it should absolutely be spoken out about, but make sure to take care of yourself while you do. Anti-endos and pro-endos who are idiots online are not the end all be all of system activism. In fact, they rarely fit that definition.

Please do not let these places completely wreck you emotionally. You deserve so much better than that.

Sending love to all our followers; good luck staying afloat out there. <3

[feralshadowdemon]

ivan character study i choose youu

[yveni]

Is this my best writing? No. Is this the stupidest thing I have ever written? Also no.

Here’s Kipps vs. Doof for everyone’s enjoyment.

!!VOTE FOR KIPPS!!

It had been a slow walk away from his hour of defeat. His legs could hardly hold him, and though he knew his rapier was there at his hip, tapping against his thigh, he hardly registered it.

Quill felt shame and rage already beginning to torment his thoughts. Victory was right there, he had held it in his grasp.

But in the end, he wasn’t enough. In the end, the green sack of felt had overpowered him.

His chest heaved as he held back a desolate sob, dragging his weary feet slowly and painfully away from the sound of his foe still gloating over his pain.

How could he stand to face anyone again? He never thought he would feel more humiliated than when he had begun losing his talents, but here he was, brought to defeat by a frog.

God, even Cubbins is less pathetic than I am. He berated himself. Even-

His spiraling self-loathing was cut off by a voice in the distance. He looked up, and could barely make out a… man?

His groaning feet brought him closer. He could see a long, white coat, and yes, a man. He was shaking his fist at the sky, a scratchy voice shouting, “Curse you, Ingo!“

And then silence.

They both stood still as they registered one another. They could’ve been the same height, Quill wasn’t sure, the man was hunched. He wore a long white lab coat, but it was dirtied and tousled. This man had been in battle recently too. He looked far less broken and weary, obviously his fight hadn’t been as intense as Quill’s had been.

“Oh, hello.” The scratchy voice broke the silence, “I didn’t see you there. Come, sit down.”

He was beckoning Quill closer, towards an area that was furnished with a full dining set. “Forgive me, this isn’t my usual set up, I’m normally much more prepared for company. You see…”

The man’s words began to jumble in Quill’s mind. He needed to rest, and he didn’t have the energy or the will to be suspicious at all. He found himself settling into the closest seat, his body aching but singing at the relief. He allowed himself to refocus on the man. “- So, that’s why I’ve always wanted to have one of my own.”

Quill had completely missed whatever story had just been told, he stared at the man blankly. Suddenly remembering he had manners, Quill opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

“Say, that’s an interesting contraption you’ve got around your neck, what do you call it?”

Quill looked down at the Orpheus lenses that hung loosely at his throat. “Erm, I don’t call them anything in particular. They’re just my goggles.”

The man seemed disappointed, but shrugged, “I have a few contraptions of my own, for instance…” He pulled a remote with a single button out of his coat pocket. He smiled as he pressed it, and out of nowhere, Quill found his chest being pressed against the back of the chair, his ankles shoved to insides of the chair legs. The man let out a triumphant shout.

“What?” He struggled against the pressure, trying and failing to release himself from the metal bonds that now captured him. He couldn’t even reach his rapier.

The man threw his head back in a gleeful laugh, “I wasn’t sure if that one would work, you were a very easy target.” His tone remained conversational and light, only angering Kipps even more.

Angering him enough to make him want to fight again. He looked around desperately for some way to release himself from the binds as the man continued rambling on.

The remote with the button that had triggered the trap lay atop the table Quill sat at. Slowly, he managed to scoot and maneuver his chair as close as he could get to it. He waited until the man’s back was turned, and then thrust his head against the button, praying that it meant his release and not further entrapment.

The force of the impact rang in his brain, Quill instinctively raised his hand to the spot of the pressure.

Oh.

His hand was free. He was free.

He pounced up as quickly as he could, unsheathing his rapier, and pointing it toward his new enemy.

The man turned around, his friendly smile wavering into a look of startlement. “Hey, how did you get out?”

Quill found himself smiling, he was going to enjoy this.

-

@krash-and-co tagging you cause I know you’d enjoy this

@favcharacterpoll never did I ever think I’d write fic for a tumblr poll, but here we both are

[apresearcher]

Survey for fans of actual play shows

Hey fellow actual play fans!

I'm a member of a research team interested in people's responses to actual play shows and we want to invite you to take our survey. We are looking for participants who are fans of the genre and willing to share their opinions on the stories portrayed in actual play shows.

If you are a fan of any and all actual play shows and you are over 18 years old, we would love to get your responses. We also have a drawing for three $50 Amazon gift cards that you can enter if you leave an email at the end of the survey.

The link to the survey will be in a reblog and pinned to my profile. Please reblog this post so the survey reaches more people!

[queergamelab]

ttrpg players, we're doing an interview study! you will be paid for your time!

[snejkha]

Few Quill talkies/

[mintytea-exe]

the end of the ARG. I am so grateful to all the friends I made through this

[quillpokebiology]

"Pokemon researchers are just weak! They just watch pokemon doing whatever, and never battle!"

Me, having flashbacks to the months when I was in the wild by myself and had to deal with dangerous and wild pokemon and almost dying multiple times:

[auremanaresearchcorps]

Oh My God, What Happened in Skinner!

I just binged this podcast and I'm so invested now! It's a true crime style fiction podcast that gets into secretive cult-y religion, charming villains, big important philosophical debates, disappearances and murders, maybe mermaids, and the ethics of sharing things about your friends on the internet. It's on the Rusty Quill Network (where The Magnus Archives comes from). Highly recommend! It looks like season two is coming soon!

[welcome-to-green-hills]

Do you think that you’ll share more art in the future? I love your stuff

😈😈😈