#Shaman names as well just in case

[mwagneto]

hungarian/nomadic magyar tumblr circa 998AD dashboard simulator

🏞️ vándor-ló-979 Follow

not yall still spreading emese's foundation myth??? she literally claims she fucked a bird????? like either she's lying or she cheated and she's trying to cover it up or well. i dont even want to consider the third option

🪺 magánügyek Follow

tengri forbid women do anything???

735 notes

🦅 szél-könnyű-szárnyán-szállj Follow

okay im sick of the discourse let's do this.

8,572 notes

🐎 istván-rovására Follow

that took so long lmao -> !!!!!!!∧◇ᛏ⋈∧

481 notes

🐴 csillagösvény Follow

i'm so serious rn if you support """istván""" in any way just unfollow and block me. we do NOT need him or his dumbass god and what he's been doing to our people to spread his religion is shameful.

🐴 csillagösvény Follow

btw we all know your real name is vajk stop larping as a christian it's EMBARRASSINGGGG

✝️ esztergom-örökké Follow

love seeing my mutuals reblogging this /s anyway op has multiple posts on their blog supporting quartering and human sacrifice. in case you were wondering. anyway stand with István

🐴 csillagösvény Follow

1) we dont even do human sacrifices, are you fucking stupid??? show me ONE post where i talk about that. 2) are you seriously forgetting that your bestie istván LITERALLY QUARTERED HIS UNCLE?????

#sorry to put this dumbass on the dash😭 dont even engage just block them #ur not making it up the tree of life lmao #discourse

3,264 notes

🌅 bolygó-kárpáti Follow

friendly reminder that just because you're white passing doesn't mean you're not a real magyar!! people with mixed parents are just as valid <3

🏇 attila-népe Follow

cranky coz ur ancestors decided to mix with the europeans arent you

🧺 lemezelő Follow

isnt your girlfriend literally frankish????

🏇 attila-népe Follow

you had to have done some serious stalking to find that💀 and first of all i didn't have a choice, my parents picked the tribe, and second of all she's not my "girlfriend" i got her via ritual kidnapping (WITH consent. before anyone gets weird)

🌐 a-kiber-kovács Follow

Couldn't you have kidnapped another magyar woman? Or someone from another mongoloid tribe?

🔅 hadúrsimp Follow

ohh sure so now human pet guy is gonna chime in to advocate for the kidnapping of our women while being lowkey racist. what are you even doing on nomadblr????

🌅 bolygó-kárpáti Follow

what the fuck happened to my post

19,276 notes

🪔 rakabonciás Follow

for the nth time, you're only a true shaman if you were born with teeth OR with extra fingers OR in the sac. the rest of you are faking & we can tell.

🦅szél-könnyű-szárnyán-szállj Follow

okay people keep spreading this but this is literally just wrong?? like congrats on the 6 fingers op im glad u and Little Golden Father have a special connection (genuinely) but like. táltos and sámán and mágus and garabonciás and javas etc are all different things with completely different requirements and life paths which you should definitely know if you're claiming to be one?? especially since your post says shaman but you're listing the criteria for a táltos, and your username looks like a play on garabonciás so. which is it🤔 maybe get your facts in order before trying to gatekeep

anyway don't listen to op!! your connection to the Upper World is yours alone and you're the best judge of what the Fathers and Mothers want your path in life to be!!

646 notes

🛐 mea-culpa Follow

It breaks my heart that the majority of my people still refuse to see the One True God and insist on sticking to their pagan spirits. I fear that when judgement day comes, we will all be wiped out thanks to their foul godless ways.

🐴 csillagösvény Follow

how tf am i godless when i literally have dozens of gods? little mothers and little fathers are in everything all around us & it must suck ass to live in a world where you're not surrounded by the small gods that inhabit everything. manifesting that the fene and the guta tag team beat your ass tonight

🔅 hadúrsimp Follow

hadúr will literally strike op down personally. he told me himself. whispered it to me sweetly even

🐴 csillagösvény Follow

while i agree with you, i feel like you might also have ulterior motives, nomadblr user hadúrsimp

#but live your truth! doubly so on the posts of these freak repressed bible lovers. meanwhile on the #COOL side of magyarhood we walk around butt ass naked!!! op have fun never experiencing joy ever again tho #discourse

198 notes

👑 sanctus-stephanus Follow

posting from an alt so i don't get cancelled but lowkey i'm starting to think koppány was right.... maybe this christianity thing isn't gonna work out after all

👑 sanctus-stephanus Follow

WRONG BLOG

👑 sanctus-stephanus Follow

THIS WAS A JOKE. IGNORE THIS

🪺 magánügyek Follow

ISTVÁN????????????? 💀

[tabootoji]

"LOVE IT WHEN HE HIT AND SMACK TOO"

TRAINING DAY - PART 3 OF SELFISH DESIRES ← pt. 2

✰ - SYNOPSIS: it's time for you to advance your skills as a curse user if you hope to remain by suguru's side, and who else better to train you than the worst one of all time? (or) you and suguru get down and dirty in the middle of a yoga session. ✰ - WC: 2.8k ✰ - TAGS: reader is female, short, black and curvy, semi public, obsession/possessive, size diff., nipple play, dry humping, groping, pussy slapping, cunnilingus, v. intercourse, dirty talk, praise, belly press, f. orgasm, creampie, no use of (y/n), all lower case ✰ - A/N: our reader is finally going through her training arc! (kinda :P) so ofc i used the opportunity to feed my imagination with the idea of geto in a compression shirt hehe (which was kinda inspired by this). also i put in a really small gojo mention, i was debating on whether i should in this story or not, but since i did say i'm sorta following canon events it just made sense to. anyways, we have one part left, so i hope y'all like how the story's been going so far!

since the 'incident' with manami, suguru has been carrying himself around the sacred temple with an extra pep in his step. and why wouldn't he? the amount of followers coming to the temple seems to have doubled, maybe even tripled in a short amount of time - which meant more curses to add to his arsenal. the wealthy contributions to their organization have also skyrocketed, granting everyone in the shrine a life of comfortability. above all, suguru was able to walk with his head held high knowing that now, all had graciously accepted your position as his one and only beloved, staying right by his side where you belonged.

however, there was an elephant in the room that he had yet to address: training you. suguru's group consisted of strong, sharp-witted shamans who stood ready to follow his every command. and although he had no intentions of ever putting you in a situation where your life would be in danger, he needed to know that if there was ever a time he or the other curse users couldn't protect you, you'd be able to defend yourself. he also hoped that coaching you would in turn boost your confidence in your own skill and abilities, putting you amongst the ranks of your peers.

suguru made up his mind that at least once a week, he would clear a part of his schedule to physically train you, as well as guide you to perfect your cursed technique. you were hesitant to the idea at first, but after much coaxing, you agreed as long as he promised he would start off teaching you slowly. so today, he stands in the center of the traditional garden behind the sanctuary with yoga mats sprawled on the freshly trimmed lawn, waiting for you to join him so he could start you off with the basics.

suguru decided to forgo his usual long, flowing garments for a more casual look. he donned a compression shirt that fit tightly around his athletic torso, loose sweatpants that hung off of his defined waist, and opted to stay barefooted with nothing on his feet. it was a sunny afternoon, and the clear blue skies accompanying the warm sun that casted a radiant glow over the magnificent oasis gave the fake buddhist priest much to think about as he awaited your arrival.

he thought of the irony of him currently adapting a teaching role in his current position, a role he so desperately tried to run away from when he abandoned jujutsu society. he was sure his former best friend from a period so long ago it felt like it happened in a different lifetime would laugh at him if he saw him right now. suguru closed his eyes as favorable memories of his youth flashed in inconsistent intervals in his mind that the dreadful ones had yet to cloud before he was interrupted by a familiar soft, melodic voice calling his name.

opening them, suguru instantly felt a pleasant tranquility wash over him at the sight of you. sporting a gym top with yoga pants, you stood with a beaming smile on your face, head slightly tilted as you asked if he was alright. he chuckled to himself, shaking his head and dispelling your worries by bending down to your height to peck your forehead. when the troubles of his past barred their ugly fangs, of course he knew he would be fine, as long as he could gaze at you, his future.

you feel your cheeks heat up, very sure that your face was covered in a red blush at not just suguru's affectionate gesture, but by how hunky he looked in his current attire. you don't usually get the chance to see him in anything else besides his robes, so you quickly take a mental image of how his massive arms seemed so close to ripping through the elasticity of his shirt, and how his structured v-line and sexy happy trail peeked out of the band of his sweats.

once you and suguru decide that you're ready to start, you both sit beside each other on one of the yoga mat's cross legged, and begin to meditate. pushing a curly strand of hair that fell out of your styled high bun behind your ear, you try to listen to his prompts to close your eyes, focus on your breathing and rid your mind and body of any anxiety you're feeling.

contradicting his own teachings, suguru takes the opportunity to eye you from top to bottom suggestively. your cropped sports tank top had a slight dip in the neckline that gave him a glimpse of your deep cleavage. and because of how the top was tied behind you, your ample breasts were pushed up, threatening to spill out if you made one wrong move (which suguru was indeed hoping for). and don't get him started on your damn yoga pants. the sheer, tight fitted garment not only hugged your delectable curves in just the right way, your rich skin was visible behind them. suguru's cock twitched at the idea of how easy it would be to rip them right off of you.

but alas, he had to stay focused. after he deemed that you were relaxed enough to move on to stretches, suguru instructed you into the first position. as you lay on your back with your arms flat on the mat, he kneeled in front of you, telling you to bend your knees and lift your pelvic region off of the ground. however, after a couple of seconds your legs begin to shake, already threatening to falter your current pose. when suguru holds your hips firmly in place with his hands on either side of you, your eyes shoot up at the thunderbolt of dopamine rushing through your veins you feel every time the two of you touch. teasingly, he smirks at you. "looks like ya gonna need some help, little one. mind if i assist ya?"

if you thought your face was red before, you were certain you resembled a tomato as you nodded your head slowly, nervously accepting suguru's offer. you've barely had to go through any physical endurance throughout the span of your life, so all of this was fairly new to you. you were already doubting how you were going to perform, now you've advanced to worried at the idea of the well built, good looking man before you grazing your body through it. get your mind out of the gutter and focus, you thought to yourself.

however, this would prove to be especially hard during the next position suguru aids you with. with your back still on the floor, he grasps the back of one of your thick thighs and holds it as far as it can comfortably go, which wasn't much without any force being applied. to your surprise, he situates his groin in between your legs, places your foot onto his broad shoulder, and slowly leans towards your face to deepen the stretch. your size difference is apparent now more than ever as his tall frame hovers over your short one. you're now unsure if your perspiration is due to the hot sun or the sexual implications of this yoga pose.

suguru thanks himself for his choice of outfit, knowing his growing hard on would be embarrassingly apparent right now if not for his baggy pants. though the more you both continued these sensual stretches, the less interest he had in modesty, wanting his sinful thoughts to be known by you. "ya doin' alright baby?" he asks jestfully. suguru watches you bite your lip bashfully at the pet name, humming your confirmation. cute. so, so, cute.

you move on to model your best child's pose, suguru behind you almost passing out looking at you. with the way your knotted shirt twists behind you, he was able to admire the curve of your lower back and the matter in which it dipped in the center. when he tells you to progress into a cat pose, suguru doesn't even give you time to go into the paralleled cow's position, becoming enthralled by your mesmerizing arch and proceeding to grab your waist to push your bottom against his lap.

you gasp in surprise, looking behind at suguru as he slots his covered, rock hard boner in between your clothed pussy lips. wordlessly, he begins to fondle your body, groping the fat of your gut and ass, before reaching beneath your tight top to palm your huge tits, pulling and twisting your taut nipples with his rough fingers mercilessly.

at the sudden, yet thrilling stimulation, you compulsively mewl out his name, grinding your butt against his bugle, and it awakens something inside of him. in the blink of an eye suguru's previous thoughts become reality as he uses his powerful strength to rip open the stemming of your leggings to expose your crotch to him. to his disappointment, the fabric of your cotton underwear stands in the way of his pot of gold. at the speed of lighting he gives your nether regions a sudden 'smack', causing you to squeal at the sensation of pain and pleasure becoming one. "panties? really girl? y'know better than that." he reprimands you.

before you get the chance to explain that you wore them for the sake of the training, never in your wildest dreams being able to predict that the two of you would end up doing this in the middle of it, he slides the flimsy fabric to the side to reveal your already leaking pussy. watching your tightly rimmed hole pulse with anticipation only doubles his insatiable craving to taste you, so without hesitation suguru bends down till he's eye level with your cunt, sticks the wet mass of his tongue out, and licks a long stripe up your quivering genitals.

his eyes roll to the back of his head as he savors your succulent nectar. suctioning his moist lips, suguru sucks up your wetness that dribbles into his awaiting mouth in quick successions. you suddenly become all too aware that you're right at the center of the facilities public garden where the gardeners, servants, any resident of the building could stroll through and witness both of your current indiscretions. but the way suguru flicks your sensitive clit with his flat pink tongue is just too good for you to care right now.

your knees buckle and your trembling voice begins to increase in pitch as suguru continues to messily eat your pussy from the back. you could have confused him for a famished man in the middle of the desert with the way he was slurping your sopping cunt. and if that wasn't enough, he began to prod the muscular organ deep into your delicate flower, as if he was trying to reach the barricades of your soul with just his mouth alone. and every time you tried to squirm away from his passionate lapping's, he would bury his face till his nose nuzzled into your vagina, lolling out his tongue to swipe your bundle of nerves from side to side.

just when you're on the brink of cumming all over his face, suguru retracts from your pussy, panting so loudly you could feel his cool, minty breath tickling you. you huff out in frustration from not receiving the spine tingling orgasm you were anticipating, pouting angrily at him. he plants a parting kiss to your cunt, then leans forward to mutter in your ear four words that make you immediately forget why you were frowning your face in the first place.

"i need you. now."

shame almost overtakes you as you drawl out an eager chant of yeses, but that quickly disappears when suguru rushes to pull his leisurely pants down to the top of his knees, swiftly springing out his now enraged cock before taking it in his hands and thrusting it against your womanhood. collecting all of your excitement onto his thick length, he slides it into your tense awaiting walls.

you both groan in satisfaction as suguru fills you up to the brim with almost no resistance. he almost can't believe he was able to, considering how tight of a fit it is whenever he pushes himself into you the first time. either he's finally fucked you enough for your gummy canals to become his personal fleshlight, or the stretching you did beforehand must have really did its job and relaxed you.

and although the two may be true, he's currently attributing your new flexibility to the later. now that you're warmed up from your previous light workout, you're able to angle your rear side till the front of your torso is pressed onto the yoga mat. looking at you grip the sharp blades of grass with your hands till you're almost pulling them out of the ground, further entices suguru to draw his hips back, before railing his desperate cock back into you.

you and suguru set a ferocious pace, him using brute force to barrel his veiny dick into your sex while you match his thrusts, throwing your curvaceous body back as he drives forward. both of your risqué behavior contradicts the peaceful atmosphere of the beautiful garden surrounding the two of you. the soothing pour of the fountains, the unique chirps of the foreign birds that home the piece of land, and the gorgeous flowers in bloom juxtapose the slapping sounds of your ass cheeks hastily colliding with suguru's thighs, your squelching pussy wrapping around his large membrane with a vicious gripe, and your conjoined wails as he continues to defile you.

you realize you may be just as lecherous as he is as your indecorous spectacle shockingly exhilarates you the more you both achieve your desirous commands of one another.

your jaw slacks open when suguru repeatedly lurches his round cockhead to bump against your tender womb. "su-sugu...right there, right there!" you encourage him. he digs his fingers into your luscious lumps to allow himself to delve even further inside your numbing cunt than you thought humanly possible. "ya like that princess? huh? my dainty toy wants it rough? right here?" he finishes his sentence by pressing his sizable hand against your chubby stomach to feel the point of intrusion.

his filthy words are the final nail in the coffin, consequently imploding your snug cunt as flows of your secretion burst around the girth of suguru's unrelenting cock. you're on cloud nine, your entire body falling slack as you allow him to use it for his own lustful volition. "look so good takin' me, fuck, gonna ruin ya baby girl...agh! cumming...m' cumming, here it comes...!" he grits his teeth in anguish, feeling your pussy cruelly squeeze the life out of him, leaving him dizzy. the steadfast movement of his hips finally stutters as he spurts his heavy load into your belly.

he lunches forward after experiencing his sweet rapture, both of you breathless from your endeavors. while your consciousness slowly comes back to earth, suguru takes the opportunity to pull his weighty shaft out of you. he quickly repositions your underwear back on, the semen pouring out of your abused cunt quickly dampening it. you scrunch your nose at the wetness pooling in your undergarments, kneeling up with suguru and bashfully looking at the aftermath of your robust sex.

suguru has to hold in his laugh by giving the top of your head another long kiss. how fast you switched from a crazed vixen back to his angelic, coy girl was so adorable. "i think that's enough training for the day, don't you think little one?" he asks jokingly, helping you both to your feet while you giggle at him. he will have to make sure that starting next week, you both begin taking your lessons more seriously. starting off by making sure you don't wear anymore revealing outfits, unless you wanted to get your bones jumped again.

"agreed, i think i'm definitely in need of a shower after our...exercise." you chuckled. but before you take a step towards the entrance of the monastery, you glance down at your pants, quickly realizing its tattered state. you look up at him in alarm. "suguru...i can't walk around the sanctuary like this." without another word he pulls his own top off, helping you put it over your head so it covers your bare regions.

suguru now stands before you shirtless, sweat glistening off of his beautiful skin. you ogle at him like it's the first time you've seen him naked, because how could you not? it was as if the man's abdominals were carved by the gods themselves. you have to take a strained gulp to keep yourself from literally drooling before you take his hand to hold in yours possessively. "will you...join me.?" you ask him.

momentarily stunned by your request, he quickly recovers and lets a mischievous grin form on the sides of his face. "thought you'd never ask darling." he whispers in your ear provocatively, walking with you hand in hand into the premises. suguru wouldn't worry too much about skipping your training for today, because he was going to have plenty of time to build your endurance and stamina.

[shveris]

my jjk headcanons, part 4

some of these can be seen as modern!au AND canon universe things

part 1

part 2

part 3

when yuuji cries, it rains blood/red water (???) in sukuna’s inner domain

shoko can handle human bodies without issues but animal bodies? she tears up every time without fail

languages satoru is fluent in, besides japanese: english, korean, mandarin. he can also hold simple conversations in spanish, portuguese, italian, german, russian and ukrainian. he’s not sure if he should give french a try (because 1. it sounds awful, 2. it’s a difficult language, 3. he’s made too many “i hate the french” jokes and he’d feel low-key embarrassed if he ends up speaking it)

in addition to the hc above, satoru also regularly gets really confused about kanji & hanzi (iykyk, someone please end my suffering)

modern!au yuuji uploads song covers on niconico & youtube because gege said yuuji has the best singing voice + it’s canon that he likes to sing. his most popular uploads are deep coma, overdose, odoriko and asu no yozora shoukaihan

click the song names to get redirected to youtube in case you don’t know any of these

he’s an awful rapper though so whenever there’s rap parts, he makes sukuna record them since their voices sound almost the same

megumi cannot sleep unless it’s completely and utterly dark in his room. no LEDs, no lights coming through his blinds, no nothing. when he gets fed up with all the light sources, he just disappears into his shadow and sleeps in there

modern!au satoru can play a dozen of instruments (canon satoru can’t because his clan deemed learning those things as unnecessary for the holder of the six eyes)

modern!au sukuna would make those “cooking because murder is illegal” tiktoks

it’s a coping mechanism he copied from his twin because yuuji bakes when he’s in a bad mind space

suguru keeps a plethora of house plants and they’re all thriving (his place looks like a jungle)

satoru names his pets & suguru’s most used cursed spirits after characters from his fav movies & shows (click here for a more detailed post i did for this a while back)

sukuna can take control over yuuji's reflections and shadows (non-shamans can’t see it though)

sukuita twins in modern!au would be the same height until they hit 12 — sukuna gets a growth spurt because he eats his veggies. around 17 yuuji’s suddenly taller than him and he’s just “????!!!!”

adding onto that (cuz i love twins!au): sukuna buys lots of kirby merch because it reminds him of yuuji — he would never loudly admit it though. he just puts it in yuuji’s room and doesn’t talk about it ever

suguru has lots of things twice because shoko and satoru tend to accidentally buy him the same things for his birthday

shoko knows how to play the ukulele. it started out as a joke but she’s actually really good at it. she rickrolls people when asked to play something

modern!au sashisu would be like the plastics but they actually genuinely like each other and just dislike everyone else

suguru and shoko used to roll their cigs (it’s cheaper) until they befriended satoru. he uses his family’s assets very well by financing all their nicotine addictions

satoru only smokes cigs with those balls inside the filter — you have to break them before smoking — because they taste sweet(er). he dislikes the ones with menthol though

[val-of-the-north]

Potential Ensha info from the DLC

Me and @katyspersonal were hoping for more potential lore on Ensha, surprisingly enough... and we might have actually got our wish somehow. Let's take a look at the description of Ensha's bones for a second, as well as their properties...

While they don't look it at first glance, the description specifies the bones are "golden", and they can replenish HP when it's reduced. Gold and healing go hand-in-hand in Elden Ring's setting, so this propriety makes sense by considering the golden nature of the remains.

This description alone doesn't tell us much however. It describes the remains as belonging to an ancient lord named Ensha who is currently known as a soulless king. However, Shadow of the Erdtree might give us more hints about who he was prior to becoming an elaborate set of armor.

In the Lands of Shadow we can come across a very rare crafting material, mostly found around Scadu Altus and in the Shadow Keep and Fort of Reprimand. It is also held by the various Black Knights found around the world. This material is the Blessed Bone Shard.

These blessed bones shine gold with the blessing of the Scadutree, and can be used to craft many interesting items, including Festive Grease, Golden Vows (the tool, not the incantation), and Sunwarmth Stones. Two out of three of these items are directly aligned with the Golden Order (though the Festive Grease is likely part of the Shaman tradition which Marika made sure to somehow preserve), and one of them is directly tied to HP regeneration, the same passive power as Ensha's bones.

Since the other ingredients needed to craft it are a Spiritgrave Stone and a Black Pyrefly, neither connected to healing, I assume that part of the power comes from the blessed bones.

If this is the case, could it mean that the ancient lord Ensha participated in the Crusade as a warrior on the side of the Erdtree prior to his death? And that his bones were blessed because of his great service, as it was "the greatest honor that can be granted to the dead" after all. Him being some sort of lord or king might have also allowed his remains to be brought back to the Lands Between for a proper burial, or maybe even to craft this armor as a means to immortalize him. If so, his death must have been prior to the Lands of Shadow being hidden away by Marika.

Now, one could still question why Ensha's bones aren't as shiny as these shards are, but perhaps his blessing has faded with time. After all, the potency of the blessed bones we pick up is much greater than that of his armor, offering continuous healing to everyone nearby as opposed to just when our health gets low.

I think Ensha himself might have rested peacefully for years until after the Night of the Black Knives or the Shattering, which led to the rise of Those Who Live in Death through Deathroot. There is a possibility he himself is part of them, especially with the way he is described.

He is soulless, which has a deep connection to both Godwyn and other perished Demigods of the Night of the Black Knives. There seems to be a connection between death, undeath and the lack of a soul, strengthening the connection between Ensha and the undead.

He is further described as the king of the "lost and desperate", which seems to harken back to how Fia describes Those Who Live in Death as "the meek, and the many".

The connection seems slightly more obvious, as in Japanese she refers to them as "the weak" (弱き者) and she describes herself as their "guardian/protector" (庇護者). Meanwhile, Ensha is the King of those who "cling to/depend on" him (縋り付く) which seems to hold similar connotations of a weaker group of people needing a stronger figure for protection. In that case, Ensha might have been a surrogate king of sorts, but clearly not good enough to truly become their lord, a title fully reserved for the godly flesh of Godwyn. Or maybe, just like Fia, he was simply a self-appointed protector for them and had no higher aims.

The way in which he operates is still quite a mystery though. The man who wears the armor is also named Ensha, just like this ancient lord, so unless he is simply cosplaying him, there might be something deeper going on...

The DLC also introduced an interesting NPC enemy: Rakshasa. Named after a demon, the description of her armor makes a peculiar comment about following a certain path to "become" Rakshasa itself, hinting that the woman we just beat was just one embodiment of it.

Now, Ensha would be a bit different, but what if he also worked in a similar manner? As in, those who wear his remains become him by extension. But in that case, why would this king follow Gideon Ofnir? Is it because of his desire to reach the Haligtree? Perhaps he wants to confront Miquella since in his kindness he seems to have forsaken Those Who Live in Death, and if the Golden Epitaph is to be believed, agrees and maybe even endorses their destruction.

The vow of peace of the Roundtable Hold might be why someone like D doesn't strike him down on the spot. Or maybe hiding as a simple suit of armor proves to be quite effective in avoiding detection from the hunters of his kind.

[calissarowan]

Ogron’s Past: My Headcanon

So, @niklaushenning said they’d want to hear about my headcanon for Ogron’s past, so here we go! Be warned that it is long, and very sad.

Everyone remembers my headcanon about Ogron’s mother being the Shaman Witch from season 8? (Here, in case you don’t.) So, I headcanon that she’s from Earth, and her name is Aoife Rowan. (Her first name is actually the villain in an Irish folk tale I really like, so there’s an interesting little reference.) She was a powerful dark witch, and her only goal was to become stronger, more powerful. At one point, she married a terrestrial wizard named Daelyn. Officially, it was love, but truthfully, she just wanted to throw the Earth fairies’ attention off of her by creating a semblance of an illusion that she was settled down. She was known for performing very twisted dark experiments, and those didn’t stop once she married. Her husband loved her though, for whatever reason. (Though there’s a strong possibility she bewitched him.)

After some time, she became pregnant, and Ogron was born. Though Aiofe was mildly intrigued by the power her son possessed, she viewed him as nothing but a nuisance that had already taken enough of her time and energy, and he was relegated to his father whilst Aiofe returned to her work. Fortunately, Ogron’s father was a very good man, and he cared for his son very much. But despite his father’s love, Ogron desperately sought his mother’s approval, unable to understand why she seemed to so thoroughly despise him. He tried to impress her, to learn magic as she did, but he was six, so his efforts weren’t nearly as strong as hers. But he was six, what was she expecting?

Aiofe largely ignored her husband and son, focused mostly on her partner in crime, so to speak, Yllidith. He was a terrestrial wizard with ambitions far beyond wizards’ usual place in society, and Aiofe’s skills matched his own, even surpassed them. So Ogron knew Yllidith most of his life, but initially he was just that scary stranger that appeared only to vanish into his mother’s lair.

However, Aiofe and Yllidith’s experiments drew more and more attention from the fairies, and when they stole a White Circle to try and learn the secrets of Terrestrial fairy magic, and thus how they could harness it for themselves, Tir Na N’og decided that enough was enough. They sent a group of soldiers to Aiofe’s home, demanding that her experiments be surrendered and she submit herself to their custody. Aiofe was not in fact there on the night in question, having travelled to Yllidith’s home to work on something, so the fairies found only Daelyn and a young Ogron. Daelyn refused to tell them where his wife was, or to allow them to into his wife’s workshop, but the fairies would not be stopped. Seeing his father’s attempts, despite being told to go upstairs, Ogron attempted to intervene, using his magic to blast one of the fairies away from the door. Though it had been a panicked, well-meaning use of magic from a child, it was the start of a fight. A fight that Daelyn had no choice but to throw himself into, as he would not allow his son to be harmed. Unfortunately, he was outmatched, and he was killed. The fairies would likely have done the same to Ogron, ensuring the incident wouldn’t get out of hand, but Aiofe returned, furious at her work being threatened, and she swiftly killed the fairies, unmoved by their deaths, or even the death of her husband. She left that night, taking her work and her traumatised son with her and arriving at Yllidith’s home. He was very happy (well, not happy, but his equivalent) to have her there. The seven-year-old that wouldn't let go of her, less so.

Ogron lived there for over a year, being largely ignored by his mother and completely ignored by Yllidith, other than when the other wizard took interest in his powers. Ogron took great interest in what Yllidith and his mother were doing, but he was usually pushed away.

After some time, as the fairies continued to search for her, Aiofe became tired of hiding away, becoming sick of Earth altogether. She wanted true power, not playthings designed to tear the wings off of insects, and so she left Earth, seeking to pledge herself to the greatest evil in the dimension, the power of the Shadow Phoenix. She followed his servants, the Ancestral Witches, and she left Ogron without even saying goodbye. She informed Yllidith she was leaving, and told him he could do as he pleased with her son. Yllidith was deeply affronted at being left Aiofe’s child, but, unlike Aiofe, he was still very much invested in the Black Circle, a dark and twisted version of the White Circle they’d stolen, still planning to use it against the fairies. As the spell involved so much of Aiofe’s magic, he’d have an easier time with it using a blood relative, and fortunately, he happened to have one he could mould as he so pleased. And the idea of an apprentice to follow him was something of a power trip, so he decided to keep Ogron. Though, honestly, Ogron’s life would possibly be better had Yllidith just thrown him out.

Yllidith, to be fair, taught Ogron a lot. Most of what Ogron knows, he knows from him. But Ogron was unfortunately barely treated as a human being, just Yllidith’s pawn. Despite that, he felt a deep desire to please his mentor, having been left feeling inadequate by his mother’s constant derision. And the prospect of stealing the fairies’ wings was one that not only could he accept, but he truly wanted now. They had killed his father, and, for his own gain, Yllidith had spun it so that Ogron fully believed the fairies were the reason his mother had had to leave. He worked to help Yllidith complete the Black Circle, and eventually aided him in capturing fairies.

Ogron was pretty much alone until he met the other wizards, and even now, having people he’s close to, that actually care about him, feels…strange. Good strange, but strange. I’m working on how Ogron met the other wizards, but they all ended up joining Yllidith, as their alternatives were pretty much even worse. (Gantlos and Duman were both more or less risking death.)

Eventually, when Yllidith was defeated, Ogron actually wanted to return, to free him, because pleasing his mentor (master, really) was so incredibly built into him, but Gantlos, Anagan and Duman talked him out of it. They needed Ogron to realise that Yllidith was emotionally-abusive (sometimes physically), and that they had a chance to be free of him! Forever. Ogron was at a loss for what they were supposed to do then, as they still intended to capture the Earth fairies, since they had all been hurt by them, and they were history’s villains now anyway, and what were they meant to do without a leader, but the others told him they already had a leader, and it sure as hell wasn't Yllidith. So Ogron was talked into leaving Yllidith and his manipulation behind, and taking up the mantle of leader. And he’s eternally grateful to his friends for that, because, despite being a source of massive, unresolved trauma, Yllidith is in his past now. And he’s not coming back. Except in nightmares, but Ogron can cope with those in his own particular way of not coping at all but pretending he’s as functional as a human being can be.

So, that’s my incredibly long headcanon post about how Ogron ended up with Yllidith, becoming a fairy hunter! I hope you liked it! @coredetenebris, I’ll tag you here as well, since I think you’ll find this interesting.

[the-blazing-light]

"Son of fire and ruin, destinied for conquest, now claims to be a savior?"

Some thoughts about Arengar that have been cooking in my head for a while, and about the importance of blood for charr in general.

Blood and family is a big theme in Arengar's story, because even though charr parents don't participate in raising their children and we're told that, to quote Bangar, "charr don't have sons", it's shown time and time again that your lineage matters quite a lot and reflects the way you're treated and seen in your legion: an entire chapter of personal story for charr being entirely dedicated to who your father is/was, despite him not participating in your upbringing, you're still the one on whose shoulders it falls, in some cases, to respond to your father's wrongdoings or even kill your father if you choose that option during one of the possible story missions. Ryland's entire conflict is trying to split away from who his parents are, to do something worthwhile himself instead of just living in the shadow of his parents' big names and achievements. And in another case, you can find a statue of charr called Ferro the Butcher in the Black Citadel, father of one of Iron's tribunes, Bhuer Goreblade, who was obsessed with the 'tainted legacy' of his flame shaman grandsire, and after Bhuer was born has volounteered to answer for the crimes of his ancestor so that Bhuer doesn't have to face the same predjudice as him. So while charr don't raise their children, lineage matters a lot to them, even going as far as generations back.

And Arengar's lineage is nothing to scoff at. Grandcub of the Blood Legion imperator, son of a respected Blood warrior who'd fought viciously and became known for her ferocity during the siege of Ebonhawke, he's had a lot to live up to since the day he was born.

He was born to become a model soldier of his legion, heavy expectations of his blood always weighing down on his shoulders. His lineage is that of duality, as while his mother's side of the family are respected, well-known Blood warriors, his father is an ex-Flame shaman, who caused quite a stir when Maja, Arengar's mother, took him into her warband, placing the trust into a shaman who'd turned his back on Flame Legion and claimed to want vengeance on his former comrades. That trust seemed to pay off, as Scorchface, a nickname he'd gotten due to the burn scarring on his head along with black markings on his muzzle, became a loyal and invaluable part of her warband and later on, her lover, resulting in Arengar being born.

So since his birth Arengar had to contend with two very conflicting legacies: that of a renowned, respected warrior, pride of her Legion and her father, the Imperator, and that of a flame shaman seen as dangerous even after proving time and time again his newfound loyalty to Maja, her warband and her legion. Notably though, his loyalties were specifically to her, not to the Blood legion. To the warband and its leader who took him in and trusted him while the rest of the legion saw him as a danger to them and a tratior.

Despite that, Arengar held a lot of pride in his blood, it is reflected even in Arengar's fighting style: being a guardian he combines the martial prowess of a warrior while wielding searing flame, his father's shaman legacy. And even despite his father's reputation, Arengar was still seen as a progidal son, someone with a lot ahead of him, someone destinied to reach great heights within Blood Legion, and his performance in the Fahrar and eagerness to become the best soldier his legion has ever seen has only cemented that. A born conqueror, one to bring glory to the Blood Legion and he intended to do just so.

That is, until an accident and a series of bad decisions led to his warband dying, Arengar being left a sole survivor, a gladium. Still young at the time, filled with ambitions that have been shattered before his eyes and dealing with the pain of losing his warband, becoming a gladium, returning to his legion as a disgraced sole survivor felt like a fate worse than death. Scared, pained and still young, Arengar couldn't find it in him to go back to his legion and face the tribunal, the progidal son of Blood Legion now being a member of the lowest caste, a gladium, the disgraced sole survivor of his warband.

[vasito-de-leche]

so i’ve been looking through the role atlas since i read your post about the covers and so far i’ve seen a few interesting? things and so starting off with blonney

(in the arcanist magazine) her cover is worded differently compared to other arcanists. it says ‘an arcanist work’ instead of the usual ‘an arcanist’s work’. like the ‘a supernatural work’ thing you found. as we know, arcanist’s work pretty much means a pure-blood(?) arcanist, or at least brought to sentiency by an arcanist (in darley clatter’s case, to name one).

‘arcanist’s’ implies there being a creator of that arcanist, which would probably be their parents. but blonney’s only says ‘arcanist work’, so she fits into the category of an arcanist but it doesn’t mention anything about her ‘creator’. maybe she somehow acquired arcanum powers and was originally human? but then that would be in the infected’s territory now. (i don’t know blonney’s backstory so i don’t know if there’s an explanation found in it, but i might research it when it’s not in the middle of the night).

anyway, her exhibition thing is also worded differently. usually, it goes ‘exhibited in…’ etc etc, but hers says ‘first put on exhibit… remained on display…’. i think, for the rest, exhibited means how long they’ve lived, or at least something like that. that includes the possibility that they may have been reversed during the years they’ve lived in due to the storm, safely assuming that they have been affected by it, so the foundation can’t exactly track it properly. but based on the wording in blonney’s cover (‘remained on display’) it could mean that blonney hasn’t gone through a storm yet (again i dont know if its been proved or not because i didnt pay attention to the last event), so the foundation has pretty much been able to track her ‘exhibition’ and movements for the past years (1990s-2010s, it seems).

this is getting a bit long so im gonna have to cut it short here ! majority of this is just me spitballing and being incoherent at 10pm, methinks, but i want (no pressure) to hear your thoughts on this!

aand and and eating your art. your art and writing are very edible. i dine like a king whenever i see you post

oh hello and tysm for the ask, I love discussing this stuff!

I think I wrote that post the day before the release of the A Nightmare at Green Lake event, so I didn't take those characters' profiles into consideration! But now that you brought it up, I'm looking and comparing profiles, only the characters released during THAT event seem to have this small difference?

I don't have Jessica, but I do have the other three - so for reference, here's Horropedia and Tooth Fairy's profiles.

Their wording matches Blonney's, and looking at the fandom wiki's article for Jessica, she also seems to fall in line with this little change.

Overall, this seems to be a small mistake from the translation team, since no one else has this sort of wording?

I only have Diggers from the previous event to this one, the Theft of the Rimet Cup, but Pickles and Melania are consistent as well.

The same can be said for the current event, Journey to Mor Pakh.

Shamane releases in February, but I think we can assume his Cover profile will follow the same regular pattern as the rest.

I have to admit that I entirely ignored most of the Theft of the Rimet Cup event because the plot was extremely boring to me, so I can't talk about what happens in there in detail to start theorizing and whatnot - but I did read A Nightmare At Green Lake.

When first reading your ask, I thought that maybe there was a shared theme between the characters that could explain this little difference - like how in A Nightmare at Green Lake, the most prevalent theme is that of belonging.

In Blonney's case, she had to act as a human despite her arcanist heritage because of the benefits that came with a human identity, as well as the fact that she could play into the "dumb, blonde bimbo" stereotype and get away with anything because of her family's connections.

As for Horropedia, he was adopted by a human man - his grandfather who introduced him to horror movies - and a lot of his voicelines hint towards him not being able to fit in within the Foundation's standards and getting into a lot of trouble because of it, hence his admission into Vertin's group at the end of the event.

Jessica is implied to be a product of Zeno's crossbreeding between a "changeling" and a "North American deer woman" - being the only one of her kind, plus the fact that she only has critters to keep her company, cause her to be lonely and extremely attached to Blonney.

Tooth Fairy's specific backstory/event is a little blurry in my brain, but I remember that she comes from a very famous arcanist family - the Campbells - whose connections allowed Tooth Fairy to study something related to arcanists health? But she wasn't taken seriously and she discovered that her human mentor was corrupt, leading her to abandon that route and become a dentist for the Foundation (but feel free to correct me!)

So the shared theme of belonging was there, I could argue that hey, the wording is different because none of these characters' "creators" - in this sense, not exclusively biological but those in charge of them - are true arcanists. Blonney's parents faking their human status, Horropedia's human grandfather, Jessica's existence being a product of science gone wrong, Tooth Fairy's mentor being a corrupt human, etc.

But then, we find this exact type of character and themes in Journey to Mor Pahk - Kaalaa Bauna hides her status as an arcanist during her time at the university because she knows the stigma that she will face and how little respect arcanist related research gets. And even so, her profile follows the general one, instead of the ones from A Nightmare at Green Lake.

So with that whole thought out of my brain, for now I'm willing to believe that it's just one of the many little translation errors within the game.

Oh! And while I'm at it, in relation to the post you're referring to - this isn't related to the weird wording, but I said in that post that Lilya, specifically, had a very convoluted way of describing her time period that didn't match the other main characters who were alive and within the Foundation as the same time as her.

A few weeks after I posted that, me and some friends in a R1999 server started talking about that and turns out that Lilya DOES have a canon age in CN - she's 17. And in retrospect, I'm assuming that this specific change done to her Cover profile in global to obscure her age was done because of underage drinking issues, since she does drink and she gets drunk during one of the flashback boss battles - meaning she was even younger at that time.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Manga Publishers: Shueisha and Shonen Jump-What's the deal? (Quick Post)

Hello all, Arkus Rhapsode here again this time with a much smaller post. Recently I've been getting asked by people what a "Shueisha" even is? "Isn't it all just Jump?" Which reminded me how, at least in the west, manga fans really don't understand the difference between publishers and how something like Weekly Shonen Jump is an imprint part of a larger publishing company known as Shueisha.

Shueisha itself has numerous other magazines underneath is such as V Jump (monthly Shonen magazine aimed at middle schoolers), Weekly Young Jump (A weekly seinin series), Jump+ (An online service that allows multiple manga with more range and broad genres), Ribon (A monthly shojo magazine), etc. With the ones containing the word "Jump" being part of the Jump Line of comics which are usually Shonen and Seinin series.

The amount of magazines may vary from company to company so it may be too much to ask of everyone to know all of them. In fact with digital platforms they kinda just blend together. And as someone in North America, I can see the SJ stamp placed on non shonen jump series by viz because they don't use categories like "Jump Comics" at viz.

Now this is information I really don't expect the average western manga fan to know because back in the day, we all had to use stuff like Manga Panda or Manga Stream which would post chapters from One Piece and Naruto alongside stuff like Fairy Tail and the Seven Deadly Sins. So for a lot of people the distinction of what is even inside "shonen jump" can change. Even with modern convinces this makes it hard for some as they think Spy x Family or Kaiju no 8 are shonen jump because they're updated on the SJ app.

This did get me thinking about how much publishers in Japan don't really make the company the "brand." In America, Marvel and DC slap their names on all their comics. This is the "Marvel Universe" or the "DC Universe." Now part of this is because they are a connected universe so they need a single unifying brand so you know what's what in a world with things from super science to mutants to magic. As well as the fact most of their characters are owned by the company. But you see this with things like animation too, its easy for networks to remind you that this is a Cartoon Network show or this is a Nickelodeon show even though they may have wildly different tones or genres or artstyles.

But in Japan, its interesting to see how much Shueisha as a publishing company isn't really concerned with tying its identity with the brand of their magazines. Part of me wonders that if its due to the fact that the publishers of these companies don't actually permanently hold the rights of the series that run in them. There's actually a lot stronger creators rights in Japan and a creator can simply choose to walk away from a publisher, famously Hiroyuki Takei would leave shueisha and take all of the Shaman King franchise to rival publisher Kodansha. Then Tsukasa Hojo and Tetsuo Hara both famous for their work on City Hunter and Fist of the North Star respectively, would create their own publishing company called Coamix and take the rights to their series to bolster the value. And none bigger than Makoto Raiku, a creator heavily critical of his former employer Shogakukan and creators rights enthusiast, would end up taking Zatch Bell with him and having its sequel independently published.

While in the case of Marvel many creators made characters on a work for hire contract which would stimulate that anything they made would become the property of the company.

Now that's not to say Shueisha don't invest in their brand. "Jump Comics" is a brand that possibly gets more promotion than another. As mentioned previously, you only really see Weekly Shonen Jump making manga the focus of their magazine cover. Heck some of the best covers are when you see all the characters inside the magazine hanging out. And my personal favorite is the Shueisha puts on Jump Festa, a convention specifically for jump related announcements and advertising which are almost always host to a massive mural each year of series running under the "Jump" label. I wish more companies honestly did this, particularly Kodansha and Shogakukan, but it Nintendo Direct vs Sony State of Play has taught me anything, its that not every company has that fanbase that'll make a big deal out of everything to sustain such a venture.

[outivv]

Sorry for venting here you can delete if it makes you uncomfortable but: God I want to like Reverse 1999 so bad…especially since it seems like colorism is a deep rooted issue in the gacha space regardless of which region the game comes from

While i’m holding on to hope i gotta side eye them a BIT cause wdym we got a playable apple and dog before a visibly black character?? Maybe i’m just impatient especially since it seems like they are going arknights route of being willing to give us brown characters but far between.?

Well at least i hope it’s not just like arknights in that case cause i’ll never forgive them for giving us a white girl with locs. Still can’t believe we got a white girl with locs with a theme song with savior in the name:/.Made even worse because arknights is a much smaller fandom on en/global side so people barely clock the fanbase for using that fictional races excuse. “oh well TECHNICALLY shes a crocodile person so actually she can’t be white so it’s fine 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓“

Reverse 1999 is interesting, cause while we have no African characters- but we have Hispanic, and middle eastern characters who are presented pretty damn well, at least from what I’ve been told/ seen. They don’t look ashy, and they look, sound, and dress like the culture they are meant to represent, and that’s said for all the characters and all cultures they come from. While reverse 1999 is not like crème de la crème I’d say it’s doing much better in comparison to other games from its region, they just need to focus on more cultures than European and Asian ones, because they’re definitely on the right track!! But you are right they’re pretty few and far between which is unfortunate, cause they’re GOOD at designing new ethnic characters. Like shamane for example is what got me into the game, and his design is gooooood- ohohoboh nsbsksgsjhs I LOVE HIS DESIGN RAHHHHH. Fr, when they make characters they do it well.

I’ve never played arknights, and I know NOTHING ABOUT IT :3 but eugh that just sounds nasty. It’s one thing for “oh well she’s light skinned!!” And actually… yk look light skinned, but eughhhh that doesn’t seem like the case. Eugh.

It’s okay to vent btw!! I usually just ysp as a response though BAGJABAHA

[starrysnowdrop]

Reintroducing…

Kore Gharl AKA: Persie! 🥀

So, for those that have been around forever, like 3-4 years ago, you might remember her! Though Yume was my first WoL OC, my second was a Xaela woman Kore, but I lovingly called her Persie. She was originally of the Mol tribe, and she had pink hair and pink eyes. But since @meepsthemiqo asked about her lore the other day, I got brainworms and decided to recreate her and change up her looks and her lore a bit. So, here we go!

First, I changed her tribe to the Gharl tribe, as I thought it was fitting for her symbolism of being connected with the earth. Here’s the wiki entry for the Gharl, with a screenshot of the Gharl tribe from the cutscene of the Naadam:

Before each migration, the Gharl will fill a sacred urn with the soil of the place they just camped. This soil is then dumped upon arriving at the next location. This tradition has been carried out for thousands of years, leading people to believe that most the steppe is now all of one soil.

When the Tsagaan Sar ends, the Steppe holds a Naadam to decide who will be the new Khagan. The location of the dispute is revealed only at sunrise when the Gharl has scattered the soil.

Anyways, the next thing I decided to change was her looks, which I ultimately didn’t change much, outside of her hair and eyes. This is because she originally had pink hair almost identical in shade to Hali, but since I love Hali too damn much, and she is my only OC that I want to have pink hair, Persie had to get a makeover. I do think the brown hair and grassy green eyes are very earthy and suit her well.

Oh, and in case you’re noticing her name and nickname, yes, her Unsundered self is Persephone, and I had shipped her with Emet. I know I know, not the most original idea ever, but I tried to be a bit unique with her backstory.

Here’s a bit of her backstory, though I’m now reworking it so this is just a very short snippet: Kore was born to Arik and Zaya of the Gharl Tribe, and was their only child. Her mother died in childbirth and was raised solely by her father until he tragically passed away during a battle with a neighboring tribe, trying to protect her and the other children of the tribe. Due to the tragic loss of both of her parents at such a young age, she wanted to become a healer, and to save as many lives as she could. Kore is not a Warrior of Light like Hali is, but she does join the Scions in the course of the events of Stormblood. Her canon job is a hybrid job that I’m calling Shaman, and it’s a mixture of White Mage and Geomancer, with perhaps some other magic thrown in. I haven’t thought that through yet.

Oh and though we may all be hyped for Fanfest right now, feel free to send me asks about her if you’d like! She is also a new alt in game, which you can find her as Persephone Kore on Seraph (Dynamis, NA)! Thank you all so much for your interest in her! I might work on her more if I get more inspiration to.

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

I wanna talk about titles and names for things in my MCD au/rewrite

This may be long, you’ve been warned

First and foremost Lord Lady and Sir:

In my universe, it was generally uncommon (though not unheard of) for a woman to be the head of a village until Aphmau. If a woman was the head of a village she would be called Lady (her name) and never Lord (her name). Aphmau was the first woman to call herself Lord, and since then it became customary.

Though there are other reasons someone may be called “Lady”. If they are the wife of a Lord, a high or head knight/guard, or if they are someone of great importance. For example, Lady Katelyn the Firefist and Lady Azura of Bright Port. While Katelyn is a member of the Jury, Lady Katelyn the Firefist is her official title, but when she is stripped of her rank, that title is taken as well and she became just Katelyn. Azura being head guard of Bright Port gives her the title of Lady Azura.

And finally, Sir. Similarly to Lady, Sir is the title given to male head guards. While Garroth is head guard of Phoenix Drop, he is known as Sir Garroth of Phoenix Drop. While Laurance is head guard he is Sir Laurance Zvahl of Meteli. Though when he left for Phoenix Drop he lost that title. He still sometimes introduces himself as Sir Laurance by accident.

Next, Werewolves:

There are a few different kinds of werewolves: pure blood, half blood, and turned. Werewolf is the umbrella term used for any Lycan kind.

A pure blooded werewolf is also known as a Wolfer. These wolves do not have a human form, though they do have a human-like form (think how we usually see Bodolf or Lowell). They also have a pure wolf form or natural form, where they appear like a normal wolf, though slightly larger.

A half blooded werewolf is also known as a halfling wolf or halfling wolfer. These are werewolfs that are born of both werewolf blood and the blood of something else, be it a human, meif’wa, elf etc. These wolves have a pure wolf form, a pure human form, and the ability to show their wolf ears and tail while in their human form. Examples of halfling wolfers would be Yip and Leona.

And finally a turned werewolf is exactly how it sounds. A werewolf who was not born but rather turned. Their traits depend on what the wolf that turned them’s traits were. In Logan’s case, he was turned by a Wolfer, therefore has the traits of a wolfer along with a human form.

I also want to mention a bit about werewolf hierarchy.

Most werewolf villages are small and refer to themselves as tribes or packs, depending on if they are made up mostly of halfling wolfers or full wolfers respectively. Their leader is referred to as The Alpha or just Alpha. Never by their name unless it is someone they are very close to.

Finally Magicks Users, Witches, Warlocks, etc.

The term used for any type of magickal person is Magi. They are also sometimes referred to as Mystics, though this term is fairly outdated.

A magicks user is any person born with the ability to use magicks. Pretty simple. This does not include witches.

Witches are born witches, much like an elf is born an elf. It is a species not ability. Witches are born with a higher connection to the earth and have the ability to learn witchcraft rather easily, though they don’t all choose to. Witches are often female, but it is possible for a male to be a witch.

A mage is a person who is not born with any magicks or witchcraft. They give themselves Rune Tattoos and often Scar Runes, and teach themselves magicks. This often takes a very long time, so in some cultures (like Zerimar) they do this at birth so the child will grow up with the ability. Mages are outlawed in many places throughout Ru’aun.

A Shaman is a mage who teaches themselves magicks for religious purposes, usually under the faith of Irene or another Divine Warrior. In Castor, the Chicken Shaman’s case, it was under the faith of the chicken gods… or something… no one really knows..

A Demon is a bit blurry. Not much is known about them other than that they come from another realm and are often evil.

A Shadow Knight is anyone brought back to life (or in Laurance’s case transformed against his will) by the Shadow Lord in the Nether. A Shadow Knight that has not claimed their immortality is often referred to as a “premature” Shadow Knight.

A Divine Being is anyone with borderline unnatural magickal abilities, or anyone able to master both a magicks and witchcraft. They are believed to be either divine beings or divinely chosen.

And FINALLY, a Warlock is anyone who falls under any of these categories (aside from the last three) and uses their abilities solely for evil, their own selfish gain, and/or to deceive others.

[ritunn]

Trans in Golarion: A Sample of Pathfinder's Trans Representation

Golarion, like any world, is home to people of many walks of life, but one thing it does very well is trans representation. There isn't a Lost Omens lore book without at least one trans character, in fact there's typically multiple! So, with pride month here, I wanted to highlight some of my favorites that don't get much press. Shardra, the shaman iconic, and Mios, the thaumaturge iconic (both pictures above) are one trans woman and enby you're probably familiar with already, but let's get you acquainted with some more! If you aren't of course acquainted with them, I recommend reading the Meet the Iconic stories for them.

Meet Shardra Geltl!

Meet Mios!

Iltara Clavela

Lost Omens Grand Bazaar, Pg. 48

The owner of Material Changes in Absalom, a fashion boutique, day spa, and a place where not only can your clothing be changed, bur your entire body, Iltara was born in Irrisen to the far north. Born to two parents who made a bargain with a winter fey to have a son that could wield fey magic of frost and winter so that he could lead their army in a wretched second Winter War, this wouldn't be the case. For the fey realized that he had not a male spirit, but a female one instead and that he would never lead anyone in war. The child begged her parents to let her abdicate her name and find the magic to align body with spirit, but they refused. So, when enlisted, she fled and found the fey to ask for the body she desired, but the fey could do no thing. Coming up with a second plan, the child asked if it could help her escape and to that it agreed, only for her name. A simple bargain, one that was happily made as the child renamed herself Iltara.

From then on, she would use her skills to take on odd jobs, but never used her magic for fear of revealing herself as a winter witch. Eventually, she helped fixed the clothes of some entertainers who invited her on as their seamstress and when she had grown close enough to them, she revealed her magic and she was asked to perform herself as a magician. Iltara agreed, only if they helped her find the magic she sought. The group toiled and the entertainers were confused by her obsession until she emerged with an enhanced visage. Illtara had finally achieved what she always dreamed of and now helps make the process for others like her much easier.

Ahran Benimaya

Lost Omens Grand Bazaar Pg. 36

Another merchant within the Grand Bazaar, Ahran is the tattooist at Kraken's Ink Tattoos, working there with his boyfriend, the azarketi, Brine. Growing up in the devil worshipping capital of Cheliax, Ahran's family were Shelynites, devotees of the goddess of art, Shelyn (who is quite queer herself may I add). However, with the state religion focused firmly on Asmodeus who isn't exactly a fan of the more chaotic free loving goddess, Ahran's family had to be careful. However, Ahran himself grew to be a talented artist to the joy of his parents, a skill he'd make use of upon moving to Absalom once one of their neighbors warned them they'd been accused of heresy and had to flee.

There, Ahran saw a shop selling a serum of sex shift for sixty gold pieces and thought it'd be the best way to align his body to his true identity. However, making that much money would be no simple task drawing portraits of others at Absalom's docks for copper pieces. So, he went to Kraken's Ink Tattoos and asked to become an apprentice to tattooist and owner at the time, Maelara, a tiefling dwarf of exceptional skill. Maelara found her new apprentice shared that skill, his artistic talents coming in handy, and soon enough he had enough gold to purchase the serum and become who he was always wished to be. A decade later Maelara retired and Ahran has run the shop ever since. If you ever need a magic tattoo (or just some normal ink), he's your man and even features in book one of the Stolen Fate adventure path.

Ishii Bunji

Lost Omens Firebrands Pg. 42

A member of the revolutionary group called the Firebrands, Ishii "The Tyrant Breaker" Bunji is infamous for his jubilant demeanor and towering physique as a former sumo champion. One of the many people who aided in tearing down the tyranny of the Jade Regent in his homeland of Minkai, Ishii helped rebuild afterwards but a question stirred in his heart. "What good is strength if not used to protect the vulnerable?" This led him to joining the Firebrands and eventually becoming one of their most formidable warriors. Able to win fights against champions, spellcasters, war machines, and even battalions himself, he joins small rebellions rather than full revolutions, an equalizing force that nothing can stop. When the rebellion is over, he stays behind to rebuild, cooking his signature hot pot for others in his massive shield that also happens to be a family heirloom, a singing steel cooking pot. A symbol of not only protection, but one of hearty meals and a better tomorrow. These actions have lead him to receiving many love letters and quite a few lovers as well, but he's not quite interested in marriage and thus remains the Firebrands' most eligible bachelor.

Passenger

Lost Omens Firebrands Pg. 45

Passenger was among the many androids who crashed in Numeria, unlike many androids, all of Passenger's companions had died. Every other incubator held incomplete or damaged bodies and the only sign of identity they had was a damaged plaque calling them "Passenger #-". Taking this as their name, they ventured into Numeria and were taken in by a group of scavengers who they soon left when they heard the Black Sovereign Kevoth-Kul, ruler of Numeria, was accepting androids into his court in the capital of Starfall. There they met more of their kind and learned of their android nature, but when a group of Firebrands made their way to the court looking to enter the dangerous Silver Mount for adventure, Passenger was intrigued and tagged along.

This adventure left Passenger wanting more and they declared themselves a first-mark Firebrand and staged even more expeditions into the Silver Mount with their tinkering experience and any who wished to join helping them. One of these people was Tyen-Ra, a human tigerkin, and over the next few months they discovered an annihilator robot which they fixed up and named Scrapheap. Using their newly found scorpion mech, they left Numeria and accumulated more members and a reputation as the Fire's Finest, traveling across Avistan searching for adventure, fine food, and fun wherever they went. Scaring a few along the way with their terrifying mech, only to ease their fears when the Fire's Finest popped out.

Beirivelle Starshine

Lost Omens Knights of Lastwall Pg. 42

The Knights of Lastwall are home to numerous prominent trans women, most notably Anevia, a major NPC in Wrath of the Righteous, and the leader of the organization, Kalabrynne Iomedar. Beirivelle herself is newly knighted but already rising through the ranks with her skills as a bard devoted to Shelyn. Born in Absalom to a noble family, Beirivelle was arranged to marry another high-ranking member of Absalom's noble houses and live an uneventful life. When the lich known as the Whispering Tyrant attacked the city, however, she realized she wanted more from life. Her spouse's tastes thankfully weren't very feminine and she was able to exit it gracefully, but she only was able to flee home after an intense argument with her father.

Ever since becoming a Knight of Lastwall, however, the dainty romantic has been making alliances for the organization, first with the Scarlet Rose after a candlelight dinner with its leader, Filarina Grantsliem. In addition to these duties, she gathers stories as any bard does, adventuring with anyone from the brutal orc skullhunters to the Chelaxian Hellknight Order of the Torrent who hunt down kidnappers, aiding all with her divine magic and bardic knowledge. As well, she finds other "late blooming" girls and those who have yet to bloom at all and helps them find their own path away from harsh families or dire circumstances. For now in her official duties, she uses her diplomatic skills to recruit adventurers and locals, doing her best to protect them. All the while trying to court the anti-Geb factions of Nex who despise the necropolis for the decades long war the country had with it, hoping to get their help with dealing with the undead. That is proving difficult to do as it feels impossible to navigate its byzantine court politics. Thus, she continues her search for allies to aid in that endeavor.

Conclusion

You have any trans characters you love in Pathfinder not mentioned here? I know Il'setsya Wyrmtouched is one I adore and even a character belonging to freelancer, Amber Stewart, who has done work for many TTRPG companies, even getting her own villainous arcanoloth featured in D&D's Planescape book. Perhaps you'd like to share your own trans TTRPG characters whether in Pathfinder, D&D, or another game! If so, I'd love to see them.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP youve become my one safe space on the fandom internet and i need a place to rant

https://x.com/134340_tanjiro/status/1790298549919347025?s=46

Does this framing not seem strange to you? To anybody? Why are (international) Armys acting like it’s BTS being personally questioned not Hybe and Bang Si Hyuk. Why are Armys blaming New Jeans for it? The other day Armys gave 10k likes to someone saying they want to run over New Jeans members in trucks to kill them. How did the fandom become like this? I cant even say anything on Twitter calling out this manner without getting jumped. I dont even like Mhj but the attacks from Armys is very unhinged. Has Army always been like this?

*

Ask 2:

Grown middle-aged armys wishing ill on teenagers and bootlicking a conglomerate and a man, who bodyshamed their own faves and made them pull their shirts up when they were barely legal (with few of them being minors). Do they even like BTS at this point? I get why they see HYBE and to some point BSH as an extension of BTS seeing how they literally built the company from ground up and people disrespecting HYBE is like them disrespecting BTS' "work", but holy hell, did they turn cultish.

***

Sigh.

Yeah for the last 4 years (give or take a couple months), ARMY has been exactly like this.

It’s why I laughed a bit when the very first leak from HYBE included claims that MHJ said BTS copied her, a claim that given it would expose HYBE to a defamation suit, HYBE later revised to “we suspect MHJ said BTS copied her.” It didn’t matter that MHJ denied it, explicitly said it was fabrication and mediaplay on HYBE’s part, and HYBE has never provided evidence to support it. That first leak had already done its job by priming the fandom to target her and then when the Shaman comments were released later, ARMY practically bought a coffin with her name on it.

ARMYs are just doing what they do, and the reality is that yes, most of the fandom sees Bang PD and HYBE as an extension of BTS. They’ll tell you all sorts of things, wring their hands and tap dance around that fact, but yeah, it’s true. It’s also true that other k-pop fans see HYBE as an extension of BTS and antagonize HYBE groups on that basis as well.

So really, it’s a k-pop thing. The way I see it, this behaviour is a consequence of the tribalism inherent in k-pop. Which really just makes all of this especially pathetic lol. That’s the kind of mindrot k-pop creates in adults and children alike.

Somewhat relatedly, I understand it’s disappointing to see comments like this, but there’s nothing to be done for it. And I don’t want to be dismissive, some of you have sent in very emotional asks and I get it, but I also don’t want to keep talking about this HYBE-MHJ case and how ARMYs are acting a fool over it. The conclusion of this fiasco has already been decided, with allowances for a couple other options maybe. These arguments and rants are just a waste of time. Anyone who loves either NewJeans or BTS or both, would have their time better spent by showing love directly to those groups than anything else, in my opinion.

NewJeans has become a casualty of the k-pop system, which is unfortunate. A lot of ARMYs are acting no differently than any other toxic k-pop fandom, unfortunately. BTS is not unscathed, unfortunately, but they are in the best possible position and will be more than fine.

[river-in-the-woods]

What are some guidelines you follow when you choose to work with a deity? With me, I don't involve myself with those from closed practices or I'd risk retaliation by the people or by the entity themselves. There are beings that sound like they could give me bang for my buck but I'd have to consider if I needed their assistance for a ONE time thing rather than sought out a deeper relationship. Weee there cases where you needed help for a one time scenario and ended it there?

Hi there, apologies it's been so long. I was moving house just as you sent in this question! Now that I'm more settled, let's see if I can tell you something helpful :)

Personally, I've always gone for the deeper relationship. I've not been in a situation where I needed to ask a particular spirit/deity who I didn't know for particular things. But that's just my preference. I value the trust, and invested time and energy I've built up with a being, over what their 'official' expertise is. A spirit or god always has unadvertised skills or other allies they can call on, after all.

That's not to say I've always been successful with it. I've chosen gods I was interested in, made good faith gestures through offerings and prayers, and plenty of times I didn't get the response I was looking for. In which case I would just move on, keep looking, and deal with problems by myself. I've had hard times like anyone else, but I've not been in dire enough situations to feel the need to ask help from a deity I've never worked with before.

Even if you have not settled on a pantheon or tradition, there are still your ancestors and spirit neighbours who live in the same locale as you. Those beings will impact your day to day life more directly, so it's always being friendly to them, giving an offering now and then. At the very least, so they don't hinder you, but in the best case they may like you enough to actively help your endeavours.

If you are looking for a patron deity, one you want to be serious about, there are some things I could recommend. But bear in mind this is based on my own principles; I choose my gods like I choose a significant other. I tend to walk the Path of the Devotee. This is the norm in East Asian magic, so it may be a cultural thing for me as well. It is certainly an exercise in patience.

You might prefer to do things differently, so feel free to ignore if that's not your style.

If the deity is part of an established tradition or unbroken lineage, this is much easier. If the tradition is large enough, they will usually provide laypeople practices you can get started with. You don't have to initiate for this. Otherwise, you'll need to speak to a verified shaman or priest of that tradition and ask them for advice.

Basically, if a tradition has survived hundreds or thousands of years, you can have faith that there is at least something to it – i.e. the deity has already been vetted by that lineage as being capable of supporting several generations. Therefore instead you would evaluate the (human) teachers of that tradition to see if you are happy to receive their guidance. Of course, the teachers have the right to evaluate you too.

If the deity of interest is not currently a patron of an unbroken lineage: you'll have your work cut out for you.

First, study the deity's reputation. I've always looked for virtue in the deities I venerate. Namely, I look for evidence of their compassion, a sense of responsibility for other beings. I choose them as I choose my friends and teachers. The beings you surround yourself with, are the ones you will become more like. Needless to say, don't choose a patron based on just their aesthetic appeal.

I do research on their lore and look for other devotee's experiences of them. You want to pay attention to devotees who have been actively venerating that deity for 10 years or more. How have they grown throughout the time of that relationship? Have they come out of major life obstacles wiser, stronger, more at peace? Can they honestly say that they feel supported and empowered by their deity?

Sometimes a person's life is just a result of their own poor choices and not the deity's lack of responsibility for their followers. But you get plenty of people who claim they are a 'priest/ess' of their deity, that they have been blessed or chosen, or have ecstatic experiences – and yet they can barely manage a shred of humility or a kind word, or they constantly complain about their life being terrible, or they've been stuck in the same negative cycles for years on end. "The proof is in the pudding", as they say.

In any case, there is no point in devoting yourself to a god that will not elevate you and help you become a better version of yourself. Godhood, power and influence, is by itself not a worthy enough reason for veneration. There are many, many gods. Little gods, bigger gods. Not all of them are truly transcendent. And many you will simply not have an affinity for. Don't place your life into the hands of one who will drop you.

Making contact After you've verified the deity's reputation, look for the best ways to contact them formally. Traditional prayers, invocations, mantras, offerings and so on. Make a good impression, express your interest, tell them about yourself, tell them what you admire about them, and so on.

At this point, you could go all out, do a big ritual and ask for their help on something, see what the outcome is. As I said, I don't normally do this, because I think it requires a strong magical and spiritual skill set (which I don't have). But that would be a good way to evaluate the deity as well.

Either way, continue to make regular attempts to contact the deity, always with an offering, however small it might be. Meditate on them and their symbols. This is building your own reputation with the deity and carving a channel of communication with them.

When it comes to assessing the value of a relationship with a deity, I always try to give it at least 6 months to a year. It sounds like a long time, but I personally do not have very strong psychic senses so I need plenty of hindsight to see if my efforts are having the desired effect. And besides, if one is looking for a life-long patron, 1 year is really not that long.

In that time, I make a lot of notes on if/how my requests were answered, if/how my life has improved in that time, any visions or knowledge I've received on the deity, how successful my divinations were, and in general if there is a growing sense of closeness between myself and the deity. It is well worth doing a few big rituals here and there because this is the best way to assess the accumulation of one's efforts.

So, this is how I would get started. I hope it helps, let me know if you have anymore questions on the matter 🙂

[theprocrastinatingredkitty]

Someone asked this in one of the pages I follow

So here’s my take on this

BD posted a teaser of Seungwon’s appearance in season 4 before in one of her tweets

And in this season, we also see Heena, taking Seungho’s side after she’s been saved

Since Seungho and Na-Kyum are mirrors of each other, we can also assume that even their respective families are mirrors as well

With Seungwon now in the picture, him having shown to appearing as a defiant younger brother who’s messing up his older brother’s household, we can take this as his version of Heena’s first appearance in the manhwa, where she raised ruckus in the Yoon household

Notice that in both cases, they barged in under the assumption that Seungho had commited a crime. For Heena, she assumed that Seungho kidnapped Na-Kyum, whereas now, Seungwon assumed that Seungho burned down the shaman house after the murders of the noblemen

In Heena’s case, Na-Kyum defended Seungho’s name and told her that she’ll stay with him despite the “evidence” that Seungho committed the crime of murdering In-Hun

And we can assume that in Seungwon’s case, Na-Kyum will also do the same to Seungwon. We can assume that Na-Kyum will not believe that Seungho murdered the noblemen, as Na-Kyum had been brainwashed that the night of the kidnapping was merely a nightmare, and I think that in his delusion of wanting peace to remain in his heart, Na-Kyum will believe it for some time unless he sees or hears evidence that Seungho did commit a crime

Seungwon can come off as someone who is hardheaded just like in his first appearance when he barged in on Seungho’s bedchamber despite even being told off by Kim, and we can assume that Seungwon has been brainwashed by Chang-Hyeon that his older brother had committed a crime and must be punished before officials find out, because a nobleman committing murder of another noble, let alone a bunch of noblemen, can equate to the annihilation of the criminal’s entire clan. Additionally, the sacrilegious act of defiling and burning down a shaman house along with a sacred tree, warrants hatred from the Shamanistic Joseon people, who considers these elements as beings not to be destroyed, as doing so would incur the wrath of heaven upon the entire village or even the nation itself. With this knowledge of the gravity of the situation, this is why Seungwon orders the guards around in such haste in case any of the servants have destroyed any evidence unknowingly

Seungwon has yet to know though, that the biggest evidence would be in the form of Na-Kyum himself. The trauma is still fresh in his mind even after a month under Seungho’s care and supervision.

And just like the brainwashed Heena who was convinced that In-Hun had been kind to Na-Kyum, Seungwon would initially not likely to believe that his brother didn’t burn the shaman house down, as it’s most likely that the info he got had been from his trusted source, Yoon Chang-Hyeon, their father. Who, in Seungwon’s eyes, is most likely his hero who does everything he can to preserve the Yoon family name. Seungwon had most likely been subjected to information that Seungho is a stain on the family and would one day be the cause of their annihilation. And Seungwon is now there at Seungho’s house to “save the family from his brother’s misdeed”. I think Seungwon thinks Seungho “can be saved from his father’s wrath if he can only come clean with his crime”. Judging by the urgency and the calm appearance of Seungwon in chapter 115, I think he wants his older brother’s affection in some way, despite them being estranged. Hence this is why Seungwon might initially come off as an enemy (like Heena did in her first appearance), but is most likely going to be an ally once the truth is revealed to him—that his brother didn’t destroy a holy place and the sacred tree, that his brother committed murder in the name of love

Seungwon, I think, has a heart in there somewhere, a heart that wants to understand why his brother acts the way he does. And yet, his actions come off to Seungho as meddlesome—exactly like how Heena is to Na-Kyum’s life when she found out he was living with Seungho.

For now, I am placing Seungwon as a gray character who’d be most likely become one of SeungKyum’s supporters once the truth is revealed to him—that the bad guy had been his father all along. But I am sure he’ll be having a moral dilemma at that point, it’d be hard for him to believe it at first, just like when Heena didn’t believe Seungho until she gets kidnapped

Which brings me to another theory, that at some point, Seungwon might get caught up in a conspiracy and he’d be wrapped up in something he’s not supposed to see. And just like Heena, Seungwon, too, could get kidnapped—either by Song’s men, or maybe even Chang-Hyeon himself, probably under the pretext that “your brother did this to you and therefore you must kill him”

I think that is the plan that Chang-Hyeon is going to pull off. He doesn’t want his hands dirty, he always gets others to do the dirty work for him. And Seungho’s death could include that. Since the ending of chapter 115 showed Seungho being stabbed, we can assume that it’s Chang-Hyeon’s guard who did this. This coincides with the appearance of Song before In-Hun. The older nobles are looking for ways to dispose of Seungho without linking the crimes back to them—and I think they found their fall guy with In-Hun

Now, I think: Chang-Hyeon made a deal with Song and it seemingly appeared as if they want In-Hun to take the blame under the pretext that In-Hun hated Seungho enough, he hired an assassin to get him killed; but all the while, Song is thinking of something else entirely. I think Song wants Seungwon to take the blame. Song could manipulate Seungwon at some point into thinking that the younger Yoon is helping his brother when in reality it’s not. (Like in the case of Min manipulating Heena into thinking he’ll save Na-Kyum when he did the complete opposite.) Song could take down both the Yoon brothers and Chang-Hyeon in one fell swoop, all the while Chang-Hyeon is unknowingly signing the death of his entire clan to this one devious man

[gefdreamsofthesea]

The Andersons Do Not Get Enough Shit For Their Bullshit: My Thoughts on Feri.

First of all in case this post breaches containment, a little about myself. I'm Gef, I'm a thirty-something white cis disabled Canadian lesbian. I have a BA in Religion and Culture from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario (I think it changed its name since I graduated). I also have minors in Medieval Studies and Women's Studies but they don't give you pieces of paper for those. My spiritual journey looks something like Catholic - New Ager - eclectic Wiccan-ish - Dianic-ish (the TERFy kind) - Heathen - Vanatru - now I kind of just read about witchy stuff, goddess-y stuff, and I collect divination decks. This isn't the first I've heard of Feri, but this is the first time I've sat down and read up on it.

I would just like to take a moment to recap what I've read so that everyone is on the same page:

Heart of the Initiate: Feri Lessons

Fifty Years in the Feri Tradition

Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorn Coyle

The Wikipedia pages for Feri and Victor Anderson

A couple articles on feritradition.com

I read The Spiral Dance ages ago and am currently rereading it but am not including it here.

I think that's all the basics covered, let's get to the meat of the discussion.

I'll start with what I found appealing about the tradition. Both the founders and initiates stress that Feri is an ecstatic tradition, not a "fertility religion" like Wicca. It is a tradition of the poet, of being in your body, of dancing with the gods. It's also pretty explicitly queer (but see below): God Herself catches Her own reflection in a mirror and makes love to Herself, creating all the other deities in the pantheon. Coyle in particular talks about the Gods and Guardians (think like the Guardians of the Watchtowers in Wicca) as being genderfluid. The tradition practices ritual possession where the genders of the deity and their host don't matter.

Regarding Evolutionary Witchcraft specifically. I found the exercises (which involve a lot of breathing and awareness) to be useful and I think they would be of use to any witch. I also love the way she speaks of the Earth element in particular, as I think a lot of Pagan books are like "Oh Earth is money and other boring mundane stuff" whereas she talks about Earth as money but also as safety, security, the place where you incubate things (like in a cave), and the tomb. Despite my issues, I think I would recommend it.

Having said all that, I feel like the Andersons do not get enough shit for their bullshit.

Based on his students accounts, Victor sounds like a bit of an asshole at best. He's described as "a taskmaster" and that "One could ask for clarification, but to even hint that one disagreed with him, or worse yet, to contradict him, would result in an immediate and permanent order to leave," which is maybe just me but I wouldn't want to study under a teacher who didn't allow for disagreements or questioning, that's a cult leader thing. His wife Cora comes across as a yes (wo)man "my husband is a great shaman and an expert on x, y, and z." Now honestly I feel like people should hype up their spouses, but this is a constant throughout their writings.

Honestly though, I didn't get the chance to know them personally. Maybe they were awesome people irl. I'm just going off what I've read, but even if they were both very nice people, I still have some major issues.

One of these issues are the Andersons' claims about their own religion. Feri dates back to the Stone Age (uh huh), Feri's origins are in Africa (sure). Victor claimed to be a kahuna and an expert on Vodou. Apparently, once Victor read something he thought was true, he decided it had always been true. I should note here that near as I can tell, his source for info on Hawaiian religion is that Huna book by that white guy writing about what he thought Native Hawaiians believed. I've heard people justify this by being like "oh well Victor was being poetic and not literal" but that doesn't change the fact that it's straight up bullshit. Poetic lies are still lies. So yeah you'll often hear "Feri draws from a variety of traditions" but I'd say in some cases it's less "influenced by" and more "appropriated from" (I do feel the need to mention that some initiates have moved away from, say, using Hawaiian terms for their concepts).

I mentioned the deities in passing but Feri has its own pantheon. Most of the deity names are Welsh and many deities go by several names or are seen as similar to named deities in many cultures (the Blue God, for instance, being compared to Krishna) and they also have secret names that only initiates know. One important aspect of the Blue God is the Peacock God, at first I was going to include him under the section on appropriation, but Feri practitioners have apparently been in contact with actual Yazidis who have given their blessing re: Feri worship of Melek Taus but I'd prefer to hear it directly from the Yazidi that they are cool with it.

Okay so way back at the beginning I mentioned Feri was very queer but I really should amend that to say "unless you're asexual" because oh boy sex is inescapable in this tradition. It's implied that sexual activity between initiator and initiate is a thing that happens but there's an alternative ritual called the Intentions of the Heart where you do (non-sexual) ritual things and then "your first act of sexual intercourse" post-ritual is your initiation. The foundation of Feri practice is the Iron pentacle, where "sex" is at the top. There is also the Pearl pentacle, seen as the "higher energy" version of Iron, where sex becomes love. In Evolutionary Witchcraft, Coyle makes a few unfortunate statements about the relationship of sex to love that imply you cannot have love without sex. I don't really see a lot of room for asexual practitioners in this system, which is a shame because I know of some wonderful queer initiates of this tradition. I would be interested in an initiate's view on this because I know queer practitioners have talked about using an amethyst pentacle, for instance. I should note however, that Coyle states that not everyone needs or wants initiation as it involves marriage to the deities and responsibilities to the tradition, but as I said the tools and techniques she talks about are fine to use.

I did actually like Evolutionary Witchcraft so even if the tradition is not for me, I do what I usually do: take the bits I find useful and leave the rest.