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monstersdownthepath · 2 years ago

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Monster Spotlight: Kasthezvi

CR 12

Lawful Evil Medium Aberration

Adventure Path: Return of the Runelords: Runeplague, pg. 88~89

These malicious, twisted beings were created in ancient, vile rituals that bound words of unbelievably destructive power directly to their bones. Whatever purpose their original creators had for secreting away these Power Words is lost, and over time the mystic energies emanating from the Words (deserving of capitalization) twisted the Kasthezvi (which I’ll be shortening to Kast from now on) into inhuman abominations that one could reasonably believe are Undead. Warped horrifically by their hidden power, Kast can nonetheless walk among the humans who’ve built cities over their ancient lairs, shapeshifting into human guise for up to 8 hours a day to mingle with mankind for their own alien reasons.

Now, it’s not that the Kast won’t communicate their reasoning with anyone, but because they physically can’t. Even when shapeshifted, the Kast are supernaturally Soundless, their actions producing no noise at all even as they interact with the world around them. Their Soundless nature is so complete that the book goes out of its way to hammer in they produce absolutely no noise, so I will too: if a Kast smashed a hammer down on a glass vase it would be completely silent. If they blew with all their might into a tuba, one could visibly see air and dust blasting out the other end without hearing a single note. If a Kast casts a spell somehow, the spell is utterly quiet, even in the case of Fireball or spells like Shout or Shatter (the latter of which they have 3/day as a spell-like ability anyway). In addition to being weird and worrying, this does have further mechanical benefits; a +8 to Stealth checks (meaning they have an impressive +31) and the automatic addition of Silent Spell to any magic they may gain without increasing the spell’s level or casting time.

Their soundless nature is difficult to notice in their usual disguises, as Kast eschew the normal ‘incredibly powerful secret society of abominations’ gimmick of infiltrating high society to instead pose as mute beggars, silent and generic street-walkers, or even as members of the unusual religious group known as the Sweettalkers (who, despite their name, never speak). The purpose for their strange infiltration of above-world society, as well as whatever end goals and objectives they may have, are completely and fully up to the DM provided they fall within the guidelines of “the Kast wish to remain hidden.’ Despite their incredible power and destructive potential--up to and including being able to kill the average person with a single touch--Kast want more than anything to stay hidden. They go out of their way to ruin any attempts at the surface world to plunge deeper or investigate their myths, typically by arranging for Unfortunate Accidents... but sometimes, a victim is found simply dead on the floor, their every organ hideously ruptured by a force the average citizen can scarcely fathom.

The primary means Kasthezvi deal with irritants and impediments is their Subsonic Touch, a gentle caress that deals 1d8 points of irresistible, typeless damage... followed immediately by an automatic 12d6 Sonic damage, which averages to about 44 damage. While spooky for single targets, especially since Sonic is so hard to resist (and deals double damage to more than a few creatures and objects), Kast can attack only once a round with their touch, considerably reducing its threat against multiple party members at once. The primary danger of the touch is that it can come out of nowhere from a disguised aberrant, startling the party with a sudden burst of damage before what they thought was a harmless vagrant disappears into the crowd, vanishing into alleyways and leaving the party to chase them. Worse, they have Spring Attack, allowing them to attack while retreating or perform hit-and-runs. Despite their 30ft movement speed making them just as fast as the average party member, do remind yourself that while ~40 damage isn’t especially impressive to characters likely dealing twice that per round, a player’s damage output usually relies on standing still and doing a Full-Attack, only reaching above the 40 damage mark if they connect with multiple attacks, while the Kast can simply touch and go once a round, forcing their foes to keep up with them as they slowly tear the party apart(y) with Sonic damage.

With only DR 15/Magic protecting them, Kast tend to rely on their Undead appearance to trick foes into wasting effort on them, or their false appearance as a humanoid to bamboozle foes into not taking them seriously. This, however, is only applied if the Kasthezvi is trying to be subtle. In drastic times, their Subsonic Touch can destroy more or less any item not made of solid metal. Merely by keeping their hands against the surface they wish to ruin, they can cause nearly anything to slowly grind to dust from the vibration, allowing them to sabotage entire structures and send them scattering across the streets if they wish. In especially dire times, when secrecy no longer matters because witnesses are either not present or not going to last long, the Kasthezvi can unleash the devastating Power Words carved into their bones to visit just a fraction of the apocalytpic power they hold upon the world around them.

The Word of Sundering can be whispered once per minute and instantly shatters the Kast’s disguise upon use, revealing their true and hideous self if it was still being hidden in the first place. This soundless word takes one full round to utter, but once it’s released, the results are immediate and catastrophic. A 40ft-radius anywhere within 800 feet of the Aberration is struck not only with a localized Earthquake, but everything and everyone within is blasted with 8d6 Sonic damage, usually killing citizens in the area before the ground has even finished splitting and any structures in the area finish falling. The most uncanny part about the entire process is that aside from the cracking of the earth and the falling of whatever debris is shaken loose, the whole affair is completely silent. The Sonic damage is subsonic, and the book notes anything shattered by it “silently breaks.” With the power to invoke these shattering words once a minute, a Kast left with no option and risking capture may decide the best course of action is to destroy the entire area around it, perhaps even bringing a building or cavern down onto its own head.

And this Word? This is just the smallest piece of its power being unleashed. Over the thousands of years, the dampening charms affecting each Kast have decayed enough to allow them to tap into their Words of Sundering, and they one day yet may be able to speak aloud and unshackled. The book even cheerfully states that there may be Kasthezvi out there with different Words emblazoned on their bones, ones capable of enacting even more dramatic and apocalyptic events, such as summoning storms of fire, conjuring endless tides of ravenous insects, or even shattering time itself. When these creatures can all speak aloud, there’s likely little chance of the world surviving their combined chorus.

You can read more about them here.

#Monster Spotlight #CR 11 to 15 #pathfinder #Dungeons and Dragons

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benevolentbirdgal · 4 years ago

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Purim: a Jewish holiday and wild ride from start to finish

So let me tell you about the absolute soap opera that is the Jewish holiday of Purim. The scene is set in ancient (appx. 4th century B.C.E.) Persia during the first Jewish Diaspora, in the city of Shushan (typically identified in secular sources as Susa, a now-abandoned ancient city in what is now Iran). I’m telling you, as a work of literature (even beyond theological implications for Jewish people), this book has everything: love, drama, royalty, intrigue, ego, plots, irony, mystery, and a strong female lead.

[some non-slur swearing below]

Ahasuerus, party-loving king of Persia executed or exiled (translations argue) his wife Vashti, and had to find a new queen. Why did he do this, you ask? Well, it really starts with an 180-day party across his kingdom for all his subjects to celebrate the third year of his reign. After that absolute rager, party-bro KA has another one immediately after for a week, this time just for the capital city of Shushan. Vashti was having a woman’s party in her quarters, presumably living her best life, when party-bro sends his top seven yes-men to deliver a message to Vashti. This sleaze-ball wants her to appear at his party in front of everyone, wearing her crown, with the clear implication being only her crown. Vashti more or less tells him to pound sand (I mean, not the literal translation, but that’s the sentiment).

KA’s advisors convince him that this is not only an offense against the king but also against all the men in the country (ah, the joys of ancient patriarchy and toxic af masculinity). KA writes a degree that women must respect their husbands so he has an official reason to get rid of Vashti. Vashti is soon thereafter out of the picture and the king is short a queen. Whether she was a Wise Lady With A Point Who Got Screwed Over or a Vicious Jew-Hating Adulteress Who Had It Coming has been a matter of furious debate for over two millennia (the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud vociferously disagree on her). In any case, KA regrets it pretty quick and wants a new queen.

At the behest of his advisors (you know, since their last advice worked out soooooo well), KA had a big contest/forcible gathering of young women from around his kingdom and a Jewish woman, Hadassah, was the winner. Hadassah was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordechai in the city of Shushan. Hadassah is more commonly known as Esther, because she changed her name to hide her identity as a Jew (at the behest of Mordechai). In any case, KA decided he liked Esther best and she became queen (it’s specifically mentioned both that he loved her most and that the palace staff liked her because she was nice to them-it’s unclear how much of an influence the latter was).

Concurrently, a wicked man named Haman was the top advisor to the king and the king would basically rubber-stamp whatever Haman wanted. Haman was a raging Jew-hater-this will be relevant later.

Some time into Esther’s reign as queen, Mordechai, who has taken to hanging around the gates of the palace to keep in touch with Esther, overhears a plot by two guards, Bigthan and Teresh, to kill the king. Mordechai alerts his cousin, and she tells the king. It’s recorded in the book of deeds and life keeps moving.

Some time later, Haman decides (after a promotion to head lackey) that he wants all to bow to him as he passes. Mordechai refused to bow to Haman every single day (citing that as a Jew he bowed to no man), and that did not sit well with Haman. So despite being prime minister and presumably having more important things to do, “genocide the Jews” made it to the top of to-do list. He didn’t like them before, and Mordechai refusing to treat him like a special snowflake was something he took really, really personally (totally can’t think of any modern politicians like that, nope). He told KA, who frankly doesn’t seem to ask enough questions, that there was a people disrespecting the king and his laws throughout the land, and could he pretty-please exterminate them. As a bonus, Haman would “donate” 10,000 silver kikar to the royal treasury (modern conversion vary, but all agree this an absurd amount on money).

KA handed him the royal seal to do so. Haman was feeling lucky I guess so he decided the best course of action was to draw lots to pick the day for the massacre. [Purim is lots in Hebrew, so that’s where the name of the holiday came from]. The message went out to all the provinces that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that they citizens and leaders should murder all of the Jews, young and old, man, woman, and child, rich and poor and take their possessions as spoils.

As this wasn’t exactly a state secret, the Jews knew and were quite distressed. The planned slaughter was like a year out, but what the actual fuck were they supposed to do? If you lived in Persia at that point that, the empire was functionally your entire world, unless you were fabulously/ridiculously wealthy and well-connected. Having several months notice the other locals and your rules were going to slaughter you and take your stuff isn’t particularly useful when there’s really nowhere to go.

In Shushan, Mordechai (who, although not explicitly in text, is in oral/Talmudic tradition a leader of the Jewish community) goes into mourning. He dresses in sackcloth and ashes, he weeps, and he fasts at the gates of the palace, as Jews throughout shushan and the kingdom are doing. Esther hears of her cousin’s mourning behavior and tries to send along nice clothes through a messenger, which he refuses. It is then that she learns of the decree. Mordechai (through the messenger) implores her to go ask the king if the Jews not getting murdered could be a thing. Esther explains that she could be killed for approaching the king unsummoned. Mordechai stresses the severity of the situation. Esther agrees to ask the king and tells Mordechai to have the Shushan Jewish community fast day and night (as opposed to just day as prior) for three days, and she and her handmaidens will fast too (no word on what the handmaidens thought of this).

On the third day, Esther bravely approached the king, asked him if she could request something. He said anything, up to half his kingdom (which implies to me that homedude, for all his flaws, was actually into her). Esther invited him to a party, where he and Haman would be the only guests. At the party she asks if she can another request. KA is open to it and she invites him to another party the next night. Party-bro king is obviously down and Haman is tickled to death at this second invitation.

He goes home to brag to his wife, Zeresh, about the invite and also to bitch about how angsty he is Mordechai is still alive (this angst reignited by passing him on the way home). Zeresh suggests he have fifty-foot gallows built to make Mordechai an example on, with the king’s permission, ASAP. Haman orders the building of the gallows, feeling secure in the knowledge that his bestie the king will execute Mordechai on them.

Back at the castle KA can’t sleep. He demands a bedtime story from the his records, because those will presumably put him to sleep. The story that gets read, ~coincidentally~, is of Mordechai saving KA’s life. Haman had sidled on up to the castle to speak to the king about killing Mordechai, and the king called him in. KA asks Haman, if he were to honor someone, what should he do? Haman is thinking “this is obvi about me” and tells the king that the honoree should be donned in royal clothing, and ride through the streets on a fancy horse with people someone shouting how great he is. KA is like great, love it, perf, go do that for Mordechai. Haman is not a happy camper but does the thing. After that, he goes home and tells Zeresh about it, who warns him that this is a very bad sign.

Finally, that night is the night of Esther’s second soiree. Haman and KA attend. The latter offers to Esther anything she wants, up to half of his kingdom. Esther asks that her life, and the life of her people be spared. KA is like “whomst” and Esther revealed it was Haman. At this point Ahasuerus.exe stops working and he takes a walk to the gardens. He comes back to see Haman begging Esther for his life, and KA thinks Haman is assaulting her. Haman was seized by nearby guards.

One of the chamberlains is then like, hey, KA, coincidentally there’s these super high gallows Haman just had built. Why not take care of the problem that way? (The fact that the random nearby chamberlain was like yup, that dude, hang ‘em in the morning, probably says a lot about how Haman treated most people around him, even more than forcing all to bow to him). KA orders it be done.

Not that Haman was around to be sad about it, but what happened next would have massively pissed him off, as his old job then went to Mordechai. Esther then implored of the king that the degree to allow the massacre of the Jews be reversed. The king couldn’t Cntrl+Z the order to murder-all-the-Jews, but he could issue an order that they could fight back. The proclamation was sent throughout the land, and the Jews were able to prepare. Since the royal decree had been amended, the governments (princes, governors, satraps) largely reformulated their plans accordingly, but plenty of Jew-haters still wanted to use the opportunity. The ability to self-defend meant that the communities weren’t massacred. In most of the kingdom, the Jews were now safe. Outside of Shushan, the fourteenth of Adar became a feast day.

Shushan was still not safe though. Antisemites were still out and mad (and apparently had not learned from the previous day), so Esther asked the Jews of Shushan to be allowed to defend themselves once more. Her wish was granted, and the Shushan Jews were able to defend themselves once more (so Purim is celebrated a day later in walled cities).

The story ends with the decision to write it down, and although there some debate on authorship, it is traditionally attributed to Esther herself cowriting with Mordechai.

Nowhere in the book is God mentioned. Nowhere is there divine intervention (at least not explicitly). Just Jews sticking up for themselves, being brave in the face of mortal peril, and a metric fucktown of chutzpah.

#jumblr #purim #purim story #jewish soap opera for real though #purim 2021 #purim 5781 #what is purim #purim explained #jewblr

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potteresque-ire · 4 years ago

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Hi I posted an ask regarding your view point on GGDD's safety by people shipping them openly by bus designs, digital hoardings in their country and various other ways. I am not sure if you have already replied because I can't seem to find it. If not, please notify in case you would be interested in posting, there is no pressure or complaints if the answer is not affirmative. Also, I am hoping to read your piece on current issue DD is facing in relation to Nike. I am sure a lot of people enjoy your straight, detailed and analytical thought process and information presentation. A lot of people especially ifans needs to understand the perspective and position an actor or any national level influencer/celebrity is in when they are a citizen of totalitarian regime.

I would love to read, if you decide to write.

Thank you for your blog. It is highly appreciated and welcomed.

Hello Anon! I sincerely apologise ~ my ask box has been very full, and I answer based on time availability (which isn’t much) and “urgency” of the matter (for example, the recent post on Dangai/WoH skipped the line because it’s current). My whim too, occasionally and admittedly; sometimes I’d like to take a breather and talk about something a little more fannish and fun (like window cleaning robots!) Above all, I prefer giving delayed but responsible, or even no answers over irresponsible ones, given some of the subject matter I touch upon. I’ll ... probably have to write up an ask box policy at some point.

Now, my thoughts about Dd’s current situation ... or maybe, my thoughts about the things around it ...

I should explain where my highly disorganised thoughts this time come from first. I’m a Hong Konger by birth, and I grew up at a time when it was still conventional for Hong Kongers to refer themselves as Chinese, following the tradition of referring to the (believed) origin of one’s paternal family as our own origin. I’ve never, however, sworn allegiance to the Chinese government; the two citizenships I’ve ever held are 1) United Kingdom (Hong Kong was still a British crown colony when I was there), and 2) United States.

The distinction between China, the country, and Chinese government, as the country’s rulership, has therefore always been clear to me. You can love, feel a bond with the country, its people and culture and its 5,000 year old history, without having feeling anything with its 71 years-young government with foreign (soviet) roots. To quote Hamilton: Oceans rise, empires fall, and just the central plains of China alone went through a total of 13 recorded dynasties, during which its border waxed and waned, often splitting what is now Chinese territory into multiple countries under different rulership that sometimes split along ethnic lines—China, in that sense, isn’t even historically a country as we define one today; it’s a piece of land in East Asia where different countries have taken over, risen and fallen. And the major ethnic group, Han, which also includes the vast majority of the current political elite, wasn’t always in control. The Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) was famously built by Mongolians; the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), Manchurians. Beijing, the current capital of China, began its illustrious history as The Capital City for the non-Han based, north-of-central-plain dynasties of Liao and Jin. Liao people were believed to be either Mongolic or Tungusic. Jin people were Tungusic, and would eventually become Manchurians. Xinjiang (新疆), meanwhile, was only under the influence of the ancient Chinese empires sporadically, and its formal conquest / incorporation by a Chinese dynasty didn’t happen until ~ 1760, and by the (Manchurian) Qing dynasty. Its late incorporation is also reflected in its name that means, literally, “New Territory”.

What does this all mean? It means: 1) Loving China =/= loving the Chinese Communist Party; 2) Chinese culture =/= Han culture; especially the Han culture infused with “Core Socialist Values” as defined by the Chinese Communist Party; 3) X dynasty’s territory (where X = one of the ancient Chinese dynasties) =/= What has to be People Republic of China’s territory.

And by writing down these three =/=, which I’d argue are simply conclusions from historical facts and logic, I’ve committed an act of subversion in the eyes of the current Chinese government. Remove the “/” in “=/=“, and you’ve got three of the most important talking points of Chinese propaganda.

The sacred, un-violatable rules the Chinese government tells its people.

Why do I mention them? Because the scrutiny, the attack on Dd read familiar to me, and is probably familiar too to all those who’ve kept even a brief eye on Hong Kong and Taiwanese entertainers who work in China. When a topic that violates one of these propaganda points makes news (for example, the HK protest, Hong Kong/Taiwan Independence), entertainers from Hong Kong / Taiwan—anyone who’ve achieved name recognition—are often placed under immediate scrutiny by Chinese netizens to see whether and when they’ll confirm their loyalty towards the Chinese government. The argument is that only those who display absolute loyalty to the Chinese government deserves to earn China’s money, and the main motivation behind this scrutiny, in this case, is mistrust: Hong Kong, after all, is crawling with British loyalists and rioters according to Chinese propaganda, with separatists who’re conspiring with foreign governments to overthrow the Chinese government; the democratic island nation of Taiwan, meanwhile, is supposedly a rogue child who has escaped its mother (China) ’s arms for the past 70+ years—the child who, by the way, shall be brought to their knees (along with into their mother’s arms) by military intervention. Both places, in other words, are serial violators of =/= 1) and 3), and not to be trusted. If their entertainers fail to affirm their loyalty towards the Chinese government, or if the timing of their patriotic display is perceived as off, vicious accusations—similar to those Dd has endured—will fly, and calls for boycott begin.

Here’s a related observation, while I’m at it ... no one in c-ent is really allowed to keep their political views quiet, even if they’re not particularly well-known. No one can say, politics isn’t for me, it’s too ugly/too complicated/doesn’t fit my image and shove it under the proverbial carpet. Under an authoritarian government, control is exerted via politics, via propaganda that seeps into day-to-day language. It’s an oil slick that taints and swims in even the smallest crevice of life—there’s no where to hide.

And Dd is far more famous than almost all of these HK and Taiwan based entertainers. 表態 — a public announcement of his stance — is the only option left for him when he becomes the centre of a sensitive political issue such as this one. And there’s really only one stance he can take.

In that sense, what happened to Dd isn’t something I’m too worried about—this kind of attack under the guise of a “loyalty check” isn’t new; and the motivation behind the scrutiny of Dd is the safer to-take-down-his-career rather than political mistrust. I believe this storm shall pass soon, as long as his team doesn’t make an unexpected, big mistake. His non-fan fellow country people will probably view him with a more positive light as well: he walked the walk and did what he believed is patriotic — breaking a contract like this is no lip service when in China, performative patriotism is often lip service — reportedly even among the top Chinese Communist Party officials.

If I must find more defence for his stance ... please forgive me, Anon, but I don’t have much more to say than what I said last night, what I said before about China’s access to information—

—because, admittedly, following, talking about this incident is difficult for the Hong Konger in me, even if I’ve expected this kind of incidents from the moment I joined this fandom, even if I’ve expected, as I’ve learned from RL experience, that most people I adore in China will at some point support causes that I deeply disagree with. The online patriotic rally by c-motors and c-turtles under the associated Weibo tag, while impressive and good for Dd, is nonetheless heartbreaking/frightening for me to watch. Why? Because I know this can easily turn into a call to persecute all Hong Kongers involved in the democracy movements sometime in the future. Because I know the rally will probably be as impressive if this has been a call to persecute all Hong Kongers involved in the democracy movements. Frankly, I stopped thinking about Nike as I scrolled through the posts — I was thinking about the now impossibly wide gulf that separates most Chinese and a Hong Konger like myself; I was thinking about why a Gg / Dd performance can trend on Twitter in 10+ countries all over the world but makes almost no noise in Hong Kong or Taiwan, places that should’ve most easily fallen in love with Gg / Dd with their closeness in language and customs.

As it turns out, the closeness has only driven HK and Taiwan away; the closeness only brings them more insight of the beast—the government that looms over, cast a long shadow over everything that lives under it, including Gg and Dd.

I was reminded of the fact that many young Hong Kongers probably see me as a traitor just for being a turtle — young Hong Kongers who are n>1 generation immigrants from China, who never spend years reconciling the conflicting viewpoints, the even more conflicting emotions when it comes to this ... almost irreconcilable difference now in political beliefs north and south of the China-HK border. Unlike the older generations who often have immigrants/refugees from China for immediate, un-severable family, who often don’t have the option to walk away from the conflicts, to simply point to the other side and call it evil.

And here are my even-more-conflicting emotions:

While, over the years, I’ve learned to harbour no ill feelings to the vast majority of supporters of pro-CCP causes—I reserve blame for those who conceal the truth, who’re involved in its policy making, or people who live outside the Firewall and should know better (such as every HK entertainer who’ve expressed support)—I’ve also learned, over the same years, to be fully, painfully aware that every endorsement is still an endorsement for the regime to carry on its ways, and the damage is real, is significant even if the endorsers may not know about the true nature of their endorsements.

A simple thought experiment: the sheer size of China’s population means it can easily control the narrative on English-speaking social media. The Chinese government already has a history of mobilising its people to scale the Great Firewall and spread its propaganda on, for example, Twitter. It has also mobilised fan circles for propaganda purpose. Again, as a thought experiment *only* (ie, SJD!), imagine the Chinese government mobilising Dd’s Weibo supertopic fans to spread misinformation about Xinjiang.

Dd’s supertopic has 5+ million members—all savvy social media users and many skilled in the art of comment control (a collective effort, performed by fans to bury critiques/dissent on message boards); the total number of Uyghurs in Xinjiang is ~12 million, but their communications are heavily scrutinised and they can’t really talk. Just for the sake of argument, we’ll add the ~ 70% pro-democracy HK population to Uyghur’s side: that’s another 5 million, but most of them aren’t good at raging a battle on social media.

Which side will control the narrative in the end?

And so: I understand why Dd’s statement is what it is. I don’t fault him for making it. Still, I can’t in good conscience say to anyone, myself included, that the statement is a personal opinion and doesn’t matter. It matters a lot. His announcement is another stab to the Uyghurs, and the knife is sharp because of Dd’s social influence.

(Today, I saw Dd’s name for the first time in a Hong Kong pro-democracy online news site.)

The statement carried this sentence:

國家尊嚴不容侵犯，堅決維護祖國利益 The dignity of the country is not to be violated; the interest of our motherland is to be resolutely defended. Firstly: it’s character-for-character propaganda language. Secondly: even if we do not consider the labor camps, this is the condition in Xinjiang’s city of Urumqi. Where’s the dignity of the people who’re living there and who’s preventing that from being violated? The interest of the motherland—what kind of motherland answers an allegation of human rights violation with “interest” (利=profit, advantage; 益=benefit)? What kind of motherland has “protects its interest” being synonymous with surveillance and abuse of its own people?

I have a motherland, but it’s not the one in this narrative.

The issues of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs have also become even closer to Hong Kongers since 2019, when the fates of Hong Kongers and the Uyghurs became intricately tied—as dual examples of Chinese government’s human rights violations and indeed, these two populations who previously had very little in common��have shown solidarity with each other against all odds. Their connection being this one simple, awful fact: both having what they value most stripped away by the same government—the traditions, religion and culture for the Uyghurs, the promised freedoms and hopes for democracy for Hong Kongers. As an online meme goes: “Today’s Xinjiang; Tomorrow’s Hong Kong” — expressing the fear that Hong Kongers may soon be subjected to the same surveillance as the Uyghurs today, for the same reason of having put up a fight against who they saw as their oppressors (this article offers an objective summary of what led to the 2009 clash between the Uyghurs and the Chinese government, which precipitated the former’s treatment as will-be terrorists today)(Note the role the US played in this.).

As such, I cannot look away from Xinjiang. As such, I cannot look at our two beautiful stars, Gg and Dd, without also seeing the flag with its blood red looming behind with its own five stars—the biggest of them symbolising the Chinese Communist Party.

How do I reconcile all the feelings? As I said, it’s a constant work-in-progress, possibly a lifelong one. Re: Gg and Dd, that’s what I tell myself at the moment: that my being an i-turtle shall not sway my view or silence me on any sociopolitical issues, that my being a fan of anything, anyone shall not mean any other human life is suddenly worth less to me, or its suffering, something I shall suddenly look away from. The moment this becomes true—that I find myself depreciating human lives, or ignoring the pain of others for the sake of my fannish pursuits—that’s when I must leave my fan identity until I find my discipline (I do understand the lure of a happy fandom bubble, and I’m far from immune to it). I’m a person before I’m a fan.

These are the rules of my world.

我的世界不退讓。

#pie answers #pie metas #yizhan #bjyx

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paellaplease · 4 years ago

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revali x reader 16 (i think?) verklempt please ❤️

16. verklempt - completely and utterly overcome with emotion

19. temerate - to break a bond or promise

pairing: revali x reader summary: falling in love is difficult when neither of you know the end is near.

Night had fallen by the time you mustered the courage to walk up to him. He watched the shining caps of your barely worn boots approach the other side of the campfire, sensing your nervousness as you awkwardly stood for a few beats, weaving and unweaving your fingers.

Either his reputation as the strongest Champion preceded him, or he was completely unapproachable. Throughout the day you would chance a look at him from across the camp, quickly averting your eyes the moment he noticed. You were part of the Princess’ research effort and therefore had some questions— that much he was certain of. Yet you’ve been dancing around him for hours, gathering the will to speak only to have it snuffed out the moment he acknowledged your presence.

Embers lifted from the flames and flickered into the night sky as you finally faced him. Revali held his tongue and gathered his patience, trying to hide the glitter in his eyes at the chance of ‘wowing’ another admirer (nevermind that you were the first).

“Champion, uh sir,” you fumbled with the titles. The question fell from your lips so quickly that his disappointment didn’t register until a second later. “What kind of flower do you favour the most?”

“...”

If the following silence wasn’t damning enough, the Rito was honestly at a loss for how to respond to such an inane question. Seriously? He was better than this. Others have made more important inquiries and had to wait weeks, if not months, for him to clear time in his busy schedule and reply.

Something like this didn’t deserve attention, let alone an answer.

“Swift violets.” He said, before rising from his seat by the fire, dead leaves crunching under the weight of him as he made a beeline straight for his tent.

Parting the canvas, he pretends to miss the earnest wave of goodbye you send his way, ignoring the static in his chest the moment his head hits the pillow. Sleep comes quickly.

A month later you meet again.

The universe seemed to adore playing tricks on him. Crossing the threshold of his home, he catches you investigating the decorative shells hanging by his kitchen window. Amusingly, you were balancing on the tips of your toes, its placement just a tad too high.

There’s something different this time around. You seemed more at ease with your surroundings, no longer jumping at every sound like a stranger in their own skin. The tips of your boots were scuffed with use, and the minute cuts and imperfections in your clothes spoke of days spent in hard work and travel.

Though some things still remain the same. He holds back his smirk when you stumble forward in surprise at the sound of your name, getting straight to business once you were safe from the risk of falling over. “I believe you’re the researcher sent to assess my progress with Vah Medoh?”

“Yes, I am.” You’re quick to snap back into stiff professionalism, he’ll give you that. The bow is low and formal, your back so still that someone could confidently rest a cup and saucer on it. An introduction spills out, followed by an apology when you realise he already knows who you are from the briefing he was given days earlier in Hyrule Castle.

The task was simple really. King Rhoam Bosphoramus wanted a full report on the breadth of Hyrule’s offensive capabilities against Calamity Ganon. From Guardians to Divine Beasts, much had been done in the past year in preparation for their greatest adversary. Now as the whirlwind began to settle, all must be accounted for, down to the last soldier.

Your report was just a drop in what will be an immense ocean of information currently being collated. But it was nevertheless quite vital. He wonders how someone like you was selected for such a task.

“Let’s do our best.” You blurt. Revali could see the millions of thoughts racing behind your eyes when you decide to break away from your military-stiff posture, raising a hand in the traditional Hyrulean greeting between strangers.

The lines of your palm stretch before him like deeply-woven thread. He glances at the wrinkles and grooves in your flesh, remembering that some mystics believe such lines could predict something as unknown as the future. He can’t help but wonder what yours might foretell.

Pressing his wing to your outstretched hand, he declared his agreement. “Of course. You’ll soon see that my ability to pilot Medoh is nothing short of perfect.”

He can’t help it. “And no questions of the botanical sort, understood?”

The sudden playful grin you give him makes all his witty quips screech to a halt, his focus trained solely on the way your face instantly lights up when it isn't held down by strict politeness or pure nervous energy. “I’ll be sure to steer clear from them this time, Champion. You have my word.”

Both of you eventually fall into a comfortable routine. Meals are made together and the chores are done quickly through combined effort. You catch on well, cottoning on to the needs of the day based on the tasks you both decide on the night before.

After breakfast he finds his gear and yours already neatly arranged by the doorway, allowing him additional time with Vah Medoh and you the chance to closely observe. The idea of training with an audience never bothered him, but knowing you followed close behind, notebook at the ready, gave him the extra push to perform just a level better than his previous.

One more arrow, one more extravagant somersault in the air. He even maneuvers Medoh to do a complete 180, reveling in the way your mouth pops open in awe as you walk across what was once the ceiling.

“... .... --- .-- / --- ..-. ..-.” The ancient machine complains, unhappy to be on their back. The Rito pilot pats the metal wall apologetically, watching as you excitedly flit from one end to the other, feeling quite pleased with himself.

Revali dreams of a cliff’s edge.

The precipice looms before him, nothing but fog and the unknown past the point where the ground stops and plummets. Revali looks at you and feels the smooth rock of the sea stone underneath his talons; hears the sound of crashing waves in the distance. Tantalising was the mystery of the void beyond.

The meaning escapes him the moment he wakes up. His pillow was warmed by the glow of the sun, making him realise that he had slept in. Morning was just beginning, and both of you had a full schedule of tasks to get through.

Diverting all his mental energy to the work ahead, he scrubs the sleep from his eyes and shakes away the odd thrill in his feathers. I’m better than this, he thinks.

His tea is still warm when he arrives at the table.

Word of the researcher shadowing him gets around quickly, it’s a small village after all. Some of the Elders glance at you in suspicion, old wounds from disagreements fought with the capital in the past lingering like dye in the water. You don’t seem to mind it, too caught up in the new sights and smells of this vibrant community built in the clouds.

The Rito children are much more enthusiastic about your presence, sharing in your curiosity by matching your questions with their own. Getting comfortable on the wooden slats of the departure deck, you happily play encyclopedia for them.

“Were you this cute back then?” You ask, watching a fledgling hop from one talon to another in imitation of a lizalfos, chasing after their friends who were the heroes in the story, at least for this round of the game.

“I was a model citizen.”

“Not true!” One of them pipes, poking him in the side with the tiniest of wings. “Mama said you were a hennish scallion.”

“You mean a hellish rapscallion,” the eldest of the bunch laughs, screaming when the ‘lizalfos’ tackles them into the ground.

Crossing your arms, you fix him with your best look of authority, shaking your head in mock disappointment. “I apologise but the council has spoken.” He raises a brow at your antics, feeling a little light headed at the adorable way your eyes water whenever you hold back your laughter. “Do you plead guilty for perjury, Mr Champion?”

Champion. The word echoes and reverberates, wrapping tightly around his brain like the blue scarf fitted snugly on his neck. He likes the way you say it, making him wonder about something else.

The words leave his mouth before he can think it through. “Revali will do just fine.”

Mirth drains from your face, replaced instead by surprise. “W-what?”

“I have a name.” He ignores the feeling of his feathers standing at the back of his neck, unclenching his jaw. Relax, he tells himself. “Better for you to call me that than to continuously mess up the titles.”

“Still working on it,” you shrug. Then, you’re gesturing for him to step into your space, leaning forward just the same like you’re about to tell him a secret. You’re close enough for him to feel the warmth of your breath against his beak. He freezes, becoming hyper aware of his heart thundering against his ribcage, not daring to move even a muscle in fear of giving his thoughts away.

“Revali then,” you murmur, almost too soft for him to hear.

It was only when one of the children tugged at your sleeve, dragging you away to explain the appearance of another monster you’ve encountered in your travels, that he allows himself to breathe.

His presence had been requested at the Chief’s office, the old, war-weary Rito regretfully informing him that an urgent message had arrived. Multiple reports had noted an increase in the signs of Calamity Ganon’s resurgence. It came as no surprise, with every Blood Moon summoning more monsters from the void, an omen that something big was coming.

Letters from the Princess implied the worst: that she had exhausted nearly all avenues in awakening her sealing power. The Spring of Wisdom would be her last chance, and after that, who knows? The Champions were to meet again in three weeks at the foot of the mountain, to celebrate or to re-strategise depending on the outcome.

He was never the religious sort but by the Grace of Hylia, please let it be the former.

A headache was beginning to form as he made his way home, the idea of knocking out on his hammock for an hour or so sounding extremely appealing. The day was coming to a close, a cold breeze chilling his back as the orange heat of the evening crept its way to night.

You’re the first one to the hut this time, brown scuffed boots positioned neatly at the doorway. Revali stares at them for a second too long, wondering if you knew your time in the village was coming to an end earlier than expected. The information you had diligently collected was finally required, a little last minute if he had to comment but such were the nature of these things.

The mental image of you puffing out your cheeks in frustration, complaining that you would have to organise the data on the way back, was enough to make his mood perk up— just a tiny bit. Picturing you disgruntled and annoyed, just like when the markets ran out of your favourite produce, was easier to stomach than the thought of saying goodbye.

Leaning against the hardwood of the kitchen counter, you don’t notice him enter the room, too engrossed in the list you’re making.

It's a sight he'd seen before. If he forgot about the sobering news he'd just received, then the day would feel like any other.

The open window frames your form, making you appear like a painting come to life. Rays of light streamed from the cracks in the blinds, illuminating the slope of your nose and curve of your mouth.

Instinctively, you tilted your head to the source of warmth, instantly reminding him of the swift violets that would bloom by the Hebra cliffsides, forever seeking the sun.

Oh.

The ground had finally run out, earth and sky crashing together. There was no denying it now. Inwardly, he cursed himself, following the thought past the precipice, plunging himself deeper into the truth he'd avoided acknowledging for months. The universe truly was cruel.

It wasn’t like he didn’t see it coming. The answer was clear as day, right from the beginning of its inception.

It's the golden hour before sunset when Revali realises he’s in love with you.

Wind plays with the jade clasps of his braids as he appraises Medoh’s central control unit. He’d done this maneuver many times before, enough that he could perform it with his eyes closed.

It was your final day on assignment so shouldn’t he attempt an action that was more daring? He tried to ask. But you had rejected the proposal outright, reasoning that it suggested this would be the last time you both would meet at the top of the Divine Beast. “You can’t get rid of me that easily,” you smile. “I’ll visit once the fight is over.”

“Guess there’s no harm in going back to the basics,” he mused, inputting the commands before taking a step back.

Leaning against one of the columns, you watch with rapt attention as he points the Divine Beast south. The view abruptly shifts from the towering mountains of Hebra, to the grassy Tabantha Frontier, greenery spanning for miles and disappearing into the white, snowy wall of Mystathi’s Shelf.

You tilt your head up, eyes trained on the heavens. There’s a solemn intensity in the way you look at the sky, as if trying to ascertain a greater meaning to your existence in this world between the cover of clouds and the endless sea of blue. It never gives you the acknowledgement that you desperately want, no matter how long you spend asking it, but that doesn’t stop you from searching anyway.

He understands because he’s tried asking well, too many times to count. Eventually the young Rito stopped looking, opting to make an answer for himself instead.

“Do you ever get tired of it?”

Revali’s silent for a moment, mulling over his answer, before he pushes away from the control unit and starts walking towards you. “There’s no spectacle grander, and I can’t recall a time I’ve been without it. As a Rito, it was your first companion, and so long as you looked above, you were never alone.” He shook his head. “Though I guess to love something so vast and beyond our comprehension would be rather imbecilic.”

He’s running his mouth at this point, the hum of Vah Medoh loud in his ears. “... .. .-.. .-.. -.-- / -.-. .... .. .-.. -..” the beast warns, but he continues anyway.

“It’s far too foolish to pine for something that will never be in your grasp. So it would be best for me to realise that there’s no point in fighting it anymore. I mean, I should feel relieved by the concession that at least I’ll be remembered by someone other than myself.”

Your attentions were no longer directed at the sky, the intensity of your eyes piercing into him, seeing right through his poorly hidden deflections. “Are we still talking about the same thing?”

The urge to plunge himself over the edge and fly away by the sheer fuel of his embarrassment was beginning to feel very enticing. Trust his description of the sky to sound like a confession. “No,” he admits.

“Then…”

Revali thinks about telling you— considers allowing himself to become vulnerable just this once.

You’re still here, feet planted firmly on the ground, within his reach at this very moment. There was nothing he wanted more than to take that last step forward, to close the gap that perpetually rests in between you both. He imagines what it would feel like to wrap his wings around you, and believes that it would be nothing less than holding infinity.

Yet, despite this— despite everything, he sighs. “Another time.”

Almost like reading his mind, you simply nod in response, smiling as you reach out to him. He lets you take one of his wings in both your hands, the firm surety of your touch grounding him into the present. There’s no hesitation in your next words, only a promise of a thousand tomorrows lingering on the corner of your lips.

“Tell me when we meet again?”

“I swear it on my life.”

As usual, what was supposed to be a short and sweet answer became a creature of its own, demanding my full attention until it was finished. Writing in Revali’s POV is so fun, but there’s always that small bit of doubt that I can never do his character justice. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy this one.

By the way! Hello to all the new visitors to my blog. Welcome yall. This is the prompt list. I may not answer straight away, but I shall do my best :)

#revali #botw #revali x reader #breath of the wild #writing prompt #paella writes

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shepard-ram · 4 years ago

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Hello again this is Ender-anon with the next chapter of this story as we move on to Wilbur. p.s the poem will be at the bottom.

The most important day of your life so far.

Everything was chaos, as people rushed back and forth getting everything ready for you coronation the next day, dignitaries from other countrys ariving with gifts, the kichens had to order food from abroad inorder to fully cater the event. You however were nervous for a different reasion between going over the speechs with Enciodes and practicing the holy vows you would undertake tomorrow with the current Saintess Anya Silverash ( Enciodes and Ensia's sister), the Arctic Empires delegates had yet to arrive you knew thanks to Tommys latest letter ( and hadn't that been a surprise learning that you friend was the third prince, but you had assured him that it would change nothing between you he was still Tommy to you) his brother prince Wilbur second in line to the throne would be arriving with them since Tommy father had said that Tommy couldn't go. Which is why when the Arctic Empire arrived (with so many gifts Tommy really had gone overboard you though) without the prince saying that he had gone on ahead of the main group a wave of panic sweeped through those in attendance. The wilds were dangerous for outsiders at night the beasts of the land wouldn't attack your citizens ( ancient magic prevented them from doing so a spell cast by an allie of your venerated ancestor) but a lone prince was a different deal. Jumping into action you asked the nobility in attendance the Silverash,Rostova,Schwire and Nearl to search their grounds as they were the few nobles with manors outside to capital and on the way to get your winter coat discretely ordered a hidden member of the Armourless Union to imform the three Obsidians that finding the prince was their new hightest priority and to sent everyone Platinum, the two Lapis Lazuil and to track what woodlands hadn't been searched yet. Rushing out of the capital, lanturn in hand rushed into the nearby woods, woods that you had explored as far back as you could remember, woods you knew like the back of your hand as such when you heard the wolves howling in the distance you knew the quickest route to take after all those seconds could be the difference between finding the prince or finding a corpse.

Leaping over a ridge you found yourself between a terrified Wilbur and a pack of 5 wolves both pausing with your entrance. Wilbur snaped out it first yelling " Kid get out of here, I can distract the wolves RUN" you instead turn towards the wolves and told them to leave as they do you grab the stuperfied princes hand and lead him back towards the capital where you hand him off to his countrys dignitaries while you returned to the palace to get some sleep ready for your coronation tommorow. You looked at your reflection now dressed in your ceremonial outfit based on you ancestors outfit minus the black helmet of course looking over at your soon to be ex-regent Enciodes who looked at you with pride in his eyes, after gathering your nerves you follow him knights flanking you to the second biggest building in the capital after the palace, the temple to the Karlan Goddess. Kneeling before Anya at the goddesses alter you swore to protect your people, your nation and to uphold you nations values rising after Anya placed neatherite crown upon your head. Turning to look at those in attendance you saw Enciodes with tears in his eyes, Buldrokkas'tee with his daughter Yelena holding her up so she could see and curiously prince Wilbur looking at you with a weird look in his eyes that was a strange combination of pity and longing all while clutching a piece of paper close to his chest. During the after coronation celebrations you did manage to start a conversation with him by talking about Tommy of all thinks but he was what you two had in common you both cared about him a great deal before you left you handed him a letter to give to Tommy once he got back to the empire, he staired at it for a moment before handing over the piece of paper you saw him holding earlier you looked at it to see a poem on it "Its my gift to you, as thanks for saving me" he proclaimed after reading it you saw the themes of close bonds and friendship ( at least thats how it looked to you) and as such you thanked him for such a thoughtful poem giving him a hug " I must admit I can most certainly see why my baby brother is so attached to you" and with that he turned and left with the other delegates back to the Arctic Empire.

The most important encounter of his life

Wilbur was pretty sure even before meeting this ruler that he would hate them even though he hadn't met them yet. Why you may ask? First they charm his precious baby brother into letting them call him Tommy something that he only allowed family to do but he wouldn't stop carrying that doll dressed in black claiming that it was a gift from you, then whenever post would arive he would all but tear the poor messenger apart just on the chance you sent him a letter he remembered after he sent the letter informing you of his status he was sure that that would end this farce and he would have his adorable little brothers attention again but nooo you sent a letter telling him that it didn't matter Tommy was still your friend and that reguardless of his title he you wouldn't treat him any differently and to your credit you didn't. But thats nothing compared to what he's currently going through no since Tommy is to young he has to be the representative of the royal family to your coronation (despite Tommy throwing the biggest tantrum he had ever seen), so now he's walking along a poorly constructed road with a the other delegates with the mountain of gifts that his brother has bought you using every coin he had. Tired and just completely done with this day he told the others that he would be walking on ahead and they would meet back up at the palace, that was the plan at least he thinks to himself as he runs before he had strayed from the dirt path and stumbled upon a wolf pack that was now chasing him so his day has gotten even worse great. As he hits a dead end he turns to face the wolves looking around for a way to clime up the ridge above him as the wolves closed in, only for a kid in a winter coat holding a lanturn to jump down inbetween him and the wolves startling them both thankfully he snaped out of it first and yelled at you to run he wasn't about let a kid only a few years older than his baby brother get torn apart by these wolves but instead of fleeing you gave him a reassuring smile before turning to the wolves " He is no enemy of our nation, leave now" you commaned and to his surprise they obeyed his mind going blank trying to process what he just witnessed as you lead him out of the woods. It wasn't till he was in his room in the newly built embassy that he realised he never learned his saviors name after interrorgating the delegates he learns to his suprise that his savior was the person that took his place in his brothers heart.

Maybe he misjudged you he thinks as he spends the time before your cononation collecting information about you pretending that he was merely a curious tourist and when he returned to get dressed into his formal wear he thought about what he had learned, the most dishearting information was how alone you were you had no surviving family no cousins,no siblings and no parents but you still found reasions to smile, to try you best to be the ruler you nation would need despite the fact that said nation in his humble opinion was undeserving.How he had missjudge you so much, of course his brother would try and give you family that you never had he couldn't even think of a world without his little brother, his twin or his dad but you had to endure a world where that was the norm for you, and now he though bitterly this nation would be your burden to carry alone without family to turn to for help. He of course need to thank you and in his own way apologize for his incorrect image of you, he didn't bring his guitar so a poem would have to do, perhaps he could put an offer of family in it so you knew that you wouldn't be alone, yes that sounded good. As he stood with the others of importance during you coronation he couldn't help but think how small you looked in that all black outfit dispite knowing you were older that Tommy in this moment you didn't look it to him as you made vows that in the eyes of your nation, in the eyes of your goddess would forever bind you to a nation undeserving of you, a nation that had caused you to grow up alone surrounded by advisers and (if his brothers rants were anything to go by) a schemeing regent. He truly pitied you and wanted to take you away from this back to the empire where you could be a child for once not be forced to be a ruler, Tommy would be happy if he wisked you away and he realised as they placed a neatherite crown on your head he wouldn't mind having being your big brother. To his surprise you can over to talk to him during the after party, as the subject of conersation shifted to Tommy he saw your eyes light up as you trades stories back and forth acting less like royals from different countrys and more like siblings talking about their younger brother. Its only when you press a quickly written letter into his hands and asked for him to hand it to Tommy that he remembered his poem as such he handed the poem over to you and exsplaned that it was a thank you gift for rescuing him (and for him being so wrong about you) he searched your face as you read seeing if you got his hidden message before you thanked him for it and gave him a hug , hun he could in this moment certainly see why his baby brother was so attached to them oh if the look on your face was anything to go by he just said that aloud time to leave he thinks.On the plane ride home he can't help but read the letter you wrote for his baby brother only for his eyes to widen as you ask Tommy whats its like having a big brother like Wilbur or what its like having a big brother in general but a infuriated look fills his face as you say you think your starting to see Enciodas ( the scheming regent his brain supplied )and his sisters as your big siblings as your family,oh that seals it he thinks he is going to be big brother and save you from you misguided loyaltys at least he count on Tommy to help rescue their future sibling from themself.

Wilburs poem

It's hard to put into words, what I want to say.

But I want you to know your thought of, in a very special way.

Though the distance in between us, keeps us continents apart.

There will always be a place, for our bond within my heart.

Poems are strange arn't they, two people could read the same poem but come away with comletely different ideas as to what it means... Ender-anon

Okay I might stop talking all together on this entire FICS but this- yes absolutely very good

#ask #ender anon #tw. yandere #c: wilbur #c: tommy

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ihknkm · 3 years ago

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talesfromgringolandia · 4 years ago

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Underwing Challenge Day 4 - What’s the world of your WIP like?

So first of all, the world of Bo and Shen is incomplete. There’s a lot of gaps that I haven’t gotten to yet, mostly names and stuff.

For example, there’s this big blur of the history of the early years of the Venus colony. Essentially, Earth colonized the entire solar system, including Venus. Then there was a massive war, and Earth lost, leaving Venus completely stranded, without communication to the outside world.

Some basic info on Venus: The air pressure at the surface is equal to 90 earth atmospheres, making it completely uninhabitable. But it was also rich in minerals, so colonists would use gas to drill out the valuables. The gas ended up trapped in the rocks, which floated up to the height where the pressure equals earth pressure. This is my explanation for the floating islands. Also, the people doing the mining tended to belong to the same families, who became very isolated in their wealth. After some time, they ended up permanently deformed by their delves into the abyss, becoming the dwarves.

Before the war, people lived on artificial floating islands, powered by electricity and stuff. The “natural” islands were decorated with plants and animals and made great vacation spots, but no one lived there. But after the end of the war, or maybe during it, Venus experienced its first abyssian storm.

Near the surface of Venus, it's constantly storming, and in those storms live dragons. Please don’t ask how they weren’t noticed during the mining phase. These dragons are pure black, have no legs because they can almost swim in the thick air down below, and can breathe lightning. Sometimes, storms from the Abyss will overflow into the upper atmosphere, and rarely, those storms contain hordes of dragons.

During the first dragon storm, the artificial islands were completely destroyed. The citizens were unprepared. The small portion who survived fled to the natural floating islands, where they struggled to survive. It was essentially the apocalypse. It only took a few generations for these people, who were reduced to stone age equipment without electricity, to forget a lot of their history.

Soon, the Titans appeared. I don’t know where they came from. They introduced the people to the Aether, and taught them how to use it.

After a long time, sky ships were invented, and people could finally travel to other isles, establish nations and such. And that's how the current situation came to be.

Here’s something to understand about the technology in the Sky Isles. They can’t mine metal from the islands, because they risk destroying the very ground they stand on. But luckily, alchemists, people who use aether to control organic things, came up with a solution. They genetically engineered plants which can be spun into a fiber, which is a pretty good substitution.. It's still not quite as good as actual metal, or True Metal, so the few scraps of true metal that remain are incredibly valuable.

All sky ships, weapons, large buildings, et cetera, use some metal fiber. There are various kinds of metal fiber plants. Iron oak is by far the most powerful, but also a little rare because it's very difficult to cut down the tree. The most common is copper-root, which are like onions. There’s also silver-leaf,(not sturdy, but pretty), and probably something for gold? Still not finished with that bit. But copper-root tools and buildings are everywhere, while sky ships are most likely made of iron oak.

Most technology is developed in Galras, where Tinkerers can use the aether to cause massive clockwork machines to move. So most sky-ships are built there, although they need to cooperate with the dwarves to finish them.

What's the Aether? In-world, not many people know, with the exception of some individuals who specifically study its nature. It's something people use to do cool things. The aether is actually the manifestation of people’s souls in the real world. You use your spiritual soul to effectuate physical change, and these interactions are called aether. The more aether you use, the more you attach your soul to those activities. This is why tinkerers are known to be mad scientists, and why many alchemists grow so attached to their craft as to start experimenting on people. The Titans know how to effectively and safely use the aether to not only avoid negative effects, but create positive ones. Felenor and the other good titan use this knowledge for the good of humanity, while Ildra and Lralso use it to turn people against each other.

I must also mention the clockwork sentients - clockwork robots, powered by aether, who have minds of their own. More on them later.

There are four main nations, each composed of one main isle and those isles surrounding the main one. These isles, in order of settlement, are the Dwarven Isles, where the dwarves live underground in labyrinths; Destra, where the paladins originated; Galras, a technological power, and the origin of Tinkering; Endora, covered in a dangerous swamp, and only has one city, also called Endora; and Minvir, a mountainous, snowy isle where the sparse tribes are at constant war with each other.

I’ll talk more about the specific isles below the cut, because this post is long enough.

So remember the dwarves? Their ancestral profession changed their appearance significantly. Their skin appears permanently burned, and is ebony black. Not like dark brown. Pitch black. They’re also short. They’re excellent engineers, and can see in the dark better than humans can.

During the dragon storms that caused the apocalypse, they managed to flee separately from everybody else, ending up on an isle that was already full of holes because it was home to an insect hive. They’ve tamed these insects, which range from the size of dogs to the size of elephants, and they harvest the insects honey, which can be spun into a steel fiber that needs a better name. The honey can also be burnt to produce the gas that goes into the balloons on Sky-Ships, which means that dwarves are obscenely rich. They are also very secretive, to the point that a lot of people don’t know the actual name of the Dwarven Isles. Coincidentally, neither do I.

Occasionally the dwarves will venture into the Abyss to recover true metal from the wreckage. I’m not sure how they do this yet.

The first isle to be settled, besides the Dwarven Isles, was Destra, which you might recall is the origin of many paladin orders. There is a lot of history in Destra, it's kind of like visiting Rome, its really ancient. At the moment, it's completely conquered by the paladins of Ildra, Titan of suffering and despair, who let paladins of Lralso(deception, dishonor) run free. Paladins of Felenor(justice, honor) and of placeholder name(love, charity) have to flee or are killed. Some fought back, but most of those were killed.

Before the conquest of Ildra, however, Destra was mostly run by paladins of Felenor. Their law was just and honorable, which doesn’t mean there weren’t some bad eggs in the system, but the system was good. But some people didn’t enjoy being ruled by a law they had no choice in, and began a revolution on the south side of the isle. During this, they discovered tinkering, and turned the tide of the war with the construction of clockwork robots. Once they had conquered half the island though, the paladins began to learn how to easily deal with the automotons, who were pretty stupid being simply robots. So the Tinkerers ended the war by building massive drills which cut the island in half. The Tinkerers' side became Galras. The northern isle, which is still called Destra, was weak after the war, which opened them to Ildra’s conquest. Those drills still line the northern coast of Galras.

More about Galras! Their capital city is Kellenth, which is like one giant skyscraper many stories tall. Towards the top is where the elite live, while the bottom extends deep into the ground. The bottom floor is full of criminals and evil, where the light doesn’t shine. It's like cyberpunk, but it's clockwork. The city is supported by four massive True Metal pillars, which are a statement to how rich Galras has become.

Shortly after the war with Destra, Galras created a Clockwork Sentient, a clockwork AI. It soon went rogue and fled to an unknown isle, where it has constructed a factory of clockwork sentients. These ones are not nearly as powerful as the first, which is now called the Master Sentient. These minions are known as clockwork sentients, or just sentients, and sometimes they defect and come to live alongside humanity. Understandably, many people are… reluctant to accept them. The Master Sentient frequently conducts raids on Galras, and has recently conquered a small corner of the isle. They are rapidly becoming a significant threat, and the war against them is affecting the entire nation. The Master Sentient is not actually the first sentient, but there are some left over after the war with Destra, who are now ancient and live in the corners of Galras.

Don’t forget the Sentries! Sentries are soldiers who use clockwork armor and weapons, which they control by their aether, in combat. They compose the higher ranks of the army and protect city streets. They also make great mercenaries. Each suit of armor is unique, since soldiers will customize it with their own gizmos and setup. Think of each gamer in reality having their own setup.

Also the Storm Guard! There’s a fleet of ships specifically dedicated to preventing dragon attacks. This was created after a particularly bad battle with the Master Sentient, during which a surprise storm turned the tide, allowing the humans to win but at a much higher cost.

Next is Endora! It was originally established way back when Destra wasn’t split in half, as a rest stop for passing sky ships. That was hundreds of years ago, and now Endora has grown significantly. It has developed a reputation as a land of freedom, where there is neither the arm of the Galrian government nor the chaos of Ildrian Destra. There are farms right outside the city, and some small villages as well. Don’t forget the hordes of monsters that live in the swamp just beyond civilization; they frequently come out and attack settlers.

Endora has also become a safe haven for alchemists, who fled from Galras after people reacted to the image of alchemists as mad scientists who experimented on people. Many alchemists in Endora still perform these experiments, creating the chimeras, human-animals hybrids who often flee society to live in the swamp. There is a large hidden community of chimeras living there now, and many have adapted alchemy to the purposes of protecting nature, rather than exploiting it. These call themselves druids, rather than alchemists. Don’t take too kindly though - they can put the well-being of nature over human lives. These are two extremes though. Most alchemists are well-meaning doctors, and most druids are guardians of their people.

Recently, the Felenor Academy for Guardians was founded by Ambrose, where young men and women are trained to protect the city from monsters, and their families from crime. The city is mostly run by the people in charge of the ports, so at the city border with the swamp, not much is done. The Academy is changing that by empowering people to protect themselves.

Endora is also a major exporter of fish, which, since there’s no ocean, are rare pretty much everywhere else.

#underwing challenge #writeblr #fantasy #worldbuilding #holy shit this was long #writing #i've got so much lore bottled up #not anymore though #everythings on this post now #might as well make this the master post for bo and shen

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knightdawn · 5 years ago

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Weyard: Then and Now

Happy Golden Sunday!

Tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn!

Something I’ve been thinking about often in regards to this series has to do with the geography of Weyard. Namely, how the cities and locations from ALL the games line up with each other, especially the ancient civilizations in Dark Dawn that didn’t make an appearance in previous games and certain locations from the first two games that are suspiciously absent in Dark Dawn.

Well, I finally decided to make an attempt at figuring this out. Here we have the official Dark Dawn map.

And here is a composite image I created from the maps for The Broken Seal and The Lost Age since TLA’s map has labels covering the middle part of Angara and lacked several locations present in the first game.

Here is Dark Dawn’s map with some overlays that will help when talking about how the land shifted - of note are the areas circled in white, which are places in Angara that have evidence of being the same exact location (the Mt. Aleph crater, Kolima Forest, and Champa) and the area circled in yellow is Apollo Sanctum: located on the highest mountain in Angara.

Here, I created the same overlay on the Old Angara.

Here are what the overlay colors represent:

pale cyan: Imil, Bilibin, and other northern regions pale orange: Goma Plateau greyish green: Kalay region, plus Gondowan and Idejima pale green: Kolima Forest pinkish orange: Saha Area/Displaced Marshlands pink and magenta: Morgal region (split up to make the shapes more clear) dark blue: Khiren Mountains blue: Altin region yellow: Lamakan Desert region orange: Harapa region red: Champa region bright green: Mogall Forest

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The two biggest changes appear to be that the Lamakan Desert region stretched and moved a LOT and Kolima Forest became a peninsula. In Dark Dawn’s time the Goma Range has suddenly formed a gap that wasn’t there before - more evidence of the continent stretching.

Based on the shape of the coastline and how the mountains fall, it’s highly likely that the entire Mogall Forest area is gone in Dark Dawn’s map, and I also think it’s very likely that Xian and Tonfon are in the same general location and may even be the same city - just rebuilt and renamed when it suddenly became a seaside location or in the subsequent wars that happened in this area.

One theory of mine is that the tidal wave that destroyed Izumo was caused by Mogall Forest sinking, as this would be a logical repercussion of such a large displacement of land and water. It could also be connected to the shifts that caused Indra and Osenia to be on a different “shelf.”

Somehow, until doing wiki reading while researching individual towns, I didn’t remember that the Kolima Forest supposedly “migrated” but I wonder if that’s just how the people of Weyard explain plate tectonics they don’t understand. The earthquakes and such still could’ve injured Tret and Laurel - and the marshlands that were once here could still have been displaced by the shifting. Similarly, the Harapa region and Khiren Mountains are said to have "risen up" but this could also mean the mountains simply grew taller and revealed long-buried ruins in the process.

Anyway, more specifics for individual locations follow!

LOCATIONS FROM THE OLD GAMES:

Vale and Mt. Aleph: destroyed, but the people survived and relocated. Vault: likely destroyed and rebuilt as Carver’s Camp and Lumberyard. Bilibin: a major power in Dark Dawn’s time, possibly suffered less damage than nearby areas if the Goma Range protected it. Kolima: probably suffered earthquakes during the continental shifting on top of the weird fallout that caused people to turn into beastmen. Imil: survived and is doing fine. Xian: possibly destroyed and rebuilt or otherwise absorbed into Tonfon. The name change could also have to do with the power shifts caused by the various wars and conflicts that have happened in this area. It’s also possible that Xian was destroyed or conquered during one of these conflicts even if it survived the Golden Sun event and fallout. Altin: the mines probably collapsed due to all the seismic activity; the presence of a lake in what I believe is the general vicinity of Altin also makes me think it may have flooded again as well (survivors could’ve moved to nearby Kaocho or other towns.) Kalay: survived and is prospering - probably the capitol of the country of Kalay in Dark Dawn’s time. However, the region around it seems to have become more of a desert than it was in the past and there is a new lake where there was previously a mass of land. Tolbi: unknown, probably survived but also likely had a lot of political unrest and turmoil after Babi’s death. Lunpa: suspiciously absent from Dark Dawn; probably destroyed by either the Golden Sun event or fallout from it. The survivors probably moved to other nearby settlements. Suhalla: unknown, but the region it was located appears intact so it’s probably still there. Lalivero: unknown, but there’s a new forest visible in the region between Babi’s Lighthouse and Venus Lighthouse - if these areas survived, the lands around them have changed considerably. (I’d assume the forest’s growth can be attributed to the influx of Venus power from the lighthouse.) Loho: unknown, probably survived or was at least rebuilt. Champa: survived and still a pirate nation as of Dark Dawn’s time. Lemuria: survived but has definitely shifted location - an interesting possibility @unluckyadept suggested is that it sank much like Atlantis, which is somewhat supported by NPC dialogue in-game mentioning “an advanced civilization” that sank during the GS event. Either way, other dialogue seems to indicate that the people of Lemuria opened up trade with the outside world after TLA, so their civilization must also still exist. Maybe they’re just underwater now? Izumo: destroyed by a tidal wave, citizens relocated to Yamata. Everyone survived because of Lady Uzume’s foresight ability.

Other settlements from The Lost Age: since they aren’t visited or even mentioned in Dark Dawn, we don’t know much. Gondowan and Idejima can be seen on the map, but there are no visible cities or named areas. The seas and islands seem to have shifted around quite a lot, though. (With Crossbone Isle appearing in an entirely new location for some reason.) I also assume that with psynergy restored, regions near other areas of influence (such as the four elemental rocks) also are receiving more energy than they were prior to the Golden Sun.

I could do a separate meta on beastmen in general but one headcanon I have is that what happened to everyone in the Morgal region is directly related to the transformations that happen to the people of Garoh, whether through genetics or lunar influence or both!

Since the transformations of Garoh’s elders become permanent after they’re exposed to the high levels of psynergy present at Air’s Rock, I have a feeling this is the same thing happened to all the people in this part of Angara. And if this is the case, it’s possible everyone in Garoh became permanently transformed due to the Golden Sun event as well!

LOCATIONS FROM DARK DAWN:

Patcher’s Place & Carver’s Camp: new settlements created by survivors of the Goma Region - Vale, Vault, and possibly Lunpa. Harapa: new settlement, but the ruins it was built on are ancient. Passaj: this is an ancient city, but Isaac’s party never ventured into these mountains farther than Lama Temple. However, these do appear to be in the same general area. Like Ayuthay and Lemuria, they probably didn’t trust outsiders back then. Ayuthay: ancient city that was even more reclusive before the Alchemy Well was activated. I assume that if Isaac or Felix’s parties traveled by it, they didn’t consider the location worth a visit. They probably skipped right by a LOT of seemingly uninhabited ruins. Kaocho: founded by King Wo within the past couple decades. It’s unclear if the settlement existed before the split-off from Sana. The ruins it was built over are definitely older than the city. Te Rya Villiage: the people here are nomadic, their culture could be new or go way, way back. Presumably, the people weren’t in the area during the shifts and changes that happened here either way. The Khiren Mountains are said to have “risen up” which I take as means this whole area is at a much higher altitude than it was previously. Belinsk: Like Harapa, the settlement is new but the ruins it is built over are ancient. My guess here is that the continental shift unearthed the structure the capital of Morgal would be built over. Border Town: I assume it was created when Morgal became it’s own country, but it’s possible the border started being enforced as soon as the people of the Morgal region started turning into beastmen. Port Rago: probably a new settlement, at least in it’s current form. I like the idea that it could’ve been an insignificant fishing village that gained a lot from the trade boom post-TLA but that is just my theory. Saha Town: new settlement. As stated in-game, it sprang up because of the newly-fertile area and the trade centered around the “dream leaves” found here. Harun Villiage: unknown. If it’s not a new settlement, it was probably considered an insignificant location in the past. Yamata City: new settlement inhabited by the people from Izumo.

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Please, feel free to use these maps and musings as a reference and springboard for other works. I made them with the hope that having a solid idea of how the geography works would spark some new ideas.

I'd love to see people take this and make new things with it!

This whole project actually started because I started wondering “what happened to Xian?” because it was one of my favorite locations in the first game, and then also wanting to know “where was Ayuthay during the first two games?” because it’s one of my favorite locations in Dark Dawn.

I have a better idea of both of those things now, myself. I hope this meta proves useful to others, too!

Finally, I'd also love to give a shout-out to this Golden Sun Discord Server! Finding them and learning this event was happening gave me the little push I needed to finish up my meta.

You can also find this essay cross-posted on Ao3!

#golden sun #golden sunday #golden sun dark dawn #golden sun the lost age #weyard #;knight writes #;meta essay

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creepingsharia · 5 years ago

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Turkey Uses Ancient Cathedral, Hagia Sophia, as Mosque for Islamic Prayer Again

By Uzay Bulut

As much of the world is struggling against the coronavirus pandemic, the Islamists in Turkey appear to hold on to their everlasting agenda: Forced Islamization and violation of non-Muslims.

Adhan (Islamic call to prayer) and the Koranic verses Surat Al-Fath and Surat An Nasr were recited by two “imams” of the Hagia Sophia Church/museum, the pro-government newspaper Yeni Akit reported on March 23. The paper called the historic Cathedral the “Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque”.

“For the first time in history, acoustic test recordings of adhan and the Koran, which were recited with naked voice, were made in Hagia Sophia,” the paper said.

The paper went on to falsely claim that the “Hagia Sophia Mosque was unlawfully converted into a museum when it was a mosque.”

In fact, Hagia Sophia (Greek for “Holy Wisdom”) was built in the 6th century CE (532–537) under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in Constantinople and remained the world’s largest cathedral for nearly 1,000 years until the Ottoman Turks invaded the city and looted it.

In 1930s, Turkey changed the city’s name to “Istanbul” and converted the mosque into a museum – another violation of the historic structure that was built as and meant to be a cathedral.

Referring to the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II, who invaded and captured the city in 1453, as the “Conquerer” (Fatih), and the Hagia Sophia as his “trust”, the paper asked:

“Will the longing for [Ottoman sultan] Fatih’s trust, Hagia Sophia, finally end?”

Why are some people so obsessively yearning for a Cathedral’s conversion to a mosque?

According to the 2019 statistics of Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs), there are 84,684 mosques across Turkey, which means there is no shortage of mosques in the country.

“I can only think of one reason,” wrote the author Wesley J. Smith.

“As a shout of Islamic triumphalism. What a mistake that would be. Christians would rightly consider it an intentional insult. The international community would see it as an open rejection of its diversity agenda. Moreover, I think that a relatively secular Turkey acting so radically would demonstrate to the world that despite moderate Muslims’ many assurances to the contrary, contemporary Islam is intolerant in outlook, belligerent toward non-believers, and dangerously hegemonist in its intentions.”

What’s even more tragic is that there is no longer a strong Christian presence in Turkey that could get organized and oppose the abuses against the historic Cathedral.

The reason for that is the decades-long persecution of Christians in the country.

From 1913 to 1923, a genocide was carried out against Christians in Ottoman Turkey; in 1941-1942, there was an attempt to enlist and enslave all non-Muslim males in the Turkish military — including the elderly and mentally ill — to force them to work under horrendous conditions in labor battalions; in 1942, a Wealth Tax was imposed to eliminate Christians and Jews from the economy; in 1955, there was an anti-Greek pogrom in Istanbul; and in 1964, the remaining Greeks were forcefully expelled from Turkey. All of the above and more contributed to the ethnic cleansing of Christians in Turkey.

During all these abuses, the possessions of Christians were also targeted. The government and the private citizens of Turkey have seized and claimed ownership of the properties and lands of Christians that were murdered, deported or had to flee.

Author Raffi Bedrosyan explains:

“If not destroyed outright or left to deteriorate, the church and school buildings were converted into banks, mosques, state schools, community centers, stables, or warehouses. Armenian houses were taken over by local Turks and Kurds, or by Muslim refugee settlers from the Balkans. The Armenian economic assets such as farms, orchards, olive groves, stores, factories, mines became the foundation stones of the Turkish economy and the starting capital of most of the wealthy Turkish industrialists of today. The Turkish government continued the seizure of Armenian assets and the legalization of it up until the 2000s. With legislation brought in 1974, more than 1,400 legally obtained assets of the Istanbul Armenian charitable foundations since 1936, were declared illegal and seized by the state.”

The Greek, Assyrian and other Christian properties have also been exposed to a similar treatment at the hands of the government and Muslim citizens of Turkey.

Today, the latest target of Turkey’s aggression against Christian religious liberty is the Hagia Sophia Cathedral/museum, which is now a mosque.

However, many Muslims that are abusing the Hagia Sophia historic Cathedral and other Christian properties do not even see their actions as a type of abuse, violation, crime or aggression. To them, it is just the normal or even glorious way to treat Christians and other non-Muslims as well as their places of worship. And that is what makes political Islam the most perilous ideology that is extremely hard, if not impossible, to reach a common ground and achieve peaceful, meaningful coexistence with.

----------------------------------------------

More here:

Turkey has persecuted Christians more and more in recent years, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has leaned towards more radical Islam.

And here:

the Hagia Sophia being used to broadcast Islam, it sends a message to local Christians that their historical churches are theirs no longer.

#Islam #Sharia #Jihad #Muslim #News #Religion #Politics #Travel #Life #Media #Mosque

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ruminativerabbi · 4 years ago

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What Lies Beneath Our Feet

At a dig about four or five blocks from our apartment in Jerusalem, archeologists have unearthed the remains of a First Temple-period palace that appears to have been built shortly after the Assyrian siege of the city in the time of King Hezekiah, which is to say about 2,700 years ago. (For the full Times of Israel story, click here.) In some ways, this is something that happens all the time in Israel, where archeologists are constantly finding traces of the past buried deep in the earth. I’ve written about some of those discoveries in this space several times, in fact. (To review some of what I’ve had to say in that regard, click here and here.) But in the context of Elul, the month of the Jewish year devoted to an entirely different kind of archeology (see below), I found this remarkable discovery not only to be interesting, but moving and meaningful on a spiritual level as well. It’s that latter lesson I’d like to share with you all this week.

The interesting part is easy to explain. Our Jerusalem home is a normal apartment in a regular building surrounded by other buildings and a huge garden promenade. Because it is, after all, Jerusalem, everybody knows—at least passively—that the piece of land our building occupies has been home to countless generations of Jerusalemites before us. But then a discovery like this comes along—and, really, the site is not even a ten minute walk from our home—to remind us that there were Jewish people living in our neighborhood, not just a hundred or even several hundred years ago, but twenty-seven centuries ago. And, of course, that thought brings on its own set of questions. What did my ancient neighbors look like? How did they dress? What did they eat? Would I be able to understand their Hebrew? Did they travel to the Temple by descending into the huge valley that separates our neighborhood, called Arnona, from the Old City and then climbing up on the ridge on the other side? Or did they follow the route the no. 78 bus still takes along the western side of the valley into the city center? Would these people have recognized me as one of them? And, more to the point, how would they even have understood that question?

For Americans, of course, the 8th century BCE is almost unfathomably far back in the past. (In New York, we award landmark status to buildings built in the 18th century and somehow still standing.) Nor is the story of the Assyrian assault against the capital of Hezekiah’s kingdom one of those biblical stories that has retained some measure of currency among educated, literate Americans. But for Jerusalemites, the year the neighbors down the block built their huge house overlooking the Old City is the year of a siege that everybody—not nobody—recalls at least having once learned about in school. As noted, the biblical story has a lot of holes in it, and not least of all because it remains unclear why the Assyrians ultimately chose to withdraw rather than moving on to seize the city. Did Sennacharib simply need his troops more urgently elsewhere? Or did the huge ransom Hezekiah paid—three (or eight) hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold, a talent being about 130 lbs.—did the ransom do the trick? And then there’s a third explanation in the biblical account of how God spared the city by sending an angel to finish off 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one single evening. The truth presumably lies somewhere between all those ideas and theories, but the bottom line is that King Hezekiah died in his early fifties in about 687 BCE without ever having to relinquish control of his capital city or his palace.

So the reason the siege was lifted is unclear. But that Jerusalem was besieged until the siege somehow lifted seems incontrovertible. And that siege seems to have been the context for someone—some wealthy citizen, perhaps even a member of the royal house—choosing to resettle outside the walls of the city and build a home on a verdant ridge that then as now looks over the valley directly at the Temple Mount and which now is about where our Jerusalem synagogue gathers on Tisha Be’av to chant the Book of Lamentations on the anniversary of the day about 120 years after the Assyrians went home on which the city actually was destroyed and its temple razed. And that is only appropriate since the same archeologists who found the remnants of the house are convinced that it was during that final siege of the city by the Babylonians (who in the meantime had taken over the role of dominant force in the Middle East from the Assyrians) that this palatial structure was finally destroyed.

I’ll paste in here a picture of one of the capitals they found, but what speaks the most directly to me is the thought that this palace—bearing mute testimony to the precise era in which the earliest version of Judaism was developed—that this magnificent home was there just beneath the surface of land along which Joan and I have walked countless times without knowing what lay just beneath our feet.

As I’ve written many times before, Elul is our month of introspection and self-analysis. For some reason, I always start by thinking about the past and wondering where it could possibly have gone to. The young tree is somewhere inside the mature one, its inmost rings deriving from the earliest stages of its existence. But is that how it works on the level of individual human beings as well? Or on the broader level of national identity? The palace from the time of King Hezekiah was there all along, supporting the present from beneath—but without making its own presence known, without intruding on the present, without forcing itself on the generation now occupying the space its original builders chose to build on. For two and a half millennia, it was just there. But now that we’ve found it, how much the richer we are! Knowing that in the time of the kings of Judah, there were building crews putting up palatial homes in our neighborhood reminds me that the past does not have to be remain buried, that knowing what lies beneath the surface can lead to an enriched sense of one’s place in the world, to an intensified understanding of one’s identity, possibly even to an enhanced sense of destiny as the contemplation of the formerly unknown past suggests the possibility of a heretofore unimagined future as well.

As I make my way forward through Elul, I find myself wondering what lies beneath my feet. What part of my past is providing me with my place in the world without making its presence known or felt. What version of the younger me is resting just behind the visible surface of my life and influencing decisions I feel that I’m making independent of outside influences. What historical relic known to none and whose presence is not even sensed by myself…what relic of my past or my family’s is there nonetheless. And how much richer my sense of self would be—and how much more focused and balanced—if I could only find the courage to dig beneath my own feet to see what lies beneath the soil upon which I stand as I move forward through the days of my life. The palace was there all along, of course. But now that archeologists have found it…now follows the possibility of listening to what it has to say and allowing ourselves to grow through that specific encounter with the past. I wish that for myself in these waning weeks of Elul. And I wish it for all of you as well!

#Elul #armon hanatziv #Hezekiah #Sennacharib #Jerusalem

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impassive-aggressive · 5 years ago

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it is still ZOIDS HEADCANON TIME

PART 2 because i’m ridiculous

I'm operating on the assumption that by the time humans colonized Zi they'd spread out pretty well across the rest of the galaxy and p...ossibly made contact with extraterrestrials, mainly because I like to imagine there's intelligent life out there somewhere. (Intelligent life hat does not look Exactly Like Humans with extra bits stuck on.)

When the Human Federation or w/e discovered Zi and decided it would be feasible to colonize it, there were a lot of engineers/science-y types who really wanted to tinker with robot animals that ended up volunteering and being chosen for the initial expedition, along with various other types you'd want along to build a civilization on a distant planet. The mechanical organisms were initially dubbed Zi-oids, which over time became corrupted into the simpler name Zoids. After being tamed, they proved useful as pack animals, modes of transport, farm hands and companions. Contact with organoids started off pretty hostile but became more relaxed as time went on, per the other post. Eventually, the colonists developed quite advanced (though still very small) Zoids with respectable combat capabilities, designed primarily to protect them from attack by wild Zoids.

At this point only a small portion of the Western Continent had been settled, and while the rest of it still needed to be explored some of the settlers were eager to see what the planet's other continents were like; exploration of these was hindered by savage magnetic storms that made aerial or ocean travel a potentially deadly prospect. These people observed how organoids could seemingly defy the laws of physics by converting themselves into a pure energy state to teleport from place to place, etc. and started thinking "what if we did that, BUT WITH HUGE TRANSPORT ZOIDS" and began experimenting with smooshing together Organoid Physics-Defying Bullshit with what bits of Spacefaring Technology they'd managed to salvage from the ships that had brought them to Zi. The result was something that was eventually known as the Zoidcore Overload System, and while it was being tested one day, something went horrifyingly wrong and - to all outside observers, of which there were admittedly very few - the entire settlement vanished without a trace.

IN REALITY it had been transported back in time thousands upon thousands of years, which is blatant Time Travel Bullshit but o well. (Also Legacy gave us canon time fuckery so god dammit, I'm gonna use it.) The colonists were disoriented, frightened and cut off from any further contact with their homeworld, but since the entire settlement with all of its farms, greenhouses and other resources had been displaced together, nobody was quite as badly off as they could have been. Shaken but determined, most of the colony pulled themselves together to push onward with their lives.

Some of the colonists were pretty mad about being temporally displaced and wanted someone to fix it, which of course was impossible, but they attempted to use force to make it happen and got booted out of the colony for being asshats. Taking their Zoids, organoids and whatever supplies they could carry with them, they wandered off and eventually started another settlement elsewhere. Both settlements continued developing Zoids, albeit now with more of an eye toward combat practicality now that they knew they had enemies out there.

As this went on, organoids started evolving too - originally small, drab creatures who oversaw whole swarms of wild Zoids as their charges, their species eventually started selecting for individuals who bonded with the human settlers and their Zoids; these specimens grew larger, displayed higher intelligence due to the mental bond they shared with other sapients, and thrived in comparison to their wilder counterparts. They also led less stressful lives as they tended to a single, relatively sedate Zoid rather than having to protect and heal numerous creatures that were constantly being preyed upon by each other. (They also happened to evolve in a variety of bright colors, due to their human companions’ natural preference for such things.) Eventually, wild organoids were all but extinct on Zi.

Before too long the colonists discovered the thing they wound up calling Zoid Eve and built the city of Eveopolis around it. As their population grew and prospered, they made great technological advances and started improving themselves using computerized implants that allowed them to bond more closely with their Zoids, utilize remote "drone" units, and grant some of them seemingly supernatural powers. They ceased to think of themselves as humans any longer and began calling themselves Zoidians.

Then everyone started fighting over Zoid Eve, the Death Saurer happened, the Zoidian race was decimated after thousands of years of prosperity, and the last handful of survivors went into stasis.

MEANWHILE, ON EARTH

The governments of the world are wary of Zi. Something bad happened there; they’ve never gotten to the bottom of what caused that first colony to disappear decades ago. It also seemed to have undergone intense environmental changes - huge swathes of the planet’s western continent are barren desert. It’s basically everyone’s last choice of planet to try and settle.

The fifth son of a royal family has become deeply dissatisfied with his station in life. Young and ambitious, he’s hungry enough for power that his elders can see he poses a problem, and devise a means of getting rid of him: they charge him with taking a group of imperial citizens to Zi to establish a branch of the royal family there. The prince knows what they’re trying to do but can’t reasonably defy the order, so he goes.

Thus, Zi is claimed (reluctantly) for the Guylos Empire.

The settlers find the planet tolerable, if not exactly welcoming. They’re hardy folk from having survived on an increasingly inhospitable Earth, and are willing to work hard to make this new world their home. They have great success adapting the planet’s native life forms to their uses, and soon have a stable, vibrant civilization living and working alongside Zoids. Their emperor, too, is pleased with the success of this venture; it wasn’t the kingdom he’d dreamed of, but it is his, and his people are prospering under his rule.

The settlers are curious, of course, about the remnants of a past civilization that they eventually find - ruined structures here and there, the ossified remains of what are definitely Zoids but quite unlike either the wild specimens or anything human engineers have yet come up with. But much of their lives are taken up by simply living; they focus on the present in order to build themselves a stable future, and have no time to dwell on what happened in the past.

Within a handful of generations, some of the Guylos citizens grow restless and crave freedom from their Imperial masters. They break off and form the Helic Republic. The Empire does not suffer this gladly, and war breaks out, raging for several years before an uneasy truce is reached to allow the battered forces of both sides to recover.

The arms race triggered by the outbreak of war drives both the Empire and the Republic to excavate countless ruins of the civilization that called themselves Zoidians. They make amazing discoveries - advanced technology whose workings they can barely comprehend; Zoids of incredible complexity, though their operating systems and user interfaces render them all but unusable to humans; and capsules. Rows and rows of capsules, in some places - always a large one accompanied by a much smaller one. Very few of the small capsules prove useful - the rooms in which they are found are often partially destroyed, the capsules breached by falling debris or the ravages of time - but the larger ones often bear fruit in the form of small, startlingly intelligent Zoids with incredible abilities.

By incorporating elements of ancient Zoidian technology into their designs, the humans of Zi quickly develop more effective weapons - more efficient ways of killing each other. By the time the truce is reached, Zi’s inhabitants are bone-weary of conflict, many living in worse conditions than their ancestors of centuries past. While several large cities remain standing - most notably the capitals of the Republic and Empire - most of Zi’s inhabitants are reduced to small settlements, relying on subsistence farming or trade to support themselves, and constantly under threat of attack by bandits or other troublemakers. It’s a difficult life, but the Zians determinedly struggle on. Giving up is not in their nature.

THEN CC/GF HAPPENS

Afterward, a small handful of people (mostly military) are aware of the existence of Ancient Zoidians, Organoids and Zoid Eve. The Death Saurer and Death Stinger are eventually relegated to "wew lad good thing we weren't around for that shit"-style legend. Helic and Guylos remain on mostly good terms in the ensuing decades, both bonded and scared shitless by the whole Death Zoid mess. People start using Zoids in happy pretendy funtime battles, and the world at large is a pretty swell place to live.

And then the Backdraft starts digging up Ultimate X Zoids and some other fuckfaces stick Ancient Zoidian AIs into Raynoses that end up being sold to the general public.

Something something Gilvader.

#zoids #headcanon #worldbuilding

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mrneighbourlove · 4 years ago

Text

Fall of a Dynasty: Ch 8. The Hardest Choices

The hostile takeover was more chaotic than Jaster expected. Going through the Imperial Capital and up to the palace, the man was able to convince some to fight for his cause. To take over the Empire from a cowardly Zannah. His main and equipped fighters included the Theron he swayed to his side, monsters Exodrum provided, and a secret weapon the god gave him. Attacking the palace, he sent citizens first to attack the palace guards as more experienced soldiers took aim. “Faster! We shall rewrite Hasai history through fire and blood!”

As they were making their way into the courtyard, a portal open horizontally up, and a group of strangers dropped down. ‘Jaster Fett’ only needed to recognize his sister to know he was in danger. With a whistle, he directed his militia. “There’s the Empress! Kill the False Emperor! Free the Empire from her weakness and madness! I will secure the throne room!”

Zannah saw most of her guards were either dead, busy fighting others, or spread out. They’d be on their own. “Manaco. Prove yourself to my daughter. Griffith, you go find Annuciata’s blimp and get it ready to fly. Leere, Zizi. You deal with the traitors and the confused citizens. The rest with me.”

Rinku drew the Master Sword and a shield. Griffith and Athena grabbed some swords of the fallen off the ground. Leere channeled her magic, conjuring the undead beneath the ground. Zannah took a few deep breathes to ready her fire, and charged barefoot as a mob started to close in with swords, pitchforks and fire balls.

"Ever see what happens when two Lorleidians combine magic, Zannah?" Zizi was not happy about the empress shoving her through the portal. She should have had the chance to at least say goodbye to her husband. Yet, what was done was done. Manaco knew what his mother was insinuating and gently took her hand.

"What do you get... when you combine fire and earth?" Concentrating her magical energy, her earth and his fire started to mix. Nihilus had to be contained. He could not leave the palace. "Magma."

Then a loud whoosh, the ground shook and it started to get unbearably hot...

“Zizi, don’t you dare burn down my palace! This is where Athena and Manaco will live!” Zannah jumped over the start of the magma, saving a guard from being killed by a Theron with a jump kick. Her brother was already disappearing into the palace with a small detachment of guards.

Athena and Griffith felt the heat, even as they launched and reflected fire at the enemy. They knew who to kill, and who to maim. Citizens who were confused and angry, and the murderous soldiers.

"It's a fucking building, Zannah. No matter what happens to it, we cannot let your brother out. We have to contain him if we hope to have a chance of Rinku cutting him down." Zizi was not budging on this one. "If you're going to have a little faith in rekindling a friendship instead of just tolerating each other, then trust me!"

“It’s built history where I raised my family.” Zannah roundhouse kicked a basilisk in the face. “Not to mention there are innocents inside this building. Just-“ Zannah launched a lightning bolt down the throat of the beast. “Don’t burn it down! I trust you to be safe!”

Leere successfully conjured her a few Floor Masters to terrify and grab militant citizens. “Come on! We can trap him inside the palace!”

Magma lined the outside of the palace. No one was getting in or out without serious damage. Due to the contents being molten rock, no Hasai who could wield fire magic could extinguish the heat. Manaco then started his fight. Years of training were currently going to pay off now. He never had a desire to be a warrior... but he had the desire to protect his family. He used his magic to set himself ablaze and then started taking down enemies. A Vatra's fire could never hurt the user.

Zizi decided to deal with trouble the old fashioned way. Nothing worked better than a quick crater in the ground to hold traitors in place.

Griffith kissed his sister on the cheek, giving her good luck as he fought his way to the docking hanger. Athena looked to Manaco, eyes raised as she joined Rinku and her mother towards the palace. “Manaco! Come on!”

Manaco followed after the twins, leaving a trail of scorched footprints in his place.

“Don’t you need a sword?” Athena shouted behind her as she stabbed a man in the chest to defend herself.

Manaco simply snatched a foe by the throat and within seconds, all that remained was a pile of ash.

"Swords are overrated, 'wife'. Much more fun to simply disintegrate." Even now, he had a sense of humor.

Athena didn’t laugh, simply worried about their lives.

Outside, Leere got back to back with Zizi, each using their respective abilities to restrain the separatists. “So ‘Earth Sage’. You ever think that you’d be helping the Fire Witch like this? More important question, don’t you Kahli is going to kill you for bringing Manaco here?”

"Leere, you know as well as I do that I didn't bring Manaco here," Zizi created a sizable crater and trapped many enemies within it. "Manaco followed his damn dick here."

“Zizi. Your daughters fuck around like bunnies. Least he-shit!”

Leere pulled Zizi down as they went behind cover from a volley of arrows being shot from above. With the clench of her fist, a wall master took hold of the archer, dragging him into shadows. “That was too close. Least your boy seems to be finding a steady career. Did I tell you I’m expecting a daughter?”

"Urboro is the one that likes to fuck and she's within her right to have a fun night with whoever she wishes." Zizi yelped when Leere pulled her to the side and blocked out the arrows. "And you should talk, I know how much you loved to party with the old snake." The Zemlja then arched an eyebrow. "... you're not pregnant so I'm assuming Sunny is. If you're going to have a kid, then you're definitely going to have to take some precautions around a farm. I thought my plantations wouldn't be too bad, but my kids still found a way to get into trouble."

“My party days are long behind me Zizi. And yeah, Sunny’s the one who’ll carry my kid.” When Zizi tilted her head in confusion, Leere explained it with one word. “Magic. But let’s focus on staying alive.”

Meanwhile, as Zannah raced through the palace with Rinku, Manaco and Athena, there was a small ticking from above them on the roof. Rinku was in the middle of cutting down another Theron to heed the noise. Looking up, Zannah leap forward as she was separated from the others. Between them, T0-D landed, two shimmering blue guardian swords drawn.

“Tod! You too?!” Zannah leaked heartache in her voice.

“Confirmation: Reprogrammed. God of War. Must obey. I-I-I’m sorry.” His eye suddenly turned from red to black. “Voice commands shutting down.”

The android swung with lightning fast speed at Rinku and Athena, both women needing to protect themselves. Athena gritted through her teeth as she struggled in a lock of blades. “Mother. Go!”

Manaco was busy keeping the pathway clear for the women. There seemed to be an endless supply of Hasai ready to throw away their lives for this brother of Zannah's. Idiots, the lot of them. Could they not see that sometimes a love of power would only lead to ruin? When T0-D suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Manaco knew the fight was suddenly getting serious. The robot was a deadly fighter. He could not allow T0-D to touch him. Stories from his father, Covarog, and Malik were enough to know that one wrong strike could mean death. As the robot tried to push back Rinku and Athena, Manaco zoomed in behind T0-D, kicking out the robot's legs. Rinku had the weapon to use against Nihilus and had to go with Zannah.

Rinku gave Manaco a nod of understanding, running off. “You better stay alive kid!”

T0-D immediately kicked himself off the floor, his talon feet giving Manaco a hard kick in the chest. Athena was quick to get between them, firing a stream of fire at him. “Manaco! Don’t use the same strategy twice. He’ll learn and use it against you.”

"Then exactly how are we supposed to beat him?" Manaco asked his to-be wife. "... I don't suppose I can melt him into a pile of slag."

Athena tried to launch fire directly at T0-D, but the android countered by spinning his joints at sonic speeds, both blades rotating with the motion of a turbine. The flames were nearly propelled to the sides. The swords cut sparks into the floor as he walked towards the Hasai. “Do what we must.”

T0-D suddenly opened up a path within the spinning. Just enough for his head to light up and fire a Tesla bolt at the pair, dividing them apart.

Manaco had to think quickly. Neither of them had the speed like T0-D did, so avoidance was key. Yet, if his limbs were disrupted, the two of them could possibly subdue him. Zipping out of the way of the bolt, he then told Athena, "We have to make sure he can't hurt us. We need to take out his arms."

Hearing that, T0-D replied by activating two more arms. Clicking on the handles, two more Guardian blades lit up. Athena looked to Manaco quickly, giving him a deep scowl. “Fight with your actions, not words.”

Throwing her sword at T0-D, Athena took a risk by disarming herself, but she channeled her magic, and tried to blast the android apart with large bursts of fire. “You’ll only get on chance. Go on my signal.”

T0-D danced around the fire, taking multiple swings at Manaco.

There had to be something that he could use to stop the arms from spinning. Manaco took a quick glance around the room. There were several old weapons on the wall, but some still too ancient or not useful in this situation. Then, he settled on an old morning star. The chain on it could prove useful but... would it hold? He dodged once, then twice, and rolled forward, jumping onto the wall, and grabbing the weapon. Evading yet another strike, Manaco had to calculate the exact right moment to get close. Not only did he have to worry about the sharp blades, but he had to make sure Athena had enough time to react. Almost... almost... there!

Manaco leapt into the middle of the arms, getting nicked in the process, but managed to wrap the length chain around T0-D's arms... and pulled as hard as he could. He gritted his teeth, putting a foot on T0-D's leg and strained. "Athena! Now!!!"

Athena changed her attack to lightning, pouring her power to short circuit T0-D’s weapons. “Take out his limbs!”

With a yell, Manaco pulled as hard as he could, the spikes ripping through T0-D's wires and disengaging a few of the limbs. The Vatra then used his extreme heat to weld the joints on the others, so they could not move.

T0-D shambled about on the ground, silently unable to fight back, only rage filling him.

Athena didn’t even take a breath to stop the mission. “We need to go now. Can you move?”

Manaco grunted as he released the chains and panted heavily. He had avoided major damage, but was still injured.

"I'll be fine." He used his own fire to seal his wounds for the time being. "We need to go help your mother."

Zannah and Rinku had finally cornered the formers brother up by the observatory. Having chased him through the palace and killing every lackey thrown at him, they were finally ready to finish this little separatist movement. All he could do was sick the last view guards he had left on Rinku while Zannah danced around them. “It’s over Nihilus.”

The man tried to swing a dagger at her, but the Ocho ducked low, and swinging a fist upwards encased in fire, she physically punched his hand off. The man screamed, stumbling backwards onto a deck. From outside, even Zizi and Leere could make him out. “And now, you die again.”

“Wait! Stop!”

There was something in his voice that indeed made Zannah stop from executing him. A closer look at this Jaster Fett, and the woman’s mouth went dry. Despite what the decades that passed between them, Zannah could still remember all the vivid expressions of her brother. His joy, his anger, and most importantly his fear. “Seras?”

Rinku killed the last guard, pausing as the two siblings shared their little reunion.

Seras clenched his stump, sweat dripping down his face. Although given a brand-new body, he still had the same energy that he had as a teenager. “Yes Zannah. It’s me.”

The twin sister shook her head, disbelief filling her. “It can’t be you.”

“Why? Because it would be so much simpler for you to kill our older brother?”

That struck a nerve with Zannah, but in a different direction. “What? It was so much simpler for you to kill your twin sister than?”

Seras clenched his teeth, cartelizing the stump with his fire. “Of course. You watched me die so long ago on the plains of Hyrule Field. You took control of the Kikai Empire, when it should have been my birthright. You got to live while I was burning in hell! Exodrum tortured my soul for my failure in battle. When the god suddenly came to me with the opportunity to return to the land of the living and seize the Empire for myself, I took it. Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t anyone?”

Manaco heard the commotion up ahead and reached out and grabbed Athena by the shoulders. He motioned for her to be quiet and the two of them listened in on Zannah's conversation. All of them assumed that it was Nihilus who had returned. This was not going to be easy for Zannah...

Leere was motioning for Zizi to slowly lift them up with vines to the balcony to rejoin the others.

As for Zannah, her eyes nearly glazed over. This was one last cruel prank of the gods against her. “Seras. I mourned you. I built a legacy that you might have cherished. And now that you’re back, now that you’re alive, you tried to have me killed?”

“It’s the Hasai way. And it’s what Exodrum and his allies wanted.”

“Fuck the Hasai way! Fuck Exodrum! You’re my twin brother! My brother! I loved you! I was the only one who did!”

A long silence filled the air between them.

Zizi watched the scene unfold as did Leere. The situation just went from bad to worse. This was Zannah's twin brother, not her psycho elder brother. How was this going to be taken care of? She glanced at Leere with a frown. This was supposed to be a quick mission, not one of debate. Manaco, on the other hand, only saw one objective; to kill Seras. He had caused enough devastation to the Hasai people. More of this would only bring suffering to the innocents. Taking a deep breath, Manaco outstretched his hand, and whispered to Athena, "We can't let him hurt our people any further... do you agree with me?"

“Yes, but...” Athena was conflicted.

Leere whispered to Zizi, still out of earshot of the others. “This might not be Nihilus, but he was still a sociopath. He scared Kanisa and took joy in those he killed.”

Seras sighed, smiling from ear to ear. “You know Zannah, it’s nice to see you grow up to be such a fine, beautiful, as well as capable woman. Can’t we simply just divide the Empire amongst ourselves, for the betterment of our people, or the betterment of-HKK!!!”

To everyone’s shock, Zannah still carried out her mission. In a quick movement, she superheated her hand to drive it through Seras’ chest, grab his heart, and squeeze it into paste. The man’s eyes nearly exploded out of his sockets as he spat out blood. “Sister?”

“Oh god. Oh sweet merciful heaven forgive me.” Zannah, traumatized by her duty, pulled out too fast. She didn’t even remember to grab him. The last look Seras gave her was a similar one she saw the first time he died. Fear. Yet even worse, there was sadness now. His body tumbled backwards, falling off the balcony and onto the pavement down below. Leere has to pull herself close to Zizi as they watched the body fall past them and hit the ground.

Zannah crumbled to her knees, clenching her bloody arm, shivering with the upmost guilt and heartache. Small sobs escaped her as she broke down. This was the second time she had to see her twin brother die. And being the cause of death directly this time was too much to take. “I’m sorry. Oh god I’m so sorry.”

Zizi was not expecting Zannah to suddenly kill Seras. As Leere grabbed her, the Zemlja held tight to her friend. To kill her own brother for the sake of the people... what was going through Zannah's mind? Manaco, too, was shocked. He glanced at Athena, not knowing what to say.

Athena was horrified. It happened so quickly. She didn’t have words.

It seemed that Rinku did. She walked over to Zannah, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss Zannah...”

The tired Ocho didn’t respond as Zizi hoisted herself and Leere up.

Zizi said nothing. She had no idea of what to say. There was nothing she could do to make Zannah feel any better.

Zannah’s senses only came back to her when she heard the Danjurian blimp come flying by. “...Athena. Manaco. Fly over the cities and declare marshal law. Declare your decree as Emperor and Empress.”

Manaco really did not like being told what to do. Yet, for once, he was not going to argue with Zannah. Holding Athena's hand, he followed her to announce the decree to the citizens.

Griffith threw a ladder down to them so they could climb aboard. Annuciata made devices that could amplify their voices. As the pair traveled over the Hasai capital, nearly the whole island had gathered to see who would come out on top of the civil war. Taking Manaco’s hand, she waited as Griffith flew into view. “Citizens of the Kikai Empire! The usurper is dead! His allies are dead! But hope survives! I, Princess Athena, will be taking the throne from my dear mother. Together, with my new husband Manaco, a Hasai of Hyrule, we shall lead you to a bright and rich future as Emperor Manaco and Empress Athena of the Empire! Now return to your homes! Peace needs to be established!”

While Manaco and Athena were occupied announcing the victory to the Hasai people, Zizi watched Zannah crumple with her grief. The Zemlja supposed she was lucky in that aspect. She never had lost a family member to death. True, her mother passed, but... did that really count? She never knew her mother or her father. All she had was her sisters. Now, Zizi had a husband and many children. Her family was growing... and she never thought of losing any of them. She prayed to the spirits that she'd die before any of her children would. Zizi could not stomach the thought of watching one of her babies pass before her... or her husband. Yet Zannah had to kill her own brother. Watch him die. Twice.

"You and I didn't get along at first. We didn't like each other. But then, we came to know friendship and that... that was broken, I know. But this... I know I once told you I wanted you to experience my pain but... not like this. Never like this." Zizi cautiously put a hand on Zannah's shoulder. "I'm... I'm sorry about your brother, Zannah."

“It’s ok. You don’t have to pretend. I got exactly what was coming to me.” Zannah sounded so... hallow. So broken. She truly believed that she deserved this. Was this not what fate wanted otherwise?

"No matter how horrible someone has been," Zizi pulled her into a tight hug. It still hurt what Zannah did to her family, did to Kahli. She was not sure if that feeling of mistrust would ever go away. But the right thing to do was to go on for the sake of her son and Athena. There would be no more strife. The next generation depended upon it. "No one deserves suffering or pain. I... I forgive you..."

Zannah hugged tightly back, tears swelling in her eyes. “I’m sorry Zizi.”

“Pathetic. Even in victory.”

The voice froze Zannah to Zizi. From a fire place, a corpse that had tumbled in rose up, flames leaking from the eye sockets, mouth, and cuts Rinku gave it. It was a frightening Avatar indeed. “I gave you a challenge to rise up to. You succeeded, and yet here you are, grovelling like a dog. Perhaps your daughter will serve me better.”

Leere and Rinku instinctively stood to protect the others. “Get back you vile bastard.”

"It's not pathetic to have emotions, you... you... conceited, power-hungry egomaniac!!!" Zizi held Zannah tighter when Exodrum appeared. "Why don't you just simmer down to a dull spark and stay that way!!!"

“Hmm, perhaps I should take Zolori under my wing?” A wolf like growl echoed around the room. “I own the Hasai. I am their god. They are my war bound children. As God of War and Fire, I burn away weakness. Zannah. You are weak.”

"A god should love their children, should take care of their children! The only reason the Hasai follow you is fear! And that's not true admiration! They're only doing it for survival!" Zizi spat at Exodrum. "Zannah isn't weak! You're the weak one! You're a coward! You use nasty tactics to get what you want and if someone dares to step out of line, then they're not your perfect, brainless, soldier! You're no god!!! You're just a... a... a fucking piece of ember that managed to set a fire! You're no true flame! No deity! You're an imposter!!! You're the tyrant!!!"

“Get back you bloated carcass.” Rinku swung the Master Sword defiantly.

This seemed to get a raise out of the deity, as with a raise of his hand, he blasted the group with a steaming torrent of air. “Silence your tongues. No mortals can judge me.”

"But I can." Vatra had appeared in the room. There she was in all her glorious beauty. A figure completely composed of the hottest fire. "Zemlja is not the only one that the Earth Sage prays to. You forget that half of her children are of flame."

Exodrum couldn’t believe his eyes, quickly shedding the mortal body to become a being of pure fire. “No.”

Behind Vatra, another spirit appeared. This one was of Hyrule, holding a more concrete form of an eagle. Under its claws it held an orb of light. This was Eldin, a spirit of light. “Exodrum. You hold no sway over the Hasai no more.”

“Lies! Lies from spirits no one cares for!”

"You are to be nothing, Exodrum. You abused your position." Vatra sounded very angry. "The deities are supposed to watch over their people. We have all seen failure at some point. Yet, you, on the other hand, take pleasure from the torment of the Hasai. No longer will they be under your guidance. Today, that stops. The new Empress and Emperor prayed to me. I will now watch over the people as well as my Lorleidian children. You," She gestured. "Go away. And don't you dare come back."

“No! You have NO AUTHORITY!”

Eldin opened his wings, blasting Exodrum with holy light. “Zannah gave the Empire to Hyrule. As such, its people and lands will also be protected by the Holy Goddess. You are banished by Hylian and Lorliedian decree.”

“Curse you both! I’ll have my subjects back!”

"I'll cease your burning before you come back to these people whom you have mistreated." Vatra warned Exodrum. "Flee. And do not return."

The light of Exodrum scattered, with Eldin protecting the mortals as the fire flew in all directions. Once the flames settled, Eldin looked to Zizi and the others.

“Earth Sage. You have done well here. So too have the other Sages. You will soon meet the others. Fate will bring you together for a great purpose. They will be chosen, as you were chosen. Walk with tranquility of the Forest.” Eldin squawked an eagle’s cry as he vanished into light, leaving the women and Vatra alone.

Zannah still held onto Zizi’s arm, taking slow breaths. The days events physically exhausted her. Was it even supper time? She didn’t know anymore.

Vatra still remained. There was a lot of upcoming work to do. Still, she had a task to complete now. "Zannah... a word?"

“Alone?”

"Yes. Unless you prefer the company."

“I’ll be fine.” Zannah said that more to reassure herself then the others, but she meant it for all. Rinku gently took Zizi by the hand to let her know it’d be ok to leave. Once the other three closed the door to the observatory, Zannah’s shoulders dropped as she sat back in a chair. “I don’t suppose you’re going to overlook my faults? Worried you favour Zizi and still feel I need more punishment.”

"While each and every being on this planet has faults, it is unjust to judge a person based upon their wrong doings. Yet, that being said, there are those who revel in those faults, and use it to hurt others." Vatra was like Zemlja, in a way. She was wise and just as old as the earth spirit. Yet, unlike Zemlja, she had a temper. "You have certainly pushed your luck."

“Your point?” Zannah looked briefly at the blood of her brother, still fresh on her arm, a coating against her blackened hand.

"My point is... despite what you have done, you did somehow manage to learn humility." Vatra gazed at the woman. "You learned that you can never be the strongest, the most powerful. There will always be another who is stronger. And lastly, you also learned that you can be hurt just like the others you've hurt. You learned a very hard way. I deem that lesson enough."

“I have a feeling you’re not here just to lecture me? Gods can use pastors and priests for that.”

"No, I am not here just to lecture you. I am also here to tell you I will watch over your people." Vatra promised Zannah. "A shrine will be erected here to where they can pray to me if wished."

“Anything else?” Zannah was becoming more and more disheartened by the second. “Or does the pretty spirit want to move on?”

"Zizi told me you fear of being damned." Vatra asked. "Is that what you truly think of yourself?"

“I’m a killer. I’m a betrayer of friends. I just murdered my own brother. So yes. I do believe my soul is well beyond damned. My children are grown adults now. Part of me is scared to start aging again. Because I know the second I punch my ticket out I’ll be right back in the clutches of Exodrum. Or maybe I’ll be lucky and go to whatever your version of hell is.”

"A Lorleidian will only be damned if he or she turns his back on their people, or us spirits. It's a high offense, one that is not forgiven." Vatra then reminded Zannah. "There are even those who are deemed the worst have a chance a redemption. I think you have found yours in apologizing for your wrongs and trying to make for a brighter future."

Zannah looked Vatra in the eyes, shrugging her discontent away. “You have anything else to say or give me?”

"Is there something you wish to know? Followers of any of the Seven Siblings may ask, and if within our abilities, will be granted an answer."

“Can I be given a free pass into heaven? Can I be freed of my guilt? Can I get a kiss from her flaming goddess?” Zannah said the last request in a bitter sarcastic tone. “What advice can you give me? I’m done ruling. I’m done being a Demi god. I’m just a tired, worn woman who wants to settle down the rest of her days. I’m no sage. I’m no preacher.”

"Only you can make your way to the heavens, and only you can absolve yourself of guilt. And a kiss usually pertains to a blessing." Vatra then assured Zannah. "Life has been difficult for you. Yet, I assure you, it will get better. Will you take my word for it?"

“I suppose that’ll be a start.”

"You will live out the rest of your years with Annuciata and you will be blessed with grandchildren one day. Not all hope for the future is lost."

“We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Zannah stood up, granting the goddess a respectful bow.

"Until next time, Zannah." With that, Vatra vanished.

Zannah sat back into her chair, unsure on how to continue with the future. Long term at least. When the other women entered, she took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “Zizi. Rinku. Leere. I think it’s time I have one last formal meeting with your sister, Earth Sage.”

"...?" Zizi looked a little puzzled. Why would Zannah want another meeting with her? Yet, she expressed no objection. So, she took a seat next to the woman.

“I think it’s only fair I transition my power to Athena officially in front of Zarazu and Annuciata. The other countries can get mail if they are foolish enough to decline an invitation.”

"...? I'm surprised that you want to do that." Zizi held up a single hand. "No offense, but... you just lost Exodrum."

“No. I just killed my brother.” Zannah stood up, overlooking the balcony. “Thinks it’s time to reassure the others a more civilized ruler will be taking over.”

She looked hollowly down at the corpse of her brother.

"... you did what you had to do, Zannah. It was him or your people. Your family." Zizi reminded her gently. "Sometimes... family can be the ones who hurt us the most."

“Funny that. I was doing the hurting...”

________________________________________________________________

Previous Ch.https://mrneighbourlove.tumblr.com/post/621742371644850176/fall-of-a-dynasty-ch-7-first-steps

Final Ch. https://mrneighbourlove.tumblr.com/post/621742911768477696/fall-of-a-dynasty-ch-9-new-lineage

Crossover with @ridersoftheapocalypse

#crossover #Hasai #Zannah #Zizi #Rinku #Leere #Manaco #Athena #Death in the Family

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weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables · 5 years ago

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TGOA Worldbuilding: Fashion and Culture in the Major Cities

Okay so I said I would be back and here I am. In these past few weeks I’ve been drowned in exams, working on stuff for Rome Pride Parade, another couple of demonstrations and marches, a two-day-long dance recital. I am DEAD. But as writers often do, I am back to haunt y’all with a little worldbuilding based on some sketches I did for my instagram page. Which I will pick back up soon I SWEAR.

So let’s begin! This post is going to be kind of long so make sure you have time! I’ll throw in a Read More after the first city.

Malnova, the Ancient

The town was unkept and brimming with criminality and death and illness.

But its past was glorious and, if one paid attention and knew enough to look for it, it emerged from the shroud of ignorance and wilful denial that was its shield and its prison. Scio had learned all about it as a child walking about with her beloved master, and now she did her best to transmit that wonder to her companion, wanting her to see Malnova as it once stood, wise and uncorrupted.

Scio had always been fascinated by the views hidden within the serpentine alleys of the centre. Ancient, almost-forgotten ruins of the world that once had been rested under a layer of dust in-between the villas of the rich. White marble spilled into the streets, reflecting the faces of the present and the past alike.

Malnova is the heart of the Knights’ rule, and even though the land can be counted more or less as being a confederacy of different cities, it’s in Malnova that the majority of political functions are held and decisions taken. As it serves the practical function of a Capital city, it’s constantly suffering a barrage of trends and input from the rest of the nation, which makes it difficult for it to maintain its specificity. Malnova’s ways are set in stone: it’s easily the most conservative city of all, both in practices and in fashion; religious imagery is woven in every aspect of its citizens’ lives. Sun’s colors are everywhere, and so are her statues, often depicting her as a merciless warrior seeking vengeance and punishing sinners with the righteous fury of her fire. The ruins of Malnova’s past (before the Knights) are left to rot in their squalid, paling splendour, and their meanings and purpose have been forgotten and buried; the people wander among their marble skeletons that have become voiceless and forget themselves as well. Guilt and a very accented sense of duty are Malnova’s key words - interspersed with the promise of blessings to those who behave in accordance to the Law. Probably because of this, it’s precisely in Malnova that most of the rebels of the land are born and gather: an immense web of revolutionaries mingles inextricably with its underworld of delinquency and poverty, but it has expanded to reach even the upper class, mostly thanks to privileged university students who embrace the cause of liberation from the Knights’ near-dictatorship.

Scio, Milda and Koro grew up in Malnova.

Kristina, the Crystalline

Kristina was resplendent in the bright colours of the midday sun when they passed underneath its solar glass walls, watching its iridescent reflexes from afar, from the lowest section of the cliff it was perched upon; they stood where the evergreen trees gave way to a softer vegetation that morphed slowly into a collection of colourful pebbles, sleeping by the ocean.

It had been universally agreed in the past twenty years or so that there was no city finer than Kristina, nor more religious – only within its walls stood more than three hundred Shrines, not including the small, private ones, each unique and beautiful, reflecting the many facets of a faith that had known so many changes in the course of the centuries. Most of them had been abandoned, left to ruin in solitude like forgotten museums that had no more voice because no one understood their treasures anymore.

Kristina houses the most important temple of the land, the Shrine of Sun Conqueror; relatively new, it was built to celebrate Sun’s victory over Moon, and light prevailing over darkness, justice over cruelty. People from all the land gather there to celebrate four days of fast and prayer each new year: the new year start when the Spring Equinox begins, which is when the mortals place the start of Sun’s rule. The city itself is a work of art: it stands above the cliff where legend says Moon was born, and it has not entirely forgotten its roots of silver moonlight. Crisp veils and watery colours prevail even in this time when Moon is banished, and Kristina retains its mystical appeal and its role as Muse and Inspiration. Even if Moon, the protector of poetry and music has been turned into a monster, a ghost to chase away, the city still fascinates poets and writers, who gravitate into its orbit almost naturally. Kristina is also the only city to boast a measure of autonomy from the Knights’ laws: because of this, it has been allowed to keep its public library open, if censored, and its alphabetisation levels are far higher than those of its sister cities.

Klara, probably the greatest poet to ever exist, was born there, and so was Skalo, the youngest and most reasonable of the Knights.

Nevenkita, the Unconquered

There were no imposing palaces in Nevenkita: all the buildings were small, huddled together in a rainbow of coarse bricks and sloping rooftops upon which shone proudly artful mosaics made out of solar glass; most houses were connected by suspended bridges that had become home to tangles of poison ivy and brambles, and on the highest floors sometimes balconies touched while thin strings collected lanterns that hung into the void.

Everywhere were visible the signs of war – it was the stone itself that bore its scars, faithful and supportive of the people that had given blood and soul and tears to defend it. The night spilled velvet into the air, and never had Scio felt it more welcoming or more alive: every shadow, every star, every cloud seemed to ring with it, with the pulsing energy of the mortals, the songs and voices and dances and noises that crowded the quiet, made it sentient and ripe with meaning.

Nevenkita is the only city never to have fallen under the Knights’ rule. Protected by the enchanted forest where the God of Darkness and Dreams used to dwell, by the ocean that Moon commanded and the mountains the Crawlers hide within, the Unconquered receives help and resources from people of the foreign nations, who deem it a point of honor to aid the city in its resistance. During the course of the decades, Nevenkita has suffered and survived many sieges at the hands of the Knights’ army of Shorina, and has managed to keep its independence. The people of Nevenkita are very well cultured, know the history of the land and have high schooling rates. As opposed to the rest of the cities, Nevenkita’s healthcare system is not only extremely efficient, but entirely free - and Nevenkita’s doctors are known for smuggling medicines and sometimes equipment into the land, and for visiting people illegally (see: Koro). The city is almost single-handedly responsible for keeping the Resistance alive and safe, and receives a constant flux of immigrants escaping the Knights (though most of them later cross the border seeking asylum). The most important figure of the Resistance is Beno, Defìo’s wife; three times the leader of Nevenkita, she has fought nail and tooth ever since she was fifteen in a time where all hope seemed lost, and has attracted a fair number of followers inside the land, too. Her brutal execution has shaken the public to the point of reawakening movements of dissent all across the cities, and she is now considered a war hero.

Defìo, though exiled, has picked up her legacy.

BONUS: SCIO AND SUNON AS SHORIN AND RI’SAL

Okay this is IT I’m sorry if it’s too long but I needed to sort it all out and why not have you suffer through it as well? That’s what writeblogs are for, right?

Tag list (which I might need to update? I don’t know): @toboldlywrite

@concerningwolves @rosesonneptune @kriss-the-writing-nerd @dreamywritingdragon @lady-redshield-writes @idreamtofreality @toomuchplot @queerloveandspaceships

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chaletnz · 6 years ago

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6000 Years of History in Plovdiv

I started my day with an alarm at 6.45am because I wanted to be the first to jump in the shower. I was ready in the dining hall waiting for breakfast to start (punktlich!) at 7.30 and then ate as much as I could bear. I was running a little bit behind schedule but managed to leave the hostel at around 8.20am to walk to the metro station. By 8.45 I was arriving at the central bus station where I'd been told that there were buses to Plovdiv every hour on the hour, however there had in fact been one at 6am, another at 8am and the next would be at 11am. I had no choice but to sit at the bus station and wait for it and of course it was full once it eventually left Sofia. Luckily it was quick and I was arriving in Plovdiv at around 1pm but with the free walking tour available only at 2pm I had to dash to the hostel and drop my bag and then walk all the way through the city to the meeting point at the city hall. As soon as I started walking through the city I was kicking myself for staying three nights in Sofia and only one in Plovdiv. Towards the end of the second day on Sofia I'd grown tired of the city and hadn't really enjoyed it as much as I'd expected to. I thought at first that maybe I'd burnt myself out of travel and needed to take a break but Plovdiv was the beauty, culture and fun of Bulgaria that I'd not seen in Sofia. At the city hall our guide Nemko introduced himself to us and we all waited as the group gradually got bigger. I met a family that happened to also be from Frankfurt; Dad was a laugh, Mum didn't speak English and daughter was a bit shy and didn't want to talk with me and her old man! Nemko gave us a short history of Plovdiv and its rulers and names throughout the 6000 years of existence, making it the oldest living city in Europe and the 5th oldest worldwide. Our first stop was on Plovdiv's main pedestrian street which is one of the largest in Europe. Here we stopped at the statue of crazy Milos and learned how he was a bit deaf and a bit crazy as a result of having meningitis as a child, but he sat here on this ledge in the city every day for about 40 years so after he died the city decided to honour his memory with a statue. On some steps right beside Milos' statue there was a brand new attraction - colourful letters spelling "together" to commemorate Plovdiv being chosen as the cultural capital 2019. We followed Nemko to the location of a giant Roman stadium that had been discovered. We stood at the rounded end of the seating and Nemko told us that it would have stretched from here to the Milos statue 250m away and the width was 40m, and a section of ruins was actually in the basement of an H&M shop. He also pointed out the height of the seating, apparently it can be labelled immediately as being a Roman stadium because the bottom seat is raised 2m from the arena, in Greek stadiums the bottom seat is level in the arena but Romans had a penchant for exotic and dangerous entertainment such as lions! On ground level beside this stadium was an old mosque from the Ottoman Empire, which had been built on the site of an old church, which had been built on an old Greek and Roman temple. So this is the long rich history of Plovdiv - this exact site had been used as a place of worship for over 2000 years. Next we entered the Kapana neighbourhood which loosely translates to mean "the trap" in Bulgarian. It was originally an old bazaar and had about 900 stalls selling everything imaginable. Unfortunately they were all made of wood and a huge fire devastated the bazaar in 1808. Now in present day the streets have been carefully tiled and cars removed making it a fully pedestrian zone. It's a hub for art and culture and remains popular with young people as a place to relax and grab a drink in one of the many bars scattered throughout the streets. Our last area to visit was the Old Town of Plovdiv where I was staying; we focused first on some of the revival houses which were built two or three levels high, each wider than the one below. The citizens were looking to avoid high taxes by building a small ground floor and then expanding outwards as they built more floors. Apparently in some streets the top levels were so close together that women could pass a handkerchief to each other through their windows from opposite sides of the street. We took a water and bathroom break in the courtyard of the Ethnographic Museum where Nemko explained to us the history of the house. It originally belonged to a goldsmith who was of course very rich and could afford the extra taxes for having multiple columns and a courtyard but one day he simply disappeared and the municipality started using the house as a girls' school and later a hat factory before it was converted into the museum. Nemko then took us up the Guardian Hill, which is one of the 6, 7 or 8 hills of Plovdiv (the number is up for debate), and we could enjoy some views over the city then we walked up to the top of the old town for our last stops. First a statue of a violinist named Sasha who was also known for his jokes, one day he was asked where the circus was and he pointed proudly to the parliament building stating that it was full of clowns. This was overheard by an undercover policeman and he was taken to a camp and beaten although his official cause of death was listed as pneumonia. Our final stop was amazing; the Ancient Theatre of Philipopolis lay buried in a hill until a landslide destroyed all the houses on it. A man was digging on his backyard in an attempt to repair some of the damage and he found two Roman columns. The entire site was excavated and preserved over the course of the 1980s. After the tour I returned to the hostel to check in to my room and was charmed by the authenticity of it all. Like staying at a Bulgarian grandmother's house, I had an old four-poster bed and a trunk to store my things. I headed back out into the Kapana district to see all of the street art on offer and get some photos, I also sat for an iced Lindt chocolate at the Monkey House cafe and people-watched into the evening. The next day was time to go already unfortunately, I walked once more through Kapana and the main street and then through the Garden of Tsar Simeon but the fountains were unfortunately not singing today. At the bus station I picked up a ticket to Sofia and then grabbed a coffee and muffin for morning tea at Croatóan Specialty Coffee. I spent the rest of the day on buses until eventually I arrived in my next exciting city - Skopje, Macedonia!

#Bulgaria #Plovdiv

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