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eirikrjs · 4 years ago

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Whilst this may not exactly be a direct source, I believe it is where yubiyubis (sorry if I got the name wrong) may have first heard of that theory about YHVH:

https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Talk:YHVH

Under section 'If YHVH isn't the real problem, what is?'

I did look for that interview before, but regretfully I never found it. Would be awesome if someone did.

Please have a nice day

Damn, nice catch.

Kazuma Kaneko has gone on record saying that God (or YHVH) is not the source of all evil. In fact, I've heard that it's implied that YHVH's evil-doings are a symptom of something wrong with the bigger picture. But what could that be? Is it possible that part of Man's conception of God is responsible that part of God's character, and in turn responsible for the evil acts? Or is it something else entirely? 20:15, November 3, 2011

And 10 years old. The interview in question is on Megatengaku. It’s the Q&A session from the Doublejump Nocturne guide and the particular question, about “why is the Judeo-Christian God the prominent villain in the series,” is the second to last. Here’s Kaneko’s answer:

This is a delicate question, but as mentioned in the last question there are many mysterious common motifs, like the flood legend, in mythology, so I like to investigate mythology from all around the world. For instance, the aforementioned flood legend, the creation process at the beginning of the universe, a hero going on a journey to overcome trials, and sights at the end of the world, etc etc.

And when I thought about which mythology served as the basis, I concluded that it was the Old Testament. Which means YHWH, the god of the Old Testament, is the basis for all the gods around the world, from a folklorist’s standpoint. Now, I would like you to know that in Megaten, YHWH is not portrayed as the embodiment of evil.

I cut some out but Kaneko begins by talking about comparative mythology only to introduce the “YHVH is the basis for all gods” puzzler that we’ve found has certain corollaries to JJCAT (see Hachiman) and his other comments about Mesopotamian religions. But that’s veering off-topic.

So after not really answering the person’s question, Kaneko abruptly ends with the infamous statement that YHVH is not the embodiment of evil. And... there’s nothing more to it. From Kaneko’s perspective, YHVH is just who he is, the embodiment of Law. That YHVH needs to slaughter all of humanity to get his way may seem extreme, but that exact thing happens in the Bible. You know, the Flood and, eventually, Armageddon.

But on the wiki talk page, notice that Kaneko’s actual “YHVH is not the embodiment of evil” quote has been telephone’d to “YHVH is not the source of all evil.” Thus the onus is on finding a source of evil in the series (of which there isn’t one). And thus immediately after, there’s speculation of “something wrong with the bigger picture” that came from another, currently unknown, source. And this is where I’ll speculate: the idea that YHVH could act so mercilessly and cruel is difficult to reconcile for people living in predominantly Christian countries, where the “loving” God is the cultural standard. Example: the Giant Bomb YHVH page that’s mostly my work from a decade ago, including the deck at the top EXCEPT where someone else added to it “an evil version” and “whose true name is YHWH” (lol, what the fuck) which, as I’ve explained and will continue to explain, misses the point:

Thus, something has to be “wrong” about how this JAPANESE game portrays him (even if the largely Old Testament/Hebrew Bible version of Yahweh they use is somewhat obvious). And I do think that low-key racism has something to do with it. “How can ‘they' understand 'our’ religion?” says someone who doesn’t understand Japanese religion or Buddhism and has never set foot in the country. Alternatively, there’s the more common “why is God always the villain in Japanese RPGs, hur hur hur” line.

But it’s very easy to understand why Japan doesn’t have the most positive views of Western monotheism, which can be traced to the Portuguese Jesuits who arrived on the Japanese islands in the 16th century. They had some limited success but, uh, let’s say things didn’t end well. So there’s the historical angle plus the fact that monotheism is simply antithetical to Japanese culture; (simplified) the Japanese worldview depends on spirits populating everything which informs everything from the veneration of nature to cultural festivals to views of death. Modern Japanese can be fascinated by the monotheistic religions but few actually adopt one as their own.

And think of how silly Christianity would sound to someone unfamiliar with it: the only God in existence had to manifest himself as his Son who had to be killed so that people could avoid eternal suffering before God himself in the end times brutally tortures and destroys all those who don’t accept his form as the Son. Now think about that but there’s white guys brandishing guns at you. Thankfully, Japan managed to avoid colonization.

Anyway, one problem I see in the western fanbase that leads to these types of theories is not fully understanding that most of SMT’s content is adopted from elsewhere (mythologies). Like it’s obviously commonly understood where the angels and YHVH are from but inversely most other demons can be unfamiliar and perceived as general RPG monsters (or caused if the writing is bad, like in Apocalypse), and existing religious explanations for, say, YHVH’s behavior are eschewed in favor of original theories. The game script becomes the only text that is studied or scoured for information and that’s how we get corrupted YHVH and stuff like Hijiri-Aleph. This is when “multiverse” thinking can become distracting and miss the forest for the trees.

Speaking of YHVH, there’s text of his cut from SMT2 that I think offers some pertinent advice in this situation:

Wow, uncanny, huh? But I agree that the official word is the most reliable source of information for SMT that we have. We’ll never know more than the actual creators; like, I would have never known JJCAT was relevant without Kaneko and the others talking about it. And even if Atlus recommends bad books, those books genuinely explain what happens in the games. Speculation is fun, but I think both knowing about and having access to these interviews & more could nip a lot of the wilder theories in the bud.

#shin megami tensei #yhvh #smt #atlus #megaten #kazuma kaneko

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thesilkenlair · 4 years ago

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(Casey Here!)

As much D&D as I play, you'd imagine I would eventually get around to illustrating some of their most iconic monsters! Which is to say, the ones that I personally find the most iconic. Which is to say, the ones I memorized when I was reading my dad's monster manual at age nine. Purple worm - Sandworms never go out of style. I've seen a lot of rad designs for this bugger over the editions, but I favor the slightly less reptilian older takes for this particular critter. It's kinda basic, but sometimes that's what you want. It's like a shark or a crocodile: Just flat out unchanged across the ages. Hook horror - I've heard it rumored that Gygax used a small Gigan figure to represent this monster. I can't verify that, but it definitely sounds right. Hook horrors are one of the very first things you meet when you play around in the caves, and they kind of remind me of the Father Deep monsters of the Hork Bajir homeworld that way. Mind flayer - Mind flayers! Basically, take all of your Dracula conventions and dip them in a fresh coat of Lovecraft. There's that old "decadent aristocratic upper caste system who literally eats the poor, but still somehow comes across as less evil than the actual real life 1%" setup that will never stop being relevant. Though personally, I see mind flayers as the first alternative for folks who want to play that monster-who-feels-the-urge-to-eat-their-friends-but-refuses-to-do-it shtick but don't want to deal with vampire baggage. You know, the furry option! ... Slimy? Rubbery? Do we have a word for anthro-cephalopods? I'm only a casual furry. Gelatinous cube - I'm not apologizing for giving this one a slot. Froghemoth - So, back when I participated in my very first long-term campaign, I played a druid. You've met Talia before. Naturally, I was chomping at the bit for the day I finally got to turn her into a froghemoth, and celebrated the day my wish was finally granted and she was allowed to chug human-supremacist-cultists like popcorn. Yeah, okay, the froghemoth is one of the classic vore-monsters. But it's a charming design in its own right. Kind of a freaky Hanna Barbara critter, like you'd see Space Ghost fighting. No matter how many artists draw it, they can never shake that inherent goofiness that third edition tried so hard to purge. I would probably cram them somewhere onto Fronterra if I was sure they were public domain. As is, I'm 99% certain that this is what Visser Three turned into when he ate Elfangor. Tarrasque - D&D's original kaiju! Kind of just takes the name and nothing else when it comes to its mythological origins, but I don't mind. The Tarrasque is that endgame "let's test the players" final boss monster... Or at least it's supposed to be. My DM reskinned it for our final Pathfinder session, and one of the PCs still nearly killed it in a single turn. Also, he let Talia turn into one, so maybe Pathfinder is just bullshit? Regardless, the Tarrasque has one of those simple, iconic designs. I've heard rumors it was based on the concept art for Fallout's deathclaws, and like the Gigan-figure, I can't verify this in any way. With its reptilian features, twin horns, spiny carapace and grabby fingies, it has an undeniable lizardlike quality that I can't help but find charming. Kinda feels like a more refined version of Zilla? Though for an insatiable eating machine, I notice a lot of artists give it very little belly to work with. Come on, this guy eats entire cities! Give him somewhere to put it! Rust monster - An icon of icons, the rust monster! Drawing its origin from a bizarre Chinese "dinosaur" toy, later designs have made it more insectoid in appearance, but never feeling QUITE like anything Earthly. It's the four limbs. Between the four limbs and the tail, it's hard to tell if it's an arthropod mimicking a vertebrate or the other way around. I'm pretty sure this is part of what inspired my ossaderm creatures for Fronterra. Also, Ryla can turn into one in our campaign. I have no shortage of havoc to wreak when the opportunity comes. Behir - Dragons in D&D are kind of... extra. Godlike beings, paragons of whatever personality trait they represent. Whenever there's something uber powerful in D&D, it gets compared to dragons. It makes them kind of unapproachable. Behirs provide all the essentials of a dragon - Serpentine body, scaly skin, horns, sapience, breath weapon, taste for human flesh - wrapped up in a smaller, weirder, IMO cooler package. You know, your Lambton Worms. A lot easier to port in and out of adventures, a lot less of an event when they show up, but still a formidable force in their own right. I like the behir. The behir knows how to taunt me just the right amount. Bulette - Another Chinese "dinosaur" figure monster, the bulette is actually another one I associate with Talia. Whenever we faced a problem that didn't have a glaringly and immediately obvious solution, she would turn into a bulette, whether it was for beating up robots, digging through obstacles, trampling smurfs, navigating labyrinths, distracting slashers with cute dog tricks... it was kind of her signature form. But shenanigans aside, the bulette is just an excellent monster. While the "land shark" shtick may be common, there's a lot more going on with the bulette's design. It's rumored to be a mad wizard's creation, as he combined a snapping turtle with an armadillo and mixed in a helping of demon blood to taste. Personally, I always considered that to be a neat little rumor to flesh out the world, but never assumed it to be true. The bulette just feels too naturalistic for that. Like some kind of protomammal or crocodylomorph, or weird triassic monstrosity. Magic and demons and dragons and so on DO affect the ecosystem. I always figured the bulette was just something that evolved to compete in this new biosphere. Owlbear - This one, on the other hand, I fully believe the "mad wizard was bored" explanation. Another chinasaur critter, the owlbear is frequently made fun of. What makes it scarier than a regular bear? It can't fly, so why have owl parts at all? Why trade fangs for a beak in what is at best a latural move? Well, first of all, fuck you, owls are creepy motherfuckers, and that alone is enough to justify it. But secondly, that's part of its charm. Besides some improved vision, the owl DOESN'T make it more dangerous. What makes the owlbear dangerous is that it's an insane, Frankensteinian monstrosity roaming uncontrolled through the wilderness! It doesn't need weaponry, its sheer temperament is enough to make it a worthy opponent. Sure, the practical threat might not be hugely above that of a bear, but storytelling isn't about numbers. Any asshole can go outside and get eaten by a bear. The owlbear is part of this world. The owlbear is a reminder of what magic can do. Someone somewhere actually made this thing, for whatever reason, and now the world is irrevocably changed because of it. Owlbears go beyond practicality. They bring the lore! Also, bears don't have very good eyesight, so the big owl eyes probably make them better hunters. Flumph - Is that a Japanese-style martian? Do we just have aliens in D&D? Dear lord, I love them! Okay, the flumph has got a sizable hatedom. And that hatedom can eat my ass, because the flumph is precious and perfect just the way it is! Flumphs are designed as a sort of sidekick-type creature. They're not very good fighters, but they bring knowledge and lore to the table. Whether they're aliens from some far off star, seeking your aid to prevent catastrophe, or psionic natives of the Underdark eager to bask in your positivity and hopefully stick it to the tyrants they're forced to share real estate with. My group generally treats them as straight up aliens, benevolent but strange. Course, we're all pretty strange, so we get along just fine. Otyugh - Okay so, the aberration creature type implies that this is something from another world that doesn't belong. And yet otyughs, which are aberrations, are an essential part of this world's ecosystem? Okay, I can buy the idea that an alien organism adapted to our world and is now a key part of it. Fronterra's got a TON of that. It just feels like after a point, the otyugh would be considered a beast? Otyughs are great. Every ecosystem needs a decomposer, and every fantasy story needs at least one dive into the sewers. Otyughs provide both, and are intelligent enough to keep the plot moving if it hits a snag. There's always going to be garbage, refuse, carrion, decay, things that need to be broken down and processed. Carrion crawler - The carrion crawler is pretty similar to the otyugh in that it's technically not considered a beast, and therefor must have its origins elsewhere, but feels so integrated into the ecosystem that it just feels like it belongs. They usually can't talk, so they're not just reskinned otyughs, but I still consider them pretty essential. Otyughs find a singular spot where waste is dumped and shovel it down at their leisure, while carrion crawlers skulk through the tunnels, actively seeking their food. The crawler got one of the most radical redesigns on the transition from second to third edition, but I can't really choose a single favorite. The oldschool tentacle-faced cutworm looks like it could be a real animal, while the googly-eyed Halloween decoration feels like it could be from another world, merely having set up shop here. Could there name apply to two wholly different creatures? If so, then I'm not sure which one mine would be considered. I kinda mashed them together into something that doesn't quite feel like either. But I like it for what it is. Maybe I'll sneak it onto Fronterra. Aboleth - Tentacled, telepathic sea creatures who turn humans into slimy minions, who remember everything their race has ever seen, and who are always plotting something behind the scenes. Yeah, the aboleths really crank up the Lovecraft elements. Actually, between the mind flayers, the flumphs and the aboleths, even the most oldschool D&D covered quite a few essential Lovecraftian bases. The flayers are your corrupt yet still recognizable humanoids who can be considered truly evil, the flumphs are benevolent-yet-bizarre guardians who know more than you, and the aboleths are the truly unknowable, sinister intellects. The fact that they can barely function on land honestly only adds to that, IMO. They're inherently difficult for a party to reach, and they offer some nice underwater adventure seeds. Not enough adventures go underwater. There's this perception that the ocean is bad for storytelling because so many writers lack the creativity to make it work. I wanna run an underwater adventure now. Beholder - Icon of icons! THE D&D monster! The beholder! Paranoid, jumpy, always five steps ahead and twenty steps perpendicular! Beholds are fun in just about every way. Between their wacky, diverse designs, their elaborate lairs, their eccentric personalities, their bizarre powers, you're never gonna run out of fun with beholders. Remorhaz - It's always been a thing that bothered me with environment-based monsters. Why does the ice monster who lives in the cold use ice as a weapon? Aren't most of the things it encounters going to be resistant to the cold? Sure, a cone of cold will still kill a polar bear, but a lot of the monsters in the tundra are outright immune to cold. A while dragon's not going to get much use out of its breath weapon fighting frost worms and frost giants. That's one reason the remorhaz sticks out to be. We have an icy tundra beast whose insides are a scorching furnace, which it can intensify and weaponize as it sees fit. Which also conveniently explains why its design - a sort of cobra-esque centipede - invokes warm-weather creatures, despite its icy environment. It's a nice subversion of the usual tropes, plus it's just a memorable, cool looking critter to begin with. On a smaller note, the remorhaz feels like a good loophole for Ryla's "no cold weather morphs" rule. Turning into something elementally affiliated with ice is no good, but a non-magical monster that survives the cold by superheating its insides? That seems perfectly viable to me!

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entamewitchlulu · 5 years ago

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Dimensions of the KingVerse Part 2

Part 1 is here!

So I planned on drawing scenery for each dimension, but honestly!! I’m exhausted!! And I can find photographs that capture the essence of each world easily enough now that I’ve hit most of the more ethereal dimensions, so I’m gonna do that instead for now, because mostly I just wanna talk worldbuilding! So in order to stop beating myself up for not being productive enough to paint eight huge background pieces, I’m going to just write the post lol

So during the last post, I discussed the top for dimensions of the KingVerse, my cohesive Yu-Gi-Oh universe in which a significant chunk of my fanfiction ideas take place. We’ll be discussing the last eight in this post!

After the physical realm, the world that humans reside in, just beneath is a world that goes by many names. Humans have referred to it as Mag Mell, Tír na nÓg, Emain Alblach, Elysium, Otherworld, and others. But to the Shadow People, it’s most often called Faerie’s Peak.

Faerie’s Peak, being the closest shadow dimension to the Physical Dimension, is also the one that humans find themselves in by accident the most. The thin spaces between these two worlds are remarkably frequent, and account for many human stories of traveling to faerieland.

Faerie’s Peak is home to mostly fae- and fairy-type Shadow People, and while the majority of the land is made of endless, untouched rolling hills and mountains, there are thriving civilizations and deep forests here as well. In fact, this is the realm that hosts the Ancient Forest, the home of Ancient Fairy Dragon and the place to which Luka found herself falling into in 5D’s.

There is no outer space to this dimension, unlike in the Physical Realm, and it is bounded on all sides of its vastness by a roaring sea that is impossible to venture too deeply into; if you sail too far you simply disappear into the fog, and come back out of the fog heading back into the direction in which you came. And as home to Shadow People, it is also a highly magically charged land that does not usually play by the same laws of nature that physical beings are accustomed to.

Beneath this world is yet another that has gone by many names in the human world: Asgard, Olympus, etc, but the Shadow People know it as Bifrost.

Bifrost is an ancient land full of abandoned places; while Neospace is widely regarded as being the remnants of the creation of the universe, and thus the closest thing to the “original” dimension, Bifrost is suspected to be the origination of sentient, soul-bearing creatures. Scholars believe that humans were born in this realm first as spiritual beings, but due to war, were forced to flee, their souls being reborn into the physical realm. It is often theorized that elements of a suspected human “collective consciousness” arise from latent soul memories of this dimension.

Whether or not this is true, Bifrost is an old, old place, full of the remnants of long-forgotten cities and ancient forests and plains. Very few humanoid-Shadow People live here now, the dimension being mostly home to bestial and ancient creatures. It is also, interestingly, a place where the divine tend to congregate, and it is suspected that stories of deities in many human culture originated from the time that humans lived among the divine in this realm.

Under the Bifrost begins a series of dimensions known as the Core, four middle dimensions that are each ancient and volatile in their own right. The first is known simply as Air.

Air is a realm of endless sky and clouds, with absolutely no solid ground. Due to this, the denizens of Air are mostly elemental in nature. There are a few floating cities that have been built in this dimension, mostly by immigrant Shadow People from other dimensions, but the native peoples of Air would appear very alien to most humans. The realm is often buffeted by torrential hurricanes and tornadoes, and it is never still or peaceful for long.

The second of the core dimensions is Strata.

Strata is the dimension of “earth”, as Air is, well, air. Little to no humanoid Shadow People live here, this realm being the home of beasts and especially, dragons. It is characterized by long stretches of barren earth, huge, mountainous canyons and caverns, massive underground tunnel systems, and thick, old jungles and forests. Dinosaur Shadow People are very common in this realm.

Similar to Faerie’s Peak, Strata also has no outer space past its atmosphere, not that there are any native spirits to this realm that would think to leave the earth. A huge, impossibly complex range of mountains encloses the world on all sides, and like Faerie’s Peak, those who go into the mountains too deep will eventually be turned around back into the rest of the dimension.

The third core dimension is associated with the element of fire, but unlike Air and Strata, the connection to its element is less obvious. It is known by denizens as God’s Keep.

God’s Keep is the most populated dimension in the universe. It is the hub of most Shadow People, and even more populated than the Physical Realm. It is a huge, vast world boasting both heavy development, old ruins, and untouched wilderness. It’s thought that after the war that caused humans to flee from Bifrost, the Shadow People mostly emigrated here, to the dimension with the most diverse biomes and resources outside of the Physical Realm.

Like the Physical Realm, it has an outer space, and an associated galaxy and universe, with further civilizations on several nearby planets and thriving trade between them. It’s definition as the “fire” of the four Core Dimensions comes from the fact that it is built around stars and molten planet cores, the basis upon which its entire structure thrives.

It is both a scientific and magical hub, drawing millions of spellcaster and machine-type Shadow People. Learning, academics, and study are huge among this dimension, and innovation is nearly constant. It is also the home of the major political center of the universe, hosting the Seat of the King, where the King of Light and Shadow convenes with members of the Council to keep balance in the universe, thus the name “God’s Keep.”

To a human, this dimension may seem immensely chaotic, as there are millions of different kinds of spirits, evidence of billions of cultures and ideas, and a vast, environment full of various biomes that, by Physical Dimension laws, likely shouldn’t be able to exist within such proximity together. Despite this being the shadow dimension that is most similar to the Physical Realm, it is still very much a spiritual one, and the rules and laws of its functioning are nowhere near the same as the Physical Dimension.

The final of the Core Dimensions is associated with the final element of water, and, like air, is known simply as Ocean.

Ocean, like Air, is another endless dimension, this time of nothing at all but water. Unlike Air, however, it’s significantly more populated. There are a handful of natural islands, and thriving underwater societies populated by merfolk and other fish/water mammalian Shadow People. Once again, this is a dimension that has no end, and no outer space, though unlike some of the other endless worlds, it is round -- sailing for long enough through the endless sea will simply bring you back to where you started.

Near the very bottom of the world ladder is the eleventh dimension, known to most as Dark World.

Dark World is thought to be one of the inspirations from the human concept of hell. It is a place of eternal twilight, and ruled by constantly warring demons and fiends. While there are some non-demon peoples living in this realm, they are often overwhelmed by the warring between demon nobles, making them few and far between.

Due to the warlike nature of this dimension, it is very volatile. They are supposedly ruled by the Supreme King, the demon, fiend, or other ruler who is the strongest, but the competitive nature of many of this world’s denizens means that there is always someone new challenging for the throne, and few rulers remain for long enough to form any sort of order. Often, Shadow People lawbreakers are exiled to this realm, furthering its warlike and dangerous reputation.

The final and bottom-most dimension of the universe is, like the Unknown, a difficult one to understand. It is known as Endless.

Unlike the Unknown, those who go to this place can and do often return. However, it is a place of eternal nothingness -- not darkness, but nothingness, and those who remain for too long may find themselves eventually simply ceasing to exist.

Shadow People do not die naturally, but if they are killed, this is where they end up. They can be revived from the Endless, pulled back, or even fight their way out on their own after a time, but if they remain for too long, they are gone forever. At least, this is the impression that many have.

However, some who study this place theorize that the Endless may actually be the universes’ “recycling plant.” Excess magic and energy from the other dimensions finds its way here, and it appears as though it may be processed and returned to the dimension in other forms afterward, much the way that spirits are often returned naturally from the Endless after being there for some time.

And to those who may be curious, yes! This is exactly where souls go when they are stolen in Yu-Gi-Oh, unless they’ve been preserved in another way (e.g., stored in a card). Stolen souls do not go to the Unknown, or they would not be able to come back -- stolen souls go to the Endless, where they can be retrieved...or they cease to exist.

And that concludes this much too long post about the 12 dimensions of my cohesive YGO Universe! I have some other worldbuilding posts I would like to make, but if any of this interests you, don’t hesitate to ask me about it! Yes, actually, I have assigned every single field spell in the yugioh trading card game to one of these 12 dimensions, and I would be happy to tell you where your favorite archetype resides among these worlds.

If you read all of this, I love you forever and you’re my favorite person, and thank you!! I hope you’ll look forward to more information about the KingVerse in the future!

#ygo kingverse #lulu talks #worldbuilding #long post

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vicecityhq · 3 years ago

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██████████████]99% LOADING...SUSPECT INTO THE APD DATABASE...

WITNESS(ES) SAY HE REMINDS THEM OF: the heavy mist of a deep green forest, the pained howl of a wolf, the smell of incense wafting through an apartment early in the morning. . With a slight resemblance to YOO SHI-AH (YOOA) of/the OH MY GIRL.

CLICK BELOW TO VIEW ENTIRE FILE.

FULL FILE:

Last Name, First Name: Molan Alias: Rogue Realm of birth (if earth, nationality): Earth, South Korean Age: 25 Date of Birth: May 11th, 1996 Gender: Cisfemale Preferred Pronouns: She/Her Species: Child of the Realm (Gaia) Occupation: Howler’s Salutary/Luna Sexual Orientation: Is un-aware of these labels

Associated Business: Works at some of Ahn Haesun’s safe houses

VISUAL FILE:

Skin Color: sunkissed Eye color: misty grey with auburn splotches [reference] Scars: couple old cuts and scars from living in the wilderness, scar on her stomach from an arrow to the abdomen Piercings: nose, bellybutton, plenty on both ears Tattoos: her family/village mark on the back of her neck, has yet to get her howler tattoo Hair color: her natural firey red Abnormalities: legally blind in both eyes Horns/ wings/ etc: Transformed form: her eyes mist over white, and she gets green veins/vines up her neck and jaw, her palms and soles of her feet glow and flowers bloom in a crown with fawn horns in her hair, and her hair starts to flow like lava

PERSONAL FILE:

RELIGIOUS BELIEF: Greek Pantheons

SINS: greed / gluttony / sloth / lust / pride / envy / wrath

VIRTUES: chastity / charity / diligence / humility / kindness / patience / justice / temperance

KNOWN LANGUAGES: Korean, Greek, Latin, Some English

SECRETS: She isn’t sure she completely trusts the Howler’s as a whole just yet, rather a few individuals. She also has become a bit of a pothead.

SAVVIES: Hunting, Cooking, Potions, Strategizing, sewing, knitting, crafting, reading, writing panting and pottery

Powers & Abilities: Telekinesis, Divine Magic, Mythic Magic, Divine Energy Manipulation, Deity Physiology, Supernatural Healing, Medical Intuition, Molecular Manipulation, Science Magic Mixture, Ecokinesis, Nature Lordship (includes: Beast Lordship, Forest, Land, Ocean, Sky & Volcanic Lordship), Natural Arts, Nature Guardianship

Traits: brave, hardheaded

BACKGROUND CHECK:

Date of Birth: May 11th, 1996

Date of Death:

Crime Record: None

Background/Biography:

There’s a myth surrounding the people of the Southern Evergreens. They’ve gone from radicalists who fled the government to people displaced from their homes. But the truth that follows the people died out with their untimely demise.

They were a simple people, originally a colony of Wood Elves, taking in species as they became uprooted from their homes one way or another. As the colony grew, it meddled itself with all kinds of species, from humans to demons roughing it together as they built a society of their own.

A rare feat of love garnered Molan’s creation, watching the first and only child she ever bore become a landscape of home to those who have nothing, but the loneliness of a deity is no match for those who live among the flesh, as it is a hole that can not be filled by any mere mortal, the piece of the puzzle fashioned specifically for one who is chosen to love and be loved by something beyond the realms of earth and time. She’d seen Bitgaram at the moment of his conception, something about the child that caught her attention, only for him to become a distant memory to the time that belonged to a god.

Bitgaram grew up the only son of a farm hand in Geumsan, he spent many of his days tending the fields with his father, and nights practicing his healing abilities, learning what he could about the Earth around him, and how your use of it could lead to a life of immunal powered health. Even as his parents aged, they taught him the levels of Alchemy, position mixing, and the worshipping of the Pantheons that he was taught to serve.

It was this devotion to the Earth and its preservation as he grew into an adult that brought Gaia back to watch her world, the mirror from the in-between that had yet to house any children set ablaze by his honor towards her. Millennia ago was the last time she could remember rendering in her physical form, wild red hair and tanned skin, alluring and undeniably beautiful, only taking one glance for Bitgaram to fall for her. She was sure it was his devotion to her that kept him close, falling in love with the woodland stranger, just long enough to grant her a child, one she promised to be one of valiance, pride, and honor.

Into the world she came, her mother’s red locks wild upon her head, molten eyes filled with the power that came with being Mother Earth’s true child. Just as the Children of the Realm do, she could only hold her form for so long, only a year into Molan’s birth, she found herself sickening, needing to returned to the realm where her body could handle such power, leaving Bitgaram to raise the child on his home.

As the import and exports of agriculture became more urbanized, Bitgaram and Molan’s time on their farm had begun to expire, the young father finding himself wandering through the forests to find a home for him and the toddler, following the myths and legends of the forest people only to come across a society of creatures that took to the ruins to survive, offering his services as a healer in order to earn his keep, and in return they’d help him raise the girl.

Molan grew up learning how to fend for herself, quickly becoming their groups best hunter and leader, she was one without faults, leading hunts and treks for supplies, cano voyages to islands to trade and always returning with her crew. A warrior to the village and striking fear in passersby, and from afar they worshipped her, as Gaia radiated through her with every word, with every step, with the way she learned the world and it’s land.

The sight loss was gradual, starting off around six years old, abnormalities in her retinas and the nerves that carry visual signals to the eye leaving her slowly watching her beautiful colorful world wither away. She grew dependent on the land she walked on, often barefoot, relying on the ground beneath the sols of her feet and her other senses heightened. But this new way of learning the world brought a bitter taste to the princesses' loving and nurturing world. She can no longer adequately see the flowers that bloomed around her home, colors and outlines still apparent but she’ll never see the world the way she used to. She found solace in the animals, in touching, learning living, trying to get to know the world in the blanket of fog that turned her beautiful geode eyes a bleaked haze of muted tones.

This setback in her health came with her pushing forward to become more, she trained harder, studied longer, learning the world all over again in order to maintain her monotony, as her skills were still needed in their protection, but ultimately she was unable to do so in the end, not from lacking but from her father’s insistence to flee when the walls came tumbling down on the city that they’d grown to love.

He honed in his connections to the powerful, the man who’d written so many of the Alchemy books he’d studied, a report he’d grown with him over decades of living in their supernatural world. He’d sent him to the only home he’d known, the one he’d created to take in creatures who were scattered amongst the limbo of Earth, giving them a place to have a family, even in the bloodiness of it all. But the one thing that she’d prided herself on, had become her downfall in a concrete world.

The city was too loud, the underground was too crowded, there was no hunting, no being shrouded by the height of the trees, only the industrial roar of a world she had never gotten to know. It was overwhelming at first, the only thing coming out of this “new world” had been it’s technological advances to help her sight, fashioning her with a pair of glasses that at the very least could bring some sort of visuals to her realm, her new realm.

Her place in the Howler’s had become one she’d already known, taking care of the youngers, and healing the sick, a way for her to be stashed away so that she could handle the immersion into society. It’s been almost a year now, and she’s still found herself in moments of overwhelm, though she’s starting to find her footing in a whole new world.

INTERVIEW QUESTION (para sample): “Just run us through what happened that night”. - Officer

She tilted her head up, nose to sky with pride. There was no remorse, nor did she feel like she’d done anything wrong, those men were harassing her and she handled them as she saw fit.

��Well, I was coming home from the market right before closing, usually I just walk and so on my way back, I ran into those two guys harassing that lady.”

Molan could see the expressions of the officer’s faces fall, shaking their heads with long sighs. “Molan, we understand that you want to help people, but you can’t just go around assaulting civilians on the street.”

She hated the way these, uniformed enforcers called her by name, but she’d been in their turf too many times to count, for a lot of the same reasons.

“Look, we keep letting you off because we can say that it’s self defense, but if someone decides to press charges we can’t help you.”

“Well, do your jobs, and tell people to stop trying to bother me.” The princess of the Earth leaned in, tapping the table with her finger. “I wouldn’t have to keep putting stupid, lowly humans in the hospital if they stop treating me, and other supernaturals like specimens that they can poke and prod. Next time, I’ll let Bomi handle them, then there wont be anything left to press charges or take to the hospital.”

#rp #rpg #krp #krpg #oc rp #oc rpg #gang rpg #gang rp #mafia rp #mafia rpg #supernatural rp #supernatural rpg #literate rp #literate rpg #vcaccepted #vchowler

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christsbride · 7 years ago

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The Watchtower's New World Translation of the Bible

There are many bible translations but none that contradict each other except for the New World Translation. This translation translates words and ideas differently causing conflict with the other translations. Both can not be true so is the New World Translation a true biblical translation? This article will look a a few areas of the translation where words are changed or added and explore the true meaning found in the Alexandrian, Byzantine, and Old Testament ancient texts. Cross or Stake? The New World Translation renders the Greek term word staurós ("cross") as "torture stake" because Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus was crucified on a cross. The English word for "cross" comes from the latin word "crux". Whether "stake" or "cross" is used; this still does not negate the detailed history of the use of the thing. Roman historian Tacitus describes such events. Criminals, with their crossbeams are then mounted on the fixed pole for the purpose of slow painful deaths. Jewish historian Josephus (born only a few years after Jesus was killed) records people caught by Romans, being nailed to them. Roman politician Cicero, who wrote around 30BC, recorded the gruesome nature of this kind of execution. Seneca the Younger, a Roman philosopher who lived during Jesus' time, described the method as means to humiliate. Jehovah's Witnesses argue that Jesus was crucified on a crux simplex, and that the crux immissa was an invention of Emperor Constantine round the 4th century in defense of Christianity; but a graffito found in a taberna in Puteoli, dating to the time of Trajan or Hadrian (late 1st century to early 2nd century CE) shows a T shaped crucifixion. The New Testament writings about the crucifixion of Jesus do not specifically describe the shape of the cross, but the early writings that do speak of its shape, from about the year 100 CE on, describe it as shaped like the letter T (the Greek letter tau) or as composed of an upright and a transverse beam, sometimes with a small projection in the upright. When considering actual Roman history we can conclude that simply calling it a 'stake' is an insufficient word choice. An example of poor choice words in translations that can negatively impact the understanding is this: The concept of our desperate need for Jesus. If I was to say in greek, "I moved to Jesus". That is a good thing. But if I was to have actually said in greek "I sprinted to Jesus"; notice the big difference. Yes, sprinting is moving, but sprinting illuminates the desperation. The New World translation would have used the word 'move' instead of 'sprint' because of their own theological agendas and would argue that 'moving' is what the greek word means- this is called deceptive truth. Even though sprinting is moving and can mean moving, the author meant a more specific word to illuminate the truth. Thus, with true historic evidences we can conclude that the 'cross' is best. Therefore, we can conclude that Jesus was in fact crucified on a "cross". With this we can already see poor word choices in the New World Translation. The reasoning for that poor word choice is due to an attempt to morph unbiblical teachings forced by changing the wording in scripture. Not only does the word choice not fully express the message but it conflicts with actual historical facts. The Place of The Dead- Hell? The New World Translation does not translate the words sheol, hades, and gehenna as "hell” because Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in hell. Aside from the theological misunderstandings of God's Justice and Love with Hell; and looking at the actual meanings expressed in the ancient biblical texts in the cultures it was written in we can see the same poor word choice issue. In Jewish tradition, gehenna, is the place of fire and torment for the wicked (Kiddushin 4.14, Avot 1.5; 5.19, 20, Tosefta t. Bereshith 6.15, and Babylonian Talmud b.Rosh Hashanah 16b:7a; b. Bereshith 28b). This place is know for this because historically and traditionally this is where children were burned to a pagan god. The same place Jesus states in Matthew 5:22, 29-30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6). Sheol and Hades are cultural words that are synonyms for the same place describing a general sense of the world of the dead. The context points to the specificity of the truth about this place. In general, scripture tells us of a literal place where wicked and fallen angels will go for eternal torment. But if God is Just and Loving, how then can he send anyone there? Simple. People choose to go there and because God is ultimately loving, he gives them what they ultimately desire; separation from himself. It is God's justice that requires payment for sin; thus this place apart from him is their rightful and just payment for their sins. God remains perfectly Just and Loving by giving people what they ultimately desire with the perfect judged consequences of it. This place is called Hell in English and the descriptive words are synonyms of that place. The importance of understanding the culture and synonyms is key. Misunderstanding this leads to unbiblical ideas which influences incorrect translations. That is exactly what happened with the New World Translation. The teachers of the Jehovah's Witness religion failed to properly understand Hell. They invented an idea about this subject and injected that false idea into how they translate the bible. Already Came or Still Coming? The NWT gives the translation "presence" instead of “coming” for the Greek word parousia because Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Christ has already returned in the early 1900s. This translation is soley based on the concept that Jesus already came. When the authors wrote the word, in context, was in future tense. Jesus' physical presence was coming. The translation of this word in the NWT is completely dependent on the idea that Jesus already came. Did he? Acts 1:9-11 specifically tells us that he physically ascended into heaven AND will return the same way. Therefore we know that he will physically descend from heaven in the future. Jesus discussed this with the Apostles in Matthew 24:3-32. There are some huge points that need to be made here. First, Jesus warns the Apostles (and us) about false Christs and false prophets. "And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you... For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many... Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many... Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him... For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." Jehovah's Witnesses aren't the only ones who claim that Jesus already came. Ann Lee (1736–1784), the founder and leader of the Shakers believed she was the female incarnation of Christ on Earth. William W. Davies (1833–1906), leader of a Latter Day Saint group. He taught his followers that he was the archangel Michael, and also declared that the infant was the reincarnated Jesus Christ. Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012), believed by members of the Unification Church to be the Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ. Yahweh ben Yahweh (1935–2007), born as Hulon Mitchell, Jr., a black nationalist and separatist who created the Nation of Yahweh in 1979 in Liberty City, Florida. His self-proclaimed name means "God, Son of God". He could have only been deeming himself to be "son of God", not God, but many of his followers clearly deem him to be God Incarnate. Inri Cristo (1948–), a Brazilian who claims to be the second Jesus reincarnated in 1969. Apollo Quiboloy (1950–) is the founder and leader of a Philippines-based Restorationist church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, Inc. He has made claims that he is the "Appointed Son of God". Alan John Miller (1962–), more commonly known as A.J. Miller, a former Jehovah's Witness elder and current leader of the Australia-based Divine Truth movement. Miller claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated. This just to name a few throughout history. The Jehovah Witness claim is nothing new. How do we know they aren't? We continue reading in Matthew 24: "So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them... For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be... And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory... For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah... and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be." And just like that; the entire earth will know. The entire earth will see him. "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will." (Matthew 24:21) The power and great glory of his coming will be so great and so grand; more grand than the beginning of the World! Well, the whole world did not see anything. The power and glory was not that great if the Jehovah's Witnesses are right... Their claim of him already coming conflicts with what Jesus revealed; therefore he has not come yet. With that said, the NWT rendering of the word "presence" instead of "coming" is very incorrect because the more accurate word is in fact 'coming'. There was nothing like the flood, nothing more powerful than creation, no great and grand power or glory, and "ALL" the tribes of the earth did not see anything. All Other Things? In Colossians 1:16, the NWT inserts the word “other” despite its being completely absent from the original Greek text. It does this to give the view that “all other things” were created by Christ, instead of what the text says, “all things were created by Christ.” This is to go along with their belief that Christ is a created being, which they believe because they deny the Trinity. The NWT also adds the word other four times to Colossians 1:15-17. This implies that Jesus was first created AND THEN He created other things. There is no word in the Greek text for other. The NWT translators added it in order to put their false doctrine into the text. The Alexandrian Text Types read "ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα" which literally states "For by Him all things were created". They continue to read "καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων" which literally states "He is before all things". The dishonest insertion of the word "other" attempts to impute something that is NOT stated in scripture. The Word was a god? This is a typical verse JW use in defense of their beliefs; John 1:1. But this defense is solely based on an idea injected into the bible and not originally from the bible. The original Greek text reads, “and God was The Word.” The NWT renders it as “the word was a god.” This is not just a matter of correct translation, but of reading one's preconceived theology into the text, rather than allowing the text to speak for itself. The most revealing evidence of the Watchtower's bias is their inconsistent translation technique. Throughout the Gospel of John, the Greek word theon occurs without a definite article. The New World Translation renders none of these as “a god.” Just three verses after John 1:1, the New World Translation translates another case of theos without the indefinite article as "God." Even more inconsistent, in John 1:18, the NWT translates the same term as both "God" and "god" in the very same sentence. When considering the historical and cultural context of "God" in Israel we see that they were monotheistic. The earliest church teachers also taught monotheism. Given the time of the writing of scripture, singular "God" is the absolute most correct translation. The NWT cherry picks how to translate the word based on its own ideas outside of the bible to fit its invented teachings. It is also important to note that if the author wanted to express a plurality of gods, the greek language could. In other greek writings, when talking about the pantheon of gods, they do. Therefore, the author could have chosen to express that here; but he didn't. The odd inconsistent justification is 'Jesus is just a lesser god' But this then comes into conflict with strict monotheistic verses in the bible. This is also self defeating because he is still a god. But if there is only one Almighty God, than there can not be other gods, even if to a lesser extent; because by definition of God, there could not be more than one. Another attempt to justify the existence of 'lesser gods' they will misunderstand Exodus 4:16 and Exodus 7:1. But this is easy to spot the fallacy in the fact that Moses was only stated to be made "AS God" and not "A God". Moses was "as God" in the sense that he was given the authority and power to display powerful miracles that decimated much of Egypt. This does not make him "a god" because his authority and power came from THE monotheistic GOD in the first place. YHWH Second, Jehovah is not a Biblical word. It was created by combining the original Hebrew name for God YHWH and adonai (word used by Jews who didn’t want to say God’s name). The resulting combined word, “Jehovah” has been used for the name God by many groups but it is not found in the Bible. Nowhere do you find the word Jehovah in the original languages, Hebrew or Greek. Instead the New Testament uses the words “Lord” [Greek: Kurios] and “God” [Greek: theos] when talking about God. The writers never used Jehovah, even when quoting the Old Testament. The Greek New Testament source for the New World Translation, Westcott and Hort, never used Jehovah. They used kurios for Lord and theos for God. The Kingdom Interlinear confirms Jehovah was never in the original text. This interlinear published by the Watchtower Organization shows how kurios (Lord) and theos (God) were changed to Jehovah in the English translation. When it comes to this translation we find it almost universally rejected by noted scholars in the field of Biblical translations according to Dr. Ron Rhodes. British scholar H.H. Rowley asserted, ‘from the beginning to end this volume is a shining example of how the Bible should not be translated.’ Indeed, Rowley said, this translation is ‘an insult to the Word of God.’” Dr. Julius Manti, author of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, calls the New World translation “a shocking mistranslation.” Dr. Bruce M. Metzger, professor of New Testament at Princeton University, calls the New World translation “a frightful mistranslation,” “erroneous,” “pernicious,” and “reprehensible.” Dr. William Barclay concluded that “the deliberate distortion of truth by this sect is seen in their New Testament translation. It is abundantly clear that a sect which can translate the New Testament like that is intellectually dishonest.” Former Jehovah witness David Reed notes, “an unbiased observer will quickly note that such anonymity also shields the translators from any blame for errors or distortions in their renderings. And it prevents scholars from checking their credentials.” The Watchtower Society must have been utterly embarrassed when the names of the translators of the New World translation were made known to the public. The reason for concern was the translation committee was completely unqualified for the task. Four of the five men in the committee had no Hebrew or Greek training whatsoever (they had only a high school education). The Fifth, Fred W. Franz, claimed to know Hebrew and Greek, but upon examination under oath in a court of law in Edinburg Scotland he failed a basic Hebrew test. Raymond Victor Franz, Fredrick's nephew, was a member of the divine Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. He later left the JW after studying the Bible and comparing it to JW teachings. He later wrote Crisis of Conscience (1983) and In Search of Christian Freedom (1991) that detailed his experiences with the Jehovah's Witnesses and their inner workings and teachings. Just these two examples prove the fallibility of the Governing Body and exposed it as less than divinely inspired by Almighty God. Which, also, exposes the fallacies of the NWT. Internal Theological Contradictions There exist theological inconsistencies between the NWT and Watchtower theology. Isaiah 40-48. By simply reading these eight chapters, or at least select passages from within them, and comparing them to other biblical teachings, major cracks in the foundation of the Watchtower’s primary biblical translation emerge. Matt. 3:3 uses Isaiah for Jesus. John 10:14 Jesus as the shepherd as in Isa 40:11. When reading from the NWT; Matthew 3:3 even validates that Isaiah was speaking about Jesus and John The Baptist and records Jesus claiming to the shepherd as stated in Isaiah 40:11. And announced in just two verses prior is the statement from Isaiah "Here is your God." and "like a shepherd HE will care for HIS flock". Remember, this verses is talking about Almighty God. Then in John 10:14, Jesus literally states "I know my sheep and my sheep know me". These issues come from comparing the NWT with itself. These are just a few examples, but it is recommended to study Isaiah 40-48 and compare it to what is stated in the synoptic gospels. CONCLUSION If ANY of these issues are true, than it proves the NWT has errors in its translation method. Aside from translation errors, it is important to see that the translation method itself directly influenced by ideas invented outside of The Bible. Then, the ideas, injected into the translation. The source for the Biblical ideas comes from ignorant assumptions and misunderstandings, cherry picked from what the Bible actually declares. To truly understand scripture one must keep in mind the cultural and historical implications associated with it; and interpret scripture with the totality of scripture and not from one or two selected verses and then jump to conclusions without the whole of scripture being reconciled. Miss translations such as stake, Misunderstandings such as sheol, hades, and gehenna. Extra-biblical injected theology such as presence instead of coming. Added words such as "a" and "other". Extra-biblical created words such as Jehovah. Self existent contradictions such as in Isaiah compared to Matthew and John. These examples prove the New World Translation is not a translation of God's Word but rather a translation morphed into The Watchtower's teachings. The source for the ideas that change the translation methods is from those who attempt to translate without proper education and preconceived extra-biblical beliefs. The JW argument comes down to this: The New World Translation is the most correct translation because the Watchtower re-translated the bible based off of Watchtower beliefs found in the New World Translation. That is the same as saying: A circle is a square because a square is a circle. This logical fallacy is called Circular Reasoning; and thus, is illogical. Defending the New World Translation is the argument that the NWT is true because it is from the Watchtower, because the Watchtower is in the NWT of which it translated. As compared to the argument for the NASB for example; which is based from the Alexandrian Text types and Masoritic Texts simply translated into English using the common understanding of the language, culture, and history of the authors. Also read The Jehovah's Witnesses If you have any questions or comments about this article please contact us or join our discussion forms

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watsonrodriquezie · 8 years ago

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9 Trends of Primal Interest

I get a lot of industry news. I eat out a fair bit. I talk to people whose job it is to spot and track health trends. I’m privy to some of the greatest, most innovative minds in the alternative health community—my readers. And you guys are always sending me interesting links. Today, I’m going to discuss some trends of Primal interest. I might poke fun at some of them, and others might be relatively small-scale, but even the silly or minor ones point to interesting movements in the health and fitness zeitgeist.

So, what are the 9 I’m highlighting today?

Experiences over Things

In 2015, I wrote about the dichotomy of value between experiences and things, pointing to research suggesting that buying experiences brings more joy and meaning to a person’s life than buying material objects. I explained how our hunter-gatherer evolution probably wired us to get more out of experiences, and I dug a bit into my own opinion on the matter.

People appear to be agreeing with me. Millennials in particular are choosing things like travel and dining out over gear and gadgets. And the material objects people are consuming enable experiential living—smartphones, fitness trackers, and such. Even media consumption is shifting away from ownership of music and movies to on-demand services like Spotify and Netflix.

Eating Root-to-Leaf

Nose-to-tail eating has taken off. Previously arcane bits like sweetbreads, liver, tripe, marrow, and kidney are on menus everywhere, and few people bat an eye anymore. It’s normal.

Eating root-to-leaf means considering the edibility of the entire plant. More often than not, we’re throwing away a large amount of digestible, nutrient-dense flora.

Broccoli crowns are amazing, but did you know you can eat the leaves? Broccoli leaves are some of my favorite. This also works for Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and celery.

It means eating roots and their greens, whether it’s a carrot, a beet, a rutabaga, or a turnip. When the guy at the farmer’s market asks if you want him to “twist off the leaves,” say “absolutely not.”

Even things like lemon, orange, or grapefruit rinds can be grated, pickled, or processed to extract the flavonoids.

Artisanal Wilderness Retreats

Outfits are taking young professionals on carefully curated excursions into the wild. Check out this video from Wilderness Collective documenting their maiden trip. Yes, it’s overwrought. Yes, it’s a bit silly and a little too perfect. But it’s satisfying a real need people have: spending unbroken days immersed in natural settings.

Walking the dog in the park before work is better than nothing. Putting up a Yosemite wallpaper on your laptop is nice (and may even have an effect). Actually spending 5 nights camping out and trekking through Yosemite is nicer and far more real, even if you’ve got a Michelin-starred chef flambéing flat iron steaks for you at dinnertime.

Movement, Not Just Exercise

There’s growing awareness of the importance and primacy of frequent—constant, if you can—low-level movement. Developments like fitness trackers, walking clubs at the workplace, the rise of standing workstations (pun intended), the bi-monthly article railing against the dangers of sitting too much, the concept of “exercise snacks,” (mini workouts done throughout the day) and the constant recommendations that people walk at least 10,000 steps a day suggest that the word has gotten out. Folks like Katy Bowman (of Don’t Just Sit There fame) have played a huge role in furthering, explicating, and refining the message.

Formal, dedicated training isn’t going anywhere. Nor should it. The stuff plain works. But it works better atop a foundation of constant low-level movement.

Health and Wellness Tourism

I’m not talking about jetting off to Costa Rica for dental work, or Thailand for a sex change operation. I’m talking about hiking the Pacific Coast Trail, or maybe the Appalachian Trail, or even flying to Spain to hike the Camino de Santiago, or to Turkey to do the Lycian Way. Kickboxing camps in Chiang Mai, Inca Trail maintenance at Machu Picchu, WWOOFing.

Nutrigenomics

Right now, we know a few things about the interactions between specific genetic variants and certain foods, activities, and environmental inputs. But biology is probably the most complex system in the universe. We’re missing a ton.

It’s also getting better. Scientists continue to unmask, identify, and catalogue new variants and their effects—and how what you eat and how you train affects them. A product I used and enjoyed, DNA Fit, and similar ones will only get better, more accurate, and more comprehensive.

Monetization of Recovery Days

With all the CrossFitting, Tough Muddering, Olympic lifting, and other training people are doing, they’re finally beginning to wise up to the role recovery days play in fitness. But rather than only rely on time off and sleep, they’re spending big bucks on the best recovery money can buy. Float tanks (rich in magnesium sulfate epsom salts; the sensory deprivation activates but ultimately helps you tame the monkey mind), cryotherapy chambers (ultra-cold therapy), mobility tools that help you stretch and perform self-myofascial release.

Yes, this can get expensive. This isn’t a bad thing. I’ve always argued for more rest and relaxation and recovery, and the consensual exchange of money for services indicates that consumers of cryotherapy, float tanks, mobility/self-myofascial-release products are clearly getting something out of the exchange.

The Rise of Purple Food

Used to be you could only get a big whack of the all-important purple anthocyanins from a cup of blueberries. That’s changing. There’s purple carrots, purple cauliflower, purple sweet potatoes, purple regular potato, purple asparagus, purple corn, black rice. These aren’t recent creations. Purple/black varieties of produce have been around for decades. They’re becoming more prominent though. All that purple doesn’t make up for the loss of Prince, but it’s probably good for our insulin sensitivity and cognitive function.

Cellular Agriculture

Tech companies’ recent forays into food haven’t gone very well, but cellular agriculture could be a game changer. To grow a piece of beef in the lab, they culture stem cells taken from a piece of beef off an actual living cow. Tender cuts (filets) are harvested earlier, tougher cuts (chuck) are harvested later.

The most prominent cellular agriculture company, Memphis Meats, hopes to have its stem cell-grown “clean” chicken and pork on store shelves by 2021. They’ve already got a working meatball for people to taste.

Will it save us?

That remains to be seen. The “cultured meat” evangelists who decry the climactic impact of ruminants always overlook the vital role holistically-grazed livestock play in maintaining soil health, re-greening land, and building carbon sinks. What other “alternative” benefits of eating and raising traditional will they miss? If they try to “optimize” the fatty acid content of a stem-cell ribeye by excising the saturated fat and bumping up the linoleic acid, I will be very upset (but not very surprised).

If the technology gets cheap enough, we’ll probably be able to grow our own at home to whichever specifications we like. Bump up the vitamin K2, omega-3, collagen, zinc, and so on. That could be cool. Whatever the supposed benefits, if it doesn’t taste and behave just like good meat I’m not interested.

That’s it for me, folks. What about you? What are the trends you’re watching for? Which are the trends you’ve adopted? Let me know down below, and thanks for reading!

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fishermariawo · 8 years ago

Text

9 Trends of Primal Interest

So, what are the 9 I’m highlighting today?

Experiences over Things

Eating Root-to-Leaf

Nose-to-tail eating has taken off. Previously arcane bits like sweetbreads, liver, tripe, marrow, and kidney are on menus everywhere, and few people bat an eye anymore. It’s normal.

Eating root-to-leaf means considering the edibility of the entire plant. More often than not, we’re throwing away a large amount of digestible, nutrient-dense flora.

Broccoli crowns are amazing, but did you know you can eat the leaves? Broccoli leaves are some of my favorite. This also works for Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and celery.

Even things like lemon, orange, or grapefruit rinds can be grated, pickled, or processed to extract the flavonoids.

Artisanal Wilderness Retreats

Movement, Not Just Exercise

Formal, dedicated training isn’t going anywhere. Nor should it. The stuff plain works. But it works better atop a foundation of constant low-level movement.

Health and Wellness Tourism

Nutrigenomics

Monetization of Recovery Days

The Rise of Purple Food

Cellular Agriculture

Will it save us?

That’s it for me, folks. What about you? What are the trends you’re watching for? Which are the trends you’ve adopted? Let me know down below, and thanks for reading!

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cristinajourdanqp · 8 years ago

Text

9 Trends of Primal Interest

So, what are the 9 I’m highlighting today?

Experiences over Things

Eating Root-to-Leaf

Nose-to-tail eating has taken off. Previously arcane bits like sweetbreads, liver, tripe, marrow, and kidney are on menus everywhere, and few people bat an eye anymore. It’s normal.

Eating root-to-leaf means considering the edibility of the entire plant. More often than not, we’re throwing away a large amount of digestible, nutrient-dense flora.

Broccoli crowns are amazing, but did you know you can eat the leaves? Broccoli leaves are some of my favorite. This also works for Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and celery.

Even things like lemon, orange, or grapefruit rinds can be grated, pickled, or processed to extract the flavonoids.

Artisanal Wilderness Retreats

Movement, Not Just Exercise

Formal, dedicated training isn’t going anywhere. Nor should it. The stuff plain works. But it works better atop a foundation of constant low-level movement.

Health and Wellness Tourism

Nutrigenomics

Monetization of Recovery Days

The Rise of Purple Food

Cellular Agriculture

Will it save us?

That’s it for me, folks. What about you? What are the trends you’re watching for? Which are the trends you’ve adopted? Let me know down below, and thanks for reading!

0 notes

milenasanchezmk · 8 years ago

Text

9 Trends of Primal Interest

So, what are the 9 I’m highlighting today?

Experiences over Things

Eating Root-to-Leaf

Nose-to-tail eating has taken off. Previously arcane bits like sweetbreads, liver, tripe, marrow, and kidney are on menus everywhere, and few people bat an eye anymore. It’s normal.

Eating root-to-leaf means considering the edibility of the entire plant. More often than not, we’re throwing away a large amount of digestible, nutrient-dense flora.

Broccoli crowns are amazing, but did you know you can eat the leaves? Broccoli leaves are some of my favorite. This also works for Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and celery.

Even things like lemon, orange, or grapefruit rinds can be grated, pickled, or processed to extract the flavonoids.

Artisanal Wilderness Retreats

Movement, Not Just Exercise

Formal, dedicated training isn’t going anywhere. Nor should it. The stuff plain works. But it works better atop a foundation of constant low-level movement.

Health and Wellness Tourism

Nutrigenomics

Monetization of Recovery Days

The Rise of Purple Food

Cellular Agriculture

Will it save us?

That’s it for me, folks. What about you? What are the trends you’re watching for? Which are the trends you’ve adopted? Let me know down below, and thanks for reading!

0 notes

sportsandfitnessinfo · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on http://fitnessandhealthpros.com/fitness/9-trends-of-primal-interest/

9 Trends of Primal Interest

So, what are the 9 I’m highlighting today?

Experiences over Things

Eating Root-to-Leaf

Nose-to-tail eating has taken off. Previously arcane bits like sweetbreads, liver, tripe, marrow, and kidney are on menus everywhere, and few people bat an eye anymore. It’s normal.

Eating root-to-leaf means considering the edibility of the entire plant. More often than not, we’re throwing away a large amount of digestible, nutrient-dense flora.

Broccoli crowns are amazing, but did you know you can eat the leaves? Broccoli leaves are some of my favorite. This also works for Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and celery.

Even things like lemon, orange, or grapefruit rinds can be grated, pickled, or processed to extract the flavonoids.

Artisanal Wilderness Retreats

Movement, Not Just Exercise

Formal, dedicated training isn’t going anywhere. Nor should it. The stuff plain works. But it works better atop a foundation of constant low-level movement.

Health and Wellness Tourism

Nutrigenomics

Monetization of Recovery Days

The Rise of Purple Food

Cellular Agriculture

Will it save us?

That’s it for me, folks. What about you? What are the trends you’re watching for? Which are the trends you’ve adopted? Let me know down below, and thanks for reading!

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Originally at :Mark's Daily Apple Written By : Mark Sisson

#Interest, #Primal, #Trends #Fitness

#Interest #Primal #Trends #Fitness

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